I am getting ahead of myself, which can happen when one has so many different things to do and not enough time to write his thoughts down.

Before Philip Cain went on his historic exploratory mission into the unknown, we made some announcements and released a few chosen files of those appropriated from the ‘High Council’ secret archives. They all went through our bounty site and the number of visitors we started to get was staggering.

The video of Philip Cain damning monologue in the Oval Office was a hit, it went around the globe like wildfire. In a very short time, it became one of the most viral video clips in history. The files on ‘High Council‘s’ crimes were a close second (if judging by the numbers of downloads). In any case, those were released more slowly… I had a plan. (It just occurred to me—I have a lot of those.)

As I said, using the information the Council members so generously provided, I managed to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from their various accounts. The ‘High Council’ had much more wealth tied in the real estate, factories, and various industries around the world. (It is safe to say that I wanted a big chunk of all that.)

We had the biggest case of insiders’ information in history and since our (OK, my) ethical compass was a little loose concerning the activities of this group; there was no reason not to cash in. Be that as it may, there were a few restrictions that we put on the whole caper. We would do our best to make sure people didn’t lose their jobs, and we would funnel a good percentage of the money to charitable organizations.

Genesis Corporation was on a good path to become one of the biggest in the world. That fact was not advertised, and hundreds of daughter corporations created a legal maze to ensure it remains so. Just the same, we were buying out everything worthwhile (using the money previous owners provided).

Looking from my unique point of view, it was all like a big game of Sims. It was all about strategy and pressure points, the board of directors of various factories were the ones I had to convince to fold. I was ruthless in cases where the person in question deserved it. It is safe to say that at those higher levels of corporate management, the majority were not what anyone would call nice people. I had the dirt on every single one of them. The sheer scope of the ‘High Council’ intelligence efforts were immense, and I now controlled it all. They say information is power… it truly is.

To ease my conscience, there were some cases where I returned entire companies to their rightful owners, and did not even ask for anything in return. They lost them on account of immoral shenanigans of the “High Council” and their stooges, so I figured that the victims had suffered enough. I did not want to make any money from their misery (and it made me feel good about myself).

In the meantime, Earth was going through some changes, mainly caused by recent events. The terrorist activity around the world lessened to a significant degree, but that did not mean it stopped altogether. There are always those who choose to express their disagreement by perpetrating acts of violence and terror.

At the same time, the bounty program was making big waves. The amount of money it took to finance it was staggering. Fortunately, I managed to convince some countries to chip in (mainly the ones who experienced such attacks).

The USA was leading the effort; all military members and law enforcement officers were equipped with the bounty app. The fact that President Garner was back in the saddle, really improved our relationship with the States, which were in the gutter during Philip Cain’s grab for power.

As I predicted, there were already several TV shows, capturing the best moments; it was like COPS on steroids. (You bet your sweet… gluteus that I managed to get royalties from that too.)

Not everything was good; there were a few casualties among the good guys. It could not be avoided, and we did take on some flak from that, but the end result justified the entire program. Nobody can expect for the bad guys to just lay down and roll over. Most of them knew what the consequences for their actions would be, and reacted violently when someone tried to apprehend them.

We financed the grand monument for those that lost their lives; in every sense of the word, they were heroes. Most terrorists finding themselves on that list had a snowball’s chance in hell for evading justice for long. The longer they were on the list, the higher the price on their head was. Still, there were those who were simply unknown, doing everything offline, and planning their evil plans. Their turn will come too; it was a matter of time.

While this was happening on Earth, the Ascension was going through some changes of its own. We slowly started to implement our own economy. The first resolution was that there would be no taxes, none whatsoever. Everyone was so sick and tired of them, and the idea was carried by 100% support. Not that we wanted to create a culture of freeloaders; in exchange for being a citizen of the S.U. you had to contribute somehow to society, be that with your scientific work, public service, or one of hundreds of thousands of other ways. Ares and I took care of the assignments. You could be anything you wanted, pick something and do it. From scientific work to poetry, everything counted. In exchange for your contribution, you get a nice apartment, decent salary, food, clothing, entertainment… With one stroke, we erased the line between the haves and have-nots. If you want more, then contribute more.

Was that too idealistic, or even sustainable? The future will be our judge, but I think that with my help, the system can work. I am sure there will be bumps on the road along the way, and many mistakes we would make. Nevertheless, name just one perfect political or economic system. I don’t think it exists, or even that it could. People have their individuality, and that carries with it a difference of opinions, wants, and convictions. At best, we would adapt to the changing times, and make plans on how to deal with various situations. (Gaming possible scenarios is the bread and butter for an AI.)

From the start, we wanted to ingrain the idea that living in the Solarian Union was a privilege, not a right. There would be no transfer of accumulated wealth from one generation to the other, no segregation by race, or beliefs. If you feel like that doesn’t suit you, well… going back to Earth is always an option (so far, we didn’t have any takers).

The legal system was drastically simplified. Unfortunately, lawyers were still an unpleasant fact of life, no matter how much Michael grumbled about it. It seemed that like cockroaches, their kind was inextinguishable. Although, their job was considered part of public service, not that there was an abundance of jobs for them.

The simple things like murder and rape were an automatic death penalty, carried out without any unnecessary delay. It was hard to establish reasonable doubt when I had a recording of everything that was going on inside the ship. Not to mention my own variation of a lie detector (you will tell the truth so help you God, or embrace the pain).

Yeah, interrogation helmets did find their use, disregarding all ethical considerations. However, that was only in the cases where the guilt was almost 100 %, without any mitigating circumstances. Those among the people that tried to contest their use were given a simple answer—tell the truth and they will have no effect on you. (That pretty much shut everyone up.)

For lesser crimes, there were milder sentences, like working for a month in the waste processing plant, or if you really screwed things up—banishment was always an option. We were establishing a surprisingly crime-free society.

Things settled down for a while, the work on the ship never stopped, new levels were being completed, and transporters flew day and night to the surface for additional supplies. Dave was becoming one of the most well-known names in the recycling business. He was buying everything; his latest idea was to buy the world's largest dumps and mine them. There were insane amounts of resources that could be mined here in space, but until we worked around some logistical issues, the Earth was still the closest and most cost-effective way for all the material needs of our young space-based nation. (Somebody’s garbage is another’s treasure.)

Michael and I have something big cooking, a plan that would give us a sizable land property on Earth. It would not come cheap, but we agreed that in the end, it would be worth it since we could not lose all connection with the planet that gave birth to us. The entire plan is still on the down-low, but when we finally reveal it, I think there will be a few heart attacks here and there.

I am telling you, sometimes I feel like I am playing the Sims game… it is such a rush.