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

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:05 GMT -5

Pain!

"Con-tact."

Hellfire burns around my armour and scorches my body. And inside, I can feel it burn at my metaphysique, my constructs and environmental shield shimmering as it's attacked directly. And I realise that Michael Holt is a lot more intelligent than any demon.

"Fuel for Him."

Feed Me.

Flames burning in the void shimmer orange as I try and ingest whatever he's using to power this.

"Do you-"

The pain lessens and my body knits itself back together.

"-need help?"

"Not yet, thank-"

I lash out at the T-Spheres as they form a sphere around me, but they shimmer out of phase with reality before I can hit them. Terrific himself floats back slowly, none of the insane passion every other corrupted human has had visible on his mask-covered face.

"-you. Engaging Mister Terrific."

Back on Earth 16, Michael Holt is still building his company and hasn't shown any interest in superheroing. I hope that the Sheeda invasion hasn't butterflied that.

I form a railgun as Terrific continues to watch me impassively, not reacting as I fire mage slayer and phasic rounds at him. Not even a blur as they pass through the space his image occupies.

And another wave of fire! The T-Spheres-! A three dimensional pentagram! That's how it's hitting me despite my tattoos!

I fly down, moving a hundred metres closer to the distant Earth. Terrific keeps pace without making any apparent movement, but the T-Spheres lag behind and lose formation as they accelerate after me. Alright, try phasic and mage slayer rounds at a few of those… Negative impact. Right, fine, but they're interacting with the physical universe somehow or they wouldn't be able to move. Not magnetism, not a self-generated force field otherwise I'd be able to detect the plasma surrounding them.

So gravity. Which means that if I generate an impeller construct and twist-.

The T-Spheres jerk, shifting their acceleration from me and towards a central point in their formation. For a second, at which point they go ballistic-

Shoot them again!

-with their gravity drives deactivated so that I can no longer interact with them by manipulating their motive system, but.. that doesn't mean that the magic keeping them out of normal space stops working. Can I..? Combine phasing and magic-draining into a single round? Not without a trip to Sephtian.

"Interesting."

Nth metal would probably work, but I'm all out. I could in theory make more, but-.

T-Spheres swirl, forming-move!

I dart aside as a portal opens between the T-Spheres, some sort of shimmering… Vapour? Gas? Drifts out. I spot the edge of the patch touch one of my gas traps and dissolve it, the gas being frozen by the cold field as the force field breaches before being so totally unmade that I can't even detect radiation that might be given off by a conventional disintegration effect.

Need to get Terrific himself.

I try staring into his soul, but he's not actually here. There's nothing to see… But… I'm the focus of his thoughts and desires at the moment. I should be able to-.

Agh!

Stabbed! Smaller portals have opened beneath me, dull grey needles jutting out and penetrating my legs! But those-. Portals!

Mine.

The wavering area around the edge of the portals turns orange, the T-Spheres trying to back away but being… Stuck, by their own innate magics. The spines retract as I choke the flow of magic… Ow, ow, definitely demon magic but it's working for me.

The other T-Spheres float closer, one flying by its fellows to try and work out what's wrong with them. Move the portal and stab!

Dead T-Sphere!

It fades fully into the material universe and I get a good look at its internals. Spell circuitry of a sort that's… I recognise some things, but demon magic isn't studied much in Atlantis and I've never asked Mammon to share more but if I understand the general design correctly-.

Orange tendrils grab components and move them around, plugging certain demonic runes into others and dispensing with irrelevant parts-.

Hah!

Assimilate that mess so I can sort-of control it, press there and railgun!

Two more T-Spheres are torn apart, and the rest I can see disappear in a puff of blue flame. The two on the portal appear to be stuck there, which I'll accept.

"Troublesome."

I thrust the portal in his direction, and… Connect my bodged anti-T-Sphere to my metaphysique directly. Now extend my tendrils along the spines and

tell

them what I want from them.

Mr. Terrific doesn't move as they approach, settling for watching the stolen portal. Why-? Countermeasures. He's probably given a good deal of thought to the question of how to kill a Green Lantern, but he didn't know that there were other colours, much less the differences in their abilities. Green Lanterns can't do this.

The spines leap at his image, vanishing as they hit it. I make a point of folding my arms across my chest and repairing my armour. Mr. Terrific waves at something out of shot -probably preparing some sort of Super T-Sphere or something- then falls to the ground as the spines explode from his legs and arms.

His image vanishes, and I shoot both of the remaining T-Spheres maintaining my stolen portal. Helpful as it might be I don't know enough about that demon or the portals to want to risk it.

"Mister Terrific has fallen back injured." I look back towards Metropolis. "Please up-?"

There's a giant Superman shaped blur in the centre of Metropolis smashing apart buildings as if they were of no consideration. Three other blurs dash around it, tiny red lines briefly connecting them to the larger blur. They're all staying close to the ground, which if I had to guess is because Demon Superman doesn't want to risk getting pushed to the outskirts of the thaumosphere.

"The Kryptonians have engaged. Baron-" Diana only hesitates for an instant. "-Gestapo has fallen back safely and Baroness Blitzkrieg is preparing for the next stage. Are you injured?"

"Fine fettle and raring to go. What do you need?"

"Stand by to evacuate our allies if they are injured. Crusader is almost ready-."

There's a blast wave as Demon Superman backhands Overman, sending him flying through half the city and then heat visioning-.

Transition!

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:07 GMT -5

Demon Superman turns his head towards-.

Shield.

THIS ONE IS OURS!

The buildings on either side of me sag as the heat of Demon Superman's gaze melts the metal of their superstructure and causes glass to spray in all directions, propelled by the vaporisation of the material closer to the heat course. Concrete explodes, anything or anyone still inside the buildings catches fire and my shield is already cracking!

Through the wavering shield construct I see Angelika hit him hard in the back of the neck, buying me a fraction of a second as the red-hot pit around us gets a moment to cool off. My shield expands, and I add cold guns that I know he can just avoid but which might stop-.

Another blast of overwhelming heat, cold gun constructs really not cutting it. I think he's actually making an effort now. Position clearly untenable, Overman… Still down. I take a purple healing ray out of subspace and use the otherwise ineffectual cold gun constructs to prevent it melting, then turn it on Overman.

"Overman?"

"Ah-. Overman Awake."

He pulls himself upright, hands sticking to the semi-molten detritus around us as he gets his bearings. A slight wince as he ducks his head into the purple ray, then a circle of displaced semi-molten detritus as he launches back into the-

Transition.

-fight.

"Overman recovered, resuming overwatch."

"Understood."

Diana's probably itching to get stuck in, but until he's been weakened there isn't any point. He's far stronger than her like this, and the demon magic means that he lacks magic as a point of vulnerability. I know that she won't break discipline, but the Nazis… Quick check…

Baron Gestapo is advancing. Er… Ah, no, there's a reason. More cultists are pouring in to the area of the fight. I can see where collisions and near-misses have already taken a toll on them. He actually needs to stun more of them to keep them alive. White Dragon is being babysat by The Bat, and they're acting as mobile blockers. Right now they're fighting… Ah… Scorch, I think? And Sandy Hawkins, who is currently a barely-mobile lump of fused glass. Scorch is trying to teleport to keep up with the owlwing but it just isn't happening. They seem-.

"Orange Lantern to The Bat. Carapax approaching from the north."

"Should I be-" The owlwing twists in the air, using its gravity drive to air brake and throwing off Scorch's expectations of where it would be when she reappeared. One air taser shot later and she's falling to the ground. "-worried?"

"He's an upload with a robot body. I don't know what technology he's using, but Mister Terrific is a technological genius."

"Does he have a soul?"

"I haven't checked. His computer core is in the chest, so you should be able to blow off the extremities without any problem."

"How refreshing. Ah, I see him. The Bat out."

Shadow of War is getting into position, drifting through the partially-collapsed Metropolis storm drains. She is ethereal, so damage from the results of having four Kryptonians smashing the place apart isn't a huge problem, but Demon Superman's possession means that he could probably hurt her if he paid her any serious attention.

Not her time yet.

Miles away from the main fight, Reichsmark takes a moment away from knocking the Underworlders around to watch the mushroom cloud of debris thrown up by Demon Superman being kicked into the ground. Count Berlin uses the distraction to transform back from mist into his vampire form behind Kathana and bite down on his neck in an unhelpfully stereotypical way.

Doesn't look like being under the control of a demon who doesn't care whether you live or die is much healthier for the superpeople than it is for the proles. A normal tyrant would keep an elite bodyguard on hand, but whatever's controlling the local Superman doesn't appear to have bothered. As far as I can tell, the people responding are just the people who happened to be in the area.

Which means that it was definitely worth going after Wolf first, if nothing else.

"Raaaaagh!"

Demon Superman flies upward, but our kryptonians dodge him easily enough. His initial charge having missed, Demon Superman actually stops and looks around at a speed low enough that I can see it unaided. Looks like our team were focusing their own heat vision on his eyes, because I can see the damage they've done.

"Diana to Baroness Blitzkrieg. Superman reports that they're nearly ready."

"Crusader doesn't know if the streets will still work if they're molten."

Fair point.

"Five-"

I form a new cold gun construct.

"-seconds."

Cold beams lance downwards as our kryptonians take turns in flying at Demon Superman's head at maximum speed. Superman could deal with that by listening carefully, something Luminus learned the hard way. I don't know if the Demon hasn't bothered with his other abilities or if it's just concussed, but that idea doesn't seem to be occurring.

"Overman to Shadow of War. Now."

Demon Superman opens his mouth and the Metropolitan air freezes, water droplets turning to ice and coating everything. That shouldn't threaten the lives of our side, but it's an area effect attack that will slow them down a little which is probably what he was going for. But he's not watching the ground beneath him, allowing Shadow of War to rise upward. We're not entirely sure what her empathic abilities will do to a demon, but we're hoping that she can either reach Kal-El in there or give the demon visions that it doesn't like.

Demons only like war when other people bleed.

Apparently realising that arctic breath isn't going to do anything, Demon Superman inhales-.

And Shadow of War latches onto his head.

"Diana!"

"-off! Me!"

Diana and Artemis fly in at speed, Lasso of Truth suspended between them. Atom Man's approach is slower, taking his time to overcharge his kryptonite lasers and target Demon Superman's exposed skin. I've… Yes, finished solidifying the roads we need. I turn my cold gun into a teleportation gun, load mage slayers and fire.

There's a momentary delay and then something shimmers over Demon Superman's skin.

"Atom M-."

Atom Man fires into Demon Superman's face-

"Not blind."

-as the Wonder Women wind the Lasso around his legs and pull them out from underneath him!

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:09 GMT -5

Which wouldn't usually do very much, but between the eye damage, kryptonite radiation and concussive head trauma, he doesn't think to use his flying ability to negate their pull. Demon Superman goes down hard, face first into the rubble, which looks impressive but doesn't do anything to injure him further and makes it impossible for us to hit his eyes any further.

I fire another mage slayer round and wait for orders as Diana and Artemis begin to tie him up and Shadow of War settles back down on his head.

"I know that he was a great man." Atom Man floats closer, another charged shot pointing at the top of Demon Superman's head. "But would it not be kinder to kill him? If I had done this to the Fatherland, I would not thank you-"

Overman and Superman slam into opposite sides of Demon Superman's head, the air buckling and blasting outwards at hurricane force!

Atom Man leans into it, the push of the wind fighting against his flight system.

"-for sparing me."

"Think it through, Atom Man. This world is a wreck. They need him alive to put it back together again."

"Ah. Cruel, but practical."

Demon Superman manages to move his right hand, scrabbling for something to push against. I fire another teleported mage slayer and Atom Man shoots the questing hand, causing visible burns to appear on the back and making it spasm and draw back.

"Baroness, bring in Crusader. Orange Lantern, shield him."

"Sir."

A red blur and then Baroness Reiter appears, carrying Crusader in both arms while he in turn carries the Spear. They're-. Heh, appropriate, on the Daily Planet ruin/throne. Crusader kneels in prayer with the Spear clasped before him while-

I transition down and erect a construct shield.

-Baroness Reiter twitches the twitch of someone used to moving fast who has now stopped moving.

"I've got this. You can-."

"I need to stay in case Crusader needs to be repositioned."

I nod. "Holy water go down okay?"

She nods, standing so that she can keep Demon Superman-

Overman and Superman fly into his head again.

-and Crusader in view as the blue light begins to spread out across the city.

"How do you know this ritual?"

"Got possessed by an elemental, once. Met an exorcist called Father Mattias. After we had to interrupt a major summoning I made sure I knew the procedure."

"Is that common on your Earth?"

"Common? No, but it happens. How are you handling the added speed?"

Because when you've got Flash mind controlled and know the procedure for bestowing speed, what sort of ninny doesn't use it?

"It works. I would be dead without it." She pauses for a moment. "Would it help if I prayed as well?"

"The words don't matter. Faith matters. If you don't have it, don't bother."

"Do you?"

"No. No faith in any benevolent higher power. I make pacts with gods I can trust as I would anyone else."

Probably best that I don't mention my interactions with the Host within hearing range of Crusader.

"You?"

"Today I found out that demons are real and faith in God can ward them off."

"Alright, but I'll warn you that faith in the Source cannot be authentically combined with National Socialism. The Source does not care when you hold the Sabbath or what colour your skin is. That 'camel through the eye of a needle' stuff was right on the money."

"You believe something like that and you say that you don't have religious faith?"

"I can describe a belief set without holding to it myself. Though if you were wondering, the Hellenic gods don't care about those things either. Though they're more forgiving on the subject of covetousness."

The blue light spreads slowly at first, moving sluggishly over the ground tainted by demon magic. Then it finds the path that she and Crusader ran earlier and flashes along it, guided by the sanctified water splashed from his thurible. It's not literally being conducted by the water, but partially by the ideas mankind has about sacred spaces and partially by the faith Crusader José Luis Lopez has in the divine plan and his role in it.

The Lasso of Truth is binding Demon Superman's arms, now, and it looks like he's either too insensible to move or has given up on trying to break out.

"We will free you, Clark!"

Demon Superman raises his head at the mention of his host's name, only for Angelika to strike him in the back of the head with both feet. Atom Man also takes the opportunity to shoot him in the face, though between the low power of the shot and Demon Superman's partially regenerated demonic aura it does little but make him instinctively jerk away.

Hm.

The blue light is spreading faster, and I see it as it reaches the first unconscious Marked cultists. It… Laps around them, wafting up and over their bodies for a moment before glowing and expanding with greater vigour. Their bodies seem… Perhaps more relaxed? Afterwards.

It's working.

But just in case. Railgun. Because there are three other kryptonians in close proximity, and-.

Overman and Superman dive in for another attack as I see Demon Superman's throat bulge.

"Caution."

Demon Superman convulses, his head thrown back as a red.. ball-shaped thing erupts from his throat and flies at Overman, talons outstretched and mouth open to bite! He fires heat vision at it, but it ignores the searing red beams as it reaches for him-.

And then my angel feather rounds hit it in the chest and head.

"Gahhhhhh!"

Golden fire envelops… Whatever the heck it is that caused all of this. No mortal flesh to hide in any longer.

"Nooo! I can still-."

Diana punches it in the bulbous chest, and it… Bursts, the few parts of its foul body not consumed by golden fire vaporising as the blue light of Crusader's spell flows over Superman's recumbent body.

And I hear… Something that makes my soul shudder at the unclean feeling it evokes. I can't… Put it in words. As if some foul presence that felt itself master of the world found that its hold was not as sure as it thought. And felt unimaginable malice for those involved in thwarting it.

And then it's quiet once more. Crusader sags, Spear falling from his grip as his spell rushes for the horizon in all directions. Superman's body shrinks, and Diana darts down to check on him.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
23:21 GMT -5

"Mr Holt?"

His company Cyberwear is the tech company version of Image Comics. No actual technological development is done by its employees. Rather, it exists to handle sales, distribution and fabrication of its owner's creative vision.

It has very clearly seen better days.

Something smashed the front doors apart, the hinges holding on while the doors themselves lie in the foyer. Along with a great many neatly-stacked bodies in varying states of decay whose blood has been used to draw demonic sigils on the floor and walls. Mr. Holt is an omnidisciplinary genius and it appears that his genius extended itself to demon magic.

"Mr Holt?"

The intercom crackles.

"Lantern."

"I can't find you with all these wards up. Where are you?"

"Why?"

"So I can fix your arms and legs."

The lift doors clank open and Mr. Holt clunks out, supported by a bodged but solid looking mechanical frame.

"I'll say again." His mask makes it hard to tell what his exact expression is, but his voice sounds like a man who's been through the wringer. Which, obviously, he has. "Why?"

His wounds are bound with some sort of elasticised bandage, each of the spikes I saw go into him having either vanished back to hell or been physically removed.

"Because everyone's been through the same thing as you, and we need someone intelligent enough to put things back together." I raise my left hand slightly, hesitantly pointing my ring at him. "Lex Luthor is confirmed dead, and I haven't been able to find out what happened to Batman."

"Put a gun in his mouth when he started changing." He shakes his head. "I just assumed it was a telepathic attack. I shielded this place against-." He cuts himself off. "Yeah. It makes sense. It's going to have to be me." He looks at my ring. "Is it going to hurt?"

"No."

An orange beam connects us, his body showing the same signs of extreme stress as the various cultists I've patched up in addition to the Glasgow grin and puncture wounds. When the light fades he checks the movement of his hands and then triggers the 'unlock' mechanism on his frame.

"Parallel universe?"

"Two different parallel universes. Diana and Crusader are from this one, Superman and I from Universe Sixteen and the rest from Universe Ten."

"I recognized some of them from Axis Amerika. Is that a parallel where villains are heroes?"

"Um."

"Oh. So what the hell-?" He shudders at his own choice of words. "What are they doing here?"

"Wolf Krieger was trying to expand onto their Earth. They know nothing about magic or parallel universes. They're just here to fix the problem at its source."

"Nazis are playing nice?"

"It's…"

"You went with what you could get."

"In a decent civilisation, you can remain a reasonably moral individual by just doing what everyone around you is. For someone born in a world ruled by fascists, it takes… Effort, most people won't make, in order to become better than you were raised to be."

"True, but if they go right back-. We're in no condition to rehabilitate them here, even if they wanted to stay."

"I know." I shake my head. "I'm just here to dump information on you to get you up to speed. I'll be talking through our ongoing 'rehabilitation' efforts with their Superman."

"What happened with our Superman?"

"Hasn't regained consciousness since we got the demon possessing him out of him and destroyed it. Any idea what happened to him?"

Mr. Holt shakes his head. "It was an actual demon?" I transmit the recording to his mask. His stance changes slightly as he gets confirmation. "A parasite. All of this…"

"With my parallel it was time travellers." I give what I hope is a sympathetic shrug. "Not quite this bad, but we lost a few countries."

"What's the global picture?"

"Morgan le Fay now rules Britain, and she's got things somewhat under control. The Marked were attacking her fortifications but that's not an issue any longer and she probably doesn't need help. Zandia has some religious organisation who was able to keep everyone safe."

…

"What about everywhere..?" He realises. "Else."

"That's it. Everywhere else… The more urban, the worse things are. I'm sure-."

Alert.

"Ah. Mister Richard Swift has returned to Opal City. I was hoping that he'd recover. It appears that Crusader's spell worked on even individuals with unusual physiology."

"So all the supervillains who survived are back in action."

"Yes, but all of the ones who used their powers for theft just became irrelevant. There's no economy. Even superhuman warlordism-."

"Would actually stabilise things. And probably keep regular people out of the line of fire." He sighs. "I had to burn my T-Spheres to avoid memetic contamination."

"You can just say 'magic'."

"That's imprecise." He looks around. He's not just seeing the bodies for the first time, but he's showing me that he's looking. "I knew these people. When I cut them up, they were happy to be used like that. What did this, I can't think of anything more evil. And I'm not even going to be able to bury them. We don't have time. I'm going to have to drag them outside and cremate them."

"No. I'll handle that. You need to get started on your T-Spheres."

He stares for a few moments longer, then nods.

"How long can you stay for?"

"At the moment, the Nazis are still on-task, hunting down Wolf Krieger and other villains who might be able to make a portal to Earth Ten. But that won't remain the case for long, and I can't leave them unsupervised. Call it three days."

He nods. "Do you have a spare power ring?"

"I can make rings, but orange rings are memetic hazards too. I've gone crazy a few times using it, but-."

Alert! Will detected!

A green power ring flies in through the open door.

"But it looks like that's been taken care of."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th September 2012
21:32 GMT -7

"Psst!"

I frown in puzzlement as I look around-. Yes, pony doing what they think is a stealthy approach outside the bay windows. A quick scan reveals it to be one Prince Blueblood, an individual with whom I have had next to no interaction during my time in Equestria. I think he's… Something in the diplomatic service? Whatever it is, it's nothing to do with the internal modernisation program that Luna is pursuing. Even the military stuff; when a foreign nation can already throw a sun or a moon at you, there's little reason to worry about them having a slightly more effective transportation infrastructure as well.

"Grayven?"

Luna cocks her head slightly to the side as she notices my attention straying from the engineers she was talking to. The occasion of my birthday was a good excuse to gather the pony faces for a few projects we're getting off the ground together without making it a full-on state occasion. They all seem fairly competent, though with all due deference to Miss Glimmer they all have the appropriate cutie marks. I rather imagine that once a concern gets above a certain size you get more ponies with business cutie marks rather than manufacturing cutie marks and that's something I'm going to have to watch out for.

I lean in and nuzzle the side of her face.

"I'm sorry, dear heart, but I do believe that someone is trying to get my attention."

She leans into my nuzzle, the sides of our lips briefly pressing against one another. Then she looks around, spotting the prince almost immediately.

"Ah. Then you may take your leave. We believe that We can hold the fort until your return."

"Back shortly."

I actually turn my head to kiss her on the cheek before stepping away from the conversation and trotting out of the palace and into the garden. Of course, nothing about running a company requires the managers to understand the product. But such people are useless for innovation and the state's monopsony means that there won't really be a capitalist economy to manage.

"How might I be of assistance, Prince Blueblood?"

He sticks his head out from behind a bush.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Magic."

"Ah. Yes." He looks around to check that the way is clear, then cautiously walks out from around the bush. "At your service, sir."

"And I, yours."

"You've made my life a little more interesting, you know."

"Oh? One of the obvious things, or are you getting blowback in the foreign office?"

"My title comes from the fact that I'm the heir of Princess Platinum of Unicornia. The title had become… Something of a joke, given that the only other equivalents for over a thousand years were alicorns. But thanks to you, we know that Old Unicornia is not an eternally frozen wasteland inhabited only by windigos."

"So you actually own land over there?"

"In theory. In practice I rather doubt that the residents would accept that idea. Fortunately, I'm also the Duke of Canterlot, so I imagine that I will survive."

"I rather got the impression that Celestia was an autocrat."

"Yes, but she's only one mare. It's true that she holds political authority due to her own power without needing feudal supporters, but she still needs educated ponies to form the government and enact her will. Equestria is far more egalitarian than Unicornia was, but even today a fair few major landowners and wealthy businessponies have titles they can trace back to the old homelands."

I nod.

"No legal privileges?"

"There's no inheritance tax on estates, but other than that, no."

Hm. Interesting. "What was it that you wanted?"

"You were recently seen in the company of Miss Rarity of Ponyville."

"Yes?"

"That was after you had a… Public dispute with her?" I nod. "I was wondering if you could… Share your insight. In how you patched things up."

"It's nothing complicated. I was clear about the reasons why I behaved as I did and I offered to make it up to her. Why do you ask?"

He shifts awkwardly. "Have you been told about the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Big once a year party at the palace for Equestria's great and good?"

"That's the one. I was… Taking a stroll in the gardens to get a few moments to myself, and… A mare I didn't recognise approached me."

"That mare being that national heroine Rarity, Bearer of the Element of Generosity."

"Obviously I know that now! But at the time, Aunt Celestia was keeping a lid on what happened to return Aunt Luna to us. They weren't anything like the figures of national renown that they are now."

"So she was offended that you didn't recognise her? That shouldn't be-" He cringes. "-too.. big a problem?"

"I… Um."

"Yes?"

He sighs, looking guilty. "I assumed that she was a gold digger and decided that I'd deal with the situation by being rude enough to drive her away."

I nod, though from what I remember of Rarity's motivations his deduction was entirely correct if you replaced 'gold' with 'status'.

"Awkward, but I imagine that a stallion in your position has to dodge-."

"It didn't work. I went from impolite to abrasive to rude and she nonetheless kept with me until I used her as cover against an… Errant cake. Giving everything else that happened that evening I didn't think much of it at the time, and then…"

"And you found out when?"

"It wasn't until Nightmare Night, when Aunt Luna showed me a picture of the Ponyville celebrations. She mentioned that Twilight's friend Rarity didn't appear due to stressing herself over all of the costumes she was designing. I made a few.. enquiries, and it seems that I made an ass of myself. Ah-." He looks over my shoulder towards the gardener. "No offence intended."

"None taken."

"Well, there's no magic word that will fix things. If you really want, I can have a word about it with her and smooth things over sufficiently for you to explain your actions. But really, the best thing to do might well be to simply turn up in Ponyville and… Metaphorically tear the bandage off in one go. Ah… Maybe with Twilight serving as a moderator?"

He regards me sceptically.

"Is that really all you did?"

"I agreed to wear a ridiculous outfit at her behest and gave her some business advice. It might help if there was something you had prepared to do that. Something that you could use to demonstrate that you were really far more humble and self-effacing than the impression you originally gave."

He shifts uncomfortably.

"How ridiculous, exactly?"

18th September 2011
11:43 GMT -7

I watch as Blueblood checks his duck costume once more, nods to me, then proceeds inside Rarity's shop.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is AAAGH!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Workhorse

20th September 2012
17:11 GMT

Jade's eyes open very narrowly as I enter our bedroom.

"You missed your own birthday."

"Yes, yes I did." I take off my ring and lay it on the dressing table, followed by Larfleeze's ring and there's the consequence of three days without sleep. "Probably worth it."

Jade sits up slightly, her eyes opening fully. "What was it?"

"Ah… Parallel Earth corrupted by demon magic. They were attacking Nazi Earth and our Light were attacking them." I take off my jacket and put it on a force field hanger. "Their civilisation was wrecked. I spent most of my time making sure that they could get food into the cities."

"I thought you were taking a holiday."

"No, I'm just not-." I unbuckle my trousers and lower them enough to step out with my right leg. "Not working for the Corps at the moment. The work never ends." Left leg out, and-. Force field hangers are really great, actually.

"So it's not just the Reach."

"Hm?"

"It's not just the Reach." She actually sits up in bed, duvet held loosely against her chest. "If we waited until after the Reach were defeated, would you still disappear for days without warning?"

"Yes, but not very often."

Undershirt… How does this need cleaning already? My environmental shield should-. Ugh, laundry pile for tomorrow.

"If I'm trouble shooting the whole war I can be called away at any moment. There's literally no fight going on that wouldn't be going better if I was there. Dox doesn't call me in like that because we need to get L.E.G.I.O.N. blooded."

"And because he hates depending on you."

"Or looking like he's depending on me. But that's going to change. And Earth has the Justice League."

"So why did they send you?"

"They didn't. I was just there." I pull down my pants, right leg out then left leg out, and toss it into the laundry pile before sitting down on the edge of the bed to remove my socks. "And it was a Truggs thing."

"So is he officially your nemesis?"

"I would rather avoid calling him that."

She moves through the bed so that she can lean against my back, arms wrapping around my sides. I lean my head to the left, resting the side of my head against her forehead.

"That didn't sound like a 'no'."

"Come on, Jade. What did you use to think of people who fixated on relationships with people they hate?"

"I thought they were stupid. But I thought the same thing about people who did the things you do without getting paid, and my nemesis was probably my father."

"Okay, but how much of what you did day to day was about him?"

"I joined the Shadows to get away from him."

"Yes, but once you did that. Were you..? Picturing him every time you-?"

"No. But I always assumed that I'd kill him eventually."

"Do you want to?"

"No. He doesn't matter anymore."

"Have you got a new nemesis I should know about?"

"Why? Worried they're going to kidnap you and tie you to a railway track?"

"It's a classic." I twist around so that I can face her. "Truggs and I sometimes end up in the same place because we want to do the same things. Someone like… Jack Napier's just crazy, a Smilex overdose making him experience everything as the best joke he's ever heard. The only way to fix him would involve rewiring his brain. Truggs is just-. So close to doing something useful with his life. You know?"

She looks at me askance. "Should I be jealous?"

"Are you jealous of Leonard Snart? Or-."

"The others are all in prison."

"Alright, I'll admit to a greater degree of personal frustration with Truggs than the others, even at their most stubborn." I lean my head closer, so that our noses are almost touching. "But you have absolutely no need to be jealous. Though… There was something Kara said…"

"Was this when she was exposed to black kryptonite and trying to rape you?"

"Yes. So I'm not-. She wasn't in her right mind, but she did make-. She did say something…"

"Are you going to get broken up about what a crazy person said?"

"If they make sense, I.. do need to follow it up."

She pulls back slightly. "Fine. What did she say?"

"So… You… Joined the Darkstars because we were looking for ways for you to productively use your abilities. I didn't-. It didn't occur to me to… Ask if you want to do something else completely."

"No."

"Okay, but, so you think it… Might have been advantageous if you did? I mean… Was there any point in your life when you wanted to be something else?"

She looks thoughtful, and I avoid looking deeper. I don't want to 'cheat' on whether she's working out how to handle my question or whether she's genuinely trying to answer me.

"I wanted to just… Disappear."

"Disappear?"

"Just… Fade away. Why did you think I called myself 'Cheshire'?"

"I didn't really think about it." I shrug. "People in our profession pick all sorts of names for themselves."

"I just wanted to be able to appear, and… Say something confusing or pretentious, then disappear again. To just… Do my own thing without being tied down."

"Huh. I… Hope you don't mind being tied down a little bit?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Is that what you wanted for your birthday?"

Heh.

"Jade, you're never not appealing, but I'm knackered right now." She chuckles, pressing her forehead against mine. "I meant… With me."

"That's… Fine, but-"

"'Fine'?"

"-we-." She smiles, kissing me lightly on the lips. "Fine. But I am owed leave. If you think you could go that long without working."

"How long do you have?"

"A month."

"A month?"

"You wanted to spend more time together."

"A month without working?"

She tilts her head to the left.

"Do you think you can?"

…

Do I?

"I honestly don't know, but for you, I'm happy to try."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd September 2012
07:21 GMT -5

"He-ey!" Holly smiles brightly at Jade as we stroll through Robinson Park. "You back for long?"

"No. But now that I've got some time off, I thought I should visit."

Jade does have a quantum entanglement communicator which she could use to stay in touch with Paula and Artemis, but I haven't checked that she is using it for that.

Her apartment is much nicer to live in when she's there than when she's not.

"How's the war against those evil Reach aliens going?"

"It's going as well as it could. We're keeping infiltration to a minimum, and that's what they usually do in order to win."

Holly nods. "I can't imagine what that would be like, fighting someone who can just control everyone's minds like that. Not being able to trust anyone, or knowing if what people were telling you to do was actually part of some alien master plan."

Jade nods. "It could make you paranoid. But right now, that's not my problem."

"How long d'you get off?"

"A month."

Holly frowns in surprise. "A whole month?"

"I haven't taken any time off since I started. Commander Aeoleton-" A pleasant humanoid with a pale-skinned head like something out of Lovecraft. "-has been on at me to get some relaxation for a while. And since Paul's agreed to stop working for a month, now seems like a good time."

Holly looks at me. "You're going to stop working. Isn't that a bit… Dangerous? I mean, for other people."

"I'm not the only superhero on the planet. And there are times… Particularly recently, when I could have left it to other people but jumped in myself instead. I haven't had a holiday since I arrived on this planet."

"I thought you liked being a superhero."

"I do, but… I want to be able to appreciate the improvements I'm making to the world, and… Not get so caught up in the moment that I start missing the bigger picture. Plus, Jade and I don't get to spend much time together, so…"

"So you're not doing anything?"

"World-ending emergencies only. The other Lanterns can contact me."

Jade looks Holly over as she stretches. "You've been keeping up with the exercise regime."

"Yeah. You know, trying to make something of myself." Holly takes a pose, and… While she doesn't have Jade's definition, she definitely looks like she's in better shape than he was when I first met her. "Healthy eating and clean living."

"You kept up with my diet plan as well?" Jade raises her eyebrows. "I'm a little impressed."

Holly mock-simpers. "Just a little, mistress?"

I-.

Jade's eyes are already on me. "I gave her and Karon a few self-defense lessons."

I nod. "Healthy eating and clean living."

Holly shrugs. "I mean, I wouldn't have minded…"

Jade's eyes flick away for a second before she forces her body language back into neutral. "Anything interesting happening in Gotham?"

"The Alliance opened a new training centre. Some guy called Orpheus is running it."

Jade frowns. "'Alliance'?

"Remember when you told me that the League of Shadows used to murder neophyte superheroes?" She nods. "The Alliance of the Just is what happened as a result of that stopping. Thousands of rookie would-be superheroes with no real idea what they're doing, and a handful of senior heroes led by a repentant gangster trying to train them."

"Orpheus knows what he's doing. I don't think you can even buy crack in Gotham any more."

"Well, good for him. I'm a little concerned that this sort of thing is going to make normal policing even more difficult-."

"But that would be work."

I nod at Jade's observation.

"But that would be work. If it's a problem, I'm sure that Batman or Blue Lantern can deal with it."

"Hey, are you voting in the election?"

"Ah, the Presidential Election?" Holly nods. "I'm not a US citizen. Jade?"

"Not registered. Also, I'm a convicted felon."

"Yes, but this is Connecticut." Jade gives me a slightly blank look. "They let you vote again once you get out of prison."

"Oh." She frowns. "Did they let Horne run again?"

"Uh-huh." Holly shrugs. "I don't know why. It's not like he really does anything. Hey, you-" She looks at me. "-know Senator Knight, right?"

"I've met him a few times. We're not friends or anything. He seemed to be on board with the idea of bringing magic into the mainstream, which is most of what I wanted out of him." I frown. "They really let Horne run again?"

Holly shrugs. "I didn't get the impression there was much competition. Wasn't that why he got the nomination the first time?"

"Yes, but that's because the Democratic front-runners thought it was unwinnable. This time… Okay, the Sheeda weren't.. really his fault, but people might associate it with him. And while Knight's personal life isn't quite as clean as Horne's, he isn't the type to have a romp with a couple of teenaged prostitutes."

Holly's eyes narrow slightly. "How do you know how clean his personal life is?"

"Given.. what happened with the former Vice President, I felt that looking into him a little more closely than usual was a good idea before I had dealings with him."

"Wait." Holly frowns. "Do you do that with a lot of people?"

I frown back. "Yes. Did..? You not realise that?"

"So you can just go around and know which of them are honest and which ones aren't?"

"You don't need to be an empath to know which of them are honest. And it wouldn't matter, anyway. Horne's honest, almost… Completely, actually. But if he's not saying anything anyone is interested in hearing, if he doesn't have what it takes to come up with an agenda for the government to.. deal with the post-Sheeda world and the adoption of magic into the mainstream… Why does it matter?"

"So… Vote Knight?"

"With political leaders, their mannerisms matter as much as their actual ideas." I shrug. "Knight isn't a miracle worker, but he can probably convince people that he might be better than Horne. That will calm down the financial markets somewhat, and a government program of some sort will calm them the rest of the way."

"What sort of program?"

"It doesn't matter." / "It doesn't matter."

Jade and I look at each other, and smile.

"Unless they print a truly stupid amount of money -and I don't think he would- all he has to do is convince people that the government has things in hand, and then whether or not his actions would improve things by themselves, normalcy will return because people will convince themselves that it is returning. Knight won't be a great President, but he would actually do President stuff, and sometimes a placeholder is all that's required."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th September 2012
10:02 GMT +3

Jade and I wave as the cocoa lorry drives away down the road.

Maybe I'm being a bit… Imperialistic, but I rather assumed that Kenya would have worse roads than this. Or-. Well, it looks fairly recently built, so maybe this was part of the post-Sheeda reconstruction?

I make a point of not having my ring just tell me.

Jade checks the balance of her backpack. "I think he's going to be dining out on that for a while."

"What?"

She peers at me quizzically, then… Then she smiles. "You don't know that you own this, do you?"

"What, the… Portal? I think they're leased."

"That truck, this road, that-" She points at the field of cocoa plants just the other side of the fence at the edge of the road. "-field, that-" Then points to the one on the opposite side of the road. "-field, and probably every field we're going to walk past for the rest of the day."

"Oh."

"It must be nice to be that rich."

I awkwardly adjust my own pack. "Money's just a tool?"

"Do you even know what your company is doing here?"

"Only very broadly. Farming equipment comes in, which helps areas ravaged by the Sheeda rebuild and export agricultural products back to Europe under contract for a guaranteed price."

"And you own the company outright, which means that all of the profit they make is yours."

I shrug. "I didn't want Kraft owning it."

She looks away as we start walking along the side of the road. My ring's environmental shield is keeping Kenya's Autumn sun off me, but Jade opted to just bear it. It's about as hot right now as a typical British mid-summer and I don't like British mid-summer. But I suppose that she's more used to generalised hardship than me. Or… Prides herself on her ability to withstand it more than I do.

"Do you know what other reconstruction work your company has done?"

"Ah… Some civic infrastructure? Primary schools, sanitation, that sort of thing. It's basically-. What do you know about Industrial Revolution Britain?"

"Not a great deal."

"Well, there was a huge movement of people from the countryside to the cities, which resulted in large numbers of people crammed into tiny, unsanitary hovels. But a precious few of the newly wealthy industrialists realised that treating their workers that badly was immoral, and.. spread diseases which they could catch. So they took to building model communities for their workforces. Bigger houses available at low rents, wider roads, ornate churches and uplifting entertainments. In the case of Cadbury's, they built Bournville. You still can't buy alcohol there."

"Because alcohol encourages immorality. Were they Puritans?"

"Quakers, but really devout, ball-games-banned-on-Sunday Quakers. So us doing this sort of thing is really traditional as far as British Industrialists in general and Cadbury's in particular are concerned. Felicity loves it."

"Flushing toilets are more useful than a concert hall."

"Or art, like the Medicis tried. The Cadburys didn't look at it as a way to assuage their own guilt at their wealth. They did it because they saw an opportunity to make the world a better place."

Jade smiles faintly.

"I thought you were just in it for the chocolate."

"In this heat?"

"It's not that hot."

"It is if you're chocolate. Ah, though the first generation to grow up in Bournville were just the right age to fight in the First World War, so… Maybe hope that history doesn't repeat in quite the same way."

"You shouldn't plan another war until you've finished the one you've already got."

"After the Reach, any other war would be a step down. I mean, the Dominion are the Reach without the social skills or cunning, the Spider Guild are the Reach without the technology or intelligence and also without the social skills or cunning. The only real threat would be Apokolips, and they don't really go in for mass combat."

She glances my way with a small smirk.

"Planning on conquering the galaxy?"

"No. Nothing I particularly want requires it. Dox… Might be interested, but I think he could probably do a good job at it. Besides, ruling the galaxy in any meaningful sort of way is actually really hard. It's just too many people and too big an area."

"What would that mean for Earth?"

"Probably nothing. I can't believe that we still haven't got a faster than light drive, yet. Of all the things for the Light not to steal…"

"You could steal something."

"No point. I already have access to dozens of forms of faster than light travel. I don't bring them here because I don't want people getting lazy."

"Theft is a growing sector of the economy."

"And requires all sorts of skills that lend themselves to a species earning a place in the wider universe." I frown mildly. "Have you ever been to Kenya before? Other than-"

"Yes."

"-those professional occasions I already know about."

"Good phrasing."

"Thank you, I've been practising."

"No, not apart from that."

I frown a little. "You joined the Shadows almost immediately after leaving home, right?"

"Yes?"

"Have you been working full time since then? That is to say, even longer than I have?"

"The League of Shadows has-. Had retreats. And no one really cared if I disappeared for a few days between jobs. But I wanted to prove myself."

"So no backpacking across Kenya?"

"We had wilderness survival lessons. And urban survival lessons. And practice. This wasn't something we did for fun. What about you?"

"Before I came to this world, the closest I got to Kenya was Sharm el-Sheikh."

"No backpacking?"

"With the Scouts a few times. But it was usually colder and raining. Last time I carried a load this heavy, I was still in Secondary School."

"Was it a camping trip?"

"Lockers in inconvenient places and a bus that left five minutes after the school day ended. Some textbooks can be surprisingly heavy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th September 2012
05:52 GMT -7

I've had the local villages under observation for a few days, and it seems that the adults at least make a point of rising just before dawn for what looks like a morning prayer. It's fascinating that a pony culture almost entirely disconnected from mainstream Equestrian society exists so close to Equestria-proper.

I suppose it's due to the transportation-.

"Euuuaaarghghuhhh!"

Raindow Dash yawns loudly next to me, sitting on her haunches and stretching out her forelegs and wings.

"Miss Dash." I gaze at her reproachfully. "Please remove your feathers from my nostril."

Her wing jerks back. "Ew." She takes a moment to check the snot-free condition of her feathers before ruffling her wings and returning them to her flanks. "Why'd you make me get up this early, anyway? Who are these ponies?"

"Based on their cutie marks and their injuries, these are some of the ponies who were holding Miss Do captive in the fort."

"Hm." She looks up in the air for a moment, then tilts her head downwards, frowning as she tries to puzzle something out. "So… You're not here to arrest anyone."

"No crime has been committed either in a place administered by me, or in Equestria."

"Ah, pretty sure taking control of the sun is a crime."

I say nothing for a moment, then raise my head to its full height and turn my head in the direction of distant Canterlot.

"I mean… I could arrest Celestia. I don't think Luna would appreciate it, mind."

"What?" Miss Dash frowns at me, this time. "What do you mean, 'arrest Celestia'?"

"You said that taking control of the sun is a crime. I take it that after the events of our initial meeting you've taken the time to read up on Equestrian law, and thus have become aware that-."

"Okay, stop." She holds up her right forehoof. "Stop."

I stop.

"Celestia controls the sun. I mean, usually."

I nod. "That's been true for at least a thousand years, certainly."

"A thousand-? Oh, right, the Heathwarming thing about unicorns doing it."

"But as we established with the Diamond Dogs..?"

"Ah, Celestia can't give ponies something she doesn't own? So she doesn't own the sun?"

"It's tricky to see what legal system would apply. Equestria doesn't have any off-world stations or starships, so it's difficult to see how you could make an exclusive claim to this star system. And without that, there's no obvious reason why Equestria should be the nation which decides who the sun belongs to."

"Aside from the fact that Celestia controls it and has done for a thousand years."

"The stones that fort was made of had been there for a while. If it was over a thousand years old, who's to say that they don't have a prior claim?"

Yeah, there they go. Ponies leaving their huts and heading to the area in front of the chief's hut. Just as they have each day since the g-elves found this village.

"Are you saying Celestia stole it?"

"No. I'm saying that given how bad historical records from that era are, we have no way to establish any sort of chain of custody and thus cannot establish ownership. Celestia has discharged her duties as custodian well enough that the planet hasn't burned or frozen, but that doesn't mean it's hers."

Miss Dash stares at me. Then she closes her eyes, raises her forehooves and presses them to either side of her head. I carry on watching the villagers as the… Chief comes out and joins the front of the herd as the sun rises first over the horizon and then over the canopy. As one, the village bows, stays bowed for about five seconds, then rises and begins to go about their day.

"You-. You're good at finding things that are wrong with things. Isn't that right?"

"I have an instinct for the proper discharge of personal responsibilities, certainly."

"Do you..? Not like Celestia?"

"I'm indifferent to her. Personally, she's quite pleasant. Professionally, she-."

"You want her to have time off 'cause you don't like how she handles the sun! Admit it!"

"Okay. That's part of it."

"What's there not to like about it?!"

"If, say… Five years ago? Chrysalis infiltrated Canterlot, launched her invasion and killed Celestia, what would have happened with the sun?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh… I guess.. it.. would stop moving? Or maybe Chrys-. Wait, Princess Celestia can die?"

"How do you want to test that?"

"Oh." She looks away. "Yeah."

"My kind can die. At least in our normal forms. We don't age, we're tough and our technology is first rate, but we can be killed, even with conventional weapons. I've been assuming that since Starswirl's Mirror rendered me as an alicorn they were about as tough; very, but not insurmountably so. I have a Last Will and Testament. Should I die, I know who will have guardianship of my children and who will be charged with continuing my work."

"Celestia doesn't… Have any foals…" She frowns. "I think. But… Yeah, who would have controlled the sun? Can… Cadance do it?"

"I don't think so, but I haven't asked. And I don't know about Twilight Sparkle, but Sunset specifically told me that she wasn't taught how to manage the sun while she was Celestia's student. And hasn't been taught since her return and ascension. Luna told me that she can, but she really wouldn't want to."

"So we… We might actually need it. The fort.. ring things. I mean, I don't want to need it, because something would have to have happened to the princesses. But… It's, like, the whole world."

I nod, pleased. "Well done, Miss Dash. You'd be surprised how many people struggle with that lesson."

"I thought you were gunna complain about me destroying it just 'cause it was old." She looks genuinely distressed. "But you mean that you don't think it could override Celestia unless Celestia wasn't there."

"Something like that."

"I coulda destroyed the world when I broke those rings."

"Yes, but that's a secondary issue."

"Huh?"

"Did you know what destroying the rings did in advance?"

"Stop Ahuizotl?"

"Given that you believed that they had the power to control the sun, did you know for certain that their destruction would not destroy it?"

Miss Dash freezes. Just for a moment.

"No. I didn't."

"Celestia could move the sun back. Beat up Ahuizotl and his followers and Twilight Sparkle could probably have worked out how to use the rings to put the sun back in the right place. I hear she's quite good at magic. Destroy it and you better be lucky, because if you're not, bad things happen."

Miss Dash gulps. "Yeah."

"Virtuous actions guard against ill fortune. Don't destroy things unless you have to; you might need them. Don't hurt people you don't need to; same reason. If you don't know what's going on, then learn, so you don't do something stupid by mistake. And that's why-."

"You wanna talk to them, so you can talk to Ahuizotl. 'cause… We don't even really know why he wanted to control the sun, and those guys down there seem to really like it. So they can't have been trying to destroy it."

I nod approvingly. "Yes. Let's go and talk to them."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th September 2012
05:59 GMT -7

"Good morning, fellow equines!"

The closest villagers freeze up for a moment, then relax into guarded caution as I smile warmly. Some further away don't even bother looking around at all, perhaps due to the lack of alarm calls. Flapping along beside me, the uncharacteristically sombre Rainbow Dash is drawing almost as much attention as I am, which is… Surprising.

Unless…

The first alicorns came into being post-migration. Given our location… Do they think I'm just a big mutant pony? Certainly aren't any unicorn ponies or other pegasus ponies around.

Miss Dash lands and trots over to the least afraid looking local.

"Ah, hi. I'm Rainbow Dash."

The young stallion who appears to be fletching darts blinks at her. "Pialli?"

"Hey, Pialli. Look, we need to talk to your chief or whatever. I'm… I kinda…"

"Miss Dash, they don't speak Modern Equestrian. Here."

A thick orange rope attaches me to Miss Dash, and an orange environmental shield envelops her.

But they also don't speak Ancient Equish. And I'm hoping that we're not about to hear everything in a ridiculous Scottish accent again, because that sort of lack of linguistic drift would make no sense at all.

Miss Dash holds up her right forehoof and pokes her glowing aura. "Is this on?"

The fletcher opposite her looks at her curiously. "Is what on?"

"Great! I can understand you! Okay, look, you know that fort thing that got destroyed a little while ago?"

"The Fortress of Talacon, the greatest of the monuments left by our forebears and the old seat of our king?"

"Ah. Yesssss. That one."

"My elder brother nearly died there. He was trapped under the rubble for four days."

Rainbow Dash winces, because of course they just galloped off without checking on the ponies they just entombed.

"I'm… Sorry about that. See… I'm… Kinda the one who brought it down."

The fletcher blinks.

"You did?"

"Yeah. See, Ahuizotl was going on about how it was going to usher in 'eight hundred years of unrelenting heat', and that sounded like something we needed to stop."

"How?"

"The… 'Rings of Scorchero'?"

The fletcher looks surprised. "They actually worked? I thought that was just a story."

"Well, we sort of… Don't know if they work, 'cause we destroyed them before Ahuizotl could use them."

"Okay, but why did you destroy the Fortress?"

"It just fell down once the rings got removed! I didn't know that was gunna happen!"

The fletcher nods. "That was probably the seepage."

"What seepage?"

"Didn't you see the water in the lower levels?"

"I… Saw the piranha pool?"

"The bottom of the Tenochtitlan Basin is below sea level. The water's been collecting inside the Fortress of Talacon every since it was built, and it's been eroding the stones and the mortar between the stones. And probably the ground underneath as well."

Miss Dash turns to me.

"Ah, Grayven?"

"We haven't dug far enough down, yet. The g-trolls are trying to preserve the quality of the original stone as much as possible."

"So you don't know if it was destroying the rings that made it collapse?"

I shrug. "I'm not the Alicorn of Structural Engineering, Miss Dash. The genomorphs will work out what the problem was eventually." I take a step towards the fletcher. "Hello there. My name's Grayven, this is Rainbow Dash."

"Blow Pipe."

And I'm sure that he wasn't bullied at school at all.

"Right. So…" Rainbow Dash hesitates, then realises that it isn't helping. "We need to talk to whoever's in charge here. We wanna find out what was supposed to be happening in the Fortress of Talacone, and you seem like the guys to ask about that. So… Yeah. Can we do that?"

"Ah…" Blow Pipe looks around, finally noticing that most of the other villagers have backed off. "I don't know."

"They can talk to me, Blow Pipe."

A muscular stallion with a sizeable headdress marches towards us, two similarly buff stallions following just behind him. None look happy. And looking a little closer, I can see where their pelt nearly conceals the discoloured skin patches where they've been rather badly bruised recently.

"Chief Grain Store, this is Rainbow Dash and Grayven."

"Heeeey." Miss Dash's eyes narrow. "I remember you."

"And we remember you. Why are you here? Do you wish to destroy our homes as well as the homes of our ancestors?"

My right forehoof is already in motion as Miss Dash takes an angry step towards him.

"If you-!"

She walks into my outstretched hoof. She stops and looks down to identify the impediment. Then she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

I like this pony. She understands.

"Ahuizotl tried to feed Daring Do to the piranha and told us that the Rings of Scorchero would make eight hundred years of unrelenting heat. I don't let anything turn my friends into fish food, and I don't let anything set the county on fire with the sun."

"Daring Do is a bandit, who has spent years stealing our history from our holy places. Being fed to piranha is the least of what she deserves."

"Stealing your-? You mean like the relics she takes out of tombs and stuff?"

"Our tombs. Our relics. Our history. How would you feel if I broke into your home and stole your property?"

"Oh."

"Well? How would you feel?"

"Ba-ad?"

I nod. "I'll notify Luna. We can have the Guard start tracking down all the things she stole, and put a warrant out for her arrest."

Miss Dash makes a sort of moaning noise for a moment, then reluctantly nods.

"And you might want to retain the services of a lawyer yourself."

"Huh? Why would-?" She spots the three beefy stallions glaring at her. "Oh. Right."

"I think you'd be acquitted, due to the limited information available to you and Ahuizotl's statements, but it would be best to make certain. Gentlemen, might it be possible to speak with Ahuizotl?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th September 2012
08:14 GMT -7

"In here."

The ziggurat we just climbed up is… Actually kind of unimpressive. There are no vine-covered houses abandoned due to some natural disaster surrounding it, no piles of dust where the people failed to outrun a pyroclastic flow. It's just kind of there, far enough up the valley wall to plant itself over a spring whose waters flow into the Basin proper but not so far up as to be easily visible.

Parts of the stonework have clearly been corroded by time, but in other places I see where someone has been making repairs. Not poor quality by any means, but noticeably of a different age to the slabs around it.

The fires in the braziers are obviously fairly recent, given that several large cats are curled up around them.

"Those are Ahuizotl's cats!"

I glance at Rainbow Dash, then at the diminutive example of felix catus currently licking its rear left leg. It raises its head for a moment to look at me, then returns industriously to its licking.

"Good show. Ah, Chief Grain Store, I've been wondering. You've got all these marvellous stone buildings, but you live in small huts. What's up with that?"

"Many generations ago, we began expanding outside of the Basin into lands where it was easier to farm. Then there was a civil war, and most of the survivors decided to make their homes in the new lands. And… Honestly, living in a home that is filled with death traps is not a pleasant way to spend time."

Rainbow Dash squints. "Why don't you just, y'know, turn them off?"

"They wouldn't be very good traps if you could just 'turn them off'. And even if you could, you would end up walking half way down a corridor and then thinking to yourself, 'Did I remember to turn it off this morning?'. And then you'd turn it off but you did turn it off that morning and now you've turned it on."

One of his bodyguards nods sombrely.

"And then there is the seepage. They were great buildings in their day, but only a few people would want to live there now."

I frown. "Okay, but if everyone else left, why are you still here?"

"These are some of the greatest monuments our people ever created. We still live here so that we can protect them and maintain them. Each tribe spends a year here on rotation, and tend their own lands the rest of the time."

"How many of you ponies are there?"

"Why would I tell you?"

Makes sense. Despite what modern Equestrian myth-making would have its citizens believe, there's no obvious reason why all of the ponies fleeing Ponyland would have gone in the same direction.

Grain Store trots up the steps to the small room at the top and knocks his left forehoof against the stone.

"Guardian Ahuizotl! Guests!"

The curtain serving as the chamber door is pulled aside in an instant, and the large black and blue baboon-looking creature stands proudly in the doorway.

Except that his left eye isn't quite focusing. And his tail-hand has a plaster cast with several decorative hoofprints on it. And while his fur covers it up fairly well, I can see patches of stuck-together fur where he's been cut and the wound has scabbed over. And his stance is lopsided where he's trying not to put too much weight on his left hand.

Whatever he is, he clearly doesn't come with accelerated healing.

He grins, taking a deep breath, presumably preparing to launch into some great villainous diatribe. Those are always fun, and I've been on both sides in my day. Then he sees something and deflates slightly.

"Chief Grain Store. Why are our 'guests' not tied up?"

"Because they're guests. Not… 'Guests'."

"Oh. Well, what do they-?" He blinks, then walks past Grain Store and towards myself and Rainbow Dash. "What do you want?"

I smile. "It has been brought to my attention that far from being a respectable archaeologist, Daring Do is in fact a serial antiquities thief who should face the full force of the law. I was interested to see if you would be willing to provide testimony for the investigators and eventually in court."

Ahuizotl stares at me for a moment. Then he blinks in confusion.

"What do you want?"

Ah, concussion. I nod, and a purple ray drone materialises behind him and shoots him with a purple healing beam. Grain Store takes a step back in surprise, but Ahuizotl himself blinks and starts to stand up a little straighter. Then he focuses on us.

"The blue one! You dare to face me?!"

"Ah, yeah, look, I've…"

"To the piranha pit!"

Grain Store shakes his head. "We don't have one. It was in the Fortress, and..."

"Oh. Crocodile pit?"

Miss Dash flies up to hover in front of him. "No pits! Look, it… It sounds like Daring Do was basically just stealing a bunch of stuff from your old buildings or whatever-" Ahuizotl's mouth falls open slightly and he stares at Miss Dash. "-but I still wanna know why you threatened everypony with eight hundred years of scorching heat."

Ahuizotl twists his head to the side.

"If I could actually bring about eight hundred years of scorching heat, don't you think I'd have done it by now?"

"Wait. So you-? It wouldn't have brought about eight hundred years-."

"No! I just had a great idea. What if rather than stealing all of the Tenochtitlan Basin's greatest treasures, I just make up a story about a fake one, make a pile of rings out of cheap stone and paint it gold and then put it somewhere where I can trap her! If she didn't take the bait then I wouldn't really lose anything, if she did then maybe I finally get her. At worst, she gets a worthless fake."

Miss Dash blinks in confusion.

"But… The whole Fortress collapsed."

"Yes." He nods sadly. "Seepage. It's very bad. The ancient ponies who lived in these lands built many remarkable buildings but knew basically nothing about drainage."

"So they couldn't control the sun?"

"Of course not. How would a-? They were made of chalk. I'm surprised they didn't fall apart when you picked them up."

Miss Dash opens her mouth to complain, then drops to stand on the stone surface of the ziggurat. Perhaps not entirely clear what she would be complaining about.

I take a step closer. "Mister Ahuizotl, would you be willing to detail all of Daring Do's thefts? I intend to lean on the Equestrian government to charge her criminally for her actions. Would you be prepared to testify?"

"She will be put in prison?"

"Yes, and the artefacts she stole will be returned and I imagine that Princess Celestia will want to establish some sort of regular government contact to prevent this sort of thing from happening again."

"Will there be piranha in this prison?"

"Probably not."

"Crocodiles?"

"No. No crocodiles. But how long has a crocodile actually been able to keep hold of her?"

Ahuizotl mutters to himself indecisively for a moment.

"I will testify. But can I be there when she is arrested?"

I nod. "I believe that we can make that happen."

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th September 2012
18:23 GMT +3

We decided not to simply call the town 'Bournville', because that could get confusing. And I suppose that Tanaville is the least bad of the various alternatives, despite implying that they grow tea and not cocoa. Certainly anything that explicitly mentioned me was right out. I may be fine with 'Jamestown' and 'New York' and 'Londonderry' but there's a limit to how much imperialism even I can hear without cringing.

"Do they have showers?"

"The barrack accommodation the farm workers use or the actual hotel I booked us into?"

Jade stops for a moment to mop her brow. Having rejected my offer of an environmental shield, two days' marching through the Kenyan winter heat has left her encrusted in her own dried sweat and her hair's the flattest I've ever seen it. It doesn't look like it's bothering her even slightly.

If it was me, I'd have called a ring after the first half hour.

"They have hotels?"

"Not like.. four star hotels or anything. But this is a major agricultural supply hub. That's why we built all the roads and other infrastructure. Plenty of people come through here all the time."

"I'm not sure we're getting the full experience."

"My Blue Lantern alter-ego spent his honeymoon on Odym, if you want something a little more back to nature."

"Where's that?"

"It's a planet in Sector Two Six Two Eight. Beautiful place. No intelligent life, no real predators, just a few scavengers to keep the place tidy. Amazingly colourful plants and animals and no intelligent life at all."

She smiles faintly.

"Or hotels."

"Or hotels, hot running water or toilets, and I've got no idea how he was planning to leave afterwards."

"Who did he marry?"

"Their version of Zatanna. Her name's Zorina."

"Didn't she set Mister Scott on fire?"

"Didn't you drug me with poisoned lipstick?"

Her smile broadens.

"Yes, but it ended alright for the Asian girl."

I put my hands on my hips. "I'm not sure what offends me most: the fact that I'm merely 'alright', or that despite the fact that it was a pivotal moment in our relationship you've forgotten that I said 'woman' and not 'girl'."

"Under twenty, it's 'girl'."

"Is it? I thought that psychological and emotional maturity were more significant. I know your father called you-."

Ah, shouldn't have said that. Jade looks away.

"That annoyed me because he meant it as an insult. With you… It's different."

"I'm in my thirties. Acknowledging your maturity makes it easier for me to forget about the chronological age gap, as well as encouraging me to remember that you're a strong-willed self-determined individual with her own wants and desires."

"How does an empath forget something like that?"

"My empathic abilities were far more limited back then, and I had to make an effort to see inside someone."

"I remember your snake eyes. You don't need to do that any more?"

"I have to make an effort not to have stronger empathy than that all the time. I can still do it, it just signifies that the Ophidian is personally looking out of my eyes."

She looks at me thoughtfully for a moment.

"Since we were talking about what I wanted to do with my life that didn't involve killing people…"

"Yes?"

"What did you want to do with your life that didn't involve being possessed by a giant snake?"

"Ah, well, as I said, my degree is in contemporary ethics and political philosophy, so… This, actually." I look around the mostly-newly constructed town. "The part I remember of the whole three year course was learning about the rapid industrialisation of Japan and Taiwan."

"What were you planning on doing with that degree?"

"I wasn't. My parents expected me to go to university, I didn't have a particular profession in mind, so I picked something that sounded interesting." I shrug. "It wasn't. Lesson learned."

"I don't know how student debt works in England."

"Oh, we moved off the mass grants system before I went to university, but I'd paid my loan off before I came to this Earth." I snort. "It's stupid, really. Student loans are issued by the government, but you don't have to pay them back until you're earning over a certain amount of money, and anything you haven't paid off before you're… I don't remember how old. Fifty or something? Gets written off. Which means that the student loan company is going to go bankrupt eventually because people aren't going to pay back the full value of their loan, so the government might as well have kept the grant system and saved themselves the cost of administering it. It's basically just a system for giving rich students who don't need it a cheaper-than-market-rate unsecured loan."

"So no private loans?"

"Private unsecured loans exist, but if the government is going to give better terms, why would anyone want one? Banks want to be paid back."

"What happens when the system collapses?"

I smile, snorting.

"A socialist revolution, probably." I wave my right hand dismissively. "I imagine that the government will bail it out with taxpayer money. We might get some sort of reform, but I'm not hopeful. How did the League pay for its operatives' education?"

"Ubus were educated by their parents. Their scholastic education mostly comes from their mothers. Most other operatives got educated in their civilian identities. I got an in-house tutor for most subjects. Payment was covered by the League's cut of our contracts once we were cleared for fieldwork."

"See, a system of grants for a limited number-. Oh, hang on." I slow to a stop outside of the local medical centre. "Our man in Tanaville works here. I want to see if I can catch him."

"Who is it?"

"An Irish doctor called Finnbar Brady. He's in charge of the local clinic. I've never met him, but he had excellent references."

She cocks her head slightly to the left, gazing at me interrogatively.

"Does that count as 'work'?"

"I… Wouldn't have thought so? Do..? You think it does?"

"That depends on whether he's secretly a supervillain or not."

I shake my head.

"Come on Jade. That's not very likely, is it?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th September 2012
18:35 GMT +3

"I'm looking for Doctor Brady?"

The woman manning the reception desk looks at the pair of us with a mild frown, then her eyes jerk to something on the wall to my left. It's out of my line of sight, but I can guess from the sudden flash of recognition what it shows.

When her eyes return to me, I smile and raise my left hand to display my ring, and she's already phoning through to the office.

"I will call heem at once."

I smile as Jade turns to look at the wall display. "Thank you."

The receptionist looks away from me for a moment as the phone rings, then looks back at me.

"Sia? Orange Lantern just walked een."

I smile, then turn away to join Jade. The display she's looking at includes images of the roads being laid down and some building work being done on the town. There's one of the Dolmen Gates being air lifted in, and… There's a rather nice one of me in full heroic raiment. Not completely sure where it's from. I've never been here before, but the League has released official publicity photos of most members of the team and plenty of people have taken less authorised images.

Oh, and there's one of some of the… Board? Or managers, possibly, of Cadbury's. I don't point out Oliver Queen because I haven't had it confirmed that Jade has seen through his tiny mask yet, but he's actually joining in with the road builders. Though to be fair to most of the Cadbury's executives, given their respective builds, he's probably the only one really suited to that sort of work.

"Looks like you're pretty popular."

"Give it a few centuries."

"Of course, now that you're here, they might get to see the real you."

"Less fan mail. Great! But…" I skim over the writing associated with the image. It's pretty much just a press release, though I recognise two phrases as coming directly from me. "But this is… For me, this is what success looks like. Superman's got a statue in Metropolis, and it's not because he donated to the right election campaign or because someone wanted to wind up Lex Luthor. It's the city saying 'we would literally all be dead if it wasn't for this guy'."

"'This town wouldn't be here if not for this guy'."

"Superman's a good man, but he doesn't build things that last. I don't care about statues or pictures, but I do care about the town. I mean… Unlike some of its neighbours, Kenya had itself reasonably in order before the Sheeda attack. Preserving that order once people accept it isn't all that hard. But you do actually need to do it."

"Or you leave a vulnerability that someone like the Reach could exploit."

"N-. Well, yes, obviously-."

"But that's not why you do it."

"It wasn't hard." I sigh. "I remember hearing a report on… I don't remember whether it was television or radio, that charity donations of clothing to Africa had basically killed off mass produced native textile production. Below cost production is hard to beat. There's no real reason why Africa can't be as wealthy as other parts of the world, it just needs… Some problems dealt with. Africa's actually got terrible rivers and coastlines, so it needs better transportation links. And law and order."

"And Cadbury's chocolate?"

"I fully support people's right to choose their chocolate brand, even if that means that their choice is objectively suboptimal and involves fake cheese or rotten milk that has no business being in chocolate."

"Rotten milk?"

"American chocolate. I have no interest in ruling the world but I certainly wouldn't mind running every purveyor of lipolysised chocolate out of business. Why any sane person would deliberately make chocolate that tastes like vomit-."

The door beside the reception desk bursts open and a somewhat dishevelled-. Blond man with what is either a close cropped beard or… I'd say about a ten o'clock shadow. Sideburns extend to his jaw line and his left ear is pierced with a hoop earring.

"Orange Lantern. Finn Brady, good to meet you."

He… Smiles, and for a moment I'm forced to blink and suppress my empathic vision further as I'm confronted by a man who genuinely wants to do nothing but help those around him. I reach out to take his hand and my environmental shield glitches out where he touches me.

We lucked out when we got this guy. And I'm probably staring a little long.

"Doctor Brady, likewise." I release his hand and gesture to Jade. "This is Jade Nguyen, my girlfriend."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss."

"Doctor."

He keeps smiling. "No one told me you were coming. Trying to keep things quiet?"

I shrug. "Sort of. This is supposed to be a holiday, but I'd feel like a bit of a heel if I didn't at least pop in and say hello."

"So it's not a surprise audit?"

Jade's face goes completely neutral. "Why? Do you need one?"

"No, but I've tried running these things before and it's amazing how much cash goes on graft if you don't watch it."

I shrug. "I'm sure that the foundation has people keeping an eye out. But I'm pretty sure that I don't have anything to worry about where you're concerned."

"Of course not. Ah, do you want a look around while you're here?"

"Yes please. And naturally you can use this opportunity to bypass your entire reporting chain and bring any problems at all to my attention."

He shrugs. "I don't really have any. Deliveries are all on time, we're getting all the vaccines we need… Are you planning on setting up a hospital?"

"Me personally? No. But that will probably happen at some point. None of the towns or villages we've set up so far are really big enough."

"Why does that matter? You've got those… gateways, so you can move anyone from wherever they are."

"We've also got a Gate in the capital, and within driving distance of quite a few other major cities." I shrug. "I can-."

Jade's eyebrow is raised.

"After my holiday is over, I can-" He smiles and nods. "-talk to people about it, but these clinics are designed to be able to cope with anything that happens on a regular basis. Any resistance to the purple healing ray?"

"No, everyone's fine about that. I had to have a word with a few kids who were daring each other to cut themselves so they could use it. Ah, listen, Sia and I were about to go and get dinner. Do you want to come along?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th September 2012
18:49 GMT +3

"…parents, because they want us to get married in a church."

Sia's a pleasant local woman-. Ah, she has a Kenyan accent, anyway. She's also six months pregnant. Finn reaches over and puts his hands on hers as she explains the situation to us.

"Are you not religious? Because I've personally been to Heaven and met angels. There's no need to doubt the reality of the mythology."

The food in… Well, it's not really a restaurant so much as a canteen. Today it's serving fried tilapia, fried potato slices and… For some reason, coleslaw? The locals all appear to consider this perfectly normal, but I'm using my ring to covertly remove the mayonnaise from the otherwise acceptable shredded salad. The beer made with bananas is… Certainly interesting.

Finn shifts awkwardly. "I know. An angel killed my brother."

I lean back slightly, frowning. "I'm sympathetic, but… The angels generally-. I certainly-."

"Declan." Finn looks away for a moment. "Wasn't a very nice man. But he was my brother. I don't have any other family."

Is it a sign of deep seated religious prejudice that I'm surprised an Irishman only has one sibling? I mean, The Republic has a Protestant minority…

Jade gives me a sidelong look that implies to me that she's wondering whether I'm being intentionally obtuse. I mean, I could apologise, but I didn't ask the angels to attack other people, and I've yet to hear anything about them going after anyone who was innocent. I don't feel bad about Declan's death. The only thing I really feel is a desire to look him up to check whether my instinctive response can be supported by available evidence.

"Have you considered a different religion?"

He smiles weakly. "I'd prefer a civil ceremony, but I'd accept another religion if Sia's parents would."

Sia shakes her head. "My parents are strong Anglicans. Another religion would be even worse."

"Well, darn. I know both an angel and a marriage goddess, but it sounds like all I can offer you is sympathy, then."

Finn frowns. "You know an angel? I thought they tried to kill you?"

"'Tried' nothing. I got a burning sword shoved through my skull. How did you think I got to Heaven?"

"Do you think Declan got into Heaven, then?"

"It shouldn't be too hard to find out. Ah, usually Zauriel's not keen on answering that sort of question, but under the circumstances he would probably be prepared to answer you. Ah. Though I… Have to say, everyone else they killed-."

Finn bows his head, nodding. "He's probably in Hell."

"Depends. Do you know why they killed him? I mean, if it was apostasy then there's a fair chance that he went to a completely different afterlife or reincarnated."

"I went through his house after he died. What was… Left of it. I think he'd gotten involved with magic."

"Oh? Do you know what sort? Because they're usually-." He shakes his head. "To the best of my knowledge, they targeted two types of magician. Those who failed them in the past, and those who were seriously into demon magic. And if he was into demon magic, then he was probably operating within the monotheistic mythos."

"So you do think he's in Hell."

"I didn't know your brother. Did the angel kill anyone else in that area? Any confederates?"

"No? I.. don't think so."

"Then-."

"AHM."

Jade clears her throat louder than is strictly necessary.

Right. Work.

"Then… I suppose it doesn't matter. You don't want to get married in a church because angels killed him, not because you think they were objectively wrong about something. There are no facts in dispute. I could probably find a licensed registrar who could pretend to be a priest, if that's any good?"

"No. Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but…" He shakes his head. "It's no good. They want a church wedding, and I'm saying no to churches."

Jade nods. "Could you get married in a registry office and agree to have a religious ceremony later?"

Finn and Sia look at each other, and she nods.

"That is probably what we will end up doing. But I would prefer it if my parents would agree to be there."

Jade nods. And she's studying Finn's face. "Did the police look into it?"

"There wasn't really anything to investigate. We knew who did it."

"Had he been in contact with anyone suspicious?"

"He'd been on some odd websites. Occult stuff."

"Jade?"

She glance at me. "You don't see the resemblance?"

I take in Finn's features, trying to.. place…

"Okay, but there are a lot of blond men with that brow and chin and those eyes around the world." Finn frowns at me. "You look a little like someone we know. I wouldn't have thought about it, but you mentioned 'magic' and he's really into that."

"I look like-?" He looks uncertain. "Mam adopted me. I don't know who my blood family are."

"Well… Then, with your consent, in a month, I can do a genetic test and, if it's a match, I can see if they're okay about meeting you. Of course, it might be nothing."

Because while it wouldn't surprise me at all if John Constantine had bastard children around the place, even he isn't precocious enough to have started at… What, ten? I sort of assumed that Ambrose was older than John, but they don't look all that similar up close. And if Welsh John is anything like his apparent physical age then he's right out.

He and Sia make brief eye contact.

"Worth a try, I suppose. Just out of interest, if nothing else."

"Ah… Perhaps we should move onto lighter subjects? I didn't.. plan on digging like that."

He shrugs. "It just sort of comes up sometimes. Hollis -Father Hollis, he's the local priest- has a go at me about it whenever he sees me."

"Any trouble with the vaccination program?"

"No? Why would there be?"

"I've been living in America for the last-."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"No, no problem with that at all. The biggest problem is antivenoms. The snakes have taken a liking to hiding in the cocoa plants, and it takes too long to get back to the clinic with some types. And they can't take the antivenoms with them because they need to be refrigerated."

I nod. "I'm sure we can come up with something."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd Jahrdrung 2512
Morning

"Of course… You are welcome."

Marco Lupo holds his arms out to the sides, indicating the garden of his father's villa.

"It is simply that we usually get a little more notice before so notable a guest visits us."

I nod. "I.. know, and I'm sorry. My learning on the subject of international affairs has been fairly narrow, and while I knew that your father was a highly capable Tilean general, I… Somehow missed the fact that he actually ruled a city in addition to commanding armies."

"My father's fame must have spread wide indeed for that to be true."

"Indeed. Where I am from, the only Tilean considered to be his equal was Borgio the Besieger, and… Well…"

"My father was never bested by a toasting fork."

I shrug. "No man can be on guard at every moment of every day. But it does detract a little from tales of Borgio's military prowess."

"Yes. I have also heard stories of a strange orange wizard who could strike daemons down with impunity. I had assumed that they were… The ramblings of drunkards, and yet… Here you are."

"Drunkards do ramble. In my case…" I shake my head. "I am not a wizard. Any man may use an enchanted artefact, or even wear mundane armour of such solid construction that he can survive powerful attacks."

"I have heard that in Araby the most skilled magicians bind daemons to carpets which allow them to fly."

I nod. "Yes, it's… Because they're so far from the polar gates, the winds of magic flow weakly there. Their wizards must become proficient in slowly drawing upon the winds and infusing objects with power, or in carefully binding spirits to their service."

"And such men also made-" He gestures to my left hand with his right. "-the ring which you wear?"

"Oh gosh no. This was made by a species who are contemporaries of the Old Ones. I couldn't even begin to explain how it was made. It is able to permanently turn daemons into something that is enslaved to me and technically no longer a daemon. Do you want to see one?"

"I…" He glances at the plain clothed men with the rapiers lurking near at hand. "Think that I will live without."

"Wise." I shrug. "Bringing to bear the level of strength that is needed to physically harm the more powerful sort of daemons is still fairly difficult. Lesser daemons are far easier."

"And… I heard a story about you tricking a dwarf smith with a fake sword?"

"No, I don't think I did that? What sort of fake would trick a dwarf?"

"Supposedly, it bent when he tested it."

"Oh! No, that wasn't a fake sword, that was-. There isn't much a human can teach a dwarf master smith about metallurgy, so I thought I'd make him a curiosity that he couldn't replicate."

"A sword that bends?"

"Anyone can make a sword that bends. A copper sword will bend. I made a sword that can be bent and then spring back into shape."

Mr. Lupo looks puzzled. "If you are not a wizard..?"

"The secret is the element carbon." I generate a construct… Representation of a carbon atom. "Roughly half of wood is composed of carbon, and about twelve percent of a human. It's a very versatile material. These-" I point at the outer electron shell. "-let it attach to a wide variety of other materials in a variety of ways. If we arrange it as a lattice, we-"

I add more carbon atoms and pull out the view until the individual atoms are invisible.

"-get-"

I dismiss the construct and fabricate a diamond to replace it, reaching out with my right hand to catch it and then offering it to Mr. Lupo. He takes it and considers it very carefully.

"-a diamond."

"A.. diamond."

"But if we arrange it in layers…" I generate a new construct image. "We get a substance called graphite, and we use it in pencils. You see how each carbon atom has the same number of bonds?"

"So how does it differ-?"

I pull the image out again but this time fabricate a pencil, which he catches, having palmed the diamond.

"We use them for training children to write before we let them loose on pens."

"I am sure that your maids appreciate it." He looks closely at the sharpened tip, then scratches at it with his thumb nail and examines the material that has been scraped free. "And this is the same.. 'element' that the diamond is made from?"

"Yes. The diamond has a strong and rigid structure, while the layers of graphite can slide away from one another almost freely. But there are other forms of carbon structure as well, and it turns out that if you make tubes of carbon and incorporate it into the metal, you get-"

I fabricate an example in the form of a traditional Tilean duelling sword.

"-something like this."

I then attach a clamp construct to each end and bend it into a hoop. I then remove the clamp from the bade end and we both watch as the sword straightens itself. I then offer it to him.

"Master Thurgun found it amusing, but elects to hide it from his apprentices lest it give them inappropriate ideas. Please, keep it, the pencil and the diamond. An apology for disrupting your day."

He takes the sword and checks the edge and… Heh, he checks that it's actually made of metal.

"Thank you. A fascinating demonstration. I.. am curious. What was it that you wanted to speak with my father about that brought you so far?"

"I know that your father greatly reveres the most ancient traditions of your city, for example that he rigorously trains himself physically when a weaker man of his station might allow himself to go to seed. I was hopeful that his reverence might extend to my area of interest."

"He used to make my brothers and I join him when he trained as an oarsman." Marco smiles. "It left us with an abiding hatred of all boats, though I owe my life to the training of his wrestling master. Do you want to test yourself rowing against him? He's very good."

"Ah, no. My home country was once conquered by a city much like yours. They left us with a rich legacy of civic monuments, but the most useful was their roads. Rather than… Do what modern Tileans appear to which is have mercenaries standing around demanding money with menaces, they used soldiers not actively fighting the nation's enemies to build roads so high in quality that it was sixteen hundred years before we could surpass them. And many of their roads were around to see themselves being surpassed. I need to build a big road network. A very big road network of very big roads, such as would allow an army to march from one end of the Reikland Empire to the other at the best possible speed. The greatest architect in the world is currently engaged in building a rather large canal for me, but your father was the man I thought of first for roads."

"I do not think that my father would want to help someone invade the Empire-."

"No no no." I shake my head. "The Emperor has signed off on it, and he's leaning on the Electors to do the same. They all grudgingly accept that it's in everyone's interest that it happens. I wanted your father to have input at the planning stage so that we end up with a well planned network rather than a mess."

"Well, that is different, but…" He shakes his head. "My father has not to my knowledge shown interest in building roads himself."

"Ah, rats. I'm sorry to have wasted-."

"My brother Gaius on the other hand has been greatly involved in the building and maintenance of our city and its territory. I would be happy to give you a favourable introduction."

I smile broadly. "That would be excellent. Thank you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd October 2012
11:13 GMT +7

Jade pulls her hat down to shade her face, and I can't help but notice that she's using makeup to lighten her complexion. Combined with the mirrored sunglasses, the effect is to make her look more like an American tourist, rather than a first generation emigrant.

"This is the opposite of disappearing."

And she's changed her accent, too. If not for my empathic vision, I'd be concerned that I'd sat down next to the wrong woman.

I watch as people walk past the table we're occupying outside a café without paying us any attention.

"You seem to be managing."

"Why aren't more people noticing you?"

I shrug. "All white people look the same?"

Vietnam got hit hard by the Sheeda. People fled to the countryside as invisible soldiers hunted people in the streets of all of their major cities, which only really made hunting them down take a little longer. Industry completely collapsed, and forget about tourism. Sadly for Alan's contemporaries, Vietnam followed China's example in killing off their superheroes when the revolution occurred, and unlike China they didn't have a population large enough to generate a team's worth of high-tier superhumans since the official change of policy. China could barely look after itself and help from further afield was sporadic at best.

Now, tourists are… Back, if not in the sort of numbers that they used to appear in. With former tourist hotspots in South America now under Accala control there are tourists out there, but most of them are holidaying in their own countries. Vietnam has also opened its doors to South American refugees looking to settle somewhere not under the control of a rampant plant goddess. Not out of any particular spirit of generosity, but just to get enough people to fill their population centres.

On.. the.. positive side, people who had been in prison since the Communist takeover either escaped or were released; the government doesn't have the spare manpower to maintain the same old police state. Combined with the influx of people from corrupt-but-nominally-democratic countries, I foresee some big changes in Vietnam's future.

"Okay, we've visited my grandmother-" And the carbonised stretches of forest where the automated defence systems I installed on a slow Wednesday afternoon dealt with the one Sheeda attack that bothered going anywhere near her. "-so I think we're done here."

"Any particular preference on where to go next?"

"Is there anywhere on Earth where we won't be recognised?"

"Ah… Maybe? At this point the Dolmen Gate network goes to just about every country, and I'm… Heavily associated with that. And with the arcane desalinisation system and storm controllers, those are getting quite a lot of use in a lot of places."

"So no."

"The price of not having a secret identity. And… Glowing faintly orange at all times."

Jade takes a moment to check her peripheries for autograph hunters.

"What about another planet?"

I nod. "We can go to another planet. Do you have anywhere in mind?"

"None of the planets I've been to would keep us away from work."

"I'd stand a good chance of being recognised on most of the planets I've been to. I mean, on Tamaran, everyone's orange anyway so that's less noticeable, but they've got their planetary communication system back up and running and I'm pretty sure that my picture is everywhere. Ah… The Crown Imperium highly regulates media broadcasts, so we could go to most places there and…"

Ah…

"Get arrested because they.. don't really do tourist visas outside of a few port… Cities. Um. We could probably… Manage on Rashashoon?"

"What's wrong with Odym?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Except the complete lack of facilities."

She folds her arms across her chest and leans back slightly in her chair.

"I thought you were in the Eagle Scouts."

"Yes." I nod. "I've given roughing it a fair go and know from personal experience how much I don't like it. Though I'm perfectly happy to give it another try if you feel like going seriously back to nature. In Vega there's a planet of mollusc people where there are vast areas of habitable land with no people in them. Just… Don't mention that you're female to the locals and we'd be fine."

"Why would that be a problem?"

"They've got a weird reproductive system where the males look pretty humanoid but the females are giant slugs which… They're not intelligent, and they don't have a way to lay eggs, so the males hunt them-."

"Somewhere else."

"Emana? They've actually got a government now."

"What did they have before?"

"An informal understanding between megacorporations. I think they're.. still shaking out the bugs in the system-."

"And they'd probably appreciate your input."

"If they realised that I was there. But, yes."

"No work."

"Havania? It's a Thanagarian colony world. They have some contact with other species who aren't their serfs, and Bleez gave me an open invitation to visit."

"What's it like?"

"A cross between a pre-civil war American plantation and colonial Africa, with a more pleasant climate and the rulers have wings. There isn't much building on the surface because the thanagarians like flying over and hunting in pristine wilderness, but also like their creature comforts. But importantly, I don't have any obligations there, and the Orange Lantern Corps doesn't have any obligations there."

"Are you telling me they have slaves?"

"Yes. Ah, sort of. Technically they're serfs, but… Yes. It's not called the Thanagarian Empire because they're known for species-inclusivity. But I won't proselytise if that's what you're worried about. Just some site-seeing and culturally enriching diversions."

"Are we going to be walking past slaves being whipped?"

"Almost certainly not. They usually do the beatings in prison cells where it won't unsettle anyone's stomach. And honestly, things rarely get that far."

"Alright. Let's try Havania. I assume you need to call ahead?"

"I probably should." I reach down to my bag and take an LCD screen linked to a Bleed fracture pulse receiver. That shouldn't look particularly strange to anyone who sees it. "Calling Bleez."

Compliance.

"How did you meet her?"

"She was performing at a diplomatic meeting. She's actually a famous singer in the Empire, though it was rather lost on me. I've been sending her Earth music-."

Bleez appears on the screen. Or rather, her face and the hastily-wrapped towel covering her chest does.

"Hi there Paul! I-." She spots Jade. "I'll just go and put some clothes on. Be right back!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd October 2012
18:47 GMT

Since Jade's Darkstar armour isn't rated for interstellar travel, I acquired a small transport craft from my home in Bir Tawil before we set off in the direction of the Thanagarian Empire.

"Are you ready to explain the towel?"

"It's like a sheet, but designed for absorbency."

Jade leans back into her seat slightly.

"Bleed fracture pulse communication has caller ID. She knew that you were calling."

"Almost certainly. Though she might have been expecting a call from someone else and not checked before answering."

The space between Earth and the Thanagarian Empire is almost completely safe. The only dodgy part is the actual border zone, due to the Thanagarian habit of aggressive 'patrolling' and intrusive 'anti-piracy' actions. With a transponder that very clearly identifies us as a L.E.G.I.O.N. vessel with me on board, we don't have anything to worry about.

"Does she answer you wearing a towel often?"

"Yes. Something like that. Sometimes it's a sweaty minimalistic exercise outfit. Sometimes she just covers herself in her wings, which steadily relax as the conversation carries on. Or one of her performance outfits. That was actually so relatively modest I'm wondering if she was really in the shower this time."

Jade regards me contemplatively.

"I know Thanagarians are usually direct, but that would mean that she'd tell you that she wanted you."

"Quite."

"She knows enough about human culture to know what human men find appealing. Feigned modesty while keeping her appeal firmly in your mind."

"She actually has a fairly good education in xenosociology. Plus the information she's gained from me, and I suspect that the Thals' reports have been making their way to her."

"How annoyed should I be that you haven't mentioned any of this?"

I shrug. "How annoyed should I be about the seven Themysciran women who hit on you last Christmas without you telling me?"

"How annoyed would you be if they were Themysciran men?"

I smile.

"How annoyed should I be if they were Themysciran men?"

"Superboy's dating and Silver Scarab's married, so fairly annoyed."

"Lucky day for Daniel." I shake my head. "But no. She's under… I don't know if it's 'orders' or just an informal request, from Thanagarian intelligence. They'd like it if she got into an actual relationship with me so that she could influence my decision making, but they'll settle for having a source who's friends with me."

"So she is trying to seduce you."

"Not really. I'm not sure if she's trying to convince me that she's still trying so that I think of her as an unthreatening ditz, or if she's trying to convince her handlers that she's still trying so that they don't bother her about her xenophilic music."

Jade tilts her head back so that she's looking at the cockpit ceiling.

"Speaking as an intelligence operative, it's generally not a good idea to make friends with enemy agents. Unless you're trying to turn them. And you're not trying to turn her."

"Yes, but I might want to do something with Thanagar at some point, and their whole internal political dynamic puts the old colonies at odds with the homeworld and newer colonies. Having a woman on the inside could be useful. And she's, you know, pretty good company."

"Does she understand enough about human culture to know that flashing someone else's boyfriend is inappropriate?"

"Yes. But in Thanagarian culture it's… Less..? It's not that they don't have a nudity taboo, but functional nudity doesn't have the same association. Their version of Men's Health is actually a health magazine."

"I should talk to her about it. I think her handlers would accept that."

"Or they might tell her to look at it as a challenge to a duel."

She frowns, glancing my way for a moment. "That's something Thanagarians do?"

"If one party to the relationship is being indecisive and things need to be definitively settled. To be clear, I much prefer you-"

"I'm glad to hear it."

"-to her, so that tradition isn't strictly relevant-"

"And I'd win."

"-and you'd win, I'm not convinced that her handlers have the same understanding of human culture and don't trust them not to do something stupid. The current situation works well enough for both of us."

"Do you like seeing her like that?"

"Jade, we live in the era of the internet. And I have a power ring with a scanning capacity. And designs for gynoids. If I wanted to see naked women, I'm spoiled for choice. But that sort of thing… Doesn't interest me as much as it used to."

"That's what I get for dating a man in his thirties."

"Seeing what people want. If they're displaying themselves, but they're actually thinking about their career or what they're having for lunch or the hundreds of times they've done the same thing… I see that."

"'Hundreds of times'?" She raises her eyebrows. "I thought she was a professional singer."

"Not her. I mean in general. When I'm with you I see your beautiful whole, and how you feel about me and us. Bleez is perfectly pleasant, but knowing for certain that she's not that into me is a turn off."

"It's not usually a sex thing. Most of the time, it's a power thing. A woman who's famous and attractive and compelled to do what they want would be a powerful draw."

I shake my head. "Not to an empath. Who.. wasn't a psychopath. We're exposed intimately to the personhood of other people."

"That hasn't stopped you killing people."

"No. If I know they're that bad, why would it? But Bleez isn't a particularly bad person or genuinely interested in me."

Jade nods. "The Thanagarian slaves. Does she own any?"

"Ah, her mother does, as family matriarch. Or… Serfs, technically. You read my report on the Thanagarian undercity?"

"Thanagarians practice Darwinism amongst themselves. At least they're even-handed."

"The old colonies aren't. It's a species-based stratified society, but exactly what that means varies from place to place."

"Is Bleez her mother's heir?"

"Yes. Until she made enough money in her music career that she could live disconnected from her mother's purse strings. Their relationship has been difficult ever since."

"This sounds like something I should know more about before we arrive. Tell me about Havania."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th October 2012
08:10 GMT

"Legion craft, you are cleared for descent. Remain within the indicated corridor."

Havania has nothing like the number of ships standing guard as Thanagar itself does, but it does have several large military defence stations and near-planet shipyards. The stations appear to be under the control of the Empire's military rather than local officials.

"L.E.G.I.O.N. acknowledges, Havania control. Course entered."

And down we go, into the atmosphere. Our ship is perfectly capable of maintaining a steeper angle of approach and a higher velocity, but quite understandably they don't want to take a chance on us suicide ramming something. Especially not the home of the planet's ruler.

"Why does she live in a castle?"

"It's not exactly a classical castle in the European style. The insides are perfectly modern. But when Thanagarians first came here they wanted defensible structures at high elevation, and it was easier to quarry stone using local corvée labour than to bake bricks or mix concrete. Now, it's tradition."

"'Corvée'."

"Technically."

"Given how badly you reacted to Zatara being enslaved, I'm a little surprised at how little you care about it."

"I reacted badly because I like Zatanna and respect Zatara, and because of the form his enslavement took. The Havanian native population were primitive hunter-gatherers before the Thanagarians arrived, and now they have access to technology they wouldn't have had for thousands of years, if at all."

"At least you're honest about being an imperialist. Didn't Truggs come back in time to stop that happening to Earth?"

"That was because it was the Reach. You know that anyone occupied by them gets exterminated eventually. Under the Thanagarians, the size of the native population has increased from the level it was at the start of colonisation due to better medicine and agricultural technology, as well as the elimination of internal violent conflict. It's like Britannia and Roman Empire. Besides, who around here is actually worth getting conquered by? The Ungarans?"

"Xudar?"

"Barely. They're mostly isolationist, so there's no access to any great trade network. They aren't especially skilled at societal management, and that's mostly what holds Earth back, so there's no benefit there. Now if Krypton was still a going concern then we'd have something to talk about."

That gets a raised eyebrow.

"Wouldn't Krypton have conquered us effortlessly?"

"Yes, because they were still empire-building a century or so ago. But they didn't really colonise in depth, so we'd get limited access to their technology without having to worry about our culture being destroyed."

"A century or so?"

"Yes?"

"So when the British Empire was at its peak?"

"Ah… Probably. Maybe slightly after its peak?"

Jade smiles faintly as she double checks our final approach vector.

"Landing zone sighted. What should I wear?"

"This isn't a state visit. Whatever you like."

"I'd like to wear my exo-mantle."

"You could. Thanagar is very proud of its military, and they won't be offended if you feel the same way."

"But Bleez won't."

"Thanagarian intelligence assets don't have a uniform. There's a formal mode of dress for Havanian nobility, but I doubt that she'll wear it. Oh, and-."

A minor eye roll.

"I'm not going to mention that you know that she's an informant. But do you want me to mention it if she knows that you know?"

"I'm pretty sure that she knows that I know."

"Then do you want me to mention it if she knows-"

"-that I know-"

"-that she knows?"

"I don't know. I don't know."

Jade lets out an amused snort as we land. Local custom dictates that nobles should only speak face to face while other communications are relayed via servants. Since we don't have a servant with us… Though I suppose that my construct lanterns would probably have counted. I think I could get away with direct personal communication, but now that we're here I want to give Princess Bleez the opportunity to decide how she wants people to see us.

Jade switches the ship's systems into standby and stands, taking a moment to shake out her outfit.

I raise my left hand slightly.

"Do you want me to-?"

"She's going to fly out wearing a bikini, isn't she?"

"Technically, no. Thanagarians aren't big on swimming."

…

"But as I've said, it's not a competition. Unless you want it to be, in which case, you win."

Jade takes in a deep breath, then snorts it out in a sharp exhalation. "She's pretty hot, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"Basic laundry, then-" I'm already running a laundry beam over her as we both get up and head towards the airlock. "-let's go."

"Have you got a flight-?" She pulls her blouse aside slightly to show me her kinetic belt. "Good show."

The airlock swings open and Jade confidently walks out, her eyes moving to take in as much of her environment as she can without getting distracted from-.

"Hey!" Bleez descends through the air from one of the upper towers, wings flared and body covered in what is basically a cut down halter top and a thong with streamers. She lands just in front of Jade and smiles warmly at her. "You're Jade, right! Paul's told me so much about you!"

Bleez makes a wing gesture of trust, extending the wing tips slightly in front of her so that she wouldn't be able to fly away quickly if Jade attacked her.

"It's so good to finally meet you!"

"I'm happy to be here."

Bleez turns her head to pout at me. "And I thought you were avoiding me."

"Perish the thought."

"Now you're here, we can-"

"Bleez? Where are you?"

"-get out of here before Mother catches up. Humans can fly, right?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th October 2012
08:32 GMT

Bleez tosses a blanket down on a pondside rock, then stares at its wrinkled lay for a moment before taking the time to pull it out flat.

"I usually get Toroz to arrange things for me before I get here, but he'd totally tell Mother where I went, you know?"

The rocks are far too regularly shaped and conveniently placed to be naturally occurring, but it's clear that whoever landscaped this area made an effort to include only plausibly natural elements. The depression in the side of the mountain could be natural, but ring scans are showing me where the rock was worked with chisels before all sign of that work was covered in vines and mosses to completely obscure it. The improbably mini-waterfall is similarly worked, dug channels funnelling rainfall from a large portion of the mountain into multiple streams which converge in the same place. For that, ring scans show that there is an option to turn it up by using the castle's systems to pump water into the channels, but it's currently not running. As a result, the fall is a background trickle rather than a wildlife shower.

Jade sits on the next rock along, giving her head a small shake as I raise my left hand and mouth 'want a blanket' to her. No, she wouldn't be relaxed enough to do something like that just yet.

"Is he your butler?"

"Hm? Noo." Bleez sits down on the edge of her blanket-covered rock and then leans back, supporting herself with her left arm while brushing her hair out of her face with her right. Then she tilts her head up and arches her back, posing for-.

She's posing, milking every action for everything it's worth as if this were a magazine photo shoot. I wonder why?

She twists around to kneel on the blanket with her wings slightly flared, then leans forward until she's on all fours and arches her back again. Then she lays down with her head supported by her bridged hands and her lower legs pointed upwards, her wings again slightly raised to that someone looking at her from the side would have an unobstructed view of the curves of her body while also seeing that her feathers and flight muscles were in excellent condition. Then her wings drop, and I see that the rock bier is just high enough that when she completely relaxes her flight muscles the tips of her wings don't quite reach the ground.

"He's my body slave."

I frown. The native species of Havania are raniform and about a third of the size of a standard pattern humanoid, so she can't mean-.

"You know, like a personal attendant who's bound to you for life?"

"I can't say that I do."

Bleez rolls her eyes and looks away.

"I didn't pick him, okay? He's just been, like, there, my whole life. That's one of the reasons I prefer performing off-world. His people aren't allowed to leave Havania so he can't come with."

"Bleez, why are we hiding from your mother?" Her shoulders droop slightly. "On Earth, dodging the lady of the house would be quite rude."

"Uh. I came back after my tour finished so I could work on some new songs, or maybe some adaptations of the kryptonian and human stuff you sent me? I haven't even put my bags down before she's trying to bundle me off to meet 'an excellent suitor of good breeding, I will not let your father's lineage die with you, he sacrificed too much building this sanctuary to let it go empty and become ransacked by the commoners below'."

She pulls herself up slightly as she mimics her mother's voice, sneering as she finishes.

Jade turns her head to carefully judge the distance to the glade's points of egress.

"Is that likely to happen?"

"No one's going to ransack anything. If I died without an heir the military would probably take it over. Not that that's going to happen."

I smile. "Oh? You have an eye on someone inappropriate and you want to wait until she's really desperate?"

"No… It's…" She frowns at me and then looks around. "Hey, could you check this place for monitoring equipment real quick?"

"Is that what you were posing for?"

She blinks in confusion. "'Posing'?" She checks her stance, then sags. "Uhr, I've been doing that so long it's just automatic now." … "I'm pressing my boobs together with my upper arms, aren't I?"

"I hadn't notic-"

"Yes."

"-ed."

"And done. They're just going to see us sunbathing and talking about music."

Bleez frowns. "Wait, there actually are-?" A frustrated exhalation. "Of course there are. Mother probably put them there."

"You are next in line to rule the planet. It wouldn't be too surprising that the Empire's government wants to keep an eye on you."

"Though if it was your mother, she knows where you are."

"If she remembers to look."

"I don't think you've spoken about your father much."

She makes a small wing-shrug. "He was one of the people who got Hyathis to cure the Equality Plague, and after she got thrown out he negotiated the settlement we have now with the government of Thanagar. They put him in prison for a while for working with her, which was total guano."

"Where is he now?"

"Oh, he's dead. And I'm his only child, which is why Mother is so fixated. If she wanted a bigger family, why couldn't she just remarry? I wouldn't have cared!"

"So there isn't someone inappropriate?"

"There will be. Probably. It's just-. I don't think she and I want to do the same things, you know? So she'll never accept anyone I actually want to marry, someone who wants the same things as I do for Havania." Another small shrug. "And since my marriage needs her approval, I.. just have to wait until she's dead."

"I hadn't realised that you actually had a manifesto."

She looks at me with an expression of faint disappointment.

"I've known that I was going to end up ruling Havania since I was three. Of course I've got plans. And the reason why I'm spying on you -and yes I know that you know that I know- is that I want to make sure the military give me the space to change things without throwing me in prison. That's why I learned to perform at all: so regular Thanagarians would have a positive image of me."

Jade smiles faintly. "What is it you want to do?"

"Abolish all legal restrictions on the aboriginals. Increase the size of our civilian economy and start trading outside the Empire. Remove travel restrictions so that all the dispossessed of the Empire can come here. Develop an actual culture outside of military service. And marry a man who wants the same things as I do and wants to change the Thanagarian Empire into something less brutal. Because it's really brutal. I mean, you saw Downside, but you only saw a bit of Downside and there's a lot more to it than that. They actually dump prisoners from the newer colonies there, did you know that? Any of the aliens who do something wrong gets taken away from their home and dumped Downside with no way back."

"And you want to fix it?"

"I just want to fix my little bit of it. And don't even think about giving me a power ring. The government will never let me do any of it if I've got a power ring."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Until the end of my holiday, anyway.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd Jahrdrung 2512
Midday

Gaius Gracchus Lupo gulps as he begins to take in the scale of the work being undertaken before him in the blazing Nehekharan heat.

Literal legions of Lybaras's skeleton labourers dig at the dead soil under the direction of whip-armed Necrotects, a handful of Tomb Princes standing watch to ensure that their queen's will is being properly made manifest. Huge animated statues pick up the largest buried stones and haul them out of the way, while merely large statues work at the ground at the front of the digging corridor with huge picks.

Gaius looks towards the sea, just visible through the shimmering heat, where the artificial bay is lapped by sea water. Skeletons and constructs have no need to breathe and as such are perfectly quiescent when asked to dig under water. Then he turns and gazes inland, where he can just about see tiny shapes moving as they work under the personal direction of Chief Necrotect Ramhotep the Visionary to bore a hole through the World's Edge Mountains.

"We considered cutting through from the Sour Sea through the Marshes of Madness to the Black Gulf. It would be a shorter route, but there are a lot of Orcs in the area and draining the Marsh would be a pain. And the Gulf isn't easily navigable. But taking it from the Gulf of Fear to the Ash River and onto the Great Mortis River, we can create a passage directly into the Great Ocean."

"Do you.. have a.. map?"

He doesn't look at me, but rather keeps staring.

"I can do better than that." I take a globe out of subspace and spin it around so that the portion displaying Nehekhara is facing him. "See here?"

"How far is it?"

"About fifteen hundred miles in total. The bit we're digging now is about five hundred, and it won't be all that deep or wide to start with. In the end we want it to be navigable by galleons, but to start with it will just be open to barges."

He looks at the globe.

Then he looks at the work.

Then at the mountains.

Then at the globe.

"This is a little larger than the road between Luccini and Verezzo."

"Yes, but given your reaction, you're a good deal more mentally stable than the person doing this."

"I can't imagine the mind that could conceive of a work like this."

"Um, thank you?"

His eyes widen. "You designed this?"

"No, just the conception. The design of the canal is the work of Necrotect Ramhotep."

"He is one of the undead."

"Yes indeed. And not.. really one of the sane ones. Though High Queen Khalida says that he was the same when he was alive."

"But… How..?"

"Sentient Undead range from glorified automatons to beings who have essentially the same mental processes as the living. Sophont Tomb Kings and Queens sometimes fixate on the patterns of the lives they lived when they were alive, and those ones are not easy to deal with. Others aren't much different from living sovereigns. High Queen Khalida is aware of herself sufficiently well to grasp opportunities like this. Ah, but it's probably not something you should try without knowing your target very well first."

Gaius nods, tracing the route across the globe. "If this is successful, Luccini would be the first port that a ship would reach in the Old World."

"Unless the captain felt like trying to head directly for Los Cabos, certainly."

"They would have to contend with the pirates of Sartosa, though I suppose no more than they do so presently."

"I believe that it may be necessary to deal with Sartosa. Once the canal has finished and the shipping routes change."

He spins the globe anticlockwise, viewing the world to the west of Nehekhara.

"This is Ind and Cathay?" I nod. "This will make passage far easier and swifter. And avoid having to deal with the elves at the Fortress of Dawn. You are not at all concerned about what they will do about their sudden drop in revenue?"

"The wonderful thing about dealing with the undead: raiding their settlements doesn't really do much. There's not a lot there to burn, and even if you smash every skeleton to pieces all it means is a little extra work for the Liche Priests." I shrug. "Should it prove necessary, I'll discuss the subject diplomatically above the level of whatever prince is running the place. I'd be astonished if elven vessels didn't end up using this canal as well."

"Queen Khalida's city is Lybaras?" I nod. "Near the western entrance. This will make her a very rich woman. Assuming that she cares for such things."

"She very much does. She also hopes that engaging with the wider world will aid in the mental recovery of her contemporaries. Or at least attract the foreign expertise that might be required to fix their problems."

"They… Seem to be managing well enough."

"Their priest told them that they would rise as golden demigods, and Nagash the Black made them rise as wizened corpses. They want to upgrade."

Gaius looks directly at me, and he appears to have calmed down a little.

"Is that possible?"

"Nothing is possible until someone does it. Who would have believed that a man could fly by strapping bed sheets to his back and flapping them with his legs before Daddallo did it?"

"I have seen him do it and I am not certain that I believe it." He nods. "But I understand what you mean. I cannot deny that the undead here are clearly working towards this goal, so I suppose that it does not matter whether it is ultimately possible or not so long as they believe that it is."

"So are you prepared to accept my commission?"

"I would feel somewhat foolish if I saw all of this and still did not accept. You do not mind if I inform my father about the additional shipping we can expect?"

"If it was a problem, I wouldn't have told you. Once we establish a working relationship, I will naturally be sharing more information with Luccini. A few years should be enough time for the construction of a few new docks, shouldn't it?"

"Yes, though I think -for the good of the city- it will need to be managed by someone else while I occupy myself with teaching Reikland peasants how to lay paving stones."

"Not just Reikland. The network is-."

"Yes, yes. But this is the Emperor's commission first. The peasants who I teach will be the foremen when the work expands into other Provinces. Reiklanders are not unfond of prestige. I will need to look at where stone can be quarried, and what carters might be hired…"

I nod. "I believe that the Emperor has scribes who can lay their hands on that information. You've seen enough, then?"

He nods slowly, once more looking over the diggings. "I believe that I will take what I have seen here to my grave."

"Would you like to meet the Queen before we leave?"

"Will she meet with me?"

"Probably. You're socially the equivalent of one of their princes, though I'm afraid that we're both barbarians in their eyes. Allow me to check. Back shortly."

I fly at speed, passing over the immense project area to the observation point where High Queen Khalida waits with her court. Where they've been waiting for weeks, unmoving, acting only when something actually requires their attention.

Prince Ahmose stares at me for a moment as I appear, then returns to his 'at rest' pose. High Queen Khalida on the other hand actually rises to greet me as I bow.

"Ambassador. Your archeotech has accepted the commission."

"Indeed, majesty. If you are willing, he would like to meet you before travelling to the Reikland to begin his work."

She walks closer, stopping within arm's reach in a way that is causing a slightly uncomfortable shift in the stance of her guards. They know her will but they don't adapt well to change.

"I am. First, however, you have a duty here." She reaches up and pulls off her restored mask, revealing the living but unfeeling flesh behind it, enchanted eyes gazing into mine.

"And I would hate to be delinquent." I lean forward to kiss her. "Khali."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th October 2012
15:11 GMT

I stretch out my arms and legs, spreading the wings of my wingsuit and catching the air rising from the hillside.

Bleez catches up with a single wingbeat, looking over the canvas holding me in the air.

Her mouth moves, and I can't hear a word of tree!

I swerve around it, flailing slightly before catching the air current and getting a little more lift. This is very different from using a power ring. I know I'm perfectly safe, but my heart is actually racing.

There's a click as Bleez activates her microphone.

"This isn't flying. This is falling." A twist of her wings and she's gliding on her back. "Without style."

"I don't have wings. I can fly by power ring, but that gives me perfect control and turns the whole thing into an exercise of the mind."

Getting a little low open the wings gain a little height and over the ridge!

"This engages my body. I feel this. Can you imagine not feeling the air moving through your feathers when you fly?"

"Yes? I've been in space. But I guess I sort of get it."

A lopsided flap and she barrel rolls around me, giving me an eyeful of her 'aerodynamic' flight gear.

"But is that really the best your people have?"

"Anything bigger and I'd be wearing a microlight."

I angle down and retract my wings to gain speed in the descent.

"Short of growing wings, this is about as immediate as I can make flying."

There's a sharp intake of breath through the headphones.

"That's so sad!"

"It's pretty normal for humanoid species."

"That doesn't make it less sad. How did your species used to get around?"

"Ah, well, our really distant ancestors used to swing between tree branches using disproportionately long arms. After that we just walked everywhere until we started domesticating horses and building boats."

I stop diving and open my wings again, causing Bleez to shoot past me as I exchange speed for lift.

"Really? Whaw. That must have been slow."

"It beat having our early civilisation controlled by soul-eating demons, but I suppose that it's hard to do a pure cost/benefit analysis."

"Ooh, can you get me the number of that thanagarian who got reincarnated as humans? I'd love to hear about the sort of music we made back then!"

"Yes, no problem. I'm sure that Missus Cantrell will be happy to hear from you."

I'm not sure what sort of geographical upheaval caused this sort of landscape, a 'hill' that covers an area the size of central Europe with all manner of interesting features. Rivers have carved out valleys, water wearing away soft soil and leaving hard rock promontories and spines. Larger mesas produce interesting air currents and possible landing or taking off zones-.

This is all artificial, isn't it?

"How long did it take to put this place together?"

"Like, two hundred years? It was pretty great for flying when the planet was first settled, then generations of thanagarians kept working on it until we got this. This is the beginner swoop-slope. I haven't been here since I was… Seven, I think? There are harder runs in other places."

I angle towards a valley, not trying to test my reflexes but just looking at the natural beauty of Havania as shaped by the hands of its residents.

"Hey, listen."

Bleez flies directly in front of my, blocking my view and effortlessly matching my pace.

"You didn't really say anything when I told you what I wanted to do with Havania after Mother dies?"

"I'm on holiday."

"Yeah, but you have an opinion, right? Whether it'll work or not?"

"I don't know the ins and out of the Thanagarian Empire's government to know whether it's plausible or not. Looking into that aspect would very definitely be 'work'. Could you-? I can't see where I'm going at the-"

She flaps and rises above my flight path. No, nothing in the way but artfully dressed landscape.

"-moment-. Thank you. What you described sounds plausible, but I don't know the people involved. I also don't know how your fellow Havanian thanagarians think of this. You might inherit the position, but every leader needs some way to get other people to go along with them and I doubt that you've got a particularly large home guard."

"They're cool with it. Father did a lot of the things I want to bring back while Thanagar was busy getting Equalised. Industrialisation stalled after Thanagar was Unequalised and the military started leaning on us to 'know our place', but powerful people like becoming more powerful."

"Completely true, but are they going to want to have a whole lot of aliens come and live here?"

"More people to lord it over. Literally, because we can fly and the owners of the industrial areas will be lords. But it still won't be as bad as Downside."

"To start with."

Bleez gives me a look of irritation.

"I'm not going to turn it into Downside later! That goes against everything I'm trying to make happen!"

"I believe you. But will they?"

"Huh?"

"Downside's probably less of a mess since the manhawks got cleared out, but it's still rife with violence and crime gangs. If you bring people like that here en masse, they're going to keep doing what they know in a nicer setting. I don't need to do special research for that."

"But we'd treat them better."

"Overcoming old habits isn't quite that simple. It would help, certainly, and if you were working exclusively with… Children or something, it might be enough, but with top thugs who manage to bring their whole gangs along with them?"

"What about if we do law enforcement better?"

"That would just mark out your police as different dressed Wingmen. Ideally, police should come from the community they're protecting-. Remind me to give you a copy of A Short History of the British Police before I leave. Essentially, you're going to want to vet people heavily at the Thanagar end and make sure that you've got the civic and social infrastructure in place to support a migrant population, and then… Make sure that it works in practice on a small scale before expanding it. This sort of thing is the work of a lifetime, and I really respect that you want to get started with it."

Bleez thinks for a moment.

"Do you..? Know anywhere that's done something similar that I could look at?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th October 2012
18:43 GMT

Jade pauses a moment to check sightlines. The pool area is completely deserted, aside from a pool attendant trying to avoid looking like he's staring at us and a barwoman ready to serve drinks. Prior to Xalitan's revolution, this was a place frequently occupied by the great and the not-so-good of Alignment society. Now, the extreme political turbulence combined with the public trials and executions means that most of their former client base-

Bleez struts past us both and begins the arduous process of posing herself onto a lounger.

-either aren't interested in holidaying at all, or are engaged in far more extreme entertainments than somewhere like this offers.

To the delight of both observers, Bleez stalls in an arms and wings back sitting posture that displays her chest to best advantage. And her flight muscles, but I doubt that they're interested in those.

"I've never been this far from Thanagar before!"

"We're closer to Thanagar than Earth. Thanagar would have run into the Alignment eventually."

"They're still here. We're still going to run into them." Bleez looking around to meet my eyes. "Won't we?"

"The current provisional government has expressed a disinterest in expanding their territory further and has sent feelers out to its neighbours regarding cooperation agreements. The previous government wanted to expand by force. My prediction is that they and the Thanagarian Empire would have bumped into each other before either of your borders abutted Earth. But if they're not going to expand any more, that's no longer the case."

"Huh. So, where are we visiting?"

I open my mouth to reply, but Jade's looking at me with raised eyebrows.

Hm.

"After the revolution, they had to release every political prisoner from their penal settlements, as well as trying to resocialise their child soldiers. But that's not just a matter of dumping everyone out of prison; for some of them, prison life is all they've known for decades. For others… Well, the sort of person disposed to revolt against a omnipresent and corrupt police state isn't the sort to integrate well into any kind of structure. Then there are the alien servitors from the worlds they conquered."

Bleez frowns. "Are they handling it better than us?"

"Define 'better'."

She frowns.

"You saw Downside. Is it like that?"

"It's probably best if you see it for yourself. The housing they've got is more like a barracks complex, so whether highly regulated civil order or Darwinistic liberty is better is a value judgement I'm not able to make for the people of Downside, who I'll remind you I only saw very briefly."

"So when are we going?"

"I can put you in touch with the current government of the Alignment whenever you want. But as I said, Jade and I are on holiday and it doesn't-"

Jade nods. "Thank you for remembering."

"-really sound like a holiday activity."

"You don't go exploring while you're on holiday? You don't wanna meet new people?"

I start to look at Jade and then stop myself. Not really fair to make it her sole decision, like I'm siding with Bleez on the subject and then putting her on the spot if she wants to be the party pooper.

"Helping Thanagar rearrange its society is 'work'. But… I suppose that walking around wouldn't hurt?"

Jade considers, then reluctantly shrug-nods. "What else is there to do in the Alignment?"

"Music and plays, of both high and low culture. Sporting events to watch or participate in. They traditionally haven't brought in anything of alien culture, even to publically disparage it. That might start changing now, but we'll pretty much be getting pure-"

Bleez sits up and flaps off her chair, heading for the edge of the pool's deck.

"-Alignment culture."

She lands and stands against the railing, staring out at the town below. Reminds me a little of 1984, where the Inner Party deliberately made their own lives worse despite being purely self-interested. The explanation was that after a certain point it was easier to increase the difference in quality of life between them and their social subordinates not by improving their lives in material terms but by making their subordinates' lives worse. In fact, it was so much easier that they intentionally collapsed the entirety of industrial society in order to make that difference as big as possible, because even as their own lives got worse to the point that formerly commonly available items became rarities the lives of the members of the outer party and the proles got worse still.

That sort of reasoning was what made me completely hate Ingsoc society, more than the constant warfare, stupid unworkable superweapon research programs, editing of history or torture and mind-breaking. If it had been for something I might have accepted the rest, depending on how good it was. But being a shit to make everything worse for everyone is completely against everything I believe in.

The rich and privileged in the Alignment have their hotels around the edge of the town so that they can literally look down on the middle class district in the town proper. They didn't really have a concept of a working class holiday resort. I don't know if that will change. If they go for a mostly free capitalist economy then they should come into being in a few decades, once the renewed civil war burns itself out. In a more planned economy…

"Bleez, your education included planetary economics, right?"

"Yeah? And interplanetary economics? All of the ruling class of Havania get trained on that, or we wouldn't know how the Thanagarian Empire worked. About half my old school class ended up working in military logistics because officers from Thanagar just don't get it."

She turns away from the view, looking right at me.

"You think I should bring people here? Because they're going to need economists who didn't work for the people they just overthrew and they probably don't know much about it either."

"The thought did occur. It would also serve to get them used to working with aliens as equals. As employers, even."

"I dunno how many would go for it. Which I suppose is the point. If they can't work with aliens this far from home, they're not going to do it back home where it will actually change things." She looks away, waving her left arm. "And Intelligence will accept it, because we'll get information about the Alignment and make contacts here."

"Ah..? Yes..?"

"They wouldn't let us get away with this without getting something. Yeah, yeah, that could really work out for us. Maybe we could hire some of their workers to serve as role models."

"It's certainly possible."

"So, hey, why don't you set all that up while Jade and I go explore the town some?"

"Can…" I look at Jade and get small nod. "Do? It's been a little while since I've seen Onisia. It will be nice to catch up."

"Great!" Bleez smiles and flaps over to Jade, smiling at her. "Think we could pick up some knives while we're here? You look like a knife-girl."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th October 2012
06:43 GMT -7
Who's A Silly Pony?
I open my eyes. Something's… Off.

"Con-founded-!"

Y.. ess…

I pull off my duvet and carefully get out of bed. I'm far too heavy and too strong to throw my weight around, even on a bed built for someone my size plus guest. To say nothing of the risk to anyone who was here with me. Bethany is quite a bit tougher than a baseline human but if she had a nightmare and in the morning fug I rolled the wrong way…

"…monkey pastern..!"

Hm. No real need to armour up just yet. I can stay in my pyjamas until it's time to take the children to school. I amble over to my bedroom door and push it open, taking a moment to connect my metaphysique with the arcane systems of Challenger Mountain-.

A woman-. Luna, glares at me from the floor at the end of the corridor. Skin a shade lighter than my usual illusory false-face combined with vibrant blue hair… Not sure why Starswirl's Mirror didn't allow her to keep her usual starry mane, but who am I to argue with a dead stallion? The Mirror also seems to have interpreted her peytral as an evening dress and jewellery rather than.. armour-.

"Dost thou not intend to lift Us to Our feet?!"

She's lying on her front, trying to push herself up a little with her thumbs-. Ah, yes, I see what she's doing wrong. Her hair is far longer than her mane was, and since she hasn't tied it up at all it's splayed all over the floor. She doesn't look physically injured, though her pride is clearly a little bruised.

"But of course, my love."

I stride down the corridor, crouching next to her as she inexpertly flails at me with her hands in an attempt to get a grip.

"Monkey infants can perform.. basic.. grasping..!"

"Monkey infants weren't born a midget horse. Can you rest them by your sides?"

She grimaces, bending her elbows so that her arms fold up at her sides with her hands by her shoulders. Her head turns to face the floor and her hair completely enshrouds her head.

"Lifting you in two, one…"

My hands go under her arms and lift as I stand, her body trailing limply beneath them. Luna raises her head slightly and tries impotently to blow her hair out of her face.

"How dost the females of thine species function?"

"They have these things called 'scissors'..? I have no idea why the Mirror made your hair this long."

She takes a breath.

"Lower Us. We shall attempt to remain balanced 'pon Our hind hooves."

"Iiiii'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Thou'st managed when first thou visited Our realm."

"Ponies have four legs. They're more stable. If you get one wrong the other three will usually keep you upright."

Hm.

I set her down for a moment and shift my hands even as she instinctively tries to stand on the tips of her toes. Right hand in the middle of her back, left forearm against the backs of her thighs and lift as she starts to overbalance. Luna blinks as she suddenly finds herself in a bridal carry, and I take a moment to realise how much smaller she seems like this.

She looks up at me, and has another go at blowing her hair out of her face. Between her exhalation and whipping her head to the side she mostly managed it.

"Good morning, Luna. Doing something different with your mane?"

She tries to snort, but the human nose isn't really designed for that.

"We wert intending-!"

I lift her a little higher up and kiss her gently on the lips. The act seems to calm her slightly.

"Yes. Like that. We intended to infiltrate your sleeping quarters and present Ourself. But this is impossible!"

She looks adorably cross about the whole situation.

"You made it most of the way."

"We were supposed to be here-! We spend hours crawling upon your floor, flailing in a vain attempt at locomotion."

"I certainly appreciate the effort."

Ah… I think it would be best to deposit her on a seat at the breakfast table. She should be able to keep herself upright without.. help…

"You're not missing moonset, are you?"

"Our sister has volunteered to take the strain. We are.. frustrated that we have squandered her favour so."

"No, no, this can be a bonding activity." I start carrying her in the direction of the dining room. "But did you not bump into a genomorph at some point? They could easily have loaded Sunset's knowledge of bipedal locomotion into your brain."

"After what happened last time, We thought it best to avoid such techniques. We may have need to it for the good of Our realm, and so would hate to discombobulate Our mind mastering something frivolous. And…"

She glances away awkwardly.

"We remember that you were at least somewhat ambulatory during our first meeting."

"Yeah, I'm just amazing. How are you coping with not being able to levitate things?"

"Not being able to walk is of greater concern to Us." … "Though We will admit that being carried in this fashion is not a wholly unpleasant experience. There is no true equivalent amongst ponykind."

"Daddy, who is that?"

Sarah stares up at us from her seat at the breakfast table, vacuum pack of blood grasped in her hands. As haemovores, they do need to ingest blood. The problem is making sure that they aren't driven into a frenzy whenever they start to feel hungry.

"This is Luna."

She frowns, taking another suck.

"No it's not. Luna's a horsie."

I crane my neck in her direction and pointedly raise my eyebrows. "Luna's a what?"

She thinks for a moment. "Ponie?"

I smile. "That's right. But this time she came through the-" I slide a chair out with my right foot. "-Mirror, rather than a Boom Tube. You know how I transform when I do that?"

She smiles, nodding. "Daddy turns into a horsi-."

"Aah."

"Horse."

I nod. "And when a pony like Sunset comes through from the other side?"

"They turn human?"

"Which is why-" I gently deposit Luna in a chair before heading towards the kitchen. "-she's having a little trouble moving around. Luna? Feel like testing out those omnivore taste buds with some bacon?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th October 2012
15:15 GMT

"…that while there isn't any legislation to that effect, the Alignment effectively has-. Had, rather, a command economy."

Jaggar Ton leads the way down the temporary road laid between the fields in this part of the colony's newly planted farm cluster. Bleez has actually dressed in a somewhat modest fashion, which given that this is nearly a prison is probably for the best. It's not just humans where the male half of the species commit the majority of the crimes. The road is.. like the rollable plastic lattice that they sometimes lay over grass they don't want to destroy on Earth, only a good deal more advanced.

Jade narrows her eyes slightly as she looks over a group of men erecting a fence.

"Who got sent here?"

"Alignment society was completely corrupt. My advice was to harshly punish the worst offenders and let everyone else off with a suspended sentence. Xalitan wouldn't accept letting people guilty of any crimes go free, and my daughter and their organisation backed him." Mr. Ton shrugs. "I can hardly complain about him rejecting my judgement."

Bleez frowns. "Why?"

Mr. Ton frowns at me for a moment before giving her his full attention. "I assumed that the Illustres told you. Xalitan was wrongly sent to prison for murdering my wife after I was told by the actual killers that my daughter would be next if I didn't implicate him."

I nod. "Xalitan isn't happy that he wasn't given the choice to metaphorically throw himself on his sword. And then there's the false witness thing. If they're clearing house, then even if he understands why Mister Ton did it, it's still perjury. Still a perversion of the legal system."

"Is your daughter okay?"

Mr. Ton gives Bleez a small smile. "Yes, thank you for asking. I always hoped that her intelligence would take her a long way… And then when she began opposing the state I hoped that it would be enough to keep her alive. I never thought it would take her quite as far as Grand Convenor, especially at this age, but I suspect that she's the best person for the job."

"What's a 'Grand Convenor'?"

"In theory, it's someone who brings political representatives together to debate matters of governance. But if you look at our history it didn't take long for it to become synonymous with being the head of our government. In the normal run of things she wouldn't have the experience or power to hold the post… But we're very far from normal times."

Jade takes another look around. "You're sending corrupt politicians to learn to farm?"

"Anyone indicted on charges of… Essentially, of being involved in a corrupt system, but not personally being so evil that it's worth charging them individually, was given the option to plead guilty and take a transportation sentence instead of anything more brutal." He makes a small gesture with his right hand to indicate the fields. "This is a good deal more habitable than where Xalitan himself was sent, and we're not isolated to anything like the same extent."

"'We'? Did you take the deal, too?"

"I took a deal, but I'm a tier down from them. Someone blackmailed into committing crimes that were of sufficient magnitude that letting us stay where we are wasn't really an option, but where we don't really deserve harsh punishment. So I get to oversee this place for a decade or so." He shrugs. "I doubt that I'll miss the homeworld all that much. Not a lot of good memories, and too many bad ones."

"Is it permanent?"

"For them? Yes. For me? No, my appointment has a definite end date, and I can leave for a little while. But I can't simply resign and go somewhere else."

Jade nods. "How are you enforcing that?"

"Seizure of assets, lack of communication equipment and the fact that there isn't anyone left at liberty who might be inclined to help them. Xalitan is enacting a root and branch reform. If he missed anyone, I doubt that they'd be prepared to risk themselves to help someone who couldn't offer them anything in return. And they aren't soldiers or scientists or engineers; not people who could offer something to a party outside of Alignment society which might result in their evacuation."

"But I doubt that you're popular if your daughter's the one who put them here. What's to stop them coming after you?"

"I'd like the answer to be that they're too rational. With no one here to exploit, some of them are going to have to work the farms whatever happens, and the old hierarchy has been destroyed. There's no leadership. If I'm killed, what happens?"

"The representative of the government which put them here is dead." Jade regards him levelly. "Only one person has to make an impulsive decision."

"We haven't had our first crop yet. If I die, everyone here gets to fight each other for the food they'd need to live until harvest, and they get to do it without any replacement parts for their tools, or for anything else. I'm the only one armed and armoured. I have a small supply of strike drones and one is-" He glances up. "-always on station, and I can call in reinforcements if I need them. Doing that would result in the summary execution of everyone here with a transportation sentence, so I expect that they'll deal with rogue elements themselves."

"What about next year?"

"Next year the first wave of people actually sentenced to transportation by a court will arrive. These farms are training for the full-sized farms that we will be setting up. We will still need to bring food in for the next five years or so. After that, I assume that they will have acclimatised to this lifestyle."

Bleez frowns as she peers at the labourers.

"Where are the old ones?"

"It varies. Older politicians and civil servants were more likely to occupy senior positions, so a lot of them are awaiting trial and execution. Some were given jobs requiring less manual labour, though those have very strict attainment targets. This isn't supposed to be an easy option. If they're too decrepit to cope with any sort of labour, they could volunteer for a life sentence in a Class C prison."

Jade raises her eyebrows slightly. "'Class C'? Is that Alignment minimum security?"

"It should in theory be just as secure as the other classifications. The difference is that the regime is less harsh. The Alignment traditionally doesn't usually imprison people for extended periods of time; it's usually transportation or execution. Long term imprisonment is for government officials who might find themselves returned to power if things shift a little."

"Huh." Bleez smiles. "I mean, don't take this the wrong way? But it's kind of nice to hear about somewhere worse than Thanagar."

Mr. Ton nods. "I imagine that it is. Is Thanagar fixing itself?"

"No, but that's why I'm here. I want to help fix Thanagar!"

"The planet, the Empire or the species?"

"The-. The planet." Bleez frowns at him. "What do you think's wrong with our species?"

"You're dependent on Nth metal for your flight ability and strength. Nth metal doesn't exist outside of Thanagarian space. My species can live anywhere that most other humanoid species can. What happens when the people of Thanagar are born elsewhere?"

Bleez bows her head, her wings twitching up as if she were going to mantle herself.

"Congenital deformities. Horrible ones. And sometimes the mother dies too. But I'm a singer and songwriter and pretty decent economist. I'm not a doctor."

"We could do with some economists. Most of the ones we had are on farms like this."

"So you could use some more?"

Mr. Ton shrugs. "I'm a farm overseer. It's not my decision. But I think so. I don't know if anyone is keeping track of things. Last time I checked, our major industries were running on momentum and a lack of competition."

"Would your people accept Thanagarians working on that?"

"That depends where they were coming from."

"Havania."

"I don't know where that is."

"It's one of the old colonies?"

Mr. Ton frowns. "Don't the old Thanagarian colonies have slaves?"

"A-hhhhh..?"

"I see." His frown deepens. "Then I think you should probably get your own world set to rights before getting involved with ours."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th October 2012
15:34 GMT

"Bur it!"

Bleez swoops down and punches a thick tree branch, splintering the living wood and causing the nearly-severed branch to flex and swing as it droops down from the trunk.

"I shouldn't have mentioned the slave thing." She turns around to look at us, flapping backwards so that she can sit on the remaining part of the branch still firmly attached to the trunk. "Right? I shouldn't have mentioned the slave thing?"

"He said it's not his decision."

"But wouldn't covering it up be worse?" She pulls her wings in around her. "I mean, it's not like I could get everyone to keep quiet about it."

"Then you put it in a briefing paper five hundred pages long, preferably in the appendix."

I stare at Jade in surprise.

"You told me you hadn't watched Yes Prime Minister!"

She gives me a small frown back. "I haven't. It's just an obvious technique to bury information that you have to provide but don't want to make prominent."

"What's 'Yes Prime Minister'?"

"It's a comedy television series where I'm from, about a government minister trying to enact policy in the face of opposition from the civil service. There's a joke in there that senior civil servants make sure that briefing papers are very long and then give them to ministers just before they need to make a decision in order to make sure that they don't read them and just go with what the civil service wants."

"Oh." Bleez frowns thoughtfully. "We don't really do that in the Thanagarian Empire."

"If you're trying to reform your society, it might be worth starting."

"I dunno. I think the Ravens might take issue with it. Open persuasion is one thing, but deliberately misleading the government starts to look a bit like treason. And I think some people in government are going to want to call it treason."

"Ravens?"

"The High Morr's personal spies and assassins."

"So Thanagarians do use cunning, it's just that your government prefers it if they're the only ones."

"They wouldn't be a government if just anyone could give out orders."

"I suggest being up front about it but separating yourself from the tradition. Something like… When you're describing how Havania's economy works, state that you realise that it's horrible and backwards but that you're not in a position to change it."

"What if they check?"

"Well, you wouldn't be lying. You're not in a position to change it. Do you actually want to keep slavery?"

"No? But I don't know if I'm ever going to be in a position to remove it."

"Do you know how my country got rid of slavery?"

"Violent revolution?"

"No. We got conquered by a culture which didn't have slavery and phased it out without any legislation at all."

Jade regards me sceptically.

"You told me you gave Rocket an hour-long lecture on the West Africa Squadron. That wasn't-."

"That was after we reintroduced it after about three hundred years by the back door due to the slaves coming from a long way away and most of the slaves being in overseas territories. We actually de facto abolished it before that, and neither exactly portray us in a positive light. The point-" I return my attention to Bleez. "-is, if you bring refugees in as unowned, people will get used to there being unowned aliens around, and you can just fold the aboriginals into that system a few decades down the line."

Bleez perks up slightly. "I could do that. I will do that."

"Well, let's… Get a system that works in place for the people of Downside before moving onto something else, because that's what everything's going to hinge on."

"I think most Havanian nobles would be fine with aliens working on farms like that. The aboriginals don't like working outside of swamps. Their skin can't really cope with direct sunlight for all that long."

"You don't have automated farming?"

"Thanagarians don't really use robots." Bleez shrugs, her wings in a slightly more normal position now. "And if we were going to go for high cost high efficiency automated farming, we'd probably go for some sort of huge hydroponics setup rather than something like-" She points her right arm at the farmland we just walked away from. "-that. I mean, I'm sure that it's a perfectly satisfying way to live, but the returns per unit land area aren't anything like as good and the quality is a lot more variable."

"But that sort of collective labour is good at building communities. I'm not sure how it works for thanagarians or lizarkons, but human brains struggle to cope with dense city living. There's actually a fairly low limit on the number of people we can get emotionally invested in, and it's fine for a relatively small village but really doesn't work for a city of a million people."

"Havania doesn't have a city of a million people. Even our largest industrial towns only go up to about a quarter of a million."

"Same principle. Ah, it would be for humans. I don't know enough about thanagarian psychology to know if it's the same. Do thanagarians prefer small settlements?"

"I grew up in a castle."

"A castle that's not located in a town or city. It's in the middle of the countryside."

"No, I mean, I don't really know what it's like to live like a regular thanagarian. I know, like, where they live because I've studied civic planning, but I've never spent any time there myself. And when I'm touring I'm living out of hotel rooms."

"In that case you need to research psychological literature on all of the species you're planning on introducing."

"Right. And you know how Overseer Ton said that they broke up coteries when they assigned them to new settlements? You think that's something I should do?"

"Yes, definitely. You're engineering settlements for maximum stability. Removing them from the context of their former lives will help make it a clean break."

Jade doesn't look convinced. "That's how it works for humans. It might not be the same for other species."

"Right, but if they're humanoid, it probably does."

"Right. I need more information on how the Alignment works. Are their government records publically available, or do I need to make a special request?"

"It's not that they're secret so much as the systems have broken down to the point that information isn't flowing. Hon.. estly, if it wasn't for Xalitan's power ring and moral clarity this would be a great opportunity for corruption."

"So I need to talk to him?"

"No, Onisia would be the ideal person, but I've got no idea who under her would actually be responsible. Let me find out for you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th October 2012
21:39 GMT

"Illustres."

I'm not an expert on her species' physiology, but Onisia looks more than a little ground down. She smiles honestly enough when she sees me, but it fades almost immediately when her eyes pass over my companions. Not that she's unhappy to see them, they just don't arouse a positive response.

"Madam Grand Convenor."

I make the fists-together-in-front-of-my-chest gesture that is their bow-equivalent. Jade copies it immediately while Bleez-. No, there she goes. I suppose that out of all four of us she's the one who was formally trained in this sort of thing.

"I think I understand why you gave control of the Orange Lantern Corps to someone else."

"Not planning on staying in office?"

"Not in the long term. But I don't know who else I could trust this with."

Bleez perks up. "I-." / "I could-."

Bleez frowns at me in puzzlement. "Sorry. I was…" I return my full attention to Onisia. "I know a species of telepaths. Two species of telepaths, actually. If you want to know who's committed and who isn't, you could hire a few."

I consider J'onn J'aarkn's likely response to being invited to a civilisation of spacefaring humanoids.

"Or just ask for volunteers. They don't get out much."

"I didn't abolish our internal intelligence agency so that I could make a more malevolent one."

"Th-?"

"Or to enact emergency laws which somehow never seem to lapse."

"You could just enact them and rescind them before leaving office. Given that you only intend to stay in power for the duration of the emergency."

She shakes her head. "It's a bad precedence to set."

"If you're-."

Bleez steps past me, smiling warmly.

"Hey. I'm Princess Bleez, Crown Princess of Havania, from the Thanagarian Empire."

"Yes. I thought that the Thanagarian Empire was a military oligarchy?"

"The Empire is, but old colonies like Havania have their own planetary governments, you know?"

"I didn't. The Alignment government didn't allow that sort of stratification. They felt it would inevitably lead to tribalistic factionalism. As opposed to all of the other kinds of factionalism that they had."

Jade nods. "If there was an alternate centre of power, people might rally around it. If the only power centre is the government, then as long as they don't splinter openly, that's where it stayed."

I smile smugly. "Unless acted on by overwhelming external power. But seriously, geographic representation by people who can be removed by their constituents is a reasonable way to guard against abuses of power. Keep the people making up the upper levels of government apart from each other prevents groupthink and…"

Bleez looks pointedly at me.

"Sorry."

"The point is, Havania has plenty of people who have studied interstellar economics and I want to help."

"So do all of our neighbours. It's surprising how much of their advice involves dismantling our industry or giving it to them."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. But it's not necessarily a bad idea. If they're involved in your economy then they won't see you as so much of a threat. Telling them that you're not arming up for a war isn't the same as them seeing it in a shareholder report. And in a way, your success becomes their success. When your economy does well, they profit as you do. It's not money going out, it's them getting the money they need to buy more of your stuff." She wing-shrugs. "Economics isn't a zero sum game. Unless you're trying to destroy them and economics is just a weapon, which is how Thanagar usually sees it. Then it's more of a negative sum game because everyone loses."

"Do you have a plan?"

"I don't have the data to make a detailed plan. That's what I wanted to request; access to economic data."

"I assumed that the Illustres would have been able to give it to you?"

"I'm supposed to be on holiday. And that sort of economic information-mining is a pretty hostile gesture."

Jade looks away. "Supposed to be."

"And I'm not actually an economist. Which is another reason why Dox is in charge."

Onisia considers that for a moment.

"Is there a Vril Dox the Third?"

"Ah, not as yet, though I imagine that his foster father has suggested it."

"I meant other people with his intellect."

"Coluans are insular and pretty xenophobic. And while they're all significantly above humanoid norms for intelligence, none of them are on his level."

Onisia nods resignedly. "Then I will authorise Princess Bleez having access to our data. Lantern Xor is best placed to provide up to date information, though not much has changed since his last upload. Non-security-related information gathering is… One of the things we're working on."

Bleez gestures with her right wing. "If you want, my people could do that. If you're worried that your data is bad, we can get wings in the air and check every city and factory and feed back to you."

"And what would that cost us?"

Another wing shrug. "Nothing. I want to get my people used to working with aliens, and in the Empire, aliens… Aliens aren't treated well. It's a different context to the relationship, and I want them to learn something from it."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to change things when I take over, but I can't do that on my own or without knowing who I can trust to actually do what I want." She smiles. "Sound familiar?"

"Very." She nods. "I'll allow it, on the condition that you give me equivalent data on Havania."

"Just Havania?" Orisia nods. "Sure, I can do that. I'm just wondering why?"

"Because I do actually talk to my father. I'm not in any position to complain about Thanagar having slaves when the Alignment did the same, but I do need to know that you're going to follow through on your promise to abolish slavery."

"That's fair." Bleez nods. "I know our history isn't all that reassuring, but I really do want to change things. I just… I can't force things. I've got to be careful, or a lot of people could get hurt, and I don't just mean other thanagarians."

Orisia nods. "I'll sign the data release order. You can access it from any secure government data repository. Let me know when you have assembled your audit team."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th October 2012
16:57 GMT -7

Luna freezes, her terrified exhalation immediately drawing my attention! I crouch slightly, staring around to try and spot-

There's nothing there, Lantern Grayven.

-whatever it is that's… Yes, I don't either, but something's making her gasp in horror like that. Relaxing slightly, I walk cautiously towards her.

"Luna?"

She shakily raises her right arm, pointing into the… Sky. At the clearly visible moon in the day sky.

"Ah."

I walk around behind her, wrap my right arm around her chest and my left hand over her eyes like a living blinker.

"It's alright, it's alright. It's meant to do that."

"Daddy?" Sarah trots walks over with her ball. "What's wrong with Princess Luna?"

"She's had a bit of a shock, but she'll be fine in a moment. Why don't you go and play with Clare while she recovers?"

Sarah walks closer, then reaches up to pat Luna on the left thigh with her right hand before turning and running towards her sister. Through my right arm I feel Luna's breathing rate drop down to something more like her resting rate as she leans back into me.

"Feeling better?"

"The moon is raised!"

"Earth orbits its star, while its moon orbits the Earth. As a result there are times when both are visible from the ground at one point. Did you..? Not see it before?"

"Neigh, We did not!"

Sarah jogs past her sister and tugs on Sunset's sleeve. Sunset looks down, Sarah points to us and Sunset follows the gesture with her eyes. She blinks, clicks her right forefinger against her right thumb and appears next to us in a cloud of glitter.

"What's up with Luna? Or are you getting into public hobbling?"

"She saw the moon."

Sunset frowns, then shades her eyes as she looks up into the sky. "Huh."

"Sunset, did you ever have a problem with Earth's orbital mechanics?"

"No, not really? Ah, Luna? You know it's meant to do that, right?"

I feel it as Luna regains control of herself, breathing in deeply and holding it before slowly breathing out. And in, and out.

"You may remove your hand. We are not some dumb beast who forgets what it saw the moment its sight is obscured."

I tighten my right arm slightly. I'd tilt my head to press into her hair if she weren't far too short for that to work in this shape. "So hobbling is off the menu?"

"Public hobbling is most certainly 'off the menu' in whatever form We happen to occupy."

I open the fingers of my left hand, uncovering her eyes while still leaving my palm against the side of her head. Though her formerly pointing arm has flopped down to rest on mine, her head is definitely pointed upwards to stare at the moon.

"The moon is in the sky."

I nod. "It certainly is. Sunset, why didn't you have a problem with Earth's orbital mechanics?"

She shrugs. "I'd been on Earth for a while before I even noticed, and nothing particularly terrible had happened. I guess it just signified… Y'know…" She shrugs against, this time a little more awkwardly. "Celestia not watching over me."

"Has Twilight said anything about it?"

"I don't think she's noticed. She's more interested in our technology and magic than anything else."

Luna's breathing is almost completely back to normal now-.

"Luna, moon of my skies, perhaps-"

She tilts her head back so that she can look up at me. "That was terrible."

"-if you don't stare at it?"

"We will recover Ourself. It was simply a shock."

"Had you really not seen it before today? You've been out and about on Earth several times."

"But for the most part We were inside, or the sky was overcast, or your moon not on display, or Our attention directed elsewhere. And then your filly Sarah tossed the ball high and there was a strange moon in the sky."

I nod. "A moon that didn't respond to your magic. I could see how that would be disconcerting, though I must say that I'm glad this happened while you are in human form and not as a pony."

She hesitates for a moment.

"You worry that in Our discomfiture We may have reached for it. We… Do not think that would have worked."

"Hopefully not, but if you threw out enough magic there might be other effects, even if the moon didn't start dancing to your tune. But hey! Good work on not falling over. It took Sunset a lot longer to get the hang of that."

"Did not."

"You were making 'my hands are hooves' gestures when you kidnapped Twilight Sparkle."

"That's not the same as standing up!"

"That is sufficient." Luna raises her right hand. "You may consider us sufficiently distracted from the shoddy construction of the local universe."

"This system runs fine unless someone introduces a solar mass into the system. Yours falls apart if someone puts two ponies in a vine pod. If anything, you and Celestia should try and make your system work like this one."

"That, we are informed, is pony heresy."

Sunset shrugs. "Probably. But there's something about the idea of making Celestia unemployed that really appeals to me."

I give her a mild frown. "You are aware that she'd still be Princess Regnant, right? All it would mean is that she could have a lie in."

Sunset avoids my gaze.

"Sunset."

"Look, Earth's full of strange ideas! I just got a few books on political theory and gave them to the Equestrian library service! I'm sure nopony is going to do anything crazy."

"Thou art trying to depose us?"

"No. I'm trying to get other ponies to depose Celestia!" She shrugs. "You're fine. You can stay."

"And Sister was wondering if We would like Our own student. Between thyself and Twilight Sparkle, we are unsure that Equestia would survive."

"Just because we don't do what you want, that doesn't mean that we don't do amazing things. Just, y'know, don't spend years lying to us and make sure you actually teach us things. It's not complicated."

Ah…

"Though… Maybe… Don't pick Starlight Glimmer. That pony… I think she might have problems."

Luna tilts her head back to look at me again.

"Neigh. Really?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th October 2012
02:12 GMT

Drift left, slight descent, meet eyes, nod and switch hands…

I don't know about Thanagar itself, but it turns out that Havania has ballroom dancing.

Proceed and wheel, drift back and switch hands again…

Aerial ballroom dancing, which includes quite a lot of precise wing movements as well as motions of the arms and legs.

Hold your partner close and rise, rotating in synchronicity as you stare into their eyes…

And the third place couple drop out, prompting Jade and I to bow our heads and press our foreheads together as we drop out to avoid a clearly tainted victory. Because while there's no actual rule against airborne aliens taking part in what isn't strictly a competitive event, they're flying by precisely controlling their wings and Nth metal nodes while we're using a power ring and kinetic belt respectively. While it wasn't easier for us to match our motions than it was for the rest of the… Um, flock? It didn't get progressively more tiring as it did for them.

We touch down at the edge of the circle marking out the area for the 'dance-duel', linking arms as we head for one of the chaise lounges around the edge of the room. The third place couple are flaking out near by, friends or admirers commiserating them as they fan them with their wings. The man makes a play of it, spreading his arms and wings, loosening his jacket and panting to lose accumulated heat as quickly as possible to the laughter of the observers.

The woman wilts a little more quietly, right hand clenching in frustration. Though a quick flash of empathic vision shows that she's mildly frustrated at coming close to winning and not quite getting there, rather than as part of some long-running grudge. Long running serious grudge, perhaps I should say.

The winners descend into the centre of the room, leaning on each other though trying to make it look like they could carry on all evening if they had to. A collective cry goes up, and everyone around the edge of the room makes an arms raised hands together gesture of salute, the younger couples keeping their arms raised for several seconds while the older participants drop it almost immediately. Bleez herself heads into the centre of the room with a ceremonial chalice which she hands to the victors, the woman taking a small drink before passing it to the man, who takes another small drink before passing it back.

I don't really know what any of that's about, but it's fascinating to watch.

Bleez leans in to say something to the victors, glancing our way and nodding her head to the side. That's our signal, then.

I scan the room and the castle beyond, and the grounds beyond that. No infiltrators that I can detect, no obvious red flags amongst the staff -other than her mother, who put in a token appearance and retired early after introducing Bleez to an unusually tall fellow from the local defence force- and no sign of electronic monitoring beyond the internal security mechanisms. Jade and I went through the place before the party but it wasn't impossible that someone could have snuck something in.

With the event over and the participants mostly recovered, the guests begin to circulate once more. A few head outside to take advantage of the castle's gardens. The flowers there certainly look nice, and I'm sure that the arrangements are in exquisite taste, but the whole things smells decidedly… Off, to a human nose.

I nod back to Bleez, then arm in arm Jade and I walk out of the dance room and head deeper into the castle.

"That was a change of pace."

"Are you interested in formal dancing?"

"No, but I think I could live with doing it every now and then."

"Noted."

"And that doesn't mean 'once a month' or 'twice a year'."

"Also noted." … "So, three times a year?"

She's facing away from me so I miss what is probably an eye roll, but I do spot the slight hitch in her breathing.

"I'll tell you when."

"I feel this is a very stereotypical conversation."

"So you want an exact figure."

"I don't need an exact figure, but it might be helpful in getting you what you want if I know what it is."

"I thought you always know what I want."

"Only if I make a point of looking, and I know it makes you uncomfortable."

We slow to a stop just in front of a large portrait of… Yes, Bleez's family when she was younger. Her father stands tall and proud while her mother plays… Something, with her in the foreground. Her father's sidearm is the only piece of advanced technology on obvious display.

"Interesting that they still do paintings."

"They probably keep the holograms somewhere private."

"Lex Luthor has a hallway lined with photographs on the way to his apartment."

She glances at me. "Spying on the opposition?"

"He invited me to dinner once. Me and a few others."

"When was that?"

"The week after I joined with the Ophidian." I sigh quietly. "Back when I still thought that he could be talked around."

"Aiming high."

"Aimed high. Really thought I could get through to him." I shrug. "Not to be. So do you want to know about it if there's ballroom dancing somewhere we happen to be?"

"Yes, let's go with that."

"Excuse me!"

Jade and I uncouple and turn, the tall Thanagarian apparently having gotten away from his handler. Kran Kral is apparently 'a noble officer with good prospects'. And he's certainly tall. He's actually a little taller than me, and noticeably broader. According to local files he's from one of the newer colonies, first generation born there.

"Yes? How can we help?"

"You both dance well for people who haven't seen a Thanagarian dance until recently. Was it really just today?"

"Princess Bleez was kind enough to lend us her dance instructor."

"And it's not really the same when you're not using your own wings. Didn't feel like taking part yourself?"

He wing-shrugs. "The Princess Regnant intimated that Princess Bleez would be my date. That… That doesn't appear to be happening, and in any case as the hostess it would be impolite for her to take part."

"As I understand it, Bleez's ideas about what Bleez wants and her mother's ideas about what Bleez wants are distant acquaintances at best. If you actually want to pursue a relationship with her then I suggest not seeking her mother's favour."

"Oh." He frowns. "I hadn't realised. I…" He shrugs again, looking slightly awkward. "I actually intended to ask if you were involved with her. And when you intended to break it off. But if you're not, then I suppose that I only have my own poor reconnaissance to blame."

"This is Jade, my fiancée."

Jade nods. "Hello."

"Oh." He makes a submissive gesture with his wings. "I apologise. That is what I get for relying on rumours."

"Bleez is an interesting woman, but…" I shake my head. "I don't think it would work. Really, if you're serious, she's the one you need to talk to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th October 2012
02:17 GMT

The next painting in the gallery depicts one of Bleez's ancestors dressed in what I suspect is Thanagarian survey gear. There's a landing craft in the background and what I suspect is the future site of the castle in the background. The land is roughly the right shape, though I don't know how much they built it up before starting construction.

"What did he mean, 'when you intended to break it off'?"

"Havanian succession is hereditary. I imagine that he was assuming that humans and thanagarians can't reproduce together."

"Or that dalliances with aliens might be considered a sign of aristocratic eccentricity, but marrying one would be more serious."

"There's no danger of that. Though -ironically- the Thanagarian government would probably be fine with that, because it would tie me to the area. The opposition would come from local parties."

"How would a human man get Bleez pregnant?"

Jade's keeping her attention firmly on the painting. Ra's seems like the sort who'd include a course on art appreciation, but my own abilities to analyse paintings haven't improved since getting a good look at an original Adolf Hitler. Obviously they're laying claim to descent from the first people to explore Havania, implying that their rulership was destiny from that moment. But beyond that? There are objects and pieces of equipment which seem slightly out of place and probably have all sorts of significance, but…

"When a man and a woman-."

"Really?"

"It's practically required. And that's more or less how it happens: arcane inertia. The magic systems of Earth that all presently existing humans carry within them know as a result of millions of generations that male and female humanoids having sex produces babies. Mere biology stands no chance against that sort of magic."

She turns her head slightly, just far enough to look at me.

"Is that really how it works?"

"It's hard to test without…" I shrug. "Getting a lot of people interested in conceiving with alien partners together and… Getting them to give it a try in a mystically regulated environment."

"So the first time the tamaraneans visit."

I nod. "So the first time the tamaraneans visit. I mean, I'll warn them that it can happen, but they're not… Good at restraint." I shrug, smiling. "If you can't be good, be safe. And if you can't do that, would you mind wearing this arm band so that we can monitor the process?"

"How do you know that? Because if you're working up to telling me that Princess really is your daughter, this is a really roundabout way of doing it."

"While it's not impossible that the Queen got hold of a sample of my DNA and used that… Somehow, the Queen isn't humanoid, and isn't physiologically… Even if I'd gotten right up to the base-"

I make a grasping motion with both arms.

"-of her third leg, it wouldn't-."

There are footsteps a short distance behind us, and we turn to see that Ambassador Klus has joined us.

"Illustres. Darkstar."

I nod politely. "Ambassador. I'm sorry, I'd have greeted you sooner but I didn't see your name on the guest list..?"

"I'm here on government business. Once we were notified that you were in the Thanagarian Empire and appeared to be staying in one place, I was tapped to speak with you."

"I'm on holiday."

He doesn't look entirely convinced. "Really?"

Jade doesn't look convinced either. "He's trying." … "We're trying."

"And why did the Thanagarian government dispatch you?"

"Given your interactions with us to date, we felt it best that we ensure there aren't any more 'Hawkwoman' incidents."

"Hawkwoman incidents?"

His one remaining eye stares at me for several moments.

"You aren't aware, are you."

"Ah. I called her a coward, she challenged me to a duel, she lost, we're trying to avoid each other? Aside from the visit here, anyway."

"You're not. Obviously human duelling traditions are different, but I'm a little surprised that no one has said anything to you."

"About what?"

He walks a little closer and drapes his arms over the gallery railings.

"About the extent of your insult to her."

"Well, yes, martial culture, obviously she wouldn't take being called a coward well. I don't take my friends being enslaved well."

"No, not that. Your conduct in the duel, and afterwards."

I frown. "Was I supposed to kill her or something?"

"Or something." He straightens up. "You apparently don't understand why she was duelling you. It wasn't because she wanted to force you to take your accusation back; it was to disprove it, both to you and to her. You're an Illustres; she didn't think she could beat you in a fight. She wanted to prove that she was prepared to face an unbeatable foe without flinching. And what did you do?"

He gestures towards me with arms and wings.

"Rather than presenting an unbeatable foe, you used the minimum amount of force possible in an attempt to spare her injury. You treated her like an adolescent sparring with a tutor. You put her on the ground without injuring her, repeatedly, and only started injuring her when the referee told you it was required, all the time asking him to call off the fight. Implying that you found her attempts to prove herself irrelevant. And then you tried to surrender as if she was an irrational child acting out, not a warrior on the verge of reclaiming her pride."

"None of what you're saying makes me think I was wrong."

He looks away. "Of course it doesn't." He shakes his head before returning his attention to me. "And then the ultimate insult. Among thanagarians, in a fight like that the two parties would meet afterwards. She would acknowledge that you were right about her previous behaviour, and you would acknowledge that she had overcome that weakness."

"The moral cowardice I accused her of isn't the same as craven cowardice. Fighting an obvious enemy didn't prove-."

"Do you remember what you said to Katar Hol when he suggested visiting her?"

…

"Yes. I don't forget things. I said that I intended to avoid her because I didn't want her to decide to try and carry on fighting."

"And thus implying that you thought she fought you not over a point of principle, but because she was a berserker whose only thought was to mindlessly throw herself against you. There wasn't anything worse you could have said. So rather than resolving your conflict, you managed to continue it. And that's why the Thanagarian government sent me. My superiors are worried about what you might tear down next."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th October 2012
06:21 GMT

Should I apologise, or not?

I don't know enough about-.

"Are you still-" Jade walks in, towelling her hair dry. "-wondering whether you should apologise or not?"

"Yes."

"Don't. She's spent more time living around humans than you have thanagarians. She has far more reason to know about human culture than you do to know thanagarian culture. And I'm sure that the League-"

She sits down on the bed, putting the towel down and picking up a brush.

"-spent more time talking about you than you did Thanagar."

"Probably true. But, Batman told me to fix my relationships with the League members. And I.. tend to feel that as a superhero I-. It's not about doing the least I could do, or what I'm expected to do."

"I know."

I look down at the duvet for a moment.

"I.. know. Everywhere we go, I try working. Um. I just-. It's a habit I've gotten into, and basically everywhere I've gone is a place where I've had work to do. I don't really… I don't really know other places."

"You like being a superhero."

"I like doing what I do. I like… Some kind of problem-of-the-week television series, you know? Go to somewhere strange and new, fix the underlying problems that they -for some reason- can't fix using my 'outsider powers'."

She gives me a small but curious frown.

"Is there really nothing else you do?"

I… Shrug, awkwardly. "I did… Design an entire edition of Warhammer Forty Thousand?"

"That's the.. wargame you and Zatanna cosplay, isn't it? With the-" She points her right forefinger at her dressing gown covered left breast. "-piercing."

"You'd have to point your hand in a lot more places than that. Yeah-yes, that's the one."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't like the rules as they were. It wasn't balanced, the costs didn't reflect the utility of different unit and weapon choices, they didn't even bother balancing things between Codices, which is the entire point of even having point values, Games Workshop uses effectiveness as a tool to get existing players to buy the new stuff, rather than properly balancing the game to encourage new players to take it up."

I slump a little.

"They've already started editing the perfectly balanced version I created. Did they simulate billions of games while temporarily a god? I don't think so."

Ah…

"How-? How about you? Your newfound love of ballroom dancing notwithstanding?"

"I… Usually spend the first part of any assignment learning about local culture. I go to their hangouts, shopping precincts, bars and clubs, museums and theatres, trying to get a feel for how they think."

"How their society works."

She nods. "When I was a Shadow, it was basic reconnaissance. Now, it's… More of a habit."

"Do you..? Like it?"

"I-"

"Strange, alien-."

"-don't-" She shakes her head. "-know. I wouldn't like not doing it, because it's part of the system-." She looks away for a moment, thinking about how to phrase it. "It's part of how I make sure that a place is safe. With aliens, I doubt I'm learning as much as my instincts tell me I am, but it… Works. I still can't pass as native, but I could pass as someone who's been in the area for a while. And sometimes I pick up information related to our job."

"But it's still work. Or work-adjacent."

"When I started with the Shadows, I used to pick up a small doll whenever I went somewhere. At one point I had a small collection. But then we had to get out of a safe house in a hurry and they all got left behind. I didn't bother getting any more after that. It wasn't really a lifestyle that lent itself to materialism. How about reading?"

"Reading? Oh. Ah, not really. I mean, I used to read science fiction and fantasy, and now…"

I shrug, and she nods.

"I read his-. No, I have my ring shove the contents of history books into my brain. That's not really the same."

"I read briefing documents. They've offered me cybernetic implants to do what your ring does, but that always sounds like a bad idea."

"If the Director's cleared them, then they're almost certainly safe for humanoids. But I can understand not wanting to alter your mind like that."

She nods. "Exactly."

"Again. I-."

"It's fine." She looks me directly in the eyes. "If anything, it makes it easier for me to see who's had their mind altered by the Reach and who hasn't. There's no amount of empathy that would stop me killing someone who's been twisted like that. They're not themselves any more."

…

"I am. I may be a little nicer, but I'm still me."

"Good show."

She thinks for a moment.

"So far this hasn't worked. We're doing different work, but that wasn't what we're trying to do."

"I'm open to ideas."

Jade puts down her brush.

"Teach me how to play Warhammer Forty Thousand."

I nod. "Which edit-?" I blink. "What?"

"It has different editions? How long as it been out for?"

My face involuntarily relaxes, my mouth falling slightly open.

"What? I don't have any better ideas. I'm interested in what a 'perfectly balanced' game looks like."

"Get thee behind me, foul temptress."

She crosses her arms, looking at me incredulously.

"Is this what gate keeping feels like? 'No girls allowed'?"

"Alright."

I stand up and take a display table that I haven't meticulously prepared to display the iconic elements of each faction along with a selection of properly scaled titans. I walk around behind it like a salesman displaying his wares as she gets up off the bed and walks over to look at the Black Templars.

"Space gothic knights?"

"Heh."

"What?"

"A bit of an old meme. If your girlfriend's standing on the other side of the table wearing a dressing gown but you noticed the miniatures first, you're in the right place."

"You're not wearing a shirt and I'm looking at the models."

I smile warmly.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."