With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:50 GMT

Priest nods.

"How long is it that your species naturally lives?"

"Assuming that we don't die of disease or violence, our bodies usually start to get a bit ropey in our ninth decade. Though some humans make it into their thirteenth decade naturally and a rare few have found ways to extend their lives for millennia. The oldest I'm aware of is a man named Vandal Savage, who is about forty eight thousand years old."

"I think that Earth will be a fascinating place to study. Please keep it whole until my time with Malvolio reaches its end."

No promises.

"So you accept the deal?"

"For now. I will stay with Malvolio for a time, and then we can reconsider-. How old are you?"

I shake my head.

"Don't worry about it. I don't age, and I've twice gotten better from dying."

"Then return here in two hundred Earth years, and I will decide whether I want to renegotiate or not."

"Will do. Excuse me."

Things feel a little calmer outside, though Guy and Malvolio aren't particularly easy to feel out. Apros, Avir and Vinkent are easy enough to feel, and the desires of Apros and Vinkent are divergent enough from humanoid norms that

locating them is fairly easy.

"He said yes."

"'kay." Guy doesn't look entirely happy, but at least he's gotten his moodiness under control. "Your turn, Mally."

Lord Malvolio doesn't react to the abbreviation. Instead, he raises his hands and-.

Oh my.

Enough green flame to envelop an entire star system flies through the void for my second awe-inspiring sight of the day, Malvolio pulling it into his hands with no apparent effort.

I float a little closer to Guy.

"I've never done anything that big. You?"

"Me either."

"Good to know we've got someone to look up to."

"Think I'll wait 'til we've got that report."

"We can probably get away with doing a quick tour before we leave, if you like. See all the concentration camps that aren't there, that sort of thing."

"I mostly wanna talk to Priest. He was supposed to be this incredible mystic, I wanna see what he can do."

"Lord Malvolio isn't too bad."

Guy and I watch as the last of the green flame enters Malvolio, the star reappearing in the far distance. Or rather, it will in a few minutes once the light reaches us.

"Yeah."

"So what's the procedure for requisitioning a ring? I ask because I don't think that Priest had any way to reach us that wouldn't involve him flying at sublight speed for a few years."

"It's on its way."

I rotate in the approximate direction of Oa.

"So how did the Guardians feel about getting him back?"

"Ah… I don't think Appa realised he ever left."

"Oh."

"Think they were playing chess or somethin'. Said he was waiting fer Priest's next move."

"Well… On the positive side, that makes two Guardians who will probably be okay with this. Is that ring getting here soon, or should-."

"Will detected."

"Oh, good."

Priest appears, arms hanging down as he floats a short distance from Lord Malvolio. He's swapped his white robe for a green variant with the Green Lantern sigil described in black on the chest.

"Lord Malvolio."

"Priest. How fare you?"

"It was restful. I understand that you plan on making some changes."

"My absence enforced by your hand caused the people of this region great hardship. It is fitting that you will watch me raise them up once more, that you may contemplate your misjudgement."

"I will look forward to being proven wrong."

"We will retire to mine seat, that we may discuss how you will work under me. Illustres, escort these other Lanterns from my Sector."

"Of course. Gentlemen?"

Four green rings glow as I set course for one of the Dreadnaughts' colony worlds. One that was repeatedly attacked during the decades of war and remained heavily fortified and underdeveloped during the peace.

And warp.

Guy's right behind me.

"Paul, what tha fuck jus' happened?"

"You appear to have had an attack of the knuckleheads, Guy. Malvolio's not Sinestro."

"'re we jus' forgetting about the Sheeda?"

"He didn't know, Guy. He had no idea who they were or what they'd done."

"So if Barry hadn't gone nuts, he'd'ah handed them ovah?"

"He didn't say. But you'll note a complete lack of bondage elves in this Sector, and Barry didn't kill all of them."

"Hn."

"You planning on ram raiding anywhere else?"

"Priest isn't just some old Lantern who quit. He was tha last guy t' host Ion. The Corps needs him, an' so do I."

"Well, now you can share with Malvolio. Priest isn't going anywhere. And maybe you can learn from Malvolio, too."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
13:22 GMT -7

Huh.

Look at that. Finally got the laurel wreath.

I continue staring my the reflection of my own left haunch as I consider the implication. Is it.. because my rule is unchallenged? Because I don't have a rival? Because I'm the only Grayven? Or is it something to do with the mirror; is it interpreting my nature differently? Potentially differently each time, if the change in mental processes is different enough?

Perhaps more pertinently, is Luna going-

"Are you concerned that you are gaining weight, our swain?"

-to have an episode? I remember that Littlepip had an episode when she got shot in the cutie mark, but I'm reasonably confident this isn't the Fallout: Equestria timeline.

Luna trots into the room, smiling at my unannounced arrival. I briefly consider armouring up, but she'd just want to know why and it would be a sign that I don't trust her.

"No. But, well…"

I nod my head at the reflection of my labour tattoo. Luna narrows her eyes slightly as she tries to work out what my game is, then appears to decide to go along with it and take a closer look. Is 'take a close look at my cutie mark, no, closer' the pony equivalent of 'pull my finger'?

Then she starts, blinking and winding her neck back.

"What happened?"

"You remember I mentioned that alternate version of myself?"

"The one who caused you to break the containment upon your anti-life fragment?"

"No, the other one."

I can't help it. I bow my head slightly, grinning to myself. I love living a life where that sort of statement actually makes sense.

Luna walks around me to look me in the face.

"The one who would at some point threaten your domains?"

"Yes. He did threaten my domain, and… The matter is… Sort of resolved. Unfortunately…"

"You have acquired a new anti-life fragment." She nods. "Do you require the aid of the Elements?"

"No. I mean, it's something like that, but I doubt that the cure is… Quite the same. Is there any object in Equestria that you want totally and irrecoverably destroyed?"

"We have entertained that fantasy of many objects in Equestria, some of which had the power of speech." She considers for a moment. "This method of destruction is absolute?"

"Absolutely absolute. There are ways to defend against it, but they mostly revolve around not getting hit."

"Then… There are indeed such objects. The peytral and helmet worn by Nightmare Moon were shattered by the Elements, but they were not destroyed. They are being studied by some of Sister's 'top ponies', but We would be happier knowing that they were utterly unmade."

"Gotta say, that sounds like an accident waiting to happen."

"That was what We said." She breathes in deeply and then exhales. "But it was not long after Our return, and Sister assured Us that matters were well in hand."

"If you want to see what this fragment does, lead me to it."

She regards me curiously. "We think that We should discuss that with Sister afore We take such action. We take it, then, that this new power is your trophy of victory?"

"Eh. Not sure. Basically, he hit me with it when I hit him with an assimilation attempt. I'm-. The me you're talking to now is what walked away from… What might have been a merger, after Artemis shot his-. The other Grayven's strongest personality traits out of him. Us. … Me."

"You have his memories and power?"

"Y-es, but it's more than that. I-."

"You are the both of you together?"

"'I' might be 'him'." I glance back, letting her react as she will without worry about what I think of her reaction. "I've no idea what his cutie mark would have been. I don't know if Starswirl's Mirror ever changes how it portrays them."

"We… We must confess that We do not know. Does it trouble you?"

"No. I mean… I'm a little worried about-. Hah! Like you and Nightmare Moon, I suppose. Worried-."

"Worried that you couldst become that other you again."

"But not worried that I'm suddenly going to think 'eternal darkness, what a good idea'. Or in his case, 'absolute tyranny, that's a viable way to control a large multispecies empire'. I mean, I… As far as I can tell, my… My beliefs and behaviours are still… Those of the 'me' I'd rather be."

I bow my head slightly.

"Care to share your wisdom?"

"You mean to ask, 'do We still believe that We are the same mare We were before We became Nightmare Moon?'"

"Yes-. Mostly because it lets me put off trying to set up a meeting with Metron to try and get this…" I blink slowly, then realise that she won't know what that signifies. "Metron's a New God who can probably work out how to get rid of this fragment."

"Why didst you not seek him out to remove the last piece?"

"Because, one, he'd sell it back to Darkseid in a heartbeat, and, two, he's… Unpleasant to deal with. Not dangerous, not monstrous, just… Unpleasant."

Luna frowns. "If this cur would sell it to Darkseid, why offer him this piece?"

"Because it's part.. of… Or a backdoor connection to… Or something, to a power Darkseid is using all of the time. He's already got it, so even if getting it back made him a little bit more powerful, it wouldn't really affect things on a strategic level. He wouldn't gain any new capabilities."

"Is there no advantage to him believing you to be the other Grayven?"

"I tend to assume that Darkseid knows everything I'm doing. But it doesn't really make much difference; I have Grayven's memories. He was every bit as committed to acting against Darkseid as I am, and had less contact with him than I have."

I clench and relax my haunches a few times.

"This doesn't weird you out? I'd have thought that ponies would get a bit fixated about a cutie mark changing."

"A good many would. However, Our mark changed when we became Nightmare Moon. Not only that, but We have borne witness to outbreaks of Cutie Pox before, and are hardly so timorous as to be mentally enfeebled by a change in demarcation which you do not even possess in your native form."

I walk closer and nuzzle her.

"Thanks. I-."

She jerks her head back from my nuzzle attempt.

"Though We will chide you for avoiding your duty. Are you not the one who hath lectured Us on the duty of a sovereign to address their flaws?"

"Yes, but… It's not quite the same thing. You and Celestia rule as joint autocrats. I don't have that much day to day decision making to do."

"Do you truly expect us to believe that?"

"Yes. But.. you're right, I should just get on with it."

"Would it calm your quailing heart if We were to accompany you?"

I smile. "Any time I spend in your company is time well spent. Even if there are other people there as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
20:58 GMT

"Found the-?"

"I ain't tawkin' ta you, yet."

So it's like that.

I turn away, looking down at the.. seventh? Largest city on Padrook, planet of origin of the fourth most significant species in this Sector. There are warships in orbit above us, but they're making a point of not taking position directly above us. Perhaps because they don't want to look too menacing, but more likely because they know that if they open fire from that position every missed shot would kill thousands of their own people. Far better to come at us from below or from the side.

I found it revolting that the Tearing Bite ships around Tamaran had kinetic harpoon launchers, because those were only any use against soft ground targets. This city is the opposite in some ways. It has levels of anti-air weapons usually only seen in places where either their enemies make mass use of assault skimmers or where their enemies are other people living on the planet. The buildings aren't strictly fortified, but they are clearly built to be tough enough that they won't collapse if someone has a fire fight in one. The city has some pretty powerful force field generators and impressive capacitors to power them under full bombardment, but no ground to space weapons I can see.

Everything here is purely defensive, but… It's designed to keep people alive while their fleet deals with the fleet of whoever's attacking them. It's not efficient to use your ships to attack civilians somewhere that has a fleet defending it. Even if your fleet is superior, it's always more sensible to hit the enemy fleet first.

Oh, you might threaten civilians with bombardment in order to force the enemy fleet to move into a disadvantageous position; that would explain the shields. But the AA and the structural reinforcement suggest that these people thought that being attacked by a ground army was a risk. No, something that actually happened often enough that they built or rebuilt entire cities with that in mind. Deploying an army to a world where you don't have orbital supremacy is generally a stupid thing to do, because you're putting men and materiel somewhere where it's hard for you to get it back and easy for your enemy to shoot it.

This means that not only did the local fighting get to the point where they were prioritising killing each other's civilians, but that their soldiers hated their enemies so much that they would gladly drop to certain death just to kill some of them.

That's not-. Unless the stellar nations fighting had regressed technologically to the point where the only way they could get through force fields was on the ground, that's a terribly inefficient way of fighting. But I guess that sometimes it's not about being efficient.

"Found the concentration camps yet?"

"No."

"Did you know they were invented by the British?"

Guy frowns, then glances my way for a second before returning to staring at the city.

"No. How come?"

"During the Boer War, when we fought Dutch settlers for control of South Africa. Their civilian population wasn't best pleased to see us, so… The decision was made that moving them from their homes and putting them in camps where their population could be concentrated in one place was a sensible way to manage them and avoid problems with partisans. A bit like the villages America made for Vietnamese people they displaced during the Vietnam War."

"What're we lookin' at, Paul?"

"A place built during a very nasty war, which is now over."

"Been takin' a look at their internet. They really like Mally."

"And I'd guess that it's not just in the official records that they say that."

"No. It ain't."

"Why didn't this Sector have a Lantern after Priest quit?"

"Yeah. I been wonderin' that, too."

"There was no one primary instigator in the war. It's not like when Abin Sur stopped Devlos Ungol. Their unified civilisation was built around the vision of one man."

"What'd'ya think I'm thinkin'?"

"Same thing I am. If things fell apart like this, the Guardians should have left him in place."

We each glance at the other.

"Or removed him earlier, before he could become that important."

"Would'a been bettah."

"For who? Because looking around…" I pointedly look around. "The locals consider further war inconceivable."

"See if they still think that aftah they get t'know him." He contemplates the city for a moment. "What were you an' him tawkin' abowt, anyhow?"

I smile, raising my right hand. "Check it out."

He looks, then frowns. "Thought you were seein' that assassin chick?"

"Larfleeze's ring. Or at least a manifestation of the desires that went into it."

"So it didn't get destroyed by qwa energy. Or… Only tha physical part did. How'd you get it?"

"Reaching around inside the Honden, looking for a ring. That might work for you; a lot more green rings have been destroyed than orange ones."

He nods. "Give it a shot. Anythin' else?"

"Remember how the first personal lantern I made looked?"

"Like a melted pile a' scrap?"

I take my latest effort out of subspace. "This is my second attempt. As you can see, it's a little better."

Guy looks it over carefully, his eyes flickering green.

"Huh. Thought it'd take longer t'get this good at it."

"It wasn't quick, and I haven't had Hinon check it over yet. But it looks better."

"Can Malvolio do that? I know he had that big Lantern in his space station, but if that took three hundred years I ain't too worried."

"It's a Central Power Battery. He doesn't make personal lanterns because he doesn't need them."

"A Cen-? Does that even..?"

"As far as he knows, yes. He hasn't got the hang of making rings yet. But when he does-."

"He gets his own Corps." Guy frowns. "I don't even know how I feel abowt that."

"I don't think it's ever happened before. I'll be interested to see how it works out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
16:30 GMT -7

"You do not think that he will take umbrage at your equine form?"

I wing-shrug, and take a moment to be smug about how naturally I can pull off the gesture now.

"Metron is interested in novel phenomena. I doubt that he's ever seen a New God pony before. And if a few tissue samples and a thorough physical examination are all I have to give, I'll consider myself to have come out ahead."

We're standing on the upper hull of the Absolute Dominion a very long way away from anything very much. If I squinted really hard and waited a few million years I might just be able to spot the dim light emanating from Mageddon as it lurks around the edge of the universe. Down below us is a long-destroyed bastion of the Old Gods, people of the Third World and our predecessors in terms of a species who could connect to the Source. There's nothing much left there now, which is why Hinon was willing to give me the location, but hopefully it will put Metron in a receptive frame of mind.

That, and the tiny amount of x-element that Himon was willing to part with in exchange for food and children's books. A risk… With Amazing Grace revealed, Darkseid has no real reason to allow any sort of resistance to remain active… Until he gets around to creating a new patsy, at least. But at this point, I'm introducing a source of wonder and joy and Darkseid has no immediate counter. Will he object? Will he see this as a provocative escalation?

I don't know. I can't tell.

"Mother Box."

"Ping."

"Call him."

"… Ping."

I frown. "Seriously?"

"Ping."

"Is yon box having some manner of difficulty?"

"Ah… She doesn't have his details. I mean, he can usually detect open transmissions, but if he's in the arse end of the vibrational spectrum again we won't hear from him until he gets out."

She frowns. "Vibrational… What?"

"Metron knows more about the underlying structure of reality than anyone I know. But it's gotten to the point where no one else can understand what he's going on about. Very definitely including me. Okay, Mother Box, give it a try anyway. We're ageless. We can wait."

"Ping."

"We may be ageless, but We have things that We wish to do this night."

I smile lasciviously. "Oh yeah?"

"Indeed. We have taken your idea of local petitions to heart, and will begin negotiations with the City of Trottingham to hold court there for three nights."

"I suppose you need to send out heralds, dress the audience chamber…"

"Information shall be made available at the Town Hall, and notices shall be sent out in newspapers. The audience chamber shall be left as it is, to emphasise that We are there representing the government of the nation and not on a tour of self-aggrandisement. And…" She coughs quietly. "We hath not… Discussed… That."

"'That'?"

She looks awkwardly away. "You knowst of what We speak."

"I might, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to hear you say it." I look her directly in the eye. "I shouldn't think it would be difficult for you."

She awkwardly paws the hull with her right forehoof.

"When… Two adults have become… Close, as we have become close… There comes a point in their… Relationship. Whereupon they mayst-."

BOOM!

She looks away.

"-decide to continue this later."

Assuming that she was going where I think she was going, I need to find out more about how Equestrians handle intimate relations, both now and a thousand years ago. And… Probably some literature on horse mating, both from Earth and from…

I wonder how awkward I can make it for Sunset?

Metron's chair floats out of the tube, heading towards us at a leisurely pace. It looks… Simpler than I remember from the comics, and its pilot far less human. Tron lines, a chest emblem I don't remember and the blue colour is far lighter. But that's definitely him.

He steeples his hands, leaning back in his chair with an air of disinterest about him.

"Grayven." "Junior Tyrant."

"Metron." "I don't know your name."

"And companion."

He regards Luna for a moment, carefully feeling out her essence.

"Ascendancy brought about by the manipulation of collective belief. Hardly unique. Quadruped herbivore sophont species are rarer, but not especially interesting."

"But have you looked down?"

"Yes, and that was the sole reason why I answered your summons." He holds out his right hand, causing the cube of x-element to float up to him. "I am nowhere near to requiring more fuel, but I suppose that equity requires that I hear you out. What is your request?"

"I have access to the Omega Force."

"Fascinating."

"I want to lose that access. If anyone has a record of the Infinity Pit, the device which once contained the Omega Force before my father bound himself to it, it would be you." Knowledge Desires To Be Spread.

"That is what you want? Not a way to siphon Darkseid's portion?"

"No. I've had enough of weird energies messing around with me. I want it gone." All Control Starts With Self.

"I suppose that such a device could be used to take the Force from Darkseid himself, in time."

"Could it?" I raise my eyebrows. "I hope so, but I genuinely don't know. Has something like that ever been attempted before?"

"I do not believe that it has. Interesting. Should you find a way to make it happen, I would be willing to trade a great deal for that knowledge."

Drat.

"So… You don't have it."

"Queen Heggra did not allow me to study it. She held that it was the rightful domain of the Apokoliptian royal family alone. And now Yuga Khan is on the Source Wall, Heggra is dead and Darkseid is."

"So the only person who would know and might actually tell me is Uncle Drax."

"Who is also dead." He notices my expression. "Or am I misinformed?"

"I hear things." I turn away. "Thank you for your input, Metron. I'll be certain to let you know if I'm successful."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
00:12 GMT

Hinon looks contemplative.

"I'm not sure which part should concern me the most."

"You could look at it as an opportunity."

"An opportunity to do what, precisely? Broome Bon Baris may be content to study interesting phenomena as a good in itself, but Controller philosophy is rather different."

"Is now a good time to ask what it is?"

"You don't kn-." She looks away, closing her eyes as she makes a show of mastering herself. Of course, it… Is just a show. She's showing me that she wants me to react as if I had just irritated her. "How do you possibly not know?"

"You were fighting the Reach and understood power ring technology. Oh, and you split with the Guardians over the Manhunter thing." I shrug. "Your religious and economic preferences didn't seem that important compared to getting everything running."

"We're post-scarcity; we don't have economics. Every maltusian is as liberated individually as it is possible for them to be, forming and dissolving associations voluntarily on an individual basis. No maltusian has practised religion in the sense that you're used to it since we realised that there wasn't anything greater than us in the universe."

"What about gods or the Source?"

"What about them?"

"The Source is generally considered to be fairly powerful-."

"There are trees larger than me, that doesn't make them greater. And neither are giant walls, even if they are sticky."

"And you're so modest, too."

"I am not modest. I am personally billions of years old. I know precisely what my limitations are. If I say that I have a characteristic then you may reliably deduce that I do in fact have it."

"Alright." I raise my hands in mock surrender. "So what does your voluntary association called the Controllers do? Because you don't seem to be in control of very much."

"I have just told you that I am more powerful than the beings your species regard as being worthy of veneration merely for existing, and you say that I don't control very much? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?"

I frown-.

"You control yourself."

"And rather well. We control what we need to control. When some fool starts poking holes in the universe, we stop them. If someone like the Anti-Monitor tries to destroy it, we will stop them."

"The Reach… Aren't doing that. They're just killing people."

"If they were 'just' killing people, the Controllers would have even fewer recruits than we do now. They are entirely exterminating species. Worse, they're such a monoculture and have such genetic and cultural control that they are unlikely to ever be other than as they are now. They won't make anything to replace what they're removing."

"So the difference between you and the Guardians is..?"

"The Guardians want to maintain a constant presence. Shepherding civilisations and ensuring that they are always seen as benevolent deities. We Controllers do not. Our preference is to maintain absolute control of certain situations and ignore everything else."

"Not to be in control of everything."

"Ideally, we would be in control; we simply wouldn't have to exercise it most of the time. Androids sounded like they would be ideal for that purpose. But they were not."

"How would..? I mean, how is what you want your Corps to be different from what the Guardians want?"

"For us, the most important thing is to have the ability to intervene with overwhelming power in particular instances. Assigning Lanterns to Sectors would be a sort of… Training, for when we need them to do something that's actually significant. For the Guardians, Sector Lanterns are the point: constantly nudging things back into order."

"The Guardians would rather let the Reach do their thing than strip Sectors that are mostly peaceful of their Lanterns, because their legitimacy rests on them being omnipresent, if diffuse."

"I imagine that they would say that there is more to it than that."

"And the unaligned maltusians?"

"They have their own projects. Presumably they're doing something with their time."

"Would..? Any of them be interested in working with Lord Malvolio?"

"Some might. For Controllers, he's even less appealing than you are, but there may be some amongst the unaligned who would relish the opportunity to operate on a smaller scale. Or to study a human who has been changed by the green light in the way that he has."

"What about Controllers who aren't bound to the orange light? I mean, presumably they were fine with the way the Guardians operated up until the majority decided to spare the Manhunters. Malvolio has ideas, but he hasn't codified anything yet. If they got in early and made themselves useful, they might…"

I hesitate, frowning.

"What..? Would you have done if the other Guardians had voted to destroy the Manhunters?"

"Something along the lines of what did happen, I imagine. Personally, I would have wanted to maintain the Halla as a large scale military force while using Green Lanterns as elite operatives, but I can understand why they did not. Having more Guardians would have eased their organisation difficulty, though they only have themselves to blame for not involving younger races in the command structure at this point."

"Mm." I nod. "Thank you. So what do you think of my personal lantern?"

"It's much better. Though I can see exactly where you went wrong. Were you looking at Lord Malvolio's new Central Power Battery when you made it?"

"Yes?"

"Personal lanterns work best when connected to the Central Power Battery. You-."

"I didn't do that. Yeah-. Of course."

"I suspect that if you made one here, now, it would be reasonably functional. You appear to have recovered Larfleeze's ring."

"Yes. I-."

"I am aware of the process." She considers for a moment, or at least gives the appearance of doing so. "I believe that I will lead our mission to Sector One Six Three Four personally. It may prove useful for the task to be undertaken by someone with a personal connection to you."

I nod.

"Makes sense. Any new orders for me?"

"Not immediately. Return to your students. I will contact you once I have something requiring your particular skill set. Off you go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Sungate, part 1

11th September 2012
08:28 GMT

"-tres?"

Toren?

I take a moment to get my bearings. I'm in bed-. Right, all that stuff with Malvolio yesterday. His fleet is still in the system, and the people of Karax were getting a little excited about having a Green Central Power Battery come and visit them. But apart from booking Onik on a media relations course there wasn't anything for me to do about that.

Toren's on the other side of the door. The rooms aren't exactly spacious, but I was able to bring the bed up to my standards. I pull the duvet aside and float onto the floor.

"I'm awake. Do you need me immediately?"

"No, not immediately. I want to let you know that my partner has arrived."

"In case Malvolio comes back-" Light armour, check appearance… "-or are they here for me?"

"You, though she's not here as additional security." I walk over to the door and open it, greeting Lantern Toren with a nod. "Lantern Vode-M has been an active opponent of the Spider Guild. She wants to join you."

"Nifty. Did you know that we don't have a rule against members of the Orange Lantern Corps being members of other organisations?"

"I meant that she wants to join you in fighting against the Spider Guild. The Green Lantern Corps-."

"Has agreements that you can't breach due to wider concerns, which neatly illustrates the difference between the philosophies of the Guardians and the Controllers."

"Which is?"

"The Guardians would like to have two Lanterns in every Sector in the universe, whereas the Controllers would rather have a hundred Lanterns in the handful of Sectors that need it."

"Regardless of the repercussions?"

"Because of the repercussions. An Orange Lantern who has decided to kill someone isn't going to be put off by the fact that they have to kill them."

He leads the way through the monastery towards the knot of green light I see.

"That suggests a lack of discipline."

"We recognise it as an extrinsic good. Orange Lanterns who really want to make suicide attacks against Reach fleets aren't prevented from doing so, though it is explained to them that that's a really inefficient way to fight. If they can't make that want-the-end, want-the-means jump, then they're probably incapable of learning more anyway."

He glances at me with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Do you recruit many Lanterns like that?"

"No. Just a few, to test the viability of the system. Not only are people who sacrifice their 'self' to the orange light like that impossible to involve in any sort of complex battle plan, but it turns out that their surge power isn't all that great. A Lantern who trains for a few months and actually learns something can actually hit harder. So unless we're desperate for offensive power, the whole practice has been suspended."

"Ah."

He nods, mollified.

"So, Vode-M. Are you informing me of her presence, or warning me?"

"I'm not sure what you're expecting, but I've always found her quite easy to get along with."

I smile.

"How novel. Has she had breakfast yet?"

"She has a little trouble with Karaxian food. When she studied here she survived on noodles."

"Perhaps something from Earth would be easier?"

"That would be contrary to everything I know about your homeworld."

"Yeah, that's fair. Though if it helps, One Six Three Four is probably going to be more exciting in the next few years."

"The one Sector with another human in it."

"Two Eight Two Eight has a human in it."

He looks at me.

"Okay, bad example. But Malvolio is only half human."

"Do you know how rare it is for humanoid species to be capable of reproducing with one another?"

"H-eh."

I bow my head. Should I be proud or ashamed that humans are known for being fecund and dangerously crazy? I mean… As I said, it's not unreasonable.

"Of course, if that carries over into hybrids, it's really only a matter of time until everyone shares the ability."

I've been assuming that it's a product of Earth's high magic level, but that shouldn't apply to humans born away from the planet. So the universe should be relatively safe.

We emerge from the monastery corridor into one of their open air internal courtyards, Lantern Vode-M floating in a meditative pose in the centre. Relatively standard pattern humanoid, her skin has a slight orange tint to it and her hair is impractically long. Her eyes have been replaced by cybernetics which remind me of the ones some of the Qwardians have, curved lenses over the eye socket rather than anything designed to mimic the appearance of normal eyes. Thin black tattoos radiate out from the outer edge of each in jagged arcs. Her uniform is a black body stocking with green armoured boots, gauntlets and cuirass, and she appears to have followed Guy's lead in acquiring an ex-Halla stun gun.

Since her eyes don't move any longer I can't tell where she's looking, but I raise my right hand in greeting anyway.

"Lantern Vode-M. Am I parsing that correctly?"

"Yes."

She doesn't turn to face me, but I suppose that with how her visual field works that's probably irrelevant to her.

"I wish to join your crusade. I want to destroy the Spider Guild."

"Neat."

"Neat?"

"I'm fairly sure that our rules of engagement would get you thrown out of the Green Lantern Corps, so unless you're planning on jumping ship, this is something that we're going to have to discuss at length. Have you eaten?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
08:36 GMT

"…you think that's what it takes?"

Interesting. Hearing what I actually did to the Guild-owned worlds to force them to cease their offensives appears to have knocked Vode-M out of her constantly-focused state. Which lets me get a slightly better look at her. Ah, yes, someone lives a little closer to the border, don't they?

"There's a saying on my homeworld. 'You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs'." I shrug. "I don't see a way to stop the Spider Guild that doesn't involve vastly reducing their industrial power as well as their military. And forget about occupying their Nests; you'd need an army of billions for each world, plus a fleet… Do you have one?"

"No."

"Do you have a plan to get one?"

"I have working agreements with the militaries of all worlds in my Sector, but I haven't tried to recruit a force for myself."

I take a bite of something that's very nearly a crumpet, covered in what is actually jam from a local fruit that reminds me of the fig.

"So what was the plan? I can see how much you hate them, and how much of your life revolves around that hatred. Presumably you have… Some idea of how you were going to realise that ambition. Tell me."

"I negotiated for access to the network of sensor buoys each world maintains, and I intercept every ship I can. I've convinced Lanterns from neighbouring Sectors to meet up to share information, and to make recordings of everything they see. My aim is to shame the worlds of this region into increasing the strength of their militaries until they can combine their efforts to destroy the Guild."

I nod as I chew, then swallow.

"Any progress?"

"I've intercepted hundreds of vessels."

I nod. "Probably keeping the price up nicely. What about the military build up?"

"I wouldn't be talking to you if it was going as I want it to."

"I am actually slightly impressed by that, by the way. A lot of Green Lanterns will beat their head against a wall until the wall breaks. I mean, that's a problem for a lot of people, but the Green Lantern Corps deliberately trains for it."

"I don't want to engage in wholesale slaughter. Plenty of civilisations manage perfectly well without cannibalism and piracy."

"Not theirs. Do you know how many Nests have ever reformed?"

"I wasn't aware that any had."

"Oh, yes. Precisely one. Sector Two Eight Two Eight. They lost a war and their entire leadership was killed, but the victors didn't want to launch an invasion. So -and this is the funny bit- one of their biological experiments took control of the Nest and negotiated a surrender, which she could do because she hadn't had a normal Guild upbringing or socialisation and so didn't share their assumptions. And she'd have been killed if I hadn't been around to look after her."

"How did she take over?"

"It wasn't just the leadership who'd been killed; it was most of the adults. Their new ruler, the Queen, was free to culturise the children in any way she wanted, so she left out everything that wasn't helpful and had to leave out everything she didn't know."

"Is that your plan? Kill every adult-."

"No, of course not. It's completely impractical. Who would bring up the children? Someone from the civilisations on the border, populated by people who hate them? Or… Default to hating them, since they won't have had any personal contact. Would they? Would you?"

"No. Would this 'Queen'?"

"She wouldn't take that many. And why ask her to take any at all? Biologically, she's got all of the records on Guilder genetics that she needs. Sociologically, she's in her teens and she's created something better; nothing worth preserving there. Which leaves the idea of valuing individual existence for its own sake, which… Yes, I do. I just don't value them more than the people who will eventually be their victims."

"You want to kill… All of them."

"No. I don't actually care all that much about the Spider Guild. I'm just using them as training dummies for the Lanterns I'm trying to upskill because I recognise them as the drain on universal utility that they are. If I wanted them dead, then I assure you: they would be dead."

"You're willing to see them all dead."

"Not all. As I said, the Queen is abiding by the terms of her surrender, and has reformed her Nest. But all the ones here? Certainly."

I finish off my pseudo-crumpet as she considers her response.

"But I imagine that makes you uncomfortable. So tell me, if the stellar nations of the region had done as you want and mustered their forces, what would you want their rules of engagement to be?"

"It wouldn't be my decision."

"It wouldn't be your decision because it's not going to happen. But if it was? Hm? Target only warships, known pirates and military installations?"

She doesn't rise to the bait.

"I use the Guild for target practice, because they're both nearly as bad as it gets, and weaker than the people who are actually as bad as it gets. But come on. Would anyone be willing to occupy those worlds?"

"They would not."

"Do you believe that there is some substantial internal resistance who you could work with to form a collaborationist government?"

"No. There is none."

"The Green Lantern Corps usually limits itself to arresting named individuals. Do you believe-?"

"There is no one I could arrest who would not be replaced by someone near-identical."

"See, I get it. You're a good person. You want to help people, improve their circumstances, rescue them from those who would enslave and consume them. But while you're trying to go about it in a reasonably rational way, I can see how you feel about the methods I'd use. So what do you really want? Do you want to be someone who fights the Spider Guild? Or do you want to actually destroy them?"

"By killing every last member of their civilisation."

"Or by whatever method you can make work. Because as far as I can see, what you're doing isn't bringing you any closer to that objective. All it's doing is making you fail more efficiently."

I lean forward slightly.

"What do you want, Lantern Vode-M? What is your most fundamental desire? What drives you to fight? What does your ideal universe look like?"

"I thought you already knew."

"I've got a fairly good idea. But these sessions can cause changes in our reflective equilibrium. Would you like to join my other students, or have I said enough to drive you off yet?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

The Ancestor

Spring

Why are we here, grandson? Our people come here at this time each year, following the path-.

No, no child, I was not mocking you. Our people paint the rocks to remember our history and the history of the world. I come here each year to remember when the history of the world painted me.

No, my mother did not bear me here. No, she and my father did not make me here. Here… No, just over there, is where I met The Ancestor.

Ah, now you are interested. Yes, the figure we paint in white and orange clay. No, he was not made of white and orange clay, of course not! Are real kangaroos made of red clay? Yes, his skin was white as bone. No-. Hush, grandson. I cannot explain if you do not listen.

There. And here, you see? This is where I painted it onto the rock, when I was only a little older than you are now. Yes, it does look like a scowling face. I said the same thing to him, many years ago. No, he was not angry. What did he say? He had a strange way of speaking, but as I remember it…

'Everything has to look like something'.

What did he mean? Ah, let me see. That rock, there? What shapes do you see in it? The crack, like a river seen from above? The shadow, like the body of a spider? But it is not a river and it is not a spider. Just like that, and his magic lantern was not angry. It just looked a little like a face that was angry.

The colour? Oh yes. And just as we draw him every year, the orange colour surrounded his bone white skin, and shone from his lantern.

Feel? It didn't really feel like anything. Perhaps it is because our skin is so much darker than his, that makes it harder to see. Or perhaps because it was a very long time ago, and I am very old now.

No, I don't think that happens when you get sick. And he didn't look sick.

Do you want me to tell you what happened?

Well. I came here because I wanted to see what was here. My friends were either busy, or they had their own tasks, or they were simply not interested. I came up… Just over there, because I was young and the steep slope was less of a challenge-.

Yes, you can climb up it later. Yes, I will catch you if you fall off.

And-. Yes, and I saw him sitting just there, with his spear with no point, and the torch which shines orange without fire or heat. It was leaning against the rock, just… There, I think-. No, no, there, he moved it over there later.

No, he wasn't making his own drawings.

No, I wasn't afraid. I was confused, like seeing a picture come to life when it should have stayed a picture. I stood there, there was a tree there at the time, for a few moments. And he didn't look at me, but after those few moments he said, 'do you want to talk with me?'.

I didn't know. I looked around, because perhaps he meant someone else, my father or my mother or one of the elders. But there was no one else there, and… I did want to see what was up here. Meeting the Ancestor certainly would make the short journey worth while.

So I came down, and then he looked at me. No, only the part around the black was orange. He was more a man than a dream. Yes, I touched him, and his skin just felt like skin. A little colder to the touch, but nothing too strange. I asked if he had always been there.

He said, it felt like it.

I didn't understand. Had he been sitting just up this ridge, waiting for someone to find him?

He said no. He wanted to see what our people were doing. I said, 'the same thing as last year'. He said that he wasn't there last year, so he didn't know what that was. I said that it was probably the same as the year before. He nodded his head, and said that it probably was, but he hadn't been there that year, either. He said that he hadn't been here for a very long time, and that it was so long ago that what we did might have changed a little.

No, his hair was not white like his skin. It was brown, and not very long.

I asked him how long it had been. He said… I do not exactly remember, but it was a very large number of-. Yes, more years than I have been alive. I told you, I was not much older than you are now when I spoke with him. More than that. So long that I do not think that my father's father's father would have been born then. He asked me to tell him all about our people, and said that in return he would answer any questions I had about anything I wanted to know.

What did I do? What could I do, where the Ancestor himself asked me about our people? I told him the big things, our people's origin, and where we walk throughout the year. I told him the small things, the pretty stone one of my friends had and the way my brother held his spear when he was hunting. I told him about the foods I liked and the work I did not like. And he nodded, and he smiled, and he listened, until I ran out of things to say.

And then he asked me what I would like to hear him talk about? Did I want to hear how our people first came to this part of the world? Or how they lived, or how they learned to hunt kangaroos and wombats for the first time? I asked-.

Yes, I asked that. Have they not always hunted kangaroos and wombats?

He told me that we live on a very big island, and that most of the animals here don't live anywhere else. So before we came here, we hunted something else.

I asked him if he saw it, and he said that he did. He said that he was not as old as the very first people, but that he had seen more of the world than anyone else.

I looked at the rock, and saw that nothing was drawn upon it. So I asked if the pictures were really part of the dream. Did they really keep the world in the shape that it is. And he said that they did, in part. That it was the picture in the dream and in our dreams that made the world the shape it was, but that since we could not see the dream, we made pictures to remind us of the shape of the dream, so that we could dream it properly.

But I did not understand. So I asked him what the very first people he met hunted. And he told me that the very first people he met had not hunted. The first people he met were very small, and took only the meat left by the cats. And when they were not careful enough, the cats would not run as the animals we hunt run, but would chase them down, play with them, and then slowly eat them.

Yes, I asked that as well. He told me that they are like dingoes, only far larger, with claws on their feet. And they did not like hunting as a pack, but hunted alone as much as possible.

Where? Far from here. He said that there have never been cats here, and that cats in other places are much smaller as the people are much bigger. I asked, 'how that could be?', and he told me that a very long time ago one of those small people had asked him how they could get large enough to fight the cats. He said that he told the one who asked him that it would need every one of his people to dream that the people were mighty and that the cats were weak, To dream that they had always been mighty hunters and fierce warriors while the cats had always been weak and stupid animals.

And that they should dream him having an orange torch on a stick that looked like an angry face.

I think that must have been what he meant. All of our drawings show him with his torch, even the very oldest ones faded into the rock. But if he was so very old, older than the first of our people to live here, then he would be older than all of the pictures.

Coming here? No, he said that can not happen. The man he told that went to every people he could, telling them how to dream, how to change themselves from hiding from the cats to ruling them. And one day so many of them dreamed it so well that it became true.

Yes, he told me that we do not need to worry about cats. Whatever they are. Wherever they are.

And when that happened, he got his strange torch, and he began to travel-.

Yes, I suppose so. If people stopped dreaming that things are so, then they might stop being so. And so-.

Yes, you can paint a picture of yourself if you really want to. But it will not change anything unless everyone in the world dreams the same thing.

Yes, what everyone dreams is what they are shown. But there are many more people than our people, and very few of them have heard of you.

Has he? Perhaps. Or perhaps he will hear about you from your own grandson, next time he visits our people.

Roughly 50000 Years Before I Was Born

I wish.

Bloody cats.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
09:02 GMT

I put-

"No."

-Larfleeze's ring on the table between us.

"I haven't asked anything."

"Please don't imply that you believe I'm stupid. You've made it clear to me that I can't get the result I want if I stick to the Guardians' rules of engagement.. Do you not intend to recruit me?"

"I don't hate the idea. But there wouldn't be any point in you putting on an orange ring if what you really want is to be a Green Lantern. Though I would suggest that it might be worth trying it out, just to see what it feels like."

"The orange light is highly addictive."

"I can give it up any time I like. I just don't want to."

She pauses, briefly.

"That was a joke, I assume."

I hold out my left hand, palm level. And then I turn the ring off, and leave it off for a few moments before allowing it to resume its connection.

"It's a mildly amusing fact relating to one of the most popular narcotics of my homeworld, that a sizeable proportion of the population lack the receptors to actually get addicted to it, yet use it anyway. My desires are indeed the core of my psychological makeup. But I'll never slide into self-destructive urge-indulgence."

I pick up the ring and hold it in my right hand.

"You're doing all that the Guardians want of you, you know that? A Controller of my acquaintance told me that for the Guardians, the Sector Lanterns maintaining order is what the Corps is for. There is no demand from the organisation for you to go further."

"That doesn't matter."

"I've met four enlightened Green Lanterns. Two were human, but the other two weren't. If you managed that mental transformation yourself you would be substantially more powerful. I suspect that Lantern Priest of Sector One Six Three Four would be happy to advise you. He should certainly be able to spare the time."

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you overcome your contradictions. It's what I do. Let me repeat: there is no point in me trying to put a ring on someone who doesn't want it. Self-actualisation without restriction is an appealing concept to me, but it's not appealing to everyone and -given how enlightenment affects me- the idea of forcing it on someone who isn't ready strikes me as bizarre and wrong."

"Ready? You're so certain that it's right for everyone?"

"I can't see cutting off a chunk of your personality… Or if you prefer, a rationalisation of the phenomena emergent from the programming evolution has left you with… As anything other than ill-advised. Unless you've got more cybernetics than just your eyes, your physiology works best when used in a particular way. The green light is the actualisation of the useful trait of tenacity, your motive the intellectualisation and universalisation of the desire to protect the tribe."

I put Larfleeze's ring back on my right ring finger.

"The Orange Lantern Corps has no desire to directly compete with the Green Lantern Corps. Lord Malvolio of One Six Three Four may decide to do that, but I'd really prefer to cooperate. And that won't happen if I start pinching their Lanterns. Though if you're interested in trying an orange ring for the sake of comparison, I'm happy to lend one to you."

"But to your way of thinking, refusing an orange ring means that I want to be as I am, and not to destroy the Spider Guild."

"And that's not a terrible thing. Having a constant threat encourages people to develop their own strategies to deal with it. There's nothing stopping any of the worlds in this region building up their military resources and carrying out an attack. If they could depend on you for everything, why would they bother looking to their own defences?"

"Should I spend more time on that, do you think?"

"That would seem logical. But now you know how you feel, how do you feel about that?"

"Disappointed. I thought… That I was an unstoppable force of opposition."

"Then you can change your behaviour, better informed of your true nature. Or… Not, and at least you will know who you truly are a little better."

"That is true." Now she faces me directly. "I thought that you would be different."

"Oh dear. Are Green Lanterns spreading rumours about me?"

"Since we learned that you exist, some of us have tried to decide on a policy."

"There are two Sectors away from the Reach that have Orange Lanterns in them. Lantern Green Man appeared to have a reasonable relationship with Lanterns Komand'r and Koriand'r, and… The Alignment needed realigning."

"What can I do to help with the Spider Guild?"

"Create a coherent plan and put it separately to the governments and the people of the Sector. Share some of the-."

My ring blinks.

"Excuse me. Illustres here?"

Dox's face appears over the ring.

"Clarissi."

"The Spider Guild Nests in your area have requested a parley. Is it useful to you for me to pretend to be interested?"

"No, not really. But thank you for offering."

"Have you made progress with your task?"

"They're all stronger, but I'm not sure that it's anything we can systematise…" Hm. "Do we have any telepaths in the Corps?"

"I do not believe that telepathic conditioning would work."

I shake my head. "Me neither, but if we're trying to come up with a way to improve teaching and we don't have anyone else like me, telepaths would be the next best thing."

"Then yes, a few, but I do not believe that any of them would be appropriate."

I nod. "I'll see if I can talk Dubbilex into it. Anything else?"

"Controller Hinon has a task for you, but she wants to brief you in person."

"Okay. I can be-."

"She will come to you once she has met with Lantern Malvolio. Dox out."

A Controller and former Guardian… Coming to the largest centre of Lanternism in the galaxy.

I should probably warn some people.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
09:15 GMT

Nyiath's face remains expressionless, and over a holographic link that actually works on me. He was assigned as my point of contact after Onik's unfortunate announcement… Well. That was when he made contact; I imagine that the wheels were set in motion the moment the former abbot was given enhanced abdication.

"A Controller who was once a Guardian is coming here."

"Once she's done with Lord Malvolio, yes, that was what I said."

"We haven't had a Guardian visit for quite some time."

"Oh, you don't need to do anything special. Controller Hinon is very low maintenance. Just say something stupid once a day so that she can get her condescension ration and she's as happy as she gets."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please do not attempt humour in a situation like this. Karax is undergoing a period of social and religious upheaval such as it has not known for centuries. If we are to navigate this turbulence, we must avoid inadvertent misunderstandings."

"Alright. Hinon acts like a crotchety grandmother who is severely disappointed with her entire line, but is actually an ancient being far beyond petty concerns like… Like just about anything you could do. She has a great many demands on her time, so in the unlikely event that she wants something from you, just make it happen as quickly and efficiently as possible and then get out of the way."

"Will she want to address the populace?"

"I think it vanishingly unlikely. Do you want her to address the populace?"

"Would it help? What would she say?"

"Probably not, no idea. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's coming here rather than just summoning me to One Six Three Four or back to Maltus."

"I assume that she wants to look at-. Is it really a new Green Central Power Battery?"

"It looked like one; she's the expert."

"But what does that mean? What does any of…" He takes a moment to steady himself. "I apologise."

"Quite alright. I'd only be concerned if you weren't."

"Is there anything else that I need to know?"

"Have you had a chance to read my book yet?"

"Not yet. I've instructed some of my junior staff members to go through it."

"Do you want a summary of the parts relating to spectrum-?"

"No, I can't afford to be discombobulated at the moment. Those of us in positions of government authority must remain stoical for the good of all. We can have our private breakdowns later."

"Very well. I'll get in touch when she arrives. Illustres out."

I end the transmission, and turn back to Lantern Vode-M.

"When was the last time a Guardian visited Karax?"

"Shortly after the 'peace' treaty with the Spider Guild was agreed."

"About two hundred years?" She nods. "And I imagine that they had a heavy escort-."

Whoops. I didn't ask Hinon if she would have one.

"You didn't ask your Controller if she would bring one."

"I didn't. But it shouldn't matter. I doubt that she will, and even if she does, Lord Malvolio's fleet is right there."

"Shortly after the 'peace' treaty with the Spider Guild was agreed, three Guardians came here in person."

"Why? Why put in a personal appearance for something like that?"

"Because it was a hard-won draw and they wanted to put in a personal appearance, perhaps."

"Or they didn't think that the locals would accept it without their overt approval. I think that the Sector Lanterns or an Honour Guard Lantern would have done for a show of support."

"Are you insinuating that the Guardians betrayed us?"

"Quite the opposite. The Guardians might not have the best people skills, but they are better at understanding social dynamics than their disinterest would suggest. They didn't want mass rioting, so they openly spoke in favour of a resolution they probably weren't actually all that happy about."

"That-"

My ring blinks.

"-would-."

"Illustres."

"Yes, I know who you are." Hinon's face appears over my ring. "Come to Lord Malvolio's flagship at once."

"On my-" Her face disappears. "-way."

I smile at Lantern Vode-M.

"Looks like I'm getting called away. Do you want to join in, as much as your current rules of engagement will allow you? If nothing else, you can shuttle anyone my subordinates rescue away from the conflict zones. They can attack larger convoys together than you can on your own."

"Yes. I shall."

"Great. And when I get back, I'll run through everything Guy's told me about attaining enlightenment with you, see if you can work out how to make the transformation yourself. Excuse me."

I

step out, the glowing will beacon of Malvolio's Central Power Battery showing me where to aim by the way it drowns out local desire. I

return to the material universe just as Malvolio and Hinon exit his burning doorway.

"Sir, Lord Malvolio."

Hinon ignores me, flying past me to get a better look at the Green Central Power Battery-.

"Hinon, you're not planning on jumping ship yourself, are-?"

"Of course not." She stares at it, floating around it slowly as Malvolio's closeness causes it to glow brighter. "Minosyss." She waves her right hand and knowledge appears in my mind. Oh for goodness sake-.

"Its new rulers have expressed an interest in diplomatic contact, though I have no idea why. Since they come from Earth, I think it appropriate that you make the initial approach. You may want to return to your homeworld to gather a staff. I will remain here."

"By your command."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
09:54 GMT

Okay. So. Prior to Hinon's faction of Guardians leaving and joining the Controllers, the existing Controllers were pursuing other options as far as megaweapons went. One of the more notorious examples of their system-killers of choice were the sun-eaters.

I actually remember them from the comics, where one tried eating Sol and it took Parallax-Jordan killing himself to finally get rid of the thing. And another, where a member of the Legion of Superheroes… Ferrous Lad? Died, stopping it reaching an inhabited system. And I think Animal Man used one to gain stellar navigation and faster than light flight once.

In reality, they're nothing like that common. Once Hinon's faction joined the Controllers, they policed their stray pets properly rather than just letting them wander off. And their chosen storage site was a naturally occurring dimensional warp in the system containing the planet Minosyss. That dimensional warp has caused the matter in the system to display all sorts of anomalous properties, one of which is to make the innate matter manipulating powers of the maltusians… Unreliable.

And to get around that while still extracting what they wanted from the place, they decided that the thing to do would be to enslave the entire population.

Fortunately, that was a… Long time ago. The place has recovered, the descendants of the slaves have… Yeah, it was over a billion years ago. It's about as relevant as that time the proto-Moon hit the proto-Earth is to most humans. We know it happened…

The better educated ones know it happened, I should say.

But there's no emotional weight to it.

But, yes. Dimensional weirdness makes most forms of faster than light travel unreliable, so they don't have external trade. They don't have the fuel resources to build an industrial society themselves, so… There they are. Certainly not a bad place to live, the occasional physics anomaly aside.

The current rulers are a bit of a mystery. They flew in on what is basically a city built into a hollowed-out half-moon a couple of decades ago and took over pretty quickly. That was our first clue that the place is thaumically active. The Darkstars' best guess was that they were New Genesians, but it's the wrong part of the galaxy for them and… While the people of New Genesis aren't above being openly worshipped, they usually don't directly rule worlds under their protection. These people are doing just that, through a bureaucracy of local collaborators. No idea why they want to talk to me, but if N.E.M.O. can get a few dozen more magicians out of it then it's time well spent.

Not… Totally sure why Hinon wants me to pick up a staff… Sure, you can find someone like just about anyone somewhere on Earth, but school is back on so basically everyone on the team is unavailable. Except Canis, but… No. Amon could probably get the time away but I wouldn't want to undermine Adom's authority by offering him a place on the mission when he's supposed to be doing something else. Angelika? Not sure that a group of demigods would have the same instinctual respect for her that they would for someone who felt like them.

Diana and Alan are reasonable choices, except that I know Diana's working overtime on diplomacy to try and keep world governments working to repair the damage done by the Sheeda attack. Alan, on the other hand…

"Illustres to Blue Lantern Alan Scott."

My ring blinks. And then blinks a little more. And-.

"Yeah? Oh, hey, Paul."

Alan manages a wan smile, but he's clearly distracted.

"Are you free? I can call back."

"Sorry, son. Some crazy-. Cultist types broke into one of the Sheeda arms dumps. It's an all-hands for the Justice League."

"Understood. Don't let me keep-"

His face vanishes.

"-you."

That could well require the team's attention as well. Ah. Euanthe's busy with Brazil, Queen Hippolyta… Maybe? But she'll probably want a staff of her own and that… Might be a bit much for Themyscira.

Starting to think that turning up on my own would be the best idea. But Hinon specifically said…

Who the heck do I know who… Isn't…

I

step out and then

11th September 2012
12:56 GMT +3

appear inside the Temple of Hades, waving at the surprised-then-resigned priestesses as I fly for the doorway to Erebos. Down down down down... Despite having died, this bit doesn't feel any different. Though it is at least faster now that I've stopped worrying about being insufficiently reverential, though transitioning is still right out.

And out. Palace that way, and as I gain height I can still see the queues heading into the courtrooms. I'm a little surprised that Hades hasn't set up temporary accommodation or something, though I suppose that they don't really need it. Now, where would-.

"Lantern!" / "Oh, Lantern!"

Two women dressed richly in Greek fashion hail me from the walls, and I fly towards them. They want me for something, and I need directions. Can't say that I recognise either of them, either from past visits or from the statues on Themyscira.

"Ladies. What can I do for you?"

The shorter one covers her mouth with her right hand as the taller one laughs.

"You can apologise for not coming to see us sooner!"

"I'm.. sorry, but this is Erebos. And I have no idea who you are."

"Ah. Then I will introduce myself. I-" She puts her right hand on her chest. "-am Gaudia."

Not 'gaudy' in the modern English sense. Her jewellery is actually quite modest. Rather, she's a minor goddess, representing guilty joys. Which-.

"Which makes you Aporia."

Who I would have chosen as my patron goddess if 1) I was selecting on the same basis as I told Kon to select his patron and 2) I'd heard of her at the time.

"It does indeed. You haven't died again, I trust?"

"No, I'm here to ask Princess Melinoë to accompany me on a diplomatic visit. Do you-?"

"Oooooh."

Aporia lowers her hand as she and Gaudia giggle.

"Do you know where she is?"

"We were going to see her now." Gaudia masters her expression, though Aporia can't stop herself grinning. "She has busied herself recording the novel fears and paranoia of our new residents, but I'm sure that she'll make time for you."

"Glad to hear it. Lead-."

"Though there is one thing we would like to know in return."

"And what might that be?"

"What do a couple of sadly underappreciated goddesses have to do to persuade you to… What was the phrase?"

"'Put a ring on it'?"

"'Put a ring on it', yes. We both have an excellent understanding of desire." She raises her eyebrows and regards me accusatorially. "Why have you ignored us so?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
12:58 GMT +3

"Because while I am a Hellenist, I wasn't raised in the tradition and so I'm not necessarily aware of the names and personalities of… Less well known deities."

"You can say 'minor gods'. We are well acquainted with the concept."

"I mean… To be honest, there was more of a chance that you'd know me." I shrug. "So let me turn that around: why didn't you come and find me? Anyone on Themyscira could have got a message to me."

Aporia tilts her head to the left slightly.

"Zero worshippers. We're a footnote in some texts on Greek 'mythology'."

I shrug again.

"And?"

Gaudia waves her right hand. "And we were out and about, making lives for ourselves in highly restrictive avatars, up until Lord Hades recalled us to help manage his workload. I thought that someone had destroyed Themyscira."

Aporia nods. "So we returned, and met these fascinating people foreign to the Earth, and…"

"And we had cause to want to… Branch out."

"You don't want to work for Hades and you're doing a runner?"

Aporia looks away awkwardly. "I wouldn't put it-"

Gaudia nods. "Yes."

"-quite like-." She glares at Gaudia. "That."

"You understand that we give these rings to people in the expectation that they'll use them for useful things, right? Telling me that you're slacking off from a low-stress administrative job isn't the best way to start an interview."

"We can make it worth your while."

"I can just ask someone else where Melinoë is. Actu-."

I turn my empathic vision up a little, looking for-. Ah, there she is! Serves me right for asking a Hellenistic deity to be helpful.

"Found her." I rise off the ground and fly in her general direction into the palace. "Have a nice day."

"Wai-t!"

I pause in the air, half-turning back to see a worried-looking Aporia with her right hand outstretched.

"Yes?"

"Are you telling us that you don't want anything from us at all?"

"Yes. Few gods are more powerful than the Ophidian. Hades has my afterlife requirements covered, and I understand my own desires perfectly. And-." I frown. "Can't you tell?"

Gaudia shakes her head. "You're… Hard to read."

"Well… You're coming to me. If you think you've got something to offer me, offer it."

"Power."

"I can see your link to Erebos. You're being empowered by it at Hades' direction. I don't know if the Ophidian is more powerful than Erebos, but I know that I'm closer to her than you are to your power source. If you're ducking out of work, I imagine that you think you're going to lose that link and want me to replace it."

"Sex."

"Like Aphrodite offered Paris? I'm happy with-."

"With-." Gaudia glances at Aporia and gets a nervous nod. "With us."

"No. Anything else?"

"What?" / "How dare y-?!"

Despite her surprise, Aporia is alert enough to elbow Gaudia before she can complete her complaint. Gaudia realises her error at once, and inclines her head slightly to indicate that her friend should continue to advance their case.

"We are goddesses of desire. There is no form-."

"If I was interested in having sex with an embodiment of desire then I'd have sex with the Ophidian. If I was interested in an ego-massaging harem of goddesses picked from near-dead religions, I'd have gone out looking for recruits before now. I want neither of those things."

Though… Looking back, that could have been an interesting way to spend a few years.

"I've got no special interest in winning some sort of prize for being the biggest myopically egotistical hedonist in Hellenic history. People aren't prizes who can be won, especially not by having sex with them." I pointedly raise my eyebrows. "Done?"

Aporia looks slightly awkward, though whether that's because she recognises that she's misstepped or because she insulted me I'm not sure.

"I.. understand. Ah. Princess Melinoë-."

"Is here." Melinoë steps out of the palace, looking decidedly unimpressed. "And she's wondering why you're here instead of at your desks. But only for a moment, because it isn't hard to deduce."

"Melinoë, it's good to-."

"Djh!" She spares a moment to glare at me. "I will deal with you in a moment."

I bow my head slightly.

"These work-shy slatterns need to learn that they're here to do a job! They have thousands of applicants to review for deviant desires and actualisation achievements! And the fact that they haven't already started heading back towards the line suggests-"

Gaudia gets a clue, tugs Aporia's arm and starts walking back the way Melinoë came.

"-that they're eager to volunteer for nightmare-testing."

She gives them a few minutes to get out of sight, then looks back contemptuously..

"Honestly. If we weren't desperately overworked I would have told father to leave them where he found them."

She huffs, then gives me her full attention.

"Well? What is it?"

"A group of Olympian-themed demigods -or possibly gods- have set up shop on an alien planet and want to talk. I'd like to have someone from that mythos accompany me. Are you available?"

She blinks.

"Another-? Are you-?"

"Of course, if you're busy with the new intake-."

"This sounds more important. If they've found a way to leave a single world, that would be valuable knowledge." She thinks for a moment. "And if I'm not here to watch them, those two aren't going to do anything. I'll take them with me as maids. Who else is coming?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:32 GMT +3

"Um."

Melinoë tries to check her horn armour, fails, then glares at Gaudia until she does it.

"If the encounter turns hostile, my highest priority will be evacuating you."

"Yes, it will."

"You didn't wear that armour when we were going to confront Cottus."

"That was in Tartarus."

"Um. Yes?"

She pauses in checking the parts of her armour she can actually reach in order to give me a withering eye roll.

"I'm a goddess and we're inside a titan. Being myself here is easy. I can't manifest my full power in the material world without an external power source, which I don't have."

I frown. "So how-?"

"I'm going to have to create a weak avatar and go there as that. Which means I need this armour which cousin Hephaestus made."

"Did he make it recently?"

Her eyes narrow.

"What are you implying?"

"That his knowledge of arcane smithing has increased a lot lately and that probably wouldn't be the style he'd use today."

"Oh." She bats Gaudia's hands away. "I suppose that's possible."

"Not that I think what you've got looks bad- "

"I don't care!"

"-in any… Okay. Ah, do you want any technological assistance?"

She frowns. "What do you mean?"

"A personal force field generator? Defence drones? Extra armour plates?"

"This armour is perfectly alright for a visit. Even if the world is closely connected to the Dream, they'll be under the same restrictions as I am. And I doubt that they'll be stronger than me; we don't keep track of everyone, but if someone powerful went missing we would know about it."

"A shield generator doesn't need to be very big."

"Do you know that it wouldn't interfere with the enchantments on this armour?"

"Based on my general knowledge of thaumaturgy and Hephaestus's techniques, I think it highly unlikely."

"I'd like a force field generator." I look around as the lightly armoured Aporia raises her right hand. "If that's alright?"

I glance at Gaudia, who nods twice. I raise my left hand and orange light flickers out, creating girdles around their waists with built in reactive kinetic barriers.

"Hm."

Melinoë makes a point of looking unimpressed.

"Are we leaving via Themyscira, or via the Dream gate?"

"You can't get there through the Dream without lots of preparation. Have you made lots of preparations?"

"Barely any."

"Then there would be 'barely any' chance of you arriving." She looks at her subordinate goddesses. "Any of you."

"But you'd be alright?"

"I'm the Goddess of Nightmares, idiot. I'd be more alright there than in the material universe."

"Rightoh. So I'm flying us there?"

"Unless you expect us to walk."

"Can you walk there?" I widen my eyes. "Gosh, that's impressive. Most people-"

She scowls. "No, of course-"

"-have trouble using magic-"

"-that's not possible, idiot."

"-away from a thaumically active planet."

I smile as her face goes from 'smile' to a 'blank, I'm totally above it all' expression. Then she vanishes.

I look around-. There she is, heading up the stairs to Themyscira. I turn to Gaudia and Aporia.

"Can I offer you a lift?"

Aporia nods. "I am very interested to experience your orange light for myself."

I tag each of them with orange bonds and I get a sudden shock of awareness, an existing contact between them and the Honden. I don't think they had the sort of access that I do, but they definitely became aware of it. That might make them better recruitment prospects than I had assumed.

"Oh. That's interesting."

They feel it, too. Might be worth giving them each an entry-level ring just to see how they function. Though given what Melinoë said, they would be far less powerful in the material universe than they would be here. Maybe they could use their rings to do their jobs faster?

I lift them off the ground and we fly out of Melinoë's dressing room, rising up over the palace and heading for the entrance at speed. I think about making a 'please keep your hands inside the ride' comment, but if they haven't kept up with the surface world they wouldn't understand it.

"So what have you two been doing with yourselves since Greece converted to Christianity?"

Gaudia makes a dismissive gesture with her right hand.

"For a time, we simply stayed in our manors near the main entrance. As we had fewer and fewer souls to vet, we increasingly had to make our own entertainment. Eventually, Lord Hades sent a messenger to dismiss us entirely so that he could keep the interesting evaluations entirely to himself. Then other than hearing the occasional prayer… We didn't have any official functions at all."

Aporia nods. "In the end, we just left. Explored the mortal world, in a variety of roles. We've each had dozens of names at least."

"So that thing about understanding desires… You've got practical experience and not just divine magic?"

"Yes?"

"Good to hear."

 

[Mr Zoat]

When If?

Universe-199998

13th February 2019

"The lost books…"

I look around from my position halfway up the ridiculous bookcase pillars as a somewhat weathered man in a suit walks slowly into the library. The ill-fitting amulet around his neck…

Time manipulation.

I can hardly complain about O'Bengh asking me to substitute for him while he takes a holiday, but that's a subject I'm either… No, I am the best person to answer questions about it. I just hoped that I could avoid it from now on. Returning to China didn't quite… Nothing was going to return me to anything approaching normal, but I'd been able to put being Time Trapper behind me.

I float down, smiling at the prospective researcher as he looks up and notices me.

"Hello, there."

"Aah, hello." He gives me a mild frown as I land a short distance away. "Are you..? Cagliostro?"

"No, I'm the substitute librarian. I've no idea where Cagliostro him or indeed herself is, and O'Bengh the Librarian is taking a holiday. I'm Orange Lantern, holiday temp."

He looks around, taking the place in.

"Strange."

I nod.

"Yes, the whole 'introduce yourself by your codename' thing breaks down in cultures where pseudonyms aren't common. Unfortunately, that-."

He squints. "No, I-. My name. Stephen Strange. Doctor Stephen Strange."

"Ah. Well, pleased to meet you, Doctor Strange." I offer him my right hand, and after a moment of awkward hesitation he takes it. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm… Hoping you can show me the books on time travel."

"Ah… I haven't taken an inventory, I'm-" I glance back at the books stacks, shaking my head. Being a wizard is no reason to abandon sound design principles. "-afraid. Though if it's any consolation, I used to be an atemporal being. There's not a lot about temporal manipulation that I don't understand, and I'm happy to answer your questions."

He looks at me askance.

"If you were atemporal, then surely some version of you still is."

"Oh, well spotted. But no. A version of the being I used to be is still atemporal, though since they lack my particularity they have no particular reason to help me or.. you."

He nods. "Orange… Lantern, was it?"

I take my personal lantern out of subspace. "A symbol of office and a power source. For a maltusian, it's like introducing yourself as a police officer."

"Well, Orange Lantern, perhaps you can help. I need a way to change an absolute point-" I wince. "-in time. Cagliostro was rumoured to have found a way-."

"There's no such thing." I shake my head. "That's not how time works. Even here."

He scowls. "I've got a certain amount of experimental data that says it is."

"Then you're misinterpreting it." I pull a couple of chairs and a table over to us and take a seat. "Tea?"

He takes a deep breath and huffs. "Look, I can find it myself-."

"Why rush?" I lean back in my chair as I take a tea service out of subspace. "You didn't come here for a way to travel in time, so presumably that thing around your neck already has that covered. Which means that it doesn't matter how long it takes. And it sounds like you are in need of background information."

He looks up at the stack, then down at the table. "Fine." He pulls out his chair and sits, leaning forward with his forearms on the table. "What do you mean 'there's no such thing'?"

"Exactly what I said. Time is a process. It's not a person; it can't care about anything. Nothing is just… Randomly designated as being more important than anything else. While the precise mechanism changes from parallel reality to parallel reality, it's usually just a matter of the availability and application of energy, due to-."

"So I need to get stronger."

"So you need to stop interrupting." I pour him a cup, then reach out and pull a book from a nearby shelf. 'What I Did In My Holidays' by Twoflower. "Could you lift this?"

He regards me with mild irritation for a moment before nodding. "Yes."

"If you were much stronger, could you-" I point. "-lift that bookshelf?"

"Yes."

"Is there a level of strength you could arrive at where you could pick yourself up by your own feet and carry yourself around?"

That puts him off his stride, eyes moving away from me as he tries to puzzle it out.

"The human mind is designed to keep us safe from hungry tigers; it isn't easy to talk about temporal mechanics in a language originally designed for telling the other monkeys where the ripe fruit are."

"Oh-kay."

I think he's trying some sort of breathing exercise, though with limited success.

"So then explain it to me like I'm a monkey."

"Events cause other events, and are in turn-."

"I already had this talk."

"Why are you here? Hm? What went so badly wrong that you feel the need to rewrite time?"

"I don't want to.. rewrite all time, I just.. want to save one woman."

"There's your problem. You-."

"Her death set me on this path. I can't go back and save her because if I did then I wouldn't exist."

"Nearly. Your perception of her death set you on this path."

And now I have his attention.

"What do you mean?"

"If she died and you didn't know about it, your behaviour would be unaltered. If she was replaced by a gynoid programmed to mimic her, or a shapeshifter, your behaviour would be unaltered. On the other hand, if you believed that she died…"

"I-. Would still have done everything to bring her back. Whether she was actually dead to or not."

"You tried to brute force it, didn't you? That can't work. Where I'm from, causation violations can upend the entire timeline like-" I click the thumb and middle fingers of my right hand. "-that. It took me an immeasurable amount of time to recreate my own timeline. Here, things are different. Time works -mechanically works- to minimise changes, sucking energy out of the universe every time. It's easy for something like a person dying; there are all sorts of ways to die, and it's more energy efficient to do that than... Than to try and maintain a paradox as part of history? I don't even want to think about how much energy that would-."

Oh.

"No, I've got it. If you moved her to a universe with a different temporal system then the two of you would be alright, it's just that the universe you left would collapse."

"Let's leave that for plan D. So what-"

"Yes, let's."

"-you're saying is, as long as I can exist in the resulting timeline, I can save her?"

"Yes. Your problem was confirmation bias. Once you heard an answer you didn't like, you didn't consider alternate hypotheses."

"So, what, I need to fake a car crash. Get a realistic fake body. Difficult, but-."

"Or you could just fake your memories."

"Excuse me?"

"Go back in time, explain things to whoever she is and your past self. Change his memories so that he remembers what you remember happening, and… Carry on."

He frowns. "She wouldn't see me for two years."

"Better than being dead. Or you could partition your mind so you could see her for a few days each month. I don't know how good you are at mind altering magic."

"I can get good very fast. And you're sure that will work?"

I shrug. "It should. Of course, there's an easy way to check, considering the nature of time travel. Are there any mental partitions in your mind at the moment?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:19 GMT

New Cronus is built into a crescent moon, like… Actually, it reminds me of the amulets from The Mysterious Cities of Gold, where the inner sun image slotted into the crescent moon outer. That can't be natural, but what possible reason could someone have for digging out a moon like that? Most of the city sits in the hollowed out part, with masts and veins sticking out through the rock for communications and shields. The city outwardly presents as ancient Greek, but there are clearly far more sophisticated elements. It's like someone copied the structures without any understanding of why they were the way they were.

"Feeling anything?"

Melinoë has looked mildly pained for the entire journey-. When she didn't think I was watching, anyway. Now she's craning her neck to take a closer look at the structure.

"It looks stupid."

"Or it's a display of power and security."

I mean, it's clearly not a warship. I can't see any guns, and from what my scans are telling me the shields are more the sort of thing you might expect from a space station in a relatively peaceful part of space. Not that I'd necessarily be able to detect any arcane defences, and I can't imagine anyone with Olympian heritage not having some sort of arcane protection.

Aporia looks it over, trying to come up with a better analysis.

"It looks like Olympus, a little."

I make an amused snort as I compare her description with that of her mistress.

Gaudia sneers. "They came up well short, then."

"To be fair, they're working in the material universe with mundane materials. They've done fairly well if the worst they did was come up short. Feeling any better?"

Both of them glance at Melinoë, who doesn't look at them, face impassive. After a moment to try and judge her mood, Aporia nods.

"A little better, thank you. Though obviously we aren't at anything like full power."

"Please keep me up to date. If you start to feel better or worse, I'd like to know about it."

Gaudia raises her left eyebrow.

"I'm sure we're grateful that you're so devoted to the wellbeing of beings thousands of years your senior, with far greater understanding of their own state of health than you have."

"While it's nice to be appreciated, it's more that we don't have good data on what happens when gods move between worlds. I'm hoping to write a study, and your feedback will be useful."

"Do we get a byline?"

"Hailing New Cronus. Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps, Ambassador of Maltus, here as requested. I'm requesting landing instructions."

Aporia frowns.

"I wonder why they named it after Cronus? He certainly hasn't gone anywhere lately. They can't be his descendants."

"I thought that all Olympians were?"

"He ate his children. The only gods he sired who are alive today are the gods and goddesses Zeus freed. That means it's easy for us to trace them."

"If you think you've traced all the children Zeus sired, I've got a bridge I can sell-."

"Ambassador. Please approach the upper keep. We will signal for your approach."

Ring?

Language used was a recorded local language. Accent deviated from known standards by a comprehendible degree. Suggests mixing with native speakers from three other regions and relatively isolated.

But not Greek?

Correct. Not Greek.

My passengers and I fly closer, and the ring pings me as their sensors take their time to get a good look at us. Hm. Considering what sort of beings we're dealing with here, perhaps…

Ophidian.

Yes, my Agent?

Be with me. See through my eyes, hear with my ears, understand with my mind.

Happily, my Agent.

"What was-?"

I feel it as the Ophidian gives me her particular attention, my body becoming… Just a little unreal. My eyes glow as they used to when the orange light was in danger of overwhelming me and I know that under my armour my tattoos are lighting up.

Aporia and Gaudia are staring at me. Melinoë is pointedly looking away.

Aporia points at me in a hesitant manner. "No, seriously, what is that?"

"'That' is the Ophidian, Embodiment of Avarice." I shrug. "She likes me."

Aporia glances at Melinoë for guidance and gets an elbow from Gaudia.

"And… Ah, how are you doing that?"

"The Ophidian isn't technically a goddess. She's far more closely tied to the material universe via the desires of every sentient being."

"That's who you were-? Oh… Um. Okay."

We draw closer, and the scale of the place becomes a little more apparent. What I initially thought might be temples of some sort are actually amphitheatres, the roofs are a product of the artificial lighting that means they don't need to be open to the sky. Some are vast, Olympic size or larger. Which means that those are housing… Regular housing. And those are gardens? And those are palatial homes, six of them, and from where they're sited I'm going to assume that the residents either really like their views or can't stand each other.

And that's a plaza with lines of soldiers and a small group of teal-skinned locals in fancier clothing I assume are officials of some kind. Without other direction I approach, causing the four of us to land at the outer side of the plaza. Disconnecting from the trio of goddesses, I take a moment to look-.

Ow.

Okay, not doing that. These people are definitely under someone's protective aegis.

I proceed along the soldier-lined gangway, glancing at the improved magic detection system built into my right bracer. Yes, the armour is enchanted. Not to a high degree -Melinoë's armour is several degrees more powerful- but better than anything pre-arcane revolution produced by a mortal wizard.

The officials at the far end come forward a little way to greet us. Which is interesting. Normally they'd make the foreigner approach them to emphasise that they are the supplicant. But these people aren't in charge; they're functionaries, so the same rule doesn't apply.

"Welcome to New Cronus, Ambassador. Our masters and mistresses are assembling to receive you as we speak. Please, come with us. We will provide you and your companions with refreshment while you wait."

"Thank you. We shall."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:32 GMT

A bowl of fruit sits on the table next to my right hand; a species like unusually large grapes and another like strangely misshapen apples fight for my curiosity. Given that agricultural goods are one of the few things that planets like this can offer the wider galaxy in trade, I make a point of not scanning them.

Melinoë's eyes are fixed on the grand entrance to the waiting room. I'm not sure whether she's eagerly awaiting them opening or if she just doesn't want to lose out on any scowling time. Gaudia is more interested in the attendants who lurk nervously at the corners of the room. Teal-skinned examples of the local humanoid species, their clothing puts me in mind of oriental styles… And their slightly larger than average eye orbits reminds me uncomfortably of the qwardians.

Aporia's on her third near-apple.

"What?"

Melinoë closes her eyes for a moment, and I can practically hear her think 'give me strength'.

"You are not as resistant to poison in this form as you are in Erebos. And gorging yourself will slow your mind."

Aporia's eyes widen as she swallows.

"You actually expect me to use my mind?"

"Yes. We are dealing with a break away pantheon who rule an entire world. I assume that you have at least enough ambition to envy them their achievement."

Aporia waves her half-eaten near-apple.

"Not really."

"Really? I'd have.. thought that the Goddess of Desire would feel that more strongly than anyone."

"No? I mean, aside from the fact that I got 'desire' because no one else had picked it yet and I thought it sounded good, you would not believe the crazy people I've seen." She shakes her head. "They just fixate on something, like that one thing will fix their life if they get it just right, if they… Forge a perfect sword. Persuade that merchant to give them an extra coin per barrel of wine. Win a little more glory. And they never learn. Six thousand years of new flavours of stupid."

"Did you ever think of teaching people not to do that?"

"No? I mean, it's kind of funny to watch sometimes but they-" She rolls her eyes. "-have to go on about it. I'm like, 'it's a whale, they're all basically the same', you know? Who cares if it's white?"

For a moment I freeze as I try and remember whether Ahab was a real person in DC, or she's just referencing the book.

"Not big on divine responsibility, then?"

"You worship Eris, right?"

"Yes."

Aporia leans slightly towards me.

"Hera, Athena, Aphrodite. Three goddesses who are supposed to be responsible. And look what they did."

She flops back on her chaise longue.

"Troy. We didn't have many cities… I mean, most of them were towns with ambition. But, poof, gone."

I frown, pick up an applish and scan it.

Ah.

"So what's the point of being responsible if you're going to be fine anyway and everyone else is going to get it wrong anyway?"

"What are the Greek rules on hospitality? Particularly relating to narcotics?"

Melinoë slowly turns her head towards me.

"Poisoning a guest would be a gross violation. But if the guest can't handle their liquor and decides to drink like a barbarian, that is their fault."

"Or eats like one, I presume."

Our eyes move to Aporia.

"What?"

I raise my right hand and wave it to get the attention of one of the servants.

"I don't expect their eminences to drop everything because I turned up, but do you have any idea how long they're going to take?"

She takes a moment to see if she can persuade one of the others to field my question with her eyes alone. She can't.

"I'm sorry, lord. I don't know."

Empathic vision… Power through, she's engaged with us. Yes, fear. Fear that paralyses. Perhaps there are senior… Clerics? Who are accustomed to dealing directly with their rulers, but to this one, the very idea of questioning the hierarchy inspires fear. Could mean a variety of things, and none of them inspire confidence.

"That's-."

The doors are thrown open, and a man dressed in a tunic made from the night sky strides in, a woman wearing a dress of the same material just behind him. Their hair is.. of similar construction, normal hair marking an area which is overlaid with a skin of deep space. Their skin is slightly odd; nearly Caucasian, but with a little gold added into the mix. Or-. I remember hearing that Helen of Troy was referred to as 'golden' not because she had blonde hair but because she used olive oil as a moisturiser. Maybe that's what it does?

Melinoë comes to her feet, her grim expression very clearly not matching the smiles of our hosts. I stand too and smile, aiming at 'polite diplomat' rather than 'schmoozer' as he appears to be. Gaudia stands after the two of us, making a slight effort to fade into the background. Aporia sits upright, sways slightly, then decides to remain where she is.

The man spreads his arms wide in greeting.

"Welcome to New Cronus! I am Coeus, God of the Moon. I apologise for not being here sooner, but a deity's work is never done."

To the best of my knowledge, the titan Coeus was killed during the titans' war with the Olympians. This man clearly isn't a titan in that mould, but I doubt that he got hair like that from his shampoo.

"Quite alright. I apologise that I can't greet you in a similar fashion, but my name has been taken from me." I offer him my right hand. "I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."

He comes closer, firmly gripping my arm rather than my hand. I return the gesture, mildly pleased that this form of greeting doesn't degenerate into a test of strength anything like as often as the handshake.

Still holding on, he turns to his companion.

"This is Phoebe, Goddess of the Moon and my sister-wife."

I nod, smiling. "So you are Greek, then?"

He releases my arm. "We.. are descended from the gods of the Greeks, yes." He looks curious, though not suspicious. "How is it that you know of us?"

"Allow me to introduce my companion. This is Melinoë, Goddess of Nightmares and Madness, and daughter of Hades."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:37 GMT

"And these-."

"Hades elder brother of Zeus Hades?"

"Yes. And you are not the titan Coeus. Where did you come from?"

"Ah." He takes a moment to regain his mental equilibrium, Phoebe lightly touching his left arm with the tips of the fingers of her right hand. "No, as I said, I'm a god. My mother named me for her late brother. He was slain by your father, as I recall."

"The titans were mighty. Extremely hard to kill. My father does not often talk about it, but from what I remember of his stories Coeus was a team effort."

"A team-. Do not speak so lightly of my uncle's death!"

His metaphysique is protected, but with the Ophidian's help I can get a rough feeling for him. That outburst was more due to shock than rage, but more importantly I get a feel for his complexity. He's… Young. The titans were defeated… What, seven thousand years ago? He's nothing like that old. He might even be younger than me-. My actual age, rather than my official age.

"Melinoë, that isn't helpful. Please-."

"Do not assume that my goals are the same as yours."

"I'm not assuming that, but I am assuming that your reduced strength in the material universe means that I could -for example- stick you in the corner of the room with a construct gag on."

Coeus appears baffled, but Phoebe is starting to smile. Melinoë is giving me her full attention, her face a picture of indignation.

I step in front of her, blocking Coeus's view of her and hers of him.

"Sorry about that. I didn't get much notice and she was the first available Olympian."

"I-." He shakes his head. "Fine. We-. I wasn't expecting you to bring an Olympian."

"I was told to bring a staff, and that you were from Earth. I don't even know why you wanted to talk to an ambassador."

Phoebe leans into her husband. "Then perhaps it would help if we explained that. And.. where it is that we come from."

"I'll take anything."

"Then, please, be seated."

Coeus doesn't look entirely certain, but responds to her gentle tug on his arm to sit down on a nearby bench. I take a seat opposite, leaving Melinoë to choose between either joining me or joining Aporia. She chooses me. Right.. next to me, and

an image of the walls around me trapping me squeezing me crushing me

and that would be deeply unpleasant if I wasn't resistant to magic, enlightened and training to deal with it.

I hold out my right hand and cause my personal lantern to manifest.

"My authorisation."

Coeus nods. "Your ring would suffice, but we acknowledge it. You are the Illustres, second in power?"

"I'm the second in authority. Even without the Ophidian's aid, I'm probably the most powerful."

He nods. "Yes, there's more to authority than power. A lesson our mother took great pains to teach us."

"Your mother?"

"The titan Rhea."

Zeus's mother, who… Yes, I don't think there was any record of what happened to her. I cautiously glance at Melinoë to see if she wants to volunteer anything.

"She was banished to the Dream. I had assumed that she was content to dwell there."

"A lie."

"Husband."

Coeus and Phoebe make momentary eye contact with one another. Coeus inclines his head slightly.

"An incomplete truth. Yes, Rhea was banished to the Dream, but she broke her banishment and fled from the Earth. We are her heirs."

"And where is she now? I would be curious to meet my grandmother."

He bows his head.

"Dead. As I am sure that you know, being anchored to the material universe weakens us immensely."

I frown. It's more than that; a titan is far more primal than a god. They shouldn't be able to exist outside of their medium. So… Yes, ganking an avatar and harming or killing the god by doing so is perfectly possible, but I doubt that's the full story.

"You have my commiserations."

He watches my face for a moment or two before nodding. "Thank you. But what of you? What are you? You seemed… Human, but I feel something greater within you."

"That's the Ophidian, universal embodiment of avarice. She's a little like a titan, I suppose, but she's bound to just about everyone in the material universe, so… Her manifesting is a little less traumatic, particularly when she does so via someone like me who's so in tune with her." Hm. "Actually, given that my friend Kon-El is on excellent terms with Helios, he might-"

Coeus frowns, his eyes darting to Phoebe for a moment.

"-be able to do something similar." I frown. "I haven't asked."

Phoebe smiles curiously.

"Cousin Helios is still alive?"

I nod. "Yes. I haven't studied the titanomachy in any detail, but my understanding is that the titans who abandoned Cronus and accepted Zeus's supremacy were generally left to their own devices. And can you imagine trusting Apollo with something as important as the sun?"

Melinoë elbows me. I ignore her.

"Heck, if you want there's no particular reason why you can't visit the Earth. Very few people worship the Olympians-. Heh, I think Euanthe the Super-Dryad has more worshippers than Zeus at the moment."

Phoebe nods. "We may do that, some day. But as to why you are here?"

I nod.

"We are aware that the maltusians left some of their weapons here when they departed. We intend to make this world into a paradise, something we cannot do if ordnance left by a race of demigods could activate at any moment, at great cost to our people. We would like to request your aid in disarming or removing as much as possible, and confirming that anything left is completely inaccessible."

I nod again.

"That sounds like something I can help with, and I'd be happy to do so. Who exactly is 'we' in this context?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:46 GMT

"Delighted to meet you, cousin!"

The actually gold-skinned man Coeus introduced as Hyperion brushes past me to take Melinoë's hands in his own and kiss them. And it's not just his skin that's golden and mildly reflective. No, his clothes and… What I assume is meant to be armour -or at least super sized jewellery that looks a little like armour- is also gold, and his goes from bright gold at the front to red-gold at the back. His sister-wife Theia is dressed in a similar manner, adding a gold… Helmet? Head dress? To the mix.

No children, I note. No Helios-alt here to contract with the one back on Earth.

Theia doesn't look-. No, it's not that she's annoyed at her husband behaving in such a familiar way with another woman. She's looking suspiciously at all of us.

"Uncle."

"Oh, come now! We're a generation removed from our forebears." He offers her his goblet, and apparently misses the fact that her father is her mother's uncle. "May I offer you a drink?"

"Thank you, no."

"My lord Hyperion, my lady Theia."

"Human." Theia doesn't seem to like me any better having gotten a closer look at me. "You are the ambassador, and not that greater being within you?"

"You can talk to the Ophidian if you want, but the drawback of wanting everything is that you don't want anything more than anything else. It's unlikely that she'd care about you or your family."

"Still."

I shrug. "As you will."

My Agent?

She just wants to talk to you for a moment.

She believes that she is reduced by speaking to you. I shall teach her better.

As you see fit.

And then the corridors of the Honden surround me as the Ophidian borrows my body in the physical universe. Ooh, this is… Different. The.. locals have structures similar to those of most humanoids, and desires… Yes, those are familiar enough. Those around New Cronus don't appear to have the burning desire for freedom or restoration that suggests they're harshly oppressed… But then, it's not as if their native rulers were models of liberal democratic rulership. Pre-industrial society can't really work that way; travel and communication technology just doesn't allow it. So if the new rulers are worse then they're not much worse, at least to the people immediately around them.

Which is nice, I suppose.

These gods themselves… Yes, Hyperion wants to spread his 'solar rays' but only with other beings in his weight class. Theia doesn't really care about his behaviour. She cares about their alliance and doesn't think that he'll do anything to undermine.. it…

What's… That? That line of desire feels familiar. What is-.

And I'm back in the room, the assembled children of Rhea looking a little disturbed.

"Problem?"

"No, no." Coeus recovers fastest, taking my arm and leading me towards his red-skinned companions. "Just a little surprising. Don't think anything of it."

"I have no idea what she said to you-."

"This is Lord Iapetus and Lady Themis, gods of the planet."

Iapetus offers me his right arm. "Your snake has great wisdom. I have wanted to take a more active role in shaping Minosyss to the advantage of its citizens, and I believe-"

Themis looks truculent, but holds her peace when he looks at her and gives her the opportunity to chime in.

"-that we have a new accord on the subject."

"I'm glad to hear it. If you can manipulate the magma, there's probably a way to introduce geothermal power. Maybe even industrialise the place eventually."

"Your serpentine companion was of the opinion that the greatest testament to a god's greatness was the strength of their people. I take it that you share that view?"

"I wouldn't have built a Lantern Corps if I didn't."

"There, you see?" He gestures towards a globe displaying the planet below. "Rewarding devotion is no sign of subservience."

"There was a dispute on the subject?"

Iapetus nods, though the globe retains the majority of his attention.

"We discussed using the planet's resources to cow the people into greater displays of devotion. I was never in favour of it, but… It makes a certain degree of sense. It's far easier to see a disaster caused than a disaster prevented."

"Oh, that's painfully true. But exactly how-?"

"And over here-" Coeus pulls me away from the terraphiles as they redirect a major river. "-are Oceanus and Tethys."

A strange contrast in substances. Both have aquatic tails, though I can't tell whether they're supposed to be fish or dolphin. The flesh of their upper torsos is translucent blue, almost water-like, while the 'hair' on her head and the 'hair' of his tremendous beard both appear to be made of anemone tendrils. They're laying on benches by a pool.

I nod to Oceanus.

"I briefly met your predecessor. He very nearly killed me."

His beard straightens in shock.

"He lives?"

"He's currently confined, but yes."

"Then perhaps when we are finished here, we shall visit Earth."

"Have you ever visited before?"

Tethys shrugs. "In a sense, we-."

Coeus pulls again, clearly not wanting me to hear the rest of her answer. Though it's not hard to work out what it would be. They either have or haven't. If she's prevaricating, then… It's their home in a spiritual sense? Or part of them came from there? Was Rhea pregnant with them when they left?

"And the last of my brothers and sisters, Lord Crius and Lady Mnemosyne."

Brown hair, with green skin covered in tattoos. He's wearing a toga while she's wearing a cloak which bares her entire 'attribute-free' body.

And if that's the last, then there's no Cronus or Rhea equivalent. Which makes a degree of sense. Also, the pairs don't quite match up with the pairings of the originals. But they're their own people.

Which -given what happened- is probably a very good thing.

"A pleasure."

Mnemosyne nods. "It is always pleasant to meet a mortal who has pushed his mind as far as you have. But we are most eager for you to begin your work, and render the world below safe for our mortal servants."

"Then let's get started."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
14:59 GMT

"…breached the control room, but it does not appear designed to respond to those such as we."

Coeus leads the way through the breach in the earth that leads to the most accessible part of the decommissioned sun eater factory. Not sure whether this means that the Junior Titans can't teleport, haven't gotten the hang of teleporting in Minosyss's magic sphere or if the maltusians built something that blocks it.

"Have you been studying it?"

"We dared not. Though I'm confident that we would survive whatever traps the maltusians might have added to their system, this world is inhabited by people far less resilient than we are."

"I meant, 'you personally', though I suppose that answers the question."

"Iapetus looked it over, since it comes closest to falling within his sphere. He'd be here now, but his brief encounter with your Ophidian appears to have left him rather distracted."

"I suppose that there isn't a titan of engineering, is there?"

"Had mother survived, there may have been eventually."

"Do you know what her… Plan, was? Did you intend for you to go back and defeat Zeus when you were ready, or...? What?"

"She taught us to use our abilities as best we could. Perhaps she had an ultimate goal in mind… Sadly, we shall never know."

I nod. That suggests that they weren't all that old when she died. Is Coeus the oldest? Was he forced to take on a pseudo-parental role when their mother died? None of the others disputed his right to negotiate with me, after all.

"Why do you care?"

"Oh, I'm nothing like as emotionally invested as you are. But I'm a utilitarian. I don't destroy things unless there's a good reason to do so. Senseless violence is wasteful. And as an Orange Lantern I tend to like to see people pursuing their goals in a rational and pragmatic way."

I look up and to the right as a section of… I think that used to be a wall, juts through the side of the rocky passage. An earthquake? Did that..? Breach the walls? That doesn't seem likely, but the whole reason why the Controllers chose this place was because it doesn't entirely conform to the usual rules.

"You wanted to get the factory safely shut down, so rather than come up with some sort of convoluted scheme to lure a maltusian here you just directly asked. We have absolutely no reason to say 'no', the maltusians abandoned the place because they had no further use for it…"

"The cooperation of disparate parts to a common good is the very definition of civilisation."

We walk in silence for a few moments, the corridor bending as it moves around the buried sections of factory which stick through the walls in several places.

"So… What does being moon god actually involve? Are you in charge of New Cronus?"

"Yes, but that's more a coincidence than anything else. The moon is totemic; most of my actual divine powers relate to the intellect rather than the night in any literal way."

"Hah! We could definitely do with you back on Earth then."

"Isn't there a god of the intellect amongst Zeus's followers?"

"No. Zeus ate Metis, and… I don't think he's been listening to her advice very much."

"Met-? Zeus ate another god?"

"Yes. And-"

"But that's-"

"-I realise that-"

"-what he rallied-"

"-that's what Cronus did-"

"-the younger gods against!"

"-to his brothers and sisters, yes."

"And that hypocrite rules the Earth? Humans pray to him!?"

"Not really, no. Greece converted to Christianity about two thousand years ago. The few Hellenists left mostly prefer to pray to other Olympians. My particular patron is Eris, Goddess of Chaos."

"You… Mentioned a 'super Dryad'."

"Yes, Euanthe has done very well for herself. Essentially, she increased the strength of her bond to all earthly plant life, and after a rather nasty war she made contact with an alliance of jungle tribes in the Americas… And now she's their main god."

"How powerful is she?"

"Innately? Probably not much more than she was before. But she has command authority over the natural world, so her effective power is much greater."

We walk out into… Huh. Yes. A room big enough to build a creature that could eat a sun. In the distance I can see… Gantries, and machinery that I can't easily-

"It's just up here."

-identify. Coeus leads me up a… A rope bridge, to a round platform which appears to be suspended from the ceiling by struts which are both uncomfortably long and uncomfortably thin.

Coeus sees me hesitate.

"They're strong enough. Can you not fly?"

"I can fly in three different ways and I may well be immortal. That doesn't make me feel safe."

I shake my head as I reach the platform. Yes, it's solid -certainly more solid than the bridge- and in the centre there's a maltusian control console. It's a ring made of a stone-like substance, the middle of the ring containing a glowing orb which… Is probably the part of the machinery that they designed to access the dimensional warp.

And there's a plug for a personal lantern. A bit odd, given who was using it at the time. This was shut down before Guardians started using Green Lanterns. I mean… The Guardians had the technology beforehand. Larfleeze's existence proves that. Still, it's a little…

"This control system is contemporary, is it?"

"As far as I know. It was here when we discovered this vault, but I know little of maltusian technology."

"Fair enough."

I don't attach my personal lantern to it, but rather reach out with orange threads and attach-. Ah, yes, there we are. I was a little worried that they would have designed the system to work with their symbiotic abilities rather than glow technology, but it doesn't seem to be arguing the toss.

"Is there anything important directly above here?"

"A few villages. Why?"

"I might need to physically fly the sun eaters out, to say nothing of whatever other weapons the Controllers stashed here."

"I can order an evacuation, though I would rather avoid doing so."

"Alright then. Let's see what this does."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
15:06 GMT

Naturally, there's no user interface.

In fact, I'm not sure that there's any 'computer' here in the conventional sense of the term. I mean, it's the regulator for the interface, but it was clearly built on the assumption that the Controller would be doing most of the work in their head. It's letting me do it by ring more because it hasn't been designed not to rather than any sort of permission system.

"Are you able to access it?"

"Yes. Sort of. Unfortunately, it's designed for an actual Controller to do most of the work. They literally have to bridge the gap between dimensions themselves; this system doesn't do it. Which… I'm sorry, but I'm wasting your time. I can't do that."

I frown.

Can I? Or rather, can my ring?

No, no, I don't think so. The Honden isn't a dimension, not in the way that this place is designed to use the term.

"You can't?"

He sounds genuinely surprised. Which is oddly touching, but it's slightly unfortunate that I'm giving a bad impression.

"Sorry. I'm a Lantern, not a dimensional mathematician. I can do an assessment of the place and report back to the actual Controllers, but as far as activating this is concerned…"

"We would rather not have the Controllers come here personally."

"Ah… Okay? I suppose Dox could probably do it. Maybe one or two others? Would you..? Mind telling me why you don't want them here?"

Coeus turns aside and swings his right arm, indicating the rest of the factory.

"Does it seem strange that we are concerned about the people who made all of this?"

"A little? I mean, they left. A long time ago. There's no obvious reason for them to want to take it back. You said that you were worried about their technology decaying due to lack of attention, and those weapons are already here."

He smiles faintly. "Oh, for a rational universe."

"I know what you mean. I suppose… Is this the first planet you've ruled?"

"Without our mother's guidance?" He nods. "Yes. Is there really nothing you can do?"

"There are a lot of things I could do. But I can't be sure in advance what the result would be, which rather defeats the purpose of my coming here."

I take a moment to peer off into the distance.

"How about I take a look around the place and then report back to the Controllers for instructions?"

"Very well. I can't really give you a tour as I have no idea what any of this does, but you are welcome to see it."

He turns away to walk back down the rope bridge-.

"I'm sorry if this is a personal question, but can you fly?"

"Normally, yes. But there is something about this place that distorts magic. I take it that the Controllers made no use of it?"

I try to rise by ring, but the power leaks away almost immediately. Ophidian?

…

"They can, but they aren't keen on using power moderated by others."

I trigger my armour's flight system instead, and… Yes, that works. I rise off the platform and fly after Coeus.

"Can I offer you an alternate system? It's fairly instinctual to use."

He looks rather taken aback.

"How?"

"Basic physics is working more or less the same in here as it does outside. So whatever shielding they've put in place is probably… High order stuff, designed to prevent certain types of extra-planar energy working. So no magic for you and no ring for me. However, normal"-

I try taking a simple magnet out of subspace, but can't. Ah… Side arm? I draw it and point it off into the distance.

"-manipulations of magnetic forces and electricity work fine."

I pull the trigger, the bang caused by the exploding powder echoing through the chamber before being lost to the distance.

"As well as chemical reactions."

"You carry a chemical propellant weapon?"

"They're a pain to stop remotely." I frown. "What… Language are you speaking?"

"I speak several languages, though at the moment I'm speaking Greek. Why do you ask?"

So how is my ring translating? I mean, I've learned a little Classical Greek, but I'm not fluent and I wouldn't mistake it for English. So is the ring's translation system separate..? Or is it that he has a normal connection to the orange light and it's running off that? Something else to ask Hinon.

"My armour has a translation system, but I usually rely on my ring. And I doubt that you speak English."

"So you can bypass the system?"

"So I can accidentally bypass the system in one regard without knowing why. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

He nods. "It is wise to know one's limits. And yes, thank you. I would like you to share whatever system you're using."

"I-."

With my rings down, I can't fabricate a flight belt. But I can disconnect my armour's backup and attach a couple of straps… There.

I hold it out to him.

"Strap this on securely."

He looks it over, then tests the strength of the straps before pulling it around his waist and tightening it.

"Tap it, then sort of angle yourself in the way you want to-"

Coeus launches into the air, narrowly dodging the beams holding up our platform to the ceiling before stopping.

"I see. A little…"

He shifts sideways, stops, falls a few metres and then stops again.

"I see. Interesting. Is this its original purpose?"

"No, it was originally used as crash protection for starship travellers."

"Travellers who would often not have been trained in specialised systems." He thinks for a moment. "Tell me: you mentioned geothermal power earlier. What other suggestions do you have for improving this world?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
17:22 GMT

"Half a year?"

I nod as we head back up through the tunnels, my right hand slightly extended as I try and create a construct.

"How much time have you spent in the immaterium?"

"A few moments, while our mother was teaching me."

"You remember what it's like?" He nods. "You're a god. This body you're driving around now? That's an avatar, capable of using a fraction of your full power."

"But I-. We have more access to the world like this."

"Look… Unless I very much miss my guess, you're not much older than me, right?"

"A little older-. But yes, far younger than our titanic forebears."

"So while your powers are notable, they're really nothing that a high end mortal magician couldn't replicate. It's just that for you they're innate rather than learned."

"I haven't seen a magician who could match us."

"I-."

My construct splutters into existence, then stabilises.

"There we go." Coeus frowns. "Trust me, as someone who has seen high end magicians. If I dropped off a book on thaumaturgy in a few of this planet's major cities, you'd see people at that level in… Twenty to thirty years? No one could equal you in full god mode."

"But I would struggle to affect the world."

"And that's what priests are for. Very few people have regular meetings with their planet's overlord, but if you stick a priest with a few divine gifts in every town, suddenly they have a more personal relationship."

"We could have priests without empowering them."

"Then where's the pull? Why would someone become a priest? What are they supposed to be doing that mundane administrators aren't doing? What are the government officials doing that the priests aren't going?"

"Is that how..? How the Olympians organise their devotees?"

"No. As I said, hardly anyone worships the Olympians. Zeus mostly spends his time hanging out in Olympus or… Picking up lonely middle aged women on cruises while in avatar mode. He has at least one recent daughter that I know about sired like that. You want to build this civilisation up?"

"Of.. course, but-."

"Then you need to think about what is it that you can offer it. What you can do that would make people want to worship you. Can you assess the intellectual capacities of everyone on the planet as you are now?"

"Not quickly. I would have to meet them all in person."

"And in the immaterium?"

"I would need to bend the world-sphere around myself, which.. would take some time. But once we created a new Othrys, I could arrange matters so that my attention was drawn to the sharpest of intellects."

"Wouldn't New Cronus work?"

"No, it would need to be tied to somewhere on the planet. We flew New Cronus here; it isn't integrated yet. Do you intend to hand out books on thaumaturgy?"

"I'll give you a few copies when we get back to New Cronus. If you're serious about the uplift project I don't see any reason to make your life unnecessarily difficult." I frown as we emerge into the sunlight. "How has your takeover gone over with the locals?"

"Most mortal rulers have acquiesced. Consolidating our control is slow-going, but there's no unified resistance."

"Mortal rulers might acquiesce to a display of strength, but that won't be enough to make them yours. It won't make them loyal in the way I imagine that you want."

"I am confident that within a few generations, they will become accustomed to us. But I take your point-. Your many points. You have never ruled a world yourself?"

"Not my desire. But I've had access to the records of the rulership of millions of worlds, and the writings of people far wiser than me who analysed them. I would be happy to give you those as well, though I suspect that you will need a very long time to read all of them."

"Time, we have. If we do as you suggest, Hyperion and Thia would be able to rejuvenate this system's star." I frown. I didn't think-. "It's not dying yet, but it's older than it might be."

"I wouldn't suggest prioritising it, but visibly changing the sun would certainly give an undeniable impression of power. Oh, and you should probably divide up responsibility between you. Not just your domains, but what parts of lives of your people you oversee."

"How so?"

"Would schools be the responsibility of Crius and Mnemosyne, or you and Phoebe? Who is responsible for law and order? How about public health and medicine? Civic planning? Industry? If you're trying to create a unified civilisation and culture, you'll need a unified plan."

"I will need to discuss all of this with Phoebe, and with the others."

"Of course. And I need to talk to Controller Hinon about-."

Coeus doubles over, clutching his head! A moment later he straightens, a look of horror on his face!

"No!"

A second later he's faded from view. Some sort of teleportation? It makes sense that he'd be able to do that, but I've got no idea why he's so concerned. I… Doubt that there's anything I could help with; we've built up a rapport and if he wanted me he'd have asked.

We didn't really… Stop to talk to the garrison protecting this entrance before we came in, but I did get a brief introduction to the man in charge. Athyns came with the New Titans from Karrakan, and he's the head of their military here. I fly towards his command post, returning my armour to subspace and switching to my formal robes. Athyns is a very serious warrior and commander, and I want to be sure that I'm not immediately seen as a potential threat.

As it turns out, I don't need to head to his command post. He's already out, mustering soldiers and preparing them for action. I get a quick and extremely hard look as I land, and then he nods.

"Ambassador."

"Lord Coeus has been called away. I wouldn't want anyone to think that I was poking around secure sites without an escort."

"It's best if you just stay here. I'll assign you an escort once everyone else is prepared."

"Prepared for what? If you can tell me. I can see there's some sort of alert, but I don't know what for."

"Someone attacked one of the gods. That's all I know. Now go sit over there, and stay out of the way."

 

[Mr Zoat]

"Recognised, Power Ring Blue, Made Man of Power Ring."

Earth -14
Oranga
11th September 2012
20:23 GMT +3

I appear in the antechamber of the team's new base of operations, and take a moment to relax. Things… Things are going as well as they could…

I chuckle slightly for a moment.

I can't even finish that thought.

But they could be going a great deal worse, and -to quote Dilbert- that's not nothing.

The Syndicate has almost completely moved to the arse ends of the world. The Answer is heading up Asian operations, their Byzantine political and economic systems suiting him perfectly. 'Al' -because apparently we're on first name terms now- is having fun scaring the night soil out of the drug cartels of South America while the Director is stretching his tentacles out across Africa. This hotel is one of his, and the staff and guests are robots operating under his direction.

"So?"

Most of the guests.

"Mister Quick, you know full well-."

"We're all gunna get tole inna bit, ain't we?" He shrugs, and I note that despite the enforced inactivity he's barely jittering at all. Looks like the new formulation of the speed formula has ironed out that problem. "What's it ma'ahr?"

"Because it undermines Ultraboy. He's the team leader. I bring news to him, he decides how to share it with the team." I nod politely. "Excuse me."

I head towards-

"But we're gettin' out, roight?"

-Jon's suite-

"Roight?"

-and knock politely on the door.

"Ultraboy?"

He doesn't run, but I hear his heavy footfalls on the other side of the door immediately. His self control is pretty good, all things considered, but he's been feeling the enforced inactivity just as much as everyone else. He's looking… Okay. Though I personally think that the goatee is a terrible look for him, it does fulfil the recommendation that everyone alter their usual appearance during the relocation. He's even abandoned the 'U' insignia he used to have on just about every piece of clothing he owned. No one familiar with his old appearance would look for a young man in a suit.

"You got something, Blue?"

His elocution training has been more miss than hit, but unlike many of our colleagues he is actually making an effort.

"Indeed I do. Would you please accompany me to the briefing room?"

"Sure, just… Give me a minute."

I nod. "Of course."

He heads back inside, closing the door after him, while I head towards the meeting room. I'm not sure whether the Director meant it as an insult or not, but the main meeting table was originally a replica of the one the old Management used to use. I had it taken out almost immediately, and replaced with a more collegial circle. I also added some soft seating off to the side for less formal one-to-one chats, and it's there that I head. And in deference to the preferences of my colleagues, I pull out a decanter and a couple of tumblers before sitting down.

How… To sell this.

Jon pushes the door open and does a quick scan of the door before coming inside and closing the door. He makes eye contact with me, and I hold up Zorina's anti-detection ward and do a quick scan to make sure. Nothing detected, so I give Jon a nod.

He hesitates for a moment and then walks slowly over, eyes alighting on the glasses.

"Since when do you drink?"

"I don't. It's alcohol free; basically wheat juice. It's practically a health drink."

Jon frowns, a snort escaping his nostrils. "Fer real?"

"Eh… A few other chemicals. Nothing intoxicating, but it tastes just like the real thing."

He sits down opposite, picking up his glass and sniffing it. "And no one figured it out?"

I shrug. "I changed it five months ago and no one's said anything." I pick up my glass and hold it out to him. He taps his own against it with a chink, then we each take a small sip. "Your health."

He nods. "Makes me think of the first time we had a drink together. Guess that's a happier memory for me than you."

"I've found that life isn't quite so easily sorted into 'good' and 'bad' these days."

"Guess I should be grateful about that." Jon puts his glass down and sits back. "What're our orders?"

I shake my head. "The Management don't-."

"Sure. 'Requests'."

"It's an important distinction. They're recognising your independence and-."

"And that I gotta do what they say if I want the lights t'stay on."

"You can look at it like that." I shrug. "You can do your own thing, or you can answer requests and receive the commensurate rewards."

"We did what you said to make the New Management happen. Not like I had any better ideas." I shrug. "Plan any good?"

"I think it will achieve the Syndicate's medium term objectives. Whether it's the best thing to do or not…" I shrug again. "You remember our alter egos?"

"Yeah."

"Their team is used by their mentors as a covert operations unit. Their United Nations imposes rules on the Justice League, and they use their apprentices to bypass them without anyone knowing. The Management want to do the reverse with the Young Offenders. While the Syndicate beds down in its new areas of operation, your team will carry out random acts of brigandage with the aim of drawing as much attention as possible." Jon frowns. "Luthor's sticking to the deal, but there are more excitable elements-"

"The Justice Underground."

"-who will come after the Syndicate anyway, and the New Management want them led away from the more vulnerable areas of the business. And you've got plenty of vinegar in you, so I doubt that you'll complain if they catch up with you."

"Easy to sell it to the others. I'm guessing we can't go back to America."

"No, but you could attack US interests outside of the States. Just as long as you don't draw attention to other Syndicate assets."

He nods, looking at his drink for a moment. "Or what else?"

"What else?"

"You got some other idea." He looks up. "Don't you."

"I… Do."

"So?"

"We do need a decoy, but we can get anyone to do that. There are a few of the less stable Made Men I wouldn't mind seeing the back of. But for you… How would you like to head up your own operation?"

"What's the catch?"

"You have to create one."

He frowns. "How?"

"The Syndicate has been moving into highly criminalised areas and inserting itself as the top level boss. My idea for the team is to go somewhere that has suffered a complete breakdown in law and order and creating order."

A wry smile. "Like heroes."

"Like empire-builders. You saw how fast Slade threw every law he swore to uphold out of the window the moment he thought that's what he needed to do to win. Ultimately, that's what law is; what the strongest force in a society says will happen. Constitutions are just paper. If you conquer an area, if you enforce your will and bring stability, people will support you."

"Time fer me to make my own mark on the world?" I nod-shrug. "Interesting idea. Kinda assumed I'd get this talk from Pa."

"Yeah." I sigh. "That would be better. Or your grandpa, or grandma, or your Uncle Jimmy or Uncle Pete. But I'm what you've got."

"Yeah. I guess you are."

He swirls his drink around in his glass.

"Where were you thinking we'd do this?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:31 GMT

…and that one wants better fitting armour. And clearly feels guilty about it. As far as I can tell, these soldiers represent the hardcore of loyalists who either came from minor religious groups who worshipped something similar enough to the new gods that they were willing to accept them as 'fulfilling the prophecy', or who were from minor groups who were happy to accept the Pax Divinitatus to protect them from their oppressors. No one other than Athyns from Karrakan, which… Seems a little odd, but I suppose that there must be some reason why the gods left.

N.E.M.O. doesn't have any recent information on the place. It's not exactly a busy stop over, being another relatively technologically primitive place like Minosyss. I'll ask Dox to send someone.

Anyway, the armour of these soldiers appears to have been a joint project between Iapetus and Hyperion. There's a ceremony they all go through where they're awarded it in person, which is the closest most of them come to the beings they worship and kind of a big deal.

I'll give Coeus a book on armour design. It shouldn't be that hard to integrate spells for automatic adjustment into the existing network, and that would allow them to make the armour a standard size every time.

"Excuse me?"

The two soldiers assigned to watch look up from their reading. The encampment outside of the tent is packed up and ready to fall out, but as I'm a foreigner and they're guarding me none of us are involved.

"I had assumed that someone would have told me what was going on by now, but since that hasn't happened, could I please send a message to the rest of my party?"

That doesn't appear to strike either of them as particularly unreasonable.

"What message?"

"Ah… Something along the lines of, 'I'm fine, couldn't really help with the factory, how are you doing?'. I mean, I'd like to know more about what was going on-."

Athyns pushes his way into the tent.

"You can tell them in person. We are needed on New Cronus, and you will come with us."

"Oh. Certainly." I stand. "Am I allowed to use my ring?"

"I have no orders to contain you."

"Right, but people are upset and I don't want to set anyone off. Ring, contact Hinon."

"Channel open."

Oh, not picking up immediately? Well, fair enough. She's a busy woman. Not like she gave me this job personally or anything.

"Send her the images-."

The ring couldn't scan in there.

"Send her the scans I took on the way down, and access my memories for the rest. Ask her if there's an easy way to relocate it."

"Compliance."

Okay. I lower my ring and return my full attention to Athyns.

"Do you want me to fly us up?"

"That will not be necessary."

The two guards hold open the tent flaps, and I take the hint and walk out. The majority of the other soldiers are assembled in ranks in the central area with their kit on their backs. Transport, rather than immediate combat deployment. Oh… Kay, but the locals don't have flying machines any more advanced than hot air balloons. Are they sending a shuttle?

I look around and then… Up.

Ah.

I can just about make out the broken outline of New Cronus overhead as the area around us glows brilliant white-.

And the broken moor land vanishes and is replaced by the interior of New Cronus, the soldiers falling out immediately as Athyns heads for the grand doors at the front of the room.

"Ambassador." I transition up to him and land next to him as he pushes the doors open. "The gods-."

"We will tell him ourselves."

The next room is a courtyard, Crius pacing just in front of the central fountain while Mnemosyne sits on the wall at its edge.

Athyns bows.

"My lord. My lady."

Crius strides towards me.

"You. If I find out that you had anything to do with-."

"Husband." Mnemosyne rises. "Threats are a waste of time when we have better methods at our disposal."

He halts. "True."

"Has something occurred?"

"Yes. And we will ascertain whether or not you were involved by peering into your mind."

"Ah. Well, yes, you could, except that I'm trained to resist telepathic intrusion and magic. I'm also inhabited by the Ophidian, and last time someone went into my mind uninvited she ate them."

His eyes narrow. "We are gods, mortal."

"You're the avatar of a god used to living in the material universe. And she's the Embodiment of Avarice. The Universal Embodiment of Avarice. But-"

I take a step towards him and politely bow my head.

"-I have fulfilled my responsibilities as your guest by apprising you of the risk. If you want to do it anyway, that's on you, and I take no responsibility for what befalls you."

Crius doesn't move, sharing a glance with his wife.

"You'd have more luck in full god mode, but I understand that you aren't able to access that at the moment. Might I suggest telling me what has happened that has you so concerned?"

Mnemosyne comes closer, clearly making a point of getting inside my personal space.

"Our sister Phoebe has been attacked and lies recumbent and unwaking. We find the timing suspicious."

"Oh. No, not guilty. If I'd wanted to attack you, I'd either have done it the moment I saw you or waited months while divining your every weakness so that carrying out an attack was as easy as possible. I certainly wouldn't have assigned the task of making an attack to subordinates weaker than me at a time when I was unavailable and incommunicado."

Crius huffs. "So you say that we should not blame you because it was not your style, and that it was foolish."

"If I was going to target anyone, it would have been Hyperion. Phoebe represents a poor choice of target given my objectives." I shrug. "Also, it would be going against my orders. Why don't you give me a little more information to work with, and I'll see if I can help you track down the culprit?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:36 GMT

Phoebe lies on the bier, a slightly out-of-place bio-regulator system keeping her lungs and heart going. I can't see any other activity; her mind is… It's not even turning over as it might for someone in a coma. If she were a normal woman I'd say that she was brain dead. But… My definition of 'dead' and, frankly, how much that matters, has changed a good deal since coming to Universe 16.

Coeus is sitting on the floor beside the bier, her left arm trailing limply down so that he can hold her hand. He obviously looks distraught, though he tries to cover it up as he hears me approaching.

"It wasn't you, then. I'd…" He bows his head slightly. "Hoped that it wasn't, but I am.. not…"

I walk closer and sit down in front of him.

"Don't put on your mourning garb just yet. Gods can be remarkably resilient."

"Oh, do not give me false hope. I can read a neural scanner as well as you."

"I've been dead twice. If I can get better, so can she."

"W-?" He looks pained. "This isn't funny!"

"Neither is being stabbed in the brain with a burning sword by an angel or disintegrated by qwa-energy. But if we keep her body in one piece and work out where her soul went, we should be able to get her going again."

"We should-. Without a focus we have created, it could be-."

His face goes still, his pallor paling.

"Something occur? I haven't done any kind of arcane survey, so I-"

He rises unsteadily to his feet, his currently-late wife's hand slipping from his grip.

"-can't…" I stand as he heads towards the exit, local physicians cowering back as he goes. Mildly pleased to see that he wasn't turning his anguish on them. "Help in guiding us to her, but I know some.. people..?"

He's not paying me any attention, striding in the direction of… The room where I was introduced to the others, I think. Alright, so that-

**[Mr Cassidy points his trident at Mr Excalibris and fires off a gout of flame. Mr Excalibris sings, the fire being buffeted aside and Mr Cassidy collapsing, bleeding from dozens of places.]**

I grab Crius's hand and push it away from my head.

"That was uncalled for. I've been cooperating perfectly well. If you want to see it that badly-."

"Where was that?" He's staring at me. "Tartarus?"

"No. Hell. The monotheistic version of the Punishment Fields, with no hope of release and worse staff. That was where I got stabbed in the brain. Look, you clearly have advanced technology here. Why don't I just put recordings of the events on a multi-format crystal for you to review at your leisure?"

"I wouldn't-." He jerks his head in the direction of his brother. "Coeus!"

Coeus stops at the end of the corridor.

"You're distraught; I understand. I would be the same if it was Mnemosyne. But-."

"It's her." Coeus bows his head slightly. "It's obviously her. We were fools to think-."

"She can't-." Crius's eyes dart to me before returning to his brother. "If we could-."

He hurries after his brother.

"If we could discuss this in private, then-."

"And how well did keeping this to ourselves work out last time? We're lucky that-."

"Okay, look."

They look.

"The Controllers ignored this world for a billion years; it's no skin off their nose to ignore it for a billion more. I'd like to help, but to do that you'll need to tell me what's going on. If you don't want my help or are unwilling to give me the information I need in order to help, then I'll take my retinue and leave."

I raise my hands.

"Entirely up to you."

"I-."

Crius holds up his right hand to silence his brother. "We can't decide that by ourselves. We will need to discuss it with our brothers and sisters."

"Fine, but the longer you take, the colder the trail gets."

Whatever… Sort of trail that might be. I don't think that gods just drop dead. Someone or something caused her to die-

Armour.

-so this is an active combat zone until I hear otherwise. Ugh, wish I brought a thaumaturgist.

Crius nods, and lays his right hand on his brother's shoulder to encourage him to continue his journey. And since they're not around, ring, call Hinon.

"Error."

"Can you be more precise?"

"Unable to connect to network."

I make a spork construct, then dismiss it. Constructs are still working, subspace storage is still working-. And since the things I put in subspace were still waiting for me, the subspace pocket remained associated with my ring, just inaccessible.

"Did my message from earlier get through?"

"Uncertain."

Fly out or stick around? Need to check on Melinoë first in either case. Interior map… Somewhat complete. Given that the place is warded I probably shouldn't try phasing through the walls or moving to the Honden, but I think I can justify impolite flying.

Scan for Melinoë.

Compliance.

Thin veins of orange briefly glimmer on the surrounding walls as the orange light overpowers the wards designed to prevent them. Depending on the system they've got set up they might re-establish themselves, but that's on them. But I've found Melinoë, and that's the main thing.

Plot course and fly, maximum speed.

Compliance.

Corridors flicker past as my current-generation armour with inertial dampeners and ring-power allows me to fly around -and occasionally through- the obstacles in my path. A bit of a surprise to the crew who get a half-second view of me as I appear through their heads, but I'm sure that they'll live.

And here I am. I leave the armour on as I land and walk through into the sitting area-. Soldiers, they've posted more soldiers. No, irrelevant.

"Was your time on the surface productive?"

"Arguably. What happened while I was gone?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:40 GMT

Gaudia gestures towards the doorway I just flew through.

"A few of our new cousins came for a visit, and we got a tour of a few parts of this building. And then a lot of soldiers started running around and we were shoved back in here."

"'Shoved'?"

She shrugs, looking away from me.

"Escorted with menaces."

"Did you see anything untoward?"

"Do three instances of repressed sexual attraction count?"

"Probably not, unless it was occurring in the local gods. Also, these aren't your people so please don't go poking around inside their souls."

"I could transfer." She shrugs defensively. "They don't have an avarice or wealth goddess. I would fit right in."

"They're a new pantheon looking to do a lot of work. Somehow, I doubt that you'll take to it."

"What if I limit myself to vague but spiritually uplifting pronouncements?"

"I don't-."

"There was a 'boom'." Aporia grips onto the head of her bench to pull herself upright-. The fruit bowl is entirely empty. "Does that matter?"

"What sort of boom?"

"A boom boom. Like…" She throws her arms up. "Boom!"

"An explosion?"

"No. You know… Boom." She blinks blearily and I start hoping that there's a god-level sobriety potion or spell somewhere. "Boom?"

"Like a gun?"

"No? That's more like-."

I hold up my right hand.

"Stop. Stop. Melinoë, did you hear anything?"

"No. We left her here to…" She moues. "Recover."

"Okay. Okay. Boom like-"

I have my ring make the sound of a gunshot.

"-that?"

"No, that's a gun. I know what a gun sounds like."

"Alright. Boom like-"

I have my ring make the sound of a car backfiring.

"-that?"

"No."

I play a recording of a controlled demolition.

"No. Just… BOOM!"

Oh dear. I play the sound of a boom tube appearing.

BOOM!

Aporia beams. "Yes, that's it!"

"Did you hear it once, or several times?"

"Ah… Once?"

"Did you see anyone you didn't recognise?"

"I don't recognise anyone. I just got here!"

"Did you see anyone who seemed out of the-. I'm wasting my time."

Melinoë looks at me contemptuously.

"How has it taken you this long to work that out?"

"Badly misplaced optimism. Look, Phoebe is… Biologically 'dead', and they don't have an afterlife set up to handle that."

"That happens. Cronus digested all of my aunts and uncles older than Aunt Hestia. Not even a trace of them remains. I don't even know the names of most of them, and I know that Grandmother Rhea named them all."

I wonder if they tried cutting into Cronus again after the war, to check? Or if that means that Metis is gone? She would be stronger than a newborn, but it's been a long time…

That might explain some of Zeus's decisions.

I take a hologram generator out of subspace and generate an image of Phoebe.

"Do you have any idea what could have caused this?"

Melinoë barely bothers looking at it.

"No obvious injury. I felt no great magic. If I could examine her directly I might learn something, but this tells me nothing."

Reasonable. So, boom tubes means New Genesis, Apokolips, or Lonnie Machin. And last time I checked, he wasn't at anything like that level yet. My main concern is that Grayven might be involved, but there's no obvious reason for him to care what happens here. We're not particularly close to Reach territory here, and I haven't seen any indication that he has other ships on the scale of his personal dreadnaught. Splitting his forces…

Except… He could. There's no real defence fleet here. The planet isn't especially populous and their lack of industry means that it wouldn't be all that difficult to ramp up production. Apokoliptians are comfortable using magic, so non-magic technology becoming unreliable wouldn't be a crippling problem. He could send a very small fleet, and as long as they had a way to kill the gods…

Or it could be anyone else. I wouldn't even be totally surprised if it turned out to be Canis. Dead without a wound on her? He probably would find Coeus's emotional pain artistic.

"Okay, I'll try and get you permission-."

"Lantern." Athyns strides into the room. "And companions. The gods require your presence."

"I serve at the gods' will."

"Hah!"

I look around, and a momentarily shocked Melinoë blinks in surprise before considering her position and deciding to glare at Gaudia.

Gaudia looks surprised, then sags slightly.

"Sorry."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:47 GMT

And then there were nine.

And I feel slightly guilty for thinking that.

Ideally, these gods would either have a good deal more training before taking on planetwide responsibility, or would be in full on god mode and using their powers to aid people remotely. Ruling a planet while not actually all that powerful isn't a good place to start.

"My lords and ladies."

I incline my head rather than doing a full-on bow. They're seating in pairs at the head of the room, except Coeus and… Phoebe, obviously. He's standing next to his seat, his right hand resting on it for a moment before he jerks it off and steps away.

"Here."

He reaches into his toga and pulls out… A small orb, of the same starry sky texture as his hair and clothes.

"Do you know what this is?"

I glance at Melinoë, who is staring at it in fascination. Whatever it is, it's setting off the magic detection system in my helmet something fierce.

"I can't say that I do."

He nods, and puts it away.

"Do you know why we left Karrakan?"

"I was planning to find out later. It didn't seem to be of primary importance."

"It isn't; there's barely anything left there, now. Mother… In her exile, our mother occasionally mated with some of the locals, begetting a new race of demigods. They fought amongst themselves, their great.. war, destroyed their civilisation. We were our mother's attempt to salvage the situation. That was my… Seed; the fragment of my uncle's magic which she used to grant me life. The intent was that she would guide us as we came fully into our powers, then we would use them to restore Karrakan. But the.. strain of creating us proved too much. And without her guidance…"

He shakes his head.

"There are a few amongst our followers who we brought with us, Athyns chief amongst them."

"He's one of Rhea's natural children, isn't he? I thought that something felt odd about him when he escorted us here."

"He's a descendant. We're not sure.. how closely related they are."

"Does he know?"

Hyperion's head blazes.

"Of course he doesn't know! His people tore their world apart when they thought they were blessed by a higher power! We will not make that mistake!"

"I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think that will work in the longer term."

"It doesn't have to. It just has to work long enough. Besides, it's not as if we can't deal with-" A corona of fire flares around him. "-a rogue demigod or two."

"I take it that Phoebe's sphere was missing?"

Coeus nods. "Yes. I don't know whether removing it from her was.. enough by itself to reduce her to her current estate, or if someone struck her with a weapon first. But it is gone."

"Do they have other uses?"

"It's a powerful focus of titanic magic. I imagine it would serve that purpose for anyone."

"Are there any magicians on board?"

Mnemosyne shakes her head. "Two, and I have already confirmed that they were not involved."

"Have you heard of New Genesis? It's a planet."

A few shaken heads.

"Aporia reported hearing a sound characteristic to their long range teleportation system. The New Gods usually don't care about the divinities of other races-."

Iapetus's eyes widen. "You know the perpetrators?!"

"The New Gods inhabit two worlds, and those two worlds are at war. Usually, when one world commits an evil deed, Apokolips is to blame, but New Genesis hardly has clean hands. For what I've learned of their morality, it's perfectly possible that they'd consider Athyns to be a peer and all of you to be rogue automata."

Hyperion blazes brighter. "They would dare-?!"

"I don't know. It's a possibility that I would investigate. I would think it more likely to have been Apokolips, on the grounds that ruining things and making people miserable are considered to be worthy goals in themselves by the Apokolipitians, but those are my leading suspects. Is it possible to track them?"

Iapetus shakes her head. "None of us have the knowledge of magic that would be required, even if it were."

"I do."

I keep my face blank. I did give Hades several books on modern thaumaturgy back when I wanted to get into Tartarus, but I hadn't gotten the impression that Melinoë was all that into them. Granted, she learned to make those nightmare conduit things relatively quickly, and her very physiology is proof that she's intimately familiar with titanic magic…

Huh.

Coeus stares at her.

"You can?"

"I could track it within a single thaumatic environment." She tilts her head slightly to the right. "I might be able to track it through the Dream, though that would be a great deal more difficult." She strides up to Coeus. "Give me your seed."

Behind me, Aporia snorts.

But I get thinking. Okay, if a New God took it, they might take it home to study it. Study how to make it suffer in Desaad's case, or study how to make use of it for Metron or someone like him. But they wouldn't be coming back in either instance. They wouldn't hang around inside the thaumosphere of Minosyss or lurk in the Dream, they'd head right back to Apokolips or New Genesis. There are two reasons to hang around: the other gods and the maltusian storage depot. The depot's been here for a billion years, so unless they've only just heard about it… Which seems unlikely, because as far as I know there hasn't been any information travelling from Maltus to either New Genesis or Apokolips.

Grayven the obvious potential exception. But unless he's tracking me -which should be impossible- how the heck would he know about this place?

How advanced was Karrakan? Because they're the only people-.

"Yes, I can feel it. Distantly-."

There's a mighty banging on the door!

Iapetus glares at the faux-wood. "We are in council!"

"My lords and ladies! A fleet has been sighted, and they're heading this way!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:52 GMT

The thirteen of us stand on the promontory which serves as New Cronus's bridge. Coeus has called up a holoscreen, and I don't recognise those ships at all.

"How?"

Hyperion on the other hand clearly does, and from their expressions Tethys and Oceanus would rather that he'd kept his mouth shut. Theia on the other hand decides to support her husband.

"Some people just don't know when to die."

Hyperion nods. "Bring us over the horizon, Lord Coeus. It's been too long since I burnt something to cinders."

"Are your seeds proof against solar fire?"

Hyperion hesitates, his hands dropping slightly.

"Or don't you know? Were you going to attack without knowing whether or not it would cost you the chance to resurrect your sister?"

Coeus doesn't look around. "Lower your hands, Lord Hyperion."

"If we can identify the ship-."

"Lower your hands."

After a moment's hesitation, he lowers them.

"What else are we going to do?"

"Ambassador?"

"The Controllers didn't volunteer for this because this system makes their powers act up. Normally, I'd say that a fleet that size wouldn't be a problem, but something odd is up with my rings at the moment. Who are they?"

"The people of Karrakan burned what was left of their world from orbit." Coeus pulls up their technical schematics and puts them alongside the results of New Cronus's scans. "We thought that we had already slain the survivors of that bout of self-destructive madness. But it seems that at least a few survived."

"Ring, contact the local Green Lantern."

"Error."

"Any Green Lantern in the galaxy?"

"Error."

Theia looks at me with condescension. "Having difficulty, Ambassador?"

"Yes. Please bear with me."

Okay. My armour has an integrated communications system. Less advanced than the ring, but it should still work. Call Maltus.

…

Ring, identify error.

No error in system.

Well, there's no such thing as an uninterruptible communication system.

Ophidian?

…

Feeling a little ambushed right now.

"Coeus: intellect, night and the moon. Was Phoebe goddess of anything else?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Regular communication and ring communication are down. The Ophidian, a being closer to me than any other, isn't answering me. Something odd is happening with this system. How is that possible?"

Iapetus nods. "This world has spawned no gods. Once we fully bond with it, our power will be unrivalled for as far as the magic stretched. If another had beaten us to that goal, it… Might be possible for them to interrupt your technology. But stealing Phoebe's seed would not be enough on its own."

"Ex-cept that Apokoliptian technology lets them improve their natural abilities."

I vaguely remember it being mentioned during the period in which Supergirl was brainwashed by Darkseid that Apokolips had sorcerers. I don't remember any other mention of magic use outside of the New Gods own natural abilities in the comics, but it was too much to expect them to make a similar oversight in real life.

"How many demigods did Rhea birth?"

Coeus shakes his head. "I have no idea. Over the millennia, it was at least dozens. Including their children, it was hundreds."

"And you've got no idea who that is over there, or why they're coming after you?"

"The damage was too extensive for us to take a full accounting."

"So we don't know why they're here. We don't even know for certain that there's a demigod over there."

"There is. That's how they organised their forces."

"Um…" Gaudia awkwardly raises her right hand a little. "Can we just ask them? That's how things happen on Earth. 'Who are you, why are you doing this, what do you want?'"

I nod. "Are your communications working?"

Coeus checks. "Our communication laser array is working, but if their shields are up then they won't receive it. And since they're near the edge of the system it would take five hours for them to receive the message and another five for us to receive their response. Radio has the same problem. Real time communications systems are in full working order but can't send a message. Lord Crius? Lady Mnemosyne?"

They turn to face one another, clasping each others hands. Their eyes glow faintly… Reaching out with magic? Difficult, even in a thaumically active system. On the other hand, if there's a receiver at the other end… Maybe? The titans were better able to access the Dream than the gods, so it's possible-.

"Parasites. This is where you ran to."

The voice is quiet, emerging from the lips of Crius and Mnemosyne both. I don't recognise it, though my ring indicates that it's speaking a Karrakanian language.

Coeus glances away from the screen for a moment, but makes no move to address the speaker. A problem with having a council of nine-? Oh. No. He's waiting for Phoebe to answer it.

And in her absence it's Hyperion who steps up.

"Which one are you, scum?! Which of you wastes of our mother's milk clung on when you burned your world?"

"I am Sparta. I am here for the fragments of my grandmother that you stole. I will burn your false moon from the sky and then I will make this world a New Karrakan. I would suggest that you pray for your deaths to be swift, were it not for the fact that you have no one to pray to."

"I AM THE GOD OF THE SUN YOU WORTHLESS WHORE! YOU WILL NOT LIVE HAVING SPOKEN TO ME LIKE THAT!"

"God of the Sun, yes. But for how long?"

The lights in the eyes of Crius and Mnemosyne fade as they release their hands.

"That's that cleared up at least. What sort of naval assets do you have?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
19:56 GMT

'Obviously her'.

Hm.

"Also, any information you have about 'Sparta' would be appreciated."

Hyperion shakes his head. "What? She's just another demigod from Karrakan."

I look away from him, staring at Crius and then Coeus. Coeus meets my eyes for a moment, then nods.

"Sparta was -is- one of our mother's natural granddaughters. When the wars started, she attempted to stop them, first by diplomacy and later by force. But in the process she became deranged. I don't know if it was the bloodshed or the failure that broke her." He shrugs. "By the end she was berserk, attacking any who did not bow to her authority."

I suppose there's no need to ask how she feels about them. Assuming that I accept their timeline, there probably wasn't anything they could have done to prevent rampaging demigod-led armies from fighting. I mean, in theory there were things they could have done, but it would be unreasonable to expect newly created gods to have any idea what those things were.

"So why did you think she was dead?"

"She wasn't the only one with a fleet. When I piloted New Cronus away she tried attacking us. I fired and crippled her ships. They crashed onto the planet's surface, and at that point the planet was locked in an eternal winter. They should have had neither food nor the machinery to rebuild." He shakes his head. "I have no idea how she managed it."

"Was Karrakan thaumically active?"

"Barely. Far less than Minosyss."

"What exactly are her abilities?"

Coeus looks around at his siblings, but none of them say anything.

"I don't know. As I said, she was already delusional by the time we were in a position to speak with her."

That sounds like an issue I should try to hear the other side about.

Or… It isn't, is it? These gods want something from me. They've got the right attitude to improve this world, even if they don't have the skills yet. I can help them, we get our sun eaters back, the people get a thaumological revolution that they were unlikely to get any other way and the gods get a purpose. Even if they did muck up something on the last world they orbited, how would backing someone else -or even investigating their story- actually help anyone? It would be a different matter if they were here purely due to ego-fulfilment, but that isn't the case.

I would still like to hear the other side, but… Mostly due to personal curiosity and bargaining fodder. I don't really think anything there would change my view of the situation.

But where did the boom tube..? Of course, post hoc ergo propter hoc. Just because someone stole Phoebe's seed, that doesn't mean they have anything to do with someone who apparently already hated them.

"But if we could return to the matter of your fleet..?"

"Small ships. Shuttles and assault boats. New Cronus itself is our main naval asset."

"Gunnery?"

"Easily enough to destroy those ships, unless they've had a substantial refit."

"Could they target the planet?"

"Not meaningfully, not at that distance. Energy weapons would dissipate and…" Coeus looks at Iapetus and Tethys.

They share a glance, and Tethys nods.

"We can create a storm of such power that it will shield the planet. Not instantly, and it would cause much harm on its own, but it can be done."

A planet-scale plasma shield created from storms and dust. Now that is beautiful.

"Good to know. So what's your plan?"

Coeus pulls up a hologram.

"Wait until they get closer to Minosyss then close the distance, board their command ship while our weapons cripple their other ships and take back Phoebe's seed. Then Lord Hyperion can burn as many of them as he likes."

"Sounds like a plan. Unless you need me right here, I'd like to get outside. I need to find out what new restrictions my rings are working under."

He waves his right hand in dismissal.

"I look forward to fighting beside you."

Melinoë follows me as I leave, motioning for Gaudia and Aporia to stay put. Gaudia nods, while it looks like Aporia didn't notice us leaving. I'm not sure that I'm seeing her at her best. Melinoë waits for the door to the bridge to close and for us to pass the guards before covertly handing off an anti-eavesdropping charm.

"The plan does not-."

"Doesn't account for whatever it was they used to kill Phoebe that quickly. Sure, drop an armed warrior goddess on her with no notice and I'd expect her to lose, but that was fast. She didn't even call for help. Which means that if they confront Sparta and she's the one who did it, they'll probably end up in the same state."

"And if she were rational enough to carry out an attack and then leave, then she is clearly not a madwoman."

"Or it could be someone else, but whoever it was, they've got good enough intelligence on the interior of New Cronus to boom tube in right next to Phoebe-. Or worse, they could boom tube into New Cronus and walk around until they found her."

"Betrayal?"

"Possible. Please, track Phoebe's movements as best you can, and those of her attacker too. If we're at least reasonably lucky, whatever they use to disable her only works on those seeds."

"And if not?"

"Melinoë, you're armed and armoured and have thousands of years of experience and can cause people to have horrifying waking nightmares by looking at them. I have every confidence that you'll come out ahead."

"Of course I will. I just wanted to make sure that you noticed."

"I noticed that you've been studying thaumaturgy. You could stick around here for a while if you wanted to."

"I will consider it. It would be… Pleasant, if my family could reconcile without familicide."

She stops at an intersection just before the closest landing platform.

"Good fortune, Orange Lantern."

"You too."

I accelerate as she turns back, flying out across the now-deserted landing field and out into space. As I pass the edge of New Cronus's atmosphere envelope I check my environmental field, but it still appears to be working. My armour can rejuvenate the available air for a very long time, but it never tastes right.

I fly 'up' the orbital plane, 'over' the planet until I can a direct line of sight to the invading fleet. Scans… Yes, I can get a 'fuzzy' scan of them, though I can't even identify their primary armament, just their class. They don't seem to be moving all that fast, so I can only assume-.

BOOM!

I accelerate away as the ships charge through the boom tube beneath me and open fire on New Cronus!

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st July 2007
09:12 EST

"Why are you doing this, anyway?"

Jade doesn't look around as Hal follows her through the corridors of the John Hopkins Hospital. Why he's doing this is a better question; he never hid the fact that he didn't like Guy, and he actively avoided working with him as much as possible. She didn't like Guy, but at least she didn't try pretending he didn't exist.

"Someone should be there."

"So give his folks a call. I know you know their number."

He-.

He wasn't raised by assassins. He was raised by a test pilot and a homemaker. Of course he didn't bother finding out anything about Guy's background, despite how often they'd been working together. Because that's not normal.

Even if it is a very good idea. If you're taking the job as seriously as you should.

"Guy doesn't talk to his parents. His emergency contact is his sister."

Hal frowns, but she already knows that he won't rethink his approach.

"Okay, so why not call her?"

Because there's nothing like coming face to face with other versions of yourself to let you evaluate your life. And even if you didn't think any of them were doing better, meeting the man Krona abducted would open your eyes to a lot of things you'd missed.

And he hadn't even been a Lantern for two years.

The files he'd given her… His version of-. The version of her from his parallel ended up joining the League of Assassins. She was a murderer several times over when he first met her. It… Was a future that she could see herself having, if she hadn't met Alan. And that-. That just made her more determined to do better.

"Hey, take it easy." Hal looks around at the hospital staff who are just out of line of sight. "You got some kinda problem with her?"

"Never met her. And I did call her. But this is my project, and we're his colleagues. If it bothers you this much, why are you here?"

Hal pauses. Because he hasn't even thought about it.

"Like you said; we're colleagues. I don't have to like him to feel obliged to show up. But you never worked with him."

"How many people would visit if it was me in there?"

"Your sister. Alan and Molly-"

"They're in their nineties."

And whatever is keeping Alan energetic doesn't extend to Molly. Jade had watched her fade, even in the few years that she's known her.

"-would-. Yeah, I.. guess. What, you don't have friends in school?"

He doesn't mean that to be quite so grating as it is, but even he picks up on her prickling.

The basic idea behind the treatment is simple. Guy Gardner is suffering from a traumatic brain injury. The initial swelling caused by the sudden impact of his head against the road has gone down, but the rigid structure of his skull made it impossible for his brain to expand and as a result it is effectively crushed against his skull's interior surface. That permanent damage is why he's still in a coma, and while the medical records she got from parallel universes a little way in the future say that he'll make a recovery in a couple of years, that damage is permanent. It can't be healed by conventional medicine.

But an anal retentive with a power ring isn't limited to conventional medicine. And having his help meant that she could eliminate a lot of fruitless lines of enquiry. While Wonder Woman was willing to lend her a purple healing ray even to benefit the man who called her 'the hottest grandma ever' before his brain injury, the ray was unreliable for healing 'old' injuries. Stem cell infusions required constant monitoring of a sort that wasn't practical with a green power ring unless the Lantern was a medical professional, and her training focused more on traumatic injuries than neurological trauma. It might work fine, and it might give him brain cancer.

But combining medical data from a hundred different versions of a man who didn't exist in this reality gave her enough of a picture of pre-war Durla to trade with the survivors for an example of their adaptive biotech. As well as the service of a Durlan physician who survived the war and had experience treating humanoids.

Not that the treatment was exactly FDA approved, but Alan was still insisting that she maintain a secret identity at least until she left high school.

And it would work. The Durlans used to use something similar on other more humanoid species as a standard procedure before the war. And if anything looked like it was going wrong, that was what the nanotech the blue Lantern gave her was for.

There's a bit of a crowd around the ward, but at least Guy had thought to add them to the approved visitors list before he was hit by the bus. The hulking purple-robed form of the Durlan doctor is visible over the heads of the doctor, nurses, government officials and at least one janitor.

Hal steps forcibly through the crowd.

"Excuse me, coming through."

The crowd parts reluctantly, unsure why the interloper thought that they would be allowed to attend but sufficiently cowed by his confidence that they weren't willing to say anything. Since Guy didn't have a secret identity, explaining how they knew him was a little awkward. Hal could at least claim that he met Guy in prison. She'd had to claim that he rescued her once, which wouldn't have been true if she'd had her ring at the time.

"Mister Jordan, Miss Scott!"

Dr. Cross raises his right hand in greeting from inside the ward, prompting the doubters to make a path for them. A few of the Durlan's face tentacles wave in their direction but it doesn't otherwise move, its attention absorbed in the hand it has on and in Guy's head.

Hal nods in greeting. "How's it going, Docs?"

"The patient's not in any distress. I've never met a physician who can alter cells by touching them before."

"It is largely automatic, even for us. I am simply guiding the process."

The Durlan's voice sounds damp, phlegmy. Almost exactly like all of the Durlans she spoke to on Durla. Given their shapeshifting ability, keeping track of which one was which even with a power ring was an exercise in futility. The Martian Manhunter said that they gave him a migraine, which is the only reason why he isn't here to check on the status of Guy's mind.

"How's it going?"

"Well. I am nearly done." The tentacles wave. "Though I am curious about one thing. Do humans mate outside of your species?"

Hal frowns. "Ah… Not.. usually? It's pretty much just us on the planet. What makes you ask?"

"There are… Unfamiliar components."

Dr. Cross shrugs. "Modern humans interbred with neanderthal and denisovan humans about fifty thousand years ago. Is that what you mean?"

"No. Other human subspecies would be too similar for me to notice the difference. This feels synthetic. Though it may simply be that I am unfamiliar with the specifics of your species. I have finished."

She watches as the skin of Guy's head moves as the Durlan removes its tendrils from inside him. Guy himself doesn't look any different, his chest rising and falling as he remains unconscious.

"When will he wake up?"

Dr. Cross is already checking his monitors.

"Ah, well, his brain still has to recover, though having all of his-."

Guy convulses, the brainwaves going wild! Dr. Cross's eyes dart from monitor to monitor as the Durlan holds out its hand again in confusion.

"That should not-."

Guy's body shifts shape, red and blue lines appearing all over his skin as his muscles bulge! His forearms melt and distort, his right settling down in the form of some sort of gun while his left forms a mace. His torso jumps upright as his eyes snap open, left eye normal while his right contains a target recital.

"I'm awake!" He looks around, blinking hard. "What just-?"

He brings his left hand to his forehead to rub his brow, but unfortunately it's still in the form of a mace.

It hits him on the temple, and he collapses back to his bed, unconscious once more.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Sungate, part 2

11th September 2012
20:00 GMT

My construct overshield comes up about half a second before the fleet's flak turrets decide that I'm the best target!

A thousand-

Seven hundred and ninety two.

-brilliant beams of energy strike from all directions, the orange orb protecting me puckering and blistering as the continuous rain strikes home. What are they hitting me with? No weapon whose profile I can immediately call to mind should be able to do this much damage.

Get out of their line of sight.

I fly directly towards one of the cruiser class ships, fire slacking off from that direction as the hull obscures my location. So what am I being hit with? Plasma? No, there's no ionised cloud residue. The only.. other thing that comes to mind is an Apokoliptian blaster, but these ships aren't of Apokoliptian design. Right, establish a new shield inside the old one, expand, drop the old one and-

The battleship and two cruisers open fire on New Cronus's launch bays. They're inside the main shield envelope, and the heavy firepower punches through the weaker near hull shields in moments before wrecking the hull beneath.

-transmit what I'm seeing to the interior. Alright, gravity manipulation is unlikely to be entirely reliable here. Let's try crumbler fire to the ship acting as my cover. I form a railgun and bend my shield bubble slightly to give in a clear line of sight to the target. Sight good, aperture minimal, charge and open fire.

The rate of fire is… Less than what I'm used to, but the shots fly across the void without significant deviation from projections… Right up until they hit the ship's shields, at which point they completely fail to crumble them. Not plasma or programmable matter based, then. Magic… Magic? I haven't had the opportunity to study starship scale magic shields, due to the fact that they wouldn't work away from a living world.

I cease fire, load mage slayer rounds and fire a quick volley of those. No… Greater penetration. Not magic. Or at least, not a simple magic barrier.

The battleship launches assault boats into the broken launch bays as the cruisers switch their attentions to New Cronus's main guns. For a moment I get the impression of the difference in the size of the two sides. New Cronus may be a broken moon, but it's still a moon; lunar size, rather than the tiny technically-a-moon that most planets have. And the future tech city, shield emitters and drive which covers it increases the mass even further. The battleship is barely a hundredth of that, and the cruisers less still.

From a distance, it would look like a toy.

And my overshield is gone as one of the cruisers manages to get a hit with one of its primary weapons. I'm lucky that they don't use all big gun ships. I dodge and weave, three more shots flying past me as it tries to adjust with no success. Lanterns just aren't that easy to draw a bead on.

Okay, I could have a go at those assault boats, but that would involve getting closer to the battleship with no idea how to get through the shields and board it. On the other hand, the angle would be awkward for their guns, I'd be shielded by the two largest objects in local space and it would slow the boarding efforts. And capturing an assault boat might make getting on board easier.

Still…

Orange energy roils around my left hand for a moment before I raise it towards the cruiser and fire! The shield… It's stressed, but I don't think I'm in danger of breaching it. I make a tugging gesture with my left arm, the beam of energy changing from a beam of destructive force to becoming a leaching beam instead. This time the shield is visibly weakened, flaring all across this side of the ship.

That's interesting. I really can't think of a shield system that acts like that.

Spell eater overheating.

Huh? Ah, replace it.

Compliance.

Is that..? From the shield?

Unable to confirm.

Great. I'm being affected by something magical. I can't see it, can't detect it, and it's impeding the techniques I'd usually use to try and deal with it. I-.

Ring, compare psychological responses to baselines.

Increased focus on intellectual enquiry. Reduced concern about combat.

Ugh. Someone found a way to largely bypass my magic resistance. And I'm sure that would be fascinating to study, but I'm in a war zone and need to focus on that.

Indirect wards. Doing something to change the nature of the region. There's still an energy exchange so I can still drain them, but only at a fraction of normal strength. Mage slayer rounds don't work because there's no single focus of energy to drain; it's spread throughout the region and constantly being replenished. I fire an x-ionised round at the cruiser and it gets close to the hull, but doesn't quite hit home. The basic physical laws are being altered by the invader in their favour.

So what still works? New God blasters. I don't have one of those, but I… Do still have one of those stupid disc launcher things the team picked up in Qurac in subspace. See if it works while the shield is stressed.

I take it out of subspace and put it on over my armour before firing, the resulting discs flying forwards and taking position around the most weakened portion of the shield and releasing-.

I dart forward through the gap, torn between being pleased that it worked and unsettled that the disc launcher turned out to not be completely useless after all. New God technology is unimpeded. Given typical New God behaviour…

This wouldn't usually work, but if they're stacking the deck…

As I hit the hull, I take an Apokoliptian lash out of subspace and use constructs to wrap it around the base of the closest flak turret. It sheers through the metal easily enough, tearing it free and sending it floating away through space. A construct knife… Cuts into the metal, but nothing like as deeply as it should. Great, but the whip is totally the wrong shape for penetrating a hull.

Which leaves…

I attach myself to the hull with a leaching beam, but instead of draining it into the orange light, I hook up my own tattoos and drain it into those. As Canis described it, that's basically how New God technology works, so-.

Ooh. This feels weird.

I form a battering ram construct, and… Not sure exactly what's happening, but while I imagined a simple cylinder what I actually get has… Ah, tron lines? Along the shaft and head. I smash it into the hull, and the hull armour fails, splintering and shattering in the area around where the ram struck. No escape of atmosphere, but I can't see any internal force field.

I dismiss the ram construct-. What's more important, boarding the ship or protecting New Cronus from boarding? There aren't that many ships, and the internal volume of the place is huge. I could get reasonable information by interrogating the crew of this ship, and-.

Warning! Information gathering receiving greater than usual priority.

Ugh. When did I get so comfortable with external mental influences?

I zip through the hull breach just as marines in full encounter armour storm through internal pressure door, guns firing. Plasma rather than blasters, I note, and nothing like powerful enough to destroy my construct barrier.

"Surrender, or I will take this ship by force."

"We do not bow to alien gods!" The squad leader draws a sword-. Yes, that's definitely Apokoliptian. "My life for Sparta!"