King of All I Survey-Chapter 152: De-escalations and Ultimatums

On my viewscreen, the president’s aide phone in hand, moved closer to the President and whispered animatedly in his ear. Joe supplied me with the details based on his surveillance of the phone lines and enhanced audio pick-up of the drone.

The President’s office is receiving substantial objections and complaints from many sources. Key legislature members, regional governors, mayors, political party officials, allies, and enemies, influential private citizens and prominent business leaders, civil rights groups, and others are all either protesting vehemently or asking for some statement from him about how this happened or some justification for the events they have witnessed this far. It’s an absolute firestorm for him politically. President Arroyo’s office has sent a formal request for the humane treatment, immediate release and return of Maria Isabel Flores, her family members, and any other Guatemalan citizens.

Thanks, Joe. Perfect. I replied silently.

"President De La Huerta," I said loudly to call his attention back to our discussion, "May I suggest the military in this location and all the other such expeditions be ordered to stand down and stand by. Releasing the two women and allowing this group of children and their mothers into the hospital? All the men you sent inside have been safely detained without harm to anyone. I am prepared to release them unharmed as soon as we reach some level of consensus. It seems like de-escalation would be your best choice, while leaving all options open, don’t you think?" My voice sounded a little condescending and smug to my own ears, but I couldn’t help it. I’m only human after all... well, I mean I guess I’m only a human consciousness routed through an advanced semi-biological android body, after all.

President De La Huerta glared at the speaker phone from which my voice issued. If he could have, he would have melted it to a smoking puddle of molten plastic and metal. Without losing an ounce of that hatred and resentment He looked up at his General, "Give the fucking order to stand down, let the two women go, and allow the fucking children into the hospital. Have the local officers tell them it was for their protection while we determined whether there was any threat to their safety and give them a heartfelt fucking apology. Whatever cameras they have watching this will see everything they say, tell them to make it the most god-damned sincere apology of their lives. Have our people assist them, pushing wheelchairs, carrying them, whatever. Make it a real show. NOW GOD DAMN IT!"

I smiled. That’ll work, I thought. "Excellent, Mr. President. I am prepared to offer myself, Maria Isabel Flores and her sister in public appearances declaring that we understand the reason and necessity for your actions, due to your concerns about the possibility of cartel members hiding out in these places. We can applaud your diligent efforts at ensuring that the newfound peace and stability of the region continues. We can even do public appearances with you personally, all acting very cordial and friendly."

"What do you want in return," De La Huerta snarled.

"I want freedom to help the people of your country, that’s all. Of course, I’ll need assurances of your continued support for our organization’s objectives both within Mexico and throughout the world. I have a courier waiting in the street outside the Palace grounds with a tablet containing the full contract that I’ll need you to sign, seal and legally certify as a binding treaty. If that requires legislative approval, then make that happen." I said, watching as he motioned for his aide to send word to admit the courier.

"That will take some time, even if I agree to your sign your treaty" he said, "I need some public statement right away to quiet this shit-show."

"I understand," I replied, "I think that withdrawal of the army back to their bases along with a public statement from you declaring that you look forward to future cooperation with the Charitable organizations Food First, Health First, and other subsidiary organizations of the Universal Earth Concord as we jointly rebuild and improve conditions in not just Chiapas and the western regions, but all of Mexico. Publicly accept our offer to assist with infrastructure repair and modernization, creation of community health centers, and other community actions to make life in Mexico even better than it is already. We will fund all such efforts. IF you decide not to sign and ratify the document I sent, then our efforts will be scaled back considerably as we announce that we have failed to receive government approval for our expansion. If you sign it, Mexico will become a thriving economic engine, with standard of living envied throughout the world."

"Idle boasts and threats! There’s no way you can do all this," the President declared.

"Read through the document on the tablet. The tablet itself is designed with our new technology which maximizes rapid learning and comprehension, so even though it is a long document, you should be able to read and understand all of the details quite quickly. The tablet itself is one example of how we could improve your schools. Try it and imagine the possibilities if we were to provide these for every child or trade-school student in Mexico. Maribel, Susan, and I will make a brief statement in Chilpancingo to put out the public outrage fires for now while you consider. The full details of our proposal are in the document. Obviously, no further aggression on the part of the army must be allowed."

I studied his reaction as I spoke. He was completely unaware that our drone was in his office and that I could see him. His expression was still openly hostile, but I could see a calculated cunning start to grow over him. Once the situation was calmed, I knew he would look for some way to crush us, and me personally, as soon as he could without public notice. We could deal with that if it came down to it, but I still believe we could convince him to cooperate fully.

His aide responded to a knock on the meeting room door and accepted a small tablet-like device from the man waiting on the other side. They exchanged a few sentences, before the aide closed the door again and walked the tablet over to the President and set it on the table in front of him. "Security finds no threat in the device. It’s not a bomb," he informed his boss.

De la Huerta stared at it without touching it. Suddenly, the screen lit up. On the display it read "Touch here to accept rapid learning protocols and begin assimilation of the Universal Earth Accord document."

He left it untouched for a long minute.

"I’ll leave you to it, Mr. President. Since you have ordered the release of my people and allowed free passage of the children in Chilpancingo, I will get started on a public statement regarding the misunderstanding that occurred there. I’ll call you again in an hour to continue this discussion," I concluded.

"So, you are in Chilpancingo right now?" He asked. "In the hospital?"

"Not yet," I replied honestly, "but I will be there momentarily. Please do ask your men not to fire on my personal helicopter as it lands on the roof." I sent a mental command to Joe to end the connection.

"Joe, I’ll need one more helicopter illusion at the hospital, something sleek and modern, but small. Bring it in low over the ground, try to avoid overflying any troops. Once it’s on the roof, I’ll use LITV to step out of it and enter the building. Send updates to Mom and Maribel and the paramilitaries. Have someone start briefing the reporters that the whole thing was a mistake based on a faulty report that cartel members were holed up in the hospital, and tell them we will hold a press conference in ten minutes to answer any questions from them." Another idea occurred to me, "Can you make some kind of video presentation that shows the kinds of infrastructure improvements and medical clinic expansions we propose. Infrastructure should start with widespread repair and modernization, electrical, water purification, sewage treatment, and roads. Then, farming irrigation equipment and supporting water source development -hint at new technology to avoid depleting aquifers and rivers. Talk about modernizing schools and expanding roadways and other infrastructure to even the most remote regions. Civil order and safety throughout the country, a new era of prosperity, yada, yada, yada. Make it a professional, compelling and emotional video presentation and stress that it is our proposal based on acceptance and permissions to be worked out with President De La Huerta and the Mexican government. Make it so that these minor hurdles are all that are holding us back from getting to work in full force. Give a copy to each of the reporters and journalists we have at the hospital and make it available to any other Mexican media organization. Include video snippets of various lengths they can use, digital photographs, and whatever support material you think would be good. How fast can you have that ready?"

"All that’s going to take... oh, finished, his android form smiled smugly, "I just need to fabricate memory cards with all the information for distribution. I can have the package in the hospital in two minutes, delivery to other individual locations will vary. I’d suggest having couriers hand-deliver them. I can put people in unseen within a few hundred feet of each location. They can walk to the relevant offices with the memory cards and an explanatory cover letter. The limiting factor will be availability of personnel."

I’m sure my face, to Joe’s delight, showed my surprise at the speed of his creative work. His immense processing power and speed never ceased to amaze me though. I guess when you used the entire universe as your hardware platform, limitations like maximum teraflops per second became meaningless anachronisms. "Ok... well. Get started on that, then."

"Dad, keep an eye on troop movements. Have Joe alert me immediately if there’s anything concerning while I’m at the hospital."

"Sure thing, kiddo," Dad replied in a very unprofessional manner that really didn’t fit my station as Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space... I smiled.

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