Castle Road

"Stand by"

"let's start with the mall first, let me move Ich1 up and then slowly get closer for an aerial view, there we go, now, from this far away you might be able to tell why it is called a tower by the people living here; as you can see, the shape of a tower can be glimpsed, first you need to forget about the arches and the hotel, no, I cannot erase it with CGI, I'm still using my old phone, and even if I'm using the local servers, my phone would overheat, so, use your imagination, the arches are gone and from this angle the sphere is also gone…"

"…after that, you can see how the vase is crowned by this four buildings at the top, turning it into a medieval castle, in this case the twin towers of the mall take the form of the merlons at the front walls of most castles; as for what you can find inside, on one tower you get the usual amenities, clothing, supplies, electro-domestics, groceries, let's just say that all of those that you can take home by yourself, you can even order them beforehand, for clothing, supplies and electronics is even mandatory to make the request first before picking up, for the ones too big to take by yourself…"

"as for the other tower, it is a bit more fun, you have the music, films and video game stores… you actually can have printed copies to have home, as long as they are not too many, or you have a selling license; of course you also have the designers line for home, clothes, shoes, makeup, and all of the fun things, also there are food courts, on the middle floors which are connected by the rooftop, and the clear-bridge passings, at the top floor and the tenth one; but the fun is not done yet…"

"…the Jack in the box right here is what lies in the underground… okay that sounded ominous, when those are only more shops at the lowest with furniture, washing machines; then they also have the offices of MAGE-eCo, there they not only deliver to the tower, they coordinate the service for the entire country and for the other countries, like the main base of operations; later we will see how it looks downstairs, for the time being, let me give you one last view of the mall… aaaaannndddd, now we will go to the left, to the museum"

"Huff… I'm fine, don't worry, I'm not that tired… yet, the bike does most of the job and I have been training so I'm sure I can reach the government building for the next part of the video, for now, we are now reaching the museum but I will give you the whole look of the building while I move to the other end of the street, that way I can reach the next building faster."

"As you can see, it follows the aesthetics of the castle, now a single tower, where in the mall had two… what now? teeth? For real, why would an architect by the name of Castillo would make a building with the look of a denture with missing teeth? The words bridge and crown are not enough to make this conversation be about a visit to the dentist, or a building made to honor the work of a dentist; therefore, as an updated castle's glossary would point out, the tower is a merlon, and the structures beside it are called battlements if we were at war so let's call them crenels, and each one goes all the way to the underground…"

"…turning each crenel into an upside down tower held by the building up here, and from there the gap becomes the embrasure… oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the walls, that are actually windows, smart windows the same way Kuo'SAR's tv works, but with a bit less tech into it to avoid the overheat of the sun and the display laser beam into the window to get the right amount of pixels, so they decided to use the 'nanotech' to get simple designs on the window walls both in and out of the floors, at times just a blank wall and in others a display of goods, offers and latest tech for sale at the mall, but over here…"

"at the museum we get a full art show from this year's graduates or award winners, from every form, dancing, posters for short films, or scenes from movies, paintings, the constructions at the edge of the country, or the new event programs, changing from floor to floor, sometimes we can see the art inside; and on celebration days we even have a light show, well they, I haven't been around much to see one…"

"as for the interior, the art inside is glass protected; all of it, a floor or two might let you walk inside, but the climate protection will be set, and that includes light, air, dust, moist sun reflection and even climate setting; but the most valuable, which sometimes are the oldest, each has its own display made, and since it occupies a lot of space of the floor, at some point it turns into an art maze, all the way to the black pearl, it is quite a sight because once there at the last wall you can even look down at the bottom of the vase, or the people walking at the first floor of the hotel, if you have good eyes, a good camera or a drone that is…"

"…that is at least from the museum; if you decided to walk to see the sphere up close, then you could see the hotel, perhaps its jewel at the top, I might show you some other time the few pics I took from the sphere and around, I also took a bunch from other areas, but the sphere is in the top five of things I wanted to see here, I will do a video of the art, but with pictures and videos back at my place, but once I have seen more of the remodeled architecture and the new designs in the video I will include the footage of the sphere… no I did not just decided; I thought about it some time ago, but my schedule has been a bit chaotic, but I'm getting the hang of it, so the video might take a while to be made"

"okay, okay; for now we will focus on the building, which of course follows the same rules as any other museum when it comes to visitors, with a bit more rules given how restricted… no, is not restriction, I would say it is more about the limited space here at the top, they need to consider the number of people and even the weight, so, to get a reservation at the hotel, first you need to pass the countries tests, that include psych, medical, some of knowledge, depending on why do you want to visit; and lastly the security check, which is the one that takes the longest, my guess is that they start the background check from the moment you ask for a visit…"

"…and once they finish, then you are welcome or not; during those test you will get the traditional evaluation to get your visitors license to the museum as any other country does, which is only an update to the badge you would get to walk into any public area of the tower; but number's speaking, the vase has room for thirty five thousand peoples, the hotel has space for fifteen thousand, and the runway can sustain thirty thousand people, but, it can receive fifty thousand people for a visit; I heard it could house that amount easily, but for safety reasons they leave it as it is… huhu, of course my ID had already the access to the museum from the moment I stepped into the country the perks of having an art history major accepted by most museums…"

"Sir, there is movement at the outskirts of…"

– …there always is, what got you all on alert right now?, let's see the time… the movement started almost four hours ago; show me if anything of value is being transported over there… thought as much; if they wanted to steal any of the new infrastructure they would have waited to take it little by little, the teams are gone, and they would not try to kidnap people again, they'll start a new hunting season on them, and all for the remaining experts in communications, engineers, housing and such, that have fought them off for years; no, I'm missing something; how do they know it was people from the blank zones? Tell me what the evidence was. – The blank zone was the remaining towns that had refused every attempt of the country to extended they reach; by messing the internet signals, attacking drones trying to get fixed down on earth after a month of work up above were put down using jamming signals, making the surveillance and communications service more difficult; robbing transports on those roads were solely left for drones, people rarely got near it without security; but not even the construction of cellphone towers could be done at the edge of their territory that began from the margin line of a desertic set of canyon roads moving deeper and deeper; and as you move in, the path grows darker, covered by a natural roof all the way to the border, which by then is a wall under ground, and up a desert field that ran for kilometers.

A desert in which you might still find water up and lots of aquifers down made by filtered raining water for millennia, but not much else, to grow anything but cactaceas above was impossible, even the wild life that went nearly extinct after rising temperature struggled under the scorching sun; but beneath the earth, there the Blankers found a second chance at living around kilometers of cave way paths, making themselves nearly invisible to drones, and farming energy solely from the sun by making their own panels in different shapes to not being seen by satellites nor ground surveillance, using its reflecting ability of their panels as mirages.

"As you are well aware of, the security team has been making a database of people not linked to the country's communication system by tracking their movements, interactions and the use they make of any devices in town, some arrests have been able to be stopped under this surveillance, therefore, the team has noticed very few of those cases as of late; until today when the number increased as they moved in, around eighty three percent of them were able to mingle and disappear from the eyes of the security team, no crime has been committed yet, and those still walking around town unlinked or using other devices have been moving around doing little things or just walking aimlessly..."

– …aimlessly, are those your words or the security's team words? No matter that; they are right, today of all days, there is a plan unfolding here, if we ought to believe the paranoia created by the evidence… the team lost track of the people around the morning crowd, the amount of people is the odd part, looking closely I can see the raising numbers of linked people to our systems to blind us… – In deed it was, usually the problem about the trafficking at the border was how difficult it was to track the way it got in and out of the remade towns; every person in the security team had a theory, the more obvious were tunnels crossing and connected to the tunnel system of those towns; as for the sea of traffic on the northeast and northwest side of border the old inside man theory was the more popular; both cases could prove to be correct, but no evidence of the sort has been proved, every single person has follow the protocols of presence during their shift, the machines had been all accounted for, and the cameras hadn't been able to show evidence of odd movements, both in sea and in land; as for the air, it was nearly impossible to not be seen by the modern security tech that included radars and Kuo'SAR's drones, some that were autonomous and self-sufficient flying daily at fifteen kilometers up, connected to the security's turbine satellites at nearly twenty five kilometers, nothing could fly around that security, nor they could drop anything from there, because then the attack drones would be activated, and those with straight orders to take down any foreign or illegal object around the country were impossible to negotiate with; therefore, the Blankers might have found a way of making themselves invisible.

"Sir, the security team is suggesting that you change your schedule, instead of going directly to the new town you could visit some of the first towns made fifteen years ago, the team recommends a random site as well, the concentration of people not connected to the country's system is not as dense in the southwest region due to its closeness to the border security's facility, next could be the Canyonslide…"

– … yes of course, who would've thought a construction between eroded canyon slops would be the most secured places, I do wonder if it has to do with the open space, it has no roads where you can hide your approaching... the recommendations came from the security team and you?

"Based on the evidence one wants to suggest the new locations based on how close they are from the blank zone and whose are the most peaceful, the team only asked you to change your schedule…"

– That's interesting; but that would be the obvious step as well, or rather steps, nobody really makes random decisions anymore, especially me, as for the visit to the most secured places, they must have thought the same thing; the only reason I can think of, as to why they need to take me would be to make a show out of it, I cannot move money around that easily, most of it is not even a physical form, and my personal finances are too secure to move them rashly, at the first attempt to take a single coin, the money will move elsewhere until I make a video call to the bank, or go visit any around.

As for power, well it simply won't work, I have little of it now, it's already been distributed around the country, even at finances and public relations… my contributions are minimal at this point; perhaps the access to the mainframe; I suppose it is not a bad time to delete my access codes for the mean time… ask the security team to make it happen Luk4, and tell them to activate my security access codes. – Armand had an admiration for the Blankers, born after seeing them thrive during hard times after taking away their fangs, and while watching them celebrate their struggles, and even wearing them as shields; Armand loved to see them work together whenever he got the chance to see them closely in videos or face to face; at times he created moments of conflict to see them in action, using technology from Kuo'SAR, like drone's location system to map their tunnels, to watching them fight back by using the same system to program a blockage; or increasing the GHz of several laser satdrones and light shows to create a grid able to block any other form of communication coming in or passing through, using it as a way to know what came and went around their controlled area, and as a shield against basic forms of attacks, while also combining it with foreign tech to move that said blockage around their borders; they were clearly bad guys some time ago; nowadays, most people in the country thought it because they were against the new rules that forbid junk food, the consumption of animals, even plastic of certain degree; to then owning any machine that used gas or combustion to work, or the use and possession of firearms of any kind; all in all, what they disliked was the inability to do as they wished; but the other end of that wish was a display of how to use technology for self-indulgences of every kind, creating a black market point, known for its ability to supply designs and blueprints of new technology, weapons, buildings, drugs, poison, viruses, chemicals; also tests runs forbidden by most countries, that under regular circumstances would be blocked by Kuo'SAR IA's global security made to prevent those kind of situations were you ask a so called AI to make you a design of a weapon to print, or to give you the setting or configuration for an xxx fake movie with a celebrity as the main cast and Kuo'SAR IA's security would block the request right away, and if needed it will take legal actions, that was 'The Dread', a name given for its reach and the way it acted as more than just a bot, you couldn't even cheat for your exam or a project under its watchful eye.

So, by using the stolen technology of Armand's company and some other donated from other companies that were against Armand's reach, by the use of 'The Dread' the Blankers created an opportunity to make a profit, as to how did they found a way to use Kuo'SAR's technology while being able to ignore 'The Dread's' system proved to be an achievement enough for Armand not to engage into an open battle with them, to perhaps one day get them on his side, or at least prove a point to what was achievable for a society living in austerity.

"It will be done sir; would you like to have any extra security during your travels?"

– Now that is a solid advice, make it invisible, if I'm correct they have a plan for that and many kinds of situations, and if we push them too hard, they will start causing collateral damage, warn the security team waiting for my arrival, no drones; now, this next part is only for you, don't mention anything about what I'm about to ask of you, unless somebody asks, or better yet, only mention it if… Thy asks for my whereabouts; add a contingency plan, if we are pushed into a corner I might have my chance to slip away and visit the border, again, last time I was only able to reach the camps; anyway, let's pick up some clothes for Ariana at the giveaway shops closer to the border with the denser Blanker population; that will leave us with three options, make it happen.

"Sir; which plan might that be? The schedule will remain untouched? And an extra security team will be added?"

– Yes, but the second team will remain on hold until the first team fails to secure my safety, then it will be a tailing job, if I'm correct they will try to move me fast and under cover of a hidden path, perhaps a building, unless they have access to the utility underground, use an IA team to check all of the people with the access to those areas, keep it hidden; I'm more interested in the people who come and go, ask a team to investigate any routes with underground access, I will only change the path I was ought to follow, to walk around the safest routes based on the team's information.

"It will be done."

– Good, once out in the open they expect to get me into the blank zone, as fast as possible, the secondary team needs to be offline, invisible and on the border… I might be over stepping, they will know what to do, just warn them, I don't want collateral damage, I can live with some destruction, but not with people getting hurt; perhaps I'm a bit scared after all; I would like to see how far we can go from here, perhaps my mental decline will start with this, by wishing for more time for myself, doing it all to achieve it, but perhaps my own fears of making my believes poison for others might change my view… I can feel a power trip simmering when I look into my future… anyways, just sent the warning, the rest of my requests can be ignored if they have a better plan.

"Would you like one to call your therapist sir?"

– No need, remind me once I return home; at least they know better than to ask me to cancel my trip, there is no reason to overreact, that is a job for them, to try and make themselves important, let's keep watching the video, no need to add more – At least for him there was no need to add more, for the security team, it was another thing, even if they agreed on mostly all of Armand's theories but did in fact noticed how he tried to not talk more about the main goal of the Blankers; they were smart, they knew that; after all living at the border where people refused the Kuo's technology from the tower meant they needed to be smart, they were clearly willing to do anything to keep their way of living; the only line they tried to respect was that preventing them from taking lives; but they hated Armand, he had always been their number one focus target, for most of the people at the border, because they saw him as the root of all of their troubles or the main bark from where the rest sprouted and the branch they need to cut to let the rest fall; Armand said it would not be the case, the country's security thought they could deal with a repercussion, same thing at the department of commerce; as for the Blankers, they expected chaos and weakness from a bunch of delicate plastic flowers growing at the vase.