Amelia, Ch 248
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Amelia, Ch 248
"The entire biosphere?" Vickory asked.
"For all intents and purposes," Taylor responded. "Our powers don't have upper limits on mass. As long as it's a single life form, Amelia can control all of it. As long as it's within my range and is an arthropod, I can control all of that. There aren't a lot of places on earth where bugs and spiders aren't found. On Avalon, there are even fewer. We can defend our entire planet pretty much in real time."
"That is rather intimidating," Vickery admitted.
"It also deserves noting that alongside our ability to defend ourselves and our colonists, Avalon is a truly fresh start," I added. "Our government and history is truly new, lacking in wars and nationalism and ugly history. Founded with a mixture of nationalities, ideals and beliefs. We are welcoming of everyone, as long as they aren't going to hurt others."
We had our tag team system on full auto by this point. Taylor was the one who talked about the mechanical realities, the dangers and how we'd respond to them. The stereotypically 'masculine' side of our partnership. I was the one who offered the possibilities and ideologies. The hopes we offered the future. The more 'feminine' side. It suited us both pretty well.
"I see you have given this a great deal of consideration," Vickery replied. "So, let's try the opposite angle. What do you consider the greatest weakness of your colony world compared to the others?"
I paused. Fuck, hadn't thought of that one. Luckily Taylor reacted quickly enough. "In general? I'd say the lack of establishment. Other nations will be able to recruit their own best and brightest to oversee their colonial development. Industrial records such as where to find mineral deposits that should be in the same locations in their earth as they were on Bet. From that angle, we're very much at a disadvantage. Hopefully we'll be able to find enough talented individuals hoping for an unfettered world to work with to offset this weakness."
We already have, I added silently. Namely, Dragon. She already has almost six hundred of her employees on Avalon. And, of course, Accord. Who was happily doing his part and being rewarded thoroughly for it.
"Economy," I added, having picked my answer. "We will have our own national currency, but for the first year or so it will be backed by Pantheon's personal wealth. We are, essentially, promising to buy our own currency in exchange for the American Dollar. It won't remain that way for very long, but it will be the starting basis."
"What of those who point to your power of clairaudience as a violation of privacy?" Vickery asked next. "You would make an impressive form of Big Brother. Or sister, in this case."
Taylor sighed. "Honestly? I don't like it any more than anyone else does. I'm very good at not paying attention to my power's senses. Considering that many species of insect are scavengers feeding on dead animals and offal, you can imagine how glad I am for that. Admittedly, my promise that I don't want to spy on people won't change the fact that I certainly could. Hopefully being honest will earn some trust."
"We are hoping that the benefits of living in a world without starvation or war or any significant amount of crime will be enough to let people put aside that fear," I offered. "Or true equality between people in a way that's never been seen on Bet. If not those things, then the advantages of our Thinker and Tinker designed legal, economic and education systems should add up as well. It's amazing what a nation can afford to do for its people when it doesn't need to spend its money on soldiers and tanks. We will get our fair share of colonists. More as time goes on and it becomes clear how effective our system really is."
Pity we lost Japan when Lily decided she couldn't go through with the marriage. I didn't blame her at all, but it would have been convenient. On the plus side, Dragon was planning to change her citizenship almost immediately.
"With all this talk of colonies and colony worlds," Vickery mused. "Has there been discussions of opening gateways to inhabited worlds?"
"The subject's come up," I acknowledged. "The possibility of Aleph, at the very least, is very high. They are similar enough to Bet that there wouldn't be a difficult cultural barrier to overcome, and their world is facing notable overpopulation issues. It also helps that we've been able to communicate with them for quite some time, now. However, that is a matter of international discussion between Aleph and Bet. Avalon will participate in those discussions, of course."
"It will likely be years before we do so," Taylor added. "There is the risk that any worlds we open gateways to might face the dangers of Endbringer attacks. Whatever value there might be in physical interaction between Aleph and Bet, it's clearly not worth the risk of unleashing the Endbringers on defenseless worlds. At least Bet has heroes that can fight the monsters."
"This is clearly a complex issue that deserves a lot of consideration before any final answers are decided," Vickery agreed. "Care to share any of your thoughts on what interplanetary policy you plan to support?"
"Sure," I agreed. "We are strongly in favor of inviting Aleph into the colonization program. As well as six other worlds we've discovered where history diverged within the last fifty years or so. One actually diverges from Aleph at the point where Bet made contact with one, but not the other. We're less enthusiastic about a number of other worlds. In at least one example, Europe never developed into a colonial power and the natives are the only people of their analogue of America. We paid attention during history and will oppose any plan to open that world, or the others like it, which diverged from our own centuries ago."
"In fact, as a good rule of thumb," Taylor jumped in. "I imagine a policy of only opening to planets which are at least in the information age of their development will be the standard. And, most likely, we will include other policies like only opening a channel of communication at first. Much the way we currently have with Aleph, until we get to know each other and allow them to adjust to our differences. We might find some worlds we never choose to access. There are hundreds of developed worlds out there, and each will require its own unique approach."
"I imagine we might need a new naming convention for all these earths," Vickery replied with a grin.
"Luckily, that problem isn't ours to worry about," I agreed.
....
"About three hours," Lisa replied, switching to a channel that was in Spanish. Sure enough, there was our interview going again, complete with subtitles. "Good news is, we're pretty well liked in the yuppie crowd. Bad news is, they're not likely to move in the first place. Our political freedom acts are interesting a lot of possible colonists overseas, but it's not like it's easy to collect those. China's threatening war if we don't give them a world of their own." DisgustContempt.
"China can fuck itself," Taylor muttered. "They want to start a war, I'll be happy to finish it."
"It's actually working in our favor. A lot of their neighbors are afraid of being invaded if we give them a portal, so their refugees are likely to see us as the primary option for colonization. Our offer of semi independent states has also drawn interest from subjugated cultures such as the Native American tribal groups. I'm uncertain how that'll work out in the long run. Right now it's a whole lot of 'we like what they're trying to do, but we'll wait and see how it looks later before we commit'. We'l have to wait until the first colony worlds start collapsing."
"I really don't like how our entire plan revolves around profiting from the suffering of innocent people," I muttered. AgreementDismay.
"Can't be helped," Lisa dismissed. "If people weren't suffering, we wouldn't even need to build a colony world. We could just keep Avalon as a nice, empty field full of Zerg for us and industrial complexes for Dragon. We could pack the planet with enough ordinance to peel the topsoil off of another planet if we needed to. But we don't. Because we want to be nice and share our sandbox with others."
"I thought we went public with Avalon so we could hide Mashu," I replied.
"Hey, I said we let others have our sandbox," she smirked. "I never said anything about us not finding another one. Besides, we paid out our fucking ass for that one.
========================
A/N- I believe someone said something about an omake after Avalon goes public?
"The entire biosphere?" Vickory asked.
"For all intents and purposes," Taylor responded. "Our powers don't have upper limits on mass. As long as it's a single life form, Amelia can control all of it. As long as it's within my range and is an arthropod, I can control all of that. There aren't a lot of places on earth where bugs and spiders aren't found. On Avalon, there are even fewer. We can defend our entire planet pretty much in real time."
"That is rather intimidating," Vickery admitted.
"It also deserves noting that alongside our ability to defend ourselves and our colonists, Avalon is a truly fresh start," I added. "Our government and history is truly new, lacking in wars and nationalism and ugly history. Founded with a mixture of nationalities, ideals and beliefs. We are welcoming of everyone, as long as they aren't going to hurt others."
We had our tag team system on full auto by this point. Taylor was the one who talked about the mechanical realities, the dangers and how we'd respond to them. The stereotypically 'masculine' side of our partnership. I was the one who offered the possibilities and ideologies. The hopes we offered the future. The more 'feminine' side. It suited us both pretty well.
"I see you have given this a great deal of consideration," Vickery replied. "So, let's try the opposite angle. What do you consider the greatest weakness of your colony world compared to the others?"
I paused. Fuck, hadn't thought of that one. Luckily Taylor reacted quickly enough. "In general? I'd say the lack of establishment. Other nations will be able to recruit their own best and brightest to oversee their colonial development. Industrial records such as where to find mineral deposits that should be in the same locations in their earth as they were on Bet. From that angle, we're very much at a disadvantage. Hopefully we'll be able to find enough talented individuals hoping for an unfettered world to work with to offset this weakness."
We already have, I added silently. Namely, Dragon. She already has almost six hundred of her employees on Avalon. And, of course, Accord. Who was happily doing his part and being rewarded thoroughly for it.
"Economy," I added, having picked my answer. "We will have our own national currency, but for the first year or so it will be backed by Pantheon's personal wealth. We are, essentially, promising to buy our own currency in exchange for the American Dollar. It won't remain that way for very long, but it will be the starting basis."
"What of those who point to your power of clairaudience as a violation of privacy?" Vickery asked next. "You would make an impressive form of Big Brother. Or sister, in this case."
Taylor sighed. "Honestly? I don't like it any more than anyone else does. I'm very good at not paying attention to my power's senses. Considering that many species of insect are scavengers feeding on dead animals and offal, you can imagine how glad I am for that. Admittedly, my promise that I don't want to spy on people won't change the fact that I certainly could. Hopefully being honest will earn some trust."
"We are hoping that the benefits of living in a world without starvation or war or any significant amount of crime will be enough to let people put aside that fear," I offered. "Or true equality between people in a way that's never been seen on Bet. If not those things, then the advantages of our Thinker and Tinker designed legal, economic and education systems should add up as well. It's amazing what a nation can afford to do for its people when it doesn't need to spend its money on soldiers and tanks. We will get our fair share of colonists. More as time goes on and it becomes clear how effective our system really is."
Pity we lost Japan when Lily decided she couldn't go through with the marriage. I didn't blame her at all, but it would have been convenient. On the plus side, Dragon was planning to change her citizenship almost immediately.
"With all this talk of colonies and colony worlds," Vickery mused. "Has there been discussions of opening gateways to inhabited worlds?"
"The subject's come up," I acknowledged. "The possibility of Aleph, at the very least, is very high. They are similar enough to Bet that there wouldn't be a difficult cultural barrier to overcome, and their world is facing notable overpopulation issues. It also helps that we've been able to communicate with them for quite some time, now. However, that is a matter of international discussion between Aleph and Bet. Avalon will participate in those discussions, of course."
"It will likely be years before we do so," Taylor added. "There is the risk that any worlds we open gateways to might face the dangers of Endbringer attacks. Whatever value there might be in physical interaction between Aleph and Bet, it's clearly not worth the risk of unleashing the Endbringers on defenseless worlds. At least Bet has heroes that can fight the monsters."
"This is clearly a complex issue that deserves a lot of consideration before any final answers are decided," Vickery agreed. "Care to share any of your thoughts on what interplanetary policy you plan to support?"
"Sure," I agreed. "We are strongly in favor of inviting Aleph into the colonization program. As well as six other worlds we've discovered where history diverged within the last fifty years or so. One actually diverges from Aleph at the point where Bet made contact with one, but not the other. We're less enthusiastic about a number of other worlds. In at least one example, Europe never developed into a colonial power and the natives are the only people of their analogue of America. We paid attention during history and will oppose any plan to open that world, or the others like it, which diverged from our own centuries ago."
"In fact, as a good rule of thumb," Taylor jumped in. "I imagine a policy of only opening to planets which are at least in the information age of their development will be the standard. And, most likely, we will include other policies like only opening a channel of communication at first. Much the way we currently have with Aleph, until we get to know each other and allow them to adjust to our differences. We might find some worlds we never choose to access. There are hundreds of developed worlds out there, and each will require its own unique approach."
"I imagine we might need a new naming convention for all these earths," Vickery replied with a grin.
"Luckily, that problem isn't ours to worry about," I agreed.
....
"This has been Stan Vickory, on location in Avalon."
"It is an interesting proposition," one of the political analysis types stated, looking at the tape. Some economics professor from Harvard or something, I was barely paying attention. "They're not wrong that they will get their colonists. If nothing else, the parahuman populations of much of the world would be lured by the promise of equality.
"That's true, but how long could you expect such a system to last?" A woman asked. PRT of some type. "It's being run by a bunch of teenage girls."
"If you read Avalon's constitution, they run almost nothing," another woman corrected. "The Empresses have very little responsibility or power outside of their function as military leaders and international diplomacy. We've seen their work through Pantheon. I think they've proven they can handle themselves in those arenas."
"How long has this been going on?" I sighed."About three hours," Lisa replied, switching to a channel that was in Spanish. Sure enough, there was our interview going again, complete with subtitles. "Good news is, we're pretty well liked in the yuppie crowd. Bad news is, they're not likely to move in the first place. Our political freedom acts are interesting a lot of possible colonists overseas, but it's not like it's easy to collect those. China's threatening war if we don't give them a world of their own." DisgustContempt.
"China can fuck itself," Taylor muttered. "They want to start a war, I'll be happy to finish it."
"It's actually working in our favor. A lot of their neighbors are afraid of being invaded if we give them a portal, so their refugees are likely to see us as the primary option for colonization. Our offer of semi independent states has also drawn interest from subjugated cultures such as the Native American tribal groups. I'm uncertain how that'll work out in the long run. Right now it's a whole lot of 'we like what they're trying to do, but we'll wait and see how it looks later before we commit'. We'l have to wait until the first colony worlds start collapsing."
"I really don't like how our entire plan revolves around profiting from the suffering of innocent people," I muttered. AgreementDismay.
"Can't be helped," Lisa dismissed. "If people weren't suffering, we wouldn't even need to build a colony world. We could just keep Avalon as a nice, empty field full of Zerg for us and industrial complexes for Dragon. We could pack the planet with enough ordinance to peel the topsoil off of another planet if we needed to. But we don't. Because we want to be nice and share our sandbox with others."
"I thought we went public with Avalon so we could hide Mashu," I replied.
"Hey, I said we let others have our sandbox," she smirked. "I never said anything about us not finding another one. Besides, we paid out our fucking ass for that one.
========================
A/N- I believe someone said something about an omake after Avalon goes public?
