12th December 2012
15:23 GMT +1
"…returning from Ungara within a few days."
I
bring up the star chart.
"We're not expecting any real difficulty en route, so President Horne and I have organised a formal reception. Lex will be doing a… An internationalist speech, 'brotherhood of men' and not 'community of nations'." I lay down my notes and look around my colleagues in The Light. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask; how does everyone feel about involving aliens in the fleet?"
Circe turns her head slightly to the side, narrowing her eyes.
"I realise that Earth is your
adopted home-."
"
Other than me. I mean, as ratings, not administrators. I've been making my children watch Star Trek: the Next Generation, and I thought, you know, we could do that."
Clea shakes her head. "No. Perhaps in a few decades, once the institution is firmly established. Bringing in alien populations without a clear operational culture is simply asking for trouble."
Adom nods. "I am similarly sceptical. If it were a matter of an alliance with another power, I would leave it to you to asses their value. But everything we have learned about our neighbours in the stars is that they are weak and timorous. If we must implant steel in their spines before we can make any use of them…" He nods again. "I would rather wait."
Cranius smiles. "Implant zhe steel in zhe spine is not zo hard."
"Ah?" Richard smiles. "You've worked on aliens?"
"Not on
whole ones, no. But zhe humanoid form has certain commonalities. It really would be no great difficulty to adapt zhem. In zhe brain, courage is expressed in zhe structures responsible for group-affiliation. Unless our neighbours are purely solitary creatures coming togezher only to mate, nudging zhem a little is no great task."
Lex's screen makes a small noise at it turns towards Cranius.
"I do not think that editing the brains of our recruits should be our first choice. Even if they
are of limited use, there will be a few individuals who stand above their fellows." Another quiet whine from the screen's pedestal. "I am also against including aliens in the organisation. For now, at least."
I nod. "Fair enough. Richard?" He just shrugs. "Circe?"
"Are there magicians on any of them?"
"Other than Mars? No."
"Then I will also vote 'no'."
I nod. "Alright, that's a 'no' for now. Revisit in… Say, five years?" Nods. "Okay, that's me done. Ah… Richard."
"The Justice League have managed not to die for another month.
Somehow." He leans forward, eyes peering over the top of his smoking glasses. "Do you know how much kryptonite there is on Earth?"
I shake my head. "Maybe half a tonne?"
"He turned into a giant with a double-digit IQ! I didn't know kryptonite could even
do that!"
"I.. think the
red stuff can have mutagenic effects..?"
"Consider that
confirmed." He leans back, a black tendril restores his glasses to their accustomed perch. "Oh, and it turned out that
Ian Karkull survived as a wraith in the Shadowlands. Once he stuck his head out of cover I was able to give him the boot, but you should probably keep an eye out so that Lane doesn't acquire him for his expertise."
"Samuel isn't quite as eager to recruit people likely to cause long term problems as some of his contemporaries, but thank you for the reminder. Any idea what he was up to?"
Richard sneers. "Infecting the minds of mortal men with dreadful visions, so far as I can tell. Though according to
him, his original Transareal Beam has some sort of life-extension property. I'll be forwarding a copy of everything the League learned to The Screen."
The Screen displays a green oscilloscope of agreement. "That
does sound interesting. Everything you've told me suggests that contact with the Shadowlands is inimical to human health."
"As far as I know, it
is. All I can suggest is that it's something to do with how he made the connection, rather than the connection itself. Oh, and naturally Batman already has everything I've got."
"That is of no concern. Batman will work on a way to counter someone else using Karkull's technology. I would be
exceedingly surprised if he used it to benefit humanity."
"Good! Good. And I'll get started on working out how to persuade my lady wife to use the thing." He reaches out with his right fist and knocks on the meeting table surface. "Next."
Cranius inflates his air sacs, but Clea pre-empts him.
"If you don't mind, Cranius. I fear that what I say will impact you most of all."
"But of course. I wait with circular breath."
"Ahri'ahn has appeared."
My armour starts to glow, and Cranius
glowers. "
Where?"
"Poseidonis. He just appeared in the middle of a meeting of city-state ambassadors for a meeting with High King Orin. The ambassadors were dismissed, so I'm not entirely certain what they were discussing."
She looks over to Richard with eyebrows raised, but he just shakes his head.
"Orin's been away for a few days, but that's not all that unusual. Nothing's been mentioned. Has he been ensorcelled?"
"I
doubt it. High Queen Mera is an archmage, and the royal family have any number of enchanted artefacts to defend themselves with. Nothing that would stop Ahri'ahn for any length of time, but overwhelming them wouldn't be a
simple matter."
Circe looks disgruntled. "I would offer my services, but I'm… Not yet strong enough to counter Ahri'ahn reliably."
I nod. "Obviously, we need to know what's going on. Orin having a chinwag with a man who attacked and killed US military personnel is going to disrupt a lot of things."
Clea nods. "Since I'm the face of the engagement movement, I am the natural choice to find out what he thinks he's doing."
"Do you want me to be there? Or Sunset? I'm confident that I can tough out anything he can throw at me, and Sunset's a rather good thaumaturgist."
"No, this is an internal Atlantean matter at present. It would be better, politically, if I handled this myself."
I nod again. "Alright. Just remember that the rest of us are a phone call away."
"I will. Thank you. The only other thing of note I have to report is that Aurania is suffering from my trade embargo. People are actually
leaving the city to live elsewhere as the economy falters."
I shrug. "Does that..? Affect our operations in Atlantis in some way?"
"There will be a few more magic tutors looking for work. I'll send Circe a list of the more capable ones who might be interested in relocating to the surface." Circe gives her a grateful nod. "But I mostly just wanted an opportunity to be smug out loud. Revenge after so long feels like a tremendous weight I'd forgotten I was carrying has been lifted from me."
It's unproductive, but it's not really a problem if one Atlantean city gets frozen out.
"Alright, but try to keep it under control. I don't want to alienate Orin."
She waves off my concern. On her head be it, then.
"Adom…"