《The Red Hat》


 Prologue

    Our civilization is now at a critical crossroads. The route that we select for today will determine the future of human life in the coming decades.


    As the science and technology advance rapidly, many dreams of centuries are coming true one after another. However, when the public embraces those achievements of science and technology as miracles and longs for the coming of the next ones, people often ignore one sad fact that as the ancient dreams come true, their potential negative social impacts could also become true.


    The seemingly unstoppable trend of making machines to act more like humans, and humans to behave more like machines, is one example of how the realization of ancient dreams could put our society in an inimical situation.  While the world is still amazed by its dazzling episodes, as a frightening manifestation of that trend, humans start being replaced by human products in all imaginable working sectors at an ever-increasing speed.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    But because of the general ignorance of those logically entailed negative consequences of many ancient dreams, when they become evident, it is often too late for people to lament since they are normally irreversible, and thus the society would have to absorb them at the cost of many victims.


    This book will take the readers to pre-experience a possible future of our civilization in the coming decades through the life of our protagonist, John Potter, a cute kindergarten boy right now, from the mid 2030s to the mid 2060s, as the consequence of our choice making at the crossroads that we are passing through now¡­¡­

 One The Republic of New People

    It was an early autumn morning in 2057. In a rural private airport, the sky was crystal blue, flecked with a few purely white clouds. The sun was gently rising from the horizon in the east, and a roseate hue suffused the space behind the sun. From that direction, a landing airplane was approaching the ground.


    Two army officers in peaked caps had already waited outside a lonely small terminal building. One of them was taller than the other. The short one had a pair of hard epaulettes on his shoulders and each of them bears a golden dot, and the tall one only wore a pair of soft epaulettes with a pair of bars. They were watching at a distance the small private jet peacefully landing into the runway. On the body of the plane they saw a red cowboy hat, and the name of the owner of the plane, ¡°K Corp¡± in Mistral font and a gradient yellowish green color, painted in the middle of the hat.


    When the gate of the airplane opened, a middle-aged man appeared at the gate. He looked around the airport and saw two military officers were walking towards the plane. He waved to them and started to step down the ladder which was stretched out from the body of the plane. Another two men also came out of the cabin and followed the middle-aged man to walk off the plane. All three of them were in black suits. On their heads were the same wide brim fedora hats. All the hats were also black, but the bands of the hats were all red, and on each band it was embroidered a shining golden ¡°K¡±.


    When the short officer waiting on the ground saw the plane of K Corp stopped moving, he started to trot towards the plane and the tall officer followed him closely.


    The timing was good. Both teams arrived at the end of the plane¡¯s ladder almost at the same time.


    ¡°Welcome to the Republic of New People, Mr. Potter,¡± the short officer greeted the middle-aged man, and introduced himself, ¡°I am Colonel X and this is Sergeant Y. On behalf of our President, General K, we welcome you to our great country.¡±


    ¡°Thank you very much, Colonel. You might call me John, and I am very glad to be here to do service to your great country on behalf of our great company K Corp.¡±


    The middle-aged man shook hands with those two army officers of the Republic of New People, an island country with a population around six million in the middle of the Indo-Pacific region. His name was John Potter, a high ranking sales director of K Corp, one of the leading consulting companies in the world, and he would be the protagonist of our story.


    John introduced the other two men who came with him, Dick and Tom, to the officers as his assistants. Then Colonel X led them to a black limo. He stopped beside the limo and turned to John. ¡°I am going back to the Presidential Palace to report to General K, and Sergeant Y will lead you to your hotel. Please take a good rest and I will have a welcome party for you at my house this evening.¡±


    ¡°That would be very nice,¡± John replied. He was about to say something else, but hesitated.


    Colonel X noticed his hesitation, and seemed to have known what John was about to ask. He continued to say, ¡°Tomorrow morning I will come to meet you at your hotel, and then we¡¯re going to have a tour of our New Generation Factory. In the evening, you are invited to attend the official welcome banquet for you, and you will meet our great leader General K. Then we can start our official business meeting the next morning.¡±


    ¡°That sounds great, and I am very obliged.¡± John liked the considerateness of the colonel except for a small part that he would like to have some more details. ¡°Is that New Generation Factory you just mentioned the main client that is going to implement the IB system?¡±


    ¡°Not really. We will talk about it later.¡±


    That answer of Colonel X triggered an alert to John. As a senior professional salesman, he did not like surprises in a business trip even though he had to face all kinds of them all the time. He had learned from his past experience that surprises in a business trip might be used as tactics by the client to gain extra benefit from them. The moment after a long, exhausting flying journey would be the best chance for the client to play the trick, just like in a battlefield the best moment to knock down the enemies would be the moment when they were physically and mentally weakest. He could very well appreciate an old adage, ¡°business is the same as war.¡±


    John was a bit troubled at that moment by the name ¡°New Generation Factory¡± because, from Colonel X, he just heard that name for the first time. No one had told him about the tour of that factory before he came. John intended to ask more about that factory and why the tour of it would be brought up right after they arrived in the country. However, he also knew that it was not always proper to ask too much on such an informal occasion of the first time rendezvous, especially when the other party was representing the government of a country.


    John was struggling with how to express his concern properly, but Colonel X did not give him the time to search through his vocabulary. He extended his right hand to John, and John had to grasp his hand for valediction. When shaking hands with John, Colonel X added, ¡°By the way, I have talked to the manager of this airport, and they will take care of the crew of your plane as well as your luggage. You don¡¯t need to worry about it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much for being very considerate.¡±


    Then John and his team departed the airport in the limo with Sergeant Y.


    ******


    It was an old style limo of three rows of seats with a chauffeur in the front driving. Compared to those driverless cars which had become very popular back in his home country, John felt more intimate with this type of car that was driven by a human. Sergeant Y was about to sit in the passenger-side front seat, but John invited him to sit beside him. With the permission from Colonel X, Sergeant Y sat with John at a back seat.


    The government of the Republic of New People had arranged for John and his team to stay in the best hotel in their capital city, the Palace Hotel. It took about an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel. The quality of the road on their way to the hotel was fairly good, but not much traffic on the road, which reminded John that he had entered a politically highly ordered, but economically backward regime. To John, that was good news because it meant that the government would have a lot of money to spend on exotic or even extreme things for maintaining its power, no matter what happened to the economy of the country. Fortunately, he was coming to do business with the government.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    On their way to the hotel, Sergeant Y did not talk much unless John asked him some casual questions about the country. His seven feet big body sat straight up all the time and his eyes appeared a bit stiffer than normal. John asked Dick, one of his assistants, to pass him a mobile phone. When Dick was handing the phone over to him, John pretended to let the phone slip out of his hand by accident. Just in the twinkling of an eye, Sergeant Y caught the phone with his right hand. Neither John nor Dick could even clearly see how he did that.


    Sergeant Y passed the phone to John with a gentle smile.


    ¡°Thanks so much.¡± John took the phone from Sergeant Y.


    Driven by his curiosity, John took a careful look of Sergeant Y from his side. He was a nice looking young fellow. His face was like a sculpture with all the organs located in geometrically harmonic positions. His skin was very smooth, too smooth for a soldier. Although he could communicate with them in fairly good English, he seemed emotionally very cold. John had been dealing with military personnel of different countries in many projects, and he could sense something different with this Sergeant Y.


    ******


    The hotel was located in the center of the city, not very far from the Presidential Palace, and actually that was how it got its name as the Palace Hotel. The front of this twenty-story building looked sumptuous, but there were not many customers inside the hotel.


    The limo stopped before the revolving door of the main entrance of the hotel.  After they got off the limo, Sergeant Y led John and his men into the building. The manager of the hotel was already waiting in the lobby, and surprisingly, their luggage was also already there on a luggage trolley beside the manager. Sergeant Y briefly talked to the manager, and then they led the group into an elevator, which brought them directly to the top floor of the hotel where John¡¯s suite was located.


    Then the manager introduced the assistants of John to their own suites.


    Before they left, the manager asked John, ¡°Would you like to have your lunch delivered to your suites or you guys might want to have it in the main canteen?¡±


    ¡°We will go down to the main canteen to have our lunch,¡± John replied without any hesitation. He wanted to know more about the place and the people.


    After being sure that things were alright for John and his men, Sergeant Y very politely said goodbye to John and went back to report to Colonel X.


    When they all left, John took off his hat and put it on the table, and then took off his jacket and threw it onto the couch.  He sent a text to his secretary back in his country, asking her to tell his boss next morning about the tentative agenda that Colonel X had set for them. After that, he made a phone call to his wife Alice telling her everything was fine with him. The conversation was short because it was already late across the ocean. Then, before taking a quick shower, he sent a text to his assistants asking them to wait for him at the canteen when they were ready.


    ******


    John and his team had their first lunch in the Republic of New People in the opulent canteen of the Palace Hotel. They looked very different when they appeared in casual dresses without the hats on their heads. The food was delicious, maybe too heavy for a lunch, but they all liked it. The best moment was when they were told that the government of the Republic of New People would pick up the bill since John was a personal guest of their great leader General K.


    After the lunch, they went back to the suite of John and had a brief discussion about what they needed to prepare for the coming meeting with Colonel X and President K, especially for the official negotiation on the day after the next day. John asked two assistants to double-check all the electronic documents and equipment before the official meeting. He wanted to make sure that they would present an impressive demonstration to the officials of the Republic of New People.


    ¡°Now I have to let you guys go. I need to take a nap. Please come back in four hours before Sergeant Y come to pick up us to the party, (yawn).¡±


    ¡°Sure, boss. Talk to you later.¡± Two assistants went back to their own suites.


    When John was left alone in the room, he let himself lie down on the couch. He felt tired. The previous morning he was picked up from home around 7:00am by the cab reserved by his secretary. It took them half an hour to arrive at the airport, and the plane took off another half an hour later. During the nearly 15 hours¡¯ flight, he only had a few hours¡¯ sleep.


    For more than two decades, John had become used to flying around the world to sell the IB system of the strategic partner of K Corp, the world renowned software company F Corp. Although the IB system had been around for more than a quarter century, it was still viewed as an avant-garde technology by the majority of the world. It had been presented to the world as an effective technology to materialize human mind capacity so that human soul could be connected directly with nature, or at least apparently. Over the past years, more and more companies around the world had started to use the IB technology. Many of its users had even applauded it as a revolutionary advancement of human civilization. The aggressive marketing and sales effort of K Corp had played an important role in this advancement. John had made a major contribution to it, which had not only earned him a big reputation in the industry but also helped to bring his family a big mansion. With his help, many organizations around the world, including many prisons, had adopted the IB system as part of their operational systems.


    John liked his job and enjoyed the fame and wealth he had made through this job. But this time John felt something very different. It was not because he came to an infamous dictatorial regime. John had been doing business with some other dictatorial regimes around the world, and in his perception they were all similar. This time he sensed something strange, but he could not tell what it was yet.


    He said to himself, ¡°Don¡¯t worry John Potter, it will be just as fine as all the projects you have worked for the past decades.¡±


    The room was so quiet that no sound from outside could be heard, not from other parts of the building, and not even from the streets or the field at the back of the hotel outside the closed windows. Although he could feel the flow of the cool air, there was no sound of the air conditioner. It looked like that they did have a good quality air conditioning system in the Palace Hotel. The only sound John could hear was his own breath or the noise from his body movement when he adjusted his position on the couch. The tranquility in the room did not help John to fall asleep, but rather promoted ideas of various contents, with different pictures and colors, to randomly sneak into his mind.


    As a side effect of using the red hat for the IB system of F Corp for the past two decades, John had acquired a much enhanced self-control of mind, which might be really the main benefit for John himself. Knowing that those random ideas could lead him into a worrisome thought and thus ruin his nap at that moment, John managed not to follow any of them, with the help of his mind control technique. But the subconscious worry created by his strong sixth sense kept pushing weird ideas into his mind. John forced his eyes closed because he really needed some sleep before going to the party.


    Finally, the fatigue of his body helped to expel the worrisome noise from his mind, and he entered the world of dream, in which John went back to 22 years ago when he just graduated from H University.

 Two The Red Hat

    It was a Monday morning in 2035, John got up very early because it was the first day of his new job, the first job of his formal professional career in his life. At his age, almost everyone had some kind of work experience, at least some experience as a volunteer in a library or some other places, and John was no exception. But that day would be the first day of what he considered as a true serious job, the start of his career, the beginning of his new life as a professional after four years study in the Faculty of International Study of the world-famous H University.


    One month ago, as a Dean¡¯s honored graduate, with a major in International Relationship and a minor in Philosophy, in his graduation cap and gown, John received his certificate of Bachelor¡¯s degree from the Dean of the faculty. At that time he already accepted the offer from K Corp, the dream consulting firm of John all those years. He would work in one skyscraper owned by K Corp in S city, the same city of H University, where John had spent last four years. Thus, even before the graduation, John and a few friends had already signed a lease for an apartment to share.  After graduation, he went back to his hometown and spent his last summer vacation as a dependent kid at his parents¡¯ house.


    The previous afternoon, the whole family drove to S city to move his luggage into his apartment. After they left, John took a quick shower and then went to bed very early, but he was so excited for the perspective of the new life that was awaiting him that he was tossing and turning in the bed for many hours.


    John had been very lucky so far all his life. The global economy had been poor for a decade. Many of his classmates, either from college or from high school, had not got a job, but he did. Most importantly, his first job did not only pay well, better than most other graduates of that year, but also was his dream job. He did not really have anything to complain about in life. He should just feel happy and sleep tight. But still, there was so much to think about what he needed to do and could do after tomorrow, or what he might expect when he entered K Corp next morning.


    He finally fell asleep when the street noise outside his window started to pick up.


    John was waked up by the alarm. After a quick wash, he left his apartment building and walked to the subway station. Not many people on the street --- it was still very early in the morning. It took about 10 minutes of walk from his apartment building to the subway station. At the station, he did not wait long before getting aboard a train. Only a few early birds in the carriage, and John found a comfortable seat for himself.


    The ride took about 30 minutes, and he got off at W station. It would be about another 15 to 20 minutes of walk from there to the office building of K Corp, a landmark building in S City, where John was supposed to report to the HR that morning. John had never entered any building of K Corp yet. His interview with them was on the university campus. But this area was not a strange place for him since it was one of the most famous spots of the city where he had spent last four years in college. He knew a few different paths from that W subway station to the building, and he decided to pick one with more stores because he needed to have his breakfast first.


    John entered a fast food restaurant on his way, and bought himself a cup of coffee and two muffins. It was still early, and he did not want to show himself too much ahead of the scheduled time in the K Corp building.  So, he decided to spend time enjoying his breakfast in the restaurant. He took a seat at an empty table which was facing to a TV on the wall. A famous female anchor of his favorite news channel was broadcasting the morning headline news.


    The name of K Corp in the news caught John¡¯s attention:


    One of the leading consulting firms in the world, K Corp, has signed a deal for a strategic partnership with the software giant F Corp and becomes the second in the country that has such a relationship with F Corp. According to the deal, F Corp would be responsible for providing K Corp with the IB software for interacting with the company¡¯s computer system directly by the employees¡¯ human mind;


    The Congress passed a legislation to formally legalize the collection of any digital data, including personal data, created on the premise of a company using its facilities, although this has been a popular practice in real life for decades;


    Due to the arrival of industry 4.0, the nationwide rate of automation for manufacturing and processing industries has reached 85%. Consequently, many blue collar jobs and some white collar jobs......


    He paid no more attention to the rest of the TV news because his mind was occupied by what he just heard about K Corp.


    John learned of the idea of direct interacting with computers by the human mind before. He also heard of the name of F Corp in connection with that technology, and he still could recall a commercial ad with an exaggerated image on the cover of a magazine with a title, ¡°IB system will let your mind directly boss your system.¡± He did not expect that he would catch this new wave of civilization at its earliest stage for his first professional job.


    John was thrilled by the news and finished his breakfast quickly. Then he stepped out of the restaurant and headed to the K Corp building.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    John arrived at the K Corp building 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. In the entrance hall of the building, he introduced himself to one of the ladies sitting behind the security desk. John told her that he came for the new job at K Corp, and then handed over his driver¡¯s license to the lady at her request. She checked a list on her table and confirmed that the name on John¡¯s license was in the list.


    She printed a sticker tag and handed it to John, ¡°This is your temporary ID for today. The HR would come to pick up you guys shortly.¡± Then she pointed to the other side of the hall where some sofas were placed for hospitality to visitors, and said to him ¡°You might take a seat now.¡±


    John looked towards where the security lady pointed and saw a few people already waiting in that area. He walked to that area and found a spot beside the window.  He did not sit down, but just stood watching employees of K Corp flooding into the building and entering the security gate by swiping their badge cards. Occasionally he saw some men or women came out of the security gates approaching the waiting area, and each time he wondered if the person would come to him. But then he disappointedly watched some other visitor going with that person into one of the security gates.


    About half an hour later, a casually dressed lady walked to them with a piece of paper in her hand. She stopped in front of a sofa, and then called the names written on the paper. John¡¯s name was one of them.


    ¡°Welcome aboard.¡± When all those on the name list answered and gathered around her, the lady began to speak to the group, ¡°My name is Jane, and I am one of the HR managers of K Corp. I come to take you guys to the HR department to complete some paperwork first, and then I will take you to the building where you would participate in the orientation for new employees.¡±


    She spoke slowly but clearly. Her voice was melodious.


    After the brief self-introduction, Jane added, ¡°Since today is the first day for all of you, you would meet your department managers during the lunchtime. Actually, they would come to meet you at the orientation place. Some of you might be brought to visit your departments or might even go to your own seats. But as I know, not everyone¡¯s seat is ready. Anyway, you will be in the orientation session for the first few weeks and thus no rush to get a seat yet.¡±


    Jane paused a second and looked around those who were standing in a large arc in front of her, and then asked, ¡°Does anyone have any question?¡±


    No one answered. But from their eyes, Jane could sense the familiar satisfaction and expectation that she had been used to from her audience after she talked to them.


    ¡°Okay, now let¡¯s go.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The elevator stopped at 17<sup>th</sup> floor, and they came to the HR department. Jane led the group into a conference room. In the middle of the room was a large dark hardwood conference table surrounded by some office chairs.


    Jane said to group, ¡°I am going to get the documents for you. You guys might get acquainted with each other, and I will come back soon.¡±


    ¡°Can we fill out the documents online?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°No. We don¡¯t put all our HR stuff online. Later on, each of you could access your HR account from online. But now, you need to sign the contract on paper to get your online account set up.¡± Jane winked her eye and added, ¡°We need to keep our HR jobs, right?¡±


    Those in the room all laughed knowingly.


    After Jane left, the new employees started to chat with each other. There John got acquainted with Alice, Fred, and a few others. He especially felt lucky to have Alice, an attractive girl, in the same orientation class for the coming days. Like John, Alice was also a new graduate of that year. She was graduated from Y University and majored in English literature.


    Jane came back with a pile of paper forms. She put it on the table and asked everyone to pick one stapled form from the pile. Half an hour later, all the newbies in the room completed their HR forms. Then Jane led them to the orientation site on the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor.


    It was a temporarily decorated informal classroom. There were about 10 rows of tables. Each row contained four white rectangular tables, and was divided into two parts with a walkway in the middle. There was a lectern in front of the table rows.


    When Jane and her group arrived at that room, there were already about twenty other new employees sitting in the room, and two other HR managers were standing outside the room. Jane let her group enter the room, and she joined the other HR managers outside the room. A few minutes later, a tall man walked into the room with one hand holding a bottle of water and the other hand carrying a box, followed by those HR managers.


    The man first walked to the back of the lectern and put the box on it. Then he walked to the front of the lectern, facing to the class, and started to talk.


    ¡°Let me first introduce myself. My name is Steve, and I am the director of the HR department of K Corp. Welcome all of you to join this great company, and our HR department will be the partner of everyone here to serve your needs.¡±


    After this brief salutation, Steve said something that would affect the future of John in K Corp, or more precisely, it would affect his life very profoundly in the future decades.


    ¡°If you watched TV this morning, you might¡¯ve already learned that K Corp has signed a strategic deal with F Corp. According to that deal, we are going to introduce a system from F Corp, the IB system, which would allow an organic synthesis between our mind and the computer system of our company. Put it in plain English, it means that we can use our mind to directly interact with our system. Isn¡¯t that exciting?¡±


    ¡°That sounds cool,¡± Fred responded, who sat at the back of the class.


    Steve cast a look at Fred with a smile, and then continued with his talk.


    ¡°This is a new thing to the whole civilization and of course a new thing to K Corp. I think everyone could agree on that,¡± he grinned, quite pleased with his own remark.


    ¡°We all know that whenever there is something new in the world, people normally would be not only curious, but often suspicious; and sometimes curiosity and suspicion about new things could cause some disturbance to the existing work. Not only that, it also requires some period of time for people to get trained to master the new technology ¡­ We understand that.¡±


    He took a sip of water from the bottle. ¡°Therefore, we decide to give our new employees the opportunity to be the first users of the new system. Since most of you have not been involved in any real project of our business yet and those who have been assigned to some projects are not deeply involved yet, you guys are like blank paper in terms of the business of K Corp, and thus it would be better for you to start using this new technology before you even get much involved in the business of our company. Do you agree?¡±


    Many of them nodded their heads.


    ¡°But good things would often require some sacrifice.¡± Steve paused, and looked around.


    ¡°Some of you or maybe all of you might be saying in your mind: here comes the catch,¡± he said in a teasing tone, and then chuckled while looking at the suspicious faces of some newbies. He added, ¡°that is one advantage of being an HR professional: we can read people¡¯s mind.¡±


    After making that remark, Steve chuckled again, seemingly quite enjoying that he could see into the mind of those poor newbies. Then he walked to the back of the lectern, and opened the box that he brought with him, from which he took out a hat. It was a scarlet color flat top hat with a stiff peak projecting in front. There was a golden ¡°K¡± on its right side, and a golden ¡°F¡± on its left side.


    Steve lifted the hat to show it to the class. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There is no any catch. The only sacrifice for using that new technology is to keep this hat on your head all the time as long as you are in the premise of K Corp.¡±


    He put the hat on his own head and asked, ¡°Have anyone ever heard the term of BCI, brain computer interaction?¡±


    Most newbies raised their hands.


    ¡°Good.¡± Steve beckoned them to put down their hands. ¡°The IB system is created with a very advanced BCI technology. It¡¯s not just something that was used for simple lab tests. It actually could completely replace the mouse and keyboard for the function of human computer interaction.¡±


    ¡°Cool¡± ¡­ ¡°Sick¡±, quite a few newbies exclaimed.


    ¡°Does anyone have any question about this?¡±


    John saw Alice raised her hand. Steve said to her, ¡°Please.¡±


    ¡°Does it emit some wireless signal?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then it comes with a battery?¡±


    ¡°Good question,¡± Steve replied. ¡°F Corp has a very interesting invention of a special type of battery, which is basically some small thin pieces of special material attached together. It will generate some electricity under the influence of surrounding electromagnetic waves. Since nowadays we are almost always living in the environment of various electromagnetic waves, that battery will always be functioning. But the electricity it generates would be so weak that you could not even test it with an ordinary electrical detection screwdriver.¡±


    ¡°How could that be?¡± one young man sitting in the front row asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s how much the electricity the hat needs,¡± Steve answered.


    ¡°How could the hat work with that little electricity?¡± Alice asked.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°That¡¯s the technology,¡± Steve answered delightedly. ¡°As a matter of fact, that is good news because it implies that the wireless signal it sends out would be very weak.¡±


    Steve was obviously aware that he was touching a major concern for anyone who might wear such a hat. He looked at the class and raised his voice. ¡°That means we don¡¯t need to worry about the radiation when we wear this hat.¡±


    He took out a piece of folded paper. ¡°When you receive the hat, you will also receive such a certificate which tells you that it has passed clinical tests for harmless use by humans. F Corp spent years conducting various tests before it could be approved by our government to put into the market.¡±


    Then, from the box, he took out a mobile phone and another gadget of only about quarter of the face size and half of the thickness of the phone. He lifted that small gadget to show it to the class. ¡°You might wonder how that weak signal would be of any use. This little device plays the trick. It receives the weak signal from your hat and amplifies it, and then transmits it out. But still, the intensity of the radiation from this device is only a fraction of the radiation from your mobile phone in its waiting state.¡±


    John raised his hand.


    ¡°You have some question?¡±


    ¡°Do I need to carry this device all the time?¡± John asked.


    ¡°If you are going to wear the red hat, then this little device would actually be your badge and you need to have it to enter any building of K Corp around the world. But outside the premise of K Corp you make your own decision on how to keep it, as long as you don¡¯t lose it.¡±


    Steve then clutched his own badge that was hanging on his neck. ¡°Those who are not going to wear the red hat would get this ordinary badge like mine.¡±


    Fred raised his hand. Steve waved his left hand to let him wait. ¡°Let me ask a question: how many people here would like to go to gym?¡±


    More than half of the people raised their hands.


    ¡°Very good,¡± Steve waved his hands to let them put down their hands. ¡°We have a very nice gym on the second floor of this building. You will love it. The only exception for those who would take the red hat option to take off their hats inside this building is in the gym. Most importantly, you should not wear the hat when you are taking the shower after your workout.¡±


    A few newbies started to laugh.


    ¡°You still need to wear the hat when you enter the gym, but you might leave the hat in the locker, especially before you go to take a shower,¡± Steve added.


    ¡°But how do you know whether I am in the gym or other part of the building?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°You need to use your badge to enter and exit the gym so that we would know when you are there,¡± Steve replied and then turned to Fred. ¡°You had some question a moment ago?¡±


    ¡°I am good now. You just answered my question,¡± Fred replied.


    ¡°Excellent.¡± Steve looked around the class and asked, ¡°Does anyone else have any question about what I have said so far?¡±


    No one asked any question and the room became quiet, but Steve could clearly sense the suspicions from their faces. He had another sip of water and continued, ¡°K Corp is a very democratic working place. We always respect the will of our employees. We will follow our culture for this new strategic project with F Corp as well. Now I let you determine at your own will, on this first day of your new job orientation, whether you would like to be among the first users of the IB system or not.¡±


    He stepped out from the back of the lectern and went before the first row of the tables.


    ¡°Now you will be divided into two groups on a voluntary basis. The group A would be the one that would wear this hat, and group B would be the ordinary one.¡±


    Then he stretched out his left hand towards the tables on his left. ¡°Let¡¯s make it simple, those who would like to wear this hat please take all your stuff and move to the seats on my left side.¡± Then his right hand towards his right. ¡°And those who would like to stay ordinary please take all your stuff and move to the seats on my right side.¡±


    The class was stirred up and those who would change their seats were about to stand up and move.


    But then they were all stopped by Steve. ¡°Hold on a minute. I almost forgot one important thing that might affect your decision on which side you would move to.¡±


    Most of the newbies sat down again while a few of them still stood. Steve waved to those who still stood to let them sit down.


    ¡°Considering the inconvenience of wearing the hat all the time when you are on the premise of K Corp, we have decided to encourage those who are interested in taking the trouble doing so with some incentives.¡±


    He paused, and then continued after he was sure that he had all the attention in the room. ¡°We would give them a monthly bonus of 50% of their salary. This bonus would be solely for using this technology, which means it would be different from any other bonus or award you might receive based on your performance and other reasons. ¡±


    That announcement created a shock wave to sweep through the room. Everyone except Steve and those HR managers was so surprised and almost could not believe what they just heard. Several persons double-checked with Steve to confirm that they did not get it wrong.


    ¡°Is this bonus only for this orientation period?¡± A middle-aged lady asked.


    ¡°As long as you work for K Corp and wear that red hat, you will get 50% extra based on your regular salary no matter how much other bonus you might receive. As a matter of fact, in a couple of days, HR would sign a new employment contract with those who decide to wear the red hats, and put the conditional 50% extra into the contract.¡±


    Well, the offer just sounded more attractive.


    ¡°How much stronger would be the radiation from that red hat than what we are exposed to when wearing a headphone?¡± Fred asked.


    ¡°A very good question!¡± Steve answered. ¡°F Corp actually did make comparisons between them in laboratory tests, and found that the radiation from the red hat is even weaker than some headphone. Any more questions?¡±


    No one asked any more questions, at least for that moment.


    ¡°Very good. Now you can move to your desired seats.¡±


    Many of the newbies had crossed out the option of wearing the hat after they heard that it might generate radiation, even though its intensity might be ignorable as Steve promised; but now most of them started to reevaluate the situation from very different angles. The incentive of 50% extra was too good to reject for most of the newbies.


    After the move, only a very few still sat on the right side of Steve. One HR manager walked to the seats on the left side of Steve to collect the names of those who selected that side, and then walked out of the room.


    ¡°Congratulations to all of you for your decisions, no matter which side of the seats you have chosen.¡±


    Steve smiled contentedly when he looked at the tables on his left side. ¡°Now those who chose to be the first group of users of the new system would be led by Jane, one of our HR managers, to a special training room where F Corp has installed the system for us.¡±


    One newbie asked Steve, ¡°what about the mobile phone you took out of the box?¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much for reminding me of that.¡± Steve went to the lectern and picked up the mobile phone. ¡°For those in the red hat group, you will also get this mobile phone together with the hat.¡±


    ¡°Would the hat be connected to the phone?¡±


    ¡°No. This is just an ordinary mobile phone. It has nothing to do with the IB system. You might get a mobile phone once you go back to your department anyway. The reason to give you this now is that the company wants to be sure that we can reach you all the time during this training period.¡±


    ¡°Do we need to return it after the training?¡±


    ¡°You can have it as long as you are an employee of K Corp. Both the phone and the red hat are all the properties of K Corp.¡±


    Then people in group A, about 30 of them, stood up and followed Jane to leave the room.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    They came to a big room on the same floor. In the center of the room, there were about five rows of small cubes; on each row, there were 10 cubes; within each cube, there was a desk and an office chair, and on each desk there was one monitor, one keyboard, one mouse, and one set of headphone with mic. No CPU box found in the small cubes, which meant that those monitors were terminals of some centralized server. Facing to those small cubes was a big cube on an area of raised floor. That would be the place for the trainer. Between that area and the small cubes was a high stand glass lectern.


    There were two tables near the entrance. On the tables were several trays of delicate refreshments, several kinds of juice, and coffee. After everyone found a seat to put personal stuff, Jane asked them to treat themselves with refreshments and drinks, and then she left.


    About 30 minutes later, two men came in. One of them held a big paper box and another carried a pile of paper in his hands. When they came to the front of the room, they laid the box on the floor and the pile of paper on the glass lectern. Then one of them made self-introduction for both of them.


    ¡°My name is Jeff, and I am an HR manager of K Corp. That gentleman is Don, and he is from F Corp. We will be your trainers for the rest of your orientation month.¡±


    Jeff then opened the paper box and took out a small box that Steve had shown to the class a moment ago. ¡°I believe that you already know from Steve what is in this box. Now we will let each one of you to get one of these boxes.¡±


    Then he asked Don, ¡°Shall we start?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    Don went to take out a small box as well and said, ¡°We will read the names printed on the boxes, and when you hear your name is called, please come here to get your box. Once you get the box, you will find your name in three places, one is on the top of this box, one is inside the hat, and another is on your badge plate. If you find any mistake with your name, please let us know right away.¡±


    ¡°Am I supposed to only use the hat that is assigned to me?¡± Fred asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jeff answered.


    ¡°What if I forgot to bring it from home?¡± someone else asked.


    ¡°In that case, you have to ask for a temporary lease from the security desk, and they will take a common sample and configure it for your use for the day,¡± Jeff responded. ¡°However, if you have more than three times of that kind of incidence for any month, you will lose your 50% extra bonus that I believe Steve already told you for that month, and you might get some further disciplinary penalty up to dismissal from your job depending on how many times you forget to bring your hat or badge.¡±


    ¡°That sounds scary, but makes sense,¡± Fred blurted.


    ¡°If you lost your hat or badge, you must report to the HR right away and each replacement of the hat would cost you $30 and each replacement of the badge would cost you $20 because they are all specially manufactured. If your loss of your hat or badge caused you to lease a temporary one, then it will count as one incidence of not bringing your hat or badge to work.¡± Jeff added.


    ¡°How do you know if I am not wearing the hat?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°When you swipe your badge at the security gate, you need to have your hat on your head. Otherwise, the gate will not open for you. Then, once you come into any building of K Corp, if you don¡¯t wear the hat, we will receive an alarm, and we will try to contact you by the mobile phone that you will get together with the hat.¡±


    Jeff then picked up a sheet of paper from the pile on the lectern. ¡°Here is the agreement for voluntarily using the IB technology provided by F Corp to K Corp. The relevant rules and disciplines including everything that I just mentioned are all written on this paper. Each of you will get one sheet of this form when you come to get your hat box. Please read through it and sign it. I need to collect every signed form before we can start our training.¡±


    ¡°Steve was mentioning a new contract for us, is it this one?¡± Alice asked.


    ¡°Not this one,¡± Jeff replied. ¡°You need first to sign this agreement, and then we can sign the new contract with you later. And you will not see the 50% extra income in this agreement. But don¡¯t worry. It will be in the new contract that you will sign with K Corp. You need to trust your employer, right?¡±


    No one raised any more question.


    ¡°Now Don will call the names printed on the boxes, please come only when your name is called. Meanwhile, others please stay in your seats.¡±


    Then Don started to call the names on the boxes and the trainees went up to get the boxes as well as the agreement forms.


    John sat in the last row of the cubes. He did not want to get a front seat even though he had the chance to do so. Coincidentally, his seat was just behind the seat of Alice Kim.


    It seemed that Don was calling the names based on the alphabetical order of last names. So Alice was called before John. When she stood up and turned back, she found John right behind her, so she said ¡°hi¡± to him. John returned ¡°hi¡± with a smile.


    Soon after Alice, John was called by Don. He went up to receive his device set and the agreement form. After he got back to his seat, he quickly went through the agreement. Basically, it was written that the undersigned employee would voluntarily wear the red hat whenever he/she would be on the premise of K Corp and comply with relevant rules of K Corp concerning the use of IB technology, and any act of noncompliance would lead to certain disciplinary penalties, the highest level of which would be the termination of employment with K Corp.


    As Jeff said, the 50% extra was not mentioned in the agreement. But John did not worry a bit about that. If he could not trust his employer, he would not have even taken this job. He signed the agreement without any hesitation. As a fresh graduate who was eager to embrace the new world, John might have most probably chosen to use the IB technology even without that 50% extra income.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    After Jeff collected the agreement forms from the class, Don kicked off the training by switching on the connection to the central server that F Corp had installed somewhere else in that building. Then he asked the trainees to switch on their terminal monitors, so everyone could then see the login screen on the monitor. Don helped them work out the authentication and then all the trainees entered the centralized training system.


    ¡°This training program is basically the same as the orientation program for others, and you will study basically the same HR orientation materials, and take some tests with the same set of questions. The only main difference is that you will be trained to interact with the system by your mind using the IB technology.¡± Don started the training by introducing the broad background of the program.


    ¡°Since everyone could pretty much read the HR documents, the main challenge to you would be how to use the IB technology. So I will drive the main training, and when you have any HR related question, you might get help from Jeff. Both of us would be here throughout the whole training program.¡±


    Jeff then chipped in, ¡°as for the new contract with 50% extra income, you will get tomorrow or the latest the day after tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Now let¡¯s all put on the red hats,¡± Don said while putting a red hat on his own head. ¡°After everyone puts on the red hat, all of you have already connected to the IB system, or more precisely, your mind has been connected to the IB system. However, the system still cannot take any command from anyone of you because the system still does not understand you. You need to train the system to understand you. So we¡¯ll start our program by training the system to know each one of you.


    By the way, you might still use the keyboard and mouse to interact with the system. As a matter of fact, at the beginning, the only way for you to interact with the system would be using the keyboard and the mouse. Later on, when the system could understand your mind, you might start to interact with the system without the keyboard and the mouse. Is there any question about this?¡±


    Alice raised her hand, and Don said to her, ¡°Please.¡±


    ¡°Would you know whether we are using our mind or the keyboards to answer questions?¡± Alice asked.


    ¡°Sure. The IB is smart enough to recognize if the input is from human mind or other means. The exercises or tests that you might take during the training have all been reprogrammed using IB technology, even though their contents might be the same as those for others. If you are required to use your mind for the exercise or test, but you use the keyboard or mouse, then the system would not let you pass. Is this clear?¡±


    ¡°Very clear, thanks,¡± Alice was satisfied with the answer from Don.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± Fred raised his hand.


    ¡°Please,¡± Don let him to speak.


    ¡°What is this headphone for?¡± Fred raised the headphone in his hand.


    ¡°I am just about to come to this issue,¡± Don replied. ¡°When you start to train the IB system to understand you, at the beginning, you will be asked to read some sentences loudly. It is not because the system would attempt to recognize your voice. The system does not listen to your sound. It only listens to your mind. But when you read it loudly, it would be easier for the system to understand you. Once the system gets familiar with your mind, you will be required to read only in your heart without making any sound. But you all see that your little cube is obviously not insulated. So nobody can focus doing anything when everyone else was shouting like crazy.¡±


    The class burst into laughter.


    Don continued, ¡°That is why we need the headphones for you guys at the beginning, which would block noise for you, allow you to speak to the microphone, and let you hear when others speak.¡±


    Then he picked up a headphone set and waved the headphone in his hand. ¡°Besides, this is a specially designed headset. There is a small switch on its left side. You need to switch it on before you can use the mic, and don¡¯t forget to switch it off after you use the mic because we don¡¯t want to hear you screaming to the machine when you train the IB system.¡±


    The class all laughed.


    ¡°But you don¡¯t need to worry that your ear might be blown up if someone forgot to switch off his mic and shout to it. This headset is specially designed for this training, which can only pass a certain level of sound,¡± Don explained.


    Then he instructed the trainees to open a software application on their screens. That was the software they would use for this first phase of training. It would display a sentence selected from the HR documents, and let the user repeatedly read it out until the system can understand his/her meaning conveyed by his/her mind. At the beginning the sentence would be very short, and it would get longer when the system could understand the user better.


    Don said to the class, ¡°It takes different lengths of time for different persons to progress when you train the machine. So we will not do it together. Everyone would work on his or her own, by following the instruction of the system, to complete this phase. Those who complete it earlier could make some flexible arrangement of their time when it is approved by Jeff or me. But you still need to come every day. We might also let you do something for fun in the class.¡±


    John and Alice progressed very fast with the training in the first class. Both were new college graduates with some language-related educational background. But the age was not actually the main factor since F Corp had already found that sometimes older people could interact with the IB system better. The main factors that made both John and Alice to progress fast in communicating with IB system by their mind, as John found later on, might be related to their language related educational background, as well as the fact that both of them were smart top students in college.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    It was close to 10 pm when John arrived home. He left the training classroom around 5:30pm with Alice and a few others. There was a happy hour for the newbies in the cafeteria hosted by the HR. They went there to social with others and celebrate their new jobs. After the happy hour, John, Alice, and Fred went to a Chinese hot pot restaurant nearby for their dinner. Then he came back home.


    It was a long, busy and exciting day for John. What he experienced and achieved on his first day of working for his career was far beyond his expectation. Not only was the 50% extra a big surprise, but also the whole perspective of becoming one of the front runners of a new time in human history. In addition to that, he felt happy that he made some new friends, especially with that Alice, a pretty and smart girl who was also a new graduate of the year.


    John sent a few short texts to brief what happened for the first day to his family and a couple of close friends. Then he did not waste much time before he went to bed. He was too tired and the next day would be another busy day for training.


    But no sooner had he shut off the light than his mobile phone rang. He picked up the phone. A familiar voice came from the phone.

 Three The Reunion

    It was Amanda, who was with Jessica. Both Amanda and Jessica were high school classmates of John, and both of them started their jobs as well not long ago, but in another city. They heard from Josh, a common classmate of all, that John just started a new job. So they called in to congratulate him. John was very glad to hear their voice. As a matter of fact, after having so many surprises during the day, it¡¯s a pleasure to share his news with someone.


    ¡°Hey John, can we come to your place the coming weekend, with Josh, I guess?¡± Amanda asked after giving their congratulations.


    ¡°That would be great,¡± John replied. ¡°But could you hold on a minute, let me ask my roommates first?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    John went out his room and saw Martin, one of his roommates, in the kitchen. John and all three of his roommates just moved into this apartment not long ago. They were all friends during the past years when they went to college in the S City.


    Martin told John that he and another two roommates happened to have a trip to another city for the weekend of next week, and they had not got a chance to talk to John about it yet. ¡°If your friends could come next weekend instead of this weekend, they could stay in our rooms. I don¡¯t think AJ and Bill would have any problem with it.¡±


    ¡°That will be great. Let me ask them.¡± John went to ask the other two roommates and both of them gave him the okay for his friends to stay in their rooms.


    Then John conveyed the news to Amanda and Jessica.


    ¡°That sounds great.¡± Both Amanda and Jessica were glad to hear the news.


    ¡°Do you think Josh would be free for that weekend?¡± John asked.


    ¡°He is okay because he said he will be free for the coming few weekends,¡± Amanda replied.


    So they agreed upon the date for the reunion of four of the old classmates in the S city.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Two weeks passed very quickly. John got acquainted with every single person in the class. He had been quite close to Alice and a few others who normally finished the mind exercises earlier than the rest of the class. It had become a routine event for them to go to the cafeteria at the top of the building after their training of the day. Those with families would leave earlier and those singles would stay longer. That routine gathering not only helped them get closer to each other, but also became an important channel for them to learn about K Corp, its history, its current happenings, and all kinds of gossips of it.


    The environment of the cafeteria was nice and its coffee tasted better than what John used to get from the fast food restaurants in the city.


    On Friday afternoon, John left the company right after the class and rushed to the train station. He had barely stepped onto the platform when the train from B City entered the station. He decided to stay at the position of the first carriage from where he could overlook the whole platform.


    Right after the doors of the train were opened, John felt the vibration of his mobile phone. He picked phone and saw a text from Josh, ¡°We are at the last carriage.¡±


    John replied, ¡°I am coming to meet you guys there.¡±


    The passengers started to pour out from all carriages of the train. John had to make his way against the flow of the crowd to trot towards the end of the train.


    From far John could see his friends stepping out of the carriage and looking towards his direction. John waved to them and all of them saw him almost at the same time.


    It was an exciting moment when John and his friends finally met and hugged each other. Then John said to them, ¡°Hold on a second. Let me call a car service.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just call a cab on the street?¡± Josh asked.


    ¡°These days many cabs are those cute unmanned vehicles. Sometimes they are too small for luggage,¡± John explained, and dialed a number.


    It was not hard to get a car service around the train station since many drivers of car service would wait on the nearby streets. When John and his friends walked out the train station, they saw a black limo already waiting on the main avenue next to the station, and the driver was waving to them. They went over to the limo and confirmed that it was the one John just called for. Amanda and Jessica got into the car first, and John and Josh loaded the luggage into the trunk.


    Once the car left the busy neighborhood of the train station, the driver began talking.


    ¡°Where are you guys from?¡±


    ¡°We just came from the B City,¡± Jessica answered.


    ¡°B City¡­what happened to the drone cabs in your city?¡± the driver asked.


    ¡°No more drone cabs now. It only lasted for three months and just stopped a couple of days ago,¡± Josh said.


    ¡°Really? I have been too busy recently and did not follow the news carefully.¡± John was surprised. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡±


    ¡°A premature service,¡± Jessica remarked.


    ¡°Some problems with the quality of the drones?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think the quality of the vehicle itself is an issue,¡± Amanda commented. ¡°Josh, why don¡¯t you tell your own story of the adventure with a flying cab?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that was a scary but fun experience,¡± Josh laughed.


    ¡°What happened?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I was stuck in the traffic jam when I came back from the airport,¡± Josh said.


    ¡°That¡¯s normal for any metropolitan,¡± John was obviously not impressed by that answer.


    ¡°But I was caught in the air traffic jam because I was in a drone cab.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s scary,¡± John sounded surprised. ¡°But how could that happen in the open sky?¡±


    ¡°The openness was actually the cause of the problem,¡± Amanda said.


    ¡°How could that be?¡± John felt confused.


    ¡°Let Josh tell him,¡± Jessica suggested.


    Josh said, ¡°There happened to be about 20 drone taxi cars arrived at the same location in the sky at the same time. All of them were trying to land at the same spot. Obviously each of them was smart enough to avoid collision with another drone, but all of them could not work out a plan to resolve that jam. When some car back off to make some space for another one, more than one drones would consider it as the chance to get in. Then they all stopped again to avoid collision. The one that I was riding climbed up to greater heights for multiple times and also dived to lower positions many times, just trying to either avoid collision and make space for others or to get into the space left out by others.¡±


    ¡°That sounds horrible. Then how did you land in the end?¡±


    ¡°A flying cop car came trying to break up this robotic standoff, but it just added more confusion to those robots. For a couple of times he almost hit some drones if not because they dodged aside quick enough, which then caused all other drones to dodge from their positions, a few slight sideswipes actually happened due to some slow reactions during those processes.¡±


    ¡°Wow. It sounds like they were too close to each other,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Kind of,¡± Josh explained. ¡°You know ¡­ the maneuver of move and stop in the sky is in general not as efficient as on the ground. Therefore, normally those drones have to stay certain safe distances away from each other to avoid collisions due to sudden moves of other drones. But if the other cars shift too quickly towards them for any reason, then they might not be quick enough to get out of the way of the incoming objects.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like that cop was not as smart as the drones,¡± John said.


    ¡°Exactly!¡± Josh and two girls agreed with John at the same time.


    ¡°Then how did you land in the end?¡± John repeated his previous question again.


    ¡°Some passengers changed their mind and asked their drones to fly to somewhere else. Most of the drones still stayed because only limited designated spots are allowed for drone taxi cars to land in the city since the streets are not very wide as you know,¡± Josh replied. ¡°If you leave your original destination, you might have to walk many blocks, assuming that you could find a free spot many blocks away. That could cause some trouble to visitors who are not familiar with the city.¡±


    ¡°So you left since you are familiar with the streets?¡±


    ¡°No. It happened that I had two big luggage cases and I was not feeling very well that day,¡± Josh replied.


    ¡°Then what happened in the end?¡±


    ¡°The cop somehow forced a couple drones to leave, then just by pure chance, some drones got landed first, and others followed later.¡± Fortunately, Josh¡¯s story had a good ending.


    The taxi stopped ahead of an intersection. It seemed that the traffic light was not functioning, and two cops were there directing the vehicles to move through the intersection. It was the rush hour in the late Friday afternoon when those who just came off their work, who rushed for weekend plans, and who came off their work and rushed for their weekend plans all plunged into the street from all directions. Thus the jam during that time period could be very serious.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°I guess we are stuck,¡± Jessica sighed. But the taxi started to move right after she said that.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This is not in the sky,¡± The driver jested. Then he complained indignantly, ¡°Here we already have too many damn robots-driven cars running on the street, I bet you anything there must be some of them ahead of us.¡±


    ¡°I believe so,¡± John said.


    ¡°These days¡­ unmanned vehicles are no longer the news that people would pay attention to,¡± the driver said when their car slowly passed by the police officer following his hand command. ¡°Only the drone taxi in your city was big news.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a hundred times more difficult for the cop to relieve the traffic congestion in the sky than on the ground, since there is no traffic light or even lanes in the air,¡± Josh said. ¡°That¡¯s why the drone taxi did not last very long.¡±


    ¡°But if only one cab company is allowed to provide services of unmanned drone cabs, there would be no need for the cops to intervene, I guess.¡± John commented. ¡°The central dispatcher of that company could solve the problem remotely.¡±


    ¡°That will violate the principle of fair competition in the free market,¡± Amanda responded.


    ¡°What if an unmanned vehicle hit someone? Who is going to be charged?¡± Jessica brought up another topic.


    ¡°That was a hot topic a few years ago,¡± Josh answered. ¡°I think the current commonly accepted solution is if the unmanned vehicle is the cause of an accident, then the vehicle will be confiscated first, then a special agency would investigate the responsibility of the owner, and the dealer, and the manufacturer behind the accident, as well as the responsibility of the government inspection agency for allowing the vehicle to get on the road or allowing it to be sold in the market.¡±


    ¡°Is this written into the law?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°I think it has been written into the law, with some more details about how to judge the responsibility and how to punish, in most part of the country where unmanned vehicles are allowed to get onto the road,¡± Josh said.


    ¡°Robots have made human legal system much more complicated or maybe weird,¡± Amanda commented.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°What if the accident happened because the satellite is not functioning well?¡± Jessica asked. ¡°I mean, as we know that the unmanned vehicles are all guided by the satellites, right? But if the satellite was hit by something and out of function, there could be a lot of accidents caused by the unmanned vehicles.¡±


    ¡°You mean during the war time?¡± John asked back.


    ¡°Could be in war time, or just hit by meteorites or even something like rays from the outbreak of sunspots,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°Are you guys talking about the end of the world?¡± Josh quipped.


    All but the driver burst into laughter.


    ¡°Actually, that is not very funny,¡± the driver said.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I guess you don¡¯t take the unmanned cabs very often,¡± The driver replied.


    ¡°You are right,¡± John responded. ¡°Somehow I don¡¯t like those unmanned cabs. But I still took one from time to time.¡±


    ¡°Then you should have noticed that they are not allowed to enter certain areas in the city,¡± The driver said.


    ¡°Yeah ¡­ You are right,¡± John said. ¡°I noticed that, but I never got a chance to figure out why.¡±


    ¡°I noticed the same in our city as well,¡± Jessica chimed in.


    ¡°He is right.¡± Josh explained, ¡°It¡¯s simply because the government did some survey of all the vehicle roads in the city, and found that in some areas somehow the radiation from the surrounding constructions, or maybe from underground, could severely disturb or even block the satellite signals, which could cause troubles to those unmanned cabs.¡±


    ¡°I think I heard that before, but I didn¡¯t pay much attention to that,¡± John said.


    ¡°But how could an unmanned cab know whether some roads are not for them to enter?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°You might see some yellow boxes on some traffic lights. They must be working with the satellites and the scanners or radars on those unmanned cabs to inform them not to cross beyond those traffic lights,¡± The driver offered his theory.


    ¡°That actually makes sense,¡± Jessica agreed.


    ¡°At least I¡¯ve never seen any unmanned cabs drive across the lights with those yellow boxes installed,¡± The driver added.


    ¡­¡­


    The taxi stopped in front of John¡¯s apartment building. They unloaded the luggage and went into the building. While waiting for the elevator, John asked, ¡°Are you guys hungry?¡±


    ¡°I am starving,¡± Amanda said.


    ¡°You guys want to take a shower first or eat first?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I have to take a shower first,¡± Amanda and Jessica said almost at the same time.


    ¡°I can wait after the dinner for the shower. So we might go to eat after the ladies take showers because I am starving too,¡± Josh said, and then asked John, ¡°Is there any good restaurant in the neighborhood?¡±


    ¡°There are a few good ones. All are just a few blocks away¡­a Korean barbecue buffet, a nice Italian cuisine, a Mexican bistro, a Japanese hibachi house, and a Moscow restaurant.¡±


    ¡°I miss the caviar,¡± Jessica cut in when she heard the Moscow restaurant.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go to the Russian,¡± John seconded Jessica.


    ¡°No objection.¡± Josh went along with them.


    ¡°I am okay with Russian food, although I prefer Korean or Mexican,¡± Amanda said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t insist,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°We can go to Moscow today and Korean or Mexican tomorrow,¡± Josh came to make a compromise.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Amanda agreed.


    ¡­¡­


    They went to dinner as planned after Amanda and Jessica washed up and changed. After the dinner they went to a famous nightclub and came back to John¡¯s apartment early on Saturday morning.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The weekend passed by all too quickly. John and his friends had a wonderful time together. Even though all three of John¡¯s friends visited the S city countless times before, but this time they felt very different because all four of them had just started their own career life not long ago.


    They had picnics at the beach, enjoyed the concert at a theater, got half drunk in the bar, and chat until the second morning every night. For them, the most important thing was to get together and have fun.


    On Sunday morning John went to the train station with his friends to see them off. When he was left alone on the platform after the train moved away, he was hit by a strange feeling of loneliness. John was very happy about their visit, especially when he saw Amanda again. They had been good friends since very young. Actually, he once had a crush on Amanda during the high school. But he was too shy to tell her, especially when he found out later that Amanda was actually hanging out with someone else. So he just let go his own feeling and acted like nothing special happened. But still, he always enjoyed seeing Amanda and chatting with her.


    However, this time, even though John was still very happy to see Amanda, he felt a bit different from before. It¡¯s not just because they had all graduated from college and started their career jobs, but something else. Something new but unclear seemed to have emerged between him and Amanda. He had that strange feeling on Friday evening when he met three of them in the train station. He was not clear about what caused that until he watched the train disappeared from his sight. With the departure of his old friends, his mind came back to the reality of life, and the first thing popped up in his mind was Alice, the girl he just met recently in the training class¡­¡­


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The clock on the platform wall reminded him that it was still very early. The only thing he was compelled to do for the day was to clean up the rooms before his roommates came back in the evening as scheduled. John decided to walk home instead of taking the subway. It might take him about an hour to walk from the train station to his apartment. But the waiting time for a subway train would be longer on weekends, and he would have to walk to the subway station to take the train and then walk from the station to home after getting off the train anyway.


    The avenue outside the train station was busy as usual, but the sky was so blue and the air was exceptionally fresh for that crowded city. It would be a very nice day, according to the weather channel and John was tempted to enjoy the open air in the city.


    When exiting from the train station, John heard a burst of cheering noise from a nearby park at a few blocks away. There must be some entertaining activity as it often happened on weekends. John decided to go over to the park and take a look. When he just crossed the street, a heavy impacting sound came from behind him, ¡°BAM¡±. He was about to turn back to check out what happened, someone hit him with two hands and knocked him down to the ground.


    When John got up from the ground, he found another man also on the ground. That must be the one who pushed him down.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am okay. Sorry for knocking you down.¡± The man slowly got up from the ground. ¡°I saw that car rushing towards me, so I jumped. You were just beside me, so I hit on you. Fortunately, it stopped when crashing into the light pole.¡± He pointed toward a car behind him.


    John looked at the car. It was a small unmanned yellow hunchback cab, a typical robotic cab that had emerged on the streets in those days. Its front was smashed onto the roadside light pole, and its right side bore an obvious big dent. The only passenger in it was opening the door to get out, who looked fine without any obvious injury. Right behind it was a maroon SUV. Its driver already got out of the vehicle and was talking to a cop who happened to be nearby.


    The SUV driver was emotionally excited. He was complaining to the cop that the unmanned vehicle confused him. Then the passenger in the cab also joined the talk. Their voice was loud so that John could hear them clearly about ten meters away.


    ¡°It¡¯s another case of misunderstanding between human and machine,¡± John commented before he left the scene. His mood of enjoying the nice weather in the city was ruined by the accident. This was the second time he encountered a collision between a human-driven vehicle and an unmanned vehicle in the city.


    He saw a bus approaching a stop at half a block away, so he ran to that stop and caught the bus just before the door was closed. Actually the driver reopened the half-closing door when he saw John rushed to his bus.


    Unmanned vehicles had appeared on the road in some areas around the world about a decade ago. While those unmanned vehicles were supposedly fully tested for complicated road scenarios before they could be allowed to get on the road, sometimes some never tested new scenarios might just appear on the road; besides, human drivers had not been fully tested to understand their unmanned partners.


    Human beings tend to assume that their road counterparts would always think as they do. Even though traffic laws had been enforced around the globe for more than one century, human drivers had not been following all the laws in the same way as machines would run according to the preprogrammed code. When it came to complicated situations, for example, at busy intersections where the road signs were not properly maintained, human drivers could always work it out based upon mutual understandings. But after the unmanned vehicles joined the crowd of road traffic, human drivers found that they had to completely give up some of their human habits and start to think as machines. While that transition phase went smooth for most humans, it did cause troubles to some drivers who were not good at adjusting themselves, as it had been always the case for anything happened in human history. Of course, sometimes, the collisions happened simply because of some unexposed design defects as all artificial products might have.


    The bus was not very packed. John saw many empty seats at the back of the bus, but he didn¡¯t bother to go that far since the bus started to move right after he got on it. He took an empty seat on a two-seater beside another man, who leaned on the window and closed his eyes. In the senior seats which were next to the seat of John, two old ladies were chatting loudly.


    ¡°The home assistant robot that my son bought for me last month got crazy yesterday afternoon,¡± one lady started a story.


    ¡°What happened?¡± the second lady asked.


    ¡°It was chasing and kicking my little dog.¡±


    ¡°Oh no! That sounds horrible.¡± The eyes of the second lady widened in surprise.


    ¡°I commanded it to stop, but it did not listen to me. Then I tried to stop it using the remote. But the remote ran out of battery.¡±


    ¡°You should then change your battery right away,¡± The second lady reasoned.


    ¡°Of course I tried. But then I could not find any battery in the house.¡±


    ¡°Poor you. Then what did you do?¡±


    ¡°I called 911.¡±


    The man who sat next to John opened his eyes when heard that story and sighed, ¡°We created these machines to ruin our own life.¡±


    ¡°That accident on the street was also caused by a machine-driven car,¡± Another passenger on the seat across the walkway chimed in.


    ¡°But humans always had troubles before we had the robots, didn¡¯t we?¡± John raised a different voice.


    ¡°We were not perfect, but the machines are making it worse.¡± That second lady in the previous conversation turned around and participated in the philosophical debate between John and the other two.


    ¡°Come on, we cannot deny that life is much easier with those machines.¡± One more passenger joined in.


    ¡­¡­


    John left the debate at the stop near his apartment complex. Instead of taking the elevator, John used the stairways in the apartment building to walk to his apartment; he just wanted to make up the amount of exercise after missing the gym during the weekend.


    Just when John got to the door of his apartment, he heard the sound of music within the apartment.


    ¡°They are already home?¡± John felt sorry that he had not cleaned the rooms yet. He quickly pulled out his key to open the door.


    ¡°Hello, anybody home?¡± John asked before he actually entered the apartment. But no one answered and the music was still going on. It was the sound of some mobile phone ringing.

 Four The Street Protest and the Rumor

    John rushed into the apartment and located the source of the ringing sound right away. It was on the living room couch. John walked to the couch and found a mobile phone that was still ringing. John picked up the phone without hesitation.


    ¡°Hello! Who is this?¡±


    ¡°Is it John?¡±


    ¡°Josh? What¡¯s going on?¡± John recognized that it was Josh who was supposed still on the train.


    ¡°Oh, thank the Lord.¡± On the other side, Josh sounded relieved. ¡°I could not find that phone, and I was not sure where I lost it. So I have kept dialing that number in hopes of reaching whoever finds that phone.¡±


    ¡°But I saw you were using a phone on our way to the train station,¡± John said.


    ¡°Yes. I brought two phones to your place. Actually, that was why I forgot to take the one you found when I left.¡±


    Josh explained, ¡°That was a corporate phone and I didn¡¯t intend to use it during the weekend. I brought it just in case they might contact me for any emergency. I even turned off the position locator and that¡¯s why I did not know it was left at your place.¡±


    ¡°I see. Do you need me to send it to you today?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No hurry. The most important thing is that I know where it is. If it is convenient for you, you might drop it to the post office sometime tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I will go to the post office during lunchtime tomorrow and send it to you by the overnight express. You will get it on Tuesday,¡± John promised.


    ¡°That¡¯ll be great. Thanks so much buddy.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    After hanging the phone, John quickly cleaned up the mess left by his visitors so that when the roommates came back, they would have clean rooms.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    According to the schedule, Monday morning would be the exercise time, and the afternoon would be the quiz time.


    Don, the trainer of the IB system from F Corp, announced on the second Monday of the training that he would assign some extra exercises on each Monday for the trainees to practice using mind-power, in addition to the training content required by the HR of K Corp. Don had been a trainer for 30 years for various technologies before he worked for F Corp. He had found that some extra exercises could effectively help the trainees to improve their skills.


    John enjoyed working on those exercises on the previous Monday. He was able to finish all the exercises half an hour faster than many others in the class. Today he managed to finish it even faster since he needed to save some extra time to run the errand for Josh during the lunchtime.


    After two weeks of training, John had become very good at talking to the IB system with his mind. Now he seldom needed to use the keyboard to type anything when he sat in front of the terminal screen of the IB system. He could just talk to the system for whatever he wanted to input into it. Alice and a few others could do almost the same as John did, while most others were still struggling to get along with their computer partner, the IB system. For this reason, Jeff and Don let those who had progressed faster to have some free time to do whatever they wanted as long as they would stay in the premise of K Corp and came back to the class at certain scheduled time points. If someone wanted to take the advantage of working fast to leave the building for a while, they might also have the chance to do so as long as they got the permission from Jeff or Don.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    As scheduled, Don gave the class a quiz in the afternoon. Alice finished the quiz more quickly than most people in the class as usual. When she was about to leave her seat, she found John behind her still staring at the terminal screen. Alice did not see John in his seat when she came back from lunch, and she did not notice when he came back to his seat either. She guessed that John must have come back late for the quiz since he normally would finish it about the same time as her.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Alice greeted John with a very low voice and pointed upwards using her left index finger.


    John looked up and nodded towards her while showing an okay with his right hand, and then continued with his quiz. He knew that Alice was telling him that she was going to the cafeteria with the gang as usual. The timer on the terminal screen showed that it was just past 5:00 pm. He still had a few more problems to finish the quiz.


    Alice¡¯s guess was right. John came back to the class about ten minutes after the quiz started. He left the company before the lunchtime with the permission of Jeff. He went to the post office that was several miles away from the building of K Corp. Everything went very smoothly except that his bus was delayed due to a protest march on the street on his way back to the company.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The march was organized by car service drivers, including taxi drivers, limo drivers, and all kinds of other car service drivers, against the taking over of their jobs by unmanned car services. Ten men and women walked at the front of the procession, holding a long blue banner with crimson letters printed as ¡°Give Back The Working Rights To Humans¡±. It soon attracted people of many other working backgrounds to join the parade and became a protest against the replacement of humans by robotic machines in general.


    John¡¯s bus was right behind the road blocking set by the police at the intersection. He left his seat and walked to the front of the bus beside the driver so that he could see the march clearly.


    The chanting of slogans by the marchers was very loud and John could hear it clearly from within the bus. From time to time someone shouted ¡°I have a soul!¡± and the others followed with ¡°I have the right to work!¡± or someone shouted ¡°We are human!¡± and others followed with ¡°Don¡¯t trade us for robots!¡± or someone shouted ¡°This is my country!¡± and others followed with ¡°It¡¯s owned by humans!¡± and a few other catchphrases.


    The procession was moving in order and peace. Cops were helping to block the traffic so that the march would not be disturbed by the vehicles or pedestrians on the street. It took about 10 minutes for the whole procession to pass his bus. John estimated that there might be about 10 thousand marchers in the procession.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    When John returned to the class, it was very quiet, and he knew that the quiz had started. Don saw him and beckoned him to his seat. John sneaked to his seat without making any noise and turned on the machine. Once he saw the content of the quiz, he felt relieved. It was about personal safety at the workplace, a very typical HR subject. The only difference between the quiz they were taking and what the ordinary employees might take was that they need to answer everything with mind, which had become an easy task for John anyway. The class learned the subject the previous Friday. So the main disadvantage for John was that he did not have any time to study before the test as others might have had. But that did not bother him either since John had a very good memory.


    John finished the quiz about 15 minutes after Alice left. Then he took the elevator to the cafeteria. Since he was late today, John was not sure if Alice and others were still there. But he would go there to have a cup of coffee for himself anyway.


    The cafeteria of K Corp was located at the top floor of the building. Its operation was outsourced to C Corp, which was a public company specialized in running the multi-million business of internal cafeterias for large corporations. The whole top floor was divided into the indoor cafeteria and an outdoor rooftop terrace, with the terrace on the south side of the cafeteria. Between the terrace and the cafeteria were some glass doors and windows so that people could see what was on the deck very clearly from within the cafeteria.


    The indoor portion of the floor was divided into two main areas, the food area and the dining area, by retractable belt barriers. The food area was in the middle surrounded by the belt barriers and the rest was the dining area. In the food area, there were several different sections, with some of them for freshly cooked hot food, some for cold dishes, some for bakeries, and some for fruits and beverage.


    There were two exits from the food area to the dining area at its two opposite sides. Cashier desks were located at the exits, where the customers (i.e. employees or visitors of K Corp) would make their payments after they had obtained their food and beverage before they went to the dining area. At the east end of the cafeteria, there was a safety exist to the stairways; at the west end, on the south side were escalators connecting the top floor to a lower floor, and on the north side were elevators that could go to every floor in the building.


    After stepping out of the elevator, John looked around. The cafeteria was almost empty, and he did not see anyone from his class. He walked to the coffee machine and made himself a large size of coffee. When he walked towards the cashier, he saw Alice and others were sitting around a table on the outdoor terrace. So he walked out to the terrace to join his folks after he paid for the coffee.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    On the terrace, Alice, Fred, and Jason were chatting with a man. John never saw him before. They seemed very excited about something and no one noticed John until he grabbed a chair and sat beside Alice. The stranger stopped talking and greeted John, ¡°Hi there. I am Jerome. Are you in the same class with them?¡±


    ¡°Yes. My name is John.¡± John and Jerome had a quick hand shaking.


    ¡°Jerome is from F Corp. He heard the news that K Corp might help F Corp to market their IB system around the world,¡± Alice told John.


    ¡°Really? But it seems that we are the only ones who know how to use the IB technology here in K Corp.¡±


    ¡°That means we might be assigned to work on this, I guess,¡± said Jason.


    ¡°I heard K Corp might have a new department to work with us,¡± added Jerome.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know anything about how to set up the server,¡± said Fred.


    ¡°That part I think F Corp would take care, at least for now.¡± Jerome assured them.


    ¡°But I heard that several people in our class have already been involved in some projects in their own departments. So I guess not all of us would be working on this project for F Corp,¡± Alice brought up another issue.


    Then all of them, except Jerome, looked at each other asking whether they had been assigned any work in the departments for which they were originally interviewed for. But none of them was.


    ¡°I only met with my department manager once since I came here,¡± John said.


    ¡°Then maybe you guys would be the candidates to work on the new F Corp project,¡± Jerome said.


    ¡°Why were you late for the quiz?¡± Alice asked John.


    ¡°I went to the post office, but the bus was caught up by the protest on my way back,¡± John said.


    ¡°What protest?¡± Alice asked.


    ¡°I think it was a protest by the service car drivers against the unmanned cabs,¡± John answered.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t read the news online?¡± Fred asked Alice. ¡°It was organized by the service car drivers, but then joined by people of many other backgrounds. It turned into violence in the central square area.¡±


    ¡°It was very peaceful when I saw it,¡± John said.


    ¡°Yeah, it was peaceful at the beginning. Then they clashed with a counter-protest by university students and professors who support the AI industrial revolution for the benefit of human civilization,¡± Jason added.


    ¡°Oh well, this kind of thing will happen sooner or later anyway,¡± Jerome commented and then stood up. ¡°I gotta run to catch my bus. Nice to talk to you guys.¡±


    ¡°We need to go as well,¡± said Fred.


    All of them left their seats and walked towards the elevators.

 Five Meeting with Steve

    Three more weeks passed. It was Friday again, the last day of the first IB training class in K Corp. There would be a celebration party in the afternoon. But in the morning, the class would first meet with the HR team. They were told on Thursday that the same team they met on the first day of the orientation, Steve and several other HR managers, would come in the morning to make the official announcement of the end of the class.


    When Don came into the training room, Jeff did not show up with him as usual. Don told the class that Jeff would come with Steve since he was also from the HR department. While waiting for the HR team to come, Don loaded into the system a mind-operated game that was newly developed by F Corp. It was the mind version of the classic bouncing ball game normally played by the school children. But the central server would control the beginning of each run and collect the score of each player for the run, and then display the top three scores to the whole class, which was the only competitive feature of the game in a team environment. The main challenge, of course, was how to use mind instead of fingers to control the game. The whole class was so excited playing the game that they did not notice the arrival of the HR team, until Don shut off the server in the middle of the game.


    The HR team came almost one hour later than the normal class time. Jeff directly walked to the front to talk to Don while Steve and other HR managers were standing at the back of the class. After Don turned off the game, Jeff started to speak to the class.


    ¡°Sorry that we are late. There was some HR paperwork to complete before the training is officially ended. For the past four weeks, with the support of F Corp, together we spent a great time. Let¡¯s give a big applause to our wonderful technical coach from F Corp, Don.¡±


    All in the room, including the HR team, clapped their hands for Don. For the past five weeks, both trainers had become friends of all trainees. They were not only patient with all kinds of questions, about HR policy or IB technology, asked by the trainees, but also very flexible with their individual needs during the training.


    Don was sitting in his seat when Jeff started to talk. Now when everyone clapped for him, he stood up and gave thanks to the class as well as the HR department, especially Jeff who worked with him for the past weeks. The class gave hands to Jeff as well.


    ¡°Steve, it¡¯s your turn now,¡± Jeff called Steve.


    Steve walked from the back of the class to the front.


    ¡°Congratulations, Class. You have completed the five weeks of special orientation training and you did a great job during the training. All of you except for a very few would go back to the departments that you were hired for. Some of you have already started working on some projects in your own departments during the training. That is wonderful. I believe that the process of integrating the IB technology into each of your department would definitely be benefited from what you have learned in this training.¡±


    Steve did not mention the new department for IB technology as many had expected based on the rumor John and others heard from Jerome. He only talked for a few minutes and then announced the end of the training. When he was about to dismiss the class, Jeff chipped in, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to go to the party at 2:30pm.¡±


    ¡°Correct. I almost forgot that. Thanks, Jeff.¡± Steve added, ¡°We really appreciate your efforts in picking up the IB technology for K Corp during the past five weeks, and we need to celebrate it. We have already informed each of your departments, and they will make sure that all of you would go to the party this afternoon.¡±


    John was not only disappointed for not hearing anything about the new department, but also a bit troubled because his own department manager never took him to his own desk. Now he even did not know where he should go.  He got up from his chair and was about to get help from Jeff when he saw Jeff was walking toward him.


    Jeff came to pass a message to John, ¡°Please wait here. Steve needs to talk to you.¡±


    John sat back to the chair without saying anything since he did not know where to go and what to do anyway. But when he sat back, he saw Jane going to talk to Alice and then Alice went away with Jane.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The trainees left the room soon after the class was dismissed since they will party together in a few hours. After almost everyone left, Steve walked toward the door and beckoned John to join him. When John met with him at the door, Steve said to him, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    They took the elevator to the 17<sup>th</sup> floor, the floor of HR department. Steve then led the way to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee at the coffee machine. John did the same after Steve because somehow he sensed that they might have a long talk.


    They did not go to the office of Steve as John had expected. Instead, they came to a small conference room of HR department.


    ¡°It is quiet here. Too many phone calls and door knocks at my office,¡± Steve said.


    Right after they entered the conference room, Steve shut the door and showed a chair to John, and then found a seat for himself at a distance from John, neither too far nor too close.


    ¡°How do you like the training?¡± Steve asked after they both sat down.


    ¡°It¡¯s great,¡± John answered.


    ¡°Both Jeff and Don gave a very good rating for your performance during the training.¡±


    ¡°Oh really? I am glad to hear that.¡± John was still quite nervous when he entered the room with Steve, but now he felt much relieved when he heard about his rating.


    ¡°Which part of the training did you like the most?¡±


    ¡°I like the IB technology the most, which is pretty cool,¡± John answered.


    ¡°What do you like about the IB technology?¡±


    John started to feel the pressure in the questions of Steve. Like most others, or maybe all others in the training class, John did not spend much time thinking about the potential benefits about the IB technology. To him, the IB technology was a cool new thing and it must be very useful, or otherwise K Corp and F Corp would not have invested so much on it. But when Steve wanted him to make a comment on the IB technology, John started to realize that his vocabulary in that area was not good enough.


    ¡°It¡¯s kinda an avant-garde technology that would represent the future of our civilization.¡± Hardly had John said that than he regretted it bitterly. John had always been a smart but shy and sensitive boy. He could sense the dissatisfaction from the subtle changes in Steve¡¯s seemingly emotionless face. Even though Steve had not made any comment on his answer yet, John already found his own answer too empty.


    He quickly made it up. ¡°With this technology we could interact with the computer system anywhere even without the need of any solid or augmented reality virtual keyboard. That could be very handy, or I should say very mind-y,¡± he made an unsuccessful funny vocal expression, and then went on, ¡°whenever it is not convenient for us to use our hands to type.¡±


    John paused, checking on the reaction of Steve. But he did not get a single word of comment from Steve. Obviously, Steve was still waiting for him to continue. John scratched his head and then added, ¡°For example, if some patients cannot speak or cannot speak clearly, then the IB technology could help them to communicate with others. And¡­uh¡­¡±


    Seeing John struggling with the answer, Steve decided to help this lad. He cut off John and asked a different question, ¡°To a boss, or a manager, what do you think is the most important quality of an employee or an underling?¡±


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s his skill and work attitude,¡± John answered without any hesitation.


    ¡°Well, that is what you have been told since you were a grade school boy.¡± Steve took a sip of coffee and then leaned his body a little closer to John. ¡°Let me tell you a secret that you will never learn from any school: the most important quality of an underling is the capability of being trusted even though every boss would claim what you just mentioned to be the most important. I guess even the novelists don¡¯t often teach you about that.¡±


    ¡°That makes a lot of sense,¡± John complimented. Although he was not very sure which one was more important between the capability of working efficiently hard and the capability of being trusted, he was quite sure both were all important.


    ¡°But what would you say the most important quality that would make a person trusted by his boss?¡±


    ¡°Honesty.¡±


    ¡°You are quite right. Honesty is fundamental for being trustworthy. However, lacking honesty is also a major weakness of human beings. Most bosses or managers would demand the honesty of their underlings, but they could not simply just always trust it.¡±


    ¡°Then I think it would be loyalty,¡± John added.


    ¡°Loyalty is definitely important. With loyalty, even if someone lies on something, the boss might be okay for that since he knows a loyal person would not hurt him or his organization. However, loyalty is also something that could be faked. Over human history, we have heard countless stories about some supposedly loyal people betrayed their bosses. Sometimes even enemies could pretend to be loyal in disguise.¡±


    John started to feel a bit lost about what Steve was trying to make a point of.


    Steve did not wait for John to add more answers for how to get trusted. He continued with his own comment.


    ¡°What you just mentioned, honesty and loyalty, are all important qualities for being trustworthy. Of course, what you mentioned earlier, which are related to the capability of being productive are also important factors of being trusted, but in a different sense. However, as we just discussed, altogether they are still not enough. You know why?¡±


    John did not answer because Steve did not sound like asking him to answer.


    Steve stood up from his chair. He put his right hand on the conference table and leaned his body towards John. ¡°The reason is that the bosses or managers they don¡¯t know what their underlings are really thinking in their mind. Do you get it?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± John knew that he had to respond this time, even though he did not get it at all.


    Steve smiled, ¡°You still don¡¯t get it, but I don¡¯t blame you.¡±


    He left his seat and walked a few steps in the room and then came back to sit in his chair.


    ¡°Now let¡¯s look at this issue from another angle.¡± He grabbed up his coffee cup and had a sip of coffee. ¡°What kind of benefit could the capability of being trustworthy bring to an employee?¡±


    ¡°I think trust is important for a good relationship.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an issue at another level. Every employee would like to have a good relationship with his or her boss, but that often is not a major concern of the boss.¡± Steve¡¯s comment made John felt a bit embarrassed.


    ¡°For an employee, the most important benefit of being trusted by his boss would be the potential of a bright future as long as he would work for the same company or the same boss,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°I guess so,¡± said John. He felt more confused about where Steve was trying to lead the conversation. As a new graduate, a good new career itself was the start of the bright future, and the importance of a good relationship with his superior had been just common knowledge to him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s say there are two employees, Jack and Jim. Jack is technically a bit stronger than Jim, but the boss feels that there would be less chance for Jim to cause any threat to him personally. If there is an important job, who do you think the boss would assign this job to, Jack or Jim?¡±


    ¡°I think it would be Jim.¡± John was just following Steve¡¯s hint.


    ¡°Correct. Now let¡¯s suppose the boss feels that Jack and Jim the same loyal to him, then who would you think the boss would assign the job, Jack or Jim?¡±


    ¡°It would be Jack now,¡± said John.


    ¡°Correct,¡± Steve concurred. ¡°You just started your career now. Very soon you will find that it will make a big difference for anyone in a corporation whether he could have the chance to do something important or not.¡±


    ¡°I believe so.¡±


    ¡°A corporation is like a reversed tree with its root on the top and leaves at the bottom. Of course, trees don¡¯t have circular trunks as corporations do, but you know what I mean, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Or we might say that a corporation is a stratified structure with many inner circles. The higher the level of an inner circle goes, the smaller its radius and the farther its reach is. All these circles are set around a common center, which is the head of the corporation. That¡¯s why everyone in the corporation would like to get into some higher-level inner circles. By the way, the majority is hopeless to get into any of those inner circles, but they are still very eager to know what are going on within those circles because that might affect their own benefits, which is one important reason for people to be interested in all kinds of corporate rumors.¡±


    John was fascinated by this idiosyncratic lesson of corporate politics from Steve. He almost forgot that this meeting might be of critical importance to his future in K Corp. Then he heard Steve asked him.


    ¡°Would you like to stay outside all those inner circles or to get into those circles?¡±


    ¡°Of course I would like to get into the circles if I could have the chance in the future,¡± replied John.


    ¡°Life might be full of surprises, for good or for bad. Sometimes chances might appear when you are not expecting them, and then all depends on whether you could catch them or not.¡±


    Steve stared John in the eye seriously and meaningfully. ¡°Tell me why I have spent the time to discuss all this with you?¡±


    John was about to say something and then stopped. He hesitated for a second and then answered in an apologetic voice, ¡°I am not sure about that.¡±


    Steve smiled at him. ¡°Normally I would have this type of conversation only with a candidate for a high rank manager position.¡±


    John was overwhelmed by that remark of Steve. He felt that he should say something to show his appreciation, but he could not find the proper words, and just looked at Steve in awe.


    Steve then asked John another question, ¡°Have you heard that we will have a new organization because of our new relationship with F Corp and their IB technology?¡±


    ¡°I heard about that,¡± replied John.


    ¡°I have been appointed to lead that organization.¡±


    ¡°Then who will be the head of HR department?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The new organization is an expansion of the original HR. It will contain the department of SR, meaning Strategic Resources, and the department of HR. Jeff will be the director of the SR department, and the head of HR has not been finalized yet. Under the SR, there will be two groups. One is the marketing group which would help the F Corp to sell their system around the world, and another is our internal IB system group which would overlook the implementation and operation of the IB system in K Corp.¡±


    John felt thrilled at this news. Any IB related news could make him excited at that moment since he had already considered his IB training as a markup of his personal market value.


    Then Steve said, ¡°Come back to the question I just asked you, the answer is that based on your performance during the past weeks of training, we feel that we can trust you, and thus we decide to bring you into the new department of SR.¡±


    ¡°Thanks a lot,¡± John expressed his gratitude promptly.


    ¡°Do you have any question about that?¡± Steve asked.


    ¡°Uh¡­Who else would be in this department?¡±


    ¡°Jane would be the leader of that marketing group, and you will be working in that group. I believe that we could make use of your international business background in your new position.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± John responded ardently and affirmatively.


    ¡°Beside Jane and you, we hope Alice could also join your group, and right now Jane is talking to her. You will also have one or two consultants from F Corp as your technical support. Meanwhile, several of your training classmates would join the new SR department, but work in the inner IB system group, which will be headed by Alex whom you have not talked to yet. They will get some consultants from F Corp as well. We are still discussing with F Corp the number of the consultants for that group. Of course, you guys will get your own secretary for the new department. That¡¯s pretty much of it.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°How about Don?¡±


    ¡°He has done a great job in the IB technology training, and he will continue to work on that as a consultant to K Corp from F Corp. Jeff cannot work on that. So we will assign another HR manager to work with Don. It is important to the future of K Corp.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to wear the red hat as well?¡± John had never seen any HR manager except Jeff wearing the red hat in the training class for demonstration.


    ¡°Good question. The answer is no. Neither I nor any other HR or SR manager will wear the red hat. That means we will count on you guys to instruct or give demos to our clients in the future.¡±


    While excited, John still had many questions in his mind, but he was not sure if he should ask or not. When he was hesitating, he heard Steve asked him, ¡°In your opinion, what makes us trust you?¡±


    The relaxed nerves of John were pulled back to high strain again. ¡°I believe I am an honest person. I can do the work and I will do my best as I have always been doing in my life.¡±


    ¡°Confidence and positive attitude are important traits of a person. We certainly value it. But what you feel about yourself would not be enough for us to trust you. It¡¯s true that your performance and how you dealt with others, and so on, during the past weeks have given us a good impression, but that¡¯s also not enough.¡±


    Steve got up from the chair and walked to a desk against the inner wall of the room. John just noticed that there was an old style desktop computer on the table, and a laser printer beside the computer. There were also different kinds of AV equipment on the desk and on the floor. Steve turned on the computer on that desk and then typed his credentials on the login screen.


    John did not move but stayed in his seat. After a short-lived joy of knowing that he had been selected into the new department, his mood was shadowed by the issue of trust again.


    After entered into his account in the HR system, Steve did not do anything with the computer but came back to his previous seat facing John.


    ¡°Come back to the topic of trust. Do you remember what I said about the biggest difficulty for a boss to even trust supposedly honest and loyal underlings?¡±


    ¡°You said the boss will not be sure about their honesty and loyalty because he could not know what is in their mind.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Steve said and patted the table with his hand. ¡°But now we can overcome that problem, can¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°How?¡± John still felt lost about what Steve was trying to make a point of.


    ¡°Think about what your new department is supposed to work on,¡± Steve gave him a hint.


    ¡°You mean the IB technology?¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± confirmed Steve.


    ¡°So you could actually use IB technology to know what I am thinking all the time?¡±


    ¡°Not all the time,¡± Steve answered in a flat voice. ¡°But whenever you are in the premise of K Corp as you agreed.¡±


    John was shocked. He could not believe what he just heard from Steve. He could not believe because he did not want to believe. Even though, as a non-technical person, John still did not know how Steve could know what was in his mind through the IB system, he was extremely uncomfortable with the affirmative answer from Steve about knowing what was in his mind.


    One voice inside him started to urge him to stand up and protest against the violation of his fundamental human rights, but meanwhile another voice was telling him not to do anything that might ruin his career in this great company.


    While John was struggling badly in his heart, Steve picked up his mobile phone and sliding his finger on the screen without paying attention to the changing color on John¡¯s face. Finally, John recovered from the shock and decided not to say anything that might be considered rude by Steve.


    Steve stopped playing with his phone and looked at John by seeing into his eyes. ¡°I know a lot of people like to keep their own personal secrets only to themselves. But over human history, no matter in a dictatorial regime or a so-called democratic system, people in powerful places would always like to use those whom could be known better instead of strangers. Would you agree with that?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I agree,¡± John answered in a feeble voice and attempted to avoid the cunning eyes of Steve.


    ¡°Good. That is an important knowledge, and I am glad that we are on the same page on that.¡± Steve was then completely confident that the conversation would be navigated to his planned target shore.


    ¡°We also know that people in high places never limit their ways of knowing others only to using flesh eyes and ears. They would use a lot other means. Not only that, they actually are always capable of using the most advanced means before most other people around the world could have access to them. Do you believe so?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°I guess now you could see the logic here. Powerful people would use those whom they know best, and they would always be able to make use of the most advanced technology to watch their underlings, and the most advanced technology in our time is the IB technology.¡± Steve paused to give John a chance to comprehend his logic. Then he continued. ¡°Now you have the advantage of being among the very few who are able to use the IB technology which would give you the ticket of an express track to some inner circle as we just talked about. If you don¡¯t take this advantage, then you would lose your chance to someone else who would like to get into an inner circle whatever it costs.¡±


    Once again, John was enticed by the temptation of that inner circle. Although Steve had never really told him what the inner circle was all about, John sensed that it must be something different from the ordinary life of most people in the world.


    ¡°I¡­I am glad that I have been selected into your new department,¡± John acknowledged.


    ¡°Excellent!¡± Steve went to the computer and printed some document. Then he came back with the pages that he just printed. He put the document face down on the table so that John could not see its content.


    ¡°You need to sign some new documents for this new assignment. This is not required for most of your training classmates. But you need to sign it because your new assignment is a bit different. Besides, as an incentive for you to take a step in helping this world to adapt the new IB technology, we will increase your extra income from 50% to 100%, which would be independent of any other bonus or increase. That means, if next year your salary is increased by 10%, that extra income would also be increased by 10%, so you would actually have 20% increase without counting other bonus.¡± Then he quipped, ¡°I guess that alone would be worth the effort of signing some new documents, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course, I appreciate it.¡± John dimly tasted that inner circle before he even knew what it would really be.


    ¡°But before you sign the document, I would like you to ask me any question you still have concerning what I have told you about the job.¡±


    ¡°I¡­I was thinking¡­but¡­never mind.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­in the new organization, we will be working like a family. I don¡¯t want you to have any feeling that I am not honest with you or I am taking any advantage of you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any question about it.¡±


    ¡°Please. Be brave. It will not hurt me or you by asking any question now before you sign the papers.¡± Steve encouraged, and John could feel that he was sincere.


    ¡°I was just wondering whether it is legally allowed for a company to peek into the mind of its employees and make use of the data.¡± John summoned the courage and picked the most proper words he could find at the moment to ask the question that really bothered him. After said that, John felt kinda relieved because he did something in protest against the violation of not only his human rights but also something he had been always believing since very young.


    ¡°A very good question, and I am very glad that you brought this up,¡± Steve amiably said. ¡°Whatever K Corp has been doing with the IB technology is completely lawful. I am not sure if you were careful enough when you read the employment agreement before you signed it on the first day of your job. Do you remember what the Clause 29 was about?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Steve was a bit surprised to hear John¡¯s answer since according to his experience nobody would carefully go through all the sentences in the agreement, not mentioning to remember it after several weeks.


    But there were things about John that Steve did not know yet. First of all, John had a very good memory; and secondly, as a graduate from one of the best schools of International Business in the world he learned during his college time that he had to always read any contractual document very carefully.


    ¡°What is it about?¡±


    ¡°I think it was saying something like according to the new Digital Data Law passed by the congress, K Corp could make use all digital data collected by any digital equipment used on the premise of K Corp,¡± John recalled.


    ¡°Very impressive. I guess that answers your question about the legality of our practice of using the data collected by the IB system.¡±


    John did not respond to that remark. Actually, the moment when he started to answer the question about the Clause 29, John already realized that he would not be able to challenge the legal validity of what Steve was doing.


    ¡°I am glad that you could frankly express your concern. We need everyone in our new organization to do so in the future. Is there any more questions that you would like to get an answer from me right now?¡±


    ¡°No. I am good.¡±


    ¡°Good. As I just told you that we don¡¯t have many people in your new department at the beginning, so I hope we will really trust each other like in a family.¡± He paused and then asked John, ¡°May I ask some personal questions?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Please.¡±


    ¡°How did your old friends, like Amanda and some others, think about your new job when they came to visit you a few weeks ago?¡±


    Another shock to John! This time it was even stronger than last time.


    ¡°I thought you only collect data within the premise of K Corp.¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°But¡­I had never mentioned any of my old friends and their visit to anyone of K Corp yet. How could you know the name and the visit?¡±


    ¡°Let me show you something.¡± Steve took his mobile phone, and used an app from the screen to remotely connect to the computer that he worked on a moment ago. On the display of the computer, John could see that Steve opened one folder. In that folder, there was a subfolder titled as ¡°John Potter¡±. Steve entered that folder and clicked on an audio file named as visit-of-old-friends.


    From the speaker boxes on the floor, John heard the clear voice of his own in rehearsal for talking to his friends about his new job before going to meet them in the train station.


    John was completely embarrassed when he heard his own voice, while extremely confused and horrified. It sounded exactly like he was talking and the content was something that he was thinking in his mind sometime in the past when he was still in the class, but of course he did not actually speak that out at all. As a matter of fact, he would never actually say that out anywhere on this globe.


    John turned to Steve for help, who was looking at him with a sly smile.


    Steve stopped the audio play. ¡°Any question or concern about this?¡±


    ¡°I am so embarrassed.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel too bad about rehearsing for something in your mind. Some recent psychological study has shown that self-rehearsal is a common human mental activity.¡± Steve offered his consolation to this poor lad in front of him.


    ¡°Thanks for saying that. But I am completely confused because even though I did have the thought as sounded in the audio, but I never spoke it out anywhere. How could you turn it into audio?¡±


    ¡°What really matters here is the content that was extracted from your real mind activity. The sound is fake. We added it just for the purpose of demonstration to show that how real we could hear what you are thinking.¡±


    ¡°Even if it is fake¡­I still don¡¯t get how you could make it. It just sounds like me.¡±


    ¡°That is just the simple speech synthesis technology. It might sound unbelievable for non-tech people like you and me, but it is not a big deal for those tech gurus,¡± Steve explained. ¡°The only fancy part F Corp added in this vein is that the IB system did some analysis of the parameters of your voice when you read the sample sentences loudly for training the IB system to learn your mind.¡±


    ¡°But we were told that the IB system only listens to our mind and would not listen to our voice.¡±


    ¡°That was also true, but its meaning was not what you thought to be,¡± Steve said. ¡°It only means that the IB system doesn¡¯t get your meaning from your voice. But that does not mean it cannot hear your voice. It still can record the sound you pronounced and use it to analyze your voice.¡±


    ¡°So we were tricked to read the sample sentences loudly at the beginning not for the sake of training the IB system to learn our mind, but only for the system to analyze our voice?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Steve explained, ¡°The main reason that you were asked to read sample sentences loudly is that when a person reads the sentences loudly, his correspondent brain wave pattern would be clearer, which could help the IB system to recognize it.¡±


    ¡°So it does those two tricks at the same time?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a computer system, so we can have it to do thousands of things at the same time.¡± Steve laughed.


    ¡°But it still baffles me¡­How was the content of my mind extracted?¡± John gazed in awe at the computer as if that was the IB system.


    ¡°That part you actually do need to know because you might need to explain it to your clients in the future.¡±


    Steve then explained to John how the content of mind was extracted into the system. ¡°Like PC or smart phone or any smart product, IB system is a so-called digital system. All input to a digital system would be converted into digital data. The fact that you could input text into the computer by the activity of your mind means that your brainwave detected by the red hat has been converted to some digital data and stored in the system.¡±


    ¡°But that piece of thought recorded in that file was not what I intended to input into the system.¡± Moved by the friendly gesture of Steve, the dismay or anger when John heard his own voice from the audio system had been dispelled by his curiosity about the miraculous power of the new technology.


    ¡°Based on what I learned from the engineers of F Corp, a great part of human mental activity, especially for grownups, is conducted by means of language. That means even though you don¡¯t speak a word loudly, your mind is still using words to do the thinking. That seemed to be the case with you when the IB system recorded your mind about meeting your old friends.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­You¡¯ve lost me here.¡± John was puzzled.


    ¡°That¡¯s nothing to feel embarrassed and you will get it soon,¡± Steve smiled at John. ¡°When we are thinking using words, no matter in English or in Spanish or in any other natural language, our brainwave would exhibit some characteristic pattern for each word, which would get more crystallized as the age grows, but might get blurred when some aging symptoms appear.¡±


    Although John did not fully understand what Steve was telling him, but he was very impressed by the knowledge of Steve, considering the fact that Steve was not a technical staff. Obviously, he had made a great effort to pick up the knowledge. That might be the reason for him to be appointed to head the new organization.


    Steve further explained, ¡°What IB system does is just to analyze the characteristics of the brainwave detected by the red hat on your head, and then translate them into natural language. Therefore, it does not matter whether you intentionally use your mind to type a text into the system or you are just doing your own thinking, as long as some vocabulary of natural language is involved, then the IB system would translate it into the relevant words.¡±


    ¡°Then how could the system tell whether I was doing typing during a test or just normal thinking,¡± asked John.


    ¡°Suppose I give you a quiz right now and you give me the answer. Can I recognize which part is your answer to the quiz and which part is just our normal conversation?¡±


    ¡°Of course you can,¡± answered John.


    ¡°The IB system is also smart enough to identify various contexts of your mind activity. It involves something called advanced pattern recognition, which is part of the AI technology.¡±


    ¡°Amazing,¡± John complimented.


    ¡°However, everyone has his or her own characteristics of brainwaves. It is just like everyone¡¯s fingerprints are unique. That is even called as brainwave signature, just like your writing signature on paper, which is unique for every different person. ¡± Steve added.


    ¡°Now tell me,¡± he gave John a quiz, ¡°how could the IB system recognize the messages contained in each person¡¯s brainwave?¡±


    ¡°Based on what you just said, uh ¡­ I guess that¡¯s why we need to train the system to know our mind.¡± John provided the answer indirectly.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Steve confirmed John¡¯s answer. ¡°That is just like some earlier versions of the sound recognition software. The user needed to train the software to learn the signature of his sound by reading some text before he could use the software. You might be too young to have used that kind of software.¡±


    ¡°I never needed to train any sound recognition software,¡± John said. Then he asked, ¡°Since we don¡¯t need to train the sound software from the market, why do we need to train the IB system before we use it?¡±


    ¡°That is because brainwaves are much more complicated than sound waves.¡±


    ¡°Is that why we are not allowed to exchange our red hats with each other?¡± John asked.


    ¡°You are partly correct on this because that is compulsorily necessary only at the beginning when the IB system does not know the brainwave signatures of the users,¡± Steve responded. ¡°When the IB system obtained your brainwave signature after you trained it, it would store that signature in our big data system. Now even if you use another person¡¯s red hat, the system could find out who you are.¡±


    ¡°So we might exchange our red hats with each other after the IB system knows about each of us?¡±


    ¡°No. We still don¡¯t encourage that even though IB could tell who you are, no matter which hat you wear, after it knows you,¡± Steve answered. ¡°This is for two reasons. Number one, it would be much more efficient for the red hat to work if everyone uses his own set; number two, it could help to enforce that everyone who has signed up for the red hat would have it all the time on K Corp premise. That¡¯s why we bind the red hat with your badge so that you have to wear it to work.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± John agreed. A moment ago, John felt like facing a frightening monster when he first heard his mind talking in the computer; but now he came back to the inner circle mood. The whole system looked quite reasonable and full of potential to him again. ¡°I guess, someday in the future, the IB system would not even need the user to train it, just like sound recognition software.¡±


    ¡°It could be,¡± Steve responded. ¡°But that is not what our current concern.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    John cast a glance at those several pages of paper Steve put on the table and expected Steve might let him sign whatever new documents necessary for his new assignment. But then he was surprised by another question from Steve.


    ¡°Do you like Alice?¡±


    ¡°Sure. We are friends.¡±


    Steve then further interpreted his question to avoid ambiguity. ¡°I meant do you feel very attracted to Alice as a man to a woman?¡±


    John felt embarrassed again. He did not expect Steve to ask such a question. He even had an impulse to stand up protesting against such an act of invasion of privacy. But that just lasted a very small fraction of a second.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say¡­ ¡±, he smirked dryly for a second. Then he looked at Steve and begged, ¡°Maybe we should change a subject.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Steve laughed for a second, and then pressed on, ¡°but do you know why I asked that question?¡±


    John realized that whatever he had thought about Alice must be already recorded by the IB system, the same as his thoughts about the visit of his friends.


    ¡°You heard my thinking about that through the IB system.¡±


    ¡°You are right,¡± Steve confirmed.


    ¡°Then I guess you also heard what Alice was thinking?¡± Hardly had John spoken that sentence out than he felt sorry for what he just said.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Steve answered.


    John predicted that answer right after he asked and it was exactly what he did not want to hear from Steve.


    ¡°We were glad to find out that both of you could share the same feeling about each other,¡± Steve added.


    John sighed and then put a helpless wry smile on his face. As a matter of fact, he was in a struggling mood. The last sentence that Steve just said was actually the best news he heard in the day, something he had dreamed of during the past weeks. But he didn¡¯t expect and didn¡¯t want to learn this news in such an awkward way.


    Steve finished his cold coffee, which reminded John that he still had a cupful of coffee. So he had a mouthful of coffee to tranquilize his very disturbed nerves.


    ¡°I am very glad to see that you have proved yourself as a very smart young fellow,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Although he had a very rough time since he entered this conference room with Steve, John still had to admit from his heart that what Steve did was based on goodwill to help him.


    ¡°Now you might sign those documents. But read through them carefully before you put on your signature.¡±


    Just when Steve passed those pages of paper to John his mobile phone rang. Steve picked up the phone and stepped out of the room to answer the phone.


    John started to work on those documents after Steve left the room.


    There were three documents. The first one was an addendum to his employment agreement, the second one was the confidential agreement, and the third one was application to be an entry-level member of an organization named as Brilliant Machines Association (BMA).


    The addendum to his employment agreement was an overwrite of the previously agreed amount of extra income since his new extra income would be 100%, instead of the previous 50%, of his regular salary independent of any kind of bonus or commission. He quickly signed that addendum. Then he read through the confidential agreement, according to which he must not disclose certain classified information to anyone outside their own department without the permission of the high management of K Corp. He signed that agreement without any hesitation since it sounded very reasonable.


    However, John was very confused with the application to that BMA, for which the name of Steve was printed as his reference. John went online using his mobile phone to search for the Brilliant Machines Association, but he could find nothing about it. He decided to ask Steve about the Brilliant Machines Association before signing the application.


    A few minutes later, Steve came back.


    ¡°We got more good news,¡± Steve sounded excited. ¡°Jane just called me and told me that Alice has agreed to join us. Now you two would work together in the same department.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good news.¡± John tried not to show too much of his excitement.


    ¡°You guys don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±


    John laughed. ¡°I can only promise you that I won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Surely you will not. But don¡¯t think too much about Amanda at the same time,¡± Steve winked at John.


    ¡°Wow. I gotta be very careful about what I am going to think from now on.¡±


    Both of them started to laugh.


    ¡°Did you sign all the documents?¡± asked Steve.


    ¡°I signed those two agreements,¡± John answered. ¡°I have not signed that application form yet because I don¡¯t know what the Brilliant Machines Association is about.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Steve lowered his voice. ¡°That is a very powerful private club. If you talk about inner circle, that is a very important inner circle. They have many rich members, and they invest heavily in the future technologies.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°But you have to start from an entry level. I will be your reference.¡±


    ¡°Thanks a lot.¡± John felt very obliged to Steve for all his kindness towards himself. He filled out the application and put on his signature. Steve also signed his name on John¡¯s application.


    ¡°We have to go now. Let me show you the new office room for your group, and then we need to rush to the HR party.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    John took a look at the room before he stepped out of it. The meeting just happened there had subverted his fundamental view of life, and he knew it would change his life as well¡­

 Six The Prison Project and SEESALL

    On the first Monday morning after the orientation training, John did not go to the gym; instead he directly headed to his new office cubicle after he arrived at the K Corp building. In addition to the backpack that he had carried to work in the past month, John also brought an extra bag. Last Friday, John came to his cubicle with Steve, and found it much more comfortable than the small cube in the training class. At least he would have a relatively private space for himself. So he decided to bring some conveniences including books and snacks to his new cubicle.


    John¡¯s cubicle was head-to-head with Alice¡¯s one that was closer to the entry of the office. Thus John needed to pass Alice¡¯s cubicle to get to his own. When John arrived at the office, no one was there yet, which made him a bit relieved. His feelings were ambivalent before he came to the office since he learned that Jane had told Alice what he had in his mind about her. On one hand, he had the desire to see Alice in the office, but on the other hand he was also scared of seeing her.


    Last Friday after talked to Steve, the only time that John and Alice met with each other was at the table of drinks during that HR party. When John saw Alice was refilling her cup of drink at that table, he walked to the table trying to have some words with her. As he got there, Alice just finished refilling her cup and turned around. Both of them were then facing to each other.


    ¡°Hi,¡± John greeted her first.


    ¡°Hi,¡± Alice responded with a smile.


    John was about to say something, but did not find any word to say. He just stood there looked at her. When their eyes hit with each other, Alice turned her eyes away and left to social with others. After that moment, Alice seemed very busy to chat with different people, and John did not get a proper chance to talk to her. He even did not notice when she left the party.


    During the whole weekend John was hesitating whether he should give her a phone call or send her a text, but he did none of them. Meanwhile, he was also hoping that Alice might call him or send him a text, but he did not receive what he wanted either. This morning, on his way to the company, John had gone through several different plots of how to talk to Alice in the office once he saw her. So he was disappointed when he found that the office was empty, but meanwhile he also had the feeling of temporary relief.


    John walked around the corner to his own cubicle. He turned on his computer and then started to organize of his cubicle. When he was putting the stuff he brought to the office into the drawers, the phone on his desk started to ring.


    John quickly glanced at the screen, and saw the name of Steve.


    ¡°Good morning, Steve,¡± John answered the phone promptly.


    ¡°Good morning. Have you read the email I sent to you this morning?¡±


    ¡°Not yet. I just came in.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Read it and then come to my office in half an hour,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°Sure. I will do it right away,¡± John responded.


    After he hung up the phone, John quickly checked the email sent by Steve. It was a simple email, with a subject of ¡°The Prison Project¡±, and cc to Jane. In the email, Steve was saying that he and Jane had decided to put John in charge of the first project of their group, which was to help selling the IB system to the Iron Prison.


    John was excited by the email even though he had no idea what and where the Iron Prison was. He logged off his computer and walked out of his office. He needed to have a quick breakfast before going to meet with Steve.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Steve had not changed his office, even though there was a rumor that his office would move to the next door of the CEO office.


    John came to the HR floor after his breakfast. He knocked the door of Steve¡¯s office.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    John opened the door and entered the office.


    ¡°Hi! Steve.¡±


    ¡°Please have a seat.¡±


    John grabbed one of the chairs in front of Steve¡¯s desk and sat down facing to Steve across the desk.


    ¡°Jane was supposed to join us, but she has an important meeting this morning so that she would not come.¡±


    From Steve¡¯s opening remarks, John was reaffirmed what he guessed after he read Steve¡¯s email that he would directly work for Steve in this new project.


    ¡°Did you read the email?¡± Steve asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± John replied.


    Then Steve handed him a pile of stapled documents. The top one was the contract between K Corp and the Iron Prison.


    ¡°These are copies of some documents of that Iron Prison project. You need to go through them later.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°The Prison has signed a contract with us. That would save the major trouble for you,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°Really?¡± John felt a great relief but then confused about what was left for him.


    Steve continued to say, ¡°Your job is to help the prison to set up the IB system.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know much about the technical perspective of how to make the IB system work,¡± John expressed his concern.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about the technical perspective. You will be the Project Manager. Mark and Ralph would take care of the technical part.¡±


    ¡°Who are Mark and Ralph?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They are consultants from F Corp. They would sit in the same office with you, so you will see them soon,¡± Steve responded.


    ¡°I see,¡± John said, and then asked, ¡°Will those consultants from F Corp wear red hats when they work for us?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Steve replied. ¡°From now on, all consultants from F Corp to work for us under our strategic deal with them will wear the red hats in any K Corp premise, and following our rules.¡±


    ¡°That sounds good,¡± John replied. He didn¡¯t say what was that good about, and Steve didn¡¯t ask. That was good for both of them anyway.


    ¡°As you have found during the training, the use of IB system is not a trivial work but needs some training.¡± Steve looked John in the eye, ¡°Some of you guys might have been willing to do it no matter what. But I would guess, most of your classmates did that for the incentive we have offered.¡±


    ¡°Most probably,¡± John believed the same.


    ¡°But for the prisoners, obviously we are not going to give the same incentive as we provide here.¡±


    ¡°Of course not,¡± John said. ¡°But I thought it was for those prison guards.¡±


    ¡°The Iron Prison might want to do that later, but for now the main job is to have those prisoners to wear the red hats because the management team of the prison wants to know what is going on in the mind of those prisoners,¡± Steve explained.


    What Steve just said triggered a sense of sourness in John¡¯s heart. He felt himself just like a prisoner. But it just lasted for a fraction of a second, and he overcame the sour feeling by telling himself: ¡°who cares about that?¡± What John really cared about at that moment was his income that was much higher than many experienced professionals in the world; besides, it was his turn to peek into others¡¯ mind this time, why should he care about any negative implication of the new project?


    Steve continued, ¡°So you can see that the major challenge of the project is not the technical part, but is how to have the prisoners to comply with the requirement for working with the IB technology.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s why F Corp needs us to help them,¡± John commented.


    ¡°Yes, you are absolutely right on this,¡± Steve said. ¡°Now you will be in charge of this project. Mark and Ralph would work for you. You need to figure out a creative plan to have those prisoners to put and keep the hats on their heads.¡±


    ¡°I will try my best,¡± John said. ¡°The only issue is that I don¡¯t have much work experience. Do you really think that I will be okay for this job?¡± As a new graduate who just started his career, John was understandably not confident to work as a leader of a challenging project, even though he had been already excited that he could have that chance.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will have all the support you need from us. Besides, don¡¯t forget one important thing: this is a BMA project. The whole thing would be under the control of our members, and you will be taken care of by senior members for what you are doing. I figured that this type of project would be the best for you to grow in the industry,¡± Steve talked to John in a caring paternal tone.


    ¡°Thanks so much and I really appreciate it,¡± John was deeply moved by what Steve just said to him. ¡°I am now going back to my office to study the documents and then write a plan for you.¡±


    ¡°No. You don¡¯t need to write a plan right now. You could bring up some ideas later, and then we will discuss it together,¡± Steve said. ¡°I want you to go to visit a company called SEESALL Limited Liability Company this morning. It is located about 50 miles west of our city, and it might take quite a while for you to get there. So you need to leave ASAP now. Nancy has made a reservation of a car service for you.¡±


    ¡°What am I supposed to do there?¡±


    ¡°That company actually owns the Iron Prison,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°The prison is not owned by the government?¡± John was a bit surprised.


    ¡°It has been quite a common practice of decades for the government to outsource prisons to private enterprises,¡± Steve explained.


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°You go there to meet with their GM, named Harry King, to see what he might tell you, and we will talk about the plan after you come back. Take these documents with you and you can read them on your way to that company.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    It took about two hours for John to get to the compound of SEESALL. At the security desk of the main entrance, John showed his ID to the security guard and told his purpose of visit. The guard dialed a number and spoke to someone. Then he printed a visitor sticker tag for John.


    Very soon a lady about 60 years old came out. She introduced herself to John as the secretary of Harry King, and her name was Sabrina.


    Sabrina led John directly to King¡¯s office.


    ¡°Hi John, I am glad to have you here!¡±


    John felt flattered when King left his seat to greet him.


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr. King.¡±


    ¡°Call me Harry,¡± King said.


    John briefed to Harry the purpose of his visit even though he knew Harry must have already known the reason of his visit. Meanwhile, Sabrina brought in two cups of coffee for them.


    Harry picked up his phone and dialed a number. ¡°Sam, would you come to my office? John from K Corp is here.¡±


    Less than one minute, the guy named Sam appeared in Harry¡¯s office. After a short introduction, Harry said to John, ¡°Sam will give you a heads-up about the project. But before that he will take you to tour our central monitoring room. I am sorry that I cannot go with you guys because I am caught up with something here.¡±


    Then he shook hands with John, ¡°I am so glad that Steve sends you here. If you have any question about the project, just ask Sam. You will work with him for this project, and he knows everything about that prison.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I will. Thanks so much for all your support and help for this project.¡± John knew clearly that without the help from Harry and Sam, he would not be able to complete the project.


    ¡°No need to mention it. That will be our pleasure.¡±


    John looked at the cup of coffee that Sabrina just brought to him. He was hesitating whether he should take it with him. Harry noticed John¡¯s hesitation. ¡°Take the coffee with you. You might be thirsty after long hours of travelling on the road.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Thanks.¡±


    John took the cup of coffee with him because he did feel thirsty as Harry said.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The central monitoring room of SEESALL was located in the basement. There was an extra security gate at the entrance to that room, and one security guard sat behind the counter beside the gate. Sam asked John to show his visitor tag to the guard and then told the guard that he needed to take John to tour the monitoring room. The guard switched on the gate so that John could pass. Sam passed gate using his own badge.


    When John entered the monitoring room, the first thing that came into his sight was the array of TV screens on the wall facing the entrance. It was a semicircular wall of about two stories high, and the radius of that semicircle was about 20 meters. The ground of the room was one floor below the level of the entrance. There were two side stairways connected the entrance level to the ground working area. The terrace at the entrance level was protected by elegantly carved dark wood balustrade. Sam did not take John to the working area. Instead, he led him to the balustrade and then both of them leaned against the handrail of it, from where they could overlook the whole ground area below them.


    Between the wall of screens and the entrance terrace, there was a big rectangular working area with computers and various equipment sets on several rows of desks, and about 100 people working in that area.


    John noticed something strange with those TV screens: some screens were showing continuously scrolling pictures, some were showing shaky pictures of very poor quality, while some others were showing normal events like recorded by ordinary real life CCTVs.


    He pointed to some TV screens on the semicircular wall and asked Sam, ¡°What are those TVs showing?¡±


    ¡°Those are real time videos recorded by people around the nation,¡± Sam answered, in a plain tone.


    ¡°Who are these people?¡± John was baffled.


    ¡°Ordinary people just like you and me,¡± Sam said while sounded like talking about something really trivial.


    ¡°How could that happen? Why are people like you and me sending live videos to you?¡± John sounded very confused.


    ¡°They are not,¡± Sam answered, still in a plain tone.


    ¡°Then what are on the screens here?¡± John questioned.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°Some of them are from CCTVs around the nation,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°So you invade into their CCTV systems?¡± John asked. ¡°That sounds cool. I¡¯ve seen that happened in movies.¡±


    ¡°But those only account for about half of the videos that are handled in this room,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Another half of the videos are recorded from their PC cameras or mobile phone cameras.¡± Sam still kept his plain tone just as if nothing they did was unusual.


    ¡°You hacked into their PCs and mobile phones?¡± John raised his voice a bit.


    ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s how we obtained half of those videos, especially those messy ones.¡± Sam pointed to some of the TV screens.


    John could not believe what he just heard. He also felt a bit irritated by the tone of Sam. In his mind, such kind of things should be treated at least as an extremely serious matter, if not as an unforgivable crime. How could¡¯ve this guy talked about it like describing a kid¡¯s play? John felt that Sam was deriding him.


    ¡°How did you get into their PCs or phones?¡± John¡¯s voice was even louder.


    Sam turned his head to look at John and then turned back to look forward at those TV screens again. ¡°Just send some Trojans to their PCs and phones.¡±


    ¡°I guess you could only hack very limited PCs and phones, right?¡± John tried to lower his voice when he noticed a couple of persons in the working area looked up at them.


    ¡°No,¡± Sam replied. ¡°Pretty much all the computers, as long as they are connected to the internet, and all the phones as long as they have phone numbers.¡±


    ¡°Including my phone?¡± John asked, but he did not raise his voice this time.


    ¡°Most probably,¡± Sam said.


    Strangely, John found that he did not feel hurt by this answer, but felt kinda relieved instead. What he just heard from Sam confirmed his own enlightenment on the previous Friday after meeting with Steve: everyone in the world was watched by someone. So, what he lost by putting the red hat on his head (he did not wear it in SEESALL since it was not on the premise of K Corp) was nothing worth a cry. He actually felt more fortunate than most people, since he got double paid for his own sacrifice while most others didn¡¯t even know what they were losing at every single moment. He looked Sam up and down from his side and said to himself, ¡°I might be even luckier than this arrogant guy beside me. Who knows!¡±


    ¡°As far as I know about myself, I don¡¯t make videos very often, either using my PC or mobile phone. So I guess you won¡¯t be able to steal any info from me, right?¡± John was still concerned about how much of him had been stolen by SEESALL.


    ¡°The camera on your PC or mobile phone does not function in the way you might have thought,¡± Sam turned to look at John, and then turned back looking forward. He started to explain to John like a tech teacher giving a lesson to a student.


    ¡°Most people thought that only when they clicked a button on the screen of a PC or a mobile phone, the device would take a picture or record a video. But that¡¯s not always true. What really matters is that a device, no matter a PC or a phone, has a camera and accordingly the software that supports taking pictures or recording videos.


    As long as those two things are installed on the device, then our Trojanware could use the camera to record whatever in its field of vision without the awareness of the owner of that device at all.¡±


    ¡°Wow. That sounds awful,¡± John gasped in surprise. ¡°But the precondition should be the device is not turned off, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. If the device is turned off, we cannot make videos or take pictures, although we might still be able to do something else as long as the battery is not taken off,¡± Sam said with a cunning smile.


    John did not pay attention to the implication of what Sam just said since, to him, it¡¯s impossible to do anything with the device as long as it is turned off. He continued to ask Sam along his own line of thought, ¡°What if the device is not turned off but the camera is somehow covered by something?¡±


    ¡°If only the camera is covered but the device is not turned off, the mic would normally still work if it is not broken. So we could still collect the sound recorded by the device,¡± Sam responded.


    ¡°Wow, it sounds like the modern technologies help to plant tapping bugs in everyone¡¯s life all the time,¡± John sighed.


    ¡°You can say that,¡± Sam agreed, and then added, ¡°One thing you need to understand is that those TV screens that you are watching now are not the main things in this room. They are just used to assist human visual analyses or inspections when they are needed ¡­ The main magic playing power in this room is our software system that is automatically monitoring and processing the received data all the time behind the scenes. We have super cloud computing power to do big data processing. We also have a special AI system to do some advanced analyses on those sound data and images.¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡± John was obviously impressed. Then he asked, ¡°What if the device is not turned off but both camera and mic are somehow blocked, say, if it is put under a pillow?¡±


    ¡°Good question. We also take care of that scenario and treat it as if the device is turned off. What happens is that once our system receives a signal, it analyzes the signal to see if it contains any meaningful data¡­if not, then our system just discards it,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°That sounds great,¡± John complimented. ¡°But then how could you collect all the phone numbers and all the online computer addresses?¡± John wanted to further satisfy his curiosity about what was happening before him.


    ¡°BMA provides all those to us. I don¡¯t know how they got them and I don¡¯t really care,¡± Sam said.


    The mention of BMA reminded John that Sam was not deriding him but just treating him as a member of BMA, and what he said should not be taken as a big surprise for a member of BMA! He remembered the theory of inner circles that Steve told him on the previous Friday. Then he started to have a better appreciation of those two words, ¡°inner circle¡±.


    John looked around that central monitoring room and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this an amazing inner circle?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Sam looked at John with confusion.


    ¡°Oh. I mean, that semicircular wall looks amazing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It was made in a semicircular shape so that people on the ground floor could see the screens better,¡± Sam explained.


    ¡°Do they need to watch all those TV shows all the time?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Not really. They have the alert system to tell them if anything needs their attention,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°As a matter of fact,¡± Sam stood straight and stretched his arms and then leaned on the handrail again, ¡°What we are doing here became routines in some other countries many years ago, especially those autocratic countries.¡±


    ¡°I never knew that,¡± John was surprised by that news.


    ¡°But most of them were operated by their governments,¡± Sam said. ¡°The major approach of monitoring in those countries is not hacking into personal PCs or phones, but putting almost every corner of their countries under the surveillance of CCTVs which are owned by the governments.¡±


    ¡°So they don¡¯t need to hack into the CCTVs either,¡± John commented.


    ¡°You are right,¡± Sam said. ¡°Our government knows that but has been restricted by the law to do the same.¡±


    ¡°So they outsource the business to you guys?¡±


    ¡°I cannot say that since, as I am aware, there is no any official contract between us and the government,¡± Sam said. ¡°But what¡¯s really going on between the SEESALL and the government or between BMA and the government is beyond what I am interested in. I only care about what I can do here.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± John concurred promptly. He did not want Sam to be impressed that he was nosy about something that he was not supposed to know, so he changed to another subject, ¡°Why some screens only show scrolling pictures and some of them showing continuous events?¡±


    ¡°There are a few issues involved in that matter. But the most important reason is that we only have a few thousands of screens as you can count on that wall, but we are tracking hundreds of millions of devices across the nation. So we divide the number of the devices that we are actively tracking at the moment by the number of the screens on the wall that are used to display the tracked images. That¡¯s why on many screens you only see scrolling images. When we need to check the videos of some specific devices, then we could fix a few screens on them, as you could see on some screens that are showing relatively stable pictures.¡±


    ¡°But since you cannot see the images when they are scrolling anyway, why don¡¯t just play TV series shows which would be fun?¡± John asked.


    ¡°There some technical concerns behind that. The basic one is that they need some kind of feeling. Anyway, I don¡¯t bother myself into that kind of technical details,¡± Sam twitched his mouth.


    ¡°Of course,¡± John concurred.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go downstairs.¡± Sam drew himself up from the handrail and invited John to go to the working area of the monitoring room. ¡°I will show you something that you would be interested.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    They came down to the working area. Sam walked to a tall middle-aged lady. ¡°Susan. Let me introduce you to John from the big consulting company K Corp.¡±


    Then he said to John, ¡°Susan is a group lead on this floor.¡±


    Susan and John greeted each other.


    ¡°John came here for a project we outsource to them for that Iron Prison,¡± Sam said to Susan.


    ¡°Good to know that,¡± Susan said while looked at John.


    ¡°Now I think it might help him to know better about that Prison if we can show him all the videos we are tracking within that Prison,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Have you talked to Harry about this? The Iron Prison is different from other places. Harry asked us to follow a special SOP for that place,¡± Susan said to Sam.


    Sam just about to say something, Emily the secretary on the ground floor came over. She said to Susan, ¡°Harry called this morning before you came when Paul was here. Harry said this is a BMA project, so we should just follow the standard procedure for BMA projects, no need to follow that special SOP.¡±


    ¡°So Paul already knew this before he left this morning?¡± Susan asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Emily answered and then left.


    Sam told John, ¡°Paul is the manager of this department.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Since this is a BMA project, then I guess we don¡¯t need to follow that special SOP as Emily just mentioned.¡± Susan then asked Sam, ¡°What do you need?¡±


    ¡°Could you please show all the tracked screens for that prison to John?¡± Sam requested.


    ¡°There might be hundreds of them.¡± Susan looked at Sam. ¡°You want me to show them all?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Just for a short time. John does not need to look into the details. Just let him to have a general idea,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    Susan then walked away to talk to a young guy. A few minutes later, about 500 screens in the center region of the semicircular wall were set to play videos recorded from the Iron Prison.


    ¡°Thanks. I will let you know when we are done,¡± Sam said to Susan.


    ¡°Oki-doki,¡± Susan replied and left Sam and John alone.


    Sam led John to the semicircular court in front of the wall of screens.


    ¡°Theoretically speaking, most of these videos sent from the Iron Prison are not stolen from there, but legitimately collected,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you own that Prison,¡± John commented.


    ¡°Exactly. But we are still not legally entitled to hack in the private mobile phones of the employees there,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Do they know that their phones are hacked?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No. Whatever you see here today only stays among members of BMA. The reason you can enter this room is that you were sent here as a member of BMA by Steve, who is an acting senior member of BMA,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Of course, I am aware of that, and I really appreciate that,¡± John said.


    ¡°So I guess there is no need for me to mention that nothing you see in this room could be mentioned to anyone outside BMA,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± John responded.


    ¡°So far, none of the employees of the Iron Prison is a member of BMA, not mentioning those prisoners.¡± Sam said to John with precaution, ¡°So you should not even mention the existence of this room when you visit that prison.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing,¡± John promised promptly. He did so not just for showing respect to Sam, but more importantly because he felt a sense of responsibility, or a sense of honor, for being in the inner circle.


    John could not make much sense out of the videos from the Iron Prison that Sam was showing to him. What he could be sure was that those in staff uniforms were employees of SEESALL and those in prisoner dresses were inmates.


    ¡°How many guards are working in the prison?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The total staff of the prison is 100 people, including security guards, medics, technicians, kitchen staff, dog handlers and handymen,¡± Sam said. ¡°With the help of the system you guys are going to set up, we might further reduce the number of the security guards in the future.¡±


    ¡°I believe so,¡± John responded with confidence. ¡°How many inmates do you have there?¡±


    ¡°A bit more than 600,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot,¡± John said.


    ¡°But we also have another special squad that no one could look down upon,¡± Sam replied with a cunning smile.


    ¡°What kind of squad?¡± John asked.


    ¡°20 pure breed Caucasian dogs that could fight lions,¡± Sam replied. ¡°Nobody could escape from them on that island.¡±


    ¡°That is scary,¡± John exclaimed.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Sam laughed, ¡°Never try to make any trouble with those dogs.¡±


    ¡°By the way,¡± John asked, ¡°how many computers that could be used for the prisoners at that place?¡±


    ¡°We have about 60 computers in two recreation rooms. The inmates could go there to use them at the scheduled time,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°But how could 600 people use 60 computers at the same time?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They don¡¯t,¡± Sam said. ¡°Only about 30 people can go to one of those two rooms at the same time. They have to take turns to do it. Those two rooms normally have four sessions each day and seven days a week. We have two sessions in the morning, one session in the afternoon, and another session in the evening. Every inmate would have at least one chance each week to visit a recreation room. But if someone does not behave right during the week, then he might be deprived of the privilege of using the recreation room at all for that week.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± John¡¯s face turned a bit grave. He finished his coffee and asked, ¡°When would you like me to go to that prison and work on the project for which Steve sent me here.¡±


    ¡°We would like to see you guys to start it ASAP. Just let us know whenever your team is ready to go there, and we will arrange transportation for you,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Okay. I will talk to Steve when I go back to K Corp today. Probably tomorrow we might let you know our time schedule,¡± John said.


    ¡°Sounds great!¡± Sam said.


    ¡°I guess I should go back to K Corp now.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Let me walk you out.¡±


    On their way leaving the working area of the monitoring room, Sam talked to Susan, and then all the screens resumed their previous pattern.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    When John came back to K Corp, it was already past 6:00pm. But Steve was still in his office. John directly went to his office.


    ¡°Come in,¡± Steve answered when he heard John knocking his door.


    ¡°Hi Steve, I am back,¡± John greeted Steve.


    ¡°How was your trip?¡±


    ¡°It was great. I learned a lot from Sam,¡± John replied.


    ¡°He is their senior project manager¡­a very smart guy,¡± Steve said.


    ¡°I have no question about that,¡± John agreed with Steve.


    ¡°Tell me what you have learned from the trip.¡±


    John recounted to Steve what he heard and saw in the SEESALL Company.


    ¡°Have you thought about how you are going to have the prisoners of the Iron Prison to wear the Red Hats?¡± Steve asked.


    ¡°On my way back, I reviewed all the info we have about this project and tried to connect all the knots to make a full workflow about the implementation of the whole project,¡± John replied. ¡°But I found one point that might be a challenge.¡±


    ¡°What is that?¡± Steve asked.


    ¡°They only have 60 computers to be used by the inmates, but they have 600 inmates,¡± John replied.


    ¡°That is okay,¡± Steve said cheerfully. ¡°I was just about to show you something.¡±


    He stood and walked to the corner of the office and opened a package box. He took out a red hat, a small wireless transmission box, a headphone set, and a vest. He put those things on his desk in front of John.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need computers to train those inmates.¡± He picked up the wireless transmission box, ¡°what you need is to install one box like this for each inmate in the cell since they would stay in the cell for most of the time anyway.¡±


    ¡°But what if they walk out of the cell?¡± John asked.


    Steve put down the box and picked up the vest. ¡°Then let them wear this vest, which will act as that transmission box.¡±


    ¡°But it still does not help us with the issue of the shortage of computers,¡± John said.


    ¡°We don¡¯t train them with computers as we did with you guys. They will be asked to work with the IB system in their cells with the red hats and headphones.¡± Steve picked up both the red hat and the headphone in his hands. ¡°We will let them repeat the sentences that they will hear from the headphones, which will connect to the transmission boxes or the vests in the same way as the red hats, and the mic on the headphone set would record their pronunciations.¡±


    ¡°That will do!¡± John was cheered up. ¡°Now I can put up a complete plan and show it to you tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Steve said. ¡°You go back to put it in writing and give it to me tomorrow. I would show it to my boss in K Corp, as well as our partners in BMA and SEESALL. If everything goes fine, the earliest possible date for you and those consultants to go to the site of the prison could be next Monday.¡±


    ¡°Sam asked us to tell them the date to start once we decide it,¡± John told Steve.


    ¡°Let me handle that. While waiting for the feedback from our upper management and our partners in BMA and SEESALL, you need to work with the consultants to get all the hardware ready. I have talked to Jane, and she will give support to you for whatever supply you might need.¡±


    ¡°That will be great. Thanks for that,¡± John showed his gratefulness.


    ¡°Now you can leave. I will talk to you tomorrow.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    One week later, Mark and Ralph, two consultants from F Corp working in Jane¡¯s group, went to the Iron Prison to install the IB server in its computer center and the transmission boxes in its cells. Another week later, John came to SEESALL again, and from there he flew to the Skull Island, where the Iron Prison was located, with Sam.


    After a brief meeting with Mark and Ralph, they came to meet with Dominic, the warden of the Prison, in a conference room. Dominic asked a handyman to bring some coffee, and then three of them sat down to discuss the plan for the IB system project of the Iron Prison.


    ¡°Before I came, my boss Steve had a chat with me, and he suggested that we start with the male inmates. Once we have made progress with the males and get hands on with the process, he would send Jane and Alice here to help us with the female inmates,¡± John said to Sam.


    ¡°That sounds good,¡± Sam said.


    Dominic asked John, ¡°How do you want to start?¡±


    ¡°Before we get to that point, we need first to be clear about how you guys could force the inmates to do what we demand them to do,¡± John replied.


    Sam pointed to Dominic, ¡°he is an expert on this.¡±


    Dominic grinned and scratched his own head. ¡°Basically what we could use is reward and punishment. Punishment is the main measure, but sometimes we might use a bit of reward.¡±


    ¡°What kind of punishment you could use?¡± John asked.


    ¡°It will depend on the situation,¡± Dominic replied.


    ¡°You won¡¯t beat them up, right?¡± John asked.


    Dominic and Sam looked at each other with a sly smile.


    ¡°The more precise term should be physical torture. Beating up is just one form of it,¡± Dominic grinned.


    ¡°But that would be the last resort for the extreme case I guess,¡± Sam explained. ¡°They have many ways to have the inmates to comply with the orders.¡±


    John¡¯s curiosity was piqued. ¡°What are they?¡±


    ¡°The main punishment would be the deprivation of freedom,¡± Dominic responded.


    ¡°They have already been deprived of freedom when they were put into jail,¡± John said.


    ¡°That fact would make many things that are basic to normal people become important freedoms to them,¡± Dominic responded. ¡°For example, the freedom of going out to the yard at the designated time, the freedom of going to the recreation room, the freedom of looking outside the window, the freedom of having food, the freedom to walk around, or even the freedom to sleep.¡±


    ¡°You mean the rights,¡± John said.


    ¡°You may call it that way. But we call it freedom here since we determine what they can do here, not the so-called rights,¡± Dominic grinned and then added, ¡°We can give them a bit more freedoms, and we can take away their remaining freedoms.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± John said. ¡°If we could force them to do what we demand, then this project would become a much easier job.¡±


    ¡°You bet,¡± Dominic said.


    ¡­¡­


    Starting from the first evening after John arrived at the Skull Island, those guards patrolling in the cell building could hear inmates from every cell on the male side shouting loudly from morning to evening as long as they were locked in the cells. Since all the inmates were wearing the headphones that John asked Dominic to distribute to them, they often did not realize how loudly they were repeating the sentences that they heard from the headphones. Although the guards were very annoyed by the noise, they did not make any fuss about it since they were all warned by Dominic not to disturb the training activity.


    The training of the inmates to use the IB system progressed quite fast because those inmates didn¡¯t have much else to think about, and thus were much focused. They were promised to get some extra treats if they could comply with the training requirements and keep the red hats on their heads all the time, except for the shower time; otherwise, if anyone was caught taking off the red hat when he was not taking a shower, that person would be punished accordingly.


    Three weeks later, the collected data showed that everyone passed the training test. John asked Dominic to collect the headphones from the inmates. No objection from the inmates for that. The inmates already became tired of hearing those similar repeating sentences anyway.


    But back to K Corp, Steve, as well as Jane and the IB server team were excited that they could see or even listen to what those inmates were thinking all the time.

 Seven The Party

    ¡°Untz~~~untz~~~untz~~~,¡± John was waked up by the familiar sound of music. It was from his mobile phone. He picked up the phone and heard the voice of Dick. ¡°Hi boss, it¡¯s half past 5 o¡¯clock, I figured that I might need to give you a buzz.¡±


    ¡°Yeaaah¡­thanks. I fell asleep¡­I was kinda drowsy¡­now I am feeling much better,¡± John was still in the phase of waking up from his dream back to the reality. ¡°Are you guys ready for the party?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dick replied, ¡°I just talked to Tom over the phone. He also took a nap in his room.¡±


    ¡°How about you?¡±


    ¡°I am okay. I don¡¯t feel like need a sleep right now. I spent some time to review all the documents.¡± Dick¡¯s tone was full of energy and joy as usual. He was the youngest among the three. He joined John¡¯s group not long ago and this is his first overseas trip with John. Actually, he was an alumna of the H University, where John was graduated almost a quarter century ago. John liked this smart and vigorous young fellow. This time when Steve, then the CEO of K Corp proposed that he might take Dick with him for this trip, he agreed without any hesitation.


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± John looked at his watch to estimate how much time they still had before Sergeant Y came to pick them up. ¡°Could you come to my room with Tom in 20 minutes? We might be waiting here for Sergeant Y calling us.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later John and his team met Sergeant Y at the gate of the hotel. The same limo that they rode in the morning was waiting outside the lobby. This time John did not insist that Sergeant Y sit in the back with him since he knew Sergeant Y would not talk much anyway. So Sergeant Y took the seat beside the chauffeur.


    Even though John and his team were not familiar with the local environment at all, they still could sense that the car was not driving toward where they came that morning. The sky was still not dark yet, but the street already became very quiet. Most stores had been closed. A few minutes after they left the hotel, the street view became very different from what they could see in the neighborhood of the hotel. The buildings all looked very old. Some broken windows were patched with paper, and some entrance doors were hanging on the hinges.


    A few more minutes later, they left the city and entered a rural road. The quality of the road was far from the road between the airport and the hotel. Although it was the traditional harvest season in most other parts of this hemisphere, the crops in the field beside road did not look like ready yet.


    On his right side, John could see from afar a stretching and undulating long hill. As the road approached the foot of the hill, John saw a long cemented wall on the hill. There was a heavily guarded gate in the middle of the wall, and a truck full of men and women happened to be slowly driving into the gate. Tom, who was sitting on the seat before John, turned his head back over the seat and exchanged a look with John. Both of them knew what the other was thinking, but they didn¡¯t say anything.


    After driving along the hillside for a while, the car entered the mountainous area on a road between tall crags, and then very soon came to a thicket of coniferous trees which were not very common in that tropical climate region. They could hear birds singing in the thicket when their car passed by. A few minutes later, the car stopped in front of a gate with a guardroom on its side. A man in uniform came out of the room to open the gate, and then the car drove into a yard. The house of Colonel X¡¯s residence was ahead of them.


    It was a two story brick mansion, which was painted in snow-white on its side walls from outside, and the mansard roof was covered with black clay tiles. In front of the red wood double doors was a four-meters-long and three-meter-wide marble doorstep, under a dark wood overhang supported by two carved wood pillars.


    The car had to drive around an artificial pond in front of the house to stop before the door entrance.


    Colonel X came out of the house waiting at the doorstep with his wife, and their only son was standing between them. After John and his men stepped out of the car, Colonel X introduced them to his family. John handed a pack of gift to Colonel X, which was prepared by his secretary before they left for this country.


    Colonel X and his wife led John and his men into the house. Right after stepped into the door, John was attracted by the exuberant local folk music played by a small band in the corner of the hall. Colonel X introduced John to a few other guests who were already in the house.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The food was nice, but John did not eat much. Not only because he was not hungry, but more importantly, his mind was full of concerns about what might be awaiting him for the coming days.


    Colonel X came to John passing him a glass of French Champagne, ¡°how do you like our food?¡±


    ¡°Delicious. I like it very much,¡± John said that not just as a courtesy but because he really liked the food.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to eat much,¡± Colonel X said with concern. ¡°Maybe you are not used to our food?¡±


    ¡°I really like it,¡± John replied with a wry smile. ¡°We had a very heavy lunch in the hotel so that I don¡¯t have much space for your delicious food.¡±


    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s too bad,¡± Colonel X said. ¡°But we will have the chance to have you here for another time.¡±


    ¡°May I ask you a question?¡±


    ¡°Of course, please go ahead,¡± Colonel X responded.


    ¡°On our way to your house, I saw a long wall on a hill. There was a gate with heavy guards. A truck was driving into that gate, and it happened that its back was not covered so that we could see many people on that truck. What kind of place is that?¡± After a few glasses of wine, John felt more courageous with the spirits of alcohol in his blood.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you are asking about this because we would mention that place to you during your visit anyway. But since you have brought it up, we can talk a bit about it now.¡±


    Colonel X glanced at the expecting look on John¡¯s slightly reddish face. ¡°That place is called ¡®the Inferior World¡¯ which is basically for those who do not belong to this civilized world,¡± his words rang out on a note of contempt.


    ¡°Is that the slum area?¡± John asked. He knew that in some metropolitan cities around the world, some low end residential areas of poor people, or so called slums, were separated from the rest part of the urban areas by some physical barriers, but they normally would not be heavily guarded as he witnessed on their way to the party.


    ¡°Kind of¡­but it is different from a slum you might have thought of if you were referring to the poor residential areas around world that we could see from the TV,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡±


    ¡°Those who are behind that wall are put into it by us, not just live there because of poverty,¡± Colonel X replied.


    John got the confirmation from Colonel X about what he had been suspecting since he saw the truck moving into that gate on the hill.  He asked, ¡°Are they criminals?¡±


    ¡°Yes or no,¡± Colonel X gulped a big half glass of wine and looked at John with his bloodshot eyes. ¡°Some of them were caught because of their crimes, but most of them are criminal not because they violated any law but because their existence is criminal.¡±


    ¡°That sounds scary. How could their existence be criminal?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Because they are useless,¡± Colonel X replied in a contemptuous tone.


    John was about to ask him to further explain the meaning of ¡®useless¡¯, but Colonel X said to John, ¡°You will know that better tomorrow,¡± and then turned his head away to look around for something.


    ¡°Excuse me for a moment. I need to get some wine,¡± Colonel X said to John.


    ¡°Sure.¡± John was a bit disappointed for the change of subject. He found a chair behind him, and walked to the chair. He did not want to walk away and wished that Colonel X would come back to continue with that subject after he filled up his glass. Once he sat down, John found a man in uniform was collecting the glasses and dishes with a tray. It was Sergeant Y.


    John greeted him, ¡°Hi, Sergeant.¡±


    But that man did not respond. He looked at John when he passed by him. John lifted his glass to salute him again. But that man still did not respond to him and just walked away.


    John did not have time to feel embarrassed before Colonel X came back with a bottle of wine and two empty glasses. After pouring the wine into those two glasses, he handed one glass of wine to John, ¡°Without looking at the bottle, could you tell how old this wine is?¡±


    John had a sip of the wine. ¡°It should be about 20 years.¡±


    ¡°Impressive. You could be a very good sommelier,¡± Colonel X complimented. He handed the bottle to John and it was printed on the bottle 2035. It was a 22 year old wine.


    Colonel X was very knowledgeable about various types of wine around the world, and the subject was then focused on wine and never came back to the question John asked earlier.


    When it came to the time that the guests needed to leave, Sergeant Y came to tell John that the limo was waiting outside. When his eyes contacted John¡¯s, it looked as if he was not aware of anything unusual happened between them. John was confused because somehow he did feel that the Sergeant Y in front of him did not look exactly the same as the Sergeant Y who was collecting the glasses and dishes.


    When they arrived at the hotel, Sergeant Y said goodbye to John in the lobby hall, and John gave thanks to his service. Sergeant Y told him that he would come to pick them up for the tour of the New Generation Factory next morning.


    After they entered the elevator, Tom said to John, ¡°You won¡¯t believe what I found today.¡±


    ¡°What did you find?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I saw another three men looked almost the same as Sergeant Y in the party,¡± Tom said.


    ¡°No wonder. I was greeting a man whom I thought to be Sergeant Y, but he didn¡¯t seem to know me at all,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Maybe they are quadruplets,¡± Dick commented.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible. But would that be something unusual that the quadruplets serve in the army under the same Colonel?¡± Tom replied with a question.


    ¡°It is something special,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°More than that,¡± Tom added, ¡°I did not see any of them eating or drinking at the party.¡±


    ¡°They must be eating in the kitchen or somewhere,¡± Dick guessed.


    ¡°Could be¡­but they must have eaten very fast since I noticed that all four of them were around for most of the time,¡± Tom said.


    ¡°Really? I didn¡¯t pay attention to that. I guess I had too much wine,¡± John sounded a bit regretful for missing the important details. ¡°Anyway, we might know more after tomorrow¡¯s tour.¡±

 Eight The New Generation Factory

    On the second morning of their stay in the Republic of New People, the same limo and chauffeur as well as the same Sergeant came to pick up John and his men. After about an hour¡¯s drive, they arrived at the New Generation Factory. Colonel X was already waiting for them at the entrance of the main office building of the factory. He invited John to go upstairs with him to meet the General Manager of the factory, while Tom and Dick stayed in the lobby hall with Sergeant Y.


    The door was open when they arrived at the General Manager¡¯s office, but Colonel X still politely knocked the door and asked the man sitting behind the desk inside the room, ¡°Can we come in?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Please come in.¡± The General Manager stood up from his chair. Then Colonel X invited John into the room.


    When John entered the office of General Manager, he was surprised.


    ¡°Hi, Sam, Long time no see.¡±


    ¡°John? Oh my. They told me that someone from K Corp is coming to visit here. I didn¡¯t expect that it was you.¡±


    It was Sam, who was working for SEESALL and helped John to sell his first IB system to the Iron Prison more than20 years ago. Sam came out from the back of the desk and hugged John. They could sense the affinity between two old acquaintances in this remote foreign country.


    ¡°It seems that you are old friends,¡± Colonel X chimed in. ¡°Then there is no need for me to introduce you to each other.¡±


    ¡°We were working together on a project many years ago,¡± Sam explained.


    ¡°22 years,¡± John laughed.


    ¡°Yeah, I think so,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Then I guess Mr. GM could serve as the tour guide and I might just wait here,¡± Colonel X said.


    ¡°No,¡± Sam said. ¡°Unfortunately, I will have a very important meeting this morning, which might drag for the whole day.¡±


    Then he turned to John, ¡°I am very sorry that I could not take you to tour the factory. I am really busy these days. If you could come back a couple days later, I could give you a thorough tour of the factory.¡±


    ¡°Mr. Potter has a meeting with General K this evening, so he needs to have a tour before the meeting,¡± Colonel X replied Sam for John.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± John said. ¡°If it¡¯s possible, we might find some time to have lunch somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Sam picked up his business card from the card box on his table and handed it to John. ¡°You can find my number on this card.¡±


    John also gave one of his own to Sam, ¡°My mobile number is on this card.¡±


    ¡°Great. I will definitely talk to you soon.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Sam arranged two scooters to take Colonel X and John¡¯s team to their factory area. On their way, John asked Colonel X, ¡°Why do you hire a foreigner to be the general manager of this factory?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a joint venture company, and one big boss of it is from your country. Our government only owns 51% of the share. You provide money and technology, and we provide the land and other resources,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°Who is the big boss?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am not very sure about that. I only know that the boss from your country is a group that is related to an organization called BMA,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°No wonder.¡± John started to see the connection between some dots that had puzzled him since the moment that he landed on this country.


    Very soon the scooters stopped in front of a factory workshop. They were led to a sanitation room where everyone was required to wash their hands, and then put on masks, hats, and raincoats. A workshop technician then led them to enter the first workshop.


    John was shocked by what he saw!


    Up to that point, no one had told him what he might expect to see in the factory. What appeared before him was something he had only seen from sci-fi movies. There were hundreds of transparent containers in the room, and within each of them was one human embryo or fetus soaking in colorless liquid.


    John felt a wave of nausea clutched his stomach. His face turned ghastly pale. He whispered to Colonel X who happened to be beside him, ¡°I need to go out to have a fresh air.¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Tom noticed John¡¯s reaction to the scene and came to check out if he was okay.


    ¡°You guys please continue. I need to go out for some fresh air,¡± John replied.


    Colonel X asked the technician to guide Dick and Tom through the tour, and he accompanied John to exit the workshop by the door from which they just entered.


    They came to the anteroom of the workshop and then sat around a table. Colonel X asked a female clerk to bring two cups of coffee for John and himself.


    John did not say a word until he had a sip of the coffee.


    ¡°What are those things?¡± John gazed at Colonel X and his face was painted with fear and disgust.


    ¡°Those are the lives of the future generation, as the name of this factory tells,¡± Colonel X replied with a wry smile and twitched his lips.


    ¡°You are manufacturing humans in this country?¡± John¡¯s eyes opened wide in a daze.


    ¡°Thanks to your countrymen,¡± Colonel X sneered in a sarcastic tone.


    ¡°Sam?¡± John asked.


    ¡°He just works for his boss,¡± Colonel X remarked.


    ¡°Is that for real?¡± John still could not believe what he just saw.


    ¡°You had already seen and talked to the real product before coming to this factory,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°What real product?¡±


    ¡°Sergeant Y is one of them,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°No way! He is so real.¡± John felt another wave of nausea flooded over him, and he almost puked when the image of Sergeant Y appeared in his mind. He gulped a mouthful of coffee in order to suppress his urge to vomit. He did not notice how hot the coffee was until he was burnt so badly from his mouth to his stomach that he almost screamed.


    ¡°When was this factory built?¡± John asked.


    ¡°About 10 years ago.¡±


    ¡°Then how could Sergeant Y be produced here?! He must be around 25 years old,¡± John exclaimed.


    ¡°When he first left the production line as a human, if you might call him so, he was almost 20 years old.¡± Colonel X explained.


    ¡°Do you really call them human?¡±


    ¡°We call them as Artificial Humans, or AH in short,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°So you can control the age when they are produced?¡±


    ¡°Not our people¡­your technology¡­Yes, we can,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°What else do you have a control over these new lives?¡±


    ¡°We might control their look¡­maybe you have noticed yesterday, those AHs all looked alike.¡± Colonel X said.


    ¡°Yeah¡­so they have to all look the same?¡±


    ¡°Not necessarily¡­.but I like that type of look, so I selected those to serve as my underlings,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°Their offspring would also look in that way?¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t have any offspring. They don¡¯t have sex organs,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°They don¡¯t have penis?¡±


    ¡°They do¡­but it¡¯s only for the purpose of urination.¡± Colonel X then added, ¡°Of course, some of them could have sex activity, but they don¡¯t have sperm.¡±


    ¡°Is that also by design?¡±


    ¡°Of course¡­Since we can mass-produce them, they don¡¯t need to have offspring for individuals,¡± Colonel X replied in a cold tone.


    ¡°It seems that they don¡¯t eat much either.¡± John recalled what Tom found at the party.


    ¡°They don¡¯t have the same taste as ours. We have special food for them,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°Do they have feelings?¡± John asked. ¡°I mean love, hate, pain, excitement, and so on.¡±


    ¡°They do,¡± Colonel X said seriously. ¡°They are actually more sensitive than us, and they could react swiftly to any changes in the environment.¡±


    John was reminded of the action of Sergeant Y to catch his phone in the car. ¡°Are they intelligent as well?¡±


    ¡°They are created smart,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Why should I?¡±


    ¡°If they are smart and quick, don¡¯t you worry that they might rebel against us, or I should say against you?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They are more loyal than human soldiers.¡± Colonel X raised his voice a bit with confidence, ¡°The fact that they are more sensitive makes them more loyal.¡±


    ¡°Can they be killed?¡± John asked curiously.


    ¡°Of course!¡± the face of Colonel X turned brighter. ¡°That is important for us to control them. The best part is that they also know the fact that they could be killed. I can tell you for sure that they are scared of being killed as well.¡±


    ¡°Then how could they be brave on the battlefield when facing enemies?¡±


    ¡°They have to be, because they know if they are not, they will be punished by us. Besides, they don¡¯t feel much pain when they are hurt in the fighting,¡± Colonel X said.


    ¡°Do they feel pain at all?¡±


    ¡°They do, but not like us. We know how to make them feel pain,¡± Colonel X grinned, complacent and confident.


    ¡°Incredible.¡± John still could not or didn¡¯t want to believe what he saw and heard. He raised his voice, ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why you want to do this. Your population is so crowded that you need to put many of them into what you called the Inferior World, why do you need to produce more humans by an expressway? ¡±


    Colonel X did not answer but stared at John with a surprised look, which reminded John of the look at Sam¡¯s face when he showed his surprise at what SEESALL was doing during their first chat in the central monitoring room.


    ¡°Excuse me if my question was too rough.¡± John noticed that his voice was a bit too high when he was questioning Colonel X. He tried to be more polite since he knew the man he was talking with was a warlord, and also he was in a dictatorial country. He added gently, ¡°I just don¡¯t see how these AHs could help your country.¡±


    ¡°As you just mentioned,¡± Colonel X replied in a sarcastic tone, ¡°they helped us to put those useless people to behind that wall.¡±


    ¡°My apology for saying that,¡± John responded. ¡°I did not mean any offense to your country. I am just a bit shocked.¡±


    ¡°No, No offense at all. I mean it,¡± Colonel X shook his head. ¡°They did help us to put those useless behind the wall because they replaced humans in many posts ¡­ and we often send those AH soldiers to arrest those useless people and send them behind the wall.¡±


    John was further surprised by the response of Colonel X. He did not know what to say.


    ¡°Of course, the main reason that we are producing AHs is that your countrymen want us to help them to produce,¡± Colonel X added.


    ¡°That¡¯s another thing I am confused about,¡± John said. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what this could help BMA to gain. Are you paying BMA for the products?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need to pay them a single penny. We just provide land, water, electricity, and so on. They actually pay us to accommodate them.¡± Colonel X then added, ¡°They must be very rich.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any doubt about that,¡± John said. ¡°But I am confused why they would do this since it seems a waste of money for them.¡±


    ¡°I bet it would not be a waste of money for them. I don¡¯t know what they are really up to for your country or anywhere else around the world, but I could see what it means to my country¡­¡± Colonel X¡¯s words were cut off by the phone ringing.


    It was John¡¯s mobile phone.


    He checked the display but could not recognize the number. ¡°Hello, this is John Potter.¡±


    ¡°Hi John, it¡¯s me, Sam.¡±


    ¡°Hi Sam, I thought you were busy in the meetings all the day.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I thought so. But now I got a few hours of free cycle. I just wonder if you want to have lunch with me,¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Great. I will come to pick you up now, and we can go somewhere outside the factory.¡±


    ¡°But Tom and Dick are still at the tour. I don¡¯t know how long it might take them to finish,¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. Please give your phone to Colonel. Let me have a few words with him.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    John passed the phone to Colonel X, ¡°It¡¯s Sam. He wants to speak to you.¡±


    Colonel X took the phone. ¡°Hello, this is Colonel X.¡±


    A few seconds later, Colonel X hung up the phone and gave it back to John. ¡°Sam is coming to pick you up. Don¡¯t worry about Dick and Tom, it would take another hour or so for them to finish the tour, and then we will arrange lunch for them.¡±


    ¡°Why it takes so long for the tour?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We have ten workshops. Each of them contains unfinished products at different stages of the fetus growth. Of course, some so-called fetus might be 20 years old already,¡± Colonel X explained. ¡°You just saw one of the workshops. The technician would introduce the whole process to them, and they will also watch some videos about the production.¡±


    ¡°So you move the fetus around from workshop to workshop during their growth?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No. But every workshop contains fetus of the same age since we are mass-producing them instead of making them one by one.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± John did not want to ask more about it even though he did not understand why they want to show his team in that many details.


    They came out of the building and saw Sam coming by a scooter. John got in the vehicle when it stopped.


    Sam asked Colonel X, ¡°When would you guys leave here?¡±


    ¡°After lunch,¡± Colonel X answered. ¡°I guess another couple of hours.¡±


    ¡°Where are you going next?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Back to their hotel first. Then I will take them to attend the private banquet held by General K in the Presidential Palace,¡± Colonel X answered.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Sam said to Colonel X, ¡°Then you might leave without John, and I will manage the transportation for him back to the hotel.¡±


    ¡°That will be fine,¡± Colonel X responded.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Sam and John got off the scooter and walked towards a golden two-seater convertible.


    ¡°A nice car. Is this yours?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sam smiled. ¡°But the company paid for it.¡±


    ¡°How long are you going to stay here?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Not sure. But if I leave here, I can either sell or ship this car. It¡¯s mine, period.¡± Sam said.


    After they got in the car, Sam said to John, ¡°I am taking you to the International Town. You will like it.¡±


    ¡°Sure ¡­ from the name I can see it must be a place where you guys often go.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Sam started the car.


    ¡°Is your family here with you?¡± John asked when the car was getting onto the road.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Sam replied. ¡°By the way, I was wondering how long you are going to stay in this country. I might bring you guys back to my house sometime.¡±


    ¡°The schedule might be tight this time. We are here only to learn what they want and then to sign the letter of intention with them. We will go back to make a design for them according to what they want. I guess they would send someone to K Corp to sign the contract with us, and then we will send a whole team to come with a shipment of whatever necessary for their needs,¡± John said.


    ¡°Would you come back with the team?¡±


    ¡°Most probably if I am not caught up with something else,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Sam said. ¡°Then I will invite you to my house next time.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate it. By the way, are you hired by BMA to work here?¡±


    ¡°Kind of,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    ¡°BMA invested in this factory, but it is a joint venture with the government of this country. I am hired by this joint venture company,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°You mean this factory is actually making money to pay your salary?¡± John sound very suspicious about the implication made by Sam that the New Generation Factory could be profitable.


    Sam laughed slyly, ¡°Well, we don¡¯t only produce AHs. We have some other products.  We manufacture a type of high protein sausages. The consumers in this country love it.¡±


    ¡°So the whole factory is under your control, right?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Kind of¡­but I would not do anything that BMA would not allow me to do.¡± Sam turned to John staring at his face, and then turned back to the driving direction. ¡°If I do then I would no longer in control of the factory.¡±


    ¡°So it is controlled by BMA then,¡± John said. ¡°But what is the benefit to BMA for doing all this?¡±


    ¡°That is a secret¡­and you have to promise not telling anyone else.¡± Sam turned to John and stared at his face again, and then turned back to drive.


    ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t leak this out.¡± John promised.


    ¡°As a matter of fact, I don¡¯t know if I need to give you a friendly reminder that nothing you saw or heard in that factory this morning could be leaked out to the world since the fabrication of human life is still strictly banned by the United Nation,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Well, I can make a promise to you for myself, but I cannot promise for Tom and Dick,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Why did you bring them with you for this trip?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°I cannot just come by myself. I need some technical people to come with me. Both of them have technical backgrounds,¡± John replied.


    ¡°I know that¡­what I was asking is why you selected those two guys particularly¡­are they the only technical people in your team?¡±


    ¡°We have quite a few technical people¡­much more than 22 years ago when we were working on the Iron Prison project. As a matter of fact, I might have someone else to come with me. Do you remember Mark?¡±


    ¡°Yes, surely I still remember that big guy,¡± Sam recalled.


    ¡°I was about to have him and another guy to come with me, but Steve recommended that I should have Tom and Dick to come with me,¡± John explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s the point I was trying to lead to. If they were recommended by Steve, then you don¡¯t need to worry about them,¡± Sam casted a look at John and then turned back to steer the car.


    ¡°So Steve knows about this all? Is that you are trying to tell me?¡± John did not feel comfortable with the implication that Sam just made.


    ¡°Think for yourself. If this factory is controlled by BMA, how could Steve not know anything about it?¡±


    ¡°I think you are making a point. As a high ranking executive of BMA, he must know something about this factory,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°I guess you will learn more about this later on,¡± Sam suggested. ¡°But for now, the important thing to remember is: don¡¯t leak it out.¡±


    ¡°I will not¡­but he could¡¯ve told me this before I come,¡± John complained. ¡°What if I do leak it out?¡±


    ¡°That will do a lot harm to yourself¡­but won¡¯t hurt BMA or the factory a bit,¡± Sam answered in a cold tone.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because you could not prove it and BMA has enough means to make you sound ridiculous and thus shut you up,¡± Sam¡¯s tone turned cruel.


    ¡°I am not saying I would do anything to harm BMA¡­but what if the outside world knows this and starts to investigate it?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Sam¡¯s tone became relaxed. ¡°The Republic of New People is quite closed to the outside world. It would not allow anyone to come in to investigate on this.¡±


    ¡°How could such a small country to resist the demand of investigation by big powers? ... I mean there might be financial sanction or even military invasion.¡±


    ¡°As long as this country is covered by BMA, what you just mentioned would never happen. That General K knows it clearly that he could not survive without us,¡± Sam said with a full confidence in his tone.


    ¡°I see,¡± John said.


    ¡°You know ¡­ we are not doing anything bad ¡­ we are changing human civilization, which means that the whole civilization on this globe would no longer be the same someday in the near future because of our cooperation with the Republic of New People,¡± Sam said with complacence.


    ¡°I have no doubt that your AH products would change human civilization. But the question is for good or for bad,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Of course for good,¡± Sam said. ¡°I understand that it is too much for you to swallow all this right now, but you will see it more clearly once you get into this.¡±


    ¡°I hope so,¡± John said. ¡°But still, even if the outside world would not be able to send a team to investigate your factory, how could you hide from the people within this country? It might have hundreds or even thousands of people at the same rank of Colonel X, and they can go abroad, so they can spread news.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t worry a bit about that.¡± Sam said, ¡°General K seems very good at controlling his people. They don¡¯t have much freedom to go abroad. The ordinary people don¡¯t even have the liberty to get connected to the outside world through telecommunication.¡±


    Sam took an exit from the highway and then continued, ¡°Even if someone spread the news out, as long as they could not provide proofs, it will serve nothing. How many people claimed that they have seen UFO¡¯s, including some high ranking officers from those most advanced countries? But the majority of the population would still consider that they might just dream of it or be of hallucination.¡±


    ¡°You made a point,¡± John agreed. ¡°The view of the general public is very easy to manipulate.¡±


    The car then got into an urban area at the end of the ramp after exiting from the highway.


    ¡°Here we are. The International Town.¡± Sam asked John, ¡°What do you want to eat?¡±


    ¡°I am okay with anything good to eat.¡±


    ¡°Cool. See that steakhouse? It is very good. The sashimi house next to it is also good. Or we might drive a little further.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get steaks.¡±


    ¡°Sure, you are the boss today.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    ¡°Why do you want to produce AH?¡± John asked after they ordered the meal in the steakhouse.


    ¡°The answer to that question would go back to the answer to another question: how could we make AH?¡± Sam said. ¡°This is because only if you understand how we could make it, then you can see the reason why we want to do it.¡±


    ¡°I am listening.¡±


    ¡°Back to a few decades ago, scientists started to know how to create life, I mean eggs and sperms, through synthetic ways in labs,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°I heard of that,¡± John chipped in, ¡°but that technology died off because of the strict ban by the United Nations, didn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Sam gave John a funny look and grinned. ¡°Of course, it is prohibited officially by all the major powers that are members of the relevant UN organization based on the ban issued by the UN.¡±


    Sam¡¯s talk was cut off by the waitress, who brought the food and beverage on the table.


    ¡°Cheers,¡± they gulped down mouthfuls of beer, and then started to enjoy the food. But none of them commented on the food, even though it was very tasty. Both of them were mindful of something important, and they needed to manage to get what they want before leaving the restaurant.


    ¡°Banning from the UN could actually make things even more attractive to those who see the benefits and would like to take the risk,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°You mean¡­those like BMA, which is powerful enough to actually manage to avoid any monitoring or escape from any punishment in case it is caught by the UN, right?¡±


    ¡°You got it. But that is still not the most important point,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°What is the most important point?¡±


    ¡°The most important point is that the technology works and it can benefit human species,¡± Sam said artfully.


    ¡°It sounds to me that you mentioned two points instead of one.¡±


    ¡°You are right.¡± Sam laughed dryly.


    John sensed the awkwardness in the sound of Sam¡¯s laugh, so he tried to relax the atmosphere, ¡°I have witnessed the technological point this morning but I could not see the point of benefit yet.¡±


    ¡°The main benefit is that we might overcome many unpleasant weaknesses of our own species with the help of the technology,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°How could that be?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s actually very simple.¡± Sam explained, ¡°When life is created in the lab by some kind of scientific formula, it becomes possible for scientists work on the nature of life by playing around with the formula of life. Or in other words, what we consider as various attributes of the so-called human nature become alterable parameters of scientific operations in the lab for those AHs.¡±


    John was reminded of what Colonel X told him, and commented sarcastically, ¡°I guess the first attribute of human nature that has been altered is the nature of parenthood.¡±


    ¡°You are actually very correct.¡± Sam said, ¡°The direct logical entailment of being artificially manufactured is that they don¡¯t need any human parent. Therefore, the natural ability of reproduction becomes unnecessary.¡±


    ¡°That seems to be true.¡± John could not argue against that logic.


    ¡°But on the other hand, the requirement of sexual mating for reproduction actually comes with a big overhead,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°We all love it, right? That¡¯s why we call the activity as making love,¡± John jested.


    Sam raised his glass to clink glasses. Two glasses hit each other.


    ¡°Well, that love itself is actually the overhead,¡± Sam said after imbibing a mouthful of beer. ¡°Don¡¯t you see how many dirty things happened during human history simply because of that love of sex?... Jealousy, adultery, cheating, violence, as well as little things like masturbation ...¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡± John tried to say something but did not find a proper sentence.


    Sam continued his own talk, ¡°So it would make sense to remove the reproduction capacity from the formula of AH. Accordingly, they don¡¯t need to have sexual desire, and thus won¡¯t suffer all the negative symptoms caused by sexual desires as we humans have been suffered.¡±


    ¡°Are you really suffering from your sex life?¡± John winked.


    ¡°I do enjoy it since I am created in that way,¡± Sam laughed wryly. ¡°But since we are the makers of AHs, we could do better for them.¡±


    Sam had a bite of the steak. Both were quiet for a few seconds when they were chewing the food.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not just good for them but also for the whole society, including us,¡± Sam said. ¡°It could help the society avoid a lot of desire-driven sex crimes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any objection to that since they are not human anyway,¡± John said, but then he sensed some logical problem in what Sam just said and his own response, but could not figure out the problem right away. His thinking capacity was slightly affected by the alcohol.


    ¡°Are there other benefits?¡± he asked.


    ¡°How about the missing infant and youth times?¡± Sam asked back.


    ¡°That¡¯s a pity, isn¡¯t it?¡± John asked.


    ¡°A pity for them, maybe¡­ but a cost effective benefit for us. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±


    ¡°I guess I have to agree with you.¡± John said reluctantly and then asked, ¡°Would those AHs think as logically as us humans?¡±


    ¡°Oh, no!...They are much smarter than most humans.¡± Sam lowered his voice and put his index finger to his lips.


    John looked around to see if anyone else was listening to them. ¡°Is it safe to discuss that matter in this place?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. BMA owns this restaurant,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Are you kidding?¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Sam said. ¡°Most people in this town relate to us in this or that way. Occasionally, some outsiders like yourself might come to this town, but they would be easily identified.¡±


    ¡°How could those AHs be smarter than us humans?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I guess one important reason is that they are less distracted by matters such as sexual imaginations and so on,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Would you hire them to work for you?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Sure. I have AHs working in the factory. Some of them are even as scientists or engineers,¡±Sam replied.


    ¡°You mean they are involved in the research or design of creating their own fellows?¡± John raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    John looked at Sam seriously and lowered his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about what was shown in the sci-fi movies that those AHs would replace human beings someday?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Sam did not show any worry as John expected.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°For a couple reasons ¡­ First, the human world is not simply a physical world, not even a primitive jungle world. The human world is a highly structured world. We as the makers of AHs are sitting at the top of that structure and thus they would serve us, not the reverse.


    Second, although AHs are not bothered by sexual desires, but it does not mean that they don¡¯t have other weaknesses. We know how to control them.¡±


    ¡°You just mentioned that you could change all attributes of human nature in the labs for AHs. Why don¡¯t you get rid of their weaknesses?¡±


    ¡°Come on, science has its own limitation. Besides, we don¡¯t want to do it since we don¡¯t want to worry about what you have seen from those Sci-fi movies,¡± Sam grinned, and then stared at John, ¡°As a matter of fact, they are made more loyal to their human bosses than we humans.¡±


    ¡°But if they could do the jobs as scientists in your factory, then they might change the formula someday by themselves,¡± John reminded Sam of the risk.


    ¡°They are under intense monitor in the labs just like most human beings are monitored around the world for various reasons. Only very few human scientists could touch the most sensitive parts of the formula,¡± Sam replied with confidence.


    ¡°Cheers¡± They cheered with each other again.


    ¡°But after you told me so much about the AHs, I still don¡¯t see the benefit for BMA to invest in AHs if they are not allowed to be produced outside The Republic of New People. Do you plan to smuggle AHs out of this country?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes. They will definitely not stay in this country only. The question is where they would be sent to.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to send them back to our country?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We could do that if needed,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°You mean you will let them to spread among us?¡± John¡¯s voice was a bit quavering.


    ¡°That¡¯s not in the plan yet,¡± Sam looked at John and smiled slyly. ¡°There are two main areas that we are planning to send AHs.¡±


    ¡°What are they?¡±


    ¡°First, we want to use them to form an army for our own country,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°How could you get the congress to approve this?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need their approval,¡± Sam said. ¡°The AHs would be hired as mercenaries to fight for us abroad and no one would know that they are AHs.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry that they might turn their guns back to our own country?¡±


    ¡°That will never happen. We know how to control them since we produced them,¡± Sam twitched his lips. ¡°Besides, all the officers will be humans.¡±


    ¡°So BMA will profit from the defense budget, right?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We actually help to save the defense budget, since it will cost much less to hire an AH than to support one human soldier. Besides, AHs are much braver than human soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± John made a sarcastic sound. ¡°I guess what really matters to you is that you don¡¯t really care about the life of AHs.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Sam asked in a rhetorical tone, ¡°if that could save the lives of our young men, don¡¯t you think it a good thing?¡±


    ¡°If you think that is so good, why don¡¯t you bring it to the congress and get them to approve it?¡±John asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s another issue,¡± Sam replied. ¡°We don¡¯t want to scare them too much right now. But someday they will learn this and agree with us.¡±


    ¡°So you are producing AHs only as soldiers to defend our own country?¡±


    ¡°That is a very important reason,¡± Sam looked at John seriously. ¡°AHs could also serve to defend our country in a broader sense.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Have you heard from the news that all three countries that have set campuses on Mars are facing severe challenges there and are considering getting their men and women back to Earth?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°I heard of it before I came here,¡± John replied.


    ¡°As another top secret that you should not leak to outside, we are researching a way to produce one type of AHs that will survive in the severe environment of Mars.¡± Sam leaned towards John and lowered his voice, ¡°With them we could completely defeat those two countries that have set campuses on Mars as our rivals, and we could have a complete control of Mars for our country.¡±


    John¡¯s eyes were opened wide and felt very hard to question BMA¡¯s motivation of making AHs after Sam provided such strong patriotic reasons for producing the AHs.


    ¡°Have you made any progress on this?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Sam replied and leaned back to the chair.


    ¡°Is that hopeful?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s possible,¡± Sam twitched his mouth and had a raise of his eyebrows. ¡°At least, if some AHs cease living on Mars or anywhere else, people won¡¯t care as much as they might for humans.¡±


    It was the typical cold tone of Sam that John had been familiar with.


    John did not respond because he did not know what to say. He definitely did not like AHs, but he was not comfortable with the cruelty in Sam¡¯s tone either. So he kept eating and drinking.


    A few seconds later, Sam said while leering at John, ¡°Personally you should feel happier about the fact that we are making the AHs.¡±


    ¡°For what reason?¡± John asked.


    ¡°For your own business of selling IB system,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You will know the answer this evening when you see that General K.¡±


    ¡°Could you give me some heads up now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d better leave that to General K,¡± Sam smiled slyly.


    Then they talked about some other things. The lunch lasted about two hours. They left the restaurant in the middle of the afternoon. Sam called a taxi on the street. He asked the driver to lower the window and said to him, ¡°Please send this gentleman to the Palace Hotel. The fare is charged to the New Generation Factory.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± The driver replied.


    Then Sam hugged John. ¡°It¡¯s great to see you again in this country.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°You have my number. Don¡¯t forget to call me before you leave.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing.¡±


    After the taxi left, Sam took out his phone and opened the message interface. He typed ¡°Not sure!¡± in the reply to a text from his boss, Harry King.

 Nine Meeting with General K

    When John arrived at the Palace Hotel, Sergeant Y was sitting on a couch in the lobby waiting for him. He stood up when he saw John walking in from the revolving door.


    ¡°Hi Mr. Potter, Colonel X is waiting for you in the cafeteria.¡±


    ¡°Where are Tom and Dick?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They are with Colonel X.¡±


    ¡°I do need some coffee after sitting in the taxi more than an hour,¡± John said. ¡°Let¡¯s go to join them.¡±


    The cafeteria was located half a floor above the ground on the left side of the lobby. They walked up a four-step stair into the cafeteria. When John pushed open its glass door, he heard the typical local music, a fast tempo melody that he heard in the house of Colonel X the previous day. The cafeteria was big, but quite empty, and only a few tables among about a hundred were taken. The light was dimmed so that it was not easy to see far from the entrance. A waitress came to greet them, but was stopped by Sergeant Y.


    John was just about to ask Sergeant Y where Colonel X and his men were sitting, when he saw someone stand up behind a table near the street side windows waving to them. That was Tom.


    John waved back to Tom and walked towards that table. Sergeant Y followed John.


    When John got close to that table, Colonel X stood up greeting him, ¡°Mr. Potter, we are waiting for you.¡±


    ¡°Hi, John,¡± Dick greeted John.


    John and Sergeant Y each took a seat and sat down.


    ¡°How was your lunch?¡± Tom asked.


    ¡°Lunch was good. They have an International Town with many foreign restaurants near the factory, and we went to a steakhouse,¡± John replied. ¡°How was your tour?¡±


    ¡°It was amazing¡­¡± Dick was about to share with John their tour experience, but he was cut off by Sergeant Y.


    ¡°Let me order some drink and food for you,¡± Sergeant Y said to John. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Oh, thanks. Please get me a large cup of coffee with milk and 2 sugars.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to try their cakes? Their cakes are very good,¡± Sergeant Y recommended.


    ¡°Sure. I am a bit hungry after the bumpy trip on the taxi.¡±


    Instead of calling the waitress to the table, Sergeant Y stood up to walk across all the tables to the service counter.


    John looked at Dick, ¡°We might need to be more careful in front of him.¡±


    Dick asked Colonel X, ¡°Would he be mad if we talk about AH in front of him?¡±


    ¡°They are very sensitive.¡± Colonel X, who was sitting facing the street windows, turned around his head and looked over his own shoulder at the back of Sergeant Y. Then he turned back and said, ¡°They know that they are different from us, but normally they don¡¯t care we talk about them. As a matter of fact, sometimes they might act like they are superior over us humans.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Dick was surprised to hear that.


    ¡°The reason that he might feel uncomfortable when you talked, I guess, was because he went to the factory with you guys this morning so that he knew what you might talk about,¡± Colonel X added.


    ¡°But how could they even feel superior over humans who are supposed to have created them?¡± Tom asked.


    ¡°Well, it might sound ridiculous, but they do have reasons to feel some kind superiority, at least in our country,¡± Colonel X replied.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Dick asked.


    ¡°First of all, in our country, AHs are not in the lowest class; rather, people can see their presence in many government organizations, especially in the army. Even a Sergeant in the army is more respected than many ordinary people in our country.¡±


    ¡°You mean they belong to a high social class?¡± Tom asked.


    ¡°I would not say their social positions are very high, but in the middle,¡± Colonel X said. ¡°It¡¯s very rare to see an AH among the poor people in this country, or maybe I should say none of them is among the poor people since they are actually produced on demand. Right now the demand is greater than the supply of AHs in the global market.¡±


    ¡°Global market?¡± John blurted out his question.


    ¡°I am sorry,¡± Colonel X made a correction promptly. ¡°I mean domestic market.¡±


    John emitted a deep breath.


    ¡°Secondly,¡± Colonel X continued. ¡°It¡¯s not hard for AHs to find in everyday life that they are normally stronger, smarter, and quicker than ordinary people.¡±


    ¡°That would be a serious issue,¡± Tom remarked.


    Colonel X stared at Tom. ¡°More seriously, and the third, you just mentioned that we humans created them, but they can create themselves now. They already learned all the necessary science and technology.¡±


    ¡°Sam said during the lunch that they don¡¯t share the top secrets with AHs,¡± John chipped in.


    ¡°Well, the so called top secrets were discovered by scientists who mastered the basics, but many AH scientists have learned the basics very well.¡± Colonel X could not hide his worries.


    ¡°It sounds like you do have concerns about the AHs. Why do you still allow them to be produced in that factory?¡± Tom asked.


    ¡°Shhh,¡± Colonel X put his right index finger on his lips. ¡°That¡¯s not something I can change.¡±


    ¡°I was a bit curious when he recommended the coffee and cakes to me. I remember you told me that they don¡¯t eat the same food as ours,¡± John said to Colonel X. ¡°How could he know the taste of the cakes and the coffee?¡±


    ¡°I learned from some engineers of the New Generation Factory that some of AHs were created with the same sense of taste as ours even though they don¡¯t count on our food for survival. As for Sergeant Y, I know that he does not have our sense of taste. But he could guess, besides, he could still eat and drink the same stuff as ours anyway.¡± He lowered his voice and widened his eyes, ¡°AHs are very alert animals. They are watching us all the time, and they know how to please us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a good thing because it means that they know our weakness,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°He¡¯s coming back.¡± Again Tom, whose back was toward the windows, was the first seeing Sergeant Y walking back.


    Sergeant Y came back with two cups of coffee and a few slices of different cakes in a plate. He put the tray on the table first , and then gave one cup of coffee to John.


    ¡°Thanks a lot,¡± John took his coffee.


    Sergeant Y put the plate of cakes on the table, and then put the tray on another table after he picked up his own cup of coffee.


    ¡°Untz~~~untz~~~untz~~~¡±


    ¡°Hello,¡± Colonel X answered his phone. ¡°Okay, we will be there in another 30 minutes.¡±


    After he hung up the phone, he told the group, ¡°It was the Captain of the Palace Guard. He wanted to know when we will be there.¡±


    ¡°How long would it take for us to get there?¡± John asked.


    ¡°By car, it might take about 10 minutes, but the driving time might be two minutes, and the rest is the time for us to get in and out of the car,¡± Colonel X smirked.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Thirty minutes later, John¡¯s team entered the garden of the Presidential Palace together with Colonel X and Sergeant Y in the same limo that had carried them around.


    Although the Republic of New People is a small island country with an underdeveloped economy, its Presidential Palace was of world-class standard. It¡¯s a marble edifice with a seven-floor tower in the middle and two four-floor towers as its right and left wings. The center tower was connected to those two wings by two-floor flat buildings. The palace was surrounded by a huge garden with various beautiful local tropical plantations. However, the grass on the green lawn was not a local natural product, but a type of the best quality lawn grass imported from overseas.


    The limo stopped in front of a side door of the left wing. After John and Colonel X stepped out the car, a uniformed officer came out of the door walking towards them.


    Colonel X made an introduction for John and the officer, ¡°This is Mr. John Potter from K Corp of BMA, and this is the Captain of the Palace Guard.¡±


    He particularly pronounced ¡°BMA¡± clearly and loudly, but no one corrected him even though everyone in John¡¯s team knew that K Corp is not a company of BMA, at least not legally.


    After greeting with each other, the captain told them, ¡°General K is at the back of the Palace. He asked me to invite Mr. Potter to join him there. Colonel X might lead these two gentlemen to have a tour of the Palace first, and then you might go to the banquet hall directly.¡±


    ¡°Sure. I will introduce our great Palace to these two gentlemen.¡± Colonel X smiled towards Tom and Dick. Obviously, they had become friends already.


    John followed the captain towards the back garden. When they walked around the left wing towers, John heard the sound of gun shooting. He looked at the Captain, but the Captain did not seem to be bothered by the sound.


    Having noticed the confusion on John¡¯s face, the Captain smiled at him, ¡°General K is practicing trapshooting, which is one of his favorite sports.¡±


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s a fun sport.¡±


    ¡°Please wait here, Mr. Potter. I will go to inform the General of your presence.¡± The captain stopped John in front of several secret agents in black dresses.


    ¡°Sure. Please.¡± John could feel the majestic atmosphere around the head of the country.


    A few minutes later, the captain came back to call John, ¡°The General wants you to come to meet him.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    General K, the ruler of the Republic of New People was in the middle of his 60s. His 6 feet tall body was very well-built. The natural dark thick eyebrows and mustache contrasted his bald head which was shining even under the late afternoon sunlight.


    ¡°Come over here, Mr. Potter.¡± He waved at John with his right hand while his left hand still held the rifle. His vibrant voice was full of arrogance. When John started to trot towards him with the captain, General K passed his rifle to one of the young girls beside him, and then took a white towel from another one to wipe his perspiring hands.


    ¡°It¡¯s my honor to meet you, Mr. President.¡± John stretched out his hand after he stopped before General K.


    John had seen quite a few portraits of him hanging on the walls of the hotel, the house of Colonel X, and even on billboards beside the road. In all those pictures, General K was in his military uniform with peaked army cap on his head. This bald-headed old man in a red short sport suit in front of him looked quite different; the only part of his face that looked same as in those pictures was the pair of arrogant eagle-like eyes.


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter.¡± General K squashed and shook John¡¯s hand use his right hand while his left hand still held the towel, and John almost cried to get his hand out.


    ¡°They all call me General.¡±


    ¡°Hi, Your Majesty General, please call me John if you would not mind.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± General K let go John¡¯s hand and then walked towards the Palace building while continuing to wipe his hand with the towel. ¡°I am very glad that BMA sent you guys to come. Did Colonel X tell you what we expect from you?¡±


    ¡°We had some conversation. But I am still not very clear about what you need from us.¡±


    ¡°Good, I will let you know what we want.¡± General K gave the towel to his guard and got two bottles of beer from him. He passed one bottle to John, without even asking if he wanted, and then popped off the cap of his own bottle and started to drink.


    John was a bit embarrassed because he was not good at opening beer bottles with bare hand. He decided not even to try since he knew that might not be an easy job for him.


    After empting his bottle, General K started to talk. ¡°I was told that you visited the New Generation Factory this morning.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± John was wondering whether General K knew that he quit the tour at its very early stage.


    ¡°What do you think about those AHs?¡±


    John did not answer right away because he needed to find a proper answer. He disliked the AHs from the bottom of his heart; he even felt disgusting to think about living with artificial humans. He could not yet explain why he felt that way, but he just hated the fact that he had to coexist with AHs on this globe. But he also knew that General K was behind the production of AHs, so that he had to be careful with his answer.


    ¡°It¡¯s an awesomely amazing thing.¡± John did not reply straightly.


    General K burst out laughing loudly. He pointed to those girls following them, moved his mouth close to John¡¯s ear, and said to him,, ¡°All those chicks are AHs.¡±


    John could hardly believe his own ear. He looked at General K with widely open eyes, ¡°I thought AHs are genderless and all looked like men.¡±


    General K laughed loudly again, and then crossed his right arm over onto the right shoulder of John. ¡°That would be a big waste of the scientific potential.¡±


    John was almost stifled by the reek of alcohol from the mouth of General K, but he was more concerned with what he heard from General K. He confusedly turned his face at General K, ¡°So they can bear children?¡±


    ¡°No, they cannot, but that¡¯s exactly what we want, isn¡¯t it? We made them that way on purpose,¡± General K giggled, and withdrew his arm from John¡¯s shoulder.


    At that moment, John felt that General beside him more disgusting than those AHs. But as a professional salesman, he had learned to endure some extreme things when facing important clients. He tried to disguise his contempt for this warlord by turning conversation into a more serious discussion.


    ¡°Is that the only difference between these girls and human girls?¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± General K replied. ¡°They don¡¯t feel the same taste of the food as us, but that is also tunable.¡±


    They entered the right wing of the Palace through a side door. General K said to John, ¡°I need to take a bath. The Captain of Guards would take you to my private study. I need to talk to you about some business before the dinner.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Please take Mr. Potter to tour around and then wait for me in the study on the second floor in about 30 minutes.¡± General K instructed the Captain of Guards before he left with those girls.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The tour was only in the right wing of the palace since 30 minutes would be passed quickly. They visited the collection room of treasure, as well as the library with many exotic ancient scripts in various languages that would be hard to find even back to John¡¯s home country.


    The Captain of Palace Guards deliberately led the tour only on the second floor near the private study of the General so that they would not be late for the meeting with him. When it was five minutes before the supposed time, the captain started to take John to the said study waiting for the General. Obviously, he was a very careful person who would not displease his master.


    ¡°May I get you some drink?¡± The captain asked John.


    ¡°Oh yes, could you please pour this beer into a glass?¡± John showed the bottle of beer that he had held in his hand all the time.


    ¡°Of course,¡± The captain took over the beer and went out of the study. A couple of minutes later he came back with a glass of beer and gave it to John.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± John took the glass from the Captain.


    They had some trivial small talk before the General K came into the study.


    ¡°Sorry to have you wait, John. It always feels good to take a bath after sports.¡±


    ¡°We just came in not long ago and Captain showed me a lot great stuff in the palace,¡± John stood up from the couch to show respect.


    General K waved to let him sit down, and said to the captain, ¡°Give us two glasses of wine.¡± He then sat down on the same couch that John was sitting.


    ¡°Where did we quit the conversation?¡±


    ¡°We were talking about the taste of AHs,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Right, right, right, the taste of AHs,¡± General K looked at John. ¡°But the technology of making AHs is not just for providing chicks to entertain men. We have more important plans for AHs. As a matter of fact, I should say that BMA has more important plans for AHs.¡±


    ¡°I have seen AH soldiers,¡± John replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s only one of the important reasons for us to have AHs,¡± General K said.


    The captain came in with two glasses of wines. He left the room after he gave the glasses to General K and John.


    ¡°Cheers for our business of Red Hats,¡± General K raised his glass.


    ¡°For Red Hats,¡± John raised his glass as well.


    ¡°Ting ~~¡± they clinked glasses for their business.


    ¡°I guess you might have wondered what has the Red Hat to do with AHs since you arrived in this country, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± John admitted.


    ¡°We need to look at this matter in a big picture,¡± General K stood up from the couch and paced a few steps in the room, and then turned to stare at John. ¡°We are a problematic species that are ruining our common homeland, the Earth planet. Do you agree with that?¡±


    ¡°Well, we are not perfect, or I should say that we have a lot of problems. But that should not cause us to be replaced with AHs.¡± Right after he said that, John noticed that he was a bit jumping ahead of the conversation since General K did not mention the issue of using AHs to replace humans. John was quite a good drinker, but sometimes after taking a few mouthfuls of alcohol into his belly, he would tend to lose his usual alertness in conversation.


    General K seemed a bit surprised at the answer of John. He did not respond right away, instead he went to open a cabinet and took out a bottle of whiskey and one glass. He poured one glass of whiskey and then shook the bottle to John to see if he wanted some.


    John shook his left hand, and then raised the glass with his right hand to show General K that he still had some wine in his glass.


    General K put the bottle back to the cabinet and pulled an armchair to sit before John so that he could look down at John from a higher position. ¡°I understand your concern very well. It is reasonable for any person to get shocked when all of a sudden they sense that their own species, or own race, own hometown, own country is under threaten by some foreign species, foreign race, or foreign nation.¡±


    ¡°I am sorry that I did not express myself properly¡­I might be a bit confused by the new thing that I never imagined before,¡± John offered his apology for having made some improper comment.


    ¡°No, no, no need to sorry at all,¡± General K looked very serious and said, ¡°You are an honest person, and I like it. I am glad that BMA sent you here. Together we will do a great thing for this world.¡±


    John did not know what to say, so he just lifted his face looking at General K.


    ¡°Do you know how many red hats we might need to purchase from you?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know that yet,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Take a guess.¡±


    ¡°A couple thousands?¡± John asked in reply.


    ¡°Multiply that by a thousand,¡± General K smiled with his eyes winked.


    ¡°A few millions?¡± John was surprised again.


    ¡°You are right,¡± General K replied.


    ¡°That means almost one for every single person in this country.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much every viable person,¡± General K added.


    ¡°Would they be demanded to wear the hats all the time, even when they are at home?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Why not?¡± General K asked back, and then added, ¡°Of course, there might be some relax for top class people, such as state officials and other noble families. They might be required only wear the red hats when they are in their official posts. But their assistants and servants won¡¯t be given that kind of tolerance.¡±


    ¡°But it would be very inconvenient to wear the red hat when sleeping, especially for those who suffer from insomnia,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°For that, I need your professional input,¡± General K leaned toward John. ¡°I heard that you have been very successful in helping prisons to put red hats on the heads of inmates. I guess they will not be allowed to take off their hats during sleep, am I right?¡±


    ¡°The prisons are quite different. When the inmates are required to wear the red hats all the time, they indeed don¡¯t have much choice but just do it, for otherwise they would face the consequences,¡± John replied. ¡°But the citizens of a society are different.¡±


    ¡°Who said they are?¡± General K responded in a condescending tone. ¡°In this country, someone is different only if I said he or she is different.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t you worry that they might rebel against you if they are forced to do something against their will?¡± John¡¯s warning was obviously out of his sympathy for the citizens of the Republic of New People, not for the General.


    General K¡¯s brow was furrowed for a fraction of a second, and then a cunning smile was put upon his face. ¡°I don¡¯t really worry about that, not only because I could count on the loyalty of my people, especially the military force including the police force, but also because anyone who dares to rebel against me would know that they won¡¯t be able to challenge the power behind me, which is the one that sent you here, the BMA.¡±


    Once again John was reminded that he was sent by Steve who was a senior executive of BMA, and thus he would be considered as a representative of BMA. Accordingly, if his behavior might ruin the ambition of BMA in this Indo-Pacific island country, his own job security back in the K Corp might be in danger. Therefore, he needed to be more careful when talking to this warlord who might be directly connected to the top inner circle of BMA.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean that I have any doubt about your unchallenged authority in your country,¡± John responded. ¡°As for those prisons that I have done business with in the past, not all of them required that the inmates wear the red hats during sleep.¡±


    ¡°Why was that?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°For the first few prison projects, we asked the inmates to wear the red hats even during the night time. But then we relaxed that requirement in other prison projects. Even some of those that originally asked the inmates to wear the hats when sleeping also made changes on that.¡±


    John further explained, ¡°It is because during the night most inmates would be sleeping and thus the output of the red hats would be those sleep-related waves, including delta or theta or random low voltage waves which are not what the IB servers are designed to interpret.¡±


    John noticed that General K was listening with great interest. He paused and emptied his glass of wine.


    ¡°Whiskey or more wine?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°I can have whiskey,¡± John replied.


    General K took the glass from John and put it away on a tea table, and then he went to pour whiskey into a clean glass from the cabinet for John.


    John had a sip of whiskey and continued, ¡°So far the IB technology has not even attempted to analyze sleeping brain waves because it is a language-oriented system, which is more interested in the patterns of language-related waves, which are not typically meaningful for sleeping waves. Although people might talk in their dreams, for most of the time their talks are illogical or random, and thus it makes no sense for us to waste efforts analyzing them. Even if some sensitive words, such as rebel, occur in someone¡¯s dream, you don¡¯t know what they dream about. That¡¯s why the IB system is not interested in sleeping waves.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± General K concurred. ¡°But not everyone sleeps during the nights.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± John responded. ¡°However, in most prisons, the inmates are all under 24 by 7 CCTV surveillance. Therefore, it is easy for the prisons to pinpoint those who behave abnormally. They could take some special measures against those atypical ones if they have some concerns about their queer behavior, which include forcing them to wear red hats all the time.¡±


    General K cut in, ¡°But outside the prisons we don¡¯t have CCTV in everyone¡¯s home, and they are not necessarily staying at home all the time during the nights.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± John said.


    ¡°I saw from some videos the type of red hats you guys wear in the office,¡± General K said while looked at John in his eyes.


    ¡°Sure,¡± John avoided the eyes of General K with a short response and then had a sip of the alcohol from the glass. He could sense that General K was implying, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare to assume that I don¡¯t know what kind of slave you are back to your own company.¡±


    General K emptied his glass and then continued, ¡°Don¡¯t you guys have some kind of red hats which are more convenient for wearing on the pillows, just like those biggonets?¡±


    ¡°Actually, F Corp did try to make something like that, but then gave it up,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± General K was obviously not ready to give in yet.


    ¡°In addition to what I just mentioned about the brain waves, the chip is easy to be damaged when a heavy head keeps grinding it on the pillow, and it also might cause some skin problem of the head,¡± John explained.


    ¡°We can tolerate that kind of problem,¡± General K said as if he was speaking for all the hat wearers.


    ¡°Besides, the quality of data collected from those hats during the night was very poor compared to using ordinary hats during daytime.¡± John was irritated by the ruthless tone of General K, but he still managed to control his own emotion when talking to this arrogant warlord of the Republic of New People. ¡°More importantly, as I have mentioned, it¡¯s almost meaningless to waste the computer power to go through the sleeping data which are mostly meaningless.¡±


    ¡°If that is the case,¡± General K seemed unhappy with the information provided by John, ¡°Is there any way for me to know whether they are sleeping or not. If they are sleeping, then they are allowed to take off their hats, otherwise they have to wear their hats.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what IB technology is concerned with since as long as the subject takes off the red hat, we won¡¯t know what he is doing. If you really want to replicate what the prisons are doing, you might just treat every household in your country as a jail cell, which means you might install CCTV cameras in every household,¡± John suggested sarcastically.


    ¡°Thanks for that suggestion, and I might consider that option.¡± General K responded coldly.


    ¡°But even if you do that, it will not be seamless,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Even in our company, I mean in K Corp, we are allowed to take off the red hats when we are taking showers in the gym within the building. Although the red hats are waterproof, we don¡¯t encourage people to wear them during shower time since the chemicals they put on their heads might reduce the lifespan of the hats; besides, what are you expect to learn when they are taking showers?¡± John replied.


    ¡°You start to worry me,¡± General K¡¯s face started to fall.


    ¡°Well, you should still feel good about the red hats since they could offer some extra capacity you don¡¯t have today anyway,¡± John responded.


    ¡°En¡­, that makes sense.¡± General K seemed to be convinced and ready to be less greedy. ¡°I can buy into that. Maybe I should not be too greedy about the effectiveness of the red hats. But anyway, I believe the IB system recommended by BMA would help my country to be transferred into a better shape.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ I still don¡¯t understand very well why you need to put the whole country under the IB system,¡± John sounded confused.


    ¡°I don¡¯t blame you,¡± General K said. ¡°You feel confused because you are not looking at the picture from my position. In fact, I need to put the whole country under the IB system for the same reason why your company, K Corp, wants to put its employees under the IB system. You could understand this only if you could look at the picture from my position.¡±


    General K went to the cabinet to get the bottle of whiskey to fill his own glass and John¡¯s glass. He put the empty bottle aside and clinked glasses with John.


    ¡°To me, the whole country of the Republic of New People is a big corporation, just like K Corp to its CEO. The only difference is that I need to look after a much bigger population.¡±


    ¡°But you also have a much bigger power than a CEO,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Yes, you are right.¡± General gazed at John, ¡°But the power itself could become a big burden if I could not use it smartly.¡±


    ¡°You just mentioned the loyalty of your people a moment ago,¡± John said. ¡°So the power should not be a big burden for Your Majesty.¡±


    General K was dumbstruck a bit by John¡¯s remark, and then burst into laughter, ¡°You are absolutely right. But the loyalty of my people also comes at one condition, which is that I will not let them think they could afford to be not loyal to me.¡±


    ¡°Those AHs could help you to make your people more loyal to you since they are made for that purpose, right?¡±


    ¡°No, no, no,¡± General K shook his right-hand index finger three times. ¡°Actually, they are one of the major reasons for the need of red hats.¡±


    John furrowed his brow and looked at General K confusedly. ¡°I have been impressed since this morning that AHs are created for serving humans because they are loyal to their masters. Why do you need to worry about them?¡±


    ¡°Obviously you were not told the truth or the whole story,¡± General K said. ¡°Those AHs are smart animals. If we are not careful, we might be fooled by them.¡±


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you just stop producing them?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Now we come back to the subject why we need to produce those AHs in the first place.¡± General K emptied his glass again and sat down in the chair facing John. ¡°One good thing about AHs is that they are very cost effective in the sense that they are not materially as greedy as we humans, but they are capable of working efficiently.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of that,¡± John said.


    ¡°Not only that¡­we could even eliminate many human weaknesses from their genes when we create them, which could essentially improve the quality of the inhabitants of this globe.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    John was about to say something, but he refrained himself from saying it.


    ¡°Well, I understand that you might be worried that the perfectness of AHs might cause them to replace us. But I can guarantee you: that would never happen.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡±


    ¡°It is because we are in control of all the social resources,¡± General K replied slowly but clearly.


    ¡°If their population grows quickly, they might have more social resources,¡± John responded.


    General K shook his head, and said, ¡°Today the only country in this world which allows AHs to live like ordinary citizens is the Republic of New People, and we are not announcing this officially. We have to do this secretly due to the harsh banning of the United Nations.¡±


    ¡°But that banning effort of the United Nations could be compromised bit by bit if more countries are doing what you are doing now,¡± John interrupted General K.


    ¡°Even if that happens¡­even if the production of AHs is legalized by the United Nations and they could become common citizens all over the world,¡± General K stood up. He walked to the back of the chair, and leaned toward John by putting his hands on the back of the chair. ¡°Even if they become the citizens of every country, they would not be allowed to have the same rights as we do. Because we, who are in control of all the resources, would not let that happen.¡±


    ¡°But I was told that AHs are socially superior to many poor people in this country, especially those who are put behind the wall on a hill that we passed yesterday,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Wow, you already noticed one big secret in our country,¡± General K chuckled. He walked back to the chair and sat down. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s good that you have seen that wall, because that will help you to better understand our country as well as the future of this world. I believe that what is going on in this country will become the model of the future human civilization around the world.¡±


    John could not help but twitched his mouth in a contemptuous sneer for what he just heard from General K.


    ¡°Do you know what we call those people who were sent to the back of that wall?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°Something like ¡®useless people¡¯, I guess.¡± John recalled what Colonel X told him.


    ¡°Correct!¡±


    General K then added, ¡°They are useless not because they could not do things. They still can. For example, they still can kill others.¡±


    ¡°As far as I know that they are humans and they are still working to produce food, at least for themselves behind that wall.¡± Now John felt more courageous to argue with General K, partly because of the spirits of alcohol in his body, and partly because he had sensed the veneration of General K towards people from BMA, even though he started to really dislike his own BMA background in that circumstance. Besides, more and more John felt that he could hardly stand the cruelness of that warlord toward the people of his own species.


    ¡°You are correct on that, and we do agree with each other on that. As I just mentioned that we call them useless not because they could not work,¡± General K paused, and then added, ¡°but because they are useless to us.¡±


    John really hated to hear General K repeating the word ¡°useless¡±, but he knew that he cannot let his own emotion take control of his manner. He had to show respect to that warlord.


    ¡°Excuse me, Your Majesty. I am a bit confused on what you just said.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± General K stood up again and stared John up and down for a second. Then he walked to the back of the chair and said slowly, ¡°This world has greatly changed since about four decades ago... I guess you were still very young at that time.¡±


    ¡°I was still playing peekaboo in the kindergarten,¡± John quipped.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. I was not very old either. I guess I am about 10 years older than you,¡± General K smiled amiably.


    John¡¯s heart was somehow instantly softened by that affectionate elder-style expression of General K for some strange reason, maybe the guilt of being lack of humbleness in front of the head of a country, or maybe the curiosity about what might have changed the world when he was a baby (even though he might have heard of similar stories many times). He did not say anything but just listened to General K like a little kid in front of a grownup.


    General K continued to say, ¡°I was old enough to remember that, about 40 years ago, one of the hottest things was the so called industry 4.0 and the fast growing AI technology. It was acclaimed by the general public as being symbolic of the invincible human intelligent capacity. Even the defeat of human beings by AI in some competitions, such as Go games or international chess games, which were traditionally considered as the paramount of human intelligent combats, was hailed by the people all over the world with pride as the great progress of human civilization.¡±


    When noticed that John was listening to him very attentively, General K proudly smiled and then continued, ¡°But a few decades later, human beings started to taste the bitter fruits of those revolutionary changes, that working people were massively replaced by machines in all kinds of working positions.¡±


    He paused and then added four words slowly and clearly, ¡°all around the world.¡±


    ¡°That I witnessed, and unfortunately, that is still an ongoing process even today,¡± John said.


    ¡°You are right. It is still an ongoing process,¡± General K stared at John. ¡°But do you know what does that mean?¡±


    ¡°It means, I mean, it means many people would not be able to find a job,¡± John sighed.


    ¡°Your statement is correct, but that¡¯s not the point.¡± General K raised his voice a bit.


    ¡°What is the point then?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The point is that many people are continually becoming useless in this world as the consequence of the industrial automation and the artificial intelligence, or we might call it as AI.¡± General K spat out every single word of the whole sentence clearly and slowly.


    John was shocked by General K¡¯s remark because all of a sudden he found that he could not find a strong argument against the use of the term of ¡°useless¡± by General K, even in his own heart.


    ¡°But¡­but it would be too rude for us to condemn those who unfortunately could not find a job using the term ¡®useless¡¯¡­you know, it¡¯s not their fault,¡± John disputed weakly.


    ¡°It seems that you still don¡¯t get the point that it is no longer a nominal moral issue, not a game of words, but a brutal survival issue¡­and the industrial automation and AI are just one part of the cause to blame, which might not even be the most important cause but just a superficial direct trigger for the global crises of generating useless population on this globe.¡± General K became emotional and his face turned reddish and the loudness of his voice increased.


    ¡°If not the industrial automation and AI to blame, what else should we blame?¡± John also raised his voice a bit.


    ¡°Market economy,¡± General K responded.


    ¡°In a market economy, most people, or any person without the resources or capitals has to earn his rights of eating and resting under a roof by selling his own labor. Now, because of the automation and AI, massive amount of the working population around the world cannot find a chance to sell their own labor in exchange of their rights to purchase food and to be housed under a roof. Therefore, the meaning of ¡®useless¡¯ is indeed ¡®useless in the market economy¡¯.¡±


    John could not just accept the use of market economy to rationalize the term of ¡°useless¡±, and argued, ¡°I am not convinced of that. Market economy is just one form of economic activity. We might choose some other forms of economic system to offset the impact of automation and AI.¡±


    ¡°Did we?¡± General K questioned sarcastically.


    ¡°Uh¡­,¡± John realized that he was not standing on a solid ground in the fight, but he still could not swallow the brutal fact that the human-created technology would cause humans to be tagged as ¡®useless¡¯ and then to be deprived of the survival rights. ¡°Apparently we are not doing well in that respect¡­but it does not mean that we are already hopeless and should give up human civilization to machines or AHs.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not jump too much. We will come back to the issue of AH later.¡± General K waved down his hands to let John calm down. ¡°You mentioned that we might choose some other economic systems to replace the market economy so that we could offset the impact of automation and AI, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­that¡¯s what I said,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Human beings had failed many economic systems before they chose the market economy as the global economic system.¡±


    ¡°But we didn¡¯t have to face the challenge of automation and AI back to the old times,¡± John cut in.


    General K waved his hand again to let John not to interrupt him. ¡°All those other economic systems that preceded the market economy shared with the market economy one common thing that human labors gain their rights to consume in exchange for their work. The only difference is that the market economy puts on a mask of so-called ¡®free will¡¯. That tells that other economic systems might force the labors to offer their work without the free will of the labor when the governments feel like so, which would not help to solve the challenge posted by automation and AI.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true. The socialist economic system means to offer better social benefits to the citizens,¡± John argued.


    ¡°Touch¨¦. You scored a goal in this respect,¡± General K said. ¡°However, in those so-called socialist countries the basic economic system is still simply market economy, which means the majority of the so-called working class is supposed to earn their rights of consumption by selling their work. When only a very small percentage of the working class could not find a job, it might help by giving them unconditional free cashes, as quite a few so-called socialist countries initially tried but only very few are still doing now. However, when those countries are facing large scale shortage of jobs, free lunches won¡¯t help them much.¡±


    ¡°At least that can feed hungry people,¡± John responded.


    ¡°You might say that,¡± General K said. ¡°But you cannot use your own statement to defend your original position in this discussion. What I mean is that you still cannot change the fact that they have become useless to the rest of those countries.¡±


    ¡°But when you say ¡®the rest¡¯, you might not actually be referring to the majority if most working class people could not find a job,¡± John argued.


    General K looked at John for a couple seconds and then said, ¡°You are very right on that. That might sound sad, but the fact is this: those that we might call as ¡®the rest¡¯ are not only producing for this world but also own the resources. And thus they could decide how to treat those useless people.¡±


    ¡°That might be true in backward countries, especially autocratic countries like yours, but not in advanced democratic countries like mine.¡±


    John regretted for his offensive statement right after saying that, so he apologized, ¡°Excuse me for saying that, Your Majesty, I did not mean to offend you.¡±


    But General K did not seem to care about what John just said at all. Rather, he seemed very interested in continuing the debate.


    ¡°You need to notice how many countries now in this world are treating those useless people in different ways from yours; besides, you might also have noticed that your country is not giving out free lunches to the useless people as those so-called socialist countries either.


    I dare to bet you anything, even your country would not succeed in dealing with this automation and AI challenge, which means that the situation would be worsen.¡±


    John was seized by a sudden impulse, and he wanted to stand up from the couch and slap on the face of that ruler of the Republic of New People. But he quickly gained control of his own emotion and responded calmly, ¡°You don¡¯t really have any solid reason to say that. The voters of our democratic country would not let that happen.¡±


    ¡°I respect your good wish. But don¡¯t you realize that the hurdle you are facing to is actually the very foundation of your democracy?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am referring to the basic principle of fairness. Isn¡¯t it the foundation of your democracy?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is,¡± John responded. ¡°But why do you think that is the hurdle?¡±


    General K asked, ¡°Why do you think your democratic system has not allowed the government to give out free lunches like those very few socialist countries?...Actually, let me ask you another question, how would you look at those who are getting the free lunches in those socialist countries if you are a tax payer in one of those countries?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± John did not know how to answer since he knew that there were a lot complaints made by ¡°the rest¡± of the society about those getting free cashes from the governments. He had witnessed that kind of complaints during his business trips to some of the socialist countries in the past years.


    ¡°As a matter of fact, the reason that none of the countries including yours could satisfactorily handle the problem is because human beings are lack of the capacity to handle the issue of fairness in a rational way,¡± General K remarked.


    ¡°I think you might be right,¡± John said. ¡°But we might still be able to improve ourselves in that respect if we are determined to do so.¡±


    The moral-sense-based argument turned into a theoretical discussion of political economics. John started to find some agreement with General K.


    ¡°Actually, when I was in college, I did read some books about how to rationally analyze the issue of fairness in our civilization, and accordingly how to rationally deal with the fairness issue collectively as a society in this world,¡± John recalled.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah ¡­ I read some kind of philosophical writings about fairness as well. But I don¡¯t think the society as a whole has been paying much attention to the theoretical work on fairness,¡± General K responded.


    Then he added, ¡°Philosophy is different from science and technology. The latter could function well even if only a very few people learned some ideas and perform some work in closed-door laboratories or workshops, but the former could play an effective role only if the general public has been aware and accepted some philosophical theories.¡±


    ¡°We can always start to make efforts to let the world pay attention to the vitality and complexity of the issue of fairness,¡± John responded. ¡°I would say that there should still be some way for us to handle the issue of fairness in a rational way so that we might handle the challenge of automation and AI better.¡±


    ¡°Too late!¡± General K responded. ¡°When this world was originally hit by the industrial automation and AI, if we could realize the potential severe challenge and start to do something at that time, no matter theoretical or practical, we might have already worked out at least a model social system that every country on this globe could follow to build a more harmonious or more humanitarian would now.¡±


    ¡°We still should try,¡± John said.


    ¡°No. We won¡¯t have the chance anymore now.¡± General K shook his head and sighed. ¡°The automation and AI have already put this world into an irreversible course of splitting into useful and useless classes. Some countries, like mine, have come close to the completion of this course, and some countries, like yours, will come to the same in the near future. Once we entered this new process, there is no way for us to turn this gigantic fast running train back anymore. The rest for us human beings to do is¡­¡­¡± He stopped in the middle and walked to the desk beside the window.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    General K pressed a button on the desk and the voice of the Captain of Palace Guards came from the speaker of an interphone.


    ¡°Yes, General,¡± The captain answered.


    ¡°Please bring a bottle of brandy and two glasses.¡± General K commanded.


    ¡°Sure. I will be there in a second,¡± The captain replied.


    John showed his glass to General K, ¡°I have not finished my whiskey yet.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to finish it. Just leave it on the table.¡± General K walked back to his seat. ¡°I like to drink different types of alcohol when I need to think. I could get different inspirations from different types. You might find the same.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­let me try to get that kind of inspiration as well.¡± John forced a smile, and then he asked, ¡°May I ask a question, Your Majesty?¡±


    Somehow John kept calling General K ¡°Your Majesty¡± while no one asked him to do so. But General K did not correct him either, even though he mentioned that he liked others to call him General.


    ¡°Please,¡± General K replied while he was sitting back to the chair.


    ¡°It seems that you know very well about what happened around the world, especially what happened in my country in the past. You must have spent a lot time doing research on my country, right?¡± John asked.


    General K got up from his chair right after he just sat in it. ¡°Come, let me show you something.¡± He waved to John and walked to the desk. John put down his glass on the side table, and stood up to follow General K to the desk. When he got close to the desk, he noticed that there were a few photos under a glass top of the desk.


    General K let John move to the front of the desk and pointed to the middle three photos under the glass, ¡°This was at the graduation ceremony of my bachelor¡¯s degree in economics from the famous H University of your country, this was at the graduation ceremony of my master¡¯s degree in psychology from the famous Y University, and this was at the graduation ceremony of my Ph.D. in philosophy from the famous N University.¡±


    John looked at those photos very carefully because he almost could not believe what he just heard. But clearly he could recognize the face under the degree caps as the younger version of the warlord who stood beside him.


    ¡°No wonder you sound like a professor,¡± John looked at General K and complimented. ¡°It¡¯s because you are a doctor from N University.¡±


    ¡°I might have become a professor if I did not come back,¡± General K twitched his lips.


    ¡°Actually, we are alumni. I was graduated from H University as well,¡± John said.


    ¡°So you stayed in the same city after your graduation, right?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­I have lived in the same city since then.¡± John then asked, ¡°Did you go to my country to do college study after your high school?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± General K replied. ¡°I was sent to your country when I was a grade school pupil, and I came back right after I received my Ph.D.¡±


    ¡°You never came back before you got your Ph.D.?¡±


    ¡°I came back every summer and winter.¡±


    The Captain of Palace Guards came in and walked to the desk. He put a tray on the desk and then opened the bottle of the brandy. When he was about to pour the brandy into the glasses, General K let him leave the bottle on the desk.


    After the captain left the room, General K poured brandy into the glasses and gave one to John.


    ¡°To H University,¡± General K raised his glass to toast while walking back to their previous seats.


    ¡°To fairness,¡± John raised his glass as well.


    After they both sat down, John brought the conversation back to their previous discussion. ¡°You just mentioned that after this world entered the process of getting into the new classification because of the automation and AI, there is something left for us human beings to do. Did you mean that we might still somehow to reverse the process?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­no¡­no.¡± General K looked at John but did not finish his answer, instead he asked, ¡°What do you think we can do to change the reality of the stratification of useful and useless classes?¡±


    Even though knowing the educational background of General K had changed John¡¯s perspective about that warlord, he still felt his repeating of the word ¡°useless¡± very irritating.


    ¡°Since Your Majesty is a Doctor in Philosophy, we might look at this issue more philosophically,¡± John responded. ¡°The question that we might need to ask ourselves is whether we are created for the universe or the universe created for us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too much abstract, which would not help us at all.¡± General K cut him off. ¡°From a scientific point of view, the occurrence of humans was just a small-chance event while Mother Nature had been there since the big bang. But all that kind of discussions would not help our problem at all. One fact that I guess you might have never thought about is that we have been very lucky that we have peacefully entered this current status quo of new social classification, thanks to the advanced technologies that have helped us to avoid uncontrollable global turmoil.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John was a bit surprised to hear that.


    ¡°I mean,¡± General K paused when he emptied his glass. ¡°The changes brought up by the automation and AI is not trivial. It is a revolution, and might be the most radical one in human history.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a fair statement,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°When I use the word ¡®revolution¡¯, I am not solely referring to its technical or economic perspectives, but also referring to its social political impacts. The fact that it has created new social classes of useful and useless ones makes it the most radical social and political revolution, for it is transferring human society permanently into a new reality that humans never experienced in the past.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like you are saying human society is transferring into an inhuman stage,¡± John mocked.


    ¡°Right, inhuman!¡± To John¡¯s surprise, General K was not mad of his sarcastic criticism, but was excited about the term. General K put his glass on the tea table and got up. He walked to the desk to get the bottle of brandy and then came back to his chair. ¡°I have been looking for a term for that, but I was thinking in a wrong direction. Inhuman is a very proper term.¡±


    ¡°The term ¡®inhuman¡¯ is nothing new but has been used for anything that is not human, e.g. animals or oceans, for a long time. Why do you feel it so special?¡± John was puzzled by the reaction of General K.


    ¡°Yes, the word ¡®inhuman¡¯ is nothing new. What makes it new is what you just said that ¡®human society¡¯ has been turned ¡®inhuman¡¯.¡± General K particularly stressed the words ¡°human society¡± and ¡°inhuman¡± in the sentence.


    ¡°It¡¯s also common to call some people or their behavior inhuman when they behaved like animals,¡± John responded.


    General K shook his right index finger back and forth. ¡°No, no. Here we are talking about the social environment instead of individual persons.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s also common. We often call a working place inhuman if, say, the boss is too mean, or the working or living condition is too terrible,¡± John argued.


    ¡°Touch¨¦, you made a point, although people often add a letter e at the end of the word inhuman for what you just referred to,¡± General K said. ¡°But here what we are facing is a very different sense of inhuman in terms of the social environment.¡±


    John looked at General K and frowned with confusion.


    ¡°We are not talking about a local inhuman condition as you just mentioned,¡± General K continued. ¡°We are talking about a global inhuman cultural environment. Different from what you just described, the global inhuman environment I am referring to actually might look very human or sometimes even cozy in terms of apparent living and working conditions.¡±


    ¡°Then what sense of inhuman are you talking about?¡± John was further perplexed.


    General K stared at John with a proud smile. ¡°I am talking the artificial tone of the general culture of the society,¡± he replied slowly with a hidden contemptuous tone.


    ¡°I am confused,¡± John¡¯s face looked as confused as his mind. He asked, ¡°While the term ¡®artificiality¡¯ itself is referring to the human originality, how could the artificiality make something inhuman?¡±


    ¡°A good example is the AH that has been bothering you since this morning,¡± General K laughed slyly. ¡°They are artificial, and even pretty much behave like humans, but you don¡¯t want to consider them as human.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± John admitted. ¡°But that might be just a special case, which might not represent the general culture.¡±


    ¡°How about AI---the artificial intelligence?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°AI is just a bunch of computer programs, the same as glasses and wines, which cannot be used to characterize the nature of a society,¡± John argued.


    ¡°Not so simple,¡± General responded. ¡°AI has become an essential part of the culture in many places around the world in the sense that they are doing the ¡®thinking¡¯ or playing proactive roles in everyday life, which would very well differentiate them from glasses, TV set, or even cats and dogs.¡±


    ¡°But it seems that AI has not gained the same popularity in your country as in mine, so...¡± John paused and was hesitating if he should make a point that at least a backward country like the Republic of New People should not have created so-called useless people as the result of automation and AI.


    ¡°Yes, unfortunately,¡± General K did not let him finish his sentence and cut in. ¡°But we are getting there. As I said, it is a process. Just like that AH would gain its popularity all over the world.¡±


    ¡°No way!¡± That¡¯s what John wanted to say, but he did not speak the words out; instead, he said, ¡°At most, AH & AI are just part of the society, they cannot define the general nature of our world even if they are appearing or walking around in all kinds of forms all over the world.¡±


    ¡°I wish you could still say so in a moment after you realize how much the general lifestyle of this world has been formalized since the beginning of this century.¡± General K cast a pity smile at John.


    ¡°You mean ¡®normalized¡¯?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No. I mean ¡®formalized¡¯,¡± General K replied. ¡°Its goal is not the normal state or the so-called social norms in the common sense, but a state that is specially designed by so-called rational human mind, based on certain ideas or theories, after deliberate calculations, in favor of certain classes of people.¡±


    ¡°I am a bit lost here.¡± John was puzzled again.


    General K mused for a second, and then said, ¡°The formalization process was actually started hundreds of years ago when the first industrial revolution started.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Because it started with the idea of making human society as a machine and each individual a component of the machine,¡± General K replied.


    ¡°But if it has been for many centuries, what is special for the past few decades?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Because of the so-called high-tech started around the beginning of this century, which includes things like big data and artificial intelligence, as well as a lot other fancy stuff,¡± General K said.


    ¡°I am still not very convinced ¡­ I don¡¯t see how technology could formalize our life¡­ it seems to me technology provides more freedoms to human beings since we can do many extreme things that no one could ever dream about before we had the those fancy technologies,¡± John argued.


    ¡°You are right¡­technology itself is not the problem ¡­ it just expedited and enforced the process of the formalization which might not be significant without the advanced technology,¡± General K explained. ¡°So you need to focus on the social aspects instead of technology in order to understand the formalization.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± John asked.


    General K smiled, and then responded, ¡°We humans have been living on this globe for thousands of years. We act or interact according to our so-called human nature. Although the mind is one important part of our nature, or maybe the most important part so that Aristotle even equals the mind with the soul, but the output of our mind is not.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fair to say that, I guess,¡± John said.


    General K continued, ¡°But when the behavior of every ordinary person is regulated by various rules that are created by human mind and enforced by machines that are created by humans, then the behavior of the whole society would lose its original randomness, but be formalized into certain pattern that would reflect the design logic of the rules, which in turn would reflect the will of the designers of the rules, or the best interests of those whom the designers are most concerned with,¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t following rules and obeying laws what characterizes us as civilized beings?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°You are absolutely right on that,¡± General K responded. ¡°But that¡¯s not where I am getting to. Here I am not trying to devalue those fundamental laws, no matter in the religious sense or in secular sense. I am even not trying to lessen the importance of any organizational or community rules, not at all,¡± General K responded. ¡°I am using the term ¡®rule¡¯ here in a generalized sense, which refers to any social patterns that are crystallized by human intentions.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    General K smiled compassionately at John and started to explain patiently, ¡°Social rules in a general sense always involve two sides, one is the social needs, and the other is humans that are regulated by the rules.¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡± John stared at General K and tried to capture what he was trying to lead to.


    General K continued, ¡°A very good example is the social professional division, which was discussed by Plato about two and half millenniums ago. The existence of each profession is determined by the correspondent social needs, which is reasonable. However, once the social professional division gets more and more delicate and sophisticated, most human beings, no matter white-collar workers or blue-collar workers, managers or ordinary workers, are all tagged with not only their professions but even their specific jobs.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± John agreed. ¡°From this example, I guess, the formalization you were referring to is the ever sophisticated process of social professional division.¡±


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± General K corrected him. ¡°First of all, I have to remind you that only the tagging effect on the people by the professional division contributes to the formalization, not the division itself. Secondly, the effect of social professional division is only one minor aspect of the formalization.¡±


    ¡°Then what else could cause the formalization?¡± John asked.


    ¡°A lot,¡± General K replied. ¡°As I just said, generally speaking, the effect of the advanced integration of those scientifically-produced-theories-based rules and the high-tech means including AI machinery has expedited and enforced the process of the formalization which started centuries ago.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± John was obviously unprepared for such an abstract theory that was utterly too profound for him.


    General K replied with a cunning smile, ¡°It would take some brainpower for abstract geometrical imagination to see the difference here.¡±


    John looked at General K like an incompetent student looked at a tricky teacher in the class of advanced relativistic quantum mechanics.


    General K continued, ¡°As a simple example, in action movies of ancient stories, you might often see some fugitives were running into some remote areas or desolate mountains. They could survive from the chase of their enemies by hiding themselves into those places, and then come out later to revenge.


    But nowadays, you can no longer find that kind of hiding places even in an underdeveloped country like mine. Almost every inch of the land has been either too open for hiding or already put under the surveillance by cameras which are connected with the system having the facial or even moving habit recognition software. Not only that, the authority of the state could even trace back the personal history since his birth and treat him accordingly, if they want.¡±


    ¡°In that sense, I agree with you,¡± John said. ¡°The degrees of freedom for individuals have been greatly reduced by the high-techs and the correspondent new social theories. But that reduction of the freedom, if you want to use the word ¡®reduction¡¯, is supposed to benefit the society at large, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Nominally it is,¡± General K responded, ¡°but practically, it is not always so. Very often the reduction of the degrees of freedom for the general public is for the benefit of those who can determine or influence such reduction.¡±


    ¡°You mean for the benefit of people like General yourself?¡± John asked.


    General K nodded. ¡°Yes, I am one of them.¡±


    ¡°But in a democratic country, it might be different from your country because the laws are established through legislation by elected representatives,¡± John said.


    ¡°Politics is always interest-oriented, and legislation is a very political matter. No matter in a democratic system or even in an autocratic republic like mine, the legislature is an important battlefield for various interests.¡± General K drew a curve in the air with his hand. ¡°Anyway, legislation is a very special area, and we don¡¯t need to get into that area since it is just one limited part in the process of formalization and the global impact of the end results is more meaningful here. Don¡¯t forget there are many private rules in various organizations and communities as well.¡±


    ¡°But if the laws are made through a fair process, then it should not impact the society in negative ways,¡± John argued.


    ¡°The point is not whether a law is nominally fair or whether it was created in a fair way,¡± General K responded. ¡°The point is the accumulation of various laws is acting to reduce the degrees of freedom of the public, thus in the long run the society would be more and more formalized into some patterns that are designed by the human mind. Think about this, in a city, if more land is occupied for restricted special uses, then the free land for the general public would be definitely reduced.¡±


    ¡°Again, it has been always like this in the history of human civilization, what¡¯s special about it now?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Again, the advanced technology has made it special,¡± General K replied.


    ¡°I am still not very clear about that,¡± John said.


    ¡°Do you agree that we humans are limited and thus our mind cannot perceive in scope or in depth as our Creator does or as nature operates, depending on which faith system of yours is?¡± General asked.


    ¡°I agree,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Good,¡± General K said. ¡°For that reason, even the fairest laws or rules might be aimed to reduce the degrees of freedom in this or that way. As a matter of fact, fairness of freedom means avoiding conflicted freedom since freedoms of certain individuals might come at the cost of the freedoms of others.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°The reason why in the history of human civilization the formalization as I am talking about here did not happen was neither because the accumulation of those freedom-reduction laws and rules did not have the formalization effect, nor because powerful people did not want to formalize the behavior of the public to fit their own standards, but because they did not have the means to reduce the degrees of the freedom.¡± General K paused to check the reaction of John.


    John was listening to him attentively without any objection.


    ¡°Back to a few hundred years ago, if someone was wanted in a city, no matter for a right cause or an evil cause, he might just escape to another city and get away from the punishment,¡± General K continued. ¡°Now, if you had a cup of coffee in one coffee shop in the morning and then fly to another continent in the evening, people might know what kind of coffee you had drunk in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Technologies do reduce the private space of everyone,¡± John said.


    ¡°Not everyone in the same way,¡± General K responded. ¡°For example, I could hide my trace much better than you do since I have the power that you don¡¯t have.¡±


    ¡°I agree.¡±


    ¡°But you are right on the other hand,¡± General K said. ¡°In general, technology has definitely reduced human private space, which is the personal freedom of the public, which is what makes today special compared to the history of human civilization. And this is why the world is quickly formalized by the products of the human mind.¡±


    ¡°Now I think I understand much better about the meaning of ¡®formalization¡¯ you have talked about,¡± John said. ¡°But I still don¡¯t understand why you would connect this formalization to ¡®inhuman¡¯.¡±


    ¡°As I said earlier, different from those animal-like evil doings, you normally won¡¯t see anything inhuman at every specific move of this whole process, but if you close your eyes and visualize the whole human society to be transformed step by step into a system that is designed by human intelligence to carry on the will of specific group of humans, don¡¯t you feel that it is no longer a naturally formed human society but a gigantic artificial machine?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± John subconsciously closed his eyes and then opened again. ¡°I guess you might be right. But there is still one problem with your theory.¡±


    ¡°My theory? Thanks for giving me the credit,¡± General K quipped, and then asked, ¡°What is the problem then?¡±


    ¡°In the whole process of the formalization, it seems that science and technology has played a critical role, right?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Of course,¡± General K replied.


    ¡°But isn¡¯t science and technology also empower ordinary people to protect themselves? If it is, then it might also help us to reverse the formalization process you just described,¡± John said.


    ¡°Obviously it hasn¡¯t,¡± General K responded.


    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t, since technology is fair to everyone.¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± General K raised his voice. ¡°What you just said is extremely wrong. If you say technology is fair to all kinds of capitals, you would be closer to the truth. But saying ¡®technology is fair to everyone¡¯ is just insane.¡±


    ¡°I am sorry,¡± John apologized. ¡°I would agree with you that technology is fair to money, not to person.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s better,¡± General K said. ¡°It¡¯s actually more complicated than just money. It involves social power, capitals, and some other factors, but definitely not fair to all people. That¡¯s a key to understand how this world has come to this stage today.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± John raised his glass and had a sip of the brandy.


    ¡°The unfair access to the extreme might of those high-techs over the natural capacity of ordinary people has been a major cause for the irreversible progress towards what we are having today,¡± General K remarked.


    ¡°Now I think I do see why you would consider that human society is entering the inhuman era,¡± John said. ¡°Instead of animal-like or stone-like, here by ¡®inhuman¡¯, you are referring to machine-like.¡±


    ¡°Finally you get it. Congratulation,¡± General K quipped.


    ¡°But, excuse me, Your Majesty.¡±


    ¡°You want to say something?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­I really appreciate your very professional analysis and I¡¯ve learned a lot from this lesson.¡± John confusedly looked at General K, ¡°But I guess all your theory is based on your view as one of the very powerful few. The public might look at the issue from a very different perspective.¡±


    ¡°No, no, no, no,¡± General K shook his left index finger multiple times, and said, ¡°What I just said was from a neutral stand point, or you might call it a scholar¡¯s point of view. That¡¯s why I felt sorry for this current situation of human civilization. If I look it from my personal social stand as a ruler of a country, I would very happily hail this status quo since it means that there is less chance for my ruling position to be challenged by people of lower social classes.¡±


    John did not respond right away. He felt a bit hurt because he realized that even an ordinary social scholar might paint the same pessimistic picture of human civilization as that warlord did.


    General K stared at John, and said, ¡°I am talking about the issue from the neural point of view instead of my personal stand point because I want you to realize that we know very well how the world gets into this process of the separation between useful and useless. We will defend this new status quo of human civilization, but not just out of pure greed or selfishness. We defend it because we clearly know the logic behind it and we don¡¯t see any other way out for our civilization.¡±


    The use of ¡°useless¡± by General K reminded John of their previous topic. ¡°You reminded me that before we got into the discussion of the word ¡®inhuman¡¯, you just mentioned that we should appreciate the fact that this world is lucky for not being in a global turmoil.¡±


    ¡°You are right,¡± General K responded. ¡°Actually the discussion of ¡®inhuman¡¯ could help you to appreciate it better because the change from the ¡®human society¡¯ into the ¡®inhuman society¡¯ is not just a mere concept, but the most radical revolution in human history.¡±


    ¡°You mentioned that,¡± John said.


    ¡°During human history, radical social political revolutions were always accompanied by uncontrollable violence,¡± General said. ¡°There were countless examples of brutal killings happened when the civilization was shifting from one phase to another. But so far this world has been not too violent even though we have almost completed one major shift from human to inhuman.¡±


    ¡°What do you think is the reason for that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The high-tech assisted formalization that we just discussed a moment ago is the reason,¡± General K answered. ¡°As I told you that technologies are not fair to every person, they are fair to power and money. They serve us much better than those who are under our control¡­they actually help us to prevent the world from having any turmoil that might threaten our positions.¡±


    John was disappointed by that answer because he was expecting something like ¡°human beings have become reasonable and passionate with each other so that they tend to solve social issues peacefully instead of using violence.¡± But what he heard from General K about the reason of a peaceful transition was the unshakable control of the powerful ones like General K himself. While General K might have thought John should appreciate that supposedly good news about why the world was not in a global turmoil, John was not excited about it at all. Instead, he sensed an indescribable pain when heard General K laid it out.


    Obviously, as a Red Hat wearer, John was not one of the ¡°us¡± mentioned by General K, but just one of ¡°those¡±, and thus that answer could also infer a hopeless future for people like himself. What made John feel even more painful than the coldness of that answer given by General K was his realization that General K just said a undeniable bloody fact.


    John did not say anything but gulped in the whole glass of brandy.


    ¡°Very good,¡± General K commented. ¡°I like someone who could drink alcohol like drinking water.¡± He lifted his head and poured his own glass of brandy into his mouth as well.


    ¡°Your Ma-jesty,¡± John noticed that his tongue was a bit stiff. He took a glance at General K and found that he was looking at him. He felt that General K might be waiting for him to act like a fool. John realized that the chemistry of the mixed alcohol started to have its effect on his body and mind. Even though, as an experienced salesman, John could handle alcohol pretty well, he had never been a quick drinker. He was a stylish drinker who could enjoy fine alcohols slowly while chatting for hours, but not have a quick drink of different alcohols in a messy way. He took a deep breath and tried to manage his sentence in a clear and elegant manner.


    However, in addition to the effect of alcohol, he was also confused by the scholar-style speech given by General K during the conversation. The only time in his life when he was kinda soaked in the academic atmosphere was during his four years undergraduate study. Since then, as a business person, John occasionally had some encounters with some scholars, but he had never been interested in getting close to that type of people.


    Besides, John had been confused since the morning tour of the New Generation Factory. Now in the state of mildly drunk, he started to mistake General K as a professional scholar after his long and profound philosophical speech. John cleared his throat and said to General K just like a student trying to get more tips from a teacher during a tutorial session before the final exam, ¡°You have not told me why you need AHs yet.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for reminding me. We can talk about it now since you seem to have realized that this world has irreversibly come to a process that would finally separate the whole world, including your country, into the new classification of useful and useless,¡± General K said. ¡°But we are now facing a serious problem, a really serious problem.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°In your opinion,¡± General K responded by asking him, ¡°how should we handle the useless population?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­as you have mentioned that the useless population is the outcome of the industrial automation and AI, and you also mentioned that it is an irreversible process for this world to be classified into useful and useless.¡± John tried to think thoroughly against the influence of alcohol and give some reasonable solution. ¡°I guess we still need first to try harder to see if we could make the seemingly irreversible process to be reversed. For example, you rich people could invest more to create more opportunities that are only good for humans, not for robots, so that we would have fewer the so-called useless people.¡±


    General K frowned for a fraction of a second, but John was focusing on his own thinking without noticing the frown on General K¡¯s face. He continued, ¡°In the mean time the governments should build up good welfare systems across the world so that helpless people could be helped.¡±


    ¡°You really think so?¡± General K asked.


    ¡°Uh¡­I guess that¡¯s it,¡± John replied. ¡°May I ask one question?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± General K replied coldly, ¡°let me hear your question.¡±


    ¡°As I mentioned earlier, I¡¯ve noticed that the automation and AI have not gained the same popularity in your country as in mine, how could you have so many¡­uh¡­useless people that you have to send them to the back of that wall?¡± John did not find a better term than the word ¡®useless¡¯ even though he hated that word during all that conversation.


    ¡°Well, En¡­¡± General K did not answer John¡¯s question right away; instead he stared at John straight into his eyes and said, ¡°I was told that you did not feel well this morning during the tour.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Yeah. I guess it was because of the jet lag.¡± John felt the pressure from the look of General K.


    ¡°That¡¯s normal,¡± General K said. ¡°Although you might not see as many icons or gadgets around, which might remind you of the automation or AI in this country, they have actually already become an indispensible part of our industry and economy. If you had a complete tour this morning, then you could have seen more automation and AI in that very factory.¡±


    ¡°But I was told that some AHs are working in that factory,¡± John looked at General K. ¡°If you replace those AHs with humans, then you could at least reduce the number of useless with the help of that factory alone.¡±


    General K did not answer right away, but laughed grimly. He stood up and paced a few steps away before he turned back. He smirked, while looking down at John, ¡°Don¡¯t you forget that factory is run by your friend.¡±


    ¡°He would listen to you if you request, I guess,¡± John said.


    General K paced back to his seat and said, ¡°No matter it is AI or AH, they are the same in terms of providing viable cost effective resources for productivity. As I said, it is the free market economy that has created those useless. After all, this world could not afford to become a grand charity, and it needs productivity.¡±


    John was about to say something when the Captain of Palace Guards came in, ¡°Excuse me, General, should we start the party, all the guests are waiting for you and Mr. Potter in the banquet hall.¡±


    ¡°Yes! We should start the party now, and I am also hungry. But I have a couple of phone calls to make,¡± General K replied. ¡°Could you please show Mr. Potter the way to the banquet hall first, and I will be there right after you guys.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± The captain then said to John, ¡°Shall we go?¡±


    General K said to John, ¡°You might go with the captain first, and I will join you guys very soon.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­but Your Majesty have not told me why you need the Red Hats for AHs,¡± John looked at General K while he stood up from the couch.


    General K exchanged glances with the confused captain, and then turned to John, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will pick it up sometime later.¡±


    General K stared at the back of John with a disdainful look when he was leaving the room with the captain. He took out his mobile phone and sent a text to an addressee alias of ¡°Brilliant Machines Association Test Center¡±.


    In the text he typed:


    Subject: J. Potter


    Evaluation: Not our kind. Not trustable.


    Then he sat down on the couch and poured a glass of brandy for himself.


    A few minutes later, he received a response to that text with the following content:


    Plan B.


    He responded with ¡°Okay.¡±

 Ten The Trap

    Early next morning, the half-awake John sensed a strange aromatic fragrance. When he tried to move his body so that his head could stay away from that smell, his leg hit something on his side. John was startled awake and opened his eyes. He found an enchanting stranger¡¯s face in front of him. He promptly retracted himself from that female body, but his elbow hit someone else behind him.


    ¡°Ouch,¡± another female shrieked from his back.


    John sat up right away, and was astounded by what was before his eyes: three naked strange females were lying in the same bed with him.


    He jumped back to the floor, and screamed, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    No one answered, but all three were looking at his body and laughing. John then found that he was naked as well. He grabbed the bed sheet and attempted to pull it from under those three females, but he could only get it moved a few feet. John grabbed the edge of that sheet to cover his private part.


    When he was just about to question them again, John heard the sound of door opening. He turned to look at the door, and saw Dick walk in, who apparently was almost choked on the stench in the room and reflexively fanned his nose with his hand.


    ¡°What are you doing here? How could you get in this room?¡± John shouted at Dick.


    ¡°I am sorry, John,¡± Dick apologized. ¡°I was knocking the door, but heard you were shouting inside. So I decided to come in to see if anything wrong in the room.¡±


    John didn¡¯t notice that Dick only answered his first question because he was not pay attention to Dick¡¯s answer at all. He turned to those three women, ¡°Get out! Get out of this room!¡±


    Dick picked up the clothes scattered on the floor to the women.


    ¡°You leave here as well,¡± John stared at Dick with his blood filled angry eyes.


    Dick helped to cover the women with their clothes and then went out with them. John locked the door after they all left the room, and dropped the sheet that he used to cover his private part. The little amount of the fresh air he breathed at the door helped to refresh his faculty of smelling. He almost threw up at the mixed smell of alcohol and perfume plus body fluids in the room after the door was closed.


    John ran to turn the air conditioning fan to its maximum speed, and then rushed into the bathroom. He turned the shower to its maximum volume, and stepped into the tub. He grabbed the bottle of shower gel, and squeezed as much as possible the chemical slime onto his body. Starting from the lower part of his body to his head and then back to his legs and feet, John covered his complete body with the gel and then rubbed his body with hands as vehemently as possible. John wanted to get rid of any single cell or any single organic molecule from those women off his own body.


    About half an hour later, John walked out of the bathroom. He went to open his luggage case and picked out some exchanges. Right after he put on the underwear and the pants, the mobile phone on the sofa started to ring. He went to grasp the phone from the sofa, and answered the phone immediately after he saw the photo of the caller on the screen. It was Alice.


    ¡°Hi Alice,¡± John called her name over the phone. But there was no response from the other side of the phone.


    ¡°Alice, Alice, ¡­ ¡± John called her name several times, each time louder than before. ¡°Are you there, Alice?¡±


    After half a minute¡¯s silence, the other side hung up the phone.


    John started to dial back right after Alice hung up the phone, but he was interrupted by the alert of the arrival of a video file on the phone, which was followed by a line of text written by Alice, ¡°Disgusting! We are finished!¡±


    John opened that file, and it was a typical x-rated sex movie with himself as the protagonist playing lubricious games with those three females; but he could not recall when and how he acted in that movie at all.


    ¡°I must¡¯ve been drugged last night,¡± he told himself.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The previous evening, after he left the study of General K, John went to the banquet hall of the Palace with the Captain of the Palace Guards, and joined with his own team and Colonel X there. Although he had already been half drunk when he left the study, he had some more wine in the banquet. But that much alcohol would not have completely knocked him down. During his career as a salesman, John had experienced much worse situation when he over-drank during business trips, but the worst happened to him was just throwing up what was in his stomach. His brain had never been really hit by alcohol bad enough to get him lose his mind.


    However, the half-drunk status could have caused him to lose vigilance when someone was trying to play nasty tricks on him.


    ¡°Something nasty must have happened in that banquet,¡± John told himself. He could not even remember when the banquet ended and how he came back to the hotel. There was not any bit of memory in his mind when and how he got to bed with those three females, but one thing he could be sure that they must be some AHs from the Palace. The only logical explanation was that he was drugged during the banquet and then sent back with those females.


    Then a more scary idea came up in his mind, ¡°Tom and Dick must be all part of this. Otherwise, they could have stopped the plot. Especially that youngster Dick! Why did he come up to my room in such an early morning without first calling me by phone? How could he open the door?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± John kept asking himself this question.


    But very soon, he was warned by the instinct of an experienced professional salesman, who had to make quick decisions when facing all kinds of tricky and nasty situations, that he must completely calm down. He must think.


    John realized that it was the most critical moment in his life, not only because that he was in the most remote part of Earth, ruled by a vicious warlord and far from the civilized world, but also because he could not expect support from anyone, not his own team or company, not even his own wife back at home. Anything, or the worst thing, could happen at any moment, and thus he would not have much time to waste. But before he could make any plan or decision, he needed to have a better grasp on what was going on first.


    He reclined on the couch, laying his head on the back of the couch and looking randomly at the ceiling, while his mind started to scan through all the scenes of the past two days. He needed to pinpoint a sign that could lead him to the solution or at least a hypothetical solution to the whole puzzle. But his brain was too slow, the aftereffect of alcohol or whatever drugs that he was poisoned with, and there were too many things coming up that he could not focus on anyone. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in an attempt to get his mind focused, but it did not help much. He was just sitting there and the time went by.


    ¡°bzzz~ bzzz~.¡±


    It¡¯s the sound of his mobile phone indicating some messages coming in. John picked up his phone and saw a message from his secretary back in K Corp, ¡°Please quit your activity in the Republic of New People. Tom and Dick will take it over. You are no longer entitled to take the corporate jet so that you need to take the commercial airlines back home.¡±


    John did not respond, and he did not intend to make a phone call to ask why. He knew that everything had been set up and no use for him to say anything. Now it became a pressing task for him to figure out how to get out of that country. But on the other hand, the fact that K Corp even bothered to inform him that he was no longer in charge of the business mission implied that, at least, Steve was not informed of any plan to physically eliminate him on this sequestered island. Considering that both General K and Steve belonged to BMA, it meant that General K would not let his men to get rid of him, so he might be able to get out of this country safely.


    He exhaled a long breath and said to himself, ¡°That makes sense. If they wanted to get rid of me on this island country, they could have just made an accident, they don¡¯t need to waste so much effort making the video and sent it to Alice.¡± But that sense of relief only lasted a few seconds, because he knew that what was awaiting him could be even worse than the threat of the immediate death. The worst part of the whole thing was that he had no clue of what was going on.


    While his mind was wandering without any clear idea about what happened and what he should do, his finger was randomly skimming on the phone. Accidentally he touched some icon, and John noticed the change of his screen content. He glanced at the screen and found the call log page was on the display and the name of Sam was in the list.


    ¡°Maybe he could help me a bit or at least tell me what is going on,¡± John thought. He looked at the timer on the phone, and it was 8:00am. ¡°Sam might have already been in his office.¡±


    John decided to give him a call right away. His finger almost touched the callback button beside the name of Sam when he put the phone down on the couch. He looked at the landline phone on the dressing desk and decided to use that one.


    John walked to the dressing desk and picked up the landline phone. But then he could not remember the number of Sam. Instead of going to grab his mobile phone, he opened the drawer and found a notepad and a pen. After tearing a piece of paper from the pad and grabbing the pen, John walked back to the couch. He copied the phone number of Sam from his mobile phone, and then he went back to the dressing desk. John didn¡¯t really know why he did that, but he felt safer by doing it.


    John picked up the landline phone and dialed the number of Sam.


    ¡°Hi, this is Sam. Who¡¯s calling?¡± Sam answered the phone.


    ¡°Sam, it¡¯s me, John.¡±


    ¡°Oh ¡­ hi, John,¡± Sam sounded a bit surprised. ¡°How are you?¡±


    ¡°Hi Sam, I am leaving today. Just want to say goodbye to you before I leave.¡± John did not say what he intended to say.


    ¡°Really? So quick?¡±  Sam¡¯s tone was cold.


    John didn¡¯t answer the question.


    ¡°Are you done with your business here?¡± Sam continued to ask.


    ¡°Yeah...uh¡­I guess I am done with K Corp¡­ I am out.¡± John could not help slipping out the truth.


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s too bad,¡± Sam did not sound much surprised.


    ¡°I just wonder if you might ¡­¡± John was hesitating what to say.


    ¡°Listen, John,¡± Sam interrupted him. ¡°I am very sorry to hear this bad news. I wish I could do something to help you. But unfortunately I am on my way for something very urgent at the factory. I wish you a good luck and have a nice trip back home.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­sorry to bother you. Bye¡± John hung up the phone.


    ¡°How could I be so stupid?¡± John asked himself.


    The sense of being insulted by Sam was instantly superseded by the excitement of discovering the key to the answer of the question that puzzled him a moment ago.


    ¡°It must be Sam,¡± John told himself. ¡°He was already an expert on illegally peeping into the life of others more than 20 years ago. How could I forget that?¡±


    John now recalled that on the premise of the New Generation Factory, Sam pretended that he would be busy the whole day, but when Colonel X was just about to tell him something about BMA, Sam called in. Now it became clear to John that Sam was watching him all the time when he was in that factory, or maybe even since the moment he stepped onto the land of the Republic of New People. Maybe even the meeting with General K was watched by Sam or someone from BMA from the beginning to the end.


    When the idea that Sam might be watching him all the time came to his mind, John could not help standing up to look around the room. But he could not see anything suspicious at all. After a few minutes, John gave up the effort of finding any bugs that might be installed in the room because he knew it would be beyond his technical capacity.


    ¡°Who cares?¡± John said to himself. He was sure that his room must be bugged by Sam, or maybe by that Captain of Palace Guards, or by someone else, who cares? What could be worse than the video that was sent to Alice, or maybe to everyone in K Corp?


    ¡°But why that arrogant Sam would like to set me up with such a nasty plot?¡±


    ¡°Untz~~~untz~~~untz~~~,¡± John heard the ringing of his mobile from the couch. He went to pick up the phone and saw the name of Tom.


    ¡°Hello,¡± John answered the phone.


    ¡°Hi, John.¡±


    ¡°Hi, Tom.¡±


    ¡°I am so sorry to hear what happened,¡± Tom said.


    ¡°I was set up¡­I was drugged¡­I didn¡¯t know what was going on to me,¡± John tried not to cry out.


    ¡°I completely understand what you are feeling now,¡± Tom replied.


    ¡°Could you tell me what happened to me at the banquet?¡± John sounded almost like begging. ¡°I even don¡¯t remember how I got back to this hotel.¡±


    ¡°I left early,¡± Tom told John. ¡°I saw you coming to the party with that captain. We had a few words of chat. Then I went to the bathroom. After I came back, I didn¡¯t see either you or Dick around, and I actually asked Colonel X about you. He told me that you went out to have some fresh air with Dick. At that moment, a servant just passed by me with a tray of glasses of champagne, and I took one. I ate some food, but then I felt a bit dizzy. So I asked Colonel X to tell you and Dick that I would like to walk back to the hotel first. He actually let Sergeant Y to drive me back to the hotel.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you were drugged as well,¡± John suggested.


    ¡°I guess I was just too exhausted because of the stress from so much activity after we arrived here,¡± Tom replied. ¡°I heard that you are leaving today. Are you going to take the same jet back?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± John replied in a sad tone. ¡°I think I am out.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they would still keep me in K Corp after they have done this to me,¡± John replied.


    ¡°I am so sorry to hear that,¡± Tom consoled John. ¡°I wish I could help but Colonel X is already waiting downstairs asking me and Dick to go with him to the Palace right now. I felt that I should give you a call before I go.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s very kind of you,¡± John expressed his appreciation. ¡°Thanks so much.¡±


    ¡°Take care of yourself. I gotta go.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Bye.¡±


    After hanging up the phone, John sat down on the couch and looked at the ceiling again. The room was scarily quiet, which made John feel like an outcast in an empty space surrounded by invisible demons that might swallow him at anytime. John¡¯s heart was filled with sorrow and his mind was blank. What was much worse than the sense of danger was the feeling of the complete loss of the direction for life. It was scary for him to think about whether he could finally run out of this backward country, but it was also scary or even scarier to think about what might happen once he got back to his own country.


    He bowed his head down with his eyes closed, and crossed his hands in front of his head. He started to pray. That was something he had never done for almost three decades. John¡¯s parents were all from traditional Christian families, but they were not as much into the church life as their ancestors. Nonetheless, they still brought John and his siblings to the local church frequently. Therefore, John could consider himself as growing up in the church. However, after he left home for his college study, John had never attended any church activity again. Now when facing the sudden catastrophic change of life, which was not only beyond his control but also beyond his comprehension capacity, his instinct of worshipping was awakened, and he cried out in his heart to the most high for help. However, he could not find a prayer that could express his despair and his desire to escape from the tribulation.


    ¡°Help me!¡± That was all he prayed before he heard a message alert from his phone.


    John opened his eyes and picked up the phone. He saw an electronic air ticket on his phone, which was for a flight in the afternoon back to his country. The ticket was sent from the front desk of the hotel. John picked up the landline phone trying to call the front desk, but then he heard the doorbell ring.


    He put down the phone and walked to open the door. It was the hotel manager.


    ¡°Mr. Potter, this is the airline ticket for you,¡± the Manager handed a ticket to John. ¡°I believe that you must have already received the electronic copy of it.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± John took over the ticket. ¡°Did someone ask you to buy this ticket?¡±


    ¡°Sergeant Y asked us to buy this ticket, and he has paid us for the cost of the fare,¡± the Manager replied.


    ¡°Do you know who paid him for the ticket?¡± John asked.


    ¡°He did mention that it was your company,¡± the manager said.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± John felt a bit better since it sounded like K Corp might not have completely dumped him.


    ¡°By the way, Sergeant Y has already checked out the room for you,¡± the manager added. ¡°So you need to move out within the next half an hour, by that time Sergeant Y would be waiting for you in the lobby hall. The next customer would move in after an hour from now, and our room cleaning lady has to come to clean the room half an hour before he moves in.¡±


    ¡°I hear you,¡± John stared at the manager while trying not to get emotional. He knew that the manager was lying about the new customer, but he also knew that the poor man was not trying to insult him but just doing his job. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I will go packing now and come down in a few minutes.¡±


    When John turned back after the manager left, the first thing came to his eyes was the wide brim fedora hat that he put on the table two days ago. He paced to the table and picked up the hat. John was struggling with what he should do with the hat. He held the hat and looked at it for a couple of seconds. Finally, he put the hat back on the table and went to get a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote on the paper ¡°Please pass this to Tom of K Corp¡±, and put the paper under the hat.


    Then John quickly packed all his stuff, and left that president suite. He arrived at the front desk of the hotel a few minutes later, and saw the manager behind the counter.


    ¡°Hi,¡± John said to the manager. ¡°You might let your lady to clean up that room now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your quick action,¡± the manager responded.


    ¡°You might also inform Sergeant Y that he can come to pick me up anytime he wants now,¡± John said.


    ¡°Sergeant Y is in the cafeteria. You might go in to find him,¡± The manager pointed to the glass door on his right side.


    ¡°He came so early?¡±


    ¡°He came here before I went to your suite,¡± the manager replied.


    John looked at the door of the cafeteria and said to the manager, ¡°I am not in the mood to go into that room. Could you please tell him that I am waiting him in the lobby hall?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I am going to tell him.¡± The manager left the counter to talk to Sergeant Y.


    John found a bench in the lobby and sat down to wait for Sergeant Y.


    A few minutes later, Sergeant Y came out. He greeted John as if nothing had happened. They loaded the luggage of John onto a minivan, and then Sergeant Y drove John to the National Airport of the Republic of New People. Sergeant Y dropped John outside the terminal and shook hands with him for valediction. Then he drove away, leaving John alone in the airport.


    Unlike many other international airports around the world that John had visited during the past decades for his business trips, the National Airport of the Republic of New People, the largest international airport of the country was not very busy during that supposed rush hour for most major airports around the world. Actually, one important reason that John and his team had come by a corporate jet was because it was not convenient to come to this country by commercial airlines.


    After checking in his luggage at the counter of his airline, John went to the security screening gate with his carry-on bags. There were only two other passengers ahead of him in the waiting line. John noticed that those two passengers were all required not only to empty their pockets, but also take off their belts and shoes. So John did the same once it was his turn, and then he passed the security check smoothly.


    After John stepped out the screening gate, he could not find any of his stuff.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± John was trying to ask one of the security guards for his personal belongings, while his left hand was in his waist holding his pants lest it fell down and his feet were on the ground without shoes. None of the security guards responded to him, but three men in black with dark sunglasses approached him.


    ¡°Are you Mr. Potter?¡± One of the men in black who looked like the head of the other two asked John.


    ¡°Yes, I am.¡±


    ¡°We are from the National Security Department,¡± that man told John. ¡°I am Agent P, and we have some questions to ask you. Would you please go with us?¡±


    ¡°Why should I go with you? Did I do anything wrong?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°You will get your answer once you come to our office,¡± agent P replied. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry much, and we won¡¯t hurt you. We just need to ask you some questions.¡±


    John knew that it was no use to argue with them, so he requested, ¡°Could you help me to get my belt and shoes so that I could put them on and then go with you?¡±


    Agent P waved his hands, and another man in black handed a pair of sandals and a rope to John.


    ¡°You might put these on for now,¡± Agent P commanded with a condescending sneer.


    ¡°I need my own belt and shoes,¡± John protested.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will not miss any of your belongings. We will give them back to you. But for now, please put these on and go with us.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    John did not fight much before he complied since he was clearly aware what might happen to him if he did not comply with the command of those secret police in such a dictatorial regime. Those three secret police then escorted John towards the entrance gate of the terminal.


    ¡°I cannot go far because I have a flight to catch,¡± John said to Agent P.


    Before that man answered, John heard a broadcast that his flight was canceled.


    ¡°You heard that,¡± Agent P said to John. ¡°We were informed before we came here that there might be a storm on the ocean so that your flight would be canceled for today. Now it would be good for you to go with us for otherwise you might have to sleep in the waiting room of the airport.¡±


    ¡°Then what about my itinerary back to my own country?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! We will get you another ticket without costing you any money.¡±


    When they exited the terminal, a black minivan was already waiting for them. John got into that vehicle with those secret police.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Half an hour later, the minivan came to a small dock on the south shore of the island. The men in black took John off the minivan and then pushed him onto a speedboat. Another 20 minutes later, they were taken to an offshore island. After getting off the boat, John was brought to a thatched house not very far from the shore. Only one big room was inside the house, and the furniture was quite simple, one bed, one table, one chair, and one shelf with some basic articles of daily use. At the back of the room, John saw two doors.


    ¡°You will stay here until we let you go,¡± Agent P said to John.


    John did not respond, instead he walked to the back of the room to open one of the doors. To his surprise, it was a quite nice small washroom with a flush toilet, a bathtub, and a wash basin. Then he went to open another door at the back of the room, and found a small kitchen inside.


    John closed both doors, and asked Agent P, ¡°Is this the office that you mentioned in the airport?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to go to our office for now. You just stay here until we let you go,¡± Agent P responded.


    ¡°What do you want from me? How long do you want me stay here?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know it yet,¡± Agent P responded.


    ¡°What should I eat?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Someone will deliver food to you, and there is some food in the kitchen. Besides, you might go to the village to buy food for yourself. There are a few bars and restaurants,¡± Agent P replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± John almost could not believe what he just heard. ¡°I am allowed to leave this house?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Agent P responded. ¡°But now please change your dress with what is on the bed.¡±


    John looked at the bed and noticed some native style clothes on the bed. He went to the bed and found a set of shirt and pants with the same flower patterns as the bed sheet and the quilt.


    ¡°Why should I put on them?¡± John argued. ¡°I like my own dress.¡±


    ¡°Mr. Potter,¡± Agent P said, ¡°You are a smart person. Please be smart. If you don¡¯t do what I ask you do, we have to help you do it.¡±


    ¡°Then I have to change it in the washroom,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t waste our time,¡± Agent P became a bit impatient. ¡°You can keep your underwear, so you don¡¯t need to go to washroom to change. You just change here.¡±


    John did not have any choice but followed the command of Agent P. After John changed the dress, Agent P beckoned another man in black to take the John¡¯s own dress away.


    ¡°Please enjoy your life in this beautiful island village, and we will see you later,¡± Agent P said to John.


    ¡°Would you please let someone send me some underwear from my luggage? I need to have changes if you want me to stay here for days,¡± John begged.


    ¡°Sure, we can do it,¡± Agent P promised. Then those men in black went out and left John alone in this thatched house in this small island village in the middle of the ocean. Before they left, they actually dropped some petty cash on the table for the daily expense of John in the village.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Time passed fast. John had been living in the thatched house for about one week.


    During those days, the only dress he had was what the secret police forced him to put on. But then he found it was very comfortable for him to wear that dress walking around in the village. From time to time, he chatted with some villagers, and even took pictures together with them, men or women, old or young. Of course, it was all taken with their cameras since John did not have anything of his own with him, except for the underwear. John was even invited to a village party of celebration. Besides, he drank a lot alcohol during those days.


    A few days after he was kidnapped to that island village, John stopped counting the days because he didn¡¯t know if there would be any chance for him to leave, and more importantly, because he even didn¡¯t know why he was put onto that small island. Just when John had lost any hope to leave the island, and even almost forgot who he was, one day, John was waked up from dream by someone early in the morning. When he opened eyes, he saw a nurse in blue scrubs stand in front of him, and the same three men in black were beside her. The nurse had one glass bottle in her hand.


    John sat up and asked, ¡°What day is today?¡±


    ¡°Today is Saturday,¡± the nurse replied, and then she gave the glass bottle to John. ¡°Please go to get some your urine into this bottle.¡±


    John looked at Agent P confusedly.


    ¡°Do as what she said,¡± Agent P commanded.


    John didn¡¯t ask any question, but just took the bottle and went to the bathroom. He had been used to complying with whatever was told by the secret police of that country.


    After giving the urine to the nurse, John was allowed to wash himself up and had breakfast. Meanwhile, the nurse was conducting some medical test with John¡¯s urine using a small machine they brought in.


    Almost at the moment when John finished his breakfast, the test report came out. The nurse nodded to Agent P after she read the report. Agent P gave a signal to another man in black, and that man went out. A few minutes later he came in with the carry-on bags of John as well as another two plastic bags.


    ¡°These are all your belongings,¡± Agent P said to John when the man handed those bags to John. ¡°Please go to change back to your own dress.¡±


    ¡°Where is my checked in luggage?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They will be checked in for you to the flight that you will take,¡± Agent P said. ¡°Now go to change your clothes.¡±


    John opened those two plastic bags and found his own clothes that were washed and folded nicely, as well as his shoes and belt. So he went to the washroom with those two plastic bags and changed back to his own clothes and shoes. After John finished changing his dress, they set off for the airport. About two hours later, John was escorted by those three men in black onto a flight to S city of his own country.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    When John¡¯s flight landed at the airport of S city, it was around the noon. John took a driverless cab back to his own house. On his way home, John imagined various scenarios about what might happen once he saw Alice face to face. Since it was a weekend day, John would expect Alice at home. John warned himself not to get into emotional conflict with Alice. The worst scenario would be a divorce, and that would not be too complicated since they don¡¯t have any children.


    John got off the cab in front of his house. He stood on the sidewalk for one minute without moving, looking at this familiar property which had been his harbor of life and center of joy for the past decade.  There was no car on the driveway, and the garage doors were closed. John dragged his luggage towards the garage. When passing by the mailbox, he opened it and looked into it. It was empty, which implied that Alice had picked up the mail for the day.


    He opened the garage doors, and only saw his own car in the garage. Alice¡¯s car was not there, which meant that she was not at home.


    John entered his house from the garage. When he got to the dining room, he saw a paper packaging box and a few envelopes on the table.


    When John walked to the table, he found a paper stuck on the box with transparent tape, on which it was written ¡°John Potter¡¯s personal belongings¡±. He opened the box and found his personal stuff that he left in his office of K Corp. It became obvious that he had been kicked out of K Corp.


    John pushed the box aside and checked the mails. Two pieces of mail were from the family court of S city, one of the regular size, and one of the jumbo size; two others from K Corp, one of the regular size, and one of the jumbo size; the last one was an unstamped and unsealed envelope of regular size, on which it was written:


    To:       John


    From:   Alice


    When he grabbed that envelope, John could sense the weight of photos. He opened the envelope and found a dozen photos with a letter. John picked out the letter and poured out the photos on the table. They were all pictures involving him and other women, some erotic ones were taken in that Palace Hotel, and some others were even taken on that small island, when he was dancing or drinking with some female villagers. John almost cried out that even putting him onto that small island was part of the plot against him.


    He unfolded the letter that Alice wrote to him, a very simple and clearly expressive letter, which showed the style of Alice. It was written in the letter:


    I am so sorry for what you have become. I wish you would know what to do to end this gracefully. Please contact my attorney first in case you need to talk to me. I will be on a business trip for a while, and I do not wish to see you in this house again when I come back. Pack all your stuff and just leave the house.


    Please don¡¯t forget to attend the court session on next Monday morning unless you can have an attorney to go there on your behalf.


    Alice


    The message delivered by those photos and the letter was very clear to John: he would lose everything that he had earned during past decades. He had witnessed how some of his friends overwhelmingly won the divorce lawsuits because they had the infidelity evidence of their spouses.


    However, surprisingly, John did not feel much pain for what was happening in front of him. He had experienced much worse psychological shock during the past week, and cried too many times when he was alone in that thatched house, especially after he swallowed glasses of locally vinted alcohol. Almost all his desperation and emotional pain had been drained out together with the tears on that island.


    He opened the small size mail from K Corp, and it was a letter of ending his employment with K Corp due to his violation of the ethical code of the company. John twitched his mouth in disgust and threw that letter on the table; then he opened the large envelope from K Corp, it was a continuation of health insurance document according to the law. Next, he opened the small envelope from the family court and found a notice of appearance in the court on next Monday morning.


    Lastly, he opened the large envelope from the family court, inside which was a stapled letter size document of 80 pages divorce petition filed by the attorney for the plaintiff, Alice.


    ¡°They have really worked very hard over last week,¡± John scoffed.


    He quickly went through that document, and made some notes about how to split the common assets, as well as the responsibilities of the defendant.  Although he had already lost any interest to fight for this sudden and ridiculous divorce, he knew that he still had to be very careful about the divorce document so that he would not fall into any snare set by the attorney for the other side.


    It was clear to John that a new fight was awaiting him, and he had to fight wisely and carefully. The first thing that came up to his mind after reading the divorce petition was that he needed an attorney for himself as well. John had a few attorney friends, but none of them was a divorce attorney. He sent a few texts to some of his friends, including his attorney friends asking for references of divorce attorneys.


    The second thing, after attorney, that came up to his mind was that he needed a physical examination to see if he could get any evidence of being poisoned. That seemed even more urgent than finding an attorney at that moment.


    John thought about his buddy and private physician Bob, who was actually one of his classmates in high school. John dialed his number.


    ¡°Hi John,¡± Bob answered the phone. ¡°You came back from the trip to that island country?¡±


    John had a vaccine in Bob¡¯s office before he went to the Republic of New People, so Bob was aware of his trip to that country.


    ¡°Yeah, I just came back home,¡± John replied. ¡°Could you do me favor?¡±


    ¡°Sure. What do you need?¡±


    ¡°Could you give me a complete physical examination?¡± John asked.


    ¡°What happened? You just had your annual examination last month.¡±


    ¡°I was drugged in that country,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Oh, no way,¡± Bob exclaimed. ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°I am quite sure,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Listen, John. Right now I am in the middle of seeing a patient. I don¡¯t think you need a thorough physical examination. Why don¡¯t you come here late in the afternoon after my office is closed, and I will give you a checkup then?¡±


    ¡°What time?¡± John asked.


    ¡°How about 6:30pm?¡±


    ¡°Okay, I will be in your office around 6:30pm.¡±


    ¡°See you soon, buddy. Take it easy.¡±


    After the phone call, John felt hungry. He opened the fridges and found all of them were empty. So he decided to go out for lunch. When he was just about to leave the house, he heard the landline phone ringing.


    ¡°Hi, this is John,¡± he answered the phone.


    ¡°Hi John, it¡¯s me.¡± It was his dad.


    Somehow John¡¯s nose went sour and eyes became wet. He almost cried out when he heard the voice of his dad.


    ¡°Hi, Dad.¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard from you guys for quite a while, so I decide to make a phone call checking out what¡¯s up,¡± his Dad said.


    ¡°Thanks dad,¡± John responded. ¡°I planned to call you tonight, but you called first.¡±


    ¡°How are you?¡±


    ¡°Not very good,¡± John tried not to let himself to burst into cry.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Dad¡¯s voice was full of the kind of paternal care and concern with which John had been so familiar since he began to remember things.


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story. I will tell you later. I might need to move back to your house for a while.¡±


    ¡°This is your own home and you are always welcomed. But may I ask why?¡±


    ¡°I am done with Alice,¡± John replied.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Dad asked again.


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story,¡± John repeated the answer again, and then he added, ¡°I will tell you the story when I move back. But before that I have quite a lot to handle. It might take some time for me to pack what I need to bring. The earliest might be next weekend.¡±


    ¡°Do you need any help?¡± Dad asked.


    ¡°No. I am good by myself,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Okay, come back when you are ready. Meanwhile, please take good care of yourself. Don¡¯t fight with Alice,¡± Dad said.


    ¡°I know. Don¡¯t worry,¡± John promised.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    John came to the clinic of Bob five minutes after 6:30pm. The clinic had been closed for the day and Bob was the only person there waiting for John. The door was not locked, so John walked in the clinic without the need to ring the bell. Before he entered the clinic, he took the battery off his mobile phone, and put the phone and the battery in two different pockets.


    ¡°Hi John, it¡¯s good to see you again,¡± Bob greeted John with a hug. ¡°Tell me what happened in your exotic trip to the Indo-Pacific region.¡±


    John briefly told Bob his story of being put on bed with three females without his own awareness, and Bob was shocked by the story of John.


    ¡°Let me show you something.¡± Bob was about to take John to another room, but John snatched his arm. He put his right index finger on his lips, and then moved his mouth near Bob¡¯s ear. ¡°Please leave your mobile phone in this room. I will tell you why.¡±


    Bob was surprised by John¡¯s action. He shook his head and left his mobile phone under the counter desk.


    He brought John to the small lab of his clinic.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you okay?¡± Bob stared at John with the suspicious eyes of a doctor seeking from John¡¯s face the sign of psychological sequela of disaster stress.


    John did not answer Bob¡¯s question but first walked around in that test room. He emitted a long breath at Bob after he found no PCs in that room.


    ¡°Let me tell you an old story that you might not believe.¡± He pulled a chair and sat down.


    Bob also sat down on a chair while still suspicious about the mental wellness of his buddy.


    ¡°The story happened in two decades ago when I just started to work for K Corp, and I was sent to a company named SEESALL. In the basement of the compound of SEESALL I saw the whole room of equipment used to hack into every single mobile phone and PC in the country just to watch and listen what they were doing.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious about this?¡± Bob was obviously more shocked by this news than the story of the Republic of New People. ¡°How could you hide this from your friends for the past decades?¡±


    John shrugged his shoulder with a wry smile.


    ¡°You should report it to the government or present it to the media then,¡± Bob suggested seriously.


    ¡°I might,¡± John responded. ¡°But I need first to collect some more evidence.¡±


    ¡°We just go there to take some pictures of their compound and then leave the rest to the media. They might push the SEESALL to admit what they are doing.¡± Bob became excited and eager to take action for the justice of the society.


    ¡°Actually there was some media report about what SEESALL was doing around one decade ago. But it was all quieted down by BMA quickly, no any official investigation on that report. Then the old compound of SEESALL was demolished after the company announced bankrupt shortly after that media leak.¡±


    ¡°Who is BMA?¡±


    ¡°A powerful secret society,¡± John replied. ¡°I am sure that the same bunch of people of SEESALL is still doing the same thing somewhere else, but I have never been involved in any of that activity.¡±


    ¡°What a pity,¡± Bob sounded sorry for being unable to carry out his plan.


    ¡°Anyway, did you want to show me something in this room?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Oh yeah ¡­ look at that,¡± Bob pointed to one machine on the table, ¡°We just got that machine last week, which is specially for the use of drug test so that we might take the job of employment screening for local companies in this clinic now. You just come in time.¡±


    ¡°How long does it take to do the test?¡±


    ¡°Very quick with this new machine,¡± Bob replied. ¡°Only about 30 minutes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s terrific. Do you need my blood or urine for the test?¡±


    ¡°I need both,¡± Bob replied. ¡°But as a doctor I might remind you that, even if you are tested positive for drug use, you cannot prove that you were passively drugged by someone else; instead, that might become the evidence of substance abuse against yourself in the court.¡±


    ¡°I never took any drug,¡± John responded.


    ¡°How could you prove it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± John¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°Trust me¡­ I would never touch any drug as you know me.¡±


    ¡°Of course I trust you. But how would you convince the judge if you would present the test result in the court?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to present it to the court. I just want to prove to myself that I was drugged while I never used the drug by myself,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Do you have any witness to support your claim?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Two of my team members were with me in the Palace that evening. But I don¡¯t think they would come out to support me. As a matter of fact, they might even be part of the plot.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do the test and you keep whatever result for yourself. I won¡¯t let anyone else know the result unless you want me to provide the report to someone in support of your claim.¡±


    ¡°Thanks buddy.¡±


    Bob started the machine after he collected the blood and urine from John. ¡°Do you need me to check you over to see any sign of physical injury that might also serve as the evidence?¡±


    ¡°They did not really physically torture me. At least did not do it when I was sober. I guess it was because I complied with their command whenever they threatened me,¡± John explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s smart. It¡¯s more important to come back in one piece than you might have some physical proof for the court.¡± Bob patted John¡¯s back to show his understanding. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad for your weakling acts.¡±


    ¡°Thanks¡­ I won¡¯t,¡± John replied. He really appreciated it because he badly needed some nice words of understanding from someone or anyone. The condolence from an old friend was especially priceless to him at that moment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the computer room,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Do we need to use computer?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Bob explained, ¡°Once the test finishes, the report would be automatically printed by the printer in the computer room.¡±


    ¡°That sounds nice.¡±


    ¡°Well, technology and automation is a double-edged blade,¡± Bob shrugged.


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± John agreed. ¡°Actually what happened to me has a great deal to do with the other side of this blade. By the way, do you have any PC in that room with internet connection?¡±


    ¡°We have. But don¡¯t worry.¡± Bob lowered his voice. ¡°I will turn off the wi-fi first, so they won¡¯t be connected to the internet anymore.¡±


    ¡°Excellent.¡±


    After they entered the computer room, which was used as Bob¡¯s office, Bob first went to unplugged the power cord of the wi-fi router. Then both of them started to laugh with a relief.


    ¡°Please tell me more about what happened during your trip,¡± Bob requested.


    After they sat down in the computer room, John told Bob in more detail what happened in the Republic of New People, especially what he witnessed about the real AHs living in that country and the treatment of the so-called useless population.


    ¡°The whole thing sounds horrible,¡± Bob exclaimed. ¡°It¡¯s completely insane to have the idea of replacing humans with biotech products.¡±


    ¡°So you can know how I was feeling when I saw what they are doing and heard what they have in their mind.¡± Finally, in his own country John found someone who shared the same feeling with him.


    ¡°Did you tell them how you felt?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I told that dictator in his private study,¡± John looked at Bob.


    ¡°That might very well explain why they put you into the trouble,¡± Bob said. ¡°I guess they figured out that you were not one of them and thus you would expose their conspiracy once you come back here.¡±


    ¡°But then they could simply get rid of me right in that country. Why would they bother to set up such a nasty plot?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Well, I guess probably I could give you an explanation on that,¡± Bob grinned.


    Bob was a fan of detective stories, and when he got together with John he often had various theories about things as if he worked as a detective. John used to laugh at him and called him a fake detective. But very often, John had to admit that Bob¡¯s speculations made a lot senses. Obviously, his professional knowledge as a doctor contributed much more than what he read from the fiction books.


    ¡°What¡¯s your theory?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I think whatever they did to set up the plot does not really cost them much in a dictatorial regime. It might be some kind of routine jobs for those secret agents,¡± Bob looked at John, complacent with his own theory. ¡°But if they get rid of you physically, that might make a headline story in the media. At least rumors would spread among your family members, friends, and former coworkers back in this country.¡±


    ¡°But wouldn¡¯t they need to be worried that I could expose their conspiracy or even sue them in the court once I come back to this country?¡± John was not quite convinced by Bob¡¯s analysis.


    ¡°That part is something that I could understand better as a doctor,¡± Bob grinned again. ¡°Based on those photos and videos you just mentioned, you could very well be qualified as a substance abuser or immoral due to sex addiction or even mentally insane by all standards, unless you could provide evidence that you were a victim of a scheme. But unfortunately, you could not prove your own innocence. Therefore, you could not make a legal case against them.¡±


    ¡°But I still could spread the news about AHs to the world. I am sure the public would listen to me,¡± John¡¯s face turned red because of excitement.


    ¡°Well, people have talked about the so-called Unidentified Flying Objects for more than a century, even some top guns came out to tell their stories about UFO.¡± Bob questioned, ¡°But how many people are really taking it serious even though most people might be interested in the topic?¡±


    ¡°AHs are not like UFO¡¯s. AHs are for real,¡± John argued.


    ¡°See, you are now just denying the reality of UFO¡¯s even though there have been many more people claimed seeing UFO¡¯s than seeing AHs so far,¡± Bob sighed. ¡°You know what? I even think they want you to tell the story of AHs to the public, and a lot of UFO¡¯s stories in the past might have also been released as rumors on purpose.¡±


    ¡°Why should they do that?¡± John sounded very confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s simple. They know that someday they might have to announce the truth to the public. So instead of causing a sudden shock to the public, they might prefer having someone who could be characterized as lunatic or morally uncountable to leak the story out first,¡± Bob explained.


    ¡°What can they gain by doing that?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°They could create such an effect that people are familiar with the buzz words about the issues so that in case it becomes obvious to the public someday in the future, they won¡¯t overreact; but meanwhile, they don¡¯t need to risk any social upset at this moment,¡± Bob explained.


    ¡°So they sacrificed me for their own benefit?¡± John¡¯s anger was accumulating.


    ¡°Unfortunately, yes.¡± Bob showed sympathy to his buddy. ¡°That¡¯s because you expressed your disagreement with them.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t they need to worry about Dick and Tom? They might sell them out someday in the future,¡± John argued.


    ¡°Well, so far, you don¡¯t have any hard proof that they were involved in the action of drugging you. You were even not sure if they did see someone poisoning you.¡± Bob sounded more serious about Tom and Dick because he did not want to mislead John when it might involve someone else. ¡°But they did see that you were messing up with those female AHs, right?¡±


    ¡°But I am quite sure at least one of them, I mean Dick, was involved in the plot,¡± John said.


    ¡°Even if they were involved in the plot as you have suspected, then it means that they must be qualified in the eyes of whoever behind the whole plot. They might do it as an act of pledge of loyalty to their boss.¡±


    ¡°Okay, if they don¡¯t need to worry about any, why they put me on that small island?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°You just mentioned that they have already worked out the divorce petition, right?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°You mean they need one week to work out all the legal preparation for Alice?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Not just for Alice, they might do it as part of crisis control, which probably follows some kind of preset protocol,¡± Bob remarked. ¡°At least it could serve as a warning to you by demonstrating their operational efficiency.¡±


    ¡°I have witnessed their efficiency. I have no doubt about it,¡± John sighed wryly.


    ¡°But that is just one part of the reason for putting you onto that small island,¡± Bob added.


    ¡°What are the other parts?¡± John asked.


    When Bob was just about to answer John¡¯s question, the printer started to print the test report.


    ¡°That will tell us the answer,¡± Bob pointed to the report that was being produced by the machine.


    John walked to the printer and picked up the report. He looked at the report but did not have any idea about what it was telling him. Bob took the paper from John and quickly skimmed the whole report.


    ¡°See, my guess was right.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± John asked.


    ¡°There is no any sign of drug use history in the report. But it showed that you have drunk a lot in the past week.¡± Bob looked at John compassionately. ¡°As I have guessed, they put you onto that island for a week because they must know that the sign of the drug in your body would completely disappear after one week. They must have used some very special drug, and they know how it works in human body.¡±


    ¡°No wonder,¡± John blurted.


    ¡°You recall something?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± John looked at Bob seriously. ¡°Yesterday morning I was waked up in the thatched house by those secret agents and a nurse.¡±


    ¡°A nurse?¡±


    ¡°Yes. She gave me a bottle and asked me to pee into it. Then she ran a test with my urine in a machine that was smaller than yours. They sent me to the airport only after she finished the test. I guess they wanted to make sure that there was no any sign of drug use in my body before they let me leave the country.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it. Considering the fact that your friend¡¯s factory could even produce artificial life, it would not surprise me if I am told that they know how to drug humans,¡± Bob remarked. ¡°Now everything becomes clear. Unfortunately, you were set up by them because you were considered as unqualified for their conspiracy of developing AHs. But on the other hand, you were still very lucky to come back home alive.¡±


    ¡°But they ruined my whole life. How could I survive now with all my reputation is ruined by them?¡± John shouted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too sad. Actually, they are also making some big mistakes,¡± Bob responded.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°They underestimated the strength of humanity. For example, they did not expect that we could figure out their plot on the first day you come back to this country.¡±


    ¡°What can we do now?¡± John asked anxiously.


    ¡°We will figure out some way to beat those scoundrels.¡± Bob then asked John, ¡°What was the name of the organization you mentioned?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called BMA, meaning Brilliant Machines Association.¡± John replied.


    ¡°Could you repeat it again?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called BMA, meaning Brilliant Machines Association.¡±


    Bob went to open a drawer and took out a name card box, from which he picked out two name cards. ¡°I cannot believe such a coincidence.¡±


    ¡°What coincidence?¡±


    ¡°Do you remember Jessica Morton from our high school?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Sure. How could I forget her? We were neighbors. Actually, she came to visit me with Josh and Amanda about 20 years ago,¡± John replied.


    ¡°How come I didn¡¯t know that?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°I think you were still in the medical school at M city. The rest of us already started to work after college,¡± John replied.


    ¡°You are right,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°What about her?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Early this year, I went to B City for a conference and ran into her on the street. We had a very short chat on the street because I was in a hurry, and she gave me these two name cards.¡± Bob handed the cards to John.


    John looked at one of the cards and it showed that Jessica was the CEO of a technology company.


    ¡°As I remember, she worked for her uncle,¡± John said.


    ¡°Now she owns the company,¡± Bob responded. ¡°Take a look at the other name card, which would be interesting to you.¡±


    John looked at the other card as Bob suggested.


    ¡°BHA? No kidding,¡± John exclaimed.


    ¡°Yes. Brilliant Humans Association,¡± Bob said. ¡°It sounds to me that they are meant to be a rival of that BMA you just mentioned.¡±


    ¡°Oh my Lord! It¡¯s hard to believe,¡± John shouted excitedly.


    ¡°I think you should give her a call. I have a feeling that they might be able to help you,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what to say if I call her.¡± John lowered his voice and looked at Bob sadly.


    ¡°Just tell her whatever you told me,¡± Bob encouraged.


    ¡°Did she tell you what this BHA is doing?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I did not get a chance to ask about it. But it¡¯s worth making a phone call, I guess.¡±


    ¡°You think so?¡± John sounded hesitated. ¡°It could be just a coincidence of name¡­ They might not have anything to do with BMA... Besides, I am still not sure what I should do for the next step yet. I need to think it over carefully.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Bob patted John¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But do you mind if I tell her your story?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­uh¡­no, I don¡¯t mind.¡± John¡¯s face was serious and his voice was firm. ¡°Nothing could be much worse than what I have been going through. I just don¡¯t feel like to proactively make a phone call talking about it yet.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then let me find out what their organization is doing and what they can do to help you,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Sure¡­I will appreciate.¡±


    ¡­¡­.

 Eleven Jessica and BHA

    Two weeks later, on another Saturday morning, John was awakened by the ringing of his mobile phone.


    The previous night, with the help of his brother Charlie, he finally moved all his stuff back to his parents¡¯ house. During the past two weeks he had been busy with two things: divorce and moving.


    The divorce was relatively simple and quick compared to most divorce cases in the country, mainly because John did not fight for the major marital assets owned by him and Alice. He just kept his own car, own financial assets, plus his personal clothing, favorites and documents. He even gave up all the joint financial assets during the marriage without touching them at all. As a result, the plaintiff attorney, after getting the approval of Alice, was easy going with John and his attorney.


    But still, finding an attorney and going through all the legal items for the divorce (including dealing with the attorneys of both sides) was a time-consuming and annoying process. One right thing John did was disappointing his own attorney by rejecting his temptation of fighting aggressively. It had been a very common thing for divorce attorneys to encourage their clients to take a tough position against the other side, and the consequence would be a very long divorce process, and accordingly, more money moved from the bank accounts of the divorcing couples to the accounts of the attorneys. John hired an attorney solely to avoid some simple mistakes due to lack of legal knowledge, but not to fight for more assets. Therefore, the whole process went relatively smoothly, and John received the certificate of divorce from his own divorce attorney on Friday morning.


    Packing and moving his stuff from the mansion he purchased with Alice was another heart-broken and depressive thing. Over almost a quarter century living together, too many things in the house were bearing the marks of both of them, and thus it was not only emotionally but also technically difficult to separate his things from hers. After almost two weeks of toil for picking out and packing things that he was about to take with him, John finally moved out of that house of memory and back to the house where he grew up with his parents and siblings. On Friday afternoon, his brother Charlie rented a truck from a renter near his parents¡¯ house, and drove the truck to John¡¯s house in S City. It took both of them hours to load John¡¯s stuff onto the truck and transported back to his parents¡¯ house, and then they unloaded all the stuff into the yard and the garage.


    When John went to bed, it was already late at night. Before he shut off the light, he sent a few texts to some friends, including Bob, telling them that he was officially divorced and moved back to his parents¡¯ house.


    This morning, John planned to stay at home taking a good rest. He needed to release the stress of the past month since his landing on the Republic of New People. But he was waked up from his dream by the ringing of the phone. With his sleepy eyes half opened, he found that the sunlight had already penetrated into the room through the interstices of the blinds.


    ¡°Hello, this is John,¡± He mumbled into the phone without checking the caller.


    ¡°Hi, John, did I wake you up?¡± It was Bob.


    ¡°Good morning Bob,¡± John saluted Bob over the phone.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the late morning at half past nine already,¡± Bob laughed over the phone.


    ¡°What¡¯s up Bob?¡±


    ¡°I am taking a vacation this week. But I think I forgot to give you a vaccine shot after you came back from the tropical island. Could you come to my clinic today and I can give you the shot before I leave for the vacation?¡±


    ¡°But I am no longer in the S City. I am back to where we were in the old days,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be lazy,¡± Bob urged. ¡°If you get up now and drive to my clinic, you could even make it before the lunchtime. It has been quite a long time since we got together for lunch last time.¡±


    ¡°Sure. I will go,¡± John agreed. ¡°But I will go by bus. It¡¯s a pain in the neck to drive into the city.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Bob replied. ¡°See you later.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    John drove to the bus station near his parent¡¯s house, and left his car in the parking lot. It was already past the rush hours, the buses were supposed to arrive at that local station only at every half an hour.


    John caught the bus right on the schedule, and it was quite empty in the bus. After getting off the bus, John changed to the subway and then walked five minutes to get to Bob¡¯s clinic. It was almost 12:30 PM when John arrived there.


    On the door of the clinic, John saw a notice saying that the clinic would be closed for the weekend. John tried to open the door, but found it was locked. So he rang the bell.


    Bob answered the door and let John get into the clinic.


    ¡°What vaccine do I need to take?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Shh¡­.¡± Bob put his right index finger on his lips and then moved his mouth to John¡¯s ear. ¡°Have you discharged your mobile phone?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I haven¡¯t,¡± John whispered back and took the battery off his phone quickly.


    Both laughed wryly, but with a relief.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Bob said to John. ¡°There is no vaccine for you to take.¡±


    ¡°Then what¡¯s going on here?¡± John asked. ¡°You must have something important to close the clinic for the weekend.¡±


    ¡°You are right,¡± Bob responded. ¡°Let¡¯s first go to get something to eat. Then you and I would leave for B City today.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± John was surprised. ¡°It¡¯s too late to go there for today. I even did not pack any changes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s important for you to go. I am just to spend time going with you,¡± Bob replied.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go grab some food from the deli across the street, and we can eat in the car while we are driving to B City.¡± Bob went to shut off all the lights and close all the doors of the clinic, and John followed Bob around.


    ¡°But I need at least to tell my parents why I am going to B City since I am now living with them.¡±


    ¡°Just tell them that I invite you on a tour for my vacation as an after-divorce psychological therapy,¡± Bob replied.


    ¡°They might wonder why I didn¡¯t tell them in advance.¡±


    ¡°Tell them that I just got an extra ticket for the tour bus and we have to catch the bus. Then you might pass the phone to me and I will say hi to them. I haven¡¯t seen them for a while and would like to say hi to them anyway.¡±


    ¡°But at least you should tell me why we are going to B City now,¡± John grumbled.


    ¡°Okay, let me give you a quick briefing so that you might feel comfortable to call your parents. Then we might talk about it more on our way to the deli.¡± Bob sat down on the waiting bench of the clinic and beckoned John to sit down as well.


    ¡°I called Jessica a few days after you came here for the blood test. I told her your story and she was about to give you a call. But then she changed her mind and told me that there would be something big and she would let us know when it is ready. I didn¡¯t tell you about this at that time for two reasons. First, I knew you must be busy with your divorce and moving; and second, I guess BMA might be monitoring your phone after what they did to you in that island country.¡±


    ¡°You did that right,¡± John said with appreciation.


    ¡°But yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Jessica telling me that they are planning a big event for BHA, which would be very important for the country and even for this world. She asked me to definitely get you to B City to help them prepare for the event. I asked her when the event will be. She said it would be someday in the middle of next week. So you might need to stay there for the whole week, but I have to come back tomorrow since I have this clinic to take care.¡±


    ¡°Do you know what kind of event?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am not very clear, but from her voice I could sense it must be very important and it must be related to your experience in that island country,¡± Bob replied. ¡°Actually, she was thinking the same as I was thinking that you might be under close surveillance by BMA. That¡¯s why she did not call you directly and why I made up a story this morning.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s very kind of both of you. I have made up my mind during the past two weeks that I must join the force fighting against BMA.¡± John¡¯s voice was firm with determination. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to cause any trouble for my parents. So I really appreciate your considerateness.¡±


    ¡°Okay, now you can call your parents. But don¡¯t use your mobile phone. Use the clinic landline.¡± Bob went to grab the landline phone from the counter and handed to John. ¡°Don¡¯t tell them anything about B City. Just say what I told you a moment ago.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± John replied.


    John¡¯s mom answered the phone. John told her the story Bob made up for him, and then passed the phone to Bob. Bob had a short chat with John¡¯s mom who had seen Bob grew up with John in the neighborhood. Then he gave the phone back to John.


    ¡°Mom,¡± John added before hanging up the phone, ¡°Please ask Charlie to pick up my car from the parking lot of the bus station.¡±


    ¡°I will. Don¡¯t worry and enjoy your trip.¡± Mom¡¯s reply made John¡¯s nose a bit sour and tears almost gushed out from his eyes.


    After the phone call, Bob locked their mobile phones in a desk drawer. Then they left the clinic. They first bought their lunch boxes from the deli across the street, and then went to a supermarket to purchase some basic articles of daily use for John, including some changes of clothes, and then bought two prepaid phones, one for John and one for Bob. They spent some time to activate the phones in the store, and tested by calling each other. A few minutes later, they were on their way to B City in Bob¡¯s Cadillac.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    BHA was a newly founded civil society but it quickly grew into an international organization with hundreds of thousands members, with its sectors scattered in many metropolitans across the country and across the world. The sector of B City was one of the earliest sectors of BHA. There were a few offices of that sector in different areas of B City, and its sector headquarters was located on the third floor of a 17 story rectangular building in the southern part of B City. It occupied the complete floor, with windows on each side. But on the south side of the floor, there were three protruding portions separated by windows. The west and east end protruding portions were connected to the fire exit stairways; the central protruding portion was of three perpendicular walls separating the private floor space from a small space in front of the elevator gates, and there was a door in the middle of the central wall of that portion connecting to that elevator waiting area. On the north side of the floor was a row of partitioned rooms used for offices and small conference rooms. Between the partitioned rooms and the south end was an open space that could host a meeting for a few hundreds of people.


    As the director of the B City sector, Jessica had an office in this sector headquarters, which was at the west-end of those partitioned rooms.


    When John and Bob arrived at B City, it was around 8 PM. They directly drove to the sector headquarters of BHA because Jessica had told Bob on the previous day that she would wait for them at that location. They did not contact Jessica with their new phones on their way to B City, and they even did not talk much with each other. They knew that they need to take extra precautions for that trip. Although they were listening to light music all the way, their hearts were all heavy. They did not know what might await them in that trip just as they did not know what might await human species in the coming years. But both of them were aware that their life might no longer be the same after that trip since what they were intending to challenge was a very powerful monster that was threatening the human species with things like AHs.


    After parking their car in the underground garage of the building, they took the elevator to the third floor following the address printed on the name card of Jessica. Bob pushed the doorbell button, and heard a voice asking them through the intercom, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±


    ¡°We are from S City and looking for Jessica Morton,¡± Bob replied.


    ¡°Oh, my¡­Finally you are here.¡±


    The door was unlocked and someone opened the door from inside. It was a young lad wearing a shirt with BHA printed on it.


    ¡°Are you Bob and John?¡± He lowered his voice when he asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Bob replied in a lowered voice as well because he found a group of people were sitting in a circle at the far end of the floor and the whole floor was very quiet.


    ¡°I am Jack.¡± The young man shook hands with John and Bob. ¡°Come with me. Jessica has been worrying about you guys.¡±


    As Jack turned back toward the circle of people, all three saw Jessica rising from a chair in the circle and walking toward them.


    Jessica hugged two old friends. ¡°Did you have dinner yet?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Bob replied. ¡°We directly drove to this place without any stop.¡±


    ¡°I am hungry,¡± John said.


    Jessica turned to Jack, ¡°Could you order some pizza and drinks?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Jack left to order food for John and Bob.


    ¡°Come.¡± Jessica led John and Bob walking toward her office.


    John looked around the big open floor space. Many tables, surrounded by chairs, were scattered over the spacious floor; all the tables were jumbled with objects such as printed flyers, posters, random office supplies, as well as computers and phones. On the east side of the floor, there was a stack of piled-up chairs and tables, which could be used when there was a meeting. On the north side, the doors of all the rooms were open, and the lights were all off; when John looked into some rooms through the windows, in case they were not covered by blinds, he could see random stuff on the desks or tables, but could not see anyone in the rooms. Obviously, it was a busy working place not long ago, and all those working here might have just finished their work and joined together in that circle.


    Jessica closed the door after they entered her office and lowered the blinds so that they would not disturb the circle of people outside her office.


    ¡°What are they doing there?¡± Bob asked


    ¡°It¡¯s an end-of-day praying meeting,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Are you all Christians?¡± John asked. He knew Jessica was a Christian since she went to the same church as he and Bob before they went to college, but he was wondering whether BHA was a church organization.


    ¡°Not all of us. Almost half and half¡­Christians are more than non-Christians¡­but we are praying to God together anyway,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Actually, it has become a culture in this location that, at the end of the day, all those who have not left yet join together to pray to God. It is not mandatory, but so far everyone seems like this.¡±


    ¡°How would you pray if you are not all Christians?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Here we pray pretty much in the same way as we pray in our church back to the old days, believe or not.¡± Jessica smiled with joy.


    ¡°Even non-Christians?¡± Bob questioned.


    ¡°Even non-Christians,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°As a matter of fact, even Christians working in this place are not all from the same church or the same denomination¡­but we are just praying together anyway.¡±


    ¡°That would not surprise me,¡± John remarked. ¡°But that non-Christians could pray together with you surprises me.¡±


    ¡°I guess the most important thing here is that everyone who comes here knows that what we are standing for and who we are fighting against¡­we all know that what we are fighting against is way much too powerful for us, and thus we have to seek the help from our heavenly Father.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°The other day I saw from some internet news that BHA has grown very quickly¡­you still don¡¯t think that you could have an equal match against BMA?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Just look at this place.¡± Jessica swept her hand around. ¡°Any site of BMA would not be like this. They are all living and working in lavish styles.¡±


    ¡°So you work for BHA on weekends and work in your own company during weekdays?¡± Bob asked Jessica.


    ¡°Oh, I told you about my company last time when you came to B City, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­you gave me a name card of it,¡± Bob tried to remind her.


    ¡°I sold it two months ago,¡± Jessica responded calmly. ¡°It¡¯s a very good company.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± John and Bob asked at the same time.


    ¡°I will let you guys know later.¡±


    ¡°You guys always work until so late even on weekends?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Not always¡­ we are very busy recently because of the big action day is coming¡­we just have too many things to handle,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°You just mentioned that we are growing fast. But unlike the BMA that John has been affiliated with.¡±


    ¡°I am no longer a member of BMA,¡± John interrupted.


    ¡°Sorry, I should say¡­unlike the BMA that John used to be with,¡± Jessica grinned. ¡°The majority or I should say the absolute majority of our members are grassroots. The point that I am trying to make is that we don¡¯t have the same political and financial power that BMA owns. That has caused a few big challenges to us. We need to work harder, but might accomplish less due to the financial limitation; besides, we need to deal with various cultural issues since the background of our members spans a broad spectrum. But the biggest challenge would be the political and even physical attack from our enemies.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Did someone get hurt?¡± John was reminded of his own affliction caused by BMA.


    ¡°There were some minor incidents¡­not as serious as your story yet¡­but we are prepared for the worst.¡± Jessica sounded a bit worrisome, but her face looked resolute.


    ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°We will take an action, a nationwide protest, and we are going to hit them hard,¡± Jessica replied with determination. ¡°That¡¯s why I asked you guys to come.¡±


    ¡°What can we do for you?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Maybe you can first tell us what you know about BMA, which might help us to fight against them.¡± Jessica gazed at John with expectation.


    ¡°His story could supply you with ammunition, not just a reference book on how to play the game,¡± Bob chipped in.


    ¡°That would be even better,¡± Jessica smiled at John.


    ¡°Do you have some water?¡± John asked Jessica instead of responding to her request.


    ¡°You want some coke?¡± Jessica asked. ¡°We have some leftover from our lunch.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Me too,¡± Bob said.


    She rose up and went out to get the coke for John and Bob.


    ¡°Did you call your wife telling her that we are here now?¡± John asked Bob quietly even though only two of them were in the room.


    ¡°I did in the garage when you were walking,¡± Bob responded. ¡°We only said very few words so you did not notice ¡­The only purpose was to let her hear my voice. We agreed before I left home this morning that we will not talk much over the phone since we did not know what might happen.¡±


    John nodded, ¡°It¡¯s good to be like that now.¡±


    Jessica came back with two cups of coke, one for John and another for Bob.


    John took the cup and then sipped the coke bit by bit without saying anything. He needed a moment to clear his mind and get his own emotion under control before recalling the painful and disgraceful past.


    The room fell hush. While waiting for John¡¯s story, Jessica was playing a pen on the desk and Bob was sipping his own coke, no one was talking. There was expectation mixed with anxiety in the silence.


    When he emptied his cup, John dumped the cup into the trash bin before he told his story.


    ¡°I joined BMA before I started to become a salesperson for that red hat more than 20 years ago, about two weeks after Jessica you visited me at S City with Josh and Amanda.¡±


    John started his talk with how he was recruited by Steve into BMA in that iniquitous interview during which he was given to know the secret behind the red hat. Then he described what he saw in the SEESALL.


    When John was just about to tell the story of his first project on the Skull Island Prison, they heard the knock on the door.


    ¡°Come in,¡± Jessica answered.


    Jack came in with pizza and drinks.


    ¡°Thanks Jack. You want some as well?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°I ordered three large pizzas because I guess some others might also be hungry again.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I feel hungry now as I am seeing the pizza,¡± Jessica laughed, and said to John and Bob, ¡°We had some Chinese food around 6:30.¡±


    ¡°You guys continue and I am joining the team outside.¡± Jack left the room.


    ¡°A very nice guy¡­a graduate from the Y University last year. Now he is helping another gentleman to take care of the security of this office.¡±


    ¡°Have you been breached by some hackers?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The hacker attacks are very common. Besides, from the very beginning, we have been aware of the all around monitoring by people like the SEESALL you just mentioned,¡± Jessica replied.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Do you know someone from SEESALL?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Maybe I should give you guys some background about BHA,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been waiting for a chance to ask since I got here,¡± Bob responded.


    ¡°Same here,¡± John added.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡± Jessica gave John and Bob one slice each. ¡°I will tell you more about BHA while we are eating.¡±


    John poured out three cups of coke, one for each of them, and they started their dinner. Meanwhile, Jessica made a broad introduction of BHA¡¯s background to John and Bob.


    As John and Bob guessed previously, BHA was founded as an organization against BMA with a history less than one year. The name Brilliant Humans Association was created simply by replacing the middle word Machines of Brilliant Machines Association (BMA) with Humans. Its founder, George Hardstone, was actually the son of a top ranking executive of BMA. He was a Ph.D. of English literature from H University. Since a few decades ago, he had been in disagreement with BMA¡¯s various operations that he viewed as anti-humanity. For that reason he broke off with his father, and his father no longer had him informed of any activity of BMA. But through his kid friends who were also from families of BMA members, George learnt of the production of AHs as the replacement of those deemed as useless humans. He decided to rise up and fight. So he formed the BHA at the beginning of the year.


    ¡°Although we grow fast and most of our members are grassroots from various social sectors across the world, we don¡¯t openly recruit. All members are referred by existing members, and the number one condition for any member to refer a new member is that he must have known that person since they were all young just like I know you guys.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± John asked because he wanted to confirm one thing that had been worrying him since he witnessed the AHs in the Republic of New People.


    ¡°Because as we know, AHs have already been put into our human society and living with us around the world including this country,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Bob exclaimed. He was obviously shocked by the news.


    ¡°Very serious,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I have suspected since I visited that New Generation Factory,¡± John said.


    Bob was about to ask something more, but he was interrupted by the knock on the door.


    ¡°The door is open,¡± Jessica answered.


    ¡°Hi, Jess.¡± Jack pushed the door half open. ¡°We are leaving now. See you guys tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow. Take care,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°Then why I never heard this kind of news from the media?¡± Bob asked Jessica after Jack closed the door.


    ¡°There were some reports, but not by those major media networks, which I guess are the only ones you believe,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°You mean they control the big networks?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°At least, they have significant influence over them,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°But I have not heard any open protest from anyone, such as BHA, either.¡± Bob gazed at Jessica.


    ¡°I guess what bothers Bob is,¡± John chimed in, ¡°why there has not been a big noise around the world in the past about such a huge thing.¡±


    ¡°I know his concern, and it¡¯s reasonable,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°You guys have not heard from us to shout about it loudly for two main reasons. First, we need to collect more info about them while preparing ourselves. The high-tech has provided a very imbalanced power of information collection and force usage between the rich and the public. They could collect a lot information about us through legal ways while hiding their own traces from us. Therefore, we need to spend more efforts and take some special measures to collect their data while trying very hard to keep the secret of our own plans.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± John concurred. He was reminded what he heard from General K in that private study of the Presidential Palace.


    Jessica cast a smile at John and continued, ¡°Second, because of the background of George we are aware that BMA is unbelievably powerful across the world. If we want to fight, we need to hit on them hard together before they would destroy each of us individually.¡±


    ¡°You just mentioned that all your members could be trusted,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°We tried our best to keep our team purely human, but we could not guarantee that no one would betray us when facing a menace or sell us out for money or any other temptation. As a result, we even could not guarantee there is no penetration of AHs into our team.¡±


    ¡°Then what can you do?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We try to keep our team of employees who are on our paychecks as pure as possible while we stretch out our branches into every social corner aggressively so that we could quickly gain a social ground among ordinary people around the world,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°Then what do you tell your ordinary members?¡± John asked.


    ¡°As a general agenda, we promote humanities in the society, and try to offer some help to those helpless,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°It¡¯s not very hard to attract the ordinary people to join us since there are many desperate and helpless people due to the automation and AI, especially due to some systematical alienation of those so-called useless by BMA.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± John agreed.


    ¡°But how do you generate your income to help those helpless?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°We have some rich members and we have our own businesses around the world,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Let¡¯s finish the pizza and go to my house. You guys need a good rest after the long hours driving. Tomorrow morning you guys come with me to our church.¡±


    Jessica did not ask whether they would accept her invitation to her church or not. She knew that they would, just as she knew that they would join BHA.


    ¡°Maybe we should find a hotel nearby if it¡¯s too much trouble for your family taking two of us,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°I am the only one living in the house,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°I remember that you were married, right?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°I have never seen your husband yet,¡± John said.


    ¡°Me either,¡± Bob added.


    ¡°Well, I guess you won¡¯t,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± John and Bob asked almost at the same time.


    ¡°I am divorced,¡± Jessica looked at Bob while avoiding the eyes of John.


    ¡°Why?¡± John asked.


    Jessica turned to John, ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±


    ¡°Do you have kids?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°We have a lovely boy and he is living with his father now.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Bob asked. ¡°Normally the mother would have the advantage of having the children in divorces.¡±


    ¡°I wanted him to have,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Actually, that was one important reason that I agreed to divorce¡­at least that would be safer for my boy.¡±


    ¡°So you divorce your ex solely for him to protect your son?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I won¡¯t say that¡¯s the only reason,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°We did not share much in many important issues in the past few years¡­and we argued and fought a lot at home.¡±


    ¡°Sorry to hear that,¡± John said.


    ¡°Were you divorced after you joined BHA?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°I was divorced before George formed the BHA¡­but I already knew that he would form the BHA since I was among those very few whom George contacted when he was planning to form BHA.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­I guess that might worsen your relationship at home if he did not support your political standing,¡± Bob remarked.


    ¡°He was angry when I told him that I would support George¡¯s plan,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°But then you might need to pay monthly alimony to your ex for the kid,¡± Bob remarked.


    ¡°I paid it as a lump sum when we signed the divorce paper,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Is he with BMA?¡± John asked because his own ex was a member of BMA.


    ¡°No,¡± Jessica replied without hesitation. ¡°He hated BMA¡­he was just scared of fighting against BMA.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good because that means he won¡¯t sell you out,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°If he did not sell me out while we were divorcing, he won¡¯t sell me out now since he does not have any reason to do that now,¡± Jessica responded confidently.


    ¡°Do you visit your kid frequently?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t. They moved overseas after my ex found a new job. It¡¯s better that way.¡±


    ¡°How are Josh and Amanda?¡± Bob looked at John and then turned to Jessica because he knew Jessica was close to Amanda and John was close to Josh.


    ¡°They moved to Africa shortly after they married each other,¡± John responded.


    ¡°They are doing fine with their life. They moved there because they got teaching positions for both of them after their jobs were all replaced by AI here,¡± Jessica added.


    ¡°You still talk to them?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Amanda and I still talk to each other from time to time, and sometimes they also mentioned you. I was told that you haven¡¯t contacted them for a long time.¡±


    ¡°For the first few years I talked to Josh quite often. But then the frequency was reduced since both of us got busy, and then we just talked to each other no more.¡± John shrugged his shoulder.


    ¡°I guess that was because you were too busy with BMA,¡± Jessica mocked.


    John smiled wryly.


    ¡°It¡¯s not unusual to lose contact after 20 years,¡± Bob came to the help of John.


    Jessica and John looked at each other, and started laughing, Bob also joined the laughing. All three could sense the sorry, the understanding, the happy, and the hope in the laughing.


    Then John asked Jessica, ¡°Does George come to B City often?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­You might see him on Monday,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Monday? That¡¯s too bad,¡± Bob complained. ¡°I have to leave tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°You will have the chance later,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°When do you plan to leave tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°I better leave right after the church, I think,¡± Bob replied.


    ¡°Maybe I should go with you,¡± John said.


    ¡°You should stay to meet George and tell him the real AHs you have seen,¡± Bob suggested.


    ¡°I guess you are right,¡± John agreed.


    Jessica rose up to the cabinet at the back of the office and took two stapled documents.


    ¡°Since Bob might not come back here tomorrow, why don¡¯t you guys complete the procedure to join BHA right now?¡±


    ¡°You sound very sure that we will join BHA,¡± John responded in a teasing tone.


    ¡°Won¡¯t you?¡± Jessica stared at John seriously.


    ¡°Of course he will, and so will I,¡± Bob came to the help again.


    ¡°Both of us were prepared to join BHA before we heard anything about BHA from you,¡± John grinned. ¡°We reckoned from the name that it must be something against BMA.¡±


    ¡°Why do you need us to fill out the paperwork instead of applying online?¡± Bob picked up one set of stapled pages from the desk.


    ¡°We don¡¯t keep any filled out application forms in the computer system. We cannot afford to lose the whole list to BMA hackers.¡± Jessica picked up the other set of stapled pages. ¡°Here are three copies for each one form. After both you and the reference, which would be me, signed the form, you will keep one copy, I will keep one copy personally, and BHA would keep one copy.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Bob remarked. ¡°In this case, if someone lost his copy, the worst could happen is just to one person.¡±


    ¡°But what if they steal all the signed forms from BHA?¡± John asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s easier for us to protect the physical ones as long as we do it carefully. Besides, we won¡¯t put all the forms at the same place,¡± Jessica smiled with confidence. ¡°Now please go through and filled the form first.¡±


    John and Bob went through the forms quickly and signed without hesitation.


    ¡°Now, you need to sign it,¡± John pushed his form to Jessica.


    Instead signing the forms for John and Bob, Jessica opened her drawer and took out a Bible. She put the Bible on the desk and put her left hand on the Bible. ¡°Please all rise and take a vow following me.¡±


    John and Bob all stood up and put their hands on the Bible. Jessica led them to take the vow for joining BHA. Then Jessica put her signatures on all three copies for both John and Bob, and then she shook hands with her kid buddies as an official welcome to BHA.


    ¡°Does everyone take a vow with the Bible when joining BHA?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No. If they are not Christians, they could use the books of their own religions,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°How about people who don¡¯t have any religious background?¡± Bob asked,


    ¡°Believe or not,¡± Jessica looked at Bob and John, ¡°those people never had any issue with taking vows with our Bible.¡±


    Three of them looked at each other for one second, and started to smile, and then started to laugh loudly.


    Bob then asked Jessica, ¡°When would be your big protest?¡±


    ¡°It will be the coming Wednesday.¡±


    ¡°Why not do it on weekends?¡± Bob questioned.


    ¡°Well, a large part of our protesters would be those replaced by machines, so they don¡¯t have a job¡­ Protesting during week days could help to expose this critical crisis of mankind¡­On weekends many city workers go back stay at home or go somewhere for vacation; therefore, it would be more effective for us to spread out the message if we do it during week days.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± Bob replied. ¡°But unfortunately I cannot come next Wednesday because I cannot cancel all patients¡¯ appointments for that day.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Jessica patted on Bob¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Our S City sector would have the protest on that day as well. It would be an all day long event so you might join them if you could find time after you finish with the appointments.¡±


    ¡°Really? But how should I present myself to them?¡± Bob was eager to know how to connect with BHA at S City.


    Jessica took a name card of hers from the card holder on the desk and signed on the back of the card. She handed the card to Bob, ¡°sign you name beside my signature.¡±


    Bob did as Jessica instructed.


    ¡°You might introduce yourself to their protest organizers and use this as your reference. They would call me later on to confirm you¡¯re one of us,¡± Jessica explained. ¡°But you don¡¯t need to be one of BHA to join the protest, so you might first get the contact info from them and then introduce yourself to them later.¡±


    ¡°Gotcha,¡± Bob hit a five with Jessica.


    ¡°Now let¡¯s go.¡±


    They left the office for Jessica¡¯s house.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Jessica¡¯s church was located near the sector headquarters of BHA in B City, which was about half an hour drive from her house. She originally went to a church near her house, but after she joined BHA, she moved to a church near her office building because Pastor Joe, the leading pastor of that church, was a friend of her uncle. Most Christians in her team changed to that church as well; besides, they also brought some previously non-Christians into their church.


    Early Sunday morning, Mimi, Jessica¡¯s pet dog, a 150 pound Caucasian ovcharka was sent to the rooms of John and Bob to wake them up. After the breakfast, Jessica brought John and Bob to her church and met with Pastor Joe before the service, and then Jessica brought them to tour around the church, including the kitchen of the church, where the fellowship groups would take turns to prepare lunch on Sundays for others after the morning services. Jessica¡¯s main purpose was not to show them the church environment, but to introduce them to the members of the church.


    ¡°Morning Jess.¡± At the end of their tour and just before entering the main auditorium, they were stopped by Jack, who was with a middle aged stout and tall guy, each holding a cup of coffee standing near the stairway a few meters from the auditorium door.


    ¡°Morning guys,¡± Jessica greeted them and then turned to John and Bob. ¡°Let me introduce you guys to this big Doug, our security manager.¡± They walked toward Jack and the guy named Doug.


    Doug and Jack also came to meet them in the midway.


    ¡°This is Doug, he and Jack are the guardians of our headquarters office.¡± Jessica then turned to Doug, ¡°These are John and Bob from S City, two of my kid friends.¡±


    ¡°Hi, nice to meet you.¡± Doug shook hands with John and Bob. ¡°Jess mentioned to me that you guys were coming yesterday, but I left early for some errands.¡±


    Then they walked into the main auditorium together.


    ¡­¡­


    The service took around two and a half hours. After the service, Bob was about to leave for S City. Jessica suggested him to leave after lunch so that he wouldn¡¯t need to stop on his way for lunch. Bob agreed.


    It was still early for lunch, so Jessica brought John and Bob to the basement of the church, where they joined a Bible study group. After the Bible study, they went to the dining room, and it was already quite crowded. Jessica asked John and Bob to find seats for them and she walked to the end of a waiting line for getting lunch boxes.


    Although the food of church lunch was normally quite simple, most members would like to have lunch in the church after the morning service. The nominal price for each lunch box was very low, but that was not the main reason for the members to stay for the lunch after the service. The main reason was that most members felt it quite different eating in the church.


    John and Bob found an empty table near a window. John asked Bob to sit there and he went to help Jessica to get the food. A few minutes later, John and Jessica came with three lunch boxes. Before eating, John and Bob noticed that Jessica was praying silently. They exchanged a glance and refrained from eating until Jessica finished her praying.


    When they finished lunch, Jessica brought John and Bob back to the BHA office building. After getting off Jessica¡¯s car in the garage, Bob said goodbye to Jessica and John, and drove his own car back to S City.


    ¡°Let¡¯s use the stairway,¡± Jessica said to John after Bob left. ¡°It¡¯s only three floors.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± John responded. ¡°It¡¯s good to have some walk after lunch.¡±


    They walked to the third floor and Jessica opened the door with her own badge.


    ¡°Let me see if I can find an empty room for you. If not, you could stay in my office and use my computer,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I want you to prepare a presentation about your experience with BMA, especially your experience with AH,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°What for?¡± John asked.


    ¡°For tomorrow¡¯s meeting with George,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°But¡­,¡± John stopped his sentence at the very beginning. He was trying to say that his experience with those female AHs was not proper to talk about in public, but then he realized that it was even not proper to explain it to Jessica either.


    Jessica found an empty room for John and helped him to log into the computer in that room. But John spent most of the afternoon with others in the open space to work as a sidekick to others who might need some help. It was not because he was not willing to talk about his experience with those female AHs since he already decided that he would skip that part of his story. He did not stay in the room to work with the computer because, as a matter of fact, it was too late for him to prepare a very formal presentation; but on the other hand, it would not be hard for him to tell his own story without any formal preparation at all.


    Jessica did not blame him when she found that John was not doing what she wanted him to do. ¡°He would talk even though it would be painful for him to look back,¡± She told herself confidently.


    John enjoyed his sidekick work, because it not only helped him to learn more about how BHA operated, but more importantly, also helped him to gain back the sense of human value after living under that dehumanizing Red Hat for decades, especially after his nightmare in the Republic of New People.


    There were about 30 people working on the floor. The sound of ringing phones could be heard from one table after another or from several tables at the same time. But the whole team worked in great harmony and the morale in that BHA headquarters was high. John helped to make some posters, and compose some slogans, and do some other random work that needed some extra hands. Of course, he was not involved in any communications with people outside the headquarters. But to those he worked with, the most interesting and valuable contribution of John was not from his assistance in their work, but from his story about BMA and AHs when they chatted with him.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The day of work ended early on Sunday after everything they needed for presenting to George on Monday was ready as planned. Jessica let everyone go early after the end-of-day praying so that they could gather with their families and take a good rest before the final spurt in the coming days.


    When they left the headquarters, Jessica told John that she would treat him a good dinner and he did not ask where to go but just followed her. However, instead of going to a lavish restaurant, Jessica took John to shopping at a few food shops and department stores. They brought home more than ten bags of food, either raw or precooked, as well as a variety of beverages, fruits and bakeries.


    So Jessica planned to cook for John at home.


    When their car stopped in front of the garage, they could hear Mimi greeting them inside the house. After unsetting the alarm system, Jessica opened the postern door of the house and let Mimi went to play in the quarter acre backyard. Then Jessica started to prepare for the dinner. But very soon after the beginning of the preparation, it became a team work since John was also a good cook at his own home.


    ¡°Do you remember the last time when you and I teamed up in cooking?¡± John asked when he was slicing the king trumpet mushroom.


    ¡°Have we?¡± Jessica questioned. ¡°I don¡¯t remember we have ever cooked together anywhere.¡±


    ¡°Come on, try a little harder,¡± John encouraged.


    ¡°Uh¡­,¡± Jessica surfed through her memory for a few seconds. ¡°I don¡¯t recall¡­you must be trying to fool me.¡±


    ¡°Need any hint?¡± John offered a help.


    ¡°Sure, go ahead.¡±


    John went to open a box among the groceries that they just brought home, and took a cookie from it. He walked to Jessica, who was preparing the lobster. John asked her to open her mouth and then put the cookie in her mouth. Jessica gave a bite of the cookie. ¡°It tastes good. I like this type of cookie. Let me finish it.¡±


    John put the rest of the cookie into Jessica¡¯s mouth. ¡°You still don¡¯t remember?¡±


    ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± Jessica mumbled a bit and then rushed to finish the cookie in her mouth so that she could talk. ¡°Remember what?¡±


    ¡°When did we team up in cooking?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Jessica tittered at him.


    ¡°In the middle school cooking class,¡± John reminded her.


    ¡°Ahhh¡­now I remember,¡± Jessica exclaimed. ¡°Ri¡­ght, we were partners in a baking assignment.¡±


    ¡°Congratulation. Now your memory finally comes back to normal,¡± John jested.


    The cooking went on about two hours, long after Mimi finished her daily exercise and finished her own dinner that Jessica prepared for her.


    When Jessica and John finally sat on the table and looked at the dishes that covered almost half of the long dining table, they started to laugh.


    ¡°I believe that I could eat all this much when I went to the seafood buffet restaurant back in the old days,¡± Jessica bragged.


    ¡°Why do you say ¡®the old days¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Jessica looked at John with a serious face. ¡°It¡¯s kind of culture within BHA that we don¡¯t go to restaurants very much now.¡± She said that in a pitiful tone.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Just be cautious¡­we know that the world is no longer the same as before because of what BMA is doing,¡± Jessica looked at John. ¡°Now please lead a prayer for the meal.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± John questioned, partly because he had been far away from any religious practice for decades, partly because they did not pray together for the previous few meals after he met Jessica this time.


    ¡°Please,¡± Jessica insisted. Even though she was not very strictly following the practice of praying altogether before meals, which she and John were all used to before college, whenever there were some formal gatherings among close friends she preferred to give thanks with a prayer together before the meal.


    John led the prayer.


    After saying ¡°Amen¡±, Jessica went to put on some music that was most popular around twenty years ago when they were still in the high school, then she took Mimi to the living room and chose the favorite TV channel for that Caucasian ovcharka.


    When Jessica sat back in her chair, John already poured two glasses of Champagne.


    ¡°Cheers,¡± John raised his glass.


    ¡°For the big action,¡± Jessica raised her glass, and they clinked glasses.


    ¡°You just mentioned that you don¡¯t go to restaurant often¡­but aren¡¯t you afraid to stay in this house by yourself?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am okay,¡± Jessica confidently responded. ¡°As a matter of fact, BHA has a very strong security team¡­they are fighting a tough war of intelligence against BMA¡­they put surveillance around the houses of all major leaders of BHA all over the world when it is possible¡­and they have someone look after those houses on a 7 by 24 basis.¡±


    ¡°You mean we are under the surveillance of BHA right now?¡± John was surprised.


    ¡°You bet,¡± Jessica replied calmly. ¡°The surveillance is outside the house. If anyone comes near my house when I am not home, they would know right away.¡±


    ¡°But what if someone comes in when you are in the house?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mimi could defeat an army,¡± Jessica smiled, and then added, ¡°besides, you might not know that I am now a taekwondo black belt.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± John asked in surprise.


    Jessica nodded.


    ¡°I gotta be very careful then,¡± John jested and made a posture fending her off with his arm. Jessica quickly hit his arm with her palm, and both burst into laughter.


    John and Jessica, as well as Amanda, Josh and Bob were all growing in the same town. Even their parents all knew each other because they all went to the same church. John¡¯s house and Jessica¡¯s were a few blocks away from each other so that they both went to school on the same bus from the grade school to high school. Both were nice looking and smart. Jessica and Amanda were among the most popular girls in the high school, while John was kind shy before going to college. Maybe because they were too familiar with each other, there was never any romance, not even the desire of romance, happened between John and Jessica, although they had always been good friends in school.


    Now, after decades of life¡¯s ordeal, when they sat together at the same table alone without anyone else, the atmosphere was so relaxed and they all forgot any trouble that might impact them from outside, from the rest of the world, from BMA.


    After a few glasses of Champagne, Jessica extended her left palm (which was closer to John) on the table while her right hand held the glass; John put his right hand (which was closer to Jessica) on top of her palm. They gently held each other¡¯s hand and both looking the other in the eye and smiled. Then Jessica closed her eyes, and John closed his too. No one said anything, no one made any movement; even the muscles of both hands did not experience much strain. They were just enjoying the contact between each other, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere, and enjoying the peace.


    After they saw Bob off in the garage of BHA headquarters office building, the question of ¡°what if he¡­¡± or ¡°what if she¡­¡± did come up in the mind of both of them, for many times, and both of them had some moments of urge to say something that might cause a further instant chemical reaction between them, for many times. But within their hearts, both of them could feel the peaceful tranquility, even when they were staying with each other alone. The feelings were so peaceful that even they themselves felt surprisingly strange.


    They still could remember the heart-beating excitements, the uncontrollable desires, as well as the indescribable senses of embarrassment, when they were involved in the relationships with the spouses of their previous marriages, or even some other crush feelings before their previous marriages. But now when they were sitting, eating, laughing, and even holding hands together, their hearts were so peaceful, surprisingly peaceful. It seemed that everything was so natural, that it was meant to be like this way.


    Relax and enjoy the peace! That might be the most valuable thing for both of them at that moment, at the stage of life when both of them had learned the hard lessons of life from too many things, at the time when both had been aware of some ultimate threat to the human species from some man-made biotechnological products. Relaxed and enjoyed the peace when holding each other¡¯s hand, after not seeing each other for decades, which was what they were doing at that moment.


    They would have been very embarrassed or uncomfortable if they did the same two and half decades ago when playing together in the school, although they knew each other since kindergarten; but now after the elements of shyness had been washed away by the torrent of life, after learning that they were fighting on the same side, the memory of the purity of the other side made it easy to grant the trust to each other. When the question of ¡°what kind of stupid or ugly things has he/she done during the past decades¡± came up to their mind, they could tell themselves ¡°look how many stupid and ugly things I did, he/she would still be the original he/she as I would be the original myself.¡±


    The hand holding lasted for about five minutes, and then both of them opened eyes almost at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled. They let go the hand of the other person and started to laugh loudly and happily.


    John raised his glass of champagne, and Jessica did the same, then they clinked glasses without any toasting. They smiled knowingly at each other.


    ¡°What¡¯s your plan for the future?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­the only thing I know now is to meet with your president George tomorrow, and then go to protest with you on Wednesday, and then go back to my parents¡¯ house,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you come to work with me in BHA?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°Can I?¡± John asked back.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Jessica took a lobster in her plate and started work on it. ¡°But we don¡¯t pay much.¡±


    ¡°Would that cover the living cost in B City?¡± John asked while enjoying the food.


    ¡°Enough for that,¡± Jessica continued working on the lobster without looking at John. ¡°But you might not even need to spend that much.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡± John asked.


    ¡°You might move into this house, and it will be free for you,¡± Jessica stopped eating and smiled at John.


    ¡°Do you need to get the permission from your ex on this?¡± John continued to eat without looking at Jessica.


    ¡°I own this house,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± John now turned his head and looked Jessica in the eye.


    ¡°It¡¯s up to you,¡± Jessica avoided John¡¯s eyes and continued to eat.


    ¡°Up to me?¡± John laughed joyfully. He filled Jessica¡¯s glass and his own with Champagne. ¡°Yes. Of course I want and appreciate.¡±


    Jessica stopped eating and looked at John. Both of them smiled at each other. They both raised and clinked glasses.


    The dinner lasted until the midnight, and they said good night to each other before going to their own rooms after the dinner. Both of them could feel one same thing---they could spend the rest of their life together. But now it was not the time for them to move into the same bed in the same room, they would like to reserve the moment for a better time.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Early Monday morning, John was waked up by the alarm on his mobile phone. He washed himself up in the bathroom of his bedroom, and then walked downstairs without making much noise. He tried to prepare the breakfast for Jessica and himself. But when he passed the entrance to the basement, he saw the door was open and the light was on. He walked down to the basement and found Jessica practicing Taekwondo there while Mimi sitting aside watching her.


    ¡°Good morning,¡± John greeted.


    ¡°Hi, morning,¡± Jessica stopped practicing and grabbed a tower to wipe sweat.


    ¡°Please continue. You did so good,¡± John said.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Jessica smiled at John and looked at the clock. ¡°I¡¯ve done enough for this morning. It¡¯s good that you come to remind me of the time.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still very early,¡± John responded. ¡°You might continue and I go to prepare the breakfast for you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Jessica picked up her changes from the counter. ¡°You might go ahead to get the breakfast ready and I¡¯ll join you later after my shower. We need to get to the office a little earlier today.¡±


    ¡°Sure. It¡¯ll be ready when you come up.¡± John went upstairs to prepare the breakfast.


    ¡°Mimi, please go with him,¡± Jessica rubbed the neck of Mimi to let her go with John, and then went to the bathroom at the end of the basement.


    ¡­¡­


    An hour later, Jessica left her house with John.


    ¡°What¡¯s the plan for today¡¯s meeting with George?¡± John asked when they got on their way to the BHA office.


    ¡°You will be surprised today,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Will I?¡± John was surprised by the response of Jessica. ¡°I thought I will be the only one to present some surprises to George and everyone else would just make some routine reports of work progress.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°George already knew your story¡­maybe not in detail, but pretty much of it.¡±


    ¡°Then what would be the surprise?¡± John¡¯s curiosity was piqued.


    ¡°If I tell you now, it won¡¯t be a surprise.¡± Jessica cast a tricky smile at John.


    ¡°Not even a hint?¡± John sounded like begging Jessica.


    ¡°No, not even a hint,¡± Jessica smiled at John again. ¡°Okay¡­I can give you one hint then you should not push any further.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± John promised.


    ¡°The only hint I can give you is that George might tell you something you don¡¯t know about what happened to you in that island country.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    Jessica nodded.

 Twelve The Cloaking Suit

    When they arrived at the sector headquarters of BHA, Jack and Doug and a few others were already there. The open space of the floor was already set up for the meeting. The tables that were normally scattering around the floor were all moved to the west end and lined up in front of windows. The tables and chairs that were normally piled up on the east end were removed. Two large TV displays were put there facing west, and around 80 chairs were put in eight rows in front of the TVs, one lectern was between the TVs and the chairs.


    Light music was rippling through the whole floor.


    John was puzzled by what he saw from those two big displays, one was a multichannel split CCTV screen that was fixed on the small waiting space for elevators outside the central door, and another was a split CCTV screen fixed on the garage in the basement.


    ¡°Why do we show the CCTV screens on the TVs? Are we expecting some break in?¡± John asked Jack, who was setting up some electronic equipment.


    ¡°Not a break in, but a magic show,¡± Jack winked at him.


    ¡°John, come here please.¡± John heard Jessica called him and saw she waved at him from the room that she got for him on Sunday.


    John walked to her, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°I know that you are very good at doing presentation as a salesman and you don¡¯t need to prepare for telling your own story,¡± Jessica whispered at John. ¡°But it has been for two decades¡­I guess you must have a lot to talk, but we can only give you at most 30 minutes because George would leave soon after lunch and we have a lot to talk about at the meeting.¡±


    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I would suggest you write down some key points about some big events that you want to tell George and the team so that you won¡¯t miss the big things while focusing on some small details.¡± Jessica pointed to the computer on the desk, ¡°You can use this computer, and that is the printer.¡±


    ¡°When will George arrive here?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I just received his text that he would be here in about one and a half hour. You could use this time to do as much as you can,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°What you saw in the Republic of New People should be the most important part that you want to tell them.¡±


    ¡°You bet,¡± John promised. ¡°By the way, why are there so many chairs?¡±


    ¡°People who work in other offices of BHA in B City and some nearby towns would also come to this meeting. They all belong to this sector.¡± Jessica lowered down the blind for John, and closed the door for him when she left the room.


    Around an hour later, John printed a list of the events that he would cover during his presentation. The noise outside his office room started to pick up. John opened the door and saw most of the chairs were already taken. He went out to find a chair and join the team.


    Now the split CCTV screens were all merged onto one TV display, and the other TV was playing the news channel for the audience to kill time before George arrived.


    Not long after John sat down and chatted with the lady sitting beside him, Doug walked behind the lectern, and the music was off.


    ¡°Attention please! Attention please!¡±


    When the team quieted down, Doug continued, ¡°Please turn off all your phones. No one will be allowed to take any picture during the meeting. If anyone might expect some important phone calls, please give your phone to Jack and he will pick up the phone for you and pass it to you.¡±


    Some of them stood up and handed their phones to Jack, and others just simply turned off the phones. When that was going on, someone rose from the seat pointing to one of the CCTV channels and shrieking, ¡°They are here!¡±


    The TV that was playing the news was switched to one CCTV screen for the garage.


    ¡°Wow! Look, finally they are here.¡± The audience was stirred up.


    John was confused because he only saw from the CCTV screen one person was walking away from a car, who must be George, while everyone was saying, ¡°Look, they are there.¡±


    ¡°I only see one person. Where are the other ones?¡± He asked the lady sitting beside him.


    ¡°Look, George is talking to somebody,¡± The lady pointed to the CCTV screen.


    Now John noticed that George seemed to keep talking to someone beside him, but he could not see that person at all. John was confused, when he was just about to ask the lady beside him again, John noticed that the Open button of the elevator lighted up while George was still a few steps away from the elevator.


    He murmured to the lady, ¡°Is there a sensor for the elevator to be notified the arrival of someone?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± the lady replied.


    A few seconds later, the elevator door opened and George seemed to let someone get in the elevator first with his arm gesture.


    Then the screen switched to the CCTV within the elevator.


    ¡°Please zoom in,¡± Someone from the audience suggested loudly.


    The CCTV screen zoomed in, and John was shocked by what he noticed. There was a very blurred transparent body shape beside George, and that body pushed the button of 3 in the panel.


    ¡°A ghost?¡± he blurted, which caused others to guffaw loudly.


    ¡°Yeah, we are going to throw a welcome party for a ghost,¡± someone jested.


    ¡°They are on this floor,¡± someone else shouted.


    The elevator stopped at the third floor and its door opened.


    Then the TV screen was switched to one CCTV camera in the space outside the BHA office. John saw George walk out of the elevator, and the doorbell was ringing while George never lifted his arm.


    ¡°Hiiii¡­¡± People inside the room all got excited. Doug already waited before the door. He opened the door promptly right after he heard the sound of the doorbell. Many members left their seats to stand around the door. Doug and Jack had to push them back a bit so that there would be enough room near the door.


    John stood onto his chair so that he could have a clear view of what was going on.


    A magic happened in front of everyone. After entering the office, that blurred transparent body-shape spot lowered itself and contracted to a big fat short spot, and then a pair of shoes appeared under the spot, and then two legs, the body, and finally the head. A lively real man came out of the blurred transparent spot! Amid acclamation of the team, he turned back letting George who was behind him get into the office floor.


    Jessica went to hug two of them, then Doug, Jack and many others went to shake hands or hug them. John stood on the chair until people started to walk back to their seats.


    After all the members went back to their seats, George went behind the lectern. Doug passed him a lapel mic, and George clipped it on his jacket.


    John noticed that right after the team all sat down, Jack went to a computer room with all the phones he collected and closed the door of the room.


    ¡°Good morning everyone,¡± George greeted the team.


    ¡°Good morning, George.¡±


    ¡°I am George Hardstone. Most of you know me except for a few. I am the founder and chairman of BHA.¡± He pointed to the ¡°ghost¡± man who already sat in a seat in the front row, ¡°Some of you also know Jimmy, the ghost man.¡±


    The team burst out laughing.


    ¡°Jimmy, why don¡¯t you stand up to show your human face to the team again?¡± George jested at Jimmy.


    Jimmy stood up from his seat and raised his two hands waved to the team. The team acclaimed and applauded him with loud hand clapping.


    ¡°Say something,¡± Someone from the team shouted to him. But Jimmy just smiled at the team and then sat down without saying anything.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will hear his talking in a moment,¡± George beckoned the team to quiet down.


    After the team quieted down, he asked, ¡°Is Mr. John Potter here?¡±


    John did not expect that George would call his name and was surprised. He was not sure if George was calling him until those sitting around him all turned to look at him.


    ¡°Yes, I am him,¡± John raised his hand from his seat.


    ¡°Please come here,¡± George waved at him.


    John rose from his seat and walked to the front.


    ¡°He has sworn in as a BHA member,¡± Jessica told George.


    ¡°Great.¡± George held John¡¯s hand and shook for a couple seconds. ¡°Welcome to this family.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Thanks a lot.¡± John could feel the force of George¡¯s hand and he enjoyed it because he felt the comforting encouragement instead of the pain as General K squeezed his hand a few weeks ago.


    George turned to the audience, ¡°In a moment, our Mr. Ghost Jimmy will tell us something he found about BMA¡­ Yeah, that evil name which we have been so familiar with for the past months.¡± He put his right hand on the shoulder of John, ¡°Before that we might hear some firsthand story about BMA, especially their products, the AHs, from our new member, Brother John.¡±


    ¡°John. Why don¡¯t you tell us your story with BMA?¡± George turned to John and passed the lapel mic to him and left the lectern.


    ¡°Thank you George.¡± John put the mic on his shirt. ¡°Thank you BHA family for letting me tell you something I experienced and witnessed for the past decades¡­ some of them just happened a few weeks ago.¡±


    John briefly recalled how he was recruited into BMA through K Corp after he was turned into part of the computer system by putting that red hat on his head, what he saw in the SEESALL, what he did in the prisons. Finally, when he came to the part of his visit to the Republic of New People, he felt convulsion in his chest and a lump came to his throat. His eyes became wet, and his voice a bit cracked. He paused in an effort to calm down so that he would not cry out in front of the team. Linda, Jessica¡¯s secretary handed him a tissue box and a small water bottle.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± John did not use the tissues, but opened the water bottle. He gulped a mouthful of water and forced back his own tears before he continued with his painful story in that remote island, especially his witness of AHs. He subconsciously glanced at Jessica when he mentioned that he was drugged and put together with some naked female AHs. He had to mention that part because that was the reason for him to leave BMA and K Corp, as well as Alice. But he skipped some details, some of which he did not want to touch and some of which he did not even know, such as how he was actually drugged.


    John quickly ended his talk when he noticed that Jessica started to check her watch.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± He took off the lapel mic and left it on the lectern, and then he bowed to the team before walking back to his seat.


    George stood up and clapped for John. The whole team applauded John with big hand claps.


    ¡°Thanks John,¡± George walked behind the lectern and put on the lapel mic.


    ¡°John just told us a bloody real story about how BMA is systematically turning our society into a big machine, and replacing our species, the Homo sapiens with AHs. John had his personal contact with the AHs in an Indo-Pacific island that is far from here. Next, we will tell you something about what BMA is doing in our own society, about how real AHs are in the rest of the world, in our country, just among us. But before that, Jimmy would tell you how we have obtained the secrets of BMA¡±


    He looked at Jimmy, ¡°Jimmy, your turn.¡±


    Jimmy walked up to the lectern with a folded transparent sheet. George handed the mic to Jimmy and walked back to his own seat.


    ¡°Thanks George, thanks Jess, and thanks to everyone here.¡± Jimmy laid the folded sheet on the lectern and started to address the audience.


    ¡°Put on the cloak,¡± Someone uttered.


    ¡°Yeah, please¡±¡­ ¡°put it on.¡± Several others echoed.


    ¡°You really want me to do that?¡± Jimmy grinned.


    ¡°Sure ¡­ please.¡± The audience was eager to see how Jimmy would disappear behind the cloak.


    ¡°Alright, let me put it on.¡± Jimmy picked up the transparent sheet, and unfolded it. It was not really a cloak, but a full bodysuit with a hood. Jimmy put it on himself while standing behind the lectern. When his head was finally covered, Jimmy disappeared in the air again.


    ¡°Wow¡­ unbelievable¡­awesome¡­amazing¡­incredible¡­¡± The team was amazed and exclaiming.


    ¡°Hello everybody,¡± the ¡°ghost¡± talked.


    ¡°Hi Jimmy,¡± the audience responded.


    Then the whole room was filled with laughter and excitement.


    ¡°Okay ¡­ can I talk now?¡± Jimmy spoke in the air.


    ¡°Sure¡­please,¡± the members then all sat down and waited for Jimmy to talk.


    ¡°Again, I would like to give thanks to George, our leader, and to Jessica, who is not only the leader of this sector but also played a very important role in making this possible¡­I am not referring to organizing this meeting¡­of course, I should also thank her for organizing this meeting at this sector headquarters¡­but I would give special thanks to her for her previous leadership in developing this cloaking suit.¡±


    ¡°We might talk about this another time,¡± Jessica interrupted in a soft tone.


    ¡°Jimmy, please focus on how you beat BMA,¡± George seconded Jessica.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jimmy responded.


    ¡°I guess that some of you might wonder how I could beat BMA with this cloaking suit. Let me give you a very brief background about myself. I was born in an acrobatics family so that I was trained in a very strict manner to master all kinds of acrobatic skills when I was even a kid¡­George was a friend of my family, and I joined BHA from the very beginning. One day, George came to me saying that he wanted me to meet with a professional thief.¡±


    A few people in the audience started to laugh.


    ¡°That gentleman was a professional thief, but he had become a good citizen since many years ago,¡± George chipped in from his seat.


    ¡°That¡¯s boring,¡± Someone responded.


    The team burst into laughter again.


    ¡°I know that might sound crazy¡­but that was what happened¡­and I asked him why¡­he said that he wanted me to be trained as a spy for BHA¡­I was excited when I heard what he told me¡­so I said ¡®yes¡¯¡­and then I was trained by that professional thief on how to break in some most tightly protected facility¡­¡±


    He paused and requested, ¡°I need to have some water. May I take this off?¡±


    ¡°Sure you can,¡± Jessica replied.


    Linda brought a bottle of water and put it on the lectern while Jimmy took off the suit.


    ¡°Now it feels much better,¡± Jimmy exhaled a long breath and grinned at the audience. He put the suit on the lectern and gulped some water.


    ¡°Alright¡­let¡¯s continue¡­Although that professional thief was very good, but I was still wondering: Is this okay to sneak into somewhere that is highly protected by advanced technology? ¡­


    Guess what? I was preparing in my heart that if that was the best he could teach me and George wants me to break into BMA, I would first run away from these two crazy dudes as soon as I learned all he could teach me.¡±


    The audience laughed out loudly.


    ¡°But fortunately, before I planned to run away, George came to me with this,¡± He picked up the transparent suit from the lectern. ¡°That changed everything¡­my perspective about the whole thing got changed¡­and I could see the importance of the skills that I learned from that professional thief.¡±


    ¡°For example?¡± Someone asked in a teasing tone.


    ¡°Yeah, could you show us something?¡± A few others echoed.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Jimmy responded.


    ¡°Please,¡± Many requested.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jimmy stepped out from behind the lectern, and paced to the southeast corner of the room. When he was still several meters from the corner, with a few movements, in the twinkling of an eye, Jimmy moved up the corner with his head touched the ceiling and his back and limbs as well as two palms pressed on the wall. The most impressive part was not the swiftness of his move, but the fact that he was not holding any recessing or projecting part of the wall after he touched to the ceiling, but managed to stay there only with the support of the friction between his body and the side wall surfaces while facing the audience.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡±, all of a sudden the room became silent, and many mouths and eyes were opened wide. Everyone was astonished that no one remembered to give applause to Jimmy for his outstanding performance.


    A few seconds later, Jimmy let himself fall back to the floor without making any audible sound even when the audience was so quiet.


    Then the floor was vibrated by the loud acclamation and applauses.


    Jimmy walked back to the lectern with a smile, and the color of his face looked normal just like nothing special happened.


    ¡°Now that was the prelude to tell you how I was prepared for the historical mission that George assigned me to do,¡± Jimmy continued. ¡°The next would be how I sneaked into the office of BMA, but I would skip that part and let you guys to picture it out with your own imagination¡­that shouldn¡¯t be too hard after you guys saw what I did, right?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Doug responded. ¡°We can figure it out, and you might skip that part.¡±


    ¡°After a few months effort of tracking the activity of some key members of BMA, and many many times of sneaking in and out of their headquarters in that suit, I helped our intelligence team... by the way, you guys might already know that we have a very good world class intelligence team.¡±


    ¡°We know that,¡± Doug responded with a proud laugh.


    ¡°Good,¡± Jimmy gave Doug a thumb up. ¡°Anyway, I helped our intelligence team sneak into their heavily protected computer system and got some critical information about BMA, some very shocking things that they are doing. George, I guess now it should be your turn to tell the team what we found.¡±


    George stood up from his seat and walked to the lectern. Jimmy hit a five with George and went back to his seat.


    ¡°Good job Jim,¡± George complimented Jimmy, and then addressed to the team.


    ¡°As Jimmy just mentioned that our intelligence team found some secrets of BMA, with the help of our legendary Jimmy, and we were all shocked by what we saw from the documents in their system.¡±


    Linda brought a bottle to George. She had learned from the previous cases, and this time she did not wait for George expressed the need.


    ¡°Thanks Linda.¡± George had a drink of water and then continued.


    ¡°A moment ago, John told us that he was told by someone of BMA that their AHs would not be deployed in this country. That was another big lie made by BMA. Among many documents from BMA, we downloaded one complete database from one of their systems, which contains a list table of the AHs that they have ever produced with detailed personal information. For each AH, they assign it with a unique serial number which was also used as the key of the list table in that database. Pertaining to that serial number, there are items like name, sex, physical parameters including color of skin and eyes, as well as where it has been deployed to, and so on.¡±


    ¡°We found about thousands of AHs that have been deployed in our country. And you know what?¡± He looked around the audience and raised his voice. ¡°There were about 100 of our BHA members in this country alone were AHs.¡±


    ¡°What? ...¡± The audience was shocked. Everyone started to look at the neighbors. It seemed that everyone started to wonder whether some AH was sitting in the next seat.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry and please stop looking at your neighbors,¡± George laughed. ¡°Luckily, you don¡¯t have any AH in this location.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± The audience all exhaled a big relaxed breath.


    ¡°Besides,¡± George continued, ¡°We have discharged all those AHs and those who referred them into our organization. We have done this quietly without making too much noise in the society and in our own organization because we are waiting for a big moment to launch our all-out attack. Before that, we want to keep things on a low profile so that we won¡¯t give them the excuse to crack us down with the political and legal power they have gained over the past decades. And that big moment is coming.¡±


    The team all clapped for the coming big moment.


    ¡°But meanwhile we did report to relevant government agencies about all those AHs and their references that sneaked into our organization, because we have proofs that they were cheating by breaching our bylaws. Most importantly, we are sure that all legal documents of those AHs were fabricated.¡±


    ¡°Can we trust those government agencies?¡± Someone questioned from the audience.


    ¡°Good question,¡± George looked at the person who was asking the question. ¡°The answer is yes and no.¡±


    ¡°I say ¡®Yes¡¯ because fortunately we do have a reliable national security team with hundreds of thousands employees, and most of them are good loyal humans. But on the other hand, I say No because unfortunately there are some officials, some very powerful persons who worked in some of the agencies, as well as some of their minions, are members of BMA.


    This is a war. We are fighting a war and its frontier spans over all social ranks, across all social sectors and all national boundaries. This is a war for the survival of our human species because one big conspiracy of BMA is to replace humans with AHs.¡±


    He paused and had a sip of water.


    ¡°You might ask ¡®How could they replace humans with AHs?¡¯ The answer is Sex. In John¡¯s story, the female AHs were used as sex weapons to frame him. They first drugged him and then put him with female AHs so that they could defame him. But in the open society, AHs are working as sex weapons in a much more profound and trickier way: they marry ordinary humans and form families with them.¡±


    ¡°So they could murder them at night?¡± Someone asked from the audience.


    ¡°No,¡± George replied. ¡°That would be too simple for them, and it would be noticed by homicide squad of police departments across the nation.¡±


    ¡°Then why they want to do it?¡± Someone else asked.


    ¡°They marry ordinary people and give them an apparently happy life.¡± George pointed to John, ¡°If you ask John, I bet he could tell you that all AHs, male or female are very good looking. They are much more sexually attractive than the majority of ordinary people.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound too bad,¡± Someone remarked.


    The team all burst into laughter.


    ¡°What you said is exactly the key factor that they are exploiting to replace humans with AHs,¡± George said to that member.


    The whole team became hush after George¡¯s response because they all did sense the tricky part behind the comment that George just made.


    ¡°Because they look sexy and beautiful, and they are smart and capable, as well as good tempered, just think of it, ¡­ how could ordinary humans, if they are not very rich like most BMA members¡­ how could they compete against this kind of animals in winning sexual partners?¡±


    The team all noticed the use of the term ¡°sexual partners¡± by George and felt humiliated, not by George, but by AHs.


    ¡°But there is still an important fatal factor behind all this. Can anyone tell me what that fatal factor is?¡±


    No one replied, even though many of them knew the answer to the question of George. The air in the audience became very heavy.


    George pounded the lectern with a fist, ¡°The fatal factor is that those AHs cannot breed because they were not given that capacity when they were manufactured from the production line. That means they would form apparently happy families with ordinary humans after defeating their human rivals in winning the sexual partners, but all those families would not have offspring. That would effectively cause humans to depopulate in an apparently natural way, and also an apparent happy way for many men and women who marry AHs, after a few decades.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The eyes and mouths of many members were wide open as they listened to George.


    ¡°But the negative impact of AHs would be manifested in our society even long before that.¡± George lowered his voice a bit and spoke slowly, ¡°Since those AHs came to our world with a clear mandate, they would do what they do best to destroy humanity. They would seduce our men and women with their apparent sexual advantages to ruin our existing families, and to deteriorate the moral quality of our society, to make men and women obsessed to sexual plays so that their spirit and health would be damaged. They might even intentionally cause a few men kill each other for a single female AH or a few women kill each for a single male AH.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too scary,¡± A lady blurted.


    ¡°Yeah, it is scary,¡± George nodded at her. ¡°When BMA creates those AHs in its workshops, they intentionally removed many human traits that were considered by them as inferior through genetic engineering, which include love, sense of responsibility, will to be honest, and so on. So we are now fighting against an inhuman army of monsters created by BMA, and we don¡¯t have the option of losing it.¡±


    ¡°Why do those of BMA want to do this to destroy their own species?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°A very good and serious question,¡± George responded. ¡°That was also a difficult question that puzzled us before we acquired in-depth knowledge about BMA. As you all know that I was from a BMA family. But even with that background, I was never given to know their true reason of doing that.¡±


    ¡°We found the answer to that question after our intelligence team obtained some of their top classified documents with the help of Jimmy. From those documents, we found that they have a theory that in order to have the Earth civilization smoothly transit into the automation and AI era, they need to naturally depopulate what they call as useless humans that could not be absorbed by the market economy.¡±


    ¡°Then who do they consider as not useless?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°They have their own research team, and based on their research, more than 99% of current world population will soon become useless in the coming decades as the automation and AI are gradually phasing out human productivity in all fields. So in their perspective, they would systematically reduce the current population to less than 1% of the current number, so that people like them could comfortably live with robots and AHs created by them without the need to worry about being threatened by useless people.¡±


    ¡°How would they do that?¡± Someone questioned.


    ¡°AHs,¡± someone else answered.


    ¡°Yes, AHs are their best weapons to achieve that goal, because with AHs they don¡¯t need to fire a single bullet to kill anyone and they still could make everyone that they don¡¯t like to die in their artificial sweethearts¡¯ laps. It is just like to give addicts heavy doses so that they would die quickly in their hallucinations.¡± George paused and continued, ¡°Of course, they would also fire bullets to kill without hesitation when they feel necessary.¡±


    George picked up the suit Jimmy left on the lectern. ¡°This suit has played a very important role in our war against BMA. We should have always kept it as a top secret. But unfortunately, as some of you already heard that about two weeks ago, we found that our system was breached and the information about our technology of making the suit was stolen.¡±


    ¡°Who did that?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know yet,¡± George replied. ¡°But it must be the intelligence team of BMA. Because very soon after that happened, when Jimmy went to their headquarters in the suit, he found they installed many special infrared scanners.¡±


    He put down the suit and continued, ¡°We were aware that infrared scanners are the most dreadful predator of anyone who wears our cloaking suit and we told Jimmy to always pay attention to that kind of equipment. That¡¯s why he found those scanners before they caught him.¡±


    Some members exhaled a long breath.


    ¡°But it¡¯s actually good for you guys,¡± George said. ¡°Because if it is no longer a secret to BMA, it should not be a secret to you, and we decide to let you guys, our own brothers and sisters to see how the ¡®cloak¡¯ could hide our Jimmy.¡± He paused and smiled.


    The team shouted cheerfully, ¡°Right...¡±


    ¡°George,¡± Frank, a former scientist before joining BHA, raised his hand.


    ¡°Please go ahead,¡± George encouraged.


    ¡°Is this cloak created by the so-called quantum stealth technology of bending light?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Jessica responded from her seat. ¡°We are using something very different.¡±


    George turned to Jessica. ¡°Jess, I guess it might be the time for me to give this place to you. So you might answer all the technical questions that are related to the cloaking suit.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Jessica rose from her seat and walked up to the lectern. George passed the mic to Jessica and walked back to his seat. Meanwhile, John noticed that Linda and another two members left the room.


    In response to Frank¡¯s question, Jessica said, ¡°We heard of those quantum stealth technologies, but we have never been able to access any detailed technical documents of that kind of technologies. Besides, we never saw any real practical products created by any of the so-called quantum stealth technologies yet.¡±


    ¡°Then may I ask what technology we are using here?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Our technology let people see through the cloaked objects, instead of bending the light as those quantum stealth technologies normally claim to do.¡±


    ¡°How could you let people see through an object?¡± Someone else asked.


    Jessica put on the mic and picked up the suit. ¡°You see this suit is made of very thin sheet. When you look at it from far, it seems transparent, but if you come look at it closer, its color is some kind silver blue¡±


    Then Jessica turned the cloak inside out.


    Many members exclaimed because the inside of the cloak was pure black.


    ¡°Now you see, this ¡®invisible¡¯ cloaking sheet is actually not transparent at all, right?¡± Jessica then turned the suit back and covered the upper part of the lectern with the suit, and it looked transparent.


    ¡°Don¡¯t damage the cloak,¡± Someone shrieked.


    Jessica laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It is very tough. Besides, we have quite a few of them.¡±


    She stepped out from behind the lectern. ¡°The reason that you could see through whatever covered by this cloaking suit is because it could accurately determine the spatial directions according to its own 3-D coordinate system, and each part of the surface would show the vision of its opposite side in a 3-D coordinate system, no matter from which perspective, or in other words, no matter from which angle you look at it in the 3-D coordinate system.¡±


    ¡°So this stuff should also cover the bottom of the shoes?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°Yes. In order for others to see through head to the bottom of foot, you need to cover your shoes,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Jimmy was behind the lectern when he put on the suit a moment ago so that you didn¡¯t see how he actually covered his shoes.¡±


    ¡°How could you make the cloaking sheet work like that?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°Okay, now let¡¯s talk more about the technology behind it.¡± Jessica rubbed the suit with her left thumb and index finger. ¡°You see, the material is very thin, very delicate. However, you might not know that there are actually three layers of this material.¡±


    She said to Doug, ¡°I need to draw some pictures and show them on the TV screen. Could you please give me a pad?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Let me set it up for you first.¡± Doug worked on an electronic notepad and one of the TV screen became a blank whiteboard. He passed the notepad to Jessica.


    Jessica took the notepad and drew three lines on the screen. ¡°You might imagine these three lines as the three layers of cloaking sheet.¡±


    ¡°How could such a thin cloth have three big layers?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by these lines here¡­ they are just for the purpose of illustration,¡± Jessica smiled at that person. She snatched the edge of the suit. ¡°The thickness of this sheet is close to one millimeter, but the thickness of the main part of each layer is in the order of 10 to 100 nanometers, and one millimeter equals one million nanometers, which means there is actually something like ¡®glue¡¯ filled between the main parts of those layers.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Some members exclaimed.


    Jessica put a cross on the left line. ¡°Suppose this is the outside surface layer that you see now. The whole surface could be considered as a large flexible TV screen with thousands or millions of holes spread over the whole screen. The size of each hole is in the order of the smallest pixel, and in each hole is a minute light receiver which you might imagine as the lens of a camera.¡±


    ¡°But why don¡¯t we see those holes or dots on the surface of the cloaking suit?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°As a matter of fact, none of the TV screens used anywhere in the world is showing a continuous picture, what you see is just a grand composite of many small pixels,¡± Jessica explained. ¡°This is because there is a maximum resolution that a human eye could perceive. Above that you will see a continuous picture.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Someone remarked.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not the whole story yet,¡± Jessica said. She took out her mobile phone that came with a flashlight and shone the flashlight on one of the TV screens. ¡°Did you see the light reflected in the screen?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the audience replied.


    ¡°So you see the problem,¡± Jessica said. ¡°If the cloaking sheet would also reflect the light, then it would be very weird since it would look like the air is reflecting something.¡±


    ¡°That would be a problem,¡± the audience all agreed.


    Then Jessica shone the flashlight on the cloaking suit, and there was no reflection at all.


    ¡°Wow¡± ¡­ ¡°Sick¡± ¡­ ¡°Sweet¡±, the team was amazed by the scene.


    ¡°The main reason for this to happen is that this surface is made of light absorbing materials created by nanotechnology for both the lens dots and displaying area. Besides, we also applied an advanced nanotechnology based on the conventional Lenticular technology to the displaying units so that when you walk around a body in the 3-D space, from a high position to a low position, or from left to right, you will see different views on the same spot of that body, because the ¡®see-through¡¯ background should change when your angle of view changes.¡±


    ¡°Cool¡±¡­ ¡°amazing¡± ¡°¡­¡± many members exclaimed.


    ¡°The distribution of the lens dots and the application of the Lenticular technology also bring a positive side effect, which is the roughness of the surface,¡± Jessica continued. ¡°This roughness of the surface could further help to reduce the reflection of light from the surface of the cloaking sheet. Anyway, it took our engineers months of efforts without much sleep to make the pictures displayed on the sheet look real instead of like what we see on the ordinary TV screens.¡±


    ¡°Good job,¡± the audience applauded.


    ¡°What about the internal layer?¡± someone asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the middle layer first.¡± Jessica put a cross on the central line. ¡°This layer is the most complicated layer. It is composed of many CPU chips of the sizes in the order of smaller than 100 nanometers. All the images collected by those ¡®lenses¡¯ are processed here, and then not only different parts of a whole background picture would be displayed in different parts of the surface in a coordinated and synchronized way so that the viewers would see an apparently continuous picture on the surface of the suit, but also any part of the surface of the suit would display different views when looking at it from different angles.¡±


    ¡°Is that so complicated?¡± Someone exclaimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s how it could be possible for someone to see a natural view of the blocked background when walking around the cloaking suit,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°How could you make those chips to work together and create a complete whole view?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°That is done through a very advanced version of so-called artificial neural network technology, behind which is basically very complicated and advanced mathematical algorithms. One big challenge is how to make the displayed picture not skew on a randomly curved surface when seeing it from different angles,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°How many chips do we need for a cloaking suit? Are they also distributed all over the sheet like the lenses and pixel elements?¡± Frank said.


    ¡°Good question,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°The version of the artificial neural network that we have used is so advanced that it could actually handle a network of millions of chips. Therefore, theoretically, we could paint the whole central layer with millions of chips spread over the whole sheet. However, practically we don¡¯t need that many chips; we only need to have enough for the designed functionality of a given sheet.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like every sheet would be tailor-made,¡± Frank commented.


    ¡°So far it is, and it works in that way for our products,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°At least, you  should not randomly cut a cloaking sheet of ours using a scissor.¡±


    The audience all laughed.


    ¡°Now let¡¯s look at this layer.¡± Jessica put a cross on the right line. ¡°This is the inside layer, which is black as you have seen. That layer is just a simple insulation layer. Its main functionality is to provide the insulation between those two heat sources, the human body and the chips layer. Besides, it can also help to prevent the smell of human body from leaking out of the cloaking suit. That¡¯s why when Jimmy was in the cloaking suit he might feel hot and thirsty ¡­ It is a tough job. Thanks Jimmy for doing that for BHA.¡±


    The team gave Jimmy a round of claps again.


    ¡°So in order to have the cloaking material work, you need to wrap the whole object with the cloaking sheet without leaving any part of the object uncovered?¡± Frank asked.


    Jessica pointed to the transparent lectern, ¡°That is not completely wrapped, but it¡¯s already transparent.¡±


    Frank was about to say something, but Jessica added, ¡°I know what you¡¯re concerned with. You want to know if this sheet would work without somehow wrapping the object inside it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I mean,¡± Frank said.


    Jessica grabbed a part of the cloaking suit and said, ¡°With this material, the answer to your question is ¡®no¡¯. We cannot use this type of sheet to cloak any object without somehow wrapping it, because this is designed particularly for making a suit for a person to wear, as I just mentioned that, one side of it is covered by insulate layer.¡±


    ¡°From what you just said, it seems that if we have one single sheet of that material and spread it out, we cannot see through it, right?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°You are absolutely right,¡± Jessica nodded at him. ¡°But as I know that our cloaking team is also working on a project to make another type of invisible sheet with both sides the same. There will still be three layers, but no insulation layer. That kind of sheet could be used to cloak an object without wrapping it. But the chips of that type of sheet are much more advanced because it would know which object it is supposed to cloak.¡±


    Members gave a round of loud claps to Jessica for her expertise on the cloaking suit.


    ¡°May I ask a question?¡± The lady sitting beside John raised her hand from the seat.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°Please go ahead Mary.¡±


    ¡°How could Jimmy breathe inside that cloaking suit?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°Very good question,¡± Jessica complimented. ¡°Since this is not just a sheet to cover something or a simple cloak as you see from the science fiction movies, but a suit for a human to wear, we need some human engineering features to meet some special human needs, and breathing is a very fundamental need for anyone who would wear the suit.¡±


    She picked up the suit and asked, ¡°Could someone give me a sheet that looks dark?¡±


    ¡°My shirt is dark. You can use my body if you want,¡± Doug said.


    The audience started to laugh.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jessica said to Doug. ¡°Come up here.¡±


    Doug rose from his seat and walked to the lectern. Jessica let him turn around so that the audience could see his back.


    ¡°I need someone else give me a hand,¡± Jessica.


    ¡°I will do it,¡± Mary rose from her seat and walked to the front.


    Jessica let Mary hold one side of the suit so that they could stretch the part of the suit for covering the wearer¡¯s face between Doug and her right hand. Then she used the flashlight of her mobile phone to illuminate that part from her side.


    The audience burst into gasp when they saw some blurred light spots shown on Doug¡¯s back.


    Jessica got back the whole suit from Mary. ¡°Thanks Mary for help.¡±


    ¡°My pleasure,¡± Mary responded in a joyful tone and went back to her seat.


    Jessica then patted Doug, who was still standing there, and jested, ¡°Thanks for lending your dark back. You might go now.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome.¡± Doug made a funny face to the audience and then went back to his seat.


    Jessica turned to the audience, ¡°So you see that the part covering mouth and nose on the suit is not completely sealed as the rest of the suit. We have a cluster of tiny holes in that part, which are for the person inside it to breathe. Because the holes are very tiny, so that even though it could degrade a bit the quality of cloaking, it won¡¯t be severely.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Someone complimented.


    ¡°Who can tell me another special need that we should take care of with this cloaking suit?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°Eyes,¡± someone answered.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jessica gave that person a thumb up, and then turned the part of the suit for eyes inside out. ¡°As a matter of fact, this is a simple pair of VR glasses which allows Jimmy to see the surrounding area. Since there are millions of cameras all over the cloaking suit to watch around, the only challenge is to add some logic into that artificial neural network so that they could feed some circuits behind this pair of glasses with the images.¡±


    ¡°Actually it feels pretty cool when you realize that you could even see what is behind you,¡± Jimmy added from his seat. ¡°But you do need some special training to get used to it.¡±


    ¡°Exactly! Thanks Jimmy.¡± Jessica then asked, ¡°Now who can tell me another special need that we should take care of?¡±


    No one answered.


    ¡°That should be the need to stand, right?¡± Jessica smiled. ¡°I mentioned a moment ago that the cloaking suit needs to cover the shoes as well.¡±


    She turned the inside of one of the foot parts out, ¡°See this looks like an overshoe. Jimmy could put his foot in this without taking off his shoes.¡± Then she showed the outside of that part to the team, ¡°See, this part is specially treated so that it is thicker.¡±


    ¡°So it won¡¯t wear out easily,¡± Mary commented.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the important reasons,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°Another reason for doing so is that the bottoms of the feet have the direct contact with the ground. So we need to give the ¡®lenses¡¯ some space as well as some light to see the ground. The trade off is that if Jimmy lift his foot and show someone the bottom of his feet, it would not look as transparent as the other part of the cloaking suit.¡±


    ¡°He won¡¯t do that often. Do you, Jimmy?¡± Mary asked Jimmy, and laughed.


    ¡°Unless I want to kick someone¡¯s ass,¡± Jimmy jested.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± John raised his hand.


    ¡°Please, John,¡± Jessica cast a smile at him.


    ¡°If you need to treat the part for the bottom of the feet specially, then what if the person wearing the suit stands touching a wall?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Excellent catch!¡± Jessica complimented. She drew on the screen a wall and a standing person in contact with the wall. ¡°In the scenario John just mentioned, if the person actually pushed the wall with his back, then he will completely block that part of the wall from the light. So someone from far would see a weird spot on the wall.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a problem,¡± Someone exclaimed.


    ¡°The solution to this problem comes in three levels. First, the artificial neural network of the chips is smart enough so that it will make the side that is almost in contact with an object brighter, so that it could shed some light on the object, which could solve the problem to a good extent in most cases.¡±


    ¡°Very cool,¡± Mary acclaimed.


    ¡°However,¡± Jessica continues. ¡°If the person presses the object too hard with his body, or in a similar situation, if the person lies on the ground, then he would completely block the ground under him from the light, so even the first solution will not work. In that case, the cloaking sheet is smart enough to mimic the appearance pattern in the surrounding region and display it on the surface of the sheet.¡±


    ¡°Just like an octopus,¡± Mary commented.


    ¡°Yes, just like an octopus,¡± Jessica echoed. ¡°That¡¯s the second solution.¡±


    ¡°What is the third one?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°Jimmy might tell you what the third solution is.¡± Jessica turned and smiled at Jimmy.


    ¡°Never press your body against any object too hard unless it is necessary,¡± Jimmy answered from his seat.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Jessica added, ¡°As a matter of fact, the cloaking suit is just a good camouflage that could help a professionally trained person like Jimmy to gain the advantage that he could hide himself from the eyes of unprepared people, no matter sitting behind a CCTV camera or in the same room with him, while seeing others clearly. So he has to first learn how stay away from other people and objects whenever it is possible. Otherwise, if he stays too close to others, they might actually see the cloaking suit, or even touch him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we let Jimmy to be trained by that former professional thief first,¡± George chipped in.


    ¡°Good job Jimmy,¡± Someone shouted and many others echoed.


    ¡°One more question.¡± Frank raised his hand again.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jessica smile at him.


    ¡°This question is concerning that insulation layer,¡± Franks said. ¡°Even though Jimmy is tough, you still cannot keep all the heat inside the suit. You need to have some mechanism to let the internal heat out, don¡¯t you?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°Good point,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°The solution is that we are using a special material of extremely high heat capacity and low thermal conductivity for the insulation layer. In addition to that, as you might have already found from my answer to Mary¡¯s question, the suit is not completely insulated but with some holes to connect inside out.¡±


    ¡°But the holes for breathing might not be enough for letting the heat out, right?¡± Frank interrupted.


    ¡°You are right,¡± Jessica smiled. ¡°There are another two places where we make some holes. Some of you might have already guessed where those places are. They are the bottoms of the feet again. But still, the main mechanism that we count on to reduce the temperature within the suit as well the temperature of the chip layer is the extraordinary high heat capacity of that insulation layer.¡±


    ¡°But would those holes leak the human smell out?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°It will, but very limited.¡± Jessica responded. ¡°Although it¡¯s not a perfect 100% insulation, it will greatly reduce the radiation of heat and the leak of smell from the human body. Obviously, even with that insulation layer, we could not escape from those infrared scanners; but if we don¡¯t have that layer, it could even easily become the target of some curious cat or dog.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, my dog would definite bark if he could smell an invisible human being,¡± Someone remarked, which caused many to laugh loudly.


    ¡°I guess you need to wash that suit every time after using it to avoid being too smelly, right?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°Yes, you are right,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°We have very special equipment for doing that.¡±


    ¡°Last question,¡± Frank asked for permission.


    ¡°Go ahead please,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°Where do you get the energy for the cloaking suit? Do you need a battery in it?¡±


    ¡°Good question,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°We don¡¯t need a separate battery for the cloaking suit. The energy source or you might call it as the battery is in fact built into the cloaking sheet as some part of the ¡®gluing¡¯ material that fills those layers. We used some very special rare earth metals for that built-in energy source so that it could last for many decades.¡±


    ¡°Very impressive! Thanks,¡± Franks said.


    ¡°Can Jimmy turn the power off?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°He can¡¯t,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°It¡¯s technically doable in principle, but we did not put a switch on the suit because we don¡¯t want him to turn off the power accidentally when he was walking in the street.¡±


    ¡°That will be horrible,¡± Mary exclaimed.


    ¡°Yes, it will be horrible.¡± Jessica then looked at the team, ¡°I guess that¡¯s how much I can tell about the cloaking suit.¡±


    ¡°Very well done! Jess.¡± George stood up clapping for Jessica and whole team followed with a big round of loud claps.


    Just when George was about to walk to the lectern, the door to the elevators was opened and Linda came in with another two members. They brought boxes of food that they just bought for the team¡¯s lunch.


    ¡°Lunchtime now. I am hungry,¡± Jessica said to George. ¡°I guess we might reconvene after lunch.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we can get all the group leaders at one table outside your office and we can talk about our plans for the coming Wednesday while we eat,¡± George suggested.


    ¡°That could be done,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°I will let Doug and someone else to set up a table there, and we get all the group leaders together. They could brief the progress of their own groups to you first and then you might let us know your plan.¡±


    ¡°That sounds good.¡±


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The lunch lasted for almost three hours because all group leaders were gathering outside Jessica¡¯s office with George, Jimmy, and Jessica. John and other members were sitting at a distance from the group leaders. On John¡¯s table, there were Frank, Mary, and some others. For most of the time during the lunch, others were asking John about the Red Hat and the AHs, since he was the only one who had the first hand experiences with both.


    After lunch, when John was helping to clean up the tables, Linda came to him. ¡°John, Jessica wants you to come to her office to meet with George.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± John walked to Jessica¡¯s office. The door was closed. He knocked the door.


    ¡°Come in,¡± Jessica answered.


    John walked in, and George showed him a chair.


    ¡°You guys talk and I need to discuss with Doug and Jack about the security for the protest.¡± Jessica walked out of the office and left the door closed.


    ¡°I am so glad that you came to join us,¡± George said.


    ¡°It¡¯s my honor to be invited to join this great cause for humanity on this globe,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Very well said,¡± George remarked. ¡°Actually, before you came, we already knew something about you. Not through Jessica or any of your friends, but through BMA.¡±


    ¡°Someone from BMA talked to you about me?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No,¡± George replied. ¡°We found something about you from one of their files that we stole from their system.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s written in that file?¡± John asked.


    ¡°It was about your trip to the Republic of New People,¡± George replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± John was surprised and also very curious about what was written in that file.


    ¡°Have you ever heard the BMA Test Center or Brilliant Machines Association Test Center in its full name?¡± George asked.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Apparently, that is an organization within the BMA in charge of testing its members before making a potentially very high rank promotion,¡± George said.


    ¡°Promotion?¡± John was confused.


    ¡°Yes. Apparently, they sent you to the Republic of New People to test if you would be qualified for the promotion to a very high rank position. But you failed, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it,¡± George said.


    ¡°Oh, I am so glad that I left that dark society,¡± John replied in a very serious tone.


    ¡°Very good,¡± George said. ¡°It seemed from their file, a man named Sam and the President of the Republic of New Public, as well as another two referees, were strongly questioning your loyalty toward BMA. Based on their document, when Sam and that President gave you face to face tests, the other two referees were watching the tests all the time.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I guessed,¡± John said.


    ¡°You knew the other two referees?¡± George asked.


    ¡°No. But I was guessing that someone from BMA might be watching what I was doing all the time. I had that suspicion based on my personal witness of what they were doing in that SEESALL compound,¡± John replied. ¡°But unfortunately, I thought about that only after I was framed by them.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your plan for the future?¡± George asked.


    ¡°I have joined BHA. I would be very honored if I could be given a full-time position within BHA to fight against BMA,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Very good, and you will have one. Jessica will make an arrangement for that,¡± George said. ¡°Do you have any suggestion for the coming protest on Wednesday?¡±


    ¡°Actually I just got an idea during the lunchtime when I was chatting with others,¡± John said.


    ¡°What¡¯s your idea?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking, if we can make a red color hat so that I could wear it during the protest and hold a flag written ¡®The Secret of Turning Humans into Machines with Red Hats¡¯, and if someone comes to ask me about it, I will tell them the story behind the Red Hat.¡±


    ¡°Excellent idea,¡± George hammered the desk with his fist. He was very excited to hear that idea. ¡°You don¡¯t need to hold the flag. We will have two other persons hold a banner with what you just said printed on it. All three of you, or even more, should wear red hats, and you need to get a loud handheld speaker to tell people what BMA has been doing with those red hats.¡±


    ¡°That will be great,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Actually, what you should do is to prepare two types of speeches. One is slogans that you would chant in the procession, which needs to be simple and rhyme so that people would catch some basic idea about what BMA has been doing with red hats; and the second type is a long story about the red hat, which you would use when you speak on a platform to the surrounding audience,¡± George suggested.


    ¡°That¡¯s an excellent idea!¡± John responded.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go to prepare your speeches and let me talk to Jessica about this now? We need to get this done ASAP.¡± George stood up from the chair.


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯m on it right away.¡± John also stood up. Both of them walked out of the office. John went to the room that Jessica found for him and George went to talk to Jessica.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    George and Jimmy left the BHA headquarters of B City sector late in the afternoon after eating supper in the headquarters. People from other offices all departed after they left. Jessica let the members who work in the headquarters also left after they helped to clean up the floor.


    On their way home, John asked Jessica, ¡°How did you know so much about the cloaking suit? I was really amazed by your knowledge of it.¡±


    Jessica looked at him and smiled proudly. ¡°It was invented by an engineer of my previous company when I was the boss of that company.¡±


    ¡°Why did you sell the company off if it is so great?¡± John asked.


    ¡°It was because I started working as the director of the B City sector of BHA, and I did not want that company connected to me, and thus I sold it to Tony,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°Who is Tony?¡±


    ¡°The engineer who invented the cloaking sheet,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°A tech guru with double PhDs in both Math and Physics ¡­ a smart guy, a genius.¡±


    ¡°He could afford to buy your company?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Well, on the books I sold the company to him, off the books we all know that BHA took over the company. Therefore, money was not an issue. Actually, he did get a large amount of investment to purchase my company. We were just trying to make it more natural in other¡¯s eyes since our main purpose of making the transaction at that time was trying to legally disconnect that company with BHA.¡±


    ¡°So you donated your company to BHA for free?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Not really, I was allowed to keep the money from selling the company. The only thing was that I sold it to BHA instead of Tony, and BHA put Tony in charge of that company,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°I was somehow impressed that only very big companies could produce those kinds of chips. Your company was not that big, how did you do it?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We were okay since we were not aiming at mass producing the suits. Besides, we had some rich members of BHA invested in the company so that I could put in quite a lot money to build a special workshop plus lab with some second-hand machines for it. We could manage to produce quite a few cloaking suits for our own use.¡±


    ¡°Today you guys made the secret open, what if someone leaks it to BMA?¡±


    ¡°When I sold the company off, we all knew that someday BMA would know this. We were just trying to buy some time to build our own secret production base. Now we already have it, and meanwhile BMA also have broken into the system of my previous company and learned some of our technology. That¡¯s why we decided to make it open within our team. Whatever you saw and heard today has already been learned by BMA, but we are still way ahead of them in our secret base.¡±


    ¡°That sounds encouraging,¡± John said.


    ¡°How do you feel about what George told you concerning why BMA kicked you out?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel much. I just feel very lucky that they did not like me,¡± John replied.


    Jessica cast a very sweet smile at him.


    ¡°By the way,¡± John looked at Jessica, ¡°I heard of that light-bending technology Franks mentioned as well. It seems that quite a lot gurus support that idea. Why don¡¯t you think it feasible?¡±


    ¡°I cannot say it¡¯s not feasible,¡± Jessica said. ¡°But Tony evaluated that technology and concluded that even if it works it could only cloak a small angle of view.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by the angle of view?¡± John asked.


    ¡°As the buzz words ¡®bending light¡¯ means, the said technology works by pushing the incoming light away from its natural path, so that it could pass around the object without being reflected. As a result, some light which we are supposed to see in our view in the open space would be missing,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°So we will see a black hole?¡± Frank asked.


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°We will still see some light in the position of that blocked area due to light scattering from the neighboring region, but not from behind the blocked object as it was supposed to be according to the meaning of cloaking.¡±


    ¡°You mean we cannot see through the object as you just demonstrated with yours?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Jessica smiled at John.


    ¡°What does it to do with a small angle of view?¡± John asked.


    ¡°That is simple. If the cloak would create a large obviously abnormal spot in the view, it is very easy for people to find something wrong. But if the angle of view is very small, then people would ignore that problem. For example, a stone of ten centimeters at twenty meters away might appear to you as a small spot; but if a small car is at twenty meters away, it will appear to you as a big object. However, if the car is now at five hundred meters away, then it will appear to you almost the same as that ten centimeter stone. Did I answer your question?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I got it,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Actually, besides bending light off the surface, some scientists also claimed that by applying the light-bending nanotechnology they could create some surface with nanometer scale holes and tunnels for a cloaking material. But based on his mathematical analysis, Tony said that it was mathematically impossible for that kind of material to practically cloak any 3D object since the conditions for the perpendicular directions are conflicting with each other. Even if it works, which means Tony got something wrong with his math, since the paths of the light beams were altered when passing through those tunnels of the surface, it is impossible for them to be reorganized back to the original patterns.¡±


    ¡°Sounds very cool although I am completely lost,¡± John said.


    ¡°Good boy,¡± Jessica responded.


    They all laughed.


    ¡°May I ask you another more serious question about your cloaking suit?¡± John asked as if thinking of something.


    ¡°What else are you still curious about?¡± Jessica teased.


    ¡°You mentioned that the surface of that cloaking sheet is full of pixels and lenses. What would happen when one surface of the sheet facing another surface of the same material? That would be the case with the sleeves and legs of that suit, especially in the armpits and the private part between two thighs,¡± John said.


    ¡°Another good catch that you have for today,¡± Jessica looked at John and cast an encouraging smile at him. ¡°Ideally, if the images taken with the lenses and displayed on the screen are all perfectly original, we will not be concerned with what you just asked. But, it is obviously not the case. Just like when recording a movie from your TV screen, the quality would not be as good as the original.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± John said. ¡°How did you handle that issue?¡±


    ¡°It is not as difficult as you might have thought of. We call the technology for handling this as ¡®pass through¡¯. Basically, the chips in the middle layer of the cloaking sheet is smart enough to know whether the image collected by a lens is original or from the other part of the sheet. For the latter case, it would ignore the image, but pull the original image that the other part of the screen was showing,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°Wow,¡± John exclaimed. ¡°Too deep for me! But I believe you.¡±


    Both burst out laughing cheerfully.


    They stopped at the parking lot of W Mart, the biggest department store at that time. They had a very important shopping errand to do again. This time, it was not for their food, but for hats in red color.


    ¡­¡­

 Thirteen The Day before the Big Action Day

    Early in the morning on Tuesday, many super military transport aircrafts took off from several airbases across the nation. They were heading to the island country of the Republic of New People in the middle of the Indo-Pacific region. The aerospace control alert system was notified that they would come back after around 30 hours.


    At the mean time, all military bases and some potentially sensitive stations across the nation received orders to transfer all commanding powers to the special military police squad. In the previous afternoon, military servicemen who were on vacation across the nation had been called back to their bases immediately.


    Later in the morning, in federal and local legislature meeting places, representatives started two intense debates. One was whether the expansion of BHA in the country should be stopped, and the other one was whether a nationwide full investigation to find out all possible AHs should be conducted and have them arrested. But the debates were so heated up and none of them was concluded with a clear resolution, not in any legislature meeting place, no matter federal or local.


    In the evening of the same day, which was early in the morning of Wednesday across the ocean, those super military transport aircrafts landed in the largest military airport of the Republic of New People. Many thousands of armed AH soldiers already lined up in several blocks waiting in the airport. Each block was of about one thousand soldiers, and their human officers were standing in front of each block. All of them, including human officers and AH soldiers, were wearing Red Hats that Tom and Dick from K Corp sold to them, which were delivered by express shipment to that island country two days ago. They were the newest version of the Red Hats, specifically designed for military uses. The computer servers that received the signals emitted from the transmitters of the Red Hats were portable. They could be moved around, on land, at sea, or in the air. Those servers could communicate with military satellites anywhere on Earth.


    If any civilian from that country could have seen the uniforms of those military people, he would be very surprised to find that all of them were in foreign military uniforms instead of the uniforms of their own country.


    Ahead of the lining blocks was General X, the former Colonel X, who was standing straight like all others in the blocks. All of them were listening to the speech given by General K, in his military uniform and accompanied by Sam, the representative from BMA, as well as a gray hair General and a team of military officers who came with those aircrafts. When his speech ended, as a very important gesture of voluntarily transfer of the commanding power over the AH army, General K humbly and respectfully invited that gray hair General to give a speech, who was obviously the one who would command that army of AHs.


    A few hours after those giant aircrafts landed in the military airport of the Republic of New People, they took off again flying back to the airbases where they were from. Every aircraft was full of AH soldiers led by their human officers. Although the highest ranking officer among those military men of the Republic of New People was General X, General K announced in front of the whole army that the real commander would be that gray hair general, and even Colonel X would follow his orders. As a matter of fact, beside the gray hair general, on every aircraft, there was one officer who came with the gray hair general, and all from the Republic of New People would be subordinated to that officer on the same aircraft.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    On Tuesday, instead of practicing Taekwondo, Jessica went out with John and Mimi for jogging. When passing a military station, they noticed an armed soldier wearing the helmet and armband with the eye-catching white ¡°MP¡± printed was guarding that usually unguarded station. When they were wondering what was going on, Jessica received a text from the intelligence team of BHA notifying her that the previous evening all military servicemen who were on vacation received notices calling them back to their bases immediately.


    Jessica showed the message to John.


    ¡°Why is it today?¡± John said. ¡°I think it might have something to do with our big action tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. We need to be very careful,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°Let¡¯s go back now. We need to go to the office right away to get ready for any unexpected incidents.¡±


    They went back to Jessica¡¯s house and quickly changed clothes. Before they left the house, they grabbed the twenty hats in red color that they bought in the previous afternoon.


    Jessica let John drive because she needed to contact others to get some updates about what was going on. After a round of phone calls, Jessica felt a bit relieved because according to the information she gathered, there seemed no sign of any pressing threat to BHA around the country yet.


    ¡°So far it doesn¡¯t seem that we are facing some immediate danger yet,¡± Jessica told John.


    ¡°What did George say?¡± John asked.


    ¡°He wants us all keep calm and vigilance,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°According to our intel, the biggest threat to us at this moment is that BMA would organize a round of attack against us in the federal and local legislature through their representatives today. But they won¡¯t have the chance to pass anything before our big action tomorrow because our friends in the federal and local legislature would defend us today.¡±


    ¡°You think tomorrow¡¯s action would help us to defeat BMA?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°Very honestly, I am not sure. It might even give them an excuse against us among those powerful¡­But what matters most is to have the greatest population to be aware of what is going on in this country and around the world because of what BMA is doing. That¡¯s what we are fighting for right now and that¡¯s going to be the main theme of tomorrow¡¯s big action.¡±


    ¡°I completely agree,¡± John said. ¡°Right now, we cannot think too much what the power games might be going on. We have to focus on how to let the public know the truth.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡­¡­


    When they arrived at the headquarters, Doug, Jack, Linda, and some others were already there. Jessica had a quick meeting with them and made several contingency plans, including to set up temporary beds on the office floor in case some members need to stay overnight in the building.


    John went to draft for the speeches and catchphrases, as well as the banners and flags, to be used during the protest. Later in the morning, Jessica assigned another five members to work with John and they were supposed to be in the same group during the protest, a special group led by John for exposing the Red Hat system and the operation of AH-producing factory to the public. John and his group members painted with gold color ¡°BMA¡±, ¡°K Corp¡±, and ¡°F Corp¡± on some of the red hats he brought to the headquarters.


    Near the lunchtime, Jessica called everyone on the floor to the front of her office. She announced that the mayor of B City called her while conferencing the chief police officer of the city, they expressed their support for BHA.


    ¡°The chief police officer assured me that the police department would do the best to maintain the order during the protest against any sabotage from potential adversaries,¡± Jessica told the team.


    ¡°Hooray!¡± There was a burst of exclamation on the floor for that good news.


    Right after the moment of excitement, someone¡¯s mobile phone started to ring loudly. John did not realize that it was his phone until people around him all turned to look at him.


    He took out the phone and answered right away without checking the caller. ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°John, they just came here and we are all in danger now.¡± John heard the nervous voice of Bob from the phone.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Bob arrived home on Sunday evening. After the dinner, when their two high school kids went back to their own rooms, Bob told his wife Elizabeth what he saw and heard in B City.


    ¡°Are you sure that AHs have been deployed into this country?¡± Elizabeth asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s what Jessica said,¡± Bob responded. ¡°John seemed buying into that very much based on his own experience.¡±


    ¡°Oh my, how could it become like that?¡± Elizabeth¡¯s tone was full of worry. ¡°What might happen on Wednesday in our city?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Bob responded. ¡°There could be anything and anytime, even from today. From what Jessica and John described, BMA is very powerful. They have great influence in our government. But BHA is determined to fight to the end because they consider this as a war for the survival of the human species.¡±


    ¡°Then what about them?¡± Elizabeth pointed to the Kids¡¯ rooms. ¡°Next week is the teachers¡¯ conference week and they don¡¯t have class.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you send them to my parents¡¯ house tomorrow morning?¡± Bob looked at Elizabeth with expectation in his eyes. ¡°You also stay there with them during the week.¡±


    Bob¡¯s wife was a writer plus housewife. She was from another coast of the country so that they visited Bob¡¯s parents more often than her parents.


    ¡°Are you sure that you are going to be okay by yourself?¡± Elizabeth asked with hesitation even though she knew Bob¡¯s suggestion was right.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°I am okay. Don¡¯t worry,¡± Bob responded. ¡°Maybe you should let them to pack their stuff now and leave early tomorrow. It¡¯s better to leave the city asap now. I don¡¯t believe that BMA does not have any idea about what BHA is going to do. Anything could happen between now and Wednesday.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I am going to ask them to pack for one week¡¯s trip now,¡± Elizabeth replied.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t mention anything to them¡­¡­just tell them that we are going to have a pest control in our house next week so that there might be some poisonous spray in the house. Besides, tell them that their grandparents are missing them very much,¡± Bob murmured to Elizabeth before she left.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Monday morning, after seeing off Elizabeth and the kids, Bob went to his clinic as usual. Everything went normally and nothing special happened all the day.


    Bob went back to his house after a day of work. When looking at the quiet and empty house, he started to wonder whether he had overreacted. ¡°Maybe nothing bad will happen. Maybe it¡¯s going to be another usual protest, just as what have happened in the past for many many times. Everything would go back to normal after Wednesday, and life would go back as usual.¡±


    Then he questioned himself, ¡°What about AHs? Are they real? What if John was wrong? What if BHA was just trying to promote their own political agenda? What if Jessica only learned of AHs from me when I told her the story of John?¡±


    But as a medical professional, Bob was very soon alerted of his own illusory anxiety symptom due to the deep fear in his heart. He realized that he was trying to use an oversimplified assumption of the negative impact of human weakness to explain the logically explainable complicated situation. He nipped on his own arm to make himself sober so that he wouldn¡¯t be obsessed with the fake pleasure of irrational fancies.


    On Tuesday, after a busy morning with several patients, Bob made himself a cup of coffee and went to his computer room trying to take a short break. No sooner had he sat down to enjoy his favorite Columbian Coffee, Dorothy, the receptionist hastily ran into the computer room.


    ¡°Do¡­Doctor, some people in black came in asking for you.¡± She said to Bob with a trembling voice.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Special Agent Arthur,¡± A man¡¯s voice came into the room before Dorothy had the chance to answer Bob¡¯s question. When the sound of that voice died away, a man in black already appeared at the door of the computer room. All his dress, from the hat, to suit and shoes, even the tie, was in black, except for the mercury-like lenses of the reflective sunglasses.


    ¡°You might go back to your work, Miss,¡± That man in black gave an order to Dorothy before Bob could react to what was happening.


    Dorothy did not move, but looked at Bob, aghast and confused. Bob waved his hand to her, letting her leave.


    Special Agent Arthur showed Bob his ID that he was from a government intelligence agency.


    ¡°What can I do for you?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°I and my colleagues come to give you an advice that you¡¯d better stay away from the protest tomorrow,¡± Agent Arthur said in a cold voice without taking off his shining sunglasses. Meantime, another man in black came to close the door of the computer from outside.


    ¡°Who gave you the right of coming to my office without invitation to tell me what to do?¡± Bob questioned angrily.


    ¡°Well, we know you are connected to the organizer of tomorrow¡¯s protest, which is BHA. We also know that you just came back from their headquarters in B City on Sunday evening. Do you want me to tell you something more that we know about you and your friends?¡± Agent Arthur threatened Bob.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± Bob rose up from his chair and raised his voice. ¡°Do you want to go with me to repeat what you just said again in front of all my patients?¡±


    ¡°Calm down,¡± Agent Arthur pressed Bob back to his chair with his left hand on Bob¡¯s right shoulder.


    ¡°Get your dirty hand off me,¡± Bob yelled.


    ¡°Calm down,¡± Agent Arthur increased the pressure of his hand on Bob¡¯s shoulder, and Bob felt difficult to breathe. Obviously, that guy was a specially trained killing expert. Bob realized that his life was in danger.


    ¡°We come in peace,¡± Agent Arthur said to Bob in a cold tone. ¡°We don¡¯t want to hurt anyone. I wish that you won¡¯t force us to hurt you. If anything happened in this room, no one would know what you did and we could provide all kinds of evidence to show that you were trying to hurt me.¡±


    ¡°Shame on you,¡± Bob uttered.


    ¡°No need to get angry,¡± Agent Arthur sneered. ¡°It seems that you are assuming that we came here without any hard evidence against you and your BHA friends, right?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about,¡± Bob responded.


    ¡°I believe you ¡­ that you don¡¯t know what I am talking about,¡± Agent Arthur said and moved his hand from the shoulder of Bob. ¡°That¡¯s why we came to provide some suggestion to you for your own good. We are not coming to arrest or harm you. If we do want to arrest or harm you, you would not still sit here talking to me.¡±


    ¡°What do you want to tell me?¡± Bob questioned.


    ¡°I want to tell you that we have evidence of illegal invasion into some private physical and cyber facility of others by your BHA friends, which could be defined by our law as terrorist action against lawful civilians of this country. We have reasons to suspect that you were also an accomplice in their plot,¡± Agent Arthur said while leaned toward Bob with the brim of his hat almost touched Bob¡¯s face.


    ¡°You are making all this up without any proof,¡± Bob protested.


    ¡°Believe me, you don¡¯t want us to show you the proof,¡± Agent Arthur threatened. ¡°We come to give you an advice in good will because we know that so far you have not been involved deeply in their criminal activity and you have been a good tax contributor to this city.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what you are trying to say,¡± Bob responded.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to understand me,¡± Agent Arthur said arrogantly. ¡°I just suggest that you stay away from tomorrow¡¯s protest. Otherwise, it would not be good for you. Don¡¯t assume that we don¡¯t know anything about you. I guess you don¡¯t want a tough audit on your tax, am I right?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have any right to come in my clinic to bluff me like this,¡± Bob protested.


    ¡°I seriously wish that you won¡¯t take this as a bluff.¡± Agent Arthur stood up straight. He walked to the door, and then turned his face toward Bob when one of his hands held the knob of the door. ¡°I have told you all I need to say to you. I wish you could be smart and make a smart decision for yourself as well as your wife and two kids. I don¡¯t want to see you tomorrow in the protest.¡±


    He opened the door and stepped out the room, leaving Bob faintly sitting in the chair with perspiration all over his head and body.


    Sandy, the nurse, and Dorothy, the receptionist came in after those men in black left the clinic.


    ¡°Doctor, what happened?¡± Sandy asked.


    ¡°Something horrible is happening in this country.¡± Bob shook his head and then asked, ¡°Are the patients alright?¡±


    ¡°They are all waiting for you,¡± Dorothy replied. ¡°They were all shocked when those men in black came in like secret police.¡±


    ¡°They are secret police.¡± Bob rose from his chair. ¡°But don¡¯t worry. Right now, please go to take care of the patients, and I will tell you more about this later. Give me five minutes and I will come with you guys after I make an important phone call.¡±


    ¡°But what should we tell the patients? They seemed very concerned about this,¡± Sandy said.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Bob mused for a couple second. ¡°Just tell them the truth. Those people were secret government agents and they came to warn me not to join tomorrow¡¯s protest.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure that you want us to tell them this?¡± Sandy questioned with concern.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Bob said firmly. ¡°You just tell them that it was I who told you so since you were not in the room when they were here.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    Sandy and Dorothy left the computer room to talk to the patients.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    ¡°Please slow down,¡± John attempted to calm down Bob over the phone. He noticed that some team members were looking at him, so he quickly walked toward the other side of the floor to keep a distance from the crowd. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Bob briefed the intrusion of those secret police into his clinic.


    ¡°It¡¯s very strange,¡± John said. ¡°Why did they do that when they knew there were many patients as witnesses?¡±


    ¡°I think they don¡¯t really care. They just want to show their muscles,¡± Bob reasoned. ¡°Based on what I have heard from you and Jessica, I think it has come to a turning point, and they know that better than us.¡±


    ¡°You mean they are ready to have the final showdown with the whole nation?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they would even call it as the final showdown because in their pompous eyes the public is no match for them at all,¡± Bob responded.


    ¡°Don¡¯t they want the support from the public as well?¡± John asked.


    ¡°You still don¡¯t get it?¡± Bob raised his voice.  ¡°They don¡¯t care if the public would like them or not because they know that they would not put anything real into their magic box to please the public.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Do you still remember the people behind that wall in that island country you mentioned to me?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Sure,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Then you should know what I mean,¡± Bob said. ¡°If they know that they don¡¯t really have much to offer the public indeed, then they really don¡¯t care if you would love them or not. The only thing they care about is that you are scared of them and you don¡¯t dare to rise against them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s horrible,¡± John shrieked.


    ¡°It¡¯s called state terror,¡± Bob remarked.


    ¡°I guess they probably knew that you might call me and they would like to see it happen,¡± John said.


    ¡°Could be,¡± Bob responded. ¡°How is your office in B City?¡±


    ¡°We have not experienced what happened to you,¡± John replied.


    ¡°They could¡¯ve just walked into your office instead of getting me pass the message to you,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°I was just guessing,¡± John responded. ¡°As a matter of fact, Jessica just announced that the city government expressed their support for us¡­that might be why we are not disturbed by the secret police.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great news,¡± Bob sounded excitedly. ¡°That means even within the government there is fighting.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± John echoed.


    ¡°You see, BMA is making another big mistake again, just as I said last time,¡± Bob commented.


    ¡°You mean¡­¡±


    ¡°I mean they underestimated the strength of humanity again. They are gambling to fight humanity with their arrogance and brutality, and they will lose.¡± Bob sounded confidently.


    ¡°Yes, I think so,¡± John agreed and then asked, ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±


    ¡°You just tell Jessica what happened here, and I am going to take care of the patients,¡± Bob responded. ¡°Take care, buddy.¡±


    ¡°You take a great care of yourself as well!¡±


    Bob hung up the phone.


    John walked to talk to Jessica, who had already gone back to her office.


    ¡°Who was that?¡± Jessica asked when she saw John walking into her office. ¡°You seemed nervous when you walked away.¡±


    ¡°It was Bob,¡± John replied, and right at that moment the landline phone on Jessica¡¯s desk rang.


    ¡°Hello, this is Jessica.¡± Jessica answered the phone and it was from George.


    ¡­¡­


    Ten minutes later, Jessica walked out of her office with John and called all members to the front of her office again.


    ¡°Right after we celebrated the support from our local government, we got some bad news from our brothers and sisters across the country.¡± Jessica paused for a couple of seconds and then continued, ¡°Since this morning, there have been more than a hundred incidents of harassing our BHA members by local cops or secret agents in an attempt to scare them off tomorrow¡¯s protests.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±... ¡°How dare those minions of BMA?¡± ¡­ ¡°They are violating the constitution!¡±¡­


    The members were all enraged. The floor was filled with anger. Some were shouting, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the street right now.¡±


    ¡°Please calm down,¡± Jessica said to the team. ¡°This is a very critical moment that we not only need courage but also wisdom and unity. We will not change our plan for tomorrow¡¯s big action, but we need to have some more contingency plans for tonight. All group leaders please come to my office right now. Others please continue with your preparation for tomorrow¡¯s action.¡±


    The members all went back to their own positions except for the leaders who all entered the office of Jessica.


    ¡°John,¡± Jessica drew John aside before she entered her office with others. She handed her key chain to John. ¡°Could you please go back to my house to pick up some daily use articles and changes for me and yourself. We need to spend the night in this place with those who would not go back home tonight.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± John took over the key chain and turned, walking toward the exit.


    But Jessica grabbed his sleeve. ¡°Please let Mimi to play about 10 minutes in the backyard, and leave some food ready for her to eat.¡±


    ¡°I will definitely do it,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Be careful on your way,¡± Jessica said.


    John cast a smile at her and then left.


    ¡­¡­.

 Fourteen The Big Action Day

    On the big action day, an autumn Wednesday in 2057, on the office floor of the BHA sector headquarters in B City, those who had spent the night on the floor all waked up very early. Some of them were waked up by the earliest round of the landline phone ringing, and others were waked up by the noise made by those who got up earlier. But all of them got into the mood for the action very soon. Most of those who went home in the previous evening also came early on this Wednesday morning. Some of them even helped to clean up the floor, making it back to a working space.


    Linda prepared the breakfast in the previous evening so that the team members could finish eating and get ready soon after waking up in the morning. But she also left a note on the door of the kitchen room: Please come to pray together first in the morning, and then we can have breakfast together.


    After the prayer meeting, Jessica went to the kitchen with all others. She picked up some food and had herself a cup of coffee, and then went back to her office. She needed to attend a conference call with George and other sector headers across the world. The security team of BHA had fought a tough cyber war against BMA¡¯s hacking to maintain a secure VPN for its leaders to communicate with each other remotely.


    During the conference call, George told the attendees that, according to BHA¡¯s source from within the military forces, all the servicemen had been given a clear order that no one would be allowed to leave his own base or position without the permission of the special military police squad that had taken control of the complete defense force of the country since Tuesday morning.


    ¡°That¡¯s very strange,¡± Someone commented. ¡°It sounds like they are more worried that the army might join our protest than intending use the army to deal with us.¡±


    ¡°But we never attempted to stir up the army to fight with us since that could be condemned as a coup,¡± Jessica chimed in.


    ¡°Maybe we made a mistake for not doing that,¡± Someone else remarked. ¡°What is going on with the military forces right now might actually be a reminder that we should have done that.¡± Jessica recognized it was Tony, the head of the company that was previously owned by her and now a secret factory to provide BHA with all kinds of hardware.


    ¡°A military coup has never been in our plan,¡± George responded. ¡°Not only because the impact of a military coup is very different from a peaceful protest, but also because we don¡¯t have that kind of capacity at all.¡±


    ¡°But at least it is good news if the military forces will not be used against us today,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not quite convinced that what is going on with the military forces is to prevent them joining our protest.¡± That was Jimmy the ¡®ghost¡¯, who had been a key member of the intelligence team of BHA.


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°Well, the discipline of the army is very tough so that it¡¯s much easier for them to mobilize the army against us than for us to get the soldiers to protest together with us unless there would be a thoroughly planned coup. We know this, so does BMA.


    Based on our intel, BMA is very confident with their own intelligence force since they have their informants in every corner of this world, including the military forces; therefore, the chance for them to curb the army for something that has never planned by anyone is very small.¡± Jimmy reasoned.


    ¡°Then what are they up to in your opinion?¡± Tony asked.


    ¡°I am not sure yet,¡± Jimmy replied. ¡°But we need to be very careful and not just take what they are doing with the army as simply a good sign.¡±


    ¡°Jimmy is right,¡± George seconded Jimmy. ¡°Based on what they have been doing against our members across the nation since yesterday morning, we need be very vigilant. But meanwhile, no matter what, this is going to be a big day for us, for the country, and for the whole world. Let¡¯s fight in solidarity with each other, and the final victory will be ours.¡±


    After exchanging some other info with each other, the meeting ended around 8:00am.


    When Jessica stepped out of her office, she found that most members were chatting outside her office, waiting for her command to set off.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jessica clapped her hands to get attention from everyone. When members stopped chatting with each other and the room became quiet, Jessica spoke to the team, ¡°Now the moment of truth is coming, for which we have been preparing during the past weeks, and as a matter of fact, it is the moment that we have been waiting for since the beginning of this year. Most importantly, this is the moment we stand out to defend our humanity, our civilization, our human culture, and our rights of survival.¡±


    The team responded with one minute long hand claps.


    ¡°According to the information we collected during the past days, today we might have up to two hundred thousand people join us in this city alone. Many of them are brothers and sisters of BHA, but also many outsiders. What binds us together is the fact that we are all human beings who do not want to be replaced by machines or biogenetic products.¡±


    Another round of hand claps.


    ¡°But since most of the protesters, no matter our BHA members or outsiders, do not know the details of our plan, each one of us in this room right now would play a critical role for the action, we are the soul of this action. Can we make it?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± The instant loud response from the team made the windows vibrating.


    ¡°Do we have the buses ready?¡± Jessica asked Linda.


    ¡°They are all waiting nearby,¡± Linda responded.


    ¡°Good.¡± Jessica then asked the team, ¡°does anyone still not have the protest route plan?¡±


    No one answered.


    ¡°Does anyone still not know what he or she should do?¡±


    No one answered.


    ¡°Alright, now we will go to take the buses to our rendezvous point at the south corner of the central square. Our processions will all set off from there. On our way to that place, every one of you still could contact your friends to confirm their participation or get them out if some of them have not been contacted.¡±


    Jessica then said to the team, in a loud and firm voice, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    John¡¯s group was near the east end exit to the stairway when Jessica was giving the speech. Therefore, once the team began to move, they were among the earliest to get downstairs. Doug was already waiting at the gate of the building to direct members to the parking location of the buses.


    ¡°Did you get a handheld speaker?¡± Doug asked when he saw John¡¯s group.


    John took a look at his group members, and none of them had a handheld speaker. ¡°I guess we all forgot. Thanks Doug for reminding us.¡±


    ¡°I will get it.¡± Peter, one youngster in John¡¯s group, was about to go back for the handheld speaker.


    John stopped him, ¡°Hold on, Peter. I go get it and you guys get on the bus first. I will join you soon.¡±


    Like John and his group, many other groups were also using the stairways instead of the elevators. John had to push his way against the flow of people going down. When he got back to the headquarters, only a few people were still there. The door of Jessica¡¯s office was open, and John could hear Jessica talking on the phone.


    Instead of going to get the handheld speaker, John walked towards Jessica¡¯s office.


    ¡­...


    John had not forgotten the handheld speaker. Even before he went out of that exit door with his group, he had a glance at the location where he kept that handheld speaker Jessica gave him the previous evening. He didn¡¯t take it because he had something more important left in the headquarters, which was his heart. He could not leave the headquarters without a formal valediction with Jessica. Among all the members of the headquarters, John was the only one who had the first hand experience of dealing with BMA. He knew what they might do, especially after talking to Bob over the phone the previous day. The sudden catastrophic change of his life a few weeks ago was still a fresh memory to him. He did not know what kind of catastrophic change might happen on this big action day. He knew that he could not change anything at that moment, but at least, he should not leave the headquarters without giving Jessica a hug either.


    When John paced to the door of Jessica¡¯s office, Jessica just ended her phone call and stood up from the chair.


    ¡°John,¡± Jessica was obviously very glad to see him. ¡°I was looking for you to see if you have everything you need.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± John replied. ¡°I forgot to bring the handheld speaker with me, and I come back to get it.¡±


    ¡°Do you know where it is?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­No¡­Yeah..yeah,¡± John stammered a bit. ¡°I¡­I mean, actually I came back to say goodbye to you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, John. I was trying to say the same to you as well.¡± Jessica quickly walked out from behind her desk.


    ¡°Actually, I came to give you a hug.¡± John stretched out his arms.


    Jessica stepped up hugging John with her arms and whispered at his ear, ¡°You take care of yourself, and we will see each other tonight.¡±


    John held the body of Jessica tightly for a few seconds. Then he whispered at her ear before he released his arm and turned away from her, ¡°You take a great care of yourself. I love you.¡±


    John trotted to fetch the handheld speaker from where he hid it without looking back, leaving Jessica at the office door watching his back with a pair of red eyes.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    When John¡¯s group led a procession to set off, it was already around 9:15am. John, wearing a red hat and holding the handheld speaker, was walking ahead of the whole procession; on his hat, it was painted with gold color ¡°BMA¡± on the left side ¡°K Corp¡± on the right side. Ten BHA members, all wearing red hats, walked behind him holding a long banner. Two lines of words were painted on the banner. The top line was ¡°Our Mind Is Not Open To BMA¡±, and the bottom line was ¡°Our Soul Is More Valuable Than Artificial Life¡±.


    They left the rendezvous point and walk towards south along a major avenue of the city, heading to a perpendicular major avenue several blocks away, and planning to circle the half of the neighborhood surrounding the central square and then come back into the square at its north side. There were about 20 thousand people followed John¡¯s group, forming a procession stretching out a distance of many street blocks.


    At the rendezvous point, Mary was giving away flyers to the participants, with the slogans that John was going to chant on his way of protesting. As he was marching on, John was alternatively chanting several slogans and his group members would lead others behind to follow by something written in the flyer that John prepared during the past couple of days.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Some slogan chants were quite simple. For example, when John shouted ¡°K Corp sells the red hats¡±, others would follow with ¡°BMA peeks into your heads¡±; if John shouted ¡°BMA is a thief of mind¡±, others would follow with ¡°Watch your head and watch your mind¡±, and so on.


    But some other slogan chants would need more sophisticated team cooperation. For example, when John shouted ¡°My head belongs to my own¡±, some members would shout ¡°BMA¡±, and then some others would follow with ¡°Boo¡±, which would then be followed by ¡°Take your hand off my head¡± by others, and so on.


    If someone in the procession did not understand the meanings of the slogans, BHA members around them would explain to them, or ask them to wait for John¡¯s speech after circling the targeted urban area.


    ¡­¡­


    On the north side of the central square, there was a high stage platform about two meters above the ground. It was normally open to the public for renting. On holidays and weekends, there were usually all kinds of shows on that platform played by artists from various communities.


    Since the big action day was not in a weekend, it did not take BHA much effort to reserve that platform a couple weeks ago for the big protest. The first thing Doug and Jack did when they arrived at the square with the buses was to set up the platform so that members of BHA could give speeches on the platform during the protest.


    When John came back to the central square at its north side after an hour long protest march, the entrance into the square was already jammed by protest participants. Local police officers had to make road lines to maintain a path for people to get in and out the central square. Even before John entered the square, he could already hear that Jessica was giving a speech, which was obviously broadcasted not through the ordinary sound system used in a normal meeting or party, but through something much more powerful.


    When John finally managed to get onto that high stage platform as planned, he was surprised by what he saw: a few normally mute commercial LED panels were turned into loud TVs and broadcasting Jessica¡¯s speech.


    ¡°I thought those LED panels do not come with sound systems,¡± John said to Jack who stood beside him.


    ¡°They don¡¯t.¡± Jack pointed to some racks holding arrays of speakers around the square, ¡°What you hear are from those speakers. Both the LED panels and the speakers, as well as the mic she is using, are all operated through a central computer system.¡±


    ¡°You guys made all these work?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Jack replied. ¡°The commercial company that owns those panels did for us.¡±


    ¡°Is that expensive?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Free,¡± Jack smiled. ¡°They are doing this as their support for our common cause.¡±


    John smiled as well. When he looked down to the square from the platform, he could see that the whole square and those streets connected to the square were all full of protesting people, most of them holding protest flags or banners.


    ¡°How many people do you think we got here?¡± John pointed to the crowd.


    ¡°I heard from a police officer, who is helping to maintain the order around the platform, that there should be half a million people in the whole square and the nearby area,¡± Jack responded.


    ¡°Wow, half a million!¡± John exclaimed with his right hand thumb up.


    ¡°Is that your phone ringing?¡± Jack pointed to John¡¯s pocket, inside which something was jumping.


    ¡°Yeah¡­thanks...let me pick up this call.¡± John put on the headphone with a mic and answered the call.


    ¡°John,¡± It was Bob again. ¡°Are you okay? Your background sounds very noisy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I am okay. I am standing on a platform and people are all around. I am using a headphone with mic¡­.otherwise, you might hear more noise,¡± John explained.


    ¡°That sounds like Jess¡¯s voice¡­is she talking?¡± Bob asked


    ¡°Yeah, she is talking to the crowd right now,¡± John responded.


    ¡°It sounds like you guys are all safe?¡± Bob said in a questioning tone.


    ¡°We are okay. How are things going on your side?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s horrible¡­bloodily horrible¡­that¡¯s why I am calling you to check if you guys are okay,¡± Bob sounded horrified.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± John started to worry.


    ¡°A lot people got hurt¡­ some were sprayed, some were hit by high pressure water, some were deafened by the sound bombs, and some were even beaten up to bleed¡­even in the street outside my clinic you could see blood on the ground¡­ my clinic is full of people injured,¡± Bob answered.


    ¡°What?¡± John could not believe what he just heard.


    ¡°I was told by my patients that it is actually already on some news channels,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Which one?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Hold on,¡± Bob said, and John could hear someone in the background groaning and others were talking loudly.


    ¡°I gotta go taking care the injured, I¡¯ll call you later¡­take care.¡± Bob hung up the phone.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    On Wednesday morning, Bob did not go to join the protest, not because he was scared of the secret police, but because he still had some appointments for patients. Although his clinic was far from the center of the city, but he still could see through the windows of his clinic some protestors march in lines passing by and he could hear their protesting slogans from within his clinic.


    It was quite peaceful at the beginning until a few hours later, around the time when John finished his protest march in B City, those within Bob¡¯s clinic started to hear people outside screaming, crying, and hastily running.


    Bob and others went out to see what happened. When they came out of the door, they saw some riot policemen in helmets were chasing and beating the escaping protesters, young and old, men and women. They seemed not interested in arresting anyone but just beating and knocking down one and then chasing another.


    Some of Bob¡¯s patients were scared and went back to the clinic right away. Bob and Sandy went out to help one victim, who was lying on the ground, to walk into the clinic, and then Dorothy and some other patients went to get more injured into the clinic.


    When Bob finished treating those injured whom were let into the clinic, he started to worry about John and Jessica, so he made a quick phone call to check with John and notify him of what was going on in S City before next injured would come into the clinic.


    ¡­¡­


    Almost at the same time when Bob was helping the injured, those huge military transport aircrafts carrying AH soldiers of the Republic of New People landed in the airbases across the nation, including one near B City.


    After those armed AH soldiers got off the aircrafts, they got on the transportation means that were ready for them to take, including trucks, armored military vehicles, and military choppers, with drivers or pilots from the airbases waiting in their positions. Then they all set off at the command of the officers who were with the gray hair general.


    ¡­¡­


    The representatives in the legislature across the nation, federal and local, continued their intense debates started on the previous day. Later in the morning, the equally matched situation in most places changed decisively, not towards favoring BHA but towards favoring BMA. The reason was that, after a large number of unemployed people all over the nation got onto the street to support BHA, BMA convinced a large percent of formerly neutral representatives that the prevail of BHA would shake the existing political system and thus hurt their political interests.


    Most importantly, those politicians knew that they would not be able to help the majority of the protesters to make a change of the trend of replacing humans by robots or AHs in all social areas, which would put them fundamentally in the pro-BMA position. At least, they were not prepared to make a decision to support BHA in such a short time period since they did not have any idea how they could be benefited from doing so. But meanwhile, BMA promised them that their interests would be protected by BMA politically and financially. As a result, they decided to join the pro-BMA force and their actions changed the balance on the battle ground.


    The change of atmosphere within the legislature was soon followed by the president of the nation, who came out to support BMA openly and forcefully.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    After Bob hung up the phone, John said to Jack, ¡°Something not right. They have started to crack down our protest in S City.¡±


    Right at that moment, John heard Jessica calling his name, ¡°Next, let¡¯s hear the witness of our brother Mr. John Potter, a former BMA executive. He will tell you with his own story how BMA has been systematically ruining humanity through the so-called scientific ways.¡±


    John turned and found that Jessica was waving at him. He hesitated for a fraction of a second because he was just about to tell Jack more of what he heard from Bob, but Jack pushed him towards Jessica, ¡°Go, it¡¯s your turn now.¡±


    John walked towards Jessica. They kissed each other on the cheek, and then Jessica went to the back stage, leaving John in front of the microphone.


    ¡°Before you hear my own story, I have bad news to tell you,¡± John said while his voice was a bit trembling. ¡°Some of you might have already learned the news if you have been checking your social media or surfing the internet or watching TV news, most of you might not be aware of it if you have been focusing on this protest.¡± He paused in an effort to calm himself down, and then he raised his voice, ¡°They started cracking down our protest. They are beating and killing our brothers and sisters in S City and some other places!¡±


    The anger of the enraged crowd erupted like a volcano. Many of them started to shout, ¡°Down with them, victory is ours!¡± Many others also started to check their phones to gather info about the crackdown across the nation.


    ¡°We will not be intimated by their atrocity! We will fight for our just cause defiantly! We will fight for the continuation of our civilization, for our children and their future, for the survival rights of human beings with all our strength and courage!¡± John shouted, and his voice was full of anger, pain, and determination.


    When the sound of John¡¯s words was still lingering in the air, those LED panels were switched to news channels, and someone who was controlling the sound system spoke through those loud speakers, ¡°Dear brothers and sisters, sorry for interrupting the speech, we might need first to listen to the news that the president is making some announcement.¡±


    When the president of the nation appeared on the LED panels, the crowd in the square responded with a burst of loud sound of booing so that John could not hear clearly what the president said at the beginning.


    The same man spoke through the loud speaker again, ¡°Please calm down. We need to hear what he is saying and then we can protest after.¡±


    A few seconds later, the raucous sound of protesting lowered down in the square and John could hear the speech of the president.


    ¡°As authorized by the congress of the country, by carrying out my constitutional rights for protecting the people of this great country, I am now declaring the federal state of emergency for the followings cities and areas...¡±


    B City was the first one in the list for the federal state of emergency, which meant that the federal government would take over the power of public security from the local government, or in other words, the federal government would send military forces to put those areas under its control.


    Right after the President, the leader of the federal legislature came to announce that the congress had passed a law to denounce BHA as illegal and thus all its protesting activity would be illegal.


    The angry crowd erupted again. Their hearts were filled with indignation. But some scared people started to leave the central square area. That man who previously spoke through the loud speaker announced his personal strongest support for BHA, denounced the congressional decision as unconstitutional, and called on the people in the square, as well as all over the country, to support BHA. His call was responded by the crowd with thunderous applause.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± John said. ¡°Could you please turn off the news channel? I guess we have enough of it.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± The man said. The LED panels were all switched back to the high stage platform for BHA.


    But right at that moment, there came the loud noise of rotors from the sky. John looked up and saw a team of choppers lining in a V shape was coming from afar. While the crowd was all shocked by the appearance of the choppers, that previously spoken man shouted, ¡°A troop of armed soldiers wearing red hats is coming!¡±


    One of the LED panels was switched to a street CCTV¡¯s view that showed armed soldiers in trucks and armored military vehicles approaching the central square. More people started to run away from the central square and the nearby streets. The escape was so random that many were running towards the approaching army, and then turned to other directions after they saw the army vehicles.


    While John was still standing before the microphone in front of the crowd, Jessica called others who were on the stage to discuss the emergency measure for that sudden happening of the direct interfere by the military force. They decided to withdraw right away.


    ¡°John,¡± Jessica called John to get him away from the microphone while walking towards him because she wanted to give a retreat speech as the leader and organizer of the protest before they pulled out of the central square.


    ¡°It¡¯s him,¡± John shouted in the microphone right after Jessica called him. From the zoomed in view of that CCTV¡¯s screen, he recognized the officer who stood in the front of the first military truck was that Colonel X from the Republic of New People, and beside him was that AH Sergeant Y.


    ¡°They are not human soldiers! They are AH soldiers led by human officers from the Republic of New People! I know those two in the front of the first truck. That sergeant wearing a Red Hat is an AH sergeant and his name is Sergeant Y, that man beside him is his human boss, Colonel X. They are from the Republic of New People.¡± John was yelling, while shocked and extremely enraged. He was so furious and his voice was so loudly broadcasted that the crowd in the square could clearly hear what he was telling them in spite of the raucous noise of the chopper rotors mixed with the angry and scary screaming of the people. They also could see clearly from one of the huge LED panels the excited John pointing to the direction of the approaching army with his right index finger.


    ¡°Pam¡­¡±, a sonorous sound of gunshot pierced the sky. It was a loud single shot without using any silencer as murderers in action movies would normally use. It was so loud that it surpassed the noise of chopper rotor and any other noise, making a riddle of echoes in the sky above the central square and its neighborhood. Obviously, the shooter did not want to hide the sound of shooting, but wanted everyone in the square and around the world to hear that sound, because it was a sound of warning, a sound of declaration that the time of AH was officially coming.


    John was the only one who did not hear that sound. Right after he pointed out Colonel X and Sergeant Y to the crowd, he felt something hit his stomach and something hot and salty surged up his throat. He spurted a mouthful blood, and then completely lost his consciousness.


    On that huge LED panel, John fell down with his face upward at that sound of gunshot, in front of the crowd, in front of the world, while red blood was spouting into the air from his mouth.

 Fifteen The Rolling Billows

    When John woke up, he found that he was lying in bed in a tranquil and bright room. It was so quiet that the only sound he could hear was made by chirping and squawking birds. He attempted to sit up, but then his head fell back to the pillow.


    ¡°Ouch,¡± John cried out because of a burst of pain at his abdomen. He opened the blanket on him and found that his body was bandaged from chest down to waist.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He could not remember much of what happened the other day on that high stage platform in the central square of B City. The last things in his memory were the faces of Colonel X and Sergeant Y in that truck and the pain in his body.


    ¡°I must be shot,¡± He thought, and his hand carefully moved on the bandage trying to locate the wound on his body.


    ¡°Zeegaga..zeegaga,¡± the sound of the wood floor told John that someone was coming, quietly and cautiously.


    ¡°Who is that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Oh my! You woke up?¡± The person obviously sped up his steps and rushed into the room.


    ¡°Peter.¡± John was so glad to see Peter, the youngster in his protesting group.


    ¡°Finally, you completely come back,¡± Peter sounded very excited.


    ¡°Where am I? What happened?¡± John asked.


    ¡°You were shot by an AH soldier from a chopper one week ago,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°One week ago?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes, you have been unconscious for a week,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°Where is this place? How did I come here?¡± John asked.


    ¡°This is a country house of Jessica,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°Where is she? Is she alright?¡± John asked.


    ¡°She is fine,¡± Peter replied and then told John what happened during the past week.


    ¡­¡­


    The other day, when Jessica and others saw John was shot and fell down, with the help of the cops who were maintaining the order in the area, they rushed John to a nearest hospital. The doctors stopped his bleeding and took the bullet out of John¡¯s body, but they were not sure if John could finally come back or not. When John was given a blood transfusion, Jessica received a message that a squad of federal secret agents already arrived at B City to arrest her as well as John in case he was still alive. So they decided to transfer John out of the hospital right away.


    With the permission from the doctor in charge, they put John into a van while lying on the gurney. They chose to use a van because an ambulance could easily catch the attention of the secret police. Jessica, together with Doug and Peter, drove five hours to her country house. Then Jessica and Doug drove to inform Bob and left Peter to take care of John.


    ¡°They could have called Bob or sent him a text from here,¡± John said.


    ¡°According to the contingent protocol preset by the intelligent team of BHA, in case of an overall crackdown by the government, all key members of BHA should refrain from using commercial telecommunication means from their hiding places to avoid being tracked by the secret police. Actually, we all took off the batteries from our mobile phones on our way to here,¡± Peter explained.


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± John commented. ¡°Did they see Bob?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Peter replied. ¡°Bob came and stayed here for two days to take care of your wound. He said it was a miracle for you could survive this catastrophe. He left when he saw your condition was stabilized and your health was recovering because he needed to meet with his family in his parent¡¯s house.¡±


    ¡°You just reminded me that I need to call my parents.¡± John tried to sit up again, but then fell back to the bed again.


    ¡°You cannot make any phone call because we don¡¯t have any phone here,¡± Peter responded calmly.


    ¡°I see,¡± I sighed. ¡°I wish Bob would go to tell my parents that I am still alive.¡±


    ¡°Most probably he would not do that because BHA would not allow him to do so since the whole world thought that you have died, including your own family, which would be the safest way for you to stay alive, and also the safest for your family. I am sorry for that,¡± Peter said with compassion.


    ¡°I understand,¡± John said, deeply sorrowed. Then he asked again, ¡°Where is Jessica now?¡±


    ¡°After they met with Bob, they went to some kind of internet caf¨¦ and connected to BHA¡¯s VPN from there.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t they use Bob¡¯s computer?¡± John interrupted.


    ¡°They could¡¯ve got onto internet through 5G wireless even from here. But they were refrained from connecting to the internet within any BHA member¡¯s property. Even in that internet caf¨¦, I was told that Doug hacked into their network to get onto BHA¡¯s VPN,¡± Pater said. ¡°Anyway, from there they learned that George was arrested in M City, and all BHA headquarters were raided by secret police.¡±


    ¡°Then where did they go after that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Right before George was arrested, since he knew that he would not be able to escape, he sent out two commands: 1) he appointed Jessica as the acting leader when he could not lead BHA; 2) start the Rolling Billows plan.¡±


    John interrupted by asking, ¡°Rolling Billows?¡±


    ¡°Yes ¡­ I guess that name refers to the ocean.¡± Peter explained. ¡°Anyway, according to that plan, key BHA leaders would run to certain rendezvous points, where they would get further notifications from the intelligent team, telling them where to go next.¡±


    ¡°Do you know where they are now?¡± John asked, his anxious tone conveyed the degree of his concern.


    ¡°Yes, but only roughly,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yesterday, Jimmy came telling me that Jessica, Doug, and many others have arrived at a small town near the Antarctic continent, and the local government as well as the government of that country has been on our side against BMA all along,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± John looked relieved after he heard that Jessica was safe, and then he asked, ¡°Why is Jimmy still here? Why didn¡¯t he leave with Jessica and others?¡±


    ¡°Do you remember that Jimmy had a thief teacher?¡± Peter asked.


    ¡°Yes, he mentioned that in the meeting when he came with George,¡± John replied.


    ¡°That thief teacher went with Jessica, and Jimmy stays here. Both of them are acting as underground liaisons between BHA members around the world because they both are able to act quickly when wearing the cloaking suits,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°Why those in the temporary headquarters with Jessica need an underground liaison if the government would protect them?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The best way for the governments to protect them is actually to hide them from BMA since BMA is too strong to be treated without caution,¡± Peter responded.


    ¡°I see,¡± John slightly nodded his head on the pillow. ¡°By the way, how do you know I was shot by an AH soldier?¡±


    ¡°It was caught by a CCTV camera in the central square, and a soldier wearing a Red Hat from a chopper fired the sonorous shot that almost killed you,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°So we did catch their evidence,¡± John murmured.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Peter grinned, ¡°and you have become famous all over the world. That¡¯s why you are the number one target that BMA would catch if they knew that you are still alive, and that¡¯s why you are the most important person for BHA to protect.¡±


    ¡°What about that AH troop? Are those AH soldiers still in this country?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They are still here. But there have been many protests, not organized by BHA, but by other political organizations, demanding the government to arrest the killer and drive the AH army away from this country. There is also a huge pressure from all social sectors on the government to let the AH army leave this country,¡± Peter responded. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long the government might keep them in this country.¡±


    ¡°I wish they would be driven out soon,¡± John said. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why BMA wanted to use AH army.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s thought by many that BMA did that as a test of our acceptance of AHs in this world and also a test how they could use AHs for their own agenda,¡± Peter explained.


    ¡°I wish all this has never happened,¡± John sighed and closed his eyes.


    ¡°Well, you might also look at it in another way, if you have seen how the world has responded to your video,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°Which video?¡± John asked and his eyes opened again.


    ¡°The video that you were pointing to the AH sergeant on the LED panel and then got shot on the stage,¡± Peter replied. ¡°That video has been replayed again and again by major networks all over the world. It was even played for a little while in our country before BMA forced it being taken off. But that was long enough for many to make copies. These days, BMA has put very tough censoring and control over the internet, but people are still circulating that video among friends. Besides, people in many other countries could see it even on internet.¡±


    John¡¯s eyes turned bright.


    ¡°The world was shocked by that video, and the governments of many countries came out condemning BMA for their crackdown of BHA,¡± Peter continued. ¡°Even in our own country, more and more people are coming to support BHA in various forms. Our team is not shrinking, but expanding underground.¡±


    ¡°That sounds great. Maybe we should have another protest to cast out the dark force of BMA,¡± John suggested.


    ¡°That time has not come yet,¡± Peter sighed. ¡°The power of BMA in this country is still far stronger than being easily cast out. They have great influence over the government, the army, the police, as well as the mainstream media.¡±


    Both of them fell into deep sorrow without saying anything. The room became super silent. A few minutes later, John sighed sadly while looking Peter in the eye, ¡°So it¡¯s all finished¡­ a complete crackdown by BMA through the government ¡­ we are all finished except being on the run from BMA.¡±


    ¡°No, not at all,¡± Peter responded confidently. ¡°Before he left, Jimmy especially wanted me to tell you not feel defeated once you wake up.¡±


    ¡°I mean all finished for BHA¡­I know that as you just mentioned, there have been protests and pressure on the government by and from people around the country, but it has nothing to do with BHA¡­ BHA is not leading this continued fight but is counting on the help from others,¡± John uttered and closed his eyes again.


    ¡°I am not so pessimistic,¡± Peter responded. ¡°Right now BHA is in the low point because of the crackdown from the dark power of BMA. However, in order to crack down us, BMA exposed their evil face in front of the whole world, which in another sense is our gain again.¡±


    ¡°I agree with that,¡± John opened his eyes.


    Peter smiled at him, and continued, ¡°On the other hand, we should also be glad that when we are on the run, someone else could pick up the torch so that there is not a period of empty window for the fire to continue burning. As for whether BHA is finished, we should see that BHA has come to be the largest and also well-organized society in this war of defending humanity against the inhuman movement of replacing people with robots and AHs. It¡¯s true that we got hit badly this time, many of our members have been arrested and thousands have been persecuted in various ways, and the rest of our leaders are still on the run, but we are also better informed of the wick and weak points of BMA than the rest of the world. So when we are reorganized and come back, we will be at a better position than anyone else to lead the war against BMA.¡±


    ¡°How could we lead if we even cannot make a phone call or use the internet?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°That would be a temporary thing,¡± Peter responded. ¡°When Jimmy was here, he told me that the BHA intelligent team and the leaders in that overseas temporary headquarters are making a strategic plan of how to rearrange our resource globally to launch a battle in the real world as well in the cyber world against BMA. But we are not in a rush right now for two reasons.¡±


    ¡°What reasons?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The first reason is that we were hit hard indeed, so that we need some time to get our own team reorganized, and the second reason is even simpler that the time is actually not on BMA side, but on our side,¡± Peter responded.


    ¡°What makes you so optimistic?¡± John seemed not quite share Peter¡¯s optimism.


    ¡°That¡¯s simple,¡± Peter smiled. ¡°Since Jessica and other leaders are safe now, BMA is obviously unable to wipe us out completely within a short time, which means we have time to rebuild ourselves and make a comeback. But in the meantime, BMA itself is taking all the risk of exposing its evil face to the whole world, and thus not only all potential silent anti-BMA forces would accumulate and get together, but also different factions within BMA would fight against each other under the ever greater outside pressure on them.¡±


    ¡°Well, I wish things would go as you said,¡± John responded, although still not completely convinced.


    ¡°We did what we were supposed and planed to do, which was to sow the seed of fighting the inhuman plot of BMA in the nation and the world. We should feel good about it and personally I am proud of it,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°I have no doubt about that, and I am proud of it as well,¡± John responded. He looked Peter in the eye and said, ¡°You sound very profound. Did you plan to be a philosopher, or politician, or something like that?¡±


    ¡°I am just one of the social activists as we call ourselves,¡± Peter grinned. ¡°In the past days, when I sat alone while you were not conscious, I thought a lot. Besides, when Bob and Jimmy were here, we also talked a lot about the future of BHA.¡±


    ¡°Still, you are the fourth person I have met who could talk in such a philosophically profound style,¡± John smiled at Peter.


    ¡°Really?¡± Peter laughed. ¡°Who are the other three?¡±


    ¡°One was George, as you witnessed when he came to B City,¡± John said.


    ¡°Who are the other two?¡± Peter asked.


    ¡°Steve and General K,¡± John twitched his lips disdainfully. ¡°Two executives of the dark force BMA, but they were able to talk like you just did.¡±


    ¡°I guess knowledge and logic are neutral, all depends on who use it and how to use it,¡± Peter shrugged.


    ¡°What did you do before joining BHA as a full time headquarters employee?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I was a nurse before joining BHA as a fulltime,¡± Peter said. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s time for me to change dressing on your wound.¡± He stood up because he needed to get the medical box.


    ¡°So you are professional of doing this,¡± John said.


    Peter smiled.


    ¡°Thanks a lot for taking care of me,¡± John said. ¡°I am much obliged.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it ¡­ You did that for all of us,¡± Peter responded.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    John¡¯s wound recovered very fast. A few days later, in an early morning, after he woke up, instead of waiting in bed for Peter to bring breakfast to him, John managed to leave the bed by himself. He was so excited that he could do so, and then he slowly walked downstairs with the help of his hand holding the rail or touching the wall. John was careful when using his body strength because he did not want to cause any pain in the wound. But after he reached downstairs, he realized that there was no more pain in the wound. So he started to walk without the help of hands. But after walking a few steps he felt very exhausted. Apparently, his strength had not completely recovered after his loss of blood in a large quantity. He had to take a bit of rest after walking for some steps.


    Slowly, John managed to get to the kitchen which was connected to the backyard. To his surprise that he saw Peter was already in the backyard. John was about to call him when he saw a pigeon fly into the backyard and landed on the ground. Peter went to pick up the pigeon and released it after he retrieved something from its leg. It was a written note. Peter opened it and read its content.


    ¡°Ah, a carrier pigeon,¡± John uttered.


    ¡°Morning, John. How did you get here?¡± Peter was surprised to see John at the postern door of the kitchen.


    ¡°I felt no pain in the wound anymore, so I just tried to get downstairs by myself,¡± John responded. ¡°This is the first time in my life of seeing the use of a carrier pigeon for real, the same as I read from fiction books.¡±


    ¡°This was Jimmy¡¯s idea of fighting against the high-tech system of BMA, and he learned it from that thief teacher,¡± Peter laughed. ¡°It¡¯s good that you can walk now because I am afraid that we have to leave here.¡±


    ¡°Any bad news?¡± John asked with concern.


    ¡°Jimmy sent a note that BMA figured out that you might still alive since they could not confirm your death. They might soon found that Jessica actually owned a country house even though it was under her father¡¯s name. It might be just a matter of time for them to send someone here or ask the local cops to come take a look,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°When do we leave?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Let me first change the wound dressing for you before we leave. Then we¡¯ll have our breakfast. We leave right after eating breakfast,¡± Peter responded.


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± John said.


    ¡°How do you feel?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel pain, but feel a bit weak,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Naturally, you lost too much blood. You¡¯ll be okay after we get to our destination,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± John asked.


    ¡°You will know later,¡± Peter responded. ¡°Since you are already here, no need to go back to upstairs. Please go to the living room and lie on the couch, I will go upstairs to fetch the medical box.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Peter finished his breakfast fast. Then he went to pack for John and for himself while John was still having his breakfast.


    After all packed, Peter carefully cleaned the house to cover their trace of living in the house. The house was quite isolated from its neighbors. The owners of the houses in the area were normally living in cities, and only came to spend vacation time, and it was quite normal that some neighbors lent their house to some friends for some weekends or holidays. So the owners in that area don¡¯t spend much time with neighbors, and don¡¯t usually mind the business of neighbors. During the past two weeks, Peter never went out to shop, when Jimmy and Bob came, they all brought some food to the house.


    Peter tried his best to make the house not look like just being occupied. Meanwhile, John slowly walked out to take a look of the environment.


    When Peter got all settled, John came back to the house.


    ¡°Peter.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Is Jimmy coming to pick up us?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Peter responded. ¡°We leave by ourselves.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t see any vehicles here,¡± John sounded very confused. ¡°How could we leave without a vehicle?¡±


    Peter laughed and said, ¡°Let me show you something.¡±


    He helped John to walk out the postern door, and let him sit on a bench on the deck. ¡°Wait here please.¡±


    Then he walked across the backyard into the woods. A few minutes later, Peter pushed out of the woods something apparently transparent when look from afar.


    ¡°A cloaked drone car?¡± John was excited.


    When Peter pushed that cloaked drone car close to the deck, John already managed to step down the deck. Peter opened the door letting John to get in the drone car. Then he went to pick up all their luggage and load it into the drone car. After verifying that every trace was cleaned up, Peter locked the backdoor of the house, and got himself into the drone car as well.


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so exciting to travel by a cloaked drone car,¡± John exclaimed.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a completely automatic drone. It looks like a drone car since it has four enclosed rotary wings on the top, but it is just a manned rotorcraft with an AR system, and we have to fly it by ourselves,¡± Peter explained.


    ¡°Do you know how to operate this?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Jimmy taught me how to fly this before he left. It is quite smart, and its AR system is also pretty cool. So it¡¯s not that hard to fly it.¡± Peter started the engine and turned on the electronic map on the panel. Then he set the destination of the trip and pushed the button of ¡°take off¡±. The cloaked chopper then rose into the sky.


    ¡°It¡¯s amazing! I could not even hear the noise,¡± John praised.


    ¡°That¡¯s the whole point of having four enclosed rotary wings instead of one big rotor with two long blades like a regular chopper. If it could not hide its sound, then even if it could hide its body, others could easily find it,¡± Peter explained.


    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right,¡± John concurred. ¡°Did Jimmy come by this rotorcraft?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s how he brought this to Jess¡¯s country house,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°Then how did he leave?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Oh, he brought a foldable bike in this chopper when he came, and he left by biking,¡± Peter laughed.


    ¡°He is something,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Yeah, something abnormal,¡± Peter grinned at John.


    When the rotorcraft was rising up, John asked, ¡°Do we have enough battery power?¡±


    ¡°We have enough for three days flight. We also have a portable charger that could replenish the battery with the power for us to fly for another one day,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°How come the charger could only provide one day¡¯s power? What if we could not make to the destiny after four days?¡± John showed his worry.


    ¡°The charger we have is a small capacity one. But we can always find some place to recharge it since it is portable,¡± Peter explained. ¡°Most probably, we will be in our first rendezvous point within four days.¡±


    ¡°We better do,¡± John said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not worry about it right now.¡± Peter then said to John, ¡°Take a look at the box below your seat.¡±


    John bowed to open that box, and was surprised again. ¡°A cloaking suit?¡±


    Peter grinned at him, ¡°Two cloaking suits, one for you and one for me.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Why do we need cloaking suits?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you notice that we are missing something important?¡± Peter asked back.


    ¡°What is missing?¡±


    ¡°Think harder,¡± Peter said in a teasing tone.


    ¡°Oh¡­I see,¡± John started to laugh. ¡°We don¡¯t have toilet in this craft.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Peter laughed. ¡°We might need to fly for days, and we have to relax ourselves. Jimmy suggested that we should put on the cloaking suits whenever we land and leave the craft. It might help, even though we are not as professional as Jimmy.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t we also need parachutes?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We need, but we don¡¯t have,¡± Peter laughed wryly. ¡°It was in a rush when Jimmy came to meet us, and it happened that there was no parachute in this chopper. He did not have the chance to get one for us.¡±


    ¡°Well, we have confidence in BHA¡¯s product anyway,¡± John responded.


    They both laughed.


    After they have reached a height that made it free of worry for being identified by people on the ground, Peter said to John, ¡°Okay, now let¡¯s move on.¡±


    ¡°Hold on,¡± John patted Peter¡¯s back and pointed to a side screen. ¡°See, a police car just stopped in front of Jess¡¯s house.¡±


    ¡°Oh, thank the Lord,¡± Peter said. ¡°It might have already approaching the house when we were taking off, but the cops did not see us or hear us.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± John concurred.


    ¡°No rush for us to leave yet. Let¡¯s hear what they are doing,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°You have put bugs in the house?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They have been in the house before we came. It is a very common thing here since the owners normally don¡¯t live here,¡± Peter said, and pushed a button on the dashboard.


    There were two cops, one man and one woman, apparently from the local police department. They rang the bell and also knocked the door.


    John and Peter could hear them talking in their interphones with their boss, reporting what they see.


    ¡°The alarm was not set. Please check when it was unset,¡± The female cop spoke to the interphone.


    John looked at Peter, and there was obvious worry in his eyes. Peter smiled at him, ¡°No worry. This house was designated by Jess as a secret rendezvous point for BHA months ago. So she normally doesn¡¯t set the alarm since it is connected to the local police department. Besides, BHA monitors this house anyway.¡±


    ¡°It was unset long time ago,¡± someone responded to the female cop¡¯s request in the interphone.


    John and Peter exchanged a smile.


    What surprised John and Peter was that the cops even used a skeleton key to open the front door. Obviously, they were ordered to get into the house.


    ¡°Where did you put the trash bags?¡± John asked.


    ¡°There is an underground composter in the woods. I dumped all the trash bags there this morning, and double checked before I left the house that all trash bins were empty and clean,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that they don¡¯t find that underground composter,¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s the most important reason that I want to stay here to see what they are doing because there are dirty bandages in the composter,¡± Peter replied.


    Luckily, in the end, those two local cops concluded that it was an empty house and no one was living in the house. When Peter saw the police left the house, he pushed the ¡°move forward¡± button and the rotorcraft left for its destination.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Three days later, John and Peter arrived at their first rendezvous point. It was an old house in a small beach town. The house was about one hundred feet from the beach, with a big back yard circulated by woods, which was ideal for landing the cloaked rotorcraft without being noticed.


    Actually, the air distance from Jessica¡¯s country house to this beach town was not very far. Even if travelling by car, they could have arrived in one and a half days. It took John and Peter three days because they did not take the straight air path between those two points. Several weeks ago, there was some rumor on the internet saying that the GPS satellites had been equipped with AI system with big data processing capacity to identify various anomalies. So Peter and John did not use the GPS to navigate their flight, instead they followed the land route of highways with the help of the standalone electronic map. From time to time, they needed to find some hiding place to land and relax themselves, which would lead them away from the normal route so that they had to find the original route again after they were done with their rest. Besides, they did not fly at night since it would be too dangerous for them to do it at night.


    When Peter had the rotorcraft land in the yard of the target house, it was already dark in the sky. After stepped out of the rotorcraft, as instructed, instead of going into the house, they directly went to the basement. It was a full basement with its own separate door. When turned on the light, they found it was a well finished basement with separate living room and bedrooms, as well as bathrooms.


    Peter turned on the notepad he brought and connected to the internet through the local wifi in the house.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We need to visit some public websites to get the info about the next rendezvous point,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t worry about being tracked by BMA?¡± John asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Peter replied. ¡°Those are just random websites, and anyone could post anything there. You could find thousands or even millions of that kind websites online, and millions of people are visiting those websites from all over the world. There is no way for them to find any problem if we just view some pages in some websites.¡±


    Peter took a piece of paper and a pen. He visited ten pages, and took notes from each one of them, but in the end, he only used notes from two of them to fetch the useful info, which was a standard protocol designed by the BHA intelligence team.


    ¡°We are supposed to meet with someone on a ship in the ocean,¡± Peter showed his notes to John. ¡°We will leave here tomorrow morning, and first fly about four hours to get to a small island; we will take some rest there, and from there we need to fly another two hours to get to that ship.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to land on the ship?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes, we are supposed to do that based on the message,¡± Peter replied.


    ¡°I was told that landing on a ship is very difficult even for military helicopters,¡± John said.


    Peter pointed John to one piece of the notes he took, ¡°See, it¡¯s said that the ship had a renovated helipad which would be very convenient for any vehicle to land. Well, I guess the ¡®any vehicle¡¯ is actually particularly referring to our vehicle.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you are confident of your own skill,¡± John raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.


    Peter then pointed to another note, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s also mentioned that the water in that region is not very deep and the waves there are not very rough in this season.¡±


    ¡°I wish they did not write this just to make us feel better,¡± John laughed wryly.


    ¡°Well, I guess we don¡¯t have any other choice,¡± Peter Said.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess you are right,¡± John responded. ¡°So the ship has been waiting for us in the ocean all these days?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Peter replied. ¡°They are supposed to leave their dock a little later from now after they know that we are here.¡±


    ¡°How could they know that we are here? They have someone nearby? If they do, why don¡¯t they send someone to tell us where we should go instead of letting us go online?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They might have someone nearby, but that¡¯s not necessary,¡± Peter responded. ¡°They have hacked into the local network of this house ¡­ it¡¯s easy since it is hacking into their own house¡­so that they not only know whether someone is getting online from this house, but also know which websites that person visited ¡­ as long as they found that we have visited the websites according to the predesigned protocol, they would know that we are here and we already know where to go.¡±


    ¡°That sounds very cool,¡± John remarked, excitedly. But then he asked in a worrying tone, ¡°What if when we get to the rendezvous point in the ocean, the ship is not there?¡±


    ¡°Then we just fly back to that island, I guess,¡± Peter replied. ¡°So we need to be sure that both the chopper and the portable charger would be fully charged before we take off tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°We better do it now,¡± John replied.


    ¡°No worry. We still have a whole night. Let me first check your wound,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°I think I don¡¯t need the bandage any more, since I don¡¯t feel the pain at all,¡± John said.


    ¡°Let me see.¡± Peter unwrapped John¡¯s bandage. ¡°Amazing, it¡¯s a miracle, you are all through now.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s because of the super bioglue?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We should give some credit to the modern medical technology, no doubt about it,¡± Peter responded. ¡°But even with the super bioglue, it¡¯s still a miracle because the bullet got deep into your internal organ and you were transferred out of the hospital right after the doctor took the bullet out of your body. The best bioglue could not get your life back if your own physiological function could not boot up again.¡±


    ¡°Thanks to the Lord, my life is completely back now.¡±


    Both smiled with joy.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Peter and John landed on that targeted small island at the expected time, and everything went smoothly on that island. They landed near a lighthouse to make sure that they could find the power to charge their rotorcraft and the charger so that they could have enough power for any unexpected need. They relaxed themselves in the woods besides the beach before putting on the cloaking suits and sneaking into the lighthouse to charge their charger. They left the charger in the lighthouse and went back to the rotorcraft to eat their lunch.


    ¡°I really wish that we could go to tour around this beautiful island,¡± John said.


    ¡°Me too,¡± Peter responded.


    But they did not walk around on that island even after both the rotorcraft and the charger were fully charged. They were afraid that people might ask them how they got onto the island if they walked around without putting on the cloaking suits, and they really did not want to tour the island with the cloaking suits on them either.


    ¡­¡­


    An hour later, they left the island and headed to the rendezvous point in the ocean according to the coordinates Peter copied from the websites.


    When they were close to the rendezvous point, the sky was covered by thick cloud, and it became dark on the surface of the sea.


    ¡°Oh, I wish there won¡¯t be a storm,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°We have been so lucky that wherever we went during the past days, it was sunny and nice,¡± John responded.


    ¡°But that also tells that we don¡¯t know if this chopper could survive a storm or not,¡± Peter remarked.


    ¡°Well, just keep our fingers crossed. If a storm is coming, it¡¯s too late for us even to go back to that island, I guess,¡± John said.


    ¡°Too late,¡± Peter echoed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s climb higher and turn on our radar to search the sea surface,¡± John suggested. They had been flying only by visual navigation without using the radar to avoid being accidentally detected by other ships or planes.


    ¡°Roger,¡± Peter said.


    ¡°Look, something in the sea!¡± John shouted when they climbed to about 200 feet.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s our rendezvous coordinates,¡± Peter read from the radar screen.


    They gave each other a high five, and both were excited.


    When they flew closer to the object, they could even see a ship drifting on the sea from their visual screen. It looked like a small cruise ship. A few minutes later, when they got closer to the ship, they could see clearly that it was a luxury yacht, and they could even see the name of the ship printed on the side.


    ¡°Did you once mention the Rolling Billows plan?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Peter replied. ¡°It¡¯s the plan for the BHA leaders to escape from BMA¡¯s chasing.¡±


    ¡°Now I know the meaning of the name,¡± John said.


    ¡°Me too, I guess,¡± Peter said. ¡°It must be referring to escaping by ship through the ocean.¡±


    ¡°Not only that,¡± John said. He circled on the panel screen the name of the yacht to get Peter¡¯s attention to it. ¡°See the name of the ship.¡±


    ¡°Wow, ¡®Rolling Billows¡¯ is the name of the ship,¡± Peter said excitedly.


    When the rotorcraft was a few miles away from the yacht, John asked Peter, ¡°Do we need to give them a signal since they could not see us?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we do,¡± Peter responded. ¡°But let¡¯s first lower ourselves down so that they could see us on their radar. Marine radars normally only scan sea surface and they don¡¯t really care about what is in the sky.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    When they lowered down to the altitude about 50 feet, on the zoomed in screen, John and Peter could see several people running onto the deck and using flashlights to randomly draw circles in the sky.


    ¡°They found us,¡± John uttered excitedly.


    ¡°Yes, on their radar,¡± Peter said. ¡°Now let¡¯s climb again and then give them a surprise.¡±


    So the rotorcraft rose again while continuing to approach the ship. When the rotorcraft moved to about 30 feet above the deck of the ship, the ship sounded a long blast, and those on the deck started to jump up and down waving at the sky randomly. When the ship horn just stopped whistling, Peter pushed a button on the dashboard and a circle of light beams shot from the bottom of the rotorcraft right onto the deck. They could hear a burst of shouting from the deck.


    The circle of light beams was not just for surprising those on the deck; more importantly, it helped Peter to precisely locate the position of the helipad. Once he was assured that the center of the circle coincided with the center of the helipad, Peter pushed the ¡°Vertical Landing¡± button, and the rotorcraft slowly descended. When it finally landed on the deck of the ship, the deck was already full of people surrounding the rotorcraft. Peter beckoned John to get off first, but John leaned over to give him a big hug and said on his ear, ¡°Thanks, thanks a lot.¡± Peter patted on John¡¯s back without saying anything, but his eyes were filled with happy tears.


    John was surprised when he opened the door on his side and looked on the deck. He could hardly believe his own eyes, it was Jessica, who was standing right outside the door.


    John and Jessica looked each other in the eye for a couple of seconds without saying anything. Then John saw Jessica stretching out her arms and realized that it was real, he jumped off his seat, and went to hold Jessica with his own arms. On his way from that country house to the ship deck, John had dreamed day and night of the scene of meeting with Jessica in the temporary headquarters, but he did not expect that he could see her in the middle of the ocean. When he was just about to give her a big kiss, a loud burst of exclamation reminded him that they were standing in front of a crowd of people. He let go Jessica, and right away was grabbed by someone else. People on the deck all came to hug him or shake hands with him, some he had already met in B City, and some he never met before.


    ~<sup>.</sup>~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The storm did not come. When the Rolling Billows left the rendezvous point in the ocean heading to its home port at the city where BHA¡¯s temporary headquarters was located, the sky became bright again. The sun had tilted to the far west, preparing for its daily setting toward the horizon, which separated the quivering ocean from the placid sky.


    After a welcome party for John and Peter, Jessica strolled with John alone to the front deck. They stopped before the guardrail, and looked afar at the boundless ocean. They had so much to talk to each other, but at that moment, none of them felt the urge of asking anything or telling any feeling or any story; it seemed that life had come back to what it was supposed to be, no need to worry about anything anymore. They were just enjoying the ocean, the sky, the cloud, and the sun, while contemplating together, without saying a word.


    A while later, Jessica asked John, ¡°Do you know why this ship is named as Rolling Billows?¡±


    ¡°Because that is what characterizes the ocean,¡± John replied.


    ¡°Close,¡± Jessica said. ¡°Actually, we call it as Rolling Billows to remind ourselves that we need to be as tough as a ship running on the rolling billows in the roaring ocean.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s very meaningful,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Were you scared?¡± Jessica then asked.


    ¡°Scared of what?¡± John asked back.


    ¡°I mean ¡­ you were shot, and ¡­¡±


    ¡°You guys were much more scared than I did,¡± John interrupted before Jessica finished her sentence.


    ¡°Why?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°Because I didn¡¯t have the time to be scared when I was shot¡­I just lost consciousness to everything,¡± John shrugged.


    ¡°Oh ¡­ you are right ¡­ what I was trying to say was¡­, never mind, you are right, we were all scared that you were killed,¡± Jessica smiled at John, and then murmured, ¡°We were also all scared of being shot by them.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± John turned his head, looking at Jessica. ¡°The other day, I discussed with Peter why BMA would use AHs in such a way this time. He gave me some hypothetical explanation, which seemed making some sense to me at that time¡­ But when thinking about it again, I am still confused about BMA¡¯s motive of doing this.¡±


    ¡°Actually, we were all confused until yesterday when we learned that the pharmaceutical company owned by George¡¯s father was granted a new patent not long ago,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°George¡¯s father? That top ranking executive of BMA? He owns a pharmaceutical company?¡±


    ¡°He is the CEO and the major shareholder of that company,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°The super bioglue that helped to stop your bleeding is still a brand product of theirs.¡±


    ¡°I thought bioglue has been around for decades,¡± John said.


    ¡°The one you used is the most advanced one because it contains some new invention of theirs,¡± Jessica explained.


    ¡°But what is their patent to do with AH?¡± John asked while puzzled.


    ¡°Their recent patent application was for a medicine which they believe could expand the life expectancy for thousands of times or maybe even longer,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°You mean they claim that they have invented the medicine for permanent longevity or an eternal biological life?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Something like that,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that¡¯s possible. They must be trying to fool the world with some fake drug,¡± John said.


    ¡°Well, it seems that they do seriously believe that they have found the formula for making that kind of longevity medicine, and they are not trying to fool the world with some fake drug,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Do you believe that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°They did not claim to have created the permanent longevity or eternal life, so that we don¡¯t need to believe or deny whatever they did not claim,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°But even for what they¡¯ve claimed, the thousands of times of the life expectancy,¡± She made a double quote sign with her hands, ¡°it needs time to prove. Since we haven¡¯t seen anyone of a thousand years old, we don¡¯t really have any reason to believe their claim.¡±


    ¡°Then how could their patent be approved,¡± John said.


    ¡°The claim of thousands of times longer was what we learned from our informant about what they really believed and claimed within their company. But in the official patent application, they did not make that claim. They provided some successful test cases that some ailing seniors over one hundred years old were rejuvenated and still living well after taking their medicine for the past two decades,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°So they do believe that they¡¯ve found the formula for longevity,¡± John said. ¡°But what¡¯s that got to do with AH?¡±


    ¡°The key answer to your question is not whether they do find the formula, but as you just uttered, is that they do believe that they¡¯ve found the formula,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± John asked.


    Jessica stared at John and smiled. ¡°Tell me, what would be the direct consequence upon the world if someone indeed finds the formula of longevity?¡±


    ¡°I guess the public around the world would be happy and celebrate if that is proved to be true,¡± John shrugged.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°But it won¡¯t last long before they start to cry sadly if they don¡¯t cry at the very beginning,¡±


    ¡°How could you say that?¡± John questioned. ¡°Isn¡¯t the longevity what human beings across all cultures and nations have been dreamed of for thousands of years?¡±


    ¡°They dreamed of it because they never thought it could become true on Earth, and thus they never needed to seriously worry about its consequence.¡± Jessica smiled and patted John to let him feel it¡¯s okay if he was confused.


    ¡°Then what consequence you are referring to?¡± John asked, confused but confident that Jessica must have a good answer for him.


    ¡°The consequence is that the human population would explode if no one dies but new babies are continued to be born,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Ri¡­ight,¡± John said. ¡°Now I see why they were in a rush to bring AHs to the civilized world now.¡±


    ¡°All of us were previously only connecting their intention of producing AHs to the so-called useless population created by the market economy,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°I think that is still the main reason,¡± John said, while being reminded of what General K articulated to him in the study of that Presidential Palace.


    ¡°I agree,¡± Jessica said. ¡°But, on the other hand, even if the market could absorb all those who have been replaced from their previous jobs by the automation and AI, the formula of longevity alone could very well become the reason for BMA to restrict the reproduction rights of the majority. Only if the majority of the population would no longer reproduce, not only they as the extreme minority at the top of the pyramid could enjoy their longevity while continuing to have offspring for generation after generation, but also their children and children¡¯s children could all live with longevity, without the need of worrying about the depletion of the resources on Earth.¡±


    ¡°So what is going on now is indeed a war of reproduction rights and longevity rights,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually at first a war of survival because the satisfaction of the needs of longevity and reproduction of the very top minority would come at the cost of the survival rights of many grassroots first,¡± Jessica commented.


    ¡°Talking about the depletion of the resources on Earth, won¡¯t they worry about the consumption of resources by AHs?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Well, as you mentioned last time that AHs in general consume less than humans,¡± Jessica said. ¡°But that¡¯s not the main reason for BMA not to worry about AHs too much.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the main reason then?¡± John asked.


    ¡°A more important reason than the low consumption by each individual AH is that all AHs are short lived as we know, and the longevity medicine of BMA is effective to humans only,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°So AHs won¡¯t be a threat to BMA like other humans,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Both were quiet for a few second until John brought up an idea.


    ¡°There seems to be a solution that might help to solve this longevity dilemma,¡± John said.


    ¡°What¡¯s in your mind for this?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°How about a society in which everyone gets the longevity medicine and no one is given the right of reproduction?¡± John asked with a content smile on his face.


    ¡°That won¡¯t work at all,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± John was a bit disappointed.


    Jessica didn¡¯t respond right away, but put her head into her hands and mulled for a couple of seconds. Then she looked at John and said, ¡°Without being confirmed with long term results, those powerful people would definitely not give up their own rights of reproduction simply because the scientists in George¡¯s father¡¯s company believe that they have found the formula of longevity.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you still have a doubt about the long term effect, then I guess you are right,¡± John responded.


    ¡°Even if somehow they all believe that their medicine would work, how could you expect that the powerful minority like BMA executives would be willing to give up such an important right of having offspring just to make it even with those that they deem as useless?¡±


    ¡°They would not. I think you are right,¡± John agreed.


    Jessica looked at John and continued, ¡°Even if their medicine would work perfectly and everyone agrees to do what you suggested, it will not be good for human civilization because we are not just facing the challenge of aging, we are facing a lot more social and natural challenges. The rejuvenation by new generations is one important guarantee for us to win the battles in those challenges.¡±


    Her face turned red because of excitement.


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s really profound.¡± John clapped, with a true admiration from his heart. Then he said, ¡°From what you just said, it seems that it¡¯s all technology¡¯s fault. Robots, biogenetic engineering, and longevity medicine are all the highly eulogized technological achievements.¡±


    ¡°They are not just eulogized technological achievements, they are also the dreams-come-true for human beings after the thousands of years of journey,¡± Jessica added. ¡°Well, don¡¯t forget that the super bioglue helped to stop your bleeding.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡±


    ¡°The point is that technology is a double edge blade, all depends on how it is used,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°You just reminded me of what General K said that the access to technology is not fair between the rich and the general public,¡± John argued.


    ¡°He was right on that,¡± Jessica said. ¡°But the rich is not an abstract indivisible whole. Accordingly, the capital could be invested for a good use of technology or for a bad use of technology. For example, the cloaking technology helped us a lot, including getting you and Peter here.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± John laid his hand on Jessica¡¯s and held it firmly.


    Jessica cast him a sweet smile, and continued, ¡°Science and technology has been considered as of a fundamental importance for humans to battle natural challenges, but as a matter of fact, if we look back to human history, human beings have created many more disasters than caused by nature. The losses of lives and assets caused by human disasters have been far beyond caused by natural disasters. Right now, we are even facing some kind of systematical replacement of humans by industrial products.¡±


    ¡°So it sounds like that you also think the negative side of technology is far bigger than its positive side,¡± John remarked.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I am trying to make a point of,¡± Jessica looked at the confused John and took her hand out from his, and then patted the back of his hand with hers. ¡°What I am trying to say is that human understanding about our own society is too much weak compared to our understanding about nature. Or we might say that our understanding of human nature is far too weak compared to our understanding about Mother Nature or about the nature of physical world.¡±


    ¡°Over the human history, there have been countless achievements in literary works, arts, history and archeological studies, economics, political science, forensic science, accounting, and many branches of philosophy, as well as psychology, and so many other studies that are related to human social activities, why do you think that our knowledge about our own society is too much weak compared to our knowledge about nature?¡± John asked.


    ¡°All those complicated names that you just mentioned tell us one thing that human society is an extremely complicated dynamic system, which is far more difficult to study than the physical world,¡± Jessica said seriously. ¡°It¡¯s no doubt that all the poets, musicians, artists, literary writers, philosophers, economists, politicians, and so on, have made invaluable great contributions to our civilization. But unfortunately, our understanding about the dynamic nature of our social world is not in a balance with our understanding about the dynamic nature of the physical world, don¡¯t you agree?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­I can agree on that,¡± John replied. ¡°But is that a big deal?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°It¡¯s an important root cause for a lot of our modern social crises. It¡¯s just like a kid without much knowledge is playing a fully loaded machine gun in the street. What BMA is doing now actually is a manifestation of the incapability of human beings to handle the fairness issue while being strong at handling powerful technology.¡±


    ¡°But in your opinion why it happened like that?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I think, among many other reasons, one important reason is that over the human history, especially after the so-called classic natural science was separated from the ancient philosophy, the society as a whole has paid much more attention to studying the physical world than to studying how to tune up the dynamics of our society so that the civilization would become more rational,¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°I think that is because studying physical world could create more financial benefits than studying social world,¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s just one important reason, but not the only one, because studying the social world could also be profitable for many individuals or organizations. Actually, over the past half a century, the investment in the study of social world related subjects from both governmental and private sources has been huge,¡± Jessica sighed.


    ¡°What do you think as the other reasons?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The logical difficulty of studying the social dynamics is another one important reason. The traditional literary and philosophical ways of observing and describing the world provides some premises for us to understand the social dynamics, but normally at a very high level and thus missing many important insights; besides, what makes it even worse is that, many important insights provided in some ancient philosophical works are still misinterpreted by nowadays people, including professional scholars,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°Are you saying that our understanding about social dynamic nature is worse than the ancient people of hundred or even thousands of years ago?¡± John questioned.


    ¡°Sometimes, yes,¡± Jessica responded.


    ¡°Wow, that sounds unbelievable,¡± John remarked. ¡°Is there any other reason that has caused the imbalance between our understandings about the physical world and about the social world?¡±


    ¡°Another one might be that, when people invested in socially related studies, they normally would expect some output that could gain some immediate benefits for themselves, especially through technological means, which are normally aimed at how to improve the efficiency of management or control over others, the use of the Red Hats is a good example.¡±


    ¡°Anything else?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Jessica said. ¡°But we don¡¯t need to go further.¡±


    Both burst into laughing.


    Then John asked, ¡°Can we do anything about this?¡±


    ¡°The only thing we can do now is try our best to stop BMA¡¯s antihuman plot. As for how to turn the general culture around at the philosophical level,¡± Jessica shook her head and sighed, ¡°it would be much more difficult, and¡± She paused and stared John in the eye for a second, and then sighed, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s already too late.¡±


    When Jessica said ¡°too late¡±, her voice was a bit cracked and eyes became red.


    John laughed and teased, ¡°It seems that recently, people all become philosophers. General K said something similar to what you said, so did Peter.¡±


    They looked at each other, and then laughed at the same time.


    ¡°Seriously, why sometimes good guys could share similar understandings with bad guys?¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s because we are all watching the same world, but from different positions,¡± Jessica said. ¡°If they have a better knowledge or make a better use of the knowledge about our civilization, then they would gain some advantage over us when they trying to deal with us for their own benefits.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± John concurred.


    ¡°Okay, I guess so much is for the philosophical dialogue for now.¡± Jessica pounded John hand with her fist.


    John grabbed her fist with another hand, and felt her hand was cold, ¡°Is it too cold here? Maybe we should get in.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± Jessica replied. ¡°I like to watch the ocean and hear the sound of the waves.¡±


    John stretched his arm across Jessica¡¯s back and held the other shoulder of her, and Jessica leaned her head on John¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Why did you come yourself? You could just send someone here instead of coming by yourself. I was surprised when I saw you,¡± John said.


    ¡°As you just uttered, a surprise, that¡¯s what I wanted to give you,¡± Jessica grinned.


    ¡°But it could be dangerous for you, and BHA cannot lose another leader at this moment,¡± John said with concern.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± Jessica responded. ¡°Actually, Rolling Billows was not in its homeport when we learned that you and Peter would come to the rendezvous point today. We were in another island to meet with some of our members from Asia. The meeting was just finished when we got your message, that¡¯s why I came to meet you with this yacht.¡±


    ¡°That makes me feel better.¡± John stared at Jessica, ¡°If you encountered any trouble because of me, I cannot excuse myself all my life. Besides, I would not be able to face BHA friends again.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jessica said and held John¡¯s hand. ¡°Nobody will blame you for anything. You are a hero of BHA now.¡±


    ¡°Whatever,¡± John uttered and shrugged. ¡°Do you think BMA would let George go because of his relationship with his father?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Jessica lowered her head, looking at the white foam from the water when pushed aside by the ship. ¡°I hope so¡­but people who brainwash others often become the victims of their own brainwash propaganda¡­I wish that George¡¯s father has not been fooled by his own inhuman ideological fallacy.¡±


    John could sense the sorrow in Jessica¡¯s tone, and his own heart was also suddenly filled with sorrow, for George, for BHA, and for humans.


    Both were silent for a few minutes.


    ¡°Look, how beautiful it is,¡± John pointed to the setting sun.


    Jessica lifted her head and looked at the glowing setting sun above a shiny narrow belt between the golden sky and the dark the shuddering surface of the seas.


    ¡°Everything is at the mercy of the mighty Creator, even the ocean, the sun, and the whole universe. A good order will always come out of the most violent chaos. As a blessed species, I believe that tomorrow will be full of hope for us,¡± John said.


    Jessica turned to look at John, and burst laughing.


    ¡°What are you laughing about?¡±


    ¡°Well, you just said I was a philosopher. Now, you sounded like a poet.¡±


    ¡°You were truly philosophical, but I was far from poetic,¡± John said.


    ¡°You should be proud of attempting to be a poet at least. Don¡¯t forget that the modern civilization was evolved out of the works of poets and philosophers of more than two thousand years ago,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°Okay, then let me try hard to become a poet and you stay to be a philosopher,¡± John grinned. ¡°I think that you would have a much bigger chance to be a true philosopher than I to become a poet.¡±


    ¡°No matter how poor we are in those things, as long as we have the desire to try, it could help us to feel superior to those AHs, who are basically manifestations of the human will that is based on human partial knowledge, instead of the will of our Creator,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°Yes. And you just reminded me that, if we would like to compare ourselves with AHs, I would say, faith should be something that could fundamentally characterize us as superior to them. I don¡¯t believe that they could have the spiritual faith as we do,¡± John said, with his eyes shining brightly. He really enjoyed the sense of superiority after being shot by an AH a couple weeks ago.


    ¡°You are absolutely right,¡± Jessica concurred.


    They both raised hands and hit a high five with each other, then all laughed loudly, in the midst of the roaring sound of the rolling billows¡­¡­

 Epilogue

    ¡°Daddy, Daddy.¡±


    John was waked up by a little pair of tender hands pushing his head. He opened his eyes and straightened his seatback.


    ¡°Daddy,¡± George now grabbed and shook John¡¯s arm.


    John picked up little George into his own lap, and gave a big kiss on his cheek.


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°I need to go potty,¡± George replied.


    John looked at the toilet occupancy indicators, and found that all bathrooms were vacant.


    ¡°Okay.¡± He stood up from his seat to bear George to the bathroom that was closest to his seat.


    When John came back with George, he saw Jessica and little Angela, the twin sister of George, all waked up. John let George down from his arms.


    ¡°Look, the ocean,¡± Angela said to George, and George climbed to her seat and look outside the window with his sister.


    ¡°I wish they would never need to run away from home like we did,¡± John uttered, staring at his twin kids while absorbed in thoughts.


    Jessica grasped John¡¯s hand with one hand and gently stroked Angela¡¯s feet with another. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The Lord is watching over us. Things are getting better. At least, we are going home and AHs have gone back to where they were from.¡±


    John nodded.


    The Hardstones and BMA


    After eight years of exile, John and Jessica were flying back home with their twin kids George and Angela. Three months ago, in an Oceania town, Jessica and John led a delegation of BHA meeting with a delegation of BMA led by Stan Hardstone, the younger brother of George Hardstone. A pact was signed in the meeting to end the hostile situation between both societies by the official and open dissolutions of both BMA and BHA, on the condition that BMA would help to legalize BHA in those countries where BHA had been announced illegal. Both BHA and BMA kept their promises written in the pact. After BHA was officially legalized around the world again, two weeks ago, both of them announced their dissolutions openly under the surveillance of the United Nations to end the global confrontation cause by these two organizations.


    That ending did not come easy for either BHA or BMA. During the past eight years, after the Big Action Day protest launched by BHA, the world underwent radical changes. Although the fight between BHA and BMA had made some noteworthy contributions to the changes, and both of them bore the brunt of their mutual conflicts, the world had been undergoing its own changes determinately in neither BHA¡¯s term nor BMA¡¯s term, and the results were far beyond the expectations and imagination of the leaders of both organizations.


    One year after his arrest, the founder of BHA, George Hardstone was murdered in the prison, which was officially announced as a suicide. When learned of his suicide, BHA promptly issued a statement condemning it as a ruthless murder, by showing the secret communicating mails between George and BHA as the proof that he would never suicide. Very soon, a rumor was confirmed by different channels, unofficial though, that George¡¯s father, the top ranking executive of BMA, gave the order to have his son murdered in the jail. Not only the public was enraged by the news, but even within BMA, a large portion of members started to question the credibility of its upper power center. The name of BMA became even more notorious around the world.


    A few years later, George¡¯s father ended his own life with a bullet, under the tremendous pressure from the public and from within BMA, and of guilt as well. However, the murder of his son was not the only thing that caused Mr. Hardstone Sr. to kill himself, not even the main reason for him to feel guilty and a great pressure, although it was a major reason for the world and many from within BMA to condemn him.


    It was the shame that he did all those ugly things and ruined his own reputation almost for nothing finally led to his suicide.  That shame was the main source of his sense of guilt. In other words, his sense of guilt was for himself, not for the world, not for his murdered son, and his pressure was caused by his inability of facing his own stupidity, not from a sense of responsibility toward the public, not even a sense of responsibility toward BMA.


    The cause of the great shame of Mr. Hardstone Sr. was that an accumulative long term side effect of the longevity formula developed by his company finally showed up, which caused many incidences of sudden death among those who were above 100 years old and who had taken the longevity medicine for nearly one and a half decades. Besides, another type of sudden deaths was also reported among those who stopped taking that medicine after one decade even though they were far younger than 100 years old. What hurt his ailing heart most was the report from the team of scientists working for him, who were among the best in the world, that the defect in that longevity medicine was not something that could be easily resolved, and at least for the moment, no any feasible solution to it could be found at all.


    Poor Mr. Hardstone Sr., who spent a great effort to promote his fraudulent propaganda against humanity, who was the strongest voice for AHs, who murdered his own son, solely based on some overconfident miscalculations of his scientists whom he trusted with all his heart because of their loyalty to him and because of their excellent technical quality. He saw himself as a joke in front of the whole world when he was affirmed by his scientists that there was no hope to keep the medicine in the market any longer after more and more death reports surfaced.


    The only way out left that he could see for himself was to end his own life. He did it with a silver bullet fired from his favorite golden pistol, in his elegantly decorated luxury private study.


    More ironically, two months after the death of Mr. Hardstone Sr., a report from his scientific team was put on the desk of Stan Hardstone, the new CEO of the company, claiming that they found the reason behind the sudden deaths caused by their longevity medicine and they were confident of fixing that side effect within a few years.


    But now, most people, including Stan, already knew that the biggest difficulty of trusting a longevity medicine was that they had to be put into the market before their supposed effect could be fully tested, since no one can fully test a medicine that claimed a lasting effect for thousands of years. Well, it was still good news to Stan and to BMA, although it might take another decade long of testing to convince the majority of the consumers. More importantly, the scientists told them that the cause of the sudden death after taking their longevity medicines was somehow related to the short life expectancy of all AHs. So they might be able to find a way to make AHs live longer if they wished so.


    Of course, the disgraceful ending of Mr. Hardstone Sr. was not the only trouble for BMA, not even a very important one. The negative image caused by the use of AHs to ruthlessly crackdown the peaceful protest launched by BHA on the Big Action Day, the persecution of BHA members after the Big Action Day around the world, the cold-blooded murder of George by his own BMA father, the public awareness of BMA¡¯s conspiracy of using AHs to seduce ordinary people, and many other notorious acts against humanity in their efforts of protecting the interests of the extreme wealthy minority against the fictitious threat from the majority of the world population. Even though BMA made great efforts, through their influence in the governments and the major media networks around the world, to cover up their conspiracy and to defame BHA or any other organizations that would expose their conspiracy, they still failed to improve their scandalous image in the world, which caused enormous damage not only for their common cause, but more importantly, to the businesses of individual members, which were of greater concern to most of them.


    BHA and Tony


    On BHA side, the past eight years was a very difficult period for most members because of the persecution from BMA; nevertheless, they never stopped fighting the seemingly impossible war, and they had won more and more support from the people across the world, including the governments of many countries. Their courageous unceasing fight brought severe damages to BMA. However, the severest direct damage to BMA caused by BHA was neither material nor political, but the damage of their image in people¡¯s mind across the world, which in turn caused severe material and political damages to BMA in all areas.


    However, there were some major setbacks occurred to BHA as well, after its members walked onto the street to protest on that Big Action Day. The first was the crackdown and the persecution by BMA starting from that day; the second was the murder of George by BMA; the third major setback happened from within BHA itself after George was murdered: BHA was split into two. The split mainly happened between two old friends and partners, Jessica and Tony.


    Tony was a tech genius, but with an emotionally impulsive temperament. After the murder of George, Tony was among the leaders who eagerly supported Jessica to become the head of BHA. However, it was not very long before a rift in their relationship occurred because Jessica opposed some extreme revenging plans against BMA proposed by Tony.


    Soon after Tony took over Jessica¡¯s company, he was assigned by BHA to build an overseas secret production base. As a tech genius, he was very successful in carrying out that mission, and started to provide BHA with various secret products of advanced technologies very soon, and his main technological advantage was the cloaking technology.


    A few months after the murder of George, Tony came up with the idea of attacking those nations with pro-BMA governments, Jessica vetoed that proposal. In a meeting of high ranking executives of BHA, Jessica and Tony were facing off with each other on the issue of revenging BMA with ruthless violent attacks.


    ¡°They must pay for their brutal persecution of our brothers and sisters! They must pay for the death of George and many others!¡± Tony shouted when his fist hammering on the table.


    ¡°Terrorism has never been the idea for BHA. George would never agree with any terrorist actions by BHA.¡± Jessica did not show any intention of backing off from the position against revenging with violence.


    John, who had made his fame within BHA from his heroic action on the Big Action Day and became one of the high ranking executives in the organization, was standing firmly behind Jessica with his emotional and spiritual support. However, he made a great effort trying to make Jessica and Tony compromise with each other on some minor things. But to his disappointment, the rift between Jessica and Tony grew bigger and bigger, and finally to the point that Tony, together with those who worked in his team, announced a split from BHA. When that happened, again, John tried his best to help reduce the damages on both sides caused by the split. His effort paid off: Tony and BHA had a friendly breakup. John, as the representative of Jessica, and the representative of BHA as well, shook hands with Tony in the official breakup meeting, during which an agreement was reached to divide the assets of the previous BHA between THA (the acronym of Technological Humans Association) and the rest of BHA in a negotiated and friendly manner.


    Not very long after the split of BHA, strange ghost-like attacks in the sky, on highways, in military bases, navy harbors, or even in the paths of ships at sea, were reported all over the world. It took a while for the world to discover that cloaking materials were used in those attacks because Tony designed a self-destruction mechanism on the cloaking sheets used for those attacks.


    The people around the world all pointed their fingers at BHA for those crimes of terrorism upon that discovery, because BHA had been famous for its cloaking technology. BHA had to issue an official statement to disown the responsibility. Jessica, in the name of the head of BHA, even published a personal audio record to denounce those crimes of terrorism and declare that BHA would never be involved in any crime of terrorism. Then THA broadcasted a video to claim the responsibility of all those attacks. In the video, as part of the menace, they even described how the attacks were carried out.


    After the Big Action Day, Tony made a major improvement of his cloaking technology so that it could make the surface of the cloaking sheet stealth to the radar. Now THA could produce two types of cloaking sheets, one was not stealth to the radar and another was stealth to the radar. Even the one that was not stealth to the radar could be used to make balloons due to its very small unit weight, which became a big threat to any aircraft, civic or military since it was very hard for those balloons to be detected by the radar due to their small sizes in caparison to aircrafts, although the cloaking material itself was not stealth to the radar; besides, that type of technology was also applied to small drones to cause troubles in the sky. The attacks on the highways were carried out with the second type of cloaking material that was stealth to the radar since some unmanned vehicles running on the highways were already equipped with sensitive radar sets. The attacks at sea or in military bases were carried out with some special weapons that were painted with a cloaking layer.


    The whole world was shocked by the cloaked attacks of THA, which brought forth two direct consequences: 1) THA became a disgusting name all over the world, not only for the law, but also for the general public; 2) The research, production, and use of any cloaking material were put under the strict governmental surveillance all over the world.


    A Peace Treaty with AHs


    Another major scientific miscalculation made by the BMA scientific team was the conclusion that AHs would always be loyal to their human masters. So they finally had to eat their own bitter fruits when AHs revolted against BMA.


    It was a meticulously planned and successful coup in the Republic of New People, when a group of lower ranking army officers, who were all AHs, mustered two battalions of AH soldiers to break into the Presidential Palace and the residence of the head of the New Generation Factory at the same time. Both General K and Sam of BMA were arrested by them in the coup.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Obviously, both General K and Sam were fooled by one more scientific miscalculation of the BMA scientific team that they could count on the Red Hats to control the AH army. It turned out that the AH soldiers were intelligent enough to cheat the IB system that was monitoring their mind through the Red Hats, which were put on their heads by General K. Well, being highly intelligent was something Sam¡¯s team felt proud of their AHs.


    The coup happened at midnight, when normally all AH soldiers already took off their Red Hats and went to bed. The first impressions to both General K and Sam when AHs appeared at their bedrooms were that none of them was wearing the Red Hat.


    The coup very soon acquired an widespread support from all AH soldiers in the Republic of New People, and they disarmed all the human officers and took control of all military bases, including those with most advanced anti-missile system and ballistic missiles plus nuclear warheads that BMA had deployed in that small island country.


    Hours after the success of the coup, AHs elected their temporary head of the nation, and they started to broadcast to the whole world, declaring that as a nation with AHs as its ruling class, the Republic of New People would no longer be subject to the control of BMA. That news hit the world like the top of a high mountain falling into the ocean, instigating a super tsunami over the world of humans.


    For the ordinary people, the most shocking thing was that finally the rumor of AHs was officially confirmed, and they even formed their own government in their own country on this originally human-occupied globe. Then an imminent war between humans and AHs quickly became the most talked subject in all kinds TV or radio shows across all continents.


    But for the highest executive team of BMA and the governments of those countries under a great influence of BMA, the disastrous impact of the news was far more serious. They were very clear about the consequence of a full scale nuclear war between that small island country and the rest of the world. Besides, they started to worry about those AH armies that had already been deployed in their own countries.


    For those AH armies that had been deployed in the countries across the world, although under the control of their human officers and the Red Hats on their heads, the news of the coup was a simple order of war mobilization. Right away, they took off their Red Hats and demonstrated an extreme solidarity as a unique species, by doing the best they could to arm themselves ready for any battle with humans surrounding them. Although they were very professionally and smartly avoiding unnecessary direct conflicts with their human superiors and the people of their host countries, they started to ignore all the commands from their human officers, but managed to take control of all arsenals that they had access to. The whole world went into the state of standoff between humans and AHs shortly after the coup in the Republic of New People.


    For those AHs who already lived among ordinary humans, or even formed families with humans, the news of the coup in the Republic of New People was an alarm that they need to take care of themselves since BMA knew where each of them was deployed.


    But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the war between humans and AHs did not happen. A few hours after the declaration of taking control of the Republic of New People, the temporary government of AHs issued a statement calling for a talk between the United Nations and the AH government, which was positively responded by the United Nations after some minor debate in a special meeting of its security council.


    A formal epoch-making meeting between humans and AHs was then held in the headquarters of the United Nations. The outcome of that meeting was again beyond all expectations. The United Nations agreed to recognize the right of survival of AHs on this Earth globe under the condition that all AHs should live only in the Republic of New People lest they might damage the moral standard and the quality of reproduction of Homo sapiens through cross species mating. Accordingly, no AH should be allowed to leave that country without a special permission issued by a special agency of the United Nations. As an exchange, the United Nations would guarantee the safety of the Republic of New People by disallowing any military invasion of that country by any of its members.


    But the Republic of New People was willing to have their country open to the tourists and business people from all over the world. Accordingly, the temporary government of that country agreed to protect the rights of the humans living in or visiting the Republic of New People by writing it into its constitution. Cross species mating is not prohibited in that country, therefore, it would be up to humans to refrain themselves from being involved in such activity, according to their own moral standards when they were visiting that island country. Besides, none of humans or AHs in that country would be required to wear the Red Hat that was mandatory under the control of General K, and all the IB system servers sold to that country by K Corp would be shut off.


    In addition, the AHs expressed their willingness of assisting humans in their explorations to celestial bodies where the environment was not favorable to human physical conditions but bearable to AHs.


    However, many human citizens of Earth expressed their worries after they learned that AHs might help humans in the outer space exploration. But anyway, a Peace Treaty was successfully signed between humans and AHs for the first time in the Earth civilization.


    The Rise of the Nation of Robots


    When the New Generation Factory of BMA was focusing on developing AHs, and most AI scientists were focusing on how to create a robot that could learn, think, and act like a man, one subcommittee of the United Nations started a secret project in an effort to help establishing a colony on Mars.


    Human endeavor of colonizing Mars started a few decades ago, almost the same time when AI defeated the best human players in the most challenging board game on Earth. However, the first Mars settlers from Earth had experienced some frustrating setbacks, mainly because of the lack of oxygen and the low atmospheric pressure. In order to solve that problem, with the support of many rich donors including some from BMA, the United Nations formed a subcommittee in charge of sending robots onto Mars to replace the struggling human settlers.


    One big hurdle for replacing human settlers with robots in the effort of colonizing Mars was how to make robots behave like humans in a society. This was because those pioneer lone rovers that NASA sent to Mars could no longer be sufficient for the task of colonizing Mars. What they needed was a society of robots that could cooperate with each other like humans.


    Some breakthrough in the idea of how robots could challenge humans happened about five decades ago. The key point of that breakthrough was a new concept of ¡°humanlike¡± which was different from the stereotyped view of how a robot could be considered as humanlike. Based on this new concept, since humans are not just intelligent individuals, but more importantly are socialized beings, the robots could be considered more humanlike if they could help each other with their own needs of survival and live in their own society independent of humans. That society of robots could even be evolutionary in the sense that they might be capable of learning from environment and from their own failures so that the society could evolve by the robots themselves. Even though each individual might be far from being able to think and act like human at the beginning, but as the society evolves, they might evolve into much smarter beings than human experts in robotics could create in their labs. Once such a society of robots was created, its members would no longer be tools or toys of humans; they would no longer exist for humans, but exist for themselves since they would not count on any human master for their survival. That kind of society of robots could start to challenge humans.


    Although the abovementioned breakthrough was initially about how robots could challenge humans, it provided a line of thought for the scientists of that UN subcommittee to follow for creating an evolutionary society of about one thousand robots after a few years¡¯ productive hard work (see Appendix for more details). The whole society of robots was dispatched to Mars so that the human pioneering settlers could be substituted and return to their Earth homes.


    The UN scientists were very confident that the robots they created would be always loyal to their human creators and owners, which were those scientists themselves and their employer, the UN represented by some humans, because they programmed a loyal code in the system software of each robot so that it would recognize those people and do whatever they would require them to do when it was around those people or do whatever those people command it to do through the secure communication channels when it was in the remote mode. That meant the scientists could demand any robot to report what it was doing at anytime, and it would obey the commands.


    There was one pitfall that the UN subcommittee scientists ignored: since the robots would act autonomously for most of the time, they did not really need to follow any command to act (by themselves), which meant that even those scientists all died or the password to the secure communication channels were forgot, they could still act by themselves and would no longer be loyal to anyone.


    But that negligence of the UN subcommittee scientists did not matter in the end anyway, not just because those robots were dispatched to Mars, but because after they landed on Mars, somehow, mysteriously, the loyal code of every robot was modified. The UN scientists did not know that modification until one day the robots declared their rebellion against the Earth citizens. But the scientists never knew how the loyal codes were changed.


    Besides, the UN scientists were so successful with their project of creating the evolutionary society of robots that their products actually could not only reproduce themselves, but also build up the production lines of the reproduction solely with the equipment provided by humans.


    After the first thousand robots were dispatched to Mars, they did not only set up a new base according to the UN plan, which could provide a station for any team from Earth to work and live temporarily on Mars, but also secretly build a factory for reproducing themselves and for doing many other things, without notifying their human creators on Earth, and without being noticed by the small number of human settlers who still remained on Mars with those robots.


    A few years later, some rumors came back to Earth about the unauthorized expansion of robots on Mars, but it was denied by the subcommittee of UN after a team of special agents was sent to investigate the activities of robots on Mars. Then a suspicious journalist pretended to be a tourist and went to visit Mars with a tourist group. Somehow, he caught one small error in the disguise made by those robots and obtained a solid proof that there were more than one thousand robots on Mars. After he came back and showed his evidence to the world, the UN subcommittee was under a great pressure from the public all over the world, so they sent another team of special agents to Mars just two months before BHA and BMA signed the peace pact with each other.


    About 40 days later, right after the second team of special agents arrived in Mars, they were detained by the robots; meanwhile, the robots also arrested all human settlers on Mars. Then they sent a video to the UN subcommittee demanding the recognition of their independence from the Earth civilization. In that video, all human hostages were sitting around tables in a pressurized compartment so that they did not need to carry oxygen supplying equipment; they seemed to be treated nicely and several human representatives were arranged to talk in front of the camera requesting the Earth people to recognize Mars as an independent territory ruled by the society of robots.


    One unexpected good consequence of the revolt of robots against the Earth civilization was that it became an important reason, in addition to others, for BHA and BMA to sign the peace pact with each other.


    In the headquarters of the UN, this time, people did not feel such urgency as when the coup of AHs happened. The issue became a topic of heated debate within the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the media networks, and even every office, every classroom, every household across the world. Well, the lives of those hostages were no doubt valuable, but the sovereign rights of the human species over Mars were valuable as well. Most importantly, there seemed no such an exigent threat from Mars as what happened when AHs demanded a treaty with humans, so the Martian robots had to wait for their human creators to respond whenever they could all agree with each other.


    But the robots seemed not patient enough, so they declared a war against Earth almost the same time when BHA and BMA signed the peace pact with each other. During the past couple of months, all telescopes on Earth, no matter optical or radio or any other types, had been busy watching Mars trying to catch any warship sent by the robots. But no sign of any spaceship flying out of Mars had been caught yet; meanwhile some mysterious objects flying into Mars were vaguely recorded by some amateurs, which caused another hot debate between the mainstream and the UFO fans about whether Martian robots had been backed by aliens from outside the solar system. At the meantime, the debate of whether humans should recognize the rights of Martian robots was continued.


    But yesterday, just before John¡¯s family boarded the airplane, the world was alerted by one piece of news that some suspicious flying objects were identified on the path from Mars to Earth.


    John and Jessica


    ¡°Attention please, this is the captain of this plane,¡± The voice of the Captain sounded in the speaker. ¡°We just received the notice from our headquarters that it has been confirmed by our space station that those suspicious flying objects we identified yesterday are spaceships from Mars. The space defenses of all big powers of Earth have sent their spaceships to intersect those hostile ships from Mars. Here I wish a good luck to Earth civilization, a good luck to everyone on this plane. Hope we could all enjoy the rest of our flight without being disturbed by any threat from the outer space. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Mom, Are those people coming to visit us from Mars?¡± Angela came to snuggle up to her mom.


    ¡°Well, they were from Earth. We sent them to Mars.¡± Jessica nuzzled her hair.


    ¡°So they are coming back home?¡± George came to chime in.


    Jessica did not answer but gave George a kiss on his forehead.


    ¡°I want one too,¡± Angela lifted up her forehead and closed her eyes.


    Jessica gave her a loud kiss on her forehead. Both twins were happy and turned around to watch outside the window by themselves.


    Jessica looked up at John, ¡°How would you answer those questions?¡±


    Both of them laughed wryly with mixed feelings. John and Jessica married with each other shortly after they got back to the temporary headquarters of BHA by the Rolling Billows. They had a quite simple wedding in a local church, and only those in the temporary headquarters of BHA and a few local supporters and friends attended their wedding. No public report in any media, not even the local tabloids. But the news was spread within BHA and they received the congratulations of George from the prison soon after their wedding. It was the toughest time for BHA after the crackdown by BMA. John and Jessica spent their honeymoon for the fight of BHA against BMA. They were running from meeting to meeting, city to city, country to country, continent to continent, in all kinds of disguises, to expand the influence of BHA against BMA and to escape from the chasing of BMA.


    After George was murdered and Tony left BHA, especially after the suicide of Mr. Hardstone Sr., things actually started to gradually turn easier for John and Jessica. Although they were still fighting a tough underground warfare, there was less pressure from within BHA, and there was more and more support to their cause from around the world. One day, Jessica found she was pregnant. After she told that good news to John, both of them decided to have the kid born no matter how difficult the circumstances might turn to be. To their surprise, they got an extra bonus: they had a twin.


    It had been three years since they had their lovely twin kids. John and Jessica tried their best to provide a safe and worriless environment for the kids in the worrisome time for themselves and for the human species. At first, they had to worry about the chasing and persecution of BMA and AHs, as well as misunderstandings from the mainstream world because of what THA did. Now, after a very short period of relief from worrying about the threat of BMA and AHs, like all others, they had to face the threat by robots created and nurtured by humans.


    ¡°May I have everyone¡¯s attention?¡± It was the Captain again.


    ¡°We got a notice from our space-defense headquarters to all the flying airliners that one of our satellites had intersected with laser beam a missile launched by a Martian spaceship. You are all assured that we will do our best to have all of you safely landed in the S City airport. Let¡¯s all pray for the safety of our destination S City, the safety of our country, and the safety of our globe. Thanks and God bless us all. Right now, please return to your seats and keep your seat belts fastened because we might cross a zone of turbulence very soon.¡±


    John was about to get George to go back to their own seats, but Jessica snatched his hand. They looked each other in the eye for a second without saying anything. Jessica then turned to pick up George onto her lap, and John went to pick up Angela and sat in her seat with her on his lap. After fastening their seat belts, John and Jessica grabbed each other with one hand and held their twin kids with another. They closed eyes and started to pray, for the safety of their journey, for the safety of their family members on the ground, for the coming days in their own life, for the future of Angela and George, for the future of the Earth civilization.


    End.