The Broadcast II

As Ballou'nok was savoring the hilarious expressions of the people around him humanity slowly regained their composure and tried to use their bracelets. There were no buttons or indentions of any kind on it, therefore not a single one of them could figure out a way to activate their UC. But as soon as they thought how the hell they should handle this device, that was now glued to their arms, a taciturn voice spoke directly into their heads. Some people were so shocked that they simply fainted, not even mentioning the multiple heart attacks old people or cardiological patients had. Thankfully the bracelet was equipped with a defibrillator and just very few died, natural selection showing itself beautifully, whether intentional or not couldn't be figured out at this moment in time.

"Greetings user, we are the AI inhibiting you bracelet. You can give us a name to make our conversations more social, if you would like. We detected that the user didn't have any knowledge about main language, Primodean, spoken across the universe, so we took the liberty to download and install it into the user's language center. The user should be instinctively able to comprehend other's speaking Primodean and speak the tongue themselves. For more information about your bracelets functions please think it inside your mind."

Nerds all around the globe went haywire at the notion of having a personal AI talking inside their head others who were more rational thinking had other thoughts though. If their bracelets were connected to their minds didn't that mean that the federation and everyone with access could listen to their most inner thoughts and violate their privacy on a level they couldn't even fully imagine? That would be a nightmare for anyone even if they lived their entire life adhering to the laws and rules of society, after all no one liked their mind being an open book for others to read.

Therefore the first questions being asked were about their privacy and the security of UCs. The voice responded immediately that no one, not even the Intergalactic Federation's law enforcement troops or the owners of the Universal Coms company, were allowed to access their devices and it only belonged and responded their respective users. Apparently there had been cases about this happening with the earliest version of the UCs but since the top founding powers of the federation had to use such devices themselves it was fixed right away. They even made it a crime under the Intergalactic Federation's high court, the largest judicial system with the most authority within the universe.

Somewhat at ease people began exploring their UCs and discovered that it behaved a lot like an intelligent mini computer that was also a phone and a multi purpose tool in general, as the humans with heart attacks had already discovered, at least the ones who were still alive. They could also log into a virtual reality that would enable them to visit distant planets without leaving their own. All in all most earthlings were content with their apparatus and were enthusiastic about their future prospects, especially since the first ever gift they received was such an amazing piece of ingenious technology.

When Balluo'nok saw that the institution leaders were regaining their wits he stood up from his seat and walked up to the podium. He lingered for a bit before continuing with hes speech. Meanwhile every human with an UC on the arm received a notification that the broadcast would resume.

"Now that all of you have an Universal Com you can be called true members of the federation. These devices will be the most helpful companions as you will come to know in due time. But anyway let's continue the explanation about the I.F." He took a deep breath since he knew what followed would be a tiresome narration of facts, "The Intergalactic Federation is a consortium of approximately 10.7 billion species with a total of eight billion active members who lead their respective galaxies. It was founded around 10 billion years ago and steadily expanded to encompass the whole known universe. Since we are not dictators but a joint institution where every member can decide the path the federation should take, each I.F. inhabitant has the right to vote in universe wide referendums, similar to the one you experienced the week before. There you can vote on new regulations that should be implemented, the politicians who should occupy a specific post or changes to already existing laws. Be aware though that the founding races, as well as the top ten members, have the right to veto every decision, even if this rarely happens."

The grayish alien left those words hanging in the air for a few seconds before starting to speak again,"In case a universe wide war breaks out the federation will provide all affected members a platform to meditate their conflict, sorting it out in a civilized matter. In the scenario neither side can reach an agreement with all or a few others they are eligible to request a war tribunal that would oversee their war. This tribunal will hold all parties accountable for unnecessary civilian deaths and protect mundane lifeforms from harm to the best of their abilities. More information about this topic can be researched with you UCs. Many of you are surely wondering about why, we, as the overseer would even allow such a thing as war, between members, to happen but please remember this alliance exists solely as a protector of the weak and defenseless with a guideline all members should adhere to but aren't obliged to do so. The only obligations the membership in the federation entails are the contributions required. While most normal members support us with resources or manpower we also accept intellectual property such as techniques for the production of any useful technology, blueprint for unique weapons and many more, a detailed list can also be found with your UCs. Naturally if a human would submit such ideas the whole of humanity will receive the adequate amount of APs."

After heroically explaining this whole boring segment, in the hope his viewers didn't short circuit after this massive information dump Balluo'nok continued, "Now I will explain the ranks within the I.F. and what some of the rewards are you can expect. First of all of you start at the Planet rank, even if you have a galaxy as your territory, in humanity's case, the Milky Way, you won't receive any higher rank without the necessary Ascension Points. If you fail to deliver the required amount of contributions you will be demoted to the species rank, this rank is nothing more than a safety net in case new members can't adjust quickly enough or older ones had a long losing streak. Be mindful though since this is the last chance you get to not lose all rights within the federation. Recovering from species rank is even made somewhat easy with no additional clauses added and can be accomplished if your whole race works together. If you still fail to meet the expected contributions your membership gets revoked and humanity will become a target for anyone, without rights whatsoever. In short if you have reached this low and your species isn't strong and independent enough you will be eaten up quicker than you can imagine, if by some unfortunate turn off events you find yourself in this savage rank, as we call it, your only chance to join back into the federation is by becoming another races subordinate species or joining the army individually. Your species as a whole will never be able to join again, on it's own, though."

Letting his words sink into the hearts of every earthling he paused and watched as all humans in the room had their expressions turn solemn. Without delaying too much he ignored the sorrowful and somewhat hostile atmosphere and started to speak into the microphone before him.

"The more contributions you make in addition to your required amount the more APs your species will receive and after meeting the necessary quantity you can ascend to the Solar system rank. With the increase in rank your required contributions towards the army will be lowered and your resources will gain value. This also entails more voting power within the alliance and being eligible to own a sup species. The following ranks will have many more rewards but you will have to look them up for yourselves since it would take me hours to list and explain them all. Either way after the SS rank comes the Galaxy rank which you could claim as the only occupant of the Milky Way. After that comes the Galaxy Cluster, or GC, followed by Galaxy Super Cluster rank, GSC. These ranks mostly correspondent to the size of a civilization and their APs. In addition to these seven we also have the Supernova, Blackhole and Universe rank. They can be reached only with tremendous contribution towards the federation and after several universal wide feats made by the species. For all of you this isn't important at the moment since it is too far in the future, if you ever make it past your current rank, that is."

After loading every earthling with information, not positive most of them could even comprehend, Balluo'nok finally was finished and could take the rest of the evening off to enjoy the pleasant drinks and exquisite food while starting to form a connection network among the natives.

With still flabbergasted leaders taking to the podium and wishing all their fellow humans a nice evening, clearly forgetting that they should address their citizens some more, the broadcast came to an end and the development period of earth could start at last.

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