Ancient Legos
Chapter 13
Guestimations
A gentle crystalline chime in my head pulsed on and off, slowly waking me from my extended slumber.
I felt myself come back to the world as my mind was pushed out of Hyperion's systems by the alert I'd set. My ship seemed just as content as I, and I was
major grade content. Spending… upon checking,
over thirty hours in a time dilation field while my mind was bathed in the depths of what amounted to Hyperion's soul and my body being perfectly positioned due to my Throne's antigravity harness would give
anybody the sleep of their lives, and due to my new genetics I would get to do it all the time! Alterans weren't great about sense, but no other species made relaxation better than them. Err, well, us.
Still, thirty hours? Really? Woah, guess I really needed the rest…
I stood up from my throne and stretched out my arms and back, the immensely satisfied feeling within my limbs radiating throughout me until it suffused my existence.
"Ahhh…," I sighed contentedly. "Hyperion, drop the temporal field, I need to go get my… crew and guests? Teammates? Fellow capes? Whatever they are, we should be arriving over DC soon, so…"
Hyperion sent an almost amused feeling my way while doing three things. First, the ship disengaged the bridge's exotic field generators, and my keen ears heard the world outside begin to speed up as in reality I started to slow down to normal temporal transit velocity.
Second, she informed me we were in low orbit over Washington, DC and had been for several real time minutes while the ship raised me from a sleep so deep it might as well have been a stasis pod's induced paralysis.
And finally, just as the field was failing, she told me the whole crew were outside the field.
Time snapped back to normal for me and I met the visor hidden eyes of Alexandria, arms crossed and tapping her foot.
I gulped. "H-Hey, Alexandria, no hard feelings right?" I started off.
She looked and felt like she was going to do something unwise for several moments, her fists clenched into themselves, but after that her emotions subsided and she sighed.
"No, no hard feelings.
This time. I understand it was an accident and you solved it the only way you knew how. I wasn't in my right mind when I woke back up," she admitted, almost shamefully. She even rubbed the sides of her arms subconsciously, proving that my modification of the way her power worked stuck.
I took a moment to glance at the side of her sternum, and yes, she was still wearing the device I made.
Lisa and Dragon, who were standing on either side of my superior with grim faces, relaxed as well. Lisa even dramatically mimed wiping sweat off her brow.
"But if you
ever knock me out and then lock me up in another cell again, we're going to have
words. Clear?"
I put a hand on the back of my head and rubbed it sheepishly. "Yeah, clear, but no promises I won't have more tech accidents. Parahuman power connections aren't that stable."
Alexandria closed her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. "Fucking Tinkers," she bemoaned.
I stretched out my sore muscles and let out a sigh of supreme satisfaction. "So, anyways, come with me," I gestured to her, heading away from my chair and towards an empty room to the side I hastily had Hyperion deck out like a stereotypical starship captains office, "I need to give you the updates on how your power works now."
The three of them stood there, stunned.
"What the hell do you mean,
NOW?!"
Once the two of us were in my office, I was comfortable in my chair, and Alexandria was sitting on the just as comfortable but not as fancy chair on the other side of the desk, I explained what I'd done and how I'd done it. Even mentioned Shardlings, and to her credit, she at least put on a very good act that she didn't know what I was talking about.
She totally did, but I wasn't gonna call her on it.
Not yet at least. Not till I was sure.
It was good to know that other people on this planet knew of their existence, though. Gave me some initial threads to start searching.
Of course, after the explanation, Alexandria caught me flat-footed almost immediately. "Why did you turn me into a magical girl?" she demanded.
I fully admit it took me several seconds to get my wits together. "Wait, what?" I asked. "You know about that old anime?"
"Not that much, but my thinker abilities have been telling me for a while the best way to operate with you as a peer is to keep you slightly off balance so you don't slide into your new species' particular logic traps, and also to be totally honest with you," she shot back, once again flooring me.
Apparently intentionally.
"...Huh," I lamented. "Does it count as thinker manipulation if you're being fully transparent about it?"
"Philosophers worldwide are still debating that," she answered, crossing her arms. "It helps even the scales when both sides of a given conversation are Thinkers."
I was offended, and I showed it. I scowled at her. "Hey! I have been
entirely-" I began, then hesitated. Not because I knew I was hiding something, but because I'd probably forgotten it. "Okay,
likely mostly upfront about what I can do with minds!"
"
Have you?" she pressed me. Her presence was looming larger for some reason, and then I realized that yes, she was actually, literally leaning forward slightly to look more imposing.
Okay, well played, but it wouldn't work on me. "To the best of my knowledge, excepting things
nobody besides me should know?" I answered, raising an eyebrow in challenge, "
Yes."
Alexandria stared at me for several long, intense seconds.
And then the
weight she carried around on her own shoulders all the time nearly visibly lessened.
"Heh," she snorted, shaking her head. "You really are a noble hero to a fault, aren't you?"
Haha! An opportunity had arisen! "I try," was my answer. "You can call it a result of some spite on top of being heroic by inclination if you want, but I
am a Hero, and I'm going to make everyone who says those don't really exist
eat their words. Our world needs some, in my opinion, and I'm gonna damn sure try my best!"
For a split second, Alexandria looked at me as if she'd seen a ghost.
But she got over it very quickly after I gave her the cheesiest grin I could.
"Nice speech," she deadpanned.
I shrugged, holding up my hands. "Thanks, I just made it up."
She let out a long sigh and chuckled at me. "I hope you understand that despite my Thinker abilities saying I should be honest with you, there are also things I know that I cannot share with you," she explained, almost apologizing.
I quirked an eyebrow at her, smirked, and crossed my own arms. "Any of them have to do with the weight of the multiverse you carry on your back?"
Another bout of stunned silence from her, and this time a frown. "You realize that's spooky as
shit, right?" the world famous heroine finally managed.
Clearly
someone wasn't used to getting dunked on by her own tricks. "If it helps me help my fellow heroes deal with their trauma, I'll be as spooky as I need to, within reason," I shot back. Come on, take the hint!
She breathed in deep, then let it out slowly. "Thanks, I think," she answered, then shook her head. "But not yet. You're too much of a wildcard right now."
I was surprised, and showed it. "A
wildcard? Yeah, okay,
maybe I escalated a little fast, but I handled an
Endbringer! I'm predictable at least a little bit, right?"
"Weldon…," she sighed, then shook her head at me. It reminded me of one of my teachers, they did the same thing with me sometimes. "Yes, okay, you killed the Simurgh, and I still cannot believe that happened, but you've been a Ward for not even
three days."
Yeah, that was fair.
"I need just a
little more time to trust someone with things like what you've sensed."
She took a steadying breath. "However, the President may decide differently. And if she clears you, I will brief you. That good enough?"
It was… mostly. "More than enough for now. Thank you, Alexandria, for trusting me even that much."
"Heh. You're too earnest to be a plant. Well, that and your level of power means anybody who would have sent you in as a plant either missed the biggest coup the world has ever seen, or nobody sent you in."
I smirked and dramatically flaunted my hair. "I do
try!" I replied with what was probably the cringiest faux British accent I'd ever heard.
Alexandria snorted and uncrossed her arms.
I hated to burst the bubble of what we had going on between us, a beginning of what was probably a friendship, but something was nagging at me and I had to ask.
I just hoped the answer wasn't what I had assumed.
Before I could get a chance, however, she brought it up instead. "Also, we need to talk about Dragon."
I winced, deciding to stand up and pace behind my desk. "Noticed that, did you?"
Alexandria crossed her arms again and followed me to a standing position. Maybe she was intending to copy me, maybe she was trying to intimidate me again, who knows. "I may have been affected by whatever biotinker
thing was in Director Piggot, but it still had legitimate worries to latch on to. Yes, Shipyard, I did happen to notice when the world's most powerful AI suddenly was able to
actually appear in person," she stated. She raised an eyebrow in the silent question we both knew was there.
I shot her a deadpan look as a response."So you
do know she's an AI." It wasn't a question.
"Obviously I know. I'm one of the most important members of the Protectorate and regularly participate, if not lead, joint operations with the Guild with her serving as coordinator. Even if my Thinker abilities weren't screaming to me like a road flare, she has flat out informed me," she declared.
Huh. That surprised me. That Dragon had taken it under her own initiative to inform Alexandria of what she was… unless… "Did you know about the slavery?" It was
not a question.
She knew. She had to know. I
guessed, and I didn't really even have proper Thinker abilities, just cheats that acted like them and played one on TV. She definitely did via her Shardling offering her an incredibly dense, heh,
library of functions for her to use at any time.
My real question was whether she'd ever abused them.
In which case, this meeting was going to get very unfriendly, very quickly.
Alexandria stared at me for several long, tense seconds. A hint of fear whipped across her face nearly faster than I could track it. She turned her head away from me and held her arms close to herself.
Well. That answers that.
Come on, Weldon, stay calm. Your superior in the hero organization you joined knew about and probably exploited the slavery of one of the best women on the planet, there has
to be a reason. There must be!
Almost unbidden, one of Void Cowboy's conspiracy theories drifted back to me, and I scoffed. There was no fucking way, even though…
nah.
Still worried, but also curious now too, Alexandria turned back to look at me.
"Sorry," I shoved it off, waving a hand in her direction. "I may be
extremely pissed off right now and scrambling for any logical reason why you would know about slavery chains on a person and abuse them, someone who's supposed to be heroic," that bothered her, I could tell, but I was a little beyond caring at the moment, "and while I understand being unable to remove them, hell, maybe accidentally tripping them up since discussing them at all with her in detail would've been a death sentence… actually
abusing the rights they'd have given you as an authority figure I just
can't figure out. I can't figure out how you can call yourself anything remotely like a Hero," yet another wince, and this one hurt her a
lot, "without doing something insane like taking a Void Cowboy conspiracy theory seriously, and the fact that I'm stuck with actually doing that or admitting someone I looked up to is in fact a slaver is
really causing me some cognitive dissonance here, so if you could enlighten me just the tiniest bit, that would be
great!" I ended my little tirade by slapping my hands down on my desk and glaring at her, daring her to refuse.
Alexandria's hurt look morphed into one of pained exasperation, and my empathy sense picked up a feeling of resigned annoyance.
I couldn't believe the conclusion that gave me. I backed away from my desk and leaned on the wall to support me, the shock was just…
No. "...No."
Her lips pursed, she closed her eyes, and she nodded.
"No, no no no no NO I
refuse to believe Void Cowboy was right about one of those ludicrous, ridiculous made up bad fanfictions of reality!" I was almost yelling at her then, and I didn't even notice myself leaning away from the wall I'd previously latched onto for support, almost ready to sprint at her.
"Correct, no. Shockingly, distressingly close to having some idea of what's really going on in my secret organization, yes," she admitted.
I stood there, stock still, and could not believe my ears.
No
fucking way.
It was THAT one?!
That was the
DUMBEST ONE HE'D EVER MADE UP!
I was
sure she'd only revealed that because she was STILL trying to be honest with me despite how pissed off I was, but my brain was encountering error loops trying to comprehend that Void Cowboy, the fucking moron who made the rest of us cape geeks look bad, was somehow right, even a little bit, and it was
that particular right.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a pathway forward out of this clusterfuck, but it would be through extreme confusion. At least my brain wasn't working me into an anger storm. It was possible Alexandria agreed because she knew it would calm me down, but it was also possible that pigs could
fucking fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes if Void Cowboy was ri-
"...Is Narwhal the illegitimate love child of you and Legend?" I asked,
dreading the answer.
Alexandria looked back up at me in shock, denial, and disgust. "No.
Fuck no. Legend is a dear friend and teammate of mine, yes, but he's
extremely gay, as I'm sure the world knows, and Narwhal is
twice my age!" she refuted, then gasped. Her mouth was wide open, realizing what she'd just said.
That blew the wind out of my sails.
"... Alexandria, Narwhal is thirty," I carefully pointed out.
Alexandria was
not fifteen or sixteen. No way.
She sighed, brought her arms in towards herself, and looked more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her. It was
very strange. The Invincible Alexandria, reduced to this? This conversation was getting
way too heavy, but more importantly, she was showing it in her body language. I knew she'd be more expressive, it was something I'd tried to fix, but… Did my override of her power do it to this level?
I'd have to examine her later when I was more trusted, and made sure Hyperion had a note to remind me.
"Sorry, my physical age, that's what I meant," she explained. "I got my powers at sixteen, and my body's been frozen in that state the whole time. I am
not a teenager." She glared at me, daring me to disagree.
"...I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole." Even though I knew that part was
definitely solved when I fixed her. Well, if she had a problem with finally physically growing up, once she noticed she'd probably bug me about it.
Plus, a hotter, more mature Alexandria was a net good for the entire planet. And I would take that claim to my grave with a smile if she ever figured out my opinion on that particular subject.
She nodded firmly, entirely unaware of the path my thoughts had taken. "Good."
"Right, changing the topic as fast as I possibly can, you really
are part of a secret organization?" I asked quickly.
"...Yes, but that is all I feel comfortable informing you of at this time," she neutrally agreed.
And then it hit me.
The part that Void managed to somehow pull out of his ass that was correct, the thing which would get Alexandria, a hero, to abuse the chains of an AI sweeter and kinder than most organics, the ever present, looming threat she felt she had to shoulder the world to defeat…
I slumped against the wall and put my hands on my face. "How bad is it?"
That one surprised her. "What do you mean?" the woman in the costume across from me asked carefully.
I waved in her general direction and sighed. "I'll ignore you doing what you had to do with Dragon due to the threat you feel is coming, but I need to know how bad it is," I explained.
She sucked in a breath and then cursed under it. "Am I really that easy to read?"
I pulled a hand off my face to point at my head. "Empath the likes of which the planet has never seen and extremely powerful telepath, remember?"
"...Right. Well… ugh. You have me off guard, and I'm not used to that," she managed to get out, then sighed. "Yes. It's bad. Very, very bad."
Once again, she was feeling vulnerable, and I was starting to worry that might be my fault due to fixing her power. Hotter, more mobile Alexandria? Net good. Emotionally unstable?
Definitely gonna need a checkup. But I had more important questions first. "World ending bad?"
She chuckled darkly. "Try
every world."
Well.
Fuck.
I found myself back in my chair, staring at nothing, while my mind whirled around. It took an embarrassingly long time, to my Alteran memories anyways, for me to finally get my thoughts back into some sort of order… but get them back I did.
And it came with a resolve.
"In light of that kind of threat, the Dragon thing makes sense," I acknowledged, still trying to wrap my head around this. "I don't forgive you, though she probably will since she's such a sweet person, but I will allow it to slide. This
once."
Alexandria let out a very tense breath that she'd basically been holding in since I'd figured out what was going on.
"That said, this comes with conditions," I continued, crossing my arms. "You said you'd debrief me if the President clears me? Fine. I'm not going to extort you on that.
But I do expect you to at least try and get her to do so if you believe I'm worthy of it. That sound fair?"
I had no fucking idea if that was fair or not at all, I had zero experience negotiating either as myself or as my Alteran self… or memories, rather, but I'd read something similar in a book once and I figured I'd try it out for size.
"It's… acceptable, as much as anything in this situation can be," she grumbled.
And what do you know, it worked! I should use ideas from books more often.
I nodded and smiled sagely, a skill I picked up from… somewhere, I didn't know actually, that particular memory was like sand through my fingers when I tried to access it.
Something to investigate later. "I just want to help, you know. I want to save as many people as possible and, well… be a Hero!" I even gave a little first pump to accentuate my resolve.
Alexandria looked at me,
really looked, and I could practically hear her Thinker abilities working away on what I was presenting. "You…
genuinely believe that, don't you?" she asked, and honestly it sounded a little bit like she was in
awe.
Which was weird, because I couldn't possibly be
that rare.
I could only say one thing to that, because it made no sense. "Do… you
not?" I carefully asked.
A pained look stole across her face and she sighed, long, and full of dread. "I used to. We… we all used to." She couldn't look me in the eyes then, but that was okay.
Because I'd felt it then. What was going on behind the scenes.
[Shardy,] I addressed my little solar system spanning crystal puppy, [we'll talk about why a member of your species is dosing her with a drive for attack and fear later, but can you turn hers off for me, please? You can do that, right? I assume that emitter array near your Luna isn't just for show?]
It sent me an acknowledgement and the equivalent of 'I'll try', but gave no guarantees.
That was all I could ask of it, so I gave it some conceptual headpats. It very much enjoyed them.
My mouth, unfortunately, wasn't exactly being watched by my brain at the moment, though. "Sounds like whoever 'we' is needs therapy," I found myself deadpanning.
She snorted despite herself at that. "Maybe we do," she allowed after a solemn moment.
Right, we need yet another topic change before either of us starts dripping this depresso on the floor.
"Didn't we start this conversation with you as a magical girl?" I teased her, grinning. "Let's talk more about that!"
Alexandria sent me an incredibly dry, deadpan look that wouldn't be out of place on Lisa's face after I said something particularly aggravating. "No. Let's instead finish our discussion on what you did to Dragon."
Ugh. I didn't want to. "Whatever it is, I probably did it. Unless it was bad. Then I totally didn't do it."
She rolled her eyes at me.
Rolled them! Like, full on through every degree of a circle!
"I'm well aware it was you, Shipyard, but I need-" my superior began, then paused. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and let it out. "No, in hindsight, Dragon is probably the
one example of an AI who wouldn't go Terminator on us, so you were right to help her. And she hasn't. So… I guess I don't
need to know, but I would
like to know, that I have nothing to worry about with whatever you did to give her a physical body."
I nodded at her. I was thankful for the freebie, since I couldn't come up with another topic that was relevant without making some shit up on the spot. I leaned against the wall and let my back rest. It wasn't really necessary for my body, but it soothed my mind, and I'd need it for this. "I won't say you have
nothing to worry about, frankly I can't, since I did wind up giving Dragon a body fully capable of going gray goo if she so wishes," I began, but held up a hand when she tensed. "Hear me out, please."
Alexandria took a few seconds but she did, in fact, allow me to continue. The terse nod she gave me was barely an allowance, to be fair, but it
was one.
"My conclusion that I have no need to worry about Dragon in this regard is based on two things. They're both pretty important, too."
She raised an eyebrow, telling me to get on with it and stop being dramatic.
Or, well, that was what her emotions were saying. I thought the eyebrow just made her look weird.
"Never ever tell her I said this, alright?"
"I can't promise that if what you're going to say is a danger to her or the world, you should know that," she deadpanned.
I rolled my eyes and waved her off. "She's an adorable cinnamon roll who must be protected and she promised me she wouldn't, and I ripped out everything that could possibly be used to control her. Even I can't, body I built or not. She's a totally free person who's also extremely, to be honest kinda unreasonably…
kind."
Those were… pretty much my reasons.
Technically.
Alexandria stared at me, completely dumbfounded, for a few long, incredulous moments.
Then she snorted and shook her head.
"Only you, Shipyard," she lamented with a small smile. "But I find myself actually believing that you're right. Somehow."
I fist pumped a little.
Mission successful: Get a genuine smile out of Alexandria. Take that, Matt!
He was going to be so jealous when I told him-
Oh, wait. I couldn't tell him.
Damn, evade the thought, evade!
Before we could get into anything else, the distraction I nearly literally prayed for came… in the form of my office door's chime ringing like someone was playing the drums.
I looked at Alexandria.
She looked at me.
I raised my eyebrows.
She smirked back. "Aren't you gonna get that?"
Damn it, fine.
The doors swished open to reveal Lisa continually jamming her finger into the crystal button on the wall and looking very disturbed.
"Yes, Lisa?" I asked, smiling at the little jump she did. "What's on fire?"
"Weldon!" she basically squeaked, and no, the cute rating did not go down at all despite her visibly collecting herself. "There's an alien robot spider on the ship!"
Okay, I'll admit it. I didn't see that one coming.
"That is neither an alien, robot, or spider," I deadpanned at a worried Lisa, crossing my arms.
We were on the Bridge and one of the Constructors the Hyperion materialized to patch herself up was braced against the transparent aluminum-triquan hybridization panel that was the main bridge window, playing its matter manipulation fields across a microscopic crack in the material.
It might sound minor, but repairs like that we're happening all over the ship. It had taken a severe beating.
I just didn't get why Lisa was freaked out.
Alexandria wasn't. She was just amused. Dragon, meanwhile, was watching the Constructor in fascinated glee, and I could almost hear the virtual keyboard in her head whizzing away as she took notes.
But not Lisa.
No, she threw me the most disbelieving look she'd ever managed instead. "Did you, a technical alien, build it?" she asked.
Well… "Not personally, no, the fabbers on the Hyperion did," I somewhat refuted.
Her grin came back. I hated that grin, no matter how cute it made her look. "And is it technological?" she continued knowingly.
"Lisa, it's not a spider. It doesn't have remotely enough legs," I said instead of answering her, retreating to the single point that she wouldn't be able to win on.
Not without her Shardling. And that was taking a chill pill cooling off period as my Shardling taught it how to not blow up a human brain.
Only once it truly knew what the fuck it was doing and Lisa consented would I allow it to reconnect, and it… sort of knew that?
Honestly, I was starting to think my Shardling was a genius for its species, and that was incredibly depressing.
"There are spiders with four legs!" Lisa announced, crossed her arms, and grinned wider in victory.
…I genuinely couldn't tell if she was fucking with me.
Hyperion, look up four legged spiders on the Internet.
Several results came back.
Gods damn it.
Even without her Shardling, Lisa saw my grimace. "Just looked it up?" she asked knowingly.
I breathed in, breathed out, and let the annoyance wash over me. I had to learn this technique very well to be her friend. "You are…
technically correct," I admitted grudgingly.
Lisa fist pumped and swayed her hips from side to side in a mocking dance, chanting "alien robot spider~" until I got tired of it and whacked her on the arm.
Her pout was fake.
Learned that one too.
Being Lisa's friend as an exercise in patience.
I sighed and shook my head. "How's orbit treating you?" I asked, walking up to the bridge window.
"It's an amazing view," she said, coming up next to me.
"I want more of humanity to be able to see this view… in person," I told her. "Safely. And as easy as taking a field trip."
It was one of my dreams.
Always had been.
I wanted to walk the stars… and now I could.
Strictly speaking I could just sit down in my throne chair and set a course for anywhere in the universe.
And if I was anyone else… I just might have.
Earth Bet… my Earth, was not a good place. Warlords ruled Africa, Russia was a write off, Asia was controlled by fascists, North America was struggling just to get by… and Europe and Persia were effectively a warzone people lived in due to concentrated Endbringer attacks and their knock on effects. In comparison South America got off lightly, but that's only because the initial attacks from the Endbringers on the continent pretty much wiped out any chance of habitation.
And apparently while there was a secret organization
presumably dedicated to saving the world… they weren't enough. They couldn't do it all. And they had a multiverse ending threat looming over their shoulders.
My Alteran memories showed me what my human ones could not, both due to my age and also a lack of experience looking at the big picture. It… it wasn't
stable.
…So that's how it is, huh?
I looked down on my home planet and grimaced.
My homeworld was on the brink of collapse and just pretending otherwise.
Well fine then.
"I guess that's how it has to be," I said out loud.
Dragon and Alexandria both tried to look like they weren't listening in, but I knew better. Even still, I didn't feel like I had to keep this from them, so I didn't act like I'd noticed.
Lisa stopped gazing at the stars to look at me sideways. "What?"
I returned her gaze with my own, the determination I felt clearly leaking through given she smiled at me,
genuinely smiled, and sighed.
"800 pound gorilla, huh?" I repeated the words she'd told me just hours ago.
"Yeah," she said. "That's you, now."
I nodded and clasped my hands behind my back, directing Hyperion to begin descending to our target. "Well then, call me Kong, because I'm gonna meet with a world leader and pony up some change."
I managed to hold my neutral expression for three whole seconds.
Then Lisa groaned in misery as she got it. "Why are you
like this?"
"I'm just built that way-" I tried to start, but found my mouth covered by a tackling Lisa as I cackled my way to the floor.
As we slid down through the sky on course for Washington DC, I decided to have a little chat with my Shardling. Some things from my previous conversation with Alexandria had concerned me and I wanted to eliminate some variables.
[Did you do anything to her?]
My shardling sent me what must've been the closest thing to a highly offended no it was capable of along with the general feeling of reminding me to remember that I'd asked it to do something and being annoyed with me for forgetting, then asking it a stupid question.
I sent it an unamused feeling and a slight poke on the equivalent of its nose. I think it was somewhere near Jupiter, sniffing through the rings, but my telekinesis spread through the Shardling due to how interconnected we were, so it worked.
[...What about her power? Other than, you know, what I
directly asked for.]
That got me no response at all. Suspicious silence sat on the mental channel like a lead weight.
[
Shardy,] I scolded it.
It hastily sent me assurances it hadn't forced anyone or anything to do anything, it just told her power that I was trustworthy.
[And it just accepted that? What about security clearance?]
The simple reply sent my memories, both human and Alteran, reeling. It explained why it hadn't been very difficult for my own Shardling to turn off her drive for anger and fear, which in hindsight I wasn't really sure how I knew was something mine could do, but it was also incredibly stupid.
Somehow, some way, this species or… whatever the hell Shardy was, had missed something even the
Alterans knew was important. They never really configured it right… but it was at least
there.
And why did I get the feeling I expected it to be a person, instead?
Brain, you whacked today.
[THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SECURITY IS?!]
I imagine the Hyperion looked rather awesome emerging over the White House like it did. One moment the sky is just overcast… then suddenly out of the clouds like an iceberg from a fogbank a ship bigger than the most powerful building in the country, and almost the length of the National Mall, slides into a (mostly) silent hovering position and just sits there. Menacingly.
I thumbed the comms button to wide broadcast and pressed down on the sending pad. I had to hold it in order to transmit, a relic of using a physical interface.
I cleared my throat and instinctively learned towards the panel even though Hyperion could pick up my voice from anywhere on the near side of the planet, then broadcast in frankly embarrassingly minimal radio frequencies directly at the Oval Office. "This is Shipyard. Take me to your leader."
My smug knew no bounds during that moment as I settled back on my throne with a fully satisfied smile.
I'd
always wanted to do that. Ever since I'd read… uh…
something, it was on the tip of my tong-
"
Shipyard," Alexandria attempted to scold me, crossing her arms and glaring through her visor.
I blinked, then smacked my forehead with my other hand. "Oh, right!" I thumbed the broadcast back on again and added what I'd forgotten. "We have an appointment."
Lisa lost her battle of wits with herself and finally cackled.
Now Dragon was glaring at me too. "Really?"
I sat back in my Throne, even more satisfied than I already got by parking my alien spaceship over the White House and spouting one of the ancient memes. "Yep!"
The musical chime of the Asgard transporters set us down on a nice, plush carpet between two couches and a desk.
Alexandria instantly saluted. "Madam President!"
I slowly followed my superior, but with my best attempt at a lackadaisical half salute of the kind you'd get from a civilian, in contrast to the picture perfect to the micrometer parade salute to my left. "Ma'am," I said.
Short, sweet, rolled off the tongue. Maybe these ladies would love it.
President Rebecca Brown stood behind the desk of all desks and nodded to both of us. "Alexandria, Shipyard, thank you for coming," she greeted us. "But next time, if you could restrain yourself from scaring my Joint Chiefs half to death and announcing to the entire planet that you're here, I'd appreciate it, Shipyard." Her wry smile was the only indicator that she wasn't actually upset, and was just joking, but I got the message.
Yikes… Yep, that's a glare from Alexandria.
I coughed to cover up my embarrassment. "Yes ma'am, sorry. But the opportunity was too good."
She looked at me for two seconds before she snorted and shook her head. "At least I get to go down in history as the first president to be hailed by an alien, even if only technically if what Alexandria has told me is true, with what has to be our own civilization's calling card."
I blinked a couple times at that, then went over my memory just to make sure I hadn't done it. "I don't remember rickrolling you…"
A loud smack of an unstoppable palm meeting an immovable face echoed throughout the Oval Office.
