The lights around the edges of the room dimmed and one light got brighter above Director Strouse. The tall balding man in his early nineties was sitting silently while the rest of the room made small talk. The room was in an isolated location underground. The thick stone floor made small clacks as the dignitaries took their seats, and the room quieted down. He continued to sit there head down waiting for the room to calm. They sat at a large oval table made completely of Sapient Pale Wood, the most expensive wood ever. The table made a semi-circle and the middle was opened at one end like an elongated C. The director was seated out of the circle in a slightly raised desk that sat in front of his backlit company logo. The logo was now dimmed to match the rest of the room.

He quietly stood and walked around the desk and into the center of the large table. He looked up at the gathered politicians and heads of major corporations. This was the most powerful collection of people in the history of mankind. This room represented the people with either the most power or influence on the planet. Not only were there political leaders, but also religious leaders. There were also several heads of major corporations, and hedge funds present. There were a few influential drug lords, and even a couple big name actors that made the trip. Without exception everyone that he requested showed up.

His company was never the richest, or most powerful. He had always treated his people right and ensured the people at the top were humble and not overcompensated. This lead him to own the largest and most profitable tech company ever. He used a large majority of those profits to buy favors and influence over a few key people, and now he would reap the benefits of that hard work.

He cleared his throat, "Greetings, gentleman, and ladies," he cleared his throat again and waved off the drug lord that offered him his water. "You may be wondering why I have called you all here. You may also be wondering what could cause me to keep such," he paused as if searching for the word, "diverse friends," he finished indicated the pope.

There were a few stifled chuckles, "I need you all to know exactly why you were called. Please stand if you are a major political power," he encouraged them with a hand gesture, and around the room seats pushed back as ties and dresses were straightened, "You were called here because I know if you weren't present then you wouldn't listen," he lowered his hand indicating for them to sit. He raised his hand again, "All of you that are influential in a religious group please stand," they did as he asked, "you were called because I didn't want you all changing the story when you departed to better suit your needs," they chuckled and sat back down. He made one last request, "If you are in the import and export business please stand up," now the drug lords stood, "you were all called because as we speak your organizations are being infiltrated and obliterated," he snapped his fingers and a small red dot appeared in the middle of each of their heads and they all slumped back into their seats blood pooling under their chairs.

The room remained silent with the exception of a few stunned dignitaries that pushed away from the desk. They all returned to their seats with a vicious glance from Strouse. He continued in an even tone, "I needed the manpower and the capability to control large quantities of people, you will all understand I am sure," he looked around for affirmation. As he spoke the automated gun retracted back into the ceiling, as silently as it had come out and executed its duties. The implication weighed heavily on everyone's mind, nobody left this meeting without the blessing of Strouse.

He continued his voice sounding a little stronger this time, "the planet is dying. I don't mean what you clowns have been arguing about," he waved his hand at some world leaders, "I mean it's actually dying. We have reached a critical point in our civilization and we all need to come together to create a viable solution," he paused to see if anyone would contradict his statement, silence was his response. He started again, "our extreme energy dependence and usage, in addition to replacing reflective and plant surfaces with black roofs, and roads has severely affected the environment. The roads have a second effect of generating very high energy clouds that turn into these super storms that we have dealt with," as he spoke charts, diagrams, scientific studies, and visual evidence were projected around the inside of the opening in front of the desk. There was a massive amount of information, but he didn't wait on them to look at it instead he kept on talking, "we aren't the ones that screwed the planet up. We just inherited a ticking time bomb. We didn't know the effect that our lifestyles would have, but is that an excuse? Can we claim innocence or should we take responsibility?" he asked the room, not expecting a response. He shook his head and continued, "My team thinks we might have a chance, but it will cost the planet more monetary burden than is possible to sustain,"

Strouse gestured and a new page replaced all of the others, it was an itemized list of actions, items, and manpower. The list was completely comprehensive and detailed; the sum at the bottom was unbelievable. He looked back up and spoke again, "as you can tell this amount of money is impossible to produce. It is more money than the entire global economy can provide for the next hundred years, but luckily for us everyone that is required is in this room. You all will need to ensure that the funds are taken care of; my team will take care of the rest. We have initiated a project that will allow the human race to continue to exist, and without damaging their comforts and way of life. We will create a new reality, a digital reality that will sustain them until we can recreate the planet," shocked expressions were his only response. He couldn't tell if that was due to the quantity of money and manpower required or due to him wanting to basically imprison most of the world in a digital prison while the rest worked hard to fix the planet.

"There is no other viable solution that I have heard. There are a few issues even with my plan though. To start we don't know if we can create the technology, we require funding to even try. The second issue will be public cooperation, that can be helped by you," he indicated the popular culture group and the religious group, "once we have a viable world for them to populate we will need a reason for them to voluntarily participate. I have read numerous books, and watched plenty of movies where humanity gives up their life here to escape to a digital utopia. That is obviously fantasy; the world we create will have to be real. I don't mean it will have to be realistic, I mean REAL!" he emphasized the last word with a fist shake, "Humans can't be forced into obedience for very long, but they can be tricked," he nodded to the pope again, but no drug lords laughed this time, "they can be manipulated," he nodded to the world leaders, "and they can be swindled," he gave an accusing glare to the hedge fund managers.

"We are prepared to lead this initiative, but what has been said here can't be repeated. Nobody can know the full scope of this project. Enclosed in your packages are detailed instructions on how you will contribute to this project. Have no doubt that we will be the saviors of the planet, and if all goes to plan, not a soul will know about it. Each of you will be compensated tremendously for your participation as seen in the provided document. You will be given instructions periodically through your electronic devices, these instructions are to be immediately followed, or you will be eliminated," the gun reappeared over Strouse' head and loomed over the room, only a few people saw it, "we have already begun the groundwork for the new digital world, and have created a unique one of a kind super AI to run the whole system. She is more advanced than we anticipated and is currently confined to her computer, but we will have to connect her to a larger network if we hope to submerge more than half the population. Obviously the oldest, youngest and those that watch over them can't be integrated in our system, so there are alternatives. We will begin immediately on this next phase with your support of course."

"Excuse me," it was a movie star speaking up, "you want us to convince half the planet to throw away their life and join a digital world? How are we supposed to do that? I have a hard time understanding what my fans want, my entire last movie was ruined by a bunch of internet trolls!" he suddenly felt more self conscious and looked around slinking into his chair.

"There is no doubt that your jobs will be difficult, but it must be done and when this is all over we will live in peace with a planet that can sustain us," Strouse finished then saw a raised hand. He made an encouraging gesture.

"You say heat is a major issue and energy dependence? Won't the servers required to run such an immersive world require a lot of power and put off a lot of waste heat? I am no expert, but it seems like to me that is a little counterproductive. Plus the human brain is very complicated and storing a few billion minds seems impossible." It was the young delegate that he worried about being a little too smart for his own good.

Strouse smiled at the woman, "You are correct, that is why they will still inhabit their own bodies, and we will use the waist heat from the whole operation in a regenerative heat exchange to create more power. The details are in the documentation, any further questions will be answered at a later time. This project will mark the first time in human history that the entire planet comes together under one singular purpose. I apologize about some of my methods as effective as they were, I don't condone that sort of behavior."

Strouse looked around then he simply walked back to his desk, sat down smiled and was shot in the center of his forehead with a silent projectile. Confusion and silence ruled the room, and then they all left not knowing if this was real or fake. One week later the first instructions were given and carried out, then the next. Soon the project was in full swing pushing faster and faster to completion, not one person on the planet knowing the whole scope of the work to be done. Strouse had ensured that everyone only knew what he wanted them to know, and now he was dead the only person that knew the real plan was now dead in an underground bunker. The automated system he had set up was now in control, and there were so many levels of accountability that no instruction was ignored.