Reroll

Would have been nice to have some warning, oh well, “I expect you've heard by now the emergency instructions I gave the Resistance…”

The President nods, “Yes, we have pale folks with fangs and glowing eyes helping the police identify outbreaks under the shade of flying carpets, with men who can shift into wolves giving support with the takedown, and plenty of warning of who might be contagious. Then there's the strange ones helping out.”

“I figure that's part A.  Baseline Humans have been policing baseline humans basically forever… it's time for Mythics to do the same for themselves, side by side.  A Mythic won't catch a second Myth,” I hope.

The President looks at Isiah Diamond, who, tight lipped, confirms, “we've never seen it happen.”

Nice to get that confirmed, “The Mythics that are sociable and low transmission?  We'll talk them into following the same rules as baselines, and respecting the law, even sign them up to help keep everyone in line... if they're willing. Those who are high transmission, or cannot follow the rules for reasons that,” I don't know what I phrase it this way, “the goddess cannot easily solve, we relocate to what amounts to leper colonies, managed by other Mythics. Those who will not follow the rules… well, we cannot allow killing people or forcibly converting baseline humans, prison is overloaded enough as it is, and putting an infectious Mythic in with baseline human criminals would only produce stronger criminals. Sad to say, the death penalty will be necessary for such types… but that needs to be the judgment call of a jury of their peers: I don't expect a baseline human to be able to understand.”

The President rubs his chin, “and where do you propose to put these colonies?”

“I figure we can take over Antarctica and rename it to Avalon; almost nobody lives there, and I'm reasonably confident I can arrange for it to be habitable,” my Mages can do a lot if I build them for it: Destruction can dig with Disintegrate; Illusion can make permanent hot and cold wells for energy with Shadow Infusion and Permanent Image; Creation can make basic buildings with Create Materials, tools from materials with Fabricate, and tasty food by combining Sustenance and Exquisite Detail... and while I can't fit that all on a single Shadow, I have no reason at all NOT to make groups of them that can work together.

I keep going “You were funding the… prior solution; give me half their budget and all of their current holdings: We'll use it for transportation of those that can't safelt live with baseline human society and supporting those involved in the work... due to the risk of transmission, it needs to be Mythics staffing everything.” I probably could just take care of it with Shadows, but it's better if I can make the basic setup outlive me.

The President considers, “You do realize Antarctica is already claimed by seven different nations, and is reserved as a scientific preserve by a treaty of fifty eight?”

No, “Of course. But few live there, and it's not a significant resource for anyone, so, I figure if you support our claim, everyone else of importance will too … once we do a few nuclear tests.”

The President raises a single eyebrow.

The Inquisition rep freezes,“You. Have. Nuclear. Weapons.”

Ah, now that's sweet, “Yeah. Lots of them. You saw me land on the lawn?”

Isiah just glares at me; the President nods, “So you have more in space than just that?”

“Correct. That's just a lander for getting cargo and passengers up and down. Our actual fleet…” four ships… that's a fleet, right? Eh, whatever, “... is cloaked and in orbit. All of the minerals found on Earth are also found floating around out in space. It's not too terribly hard to refine and manufacture things, especially as we can just toss any hazardous waste into stable orbits in the asteroid belt without hurting anything.”

The President purses his lips, “That's against the Outer Space Treaty… you're already breaking international law.”

“The laws of man, the laws of physics… I break a lot of things,” I pause, “but an ‘international law’ is really a clause in a ‘multinational treaty’. I'm setting up an independent country, one who has not signed said treaty.  So it's legal for us… as long as we don't abuse the power so much that a group that's bigger and stronger changes that.”

The President shakes his head, “It's ‘multilateral’... and hardly ‘independent’ if we're providing you with funds… but I think I can swing that, provided you actually can do that nuclear test in a reasonable time frame.”

Mr. Diamond is just looking back and forth, his mouth hanging open, “You cannot seriously…”

The President interrupts, “There is a world of difference between dealing with a power that has nuclear weapons and one that does not.  Presuming Ms. Alice here demonstrates her claims, I fully expect the international community to go along with it.  There will be many loud objections, of course, but nobody really wants to push too hard against people who can erase armies and cities from the map with the push of a button: Nobody wins a nuclear war, it is why nuclear powers are nearly never invaded.”

I shrug, "I could do it now; it’s no big deal, nukes are cheap. I'll get an announcement up on our UsTube channel, and set a schedule for nuking an empty stretch of ocean.  Does twenty four hours sound about right for letting anyone set up whatever observation setups they want?”

“Oh, the timeframe works…” The President starts.

The Inquisition rep has had enough, apparently, “This is madness! You cannot allow this to continue.”

“She's calm, rational, and has a plan which - if she can keep up her end - seems likely to do everything you were doing for us,” the leader of the free world stares down the Inquisition rep, “for half what you charged, while keeping everything above board for public commentary by the people to whom I ultimately answer.  It's a gamble, sure, but everything is and this could be a big win for me.”

The man behind the desk gets back to what he was saying, “But the announcement needs to be at the UN building, in front of the Assembly.  It's about five or six hours by motorcade….”

I smile, “It's two by my space elevator… and I can give you a tour of the less sensitive areas of one of our ships while we're up there.  Just pack your retinue in a big bus,” despite the size, it can only do a single vehicle: No, it doesn't make sense that a single motorcycle and a loaded big rig cost the same to move up or down, “and drive on up the platform.  I can handle the rest.”

The President pauses a long moment, “You have NO idea how tempting that is,” I kinda do, there's a reason I was looking at the Starship rules, “but I need to be seen using my own transportation.” Skill translation: He doesn't trust me THAT much at this time. “I can clear the way for you to land on the campus, though.”

I nod, “That works,” no need to push on that, “but I expect it may be a good idea for me to host a diplomat on board, so you have verification that yes, I have a space presence.”

The man behind the desk considers, “Raincheck on that? There's a lot of organization needed for an Embassy.  I have someone in mind, but she'll need some supporting staff.”

I consider, “Sure, but in space, air, shipping, and many other resources are limited; I can only host so many people shipside.”  I’m not going to mention the moon base yet.

He nods, “That's fine.  I'll see you there in a couple of hours.”

“You cannot make a deal with an abomination!” Yeah… nobody's listening Mr. Diamond.

I focus on being Diplomatic and working with the Inquisition rep, “Look, Isiah… can I call you Isiah? You were outmaneuvered before you even stepped foot in this office, because the local branch dropped the ball, but that's not on you…” he's essentially a captive audience, and I'm not at threat… and skills are non-magical magic.  He's clearly hostile, but that only puts the difficulty class at twenty five plus one and a half times his challenge rating… and he's not a Mythic to have one of those. My modifier is high enough that the dice don't matter. So after eleven minutes of talking to him while the leader of the free world looks on… he's gone from “wants me dead” to… while not a friend, “indifferent to my existence”.  

“Fine. You can live,” he eventually relents, “We'll tolerate your little experiment, and won't interfere.”

“In that case, Mr. Diamond,” the man behind the desk is looking at me while he says that, “you're dismissed.  Alice, please stay a little longer.  There's another matter on which I would like to speak with you.”

One of the Secret Service agents shows the Inquisition rep the door, and he leaves.

Once he's gone, I break the ice, “What would you have of me, Mr. President?”

“A couple of things.  First off… I can't for the life of me remember what you said to that man just now past the first few sentences. But what I just saw cannot be possible. Was that magic?”

Huh. I can't either. I consider, “Technically no, it's not magic, but it is part of my Myth, and so you won't be able to reproduce the effect. I hate using it because it is a form of mind control… a lesser form, but I still consider it one… and to answer your next likely question, no, I haven't used it on you. After all, you remember our conversation, but not what I said to him.”

“So why did you use it on him?”

I shrug, “Because he's a racist scumbag who was planning on doing everything in his power to murder a lot of people.  Mind control is evil, but what his organization does…. well. You saw some of the videos.”

“Yeah… number thirty seven made me lose my lunch.  Those poor kids…” he shudders, “But that's not what I really wanted to ask.”

I shrug, “What can I do for you, Mr. President?”