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wouldn't suit the cabal, who took the usual military view that a civilian
government was more of an imposition than a necessity. Democracy was a concept
for which they had little, if any, use. Something I agreed with you must
always watch your own back, on the assumption that nobody else will be
bothered.
"My own banking activities skirted around this kind of activity what was known
as the black sector, because it stayed in darkness. I had a certain reputation
as a man who could hide vast sums of money, and could also increase them with
speculation and the courting of outside investors, who would not necessarily
be aware of the full facts relating to their investment.
I confess that this aspect used to amuse me at times.
"But amusement was something that soon took a back seat to more pressing
matters. The scope of the Totality Concept and the projects that were gathered
under that umbrella were breathtaking in their imagination and diversity. Here
was something that would ensure the winning of any conflict that may take
place, and the mastery of the world. To be frank, I have never been sure if
any one member of the cabal, or myself, was ever truly aware of everything
that was contained under the umbrella of the concept, such was the
double-dealing and secrecy involved.
"It became apparent to me that a conflict from which there would be no escape
short of a total war was approaching. Call it a combination of the egos and
paranoias of the men involved and their will to prove themselves the better of
their fellow men, or call it just the desire to play with toys and prove that
they work, and that all the expense and work were justified. Whatever it may
have been, it was an inevitability."
The fat man called Taschen was obsessed with his ideas and his organization of
that there was little doubt. The companions watched him carefully, and with
rapt attention. Any scrap of information may be of use, although each of them
in turn wished that he would get to anything that may have relevance with
haste, as they were finding his egotistical ramblings dull.
In Doc's case, it was a little more than that: the man with the complex
history spread over three centuries had the utmost contempt for the thinking
that had empowered the cloned banker, and the ideals that he perpetrated. So
much so that he had to interject, "So tell me, O great and mighty one how,
pray tell, did you progress from being a mere money broker into such a major
player that you can command this? And, if it's not too much trouble, to what
end is all this frippery, anyway?"
Taschen fixed the old man with a stare that was half amusement, half hatred.
It was clear that he didn't relish being interrupted, but the question in
itself only acted as a prompt to the next part of his tale.
"You must, perforce, be Dr. Theophilus Tanner. I had read
about you, but never thought that I would meet you. You always sounded a
troublesome and obtuse man for someone who was seemingly so bright. A view
that I find unexpectedly and a little disappointingly  confirmed."
Doc gave a mocking bow before replying in sarcastic tones, "I
am so terribly sorry to have let you down& and, indeed, to have interrupted you
at such a crucial point in your narrative. Are you, in fact, about to unveil
your entire plan before us?"
Taschen indulged Doc, despite the bristling of the sec squad at the old man's
tone.
"Most amusing," the fat man stated. "But you are correct, indeed, in the
assumption that I am about to explain the whys and wherefores to you. Partly,
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I fear, because that old dictum about leadership and responsibility being
lonely is proving to be quite true.
"However, that would be to dwell on the side of self-pity, and that is not my
wish."
Mildred closed her eyes and had to concentrate hard on staying conscious. The
pain from her treatment at the hands of the guards, and the continuing effects
of the pox, were beginning to weaken her. And yet she suspected that, despite
his words, self-pity was the entire motivation for Taschen's activities now,
and that he was soon to reveal his secrets and perhaps give them the break
they needed right now.
Taschen continued. "The interesting thing about being a banker in Switzerland
was that money was not the only commodity in which one dealt. Secrets were a
much more valued and valuable commodity, in fact. At my facility in Geneva, we
had safe deposit boxes, the contents of which could easily have changed the
course of history several times daily perhaps they did. Who can tell? The
point I wish to make is that money powers secrets and secrets generate money.
The two are interdependent, and as a banker I was able to trade off this
dependency and make for myself a power base from which to build not just my
own survival, but a way of making sure that the next time around a glorious
society would arise from the ashes of old order, and make a new order that
would lead the world into a
better era."
"Pernicious claptrap!" Doc spit. "It has been the same throughout history.
Those who wish to foist their own views upon an unsuspecting and unwilling
world always seek to justify their own egotism."
Taschen shrugged. "A small minded view, and little more than I would expect
from one such as you. When you have access to the secrets of power, then you
are privy to the small mindedness of most people. And if you have a vision,
then you realize naturally that you have been chosen by the fates to shape
their very existence.
"I began to become interested in a Bavarian philosopher and schemer called
Adam Weishaupt, who had founded a society known as the Illuminati. There were
some who believed that this secret cabal had grown in power since its founding
in the late eighteenth century, and that far from being outlawed and then
disbanded, the successors to Weishaupt had used this as a cover from which to
recruit at all levels of world governments, forming an inner circle that
actually ran the world. All I can say is that, were this true, they had made [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]