‘Okay. This means something doesn’t it?’ Ethan asked, after a moment of reflection.

‘I do believe so,’ Jimmy answered. ‘Someone’s on to me.’

‘On to you, or Zhang?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe we can spin it towards Zhang, but if it’s Eldon, he’s using someone else, and he has to think it’s me. Who else could do it?’

‘Hmph!’ Ethan grunted. ‘We’re going to have to figure out everything Eldon’s planning from this meeting. There only a year left before the singularity, and we need a plan. This meeting will have to define what he’s doing and how we’re going to counter it.

‘Dude, there’s no way we’ll figure all that shit out,’ Jimmy responded, not feeling as cocky as he usually did. ‘Not with Eldon. No-one ever knows what Eldon’s doing.’

‘I think we can figure it out.’ Ethan replied. ‘I think I’ll know everything there is to know what he’s thinking the moment Eldon starts talking. You forget, Jimmy. I’m Eldon. I’ll figure him out.’

Well good luck. No-one can tell what Eldon’s thinking. That’s what he’s famous for. Zero tells.

There was something else going on between Ethan and Eldon that made Ethan think he’d have a pretty good idea of what was going on. Ever since he recognized he was Eldon, he started getting this thing in his head like a signal or pattern of his thoughts running through his brain, but they were separate somehow. Like a set of thoughts running along side his own. It only happened when he was with Eldon. At first he wasn’t all that aware of it, but once he noticed it, it was there and a curiosity. The more Ethan focused on it, the more he began to believe it was not his thought pattern, but Eldon’s. He was starting to understand it for what it was, and it’s usefulness.

Dawn explained what was probably going on. ‘It’s just like quantum entanglement. You’re two of the exact same thing, but separate. At some level, what happens to you, happens to him, and you’re accessing the connection somehow.

‘Do you think Eldon’s aware of it?’ Ethan asked.

‘I suspect he’s aware of something. Probably not anything like you’re experiencing. After all, you’re aware you’re him. He’s not aware he’s you.’.

‘I’m not feeling like he’s onto anything. I think I would sense it if he was’.

‘Well, he probably isn’t. If you want to be safe around him. Don’t be reactive in your thinking. Think about those things later. Stay focused on the problem solving at the moment. Change your mind latter. That should reassure him whatever you’re thinking is positive. If you learn how to use this, you might even learn to direct his thinking, without him being aware of it. Try out some things and see what you can get away with.’

That’s what Ethan had been doing over the last two years, and he couldn’t say he had ever influenced any of Eldon’s decisions, but he was learning how to use it as a second sense, and his thought patterns, and therefore actions, were not creating distrust. That alone was worth something.

‘I think we’ll come away with something Jimmy. Just you wait and see,” Ethan replied to Jimmy’s skepticism.

The meeting was filled with representatives of the power people in the Western World. There we’re representatives of banks, world leaders, captains of industry, and a few others like Ethan and Jimmy. It was a big turnout for such a diverse and powerful group. Almost 200 people attended, most of them asking each other what was going on? It was held in Eldon’s meeting hall, and on a stage, there was a podium. When Eldon walked up to it, everyone fell silent and drew closer.

‘Usually, I like to greet you folk as my friends,’ he began. ‘But today, I am calling you my comrades, because as you all must be feeling by now, war is at hand. The BRICS nations have destabilized the dollar, and together, they’re aggressively manipulating a shift in world dominance. They want a war!' he shouted, slamming his fist on the podium.

The crowd was full of nodding heads, and murmurs of agreement. They were aware of what was going on, and knew it was time for a directed response.

‘Our way of life has never been challenged like it is today, and if we don’t act now and decisively, all will be lost.

The murmurs grew louder. ‘What can we do?’ Someone shouted. ‘You know as well as the rest of us Eldon, are hands are somewhat tied. We have to follow procedure and there has never been greater opposition in our parliaments’

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‘Exactly,’ Eldon replied. ‘That’s what’s fucking us up, and if I’m being honest, it’s you people in this room who are fucking it up the worst. All this back and forth with your two party bickering. I can’t get anything done with you assholes. We’re fighting amongst ourselves when we should be fighting Zhang. Everybody needs to get on board with this and you need to do it today. That’s why I’m proposing we separate from democracy.’

The crowd looked up at Eldon with blank expressions.

‘We’ve already done it,’ Eldon continued. ‘We just have to claim it.

Still not getting it, they remained silent, focused entirely on Eldon.

‘Everyone in this room is of the market economy’, he explained. ‘We are a completely separate thing from the consumer economy. While we are manufacturing money for ourselves; they get the leftovers. We’re already separate from anything resembling a democracy. That break, has already been achieved. We need to make it formal. Government is under our control, and today we will take control’. Down came his fist on the podium again. ‘The armed forces are ours’. Bam came down the fist. We take control. Proclaim Marital Law and to bad for anyone who gets in our way’.

Everyone was starting to stir.

Eldon waited a moment, and then shouted, ‘I say we go kick the shit out Zhang right now!’ Bam comes the fist.

Everyone responded with a war cry.

‘Fuck democracy!’ he shouted, slamming his fist down again. ‘Fuck the people!’ he said with a dismissive wave of the hand. ‘It’s you and me who rule this world, and we’ll take it and share the spoils. What do you say to that comrades?’.

The crowd exploded with fervor.

He held up his hands to quiet them. ‘Then my comrades, my friends,’ he said looking into as many eyes as possible. ‘We will take it all, and divide it amongst ourselves. It’s the only way forward for the warrior in all of us.

For a second his words were greeted with silence. Everyone was looking to their destiny of conquest and gain. Then as if reacting on cue, they exploded in cheers.

After a couple of minutes, Eldon held up his hands to bring the crowd to order. ‘Go back to your homes and nations. Get things in place. If you have to get rid of opposition, get rid of it. Kill whoever gets in the way and continue killing until they all fall silent. Let the world and Zhang know who’s in charge, and then get ready. We have work to do.

A slow clap started through the room. ‘Eldon. Eldon, Eldon,’ a chant grew with their clapping. Faster and faster. ‘Eldon. Eldon. Eldon’.

Eldon had achieved what he wanted. He was their leader.

Ethan stayed with the crowd and continued to clap and chant along with the rest of them. Eldon left, but they continued to clap. He maintained the same enthusiasm as the rest of them. When they finally ended their applause and started to mingle, Ethan mingled. While he was in conversation with the Deputy Prime Ministers of Canada and Britain, one of Eldon’s men approached him.

‘Eldon wants to see you,’ he said.

When Ethan arrived in Eldon’s war room, he saw Johann Schneider with him. Johann was a nasty piece of work. He had absolutely no conscience and he liked to hurt people. He was the guy Eldon had around to took care of things. Ethan was surprised to see him. He had no capacity beyond brute force. His presence though, was an indication of just how dangerous things were about to become to everyone.

‘You two are going to handling things on the ground,’ Eldon bluntly announced. ‘Ethan, you’re logistics. Johann, you’ll take care of implementation’.

Johann drew in a deep breath, looking like he expected nothing less.

‘Dumb Fuck,’ Ethan thought, as he looked over at Johann.

Eldon looked at Ethan. It was like he did catch his thought. ‘Johann’s the right man for this job,’ he replied as if to explain. ‘We’re going to tear this world apart and no-one leaves a bigger wake than Johann’.

‘No. It sounds good,’ Ethan replied. ‘Just like the old days, right Johann?’

In agreement, Johann turned up his permanent snarl and nodded.

‘Big dumb Fuck.’

‘Yeah, so where do we go from here, Eldon?’ Ethan asked.

‘Well first of all, you better get those reactors into space right now. No more delays. No more regulations. No more protesters. Nothing. They go up right now. What’s your timeline?

‘With the obstacles out of the way, within the month.’

‘That’ll work.’ Johann, clear the way.’

‘Right boss.

‘Alright. I’ll be in touch with both of you, as need be. Let’s get to it’.

‘Ethan and Johann turned to leave’.

‘Oh and Ethan,’ Eldon said.

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s come to my attention that Jimmy brings the same women to my orgies, and just fucks them. None of my girls. You already know this though, don’t you?’

‘Yeah. I noticed that.’

‘Good. I want you to kill Jimmy.’