Chapter Forty-Two (Schwarzesmarken)
Nothing can defeat the might of excessive kindness. Countless worlds fall to the Alien who gives them post-scarcity tech, and as the flames of the atom bombs fly in the air, the aliens in question laugh and wait for the remnants to unify before beginning diplomatic actions once more. It is a standard tactic of advanced civilizations, actually. Hand off replicators to every single living being in the world, and watch as people go outright nuts. The markets disappear, the economy doesn't crash, but vaporizes itself into oblivion. People rush for the seas to craft Yachts, and others go to the top of mountains to build enormous houses and castles.
People bear weapons crafted with Anti-Matter to tear down said castles and build their own, someone primes a nuke, and the population that until then lived on that world dies. The world can then be restored to its prime beauty, and the aliens can have a vacation on their newly conquered piece of land.
The Schwarzesmarken camp had a simple charm to it, and yet had been cleaned for the arrival of quite a few big shots. Clearly, their train of thoughts was oddly comprehensible. The photos of Captain Irisdina sharing hot chocolate with the leader of the new Space Aliens had already reached the top brass of Berlin, and while they had hidden the news to the common folks, they knew they had to strike the iron while it was hot, and come in person before the rest of the diplomatic corps of the world could mobilize.
The meeting spot was right at the center of the camp, where an open tent had been placed to allow the TSFs a clear line of sight on the proceedings. They hadn't even brought chairs or tables to sit at, nor were they offering Us food.
Not surprisingly, Heinz Axmann was present together with the Werewolf TSF battalion and Erich Schmidt, the Stasi minister. While Schmidt was something aptly defined as an opportunist and a paranoia-infused dictator-to-be with a plan to use nuclear missiles in order to further his goals should things turn south, at the same time he wasn't Heinz. Heinz Axmann was perhaps one of the few existences that didn't deserve to be called human, and perhaps truly were worthy of being dehumanized. He was the chomp factor of this Plane.
"General Hannibal!" I said with a bright smile, widening my arms as I read his thought with ease. He had told them about my abilities, and while it was pretty clear that they hadn't believed him at first, they still were wary enough about it. Yet, they had little choice but to try to think positive things about friendship, hugs, and warm chocolate. The truth was hidden slightly deeper, but they weren't capable of hiding it from me.
He looked mighty uncomfortable about the hug I gave him, but I hugged him all the same. I would not be denied, and the diplomats had no choice but to accept my actions, and copy my gestures. Angelic Slivers were flanking me as my own honor guard, and as I looked at the camp, I grinned. Mister Schmidt had ensured the Stasi would be the guard of the diplomatic corps, and the actual base defenders had all been sent to the outer edge of the base, just in case of a BETA attack. What this meant was that depending on circumstances, Schmidt would have the Werewolf battalion open fire and claim I struck first.
Really stupid, but at the same time, this was the world of bloody stupid double-crossing and whatnot.
"This tour of your facilities to be better friends is quite the novel idea, General Hannibal," I said as my eyes held on to their curious glint. I moved past him and stopped in front of Schmidt, his expression faltering briefly as he tried his hardest not to think about anything. "Minister Schmidt," I said in acknowledgment, widening my arms. The next moment, the Werewolf Battalion lost power to their TSFs, and much to Schmidt's surprise and the fear of the diplomatic corps , Slivers crawled out from within the joints of the machines, "You will be hugged and made fun of for decades to come!" I said jovially, grabbing hold of him by the neck and tussling his hair much to his shame and screams.
The rest of the diplomatic corps remained rooted on the spot, even if against their volition, and mostly because most of the people present had been forewarned by Irisdina and the General about the true intentions of this impromptu and non-programmed show of pleasantries.
The humiliation of the Stasi for the whole world to see.
Minister Schmidt's face turned red from the screaming, but he could do nothing as I outright proceeded to rub his head and humiliate him publicly in front of Eastern Germany's diplomatic corps. "Trying to spark a diplomatic accident! No, no, no, bad Mister Schmidt!" I chided him like a mother would chide a child, and the moment I let him go and he revealed his gun, I blinked and watched with quite the fascination as he fired straight at me.
Anger truly makes people forget themselves. The bullets bounced off with ease, tiny sparks spreading with each shot until I decided to most valiantly yawn right in his face and gently take the gun away from him. "Bad boy," I said as I materialized a water spray bottle, "Bad boy," I continued as I sprayed him, his expression utterly livid with rage as he tried to pistol whip me, only for the gun to shatter uselessly in his hand, "Bad boy," I continued without flinching, spraying him some more. He screamed hoarsely as he tried to swat the spray away, to near my hands to block my motions, and finally when he realized that everything was futile, he screamed even more when he understood he had been rooted to the spot by his treacherous, non-responsive legs.
Nothing like shattering the pride of a prideful man to harness a nervous breakdown of epic proportions.
"So," I said quite jovially as the crying Schmidt fell on his knees, a shattered husk of a once proud East German, "Mister Heinz!" my eyes brightened tenfold as I gazed right ahead at the red-haired springy man who suddenly stiffened, his back straight as he tried his hardest to think of a way out of his situation. "I see you liked that more than the hug! I shall endeavor to act in an appropriate way that you find pleasant!" with the twitch of a hand, a human baby with rosy cheeks materialized out of thin air, and as I grabbed a rock with my other hand, I nonchalantly made to hand them both over to him. "Please by all means! Crush this infant child's skull as it is your favorite thing!"
There was not a single member of the diplomatic corps who did not turn green at the proposition.
Heinz' blood ran cold as his heart picked up quite the erratic beating. He couldn't run, after all, and he had just realized that. He didn't know why he couldn't run, but he just knew he was forced to stay still as the alien drew closer to him, the smile on his face the flawless replica of childish innocence.
The child in my arms took that as the cue to cry in earnest. The Sliver mimicking being a human child was truly worthy of an Oscar.
I inclined my head to the side, "Are you not going to do that, Mister Axmann? Why are you trying so hard to hide who you really are?" his expression remained coolly neutral, and as it did, my eyes began to slowly change in color, "Would you rather I show you my true form? You would definitely consider it monstrous, which is why I keep it hidden, but you do not have to fear being a monster, Mister Axmann! If that's who you truly are, then I will not judge you! Only your fellow humans can judge you for your actions! To Us, this S.H.A.D.E unit, whether you rape countless human women, abuse and sadistically torture people you know are innocent and rip apart families just to laugh at their misery...I guarantee you, we do not care the slightest!"
His fists suddenly lost their strength. "Ah..." he muttered, his eyes staring straight at me as, for a brief second, he seemed to gleam beneath my face to my true character. "What a filthy liar you are."
Those were his last words.
He knew that he was finished.
Peace would be achieved. The BETA would be defeated. And then, he would be trialed for his sins and crimes. He knew that, and even if he didn't know that, I definitely implanted into his head the notion that it would happen, and that he would lose everything.
He pulled out his gun and, as invisible strings guided his hand, he squeezed the trigger to shoot himself dead.
I turned towards general Hannibal, my expression slightly perturbed as I proceeded to hand the baby over to him.
"I am honestly befuddled," I said quite kindly. "Is this how you do diplomacy? With violence, lies and bloodshed?"
Needless to say, nobody answered my question, but deep down I knew that my job here was done.
Nobody would challenge or slow down our gathering of materials now. I could just as easily move along to another Plane, and wait until the much needed bio-organic mass would reach the critical point.
To lay siege to a whole Plane, one first needed enough bodies to properly circle all around it, and enough food to sustain them all once awake after all.
And if there was one thing we Slivers didn't lack in, it was in warm bodies.
D
