From the moment that Dangchao returned to office, after the shooting, his approach to government seemed to change. People in Shinyalu did not take much notice at first. In Jerusalem there were wild parties for dignitaries and strange press conferences right from day one, but the changes which affected the masses of the world were more subtle.
Restrictions on factories, mining, exploration, logging, infact, on anything of environmental concern, just seemed to disappear overnight. It was like hundreds of emissaries had sneaked into the homes of powerful officials all over the world and had whispered thoughts into their heads as they slept... thoughts that would change their entire outlook the next day. They did not even need to wait for approval; they somehow knew that there would be no problem if they chose, from now on, to ignore the rules for the sake of increased production once again.
It would be years before the masses would become aware of what was happening, but in the meantime people were just just too busy rushing to participate in the business boom and too excited revelling in even greater wealth, to be bothered. Investors were making money faster than they could count it; shops were filled to overflowing, and, most importantly, everyone had enough money to buy far more than they needed. The extravagant parties in the former Templein Jerusalem epitomised the mood of the whole world. Millions... maybe even billions... who had never known much more than a meager existence, were now experiencing the kind of obscene wealth that had led to America's downfall.
It had an effect on the moral fibre of the world too. People wanted more and more indulgent ways to spend their money. Those who were not addicted to wealth as an end in itself would find themselves with more leisure time, to be filled with shopping, being entertained, travelling, eating, and engaging in every form of sexual pleasure that they could imagine.
Some industries, like the travel industry were struggling to keep up with the demand. It took time to build two, three, or four times as many planes, buses, and cars to carry everyone who wanted to use them; but for those who were prepared to pay the increased prices, labour and resources could still be found to create and produce, almost miraculously, all that they wished for. The gods of science and technology were working overtime to feed an insatiable appetite for more and more.
Moses was swept up in all of this too. As had always been his way, he looked ahead, far ahead of his peers. He sold his bike, mortgaged his house, and bought a beautiful new super deluxe Toyota Coaster bus with power steering and an automatic transmission. It had a bigger engine and smoother suspension than any of the other matatus in Shinyalu, plus air-conditioning, and a top quality music system to soothe his passengers on their journeys. People had so much money that he could charge twice what the other drivers were charging and still get passengers, because he gave them each plenty of room in luxurious seats.
The Kakamega road was being sealed too, making the ride even more pleasant for his pampered customers.
Moses had only been working six months when he felt confident enough to buy another Coaster and he hired Jiddy to drive it. Each day, one of them would do the Kakamega run and the other would do the Kisumu run. Each evening they would meet back at the house where Moses would count the takings while Jiddy headed into the village to spend as much of his wealth as he could before getting some sleep and starting another day.
Moses found his pleasure by making plans... plans for when he would have a fleet of buses to cover the entire area. It never bothered Jiddy that Moses made more than him. After all , he himself was getting many times more than he had ever received while pedalling a bicycle, and he hardly had to move a muscle to do it. It was a dream come true for this unambitious young man.
The village itself was transformed too. Where once there had been street stalls selling tiny piles of vegetables, plastic bowls, and second-hand clothing, now there were air-conditioned shops going up, with rows and rows of shelves full of things to choose from. Electricity had only become affordable during the first three years of Dangchao's reign, but now it was common place for homes to have refrigerators, colour TVs, automatic washing machines, and a host of other electrical appliances.
The markets had been extended to include two movie theaters, the busiest one showing nothing but adult movies around the clock. Atamba, the woman who had introduced Moses to sex, now had her own brothel, and the prices were no longer cheap. Dozens of local girls were finding their fortunes by working in it.
People's taste for alcohol had become more sophisticated by this time too.
The locally and illegal y brewed chang'aa was being replaced by imported wines and spirits. To help meet the demand, some maize fields were being turned into grape vineyards. On top of that, more of the Kakamega Forest was being cleared to make room for crops which would provide badly needed bio-fuels.
In the middle of this most exciting time in human history, there was news of a seditious movement out to destroy all that had been so carefully and wisely established. There were two fanatics who were using the internet to preach a message of fear and deception aimed at destroying the government. Official news reports said that they possessed paranormal powers. There was even talk of them being from another world. Their goal was to destroy modern civilisation by first convincing people that Dangchao was evil, and then by getting people to desert him and to drop out of the whole amazing economic utopia.
Alien or not, Moses became convinced that Josephat himself was one of those two men. There were no names and no photos to help people identify them or where they were speaking from, but mil ions visited their website to hear for themselves the wild ravings.
Moses had his own computer now, and so he occasionally browsed through the site, mostly hoping that it would give a clue as to Josephat's whereabouts.
The man obviously had superhuman abilities, because news reports said that the posters which had appeared on trees and sign posts all over Kakamega even before Amy moved out, had appeared all over the rest of the world as well.
While Josephat had once been allowed to openly preach and to circulate his crazy ideas, loyal followers of the new world order were now being urged to report anyone seen putting the posters up, or anyone suspected of having connections with the movement. The mood had dramatically changed. Justice was to be swift and harsh for any who supported the underground movement, in order to protect the growing economy from the treacherous lies of the aliens.
Anyone found to be supporting the aliens was to be executed.
At first there were rushed attempts at holding trials, but that slowed down the move to stop this insidious influence, and so executions were soon being carried out under direct orders from the various District Officers. There were several from Shinyalu who had been executed, and many more from Kakamega. Moses knew one of the women who was killed, and he was surprised to learn that she had been so foolish as to have fallen for Josephat's lies.
What was becoming clear to him was that even if Amy and the kids were alive, and even if he were to succeed in finding them, unless they dissociated themselves from Josephat and his teachings, they too would face death. The government needed to deal firmly with the threat, but Moses could not bring himself to wish death on Amy and the children. He hated Josephat all the more for the moral dilemma that this had created for him. There must be some way to locate this sub-human, superhuman, alien, heretical, kidnapping, false prophet monster, without betraying Amy, Rosy, or any of the others.