Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 31

Mark thought, "That's awesome! Now I should probably get the breakfast club building some sort of requisitioning system," as Cricket laughed, but said no more.

Mark and Annabelle walked to the western path and out to their office. Inside he found that they were up to about 20 staff now, and even Henry and Amelia were there, which surprised Mark a bit. Despite that he hadn't talked to Henry much in the past couple of months, he did still receive monthly reports on the security company's bottom line.

Mark greeted the couple, "Henry. Amelia. It's good to see both of you. I'm glad you got a chance to come see Atlantis."

Henry shook Mark's hand, "We're just visiting on this trip, but we are considering moving to Atlantis. In addition to seeing the new office, we were going to look at some property on this trip."

"That's wonderful!" Mark said, as Cass walked up to greet them.

Cass then asked, "Hi Mark, what brings you over to see us today?"

Mark then said, "I'm starting something and I need a website or two built."

Cass ushered everyone into one of the meeting rooms and then messaged Zack to join them.

Mark caught them up with his world peace initiative and the need to add a world peace section on the Atlantis site, as well as a weapon requisition form for law enforcement agencies.

Zack said he had already been working on the site, it just wasn't live yet. He said he got a message from Cricket a couple weeks ago saying they needed a requisition system for distributing non-lethal sidearms to police departments around the world.

The system he had already developed was based on the pallet system at the factory. Cricket had said all weapons were manufactured without serial numbers, so as each pallet of weapons was distributed to each police station, the guns would be imprinted with the station name and a serial number. That way if a weapon got stolen all they had to do was report it stolen and it could be disabled and tracked, likewise if the weapon was given or sold to non-police personnel, it could be traced back to who provided it to them, which was a violation of the terms of use.

They also made it known that every time the weapon was fired, a 10 second video would be sent to the server tagged with the gun's identification and the exact location it was fired, so their management teams could review all weapon discharges. The video also had an embedded image at the top right, that displayed a map of sorts and showed what other weapons were in the immediate vicinity. The fact that all weapons could be tracked, traced and disabled was something that was made very clear in the agreement they had to read and sign when accepting the weapon shipment.

The website, of course, had all sorts of information about the weapons, including the shot range and the fact that every weapon was trackable, traceable, could be remotely disabled by Atlantean security only, and that every time it was fired a video was recorded and tagged with the location.

The pallets would be transported by shuttle, then delivered directly to police stations by security personnel and a video was taken with the agency chief as he accepted the shipment and signed the terms of use agreement.

They did a quick run-through of the site and decided it was good enough to go online. They could always adjust it on the fly if they had to, so before Mark even left the office, the Atlantis website had a section titled World Peace Initiative and under that section was videos from Magellan, links to the Phoenix Security site and the non-lethal weapon requisition form.

A few hours after the interviews, Mark started receiving messages from governments around the world regarding his world peace initiative, as well as thousands of inquiries from law enforcement agencies around the world, asking how to get non-lethal weapons. The governments, as you would expect, didn't like that they weren't being involved with the decision to implement world peace.

Surprisingly, there were also several countries that were already asking to have the system implemented in their countries. Mark expected some countries would eventually request it, but he didn't figure they would ask for it before they got to see how it worked. Oh well, it showed they trusted what the Federation was doing.

Throughout the next few days, the World Peace section, the Phoenix Security website and the report about the early activation at Magellan all saw very heavy traffic, resulting in several more countries and several towns and cities request it be enabled there. Unsure if he wanted to get into the internal politics of other countries by enabling it in certain cities, he decided to talk to Annabelle and his advisers.

To better verify the participation requests, they modified the form to say that the request had to be made by the top elected official, and were asked for the website about the country or municipality that listed the elected officials and that they would be contacted to confirm their participation, but did not ask for phone numbers or email addresses, just so that the general public wasn't signing up the country or municipality they were living in, thus circumventing the authorities.

Over supper at the pavilion, Mark posed the question to the group, "Since launching the websites, we have had several countries request that we enable security there, those countries have also requisitioned non-lethal weapons, so all of those will be part of the first wave. My dilemma is that several towns and cities in countries that have NOT asked to participate, want to have the system enabled there. Do we want to get into micro managing where we implement it?"

There was a lively debate for a few minutes, before everyone eventually agreed with Annabelle's argument, "Whoever asks for it, should get it. The system is going to eventually go worldwide anyway, but by having examples in local areas, the naysayers would be able to monitor those areas closer and see how well the system works first hand, instead of through media reports from other countries. If they want safety and security, they shouldn't be told they can't have it."

So Mark told the breakfast club, who frequently joined the group for the communal meals, to update the website and say that any municipalities could participate, regardless of whether the country they are in participates.

The next day, they had thousands more municipalities of all sizes requesting to be part of the program.

Through the wonders of Federation scanning technology, they had a very detailed map of the world on the website, so as each country or municipality was requesting participation, their city or country was being highlighted on the world map.

Surprisingly, Mark had been expecting more backlash from some of the countries in the world about forcing world peace, but so far they seemed to be sitting it out and waiting to see how it worked. Mark was just glad to see that the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba had signed up for the program, as had most of northern British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Effectively about half of Canada had signed up for the program, despite the fact that Canada as a country had not signed up.

Mark attributed the signup of most of the western provinces as part of their bid to become sovereign nations within Canada, in hopes that they would get the same treatment from the government as Quebec does, as unlikely as that dream would be, but it also laid the groundwork for separation if it came to that. Part of becoming a sovereign nation was having their own police force, as the RCMP would be relegated to what is called a "C" division, which only enforces federal statutes, not community policing.

The countdown to phase one was set to midnight Atlantis-time on October 15.

The first phase was to enable the system in what they called "glow" mode. It would automatically put an orange glow around anyone carrying a weapon, a red glow around anyone carrying explosives, a green glow around anyone carrying a virus or toxin and a yellow glow around anyone carrying more than 250 grams of drugs. The drones wouldn't actually paralyze the violator, unless they showed intent to harm or injure another person, then it would take action.

The drones were smart enough to recognize if the person carrying the gun was hunting or shooting for sport, so those people would have a drone following them.

As the countdown was nearing the start time, many reporters flocked to Atlantis to talk with Mark and Annabelle. Likely expecting many countries to be upset and up-in-arms about forcing peace on people.

Mark and Annabelle let them have their interview mere hours before the deadline.

When the reporters asked if they were nervous, both of them were calm as could be and Annabelle answered the question, "Of course not, this system has worked for over a thousand years on many planets, the only difference with Earth is the fact that after decades of being surrounded by drugs, death and violence, many people have become complacent and uncaring. The world is going to get a wake up call in a couple of hours."

Another reporter asked, "Several law enforcement officials, that I have talked to, have expressed concerns that they will not have prison space to lockup all the offenders the system will identify."

Mark then answered, "It is true, if local law enforcement is truly there for the people they are supposed to protect, they are going to get very busy in a few hours, and for the next few days, until all the troublemakers realize that the world no longer has any place for them. If any law enforcement service needs additional prison space, we would be glad to help them out with that."

The same reporter then asked, "I've heard that the Federation has orbital prisons around all their planets. Does Earth have one?"

"Yes, Earth has an Orbital Hub, the prison portion of it is currently empty, but the hubs are far more than a simple prison. They are the transportation hub for transport ships. Haven't you noticed that we no longer have the big transport ships coming down to the surface?"

"Is that how you're going to help local law enforcement? Offer up your prison for use?"

"No, the Orbital Hub is for Federation criminals. We would help local law enforcement by building them additional prisons if they need them."

"So do you think there's going to be a lot of people upset with your initiative?"

Mark smiled, "Most definitely! There's going to be a lot of people very upset with it, but I wouldn't expect any outcry from people that truly want to live free of war and oppression. Unfortunately there's a lot of people, organizations, companies and even governments that rely on the proceeds of war, oppression and crime that aren't going to like it. I also expect that places where human rights and freedoms have been severely limited will enter a period of civil unrest as the oppressed people realize they are now free and their oppressors can't do much about it."

"You are referring to most of the countries in the Middle East?"

"That is one of the regions where people, especially women and children, have been oppressed and abused, but there's a lot of other places in the world where the governments are corrupt or militant, oppressing anyone in the country that doesn't sing their praises or do their bidding. I'm all for ousting corrupt or incompetent governments!"

"So how soon will you move on to the next phase and make world peace, worldwide?"

"I'm not sure yet, let's see how the next few days go."

At that, Mark ended the interview and they turned to leave.

Suddenly Cricket said, "I've found Mahasin, I've found the sister!"

Mark turned to tell Annabelle, but she already had a big smile on her face, so he guessed that Cricket also told her, so Mark said, "Call your mom and dad, have Imaren come spend the night with us, we'll leave early in the morning to get her sister. We will need Imaren to talk to her sister."

As Annabelle called her mom, Gyges, Athena and Gaderius all asked, "So what's the plan?"

Mark looked at them, "What makes you think I have a plan?"

Gyges just cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows, "You always have a plan, even if you're thinking it up as you're saying it, so start talking!"

Mark just smiled, "Well the system goes live in a few hours anyway, so I literally was thinking about just flying to that location, then hop out with Imaren and go talk to Mahasin, everyone will be wearing belts of course, but the drones and system will protect us."

Gyges said, "I thought you'd have a better plan than that, but it's nice and simple and it will work. Especially if it's after world peace is active. Do you see any downsides?"

Mark nodded his head, "Yes, I do see one possible downside, I'm worried that once we reveal ourselves in the middle of whatever hole we end up in, that we're going to be overrun by women and children wanting to go with us."

Athena asked, "Do you really think it's that bad there?"

Mark just shrugged his shoulders, "I've never been there before, but I have seen some pretty disturbing pictures. I honestly don't know what to expect."

Athena said, "Is that what you're always talking about for other countries to help the ones that need it?"

Mark said, "Exactly! They waste so much money on military and other frivolous items, that they don't help others. Some countries, like Canada, go the other direction and give money to help others, when they aren't taking care of their own citizens.

Once we begin world peace, I want to start helping the more unfortunate in the world. There are many countries and regions that are well below the poverty line, we could do a lot of good there. The other thing I want to do is let the world know that we are available to help with emergency services and to assist organizations that need help in aiding the less fortunate of the world."

Annabelle had returned to the group and had heard that last part about putting it out there that Atlantis can help. She had a big smile as she said, "Mom is going to send Imaren to the palace, after she's done school, when did you want to leave?"

Mark said, "I am thinking we'll go after breakfast tomorrow morning, Cricket has two drones following the girl constantly right now, so one is right with her, so it can follow through doors, and the other is at a distance, watching for anyone looking to harm her. Plus as of midnight, the system will be active in that region, so there shouldn't be any violence there."

That night everyone relaxed in the hot tub, sans clothing of course, and discussed how the mission tomorrow was going to go down. It was pretty simple and straight forward, after breakfast, they would fly to her location in Sudan, land and let Imaren talk to her. They weren't going to force her to come, she had to leave on her own accord and they were going to record the entire event so people could see that she left of her own free will.

They debated taking two shuttles but in the end they decided to just take one. If there was indeed many people wanting to leave, they were going to leave a construx in one of the drones they would leave behind. That was Solara's idea, since she was the only one aware of a small compartment that was in every drone.

That construx would build an apartment style housing complex that was entirely self-sufficient for food, water, power and communications. The women and children could then stay safe in there.

With a plan in place, they were soon all headed to bed.

Mark was awake early in the morning just as usual, he reviewed his daily reports as he drank his coffee. Cricket then showed him Internet reports from many places around the world that had asked to participate, and they were making record numbers of arrests, including a number of major drug busts. So far there were no reports of anyone dying or even getting seriously hurt in the regions the system had been implemented, in fact there were many praises that the system was working very well and that it didn't have any impact on normal law abiding citizens, you didn't even know it was there. Many people said that even in the areas that were traditionally bad for crime, they now felt safe enough to walk around in, there were some people that had glows around them and people just gave them a wide berth and that police were soon there to pick them up, and in the case of green glows they were being advised to get medical assistance.

The virus or toxin scans couldn't detect a virus or toxin deep inside the body, but it could detect anything on or just under the skin or anything that was exhaled. So it would be very useful in the event of a viral pandemic.

As everyone waited for Mark to come down from his office, they had also been watching the news and browsing through news articles from the countries that had signed up to participate. Overall it looked like the system was working great!

They were all eager to get going and a bit nervous about the mission, so they decided to forego breakfast and just head out. So they all made their way down to level 2 and out to the elevator shuttle platform.

The trip to Sudan took just over half an hour, as they were nearing a fairly desolate looking town called Kutum in North Darfur. It sure was eye-opening to see such desolation and there didn't appear to be any electricity, it was difficult to even imagine living in a place like that.

They landed near what looked like a grass hut house, but remained cloaked. Cricket informed Mark that Mahasin would be back momentarily, she had just went to fetch some water from a well. They sat and just looked at the squalid houses and living conditions. Surely Mahasin wouldn't opt to remain in a place like that.

Within a couple of minutes, Mahasin returned carrying a bucket of water. Upon seeing her sister, Imaren ran out of the shuttle, just wearing normal casual clothes, not the fully covered clothes they were forced to wear. Less they be stoned to death for indecent exposure. A few nearby women gasped at seeing the girl wearing what they referred to as tight clothes and not having her head covered.

Mahasin immediately recognized her sister, dropped the water bucket and ran to her embrace. Imaren said, "I escaped Mohammad and now live in freedom in Atlantis. Come with me, be free!"

A nearby man saw the girls and started yelling and soon some military looking men showed up, but as soon as they pointed their guns at the girls, they fell to the ground paralyzed as their guns disappeared into nothingness right beside them. A couple of nearby men picked up rocks and threw them at the girls, but they just disintegrated into nothingness mid-flight.

Mark told Imaren to tell the men that there is now world peace and that they will be stunned if they try to harm other people. She told them in their language and the men seemed almost scared, once the women heard what Imaren said and started talking amongst themselves.

Mahasin's husband had heard about the commotion and came running right up to them, his fist was clenched and he looked like he was about to strike either Imaren or Mahasin, but he suddenly fell to the ground. One of the other women came up and tried to kick the downed man and she also fell to the ground, as everyone gasped. Imaren then said in their language, "No one can harm anyone else."

She then took Mahasin by the hand and started walking in the direction of the shuttle, as Maren turned off the cloak and everyone stared in awe at the spaceship. When they boarded the shuttle, it silently rose into the air and disappeared again as it took off to the West.

A little over half an hour later, they were landing at the palace. Mark suggested that Mahasin go visit Cleito's Temple and get checked out in the medibed, so Imaren took the initiative and led her sister to the central medical facility.