The Saviors of Mankind

Chapter 11

While Hyuna was performing, Cliff was emerging from a pod in front of Game Engine, with Soo-Jin leading the way.

Cliff stared up at the three-block-long gold building and felt a rush of envy shooting through his body. Why don't we have something like this in Liburbia? Must tell Norah to get started on designing something even — bigger...

"Kind of gaudy, isn't it?" he said out loud. "A little too try-hard if you ask me."

"I didn't," Soo-Jin said, "and remember that I can hear your thoughts. You are SO full of crap."

They walked closer to Game Engine and stopped at the line of crystals that were embedded in the pavement and circled Game Engine like a moat. As they walked, Cliff noticed some kind of silver witch flying high up in the sky to his right, while a crowd of people beneath her were cheering and clapping.

Then some kind of giant robot dog with a bunch of tails swooped down on him from the left. Cliff screamed and dropped to the ground. When he looked up, he could swear the dog was laughing as it flew away on... what appeared to be a drone with four rotors...

"Buh..." Cliff said as Soo-Jin extended her hand down to help him up. "Guh..."

"Forget it, Cliff," Soo-Jin said. "It's Korea."

The crystals in the pavement sparkled, then flashed three times. Cliff and Soo-Jin kept walking.

You are admitted to Game Engine, said a disembodied voice. Please follow the instructions to avoid a potentially fatal result.

A chunk of the golden wall in front of them lit up. They walked through it, following the voice's instructions. They found themselves in a maze, and got through the maze with help from the disembodied voice.

You never enter Game Engine the same way twice, Soo-Jin sent.

They stepped out into a translucent white cube that accelerated and slid in various directions for the next minute. Cliff guessed that some of the trip was misdirection, to ensure that visitors stayed unaware of the building's precise layout.

The door opened and they stepped out into the Great Hall.

"We call this the Great Hall," Soo-Jin said.

A mural was prominently displayed inside the Great Hall. It featured Alexander Graham Bell smugly tossing his patent application for the telephone onto the U.S. Patent Commissioner's desk as Elisha Gray's gasping, sobbing figure crumpled in the doorway, his own application slipping from his defeated fingers.

This is the national business model? Cliff sent.

Actually, yes, Soo-Jin sent. Thanks to the National Treasure, most of the world's key innovators have voluntarily moved here and we use them - consensually - the way a freestyle chess-player uses his computer programs to outplay flesh-and-blood grandmasters. We just have to be slightly ahead of everyone else, just enough to patent all the best technology worldwide and get rich on royalties — charging nothing to poor countries, of course. We beat the rest of the world in patenting just about everything, often by days, weeks, or months. But that's enough to gain total control of the technology for the next two decades. We patent everything worldwide and our IP lawyerbots aggressively search for infringers and nail them.

"Wow," Cliff said out loud. "No wonder you guys can afford the Space Elevator. What's that?"

He pointed to a clock on the opposite wall. The time on the clock was five minutes to midnight. Beneath the clock, in separate rows, were the words: