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.
After the Sheeda invasion, it's probably not the
strangest thing they've seen.
"You seem to be managing."
"Why aren't more people noticing you?"
I shrug. "All white people look the same?"
Probably a defensive reaction to seeing a Superhero acting all casual. ...Then again, this isn't Marvel Universe
New York..
Vietnam got his 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.
On the upside... Ah...
I got nothin'.
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.
I shudder to imagine what that's doing to the
linguistic makeup of the nation. Consider places where African languages fused with European to produce
things like the distinct
Cajun patter.
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."
It's good to be connected, eh? That village was probably one of the
safest places on Earth for a while.
"Any particular preference on where to go next?"
"Is there anywhere on Earth where we won't be recognised?"
...Antarctica? Themyscira? The Amazons might respect their privacy, though it might be a
bit too old-school for Jade.
"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."
Heh. Bet Boss Smiley is fuming about all the 'this ain't like the
real world any more' stuff going on.
"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.
If they're lucky, they'd just get ignored or brushed off. If they're unlucky, or pushy... Well, good thing OL carries healing rays.
"What about another planet?"
I nod. "We can go to another planet. Do you have anywhere in mind?"
Heh. Exhausted all the possibilities on Earth. Time to look to the stars, eh?
"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…"
Police State, remember?
Ah…
"Get arrested because they.. don't really do tourist visas outside of a few port… Cities. Um. We could probably… Manage on Rashashoon?"
Honestly, Jade might find Rashashoon
refreshing. Lots of asses to be kicked. Not exactly a
relaxing time, though.
"What's wrong with Odym?"
"Nothing. Nothing. Except the complete lack of facilities."
That can be fixed, you know. After all, if you
want it, you can have a climate-controlled little holiday
bunker home set up in under five minutes.
She folds her arms across her chest and leans back slightly in her chair.
"I thought you were in the Eagle Scouts."
Well,
doing something and
enjoying it are two different things...
"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?"
Given Jade's insistence on a shower back in Kenya, I don't think she's in the mood to rough it either...
"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."
...
Yeah. DC aliens can get
real weird once you step away from the anthropoid form.
"Emana? They're actually got a government now."
"What did they have before?"
Something like a Cyberpunk RPG setting? Seriously, I would not have wanted to live there 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."
And likely be violently offended if you refused?
"If they realised that I was there. But, yes."
"No work."
What if work finds you? Don't tell me
you're not carrying a weapon or two hidden somewhere...
"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?"
Havania, for reference. Not a lot of info on it outside of Bleez's
tragic backstory.
"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?"
Eh, it's surprisingly common once you leave the solar system in DC. Though usually never so
crassly described as 'slavery'...
"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?"
...Not unless their landowner is a sadist, I suspect...
"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?"
...Yes, that's so much better.
"I probably should." I reach down to my bad and take a LCD screen linked to a Bleed fracture pulse receiver. That shouldn't look particularly strange to anyone who sees it. "Calling Bleez."
Compliance.
Heh. Interplanetary Comms device... Disguised as a common smartphone.
"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-."
Wonder how much of it's been catching on?
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!"
...And this is why Video-phones never caught on until the smartphone generation. All those inevitable 'eek, I was in the
shower!' calls.
