September 6, 2017

9 am, London, UK

“Sieg Heil!”

Bright light. All white. Everywhere. A large door-less and windowless room. A round table sits at the center of the shapeless room. Around this, seven shadows sit on thrones. A sign hovers above each throne. The room is without air, for this is a virtual simulation.

The seven shadows speak in unison their voices scrambled behind a veil of codes, “Heil, Skull Reich! Our knowledge boundless! Our power limitless! Our path ours! Our sacrifices great! Our lives Forever! Heil, Skull Reich!” 

“I call this All-Heads meeting to order.” The Mad Scientist says, “The floor is yours, General.”

“My fellow heads, the Chair has failed us.” The General says, “Thanks to his blabbering, Fire is now aware of our existence. Then there was his utter failure to properly clean up the facility according to protocol. Then he drew unnecessary attention by hacking an American drone’s weapons system. And let us not forget, the final outcome of Team Six remains unknown.”

The room is still. The other heads are silent. Their nonchalance shows that this was all routine.

“You still lack imagination, General.” Mad Scientist responds, “By my calculations, they are all dead by now.”

“You still don’t get it.” The General says with a low growl, “Darya.”

“My spies report that an unregistered private jet left Cancun Airport en route to Florida.” Darya adds, “And the President’s granddaughters are currently en route to Andrews air force base.”

“Proves nothing!” The Mad Scientist says.

“Exactly. Skull Reich does not accept ambiguous outcomes!” The General says, “Adding to that disappointment are two hard drives that were taken from the facility by Team Six.” 

“That sniveling dog of yours froths too much.” The Mad Scientist says, “The hard drives will be taken care of.”

“Don’t bother. This is now my clean up.” The General says, “And to be sure you do not interfere, I am calling for an All-Heads vote. All in favor of leaving this cleanup operation to me say I!”

Darya is the first to vote enthusiastically in agreement, then 3 foggy figures also agree. Only the Mad Scientist and one foggy shadow labeled ‘Shadow’ do not agree.

“Do I have your word this cleanup will succeed?” Shadow asks.

“I am a man of success.” The General says.

After a moment, Shadow ascents with an ‘I’. This completes the override of the Chair’s authority for only the unanimous votes of every head could bypass the Chair’s directives.

“Your motion is carried.” The Mad Scientist says begrudgingly, “Viel Glück!”

“I would not need luck if you had not failed in the first place.” The General says.

“Anything else?” The Mad Scientist asks.

“I will send two squads to confirm Team Six’s deaths and retrieve the hard drives.” The General says, “Darya, activate your sirens at the location to set up the groundwork.”

“As you command, my General.” Darya says.

“As for the facility, I will deploy local assets to render any excavation operations meaningless.” The General says, “You will all have my report in 10 hours regarding the entire cleanup.”

“Our monthly meeting for progress reports remains on track.” The Mad Scientist says, “This All-Heads meeting is now adjourned. Heil, Skull Reich!”

“Sieg Heil!” All the figures shout.

The room fades into oblivion. The meeting is over. Skull Reich is in motion.