The Thoughts of Yong An-Hong: Translated by Alexandra Yuan: Copyright 2205, Centauri University Press: Hanson Harbor, Nova
08/02/2175
As my Interlink remains deactivated, I begin to notice a change in the world around me. As I sit writing idly in the Presidential Palace, I look out the window at Beijing below me, and it is as if the city I knew has changed. Where have the colors gone? The city used to shine like a gallery of the purest gemstones. It was a city that caught light like a spiderweb catches dew. Now it seems tired, rusted, unkept. It's like it hasn't been cared for in months, maybe years. Streaks of white and brown paint the windows; maybe they haven't been cleaned up in years. There are supposed to be custodial staff charged with maintaining this palace; I have wandered the grounds, but I see none, not even custodial drones. I know the Palace pays for them yearly; if they are not brought to fruition, where does the money go?
For decades I have lived on Earth, in China and India, mostly, but always with the Interlink. How much have I not seen? What parts of my life have been shaded by illusion and deception? A dead President, an ancient city worn by disrepair, false money and false faces? Is this the world I have always inhabited? Has the world always been altered and manipulated by my Interlink?
This is the world that I have so vigorously supported and so tirelessly worked to bring to everybody on the planet. I think now I am seeing it for the first time from the outside. I wonder how deep the corruption runs? Was the President complacent in all of this? I can't be sure, and I probably will never know.
Shen Wei-Fun seems to have brought all of this about. Why, I cannot tell. Perhaps for nothing more than personal power. The question that faces me now is what to do about it. It may be that I have already been discovered, and if that is the case, extreme caution will be required. The danger may become too great for me to stay here. But I must stand against Shen's coup. The future of Earth may be at stake.
Personal Communication (Declassified 01/22/2200): From Vice President Yong An-Hong: To Admiral Nobuyuki Ito: 08/02/2175: Translated by Alexandra Yuan
Admiral Ito, please disable your Interlink before reading.
In speaking to the President according to your request, I uncovered a disturbing truth. President Yan An-Sing is dead. He has been dead for several weeks; I cannot say for how long. The person you have spoken to and who you have seen in public is an illusion fabricated by Interlink virtual feed modifications and genetic replicants. I have investigated Gattaca Tech, they have produced genetic decoy clones to fill in for his absences in public. I suspect that a conspiracy engineered in part by Shen Wei-Fun of Ambience Corp. is responsible for this. I have very few allies; however, I trust your discretion in this matter, and hope you will respond in a way that befits an Admiral of the Terran Fleet and a loyal protector of the Terran Hegemony. Please do not tell any but your most trusted friends and colleagues of this.
Yong An-Hong, Vice President of the Terran Hegemony
Text Conversation: From Adrian Aucaman: To Gemma Aucaman: 08/02/2175
Wed. 9:15 PM
Adrian: Mom, you guys need to get down here right away.
Adrian: I've got more or less full control over the ship. We can get out of here at any time.
Gemma: As soon as we can. We're a bit busy though.
Adrian: Cops?
Gemma: Yes.
Adrian: Dad says go cross country as best you can. We'll meet you halfway.
[End Text Transaction]
Personal Communication (Declassified 01/22/2200): From Admiral Nobuyuki Ito: To Vice President Yong An-Hong: 08/02/2175: Translated by Alexandra Yuan
Vice President Yong An-Hong,
I took your advice at the head of your message with uncertainty. I am glad now that I did so. You have taken an immense risk in trusting me with this information. Naturally, it is against my personal honor to betray your trust, particularly when the stakes that you face are so high. I do not doubt for an instant that if you are discovered you will be integrated into an Ambience Mainframe. The same can be said for me.
If what you say is true, the fate of the Hegemony may very well be at stake. I cannot imagine why Shen Wei-Fun would want war with the Grushan, but it appears that he is maneuvering Terran politics in order to bring it about. Military alliance negotiations with the Zaha-Katchem seem to strengthen that impression; I have seen what the black ship has done to the Terran fleet, and I cannot imagine that the Grushan and Novan fleets will fare much better against it. This does not detract from my earlier assessment that such a war would be ill-advised.
Although you tell an incredible story, I trust your words in this matter. Furthermore, if the President is truly dead, then by right, you are the true Commander in Chief of the Terran Hegemony, and I will remain loyal to you as such. The men and women under my command will do the same.
Nobuyuki Ito, Admiral of the Terran 6th Task Force
Official Transcript: HNN News Update: 08/03/2175
LERMAN: From HNN News in Tokyo, I'm Carrie Lerman with an HNN breaking news alert. We have just received word from sources in Beijing that there has been an attempt on the life of Terran Vice President Yong An-Hong. His motorcade was ambushed by unknown forces on the streets of Beijing. A roadside bomb went off as his motorcade was traveling past Tiananmen Square. The Vice President has been rushed to a secure location near the capital by Hegemony Secret Service personnel. You are seeing raw footage from the scene of the attack. No civilians have been reported injured, and we are being told by Hegemony sources that the Vice President has not been harmed and his security personnel are in control of the situation. Once again, the Vice President is safe, and we're being told that no one has been hurt in the attack. We'll have more news as it becomes available.
Visitation Log: Kim Jong Ill National Prison: Inchon, Korea
Visitor: Yong An-Hong
Date: 08/03/2175
Requested Prisoner: 92025 Alexandra Troy
Clearance: 351489GVP
Visitation Request Forwarded to Terran Internal Intelligence Commission
Official Transcript: Security Camera Footage: Kim Jong Ill National Prison Visitation Area 2: 08/03/2175: Translated by Zhou Hanshen-Yao
[Begin Playback at 0945 Local Time]
[Yong An-Hong sits on one side of a clear glass partition. Holes have been drilled in the glass for the visitor to speak with prisoners inside. On the other side, Alexandra Troy is led to the glass partition. Guards handcuff her to the desk in front of the glass. Yong dismisses them]
TROY: Well. This is an unexpected honor, Mr. Vice President. To what do I owe the pleasure?
[Pause]
YONG: I am in a difficult situation.
TROY: I know the feeling.
YONG: There was an attempt on my life yesterday.
[Pause]
TROY: Well, it certainly wasn't me. Not that I'd necessarily mind taking a shot at you if I had the chance, but, well, I am otherwise occupied right now. But never mind that. I suppose you want intelligence?
YONG: I do not know if your knowledge will help in this matter. I believe the attack came from the inside. I cannot tell you everything that I know at this time, for it is the scorpion's nature to sting, even when it may destroy itself as well as its enemy.
TROY: Am I a scorpion in this metaphor?
YONG: I have reason to believe that the people who tried to kill me once may do so again. None of my own people can be trusted. That is why I have come to you. [pause] I need your help. I need to escape from this city, and I need to do it soon. You are the only person who I can turn to that can help. You are a master of covert operations. I know that it was a freak accident that caused you to be caught. I need you to help me escape and hide from the people who wish to destroy me.
[Pause]
TROY: Okay. Well, there are a few things I could say. But first, how do I know you aren't trying to trick me with some elaborate head-game? For all I know, you could be trying to sting my network by getting me to take you right to it. For all I know, you could be a genetic replicant of the Vice President. Second, I don't know what's in it for me. You could be legit, by I don't really work for money. Except for some maintenance stuff, my organization doesn't use it much either, and what we do use, we have an alternative revenue stream for. So, you'd better be offering something pretty damn valuable.
YONG: You are a member of the African dissident movement, yes?
TROY: For the purposes of this conversation, we can say so, although when it comes to sentencing, I'm whatever the Hegemony wants to convict me as.
YONG: Then you would be interested in inside information regarding Interlink functions? Perhaps high security access codes? I can provide these things, and I am willing to do so if you are willing to help me.
TROY: Are you offering full disclosure?
YONG: Within discretion, yes.
TROY: That's not how full disclosure works. Either you offer everything you know or you offer nothing at all. I need your guarantee of a full debrief before I even think about this suicide.
YONG: I cannot participate in the destruction of a global government that has stood for over a hundred and twenty-five years.
TROY: Then why try to defect?
YONG: Because there are powerful forces at work within that government that hold life in no regard, whether it be Terran, Novan, or Grushan, and they have become crazed with power, like a prison guard who beats his prisoners while knowing that he cannot retaliate. They use power the way a child does, ever for his own interests at the expense of all reason.
TROY: A lot of people I know would say the same about you. I know for a fact that you were behind the Indian child tax regulations, the one that ruined middle class families for having the audacity to have more than two children. Where's all that tax going? And don't say infrastructure or military, because I've seen both, and neither have been updated since the late 21st century.
YONG: Everything I have done has been in the best interest of the Hegemony. That regulation was to decrease starvation in underserved areas.
TROY: Well, it certainly made a handful of people a whole heck of a lot richer. Can't say I can see what it's done for everyone else though. I mean, it could have been worse. You could have used the Interlink to numb everyone's sex drive or something. Thank you for not doing that, by the way. My husband is Indian, and we met at about that time.
YONG: Listen, will you help me, or not?
TROY: Well, there's still the unanswered questions. How do I know you're not a genetic replicant, what do I get out of it, why the sudden change of heart, you know, the big ones that make me decide to take the risk for a high ranking Hegemony official.
YONG: I have already told you what I am willing to give for my freedom.
TROY: Not good enough. You're reluctant to say anything that might bring your government down, which means that you're really only offering tidbits that I could probably find out without leaving this cell. You may not realize this, but you are an extremely high-risk target. If I'm going to take that risk, it has to be worth it; I can't take the risk if you're going to be giving me stuff I could get from a Monsanto lobbyist. There's another issue, too. Under your offer I'm doing this solely from faith in your word that as soon as we're out, you'll give me intelligence that you're already reluctant to provide. What's to stop you from, as soon as we're out, refusing to give me any of the stuff you promised?
YONG: I will, at that time, still need your full protection. This guarantees my good faith.
TROY: I don't know. Scorpions gotta do what scorpions gotta do, after all. No, I'm afraid I'm going to need something now, as a sign of good faith. Give me some intel that only higher up folks like you would know. Then I'll check it out with my people, and once it's verified, I'll get back to you with whether I'm interested in taking the job.
YONG: If it is something only I know, how will you verify it?
TROY: That depends on what it is. Surely there's lots that you could point out that I wouldn't necessarily look for. You got a secret base on Alpha Ceti 3 or something? Listening device in the Grushan Senate main room? A mole in the Novan legislature? Be creative. I'm a spy for heaven's sake; I don't get too much excitement.
YONG: You have contact with Nova and Grushar, then?
TROY: Oh, those were just examples, of course. I may or may not be able to verify intelligence pertaining to those areas of space.
YONG: Then tell them that the President is making plans to invade the Novan Alliance with the help of the black ship. The fleet has been at combat readiness state since it arrived. I do not know when the attack will come, but it is coming soon.
[Pause]
TROY: Well, I didn't expect that. That'll be very difficult to verify, of course, but I'll be darned if it isn't a blockbuster. All right. I'll get to work on that.
YONG: How long will it take?
TROY: As long as it takes. In the meantime, avoid getting killed or something, even if you are a genetic replicant, just in case I decide you aren't one. I'll be in touch when I have something.
YONG: I need speed.
TROY: Then you need to give me intel that I can verify quickly instead of what you can give me in good conscience. I'm sorry. It'll take as long as it takes.
[Pause]
YONG: Very well. We have a deal.
TROY: No, we have a possible opening for an arrangement; no deals at all just yet. We're not there yet. But we're closer.
[Pause]
YONG: Very well. Good day.
[Yong stands and allows guards back in. Guards unchain Troy and escort her back into the jail]
[End Transcript]
Novan Intelligence Dispatch: 08/03/2175 2307 NST
Earth Operational District 12-Novan Intelligence Command: Unconfirmed reports from unnamed classified source within Hegemony government indicate Terran military buildup from Sol system with possible intentions to invade Nova. Investigations will continue. End Dispatch.