Page 86 of Shielding Instinct

“That’s who you study?”

“Right now, I’m particularly focused on a UFO cult that’s been growing. They are dead set on the idea that the world is going to be overrun by aliens on a certain date in the future. Their origin story is this: After being abducted in his youth, their charismatic now has an alliance with the leadership of a distant planet. The planetary leadership contacts this guy with urgent messages, bringing him up to date on universal news.”

Hawkeye could feel not just the smile on his lips but the smile reaching his eyes. How often did that happen? This wasn’t a fun subject, but Hawkeye was jazzed by the kinds of things that Petra thought and talked about. “Nice to have connected friends.”

“Isn’t it? Right now, a battle is being mounted, and Earth’s inhabitants can’t survive it. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the charismatic’s alien friends have a ship en route to pick him up.”

“Now?” Hawkeye asked.

“Right now,” Petra said. “When the ship arrives to vacuum him into the sky, he can take only X number of people with him. People he cares about. People who are part of his extended family.”

Hawkeye lifted a brow. “To go where?”

“Back to the friend-alien’s planet.”

“Where humans can exist on—air, water, food, gravity?”

Petra shook her head. “I suppose. I mean, how could you do that research?”

“Without becoming enslaved or a Guinea pig in some lab somewhere?”

“At a minimum, those would be my questions,” Petra said.

“But no one’s asking.” Hawkeye’s tone made it a statement, not a question.

“They depend on their leader, who has been there and is offering them Nirvana.”

“In exchange for…”

“Well, just like in death, you can’t take it with you. He’s counseled everyone to divest themselves of their worldly goods. They’ll accumulate it all in a central account, and the money will be meted out as needed.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” she asked.

“Why divest?” Hawkeye put the comb down and pulled the towel from her shoulders. “Why put it in a single account? Who has control over that account, and under what circumstances will there be a withdrawal? What does ‘as needed’ mean?”

“You’re so rational. And that shows you think there’s a future on Earth when there isn’t. They live on a farm in a barn turned into a dorm. They grow their own food. They’re just waiting for the specific date and coordinates to show up for the great vacuuming—my term, not theirs. And as to your questions, they’re good questions, but no one is asking them since it doesn’t matter. They’ll either be flying through space to their new home planet, or they’ll be killed by lizard people—I’m making up the last part. I don’t know what kind of alien they think is coming to destroy Earth.”

“Isn’t this against the law?” Hawkeye asked, pulling her back until he had her cradled in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

“People are acting from free will to the extent that the law defines it. We don’t have brain security laws in place.”

“But the leader is stealing all their money.”

“Not stealing, Hawkeye, not even being gifted the money. It goes into a trust that the charismatic controls. He has declared it a religion or spiritual endeavor and jumped through all the hoops. In the eyes of the government, they have the right to assemble and the freedom of religion. They can believe whoever or whatever they like.”

“And the other piece,” Hawkeye pointed out, “is the leader gets all the money and doesn’t even pay taxes on it.”

“Bingo.”

“So why is the FBI getting involved if it’s not illegal?” Hawkeye asked. “Why are you studying it?”

“I’m studying it to understand how rational everyday people—educated people with no underlying pathological issues like paranoia or schizophrenia—fall under his sway. The FBI is interested because crimes are becoming ever more in the realm of mind manipulation and psyops. Breaking into houses with a gun and a money bag is so old school. With the right kind of manipulation, people just hand you everything they have with a smile on their face and a grateful, hopeful heart. Though, sometimes, with AI, it is much more of a cudgel. I’m talking about extortion.”

“They already do that, don’t they? They get teens to do something sexual on video for example.”

“That’s the old way to do that crime. With that method, many more variables could go wrong, which is much more dangerous to the criminal. Before, they had actual videos sent by the actual teens. Now, they don’t need a child to manipulate. They can just pull a picture off someone’s social media, put it through an AI photo or video generator, and boom. Not only that, but child porn is only child porn if a child is exploited. What are the laws to stop people from creating child porn with AI? Who is harmed by it if the child pornography is merely an artificially generated image?”

---