“With that out of the way, We will move on to other things.
“Every police department will cycle through a period of retraining. Each cycle will last one week, and will be attended by a quarter of your police forces, including all leadership cadre down to the newest recruits. Some of you have already received notification of your appointment as constables, and your training will last the entire month. During the first week, you will be free to call in reinforcements from ARES peacekeeping forces if you are unable to keep the peace in your areas. This training is both optional and mandatory. Should you choose not to partake in the retraining, you will be considered to have resigned your position in the police force.
“Along with the police retraining, all current government employees will also have the opportunity to choose retraining for absorption into an imperial agency of your choice or to retrain into a different career. You may also choose to retire from government service and be awarded all of the benefits of your career so far. It will be considered an honorable early retirement, should you choose that path.
“Altogether, the retraining period for police and other government employees will take place over the month of January through the first week of February. Your leadership cadre should be receiving a notification of the schedule as We speak and will speak to you over the next week to settle any matters that may arise from the scheduling.
Aron closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and took a deep breath before continuing in a solemn tone, “Another thousand of you, chosen from all walks of life, have been selected to uphold a most serious and grave duty to the empire. To those of you who are currently meeting with Our representatives, or soon to meet with them, know this: the heavy burden you are being asked to bear is completely voluntary. You, Our Imperial Censors, have a duty, not to the emperor, but to the empire. We do not know who you are, and We do not know where you are. And We never will. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to keep the faith of the empire and, should any emperor prove unworthy of his crown, your votes have the power to pull him from his throne.”
He went silent for a moment to allow that to sink in to everyone watching, then continued, “Yes, even me. I may be the first emperor, but should my anonymous Imperial Censors unanimously agree to dethrone me, I’ll be dethroned. I promised you all that there would be a countermeasure against corrupt, petty, weak, and useless emperors, and this is it. A thousand anonymous eyes to keep the emperor honest.”
Aron cleared his throat and lightly coughed into his fist, then continued, “As for the financial and banking sector. We know that some of you have already noticed that all trading has been halted. This is not a bug, nor is it an attack. We are dedicating a vast amount of supercomputer time to determine exactly what currencies have spending power, and how much they have, exactly. Once We have that information, all banks will begin reissuing a new universal currency: the Earth New Dollar. All currency reserves will be replaced by the end of this week, and private citizens will have until January 21st to replace any cash they have at any bank, whether it is your bank or not.
“As for national debts owed between governments. Those debts will be entirely forgiven, as it is fundamentally impossible to lend money from your right hand to your left, just as it’s impossible to repay your right hand once your left has earned money.
“Debts that governments owe to their own private citizens, on the other hand, will be repaid from imperial funds in Earth New Dollars or offered in trade for services or merchandise should you so choose. All interest-bearing government bonds will cease accruing interest as of this moment, and citizens of the empire that hold those government bonds have until January 31st to trade them in at the bank that issued them for whichever option you so choose.
“After the repayment of bonds and the reissue of the new currency, all currently extant banks will be rolled into the Imperial Treasury Agency under the Ministry of the Interior and undergo retraining periods as We mentioned earlier.
“Next, We’ll move on to the introduction of a new agency. The Imperial Historian position is a position filled by a member of the imperial family, and he or she will preside over Imperial Scribes, who will record everything in the empire, from the grandest events to the most mundane incidents. Those will be entered into the Akashic Record, where they will be digitized and verified by the AI, Akasha.
“It is to be a true record of humanity, completely unbiased and open to any who choose to browse it. It will also contain a record of humanity’s development, from the first time we picked up sticks and rocks to use them as tools all the way into the future. Anyone who is interested in joining the Imperial Historian and contributing to the Akashic Record is welcome to do so and can find the procedure for joining on the imperial website.
“That said, classified information is still classified until Akasha, the Imperial Historian, or the Emperor chooses to declassify it. Currently, Akasha is working on exactly that, and the Akashic Records will be available to everyone to view no later than February 3rd.
“After all, We believe that we should always learn from our predecessors, lest we find ourselves doomed to make the same mistakes they did.
“On to more immediate benefits, of which I will address three. As mentioned in Article I of the constitution, human rights are inviolable. Included in that article are the right to a healthy life, the right to free and unfettered internet access, and the right to housing.
“As we speak, the Coeus Foundation, in conjunction with Asclepius Biotechnology, is dispatching technicians to construct clinics and hospitals with the aim of 100% coverage for healthcare. Our new medical pods will be debuting there, and are capable of completely restoring a person to full health within a matter of hours. The fee will be 2% of your net worth after taxes, simply to prevent abuse of the system where the limited number of pods will be clogged by people who visit for minor ailments like papercuts and scraped knees. We expect that you will respect your fellow citizens and allow normal triage guidelines to apply, and everyone will have their first visit to the clinics free of charge.
“Also as we speak, construction of a new quantum internet is ongoing. It will be completed by the end of February, and internet access will be offered free of charge to every household, and the speed will never be throttled. The internet will be governed by the Imperial Internet Agency in order to guarantee that it remains free, unfettered, and everyone has access to it. This has begun in Eden and is working the network out from there, We expect its completion within the next six months.
“The right to shelter will be met by new cities. Our company, Hephaestus Heavy Industries, is currently surveying locations for new cities to be built, which will offer zero-interest home loans and steeply discounted utility pricing to everyone. Once those cities are constructed, we will offer land sales with zero interest loans around them with the goal of relocating all of humanity to new, high-efficiency, carbon-neutral—or even negative—living environments with built-in security in case of alien attack on our planet. We expect this will be the longest process, but it will still be completed in five years or less.”
Aron paused for a moment to let the possible alien attacks sink in; he needed people to be living in the new cities in order to facilitate some of his future plans for Earth, and the humans that lived on it.
