The Chairman raged within himself - this just wasn't working out. Only about 80% of the US population were fooled enough to avoid the System, and that just wasn't enough. It was too late to go China-style - as far too many already had their "Interface" going. Fear and denial were hitting their limits in only 2 days. And he himself was stuck at level 7 Mastermind.
The only really positive thing was the new Suit that had been waiting for him at his Base - which allowed him to feel the relative "level" between himself and others in his immediate area. No more hidden system users, in his personal presence, at least.
The problem, of course, was the System itself was set up to limit authority figures. Not only did it give everyone hidden bases that were almost impossible to access without the owner's help, but forced log-ins didn't work. Research had shown that log-in passwords had to be voluntarily given to function, and that access would be cancelled at the mere will of the account owner. Bribery had been shown to be the best tool, by far. Happy pills worked to some extent, but random log-outs were common.
The next big problem was the abilities themselves - they were both too powerful and too weak. Oh sure, the potential was amazing, and even small improvements were smashing records in athletics and in medical treatment. Also, most casinos were having to close down - probability was a fickle thing. But there weren't going to be any comic-book super heroes any time soon, and by the time there might be, the traditional power structure would already be gone.
Yes, there was magic - enough to make pretty glowy lights. Teleportation - of grains of sand. Super-strength - the best so far measured was a 35% increase, 22% for super-speed. And so on. The most "powerful" so far were the super-hackers - within a week, he estimated that no system with outside connections would be secure. Within a month - none at all. The banking system wouldn't be able to survive that. Digital transactions were doomed.
Still - effective combat potential was very low, and the defensive potential of Bases was high. Every military conflict in the world had come to a standstill - no one dared move for fear of enemy forces coming out of nowhere behind them. That would all change eventually, certainly, but we couldn't effectively make progress under martial law conditions.
On another front entirely, so far as the 3rd world was concerned, this was salvation for the poor. It was determined that 1 point could buy nutritious food, enough for 1 person to be stuffed like Thanksgiving, or to provide enough to eat for a family of 4 for the day. 1 point would also provide up to 1 cubic meter of fresh, clean water. Housing, of course, could be solved by the bases themselves, which were very much expandable and upgradable, it appeared. With enough points, they could even be moved.
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And then there was the headache of the aliens themselves. Their introduction plainly stated that they were watching, and that they would begin "interacting" in under a month. Earth would be a total disorganized mess by then - with no way for government to enforce even the simplest of laws.
He was going to have to backtrack. Now was the use-it-or-lose-it time for the wealthy, and also time to open the floodgates of money-printing while it still had value. They needed to get their hands on cash and hard assets before the digital systems failed, and the best way would be flooding the public with digital cash before they knew it was about to be worthless. At the same time, they could begin containment efforts.
The Great Plains of the central US were perfect. Government would given $10,000 to anyone with a Base in the designated region, upon proof of inspection, and another $1000 for registration of a person's "Pathway" - to be proved via log-in. People with Bases outside the suggested zone but within the USA could register and have them inspected and be paid $3000. Anyone with a level over 10 would be paid $10,000 upon registration and inspection of their abilities, $50,000 for anyone level 20 or higher.
All this would be explained easily enough as Humanity's need to use the aliens technology against them and prepare for their arrival. We would admit that the brain changes due to the Wi-Fi virus had not been shown to be directly harmful, after due research, and cancel the restriction orders. Most other western nations would follow suit, of course.
Turning to his other problems, China was doing full-scale lockdown and control, as was N Korea - hunting down and killing anyone using the System without authorization. It was estimated that well under 1% had escaped their swift response. The West had no real choice but to allow it, and the Chairman had a team working on remote disabling of nuclear weapons, it looked promising, so long as they were given a few more days to level up the Disarm Pathway.
Africa was a madhouse, with half the population hiding in bases while the rest struggled for control. India had simply gone fully open, encouraging people to "explore their divine selves" and opening counseling and guidance centers. Most of the islamic world had gone the opposite direction and declared the System a "demonic temptation" that must be cleansed from the Earth, and were actively hunting down and killing system users.
Russia was strangely quiet. The few public service pieces they had put out simply asked all citizens to do their civic duty and report any useful information, and that their "national guard" was now taking volunteers without restriction to aid in "preparing the nation for what is to come". There were wild rumors of experimentations in their remote gulags, but little could be confirmed.
Still, the Chairman thought, there had to be a way for him to ride this wave to new heights of power and influence. He went back and read over the "tutorial" several times....yes, that might work. He called his major research directors - yes, the component abilities needed were already in development, and they could put his idea into practice within 2 days, they estimated. He smiled and called his contacts in Hollywood....