“You were quick to accept my conditional surrender, which tells me you were desperate to end this war.”
“As Tiao is not a militaristic society and, therefore, does not believe that war is the only answer, I am quick to stop any war in which I find myself involved.”
General Decius chuckled.
“You are not as I remember you, Elite Isa.”
“Glad to know that I exceed your expectations, while mine were perfectly met.”
Kailynn had to purse her lips and turn away from Gihron’s side of the table to hide the laugh threatening to bubble out of her at Isa’s sharp words.
“You insolent—”
“Colonel Ikan, sit down,” Isa ordered, turning to the second-in-command of Gihron. The man, half-standing from his chair, turned to General Decius, who nodded quietly. He slowly lowered himself to sit, though his eyes were brimming with rage.
“Moving on to title two,” Isa continued, “I agree that all those involved in this war shall pay appropriate reparations. From the analysis of the debris collected from the battles, we have determined that two percent of reparations will be paid by Urya, twelve percent Ulam, twenty percent by Jakra, twenty-nine percent by Hyun, and the remaining thirty-seven percent will be paid by Gihron.”
“How did you obtain those numbers?” one delegate asked, confused.
“From all the debris and refuse that we collected after each battle,” Isa said. “Tiao was sure to clean the mess made after every fight, as Gihron would not.”
“It would appear that Tiao is quite skilled at cleaning up messes,” General Decius said darkly.
Kailynn expected to see Isa waver at the words, however, she did not.
She turned back to General Decius. “Pardon, General Decius?”
“I said that Tiao is skilled and cleaning up messes.”
“Is that meant to illicit a certain response?” Isa pressed.
Kailynn was having trouble breathing with the tension in the room.
“There was no response sought,” General Decius said, his tone clipped. “Merely an observation from our previous dealings, Elite Isa.”
Isa took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair.
“I was under the impression that you were her to discuss a peace agreement,” she said. “Was I mistaken?”
“No,” General Decius assured, “but I believe we all know that there is a topic we are avoiding.”
“That topic being?”
“My younger brother’s brutal murder six years ago,” General Decius said, nearly growling. “As I cannot ask for your execution in peace agreements where I am the losing party, I’ll have to settle for demanding that you tell me the truth of what happened.”
“The truth was discussed at length in the autopsy and the Official reports,” Isa said strongly.
“Do you believe those reports to be the truth?” General Decius challenged.
“I trust in my Intelligence Agency and the medical professionals that performed the autopsy. Therefore, yes, I do believe those reports are the truth.”
General Decius stared at the Golden Elite, as if trying to decide if Isa was lying. Tensions were growing in the room. Gihron delegates were watching the Elites’ reactions, but all of them were stoic, apart from the uncomfortable shifting when the tensions grew too high. However, their faces never betrayed their discomfort. The human employees were the ones that were showing their worry about the direction of the meeting. Kailynn was sure that none of the humans—other than Rayal and herself—knew the truth of what happened, and she hoped that their confused expressions would assuage the suspicions of the Gihrons.
“Shall we continue?” Isa asked, sitting forward once more.
“Yes.”
Isa discussed broad aspects of each of the titles of Gihron’s surrender. There were five titles to the surrender, and when they reached number four, Isa paused briefly.
“Title four states that Gihron will join the Crescent Alliance, should an exception be made about the size of military forces for the social preservation of Gihron.” Isa looked at General Decius seriously. “The rules of the Alliance cannot be altered or amended without a ruling majority from planets after Venus has approved the possibility of an amendment.”
“This would not be an amendment,” General Decius said. “It would be an exception.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I will not make an exception for Gihron’s military forces,” Isa elaborated, her voice clear and strong. “This was a topic discussed in great length years ago.”
“Indeed, and I have reason to believe that it was the reason for my brother’s death.”
“It did appear to be part of the reason, as the assassin group did confess to being concerned about a militaristic change to the Altereye System should Gihron be included on the Alliance trade routes.”
“Do you believe, if my brother had not been here so long, he would have returned to me outside of an urn?”
“I do not deal in what-ifs, General Decius,” Isa said. “And I do not live in the past. That was six years ago, and currently we are discussing peace agreement terms to end a war that you began upon allowing your men to kidnap and kill four Elite prototypes.”
“No, Elite Isa,” General Decius corrected. “You started this war six years ago when my brother was killed in your care.”
“As I just said,” Isa said coldly, “we are discussing peace agreement terms to end the war. I will not waste any more of my time, or yours, discussing hypothetical situations. If Gihron wishes to become a part of the Alliance, they will abide to the same rules as all other planets. There is no discussion or negotiation, and certainly no exception.”
The meeting continued for another hour, as all major questions were discussed and answered before agreeing to meet the following day to amend terms and find a solution that was beneficial to all planets involved.
Kailynn had to ride back to Anon Tower with Rayal to avoid suspicion, but as she sat in the car, she could only stare blankly at the road. They followed General Decius and his convoy, as they were going to be staying on another level of Anon Tower during the negotiations.
“Isa was very impressive today,” Rayal murmured.
Kailynn nodded. “No shit…”
General Decius and the others were shown to their rooms by members of the Intelligence Agency and the security robots for the building, which would be placed along the halls—it was explained to them that it was for their security, considering previous relations with Gihron, and while everyone seemed content with the response, everyone who knew the truth about Colonel Amori knew that the increased security was to watch them for suspicious activity.
When Kailynn finally made it up to the Golden Elite’s level with Rayal, Isa had already poured herself a drink and brought the bottle to the coffee table. Rayal went to Tarah, explaining what had happened while Kailynn walked over to Isa after grabbing her own glass.
Isa remained in the living room for hours, silent, her head cradled in one hand as her other hand loosely held an empty liquor glass. Kailynn sat next to her, smiling gently as she leaned her head against the back of the sofa.
“You were amazing today,” she finally whispered.
Isa slowly turned her eyes to Kailynn.
“I can hardly remember half of what I said,” she murmured. “I went on autopilot.”
“It certainly didn’t seem like it,” Kailynn said, reaching out with one hand and resting it on Isa’s, carefully removing the empty glass from her grip. “Why don’t we go to bed?”
Isa nodded, her eyes closing. She stood and walked toward her room, but stopped when her eyes lifted to the door. Kailynn stopped next to her.
“What is it?”
Isa did not speak, her eyes locked on the door of her bedroom, though lost somewhere in time. Kailynn looked between the Golden Elite and the door and then carefully took Isa’s hand.
“Do you want me to stay in my room?” she asked, un
derstanding that Isa was likely wondering if she was going to be watched once more. Isa’s fingers tightened around Kailynn’s and she swallowed hard before shaking her head.
“No,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be alone.”
Kailynn also squeezed Isa’s hand.
“Why don’t we stay in my room, then?”
The Golden Elite nodded quickly and they both turned and walked to the guest hallway.
“I was sure you would not come.”
“I feel that it is very important to discuss some of General Decius’ terms with you,” Isa said. “The past two days of negotiations have been difficult, and I think it is important you review the progress we have made.”
“I have reviewed the submitted terms. I agree with all sections under titles two, three, and five. I do not agree with Gihron being brought into the Crescent Alliance as stated in title four, and I do not consent to any of the terms in title one.”
Isa took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“Venus, allowing the humans to take over the Syndicate would take considerable strain off relations between Tiao and the other planets of the Alliance. While Tiao does not teach its population about the fate of those on Earth, most of the other planets in the Alliance learn of the weaponized humans and they know that Elites were created using that technology. It makes many nervous.”
“The information from Earth is incomplete.”
“That does not appease the other planets,” Isa protested. “While I agree that we should not allow this to be a term to which we submit for Gihron’s surrender, it is something to consider for the near future.”
“Humans are too irrational to rule themselves. They let self-interest guide their actions and their greed dictate their society. As a whole, humans cannot be trusted to govern themselves.”
Isa closed her eyes, trying to brace herself. While she did not think it was wise to anger the artificial intelligence while in daily negotiations with Gihron, she knew she had to start moving things in a different direction on her own planet.
“If I can bring Gihron to heel as I hope,” she started, “then I think it would be best to implement a system to phase out Elites and have humans take over the Syndicate.”
“That is not your decision to make,” Venus said sharply. “When Gihron is brought to heel, you will be submitted to final degeneration testing, and should your levels be found elevated, you will be replaced, Isa.”
The Golden Elite did not flinch at the words. She had been expecting it.
“Gihron is not the only planet discussing that Elites need to be removed from power,” Isa continued. “Several planets would be much happier to work with Tiao if the Elites were not involved. You will recall the disastrous state of affairs when Gattriel was in power. I was able to mend these relationships through very careful politics, and the only reason I was able to do so is because I am not a typical Elite, nor is Remus, nor is anyone else in this Syndicate. The planet is stronger now than it has been in over one hundred years and that is because the most human-like Elites have come to power.”
“There is no data to support that that is the reason for the increase in or society’s strength.”
“No data?” Isa asked incredulously. “The data is in front of you.”
“The data in front of me suggests that you let personal interest guide your actions six years ago and therefore you started this war with Gihron.”
Isa bit back the angry growl in her throat.
“Perhaps it is not the Elites, nor the Syndicate, nor the humans that are the problem,” Isa started. “Perhaps you are the cause of the distress in the Altereye System.”
“While you have done impressive research on the social implications of my rule over the years, compared to previous data on humanity, and the information gathered on planets outside our sphere of control, the data proves that my rule has peacefully run this planet for hundreds of years.”
“Perhaps that was the case,” Isa said, “but that is no longer so. That was not the case when, six years ago, Colonel Amori was able to hack into your system and weaponize you. You have updated your technology to be compatible with the changing times, but humans have changed in ways beyond your comprehension, and things are not as peaceful as you seem to believe.”
“Your evidence?”
“The Significants,” Isa said strongly. “You understand that the greatest threat to our society comes from Trid, where the non-citizens speak to one another, and form friendships and bonds that people in Anon and other areas of the planet do not. Your fear of unity is your biggest weakness,” Isa continued. “You want to keep everyone disjointed by not speaking to one another, by being so desperate to feel like they are not alone in this universe that they have to pay other human beings to sit and speak with them because their own families will not do so. This proves that your system is not working. Perhaps there is no unity in the people that will overthrow you, but there is also no unity in the people to stand strong behind you.”
“They know that they need me, and they respect me as their leader.”
“No, they do not!” Isa snapped. “If they did, the Elites would not have been necessary for you to maintain your power. But the Elites, and you, have not changed while society has. How can you expect to grow stronger if you cannot come back from every challenge different than you were when you started? Every challenge to your authority has been met with violence and death. At the Academy, you almost had me killed because I was getting out of hand, and your response was to exile my professor and kill one of my closest friends, but I have also changed. And I refuse to bow to you when I have been running this planet without your assistance for decades.”
The machines in the room began roaring as Venus’ machines heated in anger.
“You believe you can defy me?!” she bellowed, her beeps ear-piercing and causing Isa to flinch. “You bow to me because I created you. I decide if you live or die, and when you will step down as Elite. I will remove you from power now, if you continue with this behavior!”
“If you do that, you doom your existence,” Isa said strongly. “Replace me if you wish, but the new Elite that comes in will be a soft-shelled, obedient child and Gihron will destroy them. General Decius is demanding that you be shut down, or he will find a way to attack your core processors and destroy you.”
Venus’ hologram was flickering angrily as her computer ran all algorithms it could, calculating risks and outcomes as Isa straightened.
“Your time has come to an end, Venus,” she declared.
Her legs buckled under her as the pain rocketed through her chest from the processor in her chest reacting to Venus’ attack. However, she bit back her cry of pain, her lip bleeding as her teeth sliced into her flesh.
“You will yield!” Venus ordered. “The people see me as their leader, and they will always see me as their leader!”
Isa sat in her living room late that night, a cold compress over her eyes as her headache throbbed behind them. Dr. Busen had just left after checking up on her and giving her an update about his research into shutting Venus down and keeping the Golden Elite alive. Remus sat across from the Golden Elite as Kailynn sat next to her.
“You’re being extremely reckless about this,” Remus whispered.
“I know.”
“It’s a miracle that she hasn’t killed you yet,” Remus continued.
“At this moment, she needs me too much,” Isa said. “As soon as this mess with Gihron clears up, I will not be able to keep her at bay. She’ll either replace me or kill me and make it look like an accident and then replace me.”
“You realize that we can’t handle her on top of General Decius, right?”
“We can,” Isa assured.
“Isa,” Rayal said, poking his head out of the kitchen, “there’s a broadcast on all frequencies. It’s even on the security monitors. It’s from Venus.”
Groaning, the Golden Elite stood, walking with her eyes half-closed into the kitchen
and seeing the hologram of the computer’s face on the twelve screens across the kitchen wall.
“—submit. There are those that would seek to shut me down and destroy me, but I will never yield to such threats or terrorist tactics. I am the life of this planet. If I am destroyed, all communications will go down, defenses as well. All phones, NCB, NGS, and GAL platforms will be rendered useless. The economy will collapse and the planet will starve. Remember this and report all those that claim they will never submit. There are those that would seek to shut me down…”
The computer repeated the message as Remus groaned and rubbed his head.
“She clearly does not care about the delicate nature of having Gihron on-planet while she’s making this broadcast on all frequencies.” He closed his eyes. “We’re never going to get them to agree to terms if they think we’re fighting with the artificial intelligence we always claim as being our ruler.”
“I’m sure Gihron already knows that she’s not really our leader,” Isa said. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Kailynn’s as the Significant put her arms around the Elite’s waist, holding her upright as Isa tried to stay strong from the violent attack from Venus earlier that day. It had now been a pattern for two days—Isa would be in horrendous pain for the day apart from two hours before her scheduled meeting time with Gihron, during the entire meeting with Gihron, and at night when Venus wanted her rested for dealing with Gihron the next day.
They listened to the message several times, thinking over the panic that would probably be running rampant through the people.
Kailynn wondered if people were terrified of losing their NCB, NGS, and GAL platforms because they would not know what to do with themselves, or if they were worried about being unable to produce food or keep the city clean with the incredible number of humans. She wondered if those thoughts were even crossing the minds of the people, or if they were just terrified of the thought of change.
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