In certain isolated locations, a mysterious company would arrive and offer vastly upgraded computer services. In technical terms, the towns were offered high-speed broadband services. Residents would find that there were vast amounts of data to explore with a browser and highly integrated e-mail. The enterprise managed to work out the kinks in their products. The enterprise would quietly purchase the newspapers and other media in the towns where these tests took place. They did their best to spike any news story about their tests. News of these tests rarely made its way out of these isolated towns.
All of the test products were stripped of any brand names so that no one could get any clue as to who was behind these tests. What this was all about remained a mystery for years.
Quietly, Emily worked her magic with the national data center. She changed Jane and Amir's record from dead to alive. This transition from dead to alive went unnoticed, except by computers. Jane and Amir were both able to get ID cards and phones in their correct names.
Once these steps were taken, Danny visited Jane's parents, and Charles Mitchell visited Amir's parents. They each told the families that they had some shocking news about their child. Slowly, they told the story of the massive project to overturn the computer infrastructure of the country. Halfway through this process, someone had ordered the murders. At that point, there was a long pause; then came the shocking statement that decoys had been killed, not the real Jane and Amir. To announce this would guarantee that the real Jane and Amir would be killed next, plus many more. As Danny put it, “So with deep regret, we have not told you the truth. You need to know that a person, a stranger to you, is buried in your child's grave.”
Danny quietly asked, “Would you like to call Jane on the phone right now, or travel to visit her? I have her new phone number here. I would ask that you keep this quiet except for some family members. Jane will be announcing to the world that she is not dead in about a week. At that point, all of this secrecy will go away.” Jane's mother just said, “I want to talk to her right now. Please give me the number.”
Danny handed the number to Ruth and slowly walked out of the room. He was very glad that task was done.
Jane was so happy to get a phone call from her mother, who put the phone on speakerphone. Jane said, “Hi there, I have been in hiding for the last several years, just like a fugitive from justice. How are you guys taking this news?” Robert asked, “How is it possible that someone could die, and police think it was someone else?” Jane carefully explained the different identities she had used. She mentioned that they had found two people to pretend to be them when they were working in secret. Jane said, “These villains shot my double twice in the head. Visual identification was impossible. They relied on ID cards, phones, and the collar on her neck. I had been wearing a removable collar, and I had been trading it back and forth with my double. The police figured that any corpse wearing my collar was Jane Foreman. The result is that a brave woman is buried with a headstone with my name on it.”
Jane explained, “I will be very busy for the next week. I need to be in hiding for the week after that. Why don't you take a vacation with me during that week? At the end of the vacation, we can all hold a joint press conference announcing my return to life. Once I am publicly alive again, we can focus on important things. I would like to tell you about my new job. We also need to have the decoys re-buried by their proper families. If you could, I would like you to attend the funeral of the person who died so that I could be alive today. Her sacrifice made so much possible.”
Ruth asked, “When we were all slaves, you could send one message a month. Why could you not give us some sign that you were OK?” Jane said, “Well, the rules are that slaves can send their family members messages, but dead people cannot. But I know how you feel. I could have collected a bucket of tears from my sadness and regret about the pain that I was causing you. Please forgive me.” Ruth just said, “What was so important that you had to keep this big secret?” Jane said, “The big reveal is in a week. I need to be in hiding when that happens. Let us work on the details. How about I meet you at Michael's restaurant in the Cleveland train station at 11 am next Tuesday? We will take it from there.”
Mr. Mitchell's conversation with Amir's family did not go so well. They were quite angry and upset. Amir's father kept saying, “What have you done with my son?” Finally, he got them to speak with Amir on the phone. As Mr. Mitchell left the house, he sensed that the Hassan family should not be part of any press conference. There was a lot of healing that needed to happen first.
At 7 am on that Tuesday, just about everyone in America with a computer got an e-mail. It instructed the recipient to obtain a file from a computer located in their community. That file, when executed, installed a browser program, called Open Flame, onto their computer. Launching the program brought news feeds, instructions, messages from their distant friends and community members. At the touch of a button, they had advanced e-mail and so much more. People were encouraged to call up their friends and neighbors to get them “activated” as well.
The news feeds explained that over the last five years, 43 different companies had been working in secret to offer advanced communications that were based on what was possible forty years ago, before the first great financial collapse. In glowing terms, the news system described how these old tools had been revised for the current times.
There was one blurb headed Your Team. It listed the members of the Five Couples, plus the Mitchell Management Team. There was a sub-heading Are Jane and Amir Dead? The text just said, “No. Some assassins had shot two people resembling Jane and Amir in an attempt to prevent a disaster to their stock holdings.” There was a short video of Jane and Amir standing and talking about their work right in front of the headstones of their own graves. Every phone started to busy out as every computer user wanted to talk to everyone else.
That simple announcement caused the futures on the stock market to plunge. No one knew what companies were about to fall in price. Bit by bit, people learned the names of the companies that made up the enterprise. Everyone wished they could buy a piece of these companies.
The news kept flowing. The news feeds explained that the billionaires had suppressed technology that could make tens of thousands of ordinary Americans rich. The news explained that each individual or business could set up their own “website” today. A single page was free, and a complex page could be set up for a modest fee. There was a “search engine” called Phoenix that would be able to locate any website in a fraction of a second. There was a careful explanation about how you could post a video of police abuse and then start a demonstration at the local police station.
The police, the courts, the TV stations, the Supreme Councils were all in disarray. Julie Hildebrandt was the obvious person to launch a counter-attack. But she was very busy trying to think of what she could do to prevent herself from being brought to trial for murder. She, of course, was the one who had ordered the murders of Jane Foreman and Amir Hassan. The whole idea that they could rise from the grave to go after her was insane. But this was exactly what was happening.
Once the stock market opened, Julie had another problem. She had invested in many of the companies that were collapsing because of this instant wave of new technology. Julie had borrowed vast sums of money against her stock holdings. She would have billions in losses unless she got out of the market instantly. Julie managed to get out with a position worth negative $25 million. She arranged a loan to cover that but wondered how she would pay off the loan.
At noon that day, all the computer networks in Sunnyvale shut down. That was a twist of the knife that Roger Carter arranged. It made it impossible to mount a proper counter attack. It also prevented many people in Sunnyvale from figuring out what was happening to the rest of the country.
There were isolated attempts to shut down major data communications trunks, but this just shut down all communications, including essential banking and business traffic. Peter and Becky had done a superb job of switching almost every data communications client to the faster and cheaper networks of the enterprise. There were about thirty different companies created and managed by Peter and Becky. All the banks, big businesses, and all critical infrastructure used enterprise data communications networks. Shutting down any part of the network caused so much damage that the shutdowns were quickly reversed.
Not every house in America had a computer. But they were quite common. Those without computer hookups gathered in their neighbors' homes just to watch the news feed. There was an astonishing string of news stories. Some deeply criticized the billionaire class for running America without a Constitution for decades. There were lessons in American history you could click on and learn about how a living document, the Constitution, brought liberty to America. There was a drumbeat of commentary and stories urging that America have a new Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
The news feeds featured maps showing the ten cities housing billionaires. Somehow there were amazing drone videos showing the vast police/military encampments around each of the cities. The commanders of the police forces were listed with identifying information. People were urged to call any relative who was defending the billionaires and urge them to leave the ranks and travel home.
The news feeds were openly accusing Julie Hildebrandt of arranging the murders of Jane Foreman and Amir Hassan. They also showed live video of canvas bags being used to cover the grave markers that said “Jane Foreman” and “Amir Hassan.” Temporary metal markers saying, “Cynthia McCarthy” and “Paul Hanna” were inserted instead. The news reporters said, “If Julie Hildebrandt had succeeded in killing Jane Foreman and Amir Hassan, this news agency might not have been formed. We are grateful that fate spared Jane and Amir, but we must find justice for these innocent people buried in these graves.”
There was one video feature that had everyone talking. Jane was being interviewed about how her family became slaves. She said, “My parents had a very poorly structured loan. It was designed to drive our family into slavery. When I was in a position to purchase the freedom of my parents and my brothers, they needed a modest loan to launch a nationwide business. This is the difference between a bad loan and a good loan. My associates have created a bank, The Constitutional Bank, which funds businesses based on growing your business. If you want to be driven into slavery, keep your money in and get loans from any other bank. If you want to grow your business, transfer your accounts to The Constitutional Bank.” There was a quick demonstration of an application that allowed someone to take a photo of the top of a bank statement. Once the photo was electronically uploaded, the account would be shifted to The Constitutional Bank in three business days.
Within days, the flow of funds to The Constitutional Bank was bringing the existing banking industry to its knees. Companies were reeling from all of the massive changes in stock prices, banking, and technology. Many people were cashing in their Supreme Council bearer bonds to cover their losses or to deposit in The Constitutional Bank. Banks and the government were facing a massive bank run. What was especially annoying was that two weeks ago, no one in the financial industry had even heard of The Constitutional Bank. How could a tiny, insignificant bank virtually take over the banking industry?
The solution to the crisis was far-reaching. The Constitutional Bank temporarily suspended the distribution of its bank account transfer application. The Constitutional Bank wrote up a list of “best practices.” If a bank promised to adhere to the best practices and agreed to have two members of Roger Carter's “staff” on their board of directors, then the bank could display a symbol on their doors and on all of their communications showing they were no longer trying to drive their customers into slavery.
Before a bank could use the symbol, the enterprise had to examine the bank's balance sheet. If it was weak, the bank was forced to take a loan from the enterprise and give up 15% or more of its ownership. In a matter of weeks, the Five Couples dominated the entire banking industry.
All of the entities making up the enterprise (except the bank) went public one month after the launch. This meant issuing a modest number of shares for a company that previously was in private hands. The IPO valuation was a staggering total of $65 billion. About 10% of the company would be available for sale. Just to give an idea of how massive these numbers were, it meant that the $50 million that Roger's staff had invested was now worth $810 million. The IPO details were handled by The Constitutional Bank, which also collected all the massive fees that come from launching an IPO.
The IPO stock was all sold out in 90 minutes. The price rose significantly. When you added up Jane and Amir's holdings, you had to include their share of the bicycle factory, their share of the enterprise, the bank, and the bank's holdings of other banks; it was clear that they were the first people in post-collapse America to be worth more than $15 billion. It was a staggering sum.
To tell the tale of the IPO, we have gotten ahead of ourselves. This narrative is now switching back to show Jane's experience on the day of the product rollout.
Jane met her parents and her brothers at the train station in Cleveland as they had arranged. Jane's parents had planned to ask her what was so important that it had to be kept so secret. But the whole time they were at the restaurant, Jane and Amir's picture was on the TV. Most of the people in the restaurant were gathered next to the TV. They kept showing the stock prices. Worried people kept coming on describing the national crisis. Ruth asked, “What is going on?” Jane said, “America is just today learning about what Amir and I have done with the help of our friends and employees. We formed a total of 43 different companies to transform the way computer data is delivered to and from individual computers. The fun part is that to use the system, you get to watch a news story. It is like having your own TV station, except that the whole nation is watching. I do think we end up promoting your bicycle business quite a bit. Once this vacation is over, you may need to accelerate your expansion plans. We may have doubled the demand for your products.”
Ruth turned to her husband and asked, “Should we cut things short and go back to headquarters?” Robert said, “There is not much we can do. To expand that much, we would need about $20 million. Who is going to be able to lend us $20 million?” Jane said, “If you did have $20 million in additional funding, are there people at your company that could start to put it to work?” Ruth answered, “Yes, we do have an expansion plan. But where do we get that much money? No bank would ever lend us that much money.” Jane picked up the phone and called Zach. She simply said, “Hi, this is Jane. The Foreman Bike Works has an expansion plan that requires $20 million. Can you handle this as a priority project? Great. Thanks so much.” She turned to her parents and said, “Relax. Enjoy your vacation here. I have taken care of the financing for our company.”
Ruth asked, “So how much money do you have?” Jane answered, “That is hard to say. I own about 30% of an enterprise that is worth more than $20 billion. We plan to dominate many sectors of the economy. Our group will be dominating banking, communications, and technology. Oh, I keep forgetting to mention Amir. Amir and I will probably be worth about $12 or $15 billion in a few months. Today is our launch day. Everyone is very confused on the TV. No one seems to understand all the changes. The idea is that Amir and I and the other four couples stay out of view for a week. We will let our product rollout speak for itself for a time.”
Just then a young black woman came over and asked, “Are you, Jane Foreman? You look just like the lady on TV.” Jane pointed to an empty chair and then said very quietly, “I will say that I am if you promise not to tell anyone else until much later. How are you?” The woman said, “My name is Mary Davis. I have been following the news all day. I cannot figure out how your news feeds keep coming out. You would think that the police would be unplugging every data cable in the country. What is going on?” Jane said, “We will both watch the news to see how this plays out. Oh, let me introduce you to my parents. Until a short time ago, they thought I was dead.” Mary jumped up and exclaimed, “Oh dear, I am interrupting an important family gathering. I am very sorry.” Jane said, “Relax, we are all having a good time. My parents have a lot of adjustments to make. They need to take the black border off the photos of me at their house. The whole country is getting used to new ways to communicate and do business.”
Jane added, “Speaking of photos, I want you to have this.” She opened her briefcase and pulled out an 8x10 photograph of the Five Couples in wedding clothes. She then pulled out a second copy, signed it, dated it, and handed it to Mary. Jane laughed and said, “In a few years, this might be worth a fortune, my autograph on launch day. This might be the only one I do today. Remember, please get up slowly and do not call attention to this table. Have a wonderful day.” Mary got up and said, “Can I ask a personal question, seeing all of you in person, it looks to me that someone in your family tree might have looked like me. Is this true?” Jane said, “Yes, I do have some black heritage. Not much, but enough for some people to notice. It makes me remember that we are all the product of the decisions we make and the decisions made by those that came before us. I am not sure of our family story, but I hope it is quite romantic.” Mary nodded and walked away slowly, clutching the priceless photo in her hands.
Jane turned her attention to her brothers. She said, “Let us see, if I remember right, Bill, you are 19 years old, and James, you are 22 years old. What are you guys up to?” Bill answered, “We are all working for the Bike Factory. Or should I say the Bike Factories? I supervise the inspection of new parts while James makes sure that advertising and publicity meet the needs of all parts of the company.” Jane started to laugh, “Some of the video feeds that we prerecorded for the launch today mention the bike company a lot. I hope I do not get into trouble with you, James!” James just said, “If you spell our name right and avoid saying we make horrible bikes out of bamboo, I approve your messages. But seriously, what did you say about us?” Jane described how the bike factory was used as an example of what happens when a company gets effective financing. By contrast, the financing our parents got when we were kids was not ideal, since it got all of us into slavery. James just muttered, “Damn, you got that right. No objections from me on that one.”
Jane said, “I can point out a certain similarity between myself and my father. When it came to choosing key lieutenants, we both value loyalty very highly. It would appear that having a connection to Warren Ohio is the most important requirement for high office in America right now.” Bill just said, “Isn't that the truth!” Jane added, “If we made a society with more trust, we would not need to be so suspicious of everyone.”
Just then the restaurant exploded with noise. Something was announced on the TV that caught everyone by surprise. Jane knew they were talking about the special application that made it easy to document police misconduct. Thousands of videos were already uploaded from all across the country. Bill asked, “What is the excitement all about?” Jane said, “I have no idea. Let's go and visit the Rock and Roll Museum. Remember, we are on vacation.”
Before the week was up, Jane told her family that they all needed to get to Warren Ohio two days early. James asked, “Why, what is happening?” Jane said, “They are exhuming the bodies buried in our graves. I really need to be there. I need to call Amir right away.”
Several days later, everyone was in Warren. Amir was waiting for Jane and her family at the train station. Danny drove Jane and Amir to the funeral home. Danny gave Jane the magnetic tool. Jane and Amir went into the funeral home. What they did inside was not pleasant, but they had Jane's gold collar again. It had been removed and cleaned in alcohol and other solvents. The collar had been nicked on the inside by a bullet. They had to use metal working tools to smooth it over. Jane used the magnetic tool to put the collar on. She said that it would be years before she would take it off again. With this task done, the bodies of Cynthia McCarthy and Paul Hanna could be sent to their families in Kansas.
It was time for a press conference. This one was not being held in the middle of Charles Mitchell's lawn. This one was held in the grand ballroom of Warren's biggest hotel. Jane remembered that her sale at the end of high school was held in one corner of the room. She asked that the podium be moved to that corner of the room. This meant that all the chairs had to be moved. Jane just said, “I will help move the chairs.” Seeing Jane at work, everyone pitched in to move all the chairs.
One by one, members of the press arrived in the room. Jane brightened up when she saw the video and non-video journalists from the Phoenix Company, which was one of Jane's private projects. She made sure that they sat in front. Before the formal press conference started, she asked the journalists to give their names and their affiliation, and quickly to describe any unpleasant experiences with the Supreme Council. Of the one hundred or so journalists, only eight were brave enough to say they had an unpleasant experience with the Supreme Council. An assistant gave each of these journalists a blue pin for their shirt.
When it was time to start, Jane said, “Hello everyone, I am Jane Foreman. I am standing at the exact spot that I was standing when I was offered for sale at the end of my high school years. I am now wearing my gold collar. Two hours ago, my husband and I went to a funeral home and removed it from the body of Cynthia McCarthy. I am moving quickly from handling a corpse to handling the press. I hope that at each place, I am properly respectful. As you know, this is my husband, Amir Hassan, and these are my parents, Robert and Ruth Foreman. We have all been on vacation for the last week, causing us to be a bit shaky on what has been happening day by day. A staff person is here behind me to whisper in my ear if I need to be brought up to date on recent events. I am going to start off by having members of my own news agency ask me a series of questions. After we have decided that the Phoenix Company has had enough time, we will turn our attention to the rest of you. As you know, we will be giving preference to those with the blue pins, but we will be calling on as many people as possible, taking as many questions as possible, friendly or hostile.” Jane pointed to her journalists in the front, and said, “Lisa, you have the floor until I say you don't.”
Lisa asked about the state of the stock market. She asked, “Most of the indexes are down by 35% from the previous week. Should we be concerned?” Jane answered, “Things will pick up next month when we release our IPO. Also, people have yet to see how many existing companies will do very well with all in the new environment. The economists we work with predict that the stock market will be up by 20% from before the product launch to a year from now. Today may be an excellent time to buy if you can hold on for the next year. Oh, I should mention that it is possible to purchase the IPO now for the next three weeks at a 50% discount. The one catch is you need to be a slave. Any slave custodial account can switch to financial provider 508508, and you are all in at half the regular IPO price. No funny business, though. Any attempt to monkey around with a slave's account will be severely punished.”
Lisa asked, “Wait, you just removed that collar from a dead person? Could you explain exactly what you are saying? If I do not like the answer, then I may quit my job.” Jane sighed and said, “Please bring the camera right up to me. I have a magnetic catch, and it pops open, like this. I can show where the bullet made a deep indentation. We had to file that down so that I could put this on without being cut.” Jane stopped and started crying. She sobbed, “If they had come four days earlier, it would be me in a grave with this slave collar. I want everyone to know how grateful I am to be alive and wish everyone to remember Cynthia's sacrifice. Because of the catch, I can now put it on anyone else. Lisa, do you want to try it on?” Lisa said, “No, no, thank you, but I now understand what you said before.” Jane reached up and replaced the collar.
Lisa asked, “The bank that your companies use, The Constitutional Bank, is getting funds from every other bank. It is like a bank run into your bank. This is close to destabilizing the financial system. Do you have any comment on this?” Jane answered, “Dad, you told me that there were specific clauses in your loan agreement that facilitated our family being handed into slavery. Am I right on that?” Robert said, “Yes, that is true.” Jane said, “If a bank can legally change all their contracts to remove clauses like that and can assure its customers that it is not trying to make slaves out of them, they have nothing to fear. Is it my fault that I noticed that this is a really stupid aspect of banks, that they prefer to drive their customers into slavery? Is it my fault that I constructed a bank that is 100% free of these clauses and policies? Is it my fault that I have constructed a bank that makes money when its customers make money? Is it my fault that I am willing to say, if you have a choice, take your money out of banks that profit from your descent into slavery?”
Lisa looked alarmed, “Sorry Jane, I am trying to ask questions based on what we see as questions people are asking.” Jane said, “Not to worry. I just get worked up on some issues. Right now, I am going to call on someone else. We may get back to you. Ralph, over there, with the blue pin, it is now your turn.”
Ralph asked, “You denounce the cruel rule of the billionaires, but it is clear that you and Amir are the newest overnight billionaires. It looks to me that we are replacing the rule of one group of billionaires with another group of billionaires. What do you have to say for yourself?” Jane answered, “Yes, a most excellent question. I would love to hire you, either as a journalist or as a political consultant/operative. Yes, it is true that Amir and I are now billionaires. I hope all the key members of my team also become filthy rich. When I last traveled to Sunnyvale to learn more about the billionaires, I was put into chains. I devised a plan to turn the tables on the billionaire class. According to my best information, Julie Hildebrandt has taken out a $25 million loan to cover her stock market losses. If she cannot liquidate her other holdings, she risks slavery herself. Roger Carter has not opposed me. He has organized a fund for his slaves by donating $25 million to it. That fund was an early source of funds for our enterprise. It looks like Roger's slaves now have upwards of $500 million. They are in an excellent position to pay Roger back.”
“Amir and I need a certain amount of wealth just to establish ourselves and prevent a counter-attack. We will be setting up a charitable fund with the bulk of our funds. We will be freeing enslaved people, changing laws, suing slave traders, and anything else we can do to put America on a proper course. When I am done, the cursed trade in human flesh will be as diminished as I can make it. If you want to play the ‘you are just another billionaire card’ on me, fine. But if you stand against my efforts to change our society for the better, then we part company. I welcome you and all others who are sick of how our society has been run to join our efforts to fix what has been broken.”
The news conference went on for hours. Amir, Ruth, and Robert got to speak extensively. The amazing thing was the whole thing was covered live. The full text was printed in the newspapers. News organizations across the country were very afraid of Jane Foreman. Even Jane noticed that many TV clips of the news conference ended with the words on the screen, “This TV station does not own any slaves.” Jane wondered if it was really true.