Submerged

Chapter 01: Merciless Intent

The spacious hall echoed with the footsteps of a singular individual as he approached the round conference table situated in the center of the cavernous room. He took his place at the head of the table and silently waited for the meeting to start. A man in a navy blue suit to his left stood and addressed the people gathered around the table.

"Recently, it has come to the attention of all of us on the board of directors," the man stated, looking toward the one seated at the head of the table. "Mr. Brett Emmerson, our current CEO, has undertaken a project without the approval of the board, a project which has cost our company significant resources. I'm sure everyone on the board is interested in hearing your explanation Mr. Emmerson."

When the board member sat down, Brett Emmerson stood, pulling down on the edge of his ink black suit to remove any wrinkles before speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a polished voice of measured tone. "Today, I will unveil something that will change the course of human history."

He paused for a moment and swept the unyielding gaze of his artic blue eyes across the dozen people sitting in front of him, gauging their attitudes before continuing. Brett reached into his suit jacket and removed a small remote control. He pressed one of the buttons, and a hologram engaged, projecting down from the dome ceiling to hover an image over the conference room table.

"This is a hydrogen processing tower," Brett explained. "Under my orders, our company, Advanced Technology Unlimited, as placed these devices all around the world. The cover story is to provide fuel for a new line of hydrogen powered cars we are developing."

"We're not developing any cars along those lines," one of the board members objected.

"I know," Brett responded coldly. He stroked his mustache and goatee absently while calmly thinking about the board and his plans for them. "As I stated, and you would've heard me if you'd been paying attention, it's only a cover story. The real purpose of these devices is two."

Brett pressed another control, and the hologram changed. The tower unfolded a number of long and spindly arms, opening up like petals of a skeletal flower. A gaseous red substance was emitted by the arms of the tower, spreading outward in a blood colored mist.

"Firstly," Brett went on. "The towers will deliver their hydrogen stores in this manner, combining with the oxygen of the atmosphere to create water."

"You did all of this to make it rain?" asked a balding member of the board.

"You've spent millions of dollars on a rain system?" demanded a woman sitting beside him.

Brett sighed, clasping his hands behind his back and waiting for them to be silent.

"Great progress has always been hindered by the lack of vision from lesser minds," Brett muttered. "The only reason I spent company funds on the towers was because I had already exhausted my own considerable fortune on the other aspects of this project. Specifically, I built more of the underwater cities, identical to the one in which we are now residing."

"What?" questioned a board member at the far end of the table. He pushed his wireframe glasses further up on his long nose. "You built more than one of these sunken cities?"

"Many more," Brett confirmed. "I established them all around the world in key locations. Each city is populated by my followers or by my security who will ensure the obedience of anyone I need but can't fully trust to comply. The cities are completely self-sufficient and designed to endure for generations if need be, but I estimate we'll only need a few years at most."

"What are you planning?" one man asked, his voice a hollow whisper as dread coiled around the board members like the unyielding scales of a python.

"When the processing towers activate, they will do more than make it rain," Brett told them. "They will leave the entire world underwater. No one outside our submerged cities will survive."

"You can't think this will work," protested a board member. "Countless countries have sizable navies to assist in the event of extreme flooding. There will be survivors."

"Not for long," Brett dismissed. "They'll last for a time, but with all farmland underwater, their food supplies will run out. Because the trees won't be around to produce new oxygen to replace what has been liquefied, it will only be a little while until the survivors use up what breathable air they have left. Those who don't starve will suffocate."

"You're insane!" someone shouted.

Brett pressed another button on his remote, triggering restraints to snap out and pin the board members to their chairs.

"Once the world is mine," Brett went on calmly after their demands for release quieted. "The processing stations will begin their secondary function, using high pressure electrolysis to remove the hydrogen and put back the oxygen into the atmosphere. The world will be restored, and my followers shall leave their submerged cities to lay claim to it."

He turned his cold gaze on his imprisoned board members.

"None of you have thought this through," he told them. "I've been planning this for years without your approval, building everything I needed without your approval. What makes you think I need your approval now? What makes you think I need you? I'm planning on killing ninety percent of the world's population to attain my goals. Did you honestly think I'd let a room full of paper shufflers stand in my way? You should have considered your situation more carefully before choosing to side against me."

Brett activated a different control on his remote, electrifying the chairs where the board members were restrained, killing them all. Leaving the smoking bodies of his vanquished opponents behind, Brett departed the room to make final preparations. His plans were in place and moving forward; the world would soon be his.