Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 247

Chapter 247 – President

Chaplain Gallagher had a lovely little discussion, once he signed the form. It was an NDA formed through the System, so it was quite simple in its terms. He literally would not be able to speak of what we spoke about to anyone who did not already know the information, and he was forbidden from writing it, either. A clever man could talk their way around the prohibition and lead others to the answer, sure, but now that my worship had caught on outside of Earth, keeping the secret was more about pragmatism and showmanship than necessity on my part.

When he learned that I had met other gods ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, he was quite interested, and asked if I’d met his God. He was a little disappointed when I told him I hadn’t. That had led into a philosophical discussion about why I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t met his God, and why it wasn’t likely anyone would be getting a face to face with him anytime soon.

Eventually, though, the hour was up, and the chaplain led me to the room where this little conference was to take place.

As something of a showman, myself, I appreciated how they had set up the room, to set the tone. Everything started from the visuals, after all. In this case, it started with how the room had been freshly painted in warship grey, giving the space a cold, utilitarian feeling, broken up only by two flags, the U.S. flag, and a flag bearing my church’s symbol upon it.

A navy-blue carpet had been laid in the middle of the room, squared to align with the walls. A square wooden table sat on the carpet, rotated by forty-five degrees, to make a diamond shape. Two comfortable wooden chairs were placed at the table, with one of the points of the diamond between them, rather than being across from each other.

It was an interesting choice, and I could tell that they had picked it with care. The overall aesthetic was walking the line between adversarial and friendly, giving off ‘peace talks’ vibes. Or, more to the point, ‘allies of convenience’. The President was meeting with me because I was too powerful to ignore, but she was clearly not going to be supporting my church or everything I stood for. By the same token, they clearly were not expecting me to be subservient, or to support everything they were doing, but wanted something specific from me.

I was still admiring the setup when the President entered the room, wearing a blue skirt and jacket, with a red and white striped blouse. The symbolism was blatantly obvious, but she pulled it off well. It also made her seem brighter, and more colorful, compared to the blackness of my own outfit. Her staff really had done a good job setting the scene for her.

Smiling for the cameras that followed her in, I offered my hand, and said, “Madame President, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Her smile was a bit less natural than mine was, but it was still the flawless ‘customer service smile’ that one would expect out of someone used to dealing with people they wished they could throw into oncoming traffic. Taking my hand in a firm shake, she said, “Ah, Mister Kuronoth. I’m glad you could come. I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

“Oh, no. I came a bit early to examine the shrine, and got caught up in a theological discussion with Chaplain Gallagher there. The time flew by, I promise you.”

We sat at our respective spots at the table, and I turned to look at her, rather the cameras, as she took a breath, and then said, “I don’t know how much you’ve been paying attention to the political landscape in the U.S., but things have been… uneasy since the Apocalypse began.”

I smiled, and said, “Please, Madame President, you’re known for being a straight shooter, and I’m a big fan of speaking the truth, even if lies would be more comfortable. I’ve seen the numbers, as well as anyone else. Sixty-six million people lost. Over one-fifth of the pre-Apocalypse population of the United States dead. And that is not even counting the ways that the world has changed forever.”

“Very well,” she nodded. “Straight talk. Once upon a time, the news media was regarded as one of the bastions of our democracy. An educated, informed populace is one that is less likely to be taken in by madmen and radicalized by zealotry, after all.

“In those days, news organizations were respected and regarded as truthful, and the networks curated the voices so that the facts were told, first and foremost. However, deregulation and changing technology allowed more voices to enter the public consciousness. These voices were less concerned with integrity or fact checking, and were, whether through malice, greed, or vanity, more concerned with spectacle than the news.

“And people gravitated to the spectacle, because it was bright and flashy. It was exciting, especially compared to the droll facts of the daily news. It was entertainment, like watching a soap opera or a reality TV show.

“This would have been fine, except that, soon, the networks began sensationalizing the stories more, to try and get the viewers they needed to remain in business. The line between spectacle and news wore thin, and grew blurry. And things snowballed from there, until you got to people only believing things if it came from ‘their’ sources. Even when the courts made commentators admit that they were speaking opinions, and that no reasonable person would believe that it was fact, people still treated their words as fact, because they agreed with it. Until people just labeled everything one source or the other did as ‘fake news’.”

“One of the promises I ran on, when I was elected, was to try and reform the press as an institution, and make it one that the American People could trust once again, regardless of their political leanings. That ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ should clearly be separated, and that misinformation should be punished whenever people tried to play off their ‘opinion’ or parodies as facts. On both sides of the political aisle.”

She paused, with a sigh that was only slightly devoted to the cameras. “Unfortunately, while a majority of the people are on board with reigning in the toxic mess that has become the ‘news’ landscape in the last thirty years, too many politicians and political activists are stubbornly against fixing any problems that benefit them.”

I nodded. “Yes, I can see that. The people that benefit from spreading lies and stringing along useful idiots don’t care about long-term harms when they can have short-term gains. The long-term is someone else’s problem, after all.”

Looking across the table, I said, “Obviously, I’m not familiar with the specifics of the bill you’ve proposed. But I can say that I would support a clearer line between fact and opinion. How, exactly, would this new law work, if it were passed?”

The President took a breath, and said, “Well, obviously we can’t just tell networks what they can and cannot say. That’s a clear first amendment violation, after all. Instead, the Veritas Act will make it so that parody, opinion, and analysis pieces must be clearly marked as such. So, if a news program goes from telling facts, to presenting analysis or opinions on those facts, then they would need to put up a simple banner stating this, just like they do for live or breaking news.”

I smiled at that. “An elegant solution. They could keep their content completely the same, so they can’t say you are censoring or limiting their speech, they just have to mark it as opinion. And, without discussing topics that may be covered, it would apply to everyone, equally, right?”

She nodded, looking more relaxed now. “Yes. Free speech applies even to speech we hate, or don’t want to hear. But trying to blur the lines between opinions or analysis and actual facts is actively harmful to our national discourse. So, I want to stomp on that.”

“How hard are you hitting them?”

“The fines are not unreasonable or excessive. However, they are cumulative based on the duration of the infraction, and each market would be charged separately. So, for an example, a local station with a fifteen second screwup wouldn’t be too badly off, but a national network doing a thirty minute ‘opinion’ show that they try and pass off as being news? They would be hurting badly, every episode, and any time they do reruns. Websites are more complicated, and are actually talked about in more detail later in the bill, but that’s how it would work for print, radio, and television.”

“Interesting. Very interesting. And what would you like me to do? Obviously, I can’t exactly force people to act one way or another. Even as a god. Free will and all that.”

“No,” she shook her head. “But your church has been growing in influence, getting worshippers in many parts of the country. If you were to come out in favor of the bill, and maybe campaign a bit for it, that would definitely shake things up.”

“Yes, it would. But I’m not exactly a charity, you know. I’m not against helping you out, especially as I can see it as a useful goal, but just as you have a reputation to protect, I have expectations to uphold. The closest to a charity case I’ve done is with the warships, and that is because, for a nominal fee, I could avoid all the issues that would come from someone that wasn’t a government having the largest fleet of warships in the system. Instead, everyone gets a PR win, and no one kicks off World War 3. Happy times all around.”

Now, the President frowned, as she leaned forward. “You’re talking about one of your contracts.”

“No,” I shook my head, smiling. “Or, not in the way you are considering. I wouldn’t mind making a deal with you, on a personal level, but not for this. I’m sure I have things that could help you, that we might trade for in the future. But that isn’t what I’m thinking of for this.”

I leaned back in my chair, and said, simply, “Simply put, I want a bit of infrastructure. Nothing major. I’ll give you four crystals. These crystals, when planted, will allow me to establish four more portals connected to my network, which I’m sure you’ve heard of already, with the same restrictions as those already in place.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That sounds suspiciously too good to be true. Where would you want these portals placed?”

I chuckled, and said, “Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I have no requirements for most of them, save that they are someplace that the public can access. The only restriction I have is for the D.C. crystal. That one, I would like to be somewhere near the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.”

“To allow people who just saw the Apollo 11 capsule to then go up to Tranquility Base, right?”

I nodded. “Exactly. I can’t think of a better placement in the whole city, do you? Not inside the museum, mind you. That would cause too many complications. But somewhere within walking distance, if it is possible.”

“That could be problematic. Space is at a premium inside the Beltway, you know. Especially near the Smithsonian.”

“Very well, I can let that specification slide, so long as that crystal is placed inside Washington, D.C., and the others are all placed in major cities in the areas I mentioned.”

“Why those places in particular?”

“D.C. for obvious reasons. Hawaii will promote tourism. Anyone in one of the cities I have a portal in could just take a day trip to Hawaii. Even the folks in Miami. They could enjoy some sun on the local beaches, before popping over in time for high tide to do some surfing. All while using my facilities. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are similar. I’m banking on the idea that even just allowing couriers to quickly go between cities like that will improve things in both territories, and they’ll have me to thank for it.

“And then there’s the adventurers. Every connection to my hub is another chance for more people to come to my dungeon, or get roped into my ecosystem. Even if it isn’t adventurers coming to my halls, then there will be people visiting the shops in Swamptown, buying equipment and supplies made from items in my dungeon, which require adventurers to go and get them. Any way you look at it, I win.”

The President nodded slowly. She could, no doubt, see the ways that she could spin all of that to her benefit, as well. The best negotiations, after all, were the ones where both sides got something they wanted. “I can agree to that.”