“I kinda understand... I think. But what’s this ‘evolution’ you were talking about?” Teddy asked. She was an active talker and spoke with her hands in great, wide gestures, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a problem. Then she looked down and noticed an even bigger problem... or two of them, to be exact.She was naked!She turned bright red all the way from her hairline to her nipples and stammered, “Uhh... ummm... uhh... can—can I get some clothes please?” She felt a bit embarrassed. She tried to keep herself in shape, but between being a full-time student and working a part-time job on campus and another one off campus to help pay her tuition, she often found herself skipping gym sessions. Thus, she wasn’t in the best shape, but an objective observer wouldn’t think she was a sloth, exactly.That said, the evolution she had just undergone had definitely improved her shape; she just didn’t notice it since it was hidden from her perspective. All she could see when she looke

“No matter how many times I see it, I still can’t get used to this. Aron is an absolute miracle worker, there shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind of that,” Felix, the head of Hephaestus Heavy Industries, said as he watched the growing space elevator. Just the millions of GEMbots and constructor swarm queens on the surface was something he had a hard time wrapping his head around, let alone the unfathomable number that had to be working to hollow out such an enormous asteroid. And all of that with no human direction at all!Not to mention that he was standing on the bridge of an honest-to-goodness spaceship, watching the construction progress in actual space, as he wanted to see the process with his own eyes. Sure, he could have watched it in the simulation, but there was just something... different, something... more, about watching it with his own two eyes in reality.“But why’d you have to drag me out here with you?” Sarah complained in a joking tone. She was actually enjoying the

“Al-Ra’ees Al-Khalidi, we can’t keep using the economic crunch as an excuse for downsizing or the company will face major delays in important projects,” Youssef Al-Mutairi said. He was a tall, distinguished looking middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, dressed in a white thobe and red-checkered ghutra.(Ed note: Al-Ra’ees roughly translates to “president”, Al-Khalidi is a Saudi Arabian surname, and the thobe and ghutra are traditional Saudi apparel. It’s the ankle-length white robe [thobe] and the headscarf [ghutra] that you see them wear on television or in movies. Ghutras are secured to people’s heads by a black cord called an agal.)“How old will you be this year?” Suleiman Al-Khalidi asked. It was a weird deflection of the issue Youssef had raised.Suleiman was a trust fund baby that got parachuted into a leadership position far too young. He was the very definition of the phrase “hire them while they’re young enough to believe they know everything” and felt

“Have a seat, gentlemen,” Aron said. “I realize you’ve been brought here in a hurry, so allow me to explain. The empire needs talents, and the two of you were identified as the talents we require. Jeremy, out of the billions of imperial citizens, you were selected as the Minister of the Interior, and Youssef, you were chosen to fill the office of the Minister of the Exterior.“The two of you, along with about fifteen million others, will be notified of their selection to fill roles as imperial workers today. Everyone from ministers,” Aron nodded at the two men sitting across the desktop from him, “to janitorial staff will be receiving their notifications starting an hour from now. The two of you got yours early because yours are the most important positions we needed to fill, should you choose to accept the job I’m offering you.”The emperor paused to allow the potential ministers in front of him to digest the information. He waited in silence for the two of them to speak; he wanted h

{All of the agencies assumed normal operations almost a month ago, and as of today’s recruiting drive, all agencies are now fully staffed. Mandatory overtime has been canceled and regular workdays of eight hours have been implemented. All government functions have been moved to the public simulation, unless their services are physically impossible to provide in the simulation, like hospitals, and proof of imperial citizenship is required to receive benefits from the empire.{We’ve completed 71% of all initial health screenings and repairs, but the awakening has paused that operation. All of our pods are currently occupied with people undergoing their awakenings, so the Imperial Health administration is focusing on taking over existing structures in cities and towns across the globe and repurposing them to be used as clinics. Awakeners have all been transported to local cubes, and the Imperial Health Agency’s clinic plan is 64% completed. Rural China and India are proving... problemati