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

[Mr Zoat]

8th April 2013
18:58 GMT -5

"So if it weren't a magic giant, how come she's throwin' knives atcha?"

I lean back in my construct recliner, overlooking the stadium below us. The surviving sports venues got repurposed after-. Well, during and after the Anti-Life blanketed the Earth, though thankfully this one wasn't used for anything too gristly. Sporting events are just starting up, though between the economic collapse and the collapse of the leagues they're just opening them up to local amateur teams just to get some use out of them.

"Beatrice is a fairly passionate woman, so-."

"Hey." Guy waves his artisan beer bottle at me. "You passed."

"I meant as in 'intense', not 'amorous'."

"That's Latinas for yeh."

"She's Roman-?"

No, he means 'from below Texas'. I mean, yes, I know 'Latin America' is how United Statesians refer to South America, but whenever I hear someone say 'Latina' I think they're talking about a pokemon. It doesn't even make sense; the Romans never went to South America, and neither did the Italians. It's all Portugal and Spain.

Guy stares at me in disbelief. "Yer jokin', right?"

"No."

He snorts, taking a mouthful of popcorn and going back to watching the game below.

"I'm not sure. The genetic alterations could be affecting her mood, but it's just as likely to be a product of prolonged intense stress. You and I can go home and rebuild a good deal more easily than she can."

"Mm." He nods absent-mindedly. "An' if it is genetic?"

"Then there's not much we can do about it. Anger management classes, maybe?"

Another nod. "So what next?"

The landlord didn't know anything, the account the rent was paid from has been closed down, the woman who manned the counter didn't know anything beyond the fact that the shop manager wasn't particularly talkative and we couldn't trace the manager. Which would worry me if it weren't for the fact that medium grade wards were commercially available for months before the Anti-Life broadcast so that doesn't necessarily indicate a high level of opposition.

"Put out an alert and wait, I'm afraid. We could try a sting operation… Assuming that this is someone targetting metahumans, but every metahuman we actually know is probably better actually… Doing stuff."

"Think they'll try clonin' her?"

"Best of luck to them if they do."

Guy smirks.

"But seriously, no. Cloning is hard. Cloning adults is harder, and… If you can clone a kryptonian, why would you clone anything else? For their innate abilities, I mean."

"No offense to yer boys, but that didn' go quite right. An Bea was hittin herder today than she use t'. Howsabowt checkin' up on laboratories, things like that?"

"It's a big planet. The chance of us stumbling over something is next to nothing. And the opportunity cost is pretty high."

Guy nods, his expression slightly sombre. "Yeah. Good thing we don't have lives, right?"

"On the subject of our lives outside of our work… I have been asked to relay-."

"She wants me to pick up aftah myself more."

"Yes."

He sighs, sitting back in his own construct chair. "It ain't that I don't-. I live on my own, an' not havin' weaponised O.C.D. like you got, I jus' don't think about it."

"Well, obvious solution."

"Get my ring to page me?"

"Marry Tora."

"U-uuuh. That's…" He glances at me. "Kinda weird, you puttin' it like that."

I shrug. "Sorry if that's a bit intrusive, but if Jade was based on Earth I'd have married her by now. If her sense of self-worth would have allowed it, I wouldn't have mentioned the Darkstars. I can literally see how much the two of you love each other-"

He looks away. "Fergot abowd that."

"-and since you're both superheroes there isn't any sort of increased risk to her safety by being associated with you. I'm really not seeing any reason not to."

"You wanna make Bea homeless that badly?"

"I could put her up, if it came to it. Wouldn't be hard to add a teleport system to my place in Bir Tawil. Is there..? Some sort of..? Problem?"

"Yeah." He chuckles grimly. "Self-sabotage. Me worryin' abowd how this is gunna go wrong."

"Guy. If I don't worry about that, you've got nothing to worry about."

"I don't know that tracks, but… Thanks."

"Alright, I think that's as far as I can go before we both need emergency testosterone injections. Talk to me if you want to, or your sister, or… Carol?"

"Which one?"

"Dame Carol… Do you know the other one?"

"Yeah." He nods. "We're not close or anythin', but Hal an' me werked together fer three years before I got put on a bus. I knew his girlfriend an' boss 'cause I had t' cover fer him."

"If you were trying to get on the bus, you missed."

"Any landing you can eventually walk away from…"

"You even sound like Jordan."

He snorts again, but this time his amusement is more genuine. "Bea have any other complaints?"

"She wasn't complaining about you not marrying Tora, if that's what you're implying."

Guy thinks for a moment. Then he stands, dismissing the chair construct.

"Oh, we done? Too much-?"

Guy tilts his head back, raises his fists… And… Beats his chest in a staccato rhythm.

"Aaaah-ahhhh-aaaghaaahaaaaaghaahhhh!"

I frown, a.. little concerned. "Guy, the.. baseball players are staring at us."

"What can I say, Orange? When you're right, you're right. What kinda ring you think I should get?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
11:02 GMT +1

I walk into the… Ruined church with a frown. This doesn't look recent. Some people exposed to the Anti-Life attacked the sacred, but there wasn't really an organised campaign as far as I've been able to tell. There were a few occasions where Mannheim threw aside an altar and had a congregation worship him, but that was a dominance thing rather than a serious attempt to realign Earth religious practice.

He's been attending church a little more regularly recently.

Chantinelle is doing the metal album thing of praying at a ruined statue in the middle of the ruin. I… I don't really know why. I've checked up on her a few times since we…

What's a polite way of saying 'mutilated'..?

Realigned her soul. And she was making herself useful in a variety of minor ways, acting as a counsellor at large to people who her new magical senses tell her need it. I have no idea what she did while the Earth was under the influence of the Anti-Life or why she's here… But if I want to track John down she's probably at least a part of the solution.

I don't muffle my steps, but I do hang back a little and wait for her to finish her prayers.

After thirty three seconds she stands, her wings morphing into a long coat and her more inhuman features concealing themselves. She looks me over for a moment.

"I didn't think you could find me."

"I can't scan for you directly, but your magic has a unique signature. Indirect detection and crude sensors work fine."

She nods. "What do you want?"

"What were you..? Doing?"

"Praying."

"What for?"

"I want to help more. I want to earn my way into heaven. I want to-. Be more right."

"Remind me. You didn't fall, right? You were born in Hell?" She nods. "Ah, well, I don't think prayer does anything in and of itself, but if it helps you, go for it. Is there anything that I can do to help out?"

"Perhaps… If you could find people in need for me. Nothing else. I need to earn this myself."

"I'm not a theologian, but I don't think that's how it works. You're judged based on who you are, not what you've done. Striving to help others is good, destroying yourself isn't. But I do have a friend who might benefit from talking to you, so there's that. Oh, and the producer of Queen Hera's old television series needs a new star. You might find it a little commercial, but she made a lot of people happy."

"I've been helping reunify families that lost each other during the… Dark time. Or comforted the bereaved. Mid-day television isn't quite the same."

"A public platform can be used to further virtuous causes, but if you want something hands-on then it isn't for you."

"Why have you come looking for me now?"

"Why do you want to get into Heaven, specifically? I'd have thought that you'd find Zamaron more satisfying. As you are now."

"Tali would have gone to Heaven. And so would our child."

"We.. could just ask Zauriel for some clarity on that. The Angel Kings have been rethinking a lot of things recently."

"Death is part of existence. I don't want to pull Tali's soul away from God. I just want to.. see for myself that he is alright."

I snort, shaking my head. "Sorry. I think I'm too far into the orange part of the spectrum to comprehend that answer. As long as you're happy, I guess."

Not as if I actually need her there to ask Zauriel myself.

My face falls as for a horrible moment I consider the idea that Noriel is their offspring. No. No, she's far too old. And there's no demonic magic in here. We checked.

I'm going to double check.

"I'm not. But I will be, someday. What do you want, Paul?"

"The island John Constantine was on hasn't reappeared. Given your long history with the man, I was hoping that you'd have some insight."

She frowns. "Didn't you help him become a Lord of Chaos?"

"Yes. And a Lord of Order."

"Then I think he'll turn up when he wants to."

"Right, and if he wants an indefinite holiday in the Lands In-Between then he can just go back there once we've checked up on him. But he wasn't the only person on that island, and the others aren't super-powerful wizards."

Though, being Amazons, they might appreciate the change of pace. But maybe John Constantine is a bit of a steep 'change of pace' curve.

"I don't know what you think I can do. You know him better than I do."

"If I could find him using my own resources then I'd have done that by now. I have an approximate idea what he can do. You understand how he thinks better than I do."

"I'm not sure that's true anymore. But… The other people on the island. Are they Amazons?"

"Yes."

"Then I might be able to find them through their bonds." She frowns. "Why haven't you asked the Star Sapphires?"

"Neither of them know anything about magic. And they haven't met any of the people involved. But if it'll help then I can ask them to come."

And it.. might actually be worth asking them to have a look at her as well. Just in case I got something wrong.

"Do you think that it would be better if he wasn't found?"

"No."

She studies my face for a few moments.

"Having obtained ultimate power, John Constantine has no one watching him. Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

"No." That gets a small smile. "It doesn't."

"Are you available now, or do you want to schedule it for later?"

"I'm volunteering at a local primary school. But I can try finding John this evening."

I nod. "I'll come and pick you up. Thank you."

I-.

"Paul, before-. You go. The father of one of the children got one of his arms torn up by the sheeda. It's giving his daughter nightmares."

"I suspect it's more the association than the lack of an arm, but if you think it would help I'm happy to replace it. Why don't you introduce us?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
13:37 GMT +3

"I'm… Surprised."

I look around the Themysciran streets. "I know. Three thousand years, and they hardly advanced at all."

"You healed Klaus's arm. He thanked you, his family thanked you, and you wanted to leave as quickly as possible."

I shrug. "What's not to understand?"

"He was crying with happiness. I nearly cried. If I could heal worth a.. damn, I'd spend all of my time doing that. I'd be overjoyed to get that sort of response."

"All the more reason to talk to Dame Carol." She's glaring at me. "What, do you want an explanation?"

"Yes."

"I can't just heal anyone I feel like healing. I'm an orange Lantern. Worse, I'm an Enlightened Orange Lantern. I can't fool myself into thinking 'maybe I want this' because I know I don't. I always know. I'll take your word for it that he was a good man, but he's not mine."

"Then how did you do it?"

"Human perfectionism. I find damaged bodies.. wrong. I healed him using my desire for my own psychological comfort. You'll note how there aren't any maimed Amazons anymore."

"So why did you offer to make him a mechanical hand?"

"No, I offered him a cybernetic. Something with added functionality. Something I could get excited about." I shake my head. "It's not practical for me to heal everyone on the planet, and it would impede the development of medical technology and encourage dependency. But a cybernetic could be built by other people in a workshop. Developing a human-compatible cybernetic could help a lot of people. Repairing his arm back to how it was just helps him and his daughter."

Mala was on Reformation Island when it vanished, and of all the people who love her…

I rise into the air and then fly over the city towards the docks. Chantinelle flies behind me, expression thoughtful.

"What?"

"I didn't expect you to think like that. It's not all that different to how demons think."

"I was going to say that demons wouldn't act from altruistic ends, but Buer acted selflessly to free the First. And Satanus did nearly manage to turn me into a demon using Mammon's power. I've never claimed to be the best guide to moral behaviour-. Ah."

I drop down, landing next to Antimonie as she checks the integrity of her nets. She stops, looking at me with a healthy dose of caution.

"Yes?"

"I had an idea about locating Reformation Island."

"And you need to borrow my boat because?"

"Oh, no. Chantinelle here-" Chantinelle lands, and… Gets a decidedly interested look from Antimonie. "-can track people via the bonds of love. You and your sister are on good terms?"

"We've always loved each other. But, yes. We haven't had a big fight in centuries." She looks Chantinelle over. "So what exactly does finding Mala via my love involve?"

"Love. Not sex." Chantinelle places her hands on Antimonie's shoulders and gently directs her to a clear part of the jetty. Then she extends her tail and walks around her, scratching a rough circle in the stone. "And I just need you to stand there."

"That doesn't sound like fun."

When Chantinelle is facing away from me I hold up my right hand, shaking my head and wincing at Antimonie.

"And stay still while I imprison you in a solid block of crystal.

"What?" / "What?"

Pink light flares from the interior of the circle as Antimonie looks down, eyes wide. Then the crystal shoots up, enveloping her.

Several other Amazons look on in concern. I try and give them a reassuring smile and a wave, but it doesn't appear to reassure anyone.

"She's alright, right?"

"Yes. I just needed to crystallise the emotion to get a proper resonance." She frowns to herself. "Does that happen a lot?"

"What, Amazons hitting on the first foreign woman they see?" Ah… "It's frequent enough. Though they usually show a bit more deference to someone who obviously isn't human. I…"

I watch her run her hands over the crystal menhir for a moment.

"Does that mean that you're not interested in a relationship with anyone other than Tali, or that-."

"I can't imagine something like that happening. But there was a time when I couldn't imagine someone like him-. I couldn't imagine ever feeling like that about anyone. If it happened-. I don't know. I'm not looking… But I don't know."

"Understood."

"But I have no interest at all in a hook up with a randy pagan. I'm not a succubus any more."

"Are you still feeding on..? What are you feeding on?"

She stops touching the crystal and takes a step back. "I 'feed' by bringing love into the universe. Whenever I help someone, whenever I repair a relationship, I get a little stronger."

I nod. That tracks. Succubae don't feed on sex exactly, they feed on the indulgence in vice. Lustful vice, prideful vice, it doesn't really matter: immoral action is the key. Chantinelle got exactly no power out of her relationship with Tali, which is one of the things that makes it so odd.

"Found anything?"

"I think so." She frowns uncertainly. "I'm not a magical expert like some. I know a lot because I'm old, not because I've ever been much of a student of magic."

I nod. "And this is new to you. What do you think you know?"

"The resonance is still there. Usually-. Before you changed me, I'd use it to find lustful mortals. Now, I think I can feel Mala through the light of love… But only through that."

"And the upshot is?"

"I can take us all there. I think. But I don't know where 'there' is and I don't know if I can bring us back."

"I can handle 'back'. I even know the rituals to let me bring you with me, if John can't handle it for some reason."

"He might be dead."

"The universe isn't that lucky."

She reaches for me with her right hand and lays her left on the crystal. And then

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
13:41 GMT +3

we appear on a… Beach? Yes, a beach on.. Reformation Island. I take a moment to-

"What did you do to me!"

-orientate myself as Antimonie squares up to Chantinelle.

"I used your love connection to your sister-."

"Antimonie?"

Mala runs towards us from the direction of the orchard, passes me and enthusiastically embraces her sister. Antimonie hugs her back, giving Chantinelle a brief glare before giving Mala her full attention.

"Mala. Are you well?"

"Yes, we are fine. What happened to the world? John said that he felt some evil magic-" Antimonie nods. "-but he took the island out of the world before he could find out what it was."

"It was… Bad, for several days. Then the gods took Themyscira into their realm."

Mala frowns, pulls out of the hug so that she can see her sister's face. "And… You were safe there?"

"No, we had to fight all manner of strange creatures to prevent their magic touching the gods and destroying the world-."

"And John kept us here while you struggled."

Chantinelle and I glance at the grey sea and sky surrounding the island, a sea that gets increasingly blurry the further from the island it gets, merging with the sky at a distance I can't precisely identify. I'm… Starting to get a little worried about exactly what John did to make this happen.

"John wouldn't have known what was going to happen. In fact-."

"He couldn't undo his own spell!" Mala turns to me. "Gods save me from foolish demigods!"

I nod. "That's usually what it takes. Where is he?"

"In the barracks, attempting to see past his own breaking of the universe. But what of Themyscira?"

Antimonie puts her right hand on her sister's left shoulder. "As well as can be expected. As I understand it, it is the rest of the world where the situation is calamitous."

I nod. "Not inaccurate. Though global trade has a lot of advantages, it means that we're so interdependent, something like that just makes everything… Stop working. No one on Themyscira lives more than five miles from a farm, while we have cities whose entire populations have never seen one. I think we'll avoid mass deaths, but we're basically having to reorganise the entire planet. Chantinelle, can you get us back?"

"I think so."

…

The three of us look at her unhappily.

"I don't know exactly what John's done. I should be able to take everyone back using someone's love as a conduit, but I'm…" She gestures at the sea. "Worried about what that means."

Mala frowns. "You would abandon the island?"

"Islands don't love. And unless you've learned some form of magical concealment I'm going to have to take us to Maltus with-" She looks at me. "-his love."

"I don't actually know that Jade's on Maltus right now. She's on counter-insurgency duties, but that could put her in a lot of different places." … "Like, space."

The Amazons glance at each other, then Mala looks at me. "Is that bad?"

"In theory, it's survivable. I was exposed to vacuum for several seconds once, and my injuries were mortal but not immediately fatal. The problem is that if I'm surrounded by pink crystal then I'm probably going to be a little slow in grabbing everyone. It would-." Hm. "Okay, I can fabricate you space suits to mitigate that problem-. And one for me, because the pink crystal might interfere with me using my ring." I look at Chantinelle. "Do you need a suit as well? I'm not clear how well regular demons do in space."

"I have no idea. Demons don't go into space. But if we do that, I'll take a suit."

Mala frowns in puzzlement. "What is 'Space'?"

It's… A little odd that an Amazon isn't familiar with the term, but hardly astonishing. Maybe we could set up some sort of general education program? It's amazing what Amazons don't pick up despite having sporadic contact with the outside world for the last sixty years.

"Okay, you know how air gets thinner when you climb a mountain?" Mala and Antimonie nod. "If you keep going, you get to a height where there's no air. Have you ever tried boiling water at the top of a mountain?"

"It boiled without being hot."

"Imagine that was your blood, and you understand what being in space is like."

I turn away to jog along the path towards the barracks. Unless John's completely out of it, he should be aware of me by now. And Chantinelle. It's a little rude of him not to come out and greet us, but I suppose that if he's still working on a fix then that might be absorbing all of his attention.

And there are the barracks, and… Oh, looks like someone's actually done some gardening. I'd be surprised if it was John, but-. Food supply. Themyscira is self-sufficient to the point where it can export, but Reformation Island really only has farms to allow the prisoners to engage in productive labour. Yes, fruiting bushes, rather than decorative flowers. They were preparing for-.

I-.

I stare through the wall at the two sets of desire networks. The intertwined sets of desire networks.

I turn around and look at Mala as the three women follow me. And I raise my eyebrows.

She meets my gaze, looking slightly puzzled.

"Uh!"

She looks surprised for a moment, then looks away, shaking her head. "In their defence, this is a fairly disturbing situation, and there are only so many books to read."

I turn back to the door and knock heavily on it. "John! Finish up and get ready to leave!"

"Couldn't fucking give me-?"

"You can carry on later! And I hope you're using protection!"

I walk away from the barracks, sighing. Right. I shouldn't have expected him to be focusing all the time, but… Really?

"Protection?" Mala sounds confused. "There are no enemies here. And he is a wizard of great power."

"Given his record, do you think him siring a child is a good idea?"

"No, but there are herbs… On the mainland… Which we have not needed for over two thousand years. No."

Chantinelle looks disturbed. "Please tell me that you haven't all been doing that with him? The world does not need that many new Constantines."

"No-." She doesn't look certain. "I will check. The others will be in the orchards."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
13:48 GMT +3

John is looking unduly pleased with himself, and I'm not scanning Daphne because there are Some Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. She's either pregnant with the spawn of a Lord of Order/Lord of Chaos and a Constantine, or she's not. And if she is, we-. Themyscira's not a bad place for a magically inclined person to grow up, and if she wants to get into magic Atlantis should be back by then.

Or John could just stick her in the Tower of Fate.

"So what exactly did you do? And also, 'why'?"

John pulls a cigarette out of nowhere, lights it with a crimson crackle and then inserts the filter end in his mouth.

"Severance."

"Which means..?"

"The Tower of Fate, most of it is space that's cut off from the Earth, you know? You can come in through the door, but if you don't-."

"I went in through the Dream, I do remember."

"So the beach is a boundary line. I traced it, then cut the island off from the world. Anti-Life didn't even know we were here."

"And you couldn't reverse it why?"

He raises his left eyebrow slightly. "Because we're cut off, aren't we? No doorway between here and Earth. Nothing to connect back to."

"You couldn't connect back to the Tower?"

He winces. "Doesn't sound like the best idea, mate. Not until I go though the whole place and find out what else is stuck in there. Does us no good if I crash this place into some old demon's binding cell."

"Yes." Mala nods definitively. "You will put this island back where you found it."

"Except I can't, can I?" John shrugs. "Nothing's changed. So-."

"Can't you use my tattoos?"

He pauses, looking thoughtful.

"Don't think so, mate. I know what Earth's magic field looks like; that's not the problem. I need an active connection to slot the island back in, and while you're here, all you're connected to is this place."

"What can do the job?"

"Your ring got a map of exactly where the island was before I moved it?"

"Barring tiny changes in the structure of the ocean plate, yes."

"Alright, give me a ball of mercury. Two feet-"

"How old are you?"

"-across." He gives me a mildly amused look. "Metres are French. From The Terror. Like those stupid months they invented that no one used. I'd rather use the original-."

"And the post code system that deliberately didn't use existing regions in order to undermine regional identity. That doesn't change the fact that-."

Mala grasps our shoulders roughly. "Please focus on doing something clever, rather than sounding clever."

I fabricate the requested sphere of mercury, and John raises his hands. Flickers of gold and crimson light dart around and through the orb-.

"Have you got the hang of it, then?"

"No. Just got the hang of throttling the power without bursting anything. It's… Temporary. Probably only works because we're isolated."

"Do you have an actual solution?"

"Yes."

…

"I'd like a little more than that, John."

"Just copying Marvel's wizard, really. Find someone else to take most of the strain. One for Order and another for Chaos. Do a synchronicity walk when I get back, see who I run into. You need some sand."

I remove the construct I have holding up the mercury ball, and runes light up on its outside as John's magic takes the strain. Then I fly-. Ah, just above the tree tops because I don't know how much 'up' John took with him and I'm not sure what happens if I fly into it here. Probably nothing much, but it would be a stupid risk to take. The sand is a ritual component, so the best thing to do is take a little from the entire shoreline. Shouldn't need to put every grain back in the exact place… My general knowledge of magic suggests that the spell should send them to the right place itself, followed shortly afterwards by the island. The whole point of this sort of spell is that it's simple.

And that if John was actually capable of handling his full power he wouldn't need to bother with these steps. He could literally just reach through either the realm of order or the realm of chaos to get his connection, then fling the island back into place.

Ring, check my working?

Spell appears functional.

Yes. But like using a power ring, it's not just a matter of 'can this be done in theory, if yes, I can do it'. You need to marshal the energy and shape it into the key that turns the universe. I'm glad that John's being realistic about what he can do, even if it would be really convenient if he could spontaneously learn to simultaneously juggle fireballs and waterballs in opposite directions using only his feet.

Vacuum construct and fly. Just need a little, after all. And then hopefully John will be able to help work out what happened to Atlantis, and… And I told the Caliph that I'd take Jade to visit. Breaking that agreement -even if it was an informal, time permitting agreement- seems like a bad idea. And…

And go back to jumping on whatever emergencies raise their heads.

The lack of effective government means that we're in perfect 'easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission' territory, but there isn't really anything that I want permission to do.

For a chaos-worshipper, I sure like order.

"Hah!"

I shut down the vacuum and fly back towards John. Yes, that's how it works, the ole yin yang thing. Without order, there's no chaos. There's just a mess. And while Eris might personally be fine with it…

Must remember to ask her.

John-. The mercury doesn't look like mercury any more. Or like a ball. Reminds me a little of a video I watched on VidULike of someone pouring molten metal into an ant colony. Runes… No, he's beyond anything I can understand with a simple visual analysis.

"Right." John closes his hands, and the thingy floats under its bound spells. "I've set this up to go along with you just about anywhere. 'Elle can send you to your girl, you fly back to Earth, put that where the middle of the island should go and then sprinkle the sand around. In that order."

"Fly to Earth, put the magical ansible into place, spread the sand around. Anything I need to do to turn it on?"

"No."

"Alright." I fabricate a resilient combat spacesuit for myself, then add a couple of force field generators just in case. "Ready."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
13:52 GMT +3

The next thing I'm aware of is the crystal around me cracking off, and Jade looking through my faceplate with concern.

"Are we at war with Zamaron now?"

"No." I push outwards with my environmental shield, partially-dissolved crystal crumbling off me as it disintegrates. "Just bypassing a cleverly unclever spell John Constantine cast. Do-?"

No, don't say 'do you need anything?' to the woman that you love. The people on Reformation Island have been fine for three months, they can cope for five minutes.

Jade gives her head a small shake. "We're not in immediate danger. This is a Darkstar training centre. Standard picket fleet-"

I send my spacesuit into subspace and embrace her warmly.

"-and sexual harassment in the workplace, apparently."

She's smiling as I rest my forehead against hers.

"This is unprofessional conduct at worst." I change the angle of my neck and gently kiss her forehead.

"I think that's worse."

"So does that mean that professional sexual harassment exists? I'll have to talk to Dox about that. Maybe there's a course I can do."

"You'll have to talk to Director Jeddigar about that. Unless you're planning on complaining about the Orange Lantern Corps not having them."

"No, of course not. I would never leave L.E.G.I.O.N. out. They need the help more."

One of the L.E.G.I.O.N. soldiers on duty snorts through his helmet. "Fuck you too, sir."

"I'm not a professional."

I sigh as I release Jade from my embrace, smiling at her as she smiles back.

"How's Earth?"

"About the same. Economists have stopped hanging themselves, but I think we can cope. I just need to-" I hoik the magic beacon into the air with a construct. "-get this thing to Themyscira and we'll get Reformation Island back."

"What about Atlantis?"

"I'm… Happy to make that someone else's problem."

She raises a sceptical eyebrow. "Really?"

I exhale. "Really. Sticking Earth's civilisation back together isn't… Something that really… I don't want to say 'interests me', but-."

"You want to fix something, see it get better and then stay fixed." I nod. "Has the Justice League talked about removing governments?"

"I am not allowed to talk about the Justice League removing governments."

Her eyebrows rise again. "That's oddly specific."

"Batman has learned to be specific around me."

"Who's the lucky country? Bwunda?"

"Adom's taken that one."

"Ogaden?"

"There isn't a country there to take over anymore. I suppose we could give it to Mister Atom and see what he does, but the infrastructure's been sufficiently degraded that it might be better just to allow the villages to do their own thing for while."

"It almost certainly is. Could be a problem if the hospitals aren't working, though."

"Not from a civilisational standpoint. Regular access to really good medicine has really only been a thing in the richest parts of the world for the last fifty years or so. Barely any time at all in the history of the human species."

"Are things that bad?"

"Doctors had a reasonable survival rate. It's supply chains that didn't. Most medicines aren't made close to where they're used and the systems of distribution were completely wrecked."

One of the things I remember hearing about the destruction of the World Trade Centre was the ways that some companies had stopped existing. Not because the damage to their infrastructure caused them to lose money, but because everyone who worked there was killed. There was literally no one to continue the company's function.

Doctors have worked their way through the fixable injuries and illnesses by now... Or 'timed out', I suppose. But that's not much help to a diabetic without access to insulin. Or foods that they could use to regulate their blood sugar in an analogue manner, especially when disposables for blood sugar monitors aren't available.

And it's… Not worth me fixing that. Even if I was trying to keep particular individuals alive, I'd be better off correcting the condition rather than fixing a factory that makes palliatives.

I frown. Actually…

"Planning something?"

"Planning how to make the world a better place. And to make sure that I'm more emotionally engaged with the people of Earth."

She looks at me… Not nervously, but with a degree of concern. Then her expression shifts to amusement. "Do I need to warn Batman?"

"'Need to'? No." I look around. "What have they got you doing?"

"Teaching special forces soldiers from N.E.M.O. worlds how to be Darkstars. A hundred different doctrines, technologies and military histories. Not to mention the ones who have already been to war with the others." A quiet snort. "Half the time I think we'd be better starting with raw recruits."

"And the other half?"

"Then I'm sure. But that's probably not politically feasible." She shakes her head. "I've got a shift to work. Go finish up on Earth before they try sending someone else."

I nod. "I will see you later." I smile and-. And turn to the Darkstar who spoke a moment ago. "Since we're not in the same chain of command, you probably shouldn't call me 'sir'."

"Al-right. What should I call you?"

"In formal settings, 'Illustres'. In informal settings, just about anything other than 'sir'."

"Okay… Arsehole."

The other guard stares at him in alarm.

"Yeah, like that."

Armour on, take physical hold of the beacon and step

out.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Noumenia, Boedromiōn, about-

Of course I mean 'about', boy. At my age-.

Hah! I am, and I already promised that I would tell you the story. You don't need to-.

No, no. I know that your mother was born thirty seven years ago. I will never forget that. And I married Nomia two years before that. Nomia? My wife. Your grandmother. No, you wouldn't-. Yes, with the gods. She saw you born, but…

'In time all things shall pass away'.

That was one of the things he told me, but you wanted to know what year it was. I married Nomia thirty nine years ago, and I spoke to him slightly less than three years before that. Forty two years. The year King Menelaus of Sparta set sail for Troy, to reclaim his wife and prove he could still wield his spear.

No, I didn't. I could have done, but I didn't.

I had a strong arm in those days-. Huh? Raaaaagh! Hehehe! But no, not like this. These are the muscles of a farmer. A builder of walls and fences, speaker of laws and council, hewer of wheat and grass. In my youth-. No, younger than your father. Then I was a builder of ships and formations, speaker of battle cries and hewer of men.

Of course not. That was-.

No, I haven't. I made my choice, and I am content with it.

Menelaus sent me a message, asking me to bring my men to join the kings of Greece when they sailed. But we were not friends, and I am not of Sparta. He offered money, but I wanted… I wanted fame. Acclaim. I wanted my skill as a warrior to be legend! Spoken of all across Greece! A war like that… We would become legends or the women of Sparta would laugh at our memories for…

Years.

But Menelaus was not my friend. We had fought together before, and he insulted me. I could earn fame in other wars. I didn't know if I should go or stay. So I asked my mother for advice, and she made my decision even clearer. If I went, I would die, and my name would be spoken of as one of the greatest of the heroes of Greece for generations to come. And if I did not, my name would live on only in my children.

Had that been all, I would probably have gone. My foster-brother Patroclus wanted to, and him I relied upon more than all others. But a priest in my father's court saw my uncertainty, and bade me visit a wondering oracle who had recently come into the city.

Yes, that was him. And yes, you have heard that part. When I went to speak with him he was in a cave outside of the city. Yes, if your mother will let you. It should still be there, unless the rains have collapsed it. But it isn't a shrine or a grotto. He told me that he just wanted somewhere to sit where he would only be bothered by people who would make the effort to see him.

No, he didn't tell me not to go. It was… More thoughtful.

The clothes he wore were… Strange. Rather than a tunic, he covered his legs in tubes of cloth fastened together around his waist. I don't know. I would guess that his homeland is in the colder lands to the north and so he was accustomed to dressing for warmth. His chest was covered by a chiridota, and both had some sort of bronze fastener-.

I'm sorry. My mind wanders.

Glow? Yes, yes, they did. Not brightly, but I could make them out in the dark of the cave. He asked how he could help, and I explained my choice. Immortality in tale and song, or long life and comfort. And what he said struck me dumb.

'No man or god knows the future. No man or god can control how others remember him after his death, and the you that lives forever in tale and song is not you as you are. And that in time even tales die.'

I was shocked. To claim that gods do not know the future? And he just waved my concerns aside. He said that if Cronus had known how and why Zeus would kill him then surely he would not have acted as he did. Therefore, for all his insight and wisdom he must not have known. If Mighty Zeus knew everything, why did he need Metis to advise him? He claimed that instead of being all-knowing, they were merely so well informed and wise that to mortal men it seemed as if they were. And with a war like the war that would be waged in Troy, the gods would most likely involve themselves, either directly or indirectly. They might make a prophecy only to fulfil it themselves; tell oracles that a man will die and make sure to kill him themselves.

I realised that what he said was possible, and that even one as wise as my mother could have been misled in such a way. So I asked about his second statement. Surely a man's nature and deed determine how he is remembered?

He told me that the people of his homeland practice a religion where they worship a single god. Everywhere, from their greatest city to their smallest village, has at least a shrine to that god and his demigod son who taught them about him. And that even then, that because the people who wrote their holy texts spoke Greek and changed the names of its people to Greek names, no one alive knows what the demigod's true name was. They only know the Greek version. That would be like you or I calling Herakles 'Hercules' as the Romans do, and not knowing any better! And that was for their only god!

But I questioned him on why they had Greek scribes, and he admitted that his people were less learned than ours. We Greeks keep records of the deeds of great warriors and kings. Surely, then, our tales were more accurate?

He asked if I knew of Herakles, and of his meeting with Queen Hippolyta. I said that I did, that Herakles was sent to obtain her girdle and though she would have given it willingly Hera's intervention meant that the Amazons rose against him and he slew many to escape.

When he heard my words, he shook his head and said that was not what happened.

Ah… He said that Herakles caused the fight by behaving poorly. That the girdle was simply a token of victory and not the object of his journey. That despite our record keeping and my education, I did not know that he had fought Herakles at Themyscira, and that the only song left from that fight was the clicking his right arm made if he raised it above his shoulder.

I know that mine does too. I may not have sought out war, but it has sought me out upon occasion. My advice, grandson, is that you should avoid getting your shoulder broken if you can avoid it.

Did he actually fight Herakles? Perhaps. He was an old man, and Herakles was of my grandfather's generation. All versions of Herakles' story say that he fought many people, and some of them lived, so it is not impossible.

So I asked if he believed that I should not go. He told me that he could not answer that. That only I could know what I valued most in life, and in death. What I lived for was for me alone to determine, and that all he could do was make the facts related to that decision as clear as possible. He said that there was no immortality to be had in tale or song or indeed anywhere else. That whatever was said of me would distort to become less and less like me until it was forgotten entirely. That in time the land itself would be ground down to nothing and then consumed by the dying sun. That simple misfortune might take any children I sired as it did my six elder brothers. That no nobility of intent or will can shield completely against the vagaries of fate.

Yes, that was a sad thing to hear. All of life contains a little sadness.

It was then that he pointed to the rock points on the ceiling of the cave, and asked if I knew how they formed. I told him that I did not. He said to me that they are made by water seeping through tiny cracks in the rock. As the water moves, it takes tiny amounts of rock with it, and deposits it where it drips down. A small amount stays where it dripped from, and a small amount stays where it lands. Over hundreds of years, the succession of tiny drips leaves enough rock to make spikes on the top and bottom.

They are made not by a single act, but by a million tiny acts.

So I decided that I would not go, to serve a man and a cause I cared nothing for. Patroclus who cared for such things more than I took the Myrmidons to Troy. You know how that went: they defeated the force outside the walls before gaining entry by trickery. Prince Hector's counterattack gave the people of Troy time to flee, burning their food stores as they went. Proud King Menelaus had to eat his own boots and scabbard, and returned home little more than a skeleton and without his wife.

And while they were doing that, I renewed my studies. I had built a library and a public baths. I laid bricks and cut timbers myself, for I still sought a legacy, and I wanted it to be mine, and not the invention of a poet or bard or ignorant scholar. Even if the people of some far distant future know nothing else of me, they will know the names of the civic architecture I built. It is hard to get 'King Achilleus built this' wrong. And if I am fortunate, my being a good king will likewise work to building a nation that will outlast me, even if none know that it grew strong because of me.

Hm? Oh, no. He had already left by then. Where? I have no idea. Did I ask him-? Of course I did. What fool would pass on the opportunity to question any oracle, much less the Ancestor? He told me that so much of history gets forgotten that he considers himself responsible for remembering as much of it as possible, and I think that is a noble cause for a scholar. Is he really the first ever man made by the gods? He told me that at that time the rules of the universe were less fixed in the distant past, so that by some metrics he was first and that by others he was not.

No, I do not know what that means either, though I asked him to clarify. Something to do with time having no meaning in primordial chaos, perhaps? And the answers he gave were of little more help. But I was glad to have met him. And you should be too, for I doubt that you would be here if I did not.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th April 2013
09:37 GMT -5

"Ah…" My most recent patient takes a few staggering steps towards the exit. "T-thanks-. Thank you." He shuffles around to face me. "Thank you."

"Happy to help. Now, I really think it would be best if you kept your chair for a few weeks while you adjust. Regular exercise-."

"Oh fuck no. The only reason why I'd take that with me is so I could throw it in the garbage crusher myself." He shuffles back around and clumsily, stiffly, heads towards the door.

That went well. Mr. Christian lost his legs to a subway train shortly before the Anti-Life broadcast, so his brain hasn't adjusted to their absence as much as Paula's had to her spinal injury. His bull-headed approach isn't ideal for his recovery, but it should work and New York's crime rate is well below its pre-broadcast baseline so he probably won't get jumped by a street gang while he recovers. I'd be more worried about the police assuming that he's on drugs or something.

Karon comes in just after he leaves. Unsurprisingly, demand for travel agents has dropped to near-nothing while human civilisation recovers. Her firm managed after the Sheeda Harvest by switching almost exclusively to domestic tourism, but with the few planes still operating being cargo planes for emergency supplies that's almost impossible to arrange even if someone wants to. She's been working on reconstruction projects in Gotham, but… She's determined but not exactly heavily built, and her skills don't really lend themselves to that sort of thing.

So now she's my receptionist.

"That went well."

"Yes, it did."

"Didn't you..?" She frowns thoughtfully. "Didn't you say you couldn't do this kind of thing?"

"Not indefinitely, and I'm having you give people that disclaimer for a reason. But when I'm in the right headspace, I can do it for a while."

"Yeah, about that…" She frowns. "The next patient has some questions. And, actually? I do too."

"Alright. Bring them in and I'll clear up everything together."

She nods, a copy of the disclaimer in her left hand, and heads to the door.

"Carole? He's ready for you."

Carole is a pale-skinned and brown-haired woman in her middle years. She doesn't look like she's in terrible health, but since she hasn't signed the disclaimer I don't scan her yet. I smile and gesture to the patient's seat just across from mine.

"Good morning, Carole. I understand that you have some questions before we begin."

She nods as she hesitantly approaches and takes a seat. "The sign said 'Free Clinic' with an asterisk."

"Yes."

"What's the asterisk for?"

"Did you read the disclaimer?"

"Ye-es,-" Probably a lie. "-but I'd like you to explain it."

"I have no need for money or other fungible goods. So it doesn't cost you anything in terms of material resources."

"Fungible?"

"Tradable. Sellable." She nods. "But I have trouble focusing on fixing a bunch of similar things in a row. So what I want from you in return for fixing whatever you're having trouble with is your approval to fix other things."

"Like what?"

"Very few people get the optimal nutrition in childhood to reach their full physical potential. Then there's exposure to atmospheric lead, mercury and other unpleasant substances. Old injuries that don't entirely heal." I shrug. "I enjoy perfecting the human body."

"Oh. That.. doesn't sound so bad."

"And then there's the human eye."

Carole goes still. "The human eye?"

"Yeah, so, basically, ahh… Your skin. Your blood vessels go inside your skin. Your skin protects your fragile blood vessels while they provide it with blood. Makes sense, right?"

She nods cautiously.

"The human eye works by using four different types of photosensitive cells to detect three different colours and levels of light intensity. Would you say that it makes more sense to have those in front of the blood vessels which feed them, giving them a nice, clear, unobstructed view, or behind the blood vessels so that everything you see is distorted because you have to adjust for the fact that the light is literally passing through your blood stream before you see it?"

"Ah, the first one?"

"And you're right. That makes far more sense. And that's what squids have. But with humans it's the dumb way around. Which is why the blind spot exists, because the artery has to come in through the same hole as the optic nerve and then spread out to cover the rest of the inner eye."

"So you want to give people better eyesight?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I haven't worked out how to make that change genetic yet, so you wouldn't pass your improved eyes on to your children."

"My.. children are four and six."

"Well you definitely won't, then. Oh, and I can also do cybernetics, so if you want improved data storage then I can give you that. Or anything else."

"Can you fix my diabetes?"

"Almost certainly."

"And… I won't need insulin injections ever again?"

"Well, that depends on what exactly's causing your symptoms-."

"Type One Diabetes."

"Yes. I'll need to fiddle with your immune system a bit, and in the event that you have more children the alteration will be passed on, but that's no problem at all. Oh, and while I'm in there, do you want to become immune to H.I.V.?"

"Ah..? Yes. Yes, I think so."

"Neat! No problem. Just sign-."

"Wait wait." Karon is frowning. "You can make people immune to H.I.V.?"

"Technically, any oncologist with the right supplies can, it's just that the supplies are hard to get hold of and the risk of death is a bit high. I don't have either of those problems, so I can just do it."

"How?"

"Ah, different people have slightly different immune cell structures. H.I.V. needs a particular bit to attack, and not everyone has that part. So some people are just immune to it. I can swap out a person's immune system for one that's immune to H.I.V., and then you can't get it anymore." Hm. "I mean, you'd be able to get it in your body, but it wouldn't reproduce and it would eventually die off, and couldn't give you A.I.D.S.. Obviously, that wouldn't help with other sexually transmitted diseases, and I wouldn't encourage unsafe sexual practices for a variety of other reasons. So-."

Karon grabs the disclaimer and signs it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th April 2013
12:54 GMT -5

Karon peers at the pages of her novel as I deposit her lunch in front of her before sitting down in the seat opposite.

She looks up at me and shrugs. "It doesn't look much different."

"It won't. Remember, people don't see with their eyes. The eyes are merely light sensors. The image you perceive is assembled in your brain, and the human brain does a lot of editing before you become consciously aware of what you're seeing. Here."

I fabricate a classical 'blind spot disappearing shape' test on a sheet of paper and offer it to her.

"Ever done one of these?"

She nods. "In middle school." She then holds up the paper and moves it around, trying to find a spot she no longer has. "This… Huh."

"Of course, because saccades are pretty much hard wired into the brain, that won't change much about the way you use your eyes even if they're pretty much unnecessary for you now."

"Saccades?"

"Small movements of the eye. Your brain 'knows' that it can't see part of its visual field, so it makes sure that you move your eyes around enough to let it build a picture to cover it up. Editing the rest of the body is a lot easier than editing the brain."

"And this doesn't cause a problem with… I don't know, my body won't try regrowing blood vessels over my retina?"

"No. Ah-." Hm. "If you got metahuman regeneration from somewhere it might, but… Normal human healing works by copying the tissues around the injury, rather than fixing the body to template. That's why most people can't regrow a hand or other complicated bits. If you do gain metahuman abilities or use magical healing, come and see me immediately afterwards."

"Was that in the waiver?"

"I thought you read it."

She shrugs. "I skimmed it."

"Never enter into any kind of contract with a demon."

She puts down the sheet and picks up her sandwich. "Duh."

"Or any kind of supernatural entity. If we had a functioning legal system I'd add 'major corporation', but I'm pretty sure we could force majeure that if it came to it."

She chews for a moment, her eyes widening in pleased surprise. "'his is goo'." She swallows. "Where'd you get it?"

"Sicily."

"I think it's called 'Little Italy' in New York."

"The predominantly Italian area of New York is called Little Italy. The island next to Italy's toe is called Sicily."

"What happened to food shortages?"

"Food production hasn't been as badly affected as that. Farmers had a better than average survival rate. The issue is harvesting and transportation to places that don't generate food, maintaining farm equipment and... Deliberate destruction of labour-intensive farmlands."

"Like..?"

"Like mechanised family farms are fine, but places that relied on mass itinerant labour tended to get burned to the ground. After the Sheeda, quite a lot of European countries-. They were actually deliberately shutting their farms down as a matter of government policy before that to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Then they started having actual food shortages, and not just as a result of panic-buying, so they changed their policies. So when the Broadcast happened, there were quite a lot of small new farms ready to go. But they can't sell to anyone, because all of the parts of the economy that could do that aren't there."

She takes another bite of near-perfect ham sandwich. Americans usually react well to actual food, and I'm glad that Karon's no exception.

"Is the League gunna fix that?"

"The League… Can't, really. We're a disaster management charity. We can move a few hundreds tons here and there, we can't replace the entire transportation infrastructure of Earth. Maybe if Atlantis was still connected to the rest of the world and they didn't mind just making dolmen gates." I half smile. "Britain's actually doing okay because of all of the gates they bought to replace their rail network. We just moved them to major distribution nodes, and… Got Mister Atom to calculate a schedule. Other places… We're sort of hoping that people fix their own little bits of everything so we can coordinate things."

"I thought you were taking over the world."

"I'm not allowed to talk about the League taking over the world."

She raises her now-naturally-linear eyebrows. "You're actually doing that? I thought that was just you mouthing off."

"I'm not allowed to talk about the League taking over the world."

She takes another bite, thoughtfully.

"You're not… Putting anything in our heads, are you?"

"Mild brain damage is a hazard of industrial society. I can only fix it a little."

"I meant about the Justice League taking over the world."

"I'm not allowed to talk about the League taking over the world."

She frowns at me. "Did they put something in your head?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about the League taking over the world."

"O.. kay… New topic, before I get really scared. What else can you do?"

"How do you mean?"

"I never need to shave my legs or armpits or pluck my eyebrows again. I've…" She looks at her right arm and flexes her muscles. "I've never been this cut before. I don't have a blind spot any more and you got rid of my heavy metal deposits."

She takes hold of the small plastic bauble on her necklace which contains all of the metal I removed from her body. It's not a lot, but then, what you do with it counts more.

"I could implant a quantum wafer that would give you a memory backup. I can pretty much put the sum of human knowledge on it, and you'd just sort of know it if it came up in conversation."

"How about actual super powers?"

"Do you want to undergo the training regimen you'd need to not accidentally break everything you touch or not experience everything in the world as a film being played at one hundredth normal speed where you're stuck waiting forever for everything?"

"Oh."

"Minor changes to your skin, or eyes, or even your immune system are no problem. Radical things start to have extra risks…"

I.. frown.

"How about hair that changes color?" She pauses mid-bite and notices my expression. "No?"

"Oh, no, there are a couple of ways to do that… But I was thinking. The FDA isn't.. really functioning now, is it?"

Karon shrugs. "No? Isn't that why you're doing this?"

"So there isn't really anything stopping us just… Rolling out super-advanced medicine without bothering jumping through their hoops. I… Think I need to phone some people."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
05:17 GMT +1

What..? Just woke me up?

Ring, statfuck!

"Stand-" I transition to the Bir Tawil facility's control room. "down, stand down!"

A dozen charging anti-orbital cannons reset to their resting positions, and the generators reduce their output from 'combat power' to 'normal operation'.

And I breathe a little-

"Hey, Roomie!"

-easier, until Kara 1 decides to give me a heart attack. Fortunately, since she's doing it over the communication system rather than barging through a wall again she hasn't reactivated the automated defences.

"Good morning, Kara." I press a few buttons, bringing up both her face and an image of the ship that just entered the Sol system. "I take it that's not yours."

"Nope! I haven't even tried building a ship!" She frowns thoughtfully. "Do you think I should?"

Ship is.. Thanagarian. The design doesn't match the military ships I have on file. I'd guess that it's a rich person's yacht with a slightly larger than usual drive system.

"I suppose that depends on what you want to do with your life in the long term."

Patch into the Watchtower to make sure that they've picked it up too.

"Yes. End."

Get Mister Atom who's clearly busy with it. Okay, good.

"I mean, as a kryptonian you can live for millennia as long as you do some sunbathing every so often. And we've made no progress working out what parallel you originally came from. Not that I'm complaining about the work you've been doing, but there is a whole universe you could go and see."

"But I like it here! I just thought maybe I could help more with a ship."

Check… Kara's work logs.

"Kara, have you been drinking coffee again?"

"Um." Kara's image looks left and then right. "No?"

Uh-huh.

Planetary defences are online. Shielding units are in position. Orbital anti-ship weapons are activating and messages-

Message received.

-are going out to space-capable League members. So far, everything is-.

Bring-bring! Bring-bring!

Going.. according to plan.

"Excuse me. I have a message on another line."

"I'm not drinking coffee! Especially not that super-strong stuff you told me about!"

"I'm glad to hear it."

Disconnect and answer, because I've just worked out who this is.

"Heeeey!" Bleez is wearing a space suit that looks like it's been sprayed on. Her wings are slightly splayed, in a 'check-out-what-I've-done' pose rather than a 'check-me-out' pose. "Why did you stop calling?"

"Ah. Earth got Anti-Lifed, and I've been working to put it back together."

"Okay, but you could have still found time to call me." She makes a flicking motion with the tips of her wings. An eye-roll. "It's not like that totally collapsed your civilisation."

"It pretty much did, actually. If it wasn't for the time of the year when it happened and all the preparations we made after the last time this happened… Ah. That would have been bad."

"Oh. Um, is now a bad time?"

"To do what? You're not really seeing the place at its best, but maybe that's more informative." A thought, and my ring sends landing instructions in a thanagarian friendly format. "Come on down, if you dare."

"That's quite a lot of guns. Are you sure this is okay?"

"They're my guns and I just switched them to inactive. Give me a moment and I'll clear you with the person in charge of the rest."

"Okay?"

Mute. Contact Mister Atom, play conversation at one hundred times speed.

Compliance.

"She is cleared to land. Observation. Information extracted from time travel suggests that the Thanagarian Empire is inclined to annex Earth during times of distress. 'Bleez' is a known informant."

"I know, but Hawkman and Hawkwoman almost certainly reported back already, even if they mostly talked about the fact that the Anti-Life is removable."

"They are compromised. Analysis of vocalisations and unconscious body language confirms their change in loyalty to eighty nine point seven nine seven three four seven percent. Rounding up. Sending someone unthreatening and familiar to confirm their report is a logical step."

"Makes sense. Alright, I'll emphasise how doomed anyone would be if they got exposed. Can you put the system defences back on standby and give her an uninterdicted corridor?"

"Course transmitted. End."

I nod as her ship accelerates. Based on her speed, it should only take ten minutes or so for her to arrive. I

step out and

reappear on Havania a few corridors away from her mother.

"…there of all places! What is she thinking?!"

Ring, data extraction.

Compliance. Working. Complete.

Huh. Timeline's wrong, and her mother is still alive. I wave casually at a security camera as the alarms start to go off and

step out, feeling my way back using my own desires to

emerge in my own control room. Bleez's ship is coming in-.

"Kara."

"Yes! Who-" She looks down at her heavy mug, then leans out of the picture and puts it down before centring herself again. "-was it?"

"Do you remember me mentioning Bleez?"

"A pop star!"

"And intelligence operative, but… Yes."

"This is going to be A-MAZ-ING! Give me five seconds-"

She blurs out of picture, and I start counting to five as blue and red flickers in the background.

"-and done and I can show her around!"

"Come over to my landing pad. We'll meet her there."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
05:25 GMT +1

Kara is twitching as she restrains herself from flying up to Bleez's ship to wave through the view screen. She settles for bouncing, going up onto her toes before lowering her feet back onto the landing pad with her hands clasped at her waist and playing with her cape as my spotlights and the glow of her crystals light up the area.

"Can't her ship go faster?!"

"Generally, going fast enough towards a planet to cause an extinction event is considered impolite." I glance over to the giant crystalline bulk of her Fortress of Solicitude, planted a short distance from my own home because I offered and she finally got around to growing it. "Has that gotten..? Taller?"

"I can't get the shape quite right? And then I think of things to put in the space but it only takes a few seconds to make them because, duh, kryptonian, and then I made rooms for the other Supergirls so we can make one big Supergirl House! I even made a room for Angelika!"

"That was thoughtful."

"With lots of culturally-relevant decoration!"

"Uh…"

"Noriel's room has lots of fire extinguishers! I tried to get unholy water for them, but every time I asked the wizards I was talking to just gave me a bucket of dirty water! And they couldn't help at all when I asked for unholy nitrogen!"

"I don't think elemental vulnerability works like that. Also, you should probably avoid that sort of wizard."

"Well obviously! If they can't manage something as simple as unholy water they're a waste of my time!" She stops bouncing for a moment and turns her head to look at me. "Wait. Are you worried about me?"

"Kryptonians are vulnerable to magic. Mental alterations-."

"Don't worry! I was using protection!" She reaches down to her belt pouch and pulls out.. a spell eater. I nod approvingly, and she smiles even more as she puts it back. "Plus I can think, like, really fast. If any naughty magician tries controlling me, wham, pow, right-" She makes a fist with her right hand. "-in the schnozz!"

"Just remember not to completely destroy his face if you can help it. We need remains to identify."

"I'm seventy percent sure that I could leave the brain ninety percent intact!"

"Perhaps it's something you could practice until you can be a little more sure."

She frowns. "Practice punching someone's head off? That sounds a bit morbid."

"Not half as morbid as actually punching someone's head off."

I look up as Bleez's ship stops above us, switching entirely to its antigravity system for support. It then descends directly downwards, halting an inch above the pad and then slowly touching down.

Kara claps. "Good landing!"

There's a brief delay, then a hatch in the side opens and allows… Bleez to contort her way out, legs first. She's still in the spray-on spacesuit, and she's actually wearing a helmet.

"He-ey!" Kara fast-flies over to meet her. "I'm so glad to meet you!"

Bleez looks at her in puzzlement for a moment, then spots the 'S' on her chest. "Hello-. Are you kryptonian!?"

"I sure am! I'm Kara! I'm super-rare!"

"Is that what-" Bleez looks at the giant crystal structure. "-kryptonian buildings look like?"

"Buildings, space ships, most of the planet… We really like crystals. Do you like crystals?"

"Not as much as you do."

I wander over to rescue her. "Welcome to Earth, Bleez. I don't think now's a great time to organise a concert, but we'll be happy to show you around." She turns to me, nodding. "What's with the space suit? Earth's atmosphere is perfectly safe for you to breathe."

She sighs and does another wing-twitch eye-roll. "I know, but my insurance company doesn't get access to military intelligence reports. So until my ship's analyser gives me the okay, I'm stuck wearing this."

"I could-."

"Thanks, but it has to literally be this. Now I'm here it should only be for a few hours." She raises her arms above her head and stretches, wings back and chest forwards. "A-ah!"

"Hard journey?"

"I thought I was soo smart, buying an old navy courier ship." She gives her wings a flap, rising into the air for a moment before spreading them out to slowly descend to the ground. "I think the pilots must have their wings plucked or something?"

"But when you have to get somewhere fast…"

"That was fine until the cramp started." She flaps a couple of time so that she can see over the ship, then does a full 360o​ circle. "So this is Earth, huh? Less green than I thought it would be."

"This is Bir Tawil. A piece of land I took over because no one else wanted it. It has no natural resources, plants or animals. If you want greenery, go literally anywhere else."

Adrianna could probably fix the greenery issue, but she's got more important things to worry about at the moment. And honestly, I sort of like it.

Kara gasps, hands covering her mouth. "You've never even seen a kryptonian building before!"

"That's true." Bleez looks at it. "It's-."

Kara darts in grabs her right hand and pulls her towards her front door. Bleez is dragged through the air after her. "I'll show you around!"

"You're-. Really strong."

"I'm kryptonian! Being really strong is what we're all about!"

The Nth metal in their bodies makes thanagarians unusually strong for humanoids. Bleez is probably used to having an edge in strength when compared to most things, so running into one of the winners of the 'strongest humanoid species' prize is probably a little disconcerting.

Ring? Scan her ship.

Scan complete.

No changes of clothing. Unusual for someone like Bleez, both as a performer and as a noble. No food other than military ration packs that might well have been there when she bought it, or just left in there as emergency reserves. No toiletries. She left in a hurry, and I-. Was that space suit in the ship?

"Orange Lantern to Mister Atom."

"Responding."

"I'm concerned that Bleez may be pursued by a Yellow Lantern. Please notify the Green Lanterns directly and put out an advisory for everyone else."

"Done. End."

I find myself staring at my own home. I'm running on not-a-lot-of-sleep, and I suspect that New York would appreciate me opening my clinic again today.

No. I can't really leave Bleez to Kara's enthusiastic mercies. Rising off the ground, I fly after them.

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th November 2282
20:26 MST

Metal writhes in the air over my right palm, gold being reformatted by forces unknown to mundane physics, without heat or a hydraulic press. Part of my share of the Sierra Madre small 'v' vault. Most of it we've been using in our electronics industry, but I thought that I should keep a little in case we had to trade with people who don't use the bottle cap.

Savages.

Two thin strips, formed by my matter transmutation ability. Feel the dimensions of Tears' left ring finger and my own and complete the shape as a plain band.

And… There they are. Sitting on my right hand. Such a small thing to mean so much.

I turn to Tears. "Tears-in-the-Rain, will-?"

"Yes."

I raise my eyebrows. "Now, you don't know what I was going to ask."

She gives me the look that such a statement warrants. "This is your people's marriage custom?"

"This is our… Betrothal custom. We would each wear a ring to indicate that we were no longer available. We would put a second ring on each other at the actual wedding."

She frowns faintly. "Why is it done with rings? Would the word of those involved not be enough?"

"The rings are an outwards sign to people who don't know the couple personally."

"And the gold? It is pretty, but gold is a weak metal."

"But valuable. There are metals that are more valuable, but those require specific industries for people to value them. Everyone values gold."

"So it is a sign that a man considers his wife valuable?"

"No. It's a sign that he is confident that he will be a good husband. Because if he is not, his wife can flee his house with just her rings, and sell them, and use that money to start a life somewhere else."

She stares at me for a second, then starts to smile as if she thinks I'm joking. When I don't smile back it fades from her mouth. "Oh."

"I'm very confident that I'll be a good husband. I imagine that becoming a good father will take a little longer, but I will put in the work and get good at it. We should probably talk to your father about how exactly this is going to work-."

"And my mother."

I nod. Tribal groups in Utah are surprisingly egalitarian in some ways. Women can hunt, fight and lead warriors in most tribes. And unlike Caesar's Legion, those who perform other roles aren't derided for it. When the Chief takes council, he does it from everyone, not just his war leaders.

"Did she accompany him?"

"Yes. She…" Tears glances away. "She is.. concerned that.. you are using me as a concubine." She turns back to me as I frown. "Usually, amongst White Legs, we would have married by now or I would have returned to my father's house."

"Ah. Well, let us put her mind at ease. May I have your left hand?"

She holds her hand out to me and I take hold of it with my own left for a moment. Then I telekinetically lift the rings off my right hand and pluck hers out of the air with my right thumb and forefinger. And then I reach forward, sliding it over her ring finger. She keeps her hand still for a moment, looking at its new decoration. Then she plucks the other ring out of the air with her own right hand.

"Do I put this on you?"

Ah…

"I actually don't remember. You definitely do with the wedding ring, but I'm not sure-."

She nods, and puts it on me. "There. Now we are betrothed before God. And now-" She turns, threading her right arm through my left. "-we will go to speak with my parents."

I nod, and we proceed in the general direction of the guest accommodations, the people around us-. Those who are part of the Sky Walkers at least, staring at us for a moment before dashing off to share the news.

**I'm not that bad.**

**You kind of are, Chief.**

**Laugh it up, Keanan. You're going to have to fight Goris for best man duties.**

**Ah shit.**

"How will the wedding..? Work. I have tried to learn the ways of your tribe, but I have not seen a wedding."

"How do the Ammonites do things?"

"We have not been Ammonites long enough to have a way. Some follow the traditions of the New Canaanites, with their church and priests. Others are married as they have been for as long as the White Legs have existed, but ask the God of Abraham to bless the wedding as they ask every other spirit. How is it with the Sky Walkers?"

"Before I became Chief? We mostly didn't call upon spirits. Usually the families and friends would get together, and the village leader would say some words." I grimace for a moment. "Amongst the Whisperers, they would try to.. merge the minds of everyone taking part, but since that didn't exactly help their mental health I stopped it when I took over."

"The village leaders performed the ceremony?"

I nod. "Still do, everywhere outside of our capital."

"Then you have performed the ceremony as well?" She exhales sharply through her nose, shaking her head. "I cannot imagine my father performing a marriage."

"I have. I usually do whatever they ask, but… I have-. Before my abilities became more common, I offered to link the minds of the people getting married. Briefly. That has become our custom now."

"But surely your people can do that for themselves?"

"They can, but most people don't share all of their thoughts all of the time. And not all of them learn the ability at all. Of course, in our case…"

"We would need a priest or shaman who can open your mind to me?"

"No, I was just-. Even if you chose to receive the gift of telepathy, it would still be a year or so until you could use it reliably. I don't think that your parents would accept-."

She reaches across with her left hand and gently slaps my chest. "It is not my parents that you should concern yourself with! If you try to make me wait a year I will capture you with a snare-trap and take you as my war-husband!"

I chuckle. "Sounds like fun."

She smiles back. "You said that you were not born into your tribe. What was the tradition of the tribe you were born into?"

"Ah, well my people practice a religion very similar to the religion of the New Canaanites. I would probably feel comfortable with a Mormon ceremony, except…"

"Except that you are not a Mormon. What are you?"

"That's-. What do you know about the history of Mormonism?"

"Not a great deal. I know that it was started by a prophet named Joseph Smith before the war."

I nod. "Yes, but he was essentially adding to an existing religious tradition, rather than trying to replace it. The god who he said gave him visions was the same one that people of that time commonly worshipped. Those who did not accept him as a prophet still prayed to the same god, but lived a little differently and prayed a little differently. That is not to say that they were entirely unified in their practice either… To put it simply, there are a lot of very similar religions that share a lot of history and have a lot in common, but the version I'm used to is called Anglican Christianity and it isn't quite the same as Mormonism. The problem is that I don't know where to find an Anglican priest."

"Could your original tribe not send one?"

"I haven't spoken to anyone from my original tribe for some time." I nod. "But I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to ask."

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th November 2282
20:33 MST

Yep, that's a photograph of the Chief Thunderbird's flagpole. A group of Eighties… They're a collection of raider bands so they're not exactly soldiers, but this group report to Thunderbird directly. Around it are the flags of the other warbands of the Eighties, and a little further away…

The golden bull on a red background, and a group of people dressed as legionaries. And there's also the flag of Two Sun.

"Ah."

Balm-Upon-Wounds regards me stony-faced. "You know these men."

I point to a man talking to a group of Eighties mechanics. "I know that man. Wyatt the Demon. The greatest driver of the Cult of Nas, the priesthood of Two Sun. Before the war between the NCR and the Legion, they held a great race. Thunderbird was one of the racers, as was Wyatt. They likely met there."

"Do you believe that this is simply a matter of fellowship, then?"

I shake my head. "No. Two Sun are fighting-." I take a map out of my coat and spread it out on the table. Mugs serve to weigh down the corners. "Here." I point to north west Mexico. "General Vialla and the NCR expeditionary force are pushing up from the south, here." If not all that enthusiastically in the General's case. "Caesar is using the Two Sun's greater mobility to counter-attack and raid their supply lines while his legionaries hold the line. The strategy is working somewhat, but it's not enough to stop the attack completely and he's being pushed back. He wouldn't have sent Wyatt this far north for a holiday at a time like this."

Balm nods. "Then what does this mean for the Ammonites, and for Utah?"

"There are two things that it could mean, and I do not know Thunderbird's mind well enough to tell which it is. The first is that Thunderbird is considering allying with Caesar's Legion. It won't be much of an alliance; the Legion dislikes advanced technology and machinery, while the Eighties respect drivers and mechanics immensely. Their cultures are irreconcilable, and there's no reason for Thunderbird to play second fiddle. Not with the Legion being battered as it is."

"Why would he do it at all?"

"As the NCR expanded, it fought and drove out a lot of raider groups." I point to Sac City, in the north of the NCR. "This is where the Eighties come from. The ranchers in this area got fed up with having their herds raided and so signed up with the NCR, who threw the Eighties out. They'd probably quite like to get it back, and Caesar only needs the central part of the NCR to consider his victory complete. With the majority of the NCR's army in Arizona, this part is relatively lightly defended. If they come to terms, he could launch a very damaging attack." I exhale slowly. "I will have to show this to Ambassador Edith."

"Then I do not need to be concerned."

"No, you do. Because the other alternative is that Wyatt is negotiating a safe harbour for his people because he thinks that Caesar is going to lose. And from what little I've heard of the Eighties, a significant part of their population is perfectly content living in Utah… But not content with owning only part of Utah." I shrug. "Or perhaps he will do both; the Legion will aid him in conquering Utah, and only then will he go west. I will need to send agents into their territory to find out for certain."

The Eighties conquered Grabber Territory to the north of us a few of years ago, then mostly concentrated their expansionist efforts northward. To their immediate east are the Desert Rangers, Vault City and New Reno. The Desert Rangers have sent a lot of their rangers to Arizona to fight the Legion in an attempt to retake their own original home territory, but their borders are heavily fortified and their population centres are heavily fortified. The Eighties tanks could probably destroy the Ranger Citadel, if they can get through the minefield and tank trenches without taking a missile up the tailpipe. But if they scout with light vehicles, they could probably bypass most of the defences and reach NCR territory. It would stretch their supply lines dangerously, but it's worryingly possible.

Vault City's defences are much weaker, even though the Eighties drove through there when they fled California, attacking every settlement along the way. The Pale Folk and Cyclops Tribe have only been integrated into Vault City society relatively recently, and they're not much better defended than a random wasteland settlement. Vault City itself has a highly skilled and well equipped security force backed by robots, but it's small and I'm not sure that they'd deploy it away from Vault City itself. Their main way of fighting a large invasion would be handing The Brain control of their herds of naked mole rats again and ordering them to deal with their attackers. Naked mole rats could dig trenches to stop vehicles, if The Brain can handle coordinating them. But after fighting Cerberus and slaughtering a lot of the survivors to provide meat for the NCR army, they can't cover all of their core territory either. Their best bet would be undermining the major roads, slowing the advance as much as possible.

Past Vault City is New Reno. They-. Yeah, if the Eighties get that far with even a fraction of their forces intact they'll just run over the whole place. The gangs of New Reno can fight, but outside of a handful of mercenary companies they have hardly any professional soldiers. And hardly any fortifications outside of the Isotope Chapter-controlled Sierra Army Depot. The best bet would be for them to send mercenaries to defend Vault City while they fortify themselves, but I don't know if I can talk Mr. Bishop into that.

He's had 'help' from the Hubologists, so 'nudging' him into agreement is out of the question as well.

And if they come here… Then we'll fire up the Dream Twister again. We'd catch a lot of their slaves in the area of affect if we did… But that's a big army.

"And then?"

I shrug. "My people will be fighting them either way. Slavers have no place in the America I want to build."

"Then I am fortunate that the Ammonites no longer have slaves."

Ammonites used to enslave captives, but they didn't usually stay slaves once they earned their place in the tribe. They acquired an unusually large number during their move towards New Canaan because they were fighting an unusually large number of people, but they were mostly left doing what they were doing before and if you walked through the area even before their conversion you might not be aware that the people around you were slaves at all. Once the White Legs became the Ammonites their slaves were freed if they accepted baptism, which just about all of them did.

The Eighties definitely have slaves. War captives, debtors, people they buy from slave traders, they're not all that fussy. But skilled slaves are generally treated pretty well and the children of slaves aren't slaves in turn. Vault City doesn't have slavery, and First Citizen Lynette has removed some of the legal restrictions on the servant class. New Reno doesn't have 'slavery', but it does have a number of ways to put yourself in debt bondage. Though not as many as there used to be, now that they're cozying up to the NCR.

"You became a better man during your campaign. It isn't a matter of fortune." I consider the map again. "I will send saboteurs as well as intelligence gatherers. I would have preferred to wait until the war with the Legion was over, but we may as well deal with them now."

"My people will need time to ready themselves."

"I will not be acting directly against their army. My people will be avoiding direct confrontation to try and slow their war preparations. And I will have to ask the Brain to assist with that. I would suggest that you prepare defences along the border; things that can stop their vehicles." He nods. "The Sky Walkers don't have a great many anti-tank weapons in storage, but the NCR might. They aren't really needed against the Legion. I'll talk to them about sending them your way."

"And what will their aid cost the Ammonites?"

"They will probably ask for a number of things, including formally allying with them. I suggest offering only to fight the Eighties, because they are in no position to argue for more. But, there is wisdom in allying with them, now that you are building a nation for your people."

"M." He nods. "I will discuss this with the elders of the Ammonites. You will share with me what you learn."

"Of course. Now, on a more cheerful note, Tears and I have agreed to marry."

He frowns. "I thought that you had done so already."

"So did a lot of people. All I had agreed to was to court her, as while Doki is a surprisingly good judge of compatibility she doesn't actually understand humans. But we have discussed the matter at length and believe that our marriage will be a good one."

He smiles reservedly. "That is good. When can I meet your father?"

Ah. "That's… Not possible. My parents…" I shrug and shake my head. I don't want to lie, but understanding what happened is probably a little beyond him.

"I see." He nods sympathetically. "Well then. Once the war with the Eighties is over, you and I must hunt together."

"I would be delighted."

And then we shake hands, and prepare for war.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
07:02 GMT +1

Bleez-.

"Thanagarians-" Kara leans back into the dining room from the kitchen. "-eat food, right?"

Bleez looks awkwardly at me for a moment, then turns back to Kara. "Yes?"

"Not, like, bird seed or anything?"

"I can eat seeds if that's what you're having?"

"Thanagarians can process human food perfectly well, thank you Kara."

"Okay! Human food!"

Kara ducks back into the kitchen, and I pointedly avoid scanning what she's doing. Bleez looks at me with concern.

"Is she… Alright?"

"She's from an isolationist world and doesn't exactly understand how to deal with aliens. She's lived around humans for long enough that she's learned our strange and nonsensical customs, but other species are unknown territory for her."

"So 'bird seed' isn't a kind of muesli?"

"It-. A human could eat it as a form of muesli, but I think she's trying to work out whether she should treat you as a human with wings or as a bird that can think."

Bleez looks mystified. "Is-?"

There's a blue and red blur.

"Or a hamster!" Kara smiles, hands clasped behind her back. "Because her helmet looks a bit like a hamster ball and I don't want to assume she's a bird just because she has wings!"

"What's a hamster ball?"

"It's a ball! For hamsters!"

"Hamsters are a small fur-covered Earth-native animal sometimes kept as pets by humans. Hamster balls are small plastic spheres that some hamster owners put them in so that they can exercise by running around the house without being able to escape-" Bleez twitches, her wings fluffing up slightly. "-or really hide themselves."

Kara nods. "And sometimes they put humans in them, too, just so the hamsters don't think they're being picked on!"

Kara then looks away with a frown, then sniffs twice. Then she vanishes in another blue/red blur.

I take a sound baffle out of subspace and put it on the table. Then I reach across the table and lay my right hand on her left.

"Bleez, you are a friend. I want to help you. But I also have responsibilities to Earth. I need to know what happened."

She pulls her wing in tight around her body. "He-. That guy you warned me about. He came to a concert I put on, on one of the planets Thanagar recently conquered."

"You went to a planet that had been recently conquered? Were you doing a concert for the army? And-."

"No-. Well. Kind of. It was suppose to be a demonstration of thanagarian culture. And the only people who got invites were super vetted, so I wasn't really worried, and then he was just there?"

"In front of you?"

"In the audience. I don't even know what species he was. I just thought he was some dignitary or something."

"I wasn't able to give you a precise description. How-?"

"He had a ring! And the blue skin and the weird haircut!"

"A crew cut's not that weird."

"It is if you leave the fringe long!"

"So… What did he do?"

"He-. Okay, he didn't really do anything. He was watching me, but everyone was watching me…" She stretches her wings a little, then pulls them back in. "I just kept it together for the concern and then jumped in a ship to get out of there before anything happened."

Hm.

"Being watched is sort of your job." Hm. "Thanagarian security is usually pretty good. How did he get through?"

"He had an invite. According to the guest list he's some sort of security consultant." She turns her hand over, taking hold of mine. "What do I do? You said that when he turns up Havania gets conquered!"

"Bleez, you can't assume that prophecy is that simple. What would you have done if I hadn't told you about what the oracle saw?"

"I.. Guess I'd have said, 'hi, thank you for coming, isn't Thanagar great' or something? I don't know?"

"And the oracle told me that he only attacked after you rejected him on Havania, right? So if he got that fixated on you, he didn't try anything there and waited until later."

"He's not after me?"

"I doubt that he's after you yet. More to the point, most people don't have unique haircuts. There are probably quite a lot of males from his species who look similar, and given your involvement with the Thanagarian military, if you've run into one then you're quite likely to run into more than one. Now, that doesn't-."

"It might not be the guy." Her wings and shoulders sag. "It might not be the guy."

"It might not be the guy. Or it might be the guy several years before he reached that point. Or he might have gotten obsessed with you after a meeting today that you didn't have because you came here. Heck, prophecy isn't completely reliable anyway." She nods. "Did you tell anyone about spotting a Yellow Lantern?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if they're actually going to do anything about it."

"Other than try and get someone into the Corps?"

"They might. But they might not." She circles her shoulders, settling her wings back into their default position. "I don't think you really understand how the government of Thanagar thinks about you. And what you've done for them."

"What, the cult thing? It wasn't that big a deal. And Lantern Dul hardly spends any time in this region of space."

"No, not that. Vulcan. He's already creating more Nth metal than all of the smelters on Thanagar put together. Which means that all the senior government officials have calmed down enough to actually read the reports about Earth and not write them off like they're works of fiction."

"To be fair, they do sound like works of fiction."

"So they know about what the Orange Lantern Corps is doing, and they also know that if you tell someone that an oracle says something, it's probably true, or at least kinda true? They've already got the Green Lantern Corps reports about Sinestro, so if they put it all together? I think they're more likely to shoot anyone with a glowing yellow ring than try and work with them."

"I'm glad to hear it. So, what's really with the spacesuit?"

"It-."

Blue and red blur, and Kara puts a large plate of pancakes down in the middle of the table. "Done! Oh!" Blue and red blur, and there are three plates, and containers for pancake-appropriate condiments.

And a packet of birdseed, with 'MUESLI' hurriedly written on the side.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
07:13 GMT +1

Bleez looks impressed as Kara demolishes her seventh pancake. She isn't eating it at full-on super speed, but her cuts and jabs and scoops are far faster and more precise than any a human or thanagarian could make.

Then she stops completely still.

"Do you like it?"

Bleez looks down at the small pile of 'muesli' on her plate. "Ah, the seeds are a little chewy. Maybe they'd be better toasted?"

Kara's irises unfocus for a moment and I ready a construct shield as two planes of red light burn from her eyes and hit the seeds with a quiet sizzling sound. They brown, and Kara blinks as her eyes refocus. It's actually a little tricky to use heat vision on 'wide beam', but that showed an impressive degree of control.

"Toasted!"

Bleez is staring at her. Kara looks puzzled.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"No-. How-? What was that?"

"Heat vision!" Kara smiles brilliantly. "When kryptonians get exposed to main phase stars we get all kinds of neat powers! I mostly use it instead of brushing my teeth!"

"How hot was that?"

Kara raises her right forefinger to her mouth. "Mm, I'm not sure? I've melted dolomite before, but that amount of heat is kiiiinda super dangerous to all the humans nearby."

"Dolomite?"

Kara nods happily. "There was this TV show where the professor kept calling dolomite a 'wonder mineral'." She folds her arms across her chest. "Well it might be a wonder mineral, but it's not a super mineral!"

"And what.. else can you do?"

Kara starts counter on her fingers. "Ah, move super-fast, hit things real hard, I'm completely-." She stops still and then points her finger at me. "Almost completely invulnerable, I-" I nod approvingly. "-can fly, freeze things by breathing on them-. Oh, and hold my breath for a real long time! And then there's heat vision, and x-ray vision, which doesn't fire x-rays but does let me see through stuff. And super hearing, and super smell, and telescopic vision and microscopic vision…" She trails off, frowning. "And there might be some more I've forgotten. I've got a lot of powers."

"Don't forget ventriloquism."

Kara smiles and rolls her eyes, flapping her right hand dismissively. "Oh, that doesn't count. Oh! I can't put on weight! That's pretty useful."

"What do you mean by 'ventriloquism'?"

"I can make my voice sound different-" Kara's mouth is moving, but the sound is coming from Bleez's lips in Bleez's voice, much to Bleez's surprise. "-and make it come from different places. But that's not really a superpower, is it? That's just silly."

I'm just glad that she can't make a smaller, more powerful version of herself.

"Say, would you be interested in a job as my bodyguard? Even my mother couldn't complain about that."

"No, not really." Kara shakes her head. "Earth just had its whole everything stop working, and while you seem really nice, I don't think you're as important as a whole species."

"How about if I stayed here? I've done concerts on Thanagarian protectorates before. I could do some on Earth."

"I don't mind, but… I move pretty quick? I usually fix up a whole area before there's time for a concert. Buuuuut, maybe you could join in?"

"I don't know.. much about civil disaster management."

"It's not complicated! You just find something that needs to get done, do it, and then move on!" Kara nods confidently. "I let Batman and Mister Atom do 'managing'."

"Actually, if your ship can carry any sort of weight, you could be a big help with transportation. Otherwise, just being visible in places where there was violent conflict can really help to calm things down and give everyone the confidence they need to go about their days."

"My ship isn't really designed to move cargo containers."

"But it's got standard parasite attachment points, right?"

"Ah, I think so? I haven't taken them off."

"I can build a cargo pod that can mate with those. Earth can build weapons as good as anything the Thanagarian Empire has, but it mostly operates at a far lower level of technology. Certainly, we don't use anything like Nth metal. If you're willing to do that you'd mostly be moving people volunteering for agricultural work from cities to rural areas, and maybe farming tools and equipment."

She frowns. "That doesn't sound anything like what I'd expected. Doesn't this sort of thing usually involve transporting food, and… Fundraising?"

"Usually, a natural disaster affects a limited area, so bringing in resources from places that aren't affected is the most sensible thing to do. The problem that we have is that the whole Earth was affected, and we don't have an interstellar empire to draw resources from."

"What about your Lantern Corps?"

"Can't take the risk of Anti-Life exposure. Or risk picking a fight with Apokolips." I nod my head to the side. "Yet, anyway. We'll have to fight them eventually." I shrug. "I could probably convince them to send me a few ships that they don't urgently need, but there are only a handful of people on Earth who would have the slightest idea how to operate them. The nearest inhabited world to Earth is Mars, and they don't produce a food surplus, and they're going through a political upheaval of their own. Then there's Ungara, and they have to use solar reflectors to have any farmland at all. And then there's Earth's own farming policy-. It's something that we need to correct for ourselves. We've got all the stuff we need in order to do it, people just need… Jollying along. Guidance. Organisation. Once the first year's harvest is done we can probably just leave it, but until then…"

"Okay." She nods. "I have wanted to see more of Earth."

"I'll try and point out the interesting bits. So, the space suit?"

"Oh, it's a costume, you know? I had it on during the last song. I was just too freaked out to get changed."

"It's just, ah… I've noticed you… How can I put this..? Displaying yourself.. when we speak? My ring says that you want me to admire your physique, but that can be taken in a couple of different ways and I know that Thanagarian intelligence wants you to keep tabs on me, so..?"

She looks surprised. "I thought you didn't notice?"

"No, I just didn't want to get you in trouble with your handlers. Or me in trouble with Jade."

"Well…" She fluffs and straightens her wings awkwardly. "To begin with? I was trying to make you interested. I know enough about human culture to know that it was more… Overtly sexual for a human than it would have been for a thanagarian, I just… It was kind of a game? After a while? To see if I could actually get you to notice? And yeah, I could point to it when my handlers asked, but once Lantern Dul reported in that wasn't such a big deal for them."

I nod as I return my attention to my actually pretty good pancake. "Perhaps it would be worth suggesting to your intelligence contacts that using that sort of technique on an empath isn't likely to work."

Her pupils narrow, the thanagarian equivalent of eyes widening. "That works over long range comms?"

"It can do. It does for me." I turn to Kara. "Perhaps we could work in India today?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th April 2013
23:31 GMT -7

"Just a minute!"

I lower my hoof from where I knocked at the door of the Castle of Friendship, my gaze remaining fixedly forwards. Because that way I don't have to look upwards at the abomination unto civic planning, architecture and military fortifications that is the main habitation area of the so-called 'castle'.

So Twilight's old home was a library built into a tree. Fine. Bark is a vital organ but it's perfectly possible to hollow out part of a trunk without killing the whole tree, especially if you've got magic assistance. Put a window in the side of the trunk? Fine. It would normally stop the flow of water and nutrients upwards and downwards, but a capable enough bio-engineer could get around that. A balcony? Sure, if you've got a branch big enough.

The current… Thing is a crystal… Tree-like object, with a thick 'trunk' at the base and 'branches' spreading outwards about half way up. These for a platform upon which sits a miniature castle and a colossal balcony. The crystal isn't all that thick so it must be incredibly strong to support that weight, but I can't help but think that any decent attack would just collapse the whole edifice. And the right sonic attack-.

Sunset's horn winks out. "I don't believe it."

"Yes, you'd think that a magical energy field with access to every currently extant special talent could do a bit better than this when it comes to-."

"What?" She glances at me with a frown. "No. There aren't any protective spells."

"None?"

"There's a harmony field-effect which probably does something, but there's nothing stopping someone teleporting up to the balcony and then walking inside."

I mean…

"It's a red herring, then. Civil administration is handled by the town hall, and there's no guard unit. They'd rather this building was attacked, rather-" The door opens, Spike staring at our ankles. "-than anywhere that's actually important."

Spike looks up, and gulps.

"Hey Sunset Shimmer, Grayven. What brings you..? Here?"

"Present for you."

I drop the taaffeite crystal on him, and he catches it with both hands. "Uh, thanks." He sniffs it curiously, then shrugs. "What is it?"

"Taaffeite. It occurred to me that you might not have ever encountered it, and I'm curious to see what it tastes like to you."

He looks a little wary. "Is it bad?"

"As bad as a crystal lattice of magnesium, beryllium, aluminium and oxygen can be, I suppose. I don't know of any other dragon ever eating it, so I can't really give you more information. Should be harmless, compared to things you've already eaten."

"I… Think I'll save that for later."

Sunset takes a half-step closer. "Is Twilight in? I'd like to speak to her."

"Ah…" He glances back into the alleged castle. "Probably? I'll-." He sighs.

I nod sympathetically. "Not like the old days where you could just shout up to her, is it?"

"Yeah. And these stairs aren't easy when your legs are as short as mine."

That prompts a frown from me. "Can't you send scrolls to people with your fire?"

"That…" He rubs his chin with his right hand. "Huh. That could work." He looks left and right. "Except I don't keep a quill or scroll down here."

Subspace to the rescue.

"Here you go. That's a ballpoint pen and a notepad."

"Huh." He puts down the crystal as he takes hold of the pen and pad, looking at the tip of the pen. "Is that like a fountain pen?"

"Yes, but it uses a ball wedged in the tip rather than a lever. Much easier to control."

"Okay. Grayven plus Sunset at front door to see you." He then tears off the first page of the pad and exhales green flame over it. It disintegrates into ash and then flies off up the stairs.

Sunset frowns at it. "What happens if there's a door in the way?"

Spike shrugs. "It flies around. And the doors aren't air tight; it doesn't need a lot of space."

"Huh. Would you mind if I did some tests on you later? I'd-" Spike's eyes widen and he cringes back. "-love to-."

I bat her with my wing, prompting her to look at me.

"What?"

I nod at Spike, my eyes fixing hers.

"Oh. Right." Her head jerks back to Spike. "Non-invasive tests mostly involving passive monitoring when you send messages. Not… Whatever you were imagining."

"Oh." He exhales in relief. "I was worried because I've seen Twilight's Science Dungeon-"

Sunset blinks. "What?"

"-and that didn't look like it would be much fun."

"Ah-. I don't have a science dungeon? I do most of my work in a first floor laboratory with lots of natural sunlight, and an ethics guidance committee."

Spike considers that for a moment. "That sounds like an improvement. Maybe-."

Poof!

Her Royal Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria appears in the foyer just behind Spike, smiling at us as she spots us. "Hey guys! Come in! What's up?"

Spike moves back inside, putting the notepad and pen on a side table and scooping up the crystal. I courteously let Sunset take the lead, then follow on behind her.

Sunset addresses her successor first. "We came to warn you that Princess Celestia's planning something stupid." Twilight's face takes on a mulish cast at the slight against her idol. "So we tried talking her out of it, but… You know how that goes."

"No I don't." She sounds slightly panicked as she says it, as if Sunset just said 'oh, come on: everyone pisses in the baptismal font once'. "I've never tried talking Princess Celestia out of anything."

I nod. "Yes, that's… Part of the problem." Ah, where to start. "Okay, so you remember that when the Plunder Vines kidnapped Celestia and Luna, you ended up in charge of the country?"

"Oh, yes." Twilight grins, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure they've updated the contingency protocols to make sure that never happens again." She giggles. "Can you imagine me running the country?"

"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaah…" I wince. "It's... More like the opposite."

She looks puzzled, though not yet worried. "Ah… The opposite?"

"You've been made Crown Princess. Which means that if anything happens to Celestia or Luna it's your official job, rather than just the result of idiots panicking and looking for someone else to fix things."

Twilight grins, unnaturally. "Okay, but what's the chance of that happening, right?"

"Celestia's… Kind of planning on stepping down. Luna's not sure how she feels, but she's not really integrated into peoples' minds in the way that Celestia is, and there's a good chance that she'll step down too when Celestia does."

Twilight blinks. "I'm sorry, but it sounds like you're saying that I'm about to become the ruler of Equestria."

"That's.. because-" I nod. "-that's what I just said."

"Oh."

Twilight's eyes roll back in their sockets as she collapses to the floor.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th April 2013
23:36 GMT -7

"Twilight!"

Spike hurries over to his primary caregiver's side, putting his hands on her side and trying to shake her awake. Sunset's horn glows for a moment and I recognise a basic diagnostic spell being fired off, and given that she rolls her eyes afterwards I assume that Twilight doesn't have anything seriously wrong with her.

This is inconvenient.

I trot closer and take a small vial of smelling salts out of subspace while Spike frantically checks her breathing and pulse. Lid off and lower it to her muzzle-.

Spike jerks his head around as the vial passes him. "What are you-?" His muzzle wrinkles. "Ew!"

"Yep." I watch Twilight's nostrils twitch twice, then her eyes snap open and her hooves try and drag her out of range without clearing things with her not-entirely-up-to-speed brain. I put the stopper back on as she tries to finish her reboot while simultaneously getting that smell out of her nose. "Wake up juice. Marvellous stuff. Back with us, Princess?"

"Ah… Yes, yes, but-." Her eyes widen as she gets to the 'Celestia is abdicating' part. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm remembering things right. Because I thought you said-."

"I did. Not immediately, but that's the direction she's heading in."

Twilight goes still. "Oh."

Spike frowns. "Did Princess Celestia say why she's quitting?"

I shrug. "She's been doing a job not actually related to her special talent for over a thousand years. I think she just wants a change."

Sunset snorts, muttering something under her breath.

Twilight looks at her for a moment. "I'm sorry? I didn't catch that."

Sunset looks her full on. "She's gotten old."

Twilight looks like she's still a little behind events. "Ah… A thousand years is fairly old…"

"Equestria is finally industrialising. With the railways and the printing press, Equestrian society will change faster now than it has in the last thousand years. And since Celestia has spent time studying what happened to human society when that happened, she knows it. I think that she thinks that she can't handle it."

Twilight frowns, though by now she's at least a little used to Sunset's attitude to her former teacher. "Equestria hasn't just stayed the same for the last thousand years." She walks-. She's pacing. She's pacing in a circle. "It can't just be that she doesn't think she can handle it." She stops, looking at me. "What about Princess Luna?"

I wing-shrug. "She can't produce a new Princess Regnant for about seventeen years, and I think that Celestia wants to quit before that."

Twilight stops circling, tilting her head slightly to the right as she looks at me in puzzlement. "Why would it take seventeen years?"

"A year to bear the foal, sixteen years to-" Twilight's cheeks colour. "-reach its majority."

Sunset tosses her mane. "And I don't have time to run a country."

"Yes." I nod. "That's the only reason."

Sunset limits her response to raising her left eyebrow at me before returning her attention to Twilight. "Celestia was just going to drop this on you and then fly off-" Twilight's eyes widen again. "-but we talked her into giving you some warning."

Twilight raises her right hoof to her chest, inhaling deeply as she does so. Then she exhales, thrusting her right hoof forward. Breathes in, hoof in, breathes out, hoof out.

Spike watches her trying to calm down, then turns to me. "Was that everything?"

"I'm afraid not. We talked Celestia into decelerating her retirement plans."

"Oh." He thinks for a moment, then nods. "That sounds like a good idea."

"But unless Twilight wants to turn her down-"

Twilight starts hyperventilating, her hoof blurring as she tries to keep up with her breathing.

"-we need to teach her how to exercise regnant authority. And that starts with Ponyville."

Spike tries waving his hands to get Twilight's attention, but it doesn't work. I-.

Sunset nudges me aside. "No, I've got this one." Her horn glows as she conjures a paper bag from somewhere, then levitates it over Twilight's muzzle and holds it there.

Twilight… Gradually slows down, her foreleg flailing slightly less before eventually flopping back to the floor.

"Oh-kay." Twilight looks at Sunset, who hesitates for a moment before floating the paper bag off Twilight's muzzle. "Okay. What do you mean, 'starts with Ponyville'?"

I smile in what I hope is a calming and reassuring manner. "If you're doing this, and I emphasise if-" Twilight twitches and Sunset raises the paper bag threateningly. "-then we think it would be best if you started off ruling something smaller and simpler than an entire country."

"Yeah. That.. sounds like a good idea."

Sunset nods. "And because the whole point is to dump Equestria on someone who knows how industrialisation works, we need to industrialise Ponyville. Or rather, you do."

Sunset's horn glows, and a pile of papers appears next to Twilight.

"Congratulations, Duchess Twilight Sparkle of the Duchy of Ponyville."

She looks at Sunset, then at the paperwork, then at Sunset, but her horn's already glowing as she picks up the pages. "But I'm already a princess."

"Yes, but you can't be Princess of Ponyville unless Celestia makes it an independent country, and we thought that would be too much work when you don't even know how to run a duchy. Legally, someone who rules a city is a duke or duchess, so now you're a duchess and a princess." Sunset emits a low growl. "Whereas I haven't even been awarded my doctorate yet."

I nod. "That's the problem with being more intelligent than the review committee."

"I turned myself into an alicorn. That should be all the proof I need to show that I know what I'm talking about."

I decide to move on. "Now, that 'duchess' thing doesn't go into effect until you actually agree to any of this, and you'll need to discuss this with the Ponyville mayor. If you keep going you'll get to the part which defines the proposed area of the duchy, the extent of your authority and the suggestions Sunset and I came up with to improve the local economy and the provisional contracts that the company which we intend to set up has been offered by the Crown and by governments on Earth. Celestia has already approved moving Starswirl's Mirror to Ponyville to simplify matters."

Twilight is now at the centre of a cylindrical wall of paperwork. "Uh-huh."

"And your tail is on fire."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, she's good. Spike, probably a good idea to keep an eye-."

The looks he gives me says 'no shit' and 'I've been doing this literally since I hatched'.

"You've got this. Good lad. We'll be in Ponyville for the rest of the day if anyone need us. Do you need anything right now?"

He considers for a moment. "Could you let the girls know that Twilight's going to need them in about… Half an hour? I think that's when she'll start coming out of this."

I nod. "Will do. I-."

"Spike!" Twilight starts moving, paperwork still forming a shield wall around her. "I need census data for every major city in Equestria for the last fifty years, a topographical map of the Ponyville area, and…"

Spike grabs the notepad and pen and starts frantically scribing as Sunset and I walk out of the palace.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
14:13 GMT +5:30

Indians can be a surprisingly fatalistic bunch.

I remember hearing that on a documentary, which focused on a ridiculously unsafe road up a mountain. There was a small shrine at the bottom where they could make an offering for good fortune, and then it was a long journey on a poorly maintained and very busy road along a mountain with no guard rail. Theologically, it makes a kind of sense. If suffering repays karmic debt for your inevitable reincarnation, suffering is less of a concern. A logic that led to the very real Thuggee sect and their modern successors in Kobra.

Not that Christianity has anything to boast about, not given how close the Resurrection Crusade came to ending free will.

Before the Broadcast, despite the Sheeda's best efforts, India was home to over a billion people. Now, it's… A lot less. Their city bosses were weirdly brutal, combining the worst aspects of Hinduism with Apokoliptian class structure. In rural areas, a depressingly large number of people literally just laid down and died, the opposite of what happened in most other countries. And then there's the fact that the country never had the best infrastructure…

On the positive side, the coal mines and power stations that provide urban India with electricity are up and running at something approaching full capacity. On the negative side… Everything else. With oil extraction globally… Fallen off a cliff, rural farming machinery lies dormant. Of course, in the places that rely on manual labour or animal labour, that's less of a problem. Cows don't need petrol to pull a plough. But the deaths are a problem, because the alternative to threshing machines is human labour and the humans are either flat out not there or they're in the wrong place.

But at least I get to feel the großbritannienfreude that comes from being an Englishman building stuff in India. Which -given that I'm an Orange Lantern- actually helps things.

I look down at the new residents of a small village where almost everyone jumped off a nearby cliff. The survivors got relocated to another nearby village where some of them had family and that needed the labour. Which left a perfectly functional village with decent fields empty of people. The new inhabitants are mostly second generation city residents who will be relying on their elder's memories of farming as well as the farming manuals in English and Hindi we left in all of the houses. I don't know if it's going to work, but it's better than leaving them in the slums that were shitty places to live before civilisation collapsed.

But for now, they've got clean water, nutritional wafers, vitamin tablets and a few hundred blocks of that weird US government subsidised cheese that they can refrigerate because I included power lines with the road. Enough to live on, if not exactly satisfying. A pile of coal, because we've got plenty of coal and exchanging it for Justice League money will put money in circulation and hopefully get markets working again. Electric heaters and fans because they're mechanically simple and run on electricity.

"Okay, road done. Anything else you urgently-"

Kara erupts from the ground nearby, having bored down to the water table and heat visioned the sides of the hole into a new well.

"-need?"

No doctors or nurses. The closest is in a town that's about five and a half days away on foot. No medicines. No vehicles-. Or rather, no petrol to fuel them. Animals they have, and more are available if they round them up. Basic tools they have, and some wood.

"No." The elderly man heading up the group who actually came out to meet us shakes his head. "We will survive."

"Best of luck with that."

Kara spins, throwing out a cloud of dirt as she spin cleans herself. While Bleez… Is just sort of looking puzzled.

I could ask Kara to gather some animals, but they're not an immediate necessity and we've got a lot of villages to get through.

Next road. Kara grabs the shipping container and reattaches it to Bleez's ship, then grabs hold of the ship and accelerates away. The ship can't go as fast as Kara can inside an atmosphere, but between the shields, inertial dampeners and Nth metal armour it can handle her acceleration. I transition back to the nearest main road and start transmuting again. Level the ground, add stones and compact, add tarmac, add cat's-eyes and road markings and power lines and drainage channels and get moving because India is large.

Ring, open channel to Bleez.

Compliance.

"Illustres to Bleez. Something on your mind?"

"We don't have places like this on Havania. Or on Thanagar."

"I wouldn't expect you to. I did say that our technology level was widely variable."

"I thought it was damage from one of the invasions."

"The details are, but the way of life? No, that was there before. Advanced technology hasn't trickled down to everywhere in our society in the way that it has in places like Thanagar."

"That's not quite it. Our slaves don't exactly have the latest grav-cars, but they do have better farming machinery and… Organisation than this."

"How do you mean?"

"Havania was meant to be a garden. All our farms are laid out in grids, with irrigation canals and roads and everything in place. In places the thanagarians don't have to look unless they're the overseer or if they really want to. I don't know what it looked like before we geoscaped it, but now there's basically nothing that isn't set out just the way we like it. Here it's like they just sort of started farming wherever they were."

"Probably."

"And not being able to get power for tools. I thought you had bleed torsion generators?"

"I do, and about a dozen or so genius-in-their-fields worldwide could probably make more, but that's not enough to have one for every appliance."

"So, one for each village?"

"No. Far too many villages. Also, we don't have good enough batteries to really take advantage of it even if we had enough. Even the really advanced places would rather plug right into a power source than use storage."

I snort.

"Shorter structures are more stable. Lower centre of gravity. We're having to deliberately reduce the 'tech level' of our civilisation to preserve it. While… At the same time advancing it in some areas. I think that future historians are going to have some very harsh things to say about us, the smug gits."

"Doesn't technology make everything easier?"

"Yes, but it comes with increasingly complex logistical and educational requirements. Our logistics are badly broken and will continue to be for at least a year, and we lost a lot of people with specialist knowledge. Imagine… Imagine what would happen to the Thanagarian Empire if… Half the people who knew anything about making or working with Nth metal died, that's the equivalent. You'd have to train loads more people, and the people who had the knowledge would have to focus on training and not other projects. Just about every sector of the Empire's economy would suffer, and the Empire's government would have to think seriously about using non-Nth metal based technology to keep things going."

"Yeah, I… I get it. Ah… Did your oracle have some kind of vision about that?"

"Ah, yes, but the Seven Devils would have to manifest in the material universe first. They still know more about the stuff than anyone, and could probably subvert technology based on it."

"So is this-? It? You just have to accept your people living like their ancient ancestors?"

"No. This isn't permanent, we will rebuild, it's just the best we can do for now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
18:32 GMT +5:30

Hundreds of miles of road laid down, and looking at it from just high enough in the air that I can see all of India, I can't see any of it.

I sigh.

Alright. India's quite big and there are some clouds, but that was a lot of road I laid down today. It would probably be visible if it was all in one place and I can have my rings highlight it for me…

But one thing I appreciate more than ever is exactly how big the world is. Numbers don't do it. Moving around and seeing a lot of places didn't do it. But spending hours building roads across a country and not filling in even a percent of it, that… That's as close to being humbling as things get for me.

Thousands of people helped, though that mostly means putting them in a position to help themselves. Unlike what I did in Greece, Dr. Balewa approves of this way of handling it.

"Heh."

A blue streak in the atmosphere beneath me, and then Kara is up here floating alongside me.

"What's funny?"

I frown inside my armour. "How did you hear that? There isn't enough air up here to carry the sound even with super hearing."

"Your armor vibrated."

Did it? Alright, my light armour doesn't have the amount of vibration cancelling that my heavy armour has. It relies on a kinetic barrier to stop kinetic attack. But… She'd have to see how my faceplate vibrated and then decode those vibrations in her head.

That's…

"So what's funny?"

"I just remembered something. 'Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a few hours. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm-"

"Why would you set a man on fire?" She looks shocked. "That's terrible!"

"-for the.. rest of his life." Kara's glaring at me. "No, no I wouldn't. It's a joke-"

She frowns at me. "Being set on fire isn't funny."

"-based on the phrase 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' The point is that it's generally better to provide people with the tools and knowledge of how to do things for themselves than it is to just do those things for them."

She still looks suspicious. "As long as you don't set them on fire."

"No one is setting anyone on fire. The joke-. Maybe it doesn't work for kryptonians, but the joke is that the phrasing I used first is similar to the original version, technically true but patently ridiculous."

"There are some very bad people who set other people on fire." Kara looks at me with an expression of concern. "Maybe you just haven't met them yet. I don't think you'd joke about it if you'd seen it."

"Maybe we can talk about black comedy at some point."

She goes back to smiling. "Ooh, I love The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air!"

"That-that wasn't what I meant, but… Okay. I'm glad."

I check my chronometer. Usually, the Justice League doesn't have anything like a working time directive. Batman for example has worked forty eight hours continuously without sleep, and that was before the Anti-Life broadcast. But that was for a multi-villain team up with hundreds of lives on the line, and he made sure to rest well afterwards. Essentially, we're volunteers, and sometimes we need to volunteer more than others. Unless someone looks like they need to rest -like I did back during Klarion's mass child abduction- they're left to sort things out for themselves.

But now there's no 'down time'. We could keep working until we burned out every day. So we now actually have limits to the amount of time we're supposed to spend working, both in a day and in a week. Because we still have emergencies in addition to the rebuilding, though… Not as many as we might have.

A lot of supervillains died after the Broadcast. Of those that didn't, most have the sense to either help with rebuilding in exchange for a consideration, or have just gone to ground while the getting was good.

A few set themselves up as robber barons. A few of those were left in place so that they'd go on providing a degree of stability until such time as we have something to replace them with.

I've still got four-.

There's a flash of light from below-.

And then my heavy armour is around me and I'm down, just ahead of Kara, construct barrier blocking the shockwave from the nuclear bomb that just detonated and redirecting it upwards! Kara breathes in and exhales, heat levels dropping even as the burning winds bite at her costume. I deploy radiation absorption constructs around the site of the detonation and use cold rays to aid in Kara's effort to reduce the temperature.

Where are-?

"Orange Lantern to Justice League. Nuclear detonation at my current location. Make sure that no one is launching."

"That's under control." Batman this time. "Do you know where it came from?"

"No contrail." I scan the rapidly normalising area around the probable source of the blast. "Nothing left of the bomb. Isotope signature… Best match suggests that it was an Indian bomb."

"Understood. Make the area safe and then commence an investigation."

"Will do. Orange Lantern out."

Darn it. We went the entire Anti-Life month without anyone throwing a nuclear weapon at anyone else, and now it happens. So whereabouts-?

The pickup point. We're just outside Visakhapatnam-.

"Bleez, location?"

…

"Bleez-?"

"I'm okay. I was-. I was already moving away. Passengers on board."

"Okay. Are they okay?"

"Shaken up, but the shields held. Was that a fission bomb?"

"Yes. I'm afraid that our-."

"Are the others-? No, of course they're dead."

"If you're referring to the people who were awaiting transfer, yes. Everyone in the immediate vicinity of the blast is dead. I'm afraid that our pleasant day of charitable labour just got derailed. Investigating this has to take top priority."

"What's the point of using a fission bomb on farm labourers?"

"I'm going to try and find out. But sometimes there isn't a point. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

The world won't burn from this, but clearly we're going to have to increase security at sites like this. We haven't been bothering because India's few supervillains realised that their food needs to come from somewhere, and there's no point trying to force someone to do something they're going to do voluntarily anyway.

"Can I help? Or should I keep making-. Oh."

"I'm afraid that even if we could organise more émigrés, without the infrastructure that I'd be building they can't start their new lives. And there's the risk of further attacks. But I'd be happy to have your company while we investigate."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
18:59 GMT +5:30

I found out exactly what nuclear weapons India has when I joined the Justice League's anti-nuclear apocalypse conspiracy. India has nuclear weapons that can be launched from the air, from the ground and from the sea. Their nuclear missile-capable submarines are still under construction, but several small navy ships are capable of launching smaller missiles with nuclear warheads.

Normally, tracking them would be a job for Atlantis, but… They're not here right now. Keeping tabs on ground and air based deployment vehicles as well as naval vessels in harbour is handled by Batman… Or it was. Understandably, he's been busy, and a lot of the mechanisms he used to keep tabs on them remotely have failed.

In what I hope was a remarkable display of good sense by the Indian defence ministry, all of their nuclear weapons were ordered to be put in peace time mode when the Broadcast happened. But aside from an incident when our penal legion had to stop an unusually deranged City Boss using a stolen land-based missile to kill himself and his entire city on a date of astrological significance… While we know where they all should be, we don't know where they all are. And in what I suspect was a remarkable display of good -if frustrating- sense, they found time to ward them all.

On the other hand, the Mark-K eyeball works just fine.

Kara waves the transporter erector launcher back and forth in a way that makes me wince. At least there's no one inside the cab this time. "Should I put this one with the rest?"

"Did you find a missile?"

She shakes her head. "Didn't look like it was ever loaded."

"Then yes, carefully, please."

"Okay!"

In theory, Kara should be able to look around and see either radioactive residue or lead lining. But missiles are designed not to leak, and lead isn't all that uncommon. Spotting large and unusual vehicles is a little easier, but over the Anti-Life period a lot of people found a reason to take the large flatbed lorries for a drive. As Kara restores the transporter to the parking area of the closest military base, I transition to the next closest and begin probing the missiles.

There are a lot of short-ranged nuclear warhead armed missiles on the border with Pakistan, and a non-trivial number on the border with China. And I…

I could disarm them. The manufacturing centres for highly enriched plutonium were shut down worldwide by the League and League-affiliates-. Alright, it was basically Mr. Atom, because he's an expert, immune to the Anti-Life and capable of fixing any leaks. Between the collapse of governments, deaths amongst researchers and the destruction of the manufacturing capacities, it might be as much as five years before we're back to glassing-the-world levels of mutually assured destruction. So… Fairly pointless, and it would feed into the 'Justice League is taking over the world' thing.

"All where they're supposed to be. Moving on."

I transition again. Looks like the next base has an actual village inside it. I give them a wave as I start probing warheads.

"I don't understand this." Bleez flies over the settlement, because while her ship's sensors don't appear to be blocked by whatever this ward is, her ship only really has a basic sensor package.

"Don't understand what?"

"'India' and 'Pakistan' are different political groups, right?"

"Countries, yes. Don't you have a word for that?"

"Yeah, but it's… We've been unified since we overthrew the Seven Devils. The word that technically means 'countries' is an insult used against disunited aliens."

"We are disunited aliens."

"But I'm trying to be polite about it."

"It's fine."

"So they're right next to each other and point a tonne of fission warheads at each other."

"Yes."

"And aren't they worried that the other place might… You know, fire them?"

"Yes. And that's part of why they don't."

"Humans point weapons at each other… And that's… 'Peaceful'?"

"Well, sure. Who would you attack first, someone who can fight back or someone who can't?"

"Someone who can? Because they're threat and the people who can't aren't?"

"So..? Are you speaking as the heir to a colony world there, or is that the position of the Thanagarian government?"

"I don't.. think I understand why you're confused."

Check complete. "Moving again."

This base has seen some fighting. And the bodies haven't been recovered yet. Fight looks like it was… Not recent. Looks like they killed each other, and… Yes, the commanding officer killed himself. I'd guess he did that last, but the bodies are too… 'Snacked on' for me to be sure. At least it doesn't look like it was done with human teeth. I record everything, tidy and… 'Reunify' the bodies, then bag them for later collection and funerary rites.

"Humans sometimes attack because they see an imminent threat, but it's more common to attack because they see a way to benefit from attacking. If both sides can annihilate the other, and can't do it fast enough to stop the other side annihilating them right back, that appears to result in peace. Is that not how thanagarians do things?"

"Maybe it's.. because we're not stuck on one planet, and so we don't really get in this situation. But I can't see thanagarians keeping this sort of set up going for long. They must have known that the other side was setting missiles up."

"Yes, but overrunning a whole country takes a while, and launching missiles doesn't."

"I guess…"

"Ooh! Found one!"

"Found one what?"

"A fission bomb that's not there!"

Ring, track her current-. Thank you. Transition.

An airbase. Bodies, but recently killed. No more than a few days. And a plane where someone's taken an angle grinder to a weapon mount. Kara's got a pile of paperwork in her hands and waves it at me.

"See! They're one bomb short!"

I look around, marking the location of all of the other bombs.

"Yes. One bomb short. Why wouldn't they take more than that?"

"Because they only wanted one?"

"There wasn't anything critical at that location... Unless there was?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Taking one bomb makes sense if you only want to destroy one thing, but not if you just want to destroy stuff generally. Were they..? Rushed?"

Kara looks around, then shakes her head. "I don't think so. No one else came to look at this. We're the only ones who know that it happened, apart from the people who did it."

"Alright. Bleez, please come to our current location. It's forensics time."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
06:36 GMT -7

Applejack regards the bracelet on the table with deep suspicion.

"Y'all're saying that there piece a' fru-fru jewellery can turn one o' them bald monkeys Twilight turned into when she went through the mirror into an earth pony?"

Sunset shakes her head. "No, of course not. Transforming someone from one species to another is a whole lot more complicated. I'm still not really sure how Starswirl's Mirror manages it. Besides, they don't really want to turn into earth ponies."

That last point gets a slight raising of her eyebrow, but she appears willing to let it go.

"So what was that about earth pony magic?"

"The three main pony tribes each have their own innate forms of magic. But what type of magic a pony has is innate; it comes from the differences in their bodies."

"Uh-huh." Applejack thinks for a moment. "So yer sayin' this little thing kin do what it takes a whole earth pony body t'do?"

"No, it can't do that either. What it can do is give someone the strength and endurance of an earth pony whose cutie mark doesn't relate to strength or endurance."

Applejack nods. "Ah kin see how that could come in useful. So where's the pegasus necklace?"

Sunset wing-shrugs. "I can make one, but without wings, you… Wouldn't really be able to fly. And it's kinda hard to do weather work from the ground."

"So, just cloud walkin'?"

"You'd be able to move faster as well, but, yeah. The unicorn version has a similar problem: without a horn, thaumokinesis-. It's hard to control. Even if I built it into a horn-shaped headdress, it's like learning to use a whole new limb."

"But ah guess everypony's got legs."

Sunset nods. "That's the idea." She raises her right forehoof to her chin, frowning thoughtfully. "Though, actually… You should still be able to intuitively use one or two spells based on your special talent, even if you can't use thaumokinesis. Whatever it was, it would be unique to you… And maybe other members of the Apple Family."

"Ah don't need no fancy magic t'be an Apple." Then she thinks for a moment, and bows her head. "But ah guess some kinda tree-doctorin' spell could come in maghty handi."

"I, um…" Sunset looks around the empty Canterlot lecture theatre, then casts a basic privacy spell. "You got my letter, right? You're on the pre-approved list-."

"Ah did."

"And?"

She shrugs awkwardly. "Jes' plain don't feel raght."

Despite the fact that Sunset has proven her ability to turn regular ponies into alicorns, take up on that opportunity hasn't been all that high. And the few ponies who came forwards were so self-absorbed that Sunset had a moment of self-reflection about pony society, but that's about it. I'm assuming that it's some sort of religious thing. Celestia, yes. Celestia having a sister, okay. Cadence, well, she came out of nowhere and Celestia says that they're related, alright. Twilight… I really don't know what Applejack thinks makes Twilight worthy while she isn't.

Or maybe she just doesn't like change.

Sunset lets out a quiet snort. "You saved the planet twice and Equestia about a dozen times. The process isn't inexplicable, and alicornism isn't handed down by some sort of higher power when you jump through enough hoops. It's just magic. Magic I understand."

"Ah don't. An' ah ain't sure I'd be all too keen on outlivin' everypony ah know."

I raise my eyebrows at that. "I'm sure Twilight will be gratified that you've learned from her example."

Applejack wince. "Now, hold on there, partner-."

"Though if it helps at all, I remember reading something that said that even if people didn't age, they still wouldn't live much past eight hundred on average due to the risks of injury and disease." I look to Sunset. "Are alicorns immune to disease?"

"Not totally; we really just have a supercharged version of earth pony resilience. Eight hundred years, huh?"

"That was for humans. Equestria is a bit less perilous. Oh, and how are you doing for ovum?"

"No sign of regeneration. I'll be dry-firing before I'm fifty, while still having a menstrual cycle because I'm not aging."

"We all got together. When we got yer letters." Applejack sighs. "Fluttershah weren't too keen on standing out. Rainbow Dash didn't want to get too big t'be in the Wonderbolts. Said she might say 'yes' eventually. Rarity said somethin' about the artist overshadowin' the art, whatever that means."

I frown. "I thought she wanted to become a princess? Blueblood got publically humiliated dodging her first attempt."

"She got over that real quick. An' Pinkie said she weren't keen on outlivin' her sisters. Ah ain't, neither."

I shake my head. "Pinkie's sisters are about her age. Statistically, she's likely to outlive at least one of them anyway, not counting all of her clones. Of course, the obvious solution is to use the spell on her sisters as well."

"'bawt-." Applejack's eyes widen, then she gulps. "'bawt a hundred alicorn Pinkie Pies?"

Ah…

She… Does sort of have a point, there.

The door to the auditorium opens, and Tempest… Stands there, looking around imperiously. I find myself checking her restored horn. Initially, Sunset and I both thought that it would be simpler to just make her an alicorn, but Celestia had concerns about Equestria having an Alicorn of War. Instead, we recovered her horn point from the cave near her home village and -after getting a lot of scans of other ponies' horns- performed a gradual restoration. She's actually a great patient: after getting her heart's desire, she wasn't going to do something stupid like rushing her recovery.

The guards are torn between enjoying the relative holiday and dreading what she'll be able to do to them once she's fully fit and returns to duty.

Tempest's eyes rest on Applejack. "Why is she here?"

Sunset smiles at her. "We needed a volunteer to demonstrate what an unmarked earth pony athlete could do."

I nod. "And we'll be-."

There's a burst of teal light as Starlight Glimmer teleports into the designated alcove, and a gust of air as Lightning Dust swoops in over her superior. Tempest raises her head to give the pegasus pony an unimpressed look, which Dust is too busy looking at the new toys to notice. Tempest gives her mane a small toss, then walks down the central aisle to take a seat near the front.

With her away from the door, the rest of the audience begin filtering in. Guard officers, teachers and researchers from the School, and-

BOOM!

-members of the American security services who have just about kept their cool while surrounded by cute colourful ponies.

Yes, I did see that. Yes, I am going to put a picture on the staff notice board.

A flash of purple light as Twilight appears, Spike on her back.

"Phew! Not late."

Spike rolls his eyes. "Twilight, you set five different alarm clocks."

I trot off the stage, passing Starlight as she heads up to be the 'unathletic, non-earth pony' for the demonstration. I'm on safety duty just in case something goes wrong during the strength trials, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Sunset comes to the front of the stage.

"Thank you for coming, everyone. Please take your seats, and I'll begin the demonstration."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
19:12 GMT +5:30

I don't know if India had any kind of genetics database before the Broadcast, but it definitely doesn't have one now. Closed circuit television cameras are also limited to wealthier areas. There are no road cameras at all, Indian road safety being the worst in the world. It would be like installing smoke detectors in Hell. The base did have cameras, but they've been destroyed, as has the server they transmitted back to.

"Orange Lantern to Watchtower. Given what I'm seeing in India, I'm going to suggest that it might be worth taking at least some strategic weapons out of peoples' hands until their countries are functioning properly. India lost at least one nuclear bomb under a week ago and I only found out today because someone detonated it."

"Understood." Batman this time. "Continue your investigation. Watchtower out."

"Should we be doing that?" Kara floats alongside me, scanning the ground with her eyes for anything that might be warded against my ring. "That sounds like stealing."

"It's more like finding a wallet on the street and taking it to the nearest police station. Imagine what the one that went off earlier would have done if we hadn't been there."

She purses her lips for a moment, then nods. "It wasn't much fun watching human bodies catch fire like that."

"You could see-? Oh.. gosh, Kara, I didn't realise."

"I know it only lasted a fraction of a second and they probably didn't feel anything, but my memory is really good. I'm always going to remember it. People just evaporating." She pauses for a moment. "Do you think it was like that on Krypton?"

"U-um." I only really know what killed the people of Krypton in broad terms. Specific causes of death? Pressure waves? Radiation? Most of Krypton's mass stayed in roughly the same place, but the air might have been thin enough to cause them to die from suffocation. Blunt trauma from pieces of flying planet? "I.. can't be sure."

"I assumed that was how my parents died. The ground shook for a moment, then 'poof', gone. It's a shame they couldn't build a bigger ship."

"Yes-yes, it.. was."

I float closer to her, trying to get some sort of idea-. Her voice didn't waver, her expression didn't change, and… I'm not seeing anything in particular with empathic vision. Even if she was using black humour after having processed her grief, she should-.

Or maybe she hasn't at all and she's not responding physically because she's having some sort of flashback. I cautiously lay my right hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, are-?"

Kara blinks, returning her vision to normal as she turns her head to look at me. "Are we not searching for clues?"

"I was-. You.. were talking about something really personal and horrible and I was concerned."

"Was I not supposed to?"

"Nono, you.. can. If you want to, if you feel that you need to."

She blinks, turns to look at my hand on her shoulder than turns her head back to me. "Were you going to hug me?"

"I.. was going to offer to, if-."

Kara's arms blur as she wraps them around me, chin on my left shoulder and head pressed against mine. "Yay, hugs! They're the thing about Earth I like the most!"

I hug her back, still concerned. I know that our Krypton was anti-tactility, but I didn't realise that was true for her Krypton as well. I'd just sort of assumed that hers was more pre-Crisis than that.

"Kara, if you ever want to talk about your family, or Krypton in general, or anything like that, I'm happy to do that. Okay?"

"Why would I do that?" She pulls away slightly, her face a few inches from mine. "They're all dead. Ooh!"

She darts down to the ground, into the scrub outside of the base, then flies back up with… Part of the bomb casing.

"I spotted this! This is the casing, right?"

I take it from her hands with a construct grapple, and start examining it in detail. "Yes.. it.. is. Well done."

Alright, they wouldn't really need an outer casing designed to not impede the airflow around the plane, but it still seems that it would be easier to leave it on. The wards are… Yes, the same Atlantean design that gained popularity in America, rather than something out of Hindu traditions. Someone copying what they saw somewhere else? I don't think that Lady Eve would do something like that, for the sake of her pride if nothing else. But it's not like I can claim to know the woman after one short conversation.

Finger print analyser? Partial prints acquired. Eliminate the prints from the corpses. Three-. Well, probably three sets. It's not like they wiped the casing down with alcohol and then carefully pressed their fingers against it. Hundreds of people have probably touched this over the years. File it just in case. No blood, no, that would be too easy. Skin samples? Yes, some of which are from people on the base and…

Okay, two have genetics that I wouldn't expect to see in an Indian. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I'll bear it in mind-.

Scan.

No, nothing. Alright, that's a bit more promising. Unless it was a suicide bombing, in which case that's because most of their genetic material was vaporised.

Bleez's ship zooms through the sky, coming in to hover over the base. "Found anything?"

"Some things. Not enough to actually learn anything."

Too many footprints in too many different directions to learn anything about who went where when. Same with vehicles. Sure, I can read tyre tracks, and I can eliminate the ones from military vehicles already at the base, but so what? Nothing stops Kobra agents acquiring military vehicles, especially now. Nothing stops a soldier driving their own car to work, at least as far as the outer gate. Or getting picked up by someone else. What was it Terry Pratchett wrote? 'The scream in the night was most likely to be someone stepping on an upturned hairbrush'? Lots of data and little actual information.

On.. the other hand… If the warhead design is standard -and it should be- then… All we need to do is-.

"Orange Lantern to Watchtower. Uploading preliminary findings. Request a few minutes of Doctor Mist's time to track any outstanding bombs via their warded cases."

"Do humans steal fusion bombs a lot?"

"No. And this is the first time that someone has successfully detonated a stolen bomb."

"He's available."

I generate a zeta tube. "Send him through."

"Recognised, Doctor Mist, Two Five."

Dr. Balewa walks through, raising his head to look at Bleez's ship with a slight raising of his eyebrows. I drop down, holding out the case to him and generating a map of India with the 'official' nuclear explosive locations marked.

"I'm looking for more of these in the wrong places."

He nods, waving his right hand at the case and then again at the map.

"There." Part of the map construct ripples. "But I do not think thet it is a bomb. I belief thet it is a settlement of some kind."

"Then that's where we're going next."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
19:19 GMT +5:30

And that's a gunfight.

Mostly the old reliable AK-47, but a few sandbag fortifications have crew served machine guns and the combatants aren't shy about using grenades.

As I watch one woman takes a trio of bullets across her torso while throwing a grenade into an enemy fire team. She falls, and a shrapnel blast later so do they.

I have no idea who is fighting or why. They could be Kobra, but it's not like most of them go around with clearly identifiable tattoos or armbands. Mapping the area-.

"Hey, could you-" Kara is now carrying the woman in one hand and one of the men she grenadiered in the other. "-heal them?"

"Sure." / "I will-."

Dr. Balewa looks mildly puzzled as bullets and shrapnel are sucked out of wounds and bleeding is stopped. Scanning them with the default scan gets me nothing, but MRI and ultrasound still work just fine, as does power ring flesh melding. Still, it's the pain of the initial injury that rendered them unconscious, and my experience tells me that-.

Kara pulls the woman up to her face level. "Hey! Are you okay?!"

"U-gh?" The woman's eyes snap open, recoils at seeing Kara's beaming face, reaches up to her own chest to feel for bullet wounds that aren't there any longer and then starts to get a grip.

Then she sees the man in Kara's other hand, and goes for her pistol. Which is no longer there, because I'm not an idiot.

"I respect your eagerness, but now is the time to use your reason instead of your passion. Why are you-?"

"Could you-" Kara's looking at me. "-hold these guys for a minute?"

I take hold of them using construct restraint beds, binding them chest, arms, legs and head. "Sure. What-?"

She blurs away and then reappears with another wounded man in each hand.

"Can you-?"

"Just keep them coming."

"Can do!"

Well, sort of. I can't actually keep up with her full speed delivery service, but I don't delay her by much as she removes every single wounded person from the battleground below us, doing a good enough job that the remaining combatants opt to hunker down rather than continue and risk her displeasure.

Which is great, but it doesn't really help us.

"So, clearly whatever's happening down there won't be happening for much longer. And I think it's probably in your interests to get your lies in before whoever you're fighting gets their lies in. And please try to keep it at least vaguely plausible."

"I live here. They attacked us over minor religious differences. I would not expect you to understand."

"I don't like to boast about it, but Europe did spend about three hundred years continually at war over minor differences in Christian theology, so I'd give me a reasonable chance of getting it."

"It is about the significance of the… Evil presence."

"The Anti-Life broadcast?"

"If that is what you call it."

"It's what the people who made it call it. Want to tell me what the two sides believe about it?"

"One side believes that the evil presence was supposed to mark the end of the age of Kali Yuga, and the rebirth of the universe into the age of Krita Yuga. And that someone prevented it."

"And the other side?"

"Doesn't know. We try to divine its meaning, but they will not wait."

"So, you're Kobra and you're talking about Lady Eve-" She twitches and tries to inexpertly cover it up. "-trying to keep hold of the organisation. Do the others actually work for Jeff, or is this some sort of internal thing?"

She just shakes her head and clams up.

"You know that I don't actually have to take any of you in, right? You're a proscribed group. I have to accept your surrender if you offer it, but otherwise I can gun down every single one of you."

Kara waves her right forefinger at me. "But you won't because that's wrong."

"It's very hard to nuke people when you're dead. Not impossible, but hard."

Bleez's ship deploys some sort of rotary particle cannon. "I can do it."

Kara slowly turns her head upwards, eyes glo-.

"Kara! Kara, back to me. Back to me. Bleez, thank you, no. If I need to kill anyone-"

Kara is facing me, but her eyes are still glowing a little. "Which you don't, because that's wrong."

"-I'll do it myself, and Kara, we're going to review interrogation techniques after this. I think you'll make a great Good Cop-"

"Thank you!"

"-but you need to give the Bad Cop room to work as well."

"If you let them be Bad, then you're Bad too."

She nods affirmatively, but at least her eyes have dimmed. The woman is just sort of staring at us.

"Sorry about that. While I can kill you, legally speaking, I probably won't, but I might stick you and your friends on a barely habitable planet and forget about you. Or mind control you. So it really is in your interests to be forthcoming with me."

"I am not afraid to return to the wheel. Nor am I afraid of leaving a corrupt world to make a better one with my own labours."

"Doctor Mist and I were there when the Earth was purged of the Anti-Life. Heck, I'm the one who masterminded its removal. And while I'm fairly sure that we could arrest everyone down there, that wouldn't do anything to shut down the rest of Kobra. So let's have a civil theological discussion, hm?"

"If-. I can.. ask Lady Eve to meet with you."

"Neat. And you wouldn't know anything about anyone stealing fission bombs, would you?"

"No. Lady Eve has suspended active operations."

Not sure I believe her, but it's plausible. A Kobra splinter faction wants to establish itself, so it does something big to run up the flag. I suppose that it doesn't matter right now.

"Alright. I'm sending you down. And I've got a nice desert world picked out if you don't follow through. Good luck!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
19:23 GMT +5:30

Bleez's ship ascends into the upper atmosphere on autopilot while its owner studies the ground beneath us. And the giant pile of restraint racks I've fabricated for the belligerents.

"Who are these people?"

"That's… How much of that cultural briefing material I sent you did you actually read?"

"Most of it. I focused on the different political structures, because I… I'd like to find something that would work for us. Thanagar."

"Oh. Good. I was halfway convinced that you were just handing it all over to the intelligence analysts."

"They got copies too, but I did read it. I just didn't read about… These people."

"These people are part of a Hindu sect called 'thuggees'. Essentially, they believe that materialism diminishes the soul, so they destroy things that people value in order to liberate them from their own attachments. Specifically, they're part of the Kobra denomination of the thuggees, which means that they don't just limit themselves to individual spiritual liberation through destruction, but they believe that they can… Sort of flip the universe over into a… Higher, more glorious state if they destroy enough."

"What would that be like?"

"We poor creatures of the most diminished state of the universe could not comprehend it. But an improvement, of some sort."

"And is that true?"

"No, of course not. Reality inversions take far more effort than just destroying a load of stuff. Plus, the people involved have to be able to picture clearly what they're trying to achieve, which wouldn't be the case here. Definitionally couldn't be the case, if you think about it."

Her eyes go wide as they lock onto me, her wing posture-. She's not getting ready to lunge, she's getting ready to fly away.

"What do you mean by 'reality inversion'?"

"It's a bit like changing history through time travel, except you do it at one point in time and it changes everything into anything."

"Orange Lantern?" Dr. Mist strolls over, having finished examining the wards defending this place. "I think thet you should stop talking."

"The point is that they're basically just nuts, but enough crazy people being crazy in the same way can do a lot of damage." I turn towards the sound of footsteps with a grin. "And speaking of crazy!"

Lady Eve herself doesn't look anything special. The guards behind her are wearing the sort of clearly coloured uniforms that I'd honestly thought that minions had abandoned in the eighties, though it is armoured and the helmet does contain flash protection and an infrared mode. The tattoo-covered magician behind them is flashing the occasional nervous look at Dr. Balewa, because while Kobra magicians can strike above their weight class in Western countries due to the lack of opposition none of them are world-class.

Is this it?

I know that I wound up the much better resourced League of Shadows in an afternoon, but… Given that Jeff managed to make a decent fight of it back in Belle Reve, I sort of assumed that their home base would do better as well. Then again, if the infighting has been bad…

"The Life Wizard and the World Mender. What has brought you here?"

Dr. Balewa and I make eye contact with one another, and I bow my head a little. He is the Justice League member, even if there's… No real enforcement either way at the moment.

"You are Lady Eve? Head of Kobra?"

"I am Lady Eve. But Kobra has splintered."

"I understood thet loyalty to Mister Burr was a little stronger in other parts of the world. I did not think thet you had trouble here."

"They looked to me for answers, but I have none. Our prophesised saviour failed, and became just another power-hungry bandit."

I vaguely remember a comic where they started over with his brother, but… I don't want to suggest that.

"Why would they attack you, then? Why not leaf?"

"Sacred scripture is only shared with those who have proven their devotion. They think that I have some knowledge that I am keeping from them." She shakes her head. "I do not."

"Then what was your plen?"

"I planned to wait, observe, pray… I would hope that something revealed itself in time."

Dr. Balewa nods. "Were you able to shield yourself from the Anti-Life Broadcast?"

"No. And even if we could, we would not. It is cowardly to hide from suffering. We embrace it as we learn to reject temporal pleasure."

Kara perks up slightly. "Like Job!"

Lady Eve's eyes narrow slightly, but then she just sort of.. gives up on her sneer. "No, not like Job. The Book of Job is about the rightfulness of obedience to a higher power. We seek to elevate ourselves by becoming more than this weak flesh."

"I belief you also wish to bring an end to the period you call Kali Yuga."

"For the betterment of all."

"And to do thet, you must make the world as bad as it can be."

"There is more to it than that. But in essence, yes."

Dr. Balewa affects a puzzled expression, shaking his head. "And… What is it thet you imagine thet there is thet is worse than the Anti-Life?"

Oh, that's kind of clever. I'm not sure that she's on his wavelength. In organisations like Kobra, sometimes even the leaders have drunk the kool-aid. We've got no reason to assume that she ever went beyond 'suffering = good, follow the prophecy for maximum goodness'… But I suppose that if we're not just killing her right away…

"I have never experienced something worse."

"And, did you feel the energy as we ended the Anti-Life?"

"Yes."

"Then… What do you imagine thet the transition from one age into another feels like?"

"I-." She stares at him, and the other Kobra people are staring too. "I don't understand."

"Did you not picture what it would be like to live in the new age?" He raises his right hand, a small white sigil floating over it and even I feel it, the essence of existence. "Did you not feel the wave of spirit pass over the world?"

She gulps. "I.. did."

"You are a creature of the former, corrupted age. But for eh moment, you saw what it was like to be something else. Would you like to feel thet again?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
20:47 GMT +5:30

She would. Quite a lot, as it happens.

The soldiers of the Indian S.A.S. don't hesitate, shooting members of the Kobra breakaway group dead rather than bothering to take them into custody. The Indian government was perfectly aware of the nuclear detonation and had been scrambling for a response when I dropped by to explain things to them.

Bleez watches the scene calmly. "This is more like what I was expecting."

"Oh?"

"The Empire's government has been making a big deal of hunting down all of the Seven Devil cultists. I didn't even know we had gibbets."

Kara's back with Dr. Balewa and Lady Eve, guarding him while he keeps trying to talk them around to his way of seeing things. I don't personally believe in the Hindu epoch cycle… In fact, I don't think that it can be true, based on what I know about how magic works. But they do, and he can sort of connect what they believe to reality.

"They're not that hard to make."

I generate a construct digger and scoop up enough earth for a burial pit. I think Kobra-devotees prefer cremation, but if they wanted me to care then they shouldn't have helped their brethren acquire, prime and transport a nuclear bomb. The soldiers who had been going to fetch shovels wave their thanks and start throwing the bodies in the hole.

"I don't understand why you're treating Lady Eve differently. She's their leader, right?"

"One of them. And yes, I'm sure that she's been directly and indirectly responsible for a lot of deaths."

She keeps watching the disposal of the bodies, wingtips blurring to vent stress. "So why aren't you killing them?"

"Because Doctor Mist has command. Because we don't know where everyone in their organisation is and persuading her to tell us is easier than doing a neural trawl. Because if she spends the rest of her life doing productive work then she might work off a tiny part of her debt to civilisation. Because we could really do with the manpower. Because I'm interested to see if anyone else can use the sort of magic that Doctor Mist does."

"On Thanagar… We'd just kill them. On Havania, too."

"And I'm not completely sure that you'd be wrong to." I shrug as I pour the earth back over the impromptu grave. "I hope you would be… But I don't know."

"That's not a Thanagarian way of handling things." She raises her right arm to point at the soldiers who are marching back to their transport vehicles. "That is. Aren't these guys, like, basically your Seven Devil cultists?"

"No. The Seven Devils are very real and actively involve themselves in their worshippers' affairs as much as they can. Kobra members are just violent criminals, with no more supernatural backing than anyone can get." Speaking of… "How is Vulcan getting on?"

"My mother wasn't sure about having him as a guest. And I was like, 'Mother, he's a god' and she just went on about him being a magical alien… It was a whole thing. And then he proved that he can make Nth Metal and suddenly she's a whole lot more polite."

"Can he teach people?"

"I don't think the government wants him to have acolytes? They're just taking a bunch of readings to see if they can copy what he does with technology. I don't really know how it's going."

"I'm glad to hear that he's getting on well." Hm. "You should probably have told your mother where you were going."

Her head jerks around, eyes narrowing. "No, I shouldn't."

"Oh?"

"If I told anyone, they'd be a record of what I said. I don't want to be-. I don't want him to make me his concubine, ugh, but if he knows someone else knows where I am then they're a target too."

"Is the fact that you're from Havania a secret?"

"No? But what's the point in going there if I'm not there and no one knows where I am?"

"Your mother's not an idiot, Bleez. She's already had her security people go over the footage of your concert, and she knows that you've been communicating with me." She pulls her wings in slightly. "The constructs of Sinestro Corpsmen are catalysed by fear. And if your homeworld was ravaged, occupied, your mother and other friends taken prisoner, tortured… That would mean more fear, and stronger constructs for him. And given the sort of person that I suspect Sinestro is recruiting-."

The tips of her wings are vibrating fast enough to hum.

"Do you want me to comm Sinestro and ask him what's going on directly?"

"B… And… And he can just order the guy to get lost?"

"He can. Though I suspect that if he does it's more because he doesn't like his minions slacking off rather than out of any actual moral considerations."

"And what else might he do? I don't want to make things worse."

"He might attack Havania immediately. I don't know how big his Corps is yet or if he's planning on doing anything with the Thanagarian Empire. I am completely confident of my ability to kill a regular Sinestro Corpsman. I'm not confident of my ability to kill him, and most of my support is on the other side of the galaxy. Normally, I could put together a team on Earth, but we're all a bit busy at the moment."

"Then what-. Where should I go?"

"Tamaran is an option. So is J. I could drop you off on Maltus, though you'd have trouble getting back on your own."

"J?"

"It's a plant world. Nice enough place. Bit weird. Sort of like Alstair without the political awkwardness. I.. should probably check up on them at some point."

"Could they fight Sinestro?"

"Gosh no."

"How about Tamaran?"

"Maybe, if the stars aligned. Two Orange Lanterns over there, as well as a high-tier human psychic and some fairly sophisticated space fleets. And a couple of physical gods, but I've got no idea how to get them to do anything."

"I don't-. What do you think I should-?"

I frown for a moment, then look at my left hand. "Ring, call Sinestro."

"Calling."

"Wait, what?"

"The Sinestro Corps gets stronger the more afraid of them you are. So don't be afraid."

Sinestro's full body image appears in front of us.

"Illustres. I trust that you have things in hand."

"Yes, your ring worked perfectly, thank you. No more Anti-Life on Earth."

His expression doesn't really change. "Interesting. It may be worth considering long-term cooperation where Apokolips is concerned."

"Honestly, I'd be happy to cooperate generally. But perhaps that's a bit much. The other reason why I'm calling is-"

Send image.

"-this chap. Now, I realise that I don't know exactly what sort of discipline you've got your people working under, but I'd be surprised to learn that they were supposed to be stalking popular musicians."

His eyes narrow. "They are not. I will… Have a rather sharp word."

I smile at him. "Thank you, I appreciate it. Illustres out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th April 2013
20:20 GMT +5:30

There's a brief flare of light as Princess Celestia appears, making tired eye contact with me for a moment before taking her place in one of the extra-large seats I replaced part of the auditorium seating with. There are a lot fewer ponies here than there were last time I raised this topic. And far fewer than there were earlier today for Sunset's demonstration, and not just because the humans are getting a guided tour from volunteers from the Foreign Office.

But it's still not a small audience. And not just because I put an advertisement in the entertainment section of the local newspaper for a 'live action horror show'. Hopefully these ponies will have stronger stomachs, and if not then the ketamine drones are still on standby.

Twilight glances at her mentor for a moment, then looks away, head down and ears flat.

"Thank you everyone for coming." Starlight beams as she comes to the edge of the stage. "For those of you unfamiliar with my work -and don't worry, we don't lock the doors until after the-"

One green-grey stallion at the back chuckles twice, and then stops when no one else joins in.

"-introduction- my name is Starlight Glimmer. My work is on the subject of special talents, cutie marks, and the link between them." A few of the horror fans look a little disgruntled. "And what happens if either one is removed."

They perk up, while the actual researchers and journalists twitch instead.

Starlight's horn glows as she rotates a blackboard, revealing the complex thaumaturgical notation.

"Using Professor Sunset-" Sunset grins smugly. "-Shimmer's work on Equestrian thaumaturgy, I was able to isolate the parts of a pony's natural magics which correspond to their cutie mark. As yet I have not been able to isolate those parts of a pony's magic which correspond to their special talent prior to their cutie mark's emergence as that would require performing field experiments on foals while hoping that the equipment doesn't interrupt their manifestation."

And trust me, the difficulty in experimenting was the reason why, not the foal thing. I'm starting to think that Starlight could have gone down a very unfortunate path if she hadn't run into me.

"So today we're going to remove a volunteer's cutie mark and see what happens!"

The horror fans are enthralled, and one of the better educated ones has a notepad out as he tries to follow her equations.

The doors at the rear of the auditorium open and a large brown earth pony with a messy brown mane and a white nose carefully walks in. He hesitates for a moment at the gaze of the audience, then draws himself up a little and walks down the-

Something on the stage beeps, and Starlight picks up a purple healing ray in her thaumokinetic grip.

-stairs, only for the edge of his hoof catches on something and he trips, doing a full forwards roll onto his head before rolling down to the bottom of the steps. He actually ends up on his feet, swaying slightly, everyone staring at him. And it's then that I see his cutie mark: an upside down horseshoe.

Starlight shoots him with the healing ray.

"This is Mister Trouble Shoes. His special talent -as far as we can tell- is being unlucky. Almost everything he touches is destroyed moments later, and he himself is subjected to accidents like the one which you just witnessed almost every day. I've had physicians perform test to assess his physical and mental acuity, and he has the same hoof-eye coordination capacity as you and me. My thaumic detection array has picked up a minute surge in his cutie mark-related magic just before every event."

"He is being sabotaged by his own cutie mark. Mister Trouble Shoes, please come up on stage."

I just float him up, just to be on the safe side, as Starlight stows her purple healing ray.

"As a result of his cutie mark sabotaging him, Mister Trouble Shoes has an extensive -if relatively trivial- criminal record. Five counts of common assault. A hundred and twenty six of criminal damage. Two of destroying a water course. I'd like to thank the Crown for issuing him a pardon for things over which he clearly had no control." She indicates a point on the stage. "Please stand there, side-on from the audience."

He complies with the care of a serial Jonah while Starlight starts wiring him up to the thaumic detection array.

"Originally, I intended to do a before and after demonstration, but I think Mister Trouble Shoes' tumble covers the 'before' part."

She flicks a switch, and various thaumic readouts come alive.

"As you can see, it's currently inactive. But I think Mister Trouble Shoes has suffered for long enough."

A tug of turquoise magic, and the sheet is lifted from a lump of crystal sitting on a table.

"The current version of the spell uses a crystal storage medium to both hold the cutie mark and special talent. This both anchors them away from the host, and.. allows them to be returned if something goes wrong. The spell itself is relatively complex, and I don't think that the current version can be made simple enough for wide scale use."

A couple of relieved sighs from the front benches, while Starlight gives Trouble Shoes a reassuring look.

"Are you ready?"

"Ma'am, ah've been ready since ah gaht this curse."

"Al-right then." Starlight sits back, horn flickering with turquoise light and her eyes totally focused. "Three… Two… Casting."

There's a pulse of turquoise light, and then both of Trouble Shoe's cutie marks flicker as the thaumaturgical readouts go… Uuh, it looks wild but I'm not an expert. And then they cut out completely as the cutie marks peel away from his haunches and float over to… And in to the crystal. It blinks once more and then stops, floating in the middle.

There's a sort of gasp from the back of the room, and someone in the middle grabs the complimentary sick bag before… Making enthusiastic use of it.

Starlight relaxes, her horn dimming as she looks at Trouble Shoes' haunches. They're blank, no sign that a mark was ever there.

"And there we go. No more evil cutie mark controlling your destiny." She smiles at him. "How do you feel?"

"A little light-headed, ma'am. Ah've wanted that thing gone so long, ah don't rightly know what t'do next."

"Anything you want. That's the whole point." She glances at the readouts, still showing nothing. "Now, we need to check that your 'talent' is inactive." Her horn glows, and a full length mirror floats over to him. He examines it nervously for a moment.

Nothing happens.

"Would you please try holding it?"

"'re you sure, ma'am? That looks expensive?"

"Oh, I'm sure."

He sits, taking hold of the mirror in his forehooves. Nothing from the monitors.

"Ain't had a good look at mah own face fer years now."

"You won't have to worry about that any longer. Now." She turns back to the audience. "I've had several volunteers from Canterlot Penitentiary who received crime-adjacent cutie marks which have driven them to a life of criminality. I'll have them do simple before and after demonstrations, and feed back to you all on their observed behavioural changes at weekly intervals."

I lean a little closer to Luna. "Still think she's crazy?"

She breathes out slowly, eyes locked onto Trouble Shoes' haunches.

"Think? No."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Codominion

12th April 2013
08:33 GMT -5:00

"…wings like the lady outside?"

I shake my head as I remodel my latest patient's immune system. He had H.I.V., and without access to antiretroviral therapy drugs it was only a matter of time until things start getting really serious.

"I'm sorry, but she was born with those." Though-. "I can't do that type of wings without access to a type of rare magical metal, and the only person on Earth I know who can do it with lab-grown wings… The only woman he gave wings to needed to give up an arm so that he'd have somewhere to plug the nerves into her brain."

Ms. Parish wasn't one of the ones whose implants were 'reclaimed' by the Un-Titan, though she'd clearly not forgotten my part in that debacle last time we spoke. Cranius is a lot more sanguine about Uncorps' recent losses; most third generation Un-Men are such psychological basket cases anyway that the Anti-Life barely slowed them down. And the first and second generation have suffered so much already that it was basically just 'business as usual'.

"I'll… Keep my arms." He glances at my assistant. "And what's with her?"

**I wait for you to bleed.**

I close my eyes for a moment as the as yet unnamed G-Magtatangal next to me tilts 'her' head to the side, almost offended that there's nothing for her to do. G-Magtatangal are Dubbilex's latest attempt to be helpful; a genomorph type that can perform chirurgery. Unfortunately their specialised nature means that they're… Not good conversationalists, and since the genomorphs are producing as many of them as they can there aren't enough G-Pooka to go around.

"She's best at handing physical injuries."

My patient looks a little nervous. "Is she an alien?"

"She was grown on Earth. Her DNA originally came from krypton, then got modified a lot."

My patient's eyes widen. "She's kryptonian?"

"One of her ancestors was the kryptonian version of a rhinoceros."

He looks at her, his mouth slightly open. G-Magtatangals have downwards curving horns for a better telekinetic sense and can secrete biological anaesthetic, antiseptic and glue for sealing injuries from their disturbingly claw-like claws. Those can be used as chirurgical scalpels, syringes or just for grasping and pulling. Despite the fact that he referred to her in the feminine there's nothing obviously female about her physique, though her mental voice has a definite feminine sound to it.

"Huh."

"So, if there's nothing else..?"

"Can you do, like..? Super teeth?" He shrugs. "I get medicine's more important, but dentists aren't easy to get hold of either."

He's got a point, but…

"Teeth are a living part of your body. I could add some sort of super-tough coating, but anything else would involve fiddling with your body in ways I haven't studied."

"Sounds good." He opens his mouth slightly, as if I need direct access.

"Would you like to pick a colour?"

"Ah… I'll stick with white,-"

"Done."

"-thanks..?" He closes his mouth and runs his tongue around his teeth. "Feels..? A little bit different. So..?"

"I evened up their placement and structure, fixed the pre-existing damage, shrank them a little and added a layer of white everything-resistant armour over the top of the enamel layer. You'll still need to either brush or avoid sugar completely to maintain good gum health because if your gums recede then the lower unimproved parts of your teeth will get exposed."

He nods. "Sure, sure."

"Also -and this should go without saying- but they're still teeth. Don't try and bite through anything you wouldn't normally try and bite through, especially live electronics."

"I-. Okay, I wasn't gunna. But..? What would happen?"

"The top part of the tooth won't crack anymore, but the lower part can and will and then you'll be in a lot of pain and need to get the tooth removed. Same issue with electricity, only then rather than your teeth exploding your skull will melt. I mean, it's a serious injury either way, I just don't want you to think that you're Matter-Eater Lad or anything?"

"Ye-." He frowns. "Who?"

"Superhero from the future whose power is that he can eat anything without injuring himself. He can bite through a kryptonian's skin like it's made of marshmallow, and swallow molten iron without incident."

"…" He blinks. "That's messed up."

I nod. "Some powers can be pretty situational. Anything else?"

"No, I'm good." He offers me his right hand. "Thanks."

I shake it with a smile. "You're welcome. Ah, and while you can't contract H.I.V. again-."

"I'm not immune to anything else. I haven't forgotten." He nods and heads out of the door.

An interesting idea, that. My teeth are peak human, rather than anything particularly exotic. I've bitten the interior of my mouth far too often to want x-ionised teeth or anything like that. Lamprey had runes etched into his teeth, but I don't think-.

Karon knocks, then opens the door and sticks her head around it. "Are you ready for another patient?"

"Yes, bring them-"

She pushes the door open and-

"Hmpf!"

"-in."

Cranius walks in, or rather Otto does with Cranius perched on his shoulders. Cranius glowers at me, though his face softens for a moment when he takes in the G-Magtatangal.

I stand back up. "Doctor von Schadel. What brings you here?"

"Zo I understand zhet you are modifying people. Is zhis true?"

"In a few minor ways, yes."

"I do not belief zhet is legal."

"Yeah, but the government is barely functional so they're not in any position to stop me. It's… The only good thing about being a failed state." I shrug. "And what are they going to do, demand that people gouge their eyes out?"

"Unt your..? Colleagues?"

"They've got better things to do than stop someone consensually healing people. The world would have to be a very different place for the Justice League to spend time enforcing FDA regulations… At least, where there wasn't some substantial harm being inflicted. How did you even get here?"

"I am heffing difficulty contacting our government overseers in zhe Department of Energy, and thought zhat a personal appearance may work. But now… I em wondering whezher or not I want to."

"Well… Tell me what you've got planned."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd December 2282
09:02 GMT

Well. At least Pevensey Castle is still there.

If anything, I think that the walls had been built up a little. And the thing is… I'm not sure why. I don't have records on how the Resource Wars played out in Europe, because most of my sources are American and at that point they'd stopped bothering with Europe and the Middle East both and were only really worrying about their internal affairs and the threat from China. Britain and its neighbours had nuclear weapons, but in my original timeline they never built anything like as many as the United States and by the time I was born Britain had scrapped everything apart from Trident.

So who was fighting? When? Why? The North Sea oil fields would have been worth fighting over, for a while at least. I'm not sure exactly where they are -or perhaps were- but I suppose that would be a source of conflict. But landing troops on the mainland wouldn't get you access to them: they're off shore by definition. Britain's got coal, but so do Germany and France, and their mines would be more accessible for everyone on mainland Europe. Britain's geography means that we've got a little of almost everything… But not a lot of anything very much. Certainly I can't think of anything natural resource wise that would be worth landing troops and supporting an occupation army over.

Looking down on Britain from above, I can't see that many nuclear impacts. A few, yes, but quite a lot of infrastructure is still in one piece, even in the major cities. London is nothing like as damaged as Washington, even if the saucer's sensors are picking up elevated levels of radiation in a few places. Small bombs, perhaps? I'm a bit disappointed that despite the lack of an ideological conflict European nations used the same salted nukes as America and China, but maybe that was just the standard design in this timeline?

Major roadways are still in use, with none of the abandoned cars that characterise American motorways. No nuclear batteries replacing petrol here. There are a few abandoned… Steam lorries? Huge things, presumably designed for the efficient transportation of goods and people. A few of them are still in use, and I can see convoys billowing plumes of smoke in several places. Horse drawn vehicles are more common, which makes sense given the shorter supply lines required in a broken nation. Trains… Aren't running outside of the cities, though the fact that they're running anywhere at all is fairly impressive. Looks like they're all electrical.

Where to start? Somewhere isolated would be best, and… Without anti-air weapons and radar. I could try talking to the government in Westminster, or… I'm tempted to drop in on someone closer to-.

Closer to home, I was going to think.

Oh, I'm going to-. Rattle Road didn't get that name as a mere reference to history, the house I grew up in is far older than whatever caused the nuclear war. I direct the saucer to fly lower, mentally kicking myself even as I try to identify any landmarks that I might recognise, knowing that it's a foolish thing to do but needing to anyway.

I went to school there.

Reception class, with Missus Sykes. The rest of the school is… Different. The portacabins that served as the majority of.. the…

I can still see where the school pool used to be.

The pool itself has long since decayed to nothing, but the brick changing rooms and the paving stones covering the area close to what is still the main road…

The portacabins are gone, but the older brick-built parts of the school are still there. St. Mary's church still stands, two hundred years and a nuclear war nothing to a building that had already stood for nine hundred years.

I, ah…

I…

No. My parents might have been alive before things started diverging from the history I remember, but it wouldn't take… It wouldn't take much for them to just not meet. And there's basically no chance that any descendants live in this area. Even if they do, I doubt that they'll have the genealogical records for the last three hundred years that would prove how closely related we are.

But… But it doesn't hurt to knock.

Huh. Looks like they never built that weird roundabout in this timeline. The house… Some of the windows have had their glass replaced by smaller panes held together with lead cames. Easier to manufacture than larger panels, and cheaper as a result.

Leave the ship in stealth, or have it float openly?

I think… Stealth, for now. Openly displaying it is something I can leave for when I need to establish my affidavits. I fly it over to the strangely round cul-de-sac close to-. Close by the house, and clamber out of the saucer. I suppose… Given that the EU invaded the Middle East in 2052, I shouldn't be surprised if I started recognising more things. Honestly, I should be more surprised that Britain was still in the EU in 2052. Is that where the conflict came from? Other European nations blaming our lack of support for their defeat? It was the Middle East. What did you expect to happen?

I jump down and start walking. Down the slope, noting that the metal railing has been replaced by wood and that the brickwork has been repaired. Down the road, noting that there aren't any people around. I hadn't really given much thought to what the area's original industry was. I imagine that manpower-intense farming has made a comeback, since there's no real way to power tractors. Unless they break out the traction engines, which can be powered by coal. Except, where would they get coal around here?

No traffic, and the driveway is empty.

I walk up to the door, and-. No bell, but-. That's the exact same door knocker. I reach up, tap it against the baseplate twice and then stand back to wait.

I feel the minds inside. Three children and a woman, probably their mother. She's not worried about someone knocking, but-. Ah. That's a little more of that post-apocalyptic mindset. She's picking up a gun before walking to the door, and sliding a chain into the door before opening.

I smile as a blonde woman in her middle years looks at me in the crack between door and frame. "Good morning!" The harder lifestyles and lack of makeup result in people looking older so I find my guesses about how old people are thrown off a bit.

She sighs very quietly, and relaxes her guard a little. "Are you with the Brethren? Because I'm not interested. I wasn't last month and I'm not now."

"Ah, no? I don't actually know who they are."

"How do you not know who the Brethren are?"

"I've been in Nevada for the past few years. This is the first time I've been back…" I shrug. "For a while."

"Where's that?"

"Ah, America. On the West Coast."

"America-?" She blinks in surprise. "Oh, are you a sailor?"

"Pilot." Because the word 'pilot' can also refer to someone who navigates complicated waterways, and because I didn't detect a single flying machine when I over flew the country. Nice that she knew the word, when I've had to explain to even educated people in the United States what 'Britain' is. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I've got no idea what's been happening in Britain lately, and… Ah, well, my family came from this part of the country. I don't know if any still… Live in the area, but if they do then I'd like to trace them. I'm not sure.. where I should go for that…"

"Church records would have lists of Christenings, marriages and deaths. What's your name?"

"Ah, well…" I reach into my robes and pull out a copy of my family tree I prepared in case I wanted to tell someone my actual name, since business cards haven't made a comeback after the apocalypse. "I'd like to track any of those names, but my dad's family came from Ipswich and my mum's family came from Gloucestershire."

She looks at the sheet, frowning. Getting my real name on there took me cutting up newspapers for the letters and then hypnotising myself so that I wouldn't realise why I was assembling them in that order, then asking someone else to transcribe it. It'll be nice to have a country that doesn't know me as a living comic character.

"No, I don't recognise any of these names." She hands the paper back. "I'm.. sorry about that. What made you come looking for them?"

"I'm getting married, and I don't… I'm not in contact with any of my relatives, so my side of the church is going to be a bit empty. Obviously, they wouldn't be able to make the trip to Nevada, but I thought I could bring my wife here to visit when my.. schedule allows it." I shrug disarmingly. Oh well. It was a long shot. "Um. Look, I realise this is an inconvenience, but as I said, I've been out of the country for a while, and I've got no idea what's been happening. I can… Pay for information?"

She frowns. "I'm a dress-maker, not a newsagent."

"Sure, but right now I don't know anything. You know local news?" She nods cautiously. "Then you know more than me."

"Hm." She looks me over. "Are you armed?"

"Oh yes." I tug at my robe so that my plasma pistol is showing. "Two shots, then I reduce myself to penury getting a new fuel cell. Ah." I remove it from my belt and offer it to her, grip first.

She carefully takes it and looks it over, clearly not understanding what she's seeing. "I'm going to call a neighbour over, but… Alright. I could do with having someone new to moan to about those Brethren nutters, as well as his bloody nibs the Lord of Brighton."

I smile warmly, and give her a mental nudge which will make her think that she's making the right decision. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Sarah Williams. Missus Sarah Williams."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd December 2282
11:43 GMT

That was very useful.

'The Brethren' are a fundamentalist millennialist Christian sect that have been spreading out from their home in Portsmouth, and are the main competition for the Anglican church in the region. According to Sarah, if I didn't want to pay a newsagent (an information gatherer and seller, not a retailer of newspapers and magazines) then the next best place to find out what's going on is the local vicar.

When I asked about other Christian denominations I was told that Rome was completely destroying in the Resource Wars. Then there was too much fighting for a new papal conclave and once the EU fell apart each of the countries with a significant Catholic population nominated their own Pope. Even today there are occasional messages to the faithful from four different Popes, each decrying the others. Most Catholic diocese in Britain attached themselves to the Anglican Church until that mess sorts itself out, because while the national government is widely considered to have collapsed, the Church hasn't. And because our Catholic archbishop had more sense than to nominate himself.

And by 'widely considered'… It turns out that Queen Elizabeth III is still alive, a jolly impressive feat given that she was queen before the Resource Wars and is even older than Robert House. With no parliament, she's theoretically assumed supreme executive authority. In practice their writ runs pretty thin outside of London, but for some reason they sent a company of soldiers to install someone as Lord of Brighton.

Brighton, of all places.

And while I.. was sort of thinking of just picking up a priest who didn't mind travelling, I think that having a conversation with Lord Harold Windsor would be a productive use of my time. Because in terms of giving the country a functioning government, creating a parliament that acknowledges the monarch as sovereign but retains most of the power is a lot easier if there's only one possible monarchical candidate and they're someone most people recognise as being the monarch, even if that recognition is mostly theoretical.

Which is why the stealth system is off and I'm flying along the Brighton seafront, giving everyone a good eyeful. A lot more fishing boats than I remember there being, which I suppose makes sense. They've got to be getting food from somewhere, and with the various wars reducing the human population so much the fish stocks would have either recovered or been killed by the radiation-.

I blink as I see a giant carcass being butchered on the quay, near one of the larger fishing boats. It looks like a.. large whale, with glowing nodules along its sides. Stand on guard nearby is a squad of Life Guards armed with.. German gauss rifles. Interesting choice, as they're dependant on European batteries rather than the fusion batteries which the American rip off uses. Still a very dangerous gun, as long as the power holds out.

Yes, they've seen me, and their squad leader is directing them to take aim. Have we got a radio frequency..? Yes, yes we do.

"Krono to Life Guard. Krono to Life Guard. Please respond."

"This is a restricted military frequency. And you're probably used a contraband radio, aren't you, you horrible little man?"

"I have an alien spaceship armed with giant cannons." I slow the saucer, angling it to that I can point the disintegrator cannons at them at a moment's notice, because I'm pretty sure that the gauss guns can pierce the hull and I'm relying on the saucer's inertial shield and my own ability to slam on the accelerator if they actually fire. "And I'd like you to take me to your leader."

"You some sorta goddam alien comedian? 'Take me to your sodding leadah' indeed."

"It seemed appropriate."

"It's a cliché. You could have said anything, and the best you could do was a 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' quote."

"You seem to be taking this rather personally."

"You just spoiled aliens for me. I'm over two hundred years old, and just when it looks like something interesting is about to happen for the first time in bloody ages, it turns out that the alien flying machine is being flown by a moron."

"That's-. That's a little hurtful, but I'll try and be more creative in future."

"No, it's too late, you ruined it. What do ya want?"

"Um. Well, I flew here from Nevada-"

"Of course you did. Area Fifty-One? You don't just quote clichés, you fucking live them!"

…

Canopy.

I jump down, falling through the air and landing in front of the Life Guard squad, inertia shield flaring as it absorbs-

"A superhero landing?!"

-the kinetic energy of my impact.

"Yes." I rise from my crouch, glaring at the sergeant with the portable radio. "It was."

Ah. That's something I hadn't spotted before. Not only is the sergeant a ghoul -which, yes, was the most likely explanation for him being over two hundred years old- but all of the Life Guard are. The dock workers and butchers are regular humans, and appear to be torn between grabbing improvised weapons and watching a piece of novel street theatre.

The sergeant marches forward, passing the closer soldiers who have their guns readied but not yet aimed, and glares at me.

"What's your name, son?"

"Krono."

He stares at me for a moment, then-

"Hah!"

-actually looks and sounds amused.

"You certainly committed to the sodding bit, didn't you? That's exactly the sort of thing he'd say and do in the bleedin' comics. Only question is-" He raises his gauss rifle and levels it at my head. "-what makes you think I won't do exactly what those idiots in the comics should do the moment they see him?"

"My ship's fire controls have a dead man's switch."

"You overestimate how much I want to be alive. It's been a boring and frankly painful two hundred years, and you've actually annoyed me."

"Because his lordship will be annoyed that he didn't get to make the decision himself?"

"But if I'm dead, how is that my problem?"

I reach out psychically for the gauss gun and detach the capacitor from the magnetic coil. And then I check for an alternate charging mechanism, just in case. No, I'm good.

I shrug nonchalantly. "I guess you better shoot me then."

"I guess I-" There's a 'click' as he pulls the trigger. "-had-?"

Slowly, very slowly, the coilgun round drifts down the bore due to the coil having been weakly magnetised, then falls out of the barrel.

The two of us look at it on the ground.

I suck in air through my teeth, nodding sagely. "Yeah, I hear that can be a problem for men your age."

A peal of laughter runs through the people watching, and more than a few of the Life Guard are smirking.

"Hm."

A fraction of a second and his sidearm is pointing at my face as my plasma pistol is at his.

"Just like the comics, huh?"

"Yes." I give him a very small nod. "And what do you think would happen in the comics if someone tried this?"

His eyes narrow. "What do you want, you living, third rate comic villain?"

"To find out what's been happening in my dear home country while I've been in America, to see if I can find any members of my family, and to acquire a priest to perform my marriage ceremony."

"That sounds convoluted enough to be a third rate villain plot. But if you've been to the States, his lordship probably does need to talk to you."

"Right then."

…

…

…

"So which one of us puts our gun down first?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd December 2282
11:59 GMT

The sergeant and an escort detail marches towards a fortified hotel, which I assume is where Lord Harold is based. The sergeant himself is reviewing my family tree, and doesn't look all happy about it.

"King."

"Yes, my maternal grandfather's family name."

"And his wife was an Underwood."

"Yes, he used to make jokes about how untrustworthy they were."

"Did he have any brothers and sisters?"

Ah… "I… Don't remember. I think… There was a man my mother called 'Uncle Rolly', but I'm not sure exactly who he was related to."

"And what part of the country was this?"

"Gloucestershire."

The sergeant winces. "Holy Mary, Mother of.. God."

He shoves the paper back at me, and I take it with a frown. "What? There's no way you're old enough to have met him."

"My great grandfather was called Roland King, and his part of the family came from Gloucestershire."

I stop walking, staring at him with a growing grin. "Oh?"

He stops too, looking me over more carefully. Then he sighs, and starts walking again. "It's probably a common name."

I take a couple of rushed steps to catch up, still grinning. "Not really, cousin."

"And you expect me to believe that you were alive before the Resource Wars, do you?"

"I was born in nineteen eighty three. I'm almost certainly older than you."

"You're older than my father was. How can you be that old with you still having a baby-face, huh?"

"America invented cryogenic suspension pods before their war with China. There are more than a few people from that period still alive. Did you ever hear of Robert House?" He gives his head a small shake. "Founder of RobCo?"

"The Americans didn't sell robots to other countries. You were seventy when the Wars started? Your face isn't that old."

I shake my head. "Last year I remember before waking up in the now is twenty thirteen."

"Still doesn't mean that we're related."

"Give me a sample of your blood before I leave, and I'll get someone to run a genetic analysis."

His eyebrows ridges rise. "You've got someone with the equipment to do that?"

"America is rebuilding. Slowly. There are a couple of places with good enough laboratories to specialise in advanced medicine."

"Just so long as they don't nuke the whole planet again."

"What?" I frown as we're waved through the checkpoint and into the hotel. "I thought they just nuked China."

"And Russia and Eastern Europe. The Geiger counters still start shouting whenever it rains. I spent decades fighting giant mutant rats because of them."

"Oh? I'd been assuming that most of the damage came from the nuclear strikes on Britain."

"We took a few hits. Couldn't say for sure where they were from. Russia, probably, but it could have been China, France, Germany… Maybe even America. Mutual decapitations all over. Most of the actual damage came from ground invasions after the navy ran out of fuel, and no one was organising things. And that's where it all fell apart. There are still a few places in Britain where English is a second language. And I don't mean because they're speaking Welsh or Gaelic." He smiles cruelly. "But at least they aren't getting orders from Brussels or Berlin anymore."

"So where does your boss come from?"

"The royal family was at Balmoral when the rats attacked what was left of Parliament. They're in charge, as far as I'm concerned."

"Parliament was killed by rats? I assumed that it would have been nuked."

He shrugs. "If they were trying, they missed. Or it got shot down."

I look around at the soldiers and… Other people we walk past. The soldiers are all ghouls. Actually, from the looks of things only the hotel staff are humans.

"I assume that Her Majesty is a ghoul as well?"

He glares at me. "A what?"

"Ah..?" Oh. "Sorry. In America, that's what people like…" I wave my right hand at my face. "You and your colleagues are called. What's the..? Proper phrase here?"

"Simons."

Ah. What? "Why?"

He rolls his eyes. "Because if we tell someone to do something, they have to do it."

"Heh, okay. Do we..? Have any other surviving family?"

"Not that I know about, if we even are family. My grandparents, parents and brothers died doing this and that. I was conscripted right out of school, spent the whole time moving from one fight to another and then turned into this."

"And you haven't had any children since?"

His jaw tightens, and several other members of the Life Guard glare at me. "That is not funny."

"No, seriously. There was a crazy doctor in America who studied it, and your virility is very low, not zero. It takes a lot of tries, but they proved it was possible for 'Simons' to have children."

His gaze gets a little distant for a moment, then he shakes his head and focuses on a group just ahead of us.

"Lieutenant Roper!"

A Life Guard 'Simon' steps away from a table where he was studying a map with two other members of the Life Guard. His uniform has a gold plated cuirass and those golden… Ropes that I don't know the name for.

"Sergeant King. Who's this, then?"

"He's the one with the plane, sir. Says he came over from America."

"I suppose that if anyone can still build planes it would be them." He looks at me. "How are the septics doing, then?"

"Government has been re-established at the state level in some areas. California, Denver, Oklahoma, Texas and Rio Grande are back. Other places are still a mess. No national government."

"I thought they'd have better contingency plans than that, what with all their vaults."

I shake my head. "Oh, it turned out that the vaults were never meant to save anyone. They were experimental prototypes for building off-world colonies. The plan was for a section of the government and some essential workers to evacuate off planet. In the end, they had to settle for an abandoned oil rig. Then they tried to wipe out the rest of the world with viral weapons, but that got stopped and most of them were killed."

"Oh no." Lieutenant Roper snorts. "A disease. Whatever would we do."

I shake my head again. "They made one that could affect atypical people such as yourself as well. We've got these things called 'super mutants' who are even tougher, and it killed them when they tested it."

He nods. "Good job it got stopped, then. Why are you here now?"

"I wanted to find out how my own country is doing, pick up a priest to officiate at my wedding and see if I had any family left. Turns out that the sergeant might be a distant cousin. Oh." I reach into my robes and pull out a letter of introduction from President Hayes. "And I've got this from the President of the New California Republic, authorising me to act as an ambassador. Could I speak to his lordship, please?"