About the author
Hebru Young is a UK based author with a passion for storytelling, character development and attention to fine detail.
Success, Opulence and Power
Hebru Young
Success, Opulence and Power
Vanguard Press
VANGUARD PAPERBACK
© Copyright 2021
Hebru Young
The right of Hebru Young to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All Rights Reserved
No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,
copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions
of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal
prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is
available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-80016-039-2
Vanguard Press is an imprint of
Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie Publishers Ltd.
www.pegasuspublishers.com
First Published in 2021
Vanguard Press
Sheraton House Castle Park
Cambridge England
Printed & Bound in Great Britain
Dedication
First and foremost, I thank God.
Secondly, I would like to dedicate this to my wife, my children and the extended family… and to Margie. This book wouldn’t have seen the light of day without your support.
Love you all.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, dialogue, and situations have been fictitiously created by the author for the sole purpose of entertainment. A mix of actual and fictional locations have been used in the book to provide a feel of authenticity. Any similarities to people, alive or dead, and all events and dialogue are coincidental. All product branding was created by the author and the copyright for these brands belong to the author.
Success
Chapter 1
Meet Eddie Dominguez
Where: The Nations High Court, The United Nations of Europe and Americas — Washington, DC
When: 1105 hours, Tuesday, October 1, 2041
Currency: UNEA credits
“Calling docket number 1177896, United Nations of Europe and Americas v. Edward R. Dominguez. All rise for the presiding Nations High Judge Thomas H. Davidson.”
Now just how did I end up here? Someone chirped. Snitches, they’re the scum of the earth. The enforcers, politicians, lawyers, judges—all shady, just like me. What makes them think they have the right to sit there and judge me?
In the courtroom, I could see the court officials through the Vexa True D-i installed in my cell. The Vexa True D-i is a super-advanced hologram projector. It was rigged with some sort of synthetic mist emitter, true-definition imagery or True D-i as it is often referred to. It also had a satellite receiver. The mist from the emitter captured the light that was project by the Vexa True D-i. The mist would contort and respond to the light and then form the required imagery. This meant that you didn’t need a solid background. The synthetic mist acted as a flexible background, so to speak. With this, I could see everyone in the court and they could see me.
With the advance capabilities of the True D-i, we were seeing flat screen TVs gradually becoming a thing of the past.
As consumers, we had reached a point where super-fast networks were a must. So naturally, network providers had to ramp up their innovation. The end result was advance satellite micro-receivers that were included in most portable gadgets. The tiny receivers are powerful enough to receive signals from lower levels of multistory buildings. Vexas could produce high-quality 3-D images over a fast network making it difficult to differentiate the real from the fake. Three years ago, this kind of technology was only available to the Nations Law Enforcing Unit (NLEU). Enforcers had been using them for secure communications and interrogations. But now Vexas were being used everywhere—universities, movie theatres, you name it.
We prisoners were no longer allowed in the courtroom; it was too risky. One of the reasons for the security measure was to ensure that no attempts were made to spring prisoners out. The courts had to put this rule in place after the Carlsdale incident. During a court hearing in 2012, the head of the Carlsdale crime family was sprung out of court by his nineteen heavily armed goons. This was the event that triggered the immediate beefing up of security protocols.
With access to all this advanced technology, not only did remote trials become possible, they eventually became standard practice for trials of major crimes. There was another reason why they kept us out of the courtroom. Members of the judicial system weren’t exactly fond of the idea of being in close proximity to alleged criminals. They had developed a certain level of repulsion for people like me, people they felt didn’t emanate a particular level of social class. The way that they saw it, people like me stank up the courtroom and just didn’t belong in there. Boy, were they all hypocrites?
During court proceedings, we had to remain in our cells and were patched in via the satellite network connection. My image was transmitted from the cell and then projected right next to my defence attorney. The digital replica of the courtroom and everyone in it was projected to my cell. I could see and hear everything that was going on like I was actually there. A chair was placed in Vexa-Position, the specific position in my cell for when the cell’s Vexa powered on and the trial commenced.
It was all really impressive technology, but I wasn’t a huge fan. When it comes to tech, I’m quite old-school—I preferred legacy stuff. A lot of the new tech is based on technologies that made it far too easy for the government to keep tabs on society—much
