[So, have you changed your minds?] Nyx asked, sending shivers down the politicians’ spines as they recalled their last month in the white room.
Only silence answered her, so she continued, [Maybe you’ll be able to answer after another trip.]
She slowly raised her hand as if she was about to snap her fingers when everyone in the amphitheater stands suddenly groveled before her and shouted, “Please don’t send us back there!”
[Then wake up and go do what you’ve been ordered to do,] Nyx said, then snapped her fingers and logged the politicians out of VR.
In the situation room bunker, Trump opened his eyes, finding himself laid out on the conference table. He raised his hand to his face and felt an unfamiliar object that was kind of like a pair of glasses. ‘I don’t think I wear glasses?’ he thought as he opened his eyes and sat up. He pulled the object off of his face and it was indeed a pair of unfamiliar glasses.
A sharp pain shot through his head as he recalled what had taken place right before he fell unconscious.
……
TICK
“I can’t let you do that,” the Acting Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, said. He reached into his coat and drew a pistol, then pointed it at President Trump.
TOCK
BANG!
A sonic wave burst in the room, powerful enough to cause a visible distortion in the air but gentle enough to not break bones or send people flying. It was, however, enough to knock everyone in the room unconscious.
As he was beginning to fall, he noticed a soldier taking off his... her? hat and shaking her head as her face changed from masculine to feminine and long blonde hair fell like a rippling wave to her waist.
He found her extremely memorable, too, as she was the only one in the room that was still capable of standing.
……
He lowered his hand from his face and put his feet on the ground. “Time to get to work,” he said, looking around the room and realizing he was talking mostly to himself, as the others weren’t quite all awake yet.
But it didn’t take long before they, too, finished the logout procedure and removed their glasses with shaking hands.
“Yes, sir,” they chorused, then began working on carrying out the orders they had received from Nyx. Aron’s address was still continuing live on every screen in the bunker.
“All of the evidence I’ve provided here, together with even more evidence of gross negligence and outright corruption have been posted on the Edenian Ministry of the Exterior website and has already been made publicly available.
“Thank you all for your time,” he bowed to the camera, then stood ramrod-straight again and resumed staring at the camera, “and I hope our next meeting is under far more pleasant circumstances.”
Aron’s address was complete; he had brought the rest of the world up to date on everything that had been happening.
He turned and left the area that had been synchronized with the flow of real time, as he had delivered his speech from the relative safety and comfort of virtual reality.
“What’s the situation?” he asked as soon as he appeared in a conference room just after leaving the time bubble he had been in for his speech.
[Nyx has released all of the high-level and other important people needed for the unification to progress, and they’ve already begun working to that end. Apparently they didn’t like the white room.] She smirked. Aron felt she was becoming more humanlike as her processing power increased.
[Our carriers will continue their patrols, ensuring a rapid response in case any issues arise....] She continued her report, listing out all the points of interest Aron would need or want to know.
“Good. Keep me up to date on things. Right now, I need to have a talk with mom and dad.”
[Yes, sir. Good luck,] she replied.
Aron winced and muttered, “Thanks. I’m really gonna need it.” He slowly trudged toward the door to log off. At the pace he was moving, it was obvious he was more than a little concerned by his parents’ potential reaction to recent world events. No matter how big or how powerful a man grows, he will still never outgrow his parents’ wrath.
……
The moment Aron’s address had ended, each country’s leader immediately followed up with addresses of their own. They all began the same way, with an apology to their people. After apologizing, they elaborated on their plans for the near future and how the new world order was going to be, then blew happy little clouds of sunshine about how they would emerge from this trial even stronger, as one united species in the face of outside enemies.
Still, the look of defeat and shame on the faces of the various leaders was something no one had ever wanted to see. Not only was it disappointing to their supporters, but even their detractors reacted poorly to the addresses. The former were depressed and ashamed, while the latter were enraged by the damage their “leaders” had caused their own countries.
And while some leaders had it easier, others weren’t so lucky. Thus, all those unlucky leaders could do was extend the lockdown for another day to give their populations time to calm down, as well as for the various governments to assess the damages they had each suffered in the brief, but impactful war.
However, the citizens didn’t react as expected. Instead, the individual addresses had acted like water being thrown into boiling oil as people grew more and more furious as they discussed the situation.
Anger, worry, fear, and every other negative emotion that could be felt and expressed were definitely being both felt and expressed. Especially those who discovered they had lost relatives or close friends and loved ones during the brief fight.
But the true extent of the damage was yet to be known to anyone, save perhaps those who had inflicted it.
