Deliver Us Huis

I turned to Petrus, “But how exactly are we going to go about taking over the world?”

“Well,” he said, “You’re wanting to set up an entire new set of government, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And do you think that would best be accomplished by rising politically, or gathering power elsewhere?”

“The current system is useless, rising to power through that would be, I feel, a waste of time.”

Petrus nodded approvingly, “So, you’re going to need another kind of power to put your rule into place. What other kind of power could do that?”

I thought carefully for a moment, “An army could force a government shutdown and institute my reign. Currently our armies are in a mediocre state of being. A lot of people have been speaking for change about that, yet our government still hasn’t changed. They’re quite open to attack.”

“Good,” Petrus nodded, “But where are you going to get this army?”

“I don’t know!” I said, exasperated, “Why don’t you tell me?”

Petrus leaned back in his chair, thinking, “Well, you have a lot of resources at your disposal. How would you best use them to make an army? An army that will be able to topple an entire government.”

I groaned, “There’s no way I could hire an army, building a band of loyal followers would take time and… I don’t think I’m the sort of person who could lead people to their deaths. Nor am I the kind of person to inspire people to fight.”

I sat silent for a moment, weighing my options. From behind me I heard a beep, and looked to see the service droid rolling toward me, O’Malley right behind him.

“Your droid is fixed, he only needed a few new cables as his other ones had shorted out.”

An idea flickered into my mind.

“O’Malley!” I cried, “You’re a genius!”

“What my lady?”

“Droids!”

I turned to Petrus, “We’ll make an android army! They’ll be easy to store, we have a whole extra nine floors! And we can use some local resources, and find the machines to make droids!”

Petrus nodded his approval, “Android Armies will be very simple to command. And we can make them as powerful as we need. It will be fairly easy to send them all over the planet. Perfect.”

Now I had two answers, what to do, and how to do it. I smiled, I always felt so much better when I had a plan going. But to set this in motion many more things would have to be figured out. I sat down and started writing.

“How do you suppose we will get what we need to build this army?”

“Well, you’ll need supplies, natural resources, machines to make android parts, and a technician who will be able to build you a new strong powerful kind of android.”

“How do you suppose we’ll get this technician. We’ll have to be sure he doesn’t tell anyone else.”

“Bribery, Tel, “ He said, “ Give anyone enough money and they won’t say a thing. Besides, he’ll stay here, and we can set sensors to be sure he doesn’t leave.”

“Perfect. If we get a technician who very skilled with droids he can tell us exactly what else we need.”

Petrus nodded. “I suppose that getting a technician is the first order of business.”

“Do we perhaps know a technician?” I hinted.

“A technician who is specializes in droids?” he asked, “Well…my brother tinkers around with droids sometimes...”

“Tinkers?” I laughed, “Nickolai made and programed my droids; they work better than any I could find in the market.”

“But he’s studying advanced weaponry right now…”

“We’ll find a way to recruit him.” I said.

“I’m sorry, my lady, but I’m confused, what exactly are you doing? What on earth do you need an android army for?”

I turned to see O’Malley staring at me quizzically, concern written all over his face.

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words would come out. What could I say? We’re planning world domination O’Malley, come on and join in?

Thankfully I didn’t have to speak for Petrus came to my rescue, “Government as we know it is horrible, isn’t it, O’Malley?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “They don’t seem to be doing much anything.”

“Exactly,” Petrus said, “We need a government that will make change happen. We need a leader. And who better than Tel here?”

O’Malley looked from Petrus to me and then nodded, “I suppose you make a good point, young man. As long as Telyina isn’t put in harms way I see no reason to stop you.” He paused, “However, I can’t help but think that others will disagree.”

Petrus looked back to me, “It’s true. If anyone finds out about this before we are ready the government would be all over us, and that would be bad news. How are we going to keep people from finding out about this?”

Control the facts, my brain whispered. I took my journal and started flipping through it, until I found what I was looking for. I read aloud,

“People love to draw together facts and make a conclusion. If you control the facts to lead to an obvious conclusion, then people will latch on to that conclusion. If you control the facts to lead to an obvious conclusion, you can then control the actions of people. Controlling what they perceive is key to their defeat.”

“We need to control the facts.” I said, “We need to distract the public, make them think I’m trying to rise to power another way, by the time they’ve figured out how to beat me there, it will be too late, for I will have my android army and take over.”

“That… is actually not a bad idea,” Petrus said, “But how do you plan to distract them?”

“I’ll start trying to rise in power politically, anyone who is smart enough to notice me making my way towards the top, will think I’m trying to institute a political takeover. They’ll be so focused on that, that a few disappearing resources and parts will seem like nothing.”

“Sounds good to me,” Petrus said, “Citywide delegate elections are in a month. Plenty of time for you to set up a surprise campaign and start the distractions. From there it’s just a matter of getting Nickolai and gathering materials for your android army.”

“Looks like we have some work to do researching how to run for delegate.” I said, “You up for this?”

Petrus smiled, “Nothing could keep me away.”