NEW WORLD TRILOGY (Trilogy Title) (31 page)

Henry and his colleagues and competitors in the synthetic oil industry were particularly perplexed by this as peak oil had already long-since occurred and crude oil had increasingly been confined to a niche market, and any long-term aspiration to maintain a stable and large share of the oil requirements of the world were fanciful; nevertheless, dealing with the death throes of the crude oil industry was something that they had to take seriously as there was obviously so much at stake, at least in the short-term.

Being the CEO of the largest synthetic oil company, SynOTex, and the president of the International Synthetic Oil Association (ISOA), Henry was the primary target for the international scare campaign, which included character assassination: certain media outlets initially gave Henry the pejorative moniker ‘Henry 38’ because of the thirty-eight countries affected during the crisis.  This was soon elaborated on, and it was less than subtly ‘revealed’ that he was already known by this name and that it had originally arisen from a suspicious body count totalling 38 that had piled up in the early stages of the development of his company — evidently, these apparent victims were those who had stood in the way of his ‘megalomaniacal desire for power’ and were thus ‘taken care of’ by Henry personally, or by a number of international hit men.  Although the intimation was clear, the specifics were never disclosed publicly, nor did they need to be: the ‘revelation’ into his character went viral.  Further, it was claimed that an investigation was still being actively pursued by the FBI and that informants had suggested that the case was coming to a conclusion and that an arrest warrant was about to be acquired; nothing ever eventuated from this, though, and officials neither confirmed nor denied any investigation had ever been undertaken into Henry’s reputation and alleged past actions.

The extent of the campaign against synthetic oil and Henry was so pervasive and powerful internationally that it looked like much of what was being thrown out there would stick, despite the best counter-claims and any possible apologies that could be made.  Something more substantial and systemic needed to occur to swing things around: Henry, his media assistants, the board of the ISOA, and the few politicians they had on side around the world did their best over the weeks that followed the crisis to ameliorate the situation, but their results seemed negligible if not futile due to the inherent, opportunistic biases in the media and the politicking and sabotaging that persistently overwhelmed them.

Three weeks into the crisis, the crude oil companies implemented a well-crafted strategy to take up the shortfall in distribution, which resulted in the economic and social conditions starting to ‘re-stabilise.’  Although Henry knew that this was only a temporary matter, the Black Gold Syndicate promoted the idea through their spokespersons that the progress made in rectifying the situation should be seen as an indication of the responsiveness and functional capacity of the crude oil industry to continue to meet the demands of a large section of the oil market.  Henry and his colleagues evidently weren’t pleased.

Six weeks after the beginning of the crisis, Henry and his entourage of ten assistants flew to London for the Annual World Energy Conference, where he had several meetings and presentations scheduled and hoped to gain some support and assistance in taking on his opponents.  The conference was held over seven days and had speakers from all around the world and discussion panels on a wide range of the issues and challenges that the world’s growing energy needs faced.  In that regard, the conference seemed that it would be full of allies — Henry, though, was quite concerned about the extent of their influence compared to those who were absent, or present yet invisible and perhaps indistinguishable.

Over the first three days of the conference, Henry was generally treated with some caution and viewed as an awkward kind of celebrity with considerable notoriety.  Predictably, some didn’t seem to know how to take him considering the slander that had proliferated over the past few weeks; however, while a small number of others coldly felt he was worthy of ignominy regardless, the majority were sympathetic to his situation.  They knew that he was part of a well-planned and malicious political assault that alluded to higher-level machinations that had immediate and broad-reaching consequences for their own initiatives insofar as they were likely to tread on powerful toes themselves the more their companies emerged and attempted to find their niches in the new-world energy economy.

Henry sat on one or two discussion panels a day, and, on the second day of the conference, provided two presentations about the supply and demand of synthetic oil and future possibilities for production based on emerging innovations.  He outlined the opportunity to supersede current large-scale, centralised industrial production methods for creating synthetic oil compounds with applications from non-DNA-based synthetic biology that would soon, with considerable backing, be able to manufacture efficiently the desired compounds from a select range of readily available raw materials at the local level with scalable output.  This approach, he argued, would provide a more robust method of increasing efficiency, stability and productivity as demand required it.  He also suggested that, over the following few years, the production infrastructure and development programmes would be flexible enough so that scalable production facilities could be viable and ready for implementation, and that this development would, when in place, obviate the dependence on large foreign facilities and international distribution mechanisms.  This would reduce costs substantially and strengthen the world’s capacity to meet its production targets, thus providing countries, local areas, and individual companies with autonomy, independence and substantial room for growth.  Henry admitted that there was still a lot of R&D to be done in order to get to that stage, but he cogently demonstrated that it was possible if resources were pooled and the R&D programme was provided priority status by significant stakeholders.  His outline of this programme seemed to be generally received well, even with a sense of excitement and anticipation; this provided him hope that his discussions over the following days would focus on the practical components of implementing this plan and gaining support from the energy community, auxiliary corporations, international organisations, governments and individual politicians.  Partly due to his current status, however, after approaching the major players he wanted to enlist that afternoon and evening, most remained aloof, reticent and even dismissive…

• • •

Day three of the conference: 7:30 a.m.

Henry sits at the bar of the seven-star Orient Hotel, London, the location for the conference and where most of the attendees are staying.  He sips at a cup of strong, unsweetened, percolated black coffee and stares through the array of spirits lining the shelf behind the bar.  He’s lost in thought, all the while trying to push back fatigue: he recalls some of the inspiring ideas he’s come across at the conference and some sound bites from his conversations with others, particularly the more disturbing ones.  He focuses in on his narrowing options and begins to ruminate.

A Middle-Eastern man sits down next to him and waits quietly for the barman to take his order.  “Just a glass of water, please — no ice.”

Henry recognises the slight accent hidden subtly within a fluent delivery and also notices the unusual but sensible request so early in the morning; he turns his head to check out who’s sitting by his side.  His neighbour nods quietly and Henry returns the gesture before taking another sip of coffee.

“Excuse me.  You‘re Henry Clay, right?”

“You got it.”

 “My name is Omar.  I was in the audience at your presentations yesterday.”

“Is that right?  And what did you think of them, Omar?”

“They were quite incisive, I have to say,” replies Omar, who watches with Henry as the barman approaches and places a glass of water gently on the bar.  Omar picks it up and takes a small sip.  “Actually, those I represent are of the opinion that your proposal has both substance and great potential.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.  Who exactly are ‘those you represent’?”

Omar glances at Henry, then quietly examines the spirits lined up before him as though he’s about to order one.  He quietly takes another sip of water.  “You know, in order to come out on top sooner, you need to go deeper, but you won’t be able to do that alone.  I’m sure you know just what I mean.”

“That I do.”

“I won’t say anything more than that … if that’s okay?”

“I see,” replies Henry softly, staring at Omar with intrigue through the mirror behind the spirits.

Omar slides off the stool, sips again at the water, places the nearly full glass gently back on the bar, then adds, “I’d best be going.  It would be great to see you again soon.”

Henry stares into the mirror at Omar as he heads towards the elevator.  Then, in the corner of his vision, he becomes aware of a small business card sitting next to his right hand.  Nonchalantly, he moves his hand over to cover it.

He takes a few more minutes to finish his coffee before heading towards the men’s room.  On his way, he skims over the writing on the card.  “Maybe…  We’ll see how today goes.”  He slips it into his jacket pocket, opens the door and enters.

Just before 10:30 p.m.

Henry counts off room numbers as he walks past.  He stops in front of 2923 and waits patiently for a quietly chatting couple to disappear around the corner on their way to the elevators, leaving Henry alone in the corridor.  He doesn’t recognise the unobtrusive, wide-angled CCTV camera in the spyhole of the door; he looks at it innocently for a moment and considers knocking.  As he raises a fist towards the door, it swings open to reveal Omar, who quietly beckons him to enter.  “Thank you for coming, Mr. Clay,” he whispers as Henry approaches.

“You could say I was curious,” replies Henry as he steps into the living room, taking note of the lavishness of the accommodation compared to his own modest but more-than-adequate suite.  His attention then turns to another man dressed in a trim, pinstriped suit and standing tall by the windows.  The man turns and makes eye contact with Henry, then approaches him with his right hand outstretched in a friendly and disarming manner.  “Welcome, Mr. Clay.  I’m glad you could make it.”

“My pleasure.  Please … call me Henry.”

“Certainly, Henry.  My name is Abdul.”

“Well, I should probably say I’m pleased to meet you, Abdul,” Henry says as they shake hands.

“I take it you met my assistant, Omar, this morning?”  Abdul directs attention towards Omar, who is still standing by the door.

Henry turns to look back at him.  “Ah, your assistant…  Yeah, apparently, I did.”

Omar nods politely.

“Please, take a seat.” Abdul directs Henry to the large lounge suite, which overlooks a broad view of Greater London.

Henry sits quietly and examines the scenery for a moment.  “Actually, I normally don’t have meetings with people under such circumstances.”

“I’m sure you don’t, and I’m quite grateful for the concession on this occasion.”

“Perhaps it’s not circumspect of me to come … but my people know where I am, even though I don’t imagine that anything untoward will occur.”

“I understand.  My intentions were only to ensure discretion, not to intimidate or—  There are reasons for us to be discrete.   I’m sure you can appreciate.”

“That I can.  Who or what is it that you represent?”

“Well, I’m here as a spokesperson for an energy investment group.”

“Called?”

“It has no name as such.  It’s more informal, if you will.”

“I see,” says Henry flatly.

“The point is that the members came together to seek investment opportunities that will provide them with a means to transition into the new and emerging alternative energy sector.  We’ve been following the developments of your company and industry for several years now and find what you have been experiencing over the past weeks deeply regrettable.  Due to this, and the fact that what you have proposed here at the conference appears to have great potential, we feel it’s opportune for us to offer our assistance.  What you have planned is something we would like to help pursue to fruition any way we can … if you’ll allow us to tag along, that is.”

“Well, my biggest problems are, obviously, political and financial.  Considering recent events, it’s been demonstrated that there are forces that are able to thwart our best efforts — not forever, but for a while yet, apparently.  This is quite dangerous not just for me, my company, and the industry but also for people on the ground.  The causalities from this are still coming in — both human and economic.”

“Yes, this is most definitely the case.  It’s a regrettable situation.  I’m just sorry that we weren’t able to provide assistance prior to the incident.”

“I don’t know what you could have done or how much power you people believe you have, but it’s obvious that, despite all our progress over the past decades, and all the political support that we’ve garnered in governments, the media and the general public, there are still areas we haven’t touched.  I mean, a whole range of people and organisations have turned against us in recent weeks, and we have no real understanding of how to tackle it … or capability for that matter.  This is why our situation is so unfortunate … pathetic, actually.  We don’t even really know who we’re up against or how deep and far the connections go.”