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Chapter 583   Now Lie in It

Still, everyone made plans to gather around the LEA nearest to them the following day to watch Aron’s broadcast live. To them, the empire was between a rock and a hard place, as everyone had a different expectation of the emperor. Thus, it would be impossible to meet all of them.

Some people, for example, wanted the empire to go full fascist. Not only would it solve the problem of rising supervillain crimes, but it would also prove that the empire truly was an evil organization and thus satisfy their need to be correct.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, were those who wanted incidents to be treated as isolated events. “It was only one bad apple, an independent event,” they believed, and felt that compassion, education, and preventative treatment would go all the way in curing the problem at its root.

Those people, it must be said, were also the kind of people who believed that changing their profile pictures on social media would somehow solve problems, or that thoughts and prayers had the ability to end problems and cure suffering.

But while those were the two extreme ends of the spectrum, opinions and expectations among everyone fell somewhere in the middle. Most people had no idea what could be done, nor did they really think anything COULD be done to resolve the problem. They made up the silent majority of noncitizen sentiment, and most had simply decided to wait and see how things played out.

......

The next day.

Imperial citizens had clustered around their televisions, phones, computers, and so on as they awaited the emperor’s announcement. And noncitizens had gathered on every street corner, the atmosphere of a block party beginning to permeate the crowds. Some of the more entrepreneurial among them had even set up stalls and were selling snacks and drinks as well.

After all, most noncitizens were still accustomed to general incompetence when it came to governments trying to resolve problems faced by “the little guys”, so they were taking things with a grain of salt and trying not to get their hopes up. The only reason they were even paying attention at all was because, over its short history, the empire had displayed an ability to handle situations that any previous government would have folded under.

Time slowly passed, then finally, the holographic screens appeared above the LEAs again, this time showing Aron’s usual stage and podium. Soon, he walked into view and took his place behind the podium to begin his address.

“Greetings to all of humanity,” he began, nodding his head.

“Yesterday, the city of Mogadishu was struck by a terrorist attack perpetrated by a young superhuman. It was the first of its kind, and showed exactly how much damage a determined person with superpowers could inflict upon their surroundings in a relatively short amount of time.

“More than two thousand people died. Imperial citizen or no, they were all brothers, sisters, parents, and friends to other people. They were all human, and their loss deeply saddens Us.

“Over the last few months, ever since the event that... enhanced the Three Percenters, We have been devising strategies and making plans to deal with the inevitable chaos that the blessings would cause. And Our strategies and plans have worked. At least for imperial citizens, anyway.

“In Our empire, We directed the imperial blessings agency to implement schools and training facilities that teach Our blessed to control their blessings, and that training also instills in them a pride in humanity and a drive to serve their fellow man. It teaches them to be heroes and use their newfound power to better Our people and Our world, the cradle of humankind.

“We also, as a form of outreach, reached out to the blessed among noncitizens and offered them the same training. We offered to teach them to control their blessings, to bring light into the darkness, and to strive to make all of humanity better. And the outreach was working—roughly a third of noncitizen blessed took Us up on Our offer and enrolled in the imperial training program. Or hero academies, if you prefer.

“But sadly, not everyone was as determined to work for the betterment of humanity and the survival of the species.” Aron’s expression grew solemn and grave, and he grasped the edges of the podium in white-knuckled fists.

“And as you have likely already guessed,” he continued, “the perpetrator behind the attack was one of the millions of blessed who turned away from Our outreach. He, through his own selfishness, greed, and lust for power, discarded his humanity and allowed his baser instincts to control him and his actions.

And as a result of his decision, he lost control of his blessing and became the fire he intended to release, an accident that would have been completely prevented had he simply chosen to learn to use his new power.”

Aron paused to let that sink in, a slight frown on his face as his piercing gaze stared out at everyone watching his address around the world.

“That failure, people of Earth, is on Us. It is Our failure to do what is necessary, Our tolerance that allowed someone like him to act.

“Ever since We founded the Terran Empire, We have gone to extreme lengths to accommodate everyone. We allowed individual choice to dictate whether or not you joined Our empire, believing in the inherent goodness of humanity. We believed that, should Our empire simply continue to offer you all better, more comfortable lives, that you would eventually come to Us.

“And We made that conscious decision despite having the ability and power to simply force you all to join Us and unite humanity that way, rather than take the time for you to come to the decision to join of your own free will.

“Because what you all seem to have forgotten is that Our empire was formed due to necessity. Humankind simply cannot afford to squabble among ourselves anymore, not with the possibility that the approaching outsiders will be hostile to Our species.

“We tried peacefully uniting humanity. But the reward for Our efforts were greedy, selfish, incompetent world leaders that, in their lust for power and benefits, initiated a war with Us that would have destroyed what We needed to protect. Those same leaders are the ones that launched tens of thousands of nuclear weapons—enough to destroy the world dozens of times over—because We chose to be soft. We desired peace, therefore We acted with that peace in Our mind, Our heart, and Our hands.

“And We continued that desire for peaceful resolutions even after forming Our empire. We offered you the choice, and We gave you all the time you felt you needed to make that decision. But now, it has become obvious that a time limit must be imposed. And that limit passed when a young man, out of his own malice, killed thousands of his fellow human beings by throwing a superpowered tantrum.

“The Terran Empire maintains jurisdiction over Our citizens, making it easy to combat crime and offer everyone within Our borders—both physical and otherwise—a high standard of living. We have no rising crime, no unemployment other than by choice, no poverty. Everyone in Our empire can live free of most worries, safe in the assurance that they will be protected.

“And with the widening gap between imperial and non-imperial citizens comes jealousy. Noncitizens have been allowed to mingle with citizens, fostering resentment and hate when it should birth the desire to join the empire. And for that, you have Our deepest apologies.

“But that situation ends today. Because, in order to face the incoming aliens, humanity MUST stand united. However, due to the law that binds Us from taking more draconian measures and enforcing compliance, We cannot simply declare all of humanity under Our purview.

“That said, though, We can most certainly choose to separate the two populations.

“Therefore, beginning immediately and henceforth, We declare all noncitizens exiled from Our empire’s borders. To protect the freedom of choice and expression that people demanded of Us during the founding of Our empire, We will begin enforcing an exodus from Our imperial territory and will be providing all noncitizens transport to their own place. A place where you can live in peace, knowing that you will no longer have to suffer the inequality of the factional divide of humanity. A new Australia, if you will.

“You have made your bed. Now lie in it.”Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn