26th July 2013
17:33 GMT
I try not to let it show on my face as my ring reports that Cara Yat is indeed experiencing full kryptonian power, despite her ship only just passing through the Oort Cloud. She's frowning like she's trying to work out why I'm here. Her ship's meeting room looks… Old? Faded? I can see dust in a few places, but in a sealed environment like a starship there's only so much dust
to pile up. They might not have even thrown dust sheets on things before mothballing it as 'forbidden technology'.
Mrs. Yat's eyes widen slightly. "It was
you. You're the one who abducted my son."
I smile faintly. I'm going to
try and avoid openly provoking her, because I know that Diana's either going to watch this later or is watching it right
now, but keeping my face completely blank would probably be worse. Likewise, even though I
could cause her significant discomfort by generating ultra high or ultra low frequency sound because she can hear that and doesn't know how to ignore it yet, I don't.
"Nearly. How is your husband and his execution squad? I didn't
intend to do any permanent damage, but since you're here I should probably ask.
"
"They have recovered." She turns to Arisia. "Why hasn't he been arrested?"
"Well, that's-. That's because we only just found out that he-." Her eyes flick in my direction. "He's been
accused of kidnapping."
"Do you think I'm
hiding my son?"
"To be clear: no. I know precisely where Lantern Yat-
"
"
Lantern!?"
"-is at the moment. This issue is the implication that I forced him to leave. I didn't. I gave him the option to leave and he took it. And he's been free to return ever since.
"
Her face hardens. "He's a
child. Even if I believed you -which I
don't- that doesn't justify what you
did!"
I nod, clenching my left fist and bringing it to my mouth.
"Illustres to Wonder Woman. Could we please borrow your lasso? I feel it would speed things up.
"
"What lasso?"
I lower my fist, laying my hand flat on the table.
"Wonder Woman's lasso compels honesty in those touching it. You and I don't trust each other and have no reason to believe that the other is being honest. Having the lasso would bypass trust issues. I feel our conversation will be more productive if we can't lie and know that the other can't either.
"
She frowns the frown of someone who has yet to encounter 'Earth nonsense', and finds herself looking to Arisia for confirmation.
Arisia nods. "It really works. But I don't think that
assuming that the other person is lying is going to.. help."
I just shrug, watching to see if Mrs. Yat is going to comment.
"Why isn't my son
here?"
"Because I thought that giving him a few hours to calm down would be a good idea.
"
She snorts, scowling. "I don't believe for a
moment than Sodam is afraid of me."
"No, that wasn't what I meant. Afraid of being taken away from the life he's made which he
really likes.
You being here in particular didn't appear to be a factor. Did your husband relay to you how our encounter went?
"
"Yes."
I turn to Arisia.
"Would you like to see my recording? I feel that you may find it informative.
"
"I…" Her eyes move from me to Mrs. Yat. "I think we're skipping a few stages. Cara, what do you want to get out of this meeting?"
"My son, on this ship, returning to Daxam."
"O-kay. And… Just 'for instance'… What if he doesn't want to go back?"
She shakes her head. "
Irrelevant. Our civilisation exists to keep us
safe from the corruption of the rest of the universe. He's a
child. It's best for
him, it's best for all of us."
"And… Um, for how long?"
"What?"
"I know kryptonian men could go through their
rite of passage-."
"We
abandoned that tradition. It was an insult to the idea of the virtue of physical labour. Of dealing with people directly rather than with machines and telescreens. He would be recognised as an adult when he can do the
work of an adult."
"Ah. Well, you'll be pleased to know that the surviving kryptonians have abandoned
that part of their culture as well.
"
"I don't care about
them at all."
"I just thought that you might be concerned about how Lantern Yat was being raised and wanted to put your mind at ease.
"
"
You have no right-" Her hands clamp down on her side of the table and
squeeze the metal between them. "-
to raise my son at all!"
"Good news, then: I'm not. Lantern Coutara is. And her daughter, Lantern Taranna. According to his teachers he's doing well in school, despite the primitive standard of his education before he escaped Daxam. I understand if you-
"
Crunch!
"-would-.
"
The table has been broken in half where Mrs. Yat hit it. She's.. not attacking me, though. Instead she's sort of blinking in confusion at the table and her own right hand.
"Yes, that takes a little getting used to, doesn't it? Would you.. like me to put it back together?
"
She hesitates for a moment, then gives me a small and awkward nod. A wave of orange and the table is back in one piece.
"We do have a kryptonian on Earth who only arrived a month ago. If you want help growing accustomed to your strength-.
"
She overcomes her surprise, face hardening. "I won't be here for long enough for it to be worthwhile."
"No? Because that's actually a solution. I don't have any objection to you talking to Lantern Yat, and I admit that we haven't had him doing 'adult work', so he's still a child by that definition. There's no force that could force him to go back to Daxam so that's not happening, but you're free to stick around if you want to involve yourself in his life.
"
"Absolutely not."
"Would you accept him basing himself on Daxam while commuting? Until he becomes a full adult at least.
"
"Only if you removed his ring."
"He can hardly commute with no ring.
"
"Um." Arisia leans forward. "I think… I
should see what happened when you recruited him?"
"Certainly.
" I connect my ring to the holoprojector.
"I hope that you find it illuminating.
"
