Survive
“To survive this war we are to become the very things we swore we’d never be!” Yemi stood with her fists clenched, rage and frustration at what her people were being forced to do tearing at her innards.
Tochi reached for her, caressing the silky white fall of hair. “I’ve thought about it a thousand different ways and there seems to be only one solution.”
Yemi shook her head. Her people were in the worst position. She raised her head up and stared far into the skies, as always the magnificent awesomeness and the vastness of the universe awed her. “I can’t believe this is happening, how can the Universe be too big enough for us all?”
Tochi pulled away with a grim look on his face, the glimmering purple of his skin that characterized their people looking dull enough that she knew the situation was truly hopeless. “There isn’t another way and we cannot survive another war with the Tamaradis. They’re too cruel, too ruthless--”
“Don’t forget stronger and most importantly they have the numbers.” She dug her hands into her hair, nearly pulling the beautiful white strands off by the roots. “They have the superior numbers, the military force and we have nothing. We have--”
“The blockchain technology,” Tochi interrupted.
Yemi froze. “Is that what the Earth representatives want?”
Tochi closed his eyes wearily and nodded.
Yemi shook her head. “Those people with the odd colors they rub on their faces and their colorless skin, I hate them!”
Tochi laughed. “They might also hate us because we come in different colors, purple, blue,” he fingered her hair, “white.” He sobered. “I’m going to present the idea to our ruler.” He shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”
“We don’t want a war, we only need control.” Mischa's long ropy fingers curled into tights and his muscles rippled under his dark blue skin.
“There won’t be a war,” Tochi replied with an air of satisfaction.
Mischa’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
“If I were to be the Military commander of an alien planet with the aim of conquering a much more powerful planet…say Earth. How would I do it? An intelligent military commander seeks not only victory but the survival of his troops. He could decide to send someone to go undercover but that would be nigh to impossible and also fraught with many dangers? He would be easily recognized and failure would forever destroy future plans.”
Mischa relaxed and a smile flirted around the edges of his bulbous lips. “Let me guess, we’re the aliens since we have all the colors and would be easily recognizable.” He inclined his head. “Shouldn’t you be calling Earth people aliens?”
Tochi smiled. “Just listen, forget about the designations, for now,” he added hurriedly at the scowl on Mischa’s face.
“He seeks the most non-invasive way to invade this planet,” Tochi continued, “enter an idea: Cryptocurrency.”
Mischa cursed. “You want to give away the one thing we can call ours? Our blockchain technology. Isn’t it enough that we’re about to be driven from our own portion of the Universe by the heathen Tamaradis?”
“We--” Tochi began.
“No!” Mischa thundered. “We've always had superior technology." His eyes filled with accusation. "You're my chief adviser. I won’t lose everything our people stand for just for--”
“The survival of our children?” Tochi asked softly. “The survival of our future, our heritage?”
Mischa’s shoulders dropped in defeat, but Tochi wasn’t done.
“Tell me which of these is more important than your pride?”
Mischa’s head lowered. “I will go down in history as the man under whose watch Yamar lost her place in the Universe.”
“You will be the man who saved our children.” Tochi took a deep breath. “Those representatives from Earth. We will give them our blockchain technology in exchange for our protection.”
“I don’t think they’re good people.”
“At this point, do you really care what they need it for? We need to be gone before the Tamaradis invades again.”
“So how do we reach the Earth people?”
“We will wait for them to come to us,” Tochi said.
Mischa shook his head in resignation. “We might not have the luxury of time.” He frowned. “Humor me, what do you think Earth people want the blockchain technology for when they already have their own currency? I heard they use flat paper that burns.”
Tochi burst into laughter. “Yes.”
Mischa shook his head. “If we used paper, I might also want to change it. The only thing paper is good for is cleaning off dirt. Now, what do they want it for?”
Tochi hesitated. “I think they want to use it to control their people.”
“They want to control their own people?" Mischa looked aghast. "But they’re brothers!”
Tochi shrugged. “Earth people are different from us, they fight among themselves.”
Mischa looked pensive for a moment. “What they plan, is it possible?”
Control
Tochi nodded. “An idea is not a tangible quantity. It’s more mental than physical, the people won’t see it coming. At the heart of it, Cryptocurrency is based on an idea. The governments have long been in charge of currency on Earth, regulating its use, distribution, and value.”
“But that leaves the people with nothing?”
“Exactly,” Tochi said in approval, “Because of this imbalance of power, those without power resent the hold those with power have over them.”
“I don’t blame them.”
“That resentment will always be there, brought on by hunger, pain, and inferiority.”
Mischa smiled. “We just need to satisfy that hunger.”
“But that makes us no better than them,” Tochi pointed out, the words of his partner ringing in his ears. “Half the earth’s population trusts that their financial future is in the right hands, the other half probably live in ancient villages and store their money in a hole in the ground. Then came the Great Recession and the 2008 financial collapse, fingers were pointed, blames were thrown about like a million balls in a football field, creating an ocean of confusion. When the dust settled, the grasses of the fields are trampled and littered with pitiable looking deflated balls.” He took a deep breath. “We are going to become bad people.”
Mischa shook his head. “We’re going to survive. Now, the people are ready for a new currency. They are hungry. Not the half who couldn’t care less and have their banks in a hole beneath their mats but those who keep a pulse on the financial climate.”
“What if they find out?” Tochi asked. “Gold would have been best. Unlike their paper money, it’s scarce and valuable. But gold is physical. And that might be the least of it. Only the elite could amass large quantities of gold and will still be able to control the currency. They would know they've exchanged one chain for another, just more expensive and brighter in color.”
Mischa rubbed his rounded, blue stomach in glee. “But cryptocurrency has neither color nor tangibility. We own it, we know it. It is perfect.”
“Some Earth people have had this idea,” Tochi said.
“Our Blockchain?”
“But they have not been able to make it work.”
A satisfied gleam entered the ruler's eyes. “The idea is a novelty for them, a fantasy long dreamed of with a surpassing reality. A currency for the people with the perfect mix of anarchism, capitalism, and liberalism. It is so far out of the left field they won’t see us coming.”
Tochi nodded but in the depth of his eyes, an uneasy light burned. “They have no idea what cryptocurrency is and how it works but like a rotten present wrapped in brilliant colors, they would be blinded by the idea of independence and wealth. A currency without limits, decentralized and independent of governmental control where every transaction is recorded in blocks of a chain. Transparent, independent, accessible and immensely valuable."
Mischa paused. “What if they don’t agree?”
“They will.” Tochi inclined his head towards a chair and Mischa nodded his permission absently. “But they are problems. The chain will become so long it might become unmanageable. But it’s success will win more people over."
Mischa spread his hands along the glittering technology in open display in their universe. "We are too good with technology. The blockchain can’t fail. See what it has done for us. Cryptocurrency will meet the expectations placed on it."
“But they are fears. Some would become suspicious," Tochi warned. "How long would they watch this cryptocurrency success before they crush it down like an annoying insect under their feet?”
“By then we’d have what we want. Control.”
Tochi nodded. “They’ve wanted control for so long we’ve found a way to give them what they wanted while taking what we need--”
“Control,” Mischa said in satisfaction.
“And what will we become?” Tochi asked sourly.
Mischa grinned. “Survivors.”
