2 - Chapter 1

Tasha awoke groggily, not having had a restful sleep. Half remembered nightmares plagued her waking thoughts. It took her a few minutes to fully awaken and remember where she was.

It was still very early, and the twilight of night had yet to fade into the warm light of an autumn morning. She wasn't anticipating waking early. She looked at the phone, 6:07 am. So what had woken her. She didn't have any icons visible on the phone. She was sure a ding had woken her though.

She looked around and noticed a white and gold icon with a red dot floating at the corner of her eye. As she moved her head to try and get a better look, the icon moved with her staying at the same position relative to her. It looked like a mail icon, but linked to her eye. She couldn’t think of any technology that could create a display like that without invasive surgery.

Tasha felt around her head and face, but couldn't feel anything out of place. Her skin and hair felt natural.This was getting odder and odder by the second. Tasha picked up her phone, opened the camera app and tried to take a picture of the icon. Anyway she tried, the icon was not visible on camera. So this was definitely something only she could see. So either something that was a delusion or something feeding information directly to her optic nerve. It was only her military and intelligence training that was keeping her from freaking out.

Finally with no other method of investigating further, she decided to see if that icon would open like an app. She tried to use her finger or blink, but nothing happened. She tried to will it to open, and still nothing. Finally she tried to poke at the icon with her mind. Suddenly a gold and white display filled her vision. Her first thought was, aren't these screens supposed to be blue? Finally, she looked at the content of the screen.

Welcome Tasha Andersen, you have been bound to the Investment system.

£1 Billion has been deposited into your company account TA Consulting Limited.

The more you invest the more you will grow.

Click to continue.

It took her reading the same few lines several times before she could properly take in the meaning of the few words. She was left in shock, was this some intricate joke? Was she going crazy? The sheer absurdness of the situation took her some time to comprehend.

Finally, she decided on her course of action. The message gave her a simple way to prove or disprove the existence of the system. She could check her banking app.However, her vision was still blocked by the display.

She poked at the last line and the display changed. It now showed several options.

1, Status

2, Message History

3, Quests

4, Close

She poked the close option, and the screen reduced back down to a small icon, without the red dot, at the extreme edge of her vision. At least she could control the screen somewhat.

Tasha picked up her phone, both in excitement and dread. If the money was in her account, that would lead to as many issues as if the money wasn't in her account. If the money was there, she would have to treat the system seriously, that something or someone had managed to get access to her brain. Conversely if it wasn't there, she would have to face the fact that she was having a mental breakdown. She honestly couldn't decide which option was worse.

With trepidation, she opened her mobile banking app and logged in. She navigated to the balances section of her current account. Current account balance £1,000,000,001.42. She opened up the transaction details. 1 deposit of exactly £1Bn had been made today from a Myriad Dragon Enterprises. The details simply stated inward investment.

Tasha lay there staring at the balance for some time, only moving to stop the screen from going blank as thoughts ran through her head. She had never heard of the company, not that she had expected to. This raised so many questions. Why give her the money? What did they want? How did they get the display into her head? After an hour of questions with no answers, she finally got up from the sofa.

Yesterday she had been looking for an impetus to change her life and to move forward. This system, this money forced her to start thinking critically again. First she opened her laptop and searched for Myriad Dragon Enterprises. The search came back with some dissolved companies in the UK for a partial match, but no full match results. Next she searched for private medical companies that would provide a full suite of scanning services. She found a few that would be able to do an in depth body scan on short notice. By this point it was almost 8, so she decided to get up, get ready and make some breakfast.

She decided to keep it simple and prepared some scrambled eggs on toast. The smell of the eggs brought her best friend out of her room.Ingrid was a very typical 40 year old Norwegian blond. She looked up at Tasha making breakfast in surprise. For the past few weeks Tasha had to be forced off the sofa.

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“Good morning Tash, nice to see you up.” said Ingrid in a semi-teasing tone. “Did you make some for me too?”

“Of course I have Ree, sorry I have been moping around here forever.” replied Tasha, keeping her tone light. She didn't want to mention anything about the system to her friend.

The two friends spent the rest of breakfast making small talk. Ingrid was happy seeing her friend no longer moping. Tasha, chatted along amiable, but inside she kept going over the improbable events in her mind.

After breakfast, as Tasha was getting ready, she had a thought. If the technology was so revolutionary that she had not even heard anything in her intelligence days, then would normal scanners in a small private hospital even be able to find anything? She needed to check with the latest in research to give her best chance to find out what was going on.

In the end she decided to call up the best medical research university in London, UCL based in the heart of Lonon. She made an urgent appointment to go and see them that morning. To hedge her bets she also called Oxford and Cambridge Universities and made appointments to see them on the following 2 days. It was always best to be careful.

Arrangements made, she decided to visit her bank branch. She wanted to ensure that there were no issues with the funds if she decided that it was safe to use.

As she was on her way to the bank, she decided to check her work emails. The money had been sent to her company account after all. Looking through all the junk emails and general correspondence, she found an odd email. It wasn't sent to her email address, but to the generic legal email address at her company.

To whom it may concern. This email is to certify that TA Consulting Limited has partnered with Myriad Dragon Enterprises to invest in and promote global advancement. The remit is wide and left to the discretion of TA Consulting Limited. The only requirement is that the investment should aim to provide benefits to the furtherment of humanity as a whole. Funding shall be provided by Myriad Dragon Enterprises. The initial approved budget is £1Tn. The funding will be drawn down as required.

The email also contained an attached pdf with the same text, just on a company letterhead. The details of the company offices were shown to be based in the British Virgin Islands.

Tasha was so shocked that she almost missed her stop on the bus. £1Tn was an insane figure. There were individuals and corporate bodies who could move £1Bn and invest it somewhat callously. However, there was no known organisation that could make £1Tn available like the letter claimed. The shocks just kept coming. Who was behind this illusive company and how could they have £1Tn to throw around.

The details in the letter were also very vague. It basically gave her the right to spend the money as she saw fit. She would have no oversight, as she was the only employee and director of TA Consulting Limited left. The more she thought about it, the more problems she saw with the situation.

She arrived at the bank branch and queued to speak to a member of staff.

“How can we help you today miss?” asked the staff member called Todd.

“I need to speak to the branch manager, it's urgent.” replied Tasha.

“I don’t think the branch manager is available. But please give me your bank details and I can check with a colleague.” replied Todd. Though Todd sounded polite, Tasha could tell he didn't think much of her request. However, she saw Todd’s face change as he brought up her account details and noticed her balance. Suddenly his attitude changed to deferential.

“I, I will go and check with the manager straight away Ms Andersen. Please take a seat in the office.” replied Todd, then scurried off to find the branch manager.

A middle aged lady returned with Todd a few minutes later. “Good morning Ms Andersen. Apologies for the wait. I am Anita, the branch manager, how may I help you today.”

“Anita, I need you to ensure everything is fine with my account and the transfer that came in today. Also you will need to make a note of what is likely to happen with the account going forward.” replied Tasha. “I don't want any problems occurring. If there will be any issues going forward I need to know now so I can make alternative arrangements.”

Tasha had decided to proceed with using the money, whilst she investigated using other connections.

Anita looked through the account and checked the transaction details. “Everything seems to be fine with the transfer and funds are cleared. It seems the transaction was set up earlier and set to clear at 6 am this morning pending final approval.” said Anita. “I am assuming you were just waiting for the final paperwork? It’s something we see on VC investments.”

Tasha didn’t let her disbelief show and schooled her expression. “Yes, something like that.” She then opened the legal email on her phone and showed it to Anita. “It’s just the first trance, as you can see from this email.”

Anita was shocked as she read the email. She had seen large amounts come in to find startups before, but the sheer amount and latitude mentioned in the email was insane. In fact with the kind of funds available for draw down, she could afford to buy the whole bank, or any bank in the world!

“I…I see Ms Andersen. I would need to escalate this to senior management. Your balance was already high enough that it would not be dealt with at the branch level but by the dedicated wealth team. However, with this email it would be dealt with by only the most senior people. Please allow me to escalate and set up a meeting at your earliest convenience.” replied a very flustered Anita. “Also please ensure you have the deal memo and contract available as it will be needed for compliance checks. If you had not come in today, someone would have contacted you already.”

“That's fine Anita. I have a few urgent requests I need you to look at today whilst you set that up. 1st, please transfer £100,000 to my personal account immediately. 2nd, please provide a copy of the transaction details for our records. Lastly, please adjust the level on the company debit card, and request the re-issue of a company credit card with a suitable limit as a matter of urgency.” requested Tasha.

As Anita processed the requests, the pair made small talk. Tasha’s phone buzzed and confirmed the transfer to her personal account. Anita thanked Tasha for coming in and promised to be in touch regarding the appointment soon.

As Tasha walked out of the bank, her mind buzzing with all that had happened in the last few hours, she wondered what the medical exams would show. She had yet to look further into the system. Tasha decided to hail a black cab to visit the university. Sitting in the cab would give her the opportunity to investigate the system in relative privacy as she traveled.