Chapter 9

The long game Part I. Delilah Johnson.

Time/Area: NYC 2013, 1-2nd month. July 7th.

ISAC.

The yearly International Science Award Competition program that the president hosts to show off the country’s greatest minds. That was definitely not my brother.

It couldn’t be..

It wouldn’t be.

My name is Delilah Johnson, and I was born to be the greatest. My brother, Jordan, is a petty brat who's too lucky for his own good.

Too lucky for the world’s own good.

Th-that’s why I had to do what I did!

That’s why..That’s why…

Beep!

I was pulled from my trance by the computer in front of me, its glowing screen flashing as it indicated a new message.

I smiled darkly when I saw who it was.

President Jackson..

You heard me right, the president of the United States was emailing me.

Before taking a look at the email however, I stood up from my black office chair,

“Gotta stretch my legs, first..” I told myself, walking away from my desk before calmly traversing to the window. My window was the size of an entire wall, its transparent material enabling me to watch over all of this small part of Greenland without much effort. I glanced to my right at the wall opposite of my desk. That was my wall of medals. From winning every one of my school’s science fairs, to being the CEO of this very building I stood in now. I grunted a little, pushing back the black hair that shielded my eyes before turning back to the window,

“Unstable Energies..”

That was the name of this building. It was a major foreign arm of Energis, but that didn’t help my..greed. Jordan was the head of Energis all together, even though he was dumber than a brick, while I...Delilah Johnson..ran this place. Although my brother didn’t bother me too much here since he knew how good I was, I wanted more. I wanted his position...I wanted everything. Yet I was stuck here…

This place was so low maintenance that Jordan wouldn’t even notice If I decided to make a bomb. Despite this, I smiled a little.

This wouldn’t be the case for long- not after what I did. I figured that, if people couldn’t see how truly great I was- I would simply control the ones who they already saw that greatness in.

That’s okay.

That’s okay.

I took a deep breath as I analyzed a far away building. It was our only rival in the area [as this was Greenland], the Synth international plant.

I groaned at the sight of its glowing blue designs, “I have to ask the president to deal with them..”

Ha...yeah..I could do that. I c-could do anything I wanted to. Synth specialized in laser technology, which drew a lot of our international workers over to them due to all the craze going around for it. Synth Morgan had entered the ISAC as well, and he was someone I wanted to lose even worse than Jordan. I at least wanted one trophy in the world with my last name on it. Throughout school, I always did better than Jordan, so naturally, I should’ve been the one to become the CEO of Energis. But, sadly, this was a man’s world- so anything I had to achieve would be ten times harder.

A buzz from my wrist watch informed me of my upcoming inspection,

“Better check the email then..” I decided, taking one last look at the night sky before walking back to my laptop.

Our inspection was just me surveying all of Unstable Energies’ projects and keeping track of updates, so it could probably wait for a presidential email.

I shook my head as I swiped some of my medical therapy papers off the side of my desk, taking a seat in my chair before scrolling through my inbox. I had to get used to President Jackson sending me emails,

“Remember Delilah,” I whispered softly into my dimly lit office, “You give the orders now.”

Personally, it kind of worried me how easy it was to control the president. I wouldn’t have voted for him if I knew how much he gave into to threa-I mean..pressure. I-I don’t threaten people. That would be wrong.

Once I found the email and opened it, I couldn’t help but grin.

It read:

Dear Ms.Johnson,

Since you’ve told me to report directly to you with all matters Energis, I have decided to share this with you. Doctor Elizabeth Rose Diamond (The one who helped win last year’s ISAC) sent an ethical report about this year’s ISAC to me in hopes of shutting Jordan J down. I figured that, since you hate him, this could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for. I haven’t read the ethical essay yet, but I’ve attached the sealed file to this email. When you do decide to cancel Jordan’s project, I have to ask- will you then delete the You Know What?

Henry Jackson

I gulped from the email, quickly switching tabs on the device to check if the “You Know What” was still even there.

I sighed a breath of relief when I saw the photos, but instantly switched back to my inbox once I knew it was safe. The leverage I held over the president was actually photos of his daughter doing..well...things she shouldn’t be doing at her age. I told him I would release the photos to the DC school board if he didn’t do as I said, and to my surprise, he agreed. O-of course I wouldn’t actually do it, I just had to make sure my goals were safe..

Yea..

After I read through the email a couple more times, I clicked the sealed file, causing a huge essay to pop up on the Ethical Wrongs of Inversion.

“Intriguing,” I thought to myself, scrolling through the fifty paged thing slowly. I had it read in an hour, leaving only thirty minutes left until my inspection. That sucked, because I wished to read the essay fifty more times before leaving my office.

“Jordan, what has gotten into you?” I leaned back in my chair, “Possible ‘mutant’ infection...what is this?”

In all honesty, the entire essay looked like something straight out of a sci fi show, but Doctor Diamond’s words seemed sincere. She had even claimed that Jordan had threatened her and her intern over this, which did concern me, but my concern steadily turned into excitement as I pieced together a puzzle I didn’t quite know was at play. I did want Jordan’s position, but a coup or slow takeover wasn’t going to work. An accident, however, would ruin his entire career. If I let him continue, no, helped him continue- it would almost guarantee my rightful CEO position. Then, while the world watches his defeat, I would come up with several new ideas! Ideas that I would have prepared already for when I become CEO. Ideas that...I could make right here.

I looked around at my office for a moment.

Then at my email.

It was just now that I realized the true extent of the power I possessed. Government sciences, if I had the president, were all technically at my disposal. Why was I just using the president to catch emails?

No..it would all be mine. With sophisticated technology at my disposal, once Jordan’s gone, I’ll have no trouble taking over the applied science industry.

I looked back at my window.

Suddenly that Synth building seemed a whole heck of a lot smaller.

I went back to my keyboard, typing up a response to Henry.

Yeah..he wasn’t the president to me… he was just Henry.

Dear Henry,

Do not open up the essay [I’ll know if you do], and no, I will not take down Jordan. I’m going to see how his little project plays out first. In the meantime, however, I need some help from you. Please send me a list of each classified science division that you know of by tomorrow. It’s okay if you can only get schematics of whatever you know- as I plan on improving them greatly. I also want you to provide access to Energis that other companies would otherwise not have and make sure they get the first testing room available for the final ISAC projects. If you plan on questioning my motives- don’t.

Tell your daughter I said hello.

-Delilah

Click.

I hit send, happy at my newfound confidence. I was also a little excited to perform the inspection now, as I wouldn’t just be only looking for things wrong now- I would be looking for improvements. Doctor Diamond’s essay spoke of a possible pandemic that could occur, but to be honest, that might just better my chances. I would have to go an entirely different route, but if the world ended up being plagued with fear and doubt, it almost made convincing the world of something too easy, right?

I only really needed Doctor Diamond and whoever worked with her, then I could be a driving force in whatever solution the world would think of.

That way, the world would still see my greatness. I doubted that anything like monsters would happen, but turning people like Doctor Diamond on my side would definitely be useful regardless.

I smiled.

I could finally see the light at the end of my tunnel, and I would stop at nothing to get to it.

-----------Start of Inspection---------

“Yes we are ready for the inspection Mrs.Johnson.” Ida Embers informed me as I left my office. I had to brush away my thoughts of Doctor Diamond’s essay for now, but that would be my first stop after this procedure was over with. The thing about running a million dollar building in the middle of nowhere; there’s a lot of unused cash. Since Unstable Energies, as the name implies, deals with varying levels of irradiated substances, even though Jordan recognizes it as an important investment- we aren’t used too much. We’re typically more of a show and tell kind of operation. We make projects to show the higher ups that let companies like Energis in competitions like ISAC.

We don’t actually contribute.

Even though I hate that fact, it still did let me (basically) do whatever I wanted as long as it made people go Ooh. We constantly have virtual tours of some of our facilities open to all of the world, which is where all our money comes from, but at the end of the day the main building in New York is what runs things.

“The team has everything set up.” Ida spoke, breaking the silence that plagued these black hallways, “They’re all in testing floor one.”

I simply gave a nod, seeing no use in wasting my voice on her. This was Ida Embers, husband of Draxon Embers, who was the head of another billion dollar company. The only difference is that Ember specializes in security and government regulated hazard control instead of applied sciences. I was shocked when I learned that she would come work for me in Greenland, but I just found it fun to let the once famous people know that I was their boss. I was their ruler.

That was why I made the whole aesthetic of Unstable Energies so...intimidating. From the practically pitch black interior to the dim lighting, the area was what I’ve always dreamed of. From the outside, Unstable Energies was a tall skyscraper that stood apart from the country vibe that Greenland originally radiated. The Synth International Plant had taken a different approach and designed the building to look more homey. I saw that as a sign of weakness. The best shouldn’t want to blend in with people. The best should stand apart. I would not be taken as some Chameleon that becomes its environment out of fear. I would be a ruler that dominates the playing field until everyone knows about me. We were located in a place called Siorapaluk, which is one of the most remote places in Greenland. This was good, since we could do a lot of testing here. There was a small town outside Unstable Energies, but basically everyone that lived there either worked for the Synth plant across from the mayor’s office, or my building that was behind it. Because of that, no one complained to the CDC about any leaks or pollution since, if we closed down, they’d be out of a job. If you think that’s wrong, just don’t. It’s those kinds of sadistic business strategies that keep your lights on and your water running. Most of my workers don’t like me, but it never bothered me too much. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it. Every single one of them knew that I would stop at nothing to wreck their lives if they so much as whispered behind my back. Some employees have filed ethical complaints about me to Jordan, and although I can’t do anything about that, Jordan knows that I know I’m the only one who can run this place, so he just turns the other way.

Once Ida and I made the final turn in the 29th floor’s twisting halls, we found ourselves in the building’s reserved corridor. This corridor, like the rest, was still dimly lit, the only exception being the fact that every door on this hallway was actually its own separate elevator. You see, Unstable Energies is technically only scripted in the books as 29 floors (hence my office position), but (legally) Another “company” called Unstable Testing was located right on top of us. I still ran it, but because it was such a massive thing, Jordan decided to split it up to lower the amount of paperwork we’d all get. So, with that being said, in total this building is 35 floors, the extra six all for Unstable Testing. The hallway we were in right now held the elevators that led to those floors, and were etched in gold to represent its importance. Testing Floor 1, the floor where we were going to, was the first elevator to your right upon entering the hallway. Its golden frame and silver doors were built alongside a small decorative fern with the letters TF1 inscribed in the middle. A keypad was located on the left side of the frame, and a Chemical hazard sign was suspended three feet above that,

“So all my requested projects are ready?” I clarified as we reached the fancy chamber.

Ida stepped in front of me, quickly typing in the 8 digit clearance code before the doors slid smoothly open.

We both stepped inside.

“Yes Ms.Johnson,” Ida nodded, the doors now closing.

There weren’t any keypads in these elevators, as each floor in the reserved corridor only had one destination.

Ding!

Ida straightened at the sound as the cart came to a stop, signifying we had reached Testing floor 1 when the doors were once again opened.

Testing floors all looked the same.

Fluorescent red light panels were spaced evenly on the completely black roof, the equally colored walls held massive computer screens, and the floor was made of what we called Vibro Flooring, which emitted a small pulse of light under your feet whenever you walked. Aside from the computers, that stuff was meant to add to the aesthetic of the place, increasing our ratings whenever we led a tour group. It was a huge area, since it was a whole floor, but it wasn’t all computers and empty space. Hundreds of wires and other tech were hooked up to a giant display-case-looking machine on the far left side of the room. It was the size of two 18 wheelers and the width of three. That beast of a machine accommodated all projects ready for testing, and any system needed to run them was run through the computers. The projects I wanted tested during this inspection were actually things that could be of more use than just eye candy. The R13, Link Cable, and Ultra HUD were all extremely useful pieces of tech and I couldn’t wait to see how progress was going. Upon entering the room however, the dozens of people operating the computers froze to look at me.

While I did appreciate the fear they had of me, it did make work...slower at times.

Ida coughed, “We will be beginning the inspection now everyone!” She announced, “Doctor Akai, please prepare the R13 first in the Display Case.”

That was what we called the machine- the Display Case. I didn’t say anything, as they all knew the drill by now. Several workers and employees began furiously typing away at their keyboards, the Display Case now began to buzz and whir as its gears started turning. Through the glass of the machine, a conveyor belt was suspended from the roof, holding the R13 by a titanium cord while it was slowly moved to the middle of the tank. I smiled as I walked over to the front of the glass, gazing up at the suit with pride. That’s right, I said suit.

The R13 was a bulky sort of power armor that was meant to sustain the utmost levels of kinetic energy whilst being able to give the wearer increased locomotion. This was a government licensed project under the Executive branch, but no one knew about it except for me and Henry Jackson.

Beep!

Instantly, holographic data was pinned onto the looking glass, projecting information on everything from the height of the suit, to its amount of power output. The suit stood about 6ft tall and presented a bulky look due to the alloys used to create it. The color of the armor’s body, feet, legs, and arms were all entirely black with glowing neon red designs plastered across it. Those designs, while mainly for show, served as an indicator of how much power the suit had left. You could assume this data based on the intensity of the design’s glow, and since the display case also served as a huge charger, the lights were quite bright. The helmet of the armor looked like a thicker version of a motorcycle helmet, and sported crimson red tinted glass as its visor. This was a full bodysuit, so everything was covered from head to toe in some kind of material. It was pretty convenient how me and Henry were able to legally work on this project. The only reason we could was because this was still technically an Unstable Energy Incorporated project. A suit like this needed an outrageous amount of power to stay online, and used a rare isotope of uranium to stay functioning. Uranium 235, the rarest version of the element on Earth, was what kept the suit going- but we had only a little concentration of it. The good thing was that we only needed a bit of the isotope to keep the R13 charged, and from there, the core of the suit sustained itself. So why the need to charge the suit? It’s because the uranium can’t power every single part of the suit, and those parts were powered by good old fashioned electric generators. The Uranium Self Sustainer used to keep the core activated, or USS, was actually modeled after Doctor Elizabeth Diamond’s work from last year’s ISAC. It was by sheer luck, and we still don’t truly understand how it works, but here at Unstable Energies we managed to figure out how to create a stable flow of nuclear energy within the exact parameters of the suit. Naturally, we tried to widen the effect to a more applicable size in hopes of renewable energy, but something always went wrong. The only way we could replicate the effect is if we built exact copies of the original USS which we made by trial and error.

I lightly grazed my fingers across the glass, still smiling over this particular accomplishment of our organization. I had instructed Henry to not inform whatever board he reported on too much on this project, as I planned to give the R13 to the military only when I was sure it was ready. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to give them this tech. I would simply see what became of this and go from there. Plus with the new advances I would be getting thanks to that email I sent… I would be making updates to this project.

“Alright!” I turned around, addressing my workers, “Run the tests!”

A murmur of, “Yes Ma’ams.” rushed through the room as I took a step back to view the Display Case.

A metallic buzz whistled in the air as the roof of our testing box slid open and two small turrets slowly started lowering in front of the suit.

This was the durability test, and since this was most definitely a weapon, what better to test its various metals on than a bunch of guns.

Without another second, the turrets’ twin barrels were extended forward.

BANG!

I didn’t so much as blink as hundreds of bullets soared from the barrels, my eyes only fixed on the suit itself. The weapons were having little to no effect on the armor, only giving minor scrapes and cuts to its designs before the turrets ran out of ammunition. The Display Case had semi sound proof glass to deal with sounds such as bullets, but I still felt a couple of my workers jump at what little noise had been produced,

“Next test, no delay!” I ordered the wimps, watching them scramble to get the next sim ready. After the R13’s tests were done, it was time for the Link Cable.

The Link Cable was just an extension to the R13, and when I say extension, I mean that literally. The “Cable” connected itself to the USS on the back of the R13 through an elastic but durable pipe, presenting itself in a similar fashion to the Ghostbusters gun. It resembled a Rifle of some sort, but that wasn’t what it was supposed to actually be. This was an incapacitation tasing device, meant to render the victim unconscious despite range. The Link Cable worked by discharging a red beam of electricity between the range of 1-25 yards, and this would be our first time testing it. When the test began, the Display Case’s roof slid open to let down two large mechanical arms, each holding various parts of the Link Cable while humming absently. The arms began installing the parts onto the suit without making any error due to their lack of humanity. In addition to this, the Display Case area had been sanitized of any remaining gunpowder or shrapnel from the last test.

“Installation complete!” One of my workers chimed from behind me as the Mechanical arms were once again elevated back into the roof.

The roof of the case slid closed.

“I can see that,” I whispered. Raising my voice I said, “Then start the test!”

Without delay, the neon designs on the R13 began glowing furiously, the blinding crimson light reflecting softly off my eyes as I watched with fascination. The Cable’s rifle-like structure was held in suspension through the use of steel cables since no one was allowed to actually enter the Case, while the cable itself was left dangling from its back end. A Copper plate was placed where the Link Cable was aimed about 23 yards away, the idea being that the delicate directional tech used to build the cable would focus the discharge at the plate rather than the various metals in the area. I could accept minor misses, but a majority of the beam had to reach the plate or the test would be deemed a failure. This was technically laser technology I had one of my employees take from Synth technologies, but that wasn’t anything..too bad. It was just business.

ZTZTZ!

Resembling that of a lightning blast, a red discharge of electricity was shot forth from the Link Cable, the once shiny copper plate now etched with burn marks while liquid metal oozed from the site.

“Okay halt the test!” I yelled, watching with wide eyes as the workers shut the suit down. I turned towards Ida, “That didn’t look like incapacitation to me Ida.”

She gulped, scribbling some things down on a pad she was carrying, “I-I’ll make a note.”

I nodded, producing my own notepad and writing some things down.

Advanced Tech: Update Link Cable (Control with even MORE power???)

I stuffed the journal back into my pocket, thinking about that idea. With the tech I’d be receiving from the Pres- from Henry, I didn’t have to worry about too much power out of control. The only reason I wanted to make the cable “incapacitate” instead of “incinerate” was because I thought that things would eventually get out of control, but with the possibility of this new tech, suddenly everything became a little more...possible.

The last thing to test was the HUD, possibly the most applicable thing in this whole inspection. This would be the least destructive test of the inspection, and what Doctor Akai deemed the most important. As the workstation was sanitized, workers typed furiously at their computers, getting the HUD system online for the trial.

“Ida,” I turned to her, “Test this one.”

She nodded, stepping towards the glass of the Display Case. See, the HUD was an intricate scanning and communications device implanted into the helmet of the R13. So no, the Biker-like helmet was not just for looks. In order to test these features, the R13 needed something to scan- in this case it was Ida.

Doctor Akai spoke up from the main console behind me, “We have connected to the HUD in the R13 Ms.Johnson.” He spoke in a heavy Greenlandic accent, “Private connection is secure.”

I gave Ida a nod before walking towards the back of the room, my footsteps emitting pulses on the floor as I approached the console.

The huge main frame screen portrayed the perspective of the R13, various systems and numbers flying across its view as the start up diagnostic neared completion.

Doctor Akai stood by my side, “Satellite X is operational as well.”

“Good,” I breathed, “Let’s get this started.”

Satellite X was a significant piece of tech that we had built and launched into orbit to help with our projects. It was one of the most advanced things we’ve made, as it currently held hundreds of delicate instruments that revolutionized communication all over the world. Of course, it was private so only Unstable Energies could use it. That’s right, it wasn’t even built under Jordan. This was contacted only to be used in the Unstable Energies plant.

AKA me.

Now, with the knowledge of holding all of the Advanced Technological research done by the government, I might recall that satellite for updates.

Yes..this was good.

One of the great things about Satellite X was that it used a USS to keep it running, eliminating the need for much maintenance. The main instrument we’d utilize for this particular test was the communicator, which had nearly unlimited range with the utmost clarity. The communicator rebounded video and audio off the X Satellite to connect the HUD and any computer monitor I wanted. It was basically the ultimate Facetimer.

“Alright...the first test is the scanner.” Akai motioned towards the dozens of people in front of the screen.

I watched the HUD on the screen as a small targeting system was displayed in the middle of the R13’s view. The target was in the shape of a revolving red circle, the picture enlarging and shrinking with everything the R13 viewed.

Ida was shown standing behind the glass, the target locking on her and displaying information next to her person.

So far so good.

This was one of my favorite parts.

The bar of information shown by Ida displayed mood predictions, height, any info we had on the subject, and distance from the R13. If we had this hooked up to the Link Cable, it could even display the charge time on how fast it would take to incapacitate the subject.

Of course, we wouldn’t test that on a person. The real test on this HUD would be distance, but seeing as the picture was this clear already, the satellite proved itself to be operational.

Buzz

I produced my phone from my black jeans pocket, turning it on to check the notification

Reply from HENRY. Medical Therapy: Melinda Croft Re: Where were you yesterday?

I smiled darkly, focusing on the first notification, “I believe that wraps up the inspection everyone!” I announced, “Sanitize and clean up!”

I gave Ida and Akai a nod before entering the elevator, the doors sliding before I began my descent.

Once I arrived at my office I cracked open my laptop, not bothering to turn on my office lights before checking the email.

My smile widened.

There were hundreds of schematics that I’ve never even heard of all lying in my inbox.

Scout 12?

Chemical Prediction Software?

These schematics were crazy intuitive, but even now, I could see the possibility of updates. I could make a lot of money from this as, according to the email, these haven’t even been built yet. I could just build them and receive most of the credit. Of course, that would be more of an immediate benefit. The real goal was to update these and get my own projects ready while I just wait until the fallout of whatever Jordan was doing comes to pass. Just wait and see.

I’ll wait until the world can see.

I’ve already made my move in this game of chess, now it was everyone else’s turn. From Doctor Diamond, her lab partners, their families, Jordan.

They would all play this game so..swiftly, as if blind folded.

I could see all the pieces. I could play slowly. I’d play the long game.