Twilight Earth (3 page)

"Good evening, Tom. What do you need help with?" The man asked, pleasantly.

"Mr. Gilly, this is Ben. I'm afraid my father passed away a little while ago," Ben said.

"Oh damn! I'm so very sorry, Ben. Is there anything I can do for you? Do any of you need anything?" Bob replied. The man truly had been Tom's friend.

"I don't think so, Sir. Both Doctor Lyam and Deputy Lowe are here right now, Deputy Lowe brought two paramedics with him to take the body," Ben replied.

"Okay, can you make sure they take him to County General? Tom had planned for this and the funeral home will pick up his body from there," Bob replied.

"I'm pretty sure that's where Doc Lyam told them to take him."

Bob sighed. "Good, it's not really a big deal, since they could get him from where ever he gets sent to, but that was the plan. I'll start on the legal work right away. There is a Will, but your father also left pretty explicit instructions for you for when he passed. I'll wait a few days before I bring the Will over to read it. I'll also need your signature on a few things. However, until then, if any of you need anything; and I mean anything, let me know and I'll try to make it happen. Okay?"

"Okay, Mr. Gilly. We'll call you," Ben said. He was starting to lose it again; he could feel it.

"All right, please ask Deputy Lowe to give me a call when he finishes with you folks. I'll check on you guys in a couple of days. Thank you for calling me, Ben. I'll miss your father too," Bob said as his voice cracked.

"I know, Sir. I think we all will," Ben said not knowing how to reply.

"Go be with Kaitlin and Deirdre, Ben. They need you and Jorga right now," Bob said. "I'll talk to you again tomorrow and please, call me Bob."

"Thank you, Bob. I'll talk to you then," Ben said and hung up. He got up and returned to the living room.

The night that Tom passed away, unknown to Ben and his family, another event took place. While studying a formation called the ‘pillars of heaven’ in the Eagle Nebula, the aging Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, detected a cloud of thousands of objects. They were still over two light years from Earth, and well below the plane of the ecliptic. It was thought that the rapidly moving debris field was the remnants of a destroyed planet possibly ejected from a nova or some other cataclysm. Based on the observed speed of the objects it was calculated that it would take twelve to fifteen years for the objects to get close enough to Earth for study.

Scientists all over the world were very excited over this discovery since the projected path of the objects was going to be relatively close to Earth. Plans and funding requests for hundreds of projects were sent to almost every governing body on the planet.

Fearing the general public would panic with fears of asteroid collisions, it was decided that further news of the pending event be kept from the public at large. The original report of the 'Wilcox-Locke Asteroid cluster' was downplayed in the media. Further information releases could be done later, when the trajectory of the objects was better known.

However, the major governments of the planet had already begun working on disaster shelters as well as other preparations for a worst-case scenario. More funding and manpower was covertly diverted to the project, as well as an increase in private funding. The original plan for these shelters had been designed and implemented by Tom Bedouin. 'Operation Bedouin's Hope' had originally received less than enthusiastic support from the major powers of the world, citing the need for resources to be used elsewhere.

Several of the smaller nations embraced the plan, and did all they could to assist the undertaking. At first it had been for purely selfish reasons, the jobs and income created by the construction efforts was very welcome to most third world countries. When the world's so-called super powers moved to block operations and construction in some countries, the UN had been called on to intervene. While negotiations happened in New York, the companies founded and funded primarily by Tom Bedouin covertly continued their tasks.

Unknown to many of the governments of the world, Tom had done far more for the people of the planet than any of them would ever know.

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The next morning, Ben had Deirdre help him to open the family safe. Ben took out the manila envelope and sat at Tom’s desk. Everyone was still there, so he opened it.

Inside were documents and powers of attorney. Ben set those aside for when Bob Gilly came over. He also found a typed letter, which he opened right away. He took a drink of coffee and began to read out loud.

“Ben, if you’re reading this then I’m gone. If they’re not with you already, I ask that you gather the rest of the family, which to me includes Jorga Lowe and Marcy Carmichael. Please stop reading this if they are not here too.

“I’ve tried to keep this letter updated as often as I can, but my handwriting has become unreadable and it’s getting too difficult to look at the screen of the computer. However, every person here is a member of this family; in case all of you haven’t figured it out yet.

“I’m going to break one of my own rules just this once because this is important. I don’t know if Sandra will allow it and I didn't get a chance to ask her, but if the girls agree; Marcy should live here with Kait. Though it may change from time to time, I feel that these two will always be together.

“There’s plenty of money for you five to live the way you want, wherever you want. The corporation I formed years ago has grown far more rapidly than even I thought it would. However, even with all the boards of directors, in all the diverse subsidiaries we own, Ben will become the sole owner of the master corporation. I want you all to understand one very important thing; no matter whose name is on everything, you are all the owners.

“Now, one other thing. If you dig very far into the business, you’ll find that huge amounts of money are being pumped into a very hush-hush project. Please leave it alone and let it run. At the first of the year, you’ll receive a file outlining the entire project. Once you’ve read the whole file, I would ask that you consider just letting it continue as is. I've made lots of notes in it as to what I'm trying to accomplish and what I hope to have happen. You’ll understand better once you read the file.

“I should also warn you that shortly after I pass, one of a myriad of federal agencies will attempt to seize all our assets and confiscate all my old stuff here in the house. Bob Gilly will take care of my computer, which is where the information is that the agencies want. Don’t worry about the loss of data, it’s all backed-up in a secret, ultra-secure place. Bob can make sure you regain access to it once the smoke clears from my death and you read that file I mentioned before. Just let Bob do his thing in my study and everything else will be handled. By the way, you don’t have to allow anyone onto our property no matter who they are. When they show up with the warrant, Call Bob and tell them to leave. You won’t get into trouble.

“One final thing; if any of you are approached by someone in a black suit and they tell you ‘stage one is now active’ please follow their instructions and trust them. They are trying to save your life.

“I love all of you, your friend and father, Tom.”

Ben took a minute to swallow the lump in his throat and to try to regain control over his emotions. Jorga had tears in her eyes and was holding a softly crying Deirdre. Marcy was holding Kaitlin on her lap, and both young women were crying softly. After a few minutes, Ben sniffed, handed out tissues, and then took a seat by Jorga and Deirdre.

“So, I guess we all need to talk about what we do now. Do we move after the funeral? Do we stay here for a while? What do you ladies think?” Ben asked.

“I really don’t want to leave. I really like living here; this area is beautiful and there’s always something to do or see," Kaitlin said.

“I honestly don’t care, as long as we’re together; that’s where I'll be,” Marcy said.

Jorga nodded in agreement. “I agree; staying together is what’s important. I should mention that I made a commitment to my mom to help her with an experiment she’s been working on.”

Ben looked at Deirdre. “You're pretty quiet, what do you think?”

“I think we should stay here, at least for now. I would like to look for a new house for us. We’re starting a new life we should do it completely. Perhaps something in the country this time,” she replied.

Kaitlin nodded. “If we’re as well off as Daddy said, maybe we could just have a house built.”

“That’s a good idea, that way all of us could have a say in how it gets built,” Ben offered.

By mostly silent agreement the family decided to put off further discussion on the subject until after the reading of the Will, and Tom’s funeral. None of them mentioned the strange instructions at the end of the message. They needed to deal with their grief first.

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B
edouin Residence

Fulton's Prairie, Missouri

United States

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B
en was amazed by the fact that there didn’t seem to be any adjustment period for Jorga and Marcy. Considering how much time Marcy spent at the house with Kaitlin, that really wasn’t a huge surprise. However, there was no adjustment for Jorga either. She belonged with them as part of their lives, that’s all there was to it.

Ben still thought his head was going to explode from stress. Deirdre and the rest of the girls tried to help as much as they could but Mr. Gilly had dumped a large bombshell on the entire family, mostly on Ben. Mr. Robert Gilly, Tom’s personal attorney, wasn’t actually to blame, but it is difficult to separate the message from the messenger.

Tom had warned the family about their money. The fact that he’d created a corporation and hinted at a conglomeration hadn't helped. No one suspected how big it actually was. How Tom had managed to keep it secret was anyone’s guess, but he had.

When Bob Gilly arrived at the Bedouin home, he looked much older than Ben remembered and it was obvious he’d been grieving as well. Deirdre, who was the only person in the room that was familiar with him, gave him a hug and guided him to a chair in the living room.

As he sat down, he smiled up at Deirdre. “Thank you, I know this is very unprofessional of me, but Tom was probably my closest friend.”

Deirdre sat beside me on the couch while Jorga and Kaitlin brought in coffee and soda.

“Besides Jorga, Kaitlin and Deirdre, he was mine too,” Ben replied.

Bob smiled at Ben sadly and nodded. “He was a good man that will be sorely missed.” Setting his briefcase on the coffee table, he opened it and took out a file folder. He pulled a document out of it, sat it on top of the folder and leaned back.

“Before I begin, I must stress the importance of keeping the majority of this information just between us. Before tonight, only two people knew of the relative extent, intent, and purpose of what Tom has built.” He paused to take another sip of coffee.

“He wanted me to tell all of you that he believed that a secret known by two people is already compromised. The only reason he didn’t tell any of you about this was only to control knowledge of it. So, in order for you all to understand what I'm going to be talking about in the will, you need to know part of it.

“Tom was the sole owner of a small investment corporation. That small corporation owned a few other corporations that, in turn, owned other corporations, and so on. Though it’s well hidden by multiple layers of smoke and mirrors, Tom owned one of, if not the biggest, corporate conglomerates on the planet.”

“Not that I doubt your word or anything Bob, but if that were true, why were we like this? Although I like our lives and I think the others do too, wouldn’t he have had us in a bigger house, sent Ben and Kaitlin to private school, things like that?" Deirdre asked.

Bob smiled. “Can you image Tom wanting to live in a mansion, or sending his kids to a private school so they can learn to be the spoiled, rich, snobs he hated?”

Deirdre nodded. “You’re right; he wouldn’t do that. He did make sure we had everything we needed, and he didn’t spoil any of us too much. But I can’t ever remember him worrying about a bill. He did worry about work things, but he wouldn’t talk about those.”

“Dad left us a letter in his safe. In it he told us that I would be replacing him as owner of the company. He did mention subsidiaries, but it sure as hell didn’t sound like what you’re describing,” Ben replied. “I have no idea what to do, or how to run this. He didn’t teach me any of this!”

“He didn’t need to. Other than special projects the whole mess runs itself. Tom set very strict guidelines for every aspect that has a bearing on the primary objective. For now, all you really need to do is deal with Tom’s passing. Tom wanted me to wait until the end of the year before I gave you the master file. If you want to take a more active role, then that would be a good time to get a feel for the business.”

He looked at the file in his lap and sighed in sadness. “Tom’s Will says pretty much what we’ve been talking about. It just has all the legalese the courts like to see. After the January briefing, my duties as Executor will be completed. At that time, if you would like to get a new attorney, I would be happy to assist him in...”

“I don’t think that’ll be happening. If Dad liked you, we like you. Even if for some reason we don’t get along, I still wouldn’t replace you. You know more about all of this than I’ll probably ever learn,” Ben said with the rest of the family either nodding or otherwise indicating agreement. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to continue as the family attorney?”

Bob smiled tiredly at Ben and the girls. “I would very much like to continue. The truth is I’ve been a personal attorney for so long, I’d probably have a hard time changing my focus.”

“Tom was your only client?” Deirdre asked.

Bob nodded. “It really is a full time job and it seems like it’s growing every month. I was going to ask Tom if I could bring in an intern or assistant after the first of the year.”

“I’ll have to talk it over with the ladies, but I think you can probably plan on it. We’re gonna need some time to get our collective heads around this," Ben said. “This is getting to be too much in too short a time.”