I was out from the Black Unit. I was there because I had succeeded in all my missions without taking casualties, a thing that never happened before. To this day, I’m still wondering how I did it. Anyway, they offered me the worst retirement plan ever or to re-up again with the rank of major, a thing they never did before, in a way to show their gratitude, they wanted me to finish my days working in an easy job so I can keep my sanity. In the end, they are not heartless animals as I thought. They sent me to the General Affairs Bureau, where nothing much is waiting to be done except receiving complaints of harassments from the sous chefs on their chefs, or vice versa. “The chef told me publicly that my sauce is disgusting,” or “My sous chef is often out sleeping behind the dumpster.” That was a delight after a long career in murdering.
With us was a general that we called “Chief,” a rank that was given to him just so they could throw him in a plane with any delegation to look official. Of course, this meeting was held in District 11. We didn’t take the League’s accommodations as the Chief said to me, “Konu, I don’t trust those women,” so the army booked all of us into the Royal Hotel. We reserved a full floor for just five people. We had expensive wines, the top League’s women and men escorts, and plenty of healing drugs for a full week. All of this was paid for by our generous army. Millions were spent because our mighty Chief said, “I don’t trust those women.”
Spending is second nature in the army, as the Chief himself told me that he is the organizer of an international chess tournament for the armies of the world. He’s very proud of it, and he told me that thanks to the astronomical budget allocated for the international collaboration between the armies, this year, the tournament is in its 5th edition and is very successful, even if I personally never heard of it. “We need to play more chess, Konu. It develops our soldiers’ brains,” as the chief said.
We get around twenty percent of the empire’s tax as a yearly budget, with no restrictions on how it is spent. We could request more anytime during the entire fiscal year. To do that, we have a bill introduced to the Senate requesting a complementary budget to cover top-secret projects. They always vote unanimously to deliver the additional budget even though they have no clue for what it will be used for. That lump sum goes straight to the corporations of the First Citizens. It’s not enough they monopolize the civilian market; the military market is in their strong grip, too. The First Citizens take the money from the population twice, and that never happened before in any civilization or economic model in all the history of mankind.
The state squeezes the average citizen to the limit, but not the wealthy first citizens. They are exempted from the taxes under the big corporate-sponsored. Under that law, a corporation is exempt from paying taxes if it creates more than a million jobs. They do, of course, as three quarters of the population work for the corporations of the First Citizens. That’s the scheme, and that’s why the First Citizens want expand democracy all over the world, not just to control the state through the Senate, but the real reason is even more disturbing.
The First Citizen, Wonfuse, told me one day, that the average person must vote periodically, because then, he will think that his opinion matters and that he is making a difference. He will then feel good about himself as a self-aware, good citizen who has a say in the country’s affairs. In fact, he is just a domesticated citizen, taxed to the limit and kept docile through the illusion of his political involvement. They do this because a wild, uninvolved citizen is danger to their scheme. He could break down barriers and start a revolution that will be hard to contain. He could do this knowing that he has nothing to lose as he is completely robbed every year by the tax office, police forces with their loophole’s, and fees that he must pay with interest for everything except air. And he pays all this for nothing in return. That’s why they teach democracy at an early age here, to make it a part of the people’s personality. I know, again, this is the same scheme of every great empire, injecting the dogma at an early age.
The state drowns the average citizen in fear, too. And not just to take his money, which they already did, but to use his life and the lives of his kids, too. The army advertising campaign can be summarized in one sentence: “They are at our doors.” This means everyone and everything wants to invade us, and we must give everything we have, including our lives, to stop that. In their dogma, the army exposes the scenario of permanent war as a strategic choice to continuously defend the empire’s interests. Everyone is an enemy, including that third-world country on the other side of the planet, where its citizens transport themselves and their goods on donkeys. Those guys, too, want to invade our dearest empire, as they have nothing to do in their own life, so they are conspiring on the how to invade the Amians.
They don’t buy or sell, watch TV, listen to music, eat or drink, watch football, or an afternoon soap opera. Taking into account that they already fixed all their national problems, they’ve decided they need to invade the great empire of the Amians. That’s all they think about all day long. And that’s why our greatest army
