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Brady and the Bear strolled into the foyer of the Sattva Systems™ HQ. They both gazed at the thirteen-point banner. It listed the pledges which Sattva Systems™ was sworn to complete, in kind, for the members of the GreenRevs.
As they turned, they saw Glenarvon Cole smiling broadly. Brady thought he was being challenged by the dirty-looking action man with the bearing of a marine who’d just come straight out of combat. He looked vaguely familiar.
Brady said, ‘What’s the deal with him?’ He nodded in the direction of Glen.
‘If we had a national hero, then that would be him. He’s the leader of the Green Revolutionaries - Glenarvon Cole. He was an extraordinarily brave man. He was one of the first to wear the RedSuits™ in a confrontational situation. He was like a test pilot. He ensured, personally, that the Suits™ would combat any threat. Where he went - others followed. He had faith and purpose.’
I remember. He was the guy with Rhea on the TV.
Sissy came out to greet them. ‘Hello, and welcome. How are you doing, Samuel?’ They hugged. She examined Brady. ‘And you must be the famous Brady Mahone. Your reputation precedes you. I’m Genesis Garcia, but I insist you call me Sissy.’
She went to hug him, which he might have taken as a flirtatious move, in less stressful circumstances, but here he felt like it was more akin to a potential body search. He held out his hand before she became too close, and he shook her hand firmly, as he would with any other politician. He smiled without warmth, and he fixed her eyes with his. He didn’t reply. The atmosphere was awkward, which suited Brady just fine. He had to use his physical presence to ward off regular inmates, but he had to keep them guessing with the mob bosses. The moment they figure you out is the moment they got you. You can’t let them have leverage over you.
She said to the Bear, ‘Maybe you would like to make yourself comfortable in the canteen - a few of your friends are in there, taking a well-deserved break.’
The Bear turned to Brady, ‘You’ll be ok. Bodhi is a good man, and he’ll treat you with respect.’
Sissy laughed, with a hint of falsehood, ‘Of course he will. Bodhi is so looking forward to meeting Brady. Since the very first day he has followed his progress closely.’ She turned to Brady and said, ‘Bodhi is your biggest fan.’ She then added with a hint of contempt, ‘Lord knows why.’ She smiled at the Bear, who smiled in return and headed off to the canteen, but she noticed he went to sit on his own. Brady could smell the unappetising odours of cabbage and coffee in the air. She said, ‘If you would care to follow me.’
He followed dutifully, but silently. He assumed if he said anything at all, it would be dissected and used later. He practised his breathing and held onto his calm, almost bored state he had achieved in the desert. He also recalled the many fights he had got into in jail. If he had a particularly tough opponent, then the most dangerous moments had appeared at the point when he thought he was winning. The cold-blooded psychos used to let him think they were weaker than they actually were. They did that to get him to be over-confident, to lower his guard, and then they would strike.
As they paced down the long corridors with cream-coloured walls, he also recalled the gang tactics where the largest aggressor would grab his attention while the small one crept up from behind. He focused on these scenarios while watching out for these same tactics in a battle of words. He knew he was utterly incapable of taking any Green on in a fight, they were invulnerable to physical assault, but the events in Encinitas had taught him that they could become afraid of him, psychologically. All he had to do was to make Bodhi convinced that he was a threat that couldn’t be neutralised, easily.
He summarised his learnings into a mantra. Be calm. Stay detached. Beware the feeling that you’re winning. Watch your back. As he heard the clicking of her heels, and the sound of his sneakers in a counter-rhythm, ricocheting off the walls, - he repeated his mantra, over and over again. Be calm. Stay detached. Beware the feeling that you’re winning. Watch your back. His sneakers were a reclaimed pair from one of the Green Communities. His jeans and greying white T-shirt were recycled garments, but his poacher’s trench coat had been regularly waxed and glinted under the lights. His hands were kept in the coat pocket but inside his fingers tapped unconsciously in a nervous rhythm and a state of heightened readiness.
She came to a nondescript door that looked like hundreds of others they had passed along the way. She knocked three times and didn’t wait for a reply.
––––––––
IT WASN’T THE PALATIAL palace with a golden throne which Brady had expected. It was a small, drab office space, decked out in the company colours. Behind the desk was Bodhi Sattva, in a grey tracksuit and grey, unmarked trainers. Under the LED lights, his bald head looked like one of Tyrone’s star globes, with little constellations forming patterns on Bodhi’s dome. He greeted Brady and stuck out his hand in a show of informality. Brady shook it with a firm grip and looked down on the desk and was pleased to see it was equipped to show Black Files.
Brady sat in the functionally designed chair. He leaned back and rested his right foot on his left knee.
Bodhi sat upright as if he was monitoring the position of the vertebrae in his spine. Bodhi folded his arms. Brady took this as a sign of respect.
Bodhi said, ‘I’ve been following your progress for sixteen years. I’m delighted to finally have the chance to get to know you.’
‘Only sixteen years. I thought you’d been interested in my development for longer than that.’ He watched Bodhi’s eyes. He thought he detected puzzlement.
‘No. I am known for being scrupulous about honesty. The first time I became aware of your presence was when you breached the NanoShell™ security in West McFarland. At first, I believed it might be teething troubles, but it was something to do with you, and not the Shells™. From that moment on, you piqued my curiosity. Cain regularly reported on your activities, and from then on, I had many others keeping an eye on your progress.’
‘Private Investigators - that kind of thing?’ He noticed the absence of niceties like being offered coffee or alcohol. Straight down to business.
‘What a quaint term - very evocative of the old days. I’ll admit an oversight on my part. The Internet would have been useful for looking into your background, but we destroyed that with our NanoBots™. It took decades for them to spread and replicate, undetected, but the Internet was the pillar that held their world together, by then. But whereas in the Bible it was Samson, a strong man who laid the temple low, here we had the smallest mechanisms on Earth to wreak havoc and end the chaos of the Traditional Cultures.’
He thought, don’t be fooled, Brady. The fight has already started, that’s a feint to the left. ‘I had guessed. All the stuff about viruses and solar flares was a contingency plan. If your Revolution had failed, it would buy you time, rather than have the Trads call for your head.’
‘Ancient history, now - clean water under the bridge.’ He placed both his hands palm down on the desk. ‘You’ve been very busy. You’ve built up a sizeable business from scratch. I commend you for your hard work and dedication. However, it is not an enterprise I can officially condone, but it is one I will choose to overlook.’ He looked up, and Brady thought he could detect an air of eagerness. It reminded him of the look his fellow criminals made when it was time to divi-up the spoils.
Brady looked around the cream-coloured walls of the cheaply designed office. ‘Tell me first, what’s the deal with the cream and green everywhere?’
‘It’s branding with an anti-marketing message. The Era of Exploitation is over. The Trads ravaged the world in its endless greed for more resources. Humanity battled each other literally and metaphorically in the constant craving for things. They were addicted to materialism.’ He added, ‘The drug of materialism has been eradicated, and we have no desire to start it up again. We are ending ownership, gradually. Your product is relatively harmless, and it helps us monitor whether our communities are completely clean - so to speak. I do insist that my Disciples refrain from sampling your products.’
Brady felt edgy, he had to get this right. He knew he shouldn’t use the word blackmail - he didn’t want to invoke their Security Protocols™. He also had to avoid threatening or even humiliating Bodhi. He pulled out a Black File from his pocket, and he handed it to Bodhi. ‘I have brought you something to look at. It’s educational, even though it comes in the form of entertainment.’
Bodhi looked at the Black File quizzically. ‘I cannot accept your gift, however well-intentioned.’
‘It is something you would want to see - to have the opportunity to stop others viewing it. I could give it to you freely.’
‘I still could not permit myself to receive it.’ Brady could see he was rattled.
‘What if I played it, on your screen, and you just happened to catch a glimpse of it over my shoulder? Trust me, you do need to see this. It’s vital for the continuation of your business, and for your reputation.’
‘You are trying to tempt me, Mr Mahone. Is it really that important?’
‘I believe it is.’ Brady sensed he was asking Bodhi a question he couldn’t respond to. Brady stood up and placed the Black File into the slot at the side of the screen, without waiting for permission. The screen lit up, and the child pornographic movie played out on the screen with Bodhi Sattva’s Father, John Kane, in the leading actor role as Emperor Tiberius. When Bodhi looked away at the wall, without comment, Brady ejected the File and pocketed it away. He returned to his seat. I feel kinda dirty doing that. Maybe extortion is not my thing, after all.
Brady was still on high alert, he forced himself to speak softly, ‘You know I have copies. I know your rules and the risk of being SecurityFilmed™. When I distribute my entertainments, this movie has been disguised. My customers will open them up, unwittingly. They will not open them up, knowingly, otherwise, that would be an act of choosing to humiliate you. I can stop these spreading through the Green Communities - for a finder’s fee. You could count yourself fortunate that I found them before somebody less willing to trade did.’
Bodhi pulled open a drawer and selected a spray and a cloth. He sprayed the screen and rubbed it until it gleamed under the LEDs.
‘What is your finder’s fee?’
Brady licked his lips. Be calm. Stay detached. Beware the feeling that you’re winning. Watch your back. ‘A FusionPlane™ of my own - not a rental. One million Green Credits - and Libby’s house in Malibu.’ He felt the need to clarify, ‘I will be the sole owner of that property and its surrounding lands.’
Bodhi smiled, ‘How long have you lived alongside the Green Communities?’
‘Sixteen years. Since Day One of the Revolution.’
‘And in that time, have you ever heard anybody discuss me in terms of hatred, fear or untrustworthiness?’
I’m not going to tell him about all the stuff in the Los Banos records. He thought. ‘No. You seem loved and respected by your people. The Trads have a differing point of view.’
‘Your Trad side is showing.’
‘I’m a Trad. I don’t have a side.’
‘You could have just asked me for what you wanted. I would have given it to you. Why do you assume that I don’t want you to be happy? Instead, you just assumed that you would have to find a way to extract it from me by exploiting my feelings. We are a kind people. We have the Security Protocols™ not to impose our will, but to protect people’s feelings. That’s all.’
Be calm. Stay detached. Beware the feeling that you’re winning. Watch your back. Brady sensed he was off-balance. He knew Bodhi would be smart. You knew it would come to this. He controlled his breathing, before he said, ‘Can I still have what I asked for? Will you give them to me freely?’
Bodhi said, barely louder than a whisper, ‘I am saddened that you see me as your enemy. I have watched you develop your business, you made friends and acquaintances in every Green Community you have visited. And when I heard that these Communities had turned their backs on you, out of misplaced fear and hatred, it was me who made it the highest priority to make them change their minds and see you, as I see you, as someone who should be cared for, not shunned.’ He added, ‘I sent out Cain, Siddha and Sissy to repair your reputation. Sissy even gave your name to her newly born son - Century Brady Garcia. I ask you, does that sound like the act of your foe? Or does that sound like the act of a friend?’
Brady squirmed, he struggled to get one word out, ‘Friend.’
‘Here’s what I think. What you have asked me for is too little. You are thinking like a small-time businessman and not an international tycoon. That’s understandable, you haven’t had my training or upbringing. Thinking globally is my default outlook. Would you like to make notes of my offer? I know you don’t trust me; you’ll think I’m trying to trick you or hide something in the small print.’
‘I don’t need to take notes. Let’s hear it.’ He forced a smile.
‘What’s your company called?’
‘Brady Mahone Entertainment Enterprises.’
‘Ok. I’m outlining here, I’d need to bring R&D, manufacturing and finance in on this. I would set up a manufacturing plant to scale up your business. You can explain to my field team how you recruit, sell, distribute and monitor customer feedback, so they can replicate your methods in every country in the world - we would need storage space to keep inventory...’
Is this one of those corporate takeover kind of deals?
‘...and then we come to the kind of money you would expect to make.’
‘Would it still be my company?’
‘Of course. It would have to be. My focus would be the planet - if I appeared to diversify it would look like I’ve changed course. The hundred-year plan to save the planet is sacred to me.’
‘Thanks. The company is my baby.’
‘Are you ready to hear my rough projections?’
‘Sure.’
‘What do you currently make?’ Brady took out his Distor™, and Bodhi looked at it. He didn’t appear shocked at the Green Credits reading in excess of nine-hundred thousand. ‘Let’s keep the calculations simple - nine-hundred thousand over fifteen years is sixty-thousand Green Credits per year - very good. Let’s multiply that by approximately two-hundred countries that will give us twelve million per year.’
The numbers were becoming mind-blowing to Brady, it reminded him of when Tyrone was trying to convert light-years to miles. Brady zoned out then, but here they were talking big bucks.
Bodhi continued with his off-the-cuff profit and loss account, ‘If you lived for the next fifty years, which looking at you, is more than possible, then that would amount to six hundred million Green Credits during your lifetime. Now, there would be start-up costs, and I would have to make a small profit. Otherwise, my accounts department might think I have lost my senses - so, let’s strip out one hundred million - this would be deducted at a much later date - this would still leave Brady Mahone Entertainment Enterprises with a clear profit of five hundred million Greenbacks, as I think you call them, or a half a billion Green Credits.’ He put his hand up to prevent Brady from answering, ‘Now, for the downside. It would take at least a couple of years to set up the factories; and complete their training in the field for the district teams. However, while you wait for this income to come on stream, I will give you what you have asked for, today. I will give you freely, your one million Green Credits, my Mother’s home in Malibu, and I’ll have Marjorie give you a FusionPlane™ of your own.’
Brady was stunned, ‘I don’t know what to say. Thank you. That’s amazing.’
Bodhi looked at Brady with a strange mixture of triumph and sympathy. ‘I’ll have the Security Protocols™ set up, to my satisfaction, to ensure you will destroy these Tiberius Files - and hopefully, in a spirit of mutual respect and friendship, we will never discuss them again.’
Brady reached out his hand.