The Illuminati (2 page)
President Hunt was dressed in his usual, gray pin-striped Shap Brothers suit. His black hair, with only the hint of silver around the temples, gave him the appearance of a Hollywood-cast politician. A hush came over the room as the president stepped to the podium with the familiar presidential seal emblazoned on it.
Cal Rutland, the president's ever-present aide, took his place behind and a little to the left side of the podium. And, as he did, Linda hid an involuntary shudder. She had covered three presidents for the network and had always worked well with their press contacts, but Rutland was somehow different. His cold, dead eyes were shadows of evil with no sign of life in them.
Or, maybe, no soul
, she thought.
The normal fanfare surrounding the presidential press conference was totally absent. Clearly each member of the attending press sensed the sobriety and tension of the occasion.
A solemn President Hunt began, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have something to say that is of the most critical importance to our nation. I wanted the American people to hear this announcement from me directly.
“As you well know, fellow citizens, our nation is struggling for its very economic survival. As your president, I am empowered to invoke the Balanced Budget Amendment to reestablish the stability of our monetary system. I have chosen to do this by two methods: First, I have authorized the national budget director's office to freeze all government spending until a new budget can be drafted that will match our income and expenses. Second, I have authorized the implementation of a new electronic monetary system known as âData-Net' that will restablize our currency. Without this, my advisers tell me, the entire economy might collapse. But even with these changes, the crisis is not past. With the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the disastrous increase in petroleum prices, we face the possibility of a worldwide depression.
“Clearly the Congress lacks the will or the courage to deal with this crisis, despite my consistent warnings that action must be taken quickly.”
Senator Grant nearly leaped out of his chair when he heard the president's last statement. “Lies! Lies!” Grant muttered through clenched teeth. Common sense told Grant it was useless to rail at a monitor.
I'll bide my time
, he thought, trying to control his anger.
As minority leader, the networks will want my rebuttal
. Shifting his attention back to the screen, he heard:
“Congress has recently attempted to usurp my authority and return control of the economy to the greedy self-interest groups whose policies got us into this disaster. I simply cannot allow that to happen. I feel too great a compassion for our jobless millions, whose families will suffer through no fault of their own.
“Reluctantly, I have suspended the funding for this session of Congress,” the handsome president stated in an apologetic tone. “Until this crisis is passed, I am declaring a national emergency and assuming total responsibility for the nation's welfare. Earlier this morning I instructed the Justice Department to initiate the necessary petition to the Supreme Court. At two o'clock this afternoon, by a margin of five to four, the justices confirmed my actions. I am therefore reallocating $800 million, appropriated to the congressional operating budget, to the government Jobs Services program.
“Remember, fellow Americans, we are all in this together. You have elected me as your leader to make these very difficult decisions. We cannot allow those who would use your grief for their own benefit to destroy what we have worked so hard to build. Thank you, and good evening.”
With that the president walked off the platform and through the open door that led to his office, leaving the stunned press crews behind.
The events leading up to the congressional showdown in February 2015 had actually begun two years earlier under the most unlikely circumstances. With the presidential elections coming up the next year, three probable candidates were vying for the position. Senate majority leader Mark Hunt was running under the banner of progressive leadership to stop the nation's economic slide into a major depression. Considered a radical liberal by many within his own party, he was finding it difficult to garner the support he needed to replace the incumbent president, Andrew Kilborne. Even with the economic problems, Kilborne was considered to be the Democratic party's best hope.
The wild card was the ultra-liberal Governor Jerry Crow of California. His main appeal was to the fanatics that made up the National Civil Liberties Union, the Gay Power Society, and the National Organization for Women's Rights.
In one of those strange turn of events, an incident at the California Institute of Technology would change the whole complexion of the presidential race and the country.
For decades, an enormous earthquake had been predicted for the California coast. Recent minor tremors had been interpreted as forerunners of the “big one.” In a coordinated effort, designed to more accurately predict the location and intensity of the quake, a study group had been established at Cal Tech, which brought together some of the best talent available. After several weeks of exhaustive research, the group was preparing to consolidate its findings and issue a statement to the government's office of geological study at the Livermore Laboratory in California.
Most of the research group reached the same conclusions: the earthquake would hit the San Francisco Bay area with a force of approximately 6 on the Richter scale. However, one of the group, a doctoral candidate by the name of Jeff Wells, had reached a radically different conclusion. Working from a uniquely different perspective, Wells predicted that the big quake, with a magnitude of at least 8.2, would occur beneath the islands of Japan between January and May of 2013.
As Dr. Jack Rhinehart, the project leader, handed Jeff's paper back, his sarcasm was evident as he addressed his assembled team. “Well, it seems that young Mr. Wells is fallible after all. According to his calculations, or his miscalculations I should say, he has the earthquake occurring next year, and about four thousand miles west of here. Thankfully for us, that will not happen, especially since he shows the epicenter to be Tokyo, rather than San Francisco, as the correct equations show.”
Jeff blushed when the entire group laughed, but he took the teasing good-naturedly. Then, looking down at his calculations, he said courageously, “I'm sorry, sir, but I am correct. The other calculations are wrong.”
Professor Rhinehart wheeled around, his eyes flashing with anger. “Just who do you think you are, young man? These equations came from the computer center at Livermore Laboratory. Do you actually think your program is right and theirs is wrong?”
“Yes, sir, I do. You see, I built in variables to compensate for some additional geological indicators. I believe there are signs in previous test data pointing to a major buildup in the primary plate area under Japan.”
“How could you possibly know that?” the professor questioned.
“It's just that in setting up the equation,” Jeff responded quietly, “I noticed there might be an additional factor that had not been taken into consideration. My equation indicates that the next major quake will be much stronger than expected and centered over the plate convergence in the Pacific. Basically that's right under the population center of Tokyo. Maybe you could have Livermore check it out.”
With that, the whole group roared. The idea of having one of the premier computer centers in the world, noted for its physics in tracking and predicting earthquakes, recheck its program equation because a junior instructor said they were wrong, was laughable. Only Professor Rhinehart didn't share in the humor.
His eyes still flashing with anger, Rhinehart said, “I'll make you a deal, Mr. Master Programmer. I'll have Livermore recheck your equations. When they are proven wrong you will apologize to this group.”
After a brief pause, Jeff asked cautiously, “And, what if I'm right?”
“What did you say?” Rhinehart growled as he slammed the papers down on the desk in front of him.
“What if my analysis is correct, sir? Will you notify the proper authorities so preparations can be made? An earthquake of this magnitude in Japan will generate a fairly significant tidal wave.”
Rhinehart snapped back, “I will personally call the news media and notify them of your electrifying revelation. I worked on the program in question myself; that's how I know it cannot be wrong. We had nearly thirty mathematicians working with us, checking every possible iteration.”
“I don't see how they missed this, then,” Jeff said. “I found a paper written by Dr. Landill of the JPL space division on the influence of gravitational forces on satellite orbits. From his calculations, it seems clear that changes in the earth's gravitational forces cause variations in low earth satellites. So I factored in the variations in the orbits of these satellites over the western Pacific. I believe the results are fairly conclusive.”
The meeting ended with Professor Rhinehart furiously cramming the papers into his battered briefcase. He was tired of all the talk about the genius Jeff Wells, whose IQ topped out well above the maximum 180 registered by conventional tests. Faculty gossip just added to the boy-genius myth. It was rumored that Wells had developed a complete, computerized star chart by the time he was twelve.
When one of the physics professors said he had seen a program written by Jeff that computed the orbits of all the man-made satellites, Professor Rhinehart had retorted, “So what? So has the group at the Jet Propulsion Lab.” The other had countered with, “Yes, but Wells did his at age fifteen from information supplied by magazines and on a PC!”
“He had better breaks than I did early on,” Rhinehart said defensively whenever he heard anyone lauding Wells' abilities in the faculty lounge. “His mother was a research scientist and adviser to Presidents Reagan and Clinton. With her as a tutor, he couldn't help but succeed.”
There was but one thing Rhinehart could not begrudge the young man: Wells had a singular gift of being able to take very complex equations and reduce them to simplified programs that would run on just about any computer system to which he had access.
Rhinehart had done everything in his power to keep Wells off the geological research project. But in the end the final selection had been made by the faculty team, and Jeff Wells was the first student selected to assist the senior staff. He was resigned to the fact that he could not block Wells' appointment to the project, so the professor shifted his energy to making Jeff's life as miserable as possibleâa task for which he found himself well suited.
I've got him now
, Rhinehart thought gleefully as he hastened to maximize on Wells' single error thus far. He called his counterpart at Livermore, Dr. William Eison. “Bill, this is Jack Rhinehart. I need your help.”
“Good to hear from you, Jack,” the burly mathematician on the other end said.
There was an edge to his voice that made Jack pause for a second, but then he dismissed it. “One of our research students ran our seismology equations through the university's computers and came out with some different results, Bill. Obviously he's made an error and my equations are correct, but I'd like to have you run them through your system.”
“Okay, Jack, I'll run your numbers through Gerta, but we cooked that program three ways from Sunday already. If there was a flaw, I think we would have caught it. What does your whiz kid think he's found anyway? Have we missed the blow off of Mount Saint Helens again?”
“No, but listen to this! He says his equations show the big quake will hit Japan some time early next year, and it will be about an eight.”
“You're kidding! I'll be sure to run his numbers twice. If he's right, I'll move to Arizona and buy some beach-front property.”
“What are you saying? You think he has a chance?” Rhinehart asked incredulously.