Chapter 16

Having been alerted to their visit, the door slipped open as soon as Teknos touched the recognition plate. As they entered the modest apartment, Teknos seemed very nervous. Solomon thought he understood completely until he saw their host.

“Solomon Barnaby Smith, I’d like you to meet my friend Wafer – uh, that is, Waymond Antonius Sampras.”

The first thing Solomon noticed, of course, was the very complicated mechanical chair. Solomon could tell by the way it rode off the ground it was powered by tiny antigrav units, which must have been extremely expensive to reduce down to this level. All of the tubes and monitors, some of which were visibly connected to Wafer’s body and then to the machine, implied an extensive life support system. The machine had a number of extensions that would allow the invalid to perform functions far beyond his damaged body’s capabilities. The complicated control panel, which lay under just one hand, implied that, other than the ability to see, speak and breathe, Wafer had the use of only the single appendage. There might be a few other people in the world medical science could not help much more than this, but Solomon hated to imagine them. He correctly assumed the machine it had been specifically designed for this one person.

Solomon also noticed Wafer was smaller and frailer than he was. He could certainly understand why Teknos would want them to travel to Wafer rather than putting the invalid to a great deal of trouble.

“Greetings, Citizen. I’m pleased to meet you,” he managed to stammer without too much embarrassment.

Wafer seemed to be in awe. “It’s really you,” he breathed. “I thought Teknos was having me on.”

“Excuse me? ‘Having you on?’”

“Oh, sorry. It’s a local idiom. It means, how can I say, kidding someone?”

“Kidding. That seems ... somehow familiar.”

“Does it? Well. At any rate, when Teknos told me he was bringing Solomon Barnaby Smith over to meet me – well, I’m sorry to say to the both of you, I just couldn’t believe it.”

“You know of me?” Solomon said with some surprise.

“Know of you! Doesn’t everyone in the world? I mean, not directly, of course. More by reputation. I mean, you’re ... you’re incredible.”

Solomon was flabbergasted. It reminded him of the sort of reaction a TotalVid star might expect from an ardent admirer. Although he knew his work was heavily touted by his local Zaibatsu, he had no idea it might be so widespread. Come to think of it, he rarely got out into the public to have ever found out.

“Please tell me, Waymond Antonius Sampras, what is it about me you know?”

“Only what’s in the public domain, of course,” the man answered deprecatingly. “I make a study out of the great scientists of the world. You’re trying to accomplish the greatest challenge yet presented to science, one that is thought to be virtually impossible. It’s ... it’s amazing what you’re trying to do. Of course, given your academic record and earlier scientific accomplishments, I have complete faith you will succeed where no one else can.”

“Um, thank you. You are obviously aware of my work.”

“Absolutely!” the shriveled fellow exclaimed, practically ing jumpout of his gravchair. “I’ve read everything ever published on the net! I mean, naturally they wouldn’t publish a lot of detail, but even what’s there is quite astounding. Not to mention the TotalVid productions on your work. First, the way you’ve perfected teleportation replication down to the sub-molecular level. It’s almost totally safe for humans now, isn’t it? And then the research on the mental control of time flow. And, of course, most recently there’s the synthesis of existing technologies like teleportation, the programming of the Comvirsent, black hole power source technology – and trying to couple all that, and more, with temporal displacement ... I mean, wow! That’s really incredible!”

Solomon was as much astounded by the man’s enthusiasm as by his knowledge. There was something strange here.

“Excuse me, Citizen, but were you originally Selected or Assigned to another field?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“You are obviously very interested in such work, and clearly knowledgeable. It’s just, um, rare...”

“Not so rare when the person’s a cripple,” Wafer said, and Solomon could not miss the bitterness in his voice.

“I don’t understand.”

“Remember, Solomon Barnaby Smith, the Zaibatsu takes the ‘entire picture’ into account for future Assignment. During the Selection process I scored very highly in the sciences, math, and physics. But they felt my severe mobility limitations would create problems. In many R&D facilities, for example, I might not be able to move around quickly enough during certain experiments to give maximum assistance. And as for doing field work – well, they would have had to make major concessions, wouldn’t they? They wanted to spare me the ‘physical challenges,’ which meant the company I worked for wouldn’t have to go to any extra trouble to accommodate my limitations. So they Assigned me to computer programming on static systems. Not that Level 16’s bad – just ask poor Teknos, here – but I really would have liked to be working on more complicated systems. Again, they would have had to transport me to different sites, and sometimes the systems the advanced programmers work on require greater mobility than I’ve got. So, here I am.”

“I’m sorry,” Solomon said humbly, thinking of Robert Winston Wood. Once again, he recognized just how lucky he was.

“Well, frankly, so am I. But where are my manners! One of the greatest scientists in the world is a guest in my apartment, and I haven’t even invited him to sit down, let alone have some refreshment. My deepest apologies, Solomon Barnaby Smith.”

Solomon laughed at having someone think of him like that, rather than noticing the unintentional slight. “Please, don’t mention it.”

After the three had made themselves comfortable, including something to eat and drink, the conversation once again turned serious. The pair seemed to have already decided he was welcome to join their would-be revolution, although Solomon guessed it was mostly in their minds at this point. There was evidently no ‘Revos’ group, as Barnaby had implied.

“So,” Solomon asked Wafer, “is that why you hate the Zaibatsu?”

“What, because of my Assignment? Sure, I’m bitter. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just a single instance of the control everyone has hanging over them. But, to be fair, they’ve also done a lot to try to help me.”

“Such as?”

“Well, to start with, they really did do a lot of testing when I was young trying to figure out what they could do for me. As you must know, medical science can do a lot of amazing things nowadays. But I guess there was just too much wrong. Spinal malformation, degenerative bone disease, congenital muscular atrophy, you name it. They figured the best thing they could do for me was to build me this gravchair, which does just about everything but make coffee, and give me a nice, cushy Assignment. I’m sure they weren’t just thinking about the labs they might have Assigned me to. They probably really thought they were doing me a favor to limit my ‘potential failures and disappointments’, as the Head Administrator told me. That was the last thing I wanted. I’d really love to work on something challenging, like your project. But they never asked me what I wanted.”

“I see. Actually, I got the same sort of complaint from a lot from my test subjects. In fact, that’s why a lot of them volunteered in spite of the dangers. They wanted to exercise a little control over their own lives, to face challenges Selection and Assignment had determined they would never be able to overcome, and so would never permit them to face.”

“Precisely,” Wafer agreed. “But that’s only part of the problem. It’s certainly not why I hate them. In order to maintain control, the Zaibatsu uses a lot of distortion.”

“Really?” Solomon frowned. “In what way?”

“Teknos, why don’t you give him some examples from your work?”

“Oh, right, right. Well, I used to work on historical TVs, documentaries, that kind of thing. Mostly the kind of pieces used in schools, and maybe fillers for late hours. I’m not the smartest guy in the world, right, but I do know a few things. They kept changing the facts in a lot of ‘em.”

“Can you give me any specific examples?” Solomon asked.

“Yeah, sure. You remember what happened in World War II and then after?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I do. The two Evil Empires, as they called the Nazis and the Communists, got together and tried to conquer the world. They took over most of Europe and parts of Africa, and then attacked the American countries. Japan, as was its policy, remained neutral until the Evil Empires dropped two atomic bombs on them. That’s when Japan got involved and helped the other Pacific Rim countries defeat the Evil Empires. And that’s what started the popular movement throughout the world to eliminate governments, which were more interested in conquest and controlling territory than in making sure the world ran peacefully and profitably. The people asked the Zaibatsus to take over the running of their spheres of influence, which were broken up into logical economic Regions instead of countries. Now all corporations are under the control of the Zaibatsu, the Zaibatsu cooperate on an economic basis instead of a political one, and there have been no more major wars since. Is that about right?”

“Right, right. That’s what the history TVs taught you. But it’s all a lie.”

“What!”

“Yeah. They change history all the time if it makes them look better, or they think it’s somehow gonna help them control the people.”

“How do you know this?”

“Well,” Teknos said, suddenly almost shy, “I’m kind of a history buff. I mean, I would of really liked to be a history teacher at some Advanced Training school, but, kinda like you might figure, I had a couple of low scores in related areas. I also had kind of, I dunno, I guess you could call it a gift for TV electronics.”

“That’s right,” Wafer interjected enthusiastically, “he’s really a whiz! His electronic switching is brilliant, and you should see what he can do with special effects!”

“Yeah, well, thanks, Wafer. Anyhow, they figured I’d be a lot more productive doin’ what I’m doin’.”

“I see.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong,” Teknos protested, fearing Solomon might just see them as two social malcontents angry at the system because they weren’t allowed to be doing what they really wanted to do. “I love TV production, right? I mean, it’s really creative, it’s a lot of fun. It’s just, well, I love history. I’d really like to be doin’ it full time instead of just when I can.”

“I understand,” Solomon said sincerely, again thankful he was Assigned to do exactly what he loved most. “Okay, so if what I learned in school is a lie, then what’s the truth?”

“Maybe you oughta tell him, Wafer. After all, you’re the one who done the research, and you really can tell it better than me.”

“Okay. I’ll try to make it as brief as possible. What really happened in World War II was that Japan was one of the aggressors. They formed what was call the Axis, an alliance with German and Italy. Backed by the Italians, Germany attacked and conquered most of Europe, and then started into what was then Northern Africa. Japan attacked what was called the United States, and then China.”

“Wait a minute! As I recall, those were pretty small countries at the time, weren’t they? How could such small countries challenge the rest of the world?”

“Germany and Japan were very technologically advanced, especially when it came to military weapons. Plus they had been preparing for war for a number of years, and had really built up and trained their military forces well. The rest of the world wasn’t physically prepared to fight another war, and maybe not mentally as well so soon after World War I.”

“So it was technology versus size?”

“Well, as you imply, it was pretty tough for those little countries to fight virtually all the rest of the world. In spite of their superior weapons, at least at the beginning of the war, they had limited manpower and other resources. Especially when Germany attacked Russia and the United States geared up its military, things got really bad for the Axis partners. By the end of the war, Germany and Japan were pretty much devastated, especially economically.”

“So who dropped the atomic bombs on Japan? I mean, that really happened, didn’t it?”

“Yes. The United States developed the bomb and used it on Japan. That’s really what ended the war, not what brought Japan into it.”

“Oh, my. Incredible. I think I need something a little stronger. By any chance do you have any wine?”

“Most assuredly, although probably not anything up to your taste, Citizen.”

“Anything would be just fine, thank you.”

“Teknos, would you be so kind as to get that bottle in the cooler? You know where the wine glasses are.”

“Oh, yeah, right, right. Be my pleasure.”

After the wine had been poured, Wafer resumed his history lesson.

“After two unsuccessful wars, both Germany and Japan decided they couldn’t conquer the rest of the world by force. Germany was content to become a small-time player in world affairs, although it became strong again in the traditional industries. But Japan was determined to rule by economic power. It geared up in all of the technological industries, especially what it recognized as the wave of the future, which were electronics, including computers. Then it did something pretty revolutionary, no pun intended, for that era. They formed an economic system designed to give them the greatest chance of accomplishing their goal in the shortest possible time.”

“And that was?” Solomon asked, truly fascinated.

“In essence, it was a sort of national business philosophy. It was a two-tiered approach: the government formed a bureau called MITI, and the businesses formed a corporate system they called the Zaibatsu. In a way, it’s kind of like official history portrays that part of it. The Zaibatsu were not really unusual. Essentially, they were just five or six huge conglomerates that had a lot of subsidiary companies, most of them complementary. The biggest difference of the Zaibatsu to most Western conglomerates was the amount of control they had over their subsidiaries. Most significantly, there was the huge shift from fossil fuels to hydrogen power that changed the entire economic landscape over which countries had the real power.”

“So, which country controlled the energy source that fueled the world,” Solomon mused.

“Right. MITI, however, was really the key. In form, it was just the national ministry of commerce, much the same as most countries of the time had. In reality, it was a partner of the Zaibatsu. Government officials and major corporate officers made joint decisions about where money was invested, which Zaibatsu would be allowed to either lead an industrial sector or have a competitive advantage in business, and what kind of international trade policies would be allowed. While Japan’s business approach was viewed as a strong form of capitalism, it was really a highly controlled system intended to serve the interests of the country first and restrict true economic competition from the outside. It was sort of a “Japan versus all of the other businesses in the world” mentality. Internally, there was an unusually high degree of cooperation among the Zaibatsus.”

“The evolution of business,” Solomon murmured quietly, more to himself than to his companions.

“Pardon me?”

“I’m somewhat of a student of history myself, Citizen,” Solomon said. “In ancient times the ruler – the king or emperor or whatever they called themselves – had complete control over all economic power. Over the centuries, as business developed and the people gained control over their governments, that balance shifted until government only regulated business. Then even that control started to weaken. Today, our power center has evolved to the point where the businesses are the government.”

“Right, right, exactly what happened!” Teknos burst in, evidently excited that Solomon shared his interest in history.

“Yes, exactly,” Wafer agreed. “Led by the inspiration of the Zaibatsu, the three dozen largest corporate conglomerates in the world slowly began acquiring political power in the early 21st Century. They bribed government officials en masse, rather than just those few who could help them in their day-to-day business. They also bought up all of the smaller companies they could, even though such purchases often made no business sense at the time. Another key was that all of the internet companies, that is, those not already involved in the plot, were bought up or run out of business. As a lot of business was being done over the net, that certainly increased their immediate control.”

“Is that why that huge American internet company --”

“Became Zaibatsu of the Northwestern Americas Region,” Wafer finished the thought. “Exactly. Most ironically, the big conglomerates secretly financed all of the socialistic organizations throughout the world. Around the middle of the century, when the Zaibatsu felt all of the conditions were optimal, they helped to create a depression, collapsing the stock values of all public companies. They used the socialistic organizations and corrupt politicians to help heighten the great unhappiness of the masses with their governments, and brought about the opportunity for a takeover. A lot of key government officials supported the ‘economic intervention’ of the Zaibatsu into the crisis. As the vast majority of the workers in all countries had been inculcated with the belief that their ultimate financial dependency lay with their parent corporation, the coup was totally bloodless and rather smooth. Even though they’re more ruthless than most people would ever think, I guess that tactic of coercion over force has always remained with the Zaibatsu.”

“So how did they, in essence, ‘become’ the government?” Solomon wondered.

“For a short period, the existing governments were used as a tool by the still growing power of the Zaibatsu. When each Government subsequently nationalized all remaining businesses, the Zaibatsu compensated all owners as closely as they could in order to gain the gratitude of the wealthy. Of course, nationalization had the support of the ignorant masses who thought they were being done a favor. There were quite a few people caught in the middle, but ultimately they didn’t matter too much.”

“Very clever of them,” Solomon academically admired the tactic. “The usual long-range viewpoint of the Zaibatsu. They make the current owners as happy as they can, knowing it will all come back to them eventually.”

“Uh, how’s that, Solomon Smith?” Teknos asked.

“It’s the same as my inheritance. The only money accrued from that point on could be by salaries, which are determined by the Government. Therefore all fortunes, no matter how large, would eventually be squandered by some wasteful offspring. Which means that all individual fortunes would someday disappear, with the Zaibatsu owning all of the actual means of producing wealth.”

“Exactly,” Wafer confirmed. “So, while the Zaibatsu maintained the appearance of formal governments for some decades, they were rapidly changing the entire structure of society throughout the world. The basics of this lay with the way business was operated, money acquired, and people were controlled. To further obliterate the power of the former governments, the Zaibatsu split the world into thirty-six regions that only loosely followed the former geographic boundaries of countries. Their concern was to give each Zaibatsu as close to economic parity as they could, as well as spreading industries and resources so they could cooperate as the Zaibatsu had done in Japan.