Rayford's prediction had not been on the Internet for 12 hours before it became a reality. But in that time, the right people had seen it, including Geoffrey Baum.
Geoffrey had been forced to sever his links with the BBC two years earlier, after his "experiment" with Vaishnu's tribe had finished. His refusal to accept the implant had made it impossible for him to stay on the payroll. But he had compiled a list of media contacts, and he dusted it off to send them tips on Rayford's prediction the moment he heard about it. Most of the media was too busy chasing down eulogies from world leaders to be bothered with some religious fanatic saying Dangchao would rise again. But the BBC had it from Baum that this was the figure behind the free work movement happening all over Asia, and so they pulled out file tapes and squeezed in a mention of the strange prediction along with all their other reports of Dangchao's death.
Of course when it turned out that Dangchao was not dead, everyone wanted to review what had actually been said on the Twelve Tribes website.
Rayford was there, anonymously, feeding them with more information, and telling the people what else was going to happen. As far as the media was concerned, it was too good to pass up. But for Dangchao it was a disturbing distraction from what he had wanted to be his grand moment. He thought that his agents had tracked down the worrisome dissidents, using their London website to do it, but something had gone wrong. Efforts to locate the group and its leaders became a personal obsession for him over the next few years.
*
"We got a big mob askin' to join now," Molly said with a smile of satisfaction. "Same like you said it would be, Chaim."
Chaim had gone to Newcastle to see Molly and Bess, even though it was getting harder to travel now that he could not buy petrol. Sometimes he would hitch a ride, but this time he managed to sneak on a train without paying the fare.
The two women were camping in the bush, outside of Newcastle, and would periodically trek to town, where they would pick up discarded food, and plug in their laptop computer. Their meeting with Chaim was happening in a quiet corner of a fast food restaurant on the outskirts of Newcastle.
"There's a lot more just visiting our home page," Chaim reported, based on information that he had obtained from Rayford, in England. "It's starting to happen: People are starting to see through Dangchao," Chaim added.
"They gotta be blind not to," Bess added. "The man's sick... that's what he is. Makin' kids... little kids... kill each other! It's sick. Just plain sick."
She was talking about the entertainment that Dangchao had brought in after transforming the Temple into a palace for himself and his most loyal supporters. At first it was just rude and blasphemous music, comedy, and dancing. At intervals in the festivities, it became traditional for revellers to prostrate themselves before Dangchao. This even included political dignitaries and members of the Press, who hardly raised a word of protest. Then the program changed, to include the most perverse sexual orgies, and finally gladiatorial contests in which opponents fought to the death, both with each other and with wild animals. Of late, even children were being given weapons and forced to kill one another.
"Dark times," Molly said, half to herself. "It's happenin' Chaim, just like you said. Dark times."
Molly had also seen it coming, but Chaim had added clarity, with predictions made privately to members of the Twelve Tribes that, as things got worse, more people would be drawn to consider the movement as an alternative.
It was becoming more and more difficult for anyone with any integrity to believe that Dangchao was not, in fact, a 'beast', as members of the Twelve Tribes had claimed. Only a tiny fraction of the world's population had the courage to opt out of the new world order, especially in the early stages, but their numbers were soon to be measured in the millions.
"It's going to cost these new believers," Chaim said sadly. "It'll cost them everything." The original members of the Twelve Tribes appeared to have miraculous protection, but circumstances were such now, that contact between the inner circle and the rest of the world had to be highly secretive. People joining during this period might have access to the Twelve Tribes website or to printed material, but they were left to fend for themselves outside of the refuges that has been established for the 144,000 leaders in this worldwide movement.
Chaim had come to Newcastle to discuss with Molly and Bess his plans for going public with specifc warnings to the world, so that people would have no doubt about where his message was coming from.
"You tell 'em," Molly said, when she heard the plan. "And you know you don't need me to tell you that. You just keep listening to the Spirit, son."