Ascent of the Aliomenti (31 page)

“What if they fail, though?” Adam asked.

Will shrugged. “That’s always a risk. But again, think about this: the people most likely to fail are those who would only be thinking about the money they’ll have to spend. The people who will succeed will be those looking at the money as the way to get started on something great. The first group will probably not like the repayment required, whether it’s a loan or a purchase of profits. The latter will see it as a fair arrangement. We have the ability to understand the type of person, because we can read through any disguise or trickery.” He paused. “Think about what this could do down the road many years, for people who might live several centuries. Eventually, you’ll start to collect so much money from these arrangements that you won’t need to produce new goods yourself; you’ll be able to buy everything you need with ease, and in the process help
others
become wealthy. And again, yes, some will fail, but not all of them will. You’ll make enough from the ones who don’t to more than make up for the loss of money from those who do.”

“I’ll have to think about this one, Will,” Arthur replied. “This is very complicated, all of this money lending and this buying of profits from people ahead of time. It’s confusing and I need time to think about it.”

Will smiled. “Think about it all you want, Arthur. Meanwhile, I’ll be talking to others in the outposts, and I’m guessing that there will be a few interested in participating.” He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Arthur said. “I haven’t told you my opinion on whether you should do this!”

Will laughed. “We’ve had this conversation before, Arthur. I neither need nor want your opinion. Nor do I need your permission. I have more money than I can spend, and I’d rather do
something
with it than have it sit around doing nothing. And if I do this right? I may never run out of money anyway.”

This time he left, ignoring Arthur’s further protestations. But Will realized that the long-ago exhortation on his diary, one that said he should to apply twenty-first century problem-solving to issues, wasn’t limited to thinking about running water or heated rooms. It was also meant to direct them on what to do with the fortunes they were amassing over the decades. He’d still be collecting a fortune, but he’d do it
his
way, by helping others to do the same.

It wasn’t something the Aliomenti came to naturally. They saw threats in every person, saw every
human
as one who’d expose their secrets and end their “game.” But it wasn’t a game. Will realized that the Aliomenti had an opportunity like no group in history to impact the entire world in a powerful, positive way. Will intended to do just that.

And if Arthur didn’t want to participate?

So much the better.

XXIV

Island

1250 A.D.

One hundred years later.

Will pulled out a piece of paper and started sketching ideas for his new home.

It was nothing like any home he’d seen owned or lived in before, and it was unlikely anyone in this era would think to build something like it. He was applying memories built in the twenty-first century to the present, and those memories included technological advances that wouldn’t be part of the general consciousness for centuries.

He had plenty of income and plenty of spare time. As he’d predicted, there were plenty of Aliomenti interested in his “money sharing” idea, where they’d provided the money and the other party the talent and time, and together money would be made that would be shared by all. They’d had some failures. Not every venture succeeded, and as Arthur had worried, not every successful venture owner paid them as initially agreed. People could and did change over time, in ways that not even the Aliomenti could accurately detect and predict. Some became upset with the arrangement and fled. Others became enamored with their sudden influx of wealth, and lost their desire to build what they’d originally planned to build. They changed, and the investments were lost.

Some, including Arthur, wanted to go after those who didn’t pay up. Will elected not to worry. “The word of what they’ve done will precede and follow them, and everywhere people will find that they are not one whose word can be trusted. That will cause them all manner of worry and concern, and they’ll realize the error of their ways. They may elect, after the fact, to come clean and make good on what they owe. They may not. But I for one do not want to get into the business of chasing people down.”

Not everyone agreed with Will, and several
humans
had been found dead after defaulting on an agreement with a member of the Aliomenti. That incensed Will as well. “Life is too precious to eliminate over a dispute over money. Talk to them. Persuade them to do right. But do not take their lives in lieu of money. You still get nothing that way.”

Some of the Aliomenti, though, began to develop a habit of bullying humans. While most did not resort to killing, many thought it great sport to leverage their abilities to make humans squirm in discomfort. They’d force the victims to forget their names, to say things that would cause public humiliation, or to agree to terms on deals they had no reason to partake in.

Arthur found this type of activity “rewarding” and “a means of enforcing just how unique and special we are.” Will found their attitudes and behaviors revolting.

Their numbers and locations continued to grow, but they’d had their first few defections. Will wasn’t surprised by the defections of those who wanted to have children and were willing to forego immortality to do so; he’d warned Arthur and Adam that immortality wouldn’t be the greatest gift they could give everyone. What surprised him were those who left after learning of the Energy skills that provided the Aliomenti with their incredible records of success in business dealings.

It was a case of people seeing the reality of what Energy enabled the Aliomenti to do, and believing that it was witchcraft or the work of the devil. No amount of protestation to the contrary could change their minds.

Will wanted to be surprised, but he found that difficult. He, too, would have once thought of Energy skills as the stuff of magic and sorcery. Even after the innate abilities within him had been unlocked, even after he began to develop them, he still wondered if it was a form of magic and he simply wasn’t seeing the reality. He’d long since changed his mind, and had his opinions reinforced after two centuries of living. But his own experiences enabled him to understand why so many elected to go elsewhere.

The vast majority who wished to leave were honest, openly expressed their concerns and desire to withdraw, and accepted the terms of their departure. Those departures went smoothly; they’d talk to the emigrants while simultaneously working to erase their memories of the true nature of the Aliomenti. They’d leave knowing nothing of Energy, merely with the reinforced opinion that the Aliomenti crafters and investors were exceptional talents at their respective crafts.

While the departures occurred and new recruits joined,Will, who had been wildly successful, whose wealth was, proportionally, starting to approach what he’d left behind in the twenty-first century, was growing restless with life among the Aliomenti.

Much of that was driven by the fact that he’d not seen Hope in person in so long. She continued to send gifts, indicators of where she’d traveled, gifts that showed she’d visited much of the known world. She’d checked in telepathically on an infrequent basis, but the conversations were brief. He still felt a sense of betrayal at her departure, an impression she knew she could not overcome. When their conversations ended, Will felt worse than when they’d started.

He needed a major project, something to keep his mind off his pain, the sense of gloom he felt. It needed to be something far more challenging than a water wheel or a gear system, though, and something he’d do entirely on his own. He had a substantial amount of money hidden in vaults spread throughout most of Europe, along with a significant amount of free time. He therefore decided to try to build something impossible in this era, a new home to last him for centuries. The project would serve as the ultimate challenge and distraction, a way to keep his focus as he sought to survive mentally the looming centuries stretching out into the distance. It would be something the world had never seen before.

A submarine.

It was something that others would never understand, a boat that could sink under the waves
intentionally
, could propel itself without wind or oars, and which could return to the surface at the direction of its pilot with all occupants unharmed. He’d suggested concepts relating to modern banking and, as it related to stock, modern corporations. He’d shown the Aliomenti how to use gears and how to harness the power of wind and water to make the gears turn, and they had learned how to use those concepts, along with the powers of perception they enjoyed through their Energy, to become phenomenally wealthy.

Somehow, though, he knew that the concept of an underwater boat would be impossible for them to conceptualize. Everything else he’d suggested was something they could fathom; gears were merely wheels with some enhancements, for example. A boat that could propel itself underwater combined too many evolutionary leaps and concepts to handle all at once.

It was a project, therefore, that he worked on in secret. The biggest challenge for him would be the propulsion system. He still had his nanos, and the swarm of tiny machines remained in operation to this day, over two centuries after he’d received them. He didn’t think it a practical choice to use them for propulsion, though. He preferred to conserve the nanos for use inside the boat on an as-needed basis. The craft needed to be built of standard, non-nano materials, not because he
couldn’t
build it with nanos, but because he
chose
not to do so, a means of increasing the challenge of the project.

He wanted the craft to become his private home, a place where he could live and a means to travel without anyone – human or Aliomenti – following him. One day, he hoped, he’d be able to bring Hope aboard the craft, and together they’d travel under the sea, exploring a part of the planet largely unknown even in his own original time.

He wanted to build the craft because he needed to try to truly
accomplish
something, to do something where he didn’t know the outcome ahead of time, where failure was a real possibility.

Everything else he’d accomplished since being sent back in time, everything else he’d built and created and taught, was due to the knowledge he had from having an additional millennium of human experience at his disposal. He’d accomplished them personally in the future, or used concepts he knew well enough to work out the details and specifics quickly. As a result, he’d reached the pinnacle of achievement within the Aliomenti community. While he suffered bouts of sadness or boredom, as did many members of the Century Club – Aliomenti who’d lived at least one hundred years – he did not look at his life with a dread that pushed him to the point of suicide, as so many did. Instead, he sought out a new challenge, a new project, and found that such challenge invigorated him. Perhaps, one day, he wouldn’t be able to use that approach to motivate himself, and he’d be unable to go on without intervention by Hope, but that day had not yet arrived. He did not know when he, the elder Will, would see her again, and had no indication that he ever would. There was no history or indication from his long-dormant diary to tell him whether they’d reunited, or whether he’d next see her as she met his much younger self in the diner outside the city of Pleasanton, Ohio. Would she leave him alone that long? He shook the thought from his mind.

The technical challenge of the submarine would give his mind a long-term, complex problem to solve, one that would help him push the boundaries of technology in this era. He envisioned a modern submarine, with its own navigation system, autopilot, and air purification systems. The amount of work he’d need to do was staggering, given that none of the technologies or materials he’d need to complete the project yet existed. He’d need to invent all of them.

Will had made no progress on the ambrosia fruit, having resigned himself to the reality that he needed to encourage a level of technical innovation conducive to cellular research. He’d offered random thoughts wondering what properly shaped glass might do with light if there was no reflective background to show a reflection. Anna and Sarah, sisters who lived in the southeastern English outpost known as Watt, had started working on the idea, and had already recognized that the lenses gave them the ability to manipulate light. When those lenses were properly shaped, distant objects looked larger. The women were eager to discover the many practical uses of the “new” technology. Will was likewise eager to discover advances in engine and propulsion technology he could use in his submarine. The allure of advances never failed to motivate even the most despondent of souls.

His construction efforts were based on an island he lived on during his “vacations,” a spot he’d never told another of the Aliomenti about. He’d flown over the Atlantic on many occasions, and located the small island after several months of scanning the seemingly endless waves. It was a perfect spot, with fresh water, sufficient elevation to ensure that he and his projects would remain dry during even the most intense storms, and adequate vegetation for fresh fruits and vegetables. He could fish from his boat in the small river that bisected the island before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.