Barbaric realms

The Senate was illuminated by old gas lamps with a cold fog seeping into the room. The room filled with a charter with the Senators and their staff in the room talking,

"How could we let this happen..."

"We? How could you think it was our fault? We haven't known of this,"

"We had Judy warning us of this occurring. Look what we've done. There's nothing to stop this. We mock her and disregard her. This is what would happen if we didn't hear her warning. And we didn't listen to her, Look at where we are now in the dark,"

"That doesn't make it right. She must have been lying. All Judy and her group do is spread this false information, "

"Are you dull? Look at the environment around you,"

They stopped and stared at the room, the lights from long ago lit on the walls once more with papers they hadn't seen before placed on their desk, they had the microphone and recorded from long ago off, it showed its age with the scratched gold paint on it,

"I..."

"You know that... don't be blind,"

The door opened by Judy, letting Lee and Alex walk in first. Judy walked in, closing the door behind them she saw the lights in the chamber, the same as before. Judy felt a nudge to her side and looked at Lee. She pointed at the floor, and Judy noticed how many of them were staring at them. She felt the anxiety of the situation hit her while she looked at the room.

"They know now. It took them a while, but they see it for what it is. They are no longer donating what I have known to be true, good. We have had the strong go blindly into the dark far too long,"

Judy thought, looking back at them, determined. Judy heard a voice call her,

"Judy,"

The chairwoman stood up from her seat, staring at Judy relieved in a way. Judy smiled at her and said

"Madam Chair, I see that you brought in some new lighting,"

"Yes, I had to," She chuckled

Judy looked at Alex and Lee, gave them a thumbs up, and walked to the chairwoman, Judy noticed how fidgety she was tapping her fingers on the desk, the Senators watched walking to their chairs, Alex and Lee glanced at each other then went to Judy standing near her,

"Judy, you have been informed of what happened?"

"I wouldn't be standing here without it, madam chairwoman," Judy said

"Good, then we will start this meeting,"

Alex looked at Judy before turning his gaze to Lee, Lee walked to Alex, patting his arm, and walked to her chair, Alex patted Judy on the shoulder, whimpering,

"Good luck on your part,"

Alex went to his chair next to hers, Judy looked away from him to the chamber, and Judy noticed that they were staring at her. They wanted to hear what she had to say. At least they are willing to listen to her this time. She hoped it wasn't too late for that. Judy heard the chairwoman say something to her and looked at her, She sat down with her people behind her. She looked at them, asking,

"Please set up the boards."

They brought out the boards, and one of them laid it out on a stand, but they couldn't see it well until they brought a candle, not too far from it. It showed how long they have until they collapse.

"This is how long we have until we collapse. We have three days to fix what has happened. Now I know you all have gotten the letter that the electricians gave us. Warned of the artificial intelligence stopping them from getting back into the grid, We have hackers working on getting it out of their system, but so far failed to kick it out," She finished

They put a new board on the stand, and it showed how the AI got into the grid and made his way to the other grids, stopping the power. They have the hacker names that help them but are nothing new to add. Judy felt a heaviness linger in the chamber

"This is what we know, and the president has done this so far, we have come here to help come up with a solution, any takers?" The chairwoman asked

"I will madam chair,"

Judy turned her gaze to a senator from Massachusetts, Judy knew of her, and she talked on the news about her. She took out her papers read them and asked,

"This is from Senator Diamond, the notes from Sidney Lincoln, note nineteen had already warned of the artificial intelligence causing a power outage at the 2030 summit, it's been in the note along with how she died. What I have to say, Miss Diamond, is why would you have these?"

"I have had this at the being of this year by a whistleblower," Judy told her

"Then how would we know if you had tampered..."

"If I may madam chairwoman,"

Judy looked at a man. He's the other Senator from Massachusetts. He interrupted her, taking off his glasses stunned. He looked at the representative beside him, and she stared at him angrily. But he didn't care for that,

"How could you say that utter trash? When we have worse to deal with, Senator Roth,"

"If I could finish what I said, it is my time to..."

"You mean talking about the note, which is not why we are here,"

The chairwoman stopped them, saying

"I believe your time is done for the senator from Massachusetts Warren Roth, Dalton Strong. Do you have an idea?"

"I have only one madam chairwoman. Use another artificial intelligence to take the power back from Herman," Dalton said

"Where are we going to get that artificial intelligence?"

"They have only started making new artificial intelligence. They are not developed like Herman. They can't kick him out of the grid,"

"No, there has to be something else that can kick him out,"

Judy and Lee looked to Alex, who raised his hand,

"If I may madam chairwoman,"

She looked behind him, seeing his staffers having a board of their own,

"You may,"

Alex stood up from his seat and went towards the board behind him with his staffers next to him. They moved aboard and replaced a new one, a device that could knock out the AI initially. An Emp.

"We got the approval to make this after Yuval's questioning, and it got here just in time we made an Emp device for artificial intelligence," Alex explained

The board showed the emp looked different but had a similar effect, it was square with a screen showing a radar, and the chamber got quiet filled with Senator staring at it with intesapathion, Judy heard this from Alex and knew of this for a while and found it useful in the cause of this happening, At least she didn't have it bring Claire into this.

"Will it work?"

Alex looked at her determined, saying,

"We will have to see, but this is an Emp for artificial intelligence. It will take all the AI, the bots from the internet, or out in the open from here to California. The only AI that will be safe is if it is under a fortified bunker,"

Judy knew that Claire wouldn't be affected in the lab. With the power off, she should be in there, Judy heard the chamber begin to chatter.

"Every artificial intelligence. Every bot?"

"That would do more harm than good,"

"The codes that made them, those systems would still be able to work,"

"First, I will have to set it up, but I believe it will be enough for the task,"

Alex walked to his desk, having a stern look on his face,

"I have to ask that we get the approval from Congress and the president, I will not start it without that," Alex continued

The Senate got quiet with the chairwoman thinking of what he asked of; Alex turned his gaze to Lee and Judy, Lee smiled at him, and Judy did the same but gave him a nod, they thought it would be the best way to use the Emp while being within the law.

"You are right. We will tell them of this and get their approval. For now, we will be under your care, Senator Sherman," the chairwoman told him,

"Yes, madam chairwoman,"

"Madam chairwoman How long will it take to get this information to them," Judy asked

"I will have to send someone from my group to give it to them. It would take a few hours for the president," the chairwoman answered

One of her staffers whispered in her ear and placed two papers on her desk, she read them and saw that the papers they needed for the emp, she signed it giving it to the staffer, and said,

"Send it to them quickly, bring security with you,"

The staffer left with security behind them, The chairwoman looked at the Senate, but her gaze went to Judy, and she stared at her with curiosity.

"Do you have anything to say to us, Senator Diamond,"

Judy sat up staring at her stunned,

"It's my time then?"

"It is your time, Senator Diamond,"

Judy looked over the Senate and felt them staring at her, Judy looked back at them sternly,

"I have only been in this Senate for three years, and I've given it my all. To keep my oath to the Constitution and the people. No matter if they disagree with me or not, I wonder how many of you could say that. I listened to them and have tried to get what they want for this country, I hope I have met their standards and will continue to meet their standards,"

The way that she spoke to them stunned some. the way she looked at them made some shiver. There was something in her eyes that hadn't been there before, an old fire. Alex felt that passion from where he stood, It made him more confident than before, Lee looked at her, this was something new, and this had her beaming with courage, they had seen Judy talk before, but not like this. It held it from long ago.

"We have let these big companies or these big political agendas get in the way of what is true. We have them taking an AI to have it as their weapon against us and the people we have sworn to defend. I don't know if this Senate has done that for the past three years, but as for me, we will uphold these people who have jeopardized the country in front of us for questioning. For all to see and for them to face what they have done."

Judy looked at the chamber before her eyes landed on words written on the wall,

"We now stand in front of a choice. We either stand for the rights that are given to us by God or fall buckled under these people. It is your call. But as from me and people like me, I will stand doing all to stand for what I believe and what my sacred duty,"

"I end my time,"