The Genesis Covenant

Park

Thursday 23rd April 2022 - 1215

Green Park - London

North East Corner

I have to ask a few random people before I get good directions to Green Park. There are so many tourists in this part London, it hard to find someone who knows their way around.

As it turns out, it's s pretty much a straight shot from the Mcdonalds.

It took me 20 minutes. It was actually very pleasant walk. The sun's shining and on any other day I'd be soaking the experience in. As it is all I can think about is everything that's happened this morning.

In particular, how uncomfortable I am wearing Fizz's face, that feels like a pretty dumb move right now.

It's not just any day, it's a day where I've been beaten up, met a weird woman telling me to run, got hauled into the headmaster's office for beating a gang of bullies senseless. I've been assaulted and chased by Imperial Stormtroopers. I'd seen Leicester Square, spoken to a robot voice that freaked me out, and best of all, changed my face to that of my worst enemy.

I try to think it all through. Clearly, I'm different. I can get super strong, run really fast, hear incredibly well. I can even resist a hypodermic needle wielded by a man the size of a professional wrestler.

I don't know how it happened or what it means.

My only way to find out more is to get back in touch with robot voice. I suspect it was the woman that grabbed me at the school, but I can't know for sure.

I've no way to tell if CP3O/nice older lady is trustworthy.

I've been sent to this park to get an envelope, supposedly with money in it. Should I even go?

I worry it's a trap, but I can't see why it would be. Why didn't robo just keep me on the line with some story while Drucker and cronies came to pick me up? Maybe because the park is less public, but that doesn't really make any sense, it's in the center of London it's going to be busy. Everywhere is.

If they are the police, why not just pick me up? Why get me to disguise myself?

I decide to try and bury the paranoia and head for the park entrance. I have to walk past Green Park Tube Station along Piccadilly. There are black railings on my left. I'm able to glimpse flashes of the park through them as I walk down the road in search of an entrance.

I walk a few more minutes to get to the way in.

There are massive bollards, all along the pavement, it's all a little intimidating.

Finally, I head in and immediately start looking for the Canada Memorial.

I hope there is a sign, as I've no idea what it looks like.

I think back over the conversation. Robo said the men were from the Florin Institute. I'd not heard of that, but everyone had heard of Florin Techmagerey. The largest technology company in the world.

They were huge in devices, bio tech, service software and a bunch of other stuff besides. There was some controversy about the work they did for the military, but millions of people used their products every day and the company was the first to be worth a trillion dollars.

The company was even more remarkable because it was only founded by Alathar Florin and his wife Gemini twelve years ago

Now the 32-year-old genius entrepreneur was pretty much the hottest thing on the planet.

Everyone knew the story. Alathars parents had been tragically killed in a fire at their home, along with the parents of Gemini who were visiting for the weekend. Alathar and Gemini only survived because they had sneaked out in the middle of the night as teenagers do.

At the age of 17, the pair took the inheritance and insurance monies and started Florian Techmagery. These two very average kids took that money and turned it into the largest, most valuable and powerful company in history.

Almost everyone used phones made by Florian. With legendary software that brought all the other social networking and media sharing software together. The FLOT phones and software connected everything. On top of that, due to a number of world-changing innovations the phones were able to be sold at half the price with the batteries lasting four times as long. No one else could compete, sure you could still get other phone brands and operating systems but almost no one did.

The market changed overnight, and now ten years later it wasn't hyperbole to say that the world would stop spinning without Florian. The thought of that company coming after me was truly terrifying.

Could Althar Florian be involved with what was happening to me?

It seemed ridiculous, impossible even.

Even so young the man was a legend. He put titans like the late Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in the shade. Florian was revered and loved worldwide, giving over a billion dollars a year to charity. Discovering many life-saving drugs and selling them at break-even. Giving free use of ground breaking water purification technology. Everyone know the story; the guy was basically a worldwide hero.

I can't see what he could possibly want from me, but his company was incomprehensibly huge. It could be some kind of rogue group.

I pushed those thoughts aside and wandered into the park, scanning diligently for the memorial.

I had to walk almost the length of the park to find it.

When I finally happened upon it, it wasn't really what I was expecting. It was a giant ramp, steeper on one side and then split through the middle by a path. Sort of like a wedge cut in half, but big enough to climb on.

The design probably had some meaning I'm sadly unaware of.

I read the information panel while scoping out the general area. Built in memory of the Canadian contribution to World War one and two. The path apparently pointed toward the Canadian Port of Halifax in Nova Scotia, where the majority of Canadian servicemen left from to join the the war effort.

Looking around it was pretty quiet, but in the distance I can see what must be Buckingham Palace, official residence of the Queen. It's another place I'd seen on TV when the good and great had royal birthdays and weddings. The bollards on the other side of the park now made a lot more sense. I decided to check it out after I'd grabbed the package.

I guess people will start heading to the park for lunch and it will get busier. That reminds me, I'm starving again.

I follow the directions and look back between the trees. There, a bench nicely framed between the trunks.

I head over to the bench, fortunately no one is sitting on it. It's a pretty standard park bench, wooden, brown, unremarkable. I sit down and casually slip my hands along the lip of the seat. I feel something, I get a good grip and pull it away. It's an A5 manilla envelope secured with gaffa tape. It's pretty chunky and well stuffed.

There is still no one around so I open it up. There is a huge wad of cash in twenty-pound notes. Concealing it is actually going to be a problem. I stuff a couple of hundred in my back pocket and force the rest into the inside pocket of my blazer. I take it off, roll it up and stuff it under my arm.

There is also a phone, not a Florian I I see with relief. I power it up, it's a basic model and seems to be brand new as there is nothing installed. I check it's not on the FLOT network, it's not all good.

I give it time to connect, it was phone enabled, but no messages. I connected to London free wifi. Despite everything, my first thought was to download the FLOT communications app which would connect me to everything through my account.

What the.... I got a grip of myself. Seriously was I that pre-programed as a teenager the first thing I wanted to do was jack into FLOT, despite apparently being hunted by them.

I got the envelope, that's step one, I take a breath, power the phone down and head over to the Palace. 01181123Z0!-zVT2G5