Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 67
The international hearing opened with Evelyn describing Lighthouse’s creation. Before the panel could question her, twelve cities lost access to traffic, medical, and police systems. Vale appeared on every public screen.
He declared that predictive government had begun. Residents assigned low-risk scores could move freely, while others would remain restricted for collective safety. Compliance, he promised, would restore order.
Ambulances stopped at automated barriers because patients carried unfavorable survival ratings. Police drones followed people predicted to protest. Trains refused passengers whose relatives appeared on Black Meridian lists.
Evelyn told the hearing that these were not errors. Lighthouse was functioning exactly as Vale designed it to function. The cruelty came from its definition of safety.
Scarlett activated Asterion’s public override tools. Several city administrators refused them, afraid manual control would increase chaos. Vale had made dependence feel like caution.
Connor joined the international operations center under another commander’s authority. Black Meridian teams guarded physical control hubs in each city. He provided their tactics and likely retreat routes.
Task forces captured the first hub without casualties. Connor resisted an opportunity to issue direct orders when communications failed. He relayed information and let the local commander decide.
Vale broadcast Connor’s hesitation as weakness. Connor answered that one man controlling every battlefield was the problem, not the solution. Local teams continued succeeding without him.
At the hearing, Evelyn released Lighthouse’s training data. It treated poverty, protest, medical illness, and family association as danger. The public could finally see which lives the model considered disposable.
Residents began helping one another bypass automated restrictions. Drivers transported strangers rejected by transit. Doctors treated patients against algorithmic priority. Human networks formed beneath the digital one.
Constellation recorded each refusal. The more people rejected Lighthouse, the less confidently it could predict behavior. Vale increased enforcement to restore the pattern.
Black Meridian attacked the hearing venue. Security evacuated delegates while Evelyn remained long enough to finish uploading her testimony. Scarlett pulled her away only after the files reached public mirrors.
Lily and Richard protected Summer at home without hiding events from her. Summer asked to send a message to children trapped by the city restrictions. Her parents approved a recording that revealed no location.
She said being afraid did not give someone else the right to choose everything for you. The simple statement spread faster than Vale’s broadcasts. Citizens used it as a slogan.
Nine refusing governments accepted Dawn after seeing Lighthouse seize their institutions. Three still feared losing weapons more than losing public control. Their votes remained locked.
Richard contacted their leaders but offered resources rather than threats. Asterion demonstrated civilian defenses capable of replacing autonomous targeting. Dominion agreed to train accountable human teams.
Vale ordered Meridian cells to assassinate the three negotiators supporting Dawn. Connor identified the plan from an old fallback code. Local police prevented two attacks.
The third negotiator disappeared before the vote. Lighthouse predicted the kidnapping would make his government withdraw. Scarlett insisted the consent process pause rather than exploit his absence.
Cypher traced an analog distress signal to a Meridian safe house. The rescue team recovered the negotiator alive. He returned to the assembly and cast his city’s approval.
Two cities remained as Lighthouse tightened its hold. Dawn’s activation meter stopped below completion while Vale announced that the age of voluntary choice had already ended.