There was no guidance here And Alan desperately needed some
Sighing he leaned back in his faux leather chair He wasn’t actually situated in the White House unfortunately which also irked him That part of D C hadn’t become a part of Zone 1 They mostly received a lot of the research complexes and military bases around the South of D C As such this was simply a replica
Alan’s intercom buzzed Father Foster is here to see you Mr President
Send her in Alan grunted puzzling over the figure of Father Foster Although she was a woman she led a rather large and growing religious group that insisted on calling her Father Foster They were an offshoot of Christianity and a strangely extreme one But the only way that religious groups survived the Systems arrival was by doubling down and this group was no exception
They believed that the System was a construct of the devil and that as much as possible people should avoid being tainted by it They at least recognized the necessity of some members being cursed by Skills and Classes to defend them but the religion preached willful ignorance of the System’s ways The people did their best to ignore the woes facing the wider area of Zone 1 and isolated themselves
Normally this group would likely have just been wiped out by a Raid Boss But this Father Foster was particularly shrewd and she gathered some very powerful Classers to her side They bore the weight of humanities sins to protect all she said Theirs was a grand sacrifice
Alan couldn’t help but notice that it kept all power focused solely in a few influential pairs of hands But it was too late to do anything about that An unfortunate coincidence of being one of the only surviving Christian churches and having land to spare for refugees meant that Congress had thought it a good idea to use them as a resource to ease people into the life in the System
What it ended up doing was giving the cultist group a steady stream of scared and alone people to recruit from The UHF took the cream of the crop for their own purposes of course but a lot of talented people went under the sway of Father Foster The UHF crew was talented but they didn’t know how to spot integrity or fighting skill That wasn’t what they were trained to do
Six months out from the relocation efforts Alan realized what a mistake it was to let this petty character control the fates of so many But like all things this knowledge came far too late for Alan to do anything about it
Serenely Father Foster walked into Alan’s office She was a woman in her early 40s with long blonde hair and purple bags under her eyes At first Alan had assumed that the bags were a holdout from drug addiction but higher Vitality generally cleared up those symptoms in all people The longer they persisted the more perplexed Alan became but he was ever the politician he would take his unseemly questions to his grave
Father Foster smiled at Alan Ah Mr President how wonderful to see you well
The bags under her eyes were larger and more glaring if anything The feeling is mutual Alan said smoothly indicating a chair She sat
After several long seconds while the two people sized each other up Alan spoke with a careful tone If I’ve been informed correctly you have some complaints about the most recent batch of refugees that we have sent to your area
An easy expression on her face Father Foster nodded Yes I do not mean to criticize your methods but you go to great lengths to inform the people you liberate about the devil’s System Commendable and in a vacuum valuable but I feel that it is more harmful than helpful considering they will come into the loving embrace of God’s chosen
Not even Father Foster’s bland statements were enough to cause Alan to roll his eyes You are requesting them sent over more quickly
In a sense Father Foster seemed to think about it In her mind she was undoubtedly trying to grapple with the ungainly reality of dealing with someone who was effectively a heathen in her eyes If that is the optimal way to accomplish it that is fine There have been several incidents recently where new arrivals talked overmuch of the outside world and the horrors that befall the unenlightened Ah Mr President don’t think we don’t respect the sacrifices you make to protect us we are eternally grateful and venerate you for the sacrifices you have made But I think your crash course in our modern world makes them feel that endangering their own souls is a necessary evil when it is not
Alan’s eyes flashed Even though he was growing increasingly annoyed Alan kept his language as neutral as he could manage After all Father Foster was ahead of a growing congregation Almost 200 000 people attended one of her affiliated churches on a daily basis She was not a constituent to take lightly You mean to say you wish we would not provide to them the benefits of our accumulated knowledge of the System
The room became silent for almost a minute Alan mulling the information over And from the expression on Father Foster’s face she knew she had already won
Alan wouldn’t go so far as to label the group as a dangerous element but they were becoming something much more unpalatable in recent months Their distaste for the System was shared by many people and those accumulated emotions created a bond between displaced people Feeling unsafe finding solace in god was a historic pastime But with the looming threat of this new Zone that appeared eminently capable Alan was losing his patience
Finally he said I understand your religious motivations but from a secular point of you can you understand why I think that might be shortsighted If some new facet of the System causes unexpected danger your people might be exposed to something they have no knowledge of
We appreciate your concern Father Foster interrupted a small smile on her face Below her eyes the bags were like rotting plums But I assure you that if not in details we cover the general idea in our sermons Besides what adult does not know the evil of this world As children we are born pure closest to God Every new vision is another miracle with God’s hand clear and his grace delightful But as more and more information is revealed we learn about jealousy selfishness limitations and rules we hear about murder and rape about monsters and demons Do the details really matter
Alan mulled that over for a bit and was about to respond when Father Foster continued
Besides if the scenario you speak of comes to pass and a calamity befalls our little enclave would that small amount of information make any difference
To that Alan could think of nothing to say Father Foster’s smile was smug
Randidly idly sipped his drink unsure what he was doing at this party
Well there was no need to think about it as a party in quotes This was an actual party It reminded Randidly of the parties that you would see in Romantic Comedy movies before the System arrived The venue was the penthouse apartment in those expensive condos near the factory There was a DJ playing out by a pool and it seemed like three or four attractive people were on every couch and in front of each painting laughing uproariously at a recent joke
Overall Randidly found the whole thing incredibly insufferable In addition he had spent several of his first 10 minutes here sneezing repeatedly Some of the women and men in attendance had easy smiles and soft hands that revealed them as trucked in help and not steelworkers and the cologne was thick in the air
Finally Randidly discovered a buffet table and helped himself to some ribs and mac and cheese Although the ingredients were somewhat different than his childhood the whole experience was remarkably nostalgic It tasted like cafeterias and childhood and was a far cry from the current world of monsters and Skills For a few minutes Randidly was at peace shoveling the food into his mouth careful to not spill on his nice forest green shirt
The outdoor pool area was connected to a long hallway that led to a kitchen and a bar as well as the bathrooms There were two in this apartment Randidly was currently in a sunroom that was the nearest room to the pool side of the hallway with windows to look out at the pool area and the developing town below