Humility

by Magdalene Hornbeam

  He expected a grand scandal and interest on behalf of media, howling of all sorts of human rights defenders, but in a strange and unusual way no one paid attention to his lecture. Three days after the conference, they called him form the Corporation. They offered him to finance his project by making a mini-model on his idea for a new social order.

  They chose to build the settlement and implement a miniature model of "Anthill" in Bolivia, including high Andes because of the terrain. Corruption in the poorest country in Latin America facilitated the obtaining of land leased cheaply and for a long period of time. And nobody prevented the illegal construction. Among the locals they were known as the "Sect of ants." They thought them to be a community of some American Mormons who have come to live away from America. They thought they were some kind of a commune society because of the lack of televisions, computers and mobile phones in the village. There were computers only in the administrative building or "commandant tower" as the effective local slang had made coined the phrase. Fritz Muller was known as the chief commander. There were four deputies. More precisely female deputy – they were all women.

  For four years since the implementation of this project together for the first time, Nigel could not connect with Fritz within a few hours.

  All employees had left, his secretary too. He stayed. When there was an urgent situation, he lost his appetite. He locked his office, furnished with big heavy table and two chairs. He took his tablet, by the way he carried his tablet everywhere with him, even in the toilet. He moved into the locked room. He had not let anybody in that room so far. It was at the back of the hallway, consisted of a hall, bathroom, large bed, a wardrobe with his clothes and a large plasma TV, on a low stand against the bed. He opened the windows to air the room, went into the bathroom to take a shower and walked in just seven minutes. He closed the window and put on a shirt and light trousers. He lived in an apartment in one of the best quarters of the cosmopolitan city, but even there he slept with his clothes on. He kept clean socks under his pillow because he could not sleep if not barefoot.

  He turned on the TV, he skipped the news broadcasting, he had read the news online publications and he found a sporting event. He lay opposite the TV and tried to focus on the sport. But could not.

  His cell phone rang. It was Fritz:

  - Nigel, I'm sorry, I saw that your secretary was going crazy looking for me. We had an accident in the tent camp. We were attacked by a herd of monkeys. We will send you a written report about the mishap. There is almost no injuries. Now say, what is it?

  - The Chief Executive of the Corporation rang me. Has he called you?

  - No, what does he want? Does he insist on closing the project?

  - On the contrary, they had a hacker attack on its intranet platform and they have decided to make movies with sound.

  - Why didn’t you deceived them that we have already dismissed the people?

  - Because he saw that yesterday was "the deadline" of the project and I hinted that not many people may have left, and if they have left, they have probably not gone far away. You know one cannot leave Bolivia so easily.

  - Yeah, but you didn’t have to agree. Disorganization is already spreading, everyone is waiting for money, eager to leave, and they will not make good films.

  - I didn’t agree. The mediator hung up before I could say my plea.

  - Well, we will we send him by email! We’ve had enough with this fuckin 'reality' Sahara ', and now this!

  Fritz began to cry some devils to call them "feces" and “shits” and Nigel guessed that he was swearing in German. He was angry with himself, because he knew so many languages that he never could think of which language he was communicating in. Even now he could certainly argue whether they were chatting in English or German.

  - Nigel, are you talking to me in English?

  - In Bavarian I speak, and I mean that most Germans do not understand the Bavarian wonder for the umpteenth time of your genius! But I feel that you are upset and I do not believe it is because of that bureaucrat of Directors, who instructs us on the phone.

  - In the morning the commandant called, the one you assigned as a deputy of yours in the "Anthill." He was alarmed that he couldn’t find you and asked me we would keep the deadlines and reminded me that today was the closing date.

  - I assigned a woman to be my deputy, commandant Hass, but she does not you’re your phone number ... - Fritz slowed his speech.

  - I understand, because I was going through your report, I hadn’t read it. You have left four women in the "commandant Tower". But I was called by a man who introduced himself as vice - commandant. I checked the daily report in the computer system "Anthill." The last one is dated ten days ago, done by you. In the accounting department here, there is a report that no more daily reports will be mailed but only a monthly one, which was received. What's happening?

  - I do not know. I receive them. I have not sent the report. Only today I have not heard from the commandant. Because of the reasons stated above and also due to the difference in time zone, I have not called. I'll send all reports - daily and monthly - to review them.

  - Well, the slouch should go immediately in Bolivia.

  - It was namely the slouch who suffered today from the apes. It is not serious, but he is in a condition … in a form that … that can allow him to travel.

  - Then do something about it from the place where you are. I want to assess their ability to make new films that have been voiced.

  - Why don’t you go and see it for yourself? You haven’t set foot in the field for four years.

  - You know I do not step aside of the island.

  - OK, I will take care, although I barely keep my eyes open. I sent you reports. We shall hear tomorrow and talk more.

  Fritz hung up the phone. Nigel took the tablet and started waiting for the reports of the today's reality and reports from the "Anthill" for the past ten days. When the electronic gadget beeped and he downloaded the files but did not open them. He reached under his pillow, took a brand new pair of socks and put them on took a jacket from the wardrobe Tensions had fallen and he was hungry.

  Chapter 16

  The office of the Corporation was in Hong Kong. This city is the brightest example of Laissez-faire (liberal principle of full freedom of the market) in the world, so their ambitions to reshape the world order, there was no better place. The huge room was located on the fiftieth floor of the administrative skyscraper, nearly five hundred meters high, with a total of one hundred and eighteen floors and it occupied the whole space. The greatest convenience for the five members of the board was that the last seven floors housed a super luxurious hotel. When they gathered at the meeting, they stayed in apartments of four hundred square meters area with two bedrooms and all the goodies, and nothing but the best that cost ten thousand euros night. There were several restaurants, a spa, pool, and the top floor was on the highest in the world bar from which there was a spectacular panoramic views. The rent of the apartment was accompanied by a deposit of two thousand euros in case of incorrectness of the guests, because each room was equipped with an iPod, mini-bar, coffee maker, working facilities and toiletries, all expensive items to use that can be stolen. None of the directors of the board lived permanently in Hong Kong.

  They sat in a semicircle around the table whose design resembled a huge palette. The black chair of the Chief Executive was in the circular central hole, the place where the brush of the artist should be, and their four seats representing the paints – they were in the basic colors: white, blue, green and red. The hedger had sat in the white armchair.

  The Hedger

  He was the owner of a bankrupt hedge fund - a non-public company registered in an offshore zone. He had used a wide range of investment strategies such as short selling, buying companies in difficulty, speculative buying and selling of equities and derivatives trading.

  He was proved that he knew a lot about the derivatives trading, then using speculative futures con
tracts he had taken the risk by shares of companies in the process of buying, trading futures and hedging contracts it performed on behalf of its fund by signing the other side of futures transaction, which was in fact opposing to the a commercial risk that are taken by the funds as counterparties in the "real" commercial transaction.

  For seven years he had maintained space-orbit salaries to thousands of brokers employed in his hedge fund. They labored tirelessly for the establishment of the futures contracts as an important tool stock, a result of the unique opportunities they provide for speculation and hedging.

  Once accumulated in his own secret accounts billions of dollars, he announced a loss of ten billion dollars from the wrong use of futures contracts and enter into a procedure of bankruptcy. Thousands of shareholders lost their investments, but it was attributed to poor political governance and global crisis. At the moment no one knew where he has his permanent place of residence, even the Chief Executive of the Corporation.

  The banker

  The banker sat in his blue leather swivel chair and constantly raised with the middle finger of his right hand his glasses design "Paco Rabbane". He was older and boasted with nearly two decades of service as director of banks with high credit rating. It was one of the moderators of the disastrous combination of mortgage loans without collateral to the sale of a large part of those loans to investors, combined with risky bet on securities backed by these loans. In other words, a major participant in "inflating the mortgage bubble" and its pop. But ultimately it came out that the specialized Securities Commission was guilty, as well as the governments that had not prepared laws for banks requiring them to hold enough capital to cover losses.

  His personal assets also amounted to tens of billions of dollars.

  The general

  The general was sitting in the green chair upright at a right angle posture. Retired with honors because of his huge merit in wars, with combat medals upon leaving the service, he was the youngest member of the board of directors of the Corporation and the only one who was black skinned. He owned the biggest transnational Trust for trade with weapons and was still piling in his own accounts billions of dollars.

  The official statistics showed that international trade with conventional arms is a business that annually amounts to at least seventy billion US dollars, and nearly one million of the eight million weapons are produced daily in the world, are lost or are stolen. It is these about four million units a year conventional arms traded by companies situated in different countries on all continents, which are supported by the trust and sourcing the wrong hands, who loved shooting. The world every minute one person died as a result of armed violence. It was thanks to such people as the general who was proud of this, because the world's population was growing alarmingly.

  Front companies of the arms trust based in offshore trading zones were trading with cruise missiles, even with cruise missiles type "Granite" with nuclear warheads. The biggest challenge which the general was currently facing were the unmanned aircraft. There were many requests from buyers, and no significant breakthrough in the supply there.

  Even the General did not know the exact figure of his billions because his accounts were being filled continuously.

  The tycoon

  The tycoon sitting on red chair, was the only Asian guy on the board of directors. He looked very young, but he was older than the general. He was an agricultural boss, spreading its tentacles throughout Asia. It had extensive farms producing rice, but mostly was a trader of rice and corn, the diet of billions of people living in this part of the world. Due to corruption and the dependence of small farmers-producers by the state policies it could be argued that the market prices are determined by him.

  But it was not known by the general public, although he was a very famous person. They called him the king of the "Monte Carlo of the Orient" because it had twenty casinos and was one of the most interesting personalities in the industry. The tycoon also controlled greyhound racing, lotteries, betting on horses and transportation companies that transport by air and by sea the players in his places for entertainment. His business also included trade in real estate, banks, and one of his gaming complexes had the largest turnover in the world. His companies accounted for a third of the GDP of the region.

  Famous magazines and agencies annually published different figures for its billions.

  The mediator

  The black central office chair against the other four was occupied by the Chief Executive of the Corporation. But he wanted to be called "mediator".

  He was the oldest of the five and people knew about him the least. He was said to be a major media tycoon in Europe, but whether his billions were acquired after bankruptcy or after selling, remained a mystery. He epitomized the very citizen of the world, in good health and even over eighty, he still boasted with his youthful memory. Currently he was busy with charity.

  His official charitable foundation was not large - gathering donations for children's sports facilities.

  The Attendees were sure that he was one of the richest men in the world.

  "Mediator" began the conversation as always:

  - The main idea of the Corporation is to overcome the lack of stability in the world, establishing a new paradigm for development. We are all united to achieve a new world order. At this meeting we must evaluate the "Anthill" project. Because the hacker attack on our corporate website, I decided to gather you here, in Hong Kong, to avoid any information leaks.

  - The real economy, including manufacturing, services and research, creating the world's wealth, is estimated to fifty trillion dollars annually. Meanwhile, in the financial sphere the equity markets move and transfer about four thousand trillion dollars, i.e. eighty times more. Because half of the money is transferred through offshore companies and a complete anonymity is kept of their owners. In my opinion, the main barrier to the implementation of our grand plan will be exactly those hidden financial sharks - said Hedger.

  - I suggest that we focus on the main reason of our meeting, namely the assessment of the "Anthill" and to leave the discussing of the transition period for the next rally - the banker butted in.

  - OK, I start first - said the general. - "We can always tread the cockroaches crawling out from under the refrigerator, but until we get out the spoiled food from them, they will constantly appear." You may ask why I use this quote once I am a military officer and prevention is not in my favor. Because I continue to believe that the approach that unfit inhabitants of perfectly structured polis type "Anthill" be transported and placed on self-survival in adverse living areas such as jungles, is wrong. According to me, every "Anthill" needs to have its own army, and the unfit should be kept in camps under the supervision of the military.

  - We have not received a report on the experiment «Sahara», i.e. the self –regulation of garbage or as we briefly put it: "Waste". When we look at it in detail, we will know whether you're right. I am worried by something else: Analyses and videos show that all units operate as intended, but most importantly, food production is assumed that is simple and is not included in the experiment. I think that it is the struggle for fertile land will complicate the task of the central polis to control the civilization on the planet. And if we accept the idea of the general for individual troops, we will have the same struggle for territories and resources, as to date – the tycoon spoke slowly, with an Asian accent.

  - Yeah, problems such as poverty, corruption, delays, homelessness, will be overcome with separation of the roles of the individuals and restriction of three quarters of the population to reproduce, but war and hunger as a global problem will remain if we do not guarantee the contrary - mediator he spoke with a mentoring tone.

  - I suggest that we extend the experiment for another year, focusing on the weak links – the general was sitting in a stretched posture in the chair.

  - Yes, I received your entreaties to continue the experimental modeling of the "Anthill", but the agency of Mr. Nigel Eisen
stein has signed contracts with the participants for four years and we are not sure whether they can extend them. We are also contractually obligated up to three months to come up with a conclusion which we should provide to them - the mediator entered again into the role of a manager.

  - Gentlemen, I will not give my assessment until experiment "Waste" is over - "Show Sahara" or whatever we call it! - Hedgers said it and drummed his fingers on the "kidney", as he called table which had this form.

  - "Outsiders" in short. I suggest that we have a meeting tomorrow, live, here in this room with Mr. Nigel Eisenstein. I want to ask him a question about the role of gambling in the future social structure. I did not see anywhere in the report such an analysis – the tycoon spoke quite sharply.

  - Mr. Nigel Eisenstein does not know us and it will remain so until we sign the project as successful. But we will discuss it next time - mediator had called the most flattering smile on his face that he could ever perform.

  - Gentlemen, I put to the vote my suggestion. Namely- to wait for five more days until the end of the experiment "Self-regulation of outsiders." – The General looked pointedly the tycoon because it was the official title of the project. – I think it will be enough to see the video, so that we can take a final decision on its assessment – he was already gesticulating.

  The tycoon paid no attention.

  - I agree. Let's vote - the banker looked around.

  Everyone, including the mediator raised their hands.

  - Then we can use these days to work in the office, still it is not a bad idea if we check our portfolios from here and the highest hotel in the world will provide us with relaxation and tranquility. The today's rally is adjourned - The mediator was not smiling anymore.

  Chapter 17

  Hyulal and his brother Illal were twins. Abandoned in the ruins of their hometown at the age of ten, they had survived with joint efforts. The relationship between them was very strong. In fact, they were grown up by the Islamic military formations organized thanks to the Salafist priest AlBukri Saadi and since they were fifteen years old they took part in armed conflicts and riots. They could use any weapons with no problems. Shortly before the age of twenty the preacher of Salafism AlBukri called them in Algeria. They felt that their spiritual mentor wanted them to make important decisions about their lives and they have been also waiting for the time to have some rest, because killing in the name of sharia was something right, but a man's life didn’t consist solely of this. And they had a need, a crying need for balance. They had killed many people, had shed much human blood, but they themselves have always survived. AlBukri was a true spiritual teacher and was very affectionate to Hyulal. The two brothers ever make a living as mercenaries in various Islamic groups, but paused between wars and went to Algeria, where his "father" – AlBukri was. And just four years ago, they arrived in Algiers at the insistence of their spiritual guardian. He had plans for them. The first weeks they rested. The Salafi priest let them relax, he did not even call them to sermons in the mosque. One day while lying in the shade, stretched out on the wide couches in the old house, they received a strange phone call – they were offered to take part in a four-year "reality" for scientific purposes. They would win a million dollars after its completion. The cleric forbid them but they did not listen. Before traveling to Bolivia as an excuse and a demonstration of gratitude to him they agreed to finally be adopted - they were now Hyulal and Illal Saadi. They were given the surname of AlBukri.