Chapter 64: Righting the Ship
Outside the hotel, the technicians began to angrily protest Tiberius’ guilty verdict. All of the region’s enforcers guarded the hotel. The executive council members were unable to leave the hotel because of the aggressive nature of the protests. Tiberius had been taken to the basement of the hotel. Miro was in an upper-floor suite. He had invited Cecil to discuss security.
‘The trial did not go as expected,’ said Miro as he paced up and down the lounge area of the suite.
‘You convicted him,’ chuckled Cecil, who was sitting comfortably on the sofa.
‘At what price?!’ said Miro angrily. ‘The technicians are after my blood. What if the enforcers turn on me next? I will be killed.’
‘I control most of the enforcers now,’ said Cecil. ‘You know that. That’s why I’m here.’
‘Yes, yes, but can you keep control over them?’ asked Miro in a distressed tone. ‘Head Enforcer is after me. He has power over them.’
‘He has power over the imperial guards,’ said Cecil calmly. ‘Most of them died in the Great Battle. His influence over the enforcers is very limited, trust me.’
‘Well, you better keep it that way,’ said Miro.
‘For the right price, no problem,’ chuckled Cecil.
‘What does that mean?’ asked Miro as he stopped pacing.
‘I want to be made a general,’ said Cecil as he leaned forward. ‘I want all of Tiberius’ wealth transferred to me.’
‘No, seriously,’ said Miro.
‘I’m deadly serious,’ said Cecil in a more aggressive tone.
‘You are raving mad,’ replied Miro. ‘I will give you a modest pay rise, a promotion, and, if you do a good job, maybe a reasonable lump sum payment.’
‘I should probably go and talk to Duffo,’ said Cecil as he stood up. ‘Maybe he’ll do the right thing.’
‘What the hell does that mean?!’ asked Miro aggressively.
‘You don’t seem prepared to make the necessary actions to survive,’ said Cecil. ‘I might as well as speak to someone who does.’
‘Fine, General Cecil,’ said Miro. ‘I will give you one tenth of Tiberius’ wealth.’
‘Weak,’ replied Cecil as he started to walk towards the door.
‘Okay, a quarter of his wealth,’ said Miro, sounding desperate.
‘I’ve known you a long time,’ said Cecil as he turned around. ‘I like you. Seeing you dragged onto the streets and butchered would sadden me.’
‘How dare you!’ said Miro.
‘Half his wealth, that is my last offer,’ said Cecil.
‘Okay, deal,’ said Miro. ‘I will pay you half on Tiberius’ disposal and half once the technicians have calmed down.’
‘No,’ said Cecil. ‘Half in under a week and half when the technicians have calmed down. Don’t delay disposing of Tiberius. As long as he’s around, he’s a threat.’
‘Agreed,’ said Miro, nodding his head.
‘Great,’ said Cecil as he left the suite. ‘You can sleep safely now.’
‘He completely owned you,’ chuckled Julie as she became visible.
‘You have no business being here,’ said Miro. ‘You set me up.’
‘I did no such thing,’ replied Julie. ‘You had the perfect opportunity to disgrace and humiliate Tiberius, and you botched it.’
‘He was prepared,’ said Miro.
‘And you weren’t!’ shouted Julie as she shapeshifted to August.
‘Yes, well, Cecil will solve this problem,’ said Miro. ‘You heard him.’
August began to laugh. ‘You’ve put your faith in that idiot. He’ll backstab you in a heartbeat or sooner,’ he added as he shapeshifted into Cecil.
‘No, you wouldn’t,’ said Miro.
‘I own you until the day you die,’ said August. ‘If you acknowledge that, you might survive your first year of leadership. If not, there’s always Duffo or Hermon.’
‘Okay, I understand,’ said Miro nervously.
‘Good boy,’ said August as he rubbed the cheeks on Miro’s face.
Hermon and Benny were in the hotel suite opposite to Miro’s. They were sitting on the sofa together. They were both sobbing.
Julie casually strolled in to check in on them. ‘You’re taking today quite hard,’ she remarked.
‘It’s not that,’ said Benny as he rubbed his nose with a tissue. ‘It’s this film. It’s so sad.’
‘The mother Sape is dying,’ blubbed Hermon.
‘I see,’ said Julie as she sat down next to them. ‘Let’s hope she can pull through. Kind of like how both of you are going to pull through.’
‘Oh, no spoilers please,’ said Benny.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ replied Julie. ‘Surprises are just too much fun.’
The next morning. Miro and his staff had setup cameras in his hotel suite so that he could address the technicians directly from his sofa. Henders and the senior technician who had conducted the DNA tests on Tiberius accompanied him. Julie was standing behind the camera crew observing Miro. The technicians were currently protesting in the town square. They were still demanding the release of Tiberius.
‘Good morning, residents of the Downs region,’ said Miro as she grinned into the camera. ‘Understandably you are angry about yesterday’s trial. It left too many unanswered questions. We failed to prove beyond a doubt to you that Tiberius is a fraud.’
The technicians began to chant, ‘Let Him Go.’
‘Last night, Henders conducted another thorough set of DNA tests on Tiberius,’ said Miro as he nodded at Henders and the senior technician. ‘I’ll let him show you the results.’
‘Henders and I have conducted the same DNA test as was previously done at the West Camp,’ said the senior technician. ‘The results we obtained were the same. He is a distant relative of the other Alset family, and therefore it is impossible that he’s Hamish Alset.’
Henders nodded and held up a message reading, ‘He is not Hamish.’
The technician protestors became silent. Their silence filled Miro with confidence.
‘We are going to make some major changes,’ said Miro as he looked across at Julie, who was in the corner of the room. ‘Sapey will no longer have an Emperor. We are going to transition towards a new form of governance. I will assume the role of dictator for one year. After that, our new form of governance will be fully implemented.’
The protestors remained silent.
‘I know most of you have a debt problem,’ said Miro. ‘Tiberius claimed an enormous proportion of the Empire’s wealth. That is not fair on any of you. Now that he has been stripped of his power and authority, I am going to transfer a large portion of his wealth to our hard-working technicians who have been unfairly forced into debt.’
The technician protestors in the town square began to cheer.
‘In good news, that was overshadowed by the trial,’ continued Miro as he began to grin slightly at the sounds of the cheers coming from outside. ‘Our enforcers have returned victorious from an attack on the evil terrorist cult group.’
The technicians began to cheer even louder.
‘Captain Cecil courageously led these enforcers to victory and has been promoted to the rank of general,’ said Miro proudly. ‘He is the overall leader of the enforcers. Our enforcer instructor Eric replaces Head Enforcer as the head of the Downs Region enforcers. Head Enforcer will not serve as an enforcer in any capacity. He will now be referred to by his birth name of Fabien. The imperial guards will be disbanded. Enforcers will be in charge of all security matters and enforcement of law.’
Miro paused for a second. He looked over to one of his team members who was standing on his balcony. The team member nodded to him. Then Miro looked over to Julie, and she nodded as well.
‘Next week in the town square, I will hold my official inauguration as your first dictator,’ said Miro confidently. ‘Everyone is welcome to attend this exciting event.’
The technicians seemed a little less enthusiastic but still cheered a little.
‘My executive council will provide you with updates in the coming months,’ continued Miro. ‘I wish everyone a wonderful day, thank you.’
The broadcast ended. Miro looked over at Julie again as she walked towards him.
‘Just like that, the technicians are behind you again,’ said Julie.
‘Yes, your plan worked beautifully,’ said Miro as he stood up.
‘The key is to stay calm and think of the assets you have on hand,’ added Julie as she waved goodbye to Henders and the senior technician who were walking towards the door.
Miro nodded.
Hermon and Benny had watched the broadcast from their hotel suite.
‘Looks like we have lots of work to do,’ said Benny in an upbeat tone. ‘It’ll be worth it to ease everyone’s financial pain.’
‘Yes, you’re going to be very busy,’ said Hermon as he looked at Benny. ‘I’ll be in a perfect position to claim credit for this, and the Empire’s reserves won’t even need to be touched.’
‘Oh no,’ sighed Benny. ‘More scheming and you don’t just think it. You announce it.’
‘I’m counting down the weeks to when I’m overwhelming supported to take the helm,’ said Hermon as he grinned broadly while staring at Benny. ‘The era of Hermon will soon be upon us.’
Julie had made her way down to the basement to visit Tiberius. Tiberius was sitting on a single bed in a basic storeroom. He had watched Miro’s announcement and seen the response of the protestors in the town square on a small television placed in the corner of the room.
‘The show goes on even when the actors change,’ said Julie as she briefly shapeshifted her face into Colin’s as she grinned at him.
‘Pathetic feeble-minded fools,’ sneered Tiberius as he looked up at the television, which was showing the crowds of technicians happily leaving the town square. ‘They’re still the same scum as their ancestors.’
‘You mean the rebels that killed your grandparents,’ said Julie, shaking her head. ‘They are separated from them by dozens of generations and Alset genetic manipulation, but nothing can change your hatred.’
‘My father married one of them, making me part of them,’ said Tiberius as he looked at Julie. ‘I hated him so much for that, and I hated her even more. At the same, I also loved her. This enormous contradiction in feelings ripped at every fibre in my body.’
‘So you killed her, didn’t you?’ asked Julie.
‘Highlight of my life,’ chuckled Tiberius while shaking his head. ‘I watched her die slowly and painfully, and at the same time I saw my invincible father crumble into a complete wreck.’
‘You have absolutely no remorse,’ sighed Julie.
‘Remorse for what!’ said Tiberius aggressively. ‘My mother deserved to die. My father betrayed our whole family line. He deserved to suffer.’
‘What about the orphans? Did they deserve to suffer?’ asked Julie. ‘What about the fifty thousand that you killed in the stadium? Did they deserve to die?’
‘I stopped evil at its roots,’ chuckled Tiberius smugly. ‘I only regret not hunting down the ones that weren’t orphans.’
Julie sighed and shook her head.
‘The stadium, I thought you would have appreciated that,’ said Tiberius as his grin broadened. ‘That’s how I destroyed the Alset and Yensid Empires and created my own. My biggest regret is that I couldn’t take credit for it.’
Julie frowned and stared at Tiberius.
‘What is that?’ asked Tiberius. ‘Hypocrisy, regret, or maybe envy.’
‘You’re completely despicable,’ said Julie angrily. ‘There is no comparison between your actions and mine.’
‘You’re absolutely right, there is no comparison between us,’ said Tiberius angrily. ‘To you, the stadium attack was about power. That’s how it ended, but the real intent was justice.’
‘More delusional crap,’ replied Julie.
‘Don’t interrupt me, damn it!’ shouted Tiberius. ‘The Alset family branched from my royal family line, and so did the other noble families in the North. We were all comfortably wealthy, but that was not enough for Locum Alset. He wanted sole rights to the mining. He made a deal with Rundo, who wanted to control all of Sapey. They supported and funded the rebellion that killed my family and the other noble families. Then they sent in an army to be the heroes. The Alset family had sole rights to the resources, and it made them very rich. Years later, I killed Rundo. Years after, James Yensid and that little shit stripped the North of everything. They all needed to be punished, and they were.’
‘You don’t know the difference between justice and blind vengeance,’ replied Julie.
‘Whatever you call it,’ shouted Tiberius. ‘I had reasons. I was punishing the culprits of crimes against my family, my family line. You, on the other hand, seek only power and wealth. You were born into a rich elite family, but that wasn’t enough. You wanted absolute power and eternal life. You have manipulated all those around you with any means at your disposal. I’m sure the death count I’ve caused pales in comparison to what you’ve managed to achieve over the centuries. Your Sentray apocalypse is on a whole new level of death and destruction, and all you achieved is the fun of living the life of a retard.’
‘Are you finished now?’ asked Julie, who had taken a few steps back.
‘Not quite,’ replied Tiberius as he grinned at Julie. ‘The fifty thousand dead at the stadium was an early estimate based on the number rescued. During the clean-up, we found fewer than ten thousand bodies. We maintained the fifty thousand claim for maximum outrage. To this day, that remains the official and the one even the all-knowing August believes. So before you turn your nose in disgust at me, look in the mirror. That is if you can even find your own disgusting face.’
‘Goodbye, Tiberius,’ said Julie as she walked out of the room.
‘This game isn’t over yet, arsehole,’ chuckled Tiberius to himself.
On her way up from the basement, Julie encountered Cecil.
‘I’m warning you,’ said Cecil as he looked at Julie. ‘Threaten my plans and you’re in real…’
Julie grabbed Cecil by the neck. ‘You’ll take the promotion and the pay rise or I’ll eat you from the feet upwards,’ she snapped angrily. Then she slammed him down hard.
‘I understand,’ gasped Cecil. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide
Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide is the final book in the Sapien Loop trilogy. It continues directly after the events of the second book. The world above and the world below merge into one world. The conflicts in the underground world are brought to the surface. The new ruling elite attempt to crush any resistance from above and below in an attempt to create a new global empire.
Currently, three books from the series have been published on Amazon; see the links below:
All individual chapters can be found on my @captainhive account.
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