Hero Falls Kingdom Rises

by Farhat Kidwai

  There were on-going negotiations between nations dealing with refugee crisis and the UN. Proposals were made for nations outside of Eurasia to stop their citizens from leaving the country. There needed to be a global agreement between all countries to sign on to Omega’s proposal first. Then only they could work out a long-term plan to slowly and orderly relocate people to Eurasia.

  There was a lot of backlash against the refugees from the locals in Eurasian countries. They started to ban refugees from entering their borders. Ships full of vulnerable woman and children exhausted from a long journey to reach the Eurasian coasts were being turned back. The situation had turned into a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

  Humanitarian organizations, human rights groups, and volunteers from all over the world rushed in to help out led by the billionaire Albert. Albert tried to use his influence to find a safe passage for the refugees into Eurasia. He met with coastal nations to allow the refugees who were already on their way to safe passage. He also worked to set up refugee camps outside of the cities to house these people so it wouldn’t impact the local communities. There was concern about violent backlash from the locals. Thousands of volunteers worked countless hours to set up these camps and help provide resources like food, water, and medical supplies.

  When it all failed Albert reached out to Omega to ask help. He was no longer a fan of Omega and had been critical of his actions on numerous occasions but this was desperate times. He flew out to Mersin against the recommendation of his people.

  Albert was greeted by Elliot who took him inside the GSRC to have a one-on-one meeting. Elliot and Albert had crossed paths in the past at some conferences. Albert had been a supporter to Elliot’s work. He was also a supporter of Omega when he was still protecting the human race.

  “It has been a while since I saw you,” Elliot greeted Albert.

  “It has. A lot has changed since then,” Albert wanted to say more but this was not the time to be critical. He was here to get Omega’s help and pissing off his father was not going to further his cause so he took a more diplomatic tone. “It’s good to see you again old friend.”

  “I am surprised you reached out. You have been very critical of Omega recently.” Elliot questioned Albert’s intentions.

  “I have. I have a world view that is different from yours. I am not here to discuss the merits of it. Maybe someday we can discuss this over a drink when things are a little bit calmer,” Albert responded.

  “I have a feeling that drink will have to wait a while then,” Elliot stated. They acknowledged the reality that peace was long ways away.

  “I am here to talk to Omega about the refugee crisis created by Omega’s speech at the UN. It is a humanitarian crisis. Women and children… babies are dying in camps. They don’t have adequate supplies and local governments are refusing to help. They have pressure from their citizens to turn away the refugees. When their boats get turned away at the coast they are being sent to certain death without food and water. Omega wanted to create this new world. These are people who are following his orders and they are suffering because of it. He needs to step up and help out.” Albert explained.

  “I will talk to him.” Elliot acknowledged that Omega may need to do more.

  Later that day in a meeting room at the GSRC as Omega was about to walk in and meet Albert.

  “Am I safe? What are the chances I end up like Klan?” Albert half-jokingly asked Elliot,

  “You haven’t killed anyone close to him so that works in your favor. Still, know when to shut up. Just don’t piss him off.” Elliot half-jokingly replied.

  “It is nice to finally you meet you Omega.” Albert tried to hide his nerves as well as he could. It’s not every day one gets to be in front of an alien.

  “What can I do for you?” Omega was no longer a people pleaser and it reflected in the way he spoke to strangers.

  “I am here to talk about the growing refugee crisis in Eurasia. Your proposal to move all humans to these two continents has caused a lot of people from around the world to flood the Eurasian borders. They are not waiting for the official move because of the fear that there will not be a place for them in the new world. We are struggling to relocate these people in Eurasia. Local governments are not on board with absorbing them into their societies.” Albert explained the situation.

  “What would you like me to do about this?” Omega asked.

  “These leaders will listen to you. The citizens in these countries will listen to you. The refugees need your help. They followed your proposal for the new world and they are being persecuted for it. Children are dying from lack for food, water and medical supplies. They are living in deplorable conditions. I may not agree with your proposal but I am not here to convince you to change your mind. I am here to ask for your help. Help me help the people who are on board with your future world order.” Albert requested.

  “It’s a fair request. I appreciate your willingness to help these people even though you have been a vocal opponent of me and my proposal.” Omega agreed. “I will talk to those governments and they will help. If you see any issues or refugee mistreatment, feel free to contact us and we will take care of it. Our world views are not aligned but I still respect you.”

  “Maybe when things settle down we can discuss that in detail. I understand the goal of your proposal and it is something we all want. Where we disagree is that the end doesn’t always justify the means. For now, I appreciate you stepping up and helping out. If we can find common ground here maybe we can find common ground on your proposal as well. We will keep your team posted on the refugee crisis.” Albert thanked Omega.

  Elliot and Albert had a follow-up meeting to go over the plan to help the refugees. Omega took on the responsibility of working with Eurasian nations on the re-settlement process. After getting assurances from Omega and Elliot, Albert flew back the same night to continue his efforts to help the refugees.

  Chapter 11

  After the UN General Assembly speech, most countries had to grapple with the idea of the new world proposed by Omega. It was an easier choice for small poor nations, nations with limited resources, and ones that were threatened by climate change. Omega was offering a far better life for them and the future generations. It was a no-brainer so they immediately signed on to the proposal. It was time for celebration for the people in those nations as they would be heading towards a better quality of life in Eurasia. Omega’s team immediately started negotiations with other nations to ensure that the UN would never able to get the world to unite against the proposal. They were anticipating resistance from the developed nations who were facing a much tougher choice. Building alliances was necessary to keep the world split between the haves and the have nots.

  It would be hard for developed and developing nations that were not in Eurasia to move all their people to and give up their land. In any other situation they would have just said no to this proposal but they were dealing with someone who did not take kindly to resistance. Complying meant giving up everything and moving to Eurasia as refugees with an uncertain future. The other option was to stand their ground and fight but knowing what Omega does to those who go against him made that a really scary option. Going down the resistance path and losing could mean total annihilation of their nation. To this day humans still didn’t have a good understanding of the extent of Omega’s true powers. They had only seen glimpses and it was terrifying. Even with their lives at stake accepting the proposal meant accepting Omega as the ruler of this planet and giving up their spot at the top of the food chain. Was the cost of survival worth all this? Could the leaders even convince their citizens to agree or would they have to force the decision on their people?

  NATO who had a contentious relationship with Omega in the recent past was attempting to lobby other nations to join them in stopping Omega. They were able to gather support from some of the larger South American nations who weren’t sure about abandoning their continent and moving to Eurasia. The smaller costal n
ations were in favor of leaving for Eurasia in the hopes of a better life. Some of the NATO nations themselves were not in favor of fighting Omega and bailed on the alliance.

  Russia had an interesting choice to make. It had been one of the biggest beneficiaries of climate change. The eastern shipping routes that had been frozen forever were finally open for trade due to reduction of polar ice caps. It had been a huge boost to the economy. Signing up to Omega’s proposal may start reversing the impacts of climate change and eventually freeze up those routes again. On the other hand, if humans were only going to live in Eurasia it would make Russia and China the largest and most powerful nations in the world. Also, since NATO was against the proposal there was finally an opening to take them down. By joining Omega, for once Russia could join an alliance that would be stronger than NATO. When it was all said and done they wanted to be on the winning side of history.

  For China it was an easy decision to join Omega. In the new world order, they were going to be the biggest economic power. With America gone Eurasia would have to depend on them for most of their goods and supplies. They had been spending billions to re-create the silk route to increase trade with the Eurasian countries. They had already implemented a one-child policy in the past so that was not going to be an issue either. China was also taking steps toward improving its poor animal rights image by banning ivory. They would have to do a lot more to comply with Omega but it was a small price to pay for becoming an economic powerhouse.

  India was struggling with the idea of the new world order. It was already overpopulated and would be required to make big reductions in its population. On top of that it would be required to give up some of its habitable land to people from other continents. If they signed up for the proposal it would require some drastic change in policies that would be brutal on its population. On the other hand, a portion of the Indian population regarded Omega as a God. He fit in perfectly with Indian mythology and was regarded by many as a reincarnation of Shiva. His following grew rapidly especially amongst vegetarians after announcement of harsh penalties for animal abusers. The brutal punishment he handed down to individuals involved in killing Roman created a lot of buzz amongst Hindus. Durga also known as Mother Goddess and wife of Shiva rode lions and tigers and Shiva himself is often depicted as sitting on skin of these big cats. Omega having the power to re-shape or destroy the world made a strong case for him being the reincarnation of Shiva. Being a Hindu majority nation made it very difficult for the Indian government to openly come out against Omega. During times of uncertainty, fear and social anxiety people often turn to religion for guidance. Going against someone who was perceived as the reincarnation of Shiva by some would have caused a civil uproar. Going against voters in a democratic nation with coalition governments was a sure way to get kicked out of power. The Indian government reluctantly signed up for Omega’s proposal which really hurt the chances of NATO uniting the world against Omega.

  Everyone wanted to hear from the revered billionaire scientist Helm who was in Omega’s inner circle and was helping him create the framework of the new world. After weeks of requests Helm finally agreed to interviews to help everyone understand his thought process in choosing to join Omega’s cause.

  The anchor, James, started the interview by thanking Helm, “Mr. Helm, I would like to thank you for agreeing to sit down for an interview. I am sure you are extremely busy with establishing the framework for the new world. The whole world has been anxiously waiting to hear from you.”

  “It has been busy but I have a lot of help from some of the best and brightest minds of our generation. We are working tirelessly to create a framework that will help create a better planet for all its inhabitants. Our job is to create a model that allows for Earth to heal itself and prevent the sixth extinction. There will be some tough but necessary choices that will have to be made but I promise you that we will do our best to make the transition as smooth as possible.” Helm made his opening remarks.

  “I am happy to hear that. I am sure all our viewers will also be happy to hear that. You are one of the early supporters of Omega. In fact, you can be credited for helping him shape the speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Everyone wants to know how did that all come about? Did you reach out to him or did he?” James asked.

  “I can’t take credit for the speech at the General Assembly. There were a lot of brilliant minds that helped shape that message. I was just happy to be a part of it. So, to answer your question; I reached out to him. A lot of us in the scientific community have known that something drastic has to be done to change the course we are on. We are heading towards extinction and are not able to stop ourselves. See we humans are not wired to worry about things that will happen in the future. Our brains can only react to imminent danger. That is at the root of the problem. This is why we have not been able to do enough to change course. All of us know about it. We understand that it will destroy all of us but since it will not happen today our brains can ignore it and focus on more immediate problems. Once I saw what Omega did in response to the murder of his friend Roman it was obvious that he has the power and the willingness step up. He understands the long-term danger from climate change and destruction of the ecosystem and wants to do something about it. His General Assembly speech made him the immediate threat that we all needed to pay attention to. He made our extinction an immediate issue that we now cannot ignore. The best way I can describe it is that he moved up the extinction timeline. It is sad that we needed an alien to help get our attention towards our own destruction. He has to scare us into saving ourselves. He understands that fear is the greatest motivator for humans,” Helm elaborated.

  “That is a very interesting take. Most people who will lose their homes, their livelihood will not see it that way. It will destroy the global economy. Have we considered the human cost?” James followed up.

  “We have. The only thing is that we continue to pretend that there is some value to human lives. I value the lives of people close to me. I am sure do you as well? But when it comes to humans in general we don’t care what happens to them. We can pretend to care about people dying in some other parts of the world because it makes us seem more compassionate but deep down we don’t really care. You can be sad or happy about those deaths depending on your world view. Millions of people die every month. They die from hunger, diseases, senseless wars, criminal acts and we never care. The death and misery are not caused by other species. We ourselves created a society that subjects our own kind to this much suffering every day. We could have changed at any point in our history and created a better world for all of us but we haven’t and we never will. We are not trying to make it easy for others to survive because it would go against evolution. Once you get past the fake sympathy for other humans you will find that our behavior is perfectly natural. Not all of us were ever meant to survive. We don’t want everyone to make it because it leaves fewer resources for us. Like all other species only the DNAs that are most adapted to survive should make it far enough to reproduce. It’s natural selection.

  “On the question of the economy. Economic impact is something the ones in power regularly throw out there to scare common people. In reality these are just concepts that we have collectively agreed to. The financial markets, value of products or currency. There will be temporary impact but then the economic models will adjust based on the framework of the new world. It is trivial issue compared to our survival. Over time climate change will cause the same level of economic impact so that is not a sound argument against the proposal,” Helm explained.

  “That is an interesting take. So, help us understand what would have happened to the world if nothing changed? If Omega never got involved?” James asked.

  “Either we will get to a similar outcome on our own or we will go extinct. Other species will survive and restart life but humans likely will go extinct,” Helm responded.

  “Explain that to me. I have heard that we will go extinct and understand why but
I have never heard this other theory. How will we end up at the same outcome on our own?” James was curious.

  “If you see the current economic and technological trends it may lead us down the same path. Income inequality is growing at a rapid pace. And as it grows more and more money is being taken out of the economy by the ones at the top. The less money middle- and lower-income people have to spend the lower the demand for products and services. This in turn will start shrinking the economy and ones at the top will have no need to reinvest that money back into the economy due to lack of demand. Couple that with automation and Artificial Intelligence, pretty soon there will not be a need for any labor. Innovation and creativity would be the only employable skillset left. Perfect example is self-driving technology. It will eliminate all the transportation jobs which make up a big portion of the middle class. That alone will have a devastating impact on the unemployment rate. Taking away employment from that many people in the middle class will impact other jobs and businesses that were counting on the purchasing power of these employees,” Helm explained.

  “How does this lead to the same outcome as you guys have proposed?” James followed up.

  “If you can’t participate in the economy it would be difficult for you to be part of the any society. If you are not contributing to the society and are dependent on others to take care of your needs, you become a drag. You really believe the ones with all the money will be charitable enough to take care of the rest of the population? We will likely end up in a similar situation where the few with power will decide the fate of the rest who will no longer be useful to society. Ironically, we may even use climate change, eco system, and animal welfare as the excuse to “do something” about all the non-contributing members of the society.” Helm painted the grim picture.