Chapter 452: The "Emperor" Responds

Dubai wasn't the only place that had rescue ships show up. Nova, despite being busy watching over Aron during his upgrade, had diverted a few atomic printers from their cleanup duty in orbit to the Lagrange points where they stored the material and used that to print as many hospital ships as could be printed with the material available there. In combination with those printed in orbit by the remaining printers there, hundreds of hospital ships had shown up at locations around the world and carried out rescues using the same shocking technology.

The hospital ships were then handed over to Minerva, as Nova was only sparing a single thread of her consciousness for anything that wasn't Aron at the moment and she had to address the empire on his behalf shortly.

Not five minutes later, a hologram of "Aron" appeared in front of everyone in the simulation, as well as those using AR glasses in reality. Along with those, he also appeared on every phone, computer, and television screen as well.

"Dear citizens of the Terran Empire," he began, a grave look on his face. "Over the past two hours, Our empire faced the worst terrorist attack in human history. More than two thousand attacks were carried out, and the attacks are still ongoing. The attacks have resulted in more than seven million dead and almost twice that number of injured, together with more than five trillion Earth New Dollars in economic and infrastructure damage." The "emperor's" solemn gaze seemed to penetrate the hearts of everyone that saw him.

"Over the past few hours, We have been working hard on providing rescue and respite to those affected by the abominable attacks carried out against the innocent citizens of Our empire. Had Our response not been fast enough, the casualty list would only have grown. Thankfully, however, every storm cloud has a silver lining. And that silver lining now is that the attacks only took place after Our government was in a functioning state. Had they taken place even one or two days ago, they would have been many times more devastating."

Although "Aron" said that, it wasn't as though the attacks even could have taken place earlier, as martial law had been in place until the night before.

"Still, even a single citizen's death at the hands of these vile terrorists is more than We are willing to tolerate. Thus, We will not stop until We find out exactly who was behind this and punish them under imperial law.

"But to do that, We need to take swift, aggressive action to capture the perpetrators behind this coordinated attack on Us and prevent further attacks from occurring. Even now, attacks are ongoing, and they must stop." The "emperor" emphasized the last three words.

"Of the hundreds of attacks We have prevented so far, Our investigators have noticed a disturbing pattern that, in hindsight, should have been obvious. None of the attackers have registered as imperial citizens. Instead, they all took advantage of Our generosity and tolerance to gain access to equipment and materiel during the grace period that We allowed for registration as imperial citizens.

"Thus, to remove all doubt, We are now requiring all people to apply for imperial citizenship at any of the offices in the simulation within five days from now. Should anyone fail to do so, they will be considered suspects in the ongoing investigation to discover the attackers' identities and treated as such under imperial law.

"We'd hoped it wouldn't have come to this," the disguised Nova sighed, "but it has, and We must face the reality that is presented to Us. We are also declaring martial law once again, as well as a complete lockdown. All essential services will be authorized through the imperial police agency and you will be escorted to and from your workplaces by our auxiliary law enforcement officers.

"That said," he grinned, "at least the simulation is there to provide comfort, recreation, and a semblance of a 'normal' life."

"His" face grew solemn once more. "On a more personal note, I would like to call for a moment of silence in solidarity with those who have lost someone close to them in these attacks." The projection bowed its head for a full minute, then raised it again. "I know it's cold consolation, but you have my word that none of the people who orchestrated this cowardly assault will escape the punishment for what they've done. Anyone who was related to a person that died will be kept in the loop and compensated for their loss. I know money can't bring back the dead, but it's the only consolation I can offer you at this time, along with the updates on the progress of the investigation."

"Aron" cleared his throat and his expression turned formal once again as he continued, "As for those whose property was damaged, you, too, will be compensated. The damage to your property will be assessed and provided to you as subsidies for building your new homes in the fortress cities that We will be breaking ground on over the next few days.

"These attacks have highlighted a weakness in the current cities. They weren't designed with safety in mind, but rather grew organically along with the population. However, Our fortress cities will be designed with the safety and comfort of their residents as the driving factors behind the planning and design phases.

"There will be no loopholes."

He changed the subject and continued, "The despicable terrorists who carried out these attacks, and those behind them who planned them, did so under the insane belief that We are a devil that's out to taint the world. That's the reason they used to justify the civilian casualties they caused, but their intricate planning and cunning security measures put the lie to their words. And although We are sure that everyone already knows this, We want to reiterate and stress that those behind this show signs of being a cult. They, like every other cult before them, take advantage of the weaknesses in people's hearts to indoctrinate them and strip their sense of self and individuality to the point that those victims are willing to martyr themselves for their cause.

"And what a ridiculous cause it is! We have done nothing but work for the betterment of humanity. Our technology heals the sick, feeds the hungry, teaches the uneducated, and will house the homeless and enrich the poor. Which of those are actions that a 'devil' would do on behalf of anyone? We are deeply offended on a personal level by these ridiculous and patently false claims!

"And to think that during this time, even as the attacks and rescue efforts are ongoing, certain people abused the privileges afforded to them to provide a platform for this ridiculous and insane slander. They are the media broadcasters and management that allowed the cult's manifesto to be broadcast without informing the government or even considering the trauma it would inflict on the people who were still dealing with the attacks that cost them family, friends, and so very much more.

"And for that, they must pay. As We speak to you now, Our imperial police agency is arresting everyone involved in that particular debacle. They will be publicly tried before the imperial court on charges of fostering sedition. It must be made very clear that the law cannot be casually broken without consequences.

"But for now, We have run out of time and must place Our focus back where it belongs: on the rescue efforts and providing succor to those affected by these heinous attacks. We will keep you informed as to the ongoing investigations."

Aron's projection gradually faded from sight and was replaced by the imperial seal. Then that, too, vanished, leaving the recipients who had watched the uncharacteristically short address not knowing what to feel about it.

The events of the day had simply been too much for everyone, and people lingered for quite some time in a collective worldwide stare state.