Over the next few days, the summit continued without interruption. That wasn’t to say that nobody tried to sabotage or interrupt the proceedings, but they were easily fended off by the ARES troopers patrolling the city and the Aegis teams guarding the leaders. But while New York City was relatively peaceful, that wasn’t the case for the rest of the world, as protests sprang up with every article of the new world constitution that was ratified.……On December 30th, President Nazarbayev banged his gavel for the last time as he said, “With the ratification of the final Article of the Universal Constitution—”Everyone in the room applauded for a long while, feeling the heavy burden lift from their shoulders. The applause lasted until President Nazarbayev tapped his microphone, causing the raucous applause to slowly die down until it was quiet enough for him to continue his speech.“I would like to say that our job is completed, but Article II has yet to be completely enshrined into the co
Like a virus, the protests only continued multiplying day by day, ever since Aron had forcefully pushed through his empire proposal. It was really beginning to bother Nyx in particular, as she knew there had to be someone behind it, but none of their monitoring had discovered them yet.It seemed there would be a teething period as the world adjusted to the new order.But despite all the protests, there were still people that supported Aron’s plan. There were actually four categories that people fell into. Those that absolutely hated everything about the empire plan, those that disliked it to the point that they fell victim to incitements and joined the protests against it, those that didn’t like the plan but supported Aron himself, and those that would be happy to see the empire formed.Most of Aron’s support came from nations suffering under overwhelming poverty, rampant government corruption and oppression, and other assorted negative conditions that affected their day-to-day lives.
When the clock ticked over to 12:01 AM, marking the new year’s arrival in New York City, Aron took his place behind the podium, dressed in his new imperial regalia and carrying the symbol of his rule, a short, golden rod with a platinum globe on top of it. His manner was dignified and a serious expression was on his face.“Good day to everyone around the world. We are Emperor Aron Michael, the first emperor of the Terran Empire. We’re here tonight to explain how the empire will function, what the unification process will entail, and the rights and responsibilities that you, as citizens, possess and owe as well as the benefits We will provide you,” he began, keeping in mind that every word and action of his would be recorded in the history books for posterity.(Ed note: Aron’s using the Royal We here as he’s representing the empire rather than himself as an individual. I’m not the best at using the Royal We, so forgive any mistakes I may make; they’re wholly mine, not Agent’s.)“Curren
“With that out of the way, We will move on to other things.“Every police department will cycle through a period of retraining. Each cycle will last one week, and will be attended by a quarter of your police forces, including all leadership cadre down to the newest recruits. Some of you have already received notification of your appointment as constables, and your training will last the entire month. During the first week, you will be free to call in reinforcements from ARES peacekeeping forces if you are unable to keep the peace in your areas. This training is both optional and mandatory. Should you choose not to partake in the retraining, you will be considered to have resigned your position in the police force.“Along with the police retraining, all current government employees will also have the opportunity to choose retraining for absorption into an imperial agency of your choice or to retrain into a different career. You may also choose to retire from government service and be a
“Now I’m absolutely positive he’s gone insane with power,” Rick Ashley said, watching Aron make outlandishly impossible promises one after another. He looked at the mirror-topped coffee table in front of him, dusted with white powder and littered with razor blades and once-tightly rolled hundred-dollar bills that had slightly loosened up. “But that’s just even better for me!” He paced back and forth in his study, alternately cackling, smiling, and sarcastically applauding. “There’s no way the implementation of all those ‘rights’ will be anything but an absolute train wreck. The longer things go on, the more cracks will appear, cracks that the sheeple in my flock can survive and thrive in. The man is an idiot... an IDIOT! Some things just aren’t meant to be integrated, and the divisions will get wider and wider as cultures and beliefs and indoctrinations begin clashing with each other!” He imagined himself climbing to those lofty heights of power and wealth, leading a revolution agai
For the first time since the beginning of Aron’s first imperial address, he warmly smiled at the camera.“But just having unlimited access to experimental materials and resources in virtual reality wasn’t enough alone. After all, there’s only so many hours in a single day, so time becomes the most limiting factor when it comes to research. Hence the saying that time is a researcher’s worst enemy. So Our researchers set time to pass faster in the simulation than it does in reality. Currently, the human consciousness is the limiting factor, but the researchers are tirelessly working on increasing the dilation without negatively affecting the human brain.“So the three years you think We spent building Our technology advantage was actually much, much longer. Not to mention the benefit of time dilation and virtual reality environments when it comes to training soldiers, especially in conjunction with purpose-built medical pods that translate beneficial gains in virtual reality to actual r
Aron took a deep breath and relaxed, a compassionate expression on his face as he wrapped up his first imperial address. “I know the many changes coming all at once are difficult to accept. Especially as drastic and bold as they are.” He smiled wryly. “But there’s an old saying in my family: ‘begin as you mean to go on’, and that’s what I’m doing here. There will be an inevitable teething period as everyone grows accustomed to the new changes to, well... everything, really, but I believe in humanity. I believe in our ability to adapt to anything, and overcome what we can’t adapt to.“Mankind isn’t the fastest animal on the planet. We aren’t the strongest ones, either. We can’t swim in the ocean or fly in the sky unaided, we aren’t particularly stealthy, and we don’t have a very thick, robust hide. What we do have, however, is a sapient mind. We can imagine, we can develop, and we can make conscious decisions to follow our better natures instead of our worst.“I know I’m asking a lot o
True chaos arrived the morning following Aron’s address as swarms of delivery drones and fleets of trucks left each of the training centers. The drones were carrying AR glasses and VR helmets to those who had ordered them, and the trucks were loaded with VR pods. The delivery blitz had come without warning and created even more panic and rioting in some areas, especially those that were already leaning toward resisting Aron’s empire.That didn’t stop the delivery, though, as the uncaring drones and trucks being driven by ARES troopers cared nothing for the chaos. They merely rerouted around any trouble hotspots and continued on their way.Once the equipment was delivered to their new owners, reviews and discussions began springing up on Pangea mere hours later. All of the users were basically in agreement about how wonderful the new devices were, and of course, they were posted to Pangea through the devices themselves since the lucky people who already had them couldn’t bring themselv