The Russian Billionaire

Until one day I can bear it no more and I confront him while we are sitting together outside on the terrace. There is a full moon and it’s a beautiful night, but my mind is chaotic with ugly thoughts.

“What happens if they force us all to take the chip, or the injection, or whatever it is that will turn us into AI integrated cyborgs?”

He shakes his head firmly. “They won’t do that.”

“Why not? If they are as evil as you say, what’s to stop them?”

“Because Blake was once one of them, before he met Lana, and turned away from that life. So he knows how they think, how they operate, and what rules they are bound by. And they are very firmly bound by the rules of their religion.

He makes air quotes around the word religion.

“Even though it may seem to us as if transhumanism is merely an exercise in turning humanity into slaves or batteries that they can use to mine for energy, there is an unseen but very important spiritual element to all of it. Just like the Aztec’s tore out still beating hearts and sacrificed them to their serpent God, these people believe they are harvesting souls for their God. But they can only harvest willing souls. Their rules say they are allowed to trick someone into saying yes, or make them so fearful that they say yes, but they must agree to their own enslavement.”

I frown. “How can they trick us into accepting something so horrendous? Who’s going to fall for something like that?”

“The same way they tricked you into agreeing to go to war with Iraq based on a lie about WMDs. Because you allowed them to fill your with unthinking fear, and because you didn’t care enough to do your own research, you blindly believed the propaganda and gave your power to them. As long as humankind is not vigilant, they will tricked into giving their consent. Once they have that they can harvest your soul with no repercussions.”

“Okay,” I say slowly. “I get it. Like Dracula. You have to invite him in or he cannot enter your home.”

“Exactly.”

I take a deep breath. “It seems so impossible though, that governments, the media, and other international bodies that have been set up to protect humankind have been so captured by these ghouls.”

“No, it is not as impossible as you think. Thorne once told me that he’d used his AI to map all the blue-chip companies in the world. And what he found was that no matter what industry, be it oil, pharmaceutical, food, air transport, weapons, utilities, tech, or media the majority shares of those firms are held by about ten different companies. The shares of those ten companies are mostly held by five or so companies. And the shares of those five entities are mainly owned by two companies, Blackrock and Vanguard. Then he found out the really interesting nugget of info. The biggest holder of Blackrock is Vanguard. And who owns Vanguard? We will never know, because it is privately held. Do you understand now how concentrated wealth is in our world? They own everything and everyone in power is beholden to them.”

I scoot closer to him, because I feel fear in my heart for my unborn child, and I don’t want to feel that. “If they own everything, how can we possibly win?”

“They want us to think there’s no use fighting. They want us to give up in defeat, but the outcome is not set in stone. We are born with freedom in our bones, and that is our divine right. In this war against tyranny we have three things in our favor. First, we are many and they are few. Second, we do not extract from them, they extract from us, so they need us more than we need them. Third, they are secretly terrified of us, because they exist in a strict hierarchy of order and control, and we stand for freewill and freedom for all of humanity.”

Feeling slightly more reassured, I nod. “Okay. What would be the worst-case scenario? Will we end up with a two-tier society?”

He looks sad, really sad. “If humanity doesn’t come together as one and fight as one, it won’t be two classes of people anymore. We will split into species. Two entirely different species.”

He holds me tightly and gazes deep into my eyes. His eyes are full of sincerity. “But they won’t win, Raine. I know, just as I know without any doubt in my body that our child will never be anyone’s slave. Yes, they will harvest the souls of those who are not vigilant, but they won’t get us, or all the people we are slowly reaching. Day by day more and more people are joining us. It is like a flame that is being passed from one heart to another. Every heart we reach, then goes out into the world, and finds more hearts to light up. That is why they are have doubled their efforts. At a certain point, the tipping point will be reached, and it will be too late for then them to do reach their goals… and we will win.”