Bad Luck Black Money Page 17

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, Boss. However, if you are planning on making such major purchases, you probably should run it by the Duke, first.

  You are free to do or buy anything up to a certain point. It's only when you shake up the existing system that problems arise, for instance, if you were to buy up the entire world's gold supply that would create chaos. And chaos is not what the NWO wants at this particular time.... Tomorrow, who knows?"

  "OK, Tom. What if I lose all the Duke's money? What happens then?"

  With half a giggle, Thomas replied, "Then he'll replenish your account with more digital currency. You don't really think of that stuff as real money; do you?"

  "Yeah," said Boss as he stretched out his arms in an attempt to wake up. "That one may take awhile to wrap my head around."

  "A little off topic, but where do you want us to place your new, domed greenhouse at?"

  "Domed greenhouse?... Oh, the healthy food thing that the Duke was talking about. It doesn't matter to me, but you might want to run it by Esmerelda before you dig up any of her flowers."

  "I will do just that, Boss. I will indeed run all this by Mrs. Boss, too."

  "Mrs. Boss," laughed Boss out loud. "Call her that and then tell me what she says."

  "Will do, Boss," replied Thomas as he made a mental note to do so. "And if I may be so bold as to say, you are going to feel like a whole new man, once your body gets acclimated to healthy, unmodified food.

  I don't have access to the exact, same foods as you and your family will have. But I've taken it upon myself to eat only certifiable organic foods, and it’s made a big difference in the way I feel.

  Anyway, the NWO is providing two experts to run the grow system for you. They are totally trustworthy and will do a good job for you. They'll even help your cooks get accustomed to preparing the new, healthier food."

  "Great, that's good to know, Thomas," said Boss.

  "We've also studied your security safeguards, and it appears that your current security team is more than adequate.

  Our guys at MI6 were bitching about how hard it was to take out your guys. They've never had to gas an entire block before."

  "That's also good to know," Boss said.

  "I really need to be going," said Thomas Ridge as he got up from his chair. "So much to do, so little time."

  "Well, come back anytime, Thomas," said Boss.

  "I'll do that," Thomas said as he shook Boss's hand. "You have my number. Call anytime, for anything.

  Oh, I almost forgot," said Thomas as he reached inside his sport's coat and pulled out an envelope sealed with red wax and stamped with the Duke's coat of arms.

  "Here's your invitation to the next NWO meeting, which will be held at the Duke's estate in England, one month from hence. Attendance is mandatory for both you and your wife.

  The children needn’t come. Once you and Mrs. Boss are brought up to speed on everything, then we can proceed to indoctrinate your children into the Order.

  Any questions, sir?"

  "None at the moment, Thomas. But I'll give you a call as soon as I have one."

  "Excellent, sir. I await your call with bated breath," Thomas said as he headed towards the door. "Until next time, farewell."

  Chapter 24

  Diamond lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling tiles. On top of him lay Sandy, naked and sprawled all over him like an electrocuted octopus. As she quietly snored, her knee gently moved up and down in-between Diamond's legs. He knew better than to wake her because she might unintentionally knee him hard in the testicles. It was just one of the hazards that sometime happens when you sleep naked.

  Diamond had lost weight in the weeks since he'd been on the Gulf Coast. The combination of heat and humidity made him feel like he was living in a sauna, and it drained the life right out of him. He had quit exercising because all of his energy was devoted to building the perfect, industrial robotic arm. He barely had enough energy left on the weekends to give Sandy a proper shagging, but she always paid for their evening meal and entertainment so he felt obligated to bring his 'A' game to the bedroom.

  They changed their regular date night from Sunday to Saturday, thus allowing Sandy additional recuperation time before she had to show up for work on Monday mornings. Sandy had also lost several pounds. Whether it was due from her trying to look good for him or from getting a good pounding on their date night, Diamond didn't know. But he thought it was probably a combination of the two. She was lighter but still heavy enough to make breathing difficult for the squished Diamond.

  Effectively pinned down, Diamond's mind wandered over the past few weeks, which seemed like a lifetime. He wasn't getting more than a couple of hour’s worth of sleep per night, if that. Living on bags of potato chips and highly caffeinated soda pop was taking its toll on his body. But the only thing that mattered was finishing the robotic arm prototype.

  One of the first problems that Diamond encountered was, how to use Nubotkz's machinery without sending their electric bill through the roof. A company barely scrapping by like Nubotkz had to watch every penny and a spike in their electricity bill would bring inquiry and eventual discovery of Diamond's scheme. He had to find a way around the power company.

  He thought about tampering with the power company's smart electric meter but worried about tripping a failsafe. Computer code was his brother's specialty, and Emerald had enough to do, already. That meant the bypass would have to be physical, and so it was up to Diamond to figure out how to do it.

  For two weeks, Diamond worked on the problem to no avail, until the answer came to him late one night, while he was chugging down a two-liter bottle of soft drink. The solution was so obvious that it was unbelievable nobody had thought of it before. He had stumbled onto a world-shaking discovery. This invention could literally change the lives of billions of people for the better....

  But Nikola Tesla had made important discoveries in the electrical fields and helped bring affordable electricity to the whole world, yet he died broke. And his only friends, in the end, were his pet pigeons.

  Diamond had to carefully weigh his options. There was a giant fortune to be made by bringing practically free electricity into all the houses of the world. With his invention, an entire house could be powered with only a tiny trickle of electricity, like the charge flowing from a single, nine-volt battery.

  The patent alone could have been worth billions of dollars. But it would take years to go through the whole process of patenting his creation, licensing it out, and then defending his rights in a court of law. And, even then, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't screw him out of a fortune like they did poor Tesla.

  No, he was going to be the primary beneficiary of his own genius. The world could go screw itself. Diamond would use his invention to power the Nubotkz machinery during the night in secret. And his electrical discovery would give his robots an unbeatable, advantage in the real world.

  Of course, he now had to build a series of failsafes for his robots. It added to his workload but eased his mind, knowing that whoever tried to steal his inventions wouldn't live long enough to use their ill-gotten knowledge. That meant the robot had to have a level of self-awareness to keep corporate spies from breaking into its shell and stealing its master's secrets. While Diamond was able to produce and install the physical booby traps, it was left up to Emerald to create all the programming safeguards.

  Diamond and Emerald had never been very close. They had ordinary, brotherly love toward one another, but it ended there, until they started partnering on the robotic arms project. Emerald was always open to Diamond's suggestions on how he wanted the robot to react to the world around it and how it should 'think'. And Diamond was unfailingly impressed with Emerald's expertise on subjects as varied as applied physics to design aesthetics.

  Then one day, Diamond wanted Emerald to write and send him a section of code to test out. When Emerald said that he would send it the following day, Diamond wanted to know why his brother couldn't write it, r
ight then. The answer stunned Diamond. Emerald was too busy with his studies and running a hedge fund for Pluto Moon Technologies. There simply weren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.

  It dawned on Diamond that his brother was the real machine. While nobody would call Diamond a slacker, his brother, Emerald, was off the charts. He made the average workaholic seem bum like in comparison. Right then, Diamond made a vow to be a better brother to Emerald, once his business was up and thriving. It made strategic sense and was the right thing to do.

  Then another time, out of the blue, Emerald asked Diamond if he intended to date the Russian tennis star, anymore. When Diamond asked how he knew about the girl, Emerald responded that someone had forwarded him an mpeg file. It appeared that someone had secretly videoed Diamond's last erotic encounter with the tennis star on the tennis court.

  So mesmerizing was the Russian girl, that Emerald had watched half of the video before he realized it was his own brother, who was humping the blonde tennis goddess. He immediately stopped watching the video and saved the file to later investigate who'd sent it. The odd thing was that it had somehow been erased from his hard drive. There wasn't even a ghost shadow of the file. Later, Emerald searched online but couldn't find any sign of it, anywhere.

  While the thought of strangers seeing him naked and in mid coitus was mildly embarrassing, Diamond didn't really care about that. What he did care about was the possibility of his parents becoming aware of the video's existence. But if they did, there was nothing he could do about it.... Besides, he had a rocking body and porn star genitalia.

  "Why did you want to know if I'm through with her?" Diamond asked. "Do you want to try to get with her?"

  "Well, the thought had crossed my mind," answered Emerald.

  "Don't you have enough to do, without chasing a Russian minx?"

  "Hey, it was just a thought. I'm not actually going to pursue the girl. And besides, I just mentioned it on an impulse, the impulse of a sex-starved teenager. Any male, who saw that goddess naked, would want to sex her up.... Congratulations, by the way. NICE!"

  "I didn't even know you were into girls, little brother."

  "Oh, I like them alright, and I really like that girl, who was spread eagle on the tennis court."

  "She's a certifiable freak, my man. But the problem is, she's into pretty boys. That's me, not you, bro. You're a good guy and all, but you look a little too much like mother.

  If Anna didn't have all that tennis money then you'd have a decent shot with her. But she makes like one or two million dollars a year. I know its nothing, compared to our family. But compared to the average Russian, she's filthy rich.

  But if you really want her, I'll make the introduction. And I'll even make my best sales pitch on your behalf, but I'd put your chance at tappin' that booty at less than twenty percent."

  "No, that's not necessary. It was the testosterone talking. Forget about it."

  "Can I lay a little wisdom on you, bro? You're the kind of guy who's going to get eaten alive in the dating world. You feel too much and take stuff to heart. Rejection is the name of the game.

  Not trying to brag or anything, but I'm a handsome guy, no doubt about it. I've got money... or at least, I had money. I'm the whole damn package. But even I've been shot down."

  "No way," Emerald said in disbelief.

  "Oh yeah, once by a plain looking daughter of a mere millionaire. Then another time, a fame slut told me to 'keep dreaming loser', in front of the paparazzi.

  It's all a power trip, and if you want the tang, you're just going to have to deal with rejection. A rarity in my case, more often in yours."

  "It might be easier just to pay for it," said Emerald.

  "True, but the hunt is part of the fun.

  From personal experience, I can say that America and Great Britain have some of the biggest bitches on the planet. I think it's embedded in the pop culture, somehow. Europe is a little better. Eastern Europe is a lot better. Asia kicks ass for the most part. Although, you might want to skip South Korea and Japan, unless you develop mad game or are prepared to drop some mega bucks."

  Diamond was drawn out of his reminiscing by the shifting of Sandy's naked body. She wrapped both of her legs around one of his and started sucking on his left nipple. Diamond was disappointed that after hundreds of times of him gently suckling at her breasts, Sandy still tore into his nipple like piranhas on a baby duckling.

  While his pectoral muscles were being assaulted in the name of fat girl lovin', Diamond thought about the plethora of beauties with which he'd made passionate love in the past. Sandy had become his monogamous lover by default. She was always around and easy to get and she always paid for their dates. She, also, had the president of Nubotkz's ear and knew his schedule, which might come in handy one day.

  Chapter 25

  A few days later, after receiving his latest paycheck, Diamond rented a large storage locker to store some of the parts, which he'd fabricated for his robot. His initial design had been for a twin robotic arms system that would put Nubotkz's robot arm to shame. Over the course of time, his designs evolved into a mobile, intelligent robot, which wouldn't look out of place in a science fiction movie.

  Diamond's final blueprint was for a robot that moved via track and treads like a tiny bulldozer. Two long, human-like arms would protrude from its torso and a transparent globe containing a 360-degree, vision system would sit where a head would normally be. Compared to his technological wonder, Nubotkz's robotic arm was an overpriced, outdated monstrosity.

  Intermittently, Emerald would fly out, on one of Pluto Moon's company jets, to consult with Diamond during the final phases of their project. Diamond was floored with Emerald's rethinking of robotic intelligence. He had designed an entire, intelligence system using parts from an old cell phone and cheap celluloid film. The resulting 'brain' would give their robot the computing power it needed to function with an almost inconceivable amount of autonomy.

  For his part, Emerald was blown away by Diamond's ingenuity. Diamond's discovery of a unique way to force multiply electricity would win him a Noble Prize, if it were ever to become public knowledge. Of course, that was the last thing either of the brothers wanted to happen. Keeping it a proprietary secret was their ticket to world shattering wealth.

  Early, one rainy morning, Diamond went to his rented storage locker with the last piece of his robot in hand. It only took a few hours to fully assemble the robot and upload Emerald's programming into its 'brain'. Most inventors would be surprised if everything went perfectly on their first trial run. Diamond would have been surprised if everything didn't run perfectly from the moment, when he first powered the robot up.

  Electricity flowed through its maze of wires and circuitry. Its 'brain' booted up. The robot surveyed its surroundings and waited for instructions from its master. Although it had been given no voice, the robot tilted its domed head and raised its arms up toward the roof. It seemed to be saying, "What?"

  "Fantastic!" yelled Diamond unable to control himself in his moment of victory. "What shall I call you? You need a name. A name that's whimsical but apt.... I name thee, GreedyGut!"

  A day later, as Diamond was celebrating his achievement at the waffle place, he spotted an old, beaten up van on the flatbed of a tow truck. He asked around the restaurant and found the tow truck's driver. The fat, unshaven man was hauling the van to sell it for scrap metal.

  After a few more questions, the driver told Diamond that the van could run under its own power but not very well or very far. A deal was struck, and the tow truck driver dropped the van off at Diamond's storage locker for the price of its scrap metal value and the driver's breakfast.

  Diamond needed a way to transport GreedyGut to Nubotkz and back, so the van would be perfect for the job if he could get it running smoothly. The old van was the color of an egg white omelet, if that omelet had been dropped into a bucket of rusty nails. And the engine when cranked, sounded like it was begging to be put out of
its misery. The van needed a complete tare down to figure out what was going wrong under its hood.

  The robot, GreedyGut, helped turn a major, time-consuming job into a pleasant, afternoon chore. Listening to its master's verbal instructions, GreedyGut took out the entire engine and disassembled it. Then after Diamond came back with a bag full of goodies from the auto parts store, the robot fixed, reassembled, and reinstalled the motor.

  Impressed with the job done by his own creation, Diamond decided to make a side-by-side video of his robot versus Nubotkz's robotic arm. He found a cheap but practically new video camera listed on a local, Internet message board and bought it. Every purchase made his insides cringe, and his tiny stack of paper dollars dwindle. But he had to buy things that were absolutely necessary for his project. Plus, he reminded himself that money would no longer be an issue in his very near future.

  On Wednesday night, Diamond ordered GreedyGut to get into the back of his van. He drove to Nubotkz for his night shift, janitorial job. After everyone had gone home for the night, Diamond went back outside to his van, threw a tarp over his robot, and ordered GreedyGut to follow him inside.

  Nubotkz kept a working robotic arm in their assembly area for prospective clients to see it in action. Diamond programmed Nubotkz's arm to do the relatively simple task of attaching arms, legs, and heads to plastic doll torsos. Sacks of doll parts were dumped into their respective bins in preparation for the demonstration. It was the sort of job Nubotkz's robotic arm did on a regular basis. A steel cage surrounded the robotic arm's working radius for safety. A robotic arm moving at full speed could cut a human in half.

  Next to the stationary robot arm, GreedyGut waited with pieces of the van's engine scattered all around it. The robot had again taken the engine out of van at Diamond's prompting and disassembled it. After the demonstration, GreedyGut would put it back where it belonged, fully operational under the van's hood. And then the robot would do

  all of its creator's janitorial work. Diamond planned on catching up on some TV shows that he hadn't been able to watch since being stranded in Gulfport, Mississippi.