Author’s note:

This story takes place in the time of the N21 station, but on Earth at the end of “Caesar’s” reign up until Freeman’s Death? I would recommend that you read N21 first.

Chapter 1.1

Willem Wallace sat, looking over his domain. Not that he could see much, but he ‘owned’ the earth. When he came to power, or rather arranged his own rise to power, he wasn’t sure where he wanted his base of operations to be. London, Paris, Jakarta… He didn’t know. He wanted it to be perfect. He wanted the people to be compliant; willing to be led by someone with his special qualifications. To that end, he had a palace built in Death Valley of southern California, in the United States. He had considered the Sahara Desert, but he didn’t want his domain to be full of sand. Granted, he could program some nanites to make people willing slaves who continually cleaned his palace. By the time he was done, they would love being his personal slaves, but there would still be the sand. Going outside would continually be dirty with sand everywhere.

By contrast, Death Valley had rugged beauty, which he rather fancied. Historically, it had been a national park for thousands of years, which meant it was devoid of things in his way. Certainly, he could have things removed. Cities could simply be demolished to make way for him. The population could be converted to slaves. He didn’t mind, but this way, he would have more people to adore him. He really wanted that; constant adoration.

To build his domicile, he needed slaves however. He was firmly in power now, so he could safely abduct towns and make it look as though they came willingly. He programmed his nanites in a few small towns around the world to make the entire populations ask to be made his unquestioning, completely loyal servants.

The people arrived, and he put many to work building his home. Others became his personal slaves. Many young boys… Well he fancied them, so they were made to look exactly like young women, but they still had their male equipment where it mattered to him.

Those who became workmen were made large brutes. Their intelligence was cut back; they didn’t need it. Those who were going to serve in his house were made beautiful. Many people were going to be guards. They were made powerful. And the wonderful thing was that they were all completely obedient.

Wallace was a reader of ancient books, and had, in his younger years, come across an anthology of writings by a man known as Isaac Asimov, called I, Robot. It was fascinating, and he especially loved the three laws of robotics that the writer had envisioned. He used these laws for his slaves. They were ingrained into their minds, with one small change. They would not, through action or inaction, injure Willem Wallace. They would obey Willem Wallace, as long as it wouldn’t interfere with law one. They would protect their own life, as long as it didn’t interfere with law one or law two.

They became the perfect ‘robots’. The rest of humanity was left alone. Their nanites were designed only to keep them healthy. That would allow them to give him absolute voluntary adoration.

Over the years the palace was expanded. He couldn’t have his workmen doing nothing, although there were intervals where they did just that. They ate, slept, and sat motionless for several months while his architects came up with something new for them to build.

His world, his personal Earth was perfect! He loved it, and was benevolent to his subjects. They were given everything they needed. This did not include freedom from him, however, because he was the one who knew what they needed. He was the only one smart enough to rule with such benevolence. His word was final, and everybody loved him!

As time went on, however, Wallace began to think that he probably should change the minds of the whole population. He wanted voluntary adoration, but he was having to expel people from earth, as examples to those who were more compliant. The number of those he got rid of was expanding, and he felt it needed to stop.

His reign was over ten thousand years old, when it finally fell. He was dumbfounded. How could it end? He had cared for his people for millennia! Didn’t they know that he owned them? Each person on the earth was his! They were his playthings!

The truth of the matter did not sway them. They came in droves!

Somehow, they had dug giant conduits from the Pacific Ocean, and under the Sierras where, when the final openings were made, they would flood the entire valley. Several charges were placed under the foundation of the palace and a conduit built which ended there. It had taken years to set this up. It had to be perfect.

Several people gave their lives while this was done. Wallace did not know they were planning his demise; only that these people were not adoring him properly. They weren’t killed, however. They became servants to Wallace, in his palace. They were outfitted as his personal slave girls, their bodies modified by the nanites to match the young boys he had originally ‘hired’.

There was no way to destroy the nanites Wallace had made. The people had been forced to receive many inoculations, and they were afraid that these might have put reprogrammed nanites into them.

When the explosives were set off, the ones under the palace were fired first. Five women had infiltrated appearing to be slave girls, and set charges near Wallace’ personal chambers. Each one had enough to destroy them, as they feared they might be caught. Each one was also prepared to give her life for the destruction of the madman who ruled the earth. On the day of the fall, they placed the charges; each young lady and stood, guarding them, until they went off.

Those explosives underground were detonated, then the ones on the Pacific side. They flooded the valley quickly. A testimonial to the architects of Wallace was that the vast palace did not fall. It was flooded both from the inside out and from the outside in. The waters met inside with a cataclysmic force. Most of the slaves were killed outright, while the rest drowned. Only Wallace survived as he was in the highest point of the palace, looking out on his possession.

Not long after the waves had subsided, a craft was sent to survey the new inland sea. It was amazing to see what man’s ingenuity had accomplished. The only part of the palace sitting above the water was a spire, and on a balcony sitting approximately five meters above the water was a man. Willem Wallace. He had survived.

The craft hovered beside the balcony, and picked the madman up. He had thought he was being rescued. That was not so. He was forced to sit in the back of the craft, under the watchful eyes, and weapons, of members of his own military. They had free will, however, and no longer wished this man to be in power.

There was no trial. That had been accomplished over ten thousand years. No sane person on earth wished this man his freedom. There was no way he could receive a fair trial. Certainly, there were people who were not convinced that Wallace was as bad as people made him out to be, but they were a minority, and generally considered as insane as him.

He was placed in a maximum security prison that was built explicitly for him. The doors were welded shut, so he could never escape. To prove they were more benevolent than him, he was given reading material and a multimedia system, but nothing that could possibly aid him in escape. He had a courtyard where he could exercise. It was nothing he could escape from however, as the top was made of a transparent steel. It was constantly polished as it tended to rust in bad weather, and the blowing sand of the desert the prison was in constantly wore it down. Each year, a new layer of steel was poured on top of the old, after a serious polishing, and after it cooled, it was as see through as the last layer.

Wallace was secure. He would never bother anyone again.

---

On an Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a new government was built. It had once been a volcano, but it had been extinct for many years. The particular location had been a military installation at one time.

There was a city that had been present for millenia. In fact, it had broadened to where it took up almost seventy five percent of the length of the island and the fill width.

It was well known that there had once been a monument built over a sunken ship in one of the harbors, but the ship had rotted away to nothing.

The location of the new capitol building was in a volcanic crater to the southeast of the city. The ancient name of the crater was Diamond Head. Once the military establishment was no longer needed in the crater, it was removed and the crater turned into a park. Wallace had seen it, and built a retreat there. The entire crater was extended upwards with walls which straddled them. Inside, was still much open area, but it was a two hundred acre courtyard now.

Wallace had decided that only those who were loyal to him would be allowed inside the crater, which meant that when his feelings on the population of the world was becoming suspicious, the structure was vacant.

As much for spite as anything else, Diamond Head was made the conter of government power for the new republic.

---

For ten thousand years, Wallace’ family had hidden from his view. He tried to find them initially, but he finally realized that he just didn’t care where they were.

His brother, Fredrik, had warned the people of Earth that Willem could not be trusted. Fredrik had watched his brother, who was seventy-five years younger, grow up, and he had seen the younger man’s progressing insanity. Willem, however, was able to act completely normal, and Fredrik was eventually considered simply an eccentric.

Now, however, Fredrik was respected. The people had seen that he was absolutely correct regarding his brother. When a government was formed, two people were asked to step up and run for the position of president of the world, however, something strange happened. The two men received a considerable amount of votes, to be sure. However, underneath, on many more ballots, Fredrik’s name was written in.

He was reluctant to take the power of the government into his own hands, as he wanted to distance himself from his brother. He tried to say no, but the people wouldn’t hear of it. He was their choice, and that was that. Eventually, he accepted the position. For a time. He told the people that there must be a set term. The government made that term be a millennium, followed by a possible second term, but that was the limit allowed. No way was someone going to be president for over ten thousand years!

Fredrik Wallace became the first president of the new Earth Republic. He was Willem’s brother, but they looked nothing alike. Their father had divorced and remarried in the time between their births. Also, while Willem’s mother had appeared generally Scandanavian, Fredrik’s had been African. Thus, the people did not consider the brothers to be any bit the same.

Fredrik wanted there to be even more of a separation, so before he took office, he had his name changed. He kept his first name, but his last name came to signify the people of the new republic. Freeman.

Author’s note:

I realize that one thousand years is quite a long time for a president to be in power. The reason I believe these people would set a term this long is because they had just deposed a leader who had been in power ten times that long. As well, they lived an exceptionally long time, and a single millennium is simply a drop in the bucket as far as they are concerned.

Also, N21 WILL be completed. I’m simply giving a bit more information about Earth with this book as well as a bit of time for the remainer of N21 to come together in my head.