Cab Meet

The emergency meeting was set aboard the state of art aircraft carrier that houses a majestic conference room where Chancellor Galzo would gather key members of his cabinet from time to time, discussing pressing matters of the state. His cabinet, composed of the ones that put him in power in the first place after they were assembled to conspire, then overthrow the previous government, expected an outcome that would repeat what they had done to Galzo’s predecessor.

The eight figures who held key positions that practically put the whole big island-state of Toloda in their hands, with Galzo viewed as the all-too powerful head of state, were seated in front of a big circular table, with computer screens in front of them that supplied everything they had to know about. Chancellor Galzo was scheduled to arrive in half an hour.

The meeting had begun several minutes ago. It was a stretch long enough for them to decide that Galzo’s time on the throne was up. He had to be eliminated.

“This monster we created is ruining our most precious state with his decision to cleanse the populace and get rid of Outsiders living with us,” said Monty, the acknowledged leader of the pool who was the first to point out that the policy Galzo implemented since they were formed as his cabinet proved detrimental to the cause of establishing a well-run, fairly safe state.

Outsiders, those who were not originally from the ultra-modern state of Toloda, had somehow been in control of various aspects in the life of Tolodans. They began as amiable visitors before overstaying and making themselves manipulative bosses of the hospitable but largely uneducated natives.

Chancellor Galzo was built to serve as a rallying machine for the people fiercely tribal to the real inhabitants of the state. He had been programmed to be a tough nut that would drive away Outsiders. A few years of steady, iron-hand governance led to a decision that the only solution to get rid of the parasitic and abusive settlers was to annihilate them.

Galzo’s cabinet obeyed without question, and in no time went to work implementing his directive. Outsiders had to be gathered and thrown out to the sea of sharks.

“These invaders are the poison of our dear land. They’re the ones who came to loot our rich natural resources, steal our women and impregnate them, and do everything in their power to lose our identity,” Chancellor Galzo said in a privileged speech as his cabinet prepared themselves for the coordinated attacks planned against what for Galzo are the true enemies. “Now that we are in power, there’s no stopping us from crushing them.”

Monty implemented his plan to bring down their Chancellor upon the advice of Dorsa, a pretty looking Outsider who infiltrated their ranks and persuaded him to make the move that would put a stop to the senseless killings currently happening all over Toloda since state cleansing was implemented.

“This villain in human form that you allowed to govern must be ousted and be stripped of everything so as not to function again,” Dorsa told Monty.

In their alone-time together, Dorsa took out a device that would alter someone’s wirings. “Is that something to put the Chancellor in a state of immobility,” Monty asked Dorsa.

The lady replied, “Better say that this would lead to his downfall.”

“We’ve been his pawns for quite too long already,” said Delaro, the other member of the cabinet who had been tasked to take Outsiders from their own homes and be sent to prison camps against their will, for no apparent crimes.

When the war against non-natives formally took off, the borders of Toloda were closed so as to make sure no Outsider would get to escape from the clutches of Galzo’s tyranny.

Dorsa’s bloodline trapped in the state had little chance of escape. They were all caught in various hideouts and forced into big vehicles that transported them to temporary jails before their obliteration from the face of the Earth.

“I couldn’t believe what I’ve been doing the whole time, forcing people from their shelters or ordering them to be shot point blank,” Delaro added.

Monty figuratively stressed, “This is what happens when we allow a leader without empathy to take over a state and rule in the guise of being loyal to the motherland. When people don’t realize that the leader whose hands they had placed their welfare into was just pretending to be human, then all hell breaks loose.”

Delaro seconded, “Today, Toloda will be free of a tyrant that had won the right to rule at will without a care for compassion because he couldn’t feel it anyway.”

Both Monty and Delaro had been well-loved by both natives and the Outsiders prior to the state-sponsored massacres. And so where the other members of the so-called Core Cabinet. 

It was part of Galzo's plan to have his cabinet members win the affection of the people, including those he hated. He wanted to lure the Outsiders he believed to have ransacked Toloda in ways he could imagine and keep themselves in and unsuspecting before, as per his plan, the day of reckoning unfolds. 

Dorsa, right after he earned the interest of Monty at a formal occasion involving Galzo’s specially formed cabinet, quickly told him, "You were so well-circuited to believing that things were as presented to you." 

After a few more team chats largely dominated by Monty and Delaro, the moment had arrived. Chancellor Galzo, who was a tech genius before becoming a political figure, walked inside the room, neatly dressed in his outfit that made him able to cover any part of his skin, save for his head. 

Monty had in his pocket the device given to him by Dorsa that would incapacitate the Chancellor and enable them to find out what’s causing him to malfunction and make decisions that led to crimes against humanity. He couldn’t wait to prove that Galzo was a mere creation of the system afraid to admit they’re capable of being inhuman that they needed a modern-day creature to decide for them in official capacity as head of government. It’s time to bring the control back to humans. 

Chancellor Galzo stood in front of his cabinet who gathered in a way that had been the practice every special meeting. He was unsmiling, and had better plans. 

He spoke, “My cabinet, the time has come for me to press the button, to reset everything and fix each one of you that had been tinkered with by an enemy who had trespassed our territory.” 

Enter, forced in by two bodyguards, the bruised and disheveled Dorsa. She was made to stand beside the Chancellor who took out what looked like a remote control. Galzo faced her and asked in his biting tone, “So you think you could make my robots kill me with your pathetic chips that you inserted in their system?” 

He then pressed a red button that suddenly turned Monty, Delaro, and the rest of his cabinet members into mannequin-like, standing in whatever position they were, lifeless. Or out of function. Monty was about to take action when Galzo’s act switched him off entirely. 

Dorsa looked at Galzo’s cabinet in defeat, witnessing how she, as representative of the resistance group, had miserably failed. Galzo made himself clear to Dorsa whom he thought of executing himself in a little while. 

“Dorsa, just in case you don’t know, I created this pool of androids because having a set of human beings is not a guarantee that my plans will be completely implemented. We humans may have the capacity to do evil in the name of a political party or out of blinded loyalty to a leader. But in the end we reach a point to rebel against the ones that placed us in authority. What you did was try to humanize my robots and make them determine what’s right from wrong. It’s a major crime in the way I do things. This cabinet had been able to do their jobs, like bullying others to turn me into a cult figure, unseat the previous regime and install me as the undisputed leader. They are technically heartless, and had just been pulled together purely to obey my orders.” 

Dorsa interrupted Galzo to say something as she knew she’d be eliminated anytime. “You are the real heartless! May you rot in hell.” 

Galzo replied, “Who told you there’s hell? You Outsiders have already turned my country into hell. The devil may find himself no match for me, of what I can do. I was not created. I was born by natural means and raised by a system of hate just waiting to be put in power to unleash its potential.” 

While readying himself for the kill shot to take exact revenge on the lady infiltrator he put under surveillance from the time she appeared in their circle, he closed out, “Us humans, or someone like me, can make or break every killing machine and reiterated once and for all that the real killer is far from being just a machine. There’s no denying the limitless power and capacity of the human soul, for good and for the extreme opposite of it.”