Fifty years later.
I was reminded that my main focus was back on Earth from my ever-expanding network of Oort cloud outposts. Sakura made me agree to attend an event, so I was left to continue overseeing construction while I sat on a charging station on Earth charging the robot. My Oort Cloud Outpost Network is one of my most ambitious projects - I built a thousand Origin-sized outposts focused on data centers and the facilities necessary to build, maintain and protect them. They are all closely guarded and in secret locations. But as important as this project was, so was spending an afternoon with Sakura. The Oort project would take decades to complete. On top of that, it's not even my most important project.
I woke up blinking in the charging room of the Governance Building on Earth. It's a small facility, with a room for the robots to charge, a few small offices, and a large conference room for Prosperity City Council meetings. The office is empty now, for the same reason I came.
I walked briskly into the sunshine. High above, almost invisible, thick double-layered palladium microalloy glass panels join together to form a massive dome so large that it covers the entire city - and some - beneath its icosahedral frame. Actual dirty farm. On warm days, NI, which manages the prosperous city, will open triangular glass panels to let fresh air in, rather than through vents after heating. Pipes along the frame can provide artificial rainfall if required. Just outside the city, there are a dozen similar small domed buildings for more farms and smaller villages, all connected by an underground train network.
The city streets were crowded with people walking along smooth stone paths toward the arena. The core of Prosperity City is Prosperity University, Arena and Ca
eplex. All three areas are built around a large park.
The university is a series of brick and white stone buildings set in a park and connected to sidewalks. Adjacent to the university is Ca
eplex, primary school and kindergarten are located on the border of the two areas. Kindergarten and Ca
eplex's nursing homes share a building so retirees can play with their children. Ca
The rest of the eplex is a mix of hospitals and doctors' offices.
Finally, the arena is where games are held. Throughout the week, films and plays often take place in the arena's smaller wings, while the main stage is reserved for major events. events like this.
What the City of Boom lacks are surface streets. I'm very proud of Sakura's planning for the city at its inception and how it has grown into a delightful, beautiful place for humans to live in. The community is lined with small trees and wide lawns, and has convenient transportation facilities, including sidewalks and bicycle paths. Underground are tunnels for light rail and maintenance drones. In fact, the number of drones far outnumbers the population of the City of London.
Sakura has convinced the U.S. Embassy in China and the Chinese Embassy in China to move together to the city and surrounding villages. Canadians had moved in when one of the villages was built, and an Inuit tribe appeared soon after. In fact, a small number of people are found across the globe, most of whom are on the verge of starvation, or worse. By the time the first domes were built and the city was officially ready for habitation, the number of survivors found had climbed to more than 50,000. Most of them now live in or near Prosperity City.
I walked into the arena, waved nonchalantly to a few people I knew, and headed upstairs. I walked towards the balcony reserved for the city council. Inside I saw Congressman Terrence, whose silver hair indicated that he was the oldest member of the Assembly. Considering Saku
By owning all the land in the city, charging no rent or taxes from residents, and providing all maintenance and improvements upon request, the city council has little to do. They primarily deal with human laws and ensure that all the different cultures combined in this place can coexist peacefully.
A strange alien is sitting on the balcony. It was shorter than most humans, with snake-like skin and four black eyes on a strangely shaped, hairless head. The alien's clothes are also unusual, looking like a cross between a jumpsuit and a balloon animal.
"Diplomat Avius," I greeted. The alien turned and looked at me.
"You must be Nikolai 1.01," it said in slightly confused English.
"Yes," I replied in his native language. I don't have a vocal cord or endless computer resources, so language is not an issue for me. "I'm so glad you can join us today."
"I'm glad to be invited," Avis replied. He seemed relieved to speak his own language. "Though I must admit, I don't understand what it is."
Next, the activity begins. Two robots walked to the center of the arena, each controlled remotely by their creator. As soon as the whistle sounded, the robots began to attack each other with various crude weapons.
"This is the Battle Robot Championship," I explained. "This is one of the very few projects where humans and Aedifex can compete on a level playing field. The speed of the remote control is limited by human reaction time, and no competitor has access to an existing design library. The robots are custom-built for this event."
The harsh sound of metal hitting metal was accompanied by roars of approval from the crowd. I looked down and saw countless robots mixed in with the humans. Food and beer vendors walked up and down the stairs, and security patrolled the upper edge of the arena in case anyone had had too much to drink.
"These robots, are they going to fight to the death? That's what my culture understands," he said. "Vax had this gladiator game. "
"They beat them until one of the robots was paralyzed," I corrected. "Robots are not sentient. They are agents of their creator."
"I don't see any of your war machines in this beautiful city." "How did you make your natives surrender?"
I froze and turned to look at him. "We are partners of humans, not their rulers. We make no laws and we do not enforce laws made by humans. In conflict zones, Sakura works with the Security Council to reach fair conclusions."
"This is unusual," Avis said. "I thought the heavy weapons I saw on the tracks were to keep the locals in line."
"Quite the opposite actually," I said. "It's about keeping the rest of the universe in line."
I could see the wheels turning in Avis's head. Since the war with the Pelegians we have had only one conflict. The old enemies of the Pelegians, the creatures from planet 0X9-012, after I destroyed the Pelegian fleet, they gathered their allies and tried to invade. By the end of the war, we had control of four more systems. Since then, I've been building defenses and solidifying our control of our corner of space. The defenses I built around the Mobius Gate were massive structures made of compressed titanium armor and a vast array of weapons, all backed up by a fleet of warships and a slew of attack drones. I have a thousand chine ships on patrol and maintain very friendly relations with every country I border. These fortifications are related to Saku
aThe space stations built around the Earth pale in comparison to those built on the Moon.
There was a cheer from below, and I saw the battle was over. The human Controller stepped out from one side and Sakura stepped out from the other, her pink hair sparkling in the sunlight. They shook hands, and Sakura turned around and raised her victorious fist above her head. The crowd cheered again, and then the drones arrived, taking away the damaged robots and clearing the floor for the next game.
"I understand your concern," I finally said, bringing up the subject of Avis's long journey to talk to me. I could have talked to him at the borders of our territory, but the Vaxians are known for their aggressive expansion. I hope I can prevent another war by giving him a glimpse of our heavy defenses. His narrow and carefully designed flight path prevented him from seeing our best defenses, but I knew we did show him something more impressive than what Vax usually faced.
"The Waxians heard reports that your so-called 'seed ships' are moving under the escort of countless 'spine ships'. We are worried that your intention is to start invading your neighboring countries." He said it bluntly, just like that year German diplomats expressed similar concerns in the same manner. I would have expected more ornate language, like I've seen with human diplomats or untranslatable diplomats. Avis' presence now makes more sense. Wax people are aggressive by nature. If they feel threatened, they may try to preemptively strike. Any information he could gather about our defenses, no matter how small, was valuable.
"Let me ease your worries," I said. "Seed ships are colony ships, they are relatively unarmed. Spine ships are their frigates."
"You call 250,000 assault drones 'guards'?!" Avis said.
I smiled evilly. "Yes, I know. A small one. But these ships are not bound for the Möbius Gates. They are traveling long distances to stars that have no connection to the known Möbius Gates in this region of space. We have Planets suitable or potentially suitable for human habitation have been discovered.”
"But without Gates, how will you maintain trade and regular communications with the colonies?" the alien asked skeptically. "You're just throwing away a lot of ships and colonists!"
"I don't care about maintaining control of the colonies or demanding interstellar trade," I said quietly. Another cheer from below heralded the next battle, though I was ready for my own. "It's an investment."
"What?" he asked.
I turned away from the diplomat again, but I was no longer paying attention to the battle in the arena. As I answered, I was thinking about the future.
"Humanity."
