The Divine Dissimulation [Complete]

Chapter 13 The Terran Council Charity Ball

Abraham Goldstein viewed the festivities of the Terran Council’s yearly charity ball from his top-tiered table with a view of the entire ballroom. The ballroom of Europium Tower was a vast area with six distinct levels where guests could be seated depending on importance. Abraham being the wealthiest man on the planet and leader of a faction was on the top tier so he could look down on everyone and everyone could look up to him. He felt exhausted as his suite did not have the sleep enhancement machine, he was accustomed to.  The neural stimulation achieved by a sleep enhancement machine-made sleep ten times more efficient reducing the need for rest to an hour or two per day. Without the machine, Abraham felt like a zombie due to his advanced age. He could not wait for this spectacle to be over so he could go back to sleep and then go back home.

The background to the charity ball was that The Terran Council had made every country on the planet sign the "all money to charities tax-deductible" act a few centuries back to avoid taxes. So, every year the mightiest corporation on Earth gathered for events like this pledging to give most of their profits to charities under their own control with no disclosure obligations to the local governments. This kept the nations broke and powerless with the major corporations running things the way they wanted.

Sitting in this large crowd, Abraham felt anxious. His actions on the House Goldstein Annual General Meeting had made him many enemies. Due to the divine technology microchips, he could control them and know if they were plotting against him or not. Here in Europium Tower, it was different. He could not tell if people were plotting against him or not. The last few weeks Abraham had grown accustomed to knowing what people around him were thinking, so not knowing scared him.

Apart from the anxiety of sitting in a large room full of potential enemies, Abraham was satisfied with the day. The Terran Council had agreed to his plans, which made them a lot easier to pull through. He was now in full control of his family, but the Terran Council and the other Terran factions were outside of his control. Eventually, Abraham managed to relax and enjoyed the rest of the ball without dramas and incidents.