9th April
14:41 GMT -2
"...
cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy bl-
"
Queen Mera swims into the room.
"-ue-.
"
I dismiss my Cat's Cradle construct. I… Haven't really had much to do with Queen Mera for a while. Sephtian was my point of contact with the Conservatory. I don't even know whether the Atlanteans who swam in after her are government officials, aides, or additional security. I'm a little surprised to see her acting in what I assume is about to be a government capacity. My knowledge of Atlantean nobility isn't
perfect, but my understanding had been that she left that stuff to her husband.
"Your majesty.
"
She smiles politely.
"My lord Illustres."
That's… Probably about right.
"Just came from a meeting with the Venturian cabinet. Is that.. something I can talk to you about?
"
"Atlantean diplomatic custom would have us make small talk for a while first."
I nod.
"Alright. How's Artur getting along?
"
"He's in good health, thank you."
"Are you planning on having any more?
"
"I.. think that we'll be waiting a year or two before deciding on that."
"Because if you're concerned about the whole Atlantean brothers' curse thing-.
"
"I'm more than capable of ensuring that Artur only has sisters. And that line of enquiry is outside of what would be considered polite noncommittal conversation in Atlantean society."
"I'll keep that in mind. For an Orange Lantern, it's… If you don't care, why bother talking about it? I imagine you'd be more interested in the Deep Dream analysis I'm hiring the Venturians to do for me,
I'm certainly more interested in it-.
"
"Dream research?" I nod. "Are you interested in
prophecy?"
"No, I'm.. pretty sure that Apollo has it in for me, so there's basically no chance of me getting anything useful from an oracle. I believe that there's at least
some chance that-.
"
"That our arcane analytical equipment -which you shared with them- is now advanced enough that we might get something useful out of it? I hadn't even
considered that aspect of it."
"You don't really have the personnel to spare to work on the project here-.
"
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I have a near-complete list of every Atlantean research mage above a certain level courtesy of Professor Sephtian, because I asked him for the names of everyone he wanted to involve. I went to Venturia in the first place because-.
"
"None of them participate in our research programs."
"Though the chance of us getting anything useful isn't
that great. And-. Are you familiar with the novel Nineteen Eighty Four?
"
"No."
"It's… Really depressing for anyone trying to influence the world in a positive way, actually, but there's one bit where one of the characters says that they have some of the world's greatest scientists working on projects that won't ever bear fruit in order to keep them occupied. So if Poseidonis is worried about what Venturia's researchers are going to be doing-.
"
"They're going to be working on a project which -if successful- would result in them being able to command the fundamental forces of creation."
"And Oceana was going to get an earthquake machine. Except they
weren't, ever. At most, I expect to get a way to extend the distance from Earth magic can be actively used, and
that will probably be decades away. And it might turn out to be impossible. Which is worth knowing, but…
"
"I thought that you wanted to employ Venturia's sorcerers for the Orange Lantern Corps."
"King Cyprian's not going to release all that many for long term detached duty, and they're going to have to learn a new world's magic system almost from scratch before they can teach anyone. The point is that Venturia isn't going to present a security threat to Atlantis.
"
"Unless their research into the Dream bears fruit faster than you expect it to and they gain the ability to control magic universe-wide."
"Being an empath, and having spent some time in King Cyprian's presence, I feel safe in saying that if they
were that successful, everyone involved would be rounded up and told in no uncertain terms that they
weren't that successful, and that they were being reassigned to metaphorical Alaska, and that they should never talk about the thing that never happened again. Of course, you've got more resources. You could almost certainly outpace them. But-
"
"As you pointed out, we have more demands upon those resources and there may be no payoff at all." She considers for a moment. "Will the Venturian Academy be willing to share their findings?"
"I imagine that academic cooperation will be a subject for debate post-referendum. Though given that they didn't really share while they
were part of Atlantis and that I rather got the impression that King Orin was planning on using that sort of thing as a lure to persuade them to stay…
"
"Something which Kaldur assured me that you believed would not work."
"It wouldn't, but
me falling out with King Orin isn't a constitutional crisis. But since we've come full circle…
"
She nods. "What does Lord Cyprian wish for you to discuss with me?"
"King Cyprian wants to meet with High King Orin to discuss the terms of the referendum. How the vote will be conducted, the methods both sides will use to persuade people to their viewpoint, and what happens afterwards.
"
"And Queen Ptra's involvement in these discussions?"
"As far as Venturia is concerned, she's the ruler of an Atlantean city-state. She has as much right to be involved as, say, the Speaker of the Shayeris senate. They're not going to insist that she leave if she's there, but they're not there to negotiate with
her.
"
"Will they accept her as their Queen if the vote to leave fails?"
"It's not a vote to leave. They've already left. It's a vote to rejoin. And almost certainly not, though King Orin is welcome to raise the issue.
" I frown.
"I know that King Orin didn't grow up here, but you're a native. You are.. aware of the history here, aren't you?
"
"Some.. what. My studies were more focused on magic than on politics or history."
"At least make sure that King Orin is properly briefed before the meeting? Because he clearly hasn't been to date.
"
She looks at me for a few moments.
"I believe, Orange Lantern, that you have my husband's full attention."
