The Hidden Society

by R. Chauncey

  As for the relatives of the member and the soldiers, they were kept ignorant of the Society and lived normal lives.

  If one is to kill members for weakness and disloyalty, one must acquire the information that exposes weakness and disloyalty.

  By 1693 the three leaders were required to report their yearly activities to a council of twenty senior members chosen from among the other ninety-seven members. That way the three could not dominate the Society. Any attempt by any one of the three to dominate the Society resulted in that person’s immediate painful death. If the three were working together to dominate the Society, all three could be killed and quickly replaced by members who were loyal and three others from among the relatives of the dead members were chosen to replace them to keep the membership at exactly one hundred. But only after the three replacements were thoroughly examined by the Council of Twenty and approved of as replacements. The same rule also applied to the members of the Council of Twenty.

  The Council of Twenty also had control over the soldiers of the Society who were kept comfortable. In addition to being well paid, educated, and trained, all were experienced, in every method of killing known to humans. Some were even sent to Asia to learned Asian methods of fighting and killing. When they returned to Europe, they taught their fellow soldiers, with the approval of the three leaders and the Council of Twenty, these Asian killing skills. Within a short period of time, fifty years, even the killing skills of the fable ninja assassins of Japan paled in comparison to the killing skills of the soldiers of the Society of Merchants.

  Such methods guaranteed the Society of Merchants would remain secret.

  The Age of Exploration increased the Society’s wealth. The leaders didn’t invest money in exploration. They didn’t care whether explorers made contact with undiscovered civilizations or not. All they wanted to do was make money off secret trading agreements with those civilizations, or financing the destruction of those civilizations if it was more profitable.

  Much of the gold that resulted from the destruction of the Aztec and Incan Empires went into the pockets of the Society right after it passed through Spain, because the Society secretly financed the expansion of the Spanish Empire in the New World. The same thing occurred with slave trading out of Africa or anywhere else for that matter. But no member or soldier ever participated in the expansion of the Spain Empire, or the empires of any of the other European nations. They just made money off the expansions regardless of the cost in blood or human suffering.

  The Society of Merchants was well placed to profit handsomely from the Scientific Revolution. They profited from every scientific invention, regardless of the impact it had upon humanity.

  But the improvements in communications and the rise of powerful nation states threatened the secrecy of the Society. No one knew about them, but the development of intelligence agencies within these new developing nations threatened to expose the existence of the Society. Two things occurred to prevent that.

  The Society eliminated the name Society of Merchants and became simply the Society or Hidden Society as its members and soldiers referred to it, and infiltrated the intelligence agencies of the various nations. But only at the lower administrative levels where they weren’t required to make decisions, but were in positions to know what decisions were made by the various intelligence agencies. The Society, as it continued to be called by its members, wasn’t interested in controlling a nation’s intelligence agency. They just wanted to know if the nation knew about them. That way the leaders of the Society were capable to making decisions that guaranteed the continued secrecy of the Society and its accumulation of wealth.

  This was possible because few members were required to the run the Society. Those that didn’t work directly for the Society got jobs working in the various intelligence agencies of the various nations, and their loyalty to the states they worked for was never questioned because they never did anything to bring their loyalty into question.

  Many an insignificant clerk working for a European intelligence agency was a member of the Society.

  The Society was safe, and far more ruthless than it had been when it was first created. It was now a Society dedicated to its own existence. And nothing and no one mattered except the Society and its members and soldiers.

  In 1874 the Society relocated its headquarters to the United States, because it was a country where money was more important than God and could buy most politicians then as well as now.

  By the beginning of the 20th century the Society’s wealth was over a hundred billion dollars. But only the three leaders and the Council of Twenty actually knew the Society’s true wealth because it was spread among numerous businesses in numerous countries under different names.

  The Society made money from every invention and improvement in human life. Its members had become addicted to wealth and the power that came with wealth.

  Both World Wars made the Society richer and more powerful, even though the

  Society had nothing to do with starting or ending the wars. They dealt with all sides during the World Wars, and cared nothing for those millions who suffered as long as the Hidden Society grew richer and more powerful. The Society sold a hundred thousand insurance policies to Jews for a thousand dollars each with the promise they would be gotten out of Germany or Europe after the Nazis had conquered Europe. Not one of those Jews ever got out of Europe or survived the Nazis.

  Not one member or soldier of the Society served in any of the armed forces of the nations that fought in those wars. The same was true of the Cold War. The arms race made the Society more money than it made the producers of the weapons of destruction. The Society profited by making many small investments in the small companies that made parts for those larger companies that built the weapons of mass destruction. They used that money to finance the political careers of greedy and stupid American Congress members who kept America buying weapons it had no use for. And they eliminated anyone who was a threat to their profits.

  The invention of the microchip gave it unlimited power when it became involved with the development of chips that allowed it get into every computer in the world. The best computer experts worked for them as well as the world’s best hackers. Though none of these people knew they were working for the Hidden Society. Anyone with such skills who refused to work for the Society, after being approached was murdered in cleverly arranged accidents. Others were shot down in the streets. The Society didn’t care who took the blame for the killings. Large amounts of money convinced most computer experts and hackers to work for the Society.

  But just as computers worked in the Hidden Society’s favor, they also worked against it. Computer viruses threatened the Society with exposure when independent computer experts proposed that viruses were the creation of a ruthless and secret cabal that deliberately created viruses to steal money from the world’s banks and cover their tracks.

  These experts were right, because the Society’s computer hackers and experts created the best viruses.

  By 2012 governments and private computer labs around the world were searching for an evil virus producer. Even though there was no evidence of any kind that supported the existence of such a producer. Those working for the Society knew better than to talk, but they all warned the Society’s leaders it was only a matter of time before some government or private company computer expert traced a virus to the Hidden Society.

  What saved the Society from exposure was Paul Duffy.

  Duffy worked for the Arden Chip Company as a software developer in the town of Arden, fifty-six miles southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. In his basement workroom in his

  home he built over a period of twenty years a chip he called the all-purpose chip with a software program that worked only with his all-purpose chip. It was a thick, larg
e square chip a little larger and thicker than a half dollar. It consisted of five individual parts which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

  The first chip was the master chip which enabled the other four chips to work together, and to do their jobs separately while protecting them all from viruses and hackers by detecting their presence before they could get into the computer’s hard drive. It was controlled by the software Duffy had developed to allow it to work with any software program in the world. It also enabled the other four chips to do the same thing.

  The second chip was a security chip. The chip analyzed a computer’s firewall for weaknesses. If one was discovered the user was alerted allowing the user to upgrade their firewall anytime the user wished and with any code they wanted.

  The third chip allowed the computer user to program the second chip to improve the computer’s firewall automatically, and explain to the user how this was done. The user’s computer was safe from hackers.

  The fourth chip was a language chip. Any known human language or numerical system, ancient and/or still in use, could be read and reduced to the user’s language.

  The fifth chip was a decoding chip. Working with the language chip it was capable of decoding any code if the code was based upon any known alphabet system making it the most valuable of the five chips.

  Duffy told the company he worked for about his all-purpose chip and its special software program, and they agreed to a demonstration. But Duffy’s program and all-purpose chips were not perfected, there were still problems with it, and the Arden Chip company didn’t want to spend the money required to work out the glitches in the program and chip. So they rejected his program and chip, and. Duffy then got a federal patent on the chip.

  The Society found out about it because its computer people had accessed the government’s patent offices’ computers years ago, and immediately acquired the patent rights in 2034 to the chip legally through a small silicon chip company one of the members owned. Duffy was paid seventeen million dollars, and he retired. It was decided by the leaders and the Council of Twenty not to kill Duffy even in an accident, because it might attract attention since the Arden Chip Company knew about Duffy’s chip though they had rejected it. And the Society didn’t want anyone, especially the police, developing a case on Duffy’s death.

  The Hidden Society’s experts went to work on the chip as soon as they acquired the legal rights to it, and within five years improved upon the chip and the program. The new all-purpose chip was capable of accessing any computer in the world via the world’s telephone system and satellites. The Hidden Society now had absolute power through knowledge because there wasn’t a computer in the world their experts couldn’t get into. And to guarantee they’d keep that power certain soldiers within the Society were trained to spy on all members and soldiers. There was always the risk that someone within the Society would develop a conscious and tell the world about the Hidden Society.

  I, Julian Franks, was one of the three leaders of the Society from 2044 to 2064 and I knew the Society had to be exposed, because it had become a threat to democracy. If not stopped through exposure before it became too powerful to stop, it would rule the world. I had to be very careful in gathering the information I’ve put on this drive. Any indication to a member or soldier that I was gathering information to betray the Hidden Society would have immediately resulted in my death by the most inhuman methods.

  As a leader I had the right to examine the Society’s records to make sure they were intact and safe. I also knew who were the soldiers who spied on the members and soldiers, and I managed to avoid arousing suspicion about my activities. No one in the Society knew what I was doing. When I stepped down as a leader in 2064, I had all that I needed to expose the Society except one thing. A person I could rely upon to expose the Society.

  Knowledge is the real secret to the Society’s power. There is no need to control heads of powerful states or corporations when whatever they know is also known by the Society whether it is made public or not.

  I was a born to one of the three leaders of the Society sixty-five years ago, and became a leader myself. I realized after forty-six years of being a member and one of three leaders that the Society had to be destroyed. I will not deny that I had personal reasons for wanting to destroy the Society, but those reasons will remain mine to take to my grave.

  The Society’s greatest strength is that it is unknown to the world. The best way to destroy the Society is to let the world know of its existence and power, and the vast information it possess. And that can be done only by dumping its files on the world Internet. Flash drive two will explain how that is to be done.

  If you do not believe what I have written here, then I have failed, and the Society will one day rule the Earth as its private fiefdom.

  Larson looked at the laptop monitor for a few seconds before he burst out laughing.

  “That is the biggest crock of shit I’ve read in my entire life,” he said between the roar of laughter. He laughed so hard and long he began to cough from the lack of breathing. He pushed his chair back and stood up laughing and coughing between snatches of breath. He stumbled toward the door his study, walked out into the hall, and headed for the bathroom on the first floor. He ran cold water in the face bowl, splashed some on his face to calm himself down, and dried his face with a towel. Then he went to the kitchen for another mug of coffee. By the time he reached the kitchen he wasn’t laughing or coughing anymore. He was thinking about the empty coffee mug on his desk. He went back to his study, got the empty mug, and walked to the kitchen thinking, What if it’s all true? Nonsense.

  ***

  Chapter 4

  January 4, 4:56 a.m.

  Larson looked at the clock on the wall of the kitchen and wondered if he should open the second flash drive. Or just throw the damn thing in the what-not box in the basement of his house where he kept useless articles he thought might one day become useful. The first flash drive had told a ridiculous story without a shred of proof to support it. There were no secret societies or clubs in the world today especially one that had been around for more than a thousand years. How could such a society maintain its secrecy? Someone would have talked or written about it.

  But not if it was secret, passed through Larson’s mind. Because how can someone write about a secret society if no one knows about it?

  And this Paul Duffy, he’d never heard of such a person or his all-purpose chip.

  Suddenly there was doubt in Larson’s mind. If the Hidden Society had bought Paul Duffy’s chip, and it could do everything Julian said it could do, the Hidden Society would certainly have kept it secret from the world.

  That was a disturbing thought to Larson.

  Because it implied that Julian Franks was telling the truth.

  Larson thoughts went back to Julian Franks.

  He didn’t seem like a foolish man who’d tell foolish stories. He seemed serious, afraid really. Then Larson remembered him saying he’d be dead within twenty-four hours. If he did die his death would be noted even in that isolated part of Illinois, and if it was then his story was fiction. But if his death wasn’t reported then maybe there was some truth in the fantastic story he’d just read. And if there was some truth in the story, then maybe all of it was true.

  He got up from the wooden kitchen table he was sitting at and walked to the coffee maker sitting on the butcher block counter and poured himself another mug of coffee. He added two spoons of sugar and a teaspoon of half-n-half cream, and headed for his study.

  The best place to start to see if the story was true was to find the town of Arden in Nevada. If it existed then there was a slim chance the story was true. If the Arden Chip Company existed that would imply that Paul Duffy existed. If they didn’t, then Mr. Franks’ sto
ry was a pack of lies.

  He put his coffee mug on the coaster on the desk and walked to the bookcase on the wall opposite his desk. That’s where he kept the few reference books and atlases he used

  when writing a novel. He was three months ahead on his latest manuscript so he had the time to waste on foolish quests. He found the road map of the United States on the bottom shelf. It was four years old.

  Got to buy a new one, he thought as he carried the atlas back to his desk, sat down, opened it to the index at the back and found the state of Nevada, and scanned down the list of towns and cities at the top of the map. He stopped after about thirty seconds.

  “Arden, Nevada,” he said. There was a slight touch of fear in his voice. He turned to the map of Nevada and looked at the map of Nevada and located Las Vegas which was easy. It was still the largest city in the state, and now the third largest in the country. “That drive said it was southwest of Las Vegas.” He looked carefully at the map southwest of Las Vegas. “There it is,” he said. “Southwest of Las Vegas just like Franks wrote.” He opened the center draw of his desk, took out a clear plastic ruler, found the distance scale on the map and measured the distance from Arden to Las Vegas. “A little over forty-two miles by straight line.” he mumbled to himself. “But by road it could be fifty-six miles.”

  He closed the map, picked up his mug of coffee and took two swallows of the hot coffee. He was thinking.