The Rise of Walsanto (Self-Inflicted Series Book 1) Read online

  There was quite a murmur around the room at that statement.

  “Alright,” said the President. “This is going to change some things. I want to hear initial thoughts from each of you on what they are, and how they affect us. When we leave here today, we will all have assignments based on what comes out of this discussion.” He turned his gaze towards the Secretary of Agriculture, Charles Blayton.

  Leaning back in his chair, Blayton said; “First and foremost, the Chinese cannot be allowed to control the world’s food supply, no matter what. We know that already, by sheer size, they provide more food to the world’s mouths than any other country. Let’s face it; they have more farmers than we have people. We know that they have zero respect for patents or the intellectual property of others, but this is no matter of International Law. We’re talking about total food supply dominance here.

  “Look at it like this; the use of this technology more than quadruples the growth potential for any plant it is applied to. In a perfect world, this would simply mean four times as much food for everyone. That’s not the way the Chinese would play it though. This would allow them to sell rice four times cheaper than they already do, leaving us no choice but to either subsidize rice farmers here tremendously, or allow them to all go bankrupt. Then, they would apply that tactic to the next crop, and the next crop, until they quite literally are the world’s sole food supplier, and there are no American farmers!”

  The room was silent for just a little too long. Wide eyes looked left and right. Could it be? This sounded almost like a strategy of war! A down and dirty, no shots fired kind of war. The nation that controlled the world’s food supply would be able to crash the economies of most of the rest of the nations, simply by pricing staples so low that it would be financially ridiculous for anyone else to produce their own food. Once that happened, and everyone was relying on said nation for human food, animal feed, etc., then they could raise prices so fast that no one could keep up. Economic warfare would be, for the first time, a potential threat not by the devaluation of the dollar or the manipulation of oil prices, but by food prices!

  The Director of Homeland Security, Dennis Scott spoke; “It’s definitely not in anyone’s best interest for us to get into a shooting war with China. While we will no doubt have to consider this an act of war, this calls for quite a non-traditional response. What we do next must be carefully thought out. This absolutely will change the world.”

  Again, there was an uncomfortable silence. The Secretary of Treasury, Paul Langdon spoke next; “The Chinese have stretched their necks out for years to create a trade imbalance between us by manipulating their currency lower, so they can export their goods more cheaply through our largest distribution system, Walters Department Stores. Perhaps it’s time that we turned that around on them.”

  “What do you mean Paul?” asked the President.

  “Well, it’s just a partially formed idea at the moment, but what if we labeled yesterday’s attacks as acts of terrorism of unknown origin aimed at crippling key food supply developments of the United States, instead of telling what we know?

  “A Federal financial rescue and military protection of Grymsanto could then be used to rebuild, strengthen and further develop the intellectual and physical properties destroyed by the terrorists yesterday. If we spin this correctly, the American people will rally together as never before to help us defeat this unknown enemy.”

  “What does any of that have to do with Walters Department Stores?” asked the President.

  “Well, we’ve been looking for a long time for a way to reverse this trade imbalance in an acceptable way to the do-gooders. One of our people has contrived quite an elaborate plan that involves nationalizing Walters so we can control the money flowing back to its biggest supply source. We understand that it flies in the face of the International Trade Law article to do such a thing, but actually the United States is the only country that has never done it. Maybe we’ve just been handed the perfect excuse for such a move though.

  “There is also evidence that the Chinese are on the verge of cornering enough of the world’s gold to put the Yuan on the ‘gold standard’ in attempts of making it the reserve currency of the world. That effectively destroys the United States’ monetary system because we couldn’t ‘print’ any more dollars, but it wouldn’t erase our debt to China. Basically, they could then put liens on and repossess U.S. Federal properties and assets to repay the debt owed them, according to international law.

  “It’s time to fight fire with fire and damn the consequences. We need to make the decision to provide the means for Grymsanto to recover from this and succeed with what they were doing, no matter what it takes. Funding, resources, barriers removed, anything. This is not about ethics. If we don’t do this, the Chinese will own us.”

  All eyes turned back to the President.

  “I see,” he said. “There’s NO WAY we let that happen, but there’s also no way we nationalize Walters like we’re Venezuela or North Korea either. There has to be another solution.”

  “What if a hostile takeover was initiated by Grymsanto to acquire Walters for its world-wide sales and distribution network for Grymsanto’s products?” Paul asked.

  “You do realize that you’re talking about a $300 billion dollar price tag, right Paul?” asked Carl Johnson, the Chief of Staff. “Who in their right mind would loan Grymsanto five times their entire market cap to do that, and why would they want to?”

  “We did it for the auto industry Carl, with much less at stake,” Paul replied flatly.

  The President spoke up again. “There’s only one option for writing a check that big, guys. That would require the help of the Federal Reserve.”

  “There’s another thing that we need to talk about here,” added Dennis Scott (DHS). The dead terrorists were all Chinese military. All of them had this strange, gray/green smooth skin. The smaller men had cat-like features and eyes. The two huge men had ape-like features. Both were physically and proportionally superior and stronger than normal men. And… they were only about 75% human. It appears that the smaller men have the genetic markers of one of the great cats. As in a leopard! The larger men have genetic markers of a great ape, specifically, a gorilla. This can only mean that the Chinese have also experimented on humans with the same genetic modification technique that they have used on their rice plants to achieve this. No doubt that it is intended to build a physically superior soldier. In short, the Chinese have taken the lead with the super soldier. We’re talking about Genetic Transhumanism!”

  “Trans-what?” demanded the President.

  “Transhumanism has been discussed in theory for forever,” Dennis Scott replied. “The search for the fountain of youth to achieve immortality was an attempt at Transhumanism. The changing of the physical limitations of man through some means is an attempt at Transhumanism.

  “As computers and computing networks began doubling in capabilities every 18 months, it was thought that eventually man would figure out how to ‘plug-himself-in’ and ‘download’ the knowledge to do things. Download. Install. Bam! I know how to speak Russian. Like that.

  “Then, when we cracked genetic decoding and learned how to splice genes like Grymsanto has done, it was thought that we could discover what caused aging in people. Download. Install. Bam! Now we can live forever. Not strong enough, or agile enough? Splice in some gorilla or leopard genes. Bam! We’re super-fast, super-agile, and super-strong, plus we can see in the dark. That’s Transhumanism. It goes much deeper, but that’s the gist of it.”

  “And all this is for real?” asked the President. “Not some crazy theory, but real stuff?”

  “You betcha,” said Dennis. “It already exists. It has, since around 2012.”

  Now the room got extremely quiet.

  “We’re gonna need help from the military and from DARPA then,” the President said. “Whether or not it’s morally right for us to tinker with what God has created is off the table now. If we don’t tak
e the lead here, our enemies will, and that’ll be the end of life as we know it now.

  “I’m going to need a new senior advisor to oversee the development of whatever we’re going to call this. A Food Czar perhaps. That person will have to work hand in hand with Paul and the Treasury people and also with the Federal Reserve people. That person will report directly to me, however.

  “Damn! We’re only talking about changing our food, our financial system, our bodies and perhaps our souls forever. Do animals have souls? God help us, what are we doing?”

  “Sir?” interrupted the Secretary of Agriculture. “Might not that be a position best handled within my team?”

  “During normal times, that would probably be true Charles. I’m sure that the very near future is going to be anything but normal for us, and I’m not at all sure where this will go. I’m thinking a new position, very vaguely defined, is what will be needed in this case. One man, able to cross any lines, escape the burden of bureaucracy, with only one boss to please, will be more effective for this.”

  “Yes sir, of course, sir,” replied Charles. “You mentioned DARPA, Mr. President. May I ask what your thoughts are there?”

  “Sure, Charles. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is responsible for the development of new technologies for use by our military and/or to create technological surprise for our enemies. Since this seems to be about technology that makes food a weapon of war, it seems totally logical to me that DARPA’s full focus, and their full funding should be directly concentrated on making Grymsanto the victor in this race for food dominance. Does anyone here disagree with that thought?” the President asked while looking around the room. Heads only shook.

  “Ah! Brilliant sir,” said Charles. “And the military, sir?”

  “If I can interject here?” asked Dennis Scott. “It seems that the National Guard would be best suited to provide Grymsanto with security from further terrorist attack while working on interests of National Security.”

  “That is exactly what I have in mind,” agreed President James. “That’s in your ballpark Dennis. Identifying other Grymsanto locations that may be of interest to the terrorists and defending them before anything else happens.”

  “Yes sir, it is!”

  “Paul,” continued the President, “Let’s get a feel for what it’ll take financially to make your idea happen and get ready to do it on short notice. I’ll make sure the Fed knows you’re coming and that it’s of the utmost importance,” he nodded to his Chief of Staff, who acknowledged with a nod.

  “Charles, we’ll need you to prepare for a meeting with Grymsanto to find out what DARPA needs to do to “assist” them in this endeavor after they are brought up to speed on their new-found agenda. Look for any potential roadblocks that might get in the way of this effort from the agricultural standpoint. Handle what you can. Let Carl know of any that you’ll need help with,” again making eye contact with his Chief of Staff and getting that almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgement.

  “Dorothy, please work with Charles and DHS to identify requirements for land suitable for Grymsanto’s testing adjacent to military installations, so they can be efficiently defended. Think big. Scale to whatever Charles deems necessary.” Then, looking around the room, “Remember, we have to think in terms of food being a weapon now. This is going to be strange.”

  “Sir,” replied Dorothy. “I believe that that may very well have already been done for us. We have multiple FEMA / prolonged detention facilities established in every State with provisions for guarding and supplying them with that State’s National Guard, already in place. The ones with the most suitable land would be easy enough to identify. Would that suit your purposes?”

  “That’d be perfect, Dorothy. I didn’t think of that. Good call. That’s what we have to do now gentlemen and lady. Think of roadblocks before we get to them and remove them. I don’t want any surprises. Let’s keep this quiet and let’s get it done. Whatever it takes. There’s way too much at stake to even be concerned if this is remotely politically or morally correct. If anyone catches on and makes any stink over this, consider them an enemy of State and detain them immediately. No fooling around.”

  Chapter 3

  Little Rock, AR

  The following week

  Grymsanto headquarters site

  President James flew out to the Grymsanto site the following week. All the way there on Air Force One his mind wrestled with what his advisory team proposed doing, effectively nationalizing Grymsanto and Walters Department Stores, while making it look “technically” legitimate. It just didn’t feel right to him. Never before had the United States government owned and operated a for profit business on such a scale that competed directly with other privately owned concerns. By law, they weren’t supposed to. During the economic crisis of 2008 they had tread the closest ever, while bailing out certain auto companies, banks and insurance concerns. This would be much larger than any of those had been, and more obviously significant. This would impact the entire world, and some of the world would not be happy about it. He labored over what the right call was nearly every spare moment since hearing the proposal. When he closed his eyes at night, this topic dominated his mind. Every night.

  Upon landing, his motorcade headed directly to the ruined Grymsanto headquarters and research site. He told himself that here, he could get this decision off of his mind for a little while. He was wrong. The area was now secure, with National Guard on site. Surrounded by his secret service agents, President James walked among the collection of employees and contractors as they sifted through the wreckage of the building’s contents, or what was left of them, under huge tents that had been erected to keep the elements at bay. He stopped and spoke quietly with nearly all of them one by one, assuring them that their work was important to the future of America, and that the American people would stand behind them while they rebuilt after this devastating loss. In the back of his mind, with each person that he spoke to, was the fact that this person was in this spot, right here, right now, because of that attack. Each of them was a victim of whatever Chinese group had committed that cowardly crime.

  He toured the ruins of the research building just behind the tents. Most of the front of the building that had housed the offices and computers lay in a heap of broken brick, broken glass, twisted pipes and wires, and charred furnishings. All of it was totally ruined. Fortunately, their IT staff had planned well. All of the data on their computers had always been backed up in real time as soon as it was entered, onto the cloud drive they leased from Google. While virtually no data was lost, the human toll was terrible. Nearly 500 people had lost their lives, and nearly that many again were injured. Random images of death and destruction ran through his mind and gave him chills, probably things he had seen concerning the 9-11 attack. He began to feel a sense of guilt, which soon switched over to one of anger. As tough a man as he was, this really had an impact on him. This had happened on his watch. There was absolutely no way that he could have predicted it or prevented it, but he still felt responsible for it. One thing became certain in his mind, seeing what he had just seen on this little tour, was a steel-like resolve to beat those terrorist bastards at their own game.

  Immediately after the tour, amid much media coverage, President James made a strong, passionate speech to a large gathering of people, as well as for the news media’s cameras back under those same tents as earlier, promising to bring to justice whomever was behind this crime that nobody was claiming.

  “We will not be terrorized by those that seek to destroy our nation and our way of life,” he said in opening, in front of the cheering crowd. “Last week, enemies of the people of the United States committed terrible acts that took the lives of our friends and neighbors right on this ground. To this date, we do not know who they are, nor has any group yet laid claim to these atrocities. They think that they can stop your creativity. They think that they can prevent your ingenuity. They seek to break the spirit of yo
u good people here and chase you away with fear so that your research here will stop. Well, I’m here to tell them, right here and right now,” he said, pointing his finger right into the nearest camera, “we will not stop! Americans do not quit. You will not defeat us. What you have done here is make us mad. Mark my word, just like Bin Laden, we will hunt you down, and you will be brought to justice for this!”

  Everyone under the tents exploded into applause, as did people watching wherever they happened to be. In homes, in sports bars, barber shops and department stores with television displays, people stopped and clapped their hands.

  The next day, in spite of the President’s moving speech and the apparent support of the people, the price of Grymsanto stock (GRYM) continued to tumble. Speculators in the company continued to pull their money out, which they had been steadily doing since news of the attack had hit the wires. Private and institutional holders, both foreign and domestic sold their shares for pennies on the dollar. Grymsanto secured an emergency line of credit from an undisclosed lender (the Federal Reserve) and repurchased all shares offered for sale. These were held in escrow by an agent of the lender (the U.S. Treasury Dept.) pending the ruling of insurance companies and the lawsuits that were sure to follow. That move kept Grymsanto operating and out of bankruptcy court.

  Over the next weeks, critical staff positions vacated by those killed in the attack were filled by members of the staff of the Department of Agriculture, who worked side-by-side with staffing from DARPA, to replace key researchers that had been lost. Inventories of everything remaining were done as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Everything was loaded into unmarked semi-trailers, which promptly left the site under heavy guard. By the end of the month the site had been totally cleaned up and all that remained was a level piece of land with fresh topsoil and grass seed where the building and the parking lot had been.