“Genocide.”
“Yes, that’s it. They say that they convicted you, without any mercy.”
“So you are also a doubter, Mr. President?”
“Me, a doubter?!” Erivan was in shock.
“Well, if you doubt our victory.”
“Me doubt victory?! Be careful of what you say, Grasshopper!” Erivan rumbled.
“Of course you have doubts. Have the defeated ever judged the victor?”
“Well, that’s true. You’re right, Grasshopper. That has never happened. We will try them for gecide.”
“Genocide.”
“Yes, that.”
“And what did you tell the generals to that, Mr. President?”
“Nothing. Charlie killed them all.”
“That’s good. How is my friend Charlie?”
“He is well. They are all well, and I haven’t slept in nights, Grasshopper.”
“Why do you permit yourself this, Mr. President? You do your office hours, your eight hours, then to bed. Or a casual stroll around the residence. You have to think about your health, above all.”
“I do, but it’s no use. I’m always swamped by people.”
“By whom?”
“Everyone. From all sectors of the Company. They complain that they can’t deliver goods to shops under these conditions. That the few that they do deliver are not selling at all. That is why the workers are not getting paid. Then they don’t want to work. They go on strike. No one is paying for energy anymore. Even in the places where you haven’t switched it off. They’re a wanton mob, Grasshopper.”
“What salaries? There’s a war. Introduce labor duties.”
“I’ve already tried that, Grasshopper. It doesn’t work. The inspectors have created a labor union and even they won’t work. Neither to arrest the Non-Consumers nor to take them to the camps. They are demanding regular pay and an increase of 30%. Where do I get the money for that?”
“What happened to Prince’s money?”
“Its all gone. I bought cheap shares for all the money in the vault, and the price started to go up. But now the sectors are not producing. They’re on strike. The stock is worthless. It’s a disaster, Grasshopper. Even I received only one quarter of the salary for this month.”
“What do you care about your salary? You can have whatever you want.”
“I know… I’m just saying, so you can see that the situation is difficult.”
“I really don’t see any problem there.”
“Its easy for you up there, Grasshopper. That’s why you can talk like that.”
“What is money, Mr. President?”
“What do you mean ‘what is it’? Money is…”
“Its just printed paper. That’s what money is.”
“Yes, Grasshopper, but…”
“Print it, Mr. President, as much as you need. For our squads, for the Inspectorate, for weapons production.”
“I don’t need it for the squads. I told them that all the war booty is theirs. Some of your colleagues are already very rich. They could buy both you and me, Grasshopper.”
“I believe you. But I’m telling you, print money for everything else.”
Part III: The Apocalypse
Chapter 109
“What did you do to the entire city, Grasshopper?” Erivan asked anxiously.
“I vaporized it. That’s easy. You increase the strength of the cosmic energy beam to the maximum and you reduce the entire city to atoms. You vaporize it. That’s what I call it. Because the city makes a ‘puff’ and that’s it.”
“But why the ‘puff’!?!”
“I saw that in that city the bandits were preparing a secret weapon for the destruction of your residence, Mr. President. I’m merciless in that respect, when your safety is in question, Mr. President.”
“Wow, thank you, Grasshopper. What would I do without you? Who would defend and protect me? By the way, do you see how bloodshot my eyes are?’
“I do. They’re really red.”
“I’m still not sleeping. It’s getting worse and worse.”
“How is that?”
“I printed the money. I gave the inspectors their salaries. And I increased them 100%, not 30%, like they had asked…”
“And?…”
“And they started working normally, but then they came and said that I had tricked them, that the money was worthless.”
“What do they mean worthless?”
“It isn’t worthless, but they said that all the prices had gone up. That they can’t buy even a kilo of potatoes for their monthly salary.”
“Print more and increase their salaries again.”
“I did and I gave them a raise, as a reward in the middle of the month. And they said that they can’t buy even half a kilogram of potatoes. So I asked them ‘how much do these potatoes cost?’. They said a million. No problem. I added six zeroes and printed their new salaries. And they came back. They said that potatoes now cost a thousand billions or a billion billions, I’ve already forgotten. And that’s where I realized that they are only greedy and that they were lying to me. Even Prince Kaella didn’t have that much money.”
“And?”
“Nothing. Charlie killed those from the union and now all the inspectors have turned against me. You can probably see from up there how they are tightening the noose around my residence. And you’re playing dumb and asking me why my eyes are red and why I’m not sleeping.”
“I see. Who’s defending you? The squads?”
“Nope. Only Charlie’s left. Everyone else has stolen as much as they wanted, killed as much as they wanted, each one created their own army… Now I hear that they’re killing each other.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ll defend you. I’ve been working on that for a while now. Just hang on a little longer.”
Chapter 110
“Where have you been, Grasshopper?” Erivan shouted in panic, when the Grasshopper finally picked up. “Can’t you see that they’re almost in the residence?! Charlie’s barely holding on!”
“Calm down, Mr. President. I’ve completed my procedure. Everything is in place now,” the Grasshopper calmed him.
“What procedure of yours? What is in place?”
“Are you seeing how I’m vaporizing cities across the Earth?”
“Yes. And they say that I’m to blame for sending such a butcher up there.”
“Butcher? Cute. Now listen to me carefully. My procedure automatically controls the energy beams targeting a ring around the entire region of Capital City. When it detects that someone has entered that ring, the beams go online and vaporize everything that is in it. Do you understand, Mr. President?”
“I understand…”
“So no one can enter or leave Capital City.”
“Alright…”
“You’re not pleased? I’m providing you with absolute protection and you…”
“Can’t you create that ring around my residence? What use is the region. You probably see…”
“I cannot create such small beams. And I also don’t want to. You’ll see, Capital City will adore you.”
“How, Grasshopper, how?!”
“You will immediately appear on television and explain to the people everything what I’ve told you. And tell them that if anyone gives you the eye, I will vaporize all of Capital City.”
“They won’t believe me… you have to tell them, Grasshopper.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. I’ll call the television station.”
Chapter 111
Dr. Palladino never cared about anything. Except for on two occasions. The first time was on that day, when he was the only one not to appear at his wedding. Not that something was wrong with the bride. Brides will be brides: she cared about children, a home, furniture… etc. That is why Dr. Palladino remained alone his entire life.