[Submission] Another Day of eRepublik, 2014

Day 680, 12:12 • Published in Australia USA • by Chris Stanwick
Day 2505, 03:21 eRep – A telephone rings, disrupting the silence of the peaceful night. It rings again, piercing into the sleep of the President of the United States and waking him. He blindly gropes for the phone and answers. It is the Secretary of Defense, calling from his own home on the East Coast of the United States, three hours ahead of the President’s home on the West Coast.

“Sorry for waking you, sir, but you wanted to know when the Egyptians made their move,” said the Secretary of Defense. For weeks the Egyptians had been antagonizing the Saudi Arabians, trying to goad the Saudis into declaring war, an expensive endeavor that would break the NAP between the two nations. However, the oil crisis in Egypt had spiraled out of control, resulting in a break between the two nations as the President of Egypt aggressively demanded the Saudis’ oil.

“Thanks for the call. Keep monitoring the situation for the time being, I’ll check on it in the morning,” responded the President. As longtime allies of Saudi Arabia, the President knew he would have to come to their aid as their military was still weak after the war with Iraq a month before. However, help could wait until morning.

A few hours later, the President ordered the Marines and Army to Saudi Arabia. Egypt had opened a battle on the border shortly after the early morning call, and the Saudis were losing ground fast. The addition of American firepower would hopefully turn the tide of the battle in Saudi favor and send the Egyptian Army back onto their own territory.

However, there were problems at home too. The global economic crisis was beginning to affect American businesses, especially those that traded overseas. The US stock market had fallen 12 points in the last twenty four hours and investors were panicking. The President of Mexico was threatening to leave the PANAM Alliance due to the recently ended war with the EMC in Belgium. The citizens of Alaska were grumbling about secession. Oh, and the Deputy Secretary of State had just been banned for multiple accounts.

The President reflected back on the changes that he had seen in the New World over the past five years. New modules added, old ones modified, new nations springing up from the gray. Old friends fading away and dying, and newcomers taking their place. There were only a handful of citizens that had been playing longer than he left, most victims of the ever changing world and boredom. He was tired, worn out after six years of gameplay in this world. This was his eighth non-consecutive term as president, and would be the last, he decided.

Turning from his memories back to the game, he clicked the link to take him to the battle in Saudi Arabia. After a few seconds of waiting, the headless chicken appeared signifying another temporary outage. Chuckling to himself, the President said aloud, “Hello, old friend…”