Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 57

Charles walked over to the food court area and looked around. As luck would have it, Doerr was having breakfast with his family and Griffin's family. Charles went over to his table and asked for him to come over to the mayor's office when he was done with his meal.

A few minutes later, both Doerr and Griffin showed up at the mayor's office, both giving Charles a good looking over, probably never having seen him out of his Cardinal's robes. Remarkably, the two looked a lot alike, although Doerr looked a lot older, judging by the grey in his beard.

Griffin did the introductions, confirming that Doerr was his older brother.

Mark, Nicholas and Sonja all welcomed Doerr and told him to grab an office as he had some learning to do.

Doerr sat down at the computer and logged on, then asked what he needed to learn. Mark looked at the blank wall, expecting something, and then Cricket reminded him that the mayor needed to assign the City Planning role to him.

Mark explained that he forgot a step, so he escorted Nicholas back to his office and went into the City Administration program. He selected the City Planning role, assigned it to Doerr and went through the confirmation process. Then Sonja had to give her authorization to the assignment as well.

Then back in Doerr's office, Mark had him log off and then login again.

Doerr did that and, being in the outreach hub, the wall opposite his desk turned into a map of the city as everyone stared at it, probably never having actually seen a complete map of their own city.

When you looked at the city from above, there were actually a few patches of green space, and there were many pleasant areas along the top of the ridge and along the shoreline that were usable land. The map also showed the outreach hub, the four outreach centres and the transit stops that had been made so far. It also showed the paths that had now all been rebuilt.

They went through the process of how to make a new building using ready-made designs. Using the computer, they would choose the design and then they'd have to place it on the map. It would only allow it to be built in a place that it would fit. Then, once the location was set, other members of the city administration got notified to give their authorization. That way, no single person in the administration could build or destroy infrastructure. Also, as a safety, even then, construction wouldn't happen until they cordoned the area off. Securing and area was easy, they just selected a bunch of points around the area and, when the polygon was completed, it broadcast a holographic construction zone force field that warned people to vacate the area and once it had been completely emptied of people, it would prevent anyone from entering the zone and the construction would begin. Then, as soon as it completed the outer shell, the security area would disappear, but they couldn't enter the building until it was ready.

Mark, with Cricket's help, was the only person who could make immediate changes, but even then he tried to not interfere with rebuilding and upgrading, choosing instead to let people figure things out on their own or with their peers.

Upgrading the housing in Corinth was going to be difficult, since many of the buildings actually shared walls with the ones next to them and most everything sloped down toward the bay. Mark showed them some pictures of St. John's, Newfoundland, which were similar, albeit the buildings were often taller than what was in Corinth. They were all suitably impressed, partly because the landscape was a lot like theirs and they all thought the wild colour variations made for a happy-looking place. They also liked the idea of giving everyone larger homes by building them taller. Most of the houses they currently had were simply single-level hovels, really. People had little personal space.

The process, though, would be a bit more difficult in that everyone along an entire set of connected homes would need to move all their belongings into the street so they could upgrade all their homes at once. They were also going to make all the buildings the same size, since they were already pretty much the same size. All the amenities such as a common room, mini-kitchen, washroom, office, etc would be on the main floor, then all bedrooms would be on the upper floors. Again, once people realize they didn't need to keep all their bedding and clothing, unless they really wanted to, the process wasn't as daunting.

That first day, they converted several streets within one of the city sections. It really ended up looking like a brightly coloured fishing village. They went with a sloped roof with no transit access. There just wasn't enough space, so the outreach centres would be busy traffic areas, which was good for shops. Then, for shops, they enlarged the outreach centres and turn the ground level into a mall, so all the shop owners got new retail space.

The second day, they finished one entire city section. It really looked quite beautiful. They completely demolished a few of the buildings that were deemed unsafe, and those areas turned into parks and playgrounds.

Because everyone in the city had watched the transformation of that one city section and they knew what they did and didn't need to keep, the other sections were converted much faster as families had already packed everything they wanted to keep just inside the door. So when it came time to convert their homes, it literally took but a few minutes and the building was ready to start the transformation. Then as it was being rebuilt, a person walked down the street with a tablet showing the available colours, and you couldn't pick the same colour as the person next to you, then once the plain building was completed, it would colour all the individual units, which seemed to bring it to life as families started moving in.

Oddly enough, the Pope and the army had simply packed up and left. Likely just writing Corinth and the Cardinal off as a lost cause.

Within the week, Corinth had been rebuilt, right down to the docks and the racetrack. They'd also built some larger schools on the formerly unused rocky islands in the bay and some of the previously unusable shoreline was levelled to make space for schools. Mark didn't mind levelling rocks, he just hated to destroy trees.

Travelling merchants and traders were spreading the tale of Corinth's transformation across the countryside.

Via the visitors to the trees, Cricket had identified the community leaders and as they asked about transforming their communities, she suggested they could request an outreach centre for their community. Telling them that an outreach centre would provide the community with food, water, medical, and transportation. Almost everybody took her up on that offer and she provided them a construx and told them to place it where there would be enough room and press the button. Alternatively, since the trees were usually near the centre of communities, if there was enough space around the tree, Cricket would offer to turn the tree into an outreach centre.

Within another week, the map of the planet had Federated communities scattered all over. Everything was just so much easier when the people themselves took the initiatives to better their communities. However, without voting to join the Federation, they couldn't unlock all the features of the outreach centres; the leaders could take offices, but they couldn't access the community planning software or anything more than what was in the library and the lifts couldn't go to the space station.

Surprised that the Pope had given up so easily, Mark asked Cricket, "Have you detected the Pope's army moving elsewhere?"

"No, I have detected no mass movements of people that could be an army, and certainly none with weapons."

"He's got to be up to something. There's no way he's thrown in the towel this easily. Your tree in Alexandria—what have the people been saying?"

"The tree in Alexandria hasn't received a visitor in over a week. I think the Pope is punishing people if they talk to me."

"That means he must have someone watching the tree and then reporting back on who talks. Or, since it's a big city, it would be impossible to know who everybody is or where they live, so they must intercept the people after they leave the tree to dole out the punishment or do the threatening. I'm sending more drones to Alexandria, anyone that talks to you at the tree will have a drone follow them home. Also, see if we can get a drone into the cathedral or wherever the Pope is to see if we can hear what lies he is saying."

The next day, shortly after breakfast, Cricket informed Mark that there was a young woman at the tree in Alexandria and that she was not about to leave. She is claiming her sister died because she talked to the tree, but she is convinced it was the Pope that had her killed. She was begging and making a scene and some men tried to come and take her away, but that she had used a drone to stop them and then generated a force field around the tree to protect the girl from arrows.

Mark informed the group of what Cricket had just told him and Maren, Gyges, and Mark were soon on their way to Alexandria.

It only took a few minutes to reach Alexandria from the Galatea, but Maren kept the shuttle cloaked as they flew over Alexandria and only revealed the shuttle as they were landing.

Mark stepped out and approached the tree and girl, as soldiers seemed to pour out of every nook and cranny all around the tree.

Upon seeing Mark with the Federation logo on his shirt, the girl hugged him. Mark simply comforted the girl as she broke down and cried.

By the time she had calmed down, the Pope was arriving with his entourage of guards, complete with a majordomo to make sure everyone knew he was coming.

With all the pomp and circumstance you would expect from someone that thinks they are infallible, the Pope said, "Ahh, so you do come out from behind your lines of protection. Guards, kill these soul stealing traitors to our Lord! They've killed enough of our innocent people."

At that moment, arrows seemed to come from just about everywhere. Of course, the shield stopped them all, and the drones incapacitated all the archers.

Mark said, "I do not know what lies you've been manufacturing with the soul sucking and stuff, but the Federation is a peaceful society. We do not believe in violence and we've certainly never killed anyone."

Then, as if to make a point, the girl shouted, "See everyone, it's the Pope that's been killing people and trying to blame it on someone else. At least the Federation actually answers prayers!"

It shocked the Pope that his archers were completely ineffective even though this man was not protected by his building. He shouted for the archers to fire again, but no arrows came.

Mark looked at the girl and laughed. "It wasn't a prayer we were answering. You asked the tree fairy to save you. She's the one that called us."

She just hugged him again. "It was still my prayer for you to come and save us from this monster. You heard it and answered, even if it had to be relayed to you."

Mark looked at the girl, "So what's this soul stealing killing innocents stuff he's going on about?"

The girl explained, "The tree appeared when the Pope had taken his army to Corinth and many people talked to the tree without issue—until the Pope returned. Then, anyone that talked to the tree disappeared and would be found, a day or two later, on the steps of the cathedral with their heart cut out and your symbol carved into their foreheads. The Pope told everyone that you are the harbinger of death and that the tree was just a ploy to steal our souls. But people didn't start dying until AFTER the Pope returned—he's the monster!"

Mark looked at the Pope. "Wow, you are one seriously psychopathic fuck! Murdering your own people just to keep people from learning the truth. How many innocent people have you murdered just to protect your lies?"

The Pope looked scared, but also angry, as he called for his guards to attack. As soon as they had taken a couple of steps forward, Mark just waved his hand and all the guards fell to the ground.

The Pope shouted, "See? Peaceful society, ha! He's a bringer of death. The Lord will smite them down for their sins."

Mark shook his head, "No one has died. They'll be awake and fine in a few minutes. Besides, you have even admitted that there is no God."

"Cricket, can you replay the Pope's conversation with the Cardinal?"

One drone broadcast a hologram of the meeting between the Pope and Cardinal, at the point that he said, 'There are no gods! We are the gods and, as gods, people will listen and obey whatever we say,' and then the part where the Cardinal asked, 'So everything the Federation guy said is true?' there was an uproar among the people and with all the guards and archers down, the Pope made a hasty retreat.

Minutes later, the archers started waking up, so Mark said, "Archers, do not make the mistake of notching any arrows. You will only find yourselves incapacitated again. Just walk away."

Seeing some archers putting down their weapons, the people started coming out from their hiding spots among the nearby buildings, gathering around the tree and shuttle.

One of the older men came forward and said, "What the girl says is true. I also talked to the tree many times before the Pope returned, but after the first murder, I stopped going." The man then looked at Mark. "I take it you are some representative of the Atlantean Federation that provided the tree?"

Mark tipped his cowboy hat. "Yes, sir, my name is Mark Phoenix and I am the King of the Atlantean Federation."

"You are a King and you came into a heavily fortified city with only a single guard?"

"As King of the Federation, I am responsible for the safety and security of all my people. As you can see, Gyges here didn't even have to do anything to protect me. I am a mere mortal though, so I can and do make mistakes. He's the one that protects me from my mistakes."

"We've heard rumours of communities being transformed and people's lives being vastly improved by you guys. Can we do that here?"

"Yes, but only if you vote to join the Federation and live by our ways."

A woman in the crowd yelled. "So there is a catch!"

Mark replied, "Of course, we aren't about to give you access to our technology without having some rules to govern its use. However, I firmly believe that seeing is believing, so I'll tell you what. Let's build an outreach centre. It will provide you with food, water, clothing, showers, medical and transportation.

By all means, go visit Corinth or any of the other communities that have transformed across this country and determine for yourself if you'd like to live like them. Also, don't be afraid to talk to the information kiosks in the building, no harm will come to you."

The man that originally came forward spoke again, "If you leave us, the Pope will resume his tyrannical ways."

Mark said, "No he won't. I'm taking over the security of this city, even though you are not part of the Federation yet. My security is invisible and will incapacitate anybody drawing a weapon or anyone looking to harm another person with their bare hands. Besides, you all now know the truth. There are a lot more of you than him or his men. Just remember, my security protects you from them, but it also protects them from you! Do not try to harm the guards or the Pope."

The guards were awake now and looking at each other, trying to figure out what they should do.

Mark spoke to them, "Guards, even though you were down, you could still hear and see what happened. Are you still going to protect the Pope?"

One guard with a unique symbol on his helmet stepped forward. "I heard what the Pope had said and as Captain of the Guard, I will no longer serve him."

"That is good! You guys are welcome to still guard the people. Just don't draw your weapons. If, after the election, Alexandria votes to join the Federation, you may join the security training program and return to your roles—as Federation security."

"Thank you, sir!" All the guards stood and saluted before walking away with their weapons stowed. Everyone could hear the Captain of the Guard order, "Men, surround the cathedral, do not let the Pope or his minions escape. His reign has ended."

Mark looked at Gyges and said, "Let's go catch a Pope!"