This came to me in a dream. It seems a nice setup for a story, but I am already dealing with 4. How to assassinate a politician is about 90% complete in my mind. Then Kenos Diastima a series in three seasons which is at 40%, Residuam Vitam the mini series is at 30% and Engonos is I have no idea, but it is still ongoing, season one is about 75%, the rest is less clear. What I got now did not fit anywhere and I do not want to start something else at present, so I am making it public domain. Perhaps it will be useful to someone else at present.
The story is in the first person (it is easier for me that way).
And so it begins It is a late afternoon, I am working in a data centre owned by Heineken. I am not sue what I am, but I am doing my job. Something about cleaning data. We are suddenly attacked and Heineken is subject to ransomware.
3 hours earlier In the WebCentre of Heineken people are doing their work, they are editing, they are checking and they are aligning on a global scale. One person is doing something else. He is embedding a small code tabulator, alternate 0255, tabulator, alternate 0255, tabulator. A simple code a mere 5 bytes, but that was all that was needed and it was embedded in several places. Someone higher up would clean the data and that was the purpose.
You see, the hackers were smart but not the brightest. They had a database, but one that mattered. They had a database with disgruntled employees and several worked at Heineken. This was the setting, the honey was a payday of 50 Bitcoin cents. And two applied for that, the hackers knew that the invasion would get them 150 bitcoins in a week, spending one coin was a wise investment setting.
So here we are, I am at my desk and I see the Ransomware invade, system after system becomes useless. That was what was intended. As the employees with much higher security settings cleaned out the 5 bits, the system saw that as a call to include a small script, a mere 73 bits and it was included in several places and as these systems started to buckle, people with higher security clearance took up the hammer and they infected even more systems. The operation took less than 25 minutes and in that time everything was smitten with Ransomware. All systems and the log files were getting encryption. All these systems and more were now Ransomed and they had no clue who was behind it.
Now you want to see some clever way out of this, but there is none. As systems buckle governments are forced to put in place draconian laws whilst cleaning what they can and it is with that stupidity the hackers are subject to prisons and executions and as the dust settles, the hackers go deep underground. They are now regarded a global enemy. In the days when there was surplus people never cared, now as governments will buckle they are ready to hold these people (including children too smart for their own good) to account and it was not going to be a nice stage. Just like these ‘Just Stop Oil’ idiots. 6 months was merely the beginning. When the oil starts being reduced even more, the people will start their vigilante justice, as well the IT people against hackers and their supporters. A cleansing unlike any we have ever seen, the agents of chaos will hurt and suffer for a long time to come. A setting no one wanted, a setting we all denied, but we all saw that there was no other direction and that was when we realised that at times we cannot be nice to the monsters, we have no other choice but to put them out of their misery.
As I had returned to Crete, the look was similar. I merely arrived differently. As I glided to the empty street I walked down the street and turned right as I came to a main road. There was the appeal to go back to Rethimno directly, but I decided against that. Nothing wrong where I stayed, but when you come as a returning guest too many people will start to play 20 questions and that I was eager to avoid that part in any trip. I found a hotel and booked in. From that I looked around for a bike rental and saw two close by. There was one upside, the trip this time around would be at least half an hour less, so there was that. I decided to go to my room and mull things over. It was the next morning that I got an early start. Breakfast was not for me today, I got the rental which was the same model as the previous one, but a different colour. This one was olive green. I put on the helmet and drove off. It was a little over an hour later when I returned to the destination of the church. I walked in and investigated for trespass, it all looked good and I portalled my lamp in. I then set the watch to the time it was last time and started to shine the light on the walls ever so slowly. I saw how the stones rejuvenated, the windows repaired themselves and the walls became whole and clean. It took about half an hour and the inside of the church looked the way it did when it was build and it looked pretty nice. I saw the sun was up and my view saw no one in the neighbourhood. It was a good time to restore the outside to some degree and I was able to restore parts of the outside wall as well. I put out the lamp and I decided to walk in. The church was completely restored. I used my mobile to talk to the office, I needed tradesman and builders. The office took all the details and went to work with the people they knew to trust. It was time to build a wall around the church, it would be 4 meters high and it would keep space round the church. I might need space and that would give me the added room I might need. I had no idea if it was required, but I decided to add a fake graveyard to the back of the church. I would let the builders create a place to enter a larger room deeper below the church with one of the graves being the entry. It would take a few months, but that would give me time to plan for the next step. And in the time that gave me, there would now be time to plan the events as they should unfold, yet I needed to be aware of all the elements. This was one hell of a plan and there was no way to tell if this would work out correctly. Yet the main plan had two locations and 7 places where the required items were. They had all forgotten about these places and that would start a whole new era of mankind, but there was time for that. I had to make sure that nothing was forgotten. And that finally got me to the missing part, where on earth was Asclepius?
I put the lamp away in its safe place and went back to the rental to hand in the bike and after that decided to walk the streets of Iraklion. As I left one coffee house, enjoying the sunshine and coffee I was confronted by two rather annoying German tourists. These man decided that they were the rulers of the world. In reality they were over horny, over eager admirers of raki, but that didn’t matter. I saw the three old man two tables down and I asked them “αυτοί οι Γερμανοί θέλουν να συναντήσουν τον Άδη, να τους βοηθήσουμε” (these Germans want to meet Hades, shall we help them?) The expression was met with sniggering from the old men and one started to sharpen his blade on a stone. As the tourists saw the sniggering and the sharpening of the blade, they sobered up quite a bit and got out fast. I smiled, sometimes being a scoundrel had its benefits and there was no need to hide. I gestured the waiter for 4 raki, I pointed to the men for the other three, I paid the waiter, raised the glass and spoke ‘scholeío’ and down the hatch the raki went, the men raised their glasses and I thought they said ‘Yamas’ and drunk it too. It filled my throat and stomach with a warm sensation. It felt good, I was not sure how my new setting would react to alcohol, I had not had any reason to drink anything but a beer, so this was good, but I was not sure if I could get drunk, but there was no need to find out at present. I got up nodded at the men and walked away. I checked out and went towards the museum. All seemed to be the same, so I waited for darkness to set in, and I went back the same way I came.
As Tartarus remained the same, I decided to rest on the marble slab which was affeI had the items and I would be able to harvest what I needed, but I needed to plan for a few elements in all this and there would be time to consider a second step. It is not enough for the settings to evolve, there is a need for governments to be banking on the wrong steps and that required another cog. There was a danger here. It needed to be very different or they would all suspect to be under attack and that could make things a lot worse soon there after. There were a few ideas, yet evolving one that suited my needs and suited the structure of the plan would not be easy. There was always one more complication and that was true of almost everything. The more you plan for a perfect stage, the more likely was that this perfection would upset the stage and falter the plan. So there was the idea of letting go of the second run and it made sense to bank on this one stab. I needed a medical research centre to prepare the goods and prepare the elements needed.
I had decided to set the stages there was preparation, fabrication, implementation and activation. Each part contained and unconnected to the previous or the next part, in addition, if timelines shifted it would not upset the plan as long as each step could be completed. The first two were almost easy enough. It was the latter two that needed focus, because the location was set and as I was contemplating the acts, the second cog came back. If the second cog is more visible there would be a stage of governmental worry, but if that happened after the first part was implemented it would be too late, the second cog would alert everyone, but with the wrong items required, it merely added to the chaos that followed, enhanced it so to speak. A setting that would work well for all concerned, not the mortal population though, but that was on them, they had become too much of a burden to the world they inhabited and there was a price for everything.
I close my eyes and contemplated and contemplated, it is the one downside if immortality, sleep is lost, dreams fell away and I found out that this loss is a little more profound than I was happy about.
There is a stage I hd not forgotten about. I had no writers block, but a logic block. Stories fantasy or not have their own rules of logic. It might not make sense to the reader (at first) but it does to the writer and in my case, the logic did not add up. So instead of making ‘fictive’ logic, I took time to think through the events. And recently I did so. So whilst I kind of need to make a small recap to Residuam Vitam, the recap is mostly limited to the other articles, so that you can pick up the pieces.
There are a few more, but I am rewriting it all, optionally to insert it as a pdf.
So, where was I? I had set the stage with Baron Samedi, the meeting with Hades and at that point we added Meng Po, they all have larger stages to contribute, and that is going smoothly. But the wind caught on, and as such, so did Ereshkigal and Mot. Their powers are similar, but not the same and as such they started to tread on the loom of life, the loom that these two wield like masters. The loom of life has sustained them throughout the ages as they became part of that machine, but now that the rules are adapting it changes what they are given in the end and their share has been so large for such a long time. They now create shadows the size of giants on their former selves and that changes the equation by a much larger degree. So as the gods create a new alliance, they also unknowingly create the anti-pod of their alliance and the people, the mortals are between the two parties.
The detective (from the very beginning) becomes the axial of the middle, the becomes unknowing to her and to others the axial of a seesaw. Hades, Meng Po, Baron Samedi and Anubis are the main players of one side of the seesaw, the other end has Ereshkigal, Ta’xet, Tia and Mot occupy the other end of the seesaw. But these players are slowly introduced. As the new brew influences the people Tia becomes aware who informs Ta’xet. Ta’xet had a connection to Mot from the old days and now they start to learn on what is going on. Ereshkigal is the last to connect to this new eave, but only because Ereshkigal has had a deepened distrust of anything Anubis touches. It is at this point that Hel is awakened. She is awakened by Ta’xet who feels kinship to Hel, no like, but kinship is enough to take the stage in different ways. Ta’xet thinks (decently correctly) that any negative impact of dishonourable souls will anger Hel and it does, but she has no real friends as such she also investigates and she will get under the skin of the detective through all the people she lost in her career and as such she can stack against the other side.
Now that I have a grasp of how the interactions are going, I can start looking at the dialogues of these characters. I need to push a few more items to the surface and I need to see what to do about Meng Po, her duty and her tsk never failed. As such I need to push a different border to clear her vested interest to the top of the pile. She is driven too, but how to ‘exploit’ it? That is still a stage I need to examine. The ‘mortal’ side is decently clear, the side of Hades (and the twist in all this) is also clear. I have some ideas on how to counter Baron Samedi. Here we can rely on Maman Brijit. She is also the Loa of justice and vengeance and the drink is a stage of injustice to those who will die and there is the rub, as Samedi will become a lot more powerful, the imbalance between Maman and the Baron becomes stronger. To some degree he becomes his own worst enemy and that was one element Hades was counting on. He played the game for so long, the sound of every string on the loom of life are distinct in sound and he knows all the sounds. So there we have the three parts and now I need to set a line to all the characters and reread everything to see if I left any obvious holes.
Come to me in the vacation. I will explain what happened. I will take these of your hands for now. With that Olivander vanished and left Dan and the professor to go to Hogwarts.
It was snowy, it was dark, it was windy and it was wonderful. Dan always enjoyed the Christmas time. He quickly send an owl to his parents that he would be delayed by at least a day as he was expected at Olivanders. And as he entered the shop Olivander looked up with a big smile and quickly changed the sign at the door to ‘closed’, he then beckoned Dan to come to the back of the shop. There were two goblets with warm wine. Dan looked puzzled at Olivander. Your mother told me, I went to see them and told them I would be seeing you.
So lets start at the beginning. You are as far as we can tell a Wand finder. People with that gift are rare, very rare. Some become wand makers, some become wand merchants. All wand makers are wand merchants, not all wand merchants are wand makers. Some fix wands but that is part of the training you will face as my apprentice. We need to see how far your skills go. It is not an easy path, but there is always need for a Wand maker, there aren’t too many of us left and my apprentice went to the north. He was good, but nowhere near me, too hasty. You could surpass me, as I am not a wand finder.
A wand finder connects to wands, or better stated the wands connect to you. They only do this when their masters are gone or no longer sensed. Dan looked at Olivanders in some puzzlement. The wand choses the wizard, this has been a truth for the longest time. But the wand finder has the ability to see the best wood, the best ingredients and in some cases, they can retrieve much better quality goods. How far your skills go is not known and we might not know that for some time. But first things first. There were the 23 wands from the match, and there were 47 wands from the train. We found the owners of 15 of the wands. And only 12 of the other lot, but that seek is going on, which makes for a total of 52 galleons for you for the wands that were reunited with their owners, and also, he went behind the counter. A small silver goblet. It is quite exquisite. It has properties. If a poisonous drink is poured in this goblet, it lights up green, if the drink is not poisonous, but is harmful, the goblet will get a yellow shine. Dan looked at the goblet with some amazement. He had heard of protective cups, but this was the first time he saw one. Olivander continued. The man was happy to leave this to you as he was getting old and he has no family left, getting his wand back meant everything to him. Dan stared at the goblet, it was small, it fit easily in his hand and when he stared the cup seem to have a glow of sorts, there was almost invisible etchings on the inside of the cup, like elemental symbols, but not symbols he was familiar with. He nodded at Olivander and placed it in his messenger bag. Olivanders gave him the 8 wands from the match. These two are now dead, as such the wands are now attached to you until you get some skills. We will focus on those in the near future. The other 6 I was unable to find yet, 4 of them have the traits of a Bulgarian Wand maker, I did send him an owl, but the man might not give response soon, so we place them separately. The 35 remaining from the train are a bit of a problem. I am not getting response from these people. Most were first year Hogwarts students. The wand was not clearly defined and more importantly most of them got a second wand that year. So we need to wait a little longer. They might not care to get them back as they got connected to their new wands.
Dan nodded.
Olivander looked at him. I want you to attend classes here in the new year during vacations. I am lucky, Flitwick is quite the charms expert. He will train you in splicing Yew wands, the easiest want to splice. He handed Dan a handful. These 20 wands are empty, be careful with them, because they still take time to make. You will do this in Hogwarts to see how you fare without your skills. Flitwick will teach you splice and unite spells and see how you handle this. Some of the wands will not survive, but that is how you learn, try to damage as few as possible please.
Dan nodded, put the wands away and responded “Thank you master Olivander”, Olivander looked up with a big smile. I have not been called master Olivander for such a long time, it feels good to hear it again. What will you do now? Dan looked at the treasure he had. Gringot is my next destination, then home.
A Goblin by any other name
Dan walked into Gringots, and walked to the end. The Goblin looked up to Dan. Alone today? Yes sir, I would like to open a deposit box for personal storage. The goblin looked at him. It is one galleon per year, but you have a large family vault? Dan looked at the Goblin “I am now the apprentice of Olivander” I will need access to my own space for now. The Goblin nodded. Fee is one galleon per year, that is the fee all large vault holders pay. Dan placed a galleon on the desk. The Goblin took the coin and handed it to a clerk. He will show you the goblin who will take care of your box. Dan nodded and followed the clerk to the side. A goblin in a pristine suit looked at him. He listened to the clerk and took the coin. He stated that he could not access his box until the arrear was settled, Dan nodded. Can I pay ahead if I so desire? The Goblin nodded. Yes, that is possible, you have a year to pay the next year. A moment later a box roughly 60 by 30 by 10 was delivered. “Wand please” the Goblin asked. The wand was examined and placed on the box for a few seconds. Then the wand was handed back to him. Now perform any spell on the box and Dan whispered “Avis aspectu” and the box lighted up for a second than faded again. He opened the box and took his coin purse. He took a few coins out and placed the bulk in the box and closed it. The goblin looked and asked him to try the spell again “Avis aspectu” and the box lit up again. He could open the box and he saw the purse, he closed the box again. He saw the clerk moving towards the box with a cart. Dan picked up the box and placed it on the cart. He then looked at the Goblin. All done now, the Goblin responded. It normally takes a few minutes to get your box. Dan nodded, he nodded at the Goblin and clerk and left the bank.
He walked through Diagon Alley. He had never done this with 4 galleons that were all his. He went into the bookshop and got another potions book he would need coming year. He had seen a small golden cauldron, but it was 45 galleons, he could afford it, but he had no real need at present. He was not that good a potion maker and even as Snape was approving of his potions, he could see the frown on more than one occasion. He would wait with that a little longer, but he did like making his potions and they almost always worked. He walked on and moved towards the exit he usually used to walk into London. It was there that he waved his wand to fly back home and the conversation he would need to have with his parents.
And that is how my part of the story ends. It is not my IP, as such I have no intention to continue, but the dream i had was vivd as such I felt the need to write it down, perhaps it serves someone, perhaps not. It was fun to write.
It was a late afternoon Dan Weigh was walking down a meadow, he was on route to a quidditch match. He did not attend many of these matches, but this was a world cup and he was able to get a ticket, well his father was. It would be Bulgaria versus Ireland. He had no real side in mind, merely that he was attending a match, and a match of this level he had never watched before. He checked his ticket. It was close to the end of one field, the side Ireland was on. He watched in some amusement how the people were green and white, or red and black. There was shouting all over the field and everyone was having a good time. He saw a stand where they were pouring drinks. It was hot wine with nuts. He loved that, he got the knack for it in Stockholm in winter, so he went over and asked for a large goblet. It was two extra sickles, but he got to keep the cup. He reminded himself to get two cups more so that he could give his parents one as well. He was sipping the drink which warmed him up. He was also tasting a distinct flavour of pumpkins, it made it even better. There was a barrel on the side an he sat on it sipping his goblet. He remained watching the people and recognised a few people. Some from Hufflepuff, 2 Slytherins, yet he did not recognise any one from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. There was a decent chance that they wee painted in the colours of ‘their’ team, so recognition was not going to be easy. He got another goblet and placed the empty one in the messenger bag. The lady serving him assured him that they would be there at least a day after the match. So he got his goblet and walked to the game area. He saw the sigs and walked to the area where he would be. As he walked he saw another person, well two at least. They were the Malfoys, Slytherins. He ignored them, he never liked the kid and his father was important in the ministry, he did not need that kind of attention. He followed a few dozen people all going his direction, all Irish fans. A couple looked at him and smiled, he smiled back. They walked on and he followed for a while until he noticed a sign and turned right. /He saw his seat and sat down. There was still at least half a cup and he quietly drank it. Then the match began.
The match was amazing, these people had broom skills that were very next level. He had never seen that level of skill at Hogwarts. He was a decent flyer, but nothing like that Gryffindor seeker Potter. That guy was already a legendary broom flyer in his third year. There was more, but he shook it off. He got his spyglass out, it had a few basic functions, it could freeze frame and rewind 10 seconds. It had belonged to his grandfather and he loved his spyglass. He also knew that there were more advanced options nowadays, but for one match it was not worth the investment. He wasn’t a miser, he merely needed to see return on investment, or at least the promise of one. Until the end of the match he was hooked, Bulgaria got the snitch, but Ireland still won by 10 points. It was an amazing match and like others he walked to the exit. He was back on the field and he walked straight to the drinks vendor and got his third goblet. He went back to the barrel and sat on it, slowly sipping his drink. He sat on the barrel, enjoying the warm drink, it wasn’t cold, but it was a little more nippy than earlier that day, the darkness was about to set in when he heard shouts, he heard chaos. Then he saw the men at the far end. He had seen these outfits before and it filled him with dread. They were death eaters. He took the last gulp from the goblet and put the goblet away. He grabbed his wand. He knew a conceal charm and performed it. He vanished from the eyes of others and looked around. He now had two problems. The first was to remain unseen. The second one was that as he was concealed, he was not seen and others could run into him knocking him over. He moved between the back of tents. Less likely to run into people. He saw the explosions, the wand waving and chaos. He then noticed a small child. He ran over grabbed the child who was in shock and moved back to the back of the tents. He performed the concealment charm on the child as well. The child now saw him. He pushed his finger to his mouth and the child understood him. “Where are your parents?” The child shrugged, he made the pouring gesture. So his parents had a drink stand somewhere. There were dozens, so that did not make it easier. The explosions became louder. Tents were on fire and he moved to the far end of the tents. The death eaters were not here. He might be a final year student, he could hold his own in a class fight, but a death eater? He shuddered to think what his chances were. At least he was able to keep one child safe. Then he saw the sky, the death eater mark. He knew this was not merely some display of chaos, this was a lot more. The area was now mostly quiet. He picked up the child and walked into the area where several drink stands were. He pointed at the stands. “Are your mommy and daddy here?” The child shook his head and pointed to the far north. He walked in that area. It was a little later when he saw some people distraught and confused. He walked on, he had to get this child to safety first. He then saw a rather large drink stand and the child pointed at the stand. Dan looked around, there were bodies everywhere, but they seem like sport fan, not staff. He then saw a woman hiding in a tent, clearly out of her mind with fear. “Mommy” the child cried and the woman looked up, but saw nothing. Dan ended the concealment spell and handed the child to the mother. She looked grateful. “Come, we need to get going. Not a good idea to hang around here” the woman nodded and held tightly on to the child. “The father?” Dan asked. “He is in our tavern” she replied. He waved his wand and now all three were concealed. The walked towards the end of the area and n that walk something odd happened. He started to notice wands on the ground like they were covered in an aura of light. He picked them up and placed them in his bag, the walk gave a total tally of 23 wands. They got to the end and he ended the spell. He wished the two well and she gave him a card. “Please drop by, so my husband and I can properly appreciate you” He took the card nodded and changed directions. He was out of the area, so now he could travel more precisely and unhindered. He went to Diagon alley. He booked a room in the leaky cauldron and contacted his parents. They had heard of what was going on and wondered why he had not come home. I will explain tomorrow, need to see someone here in the morning first. He had a decent meal, but it was clear that all over Diagon alley and the Leaky Cauldron there was merely one topic of conversation. The death eaters were back.
It was late morning when he woke up, he had a good sleep and went down for breakfast. He turned in the key and entered the alley. He walked down to Olivanders and entered. Good morning Mr Weigh. Good morning master Olivander. Could you please assist me? Olivander looked at me, wondering what was needed. I was at the match last night and I found these. He dropped the 23 wands on the counter. You once told me you remembered every wand you sold, as such can you assist getting these back to the people they belong to? Olivander nodded and looked at them. Yes, I can do that. I recognise a few and I will get them to the owners. I might not have sold all, so there will be some issues there, but I will do what I can. Dan nodded to Olivander and waved. He walked of to go home and tell them what happened and he was weirdly happy that he still had the goblets.
Chook, Chook
It was two days later when he was at nine and three quarters. He boarded the train and got himself a seat in the coach that tended to be all Ravenclaw. He noticed several class mates and nodded to them. The nodded back. He was never much of a social person and others respected his space, just like he respected the space they had. The train ride was smooth and when they got to the station in the late afternoon, he noticed that his bag was heavier. He opened it only to be taken by surprise. Wands, dozens of them and he had no idea how he got them. He closed the bag and got off. He signalled one of the students. “Get Professor Flitwick here. I’ll wait at the station. This is important!” He was adamant and his fellow student understood that. He ran off towards Hogwarts. It was about 20 minutes later when Professor Flitwick arrived. Hello Mr Weigh. You have never summoned me before, well students do not summon professors. Dan looked at the professor and opened his bag. “I honestly do not know how I got these” Flitwick looked at Dan. “Well, well” this is the second time I ever see this. Wait here, you did the right thing. He made a gesture and suddenly Olivanders was here. Olivanders looked at the two in puzzlement. Flitwick then opened the bag. Dan seems to be a wand finder. Olivander livened up. Yes, he brought me 23 two days ago, It is good that you are at Hogwarts. Your powers will not work there, at least not as far as I understand. Come to me in the vacation. I will explain what happened. I will take these of your hands for now. With that Olivander vanished and left Dan and the professor to go to Hogwarts.
So this story appeared in my mind last night. This is not the beginning of more, but there is a chance that a second part will come and I will end the story there. I have a few more things to do and part one of the PD challenge is almost done. It is not due for another week (a nice way to start December), but in the meantime this occupied my mind. Perhaps because I was rewatching the 8 HP movies. This all got to me in a dream and about 30 minutes of typing. This is a weird Saturday to say the least.
I was sitting in my room, enjoying the sounds of David Bowie. Then the track ‘This is not America’ came. It took me back to 1985, the movie ‘The Falcon and the Snowman’ which uses that song was released. I saw it, but I did not get it. You see, we steal for our governments and we commit murder for our governments, these things happen, yet I personally never understood treason I never accepted that act. I believe traitors are due a bullet to the back of their head. They are a little better than child molesters, but not by much.
And at that point the mind started to move the cogs. You see we see acts of treason against employees all the time, but we ignore it. Some listen to the reason of Wall Street and that is when people get hurt, it is business as usual for Wall Street and America. But what happens when someone takes that given foundation am makes something of that. In this we see India and a conglomerate is acquiring talent. These people are offered a choice of two places. One in Himachal Pradesh and one close to the Kumarakom Lake Resort. To places, one for summer and one for winter. These are closed resorts and they are set as 5 star resorts. The difference is that these two resorts are only for the invited. As India sees the betrayal of staff, these people are approached and offered a different way of life. They merely have to create IP, the value is the ante for staying there, when breakthroughs are made, when these people make the numbers they are off for the rest of the year if they want. Optional these people can work forward, as such if they create the IP that exceeds the numbers they are given the option to relax and rest. A person could work three months in year one and if the value exceeds the numbers he has a paid vacation until the end of year two. All orders these people have are managed online. And that is how their version of paradise works. Yet there is more, that project is managed by India and China. They are sitting on a wealth of IP, and as the people create and commit, they are treated like kings, nothing is missing in their lives, their kids get the best private tutors and their partners have access to a life of wealth and good health. The one downturn is that they cannot leave the resort.
The beginning of a miniseries, it will be too large for a movie, but a 4-6 episode mini series with a run time of 60-90 minutes could work. China remains below the surface (at lest in the beginning) and the idea that we see a list of damages
United States $275 billion, United Kingdom $43 billion, European Union $27 billion (and so on) and now consider that the stage where two 5 star resorts are created to facilitate for the acquisition of $345 billion dollar. This could work and the settings I saw over the last week where Google and Amazon are firing staff, people are in a runt to make ends meet and they casually left $6 billion on the floor, I reckon this approach to a new kind of logistic assault on nations is merely a heartbeat way. It is not 5G, it is not the stage of greed. It is facilitated by the simple need of people wanting a decent life, the question is do the people still remember what a decent life was? In this day and age the cogs of labour are changing and companies are finding out that holding the people against the bottom line of a corporation will facilitate such places and there is a chance that some will be willing to move to a place like China. The US has a much bigger problem than they realise and that is the setting for this script and exercise. It took me 3 hours to set up the station for this story and consider, what happens when 200 engineers take the road towards a decent life and a decent way of life. You figure out how much certain places could lose and more importantly how that impacts their economies, because the last time I checked the loss of $275 billion in value could drive a place like the US into utter bankruptcy. They all forgot about what happens when the makers and creators leave, just like Covid, they were never prepared for that scenario. Why not? And if that I true why not treat those people better? The foundation of story and optionally a TV series.
The stage was not a good one, I was in a place I did not know too well, one of the fates, fates, who are outside of control of the gods was in front of me and I just moved something through time. It was not looking good. She observed me and seemingly liked what she saw. “You are cautious in acting, you do not act hasty. This is good.” “We were a little concerned when we saw the mess you made in the Platia Rimini, but we saw your approach, we do not disapprove.” She looked at him. “You have a weird future ahead of you, we cannot help, but we can leave hints, like the letter you got. Like a few other things you will see, but it is not the right time yet. There is a much larger problem. These people are now more than a nuisance, they are an actual threat to the force of Gaia and that cannot be allowed. You will have the option to do something and the road you take will decide how many will survive, but a lot of them will have to go. Pollution is damaging the minds of Poseidon and Zeus. The realm of Hades remains intact, but it has its own problems and they must be resolved. Your grandfather is messaging you but it costs him more effort every time he does and that is now at a turning point.” “Summon your bident, now!” He looked at her and complied He whispered ‘psychofágos’ and the bident appeared. Radiant white silver and steel with a core that was not from this earth, it obeyed him and stood strong and with its appearance he felt stronger, he felt more alive and interestingly enough Lachesis suddenly looked like a very old woman, white hairs, but with the body of a 30 year old woman, firm breasts seeping through the thin silk robes. She looked good. “Men will be men”, Lachesis smiled. Obviously happy that she still had appeal to men millennia younger than she was. She took the bident from him and fitted some kind of collar to the base of the two tines and around the socket of the bident. She held a cloth over it that had a weird impact, like welding without heat. She handed the bident back, it felt a little different, but the applied collar was beautiful, it had olympian writing on it, he could not read it, it was small, really really small and the writing curved with the gemstones in the collar. A sapphire, an emerald, a ruby and something white, but not diamond, he did not recognise the stone. There were several sockets not filled. He looked at Lachesis. Where are your two sisters? He looked at her. “They know a little, but not everything, none of us know the entire stage and they are weaving the life lines, life lines that are smudged more and more over the ages and we are concerned. When the lines can not longer be weaved, we become obsolete. We would not know what to do, but to sit in front of an empty loom, with no where to go and no one to talk to. Something must be done.”
But there is no time, learn the new abilities of ‘psychofágos’, “I will guide you to your first testing ground in the very near future. I have also arranged a new employment. You are now the new investigator of the Piraeus Bank in Athens. You will not be bothered and your income will grow by 400%, you might need money soon. We have also arranged for someone to live 5 years longer, the price was his estate in California, it will be close to the test of flames. It is not merely pollution and environment that is causing the fires. It is the breath of Perses, a titan, it is still captive, but some things are seeping through and the gods ned to be restored to their power of chaos will overrun this world. If you survive that test we will talk about the next step.”
I was right, I was in trouble. Lachesis continued. “You could die, Hades cannot help, there is no Olympian cure for the embrace of your mother or grandfather, this world will be lost to you and soon thereafter for the billions of souls that will follow.” I looked at the bident, the ruby seemed a little more threatening now. “Go back to London and there you will receive the papers of the address of your new home. Do not move too much, if Perses succeeds the 5 years we gave the previous owner will have been a good deal for him, the breath of Perses will make short work of that place in seconds.”
I nodded. “Good travels, grand son of Hades. If the tests go well, you will be worthy of an Olympian name” I looked around, well no one for miles. The church was still there, the windows were still there and he walked towards the scooter and drive back to the rental place. He filled up the gas tank, waived at the woman behind the counter and handed in the key to the scooter. She took it, walked towards the scooter, checked it and nodded in my direction, she signed off the paper and handed me a copy. I went back to the hotel, drank a sip from the fruit juice in the fridge.
Tomorrow would be a new day and with that idea I went to bed and fell asleep.
This is not some article, this is a story, a story about a dream, a dream I had. In this dream mankind was done for, greed finally won and this planet was going down fast. But there was hope, a ship was made, a ship that looked a lot like the one we saw in the movie Titan AE (yes, the cartoon). Anyway, the ship was loading. The people were boarding through 8 gates each quarter of the ship got two gates, a high and a low one, and they all went to different floors. I was walking down one floor, the gate had two trenches, the normal one and a first class one. I was in the first class one, not because I was a VIP, but because I think I was a crew member. As I was going through the gate the doors started to close, there was a door every 100 meters and I had passed the 6th or 7th door and I saw the 8th door slowly closing. Just for a second I hesitated, then I started to run as fast as I could, I got past door 8, I had to duck for the 9th door and the 10 I got by diving and rolling just before the door would close. I ran over the gangway into the ship.
I was in the ship, and I saw confusion everywhere. Then I felt the shudder, the engines were preparing a launch. I shouted people to get into any cabin, any room with seats and buckle up. I ran towards the hatches, they were closing too. I saw the panic of people still outside. There was nothing I could do. I ran to a comm board, I tried to raise the alarms, but my security clearance was not high enough. I felt the strong shudder, it was lift off time. I saw a chair ran to it, sat down and strapped in. On the other side of the room was another man with three women, all strapped in, all looking confused and all but one passengers. One of the women was a deckhand, or steward. I could not tell, but her rank was decently higher. Lift off and the g-forces were pushing me in the chair, the ship was taking off, leaving well over half outside and who knows what supplies never made it onboard. I felt the acceleration and I lost consciousness, or I drifted away in some sleep like statement. It was four minutes later when I came round, at least that is what my watch indicated. I looked at the others The officer was already on the systems trying to look for an explanation. I introduced myself. Engineering assistant Lazarus, Ma’am! She nodded. Do you know what happened? I shook my head. Not a clue, I was before door 8 when they started going down. I ran as fast as I could and here I am. She nodded. We need to get to the bridge, follow me engineer. I followed her, she seemed sure and determined. Just the I like my officers to be, knowing what to do next. We got to the central ring where the elevators were, my ears started to hear something odd, I could not put my finger on it. But she opened the door and entered, she looked around and as I entered she seemed to be speaking, but no sound came out. I suddenly remembered the white noise. I grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the elevator just as the doors were closing. We got out, but barely. She looked almost haunted. Tried to shout at me, but still no sound. I pointed at her mouth and shook my head. I pointed at my ears and shook my head. I think she got the message. She was still silent, this was going to take some time. We walked to another elevator a quarter of the ring further. I heard almost the same sound, my ears were affected as well, not as much as the voice. The elevators were rigged, but why? Then I remembered, the AI will monitor any usage. But its camera’s would pick up our gestures and voices. It could lipread as well, so the action made no sense. But for now we were stuck on this floor.
This was the first part of the dream, the dream took me forward instantly (by a lot), the AI was partially hacked, not the AI itself, an AI cannot be hacked, but the AI was Arabic, the hackers did away with the profile parameters, they disabled linguistic options, gestures and lipreading. The AI would not know what was going on. In the end the AI was hacked, not by attacking the AI, but by hacking the access ports to the AI and disabling access to it. Each port was replaced by a simulated null: port that streams data and numbers, but the numbers would make no sense and as the AI took more resources to figure out the data given, less resources, other than the bare minimum would be available for all other duties. A hacking achievement never seen before and the hackers ended up with nearly all planetary goods and not much people to dump into space. The biggest heist in history and the witnesses that were still around were floating in space, not alive at all.
As I said, greed won, in the end, it would infect other places too, that is the outcome of greed, it never ever stops.
My mind took me back to the first dream (that I described in ‘Elements of whatever’ yesterday). It was the setting and the setting was incomplete. I saw the two lanes, like esplanades going over the length of the town, parallel, but the road furthest away from the gorge was higher. Both streets had an abundance of tavern like cafe’s. There were all kinds of small shops in between, some selling books, some sold knick knacks and they were always next to a tavern. Filled with people talking, chatting and various kinds of idle conversations. The tables had coffee, they had some kind of wine, but much sweeter like grape juice. Fruity. People were having snacks, mostly breadsticks, some peppered. And I saw a boy run calling for its mother. At first I thought it as me, but my mother died decades ago. The road went on and swivelled towards houses, dozens of houses. Some look like log cabins, most looked like old fashioned French stone houses. Like they were build in the 18th century. The view was magnificent, like an image of Chicken Itza, but no ruins in the background. No roads and no noise. That was the missing part, the part of the noise that is at present EVERYWHERE. It took me a long time to figure it out. The zeppelins are not merely methods of moving, they are the only ones who can move there. Like Asia and South America. The people (the wealthy ones) had enough of the pollution, the seas washing the land away and the people hindering them. I wonder if this is part of Keno Diastima? It is possible, but I cannot tell at present. The land in some places will truly gain value. Land that is now seen as worthless, but it has something high priced land does not. It has CLEAN AIR, and it lacks people. Gated communities that cannot be reached by anything else than a zeppelin. Planes cannot land there, ships cannot get close and car cannot reach these places. The ultimate gated community. Places where there is no fear of war as it I away from everything the greed driven desire, certain players have removed themselves from the game and they are living out there lives surrounded by the things they care for. A book, a drink and a conversation with like minded people.
So what is this a part of?
I am not certain yet, but if I am correct, these places will come up like mushrooms. Gated places protected and absent of what some would call the Riff-raff. Crime is dealt with directly and with deadly force, these people paid for protection and anyone stupid enough to try their luck will find themselves dealt with like the pirates of old.
It is a larger setting and it is a setting that is highly speculative, not real, optionally the setting of a story, but consider the places. Warm places where heating is not needed. Enough light to fuel solar banks and the zeppelins bring provisions and people. A new iteration of cogs, isolated from all the other worries. Some villages in tropical places and some in places where people enjoy the snow, absent of a lot of people. Can you honestly say that in a place with 8,000,000,000 that they all enjoy each others company?
Yes, it is time to give something away. The story I have here appeared in my mind today and as I am already upgrading two scripts and adding to a third, I am stretched too thin. As such I am putting it here and whomever want to use it, feel free to do so. The story is inspired by a book I read in secondary school. It was written by the Dutch Journalist Marga Minco called ‘The Bitter Herb’ which she wrote in 1954. I had the book on my exam list and I had to recite parts of the book and explain the book on my Dutch oral exam. For some reason the story played in the back of my mind as I was tinkering on something else.
Act 1 There is a programmer, a simple guy. Works hard does his job and delivers. He does so for years and at one time he is made redundant. He applies for jobs, he programs at home to keep his mind sharp and on day, he gets an idea, he programs it and he works it and it becomes a program. It is now 4 years since he was made redundant. He goes to a few companies and presents a mock up and one of the companies informs him that they are interested in buying the program. It is on route to that meeting that his former boss bumps into him, trying to convince him to come back, he turns him down and walks on. It is less than 5 minutes later that he is intercepted by goons and taken to a location. The goons beat him up until he signs the idea over. He them goes to court, it does not take long but the papers are set against him and the case is thrown out.
Act 2 He moves to another place, works and now has a decent income, he programs in other areas and he is making a decent income. He sees newspapers on a new venture making millions. He there sees his former boss, a third person that looks like the judge he faced and a second person who he does not know, but the article stated that he was from the firm interested in his invention. His blood starts to boil, his anger turns to rage. It is that night that he is intercepted (again) by a Russian group of people. They beat him up until he signs papers, he is knocked unconscious and the darkness seeps in. The next morning he walks on the street, beaten and he sees the Russian, laughing offering him a drink. He walks over and states “Watch the news prostitutski, soon you will wish you were dead instead of burying your loved ones” with that he walks away towards the train station.
Act 3 It is now three years later, a man walks on the street. It is a careful stride. He looks around and he moves into a bus with an elongates backpack. He sits in the back until he gets to a location just out of town. He gets off the bus, and takes a small walk. He goes towards the waterline and he looks around, there is no one there. He opens the backpack and assembles a long range rifle and adds the silencer. He looks at the scope, he uses a distance pointer. It states 486 meters. He looks through the scope adjusts as he was taught. He sees the scene, a girl 13-14 years. He sees the man, the judge and all the wealth that is around him, and as the girl blows out the candles he pulls the trigger, her chest erupts, causing instant death. The man carefully disassembles the riffle and he leaves the area. We see a new field a new street, a new stage. The man walks into an apartment building. He had taken time to get familiar. He walks up and at the top floor and removes the lock, he superglues a lock to one eye of the lock holes and when he closes the lid it will look just like there was a lock there. He moves slowly to the edge. He sees the window and there we see him setting up the rifle again. It is the second man, the man from the firm. We see him next to his pregnant wife, they are smiling and they are entertaining. He looks breath in and pulls the trigger, her head blows to the back, instant death and as such, the baby dies too. The man is in utter fear and screams, all the people in there start to scream, but the man does not care and walks away. He moves to another location and uses a burner phone. “Hello? Andy here”, he answers simple “Two dead, one to go. I will see you soon!”, he does not listen to the screams and the pleas. He ends the call and destroys the phone. He moves back to the other town, where the Russians got to him. There he does not dally. He walks up to one of the mans houses, they are in the back of an expensive house. The Russian states “Our benefactor. Welcome!” It was the last thing he would state, the man takes out a gun with silencer and kills all five, he leaves no one alive and leaves.
It is not long thereafter when Russians catch up to him, they grab him, hit him and blindfold him. They take him to a boat and sail off. One Russian states. We do not care why you did it, you should always share what you have and we do not care for your tactics. They add weights to his ankles and throw him overboard. The man drowns soon thereafter.
Act 4 The man is in a dark place, it all looks black and grayscales. He walks on and what is not a man walks up to him. Hello, you are welcome here. I saw your stage of vengeance and have an option for you. For all the dead you set in the right pit, for all the people that advance as demons, you will get a bonus. That or you get thrown into the pits, but I believe you could be more. So what will it be. The man thinks for a moment and agrees.
It is now some time later, but time moves differently in the place he is in. The people are brought in and the man does as good a job as he could. He got his share of bonus and at times got nothing, the rules are clear and strict. It is that day when a new group of people come in and he does the same routine, the same story and the same route. His people go into pits one and two, this time he halts and he notices one person, the Russian boss who dumped him in the sea, he grabs him. The Russian does not beg, does not plea and suddenly the Russian recognises him “You?”, the man looks at him and states “You are worth less then nothing to me, but if you survive, you will make me rich”. He goes towards the third pit “survive or die” and throws the Russian in. He then looks at the people. You have no value, your value come if you survive. The people shudder in fear as the see wave after wave attacking the Russian. They are dragged along to the first two pits and thrown in. The man who was robbed again and again was now deciding the hell of the people who robbed him and people just like them. He now only awaits the arrival of his former boss and the universe would once again make sense.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 