CHAPTER 7 2040s

Part 1 DAVID'S TESTIMONY AT THE TRIAL OF MR. JACK CAPONE

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Morning of March 6, 2041

"The trial of reputed crime kingpin, Mr. Capone, is about to continue," said SNNI reporter Sarah Gleason from inside the courtroom. The live telecast was being broadcast all over the world to an estimated audience of 500 million people.

"Mr. David Wensler will begin his second day of testimony," continued Sarah. She was an ex-attorney and SNNI's top criminal reporter. Her dark long hair, large brown eyes and dimpled cheeks shined in contrast to the formal and drab jury box in the background.

"Just to recap briefly. Mr. Capone is on trial for twenty five counts of murder. He is accused of ordering the bombing of the HTI supercomputers 7 years ago. Mr. Capone denies the charges. The government's only direct evidence, so far, has been the testimony of Mr. Robert Thomas who was the head of the group that actually carried out the bombing attacks."

The screen changed to a picture of a rugged dangerous looking man being taken in handcuffs from a plane. "He was found in Kansas City, Kansas and convicted of 25 counts of murder," said Sarah. "He is cooperating with the Government. Mr. Thomas testified that Mr. Capone gave him an account number in a Colombian bank which contained fifty million US dollars." The screen returned to Sarah.

"Mr. Thomas claims to have met with Mr. Capone only once¾ about 8 years ago. At that time, he was asked to destroy the HTI computers in Washington DC and Venice, California. The government contends Mr. Capone ordered the bombings because the SACC team was seriously damaging his drug operations," said Sarah. "According to Mr. Thomas, Mr. Capone told him where in Columbia to open a bank account¾ fifty million dollars would be available for his use. Mr. Thomas was to use as much of the money as necessary to get the job done...the rest was Mr. Thomas's to keep."

Sarah paused. "Mr. Thomas claims to be cooperating with the prosecution because Mr. Capone put a Satanic Death Sentence on him. Mr. Thomas told the jury that an attempt was made on his life shortly after he was captured. The FBI and SACC successfully protected him. Mr. Thomas is convinced that Mr. Capone ordered the hit. The reference to Satanism inspired a loud objection from the Defense Attorney, which was sustained by Judge Jordan. The Prosecutor indicated that more facts about a connection with Satanism would be disclosed by the next witness."

Sarah thought, The reference to Satanism boosted today's audience tenfold. "The dramatic reference to the Satanic Death Sentence was followed by a very long and tedious series of questions. For reasons which are not yet clear, the Prosecuting Attorney delved into the details concerning a piece of paper on which, Mr. Thomas says, the 50 million dollar bank account number was written. Mr. Thomas didn't see the paper, but he saw Mr. Capone take it out of his pocket and read the account numbers. This is a curious piece of testimony for the prosecution to dwell on since they did not introduce the piece of paper as evidence. Also, the Defense Attorney loudly objected to discussing this piece of paper. He stated that no such paper ever existed and would not be displayed as evidence.

"The Defense Attorney asked for a dismissal of the case based on insufficient evidence," Sarah continued. "The defense claims that Mr. Thomas's testimony is completely false with respect to Mr. Capone. They claim Mr. Thomas is lying so that his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, without possibility of parole, in a Class 3 prison. The defense says that the testimony of a convicted murderer should not be enough to convict Mr. Capone, or anyone else.

"The Prosecuting Attorney, Mr. Proctor, made it clear, when the motion to dismiss was raised, that his next witness, a Mr. David Wensler, would provide additional evidence to substantiate the claim that Mr. Capone provided the fifty million dollars to Mr. Thomas and directed him to do the bombings."

Behind Sarah, the jurors were seen filing into their seats. "David Wensler began his testimony at the end of yesterday's session. He now works for the FBI in their SACC Division. Mr. Wensler made the extraordinary claim yesterday that he could psychically read documents. He referred to this ability as psinfo, for psychic information. We will surely hear more about that today."

Sarah turned and looked at the jurors. "These twelve people are about to hear and then judge the credibility of David Wensler's testimony and psinfo claims. It is generally believed that without some corroboration of Mr. Thomas's testimony, a conviction of Mr. Capone, based on beyond reasonable doubt, is not possible."

The judge entered the room. "Hear ye, Hear ye," said the bailiff, "all rise for the Honorable Larry Jordan." Everyone in the packed room stood-up, "This court is now in session."

"Let's pick it up from yesterday," said Judge Larry Jordan.

"Mr. David Wensler, please take the stand," called the bailiff.

David walked confidently to the front of the room and sat in the witness chair. He glanced at John, Mandy and Jamali who were sitting in the front row.

"Mr. Wensler," said the bailiff, "you realize that you're still under oath to tell the truth."

"Yes," said David.

"Mr. Proctor," said the judge, "please continue your examination of the witness." Mr. Paul Proctor was the energetic government prosecutor. He was stout, likable and very capable.

"Yesterday, you told us several key items of background. I'd like to summarize them for myself and the jury.

"Firstly, you and your wife were at the HTI headquarters in Venice California enjoying the live performance of Musical Light when the bomb blast occurred. Both of you were injured, though your wife's injuries were far worse than yours. Is that correct?"

"Yes," said David as he looked at Jamali. The jury already heard that Jamali was knocked unconscious by the blast, and was in a coma for 3 days. Her right leg was severely damaged, leaving her with a permanent limp. David and Jamali were lucky that the HT-4 units they were using were not in the same area as the supercomputer. The 15 HT-4s at the Los Angeles HTI supercomputer facility were in an area adjacent to the computer. This area was severely damaged, but fortunately, there were no user fatalities. The supercomputer was completely demolished and that is where the fatalities occurred.

"Secondly," said Mr. Proctor, "you became involved in the case after Mr. Robert Lang of SACC contacted your father, who is Chief Scientist of HTI, to ask him about anyone with a possible motive to do the bombing. Your father knew of no one. But he used the opportunity to tell Mr. Lang about your strong desire to work on the case. Mr. Lang wouldn't even entertain the idea until your father told him that you had discovered that the reason for the bombing was to damage SACC."

"That is correct," said David.

"And thirdly, Mr. Lang went to the hospital to ask you about your information concerning SACC being the target of the bombing. You told him that you originally picked-up the idea from him¾ Robert Lang¾ by reading a Secret memo he had written to the SACC chief. You told him you had searched FBI and SACC files looking for possible reasons for the bombings. Mr. Lang asked you¾ rather skeptically and rather angrily¾ how you could possibly obtain access to Secret documents. You told him about your psinfo ability. He didn't believe you until you started quoting from the memo. You told him the memo was written the day after the bombing, and you quoted his conjecture that the objective of bombing the HTI supercomputers was to shut down SACC's investigation of Mr. Capone's crime organization." The prosecutor paused and looked at David for a response.

"That is correct," said David as he remembered the shock on Bobby's face. "Mr. Lang was very surprised."

"I bet," said Mr. Proctor. "Since the case against Mr. Capone depends so heavily on your testimony and your psinfo ability, the judge, defense attorney and myself have agreed to a test of your ability. A test which I'd like to do now, in this courtroom, if that's okay with you."

"That's fine," said David.

"Have we discussed this test before?"

"Yes. You asked me yesterday if I would mind being tested again," answered David. "You said it would be similar to the test we did for the Judge who issued the search warrants to enter Mr. Capone's estate."

"Good," said Mr. Proctor who then turned to the jury and continued, "This test, or demonstration, is primarily for you, so you can assess the validity of Mr. Wensler's testimony. But we will also involve the three defense attorneys, at their specific request."

Mr. Proctor walked to his table and picked-up a stack of 3" by 5" cards and a bunch of pencils. "I'm going to give everyone a card and pencil. Then I'd like each of you to write a word or sentence¾ or even a paragraph, if you like¾ on the card. Mr. Wensler will then psinfo each card and read the contents for the record. He will, of course, do this from the witness chair."

He then handed out the cards to each jury member, including the three alternate jurors. As Mr. Proctor walked over to the defendant's table, he said, "Don't write down anything you don't want read out loud in open court." Mr. Capone's look was angry and threatening.

"Would you like a card Mr. Capone," said Mr. Proctor. Mr. Capone eye's snarled. His three attorneys each took a card.

"Mr. Proctor," said Judge Jordan. "I've changed my mind. I'd like to participate, if you and Defense Council don't object."

"No objection here," said Mr. Proctor.

"No objection," said Mr. Dayton who was the Chief Defense Attorney. He didn't believe David could pass this test. All David had to do was miss once, and Capone would win the case on the benefit of the doubt. In any event, he had a trick or two up his sleeve.

"Okay, take a few moments to write whatever you wish," said Mr. Proctor after giving the judge a card.

After a couple of minutes, Mr. Proctor walked over to the jury box and beginning with the front row, he pointed to the juror on the left and asked, "Mr. Wensler, please psinfo for me what this person wrote."

"She wrote, 'Impossible'," David said. The juror nodded in obvious surprise.

"And this person," said Mr. Proctor as he pointed to the next juror in the row.

"He wrote '3 2 1 Blast Off!'", said David. "And he put an explanation mark at the end." The juror nodded in agreement.

David correctly described what each of the jurors and alternates had written. Mr. Proctor collected the cards and made them an official exhibit of the trial. The defense attorneys and Mr. Capone were surprised. Mr. Dayton leaned over and whispered something to Mr. Capone, and they both smiled.

Mr. Proctor turned to walk over to the defense table in time to see the smiles. He said, "I'm glad you're enjoying the demonstration. Okay, Mr. Wensler, what has the smiling Mr. Dayton written?"

"He wrote, 'Mr. Capone is innocent of all charges.' And he underlined the sentence three times." Mr. Dayton nodded in agreement and said, "I can't disagree with that."

"And what about Mr. Brooks," said Mr. Proctor as he pointed to the attorney next to Mr. Dayton.

"He wrote, 'You'll never guess this,'" said David.

Mr. Brooks looked at the card rather dramatically and said, "No, that's wrong! He showed the card to Mr. Proctor as he added, "The card says, 'Mary had a little lamb.' I guess your psinfo's not so accurate after all."

David was very surprised. What...he wrote it...I know he did...did he write on another card? he thought, and he immediately discovered his answer.

"Your honor," said David as he turned to look at Judge Jordan. "That man wrote two cards...he's holding the first one... There's another card around someplace. I know it."

Judge Jordan had been very skeptical of David's claim, but having seen an impressive string of successes, he was inclined to consider David's comment. The Judge said, "Mr. Brooks."

"Yes sir."

"Were you trying to fool this young man by writing two cards?" said Judge Jordan. And then he added very deliberately, "Answer very carefully, Mr. Brooks."

After a pause, Mr. Brooks said, "That's right, Your Honor, I was attempting to show that Mr. Wensler's skill was limited...and indeed it is. He has trouble distinguishing between several written documents."

"Thank you. Will you please provide the other card to Mr. Proctor for the record," said Judge Jordan.

Mr. Brooks removed a 3 by 5 card from his right jacket sleeve and handed it to Mr. Proctor. "Let the record show that 'You'll never guess this.' is written on the card," said Mr. Proctor.

"Let's continue with the test," said Mr. Proctor as he pointed to the next attorney at the Defense table.

David said, "She has drawn a complicated pattern of lines and curves. Some portions are shaded."

"Could you duplicate the pattern?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Not exactly, but pretty close...except there are some very fine details that I can't see with my psinfo. Also, she's more artistic than I am."

"Your honor," said Mr. Proctor. "With your permission, I'd like to give Mr. Wensler a card and a pencil and have him try to duplicate the pattern Miss Atkins had drawn."

"That's fine," said Judge Jordan. "Miss Atkins and Mr. Wensler, please put your initials on your respective cards."

When David finished drawing on his card, Mr. Proctor took his card and showed it to Miss Atkins. She gave him her card, and both cards were shown to the other defense attorneys, to the jurors and the judge. The similarity of the patterns was remarkable.

Mr. Proctor then turned toward the Judge and said, "Mr. Wensler, what has the Honorable Judge Jordan written on his card?"

David thought for a moment and smiled as he said, "The Judge wrote, 'This is in color using black, red, green and blue.'"

"That's correct," said Judge Jordan. "Can you see the colors?" he asked.

"No," said David. "I see in black and white."

"Mr. Wensler, thank you for that very successful demonstration," said Mr. Proctor as he retrieved the Judge's card and handed it to the bailiff.

"Now," said Mr. Proctor, "let's return to your first meeting with Mr. Bobby Lang. It's two days after the bombing and Mr. Lang visits you at the hospital. After you demonstrated your psinfo for him by quoting from his Secret memo, and after his initial shock at your unusual ability, what happened?"

"Well, I guess he began to believe me," said David, "because he asked me questions about how reliable my psinfo was, and if I could read documents anywhere in the world. I told him I thought it was reliable and distance didn't seem to be a problem.

"He asked me if I'd found out anything else about the bombing. I told him that after I read his memo, I internally asked for more information about Mr. Capone. I absorbed, as best as I could, all the SACC files on him. And then I requested anything which Mr. Capone had written within the last five years.

"There were only three short notes and many personal letter to his daughter. On one of the notes, Mr. Capone had written, 'Burn after Reading'. That note ordered the assassination of a Colombian judge."

"Objection...objection," said Mr. Dayton. "That's pure hearsay. There's no proof that the note ever existed, and furthermore, it's not even relevant to the current case."

"Your honor," said Mr. Proctor, "Mr. Wensler's psinfo ability made it natural for him to explore all of Mr. Capone's writings. At the time his wife was still in a coma, and he was recovering from his injuries. He is simply telling us what he found. I'd love to tell them that the judge was indeed killed four days later...but that'd be grounds for a mistrial, he thought.

"Objection sustained," said Judge Jordan. "The jury will ignore the reference to the note. And Mr. Wensler, please keep your comments focused on the issues relevant to this case."

"One of the other notes," David continued, but was quickly interrupted by Mr. Dayton who said, "Objection."

"I object to any reference to these non-existent notes," continued Mr. Dayton. "Where are these notes? The prosecution could be making them up. If they exist, why aren't they being introduced as evidence?"

"Your honor," said Mr. Proctor. "One of the notes has a direct bearing on this case. I'm sure that's what Mr. Wensler is about to discuss. While this note will not be introduced directly, other evidence relating to it will be presented shortly."

"Objection overruled," said Judge Jordan. This is the craziest case I've ever had, he thought. Pretrial motions on the admissibility of the note David was about to describe reverberated in his head. This case is going to the Supreme Court!

"Please continue Mr. Wensler," said Mr. Proctor. "You were telling Mr. Lang about the relevant note."

"One of the notes had 'HTI' written on it," said David. "That really focused Bobby's attention. 'Are you sure?' he asked me. I told him that there was other stuff on the note which didn't make any sense to me, but the capital letters 'HTI' and a 'W/V' were there.

"He asked me if I could see the note now. I said yes, then he asked me if I could write down a copy of it for him. I said yes, he found a pencil and paper...and I wrote down the note for Bobby."

"Is this that copy," said Mr. Proctor as he handed it to David. "Let the record show that Exhibit H is being shown to Mr. Wensler."

David looked at it, "Yes sir, that's my copy."

Mr. Proctor walked over to his table and fetched a large posterboard which he placed on a holder. The posterboard contained an enlarged photograph of David's copy.

"Mr. Wensler, is this an accurate photographic reproduction of the copy of the note you made for Mr. Lang.

"Yes, looks the same." The large photograph was easily visible to everyone in the courtroom.

 

EXHIBIT H: Mr. David Wensler's Handwritten Note

 

36-804-542-C-789

HTI W/V BT-50

 

"This is a rather cryptic note, isn't it?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Yes," said David.

"Did you know what it meant when you psinfoed it."

"No...I recognized the 'HTI', of course, and I assumed that the 'W/V' referred to the Washington D.C. and Venice, California offices of HTI¾ the two offices which were bombed.

"Objection," said Mr. Dayton.

"Overruled," said Judge Jordan.

"Do you know how many HTI offices there are?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Not exactly, but there's at least two or three in every state, and many overseas," answered David.

"How many offices have the HTI supercomputers in them?"

"Only two, the Washington and Venice offices."

"So it was natural for you to assume the 'W/V' referred to the two offices which were bombed."

"That's correct," said David.

"Now," said Mr. Proctor, "What happened after you showed your copy of the note to Mr. Lang?"

"His first comment was, 'Very Interesting', and then he asked me if I knew where the original note was."

"Did you?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"No, and I told Bobby that my psinfo did not include the location of the document. He was disappointed.

"Then he asked me if the letters and numbers meant anything to me. I told him my assumption about the 'HTI W/V', and he said that was reasonable. And I told him I didn't have any idea what the rest of the note meant.

"I then asked Bobby if I could help him on the case. He asked me why I wanted to help. I told him that I wanted to get even with the people who put my wife in a coma. He said that was not a good reason because it would cloud my judgment. I told him that my judgment was fine, and I felt intensely motivated for the first time in my life. I also told him that he couldn't stop me from obtaining psinfo information about Capone. I told him that Capone was my only lead, and I intended to keep monitoring anything he wrote. Hopefully I could find a connection with the bombing.

"Bobby said that if I insisted on psinfoing, he couldn't stop me. But that for my safety, and so that I didn't interfere with anything SACC or other intelligence agencies were planning, I shouldn't tell anyone what I was doing. He told me that I was on the fringes of very real danger.

"I thanked him for the advice, and I asked him if he wanted to know when Capone wrote anything else. He said that he did.

"Bobby asked me for copies of the other notes I had psinfoed, and I wrote copies for him at that time. He said he'd be contacting me, and then he left."

"When did you see Mr. Lang again?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"He came back to the hospital two days later," said David.

"And what happened then?"

"Bobby wanted to know if I were still interested in working on the case. I told him yes...of course. Jamali, my wife, had regained consciousness that morning, but I was still anxious to catch the guys responsible. In fact, I told Bobby that now that the worst seemed to be over for my wife, I could concentrate even more on the case.

"He was quite happy about my wife's recovery...Bobby's a first-rate guy. He really cares about people."

"Please keep your testimony relevant to this case," said Judge Jordan.

"Yes sir," continued David. "Bobby had a plan for permitting me to work with SACC and him. He suggested making me a consultant to SACC. He wanted me to start a private consulting company. He said if I agreed he could have an official contract for me in about two months. And furthermore, we could actually begin with a letter of intent which he had brought with him. The letter basically said that I was beginning work as a private consultant for the FBI. And that I would tell noone¾ absolutely noone¾ about information gathered. The information would be considered Secret and as such I would be liable to a jail sentence for any violation. The only exception would be if I received official authorization in writing."

David paused, "I jumped at the chance to work for SACC and Mr. Lang. Once I signed the papers, Mr. Lang asked me if there had been anything new written by Mr. Capone. I told him yes and handed him a copy of another note, which is not relevant to this case. But then I told him that the previous note that had 'HTI' written on it no longer existed. I explained to him that I tried to psinfo it yesterday and the note simply was not there. I speculated that Mr. Capone had burnt it."

"Objection."

"Sustained."

"Mr. Lang then told me that he thought he knew what the long string of numbers were on the note. He took my copy of the note¾ actually a copy of the copy¾ and showed me the numbers again."

"Excuse me," said Mr. Proctor as walked over to the enlarged copy, EXHIBIT H. Then he pointed to the long serial number and said, "You're referring now to these numbers, and the letter 'C'."

"Yes," said David. "Mr. Lang told me that this was the format for bank accounts in a string of Colombian banks believed to be controlled by Mr. Capone. He said they were called the 'Colombian Safety Banks'. He asked me if I would psinfo information about the bank account.

"I asked myself to probe the records of all the 'Colombian Safety Banks' for an account 36-804-542-C-789. My head filled with numbers, names, deposits, withdrawal and transfers. It was overwhelming. I told Mr. Lang that I'd never searched for one number before. Finding a document with an easily identifiable title or label is easy for me, but to find a bank account number...that was difficult. My storage-retrieval system seems to be built on names and words, not numbers. A name invokes specific characteristics, but a number is rather lifeless.

"In any case," David continued, "I told Mr. Lang that I would sort through the large number of files by the account names in an alphabetical order, checking account numbers until I found a match...or finished the Zs.

"I called him the next day. I had found the account. When he arrived, I handed him a sheet of paper with everything I found about that account."

"Is this an accurate reproduction of the paper you gave to Mr. Lang?" asked Mr. Proctor as he mounted the second enlarged photograph on the second easel. There were four easels¾ two currently empty¾ at the front of the courtroom.

"Yes," said David.

"Your Honor," said Mr. Proctor. "I'd like to submit the original sheet of paper as EXHIBIT I."

"Very well," said the judge.

"Please describe what you had written," said Mr. Proctor to David.

EXHIBIT I - Mr. David Wensler's Sheet of Paper on Account 36-804-542-C-789.

 

June 14, 2034

To Bobby Lang, From David Wensler

 

Account # 36-804-542-C-789: This account is in the name of Mr. Brian Thomas at the Bogota Branch of Colombian Safety Bank.

 

Mr. Thomas is an American citizen with Social Security # 876-95-3867.

The following is a list of deposits and withdrawals:

DATE TYPE AMOUNT

JULY 26, 2033 CASH DEPOSIT $50,000,000

AUG 11, 2033 WITHDRAWAL $350,000

(3 International Cashier's Checks

for 100K each, and 50K Cash.)

AUG 25, '33 WITHDRAWAL $20,000,000

(Transfer to Swiss International

Bank, Account # 723489725)

JAN 10, '34 WITHDRAWAL $10,000,000

(Transfer to Bank of Kansas,

Account # 34-170-10)

JUNE 13, '34 WITHDRAWAL $19,650,000

YESTERDAY! (Transfer to Swiss International

Bank, Account # 723489725)

 

"Once I identified Mr. Thomas as the account holder," said David. "The deposit and withdrawal information was relatively easy to find in the bank records." David then explained all the entries even though they were self explanatory.

"The last date of June 13, 2034," said Mr. Proctor. "was just three days after the bombing, wasn't it?"

"Yes," said David.

"What happened after you showed Mr. Lang your information on Mr. Thomas."

"He was quite pleased," said David. "He said that he knew Mr. Thomas, and that he was on the list of suspects. When Mr. Lang noticed that it was only yesterday that Mr. Thomas had transferred all his money to the Swiss bank, he asked me if I could tell where Mr. Thomas was when he did the transfer.

"I reminded Mr. Lang that I couldn't tell where the documents that I psinfoed were located, but I looked to see if Mr. Thomas had written anything else yesterday or today. "I found that Mr. Thomas had just signed a standard Customs Form for a flight to Panama. The Form had Mr. Thomas's flight number on it, which I gave to Mr. Lang. He stared at me a little strangely. Then he dashed to a phone and called his office. The FBI caught Mr. Thomas at the Kansas City Airport just before his flight to Panama."

"Objection, Your Honor," said Mr. Dayton, "this is very interesting, but totally irrelevant. Mr. Thomas's capture has nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Capone. And no matter how hard the prosecution tries, they will not be able to make a connection."

"The defense is becoming a little nervous," said Mr. Proctor. "because Mr. Thomas did provide a key piece of evidence concerning his connection with Mr. Capone."

"Objection overruled," said Judge Jordan.

"Mr. Wensler," said Mr. Proctor. "After, Mr. Lang told you that Mr. Thomas had been captured at the airport, what happened?"

David knew this was key and spoke slowly and carefully, "Mr. Lang received a call from the FBI office in Kansas City while he was still in my room¾ that's when they told him that Mr. Thomas was in custody. Mr. Lang was only pleased for a moment. I asked him why he was so glum. He said because the big fish got away...again. He said that the FBI would probably be able to find enough evidence to convict Mr. Thomas, but there was no evidence linking Mr. Capone to the bombing.

"I asked about the 50 million in cash put in the Colombian Bank by Mr. Capone for Mr. Thomas. Mr. Lang laughed, and said, 'There's no way to prove that.' I said, 'Why not, Capone probably has a record somewhere.' Mr. Lang said, 'That's true, but the money records are hidden better than anything else Mr. Capone has.'

"I asked if Mr. Lang knew who kept Mr. Capone's books. He said a Mr. Sanchez who was also known as Diablo. I told Mr. Lang that I would take a look at what Mr. Sanchez had written. Then I internally asked myself to retrieve the last two years of Mr. Sanchez's writings.

"That was when I found the accounting book he was keeping for Mr. Capone, and...that's also...," David hesitated and uncomfortably fidgeted in his chair, "when I found SACC and HTI written in a very strange fashion."

"When you say found," said Mr. Proctor, "you mean retrieved psinfo material which you could read"

"That's correct," said David.

"Let's go over what you found," said Mr. Proctor. "First, tell the court about the accounting book."

"The book," said David, "contained the record of all money transactions controlled by Mr. Capone which were not part of his normal businesses. This included bribes to Colombian and US officials as well as bank deposits and withdrawals from special accounts.

"Was there a particular entry that caught your attention?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Yes, "answered David, "one entry involved the HTI supercomputer bombing. I wrote down a copy of it for Mr. Lang."

"Is this a copy of that entry?" asked Mr. Proctor showing a sheet of paper to David.

"Yes."

"EXHIBIT J is an enlargement of that entry. I'll place it on the easel," said Mr. Proctor.

 

EXHIBIT J - DAVID WENSLER'S PSINFOED COPY OF AN ENTRY IN MR. SANCHEZ'S ACCOUNTING BOOK.

(Copy made June 14, 2034)

 

July 26, '33 50 Million BT 36-804-542-C-789

 

 

"Now," continued Mr. Proctor, "why do you say this is related to the HTI supercomputer bombing and the killing of the 25 innocent people."

"First of all," said David, "notice the account number, date and the amount of 50 million dollars correspond to the deposit into Mr. Thomas's account." As David said this, Mr. Proctor pointed to the deposit on EXHIBIT I.

"And secondly, BT are the initials of Mr. Bob Thomas, which explains the initials on the first note I psinfoed."

"You mean EXHIBIT H," said Mr. Proctor as he pointed to the 'BT-50', "that's the note which Mr. Capone wrote."

"Objection," shouted Mr. Dayton. "There is no evidence that Mr. Capone wrote that note. The note is not here. All we have here is a totally unsubstantiated note written by Mr. Wensler."

"The note psinfoed by Mr. Wensler was provided to Mr. Lang on June 12, 2034," said Mr. Proctor very deliberately. "which was only two days after the bombing occurred. Mr. Wensler stated at that time that the note was written by Mr. Capone. On June 14th, he then provided psinfoed information for the FBI concerning the Account Book maintained by Mr. Sanchez. We will shortly introduce this accounting book into evidence. And then, Mr. Wensler's credibility will be up to the jury to decide."

"Objection overruled," said Judge Jordan.

"Mr. Wensler," said Mr. Proctor. "Please tell us about the names and initials, including SACC and HTI, which you also psinfoed that evening."

"The words were written very strangely," said David slowly. "At first I had trouble psinfoing them. Fortunately, the initials HTI caught my attention...then I notice SACC. These were near the top of a list of names. I sensed that some of these names were written many years earlier. The older writing was near the bottom. But the names were written very oddly, and they were not arranged in a simple list. Many of the names were at angles.

"As I concentrated on this strange grouping of words, I noticed that they were written in a very jagged fashion. Not just poor handwriting, but the letters were quite irregular and jagged. And I had the feeling that the words were not written on a flat surface.

"I told this to Mr. Lang, who asked me to try to reproduce the names for him."

"Is this the document you produced for Mr. Lang that afternoon?" asked Mr. Proctor.

David looked at the sheet of paper and said, "Yes, that's it."

After showing the sheet to the Judge and the jurors, Mr. Proctor placed an enlarged copy of EXHIBIT K on the fourth easel.

 

EXHIBIT K - Mr. David Wensler's Psinfoed List: Made June 14, 2034

 

 

Rodriques BT CHRISTIAN

MPJ HINDU

SACC HTI AMERICAN

Molaris MUSLIM

666

Cohen JEW

666

Jarez CHRISTIAN

666

"Mr. Wensler," said Mr. Proctor, "I notice that in addition to names and initials, there are several 666 notations. What do you know about these notations?"

"When I showed this list to Mr. Lang," said David, "he immediately commented on the 666 being a symbol of Satanists...and he said that Mr. Capone was involved with Satanism."

"Objection, objection," said Mr. Dayton. "There has been no evidence linking my client with Satanism."

"We intend to make the connection right now," said Mr. Proctor.

"Overruled," said Judge Jordan.

"Mr. Wensler, were you part of the team that raided Mr. Capone's estate?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Yes I was."

"When did this raid occur?"

"Almost one year ago."

"That was about 6 years after the bombing. Why did it take that long?"

"The FBI needed to know that they would find substantial proof, and the US government needed to obtain approval from the Colombian government. It wasn't until the HTI supercomputer centers could be rebuilt with extra security systems that we¾ Mr. Lang and myself¾ could use the HT-4s to pinpoint the location of the Accounting Book. That took about 3 years, and then it took another 3 years until the political climate was right for the raid."

"Why did you participate in the raid?"

"I joined the FBI and was assigned to SACC. They sent me to school to learn their techniques for finding criminals and evidence. Once the HTI supercomputers were rebuilt, Mr. Lang and myself began to use the HT-4 units to locate and track Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez. It was only by using the full 3-D tracking capability of the HT-4 that we found the hiding place for the Accounting Book. The FBI wanted Mr. Lang and myself to join them with a mobile HT-4 satellite controlled unit in case further directions were needed in finding evidence."

David thought, Fortunately, there's no need to discuss the details of how we link HT-4s together to achieve the fine-tuned Dowsing capabilities we actually used.

Mr. Proctor slowly walked over to his table, and retrieved a thick book. Then he turned toward David and said, "I have two additional Exhibits I would like you to identify. First," Mr. Proctor held up the thick book, "is this the Accounting Book found during the raid on Mr. Capone's estate?"

David took the book, looked at it, and said, "Yes."

"Your honor," said Mr. Proctor. "with your permission I would like to show the jurors the entry in the book corresponding to Mr. Wensler's psinfoed Exhibit J."

"Proceed," said Judge Jordan.

First Mr. Proctor showed the entry to the judge, and then he walked toward the jury while saying, "This book was retrieved from Mr. Capone's estate only one year ago. The entry I'm about to show you should be compared to Exhibit J," Mr. Proctor pointed to the Exhibit as he passed it, "which was psinfoed by Mr. Wensler about 6 years earlier."

Mr. Proctor handed the book to one member of the jury. The entry in the book was exactly the same as David's Exhibit J. Each member of the jury had an opportunity to look at the entry and see the comparison.

"Now Your Honor," said Mr. Proctor, "I'd like to show you and the jury a videotape of Mr. Capone's control room."

"Objection," said Mr. Dayton. "The room has not been proven to be a control room of any type."

"The tape shows an HT-3 Unit, among other things, in a room which was so well hidden that only Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez knew of its location. It was in this room that the Accounting Book was found. I think the characterization as a control room will become obvious."

"Objection overruled."

A video unit with a meter by meter screen was brought into the courtroom, and a 15 minute film was about to be shown. In pretrial proceedings, it was decided that there would be no narration. Nevertheless, the film was very dramatic and graphic. So Mr. Proctor introduced the video with, "Ladies and gentleman. What you are about to see is what was found in a hidden suite of rooms at Mr. Capone's estate. The rooms were constructed at considerable cost below the main house. They are completely sound proofed and impossible to find unless you walk through a secret passage hidden in Mr. Capone's bathroom."

Mr. Proctor paused, "Some of the photographs found in the hidden rooms show evidence of human sacrifices. They are very graphic...please be prepared. You will only see photographs, not any more, but I warn you...these photographs are quite upsetting."

The video began by showing a large room filled with Satanic symbols including many paintings, drawings, and sculptures of the Devil in various incarnations. The Devil or Satan was clearly glorified and shown as a powerful presence in all religions. The largest painting showed Satan long before the Judea-Christian-Islam era. The title showed up clearly in the video, SET-SATAN IN EGYPT. The valuable painting was over 2 meters tall and 3 meters wide, and it showed the evil god Set from Egyptian mythology. Set was in a beautiful garden surrounded by five women while fornicating with a sixth; he had a pointed nose, horns, and a conical crown.

The video then showed a wall covered with gory photographs of individual men, women, children and babies¾ all branded with the numbers 666¾ being sacrificed on a large wooden alter. The sacrificial ceremony was performed by a person wearing a Satan costume using knives and spears. The ceremony was graphically photographed with the emphasis on blood. Under many of the pictures, the religion of the individuals were written in fancy script...Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu,...

Gasps, Oh my Gods, a shriek and a shout of murderer broke out in the courtroom. "Order...order," said Judge Jordan. "Please pause the video until there's order in the courtroom. Anyone who cannot remain quiet...please leave my courtroom now."

A juror raised her hand and said she was feeling sick. She requested to be excused for a few minutes. Judge Jordan called a 15 minute recess.

The trial was being broadcast live to millions of homes. There was no censorship except that provided by parents to their children. The screen changed to a shaken Sarah Gleason, who was trying to gain her composure.

She finally said, "This is the first concrete evidence that Satanism does play an important role in Mr. Capone's life. The picture's you saw were shocking...but the fact that such inhuman acts can be performed in this enlightened age of the Twenty First Century is even more shocking.

"The pictures showed human sacrifices like in ancient days. And there seemed to be a special pleasure in displaying the religion of those sacrificed. I suppose to make the point that Satan is more powerful than any religion...maybe trying to say that Evil is more powerful than Good."

 

Court resumed and the jurors continued performing their duty. The courtroom remained silent as the video continued with the gory photographs. It seemed like forever to some of the jurors, but finally the video camera left the photographs and turned toward the center of the room, where the wooden alter shown in the photographs was located.

Surrounding the alter were knives and spears. The camera circled the alter and slowly zoomed in on the large circular top¾ over 2 meters in diameter¾ which resembled a wooden kitchen counter with many knife cuts. The top was washed clean with no evidence of the gruesome ceremonies...except for the leather arm and leg restraints.

The video view then moved downward revealing the thick heavy wooden base of the alter. At first the base looked quite smooth, made of a hard wood. But as the picture moved downward the wood became rougher looking. As the camera zoomed-in, letters and names grew visible. The rough look in the wood was from the carving of names on the base of the alter.

The camera then zoomed-in close to the top of the carved names and the initials SACC and HTI were clearly visible. There were several names and initials above these, including BT.

The camera then panned out and showed a closed door. The cameraman moved towards the door, and as he approached, the door opened revealing a room filled with high technology equipment. There were several computers evident, a communication center which included a fax machine, and a large desk next to a row of filing cabinets. This room looked like it came right out of a modern Wall Street office.

There were two doors leading from this office. The camera moved to one of the doors. A hand was seen opening the door, and inside there was a fully equipped HT-3 unit. There was a clearly identified FBI agent in the chair and the 3-D holographic screen was operating.

The camera then move back to the main office and approached the second door. Behind this door there was a prison with one cell. The cell had its own toilet and shower. Outside the cell was a complete pharmacy of sleep inducing drugs. There was one heavy steel door at the end of the prison. As the camera approached this door, it opened and the interior of a dark cave was exposed. The camera moved into the cave and then turned to face the door. The door was closed and then could not be distinguished from the walls of the cave. This door was completely camouflaged¾ even with full lighting.

The cameraman then walked through the cave and exited through a very narrow opening to daylight. The camera turned and showed the majestic exterior of Mr. Capone's estate.

The video ended, and the courtroom was silent for a long moment.

 

"This is indeed a gruesome film," said Judge Jordan, "But we must proceed. Mr. Proctor, please continue with your questions of Mr. Wensler."

Mr. Proctor had seen the film twice before, but each viewing terrified him in a different way. This time, it was the horror of a Satanic group equipped with the best technology money could buy.

"When was this film made?" asked Mr. Proctor in a somewhat shaky voice.

"About an hour after the military task force took control of Mr. Capone's estate," said David. "Mr. Lang and I had been assigned the job of recovering all the evidence which we could find. Taking pictures and videotaping is an important part of that process...it should be done before any physical evidence is moved."

"It only took an hour to find Mr. Capone's hidden Satanic center?"

"Much less than that, but we spent innumerable hours doing our homework using HT-4 Units in Washington DC," answered David, "The SACC techniques for locating hidden people and things are very effective. We¾ Mr. Lang and myself¾ were able to track Mr. Capone in his estate. We could tell when he was on the grounds, or when he was upstairs in his house, or when he was in his hidden basement."

David paused, "We became alerted to the basement when we noticed Mr. Capone meeting with Mr. Sanchez deep below the ground floor of the house. Also Mr. Sanchez would visit Mr. Capone and spend six to eight hours in this very private part of the estate. We never saw other people down there¾ except prisoners. This was the location of Mr. Capone's hidden center, and we took special pains to map the path from Mr. Capone's bathroom down the spiral staircase to this part of his estate. Once we actually arrived at his estate, finding the hidden center was easy."

"Did you learn anything else from your investigations of Mr. Capone with the HT-4?" asked Mr. Proctor. I wish I could introduce everything David told me, he thought.

"Objection," said Mr. Dayton. "The HT-4 is not a device which can provide any evidence in a court of law...except for providing probable cause for a search warrant. Its validity for anything else is worthless. The HT-4s are just an expensive pet project of the government."

"It was good enough to find your clients Satanic hiding place," said Mr. Proctor. "And many people think it can do lots more." Fortunately, I have Capone's fingerprints and don't need David's testimony on this, he thought.

"Objection," shouted Mr. Dayton as he sprang to his feet.

"Gentleman, gentleman," said Judge Jordan rather loudly, "Let's calm down. This is a court of law. The objections to pursuing any information obtained from the HT-4s is sustained. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that HT-4 image and sensing evidence is not sufficiently sound to be used in the courtroom."

David was listening to all this and couldn't help remembering the afternoon he witnessed a sacrificial offering. He and Bobby Lang were having a joint HT-4 dowsing session. The 3-D colored images on the H-Screen were the familiar ones of Capone and Sanchez. On that afternoon, they were both in the "basement". There was a third person in what was deduced to be a jail cell. That deduction was based on the fact that the third person had not moved from that location since he suddenly appeared a week earlier. Then, while David and Bobby HTed the motion of the images, Sanchez went and fetched the prisoner. The prisoner was placed in the center of the adjacent room on a table of some sort¾ now it was clear that he was placed on the alter. Sanchez was below the prisoner, probably chanting some Satanic ritualistic words. The prisoner's 3-D colored image had become sedated just before Sanchez took him to the alter. Then, the prisoner regained his awareness as was evident by the rapidly oscillating colors in the prisoner's image. David strongly sensed the prisoner's raw fear. Capone then slowly circled the alter seven times. He climbed on the alter. Sanchez joined him. They remained above the prisoner for several minutes while their images seemed to strengthen. And then, suddenly, the prisoner's image weakened. In less than 10 seconds, the image disappeared. David knew the prisoner was dead.

David was shaking as he remembered the feelings of that session.

David was startled back to the courtroom, "Mr. Wensler...Mr. Wensler," said Judge Jordan. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry...sorry, I was thinking of... Yes Sir, I'm okay."

"Then, Mr. Proctor please proceed," said Judge Jordan.

"Mr. Wensler, what evidence was recovered which linked Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez directly to the deeply hidden rooms?" said Mr. Proctor.

"The primary evidence consists of the genetic DNA-prints. They were found on the knives, spears and many other contents of the rooms," said David. "Skin cells from Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez's hands were found on every one of the knives and spears recovered from the hidden section of the estate."

"Both of their prints were found on every knife and spear, without any exceptions?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"That's correct," said David. "It looks like they used the weapons together."

"Objection, objection," said Mr. Dayton. "For all Mr. Wensler knows, they could have used these knives and spears for hunting animals. Their prints could have been made at different times. Anyway, this trial does not concern the use of the knives and spears."

"Objection sustained," said Judge Harper. "Please keep your comments relevant to the charges under consideration."

"Were any prints found on the Accounting Book which contained the entry to Deposit fifty million into BT's account?" asked Mr. Proctor as he pointed to Exhibit J to remind the juror.

"Yes," said David. "The pages in the book were filled with Mr. Sanchez's prints. And Mr. Capone's prints were also found...his prints were primarily on the monthly summary pages."

"I see," said Mr. Proctor. He paused because he wanted to emphasize this point. "Mr. Capone seemed to pay special attention to the accounting summaries done once a month. "When you say primarily on the monthly summaries, what do you mean?"

"Mr. Capone's prints were on all but one of the monthly summary pages¾ that was about 60 pages out of 250. The Accounting Book covered the last five years of business. We only found Mr. Capone's prints on five other pages. Mr. Sanchez's prints were on every page. He clearly handled the computer generated paperwork and assembled the sheets into the Accounting Book."

"Did you find Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez's prints in the prison area?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Yes," said David. "Mr. Sanchez's prints were found all over the medicine cabinet which contained the sedatives and the special gun for shooting the sedatives into the prisoners. Mr. Capone's prints were found inside the cell."

"By the way, your video didn't show anyone in the prison. Was anyone rescued during your raid on Mr. Capone's estate?" asked Mr. Proctor.

"Objection," shouted Mr. Dayton. "That's irrelevant to this case."

"Sustained," said Judge Jordan. Kidnapping the daughter of the Colombian Defense Minister was the biggest mistake of Capone's Satanic life. SACC convinced the Minister that they could rescue her if they acted quickly. And that was the only reason Columbia asked for the joint project, thought the Judge.

It was worth a shot...damn those Colombians for keeping her name out of this mess. The girl's testimony would be very valuable. She saw Capone and Sanchez, thought Mr. Proctor.

"Finally, Mr. Wensler, I have one last question for you," said Mr. Proctor. "Were Mr. Capone's prints and Mr. Sanchez's prints on the base of the alter where the initials SACC and HTI were carved?"

"Yes they were. We found numerous skin samples from the fingers of both Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez," said David.

"Thank you," said Mr. Proctor. "Your Honor, I'm finished with this witness."

"Let's take a 20 minute break," said Judge Jordan. "Then we'll continue with the questions by the defense."

Judge Jordan rose from his chair, turned and left the courtroom. The jurors filed out of the room. David climbed off the witness chair and walked over to his family.

"I'm so proud of you," said Jamali as she gave him a hug and kiss. John and Mandy joined them. John heard what Jamali had said and added, "Me too, son." Mandy was still unsettled by what she had seen in the courtroom. Her first comment after giving David a hug was, "Capone's an evil man. I'm worried...about your safety. Sanchez is still out there...somewhere."

"I'm a little worried too mom," said David. "But SACC and the Special Forces are watching me and Sanchez very carefully. If Sanchez tries something...they should be ready."

"Should be...should be...that's not good enough!" Mandy was agitated. Flo was observing everything, of course, but she couldn't calm Mandy down. Fear is a very strong emotion, thought Flo. Knowing the future does help...especially when things work out fine.

"Honey...calm down," said John. "It'll be okay. We have the best team in the country protecting David, the Judge, and the jury. They're using FBI and military men. But even more important, they're using half of SACC's HT-4s. This is top priority. David and I don't know what's goin' on¾ that's on purpose. That's the best strategy. The team's protecting David. I trust them. They're future tracking Sanchez and most of the people he contacts¾ as well as David, Mandy, Jamali, me, the Judge and jury. They don't want any future cross-talk to screw things up, he thought as he gave Mandy a reassuring hug. God be with them.

"God be with them," Mandy said.

"Amen," said Jamali.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said David.

 

The trial resumed and Mr. Dayton began the cross-examination of David.

"Mr. Wensler," began Mr. Dayton, "I'd like to review key parts of your testimony. And hopefully we can clarify a few misconceptions."

Here we go, thought David. He had been told that Mr. Dayton was the best defense attorney in the business. He had been told to keep his answers as short and direct as possible. And he had been told to not¾ under any circumstances¾ exaggerate or hide anything. He was also warned that Mr. Dayton was well known for his personal attacks on witnesses to damage their credibility. Stay cool, and don't be defensive.

"First of all," Mr. Dayton continued, "let's talk about what you, or the prosecuting attorney, called 'direct evidence'. The genetic DNA-prints are indeed very accurate. And you stated that you found Mr. Capone's and Mr. Sanchez's prints in Mr. Capone's estate...that's no surprise. Mr. Capone lives there, and Mr. Sanchez works for him."

"Objection," said Mr. Proctor. "The Defense Attorney is making a statement. I thought that was for closing arguments."

"Mr. Dayton. Please begin your questions to the witness," said Judge Jordan.

"Were there other prints found at Mr. Capone's private suite?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"I don't understand...private suite..."

"Yes, Mr. Wensler. Mr. Capone had a suite of rooms especially built for him away from and under the house. A suite of rooms built for his privacy. Do you understand the meaning of the work privacy," said Mr. Dayton quite angrily.

"Objection...irrelevant."

"Sustained."

"Let me ask the question again. Did you find DNA-prints of other individuals besides Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez inside Mr. Capone's private suite?" asked Mr. Dayton slowly and deliberately.

"Yes," said David.

"How many other prints did you find?"

"About forty...forty two to be exact."

"How many of these individuals were you able to identify by name?"

"Six."

"Did I hear you correctly? You said six...only six out of at least forty two visitors to Mr. Capone's private suite were identified," said Mr. Dayton incredulously.

"Yes."

"Doesn't that mean that thirty six...exactly thirty six individuals were not identified?"

"Yes."

"Could some of these individuals have been murderers?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"Ah...I don't know," said David hesitatingly.

"You don't know. Well that's refreshing. It's good to see that you admit that you don't know everything...that you're not an all knowing being." Mr. Dayton paused.

He continued more calmly, "Mr. Wensler, let me ask my question again. Of the thirty six unidentified individuals that were in Mr. Capone's private suite could one or more of them have been murderers?"

"Yes."

"Could any of them have been Satanists?"

"Yes."

"Could someone have recently sold Mr. Capone those horrible pictures which were on his wall, and could someone have used Mr. Capone's suite without his knowledge to perform those Satanic deeds?"

"No...that sounds highly unlikely," said David.

"Highly unlikely...the only thing highly unlikely around here are the lies and the fabricated story you and the Government have concocted against Mr. Capone," said Mr. Dayton loudly and angrily.

"Objection." said Mr. Proctor.

"Sustained," said the Judge.

"If someone wanted to commit a murder with a knife or a spear, and if they wanted to avoid leaving any DNA-prints, could they do that by simply wearing gloves?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"Yes, that would work if the knife didn't touch any other part of their body," said David.

"Now suppose that someone wearing gloves used a knife to commit a dastardly murder, and suppose this was done after Mr. Capone and Mr. Sanchez had examined Mr. Capone's rare collection of knives and spears. What prints would you find on the knives and spears."

David didn't answer for a moment.

"Mr. Wensler," said Mr. Dayton, "Please answer the question. What prints would you find on the knives and spears?"

"In your hypothetical example, you would find Mr. Capone's and Mr. Sanchez's prints," said David.

"Thank you," said Mr. Dayton. "So, the DNA-prints don't tell an unambiguous story... Now let's turn to the initials and names on the pedestal. Remembering that there are thirty six individuals that you cannot identify, can you say with certainty that Mr. Capone wrote any of the initials or names?"

"Either he or Mr. Sanchez probably wrote those initials," said David defiantly.

"Probably...you say probably based on your working so hard as part of the Government's team to frame Mr. Capone. You have no proof. There is no proof.

"Objection, said Mr. Proctor. Mr. Dayton is making accusations which are totally out of order, and totally untrue."

"Your honor," said Mr. Dayton. "We will show a pattern of Government harassment and examples of falsified records substantiating our distrust of the Government. And your honor, Mr. Wensler did not answer my question."

"Mr. Dayton, please refrain from characterizing the Government until you show your evidence," said Judge Jordan. "And Mr. Wensler, please answer the question asked."

"Again I'll repeat my question," said Mr. Dayton. "Can you say with certainty that Mr. Capone carved any of the initials or names into the pedestal?"

"No...not with 100% certainty."

"Now I want to turn to the notation in the Accounting Book. The notation in question is shown in the prosecution's Exhibit J. Mr. Wensler, the date and the fifty million dollar amount are pretty straight forward would you agree.

"Yes"

"But then there's the initials BT, and I don't understand why you conclude that the name refers to Mr. Robert James Thomas...could you try to explain that to us?" Mr. Dayton asked in a very perplexed tone.

"Well," said David, "Bob is short for Robert, and Mr. Thomas is known as Bob Thomas to his friends and associates...so BT fits. Also, the account number matched Mr. Thomas's number in his Colombian bank account. And this was the same number which Mr. Capone wrote on a note which he gave to Mr. Thomas."

"Sounds pretty good," said Mr. Dayton, "But now let's look at the evidence more carefully. First you say that BT fits Mr. Thomas. Would you say that it would also fit a Mr. William Tardosa better known as Bill Tardosa?"

"Yes...the initials fit."

"Do you believe in coincidences?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"I don't know what you mean?" answered David.

"I'm about to show you a coincidence that is rather phenomenal." Mr. Dayton went over to the Defense Table and brought back two Exhibits of his own. "This is the original bank records from the Northern Colombian Bank," he held up the official looking book, "and this is an enlargement of Page 76 from that book."

Mr. Dayton placed the enlargement on the easel next to Exhibit J. He first removed Exhibit I and gave it to the Bailiff. He walked to and from the Bailiff rather slowly to let the fact sink-in that his Exhibit L also contained the same account number as Exhibit J.

 

EXHIBIT L: ACCOUNTING ENTRY IN MR. WILLIAM TARDOSA'S ACCOUNT 36-804-542-C-789 FROM NORTHERN COLUMBIA BANK,

BRANCH # 36.

 

$50,000,000 JULY 23, 2033 D

 

 

"Would you compare account numbers between the entry in the Accounting Book and in Mr. Tardosa's account?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"They appear to be the same." said David.

"Appear to be the same?" Mr. Dayton pressed the point.

"They are the same."

"Is the amount the same?"

"Yes."

"And what do you suppose the D means in the last column?"

"Deposit."

"Very good," said Mr. Dayton in a patronizing tone. "Now, I want to tell you a little about what the Defense will present a little later, and then I'll ask you a question. We will have both Mr. Tardosa and a member of the Northern Colombian Bank appear as witnesses to demonstrate the validity of this Northern Columbia Bank account. We will demonstrate the fact that a computerized money transfer was made on the indicated date by Mr. Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez used the office in Mr. Capone's private suite to transfer fifty million dollars from an overseas account. Mr. Capone purchased a ranch from Mr. Tardosa on that date."

Mr. Dayton paused, and then asked, "Isn't it just as likely...in fact, even more likely, that the initials BT in the Accounting Book refer to Mr. Bill Tardosa?"

David didn't know how to answer that question. He was aware that the Defense was going to present this account information. He and SACC believed that it was completely fabricated. It's amazing what you can buy with a few tens of billions of dollars, thought David.

"I don't think so" said David.

"You don't think so," echoed Mr. Dayton. "Well let's look at the possibilities, and you tell me which you think is most likely. I see three general possibilities. One, there is a genuine coincidence and the government has been mislead by the lies of Mr. Thomas. Two, the government has falsified records and is trying to frame Mr. Capone. And three, that Mr. Capone has falsified records. Which of these do you think is most likely?"

"I believe that Mr. Capone's people falsified records." said David.

"So you don't believe in coincidences," said Mr. Dayton.

"Not in this case at least," said David.

"Well, in this case, I agree that the accounts being the same was no coincidence," said Mr. Dayton slowly. Then he added rather forcefully, "I believe that the Government falsified records. They discovered the fifty million dollar electronic transfer to Mr. Tardosa and used it to frame Mr. Capone."

"Objection," shouted Mr. Proctor. "That is totally out of order."

"Sustained. Please refrain from such statements," said Judge Jordan, "or I'll have to cite you for contempt of court."

"Mr. Wensler, do you work for the government?" asked Mr. Dayton.

"Yes."

"I see, so your views on the government's integrity may be tainted?"

"No, I don't think so."

"We'll let the jury decide that." Mr. Dayton paused and walked over to Exhibit H which was David's psinfoed copy of a note Capone wrote. "This document¾ Exhibit H¾ is something which you wrote, is that correct?"

"Yes," said David.

"You stated that you believed it was a copy of a note that Mr. Capone wrote. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Did you see Mr. Capone write the note?"

"No."

"Did you every see Mr. Capone with the note?"

"No."

"So," Mr. Dayton paused before continuing, "this key Exhibit has no independent validity other than your statement that you psinfoed it. Is that true?" He asked with a tone of ridicule already evident in his body language."

"No," said David adamantly. "The number was validated by matching Mr. Bob Thomas's account number¾ that's a 12 digit number."

"Or," said Mr. Dayton, "the match could be with Mr. Bill Tardosa's account."

"Yes."

"But, that's not the key part of this Exhibit. The key is the connection with HTI. Isn't that true?"

"That's an important connection," said David.

"Okay, we agree. If you removed the HTI from this Exhibit, your note would be of no value to the Prosecution. So, let's examine the HTI in the note for a moment or two," said Mr. Dayton. "What's your connection with the HTI corporation?"

"My father is the Chief Scientist of HTI."

"Isn't it also true that he¾ your father¾ was one of the founders of the company?"

"Yes."

"So your connection with HTI is not just superficial?"

"That's true."

"And isn't it also true that you were spying on Mr. Capone¾ using your psinfo ability¾ because you thought he was involved in the HTI bombing?

Spying...I don't like that word... thought David. But, I'm not going to fight it now. "I was asking myself what Mr. Capone wrote because of SACC's hypothesis that he was involved in the bombing."

"So, you had in your head thoughts of Mr. Capone and the HTI bombing...it's easy to see, don't you think, how you might have made a mistake in connecting Mr. Capone with the HTI bombing?"

"No, I don't think so."

"You don't think so! We're talking about an innocent man that might be locked-up for the rest of his life, if convicted." said Mr. Dayton."

"Objection."

"Sustained."

"Did you know that the ranch which Mr. Capone bought from Mr. Tardosa for fifty million dollars was called Hacienda Tardosa Island?

"No," said David.

"Notice that the initials of Hacienda Tardosa Island are HTI. Aren't those the same initials as your father's company, namely HTI?"

"Yes."

Mr. Dayton walked very deliberately towards David, and asked, "Mr. Wensler, do you believe that your psinfo ability is infallible?"

David paused, and then said, "No."

"That's all I have, Your Honor," said Mr. Dayton.

 

Part 2 THE VERDICT AND SENTENCE

: March 20, 2041

"We have been informed that the jury will return its verdict on the Capone murder charges in about ten minutes," said Sarah to an audience which was being alerted to her broadcast through a key word system. Videotape machines and alarms were being set-off all over the electronically-connected world notifying those people who chose Capone or HTI as key words. These key words were part of SNNI's approach for directing news stories of interest to its clients.

SNNI was the fastest growing news organization in the world. Their success was based primarily on permitting people to focus their time on their special interests¾ both business and pleasure.

"The closing arguments," Sarah continued, "were completed three days ago. The Prosecution's closing arguments involved summarizing Mr. Thomas's direct accusation that Mr. Capone told him to destroy the two HTI supercomputers and that Mr. Capone gave him fifty million dollars to do the job. That accusation was convincingly proven by Mr. David Wensler's testimony, according to the prosecution.

"Mr. Wensler used his so called psinfo ability to copy a note which he says Mr. Capone wrote. The note is particularly important, because it contains the specific account number in which Mr. Thomas received his fifty million dollars. This note links Mr. Capone to Mr. Thomas; the prosecution also claims, that the Accounting Books found in Mr. Capone's estate show the fifty million dollar entry for Mr. Thomas. The Accounting Books were kept by Mr. Sanchez who is currently in Panama, and therefore, Mr. Sanchez is not subject to questioning or extradition.

"The prosecutor also summarized the evidence which showed that Mr. Sanchez bought the Hacienda Tardosa Island for Mr. Capone and had the bills of sale predated. The testimony concerning the date of purchase of this Hacienda were quite tedious and controversial with experts produced by both the prosecution and defense."

Sarah paused a moment, "The Defense Attorney's closing arguments emphasized the necessity for finding Mr. Capone guilty only if the jurors could do that beyond a reasonable doubt. And the defense claimed that would be impossible, since the evidence consisted primarily of a claim by the convicted murderer, Mr. Thomas, who was strongly influenced by a deal made with the Government.

"The claims of Mr. Wensler were seriously questioned when the defense introduced a note written by Mr. Capone for the purchase of a fifty million dollar ranch from a man with the same initials as Mr. Thomas. The defense also said that it was possible that Mr. Wensler was part of the Government conspiracy to frame Mr. Capone.

"The Defense Attorney produced documents which he said proved that Mr. Capone had purchased the ranch for fifty million dollars, thereby explaining the entry in the Accounting Book. The defense made the point that the Government could have deliberately faked the evidence against Mr. Capone.

"The Defense Attorney closed with an impassioned speech saying that his client was completely innocent. Yes, Mr. Capone had an unusual passion for Satanic artifacts, but that was strictly as a collector. There was no credible evidence, according to the defense, to connect Mr. Capone with the bombings. To convict his client based on the flimsy evidence of a convicted murderer's testimony and a psychically obtained note would certainly not qualify as 'beyond a reasonable doubt'."

 

The jurors entered the courtroom. The judge entered shortly thereafter, and the trial was called to order. The judge asked the foreman if the jurors had reached a verdict. The foreman said yes and handed the formal written sheet to the bailiff who showed it to the judge. The judge took a moment to read the sheet and verify that all the jurors had signed. He then handed it to the bailiff who returned it to the foreman.

"Will the defendant please stand," said Judge Jordan. Mr. Capone and his defense team stood up. "Please read the verdict."

"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of first degree murder on all twenty five counts."

Mr. Capone and Mr. Dayton both looked very surprised...actually shocked is a more accurate word. Then, the shock of the verdict left Capone's face, and his expression turned angry.

"Yous sons of bitches," Mr. Capone shouted. "All of yous are sons of bitches. I ain't done notin' wrong..."

"Please remove the defendant from this courtroom," said Judge Jordan. There was a rather violent scuffle as Mr. Capone resisted being taken back to his jail cell by the Federal Marshals.

"Sentencing will be 10 o'clock Monday morning," said the Judge.

: Monday Morning, March 25, 2041

Sarah walked into the Federal Building. Two armed guards stopped her and asked where she was going. She had to show her press card before she was permitted to enter the special express elevator to the fourteenth floor.

As the elevator went up, she noticed that the people were not acting like the usual spectators. These people were quite serious. There was no small talk, in fact, there was no talk at all.

When they exited the elevator, she and one man walked through a metal detector. The other five men and two women showed a card to the guard and walked around the metal detector. Sarah asked why, and she was told that they had special clearance.

As Sarah crossed the room, she noticed that the people from the elevator were all taking seats on one side of the room. They were sitting at one end of each of the rows of visitor benches.

Strange, she thought. Then she began preparing for her broadcast.

"Miss Sarah Gleason," said David. He tapped her on her shoulder. He was wearing his FBI badge on his suit lapel.

"Yes," she said as she turned around and immediately recognized David. "Please call me Sarah. And what can I do for you Mr. David Wensler...official FBI representative?"

"We do need an important favor, Sarah," said David. "There'll be some unusual activity in the courtroom this morning. When the session starts, it's important that you don't make any reference to anything which may seem unusual to you. Your broadcast must look like business as usual."

"Isn't it?" she coyly asked.

"Would you make it appear that way? ...it's important...you'll understand why later."

"I'm glad they sent you to ask me, instead of a stuffy FBI guy," said Sarah. "I certainly wouldn't censor my broadcast for any of them...censorship is a serious matter."

"Yes it is, but sometimes it's necessary...will you do it?" he asked again.

"Yes, Mr. Wensler," said Sarah with a chuckle in her voice. "I'll broadcast a business as usual sentencing session for a Satanic crime lord worth over a 100 billion dollars. But on one condition."

"And what is that?" asked David. Everyone knew that Sarah Gleason was a hard nosed video reporter who never¾ or at least hardly ever¾ censored her broadcasts. That was one of her trademarks. She called them as she saw them. David was sent to talk to her as the one person with the highest probability of influencing her.

"After the sentencing," she said, "I want an exclusive interview with you. Exclusive for twenty four hours."

David smiled, "You've got it."

"Then it's a deal, business as usual."

"Thank you, Sarah," said David.

David walked over to Bobby Lang and told him that Sarah had agreed. Bobby motioned to an agent at the back of the room who opened the doubled doors. Then a large metallic unit was rolled into the room and placed in the back corner. Ten agents began feverishly working on and in the unit. Among other things, they were connecting wires through the ceiling. Finally, after about twenty minutes, the unit was covered with a drop cloth so it wouldn't be approached or appear too out of the ordinary.

David, Bobby and two other men climbed inside.

"There's something happening," said Sarah to Eddie, her cameraman. "Something big. Why all the extra guards? ...they're crawling all over the building. And, why won't they let us talk about that box which must be an extra precaution? ...very strange...you'd think Capone's going to try to escape. ...that's it! That has to be it!"

"We're on the fourteenth floor of the Federal Building. There're surveillance cameras everywhere¾ guards outside the door dressed in full combat gear. Nobody's going to spring him from here," said Eddie.

"Well, something's abrew, and we have an exclusive interview when it's all over." said Sarah.

 

"This is Sarah Gleason, reporting from the Federal Courtroom in Los Angeles. The sentencing of Mr. Capone for ordering the bombing of the HTI supercomputers which resulted in the death of twenty five people will begin in a few moments. Mr. Capone was found guilty of twenty five counts of first degree murder," said Sarah. Behind her was a shot of the Judge's bench and the doorway through which Mr. Capone would enter the courtroom.

"The maximum sentence he faces is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This is almost certain to be Mr. Capone's sentence. The key question is to what type of prison he will be sent."

Behind Sarah the door opened and two Federal Marshals entered the courtroom with Capone between them. Capone, who was now a convicted murderer, was handcuffed and in leg irons.

"As you can see, Mr. Capone has just entered the courtroom in shackles. He looks remarkably calm for someone who's about to go to jail for the rest of his life," she said. "If he's sentenced to a Class 5 prison, he won't even be able to have visitors...except for the robots that take care of the facility."

Judge Larry Jordan entered the courtroom through his door which was directly behind the bench. The court was brought to order by the bailiff. Mr. Capone was asked to stand. He and his Defense Attorneys stood up and faced the Judge.

"Mr. Jack Capone," said the Judge, "you have been found guilty of twenty five counts of first degree murder. Before I pass sentence on you, is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Yeah," said Mr. Capone. "dere is."

"Fine...proceed," said the Judge.

The camera focused in on Capone as he began. "Yous guys are gonna try to send me away for life. My mouthpiece here says it's a prison run by robots. Doesn't sound like fun...I ain't gonna go. Yous crazy if yous thinks ya can send me to the joint.

"I s'pose by yous guys rules, I did break da law. But who says yous get to make da rules...yous ain't God. God ain't here, so's us people gets to make our own rules.

"The rules...they's simple...they's been the same since I been a boy. Power rules...ain't that simple...power rules.

"Anybody that's got 'nuf power...he gets to make da rules. ...he's the law.

"Ya know whose got the most power...It's da Devil. God's away someplace...but the Devil is all around us. Da Devil's here...on Earth. Just look 'round...this is the kingdom of the Devil.

"I learnt dat God was not 'round when I's very young. I prayed for the beat'ns to stop. God couldn't stop m' Daddy...m' Daddy was much stronger than God. But...once I sees da power of da Devil...once I join' with da Devil...then...we's stop my Daddy. Da Devil and me...we's stop him."

Capone paused and glanced up at the clock on the wall. He continued, "Yous guys said bad things 'bout Diablo Sanchez. Shame on you! He's ma brotha. He's the guy dat save my life.

"Diablo tell me dat my Daddy bad to hurt me. He teach me 'bout the Devil. He smart...he go school many years. I loves him. He loves me. We's a team. We's get strong...we's get da power...we's make da rules."

Judge Jordan could no longer remain quiet, "That's enough," he said angrily. "You don't make the rules or laws! Not in this country...not in this courtroom."

"We's see 'bout dat," said Mr. Capone. "Diablo and da Devil...dey very powerful."

"That's quite enough from you," said Judge Jordan. "You have been found guilty of twenty five counts of first degree murder. It is clear that you ordered the bombings. And as such, you are the person most responsible for the deaths of the twenty five innocent people killed in the bombings

"I'm sorry that I cannot order the death sentence for you. But alas, the law limits me to sentencing you to life imprisonment without any¾ and I mean any¾ chance of parole. I do have the option of sending you to a Class 4 or Class 5 prison.

"The Class 4 prisons are for lifers who have some redeeming qualities which justify their having some rights. For example they can read books of their choosing, write and receive letters, and have companionship with both other prisoners and outside visitors. In a Class 4 prison there is an opportunity to live out your life with a variety of choices.

"The Class 5 prisons, on the other hand, are for those prisoners who the court feels cannot be permitted to mix with any part of civilization. The prisoners are confined to their own cells for life. The cell doors are welded shut and only a Presidential order can remove a Class 5 prisoner from his cell. And then only to move him to a Class 4 prison.

"The Class 5 prisons are run by robots. These robots attend to the prisoner's meals¾ they'll cook, serve and clean up the food. The robots enter and leave from a specially constructed door through the floor. A door which cannot be entered by any prisoner without being crushed to death. The prisoners are completely isolated. In the event of illness, there is a medical robot which will do the best he can to provide assistance. This robot technology is being improved largely through experimentation on these prisoners.

"Class 5 prisoners remain in Class 5 prisons without seeing another person, except their attorneys, until they die. They are permitted to read and to watch TV."

Judge Jordan paused and looked sternly at Mr. Capone. He said, "Mr. Jack Capone, I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment in the Class 5 prison located in Alcatraz, California. I hope this will be a lesson to others who control illegal gangs from abroad. Crime continues to pull at the fabric of American society..."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash as a canister smashed through the courtroom window. Two seconds later, the canister burst open. A black dusty gas was rapidly propelled and dispersed throughout the room.

Sarah turned toward the canister and saw the black gas moving toward her. "Something's been thrown into the courtroom¾ black smoke, I can't see anything," she said into her mike. Then she became unconscious.

Everyone who breathed the black smoke fell unconscious. The video went black.

Capone's chief attorney, Mr. Dayton, took a wet handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it on his head and Capone's head. Then they fell unconscious.

Sarah's mike was still on. The audience of 500 million could still hear the sounds in the courtroom. The sounds were of metal smashing against metal and glass. And the sounds of glass breaking and falling on the ground.

Then there was a rustling noise followed by the sounds of footsteps on broken glass. A second rustling noise followed, and more footsteps on broken glass.

"Halt...your under arrest," was clearly heard over the microphone. Then a fierce series of gun shots.

There was a heavy metallic sliding sound¾ like a heavy thick metal sliding door rapidly being closed.

There was the sound of running feet.

Then there was a huge explosion.

 

Carlos Bugsy Sanchez, also known as Diablo, loved Jack Capone, his half brother. He had always loved him. The brutal beatings they suffered by their father's hand sealed their fates to each other and to Satanism.

Sanchez and Capone were an effective team. Capone dropped out of junior high school. Carlos went to college and received a Masters Degree in Business Administration. Carlos chose to be the low key¾ almost invisible¾ partner. But he was clearly the guiding force behind their business ventures. Business in prostitution, pornography and drugs was booming.

Sanchez and Capone always took care of each other, and Sanchez was determined to free Capone.

Sanchez was surprised when he learned that Capone was found guilty of the murders. "Damn it, after all that work," he had said, referring to the false bank records and purchase of the ranch used to explain the fifty million dollar entry in the Accounting Book.

Sanchez knew that once Capone was incarcerated in the newly constructed Class 5 prison at Alcatraz, escape would be virtually impossible. "We'll have to spring him from the courtroom. Our back-up plan is now started...it's time to use the armored flycar," he had said.

Sanchez and Capone had spent five hundred million dollars on building an invulnerable flytruck¾ really a flytank. This flytruck had never been used and was intended for the most severe emergencies. The walls and glass were made of the strongest bomb-proof material known to man. It would take a nuclear blast to crush the walls. And, there were no bullets or missiles which could penetrate the walls. The flycar was built to look like one of the large transport flytrucks to avoid attracting attention.

Sanchez felt so safe inside his flying fortress, that he was personally going to pilot the flytruck on its first mission¾ to rescue his brother. The flytruck was stored in Panama.

The plan was simple. Sanchez would pilot the flytruck which had sufficient range to reach the courthouse and return to the safety of Panama. A flight path would be filed for the transport of coffee to Los Angeles. The missile launcher in the flycar would be used to propel a canister of black sleeping gas into the courtroom through the window. Two of his men would help Capone climb out of the window into the waiting flytruck which would hover just below the window.

The black sleeping gas would not only put everyone in the courtroom asleep, but the guards monitoring the room wouldn't be able to see anything inside. Even if they had gas masks, they couldn't do anything since they couldn't see anything.

Sanchez's men were wearing gas masks with special glasses that could pick up the direction of a slightly radioactive florescent material. Mr. Dayton was given some of this liquid material on a moistened handkerchief. It was his job to wipe some on his and Capone's head as soon as the canister crashed through the window. Mr. Dayton knew he had at least two seconds to mark himself and Capone for escape.

Mr. Dayton did not know that Sanchez had ordered his men to shoot him "...for losing the case. "Get Jackie out¾ he's the one shinin' and wearing the handcuffs and leg irons. Shoot the other guy who's shinin'" Sanchez had said.

The timing was, of course, critical. The starting time of the sentencing hearing was approximately 10 AM. But to coordinate the timing, the SNNI broadcast would be used to start the clock¾ ten minutes after Capone entered the courtroom, Sanchez would fire the canister, and then be in position for the pick-up of his brother thirty seconds later.

 

The explosion opened a gaping hole where the window had been. As the terrible noise subsided, and as the smaller debris from the blast slowly settled to the ground, swarms of guards, doctors and nurses entered the courtroom. They were all wearing gas masks.

The black sleeping dust lost its potency in five minutes, and most had blown out of the newly enlarged window by then. Sarah regained consciousness. She was a bit groggy. She felt pain in her shoulder and leg, and she noticed she was in the midst of wooden debris many feet from where she had been standing.

Sarah slowly picked herself up. I'm okay...just a few bruises, thank God, she thought. Where's Eddie. "Eddie, Eddie," she shouted, looking for her cameraman.

"Jesus," said Eddie. "What the fuck happened?"

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah...I guess so." He was still clutching the video camera to his chest. He had instinctively held onto it when he ran from the black gas. He maintained his grasp on it when he was thrown to the ground by the explosion.

"Are we still sending?" Sarah asked. Eddie didn't respond. "Can we transmit? Eddie, Eddie¾ this is big news¾ we're right in the middle of this," she said loudly as she shook his shoulders. "Are we still on the air? Is the satellite receiving our signal?"

"Damn if I know...let me check," he finally said. He walked with an uncertain gait toward his broadcasting equipment. He tripped on the leg from a corner fragment of a table. There was debris everywhere.

Sarah looked around the room. What a mess, she thought. Some people were bleeding quite badly, and some still looked unconscious. There were doctors and nurses helping the injured. The guards were taking Capone and Mr. Dayton out of the courtroom. Mr. Dayton was now in handcuffs.

Sarah saw two men being helped out of helmets. The helmets looked like fishbowls. She had never seen anything like them before. These men were also wearing the latest in bullet proof vests and pants, and they had automatic weapons in their holsters.

Oh my God, she thought when she saw two bodies covered with blankets, two dead bodies. The bodies were near the large hole in the wall. She also saw a very thick steel plate, of some sort, covering part of the hole. Off to one side of the hole was a large mangled container, which earlier had been rolled into the courtroom. The container had been blown open by the explosion, exposing a very sophisticated control center.

"Where's David," she quietly said to herself.

Sarah was concerned for his safety. She felt surprisingly close to David. They had both been working the Capone trial for the last six weeks, and had chatted many times.

She spotted him slowly standing up in the midst of several broken chairs. He was wearing a tattered HT suit. As he rose to his feet, he made eye contact with her. He gave her a "thumbs up". She smiled and walked over to him.

"Wow," she said as she approached him.

"Wow is right," he said.

A nurse came over to him and asked if he needed any medical attention. He waved her away.

"You're pretty tough, huh," she said.

"No...but right now I'm feeling great. We did it...we nailed those bastards." David suddenly looked around, "Where's Bobby?"

Bobby had been about ten feet behind David. He was therefore closer to the explosive blast wave. He had a broken leg and serious bruises which were being treated by a doctor and nurse.

Just as David went to comfort Bobby, Eddie found Sarah.

"We're ready to go!" said Eddie excitedly. "The network is transmitting the explosion scene all over the world. They're playing it free, and giving it to everybody for their newscasts. They're showin' the last few minutes of Capone's sentencing, and then..." Eddie takes on his dramatic pose, "The sound of the canister crashing through the window. The camera turns just in time to see the black smoke engulf several people. Then, the screen goes blank...but Sarah's mike captures the sounds of two people entering through the window...warning shouts...gunshots. And...bang! ...the explosion, which cuts off the transmission. They say the sounds and the blackness created the most exciting video of the year, maybe decade."

Eddie paused, "600 million people are waiting to find out what has happened here... The freebies are workin'...we have their interest all right...we're up to 600 million viewers...right now. 600 million paying customers. The upper brass are peeing in there pants they're so happy. They want you to go live as soon as you can!"

It took a moment for Eddie's words to sink in. Then Sarah simply said, "Right." She walked toward David and Bobby and motioned Eddie to follow.

"How're doin' Bobby?" asked Sarah.

"Pretty good, considering," he answered.

"Looks like you two stopped an escape," she said. Then she turned, looked directly at David, "I'd sure like to know what happened...and so would my viewers. Do we still have a deal?"

David smiled, "Now...right now! Exclusive interview after Capone's sentencing. You mean that deal?" he asked rhetorically.

Sarah was so ready to do the interview...she was practically jumping out of her shoes. The outward show of excitement was rare for Sarah.

David and Bobby looked at each other and couldn't help laughing. Bobby waved David away and said he'd be fine.

"I'll see you at the hospital a little later," said David.

David turned to Sarah, "Give me five minutes."

 

"This is Sarah Gleason reporting from a courtroom on the fourteenth floor of the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California." Behind Sarah was a portion of the demolished courtroom. The doctors and nurses working on the injured patients and two bodies covered with sheets were visible on TV screens all over the world.

"This is the courtroom where Jack Capone was sentenced to a Class 5 prison for life. He was convicted of twenty five counts of first degree murder associated with the bombing of the HTI supercomputers. A few minutes ago, there was a dramatic escape attempt. The escape was foiled by the SACC division of the FBI." As Sarah talked, the camera's view moved showing the devastation in the entire courtroom.

"The large hole you see in the wall used to be a window. Just moments ago, a canister of some sort was thrown through that window. Black smoke filled the room. The smoke rendered me unconscious. When I awakened, I saw the destruction you see here.

"With me now, for an exclusive interview, is Mr. David Wensler from SACC. He has been involved with this case for six years¾ ever since the initial HTI bombing. He provided evidence in the trial which convicted Mr. Capone. Hopefully, he can explain what has happened here," said Sarah. She finished her introduction and turned to David, "Mr. Wensler, what can you tell us?"

David was remarkably self assured in front of the camera. He cleared his throat. "Let me give you a brief summary, and then I'll show you a video clip taken by our agents on the street.

"There was an escape attempt. Jack Capone's half brother, Carlos Sanchez, tried to pluck Mr. Capone from this courtroom. Carlos used an armored flytruck to approach the courtroom window. He first shot a canister of black sleeping dust into the courtroom. That made it almost impossible for anyone to see anything. But, Capone's attorney marked Capone and himself with some material which could be detected through the dust. Then two of Sanchez's men¾ wearing gas masks¾ climbed into the room through the window. Their job was to grab Capone and his lawyer and put them into the flytruck which was waiting just below the window.

"I think the best way to explain the large explosion which occurred is to show the video clip."

David turned toward Sarah. Sarah said, "This video was provided to us just moments ago by the FBI. We'll be seeing this, with you, for the first time. Eddie, role it."

The screen changed to show the LA skyline. A large transport flycar traveling between the tall buildings came into view. The video included a soundtrack, which was the recorded real time comments of the SACC agents taking the pictures, "There she is. She's still under normal traffic-control."

The picture continued to follow the flycar for another minute. "She's getting close to the Fed building. She'll have to make her move soon." Another voice said, "Maybe she's just a transporter...the intelligence could be way off."

Another thirty seconds, and then a third voice was heard, "Traffic control says they've lost the transporter. It's started. Tell Bobby."

It wasn't obvious that the transporter had changed course, but then the video from another camera was shown on the screen. This camera was in a building adjacent to the Federal Building, and it showed a clear close-up of the transporter as it slowly approached the Fed Building. "I've got her...she's approaching the window," said a voice on the video.

As 600 million viewers watched, a canister was propelled from the front of the flytruck and crashed through the courtroom window. The flytruck then pulled back, moved down a little, made a 90 degree turn, snuggled close to the building, and hovered a foot below the broken window.

Events began to happen very fast. A hatch at the top of the flytruck opened right below the window. Two men wearing gas masks emerged and stood on the truck. One of the men used a crowbar to smash out the rest of the window. Then they entered the courtroom one at a time.

About ten seconds later, a dark covering suddenly appeared over the window and small glistening objects could be seen falling toward the flytruck.

And then, there was a huge explosion.

The audience could hear the sound of the explosion as they watched the fireball rapidly expand to cover many tens of windows over several floors. The fireball disappeared in a few seconds and a cloud of smoke began rising. The flytruck was fractured into hundreds of large pieces, and a seemingly infinite number of small pieces of debris and dust.

Many of the largest pieces were in flames, and the camera followed these downward until they crashed to the pavement below. The smaller debris fell-out over the next 20 seconds or so, and a dust cloud was still in the air when the video ended.

The screen now showed Sarah and David. They were watching a TV monitor. Neither of them said anything for a few moments.

"Incredible..." was the best Sarah could do.

"Yes," said David in agreement.

"What actually caused the explosion?" she asked, adding, "Was it those things that fell on the flytruck?"

"Those things were specially designed bomblets, similar to hand grenades. These bomblets were set to explode 2 seconds after release, but only if activated by impacting something. In this case the activation would be from impacting the flytruck. If there were no impact by 2 seconds from release, a bomblet would be harmless.

We released the bomblets from the outside surface of the metal blast shield we put over the window. The bomblets were tossed at the flytruck after Sanchez's men were inside the courtroom, and after we knew the hatch was open.

A bomblet had to explode inside the flytruck to force it to land. We did not intend to have such a large explosion. The explosion was so severe because one of the bomblets which exploded inside the flytruck ruptured a fuel tank. This caused the flytruck to fill with fumes which exploded. The explosion was hundreds of times more powerful than the bomblet explosions. We had hoped to simply down the flytruck...but we knew there was a chance that there would be a large explosion."

"You clearly knew that an escape attempt would occur. Did you set a trap?"

"Yes...we thought of it as an operation. But, I guess you could call it a trap." answered David. "It was a trap specifically set for Carlos Sanchez. He has always, until today, stayed out of our jurisdiction."

"Now Mr. Wensler," she said rather formally, "I was inside the courtroom this morning when you, Mr. Lang and two other men entered a camouflaged box or container of some sort. The box was set-up near the window. The remains of that box are over there, and as the viewers can see, it's filled with sophisticated equipment. Also, you and Mr. Lang were wearing HT outfits when I saw you after the explosion. Could you please explain what you were doing in there?"

"Mr. Bobby Lang from SACC was the Field Supervisor in charge of the operation. Bobby, myself and two Special Agents were inside a specially constructed Mobile Control Center. We set up that unit this morning, before Capone and his lawyers entered the courtroom. We camouflaged the unit so your broadcast, which was certainly being watched by Mr. Sanchez inside his flytruck, wouldn't alert Capone who might then alert Sanchez.

"The Control Center includes two fully equipped HT-4 Model C units...with many extras. Bobby and I were HT-Sharing from the time Capone entered the courtroom until the Special Agents killed the two guys who climbed in the window from Sanchez's flytruck. We released the blast shield and bomblets. Then we ran, as fast as we could, from the window...in case the flytruck exploded."

"Let's take that more slowly. Why would you want to HT-Share?" Sarah asked.

"It's really HT-Tracking. With two of us hooked-up, we were able to track the guys who were going to take Capone and Dayton. The only way for us to gain an advantage¾ inside the courtroom after the release of the black sleeping gas¾ was to have Special Agents in there with gas masks and with the ability to see their adversaries. The two Special Agents were wearing helmets which were not only gas masks, but which permitted them to see where the two guys were.

"Mr. Lang and I were tracking the two guys on our HT-4 screen. The screen included a detailed map of the courtroom. Our map was being sent to the screens in the Special Agents' helmets. The maximum transmission distance is only 25 feet. That's why the control room had to be inside the courtroom."

David was interrupted by a man wearing an FBI badge. The man whispered something. David said, "Good, do it now." Then David turned back to Sarah and the camera, saying, "Sorry for the interruption, but I have another video to show you. I think it'll explain more than I can.

"But first, let me set the scene. Mr. Lang and I were using the full power of HT-Tracking to follow all the men in Sanchez's flytruck. When the canister was fired into the courtroom, the Special Agents immediately left the Control Center and stationed themselves on either side of the window, against the wall. We also tracked the Agents once they left the Control Center."

David paused and said, "Please start the video. This was recorded directly from one of the Special Agent's helmets. I'm told that names have been added to the colored images you will see."

The video began with distinctive colored images superimposed on a map of the courtroom and what was obviously the approaching flytruck. The window was clearly marked as was the Control Center. There were 8 or 9 images inside the flytruck. Three were labeled¾ Sanchez, X, and Y.

"They've fired the canister," said a voice being piped into the Control Center. "Let's go!" said the voice of the Agent. Then two new colored images suddenly appeared from the Control Center's door. These were labeled Agent A and Agent B.

Agents A and B quickly moved to each side of the window. The motion of the images in the flytruck showed that it was turning and hovering next to the building. Sanchez's men, X and Y rose above the other men in the flytruck. X paused outside the window for a few seconds. Then he entered the courtroom followed by Y.

"Stop, you're under arrest," said the Agents. Suddenly, X and Y turned and shots were fired. X's colored image quickly disappeared. Y's image slowly faded and then it too disappeared.

The Agent shouted, "Spring the door." Then both Agents quickly ran away from the window.

The loud sound of the explosion was heard as the images in the flytruck all disappeared.

The video ended and David and Sarah were back on the air. "How did you guys know only two of Sanchez's men were going to enter the courtroom? And how did you know they would be using the flytruck? ...where did your intelligence from?" asked Sarah.

David smiled, "We do have very good intelligence gathering techniques. I'm not permitted to tell you more than I have already."

David's composure became more serious, and he looked directly at the camera. "SACC has now proven that, in the United States, all murderers will be captured, prosecuted, and brought to justice. Note that I've said all murderers. There will be no exceptions.

"The number of first, second, and third degree murders in this country have dramatically declined in the last 10 years due to the increasingly improved ability of SACC to catch murderers. We have now reached the 100% level.

"This is not rhetoric...ask Mr. Capone." David turned to Sarah and added, "Thank you."

Sarah seeing that the interview was over, said, "Thank you, Mr. Wensler. SACC has just declared itself capable of capturing, prosecuting and jailing all murderers. Based on what I've seen today, I believe them.

"This is Sarah Gleason for SNNI."

 

Part 3 MANDY'S HT-MUSIC

VENICE, CALIFORNIA : 22 February 2048

HTI Headquarters

"This will be my first HT concert where I work with children," said Mandy. "I'm very excited. The boys have such vitality. I've fallen in love with them all."

"Ever since you became a grandma," said John. You've become a real softie for youngsters." Jamali had given birth to a baby girl, Sharon Amy Wensler. Sharon was one year old.

"Grandma, oh Lord, that sounds so old," said Mandy.

"I've never seen you act younger," said John.

"Thanks, you old liar," said Mandy. "I do enjoy performing in these concerts. Everyone seems to have such a good time."

"Yes, that was clear with the boys. They loved working with you during the pre-concert recordings," said John as he walked her to the HT-Focus Unit.

"The pre-concert was fun, but the boys seem to relish practicing inside the Production System even more. They can't seem to get enough. The HTing together is invigorating," said Mandy.

Three of the children ran up to Mandy and gave her a big hug saying how excited they were to begin the live performance.

 

The proliferation of HT units was phenomenal. There were about 100 million units in the United States and an equal number in the rest of the world. The HT-4 Mod C became the mass produced version which sold for about ten thousand dollars. This unit had the full capacity of Mandy's original HT-Music Unit and sold for a hundredth of the original price. Nearly every home would have an HT-4 in another 10 years. The closest analogy is the growth of television about 100 years earlier.

The computer analogy is inappropriate because computers were inside most systems in the 21st century. The HT units, on the other hand, became part of the way people spent their time. Most people in the advanced nations of the world used an HT at least once a week. HT-Health clubs were where most people did their HTing. But HTing for entertainment was rapidly growing in popularity.

There were many programs which could be tuned-in from any HT-4 unit. The programs were sold on a user subscription basis. There was no such thing as free HT programming. The most successful programs attracted 100 to 250 thousand subscribers. Mandy's HT-Music Concert with the boys would attract about 25,000.

Ever since HTI started selling the HT-Production System, programs of all styles were produced by many entertainment and educational companies. The Production System was quite expensive, because it involved many HT-4s and a sophisticated computer. Nevertheless, there was a growing market for HT programs and many of the creative production companies were successful. The teenage market was the most profitable. There were many popular programs involving loud music and songs accompanied by almost-blinding light shows. There was also a healthy market for movie, theater and poetry productions.

The HT-Production System was developed, at great expense to HTI, because of Matt Monroe's intense interest in producing HT-Movies. Matt was still not satisfied with the System, but the HTing multi-user technology was advanced considerably. In particular, the Production System permitted up to ten people to simultaneously HT and produce a synthesized program which could be viewed live or as a high fidelity movie. There was, however, an important limitation. There had to be a single person who acted as a focus, or nucleus, for the production.

The Focus Unit was specially designed to accommodate and synthesize the biofeedback signals from up to 10 HT-4s. Each of the 10 HTers experienced the synthesized signals from all participants. It was the job of the focus to perform the group biofeedback synthesis to produce the final program.

Matt and John tried to develop a biofeedback system where all the participants or performers could be in balance simultaneously. The idea was to extend the very effective two-person HT-Sharing idea. However, John's best efforts failed. Even three HT units could not sustain a stable biofeedback session for more than several seconds. One participant would dominate for a while, then there often was a shift in dominance as the session progressed. The resulting sessions were unsatisfactory to everyone.

For a long while, HT-Sharing seemed impossible for more than two people. Then John suggested using the finest available instrument for combining and focusing the disparate HT-4 biofeedback inputs. Specifically, use a person in an HT-4 as the focusing instrument. This person is called the focus and he or she HTs from a modified HT-4 called the Focus unit. John's sketch for the HT-Production System with ten HT-4 units plus a Focus unit is shown below:

 

 

Each Production System included a dedicated HTI computer. A centralized supercomputer for all Production Systems was not economically feasible. Local dedicated computers permitted Production Systems to be shipped anywhere in the world with sufficient computational resources for 10 HT-4s and the Focus Unit. The Focus Unit differs from the other units in that all the biofeedback synthesis occurs through this unit.

The idea was for the biofeedback energy from each HT unit to be synthesized under the control of one designated focus. John found the need for a focus philosophically unsatisfactory, but he could find no way around the need for complex synthesizing. Mathematical algorithms for integrating all the signals simply did not work well. The results were always simplistic, dull and predictable. The human focus was needed to balance the individual biofeedback signals without losing the complexity of individual inputs. The focus released the creativity shared by the participants.

Most HT-Productions also used pre-recorded sounds, music, and 3-D holographic images as part of their programs. These sounds and images could be played back as part of the live HT performance and then be uniquely enhanced by the group HT biofeedback process.

In HT-musical productions, the performers often pre-recorded the basic themes. The most dramatic and emotional aspects of the productions, however, were always added during the biofeedback production session. Each performer was suited up inside the individual HT-4s. Initially, the basic theme would be played back into each unit. The performers biofeedback responses were synthesized by the focus. The energy and excitement generated in this process was tremendous. The Focus Unit combined the additional HT music and light effects for the production. But each performer, including the focus, was intimately involved since the real-time music/light effects were part of the biofeedback that each performer experienced.

The most successful HT-Program to date signed-up 256,000 subscribers. This program was based on a pre-recorded live concert of the Grateful Dead Reborn Group. The group's performance at the Forum in Los Angeles was recorded on a Saturday night. The following Saturday, the 10 members of the group HTed to this recording using the HT-Production Facilities at HTI. The lead guitarist was the focus, and the subscribers were treated to a unique performance¾ many said better than the original, except for the excitement of being in the live crowd. Interestingly, all of the Dead performers enjoyed the HT-Production process, and each wanted to have follow-up HT programs as a regular part of their tour.

 

The announcer said, "Welcome to the Saturday Music Show. This evenings performance is based on a new composition written by Mandy Wensler called, Free-Flow. Tonight, we are pleased to have ten members of the Boston Boys Choir with us to provide the accompaniment. Mandy will, of course, be the focus for tonight's HT-Music concert.

The pre-concert recording of Free-Flow was performed last Monday. Mandy and the boys went to Yosemite to provide the beautiful background scenes and natural sounds which are an integral part of the piece. The boys voices seem as sweet and natural as the mountains, trees and streams.

"Those of you who've been with us before know that the pre-concert recording simply forms the foundation for the live concert you will hear tonight. Even though Mandy and the boys have practiced with the recording several times, tonight's performance will be unique. The boys and Mandy come to this performance fresh and alive with anticipation knowing that each time they play Free-Flow, they create a fresh musical piece based on the specific HTing dynamics present within the group.

"HTI developed the technology which permits ten individual HT-4 units to transmit their biofeedback signals to a central Focus Unit. The boy's biofeedback signals, as well as Mandy's inputs, will be synthesized by Mandy from the Focus Unit. The synthesized signals will then be returned to the boys and Mandy. The result will be a deeper, richer, and more exhilarating HT-Music experience for the boys, Mandy," there was a slight pause before he finished the sentence, "and the general audience."

John had settled into his Unit to enjoy the performance. I'd pause too, John thought, the audience has stopped growing, apparently the exhilaration for HT classical music is not contagious. The HTers performing the concerts, though, are truly moved. They all want to have additional sessions.

The announcer continued, "Mandy and the boys are thus a biofeedback-connected group. Their light and music offering is what we are about to broadcast to you, live."

The announcer wrapped-up his introduction with the following words which were a trademark of the HT-Music Program:

"Mankind has been given many wondrous gifts. For example, the ability to think and feel. Another gift is Man's ability to create and appreciate music.

"As impressive as Man's intellectual and emotional capacities are, these are only part of his being. There is another part which is deep and mysterious; this is the spiritual aspect. Man can touch his Spiritual Self with music."

The announcer paused for a moment, then he said, "That beautiful sentiment connecting music and the spirit was written three years ago by Mandy Wensler. Now, please prepare yourselves for the HT-Music program. We will start in exactly two minutes."

 

A mellow combination of music and lights filled the HT units for two minutes, then the majestic view of Yosemite's snow covered trees and mountains charged the screen with the vitality of nature. The holographic cameras mounted in a specially designed flymobile provided the fully 3-D images of ice and snow melting and trickling into streams which formed rivers which cascaded into magnificent waterfalls. At first, the music was nature's beautiful noises: rustling trees blown by the wind, fresh snow falling off tall pine trees, solitary birds chirping and flapping their wings, trickling streams, gurgling rivers, and tumultuous waterfalls. Then, a single violin and the beautiful soprano voices of 10 young boys singing simple notes joined in.

The HT-screen zoomed to an isolated ring of trees surrounding 10 singing boys and a solitary violinist. The camera remained fixed for a few moments to savor their music which was beautiful and captivating. For the first time, additional music and voices began accompanying the pre-recorded program. The group biofeedback had begun.

As the view encompassed a broader perspective, the screen began to show additional colors blending with the natural background. The background scenery itself became distorted in an artistic and creative fashion. The music and images were dynamically in sync with a flowing feeling which Mandy and the boys used to delve deeper and deeper into the feeling of the free flow of nature and the free flow of their creativity.

One of the enchanting surprises in this performance was the emergence of the most magnificent alto voice you could imagine. This voice seemed to be Mother Nature herself. The richness and variety of the remainder of the 20 minute Free-Flow performance was due largely to the balance and blend between this new biofeedback generated voice, the boys' voices, and Mandy's sinuous violin playing.

 

John felt the performance was beautiful and touching. The music and voices meandered around the HT unit's sound system with a gaiety and life of their own. The sweet sound of so many voices singing harmoniously with the simple violin music brought tears to John's eyes. But his unabashed enthusiasm was in the minority. In most of the audience, there was a strong yearning for something more¾ something deeper. This feeling diminished the enjoyment for many listeners.

The music critics were positive about the piece, but they dwelled primarily on the excitement which the boys exhibited after the performance was finished. The interviews with the boys revealed that the group HTing performance was a joyous and peak experience which they wanted to do again.

There were thousands of letters from the audience requesting the chance to accompany Mandy during an HT-Music Performance. "We need something more than the Production Units," said Mandy to John as they read some of the letters.

John nodded in agreement and said, "We need to be able to join together as many people as are interested. I need to better understand which critical technologies are stopping us. In a few years, we'll be able to increase the number of participants from 10 to say 100...but why not a million?"

"Are you serious," said Mandy, "a million simultaneous HTers joined together?"

"Why not!"