The CEO was as evil as they came, so it would seem. They called the ones in the factories, "machines". But when Pax Humanis found them, they were caring for their children lovingly, and the young children also called the ones in the factories machines. Didn't the CEO, or the kids actually know the ones there were people? -- Anon Guest
[AN: Considering recent events... I will be trying to remain in the positive vibe zone]
Deregger polities generally have a light relationship with cogniscent rights. The ones that descend into utter evil are the ones that have to be stopped. Some are lessons "to encourage the others". Specifically, to encourage them about the benefits of NOT being a heinous stain on the general face of Humanity.
Then there's cases like this one. Greater Deregulation Upper East Corewards. The target was on record as calling his factory workers 'machines', and everyone knew that true evil began with treating people like things.
But when the infiltration team got there...
They found the executive Noel Esson checking on batches of children. Making sure they had good food, that their living quarters were up to snuff. That the educational machines were doing their proper jobs. Well. What he called 'educational machines'.
They were all older women. Trained, knowledgeable. Past any kind of fertility and fitted with tech that made them look... less Human. Especially in comparison to the fresher, younger faces all around them.
Then the infiltration team realised - none of the kids present were over twelve.
As their twelfth year commenced, they all got a huge graduation party. They packed their prized belongings... and got shipped off to an allied corporation. Which sent 'machines' to the larger labyrinth of the industry. Where the new 'machines' were trained and put to work.
Endless, spirit-crushing labor for the barest of essentials. Paid a little extra for 'contributions' to the strength of the genome... or for safely gestating a new human to the point where they could go to the care available upstairs.
The big question was - where did little CEO's come from? The answer was in the test scores.
Once every forty years, the male subject with the highest fitness and intelligence scores was selected as the heir to the company fortunes. At which point, the CEO took them on to teach them everything they needed to know. By the time the old one retired, the new one was ready to take over the status quo.
They had removed sex from the process of procreation, but they had yet to remove gender from the process of gestation. That, the moralists insisted, was icky and unnatural.
It was the ultimate eugenics project.
It was also rather sickening to those in the Alliance. Not one executive knew that the 'machines' they were importing were their neighbour's precious children they'd raised, educated, and trained.
All it took was rewiring some security feeds to show them.
And then?
Bedlam.
[Photo by Homa Appliances on Unsplash]
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