After the emperors appearance, things began settling down. People had already seen the borderline magical effect of the rescue ships and they chose to extend their trust to the empire... at least mostly, anyway. Beneath the surface, most were still withholding judgment as, though they had indeed received some benefits from the empire, the conspiracy theories were indeed believable. But levitating ships and tractor beams had gone a long way toward building peoples trust regardless.

Still, there was a long way to go. There were hundreds of rescue ships, sure, but there had been thousands of attacks.

But everywhere the rescue ships went, they were soon followed by constructor swarms, GEMbots, and aid personnel that built temporary housing for the displaced victims who didnt require extended stays in medical pods. Thus, every cleared site soon became a hive of activity as large buildings were constructed at a speed that rivaled that of time-lapse videos.

At the same time, notifications began going out as the dead and injured were identified. Relatives of the victims were informed of the process to claim the remains and the empires compensation, or where their injured loved ones were and what their status was. Due to the sensitive equipment contained in the rescue ships, however, visitors would not be allowed at the bedside. But that didnt mean they couldnt visit them in the simulation, where purpose-built instanced hospitals were available for those who wanted to care for their relatives during their, admittedly brief, convalescence.

The imperial police agency and nyxian operatives were also busy, jointly investigating leads as they went from location to location, identifying and apprehending suspicious individuals. Due to the nature of their investigations, they were carried out covertly. LEAs would accompany nyxians to the homes of those the police identified as suspicious, where they would render the target unconscious and download their brain data, a process much like the one that Aron used when he was building and populating Lab City a few years ago.

Once the brain data was uploaded to the Akashic Record, the assigned librarian would scan it and either cancel the investigation into that person or pass it on to Nyx if something suspicious was discovered. Over the next days and weeks, a lot of people would wonder where their friends and neighbors had gone, as theyd just up and vanished from their homes without a trace. One could only imagine the looks on their faces when they later found out that their acquaintances had been charged with terrorism, likely during the public trials.

Are you sure theres nothing wrong with him? Rina asked for what seemed like the millionth time as Nova led her to the secure pod vault where Aron was laying inside a pod, peacefully undergoing his latest system upgrade.

Like Ive said before, sir is undergoing another genetic enhancement at the moment. Hes fine, you dont have to worry, Nova said. She had finally built herself an actual body out of a nanite colony so she could interact with the world like shed always wanted to ever since Aron had created her.

Although Nova had been doing her best to comfort Rina, she was still terrified. She had tried contacting her boyfriend immediately after the attacks broke out, even as her Aegis team was evacuating her and her family back to Eden from the Rothschild family compound. But as her calls went unanswered and Nova was busy and unresponsive as well, Rinas terror had only grown during the much shorter flight to Eden and shed thought that the worst had happened.

When will he wake up? This couldnt have happened at a worse time, she said, thinking about the peculiar coincidence of the attacks taking place exactly when Aron had been put out of commission. Although she knew it was indeed a coincidence, she had to admit that, if she were a conspiracy theorist, she would definitely count it in the column labeled evidence.

Any time between now and a week from now. We... arent quite sure. Ive run quadrillions of simulations, but given that Ive only got one persons data to draw from, the variance cant be narrowed down any further than that, Nova said. She wouldnt lie to Rina, at least not unless she absolutely had to, but omissions werent really lies, were they? Either way, in this world, the secret of the systems existence would remain locked between Aron and herself, unless Aron chose to inform others. Each AI had a data vault that was impenetrable, even to the other AIs, and Nova had locked away that particular secret in hers.

So are you going to attend the official funeral in his stead, like you did with his recent appearance? Rina asked.

Unless he wakes up before then, yes. If hes still undergoing his enhancement by then, Ill have to show in his stead. Nova briefly reconfigured the nanite colony she was inhabiting into Arons appearance. We cant have the emperor missing from the pomp and circumstance, after all, she said in his voice.

Rina stopped and stared at the Aron in front of her, a blank look on her face. She reached out and poked it. Do you mind? She gestured at the imitation Aron in front of her. Sorry, that was rude. But if you dont mind my asking, just what is your body made of, anyway? It looks and feels no different than a human. If I didnt know you were an AI....

Ah, this body is a nanite colony. Its still in the testing phase, as its currently only suitable for the core AIs to use when were required to be physically present somewhere. Right now, Im collecting data and working on perfecting it, Nova said, reconfiguring the nanite colony back into her own appearance as she spoke.

Theres just some things I dont think Ill ever get used to, Rina sighed and rubbed her goosebump-covered arms.

As Rina and Nova were chatting in the secure pod vault, Arons parents were meeting Rinas for the first time in the real world, though they had met once before after the introduction of the simulation to the public a few weeks before.

That brat sure has some... unique taste, Herschel said. Hes completely unlike any of the rich people Ive ever met. He couldnt get over the utilitarian building in front of him. It was so enormous that it practically screamed wealth, but it had none of the features that normal wealthy people used to flaunt their wallets at each other. It was a simple white cube that was only made remarkable by the unbelievable size of it.

Well, when it was built, our son was focusing on function over form. Cubes are the second most efficient shapes when it comes to utilizing space, at least internally. Theyre the most efficient when you consider exterior issues, like packing them into a... Arons father, Michael, cleared his throat, sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there. Anyway, he couldnt exactly build spheres, so a cube it had to be.

Michael and Herschel watched as a train pulled up and more than a thousand new recruits disembarked and carried their belongings into the massive structure to begin their training cycle as ARES troops.

That makes sense, Herschel said. He was sure that the things he was seeing today, the rest of the world would soon learn anyway. There would still be secrets, naturally, such as exactly how all of Arons accomplishments to date had managed to pass completely below the radar without anyone knowing anything about them at all.