Jake's Witchhunt

PDF version

Prologue

Jake was an inquisitor working for the Catholic church. His job was to hunt down witches

and other evil people in the 1500s until a strange thing happened to him one day. He made some

purchases and later decided to count the change. He had exactly 777 shillings. Strange thought Jake

as he possibly couldn't believe the coincidence. He was always inclined towards mysteries and

generally liked to pay attention to numbers. Then, several days later he saw the number 777 in his

dream and this is when it happened. He woke up and saw a beam of light streaming from the

window in his medieval house. 2 Angels came down and told him that he is to be dispatched on a

special mission to the future; all that they told him is that his future lay in banking. Jake just

couldn't believe that because usury was a punishable sin at the time. Still, he thought that the future

sounded interesting and agreed to partake. Next morning he woke up again in his bed, wow, this

must have been a strange dream he thought.

Several days later Jake was walking down the road in a small town as he walked into a pub.

He asked for a drink and was told that it cost 6.44 shillings. As he was about to pay, he found out

that he had exactly 7 shillings in his purse. No, I must not drink this he thought and immediately

asked him if the bartender had something non-alcoholic for the price of 7 shillings. The house

keeper replied sure thing and gave him fruit juice which cost exactly 7.77. As Jake was drinking

the juice his vision began to get blurry, he then saw a hole open up in the floor and a thought flew

across his head saying go...Jake hesitated, go, come on....don't be afraid the voice kept on

whispering in his chest. Jake then realized that his dream was true and that he did in fact agree to

partake in a mission to the future. As he speared ahead, he looked back and saw that he was in a

bubble and that time around him froze. He jumped into the hole and everything around him went

black.

Day 1. At home. A year later.

The markets are up today with the Dow Jones industrial average breaking the 100 000 mark. The

earnings from dateme came in strong once again, as majority of the population is now using the

service. The company executives are promising an even stronger quarter next year, as dateme

plans to expand to East Asia.

“ Ohhh this channel should seriously be put off the air ” said Jake, while switching off

CNBC and shrugging his brown hair away from his eyes. It has been a little over a year since he

came to the 2100s. He is still struggling to adjust to the futuristic world, which seems all so

different from world he came from. Jake's previous job, as an inquisitor for the Catholic Church

contrasted sharply with his current occupation as a sales executive at the HSBC investment banking

division. He only managed to get through the retina scans because the previous executive had died

in a car crash and the retinas ended up being, well, all too similar for the machine to get fooled into

thinking one was the other. That said, both Jake and James were pretty much identical twins and it

took just a little of getting used to the banking industry that Jake was now a part of. Jake was a

tallish man, around 180 in height and had a good body. He usually wore a suit, as his current

occupation required it. On the weekends he, however preferred to dress in slacks and a loose

teeshirt. He had blue eyes and a gentle face. One needed gentle features back in the days of the

inquisition to go undercover. His hair was semi-long at the back and longish at the front. He usually

had it split into 2 sections, one was going straight down and behind his left ear and the second

would cut across his face diagonally and finish up at the opposite corner of his face.

“ Babe, you ready to go? ”, asked Blondie, a petite blonde woman that Jake has met through

dateme a week ago. She was a pretty girl, not too tall and not too short. Just as Jake had specified it

in his profile. Her hair was fluffy and would usually fall down to below her shoulders. She also had

blue eyes and a nice looking face, perhaps too nice. She usually wore red lipstick and generally just

liked to put on a lot of make up. She was wearing a mini-skirt and a tight t-shirt, which showed

parts of her shoulders.

“ Sure baby, where to tonight? ” replied Jake, thinking that in his time no-one would ever call a

grown woman baby.

“ Well, the astrologist guy on television was saying that it is a good time for both of our signs, so

lets go celebrate! How about a drink?? ”

“ Sure! ”, replied Jake. “ damn! She is a strange girl. In my time people that looked at astrology

were considered suspicious. Now I'm dating one of them.”

“ This is like....so fantastic!! I am dying for a drink ” said Blondie as she started to get really excited

about going out.

“ OK baby, I'm ready ” replied Jake

They both left Jake's 121st floor apartment and headed off to Brooklyn, where they shared a

drink. Jake was finding the girl ever more annoying by the day; she kept on blabbering about her

previous boyfriend Kyle, who she also met on dateme. He was supposedly “like the best guy ever,

although a jerk”. Their relationship ended up in fumes, when he dumped her outside a club for his

next dateme hookup. His reasoning was well, I don't love you any longer. And that after a month of

dating! “ Do those guys at dateme know nothing at all about love?? ” thought Jake while sipping

his vodka red bull, a drink he has come to dislike but which seemed all so popular amongst the

crowd at Brooklyn. Their manner of dancing reminded Jake all too much of the dances that witches

engaged in when disturbing the rituals at the Church. “ Tomorrow at least I'm gonna get back to my

job at the bank. Can't wait to work! ” thought Jake whilst chatting to his girlfriend.

“ Hey, did you watch the last episode of The Crash last night? ” said Blondie

“ No, I don't watch MTV ” replied Jake

“ Oh come on! Its like the best show ever! You just gotta watch it! ”

“ Hey Blondie ” said Jake “ I seriously gotta go, how about I give you a lift back to your place? ”

asked Jake

“ Nah, it's OK ” she replied “ Maybe I can find some new guy right here that'll take me right

home.... ” she began to giggle at this point

“ Look, I'd love to take you home but I have to work tomorrow. How about I just call you

tomorrow, OK ” he asked.

“ Call me?? Oh you serious?? thats like the sweetest thing a guy has said to me in like ever!! you

just gotta use textya sometime! Its like the coolest thing in the world!”

“ OK Blondie, I'm going to textya than ”

“ Nah! I want you to call me, OK? ”

“ Sure ” said Jake while rushing out of the club back to his apartment. Tomorrow is going to be a

long day with some of the new analysis coming out of Wall Street. Those bankers rule the world

now. “ We promise you a better tomorrow! ” is their slogan. Like tomorrow's are ever good.

The ex-inquisitor still has not figured out why most of the relationships seemed to end badly

at dateme, even though the service promises a good and solid future for the two of you. And why the

people seemed to still use the service on and on. Sure, its easy to meet partners now in the future,

but why the need for a service when you can just go to a club full of punks dancing like witches?

Besides why does the service keep on offering guys even though I specified that I am straight? I

mean do the guys at dateme want more money or is it something else?? “ I just can't understand the

future! ” thought Jake.

“ hey, you wanna check out something extra for an extra 15.55?? ” asked the system as Jake was

logging onto dateme.

“ NO!!!! I'm not like that” he yelled out.

Just wanna see what else I can find. Maybe a better match for me than Blondie. Wonder how

I'll tell her that though. He thought as he was sitting in his holo-chamber. This somewhat obsolete

device reminded Jake of home in some manner and he was choosing to keep it in his apartment. It

worked like this: a person would sit in a chamber and close the lid; then a multi-color holographic

sphere would appear in front of him and he would to navigate it to get to whatever selection menu

he wanted to use. It was like Windows gone 3D.

Day 2. At the bank.

The VIX index is up today as negative news came out of dateme. VIX is the fear index,

which shows volatility in the stock market. When bad news comes out, markets tank and the index

usually rises. The company's executive, Dr. Paulson has said that not enough of his customers are

turning back to the service and many of them are refusing the extra expansion back. His plans to

make it free seemed to send the company stock into a free fall.

“ Yeah right! Those guys are now gonna get a freebie. It's rare to find a free lunch these

days! Must be something else here ” said Jake while watching CNBC. Why would a company make

its same-sex services free all of a sudden? Doesn't make sense. Is it a promotion of something? But

to what end?

Day 3. At a conference

“ .....as you can see, there is a close correlation between the stocks of all the major banks and

that of our favorite, dateme ” said the speaker.

Hmmm, why is that the case, are those banks holding the stock of dateme for some reason?

But why in such quantities? Surely its a profitable company but ever since the passage of the new

regulation since the crisis of 2098 it has been illegal for banks to hold stocks of other firms in large

quantities. Those bankers must be going against the law again. But why?? Gotta do some analysis

tomorrow.

“ .....thanx for listening, the conference is now over. Special thanx to our guest of the

evening, Dr Olivier Paulson.”

I'll get to that guy if I hear of another relationship gone wrong! thought Jake while walking

out of the hall. In the next room he run into Dmitryi, his old partner from the investment banking

division. Dmitryi was dressed as usual, in a black suit with a red tie. He had exceptionally blonde

hair and had a good build. His eyes were grey and his face was masculine.

“ Hi Mr. Johnson! Check out my new date! Let me show her to you on my holo-watch ” said

Dmitryi. A holo-watch works just like an ordinary watch, except that it can project graphical 3D

images above it.

“ ehhh, what happened to your old date? ” asked Jake

“ you know how these things go? Who needs an old date when you can have a new one! ” said

Dmirtyi smilingly.

“ no seriously, did you break up or something? ” replied Jake

“ yeah, she started to really piss me off!! ”

“ wow, it's time. Where is that dude who calls himself doctor?? ” thought Jake. “ time for a witchhunt,

baby!! ” he almost smiled as he thought that.

“ whats wrong Jake?? something got you upset? ”

“ its just, well, I don't understand why do all the relationships keep on breaking up? Its like is the

service not working or something?? surely their DNA matching sounds like a great idea! ”

“ not all! Heisenberg has had his for over a year now! ” replied Dmirtyi, while looking at Jake like

he was a wierdo.

“ yeah! But Heisenberg is into same sex marriage! ”

“ hey! Back off here, I smell homophobe! ” said Dmitryi laughingly. “ well, anyways hows Blondie

doing? You guys still dating? ”

“ we are. ” replied Jake. He just couldn't believe that it was so easy for someone to change girls here

in the future.

“hey whats wrong? If you don't like her you can just use dateme again! Heard they give you a

discount if your first relationship goes sour.”

“ no its OK! ” replied Jake in his inquisitor manner, a style he has not used since he came to the

future.

“ alright! Don't kill me man! ” said Dmitriy; then suddenly bursting into laughter “ hey you really

looked like you were gonna do it this time! Like, remember the last time you were gonna kill me??

”

“ and when was that? ” Had I wanted him dead I could have done it long ago thought Jake.

“ no, seriously, when I gave you those TCP reports to sign ”

“ what?! ”

“ you know, ehhh, the Trans-consumer-whatever the last letter stood for reports ”

“ ahhh, those wierd reports, yeah I remember. Hey I gotta run, gotta do some work tomorrow”

“ alright man, see you later alligator! ”

hate it when he says that! Well its time to go.

“ Blondie is gonna be there again! Gotta prepare for her.” whispered Jake

Day 4. At work.

Hmmm, so there is a close correlation between dateme stock and financials. Interesting.

Gotta give that to the analytics division to digress. Maybe they can find out something useful.

Jake still didn't understand the modern world. In the minds of the people it just didn't click

that in a world run by banks, well, everything is owned and run by banks. Starting with the

government and finishing off with the media. The banks truly did control everything. The Big 4

investment banks: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Innuendo and the Rothschild Corporation. Their

clout over the government was such, that every law that they wanted they got passed. The rest of the

economy didn't matter as it was all controlled by the banking industry.

“ Hey Mr. Johnson, we're done here ” That was the call from the analytics division, well hopefully

they figured out what was going on. Jake went 2 flights of stairs down and into a large room full of

supercomputers. The place stanched of electronics and he didn't like it, there was too much of it

there. He began talking to a low level data analyst that has just finished processing the information.

He was crouching down next to one of the computers trying to take something out. The bottom of

the large machine was emanating a strange shade of green. Why is this place lit up like a Christmas

tree thought Jake.

“ Sir, we believe that the Innuendo conglomerate's stock seems to correlate most closely with

dateme”

“ Any reason for that? ” asked Jake suspiciously

“ Yes, the chief of the corporation has been closely working with Dr. Paulson and is believed to

have given an order for a buy out of the dateme's stock ” In a buyout one company acquires a

controlling stake in another.

“ Is he planning a takeover or something ” replied Jake in astonishment.

“ No sir, we believe that it is a one way bet. The stock has no way to go but up ”

those fools, they always say this. Something here is up. I gotta look deeper into it.

“ Hey, is there any way I could meet that, well, doctor? ” said Jake

“ You mean Dr. Paulson?? ”

“ Yes, who else you think I meant?? You deaf or something? ”

“ Sir, there is no need for this. In order to meet, the doctor, you have to first go through the

company's board of directors and the only way to do it is by making a killer bet ”

“ You mean I have to prove myself to them?? ”

“ Yes, well, indeed, who are you to meet with them! ”

“ I am a respectable financier!! ” said Jake confidently.

“ Well sir, you might consider yourself respectable. But in our world it is the size of your wallet that

determines your respectability; and yours is, well, small.

“ Excuse me?! ” asked Jake as his voice got louder. He was starting to lose patience here.

“ what I said is that those people are making more than 100 million dollars a year. You make 2 ”

those fat cats thought Jake while walking out of the dimly lit chamber.

Day 5. In bed with Blondie

“ Hey baby, you wanna do it in the bum this time?? ”

“ Excuse me?? ”

“ You know, the anus ”

“ The anus! What?? ” in my time we put yardsticks up there! No way I'm putting mine in! Thought

Jake as thoughts of disgust were flying through his head. Damn he wished he could have all those

toys he used to use on witches back in the day! Surely he could make that Paulson guy talk. What is

he trying to achieve here!? Who does he work for?? Is it the devil? Couldn't be! Not him. I know all

those devil worshippers and Paulson does not have the balls to worship satan.

“ Got it!! ”

“ What? ” said Blondie?

“ I figured out how I can make money! I know how I can score with the fat-cats! ”

“ Hey you are not turning gay are you? A friend of mine has a free hook-up on dateme ”

“ Thats not what I meant! I know how I can make a killer bet ”

“ How?? ” replied Blondie completely not understanding what is going on.

“ You won't understand! ”

“ Will you buy me a ring? ”

“ A what?? ” asked Jake in surprise

“ You know, erghh , one of those holo-rings, but I want mine in gold please. ” A holo-ring would

have a special gem placed in it that would project special pretty images when the user rubs the gem.

Those pictures can range from those of Hello Kitty to teddy bears or other stuff that girls like.

“ OK I will, but if you promise to stop bothering me with that bum business of yours ”

“ OK I promise. Kisses. ”

Jake walked out of the bedroom and went towards the living room. Having reached it, he

began walking up and down the room saying one thing “ the stock is gotta go down. The Innuendo

corporation is in charge of everything, they own the world. They will make it go down before they

buy more of it. ” “ stock is gotta go down..... ” It just seemed to Jake like he figured it out. He

thought that Innuendo was the top dog, that it run everything and manipulated the markets. Little he

knew that the 4 big banks were just a cover for a much more sinister operation.

“ I'm gonna place a fucking bet against the market and leverage it to the max! ” he yelled out

“ it's either now or never! I gotta get to those fat cats! I gotta stop them from messing with our sex

lives”. All the memories of him hunting down witches sprung back into his mind. His vivid

imagination allowed him to imagine a modern inquisition! It has been all too long since the collapse

of the Catholic Church. The bankers are now in charge, they claim their new view of Christianity is

better. Well its pure heresy if you ask me thought Jake. Why were there no homosexuals in my

time?! We didn't chase after them! He almost said aloud. Good thing Blondie didn't hear. She hates

homophobes. Jake really wanted to make this relationship work with her, although she was growing

more and more annoying by the day.

Day 6 In the Apartment

“ Money-penny! I want to place a short sale for the stock of dateme please. ” said Jake while sitting

in his holo-chamber. A short is a bet placed on the fall of the share price.

“ Mr. Johnson, please reconsider. The stock has nowhere to go but up! ”

“ Don't argue and place the order. For all my 2 million dollars. And I want a 20-to-1 leverage with

upside protection ” Leverage means that an order is placed with more money than one has. So with

20-to-1 leverage Jake placed a sell order for a 100 million dollars. But, if the share price rises by as

little as 5%, Jake loses all his money. Upside protection is something to make the deal less risky, but

it does not eliminate all the risk.

“ You crazy Mr. Johnson?? You'll be wiped out! They are signing a deal with the chief of Innuendo

as we speak ”

“Just fucking place it!” Jake yelled in a voice of thunder and got out of the chamber.

He then immediately went to his holo-screen and tuned in to CNBC. He just had to watch

the market tick. It was now or never, both his theory was being tested and his ticket to the fat cats

was being either delivered or torn apart forever.

Jake continued to watch the market tick both up and down around the support line; support

line is a psychological value like 100 or 1000. Nothing really happened for a while, then suddenly

news came out that China has not agreed to expand the license to dateme for another year. BAM!!

thought Jake, that sure as hell is gonna make the stock tumble. CNBC commentator came on

saying “ it appears that the dateme stock is on a .. hmm...well.. a trend downwards. News has just

come out saying that China has not, I repeat, has not agreed to extend the dateme license for another

year. The stock is tumbling. I repeat the stock is tumbling ”

“ WOHOOO ” yelled out Jake in confidence. “ I'm Rich! ”

“ Whats wrong? ” asked Blondie, as she was just awakened by Jake.

“ You don't understand! Im rich! ”

“ Ehh, how is that? ” she asked.

“ Well, hmmm, you see I made some predictions. Like, you see, the world is run by a consortium of

banks with Innuendo on top. They run everything, including China!! and they manipulate the

markets for themselves so they can.... ”

“ Wait wait wait, is this some kind of a conspiracy theory? The world is not run by banks, what are

you talking about! China is a democracy! They won their freedom ages ago! ”

“ No! You don't understand. China is run by the same banks America is run by! ”

“ Have you gotten off on the wrong foot today baby? Is it my bum? Please tell me its not my bum...

”

“ Don't you understand?? I won!! I am a multimillionaire! ”

“ Hmm, hey! You are starting to look ever so cute....wait you serious?? ”

“ Yes! Baby, I'm gonna get you that holo-ring in gold, hell platinum if you want ”

“ WHOHOOAAA ” she yelled and run up to him wanting to suck his dick.

“ No, no, thats not right. Seriously what are you doing. ”

“ We are rich! Lets go celebrate! ” she said, as she took her hand of his pants.

“ Let's ”

“ I knew that dating thing would work! ” she said as they both proceeded towards the exit.

Day 7. At work

Jake has just made a killer bet on the stock exchange. Everyone in the office could not

possibly believe what just happened. How could he have known that the Chinese would refuse to

grant the permit? Everyone anticipated the stock to go up. Some thought that Jake was guilty of

insider trading but they had little to no ammunition to back up those claims. Jake said to himself

those bankers think they understand the system, but they really know nothing! Nothing at all! Only

if the public were to find out how the world really worked....there would be an uprising! The evil

corporations would fall and humanity would be free once again!

At this point in time many began to believe that Jake had some sort of 6th sense when it

comes to investing, I mean after all he took such a risky bet out of the blue, as he seemed to put it. 2

million of his own dollars waged against the market, 2 million which now miraculously have turned

into 15 million overnight. Thats something that even the fat cats at Wall Street will have to consider.

Jake is now preparing for his interview with CNBC, where he will describe his trade and how he

came to place that bet. He now feels empowered, strong and ready to take on the system. His

emotions are coming out strong and he feels happy that he time-travelled. Back in his own time he

was just a lonely inquisitor working for the Catholic Church. Now he is a multimillionaire, a man

worthy of admiration. He even began to think of cashing out and looking for a new relationship.

His thoughts were now running all over the place, from redecorating his office to moving

out of the city and enjoying his life. Maybe to Cayman or some other place in the Caribbean. Why

wage war when one is rich? “wow that money is really starting to take effect on me” thought Jake

whilst not being able to believe where the trail of his own thoughts is taking him. “ thats what I was

always afraid of....the awakening of the demons within ” he whispered to himself while overlooking

Manhattan from his 343st floor office. “truly is beautiful”, he said to himself while not being able to

believe that it was all build by demon worshippers. Doubt about his own sanity began to arise in

him as he started to realize that he could have simple gotten lucky and maybe it was fate that he has

become so rich. What if it was all by design and he is meant to dump Blondie and find himself a

real woman, someone worthy of the mercedes he was now planning to get. “wait....thats not right!

Something is wrong here. I need to go to church and pray. Maybe than the demons will leave me

alone!” he thought whilst leaving the office and heading down to the closest church in the area. And

so Jake headed towards an elevator which was to take him down to the 1st floor lobby, from where

he was to embark on his mission to pray in a Church. Something he has not done since he got to the

future for his fear of being noticed. After all when was the last time you saw a banker pray?

“ oh no ”, its Dmitryi, his most hated pal that just entered the elevator on the 199th floor.

“ Hi Jake man! Great bet yesterday, the boss wants to see you in his office! ” he said while slapping

Jake on the back.

“ hey, I can't, erghh I need to go to ehhh well whats it called....CNBC station, interview ”

“ hey relax, you know how slow they are, you can go there tomorrow, the show won't die without

you ” said Dmitryi, another guy that hated the channel as much as Jake. He always used to say it

was a corporate propaganda machine. Jake thought of it more as an advertisement for hell.

“ no seriously what do they want ”, replied Jake thinking that he should have stopped hanging out

with him long time ago.

“ a promotion man! A fucking promotion for you! You scored big time yesterday, hell, if it wasn't

for you we would all look like morons ” he said laughingly, as usual

“ you mean you spied on me?? ” Jake replied

“ hell yeah we did! We tracked your trades man and took the same positions as you. ” he hissed.

“ what do you mean you took the same positions?? I was trading from my private account, how

could you have known? ” asked Jake with an expression of strangeness on his face.

“ private schmivate ” replied Dmitriy “ its a company account, they are all tracked! ”

“ great! So how much money did you make? ”

“ me?? none! But the company....hundreds of millions! The guys at the trading desk began shorting

the moment they saw your position, seriously you are up for a raise. ”

The elevator has reached floor one. Jake is now seriously having second thoughts about

going to church, yet alone killing anyone. The demons within him are starting to take on sway. He is

beginning to think that maybe it was all destiny from the start. That he should not reject the money,

yet alone do anything abrupt for the risk of blowing his cover. Now he is seriously considering

meeting with the board of directors and discussing his future at the company. Perhaps the raise will

make him a fat cat himself.....Perhaps it was all destiny.

“ so you coming? ” asked Dmitryi while holding the door to the elevator.

“ no man, gonna go up to the 500th, gotta meet with those guys, a raise is a raise. Always good. ”

“ great! Let me know how it goes ” said Dmitryi with a happy expression on his face.

In the lobby

Damn those bankers. Damn it, damn it damn it. Jake kept on cursing at them all the way up to the

500th floor. The elevator opened up right into the reception, which was a large room covered with

silver plates and very expensive furniture. Jake has never seen anything like this in his life. Large

steel chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling which was almost 10 meters high.

“ The board is expecting you ” said the secretary, a hot brunette woman with silvery hair and large

breasts.

“ which way ” replied Jake, being stunned by her beauty. Wow, she is so good looking.

If only Blondie was like that.....I wish I could have had all this money before I signed onto that

stupid dating service thought Jake whilst standing in front of the reception desk.

“ something wrong? ” asked the secretary?

“ everything is fine ”, replied Jake. “ please tell me where to go, this place seems big...well, very big

”

“ yes, Sir Cramer had it all designed by himself. Everything had been ordered out of Persia, even

the paint for the ceiling ”

“ you serious? Persia? ”

“ yes, indeed. They are wonderful aren't they? ” she said while pointing with a stroke of her hand at

the steel chandeliers hanging above them.

“ indeed they are ” replied Jake.

“ conference room 7, straight up and it will be the second door on your left ”

“ thanx ”.

wow, this place is incredible. How much money does it all cost?? whispered Jake as he turned away

from the secretary's desk.

“ 20 million overall, sir ” she replied “ don't worry, I have really good ears, sir ”

“ wow ” was all that could have come out of Jake's mouth at the time.

He proceeded towards the conference room 7 where Lord Cramer was waiting for him in person

along with the other members of the board of directors. Rumor has it that Sir Cramer purchased the

title of Lord from England for as little as 10 million dollars. Great! Even thats for sale now! Said

Jake in a quiet voice whilst being almost at the door. Those silly bankers, money isn't enough for

them, they want to be aristocracy now, whats it gonna be next time? Kings? Roaylty? Wondered

Jake as he slowly pulled down the gold handle on a door of beige silk with stripes of red velour.

Damn, he wished he lived like that rather than in a cramped up apartment in Manhattan. Lived

somewhere in the suburbs and took the space-train to come over. A single ticket can cost 2 000

dollars. Incredible.

At the conference room.

“ Mr Johnson, welcome ” said Lord Cramer whilst sitting in a chair of white cotton with gold silk

underlings. He was surrounded by 12 other board members, all of whom were sitting in similar

chairs, but smaller in size. Cramer was a tall man with a strong build. His hair was almost pitch

black and curly. His personality however, from what Jake has heard, wouldn't suffer from some

improvements

“ Lord Cramer, greetings ”

“ please, sit down ” said sir Cramer, while pointing to a white circular chair right opposite himself.

“ we have called you here today to discuss your input into our profit scheme. You see, had it not

been for you we would have taken on serious losses on our positions yesterday, on the order of

billions. We are not like those big 4 banks. We don't have as much insider information as they do.

Hell, even they don't have the information that you had. ”

“ what do you mean, sir? ”

“ well, Innuendo lost on the order of 1.2 billion dollars yesterday. Goldman 0.5, Rothschild 2.2 and

JPMorgan 1.3 billion dollars. We made 2, yes 2 billion. All thanx to you”

“ thats impossible ” thought Jake, the events all appear like something out of a bad dream. How

could the big 4 lose that much money?! Surely they must have known! After all, they are

manipulating the markets to make money! Thats was the basis of Jake's analysis.

“well, so is the government going to bail them out yet again? ” asked Jake with an expression of

surprise and discontent on his face.

“ it remains to be seen, with losses that large the entire stability of the financial industry is at risk

now. After the last crisis the government promised the taxpayer that no more bailouts will ever be

realized. Its going to be hard to push that through politically ”

there must be something here, must be. What is going on?! Jake kept on wondering as he remained

silent for a few seconds. His mind kept pacing up and down and he completely forgot about the 20

million dollar environment he was in.

“ so....what is going to happen to all those stocks of dateme that the banks are holding? ” asked

Jake, thinking he might be onto something.

“ well, so far it appears that the banks are holding onto them....who knows, realizing losses that

large is always risky. What if the government does not come to help them this time. Their stocks are

already in free fall ”.

“ I guess it remains to be seen ” said Jake, whilst his mind knew there was something there,

something he is not yet seeing but feeling. The big 4 run the world, they run the government....but

its a democracy, how can they run the government?? why can't they get bailouts? Is democracy a

scam? What about elections? Are they manipulated? All those thoughts were rushing through Jake's

head as he was puzzled once again about the American system. Banks, government....could there be

some unifying force above them? That was a question that evaded Jake's mind.

“ So we should discuss the conditions of you raise ” said Lord Cramer.

“ Yes, indeed. How much? ”

“ how much what? Office space?? ” said Cramer laughingly. “ its not office space that matters

right?? ” he said with an evil grin on his face.

Jake began to wonder whether he is making the right decision, or if he should just stand up and

leave. Cash out on the trade and move to Cayman. Nah he thought, I want to get the best of both

worlds. Jake thought for a moment that demons might not exist at all and that its all a scam.

Everything he's been taught at Church, just everything he ever knew about the world. Only one way

to find out. I must keep going, he said. My lust for knowledge is whats gonna keep me on, and I can

make some money on the side! Great deal, never been better!

“So, whats the package that you are offering me?” asked Jake in a serious manner.

“ A 10 million dollar annual salary, your own private office right below mine and a right to

redecorate it with an extra 1 million dollars ” replied the Lord

“ wow, thats a hefty price tag for redecoration, sir ”

“ well, you can give the money back if you're not happy, mister ”

“ sir, I accept your offer of employment! ”

“ great! ” replied the Lord in an awe-ish manner.

“ may I go now? ” asked Jake in a quite voice

“ girl? ”

“ indeed! ”

“ alright then, I expect to see you at work monday morning at 9. Hope you sleep well tonight Jake,

seriously well done! You saved the company! ” said Cramer in a manner that will give Jake

wonderful dreams tonight. If only Blondie could be a little less annoying, but nothing can ever be

perfect. Damn, money feels good said Jake to himself gonna figure out this puzzle, I've been

through worse back in my day

“ good bye sir, gentlemen ” replied Jake as he stood up from the round white aluminum and silk

chair and headed for the exit. This night is gonna be a pleasant one for him. Very pleasant.

Day 8 At home with Blondie. Evening.

Jake has just finished a long walk in the park thinking about his future, the bankers and the

new aristocracy that seemed to be ruling the planet. His thoughts were pretty much all over the

place and the model he had constructed to describe the world lay in ruins. He walked into his

apartment, which had a strange geometric painting being displayed on one of the holo-screens on

the left of the living room. The apartment was a mess and Blondie had just thrown loads of her stuff

on the white coach that was sitting in front of the holo-screen. She was cooking dinner that smelled

delicious.

“ babe, you home? ” asked Blondie in a funny voice, which Jake supposed to be only a voice of a

girl that had just found out that her boyfriend scored big on the stock exchange.

“ yeah thats me, what are you cooking? ” replied Jake in a tired and strange manner.

“ well, its loads of stuff. You see, I just run down to the mall and emptied my credit card. I bought,

well restaurant grade Chinese food, instant steak and well clothes...yes loads and loads of clothes ”

she said smilingly.

“ you serious?? so thats that all those boxes are on the couch? ” replied Jake

“ yes, you see thats ...” started speaking Blondie as she turned and run towards the couch “ well,

thats a Chanel hat, thats a Dolce Gabbana sweater and this is....this ” she started speaking with

saliva dribbling from her mouth “ this is the pants I always wanted...Cartier with a gold label! ”

“ Blondie, you sure you need all this? ” asked Jake not being able to understand what is going on.

After all Blondie has always been a modest girl. Since when has she developed a taste for fine

clothing and food??

“ Hey, we are rich! Who cares! ” she replied as she run towards Jake and began kissing him on the

cheeks.

“ Ohhh OK OK stop it, seriously ” said Jake as he began pushing her away. His mind was

wondering what was up with the girls in the future and why the girls of his own time never needed

that much clothing.

“ Look ” Blondie said “ the steak is ready ”

“ smells nice ” said Jake as he could almost taste the chemically enhanced flavor in his mouth

“ yes, lets eat! ” said Blondie as she began serving the dinner table, which was in front of the

kitchen.

And so the two of them shared a romantic evening as Jake watched Blondie try on all the different

clothes that she got and try and tell her that they all looked pretty and nice. In his own mind he just

could not believe that the thought of having money could do that to a woman. After all, he has not

gotten anything yet, just was planning to buy stuff; yet she has already emptied out her credit card.

Well, not a problem, I'll just cover her debts monday thought Jake as both of them headed to the

bedroom.

In the bedroom

“ Hey, so I still haven't figured out how you made all that money. You're not lying though, are you?

” asked Blondie, while lying with her left cheek on the pillow.

“ No baby, I'm not ” said Jake while thinking that he always hated using the word baby when

talking to a woman. After all, she was no baby. She was a grown woman 26 years of age. Well, its

the future, so who cares!

“ seriously, so what about all the conspiracy stuff you were blabbering about? ”

“ I don't know any longer, I might have simply gotten lucky on that one ” said Jake in a humble

voice

“ oh, come on! You were so excited the other day, yelling about some banks running everything! I

thought you were crazy ” answered Blondie, trying to reassure Jake that he was right in his thoughts

“ yeah, well, its just that I thought that the Chinese won't give the licensing to dateme for some

reason....I don't even know why I thought that ”

“ no seriously, tell me your theory, I want to know!! ” began pushing Blondie

“ you wont understand.... ” said Jake while yawning

“ hey! You think I'm stupid, right?! ” she replied

“ no, no I just thought that.... ”

“ tell me! ” she almost yelled out. Jake couldn't believe that woman. Just a week ago she was

talking about, well, MTV music awards and now she wanted to know his theory. What came over

her thought Jake as he began to wonder that maybe he should actually share his theory with her.

After all, what bad could it do?

“ well OK... ” he started “ you see, I thought that the world is run by a consortium of banks, the big

4 investment banks: Goldman Sachs, Innuendo... ”

“ come on I don't care for their names! ” started rushing Blondie

“ OK, I just wanted to take it slow ” replied Jake

“ no seriously, OK so banks run the world, go on, sounds pretty fun! ” she said smilingly

“ alright, so those banks, I thought, were manipulating the market to make money. Like, making it

go up and down as they pleased. So, you see the Chinese were planning to extend the rights to the

dateme service which would allow it to... ”

“ I don't care for that! OK, they make it go up and down, so what's the problem?? ” she kept on

pushing

“ Well, I thought that they controlled both the American and Chinese governments and influence the

markets that way. Thats how I placed my bet ”

“ wow....I knew something was up! Wait, why did you stop talking?”

“ well, I'm not sure that the banks control everything anymore. They seem, well, kinda afraid of the

government to be honest ”

“ Ahh OK, I see, so you thought banks were like those super-powerful guys but now that you've met

some you see they are afraid of something, right? ”

“ basically yeah, they seem not to be in charge of anything ”

“ well hey...you couldn't have been all wrong baby, otherwise you wouldn't have made all this

money! ” said Blondie in a reassuring manner.

“ you maybe right, maybe there is something to my theory overall ” replied Jake

“ OK look, what about the industry, I mean isn't dateme powerful as well? ”

“ well I thought it was run by banks to be fair ”

“ I see, and what about the government? You think it has power too ”

“ seems that way ”

“ ahhh...so banks have power, government has power and dateme has power....yet you still made all

this money ”

“ basically yes ”

“ OK, here is a story. Remember my ex boyfriend Kyle? ” started speaking Blondie

not again....I heard that story so many times began thinking Jake. His face gave off an expression of

total disinterest at that moment

“ hey come on!! when you talk I'm supposed to listen but when I say something you fade off!! thats

not fair!! ”. Blondie began getting pissed off with Jake at this moment

“ OK, OK, what do you want to say ”

“ well look, Kyle used to date me right? And also, well I found out later, he was sleeping with other

girls too. Well he's a jerk so of course he would do that..... ”

at this moment Jake's mind began to wonder off again. He just couldn't stand that story

“ look seriously, its important so listen up! Kyle dated me and he dated other girls right? ”

“ yeah ok, seriously... ”

“ no listen, you see just how Kyle slept with me and other girls at the same there could be some

Kyle at the top sleeping with your banks and your government and whatever is there that you like! ”

Blondie's face was almost like she made a discovery! She thought she had figured it out.

“ wait, you are saying there is someone above banks?? what makes you say that?? ”

“ the same as what made me see that there was someone above me! ”

“ who?? ” asked Jake not understanding what was going on

“ Kyle!! ” yelled out Blondie

“ what? ”

“ Kyle was above all of us! ”

“ how?! ”

“ he fucked us all the same!! missionary!! ” again yelled out Blondie

“ you're a genius!! ” began yelling Jake. “ I fucking love you!! ”

“ you serious?? you're not gonna cheat on me like Kyle! ”

“ no, never! ” yelled Jake as as two of them began engaging in passionate love.

Day 9. In the park

Jake was taking a walk in the park. A park like no other, a huge green square. In his time

there were woods all around, you used to ride horses to get from one place to the next amongst

those woods and giant trees. Now all you have is genetically enhanced trees, with leafs that look

blue for some reason. Scientists say its the by-product of genetic engineering, apparently to make

trees withstand all weather leafs had to by turned blue by inserting fish DNA into them since the

fish is, well, resilient. So there is some force above everything was the thought that kept on coming

to Jake over and over again. Something there, above banks, industry and the government....but what

was its purpose? Could it have something to do with dateme? But why? Jake was not able to grasp

the idea that in a world run by profits, well profits were not all there was. He was trying to figure

out the master-plan. He then realized that he would never be able to do so. Looking at the system

from the bottom will always give you the wrong perspective. One needs to get to the very top to

understand all the dynamics that was at play. And so he set himself on a journey to the very top. His

plan was to use his connection to Lord Cramer to meet that Paulson guy and through him he would

contact that force above everything. Now he no longer felt like he was lying on an anvil with a giant

hammer over his head.

Day 10. At home with Blondie

The two of them were sitting on a gray couch in front of the holo-screen, which now had pictures of

Paris displayed on it.

“ Hey so did my theory help? ” asked Blondie

“ yes, very much so! ” replied Jake

“ oh, you serious? How so? ” said Blondie with a strange expression on her face

“ well...hmmm.... you see, I finally am able to understand that in fact banks aren't in charge of

everything ”

“ so you giving up on your conspiracy stuff then? ” she answered

“ no, well I think that, as you've said, there might be some unifying force above everything, kinda

like Kyle with all of you ” said Jake

“ erghh, Kyle was such a jerk....I hope that force isn't anything like him ”

“ yes, me neither ” he replied while leaning back on the couch.

“ so what do you think their plan is? ” she asked him while also leaning back

and looking into his eyes

“ I don't know yet, but I think that in might have something to do with dateme. Its such a powerful

company that perhaps they will start pushing it somehow ”

“ so?? whats wrong with that? ” said Blondie. She truly didn't understand what was wrong with that

super-powerful dating service that has seemed to be running amok

“ well, if they control the dating service and if everyone in the world starts using it then they can

control our lives and our marriages ” he said

“ ....does that mean that you want to get married ? ” she replied laughingly

“ what?! No, not in this world! ” he said, almost yelling

“ what? What do you mean not in this world? ” Blondie began getting pissed off at this point “ Hey,

don't end up being another Kyle, please! ” at this point she started to move closer to Jake and tried

to kiss him

“ I won't, don't worry ” he said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Day 11. At work.

The Federal government has announced its plan to intervene in the markets once again, by

providing additional liquidity to the big 4 investment banks. The news of HSBC having come out of

the crisis profitably has shocked many in the investment community. The regulators are promising

an investigation into the allegations of insider trading on part of the company. In other news,

traders are starting to speculate whether the government will intervene in the internal affairs of

dateme, as the company's stock is continuing to plummet. The banking industry is continuing to

suffer further losses....

Is that it? Thought Jake. Is that their plan? To get the government on the side of dateme, to

start promoting it on the federal level? Wow things with China could get ugly if that happens. Jake

began to realize that, if in fact there is some grand scheme at play and if it concerns dateme than the

whole affair with China makes perfect sense. By making the stock plummet and having banks lose

money, the government could than be pulled into sway by supporting the company. If the

government does something unheard of before, openly backing a private company, than it would be

all so easy to spread the service around the world. Look at the firepower these guys have said Jake

almost aloud. His mind has become accustomed to the idea of banks not being in charge and simply

being pawns in someone else's big game. He is still not able to see the clear picture, but he is almost

certain that it has something to do with dateme. He started to realize that they could simply

intervene and mask it as a rescue plan for the big banks. After all they were all sitting on tons of that

stock. Wow, a direct intervention like that would be breaking all the ethical rules of conduct. The

only way to make the stock go up is if the government somehow gets behind dateme and announces

a large plan to spread the service. Makes company profits a national priority. Let's see what

happens next thought Jake. After all, if he is right and there is something running everything from

the trop, than it would be possible that his ex-inquisitor skills might came in handy even in the

future.

Day 12. At a meeting with Lord Cramer

Jake just walked into Cramer's office on the 499th floor. It was all wood, with a yellow lamp at the

top which reminded him of his own time. On both sides of the large office were holo-screens,

currently with screen-savers displayed on them. He could not believe that, less the technology, the

office of such a powerful person resembled the rooms of castles of his own time. Why would the

futuristic nobel people have a fashion for old stuff?? thought Jake.

“ Please sit down ” said Cramer in a cool and relaxed manner while pointing to a leather chair right

opposite him.

“ thank you, sir ” replied Jake

“ so, Jake, if I may call you that ”

“ you may ”

“ what is your take on the government backing of dateme ” asked Cramer almost in slow motion

“ well, you see, I believe that the government will try to make the stock go up, so that the banks will

be positive on their positions again ”

“ how so? ” he asked

“ by announcing a large program backing the company ”

“ you mean like, a kind of national dateme is good for you program? ”

“ basically yes ”

“ interesting. Would you be interested in meeting Dr. Paulson, the CEO of dateme tomorrow? ”

“ you serious? ” asked Jake in a non-believing fashion

“ indeed ” replied Cramer “ he would be most interested to see you, after all what other way is

there to shrug off all the allegations of insider trading that the press are making against you ”

“ ahh OK. Well I'll be there ” said Jake not believing what was going on. It is finally happening.

That fast! He is on the way to meeting a serious fat cat, one which will perhaps lead him to the

demonic group that is running the world.

“ OK then, I'll send a limo to pick you up ” said Cramer.

“ anything else, sir? ” replied Jake

“ no, that will be all. Your new office will be ready in two days in case you are wondering ”

Jake really didn't care anymore about the perks of his new job. He just wanted to figure out the

puzzle as soon as possible. If he could see that Paulson guy than he might be able to convince him

that he is worthy of admission to that group that the doctor must be a part of. Well, if that group

exists of course thought Jake.

“ OK than, I'll get going ” said Jake happily, he was trying to conceal the fact that Cramer proved all

too annoying for him.

“ alright, good bye mister ”

“ evening, sir ” said Jake as he closed the heavy wood door behind him. The brisk white corridor

then lead him further away from the office towards the elevators. He had to bypass another good

looking receptionist and have his retina scan taken by the automatic security machine, that was

attached to the ceiling. Hope it wont damage my eyesight he said to himself, as this was his constant

fear with this new technology. After all, most of it he has only been using for a little over a year.

Day 13. At a meeting with Paulson

At 7pm sharp Jake walked out of his apartment. The black limo was already waiting for him,

Cramer was already inside. Jake touched the silver handle on the door and felt a charge of static hit

his hand, oouchh he hissed. He then opened the door and got in. The car had an all black interior

with violet velour stripes on the floor. Cramer was sitting on the back seat, so Jake sat next to him.

There was a champagne bar open and his boss was slowly sipping some green drink. Our hero still

has not gotten used to all the strange colored alcohol beverages that the people in the future drunk.

In his time it was just beer. Beer and whiskey. Nowadays you had a whole rainbow of different

kinds of alcohol available for consumption, yet they all sucked in his opinion.

“ Good evening, sir ” said Jake in a quite voice

“ evening ” replied Cramer. The car slowly started moving

“ so where exactly is Dr. Paulson's office located? ” asked Jake not knowing what to expect in

response

“ its no office we are going to my friend, its a castle. An ancient castle, each stone had been brought

here from France and assembled over 20 years ago. And the original was over a 1000 years old ”

said Cramer in a quite voice

The limo continued gaining speed, and as it reached the highway the speed began to hit 300 miles

per hour. It would take them roughly 40 minutes to get to Paulson's retreat. Cramer said that there

would be other people there, some from the financial community and some...well....he didn't specify

but it appeared that they might be the people that Jake was interested in.

“ when we get there ” started speaking Cramer “ don't look like you are surprised by anything you

see, those people don't like it ”

“ what do you mean ”. Jake's heart began sensing that it was the elites that Cramer was talking

about

“ well, some of those people, they make look...how should I put it, strange ” said Cramer

“ what do you mean, strange? ” at this point Jake was starting to sense fear, as he was not fully

aware of what was to come

“ you have to see that for yourself. Just act normal, OK? ”

“ OK ” replied Jake. He was now mentally preparing for the unknown and hoping that he wouldn't

see his most dreaded creature, the incubus or a demon turned man.

At the Castle.

Jake walked into a large medieval castle that was all decorated with ancient art from around Jake's

time. There were paintings of ships and soldiers from a war which had taken place centuries ago.

These must be worth millions thought Jake. The estate was very large, about 6 square kilometers of

land and had small farming plots located throughout. Wow, this is just like in my time. The concierge

welcomed Jake and Cramer at the small reception desk and pointed towards the large hall further

down. Jake walked down the hall, which had paintings on both sides and towards a large dining

room, with a table in the middle. The table had real wax candles on it, something Jake hasn't seen

since he got to the future. There was a group of 11 people sitting at the table. Jake and Cramer were

about to join them.

“ Don't freak out ” said Cramer as he lightly elbowed Jake in the stomach

“ OK ” replied Jake

As the two of them approached the table Jake could see strange shades of red covering its wooden

surface. He then was pointed towards a large chair, which looked like it was made out of ancient

wood with purple silk coverings. As he was about to sit he looked in front of him and saw 3 men,

which had strangely lit eyes. They were emanating a shade of red that Jake had previously noted;

one of those men was especially tall and was wearing a long leather robe; he had pale skin which

almost looked reptilian. Wow thought Jake what is wrong with those people? Are they the demons

I've been looking for he began wondering.

“ May I present to you myself and my associates ” said the strange tall men with red eyes. His eyes

actually looked like there were manufactured. Some kind of high technology that Jake had

previously not seen. As he looked closer he began to realize that they were in fact cameras, he could

see on either side the electronic circuitry that connected the eyes with the rest of the body. There

were lines of silicon going from both eyes and across the top part of the face. They guy looks like a

machine said Jake to himself.

“ I am called Lord Kalev, to my left is Lord Katzir and to my right Lord Kimhi” he said and the red

glow in his eyes got brighter “ we are the descendants of the ancient medieval order called the Clan

of Azeroth and our mission here today is to develop technology which will allow us to attain

immortality ”

“ excuse me? ” said Jake

“ am I not speaking clearly ” replied Lord Kalev “ we invited you here today because it seems like

you have gained some mastery of our plan and we would like to know how ”

“ mastery of your plan?? you mean the insider trading allegations? I am no insider trader! ” began

pushing Jake as his heart started to pound ever so harder

“ that is not what we are talking about ” replied Kalev as the red glow in his eyes again got brighter.

Jake just could not take his eyes of the reptilian looking skin that he had, which now seemed more

like it had silicon intertwined with it. “ you placed a leveraged bet against the market at a moment

when no one in their sane mind would do it. Tell me how you had that insight ” Kalev started to

grow impatient at that moment.

“ excuse me, he is my associate and I can absolutely assure you that.... ” began talking Cramer

“ shut up! ” quickly interrupted Kalev “ tell us how you knew China wouldn't grant the license to

dameme! ”

“ OK, OK! I just thought that banks were manipulating the market for their own benefit, thats it ”

quickly started saying Jake

“ look, had you thought that you would have placed the bet up, not down ” intervened Lord Katzir

“ no, no I knew that the stock would go down as it was obvious to me that banks would want to buy

it all out at a lower price ” said Jake

“ he has the sense ” started speaking Kimhi

“ he can help us achieve immortality ” continued Katzir

“ we can use him ” finished Lord Kalev

“ use me how?? ” asked Jake. At this point he quickly looked around the table as he realized that the

rest of the group was simply too afraid to talk. Immortality, didn't sound bad at all but not with these

guys. Never. They seemed worse than those assholes he used to hunt down during his time as an

inquisitor. Perhaps if he joined them he could get a better insight into how their group worked and

what was their final plan.

“ fine, I want in! ” said Jake awe-ishly

“ you are not even invited yet ” replied Kalev

At this moment Jake began backing off. He started to realize that the 3 people that were sitting in

front of him were in fact from an ancient medieval Clan and that he fought that exact group in his

own time. A moral sense of duty began arising in him as he came to the realization that he could

finish what he had started back in his own time.

“ what do I have to do to be accepted ? ” asked Jake in a quite tone

“ well, you have to prove to us that you are a supporter of trans-humanism and submit to an

insertion” said Kalev

“ an insertion of what? ” Jake started to get afraid here

“ well, the three of us had our bodies implanted with technology which the world won't see for

decades to come. You, on the other hand will have to be implanted with a simple microchip that will

go on your forearm. It will relay all your actions and emotions directly to us. That way we will see

whether you are worthy of admission to our group ”; little did Jake know that the implanted eyes

that Kalev already had allowed him to do just that, as he could see directly through Jake's body and

see the buildup of electricity and chemistry inside Jake's head. He knew that Jake was nervous, in

fact at this point he began sensing that Jake was from the past. He did not, however, know who Jake

truly was. But this still hadn't stopped him from inviting Jake to join their group.

“ OK, I am ready. Implant me ” said Jake

“ You do realize that you will not be able to remove the chip as it will split into microscopic nanoparticles

upon insertion. That way we will be able to monitor all your emotions ”

“ fine ” replied Jake fearlessly

“ OK, than. After dinner you will come with us and we will insert you with the nano-chip ”

Having agreed to an insertion, Jake had dinner with the new technocratic aristocracy and

then he followed them into a dark room upstairs, where he had the microchip implanted into his

forearm. The technology they used was something out of a movie, they placed the blue looking

piece of silicon onto his skin, which then split into tiny round particles that looked like mercury.

Those particles than burrowed their way into the skin through the pores. Jake could only feel a little

bit of pain but he knew that the point of no return has been passed. He will never be able to go with

Blondie, nor even have a normal relationship with anyone as he would always know that he is being

monitored and maybe even controlled.

“ Oh, and by the way if you ever tell anyone about us, you will die ” said Kalev mercilessly.

“ I understand, replied Jake ”

“ it is time for you to leave. We will contact you when we need you. ”

“ how? ” began asking Jake

“ through the chip. ”

“ I don't understand ” said Jake

“ don't think about it and just go home and sleep. ”

At this point Jake understood that there was no point in asking for more information as

Kalev simply wouldn't give it to him. He turned around and walked away trying to find Cramer,

who was still at the dinner table engaged in some conversation about the stock market. Does he not

understand at all? Its all just one big scam! Began thinking Jake those guys want immortality and

they are simply using you to achieve it. All the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together now.

Technological progress, genetically enhanced foods, all this financial mumbo-jumbo....it was all

there because some old medieval clan wants immortality. Now Jake had to figure out whether or not

there was any devil worship going on and whether his services were in fact necessary here, in the

future.

“ let's go ” said Jake to Cramer

“ oh, you already here? OK, let's go ”

The two of them said goodbye to the people that were still sitting at the table and the

concierge showed them the exit. They then got into their limo and left. Jake's mind was wondering

how the chip would allow the aristocracy to contact him. Well, it remains to be seen thought Jake as

he fell asleep inside the car.

Day 14. at work

And so to other news. There's been an outbreak of Ebola virus in east Africa. Over a 100

people are now reported dead and the authorities have quarantined the area. The United States

government has just announced that it will send additional military personnel to help the Congolese

government in its efforts to stop the spread of the disease. The troops are said to arrive there in 3

days.

“ Wow ” said Jake “ That Ebola strain is the only thing I need to take on the Clan. If I can

get my hands on it and sneak it into the country I will be able to somehow release it in the castle. It

has an incubation period of several days, which means that they wont feel any symptoms until long

after I'm gone. I must be careful to target it directly at the Clan and avoid any unnecessary

casualties. ” At this point Jake was on his way to ask Cramer for permission to leave the country.

His mind was now set on obtaining the virus. And if there is no devil worship going on, then he will

of course have to destroy the strain. But there was no way he would allow satan worship to continue

here, in the future. After all the Clan was the ruling elite, it was above everyone; the banks, the

government and even above dateme. He had to do something about it. But wait! He had the chip

implanted in him, surely they will know if he leaves the country. Wow! What do I do? Jake began

thinking. He needs to figure out how to get Ebola without leaving the country. No soldier would

ever bring it back to the US, and give it to him for no amount of money. And even if he manages to

get the strain how will he bring it into the country? The only way was to infect himself and go on a

course of antivirals, which would suppress the illness until after he had figured it all out. But once

infected, he will have to take them for the rest of his life or he dies a painful and horrible death!

Never has it been better thought Jake. I am going to Congo he said to himself as he was almost at

the door of Cramer's office. I will tell Cramer that there is an investment opportunity there and I

need to look into it. Once in Congo I will pretend to be a medical practitioner and go on to examine

the sick. I will then kiss one of them on the mouth and acquire the virus that way. But first I will

need to get some antivirals. Won't be hard for a banker he thought.

“ Sir Cramer ” said Jake as he walked into his office. Cramer has just bought a new carpet from

Persia and Jake was supposed to be afraid to step onto it. He wasn't.

“ Yes, Jake ” said Cramer as he watched Jake ruthlessly step onto the new carpet.

“ I need to go to Congo, sir ” he replied

“ Congo, what for? ”

“ well, there is an investment opportunity there that I need to investigate ”

“ really? Right now? ” replied Cramer in confusion

“ yes, now ”

“ you know, there is an Ebola outbreak there at this moment. The government has advised civilians

against visiting Congo ” said Cramer awe-ishly.

“ I know that. But if I won't get there tonight the Chinese will outcompete us ”

“ that serious ”

“ indeed ” replied Jake

“ OK, make sure you won't go to any of the villages. ” said Cramer. It seemed that he was afraid for

Jake, after all he knew that Jake had just been implanted with the microchip and that the Clan would

know that he went there. Sensing that Jake had something in mind Cramer decided to sign an

executive order sending Jake to Congo.

“ listen ” he said “ I will sign a dispatch order sending you there. Going to be safer that way. Hope

you investigate that opportunity and return back to me. If the Chinese are on it we must be there

first ”

“ I understand, sir. Thank you ” replied Jake

Jake walked out of the office in happiness. He knew that now he could obtain the virus and

wipe off the satanists. However he first needed proof that the Clan was indeed engaged in devil

worship and he needed those anti-virals. Badly. If he won't get them he will die a sure death. On the

good side, on them not only will he not exhibit any symptoms but he won't also be contagious.

What a great deal he thought. Anything is worth more than having that scum rule the world! He

almost said out loud.

At the doctors'

Jake walked into a large white room, that looked like a cat had licked it to the point that the paint

began to come off and you could see the white concrete behind it. There was a man, in his late 40s

sitting on a white chair with a holo-screen in front of him. Behind him was a white bed, made out of

metal and used for patient examination.

“ Good evening. My name is doctor Graham ”

“ Evening, I'm Jake Johnson ”

“ Mr. Johnson, how may I be of service? ”

“ I am set to travel to Congo and would like a prescription for the antivirals ”

“ Congo, I see. How long for? ”

“ a year said Jake ”

“ wow, that long. Well there is no way I can give you a prescription for that period of time. Besides

the outbreak is contained, it will pass in a couple of weeks ”

“ look, seriously I need it for that long ” started speaking Jake, almost yelling

“ sir, calm down. I will give you a prescription for the duration of the outbreak, 2 weeks. That is it ”

pushed back the doctor

“ no! Seriously thats not enough. How about we come to an arrangement ” replied Jake in a quieter

tone

“ hmmm what kind of an arrangement ” the doctor asked

“ well, a monetary one ”

“ are you offering me a bribe, sir? ” Graham asked

“ no, what I am offering you is a possibility to spend more time with your family ”

“ I see. Like I've said I will give you the prescription for 2 weeks and that will be the end of it ”

“ 50 000 ” replied Jake

“ thousand what? Congolese dollars? ” said the doctor laughingly

“ no, American dollars ”

“ look, 2 weeks is all I am willing to prescribe you. And by the way I am quite well paid, thank you

” he replied. At this point Jake's emotions began to build up and he was quite irritated that he could

only get the antivirals for 2 weeks. After all, if it turned out that there was no devil worship, he

would have to turn himself in to the medical authorities and be quarantined for the rest of his life.

He knew that was the choice fate presented him with but he still gave in to his emotions.

“ a 100 000 ”

“ sir, calm down. Money is not the issue here ” was the doctor's reply

“ OK, a million! ” Jake yelled out

“ look, if you're planning on getting sick with Ebola than I have to tell you that those antivirals don't

work as well as the ads make them look ”

“ what do you mean? ” Jake began to calm down now

“ well, they work if you are not infected with the virus, but if you are than they can only suppress

the illness for that long. They won't cure you ” the doctor continued speaking

“ OK, well how long? ” Jake at this point began to question his original intention of bringing the

disease to the United States. Nothing would justify causing an outbreak here.

“ well, they work for maybe a few months if you are ill. But after that the onset of the symptoms

will begin ”

“ a few months? Can you give me a certain estimate ” asked Jake

“ I'm afraid I can't. ” replied the doctor “ If you are caught with the virus and start taking the drug

you'll be on the safe side for as long as 2 months. After that the symptoms will start showing, you

will become contagious and cause an outbreak ”

“ I see. ”

“ so I will give you the prescription for 2 weeks. Start taking them now and make sure to drink

plenty of water with the medicine ”

“ I understand ” said Jake

“ also, avoid any contaminated areas and ensure that you follow the instructions of public health

officials ”

“ OK, I will do so ”

The doctor began filling out Jake's prescription. So this is it then, no more Blondie no nothing. Wow

what a nice end to my life. I will die either in 2 weeks or in 2 months. Great! Jake felt really sad and

upset that his journey to the future will end that way but he was full of determinism to take on the

Clan. After all, if he won't they will turn the entire world into Sodom and Gomorra and make

experiments on everyone while trying to achieve immortality.

Day 15. Congo

Jake has just arrived in Congo on a hypersonic jet. The entire trip took just under 2 hours

and was incredible. This was the first time that Jake had used this kind of transportation and he

absolutely loved it. The plane flew at an altitude of 60 kilometers and he could see the curvature of

the Earth from his window. He could also see the mega-cities that humanity had constructed to

house its 25 billion inhabitants.

The Congo airport looked amazing. The country has developed a lot over the past 100 years

and there were holo-screens everywhere. Jake was inline for the passport control in a room that

spanned over a hundred meters in length and width. There were machines attached to a large metal

bar that went over the passport desks, that produced pictures of the products that were all so popular

in Congo. One of them was an advertisement for a new McDonalds Congo burger. Jake thought that

he will have to try it once he gets into the country. After all, he will only have a couple of months to

live once he gets back. That is, provided that he will not have to stop taking the pills and infect the

Clan with Ebola. That group of psychopaths, ohhh I hope they do demon worship thought Jake. He

was now at the front of the line and took out his electronic passport. It took the form of a card with

a holographic imaging device, which when inserted into the reader produced a picture with all of his

information. He also had to prepare his eyes for the retina scan. That was always a pain for him, as

for some reason the scan resulted in a tingling sensation in his eyes. So he had some eye drops with

him to ease the pain.

“ May I see your identification please ” said the man behind the terminal

“ Yes, here you go ”

“ Please stand ready for the eye scan ” the man said as he pressed a button and a machine appeared

out of a hole in the front panel.

OK, I need to look sane. Must make sure they don't see what I am here for thought Jake. At this

point he was paranoid that the Clan might be spying on him through the chip. Little did he know

that the Clan already knew who he was, but was completely unaware of his intentions. After all,

who would refuse immortality; that was their reasoning.

“ OK, you may pass ”

Jake was let into the country. Having passed the passport check, Jake saw large glass planes

in front of him. Behind was a heap of nice, beautiful trees that span the entire width of the airport.

Great! I am in Congo thought Jake. Now he had to prepare to travel a long way to the villages

where the outbreak is taking place. He has brought with him a costume of a medical health

professional and is now ready to acquire the virus.

“ taxi, taxi, looks like you need a taxi ” said a tall black man, who run up to Jake

“ yes, in fact I do need one. Please take me to the place where that Ebola outbreak is taking place ”

“ hey, its under quarantine! Don't you know? ” replied the driver

“ yes, well I am a health official from the US. Would like to see the area ” said Jake

“ahh health official, well OK, I'll take you to the outskirts of the village. You'll have to finish the

journey on foot”

“ OK, thats no problem ”

“ come, my car is outside ”

Jake got out of the airport. The hot humid air almost made him faint, will take a while to get

used to he thought. The coronas of all the large trees were hanging above his head and were

dripping water. What an environment Congo is, if it weren't for those Clansmen I would have surely

moved here. Jake was impressed by the fact that the Congolese have actually managed to preserve

nature in their country, as opposed to America which had cut down most of its trees when it reindustrialized

in the mid 21st century. He got into the taxi, which looked like something out of an

old movie. But he realized that it might be a good thing, since there is likely to be no hover-ready

roads leading up to the village. He sat at the back of the sedan and embarked on a journey to get the

virus.

Day 16. The Village

The black sedan that Jake was in had abruptly stopped in the middle of a dust road. The

driver then leaned over and started talking.

“ I will go no further ” said the driver

“ come on, where am I supposed to go from here? ” asked Jake

“ well, if you walk a few miles further down you will get to the quarantined area ”

“ seriously? Can't you just drive me towards it. I'll pay you extra ” was Jake's reply. He was

preparing to offer the driver as much as 200 dollars in cash for just those few miles. Walking in 40

degree heat seemed impossible to him.

“ look, no. I don't need your money. Seriously I won't go any further than that ”

“ I'll give you this much man ” said Jake as he showed the driver two 100 dollar bills, that he had

just taken out of his pocket.

“ no thanx. We are not poor anymore. Don't try this with us. ”

“ 500 ” said Jake

“ get out ” was the driver's reply.

Jake could not believe what just happened. He has been kicked out of the 2050s sedan,

which didn't even have hover-rings attached to it. Does no one really need money in this world

anymore he thought as he began making his way towards the village. He could hear the sound of the

car behind him as he continued walking towards the quarantined area. It was a really sunny day and

he could feel the sun's rays hitting his brown shirt and making him sweat. He had his small suitcase

with him. In it Jake packed the white sanitary robes of a medical officer, a fake ID and some clean

clothes. On either side of the road there were tall trees, like something out of a movie. They had

large coronas and he could hear the birds singing. A very strange kind of feeling, something he had

not experienced since the old days, he thought. The leaves on the trees looked green, not blue like in

America. Guess they didn't have to genetically enhance those Jake said to himself. He continued

walking for a few hours, until he saw a large steel barrier in the distance. It had been painted with

stripes of red and white, and some soldiers were standing on both sides. Ahh finally, a checkpoint

said John. He began to realize that it is now or never. His pores expanded and his perspiration

increased. He was almost at a point of no return. Once he got inside, he pretty much has crossed

over a psychological barrier of contamination with Ebola. Should I really do it? Was the thought on

his mind. There was still time to turn back but he kept on pushing forward. Only a few hundred

meters left and he would be inside the village. Once inside, he would have to go on and kiss one of

the victims on the mouth to contact the illness. Then, and only then will he start taking the antivirals

that he had been prescribed. And in two months he will be dead. That thought was making him

perspire ever so harder. Everything for humanity, everything for humanity he kept on chanting as he

was approaching the gate. Finally he was at the gate. There was a large STOP sign at the metal

barrier and a soldier standing at either side. They were armed with assault rifles and had very

serious looks on their faces.

“ good evening sir ” said one of the soldiers

“ good evening ” replied Jake

“ this area is under quarantine. ” spoke the other solider

“ I understand that. I am a US medical officer sent here to investigate ”

“ we are not aware of this ”

“ must have been a miscommunication, you know how this happens ” said Jake to the soldier on the

left

“ hey, we need to see some identification ” said the other soldier

“ here you go, please ” Jake gave them the plastic card that was his fake ID, hoping that he will pass

through the security checkpoint

“ may we ask you, how come you got here on foot ”

“ well, you see the taxi driver would only go so far so I had to walk the remainder of the way ” said

Jake

“ and a medical officer has no specific means of transportation? ” asked the soldier on the right

“ no you see, I have arrived in Congo a few hours ago and had to get to the area ASAP so I took a

cab ”

“ you could have contacted the embassy and they would have provided you with a transport ” was

the soldiers' reply. By this point Jake had learnt that offering bribes won't get you anywhere so he

withheld his money. However, he figured that if he would push harder the soldiers would let him

through.

“ Look ” he started talking “ I hand't slept all day, I was sent here on a diplomatic mission by the

United States government and it is my job to acquire and report as much information as possible to

my government about the outbreak. This is a serious matter and time is of the essence here. I will

submit to a full strip search once I will be leaving the area. ”

“ go on ” said the soldier as he lifted the barrier

Jake walked through. He was now inside. He got in!! Wow, how glad he was. Now he has to find a

place, where he can change his clothes, go in and acquire the virus. He made his way to a small

cabin, which he presumed was a changing area. In it he opened his suitcase and took out a white

biohazard suite. He started changing as 2 men walked in.

“ Hi ” said one of them

“ Good afternoon ” replied Jake

“ you're from the US, right? ” He must have realized it by looking at Jake's clothes

“ indeed, I'm here to examine the area ”

“ you guys are fast, thought it wasn't until the end of the week that you would arrive ” replied the

other one

“ yeah, you see I'm here to perform a preliminary investigation ” was Jake's reply

“ OK, we won't bother you than. Go towards the large white tent houses and there you will find

your sick. We suppose you have all the necessary equipment with you ”

“ indeed ”

The two men left the shed and Jake was now all alone. He could finally finish changing and

go on to infect himself. The overall mood of the men was fine, so Jake assumed that the outbreak

had been contained. If only they knew what I was about to do he said almost aloud. He finished

changing and now looked like he was wearing something akin to a spacesuit. At that point he

walked out of the shed and proceeded towards the white tents, which had a large red cross drawn on

the sides. He walked into the one closest to him and saw 3 rows of metal beds with people lying on

them. Some had plastic tubes attached to help them breath. Others, that were in better condition, did

not need any assistance while breathing.

Ebola is a virus that attacks the lungs first and foremost. It then makes its away around the

body turning internal organs into goo. Yikes! Thought Jake. One of the first symptoms was that the

person began coughing blood. He then started to feel nauseated and feverish. Later on, as the organs

started melting, pain arises that some claim is so strong that the victim loses consciousness. Jake

knew that he would have to go through all of this as suicide was out of the question. He stood at the

entrance for a little while longer gaining strength. He then walked towards the closest female patient

with tubes attached, removed the inhaler and began french kissing the patient. The whole act lasted

for as long as 20 seconds. OK, thats it! I must be infected by now thought Jake as he took his lips

away from the mouth of the victim, placed the inhaler on top and slowly walked backwards towards

the exit. At this point he has physically passed the point of no return and he had to wait for a couple

of hours before beginning to take the antivirals. He made his way out of the tent and towards the

shed where he changed his clothes. He had to throw out the suit and make his way towards the exit.

“ that fast ?! ” asked one of the soldiers

“ only had to examine their bodies and perform DNA analysis ” said Jake confidently “ routine

procedure ”

“ OK then, Bob here on the left will perform a full strip search to make sure you are not taking any

of the samples from the site. ”

“ no problem ” said Jake as he submitted himself to a search. He then would make his way towards

the mega-city capital of Congo, Kinshasa. While being strip-searched the thought of that

McDonalds Congo burger popped out of his subconscious and he made a promise to himself that he

would eat it before flying back to New York.

Day 17. Back home

Jake got home after a 2 hour trip on a hypersonic jet. The flight was just as magnificent as

the previous one, although this time Jake had an aisle seat. He had just refreshed himself with a

beverage and was preparing to call Blondie. He was on the antivirals that the doctor had prescribed

and was feeling pretty well. I only have two months before I die he thought; well, maybe even less,

that is if I find evidence of demon worship amongst those trans-humanists. At that moment he

walked into his beloved holo-chamber, plugged in and saw a red and green holographic sphere in

front of him. He had to mentally navigate the sphere in order to find Blondie and later click on her

picture. After having done that the system gave off long beeps as he was waiting for her to answer.

“ Hi, Jake!! where have you been, I've been trying to reach you all day!! ” spoke Blondie quickly

“ Blondie, my dear, I had to go to Congo ” replied Jake

“ Congo?! And you haven't told me anything? ” she sounded upset

“ well, it was a last minute decision. I didn't have the time to tell you... ” started apologizing Jake

“ what do you mean, you didn't have the time! You could have send me a holo-note telling me you

were going away! ”

“ baby I forgot ” was all that Jake could tell her. At this point a part of him began caring less and

less for that woman, another part though yearned for female contact and he wanted to invite her

over, but knew that he couldn't. Wow! I will never see her again. And there is no way I can tell her

what happened. Gotta break up with her thought Jake

“ look, this is no apology, I want to know why you had left without telling me ”

“ I think we need to talk ” said Jake

“ what do you mean? ” replied Blondie

“ We were a great couple and I think that... ”

“ you're breaking up with me, aren't you? ”

“ I'm afraid so ” said Jake. He could sense that Blondie was starting to get pissed off at this very

moment. The emotions in her began building up slowly, as Jake was preparing himself for whatever

was going to come next.

“ Look, I think that...wait...think??!! I want to fucking tell you that I knew, I knew that was going to

happen. You are just like my ex-boyfriend Kyle, always looking at other girls. You're just like him,

you know ” her voice was getting louder and louder “ all of you, and I repeat, all of you are the

same. Yes, all men are the same. Wanting to fuck anything that has boobs. You are all the same ” at

this point she was practically yelling.

“ look calm down, Blondie. Seriously we can talk this over ” if it weren't for Ebola I would have

invited her thought Jake

“ calm down??!! you want ME to CALM DOWN!! no, why don't YOU calm down first and tell me

who you slept with!”

“ no one ”

“ just like Kyle, that same exact answer to that same exact question ” almost screamed out Blondie

“ no, seriously, I didn't do anything! ” Jake started to get loud as well

“ LIAR!! and by the way I'VE BEEN CHEATING ON YOU ” yelled out Blondie and thew down

the holo-phone. Jake could hear the sound of the phone hitting and floor and the picture went fuzzy,

then dark. She just fucking broke it thought Jake. At this point his emotions were strong and he

knew that the Clan could sense it. He will have some explaining to do next time he sees them, he

reckoned. Jake couldn't believe what he has just heard from Blondie. That stupid dateme he

thought, it hooks you up with stupid envious girls and all he said to himself. Little did he know that

Blondie in fact did not cheat on him; the day Jake infected himself was the day she was trying to

reach him and just presumed that he was with another woman.

Day 18. At work

Jake has just got to work. It was 9 in the morning and he was sorting out his office. Some

new furniture has just arrived and he had to tell the workers where to put it. He cared little for the

multi-thousand dollar rugs and chairs out of Iraq. Even less so for a 30 000 dollar desk out of India.

All this luxury stuff, who needs it when they are going to be dead soon he thought. Still, the

remainder of his time he wanted to spend in an actual office, rather something that looked like a

supply depot. Having finished with the furniture Jake made his way to Sir Cramer's office.

“ Morning, sir ” said Jake as he walked into his office. This time he took great care to avoid

stepping onto Cramer's precious carpet.

“ Morning Jake. I see that you've noticed the carpet ” said Cramer

“ indeed ” is all that he cares about in his life is this stupid carpet? thought Jake

“ You see, it was handwoven in Syria by a team of highly trained craftsmen. It cost me over 100 000

dollars. ”

“ I understand ” replied Jake

“ The pattern on the carpet represents the way I view the markets... ”

“ how so? ” quickly interrupted Jake

“ well you see, whenever the market goes up I envision the color blue in my mind. When it goes

down I picture a particular shade of orange that you can actually see in the middle of the carpet. In

fact, when I was choosing it I wanted something that... ” Cramer continued talking and Jake

pretended to be listening. After about 5 minutes Cramer once again said thank you to Jake for not

stepping on his carpet and invited him to sit down. That went, of course, with the mentioning of the

origin of the chair, Libya; and its price, 5 000 dollars.

“ So, Mr. Johnson....I take it you managed to secure us a good opportunity in Congo, did you not? ”

Wow, he seems even more stuck up now with his new furniture thought Jake

“ No, sir I did not ”

“ excuse me?? ”

“ well, the opportunity which I thought was there turned out to be deceitful ”

“ I see. And do you know that it was our firm which paid for your trip there. 1st class tickets on

those jets aren't cheap ”

“ I understand that ”

“ so you will be willing to compensate the bank, I take it ”

“ sir, that wasn't part of the deal ” began arguing Jake.

“ look, if you want to be a part of this firm you better start showing some results. That trade you put

on with dateme might have been a killer bet but that was it. A killer bet. I want to see continued

results from you. Understand?? ”

“ I do, sir ” said Jake in a humble voice

“ Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to work ” said Cramer

“ OK, I will get going. ”

“ you should, and mind the carpet ”

“ of course ” replied Jake

Jake walked around Cramer's precious carpet and out of his office, which by now looked

more like an art gallery. Incredible, are they bankers or art collectors? thought Jake as he headed

down an empty hallway towards the elevator. After he got to his office he started to work, thinking

that it would take his mind off Ebola when a thought popped into his head. I want to go to the

castle. He shrugged it off thinking hell no, I don't want to go there. Then it popped in again I want

to go to the castle. Hmmm thought Jake, must be something strange, what is going on? Tomorrow 7

pm black limo outside my home. I want to go to the castle. At this point Jake realized that it was the

chip. DAMN!! he almost yelled, those Clansmen want to see me, they are communicating with me

through the chip. OK, I have to stay calm he said to himself. Tomorrow 7pm I will be outside he

thought and the nagging stopped.

Day 19. At the Castle

Jake walked into a large medieval Castle that the Clan has housed itself in. It was late

evening and he was greeted by the concierge. He was dressed in white clothes and looked like he

hasn't slept all day. What is happening here thought Jake

“ Late me take you to them ” said the concierge. They walked down a large dimly lit brown

hall, which was decorated with ancient art, and up the staircase. The staircase was made out of

white marble and was about 4 meters in width. It's railing was made out of gold. Jake grabbed onto

the railing and followed the concierge up to a small room which had Lords Kalev, Kamhi and Katzir

there. The 3 of them were sitting behind a large green round table, which looked almost like a pool

table except for the fact that the fabric was extremely delicate. Kalev pointed to a free chair and

welcomed the guest. Jake sat on the large chair, which had a long back panel with holes in it in a

form of an exquisite mosaic. Wow, is everything here from my time? he thought.

“ So, I see that you managed to make your way here safely ” said Kalev. The red glow in his eyes

dimmed out a bit as he was speaking. The other 2 had their's glow persistently red.

“ Yes, indeed. I had to take a short trip to Congo to investigate a business opportunity. Nothing

special, turned out to be a dud ” said Jake

“ OK, we see. Well did you enjoy the nature there? ”

“ Oh yes I did, in fact it made be regret the re-industrialization here in the US ”

“ Ohh, the 2050s. We managed it. The population quite welcomed all the jobs the program brought

back and were in no regret that the majority of the forests had to be cut down. ”

“ I see. And so what are your plans for Congo than? ” asked Jake

“ The same ” said Kamhi

“ you mean you will destroy all the nature there? ” that thought made Jake almost want to release

the virus right now, but he was on the medicine and there was no way he could do it. Besides, just

wanting to destroy nature does not make one a satanist he thought as he was trying to calm himself

down.

“ you see, trees and forests are only there to serve us. The moment they stop doing so is the moment

we cut them down. ” said Kalev

“ yes, anything for progress ” continued Katzir

“ and anything for trans-humanism ” finished Kamhi. At this point Jake just couldn't take his eyes

off the grey-ish looking skin that the 3 had and he kept on wondering whether immortality was

worth paying a price that high.

“ so I take it you are wondering about the changes we have done to ourselves ” asked Kalev. His

long black rope now seemed to give off a glow of green for some reason.

“ Indeed, what exactly have you done to yourselves? ” asked Jake wittingly

“ you see, the future lies in the merger of man and machine. Our eyes are pure silicon, as well as

most of our bodies. Our skin has silicon texturing interwoven into it and our brains have quantum

processors implanted in them, much like you do too now ”

“ excuse me? ” said Jake in surprise

“ well, the chip we implanted you with in fact was a state-of-the-art quantum computer that had

made its way into your brain. It just hasn't been activated yet. ”

“ you mean I have exceptional computational ability now?? ” Jake was wondering whether Kalev

was lying or whether he actually did implant him with a computer.

“ let me continue ” said Katzir “ in time you will learn to use your abilities. As a financier you will

need them, in fact you are the first of your kind to be implanted with such technology. You can

become the richest person on the planet... ”

“ not that it matters ” interrupted Kalev laughingly

“ and you're not joking? ” Jake seriously began to wonder the sanity of the decision of infecting

himself with Ebola. I mean look at the opportunities life has presented me with, DAMN!! he thought

“ no, we are serious, dead serious ” said Kalev in a quite tone

“ OK, and may I ask you why no one else has ever seen such technology ”

“ well, we keep it quite. You see, all those gadgets you use are in fact pieces of a large puzzle

designed by us to help us achieve immortality. Take, for example, you standard processor. That, in

fact is the technology which allowed us to produce a workable quantum computer back in the 2090s

”

“ I don't understand ” Jake really didn't

“ Well, we analyzed the way people used their computers. We looked at how they manipulated data,

we even interfered with the workings of the random number generators ”

“ you mean you interfered with us?? ” Jake was quite angry now

“ Look, whenever you need a random number you ask a random number generator to provide you

with one. Those random numbers are used in everything from screen-savers to video games. All we

did is that we slightly influenced those numbers via a hidden circuit implanted onto our

microprocessors. This allowed us to study how the human population responds to changes, in say

the location of characters on the screen while playing games to how soon they move their mouse to

wake the computer up. ”

“ humans are like guinea pigs to you, aren't they ” said Jake

the 3 silicon men laughed. Then Kalev began talking again

“ well, if you like to call them that than be my guest. Anyways, our experiment allowed us to

engineer the chip that we implanted you with. A chip, whose power you are yet to appreciate ”

“ what about the markets, are they manipulated ” asked Jake

the trio again began to laugh

“ Those data models you adore so much use random number generators, don't they? ”

“ yes.... ” said Jake humbly

“ well, there we go. We control the generators, we control the markets. Simple isn't it? ” Kalev

asked.

“ OK, I get it you want immortality and are willing to go a long way to get it. But what does this

have to do with dateme? Why are you so interested in sexual relationships? ” asked Jake. He wasn't

hoping for them to go out and say “ we worship the devil, please infect us with Ebola ” but he was

curious as to what their answer would be.

The glow in the trio's eyes got brighter and Kalev again broke the silence.

“ the human race is just one big computer. Who we meet, who we have intercourse with. All those

are tiny decisions that shape who we are going to be. By analyzing sexual relations between men

and women we can better understand what drives mankind and thus solve for the unknown ”

“ what unknown ” asked Jake

“ in quantum computing there are plenty ” said Katzir

“ so you are trying to build one giant computer...out of people ”

“ exactly!! ” replied Kalev as he leaned forward and the red glow in his eyes suddenly got a lot

brighter.

“ Wow, and so why do so many relationships end up going south? What use is that? ”

“ you see, we need the system to function more efficiently. That means that there has to be less

frictions, more decisions per capita, if I may so put it. ”

“ what?! ” Jake's mind really stopped understanding it at all right now

“ more sex per user ” intervened Kamhi

“ higher output ” said Katzir

“ look, seriously every new date is one decision. Once the couple has fornicated, well the parameter

is set. They like each other and the computation has stopped. We need to increase the flow per user

to make the system run faster ” finished Kalev

Wow, they are trying to build Sodom and Gomorra on Earth....what a hellhole! I need to take them

on regardless of whether there is devil worship here or not thought Jake even if there isn't, I can

assume there is!! he continued.

“ look, if you have a problem with any of this, tell us and we will let you go ” started talking Kalev

“ won't you be afraid that I will tell others about you? ”

“ ohh no, we will just wipe your mind clean of any memories” said Katzir

“ OK, OK, I don't mind it. Tell me how to use my chip ”

“ In time, only in time will you learn its power. Have you analyzed any data series yet? ” asked

Kalev

“ No, I haven't ” replied Jake

“ Tomorrow, at work, stare at a spreadsheet and see if you can picture the data in your mind. From

there on let your imagination hold sway and the chip will work miracles ” Kalev continued. “ Now,

if you will excuse us, its time for you to leave. The limo will take you home. We will contact you

again when you are ready. ”

“ I understand ” said Jake and left the room. He then made his way down the staircase and hallway

and towards the limo. The long black car took him on a ride at 300mph back home.

“ will he talk ” asked Katzir

“ no, he doesn't have what it takes. Once he learns how to use the chip, he will be our slave forever

” replied Kalev. The 3 men continued talking in the little room for a while longer, before each one

slit his wrist and let the other one drink the blood in a sacred satanic ritual. The nano-bots quickly

repaired their wounds.

Day 20. At work.

Jake was sitting at his 20 000 dollar desk. He was leaning back in his leather armchair also

from India. The table in front of him had brown exterior made out of wood and black leather

covering. He had his utensils in front of him, one of which was a 1 000 dollar Du Pont pen. He was

planning to grab it and start writing about his experience with Kalev as Dmitryi rang him on the

holo-phone.

“ Hey man, how's it going ” he said in his usual happy voice

“ I'm good, yourself ” spoke Jake slowly. He was still tired from all the experiences of yesterday

“ I'm brilliant! There's is a new IPO going on, you care to take a look? ” whenever a company

decides to list itself on the stock exchange is always a time for big bonuses. Jake at first hesitated

but then agreed

“ OK, sure thing, send me the data ”

“ Done ” said Dmitryi and hung up the phone

Jake turned on his holo-screen and could see a large blue data sphere, in the middle there

was a volumetric strip of red spanning the diameter of the sphere. He placed his finger on the part

saying “ Zamax ” and mentally clicked on the icon. A table opened up with loads of data, reflecting

the company's state of affairs and its plans for expansion. At this moment a banker usually performs

meticulous analysis to determine whether helping a company list itself on the exchange will be

profitable. But Jake was tired of the bullshit. He wanted to use his chip and so decided to begin

staring at the data. He kept on looking at it for 10 minutes and nothing was happening. But just as

he was about to go fix himself a cup of coffee he saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye. What

the?! He thought. Then it happened again, and again.

Jake couldn't understand what was happening but he figured it was the chip. He continued

staring. After another five minutes the room suddenly started to morph into the spreadsheet Jake

was looking at and he could picture himself a part of it! His consciousness was now merged with

the computer and he could navigate the data series. After running around from grid to grid he

suddenly realized that he was able to make graphs so intricate that he could feel every pixel. I just

don't believe this he thought. After a while of fooling around Jake's mind decided to see what would

happen if all the numbers in the data were represented to base e, one of the irrational numbers,

rather than to base 10. And so everything has changed and he saw himself in a forest with each tree

representing a part of the data series. He was able to merge himself with that forest and feel out

every single number. It was as if he was the data. He quickly realized that an IPO was a good idea

and the stock will sell well. Wow, time to stop, have to call Dmitryi he thought as he popped out of

the forest and straight back into his office. He was amazed and what just happened, at the new

potential of his mind and how he could use it to make money. The thought of Ebola fell out of his

head and the taste for risk began suddenly returning. Now all he could think about is money. He

immediately picked up the holo-phone and dialed Dmitryi.

“ I'm done. Its gonna be a star ” said Jake excitingly

“ Done what?! ”

“ The data you sent me, I'm done with it ” he continued

“ What do you mean you're done with it? That shit takes ages, its a freaking IPO we're talking about

here! ”

“ Look, I'm done with it. Its gonna sell. Trust me ” said Jake as he hanged up the device.

Dmitryi and the guys at the trading desk just couldn't believe it but they decided to proceed with the

IPO and buy as much of that stock as possible before it goes public, that is before others have a

chance to buy it. Later that night the markets have proved Jake right and he was given an extra 3

million by Cramer as part of his instant-bonus scheme.

Day 21. At home

Jake just couldn't believe this. 3 million for 20 minutes of work. What was he gonna do with

all that money? After all he had Ebola. SPEND was the thought that popped into his head. SPEND

SPEND SPEND he kept on chanting. But he didn't know what to get. Then suddenly he realized that

he wanted to get a Mercedes back when he got his first raise. In fact he even stashed away 500 000

dollars for it. And so he rushed to a garage.

“ So, you want a Mercedes ” said the salesman

“ Yes, and a good one ”

“ Well, let me show you our budget edition. It has synthetic leather interior... ”

“ I want the ultimo. Give me the best you've got ” almost yelled out Jake

“ The best?! Well its hard to say what is the best. I think you may like the... ” started blabbering on

the salesman

“ No, I want this one ” pointed out Jake to an all white 2 door sedan which looked almost like a

drop of water. It had a big silver Mercedes logo at the front and was hovering above ground. It used

the new technology and allows it to go up to 500mph on hover roads.

“ Ah, the new S class. All leather interior, great aerodynamics. Straight out of Germany. What else

can I say? ” said the salesman laughingly. In his mind, Jake wasn't gonna buy it because of its hefty

price tag, 700 000. Little did he know that from now on once Jake sets his mind on a product he

gets it. No questions asked.

“ How much ” asked Jake

“ 700 000 ” replied the salesman

“ it's done. ”

Jake was now driving home in his new car through the brightly lit streets of New York city.

Although he was driving at 60mph, the car still felt wonderful and Jake was in no hurry to go to

sleep. I'll go for a drive on the hover-way he thought let me see what this baby is capable of!! was

the thought that made him turn left at the intersection and onto a hover-way where he would push

his new toy to the limit.

Day 22. At Cramer's office

Jake has just walked into Cramer's office. He was called here today by Lord Cramer in order

to discuss the success in managing the IPO for Zamax. Cramer congratulated him on his success

and noted his new car and suit.

“ So you've gotten yourself a new car? ” asked Cramer

“ Yes, and a suit. Dolce & Gabbana ”

“ Nice. So you are finally managing to fit in here. Now can you tell me how you figured out that the

IPO would be a success. ”

“ Well, you see it was my intuition and instincts ” started improvising Jake. He could sense that

Cramer was jealous of him and knew full well that if things would continue evolving as they have,

Jake will soon be in his place.

“ Instincts, I see. So it was all done on a hunch? ” Cramer started to get suspicious here

“ No, sir. I've just seen a similarly done IPO in the past and knew it would work out. ” said Jake

confidently.

“ Great. What about strategic planning, data evaluation, time series analysis....the list goes on. Have

you forgotten about those? ” Jake began to sense that Cramer wanted to start grilling him so he

decided to preempt.

“ Look, I've made a killer bet for the bank. If it weren't for me you would be on a loss again. If you

don't like the way I work you can let me go ” said Jake in a pissed off manner

“ OK, OK ” started backing off Cramer “ I just want to get a glimpse into the mind of our genius.

Go on then, go do your miracles. Hope you can make us another killing fast!! ”

“ Then I may go? ” asked Jake

“ Yes ” replied Cramer. Jake could sense the start of an unhealthy competition between the two. He

walked out of his office feeling annoyed at that. He took the elevator one floor down and went to

his office. The secretary greeted him. Wow, I do miss Blondie thought Jake, as he remembered

Blondie's contribution to his analysis. He reciprocated the greeting with a hello and walked down to

his office. He opened the door and saw all the amazing furniture that he got. Will I ever need all

that? he said to himself as he walked down and sat on his leather chair. As he was leaning back on

his chair a thought popped into his mind Castle, tomorrow 7pm sharp. Castle tomorrow 7pm sharp.

Come alone.

“ Ahh, this is it. They want to see me again ” he said out loud. He was in fact very happy

that after so little time he got called back to the Castle. He decided that he was on his way to

integrating into the Clan and perhaps even taking them all down with him. Who cares if I become a

billionaire, I'm gonna be dead soon anyways he thought.

Day 23. At the Castle

At 630 pm sharp Jake walked out of his apartment and down to the parking lot in the

basement. He got into his Mercedes and turned on the ignition. The electric motor started to give off

a sound like those star destroyers in Star Wars, as Jake began to test his engine. After a bit of

fooling around he drove out of the parking lot and went towards the intersection, which led to a

highway towards the estate. He felt high and was prepared for whatever was going to come next.

His desire to drive as fast as possible was overshadowed by responsibility that he had in taking care

of the oligarchy. As the white car approached the gates, he saw a flash of red scan his number plates

and the gates began opening with a screeching sound. How old is all this, they rule the world but

have no money for lubricant? thought Jake. He then drove next to the large castle and parked his car

next to a Rolls Royce. He could also see a BMW 760 in the shadows. Looks like they are all here he

thought. Jake entered the castle and was taken by the concierge to the basement. There he saw our 3

friends sitting behind a square table with the closest chair to the exit free. The room was dimly lit

and had large ornaments on either side. It also had the skin of a lion on the floor to be used as a

carpet.

“ Ahh, welcome ” said Lord Kalev

“ Good evening ” spoke Kimhi

“ Nice to see you again, our son ” finished off Katzir

“ Hey... ” slowly spoke out Jake. He glazed at the bottle that was in front of them and wondered

what it was.

“ Come, sit down. ” said Kalev. Jake slowly moved towards the table and pulled out a large wooden

chair that looked like it was made before his own time. The candle flame fire reflected off of trio's

skin and gave it a very peculiar shade of grey, making it almost look like it had scales.

“ Would you like some? ” asked Kimhi

“ What is that? ” replied Jake

“ Champagne. The finest in the world ” said Kalev

“ Don Pereignon 1955, just like in those old Bond films ” continued Katzir. He then took an empty

glass and poured some in for Jake.

“ Today we will discuss the nature of our gathering here. You see we are not just here for

immortality. We are here to transform the world ” began talking Lord Kalev

“ I know, into a giant computer ” said Jake

“ Well, not just that. You see, our employers believe that humanity would be better off extinct. What

better way to do it than have people stop reproducing ”

“ excuse me? ”

“ well, how can you reproduce when all the girls you meet will be gone tomorrow? ” said Kalev and

the trio began to laugh. The red glow in their eyes started to pulsate and they indulged themselves in

more of that precious champagne.

“ What we are planning to do is to build a giant computer that will connect all the humans together

” continued Kalev “ and it will allow people to find partners better that way. ”

“ You mean you are planning to implant people with chips? ” asked Jake

“ Yes, just like yours, though a lot simpler. They will allow one to search for available mates as well

as edit your status. So for example if you are feeling horny you make yourself appear green to the

opposite sex.... ”

“ And not just the opposite ” interrupted Katzir

“ Yes, not just the opposite ” continued Kalev “ for example, when looking at someone you can

show that you like that person by making yourself appear green to him. And vice versa. ”

“ We'll have it like Sodom and Gomorra in no time ” spoke out Kimhi

“ Basically, our plan is to stop people from making babies that way. Fertility rates are already on the

decline around the entire world, soon they will drop below 1 child per woman. The world will see

massive population reduction. We aim to make that number nil ”

“ I see ” said Jake. He didn't understand what it had to do with immortality and thus was very

surprised by all this blabbering about biblical towns, that he had to learn about in Church.

“ What do you get out of it? ” he asked

“ they do their part, we do ours ” said Kalev

“ who, they? ” asked Jake

“ well, you may know them as demons or aliens or whatever name you want to give them ” spoke

Kalev

“ vampires perhaps? ” added Katzir

“ ehhh you mean demons and aliens are the same? ” asked Jake

the trio laughed

“ Did you really think there were extraterrestrials visiting us?? ” said Kalev laughingly

“ Well, the news is full of stories about them ” defended himself Jake

“ The news is also full of stories about efficient banking, free markets and democracy ” counterargued

Kalev

“ You see, in our world there is the dark side and its strong. Stronger than you may imagine. They

help us and we help them. Humans are their hindrance ” continued Kalev

“ And what is their purpose? ” asked Jake

“ They want their planet back ” answered Kalev

“ back? ” Jake was lost again

“ Yes, back. You may know them as the ancients. Its the species that lived here on Earth way before

humans appeared but then they lost their place under the sun and had to hide in the 4th dimension.

From there they help us. ”

“ And so they are material? ” spoke out Jake

“ No, No. Not material at all. But they like the 3rd dimension better. However for as long as we are

here they can't be. It's either us or them ” said Kalev

“ And what about yourselves? Won't you bother them after everyone is dead?? ” asked Jake. He was

starting to sense there is something wrong here. He already knew that those people were satanists

but simply decided to go along as he no longer cared. Only two months to live. Should I release the

swarm?? he thought Don't think I can stand this bullshit. It certainly strikes a nerve in me!! His

pessimism now gave way to optimism and he was now glad that he got that lethal strain from

Africa. If this goes on any further I will definitely take them all out. Fuck the money, who needs it if

I got fucking Ebola!! he thought.

“ Us? Well, we'll simply move to another planet ” answered Kalev

“ On what? A rocket? ” asked Jake

“ Oh no no, we have long ago developed technology far superior to a rocket. We call it a flying

saucer. It can travel at 90% the speed of light and will take us to another star system. ” said Kalev

“ All we need is some fuel, well we have CERN for that ” added Katzir. CERN is a nuclear research

lab in Switzerland, one of the only places where they can manufacture anti-matter, which the flying

saucer needs to operate.

“ So what happens now? ” asked Jake wittingly

“ A ritual ” replied Kalev. His face turned increasingly serious and the glow in his eyes got dimmer.

“ Each of us will slit or wrists and pour the blood into a large jar. We will then mix it with the

champagne and each take a gulp ” he finished.

“ you joking?! ” said Jake. He just couldn't believe the way those satanic rituals really were. Mixing

blood with champagne!! what a mess!! “ won't the cut kill you?? ” he asked

“ Oh no no, the nano-bots will quickly repair all the damage ” replied Kalev.

At this point the 4 men stood up and walked to an adjacent room. There stood a large blue

glass jar and 4 little stools. Each one of the trio slowly cut his wrist with a large butcher knife and

let the blood poor into the jar while sitting down. The bleeding would stop after about 10 seconds,

as the nano-bots repaired the cut; so they would press on the wound to get more blood out. Yikes!

Thought Jake. After the preparation was complete, Kalev took out a small bottle of champagne and

poured its contents into the jar. The resulting mixture looked disgusting and Jake just couldn't

believe that he had to take a gulp of that.

“ You're one of us now, son ” said Kalev as each one took he a gulp of the mixture. He then dimmed

down the lights in the room to the point where Jake could barely see his own hands.

“ Thank you, my master ” replied Jake carefully. You'll be dead soon.

“ The day after we will all meet at the Bohemian Grove in California for an annual gathering of the

Clan. We expect you to be there. There will be 665 of us, you will complete the circle. ”

“ I understand. ” fantastic! Just 2 days left in that hellhole he thought.

Day 24. At home and in the park

It was the day before the final gathering. Jake has stopped taking his pills. The thought of

the lost 2 months kept on popping up in his head. He just couldn't believe that it is all over for him

and that he will never have to see Cramer and Dmitryi again. No more white Mercedes or anything

else, those were just toys that he had gathered in this world to help him overcome the difficulty of

living with Ebola. He decided to take a walk in the park and look over his life. As he was on his

way he thought he would turn on CNBC one last time.

The markets are taking a nosedive again due to bad earnings report from dateme. The

Federal government has announced a major scheme backing the company. They say they will make

dateme's share price a top priority. Exactly how they are going to do it has not yet been specified,

but analysts believe that it will be some kind of an endorsement of the project by the authorities. In

other news....

“ Ahhh, so this is how it happens. I was right, the government will indeed back dateme and sell the

idea to the public as some kind of a bank bailout scheme. Those losses were not a mistake. It was all

done on purpose. The cabal of financiers together with the Clan are planning to turn Earth into

Sodom and Gomorra and have been promised immortality in return. I have to take care of this ” said

Jake out loud. He envisioned the future in which school teachers would promote the use of dateme

amongst their respective classes. A future, in which the government would simply write a blank

check to the company and allow it to do anything it wants. The government will promote dateme

not only in schools, but also in hospitals, libraries and in the army. Incredible thought Jake.

He walked out of his apartment and into the park. It was a pleasant day, sunny yet with

some clouds in the sky. Jake wondered around the square park for a little over 3 hours chanting I

have to do this. The blue coronas of genetically enhanced trees hanged over his head and he just

could not believe that the Clan was planning to tear them all down for some residential real estate.

Even this is gonna go soon he thought. Soon after he began looking over his life and remembering

all the good times he had both as an inquisitor and a banker. He remembered Blondie and felt sorry

that he will never see her again. I still have a chance to resume taking the medicine he said to

himself they say one can forget taking the pills for just over 12 hours and the disease will not

spread, after that there is no turning back.

This thought made him hesitate for a little until he began to realize that without him

humanity will never be free, in fact it will become extinct. Everything he was taught at the Church

turned out to be right, there was in fact a plot by the demons to destroy mankind. Those silly

atheists don't realize what they are up against, how can they believe the official story? How can

they not be religious and yet believe in aliens? He wondered. After all, back in his own time there

were people that saw ghosts, demons and other creatures yet there was a universal believe in a

higher deity. Nowadays atheism seemed the be the choice of many, yet those same people trusted

Sci-Fi channels in their blabber about UFOs and other weird stories. Some even believed in

vampires. Damn those fools! They believe in UFOs but don't realize there is one sitting right in

front of them he said to himself. He was convinced that by taking them all down with Ebola he

would free humanity and be rewarded for his services at Judgement Day. I will wake up, perhaps a

million years later, and I will get what I worked for. Hopefully, if the illness does not spread beyond

the Clan I will be forgiven for all my sins. That thought will stay with him until his death. He kept

on chanting those words as he approached the park's exit and walked back towards his apartment. It

was getting dark and he knew that all that was left was one night of good sleep and that was it.

Tomorrow he had to go to the Bohemian Grove and participate in a sacred satanic ritual. Tomorrow

will be the day he'd infect everyone. Tomorrow will be the reckoning.

Day 25 At home

Jake woke up in his bed at 9 in the morning. He looked at his watch and thought damn, I'm

still on work schedule, damn it. He crawled out of bed and walked towards the shower. While he

was bathing thoughts were flying through his head about whether or not he will be spotted. No, no

symptoms yet, he was glad about that. He knew full well that he had passed the point of no return

and there was no way he could ever go back. Not unless there is a cure he thought. There wasn't. It

is quite strange, yet true that in the time of such technological prowess a single virus from the 20th

century still had no cure. And the disease was so powerful that even the nano-bots that the Clan

members had put into themselves were unable to prevent certain death. That just showed the

limitations of technological development. Billions upon billions were poured into semi-conductors

yet only a fraction of that into virology.

The Clan never thought that it would catch Ebola, I mean who would have thought that it

would ever appear in the United States; let alone the Bohemian Grove? Yet our hero was full of

determinism to go to that meeting and infect everyone. He knew there was a risk of the disease

spreading outside the Grove but he had hoped that those Clansmen kept themselves insulated and

without any contact with the outside world. In fact, given their grey looks and red eyes, he was

almost confident that the virus would not spread outside the confines of the Clan. Of course, their

personnel would catch it, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, they should have

gone public with the information, not having done that makes them accomplices he said to himself.

After having finished taking a shower and dressing up he walked into his living room and

sat on the couch. He stared at some strange geometric patters on the holo-screen and wondered

whether he should call Cramer and say that he will never see him again. He decided to do so.

“ Hi, sir Cramer ” spoke Jake

“ Yes, Mr. Johnson, I see you are not at work today. May I inquire what happened? ” answered

Cramer in an annoyed tone

“ Sir, I' afraid I'm leaving ”

“ Ha, don't laugh at me, everyone knows you're the best at this bank. You've got great prospects ”

“ Sir, you did not understand me, I'm leaving the country ” responded Jake

“ Excuse me, what do you mean you're leaving the country ”

“ I've decided to move to Congo, sir ”

“ Congo?! I thought that the business opportunity there turned out to be a dud ” said Cramer

“ Its not because I want to do business there, sir. Its because I want to enjoy their environment. ”

“ You mean nature?!! Come on!! ” Cramer began to laugh

“ Sir, you don't understand ”

“ What better leafs are there than the United States dollars. You can have as many as you want ”

said Cramer wittingly

“ I'm just no longer interested. That's it ”

“ Well OK than, if you want to go and be a tree hugger, thats fine by me. Just watch out for those

Ebola punks. One touch and you are infected. BAM ” spoke Cramer with ever increasing loudness

“ OK sir, thanx for the heads up ”

“ Good luck son! ” he said and hanged up the holo-phone

Great. I spoke to my boss; now the next one, Dmitryi. That guy can't see past his trading

screen. Wonder what I will tell him. Thought Jake as he was being connected to Dmitryi.

“ Hi man! Whats up? ” said Dmitryi, his voice was, as usual, happy and pleased. He was glad that

he was talking to Jake and it wasn't just the fact that he wanted to be close to Jake. He just liked

him.

“ Hey man, I just want to tell you that it was nice being your friend ” began Jake his overture

“ What do you mean was? ” asked Dmitryi. By the sound of his voice you could tell he was really

upset

“ Well, I am leaving the finance community and moving to... ”

“ WHAAAT!!!!! ” yelled out Dmitryi “ What do you mean leaving?! Don't you understand? Haven't

you heard what's happening? The government is backing dateme, this is huge. We can make

millions trading this stock, it just starting to bounce of its support levels and we could .... ”

“ Look Dmitryi, I've heard the news. I understand. Its just that I want to move to Congo ” replied

Jake

“ Congo?! What the hell you're gonna do in Congo? If you going to Africa you gotta go to Ivory

Coast! Its the financial center of Africa, its got gleaming skyscrapers, just like here. We in fact got a

branch opening up there. Hey, I can help you relocate if you want! We can then be partners again,

trade 24/7! What do you say? ”

“ Thanx Dmtriy but it is Congo that I'm going to ”

“ OK, then I guess you're serious. You really want to finish it with finance. Cash out and leave?! ”

“ Pretty much ” replied Jake. His tone was now getting quieter and quieter and he began feeling

some pain in his lower abdomen. Must be psychological, the effects aren't due for another 24 hours

he thought.

“ OK then, hey I gotta run. We have some new fundamental data coming in. Take care bro and keep

in touch ” Fundamental data is stuff like the profits of the company and other relevant information.

“ For sure ” said Jake as he hanged up the holo-phone. He was now complete. Only Blondie was

left, Jake reckoned that he would be better off sending her a holo-note, just as she wanted. So he got

inside his holo-chamber and turned it on. A blue sphere appeared in front of his eyes and he moved

it around a bit with his mind to find the option for a note. Having found it, he activated the program

and began writing.

Dear Blondie, although we have not known each other for a long time, I would like to tell

you that I had true feelings for you and will miss you. I am moving to Congo forever to enjoy the

nature there. I hope that you will forget about what happened and forgive me for any misdeeds that

I might have done. Take care. Jake.

As he was about to finish a thought popped into his head. This evening, 6pm at the

Rockefeller airport. A private hyper-jet will take you to the Grove. Come alone. He realized that this

was it and and he had to go. He sent off the note and thought OK, I am ready. After this he decided

to have lunch and relax until it was time to go.

At the airport

Jake drove his white sedan up to the entrance of the airport. As he was turning off the

ignition he looked at the Mercedes logo for the last time and gently touched it thinking I will never

see you again. He got out of the car and walked towards the main exit, where he was greeted by a

man dressed in official clothes. He was wearing a very expensive dark blue suit, what looked like a

pair of Zilli shoes and a blue tie with tiny violet squares dotted in a mosaic pattern. The man was

holding a sign saying Mr. Johnson. Jake walked up to the man and introduced himself.

“ Good evening Mr. Johnson ”

“ Evening ” replied Jake. He still couldn't believe that this was the endgame

“ Sir, please follow me ”

The two men walked inside the airport terminal and into a small security door right next to

the luggage intake. They got into a narrow long white corridor with a strip of blue painted at

shoulder hight. The corridor was dimly lit with small lamps that were located slightly above the

blue strip and spaced about 2 meters across. Jake followed his guide straight up until he opened a

door, which led directly onto the airstrip. As Jake walked out of the door he saw a small fixed-wing

aircraft sitting on the landing strip. The plane had severely tilted back wings, to allow for extra high

speed, and was extremely sleek. It had a really weird looking rear, with the back wings almost

curving backwards; and a very sharp nose. Overall, the jet was painted white with a strip of red

going across from under the exit and towards the rear. There was a metal staircase leading up to the

entrance and Jake could hear the engines roar. Look at the technology these guys have he said to

himself, not even Cramer could afford a plane like that. Once he was aboard the aircraft he was

offered a drink and prepared himself for a journey to the Grove. As the plane lifted off Jake fell

asleep, missing the last chance to see Earth from the height of a meteorite.

At the Grove

Our hero was driven away from the San Francisco airport in a black limo with darkened

windows. He could see all the traffic and was preparing himself for the final mission. He didn't

know what was going to come next, but thought that he would partake in some kind of a giant

satanic ritual, much akin to the one before. The limo drove fairly quickly on the hover-way and into

the forest. As he began approaching the Grove more and more trees he saw were green instead of

blue. So these guys do like nature he said to himself; he could sense the Grove as he approached it.

The thought of infecting everyone began to give him shivers and he became afraid of being spotted.

Just as he was feeling nervous, the limo had stopped in front of large metal gates. The gates slowly

opened and he was taken inside. Inside the Grove.

The car slowly moved down along a wide alley, which had trees on either side. They seemed

especially large and very old. Further down the alley Jake could see something resembling an openarea

nature reserve. As the car approached the reserve, Jake could sense a heretical presence he

hasn't sensed since the days of the inquisition. He got out of the limo and looked around. Trees

stood everywhere at a distance. The park itself had occasional trees dotted throughout and a river

going across. Behind the river stood a large stone statue. Moloch! Jake thought. I just cannot

believe this is who they are worshipping. The ancient god Moloch!! What year is this? 2000 BC??

Jake thought. At this moment he realized what the ceremony would entail.

“ Good afternoon ” It was Lord Katzir appearing from behind.

“ ...... ”

“ Is everything OK? ” the red glow in his eyes got brighter at this moment and his part-silicon skin

looked especially reptilian due to sunlight.

“ Yes, its fine. Just....it was a long trip ”

“ A long trip?! In our state of the art hyper-jet?! You were probably awake all last night using that

chip we gave you, weren't you? ” asked Katzir in a way that made Jake wanna smack him in the

face

“ Look, I'm tired. Where is Lord Kalev? ”

“ Oh, sir Kalev. He is getting ready for the arrival of the emperor. ”

“ Excuse me? ”

“ You are not in the know yet. Let me take you to Kalev and he will explain everything to you. ”

Katzir walked Jake down a narrow aisle away from the river and into the woods. There was

a shed located next to an especially large tree. Jake walked in and saw Lord Kalev sitting with Lord

Kamhi. Both seemed to be meditating. Katzir gently coughed to let sir Kalev know that Jake had

arrived. The silicon duo got out of their lotus pose and welcomed Jake with a stringent red glow in

their eyes.

“ Ahh, our fellow apprentice. Welcome to the Grove ” said Kalev

“ Yes, welcome ” added Kamhi

“ What a nice retreat you have ” noticed Jake

“ Yes, indeed. One of the only places in America with real trees. It would be a shame to cut them

down in such a historical place ” what a jerk thought Jake

“ What do you mean historical ” he asked

“ Well, this is the Bohemian Grove. It has existed since the late 19th century and is the place of

many wonderful discoveries. ”

“ Such as? ”

“ Well for one, the decision to establish our nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve, was taken

here. Without it we wouldn't have come to power. The scientists that build us the first atom bomb

liked to come here for relaxation as well as inspiration. America's greatest president, Ronald Reagan

was put into office here. ”

“ Not the White House?? ” asked Jake hesitantly

“ Oh no, no. It was decided that he would be president long before he was swept in. And he sold out

the country to us. ”

“ You mean banks ” replied Jake. At the time Reagan took great care to make sure banks were

profitable and he built up the US financial services industry.

“ Back then we were banks ” replied Kalev in a deep voice.

“ And what about the later presidents? ” asked Jake

“ Oh, yes we put all the great presidents into office from here. Starting over a 100 years back. ”

“ You mean all of this was planned back in the early 21st century? ”

“ Are you that naive that you thought we appeared out of nowhere? ”

“ Well....I thought you are fairly recent. I mean look at you..... ”

“ Our ancestors ruled the world just like we do now. The planned both of the world wars in the 20th

century, established communism in Russia and China and did other notorious stuff ” said Kalev. He

began to realize that Jake, in fact had known a lot less than he originally thought and began to

slightly regret bringing him aboard.

“ I see. And no one noticed you back then? ”

“ Well, who ever did was shrugged off as a conspiracy theorist ”

“ OK, and what about the war between China and Russia in the 2020s that resulted in a nuclear

exchange? Were you responsible for that too? ”

“ What other way was there to get rid of those two countries? Seriously? ” Kalev hadn't regretted

any of it. He was proud in sharing this information with Jake.

“ And the financial panic of 2070? ”

“ Markets go up and down. We cause the panics. This is how we accumulate wealth ”

“ But the world seems so rich now, I mean the entire planet has developed ” noticed Jake

“ We developed it for the purpose of population eradication. When people are rich, they breed less.

As well, they become more promiscuous, which helps our agenda. I take it that its hard for you to

reconcile that development can be a bad thing, right? ”

“ Basically, yes! ” replied Jake. During his year here he'd been bombarded with tons of news about

how economic growth was good. How the society has advanced and he's heard about each

milestone that the world has made since the 2000s.

“ Look, economic development can be a good thing if done with good intentions. We are doing it

with bad. ”

“ To be fair, I agree with you. We gotta slay those worms!! ” said Jake loudly

“ Easy here ” replied Kalev “ not slay, eradicate ” he said slowly

“ OK, so whats going to happen tomorrow? ” asked Jake

“ The usual. A child sacrifice. ”

“ I see ” I'm glad I'm killing those sons of bitches Jake thought. He just couldn't believe that all of

this was true. They were in fact real satanists that worshipped the ancient god Moloch.

A long pause took place until Lord Katzir interrupted

“ The emperor will arrive tonight at 8 pm, my Lord ” the glow in Kalev's eyes got brighter as he

stood up

“ Good, we need to prepare for the occasion. ” he said; after he asked Jake to leave and join the

others at the dinner table. Jake walked out of the shed and back towards the open area. There he saw

dinner being served for all the 666 guests. The tables have been placed right in front of the statue of

Moloch.

Dinner

Jake sat somewhat away from the center of the table, away from where the emperor was

supposed to sit. Everyone apart from him had grey looking skin, some had red eyes. I guess they're

giving our the nano-bots for free here he thought. In front of him sat a middle aged man with

slightly reptilian skin and what looked like an implant in his left eye. Though it wasn't emanating

any colors yet.

“ Good Evening ” said Jake

“ Evening. My name is Andrew. Andrew Bolton ” spoke the old man. He was wearing a strange

looking suit and looked like he really prepared for the occasion.

“ I'm Jake Johnson. New here. ”

“ Oh Jake, we've heard so much about you. You're the final piece of the puzzle. The outsider who

figured it all out by himself. Congratulations. ”

“ You serious? People know about me? ”

“ Well of course. We know about each member. The Bohemian Club is a tightly knit closed group.

I've been coming here for over 60 years ”

“ So how come you are not fully mech? ” asked Jake. At this moment he started to wonder whether

everyone at the Grove is an asshole or just Kalev and his friends

“ Well, I just hadn't been given access to the technology. They said that I was too junior for that.

You need to be a Lord to be immortal ”

“ And you are? ”

“ A prince ” said Andrew. Wow, this is just like in my time. Lords and princes. I want to see the

emperor. Thought Jake. “ Here, take this ” he said as he handed Jake a small vial with some blue

liquid inside

“ What is this? ” asked Jake

“ Nano-bots. You will need them for tonight. Will lengthen your life by at least a 100 years. ” said

Andrew. Jake drunk the liquid in the vial and could feel a tingling sensation in his stomach as the

nano-bots began repairing the damage from all the fast food that Jake had eaten since he got to the

future.

At this moment a deep voice appeared from behind asking everyone to stand up. Jake stood

up and looked behind, and saw a man approaching dressed in red robes with a weird cylindrical hat

on top, just like in Star Wars episode 6. “ All hail the emperor ” the voice said and the crowd

cheered as the emperor walked towards the table and sat in the middle. The dinner continued and

Jake engaged in many little conversations with the mechanized people around him. Some were

completely mech, just like Kalev, others looked human. But all shared the same inspiration for

population eradication and spoke favorably of the devil. Nice said Jake to himself gonna get a little

bio-hazardy in here real soon. The dinner continued into the night and at some point the crowd

began preparing for the occasion.

The Ceremony

The emperor rose up and gave a final speech, which concluded the dinner. He spoke of the

uselessness of humans, nature and animals; and of the need to give the planet back to its original

inhabitants. He then once again promised immortality and great wealth to all the participants and

called everyone down to the statue of Moloch. In front of the statue stood a large concave metal

plate on 3 legs. On the plate lay a human baby, dormant. The crowd gathered around the baby and

someone lit up the fires on both sides of the statue of Moloch. As the baby began crying the people

in the crowd started to cheer, in anticipation of what was going to come next. Jake stood somewhere

in the middle and he could barely see the baby. I just cannot fucking believe it. A real sacrifice to

the ancient god. What the hell is wrong with these people he said to himself.

The emperor, dressed in his red robes, stood right at the front of the ceremonial plate. He

then turned around, and Jake could see his face. It was completely metallic, had massive red eyes

and an electric mouth. He pretty much looked like a man turned robot. What the.... thought Jake. At

this moment he wasn't sure if the virus would take him down. Of course, the Emperor was still

human, it was the nano-bots that turned him that way; he must have taken a lot of them said Jake to

himself. But his most vital organs were still organic and thus susceptible to Ebola.

“ We have gathered here tonight for our annual child sacrifice for our protector and guide, Moloch ”

“ We love you ” said the crowd. Jake had to participate.

“ He is the greatest god of all ” continued the emperor in his deep tone

“ We are your slaves ” at this point the baby began crying ever so louder

“ We shall sacrifice this baby for you, Moloch. You ate our offspring 4 thousand years ago and you

will feed on it tonight ”. As the emperor finished talking he took out a large butcher knife, raised it

to shoulder height and chopped off the baby's head. The crying stopped. ............. Jake's mind

stopped processing the information as the crowd began to cheer and chant “ Be with us ”. The

emperor took the body of the baby, turned it upside down over the plate and let the blood pour out.

As he was collecting the blood everyone began preparing for something. Jake was hoping that the

ceremony would continue in the same way as the previous one he partook in; so he would infect

everyone for certain.

The Emperor finished with the baby and placed both the body and the head on some hay in

front of the statue. He then lit the hay on fire and cheering in the crowd got louder. Jake could see

Kalev, Katzir and Kamhi applauding. He was glad he wasn't standing next to them. The Emperor

than slit his wrist and let some of his blue blood pour onto the plate, before the nano-bots repaired

the damage. The cheering got louder. Then people began coming one by one up to the plate and

slitting their wrists. The amount of blood in the plate began to get ever so larger. It was Jake's turn.

He was afraid that the nano-bot vial was a dud and that he would bleed to death at this very

moment. He took the knife that lay next to the plate and brought it to his wrist. He carefully sliced

across the veins and let the blood pour in, making sure it covered the entire area of the plate. Hope

you enjoy the beverage Jake said to himself. Then, suddenly he could feel enormous tingling around

the wound as he saw it healing. The cut then looked grey rather than pink, Ahhh, so thats how it

works. As he was rejoining the crowd, he coughed and saw blood on his hand

Ebola... the thought flew across his mind.