Chapter 202: 202
“A what now?” Matthew chimed.
“A deepfake.” I replied.
“I heard you the first time but what is it?” he said.
“An example of that is what you’re seeing now.” I said with a serious look.
Ken, Kris, and Tatiana have the same look as me and the people with us are still confused and looking for answers.
“Enough of that cryptic talk kid. What is really happening? Isn’t that Rod speaking in that broadcast? Does the word ‘fake’ in deepfake means that it’s a fake person in that podium right now?” Oscar asked.
“Somewhat. Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person’s image from a video or something similar is replaced with someone else’s. Remember the ones I showed you before with the US President? Where they placed his face on someone else’s to slander him?” I said.
“Oh! I f.u.c.k.i.n.g remember now! It’s the one I showed you before and you said that it was a fake video. Wait, I thought you said that making those takes a lot of time. What the f.u.c.k are we seeing now?!” he exclaimed as he looked back at the TV.
“Yeah, here’s where the problem is…” I trailed.
“Hmm?” he looked back at me.
“Ana, did your people do this?” I said out loud.
I’m staring at the screen while I wait for her to answer.
“That’s impossible. How could she do that? She’s-” Ken said but I cut him off.
“She’s what? A partner? A colleague? One of us? Ana, I’m just asking a simple question. I just want you to answer me honestly.” I said calmly while Ken stops.
“Too bad I, Kaley, or Marisha couldn’t see her in person. We would’ve known immediately if she or her group has bad intentions.” I thought to myself.
[No. That is not from my group. We’d never do something like this. Please trust me.]
“I’m gonna take your word for now. Just remember that I don’t like people lying to me.” I said.
[My word is all that I could offer you besides the files that you needed.]
“Besides, I already know where she is. She’s fairly close too.” I thought to myself.
“I know besides that, that deepfake appearing could mean many things but the most obvious one is that somehow, something happened to the president. They could be either covering it up and made that thing as a backup in case anything happened to not let people descend into chaos or it could be something I could bet on…” I trailed as I took a deep exhale.
“And that is?” Johnny asked.
“Those people that made that just had the power to control this country, whatever is left of it.” I replied with a serious look.
When I said those words, the whole room got suddenly quiet. You could hear my wall clock’s ticking sound. I bet Zeus even understood what I said as he started to crawl under my legs while hugging his tail.
“Imagine, another video like that and the ‘president’ says, ‘Sky Ishiyama’s compound is located at this address go and plunder everything from that place!’ What would happen then? Or what if he says that the cure is to drink bleach or even thoughts and prayers work?” I started saying the things popping up in my head.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! But what if you’re wrong? What if he’s just sick or something and he needed to rest for a while? They just broadcasted that video so the people wouldn’t worry?” Rin chimed.
“Then it’s the best-case scenario. I always assume the worst when it comes to things like that. Especially at the times were at now. Anyway, enough talk about this. We have one sure-fire way to know if I’m right.” I said as I looked at Oscar.
“Hmm? What? Oh! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! I HAVE HIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G NUMBER! WAIT A BIT HERE YOU F.U.C.KTARDS! I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT IT!” he immediately jumped up from the sofa he’s sitting at and he ran as fast as the wind outside towards his house.
“Bro…” Jared said as he faced the phone’s screen at my face again.
[YOU HAVE THE PRESIDENT’S NUMBER?!?!?!]
“Yeah.” I replied.
[WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!?!?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!?!?!]
“Hmm? That’s rich. Why don’t you tell me where you are? Is Ana even your real name? You’ve been interacting with almost everyone here for a while and I think you could already see what we have here. Is your place such a utopia that you can’t leave it? We could even make a small convoy just to fetch you. You’d be a valuable addition to my team.” I said as I looked at the phone’s camera.
No answer.
“Still don’t trust us huh? Let me tell you again, unless you’re the MC of a story gifted with supernatural abilities or some shit that’s giving you plot armor, you’ll have the hardest time out there. That’s why we need people, people like you. However, if you’re the type that can’t even recognize words of sincerity then we’ll just have this deal by deal basis we’ve been doing until you change your mind. You’re really stubborn you know that?” I said even if she didn’t answer me earlier.
[I’m sorry. But I still think that it’s not the time yet. Like I said before, I trusted people before and I’ve been burned many times than I could count. It’s hard to find the right people now that you could trust. I mostly operate on a deal by deal basis now like you said. You’re just the people that stayed this long with me.]
“Who would be the other people that she interacted with before? Are they still alive?” I thought to myself.
“I think I have one proof that you could trust me.” I said calmly.
Everyone started to look at me.
[What do you mean?]
“I never ki- ACK!” I was about to joke about what Kaley did to Tatiana before but Kaley elbowed me on my side hard. She must’ve figured out what I was about to say and she reacted immediately. She’s glaring at me hard while everyone around is confused besides Rin and Tatiana.
[What were you saying?]
“*high pithched* Nothing. I forgot.”
[…]
“Anyway, I bet you could see everything around here already. Just look at it and think for yourself long and hard if my place is not as bad as you think.” I said after rubbing my sides quickly.
She never responded back so we continued to watch the broadcast which is now in a loop. Ken still recorded every single thing from the broadcasts and it is stored on his laptop.
The broadcast restarted again and you could immediately notice that the difference of this one from the earlier ones is that the ‘president’ standing before us didn’t have his generals behind him and some other people from other countries. The person there sounds and looks like the president and if it wasn’t for our keen eyes, every single person here would’ve been fooled until we told them that it’s a deepfake.
I’ve begun to analyze everything that he’s saying and it seemed to check out. The way he talks, his mannerisms, and even his colorful curses that is always mixed in between his sentences. I could almost say that he could be a double if it wasn’t for the minute details I noticed earlier. The worst deepfakes I’ve seen are really bad to the point that an amateur seeing it for the first time would notice the flicker when it reverts back on some cases. But this thing… the only problems with it is that it’s too perfect.
I planned to check more details from it but Oscar finally came back.
“I FOUND THE PHONE!!!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Good! Now f.u.c.k.i.n.g call the president! What took you so long?!” I shouted back.
“F.u.c.k.i.n.g kid! You know I always forget where I place my other things that I rarely use! My guns on the other hand…” I cut him off.
“JUST DIAL HIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G NUMBER!!!” everyone shouted at him.
He got taken aback and then he sheepishly started to tap on the screen to dial the president’s number after he snuggled to the sofa.
Everyone is silent watching the phone in his hands and the wait is almost like an eternity. The voice of the ‘president’ on the TV is the only thing we’re hearing now but Matthew almost kicked my TV down but luckily Lois turned it off with the remote.
The line couldn’t be reached.
“Dial it again.” I said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Oscar replied
…
“Dial it again.”
…
“Again.”
…
“Again!”
…
“AGAIN!”
…
Still no established connection with the other line.
“Try the other lines not just the direct one. It’s…” I said with a serious look as I told him the numbers given out before.
The first number Oscar dialed immediately connected. It was the same reply you’ll hear from them and the first questions being asked is from where we are calling. Oscar looked at me but I shook my head in disappointment. He tried asking for the president, even from the other numbers but he got the same reply:
“The president has just finished his broadcast, he’s resting for the moment. Could you please tell us where you are calling from? We didn’t get it the first time.” the voice said before Oscar would hang up the phone.
Everyone is silently watching us and hoping for some sort of voice we could hear that is from the real president and not from the ‘president’ we heard earlier, even though they really sounded the same. I think that everyone has the same exact thoughts in their heads but no one could just simply say it out loud.
“Is the president dead?” I asked myself.