Himmler's Island. Richard G. Buchanan PhD
let him in, closed the door behind him, then led him down the hall past a sparsely furnished living room to an equally furnished dining room whose major piece was a massive dark wood table with matching armless chairs on both sides and an empty chair at the end. Each side chair was occupied by a nondescript man in an expensive but plain suit. George was ushered to the unoccupied chair.
The woman walked silently to a chair against the wall in back of the head of the table at which a man sat in a discernibly larger armed chair. He was dressed in an impeccably tailored military cut suit with similarly cut hair. It was almost completely white except for a remaining blond patch on its crown. The creases on his face gave little hint of his age: he could have been a weathered fifty-year-old, a remarkably young looking ninety, or any age in between. His slim erect body suggested he took pride in caring for it.
The Man spoke; “Mr. Kingson, we have reviewed the resume which you have sent, and we have determined that you are a Potential Project Manager for The Foundation’s Project.”
George asked; “Excuse me, but what foundation and what is the project?”
The Man replied; “Mr. Kingson, it is we who will ask the questions and you who will answer them. If you are not willing to do so, this meeting will end.”
The blond women moved in a way suggesting she was ready to get up from her seat.
The Man went on; “Are you willing to continue under these conditions?”
George felt a rivulet of hot sweat trickle down the nape of his neck as he answered; “Yessir.”
The blond woman moved back in her seat as The Man said; “Very well, we shall continue.” He paused, then said; “This is not one of your corporate selection interviews. We have summoned you here because your background indicates you are qualified to become a Potential Project Manager. We will be assessing your reactions to what we say to determine if it is you who will be the person in that position. Do you accept this condition?”
George nodded as he answered. “Yessir.”
George’s noticed that The Man spoke mostly in a completely accent-less English as if it was not his native language. The one peculiarity was he pronounced the words “Potential Project Manager” as if they were proper titles. He also observed that when The Man spoke to him the men at the side of the table turned to The Man, and then when George answered, they turned to him.
The Man continued: “Another condition: If we do not consider you the Potential Project Manager, you were not here and this meeting never happened. Do you accept this condition?”
The man turned towards the woman who leaned slightly forward.
George quickly answered; “Yessir.”
The woman leaned back. The Man then turned to George and said; “Simply put, The Project is to assemble couples of considerably above average intelligence in the hope they will have even more intelligent children who in turn will have even more intelligent children until there are children who are all demonstrably more intelligent than the original couples.”
George almost stifled his gasp.
The Man continued; “If we make you Potential Project Manager we will provide you with sufficient materials for you to design a proposal of the details for such a Project that, if accepted, you will become the Project Manager and be given responsibility for making it work. Do you accept this condition?”
“Yessir.”
“Then, you will assume total intellectual ownership of The Project’s design, and if it is your design that is accepted, as Project Manager, you will assume total intellectual ownership of The Project itself. Do you accept this condition?”
“Yessir.”
“But, before that, if you are accepted by us as Potential Project Manager, you will be compensated generously for preparing The Project Proposal, but in a manner that is virtually untraceable. Did you, as required, bring a voided check with your account number and your bank’s transit number clearly shown?”
“Yessir.”
“Take it out, and then pass it to the person on the right.”
George quickly did as he was told, then waited as the person examined the check. When the person finished, he nodded to The Man, then placed the check in a folder.
The Man continued; “If you are made Project Manager you will be compensated equally generously for your services in the same manner on the condition that you will not attempt to locate the source of the payments. Do you accept this condition?”
“Yessir.”
The man then looked around the table. Each man nodded slightly. The man turned to the woman behind him who also nodded slightly.
The Man said; “There is more. The person on your right has the Employment Contract which he will open to the signatory page. . .” As The Man said, the person on George’s right pulled a stapled set of papers from his folder, opened it to the last page, and then passed the papers to George as The Man said; “. . . do not attempt to read it; just sign it: It contains the conditions you just agreed to accept.”
George took a pen from his jacket pocket, found the signature line, signed the Contract, then quickly passed it back to the person on his right who examined the signatory page, then looked up to The Man and nodded.
The Man said; “You are accepted by us as Potential Project Manager.. .” Before George had a chance to reply The Man continued; “Look at the person on your left.”
George looked as the person lifted a large loose-leaf binder then placed it in front of him. The man said; “These are the materials that you will use to prepare your Proposal for The Project. Do not make copies of these materials. Do not use the services of anyone else in its preparation. If you believe you need additional source material, make copies of what you need or download material you find on the Internet.”
“Yessir, but where. . .”
The Man interrupted; “The materials have the instructions about where to send The Proposal.”
“Yessir.”
“These materials will be sent to your apartment. They will be there by the time you get back.” The Man paused; then said; “This meeting is now concluded; it never happened.”
With that, the woman behind The Man got up from her seat, walked to George, beckoning him to follow her. George followed her to the door which she opened. George walked out, hearing the door close and the lock click as he stood at the top of the stairs.
Chapter 4
GEORGE walked into The Foundation’s huge but externally nondescript office building identified only by numbers on a small stainless steel plate on one side of the double revolving doors. If George didn’t know intimately how Manhattan’s addresses were organized, he might have missed that identification. He felt what was becoming a familiar trickle of hot sweat down his neck.
Unlike its bland exterior, the inside of the building was in a floor-to-ceiling atrium of dark polished granite, the center of which had an equally dark marble base containing a planting of perfectly tended foliage. While other Manhattan office building’s lobbies had been transformed into security barriers staffed by security personnel, there were neither security facilities nor security personnel. Only shirt-sleeved people walked back and forth across the lobby, the occasional waves suggesting they were all fellow employees.
George walked around the plant base to encounter a large dark stone desk occupied only by a single person in sort of a uniform. George started to say something to the man when the man said; “Mr. Kingson? Take the elevator to the 20th floor.”
George walked to an open elevator door, and pressed 20. When the door opened on the 20th floor he saw a large, dark wood desk behind which sat a familiar looking slim blonde woman with her ash blond hair in a headache bun. She gave no hint