A Deregger CEO, one who was CEO over all the other CEOs in a small empire ruling an entire solar system, four inhabited planets. Their blatant cruelties earned a cry of help from their people. That is why Sunshine and his apprentice Jay were here. To answer the call, and end the empire, their way. -- Anon Guest
Big Chief Dominic Roman liked to remind everyone that he was the Chief of Chiefs. The Commander of Chiefs. The owner of it all. Four planets. Fifty thousand larger companies, seventeen million smaller ones. He was the one who decided who had success or failure. He could decide who lived or died.
He could elevate anyone he chose. He could also send anyone to complete ruin and death in misery at the slightest provocation.
Welcome to the Novel Roman Empire. You have all the freedom you can eat. Freedom of speech, so long as you speak kindly and honestly about the Big Chief. The slightest slight can send you into a state of desperation. He likes you to cry in your apology videos. You have the freedom to work, and work, and work. So that you have your freedom of choice of where to lay your head. For an hourly fee.
The rest of your body is extra.
You certainly have the freedom to reproduce, but not to raise those children. The Big Chief in his ultimate benevolence takes infants from "risky" mothers and places them in industrial creches; where they learn all the skills necessary to be productive members of society.
All this, Jay had read about on their way to the Golden Palace. It was a minor miracle that some people were able to send a distress call at all.
He said, "I hope we get to kill him slowly."
Mr Sunshine, always neat as a pin, smiled one of his practiced smiles. "We're going to make him kill him slowly. Fast justice is not the justice needed here. This world and their leaders need... an example."
Jay, lover of justice, smirked in predatory anticipation. "Do we have a facility? Lock him in a production line like his prisoners? Shock him when he fails, feed him when he succeeds?"
"Exactly. If all he does is yowl then he does not eat. In the meantime, while he is occupied, someone will imitate him. Or rather, imitate his administrative decisions."
That would be Mr Sunshine. He had a knack for careful and precise administrivia. He liked things neat. He could give this empire a slow and gradual change into better laws and ordinances. Change so gentle and granular that nobody could object. Least of all the people who needed it most.
Jay was in it for the torture. "Where are we setting it up?"
"We're hiding a needle in a sewing box," said Sunshine. "The Golden Palace has a surfeit of rooms that merely exist for the bragging rights. Some are completely empty, isolated, and otherwise perfect for our needs." He removed the neat warning vest from his person and donned a black one. "Further, we must be covert until after the trap is sprung. I shall become his invaluable secretary. All the better to learn his ways in full."
And after that, they would strike. The Big Chief would waken to find himself in a hand-crafted nightmare modelled so very accurately after his own creation. Jay would make certain he suffered.
For a long, long time.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Danno44]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [77 remaining prompts!]
