King of All I Survey-Chapter 180: A King’s Regret

I rolled my eyes, "It’s funny, but Dad, I’m serious, do not put that on social media."

"Then how am I supposed to get more followers on the United Earth Concord Facebook page!"

"Really? Tell me you didn’t. Plus, do people still use Facebook these days?"

"Of course, they do! I’m getting tens and tens of views on my personal page." Dad smiled and winked, "Of course I didn’t create a Universal Earth Concord Facebook page, King Tim! My boss, the King, doesn’t give me enough time off for that..."

"And if that’s how you’d use that time off, he never will!" I replied, with a wry smile.

Aside from this incident, however, out effort made it clear to the Russians that it was pointless to try to launch further attacks. Equipment and weapons would either be summarily destroyed or presented as a gift to the enemy. Personnel would somehow, find themselves suddenly deep within Russian territory with no idea how they got there.

The other thing that was made clear was that the UEC possessed either magic or some technological breakthrough that amounted to teleportation that seemed to have no limit in the scope of its operation. While the CIA had strongly suspected this already based on the circumstance under which we extracted their man from El Modelo Prison in Colombia, now it was confirmed and widespread news. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

With the Russians physically removed from Ukraine, President Dovzhenko immediately signed on to the United Earth Concord becoming the first nation to official join, Mexico followed almost immediately deciding that my earlier pressures and the example of Ukraine were too much. Guatemala rapidly completed the Legislative hearings and passed the bill to become a member. The bill was sent to President Arroyo for his signature. I decided to visit him directly, in my adult-form android, to talk about his thoughts on the matter.

I was going to use my usual modus operandi and use LITV to appear in some secluded location where I could arrive unseen and then just walk over from there. As I started to prepare though, it occurred to that the world had realized that something like teleportation had to be involved in the mass disappearance and reappearance of Russian soldiers from Ukraine. So there was really no point in hiding it.

I knew now that I didn’t need any actual equipment or technology, since Joe could just manipulate the same quantum forces required by an act of his universal will, but it felt more independent to use the mechanism integrated to my android instead of asking him. It included an interface to determine the spatial coordinates in a very large number of dimensions from my visualization and understanding of the desired destination along with a confirmation process and safety constraints that would prevent me from encasing myself in granite or boiling lava or anything other than air or vacuum for that matter. It was possible, even with living creature to do it, but required several rounds of safety over-ride approvals. If something already occupied the space the newly arrived person or item occupied, then it would be swapped with whatever was being moved. The volume so moved would correspond to the size of the LITV container being used. The one integrated in my android body was like a cramped phone booth size, just a couple inches above my head height. So, if I wanted to, I could transport into the middle of a clock of stone with a tiny rectangular air pocket, with a corresponding rectangle of granite appearing where I had been. In practice, my volume was usually replaced only by the air from wherever I went. This was mostly unnoticeable but occasionally resulted in odd smells being left in my wake when I departed.

Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with the little detail stuff that catches my interest. Since the cat was out of the bag with the Russian intervention, I used my LITV to appear directly in the Guatemalan Presidential Palace entrance hall. This had the unforeseen effect of startling the Presidential Guards who stood sentry duty inside. They quickly levelled assault rifles in my direction, ordering me to the floor in Spanish. I raised my hands overhead and out to the sides fingers spread to show no weapons. One rushed over to me, after stowing his rifle beside the other guard. Handcuffs ready, then we saw each others’ faces. It was one of the guards I had met on a previous visit with Arroyo, I could not remember his name, but I recognized his face. He clearly recognized mine, because he stopped in his tracts about four feet away. "Mister Bailey?"

"Yes. I’m sorry for the sudden appearance, I really didn’t think it through..." I shrugged. "I’m here to see President Arroyo. He’s not expecting me. I guess I should have called or something."

He stared at me wide-eyed, shaking his head back and forth slightly as if not believing his own senses. Finally, he recovered enough to process my words. He looked down at the handcuffs in his hand and seemed startled to find them there, immediately clipping them back into a pocket on his belt. He looked back up to me, "You’ll have to wait a minute until we get some orders. Please wait right here, Mr. Bailey." He took several steps backward keeping his eyes on me. Once he had a little more distance, he reached for the radio clipped to the front of his left shoulder. He pressed a button and explained the situation to someone on the other end who asked him to repeat it, then asked for another repetition before there was a period of silence. Probably the guy on the other end was trying to figure out how to react.

The silence and the wait extended for nearly four minutes, with the Presidential Guard and I looking back and forth at each with increasingly apologetic looks, and little shrugs, me silently apologizing for causing this whole awkward situation and him apologizing for the delay.

Finally a door at the far end of the entrance hall burst open and Arroyo’s personal secretary rushed out, glanced around and headed straight for me, motioning the second Presidential Guard to put his rifle away. Noticing my hands in the air, he shot an irritated look at the two guards, and said, "Mr. Bailey, please lower your arms. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding." He reached out both hands to shake my hand, one to clasp my hand and the other placed over the top of my hand as we shook.

"No, no, they’re doing their job correctly. I don’t think you want to encourage them not to challenge unexpected intruders in the Presidential Palace, do you?"

The secretary smiled and laughed, "No, I guess not. What brings you here today?"

"I was hoping to discuss the UEC bill the Congress passed this morning with President Arroyo."

"Well, I’m sorry, but he is very busy at this moment having a cup of coffee and standing on the back veranda, enjoying the morning sun." He laughed. "I’ve let him know you are here. He will meet you in his office now if you like."

"Yes, that would be great. Sorry, I should have called first."

"Well, you ’re here now..." He gestured for me to head toward the door from which he had emerged a moment earlier. We walked through and down a couple of hallways through another set of doors with another Presidential Guard sentry and finally to the President’s office.

He was seated at his desk when I walked in, holding a cup of coffee. He set it down and gestured for me to sit in the chair opposite his desk. "I think I can guess what you’re here to talk about," he said.

"Well, let’s talk then. The UEC measure was passed this morning, what do you intend to do?" I ask.

"Straight to the point, as always," Arroyo said with a smile. "That was quite some trick you pulled off in Ukraine."

"Well, you know, I do what I can to help." I shrugged noncommittally.

Arroyo’s smile deepened, "Yes. Well, I will be equally plain. My decisions will rest on your answer to one question. I guess you probably used the same tricks here that you used in Russia to some extent. I wonder, though, why you decided to kill the gang members invading Guatemala from Chiapas and some others here, but simply relocated the Russians with minimal casualties."

I frowned. "Zero casualties," I said pointedly, "just because they decided not to report in and the Russian government can’t find them, doesn’t mean I killed anyone."

"As you say, but you certainly killed people here. In some cases, piling bodies on the steps of the Palace of Justice in gruesome fashion. A markedly different approach." Arroyo put his coffee down on the desk, and leaned forward, "Why was that, Timothy Bailey of the United Earth Concord?"

I paled and kind of felt a little sick as his description of my actions. It was true though. I did order those things. At the time, I suppose, in part I wanted to make a point to the cartels, but I also had fewer resources available, and I didn’t want to show my hand with technology. All these excuses ran through my head to justify my actions.

"I will be honest, Mr. President. What I did in Guatemala was a mistake, an error in judgement by someone without the experience and patience to make a wiser choice at the time." My eyes were downcast, looking at the front edge of his desk. I didn’t want to see what he thought of me now. "I would do it differently today, if I could wind back time and change the past. What I did here was painful to me then, and completely unacceptable to me today, but I did it. I accept responsibility for my actions. I could offer excuses, like they were all intent on committing violence and murder, or I had fewer resources at my command to choose other options, and the pressing time urgency of the situation, but those would be excuses I used to myself at the time. Today, my answer is that it was a mistake born of inexperience, lack of patience, and laziness. I should have taken enough time to find better solutions and think the entire scenario out before I even began to interfere here, but I convinced myself that I had to act fast to save people dying every day at the hands of the cartels and drug pushers. Yet, I knew people were and are still dying of violence in Sudan or Yemen and a hundred other places every day, and I still haven’t acted there yet.

"Guatemala seemed like an easy nexus for my plans, and I rushed right in, not as well prepared as I should have been. I apologize to you, to the people of Guatemala, Mexico, and elsewhere for my actions here. I was wrong."