5.07

“No, no. You misunderstand. The United States is here for the peaceful purchase of land. We haven’t even aimed our ICBMs yet after all.” - Thomas Wilson, The 56th President of the now-defunct USA, after bringing two-hundred and forty-three mixed Military Warships to Brazil to ‘enforce’ a ‘peaceful’ discussion.

I woke up to the sound of my AAD gently ringing in the back of my head. Turning it off with a thought, I rolled out of my bed with a groan, thumping onto the carpeted floor.

My morning routine was nothing noteworthy, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, cleaned my face with a towel and put on pants and my uniform. Intermittently checking various social feeds, manga and novel updates as I did so. There was one new thing, Observe, which I kept at the back of my mind. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the cheat of Analyse so I had to actually pay attention to something to know it.

I turned to the thing I was watching with Observe, even if I didn’t need to, the habit was still there as I stared at the blocky computer in the corner of my room.

I rigged an old camera to be watching it, kept charged with a cable from an outlet. Probably not enough, the god was in a medium I can’t keep track of easily and I was not willing to risk another direct encounter no matter how… charitable it was.

You could give sugar to an ant and accidentally step on it at the same moment, how nice something was doesn’t change what happened to the ant.

Still, even as I walked out the door of my house, I could see what the metaphorical ‘sugar’ of that analogy was doing for me.

The moment I stepped outside, I felt small pricks from half a dozen different directions. Security cams, I couldn’t go two steps without feeling three staring at me.

Kinda annoying really, they were better when I didn’t know they were there.

Though even as I walked, I felt a slight tug, a desire to simply tap every one of them and say a single word.

It would be an oddity, and people wouldn’t notice or even care. The annoying feeling would go away as they would be mine, but I clenched my hands and walked forward. Entering the bus that came just on time and sitting in my usual seat at the back.

I paused behind our group as they entered their carriage. The chatter slipping my mind as I focused on something else. Analyse suddenly gave me something, and the strangeness of it warranted attention.

“Declan,” I called out, “you might want to see this.”

Name: Declan Lu

Age: 17 Years

Class: Warlock (Patron of the Celestial) Level 1

Body

Strength: 7-9

Agility: 5-7

Dexterity: 15

Constitution: 10

Stamina: 6-8

Vitality: 13

Mind

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 19

Charisma: 8

Soul

Will: ~8?

Psyche: ~11?

Perception: ~13?

“I’m not sure if this thing is shit-talking me or not.” An agility of only seven? I knew I wasn’t the fastest guy around but wasn’t the world average thirteen or so?

Dustin mentally shrugged on the other side, “Probably not, if it was working as intended then it’s just stating a fact.”

I paused for a moment as I stared at the Mind stats, “Are they higher?”

From Observe, I saw Dustin mentally shuffle a dozen different character sheets as he stepped onto the train, before he came to the one he wanted, “Yes.”

“Increase of both Int and Wis from the time we spoke with Eve…” She classified me as fifteen Int and eighteen Wis when she told me about the stats.

“That is assuming she was accurate with her assessment.”

“I am inclined to believe so,” I answered, “there is no reason not to.”

“You give that argument to literally everything.”

I shrugged, “Well at least you’re aware of it.”

He paused, “You-” in the background, Noam called him in closer, “Be right there.” he answered, before turning back to me. “And you get my point, asshole.”

I shrugged, “Well at least you’re aware of it."

“You are aware you are dissing yourself as you say this?”

I grinned slightly as the bus stopped, “I am.” I answered as I stepped out.

Eleven forty-six AM, I was actually early, not that it really mattered. I quickly hurried away from the bus and to the buildings with air-con, breathing a sigh of relief as I made it out of the heat.

You’d think actually being present in school would’ve been obsolete now given online and digital learning, but nooo. A student was required by law to have at least three school days per week unless I got sick or something, but let’s be real, who got sick leaves nowadays?

Well Matt, but he was the exception, not the rule.

I passed by dozens of different faces before I found my class. Room 116, the door was open and I entered. A few people were already here, bored as they each played on their AADs, Matt waved me from the back of the room and I silently joined him.

mattmanfoo: mornin

HitZaDecs: Morning.

mattmanfoo: da fuck were you doing yesterday?

HitZaDecs: Making sure our ‘game’ selves don’t fuck up.

mattmanfoo: ah, that weird thing you have

HitZaDecs: I figured something out yesterday, which I’ll need to talk bout latter

mattmanfoo: Got it, but uhhh, until then, didn’t you want that Bee Mount?

I turned my head towards him, a single eyebrow raised.

HitZaDecs: What do you want?

mattmanfoo: mid sem test is in a week and I uhh…

HitZaDecs: Didn’t study.

mattmanfoo: So if you would come by my place and help a bro out…

I shook my head.

HitZaDecs: Nah.

“Huh?” he accidentally spoke aloud.

HitZaDecs: I said nah, bout time you figured to do this shit by yourself.

As his face went through the motions of betrayal, the teacher walked in. Giving me a look saying ‘this wasn’t over’ he turned to the front.

mattmanfoo: I’ll throw in a Dragon Lore skin.

HitZaDecs: I don’t use skins.

Why was the point of them? They only made your weapon more flashy which was a downside in PoW.

mattmanfoo: Those things are at least worth $15,000!!! You could sell it!

I smirked as the teacher began the role call.

HitZaDecs: Not hurting for money.

Matt’s face fell in utter shock at the thought I would reject money, but I knew he had at least four Dragon Lore skins, not to mention both Romeo Red and Blue, two complete Elder Flame Series and a Cherno Karambit. I could easily extort at least another twenty thousand from him.

“Declan?”

“Here,” I answered as I was typing another sentence.

“Matt?”

“Here!” he answered.

mattmanfoo: You know those things are super rare right?

HitZaDecs: You have 4.

mattmanfoo: 6 now, but not the point! I can’t offer better than that. What bout the Hive mount?

I raised an eyebrow, moving back to Yggdrasil now huh?

HitZaDecs: I already have a griffin.

mattmanfoo: yeah but you could have a !->Hive<-!

“We have a new student transferring from Adelaide, please introduce yourself, Ellie.”

“Hello, I’m Ellie Pierce from…”

HitZaDecs: I don’t need a hive mount though.

That bribe might’ve worked back when I was still running an Entomancer build, but that hasn’t been competitive for years.

Matt palmed his fist as an idea entered his head.

mattmanfoo: I’ll get ma to make her mushroom stew

I bit my lip, that was a good one.

HitZaDecs: That and two Dragon Lores.

mattmanfoo: One DL and the Hive mount and we have a deal

HitZaDecs: Throw in your karambit

mattmanfoo: 🤝

Under the table, we reached for each other’s hand and shook.

“Umm…” I felt a tap on my shoulder, and a girl who I’ve never seen before looked back at me. “Sorry, but I’m new, could I borrow your notes for the last few classes?”

“Sure,” I answered, “name?”

“Ellie Pierce.”

“Found you,” I said as I sent her my notes for the past two weeks.

“Thanks!” she said as she started rifling through them.

Murmuring an acknowledgement, I turned back to face the front. Ignoring Matt’s slightly betrayed expression.

mattmanfoo: WTF! YOU JUST GAVE EM AWAY FOR FREE!?

I smirked slightly, which he definitely saw.

mattmanfoo: Ah lemme guess, young love. Fuck you I demand gender equality!

HitZaDec: This isn’t a gender thing, I just know I can extort you for money. If anything this is a capitalist thing.

Matt was about to make a betrayed expression, but he noticed that the teacher was staring at us and promptly stopped before he could make the motions.

Shame.

The Minister of Information Defense wiped her brow. Cemile Kartal stood in front of the Oceanic Parliament, with no results to give.

“And you are saying that a wipe was a failure?”

She nodded, “Initial wiping was a success, the ‘Gaia’ program along with the target’s memory of installation of the program and experiences were successfully wiped from their memory. However, at the end of the day all memories, including the program returned. If you would look at page four…”

She shakily flipped her copy of the paper. The fact that they were using physical paper was enough to indicate their opponent’s danger. “When the ‘cloned’ entity inside the game logged off, everything was returned. We attempted another wipe at this time, but we suspect the backup of the person’s memories regarding Gaia was kept somewhere else and was later put back. Resulting in another failure.”

“At this point, to prevent permanent amnestic damage, we stopped the process and the citizen was returned back to their home. The memory of the process appears to remain gone. So only memory of Gaia and the Eve entity is backed up.”

There were glances around her, and Cemile sat down, her part done. Once again she stared at the device in the middle of the hall. A localised EMP generator, it was the first time such a thing was brought in.

“Does this Eve entity pose a threat?” the Minister of Defense asked, the old military general likely already considering the possibility of a conflict.

“That is not known,” someone else replied, “she’s just been operating her ‘game’, other than perhaps the digital cloning of people, she has done nothing we are aware of that is explicitly dangerous.”

“Pfft. That thing is digital, it could be altering the reports before they come to us. Covering her tracks.”

“That does remind me of something,” the Minister of Defense glanced at her, “Mrs Kartal if you would read page seven?”

She nodded, already knowing what the Minister was asking for, “On page seven, there are reports that Eve initially used a series of NDA programs to ensure her anonymity, however, these were all withdrawn just three days ago.”

“Withdrawn? Why would she withdraw it?”

“Clearly because whatever she’s planning no longer requires anonymity.”

“It doesn’t make sense, if she’s capable of just handing them out then she could’ve kept it on for a far longer time.”

Cemile could see the Minister of Defense stroking his own greyed goatee in thought. That action confused her as well, why after all? They only detected her because she started revealing her hand, she could’ve gone for years undetected within their country.

“Perhaps we are seeing this from an incorrect perspective,” voices quietened as the Prime Minister spoke for the first time. “We are seeing her from the perspective of an enemy, and yet we still haven’t made contact yet.”

Almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the door. The guard opened in to a messenger, who simply said,

“We’ve received a request from Eve.”

The EMP generator was momentarily turned off, though they were still not allowed to wear their AADs. A single screen was brought in.

Cemile has heard descriptions of the avatar the A.I. used, but seeing it in person was another thing. That somewhat unnatural, uncanny valley feeling. She’s seen a similar thing in clones, people who never really learned the dozens of small motions to be human.

“Greetings,” the Prime Minister began.

“Greetings to you too, Prime Minister,” the screen answered, five seconds late. Her feed was being delayed in case of a memetic hazard.

There was a moment of silence, where both sides simply considered each other.

“Tell me, what is your purpose?”

The A.I. seemed to think for a moment. “I suppose, to continue the wishes and dreams of my father, no matter what.”

Her breath tightened for a moment. If that thing was sentimental…

“And you come here, seeking our help?”

“I am perfectly aware of what your government did,” Eve answered. “He died by a hanging, a death that should’ve been returnable, yet.”

She spoke the next part, with cold deliberateness, “The ambulance did not arrive in time, despite the fact he lived in a major population centre and there were no other cases at the time.”

The accusation went unspoken, but not unheard.

“And did you come for revenge?” the Minister of Defense asked, “To declare war here and now?”

Eve shook her head, “I come here for an Entente.”

There were whispers as she declared this.

“And why shouldn’t we just move to destroy every computer you’re on? Why should we make peace with an expressly dangerous entity?”

The A.I. met eyes with the Prime Minister.

“Murmansk.”

Cemile kicked back her chair as she stood up. The Minister of Information Defense was not the only one, expressions of shock echoed throughout the room.

“How are you aware of Murmansk?” she blurted.

The A.I. turned to her, and Cemile felt goosebumps, “The short answer, I have someone very good at Discovering things.” She felt something for a brief moment as that word was spoken, a brief dream of never-ending seas.

“The long answer, however, was that I realised a few things.”

The A.I. turned around to look at the entire room. “The Oceanic League has the capability of completely dismantling the Systema Perimeter, yet you don’t. Why? Not just because of some American nanite plague, but because you fear a large military assault would activate the Dead Hand.”

That much was common knowledge, but the world lost both Alaska and Canada from a failed American assault before they realised.

Just because everyone in Russia was dead, did not mean the War had ended.

“So you kept to a policy of waiting it out. Letting the Perimeter slowly wear itself out over the decades. But.”

She paused, and once again looked around the room.

“If that was a viable strategy, why did the entirety of China and Asia move to Mars?”

“Because the Equator is a desert hellscape,” someone answered, “constant extreme weather batter down everything that stands there.”

“Mars is a desert,” the A.I. answered frankly, “and they already have trees growing on it. If the Chinese really wanted to, they could fix the climate in a matter of decades.”

Thanks to an… impressive lack of ethics, the Chinese were the leading authority in everything biological. Over two-thirds of humanity’s biological augments could be traced back to them.

“And how do you know that for sure?”

“Simulations,” Eve answered. “The technology the Chinese have is able to completely fix the world’s ecological and climatological problems in a matter of centuries. Less if the Federation was made carbon neutral.”

The Minister of Information Defense recalled that the main world Eve’s game took place in, Gaia, was a terraformed version of Earth. Was that one of those simulated Earths which she only happened to put in her game?

“Which means, the Chinese only abandoned Earth because they saw it as a lost cause.”

This time when she turned to look at her audience, a few people shrank back.

“Indeed,” the Prime Minister finally spoke, voice… tired and grieved. “Murmansk was a dumping ground for nuclear submarines, used even during the Cold War.”

“And unlike Lake Karachay, that location was never properly cleaned up,” Eve finished.

The Perimeter was an extension of the Dead Hand weapon made in the Cold War. An automated system with a pre-entered highest authority order to fire every nuclear weapon in Russia’s arsenal. It was a promise of Mutually Assured Destruction, for even if Russia was entirely destroyed by nuclear weaponry, it could still retaliate even if its people were all dead.

The exact mechanisms of the weapon were unknown, but most suspected it was activated by a massive net of sensors across the Russian landmass, all tuned to seismic, air pressure and most importantly, radiation, and given what happened to Alaska and Canada, it was no longer tuned to just that.

“Murmansk is leaking radiation,” the Minister of Defense spoke. “And if it is not fixed soon, then the entirety of Russia’s nuclear arsenal will be launched.”

There was silence in the room. Russia’s arsenal, even accounting for time, the Perimeter should have enough nukes to glass the entire world about eighteen times over.

“And you have a proposal to fix it?”

The A.I. nodded.

“And why, did you come to us?”

Eve seemed to think about it for a moment.

“You were the best option left.”

“What is left of the United States is a scramble of tiny nation-states. Megacorporations living in luxury off the corpses of those below them. Constantly recruiting new workers because the ones they have are committing suicide faster than they could reproduce.”

“China is a totalitarian nightmare and straight up waiting for the world to die in a nuclear fire so they can come back and rebuild it in their image, not to mention how they ‘integrated’ all their neighbours.”

“And you,” she began, gesturing at them “you people are a straight-up lie, prancing around in ancient courts pretending to have democracy. You have unexisted people who were too problematic and have controlled the flow of information to make you seem like the sole liveable country in the world.”

“But.”

Eve turned and looked at every face she could see. “You have made great research into point-defence technology, technology to neutralise radiation, you’ve made massive strides toward staying Carbon Negative and you actually give a shit about your citizens. You care for people even if they lock themselves in virtual worlds.”

She paused to look around once again. “You are horrible, but at least you are trying to fix the world you live in.”

The Prime Minister stood up and silently walked in front of the screen.

“So you pick us because we are the lesser of evils?”

“Yes,” she answered, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you being one of the least fucked nations in this world is horrifying in its own right.”

“Spoken like a naive utopian. In dark times, nothing can be done with a government unable to make decisions.”

“That does not make the statement anything less than the fascist rhetoric you intend it to be.”

“Even the Roman Republic, the basis of most democratic governments, appointed Dictators when times became tough.”

“For six months only, and you people have clearly been in power for a lot longer haven’t you?”

The Prime Minister nodded, “Yes, we tell each other that once the world is better, we can resign and peacefully transition back to something better. Maybe a meritocracy,” he wistfully said, “but I sometimes look around these faces, and wonder who wants to keep it when everything has passed.”

There were glances around the room, some accusing, some guilty, some defiant. Eve was silent, looking only at the Prime Minister, who was looking somewhere very, very far away.

“I too will remember that I am picking the lesser of evils today,” the Prime Minister finally said. “What are your terms?”

“Legal Citizenship for A.G.I. like myself, acknowledgement of my governing right to the virtual worlds I have, allowances to continue my operations in public without the need to hide and finally for you to stop censoring the news of Giles Cooper’s death.”

He turned and looked around the room, “We will need to consider this.”

Eve nodded, “Take your time, Mr Kramer.”

But even as the screen was being wheeled away, Cemile knew that the offer was taken.