Beating Heart of the Free World

The rich man sat sipping whisky and watching the sun set.

His was the highest view in town. All around his towering building lay what was once Lebanon, Kansas. Now renamed Center, since the titanic city was located in the dead center of the United States. The mogul used to hate the name. Yet it now gave him a private laugh. Unlike him, his predecessors had no taste and little creativity. As far as the eye could see extended gray concrete and dark neon tubing. Block upon block of skyscrapers stretching out for dozens of miles. Snow had come earlier in the week, its opal dusting covering a majority of the city. Countless panels of glass threw the sunset right back at itself. Countless cutthroat deals all hidden away in an empire sized town.

And Erik Flynt, CEO of Flynt Enterprises, was king of the castle.

This legacy had been brought about by the mogul’s company. The allure afforded by the power of Center attracted all sorts. From the lowly streetsweeper to a high ranking accountant. Each one played their role on the food chain, forging it link by link over the years. Chum feeding up and up so the sharks could have their due.

Like a shark, Erik loved the tropics.

Especially now that winter was setting in. His rooftop getaway was designed to be a working vacation. Actual imported Hawaiian sand, Tennessee whiskey, Texas barbeque. Around him, several hidden heaters formed an air wall for protection. A decadent paradise in the middle of a dreadful urban environment. The mogul was drowsy in the warm sun, drowsy from the spirits, drowsy from doing nothing. He grinned as he looked out over Center. He never tired of the view. While others considered it drab, it reminded him of his own place in the world. The mogul’s eyes drifted slightly to the left. In a hot tub sat two women in silver bikinis sipping glasses of wine. After all, both views had their own benefits.

A rhythmic clacking found Erik’s ears. A woman with glowing green eyes approached. Blonde, identical to the other two splashing around in the hot tub. The only difference was a pair black cat-eye glasses, a neat bun, and silver stilettos.

"Your presence is requested, sir," the woman spoke sharply.

"Take it slow, Friday," Erik said.

A beat passed. Nothing changed in the secretary's face. If anything, a small smile curved her scarlet lips upwards.

"That won't work on me, sir," she said, adjusting her glasses with manicured nails. "I'm programmed to be the only Lookalike immune to the code phrase. Mostly because your business partner knows there always needs to be somebody on the clock."

Erik frowned and lowered his pair of custom Ray-Bans. He could hear a faint laughter coming from inside his head. Of course his partner would pull something like that.

"What is it then?" the mogul grimaced.

"Trouble in the main chamber,” Friday continued. “One of the scientists is getting some strange readings."

"Blasted eggheads are always ruining my fun."

"Yes, it seems like you're enjoying yourself tremendously up here. Shame there's a job to be done downstairs."

With the comment sitting like a glacier, Friday spun on her heels and walked away. Erik grimaced at the treatment. It was just like his business partner to give the girl a tongue with her brain. The action dug into his nerves. He was the head of the company. Not his partner. Even if the unspoken partner was the one to suggest the program. The mogul took solace in watching Friday saunter off.

Oh well. Better to have someone else handle the hard parts. And it was always a pleasure to see someone who looked so good doing it, too.

Erik slipped out of his designer khaki shorts and into his suit. Throwing his undershirt on, buttoning it up, and knotting his tie all took no time. As he walked to the door he whistled to both women behind him. Their green eyes flashed once. Soundlessly, they rose from the hot tub and headed for the changing room. Erik, however, jogged to catch up with Friday. She was holding his personal elevator, tapping one heel on the marble flooring. The mogul reached the lift and stepped inside. The doors shut and they started downwards. His eyes drifted over to the secretary. She remained still, eyes pulsing at different intervals.

Erik was opening his mouth when she began to speak.

"The scientists say the Pinnacle's readings are beginning to fluctuate," Friday said. "It looks as if he's beginning to produce less energy. Response, sir?"

Her head snapped over to the mogul. Erik paled and felt himself sober up immediately. A curse rang out in his head. It seemed his nest egg was beginning to crack.

"Notify them I'm on my way down," Erik responded. "I want to examine the readings myself."

"Already sent, sir. Very good, sir."

The rest of the elevator ride was silent. Even with express magnets, it took the pair a full minute to descend. The doors finally opened to a sprawling underground lab. Scientists rushed across the drab floor, monitoring and reporting on various things. A huge bank of monitors relayed constantly updating lines of data. The glowing codes upon the black screens gave Erik a headache. Even so, he and Friday paced through with nary a glance around them. Crisscrossing the walls were support columns. Above them lay a completely metal ceiling, several feet thick.

The Flynt family precursors made sure to dig deep into the earth for when establishing themselves. Protection against foreign aggression was one thing. Ultimate authority bestowed by the government was another whole issue. The uniform depth was doubled, resulting in all construction being redone. New tunnels and fixtures installed all on the taxpayer's dime. Reaching across the Lower 48, beaming itself to the remaining Alaska and Hawaii. Something scientists had thought was impossible.

The Flynt family had somehow come up with the solution for unlimited energy.

As such, everybody wanted a hand on it. The original founders of the company had banded together to fight off countless audits and seizures. Numerous agents on and off the books turned up missing for the next decade. Scientists were hand picked from Operation Paperclip to oversee the unimaginable secret of Flynt Enterprises. Established in 1955, the corporation had been pumping out power for years.

A twisted version of Tesla; unlimited energy for exorbitant fees.

The hallway ended in two guards. Ginormous and genetically grown lunkheads. Prototypes of the Lookalike process used for something other than waste. Each one had muscles on muscles and were packed to the gills with implants. Two pairs of glowing red eyes scanned the mogul from tip to top.

The secretary merely stood behind her boss, her connection to the guards nullifying her presence. Erik rolled his eyes at the standoff. A moment later, the guards shrank away at his genetic data. A whir, then a click, and finally a soft rumbling. The armored slabs were pulled by magnets into small alcoves. Erik and Friday were about to step into the chamber when they heard huffing behind them.

"Wait!" came a nasally voice.

Four finger guns pointed straight at the approaching scientist. The man grew as white as his lab coat, stopping dead in his tracks. Erik rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. The weapons went down without a sound. The balding scientist slinked up to his boss, clearing his throat with a nasty swallow.

"T-thank you, sir," he whimpered.

"Don't mention it," Erik said. "Just fill me in on what's happening here."

"Of course, sir."

To the uninformed, the chamber seemed anti-climactic. Completely empty save for a single object. In the center lay a metal cube with a window of black glass. Countless wires ran from it to the ceiling, then spread out in a scattershot pattern. The container was just tall enough to fit a standing person, yet large enough to be the size of a small car. In front of it, a pedestal held a monitor. Lines and lines of the same data from the main room ran across it. The scientist stepped up and scrolled through until he found what he was looking for. He presented Flynt and the secretary with a line graph that was sloping downwards.

"As you can see, sir," the scientist began. “It happened only a few hours ago. We had taken into consideration the being's age and power output, and figured it was just a small tip. But when it continued, we started to worry. The slump has caused several of our outlier stations to register a lower intake. As such, numerous places across the US have begun to experience brownouts."

Flynt's eyes had locked onto the black glass. He took in what the nerd had said.

Suddenly, his eyes began to fuzz. The world around him turned a black and white shell of itself. It was his business partner, allowing him a glimpse of the world’s unseen energy flow. Flynt blinked and took in the scene in front of him. Within the scientist's chest was a glowing red heart. Friday’s brain was lit up green with all the metal and wires running through it.

Though inside the chamber was the real prize.

A stunning pearly glow shot out as bright as the sun. Inside stood a shockingly white figure bound hand and foot. Even completely immobilized, he was still capable of countless things. And his head was aimed directly at Erik. The mogul met the eyeless gaze with disdain.

All at once, an electric smile split the figure's face.