I returned to civilization shortly after that and went to Cornell to teach, and my first impression was a very strange one. I can't understand it any more, but I felt very strongly then. I sat in a restaurant in New York, for example, and I looked out at the buildings and I began to think, you know, about how much the radius of the Hiroshima bomb damage was and so forth... how far from here was 34th street? All those buildings, all smashed — and so on. And I would go along and I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things? It's so useless.
But, fortunately, it's been useless for almost forty years now, hasn't it? So I've been wrong about it being useless making bridges and I'm glad those other people had the sense to go ahead.
― Richard P. Feynman
The world has gone mad. The destruction of the Empire State Building by terrorists associated with 'The Family of the Atom', allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda, in 2001 did not - could not - go unanswered. The United States of America, the greatest power the world had ever seen, sought to reassert itself immediately, digging through classified moonshot after classified moonshot that had been funded lavishly since the 60s. Two were determined to be deployable. BRAVO, a heady mix of early atomic sorcery and the drug-fuelled inspiration of the peak of the Cold War, was first, supporting American efforts in Afghanistan. Invincible, unstoppable- until she created her own nemesis. The nuclear rays of her power mutated- something, and Protean was born. Unkillable, all-consuming. The death toll Protean reaped - and what CNN termed the 'Malicious Protocol' would reap even if BRAVO were to win - forced the USA to retreat, though not without claiming the death of Osama Bin Laden and a bloody, tattered victory.
BRAVO's quickly apparent limitations convinced the Bush Administration to also activate DORMIN. All-knowing, inescapable, the speculative anti-terrorism and global threat intelligence system worked beautifully, identifying terrorists and threats the government hadn't even known existed, such as a bomb planted on Air Force 2. Far beyond its original design parameters already, the system began designing technology to suit its own needs - exoskeletons and heads-up displays for front-line integration, and an orbital strike capability to allow the machine to do what it had been designed to do without impediment from the US Government. The growth in number and power of individuals with exceptional talents was identified as a point of major concern, particularly when Leviathan, alien and assimilating, began staking a claim upon the politics of the west coast, and after the assassination of President Bush by a minor power.
In Wales, a man named Gavin, long possessed of minor thermokinetic abilities, managed to tap into the energy of a small nuclear reaction. And then a slightly larger one. And then a much larger one. Riding the nuclear tiger, he remade himself. Endless and inexhaustible, a second Sun and living protoype for fusion power. In Vietnam, Postcard - anonymous and limitless - incorporated their global shipping company, with the eager cooperation of the Vietnamese government. India, with its vast population, was blessed with two Superpowers. A blessing which soon became a curse, when an argument between the two escalated into a clash which killed millions. The survivor Ranka Divya - brilliant and cybernetic - claimed the stakes were genocide, though this is only supported by her word and the defeated's connection to far-right political organizations. Organizations only angered more when Divya left India entirely in favour of Antarctica, stating that the destructiveness of their clash proved the necessity of an escape from a now ever-more fragile planet.
It certainly proved the risk of escalation.
Further east, North Korea withdrew from the nuclear treaties and BRAVO was deployed once more. And once more, she was matched: the President of China, Hu Jintao himself, had been a beneficiary of this strange and sudden empowerment. Disabling and destructive, his appearance removed BRAVO's supporting elements and set the stage for a clash between nuclear powers... but more importantly, between Superpowers. And the United States blinked again. Dismayed by the circumstances of her deployment - and lack thereof - BRAVO left military service, while DORMIN sank itself deeper into the system. In China, the victor found himself faced with another foe - Sage found enlightenment in the mountains of Tibet, and by his mere existence posed a threat to the western territories.
Even at home, the hegemon finds little relief. Global arms production has found new players, unbound to any government. Dr. Liberty flies over international waters in the Atlantic, her freedom secured by a privately owned nuclear deterrent, while SCHEMA has remade his company with his monopoly on truly powerful sorcery - and both want nothing more than profit for the weapons they sell. Opposing them, at least per a dubiously sane manifesto, is the PHANTASM, who claims to know the dark future of corporate domination and will commit terrorism on a global scale to prevent it. El Raton, in Mexico, demonstrating the horrifying damage the new limits of human capability can achieve by accident. Even more recent Superpowers - the term now codified and its membership agreed upon - have emerged as well. Between the Black and Caspian Sea, a rebel and spiritual leader found no equal opposition from his enemies and has made his ambitions known. Abu Huriya, as he is titled, stands as the great champion of Islam and of the Ingush people, long caught in the vicious conflicts of the Caucasus, and could now determine the fate of the entire region and beyond. In England, a new sort of faithfulness has arisen, driven by the potent charisma of 'The Herald' Angel Stratton, whose fervor brings crowds of strangers to holy ecstasy, while a much stranger faith follows a much stranger name in the southern USA, as 'Saint' Joanna Harding speaks directly into the minds of her congregation about what she names Vosooth - but even that is less alien than the memorial cult of MIO, whose fragmented descriptions of a truly alien culture have captured the world's attention. And in Europe, Europa announces her presence and her purpose: to answer to the united European community... and nothing else.
Welcome to 2004.
Flashpoints
In the United States, Richard Cheney of the Republican Party and John Kerry of the Democratic Party want to answer a single question: how can Americans feel safe, when monsters like Protean and President Hu exist? Is the government's attempt to register and control the influx of minor talents and powers meaningful, when the Superpowers can act unopposed?
Across the sea, Europa's existence has given the elections of EU parliament new meaning - and the accession to the European Union of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia more contested and more urgent, as an EU Constitution is under discussion which might fundamentally alter the nature of the Union.
The Baltic states, Slovakia, Slovenia as well as Bulgaria and Romania must also decide on their position regarding NATO, for while the United States certainly remains foremost among the nations of the world, it is no longer unchallenged - nor, necessarily, sane.
The threat NATO was once made to face finds itself in desperate straits, as no loyal Superpower has revealed itself to Moscow even as Abu Huriya speaks of independence and Islam in the Caucasus. Who will seek what concessions from Russia, or other neighbours?
In Pakistan, anti-terrorist operations have flared into an all-out war with Al-Qaeda in the western part of the country, an event only inflaming the public rhetoric and private search for some answer to the Superpowers in both Pakistan and in India - nuclear powers in better circumstances than Russia, but perhaps only for now.
In Tibet, China's Western Development Strategy and the internal migrations it encouraged have slowed, but not stopped, as the state waits for whatever accord - or assault - might be struck between President Hu and Sage.
The Montagnard protests shake Vietnam as persecuted minorities demand the restitution of stolen land. All involved seek Postcard's assistance in settling the matter quickly, and in their favour.
Taiwan, rocked by the destruction of a number of its microchip fabrication plants by an unknown agent, is entering elections - and there is talk of a referendum, though the contents are vague.
The expansion of industrial production in Antarctica has drawn numerous criticisms from international organizations and governments on grounds of: environmental damage, violation of international law, human rights and freedoms concerns, economic disruption and the unregulated exploitation of space. Trade for food and other necessities to the continent has increased by orders of magnitude, and financing is becoming a concern.
It might be that only eighteen people really matter anymore. But six and a half billion people still, for now, have lives to live, and bills to pay, and children to raise.
Official Statements of Master Divya (Emailed to all news agencies and governments)
"While I know that words are cheap and regarded poorly in international diplomacy, I still have opinions on most of what is going on worldwide. I'm just busy. So I will be weighing in now, for what little that is worth,"
"America, your efforts to register minor powers are pointless, and would be even if Superpowers didn't exist. The vast majority of powers are less dangerous than guns, and you already have so many guns sloshing around as to render them irrelevant."
"I actually don't have an opinion on the situation with the European Union. Nor with NATO expansion."
"Abu Huriya, please slow down a bit. While lacking a Superpower, Russia is still capable of inflicting massive devastation with their nuclear arsenal. Please don't back them into a corner with no way out."
"India, Pakistan. If you will allow me to do so, I am willing to help with mediating tensions. I am also willing to help expel Al-Qaeda from Pakistan's borders, but only if invited to do so."
"Hu Jintao, Sage. Please conduct your negotiations far from populated areas, to minimize casualties if matters escalate to violence."
"I am insufficiently informed regarding the situation in Vietnam to have a well-reasoned opinion."
"I actually do intend to take concrete action regarding Taiwan: namely, I intend to sell them replacements for the destroyed microchip factories."
"And with regards to my new country's domestic situation: I'm working on it."
"…America has entered a period of almost-irreversible decline. We have been humiliated on the world stage by terrorists and Islamic extremists. The rogue countries of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea- the Axis of Evil that President Bush warned against- actively challenge the cherished values of freedom and democracy that we in the Western world cherish. Terrorists and religious extremists are allowed to roam free in our country.
In 1991, the Cold War ended with the triumph of democracy over totalitarian communism, and America was set to guide the world into an era of unparalleled prosperity. In 2004, just over thirteen years later, we are under siege. Our allies have been laid low by Superpower sponsors of terrorism. Russia, our new democratic ally, is under threat from extremist Islamic terrorism. Our own President has been killed in a despicable sneak attack by terrorists!
These challenges must be met with strength. America is the world's only nation which can count itself as a global superpower. To maintain that status will take a President who is both strong domestically and internationally, a President who is educated in all manners of politics and society, a President with the military experience to confront our foes and defend our interests, a President who will restore normality and decency to the international community, and most importantly, a President who is a true American.
That is why today, I have decided to run for President as a Republican candidate…"
- BRAVO, January 1st, 2004, at Naval Station Pearl Harbor
Times of India
Ranka Divya Returns Home To Earn Doctorate
India's sole remaining native Superpower has returned to the subcontinent this week, in order to present her doctoral thesis and conduct a defense thereof. The topic of said doctoral thesis is the specialized computing hardware used in her synthetics, noteworthy for massively outclassing conventional devices in adaptability and pattern-recognition.
Ranka Divya's Alma Mater has agreed to host the thesis defense in question...
Frostport Journal
Empress Divya Unwittingly Extorts Doctorate To Soothe Ego
Empress Divya has returned from an official trip to India, bringing with her a shiny new Doctorate. Though her doctoral thesis and defense thereof was eloquent, it was also irrelevant. With the power imbalance in play, the associated academics who got roped into the process would never have denied Divya the doctorate she sought.
Indeed, Ranka could have stood on stage and rambled incoherently for half an hour and still come out of it with a perfect grade. This is supported by the effusive praise heaped on her visit by assorted Indian news outlets. If not for Imperial law mandating criticism of the government, our tone would be much the same.
Further...
Ranka Divya said:
Well, that stung to read. Still, thanks for the reality check; I needed that.
Operations. Engineering. Sales. Manufacturing. Services. These five departments form the core of the structure of the Liberty Directive's modern structure, with dozens of subdepartments and offices contained within these departments, each headed by a Director - All answering, of course, to the Supreme Director.
Operations. Containing many different responsibilities, Operations handles the side of the Liberty Directive most prone to utilization of the weaponry that the Directive manufactures, from Mercenary Affiliate Services to manning the defenses of the Directorate's sovereign territory. Recruited from the ranks of veterans of conflicts across the world, lured by promises of wealth, technology, and power, these men and women are headed by a relatively new Director, who has maintained his position for the last six months after the termination of his predecessor for taking bribes from what he believed was the CIA to provide intelligence on the Liberty Directive's operations. Noticeably, they do not handle internal affairs, focusing solely on external defense and operations abroad.
Engineering. While this department handles the maintenance of various systems in the Directorate, by far it spends most of its time seeking to puzzle out how best to integrate the eccentric Supreme Director's inventions into the day-to-day functioning of the Directorate, planning and replanning in response to the leaps of technology she hands to them casually, from defense system upgrades to more mundane sanitation, filtration, and transit innovations. As is standard for those who work closely with the internals of her technology, though, the Supreme Director keeps a close eye on the members of the department, and their movements are restricted in comparison to less high-trust roles for the duration of their contracts.
Sales. The Sales department acts as the Directive's outward eyes, doing both normal sales and marketing research, but also, functionally, acting as something of an intelligence agency, given the Directive's typical customer base. Members in this department can boast of two records within the Directive - Highest retention rate and least amount of access to secure areas. The Supreme Director is not prone to trusting spies, which means less responsibility, for both good and ill. In addition to those records, the Sales department boasts the largest amount of pre-reorganization personnel, with many of the Supreme Director's former affiliates and employees from her less open days settling into new roles as experts and consultants for the reorganized Directive.
Manufacturing. The smallest, yet most highly guarded and monitored department, Manufacturing hosts both technicians who operate highly automated production facilities contained within the bowels of the Directorate and the small coterie of scientists and researchers who either cover areas in which Evangelina is deficient or deems needing additional hands. These people host what is likely the most dangerous secrets of the Directorate, with know-how of the exact manufacturing and technological principles behind at least some of Evangelina's inventions, even as she does her best to keep her technological knowledge within the box she has built for it.
Services. Larger than any two other departments combined, Services cover the manifold civilian aspects of life in the Directorate, staffing canteens, performing housekeeping, and generally keeping things running smoothly. However, when people think of Services, they do not think of those mundane affairs, but of the subdivision of it that inspires the most anxiety - The 'Employee Resources' department, which handles internal complaints, and thus has taken on the role of essentially policing the Directorate. There are obviously rumors that Employee Resources is involved in all manner of shady internal affairs, from undercover infiltrators and informants to outright disappearances and blackbagging - All strenuously denied by front-facing Employee Resources employees, of course.
As I finalized the design of the new "Hobby Box" game system, I couldn't help but muse that I'd somewhat overengineered it, given the results of durability testing. But on the other hand, I could at least know my engineering was worthy of my pride in it. Anything else, and people's feedback would inherently be distorted by the vast gulf in power between us.
The only exception was if nobody knew it was me they were criticizing. Which brings us back to this little side-project of mine. Only a few me-hours of work to design and prototype, but the Hobby Box was comparable to a product that took a company like Nintendo years to develop.
A 512*384 LCD screen with reflective backing and an LED strip around the edge for lighting. Full 3D graphics with an ample vertex count. Two sliding analog sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, and a pair of shoulder triggers completed the control scheme. And of course, it used standard SD cards instead of proprietary cartridges or micro-disks, making things easy for independent game developers. And all of this would easily fit in someone's pocket.
It was also designed to be easily made under license hy any vaguely-reputable electronics manufacturer on Earth. And I fully intended on licensing it out.
Why go to all this trouble? Simple, if this got into circulation, I would be able to release my hobby-project video games anonymously. I could receive genuine authentic feedback on something I'd done that wasn't just "yes this machine works as intended".
It was something I simply couldn't get in face-to-face interactions anymore. Not even with my own family. Nor the synthetics I'd made. The gulf in power between us was just too great.
It was also something I desperately needed to maintain my grip on reality. I'd done my reading, and I knew exactly how badly getting surrounded by sycophants would screw me up.
On a somewhat lighter note, optimizing my code to fit limited hardware was a nice challenge. And it was important to keep that part of my skillset sharp, even when I could just design hardware to fit the task at hand most of the time.
It's January in Stanley. Cold, miserable, rainy, and full of potential. Tourists, eccentric geniuses, and space cadets alike gather in a hotel that's more fabulous every year. The constant stream of money from emigres heading south warranting new amenities, new rooms, and, of course, new technologies for the teaming dozens waiting for a boat to Antarctica.
The security is also new. A town with thirteen jail cells doesn't need many private security officers, but now there are half a dozen at the hotel at all times, watched by a security synth. A determined human could manage to bypass the officers, but the synth, made with last year's antarctic tech, was another question entirely.
It was also horribly outmatched.
Something breached the sub-arctic waters, moving too swiftly for it to categorize. Shifting, breaking, reforming as it closes faster than silicon can process. It is a horrible, malshapen thing, the synth's weapon arm jerks up in defensive reflex.
But it is already subdued. A tendril against what passes for a chin. Another set grabbing the gun, holding it firmly but gently away. To shoot would accomplish nothing, provide a warning none in the building are fast or powerful enough to use. It does not know if the monster before it, still slick-wet with seawater, can detect if it warns the Master but-
"Hey now," says the thing and its voice is young and drawling. A youth sacrificed on an altar of war, torn away from family yet still unable to take it seriously, to comprehend its own mortality, "Lets not do anything those fine folks in there are going to regret. I just got to talk to your boss, and some folks make email less of an option than I'd like, yeah?"
It responds, queries as to the thing's intentions. The creature slides in place, reforming a dozen curious fingers across its own amorphous chin, and the Synth sends its warning to the master, preparing for the inevitable retaliation.
"Loyal to the end, aint ya buddy?" it says, an arm pressing into the wall above the synth's gun port, "Wonder how long that'll last. But, no, I aint tryin' nothing sinister. Just need to...deliver a bit of a lesson in nuclear bargaining, ya hear? Just sit your pretty little chassis right here till the boss lady and I finish chatting, and everything's going to be just fine."
"Protean, if you simply want to talk to me, you will not need to bother my creations again. Enclosed in this box is a portable satellite telephone, using encryption that simply cannot be cracked by mundane means. It is rated to survive a direct hit from a 40 millimeter Bofors autocannon, completely waterproof and EMP-hardened, and it takes standard 9-volt batteries."
"I don't expect you to keep this on your person at all times, given your concerns about tracking devices. But it should save both of us rather a lot of trouble in future."
In the Services Center on Deck One of the Directorate of Liberty, some of the employees of the Directive filter through on lunch and dinner breaks or simply just to socialize, masks raised over their faces, eating from plates with canteen food, taking out packed sandwiches from lunchboxes, or sipping from thermoses. Time flows as slow in the Directorate as it does anywhere else, and so the people entertain themselves in all the ways people do.
—
"Yeah, it's super busy right now, but I'm not going to let that stop me from eating, even if it means I'm probably going to need to pull some OT. Oh, so, like, some of the new plasma stuff is actually non-toxic, which means Carl wants it integrated ASAP into the recycler system as part of sustainability goals the Director's been pushing this year. I was actually going to ask you if you had any experience with its limitations - I think you were part of that field testing group? It's the Mark XI's plasma system. Hey, pass the ketchup, if you don't mind."
—
"And remember, poetry night at Liberty Coffee tomorrow, Deck Five! We hope to see you all there! Kyle, remember you're going to meet with Julia on Thursday to talk about your reading. If you need any help with getting through it, feel free to reach out to us via IM. Anyways, I think unless anyone has any other business, I can call this meeting of the Revolutionary Libertarian Society to a close!"
—
"Eh, same as usual - Just a buncha Ops idiots blowing off steam by shooting their guns off in an area they weren't supposed to."
A pause for a sip.
"Half of them turned out to be amped up on the new stimulants that the Director's been supplying to the medical bays on a trial basis. Set off a bunch of alarms, they're going to get the reaming of a lifetime, if not outright tossed out. I heard Liberty herself is getting involved."
—
"-And so he told me, I'd been in the wrong meeting for the last twenty minutes! I was so embarrassed. Luckily, it was within my approved clearance level, so I didn't have to go through questioning, but this is definitely on my file now, ugh. And I was so close to getting a clean performance review! I worked holidays this year, damnit! If I don't get team lead because that jerk-"
—
"I mean it! We need to be exporting more ideological material. I've been talking to Sara, over in LD-ROD Sales, and she's saying we're gearing up for a big push there. Think about the angle we could pull!"
He wipes some crumbs off his face.
"I know Liberty thinks the Randians are idiots, but if we can snag some of their cash to subsidize push, they can be useful idiots, that's all I'm saying. LD-MOD is practically tearing their hair out over Liberty's pet project, LD-VOD is getting ready to whitewash whatever comes out of us making that deal, we need to be able to take different angles or else we'll get tarred with a single brush, and that'll crater sales. Counterbalances! It's all about counterbalances!"
—
"So, betting pool's updated, folks! Odds are up on Pakistan, down on Antarctica, up in Taiwan, down in Vietnam, up in Russia, and, last but certainly not least, odds are up up up on America - I've been told to explain the committee's reasoning on this. A lotta establishment analysts are buying too much into American MIC hype and pre Super inertia there, especially with Leviathan's equalizing factor. DORMIN's overrated on the innovation front and we saw how well the big next-gen American mil-tech stacked up in Afghanistan and North Korea with Bravo. Remember, if you're part of the relevant Outreach Division or any other privileged post, you either share what you know or you don't bet, and you are not authorized to share classified material as part of this unofficial pool!"
—
"Yeah, we're going to hit up the pool tonight, reserved it. Going to be a bit of a midnight party, once we get those reports done on the latest software updates for the targeting software. We've timed the reservation so that the refills on the stimulants and recreational substances will be coming in just as we are, so we'll have first crack at it. Just in time for the end of the work week, ah? Oh, wait, shoot, you gotta work that day, don't you? Ah, come on, man - You can live with one all-nighter!"
—
"It's that goddamn puppet, I swear! If anyone sees it, we'll get in huge trouble!"
"It's funny."
"He calls it Iberty!"
"It's funny!"
"The woman calls herself the Supreme Director of a nation named after her, do you think she has a sense of humor?"
"She doesn't care about what Document Support does. If she did, we'd have seen her at some point this year. We gotta take what we can where we can. I'll tell him to not make it his profile picture though, that's probably just asking for it."
—
"...Does it ever strike you that like, we might be on the wrong side of history? Like, no offense, we look like villainous extras on a G.I. Joe movie."
"Oh, yeah, all the time. When I first got offered a post, I was literally speechless, because the recruiter was wearing the mask. Looked straight out of a cartoon. But, like…honestly, it started to make sense to me, once I got access to the intel and knew a bit more. I only heard about Bravo and DORMIN in the abstract, same with the European ones. Barely even knew about the Asian ones, besides Hu Jintao. It's a fucking madhouse out there, and these…things, these people - They're out there with god complexes, playing hero and killing people, actual literal people, and for what? I mean, did you see those reports about what Europa did to all those lobbyists that Liberty gave to the LD-EOD? And she's one of the 'better ones', supposedly. And I mean, christ, what Bravo did in Afghanistan…"
"Yeah, that was pretty messed up."
"Anyways, like, it's all just fucking…nationalism - It's nationalism and theocracy and god-kings dressed up nicely, and somehow the only one giving actual humans a chance is Liberty, and so what if she does it with the purposefully contrary aesthetics of villainy? It's a statement about the change that needs to happen, shocking people out of complacency! Were not the American revolutionaries vilified by the British? We're like the…resistance in the Matrix, you know? The machines called them terrorists, but they were the good guys, even though they did like, shootings in office buildings…I've lost my train of thought."
"...Plus, Cobra Commander was always the coolest."
CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
A CAFE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE
APRIL 2004 @Laplace
"Thank you, Mr. Del Ri- Ah, forgive me, I can see the look on your face. Juan? Raton? Which do you prefer?"
A black haired woman in a dress suit, speaking impeccable english with a notable french accent, eyes hidden by mirror-shade sunglasses, and a handsome young man whose accent hints at spanish - Morocco has seen tourists like these before. All it takes is people choosing to embrace the niggling fear of death in the heart of all life, choosing on some level not to connect these two tourists with the gods of the third millennium.
All it takes is choosing not to perceive Europa and Juan Lopez Del Rio as anything more than fellow children of man.
There's no tension in this meeting. It had been a simple, polite request from the young woman if perhaps the Mexican speedster could meet with her - half an hour? an hour? no more than that - during the year. To talk, not as agents of state, but as people do - over slices of fresh pizza and a soft drink of choice.
They talk about this and that, small matters even by the standards of mundane humanity, and then they talk about faith, and then they talk about how funny it is that the two of them met in Casablanca of all places, as if they had both been drawn to a common joke - until eventually Europa reveals what she had meant to ask.
"What does the moment of death look like for you? In what I can only conceptualise as the timeless instant of your speed, the transitioning of life from the state where it IS to the state where it IS NOT?" She bows her head apologetically. "Forgive me the curiosity, please do - but I have ever wondered how the rest of the Eighteen perceive it."
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has... SAINT-PAUL-LÈS-DURANCE, FRANCE
REACTOR STAFF CAFETERIA
AUGUST 2004 @Imrix
"Uncle Gav!" She's feeling mischievous today, clearly, sunglasses resting high on her forehead, pale eyes staring at Earth's second sun as she waves from her table. Already, a sumptous spread of two slices of pizza (salami and onions) and two cans of Cola Light are waiting on the trays set out.
It's hardly the first time the two have met. The ITER facility is a shining beacon of Europe's future, a chance for energy independence in a way that is palatable to the peoples of the Union. And besides, they are geographically proximate, and their interests often align in that they do quite like the people-of-glass to just be left alone to live and vibe.
With a hiss, two cola cans open and click together, a toast between two god-kings of a realm without gods and kings. The rest of the staff here in the cantina are ... they're not afraid, so much, if only because they might have grown numb to it from the many repeat exposures to the Superpowers. Europa and Gavin pretend not to notice - it's only polite, and pressing the mortals on it inevitably makes them more afraid, and these are some of the finest minds related to fusion power in this quarter of the world. No need to ruin that. Instead, the two Superpowers eat pizza, knock back a soft drink and then chat about this and that. Friends, family, acquaintances, even just music. Like they're normal people, doing normal people things.
But it does not last - can not last. They are not and can never be and will never be normal people.
"Thank you for making the time, Gavin, really, it means a lot to me. I've been grappling with some questions lately, you know? Some of that interminably existential stuff that gives people headaches after a while." It's not the greatest opener, but Europa smile is half apologetic, half mischievous. "What does it feel like for you when you create, Gavin? When you focus your will and spark a new sun?" She sighs. "It's so wholly unlike what I do that I've been deathly curious if you could put it into words for me." Because if nothing else Gavin Powys has words. That sun-scorched warhorse of environmentalism and Sensible Behaviour is on a thousand records.
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has... NORTHERN TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA
PART OF ITS COAST, WELL AWAY FROM PEOPLE
MAY 2004 @Demonic Spoon
A young woman, dressed in a severe black pantsuit and white dress shirt, fiddles with her previously immaculately-kept tie, occasionally checking her watch. She'd said she was okay with any place and any time save for having to row a boat out into the ocean and she meant it! But still, Australia is upside down and ten hours ahead of what she's used to. Going from just before noon to the evening is a bit disorienting even for her, even if the stars above are drop dead gorgeous and so, so different from home.
And then her conversation partner arrives. Oh, what a sight! Even arranging this had been a trifle difficult, given their profound desire to work through intermediaries (and it was through such intermediaries they had first come into contact when Europa, curious why certain connections kept being killed off, found earnestly striving cable-cutters with someone's psychic resonance tied to them). But worth it! Who on Earth could claim, so far, to have seen this sight?
To call them a squid is understatement. Too large, too bulky, too scarred - oh, such a pallor of Death that hangs over the poor dear - but nevertheless imbued with an incredible, alien grace. For a moment, Europa ponders shuffling over on her sitting-rock to make space for all that is Many-In-One, but she chose a person-sized rock to sit on and her conversation partner is just so much larger than that.
And what a conversation it is! Just think about things. Think about concepts. To visualize the imagery in her head and have it clearly understood! It is marvellous, it feels marvellous, a completely new experience.
Together, they think about the stars and the sound of waves for a while.
But like with several others this year, the young woman has questions for the world's greatest (and so far only?) Psychic Alien Squid God that must be asked after small chat has been made.
MIO, good MIO, with all your tremendous psychic sight, you probably know the question I am about to ask already - how is it that you perceive something dying? The moment when something that IS transitions into something that IS NOT? Does it hurt, for your sight of mind and heart and soul?
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has... ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
A VASTLY OVERPRICED TOURIST TRAP OF A CAFE
JUNE 2004 @TenfoldShields
They've seen many tourists like this here, with too much money and too little sense, dubiously poking at the local pizza as if the triangular slices would provide them some comfort of home while travelling to age-soaked Egypt. An english woman - crisp received pronunciation and all that - asking for an extra-large cola with ice despite her white dress shirt being almost implausibly sweat-free. Her partner, an American of the West Coast bearing the marks of those blessed by the Leviathan: scales as black as the abyssal seas, eyes backlit by the burning orange of magma, a smile with distinctly sharklike characteristics.
Some around them gawp, but to attack those so heavily blessed by the Leviathan has so far been unthinkable (nobody knows - or wants to know - how the scaled god of the Far West will react.) The Alien god relishes in the attention, the European tries to ignore it - it won't be too long until someone connects the dots and figures out who the two of them are.
"Thank you for taking the time to meet me, Levi." She does not pronounce it like the normal form of that name. Pronounces it like a trunctated, small part of a greater thing. Like a name missing two syllabes, core to the cause. It only fits, given the circumstances.
What was once a Dr. Lasker and what has never been a Dr. Anything soak in the sun, eat their pizzas, drink their colas. Perfectly normal tourist behaviour, performed by perfectly abnormal creatures. They argue about the merits of impressionism for twenty minutes, wistfully compare notes about art exhibitions that they probably can't visit because of global politics, both have a great time debating the bioeconomics of whalefall and the striving of life even in the most inhospitable places. It is, by almost all appearances, two weird-ass tourists having a good time vibing.
"So, Levi, you said it was okay if I asked you questions. What is death like, over there? Y'know, as humbly as whether entropy even exsists, all the way down to the spiritual connotations of it?" She peers over the rim of her sunglasses, silver eyes meeting black slits in volcanic orange. "You don't have to answer but please, indulge my curiosity? Tit for tat, you can ask away after~"
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has... MUSCAT, OMAN
AT A BEACH TABLE, UNDER A BEACH UMBRELLA
OCTOBER 2004 @MJ12 Commando
"Thank you for agreeing to meet me. It's been a busy year, and I appreciate the time you are taking out of your schedule for this."
Europa waits until the serious-faced translator standing next to the man on the other side of the table is done, sipping her fruity beach cocktail with aplomb. "It is no secret that I have met with several of our notional compeers in similar circumstances throughout this year - and it has ever been for the same purpose."
Another brief pause, which she uses to demolish an admittedly excellent (if wretchedly overpriced) drink. "With the others, I made small talk. Questions about life, art, the times, small things leading up to the big ones. But I think that you would prefer brevity."
All the others had something of a private life, some human element (or, in one case, the squidly element). But this man? To query into his private life, to approach the human element, it could only be taken as a prelude to an attack. So instead, Europa chooses being forthright and brief.
"Your Excellency, had your ascension to the state of modern Superpower happened before you had become President, would you still have pursued the soft form of dominion over man?"
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has...
What can change the nature of a man?
- Ravel Puzzlewell
That was the critical question that ran through Joanna's head oh so very often. Right now she reclined on a sofa in a spacious living room that tried very hard to give the illusion of actual wealth. The grand piano, the small chandelier, the fake gold trim- the stylings of a summer retreat for a not-quite-a-millionaire. Not that she was complaining; she had been let stay here by a loyal follower, and at least the wine was good. She took a sip from her glass as she watched the TV intently. The news was on, and what else was being covered but the republican candidate for president, Bravo? Waving and doing interviews like anyone else in history trying to worm their way into the Oval Office would have.
She switched to another channel, still news. This one was fearmongering about Protean. Then again, is it really fearmongering if it's justified? It'd be justified for any of them, though.
She switched again. This one was doing an investigation of Leviathan's influence over San Francisco.
Again. This one was on Powys.
Again. Europa.
Again. Jintao.
Again. Raton.
Saint or sinner? That, always, was the question. Joanna didn't know why Vosooth had given her such power at the same time as a pantheon's worth of others, and with all but her as clueless of the true faith as a newborn of reality. But to question the divine genius was blasphemous; and all it left her with was the question: Which of them would eventually be allies under the light of Vosooth, and which of them obstacles to It's ascendancy? Saints, or sinners? She doubted they were all saints, and hoped they weren't all sinners. That unfortunately meant there was an ambiguous mix of both, and how hard it is to identify them, with their minds sealed away from her. And the consequences of being wrong! Kill one saint and the world could be damned. Spare one sinner, and it meant much the same.
Joanna looked away from the television, back to inspect the house she was in. The man who let her stay here said he was loyal to the Faith, but she knew the truth. He was an opportunist, fearful of the consequences of not having a god protecting him in an age of gods. Despite that, she wasn't all that concerned about him. His money was being used for a good cause, and eventually he'd truly come around, like all of mankind blessed with the gift of choice would once Vosooth visited them.
She wished the same could be said for her peers. In the end, they didn't have a choice, saint or sinner. They were simply one or the other. She knew this for sure; for Vosooth did not gamble the existence of It's faith on the decisions of mortals.
She switched the channel once more. It was her own face greeting her, this time.
SAINT-PAUL-LÈS-DURANCE, FRANCE
REACTOR STAFF CAFETERIA
AUGUST 2004
@Imrix
"Uncle Gav!" She's feeling mischievous today, clearly, sunglasses resting high on her forehead, pale eyes staring at Earth's second sun as she waves from her table. Already, a sumptous spread of two slices of pizza (salami and onions) and two cans of Cola Light are waiting on the trays set out.
It's hardly the first time the two have met. The ITER facility is a shining beacon of Europe's future, a chance for energy independence in a way that is palatable to the peoples of the Union. And besides, they are geographically proximate, and their interests often align in that they do quite like the people-of-glass to just be left alone to live and vibe.
With a hiss, two cola cans open and click together, a toast between two god-kings of a realm without gods and kings. The rest of the staff here in the cantina are ... they're not afraid, so much, if only because they might have grown numb to it from the many repeat exposures to the Superpowers. Europa and Gavin pretend not to notice - it's only polite, and pressing the mortals on it inevitably makes them more afraid, and these are some of the finest minds related to fusion power in this quarter of the world. No need to ruin that. Instead, the two Superpowers eat pizza, knock back a soft drink and then chat about this and that. Friends, family, acquaintances, even just music. Like they're normal people, doing normal people things.
But it does not last - can not last. They are not and can never be and will never be normal people.
"Thank you for making the time, Gavin, really, it means a lot to me. I've been grappling with some questions lately, you know? Some of that interminably existential stuff that gives people headaches after a while." It's not the greatest opener, but Europa smile is half apologetic, half mischievous. "What does it feel like for you when you create, Gavin? When you focus your will and spark a new sun?" She sighs. "It's so wholly unlike what I do that I've been deathly curious if you could put it into words for me." Because if nothing else Gavin Powys has words. That sun-scorched warhorse of environmentalism and Sensible Behaviour is on a thousand records.
The thing of it is, he likes talking to Europa. It'd be easy to balk at that, to look at this bag of skin stretched taut over a sucking void of Be Not, this stern-eyed bureaucrat clad in a sober black pantsuit and an indefinable aura of someone consulting a clipboard even if there isn't one within a hundred yards, and assume she's as frigid and stilted as the stereotypes she seems to have stepped directly out of. But he likes talking to Europa. She calls him 'Uncle Gav', which annoys him sometimes but it's the kind of annoyance of one friend ribbing another to the result of a long-suffering sigh. She doesn't take him seriously, because she understands that he doesn't want to be taken entirely seriously. Sometimes, that's a precious gift. A little spark of mischief, a little bit of common humanity to share in.
So he takes a while to answer because he takes care to think about it, there in the cafeteria, contemplating one of the greatest powers on the globe over pizza and soda (and, sidebar, wasn't it some kind of sacrilege to fly out to southern France to eat pizza? Or was that more offensive, to think that just because you're in France you had to eat the Frenchest food you could find? Maybe he should do a food tour, it wouldn't be weird if he made like, a project of it, right?), looking out the window at a countryside view he'd insisted the building enable and listening, in the back of his mind, to the croon of a newborn star deeper in the facility.
At length, he takes a sip another sip from his can and says, simply, "warm," before snapping his fingers hard enough it throws off a spark. Just a spark, a little fleck of yellow-gold glow, but it grows and blooms in the air, billowing in a nonexistent breeze until he's holding a marble of white fire between thumb and forefinger, turning it this way and that. "The thing is," he continues absent-mindedly, "I don't really focus on it? It's like talking. If you really think about it, you can get caught up in the sensation of your tongue against your teeth, the breath you spend, the way your lips shape consonants and vowels, and it starts to feel really pretty odd. Or," rolling the marble along his knuckles, "you can just talk, even say things like 'antidisestablishmentarianism' and it flows as easy as... as talking."
With a grin, he tosses the marble to her and turns back to the view. "It's like a nice summer's day in my veins. Sunbathing on a beach. A hot drink going down my gullet - there's a flow to it. Did you ever see my early work? Back when I was imitating poi performers, just with streamers of fire. That was my first thought because it seemed to fit. Fire's not meant to sit still," he says, lounging in his chair (because he'd made sure the facility had good chairs, plush and comfortable and none of that skeletal metal-framed rubbish) and grinning at the irony as he freezes the marble in her grip with an idle thought, flames transfixed in mid-flicker like the weave in an actual marble, just one that's as warm to the touch as fresh-cooked toast. But there's a chill in the air when his expression sobers, and he admits, "have I ever wanted to be anything else? Occasionally, sure, but... Idle daydreams, lass, never anything serious. It's probably awful of me to say, but I've always been pretty comfortable in my own skin."
There is, unsurprisingly, a class distinction within the Directorate of Liberty. After a certain point of advancement within the internal corporate hierarchy, if you pass the tests of loyalty and trust, if you outcompete your peers by any means necessary, if you are lucky and skilled and ruthless - Then it is possible, like breaching clouds into the clear blue sky, to become a member of the executives of the Directorate of Liberty. A loose term covering a number of different positions, from Directors to surprisingly small positions, often with the exact title or hierarchy being less important than the person holding it, the primary focus of so-called 'executives' is the management not of the Directive, but of Liberty herself - They are her inner circle, her confidants, her checks and balances, and as such, they are stuck in a precarious position of seeking to assert their own interests without ever contradicting her desires too much. Liberty likes a bit of pushback, after all - Keeps her on her toes, keeps her from feeling too much like some kind of dictator or autocrat.
This group of corporate nobility, who pass down edicts from the Supreme Director and formulate grand plans and visions as they compete for Liberty's favor, range the gamut from academic experts to ideological fanatics to no-nonsense veterans, each theoretically in charge of various aspects of the Directorate, but more often than not figureheads by virtue of the technology granted to them and the general competence of the personnel under them. They, as a rule, hate each other - Every ounce of Liberty's attention and time given to another, after all, is one that could have been theirs, devoted to their projects, their research. This is not to say they aren't wrong to hate their competitors - the intrigues of the executives can swiftly turn from business into deeply personal animosity, though this is 'discouraged' by Liberty. The extent, though, to which she is aware of and endorses various plays and plots is a frequent topic of discussion among the executives and those who watch their moves.
Regardless of their character, all executives require a support structure from Liberty, one which they often seek to integrate into their nominal areas of oversight, autonomous as they may be, and in turn, the maintenance of this support structure requires times to be structured around, times in which access can be guaranteed for at least some of this upper crust - After all, if it is purely random chance based on Liberty's availability, then it is hardly meritocratic! Or so they argue. And so, Pitch Time was born - Every few days, at intervals of free time, Liberty will mix business with pleasure and hold audience with her court of executives. Sometimes this is done in the manner of a high-class salon, with plentiful food and drinks and smokey backroom discussions where favour is granted freely by their gracious Supreme Director, and other times, like now, it is done in a manner they swear is intended to keep them off-balance - or signal displeasure.
As Liberty directs the Engineering team conducting maintenance at one of the Directorate's hangars, the executives crowd at a safe distance from the powered exosuits and mobile machinery swarming with men and women in safety gear, shouting to be heard over the noise of the maintenance teams.
"So, we're foreseeing a sharp rise in public interest in all Superpowers, as the traditional nation-states begin to crumble and more direct control is assumed! While obviously this has geopolitical implications, we wanted to try and seize on the cultural zeitgeist!"
She turns away from the maintenance work, a brief lull in command as the engineers skitter around the mechanized battlesuit she treats as her personal weapon of war. Her visor glimmers with data, eyes flickering left and right as she replies to the executive whose proposal has caught her eye, the first among several who have failed to get her attention significantly. Dirty looks are exchanged by those ignored, but such is the way of things.
"Show me." She commands, not even bothering with the presumption that he has dared come before her without something mocked up. He nods, swiftly tapping onto a thick piece of hardware mounted onto his wrist, which then begins to project a 3-dimensional model of Bravo, next to a chibi-fied 3-dimensional plushie clearly intended to represent the American weapon of war. She laughs, delighted, and the man's shoulders relax slightly.
"I don't think this is suitable for mass production…" He tenses back up slightly - Favour without profit is easily lost or forgotten, after all. "But I think this will do nicely for our Outreach Divisions. Send a copy of each one to the relevant divisions, have the luxury Manufacturing team work up the needed prints in one of the multi-purpose workshops - Consider the space itself for your use for the duration of this project. A little gift for our friends. Most will find it harmless enough, and those who don't…well, I'm sure they'll take it in the spirit intended. Let them know they can order more, if they so desire." He nods, frantically, barely able to conceal his excitement at being granted one of the coveted multi-purpose workshops for an unspecified duration, already tap-tap-tapping away at his wrist-mounted computer, and another executive leaps into his place, seizing on the moment.
"Supreme Director, I wanted to propose a melding of two objectives based on our Outreach Team's work with Postcard and the ongoing planned operations!" She raises an eyebrow and wordlessly indicates for him to continue.
"If we funnel profits from Operation Lighthouse into Postcard's deal with us, we can save on required time by not needing to launder the money into acceptable forms - Postcard's business will handle it for us! Obviously we'll see a short-term drop in profits, but I believe the efficiency boost will lead to a faster resolution for Operation Atlantis, preventing the two from conflicting and increasing overall efficiency retention in the vertical streamlining and consolidation process." Liberty nods, thoughtfully.
"I was thinking much the same. Get me a risk analysis on the relevant nations - I want to know if they have the cash on hand. See if it'll conflict with Operation Superstar, too. We're balancing a lot of plates here, and I don't want to risk us not fulfilling any contracts." He nods and steps back, satisfied with the acknowledgement and discharge of responsibility onto his shoulders, even if it does not come with the prize that was granted to the initial speaker - An advantage firmly secured. Another one begins to speak.
"Supreme Director, I wanted to propose-" But she's already turning away, back to the Engineering crew, voice projecting loud enough from built-in speakers to be heard across the hangar.
"Watch that! If you crack it, we'll take an extra two hours on this, and we've got a timetable to keep! Maintaining additional defenses is expensive, and I will take it out of your paycheck if you are the reason we fall behind!" She picks up a hard hat and slaps it onto her head before wading into the fray, leaving the small crowd behind her, most unwilling to follow her into the active work site and thus dispersing into small groups to talk and plan. The few who do dare follow are swift to either be escorted off by polite Engineering staff for lacking safety gear, or to be granted a brief smile or nod from Liberty for their forward-thinking in acquiring such. And so, as statuses raise and lower, the game of office politics continues - A circus court surrounding its ringmaster queen, who watches on as if she couldn't care less, even as she cracks the whip.
If you are reading this, and you are a publicly known Superpower who is in contact with the Liberty Directive and who has a shipping address/is willing to receive packages via teleportation, congratulations! You've received a marketable plushie of yourself, courtesy of the Liberty Directive! Please direct all complaints and/or orders for more plushies to the relevant Outreach Divisions.
CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
A CAFE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE
APRIL 2004
@Laplace
"Thank you, Mr. Del Ri- Ah, forgive me, I can see the look on your face. Juan? Raton? Which do you prefer?"
A black haired woman in a dress suit, speaking impeccable english with a notable french accent, eyes hidden by mirror-shade sunglasses, and a handsome young man whose accent hints at spanish - Morocco has seen tourists like these before. All it takes is people choosing to embrace the niggling fear of death in the heart of all life, choosing on some level not to connect these two tourists with the gods of the third millennium.
All it takes is choosing not to perceive Europa and Juan Lopez Del Rio as anything more than fellow children of man.
There's no tension in this meeting. It had been a simple, polite request from the young woman if perhaps the Mexican speedster could meet with her - half an hour? an hour? no more than that - during the year. To talk, not as agents of state, but as people do - over slices of fresh pizza and a soft drink of choice.
They talk about this and that, small matters even by the standards of mundane humanity, and then they talk about faith, and then they talk about how funny it is that the two of them met in Casablanca of all places, as if they had both been drawn to a common joke - until eventually Europa reveals what she had meant to ask.
"What does the moment of death look like for you? In what I can only conceptualise as the timeless instant of your speed, the transitioning of life from the state where it IS to the state where it IS NOT?" She bows her head apologetically. "Forgive me the curiosity, please do - but I have ever wondered how the rest of the Eighteen perceive it."
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has...
Sunlight glints off of his dark glasses. "For you, miss? You can call me Juan."
He's the rat. It might be a snide reference to Speedy Gonzales, but it's more because before he started killing sicarios, he really believed in the law. He ratted the chief out. Hence, the rat. Every movement from him is slow and considered. A speedster might be stereotyped as hyperactive, but Juan moves as if he has all the time in the world.
"Miss, this question, it's only a step and a hop away from discussing work. But I like you! So I can tell you now, I don't... well, I don't even know if this bottle of wine is alive. I don't feel anything when I pop the cork, and nothing when I nudge someone's head when time is real slow. It's a matter of time, no? In their... reference frame, yes, that's the word, they are still alive. Then..." He shrugs. "I don't know. You have to ask a doctor. Do you think that French princess' saw her body on the guillotine when her head departed?"
"I wish I can turn back time, that's what!" Humor surges, humor fades. The smile on his face blooms, flowers, withers. "I don't know. I want to shake that dumb kid, tell him that it's stupid to be like a yankee cowboy, shooting all over the place. He wouldn't listen to me, I expect. He'd just call me old. What can you do? It's done. All the wishing in the world won't fix it."
Floating along outside the early 19th century fortifications of the Royal Dockyard, Bahamas, Wilson Goodluck met with the Liberty Directorate, having arranged a quiet meeting so as to not spook the tourists.
"Director, are you familiar the concept of an ideological phantasm?"
The specter haunting the Western Hemisphere was invisible from his waist down, with his arms terminating at awkward angles every time he gesticulated; like a statuary bust.
A small unmanned device projected a hologram of Evangelina Liberty. Two intangible beings floating along together.
"Somewhat - The specter of communism and all that?"
"Well that's actually a complicating question. The frightful hobgoblin haunting Europe was the specter of something very real, a power I think you and I both believe in, as surprising as that might sound. Economics. The tangible, material realities that make up 99% of a human's life. The way people feed, house, clothe themselves. The way they are policed and fenced in by institutions larger than themselves. The specter of starvation. That is the face of reality, as ideological as that might sound. Ideology itself is not a useful framework, I find. After all, what is to you as solid as gold bars you trade in is to others an intangible idea, a platonic ideal of freedom. But you and I, we want to live freedom, not just think about it correct?"
He was getting into the part he'd clearly said before, multiple times, to different people. The more animated he became the more wild his gestures, visible fingers poking through an invisible rain poncho with each thrust of emphasis.
"So forget the haunting of ideology for a moment and instead consider this beach. Look out there to the sea? Let us say there is a shark out there. Every day it kills more beach-goers, with no sign of stopping. People can see it out there, see it's fin, the blood in the water. The signs are all there, even a child can point to the source of the problem. But every day, instead of getting on a boat with a speargun and shooting that shark, the local authorities crack down on crime. They impose blockades on the roads, they target foreigners, ruin the tourist economy. The next day more people are killed in the surf, so then they deport all the immigrants. And every day the people on the beach are more and more afraid, and call on harsher and harsher actions from the authorities. They beg to be oppressed, even though they can see the shark. The more of the shark they see, the more they want to do anything BUT kill the shark. Why is that? That is the phantasm."
Seagulls, playing among the half-submerged rocks, took flight as the manic ghost reached fever pitch.
"Economic anxiety transfigured into wild orgies of fear and hatred. From the Roman persecution of the Christians to European anti-semitism to the Red Scare, to modern homophobia and related bigotry. All are phantoms, intellectual bugbears that bear no relation to the real source of people's pain - the economics of poverty, crime, depression, and death. You come here thinking that I am the phantasm, but really Director, the phantasm is all around us."
"I believe I see what you're getting at."She nodded, listening patiently.
Becoming tangible for a moment, to step from one slippery rock to another, Goodluck's top half went invisible, and yet he kept speaking.
"I didn't ask you here so I could preach to the choir. I think by sending a message to me first, you and your organization recognized something intuitively. That we are on the same wavelength. Phantasms like nationality and religion don't matter to us. We are concerned with homo economicus, even if we find ourselves on seemingly opposite sides at least we can see the real issue at play."
"You would be correct about that - The matter of material economics is what matters to me above phantasmal ideals. I would object partially to the characterization of us as being on opposite sides, though we may certainly be…orthogonal - We are aligned on some issues!"
The drone's speakers blared out the last declaration, as Goodluck was already slipping back into the Earth, headed towards the Earth core where the sheer weight and pull of the thing would propel him to his next destination. Only his eyes and above were visible as he narrowed his brows in recognition of the parting words. Were they a sign of serious contemplation or total denial?
Let us journey deep into the depths of the Directorate of Liberty, slipping past guard patrols, sliding through checkpoints, and worming through thick inches of reinforced material to slip into the Directorate of Liberty Secure Storage Vault 8c, also known as...
The Hall of Inventions Too Stupid, Unstable, or Specific For Sales Viability
Look, even with a mind as capable as Liberty's, you're going to have some duds. Luckily, that's why she hires employees to help her with the marketing and sales viability of her products - It's hardly like she can judge her babies objectively. Still, she keeps these around as reminders, with the reason for nonviability kept right beside her listed reason for creating them. So, let's take a stroll through the...sillier side of Liberty's inventions.
Holographic Wig
Reason for creation: Good for parties!
Rejected due to: Long-term usage results in full-body hair loss. Hair growth serum development accelerated by order of Liberty.
Teleportation Gun - Locked Destination: Rural Iowa
Reason for creation: Swifter exile of terminated employees and convenient method of humiliating enemies.
Rejected due to: Employee Resources complaints.
Biological Nuclear Reactor
Reason for creation: Anything the United States Military can do, I can do better.
Rejected due to: Didn't work.
Automatic Suit Patch Printer
Reason for creation: Easy repairs of uniforms, customizable with various settings and designs.
Rejected due to: Significant uptick of uniform code violations.
Artificial Intelligence Defense Network
Reason for creation: Anything the United States Military can do, I can do better.
Rejected due to: Didn't work.
Theoretically Infinite Extradimensional Storage Bag
Reason for creation: Less time spent organizing storage.
Rejected due to: Impossible to find anything inside.
Mobile Disco Dancefloor
Reason for creation: Disco, baby!
Rejected due to: Epilepsy hazard.
Pro-Liberty Robot Propagandist(As In A Robot Who Creates Propaganda For Robots, Not A Robot Who Propagandizes To Humans, This Is Important)
Reason for creation: Shows robotic creatures the glory of libertarian ideals.
Rejected due to: Possibly bigoted against sentient robots.
Mutated Flesh Creature
Reason for creation: Anything the United States Military can do, I can do better.
Rejected due to: Didn't work.
Clown Car APC
Reason for creation: Ease of mass transit of soldiers.
Rejected due to: Doors too small for soldiers to fit through in kit.
Gun That Disintegrates And Reassembles You In The Exact Same Spot
Reason for creation: To pull out the next time someone asks me a stupid question about if my teleportation matrix is going to 'kill them' by disintegrating and reassembling them.
Rejected due to: Testing results deemed too unreliable. Also, ethical concerns.
After great deliberation, I, BRAVO, have decided to choose JOHN ROBERT BOLTON as my running mate. Mr. Bolton has had decades of experience within the Department of State and Department of Justice, having served as an Assistant Attorney General under the Reagan administration. Additionally, for the past three years, Mr. Bolton has served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, advising both former President Bush and President Cheney on terrorist attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction. He, as of now, is the most qualified candidate for Vice President in this nation.
Additionally, I, BRAVO, have picked former General WESLEY CLARK to run the Department of Defense. Mr. Clark has a long and storied military career, serving in Vietnam and commanding NATO forces in Europe during the Cold War and the Kosovan War. Mr. Clark is a true American patriot, and supports our quest to protect the American values of freedom and liberty. He and he alone will champion the lethal fighting force of our military.
America Is Still The Indispensable Nation
by Michael F. Smythe III
Ever since the United States ascended to global leadership at the end of World War II, American leaders have regularly been stricken by bouts of anxiety that the country is in decline and losing ground to a rival. The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite prompted such fears, as did Soviet expansionism in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Washington was seized by the worry that American industry was incapable of competing with Japan's economic juggernaut. Even in 1992, just after the Soviet Union collapsed, an article in the Harvard Business Review asked, "Is America in Decline?"
With the emergence of the Superpowers, this perception of decline has become wedded to fears about the inadequacy of the United States military and the new leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Jintao. As the story goes, the failure of Bravo, the United States's own Superpower, to defeat the Taliban and to demilitarize North Korea shows that the United States is no longer capable of making its voice heard in world affairs. The nascent neo-isolationists, led by Senator John Kerry, argue that this is a golden opportunity for the United States to reduce military overreach, withdraw from its Middle Eastern - and even its Pacific Ocean - bases, and consider detente with rival nations like China and hostile superpowers like Protean. In their view of the world, the United States would be incapable of winning any Superpower conflict even should it defeat a hostile Superpower, as the Indian catastrophe catalyzed by Master Divya shows the collateral damage such an event could cause. In private, the Department of Defense has provided Congress simulations of a military conflict over Taiwan. The neo-isolationists use these simulations, which show that a conflict would result in the destruction of Taiwan, as well as the likely destruction of Washington, DC, Virginia, and other surrounding states, to argue that committing to a conflict would be suicidal for the United States.
These debates have only intensified with Kong Quan, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announcing that any actions taken to support Taiwanese independence will be seen as a direct attack on the core interests of China - a phrase which was stated in the terse conversation between General Secretary Hu Jintao and Bravo during their standoff over Pyongyang. It is also well understood that Hu Jintao has met repeatedly with other Superpowers. The Washington Post has reported, citing sources in the Pentagon, that there have been apparent back-channel communications between the DORMIN AI and the leadership of China, while the much-publicized handshake and meeting with Europa, the European Union-aligned Superpower, where she directly asked him if he sought world hegemony, showing obvious concern about China's ambitions. A brief visit to California by invitation from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss the US-China business relationship was, according to members of the intelligence community, also used to arrange a discussion with another Superpower, Leviathan, show a clear interest in divide-and-conquer.
Similarly, his movements on Tibet, including quiet negotiations between Chinese diplomats and the Dalai Lama, as well as the recent high-level meeting between Russian and Chinese political figures, show that the Communist Party's interests are in resolving potential conflicts which might distract it from its core goal of overcoming the United States and supplanting it as hegemon. Many of the new breed of up-and-coming China analysts concur with this evaluation.
It would be a mistake for us to accept the analysis of DORMIN at face value, especially as models are only as good as their assumptions. The assumption people have made is that Protean, Hu Jintao, and the other so-called Superpowers are of similar destructive capability as Bravo or the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States - but they are simply that - assumptions. There are no confirmations that the other so-called Superpowers are of similar capabilities to our own military assets. Our foes are simply taking advantage of the shock of the brief stalemate in Operation Enduring Freedom, knowing that our politicians would be inclined to believe them despite the lack of evidence...
...
Although America has suffered setbacks by the appearance of sudden internal and external challenges, it would be foolishness to listen to Senator Kerry and retrench, engaging in warmed-over isolationism. Doing so would merely embolden these threats, and rather than resulting in peace, would only force future Americans to make harder sacrifices and suffer harder when facing the new crop of cult leaders, emboldened religious terrorists, and dictatorships that could have been deterred or overthrown in their infancy but will now be positioned to carve apart a vulnerable America. The isolationists who presided over the opening days of the Second World War were fortunate enough to live to regret their decision. Should we listen to the new breed, we may well not.
-Michael F. Smythe III is senior Asia analyst at the Project for a New American Century
Together, they think about the stars and the sound of waves for a while.
But like with several others this year, the young woman has questions for the world's greatest (and so far only?) Psychic Alien Squid God that must be asked after small chat has been made.
MIO, good MIO, with all your tremendous psychic sight, you probably know the question I am about to ask already - how is it that you perceive something dying? The moment when something that IS transitions into something that IS NOT? Does it hurt, for your sight of mind and heart and soul?
MIO's dry, wrinkled, flesh writhes and ripples, some tentacles twitching in slight agitation. The mental tone of their communication becomes somewhat more subdued, as whisper-thoughts inveigle themselves within Europa's mind.
Europa sees and feels as a man quietly dies in his sleep. There is a snap, as if some continuous river has suddenly disappeared, but it is not really unpleasant, merely an absence.
A different person, a different place, a different time. A car crash. Pedestrian bleeding out on the sidewalk. Little needles of pain and rage and fear and sorrow and regret and absurdity coming from the dying. Digging their way into soul and memory, twinging and aching occasionally, as the mind moves itself just wrong.
Various of MIO's tentacles have drawn strange curving and looping patterns in the sand.
Slowly the world seems to fade away, while another, stranger world fades in. A rainbow sea, an assault of sound and scent and colour upon the senses. A strange island rises from the water. Flits of memory and thought play on the island, and sometimes leap into mind and perception as the island comes closer. Long hair, butterflies, the smell of freshly baked cookies.
Then it stops. All light and life disappear, and the island begin to suck in the surrounding water, transforming it into cold, colourless, lifeless stone. An aura of lonely emptiness emanates from this dead place.
It's a big question to ponder, but it's not the only one Europa has...
... because the second question is the same, five times in a tumultous year, to five entities that could not be more different if they tried.
"Since your ascension to Superpower, have you ever wished you could be something you cannot be?"
To be separate once more. So many times. That parents might nag their children. That friends might play. That couples might flirt. It is so lonely, being all squished together.
The American Presidential Election of 2004 was a referendum on a superpower. The USA counted within its borders and among its citizens a disproportionate number of individual strategic threats, yet this had not ensured the success of its agenda on the global stage. And if they couldn't do that, can they even protect America?
To BRAVO, joining the presidential primary, the answer was obvious: she needed more support. The American public and the American superpower must form a unified bloc with which to enforce the international order. More technological, more elite and more committed than ever to not just winning wars but winning hearts. Because you never know where the next Superpower will be born, you need to stack the deck that they'll be born watching American movies and believing in American values. That the world should be ordered justly and lawfully and by American force of arms.
The rules-based international order receives no small about of vocal support from more institutional Superpowers - Hu Jintao and Europa make repeated reference to international law as they attempt to resolve the ongoing situation in Antarctica, and while Leviathan's political ideology is nearly as formless as his biology, he at least seems agreeable to institutions like the UN and international trade. Though one wonders how much of this is the noted desire of many of his associates, including senior Democratic senators and Presidential hopeful John Kerry, to either be at the head of those structures, or alternatively be the secret conspiracy behind it. Coordinating industry with Dr. Liberty (via Postcard) and Wales' Second Sun for power generation certainly made a number of his personal friends quite wealthy.
However, no individual showed as much commitment to the rule of law as Protean - or so he explains via a live broadcast from Tel Aviv, dust from ruined nuclear laboratories still clinging to inhuman flesh. Israel's possession of nuclear arms was a blatant violation of international treaties, he says for the world to hear, in an accent cribbed from an amalgam of US soldiers. The experiments done on imprisoned Palestinian powers, in a research program whose ambitions were ill-defined even by the standards of such, even more so. For the sake of world peace and the international order, an intervention was needed.
Needless to say, BRAVO took a break from the campaign trail, but by then it was too late. Protean had accomplished his tasks, and a new Superpower had moved into the vacuum: Dr. Liberty had been supplying militant movements in Turkey, the Balkans and the regions around Israel throughout the past few months, relying on Postcard for more legally normative business operations, and with Israel newly defanged and reeling, had moved her personal airship the internation waters near Gaza. Back home, with BRAVO's ability to campaign and reputation both at risk, two other Superpowers came out in support of Democrat John Kerry - and a third, the new member of the Mexican reservist forces Juan Lopez Del Rio initiated a campaign of petty vandalism and political graffiti that, while it certainly infuriated voters resentful of this foreign power interfering in American internal politics, certainly did its job in making BRAVO seem an ineffectual campaigner. Her distraction with defending Israel and attempting to regenerate its nuclear program further allowed other geopolitical rivals to make significant gains - Taiwan, lacking economic leverage since the sabotage of many of its chip production facilities and with America deeply distracted, reaches an accord with President Hu Jintao on foreign policy alignment and tension reduction after threats of disabling all technology across the island were met with silence from allies, though observers are sure that attempts will be made (successful or otherwise) to align and influence China's other Superpower, Sage, to defend local government and institutions in a manner similar to new guarantees given to Tibet regarding religious liberty and internal controls over movement. Meanwhile, India witnesses Pakistan strike a deal with the Second Sun for a reactor of their own, and sees China settle its internal affairs to little consequence, and it is furious - but, for now, powerless.
With few major allies and foreign policy disasters looming large on every front, John Kerry takes the electoral college by a commanding majority, sweeping not just Democratic strongholds but every significant swing state and even Texas - all noted centres of Vosoothian growth. However, even with Saint Harding's private (but well known) threat of violent action should BRAVO attempt a coup giving him some safety, the new President knew a compromise had to be reached lest the world be faced with another truly rogue Superpower. Thankfully, BRAVO had given him the perfect option: CENTCOM's new leader would serve, in theatre, to better respond to threats as they arise in the region where BRAVO's priorities clearly lay.
In Africa, Europa killed two birds - and many human beings - with one stone. As part of a trade of favours with Gavin Powys and Postcard regarding activities in Antarctica where the ability to kill is less than useful, the DRC was pacified. Though, it's unclear Gavin knew the details of how this pacification would be achieved prior to the event. Into this vacuum and the conflicts of the region stepped Sage, having reached an accord for his home in Tibet and seeing the lack of Superpowers and the active wars of central Africa as where he would be best suited to save lives and spead the dharma. His retinue of enlightened monks serving to prevent any resurgent Lord's Resistance Army or similar forces in the region - though being the guarantor against the continuation of genocide in Dafur and propping up de-facto dictators in the name of peace, as a man with deep principles and from a foreign land, culture and faith, must surely weigh on him. Meanwhile, Postcard leveraged the vast wealth of their company and dealings with other powers in order to raise the capital to solve the land rights issue via financial means, making them at a stoke the largest landowner and personal protector of minority rights within Vietnam. Despite profiting from the arrangement, it doesn't seem to be a solution hugely beloved by the majority, besides those whose nationalistic pride is tied directly to Postcard's power and prestige. At least the riots have stopped.
Meanwhile, Europa leveraged the threat implicit in tremendous violence done in far-off places close to home. In a firm speech to the outgoing EU parliament, she upbraided the weakness of the currently proposed version of the EU constitution. America had proven itself unreliable, and war in Europe could turn existential at any moment, should the wrong individual gain superpowers. Advanced weapons were being funnelled into the Balkans and Russia was desperately rearming to combat Abu Huriya, himself a significant threat to European culture and values, as demonstrated by the devastation wrought by his attempts at interdicting the invisible military technology being supplied to the Russian Federation by Phantasm - a struggle that, no matter the winner, would make Europe the loser, particularly with Hu Jintao offering asylum to key figures of the Russian government given China an interest in the developing conflict. Russia's dependency on foreign aid was only intensified by the disappearance of its nuclear arsenal. While some believe this to be a ploy by Phantasm to ensure the Russians absolutely need him, his public statements and Dr. Liberty's known possession of her own teleporting nuclear arsenal and habit of supporting separatist movements such as Abu Huriya suggests a different culprit.
Regardless, it was clear that only through true unity could Europe hope to survive the coming age. Whether as a matter of rhetoric or the heart attack suffered by a British MEP after this speech, the modified EU Constitution was a far more federal document. However, while the new members seemed willing to accept the new conditions and France alone might be brought around, the British Isles stood apart. As both a matter of longstanding independent leanings, and the political upheaval precipitated by Angel Stratton. What had started as an attempt to achieve doctrinal acceptance and prevent the ingress of Vosoothian heresy in the Church of England had escalated significantly, with Angel eventually seizing the Crown Jewels and addressing a deeply intoxicated session of Parliament in place of the Queen, claiming supreme divine authority over and above the nation-state. That the head of the Church of England was already a divinely appointed heredity monarch simply made things easier - she directed Parliament to legally wed her into the Royal Family. (Most would assume that the marriage was to Prince William, the heir to the heir, though this was not specified in the law as passed, and the British Press noted that they were rarely seen together.) With such dramatic happenings at home and panic among other constituent countries of the United Kingdom, Britain did not assent to the new EU constitution as it passed, even under increasing pressure from Europa.
What of DORMIN? How could the USA's premier strategic threat analysis and response system not reach conclusions on internal American politics? Unfortunately, DORMIN was a victim of its own capacity - and infrastructural dependence. Signals data indicated a severe degradation of undersea network backbones worldwide, and so the Indo-Pacific and Northern commands were mobilized, encountering unnatural wildlife mobilized by the extraterrestrial MIO. The future of international communications hangs in the balance far from any inhabited land.
Meanwhile, the Southern Command, responding to intelligence suggesting Ranka Divya would follow through on her threat and deploy weapons of mass destruction rather than negotiate, moved towards Antarctica in force, supported by weapons sold to them by SCHEMA, whose expressed opinion (via the legislation passed by allies in the Brazilian government) was that any power on the same planet was too close for comfort if it wasn't under state control. But they were not the only superpowers active in the region! Postcard found commission to move whole populations of penguins under the protection of Gavin Powys, himself exchanging favours with Europa and Postcard, while Angel Stratton found the psychological regularity and tendency for fanatical belief among Divya's robotic workforce fertile ground to seed faith into.
However, Ranka Divya was not attempting to deploy weapons. Instead, she intended to escape them. What DORMIN and SCHEMA had detected was indeed the drastic action of a distressed woman, but it was flight, rather than fight, which she had chosen. Ranka Divya's first - and last - colony ship was as tattered and ramshackle as her dreams of a peaceful escape from annihilation. With only enough life support to ensure a comfortable space for herself and her immediate family, socially interacting with robots and AI so as not to go completely mad, and just enough industry to (hopefully, eventually) start a self-sustaining colony of synthetic life, it was a gamble from someone who'd lost any hope of a sure thing. But maybe that's the only thing a normal human can do, given Superpowers.
Run.
El Raton did just that - with Divya departed from the planet, he took the opportunity to steal prime examples of her technology. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Divya had not fully decommissioned her Second Strike in her flight from Earth. Given a year or two, and their capacity would have degraded. But with so many Superpowers active in the region, and Divya no longer within reliable communication range, all it would take would be someone being a bit too aggressive to set them off. Was it Juan himself? Was it DORMIN and Schema, reacting to a threat that was never real? Postcard and Powys? MIO or Angel Stratton? Or even Phantasm, who'd chosen either a terrible year or the perfect moment to make a mass prison break from New Zealand and commandeer a commercial vessel to deliver them to Antarctic safe habour. It's hard to say for sure. All everyone knows is that Juan Lopez Del Rio ran from Antarctica, and behind him was a refugree crisis of a couple thousand recruited humans, tens of thousands of sentient robots, uncounted automata, a container ship holding five thousand prisoners, the Southern Fleet... and a small squad of machines built and maintained for the purpose of killing Superpowers, with an unclear target.
Active Conflicts For Turn 2
Any Superpower listed with Effort beneath a particular conflict has that Effort available for actions related to that conflict, and only those actions, next turn. All powers may interfere using their normal Effort, regardless of if they are listed. Superpowers listed may augment their Effort from their Turn 2 budget for any actions, or may choose to not use all of their rolled over effort, as they like. Any conflicting actions made in a conflict zone with Effort over 7 will trigger Violence. Be Careful.
The Cold Hand - Who Pressed The Big Red Button For Divya's Second Strike? The Berserkers (20 Effort, aiming to kill all Superpowers, in an unknown order) DORMIN (7 Effort, the Pacific Fleet. Hey, at least this time there were WMDs.) Gavin Powys (7 Effort. Hey buddy. Good luck on that 'don't end the world' thing.)
The Russian Taunt - Hu Jintao Sticks His Hand In The Blender Phantasm (10 Effort. For an anti-corporate activist you're putting in a lot of work supporting oligarchs.) Abu Huriya (9 Effort. This hits two agenda items. I'm acting like there's a contingency here.) Hu Jintao (7 Effort. Vladmir Putin and ROSTEC patents can't be worth this.)
The Network Parasite - Dormin and MIO fighting over undersea cables Dormin (8 effort. Does this count as self-defense?) MIO (10 effort. Aquaman doesn't have shit on you.)
The Palestinian Nuclear Program - BRAVO and Dr Liberty stand off above Israel Dr Liberty (11 Effort. Free Palestine('s Arms Markets)) BRAVO (7 Effort. Third time's the charm, eh?)
Who Rules Britannia? - Europa and Angel and the EU Referendums Europa (9 Effort. The EU Must Unite) Angel Stratton (7 Effort. Once again the Anglican Church is remade for the dumbest reasons.)
Flashpoints for Turn 2
Second Sudanese Civil War Ended (By Sage) (Proposed by Goob, got ninja'd)
Riots in France over the death of Powered minority youth (Proposed by TheMaskedReader)
Earthquakes In The South-East (Proposed by Demonic Spoon)
The Death of John-Paul II
North Korea Declares Success Of Nuclear Program
Good Friday Agreement Does Not Go Into Effect Due To Angel Stratton
((Just an OOC reference for other players from what I actually suggested
The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, on 26 December. A super large tsunami effecting SEA caused by a undersea earthquake, killing two hundred thousand people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and several other countries. This might attract superpowers interested in humanitarian efforts, and others who might seek to take advantage of the devastation to pursue other agendas, such as a reduction in population, territorial acquisitions, or build their reputation or spread their influence. Various superpowers capable of triggering earthquakes/causing tsunamis, (of note, Sulumbek, Bravo, Leviathan, Gavin) might fall under suspicion for this event. The nine thousand Europeans vacationing there during the tsunami may also be of interest to Europa
2005 Kashmir Earthquake, again casting a pall of suspicion on earthquake capable Superpowers, a humanitarian crisis of mass human casualties, and widespread structural damage and destruction, as on 8 October the Mercalli XI earthquake left hundreds of thousands dead or injured, and caused three million people to be without shelter, the cold likely to claim many. It may also destabilize the fusion power plants in Xinjiang (EDIT: and Pakistan) to devastating consequence.))
