Ultimum Carceron

Europa Colony 3

The plan, although sounding preposterous, turned out to be less complex and feasible the more it was delved into. Hours into the following day when brushing aside his hesitation and anxiety, the concept was promoted from merely an entertaining fantasy to a layered procedure that would be carefully undertaken. As it became more structural and thought-out, a plausible way for Theo to embezzle the money from his unscrupulous employer was discovered and embraced; by the time he had dinner with Juniper the following evening, he had fully committed to his risky endeavor, and no longer was it merely an idea to appease his imagination.

A con to his plan was that he realized that he couldn't involve anyone else, least of all actual criminals for their unreliability. It wasn't about concern for anyone's safety, though that was a factor, but the idea that they would double cross him for Witz's fortune, money that would satisfy more than a dozen people for the rest of their lives.

But this was nothing compared to the ultimate punishment: Ultimum Carceron, a massive prison notorious enough to be compared to a proverbial hell. The place was located beyond the Oort Cloud on a moon called "Guenas J1"; it was top secret and forbidden to tourists, similar to an outer space Area 51. No photographs were ever taken except for a handful that featured a somewhat blurry, moon-like object. The prison used to be at the top of news and gossip because its reputation grew from the few witnesses who had ever been there. A war on Earth had been said to be the motivation for the prison's creation, but Theo personally knew little about the connection. More than 20,000,000 people had been imprisoned there, with only a small fraction released.

Some who commit crimes like misdemeanors could be debated for a kinder punishment, meaning a prison that is not Ultimum Carceron and on the moon they live on. Embezzling a few hundred million dollars from a senator candidate was not a misdemeanor.

He had to do research to know how much money was to be stolen. Donald Witz had a net worth in the billions, but was using $300 million. Jim was using $125 million, most of which were generous funds instead of coming out of his own pocket. A minimum of $275 million was necessary to even it out. To ensure Jim was leading ahead, he rounded up to $300 million.

What excuse to use, though, to get into a situation in which he'd inconspicuously extract Donald's money? He was an employee, he could get it under the premise that it was just funding for a project. And this would have to be a completely original proposal, to avoid depending on other people's ideas and, by extension, relying on the willing cooperation of other people in his crime. It was bad enough he had to deceive a single person, let alone several businessmen, even if he could sell the performance convincingly.

In time, he'd have the ability to manufacture evidence, provide websites, pictures, statistics...

For two weeks Theo was waiting until the call came through at his telescreen in his office. It was listed from Witz's secretary. She told him Witz accepted him for a meeting, and that Theo was to be in a conference room at three in the afternoon.

Once Theo was there, he was immediately surprised. Entering from the right side, he could see Witz was not physically there but shown on a large telescreen. His corpulent body covered the screen from left to right. Witz was wearing a white and black tuxedo with a green tie.

The room itself was painted white with a long, oval-shaped wooden table, which looked like it could have twenty chairs, but today had only three. The edges of the room (which was also shaped like an oval) were covered in tall plants. The ceiling above was a checkerboard of on and off light panels.

A young woman was on the left side of the table. She was in her early twenties, with brown hair and deep beige skin. She was the same person he saw at the party with Donald.