As Lord Plank walked in from the side stage, all eyes in the room swung to their wristwatches. Compulsively, Lord Plank's eye went to his wristwatch. He is just five minutes late.
But that doesn't matter, what matters is what he will say, how they will receive it, and the effects it would have. But he felt confident.
"Starting from the extreme left of the first row, introduce yourselves and the states you work for." Lord Plank's voice boomed across the hall, helped by the little amplifier tucked into his ears and extending to just before his mouth.
"Mr. Einstein, Ambassador of New Germany " the man at the far end said. Lord Plank took out his palmtop and crossed out New Germany.
"Professor Aleksei Molotov, Ambassador of New Soviet"
Lord Plank crossed out New Soviet. Then...
New Portugal
United Asian States
Etherealland...
When the voices stopped Lord Plank looked at his palmtop and smiled. No country is absent.
"As you all know, the Liberian desert, jointly owned by all the countries here, have just been discovered to have a large deposit of Atritium, the deadly but still very useful mineral which only a few country are legalized to deal with. As none of your countries have legal permission to mine it, and as leaving it is dangerous, especially as it is located in a desert, the country of New China, together with few other countries have been approved by the World Council of Nations to be the miners of that precious mineral. Other countries have duly started work of extraction and processing on their own allocated portions of the desert, but after over a year of receiving their license, the portion allocated to New China still remains dormant. Why? Why should it be so when New China has more than enough resources to take the bulls by the horns, as everyone knows?"
Lord Plank gave a significant pause and looked at his audience. Everyone was silent. Lord Plank could tell from their faces that the same questions have been on their minds and that they were expectant of the answers.
"Why?" He continued smoothly." Because New China as a confederate nation doesn't have a central authority to take care of it. All the states have equal power and therefore, it is left for each state to try and take control of the mineral site according to their resources. And it is left for you to accept the proposal of a state which seems the most responsible and resourceful to take on the job.
But of course you won't forget your own gains. So that became part of the criteria too, the state that has more to offer while working on your land". He gave another pause.
"Now it seems the state of Chongku, governed by Dr. Salvo possesses all the criteria listed. They have been more resourceful, that can be proved by the industries in Chongku and most recently, their exploration program to find alien life. That also have more to offer, it seems, because they are obviously richer than my state, Chongfu. But we all know it's not a question of riches, don't we?"
The audience was silent, waiting to see his point and afraid of being ensnared.
"It's not a question of riches,its a question of public relations. No nation wants to have a sour public relation. And you and I knows that of Chongku and Chongfu, the latter has so far kept a very good and very favorable relations with you. The latter has supplied you favors and funds.
So how can you bite the hands that fed you and still feeds you? Just because of some petty promises? When you are not even sure of their fulfillment? Yes! Have you accessed the integrity of Dr. Salvo? And his level of responsibleness? Someone who threatens to dispose of his own son and goes ahead to carry the threat out, how can he be of any good to you who are so far removed from being his son or relative?"
Lord Plank looked at his audience. They looked shocked.
They haven't heard the news. Dr. Salvo have done a good job keeping it from the public. But it is going to be exposed now. All of it.
"Don't be so surprised or shocked. He did it. The so called exploration to find alien life is his way of disposing his son, as the explorershave been ordered not to come back without success. Luckily, when he made the threat, his son caught it on record and used it to file a lawsuit against Dr. Salvo, hiring Barrister Lavender as his lawyer. To keep it from going public do you know what Dr. Salvo did? He had Barrister Lavender assassinated!"
A suppressed exclamation passed through the audience. Lord Plank knew he had hit them. Barr. Lavender have been their light and hope. Pleading their cause and keeping them from the oppression of the stronger nations. Her assassination must surely arouse hate and anger against Dr. Salvo. He capitalized on that, using his own bitterness on the murder of his sister as a fuel for his passion.
By the time Lord Plank was done, he knew that Dr. Salvo has no chance of being the owner of the Atritium mining site on the desert. As he walked out side stage,he was all smiles.
"You are still not bitter over Lavender's death are you?" His Secretary asked him as soon as he entered his office. The Secretary knew his boss enough to know that it must be something greater than Lavender's death.
"No. Am still not." Lord Plank replied. "I just tuned their emotion so that when the murderer of Lavender us exposed, their hate will be channelled to him. Which will do me a whole lot of good."
"Have you found the murderer?" The Secretary asked.
"Yes"
"Who?"
"Stephen, the son of Dr. Luther, Governor of Chongru and nephew to Dr. Salvo.
The Secretary smiled. He knew what his boss is trying to do. Precious minerals have recently been discovered in Asteroid Ceres and some other smaller asteroids and Dr. Luther is the most likely to get Ceres. If he can be shown to be in alliance with Dr. Salvo, then his chances of owning Ceres will drop. And if his boss succeeds in robbing Dr. Salvo of the Liberian desert, which is most likely after today, Dr. Luther's chances will drop still further. Leaving his boss to take Ceres as well as the Liberian desert, which will keep him on par with Chongku , making him the second most powerful or even the most powerful in New China.
And increase the number of his vassal nations, and his chances of winning the fourth world war which is threatening to erupt.
Yet the Secretary couldn't bring himself to believe that Stephen, "that innocent boy", is actually the one whho assassinated Barr. Lavender.
"It can't be Stephen." The Secretary said. Lord Plank motioned for him to come along and led him into the main office. Just as Lord Plank inserted his pen and boosted his computer, there was a power blackout. Thirty seconds later it came on and Lord Plank continued. But when he uploaded the picture he had watched everyday for the past six days, he saw instead a wanted criminal who had died before Lavender was killed. He gazed at the screen.
"That's not Stephen. " his secretary said. He waved the secretary out and gazed at the screen.
He has lost again.
Once again, his enemies have won.
He wasn't even sure anymore of winning that Liberian desert. He had only aroused their hate, but it won't last long. When they get logical or confront Dr. Salvo,they are going to ask him for proofs, which have just been taken away. He slumped on his chair. Then he resolutely called the National Security Service. Most of his men have been assassinated by dead men. Some foul play was going on and he was determined to expose the skeletons in his enemies cupboard. By the time he hanged up the call, a massive manhunt for three dead persons have begun.
Unknown to Dr. Luther and Dr. Salvo as they discussed whether to take Dr. Luther on his threat, they had won yet another victory.
And unknown to Stephen as he unplugged his pen from his system, he have started a chain of events that might expose Suplex camp.