Chapter 160: America’s Choice
President Bernstein stayed in Korea for four days.
It was not unusual for him to have a long visit, considering the status of the United Human Federation.
But it was strange that he spent most of his time at the Blue House instead of attending events.
“I wonder what President Bernstein is doing at the Blue House.”
“Before he left, the White House said that there were many issues to discuss. There were dozens of agenda items related to the moon base.”
“I see. Do you think President Bernstein will accept the White House’s proposals?”
“I think he will accept them within a reasonable range. The United Human Federation has grown a lot in appearance, but it has not achieved complete integration in substance.”
A political commentator pointed out the areas on the map that were presumed to be the territory of the United Human Federation.
“If you add Manchuria and Simultiberia, you will have the second largest territory after Russia. It’s really impressive, but unfortunately there are many places where administrative power does not reach.”
“The most populous area is Manchuria. This region has now joined the United Human Federation and protests have decreased compared to the past, but it is not completely stable. There are many residents who oppose smart farms…”
“I know that there are large-scale farms in Manchuria. That’s where the trouble arises.”
“That’s right. The food produced by smart farms is cheaper than the food consumed within China. As a result, they cannot compete in price and cannot preserve their income.”
“I don’t think President Bernstein would push for that without knowing it. What about Simultiberia? It looks really huge on the map.”
“It would be easier to name the areas where administrative power reaches. But recently, a mega-city site has been selected and they are prioritizing native residents.”
“How do the natives react?”
“Most of them are welcoming. They don’t live there because they like it. Some people can’t leave their hometowns and some people don’t like the change in their way of life, but the young generation is favorable. They were neglected by Russia, but the United Human Federation is paying attention to them.”
“I see. It seems like we’ve gone off topic, but you’re saying that there is still a low possibility of conflict with us because of these reasons?”
“There is a variable. The atmosphere will change depending on how the White House reacts to the spaceship that the United Human Federation revealed this time.”
“A 100,000-ton spaceship from Mars.”
“It’s not an ordinary spaceship, but a warship with combat capabilities. Even by the classification standards of the United Human Federation, it’s not a cruiser, but I think this is a statement of intent. They don’t want to clash with us.”
“So you’re saying that they lowered it to a cruiser class instead of a battleship to avoid conflict with us?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow… A 100,000-ton space battleship appeared in the sky, but I wonder what that means. Anyway, I heard you well.”
The reason why Seoul-class was classified as a combat cruiser was because it was originally like that in the United Human Federation.
It was the lower limit that could be deployed on the front line of the Great Plague War.
It was somewhat small in size, but it had a large-caliber railgun and an ion cannon, and most importantly, it could carry multiple assault armors.
This surpassed the previous generation battleships and was not far behind in terms of combat power.
However, this only applied to regular combat cruisers that exceeded 200,000 tons.
The Seoul-class was an experimental ship that had a reduced design and many omitted weapons.
They could add more if needed.
Arma planned to test the real combat in space with the Seoul-class and give feedback for the future construction plans.
The true power, that is, the battleship class, was a problem for later.
Anyway, many channels in the US aired special programs about this spaceship.
Except for some crazy programs that said it was nothing special, most of them regarded it as a serious crisis situation.
―The most important thing is that the United Human Federation said that this was the opening of the space age. Just like when Europe entered India and the New World 600 years ago, they are going to enter the solar system.
―There is no intelligent life in the solar system, so it’s nothing but a declaration that they will scrape up resources. The United Human Federation didn’t even join the UN. We have to stop them from scraping up resources without any restrictions.
―If we had one of those things, we could explore life forms right away…
There were various opinions, but they all agreed that the United Human Federation had shown great technology in terms of military power.
Even the US military expressed regret that the spaceship was not for peace, but for war, and was busy preparing countermeasures.
They had no means to respond if that ship attacked from high orbit.
Even shooting down a nuclear missile fired by the US was not impossible.
It was possible only if the location and altitude information was perfectly prepared, but many people leaned toward the possibility considering the technology of the United Human Federation.
In such an atmosphere, the US unusually paid a lot of attention to this summit meeting.
In the middle of the meeting, NASA officials were suddenly summoned and even senators visited Korea, but the public thought it was because of the status of the United Human Federation.
The former NASA employees who were summoned were moved after seeing and touching the golden record under strict security.
“This is the golden record we made. No doubt.”
“It’s perfect down to the smallest scratch and even records the noise during recording… It’s exactly the same as what we sent on Voyager 1.”
“…”
The senators couldn’t hide their surprise.
Why did President Yu have this?
Why did he show this?
The US senators met with President Bernstein at the diplomatic office.
The visit to Korea lasted for a week.
***
“It’s a relic of the prophet.”
“Here, the prophet refers to an unknown person or group who warned us about the space monsters. The 33 ether cores that fell before are also related to the prophet.”
“The prophet is the most related being to this situation. Black metal, Aether… They are presumed to be the origin of everything else.”
“…They’re just aliens, aren’t they?”
James senator said with a hollow look and everyone laughed snickerly.
What President Bernstein just mentioned was repeated several times before they arrived.
They couldn’t believe it, but nothing changed.
The existence of aliens was revealed as a fact through President Yu’s mouth.
Space monsters had intelligence, but few people recognized them as intelligent beings. Considering that, one could say that the prophet was the first alien.
But the senators looked suspicious somehow.
“Is there any possibility that he duplicated the record?”
“The officials said it was impossible several times. I don’t know about anything else, but it’s inexplicable that even the noise that accidentally got in during recording is recorded.”
“If you think about what President Yu said first, he might have a memory problem. It’s 60 years ago.”
“Exactly 56 years.”
Someone corrected him and James senator looked at him and turned his head to the president.
“Let’s assume that there is a prophet and discuss what he wants.”
“According to President Yu, he had a dream on the day this record arrived on the moon.”
“Wow, a dream.”
“We have to accept that he has prophetic dreams. Anyway, he met the prophet for the first time through his dream and confirmed it by retrieving the record on the moon. He realized that we are not alone in the universe.”
“There are also monsters that we don’t want to face in the universe.”
“I have a question. What is the relationship between the monsters and the prophet?”
One of the senators asked and Bernstein gave a wink to his security adviser, tired of repeated questions.
“We don’t know at this point. But according to President Yu, the prophet seemed to want us to join forces against the space monsters. Sending 33 ether cores was also a sign of his intention.”
“Join forces… Do you think we can really do that?”
“If we don’t, we die. To be precise, we won’t die but become extinct.”
President Bernstein said calmly and James senator looked at him as if surprised.
“You have many supporters for your beast theory. Are you going to back out now?”
“The enemy is not a beast. It’s more like an alien. It’s meaningless to deal with such a person as if we were a zoo.”
“Isn’t his identity still uncertain?”
“Identity… Who do you think he is?”
“You would know better than me.”
The US used its unique intelligence to dig up Yu’s past by the hour and secured many credible testimonies from his parents and people around him.
As a result, Yu after 2025 was not the same person as Yu before.
A dictator who could declare world domination without being strange and a weak man who was addicted to alcohol and drugs could never be on the same line.
“Alien, time traveler, or someone with foresight… Whatever his identity is, we have little choice and no time. We have to accept him.”
“Do you mean joining the United Human Federation?”
“Do you have to think so extremely? Instead of military tension, we can create a mood of reconciliation and accept his technology. We can also form a loose federation.”
“A loose federation… We and the United Human Federation are incompatible from the beginning.”
“Don’t you know what will happen to us if we accept his technology and ideology? He is a socialist!”
The most common word used by the US to refer to Yu was socialist or communist.
They thought so after seeing his systems such as megacity and basic income.
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Looking at the megacity, which could be called the core of the United Human Federation, one could see that artificial intelligence monopolized the means of production and humans only consumed.
Basic income was also provided so that one could survive as long as they maintained their CP.
The fact that they gave income just for existing was enough to make American liberals sick.
There was a reason why Yu created such an environment, but anyway, his ideology was introduced to the US and received a lot of criticism.
President Bernstein also agreed with Yu but not with his ideology.
He remained silent and the senators stepped forward.
“Do you know how many jobs we will lose if we have just one supercavity train? We can’t afford mass unemployment.”
“Do you think living under artificial intelligence management instead of earning wages through honest work will appeal to citizens?”
“No American will agree with his ideology. No one.”
This is how it turned out.
The opinions of these senators did not represent the whole society, but they were not much different from what ordinary Americans thought.
From their point of view, the current United Human Federation that managed everything was hard to accept.
Even some of the Democratic senators who boasted of being on the far left did not positively accept the system of the United Human Federation.
Especially, handing over trials to artificial intelligence without any discussion and making judgments on the spot aroused fierce resentment.
President Bernstein opened his mouth slowly with gloves on his hands.
“He has an ace up his sleeve that is hard for us to handle. The prophet chose him. Not joining hands with him means choosing death.”
“Why do we die if we don’t join hands with him?”
“The space monsters that will come soon, President Yu calls them plague.”
The eyes of many senators and bureaucrats sparkled.
“Plague? Do you mean an epidemic?”
“I guess they named it that because it corrodes the surrounding metal. Anyway, he has a means to effectively destroy the plague.”
“We have plenty of megaton-class nuclear weapons in the US.”
The senators don’t know this information yet.
President Bernstein spoke with force.
“The warhead that exploded in France was not a nuclear weapon. It was an antimatter bomb.”
“An antimatter bomb? Isn’t that a hypothetical weapon that only exists in theory? Are you saying that the United Human Federation made it?”
The president didn’t answer, but lifted up the golden record.
“This is the first relic of the prophet. The second is the Aether cores that each country has divided, and the third is a device or facility that can make antimatter bombs. President Yu built a base on Mars for that relic.”
“…”
The senators looked at each other’s faces.
They couldn’t think of anything to say because it was too shocking.
Senator James barely opened his mouth.
“Didn’t the prophet give it to President Yu? He gave it to us humans.”
“Tell me how we can get it without war.”
“…”
He seemed to have no idea.
Well, a device that can make antimatter bombs would be priceless, and there was no way he would give it up easily.
“President Yu called it a supermassive particle accelerator. And he seemed to be sure that more relics would come in the future. I can’t imagine what they are with my head.”
The senators couldn’t dare to say that they should take them first.
Who knows when and where they will come.
The only one who could know the relics in advance was Yu, and he was also the only one who could secure them at the moment.
Then Senator James started to get excited.
“He’s not the only one who can secure the relics. Don’t we have Aether cores?”
“He must have deliberately ignored them. After all, human development is also important.”
“Why would he take Japan’s?”
At that time, Japan and Korea had gone to the brink of war because of it.
The East Asian War that broke out later was also a result of those things accumulating.
“I can’t know his innermost thoughts. The only thing for sure is that if we don’t cooperate with him, we will never have anything to do with his ace or the relics of the prophet. We don’t know what else will come out.”
The US was in a serious position of being threatened by the United Human Federation for hegemony and could no longer ignore it.
But they couldn’t fight either.
The United Human Federation had an army controlled by artificial intelligence, a space battleship, and an antimatter bomb.
Of course, the US military was huge, but the United Human Federation’s army changed in quantity and quality every month.
It was hard to tell what would come out in a year or two.
The senators just looked at each other’s faces and President Bernstein added.
“Of course, there is also a choice not to choose. That is, not to cause any conflict or cooperation. But in that case, we will gradually lose our influence. Keep that in mind.”
Only the US had to make a choice now.
***
“The US won’t choose.”
“Why not?”
“Because President Bernstein’s term is unstable. He doesn’t have enough time to implement a proper policy in less than two years.”
“I guess the Democrats decided not to support him. But isn’t that a waste of time?”
“It seems that he thinks he has a chance if he can secure as much technology as possible and preempt the relics of the prophet.”
“He should have realized by now that it’s impossible. His judgment is poor.”
“He made a realistic choice. If he bows his head and joins us now, he’ll have a hard time in the next election.”
The US personality was what prevented cooperation between the two countries.
The self-reliance that resisted the state’s intervention was attractive for Americans, but there was no need to insist on it at this point.
And he didn’t feel the need to wake him up.
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t get the US’s cooperation. We’ll go our own way.”
“But that doesn’t mean the US will leave us alone. They will pressure us in many ways.”
“Can you give me an example?”
“They could expose your past by providing sources to the media. The US intelligence agencies are convinced that you are a different person from the original Yu.”
“Do they suspect me of some of the incidents that happened in the past?”
“A series of events, including the death of Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo and the massacre of the Chinese Communist Party leadership… Even if not all of them, they are sure that most of them were your doing and have even reported it.”
“Especially, they strongly suspect that you made Terra Island after discovering the function of the gravity crane in the Aether field.”
He was surprised by the US’s strength.
“Did they find out about the gravity crane function?”
“It’s just a possibility.”
They didn’t announce it even though they found out earlier.
The US was true to itself.
When France showed it off as a show and was proud of it, the US had made significant progress.
“If they found out, there’s nothing I can say. But it’s hard to suspect me of the meteorite too.”
“They’re putting aside the possibility of the meteorite. But you’ve done so many things… And there’s also your parents’ testimony.”
So this is how it goes.
There was no way to stop him from talking as long as the US smelled it.
At this point, trying to assassinate or brainwash him would only backfire.
“They’re going to split the world in half. The US and the United Human Federation.”
“That’s right. The US is actually trying to take care of Europe and Japan. They plan to withdraw from the UN and build a more substantial alliance system.”
“They’re throwing away the useless UN and trying to make a half-Yu alliance?”
The US avoided the worst situation by not choosing war.
But any other choice would also lead to war.
If they formed a confrontation with the United Human Federation, they would inevitably cause conflict.
The US had to choose between the lesser of two evils: cooperating with Yu or not.
But they chose the latter.
“Are they trying to create a new cold war and somehow seize the opportunity? That’s so American.”
“They won twice, you know.”
He understood their confidence, but time was not on their side.
The plague’s attacks would only get worse, and the gap between the United Human Federation and the US would widen.
In five years, there would be no chance of war due to the overwhelming difference in power.
The US knew that, but they still didn’t choose to cooperate.
“It’s not like I’m asking them to merge right away. I just want them to fight against the plague under my leadership. But I guess that’s too hard for them to accept.”
“There’s another opinion: forming a federation between the United Human Federation and the US. It’s a minority, though.”
“Who will have the leadership?”
“That’s too obvious to even discuss.”
“It’s a waste of time to join them.”
He might as well stick an antimatter bomb in each major city and negotiate.
“What if I put an antimatter bomb in the top ten cities of the US? And wipe out all their nuclear power?”
“At least 100 million people will have to die.”
If Arma calculated that, it would be close to the truth.
He gave up on the idea of putting an antimatter bomb in the US.
It was not a good option to reveal his true identity and pressure them with Settler.
‘It would be troublesome if there was a great chaos.’
What he wanted was a moderate, controllable chaos.
It was not desirable to see millions of people screaming to get into the megacity.
In that sense, the US’s choice helped him.
‘Except for the public opinion. I need to find a way to neutralize it.’
Arma suggested a way.
“The usual way to bury an exposure is with a bigger exposure. I have prepared several sources.”
There was no politician who could do politics without getting dirty in this world.
No one could match Yu, but still.
“That’s not enough.”
“If you want, we can also bring forward the war a bit. The Middle Eastern countries are preparing to destroy Israel.”
“Really? Israel is much stronger. What makes them confident?”
“The butterfly effect of destroying Iran and Pakistan a few years ago.”
He listened carefully to Arma’s report.
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