Published at 11th of May 2026 6:21 am

Chapter 4119 Uncaring Consequences

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The Shepherd knew that Rui was not inclined for this model, so she did her best to stress its benefits. The predictability, the order, and the mitigation of risks would ensure that human civilization developed in a safe and stable manner.

And yet, by the end of it, she could sense that he was not moved by it.

He only asked her one question.

"What is the probability that this will allow me to achieve my goal?"

"Ten percent, Your Majesty."

He frowned, shifting his Transcendent gaze to the pile right before him, at the very center. "And this one?"

"That's what we call the balance model, Your Majesty," she explained. "This model aims to achieve balance in the political power between the Gaian Alliance overseeing human civilization. Here, private property is considered an inalienable right, but the separate sovereignty of the territories owned by what we call colonizers would not be recognized. They will still operate within the sovereignty of the Gaian Alliance and of Gaian Civilization."

She shifted to the next slide, explaining greater details on how the leverage between the Gaian Alliance and the power of the space colonial establishments would be balanced, ensuring healthy limitations on the power of the free market so that it didn't go crazy, while also ensuring that unmitigated outcomes were reasonably limited from occurring. "…This system still maintains crucial leverage for the alliance over its colonial powers through not just currency, but also through control over crucial systems such as Dyson Spheres, which allows the Gaian Alliance to ensure that no colonialist ever goes berserk and diverges from Gaian Civilization at an alarming rate. At the same time, the colonial powers will be allowed significant autonomy and self-governance and self-determination, allowing them to be shielded from exposure to Alliance oversight," she explained. "In this model, you would be able to harness the power of privatization to a much greater extent, but you would likely not see the full mobilization of private capital being redirected to interstellar expansion."

"What is the probability of success of this when it comes to achieving my stated goal?" Rui asked with a curious tone.

"Based on our projections," she featured a dotted line marking the extrapolated rate of conquest. The marked area around the dotted line signifying margin of error grew wider and wider along the time axis, showing how much the uncertainty ballooned after ten years. "The probability of success is twenty-five percent."

"And in return, we get a more controlled civilization where the Gaian Alliance, while allowing private settlements liberty with their expansion and development?" Rui mused with a hint of uninterest. "I suppose we can make partial use of the power of privatization."

"That's right, Your Majesty." She pursed her lips at his bored body language. "This is the most recommended model by the committee that I have led and created."

Rui didn't bother hiding his displeasure, shaking his head lightly. "You don't get it."

His tone of voice grew more serious.

"I don't care about the risks, I don't care about the 'externalities.' The only thing that matters to me is the strength of our civilization by the end of ten years and whether we have expanded to the scale that I seek to expand to," Rui spoke with a heavy tone of voice.

She frowned at those words. "You do understand that you may lose complete control of human civilization? There are many dangerous ideologies in all civilizations waiting for an opportunity to grow. It is best to keep some safeguards in place to ensure that only the most desirable kinds of entities gain success in interstellar space. Our projections show that the probability of separatism and civil war is astronomically greater—"

"I'm willing to entertain those possibilities," Rui remarked with a serious expression. "The reality is that those risks are not as severe as the threat of annihilation from a vastly superior alien force. This has especially been vindicated by the most recent operation that we conducted. Now then…"

He turned towards the bundle of papers to his right. "I assume this is the final model. The one that fulfills what I wanted from you, right?"

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Yes. It's a laissez-faire model of space expansion that maximizes output and progress more than anything. In this model, there is absolute sovereignty with the only demands of species-loyalty and military contribution to the defense of human civilization in the event of an attack."

His eyes lit up with interest.

"Sounds perfect. Tell me more."

"Yes, Your Majesty," she continued with a resigned tone. "Even in this model, the conquerors, as we call them in this model, will still make use of an alliance reserve currency, negatron matter controlled by the Kandrian Empire, and the reverse-engineered technology of gargantian reproduction. These are the only pieces of leverage that the Gaian Alliance possesses over conquerors. In return, there are minimal taxes collected from settler-colonial enterprises, and the only commitment demanded from them is loyalty to species and a defense commitment to protect Gaian Civilization. Since the technology for rapid terraforming of planets derived from gargantian reproduction will be exclusively in your control, you will have enough leverage over human civilization to incentivize them to defend Gaia should the time ever arise. The same is true regarding negatron matter as well."

Rui's expressions grew more enthused. "And those will serve as an absolute shackle that will ensure that no matter what ideology they harbor, they will have no choice but to defend Gaia, the source of all seed for planetary terraforming, in the event of an alien attack. And thus, we can fully harness their military might to defend Gaian Civilization for when the time comes."

"Correct, Your Majesty."

"That's perfect, that's all I care about," Rui remarked. "Frankly, I don't even give a damn about the tax money as much as the security and defense pacts."

"While this governing model minimizes alliance intervention, the reality is that in order to effectively ensure that the forces of human civilization participate in order to protect Gaian Civilization when the time comes, we still recommend currency integration and security systems integration. This will make harnessing the power of human civilization smoother if and when the time for a collective military action truly does arrive."

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