Sirius Zero: Building A Corporate Kingdom After Being Expelled

Ivan Zakhrov sat in the dining room of the new house he and Annette had moved into.

The modern glass, concrete and steel structure was a far cry from the suburban cottage his parents had left him when they died.

Annette had insisted on the move, and on selling the old house, and his BMW M5.

He hadn't done either of those things.

Instead, he had mortgaged the house, and boarded it up, just in case he needed to move back.

While his BMW was sitting in a rented garage, ready for him to get it whenever he wanted.

He drank the last of his morning coffee, just as his daughter Mikaela bounded into the living room.

"Morning Daddy," she chirped, scampering onto his lap.

"Morning, Princess. Ready for school?" he asked, stroking her soft black hair.

"Yes, Daddy," replied Mikaela, grabbing a piece of toast.

Just then, the dining room lights cut out, and the house was plunged into an eerie silence as the ambient sounds of electric appliances running were all silenced.

"Ivan, did you forget to pay the bills? Even the water has stopped," said Annette, coming out of the kitchen with her forearms covered in soap suds.

"No, I haven't forgotten to pay the bills. This is something else," replied Ivan, pulling out his phone.

Annette frowned. "Mikaela! Where is your pronoun bracelet?" she snapped, noticing Mikaela's absence of the accessory.

"Do I have to wear that thing Mommy?" pouted Mikaela.

"Yes, you do. Now go get it," Annette ordered.

Mikaela sighed, and went to her room to get the bracelet.

"OK, this is a bigger problem than just a power failure," said Ivan, showing Annette the lack of both Wi-Fi and cellular service on his phone.

Concern crossed Annette's face.

"Is the car charged?" she asked.

"I'll go check," said Ivan, rising from his chair and smoothening out his suit.

He exited the house, and walked over to the white Hyundai Ioniq 5 that was connected to a charging station in the driveway.

"Whew, fully charged. Thank God," he muttered, unplugging it.

Annette emerged from the house, pulling Mikaela behind her.

"Car is charged, we can get going," reported Ivan, opening the rear door and sitting inside.

Annette suppressed a twinge of irritation that Ivan refused to drive the new car.

She got into the driver's seat, with Mikaela riding shotgun.

Annette started the car and silently pulled out of the driveway, a small smile playing on her lips as she reveled in the car's silent operation.

They reached Boston Public school, where Annette taught, and Mikaela's kindergarten was located.

Ivan stepped out of the car, and breathed a sigh of relief that his phone's cellular network had been restored.

"See you, Annette," he said, and opened the Uber app.

Annette shrugged, and went into the school, pulling Mikaela behind her.

Ivan's Uber taxi took him to a garage in a secluded industrial area, quite close to the Sirius Software compound.

He stepped out of the taxi, pulled out a key fob, and clicked a button.

The garage door slid upwards, revealing the black BMW M5. It's freshly polished paint gleaming under the garage lights and the morning sun.

Ivan ran his hand lovingly over the car's hood, opened the driver door, and got in.

He started the car, its V8 engine rumbling to life, and pulled out of the garage.

"This is so much better than that piece of shit pod!" he growled, as he pressed the button to close the garage door.

With a defiant snarl of the BMW's engine, he sped off to his job at MIT.

----

Ivan frowned as the Uber taxi drove into the dark and silent neighborhood.

"Whoa, this place sure looks creepy, sir," commented his Uber driver as he stopped at Ivan's house.

"Yeah, this is unusual," said Ivan getting out of the taxi.

"Stay safe, sir," said the Uber driver, and sped off.

A worried Annette greeted him at the door, holding her phone as a flashlight.

"Nothing is working Ivan! No power, no water, no gas either!" she said.

"I did a little research about that while at work. It looks like we've been caught in a political crossfire," said Ivan.

"What do you mean?" asked Annette.

"Well, our utilities are provided by a certain conglomerate that is making a statement against Senator Goldberg," said Ivan, careful to avoid taking Sirius Software's or Aaron's name.

Annette's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"And why have you signed up for this conglomerate's utilities?" she demanded.

"Because they're the monopoly in this area, my dear Annette. There is nobody else who supplies anything here," said Ivan, fighting down the urge to smirk.

"I don't believe you!" snapped Annette.

"Look around Annette! The entire damn neighborhood is dark! Nobody has power, water or gas!" snarled Ivan.

Annette staggered backwards at Ivan's fury, and color drained from her face as she finally noticed how dark and quiet the neighborhood was.

"Wh-what do we do?" she asked weakly.

"For now? Survive. I'll go downtown and grab some water bottles, but we'll just have to pray that this outage doesn't last for more than a couple of days," said Ivan, switching on his own phone's flashlight, and looking for the Ioniq's key fob.

----

"I stink," grumbled Annette as she and Ivan walked towards the dark community center for a HOA meeting.

It had been three days since the entire neighborhood had been cut off from power, telecom networks and utilities.

"Join the club," said Ivan, taking a careful sip from a water bottle.

They entered the community center building to find the other 30 families huddled there, with camping flashlights providing a meager pool of light.

"OK everyone settle down," called out Mark Eisenberg, the HOA president.

A silence fell, and he continued.

"I've spoken to Senator Scott. He's assured me that he's working to get our power and water restored, but we've still not been able to appeal to Sirius Energy," he said.

"I don't get why we are being punished. What the hell did we do to make Sirius Energy cut us off?" demanded Jaqueline Davis, another HOA member, and the mother of four boys.

"Well how about we ask these two Jackie, they might have some insider knowledge given that the guy who owns Sirius Energy has the same last name," spat Mandy Lawson, the neighborhood gossip queen, gesturing to Ivan and Annette.

"That doesn't mean anything. We aren't related to Aaron Zakhrov," shot back Annette quickly.

"Ha! A likely story! I've seen a couple of pictures of him! He's a dead ringer for Ivan over there!" snarled Mandy.

"Blaming people isn't going to help Mandy," interjected Mark, as the HOA members started to glare at Ivan and Annette.

Ivan got to his feet, and pulled out a tablet. "There is actually a much more straightforward explanation. This blackout is the result of a feud between Sirius Energy and Senator Goldberg. You want this resolved, talk to her," he said placing the tablet on a table and showing them an article.

The HOA members crowded around to see what the article said.

It was a news report that said Senator Goldberg had launched a full senate investigation into Sirius Energy and Sirius Software for treason, tax evasion and various other allegations.

In response, Sirius Software had issued a statement that they would be shutting down their operations in the US, with a list of neighborhoods in which their services would be withdrawn as part of phase 1.

On top of that list was the neighborhood of Pine Springs, the HOA's neighborhood.

Next was the Boston Public School district, followed by various other counties and districts in Boston.

"You guys notice anything about those locations?" asked Ivan, as the HOA members exchanged apprehensive glances.

Mark finally spoke up. "They're all blue, and they voted for Senator Goldberg in the election," he said, his voice trembling.

"What do we do now?" asked Jaqueline.

"This is some gaslighting bullshit! We've got a right to vote for whoever we want!" shouted Mandy.

"All right, that's enough! Right now, we need to get our infrastructure back. So let's petition Goldberg to resolve this quickly," said Mark.

Just then, power thrummed through the community center, phones buzzed and beeped as cellular service was restored, and a message from Sirius Energy popped up on Ivan's tablet.

"Civilization will last for 48 hours before it goes again for another 72. You can avoid it by supporting the individuals and businesses mentioned in this link," it read.

Ivan clicked the link, and the web browser navigated to a list of stores, local representatives and organizations.

"He sure knows how to pick them," laughed Ivan, going through the listings, which were all businesses and organizations that were involved in genuine leather production and goods, gourmet meats, fossil fuel, nuclear energy, and the Catholic Church. Enterprises which the HOA would rather see bankrupt, or destroyed.

----

"Ivan, you better find another utilities company! I refuse to be held hostage like that again!" snarled Annette, as she stormed into the house.

"Yes, dear," said Ivan, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Daddy, why is Mommy mad that the lights are back?" asked Mikaela, flinching as Annette slammed the door to the master bedroom.

"She's mad that it went in the first place, Princess. Don't worry," said Ivan soothingly, stroking Mikaela's head.

He picked her up, and carried her to her room.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up as well," he said, plonking her on her bed, and going into her en-suite bathroom to run a hot bath.