Chapter 6
Beast Technology
Eddie was the top technical wizard of the Solid Gold Transaction Company, as well as, President of the NACHA Electronic Funds Council. Early in the morning, he received a call from Oscar Coleman, Director of the NACHA systems. Oscar had received a call from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, who had received a call from the President of the United States.
"Eddie!" exclaimed Oscar. "I've got the deal of a lifetime!"
"Oscar! Is that you, Oscar? You'd better have one! It's three in the morning. What could be so important at three in the morning? Since it's three in the morning, am I supposed to listen better?"
"Shut up about three in the morning and listen! The President needs an electronic-payment solution to capture census data. He needs to be able to store financial information on available fund balances along with other personal data on the same chip. They want to create a way to have all employers in the U.S. transfer funds to the EU's Central Bank and have funds transferred back to the U.S. into chip accounts for each citizen concerned within 24 hours of the original transfer. No one can buy or sell a thing without accessing the system we set up. Do you understand? This is going to be a World Account Transfer System. We'll call it the WATS system. No checks, no credit cards, and nothing moves unless it goes through WATS, got it?"
Eddie rubbed his eyes wearily trying to pay attention to what Oscar just said. "What about cash?" Eddie asked skeptically.
"I bet they make it illegal. It's not worth anything anymore. This is the only currency that counts."
"Does it have to be in Euro dollars?" He had no problems with how. He just wanted to know the format, now.
"No problem. We transfer in American currency, and the Europeans convert it coming and going for us. We just have to design a system that can handle the transfers at lightning speed. Hey, it won't be Euro or American dollars anymore, only WATS dollars. How about that?" exclaimed Oscar in his excitement.
"Sounds like WATS of money to me," exclaimed Eddie while laughing at his own dumb humor.
He continued, "Amazing, just amazing, and in my lifetime too. Well, you know Oak Ridge TVA just got in trouble for putting the electronic chips in the employees' food while trying to track their bathroom break habits. Hey, they're gone now anyway, right? I can get you something to hold 48G of information and receive currency data enabling transfers from the chip to other electronic devices. Is that what you're talking about? Oh, I forgot, all this can be sent back and forth over the Internet through the Federal Reserve in a lock-and-key format. As long as they cooperate, we can have the money flowing back to us in 24 hours, just like the doctor ordered. Goes to them, and back, and we disperse. When do you want it?"
"How big a chip is it?" asked Oscar
"Like they use on large animals, except half the size of a small rice kernel. It's covered and wrapped with an encoded Teflon coating. Where do you want a person to keep it? In their back pocket? How would they ever find it?" Eddie replied sarcastically while feeling a little heady from his own genius.
"Got me. That's not my call. Is there technology that can read the chip if someone walks through a grocery store lane?"
"Sure, it's all just scanner stuff. Magtec has tons of the stuff, and it's simple to manufacture. It means the grocery stores will have to throw away the swipe stuff and used handheld ones."
"What about a gas station?" asked Oscar skeptically.
"Oscar, no matter what you think, this really isn't rocket science. The technology is already here. We developed some of this stuff years ago, just waiting on the economy to catch up to the technology. Now, when do you want it?" replied Eddie grumpily.
"Can you come to Wheeling, West Virginia?"
"Yes, but when? My gosh, Oscar, tell me so I can go back to sleep!" he shouted almost getting ready to hang up on him if he didn't hurry up.
"Tomorrow? You need to meet the President for a conference call with Andre Montplier in Europe, tomorrow!" he said excitedly.
"No rush, there! Okay. Tomorrow has 24 hours in it, and the Europeans are on a different time zone. I'll be there around six tomorrow evening. Since they need my stuff so much, they'll meet when I want. I'm the only game in town, anyway. Now hang up and let me go back to sleep," commanded Eddie, then hung up the phone before Oscar did.
"Honey?" replied Eddie's wife. "Who was that?"
"President Terrone wants to meet with me tomorrow. I never voted for the jerk, now I have to help him."
"What! The President of the United States! Are you kidding? Is that all you have to say?" She was shaking him as he went back to sleep.
"Okay, okay, one more thing. Geeks rule!"
Aftermath Snapshot
At a Solid Gold Transaction Company employee meeting, Charlie stood before 50 of his employees while considering exactly what he would say. There was an occasional vacant desk, but overall, most of his employees were there. Several of his people had committed suicide last night.
"Okay folks. Listen up. I know that we are all in a messed-up state, but that doesn't mean squat to me! We have a job to do, and we're going to do it. We're the only ones in the U.S. who are going to make a deal with the devil, so to speak. We're getting the Euro Contract on electronic funds transfer to and from the EU's Central Bank in Europe. Eddie is on his way to see the President right now with the contract. They want our technology, and we want the job. It's as simple as that."
He continued slowly now while lowering his voice and pretending a point of sadness for effect, "I know that many of you have missing family. So do I. My brother with his wife and children are gone. I know that we all have to admit that we were wrong about this fundamentalist rapture thing. Well, that's over. We're all here. We all screwed up, and we can't do anything about it. It's over. What we can do is survive."
"This is the plan guys. We have new Magtec scanners that allow merchants to scan chips anywhere on a person in order to deduct cash information for purchases. We normally charge a $150 apiece, but guess what? They cost $1,500, now. But, we'll set up a payment plan for them, then ACH it ourselves right from their accounts at the Central Bank. The good news is that since we're charging more for it, we'll give you $2 extra per sale. What a deal, right? If they can't scan, they can't sell a thing. We have a way to adapt a smart phone to do the same thing for only $1,000. We're in control here, guys—the only ones."
He continued, "Start calling our own customers first. If they talk about trading in equipment, tell them to forget it. This is a new world and a whole new ball game. Remember, we're in charge!"
Wheeling, West Virginia
Eddie walked up to the new capitol house in Wheeling. It was a 15-bed (bed and breakfast) just off the town square. The capitol police started an extensive search of Eddie as he kept pulling chips, wires, and fuse-like-looking devices from his pockets.
"Mister, we don't know what all this is, but you'd better stay put while we have our people check it out."
Eddie's face was shoved against the wall with a guard's hand around the back of his neck. The guard continued to press him against the wall until he tasted the lead in the flecking paint. Finally, he had enough.
“I'm here because of a special invitation from the President of the United States. I'm the superior geek providing the tech stuff to work with the Central Bank in Europe. You'd better get someone down here to straighten this out, pronto! You're not going anywhere with my stuff!" He grabbed at some of his prized electronic parts, artfully snatching several pieces from a nearby guard. They responded by pulling their guns at his success. The guard pulled him away from the wall and slammed him back into it again, then Cassidy came down the stairs just as it happened.
"What in the world are you guys doing to our technical wizard? Have you any idea how close you all are at being shot?"
Cassidy's own security police had their M16's pointed directly at ea
ch security guard's head. The guards dropped their guns in a panic and the youngest one, called Donnie, started crying hysterically.
"Eddie," said Cassidy, "come with me."
He turned without question and continued to snatch his electronic pieces and stuck them deep into his pockets. As Cassidy rounded the corner of the long hall, she ran into her new presidential advisor.
"Eddie, I'd like you to meet President Terrone's new advisor over domestic and religious affairs. Professor Pendwight, this is Eddie. Eddie, this is Professor Pendwight."
The professor looked worn-out and haggard. He had been traveling for days. Only on an impulse had he picked up a hitchhiker who happened to be a dark angel sent to help him. They traveled the last 100 miles discussing all sorts of religious subjects, then the dark angel directed the professor to Terrone's bed and breakfast.
He gave him an introductory letter that simply said, "We recommend Professor Pendwight as the President's advisor over domestic and religious affairs." It was signed, ''Friends of your father." Unknown to Pendwight, it was signed with Apollyon's blood. Cassidy keenly sensed it. It took her less than a microsecond to feel the powerful urge to comply. She stopped calling it intuition anymore. They were her dark voices, now.
Cassidy knew who her father was. She was proud to know. Her grandmother explained it to her on her 18th birthday. As she told her story, Cassidy heard known information repeated, but what she didn't know made everything else make sense now. She listened politely about her mother's childbirth death along with her twin sister, and how hard it was for her grandmother to raise her, but not because of expense. She was honestly shocked to find out how much money was in a trust fund, just for her—millions. She knew before her grandmother said another word that her father had everything to do with it.
"Your mother was a witch, as I am. Your father is Dar-Raven. He's a dark commander for Apollyon. You are a dark Nephilim. You're a child born of an angel and a human. You are born with all the wisdom of hell. You have all the dark secrets of Apollyon embedded in your soul and mind. You are capable of many things beyond that of a human, but I don't know what they all are. You must listen to the voices. They will lead you in the direction you need to go. I will continue to be your guide as long as you need me. One day, you must listen only to your own voices."
When Cassidy returned home after graduating from Vanderbilt, majoring in political science, she went to her grandmother and simply said, "I hear the voices clearly now. You've been useful to me and to Apollyon, but no one can know what I am."
Cassidy touched her forehead lightly, and her grandmother died instantly of a brain embolism. Cassidy removed all evidence of her existence from pictures to letters and left her house burning to the ground. She left for Arizona to follow the voices.
Eddie Meets The Devil
Eddie followed Pendwight and Cassidy back to the President's suite. Terrone was honestly happy to see him. He looked to Eddie as his ace in the hole. He knew Eddie could deliver; and by virtue of this home run, Eddie would be responsible for Terrone winning the European favor— Terrone always liked being a hero.
"After all, wasn't the U.S. the supreme god of technical? We are the real source of technical genius," he thought.
"Eddie, Eddie, I'm so glad to meet you."
Terrone towered over Eddie; and when Terrone stood square in front of him, no one knew Eddie was there. Yes, Terrone was the explicit, massive athlete, bulked up from all those boxing days. He still worked out for hours each day to the dismay of his bodyguards. They spotted him all the time. They became better for it, having been dragged reluctantly into it at first. By virtue of this, Terrone had the best personal trainers in the world, willing to push him and themselves to the limit.
"Going to the max," Terrone called it.
Eddie stood only 5'2" and weighed just at a hundred pounds soaking wet. He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag if he tried, but he didn't want to. He knew his victories were in his mind. He was the king of his world and knew it. He took special pleasure in knowing everything about everything. In his spare time, he devoured online encyclopedias by the multi-meg. What made him enjoy his mind victories even more was because he was uneducated—just a High school diploma. He had taught it all to himself. He could tell you every piece of information and where he got it that included the page number, the time, down to the serial number on a floppy disc where he saved his information. It was his photographic memory that made it all work. Now, he was the teacher and the ultimate walking encyclopedia of high-tech, high-transaction knowledge. If a transaction moved electronically in the world, he knew how and why it did or didn't. Furthermore, he understood how to make it move by writing the codes at lightning speed without the help of special conversion programs.
Eddie yelped, "Ouch, President, not so hard!"
Terrone dropped his handshake apologetically saying, "I'm sorry, Eddie. I don't know my own strength."
Pendwight stood back warily, having only been on the job less than half a day and still stunned by his good fortune. He never said a word about his dark angel friends. After all, they hired him for his wealth of knowledge about religion; and supposedly, people. They were supposed to go hand in hand.
They were sitting around a conference table that Terrone had brought in as his desk. He had a thing about massive furniture and the feel of solid wood. He said it was because everything in his life had been big. He was thinking of his mother and father with all his sisters and brothers. They were more like the American big-foot family.
Terrone was pacing back and forth down the full-length of his table and periodically bounced a golf ball on it until Cassidy yelled at him, "Will you please sit down and stop bouncing that ball? What we are doing at this moment, at this very moment, is more important than you will ever know. We are creating history. We are driving the vehicle to our and your own domain—the world. Now, stop it!"
He sat down sheepishly behind his desk in a tailored-made-to-fit, immense chair and swiveled nervously back and forth in it. Cassidy appeased him by asking him, "Darling, do you have any questions for Eddie?"
"Yeah, I sure do. I understand that all this information can be stored in something the size of a corn kernel, right?" he asked.
"Half of a rice grain, Mr. President, a grain of rice, like this." Eddie put the rice grain on the table and flipped it towards the pane window behind the President's chair.
Three capitol guards moved so fast that Eddie found himself face down in the conference table's wood. The rice grain barely missed Terrone's face and glanced off the window. It was somewhere in the thick-piled carpet.
"Slow down, guys! I was just demonstrating a point. Try to find the sucker. I bet you can't," he mumbled, tasting furniture polish as he spoke.
Cassidy grabbed the hand of one guard and with exceptional strength pulled it away from Eddie and shoved the guard backwards in one swift move. Terrone had seen her do things like that before and always marveled.
She reached for the other guard, who was still holding Eddie, but he backed away like a scolded dog. He had his thumbs broken by her before. It was just an accident, but he was too quiet when he walked up behind her one day. She noticed, although she was listening to music on her headset while out for a morning stroll. She didn't wait to see who it was; but immediately turned as if she knew he was there—he never figured out how. She grabbed his hands in a vice grip breaking both his thumbs, including two other fingers on each hand. He still remembered. He also remembered how fast it happened. He didn't think a human could move that fast and wasn't giving her another chance.
Cassidy smiled knowingly at his back off and commented, "Ease up, guys. This isn't Viet Nam. Eddie is our guest. Now, just like you said, a rice grain." Cassidy walked six feet from where she stood. She bent over, put her hand deep in the carpet, and pulled it out. "Is this the one?"
"How did you find that? How did you find it so quickly? It would take
a magnifying glass and several hours to find it, normally." He watched her almost cocky confidence as she walked back towards him, then plopped it back down in his palm.
"You're right, rice," she stated.
Terrone recovered from the excitement and continued his questions. "I just want to know one thing. Where is anyone going to put this chip so it can be scanned in grocery stores and such?"
"That's up to you. I don't care," replied Eddie casually, and he didn't. He was straightening his white dress shirt, which hung off one shoulder and under it was an orange t-shirt. The t-shirt had a bright-blue, Tennessee-Titan football symbol on the back, seen clearly through his shirt. His red Mickey Mouse tie look mismatched with its nicely tied cravat that hung three inches from his buttoned-down collar, with only one button fastened. It drove home an alarming point. He just didn't care what he looked like. Everyone wanted his mind, and he knew it.
Pendwight jumped like someone had shocked him and ran into Terrone's library. Terrone inherited it from an attorney friend who had just died. He bought it from his widow out of kindness, and it was only for show. The library was connected to Terrone's own private bedroom, which was called the West Wing. He used it to get away from everyone.
Pendwight came from the library holding his finger in a book with a sneaky smile on his face. He was getting ready to pay back the believers. "Put it on the right hand! Or even on someone's forehead," he announced pompously. Cassidy was the only one who caught the significance of it and smiled openly. Now, she knew that Pendwight was part of her team.
"Think about it this way, gentleman. It can be placed just under the skin. When I go to the store to buy food, I just hold up the back of my right hand, and it can be easily scanned. In addition, if I walk through an airport gate, I can be scanned to verify that I have enough money to pay for the ticket, as well as, checking my personal history to make sure the census has me listed correctly. For instance, I'm a white male, approximately 6', weighing less than 180 pounds. Except, we can add one extra element that Montplier will love. Remember, we don't want them to do it to us again, do we? This time, there's data stored on the chip that shows whether someone is one of those true believers. We won't let them do it to us again! We can even make it a law against removing it—immediate imprisonment. But, for those believer idiots, we'll make them put it on their foreheads. They'll have to make a decision what side they're on before we mark them. They won't be able to buy, sell, or even get a job without being marked. I love it!"
Terrone replied sarcastically, "You seem to have it all figured out. What book did you get that 'in-the-hand thing' from, Pendwight?"
"The Bible—in Revelation. It would be just enough to drive those new fundamentalists crazy. Don't you know?" Pendwight chuckled while bubbling over with his own dark humor.
"Eddie," asked the President, "how easy is all this?"
"Too easy," feeling a little uneasy about the use of the word "marked" and on the "forehead." His own Baptist mother and father were taken, and he remembered them talking about stuff like this when he was a kid. It scared the fire out of him then and was doing the same thing now. He somehow felt like he was making a deal with the devil. He looked intensely at Cassidy, and goose bumps rose on his skinny arms. She stared at him waiting for some definite comment while sensing his fears and noticing the sweat breaking out on his bony forehead.
"Where would we put one on you, Eddie?" she asked sarcastically.
He felt the power of her question. His lips quivered, and his mouth went dry. He was actually being asked to make a decision and didn't want to. He wanted to think about it. He felt her eyes bearing down on him. He was glad he was sitting down so no one could tell his knees where shaking.
Cassidy moved quickly towards him, then pounced on him like a cat. She held his face in one hand; the other was on his shirt collar and pulled him near her face. Her knees were placed squarely on his own, which started trembling from the pain.
"I asked you a question, Eddie! Where would you put it? Put it on your forehead like the fanatics or on the back of the hand like the rest of us?"
He pulled his face away and almost in a rebellious tone replied, "I wouldn't. I wouldn't let anyone mark me at all."
She shook his collar making his head thrash around when Terrone yelled at her, "Leave the poor guy alone, will you, Cassidy?"
He came around the end of the table and grabbed her about her waist while trying to pull her away from him. She screamed in frustration and flung him back towards the wall. Her strength was too much for him, and he rolled backwards hitting the wall with a loud thud. Once again, he was being manhandled by Cassidy. He nodded to the guards, and they swarmed on her and held her arms only barely containing her. She thrashed around trying to fend them off, and they held on like they were on a bucking bronco.
"Stop, Cassidy! Stop it now! Enough is enough! This is not the time for another one of your fits! Stop it!" yelled Terrone.
With an unusually even tone and relaxed posture, she commented to the terrified Eddie, "You don't seem much like a team player, Eddie. Well," she replied in an uplifted, playful tone, "I guess you'll just starve to death. The choice is yours."
"Cassidy, Eddie, everyone! Will you all just settle down a minute? You're taking all this stuff so seriously. Don't forget that Eddie is here to help. We neeeeed his help, Cassidy. Do you understand?" emphasized Terrone.
Eddie dropped to the floor and tried crawling towards the door. He was getting out of there. The guards stepped in front of him like two big oak trees blocking his path and picking him up to his feet. Both of them started brushing him off and straightening his clothes. Cassidy moved quickly to his side and took his arm as if they were entering a dance.
"Eddie, relax, we're just kidding around. Go sit down. We have a conference call with Montplier in a minute. We'll just refer to you as our unmarked wizard, okay? You see, no one cares around here, do we, guys?" she asked as she looked at her guards with a hateful glare.
There was a grunting of, "No," "of course not," "absolutely not," but Eddie knew better. He just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. He pulled a contract out of his briefcase and tossed it towards the President, but it was intercepted by Cassidy. Pendwight moved from a place in the corner of the room where he had pressed himself during the Cassidy episode and looked at it over her shoulder.
"I'm here to get this contract signed. What you do with our technology after I get it running doesn't matter to me. I'm going to be somewhere in the Smoky Mountains, surrounded by 200 acres of rock and woods. I don't care what the world does with this stuff. Just give me a signed contract."
Eddie was promised a huge bonus that would set him up for life; and in his mind, he'd already spent it. He really was moving to the Smokies, and he doubted anyone would ever find him. No one would be able to make him take a mark, even if they wanted to. He planned to be one of those perpetual dropouts.
Cassidy examined the text and with heavy sarcasm replied, "A contract? Well, let's see. A transaction fee of 50 dollars per transfer on payrolls going to Europe and 25 dollars coming back. A fee of a dollar per buy-and-sell transaction after that. My, this looks a little steep. So help me understand the room."
"What room?" asked Eddie.
"The Terrone and Cassidy room. Where do we fit in? I'm sure we do, don't we?" asked Cassidy sarcastically.
Eddie was prepared, "Ten percent of all fees over 22 cents no matter how they are transmitted."
"No, 50 percent, and you take care of the Europeans from your part," shot back Cassidy with a rapid reply.
"Fifty percent! You've got to be kidding?" He lied. They expected as much, and thought it would be higher. The price was well adjusted for any contingency.
"I've got to make a call first." He walked to the other end of the room and quietly called on his cell phone. "They want 50 percent and for us to take care of the Europeans."
Charlie laughed openly since he had already planned on this. "Of
fer them 45 percent and five percent stock in our company if they pay for all the technical interfaces. We'll take care of the Europeans. I'm just going back to NACHA, and I'll get it back on their end. Do the deal, Eddie! Do the deal!"
Cassidy smiled, being the only other person who heard, "Tell Charlie, it's a deal. Here's a laptop with Word. You have a flash drive of the contract, don't you? Change it right now, and we'll finish up our part before the conference with Europe begins. Here!" She pointed to a conference table chair and slid her laptop to him already set on the Word program.
He slowly changed and added the figures, then went to print on two copies; and at that moment, prompted by Cassidy's intercom signal, a legal advisor came in to witness the contract and have it notarized. They were waiting out in the hall.
Eddie turned to Cassidy and asked mystified, "Was I speaking so loud that you could hear my conversation or are you Superwoman?"
"Terrone says I'm Superwoman. Just comes with my Raven genes, I guess." She laughed at her little secret, admiring her own Nephilim talents.
The European Beast
Andre watched the video screen with Angelica standing behind him, her hand on his shoulder. He felt so empowered by her presence. Sometimes, he was surprised how deflated he felt when she moved away from him; he needed her more than ever.
"So, Mr. President, you have the technology wizard with you, I see?" Andre had to admire the speed in which America moved when it wanted to. He was also pleased by the promise of the competency that Eddie provided. What bothered him was the fearful and intimidated look in Eddie's eyes. Eddie kept looking back over his shoulder at Cassidy.
Angelica understood. She could see the strength in Cassidy. She could see the softer more attractive Dar-Raven features in her. His features before he was thrust from heaven; and before, he burned away his beauty and took on his legendary "Skeletor" appearance. She sensed an almost reckless explosiveness in Cassidy that she considered dangerous. She doubted that Cassidy even knew what she was capable of.
Cassidy stepped beside Eddie, which made him pull away and lean into the opposite side of the chair. She leaned into the video and sidetracked the technical talk by talking about the "mark."
"We want the marks to be in two places. One for the believers—we call them—and the other for everyone else."
The fanatical emphasis that Cassidy placed on the "mark" issue was convenient if not prophetic. Angelica saw the darkness oozing from Cassidy's words as she explained the need to (make sure it didn't happen again). To think that a Nephilim could be so completely in sync with Apollyon and his plans without knowing about her and Sister Jessica. That was thrilling as well as scary.
Cassidy stepped back behind Eddie to be with Terrone, and Eddie continued to talk sophisticated propeller-head language, but in such detail, no one doubted his expertise. It was obvious that he knew what he was talking about, and the admiration of everyone listening brought their opinion of him from a code monkey to the guru level.
Andre listened to the complete plan, then spoke hesitantly, "Folks, it's obvious that you've worked out many of the details, except one. Where are the chips going to be manufactured? Do you really have a facility big enough to provide the whole world with this stuff?"
Eddie shrugged at his question, "I just provide the know how. It's up to someone else to provide the goods. Do you have a suggestion?" Eddie seemed to sense that a suggestion was coming.
Eddie looked back at Terrone and Cassidy when he took the initiative. They nodded "okay" at his comment, and he relaxed a little. He was sure that the Cassidy episodes were over for the time being.
"Well, Angelica has family in Iraq with several manufacturing firms that can be refitted to handle this. Don't you, dear?" Andre turned to her and gave her a waist hug from his chair.
"Yes, I have two Uncles who can handle this. I have a question about another important issue. Do you mind, Andre?" She moved in front of him after he gave her an affirming nod and sat in his lap.
"The information on the chips? What are the questions to determine whether someone is part of another fanatical element? What are the specific words that can be used?"
Eddie jumped up and moved out of the way knowing Cassidy would be returning to finish this part of the presentation. He was wrong. Pendwight received a knowing nod from Terrone and Cassidy. It was his turn.
"I'm Professor Pendwight. I would like the questions to be simple in any language. They could be:
Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Or, have you ever received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Including, have you ever been reborn, saved, regenerated, or redeemed by the blood of Christ?
He continued, "You see, if they answer, 'no,' the mark goes on their right hand. If they answer, 'yes,' the mark goes on their forehead. I'd suggest, if someone answers, 'yes,' that we withhold 50 percent of their allowable income in trust by the appropriate government. This will repay employers for damages they have suffered from the others who left. This fund can also reimburse any governments or employers for future harm if the fanatics try to do it again." Pendwight was aglow with the blow he thought he had made to those whom he hated most. He wanted to be responsible for this decision.
"Professor Pendwight, you are a very wise man. I couldn't have come up with such a simple plan myself. You are to be congratulated. Shall we call this the Pendwight Regulation in honor of your great wisdom? Except, I'd like to make one comment. This actually might be an Eddie question."
"Yes sir. What is that?" he remarked confidently as he noticed Eddie stepping closely beside him.
"Ask all of those questions to make sure we cover all the bases with these fanatics but give me some assurance that there will be enough memory on the chips to contain that text and detailed information from dates of birth, social security numbers, (as you call them), as well as other census data that we will need."
Eddie leaned towards Pendwight and the video, "There's plenty of room. Enough to store a complete volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica’s: picture and video memory including movies if you want. Imagine that," replied Eddie proudly, then backed away while standing purposely on Terrone's side of the room.
"Eddie," replied Andre, "I might just try to snatch you away from the U.S. if you give me a chance. I could use a man like you on our side of the ocean."
"Thank you, sir. I've already accepted another offer from the Smoky Mountain Corporation," replied Eddie, then chuckled with his own humor, but noticed Cassidy glaring at him and ducked his head in silence.
Pendwight bowed and stepped away from the screen to let Terrone sit down. "When can we start the census and get the first delivery of chips?"
Andre turned to Angelica, and she answered, "Give us two weeks to set up the electronic accounts so that money is moving. By the end of two weeks, you'll have enough chips to handle ten million. Might I suggest you give us a schedule of particular regions of your country you want to target first so we can calculate and workout the workload?”
Terrone turned to Cassidy, and she whispered, "The South, Terrone. The South."
"We believe it will be our Southern states. I'll send you the schedule so you can handle continuous shipments," replied Terrone.
Cassidy pushed in front of him, interjecting, "I want to start enforcing complete compliance within a month. No mark, no job. No mark, no food. No mark, imprisonment. That should handle it."
Andre and Angelica looked at each other with a sense of great accomplishment. She whispered to Andre like when she was a little kid. "The world, Andre, remember? Just figure out how. I'll be there to help."
No one else heard it but Cassidy; and at that moment, she realized that Terrone had competition. That was her agenda too. She determined, in order for this to work for her world, she had to make sure American regained control of its money again. She had to make sure that another fanatical catastrophe didn't happen. She thought s
he might have to resort to more drastic measures with the believers. She decided that she had to prove to the world that the U.S. could handle these believer problems even more decisively than anyone else. She saw images of thousands of guilty mark breakers in jail and even dead for not complying. Terrone would have had a heart attack if he been able to see inside her mind.
For a moment, Cassidy looked up at Pendwight. She knew he was having similar thoughts, although she couldn't read his mind. It was as if they had a natural affinity of darkness between them. They both smiled knowingly when they looked at each other.
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