8.13 – Morality for Sale

<< VOL.08_HARDWARE-AND-HOLLOWS.log >>

// data corrupted — recompiling //

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A few days later.

December arrived without any gradual introduction. The cold came all at once, reminding everyone that it still held the title and intended to use it. Light rain fell over Theria, nearly fine enough to be snow, but snow hadn't reached this city's ground in longer than anyone present could account for.

The courthouse castle sat at the beach's edge as it always did, the wind pushing waves of salt water against its walls with the persistence of something that has never accepted the building's existence. Reaper was at his desk. Across from him sat both Slavic Gash, President of Kasparia, and Harry Salaska, President of the Veridian Coast.

"Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Reaper." Gash had grown noticeably more comfortable facing Reaper than he'd been at the start of their relationship. "A few months since my last visit, and in those few months you've reshaped the entire country. I have to wonder, is having a population that never complains the reason for the pace?"

Salaska leaned back, smiling broadly. "Stop prodding our neighbor, Slavic. This man is holding the entire region together. Though you're not wrong about the efficiency, the way this country is being built makes the way he sent us millions of humans look extremely slow."

Reaper exhaled at length through his vents. "I can smell the smugness despite having no nose."

Gash coughed through his laughter. Salaska's eyes were watering by the time he composed himself.

Salaska caught his breath first. "Who would have guessed the machine that took over a country could be this easily irritated? Loosen up a little, man. That level of seriousness is going to raise your… oil pressure."

Gash's eyes were the brightest they'd been all meeting. "I've read that machines develop CPU problems if they don't decompress. Something like a tumor."

"Alright, alright." Reaper raised both hands. "I know it's uncommon for leaders to behave like actual people, but that's not why I called you today. We can do this later."

Gash pointed at him. "You're a machine. 'Later' for you could be twenty years. I'm in my late sixties. I can't schedule that far out."

"Don't take it literally." Reaper shook his head. "Now. I have a question for Salaska, is the E-UNIT doing meaningful work against Black Voltage? I've heard things, but hearing it from you carries more weight."

"Pretending that Metis isn't already present in my country and listening to everything won't work, Reaper." Salaska raised an eyebrow. "Yes. The E-UNIT's performance has been extraordinary. We've gone from two hundred civilian deaths per week to effectively zero. Their response time and how naturally they integrate with the population makes them the right fit for the role."

Gash held his chin. "I've been wondering if I could get some myself. Our threat level isn't comparable, but seeing a zero on a page that's supposed to carry bad news stays with me."

Reaper nodded slowly. "So there's nothing I can do to bring them back to my jurisdiction."

"I know 02 has been running operations inside Elysium." Salaska opened a screen and handed it across the desk. "But our contract with them grants them operational independence to pursue their objectives. I'm sorry, the law in my country has the final word, and the law takes contracts between individuals seriously."

Gash read the screen. "I see you're building new E-UNITs in your country. If any become available for purchase, put me at the front of the list."

"Production is slow, and the units being produced are going into revivals faster than they accumulate. There are almost no surplus units." Salaska closed the screen and returned it. "Though I suspect Reaper has a significant production facility somewhere underground." He glanced across the desk. "Does the name Hope Bubble mean anything to you?"

Reaper laughed once, dry and brief. "You've done your homework, Salaska. I need you to forget it. We currently classify the E-UNIT as a hostile entity. Their goal is the retrieval of Altea and the restoration of a human nation. I think their resemblance to humans, and how closely they've absorbed human behavior, has been radicalizing them over time."

Salaska looked at the desk for a moment, thinking. "What if I purchased E-UNITs from you directly?"

Reaper's green eye brightened considerably. "I'm listening."

"Fifty thousand per unit." Salaska held eye contact. "It would be a waste for a country sitting on metal reserves and housing the largest E-UNIT production facility in the world to not put both to use. If you agree, I'll work on amending my contract with 02. I'll push her toward staying out of Elysium by offering her exactly what she wants—a family. What do they call each other?"

"Sisters," Reaper completed, his optics narrowing. "You want to buy empty shells from me, activate them, and use them as hostages to keep 02 on a leash?"

"Hostage is a strong word," Salaska smiled. "Let's call it an incentive program. And in return, my country gets thousands of efficient, easy-to-maintain police units. And we preserve human life in the process." Salaska raised a hand. "I'm not suggesting robots should be the front line in an armed conflict. But you understand what I mean."

Reaper stood and turned toward the sea visible through the window behind him, the waves hitting the glass at intervals.

"How many do you need to start?"

"A few thousand initially. We can scale production over time." Salaska smiled. "You should keep some yourself, honestly, they're the best police units in the world by any measure, and they're androids at the end of it."

"To protect the integrity of my country, I'll send them without installed systems." Reaper turned back to face them, his cape taking a wider arc with the movement. "Production begins immediately. And don't come to me with a 'pay you later' arrangement, I won't accept it this time."

"My friend, relax!" Salaska laughed and leaned back.

"'My friend' alone is more unsettling than anything else you've said today."

Gash's expression shifted toward something darker. "Reaper. We should address the thing we've been not addressing. The Remidican Republic's next advance has been confirmed, within the next few weeks. The delay is weather, not a change in intent."

"I haven't forgotten." Reaper settled back into his chair. "And to be honest, I'm getting impatient."

Both men turned toward him simultaneously and said nothing.

Reaper's green eye went red. "The level of disrespect coming from Remidican has been accumulating. They signed a peace treaty and they're pushing for a war against a country I've committed to protect. Keeping what happened to Metromania and the Western State quiet was a mistake. I should have demonstrated those consequences to anyone considering running against me."

Salaska swallowed. Sweat had begun to form. "And what exactly did you do to them?"

"I won't need to explain it. I'll go to the borders myself and broadcast the engagement. If you want to understand what happened to Altea, watch what happens to Remidican." Reaper pressed his hands together. "Pathetic."

Salaska turned to Gash and found him smiling fully.

"Don't tell me you're agreeing with him."

Gash replied without warmth and without hesitation. "Salaska, we have a long history with Remidican. To put it gently, I have no affection for them or their leadership. What they did to us in the past exceeds anything Reaper has done, by a significant margin. They colonized Kasparia. They killed far more of our people than he has. They ran terror operations along our borders for years."

He looked at Salaska calmly. "Why would I hold our friend back? What I see is the universe delivering a debt that has been accumulating for centuries."

Salaska nodded slowly and said nothing.

Reaper's eye shifted back to green. "With that handled, what do you think about a walk through the capital? Elysium is stable and I want to begin building toward human tourism. We've built several facilities specifically for human visitors. I'd like your opinions on them."

Salaska stood up so fast his chair moved. "You actually did that?"

Gash looked at him with flat eyes. "What happened to the no-humans philosophy you've been running on?"

"I want to demonstrate the superiority of robotic civilization. That requires an audience. And I don't expect human visitors to cause much difficulty when our police force is four-meter mechs carrying evaporative laser systems." Reaper looked slightly to the side. ‘And the UNG keeps filing complaints about human discrimination. Endless.’

When he turned back, Gash and Salaska were already at the door.

"What are you waiting for? Show us these locations."

Gash looked at the pace Salaska was moving at, then at Salaska's build. "The enthusiasm makes sense."

Reaper stood and pushed his cape back.

‘I appreciate how they behave when I'm the one with the leverage.’

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- President Salaska -