With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

6 564 941.M41

One nice thing about the older kor'vattra ships is that they have lounges and function rooms designed to be comfortable meeting places. Rounded tables capable of being raised or lowered to whatever height was appropriate for the tau's guests, and soft backless seats that were the designer's best guess for the widest variety of possible new friends. Because, naturally, the aliens they would encounter when the tau first flew into deep space would -barring unfortunate misunderstanding- be friendly and open to the idea of the Greater Good.

Kor'or'vesh ships are built with different principles in mind.

Tsua'm lowers herself into one of the tau-friendly chairs next to a low-set table, an alien seat opposite her already adjusting itself to what the ship's AI has listed as a me-appropriate height. I wait for it to stop and lock itself in place before sitting down myself.

"So where did you want to-?"

"Why me?"

"As.. opposed to..?"

"A human, from an enculturated world, perhaps? Or… Miss Lantern?"

"Ah… Degree of social interaction? We haven't spent a significant amount of time on a world like that, and it wouldn't make sense to base ourselves on one. Which means that unless I… Ask for some people to get brought to Lar'shi, which is a pointless use of resources unless there was another reason to bring them or I somehow knew that one was a perfect match for me."

"There is a motion which gets brought before the Eugenics Board at periodic intervals to expand their remit to other species. So far, they have always decided that outside of overt mutation, they simply don't know enough about alien biology to perform their usual duties."

"Tau castes pretty much require that sort of thing. If you were going to set up an equivalent thing for human-inhabited worlds… Well, you couldn't, the populations are too high, but you'd need a new organisation rather than one that would try imposing things that make sense for tau onto humans. And it would make more sense to monitor for psychic potential rather than trying to maximise their capacity for a particular trade."

"Tau caste require that sort of thing because we find tau in other castes attractive."

"I'd love to see the statistics on that. I've got a few suspicions about why."

"Oh? Tell me. I would be interested in an alien perspective."

"Tau castes are based on the pre-unification tribal groups, right? The tribes had skills that lent themselves to particular activities, and T'au society went from simply having those characteristics to deliberately exaggerating them. But the tribes looked a lot more like each other than the modern day castes do, right?" She nods. "So the castes are a recent thing, and your brains haven't really adapted to them yet. It's the same as the reason why I find small furry things with big eyes appealing; human children are small and have relatively big eyes, and our evolutionary predecessors were furry."

"So our devotion to the Greater Good must fight against our mont'au instincts."

"Your brain is rigged to look for certain things in your mates. If I had to guess, I'd say that… Fire Caste and Earth Caste males were generally considered most attractive males, and… Water Caste females… And Maybe Ethereal females would be considered the most attractive females. And Air Caste were the least appealing of both sexes."

"Because they are the most divergent from our ancestral forms. Fire and Earth have traits which make them seem more male to the primitive parts of our brains. And… Water Caste…"

Her eyes blink rapidly as she considers the idea.

"I… Will attempt to confirm that when we arrive at T'au."

"Why bother?" I shrug. "Just take a load of facial images and ask everyone on board to rate their attractiveness. There's no need to look at people who actually broke the Eugenics Board's rules."

"But how does that apply to humans? You."

"You have the same softer skin and more rounded faces that a human female would compared to a human male. And none of the traits that would suggest poor health in a human."

"Blue skin is not the sign of a healthy human."

"No, but it's so unusual that our genes haven't adapted to encourage avoiding it outside of the 'avoid the strange' programming."

"And I am not strange?"

"Most of the people I interact with on a daily basis are tau. I've even picked up some of the language, and I'm terrible with languages. I guess I've just… Adapted." … "The humans being weird probably helped."

"So you are not attracted to Miss Lantern because as an Earth Caste female she has a more masculine appearance."

"It doesn't help. It's also because… When I spend time with her, it's more professional. It's a professional occasion. I spend more time with you socially. And even if we… My knowledge of physics isn't good enough to.. share her interests."

"And the females of Kais's squad have a similar impediment."

"'Impediment'?" I raise my eyebrows. "Is there some sort of contest going on that I don't know about?"

She shakes her head once. "No."

I slump theatrically. "Harsh."

For a moment she looks genuinely concerned, but I can see in her face the moment she grasps that it's a joke. And as she decides to use human body language, smiling and covering her mouth with her right hand.

"See? You get me. It's basically just you and Bo'ohk who can do that."

"I suppose that I do. How would it work?"

"We would spend more time together, engage in recreational activities together… It's not something I've done much, and from what you said about your mother's efforts to help you make contacts-" Her right hoof twitches. "-you hadn't either. So we'd be finding out together."

"That is not entirely true."

"Oh?"

"There are… Primitive human societies within the Tau Empire, where there have been… Ceremonial marriages between a member of the Water Caste and one of their people."

"I'm not planning on us being ceremonial."

"Officially ceremonial. It is.. not impossible, that things are… Different, in practice. Under the circumstances, I will request… Further information from those involved."

"Huh."

"It would be difficult. The Eugenics Board may not be so pushy as my mother, but I will be expected to have children at some point."

I shrug. "That's why I'm planning to ask for access to their full database. It should be perfectly possible for me to… Create a genetic sequence that's a tau-equivalent of me. If we… Got that far."

"And sex? I assume that you want to have sex with me. Our… Systems are not completely compatible."

"A nerve ending doesn't know how it's being stimulated. I think there are ways around what might be a problem, in a more primitive society. I am confident in my ability to satisfy your requirements."

"You have thought about it in depth?"

"I've thought about you in depth." She nods. "So? Further queries?"

"I believe-" She gets up. "-that my curiosity-" She walks around the table. "-must be satiated by more direct st-."

She tries to sit on my knees, misses, and ends up on the floor.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Fear Ourself

20th January 2013
10:02 GMT

Jade nods. "The food is-." She frowns. "Better, here."

I look around the calm street in which our restaurant is situated. If not for the odd colour of the residents this could be somewhere in France or Italy; the roads are cobblestone and the buildings are clearly modernised relics of an earlier age.

Not Britain though: they drive on the right.

"Better than raw liquidised space snake?"

"Yes, but-." She looks uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"What happens to the souls of the people who get eaten?"

I don't ask her to clarify whether she means the souls or the people.

"Nothing special. If the death is traumatic enough the person who ate them might become the attachment point for their ghost rather than the place they died, but otherwise they're off to the local afterlife as normal. Unless… You're telling me otherwise."

She gives her head a small shake, not looking at me. "I don't know."

"Most people the citizenry kill are on planets, and most of the rest are near to inhabited planets. What I experienced with my second death is unusual and only really happens in deep space. Even if you… Had a ghost haunting you, we're on a world with a measurable thaumosphere at the moment; they'd probably wander off. And, if you want, we can perform the appropriate death-rites to make sure of it."

"Can we change my brain back?"

"Change..? To how it was before you used my ring?" She doesn't nod, but she does make momentary eye contact. "Yes. It wouldn't.. be a good idea, but we could. Are.. you.. having problems?"

"No. No.. nightmares. No shaking or flashbacks. Just a background sense of… Wrong, that I ate them. That's more empathy than I used to have."

"That wasn't part of your training, was it?"

She turns her head towards me, frowning more deeply. "Eating people? No." her expression becomes contemplative. "Though I think Dad would probably have given us a pass on our wilderness survival if we did."

"I'm pretty sure that the Scouts Association would have failed me if I'd done that. And… Eating people is wrong, so I can't say that there's anything wrong with you feeling that way. How serious-?"

"No, not… I was just talking. So, what's the plan for freeing Earth?"

"If I knew how to remove Anti-Life, I assure you, I'd have volunteered that information. The League's plan is… I can't think of anything better, and it will probably work as it's supposed to."

"All that effort trying to take over the world, and the Justice League gets there first."

"The right to rule comes from the consent of the governed. And it turns out that the governed prefer heroes who've tried to help them to villains who keep robbing and killing them."

She raises her right eyebrow.

"Yes, I am including actual politicians, though in all fairness they're not all in the second category. The problem with democracy is that people don't always vote for who they're supposed to. I mean, would you vote for Knight or Horne over Superman?"

"I might if I thought he was going to fly off to save the world every day instead of doing his job."

I raise my eyebrows pointedly at her.

"Fine. No. So why didn't he stand for office?"

"Because his adoptive parents and work colleagues would almost certainly get killed. And because as good a man as he is, he doesn't actually have any experience in civil administration and wouldn't really know what to do. And he.. wasn't born in the United States. Now, Batman could run, but he doesn't have the same reputation amongst the general population."

"And it would terrify every other country on the planet. So what's the plan for dealing with that when it's over?"

"What, 'if we keep fucking up competent and morally upstanding people might take over'?" I shrug. "I don't know, but you know what happened with Brazil."

"The League hasn't done a thing to get rid of the Accala. I thought that was because there wasn't anything to restore."

"People have asked the League to do it, including survivors from the pre-Sheeda Brazilian government. This… Well, people will either restore their pre-Anti-Life governments, or they won't. The fact that a thing existed at one point in time isn't an indication that it must exist for all time."

"All men aren't created equal if one of them can fire lasers out of his face."

"All men aren't created equal anyway. I'd have to check with Rao to see if he endowed Kryptonians with the same innate rights as humans. But, yeah. If your political structures don't centralise power then it doesn't matter if the people with power are incompetent arseholes because they can't do anything too bad. If you do, then they need to be good people."

"And who better than the Justice League?"

"I hope someone, because most of them don't have the skill set."

"But they do all have the moral integrity. Have you ever read Starship Troopers?"

"I don't actually think that overthrowing the concept of democracy in favour of oligarchy would be as easy in reality as Robert Heinlein thought it would be."

"So you have read it, or..?"

"No, I just watched the films. The third one was surprisingly good, given the budget."

She smiles with a quiet snort.

"So you've got no idea at all?"

"No, no… I've got an idea, it's just that even if it works, the results might be worse."

"For Earth, or the universe?"

"Both. Though given that the universe as a whole isn't that bad-."

Wait. The Crime Syndicate reality. Would they..? Have some sort of non-evil Anti-Life? Or… Would it just be the Anti-Life in the hands of Highfather?

I'll pass that one along.

"What?"

"Just had an idea that may be even worse. Ah, first idea is to use different colours of power ring to forcibly push the Anti-Life out of peoples' souls. But we don't have all the colours, and Alan and Ghia'ta probably aren't skilled enough, and I doubt that Sinestro will cooperate."

"Why do we need Sinestro? Kalmin works for you."

"Kalmin works for Kalmin. He just happens to be pointing in the right direction at the moment."

Still… I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
10:47 GMT

"YRAAGYH!"

I collapse, steam rising from-. No, that's carbonised flesh.

That's carbonised flesh that isn't repairing itself as quickly as it should.

"Was that necessary?"

Jade interposes herself, but she really shouldn't. Kalmin would think for a moment before killing me. He doesn't owe Jade a thing.

"It was insulting. I have already told him my price for forging a new yellow power ring. Sinestro's head!"

I bypass the healing-impairment by tearing off the damaged flesh, which is… Quite a lot, actually.

"A simple 'no' would have sufficed, Lantern Kalmin."

"This is more memorable. And no, there is nothing that you could offer me in its place. And if there were, the very fact that I have stated my requirement would prohibit it."

I nod, sidestepping so that I have a direct line of sight around Jade. "Nifty weapon. What do you call it?"

"This?" He taps a small amulet on his armour. "The scourer. It bypasses defences well but has no real penetration."

"A low lethality weapon? Was that an insult?"

"Yes."

"Okay. How are your students doing?"

Kalmin glowers. "Was that a threat?"

"No. I just thought that while I'm here I might as well get an update."

"Oh." He sounds mildly put out.

"Problem?"

"They are competent enough engineers and physicists, but I fear that the lack of mortal peril might take the edge off their mental sharpness. There's more to being a Weaponer than just making weapons."

"My homeworld has been Anti-Lifed. If you want to send them our way, I'm sure that we'll find ways to try to kill them that even you have scarcely envisioned."

"Bah. Anti-Life." He turns back to his forge. "Philosophical destruction does not interest me."

"Do you mind if I make the offer to them?"

"No. If the fools take you up on your offer, that's for them to survive."

"Okay. Well, unless there's anything else-" I glance at Jade, but she shakes her helmet. "-we'll leave you to it."

"Can I expect Sinestro's head, or was this just a waste of my time?

"We'll see. I need a yellow power ring, and there are only so many options."

I motion towards the door with my head and Jade takes the hint, heading that way while I keep Kalmin in full view-. I think he just smiled. Once she's out I follow her, trusting her to keep an eye on him.

I twitch as the outer door slams shut. Ow.

"Are you alright? That looked like it hurt."

"Yes, it did. But pain is transitory. It was more the surprise than anything else."

"Should you have left tissue samples in his workshop?"

"I doubt that it will matter. So, next option."

"You said that when you were at Vanishing Point, at least one other version of you had a yellow power ring."

"Right, and he was enlightened too. He'd be perfect if I had the slightest idea how to contact him." I shake my head. "If I could contact any of them. The Yellow, Indigo and Red Lanterns would complete the group."

"Evil Alan Scott?"

"It's possible, only I don't really want to risk owing him or giving him ideas about the Anti-Life. And… I don't know if he's got the skill, and I don't trust him."

"It's still worth asking him."

I exhale slowly.

"Yes. It is. But that still leaves red and indigo. I met an Indigo Lantern a year and a half ago, but he legged it after I freed him from captivity. And red…"

"We can't be that short on angry, hate-filled people."

"No, but we need angry, hate-filled people who are angry and hate-filled about things that we hate and get angry about. People who retain control of their faculties when they're angry."

I checked, and Ysmault is in a very clearly marked no-go area. Even Guy wouldn't tell me exactly who's being kept there, but if events line up with my expectations it's all five of the Five Inversions. Attacking a Guardian facility with the express intent of giving an inmate a novel power ring is… Even more of a last resort thing than asking Al Scott for help.

Who do I know who's heroic and angry enough to use a red ring?

Ah…

Yes..?

Scott Free is back in contact with his father, and if we have an actual plan then I.. think Orion would probably be willing to go along with it. We'd still need to actually get a red power ring, and those don't exist here yet. At least I don't have to explain how I know about them.

"I know a few people who might be able to do that."

"People on Earth?"

"Most of them. Do you have someone in mind?"

"Orion of New Genesis. Given all the New God-related stuff we've got going on, we've got a good reason to visit them. But first we'd need a red ring."

"Can the Controllers make one?"

"Controllers, no. Unaligned Maltusians, maybe. We'll have to ask Hinon if she can recommend anyone."

"What about the Qwardians?"

"I've never heard of them researching red rings, and… Kalmin said that he murdered a world to make Sinestro's ring. I don't… Really want to encourage them to do the same for someone else."

"He needed to kill a world to make Sinestro's ring?"

"Yes. Ah, that's what he said, and I doubt that he'd lie about it. It's not like it would have been something a Weaponer would have to hide."

"Which world?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:04 GMT

Jade's helmet turns around as we float in space near to the ruined world that still glows yellow to my empathic vision.

"So this is the anti-matter universe."

"From their point of view, it's the matter universe. Though Kalmin calls it anti-matter, because he likes the idea of being from somewhere that can innately destroy anything."

"Is it speciesist if I say he's acting like a comic book supervillain?"

"I think you've got s-word privileges. Besides, he'd be proud of it."

"Is this whole universe like that?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I haven't really done any exploring."

Earth. Is there an anti-matter Earth out there? I mentally assigned the parallel where Blue Me ended up to that position, but that isn't correct. That's Negative 14. Kalmin didn't say anything about this universe having an Earth, but I suppose that he wouldn't consider it significant.

"No, it wouldn't work. If everyone was evil to everyone else all the time, no one could build a civilization."

"I think the theory I saw was that things would either be completely anarchic, or a handful of individuals with the power to compel others to obey them would rule everyone else, because that would be the only way complex society could emerge. Want to go down?"

"Is there anything dangerous down there?"

"I doubt that Kalmin would have left any of his top tier weapons somewhere where someone might pick them up without paying for them. Scans don't show anything overtly dangerous."

"And the fear?"

"Did I ever show you the report of my encounter with the Terror Thing?"

"The fear elemental from Cornwall? Implanted ideas escalating to sensory hallucinations. But you won't be affected."

"That was a bit different. The Terror Thing was held together with magic. This is pure yellow light. At worst, you'll see your own fears."

"And you won't be affected."

"I don't know. I… Honestly, I'm not afraid of… Anything, these days. I used to be afraid of heights and death, and then I started flying everywhere and died twice. I suppose that the idea of total obliteration still bothers me, but I've looked into it and that's really hard to do."

"Should I take it as a compliment that you're not afraid of anything happening to me?"

"Why, do you think I'd let you stay dead? You still haven't told me which mythos you picked, and you grew up in a majority Christian country. I'm sure that Mammon would-."

"The Scouring Path."

Ah..?

I blink as the ring brings me up to speed on… A minor martial-focused Source-worshipping religion. One with… A strong emphasis on earning salvation through morally praiseworthy combat. And redemption through morally praiseworthy combat. They usually field a large number of penitents under arms in their military deployments, and they're fairly popular amongst soldiers in about seventy different systems around their world of origin.

"That's… A pretty good choice. I didn't.. know-."

"A couple of Darkstars I was stationed with are into it. Like you said, it's a good idea to pick something. And I get to earn redemption for something I was doing anyway."

Because one of the Scouring Path's beliefs is that someone who performs moral deeds will naturally come to identify with them, regardless of how pure their original motives were. Faults and weaknesses are scoured away as you walk towards the Source.

"Right, but it's Source-worshipping."

"Is that a problem?"

"Well… All Source religions… Except some of the really out there ones… Ah… Direct their adherents towards spiritual transcendence."

"So do most Earth religions."

Yeah. Most. Cyclic reincarnation leading to transcendence or bringing a soul that did its best closer to God to give it a better idea of what it's supposed to be. That's… What most modern religions do.

Ah, there we go.

"Jade, you picked a religion-. I won't necessarily be able to resurrect you."

"You couldn't guarantee that anyway. This lets me avoid the worst outcome when I die. And I checked; The Scouring Path lets souls keep fighting after they die if they want. You'll have time to work something out."

"I'm not in a position to fight the S-."

"There isn't a perfect choice. But this works for me."

…

It doesn't work for me.

…

That's the… Problem with letting people make their own choices.

"So… Are we… Going down?"

"I thought you'd be more happy about this."

I bring my left fist to my chest plate, power ring glowing.

"For me, the worst result isn't your soul going to hell. I can deal with hell. It's you transcending to the point where I can't-. Where you're permanently… Not there any more."

"And your plan is to keep going forever?"

"Yes."

"… Oh."

"Lord Hades is relatively generous, but being a shade is still worse than being alive. And even Erebos will die at some point. So it's not worth staying for any length of time, because the longer you're there the harder it is to leave. It's not worth getting trapped like that."

"And you're..? Worried about being alone?"

"No. I'll be able to make new friends. Meet… New people. Somewhere in the multiverse there's a problem I can fix, so I'll never be bored. Somewhere in the multiverse there's something new to see and do. I'm worried about not being with you anymore. Not… Seeing it with you"

"We can.. go sightseeing once the Reach stop existing."

"True. And… And yeah, I want to do that. And… This wasn't the sort of place I had in mind, but it will be interesting."

"Duck-foot-interesting?"

"Hu-eh. Hopefully not. Going down."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 568 938.M41

"Hah!"

Tsua'm does the double nasal cleft twitch that's the tau equivalent of an eye roll, as the Earth Caste engineer stands stock still staring at me for three seconds, then looks at her for confirmation that I'm supposed to be there but doesn't wait for it before going back to what he was doing before he spotted me.

Exactly like every tau we've encountered since entering the Eugenics Board headquarters on T'au.

I mean, I get it. Non-tau don't really have any reason for coming here. Aliens who might have something interesting to share concerning genetics would generally work with Earth Caste researchers on their own planets, or in specialist facilities. This is mostly an administrative and policy-making centre, rather than somewhere where actual research is conducted.

So I'm getting stares because I'm out of place, fair enough. But everyone has exactly the same response.

"Tau don't go in for mass cloning, right?"

"No. It was found to be detrimental to overall effectiveness."

I wait a moment to see if she-.

"It is the natural tau response to something strange within safe territory. They scent that I don't smell concerned, and decide that it is safe to ignore you. I am sure that humans do something similar."

"Oh, humans wouldn't even look at the escort. In my day you could put on a lab coat and walk through a hospital without anyone stopping you. And I heard a story about it being possible to just turn up in the staff areas of our oldest university if you had the right jacket on and pretend to belong there for free meals in the staff canteen." Hm. "I imagine that's changed now."

"Humans have not changed as much as you might think."

"No, I mean that university is now underneath the Imperial Palace. Or.. where it used to be is. A little way south east of the throne room. Or maybe inside it. I didn't bother trying to find out exactly how big it is while I was there."

Tsua'm looks slightly puzzled, and then uses her personal computer to pull up a file.

"You told me that you were born on 'a small island off the coast of Europe'."

I create a globe construct and have Eastbourne ping.

"Yes."

"Our records say that the Imperial Palace is not in Europe. Data mined from captured Imperial ships says that it is in 'Asia'."

"No, easy mistake to make. That's the location of the Astronomican. Where the Himalayan mountains use to be… Or are. For a ship that's probably far more important, because their on-board navigators can actually see it from just about anywhere."

"How do they stop other species making use of it?"

"They don't. They can't. That whole system is one of the reasons that tyranids are such a big problem for Imperial worlds. Normally they home in on the signal generated in the warp by populated worlds, but major Imperial worlds actively signal them."

"That doesn't-."

A plainly-dressed tau of the Earth Caste walks through a nearby door and heads towards us as Tsua'm cuts herself off to greet her.

"Fio'El Maka'm. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us."

"It is no trouble, but, I'm sorry, was I interrupting?"

I shake my head. "Oh, we were just talking about warp navigation."

"Ah, yes." Maka'm nods. "I cannot help but wonder at the progress we might make if we could gain access to human navigator genealogical records!"

"Oh, I wouldn't… If I remember correctly, navigators are horribly inbred and usually have a load of secondary mutations as a result."

"Then we will work to repair them. Though it may take time, I believe in the eventual triumph of the Greater Good."

"Huh." I smile. "I'm glad to hear it. Ever since that 'do not invite' list got created, I've heard a lot of tau embracing realism. I like your optimism."

"I would not say that there is such a sharp divide. Orks are incapable of joining the Greater Good as they are now; only a fool would argue with that. But the work the Eugenics Board undertakes could eventually be applied to other species just as easily-." She hunches her shoulders slightly. "Nearly as easily to other species. That is why I want to speak with you. Humans tend to be so superstitious about genealogy; your perspective is invaluable."

"I'm happy to help, but… Ah, there's something about 'superstition' that a lot of tau tend to dismiss out of hand when they… Really shouldn't."

"Obviously, the presence of the psyker gene complicates things, but once that is isolated-."

"No, no." Good job I'm here. As an 'El, Maka'm is in theory training under a 'o with a view to taking over an important project or facility. This sounds like a misapprehension that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. "Psyker… it isn't a trait that a human either has or doesn't have. The Imperium rates everyone on a scale from Rho to Alpha, but only routinely treats power levels of Iota or above as worth treating specially. They're… At least in theory, the ones who get handed over to the black ships. But large swaths of the population have power levels between Omicron and Kappa."

"So it is a combination of many genetic factors."

"It might not even be genetic." I think for a moment. "Alright, let's… A lot of tau think that human religiosity towards machines is stupid. And I did too, but… The part of the human population that has low level psychic abilities may not be able to manifest psychic phenomena individually, but if enough of them enact the same rituals and believe the same things over an area, their… Collective power is enough to alter reality and make it… 'True'. Whether it was originally true or not."

"Is that..?" A flex of scent receptors as she tries to get a read on me. That probably won't work unless she's familiar with human scents, but it's another instinctive response. "So?"

"Try looking up Imperial Guard Psyker Battle Squads if you want to see what networked Iota-level psykers can do when connected to each other. Or compare the processing power of a drone network to that of individual drones. Then consider the backlash when a billion Kappa level psykers think you need to hop in a circle three times before pulling a lever and you decide not to do it."

"But… But what does that have to do with biology?"

"Humans have decided that the human form is holy. This is a very common belief held across the Imperium. And it's partly reinforced by the link between overt warp phenomena and mutation. It isn't a problem with tau because your psychic presence is so weak, but with humans it isn't that simple."

"You mean that there would be… A collective response by… Warp-based reality deviations."

"I think it's something that you should consider very possible. Perhaps nothing overt, just a… Higher than probable number of minor accidents, problems…"

"And that affects-. Does that affect all human technology?"

"Oh, yes. But that's not the sole reason why human technology works as it does. You've got smart programs and AI fragments from before the Age of Isolation that no one knows about infecting things, organic brains being used for data processing which may or may not have their own personalities and derangements, and people generally not knowing what they're doing and failing to copy something a system needed in order to work properly and so turning a bypass procedure into part of the main procedure… And that's before you take into account actual daemons, who actually have an easier time getting in if the rituals aren't performed. Honestly, where humans are concerned, I'd recommend that you limit your ambitions a lot."

"I… Hear what you say, though.. I will need to confirm your claims."

I nod. "Of course."

"Why was it that you wanted to speak to me?"

"It occurred to me that you probably have data on just about every commonly-occurring gene in the tau species: what they look like and what they do."

"Yes, that is… The purpose of the Eugenics Board. Some… Recent mutations are not fully researched, but otherwise our records are quite complete."

"Excellent." I smile. "Mind if I take a look?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 568 938.M41

Thick orange cables attach the ring to the Eugenics Board's central server as I absorb everything the tau know about their own biology. It's nice that they don't consider me to be a security risk, though the somewhat unsteady Maka'm did check that I was authorised for secure data.

"That cannot be right."

She hasn't got less unsteady.

"Fio'el Maka'm, I was born thirty eight thousand years ago. I assure you that filing a protest against reality only serves to prevent you learning to deal with it as it actually is."

"But that is exactly the point. If you are correct, then there is no reality. It is a shared hallucination made real."

"No." Tsua'm shakes her head. "That would be to say that when you are on a boat on the ocean during a storm, land stops existing when you lose your bearings."

I nod. "Or perhaps… The difference between air pressure at sea level and air pressure at the top of a mountain. It's… Funny, because there are a small percentage of humans who enforce reality on the area around them. Do you want to know what their power classification is called?"

"Yes."

"Tau."

"That is the Imperium's assessment of our power level?"

"No, it's a pure coincidence that the words sound similar. They think it's the level most of the tau species is at, but… There's a Fire Caste chap on my team who is definitely higher than that. Maybe as high as Rho."

"And Rho is..?"

"An unusually unpsychic human. Someone who might be completely unaware of psychic phenomena." My construct cables retract theatrically. "Thank you. It's going to take months at the very least before I'll be able to best-fit human genes with their tau equivalents, but I'll send you whatever I learn."

"Hybridisation is quite impossible."

I don't say 'you kinky minx', because I don't think she'd get the joke.

"No, I-." / "Work placement."

Maka'm does a nasal twitch. Confusion, I think. I incline my head slightly towards Tsua'm to indicate that she should continue.

"I was curious as to whether it would be practical to assess the suitability of particular humans to particular types of occupation using their genes. It would simplify vocational training on fully incorporated human worlds."

"Do you think it would be possible to make human castes?"

"Perhaps, but that is for other people to decide. I can only make recommendations based on what Orange Lantern discovers."

I shake my head. "Probably not a good idea. That's the sort of thing that worlds that are culturally Imperial would take strong exception to."

"I doubt that they would concern themselves if we limited our initial efforts to small scale studies."

"Have you ever heard of the Plague of Unbelief?" I fabricate a small data pad loaded with pertinent data and offer it to her. "I suggest reading about what Dolan Chirosius managed to spur people into doing against Cardinal Bucharis."

She takes it from me. "I will study it and reflect upon its lessons."

"Short version: properly roused, every single human on a planet may turn out to be perfectly willing to throw themselves at you and every other tau and gue'vesa, no matter how compliant they'd been before or how they had benefited practically from their inclusion in the Empire."

"That is extremely irrational."

"No. It's extremely rational. The Tau Empire is an exception in the way it treats conquered populations. Orks and Dark Eldar and tyranids are the rule. Enslavement, torture, murder and consumption; that's what surrender gets you. The ability of a population to say 'yes, we're doomed, time to see how many we can take with us' is actually useful on a species wide scale. It denies the enemy resources. That fact that it's maladaptive in a tiny proportion of cases doesn't make it irrational."

"I… See."

Tsua'm steps forward, her body posture relaxes and open. "If I may ask an unrelated question?"

"Y-es?"

"I have not requested a pairing, but I am curious as to whether I am reaching the point where it will be considered appropriate for me to breed. Would it be acceptable for you to check for me?"

Maka'm presses a few buttons on a computer console. "Yes. Yes, you are authorised for that information. Due to the nature of your work, it has been judged that it is best not to assign you for breeding at this time."

"Is that unusual?"

"No, it is fairly common in relation to work in highly secure areas. Of course, that does not impact the chance of approval or rejection to any pairings you arrange for yourself. Those go through the same approval process as normal."

"Thank you. Then unless there is anything else you wish to hear from us, we will leave."

"Will you be on T'au for long?"

"That is up to the T'au Aun'ar'tol, but-" Maka'm responds with an expression of shock. "-it is likely that we will be on T'au for a kai'rotaa at least."

I nod. "I'm hoping that we'll have time to see Fio'taun, and maybe some of the pre-unification water tribe settlements."

"Then if there are any matters arising from this meeting, I will be able to send a message to you. I should consider what I have learned carefully before formulating policy."

I try to take a look-. Ah. I fabricate a bottle of fermented nectar and offer it to her. She takes the bottle, opens the cap and sniffs it, her nasal cleft spasming as the scent hits.

"Ah. Thank you."

"You're not the first tau I've culture-shocked." Right. I walk over to Tsua'm, bend and pick her up in a bridal carry. That prompts Maka'm to stare in shock again, though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprise. Now, send a flight plan to air traffic control and transition.

Tsua'm eyes open wide as our surroundings vanish, being placed by the open skies over the ancestral home of the Fire Caste, and the ring translates her scent as an expression of fear.

"You're safe, Tsua'm. Perfectly safe."

"Everything that I have read about teleportation tells me that you are wrong."

"Oh, that wasn't teleportation. Teleportation involves travelling though the warp. If that happened to you… You probably wouldn't experience anything, due to your minimal warp presence. My method involves travelling between places in the material universe, and it's far safer. Here."

I create a platform and gently set her down.

"See? Perfectly safe."

She taps her right hoof against the platform a couple of times, her hands still on my shoulders.

"Yes. Did you get the data that you need?"

"Is it that urgent? Do you want to be pregnant that quickly?"

"No, but it is unlikely that we will have cause to-." She twitches. "Was that a..? Line?"

"Not a serious one." I lower my face slightly towards her, exhaling with a little more force that usual so that my scent covers her receptors. "Unless you want it to be."

"I, um. Not… Not yet. But humans have… Intimate gestures of affection that are not sex? I have a… Curiosity, about other species. About you. Beyond… What my job requires."

"Sure." I rest my forehead against hers. "Let me know if anything I do is unpleasantly weird."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:14 GMT

"The orbital fire doesn't look very accurate. Or was that-?"

"Deliberate."

"Herding people-. No. Introducing a random element. The people knew they could die at any moment, but Kalmin didn't want them to adapt to it."

I see the flakes of intent behind each crater and glass-bowl.

"Yes. And the strikes would wake people up, or would occur at times of day when different demographic groups were in different places."

I point north.

"There's a series of strikes a few miles that way, where he destroyed every major transport link to this city, knowing that there was no way they'd be able to get food here in large enough quantities to prevent starvation. And that the people here would know that."

"So they'd tear themselves apart without him needing to intervene directly."

"He didn't care exactly how they responded. So long as they were motivated by fear."

And there was a lot of fear here.

"You hired him in case the Controllers tried backstabbing you."

"Not 'backstabbing' exactly, just… Being people I couldn't work with."

"But now that you know that you can, why is he still alive?"

"I knew what he was when I offered him a place. Those ships L.E.G.I.O.N. is using? Those are about seventy percent his design work. Even the ones designed to be built by less technologically advanced planets. You can see the data on their performance versus other designs of ship on the N.E.M.O. database. They're… A lot better. He's very good at what he does. And he's not murdering planets any more. Yeah, he… Objectively… Probably deserves to be put down like a rabid dog, but… There's no practical reason to do it."

Also, I rather doubt that killing him would be easy.

"How long did it take?"

"I'm not sure. There's…"

I try scanning for intact pieces of computer equipment. Once the civilisation broke down to the point that people in one place didn't know what was happening elsewhere, the Qwardians-. Kalmin deployed some sort of pack-hunting robots, but they were only programmed to target people.

Ah.

"They used a virus of some sort on the computer systems. I'm not going to be able to get an exact timeline. Um. On a tangentially-related matter, I have a question about your father's training methods."

She turns her head away from a collection of burned skeletons which appear to have been flensed while seeking shelter in an alleyway.

"What?"

"'It is better to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both.'"

"Nice to know that Dad failed completely."

"Right… But I remember reading that… They did an experiment with dogs. If you're nice to a dog, then the dog remembers you and shows a bit more attention to you, but mostly does its own thing. If you're hostile to a dog, it avoids you. But the best way to make a dog attached to you is to mix the two. At random. It makes the dog insecure and so it-."

"I guess Dad never read a psychology textbook. There wasn't any variety. And there weren't any rewards."

"No, he didn't seem like the sort."

"Why are you bringing this up?"

"He's working with the Justice League at the moment. And… There's a good chance that when the current crisis is over, he'll-"

"Damn it."

"-get his sentence commuted. I doubt they'll just… Let him go, but he probably won't be in line for an execution anymore."

"How do I make them reconsider?"

"Defeat the Anti-Life-enhanced Bruno Mannheim yourself. Or… Otherwise minimise Sportsmaster's role in things. Or…"

She waits for me to spit it out.

"Or if he switches sides. Then he wouldn't be pardoned. But the world's governments accepted pardoning Doctor Sivana Senior, so…"

"Do you think I should try and get a leave of absence? I wouldn't mind a complete pardon myself."

"Not unless you've got a way to resist the Anti-Life Equation I don't know about. I don't care if Mister Crock gets brain damaged as a result of Anti-Life exposure, but I do care about you."

"I worked that out when you said that you wanted to wander the universe with me forever."

"I'd hoped that it didn't take quite that long."

"No, but I hadn't really thought through what you wanted. Out of us."

"Stable home environment, children, the opportunity to raise and nurture them, new professional challenges and opportunities and to do all that with you. Nothing particularly unique, except that it's us doing it."

"That sounds… Nice."

"You?"

"I never really thought I'd get the opportunity to step back like that. I don't think I'd do well being a home-maker."

"I'm pretty good at multi-tasking. I'm happy to take the majority of childcare responsibilities if you want to pursue a… Um, a legitimate career."

She folds her arms across her chest. "You didn't need to emphasise it like that."

"I think in this sort of conversation it's best to be as unambiguous as possible."

"Does the Justice League need a light recon-?"

A quiet noise, the scratch of metal on brick, draws our attention. Ring scans aren't producing clear results, which isn't too surprising given Qwardian technology.

The first… Predatory kangaroo-looking robot, stalks slowly into view. It looks like it's trying to give us a clear look while remaining too far away for us to immediately attack with weapons that this world would have had when Kalmin ended it.

Another clambers over the rubble a short distance from the first, joining it in watching us.

And then another.

That would be intimidating, if we were unarmed civilians.

"There might be something useful on their databases." Jade draws her sword. "Let's clean up Kalmin's work."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:18 GMT

Jade's maser hits one of the robots in the chest, melting through its control systems and causing it to collapse onto the rubble-strewn ground.

"They're trying to lead us somewhere, aren't they?"

I nod as my ring goes through the programming of one of the robots I grabbed intact. They clearly weren't designed with fighting Lanterns in mind.

"Their behaviour is emergent. The actual program is relatively simple."

Like a shoal of fish. Or a flock of birds. There's no program which requires them to communicate with one another, just a programmed behaviour which is slightly altered when they can see one another.

Jade pauses for a moment and checks behind her, spotting the flankers who are supposedly driving us forward. "You mean that they're leading us around without an actual direction?"

"They were probably only released once organised resistance had broken down. Even if they ran into a group of soldiers, harrying them until they started to break mentally would be a viable tactic."

Jade accelerates, using her exo-mantle's thrusters to charge after the flankers. Immediately, the main mass from the front of us starts to close in where before they had been falling back.

"Reminds me of a book I read once. A fortified base has flamethrowers set up around the perimeter, and because they thought that the dangerous animals-"

Jade fires, hitting one of the flankers in the head. It doesn't collapse, but denied its sight organs its behaviour changes. It attempts to burrow into the ground, presumably so that it can use its seismic sensors to carry out an ambush later.

"-might work out a regular pattern of firing, they had it fire on an irregular pattern with… I think it was four? Interval changes. Any human who found themself caught outside could wait for the longest interval before trying to pass, but animals would be stuck."

"What are they doing now?"

Scan.

"The flankers are spreading out slightly, and some from the edge of the main mass are being drawn off."

Which replaces the flankers without anyone being designated as 'flankers' by a control program. I generate a plasma initiator construct and turn the majority of the oncoming wave into energised plasma. They weren't designed to be particularly resilient; their survivability as a group comes from their numbers.

"And now they're falling back."

"Because their behaviour changes based on how many of them there are around." She uses her flight system to drift slowly back towards me, while keeping an eye on the remaining flankers as they fall back. "So they wait until they're back up to a critical mass, then their behaviour will change back."

"Yes."

"Do you think Kalmin put a factory on the planet, or just dropped a few billion robots off?"

"Having a drop off point sounds easier to control, and there would be a small chance that a factory could be located and destroyed."

"He could just replace it. They didn't have any defence against orbital strikes."

"Sinestro's been to Earth a few times, but he's never made use of Dr. Crane's fear chemical. With a power ring, he could have found out about it very easily."

"Does it work on aliens?"

"It's… Generally affective against humanoids, though less so than against humans. It's not exactly a subtle thing. Against non-humanoids it usually doesn't do much."

"Space-faring species usually have better atmosphere purification technology than Earth. It wouldn't be as effective. And it wouldn't fit his strategy."

"Being a dick to Jordan doesn't require gas attacks, I agree."

"He hasn't done that for years. Supervillains can bear personal grudges while still pursuing a wider agenda."

"So he's got it, but he isn't going to use it until he thinks it's time to make large-scale attacks. And he's handing out replica rings because he's trying to find good recruits."

"Or he's trying to work out what makes a good recruit. Clarissi Dox is still doing that for the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Dox is trying to find out what makes an ideal recruit. We already know what makes good recruits."

Comic Sinestro had… Fear lodges? Recruits were exposed to their greatest fears, and then had to make a powerless ring spark, something like that? There was a significant die-off rate, and… That was on Qward, with Weaponers forging new rings for the recruits and presumably building other equipment as well. Because the Green Lantern Corps weren't watching Qward despite Sinestro's repeated involvement with them it came as a complete surprise. And that's not the case with us. While Qward's weakened state means that he probably could conquer it… No. There's no organisational structure to put himself at the top of. He'd need an army to actually take and hold the place while he upgunned his recruits and created a new power structure.

"Do you really think that Dox thinks that 'good' is good enough?"

"Oh, I know he won't settle for it, but he's recruited people who are just 'good' without having an aneurysm."

"Impressive."

"I thought so."

Hm. The robots are still falling back, still too clumped up for their 'stalk' program to activate.

"Jade-. I realise that your first try put you off the idea of using an orange power ring, but…"

"Do I want to try a yellow one?" She pointedly looks around at the devastation surrounding us. And then back at me to make sure that I was following her line of sight. "I'll pass."

"This.. is a Kalmin way of creating a yellow ring. I don't believe for a moment that this was actually essential."

In the comic, they ended up mass producing them in factories, so they must have worked out a way to avoid needing mass murder each time. If only because the Weaponers would have been much more cheerful if it was still required.

"If I had one, would seeing this start feeling good?"

"I… Don't know. Several Yellow Lanterns have responded positively to seeing fear, but they were probably the sort of person who would like that anyway."

"And Kalmin would see it as a feature."

"Almost certainly. Or he wouldn't realise that there was another way to respond to it. H-?"

"How about another colour?"

"I met a parallel universe version of you who used a green ring. She was pretty good with it."

"I doubt our lives were that similar."

"Almost identical until you ran away from home."

"So do I kill Stewart or Savenlovich?"

"I could ask Malvolio? I don't think he's made any rings, but it should be well within his abilities."

Jade considers that for a moment. "I… Wouldn't mind a green ring. Depending on what the conditions were."

"Then I'll ask him. Now, let's try this world's rural areas."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 569 938.M41

"I… I was not expecting you to be here."

Bo'ohk looks decidedly unsteady on his feet as he exits the domed temple where the T'au Aun'ar'tol meets, his honour blade strapped to his back. I can see cuts, bruises and… At least they let him bandage the worse ones. I turn so that I'm alongside him and offer him my arm to lean on.

"Ah-. Thank you, but I should not. I have allowed my physical conditioning to weaken. My seniors were unimpressed by my skill with the blade."

He scents something and then looks straight at Tsua'm, noting her distress at seeing a visibly ailing Aun. Next to her Kais is looking a little sympathetic, but he's been worked to exhaustion during both training and field assignments too often to worry about Bo'ohk being a bit banged up.

"Be at peace, Envoy. This was a necessary test of my beliefs and resolve. And since no other Ethereals are assigned to our group, it is helpful for my seniors to review my actions at times like this."

"Huh." I frown. "We don't really have a hand-to-hand specialist for you to train with."

Gremlin grins toothily. "I could have a go, boss. Build yah a real noice tinboy ta scrap with. Learn yah real good, it would."

"Thank you, Grem'len, but I have too many uses for my arms."

Kais draws himself up slightly. "We would welcome your participation during our training, Prince Bo'ohk."

"I thank you for your kind offer, Shas'Ui, but I think that I will focus on physical conditioning first. While I suspect that your team would be a little more gentle than the blade masters of the T'au Aun'ar'tol, at my current skill level it would only be a difference of slight degrees."

I hold out the ring slightly.

"Do you want me to fix you up?"

"No. These wounds are mine to bear. Ah. Perhaps that bench?"

Tucked away on the grounds of the temple are a number of small gardens set aside for contemplation. Or… Perhaps so that young Ethereals can be assigned to care for them as punishment duty. Tall bushes give the illusion of privacy, richly scented plants calm the visiting tau-

Gremlin wrinkles his nose.

"Bit wiffy, innit?"

-but don't necessarily have that effect on aliens, and wind chimes add to the air of peace. I hover as Bo'ohk leads us through the entrance and then over to the stone-wrought bench, where he gingerly sits down.

Kais takes up position just inside the entrance, out of sight from external observers. Tsua'm drops into a cross-legged position on the ground in front of Bo'ohk, and I can't help but wince slightly when I try following where she's folding her legs. With the robes she normally wears it's easy to forget that her ankle is a sort of second backwards knee. I sit down next to her, mirroring her posture, while Gremlin wonders over to sniff a flower, watching Bo'ohk out of the corner of one eye.

Bo'ohk opens his mouth to speak.

"Ow."

The way he immediately makes eye contact with me indicates that he meant it as a joke, which is good because otherwise I'd feel bad about chuckling. Tsua'm also relaxes a little, though seeing Bo'ohk battered is clearly not something she's comfortable with.

"I have spoken with the T'au Aun'ar'tol, and while they are clearly of the opinion that I would benefit from more oversight, they accept the utility of our research group and the substantial benefit of our actions."

I nod. "So..?"

"So we do not need to fear being turned into soylent caerulus. Tsua'm, the T'au Por'ar'tol wish to speak to you at length concerning your viewpoint on humans. It will not be adversarial; they believe that your interactions at close quarters for a prolonged period of time with P'ol may have given you an insight that others lack."

"I.. have.. not learned anything worthy of changing the Empire's entire policy."

"No, but you have learned a great deal that will help future generations of the Water Caste improve their interpersonal dealing with humans. There is a much lower threshold for changing training methods than there is rewriting our entire diplomatic relationship with the Imperium of Man."

Tsua'm's legs twitch as they instinctively try to adopt a mildly submissive posture, but her face is… Relieved?

I look away from her.

"Could make for very interesting lessons if they start teaching classes about-."

Ah!

Turns out that that shifted ankle makes tau mean kickers, even if their aim isn't that good. I smile at her as I rub the impact site on my left thigh.

"Kais, Shas'O Eur'tus will speak with you regarding the treatment of those suffering from war madness."

"I stand ready to assist."

"It is likely that the discussion will also involve her asking for advice on integrating those of the Fire Caste who struggle to master conventional doctrines into units in the field."

"She wants to know how to best use other Fire Warriors who think like me?"

"I suspect that the result will be several of those considered to be problematic joining our mission."

"The wisdom of the Shas'O is beyond reproach."

I wiggle my right forefinger at him. "Come on, Kais, this isn't the Imperium. No one's wisdom is beyond reproach, for we are all imperfect beings in the service of the Greater Good."

"Very well. It is beyond my reproach, being much greater than mine."

"P'ol, it…" Bo'ohk appears to ponder how to put something. "While what you just said is correct and orthodox… It is generally considered impolite to call Aun'Va an imperfect being to his face."

"Aun'Va wants to talk to me in person?"

"I am to present you to the T'au Aun'chiagor in three days."

That's… The senior most leaders of the five castes on T'au. Aun'Va will just be chairing the meeting, while the other four ask me…

"What do they..? Want to know?"

"To ascertain whether you are being utilised as effectively as you could be. With your strategic manoeuvrability being so much greater than that of our fastest ships, there are roles other than slow expansion and investigation which you could serve in. I believe that they also want to… Get a feel for your character. You are, after all, quite unusual."

"Isn't that unusual..?" I look around, but I suppose it's not like anyone here has been up before the T'au Aun'chiagor before. Bo'ohk and I were interviewed by the Lar'shi Aun'chiagor a grand total of once, when they needed to hear our team concept because that cut across normal caste organisational lines. Tsua'm pats my leg with her right hand while Kais just looks blank. "I thought that was the body which coordinated between castes, and they'd just… Assign interviewing me to someone and then discuss the result."

"It is not my place to speak for Aun'Va… But if I had to guess, it is because they wish to look you in the eyes. To confirm some of the strange things that our reports have relayed for themselves. And because much of what you might say impacts so many areas of life in the Tau Empire."

"Have any humans been questioned like this before?"

"No."

"Tsua'm, would you mind showing me to a tau tailor?"

She nods. "I will ensure that you are fully prepared."

"And…" Bo'ohk half-turns. "Grem'len. Por'O Choan'ah wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience concerning ork behaviour. It seems that we were unduly concerned about your reception."

"That's a relief, boss. But what about Faultless Boy?"

"They gave no indication. I suspect that they wish to assess the rest of us before even beginning to address that matter."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:48 GMT

Jade holds up a book. It looks like it was bound by an amateur, and the paper quality appears to be variable.

"My translator doesn't recognise the language."

I nod and take it from her, carefully opening the first page so as to not damage it. A date at the top of the page, and…

"A journal." I turn the pages, skimming the text. "Short entries about farm work done, a couple of things about local events… And then a gap, and…"

And a description of Kalmin's work, not that he ever introduced himself. Hm. Now that I think about it, Sinestro would have had to be here, wouldn't he? Or… Did he create the ring blank first, and then alter it based on Sinestro's mentality?

"The end of the world."

"There wasn't any sign of the robots coming here, was there?"

"Your ring has better sensors than my exo-mantle."

"Yes, but you're actually trained to track things. You're reconnaissance, I'm brute force."

"I didn't see anything. You said that the robots are programmed to wander a certain distance from each other?"

"Effectively."

"The mountains would make that difficult, and the lack of people would mean there wasn't anything to draw them closer. You saw the barricade and armory; they were prepared for an attack. Does it say what they thought was happening?"

"Whoever wrote this was convinced that it was aliens. It's not entirely clear, but I think they were ancestor worshippers."

"So no fire and brimstone preachers calling on sinners to repent?"

"No." I point to the page I'm on now. "'The Eldest has openly said what we had accepted in our lungs: that we will die with none left to watch over in our turn. No one cried out to deny it. Every action is undertaken with solemnity, and no one even postures violently. If we are all the ancestors will have to see, should we not ensure that they can have pride in us?'"

"I don't suppose you can resurrect them, can you?"

"Thaumically dead world. Their ancestors almost certainly aren't actually watching over them." I sigh as I read the description of people starting to sleep in their village's crypt. "I can mark this world for the Controllers to eventually resettle. There are plenty of genetic records, and quite a lot of cultural relics. Compared to some places, it'll be.. easy."

I frown.

"It's odd. Kalmin had ships in orbit. He'd definitely have known they were here, but all I can see from the writing is that they were becoming resigned and.. apathetic, rather than afraid."

"What else could they do?"

"Nothing, but-. Ah."

"There weren't any bodies outside. Let me guess: they went to the crypts and shot themselves."

I close the journal, then lay in on a nearby table. "The author did, though they note that there were several others still alive at the time."

"I suppose resignation is a way some people respond to fear."

I nod. "Rallying to old certainties, because if they limit their thoughts then they don't have to think about how doomed the situation is."

She turns her helmet to look at me for a moment, then shakes her head and walks out of the building.

I follow her. "What?"

"You recruited Kalmin. You knew he'd.. done this, but you recruited him because you were worried about the Controllers."

"Not that it would have altered my decision, but I didn't know exactly what it had involved. And the Controllers used to destroy planets by using Sun Eaters to send their suns nova. With Kalmin, the choice was between killing him out of hand and keeping him where we could see him. Don't think that I think he's a good person just because I can stomach working with him."

She stops, looking at the entrance to the crypt. It's decorated with images of… I think those are farm tools, but I don't have cultural context for the rest. I'd guess that it's scenes from their history.

"You sounded dismissive of them."

"I'd respect them more if they'd kept fighting, even if it wasn't possible to beat Kalmin. Even just bunkering down to try and outlast him. But I don't-. I don't know how I'd-. How I would have acted before getting my ring if this had happened on my Earth." I snort. "The same, probably. Is there a reason why this is affecting you so much?"

"They let me into their archives. The Citizenry keep records of every world they recruit from. Every world that they decide to eat. And anyone can go in and have a look; actually, they like it when the new recruits do that, so they know what they're a part of now. Seeing empty homes in person brings home just how many people they killed, and even they memorialised their victims better than Kalmin did."

I walk over to the crypt entrance and kneel, bowing my head.

"Honoured dead. I do not know your people, your world or your culture. I well understand if you hate me for my alliance with your murderer, and I will not gainsay it. I can only pray that your end was as peaceful as it could be under the circumstances, and that your ancestors greet you in whatever fashion you hope for."

"You said that they wouldn't."

I nod as I stand.

"The thaumosphere is too thin to sustain individual consciousnesses. But it's not impossible that there's a weak gestalt embodying all their ancestors. Even worlds with weak thaumospheres can sometimes generate a weak god."

She nods once. "I don't think the Scouring Path has a set funeral tradition." She turns to face the crypt entrance and puts her hands together in prayer.

She doesn't say anything out loud, so I give her a moment to finish.

"Just in case any of them didn't die, we should check the crypt."

I nod. "I didn't pick up anything, but Kalmin is perfectly capable of blocking ring scans if he wanted to."

I switch to my heavy armour and make sure that the force fields are active, because I wouldn't want to walk into Kalmin's booby traps with anything less than my best.

The doors aren't locked or latched, opening easily to a construct-push. No trip wires or mines on the inside. I push on inside. Looks like a museum, with relics… I check the description plates. Yes, relics from the village's history. A plough blade, a… Newspaper? A shoe and a brick. No remains from living creatures. We more or less skipped over this sort of building in the other settlements we visited, but this isn't a unique thing. This is part of their culture. Probably not worldwide, as their transportation networks weren't advanced enough to enable that level of cultural uniformity. But certainly over a good chunk of this contin-

"Yaaaaaaaaghuh!"

-ent.

"I'm not detecting anyone, but that wasn't a recording."

"You have point."

Let's… See. The entrances to the crypt proper appear to be marked in terms of date ranges. I can't tell where the voice came from using sonic scans alone. Solid rock conveys sound too well. Most recent remains are interred through there, and we wanted to check there anyway.

I fly through the entrance and into the crypt.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:52 GMT

Desiccated corpses with small cups next to their shelves are arrayed near the entrance. Then there's a gap before the older remains, probably because they were sleeping here and didn't see the point in walking further than they had to. Several of the shelves had bits of bedding in with them, blankets or pillows or wind-up clocks. There's a residue of poison in the cups, and after calculating the likely result on the natives' physiology I find myself agreeing with my golden alter-ego: carbon monoxide really is the way to go.

The crypt is built into the stone of the mountain, and while the outer museum was a relatively normal room the crypt itself is bare stone. No decoration, but it does have oil lanterns hanging from the ceiling to light the way. They've long since gone out, reservoirs expended. For a moment I wonder where they got the oil from, but I suppose that it wouldn't be strange for communities like this to ship in a barrel a year or so.

I move deeper, Jade watching the flanks. Side passages are more crypts, but they don't have any markings so I've got no idea if they're for families or years or professions or… Whatever they considered most significant. Further in and the passages-.

"Stop."

I stop, attack constructs ready to go at a moment's notice.

"The walls. They weren't made with the same tools."

I take a closer look… Yes. This continent was early to mid twentieth century equivalent in terms of technology. This was done with something else, something they couldn't have built, either a plasma cutter or a matter disruptor.

"Kalmin wouldn't have left a test subject alive. But it's not that hard to come here if you know where you're going. There's no reason to assume that we're the first ones here."

I continue deeper. Something else that stands out: Kalmin wouldn't have bothered to copy local styles, whereas whoever did this clearly has. There are empty shelves, their design similar to but not quite the same as the ones the locals use. And there are bodies, but they're placed sporadically while the locals filled up spaces before moving on.

Alert.

Standard scan didn't spot it, but sonic and electrical sensors working together detected a spatial fracture system. Nasty if you walk into it, but the generator node… Should be…

I release the Colin Thornton construct lantern and send it onward. It marches into the fracture zone, which triggers and begins altering the relationship between spatial dimensions in its radius. Colin returns to my ring instantly, but I'm braced and prepared for the storm of horrifying images that come with seeing his memories and behaviours. I release and dispatch him again to the same result, and again-.

The spatial fracture generator stutters, a problem with hiding a power hungry system from a sufficiently capable attacker. Colin flies through during the flux with only some damage, and tears apart the generator with his bare hands.

"Dismissed."

He vanishes, and after another scan I advance into the area it was covering.

"Would that send an alert?"

"Probably. Nothing I can detect, so we're dealing with someone clever rather than opportunistic looters."

Scanners and mental acceleration on full I move forward, alert for-

"Nurnnurnnurnnurn…"

-any sign of danger to us. Nothing, and we're in a crypt cul-de-sac-. And from the way that dust cloud is moving I can tell that's a hologram.

I short it out, and-.

Plasma fire from a device built into the ceiling hits my force field and achieves precisely nothing, while my spear construct punches through its weak armour and cuts off its power supply. Hm. So far it looks like the technology here is advanced, but the application is a little slapdash. Someone with little field experience?

Other force fields or guns? Looks like no. I push on-

Scan available.

-into the room, construct tentacles snaking out and seizing control of the main computer system. Sadly it's not tied into anything other than the… Containment unit? But I stop the automatic subject purge countdown anyway.

The subject-. A dishevelled humanoid. Male. He's wearing a plug suit-. No, a bio-monitor suit, but his hair and beard are scraggly and I can see blood around his mouth.

And fear. So much fear.

The other equipment… Some of it looks a little like Kalmin's forge. Other parts look like the more mundane parts of his workshop. A Weaponer, then. Someone out of favour with Varnathon? Or just trying to hide a secret workshop away from prying eyes.

The computer doesn't have records on it. Because what sort of Weaponer wouldn't be able to just remember things like that?

The containment chamber is a custom job, and I don't think that it's designed to let things pass in or out easily. I could break through with a little effort, but I think it's best to get a better idea of what's going on first. The man inside doesn't look bound in any way, he's just sort of curled up against the side of the chamber.

And there's the speak-.

Wait. I know that face. DNA scan-.

I activate the speaker.

"Orange Lantern Illustres here." His head doesn't come up. "Can you hear me?"

"Eh-heh-heh-huuuu…"

Cowering and gibbering. Okay. If I understand this machine correctly, then pulling this lever and turning these dials should reduce the focus on the chamber interior.

"I think the Weaponer who set this place up was trying to focus the residual fear energy through this man."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps they were trying to make him into an ideal Yellow Lantern? Or just to see what would happen."

"Where did they get a human?" … "Don't tell me-."

"There's an anti-matter Earth. I mean an Earth Negative Sixteen. I don't actually know if he's from there."

"But you don't think he's from our Earth. You've scanned him."

"Yes. Hello in there! Are you feeling any better?"

"Hu-ur-huh?"

His head comes up slightly, his mind still filled with fear but regaining the capacity for coherent thought.

"I'm happy to remove you from this planet just as soon as we can get some idea how safe that is for you. Can you tell me your name, sir?"

He manages to make eye contact for a moment, then they drop back down again. I'm not sure if all that I'm seeing in him is fear because it's so strong that it's overwhelming, or because that's all there is left.

"W-where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about, sir. As far as I know, the three of us are the only people on the planet."

"No-no-no-no-no."

"Can you tell me your name?"

He manages to get up on his hands and knees, still cringing and unwilling to meet my eyes.

"Joseph. Joseph Harrolds."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
12:56 GMT

"Thank you."

So, either the local version of Harold Jordan, or… I mean, Qward's had access to parallel universes for decades at least. He could have come from just about anywhere-.

Jade makes a small jerking motion with her head, and I take my hand off the intercom.

"Am I supposed to pretend that I don't know who Harold Jordan is, or can we have a sensible conversation?"

"It's probably best that you pretend when you're back on Earth."

"Neither of us detected any spaceships anywhere on this planet, or any residue from one flying in."

"There's no interdiction system up. If they knew the area, there's no reason why they couldn't fly right up to the atmosphere."

"Or a yellow power ring."

She's right. All this yellow light, there's a good chance that I wouldn't be able to distinguish between the planet and a ring's output.

"Yes. But this doesn't feel like Sinestro. He's intelligent, but he's not an expert scientist. He was an archaeologist before he joined the Green Lantern Corps, and he certainly didn't have time for getting a second doctorate afterwards."

"He could have gone back to school after he left."

"Yes, but this is Qwardian equipment. They sell weapons, not the tools to make weapons."

"Varnathon was happy selling to aliens. And Sinestro was the reason why Kalmin lost his job."

"You think they were in touch beforehand?"

"Sinestro wants a Lantern Corps… Or at least some minions with power rings. Kalmin hasn't made another yellow ring since the one he made Sinestro."

"Varnathon could barely make qwa-matter."

"He had all of Kalmin's records and Kalmin's apprentices. He wouldn't need to make the rings himself. And we haven't seen any evidence that Sinestro has extra power rings yet. He might just be trying to learn to make them himself."

And the knowledge that I can make power rings is relatively common amongst N.E.M.O. personnel. Not sure how many people know in N.E.M.O.-affiliated space, but I doubt that it would be hard for Sinestro to find out. Or maybe he decided that he could do it after watching Kalmin. Here-.

He and Arin married after he joined the Green Lantern Corps, when he was well into his middle years. And given that Green Lantern medical aid isn't anything like as good as you might expect, I imagine that he's feeling his old injuries. Korugari tend to live a little longer than humans, but not by much. Sinestro's an old man. Learning a new trick that big..?

"Maybe, but I.. don't think it's likely."

Though I suppose there's an easy way to find out. I activate the intercom once more.

"Can you tell me who put you in there?"

Mr. Harrolds is sitting up a little. He's still clearly not happy with his situation, but that suggests that we're going to get a more helpful answer this time.

"Bald… Chick. Big… Robot eyes, like a bug."

Qwardian, but that doesn't exactly narrow it down.

"Did she give you a name?"

"H-human test meat."

Um. "I meant, did she tell you her name?"

"No. No."

"Are you from Earth?"

"Yeah. W-why?"

"Well, we need some information from you, but afterwards we're happy to take you back."

"H-happy?"

"Um. Well, I do feel mildly uplifted when I help someone do something they couldn't have done for themselves, so-."

"Why?"

I'm.. puzzled by the sheer bewilderment in his-. Oh. It's one of those negative Earths.

"Troop instinct. Most people get positive feedback from being around other happy people."

"You're..? You mean, you're Human?"

Right, Jade and I are both wearing all-encompassing armour. He can't see our faces.

"Yes, from a parallel universe. This is ar-. Mour."

Wait.

I take a hologram projector out of subspace, and use it to project an image of Kalmin's female students.

"Was it one of these?"

"Ah..?"

His eyes jump from the image to me, back and forth. Why-?

He's trying to work out the 'right' answer.

"The right answer is an accurate answer. It's either one of them or it isn't, and I need to know either way."

"… No." He braces himself for my wrath, but I don't respond. After a moment he collects himself. "They look similar. I guess they're the same species. It's the same… Same technology."

I send the projector back into subspace.

"Did the woman who put you here use a ring at any point?"

"Use..? What?"

"A ring. A small glowing ring."

"Ah… No. I didn't.. see one."

"Did she say what she was doing with you in here?"

"Something about… Learning to control absolute fear. I'm… I'm feeling better… Now."

"Yes, I turned off the machine."

"She… She said not to do that."

"Did she say why?" He shakes his head. "Then I won't worry until something catches fire. Let me just break you out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
13:06 GMT

Mister Harrolds is taking the opportunity to walk around the empty village, apparently not at all interested in the buildings, just enjoying the fact that it's not his cage.

"You know this is a trick, right?"

I'm wearing heavy armour, so the withering look I flash her way passes unnoticed.

"No, Jade, I'm actually fairly stupid."

"No, but you're a superhero. I want to make sure we're on the same page."

"The question is, what sort of trick is it."

"He was genuinely afraid. Either that or he's the greatest actor on Earth."

"I saw yellow and little else, but that doesn't mean much here."

"Wouldn't you see it if he felt other emotions?"

"Maybe. But with this much yellow… The mind can adapt to it. It's not true avarice, or… Other things, but it looks a bit like it. He can function without avarice while still having a sort of motivation."

"The simplest trap is that the Qwardian who was experimenting on him is coming back."

"But he said there was just one. Weaponers aren't subtle people. If she had support, she'd have had them here."

"Maybe he helped her?"

"Possible. I can see someone from an anti-Earth volunteering for experimentation if the result was that they got more power. And the Qwardians are happy to augment people; that's where a lot of our Earth's Jordan's early supervillains came from."

"So why didn't he just tell us?"

"We've both got equipment. If he can keep us here, he still gets augmented and he gets to offer us to the Qwardian."

"It's a risk if she's on her own."

"Or we kill her and he gets her stuff. Worst case scenario, we take him back to Earth Negative Sixteen and he's got a location to sell to anyone with faster than light travel there."

"Or he started helping her, but it got too much for him and she didn't want to stop the experiment."

"Plausible, but he'll feel vengeful enough to put us in the loop once he's recovered."

"Or he was lying, and this was all Sinestro."

"Or he got a new deputy, and it's them. We don't have any way to know for sure. What happens if we just ask him directly?"

"He acts like he doesn't know what we're talking about."

"How about if we make it clear that we don't care, and we'll pay him for his help?"

"Why would he trust us?"

"We let him out in an act of altruism. Even if he's not altruistic himself, he'll make assumptions about our likely behaviour based on that."

"How bad is his Earth?"

"No idea."

I try feeling it from here, but the yellow light is obscuring even that.

"Shouldn't be hard to find out."

"Lead with that. Offer to take him back right away. See what he says."

"Armour on or off?"

"What's the chance of Sinestro blindsiding us?"

"There's no obvious reason for him to kill me, and he can't stop our backup coming here later and creating a clone for me to inhabit."

"How about me?"

"They could create a clone for you, too."

If they're fast enough and you haven't begun your ascension.

"Does he have a reason to kill me?"

"I… Don't know. I don't know how much contact he has with Earth supervillains."

"I didn't meet him while I was a Shadow."

"No, I was thinking that he might kill you as a favour to the Light, or someone like that. There are all sorts of useful things on Earth that he could trade a favour for."

"The League of Shadows doesn't exist anymore, and I'd be surprised if anyone else with anything to offer even knows my name. Besides, they're all either working for the Justice League or Mannheim. I'm just concerned that he'd think we knew what was going on and kill us just in case."

"Could happen." I walk towards the ex-lab rat. "But I think it'll be okay. Mister Harrolds!"

I switch back to my light armour as he turns around, seeing my face for the first time. There's a moment of focus as he takes in my features, but no recognition. I guess there isn't an alternate me on his Earth. Any longer, at least.

"Would you like to go home now? There isn't anything here except pack-hunting robot drones. We can drop you off anywhere on Earth. And if there's anyone you want us to contact, we can do that too."

"They're all dead, huh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. The Weaponer who did it was quite thorough."

"And they all… Died afraid."

"Most of them. The ones who died in the first attack might not have had time to feel afraid."

He shakes his head. "Imagine having that kind of power…"

I shake my head. "It's not about power. Honestly, the robots aren't that complicated, dropping rocks would work nearly as well as his orbital strikes did, and social manipulation… That's a matter of patience."

"If it's not power, what is it?"

"Intent. Will? The Weaponer decided that he needed a world to die in terror, so he made it so. I don't even think he cared much about these poor people one way or the other. There's a… Book, called Nineteen Eighty Four, where… The final torture they use to break prisoners is customised to their particular psychology. They expose them to something they can't withstand and then let them out only if they betray everything and everyone they care about rather than endure it. Of course, at that point anyone they put in there is so broken down by regular torture that it's not much of a gamble."

I look around at the homes of people who chose to die in their tombs rather than try and go on.

"There's nothing here that I couldn't find on Earth, or on a hundred other humanoid-inhabited worlds. Our fears aren't all that different to one another really."

"I fear… And they fear…"

I nod. "It really-."

"I understand."

His eyes glow yellow, his pupils turning into yellow sigils.

"No." His body glows with yellow light as he lifts off the ground. "We understand."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
13:10 GMT

A yellow sigil burns on his forehead.

Parallax.

I guess that's why the green rings back home can affect yellow objects: he was never imprisoned.

Behind me Jade shudders, her soul flaring yellow in my sight. She can fight it to a degree, but much like the Ophidian affecting a person's desires you can't completely fight Parallax when it tries to influence you. The fears are already there.

"Parallax."

"Is that your name for this?" His mouth… Extends further into his cheeks than it should, and I'm getting flashes of unusually sharp teeth. "What we… I… Ah."

He doesn't understand what it is. Parallax might not even understand. I knew in advance… Roughly what was happening, and so Ophidime knew as well.

"She wasn't lying. We find that extremely strange. And…" His glowing eyes refocus on me. "You. You know what.. we are."

"I had a similar joining with the Embodiment of Avarice."

"And we are… Fear. It is…" He looks up, at-. At the universe. "A glorious music. We.. can hear… So much…"

"It's the same for me. Even without the Ophidian I can unfocus my mind and feel the interlocking networks of desires, thwarted and fulfilled. I didn't hear it as music, more like a… Picture, or an abstract sculpture."

"And that is why we can hear you hardly at all. The part of you that is the Ophidian does not have fears."

"That's probably a part of it. Do you mind me asking what the Weaponer offered the part of you that is Joseph Harrolds?"

"She fears her own worthlessness, and that worthlessness being known to her peers. It motivates everything she does and doesn't do."

"It might just look like that to you because you can see-. Hear her fear and can't hear other things."

"No. No. We can hear it ringing clearly."

"I'll take your word for it, then. Ah. Where was the Parallax part of you hanging out before coming here?"

"We don't… Remember. We remember… Everything… Fading. But it did not concern us. Concern-. Why do you call it Parallax?"

"It once demonstrated the ability to use multiple power rings simultaneously."

"That's 'parallel'."

"I'm sorry?"

"Using multiple power rings. That's 'in parallel', like bulbs in a high school science class circuit. Parallax means 'the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object'."

"Oh. Then perhaps I misunderstood the explanation. Do you have another name you'd prefer?"

"We..." He looks puzzled. "No. Though… Joseph Harrolds' memories and feelings are more vibrant than what our other half thought and felt. We are happy to be addressed by his name."

"Alright, Mister Harrolds: what's next for you?"

"I want to hear more of the song. I want it to play everywhere in a glorious symphony of terror!"

Ah.

"Are you sure?"

"More sure than we have been of anything that we can remember."

"But have you considered the value of subtlety and differentiation?"

His eyes dim slightly as he turns his attention on me. That's a little creepy.

"Explain."

"The Ophidian wants to possess everything all of the time. But that means that one thing is as good as any other, there's no difference between one desire and another. Whose fear would mean the most to you?"

"No... Hm." Mr. Harrolds frowns thoughtfully. "We admit that some of those against whom Joe had a personal grudge… The idea of them with their faces twisted in a rictus of terror before we kill them… That does have a greater appeal."

"That's what happens when you bond with a mortal creature. It affects your perspective, the way you understand the universe. To a being of pure fear, all fear is fear and there's nothing else to say. To you…"

"We feel different. We aren't sure that you don't have an angle-."

"Of course I have an angle. That doesn't mean that I'm not telling the truth."

"What is your angle?"

"I want a yellow power ring, a lead on Sinestro and to speak with the Weaponer who put you in there. I'd also like to stop you going on a rampage and terrorising everyone to death."

"Your perspective is helpful, but we find ourselves curious as to what you fear."

"Personal annihilation."

"Hm." He peers closer. "True. But there's something else."

"Heights?"

"No." He smiles, his mouth extending up his face in an open display of inhumanity. "You fear… Getting it wrong. You change things, risk things, and the idea that you might be wrong and that you've misled everyone makes everything resonate with a constant unease."

It's… Not as intense, but I suppose that he's right. Comic-Parallax… After the 'no-Jordan-wasn't-just-crazy' retcon, exposed people to their fears in order to possess them. This Parallax doesn't need a new host, so it's probably just being a dick.

"Okay, well, thank you for pointing that out. I also get a bit self-conscious in social situations, and you might be able to pick that out-."

"You embrace chaos but you still fear to misstep."

"Follow a rule someone else came up with and everyone expects you to follow and it's as much everyone else's fault as yours. If you do your own thing, that's all on you."

"How compassionate of you." He takes a step back, and then rises into the air. His outline shimmers for a moment as armour appears around his body-. Armour that looks a lot like mine, secondary colour and sigil notwithstanding. "We genuinely have no idea where the Weaponer is, we have no idea how to forge a ring and we have a home to return to. We wish you the best of luck."

He turns to face this universe's anti-Earth and then accelerates into the sky.

…

Guess this is a bust, then.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
17:49 GMT

"How did this happen?"

I look down at the smouldering world beneath me. Sereaven is… Cooked. Barring Controller involvement, the world is now uninhabitable.

"A reserve fleet, Illustres." The senior surviving L.E.G.I.O.N. officer pulls his forelegs into his body in a show of shame and guilt. "With a hunting pack of Scarab Warriors. We were outgunned, and the Lanterns were overwhelmed. I only survived because I was on patrol on the opposite side of the system."

"But how did they get close enough-?"

"A boom tube."

Oh dear.

"Their own, or did Grayven open it for them?"

"I did not see. We were at the wrong angle, and our sensors-."

"It's fine."

Or, rather, it's not. Looks like the Reach have decided that now is the time to take this seriously. And with Grayven not running interference and forcing them to keep a lot of their navy to their inner systems…

"Link up with the closest L.E.G.I.O.N. fleet and request new orders. There's no reason to stay here when there's nothing to hold. Or rescue."

"Yes, Illustres."

I find myself… Looking at exactly where the egg bunker for the north western continent was. The place I-.

My ring blinks, though there is no attempt at conversation as a set of coordinates appear in my consciousness. A heartbeat and I'm there, already too late as Reach dreadnoughts obliterate the L.E.G.I.O.N. capital ships with-.

A purple beam lashes out from a Reach battleship, striking a Lantern who had been dogfighting with three Scarab Warriors and… Completely annihilating them. They're a small and agile target, how did it-?

That Scarab, they're carrying a target designator. They aim it and fire and the battleship weapon fires where it's told to. The weapon is new, and appears to work like a phaser array: able to fire in any direction without build-up.

Good design.

Thaumically dead system, so there's no point in letting Colin out.

Construct railguns and cold guns appear around me, crumbler rounds blasting out and cold beams strobing across the intervening space. The closest battleship shudders as my attack hits home-.

BOOM!

A boom tube opens directly behind it, my shots being intercepted and…

Wait.

That's… Not how boom tubes w-.

"Illustres!" A Lantern I don't immediately recognise flies up to me. "We're getting slaughtered and they've broken through! What do we do?!"

"Watch my back as I remove these ships."

And don't think I didn't notice that. My last clear memory was Parallax 'returning to his home planet' after identifying that I was afraid of failing to live up to my obligations. A being of Parallax's power should be more than capable of influencing my mind, and-. I didn't step out. I just appeared at my new location, because Parallax can't cope with the Honden of Avarice.

Looks like realising that doesn't get me out. I'm a little worried about what I'm actually doing while this is going on, but… My guess is that I'm still back on that planet and this is a pure illusion. Parallax likes fear, not other forms of emotional damage.

So I'll go along with it, because completely accurate images of my friends, allies and dependents dying en masse aren't things I particularly want to see because Parallax was completely right about that. I fly towards the Reach fleet, construct shield ahead of me and guns still firing. I doubt that anything here can actually kill me, but I imagine that a low level fear of being powerless to affect the universe would allow them to score crippling hits. I need to watch out for-.

I spot a tiny shift in stellar debris clouds and I roll and fire. A purple energy beam punches through where I was a moment ago just as the stealthy Scarab Warrior freezes and then shatters.

Okay, so why was I allowed to-?

I turn my head aside as the remains of the Lantern who requested my direction drifts away, the beam having punched through their defences and vaporised most of their lower body along with their ring hand, leaving their fear-chilled face staring at me.

Playing off my sense of responsibility, or trying to personalise the tragedy unfolding in front of me? Irrelevant. Other than giving Parallax the idea that I'm a psychopath, I can't have an emotional response to something I know perfectly well isn't happening.

Realising hasn't freed me. What might? Overcoming my own fear, maybe. But I think it would require enlightenment-type overcoming. And honestly I don't think stopping being at least a bit afraid of making a mess of things would be a good idea. Quite aside from the fact that I'd end up with a tendency to look down on the burning remains of a world I failed to save and shrug 'Oh well, plenty of other worlds', I know that other people started seeing me as a little inhuman after I attained avarice enlightenment. Manage a second form and I'll probably be unrecognisable.

Of course, if Parallax can't make me think that I've stepped out, that should work.

I finally get an angle to another battleship and open fire, breaking its shield and shutting down its main drive system. No boom tube defence, so perhaps Parallax is trying to keep it plausible. I look to the fore, to see where the Reach Fleet is actually going-. Tillettit, because Parallax is trying to show me the death of worlds in which I have an emotional investment.

Enough of this.

We step out, the comforting structures of the Honden of Avarice surrounding us at once. A little disconcerting as these desires belong to a people long since dead, but their place here is as if they were still alive. We take a moment to try to feel the desires of the Weaponer, but… There is nothing immediately obvious as belonging to her. With a better lead it should be possible to find a thread to follow, but in the presence of so much yellow light…

Mildly frustrating, but-. Jade! We

step back in, the yellow-washed mountainside of the village appearing in my visual field for a moment before the image of a burning world reasserts itself.

"Clarissi to Illustres. Where were you?!"

I wave the image away.

"I know this isn't real. You're not going to make me afraid like this."

We step out again, but just for a moment before

reappearing on the mountainside.

"You see? We can't play with each other. You can't make me afraid with illusions."

Harrolds is glowering at me, a construct… A giant construct pseudo insectoid standing behind him. Parallax's default form.

"No. We don't suppose that we can."

He glows brilliantly for a moment-

Anti-matter transition-

-and then vanishes.

-detected.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ring, time.

20th January 2013
18:19 GMT

Ugh.

General broadcast.

"Jade?!"

Scan everything.

Compliance.

The air around me turns orange as scanners and sensors of every type in my database appears, the air seeming to hum with a dozen types of energetic emissions.

And message Dox.

Compliance.

Okay, I didn't move while I was here. Jade has moved, and I've got no idea-.

My ring shimmers. Darn-.

"Answer."

A face-. That's not Dox. That's Weaponer Lysis.

"I see that my test subject has left. Are you still in possession of your mental faculties?"

"Yes. What are you doing here?"

"Did you know that your species has a remarkable facility for surviving emotional stress?"

"I haven't seen research that demonstrates that. And having access to a wealth of human psychiatric literature, I-."

"You deform but you don't crack. If my former master had tried something like this on Earth it would never have worked."

I don't remember anything about her working with Sinestro in the comics, but I don't think they continued the characters from the Earth 2 series into the War of Light era.

"Shouldn't you be on Qward? As a Council-Member-."

"I was a Council-Member, but that's become an empty position now. Q'ardajin civilisation has collapsed. If I want to restore Qward then I need something new and powerful."

"Where's Jade?"

"In a spatial vacuole. I imagine that her armour has life-preservation systems, so the lack of fresh air won't be a problem so long as she isn't troubled by not being able to move. But as I said, your species are psychologically resilient."

I can sense spatial vacuoles, but she will probably notice and certainly will have a way to kill Jade if I don't play along.

"Are you simply tormenting me, or-?"

"Of course I'm not! You are the one who unleashed the Parallax Entity on the universe!"

"You had him in a box. I had no idea Parallax had a-."

"It didn't, fool! I was endeavouring to lure it here in a controlled environment so that I could use it to create new power rings!"

Her head jerks as she starts to rant. I think she's pacing.

"And it didn't work! A world with fear in the air and a strong-willing human to break, and nothing happened! And then you were here for less than a day-tenth and this happened." She steadies herself and stares at me. "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing much. Just a little about how fear works. As far as I can tell, once he had the space to organise his thoughts, he attained enlightenment. And then Parallax entered him. If I had to guess, I'd say that it was on or watching this planet already. I think Mister Harrolds just needed a little time alone in his own head to achieve that result."

"And now I have to wait until Parallax burns out its host and then hunt it down again."

"Ah, what? Why wouldn't it just stay in its current host?"

"Mortal flesh is a poor container for an Entity. Without a ring to focus its power, the flesh will fall apart in a few tenths."

"For a possession?"

"Yes." … "What?"

"I merged with the Avarice Entity a while ago, and I showed no sign of physical decay at the end of it. Merged. I wasn't possessed."

"He still has his original motivations?"

"Partially. He locked my mind in an illusion to try and make me feel fear. I broke out. I suspect that he's going to the matter universe to make it happen for real."

"That-. Why does he care about you?"

"I don't know. A point of comparison, perhaps? Merging with Entities isn't something that happens very often. But that isn't important."

"Oh?"

"You want Parallax contained somewhere where you can use it to make more rings. I want Parallax out of the way and not trying to do things that will terrify me, on the grounds that it's going to set back my work immensely. I have no particular objection to you making rings, on the grounds that Qwardian society is too messed up to use them in a concerted fashion."

She stares at me for a moment.

"What do you suggest?"

"Do you have a way to contain Parallax?"

"I… Might. But if what you say about its relationship with the host is true, it would be easier for me to disrupt that bond."

"Good. And since our objectives don't contradict each other, what do you say to working together? If you object to the fact that I'm an alien, you can just coordinate with Kalmin. The Maltusians have contained Entities before. This is doable."

"I will keep your aide as collateral."

"Don't be ridiculous. I've already sent a report home. Physicist-Lanterns will be sent to pick her up, and you'll need your full concentration on handling Parallax and making sure that we're not betraying you. And of course if I don't know that she's safe then I'll be focusing on other things as well."

"True. And you want nothing else?"

"I need to borrow a yellow ring, afterwards. Kalmin refuses to make one until I give him Sinestro's head, and…" I look around. "Between the two of them, I'm not sure that Sinestro's worse, morally speaking."

"Borrow?"

"I'd prefer to own it, but I only really need it for a little while."

"I will agree, in exchange for ring telemetry. I want test data."

"And I'm happy to supply it. Isn't it amazing what can happen when you negotiate rather than limiting yourself to threats?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
18:26 GMT

"It's not damaged." The Weaponer performs checks on her equipment, but it's just as untouched as I left it. I guess that Parallax was having too much fun playing with my brain. "Good."

Jade shudders again, and I tighten my arms around her. Normally she'd hate looking weak, but I feel her need and see her reassurance. I haven't asked what it showed her yet, but I will, later.

"That's a ring forge. Have you forged rings before?"

"Yes. Eight Earth years ago. It was probably the pinnacle of my career."

Eight years… Not Sinestro, then. His fall from grace-. His getting booted out of the Corps, happened twelve years ago. Jordan had had his ring for a little over a year. Eight years… That was when Jordan fought St'nlli, so it's-.

"You made the Anti-. The antithesis rings."

"I was one of the Weaponers who worked on that project. Does Kalmin talk about it?"

"No. Wait, that was after Sinestro got his ring. I thought that Kalmin was deposed shortly after that."

"He was. The Antithesis Ring project was started before he met Sinestro. Varnathon let us continue it, probably so that he could arrange for us to die when the Green Lantern Corps made their counterattack."

"You appear to be alive."

"I ran a little faster. When you're surrounded by people who think with their thunderbolts, it pays to plan ahead."

"So the plan was… Have Parallax possess him, use that power to help you forge a ring.. by using them to bypass the focus requirement."

"Forge rings and personal lanterns. Parallax was irrelevant. And I would have given one to Harrolds, as per our agreement. And if his mind survived intact, he could have gone home to use it."

"Where did Parallax come in?"

"Why are you calling it that? 'Parallax' doesn't-."

"Yes, I-. Yes, I know. What do your people call the Fear Entity?"

"Qpwkohinaugvreau. The insect that drinks minds through a fear-proboscis."

"'Parallax' might be nonsense, but at least it's pronounceable. But where did it come in?"

"It wasn't supposed to. The tank I had Harrolds in was designed to prevent it seeing him as I increased the amount of yellow light passing through him. When you broke containment, it would have been like a beacon going off."

"Beacon… Okay, but where was it?"

"I don't know. Kalmin kept most of his research into the yellow light to himself." The rim of the hole I made in the tank glows for a moment, then starts to close. "I'm surprised that you don't know."

"I thought that the Guardians had it. But if they kept it locked up for millennia, I doubt that one person achieving enlightenment would break it out."

"No. But it might wake it up."

"Be-cause… The easiest way to keep someone imprisoned is if they don't try to escape. That also matches how confused he sounded about it."

The Guardians are just about the only people who could trap Parallax. Or another maltusian faction. Or-. No. They're not the only ones who could. They're just the only ones who would without immediately trying to weaponize it.

The tank finishes resealing itself and Weaponer Lysis turns back to me.

"Once he is inside, 'Parallax' will not be able to merge with him."

"Are you sure? A central power battery might be a better vessel."

"Perhaps. And if I had one, I would test it as a solution. Has it been used in that way before?"

"Ah… No. Ion and Ophidian are both in theirs willingly. Ophidian was trapped in a sort of proto-central power battery, but that had an insane Orange Lantern to be next to it at all times. I don't know if that was required, and I don't know about the others."

"Do you know anything useful?"

"Based on the visions it made me have, I can predict that it will travel into Reach territory, attempt to ally with them and then attack Sereaven. It wants me to be afraid. Now, what was that about a way to disrupt its connection with Harrolds? Because I've already got the device Controller Hinon made for me to render Larfleeze unable to focus."

"Was he merged with an Entity at the time?"

"No."

"Then you're welcome to try it, but I doubt that it will do anything. We can depart. I'll need to work with Kalmin or your Controllers to complete my work."

"So you don't have a disruptor, or-?"

She reaches into one of her pouches and pulls out… A green power ring, with the-

"I am entity Volthoom. Baseline universal substrate anomaly detected. Predicting-."

-strange double-loop Power Ring symbol on the bezel.

"Silence!" The ring doesn't stop muttering to itself, but the volume drops to barely audible. "It's unusually talkative. If you put it on, it talks constantly in your head. Harrolds was using it, but he found it extremely aggravating. Having tried putting up with it myself, I am sympathetic to his decision. Putting it on him should disrupt his connection to Parallax as the green light invades his psyche."

I nod. "Where's his personal lantern?"

"According to him, he doesn't have one. Whatever 'Volthoom' is, it provides power on its own. I would have preferred to make something similar, but Parallax is far too strong and I don't know of any other lifeforms that would work."

"Alright. I'll-."

Jade's right hand shoots out as she steps away from me, fingers pointing to-.

"Darling, I'm not sure that's-."

She pulls away from me, hand still reaching. "I'll risk it."

Weaponer Lysis holds it in Jade's direction, an expression of mild curiosity on her face as the ring flies in Jade's direction and lands on her right middle finger.

"I am entity Volthoom. New wearer detected. Manual activated. Control processes available. Playing manual."

Jade winces as her armour reformats into Power Ring's colours or green and white with the Power Ring logo on the chest.

"I'll take this as a try-out. What's our next-." She winces, the barely audible droning of the ring continuing. "Next step?"

"We travel to the anti-matter universe and I discuss things with my former teacher." She looks at me. "Bring everything, damage nothing."

I nod, orange light flowing out and enveloping her entire workshop.

"Transition in three, two, one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 573 938.M41

Bo'okh looks over my clothing as we approach the doorway leading to the meeting room where the T'au Aun'chiagor is held. The building itself actually makes me feel right at home; it's clearly an older structure that's been modernised on several occasions.

"That is not something you would usually wear."

Tau of all five castes pass along the corridors or lurk in corners, conversing amongst themselves. Tau have a lot more lateral communication than, say, the minbari, but a lot of jobs are one-caste affairs. Seeing them mix like this in a work setting is a little unusual.

"It's from designs proposed but never realised for gue'vesa clothing during the Second Expansion Sphere. I think there are… Two planets that actually got issued with it, then the T'au Aun'chiagor found out how many humans actually live on Hive Worlds and gave up. This is the 'saal version, as I've never technically been promoted."

"Haven't you?" He looks as puzzled as he sounds. "I am.. sure… Oh."

"Yes. Promotions must come from a caste superior -and I hardy ever work with other humans- or by the collective-."

"The collective will of the Lar'shi Aun'chiagor and no one raised the issue, because it is unusual to use rank designations with auxiliary species outside of the military. I apologise. I will see that corrected."

"Thank you."

"Por'Ul Lar'shi Tsua'm Raard was able to properly brief you?"

"Hope so. She was able to explain the process, at least. Answer questions fully to the best of my ability, ask for clarification if I don't understand something, and don't throw shit at them."

He winces. "And don't joke about it when you are about to go in and the person you are speaking to may find themselves picturing it at an inappropriate juncture."

"I'll try. I was wondering, why is it called the T'au Aun'chiagor, rather than jus the T'au'chiagor?"

"During the mont'au period, the syllable before 'chiagor was to indicate who had called a meeting. If the Earth Tribe of Fio'taun invited the Fire Tribe to a meeting, it would be called the Fio'taun Fio'chiagor. In this age, all meetings are 'called' by the Aun, so they are all called by that name."

"Huh. Makes sense."

And there's the door, and a couple of Fire Caste Ethereal Guards in what I hope are traditional uniforms. I mean, the security of the Houses of Parliament are handled by a man called Black Rod, so I'm not going to knock them for wearing something that answers any questions I had on whether tau females have mammaries.

One takes half a step closer, a data pad in one hand. They're a last line of security in case someone charges this chamber, but we were checking in at the entrance and have been monitored constantly since then. They know that we're supposed to be here, so this is more of a double check.

"Aun'ul Lar'shi Bo'ohk Ben'ii. Gue'vesa Earth P'ol Lantern. You are expected, and the previous meeting has already concluded."

"Thank you, Shas'Vre. We are ready to enter."

She presses a button on the pad, and after a moment a purple light appears. She steps back, and the door opens to allow us inside. We walk forward, and… Huh. It's actually more or less the same set-up as the Lar'shi Aun'chiagor. A horseshoe table with a senior member of the Fire, Earth, Water and Air Castes seated around it. Huddled around them are their aides, while…

I make momentary eye contact with Aun'Va. He doesn't look particularly expressive, though I imagine that a senior Ethereal can go from completely stony-faced to impassioned at the drop of a hat as the need arises. He's sitting in his flying chair a little back from and above the table, the staff Paradox of Duality serving as his gavel. On Lar'shi, Aun'O Ven'gral prefers to walk around the table just in case she needs to calm someone down. It seems that Aun'Va prefers a more authoritarian approach, and there's a reason why Aun'O Ven'gral doesn't do that.

He taps the butt of his staff on the floor twice as we stop at the designated interviewee desks, decorated only by a small personal computer in case we need to bring up something to reference.

"Aun'Ul Bo'ohk and Gue'vesa P'ol, you have been called here to answer questions regarding your irregular operational methodology."

Tau don't like 'irregular'. The word technically means the same as it does in English, but the implication is more 'chaotic mess likely to cause harm' rather than 'innovative solution'. And here's the reason why Aun'O Ven'gral doesn't take the lead during meetings: other tau hesitate to contradict an Aun. And they know that, so they generally have their arguments in private and speak in the passive voice in public. If Aun'Va says something is 'irregular', then he's not keen. If Aun'Va is not keen, everyone else is not keen.

Bo'ohk makes an expression of contrite acknowledgement.

"As the Most High directs."

Ah…

As the senior party, Bo'ohk makes the acknowledgement for both of us, but the guard at the door didn't use a rank reference for me. So I'm not sure if I'm supposed to acknowledge it as well because they're treating us as having the same rank, or-.

"Your report on the mon'he 'Faultless One' is greatly concerning. Every incident on record of the Tau Empire dealing with such creatures has shown that they only speak to more effectively manifest their particular madness in the universe. What decision making process did you use to determine it was correct to enable it?"

Bo'ohk can answer, or he can pass it to me. Passing it on me wouldn't be like him dropping me in it, as advising him in this sort of situation is my job.

"The Faultless One expressed a desire to do something that was in the interests of the Greater Good. As such, I enabled it, though it was monitored by forces allied to the Tau Empire at all times. In addition, both gue'vesa P'ol and a stealth suit team were on standby to intervene if he was being dishonest. We have accumulated a good deal of information on mon'he from our own observations and the records of the Imperium, but as P'ol indicated, that only applies to certain types of mon'he. Faced with one with an unfamiliar configuration, I decided that it was best to attempt peaceful cooperation."

Then he taps my arm, just under the desk. I smile faintly.

"Most High, the forms of daemons express their nature in a predictable and reliable fashion. Once I saw that the Faultless One did not match the appearance of a daemon of the four, the only alternative was him being a daemon of chaos undivided. The Inquisition's records indicated no prior involvement in a proscribed cult or other unorthodox behaviour. That left a very limited range of possibilities for what he could be. The lack of a response to his presence from local sanctioned psykers was also an indicative factor. And… He's not any less obsessive or manic than other types of daemon, it's just that his interests are much more pro-social."

"Your report states that his core personality engram-"

Soul, for non-tau. Except when it's not and actually refers to a mind recording.

"-is derived from a human who prayed to the human Emperor. Who was faithful to the Imperial religion."

The pedant in me twitches, but by face remains calm. Aun'Va probably doesn't need to know the history of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor or the Confederacy of Light. Out of curiosity I make eye contact with the Por'O-. No, the woman behind the Por'O who is quietly passing caste-relevant on information to him.

"A religion that is uniformly hostile to other intelligent species."

"A religion that tortured him and lied to him for his entire life and then horribly murdered him. In my era there was an expression 'the zeal of the convert'. It refers to a person who doesn't merely accept the ideology they grew up with but rather adopts a new ideology with unusual intensity because they're having to recreate their entire identity. I don't think that he's abandoned the idea of the Emperor -though it will be interesting to see what happens if he encounters somewhere marked by the Emperor's power- but he has certainly abandoned the structure of the religion. He's reduced the idea to purely material terms: the Tau Empire provides a better life for its human citizens, and therefore it is a better institution."

Which isn't far off why I'm here.

I dimly remember something in the Horus Heresy series about extermination not becoming the Imperial policy until after the Heresy. But I don't have any actual evidence I could present.

Aun'Va doesn't look happy, but he taps his staff and the Por'O straightens up slightly.

"Aun'ul Bo'ohk, please describe in your own terms the social rituals which you and gue'vesa P'ol have engaged in."

Oh. No.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:02 GMT

There's a thump-clatter as Hinon drops a large personal lantern shaped object on the floor next to me.

"Just… Why?"

"I had no idea that would attract Parallax. I'd have thought that giving Dame Carol the Star Sapphire was more likely to summon Predator, and that didn't happen."

"The Predator is firmly under Zamaron control."

"And I thought the Guardians had Parallax. Wasn't that part of why they let Larfleeze keep the Orange Light Fountain?"

"I thought that as well. And then I thought, 'if any man in the universe could break their prison by accident, who would it be?'."

"Sinestro? He's been using a yellow ring for a while, and he would have been told about the Entities when he was First Lantern."

She adopts a thoughtful expression.

"You think he's been planning this since he would have had access to Parallax's containment vessel? While he was still a serving Green Lantern?"

"I'm suggesting it as a possibility. I've got no real idea what draws Entities still in the wild to a particular location. It's a big universe."

"No, seven galaxies is not a big universe."

"An evasion? My Lady Controller, I thought better of you."

"They're usually perfectly content to exist within their… Honden, you call it? Because that's the view of the universe that they understand. Parallax moving to a place would flare that portion of the Honden, but the observable effect wouldn't be larger than those fears flaring for the people in the affected region."

"Or of the affected type."

"Yes, quite. Parallax was first brought into the material universe by Krona's experiment. Though, I… I would have done the same. At the time, such things were quite a curiosity."

"Did he bring it out just to study it?"

"Partially that. It was also… The few other intelligences that existed at the time were socially and technologically primitive. They were one of the few sophont beings around that had a power of any real significance. It was the first time we could talk to something that was… Not like us, but…"

"In your league."

"As it turned out, no, but yes. And as we learned more of their nature we were naturally disappointed. The Zamarons-. Proto-Zamarons, in particular. For them, love was community. Family. They didn't expect the Predator to be quite so possessive as it is."

"And since then?"

"The Ophidian was on Okaara. The Guardians kept Ion, and eventually moved it to the Green Central Power Battery once their Corps was established. The Proselyte travelled to a world that resonated with its colour and returned to its Honden. Parallax was kept contained by the Guardians due to its intensely malicious nature."

"The Butcher? Adara?"

"We rather lost track of them while containing Krona. We assumed that they copied the Proselyte, and given that we haven't seen them since that appears to be a reasonable conclusion."

"Nekron?"

"Oh, we know exactly where he is."

"Any advice on fighting Parallax?"

"Yes. It relishes fear, but it's not much given to physical aggression. It will fight and wound to make people afraid, but it won't want to have to work for a victory against someone who doesn't fear it."

"That's awkward, because I am afraid. There's a hugely powerful creature out there that wants to undo all my work, to ruin the lives of people I've helped just to make me afraid that it will keep going."

"Feeling fear will give it power. I suggest that you stop."

"That's the stupid thing. If Parallax just learned to take joy in little fears, there wouldn't be a problem. But if it rampages around slaughtering people so it can feel their fear as they die, it'll eventually run out."

"Logical, but wrong. You're underestimating the area involved. Even with a mere seven galaxies to work with, even destroying an inhabited world's worth of people each day, there would still be more than enough time for the population to replenish itself."

"I.. suppose that-."

Green flames flare into being besides me, spreading out to reveal a heavy wooden door construct. A moment later it opens and Lord Malvolio strides through, Lantern Priest a little behind him.

"Oh. Aren't you impressive."

Lord Malvolio looks at me for a moment, then turns towards Hinon, arms crossed. "What manner of mischief has this ungovernable Lantern wrought?"

"Thank you for answering, my lord. Events have conspired to bond the Fear Entity to a mortal man and he's planning on creating fear in me by threatening the worlds N.E.M.O. protects. I wouldn't ask you to fight the Reach with us; you have your own worlds to shepherd. But the Fear Entity is everyone's problem."

"Mine own fears are brought low and bound long since, unable to rise above their timorous and trembling station. Fear has its place, but not in the manner of a great and galloping beast, bringing rack and ruin as it runs. In this task, my blade is yours, 'til the brute is bested, beaten and banished."

"Thank you. Hinon, would it be possible to build a Yellow Light Fountain to-."

"No. That would take years of study at the very least, and it would need to be activated well away from Parallax. And I couldn't do it in any case. All this will do-" She indicates her lantern-prison. "-is contain Parallax if it is forced to leave its current host. And don't assume that it can keep it inside indefinitely."

Okay. I glance in the direction of Kalmin's laboratory. No large explosions, so I assume that he and Weaponer Lysis are getting on with things.

"In that case, Lord Malvolio, since we've got a little while before we need to depart, would you mind speaking with Jade about using green rings?"

"Doth your consort look with a covetous heart 'pon the rings of Oa?"

"No, she grasps with a determined hand 'pon the ring of Volthoom."

"And what manner of being is Volthoom?"

"A talkative one, who can power a ring without a personal lantern."

Lantern Priest shakes his head. "Personal lanterns are an unnecessary crutch, as both Lord Malvolio and I demonstrate."

"Alright, well, the training grounds are this way."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:06 GMT

Malvolio looks around Maltus with an air of puzzled curiosity. His response to the various warring stellar nations in his sector has been to send them to their corners, allowing only limited contact until tempers have cooled down a little. Here, we've got a community of over a hundred species all unified in their utter hatred of someone else.

Except for the dozen or so that we have to keep away from one another for various reasons. And it's not always pre-existing conflicts; some species get freaked out by people who look like things that ate their ancestors.

"Illustres to Lantern Ragnar. How's she doing?"

"I suspect that she would pass muster as a Green Lantern."

"Ragnar."

"I understand what you meant about the green light being more difficult to use in a complex manner. Against our rawest recruits she can hold her own, but against those with a little more experience they can outmanoeuvre her with little difficulty. The incessant nattering of her ring doesn't help. It just serves to enrage her."

"We're getting rid of that ring soon enough."

"There seems little point in training her to use a weapon she isn't going to keep."

"She got exposed to illusions created by the Embodiment of Fear."

"Ah. She seeks to master a ring to master her fears." He nods. "I would like to accompany you when you go to confront it."

"Why?"

"I don't fear simple things like violence, pain or death. I am not even afraid of losing. But there are things I fear. Parallax would make me confront them and either overcome them or perish."

"From what I've seen, he'd just leave you in a state of fear indefinitely, unless killing you made someone else afraid."

"It is close enough."

"Alright then. You're welcome to come along, but I can't make any promises about Parallax's behaviour."

Our party descends into the Orange Lantern training area, various Lanterns making gestures of respect towards me and Hinon. The Green Lanterns get a few odd looks, but I guess they just assume that it's a diplomatic party of some sort. I recognise a number of Lanterns from N.E.M.O.'s newer member worlds, and one from Sereaven who is practicing basic shield constructs in a training area.

I link my ring to her with an orange arc.

"You. Come with us."

"Huh? Oh, yes, Ill-. Ah!"

The training plasma gun nails her with a low-energy bolt, causing a mild shock through her environmental shield.

"Illustres!"

Her personnel file flashes through my mind as we head towards the sparring area. Recent inductee, signed up because she genuinely believes that it's better to be with N.E.M.O. than wait for the Reach to exterminate them. Okay, and we gave her a ring because… Because Dox wanted a baseline for her species and it wasn't worth incorporating a single individual into L.E.G.I.O.N. or training someone as a Darkstar when they have no prior military experience. She's going to be working with their planetary defence force once she reaches the vaunted heights of 'basically competent'.

She falls in behind us, and Lantern Priest drifts over to her to make conversation.

"For what reason is the comic fool joining the mission?"

"Parallax will probably be targetting her homeworld. One of the policies of the Green Lantern Corps I firmly agree with is that a Lantern can't be ordered not to defend their homeworld."

"I trust that the Earth fares hearty and hale?"

Oh.

"No. Earth's been infected with something called 'Anti-Life' while an emissary of Darkseid tries to conquer it. I'm here because the Reach launched a major offensive and then this happened, but I'm going right back once we're done."

"Darkseid. A vile and vainglorious alien auto-idolater."

"A very powerful vile auto-idolater. I'm sorry, I should have sent you a message, but I thought that you were fully occupied and there's no solution you could enact more easily than people who were already there."

"Will the Earth fall?"

"Civilisation already fell. We had to divide the world into superhuman-ruled fiefs to shield the people from Darkseid's magic, and wherever Darkseid's avatar goes people are compelled to obey. The only mercy is that he has trouble projecting it."

"Dire tidings indeed."

He's probably the most powerful option for green, but I suspect that a balance of power in all seven would be more important that the raw power of each individually. He might be able to force the Anti-Life out on his own, but I remember what Priest was saying about one will overriding others, and while he'd be a better master than Mannheim I'd rather avoid that problem.

"I am entity Volthoom. Opponent is attempting to hit you."

"What..? Manner of strangeness..?"

Malvolio frowns as he strides forwards towards a viewing platform.

"I am entity Volthoom. Opponent has hit you."

"I know."

"It's either a bug in the auto-charge system, or the constant irritation is designed to train the user to ignore distractions."

In the arena below us two Orange Lanterns spar with Jade, one with construct armour and a construct hammer while the other has a construct railgun and is taking shots at her. Rubber-tipped rounds, but they'll still hurt if they hit.

Jade's got construct barriers, one moving to block shots and the other holding back in case of sudden surprises. The melee Lantern she's avoiding by using her exo-mantle's flight system, maser shots causing ripples across the construct armour covering his face.

Ring? Ah. Not powerful enough to penetrate. But Jade's doing well to stay out of his reach.

"An assassin, trained to evade and sneak. Those lessons will not serve her well with a emerald ring."

"Feel free to step in. We can-."

My ring blinks.

"Excuse me. Yes?"

Dox's face appears. "Parallax has appeared."

I nod. "Sereaven? Or-?"

"Yaolsan."

I frown, needing the ring to tell me where that world is.

"Ah…" Nothing really sticks out about it. "What's on Yaolsan?"

"A regional fleet base, and our new media relations headquarters. I can't tell for certain why he's prioritising it-."

"It doesn't matter. He's here, we have to defend. I'll get going right away."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 573 938.M41

"…the faster than light system, as well as basic defensive and offensive constructs. But…"

But Kais might be a natural monat, but that doesn't necessarily translate into the sort of mental attitude that using a power ring requires. But he doesn't have the avaricious attitude that an orange ring requires.

"But he struggles to go beyond the basics, especially under stress. Last time he attempted to tow a ship at faster than light speed, it… It didn't work. He flat out can't use the assimilation feature. At the moment we've eased off because it was getting self-defeating. And he.. has become an excellent stealth suit pilot."

The Shas'O looks imperiously unimpressed.

"That is not his role. If Shas'ul Kais is unable to learn the techniques required, why have you not requested a new student?"

"Because the-" I gesture to the horseshoe with my right hand. "-tau are very good at cultural indoctrination. Which is a good thing most of the time, but means that when you encounter a situation that requires a different mindset, it doesn't exist. Kais's focus on monat style fighting -even without a battlesuit- means that he has the independent mindset required. I have briefly experimented with other tau, and they can barely make the ring glimmer. If Kais doesn't work out then I'll have to try fire warriors suffering from battlesuit psychosis, and I don't think that will go well for anyone."

"Explain."

"The ring requires-. Power rings require a particular emotion in order to make them work. Orange rings require avarice, and… For self-evident reasons, selfish desires don't mesh well with the tau'va. I manage it by… Essentially, feeling very possessive of the individuals around me and the Empire in general. Tau are encouraged from birth not to do that. With Kais, Tsua'm, Bo'ohk and I are having to help him unlearn his entire indoctrination."

"Who designed this weapon?"

"I am sorry, Shas'O, but I have no idea. The design appears to match that of a device that appeared in the fiction of my era, but no species I have on record have built anything like it in reality. It isn't impossible that it was built by the pre-Age of Isolation human civilisation, and that there's a… Planet-sized machine somewhere doing the heavy lifting because someone wanted a real version of a tool they read about…"

The Fio'O twitches. "Human civilisation was that advanced?"

"I don't know. There aren't that many examples of technology from that era left around the place, and there aren't even good records of what the civilisation was like. From the examples there are… Maybe. I'm suggesting it as a possibility, not suggesting that it's likely. We were never as advanced as, say, the eldar. But… For example, we only needed to create the Astronomican after the Age of Isolation."

"Before that, there was another system?"

"That is the logical deduction, though I have no direct knowledge of it. Navigators and Gellar fields are older, which suggests that we used warp travel with some sort of beacon system, but that's supposition on my part."

Aun'Va taps his staff on the ground. "Shas'O, continue your questioning."

The Fio'O makes a gesture of apology to his colleague for the diversion, who makes the smallest gesture of acceptance he can manage.

"What other alternatives have you considered for finding alternate ring users?"

"A member of the Water Caste might have the necessary flexibility to more easily learn a new way of thinking, but they would lack the instincts to use it in combat. A member of the Air Caste might have an easier time towing a fleet, but… The Air Caste approach to combat is mathematical. Which is perfect for warships, but will not serve for a tool that requires an emotion. The other alternative would be a 'vesa of some sort, but I've got no idea where I'd find an outstanding candidate who could be trusted with it. As-."

I suppose he might not be able to understand. But he's sitting within staff range of Aun'Va, who I'm sure can explain it to him.

"As I'm sure that you can understand, selfless devotion to the Greater Good and a burning desire to acquire things for yourself are usually mutually contradictory drives."

A Shas'El comes forward at a gesture from the Shas'O, and a whispered conversation takes place. The Shas'El then makes a gesture of acknowledgement before turning and leaving the room by the rear exit.

"We have undertaken detailed psychological screening of senior members of the T'au Fire Caste population. This will be made available to you."

"I will of course examine whatever you make available to me and, if I find anyone appropriate, interview them. My concern is that a field 'O or 'El won't really be able to spare the time from their usual duties in order to learn to use a tool as specific as a power ring. And… That if they're a borderline case on their psychological assessments already then trying to use the ring is only going to make things worse."

He briefly displays a disgruntled expression. "With only a single ring known to exist, it is impractical to perform wide scale tests in the efficacy of your methods. And removing you from the field for long enough to perform standardised tests over a significant part of the population would represent an unacceptable loss of performance."

I've seen the casualty figures in operations involving me when compared to equivalents. My peak damage output is greater and more precise than that of a medium sized fleet, and I'm a heck of a lot more agile. And I do like this line of reasoning, because I really don't want to give up the ring. It makes my life so much easier. I mean, sure, Tsua'm can speak reasonable English and I know that she's working on a translation program, but those things are so awkward compared to just… Not needing it. On the other hand, being able to take time off by handing it over to someone else definitely has advantages.

"My last subject of enquiry, then. Aun'Ul Bo'ohk. You have been exposed to a great deal of combat during your time working with P'ol, including an unusual number of-." His nasal cleft wrinkles. "-'reality deviations'. Our experience with young Ethereals shows that this is difficult for them to come to terms with. Similarly, the Fire Warriors that serve as part of your team are in the top one percent for repeated exposure to exotic phenomena. Have you noticed any additional examples of war madness, or other psychological disturbances?"

Bo'ohk hesitates for a moment.

"… No. As you ask, I realise how surprising that is. I think… Perhaps, it is the wider view that our Fire Warriors receive, the ability to… Instantly know the outcome of their action. Often, casualties are greatest when we simply do not understand the thing that the Tau Empire is fighting. With P'ol's knowledge, that is seldom the case. We… Once spoke of the Greater Good as an inevitable enlightenment that all intelligent life would naturally strive towards. I think that it is commonly acknowledged now that we overestimated the appeal of reason."

I find myself nodding. To put it mildly.

"It can be emotionally difficult to remember the difference between eventual victory and imminent victory. It is not reasonable to expect Fire Warriors constantly exposed to confusing and disorientating combat situations to maintain their equanimity, whereas Fire Warriors attached to our unit have more focused tasks, and spend proportionally smaller amounts of time in the field and are better informed of the nature of the exotic threats they may face. In the Imperium, gue'la soldiers are not informed of the nature of reality deviant threats, and face mental alteration or execution should they learn too much. For tau, with our lower affinity for warp phenomena, we decided that ensuring that our stealth teams are as informed as possible was likely to result in a superior outcome."

"Are these procedures something that can be implemented over a wider scale?"

"Education can be expanded. There has been a desire amongst my Caste-" He doesn't look at Aun'Va. "-to reduce the universe to purely physical, material processes. Orderly processes. While this has worked to banish superstition, it has meant that when we encounter 'magic' and 'daemons' as they really exist, our instinct is to look for another explanation. It has been apparent for some time that the existence of the warp and its associated phenomena demonstrates that this approach is lacking, and our reaction to that… Inconvenient truth, has been slow. I think it is because it is an idea contrary to our epistemology, an almost 'heretical' idea."

"Our belief in the Greater Good is not the same as the gue'la's faith in their Emperor."

"No. The Greater Good is a philosophical ideal, not a man or psyker or god who physically exists in the universe or as energy in the warp. But it serves the same role in our lives, in that it gives us a purpose beyond them. I believe that it would be possible to expand our instructional practices to reflect our knowledge about warp creatures without creating a moral hazard."

The Shas'O makes a gesture of acknowledgement and dismissal, and it's the Fio'O's turn.

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 574 938.M41

"I… Do not understand." The Fio'O looks puzzled, and mildly frustrated. "Were there machines, or were there not? If we could study machines that could survive the warp, then even if there were not technologies that we could immediately incorporate into our own, it could provide vital information for our future engine designs."

Is this a tau thing or a boss thing? My memories of Earth are still good, but I imagine that they've lost a little context as the way I think has changed. I certainly think I remember getting instructions from my managers which made no sense because they weren't really aware of what I did, but at the same time the tau are infamously ignorant on the subject of the warp.

"Planner, we may perceive objects in the warp as being similar to those of the material universe, but the warp is not a place where the laws by which this universe operates apply."

"I am familiar with the physics abnormalities which can occur around warp-related devices and phenomena."

"Warp energy can be used to change certain physical laws over a limited area, but in the warp the opposite is true; it uses our reality to impose any stability on a chaotic mass of energy. Otherwise it wouldn't have any. So with the factory, there are a few possibilities. Either a normal material factory was brought into the warp and started becoming increasingly… 'Unreal', or the factory I saw was warp energy which was acclimatised to being shaped like a factory by either the thoughts of the humans on that planet or by the thoughts of the Faultless One."

"That…" He blinks, his nasal cleft twitching uncertainly. "Does not sound…"

"Deep in the Eye of Terror, there are worlds that have been granted to Daemon Princes as prizes. When the Daemon Prince takes possession of the world their soul exerts itself on the place, twisting it in accordance with their nature. On a world that a Daemon Prince of Khorne rules, the sky will rain with blood and the mountains will take on the appearance of screaming skulls. And if two daemons fight over that sort of world then the landscape can change from one thing to another as which one holds the position of dominance changes. A river of blood can become a river of effluence, or a stream of such beauty that no one who drinks from it will ever willingly drink from another again, or to one which glows pink and causes random mutations. The Imperium has records of these worlds, either from what their psykers have seen or from expeditions taken into the Eye."

I make as close as I can to the tau expression of sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Planner, but we live in a very badly designed universe and just have to make do until we can fix it."

"You.. said that the… Mon'vesa Faultless One is a Daemon Prince."

"That's my best guess, though I wish to emphasise that it's a very strange thing that's happened and I can't say that with anything like complete confidence."

"What would happen if he took control of a world in the 'Eye of Terror'?"

"I…"

Um. I'm… Not sure. I mean, there's no way for us to get him there, other than me flying him there by ring. And I don't think he'd tolerate that. The Maelstrom is closer and less well protected, but the worlds inside it aren't as malleable. In… Theory, he could turn it into a massive factory world. Even keep things normal enough that we could actually use its output. If there was any way to convey it to the Tau Empire.

I'm not… Really sure where he's going with this.

"I suspect that the result would be daemons of every Chaos God swarming the place to get rid of the interloper. Given that most people elevated to the position of Daemon Prince do so after centuries of experience with warp magic that he doesn't have, I'd… Guess that he'd end up getting turned into a sword or… Some other device, by the eventual winner. If they left him alone he might be able to learn to exert himself on the place eventually… Does the Empire have a Daemon World that needs a puppet ruler?"

"No. The Empire has Planners who need to understand mon'he logistics and engineering."

"Mon'he logistics are simple. They are the weapons. Their food and fuel are warp energy. They bring it into the material universe through ritual sacrifices and the occasional fortuitous warp storm. The more they kill, the more power they get."

"Have you been making sacrifices to the Faultless One?"

"No, but he's far smaller now than he was in the warp. A weaker form uses less power, and there are enough warp engines around to keep him manifested. And… I don't actually know what sort of sacrifice he'd need."

The Por'O makes the gesture to request that they be allowed to butt in, and the Fio'O allows it.

"If we did have a Daemon World, what could he do to assist us?"

"I haven't tested it. If you mean, in general terms, what could a Daemon Prince do while we fought daemonic attackers, they could contest terraforming magic… But they'd probably have less power to work with than the enemy."

"If the world was tainted, but the invasion of daemons had been destroyed."

"You're not… Talking about a Daemon World there. He could probably detect tainted areas without the danger that human psykers would be under if they tried to do the same thing. I think it would be worth experimenting with using human psykers to strengthen him with their abilities, since… Obviously, ritual sacrifices aren't an option."

"Are they not? Human worlds execute criminals for a variety of crimes. It would take little effort to have them transported to a ritual site once a sufficient number were accumulated. Is there some other requirement that I am not aware of?"

"Someone who knows how to do the ritual sacrifices. Technically, a tau should be able to do the sacrificing as it's the victim's soul passing into the warp that draws the power and the daemon who uses it. But I don't know what rituals to use to empower a daemon who isn't bound to the four Gods of Chaos, I don't know anyone who does, and I don't know how to stop other daemons being empowered by the sacrifices as well. And it would cause the Imperium to redouble their efforts against the Tau Empire."

"I…" The Por'O refers to his terminal. "Also believe that daemons need to be named..?"

"Daemons have a thing called a True Name, which allows them to be bound by someone who knows it. I've had my constructs tell me all the True Names that they know."

"And The Faultless One?"

"I took the name of the person I believe was the core component of Faultless One, as well as the names of as many prisoners as I could. But I don't know if any of them constitute a 'True Name' in the sorcerous sense, or if there's more to it. I would also point out that after attempting that sort of binding there's little to no chance that Faultless One would continue cooperating willingly as he does at the moment."

"Your report mentioned that you wanted to use him to help deal with human psykers in general."

"The issue needs further research. But I'd rather take a risk on him being able to help weak-willing psykers than simply kill them."

"I am puzzled. Why are you willing to take that risk with psykers and not with sacrifices?"

"For the same reason as the-" Pre-retcon. "-Edict of Nikea was passed by the Imperium. Sorcery is making pacts with daemons. By its very nature, you're only ever going to be playing the daemons' game; even getting involved gives them more power. Psionics are more like a dangerous weapon; you can get hurt if you're not careful or unlucky, but it can just be useful. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how vital astropaths and navigators are to the Imperium."

"What is the Edict of Nikea?"

"Oh, ah… During the Great Crusade after the end of the Age of Isolation, some Space Marine legions started inducting psykers and using sorcery, and others were strongly against it. Imperial policy was set by the Emperor on a planet called Nikea, after a lot of arguments between the librarians of the various legions and the primarchs. In short, psionics were okay if used carefully, and sorcery was banned. The Thousand Sons ignored that rule, and that's a big part of why they were excommunicated."

"Your report says that human religious rituals are a form of sorcery. And there are records of Inquisitors using sorcery."

"The practice of worshipping the Emperor is a post-Heresy thing. The assumption at the time was that sorcery would always involve daemons. And Inquisitors really aren't supposed to, and it never ends well."

The Por'O makes a gesture of conclusion, then turns his attention to Aun'Va. Aun'Va stares at Bo'okh for a moment, then taps his staff twice.

"The witnesses are excused. Remain close at hand in case we have further questions."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:12 GMT

The yellow glow is obvious even from a distance. Next to me, Malvolio snarls, while Lantern Priest merely looks slightly sad.

"I am entity Volthoom. World being consumed by fear."

And it's not just a glowing aura. As my ring starts scanning the planet in earnest I see that what I'm seeing is the accumulated light output of millions of construct monsters rampaging over the surface.

"A decent start, we think. It doesn't pay to be completely predictable."

For an instant, I wonder how I'm hearing it. But then I remember: the fear is already there. And that fear is Parallax.

"Why? What possible-?"

"We don't need a purpose; We are our own purpose. Oh, if you could hear it as we do."

"YOU THINK I COULDN'T TURN A WORLD FULL OF PEOPLE INTO PUPPETS JUST FOR THE PLEASURE OF SUBSUMING THEM?! BECAUSE I COULD! I DON'T BECAUSE IT'S MONSTROUS AND SELF-DEFEATING!"

"Then why does it feel so good?"

-!

And we're at the planet, smashing through weak constructs which just reform from the fears of the people below as we pass through and we see the Parallax-man laughing as we bite at him, our mouth more than large enough to envelop their entire body!

"Rage?"

We can see his STUPID face, stare him in the eye, but our jaws won't close!

"Rage is no use. We want FEAR!"

Clawed arms grasp at our body, grasp at our jaw and force it open as the part of us that is the Illustres remembers that this world was a centre of culture. Not only will this attack be transmitted to the rest of N.E.M.O., but if we as its ultimate weapon are shown to be halted or defeated-. We would survive, but N.E.M.O. would risk fracturing.

A colossal spear pierces the side of Parallax-

"Aagh!"

-and they toss us aside, one of their arms scrabbling at the point of impact to try and remove the projectile. We fly through space-.

Ag!

I can feel the Ophidian in my soul, not distantly right now and not anything like as controlled as usual. Fear or anger, intrapsychic arousal amounts to the same thing. But charging ahead isn't the way.

Malvolio's spear evaporates as the Parallax construct's blood coats it, its claw then smoothing down its chitinous hide. He throws another while below him Lantern Priest does something in the planet's upper atmos-.

There's something wet on my neck.

Atmosphere.

Ring, what-?

"You are bleeding."

And why haven't you fixed it? No, fix it.

"Unable to com-. Com-. Comply."

I generate a colossal railgun construct and take aim as Lord Malvolio swings at Parallax with giant burning green fist constructs.

Assimilate.

"In progress."

Message to local Lanterns: wounds inflicted by Parallax become infected with the yellow light.

"Sent."

I add a spatial warp node to my construct weapon as Parallax raises its tail stinger to stab at Lord Malvolio.

Crumbler.

Fire.

The crumbler round hits the tail, the very tip where it connects to the sting-blade evaporated by the strike. The stinger disconnects and starts to fade, Malvolio immediately noticing and moving aside even as he switches to a construct sword to hack at the Parallax construct's wrists.

Weak yellow strands lash out and reconnect the stinger before it can fully fade, stabbing towards Malvolio with renewed vigor. I fire again, but the shot is blocked by Parallax's membranous wing. The wing gets a hole, but the stinger carries-.

"A feeble feint-"

One, two, three, four construct hands grasp the tail, holding it in place.

"-from a foolish foe."

Parallax… Dismisses its own tail, Malvolio's hands closing on nothing as a new, longer and thinner tail emerges from its body, complete with whip-like strands projecting from the tip.

Parallax grins, human mouth widening and monster mouth opening-.

I put a crumber round through each of its eyes, and then as it writhes I take a shot at its neck, closest to where the host stands.

I watch as the construct flesh peels away and he catches it with his human hand, then uses a construct tendril to detonate it.

"Is this all there is?"

I open fire on full automatic. Ten, a hundred, a thousand crumbler rounds fly out as the space between us visibly warps, starts bending aside and the planet all but vanishing! Construct tendrils lash out to intercept, construct wings move to obscure and the main body of the abomination lazily swims through space in an undulating motion to deny me an easy target. Hundreds of tendrils flash out of existence, hundreds of holes open in the wings… Hard to tell how many are hitting the body, but I don't think it's enough to-.

Know fear.

I warp right as a yellow beam scythes through space next to me, my gun construct fading and failing. Then warp again.

Flee from us.

Another miss, but unlike my shots at him those would hurt me if they hit me. I see Malvolio carve great rents in its construct body, but…

It's an Entity. We can't wear it down as we would a normal Lantern, either in terms of ring charge or even psychologically. It's not losing anything it can't replace with a thought.

Fortunately, with all the constructs Malvolio is using-

"I am entity Volthoom. Qwa-matter deployed."

-it's missed the more subtle uses of the green light.

WHOOMPFFF!

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:14 GMT

Space… Judders. I'm not sure what qwa-matter does to spacetime, but the feedback from that detonation just destroyed my warp module. And that doesn't make sense. A region around the rear half of Parallax's construct body flares in a sort of white-gold colour, which fades almost immediately and…

Joseph Harrolds stares, clearly stunned, at the broken remains of his passenger's construct form. It's not just that the back end is gone, but that the destructive effect appears to be propagating along its body. If he drops the construct then we've got an opportunity to grab him right away.

"What-?"

On the planet itself the yellow colour is beginning to fade. Lantern Priest wasn't willing to inject peoples' souls with his own willpower, but he was willing to use his power to create a sort of barrier between their psyches and the yellow light. The result will be that they're still not thinking straight, but at least their fear won't be strengthening Parallax and they're more likely to survive with that thing being weaker.

Some sort of serpent-insect thing dashes up the side of a skyscraper, claws tearing through the exterior of the building as it tries to reach Priest. I don't know whether it actually has any intelligence or instinct or Harralax isn't as distracted as he looks, but it's managed to head towards the one person who can deny him the planet as a power booster. It reaches the top of the building and bunches up, ready to leap at Priest with claws-.

Ragnar flies in, his construct sword slicing through the legs on its left side. It loses its grip at once and begins to fall even as the legs of its right try to scrabble to maintain their hold. A moment later and it's the building that fails, chunks of metal, glass and concrete tearing their way out of the structure as…

Gravity… Takes a firm grip on something that… Should by all rights be able to fly.

Huh.

But Ragnar's already in position, giant construct boar spear upraised and ready as the construct monster plummets downwards to impale itself, decaying into yellow motes an instant later.

Ragnar grins as the motes begin to coalesce around him, then frowns as Priest dismisses them with a wave of his hand. A moment later and the motes are gone and he's back into the fray, relishing the opportunity to go ham on the construct monsters, though just about disciplined enough to stick with Priest rather than charging after the next monster to catch his eye.

Warp module reformed.

Thank you.

Parallax appears to be coping with its damage by shrinking, letting its outer parts fade and focusing its efforts on a smaller and more intense construct body. Which could work, except that Lord Malvolio isn't giving him time to recuperate and is instead pushing through the fading yellow body parts with sword and shield at the ready. Jade and Lysis are clear of the combat area-.

Harrolds spots Malvolio as he batters aside a section of carapace and twists, lunging at him with mouth open wide and-.

And fire, because someone forgot to obscure my line of sight and now doesn't have enough construct volume protecting himself.

And fire continuously, because I can still feel people dying on Yaolsan because when people in our weight class fight it's everybody's problem.

Parallax's mouth bites at Malvolio, who shoves his shield between its jaws and enlarges it just as my shots start hitting the back of its neck. The chitin construct begins to disintegrate as Malvolio brings his sword around to stab at its throat. It doesn't go in easily, but construct flesh parts around it as it-.

"GAH!"

The construct Parallax vanishes, Harrolds-

"Not."

-appears in front of me, and-.

And the Earth is Anti-Lifed because of my interactions with-.

I don't-. Believe that!

SHIELD!

The colossal beam of yellow power slams into my decidedly rushed shield, and my mind hasn't quite-!

Dodge!

"Allowed."

Oh, yes? Because I'm fairly sure that Harrolds had desires before he went to Yellow Planet.

Lets see what they were. Desire amplification.

We see fights between superhuman warlords, brief and inconclusive affairs as neither party is strong enough to withstand the attention it will draw from others. We see his desire to take control of the syndicates as he takes control of his-.

This time I fire the blast, his construct armour fading as he's knocked flying-

"Uh."

-and the lights on Yaolsan go out as he restores himself, battering the beam away with a gauntlet construct, stabilising himself.

"Do you want another go?"

"We're in no hurry. What do you think of our first attempt?"

"I imagine you scared quite a few people. I mean, given how powerful you are the number probably wasn't anything special, but you've been away for a while, so… Well done?"

What did I learn from that snapshot of Joseph Harrolds' life? The impression I got was that he's rational, pragmatic and self-interested. I didn't see any positive association with the Crime Syndicate. Not as an achievement he worked toward or as a team he liked being a part of. Which means that they're just a group that he tolerates because he needs to in order to do other things. They're his syndicates, and the best way for him to keep them that way is for him to cooperate with the other Syndicate members.

"Though I suspect that Ultraman is taking advantage of your absence to do something stupid back home."

He rolls his eyes. "Very subtle."

"Yeah. True, though."

"We need to grow used to our power before returning home."

"Does the part of you that is Parallax really care about that?"

"Do you care if we threaten your home?"

"Right now? No. Honestly, my Earth's-"

Lord Malvolio's battering ram construct strikes him in the side, punching through his construct defences as the two of them carry on away from the planet.

"-a mess."

"Did the villein say ought of significance?"

The battering ram splits in two as Parallax prepares to re-enter the fray.

"We can hear your fears too, Green Lantern. You can't bury them deep enough to escape our notice. Let us show you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:18 GMT

Malvolio's flame aura collapses, leaving only a few faint wisps protecting him from the vacuum of space. His eyes flicker with yellow light as Parallax does whatever it does to dig up his fears, and his other constructs fade to nothing.

I accelerate towards Parallax.

Gauntlet, activate.

Compliance.

"You intend to punch us? A classic-"

I swing, a clawed hand five times the size of my body appearing from nowhere and swinging to slap me aside. It disintegrates as it hits my fist and I fly on through-.

Parallax moves, appearing a few hundred metres away, clearly unfazed by my attack.

"-choice. Uncharacteristic."

Malvolio blinks once and then reignites, staring at Parallax with utter revulsion.

"You suppressed it, but you never stopped feeling it, did you? For centuries."

"My weaknesses do not govern me, demon."

"It sure looked like it governed you. Of course, since you never went back to Earth, you'll never know."

"Is it something you want to talk about, or shall we just get back to-?"

"My mother. After I mistakenly slew her lover. I explained my actions at once, but we were never reconciled. I fear that she died hating me."

"I know some really good necromancers. If you don't mind visiting Earth, we can see about communicating with her soul."

"'t'would be ungodly."

"No, I got the heavenly host to okay it. Not for you specifically, but in general."

"Then it would ease my mind greatly."

Jammer.

"But that's just the first! A man as old as you has fears aplenty. And you've spent so long drowning them out! Such a shame. If you'd actually processed them like a normal man instead of stamping down on them then-."

I see it coming a mile off, crumbler constructs shooting across the intervening space and nearly reaching him before he vanishes-.

Oooooh. That's what it looks like when someone tries to transition through a jammer effect.

"Yuugh..."

And that's what it looks like when the embodiment of fear reassembles its mortal body, because it's thoughts are contained within the yellow light and it mostly keeps the body going because very few people aren't at least a little afraid of death. But while they're distracted-

Desire amplification.

-let's introduce a little dissonance between host and graft.

Parallax blinks out, and Joseph Harrolds stares at me through the vacuum. Oh, darn it. I drop my jammer construct and transition towards him, a space suit-.

"Oh."

The Parallax construct rematerialises, two of its claws clasped around me.

"Let's see how you like it!"

Desire amplification.

"Fear us!"

It abandons subtlety, reaching… Reaching back into the thought echoes of my earliest ancestors. Fear of insects and snakes and strange noises and outgroups and they're all around me everywhere all the time! I'm shivering, quaking, barely able to get the empty lantern that should protect me must protect me she said it would protect me!

"What's that-?"

And I can think again as the yellow light around me dims and what I can see of Parallax through his hands looks confused.

Cables.

Compliance.

Glowing orange cables lunge out, connecting Parallax's hands to the empty battery as Malvolio grabs it around the head with giant construct gauntlets.

Desire amplification.

"Ah-? Ah?"

"You see, at a very fundamental level, the desires of a giant fear elemental and a remotely normal human aren't compatible. Whereas we understand one another very well. You want people to be afraid of you all the time and we just want them to want."

The cables surge and Parallax's construct body dims, Joseph's mouth returning to normal as he looks around-.

"You won't be rid of me so easily!"

Parallax's mouth moved but Joseph's didn't. Okay, their minds are separating, now-.

Parallax shines brilliantly for an instant and then shrinks, collapsing into-. Into Joseph's body. Ah.

Keep the cables attached, keep draining-.

Malvolio's construct hands slam closed around Joseph as Parallax downgrades him from partner to puppet. Joseph's skin writhes as if Parallax is trying to physically fit inside him, yellow light seeping out of every joint. And worst of all, this is something that Joseph is actually afraid of.

"No, that's… Not happening."

But enlightenment means that he's not ruled by it. Ah, stop amplifying his desires, because that's just going to be a distraction-.

Weaponer Lysis appears next to me in a flash of orange, qwa-bolt in hand. She aims-.

"No, don't do that."

She turns to me with a frown. "Why not?"

"Because-."

"I am entity Volthoom. Returning to prior owner."

Jade tosses the ring, which passes through Malvolio's construct hands and onto Joseph's right ring finger as Ragnar pulls her away again.

"Now. Get. OUT!"

The yellow light is thrown out, surging down my cables and igniting the lantern into a radiant bonfire. Joseph continues to glow, pushing just as hard as I pull to free himself. I get one last glimpse of Parallax's malevolent face before it vanishes into the lantern and its shielding panels slam down to contain it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:34 GMT

The Controllers can build planets, either by collecting up available mass and merging it together around an appropriate star, or by converting energy directly into matter. They've been doing that long enough that it's pretty much their buy-in: any species that signs up with N.E.M.O. knows that should the worst come to the worst their species will be reborn on a new world with as much of their culture intact as possible.

For worlds and species that haven't been completely wiped out, we have great cargo ships filled with everything that a billion refugees could need to survive until the basic functions of their civilisation are restored. And with the Reach around, they might be actively fighting against that restoration thanks to Reach mental contamination, so we've got well trained military police and engineers and -of course- psychological specialists. And while the latter are usually used to detect subtle signs of Reach influence, they can also help a people who have spent ten minutes constantly exposed to their greatest fears.

Weaponer Lysis finally manages to tear her eyes off the Parallax containment vessel.

"So, your ring telemetry."

I shrug as I remove another hundred tonnes of rubble from the area around a partially collapsed building and… Move the bodies aside for recovery by the mortuary teams. The monster constructs didn't kill a particularly high proportion of the population, but a low proportion of a big number is still a lot of people. This… They're probably going to have to tear it down and replace it, depending on whether it's considered a priority for the industrial transmuters.

"So, my power ring."

"I can't make one without more data than I have now. This whole event prevented me getting the final readings that I needed in my laboratory, and Harrolds has no reason to aid me further. So unless you follow through on your side of the agreement now, I can't get you what you want. Unless I experiment with many more people and get lucky with their psychological profiles."

Ah. Yes, I suppose… If all else fails I can just hunt down one of her neophyte Yellow Lanterns and take their ring. Honestly, that would probably be easier than borrowing one.

"Alright then. Ah, normally I just flick it over to someone else's ring. I don't know what you use for data storage…"

"My systems are compatible with power ring data packets."

"Alright then."

Ring, compile all recordings related to this encounter with Parallax and send them over.

Compliance.

The orange pulse leaps from my ring and flies into her harness. She goes still for a moment, then nods.

"I wasn't sure that you would follow through on our agreement."

"What do you want out of life, Weaponer Lysis?"

"No."

"I could put a recording of the word on a loop, if that would help?"

"You are an expert at desire manipulation. I don't intend to give you any information at all. This conversation is already outside of my preferred risk profile."

"All the resources you want, a major stellar empire to destroy, and hey, Kalmin speaks well of you and you know what he's like."

"He's a deranged religious fanatic who will destroy you."

"Maybe. But if I'm prepared to put up with him, what do you think you could do that would drive a wedge between us?"

"I'm-."

"We don't have to give Parallax back to the Guardians."

She takes a moment to master herself.

"It won't work. You can't manipulate me."

"Manipulate? I'm making you an offer of employment. I'm trying to give you-."

"Anti-matter transition detected."

Aaaand… She's gone.

"Something you… Clearly don't want."

It is odd, though. She isn't an Anti-Monitor loyalist like Kalmin, nor a mercantilist like Varnathon. There isn't really much left in Qwardian philosophy. Or maybe she is a mercantilist, but didn't want to go along with his self-sabotage?

Don't-

"Warning: will detected."

-know.

I look up, taking a few steps away from the containment vessel as three Honour Guard Green Lanterns descend through the atmosphere, escorting Guardian Dennap. Huh, they sent a Guardian with actual social skills, well done them. The Honour Guards take up position around us as Dennap carefully checks the containment vessel over before encasing it in a cube-.

Aah-.

I wince and try not to look at the spatial distortions occurring as Guardian Dennap decides that a mere hypercube isn't enough and starts adding more dimensions on top. I'm sure that she knows her business.

"Guardian Dennap?"

"Illustres. Thank you for returning this… Creature. We were concerned that you might decide to keep it."

"Parallax has a more disagreeable temperament than the Ophidian. Though if you do have a yellow ring hanging around, I'd like to borrow it."

"I'm afraid that we don't. As far as I know, Weaponer Kalmin was the first to make one. The only other being who may have forged one is Krona."

"Ah."

"Quite. Do you intend to use it to aid your homeworld?"

"In combination. I suspect that using seven together may produce something greater than a sum of their parts."

She appears to think for a moment, but I suspect that as with Hinon it's a idiosyncrasy that exists only for display to younger species. I know that Dennap is the youngest Guardian, but that means that she's only a few million years old, not that she's young.

"It… May work. It would certainly be worth knowing either way."

"Then do you have a red ring laying around?"

"No, for much the same reason. Red is even less biddable than yellow."

"So I suppose that there's no chance of you giving me access to Ysmault to-."

"No. Now, if you'll excuse me, this needs to be returned to Oa."

"How..? Did it get out, anyway? It can't just have been me."

"That is still the subject of investigation. Good day."

She and her escort rise into the sky, hyperdimensional prison in tow.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
19:39 GMT

"…than you do me?"

"I am entity Volthoom. I do not care who wields me."

I can tell from Jade's body language that her eyes are narrowing inside her helmet.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Volthoom, I'm hurt. All the years we've been together, and you abandon me for this… Woman."

"Correction. You abandoned me for a Weaponer."

"I was trying to become more deadly. For you."

"Lie detected. You were too weak to effectively use my power. You only want to use it for yourself."

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Lantern Harrolds stares at his ring. "No."

"Because if it's really annoying you, we can give you an orange one?"

His eyes slide towards me. "And your woman gets this?"

"Unless you've got a plan for it. I'm curious about how it works."

"Excuse me."

"I wouldn't complain about being referred to as 'your man'." Huh. "Actually, I'd quite like it. Ah, how was using it?"

"Difficult. Not as user friendly as the orange ring. And the voice is annoying. I don't think it's my kind of weapon."

"Tool. But, yeah, Harrolds? How long did it take you to get good with it?"

"Oh. Basic shields and beams and flying took… Three days? Actual constructs that do things took weeks. I ended up mostly training for strength. Simple, reliable stuff."

I nod, looking at Jade. "The Green Lantern version of you I met at Vanishing Point trained for years with Alan's ring before becoming a Sector Lantern. Green rings are… Hard."

"Your man's right." He smirks at me and I nod in gratitude. "Holding the images in your head… It's not a normal way of thinking about things."

"I'll bear that in mind. I think I prefer normal weapons."

Ah, darn. No point talking to Malvolio about that, then. I turn to Harrolds.

"How did you get it?"

"Found it in a shop." He shrugs. "Chinese knick-knack place. No one was using it. Don't think the owner knew what it was." He takes a slow breath. "So what happens now?"

"You're free to go. Unless you need a lift back to the anti-matter universe, in which case you can wait until I'm finished here."

"'Anti-matter'? But we're-?" He gets it. "Oh, right. Yeah, I don't think I could picture the transition clearly enough to do it myself."

"Right. Do you want to talk to Lord Malvolio before that?"

"I don't think we'd get on. Him and that other green Power Ring are powerful, but I've already got what I needed."

"Jade, I realise that this was a bit more exciting that I planned, and that you're due some downtime."

"Is there a 'but' coming?"

"Er… I'm going to try visiting New Genesis next. Should be peaceful and I'd appreciate the company, but I completely understand if you want to do something restful instead, and I know how high-stress events can impede judgement."

"Can you handle it?"

"The Justice League rescued a group of New Genesis children a while ago. And they know about me and the Ophidian. I should at least get a hearing, and Izaya's usually pretty even-tempered. Yes."

"Then I'm going back to Maltus and booking myself into a spa. Because you're right about judgement getting impaired."

I nod. "I'll see you there when I'm finished on New Genesis."

"That includes you."

"I… Not-. I can handle it better. Once Earth's safe again, I can… Take a breather."

"Until the next thing. You should still take someone with you."

"Yes, that had occurred to me. I'll see you later."

I step out

and reappear a little way from Malvolio, who is… Watching in the direction that Dennap left in.

"There's probably a lot that they could teach you."

"Power I have and skill I can learn. But they cannot allay my fears, and it seems that I cannot either."

"I don't know your mother, so I can't guess how she felt. You told me that it was a regrettable mistake."

"And I do regret it, and have done penance for it. But… My mother would not have… If she did not love him. And I killed him."

"Are you still a Christian?"

"It has been some time since my last communion, but aye, I am."

"Then you have repented the deed and you'll see them both in Heaven. If that's too long, necromancy remains an option. But if Parallax saying that has ruffled your feathers significantly, maybe you need to do something."

Malvolio floats in space for a moment, and then opens a burning green door in space

"I shall consider the matter. Fare thee well."

I nod as he leaves, and then-.

"Illustres!"

"Lantern Ragnar. Satisfied?"

He flies up to me, armour glowing.

"It was fun, but… Parallax did not challenge my will the way it did to you and Malvolio."

"You could head over to Oa, if you wanted. They might let you expose yourself to Parallax under controlled conditions. Or…" I fabricate a cylinder of fear chemical. "You could try this. It should work on your species, but I recommend using it without your ring on."

He takes it from me, smiling. "Thank you, Illustres. Where will you go now?"

"New Genesis. I need-. Oh. whoops."

20th January 2013
19:44 GMT

The great yellow demon could arrive at any moment, and the Illustres isn't here. I don't know what could have delayed him-.

I run through his mental exercises once more and check the position of the fleet around Sereaven. My home.

And I will die before I let him touch-.

My ring glimmers as the Illustres finally sends me a message, and I view it at once!

"Oh."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
11:38 EST

He didn't need to do that.

"I am entity Volthoom. Observed behavioural models consistent with heroic self-identification."

And after what I've been through… Sure, I can't turn Volthoom off, but it's a hell of a lot easier to ignore.

"I am entity Volthoom. Psychological self-assessment indicative of major trauma."

But I'm nearly home, with a power ring he didn't need to give back. So I owe him, I guess. And I'm no welsher. So I'll pay him back if he ever asks.

And if he doesn't ask, that's his fault.

"I am entity Volthoom. Dwarf planet Luna approaching. Binary partner Earth approaching."

And I barely felt the need to tell Volthoom that it's a moon called The Moon. Mammon-damned nerd-ring.

"I am entity Volthoom. Ultraman's Fortress in sight."

I grin as I make an egg launcher and fire a volley of eggs at his front window, then watch them sail into the void.

"I am entity Volthoom. Infantile retribution accomplished in five, four, three, two, one. Infantile retribution successful."

And that's why he should leave his basic force field on all the time, and not just set it to reactive mode. Now, on to the base on The Moon.

"I am entity Volthoom. User is currently being tracked by thirty four turrets."

The automatic defences deploy the moment I fly over the horizon, but whether they fire or not depends on how much of an asshole Thomas feels like being right now. Not like they don't know who I am, or what I did to earn my seat at the table.

I used to feel a churning in my stomach when those things pointed at me. One of the few things in the world that could kill me, pointing at me every time. Now, nothing.

They don't fire, but the door doesn't open either. Guess he's feeling like being a medium asshole today.

"I am entity Volthoom. Thomas Wayne is most likely using this opportunity to assess any new capacities."

Now, see, that was actually helpful. Why can't you say things like that more often?

"I am entity Volthoom. Thomas Wayne is most likely also using this opportunity to be an asshole."

And I feel like being a dick. And you know what dicks do to assholes? Particularly when the dick was paying attention when that Orange Lantern was hitting Parallax.

"I am entity Volthoom. Dicks that fuck assholes often receive a coating of faecal matter."

Nobody's perfect.

The big airlock doors disintegrate beautifully, plasma fields keeping the air inside contained as I fly inside.

"Guess who's back, fuckers!"

Right, everybody's going to be in the meeting room. And everyone else is off the moon base, because this is Big Dog Day and they're not Big Dogs.

That sounds fucking juvenile, doesn't it?

"I am entity Volthoom. Yes."

Rarf.

Oh, good, Thomas isn't being a total asshole. The doors on the way to the meeting room open as I fly through the place, though I'm still going to bet that he hasn't bothered to tell any of the others. God below I have not missed any of them. Ultraman's cuckold fetish. Thomas's incredible pettiness. Johnny Quick's drug addled brain farts. Superwoman's grating vanity and lack of imagination.

Honestly, I would gladly hand every single one of them over to Luthor if I didn't know he'd be even worse.

"I am entity Volthoom. Perhaps they see you in a similar way?"

Yeah, well, fuck 'em.

Finally. Meeting room doors. Land, and push them open.

"Back again!"

Ultraman looks surprised. Or possibly gormless. Superwoman clearly doesn't care. Owlman's blank and Quick is blinking fast enough that I can feel the wind from here. Thought they weren't going to let him shoot up before a meet-?

Some guy in black and red with a burning skull for a head is sitting in my seat.

"Hey there, new guy. Who're you?"

"I am Deathstorm."

"Like it. Super-edgy. Sounds like a joke until people start dying, then it goes all the way around and starts being scary again."

"You quit, Power Ring." Ultraman's trying to look confident and commanding. But all he can manage is smug, and that's a joke when you realise what an immature fuckup he is. You got born with power, fell over more power, and the only reason why Thomas lets you think you're in charge is because he doesn't want to have to fix the damage you'd do in your death-throes. "You wanna try taking your seat back?"

"Nah, Super-Death-Kill-Nasty-Man can keep it. I'm sure he's earned it. I'm calling you out, you f-."

His fist hits my wall so fast that for an instant I can still see him sitting on his chair. But unlike last time, and the time before that and the time before that, it doesn't break. The wall holds.

I like that look on his face.

"You can't do that."

There's a barely visible blur as he tried hitting it again.

Guess who's not afraid any more?

"Yeah. I can. Know what else I can do?"

"DIE!"

This heat vision hits my wall to absolutely no effect. Tunnel vision. Him not seeing my constructs.

WOOOOOOM!

"AGH!"

He slams his hands over his ears, staggering and falling to his knees. Everyone else is backing up in exactly the sort of display of loyalty and valour I've come to expect.

"Three hundred and eighty-five megahertz. Exactly the frequency to really fuck up your inner ears."

"Nyugnugguuuh!"

"Hurts a lot. Now I know how this goes: the powerful one smacks the weaker one around a bit, then we get back to business. But I read Machiavelli, and you know what he says? 'Never do an enemy a small injury.' You know what happens at three hundred and ninety megahertz?"

His eyes open. "Nghnooo!"

"The kryptonite crystals in your blood explode."

WOOOOOOM!

…

I look at his body as it starts to sag. Honestly, I thought that he'd burst, but other than his eyes going red he doesn't look much different. Even with all the internal lacerations. Funny, that.

"I am entity Volthoom. Residual effects of kryptonite radiation maintain physical integrity. Will end once kryptonite denatures."

I plant my right boot on his forehead and shove him over and then walk around the table to the head, making eye contact with the recovering members of the Society.

"Here comes the new boss, different from the old boss." I give them a moment to retake their seats, or in Deathstorm's case make a new one from thin air. And then I very pointedly sit down in what used to be Ultraman's seat. "Owlman. What's been happening while I've been gone?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
17:21 EST

"Oh." Thomas spots my guest the moment the egg-covered airlock doors to the Fortress's interior opens. "And here I was nearly starting to respect you."

I stick up a construct wall but he's already stopped.

"She looks like an ofisuredī blow-up doll. If that's what you want, I can get you a better one." He tilts his head slightly to the side. "Or is it that you want to take everything that Ultraman had?"

"Owlman, you'd probably survive if I threw you off the Fortress, but I don't think you'd enjoy it much. So why don't you fuck off on your own?"

A very thin smile appears on his lips. "I'll check in with you once I've had the chance to go over Ultraman's ongoing projects. They should be fine. I can't imagine that he had any useful input into them."

I pointedly watch as he walks back across the landing pad and gets back into the owlwing. I keep watching until it's off the Fortress, and then activate the shield. And then I breathe out, and pull an injector containing a load of red kryptonite out of my equipment harness before turning around.

Thomas was right. It's obscene, really. And not remotely attractive to anyone who knows what women actually look like. Tits like beach balls, bursting out of a blouse and jacket combo. A belt-skirt that would nearly work, except that her ass is weirdly out of proportion with her legs and waist. And she's watching me…

"Here."

I toss the injector to her and she catches it with impressive precision.

"Red? You..?"

"Yeah. Dead."

She grimaces, pulls the blouse away from her right breast and jams the injector into an exposed vein before pushing the plunger.

And then she sags, breasts shrinking and ass tightening to proportions that looks like those of a normal human woman. She's not, but from the outside you wouldn't know the difference. There are a few other changes as well: her facial proportions shift back into what I remember, and… She actually gets a little taller.

She puts the empty injector on the table and pulls her clothes tighter around her, buttoning up the formerly unbuttonable blouse.

"Good riddance."

"I'm not arguing. You alright?"

She looks at me like-. Yeah, okay. "No."

"Sorry, stupid question. You..? Yourself?"

"Yes." She moves her arms and legs, clothes no longer fitting properly. "As far as I remember. I'll check the records later." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in, then opens then as she snorts the air out, making eye contact with me. "Thank you."

I just nod.

"The last living member of my species and he turned out to be completely worthless. So, you're in charge. What happens now?" She walks awkwardly over to a seat -the only one in the room, because why would Ultraman ever offer a seat to someone else?- with one hand on her skirt and another around her chest, and sits down. "I assume that you're taking control of his syndicates."

"I could. I'd rather offer them to you."

I take a few steps closer, and when she doesn't freak out I make myself a chair and sit down opposite her.

"Why?"

"You told me you had the training."

"I'm a trained infiltration administrator, yes. I could do the job. Nightwing knows I couldn't be worse at it." She snorts quietly. "You know that I was trained to make myself indispensable to planetary governments in order to facilitate the kryptonian conquest of those worlds, right?"

"Until your people tried it with Godfather Izaya, yeah. But I think I can trust you. Not like there's anyone left you can hand this place over to."

She nods cautiously. "That still doesn't explain 'why'?"

"Ultraman was a fool. His people are used to having free rein. If I take it over, I'm going to get nothing but idiots fighting me for years before I turn it into something I can actually use. I'd rather give it to you. They know you-."

"They know me as his toy!"

"It's no secret, what Owlman and Superwoman are doing. Make up something about needing to continue the species, then fry anyone who mentions it twice with heat vision."

"You recovered his kryptonite stash?"

"What was left."

She snarls. "He burned through a lifetime supply in a year! The kryptonite was there for the final push, not for daily use! He was supposed to become an opinion-former, not a warlord! Gah!"

"Why did you two even come to Earth in the first place?"

"We were configured to infiltrate New Genesis. When that… Fell through, this was the only place we could come."

"Configured? So… This isn't how you really look?"

She frowns at me. "Yes, it's how I really look..?" Her forehead flattens out as she gets my point. "Oh. No, we're configured in the womb. I've always looked… Human. It's easier if the children grow up in the form they'll need. My parents look-. Looked different, but this is me."

She snorts, looking away.

"Glory to Krypton."

"You going to be alright, taking over?"

"I'll use a few kryptonite injections to make my point, then use equipment from his armoury the rest of the time. That was why he was such a moron, I'm sure of it. Kryptonite overuse is a bad idea."

"But you'll be okay?"

"I'll have to be. And I'll tell my syndicate to play nice with yours; I know which side my bread is buttered on. What's next for the Syndicate, oh Chairman? Ultraman was babbling something about the anti-matter universe."

"The traits that make a good leader don't make a good follower. And down there-" I glance towards the window, through which we can see the Earth. "-is a planet full of people who think they should be the boss. The anti-matter version of Earth is having a hard time right now."

"And they're so weak-willed that they'll make a better workforce than the local humans." She nods. "How hard a time?"

"They've been infected with psychic clinical depression and attacked by their evil version of Darkseid."

"So they'll volunteer. How charitable-" My ring flashes. "-of you."

"The path to profit may be paved with good intentions, but it's probably a coincidence. Yeah?"

Sinestro's face appears over my ring, and I sit up a little straighter.

"Sinestro."

"Good to see you again, Power Ring. I trust that things went well?"

"Yeah. They did. I'm ready for the next step. And so's Lysis. Let's get this done."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 574 938.M41

I stare at the ring for a moment.

"There is one thing I didn't consider."

Bo'ohk tilts his head downwards slightly. "In the entirety of the universe, there is one thing you did not think of?"

"Alright, there's one relevant thing I didn't think of while we were being questioned."

"Is it something we need to go in and tell them?"

"No, it's just-. I know that daemons can be bound to objects. Or… Turned into objects. I said that this ring could be a pre-Age of Isolation artefact-."

"But you did not say that it could be a bound daemon."

"Right. That might explain why it can draw power from the warp. And why travelling using it is so safe. Bound daemons… Sometimes they openly exert an influence on the people carrying them… There's a sword that a Space Marine called Garran Crowe uses that talks to him constantly. Others don't, or just create a general desire in the person using them. My ring only talks like a drone, but… Emotional impressions? That's basically what it does."

"Would an ancient human sorcerer really have bound a daemon simply to have something that worked a little like a fictional tool?"

"Yes. The surprising thing would be that they were successful, not that they tried it."

I sigh. Of course. Obviously it's a daemon. Good work whoever bound it; maybe the Emperor was into comics in his youth?

"But you have used it to destroy daemons."

"I've transferred power from one daemon and… I mean, if this ring is a daemon, I've transferred it from one to another. That's normal daemonic activity."

"Is there a way to find out for certain?" I wince, and I'm pleased to see that he picks up on the expression. "Other than freeing the daemon, of course."

"A psyker with experience in sorcery would probably be able to tell whether or not there was a binding in place without damaging it. Good luck finding one we could trust being this close to it."

Bo'ohk looks at the ring. "Do you really think that is what it is?"

"Occam's razor says 'yes'. But honestly, I don't know."

"Okham… The simplest explanation is the most likely one?"

"The one that requires least invention, yes."

"That is the way of thinking that led us to conclude that you were a psyker."

"It's not automatically right, it's just right quite a lot of the time. It's-."

One of the room's doors opens, and two fire warriors armed with pulse blasters enter and do a quick visual inspection. Once that's complete they step aside and the Kor'O from the meeting walks in. Bo'ohk and I make a gesture of respect and she makes one of acknowledgement before… Dismissing her guards.

Bo'ohk notes that, though I don't know if that's normal for tau or not. Tau don't really have the same sort of internal competition that humans do, so it isn't a matter of being concerned about them leaking to a political rival. As anti-Callidus measure, it.. seems ill-considered.

Scan her and scan the room.

Ave, Lanterna.

No, looks like normal tau desires, with none of the under layer that marked the Callidus I saw out as odd. Similarly, the room only has the monitoring devices that are supposed to be there, and no focuses of warp energy.

"Security is to your satisfaction, Lantern?"

"I limited my scan to this room, Admiral, but as far as that goes, yes." Is it rude to say 'well spotted'? It… Might be.

"How far could you go?"

"In theory, the only limit is my mind. In practice, I could manage a 'smart scan' over this building and the surrounding area without difficulty. Further than that and I'd need to be looking for something in particular, and the simpler that thing is the further I could go. I've noticed that for large warp distortions it will just notify me."

"There are so many things that could be achieved with a few dozen like you. I would send an exploration fleet, if we had the slightest idea where to send them."

"I could carry an exploration fleet to Segmentum Solar if you want, I just don't think that anything good would happen as a result."

"I was referring to the ring. Do your ancient stories say where they come from?"

"That's… Ah… A planet called 'Oa', which is supposed to be located in the centre of the universe. As far as I know, my species never made it that far."

"The centre of the universe. I don't believe that there is one."

"The writers at the time didn't know that. Though of course it relates to a fictional universe which could have one without it saying anything about the real universe."

"What did they look like?"

I generate a Guardian construct.

"The ones on Oa looked like that, but there were other political subdivisions of their species who looked different."

"They had castes?"

"No, the divides were political rather than functional. They changed their appearance to reflect their subculture."

"And what did the others look like?"

I generate Controller, both types of Zamaron and a Leprechaun. Oh, wait, Krona didn't look like them. Add one of him-.

The Kor'O… Is focusing her attention on that one.

"What are this faction's beliefs?"

"That's Krona. He wanted to peel back time to examine the start of the universe for himself. That resulted in him breaking it, and he was punished by being rendered incorporeal. He was the villain of his stories."

She continues looking at him.

"What was the first non-human intelligent species that humans encountered?"

"I'm not sure. Daemons, probably. I know that the Emperor was off gallivanting around the universe under his own power before the rest of us had steam power, and he met the c'tan Void Dragon. For the rest of us… Orks, I think, but that's based on one record and I… Probably couldn't independently confirm it."

"For the tau, we first gained confirmation that alien intelligences existed when we reached our innermost moon. There was a starship there, damaged, but functional."

I glance at Bo'ohk, but he looks just as surprised as I feel. Not common knowledge, then. That would have been… Two thousand years ago? Three? Three thousand years or so after the Imperium spotted that the tau existed and marked them down for extermination.

"After that, we encountered the nicassar and orks. The nicassar were conquered and incorporated while… I believe that you know of the orks. After the nicassar, the kroot and vespid were also incorporated. But none of the species we met as friends or enemies built ships like the first we discovered. We learned a great deal from that ship, though much of it was… Not anything we could use at the time. We still do not fully understand it. And we do not know the names of its creators."

She turns back to me.

"Did not know. Your new project will be to interface with the ship's computers directly and allow us to finally grasp the full extent of its lessons and history. Once that is done, you may return to your current mode of operation."

"Of course, Admiral. Is.. that the final word of the T'au Aun'ar'tol?"

"Were you concerned about your relationship with Lar'shi Tsua'm Raard?"

"A… Little, Admiral."

"It is strange, but worth accepting considering the gains. To be completely open, if you solve this problem for me I would be willing to perform intimate acts with you myself."

She's about half a metre taller than me, stick thin, and… In her forties, which is eighty in tau years.

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary."