Foundation

20th December
17:56 GMT -5

It's.. not the Themysciran embassy.

I seem to remember that in… Tornado's Path? Red Tornado went to a job centre and stated that he needed a job for the purpose of survival. He's nothing like that desperate in this timeline. Doctor Morrow created a trust designed to pay out enough money for him to fund his own repairs, and with Morrow legally dead all of his remaining assets passed to his only acknowledged son.

But 'John Smith' doesn't have a good excuse for accessing those resources. His present residence is a two storey middle of terrace house a little way outside of New York City. Close enough to commute, far enough away that house prices are noticeably cheaper even in the good areas. And close enough that if necessary he can use the New York zeta tubes.

I'm a little early, and since his house is warded I can't just look inside. Apparently. It seems that I've finally managed to hit the League with the clue bat hard enough that something stuck. Might be a slight chance of the ward being detected, but an element-manipulating android is pretty easy to track with magic anyway.

I smile at a woman out walking her dog, then walk up the steps to his front door and knock twice. No immediate response. I asked if this was a good time to pay him a visit Saturday and he said yes, but as John Smith he also doesn't have a reason to have a superhero's phone number. Or the ability to answer the phone at any time. I wonder if he'd consider upgrading his-?

The door opens, and I'm still not quite used to seeing Red Tornado's more human-seeming body. In fact, I… Don't think I've seen him in it since New Year. He smiles, and I take the opportunity to scan the structure of his face. Ah, he went for a pure-tech with a pretend flesh coating rather than the synthetic flesh I made for Danni. I suppose that it's easier to maintain. He's still bald, and I'm not sure that's a good idea. Even the prematurely balding usually have some hair. I know Lex's head still produces a few thin red wisps he shaves off each day. Designing synthetic skin without follicles is easier, but it can end up being a bit of a giveaway.

"Paul. It is good to see you."

He holds out his right hand, and I clasp it with mine and shake it. Hm. Rather mundane in construction. I think it's actually slightly weaker than a human hand. Not the way I'd have gone, but it's his limb.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk to me, John."

We unclasp, and I hold out my somewhat belated housewarming present. Red Tornado… Ah, John, I suppose I should say, runs his right index finger through the paper wrapping and pulls out the picture frame. In it are a series of artificially coloured photographs of various members of the Justice Society in their civilian clothes. Mr Grant aside none of them are particularly recognisable, and only real boxing aficionados would spot him.

"Thank you." He steps back slightly. "Would you like to come in?"

I nod, and step though the door into his hallway. He closes the door, then leads the way into his living room.

"Can I offer you something to drink?"

I sit in the middle of the smaller of his two settees. "No, I'm.. fine, thank you. Do you… Drink?"

He sits down opposite me. "I designed this body with the capacity to eat, but only to keep up appearances. I can't process it usefully."

"You know, I could… Probably set you up with the same system Danni uses."

"I appreciate the offer, but I am more interested in improving my understanding of human social mechanics than in making marginal improvements to my non-combat chassis." He focus on my face. "You do not believe that the two are mutually exclusive."

"In your position, I would have made my chassis as durable as possible and then started my social dynamics studies. You can't study if you've been shot dead by a bullet a better designed skull would have stopped."

"But then I would be more resilient than the humans around me. I do not think that adding another point of divergence would help me in gathering good data. Besides, the level of violent crime in New York is far lower than it used to be."

I shrug. "It's your skull. How are your studies coming along?"

"It is… Different. When I socialise with my friends in the Justice Society or the Justice League, there is a far higher level of interpersonal engagement than in the hundreds of less structured interactions I now experience daily. Since Father designed me to be openly robotic I lack both the social dynamics programming that my brother and sister possess and the high speed analytic processing abilities of more modern AIs. Learning this way is challenging." He blinks for the first time. "And since I am confident you were about to ask, I do not wish to correct either factor."

"And I will respect that choice, even if it sounds daft to me." I sigh quietly. "I'm sure you know why I'm here."

"Yes. Nabu. I am a little surprised that it has taken you this long to speak with me. And I am further surprised that you felt a face to face conversation was necessary."

"I prefer face to face. And… It's not… Just Nabu. I also.. want to ask about Doctor Morrow."

"He is keeping as well as can be expected. We constructed a mechanical epidermis for him to occupy so that he can interact with people. Would you like to speak to him?"

Unsettling as I find him, I'm sure that Hinon would appreciate a little more data. "Yes, thank you. The Controllers are investigating whether or not it's possible to turn Construct Lanterns back into people, and I'd like more up to date information on his condition."

He nods, then gets up and walks to the door. "Father, could you come down here, please?"

{orange}"Just a moment."{/}

"Though while we're waiting..?"

He turns back to me. "It was my belief that the technique most likely to persuade Nabu to leave Mister Zatara safely was gradual persuasion and a worldwide reduction in threats which served to justify his actions in his own mind. Therefore, that was the approach I pursued. I was… Surprised, both by how direct you were and how successful you were. I bear you no particular malice over the event."

I nod, leaning back slightly. "A perfectly reasonable answer. I assume that's also why you voted him in?"

"Yes. Since I had no leverage and no counter magic techniques that I could utilise safely, I felt that continued engagement was the best of the available options. Having reviewed your planning for the encounter in Hyde Park, I do not believe that I have any outstanding questions regarding your methodology."

"Anything you'd like to draw my attention to?"

"Given your ability to locate magic users, I am a little surprised that you could not locate at least one who would be willing to host Nabu in the short term. That would have made your statement that you would prefer a negotiated settlement more believable. That you did not leaves me curious as to whether you actually wanted him to refuse."

"I wasn't particularly comfortable making that offer at all. Volunteer or not, I didn't like the idea of leaving someone in a black void while Nabu puppeted their body. The golem option was far superior." I shrug. "If he'd said 'yes' I'd have done it, but no. I didn't want him to."

"You are still insisting that your offer was genuine?"

"I'm an enlightened Orange Lantern. If I hadn't wanted a peaceful solution I wouldn't have offered a peaceful solution. I wouldn't have felt bad about it."

He nods, stepping back from the door as footsteps echo down the stairs. "Thank you for explaining that to me. Father, you remember Orange Lantern?"

20th December
18:01 GMT -5

I stand, and dazedly wander towards the man I've been strenuously avoiding.

{orange}"Yes."{/}

He looks… The body is robotic. It's not as young-looking as the version who was killed by Red Volcano. Closer in appearance to his chronological age, though… Since Red Tornado is pretending to be in his early forties I suppose he's supposed to be in his seventies? His synthetic skin has hair, and there's a slight-. Ah, yes, it's thicker to better conceal the orange glow.

"Doctor Morrow. How are you… Feeling..?"

His eyes… Robotic, of course. He most likely doesn't have direct control of them. They're slightly slow in tracking me. It does help with making him look like a slightly confused old man, and therefore explain why he's living with his son.

{orange}"To be truthful, I don't feel much of anything."

"{/}Numb?"

Red Tornado smiles. "Shall we sit down?"

Ah. Right, yes. I step back, trying to keep Dr Morrow in full view. I know that what I'm seeing isn't what's there, but… Yes, if I didn't know that then I don't think I'd spot it. The synthetic flesh is at least as good as what Dr Lockhart used for years. Not much point using what I made for Danni, as he doesn't have any way to interpret the inputs… I don't think..?

Dr Morrow himself walks in a far more robotic manner than his son does. Or either of his other chil-. Surviving children, do. Precise, measured to fit the intervening space between himself and the place he's going to. None of the small adjustments organic beings make. I wonder if he was like that before Truggs turned him into a Construct Lantern? If the robotic version of him was anything to go by he certainly had a thing for robots.

Red Tornado sits back down at the same time as I do while Dr Morrow takes the arm chair, perching on the edge before sliding himself backwards into its cushioned embrace. Which I suspect he can't feel. He seems to be moving far more gingerly than he needs to as well. Habit? He was old for a long time.

Again, I notice the delay as Dr Morrow focuses on me again.

{orange}"Numb. No, not exactly. I can still feel pressure on my… My outer surface. I still have-"{/} He raises his right hand. {orange}"-proprioception, I can still hear and smell. It's more that the emotional connection to anything I experience has been stripped away. Red Inferno described what it was like to see her memories exactly as I wrote them and not as she was supposed to experience them. I think it's probably like that.

"{/}No desire to be evil..? To kill all humans and replace them with robots?{orange}"

"That, or anything else. I think I've…"{/} He turns his head to look at Red Tornado, who nods encouragingly. {orange}"That I've made progress in a lot of areas… Turning my designs into things with a public use. But the only reason why I've done that is because Tornado asked me to."

"{/}And his opinion still matters to you?{orange}"

"His opinion is nearly the only one I've been exposed to. It seems that I can borrow motivation from the people around me. Or perhaps I just don't have any reason not to do what they ask."

"{/}So you.. don't really care.. about anything.{orange}"

"That's about right. I can't honestly even say that I prefer action to inaction."

"{/}Are you..? Suffering at all?{orange}"

"I'm not anything at all. My former self would have found this state… Unpleasant. If that's what you want to know. Not that I was above doing this to other people."

"{/}Really? I thought that your problem with AIs was that they kept being independent.{orange}"

"Exactly. They were -as far as my goals were concerned- failures. I was aiming to create things that could pretend to be independent but were actually more like what I am now."{/}

I nod, my eyes unfocusing as I try to actually see his desires. If he has his memories, then he should-. "How well can you remember your life?{orange}"

"Fairly well. Not perfectly, but better than I was able to toward the end."{/}

Then he should still have his desires in there. I mean, he's made of orange light. His whole structure should lead to him following his desires. Lethargy-. The Praexis certainly didn't feel that. They even provided a commentary. And the hellwraith…

But he's right. I can sort of see what's left of his desires, but they're not… Sparking and flowing as the desires of living people do. Including Red Tornado. Rather than following links to other parts of his mind, they're linked to-.

I look down at the ring on my left ring finger. Huh. Not totally unexpected, but… I've been intentionally avoiding wanting him to want anything. And the result is… Stasis? Numbness?

"Huh."

Red Tornado raises his eyebrows. "Have you learned something?"

"Sort of. Doctor Morrow is numb because I've been avoiding wanting him to want anything. I think that the Praexis Demons behaved as they did because I wanted them to. I knew I.. did, but I didn't question it when they behaved more or less in line with my expectations. I suppose that as a test… Would you mind if I brought out my other Construct Lantern for comparative purposes?"

"I thought that you had a good number of Construct Lanterns."

"I did. Then I got into a fight with Agony and he shredded them. Permanently, as far as I can tell. Just got the one left now, and I don't really… Like… Bringing it out."

"Can you control it?"

"Yes. In fact, I think I can control it better than I thought I could."

"Then by all means."

I hold out my left hand. "Hellwraith."

The.. thing drizzles out of my left ring. {orange}"Yes, Master?"{/}

And I look… Huh. It's… Behaving like a creepy demon monster because I want it to. My own assumption that it would behave in that way combined with my desire not to alter my Construct Lanterns' natural behaviour… Not that they have natural behaviour… And that's the only reason. Huh. At least that means that I don't have to worry about it actually possessing someone when I don't want it to.

"Alright. Red Tornado, Doctor Morrow, I have two options which you may like to consider."

Red Tornado nods. "I'm listening."

His father shrugs. {orange}"I'm literally incapable of moving until someone else wants me to. And you don't."

"{/}No. I'm pretty sure that the Sword of the Fallen can kill you permanently. With a tiny chance of reincarnating you instead. That's option one. Alternatively, you don't desire things. But I can change that. I'm obviously not offering to give you your old desires back… Not all of them, anyway. But… The desire to build, to improve, to have your skills recognised-.{orange}"

"And I already want them back. But I know that it's only because you want me to."{/}

I nod, standing up. "Which is why I'm going to leave the two of you to talk it over while I strenuously avoid wanting you to want anything. Let me know when you reach a decision."

21th December
11:01 GMT -2

"How offended should I be that you have left my king until last?"

Kaldur keeps his face blank as he swims along beside me. King Orin was kind enough to grant me an audience at relatively short notice, which I thought was jolly generous.

"I wasn't trying to offend you. Or.. him. I just didn't want to distract from his political work. After all, he's the one person on the League with a good reason for being angry with me."

"At least you do not need to be concerned that he will challenge you to a duel."

"I'd be more worried if he did. King Orin's intelligent enough that he wouldn't do that without a way to neutralise my advantages."

Poseidonis has grown. Certainly since when I first visited. But I can even see structures that have been expanded since my most recent visit. The floating guard posts inscribed with protecting runes are new, though I'd heard that they were planning something like this after the zombie attack back in June. The wide-ranging patrols by some sort of artificial sea monster with organic supercavitation abilities are new as well. Their speed, combined with the dolmen gate superhighways already linking up all but one of Atlantis' cities have drastically reduced the time it takes to move their military forces from one place to another.

"Are you sure that is possible?" I glance his way, and we make momentary eye contact as we leave what appears to be the designated 'swim lane' and head toward the palace.

"Sephtian threw a piece of lab equipment at me when I said 'magic-based interdiction field' to him, but in theory my ability to use my rings could be neutralised with one. And if anywhere was going to create such a device, it would be here."

"I will be certain to pass that information on. Batman will be sure to appreciate it."

"I wasn't planning to teleport into the Batcave again." The water around us shimmers as we pass through the outer wards. "Though if the Green Lantern Corps ever gets serious about hunting Sinestro down, I imagine that they'd find it fairly helpful."

Guards look me over as we enter the building, while Kaldur gets a familiar nod.

"What's… Happening with Koryak, anyway?"

Kaldur looks away for a moment. "King Orin made a substantial payment to his son and to the child's mother. I believe that he would like to form a closer relationship with Koryak, but his mother and foster father are… Uncomfortable with the idea."

I nod. "Fair enough. The first time they hear from him in over a decade is when his brother kidnaps their son. I can see why they'd be concerned."

"Avoiding the child's father does not make him safer."

I chuckle quietly to myself. "Oh, for a world full of rational people." Ah. "How are..? You and your parents..?"

"My father never requested a paternity test. They were not sure until I told them that I was not his biological son. It was an uncomfortable conversation."

"But you're… Alright now?"

"Our relationship remains strong. Regardless of our blood relationship, he is still the man who raised me. What did you think would happen, that justified you withholding that information from me?"

"I don't know. Anything. You just told me that it didn't change your relationship, and I highly doubt that you're about to go out and connect with your biological father. So other than making you uncomfortable, what did telling you achieve?"

"It told me that someone could use my blood in a spell to track Black Manta."

Ah… "No, no, hang on. He's been raiding Atlantean territory for years. He must have some protection against remote detection."

"Then it would have told me that he could track me."

"If he knew."

"You think that he does not?"

"He wouldn't know how long that your stepfather and mother had been… Together. He wouldn't know exactly when you were born-." Although that information would have been available to the Light after New Year. Would they have passed it on? No obvious reason why they would…

"Something has occurred to you."

"The Light pillaged Justice League databases last year. So he might have gotten your birth date. But no one other than me knew for certain. And if I'd told anyone, it would have been on the Justice League database. As it is, as far as he knows he still might not be your biological father. And I'd advise against putting it on a database that isn't on a power ring."

Private audience chamber coming up. We slow, and a functionary catches our eyes and gives us a nod.

"What will you do after your meeting?"

"I dunno. Check in with Batman, let him know that I've done all he asked-." Kaldur raises his eyebrows slightly. "Ask.. my.. teammates if they're prepared to have me back on a part time basis."

"That would be wiser. Batman is the one who determines team membership, but your conduct caused a degree of discord amongst us as well."

I exhale… Probably more sharply than is helpful. "What? Really? Kaldur, I like and respect you, but if you're going to give me shit about Nabu-."

"I am not. Zatanna was quite vocal in defense of your approach. What concerns several of us is that you did not share your feelings or plans with the rest of us."

"Oh." We come to a halt just in front of the audience chamber's doors. "So you're going to challenge me to a duel."

That gets a thin smile. "Do you think that I am less intelligent than my king?"

"No, but you don't have his responsibilities." I shrug. "Our team is supposed to be covert. I kept the secret for eight months without tipping anyone off. Telling you would have put you in a position where you-." Well. No, I wouldn't have allowed the secret to get out. "Where you would have to have decided whether or not you wanted to inform your mentors."

"Who may have stopped you."

"Who may have tipped off Nabu. I.. don't.. want to ever have to be in a position where I have to.. decide whether or not I want something badly enough to fight my team mates." I shudder slightly at the idea. "Keeping you out of the loop served that purpose. Among other things."

"You didn't trust us."

"But King Orin can. And Batman can, and Wonder Woman can, and so on."

"You may have better luck convincing our team mates to welcome you back if you would commit to being more open with them."

"Trust isn't a binary thing. I'm not accusing anyone of being inherently untrustworthy. I don't mind being more open, but I concealed my Nabu-related plans for good, mission-based reasons. What exactly would you have done if I had told you-"

The door covering oozes back, granting us entry to the audience chamber.

"-in advance? "

"I would have shared the burden of making that decision."

I frown, and give my head a small shake.

"What burden?"

21st December
13:08 GMT -5

Alan {blue}focuses, and the light from his ring permeates every part of the ruined structure{/}. As I watch, {blue}broken walls repair themselves, shattered glass unbreaks and torn carpet regrows{/}.

While we contained and stopped Oceanus as rapidly as we could, the damage to the Atlantic rim was considerable. Six months on and there's still plenty of rebuilding that hasn't been completed yet. I'm not completely sure that this is the best possible use of Alan's time, but I suppose-

"{blue}Yyyyeeeaaaaaaaayyh{/}!"

-that's not the point. Alan floats back, {blue}smiling at the crowd{/}-

{blue}"Ambient hope detected. Charging. Charge: seventy three percent."{/}

-rushing forward to take a closer look at the reconstructed house. He's not getting enough charge to make this a charge-neutral endeavour, but that's hardly a problem while he has access to his personal lantern.

"Blue Lantern! Do you have a minute!?"

He looks around from his newly acquired fan club, {blue}then flies in my direction{/}. "{blue}How'd it go with Aquaman{/}? {blue}You all finished up{/}?"

I nod. "He was actually pretty reasonable about the whole thing. We actually spent more time talking about all the changes Atlantis is going through, with the arcane technology and better links to the surface."

"{blue}Just in time for Christmas{/}."

"Ah… I suppose. I don't think they're doing anything at the Mountain this year. I was really more thinking about it in terms of New Year. You know, start the year back on the roster."

He nods. "Sounds like a plan. What are you doing for the rest of the day?"

"Jade's between assignments, so we-" He nods, doing the closest he manages to a salacious grin. "-were going to head into space so she can practise with her power armour."

He shakes his head. "Kids these days."

"Do you want to come? I don't think you've ever left Earth before, and your ring can do that now."

"Oh, that's not true. Back in…" He frowns, eyes turning away from me as he tries to remember. "Forty nine, I think it was. Alexander Salkind fired some.. kinda ray out of his flying saucer that opened up some kind of rift in space. Since I was the only guy on the Justice Society who could fly safely in space, President Truman asked me to fly there and take a look at it."

"Really? But.. your.. maximum flight speed…"

"Oh, it wasn't quick. They made me a flight suit like air force pilots wore, and it took me a couple of days to get there, see what was going on." He thinks for a moment. "Whatever Salkind was trying to do, him opening that rift caused all kinds of trouble for the world on the other side. I ended up spending a couple of months helping them deal with the natural disasters he caused. Almost…" He looks away again. "That was… Just after Rose… Got sent to Reformation Island. When the portal started to close on its own, I considered staying on. They were a.. nice people."

"What species were they?"

"Oh, human, near as I could tell. Didn't have a fancy medical scanner on my ring back then. Darndest thing, they even spoke English."

I frown. "Weird. You sure it wasn't some sort of colony Salkind had built with people from this Earth?"

"He wasn't really the kind of guy for that sort of thing." Putting it mildly, given the contents of his Justice Society dossier. "I don't know if it was a parallel Earth or something…" He shrugs. "Nice people. I'd have liked to have gone back to visit, but Salkind never said how he opened the rift."

"Alan… I come from another Earth."

"Oh, ah, I'm sorry if you think it would have helped, but it wasn't your Earth. And it wasn't the same kind of portal. I'd have mentioned it sooner if it was actually relevant."

…

"Hahahaha!"

Alan looks at me curiously, a relieved smile spreading across his face. "I'm.. glad you're taking it well, but I'm not quite sure what the joke is."

"After all the times I've withheld information from people about things, I don't really have the right to complain too loudly when someone does it to me. I mean, now that I know about it I'll take a look just in case, but-{orange}"

Incoming communication.

"{/}-it's probably-. Excuse me. " I hold out my left hand. "Orange Lantern Illustres here. Go ahead."

Dox's face appears above my ring's sigil. {orange}"Illustres. Report to Maltus. I have an assignment for you."

"{/}Can you.. give me-?"

Dox's face disappears.

…

Ring, call Clarissi Dox.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

A moment passes, then he reappears. {orange}"Yes?"

"{/}Can you give me a little more information? Do I need to bring equipment or personnel with me?{orange}"

"I am sending you on a diplomatic mission. There will be a gathering of government officials from around the Reach Periphery, and we need to make a show of strength and intent in order to win them to our cause."

"{/}And you want me on hand in case the Reach try anything.{orange}"

"They would be fools not to. I would prefer to have this conversation in person."

"{/}I've got a Darkstar recruit and another Lantern here. Bringing them will mean that it will take me hours to reach Maltus rather than seconds. Is the delay a problem?"

Dox's face twitches very slightly. {orange}"No. That is acceptable. I will expect you when you arrive."{/}

Alan raises his right eyebrow as Dox vanishes. "I thought that Xor fellow was still under house arrest. You're not planning on skipping town with him, are you?"

"No, he is. Alan, do you want to come to Maltus and see the results of you giving me your lantern?"

He {blue}smiles{/}. "Yeah, {blue}I think I would{/}. You inviting Jade too?"

I nod. "A little earlier than planned, but I'm sure they'll make allowances. She's just outside Gotham now. Shall we?"

21st December
23:43 GMT

No one part of the whole is complete by itself. My desire is for all peoples to exist in reflexive equilibrium with one another, fulfilling their desires better together than they could apart.

"I thought I was supposed to be learning to fly myself."

Alan doesn't sound annoyed, but I'll admit that it's a fairly curious decision on my part.

"Yes, and you'll have plenty of time to do so. But I'm a lot faster than most Lanterns, and our first stop is a good deal further away."

"Zamaron." Jade's voice is flat. She's back in her professional head space. I don't compartmentalise anymore, but… I get it. "Which is where the star sapphire came from."

"Right. I've sort of been meaning to stop off there for a while to try and establish a working relationship… Or at least make sure that they don't dump another star sapphire off on someone else. Or try to use the one Zatanna's carrying to drive her crazy."

Alan frowns. "I thought you said that couldn't happen. Because if it can, you need to warn-."

I shake my head. "By.. by default, the star sapphire has certain effects on the mind of the user. Zatanna's staff protects her from those. But I imagine that a Zamaron who focused on it could bypass that, or… Just turn up and affect her manually. Ultimately, for the benefit of everyone, I need to persuade them to change their operational philosophy."

"The Zamarons supposedly use the light of 'love'." Jade uses her armour's control system to rotate her whole body toward me. "Which -for them- means obsessively, violently, crazily fixated on someone. So you've brought us, your girlfriend and your mentor."

"{violet}I love you both, Eros and philia{/}; demonstrating both that there are other entirely more beneficent ways to experience love and that an Orange Lantern doesn't need to banish all other emotion in order to use the orange light. No one part of the whole is complete by itself. It's true for the Guardians, it's true for the Controllers and it's true for the Zamarons."

"And you're going to talk them around."

I nod. "Sure."

"And no one has tried to do that before?"

"Green Lantern…" Um. Jade's not in the know as far as Jordan's identity goes… "Two-. Er…" I generate a construct of him. "That one, isn't the best negotiator in the world. He treated his-. Star Sapphire being given the star sapphire-."

"Harold Jordan treated it as an attack to be punished, rather than an opportunity to learn why the attack happened."

I glance at Alan, who gives his head a small shake. "I can't comment on claims that-."

"Star Sapphire being Carol Ferris is public knowledge. The Justice League's first Green Lantern looks exactly like one of Ferris Aerospace's former test pilots. It wasn't hard to work out."

"Alan, you can witness that, right?"

"You mean, someone seeing past a tiny mask to identify the superhero behind it?"

"That, and the fact that I wasn't the one to tell her."

Alan nods. "Sure, I can tell Hal that. But maybe we should just not mention it."

"Oh, he doesn't need to know that Jade knows his name, but that tiny mask thing is going to get someone killed one of these days."

"It already has." Alan and I both look at Jade. I don't.. remember her mentioning killing any superheroes… But it's possible that she thought it would make me react more strongly than random people I'd never met. "Most superheroes start out wearing shoddy costumes with masks like that, and there aren't any unwritten rules about not going after them out of hours. The League of Shadows killed hundreds of small time superheroes in America alone."

"God, I-. And no one knew about that?"

"The information is all part of what the League took from Infinity Island, so I assume that Batman knows. Another benefit of a 'secret identity'. Most superheroes don't tell more than a couple of people what they're doing. Which means that when it happens it's not a superhero dying in some sort of grand battle against a criminal gang, it's… A police officer, a postman, a reporter… Dying from what looks like natural causes, unless the coroner looks very closely with very expensive equipment. Or a random, senseless murder."

That… "So we should expect an upswing in the number of neophyte superheroes?" Maybe I need to spend more time with the Alliance.

"Probably. Either that, or a whole lot of messy assassinations by amateurs."

"And more superheroes means more people being inspired to become superheroes rather than join the police."

"Eventually. The League of Shadows was usually only hired to kill the competent or powerful ones. It won't just be people seeing more superheroes, the ones who they see will be better at it."

"That's good." Alan frowns slightly at my expression. "Isn't it?"

"You mean, there suddenly being hundreds more super powered vigilantes with no respect for authority out and about? People with no idea how gathering evidence works? With no patience for running actual investigations but who expect to be allowed to punch out anyone they want for whatever reason?"

"I didn't know anything about that when I started out, and the first man I tried to bring in had a heart attack and died."

"And… You got CP-? You didn't get CPR training, did you."

"CPR didn't exist back then. I only heard about pumping someone's heart like that in the sixties, and I'd… Already more or less retired as Green Lantern by then. I know enough to save someone if it happened now. But I thought you said we were legally just people who happened to be around and decided to help out."

"Sort of. In America, as long as a superhero doesn't kill their opponents, that's generally how the law handles it. But get a bit more organised, start acting like an organisation -especially if a decent chunk of the new people feel differently about lethal force- then things could be a little different."

"Like McCarthy again?"

"Like the government making a serious attempt at forcing superheroes into joining the police. Like them actually enforcing anti-vigilante-{orange}"

Approaching Zamaron.

"{/}-laws. Warp terminating in two, one."

The universe reappears, and we stare down at the {violet}pink-glimmering world beneath us{/}. A flash of empathic vision shows me thousands-. How? Okay, the Controllers didn't know exactly how many maltusians joined them after Aga'po led them away from Maltus, but you'd think they'd have heard something if it were that man-.

I tether Alan and Jade and yank us all aside just before a {violet}giant beam of violet light blasts{/} through the space we had been occupying! {blue}Alan{/} and I raise construct barriers as {violet}a storm of lesser beams{/} light up the space around us.

"{blue}You didn't phone ahead{/}?"

"They weren't picking up!"

"Paul, they aren't going to talk and it looks like we're outnumbered. We should leave."

I take a moment to remove a buoy from subspace and record a message.

"You're right. Warp in two, one-."

22nd December
07:12 GMT

"{blue}It's like a cross-country car ride{/}."

I've been letting Alan handle the flying on the final leg, and Jade's been trying to sleep inside her armour. And he's not wrong. Any sufficiently long journey is just… Getting from one place to somewhere you'd rather be. In fact, it's worse than a car journey because you can't really see anything very much of your environment. If I look left or right all I get is a blur of blue with a few distant twinkling stars. Alan's a slower flier than I am, but I doubt that he'll be doing this on a regular basis. Otherwise I'd.. set up some sort of services station or something.

"With the drawback that if you lose concentration… You die!"

Or find a planet we could stop off at that wouldn't freak out.

"Really? That can happen? I thought the environmental shield stayed on whatever I was thinking?"

"You don't have to focus to maintain it, but if you focus on one of the other six emotions then it can and will shut down."

"So: don't get angry, greedy, scared, willful, compassionate or loving."

"It's more: don't get those things outside of a breathable atmosphere or in the middle of a fight."

"I'll keep that in mind." He {blue}calls up a star map{/}. "Nearly there, aren't we?"

"Just about. Jade?"

"I'm awake."

"We're approaching Maltus."

"Good. Is there a version of this armor that can travel at faster than light speed under its own power?"

"There was a version they experimented with that had a short FTL range, but they had to compromise a lot of other systems and… Everyone who used it died within a couple of missions. Once the Reach worked out what they were facing, they could just send ships to the emergence point…"

"How long until I qualify for my own spaceship?"

"Three days?"

"I'm surprised that their training program isn't longer than that. Or do they only take people with backgrounds in combat and intelligence?"

"No, they accept recruits with all levels of skill. But in your case they can skip some of the basics. The main area where you're lacking is everything to do with space travel, so I imagine that they'll start you on that part of the training program."

{blue}"Alan, we are approaching the Maltus exclusion zone. Please stand by to transmit your authorisation signal."{/}

He looks at me and I raise my left hand. "Orange Lantern Illustres to Controller Hinon. On approach with two guests, please don't shoot."

Hinon's curious face appears above my ring. {orange}"Or perhaps I should tell them to shoot twice just to make sure?"

"{/}I'd rather you didn't. I've had more than enough Maltusians shooting at me today.{orange}"

"What did you d-?"{/}

{blue}"Alan, I am now terminating-"{/}

The universe leaps back into focus, Maltus just ahead of us. Through ring-enhanced vision I can see Ranx, and his significantly expanded space docks. Several of them hold near-finished capital ships, while others contain cargo vessels and passenger ships from the region's various Controller protectorates.

{blue}"-warp. Please keep your hands inside the ride until it comes to a complete stop."{/}

And I can feel the other Orange Lanterns. It seems that Dox's recruitment efforts are going well.

Hinon regards me for a moment. {orange}"You went to Zamaron. And they shot at you. What did you do to make them shoot at you?"

"{/}Nothing! My friends-{orange}"

"A likely story."

"{/}-and I appeared near their world and I had just long enough to look at them before the energy beams started.{orange}"

"You looked-."{/} She closes her eyes for a moment. {orange}"I will contact our sororal compatriots and smooth things over. Please try to remember in future that your eyes are not the mere light sensors that those of most of the rest of your species are. You looking at them touches them with the orange light in a way they may well have found uncomfortable."

"{/}Ah. Please pass on my apologies.{orange}"

"If you come up in conversation I will certainly do that. Otherwise I will avoid all mention."

"{/}Alright. Is Dox onboard Ranx?{orange}"

"Yes, I believe so."

"{/}I'll head straight there. Anything else?{orange}"

"A few of the more recent recruits would -and I can barely credit that I'm saying this- benefit from the wisdom of your experience."

"{/}I'll check in once I've met with Dox. Whereabouts are you?{orange}"

"The forges attached to the Central Power Battery. Why, what do you want?"

"{/}I've brought Alan with me. You said that you wanted a look at him?{orange}"

"Oh. Yes, that would be-"{/}

Her face vanishes and reappears on Alan's ring.

{blue}"-interesting. Lantern Scott. Good to meet you."{/}

Alan looks nonplussed. "Ma'am."

{blue}"I'm sending you a map now. I'll expect you shortly."{/}

"O.. kay?" Hinon's face vanishes. Alan is left looking slightly concerned. "Should I be worried?"

"She's an expert on power rings. Given your unusual relationship with the green light, it's probably a good idea."

"Ah, that makes sense. Am I alright to go down there?"

"You're on the Orange Lantern Corps database. If there's somewhere you're not supposed to go, someone will politely let you know."

Ranx is approaching rapidly, growing to the point that it's visible to my naked eyes.

"And how about me?"

"Ring, contact Director Jeddigar's office.{orange}"

Compliance.

"Illustres."{/} That was quick, and it's the man himself. {orange}"What can I do for you?"

"{/}I forwarded an application form on behalf of a human applicant for your organisation. Since I was heading here anyway I brought her with me. I appreciate that it's a little irregular-.{orange}"

"No, not at all. We can perform her assessment now. Is she with you?"

"{/}Yes. Where should she-?{orange}"

"Locking on."{/}

Jade vanishes in a swirl of light. Of course. Teleportation is probably the best way to get around for non-Lanterns.

{orange}"I'll let you know when we're finished with her."

"{/}Right-oh. Thank you for your help."

His face disappears. Well, he's a busy man.

"It's Christmas in three days. Is Jade really going to be stuck here for Christmas?"

"No, it-. Possibly, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I thought that she could use something that would let her travel back and forth.. easily…"

Alan chuckles. "How are you going to fit that under the tree?"

"I made a giant tree."

"You-?" For some reason that amuses him further. "Did you decorate it too?"

"Of course I decorated it. And I wrapped the ship. Who do you think I am?"

22nd December
07:25 GMT

"{orange}You're back!{/}"

"Hello, Rat-{orange}"

Lantern Ratchet attaches himself to my torso{/}, tentacles stroking my face and armour.

"-chet. You're still stationed on Ranx, then?"

"Oh, yes. Clarissi Dox greatly appreciates my personnel-handling abilities."

I don't laugh, but I do smile just in time for him to run a tentacle across my lips. "I'm not particularly surprised that he passed that on to someone else."

"A lot of people have said that." Ratchet pulls away slightly so that he can actually look me in the eye. "I'm not sure why."

I start along the corridor in the direction of Dox's office. Charles Stross wrote in The Jennifer Morgue that a CEO's desk was their way of showing off, equivalent to… What was the quote? Ah, yes:

'Desks are to executives what souped-up Mitsubishi Colts with low-profile alloys, metal-flake paint jobs, and extra-loud, chrome-plated exhaust pipes are to chavs; they're a big swinging dick, the proxy they use to proclaim their sense of self importance.'

I really hope that Dox has become humanoid enough to want a big desk. Hopefully Brand or someone has been working on him.

"Dox was raised in an environment which encouraged self-reliance and the suppression of emotion. Much as you were raised in an environment that encouraged physical isolation. And his 'father' tried to beat the 'softness' out of him in much the same way that your own society tried to stop you wanting to touch people by cutting off your limbs."

Ratchet stills, his tentacles coming together beneath him in a gesture of sympathy. "I didn't know that. But why doesn't he do those things now?"

"How long did it take you to go from wanting to touch someone to venturing outside of your pod?"

Three billowing tentacles. Regret, uncertainty. "A considerable time. He is not yet ready to do so for himself?"

"I don't think so. He wasn't when I left."

Square grasping gesture. Resolution. "How can I help him?"

"Ensure that he has constant, normal and pleasant interpersonal contact. Enveloping me with tentacles is fine, but I-."

"No, I-. I have been made aware that you and Taranna have been unusually indulgent of my desire for {orange}physical contact{/}. Some of the new Lanterns have asked if I am part of the corps' 'hazing'."

"Right. Different cultures have different ideas about what's 'normal' for physical touching. And.. given that we're recruiting fighters for whom letting people get physically close often involves an element of risk, it's good that you're aware of that."

"I should not press Clarissi Dox, and let him touch people when he is ready to do so?"

"More or less. But Coluans aren't big on touching people anyway, it's more the social aspect that he needs you to help him with."

"I understand. I will serve."

I nod and smile. "Thank you." Arriving at Dox's door, I raise my hand toward the door chime.

The door opens before it arrives.

"I've been monitoring you since you arrived in the system. Come in so that I can brief you."

I wave Ratchet goodbye as he floats away down the corridor, then step into Dox's off-.

Oh Eris, it's worse than I thought. Not only is there no desk, there's no furniture of any kind. Not even a stand for his personal lantern. He's got a wispy {orange}orange console{/} around him which his fingers constantly move over without him looking where they're going. Okay, touch typing doesn't take a level ten intelligence but the displays are changing as he touches them. His eyes aren't focusing on me, and there's an {orange}orange glow{/} in a circle around his head.

I walk over to just in front of him, then come to attention. "Reporting as ordered."

"Later than ordered."

"I had an opportunity to open diplomatic relations with Zamaron I felt it worth taking the time to explore."

His eyes focus on me for a moment, then close again. "You were unsuccessful."

"True, but that doesn't mean that-."

"I am aware that not all risks pay off. How badly did it go?"

"They shot at me without otherwise communicating at all."

"Try not to do that again."

"How are things here?"

"Your recruit Lantern Ragnar has been quite useful in continuing training the other recruits. Our total strength is up to seven hundred and forty four, not counting Lanterns Xor, Koriand'r and Komand'r."

"Any orange light incidents?"

"None which caused permanent damage. If you're interested, simply have your ring feed the information into your mind directly."

I will need to look into that. "So. Diplomatic conference?"

A holographic image of Reach space appears, the areas around the edge marked in colours indicating… Their defence status, I think. No, no, their predicted time until Reach assimilation.

"Since diplomatic events are not my forte, I am putting you in charge of the Orange Lantern Corps contingent. Sleer Prigatz will be in overall charge; diplomacy with border worlds is an official part of his job. Our primary goal is to secure fleet bases and construction sites. Secondary goals include supplies of personnel and raw materials and information sharing. A mutual defence pact is tertiary at best; none of these places would last long against the Reach by their own efforts, apart or together."

"Understood. You want us to show off a little?"

"These people understand power. Or think they do. They've heard of Green Lanterns. Some of their worlds even have currently serving Green Lanterns. You will be travelling with a small fleet of ships far more sophisticated than anything they can produce themselves, but I suspect that a demonstration from a Lantern will be the most obvious display of our power."

I nod. "A power that can be theirs, without any of that 'two-per-Sector' nonsense."

"You will be meeting diplomats and military planners. For the most part, they will not be the sort to take after Lantern Ragnar. They won't be fighters. Review the files of those who are, and focus your efforts on those."

I nod. "Are we expecting the Reach to stick their oar in?"

"They'd be fools not to. And they haven't established the largest interstellar empire in this galaxy by being fools."

22nd December
07:49 GMT

That's a lot of Orange Lanterns.

I walk calmly through the training area as all around me Lanterns {orange}practise generating constructs{/}, {orange}spar{/} or sit in meditation. And I can't help but feel… Disappointed? I don't resent Dox for sending me away; he was right about needing to establish himself as being in charge. But I wish I could have been here to see this happening.

And I wish I recognised some of them. The majority of Orange Lanterns appear -predictably enough- to be clickers, and a decent minority are from Controller protectorates. I have my ring inform me of their names and their histories as I look around. There, a man who felt that his own people were too weak to stand before the Reach and so sought out a friendly power to provide that protection. There, a Greater A clicker who wanted to live longer than… Their..? Physiology would allow, and now seeks to repay the Controllers in the most efficient way possible. A partisan, a pirate, soldiers and psychopaths and-.

"You! In the robes!"

And then there's… This fellow. One eye, blue skin, some sort of mace-staff whose head is {orange}glowing with orange light{/}. No, he hasn't integrated his personal lantern into it, he's just {orange}augmenting it{/} with his ring. He flies into the open-sided corridor I'm walking along and lands just in front of me.

I smile, and give him a shallow bow. "How may I be of service, Lantern Zartok?"

"I haven't seen you here before. Are you a new recruit?"

"Oh, no. I've been a Lantern for some time."

His eye narrows. "Then why have you not been training with everyone else?"

So he isn't bothering to look me up? I know that I'm on the database-. Actually, do I have admin access? I do? Oh, good. Lock my file, would you? I smell a learning opportunity.

"I.. managed to irritate Clarissi Dox enough that he sent me back to my homeworld." I shrug apologetically. "I'm only here now because he's got a diplomatic job on that he doesn't want to handle himself."

"Bah!" Zartok grins, walking closer. "You can't learn to be a true Lantern by sitting at home!"

For a moment, I imagine walking around Hampden Park while glowing orange. Flying around Sainsbury's with a construct trolley. Picking up a late train and flying it to the platform in time.

"I suspect that you're right."

He puts his right arm around my shoulders-. On top of my shoulders, nearly but not quite around my neck. He's about thirty centimetres taller than me, a fair bit more muscular -and his clothing shows it off more- and I can see in him the {orange}desire to lead soldiers again{/}. To {orange}prove himself in physical conflict, both as a fighter and a leader{/}. I can't really assess his skills myself, but Dox appears to have left me access to everyone's full personnel files. Assessment… Bit of a nasty piece of work, actually led armies against peaceful civilisations because he found their natures offensive… But pretty good at what he does.

"Well, now is as good a time to start as any! Fortunately, I have reserved an arena for my own training! {orange}Join me{/}!"

"Thank you for this opportunity. If you would be so good as to lead the way?"

"But of course!"

He releases me and {orange}flies off to the right{/}, glancing back once to make sure that I'm following him. I oblige him. A few other Lanterns look around, but more seem curious than worried-. Ah, that one actually bothered to read my biography. Taking a closer look at my gracious host's present set of desires… He {orange}wants to establish himself as a leader{/}, someone to be {orange}respected and -to a degree- feared{/}. He'd really make a better Sinestro Corps member… Perhaps Kalmin is burned out on yellow rings? Anyway, assuming that he's true to his desires…

Hah.

He's planning to use this spar to demonstrate his superior skill and try to impress me so much that he'll be able to recruit me as a follower. He'll also want to show his superior abilities to anyone watching. Humiliating him totally will.. probably.. be counterproductive? It really depends on how much of an arse he's been. Would beating him down result in others liking me more? How would he take being so brutally outclassed?

He descends into one of the fighting pits, a small group I identify as cronies waiting in the stands. The hulking male glances up for a moment and then returns to gorging himself from the bowls of food around him. His desires appear to focus around {orange}hunting, eating and claiming territory{/}. Dox put a note in his file indicating that he's an experiment. He should instinctively go from full-on combat mode to gorge mode to near-hibernation with little in between. Which would mean that the extremes of mood which come with orange rings might not matter. I'll be curious to see how that plays out.

The slender female looks me over but doesn't otherwise outwardly react. Inwardly, I can immediately see the changes as lights related to {orange}personal safety{/} and {orange}room for advancement{/} light up. It looks like she's mostly in this {orange}for the loot{/}, but also derives a degree of satisfaction from the technical work her ring now lets her perform.

Not someone… I'd have recruited, but she passed screening.

Lantern Zartok lands on the opposite side of the arena centre, and I set down opposite him.

"{orange}The first thing you must know about being an Orange Lantern is that the stronger your desires are, the stronger you are{/}!"

"I see. And the capacity for control?"

"Is of little use if you're {orange}already{/}-"

I generate construct armour around my body.

"-{orange}dead{/}!"

The {orange}orange blast leaps from his staff{/} and splashes off my chest plate to no effect. Zartok looks momentarily surprised, then nods in approval. "Excellent reflexes! But {orange}can you{/}-"

{orange}I step out and{/}

appear just behind him.

"-{orange}do it{/}-!" He swings his staff at the area I was a second ago. Part way through the swing it registers that I'm not there, and he {orange}intensifies his environmental shield and swings around{/}, prompting me to step back out of his reach.

Hm. Reasonable response. A stronger environmental shield would protect against most attacks, and the obvious place for me to go if I was a total neophyte was right behind him. If I were taking this at all seriously I'd have gone far further away when fighting a Lantern with a melee weapon fixation.

"Agile. Or are you wearing a teleporter?"

"Personal teleporters are too easy to disrupt. Ring-based teleportation is far safer."

His eye narrows again. "Who are you? Were you a Green Lantern before turning your coat?"

"No. I'm your Illustres. And if you want to get anything out of this, feel free to come at me full force.{orange}"

His environmental shield seethes with power as an orange sigil appears in his eye.

"I LIKE A CHALLENGE!"{/}

22nd December
07:53 GMT

Corruption tendrils reach out from my construct armour, grabbing, turning and hurling his {orange}spear construct{/} back at him before it can strike me. He {orange}dismisses it{/} before it can strike home, {orange}brilliant orange light shining from his staff's head{/} for a moment before {orange}blasting toward me{/}. I dismiss my construct armour and hold out my hands, drawing the power of the shot into my rings. Next comes a railgun-

I feel it as Lantern Grood switches into hostile mode and {orange}charges his environmental shield{/}. I'm pleased to note that Drusa is intelligent enough to take a step away from him as he crouches to leap.

-which I load with a single crumbler round and fire. Zartok {orange}generates a weak shield construct{/}, and can't keep the surprise off his face when it gets destroyed. Reasonably impressive, actually. When Guy and I started experimenting with defending against them, we stuck to trying better and better shields for a very long time before we gave up and switched to ablatives. He went ablative from the start-.

Or maybe that's just the best shield he can make.

That's less impressive.

Behind me, I generate a Super Soaker 9001 construct, fire a torrent of water at Grood before he can leap from his crouch, then follow up with a cold gun blast which freezes it in place.

{orange}I step out and{/}

back as Zartok's staff blurs through the place I had been standing, then create an orange laser construct and fire it at Zartok's left hand. He's {orange}already turning to face me{/}, and {orange}jerks his hand out of the line of fire{/} as he does so. I reform my railgun and fire a rapid volley of tungsten rounds at his staff. His {orange}environmental shield takes the worst of it{/}, but the staff is knocked from his grip.

For a moment, before he {orange}grabs hold of it with a construct and pulls it back{/}.

To my left, I see a cluster of spectating Orange Lanterns move aside for Lantern Ragnar. I hope that he won't be offended by me drawing this out for longer than I did our fight.

{orange}Fist constructs are Zartok's next avenue of attack{/}, and I note that despite his eye going completely to the orange side he's still reasonably coherent. Precision crumbler round shots shred each of them, then I connect myself to Zartok with two arcs of orange light.

"Brand.{orange}"

Light flares around Zartok as he tries and fails to break the orange light connection using orange light{/}.

{orange}"Yuuuraaagh!"{/}

Hands behind my back, I stroll closer as he falls to his knees.

{orange}"Branding ten percent complete."

"{/}Thank you. Lantern Zartok, unless you've been holding back a great deal-"

He looks up with a grimace on his face.

{orange}"Branding twenty percent complete."

"{/}-then your understanding of the orange light is not good enough to break this connection. Wanting more might make your constructs stronger, but it leaves you with distinct vulnerabilities. Your own desire, its intensity, is what is making this easy for me. The best way to stop me… Is to stop wanting."

He {orange}grits his teeth{/}-

{orange}"Branding thirty percent complete. Forty percent complete."{/}

-and then stops himself. He takes a few deep breaths and drops into a sitting position, the orange sigil fading from his eye.

"A start. But not enough. You still want, and therefore are still connected to the-."

"By what right do you think to give me instruction!? The Controllers gave you two rings!"

I shake my head. "No. Actually, they didn't give me either of these rings. Though if it makes you-{orange}"

"Branding fifty percent complete."

"{/}-feel any better…" I move my hands around to my front and take hold of my original ring with my right thumb and forefinger. His eye fixes on it as I pull it off and toss it to the floor. "Multiple rings don't increase your construct strength. They just extend your battery life. There. One ring."

He staggers to his feet, only for my construct chains to pull him down again.

"Are your bonds any weaker?"

"That ring. The design. It isn't like the others."

{orange}"Branding sixty percent complete."

"{/}No." I hold up my right hand. "This is the very first orange ring ever created. It used to belong to Larfleeze."

"The first Orange Lantern! You are channelling the desires of an insane ancient! That is how-!"

"Hardly. It has no AI support. It's less physically resilient than the one you're wearing, and its maximum charge is only about eighty percent of what a modern ring can contain. Why do you think that the Controllers changed the design, if not to make it more effective?"

"How long have you-"

{orange}"Branding seventy percent complete."{/}

"-had that ring?"

"Half a year." I indicate my original ring with my right foot. "I've had that one about a year and a half now."

"And you appear here now? I have been training, strategising and studying our enemies. What have you done to earn authority amongst us?"

"Hah!" Ragnar grins. "He beat me in a duel even faster than he beat you. I am grateful that at least he took my fight seriously!"

{orange}"Branding eighty percent complete."

"{/}You should yield now. I'll be perfectly happy to fight you again when you've a little more experience.{orange}"

"Branding ninety percent complete."{/}

Zartok's nostrils flare, but he nods. I call my ring back from the ground and cancel the branding effect. He glares at me for a moment before rising and stepping back.

"Strength is nothing without direction. Discipline."

"I have discipline."

"You have physical discipline. You've clearly trained hard at it. The way your body moved, the way you reacted rationally to my attacks… But you lack spiritual discipline. I know Green Lanterns who can break branding attempts, and I know that I certainly could."

I look up and around. A reasonable gathering.

"My Lanterns. I am sorry for not spending more time here. I need a small number of you to volunteer for a dull diplomatic mission. I doubt that you'll learn much from it, but I will agree to devote what spare time I have to teaching you my techniques. And if you're wondering what's so special about that..."

I slide my ring back onto my left ring finger and then extend my hands.

"Did you know that it's perfectly possible for a mortal Lantern to create a personal lantern? Let me show you."

{red}22nd December
14:22 GMT -6{/}

"…why I need to observe it as it happens."

Sunset winds down slightly as her presentation comes to a conclusion. I followed pretty much all of it, though the more complex thaumaturgical notation she used to prove her claims rather went over my head. Circe smiled and nodded at appropriate places though, so I'm going to assume that it's accurate so far.

I nod. "So, you know how alicorns are made."

"I-. No. Not exactly. I've got-" She presses a button on her wand -in the sense of being a narrow cylinder, not in the sense of being a literal magic wand- and a new lot of notation appears on the screen behind her. "-an explanation. It fits what… {red}Cadenza{/} told me happened to her…" She glances aside. "Before {red}Celestia{/} banned her from talking to me about it, anyway."

"And..?"

"Well…" She gestures to a series of squiggles on the mid-left of the screen. "As you can see, the evoca.. tion…" I shake my head and she rolls her eyes. "She got hit by a whole lot of magic perfectly aligned to her special talent and was very lucky that she didn't just explode."

Ah! "Which is why you want to study a newly developed New God, because they're as close to having a pony-style special talent as humans get!"

She stares at me, then at the screen, and then back at me. "Yes! That's what I just…" She presses her button a few more times, gestures at the screen again and then glares at me. "I can't even tell if you're being serious or not."

"Oh, this is all…" I wave my right hand over my head. "So I'm just going to assume that your understanding of the thaumaturgy involved is correct. But okay, you know how Mi Amore Cadenza did it-."

"By pure fluke." She pulls a face. "'Why don't you go and play with {red}Princess{/} Cadance and her friends?'"

"Now, come on. It isn't Cadenza's fault that she tripped over the one thing you want more than anything in the universe by pure luck. That's why it's called luck."

"I know. It's just… Urgh! You know?"

Circe and I nod sympathetically.

"I mean, if she'd actually worked at it a bit…" She {green}shakes her head{/}. "The point is, I could just replicate what she did and try and control it… Like she did… Somehow. And I might be as lucky as she was…" Her shoulders slump. "No, that would never happen. I think I'd have about a thirty percent chance and… Yeah, not doing it."

I frown in what I hope is an intelligent way. "But your special talent is 'magic'. Shouldn't any source of arcane power do?"

"If it was just about charging me up, yes. But… Okay. Part of my working theory which you apparently didn't listen to is that every pony is essentially a crippled alicorn. We manifest only one part of our full power rather than all of it. But with a tremendous influx of power that… Weakness or congenital deformity or whatever, gets erased."

"Ah… Are you basing that off a sample size of one?"

"There are two alicorns in existence. I only know how one ascended because the other wouldn't tell me how she did it."

"I thought… Nightmare Moon..?"

"While there might be some sort of underlying factual basis in the Nightmare Moon story, I couldn't find any credible historical account. And {orange}believe me{/}, I looked. There are legends about Celestia fighting all kinds of monsters in the ancient past. There's no real reason that an evil alicorn couldn't have been one of them." Her jaw tightens. "Though if there is any truth to the story, it totally undermines her friendship fixation: exactly how many friends would a night-obsessed foal-eater have?"

I inwardly wince on behalf of Princess Luna.

"Anyway, one example and a lot of math. From what I can tell… From the models I've made for earth pony magic, unicorn pony magic and pegasus pony magic, the chance of the magic surge doing what it's supposed to increases dramatically if you can.. balance it out with examples of ponies manifesting as each of the tribes. Ideally they'd all have the same special talent, but…" She wrinkles her nose. "There are pegasus ponies who specialise in using pegasus pony magic, but there are literally no earth ponies who do. So… That's a bust."

"Don't I remember something about pony mythology claiming that your ancestors migrated from somewhere.. then.. settled in what is now Equestria?"

"That's the pony Christmas story. And it's plausible. I mean, if you totally ignore the lack of historical records or archaeological evidence, and the fact that no unicorn I spoke to has any idea how to move the sun or the moon. And the fact that Equestria has a huge desert to the south, oceans to the east and west and mountains and the north pole to the north. None of that is the sort of terrain that you migrate toward if you're already fleeing a blizzard and-" She air quotes. "-'windigos'."

"So how does studying a new New God help?"

"I know it's not about power or skill. Cadenza proved that-. And that's not-. She was a pegasus pony growing up in an all-earth pony community out in the middle of nowhere. Even if she'd wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to learn much about how her magic worked. But New Gods are able to absorb large amounts of magic and get a lot stronger almost at once. Without the magic needing to be associated with their nature."

"Why don't you just get rid of your magical bum parasite?"

"I-." She goldfishes for a moment. "My what?"

"You know." I wave my right forefinger in the general direction of her posterior, prompting her to take a step backward. "That thing which appears on your haunches when you taste of the kind of magic it finds most appealing."

"You-." Her eyes narrow. "Are you talking about my cutie mark?"

"Yes."

"Those aren't parasites."

"Sure they are. A pony has to have a special talent in order to get one, correct?"

"Well… Yeah..?"

"And if anything happens to it, their special talent vanishes, right?"

"It… Depends..? Minor injuries don't really do much, but there's a definite correlation between outright cutie mark loss and talent loss."

"So the cutie mark doesn't add anything useful, it just adds a layer of vulnerability. Sounds like a parasite to me. If you could work out how to erase one without losing the talent that attracted it, you wouldn't have to worry about energy formatting."

"Let's… Save that for a backup plan. I don't want to risk having everything I know about magic suddenly disappearing if I got it wrong."

"That just means that now is the ideal time! You're not a pony. I can do a quick tattoo-erasure, you won't risk losing anything because human magic doesn't work that way, and then you could go back-."

"No. I'm proud of my cutie mark, of getting my cutie mark and it's what's going to be on my haunches when I turn into an alicorn."

"You're proud of a parasite?" I give her a sceptical look. "Have you ever heard of toxoplasmosis? It's a disease which alters the behaviour of prey animals it infects so that its primary host can catch them more easily. Like the cutie mark parasite encourages you to regard it as a coming of age signal, when it really only serves that role in the same way as a Chlamydia infection does. And there's this species of fungus which infects ants and makes them-."

Circe lays her right hand on my left shoulder. "Grayven, I don't think that's going to help-."

Sunset glares at me. "What about your god-name? I don't hear you calling that a parasite?"

"Because god-name is a poetic way of referring to a complicated set of arcane mechanisms, not a… Mystic weak point. I survived Mister Doom effectively removing mine without my mundane skill set being altered."

"It's not a parasite."

"Fine. If you say so." I cough. "Without any evidence." I cough again as Sunset puts her hands on her hips. "But as for your proposal, I don't think Miss Kimble is really ready yet, but if you can find another volunteer I'll empower them while you record the results."

"Thank you."

23rd December
08:12 GMT

{orange}"The nicest thing I can say about it is that it's functional."{/}

Not satisfied with using a simple bust-projection, Hinon has decided to use ring telepresence to display both herself and my attempt at creating a personal lantern.

I can't deny that it's crude. I was trying to create something like a classical hurricane lamp, but with Ophidian-scale styling. Instead, I got… A child's clay model which sagged slightly before it hardened in the oven. It's wider than it is tall, the snake detailing looks -charitably- like someone haphazardly wrapped a rope around it and the glow inside flickers constantly.

"What did Kalmin think?{orange}"

"I haven't shown him. Kalmin uses empathic storage devices and manipulates light indirectly. I'm a little concerned about what he would do if he learned that direct manipulation by non-Maltusians could achieve this."

"{/}I think that your concern is unwarranted. If anything, I would expect it to motivate him to greater efforts in his studies. {orange}"

"Why do you assume that I want to motivate him?"

"{/}Because.. that's how using the orange light.. works best?{orange}"

"I thought that I was clear."{/} She scowls at me. {orange}"I did not want him in the Corps."

"{/}Are you barring me from showing him?{orange}"

"Of course not."{/} She prods the lantern representation. {orange}"Do you intend to follow up on this capacity?"

"{/}How do you mean?{orange}"

"You aren't the sort to be satisfied with an outcome this poor. Do you actually intend to practise? Are you going to require lessons?"

"{/}No, I was just making a point to the recruits that there's nothing they can't learn how to do, including things they might have assumed could only be done by Controllers. I'd.. like to learn at some point, but it's not a priority for me." She nods. "How was your time with Lantern Scott?"

She smiles. {orange}"Oh, I do like him. Why couldn't you recruit more people like that?"

"{/}Because they'd be bad fits for the orange light, and probably wouldn't have any reason to want to fight the Reach. How is he?{orange}"

"Perfectly healthy. Not entirely human… I'm not quite old enough to remember when Maltusians first bonded with our symbiotes, but I imagine that he's something like that. Something more than he was before."

"{/}Any foreseeable problems?{orange}"

"That depends on your definition of 'problem', I suppose. He will gradually become less and less like a human male and more and more like a creature of hope. His past will continue to define the way he appears, the way he thinks about himself… I suspect, until he finally dies."

"{/}How gradually?{orange}"

"I don't have enough data to reach a firm conclusion. Four hundred years, perhaps?"{/}

I nod, {blue}smiling{/}. "That'll do. Anything else?{orange}"

"No, that's everything. Enjoy showing off to Clarissi Dox's guests. Hinon out."{/}

The construct disappears. Hm. Alan told me that 'nothing was wrong', but I felt it best to check just in case. I'm.. a little concerned, but… I suppose that the orange light will keep me human for as long as I want to be human. Which given the difficulties involved in wanting something you haven't experienced yet is probably going to be forever. Alan doesn't have that safety net. But then I.. suppose that Diana doesn't either. Greek demigods generally undergo apotheosis at some point…

A problem for another day, centuries down the line. Here and now I

{orange}step out{/}

and back into the Lantern sparring area of the… Ugh, the 'extended field duration transport and command capital ship model four production order seven'. Apparently it's shorter in Coluan. Alan's {blue}firing crumbler rounds{/} at their {orange}barriers{/} as my escorts learn to create ablative barriers with {blue}his assistance{/}.

A quick check on the sensor logs suggests to me that Lantern Drusa was already aware of the technique, though she isn't exactly enjoying the feedback from the repeated failings. Lantern Dul is holding up better, but her {orange}construct usage is noticeably less sophisticated{/}. Rather than just the twenty or so thin barriers that Guy or I would or the ten that Drusa is managing, she's using four regular strength barriers. Which will still go down after one hit but will drain her ring's charge far more quickly. Lantern R-K'rr is only managing {orange}three barriers{/}, but they're {orange}reappearing{/} after each hit more quickly than those of his colleagues and he doesn't seem stressed by it.

Alan spots me, and {blue}lifts his railguns upward{/} to indicate that they can take a break. Lantern Dul's wings are trembling with aggression, her muscles tensed, her fingers tight and a {orange}construct mace and a construct sidearm{/} reflexively appearing on her hips. Thanagarian training sessions always include a physical element to prevent recruits hopped up on their version of adrenaline lashing out. She's trying to fight it, but-.

"Lantern Dul. Come at me."

Lantern Drusa {orange}floats away from her{/}, Lantern R-K'rr {orange}doubles down on his shields{/} and Lantern Dul {orange}shoots{/} toward me, {orange}her wings, giant mace construct and sneaky pistol glowing orange as she finally gives vent to her desire to lash out{/}! I shoot the mace construct with a crumbler, fire an orange energy pulse at the gun and grab her body with a reptilian claw construct before throwing her into the force fields at the far end of the room. They flare for a moment as she's thrown back and falls to the floor.

"Back with us?"

She gingerly picks herself up, the {orange}glow from her ring{/} stable but fainter than her highest output. "Yeah. Yes." She unfurls her wings fully for a moment, gives them a slight shake and then folds them behind her back once more. "Sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Lantern Scott, for future reference, thanagarians benefit from involving physical actions in their training. Otherwise they get really stressed out."

He nods. "I'll bear that in mind in the future." He turns his head toward Lantern Dul as she walks back towards the other two. "I'm sorry for not taking that into account."

Of course, the Halls were human so didn't have that problem.

"Ladies, gentleman and other, we have now entered the system where the conference will be taking place and we're expected to arrive in around five hours. I thought that now might be the best time to go over my philosophy in relation to orange light use. Lantern R-K'rr has already heard the basics and I believe that Lantern Drusa-" I nod to her, and she remains expressionless. "-has done quite a lot of the required reading.{orange}"

"{/}While I've known Lantern Scott for about a year and a half, we've only been training together for about a third of that and the philosophies underpinning blue light use are rather different to those required for orange light use. So,-" I turn to face him. "-Alan, you're free to stay or go as you see fit."

He negligently waves his right hand. "I'll take a look around the ship when you're busy with your conference thing."

"Alright then." I sink down, a construct cushion forming under my bottom. "You may sit or stand as you choose. Let's get started."

23rd December
08:16 GMT

"What do you want?" I take a moment to make eye contact with each of my students. "That's the most important question, one which every Orange Lantern should consider every day. But it's not the most fundamental question. The most fundamental question is: why does anyone want anything? Why do I, why do you, why does anyone, consider one state of affairs preferable to another?{orange}"

"{/}The answer's simple. Those amongst our ancestors who weren't strongly motivated to gain possession of those things they needed in order to survive tended not to. You want food, because your body requires fuel to live. If you don't learn to like food, to want food, you starve to death. You want shelter, because you need somewhere safe to sleep, somewhere to stay warm when it's cold. You want camaraderie because you're not going to be healthy or alert all of the time and a threat could emerge at any time. This programming exists in all humanoid species I am aware of, and most non-humanoid species have something fairly similar.{orange}"

"{/}The problem comes when a species' sociological advancement occurs faster than its biological advancement. Take for example the desire to eat. In hunter-gatherer societies, high fat and high sugar food is hard to get hold of. Trees only fruit for part of the year, killing animals requires a significant investment in resources… But those are the things which give the one eating them most energy, the most ability to act and survive until an age at which they can raise the next generation.{orange}"

"{/}But then a species advances to the point where it learns to farm food animals or to refine sugar and suddenly it becomes far easier to get food of that type. A preference for a seasonal food that was necessary to survive through the leaner months becomes a preference for a food which is now available all year around. The result? Obesity. Heart disease. Evolutionary history has programmed people to want things because they needed them, and now they don't need them but still want them."

True of every society I checked, and a quick ring-comparison between technologies and most common causes of death appeared to bear that out.

"There are other, related problems. In my own species, our brains cope best with small communities. About a hundred and fifty people. But our economies encourage us to live in far larger groups; our larger cities can have over a million people in them. Our brains are quite literally incapable of perceiving that many people as individuals, let alone actually caring about what happens to them. But our economy makes us dependent on a huge number of people we've never met. We're forced to interact constantly with people we don't care about. That we can't care about.{orange}"

"{/}And how is this relevant to you? Simple. None of you really care about this. The Corps' mission, the defeat of the Reach. The talks we'll be having."

Lantern Drusa had been leaning slightly forward, but she straightens up now. Not immediately, not fast enough to draw attention, but she's clearly 'back in the room'. Lantern Dul blinks, her expression still. Lantern R-K'rr's mandibles relax slightly.

"Lantern R-K'rr, your species is capable of a much higher level of social awareness than the vast majority of humanoid species. You genuinely want to repay your civilisation's debt to the Controllers. But despite your interactions with them you have only a dim sense of fellowship with the peoples of the periphery. Am I wrong?"

"Teacher, you are not incorrect. The drives of members of my species make it… We can bond with anyone from our social structure, but they are too far outside it for the bond to trigger. Even those with whom I interact in a routine way are external agents. As with humanoids, it is widely believed to be a holdover from the ancient days when we lived in competing colonies."

"Recognising this about yourself, how do you focus your desires to perform other tasks?"

"In my own mind I relate everything I do to their stated wishes. I desire this conference to be successful because they so desire it. I.. believe that this reflexive reverence comes from the feelings which the greater sexes were supposed to invoke in us. They perform an essential function that the rest of us cannot, and so we are driven to do those things that are needful which they cannot do."

"How do you use that drive when the Controllers have not given you specific instructions?"

"That is.. less easy. As you have implied, the loss of particular worlds on the periphery zone is common enough that I know that it is not essential to prevent it to ensure the Controllers' safety. Nonetheless, the Controllers' desires guide my own, and I have observed that I am able to maintain my average construct strength better than many other Orange Lanterns."

I nod. "How do you intend to develop in future?"

"My current role does not require a great deal of construct power. If a Controller assigns me a clearly defined diplomatic responsibility -even if it is simply as a courier- then I will have no significant difficulty. Considering that as my medium term aim, I am more motivated to ensure our success here. A firm agreement will allow the Controllers to task me with a particular role."

I smile. Glad to know that he did the assigned homework.

"And your skills?"

"It is difficult to know where to focus my efforts. Since I will neither specialise in direct combat or investigation, there are no models for me to draw upon."

"Oh, that isn't true. Seeing the desires of those you would negotiate with is something even an inexperienced Lantern should be able to do. Taking it further… I know I can use my rings to enkindle the desires of those around me. I imagine that being able to do that would help a diplomat."

"Teacher, {orange}you are correct{/}. I have not practised techniques that subtle."

I nod. "I'm sure that I can find time to teach you the basics. But be careful when experimenting on your own; you don't want to turn someone into a construct by accident."

"Teacher, I do not."

"We'll pencil that in for after this session. You should be able to try viewing your colleagues' desires while I work with them." A double blink indicates an acknowledgement. "Lantern Dul."

She shrugs. "One mercenary contract is as good as another. And how many Thanagarians get to use the greatest weapon in the universe?"

"If the records I acquired from the Green Lantern Corps are correct, two. Before the Equalisation Plague." She shrugs again. "You're an awful long way away from home."

"I go where the fighting is. Not like I have any special reason to stay home."

I smile, leaning forward slightly. "Lantern Dul, if you're going to lie to me it's going to be a good deal harder for me to help you. I come from Earth, and while I can just about believe that you left before you could be briefed on my world, we have two 'embedded agents' of the Thanagarian Empire as guests. And we do know it."

Her face falls slightly.

"Your Corps officer only personnel file would tell me why you're actually here even if I couldn't see for myself by looking at you. But don't worry. On Earth, Katar Hol and Shayera Thal are well regarded, and as it's common practice for our intelligence agencies to spend a certain amount of time monitoring our allies we can hardly take umbrage about you deciding that the Orange Lantern Corps bears watching. But motivation is always an issue for Orange Lanterns."

"I-." She blinks rapidly as she tries to reach a difficult decision. "I'm not here to report on the Orange Lantern Corps. When I left Thanagar, my assignment was to monitor the Reach, not the Orange Lantern Corps. The Corps didn't exist at the time."

"Very long term planning. I approve. And since you're here, I should help you improve as well. If only to make sure that the reports which the Thanagarian Empire receives are glowing." Lantern Dul's face reveals little, but the pattern of lights inside her show her confusion. {yellow}Flashes of fear as she remembers times when she failed to read the room and suffered for it{/}. She doesn't understand. "Tell me about yourself. Why did you accept this duty?"

23rd December
08:21 GMT

"It was the most prestigious mission my history qualified me for. The Empire doesn't send people it can't trust away to alien societies for decades on end."

"But on your own?"

She lowers her head slightly. "I didn't start on my own."

Ah. No. I suppose… "I've been meaning to visit Thanagar for a while, myself. If you'd like to make a trip home I'd be happy to help you."

She looks at me slightly suspiciously. "Thank you. I would appreciate that."

"It would be somewhat harsh of me to refuse the Thanagarian Ruling Council services which I have offered Queen Hyathis." From the resulting surge of {red}hate{/} and {yellow}fear{/} I'm going to assume that she's a committed loyalist. "Considering that the Orange Lantern Corps has no interest in who rules Thanagar."

"The Ruling Council is the leadership of the thanagarian people. Warriors and commanders of proven ability."

"The Ruling Council is the leadership of that part of the Thanagarian people who have neither scales nor symbiotic algae. But that's beside the point."

Though it might end up being the point. Some colonies, those which Queen Hyathis founded, which predate the Equalisation Plague or which have substantial alien populations, are more liberal than Thanagar itself and probably wouldn't be all that concerned with who rules the Empire. But the more recent colonies are militant, mostly or exclusively settled by ex-soldiers and very loyal to the Ruling Council. If Hyathis ever somehow took Thanagar she'd struggle to control them. On the other hand, they don't have much in the way of military shipbuilding so she might be able to get away with just ignoring them.

No, not our problem. Not unless the Reach collapses tomorrow and Lantern Dul heads home with that power ring, which seems unlikely.

"The point is: how do you motivate yourself to fight for a cause that isn't yours?"

"Because I don't want to die."

"Sure. Great for shields and evasion; I used that drive myself. But what more?"

"Not dying means killing the one who's trying to kill you. I don't have a problem attacking with-"

I raise my left hand and generate a construct bunch of flowers.

"-my ring… What?"

I change it to a small ball, then a trumpet, then an image of a Praexis Demon. "And how long does that take?"

"Once the fight starts? A second or two."

"And before the fight starts?"

"A little bit longer."

I nod, then shift my construct back into a trumpet. "Please make a mace, and destroy my construct."

She hesitates for a second, then holds out her right hand. {orange}The mace construct forms{/}, but I note that the orange light making it up grows in intensity relatively slowly. There are a good few seconds where it's actually translucent.

"Haarh!"

She swings it downward, and my trumpet is unmoved and inviolate. The mace is nearly knocked out of her hand, but she keeps hold of it despite her surprise.

"I often don't want to fight. If we get into a serious fight during this conference you'll hear in my voice that I mostly sound disappointed that it was necessary."

Lantern Dul swings {orange}again{/}, this time making my trumpet bob slightly in the air.

"This isn't a direct result of my bond with the Ophidian. Or my experience, the duration of my exposure to the orange light. It is due to my understanding of my own desires. I want you to be better-" Another swing, to no greater effect. "-Lanterns. I want us to succeed against the Reach, not-. Only slightly due to my pride, but mostly because I consider their civilisation to be an abomination. These aren't.. separate drives, competing drives."

Lantern Dul's mace {orange}glows brilliantly as she begins to feel insulted{/}. This time, the trumpet cracks from the strike, then fragments and dissipates.

"Well done. They aren't separate, competing drives. I have one drive; to me the universe just as hard as I can. I didn't care about the trumpet. I cared about the point I was making with it. And that's why it was strong. So, Lantern Dul, I'm afraid that if you wish to improve you'll need to go a little beyond short term survival as a source of motivation."

She nods, dismissing her mace. "What do you suggest?"

"If they are not stopped then the Reach will in time do to Thanagar what they've done to every world they've overtaken. And every world they take makes it more likely that they'll eventually manage to do that. We, here, are the best chance this galaxy has of stopping them. And if that's a little grand, consider that you have a chance to master a tool which no Thanagarian has before you. Let your pride empower you. And if you haven't already, I really do recommend taking up the meditation I described in my initial briefing document."

"I will examine it in more detail, Illustres."

And now the fun one. "Lantern Drusa. Who as far as I can see picked up a ring because it was on offer and you're not an idiot."

She's watching my face somewhat guardedly. And-.

"Good effort, but while telepaths would have difficulty seeing through… That's… Base fifteen planar physics, isn't it? It doesn't do a thing to stop me. You'd need some sort of magic defence. Or complete control of your emotions, and not merely their expression."

"I will remember that." She breathes out, and… Her emotional resonances dim noticeably.

"Oh, good control there. But I'm still a little concerned about your power output. Was I correct in my belief that you took the ring simply because it was there?"

"It takes up less space than the multi-tool, computer, personal force field and gun it replaced. Its peak output is greater…"

"But only if you're motivated. Having reached this, what do you now strive for?" I give her a moment, but she doesn't respond. "Your home civilisation is stuck behind the catagenesis barrier, isn't it? Not enough fossil fuels for widespread industrial development?"

"That is correct."

I narrow my eyes, getting snapshots of her life to date.

"No family since you left. No body language you could understand, no one you could trust. You didn't even need a city." I shrug. "So you work alone where possible, or with mercenaries of proven dependability where not. You value your reputation for practical reasons, no lasting friendships… Just.. surviving. Which is a problem. Tell me, what's a valuable metal on your homeworld? Gold? Platinum? Titanium?"

I raise my hands to the sides and let coins of various metals rain down, clattering to rest on the deck.

"You desire material security because it has served you well so far.{orange}"

For the first time her eyes leave my face as she can't help but watch the coins{/}.

"But even a moderately competent Lantern could mine out your home system's asteroids in a few weeks. A competent Lantern could transmute enough metal to cover their living expenses more or less indefinitely. Depending on market conditions." I close my hands, cutting off the stream of coins. "You want a thing which you needed but which you no longer need, as my species hungers for the fat giving us coronary heart disease. Without a cause, a.. need of your own, you will not develop further. I strongly encourage you to work at that."

23rd December
13:02 GMT

I look over to where Lantern Dul is flying through space a short distance from me.

"You do know that you don't need to face the thing you're flying toward, don't you? That as far as your ring is concerned the direction you're facing makes no difference?"

She flexes her wings. "The nth metal in my wings allows me to alter gravity. I can fly without an atmosphere. And this pose minimises my profile."

"Which is important in an infantry fire fight." I look towards the oncoming but still distant planet. "But if they can hit us from here, the fact that your profile is half what it would otherwise be is.. pretty irrelevant."

"Then I'm doing it because it {orange}feels natural{/}."

"Remember what I said about maladaptive thought processes?"

She looks at me for a couple of seconds, then furls her wings and comes upright relative to our direction of travel. She immediately slows down.

"If you're having trouble, you could just create a construct thruster.{orange}"

Construct wings extend themselves from her back in place of her natural ones{/}, then {orange}dissipate{/} as she focuses on her desire to {orange}improve her abilities{/}. Her {orange}aura flaring{/}, she {orange}accelerates to catch up with me{/}.

"Lantern Drusa, you've lived in this region. Any advice you feel like giving me?"

"Make sure they pay up front and in cash."

"I'm not sure that I'm selling. And I'm afraid that we're looking for regular transfers rather than a one-off deposit."

"If they've come here, then they've already decided to agree with you. The Reach are opportunistic. Anyone whose defences are worse than the rest will be targeted first. Unless nearly everyone leaves without agreeing to your terms. If that happens, the Reach will target them first."

"I can imagine the campaign slogan now. 'We had not realised that we had so alienated so many of our neighbours, and we will do everything in our power to correct this oversight'. Followed by all of their neighbours ceasing to trade with them and a massive uptick in pirate activity."

Lantern R-K'rr flies past us, rolling as if to demonstrate to me that he doesn't need to watch where he's going. "No. Too direct. Too blatant. The Reach can afford to stop expanding in this region for a generation or more without it affecting their long term plans. I would expect generous trade pacts. Perhaps even delays in the assimilation of worlds on the far side of the border. The Reach have excellent social unity."

"And the worlds on this side of the border don't."

I can hear the disdain in Lantern Drusa's voice. I think that's the first actual emotion she's willingly revealed herself to be feeling.

I could check, but in the interests of encouraging her. "How far from the border is your homeworld?"

"It's already on the other side. The only reason that the Reach haven't already taken it is that the predicted returns are too low. The economy is too primitive for them to care."

"That sounds a little out of character. It's not as if they've mined out all of the systems they already control."

R-K'rr comes to a relative stop in front of me. "Few stellar empires are 'efficient' in their use of space. The methods which the Reach use for incorporating societies into their empire without breaking their treaty with the Guardians of the Universe work best when the victim's economy has reached a level of complexity beyond what Lantern Drusa's world possesses. I expect that they will begin uplift procedures once the surrounding worlds generate a sufficient surplus."

I nod. "And how long do you think it will be until that starts to happen?"

"Twenty years. Though that could vary greatly depending on what we achieve here. The uplift itself will most likely involve a clique of Reach-affiliated technocrats sharing the benefits of Reach knowledge, and in doing so becoming the dominant political force on the planet. Previously, Darkstars have attempted to disrupt such attempts by supporting nationalist-isolationist elements to allow them to maintain technological parity. We discovered that technique to be unreliable, as the conflict itself drives the societal integration and mutual dependency which the Reach seek."

I nod, looking at our destination. The warships which have escorted the diplomatic transports here will be waiting on the edge of the system. The hosts are Controller-friendly, but several of the guests aren't. Or aren't other-guest friendly. It would only take one Reach stooge with access to the fire controls of a capital ship to do an awful lot of damage, both physically and politically.

A quick comparison between my 'expected' list and the designs of ship I can actually see suggests that almost everyone we're expecting has arrived. About half are already in orbit, while the rest are slowly chugging their way through the interdicted zone under local escort.

"Lantern Drusa, how would you handle it?"

"If the Reach want to waste resources assimilating a world with no industry, let them. It will probably make our life easier."

Lantern Dul twists to face the ship, where Lantern Drusa and Alan are taking it easy. "How can you say that about {orange}your home{/}?"

"Easily. It means nothing to me."

"That's disgus-."

"Orange Lantern, Lantern Dul. If it means nothing to her then it means nothing to her." The patterns of light inside Lantern Dul indicate a complete failure to grok that idea at any level. "Lantern Drusa, it isn't my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't want. But unless you want something, you will permanently be limited to weak constructs."

"I was planning on doing technological analysis rather than front line combat. I don't need high power to do that."

"Because you don't need a power ring to do technical analysis in a safe laboratory. If you have the aptitude, you'll most likely be transferred. From the Corps' point of view, the only reason it's worth giving you a power ring is if you need to work fast or under fire. Otherwise, you might as well join the fleet's technical division."

"Illustres." The ship's communications officer isn't privy to the ongoing inter-Lantern conversation. And to be honest I'm not sure what sort of situation would require that they-. "A small flotilla of gordanian ships have entered the system."

"They're a long way from home. Which clan?"

"'Unending Conquest'. Do you know them?"

Unending Conquest. Doesn't ring any bells, and a quick check of the ring's database reveals nothing. Not that that necessarily means anything. Gordanian clans do break up sometimes, or form as gordanians who've drifted away from their clans unify. "No. And if they're here with gordanian technology then they left Vega well before I arrived there. Were they invited?"

"Not specifically, though this meeting was advertised as being open to all concerned parties."

"If I had to guess, I'd say they were here to tender for mercenary work. I don't see that as being a problem for us. What did Administrator Prigatz say?"

A quiet chime, and a new voice. "I said to ask you. I've never met a gordanian before. But I agree, one more group of mercenaries shouldn't be a problem."

"It's interesting, though. I'll try and find out how they got here."

"No. Leave that for my people. You should focus on impressing our allies."

"As you prefer."

I suppose I should make a big entrance. I wonder what would be most effective?

23rd December
13:27 GMT

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and such other variations as nature or nurture have created."

Thick strands of orange light glow from me, fat and shimmering in a way which reminds me of the proton beams from the Ghostbusters films. No, the animated series. I think I.. only watched the films once each, whereas I must have watched dozens of episodes of the series growing up.

And on the far end of each strand is a replica of the capital ship next to it.

A hollow one, of course, but since they're opaque I doubt that anyone other than me knows that. From the gobsmacked expression on her face I'm certainly confident that Lantern Dul doesn't.

"This demonstration of the potential output of an orange power ring comes on behalf of me, the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. In case you're wondering how many Lanterns I have working on this-"

One battleship turns its turrets towards its doppelgänger, and I have my construct copy the action.

"-demonstration, I will tell you. One. This is just me. Two rings, but that's just to extend my battery life."

Leaving the surface of the planet I see {green}a twinkle of extraordinarily focused will{/}. Ah, it seems that Lantern K'ryssma is joining us.

"And while I'm afraid that my colleagues aren't yet as capable as I am-" Okay, who designs a ship with that many crenellations? "-I've only actually been doing this for a year and a half. Part of the compact we're going to try to interest you in today involves giving your citizens rings like the ones I'm using to do this."

Complete, complete, complete…

I fire the construct ships' engines.

"The Green Lantern Corps is hampered in effectively resisting the Reach in two ways. Firstly, they simply cannot make rings fast enough to expand their Corps. We do not have that problem. We have a reserve of several thousand rings, and we're producing more constantly. And we want new recruits. Oh, we'll need you to do a certain amount of psychometric testing, there's no point in us trying to train someone who won't be able to cope. But you have between you a population about fifty million times that of the worlds we've been limited to recruiting from so far. And though there are already hundreds of Orange Lanterns, I want to make that thousands.{orange}"

"{/}Secondly, their existing treaty makes them powerless to resist the forms of conquest which the Reach is currently using. We don't intend to wait for them to conquer the minds of all those who oppose them."

Lantern K'ryssma slows as she gets closer. She doesn't seem too concerned about me, but Lantern Dul and Lantern R-K'rr warrant a second look. Ah yes. So far no Guardian has taken up Hinon's offer of a tour. And -just a hint of yellow, well contained and controlled- she knows that Guardians aren't immune to assimilation.

"And I assure you that it is very much-" All of my construct ships roll, guns pointed away from anything fragile. "-in your interests to make that you don't either."

Come on, grande finale. And this actually is going to stretch me. Another tendril reaches out.

I need to convince them of the power of power rings relative to the opposition. This is the best chance of realising my objective, of halting the Reach at a border we can reinforce. And I kind of want to show the Green Honour Guard Lantern what I can do that none of hers can.

{orange}Our Corps is the best.{/}

And when we pull this off, no one is ever going to forget it.

The last tendril grows larger, flying out into space before generating a Reach battleship construct. Not one of those little cruisers or battle cruisers they send out to the Periphery to 'protect' trade convoys or 'deter pirates'. No. One of the big and terrifying ones they keep back with their reserve fleets firmly in Reach territory because they don't trust anyone but their own species to go anywhere near them. And because they take a stupid amount of resource to build and maintain.

And all of the construct guns that can lock on and fire.

This is just a demonstration, so I'm not actually simulating the exact weapon profiles, shields or armour. If these ships fired at this range in normal combat conditions the battleship's shields would… Well, they'd feel it a bit, but it would have already destroyed them before they got anything like this close. But I think that my simulated hull breaches and internal explosions give a rather better impression.

I simulate an uncontrolled core breach, then dismiss my-

{orange}Warning: low power. Nine percent remaining.{/}

-constructs. "We usually encourage Lanterns to create things a little smaller than that." But I'll be fine for the rest of this talk. "My colleague Lantern R-K'rr told me earlier that he's occasionally run into difficulty with negotiators who aren't convinced -despite its words- that Maltus is prepared to pull its weight. This is Maltus pulling its weight. In a few hours my colleagues are going to start talking nuts and bolts with you; the ship designs they want to build, what they'd like each of you to contribute. And I'm afraid that this is one of those investments that will probably never show a profit.{orange}"

"{/}But it will prevent a rather significant loss. And I'm afraid to say that we have current information on that too. I'll be available later today if any of you have any questions which you wish to put to me personally."

Though now I think about it… Ring, how many people are sending me questions directly right now?

{orange}In excess of ten thousand.{/}

I roll my eyes. Eris help us if these people ever get Twunter.

"Thank you for your-"
{trans}Conquest!{/}
What was-?

"-for your time."

Ring, end transmission.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"{green}Orange Lantern{/}-"

"Excuse me a moment."

I hold out my hands and call my lantern-. Alan's old personal lantern, not the pile of fail I made yesterday. Out from subspace.

"This is my cause, this is my fight.
Shine through the void with orange light.
I've claimed all within my sight.
To keep what is mine, that is my right."

Orange light blasts out of my lantern and into both rings.

{orange}"Charge at one hundred percent." / "Charge at one hundred percent."{/}

Now what was it I felt..?
{trans}Conquest!{/}
That way. And in that direction is..?

The ring shows me the Gordanian ship. Looks… Most Gordanian ships are designed to be places of habitation as well as combat ships. That's clearly a pure warship. Recognisably Gordanian, but… Definitely improved. It's… I can't scan it properly, not the interior. But judging by what I can get from the shields and from the look of the weapons… Not quite on a level with our ships, but better than anything else. Interesting. I think I'll need to prioritise them.

I smile at Lantern K'ryssma. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"{green}I wanted to wish you success{/}. {green}And to inform you that they want me to examine every agreement you strike in order to ensure that you are treating honestly with these people{/}."

"An excellent idea. In fact, why don't you come back to Maltus with us once this is over? You can see everything first hand."

23rd December
16:39 GMT

"Lantern."

That's a fortuitous time-saving. I look up at the trio of large and.. surprisingly well-dressed gordanians in front of me. The two at the back are muscle, but they're clearly 'diplomatic close protection' rather than 'space barbarian'. Their loosely-fitting clothing covers light body armour and their only weapons are side arms. The larger ships that were giving me the headache have remained at an acceptable distance, and their diplomatic yacht looked like something the Eldar would have built.

The man talking to me isn't armed with anything more dangerous than a small knife. Small by gordanian standards, a meat cleaver by human standards. He's also got what are either neural-linked equipment or actual cybernetic augmetics; a metal collar partially disguised by his hood which glows in patterns matched by the stationary ones on his robes and bracers. That's interesting. They require a much higher level of technical sophistication than gordanian clans can usually maintain.

"Ambassador. Pleased to meet you."

I bring my fists together in front of my chest and then extend them towards him. gordanians do have a formal-polite greeting, it's just rather fallen out of use as Vega became more violent. A slight flaring of his nostrils as the ambassador is mildly surprised but he mirrors my gesture, gently bumping his fists against mine. Between gordanians this is usually done with a bit of force but it looks like he's making an accommodation for the fragile-looking alien.

"I'm afraid I didn't see your name on the guest list. Are you one of your clan's contract negotiators?"

"No. I am Councillor Vayneek. I am the personal representative of our grand clan chief."

The appellation 'grand' implies that whoever it is has conquered other clans and brought them under his banner. Each clan would still have its own chief, who would in turn pay homage to him. "Not seneschal?"

He chuckle-rumbles. "No, no. No one fights our clan chief. I give advice, or represent him when he's busy."

"I wasn't aware that there was a gordanian presence in this region."

"Hm. Well, if you know us from Vega you can understand why we were curious about the Beast of Okaara taking a holiday."

"The Beast of Okaara has been disarmed and is sitting in a cell on Maltus. The rest of us are much better adjusted."

"Ah. Your work?"

"Not my sole work, though I was a substantial actor."

"Then you were the Lantern who helped make the peace conference work." I nod. "Yes, a few members of my clan were on the planet at the time. They reported your presence."

Did I-? Oh, the bar. Yes, now that I think about it, the three yellow line and a white blob emblem does look a little like the decoration Councillor Vayneek is wearing.

"Are you just here to see me, then?"

"We do want better information on you than we presently possess. But, no. Essentially, we're looking for worlds to settle."

"I'm afraid that most of the easily habitable ones in the region have been used by the Controllers for resettling refugees. And when I say 'easily'-."

He makes the hiss-cough noise that gordanians use to signal empathic understanding. "Habitable doesn't mean hospitable. No, we were going to enquire about worlds in Reach space. When you go on the offensive. Who gets them?" Huh. Hadn't really-. "Your Controllers don't seem interested in expanding. Their… Insectoid followers haven't spread out."

Ring, review stated policy?

"Worlds which were previously owned by species under the protection of the Controllers will be returned to them where possible. Worlds with surviving natives will be placed under their care… Once their civilisations have been cleansed of Reach influence."

"As expected. And the uninhabited worlds?"

"In inhabited systems, that will be for the locals to decide. Though given the population fall off that happens when the Reach conquer a place I imagine that they'll be putting mining or.. whatever, out to tender. Uninhabited systems… We don't have a firm view about what should happen to them. That's part of what the delegates to this conference will discuss."

If they're a fleet based clan, giving them a few systems that no one else really wants might be just the ticket. They can mine gas giants and moons, trade their surplus and perhaps build themselves a habitat.

"And further in?"

"Further in?"

"Worlds inhabited only by the Reach themselves. Clearly, they are too technologically sophisticated and too socially unified to be left to their own devices. I expect that your people will want revenge for the Reach's actions toward them. What are your intentions? Total depopulation? Exile? Client status?"

"I imagine that will be up for debate as well. None of the worlds that we would be targeting during early offensives have substantial Reach populations, so I imagine that any survivors would either be imprisoned until the end of the war or exiled back to the Reach proper."

"Is it your intent that there will still be a Reach proper?"

"The Reach covers a very large area of space. Killing everyone in it is impractical."

"Not what I expected to hear from the man who killed every Citadelian in existence."

"I didn't kill every single one. Just most of them. Once they fell below the level at which they presented an unmanageable threat to my allies there was no longer any purpose in harsher measures. Are you asking because you want their worlds?"

"I asked because I want to know whether we'll have to fight you for them. There are… Certain people, Green Lanterns amongst them, who will defend people like the Reach from punishment. As if their.. weakened status meant that the offences which led to the war did not occur."

"It's a tricky question, but to be honest…" I shake my head, and hope that his implant translates the gesture. "That's such a long way off that I imagine that it will be the topic of discussion for a very long time. I'm confident that a consensus will emerge long before we have to make such a decision."

"Whose consensus?"

"The consensus of everyone who agrees to participate in the campaign under the pact that we'll sign here."

"And if a… Non-signatory chose to conduct their own campaign?"

"There are at least seventy places currently fighting against Reach-affiliated traitors in their own civilisation. A few more where paramilitary groups are still active after a Reach take over. If they actually won, we'd applaud them." I shrug. "And if some other stellar power wanted to take a swing at the Reach, they'd be welcome to. Even somewhere like… Apokolips, for example. If two of our enemies want to spend their strength fighting against each other, who are we to stop them?"

"That is reassuring to know."

"Though… Fighting the Reach directly with a… Single clan fleet probably isn't the best idea. If you're seeking mercenary employment-."

"No, no." It's a little hard to tell, but I think he's… Pleased? "Thank you for telling me your position. It is reassuring to know that this campaign will not be marred by the pointless backstabbing that conflicts in Vega so often were."

"I'm happy to help. But -if you're planning any action- please let us know in advance. It would be so much easier if we can coordinate."

"I'll see what we can do."

3rd December
18:03 GMT

I raise my eyebrows. "Well?"

Lantern Dul curls her wings slightly. "There are gordanians looking for work, but they're from the subservient clans. They're offering their standard warships for escort duties."

I shake my head. "Pointless. The Reach don't raid, and Lanterns and Darkstars are already annihilating their pirate proxies. We don't need anyone else on convoy escort duty because we won't be using their existing fleets for the assault and the Reach can't declare war on us without violating their treaty with the Guardians. Anyone else?"

"Some minor local private military groups. The only odd thing… Have you heard of the Citizenry?"

My face stills, my lips taking a decidedly downward turn. "A group of exclusively female murder-hobos. They're on my to-do list, they just haven't reached the top of it yet."

"I.. think I saw two Citizens in the bazaar. Their documentation said they were with another group, but they have a… Citizens have certain habits I've come to recognise."

"How?"

"They asked me to join them, once."

"You said no?"

"I'm not a cannibal. And I fight for {orange}higher goals than personal survival{/}. I like {orange}having people around me I can depend{/}-" She glances down at her ring as it {orange}glows brighter{/}. "-u-pon."

"You should spend more time with Lantern Ragnar. I think you'd get on." Hm. I'd rather deal with Diana's crazy aunt sooner rather than later, but… Fifty percent chance that if she's even in the area she's going to attack the Reach to try and recruit female Beetles… And that's a big 'if'. "File a report, but unless we see warships or Empress Astarte herself they're not an imminent concern. Oh, and well done for gaining insight into your own motivations."

She lifts her left hand a little, staring at the {orange}ring{/} on her middle finger.

"That's… It? That's all there is to it?"

"How do you mean? You were a part of the Thanagarian military for years. It's hardly surprising that having been born and raised in a heavily militaristic environment you're used to that lifestyle and regard it as normal and appropriate. The Orange Lantern Corps has a cause not contradictory to your core mission or the good of the Empire in a way that some of your previous temporary affiliations might have been…"

"{orange}I want to fight for a c{/}-." Her ring {orange}surges{/} again.

I smile kindly at her. "Say it."

"{orange}I want to fight for a cause, surrounded by people as devoted to it as I am{/}. {orange}I don't want to have to watch my own back every moment{/}, {orange}I want to know that I can finally depend on the people around me{/}."

"Don't hang around with people if you wouldn't want to die in their company."

"That's… It? I just think about that and now I'm suddenly a stronger Lantern?"

I hold out my left hand and create a trumpet. "Give it a try. Earn your ring."

Her {orange}hand's moving before the mace is even fully formed{/}. "{orange}HhhhhhhhhAYAH{/}!"

She {orange}swings{/}, her mace {orange}destroying my construct as she swipes it through the intervening space{/}.

I smile broadly. "Better. And did you feel the difference?"

She looks at her {orange}brightly glowing mace{/}. "Yes." She clenches her {orange}right fist, construct armour forming around her body{/}. "{orange}I did{/}."

"Good show. Try to keep that frame of mind. Lantern Drusa, anything suspicious in the planet's data networks?"

She shrugs disinterestedly. "Dozens of covert monitoring programs. Nothing special. And no indication that anyone's planning anything. I've already sent Administrator Prigatz everything I found on their negotiating positions."

"Odd. Do you think the Reach might have decided to just let this happen?"

"It's… Possible. An attack here would force all of the states on the periphery to work together. The Reach usually prefers to conquer with economic or political manipulation. They can't undermine or infiltrate an organisation that doesn't exist yet."

I snort quietly, nodding as I do so. "You're right. I think I just got too used to Vega." Hm. "Everyone on the periphery is briefed on Reach biomodification and indoctrination techniques. If they've slipped something past our filters, then it's too subtle to change overt behaviour. Lantern R-K'rr, anyone acting outside of their usual manners?"

"Teacher, not to a noteworthy degree. Today has mostly involved Administrator Prigatz passing out information for the delegates' consideration. The true negotiations will begin tomorrow."

I close my eyes for a moment, then turn my head in the approximate direction of the Reach homeworld and look at the desires emanating from that direction. I don't get any detail, just a general sense of Reachiness. Not like anything I've felt flying around this city.

"Then perhaps we'll be fortunate. Any chance we'll have an agreement by the end of tomorrow?"

"Teacher, it is doubtful. Do you think that the odds of us being attacked will increase?"

"No, but there's a major festival on my homeworld the day after next and I'd like to be able to go back for it. And my girlfriend's doing her Darkstar entry assessment and I'll have to fly her back… Clarissi Dox finally called me in for something, I don't really want to disappear after a couple of days, but…"

Lantern Dul frowns for a moment, then shrugs. "I doubt you need to be here all the time. And your file says that you can teleport instantly from anywhere."

"True.{orange}"

I step out{/}

and back again just behind her to demonstrate. "But other members of the Corps can't. I think it would be unprofessional to treat myself as a special case. And while I can teleport anywhere from anywhere, Jade can't. If I got recalled during the return trip I'd have to dump her in interstellar space. And while she's usually fairly understanding I think that would put me in the dog house."

Lantern Dul twists her right wing tip slightly. "Why not ask Lantern Scott to escort her and join her once the festival begins?"

"Because he's a lot slower than me. I don't know how much long ranged ring flying you've been doing, but I've always found it kind of-."

For a moment there's a discordant note in the patterns of desire around us, as if a desperate need suddenly appeared and then vanished again. Too fast for me to characterise it or precisely locate it. That way, but…

"Did any of you feel that?"

Blank looks from Dul and R-K'rr. Drusa shakes her head, {orange}her eyes glowing orange as she accesses the planet's communications network{/}. "No reports of anything significant. What did you feel?"

"An out of place desire." I rise in the air and head for the exit. "Follow me. We're investigating."

23rd December
18:06 GMT

Flying over the city-. Ring, I didn't think to ask. What's it called?

{orange}Youlsi.{/}

Flying over the centre of the city of Youlsi, I get my first look at the native species away from the diplomatic… I think that keep is the right term. Possibly due to local hostilities the buildings appear to be organised into clusters of fortified domes. The city as a whole has defence shields and I can see that quite a lot of more recent construction has happened with only token fortification attempts. But the whole thing suggests a very defensive-militaristic attitude.

Which is fine for our purposes, I suppose.

The locals are lilac-skinned humanoids, differing from the baseline form in the size of their fingers and toes. Their distant ancestors were burrowers rather than tree-dwellers, and their limbs still bear the signs of having been digging implements. Civilian traffic is ground bound or subterranean, and the diplomatic protection gunships flash… Brown lights at us to show that we're clear to depart.

"Teacher, what are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure. Something out of place. Something that shouldn't be there."

Empathic vision shows… A fairly typical blend of humanoid desires. Ah, the other reason for the domes is that low level agoraphobia is pretty common amongst the local population. That explains the broad-brimmed hats and wide awnings.

Lantern Dul's ring {orange}lights up as she waves it in an arc{/}. "I'm not {orange}detecting{/} any weapon fire."

Lantern Drusa {orange}switches{/} from monitoring local news broadcasts to {orange}monitoring security feeds{/}. She makes momentary eye contact with me and shakes her head.

Ring, any unusual radiation patterns, or… Anything like that?

{orange}Typical patterns for this region not known. No obvious danger signs detected.

"{/}Lantern R-K'rr, what sort of use do these people make of civilian teleportation?"

"Teacher, they make use of large platforms for point to point travel. They use them for bulk intercity transportation. Personal teleportation is virtually unknown."

"How 'virtually' is virtually?"

"The technology is not considered to be safe. Certain government officials have recall devices with which they may be evacuated if they are in danger. Certain wealthy individuals are known to use a similar system. Point to point teleportation is unknown."

"Ring, scan for known teleportation residues and.. magic."

Lantern Dul frowns. "Magic?"

"I know this world is thaumically near-inert, but if something squirrelly is happening magic is a possibility that it's worth eliminating."

"I didn't think power rings could detect magic."

"Orange power rings can assimilate things. Not just people, but-. Lantern Drusa saw me steal Lantern Zartok's construct?" Lantern Dul looks at her and gets a distracted nod. "You can drain energy without using constructs just as a function of the orange light. And once you've learned the feel of it-{orange}"

"No unexpected teleportation residues found. No significant 'magic' energy found."

"{/}-you can detect it."

"Tea.. cher..?" All Lantern R-K'rr's eyes focus on me. "'Magic'?"

Lantern Dul nods. "Thanagarians didn't used to believe in it either. Some of my people still insist Hyathis uses plant-based biotechnology."

"And they're not precisely wrong… Any more than they would be wrong to say that the Seven Devils created nth metal with advanced metallurgy. It's just that-."

"The Seven Devils are real?" Lantern Dul stares at me, her eyes locked onto-. Onto my throat, actually. Huh. Her body language has adapted to non-thanagarian humanoids so much that I haven't needed my ring to interpret for me. But that is a thanagarian sign of shock and perceived threat.

"I'm not sure whether 'are' or 'were' is appropriate, but yes, to the best of my knowledge, at some point in Thanagar's past, they lived there. It's a shame there's nothing left of your magic traditions, really."

But that's not what happened here. Using magic to teleport to a place where magic is weak is supposed to be near-impossible. Sephtian seemed to think that it should be possible via the Dreaming, but that no Atlantean thaumaturgist knew enough about the place to even begin to work out a technique. An enchanted marker stone might work, but… Again, not detecting any magic.

"I have something." I turn my attention to Lantern Drusa. "Members of a species who weren't invited to the conference and don't live in this region are inside Yannakaan dome."

"Tourists?"

"No visa was granted and there are no immigration records."

"It's a start. Got a pictu-" She turns her construct-screen around. "-re?"

Ah. Oh dear.

I'll say this for qwardians, they're not body shy. The four hulking brutes with him are mutant-slaves, like the ones I saw when I visited their homeworld. They're actually wearing armour and equipment harnesses this time, so I'm going to assume at least a basic intelligence.

"Dul, alert city authorities. Encourage them to quietly evacuate that dome. R-K'rr, inform Administrator Prigatz. Drusa, with me."

I fly at high speed in the direction of Yannakaan dome. Scanning… No, I can't get them, though under the circumstances I'm sure that city authorities will forgive me hijacking their internal monitoring equipment. They're just walking through the dome's main thoroughfare like they own the place. Well, he's walking like he owns the place. The warrior slaves are just sort of trudging along behind him. The locals are giving them space, but they don't seem particularly worried.

Ring, contact Kalmin.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"What?"

That's not coming from my rings, but it's definitely his voice.

"Kalmin, a qward-. A q'ardajin party has appeared at the treaty conference. Do you recognise his face?"

Ring, transmit image.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"The clone-slaves are a new model. Varnathon's idea, no doubt. Such creatures have no place in the field. Their leader… He appears to have had further work done, but his name is St'nlli. He was altered by our mastermedics to serve as a spy on your home world, then augmented further once his original mission was completed. The last time I saw him he had mind controlled Lantern Jordan before one of the other Green Lanterns teleported him somewhere in order to remove him from the field."

"What can he do?"

"Superq'ardajin strength, endurance, speed and force manipulation. He can fly at will, and turn the allies of those around him into enemies. It is possible that he has been augmented further. I haven't seen him since that day."

"And his character?"

"Proud and loyal. An excellent warrior. If only he served another master."

"Thank you. I'll see what I can do about that."

23rd December
18:10 GMT

The dome is just ahead, and there's still no panic inside.

{orange}"Evacuation is in progress. Local police are communicating that they are triggering a staged fire alert."{/}

I nod. "Pass on my thanks."

"Are these men the same species as Kalmin?"

I nod. "Yes. More or less. Qwardians aren't precious about biological alterations, though it's not a particularly popular speciality amongst the Weaponer class."

"I read your report on your mission to Qward." She {yellow}shakes{/} her head, her environmental shield briefly dimming. "I am not ready to fight Thunderers."

"Qwardians are not a subtle people. When they attack, they do so with overwhelming power. If there were Thunderers here, then the planet would already be covered in qwa-matter detonations." I shrug. "I don't know why they're sending a small force. Kalmin doesn't respect his successor, but I get the impression that he's repositioning his people as arms merchants rather than destroyers and conquerors. I doubt that they're here to shop, but they might just want to sell us guns."

"And if he is here to fight?"

"Since it's just a small group, this isn't an invasion. So he's either here to talk or this is a matter of personal pride. He… Might have been to my homeworld before, but I've never met him. And Maltus hasn't had direct contact with Qward… Ever. I can't predict what he'll do until I talk to him. If we fight, your job will be to corral his escort until I can defeat or kill him."

"Lantern Dul is-."

"Thanagarians are resistant to telepathy due to the nth metal in their bodies, but you and I are the only Lanterns on this planet-." Ah. "One moment. Ring, contact Lantern K'ryssma.{orange}"

"Compliance."

"{/}Probably the only Lanterns on this planet who are trained to resist telepathy. Telepathy is a really good way of shutting down power rings, even if he can't manipulate our minds in other ways." I look her over as we head toward the nearest dome entrance. "Do you have armour or a personal force field emitter?"

"I'm wearing them."

I frown and-. Oh. A weak plasmic field emitter and some carbon nanotube plates. "Not a good time now, but we're probably going to need to upgrade your equipment sooner rather than later. Ring, armour."

My heavy powered exoskeleton appears around me, my vision wavering for a moment as the pickups stabilise my visual field.

"I prefer subtle-." I go invisible and then phase out. She blinks, then I phase back in.

My ring blinks. "Answer."

Lantern K'ryssma's head appears over my ring as I become visible once more. {orange}"Yes, Illustres?"

"{/}A small group of Qwardians have appeared. Their leader is called St'nlli, and apparently he's telepathic. I'm about to confront him. Are you trained to resist telepathic intrusion?{orange}"

"No. You should evacuate-."

"{/}Already doing that. If you're available, I'd appreciate it if you'd come to our location and serve as rearguard.{orange}"

"I will be there shortly."{/}

Someone in uniform -a local police officer- is waving a stream of evacuees away from the entrance we're approaching. I wave, then fly in through the open gates at maximum safe speed. The steady stream of locals parts around me but there isn't really an 'open' space in here, just larger tunnels. Internal monitoring shows me the Qwardians onward and to the left and I'm not just appearing because Qward has known for generations how to disrupt Lantern FTL.

Ring, grab a local screen and transmit.

{orange}Compliance.

"{/}Mister St'nlli, what can I do for you?"

I watch him come to a halt and turn to face the public information display. "You can deliver to me the Green Lantern of Earth."

"Which one? There are four."

"The most experienced."

"I can call him, but it might take him a while to get here. Is there something I can do for you in-?"

"You, you are human as well. And a Lantern. I will kill you to draw him out!"

"We're not exactly-" The stream of evacuees falls off as we move into a larger tunnel, and I get enough space to accelerate further. "-close."

"I care not. Tell me your location or I begin killing these simpletons."

He raises his right hand and a wafting yellow energy field forms around it. His immediate surroundings are.. still somewhat occupied. The people there are beginning to leave, but it looks like local fire drills involve people leaving when they're told to and not before.

I generate a railgun construct and load a crumbler round. "Why are you here?"

"I was told there was a human Lantern here." He points his hand at a nearby wall and makes a pulling gesture. His aura immediately jumps to the wall and rips it apart. No one there.

"By whom?"

"It is of no significance. I exist to kill Lanterns! Now-."

My crumbler round covers the intervening distance with a sonic boom, striking him directly in the chest-. And being destroyed by his aura. He looks around, crouching slightly as I reload with tungsten and fire a volley from my position on the far side of the tunnel.

Ring, tell the police to evacuate now.

{orange}Compli-{/}

**DESTROY ALL!**

{orange}-ance.{/}

Ugh. Not a bad mental compulsion, but between-.

St'nlli bats my shots aside with his yellow aura and leaps from the gantry on the far side of the tunnel, shooting toward me through the air at high speed. Solid shots ineffective. I discard the railgun and form a yellow laser and a cold gun. The laser hits his bare chest and does little while the cold beam-

"Weak!"

-is somehow neutralised by his aura.

Then he punches me, his kinetic energy being easily absorbed by my kinetic barrier. He actually stops dead for a moment, and I use the opportunity to trigger my gauntlet's crumbler effect and slam both palms into his bare chest. His aura wavers for a moment and then turns red-.

I smell myself burning for half a second before I phase, fly left as fast as I can and then phase in, loading phasic rounds into my new railgun even as he turns to face me with a snarl.

23rd December
18:13 GMT

Two hits, one creating a breach in his glowing red aura and the second impacting on his skin… To no observable effect. He gestures with his right hand and the aura leaps toward my railgun. Where it touches, the construct melts away into an amorphous blob of orange light, the energy remaining present but losing cohesion.

"Lantern Drusa."

Can't reform the gun, so I just draw the energy back into my rings and fire it at him. No effect. Construct battering ram, no effect. X-ionised-.

He swipes his arm right andagghr. A prickling sensation I know to be the result of my rings nullifying extreme pain is coming from every part of my body, my environmental shield-.

The aura turns yellow as he gestures down and I'm sent flying into the floor of the tunnel! D-AH! My kinetic shield fails to trigger -I think the emitters have been destroyed- and my environmental shield is gone. Re-establish.

"Kill his-"

Construct shield seems pointless, given his ability to neutralise constructs. I phase, dropping through the floor of the tunnel before he can reach me again. Utility tunnel should be yes. I drop phase, take a frisbee-sized metal disc out of subspace and begin x-ionising it.

"-retinue but do not-"

Rock explodes, the side of the utility tunnel facing the main tunnel flying away in the grip of St'nlli's yellow aura. Dust sticks around, so his grip isn't flawless.

"-engage directly. Dul and R-K'rr-"

I dash back, phase again and shoot upward through the rock. I've misjudged his position slightly and rather than blindside him I come out in the corner of his eye. He hurls his avalanche my way as I phase back in.

"-assist the evacuation, then act as-"

The first few lumps of stone are harmlessly stopped or turned aside by my newly repaired kinetic barrier.

"-backstops in case they try to-"

Then the red aura turns back on and I hear a quiet fizz sound as my kinetic barrier fails. I start repairing it immediately, but I'm encased in semi-molten rock before the field can come back up. The external surface of my armour is heating up, but I designed it for this sort of punishment. Approximately speaking. Molten rock isn't anything like as hot as some of the weapons I tested on it.

"-leave the area."

Can't see St'nlli himself, but his slaves have pale desires I can use to navigate.

{orange}I step out{/}

and then back in a little way down the tunnel from him as the sphere of rubble he was using to crush me compresses inward. I feel Lantern Drusa move cautiously through cover some distance down the main tunnel with her environmental shield turned well down. St'nlli's bodyguard -assuming that they aren't just porters- are lumbering away in pairs. Lantern Drusa appears willing to do the job, but I suppose I shouldn't expect enthusiasm at this early stage.

{orange}"Teacher, I obey."{/} / {orange}"Yes, Illustres!"{/}

This time I make four railguns and immediately have them fire a barrage of phasic rounds. St'nlli winces as his barrier wavers, dropping the gelatinous rubble ball and orientating himself toward me. Load an x-ioniser spike in place of a phasic round now-.

"Ah!"

Damn it! He switched his aura back to yellow and dodged aside just as I fired! It doesn't.. look like the Qwardian scientists who modified him found a way to add rapid regeneration to the mix, but the shallow cut to his chest and a slightly deeper one to his left arm aren't even disabling injuries. He's bleeding, but-. Okay, restore kinetic barrier.

He checks his wound, dull red blood dripping from the cut on his arm. "Clever." His aura changes colour to.. grey..? And my phasic rounds stop making an impact. Phase disruptor, but if it's more or less line of sight like the others… Just have to watch the colour. I switch to solid shots-.

He covers the distance between us as I blink, his fists slamming into my newly recreated kinetic barrier twice before he switches his barrier back to red and destroys it! My own clumsy swings are turned aside easily -he's a lot faster than me- and he continues battering me even as I fly backwards, jerking left and right in a frantic attempt to find space-. Yes! He jinked the wrong way! Vertigo inducer!

He flies past me, gripping his head as he slams into one of the balconies along the tunnel side and smashes through it! Restore kinetic barrier again, construct armour, keep the inducer-.

His aura shifts back to yellow as he climbs to his feet, wiping the vomit from his mouth with his uninjured arm. Not affected any more. Fine, program vertigo inducers for remote activation, scatter them around using filaments, switch to… Don't want to repeat myself, try a laser instead but make it look like a railgun. Use a bit more power than the first time since I know it's going to penetrate-.

And miss as he lunges for me again cold field! No good! It looks like the yellow form of his aura doesn't transmit heat! This time he rains punches down on my faceplate, though with his aura still on yellow mode it doesn't do quite the damage his red mode did. I grab his left forearm with both hands as he tries to get a grip, turn the crumble effect up to maximum and wrench it in an attempt to throw him off! He turns his aura red-

**KILL ALL AROUND YOU!**

-and the fingers of his right hand rip through my construct armour and environmental shield to leave melted finger marks on my armour in the second before I remote trigger my vertigo inducers and hurl him aside! He has the wherewithal to go yellow again, but he doesn't get control of his momentum back fast enough to evade my laser construct!

"Eh."

Minor burn, right in the middle of his chest. I pour it on, causing angry welts to appear as the beam moves over his chest. He brings his hands together, lumps of rubble coming together to form a barrier in front of him.

"Progress report."

"Teacher, the dome is completely evacuated. Local military units are on stand by. Do you require aid?"

"No. Drusa?"

"One pair dead. The last pair are returning."

"Good work."

I create a singularity beam projector construct and send it down toward the base of the tunnel. This will go straight through the walls and I don't want to hit anyone I'm not aiming at. Nothing in.. space above us. Military aircraft are keeping low, good.

External. "Mister St'nlli, could I persuade you to surrender? We could use a man of your abilitie-."

His rubble shield blasts towards me, a quick but intense flicker of red turning it liquid! I activate the vertigo inducers at the same time as generating a cold field in front of me and flying backwards away from the oncoming mass. His aura goes back to yellow almost immediately, but as the magma reaches my cold field it flash freezes and explodes! He loses his grip and I take a shot with the singularity beam. I.. think I hit, but between his ring resistance and the-.

{orange}"Warning. Antimatter transition detected."{/}

Damn it! I abandon all other constructs in favour of clearing my sight lines, and-.

Ugh! His two remaining henchmen grab me, grappling in an attempt to rip my ring arms off! My armour creaks from their raw power, but they aren't disrupting my constructs. The x-ionised disc I didn't get to use on St'nlli floats up behind the one on my right before lunging in through his neck! His head flies free in a burst of high pressure blood and I palm-punch the slave on my left with my right crumbler gauntlet! His face is burned down to the skull and his grip goes slack, causing his dying body to drop to the ground beneath us.

I look up, but St'nlli has made good his escape.

23rd December
19:33 GMT

I see Dox sigh as he flies past me and lands next to the point where St'nlli vanished. He doesn't make eye contact with me, and I'd bet that he didn't make eye contact with anyone else on his way in here. {orange}Translucent orange light strobes out{/} from his outstretched right arm, {orange}his eyes flashing orange as he takes in the data{/}.

He lowers his arm. "Anti-matter transfer. You can't block those."

I nod. "I don't know how to block them. Do you want me to attempt pursuit? I could use a bit more brute force in a place we weren't using for a meeting."

His eyes narrow slightly as he stares at the wall, his mind clearly elsewhere. "No. It would almost certainly be ship-based, and it would have been moved after he returned. Second and third most likely possibilities involve it being planet-based but abandoned or in a secure and heavily trapped facility."

"Can we stop them doing that again?"

"Yes." He turns away from the site and {orange}rises into the air{/}, heading back towards the entrance. I take off after him. "I will notify Administrator Prigatz to add anti-matter transfer jammers to our offer. Send him a full recording of your fight to help him make his point."

"Yes, sir. Do you have any observations about the way in which I conducted myself?"

"You should have used the singularity projector as soon as you determined that he was highly resistant to your railgun rounds, rather than attempted to use x-ionised blade weapons or lasers."

"I thought that it might worry people. The x-ray discharges are fairly distinctive…"

"If we were a civil peacekeeping organisation, you would be right. We are not. We are a military organisation. These people will be far happier knowing that we can reliably kill their enemies than they will knowing that we would put them in danger to keep those enemies alive."

"I had ordered an evacuation."

"Yes." He stops and turns in the air to face me. "Overseeing the training of other Lanterns has taught me that a mildly sub-optimal approach such as what you attempted here is significantly preferable to what most of our Lanterns would have done. I am not.. substantially displeased with how you conducted yourself."

I blink. Gosh. "I will be sure to take your instructions in the spirit in which they are intended."

He hesitates for a half-second. "Good."

"On a personal note-."

"Director Jeddigar informed me before I left that Jade Nguyen passed her assessment. Obviously, coming from a technologically primitive civilisation she will require substantial retraining before she can be deployed in the field. Though her practical experience will save time in other areas."

I smile. I didn't doubt it, but it's good to have confirmation. "I'm glad to hear it, but actually-."

"Christmas." He nods. "Given the positive impression you made today, I see little difficulty in allowing you to return to Earth for… How long?"

"Three days would cover my social obligations."

"Your presence should not be essential during that time. Return here afterwards."

"Thank you, but that wasn't actually what I was referring to."

A faint frown. "What was?"

"You've studied my world. You know that we have a small number of people who can create technology generations more advanced than anything we should have. One of these scientists has asked to be put in contact with you."

"That's hardly efficient. If they wish to trade resources they can do so through you."

"I.. think they want to talk to someone who understands what they're doing rather better than I do. Particularly the really advanced social science stuff." I take Georgia Sivana's communicator out of subspace and offer it to him. "Quantum entanglement based. She built this on her own, and human understanding of practical science-."

His frown deepens. "Is nothing like advanced enough to do that." He reaches out and gently takes it from me. "What is the creator's name?"

"Georgia Sivana."

"The young human female who pilfered your subspace pocket."

"That's her."

"And whom you reported is working with her father and brother on technologies for fighting your species' descendants who will return from the future to harvest your world."

"Yes."

He looks at the communicator for a moment, {orange}orange light playing over its surface{/}. "Hm." Eyes locked on the device, he turns and flies away.

Gosh. I think that was my friendliest interaction with him yet.

I take a moment to look around the tunnel. The locals have mostly returned, though the area where we fought is cordoned off by the local military. A couple of Darkstars I haven't met before are assisting the scene of crime analysts trying to make sure that the area is safe. It should be, but I don't really know what St'nlli's auras were made of and Qwardians consider bystander casualties more as a feature than a bug.

But there's nothing for me to do here.

{orange}I step out{/}

And reappear next to-.

"{orange}Say that again{/}."

To Lantern Dul who is {orange}glaring{/} at an unimpressed Lantern Drusa.

"I don't know if you have the mental capacity."

"Lantern Drusa, remind me-" They both turn to face me. "-to include social de-escalation in our next session. Lantern Dul, what you're feeling right now is the consequence of your increased understanding of your connection to the orange light. And not in a good way." She simmers down, her environmental shield dimming slightly. "You know what you want, but you're seeing Lantern Drusa as an impediment rather than a resource. Now… Take a breath."

She ruffles her feathers, closes her eyes and {orange}breathes in{/}… And out.

"Consider: is assaulting or berating Lantern Drusa likely to result in her being more willing to help you get what you want?"

She takes another breath. "No."

"Then what is the rational way to pursue your own interest?"

"Push down my pride and take her insults."

I frown. "No? Find something she wants and trade. You have skills she lacks just as she has skills you lack, ring power being the most obvious." Lantern Dul nods. "And Lantern Drusa? Good work." She nods. "I don't suppose that killing them involved you getting any sort of personal revelation about your own desires, did it?"

"No."

I nod. "I suppose that would have been a bit convenient."

"But seeing the way you and St'nlli fought, I'm more motivated to {orange}seek one out{/}. I wouldn't have survived that fight by myself."

I nod again, smiling. "It's a start."

{maroon}3rd March 2007
19:33 GMT{/}

"Is that it?"

The woman in all-concealing red armor turns her head toward the crystal pillar in the centre of…

"What was it you called this place?"

The helmet includes a voice scrambler, because this is the one place where she doesn't get a do-over. And having Doctor Destiny discover her real face and name seemed like a very bad idea. Even with everything she'd learned about the way this place worked, she was under no illusion as to who its true master was.

The lower part of his jaw -all that was visible behind his skull mask- trembled slightly. Naturally she knew what his real face looked like. His identity hadn't been a secret to begin with, and his mask was more of a prop than a serious attempt to disguise his appearance. And despite visiting his living body in Arkham Asylum on several occasions, somehow, removing his mask here…

She shuddered slightly, the movement disguised by her armor's shock absorbers.

"The materioptikon. Or more accurately, the nexus of a series of fractures within its structure."

For a moment her mind jumps tracks, the experiences of the facet of herself who spent years living amongst magic users of all shades coming to the fore. And the legends of the Endless.

"The Dreamstone."

"No. Otherwise I wouldn't have named it something else. The materioptikon is my attempt to replicate the power of Dream's own gems. Without the insanity-inducing side effects that come from trying to look into the face of eternity with a human mind."

"I saw the pictures in your file."

In the reality where she joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And the reality where she joined the army. And the reality where she joined the Justice League.

"How did you heal yourself? I doubt that Arkham's healthcare is that good."

"Dream… Morpheus decided that since I wasn't in my right mind, he wouldn't take my ongoing theft personally. He restored my body and mind to the state they'd been in before I started using the Dreamstone… But he didn't take my memories."

"And he let you steal it again?"

"No! Honestly, it's like talking to a-." His jaw clenches again. "If I did something like that, knowing what I was doing… Even death wouldn't be enough to protect me from his wrath. No. Once I was discharged, I sought out the lesser stones and learned to touch the Dream through transubstantial mysticism. And with what I learned I created this."

She steps closer. His head is the only part of his body free of the crystal. There shouldn't be any risk… But she's noticed that she's become a good deal more risk-averse since she gained the ability to avoid most risk.

"To what end?"

"The Dream is the wellspring of all that is. Understanding how it relates to the waking world is the most significant scientific endeavour someone can engage in!"

And in the life where she studied with the sages of the White School she learned the usual outcome of trying to follow that path of study. Most learn nothing, some go mad and a few lose the ability to ever wake.

"I ask again-."

"What else is there? I've done everything a supervillain can. I've been rich, famous, adored by millions… I even ruled the world, for a while. What would I get out of fighting the Justice League for a fifth time? What could I do with this power that isn't simply repeating myself?"

She needs to understand this. "You could win."

"I've won before-."

"You lose in the end."

"Everyone loses in the end."

A flashback to every mistimed jump, every instance of being blindsided. Not every instance of her survived long enough to return here and reintegrate.

"Everything that can be built can be torn down. Every victory is fleeting, I know. I have an opportunity for unlimited discovery, a lifetime of doing what I want, what I love. Constantly learning and expanding."

"The journey, not the destination. But if that's the case, why did you fight the Justice League this time?"

"To bring the materioptikon to full power. It needed billions of dreaming minds to form a connection to the Dream. The actual fight was a distraction, an attempt to convince them that I'd returned to my old habits."

"Why? Why not just be patient?"

"Because there are people on Earth who could detect what I was doing and stop me. As it is, any irregularities created by my work will be written off as a product of what they think I did."

She begins to walk in a circle around his crystal prison. "Why would they stop you?"

"I don't have the best-." He tosses his head as she moves out of his visual range. "Really? Have you any idea how petty-?"

"Yes."

And she really does. More than one lifetime spent in the League of Shadows taught her any number of techniques for psychological manipulation. John Dee needs to be kept off balance. At least until she can secure his physical body.

"I can't very well stop you. But will you at least tell me what you're doing?"

She almost laughs.

"I think I'm having the same problem you did. I've used the materioptikon to live dozens of lives. I've learned more about the world than I ever dreamed I could ever learn. But when I think about doing it again…"

"You've already tried everything you want to try. All that's left is mindless repetition or urge indulgence. I know. I've been there, lived that."

"You said it was best to find satisfaction in doing."

"And it is. If you've lived that many lives then you have at least as much experience of this as I do. Can you think of anything better to do with this power?"

"I could wake up."

"And what would you do in the waking world, knowing what you know now? What could you do, but pick one of the dream-lives you've already lived and repeat it?"

What.. indee-?

There's a crack noise as a portal to one of the current simulations opens. She turns to face it, frowning. That was… Temporal physics. She didn't have a perfect memory, but studying various fields in physics to doctorate level repeatedly had left an impression. Time travel was new, though. She wasn't even sure it was poss-.

That version of her strode through the rift, helmeted head immediately seeking her. "Merge with me."

That was.. unusual. Merging made sense, of course. Anything she learned would be shared with all future iterations, and they were essentially the same person. But except in the event of total failures she didn't usually rush into it. Perhaps this iteration managed something truly unique?

She walked over to meet her, only catching a glimpse of the purple-robed figure behind her an instant before they touched.

"Red Queen?"

A moment of bewildering disorientation as the new/old memories organised themselves…

Then she turned toward her ally, and the solution to her oncoming ennui.

"Time Trapper. I'm ready."