Chapter 27
United flight 803 from Washington to Tokyo landed early at Narita Airport after 13 hours and 34 minutes. The traveler exited from Terminal 2 and took a Skyliner fast train for Tokyo. Thirty-seven minutes later he was at Nippori Station on the Arakawa River. Then he took a taxi to the research labs at the Community Center in the Kyobashi, Nihonbashi and Kudanshita district. A non-descript door with Darko written on it. He rang the bell and surveillance camera began a scan of his face. Then a recorded voice asked in Japanese and English for his name.
“I have an appointment with Mr. Ishi,” said the visitor.
“Elevator, second door on the right,” said a live woman’s voice.
The elevator had only one button. When the doors opened the visitor stepped into a white hallway with several doors and at the end, through a glass door, a wide-open gym-like space. He went to the second door on the right, without knocking opened it and walked in. He entered a small, bare office that had only a desk and two chairs facing it.
Seated at the desk was a small man in his fifties, with a Clark Gable-type mustache.
“I am Ishi San. Welcome. I got your emails. You are interested in our spherical drone, correct?”
The visitor avoided shaking hands and nodded yes.
“Good. I see you are a person of few words. So, to save time, I think it would be best to go to the lab for a demonstration.”
Ishi San stood up and followed by his visitor headed down the hallway towards the end glass doorway. Then they entered a large room with minimalist furniture and several electronic devices and screens. Smiling, he gestured to the visitor to sit in a white plastic chair.
“Do you see this spherical fiberglass container? Well: using this remote I will initiate the drone’s opening and flight.”
He pressed on a few buttons and the container top opened. A drone emerged and began flying around the room. It looked like a black round cage with inside an electric propeller, a camera and other miniaturized devices.
“The seventh prototype made by the inventor of the spherical drone, Fumiyuki Sato, had limitations. First of all, despite having a camera, it was sight directed and that reduced its usefulness. In addition, its flight could not always be controlled.”
“That was several years ago,” the visitor said in a curt tone.
“The spherical drone sector has gone through several iterations since then. What is different about your product?”
“While others have turned the invention into a kind of toy, similar to a remote controlled plane or helicopter, we have made radical changes. Now, thanks to the camera, the drone can operate in closed spaces far away from the pilot who watches via a monitor. It is like a drone plane without a crew ‒ but its size is different. This sphere does not disintegrate when coming into contact with walls or other barriers. It can be accurately controlled via three gyroscopes. If only we had had it when the nuclear disaster happened at Fukushima. We would have been able to check the inside of the reactor and immediately verified the damage caused by the tsunami. In addition, this spherical drone can carry a mini payload...”
“Fine. That is the purpose of my visit. Can the drone be used as a weapon?”
“Yes, even though we do not wish to make this public because we could get in trouble with the Ministry of Defense. Let’s move on.”
Ishi San and the visitor went through a digitally locked door and entered a long, reinforced cement hallway. It was about 100 yards long and with shooting targets at the end.
“Put on these noise-cancelling headphones and the goggles,” said Ishi San as he fumbled with a spherical drone set on a plastic base. The drone’s propeller began to rotate and the prototype lifted
and started to move within the artillery firing practice ground. Two small remote controlled rockets separated from the sphere and hit two human targets fifty yards away at the end of the hallway, exploding them.
“Let’s go into this sound-proof booth,” said Ishi San.
The booth had a computer monitor. Ishi San turned on the monitor, which was connected wi-fi with the drone’s camera. He made a visual sweep and focused on a new set of targets that an assistant had replaced. The drone started flying again. Ishi San maneuvered it to mid height and launched two more rockets. They hit the targets.
“As you can see,” he said with pride, “our product is very different from what you have seen before. Those models cost a few thousand dollars, this is obviously much more expensive. Oh, I forgot, its speed is 100 kilometers per hour.”
Ishi San and the visitor returned to his office. They discussed at length the delivery times for five of the latest generation, fully armed drones along with spare parts and the services of a flight technician anywhere in the world – all at buyer expense.
“To whom should the invoice be addressed and how do you wish to pay?”
“To no one, and cash in advance.”
The visitor opened his case and took out several piles of cash. The intensity of his gaze was emphasized by the darkness of his complexion.
“I will call you in ten days to arrange for pick up. I must emphasize that should news of this transaction leak there will be serious consequences for you.”
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Chapter 28
“OK,” said the boss of the large and famous law firm of Smith & Smith in Washington DC, “Let’s go.”
His four associates and Joe Link, a strategies consultant, accompanied him. They left the private elevator and entered into a bare room – their Faraday cage. The boss opened the discussion by saying,
“After all the attacks, starting with the ones in Rome, confusion reigns at a global level. Joe, tell us what is the most likely short-term scenario.”
Joe Link was a big man, a former football player, with a thick neck and rippling muscles. He barely fit into his super large dark suit. He cleared his throat.
“I think the most serious view is that of Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, and consultant – as many of you well know – to many heads of state, including Angela Merkel. He has made it clear he believes Europe and the US are undergoing a structural crisis and that development paradigms have to change – especially with regard to energy.”
“That’s nothing new. We’ve been saying that for a long time. Even the President has spearheaded alternative energy research.”
As a football player Joe Link had learned strategy: how to figure out the other sides’ next move and how to block it. So he was able to swallow the boss’s sarcasm – especially when he thought of how well he was being paid to work for him.
“Right, but Rifkin goes further. He believes we need to move beyond the Second Industrial Revolution stage to a Third one. We have to stop relying on the achievements of the past and start creating. He says the First Industrial Revolution ended in the 1960s. We are now in the second one where we are using up everything we had produced and saved and have begun living on borrowed time.”
“Once, again nothing new,” commented the boss as his entourage nodded in agreement.
“True, but you have to know all of the parts of the puzzle to figure out the future,” replied Joe Link with a slight tone of irritation. “Let look backwards. I agree with what Rifkin said in an interview with Maurizio Molinari of Italy’s La Stampa about how the 1980s laid the ground for the housing bust and the great recession. There was too much building and prices were too high. George Bush senior lost to Bill Clinton due to the high unemployment rates in 1989-1991. And now instead of creating new opportunities we are just burning through what we have. Consider the fact that in 1991 Americans were saving 9 percent of their income and by 2001 it had gone down to zero.”
Link stopped to catch his breath and take a sip of water. He glanced at the boss who looked back at him with an icy stare. No one seemed very interested in what he had to say.
“So instead of putting our houses in order we just kept on spending and living off our credit cards until even that was no longer possible. So we began using our houses as if they were ATMs. We refinanced over and over again and used the proceeds to continue spending until there was nothing left.”
“And according to you and your oracle what did governments do or should have done?” asked the boss.
“Governments more or less acted in the same way. Meanwhile oil prices continued to rise because the developed world would not reduce demand and emerging countries like China and India increased theirs. Globalization has been seen as a new way to consume instead of produce. For the west it just meant being able to buy more at lower prices from emerging countries. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“You apparently are in complete agreement with Rifkin. So what is the solution?”
“Every time there is a recession we do the same thing. We pump some money into the market and say we want to cut expenditures. You need to spend to have a recovery. Emerging countries increase production and this makes the price of raw materials and oil rise. Then the price of everything goes up, including food. The situation becomes unsustainable and we fall back on relying on debt to keep up with our needs. This will never work, even if Congress were to cut four trillion dollars from the American debt.”
The boss started to get bored.
“Let’s cut to the chase. What is this so-called Third Industrial Revolution?”
“First of all we have to put an end to the vicious cycle. Then we have to develop a new economic model that will create millions of jobs. We have to make it easier to engage in entrepreneurship. We are approaching the end of the oil era. We need to move to sustainability and self-producing energy based on the model of the Internet and renewable hydrogen energy.”
“Explain yourself better.”
“It’s simple. Ten years ago we lived in a very different world. Nowadays people worldwide have greater independence. We live in a mass society where millions of people communicate with each other, exchange personal data, do business, and move millions of dollars. If each of these individuals in addition to a computer, a laptop and a smart phone to connect with the Internet had the possibility to produce power and cover his personal daily needs, he could release the excess online, and make a profit.”
“Again, that’s what we have been saying. Even our President agrees – although I don’t know if he has consulted with Rifkin.” Said the Boss. “Well, Mr. Link: thank you for time. We will let you know soon if we need to meet again.”
As soon as Link left the Faraday cage, the boss turned to one of his four assistants and hissed in a threatening tone of voice, “The more I see him, the more I think he is a jerk. To think of all the money we pay him… and you are so keen on him.”
The assistant went pale and replied,” He is very highly thought of by many leaders of government…”
“Well then they are all idiots. Let’s move on. What do we know about the President’s personal life?”
The second assistant answered.
“As for the risk the President would be caught up in a sex scandal, well it has all quieted down after the disappearance of the two escorts and the two Washington Post journalists. Plus ever since Murdoch’s problems with ‘The World of the News’ the tabloids have been ultra-cautious.”
The boss nodded in approval.
“And what ever happened to Michael Bardi?”
The third assistant replied with a sneer,” Recently someone tried to kill him. Apparently it was an Arab super-assassin working for the people financing the Islamic movement. He survived.”
The boss listened carefully, without betraying any emotion. Then he brought the meeting to a close and ordered, “We must invest in a big mass media campaign to convince the people that we are the good guys and the others, the oil producers etc., are the baddies. To quote Humphrey Bogart, ‘That’s the power of the press, baby. And there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s all.’”
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