Black Flowers Blossom [Open]

[Ira Reier]

outside Tooele, Utah
24 September 2015
10 AM local time

There was no asking “Is it ready?" There was no scuttling about, making last-minute preparations. That was for lesser men. Ira Reier Had planned this months earlier. He could see every facet of what was going to happen, and had plotted accordingly. Everything would go without a hitch, without one sneaking suspicion. Just as it should.

No man was infallible, however, and Ira did have to admit that his precognition was becoming a bit troublesome. Not in this, but in the future. There was a certain point in time beyond which he had trouble seeing. And that point shifted. It drew closer. His own ability seemed ready to give in on him. No matter. By the time that happened - he hoped - he would have enough control over the necessary assets that he would be able to fix it. Or not need it at all.

For now, that was a minor concern. He knew that a state or two away, Christian Moynahan was swearing in three different languages, having just learned of Reier’s accomplishment, far too late. For he, Ark, the Kilvaynes and their ilk, Vital Energy, and every other outfit in the country had just lost the energy war.

Ira Reier was now capable of producing clean, near-limitless energy.

For an outsider who had just gotten his green card to pull this off must have been a special kind of slap in the face. To their credit, though, Ira had been working at this for years. Decades. Ark was barely five years old, and the Kilvaynes had taken more time to grow.

A press conference was necessary. He had arranged one. And, in following his colleague Moynahan’s policy of “transparency,” he had also set up a tour of the plant. Excluding, of course, certain parts that need not be seen by the public. Trade secrets, one could say.

"Good morning,” Ira said pleasantly into the microphones, expertly ignoring the flashes of cameras going off around him. Beside him stood his assistant and a press officer. “And welcome to the future of energy, as brought to you by Reier Technologies.”

[Jack Murdock]

Jack had wondered for the thousand time what or even why he was actually doing here playing babysitter at this plant, checking IDs and showing people where to park their cars. The presence of so many reporters and their blasted cameras made him rather nervous. Not only that he had to smile and nod politely to that snob Reier and the rest of the technicians who looked down on him.

Of course he knew why. For the last six months he had been living in Salt Lake City, Utah doing odd jobs and hiding from the NYPD after he got caught breaking the legs of several drug dealers at their apartment in Harlem. He recently gotten a job a month ago working as a security guard for Reier Technologies. While the goal of renewable energy is worthwhile, Jack doubted it was really free like Ira Reier keeps preaching on about. No one can ever devote time, money, resources and personnel without getting some profit back with interest.

Still Jack really needed the money even though the uniform made him look like a total idiot.

"Alright, the tour is about to start as soon as the boss is done with the conference." He said quietly to his shoulder mike. "Tell the chief the area is secured. All cameras and monitors report nothing unusual."

"Copy that, Murdock. Hopefully this day will go smoothly." Came the response.

Yeah, I hope so too. Jack thought as he scanned the crowd for any potential troublemaker who was in serious need of having their butt kicked.

[Khalidah Rahal]

No ! We will not fail!
You won't have another chance.
The creations of dreams will be secret and free.
You won't give him your memory!
You won't escape!
No! He's got no chance!
We'll save our reign!
He won't be able to hide anywhere!
______________________________Genius – You Won’t Escape

Outside Tooele, Utah
Ira Reier’s press conference

CNN was always offered passes to large press conferences, especially ones of such a ground-breaking nature.

Next to Khalidah Rahal--the owner of IntelliTouch Industries--Evelyn Couteau sat nearly front and centre to the podium at which Ira Reier stood, introducing himself and his new business venture. There were news cameras all around, and while she didn’t have any immediate questions--nor had she been picked as part of the press pool who would be allowed to ask questions--she was recording the entire event. Or the audio of it, at least.

“This should be interesting.” The Rahal family wasn’t involved in the energy business, save for Helena, but as far as Khalidah knew, that business wasn’t going particularly well. Helena stood to lose a great deal if Reier’s technology was as advanced as his previous reports had stated.

Evelyn had gotten to know Khalidah during the pre- and post-wedding preparations that Ryan and Adele had made prior to their marriage. The Couteau couple and the elder Rahal had struck up a friendship over the past year, and Khalidah had extended the borders of Evelyn’s journalistic reach. CNN had been providing her with canned questions for interviews she had no interest in pursuing. She longed for the days when working for the press meant hitting the pavement, doing research, and being unpopular like during the Watergate scandal.

Reier Technologies could very well prove to be this generation’s Watergate.

“Will this affect your family in any way?” She readied the recording app on her phone and checked the amount of energy left remaining on the battery.

Khalidah looked at the elder Couteau, her expression unreadable. “I really don’t know. No one really has a corner on the energy market. Renewable energy like wind and tidal power won’t work across large populations; look at what’s happening to Germany. They’re having to pay into it. As much as I hate to say it, solar energy and the costs and chemicals and processes that go into making the cells are completely inefficient. Not everyone lives near a coastline, and not all states or cities are built with harnessing wind power in mind.” That was something she would have to go over with Helena at some point. She didn’t want to see her daughter-in-law out of a job that Helena had worked so hard to create. “Financially, it shouldn’t. We aren’t just in the energy business. Most of our options are diversified. And don’t worry about your phone,” she added, seeing Evelyn open an app that monitored the phone’s battery usage. “I’ve got you covered there. If you start running low, just let me know and I’ll give it a charge.”

Even when it looked like she wasn’t paying attention, Khalidah’s eyes were everywhere. Anyone who was energy sensitive in the audience would have been well aware of her presence, and she’d lived long enough to know when to keep her guard up and when to listen to what was being said between a person’s words. “If you are able to get to speak with Reier one on one, I’d advise against using the truth serum on him, as it were,” she warned. “He’s probably personally vetted everyone in a five mile radius.”

“I wasn’t even thinking of using it for that exact reason.” Vincent had told her to refrain from doing so out of safety concerns, and because he could see something that she could not.

The room fell silent except for the clicks of camera shutters as Reier took the stage and stood behind the podium, flanked on either side (though several feet away) from a handful of who she assumed were bodyguards.

"Good morning,” he began, “and welcome to the future of energy, as brought to you by Reier Technologies.”

Just what that future happened to be, no one seemed to know.

☥ ☥ ☥ ☥ ☥

☥ Word count: 835
☥ Outfit: I’m too tired to look them up right now.
☥ Other: None.

[Jack Murdock]

(OCC : Jack has just identified Khalidah from this post: eclipse913.proboards.com/thread/19940/home-central-park-tag-all If this doesn't fit with the RP,  let me know and I'll delete this post.)

Jack was still scanning the mob of people present for the tour when he recognized a face among the crowd. It was somewhat a long time ago but he knew her well.

It was in Central Park in the heart of Manhattan as he was walking along a bike path when he became aware of an incident as a young French speaking girl suddenly went out of control with her ability and started to melt stuff. The woman who was sitting right now midst the mass of onlookers and reporters here in the RT power plant was one of those ladies with the baby strollers who had somehow contained the situation in Central Park. Jack did not know where the women had taken the girl but he knew they were all like him.

Specials like him.

"Is camera six still online?" He whispered as quickly as he can into his shoulder mike. "Focus on seat no. 12 and give me a full read out on her before the tour is over. Don't do anything,  just leave her and everyone she is with be. Find out everything that you can about her."

'Copy that. We will have the report on your desk within the half hour.'  Came the answer over his wireless earpiece.

[Khalidah Rahal]

¿Quién va a destruir la realidad
en la que yo vivo?
Mal fuego tenaz de una ilusión
sólo yo percibo

Si hay un lugar, cielo y el sol
en el infinito
no hay una señal, una razón
sólo el olvido
______________________________Torre De Marfil – Prisionero de la Oscuridad

Outside Tooele, Utah
Ira Reier’s press conference

As Ira launched into his speech about embarking on a new venture into the 21st century with a near endless supply of renewable energy, Khalidah paid close attention to the nuances in his speech. Whenever people used such grandiose terms, it always set her hair on end. After how much Reier had raked Christian Moynahan over the coals, she was automatically suspicious of him--but she would reserve her judgement. For now.

From her previous interview with Ira a year ago, Evelyn was unsurprised at how well he’d stayed on message. There were a handful of conspiracy theories going around regarding just where this endless renewable energy was coming from. Some believed it was from alien technology that the government hadn’t exposed to the public. Other people thought it may have had something to do with fusion technology, which probably wouldn’t come to fruition within the next 100 years. Whatever the ‘renewable source’ was, Reier was doing quite an outstanding job of dodging questions and keeping his company secrets under lock and key. Even Vincent--her husband, and a powerful precog who was also well-versed in remote viewing--had hit a proverbial wall every time he’d attempted to see into the Great Basin Research Facility.

“What do you think so far?” Evelyn inquired of the elder Rahal as Ira went on to discuss the importance of finding renewable sources of energy given the current reports on manmade climate change and carbon taxes.

“I’ll tell you later.” There were cameras everywhere, and there was no doubt in her mind that she was on at least one of them. Conspiracy theorists everywhere would be poring over every frame of the footage looking for someone shapeshifting into a reptilian alien. The conspiracy theorists who occupied themselves with far more terrestrial things would have been looking to read lips to glean from the crowd what snippets of information they could.

Evelyn wasn’t the least bit offended when Khalidah declined to answer her query. It was understandable. The entire audience was currently being broadcast all over the country, if not all over the world. “Fair enough.” With her ears focused on Reier’s words, her eyes were free to wander. There were a few faces whom she recognised in the crowd, but no one incredibly important; just rival journalists from other media outlets with whom she’d had limited contact.

Khalidah crossed and uncrossed her legs as she tried to find a comfortable position in the chair and ended up leaning forward slightly. One of the bodyguards flanking Ira looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t quite match his face to a name. She must have run into him at some point, though she couldn’t recall where. It was times like this that she wished she’d been gifted with telepathy. She could just send her thoughts directly to Evelyn without having to worry about them being intercepted.

“I will give him one thing, though.”

“Oh?”

“He knows how to engage an audience.” Master manipulators knew how to appeal to both the lowest and highest common denominators simultaneously. It was a skill that she’d honed over the years that Reier seemed to have been gifted with as well. One the one hand, his ideas appealed to the average person; free energy from a sustainable source? Awesome. On the other hand, he was able to engage business owners and venture capitalists with financial gain and notoriety. But while some companies would jump at the opportunity to join forces with the nascent business powerhouse which promised indefinite clean energy, Khalidah fully intended on keeping all of her cards close to her chest.

☥ ☥ ☥ ☥ ☥

☥ Word count: 778
☥ Outfit: Will find some later.
☥ Other: None.

[Ira Reier]

24 September 2015
10 AM local time
press conference

At the podium, Ira watched the members of the press file into formation, taking their seats and setting up their cameras and recording devices. As he spoke, his gaze drifted along the faces of those in the crowd. Many were faces he recognized—journalists who had covered other events of his, mostly. For a moment he paused as he spotted Khalidah Rahal and Evelyn Couteau sitting together in the front row. Should he be concerned? Probably not, he decided. Everything he would say and demonstrate today had been tailored to be fit for public consumption.

“Here at Reier Technologies, we are very excited to introduce the nation, and the world, to our latest initiatives,” Reier continued. “We have accomplished what was thought mere decades ago to be impossible: we have developed a technique for generating perpetual energy.”

He paused to let the crowd gasp and murmur. Some questions began to drift up from the reporters, but Ira lifted a hand, signaling patience. He wasn’t finished yet.

“The process is complex, but completely safe, and it can go on indefinitely. Its costs are low, allowing us to charge low, affordable rates for its use. The energy can be used via the same infrastructure we use for electricity. No new equipment is required. We expect to secure all the permissions we need to begin distribution a month from today. Meanwhile, we have opened up pre-registration on our website.”

Someone in the crowd began to applaud. The applause grew from there until it reached a fever pitch. The first person to clap and a few others had been planted there by Ira specifically for that purpose, but did that matter?

“This is the dawn of a brave new day,” Ira said, opening his arms wide, a smile on his face. “The future begins now.”

[Jack Murdock]

Jack kept his face as expressionless as he possibly can during the entire speech. As a part of RT's security, he had to keep totally calm and collected in front of the ever present cameras and not give any indication or even opinion on the conference that the media might pick up and twist for their own purposes. He did however had to relucantly admit that Ira Reier really can pull at the heartstrings well enough to the point that the crowd was eating this up with roaring approval.

Well, perhaps roaring was too strong a word and in all honesty Jack could not tell if some members in the audience truly were genuine with their clapping or was it merely a facade, just another way businessmen handle themselves without letting their true emotions show in public exactly like the Japanese custom of Omote-ura – Public and Private Faces which is truly a way of life... and death.

Jack learned about omote-ura since being hired though it had taken him awhile to figure out what it means. Originally when he first heard of it, he thought it was a kind of weird Asian omelette.

As he suspected, of course, the potential energy offered by Reier Technologies wasn't truly as 'free' as previously thought. Nevertheless in Jack's mind, Reier is not doing anything wrong or illegal here today despite what the critics are saying.

Jack felt rather relieved that so far, things were running smoothly.

Brave new day indeed.