Chapter 407 Corpses if Necessary, Prisoners if Possible
Nova appeared out of nowhere right next to Felix. If people in the simtion had to deal with biological processes, he would have shat himself in surprise.
[Sir, something’se up that requires your urgent attention,] she reported to Aron.
“What’s up?” Aron calmly asked, as if he were a pir that could hold up the sky if it fell on him.
[We discovered that arge number of Edenian and Esparian citizens have gone missing in a few countries. They all disappeared at roughly the same time over the course of an hour or two.]
“How many citizens in total, and which countries did they disappear from? What were they there for? Are the disappearances done, or are people still going missing?” Aron asked, this time with a distinct chill in his tone. He had a few ideas of why his people would be going missing, and none of them were pleasant.
[Fifty-seven people disappeared hours after arriving in Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, Brazil, and Guatem,] Nova said. She brought up arge screen and split it into sections, each disying information about one of the missing individuals, like their travel itineraries and reasons for visiting those countries.
Aron nced at the screen, memorizing its contents, then immediately came up with the most likely culprit. “Cartels,” he spat.
[That is the most likely possibility, sir. As long as the missing people passed through customs, the cartels would have almost instantly learned about their arrival. Most government officials in those countries have been bought and paid for by at least one cartel, perhaps more, and controlling the peopleing into and leaving from their countries would be a routine matter for them. The cartels wouldn’t even have to provide special bribes.
[I think they’re trying to gather leverage to use against us so they don’t end up like the Sinaloa or Medellin cartels. After all, the likelihood of them having realized that their people were killed is high, especially after the public reprisal attack carried out from the former territory of the Sinaloas.]
“What’s Athena got nned to resolve the situation?”
[She’s tasked Panoptes with tracking them through the Panopticonwork and ordered the Beowulf to adjust her patrol route to pass over Central and South America. Reaper teams three, seven, eleven, eighteen, and twenty-two are on standby for rescue and extraction operations once the targets are located.]
Athena appeared next to Nova and saluted Aron. [Sir, requesting permission to use orbital insertion protocols for the reaper deployments upon locating the targets.]
“Granted,” Aron said. “But let the reapers know that I have a use for live captives this time. Corpses if necessary, but prisoners if possible. Either way, I want zero fugitives. Also, zero coteral damage. The high civilian death toll from the recent fighting is already causing enough problems, no need to increase that number even higher.” He could always put them on trial once the new world constitution was implemented. Every criminal captured between now and then would likely be enough to fill a court’s docket for months, if not years. Especially since they would all still be guaranteed due process.
[Affirmative, sir,] Athena said, then saluted again and disappeared.
Nova smiled and disappeared as well. She enjoyed acting as Aron’s secretary; it reminded her of how things were in the beginning, when she was just an assistant and limited to the tiny server he had built in his parents’ basement. Ever since then, those menial jobs had been delegated to lower and lower authority levels in the AI hierarchy she was building, and while she appreciated that Aron valued her so highly, it was sometimes nice to do simple things, like pass messages.
It was like how chefs with dozens of Michelin-starred restaurants under their name would enjoy bologna and processed cheese sandwiches on in, cheap white bread from time to time as a reminder of their childhoods.
Aron turned to Felix, who was looking at him with aplicated expression on his face, and asked, “Where were we? Ah, right... VR.”
“How can you be so calm right now?” Felix blurted out.
“It’s because this is exactly one of the things we foresaw being a possibility, so we’ve already got a contingency n in ce to counter it. Since we already expected it and a n was put in ce long before now, it’s actually more of a relief that it’s happening than something to worry about. Besides, the best possible people for the job are already on it, so if I worry about the situation, all it’ll do is show that Ick faith in the people I trained,” Aron exined.
Felix took a minute to digest that, and found it usible. He nodded and his entire body seemed to rx as the discussion picked back up.
“Back to what we were discussing before. With space exploration to keep their bodies upied and separated, and virtual reality games to keep their minds busy, people simply won’t have time to plot and carry out rebellions. Nor will they have the angry recruits they need to grow. And even if they choose to go the way of the luddites, they’ll just be left behind as the world advances past them.
(Ed note: Luddites were people who, during the industrial revolution of the early 19th century, fought against the advance of technology and would often attack and destroy textile mill machinery in order to keep their jobs. In the modern sense, it’s anyone that refuses to “keep with the times”, much like the Amish people of the US.)
“Which is why Sarah and you have a few months ahead of you where you’ll be spending your sleep time in VR so you have enough time to deal with things,” Aron finished.
Felix unconsciously hunched his back, remembering the frantic lead-up to the first GAIA productunch and all the work it entailed for him and Sarah.
Aron watched Felix’s internal struggle, which had caused his face to twitch and his expression to contort, and could barely keep himself fromughing. “Don’t worry so much. It may be a painful next few months, but the pain now will decide whether the empire we build willst for centuries, millennia, or millions of years. That’s why we need to focus on every single little detail now,” he reassured his old friend.
Felix’s eyes sprang open and almost popped out of his face. He finally knew what Aron was nning to do after winning the war: creating an empire and crowning himself emperor. “What?” he blurted out, not entirely sure that there wasn’t a glitch in the simtion or if he was hallucinating.
Aron didn’t say a word, just gave his friend an enigmatic smile, then bent down to meet Henry, who was running over to him with childlike glee.
“Brother, I want to fight like you do!” the boy said once he was in his big brother’s embrace.
“Just a minute, my minion,” Aron said, then turned to Felix and continued, “You’ll know moreter, but for now, leave me something in reserve to surprise you guys with.”
He disappeared with his little brother, off to y “games” that were well-disguised training programs that would prepare Henry for the time when Aron finally learned how to inscribe runic hearts.
Aron had decided that Henry would be the second runemaster of humanity, and would bring that about by his own hand.