Chapter 454

Government backing sorted, or at least as close as they would have it before the big announcement, which Arthur was not looking forward to; the next step before he could get to the Tower which he really was beginning to desire was the triads and gangs.

Obviously, the Mamak Gang were dealt with - in a way. Arthur was still a little concerned about their trustworthiness and whether they'd hold up their end of the bargain; but there was only one way to know. Having the police swing by more often, checking in on the apartment complex helped as did hiring some of the policemen when they were off duty to hang around. Being visibly off-duty cops, with their truncheons and uniforms did a lot to help lower the crime rate overall; not that it had been ever that high outside of some petty theft, the occasional moment of domestic violence and the ubiquitous littering and graffiti.

That might intimidate your average ganger; but the triads and big gangs were a different beast altogether. They had enough recruits that they could throw them at the problem of meddling policemen till even the police chose – unofficially – to avoid certain areas.

Nevermind the addition of Climbers to their ranks, whose abilities might make it harder to capture or prosecute. The obvious solution to the problem – having Climber policemen – was out of the reach of the government thus far, since almost everyone who did come out dedicated enough also saw enough money doing almost anything else to not choose to work for the government.

It meant that the very small government backed and trained Climbers were set in their own elite units, utilized as a special shock troop and police force. It had only been called into play four times, and each time it had been with a lot of fanfare and media scrutiny. After the act. When the bodies and the burning buildings were all that were left to record, and not even all the faces of the government owned and backed Climbers.

We weren’t the only country with that problem, of course. Some places with a greater sense of civic pride, had a larger number of Climber policemen and could handle things better. Many of them were smaller countries, or more homogenous ones. Places like Japan or Taiwan, like Panama and – amusingly – Canada. Which, while huge geographically was rather small in terms of population.

Other places just solved the problem with a mixture of civic pride and money. Singapore, Dubai, Brunei, a bunch of the Scandinavian countries. Well, maybe the European versions were civic pride too; I haven’t actually visited – but I do know the Climbers got paid very, very well.

You also had the corrupt governments, places like Russia, some of the Eastern European countries, some in Asia and South America and Africa and yeah, Malaysia; where the Climbers became part of the ruling class; the unofficial players and who did come out to suppress the gangs and the like; but only because they were the biggest gang around.

There weren’t a lot of countries that had fully fallen to the gangs, to the Climbers that took over fully. Some of the corrupt governments and countries were heavily trending towards that, where a single Climber – or more often, a group – held power. But the one major negative was that to have that level of personal power, you had to be high level. You had to cultivate and refine and clear a lot of Towers.

Which meant that your needs as a Climber were incredibly high. While there was a healthy market for lower level cores to provide supply for newbies, a Beginner Tower core was near worthless to someone who had cleared multiple Advanced or even an Expert Tower. Nevermind how much a successful Master Class Climber would need.

Because of that, it was nearly impossible for such individuals to stick around – at least by themselves. Even in a team it was difficult to keep control; and there was always the danger that if you stepped too far out of bounds, the serious Climbers, the ones who kept pushing up getting upset and dealing with you.

It was kind of funny, how so many of the things we considered laws and unbreakable rules of society were shown to be just a generous amount of shared delusions. It was ever more clear that it was only because humanity had decided to follow certain laws, that these laws had any meaning.

Not that it wasn't like that before - criminals were, quite illustratively and by definition lawbreakers - but having your average Climber just ignore certain laws and not get punished for it, or receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist; was rather illuminating. For Americas, for the West, where the belief that everyone was subject to the same regulations, it was rather groundbreaking. Sure, most people were fine with corporations flouting the law - had even gotten used to it; but individuals?

No.

Or at least, not then. But then, it happened and happened again and, well, things began to look different and a lot of social turmoil, a lot of crime and questioning of what people were as a society began. Not that things hadn’t already been turned upside down with automation, ‘AI’ and enough unemployment to make the vast majority of people upset. Without the valve of the Towers, things might have found different routes of escape too – beyond just talk. Arthur had no idea how it would play out, both on a global scale and locally; but he figured that it would likely be as it always was.

Some good, some bad, and a lot of in-between.

Realistically, though, growing up in Malaysia; a little dirt and a little mess was all fine with him. The triads and gangs could be a problem; especially if you worked in certain industries; but they also had their uses. A point he tried to keep in mind, while listening to the group before him.

That the Ghee Hin, the 66, the UN and the Hai San and a few more that he hadn’t even realised were operating at this level were here, in this restaurant in the middle of KL willing to talk to him was rather startling. That they were listening, as Mel answered questions and Casey and Rick – looking vastly uncomfortable – looked on was amazing.

Problem was, they had been going around for hours now; with everyone tip-toeing around what they wanted from him, what they could offer in return and the threats they were leveling at him, his people and the Clan as a whole.

All of it rather subtly, of course, because he’d made sure they knew that he was in bed with the government. Which, perhaps if he had waited, they might have been more aggressive and upfront. As it stood, they were just repeating the same things, over and over again.

Funnily enough, it was not him who ran out of patience; but the moderator. An older Indian man, one of the Climbers that had ties to the triads –a 2^nd generation Climber – who got fed up, clapping a hand down.

“Cukup lah!” He growled. “You only paid me fixed rate, to watch. Now you talk, and talk but never get anywhere. You want them allies, but tak nak can agree who. So you argue, and say cannot him, cannot them. Cannot everybody, lah!”

“It’s not that easy.”

“It is. No one partner with them, permanently.” He clapped hands together like he was dusting his hands. “Finis! Cores, you auction lah. You all decide how much to pay, who pay more. Easy. Percentage only, how much he give.”

“He could lie about percentages.”

“Not to the government,” Arthur pointed out. “Or not well. We can divide up based off what is reported to them – and they’ll keep a close track of that. We have all the paperwork…” He frowned, as they all laughed.

“What?”

“We also report; but who says any of it right?” The leader who spoke up was rather corpulently large, though Arthur knew he was faster than he looked. After all, he was a Climber who had managed to make it through multiple Towers. He might be fat, but he wasn’t slow or weak, not at all.

“Well, do you have another suggestion?” Casey asked, head tilted to the side.

“Ada banyak,” the UN leader, another Indian man spoke up. Glancing to the side at the old Climber, he added. “We can talk, but first, percentage, okay?”

Seemingly satisfied that they were at least moving on, the old man fell silent. Leaving Arthur to watch him, while the others chattered away; negotiating on his behalf. After all, both Mel and Casey had a better idea of what they could – or should – give away.

Most importantly, how much could ‘fall of the end’ or never get registered with the government, as it sounded like what they planned to do; without causing their new governmental allies undue stress. He almost felt a little bad for the government and Deputy Minister.

Almost.