by C M Dancha
Before her next glass of chardonnay was delivered by the outwardly gay waiter, Sophia made her decision. She would stay in Europe for two more months and then flee to a safe haven. She was too close to the long-anticipated revenge on Mr. Sun to leave now. Plus, the clues to finding him were becoming more obvious with each passing day.
There was a new leader of the Black Cross who believed in out-in-the-open clashes with government authorities. Virtually every demonstration and act of violence in Europe was orchestrated by this man. Known only as Gott, he was in the background of every protest march, killing or arson. He was a small man with greasy black hair which never seemed to be in place. His eyes were haunting and pierced through whoever he addressed. He was alluring and despicable simultaneously. He spoke with authority and seductiveness. The average person could listen to him for hours, even though they didn't agree with him. Witnesses swore that when he entered a room the temperature dropped to a chill.
It was evident that this man had big plans for the Black Cross. They would become a military and political force equal to or exceeding the World Council. Sophia believed that replacing World Council puppet governments across Europe was his short-term goal. World domination was most likely his eventual goal. This was the new leader of the Black Cross and Sophia knew that wherever this man was, Mr. Sun was probably close by. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Gott was the replicant Mr. Sun had made in the CR47. By shrewd negotiation and a little luck, she’d avoided having anything to do with bringing back into the world this evil and despicable man.
But there was another reason for staying in Europe a while longer. It had been gnawing at her ever since she left Zurich. Someone was trying to kill her, and she wanted to find him before he found her. The assassin had come very close in Zurich, but he’d made an error in judgment and missed her by minutes. Unfortunately, her only friend, Claudette, had been killed by mistake.
Now she had a lead on the assassin, courtesy of her ex-boyfriend. As she ran a surgical razor up and down his inner thigh and peeled back the tender skin to his genitals, he’d begged for mercy. He’d tried to bargain for his life with the story of how and why he’d sold her out to the World Council's puppet government in Moldova. She wasn't interested in his pleas at first. But, when he brought up the name of the man who bought the information about her underground, anti-government group, her interest piqued. The ex-boyfriend had screamed in pain the name – Mr. Todd.
She’d heard that name before. Where? Had she heard it from Rollie, or possibly Raul? Or could it have been Klaus Ekstrom, the former CEO of Phoenvartis who got everything he deserved in the bomb explosion at her Zurich apartment? It would come to her eventually. For now, the point was that his name was popping up too often in her life. It had to be more than a coincidence. She needed to find out more about this guy and either eliminate him from her assassin's suspect list or take him out.
As she drained the last few drops of her wine, she considered calling Helga, the administrative assistant to every Phoenvartis CEO for the past twenty-five years. If there was a connection between anyone at Phoenvartis and Mr. Todd, Helga would know. Her gang of administrative assistants and lower-level executives were the behind-the-scenes leaders at the company. Their power and influence moved the company in whatever direction the gang wanted. And on rare occasions, their manipulation of the company's rules, regulations and systems was criminal.
"Hello, Sophia, how have you been my dear?" Helga knew Sophia was on the run so there was no point to asking where she was.
"I've been very good, Helga. How about you?"
"Things have improved quite a bit since Slice was found monkeying around." Helga snickered at her own joke.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, dear, haven't you heard? Slice was found in the CR47 being cloned with that ape. I think her name was Maxine. Let me tell you, he… or she, isn't doing very well." Helga snickered again. At times, she considered herself one of the funniest people on the planet.
"My god, how did that happen?"
"No one knows for sure but there's a strong possibility that Raul, Rollie, and a few others had something to do with it. They disappeared on the same day the Slice-Maxine clone was discovered."
The mere mention of Rollie's name sent a shiver through Sophia's loins. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she still had a soft spot for her former lover and friend. She couldn't help wondering where he was and what he was doing.
"Where did they go?"
"I don't think anyone knows. I know the authorities want to talk to them. Oh, did you hear the latest? Claude has a girlfriend and she's back from the dead. She's that redhead who stands so close when she talks to you. You must know she was found murdered in your apartment. When Claude became CEO, he had her cloned. By the way, what was she doing in your apartment when the bombs went off? Was someone trying to kill you? Did you know…"
Helga rambled on and on, asking Sophia one question after another. Sophia blocked out most of what Helga was yapping about. The one thing which caught her attention was that Claudette had been brought back to life. That piece of information helped ease some of the guilt Sophia had endured over Claudette's death in her apartment. Especially, since it was Sophia who’d asked Claudette to bring a disc to her apartment as a favor.
Sophia finally had to interrupt Helga's rant. "Have you talked to this new Claudette?"
"No, I haven't, but I hear that she acts exactly like the old… I mean, original Claudette."
"That's good. I hope she and Claude can be happy. Helga, have you ever heard of someone named Mr. Todd?"
"Ah, let me think. Hang on a minute." Helga entered Mr. Todd into her halo station and waited for a response. Within seconds, a list of invoices and payments to a Mr. Todd appeared on the screen.
"Yeah, I thought that name sounded familiar. Sophia, there are twelve payments made to a Mr. Todd at six different accounts. The first one was about four years ago, and the last one was right around the time Slice got a fur coat."
Sophia waited for Helga to stop laughing. "Helga, this is very important. Who approved those invoices?"
"It looks like Klaus and Slice approved most of them. However, there are two which come up ‘Restricted’ in the approval column."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure I know. I've never seen that nomenclature before. I'd have to ask the accounts payable people for an explanation."
"If you can without getting into trouble, I'd appreciate it."
"Me – get in trouble? I've sidestepped trouble my entire career here at Phoenvartis and plan to do the same until I retire. Let me see what I can do, my dear."
"Thank you, Helga. Maybe someday I can repay the favor."
"The information you provided on Klaus and the ReLife project was more than… well, let's say you don't owe me anything. Your debts have been paid, far into the future."
Both women disconnected and spent the next few minutes reflecting on their conversation. Helga was overjoyed to hear that Sophia was safe. Not because she cared about Sophia particularly, but because she was a great source for confidential information. Having a source who survived on learning the secrets of the rich and powerful, as well as the seedy underbelly of society, was invaluable to Helga and her gang.
Contacting Helga was one of Sophia's smarter moves in the past few months. The woman had proven to be a fountain of information. She made a mental note to contact Helga on a routine basis, plus follow up on who approved the two mysterious payments to Todd. Her survival might depend on Helga's ability to pry information out of the accounts payable people.
In an ironic twist of fate, as Sophia was learning about the elusive Mr. Todd, Krieger was in Berlin concluding negotiations with Todd. For fifty percent of the credits recovered from Sophia, Todd had been hired to find her and bring her to the Black Cross headquarters. He still owed Sophia, or Catherine, or whoever the hell she was, a good beating and a slow death.
This w
as the type of assignment Mr. Todd relished. It wasn't often he was paid by two different clients to find and deal with the same mark. He had only a few more months to wait before Raul made a decision about renewing his hit on Sophia. In the meantime, there was no reason to turn down Krieger's contract. What could Raul do if Sophia ‘accidentally’ got herself killed by the Black Cross?
25
THE W.C. GOES PROACTIVE
"Ladies and gentlemen, you've lost control. There is anarchy running wild in the streets of every major European city. Economies have come to a virtual standstill. Poverty is at an all-time high and the government officials you put in charge to handle rabble-rousers are inept.
She waited for the scolding to register with each World Council member.
"The citizens are pissed. They're pissed at being hungry, waiting in long lines for every social service and constantly being told what to do and what not to do. And they blame you for everything bad in their lives. It doesn't matter what you did for them a few years ago, or even last week. All they know is that you are to blame for their misery, no matter how hard you try to shift the blame to someone or something else."
The gray-haired woman of about fifty-five years circled the huge, meticulously buffed rosewood conference table as she verbally attacked the World Council members. After five minutes of being berated, the council members no longer tried to watch her. Each of them focused on imaginary objects on the table, trying to avoid eye contact with her. They were all humiliated. She had reduced the leaders of the world to a pack of sniffling children.
"When I gave up my position on the second Healer Council, things were a hundred times better than they are today. There were a few pockets of unrest but overall, people were proud of their government. They made a devoted effort to help their fellow man and support government officials. Today, citizens think only of themselves and would slit the throats of every government worker if given the chance. What the hell have you people been doing to turn society this upside down in less than a hundred years?
She stood at the head of the table with her arms crossed and waited for an answer which never came. She was a stout woman, the type you might see working the fields on a farm. Her round face with ruddy cheeks, and man-sized hands gnarled from physical labor spoke volumes about her upbringing. She was a no-nonsense woman who had been brought back from the grave to correct the deficiencies and stupidity of the current board of Healers, or World Council, the pompous name they now liked to call themselves.
She remembered her accidental death by drowning. She remembered seeing herself lying on a riverbank, being given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by a local farmer. And when she died, she saw her soul float away from her body.
Now, decades later, she was back on planet Earth, walking, talking and breathing as though she’d never left. It had taken a couple of months, but all her previous memories had returned. She remembered her mother, father, and brother. She’d never married. The boys in the village had found her too serious, too studious and too unattractive. The only thing which still eluded her was her name. But the World Council's records and burial plot in the W. C. mausoleum identified her simply as Evelyn.
The FISS plague was a godsend for Evelyn. It provided the opportunity for her to wield a massive amount of power and influence. By the third year on the Healer's Council, she was the most powerful woman in the world. She was so enamored with the prestige of helping reverse the FISS plague that she considered refusing to step down when her fifth year expired. It was at the last moment when her father became ill that she’d decided to follow the unwritten, five-year term limit.
Of all the previous Healers and World Council members, Evelyn was the obvious choice to be cloned. She was a legend to all Healers and World Councils that came after her. They remembered her as a charismatic leader with natural organizational skills. Her intelligence rating was one of the highest ever recorded. Yet, she spoke and related to the common man like one of their own. If anyone could correct the mess the world now found itself in, it was Evelyn. Besides, rumor had it that she was the only Healer who understood why the FISS plague started.
"Council Person Evelyn, what should we do? How do we stop the revolts?"
This was the first intelligent thing she’d heard from a council member since her new life began.
"I'm not sure we can regain control of the masses. It might be too late already. As you know, there is a new movement spreading across the European and Asian continents. It is led by some guy known as Gott, who first appeared with the Black Cross revolutionary group out of Germany. By the way, one of my advisers told me that Gott means ‘god’ in German. I don't know if this is a play on words or by intent. Either way, his movement is gaining in popularity each day. He's going to be very hard to stop by conventional means, so my advisers and I are piecing together a plan to neutralize him. None of you need to know what the plan will be. You're going to be so busy winning back the hearts and minds of the citizens, you won't have time to worry about anything else."
"What will we be doing, Council Person?"
"First, you’re going to give up all the luxuries you've accumulated. No more high living. You will surrender your luxurious apartments, fancy transports, exotic meals, and lovers. You can keep only basic necessities. All other luxuries will be sold off and the proceeds will be used to fight our enemies and be dispersed to the needy."
Evelyn could see the energy drain out of most of the Council members. She could see their brains sifting through a list of their assets and mentally calculating how they could hang on to the more valuable items. What they didn't know was that Evelyn's advisers were already seizing account Credits and hard assets stored away in vaults and warehouses around the world. By the time this meeting adjourned, each of the World Council members would be as poor as a church mouse.
"Secondly, each of you will relocate to a different part of the world. Your job will include living among the common citizens. You'll be there to learn why they are discontented and then put in place a plan to correct their problems. Remember, making false promises usually works with the masses, but don't do it too often. The faster you gain their confidence, the more effective you'll be. I recommend that you learn to enjoy being a commoner. Eat at their tables, work beside them, sing the local songs of love and toil and listen, listen, listen to what they say."
As Evelyn expected, one of the council members asked, "What if we don't want to do this? Can we give up our position and opt out of the remainder of our five-year term?"
Without hesitation, Evelyn responded. "Absolutely. You can get up and leave right now. But before you do let me explain what the consequences will be. You will not receive any World Credits from this day forward. Also, you should know that as we sit here this morning all your World Credit accounts and hard assets are being seized."
Three or four of the council members jumped out of their chairs. All the members were furious and muttering to themselves or to one another. Only one member had the courage to attack Evelyn. "That's outrageous, Madam. Who the hell do you think you are?"
Evelyn cut him off with her answer. "I'm the person you people decided to bring back to clean up your mess. That's exactly what I plan to do. Believe it or not, I was happy being dead. I didn't ask for this job; you people drafted me into service." She waited a moment to catch her breath and calm down a little before resuming the berating of the group. "Let me add, the only outrageous thing is what you people have been doing since assuming a World Council seat. You've stolen everything you could get your hands on. You've cheated and lied to benefit yourselves. But worst of all, you did it without remorse as though it was owed to you."
Evelyn waited for the room to calm down and then said, "Okay, who wants to quit?"
No one left the room. "Council Person Evelyn, if we stay for the rest of our five-year term, will we accrue the same benefits as previous World Council members?"
"Providing you have done your job adequately and with enthusiasm, you'll be
given a modest retirement package."
Evelyn waited for a decision from each Council member. They stayed in their chairs and slowly gave her their attention.
"Okay, I assume you will be staying. The next thing is that you'll be submitting an action plan to my office each week. This plan will outline the problems in your region and what you recommend to correct the problems. It will also provide an update on corrective programs already implemented. Programs that are working will be expanded and recommended to other regions. Programs that aren’t working will be discontinued immediately. We don't have a lot of time. We need to find answers fast, so the masses will come back to our side and not follow a false prophet like this Gott fellow."
Evelyn continued lecturing and informing the World Council members of their new duties for several more hours. Although the Council members were upset by the loss of their toys and assets, each of them had to admit that her plans were brilliant. Near the end of the meeting, she sprang two surprises on them. The first was that the company who built the CR47 cloning machine for Phoenvartis had been nationalized and put under her direct control. One of her advisers was on his way to the company to direct the improvement and building of hundreds of CR47 cloners. This was the new abbreviated term for the reproduction machines.
"Why are we spending so much on building hundreds of CR47's?"
"Because there is war on the horizon and most of you will be dead within the next three years. If we can recover your body, then we can bring you back."
Evelyn's frankness shocked the Council members. Most of them wondered if they’d made the right decision to stay on the Council and follow her plans. But, what choice did they really have? Either way, their futures seemed bleak. All they could hope for was that her prediction of global war was wrong.
