"How do we plan to counter this? We have already concluded Project Tek-Fall. Faithers don't do super soldiers or MMLs. We do robots and robot suits, androids, drones, mechanical weapons, energy weapons, even biological weapons, but not super soldiers or man-made life forms."
Wings of the Magi Order speaks. "Nor should we. The Magi Order will handle the issue of super soldiers. We have reversible bio-cybernetic tek that can deal with any human, humanoid, or animal threats created."
"You mean the demons."
"Yes, we've been dealing with them since the late '60s."
"What of this Keeper? She's the mother of these things, isn't she?"
"She's the mother of the American ones. But we destroyed them all. She's not the mother of the ones in other countries. The Internationalists are, but we successfully destroyed their main Zoo facility. And the Keeper destroyed all her potential successors, with our guidance. May I suggest we table this part of the discussion? It is something that shouldn't worry the Continuum."
"What does the Magi worry about?"
"The security, longevity, and prosperity of Faith World. The same as everyone else in the Continuum."
Moses and M notice Sek standing next to the open area of the Coliseum seats. He makes eye contact with them, holds up two fingers, and types the air. Moses looks at his tablet, M leans in also, and they read the message.
Tova of the Conservative Jewish Order is the only one standing from her seat, reading from her table-top tablet. "For our Brazil op, we'd like to praise the new Continuum Medical Corps under the leadership of Rabba Silva. The highest praise from the Sisters Guerras, who we all know don't compliment easily, for the fine work of our Amish, Mennonite, Orthodox, and Hasidic medics in attending to the more than six thousand women in distress that were rescued."
The Continuum audience give loud applause from their seats.
"Also praise for Sister Serena and the Sisters Guerras for bringing an end to the Slave Wars in Brazil. The 'good guys' did the winning. We now have firm bases of operations in the Spanish Americas to effectively move to the eradication of all slavery in the remaining thirty percent of the Spanish Americas. With Mexico, Central America, and now Brazil gone to them, their days are numbered."
Applause again.
"We praise in advance the Hasidim who will be creating a new Dog Corps for the Continuum for small, highly specialized operations where biologic rather than technological detection methods are required."
Applause.
"And we praise in advance the work of Yohan, the Cowboy Rabbi, in creating another much needed, already mentioned, force for the Continuum. An advance, paramilitary force for medium to large operations. That of the Cowboy Coalition."
Applause.
"We praise Elliott Finegold in taking the lead in the highly-controversial One Project for both the Jewish and Protestant Orders, in seeing our remaining Hidden and Lot Faithers around the world rejoin with our enclaves.
"And to settle the question of the Jewish and Christian Exiles, Mr. Elliott has already enlisted the Gnostics and the Shinto Order in his task. I don't envy him—none of us do—but we all know that if there is a person who can see us through this to the end, it is Elliott. Thank you for leading this."
Applause again.
Another face appears on one of the vid-screens.
"And finally, we formally acknowledge the new Pope of the Catholic Order, Pope Marcos I."
All the seated Continuum members rise to their feet to give standing applause.
8:02 p.m., 10 October 2096
Dinner was light, and afterward the Continuum senior leaders convene in a small conference room. After the full Continuum meeting, such smaller follow-up and planning meetings happen well into the night.
All the attendees are of the Protestant Order—the merging of all the collapsing denominations of the past in the latter 2080s—Anglican, Baptist, Church of God in Christ, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, and others, including American Catholics who decided to convert. The only non-Protestants are the Catholics, Niccolo and Augustín, and the Conservative Jews, Tova, and Mr. Tova.
Augustín shakes his head at hearing the explanation from M.
"That was the Finger of God Project. That's...ruthless."
Dale, one of the Protestant leaders, responds, "They had their blasphemous 'Good Bible' and mandatory Registration Initiatives, their Project Purity, their great grand ghetto concentration camp in the center of the country. Sending their registration compliance officers into our churches and synagogues. It was bad. It was civil war."
Augustín holds up his arm to calm him. "I'm Mexican. You had to deal with anti-religious governments. So did we in our country. We began our fight a century and a half earlier and have been dealing with our own anti-religious, Plutarco Calles-style governments ever since and criminal narco-cartels." He smiles. "We like ruthless." He glances at Niccolo. "You were right."
"I told you," Niccolo says. "Faithers in America are not the Faithers in America of the past. They not only caught up to us in the ruthless area, I think they've surpassed us."
"High praise coming from a Sicilian." Dale manages a laugh.
"A very provocative operation," Augustín says.
"It was a very provocative op," Tova adds, "but we all approved it."
"However, I will confess that such an op would probably not have been approved today," Moses says. "They have their hands full with Anarchists, so we stay away. Out of sight, out of mind. Let them attack and kill each other."
"Is it another op of ours?" Augustín asks.
"Mr. Augustín, we would never incite distrust and violence among our anti-Faither atheist brethren in Tek World. We would never do that."
Augustín smirks at his sarcasm.
"There's no possible way they could know about the Finger of God Project," Bishop Cyrus says. He maintains his clerical title despite the fact that his old Order merged into the new Protestant Order.
"Red Hat is dead," Moses says again.
"It doesn't mean anything," Mr. Tova says. "He wasn't even a Faither. For all we know, he was mugged or surprised a burglar. Those crimes do still happen, even in the tek-cities."
"Moses, I know that look. This is not the days in the height of the Resistance. We're not the street revolutionaries we once were. We're heads of state now. We're not an underground movement. We have our own independent cities. We cannot do anything provocative. We're in the middle of Project Noah," Thaddeus says. "We all know the stakes."
"There's nothing that suggests a sanctioned government hit. Nothing," Cyrus adds.
"I don't believe in coincidences," Moses says.
"But they do legitimately happen," Cyrus counters.
"I agree with Moses," Niccolo says. "I don't believe in coincidences either."
"But what do we have? Nothing."
"One." Niccolo holds up his hand with one finger. "One of your deep operatives gets himself killed."
"The op was seven years ago. Why now?" another leader asks.
"Two. Some strange man shows up in New Lerdo City the very day of the Pope's inauguration ceremony and vanishes. No one can find him. His image is not even on any sat-recon. None of our street intel saw where he went."
"But nothing happened. You said he didn't even get close to Pope Marcos," a female leader says.
"Three," Niccolo continues, "the Mexican Parliament had convened secretly for some unknown purpose."
"For what purpose?" M asks.
"I believe it was to get ready for an imminent attack on the Pope. Spin the news somehow for their own political agenda," Augustín answers.
"What agenda?" M asks.
"I don't know. I'm not an anti-Faither atheist. Something nefarious. I can run down the list of everything they want to do."
M gestures with her hands. "I have to agree with the side of restraint. We did table the discussion to the next full meeting. What about the Bull?" she looks at Nicc
olo.
"We have everything in place. He won't win his re-election."
"Then our person wins."
"Yes."
"So that takes care of your main political threat. Do you have anything that points to a deliberate effort to escape from your forces, this sick man? Niccolo, be objective. Not your instincts, or gut, or third eye. We Faithers are the most paranoid living things on the planet, but couldn't this man have stumbled away? Is it possible?"
"It's possible."
"What about the other two? The Lion and the Turtle?" Augustín asks.
The Bull was the nickname for the current Mexican president, a gregarious man in the public eye, but when the vid-cams weren't recording was a spiteful, morose man given to violent tirades and political retributions. Miles Whitehall was the Prime Minster of Canada. He has flowing white hair to match his sideburns and beard. His nickname is the White Lion in political circles. The brash Joaquim Jimenas is one of the youngest men ever elected as President of Brazil. He is known for his strange fascination with turtles; the grounds of his private mansion housed some sixteen different rare species and he even named his children after different turtles.
"I'm still not convinced that they are doppelgangers, to use the term we've been using," Cyrus says. "Though, the information from the Mormons does support the theory and that this is a global threat."
"May I ask, who cares?" Dale interjects. "Clones, android-copies, whatever, let them create their own Five Cities. We don't live in it. We'll respond to any threats as we always do, whether real human or doppelganger or anything else. Does it matter?"
"It matters," Niccolo answers. "We may not live in their tek-cities, but we still live on this planet. Mexico, Canada, and Brazil. Possibly the same happened in Russia. It matters. We must always know the what, how, and why of what our enemies do. Always—that is our mission as leaders, of all of us in the Continuum."
"Obviously, I agree, but I don't want us to ever think we can save the world. We can't, nor should that be even an indirect mission. We can do a lot of good in the world, but we can't make the world good."
"Sek, do we have anything at all that points to some Grid government plot against Red Hat? Anything?" M asks.
Sek pauses. "No."
"Let's be clear," M adds. "If we ever get that proof, I'll be the first to second the motion for retaliation. But we need to continue our withdrawal from them, not reintroduce ourselves to them. And speaking of paranoid. They are so focused on the Anarchists and others in the Trog-land territories."
"Exactly. When your two enemies are trying to kill each other, you don't jump in between them," Sapphire, another leader, says.
Moses just looks off into space, thinking.
"Moses, will you let this go? We know that look," Cyrus asks.
"Moses?" his wife M asks.
"Who do we have with the most recent experience working in Homeland?" Moses asks.
The group thinks for a moment.
"One of our members was actually an agent out of their Florida Regional Office," Tova answers. She smiles. "They never once suspected him until he left."
"Did we ever meet him?"
"I'm not sure. It was Gideon."
"He retired, though."
"Yes. More like an extended sabbatical. Why do you want to talk with him?"
"I appreciate that you all do not want us to respond with any evidence," Moses says. "But in my mind, we have to find that evidence. If these three separate incidents were a deliberate, secret plot against us, then we have to know, because it means our enemies have vastly improved their effectiveness. We have to know for certain. It's better to be over-cautious than not cautious enough."
"You really think there is a conspiracy?" Thaddeus asks.
"There's always a conspiracy. We know about all the others. Let's make sure this isn't a new one we don't know about."
"We have to be very careful," Dalmatia, another leader, adds. "We mustn't do anything to jeopardize the Project, especially after losing all of Behemoth. We're so close. We can't afford to go to war with the government again."
"That's precisely why I don't believe it's a coincidence. And we're forgetting the claims of these Exiles. How did they know about the Catholic's ceremony?"
"But they told us about it, and if something had happened, then we would have known for sure," Tova says.
"It's okay to live with a heart that sees the glass as half full, but the head must always see it as half empty," Niccolo says. "We went through this in the Middle East. We survived, but many did not. I agree with Moses. We must know, not wish it away and hope for the best or 'leave it to God.' That's Muslim talk. People have a strange habit of attributing much of what is their responsibility to God. We're the leaders. Followers have the luxury to blindly be optimistic. We do not."
"The Exiles telling us would notify us. That's not a very good way to conduct a plot," Cyrus says.
"Galerius and company are not the grand spy masters they think themselves to be. They slip up all the time," Dale adds.
"If they hit us in Mexico, one of our foundational members, and succeeded, what do you think would have been the impact to the Continuum? It would have been catastrophic, in every sense. It would be the equivalent of them hitting us here and now at a full Continuum Meeting. We can be cautious, but the question must be answered for the Continuum," Moses says. "Are we under attack?"
M asks Sek, "Where do you stand?"
"I have no opinion. Some of you feel there is a threat. Some of you want to be cautious because of The Project, which is of singular importance. For me the matter is simple—elevate the threat level. In fact, I've already done so. I've activated all Templar reserves for additional security and surveillance. I don't need a majority or even any facts. All I need is one of you with a suspicion. You're the generals; I'm the generals' bodyguard. My job is very straightforward and no different than my colleague counterparts in the other Orders."
"Mr. Blond would do the same in Mexico and the Four Brothers in Africa," Niccolo says. "And we all know Shoshana's M.O."
Sek continues, "Your job is more complicated. But if this is a new pure conspiracy plot, the Project must take second chair. Otherwise, we could lose everything. The risk is worth it, even if it delays the Project."
"What do you hope to accomplish with Gideon then?" Mr. Tova asks Moses.
"Understand the Grid government's latest protocols to a granular level. If there is a conspiracy, then there's a file. If there is a file, then we have the best teks on the planet to steal that file. And if there is a file to be stolen and we do and it says what we suspect, then our retaliation should be nothing short of hellish."
Chapter Four: Lords of Babylon
The Gideon Residence, Gamaliel Enclave, Florida Panhandle Wastelands
8:56 a.m., 14 October 2096
A slight breeze moves across the surface of the Olympic-sized pool that usually is in use at this time of day. But no swimming laps this morning, Gideon relaxes in his pod-chair in his flowery top and black shorts as the music plays softly and a fan blows from the chair nozzles. Staring at the pool and the sky, he drinks his morning coffee. The entire backyard, with the house ten yards behind him, is a plush green lawn surrounded by a white picket fence.
He is in quiet, content contemplation.
The Wall, Gamaliel Enclave, Florida Panhandle Wastelands
9:22 a.m., 14 October 2096
Auto-drive takes their two-seater car to the main gate and a robot eye—a bulb-like device on a wire-like arm—peers into the car and then scans the men from head to toe. Other robot eyes scan the entire car—top, bottom, inside and outside.
Two men are inside. NIS (his nickname, "Notoriously Invasive Species") is a slim, dark-skinned man with unusual circular eye-glasses that glow an intermittent neon blue. He was formerly of the Catholic Order, specifically the African Collective, but converted to Protestantism when he returned to America. Goli is a giant of a man, seven feet tall and all muscl
es. His parents were of the Israeli Jewish Order, but ever since he was thirteen years old, he has been a member of the Conservative Jewish Order. The men are the top tek-lords of the entire Continuum—teks so brilliant that their skills are viewed as inexplicable, even impressing the Magi Order on occasion.
"Please state your name, receiver, and code," the robot says to him.
"Goli. We're here to see Gideon. 64572. We're expected."
"Confirmed. Proceed inside."
The gate opens. Over the archway, in Hebrew, are the words:
"I DO NOT WANT FOLLOWERS WHO ARE RIGHTEOUS, RATHER I WANT FOLLOWERS WHO ARE TOO BUSY DOING GOOD THAT THEY WON'T HAVE TIME TO DO BAD." – THE KOTZKER REBBE (1787–1859)
The two men park their vehicle first and are shuttled through the residential streets by an enclave driverless pod car. Quaint neutral-colored homes with children playing in their yards or in the street (kickball or laser-stick ball are the favorites), adults relaxing on their porches, mowing lawns or tending their gardens, sitting and conversing on yard furniture, lounging by or swimming in the pool.
The doorbell is still echoing through the house when a shapely redhead holding a toddler answers her door.
"Hello, Goli," she says.
"Hello, Natasha." He plants a kiss on her check.
"Goli, I hope you're not still growing. You always seem taller when I see you." She turns to the other man. "You must be Mr. NIS."
"Nice to meet you." NIS removes his dark-tinted circular spectacles and shakes her free hand. "How are you, little one?" He shakes the little boy's hand, who starts to giggle.
"He's in the back." She points with her chin.
The walls in the house are filled with family photos of both Gideon and Natasha's families—an entire family tree. Some of the photos go back centuries, as evidenced by old black-and-white pictures. They exit the rear patio door through the wind-wall—blowing to keep out any flying insects—and they see him. His back is to them. Immediately a mischievous expression comes over Goli's face and he begins to crouch down.
Pure Conspiracy (The After Eden Series): The Genesis of World War III Page 10