Updates for Sunday, November 27th [2005]
Mystery Man
Dear Friends,
On Thanksgiving evening, I ran into a great surprise; however I was a bit startled, at first. It all started when I went to Ludwig's house, as I said I would, to bring in his mail and ensure his belongings are safe...
Man with Gun: Don't move.
Me: What is going on? Who are you, a petty thief?
Man with Gun: Who I am is of no consequence to you. Where is Ludwig? What have you people done with him?
Me: Ludwig is in Chicago, to resume his studies. He left me to watch over his residence. Who are you?
Man with Gun: Come with me. Quickly.
Me: So is that your car parked outside?
Man with Gun: We cannot talk here, just move.
At the gunman's behest, we went to a nearby cafe, where he did his best to explain his position.
Me: Okay. Who are you?
Man with Gun: I'm asking the questions around here, you're answer them. First, tell me what you know.
Me: Well, Ludwig is a friend of mine. He acquired a deal with Fermilab to move his operations to Chicago, and left me in the ward of his home.
Man with Gun: There is no reason to be afraid. You're probably not involved. We couldn't talk at Ludwig's place, it was probably bugged. My name is Julius Rothsbard, I am an old friend of Ludwig's. Excuse me for being a bit untrustworthy and pulling the gun on you, but I have been chased for almost two years now. I think I'm safe now, I haven't caught myself being tailed for three months now. I had to find Ludwig, we have important matters to discuss.
Me: Julius! We were looking everywhere for you. There were clues, I know about the incident at Chronotech, I was sort of... involved. What is going on?
Julius: Well, remember, I do still have a gun, and I'm only going to tell you what I feel comfortable telling you. You were involved? How?
Me: I don't know if I can say, really, I don't think you'd believe me.
Julius: You're not exactly winning my trust with that garbage.
Me: All I know is, me and Ludwig have confirmed that there was something historically changed by the time traveling machine. What were your clues all about? We deduced something to do with the Illuminati, but we don't know what.
Julius: Well, that is exactly the case, as crazy as it appears. I was tailed after Chronotech shut down, about two months after. He threatened my life and I escaped, I've been on the run since. This person is a madman, but he is smart and resourceful. At first I thought he was a lunatic, then when I found wire taps on my hotel lines and when he found me with my family, I thought he was the CIA or FBI. But he didn't arrest me, or do anything like that. He watched me. It seems like he was trying to get information. I managed to shake him and with a bit of trickery of my own, I tailed him. I found him lodged in a motel near mine, waited until he left, and went into it and placed a GPS locator amongst his baggage. I found papers... all sorts. Something you would expect of a conspiracy theorist. I thought about reporting him to the police... but I thought maybe they were researching the incident too, and looking for me. I was scared, but not scared enough to prevent myself from tailing him. It took me a few months but then I started finding out things. He visited locations that were registered to the Freemasons. He started visiting corporate offices. I had a brief excursion into Europe, he scoped out some men at a convention I later found out was the Bilderberg Group. I don't know what is going on with this guy, but I feel like my life is threatened by him, and he may be too high up in the pecking order to go at legitimately. Eventually he learned of the ruse and I was on the run again. Along the way, I stole some of his papers. On them were detailed schematics of historical events, starting with a man named St. George Tucker. I realized he had a theory that time had been, or could be, changed somehow... and that my research was his ultimate target. I've probably said too much.
Me: No, that makes sense, and helps explain what is going on.
Julius: According to these documents this man is tied to a group within the Bavarian Illuminati. I don't know what that means, and I don't know where this guy gets his money. But his documents have convinced me of several things: something about history changed which he believes impacted the Illuminati group, he sees me as responsible, he is trying to learn as much as possible... and he doesn't want it changed back. The man has an endless income, and I'm exhausted my savings to their last penny. I took the risk to see Ludwig today because I figured with all the holiday travel, my traveling could go unseen. I have a motel room downtown, I am staying as long as I can here until he finds me again. It was foolish to come here, I could have led him here. He may not know of Ludwig's involvement.
Me: Why wouldn't he know about that?
Julius: In the limited research papers about our project - papers he has collected, I found out when I found his belongings unattended - I am the only one listed as lead researcher. We didn't get into many publications, our research is mostly scoffed at. He has some employee logs from Chronotech but only my name was highlighted. I saw nothing that indicated he was aware of Ludwig, despite Ludwig having developed the core mechanism that makes the cascade reaction work. So you said the machine does work, and something historical was changed? How did you confirm this? What was changed?
Me: I... don't think I could tell you about this now, it is certainly complicated. We should wait until we see Ludwig in person to discuss this.
Julius: It was foolish for me to come here, I could have led him here, if he didn't already know about Ludwig he may now. I shouldn't go to Chicago, but I should call him and get in touch. I hate to risk the communication though... I don't know how high this guy's contacts go. He doesn't seem to be on me now, I hope it stays that way.
Me: I don't know what is going on here, but if you are safe here for the time being you should stay here. Ludwig is convinced that he can improve his machine, and create a new model at Fermilab. I don't know how long he is going to take doing that... but we should give him his time. I can covertly relay to him that we have discovered you, he has an encrypted email means he uses to contact me.
Julius: Perfect! Yes, we can contact him from here. Get the project moving forward like it should be. If I keep this guy distracted long enough for us to get to the breakthrough on this project, then we will certainly have government protection. I have to ask though... do you have a place to stay?
I have promised him I will talk to Daniel, in fact, I will talk to him tonight. In the meantime, he spent the busy weekend at his motel. We have kept communication to a minimum to stay as covert as possible, to avoid this mysterious man who follows. I believe with this newest discovery we have moved one step closer to solving this incredible riddle that sits before us.
- TH. Jefferson
Editor's Notes:
The Illuminati, for those who don't know, are the source of numerous conspiracy theories and secret society rumors. The Illuminati has taken the form of many different, unrelated movements, and many fictional ones, but the real-life Illuminati that bears the best claim to the title are the Bavarian Illuminati. Founded in 1776, during the age of Enlightenment and the same year as the publication of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" and the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Bavarian Illuminati was a philosophical society concerned with personal advancement and perfection. As I detailed in a past update, Thomas Jefferson actually supported the movement and said it was unfairly criticized, claiming their criticism came from the "the tyranny of a despot and priests", but he was not a member (nor was he a Freemason). Despite common misconceptions, there are no direct ties between the Freemasonry and the Illuminati, although often Illuminati members are former Freemasons or have a dual membership. Since then popular culture has absorbed the secret society as a cultural icon for all those things that go unexplained... but what are they really up to? The group founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776 was destroyed fairly early on, but the affiliations lingered amongst intellectuals. Now there are several groups, most of them are not too secret just as the Freemasonry is no longer too secret, but what the group's mission is - if the group is indeed one coherent mass anymore - is still a mystery.
