Chapter 22: Global Announcement

Secret bunker in Russia:

What would a person do if they got their hands on the most powerful computer in the world? When firewalls and encryption algorithms could no longer stop you from brute forcing them. When all the data that has existed on the internet becomes within your reach. 

You would take advantage of it.

But in a world where order no longer existed and money held no value, what could you even do with all the information? 

Most would have no idea. Now that everyone had shifted to using the MESH for communication, and GUIDE had replaced all need for electronic devices, data privacy seemed like a concern of yesterday. The GUIDE would protect your privacy. This notion had taken root in the minds of almost all citizens very quickly.

Why?

Because the World Government said so. And if they were claiming so, it must be the truth, right? Many would beg to differ, but what does the public even know? They will accept everything that it fed them, as long as it fits their own narrative. As long as they can avoid the actual truth, which was much more unnerving.

But what was the actual truth?

Alina was one of the few people who had managed to learn of it. And she was sure that there were many others who had a hint of it.

The complete hoax that was the World Government. And the lies they fed to their citizens. But having dug up through everything that was there for her to uncover, Alina had found out much more than she had bargained for. Not only about the merger, but about the reason the World Government was formed, or rather when it was formed. Who was behind its creation?

To think the answer had always been in front of their eyes.

Alina struggled to keep herself awake, typing furiously. She had not slept for three days now, consumed by her own drive and curiosity. And now, she had to let the world know of this as well. Not because she was righteous. But because this involved the hopes of her survival. And everyone else's. She hoped that by letting out the truth, perhaps there would be a way to change the outcome, the machinations of a plan that had been churning for a very long time.

Finished typing, she called out to her GUIDE.

"Send out a global announcement on the MESH."

|*Resident Alina, making a global announcement on the MESH requires payment. Please mention what are you willing to use as payment*|

"Undo the transformation of the quantum computer to be used as the payment. Use all the favors that will result from that to ensure the announcement stays up for a long while."

Her heart ached to let go of the quantum computer that she had used for the three days and learnt so much from. But she had learnt much more and knew that it wasn't the final time she would be using it. As long as she could collect more favors from stages and participating in the merger, she could wish for the GUIDE to transform back into it any time. She just had to be patient now. So that her announcement would reach the right people. 

Maybe she was just delusional even after learning the truth. But that's how people are. 

|*Your request has been accepted. The announcement will be released in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2..*|

....

Laboratory under the desert:

"Okay, so we knew that there are countless alternate versions that we have to defeat and absorb through the reality stage. But now you're saying that there are also super advanced civilizations out there who have already been absorbing countless alternative versions for many years now? And we have to compete with these supercharged version of ourselves, eventually? Now this sounds like an apocalypse."

Jay's voice sounded, summarizing the crisis that awaited them basically. Even though he was being sarcastic at the grim reality that they were facing, Asche chuckled and added, "Don't forget that there is a Neimun civilization which is the ultimate boss, the overlord who can invade other realities. They could come swinging right now and we would be sitting ducks for them."

"Were you not paying attention to his words? He mentioned specifically that Neimun can not invade natural realities. Only those artificial realities. If anything, them destroying those super civilizations is removing the unnecessary competition from the race for us." Zephyr added from the side in a bored tone. He was lazily sprawled on a couch, a holographic Rubik's cube in his hand.

"Bitch, he clearly said that that was a guess from his side, or rather an educated guess from the future Kane, who also is from one the artificial realities." 

"Even still, the GUIDE confirmed with us that no one can travel to alternate dimensions during the personal merger, so have some faith in it. Neimun whatever won't just randomly spawn at our reality, stop being pessimistic" He argued back.

"Nah, the GUIDE is unreliable. We should assume that the worst could happen. So what measures do we have to fight invading buffed up space troopers from alternate dimensions?" Eli joined in the discussion. Maybe she had not been following the discussion correctly, cause she didn't seem to understand what fighting intergalactic invading civilizations meant.

Kane kept quiet and looked on as his friends indulged in their pessimistic banter. He could tell that they were all being sarcastic and that the information he had shared with them was too much to swallow. In fact, he had considered whether to hold on to the info. To not swamp them with the reality that was approaching them. But in the end, he had decided to be frank with them. But now he felt maybe he shouldn't have.

They all sounded like they had already lost all hope. He did not know what to say to them, to assure them that they could find a way out of this hole, that all was not-

"Oi sleeping beauty, why are you lost again? We are having a serious discussion on measures to adopt that will increase our survival possibility. Wanna chip in or continue with your internal monologue? Yo, someone knock on his head, he is ignoring us deliberately." 

Eli got up from her place, swinging her hand, ready to deliver a knockout punch, when Kane jumped and dodged back. He looked at his friends closely, trying to find any trace of sarcasm.

But no. They weren't the ones who were pessimistic. He realized that although they wore expressions of fear; they hadn't surrendered to despair. It was he who had been too quick to judge and label their emotions. In their eyes, he saw a glimmer of hope, a spark of determination. He felt a twinge of guilt for underestimating their resilience and inner strength. It was a lesson learned, a reminder- 

*BAM*

Something flat hit him behind his head, launching him against one of the couches. He landed on the comfortable cushion and pushed himself off. Looking behind, he saw Zephyr with a strange device in his hand that looked like a large tennis racket. He was frowning at him as he said, "Stop tuning out the world and start focusing on the present. I can tell that you were definitely thinking something like 'Oh no, we are doomed. There is no way to save us.' So stop with that and start acting like the guy who is going to lead us in this apocalypse. Isn't that what you're supposed to be good at? Make use of that brain that has like a thousand other brains mushed in and plan for us. We ain't giving up just yet, so you better not drop now." His tone was obviously annoyed, as he waved his racket at him.

"Ye, this bastard was definitely underestimating us. Smack him once more," Jay added.

Asche raised his hand at the guys to calm down and spoke. 

"Alright guys, I think he gets it. Drop the racket and let's get back to discussing the important stuff. We now have knowledge of the enemy. We have a lot of other information from the memories that Kane has. All that is left is to get grinding and make sure none of those jacked up alternate versions of us get the better of us, if we end up facing them."

Kane heard them all and understood that his friends were right. He had been underestimating them. He had assumed for them what their reaction would be and blinded himself from the possibility that maybe his friends were not afraid of the challenge. He nodded to himself and-

*SMACK*

"What was that for?" Kane cried, looking at Eli, who was grinning slyly at him.

"That was for earlier when you fooled us on the jet with your transformation."

All of them laughed at her reasoning. 

But then a voice cut through their laughter.

|*Global Announcement: 

Attention, citizens of the Earth!

Amidst the chaos that has been bought by the onset of the merger, with the lives of everyone being overturned, the World Government emerges as a symbol of hope. We've worked tirelessly to secure the future of our global community.

For all the citizens that decide to join us through the portal on MESH, we offer a promise of prosperity. Our hard-earned rewards, gained through overcoming the merger's challenges such as magic spells, magical artifacts and weapons , genetic enhancements, advanced tech and much more are all open for the contributors to choose from. 

Embrace this opportunity to rise above the uncertainties. Join us and take the path to a better tomorrow. 

The World Government*|

Kane and his friends looked at each other as the announcement played thrice before stopping, uncertain what to make of this proclamation. 

It was Asche who broke the silence, and spoke first:

"That sounds too good to be true. What do you think they are planning by making such empty promises? I mean, why would they even care for such stuff? Forming a government holds no purpose now, so why go through so much effort?"

"No matter what reason there is, it must be something that can benefit them. In fact we can't even be sure that this is done by a collective government. There have only been announcements from their side and no one has actually showed their faces. For all we know, someone is pretending to be the government for their own reasons. Whatever it is, this is too suspicious to take part in. We should steer clear of them for now." Kane said. Just like the others, he was not too clear what the whole truth was. He felt that they were preparing something big, but the lack of information made it difficult to make any educated guess.