"Did your ring recognise the location?"
Another quick shake. "No. We could be in a parallel universe, or another time, or just another galaxy where the Corps doesn't have good star charts."
So, the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere, as far as Corps support is concerned. Looks like backup will be
very hard to acquire, unless Canis can come through with his Mother Box.
"Or all three."
I glance at the doors leading to the parliament chamber where Abednego is making his full report.
No shouting yet, so presumably he hasn't made any suggestions yet. I expect there are a
lot of horrified faces, though.
"I've never evacuated a planet before. You?"
"Yeah. Once. You know what a 'maximizer' is?"

<sucks breath through teeth> Oh, one of
those... So
annoying when people forget to set limits on their AI's commands.
"A type of badly programmed AI. One that is told to do something and given no mechanism for assessing its objective relative to the wider needs of society. You ran into one?"
A common example: "Make paperclips." No limits set on time, quantity or consumption of resources? Bad idea.
He nods. "It wasn't all that clever, but it had already converted pretty much its whole home system into machinery. By the time Lanterns got called in, it was already getting near another inhabited planet. That was a bigger evacuation than this, and they were able to terraform their planet back after we got done destroying the robots. This isn't the same thing. If we take these people away, they can't ever come back."
Well, good to hear things ended well for them. Bet they'll reconsider AI from now on, though.
He thinks for a moment.
"You got a way to beat this thing?"
Oh, I'm sure OL has ideas. Many,
many ideas. But how many of them the locals will accept as valid, tolerable or possible, that shall be seen.
"Giving the Columbians better profane and arcane technology will probably allow them to survive. Better necromancy…"
"What about using your ring to disintegrate it? You said that the Sheeda stuff you tried it on turned to dust."
Eh... Could you generate and maintain the
desire or
will to burn the entire planet clean? Planets are
damn big. Short of letting him bond with Ophidian again...
"On a life form by life form basis. And while I didn't get a perfect look, I think this planet is covered in Sheeda beasts. I think Melmoth brought a cross-section here with him and told them to go forth and multiply. My worry is that he's spent the rest of the time since his 'death' doing the same to other planets. Or that he's trying to convert the entire mass of the planet."
"How dangerous are they? Unless there's something I'm not seeing, you killed them easy enough. And they can't use technology, so they can't get off-planet."
There's a scary idea. Multiple planets out there, all set up like Witchworld. Whole worlds set up as breeding factories for Sheeda creatures, letting them mutate and diverge in potentially useful fashions as they will.
"The worms we fought were his mining tools. The magical super-acid was their equivalent of a drill, not a dedicated weapon. Assuming that the Columbians have been reasonably thorough in keeping Sheeda creature levels down… I'd assume that the really dangerous creatures mostly live away from here. If Melmoth was mostly leaving them wild he wouldn't want them near where he was building his settlement."
Sensible, at least. He's still an obnoxious shit. And like I said, who knows what changes they're going through in far-away territories?
"How was the village planning on handling it?"
I shrug.
"Their creatures broke their obedience spells when Melmoth flicked his switch. They handled it, but can't evacuate without a way to transport.. food, at least."
I'm guessing there were deaths, both of the beasts and their former masters...
"They could come here. You said there aren't that many of them, even if every small town packed up and moved out."
Yes, like the town with the maggot pit. Whose inhabitants are almost certainly turning into spine rider thralls even now.
Never mind the whole religious prosecution the Columbians were committing against them.
Yes, I can see that reunion going well...
"I doubt that the Columbians would accept that. I didn't ask them to point out their warlocks, but I'm confident that there are a few."
He folds his arms across his chest. "You think they'd sing the same tune if we told them we're helping everyone or no one?"
Do not underestimate the mind of the religious hardliner. I can easily foresee some Columbians declaring this to be 'The Lord's righteous punishment for their sloth, in not exterminating the warlock-breed wherever they be found!' and announcing their intent to stay and fight regardless of their chances.
I raise my eyebrows. "Would religious fanatics fold to external pressure quickly?"
He looks away. "Yeah."
Yes, their willful refusal would likely do a Green Lantern proud. Seriously, oil and water. Or in this case, Dioxygen Diflouride and air..
"Of course, religious fanaticism could help. If I give one of the locals an orange ring, they might be able to carry out a purge."
"'Purge' as in 'get rid of the Sheeda animals', or 'purge'-."
Wouldn't be the first time OL's had to rein in a genocidal Orange Lantern.
"I'd wrestle it off them if they attempted genocide. But the locals are far more invested in this world than I am." I exhale. "It's a shame I wasn't able to make common cause with Melmoth. If he's got a plan to defeat the Queen, we could make use of it."
"How exactly is he planning on getting his animals back to Earth?"
Probably the same way he got them here, way back when?
However that was. Presumably by driving them into a stampede and opening the way...
"Pass. We still don't know how he got all these people here in the first place. It could be that there's a space ship somewhere on this planet that we haven't found. He clearly has a good enough command of magic to hide it from our scans, and I don't know if Doctor Mist understands this planet's magic or the magic of the Sheeda well enough to locate it quickly. And…"
There's always the nuclear option: Call in Ophidian and start a Quintessence Waveform scan. It might not even take that long this time, given his advancement in skill..
Oh heck.
"It's not like we actually know that the settlers on Roanoke were the only people he abducted. There could be any number of settlements across this world or across others in the same situation."

...Shit. Gods only know how many missing colonies there are out there.
"You actually think that's what's happened?"
"No idea. Which is rather the problem."
So many unknowns. And so few options for calling in backup. Hello there, Shit Creek, now where have the paddles gone?
We stand there for a moment, and I strain to hear any sound coming out of the debate chamber. No, no chance of that in a society of magic users.
"Do you have someone in mind?"
For a possible Orange Lantern recruit? How many of the locals does he even know?
"For what?"
"Recruiting. If you need to recruit a local to deal with the Sheeda lichen, or animals. That Abednego guy?"
Eh... Too laid-back. He doesn't seem to have much in the way of wants. Much too Zen.
"No, his style of magic means that he doesn't think in the right sort of way. If I actually had to pick someone I'd probably ask them to line up witch-hunters and get them to drop their personal wards so I could get a good look at them. But if I had to pick someone now… Beulah Bleak."
"Klarion's sister? Does she hate you?"
I don't know... He
did kill her asshole little brother. Or at least ensure justice could be done to him. Most of her annoyance at him was because she wanted to do it herself, wasn't it?
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
John snorts in amusement.
Wouldn't be the first time OL's worked with someone who doesn't like him much.
"She was willing to die if she got another shot at Klarion. She's driven, selfless and devout. I'm not sure her staying in the Corps afterwards would work, and she's definitely a genocide risk… Or if Doctor Mist finds a way to transport everyone here back to our Earth."
"You think that's a good idea?"
I'm sure they can find a place on Earth somewhere. There might be some teething troubles culturally, but I'm sure they would happily go somewhere remote and found a new colony.
"They've got a very useful skill set. I'm sure we can find somewhere to settle them if they're willing to trade their arcane knowledge. And if three witch-hunters handled coming over without being disabled by culture shock, I'm sure they can manage. And we could put the warlock-breed a long way away from the rest, if that was going to be a problem."
I know Russia would snap them up, especially if we sent the rest to America. There's no future in relying on uneducated tribal shaman, and no obvious way to transition them into something better.
Eh, it's a
crude plan, but at least it's something
resembling a plan.
"In fact, I should probably-."
My ring blinks, and John's does as well. We both raise them, and Alan's head appears.
"Paul? John? We're got a problem."
Oh, what now? A stampede of Sheeda creatures? Warlock-breed on a rampage? The outcasts rentering home in hopes of succour?