Intrigue... Braindust for Earth, Moon and Mars

By E I Schadeberg

When he was at university, just a few years ago, Laszlo Goran had no shortage of affairs with women there. Now all he wants is to have Audrey for himself. But it is impossible. She belongs to the most powerful man on Earth, Jordan Rathbone--Jor, as the population refers to its beloved leader.
Even though Laszlo is the best neurosurgeon in the world and arguably the most popular individual, his lust for Audrey and power consumes him like a cancer. He orchestrates rebellion among the population, engineers kidnapping, conducts mind-altering brain surgery and indulges in bribery to undermine Jor's authority--all to no avail. Jordan Rathbone is surrounded by his adult son, daughter and her boyfriend and half of the population practicing unarmed combat and mind power.
Meanwhile, the first attempts of mankind to start small colonies on the Moon and Mars are fraught with peril as lack of oxygen causes health complications and tempestuous dust storms threaten their daily lives.
It has been only about a hundred years since Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon and the world of 2067 is already vastly different to the world of 1969. After the devastating wars during the 2020s, the four most powerful nations in the world outlawed all wars, bringing the ruling that money is to be spent on education, physical fitness and interplanetary expansion, having scrapped the idea of finding humanoid life in the surrounding galaxies.
A page turner, Intrigue… Braindust for Earth, Moon and Mars builds on modern technological, neurological and space developments to project a world that is intended to be perfect but isn't, because humans cannot change their basic nature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528970167

E I Schadeberg

While engaged in a time-consuming business career and rearing four children, E I Schadeberg managed to get two children’s books and some poetry published in the UK. In 2018 she started her full-time career as an author, publishing her first book, Intrigue… Braindust for Earth, Moon and Mars in March 2020. Although this second book, Out Among the Moondust, was written as a sequel to the first, it is also a totally stand-alone story.

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Sixty-Three

About the Author

E I Schadeberg’s writing career started late in life. An excellent education equipped her to raise four children on her own and hold down research, marketing, advertising and merchandising jobs in commerce and industry until her family was adequately educated and settled in careers. There was never the time to sit down and write books, but she published two slim children’s books and poetry in the UK, and a volume of poems on the internet in Australia.

Intrigue… Braindust for Earth, Moon and Mars is her first adult book to be published.

Copyright Information ©

E I Schadeberg (2020)

The right of E I Schadeberg to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528939980 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528970167 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgment

Acknowledgements to Austin Macauley; the editors and staff of this experienced publishing house guided me through the necessary processes of turning a manuscript into this book.

The Perth Reference Library’s librarians, those working at the Melville Hub Libraries and at Peppermint Grove Library who were always determined to help me find the reference sources that I needed for this book.

Simon, Wilma and Kathleen for their faith in me and devoted support.

My four children, respectively helping with finances, the use of electronics, the management of finances, the meticulous reading of rough scripts with suggested improvements, their enthusiasm for sports such as marathon running, swimming, karate and golf, the endless recommended books to read, and gifts of inspiring poetry and classical DVD recordings.

Mr John Harman, ghostwriter, author, lecturer who gave me encouragement and useful information on presentation of a manuscript.

Robert McKee’s book, Story, that became my handbook where I learnt about film script writing, taught me to write in beats, and how to progressively build up to the climax of the story.

Jonas Johansson, Stephen King, R R Martin, J K Rowling, J R Tolkien, Shakespeare, Robert Harris, Lee Child, Milton, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Dickens, Omar Khayyam, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, the author of the King James Version of the Holy Bible, and as many of the inspired authors’ books on which I could lay my hands.

Chapter One

It was just an ordinary party, as parties go. My life, as official recorder attached to the Chief Custodian and his family, can be arduous at times, shadowing them at official functions, or merely going about the affairs of state. Not this evening; everything changed for me at half-past nine when Peter arrived with the first-generation Martian.

Everyone had stopped talking, as goggle-eyed, they took stock of the Martian. Even Audrey Palmer, wife of Jordan Rathbone, Custodian of Planet Earth, stared openly. In the dim light, his red hair seemed to glow, short red tail twitching and pointy ears wriggling. He was exceptionally tall, topping the host, Peter Whitford, by almost two heads.

‘My friends,’ Peter, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, almost unable to contain his excitement, spoke to the guests. ‘I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming to join us on the eve of the enormous brain procedure that my wife, Valerie, will have in the next few days. Most of you know everyone here, but I would like to mention a few guests.’ He beckoned to me, and as I stepped forward, he said, ‘this is Mr R E Redroc, Red to his friends. He is our chief recorder, at present spending time with our First Family, Jordan Rathbone and – present here tonight someone who needs no introduction – the gorgeous Audrey Palmer, Valerie’s half-sister. Would you please join Mr Redroc, Audrey?’

She smiled graciously, tossed the lustrous blonde curls off her face, her velvet-blue eyes earnestly seeking my face and shook my hand. ‘I know Red well; he has been with us for a few months now, absorbing our way of life to record for posterity of how the Top Four Nations’ vision of a Utopian society is working in practice.’

‘Next,’ Peter continued, ‘I’d like to introduce our brilliant neurosurgeon – though I think everyone has heard of him – Dr Laszlo Goran, who will be holding my wife’s fate in his hands shortly. He is well-known all over the world. Please join Red and Audrey, Laszlo?’

Laszlo stepped forward. I had occasion to meet him in the Assembly Hall previously, and once again, as then, I was completely struck by the man for whom only one word is suitable suave. Although not really tall, he had such a commanding presence about him which seemed to proclaim I am brilliant and good looking, a genius who is competent and good – which paved the way for interaction without stress. ‘I am honoured, Peter Whitford, that you have chosen me to keep your wife on her feet. Glad to meet all of you.’ He greeted me and Audrey like old friends, shaking my hand but embracing Audrey with a little too much enthusiasm.

‘I’m not going to introduce all our good friends since, as I’ve said, most of them know one another. But I will introduce our Martian visitor. Mr Arthur Bradford Chapman, welcome to Planet Earth and our humble home. Will you say a few words, Brad?’

The Martian growled while the rest of the gathering looked on in consternation. Then Peter exploded. He couldn’t stop laughing. ‘Val,’ he guffawed, ‘please turn those dim lights off.’

A blood-curdling yell – which could only have come from the Martian – had some ladies screaming. Then Valerie turned the lights on. Smiles of relief washed over the gathering for there, before them, stood a handsome young man in his early twenties, waving the artificial tail through the air, pointy ears in the other hand, his fiery-red hair almost crowning him with a seemingly burning halo, a huge smile lighting up the room and lightening the hearts of all present. The party kicked off to a wonderful start.

I joined Valerie. ‘I hope you do not mind me asking. Why are you having brain surgery?’

‘Not at all!’ she smiled. ‘I picked up a virus which damaged my brain, resulting in a strong possibility that I could lose my mobility unless I received a brain implant.’ She paused for a second, then added, ‘I’m not scared, but rather looking forward to it.’

‘Indeed! You’re in good hands! I’m familiar with the neurosurgeon’s work, absolutely phenomenal!’ I added. ‘I see a family resemblance between you and Audrey.’

‘Not surprising!’ she smiled. ‘We have the same father.’

‘She leads a very busy life.’

‘Yes, Red, I invited her here because, lately, things have not gone too well for her at home,’ she sighed. ‘Besides, Audrey’s mother was a businesswoman who never had much time, and I was in my late-teens when Audrey was born, so I spent a lot of time looking after her.’

‘How did that happen?’

‘My mother died when I went to university. Of course, I missed her, but my life was full. But then Dad re-married a much younger woman, a businesswoman, and they had Audrey – I think against her will – and I ended up being Audrey’s surrogate mother. We are very close.’

I could sense that Valerie needed to confide in me, so I said, ‘I’ve only been with the family a short while, and I have noticed that she seems to be a little short on enthusiasm at present.’

‘Yes. She’s never fully recovered from the birth of her daughter, Alexandra – we call her Lexi. Jordan is extremely busy, and Audrey is finding it hard to cope with all the demands made on her time.’

‘I’ve noticed that.’ At that, I saw the appraising look Audrey Palmer, First Lady of the Planet, gave the Martian and noticed his response: Peter was still trying to introduce him to someone else when, with two strides, he was at Audrey’s side, gripping her hand in his, without letting it go.

‘Hi! I’m Brady.’

I thought her reaction to him was like a flower opening when the sun shone on it. ‘I know, you’re the Martian! I’m Audrey.’

‘The ex-beauty queen!’ He gripped her hand even more tightly; the interplay of emotions between the two of them was almost palpable.

Valerie followed my gaze as I studied Brady. He was preceded by an aura of charisma. His face was broad with high cheekbones – he could be Scandinavian, but with the thick curly red hair, broad shoulders and a strong sportsman’s body, he seemed like a Celt, tanned to a golden brown. It was a figure full of command, authority and self-assurance.

‘You know, Red, Brady’s father sent him as representative of the family, because he and my mother were half-brother and sister.’

‘They make a beautiful couple – the Martian and Audrey – don’t you think?’

‘She seems to like him a lot. Because Audrey was just a little girl in a house of grown-ups, everyone thoroughly spoilt her. She always got everything she wanted: beauty queen before her marriage; always getting her own way with Dad and later, spoiled by Jor.’

It felt as though Valerie and I had known each other for years, and it was so easy to chat to her. ‘Val, she told me that it had been two years since the birth of her daughter, Lexi, and that she had not been able to pursue her lecturing, had neglected her studies and… it seemed that Jor was not much help; has no sympathy. I don’t think they’re too close at the moment.’

‘Yes,’ Valerie smiled. ‘She’s been busy setting up the dietary guidelines for the population since her marriage, building a family and being the wife of the Chief Custodian. I don’t think there was any energy left for having a good time. In addition, the Moon became almost colonised after Neil Armstrong’s famous moonwalk in 1969, and Mars had been colonised since 2020. Everything adding additional burdens on Jor’s shoulders and less time for his wife.’

Valerie turned aside to chat to another guest and I continued to observe the start of the romance between the ex-beauty queen – young mother who, up to now, was the loyal wife of the undisputed leader of Control Area One – and the first generation Martian, born when the pioneer settlers landed on Mars, twenty-two years ago.

‘Well, well!’ Suddenly, Laszlo Goran appeared at my side, but his eyes were on Audrey and Brady. There was an edge of sarcasm in his melodious voice. ‘She was my girlfriend, you know, until Jordan came along and took her away from me.’

Valerie returned to me when she noticed Laszlo staring at Audrey and Brady, and said, ‘You know, Dr Goran, I remember clearly her mentioning that she was going on a date with you for the first time. She told me that was the first – and only – time because, on that same night, she met Jordan, who swept her completely off her feet. She didn’t even give you a chance to take her home.’

‘Yes! That is correct, and I don’t blame her because Jordan had the plum job: he ruled Planet Earth.’ He blustered his way out of the situation. ‘She’s such a beautiful woman, any man would want her for a girlfriend, don’t you think, Red?’ Before I could reply, he turned away, and left shortly afterwards.

Even when the last guests had left and Peter took Valerie to the Neurology Clinic, where he would spend the night with her before the procedures, Brady and Audrey kept on dancing to the discs from Valerie’s selection.

It seemed to me that both of them eagerly awaited what the outcome would be… one could see that from every hand contact, every glance. Every sip of the excellent champagne seemed to fire up the pulsating rhythm of the dancing’s sexual motion, until the intoxicating music became almost a spiritual orgasm. His hands caressed her face, her beautiful blond hair, her neck, shoulders. She stroked his arms, his back.

When I finally left to go to my lodgings to sleep for a few hours before my flight back to Jordan’s house, I knew that she had to fly back to her home later in the morning, and that Brady would be staying for one more week with Valerie to see the outcome of the operation before going back to Mars.

He knew that she was married to Jordan Rathbone, the well-liked, undisputed leader of not only this Area, but Planet Earth and the two colonies, and she knew that Brady Chapman was being groomed to take his father’s place as Administrator of Mars when he retired.

I sighed when I thought that perhaps they would never see each other again, but knew that this memory would stay with them forever. I also knew that she would wait for the next day to learn the outcome of the operation. But more important was the realisation that she would accept with resignation that she would be sleeping in Jor’s arms that night.

One thing had become crystal clear in my mind: Laszlo was jealous of Jordan, regarded him as his enemy – and planned to take everything Jordan has from him: the custodianship, the respect, the facilities… and his wife.

Chapter Two

‘Hi, Lexi.’ It was years later when I went looking for Jor’s daughter and found her in the garden sitting in the garden hut, obviously involved in some form of work or study.

‘Hi, Red. You’re looking for me?’

‘Yes. Do you have a little time? I’d like to ask you about your childhood.’

‘I’ll always have time for you, Red. Sit down for half an hour. Should I order some tea for us?’

‘No, thanks. This is a lovely spot.’ I sat down and asked, ‘What sort of things interested you the most as a youngster?’

‘Dad was always testing my cognitive powers and memory, he’d concentrate on star systems, and get me to tell him what he was looking at – and I could, my powers of perception expanded rapidly. But I wanted to hear about Matt Nagel.’

‘Matt Nagel?’

‘Yes, Matt Nagel! I was completely enamoured of neurology and the endless possibilities awaiting humanity if they could only learn to channel the brain. I regarded the chief neurosurgeon, Laszlo Goran, as a demi-god. I always wanted to be able to know what the other people were thinking. Matt Nagel, a young sportsman, accidentally stabbed, became a quadriplegic and had to learn to control a computer cursor with his thoughts. That was in 2006. Do you know of this historic event?’

‘Unfortunately, I don’t.’

‘Dad told me how Matt and a group of his friends were enjoying a night out, when a hooligan severed his spinal cord, a knife attack that was meant for someone else, but Matt got in the way. During immediate medical attention after the attack, the medics had to assist with his breathing in an effort to keep him alive, so in addition to the fact that he was totally paralysed, his larynx was affected. He was doomed to an incomplete existence and unable to speak properly.’

‘How dreadful!’

‘Yes. His family heard about the work done by researchers at the Bio Medical Research Company, Cybernetics Terotechnology Systems and the pill-sized neural interface system that they produced, called the Brain Gate. They heard how he could, with the aid of a fibre-optic cable implanted in his head through keyhole surgery, perform computer actions by merely thinking about them. So, they went ahead. In July 2004, a top Swiss neurosurgeon, Gerhard Friehs, started the procedures. He opened a small section of the skull so that the pill-size device could be implanted on the surface of Matt’s brain. Afterwards, Matt was able to operate a computer cursor by thinking about it and he was able to be in touch with his family and friends, to socialise.’

‘An amazing achievement. Did your brother, Ralph, share your interest in the abilities of the mind?’

‘No!’ she laughed. ‘When Dad had told me the story again – for the umpteenth time! – Ralph joined us, shouting, I hear them again. They’re moving, they’re grating each other!’

‘What was moving?’

‘I thought he was imagining that his toys could come alive and move. But that wasn’t it. Dad told me that he can hear rocks underneath our feet moving. Ralph told me proudly that they’re moving all the time. I told him that he was silly. Then Dad pointed out that in the same way as I am able to know what people think, have a fantastic memory and automatically take in details around me, he can hear the movements of the tectonic plates deep inside the earth. When I asked him how Ralph knew it, Dad pointed out that my abilities were to know what other people were thinking and remembering millions of things in sequence; acute hearing was Ralph’s ability.’

Jor came looking for us. He was beautifully dressed, as usual, his slim hips encased in snug-fitting camel-coloured trousers, the off-white polo shirt, stretching across his well-muscled chest and highlighting the healthy black curly hair. Ample exercise left its legacy of sparkling eyes, a glowing skin and sex appeal in abundance. This was Jordan Rathbone, Administrator of Control Area One, beloved father and husband, and immensely popular Custodian of the planet, holder of the Shield Protector of the Planet, that he’d won for the past several years in martial arts contests.

For a fleeting moment, I thought back to Audrey’s severe depression after the birth of Lexi. It seemed totally impossible to have happened. She and her husband’s love and companionship had grown steadily during the ensuing nine years, securely cocooning their two children in its warmth. And, in spite of women of all shapes and sizes running after him, Jor had remained honest, faithful, and unbelievably attentive to her and the children.

Chapter Three

Although I was not always present for many of the actions that took place in and around Control Area One, everyone was conscientious to execute Jor’s orders: ‘Make sure that you fill in Red, Mr Redroc, on a continuous basis so that his recordings for posterity will be complete and truthful.’ And they did. So, for now,