There’s something electric in the air. Do you feel it? An important piece to the puzzle will soon be revealed. The plot so far has been building, like a rollercoaster climbing slowing up the hill. Now, the front car of the coaster is beginning to crest the top and very soon we will all be taking the plunge.
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As usual, Johann's senior aids politely jostled to get a spot closest to him in the elevator. Busby, of course, was his almost constant shadow. Among those in the elevator were Evelyn Poltier, the head of Research & Development. She was a stunningly beautiful and intimidating brunette with shoulder length hair and green eyes. Evelyn was one of the chosen few who were privy to some of the corporation's biggest and most fragile secrets.
The director clearly enunciated two words. “Bottom. Floor.”
For security reasons, the voice recognition software responded to only a select number of voices: Evelyn’s, Seth Busby's, and the director’s.
“Has anyone seen the weather forecast? It seems particularly bad for this week,” Patrick, the assistant, blurted out in a feeble attempt to break the quiet tension as the elevator continued its descent.
Johann quickly raised his hand, palm forward, in the air signaling he wanted silence. Patrick’s red curls bounced as he snapped to attention, he didn’t dare to utter another word.
“Get a haircut,” Johann ordered. Patrick nodded nervously.
The elevator car came to a smooth halt and its doors opened to a dimly lit room that smelled strongly of pine cleaning solution and the faint metallic scent of electricity.
“Everyone may wait out here in the reception area, except Mr. Busby and Ms. Poltier,”.
The director then made his way into a room floating within a room. Its walls and ceiling were made of three-inch-thick bulletproof glass. It was built this way to ensure that no listening devices were deployed. In the center of each wall was XenTek’s distinctive atom-shaped logo and rows of tiny but extremely intense lights that hung over a huge oval conference table.
In the center of the table was a triangle of fine inlaid marble with the Latin word SECLORUM etched in its center. It was the same symbol that was on every piece of currency and government building on the planet. It meant “Ages,” and was a brazen testament to how long XenTek intended to dominate their industry and the world. Evelyn quietly took a seat in the corner of the room as the board members headed toward their seats.
At the table sat the five board members of XenTek representing the industry leaders in energy, media, world finance, and technology. Among them were inarguably the three most powerful people on the planet.
Number one on the list was Sheik Albazar, who was impeccably dressed in a tailored pinstripe suit doing its best to hide his considerable girth. The sheik was the president of the world's largest energy conglomerate. His corporation, Orion Energy, enjoyed a monopoly in every aspect of the energy industry and made billions in profit quarter after quarter.
Second was Heather Vanderbilt, a woman in a loud red outfit who wore large-framed glasses and sat at the far end of the table. She was the head of the World Monetary Fund, a multinational organization that directed and controlled the world's economy.
Third was Johann and XenTek. These people and the corporations they spearheaded were all conveniently intertwined to create an amassed power as the world had never known before.
The people in this room controlled every conceivable aspect of society. Everything from the price of a pound of coffee to what clothes were to be in fashion next season. The heads of government were mere marionettes dancing on the ends of their golden strings. This group preferred to operate under the veil of anonymity, and their power assured them that they could bring to fruition their innermost desires or passing whims.
The Chairman of this immensely powerful board, Director Pfizer, felt uneasy as he took his place at the table and cleared his throat.
“Esteemed members of the board, I thank you for joining me tonight on such short notice. What I’m going to tell you will come as a shock, but the time has come to be very frank.” He lowered his eyes and paused, exhaling deeply as those gathered around the table shared quick and concerned glances.
“Let us not forget how extensively our fortunes are intertwined. Each of our futures are tied to the success of XenTek. For the kind of success we’ve enjoyed to continue, we must continue to innovate in a way our investors have grown accustomed to. Simply put, after the launch of Holo, if we don’t come to the market with something that absolutely dazzles, the profits we have grown to enjoy will be a thing of the past.” Johann received a few nods of agreement from those around the table.
“Let me ask you all, haven’t you ever wondered for a moment how our products seem to be light years ahead of the competition?” Johann cleared his throat. “Well, light years ahead is more true than you know. Nearly all of our groundbreaking products we introduced were . . . how do I say this? . . . not truly our own.”
There was a soft mumbling around the table.
Johann continued. “Over the past fifty years we have been reverse engineering technology exclusively awarded by the government to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was us, or, more accurately, my father, Michael Pfizer, and it was the wisest investment he ever made. This technology was recovered from the wreckage of alien spacecraft from another civilization, one several millions of years older than our own. It was our task here at XenTek to figure out exactly how this technology worked, duplicate it, and market it under our various brands. With the release of the Holo the treasure trove is nearly exhausted.”
Time slowed as if in a vacuum and a collective gasp was heard around the table. This crowd wasn't easy to take off guard but, today, Johann appeared to have done just that.
Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.
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