Alter Trials

Pre-Trial 1: The Mastermind

"Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal." - Isaiah 26:4 NIV

"Ow!" Kota yelped. Lost in thought he had hit himself in the face with the door to his house. Sometimes he was almost sure that the door had something against him. This time he made sure that he did not open the door on his face.

"You back?" his Mom called from the other room.

"Yeah," he responded setting his Bible on the counter between their kitchen and den. "I'm probably going to go back out in a second and..."

"Hush!" his Mom cut him off sharply. "Something's going on!" she said pointing at the t.v.

Indeed it seemed there was something strange happening. It looked like there was a Presidential Press Conference or something going on. Except everyone on the screen was looking around confusedly.

That was when someone began speaking. Someone that was not the President.

"Greetings Mr. President," came the deep, slightly distorted sounding voice. "It is such a thrill that I finally get a chance to do business with you."

"G-greetings," stammered the President. "What business are y-you talking about?" It didn't take a genius to figure out something bad was happening. The Secret Service had clustered around the President with their guns drawn looking for whoever the speaker was. Another man, probably Secret Service as well, came up they lowered their weapons.

"Seems like someone has realized that your weapons are useless," the voice continued. "Now Mr. President I want you to listen to what I am telling you and comply as soon as possible. You will receive an untraceable message with the specifics later but for now here is what I require: 400 citizens. Not any citizens. Those that I have had randomly chosen. You will then make sure that all these citizens make it to the location of my choosing within ten days. You will receive the list of those who have been selected as well as the location to send them to shortly."

"What are you going to do with my countrymen?" the President inquired of the voice.

"They will be participating in a series of virtual reality trials. They will be available for live viewing to the public in case you are concerned that there will be malpractice taking place."

"There is no way you can do that!" the President defiantly exclaimed. "You will not get away with this! All that you have accomplished is marking yourself as a terrorist and the number one most wanted man in America!"

"Oh Mr. President, I sincerely disagree. There is no chance that you will find me. I am not stupid enough to put myself in a position where I can be identified in any way. It will do you no good to go after the staff I will have watching over the trials either, as they are there for the good of the participants. They would only end up being replaced, most likely with someone less capable," the voice explained. "Additionally..." the voice paused as if to create a dramatic effect, "failure to comply will result in a penalty. You would find that the country would be missing people. In some cases those that it can not afford to lose."

"That is it? Do you expect me to take you seriously? There is no way that you could just reach out to top officials whenever you want. So there is no..."

"But I have done it easily enough already haven't I?" the voice cut the President off. The president looked dumbfounded. "My abilities and contacts go far beyond what you can imagine Mr. President. Unless you can get to a place absent of any technology... I can and will find you. There is no escape. However, if I must prove this I shall. I will show you a single card in my hand. Three rooms, Mr. President. I will not tell you which ones. But three rooms total in your super secure White House will not be so secure tonight. Anyone walking through them, you being the only exception Mr. President, will not survive. Ignore my warning if you wish to Mr. President. But in the end I know you will find me very easy to agree with," the voice finished. An odd shrill told everyone that whoever had been behind the voice was gone. The President shrank back away from the podium and the screen went black.

"Well... that escalated quickly," Kota stated, summing up what just went down pretty accurately.