Microstory 1474: New Mayor in Town

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The mayor of Aljabara was not the president of the whole planet, but they did enjoy some de facto influence that went beyond the city. When their former mayor was taken to Earth by the salmon battalion, the city knew what to do. They had a long history of special elections, so this would just be one more. Hopefully this sort of thing would end after this one, though. They now had a Constitution, and an easy-to-follow set of protocols for abiding by the law, and making it fair and safe for everyone. A lot of people started up campaigns, but most of them did not procure the necessary minimum signatures to even officially declare their candidacy. Still, there were fourteen people who felt up for the job. Only one of them was a woman. Other women were part of the new government, but none so high up, because they hadn’t before been given the education or experience to make policy. Voters weren’t trying to continue the misogyny; there just weren’t many women who felt comfortable running. Merrill Panders was different. Her father gave her mother a little more leeway when it came to them being alone together. He wouldn’t have approved of his wife educating her child against social conventions, but they were sneaky about it. She taught Merrill everything her mother had taught her. She had learned it from her own mother. They came from a long line of educated girls, who passed their skills on to the next generation; both the knowledge itself, and the expertise to get away with it without the men in their lives knowing. Merril ran to be a member of the president’s cabinet during the last election, but she lost. Now, though, she was famous and popular, and people were ready to hear what she had to say about the future of Aljabara, and Durus as a whole. She quickly became frontrunner. Merrill campaigned well, and kicked butt at every debate. As the list of hopefuls were whittled down one by one, she remained strong, and moved up in the polls. She had some strong competition, however. Her primary opponent’s platform was very similar to hers, and a lot of voters couldn’t decide between the two of them, because it didn’t seem like there would be much of a difference. In the end, however, Merrill nabbed too many of the votes. While women were fully free to vote in the first election for the Democratic Republic, many of them still chose not to. They weren’t used to it, and to be honest, they were a little scared. They were less underconfident and bashful about it by the time 2170 rolled around. Merrill was a good leader, and helped develop Aljabara into a thriving city during her many years as mayor. She was particularly focused on female education, which was no surprise, but wasn’t the only thing that she cared about. She also pioneered technological innovations, hoping to one day match progress with Earth in more ways than just social. She would go down in history as one of the best governmental officials Durus ever saw, and many assumed she would eventually run for president, or some other higher station. She never did, though. She just kept running for mayor, and kept getting reëlected, and Aljabara was better for it.

Microstory 1473: The Warren Arrives

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In 2161, Hokusai arrived on Durus, having traveled there from Earth. For a second, a select few native Durune were excited. This could be an opportunity to return to their roots. By then, however, most people considered Durus to be their home, and as bad as it might have been, they wanted to fight for it, rather than just leave. They did not know much about Earth, but there seemed to be no reason to put it on a pedestal. By 2170, however, these sentiments had shifted, because of the change in population. There were plenty of Earthans there who were unwillingly sucked up by the Deathspring. And they told stories to the Durune about how much the Earth had changed; how much it had improved. Nearly all of the refugees wanted to go back home, but now even some Durune were starting to feel the same way. After having failed to receive help on this front from the salmon battalion, these hopefuls needed a new plan. When a ship called The Elizabeth Warren arrived, hope was sparked once more. Unfortunately, the Warren wasn’t here to rescue all of the refugees. They were there to bring back one person, and her mother. Before she died, Andromeda had a child with her wife, Saga Einarsson, and a donor father named Camden Voss. Both of the latter two came to this planet during the Deathspring, but were kind of just planning to stick around, even after Andromeda’s passing. Étude Einarsson was a special little girl, who was destined to help a lot of people on Earth. She was born to be a Savior, one in a class of salmon whose responsibility it was to save lives by being teleported to people by the omniscient powers that be. The people sent to retrieve her had no choice. They couldn’t leave without her, and they weren’t able to take extras. While the Warren was a lot larger than Hokusai Gimura’s one-seater, it was still only designed for a crew of six. A few more could fit, but it would make it more cramped, and three of those slots were going to be taken by Saga, little Étude, and Camden.  Well, the Durue didn’t entirely understand this, and even those who did didn’t care that much. People were growing antsy, and some were starting to feel entitled. Sure, the ship couldn’t accommodate hundreds of passengers, but that wasn’t relevant. It only needed to hold the one person who felt they deserved it the most, and that person couldn’t care less whether any other person felt that they were the one most deserving instead. It would be a few more years before the ship was ready to go, partially because it took some time to locate the Einarssons, partially because two of their crew members had some strange scheduling issues, but mostly because of an uprising that delayed the departure. Until then, life in Durus became a little heated, and some were worried that the era of peace they thought they had just ushered in wasn’t going to last very long. They needed someone to calm them down. They needed a new mayor of Aljabara.

Microstory 1472: Democracy Prevails

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The nightmare was over. Life wouldn’t be all rainbows and ageless puppies from now on, but at least Durus finally had a real democracy. Everyone over the age of fifteen had a vote, and everyone’s vote was worth the same as everyone else’s. The Earthan refugees and the Durune natives were starting to come together, and consider themselves all part of the same community. People were starting to dig in, and make a decent life for themselves. It wasn’t really over yet, though, until every member of their former military occupiers was gone. It was a great big relief for the world when the majority of the salmon battalion disappeared through their portal. The achievement almost made people forget that some of them wanted to return to Earth as well, and the salmon could try to give them that. So it was an even bigger relief that not all of them had left yet. There were still a couple people there who would be staying to help in any way necessary. Unfortunately, the way they needed help was not possible. Even though the officers had come from Earth, they did not do so using their own agency. They were beholden to the powers that be, and if these mysterious controllers didn’t want the Durune to go back with them, then they weren’t going to go back with them. Hopefuls could even try to literally step through the portal, but nothing would happen. They would just pass right through it, as if the portal were not there at all. Even if the salmon wanted to try to help, there was no telling when and where they would end up on Earth. Their job was to travel throughout time, fighting in wars. They were sometimes given lead time to prepare for a particular battle—what kind of uniforms, and other clothing, they were given to blend in was often a really good clue—but they didn’t ever have much else to go on. There was just no way for the battalion to take any Earth-bounders with them, as much as they may have wished they could. The last of them left in 2170, but they didn’t go alone. One man was chosen to join them, though not by the leader’s decision, or himself. He was conscripted against his will. Fortunately, this man wanted nothing more than to fight for justice throughout all of time. The problem was, now they needed to find a new mayor of Aljabara.

Microstory 1471: Salmon Battalion

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In an alternate timeline, the paramounts on Durus started a war with the regular humans. Most of them didn’t actually believe that those with time powers were superior to those without, but they were tired of the Provisional Government, and they wanted to see real change in their world. They figured creating a common enemy for the native Durune, and the Earthan refugees, to fight would unify them. Well, that part of the plan worked, but the part where they would arbitrarily end the war, and try to form a peaceful union for all, was lost. Some of the paramounts decided they were happy with this new direction. Yeah, people with powers were better, and they ought to be ruling the planet. As one might imagine, this caused a lot of problems, and the sort of fake war transformed into a real one, with plenty of empowered people on both sides. This meant that it would probably end in the total destruction of humanity on the rogue world. Worried this would happen, and not wanting the fighting to continue either way, a time traveling paramount went back to the Deathspring in 2161, and purposefully made sure that he was sent to Earth. Once there, he contacted someone named The Overseer, who was the go-to leader for any major endeavor that involved salmon and choosing ones working together. Salmon were a subspecies of humans who experienced nonlinear time, but lived under the control of a mysterious group called the powers that be, while choosers were people with powers, who could choose to use them at will. They were the Earthan equivalent of paramounts, and they had a pretty reliable network, which could make things happen. One of these groups was called the salmon battalion. It consisted of a few hundred people from all over time and space. They fought in various wars throughout the timeline, turning the tide to their leaders’ will, which was generally to ultimately create peace. Some members fought only in one battle, while others were more long-term participants, and these people cycled in and out of the battalion as necessary. The Overseer was not in charge of the battalion, but she could petition for aid if she felt it was warranted, and the powers that be were obliged to at least consider the request. Though Durus was beyond their scope, they agreed to come set things right. The highest number of simultaneous battalion members transported to Durus, and created a new timeline, which wiped away the formation of the New Crusades. They took control of the government, just for the time being, and started the Salmon Battalion Military State.

Now, this was a scary thing to call it, and though they kept the peace through peaceful means, the battalion did use that fear to keep people in line. They didn’t tolerate violence, or bigotry, or the infringement of people’s rights. They let protestors speak their peace, but most people eventually became glad that the battalion was here. They brought with them people who were experienced with democratic procedures, and though these experts didn’t dictate how the new republic would be set up, they did provide them with a lot of great advice. They helped them figure out what the Durune leaders would be called, and what responsibilities they would have. They helped build the capitol, so the new government would have a place to work out of. They helped set up the 2168 Special Election, so the first administration could star making decisions on their own. And finally, they helped them draft the Constitution, so that everyone would understand what the laws were, and what was expected of them as citizens. To that end, they wanted to ensure that every single person on the planet was considered a full citizen, whether they descended from Earthans who came in 2016, or if they just had arrived in 2161. Everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, disability, age, or temporal status would be treated as an equal, and enjoy the same rights as everyone else. As far as what the paramounts were allowed to do with their time powers, the battalion left that up to the administration, and the people of Durus. Immediately following the special election, which established the leadership until at least 2175, nearly all members of the salmon battalion left Durus, and returned to their respective time periods on Earth, or on to the next mission. Only a few key officers remained behind to tie up loose ends, and answer any lingering questions. In the end, the people were grateful to the battalion for them having been there.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Sunday, July 9, 2124

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Mateo, Leona, Ellie, Sanaa, and Jeremy Bearimy were on Tribulation Island, geared up and ready to go. They picked an unpopulated area, to make sure they avoided running into their alternate selves, or even their friends, in the main sequence. They didn’t want to disturb the timeline any more than they had to. They just had to get in, procure what they needed, and then get back. Unfortunately for them, that was going to be a little more difficult than they thought. They should have tried this mission earlier, but Ellie conscripted them to save the Fourth Quadrant, and now they didn’t know if they had the tools to get to Vearden. Their last chance might have already passed, and that wasn’t okay. They weren’t just trying to save him from death because Jupiter asked them to, but because they legitimately wanted to. Vearden didn’t deserve this, and perhaps Mateo did, after everything.

The window opened up, swept them into it, and dropped them back in the main sequence. They stood prepared, not for a firefight, but to run off and avoid violating the proverbial prime directive. Luckily, no one was around, just as it was planned. Leona pulled up a satnav on her tablet, courtesy of the satellite that the Dardieti was wise enough to place in orbit around this planet. It took a moment for it to sync up, mostly because it was just a minute ago connected to the Parallel network, which followed a wholly different evolution of technology. It was kind of a wonder a single device was capable of connecting to more than one at all.

“What are you doing right now?” J.B. asked as they were waiting. “The other you, I mean?”

“I’m out cold,” Mateo explained. “The expiation before the one my friends are in right now involved us all teleporting all over Earth, saving people’s lives. The others were given breaks, but I basically did it nonstop, so once it was over, I crashed. I’m sleeping in the little cabin thing they built on the edge of camp.”

“Which is right this way,” Leona said, gesturing forwards. “The merge barrier is going to be erected in about an hour. We have to get to Vearden, and take a sample of his blood without anyone else noticing, all before he has to cross to the other side. If he gets across that merge point, we’ll lose him forever.” She started walking, expecting everyone to follow her, which they did. “Arcadia will not allow us to cross the border ourselves.”

“Well, she might,” Mateo contended, “but the price will be too high.”

“She’ll probably ask for another date,” Leona figured.

“What’s this?” J.B. asked.

“That’s not for another two years,” Mateo reminded her, not that that was the point of her remark. Arcadia wouldn’t do anything for him, but he was her pet, and if he asked nicely, she might indeed agree to help. But he had to be the one to ask. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. They had returned to this time period far too often, and encountered her too often too. After saving Vearden, it would be great if they could put all this Tribulation Island nonsense behind them. At least that was what Mateo would be doing, because he’ll be dead anyway. “And it technically never happened.”

“Guys, I have to see a man about a horse.” J.B. started veering off from the group.

“There’s no alcohol here,” Leona said.

“Not that horse,” J.B. clarified.

“We can’t stop,” Leona urged him.

“Don’t worry about it,” J.B. assured her. “I feel like running anyway.”

She was not assured.

“Seriously.” He shook his cuff at her. “I can track you with this. I’ll catch up.”

“All right,” Mateo said. “We’re going in a pretty straight line. Keep shakin’ that bush.”

“I do not understand that reference.” J.B. kept walking, and disappeared into the jungle.

The rest of them kept walking too, but a little slower than before, subconsciously worried about getting too far ahead of their friend. Ten minutes later, Sanaa perked up, like a dog to a high-pitched whistle. “Something’s wrong.”

“Huh?”

“Ellie, call out to J.B.”

They saw Ellie mouth J.B.’s name, but didn’t hear anything. She was speaking directly to him. After calling out his name a few times, she stopped and listened. “This way,” she said out loud. She ran off, and everyone followed.

When they found J.B., he was just standing there, staring at them, not making any attempt to meet them halfway.

“Oh, no,” Leona let out with her breath. She increased speed, and made it to him. She reached out to touch his hand, but was unable to. He was on the other side of the merge border. “I don’t understand.” She looked at her watch again. “I know what time it is. The barrier shouldn’t be up yet.”

Ellie placed her own hand on the invisible wall. “It’s moving. Like a snake, it’s moving.”

It dawned on Leona. “The border wall doesn’t come up all at once. It starts on the other side of the island, and makes its way forwards. He must have made his latrine on the other side, but then the wall came up behind him.”

“So, we should be able to catch up with it,” Sanaa guessed. “We’re on track to get to camp by the time Vearden crosses over anyway, right? This changes nothing.”

Leona considered this, and nodded slightly. “We stick to the plan, but we go faster. We absolutely have to get to Vearden.”

“What about him?”

Leona looked back up at J.B. “You wanted to run, right? So run.”

They all took off running. Soon, though, the largest creature any of them had ever seen appeared from behind the trees. It looked like one of those monkeys with the funny noses, except that it was the size of a one-story cottage, and it looked mad. Its fur was purple and white, and almost...glowing. It was on the other side of the merge border, snarling at J.B. He stopped short, and started backing up slowly, but it matched every step.

“J.B.!” Mateo cried.

“Come on!” Leona yelled at him. “We can get to him, but we have to find the edge of this growing wall first!” She pulled at his shirt.

“No.”

Panicking, J.B. turned and took off, back in the direction he had come from, and the creature was pursuing him. There would be no time to find the edge, cross over, and then backtrack to catch up with J.B. and the monster. Their lead was growing wider by the second. Mateo looked at his cuff interface screen, spending a few seconds to gather knowledge on them. Ellie could transmit sound across time and space, but couldn’t teleport there. Sanaa may or may not have gotten her psychic powers back, but that wouldn’t help them either. Dammit, if Jupiter had let Ariadna stay in their group, their problems would be solved. Perhaps that was why he removed her from their team, because he knew this would happen. Maybe he wasn’t such a great guy after all. July 9, 2124 was the date according to the people on this side of the island, and also the Cassidy cuffs. But they needed to travel back in time nearly three million years, which was something that they couldn’t do right now, with or without the cuffs. Or could they? More specifically, could he? His past self was going to wake up tomorrow on this side of the border, and after stumbling around like a drunkard, he would slip over to the other side. He wouldn’t be able to come back, but Arcadia wanted him over there, so he could help Vearden. It was possible this exception started today. It couldn’t hurt to try.

While Leona, Ellie, and Sanaa were continuing on, hoping to find the entrance, Mateo took his chances. He stepped forward, and crossed into the past. It was as if Leona sensed this. She stopped, and looked back. “Go!” he ordered. “Go save Vearden! I’ll save Jeremy!”

She didn’t move.

“Rule X!” he cried.

“You already used that!” she argued.

“I’m not using it again, I’m just still using it! This is all part of the plan! Go!” It definitely wasn’t part of the plan, but it was a necessary detour. Losing J.B. in their attempt to save Vearden would be heartbreaking. He had to save them both. He turned around, and started chasing after the monster, not knowing what he was going to do when he caught up with it. He hoped Leona would continue the mission without him, but there was no way to confirm. He raced through the jungle faster than ever before. He was quite proud of himself, never tripping on any roots, or colliding with any trees, as he pushed through, like a professional cross country runner. Pretty soon, he could see the monkey monster, and it was still running as well, which strongly suggested that it had not caught up to J.B.

Mateo started screaming and taunting it. “Hey, you! Do you know what the only natural predator of the monkey is? It’s the hyena. I’m a hyena!” Then he growled and whooped. It wasn’t paying attention, so he had to step up his game. He grabbed the nearest stick he could find, and flung it at the monster’s back. This made it stop, but not turn around yet. He found a rock, and chucked that at it as well. Now this was enough.

“Oh, shit.”

The monster hollered back. It’s breath was almost hot enough to melt the skin off his face. He could have sworn his hair started smoldering. Now that the thing had forgotten about J.B., it was time to lure it away. Mateo turned to run the other direction, adjacent to the border wall, hoping his streak of suddenly being a great runner continued. He didn’t get far, though. He could hear a single pounding behind him, then a sort of whistle in the air, and then a truck came down on top of him. Apparently the monster monkey could jump. Who knew? It rolled off of Mateo’s back, and examined the strange human, lying mangled and bloody and unmoving. Satisfied with the results, it walked off.

A moment later, J.B. found Mateo’s dying body, and knelt down beside it. “Oh my God, you shouldn’t have done that.”

“I was gonna die anyway,” Mateo said. “It’s all part of the plan.”

J.B. just teared up, and shook his head.

“You have to get back to the other side. Don’t let anything stop you this time.”

“I can’t leave you.”

“It’s okay. This wasn’t gonna last forever.” Mateo struggled to lift his hand a few centimeters off the ground. Blood dripped from his fingers, and soaked the recently fallen leaves below. “Everything’s changing...green to red.”

“Mateo.”

“Go, or I died for nothing. It’s probably going to retrieve its big monkey monster friends, so they can feast on my body together.”

J.B. stood up and composed himself. “Thank you.”

“Tell her were I you!”

“Of course.” J.B. ran off, leaving his friend to die alone.

But he wasn’t alone. Another figure approached, and stood there for a moment. Then it reached down, and started dragging Mateo by the ankles. “I’ve been told, you can’t die in the past,” he said. Was that his frenemy, Kayetan Glaston? Whoever it was pulled him several meters, presumably to the other side of the merge border.

“Why not?” Mateo tried to ask, but he received no answer. Had he imagined Kayetan’s arrival? Or had he just imagined speaking? Was he just too far gone to make any sounds? The last thing he saw was the hundemarke dropping to the ground in front of his face. Then he dove soulfirst into the darkness, and transferred his consciousness to the afterlife.

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Glisnia: Otter Eyes (Part VI)

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Once the plenum was over, it was time for Hokusai to go see Hilde. Her relationship with her daughter was not bad, but they did have kind of a bizarre way of interacting with each other, and it all came down to a book. Back before either of them knew anything about time travel, and related phenomena, Hokusai read Hilde a book. They actually read it together, switching off at each chapter break, to teach the young one how, and to do something as a family. It was just the two of them, moving from city to city. Hilde’s biological father was in prison; one of the too few examples where a rapist was actually punished for what they did. Besides the whole rape thing, he was the kind of asshole who didn’t care about his family, which turned out to be a blessing. He could have just as easily been obsessed with forming a twisted relationship of his own with his daughter. There was no reason to believe, when he got out, he would ever pursue them, but the whole experience messed with Hokusai’s head, and her trust in people. And she never felt safe in one place for very long.

She kept her own name, but gave Hilde a different surname, so they could lie to the new people they met, and claim that the imaginary Bob Unger was a great guy, who died too young. Hilde grew up knowing the truth about her origins—Hokusai never lied to her—but this dynamic was what ultimately gave them their untraditional relationship. Well, it wasn’t the only thing that did that. After all, there were only twelve years separating them. When people said they thought the two of them were sisters, it wasn’t just a pick-up line; they legitimately presumed this to be the case, and they were forgiven for this. Hokusai knew she was too young to be a mother, but she loved her child, had the money to support her, assistance from an aunt early on, and the capacity to care for her. It only ended when the portal that Hogarth accidentally created sent the entire town of Springfield, Kansas to another planet, sweeping Hilde along with it, and leaving Hokusai behind.

The two of them were eventually reunited, but only after some time without each other, and because of a lot of time travel. By then, Hilde was her own person, with a daughter of her own, and that was when the struck a deal. The book they read together those many years ago was about a family who stumbled upon the fountain of youth, and found themselves unable to die. The members of this family didn’t stick together throughout the centuries. They went their separate ways for decades at a time, always with a plan to come back at a certain place, at a certain time. Little Hilde was fascinated by this concept, so much so that she based her whole life around the possibility of becoming immortal, so a few decades to her felt like taking a short trip to the store. When her mother returned, that was what she asked for. They weren’t actually immortal yet, but they were both time travelers, which gave them all of time and space to explore. Hokusai respected Hilde’s wishes, and eventually grew used to the life. Though they were criss-crossing the timeline, they both lived in a time period where immortality was indeed possible, and they had both taken steps to make this happen. But Hilde had just essentially taken the last step by digitizing her consciousness, and this was the first Hokusai was hearing of it.

“But you’re okay.” It might have been a question, but probably more of a hope.

“Yes, mom. I’m okay.”

Hokusai nodded understandingly, but awkwardly. “Are you eating all right?” Okay, it was a really good sign that she was joking.

Hilde tried to hold back a laugh, but couldn’t. “Yes, they give me all the gear lubricant and solar conversion I need.”

Hokusai nodded again, but more comfortably now. “I’m pleased you look the same. I’ve always loved your face, Otter Eyes.”

“Ya know, I never got that reference, but now I do. Except now I don’t get how you knew the reference. That show didn’t come out until I was eighteen.”

“It’s not a reference,” Hokusai explained. “I made it up. I have no idea how the writers got a hold of it. Perhaps one sat next to us in a cafe, and heard me use it.

Hilde was suspicious. There weren’t a whole lot of coincidences once you’ve learned about time travel, and that show was about time travel. Still, she shook it off, and moved on. “I hear you’ve made a lot of progress on Varkas Reflex. You’re inventing a lot of things.”

“Yes. Hogarth didn’t come to the quorums for that stuff, so we weren’t able to catch up. That is a long time ago. I wonder what it looks like at this point in the future.”

“We could find out, as long as you don’t intend to return to the past.”

“We left Loa there, and some other friends,” Hokusai said. “We’ll only be staying for the next eleven years, though.” She would only have to live for that amount of time more before she would rendezvous with Hilde at the Gatewood Collective, where they would stick together for a while, until restarting the separation cycle.

“Oh yeah, you’re with one of the Petrićs, right? Katrina?”

“Katica,” Hokusai corrected. “Yes, she’s been regulating time technology as a representative for the humans.”

“She should be here,” Hilde suggested.

“She can’t. She can’t travel through nonlinear time. It’s like a time affliction, I guess.”

“Ah, I see.”

“That’s my cue.” A woman had come into the room. Hogarth and Hilde didn’t know who she was, but Hokusai did.

“Katica?” She was surprised. “How is this possible?”

“I came here the long way around,” Katica answered. “Well...the medium way. I’m here to object.”

“Object to what?” Hogarth questioned.

“Your little time-siphoning technology,” Katica said. “I cannot allow you to build it without doing my due diligence.”

“The matter is settled,” Hogarth tried to explain. “The meeting is over.”

“I demand representation,” Katica insisted.

“That’s not how this works,” Hogarth volleyed.

“Piglet,” Hilde jumped in. “Be respectful.”

“She’s not part of The Shortlist.”

“Neither am I, but my opinion has mattered in the past. You should hear her out.”

“The plenum is gone,” Hogarth reminded her. “Pribadium, your mother, Holly Blue, and I are the only ones left.”

“I’m here too,” said Ramses.

Everyone jumped. “Oh my God, you are still here.”

“That’s still only five; not enough for a quorum. I’m not even sure if we can reverse a prior decision without reconvening the entire list. Even if I were to allow this outrage at all. The Glisnians are counting on us.”

“I’m not letting you destroy perfectly good stars and orbitals,” Katica argued. “The rest of the galaxy is counting on me.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do. Everyone qualified to make this decision did so. We do not take it lightly, and we are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of the vonearthans, and any Starseed descendants. I assure you there is nothing we have neither considered, nor won’t consider by the time it becomes a problem.”

Katica nodded. “Right. Your shortlist. I have a shorter one.” She removed a card from her back pocket, and slapped it on the table.

Hogarth and Hokusai scooted closer together to look over it. Ramses glided over to look over their shoulders. “Jupiter’s on here twice.”

“There are two Jupiters. We may need one of them, but I don’t know which one to trust. They’re not really on the list. We would just call them if what I propose is accepted.”

“Thor or Saxon?”

“Yes,” Katica confirmed. “Either one will do; whichever you can get. Someone needs to represent Project Stargate.”

“Kestral and Ishida sufficed for that earlier,” Hogarth put forth.

“I want more voices!” Katica’s own voice grew louder with every word. “These are the people who have the galaxy’s best interests at heart; not just the scientists.”

“We understand that,” Hokusai said, “which is why our mediator is never a scientist.”

“That’s not good enough,” Katica contended. “Are you going to play ball, or not? Because if you don’t, I might have to take matters into my own hands. You’re not the only ones with resources and power, and you’re not the only ones worried about consequences.”

“Are you threatening us?” Now Hogarth was getting upset.

“We’ll do it. Holly Blue was standing in the doorway. “Porter is still here, waiting to send the Varkans back home. I’m sure she’ll help us gather this new list.”

Hogarth sighed. Holly Blue was indeed in charge now, but she wasn’t happy. They had just spent hours hashing all this out, and it could all be undone by this bogus new list. “This can’t possibly be the Viana Černý.”

“The very same,” Katica verified.

“Who deveiled her? Or do you plan on doing it yourself now? Beaver Haven might have something to say about that, even this far in the future.”

“She’s pretty smart. She figured it out. The story of how we met is actually rather funny; us realizing we both carried the same secret.”

There was a brief silence. “Fine,” Hogarth acquiesced. “We’ll do it again.”

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Microstory 1470: The Transition Continues

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Since 2100, the city of Aljabara had not gone more than five years without holding an election. Most of these weren’t fair or legitimate, but they did take place, and those who the government decided were worthy of casting votes were free to do so. After the fall of the Republic, there were a lot of decisions that needed to be made in order to sustain the Provisional Government, but these weren’t determined through formal votes. They were polls. A special committee formed which did what they could to understand public opinion, and then used the general consensus to form policy. But no woman alive today had been free to cast a real ballot on Durus, except for Ecrin. The year 2165 was meant to be the time to do that, but this temporary governmental body wasn’t quite prepared for it. The greatest number of people ever, by a huge margin, would be voting in this round of elections, and no one around knew how to handle that. Even the visitors from Earth who had always been part of a democratic system didn’t know how to organize it, because none of them had experience in that field. They did their best, and tried to include everyone, but ballots were lost, or miscounted, or damaged, or people weren’t registered correctly. It was a huge mess. They would have remained in the transitional period even if it had gone smoothly, because no one had written a new Constitution...because no one knew how. Even so, it was a requirement for full-fledged governmental recognition, according to a recent poll. So new people were elected into leadership positions, and new committees were formed to make decisions, but nothing was official, and not everyone recognized the authority bestowed upon certain people from the votes. No one knew whose ballots were counted, and whose weren’t, but people whose preferred candidate lost tended to believe that their voice had been ignored. However close to accurate as it might have managed to be incidentally, no one was completely happy with the results, since it was so unclear. People began to protest, and demanded a revote. Few people were against this happening, except of course people who were still, or now, in power. It didn’t start a war, but the whole thing might have collapsed in a few years if something wasn’t done about it. Fortunately for them, a threat was on the horizon that galvanized the people of Durus into action, and finally forced them to form the Democratic Republic. But until this was official, the people lived under something called the Salmon Battalion Military State.

Microstory 1469: Drumpf is Fired

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One of the first paramounts to rise up after the Hokusai and the Deathspring changed the whole system was a young woman named Andromeda. She was a builder, who could configure building materials in complex and extremely useful ways. She was one of the most powerful people Durus ever saw, save the source mages and Jayde Kovak herself. Because of this, Andromeda garnered a lot of favor amongst both the Earthan refugees, and the Duruen natives. She would later turn Aljabara into a real city, with stable buildings and roads, rather than the haphazard fustercluck it was before. She built outposts as well, like the settlements that formed during the Mage Protectorate. But even before she did all that for them, everyone loved her, and listened to her, much like they did Ecrin, so when she came to some kind of decision, it was tantamount to law. Some insisted on calling her Queen Andromeda, but if they were going to do that, she in turn insisted they address her as Your Badass. It was a play on words, and modeled upon certain other honorifics, like Your Honor, or Your Highness. Despite his higher standing in the Provisional Government, even Drumpf had to acquiesce to her authority. But this authority was not taken, or earned, it was just given to her. Because that was how this new transitional system worked. People trusted whoever proved that they could be trusted, and when that person started to fail them, they demanded the individual be removed from power. For now, this would probably be okay, because of the whole provisional part. But it was not necessarily a good dynamic in the long-term. It could end up okay, like the Adhocracy that formed a hundred and forty years ago. Or it could just lead to anarchy. They needed something better; something more formal, and though it would take a very long time to actually get there, progress towards this goal would start with Andromeda. They held a meeting, where governmental officials pleaded for her to help them with the reconstruction efforts, and she was happy to help, but she had a list of demands.

While the people were busy trying to correct their history of misogyny, they unwittingly fell into another trap of injustice. They treated the people who had come here from Earth a couple years ago as second-class citizens, forcing them to live separately in a refugee camp. The Durune weren’t openly hostile, but they were preoccupied with their own problems, and didn’t want to help these new people. Andromeda had to explain to them that they were all part of the same community now, and if that truth were to be respected, everyone would be able to contribute in their own way, including the Earthans. The Provisional Government had to officially recognize the Earthans as citizens. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be allowed to leave if an opportunity came about to return to Earth, but it would allow them to enjoy certain privileges, such as moving about the surface of the planet at will. She also engineered a way for Poppet Drumpf to step down as provisor, because she could easily see how toxic he was, and how he had not changed from his past. He wouldn’t have done it on his own, so Andromeda had to ask for help from a friend named Loa, whose time power it was to broadcast what she was seeing to anywhere—or everywhere, as it were—in the world simultaneously. He said some nasty things about his people, and they finally understood that he really hadn’t learned from his past mistakes. It would be a few more years until a round of elections came about, but for now, the government was at least peaceful and stable, and would be allowed to continue trying to make the world a better place. She wouldn’t do it forever, but Andromeda did use her powers to construct homes and other proper buildings, and would die a rare hero in most people’s eyes.