TW: suicide (not depicted)

"What do you think it means?" President Stone asked during the emergency meeting.

"Obviously this is not a prank. How are people seeing clouds spell words when their shouldn't have been the right atmospheric conditions for even a few cirrus clouds? That's like saying everyone got a letter on New Years, how? The mail doesn't deliver then." Meriden, the NOAA director said.

Such a meeting was beyond their station, but answers were needed now, and when the gods send letters via clouds, who better than the cloud expert? At least that's why President Stone suggested them, but they were not helping calm the situation. "Thanks for thar wealfh of information. And what of our rivals?"

"Several cyberattacks have been launched, but we believe they are seeking answers. To the best of our knowledge, none were successful, but we'll xontinue to monitor the situation." Sid, the CIA director said calmly.

"Attacks you say?" President Stone could work with that, an understandable enemy. "It was the Russians right? Tell me it was the Russians."

"It was everybody and naturally we did our own."

"And we did em the American way." Jackson, the NSA director said without permission. "And I can confidently say, they have no idea why nearly 2/3 of births quit being successful after the skype."

"You can't just associate a company with a bad thing." Sid admonished.

"I'm sure Corona disagrees, but fine, the cloud message." Jackson said.

"So what is the solution? Should we advocate for less Medicare funding to let the elderly die off? We can't let our workforce get too skewed." President Stone said, hoping to return to the actual point of the meeting.

"India was the first to try. The population dropped since it apparently means 10B exactly. It does not respect soceirgnty so killing our own would depend on luck, luck that an American happened to be born in that fraction of a second." Sid reported, looking troubled for the first time. He knew what that meant.

"Which means the solution is war!" General Bradshaw shouted with anticipation.

The table looked at him. Was this dude for real? He was a holdover from the last administration, "but what kind of cliché villain shit is that." President Stone started mumbling.

"It's practical sir. The only way to ensure enough die for our citizens to be born is to coordinate c-sections and military operations. Even a bleeding heart like yourself can't ignore such pragmatic advice, because how long will it take the other party to figure this out."

They'd already decided that of course. But in an even less constructive way. Why feed prisoners when we can save babies? Why feed the poor when we can save the future? Disgusting. President Stone sighed, hoping to release his frustration.

"Please." President Stone said, pleading with Marcus, the NASA director.

He twiddled his thumbs for a while. "Of the five we sent, four were still births. We don't know if it was because of a null-g birth, getting to space during a lage stage pregnancy, or the curse. We don't have enough data on any of this because we've always listened to the wrong person when we had the chance." He finished by speaking to the General.

"We'd have just reached it sooner if it weren't for our heroism."

"More like opportunism."

"Opportunism? Sure we are kept from getting the work done in-"

"Even now!?" President Stone shouted before speaking calmly, "We need to stop vigilante justice, we need to make sure nobody has the bright idea to nuke about a billion people out of existence, and we have to find a reasonable solution that won't immediately cause the first two problems somehwere else."

"That would be ideal." Sid deadpanned.

"And that means we need to find solutions."

Hours passed and the one thing they did not find was solutions. War, cutting instead of expanding Medicare, and promoting immigration were the only things that didn't seem even more terrible. "Let's return in an hour, consult your advisors, eat a meal, and let's come up with a plan that isn't shit." President Stone said before leaving the conference. He couldn't do it, no, he wouldn't be forced to do it.

President Stone had a Monte Cristo sent up, the sweet ham and powdered sugar made it a meal for a child, but he needed some indulgence on this time of hell. Forget his agenda, some asshole was data capping them because they were too cheap.

When the sandwich arrived, he turned on the television to watch the Pope's address. "Brothers and sisters, children of God. Today is a day of trials. This is an era of tribulations. But the Lord Almighty has given us the model we must follow. After much prayer and while searching the ancient catacombs of the Vatican linraries that I was blessed with the answer. Suicide is a sin, perhaps one of the worst since it means you cannot repent or seek forgiveness. And yet, we also know that Jesus chose to die for our sins. How do we reconcile this act of willful death for a greater purpose, as a divine sacrifice, with the command that we must not end our own lives?" The pope paused for dramatic effect, both hands outstretched before hammering a fist into the other's palm. "Purpose. Purpose is the difference between selfish and sinful suicide versus noble sacrifice. To end your own suffering, the challenges the lord planned to test and grow your soul is selfish. It is difficult to be forgiven. And yet, when it is for another's sake, nay many other's whom you do not personally know, then it might be just. It is these thought that have revealed the truth, we must sacrifice ourselves so our grandchildren may live. It is with a heavy heart and a lightened soul that I share such morbid answers. It is our duty to preserve what must be saved, the innocence of tomorrow."

The speech went on for nearly an hour as he gave an increasingly nuanced description of his doctrinal interpretation and who specifically he meant. President Stone didn't have time for it, but the conference resumed entirely different, "Our birth rates are back in-line with pre-message levels." said Dr. Patricia, director of the NIH.

r/AurumArgenteus