by Karl, Victor
Bill and I excused ourselves from Father and walked back into the production area of the plant to where the intake pumps passed through a windowless cement block room that had a 5000-gallon tank-sitting smack in the middle of it. On the intake side, was a heavy-duty stainless steel cabinet with a series of gauges that monitored water flow, temperature as well as turbidity. The piping from the pump into the tank was transparent and made of thick Lucite or glass.
Bill used a biometric retinal scanner to open a side panel to the stainless steel control area. He pointed to a 5 gallon container in the front of the chamber and said, “this my friend is an Arsenic solution that contains other elements that have no effect on Electricus, but is a ‘red herring’ if anyone does get this far.” “Mr. Hart, if I may say so, this whole contraption is a ‘red herring’ as we know none of this is needed.” “Not entirely true,” Bill said, “The water flow meter is very accurate and is linked with to the Arsenic dispersion mechanism to ensure the right amount is mixed in and that trace elements are consumed during the reproduction process.” At the concentration level of the mixture, I expect to get about three months of production out of each batch. Just in case it runs low, I have a wireless connection to the network that will send us an alarm when the 5 gallon tank drops below 20 percent.”
“What can I say Bill, you are freaking amazing. This is just what we need. Can we mass produce this contraption quickly?” No worries my friend, this encrypted flash drive contains all the specs and the local fabrication company that built this for me is already working on building a dozen more and should be ready in two to three weeks.” Bill went the next step and kicked off the process for me to watch first hand. A muffled high-speed whine signified the pumps engaged, and with a moderate roar the water pumped into the tank very fast. The gauges on the control panel showed temperature in Celsius which Bill read off as 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Another gauge showed a 600 gallon per minute flow and turbidity meter hovered in the normal range. A smaller tank mounted above the entire apparatus was the fully reproduced seed Electricus. Each 5000-gallon tank had to account for 50 gallons of Electricus. This tank drew from a larger tank on the main production floor that was never less than half-full. A high-speed agitator kicked in and churned the water for 30 seconds, and as soon as that shut off the output pump kicked in and transferred the raw Electricus solution to the new 5000-gallon reproduction tank where it would sit for at least 2-days.
We spent another hour reviewing safety requirements to avoid anyone being shocked during the production and transportation of Electricus and Miguel used his iPad to show everyone the physical security controls such as the gate system installed in the States and the guard procedures. We talked about engaging a contractor that we could work with to do additional installations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We had already interviewed a friend of Jeremy’s that specialized in construction projects for US and non-US embassies around the globe. Their work was impeccable since any failure in their designs would have deadly results for their clients. We had purposely not signed any contracts in the European Union area to allow us to expand more gradually and to be able to generate Electricus on the level companies could use to test and prototype products. We also wanted to get Electricus in the hands of our goodwill team that the Vatican crew had built around the globe and start-delivering product to the needy. Tomorrow morning we had a meeting back in Vatican City to discuss that whole aspect with not only the Archbishop, but also a cadre of other religious leaders open to see their poor and needy get a jump up on life.
At Miguel’s suggestion, Bill and I did not ride back to Vatican City together to help ensure something did not take us both out, whether by a sinister event or a freak car accident. After passing through what I considered low key, but efficient security, they escorted me to Mr. Hart’s office. No sooner, did I walk through door then Charlene jumped me and planted a big kiss on the side of my face. “Mikey” she yelled, “I am so glad to see you. Bill just called and said he be here in 10 minutes.” “You look great Charlene and I don’t think I ever saw Bill so happy. You two are a great team!” Hey before he gets here I just want to send Fiona a quick message if you don’t mind.” “Go ahead Mike but don’t forget to tell her hello from me.” A couple of minutes later I sent a quick text saying, “good day here and some great ideas discussed. Charlene says to tell you hello.” Two minutes later, he received a response saying, “Everything was good on my end and working with realtors on global regional corporate and production sites. Many choices but need local talent to guide.” “Will discuss when I get back. Luv u and have a great day” was my last transmission. “Luv u and b careful” was her last message. You could tell by the dialog that we had never mastered the texting language, nuances, and emoticons that everyone else seemed to like. In fact, I always felt like an outcast when I texted, let alone the few times I tweeted especially when all my friends were so adept at it.
Chapter 26: The Foundation
Archbishop Eduardo Cordova was very pleased with the responses he had received from their government and religious contacts around the globe. When he first broached the subject to them through an intermediary, there was tremendous skepticism. On one level, the concept of Electricus was just not that widely known when they were first approached; on another level, the goodwill offered was considered tainted by ulterior motives. The first issue resolved itself through the tremendous amount of press covering not only what Electricus is and what it means for consumers and corporations it was also covering the struggle of Efficio against the large and powerful faceless establishment.
Archbishop Cordova envisioned in his mind the biblical struggle between David and Goliath. The entire world was assessing what the impact meant to them. Even a few cults had sprung up professing that Electricus came to us from alien beings in response to how we had been treating our planet. In the large room in front of him, there were over a 100 people. Represented were the major religions including medium level representatives from most of the world’s countries. All were here to listen to Mr. Carter and Efficio’s plans to ensure that a good portion of the success of Efficio ends up with those traditionally cast to the side by society. Mr. Bates sat in the room, but was not part of the presentation and discussion to protect his real identity. After Mr. Carter’s presentation, the “how to make it happen” discussion will ensue and the Vatican team would start working out the details with anyone who was interested.
Bill was as interested in the coming discussions as anyone in the room and even though he felt left out not being up there with Mike, he had no illusions that this was the smart way to handle the situation. All of a sudden, the noisy chatter that had dominated the room became eerily quiet as the Archbishop climbed the steps to the low platform that held a single podium. A very large electronic display screen hung to the left side of the stage. The Archbishop opened with, “ladies and gentlemen and more importantly citizens of our fine planet. I want to welcome you to this gathering to hear an extraordinary offer from Mr. Michael Carter who is one of the co-founders of Efficio, which as you all know by now, discovered and harnessed a wonderful gift called Electricus. At the end of Mr. Carter’s presentation, we will have an open question and answer session. If needed, we do have a number of interpreters present that can aid in rephrasing questions for presentation in English. Now, I will turn it over to Mr. Michael Carter.
As generous applause echoed though the room, Bill watched Mike calmly stride onto the stage and walk to the podium. Again, Bill was amazed at Mike’s ability to assume whatever role he needed in a public forum and brought an air of gravitas with him as he positioned himself behind the podium. “Ladies and Gentlemen it is a pleasure to speak before you here today and is the culmination of a vision that William Bates the co-founder of Efficio and the entire management team have had since we knew what Electricus could provide mankind. Since Electricus was discovered, we’ve have seen ourselves as a care taker of this gift to humanity and because of this we felt t
he need to ensure that Electricus was not subverted or subjected to rigid control for the benefit of a few. We have faced strife at almost every step of the journey and people have died in support of our ideals and against any effort to deny Electricus due to greed or power.”
“Efficio is a vehicle to commercialize Electricus and allow a good portion of the revenue from licensing to fund goodwill projects around the globe and provide stewardship of this astonishing resource. Our goal is to focus on those citizens that dwell in the slums of our world’s largest cities or inhabit undeveloped parts of the world where technology and infrastructure do not exist. Our fellow countrymen will also benefit, but more along the lines of a traditional free market means. Of particular interest to us is to avoid throwing world governments or economies into disarray that could lead to a different set of problems. Efficio will work from the commercial aspect to level set and try to minimize the inevitable problems that will arise due to how money and power are controlled today.”
There was not one sound that Bill could hear not even a cough, sneeze or shuffle of paper as they focused on Mike. Looking intently at the audience, Mike continued with, “As of today Efficio is putting 20% of revenues towards a non-profit entity called…” and as he paused, on the main screen came the words ‘The Stewardship Foundation’. With his right hand pointing at the screen, he spoke aloud, “The Stewardship Foundation.” This organization will be the steward of Electricus, which will also make it the steward of our fellow man. The Stewardship foundation has 2 billion dollars or 20% of current revenues of Efficio as seed money. As soon as Efficio implements the needed infrastructure, the initial 20% contribution increases to 40%. Proper use of this money includes but is not limited to, the manufacture of, or defraying the cost of manufacturing Power Pads and Power Panels for use in powering any building, whether it is a mud hut or a thatch roof structure in the middle of the deepest jungle. However, we need the help of everyone in this room to identify where we should focus our efforts, coordinate the building of manufacturing and distribution centers, educate, and equip your poorest citizens with Electricus and how to use it to power their homes or pump their wells.”
“In other words, we need you to talk to your governments, religious and tribal leaders and let them know there are no strings attached. Thank you everyone and Archbishop Eduardo Cordova will join me here to help answer any questions.” A 5-second pregnant pause hung over the room until the first hand claps started as well as a foot stomps and whistles as each attendee applauded in their own fashion. The applause did not slow down or cease and everyone stood on their feet and kept it up until Mike finally indicated his gratitude for their applause, which slowly quieted down the audience.
The audience murmured their interest in the first question asked by a man from Ethiopia, which was, “how is The Stewardship Foundation run?” I let the Archbishop handle this question since there was already a draft of the bi-laws created. The Archbishop then directed some staffers to distribute a packet of information to all the attendees and said to them, “The management of Efficio and a team here in Vatican City drafted a set of bi-laws that you can take with you and review. Everything is up to discussion, but to summarize the important aspects of it please refer to the slide on the screen in front of you:
- All countries that agree to join and accept the minimum requirements will have a voting right in all decisions
- All religious representatives that agree to join and accept the minimum requirements will have a voting right in all decisions
- All members will elect an operating council of 12 for a two year period
- The operating council will review submissions for funding and actions and present to the membership for voting on a quarterly basis. The operating council will also act as tiebreakers and dispute resolution
-The operating council members will hold titles such as treasurer, secretary etc.
-Efficio will maintain all licensing rights to Electricus and will act as an auditor and distribute funding based on council decisions and will reserve the right to veto any actions it deems not in the best interest of the foundation.
The foundation will have field auditors made up of the membership to audit field activities to ensure the funding is directed to the approved people and projects.
The Stewardship Foundation
The questions went on for over an hour and mostly dealt with situational issues. A key goal of the effort was not just to supply Electricus, but to fund some basics that use electricity such as lighting, refrigeration and increasing production through the use of tools such as a well pump and irrigation. There was a reception at the end of the meeting where refreshments and finger foods where served. After formally shaking the hands of seemingly every attendee, I felt like the president of the United States. Seeing the excitement in their eyes to be a part of this effort was a well-needed jolt of motivation to keep moving forward and to not succumb to weariness and fear that all too often where raising their ugly heads.
The meeting wrapped up and from what the Archbishop indicated, all the attendees were going to participate in a two-day workshop to help put context around the foundation’s objectives. Bill and I took off, but not together, and went to his and Charlene’s place where I enjoyed an authentic gourmet Italian meal that Charlene had prepared, complete with homemade pastries for dessert. Bill and I said good night to Charlene and talked well into the night about how to keep moving forward and avoid dying. We also went over the finances on how the foundation worked and verified that the accounts had the funds in it. All expenditures needed two signatures. One signature was required from the future foundation Treasurer and a signature from any of Julius, Iris, Kristen or me. My plane was at noon tomorrow, so I planned to sleep late since I was not used to the time change, and I still wanted to talk to Fiona before hitting the bed.
The next 2-months were a blur of activity. Everybody that was an employee of the company was working 14 hours a day. Taylor was coordinating interviews and hiring people around the globe. Even though Kristen was getting quite large, she never slowed down and was a real trooper. She made sure all the finances where in order, which was quite an effort since she was also involved in the Foundation. I very rarely saw Julius and Iris due to the countless meetings they had to lock down contracts with their army of attorneys and law clerks. Amy and Gwen had formed a powerful team promoting the company as well as the Foundation. The job those two did was instrumental to keep thousands of reporters, corporate representatives and government emissaries apprised of where the company was in production, and published long-term projections of where we were headed. Steve, now freed up from the army, was joined at the hip with Sean and where working with automobile and truck manufacturers of all kinds to gauge progress to help us ensure production was aligned with their needs. Almost every manufacturer had decided to retrofit current production vehicles with electric motors and simply replace all components that worked on vacuum or mechanical means such as belts and pulleys. Of all the prototypes we were privy to, the 18-wheeler overnight cab and trailer combination was the most impressive. The cab and trailer worked in tandem to provide Electricus provided power to no less than eight individual motors. They had a little trouble working out the power ratio between the cab and trailer, but eventually took care of it. In some respects, it was right out of the Transformers and I fully expected it to transform into an alien robot. Our sales team, completely based in the headquarters building did not have to go out and sell since everyone came to them. Then there was Fiona. I think she was working harder than anyone was and she was almost entirely on the road with a cadre of Clavis security folks and had exclusive use of one of their jets. I was beginning to worry about her because she did not know how to slow down and I was afraid she was going to burn herself out. Without her around to manage me, I worked 18 hours a day. Many days I just crashed here at the office instead of my now lonely quarters on base. My uneasiness had increased over the weeks and fully expected some kind of a
ttack at any time, and spent a good amount of time looking over my shoulder.
Looking at the Palm trees, Carl hung up the phone and cursed in regards to the message he had just received. The Navy had just confirmed that the Dayang Yihao, a Chinese scientific research ship had just arrived at ground zero. The specifications on the ship indicated that it carried both a manned and unmanned submersible capable of reaching the 1500 feet and more. The Navy had a frigate in the area and a submarine was due to arrive by evening. His orders were to stay out of range for detection and just monitor the situation. The Chinese appeared to be redirecting one their naval ships to the area and one was steaming in that direction at 10 knots and should arrive in just under 24 hours, which complicated his plan. Carl was currently in Hawaii, but would soon be on his way to Guam were he would direct operations.
In the interim, Carl read a number of secure communications including the latest FBI report on the situation with Efficio. The first communication was a courtesy memo from the head of Mossad to the head of the Central Intelligence Agency letting them know that they had agents in and around Rome. The agents were monitoring people with terrorist ties that had recently navigated their way into Italy. They believed they were involved in targeting Efficio operations in Italy as well as the now very publicly known Stewardship Foundation. The FBI memo had a very detailed analysis of Pinnacle’s relationship to a couple of the US oil companies and some unsavory activities that they had been performing for them in the US and abroad. There was also a warrant for the arrest of Titus Aaron who they now believe flew the helicopter during the Fish Island attack and a Pinnacle employee.
The FBI were actively working surveillance and seeking wiretap court orders to glean additional information. All of the attackers killed or caught on camera are part of a terrorist organization translated to mean ‘Crossed Swords’ that were not jihadist in nature, but more aligned along the lines of a mercenary group or as the report stipulated ‘guns for hire.’ The Mossad have been following these people for a long time and had just forwarded a thick file on them to the FBI. A CIA analyst had provided a separate report that Carl felt to be a very compelling point regarding the impact of Electricus on funding for terrorists. In summary, the report focuses in on the belief by different terrorist fractions and their religious leaders that a jihad was in fact ongoing with Efficio. This belief accepted as true and promulgated throughout the region was due mainly to published news reports as proof that a jihad is in progress against Efficio. The analyst stressed that he believes the attacks are financially motivated but not for the reasons most assume, but strictly to protect interests of a few people who have not yet been identified. In a way Carl thought, this is probably a better situation then a full out jihad and much more containable for all those involved. When they finally figured it all out, it would be too late to stop the inevitable push of Electricus around the globe.