Jules almost fell off the aero-bike upon landing. He never had been fond of flying, especially now after the physical ordeal that he had just endured. Taking off his helmet, he rested his head against a fallen log. For the moment, he felt at peace as he looked up at the trickle of sunlight attempting to penetrate through the thick canopy of trees above him. He reasoned from their flight trajectory that they were most likely somewhere in Oregon or Washington.
The man who had saved him exited the aero-bike after making a few adjustments to the vehicle’s front control panel.
With little true appreciation in his voice, Jules turned to him and said, “You shouldn’t have bothered yourself. I had things rather under control at the time.”
The man took off his helmet, again revealing his identity.
“I then stand corrected,” Alex Pella amusingly responded while propping Jules’ head up on a pillow that inflated upon contact. “It almost seemed to me as if you were moments away from losing your head.”
“Plus,” Jules went to say, “why go through all the trouble when they can easily track our biotags? This forest will provide no more camouflage to either of us than would a paper bag over our heads.”
Wow, Alex contemplated. And I thought Samantha was a handful. “I have us both covered. My aero-bike here is jamming the biotags’ signals, making us at least momentarily invisible to The New Reality’s all-seeing eye.”
“We can’t stay next to that God-awful vehicle the rest of our lives,” he rebutted. “Now can we?”
Alex took out a circular sphere from his belt, separated it into two halves, and placed them on Jules’s neck. With little protest from him, they instantly absorbed into his skin, leaving no evidence of their presence.
Before Jules could complain, Alex said, “This will rid your body of all the biotags and destroy any new ones that enter your system. Just lie back for the next hour and relax as your body slowly adjusts to the treatment.”
Jules sat up a little on the log. “Are you crazy? You can’t rid the biotags without completely destroying all my red blood cells.” Though he fully appreciated Alex’s neuroscience expertise, he still questioned his medical acumen.
“Don’t worry,” Alex responded. “I’ve done this before.”
“On who?” Jules indignantly rebutted, raising a suspicious eyebrow. “A dog, perhaps a cat or some other lower mammalian life form?”
Though his skin grew pale, the effect of the treatment did not seem to cause him any added discomfort or lethargy at the moment.
“On myself,” Alex quipped, curtailing further rebuttal.
Alex then went back to the aero-bike and took out a small black bag. Rummaging through it, he grabbed five vials of differently colored syringes and brought them over to Jules. “This will help your body heal faster from your injuries and prevent any infection,” Alex said, kneeling down next to him. “As an added bonus, it will provide a little boost of energy.”
Jules lied back on the log without complaint, accepting whatever Alex had in store for him.
The results of the infusion were immediate. His color promptly returned, and the bags under his eyes slowly resolved. “Wow. That feels good,” he exhaled with a sense of relief.
Now in much better spirits, Jules turned to Alex. “So, Alex Pella how do I have the pleasure of your unexpected acquaintance today?”
“You can thank your uncle,” Alex said, “Albert Rosenberg.”
Hearing his uncle’s name irritated Jules. “How so?”
Alex hastily relayed to him the story about the gift that he’d received from Albert and the neurological predicament that it precipitated. He then ended the narrative with, “And the letter read: the key to change The New Reality is to break the pound.”
Jules instantly recognized the meaning of this riddle. Admiring Albert momentarily for his ingenuity, he continued to listen without feeling compelled to divulge any information about the package he had also received.
“At first I didn’t understand its meaning,” Alex explained. “However, when I saw that you’d been arrested for embezzlement and espionage…”
“Trumped up charges,” Jules insisted.
Alex continued, “…its meaning became clear.”
Jules smiled with triumph. He understood Alex’s innuendo and was proud of his accomplishment. He recalled how over 10 years ago, he brought the Bank of England completely to its knees. By selling a massive amount of their currency short on the international market during a time of financial crisis within the country, he made billions in one day on the transaction. As a result, the pound was devalued and almost fell into total financial collapse. Thus, he had acquired the reputation of breaking the pound.
“Plus,” Alex said, “your uncle was a wise man who foresaw the possible consequences of The New Reality’s takeover and warned me of such concerns with his dying breath.”
“He was an old fool,” Jules interrupted. “If he were so bright, why did he choose Myra Keres to lead the company into this new era of financial dominance? I was the mastermind that generated the company’s vast fortune and created the world’s financial dependency on The New Reality’s loans. I was the proper successor to run The New Reality.”
Jules sat up despite still feeling lightheaded. “Now look at the world. We are slaves under constant marshal law. The WOGs are everywhere and the citizens of the planet have been disarmed and cannot fight against this injustice and their political enslavement.”
“And it will only get worse,” Alex said.
“Spot on,” Jules said as he began to feel a camaraderie with Alex. “Humanity’s spirit was never meant to be stifled,” Jules continued. “The rights of the individual should be safeguarded, and the population’s shared values should hold society together, not the firm hand of the militarized police. The New Reality believes they alone hold the ultimate truth to life. However we are all human and prone to mortal mistakes. Only through coming together in an open society and accepting each other’s beliefs can we as a society come closer to the ultimate truths in life.”
Alex was familiar with this open society theory as popularized by Karl Popper, but he himself was never able to embrace its concepts. In fact, he believed it be an untested theory with many potential hazards and prone to create a society of lawlessness, amorality, and misunderstanding. But he recognized that this clearly wasn’t the right time to engage Jules in a debate.
“People will be more productive, innovate and creative in such a system,” Jules continued. “That’s where the world went wrong before and after The New Reality. Each country believed their truths to be absolute and would not recognize their neighbor’s values as equally valid, no matter how different. It was a close-minded system that became even more stifling once The New World Order came into fruition. It will eventually lead to mass chaos, revolt, and massive casualties that would make the carnage inflicted by The Disease seem petty in comparison.”
“That’s why I’ve been planning to infiltrate The New Reality now for almost two years,” Alex said. After I saw that you’d been sequestered in the Camp Williams NewREMA facility, I knew I had to act quickly before your services to The New Reality were finally terminated.”
Alex’s innuendo was not lost on Jules, and for the first time in their conversation a true, non-contrived smile emerged on Jules’ face.
“That’s why I needed to fake my own death in an aero-bike race,” Alex continued, “And destroy my biotags in the process. I knew it would provide me with a short segment of time to go off-grid so that I could find you without raising suspicion about myself.”
Jules knew Alex was correct. As a New Reality executive, he recognized that because of Alex’s brilliance, success, ingenuity, and freethinking spirit, the man was considered a major threat to the New World Order and as a result was under constant surveillance.
Suddenly, it all made sense to Jules. He knew Albert Rosenberg better than anyone else and recognized the man’s superior intellectual prowess. The old man must’ve planned this whole thing before he died, he concluded. The two packages, the trumped up espionage charges against me, the election of Myra Keres as president. It was all a preconceived, contrived plot for Alex and me to work together and take control of The New Reality.
Jules began to further think through Albert’s plan. The old man wanted us to earn the right to run The New Reality. It also explained why he left the presidency of the company up to a public election. Albert hated elections and believed they only promoted the weak to power, leaving those with the real talent to grovel in its outcome. It was all a carefully planned and executed façade. That son of a bitch!
This revelation, Jules knew, had to be kept to himself.
“Not to burst your proverbial bubble,” Jules finally said, “but how might you plan to infiltrate the company? It will only be a short matter of time before they recognize the rouse that you’ve created.”
“Albert’s message also mentioned something about a key,” Alex thought aloud. “It seems to hint at a possible method or some sort of technology we could use to infiltrate The New Reality.”
“Lost,” Jules blurted. “The key is lost.”
“There is a key?” Alex asked, surprised.
Jules waved his hands. “Not a key in the sense of some piece of metal shaped with incisions. My dear old uncle once possessed a highly sophisticated medallion that would unlock the entire New Reality computer system, providing him with full and instant control over anything and everything owned, run, or manufactured by the company.”
“That’s nearly everything in the world,” Alex commented.
“My uncle was somewhat paranoid,” Jules acknowledged.
“Does anybody possess a key now?” Alex asked.
“Oh, no,” Jules laughed. “The old man trusted no one, not even his successor, and took this one and only medallion with him to the grave. Plus, few besides myself actually knew that this key even existed.”
“Where’s this medallion now?” Alex inquired.
“Though I don’t like to repeat myself…” Jules began rather indignantly.
What a pain in the ass! Alex thought.
“…I will do so once for you,” Jules continued with an air of superiority. “When I mentioned that the old man took it to the grave, I meant that he physically took it to the grave. And unless you know where he’s buried, our little adventure here has ended as abruptly as it has begun.”
“Let’s not end this delightful party too soon,” Alex quipped. “There’s much more fun I still have planned for us.”
Jules was taken aback by Alex. No one showed him disrespect. “Listen here—” Jules began to say.
“You listen,” Alex stated firmly, yet politely. “I was the one who cremated your uncle, laid his ashes in a casket, and buried him. I, and I alone, know his final resting place.”
Jules stood up, forgetting about the recent indignation. His heart began to pound with anticipation and his ailments seemed to dwindle with his growing excitement. “So where, might I ask, did you place my uncle’s remains?”
“Yemen, along the Arabian coast,”
“Yemen,” Jules repeated, surprised by the response.
“As strange as it sounds,” Alex explained, “your uncle’s final request was to be buried in one specific tunnel at the bottom of a massive catacomb of shafts that once provided an immense bunker system for the country’s former ruler, Ari Lesmana.”
“The Masjid project,” Jules gasped.
“Masjid?” Alex asked.
“Myra turned that entire bunker system into a massive magma-powered green energy project that’s set to go nuclear in the morning. We have little time. They’re starting to inundate the area with water from the Arabian Sea as we speak.”
Alex smiled as he, too, suddenly began to appreciate the brilliance of Albert Rosenberg’s plan. The message, the crown, and the exact time he received the package were no coincidence. But what other riddles will this gift present?
Jules began to walk over to the aero-bike. He staggered the first few steps but regained his footing after a moment. “There’s no time to lose, my boy,” he said feeling a little more chipper.
Though Alex disliked the man’s arrogance, he did appreciate his bravado. Before he could follow him, Jules turned and said rather snidely, “Don’t just think that by getting this key we’ll be able to gain instant access to The New Reality.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, controlling his mounting frustration with the man.
“You must understand,” Jules continued in the same tone. “Every key needs the precise lock to which it fits in order to work.”
“And where do we find this lock?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jules pointed at Alex. “You are the lock.”