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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #42 Limited Information

Melinda Summers paced back and forth on the bridge of the UES starship Destiny as it was travelling through superspace. “Could you do me a favor and not wear a hole in the floor of my bridge?” Captain Bonnie Jefferson asked. “Sorry,” Melinda said. “I’m just feeling a bit impatient. It’s been a few days since we lost contact with our people, and I’m just getting worried.” “We’re getting you there as fast as we can,” Bonnie said. “I know it sucks not knowing what happened, but there’s not much you can do until we get there. How much longer until that is, Lieutenant Gilden?” “We’ll be there in about another fifty minutes or so,” Lieutenant Nicole Gilden said. She was the pilot. “Fifty minutes,” Bonnie said. “The rest of your team is relaxing in other areas on the ship. Feel free to do so yourself. We have various different recreation rooms aboard.” Elsewhere on the Destiny, in one of said rec rooms, Jack Masterson was bowling with Mary Bishop and Imhotep. “So, you had bowling back in ancient Egypt?” Jack asked as Imhotep went up and picked up a bowling ball. “It wasn’t exactly the same game, but throwing a ball to hit a target, or targets, isn’t exactly an uncommon game in various different cultures,” Imhotep said as he threw the ball and it went down the lane, before knocking down some of the pins. “What about the wild west?” Jack asked. “Did you have the game there, Mary?” “I know of the game,” Mary said. “Although I’ve never actually played it. I wish Abigail was here, she’d probably be enjoying this.” “Yes, well, that situation is definitely complicated,” Jack said. “I certainly hope she won’t actually have to stay in the Cretaceous until she leaves the long way, but until we understand more of the situation of how she replaced Sesla we don’t want to risk jeopardizing the timeline.” “Yeah, I know, I know,” Mary said. “I just feel bad for her having to stay back at base while we’re out here on a mission.” “Eh, it’s not too boring back at base,” Jack said. “Why is it so boring here at base?” Abigail Esau asked as she sat down in the cafeteria. “I think it’s nice, personally,” Philip Wilson said as he looked up from eating his macaroni and cheese. “It’s good to get a break from going out on crazy dangerous missions.” “Well sure, but not when you can’t leave,” Abigail said. “I mean, I understand why I should stay here, because otherwise it will alter the already altered timeline in ways we can’t possibly predict. But that doesn’t make this any easier.” “I thought your big thing was research. Can’t you do more of that while being stuck here?” “I mean, I suppose. Back home I would spend days in my room just reading stuff on my computer, only occasionally stopping for sleep.” “And food?” “If I remembered to.” “So, what’s different now?” Philip asked. “I mean, other than working for a time travel organization headquartered in the Cretaceous?” “The fact that I have a girlfriend now, and she’s out on an adventure, and I’m stuck here. Like, if Dorian was off doing some mission and you were stuck here, wouldn’t you hate that?” “I mean, I probably wouldn’t be bored, but maybe worried.” “Yeah, I’m a bit of that too,” Abigail said. “I mean, I know Mary can take care of herself, but you keep getting into danger and eventually you’ll get yourself killed. Unless you’re me apparently, and will live for tens of millions of years.” The Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson was holding the punching bag in place as Ohm was pounding away at it. They too were on the Destiny. “So, what do you think we’ll encounter when we get there?” Ghost Jack asked. “I have little idea,” Ohm said. “You probably have a lot better idea than me. I’m not sure why I’m even on this mission.” “What do you mean?” “I’m just the big, dumb muscle. And I don’t think punching Chronos into submission is going to work.” “I mean, technically we don’t know for certain that it’s Chronos that’s behind the planet Kyklos disappearing.” “A planet, which he possibly created in the first place, disappeared after he was asked about it,” Ohm said. “I’m dumb, but not that much.” “You’re really not though,” Ghost Jack said. “Like, you are a Neanderthal, and the most advanced technology where you are from is what, pointy sticks?” “Essentially, yes.” “And yet after just a couple years, you’ve become fluent in English, learned all sorts of stuff about more advanced technology and even have a basic understanding of time travel.” “Very basic.” “Maybe, but I mean, most of us only have a basic understanding of time travel. What I’m saying is that you learn at an amazingly fast rate. You’re not stupid.” “You’re just saying that because you’re interested in me,” Ohm said. “See, you’re also really perceptive.” Melinda was still on the bridge of the Destiny when they arrived at their destination, although she had stopped pacing by this point and was sitting down at one of the auxiliary science stations. “Report,” Bonnie said. “We’re at the location,” Nicole said. “But sure enough, there’s no planet here, just like long distance sensors showed.” Melinda looked through the sensor data on the console in front of her. “Hmm, readings seem mostly normal,” she said. “Then what do you want us to do?” Bonnie asked. “This is your mission.” “Have your scientists comb through all sensor readings for this area, for anything abnormal,” Melinda said. “They are obviously better trained with your equipment than I am, plus there’s a lot of data to go through.” “Can you tell us what to look for?” Bonnie asked. “Abnormal is a pretty vague description.” “I don’t know exactly what we’re looking for,” Melinda said. “And what I do know is classified, so abnormal will have to suffice.” “Understood,” Bonnie said, with a frown on her face. Jack, Mary and Imhotep had gone to an observation room, and were looking out at the empty space where a planet should have been. “Are your knowledge powers telling you anything?” Imhotep asked. “Not yet,” Jack said. “I mean, not anything relevant to this anyway. These days they are almost constantly telling me something though.” “I know we’re assuming Chronos is behind this, but could it also be related to the alternate universe stuff Deanna was doing on the planet?” Mary asked. “It’s certainly possible,” Jack said. “I mean, putting a planet in another universe would be a good way to hide it. Especially if it was a universe without people out in space.” “Are we also assuming the planet was moved, and not just destroyed?” Imhotep asked. “If it was destroyed, there would be debris or something left,” Jack said. “Even if it was completely obliterated, there would have been some sort of energy discharge we would have picked up.” “Unless it was destroyed in another era,” Mary said. “Maybe,” Jack said. Elsewhere, Nikola Tesla was pacing back and forth, as well as he could in the pitch dark room he was in with ERK-147 and the other scientists that had been with them on Kyklos. “So, this room is a perfect cube,” Nikola said. “Yes, that is what my sensors said,” ERK-147 said. “Which means the only way in or out is teleportation,” Nikola said. “And we don’t know who it was that appeared before us, and presumably brought us here.” “I believe he may have been a Greek God,” ERK-147 said. “Although more powerful than any I have ever encountered, but what little I could detect of his genetics fits that theory.” “It’s got to be Chronos,” Nikola said. “He could easily be behind not just this, but the creation of the planet itself. The only question is, how does that help us?” “Anything yet?” Jack asked Melinda as he sat down with her in the mess hall. “Nothing, it’s like the planet was never even here,” Melinda said. “There’s no trace of it.” “What about in other eras?” Jack asked. “Like, let’s say this is Chronos. We went to talk with him in 1984.” “Harkon sent teams to other eras, and the planet seems to be gone in all of them, but the stuff that we know that happened on the planet, still seems to be part of the timeline.” “Hmm, so presumably he wanted to make sure that those parts of the timeline were left intact for some reason. But we don’t know anything about his reasons for any of this.” “Which means that has to be our next move if we can’t figure out anything else here,” Melinda said. “We need to find out why he’s doing this.” “How are we supposed to do that? Talk with other Progenitors?” “Exactly.” “You wanted to see me, sir?” Abigail asked as she entered Harkon Smith’s office. “Yes, please sit down,” Harkon said as he put down his computer tablet. “I just got a report back from Agent Summers’ team.” “Did they find anything?” “They found nothing, which means we’re going to need to come at the problem from another angle.” “Oh?” “We’re going to try reaching out to other Progenitors and seeing if we can learn anything.” “Is that wise?” “Maybe, maybe not, but it’s the best course of action we have at the moment. Do you want to get started on looking into the identities of other Progenitors and where we can find them?” “Of course,” Abigail said. “I’d be happy to.” Melinda entered Bonnie’s office. “Have your people found anything yet?” Melinda asked. “Not yet, and I’m finding it increasingly unlikely that they will,” Bonnie said. “And I know my ship is on loan to you for this mission, but how long are we expected to be out here. Earth doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of ships.” “If we could stay out here a few more hours,” Melinda said. “We’re starting to look into a few other options, but we still want to be thorough in this area.” “Of course.” “So, we’re trying to figure out a list of Progenitors?” Dorian asked. “Yep,” Abigail said. “The more the better. So far, other than Chronos, the only one we’ve encountered so far is Yahweh, I think.” “I mean, it was just Jack and Deanna that encountered him,” Philip said. “And based on what Jack’s said of that encounter, I don’t know if we want to go to him again if we can help it.” “Which is why we need to figure out others,” Abigail said. “For instance, I’m pretty sure for the Norse pantheon it’s Ymir.” “I’m thinking Nu for the Egyptians?” Dorian said. “Makes sense, I think,” Abigail said. “What about, let’s say, Roman? I mean, that’s pretty hard to track down with the complex relationship between Roman and Greek mythologies.” “I got nothing for that,” Dorian said. “Me neither,” Philip said. “But maybe for Shinto mythology we have Amenominakanushi.” “Yeah, that sounds right, other than your pronunciation” Abigail said. “A friend of mine from back home used to date a girl who’s family practiced some elements of Shintoism.” “It’s just hard to tell for so many of these,” Dorian said. “In so many mythologies, especially as you get earlier into the family trees of deities, it becomes more complicated to figure out what the difference is between a being and a concept.” “Yeah, but at least we’re making some progress,” Abigail said. “I think.” Back on the Destiny, Melinda joined Jack, Ghost Jack, Mary, Imhotep, and Ohm in a meeting room. “Have we found anything yet?” Jack asked. “Still nothing?” Melinda said. “We’ll be heading back to Earth shortly. Abigail, Philip, and Dorian have been attempting to put together a list of Progenitors and seeing if they can track any down.” “I mean, if we need to, I do know where Yahweh is living,” Jack said. “Although I’m not sure if I want to go have another chat with him.” “How many others have they found?” Mary asked. “Last I heard they had a short list of names,” Melinda said. “But no locations yet.” “They aren’t exactly easy to track down,” Jack said. “It took a decade for me to do so. I mean, if we want I can do some long term searching again. With our increased time travel options, it’s even less of an issue for me to do that now.” “If we have to, we might take advantage of that,” Melinda said. “But for now we’ll see what we can come up with the regular way.” “Okay, so we haven’t figured out many, but we’ve possibly figured out a few of the Progenitors,” Abigail said. “So, we’ll work with that for now. Next up we need to figure out where and when we might be able to find them.” “Are we wanting to limit ourselves to after 1984, since that’s when Chronos become a problem from?” Philip asked. “Or 2017, since that’s when we were interacting with the planet Kyklos…sort of? “Does it even matter?” Dorian asked. “I mean, Chronos is a God of Time. It’s not like causality works the same way with him as with us.” “Maybe not, but other Progenitors aren’t necessarily the same way,” Abigail said. “So yeah, probably best to try for times of 1984 or later, 2017 or later if we can manage.” “So, how do we figure that out?” Philip asked. “There’s so little about them in the historical records.” “Then let’s go outside normal historical records,” Abigail said. “Who would know about things like this, Merlin, Aphrodite, Sesla. Any of them might be able to help.” “Aphrodite has rarely been helpful,” Philip said. “But we can try questioning her, I suppose. Don’t know about how cooperative Merlin will be, and either way we’ll need to wait for Ghost Jack to get back here to talk with him or Sesla, unless you know another way of communicating with someone in a coma.” “All valid ideas, although we’re not just limited to actually questioning them, are we?” Dorian asked. “With Merlin as our prisoner, somebody could go to his home and look through what he has,” Abigail said. “That’s a good point.” As Melinda and her team returned to Earth, she was given an update on what Abigail’s team had been figuring out. “Jack and I will go search Merlin’s place,” Melinda said to the team. “I should go with,” Ghost Jack said. “There are all sorts of magical security systems in place.” “You’ll have to just tell us about them, since you’re the only one of us that can talk to Merlin or Sesla,” Melinda said. “So, that determines that.” “We can take Imhotep with though,” Jack said. “He may be able to help with disarming the security.” “Agreed,” Melinda said. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything I am aware of,” Ghost Jack said. “And hopefully that’ll be enough.” “How long have we been here by now?” Nikola asked. “It’s been thirty-five hours,” ERK-147 stated. “You are worried about dehydration and starvation?” “Surprisingly no,” Nikola said. “I am feeling neither hunger nor thirst.” “Me neither,” one of the others said. “Yeah, I hadn’t even noticed, but I’m fine on that,” another one said. “Hmm,” ERK-147 said. “A scan of your bodies does indicate that you are properly hydrated and fed.” “Well, if Chronos can create a planet, he can surely ensure that his prisoners are kept in good health,” Nikola said. “The question is why?” “Hello Aphrodite,” Abigail said as she sat down on a chair outside her cell. “You’re a new one,” Aphrodite said. “My name is Abigail, I’ve been here for a little bit, but I haven’t had the need to talk with you as of yet.” “Oh, I know who you are, dear. I’ve met your father before.” “Don’t try playing that game with me,” Abigail said. “You’re not going to convince me that you’re my mother.” “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. The woman that raised you is indeed your mother. The man who raised you however, that’s not the father I was referring to.” “I don’t care, that’s not what I’m here for.” “What are you here for? More intel? The last time you people wanted intel you had to do a favor for me. Are you willing to do that again?” “How did that work out for you, anyway? You’re still our prisoner.” “For now,” Aphrodite said. “Certain things can take a while, but it’s only a matter of time until I’m out of here.” “We’re looking for one or more of the Progenitors.” “The what now?” “Chronos’ siblings.” “Couldn’t help you there, even if I wanted to. But feel free to pay me another visit if you ever want to learn who your real father is.” Ghost Jack entered the dream of the comatose Sesla. It was very different than the last time he had been here. He was on a massive balcony overlooking an ocean. The sky was sunny, with a few fluffy, white clouds dotting it here and there. Sesla was standing by the railing at the edge, looking out at the ocean. “Is my new body ready?” Sesla asked without even turning to look. “Not yet,” Ghost Jack said. “We’re still working on growing it.” “I’m sure you are,” Sesla said. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit then?” “We’re looking for information on Progenitors, the original generation of Gods.” “Oh?” Ghost Jack explained the situation with Chronos. “Hmm, very curious. I am aware of a few, but tracking them down might prove difficult.” “Any help you can provide would be much appreciated,” Ghost Jack said. Imhotep cast a spell to get rid of the magic lock. It was not especially complex, although the sort of spell you would not know to cast if you had not been told. The door opened before them. Jack and Melinda followed him into the lab. “So, what exactly are we looking for?” Imhotep asked. “Notes, files, anything he might have,” Jack said. “You don’t become one of the most powerful magic users out there without knowing at least a bit about the competition,” Melinda said. “Hopefully in his case, that includes one or more of the Progenitors.” Melinda quickly found a computer, which she started looking through. Jack was mostly just looking at the various mystical artifacts. And Imhotep located some old journals, which he started looking through. They were in a variety of languages, but Imhotep had a simple text translation spell he could use for that. The journals were full of a variety of different information. A lot of it was about spells, or artifacts, but there was a bit here and there about Gods and other magical entities. Nothing on the Progenitors that he had found yet though. “This,” Jack said as he picked up an old oil lamp. “What about it?” Melinda asked. “Don’t know yet,” Jack said. “But my knowledge powers just kicked in. It’s something important.” He started rubbing it, but nothing happened. “Not a Genie, I guess.” “I think I saw something about that in one of these journals,” Imhotep said, as he started turning back through the pages. “Aha, here it is. That lamp can be used to track powerful beings.” “That could certainly help,” Melinda said. Even though he did not need to breath, Ghost Jack took a deep breath to calm himself as he prepared to enter the cell where the comatose Merlin was being kept. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Doctor Jeri Quill asked. “Not really,” Ghost Jack said. “In fact, I kind of really don’t want to do this, but we need to get as much information as we can.” “You already got information from Sesla, and Melinda’s team may have found something as well,” Jeri said. “Sesla gave some intel, but we need more.” “You don’t want to wait for Melinda’s team to return?” “It’s not like Merlin can do anything to me in there,” Ghost Jack said. “I think,” he added before he entered the cell, and entered Merlin’s dream. This was the first time he had entered Merlin’s dreams, so he did not know what exactly to expect. But what he found was a small bar. He looked around. There were a few customers talking and drinking and eating. He did not recognize any of them, nor did he recognize the bartender. In the back though, there was a piano being played, and the player was definitely recognizable. “Hello Merlin,” Ghost Jack said as he approached. “Good day,” Merlin said without even looking up. “I was wondering if you’d ever pay me a visit.” “We need information. We’re trying to track down Progenitors.” “Who?” “The original generation of Gods.” “Can’t help you there. Maybe if you wake me up, I can help you then.” “Can’t do that, sorry.” “You’re really not,” Merlin said. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m really not sorry. And if you can’t help us, then I’ll just be on my way.” Ghost Jack tried to leave Merlin’s dream, but for some reason it did not work. Merlin, still playing the piano, grew a rather large smile on his face. Melinda, Jack and Imhotep returned to base, where Mary and Abigail were waiting for them. “Did you guys find anything?” Mary asked. Jack held up the lamp. “This might help,” he said. “What, is there a genie inside it?” Abigail asked. “No, but it can possibly be used to track down Progenitors, amongst other powerful beings,” Melinda said. “Did Ghost Jack find anything?” “He’s talking with Merlin right now,” Mary said. “But he got some potential leads from Sesla. A starting location.” “And I talked with Aphrodite, but no help there,” Abigail said. “That’s to be expected,” Jack said. “What kind of leads did Sesla give us?” “What did you do?” Ghost Jack asked. “I may be comatose, but within my mind, I am still in charge,” Merlin said. “So, what’s your plan? Just keep me trapped in here with you?” “Misery does love company, but no, I have grander plans than that.” “What kind of plans?” “You know me better than that, I’m not going to just slip up and give you leverage.” “Maybe not that easy, but give it time, it’ll happen.” “Are you certain of that?” Merlin asked. To be continued…

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dani-qrt · 6 years

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Credit Suisse nears $360 million deadline in fraud suit built on a…

CHICAGO (Reuters) – When the high-end property development Lake Las Vegas collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, 31 funds that helped finance the project lost a total of $540 million. But only one of them, Dallas-based hedge fund Highland Capital Management, aggressively pursued legal action against Credit Suisse Group AG, which arranged the financing and appraisals for the project.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at an office building in Zurich’s Oerlikon suburb, Switzerland July 27, 2017. Picture taken July 27, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

Highland ultimately convinced a Texas court that Credit Suisse had breached its contract and aided and abetted fraud in the deal, and the decision was upheld on appeal. Now, Credit Suisse faces a July 18 court deadline to pay Highland $360 million or appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.

The victories to date have enhanced the reputation of a fledgling Texas law firm, and legal experts say they are likely to encourage other investment funds to take big banks to court.

“This case shows the big banks can’t hide behind disclaimers when they know certain facts,” said Carol Gilden, a lawyer who represents pension funds and other institutional investors in financial and securities disputes.

Global banks have settled dozens of lawsuits by governments and shareholders over financial crisis misconduct, but until the Highland suit, it was unusual for an investment fund to pursue tough-to-win fraud actions – especially against a major trading partner, as Credit Suisse was for Highland.

Highland, however, has a reputation for being more legally aggressive than many funds, and its general counsel, Scott Ellington, had a strong hunch that something was amiss with the deal.

“When something is wrong I like to right it,” Ellington told Reuters in an interview.

The company had trouble finding someone willing to take the case, he said, in part because the legal firms it approached thought Ellington’s suspicions would be tough to prove. Then, in 2010, Ellington met with Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, a newly-formed practice in Austin, Texas specializing in complex commercial disputes. The firm agreed to take the case on contingency.

FILE PHOTO: Attorney William Reid, who represents the hedge fund Highland Capital in its lawsuit against Credit Suisse, walks on a treadmill in his office in Austin, Texas, U.S., May 30, 2018. REUTERS/Tess Caglin/File Photo

Many in the industry were surprised when Reid Collins & Tsai went on to win the case in 2015 and that a Dallas appeals court in February upheld the $287.5 million judgment. Since 2015, interest has accrued at an annual 9 percent.

Credit Suisse, which has consistently denied liability for Highland’s losses, “respectfully disagrees” with the court decisions and is seeking to appeal, spokeswoman Nicole Sharp said in a statement. The bank noted that it won an unrelated legal dispute with Highland in New York, and that another in Texas was dismissed.

‘OASIS’ OR MIRAGE?

Lake Las Vegas, billed in promotional materials as “an oasis in the desert,” was one of several ill-fated, high-end real estate projects for which Credit Suisse arranged syndicated loans during the run-up to the 2008 credit crisis.

The development was to include a luxurious golf community and resort with 9,000 homes and condominiums, two hotels, a casino, a shopping village and a 320-acre man-made lake.

Funds managed by Highland lent $250 million to the $540 million project in June, 2007 after being solicited by Credit Suisse, which agreed to provide an independent appraisal. That appraisal valued the property at $891 million.

When Lake Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy a year later, the liquidation value of the property was set at $23 million. The project has since been partially built by new developers, but early lenders like Highland lost their entire investment in the bankruptcy.

In the aftermath, Ellington said, he couldn’t stop thinking about the original appraisal and wondering how a property could so quickly have lost so much value.

“When we got the case in 2010, we thought there was some reason to believe the appraisal was bad, and zero proof that we could pin Credit Suisse,” Reid Collins & Tsai founding partner William T. Reid IV told Reuters.

FILE PHOTO: Attorney William Reid, who represents the hedge fund Highland Capital in its lawsuit against Credit Suisse, poses in his office in Austin, Texas, U.S., May 30, 2018. REUTERS/Tess Cagle/File Photo

BUILDING A CASE

As a first step, the law firm filed a lawsuit accusing the appraiser, CBRE, of artificially inflating land values and sales projections. In discovery, the firm obtained Credit Suisse’s communications about those appraisals.

Highland settled its lawsuit against CBRE, which did not admit liability, in 2013, but materials obtained during discovery emboldened the company to also sue Credit Suisse.

An original, lower appraisal by CBRE had been changed after pressure from Credit Suisse, Highland alleged.

The assertion was based in part on communication between CBRE appraiser William Acton and Credit Suisse’s Arik Prawer, one of the Credit Suisse bankers involved with the deal.

“I reran the numbers as requested,” Acton wrote in one email after a call with the Credit Suisse banking team. Highland maintained the emails showed Credit Suisse had manipulated the process and then took an overstated appraisal to lenders like Highland to convince them to back the loan. Acton died in September, 2007.

Credit Suisse argued that it was not responsible for verifying CBRE’s appraisal and that disclaimers in the credit agreement barred Highland from pursuing claims.

Credit Suisse faces long odds in getting its case heard by the Texas Supreme Court. In the past five years, the court has only accepted 11.2 percent of the cases brought to it, according to annual statistical reports for the Texas judiciary analyzed by Reuters.

Of the cases the court does take, however, the justices reverse about 82 percent of the time, according to a 2012-2016 study by appellate lawyer Pamela Stanton Baron.

Meanwhile, a separate $350 million Highland lawsuit accusing Credit Suisse of fraud and breach of contract in six other land deals is still pending in New York.

Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Sue Horton

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cleopatrarps · 6 years