February 14, 2559 C.E.

Terra Firma - New York City

“There will be forty-eight. Each one of you will build three.” Chancellor Zion stood at the front of the room with his six generals. Each of my generals will work with four of you. These designs are the most confidential designs you will ever work on. If you share the full extent of these plans with anyone outside of this room, you will die. These towers will be the tallest ever constructed.” The sixteen architects had very wide eyes. The greed was filling the room. Zion always read the room. “Yes, you will all receive more payment than you’ve received for a single project in your life. Now, onto the project. General.” Zion stepped back.

The general wearing light blue stepped forward “Each tower will have a central core controlled by the army. Externally to that will be mixed use residential, commercial and office space. You may design each tower to be however you wish. The external of the tower needs to be intimidating and project all the power that the office of the chancellor has. However, nobody in the other spaces should be able to physically access the military spaces and vice versa.”

The general wearing black, with red and grey patches, shifted slightly clearly worried about how the reaction the next section would provoke. Chancellor Zion noticed this, stepped forward and continued the air force general’s presentation, “When you design the military spaces, you will work with all of us. There will be a central core which holds military personnel within that there will be a smaller central core that will house pure ordinance. It may come to a point where the rest of the building needs to fall away, so that the ordinance can effectively annihilate the city around it. This process should destroy the rest of the tower with little to no warning. It is never expected to be used.” He said the last part as a way of reassurance however many of the engineers shifted slightly.

Chancellor Zion continued, “I see you are uncomfortable with this. Know that if we use these buildings for their destructive capability, they will destroy 10% of the population of this planet. You are the best of the best. If anyone can do it, you can. If anyone doesn’t want to take part in this, you should leave now.”

A man in the far corner stood and started toward the door. Chancellor Zion nodded to his green clad general. There was a flash of light, a loud bang and the engineer was on the floor. Everyone around the conference table looked horrified. The army general nodded back to Chancellor Zion. Chancellor Zion and the other generals were stone faced and placid.

Zion was the first to speak “Anyone else? Know that the only way you will leave this project, is how he did. You have some of the most classified information in our government right now. We will be watching you and assessing you throughout the course of this project. So, who wants the honor of an extra tower to build?” The three female architects put their hands up. Chancellor Zion could tell they went up in fear. “Good. I will leave the rest of this discussion to my generals.”

Chancellor Zion made eye contact with each of his generals and saw the expected resolve. He felt comfortable enough to march across the room and exit. When the door sealed behind him, he sighed and muttered “why is fear the only effective way to lead people?” The quiet response came from behind him. “It’s not.” Chancellor Zion spun around and drew his side arm. Standing next to the door was his adviser. “Don’t scare me like that. I didn’t see you.”

“I know.” Master Vera’Cruz came up to Zion and they started walking together back toward the elevator to the penthouse. “You know you could be a benevolent leader.” The chief-of-staff cast a side eyed glance at the chancellor. Chancellor Zion stopped in his tracks and was staring at him. Vera’Cruz magically saw a red aura around the Chancellor. The anger welling up in the Chancellor made Vera’Cruz stop in his tracks. His muscles tightened. This was not the expected reaction. Vera’Cruz needed to smooth this over. He said, “maybe I was mistaken.”

“See how effective that was?” Chancellor Zion relaxed. He pressed the button for the golden elevator. There was only one button — because it didn’t matter which way it was going; it was the only elevator that made it to the penthouse. It was there waiting for him. The doors opened and he kept talking to his adviser. “When my predecessors tried to lead in a way other than fear people had their own ideas. People did their own things. It caused chaos.” As the elevator started moving upward, he continued “Fear is the most effective tool to keep people in line. Therefore, we use it. It is not because I want to. In fact, I hate being this person.”

The Chancellor looked to his adviser with a depth in his eyes. “I do this for my people. I keep them from fighting amongst themselves because they fear and hate me instead. Why does nobody understand that this is benevolent leadership?” The doors opened in the penthouse. “I’m going to bed.” Chancellor Zion started to head toward his sleeping chamber.

“But it’s ten-thirty in the morning.”

“And I feel like sleeping.”