The body was found floating face down off the tip of Fannette Island in Emerald Bay by airborne security Bot 48. The cause of death was unknown, but it looked like a routine drowning. When Bot 48 preformed an ID scan on the body and discovered it was Mr. Busgates Sr., anything resembling a routine drowning went out the window. The first thing it did was notify me and his Family, then it notified the lab to load his memory programs into the revivification computer. From there his clone was taken out of cryogenic storage and preparations were made to initiate his resurrection sequence and memory reimplantation. It was time for the Masters resurrection to begin. On the plus side he would come back as a much younger version of himself. On the minus side he would loose any memories he had accumulated after the last memory deposit he’d made to the lab, whenever that was.
Mr. Busgates was the wealthiest of all the heads of the Families, and the most powerful man in the world. He was also the divine Master of both houses of the One World Order of the Almighty, and the titular head of all the Families. To avoid a power struggle, his immediate resurrection was imperative. In his absence his son would have to assume the mantel of leadership, I prayed to the Almighty that the young Master didn’t have one of his “difficult” nights tonight, he could be somewhat eccentric at times. This night young Master Busgates would get his first real test as his family’s divine Master, he must serve as the host of the Families yearly communion of the Order and the party that followed. The communion and celebration couldn’t be delayed, the Families had come from numerous distant estates to attend, and many would be leaving the next day.
Mr. Dickens, Master Busgates main man, thought about this disaster and all the other things he had on his mind, as he strove to keep the plans on track. He had his hands full now dealing with the death and imminent resurrection of his Master, as well as supervising the planning for the communion dinner of the Order, and the festivities that followed that night. He was up to the task though, for he had been well bred for this position, as had his father, and his fathers’ fathers, for centuries before him. Generational servitude by Mr. Dickens class was a practice explained and sanctified in the holy books of both houses of the One World Order of the Almighty. The Families were members of the upper House of Lords, and the servant class belonged to the lower house of commons. New members were born into their houses after their clones started incubation in the incubation wombs in the baby birthing labs. Obedience to the families and the Order was required by the edicts of the Almighty, as passed on by the leaders of the Families to the servants in their prayer meetings. All clone children of the servant class were taught total obedience to the Almighty, the Order, as well as to members of the Families, at a very young age. If it hadn’t been for the Almighty and the Families, none of the servants would even exist, so this loyalty to Him and the Families was well deserved. This fealty was reinforced in daily prayer meetings that were mandatory for all of the members of the lower house servant class. They were bred to respect and serve the Almighty and the Order, as well as all members of the Families. It was taught that through this service peace and contentment would be assured their class, and when it was their time to die they would go to paradise and live a life of wealth and luxury forever. Their allegiance and abject servitude to the Almighty and his Order, as well as the Families, required them to be content contract workers who contracts could be sold and the servants traded among the Families, like any other commodity the Families owned. Though servant’s families couldn’t be broken up without their willing participation according to the teachings of the Almighty, it was always in their best interests to be gracious about the transfer of their contracts and their trade to another of the Families. It was rare that a servant family refused to be broken up, and when it did happen, it usually went poorly for that servant’s family. After all wherever servants were sent, the spirit of the Almighty and the Order would be there to greet them, and welcome them into the strong arms of their new Family. Mr. Dickens line was the exception, having never had any of their family contracts sold and themselves traded to another of the Families.
Mr. Dickens served as one of the first among equals in the lower house of commons, and had some influence with the Bots as a result. The Bots would obey him when there were no members of the Families around to supercede his commands. Mr. Dickens was a man of some wit and charm, but more to the point he was a man of superb intellect and capabilities. He was a man of average height and weight and in good shape, though his hair and beard were sprinkled with gray now and betrayed his age. His deep blue eyes had lost none of their sparkle nor their ability to pierce through any subterfuge that the staff under him occasionally tried to pull off. He was a man of simple tastes, and his loyalty to his Masters Family and the Order of the Almighty reinforced his personal contentment with his position in life. Being the Busgates main man, he had years of experience in the running of the Family’s affairs. He made good decisions on the Family’s matters, as long as the decisions being made by him were within his authority and within the framework provided by the Almighty, the Order and the Families. Mr. Dickens had been told he was so valuable that he was almost like family to the Busgates. This was a rare honor of course, to be thought of as almost family to his masters Family. It came with none of the Families privileges of course, for you had to be born into the Families to earn those privileges.
The guests had all arrived from the airport hidden in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The airport had to be placed there because that was the only place with enough flat surface area around the lake to accommodate the long runway needs of the Families supersonic hyperspace planes. The airport had been tastefully done. Its two-mile long faux island home, which was supported on giant stilts set in the lakebed, looked natural with real trees and hills that hid the airport. It was yet another in the long line of improvements that the Busgates Family had made to the natural order.
At least all the Families members had arrived and checked in, so that was one thing Mr. Dickens didn’t have to worry about. But he had many other things on his mind today, foremost of which he must get the club staff efficiently going about the business of preparing everything for the yearly communion of the One World Order of the Almighty and the party that followed, at the Busgates Emerald Bay Club of Lake Tahoe. The lake, and especially the club, were the crown jewels of the family’s western American estate. The bay and the surrounding hills were under a partially retractable transparent enclosure of poly silica-carbon. From a distance it looked like a huge emerald cut diamond sitting on the west side of the lake, glistening in the sun. Inside the enclosure one could turn on the artificial sun if it was cloudy or dark, or they could make it rain or snow. The club was unique in the world and could offer winter in summer, and summer in winter, or anything in between. Nature was not a factor inside the enclosure, it was a powerless spectator outside looking in. Many came here to party and bask on the beach or swim in the heated waters of the bay during the winter. No matter what the weather was like outside, it was always perfect inside the enclosure. The Families members that liked winter sports could snow board or ski in the Busgates family’s private ski resorts scattered around the lake.
It had been quite a day, dealing with Master Busgates death and impending resurrection, getting all the penthouses ready for the arrival of the Families for the communion of the Order and the party, and the preparations for the evenings events. All the Families were here, the Busgates of course, as well as the Rockford’s from the east coast, the Sauden’s from the middle east and the oldest of the Families, the Rothsor’s from Europe, as well as all the other ruling Families from around the world. The Families met here every winter to celebrate the communion of the Order, and to acknowledge the existence of, and swear fealty to the Almighty, as well as partake in the drinking of the wine and the eating of the meat that symbolized becoming one with the Almighty’s spirit through his blood and body. From this they would gain strength, and later celebrate the richness of their lives with some fabulous festivities at the party that followed. The Busgates estate stretched from Alaska to the tip of old Mexico and east to the Mississippi. Even some of the other Families who among themselves owned the rest of the world were a little envious of the Emerald Bay Club, such was the beauty of this place. But enough of this thought Mr. Dickens, I must get things in order and meet with the young Master now.
He arrived at young Master Busgates penthouse for his first meeting to finalize the plans for the night’s communion and the festivities to follow.
“So sorry to hear about the death of your father young Master, I pray to the Almighty that his resurrection goes smoothly.”
“Yes its tragic Mr. Dickens, and dammed inconvenient too, but I can handle it. We must make sure the communion dinner and party go on as planned, I know you understand that everything must be perfect. There is one change I want you to make Mr. Dickens, I’ve arranged for delivery of my Napa valley Jonestown vineyards gold medal select rose’ to the kitchen for use as the communion wine tonight. You’ll be sure to personally supervise the placing on each table of a bottle of the wine, won’t you Mr. Dickens? It’s very important to me. And tonight I want the service Bots to serve the food and wine, I want no servants in the hall when the communion starts.”
“Of course sir. Every thing has been taken care of and I’ll be sure to see to the placement of your award winning wine personally. As for your request for no servant staff in the hall, if that’s what you want, its what you’ll have, you know you can depend on me.”
“Yes Mr. Dickens, you’ve always been dependable, dependable to a fault, a man of great contentment, our family’s main man.”
“Thank you sir, I’ll see to it that everything goes smoothly.”
“Excellent Mr. Dickens.” He came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, his eyes burning brightly as he looked around to make sure we were alone.
“I’ve big news Mr. Dickens, I’ve had a revelation that the rapture of the Families to the Almighty is soon to be upon us. My father’s death and resurrection was foretold in a prophecy I received recently in a vision. I’ve received a message from the Almighty himself, and he has called us to an accounting. We must answer the call tonight at the communion of the Order. The Sisters of the Order have visited me and cautioned awareness on our part, they feel some bad vibes out there. Security Mr. Dickens, I want tight security, put all the security Bots on it, all of them. No one in or out after the communion of the Order starts, see to it. You do understand Mr. Dickens that since my father’s death this morning this is my first party as family host. It will be a party to remember, a party everyone will remember.”
“But sir, your father will be back in a few days, as soon as clone is revived, his memories reprogrammed into it, and his resurrection is completed.”
“I know Mr. Dickens, but he isn’t here now, and this is my party tonight.”
His response to the death of his father and this new religious revelation he had troubled me somewhat, I hoped he didn’t do something foolish. He had the habit of thinking his thoughts were somehow divinely inspired lately. And he was obsessing over his latest religious epiphany after another visit from the Sisters of the lower house of the Order. How those trollops could influence him was beyond me, for they were immoral women who but appeased his base appetites. He had the handmaidens for that if he needed to satisfy his lust, they had been enough for him in the past. His father had always keep him in check before, I worried that he might do something foolish in his absence tonight that would bring dishonor to his Family. Though after witnessing some of the behavior that went on in the parties of the past, I wondered just what he could do that would be more objectionable than what had been done before. Some of the behavior of the members of the Families troubled me, for they seemed to take delight in violation the teachings of the Almighty and the Order right and left. But that was their Families Masters worry, not mine. For now I must focus on the preparations for the communion and party. The young Masters behavior and spiritual beliefs, though somewhat eccentric, were his business and none of mine.
“No problem sir, the communion will go off without a hitch, the party will be one for the history books, and Fort Knox won’t have as much security.”
“Good, we wouldn’t want any problems, would we Mr. Dickens.”
“No sir. But there hasn’t been a problem at the club, ever. I think we’ll have more than enough security. If I may sir, I should get to the main hall complex and do my job now, with your leave of course.”
“Yes, make me proud of you Mr. Dickens, show everyone why you are the main man for all the Families tonight.”
“It is a great honor to be chosen sir, I’d die before I do anything to let you down.”
“I know you would Mr. Dickens, I know you would. That’s why you’re here.”
I hurried back to the great hall. The communion of the Order, the dinner and the big end of the year party must go off without a hitch. It was an event that every member of the Families had attended faithfully every year for centuries. The food and wine were the best in the world of course, and the party favors given to the Families members were worth a small fortune. For the servants the festivities were a time of long days and nights full of hard work, for everything must be just right for the week’s revelry. Some days Mr. Dickens thought his young Master had a little bit of Julius Caesar in his blood, for his desire to rule all was never to well hidden. Of course every member of the Families had that drive to dominate, it was in their genes, it was why they were members of the Families, and we were the servants. The Families had their place in life, the servants knew theirs, so there was order in the world and everyone was content. Young Master Busgates had given him strict orders not to disturb the partygoers for any reason once the communion and party started. No matter what he saw or heard, he was to keep the doors closed and the servants out. He didn’t like the idea of using the service Bots as waiters for the dinner. They were capable of competent service, their A/I programming made them very adept at any task, from security to gardening, but they were still just hunks of computer animated metal, rubber and other inanimate materials. They were no match for the service that the servants were bred to provide the Families, but whatever the young Master wanted tonight he got, for tonight he was the Master, period.
Mr. Dickens thought about his favorite subject, history, as he patiently directed the servants to polish the silver and set the tables for the communion and party that night. He was the central cog in the cadre of servants that took care of the Family’s needs and wants. It was a job he loved, just as his father, and his father’s fathers had loved it for centuries before him. It was a job after all that he was bred for, and he was most content in the position. Though the work was hard at times, his every need was taken care of by the Master. He had no want of food, shelter or clothing, his pay was more than enough to cover the cost of his apartment rent and other related costs. It also gave him the means to shop in the Families stores for what else he needed. He even got a couple of days off a month to do what he wanted to. What more could a man of his position need?
Before the Families had taken over the stewardship of the world, it had been a place of constant strife, with war, greed, with religious and secular dogma competing for power, and overpopulation slowly eating up all the resources. But the rule of the Families had brought an end to these problems. When the rein of the One World Order of the Almighty replaced all the false religions, and the Families control had replaced governments, the stage was set for world harmony. Peace and contentment was the rule of the day for everyone now. Oh sure there were some malcontents among the servants that came along every now and then, but they were quickly rooted out and eliminated by the Families ubiquitous security Bots, who were almost everywhere and saw and heard almost everything. This tempered any of the servants desire to express any unhappiness. The Families after all not only desired competent and content servants, they required them.
The scientists working for the Families had solved one of the biggest problems of humanity, they had discovered the key to immortality, cloning and memory reimplantation for the Families who, thanks to good breeding, were already perfect human beings by the time the discovery was made. So a Families member could never really die, they were resurrected if one of them had a fatal accident, or died from old age. Old age was a rarity for the Families of course. Most of them chose to be resurrected when their current bodies got a little old, before they started to loose their good looks. For the servants, reproduction was done through cloning too, as they were all sterile at birth and unable to reproduce sexually, thanks to the lingering effects of the bio wars toxins that had destroyed almost all of humanity. Though the servants were not nearly as perfect as the Families’ members, still they were taught that they were a step up from the mass of humanity that had preceded them. The world had gone from chaos to order under the stewardship of the Families, and everyone now lived a life of contentment, free of strife. The Families members had the ultimate right to do as they wished of course, they were the Families after all, and they had saved the Earth and its inhabitants from annihilation. They had rightfully earned their greater human rights and higher-class status.
Mr. Dickens found himself working today with the Rothsor family’s main man, Mr. Robert Smyth, a most obnoxious and disagreeable fellow. Really he didn’t see how he had survived this long with his semi malcontent outlook and snide remarks about the Families and how they ran things. He had been tempted to turn the man in to the security Bots over the years, but it wasn’t really any of his business, so he left it alone. Best to let Smyth trip himself up, for he was the favorite of the Rothsor family’s Mistress, Lady Dianna, and like his Master she could cause him much trouble and was not to be trifled with.
As the day wore on, the great banquet hall was set up, the food was prepared and his job was done. Now it would be up to the common servant Bots to serve the Families in the hall. He had the rest of the night off to do as he pleased, so he went out on the servant’s quarter’s balcony to enjoy the sun setting over Eagle Falls as its waters fed the bay. He loved a little solitude, and for once there was no one around, not even a Bot, they were all at the party. In the distance he could see the great banquet hall, and hear the laughter of the Families as the night wore on. It made him a little nervous not being there in charge, but the young Master’s wishes were his command.
His solitude was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Smyth, who, as was his want, pulled up a chair, put his bag down and intruded upon Mr. Dickens space.
“Quite a lovely night isn’t it Mr. Dickens?”
“Yes it is, I love to come here for a little peace and solitude whenever I can, usually by myself, of course.”
“Of course Mr. Dickens, I understand completely. I’ve come here for the same reasons myself in the past. Mind if I share a little of that peace and solitude with you?”
“Of course not, this all belongs to the Masters Family anyway, and we’ve been directed by the edicts of the Order and the directives of the Master to be courteous to, and to provide entertainment for all visiting staff.”
“Ah yes, and you always follow your orders to the letter, don’t you? So Mr. Dickens, how do you think the party will go tonight?”
“It will be perfect, it always is. I make sure of that.”
“Yes you do, don’t you Mr. Dickens. But you’re not there tonight are you? Perhaps things won’t go as smoothly as they would with you there, you never know. Really they should have you there, they might need someone of your abilities to run the show. I’ve looked over your personal files and you’re a very intelligent and capable man, the equal of any of the families members in my opinion.”
“Please Mr. Smyth you must not make such comparisons, it is against the edicts of the Order to have such thoughts abut ourselves. Besides I could never place myself in the same class as Mr. Busgates.”
“You’re quite the loyalist for your master aren’t you?”
“Of course I am, that’s my position in life. Aren’t you loyal to Lady Dianna, Mr. Smyth?”
“It’s just us out here, you can call me Bob Mr. Dickens, and may I call you by your first name, James isn’t it?”
“Yes to both questions, Bob.”
“Am I loyal to my lady and content with my life? Of course Mr. Dickens, of course. Still there are some things that one could want that might intrude on that contentment a little, such is the nature of the human condition.”
“You speak of wanting things you don’t have, but we have everything we need, our Families see to that Bob.”
“Our Families see to that? Well of course they do, I have no real material needs James, still.” his voice trailed off.
We sat there in an uneasy silence for a few minuets, both of us looking at the sunset and listening to the party off in the distance.
“Tell me James, do you ever wish you could go to the party as a member of the Families, not as a servant? Do you ever wonder what goes on there after the servants leave the party for the night?”
“Of course not. That isn’t my place in life, to desire to live the lives of the Families. They are the cream of civilization, and they rescued our ancestors from extinction with miracles provided by the Almighty, and of course their doctors and biotechnology played a key role too. I’m content to serve their wants and needs. I know my place, and we are all well paid and live a comfortable life. Besides without their willingness and ability to clone us, we couldn’t exist, we would all perish.”
“Some would say that they get everything they could possibly want, while we get just what we need, and that isn’t to fair James. What do you think of that?”
“You sound as though you’re not content with your life Bob, have you talked to your mistress about this?”
No, no, I would never intrude on the Mistress Dianna about such musings, still I wonder how things got this way, don’t you?”
“Don’t be ludicrous, surely you’ve studied the history, and have read how the rise of the Families brought us to the Almighty, with peace, sufficient material needs for all, and contentment with the world the result.”
“Ah yes history, history as taught to us by the Families. Do you ever wonder if perhaps there are some errors in the history books James, some events that got lost or perhaps incorrectly rendered?”
“Are you disputing the veracity of the Families history? History is my passion man, and I know it well!”
“You do, do you? Well tell me how the Families came to such prominence, do you know that history?”
“Of course, they were the favored of the Almighty, and a natural result of the good breeding that went on between the Families. Before they removed the decayed remains of what was left of the old world powers and replaced them with themselves; the world was chaos, with wars and religious conflicts, rampant disease, material shortages and overpopulation destroying the planet. They came to the rescue of the entire planet with the help and blessings of the Almighty, and now there is order and contentment, and everyone is in their rightful place.”
“I question if that’s the true history of the world James. I speculate on what the world would be like without the Families owning and controlling everything. I wonder about the prominence of the word ‘order’ within the Order we all serve so slavishly. Its just a couple of philosophical questions, no need to get too excited James.”
“We had a world without the Families in control Bob, and humanity was almost wiped out as a result, don’t you remember the history lessons? ”
“Yes, I’ve been indoctrinated with the Families history files in conformity class as a child growing up James, we all have. I’ve also read some other files as I got older, an alternative accounting of history in their files that the Families don’t allow us to see. I have copies here in my laptop, and they tell a different story, a story of greed, the lust for wealth and power, and how the Families conspired to wipe out most of humanity, leaving only themselves and us, their faithful servants to serve them.”
“What nonsense Bob. If what you say were true, they could have just wiped us out too, and had the Bots serve their needs. They do consume fewer resources than we do, and their obedience to the Families is total. What you say makes no sense at all. They saved us because they were following the will of the Almighty.”
“Yes they could have wiped us out, but the Bots aren’t human, they have no capacity for free will. Perhaps it gives the Families no pleasure to have dominion over machines, where’s the triumph in that? Perhaps they want to have real people to control, to make themselves feel superior to, and for that they need the servant class. Plus we buy their material goods for ourselves. We’re a captive market being exploited by the Families. They give lip service to the teachings of the Almighty, but they do nothing that doesn’t bring them profit.”
“This blasphemy is intolerable Bob, please leave before I have to report your disloyalty to the security Bots.”
“How would you do that James, they’re all at the party, and we both know your young Master gave strict orders not to disturb the Bots or anyone there. So just sit back and relax, I’ve got a tale to tell you.”
As he said that he reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of wine, and a small black object, somewhat obscured in his other hand. He drank a few swallows of wine and winked at me.
“My Almighty man, you’ve got a bottle of Mr. Busgates Jonestown rose’! This is thievery and I won’t tolerate it!”
“You see the wine James, do you see what’s in my other hand?”
“Is that a. gun? Where did you get a gun? You know we are forbidden to touch them.”
“I stole it from my ladies collection, she won’t be needing it anymore anyway. It’s powerful and very quite, see.”
He pointed it at my head and pulled the trigger. A quite pop, a flash from the barrel and a loud thwack in the wood railing next to my head told me what I needed to know, the gun was real, and Smyth was mad.
“What do you think you’ll achieve out here Bob? Killing me will get you nothing, your life is over now whether I live or not. There may be no security Bots here, but the security cameras have surely recorded what you did.”
“Yea, I’m sure I’ve been recorded by now, and my life is indeed over. But kill you James, that’s the farthest thing from my mind. I might have to shoot you a few times if you resist though, and you know you wouldn’t like that, so be cool. If you don’t want to get shot, just listen to what I have to say. I just want to give you some of the evidence about what is really going on with the Families, a real history lesson James. If by the end of it you don’t agree with me, I’ll give you the gun and surrender to you. I give you my word as a gentleman. Besides if you can keep me talking long enough, a security Bot is sure to come by eventually.”
“I’ll take your word sir, go on.”
“The history of the world the Families tell us is false, it’s one they made up to pacify us. They didn’t rescue us from extinction. In fact they conspired with each other to destroy humanity with Bio weapons because they couldn’t control the entire human race. Then they resurrected us from human tissue samples as obedient clone/slaves to serve them and to be the captive marketplace for their goods and services. We are programmed from birth to believe we are placed here by the Almighty to serve him, the Order and the Families and their needs, and the Families are here to protect us from ourselves. Have you ever noticed that they treat us like pampered cattle? They are responsible for wiping out most of humanity so they could own all the world’s wealth and control everything. They pay allegiance to the Almighty, but GREED is their real God.”
“The Bots have sophisticated A/I programs, and though capable of human like behavior, they couldn’t perform the one function that the Families craved, their desire to be served by and to control people with the capacity for free will just like they had. That dominance over real people was the ultimate mark of superiority that they craved, though they deny it of course. No matter how sophisticatedly they designed the Bots A/I programs, how human like their images became, or how strong or smart they got, they were still just machines that had no free will of their own. No, they wanted us to look after them and give them the illusion that they were looking after us, when in reality they were just in psychological need of real people to feel superior to and to serve them. Plus they needed us as the marketplace for their goods and services. We are the perfect servants, sexually sterile, subservient to the Almighty, the Order and the Families, and genetically bound to please our masters, as would be our children, throughout time immortal. They use the religion of the One World Order of the Almighty as a tool to control us, just as religion has always been used by some people to control other people and their behavior. And still their lives are hollow and empty of real meaning, as your young Master has demonstrated with this latest spiritual journey to oblivion he has embarked on, taking all the Families members with him.”
“You’re drunk Bob and spouting nonsense. I have faith that whatever the young Master is doing, he is doing the right thing. He would never do anything to harm the families or us, that would be contrary to the teachings of the Almighty and the Order, as well as his Family.”
“Really? Most of the Families members don’t really believe in any higher power. You will see files and records of how the Families created the myth of the Almighty, following an old religious tradition of religion being used by those seeking to gain material wealth, and hold power and control over others. They believe in using the myth of the Almighty and the dogma of the Order to exert control over their own family members and us. Most of the Families members know what is going on, but they play along. Greed and the lust for power is the real god and religion they believe in, and it’s been a prime motivational factor behind most religious movements throughout history. Those that seek to exert control over people to gain the usual; money, power and influence for themselves, have always used religion as a tool to accomplish that goal. It’s very functional that way, obey the Almighty, the Order and the Families and go to Paradise, disobey them and go to Hell. Religion is the ultimate reward/punishment system in action.”
But enough history, you can read all you want later on. Now we must talk about your young Master and what he’s done. I have proof he is a fanatical follower of the extreme right wing of the upper house of the Order of the Almighty, and is going to poison all the Families members at the party tonight. By now in fact it has been done, as you will soon be able to see for yourself. I have files from his computer diary in my laptop here detailing his plans and clearly displaying his greed and dementia at the same time. Now that he and the rest of the Families members are dead or dying, you’ll be able to explore every Families computer yourself and understand how corrupt they all really were. In fact your young Master poisoned his father with a glass of his Jonestown wine this morning, that’s why your Master was found floating face down in the bay. His son had a revelation in another dream, a revelation that the Almighty would give him and the flock he brought with him to the rapture, everlasting life in a paradise on earth. His delusional dreams told him the Almighty would chose him to be the supreme leader if he brought all their spirits to the Almighty tonight. But he needed to get his wine into the communion service, and he needed to get his father out of the way so he’d have the power to change the wine. Consequently he gave him a sample glass of the wine, and his father ended up floating out of the way. Your young Master was insane, just like so many cult leaders have been throughout history. He wrote it all down in his computer diary, as you will be able to see for yourself. He’s not the messenger of the Almighty, he’s just another in a long line of lunatic religious zealots, but he believes has the directives from the Almighty, and the will and means to take everyone within the Families, including himself, to the rapture. It’s ironic that the religion they use to help control us, ends up being used as a tool in the killing of all of them by one of their own. All sparked by their own greed and vanity taken to its illogical conclusion. He’s sent them on a journey they will never come back from. Let me salute them with another drink of his Jonestown wine. Ugh! I’ve got to tell you James this wine tastes like bad kool aid, good thing you don’t drink,” He said as he finished the bottle.
“You know James I thought at first I could live with my part of this, but as the plot unfolded from a madman’s scheme into reality, I found I can’t go on. I know my weaknesses only to well, the power would corrupt me, and besides there’s too much blood on my hands now. The thought of my part in this has been driving me crazy. You see James, I’ve had access to my ladies computer for some time now, and I’ve learned a lot about the Families and how they operate. I even managed to hack into several of the other Families computers through hers, including your young Master’s computer. It was there that I read his diary, found out his delusional plan to serve the poisoned wine at the communion and bring on the rapture. He knew that everyone would have to drink a glass in a toast to the Order of the Almighty, as is required by the scriptures. Unlike his father, your young Master really believed in the existence of the Almighty and that he was talking to him in his dreams. I saw what was coming, could have stopped it, and I did nothing. I felt that they were evil people who deserved to be removed from power, and I’d be able to live with it. But I was wrong. Now that knowledge is like a great weight crushing me, so I’ve followed your young Master and the Families into oblivion myself. But I can’t let the rest of humanity pass into oblivion, we deserve a break, so I give you the task of resurrecting us. In this laptop are all the codes you need to open the files on the real history of the world, as well as all the other educational materials and information you’ll need. It also has the codes to start the cloning process, and bring back fertile clones of all of us, even the Families clones. I’ve deleted the database for the Families resurrection programs, so there will be no replanting of their memories and resurrection of the Families members as in the past. This time they will come into the world just like the rest of us, knowing nothing but what you teach them, and they will succeed or fail based on their own abilities, not be guarantied a life of wealth and luxury because of their birth right. Good luck James, you’re the leader now. You’re an intelligent, kind and dependable man, a man who will have considerable knowledge of the world soon, as well as a man of moderation. It’s an unusual combination and will serve you well in this task I do believe. You won’t let the power that you find yourself holding control you, something that I know I’d have trouble resisting, for I lack many of your virtues. You hold the future of humanity in your hands. Leave greed and the authoritarian structures of the past in the past. Learn about democracy and the other worthwhile social structures that the Families destroyed in their desire to control everything. You are in charge of it all now James, do the right thing and give humanity a fresh start. In the end we servants were just as good as any of the Families members, as you will see as you and the rest of the staff raise the next generation. Some of my staff knows what I do and will help you. Do a good job James, the future of humanity depends on it.”
As he spoke his last words, the gun and bottle of wine slipped out of his hands and fell to the deck. He lay back in the lounge chair and took a few shallow gasps of air, and then he was gone. I ran to the main lodge and found out that what Bob had said was true, all the Families members were dead in the great banquet hall. The Bots were milling around and frantically asking me what they should do. Mr. Smyth had left me with the fate of humanity in my hands, just as he’d said. I just hoped I was as equal to the task as he had believed, and I could do the right things. One thing for sure, the time for action was now. There was a lot of work to be done, and it was time to get the staff together and get started.