“When do you need me, Your Holiness?”
“I will tell Marino and notify Chairperson Dalca today. You will start tomorrow.” Pius XIV was speaking as if it were a done deal, no one said no to him.
“I would be honored, Your Holiness.” Paul had become very good at putting on a positive face with the pontiff. “Anything else, Your Holiness?”
The pope put his hand out for Paul to kiss his ring which Paul always did.
“Thank You, Your Holiness.” Paul left the room and walked down the empty hallway in the Apostolic Palace to his office. Being a puppet-senator repulsed Paul, he hoped it would be sooner than later before he got his shot at chairpersonship. His opportunity much sooner than he expected.
Greater Ambitions
2057
T he black circle with “MD” in block orange letters was recognized worldwide with over six billion MDChip wearers. Every newborn got the chip implanted within their first year. If a chip malfunctioned, MDCentral got a warning which immediately sent a message to the wearer to go to an MD-certified pharmacy for chip replacement. Each time a wearer received an MDSolution treatment, the activity was recorded by MDCentral. MDChip and MDSolution manufacturing had been running three shifts, seven days a week, for the last eight years to keep up with demand. MD Biometrics now had certified manufacturing partners in every ethnarchy charged with producing chip insertion and solution injection appliances and training pharmacists and nurses on their use.
The cure for cancer brought unintended consequences. People were living longer, with the average life expectancy rising by ten years. Longer life expectancies meant more people to feed, putting a strain on an already limited food supply. Sal was well aware of the food shortage but decided it wasn’t his problem to solve. His job was all about cancer eradication; someone else needed to worry about the food supply issue. As much as he didn’t want to get involved in solving the food shortage issue, he’d find himself front and center of it later.
By 2057 Sal was bored with MD Biometrics. He resigned as CEO, retained a board position, and ran for the Europe Ethnarchy Senate representing Italy. The Europe Ethnarchy included all countries in continental Europe with two exceptions: Russia, which was its own ethnarchy, and Israel, which was a territory to the Europe Ethnarchy despite being located in the Asia region. This was done exclusively to ensure the protection of Israel from its hostile Palestinian neighbors. Each of the 49-member countries sent two senators to serve on the Europe Ethnarchy Senate. Each country could decide whether the senators were elected by the country’s citizens or appointed by the country’s leader, with Italy retaining a popular vote structure for electing its two senators. Vatican City, while technically in Italy, was treated as its own country, but due to its smaller size was only allowed one senator. Thus, the senate was comprised of 99 senators plus one chairperson. The chairperson was elected from among the sitting senators through a majority vote of at least 50 senators.
Sal’s success as CEO of MD Biometrics yielded him a rock-star-like HoloMate following of over a billion subscribers. His name became synonymous with curing cancer like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were with technology. He was in high demand at HoloMate events, commanding into the millions of hera for appearances. When he decided to run for senator, he leveraged his popularity in his senate campaign and was easily elected to a ten-year term in September 2058. After his election, Sal spent the next two years learning the ropes of the senate, assessing who was inside the power circle, judging who could help him achieve his ultimate ambition, which was to be the Europe Ethnarchy Chairperson. The existing chairperson, Grigore Dalca from Romania, was elected by the senate in 2057 for a ten-year term. Unless he died or resigned, Sal’s first shot at the Europe Ethnarchy Chairpersonship wouldn’t be until 2067. There was no way Sal was going to wait that long. He needed to manufacture his opportunity. He’d pay his old friend Mario a visit.
Ventricular Fibrillation
2060
W hen Sal left MD Biometrics he lobbied the board of directors for Mario to succeed him. Mario was not only a brilliant scientist like Sal, he was well-known for his integrity and honesty. It was an easy choice for the board.
“Hey Sal, how you doing?” Mario kissed him on each cheek.
“I like what you did with the place.” Mario now sat in Sal’s old office in the sprawling MD Biometrics complex. Mario was very loyal to Sal, grateful for the opportunity to work with him and appreciative of how Sal supported Mario as his CEO replacement with the rest of the board. The office was furnished with an ornate walnut desk, a mahogany and inlaid olive wood scrolled conference table from Sorrento, with 12 chairs around the table. Pictures of Gene and Jasmine the lab rats were on the wall, alongside pictures of Mario and Sal early in their career in the makeshift lab, meeting with heads of state, and Sal’s mandible tumor from his first human trial. Their friendship ran deep, and Mario would do anything for his old friend.
“How’s life as a senator?” Mario asked.
“Good, lots of meetings, administrivia, boring stuff, part of the job.”
“Do you miss MD?”
Sal went over to the fridge and helped himself to a sparkling water, opened it, and took a swig. “Sometimes. Much more exciting at MD than the senate.”
“I bet.” Mario sensed this was more than just a courtesy call. “What can I do for you?”
“I need your help, Mario.” Sal struck a serious tone.
“Anything.”
Sal got up and made sure the office door was locked.
“Chairperson Dalca is incompetent. He gives in to the other chairpersons, even Solveig from frigging Antarctica. At this rate Europe will be the laughingstock of the world.”
“How much longer in his term?” Mario asked.
“Seven years, enough to kill us.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Sal didn’t hesitate. “I need you to VF Dalca.”
Mario knew this day would come. MDCentral not only was able to receive information from the MDChip, but could manipulate the chip, including inducing ventricular fibrillation, which would kill the wearer if not given immediate medical attention. Only the two of them knew of the capability and had yet to use it.
“VF?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be traced back to us?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Mario was a scientist turned CEO. He loved the science behind what he and Sal created and how MD Biometrics helped people live longer and avoid the pain of cancer. Sal was asking Mario to not save a life, but to knowingly and deliberately take a life, for nothing more than political gain.
“I can’t do it,” Mario said.
“Mario, this is for the good of the ethnarchy. If Dalca stays, Europe will be nothing more than a puppet for the rest of the ethnarchies, and Popov will run roughshod over us.”
When the world agreed on ethnarchy consolidation, Russia was originally included in the Europe Ethnarchy. As the Europe Ethnarchy agreement was negotiated by country leaders, Russia was unhappy with the “equality for all” position the leaders were taking. Russia’s population was 17 percent of all of Europe’s population, yet they would have the same two-senator representation as miniscule countries like Monaco and Liechtenstein. Russia, led by a young and brash President Anton Popov, pulled out of the agreement last-minute and became their own ethnarchy, with Popov as its chairperson. There was bitterness over the split, neither the Russia or Europe Ethnarchies trusted each other, and Europe held a heightened concern of Russia taking military action against Europe to annex parts of the Europe Ethnarchy into Russia. Popov was brilliant and crazy enough to do it--a weak leader like Dalca was no match against Popov.
“I hate Popov,” Mario said. Years earlier his brother was killed while visiting Russia by a drunk teenage driver. The driver was a member of a wealthy and prominent Russian family and was able to bribe officials to have charges dismissed. Mario’s brother died, the killer got off with not even a
slap on the wrist, and there was nothing Mario or his family could do about it.
Sal saw Mario was softening. “Popov is a wild man, he would love nothing more than to take over Europe. Dalca can’t win against Popov. Dalca has to go.”
Mario put his head in his hands, agonized over the choices. He hated using MD to take a life, but he hated the Russians even more. Mario lifted his head, his hands pressed together in front of his mouth. “OK.”
“Excellent,” Sal put his hand on Mario’s shoulder, affirming his decision.
“When do we do it?” Mario asked.
“Give me a month to create tension in the senate about the Russia threat, and Dalca’s unwillingness to do anything about it. I want the senate to see the problem and for them to see me as being hard on Russia. Then we do it.”
Mario nodded his head, not saying a word.
“Thank you, Mario, you’re doing a great service for the ethnarchy.” Sal and Mario got up, Sal kissed him on each cheek and left the office. After Sal left, Mario dropped to his chair, distressed by what he just signed up for.
Over the next month Sal railed on Popov within the senate, looking for an opportunity to seize control of Europe, and harshly criticized Dalca for his unwillingness to do anything about it. Each day in the senate he beat the same drum--Russia is a threat, Popov is crazy, and Dalca is incompetent. He was successful at whipping many senators into a frenzy, questioning Dalca about his plan for keeping Europe safe from Russia. Sal then took to HoloMate to reach Europeans directly with his message of fear. Given his vast following as the founder of MD, he was able to convince millions across Europe that Russia was a clear threat. Russia, having its own safety concerns, saw the ratcheting rhetoric as a threat to its ethnarchy, and started a propaganda campaign of its own against Europe.
Seeing heightened anxiety in the Senate over the strained relations, Sal called Mario. “Do it.”
The MDCentral application which logged chip and solution activity didn’t have the VF capability. Sal and Mario didn’t want MDCentral’s staff to know of the “feature.” Sal had a customized application, only on his phone, that accessed the MDCentral database and controlled the secret chip capabilities. Mario and Sal designed the application with strict security features, only recognizing Mario’s iris and voice before activating. Once Mario was authenticated, Mario spoke, “Search Dalca, Grigore, Romania.” A few seconds later, 220 listings, along with pictures, showed on his phone. He found the chairperson and pressed on his picture. He then saw the entire history of Dalca’s MDChip and MDSolution treatments.
“Hmm, just got the chip nine months ago,” Mario noticed the insertion and solution treatment dates, the chip serial number, and where the chip was installed. Below the statistics was a button labeled “Special.” He pressed the button, the app then requested iris and voice re-verification. Once he was verified, a screen displayed that he hadn’t seen since they developed and tested the app on their lab rats. It had two buttons, “VF” and “STOP.” VF induced ventricular fibrillation, and STOP stopped the chip from functioning. VF would kill someone immediately by stopping the heart from beating. STOP would terminate chip function and suppress notification of MDCentral of a chip malfunction. As far as the wearer and MDCentral was concerned, the chip was doing its job. Reality was another thing. The non-functioning chip would no longer wake dormant synthetic killer cells and, with the body’s inability to create natural killer cells, left the wearer with no immune system. Death was imminent but slower than VF. Mario stared at the screen, horrified as to what he was about to do.
Dalca was playing with his daughters, two and three years old, in the courtyard at the chairperson’s residence in Bucharest. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, the three of them laughing as he pushed them on their swings. His wife was coming out from the residence when she saw her husband grab his chest and drop to the ground. The swings slowly stopped swinging, the girls looked behind them as swings gently rocked, their father on the ground. His wife ran over to him, where he was clutching his chest and moaning in pain. Seeing their mother’s panic and hearing their father’s moans, the girls started crying. His wife called out to his security detail in the residence, who ran to him, and seeing his condition, called for the house doctor. The doctor ran to Dalca’s now lifeless body. He worked to revive Dalca but pronounced him dead, while his crying wife held his head, their two little girls still crying in their now-still swings.
Senator Izydor Janus from Poland was not only the leader of the chairperson nominating committee but was Dalca’s close friend. Karoly Lamos, Dalca’s security chief, called him.
“Senator Janus?”
“Speaking.”
“It’s Karoly Lamos.”
“Hello, Karoly.” Janus knew Karoly as a no-nonsense guy who didn’t fill the air with unnecessary conversation. If he was calling, then Janus knew something serious was going on.
“There’s no easy way to say this. The chairperson is dead.”
Janus was braced for bad news but wasn’t prepared to hear that his good friend was gone.
“What?”
“The chairperson is dead,” he repeated.
“How?”
“Looks like a heart attack. Was out playing with his kids and just collapsed.”
“When?”
“About five minutes ago.”
“Was his wife there?”
“He died in her arms.”
“How about the girls?”
“Scared.”
The line went quiet. Janus just couldn’t grasp that Dalca had so suddenly passed. Karoly broke the silence.
“Senator, are you OK?”
Karoly’s words jarred Janus. “I’m here. Thank you Karoly.”
“Let me know if there’s something I can do, sir.”
“Thank you.” Janus hung up the phone, still not believing Dalca was dead. They had just talked a day earlier about how Dalca was looking forward to spending a day with his wife and daughters. Dalca was a devoted husband and father, something Janus admired. He felt the pain of losing his friend, but also knew, in his position, that he had a responsibility to ensure stability in the ethnarchy. He called his assistant. “Assemble the senate immediately.”
The senate assembled in its private HoloRoom within the hour. Janus started, “I just received a message that Chairperson Dalca has died from an apparent heart attack. We need to ensure stability in the ethnarchy while we elect a new chairperson. Per constitution, I, as nominating committee leader, will serve as interim chairperson until we choose a new one. I’ll let you know more as I know more.”
While the rest of the senate was jolted by the announcement, Sal removed his HoloSpecs. “Good job Mario,” he said to himself.
The Election
2060
W ith Dalca’s death in May 2060, Janus moved swiftly to get a new chairperson elected. Each ethnarchy had the latitude to name its chairperson as it saw fit, with Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central America, North America, Oceania, and South America holding popular votes among its citizens. Russia and China chairpersons were appointed by each current chairperson. The Europe Ethnarchy chose its chairperson by a vote of the entire senate. The voting was done in rounds. In the first round, senators wishing to be chairperson submitted their names to the nominating committee leader. The entire senate voted for their person of choice from the list, with the top five moving to the second round. Those five then each gave a two-minute speech to the entire senate as to why he or she should be chairperson. After the speeches, the senate voted, with the top two advancing to the final round, and any ties being broken by drawing names from a bag. The top two then each gave a five-minute speech to the entire senate, which was also broadcast on the senate’s HoloMate channel to Europe Ethnarchy citizens. The broadcast had no bearing on the voting, it was merely symbolic. With the vote coming up on June 29, 2060, senators interested in running had four weeks to lobby other senators for their votes.
Seven senators expressed int
ent to run for chairperson, including Paul from Vatican City and Sal from Italy. Each of them worked their network, wining and dining fellow senators, lobbying to secure their votes. Promises were plentiful--plum committee positions, favors to benefit constituents, support of senators’ pet projects. Whatever needed to be said to secure votes.
On election day, the senators convened in the senate building in Brussels. While many senate meetings were conducted via its HoloRoom, Janus wanted to hold the vote in person. All 99 senators were present, including the two from the annexed country of Israel. This vote was crucial for Israel, as there were a number of senators who believed Israel’s annexation should be voided and the territory returned to the Asia Ethnarchy.
Janus approached the podium and opened the session. “Europe Ethnarchy Senate, I now call this special election session to order. We gather here today to select the Europe Ethnarchy Chairperson who will serve the remainder of the late Grigore Dalca’s term which ends December 31, 2067.” Janus continued with the rules regarding three rounds of voting, reminding the senate that he had the latitude to alter the process if he saw fit.
Janus announced the names of each of the seven senators who had submitted their names and had them stand. The senators applauded the candidates, who shook hands with each other, wishing all good luck. Janus grabbed the pre-printed ballots with the seven names from the podium and had them passed out to each senator.
The Lawless One and the End of Time Page 15