"I believe the first idea is better. Bringing the ship in close places the entire team in jeopardy; it makes much more sense for me to deliver Ms. Luthor - that way only two of us risk capture."
"When you are ready, we can depart. I am curious to see this utopia up close."
Shale drops through the air, moving at such high speed that he compresses the air beneath his feet, a tiny contrail of footprints quickly disappearing behind him. He races down the face of the skyscraper, searching window after window for the scene described by Shadow. Soon, he comes to a bulbous protrusion, a half dome sticking out of the side of the structure like a knot on a tree. Shale phases through the wall, finding himself and his cargo in a parklike area, an open field half under the open sun of the protrusion, but continuing into the darker confines of the building.
Within the structure, fiber optic lines bring sunlight into the building. Shale hears the sounds of children laughing, grunting, exerting themselves. A whistle sounds shrilly across the field as an armored figure flashes a holographic yellow card at one of the players.
There appears to be no sign of alarm, no lights, klaxons, security personnel or droids.
Those who remain on the Stinger see no sign of response on the outside.
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Imagine extracts her electrons from the sack and glides behind a corner where she can reconstitute herself without freeking anybody out. She takes a moment to primp and ensure that all the right parts are in all the right places. And maybe an extra moment to take a deep breath and wonder if she has any idea of what the frak she's doing.
Caution firmly thrown to the wind, she puts on Nice Smile #3 and walks around the corner, just another young mother enjoying the display. A few moments in, during a pause in the action, she makes her move.
[to The Monarch]'Don't be alarmed. We only want to talk.'
If this guy has half as much in his pants as his reputation suggests, that should be enough to get the ball rolling.
After being lost in his thoughts shudder desides to exit the ship
The game breaks up, and children grab snacks and drinks.
Monarch steps away from the action and turns toward Imagine, speaking in a filtered voice that is pleasant in exactly the way Darth Vader's isn't, "Whoever you are, and whatever you think to gain by this intrusion, understand that if any harm comes to my people here, you will be crushed and erased from existence. If you feel the need to engage in useless violence, I would request that we at least step outside."
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Imagine doesn't walk. She slinks nearer to the figure, placing one exquisitely manicured finger on the armored chest and tracing a circle on its pattern. She still doesn't speak out loud though. There doesn't seem the need.
[to Monarch]'Awww. I'm hurt. Why so paranoid? Are you used to dealing with dimwitted brutes that smash first? Such a waste. To punch someone is so ephemeral. If you want someone to -really- be crushed, take away all their asset and give them bad credit. They'll come crawling back that afternoon. So if you were looking to test your great big man-muscles on me, sorry honey, I'm not here for that.
We just want to talk. There are some rumors going around and we need to clear them up. Don't worry, if smashing is called for there's always time for that.
I have some friends on a ship. Care to walk me up to it?'
She extends her elbow. And always the smile.
The Monarch wraps his fingers around Imagine's elbow, giving it just the slightest uncomfortable squeeze. The firmness of his grip is monumental.
"Lead the way."
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Imagine gives only the briefest wince at the grip. [to Monarch]:'Oooo. -Somebody- likes it rough! Too bad we don't have time for socialization right now, but who knows what may come with time. All assuming you're a good boy, of course.' She accompanies it with a lift of an eyebrow and a blown smooch merely through habit.
She gets on the comm and informs everyone that she'll be returning to the ship with the Monarch on her arm, as promised. Okay, maybe she didn't technically promise that, but they should've known that was a possibility.
Everyone should be on their best behavior and not kill him outright.
If she needs to get Shale to bring her in the bag back to the ship, then that's fine, but she assumes that if she supplies directions, the Monarch can get to the ship on his own.
She smiles, enjoying herself. Microns from death with the fate of multiverses spinning on a knife's edge, and her ruby-red lips blowing the Winds of Fate for countless billions. THIS is how life was meant to live!
Neil lets out a groan and suits up. "That certainly is one way about it."
Imagine gives away the location of the stealth ship, apparently, bringing Monarch to meet the family.
Once introduced, he greets you all, "If you come in peace, travelers, we greet and welcome you. Know that if you have come to stir up trouble, we will greet you with destruction. We use the royal pronoun not from hubris, but as the representative of our domain. . Explain quickly why you seek an audience with The Monarch, for I must attend to my subjects." As he speaks, whatever senses you have prickle as you are scanned and touched by active sensors of every kind you can detect."
Forzare feels the Monarch up as well, internally seething that Imagine brought their enemy into the no-longer-STEALTH vessel they were using.
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Imagine spares a side-long glance at Captain Robo. [To Captain Robo:]'Okay, big guy. Getting you two in the same room is done. What do you see? This guy look like you in the future?'
Imagine senses that everyone seems to be reluctant to start the conversation off, so she tries her hand at cracking the ice. She still doesn't want to speak, but includes everyone in her projection.
[to all:]'Everyone, this is The Monarch. Mr. Monarch,' she watches The Monarch's reaction to being called 'Mr' to see if it gives anything away, 'this is everyone. I'll let them introduce themselves.
Anyway, we've been hearing some talk and we wanted get to the bottom of things. If you wouldn't mind answering some simple questions? Minor things, like, One: How many Universes do you currently control? Two, Why do you believe that your way is the best way? And, three, how do you do it? Our best people have been studying high-density population centers, and all of our efforts have actually produced -negative- results, as opposed to the spectacular results you are showing here. How do you do it? Is it mind control? I totally am calling mind-control, but if it's not, if you just make REALLY good quiche, I've GOT to have the recipe! ;-)
In his weird crackly voice "Uhh, hit Mr. Monarch sir, my name is Sinter. "
and that's all he intends to say.
Forzare feels the Monarch up as well, internally seething that Imagine brought their enemy into the no-longer-STEALTH vessel they were using.
The armor is completely sealed, no air or even light getting out. It is also extremely slick, tightly woven. There aren't any obviously separate modules or components, nowhere are there cracks between attachments.
Robo extends a hand to greet The Monarch. "Neil Raval, code name Captain Robo. I'm an inventor by trade. Your society is simply breathtaking. As Imagine said, many of our researchers have come to negative conclusions regarding high-density life like this. To see it work positively is truly a marvel. What genuinely catches my eye though is the integration of technology. Your society is seamless, technologically speaking. All systems run in unison, perfectly coordinated. That is more than impressive."
Touch-Based Info-Grab (Linked)
Enhanced Trait 6.75 (Linked; Traits: Notice +27 (+40); Limited (Touch Senses))
Super-Senses 14 (Linked; acute (type): Touch, analytical (type): Touch, counters concealment: Touch, counters illusion: Touch, postcognition, rapid: Touch 2; Precise)
"Time, visitors, is a chaotic jumbled mess. Have you any idea how many forces, societies, rogue individuals, and sentient defense systems have attempted or even succeeded at manipulating the past in order to change or control the future. In the beginning was the Word, friends, and now there is Babel. At the beginning of everything, at least this round of everything, there was one timeline, stretching out from the birth of the universe until its death and rebirth, bound together like a giant steel cable, if you will. Wound with the life of all of the beings who would ever exist within it.
And then forces began snipping, moving in the wrong direction along the cable, crashing into the past, causing strands of the cable to spin off in all directions, splintering time and reality. There were those set to guard time, but they somehow cannot be everywhere or everywhen, and so doctors and conquerors and time lords and more than you imagine wrought havoc.
You can see below us now what order can create. My people here are happy. Food is abundant, population growth is moderated by education and fulfillment. The human race expands to other planets, other solar systems. We took a world that faced poverty and inequality and death and rage and destruction and gave everyone meaningful work. This was the promise of the 21st century. With the advances of men like Lex Luthor and Maxwell Lord, we created abundance, and spread that wealth to all of humanity. We clustered together at the center of that abundance. As it became clear that there was no reason for war, nothing to fight over. We started with offering food and shelter to those who lacked, backed it up with education. We used our own powers to eliminate the damage done by centuries of human existence, returning the world to a more natural state.
The same is not true in those we have conquered. Even our power cannot extend across multiple universes. And so there is resistance. We control dozens of the 52 universes, but signs point to the existence of others. Eventually, we will gain a foothold in enough to challenge the Monitors themselves, to re-weave the strands of the time stream.
I do, of course, make a quiche that is rich, creamy, and light, though I preferred fritattas. "
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Imagine's body language changes. Her smile, ever-present, disappears. Her eyes narrow. She stops moving.
[to all]: 'So you -do- play the tyrant? That is the word for people like you. Creating "order" out of "chaos" is just another way to say that if you don't like how people live, you enforce YOUR order onto THIER chaos.
That is what the Socialists do. Everyone is the same, whether they like it or not. Where is your Daniel Boone? Where are your pioneers? Where flies Chris Columbus or Captain Kirk? As a wise man once said: "I wanna smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I wanna run through the streets naked with green Jell-O all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener."
But I digress. For your grander plans of repairing damage to Space-Time, I thank you. And give you leave to prove thy noble intent.
Give me the technology to bring such Utopia to my reality. We shall introduce it and allow the world to, freely, choose to partake of it's fruit. Over time the free market of Adam Smith's invisible hand will allow this tree to take root by
THAT is what someone not the tyrant would do. Give off the heavy-handed bully boy tactics. Allow the seed of advanced technology to progress down the Track of Stability naturally and by choice.
Then you shall prove thy intent.
To force someone to happiness is demonic. To allow them to chose happiness is beneficent.'
"He's not even 'forcing people to happiness'. He's forcing others in subservience so SOME can live in happiness. I knew there was a catch."
"Dr. Raval, you should know that your counterpart in this reality is responsible for many of the technological innovations you see here. I should have mentioned your name earlier with Lex and Max, but of course there were many others. John Irons, Michael Holt, Grodd, Morrow, Palmer. All of them contributed, but your contributions were rivaled only by the Luthors.
As for forcing people and tyranny, I fear that you confuse tyranny and totalitarianism. I am certainly a totalitarian dictator, but hardly a tyrant. I am not brutal or oppressive. True, in some realities, and even in the farthest reaches of this one, we have had to be firm, but we have committed no genocide, forced no one to follow us. We offer peace and order, freedom to seek fulfillment. You suggest that we force our subjects into sameness, but the truth could not be more different. Christopher Columbus was a bringer of death and destruction. True, I bring destruction in the strictest sense, but only in the service of peace and unity. We will destroy the errant timelines and allow the multiverse to return to its perfection.
I assume you speak of the fictive Kirk, who is a womanizer and a narcissist, who practices gunboat diplomacy without regard to the values of the cultures he interacts with. Kirk is full of hatred, for Klingons, for Khan, for anything that does not fit into his view of reality. He seeks to protect his ship, and sometimes the Federation. We seek to protect all of reality.
See as much of reality as you wish, and judge for yourself what we do. We certainly do not fear your attacks, but know that if you seek to harm our subjects, we will destroy you. We have stood against Supermen and New Gods, we will not be intimidated by the likes of you."
"I'm not real smart or anything, but you just sounded a lot like a politician Mr. Monarch Sir. "
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Imagine rolls her eyes. [to all]:"Now you're just lying. Unless you wish us to believe that all of the billions of Earthlings just "happened" to move to Metrolpolis out a sense of civic duty. Yeah, I'm sure that every African tribal who had been praying to the same sacred rocks for twenty generations took up your offer of a rent-controlled apartment just for the sake of membership to a frequent coffee-buyer club and a free month of HBO. Or that every Afgan warlord who feels naked without an AK-47 up and moved his entire clan to south-central mega-block for a good deal on arugula and honey mustard. And every Japanese wage-slave living in a mega-compact Tokyo district decided what he really needed to do was turn his life upside down and buy several dozen cardboard boxes so he move to a completely similar compact mega-district.
And what about NASCAR? Or people who drink a hundred dollars of booze and take extremely large trucks skidding around mud ponds? Or...Tibetan Monks? Where are all the monks who think that living near a billion people affects their communing with nature? You can't force Zen Buddhists to live in Hong Kong and then call it unity!
And way to change the subject. What I -do- refer to is people like Davy Crockett who moved if another soul was within ten miles because things were getting "too crowded".
So what of my offer? Give me your tech and let pull off your neat trick and I'll bring all this Unity to my reality on my own. Done. Then leave my reality alone. If you're truly doing this out of some sense of altruism, then that will suffice. The only difference is that YOU won't be dictator of that reality.
But if you are a Tyrant (or Despot, if you want to play the label game) then this compromise will be completely untenable to you.
What say you?'
I will admit that the transition was not simple for everyone. You will still find a few groups and even individuals who prefer to live alone or in small groups. We have no problem with peaceful monasteries or the !kung San or tribes in the Amazon. Your Crocketts work as game wardens or botanists. Or the true pioneers have taken to outer space or other dimensions.
Of course there were also those who enjoyed their power and dominating others. They had to be dealt with. You will find no Jokers here, no Suicide Squad.
But let me counter with a question, which of us is currently involved in peace talks with 652 civilizations, and which is providing a distraction for an attack on the Mars Colony in this dimension.
Don't trust Rebel One...
"What can you tell us about Rebel One? What are his motives and why is he going through all of this trouble?"
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Kara, who had been getting ready a profanity-laced tirade to try and buy time, now holds her tongue. This is new data. A double-double cross? It doesn't really seem like Neil's usual play, so he must have something -realllllllllllllllllllllll- juicy in the works. She just raises an eyebrow and throws him a look and a thought. [to Captain Robo:]'Really? This is new. Of course he's going to say that Rebel Rebel is a warmongering, destabilizing force who can not be trusted and is trying to subvert both the will of the people and the greater good, any ruling force would say of any rebel leader--but you knew that already. So where are you going with this?'
I’m not sure I can accept your label of politician. While I am involved in politics, I did gain my position through a combination of acclaim and violent conflict. I will not deny that the path to this Order has been paved sometimes with rose petals and sometimes with blood. We, I, have fought wars of defense and wars of aggression, all for the greater good of restoring Time.
As for the Rebels and their leader, what can I say? There are always those who wish to watch the universe burn, and others who can tolerate no one ruling over them. Xander is a powerful human, gifted with an intellect that unfolds the mysteries of the universe before him. He would prefer his version of reality, a reality of eternal war and strife, over mine. He knows when his death will come, that he will not be eternal, and so he has taken himself out of time using technology acquired who knows how. Now he leads a motley group of humans and aliens from across Hypertime, all living on that stolen WarWorld, against the interests of our Monarchy. He seeks to unravel that which we seek to bring together.
Whether he has brought you here as distractions from his attack on Mars or for some other reason, I cannot discern, but my forces are doing well enough at repelling the attack. It does not appear that I will need to intervene in the defense.
"Go home, Heroes. You have nothing to offer this time. Go home, fight your colorful villains. Stand firm against the coming Inferno, and give your lives in the protection of the innocent and the guilty. Go home, and let the Universe heal."
"Ok, home sounds good Mr Monarch sir. I'm ok with that. "
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[to all]'Okaaaay, great. Super. I think we've got to a good place here. Spiritually. Morally. Ecumenically. Really, I think we've made some progress. Good stuff. Good stuff.
Okay, Mr. Monarch, we've got a lot to think about here, so if you could show yourself the door, that'd be great.
Don't worry about calling us. If we need anything, we know where to find you."
Kara keeps smiling until he can get the frak out and they can make plans to deal with this egomaniacal freak.
A glowing disk too bright to look at opens behind the Monarch, and you aren't quite sure if it moves to envelop him or he steps backward into it. There seems to be some bending of space involved in the whole process.
As the disk snaps shut, you are left to your own devices.
"Whoever can pilot this thing, let's get the heck out of here before he decides not to be nice anymore. "
"As if he was nice to begin with. Condescending prick." Patrick mutters as he begins preparations to fly back.
"Well he decided not to bear the tar out of us, so that's kinda nice. "
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Imagine purses her lips prettily in concentration. [to all]:'Hm. In truth I find it more savory if the target of destruction is obviously consumed by avarice or a cackling megalomania. Orchestrating the fall of one who has at least a plausible argument is just so...utilitarian. Takes all the sport out of it.'
"That armor..." Neil turns away from the group and interfaces with the on-board computer manually (not a typical action for someone who could manipulate computers mentally). After a few keystrokes, a holo-projector display opens up, showing a generic atom.
"The atom, as we know it. Composed of protons, electrons, neutrons. Everything we know of is made of atoms. All of you, me, this ship-- all atoms. The Monarch's Nanoweave Armor... I don't even know where to begin with it. Simply put: it defies science, or what we know of it at least. The Nanoweave Armor isn't made of atoms, or at least atoms that consist of the usual components. It seems to be made of the stuff that makes stuff. It's incredible. It seems to be constantly remaking itself. I can't imagine there'd be anything strong enough to make even the smallest of dents. If taking the Monarch down is on the table, I'm not sure if that would be the way."
"Hmm. If that is true, then a strictly physical attack would likely be useless. Chances are it would resist even massive compression forces, and if it operates on sub-atomic principles instead of macroscopic physics, my understanding is that even our general understanding of force and reaction might not be applicable. Containment or smothering would probably be ineffective, as the suit is sure to have full life support, and probably the capacity to synthesize oxygen. And given his status as warlord over multiple dimensions, dimensional displacement, an extreme measure reserved for only the most extreme circumstances, would likely be only a short reprieve, as he clearly has the power to shift dimensions, and could therefore transport himself back to the reality of his choice. Though, it is possible that a region like the Phantom zone, which is outside the normal stream of time, might be effective as there would be no time in which to take an action such as initiating a dimensional shift. Of course, the existence of the Phantom zone is relatively well known, particularly if he is in fact one of us. He would likely therefore have considered the possibility that someone might attempt to place him there, and come up with some sort of contingency to address that vulnerability. A psychic or mystical intervention might be a more effective path to consider...”
”Ms. Luthor, we should address what occurred here. My understanding was that I was transporting you to the Monarch in order to minimize the risks to the rest of our team. May I ask why then, you made the decision to immediately give away their location? It appears we have not suffered ill for the choice so far, that we know of, but it was still a substantial risk to take. May I ask about your thought processes surrounding this issue?”
What passes for eyes on Sinter completely glaze over during the discussion of the armor and its strength.
Once it gets to blaming Luthor he does pipe up. "Hey nobody got hurt. All's well that ends well. "
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Imagine glances at Captain Robo. [to all:]'Wait, are you saying it's made up of...what are they called...'quarks'? I don't....I can't even contemplate that. It's inconceivable! It's just dense quarks? Did anyone get a chance to see how much it weighs?
And, yes, something like that is probably impervious to any normal, physics based attack.
Neil, since it's constantly remaking itself, would it be possible to install, say, a virus into it? Like the body's cells are vulnerable to a cancer, could his suit be corrupted?'
She has a sweet, sincere smile for Sinter, but for Shale she's all ice and sarcasm. [to all:]'Thank you, Sinter. Wise words to live by. It dawned on me that you all -might- also like a chance to talk with the Big Man, and that were I the -only- one conversing with him, whatever conclusion -I- came to might, possibly, perhaps, maybe, NOT be seen as optimal by the rest of you.
Hence, I thought to make this an open discussion. But your decent is noted. The next time we get a chance to speak with a dimension-subjugating Ultra-powered being, I'll do everything I can to make sure no one else is in on my conversation. =)
Also, if we were going to kill him now, wouldn't it have been easiest with him separated from all his support and surrounded by all of us? I think smart people call that an "ambush". You can look it up. It's in books."
She moves on. [to all:]'What now? Do we report back to Rebel One? We could stay here and mingle with his population to verify his claims?
Captain Robo, can you do a quick scan of the airspace around Mars? How did the attack go?"
"I think he wants us gone and I agree. Let's get back home. There's enough trouble there without taking this Monarch fellow. "
Imagine glances at Captain Robo. [to all:]'Wait, are you saying it's made up of...what are they called...'quarks'? I don't....I can't even contemplate that. It's inconceivable! It's just dense quarks? Did anyone get a chance to see how much it weighs?
And, yes, something like that is probably impervious to any normal, physics based attack.
Neil, since it's constantly remaking itself, would it be possible to install, say, a virus into it? Like the body's cells are vulnerable to a cancer, could his suit be corrupted?'She has a sweet, sincere smile for Sinter, but for Shale she's all ice and sarcasm. [to all:]'Thank you, Sinter. Wise words to live by. It dawned on me that you all -might- also like a chance to talk with the Big Man, and that were I the -only- one conversing with him, whatever conclusion -I- came to might, possibly, perhaps, maybe, NOT be seen as optimal by the rest of you.
Hence, I thought to make this an open discussion. But your decent is noted. The next time we get a chance to speak with a dimension-subjugating Ultra-powered being, I'll do everything I can to make sure no one else is in on my conversation. =)Also, if we were going to kill him now, wouldn't it have been easiest with him separated from all his support and surrounded by all of us? I think smart people call that an "ambush". You can look it up. It's in books."
She moves on. [to all:]'What now? Do we report back to Rebel One? We could stay here and mingle with his population to verify his claims?
Captain Robo, can you do a quick scan of the airspace around Mars? How did the attack go?"
"Honestly, it seems that there may be some sort of corruption already in place and that the suit is constantly repairing it. Perhaps there may be a way to not only stop the repair process, but to make it aid in whatever it's trying to fix. How to go about that, though, will take me some time to figure out."
As you leave orbit and accelerate toward Mars, your long range sensors show you scenes of destruction.
The rebel controlled WarWorld rains fire down on the Martian Colony. On the surface, a series of domes ranging in size from an SUV to two the size of aircraft carriers. Most of the domes are connected via buried tunnels, but a few are connected by a spiderweb of surface tunnels.
The two larges domes have been breached, probably by one of the larger weapons on the planetoid. The breaches have been sealed by projected force fields, for how long you can't know.
Twelve human sized figures are attacking the WarWorld, to little effect. Both on the Colony surface and in space, drones like the ones you fought at home swarm, attacking the domes and defending the WarWorld.
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[to all:]"Oh what the hell?? I assumed this was an attack on a military installation. But he's just bombing colonists in domes? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the Means and the Ends and all that, but this looks more like a terrorist attack than anything.
But then didn't the Big M say that he was doing quite well against this diversionary attack? It looks like both sides are standing off just fine...from what I can see.
Alright, should we radio in and land so we can get back to...where we came from?'
Speaking after departing from this version of Earth, and their meeting with the Monarch, Shale has been in a fairly brooding mood. "I find this whole scenario distasteful. We have here two enemies, each telling us that the other is wrong, and little to no way to tell who is telling the truth. I do not like the idea of leaving a despot unhampered, if he truly is one, but nor do I care for the thought of being someone's weapon, aimed like an arrow on the string and merely loosed at their enemies. We are thinking, breathing men and women, and we should not take anything on mere say-so. But we are supposed to be heroes as well, and should not stand idly by while villains run amok."
Seeing the status reports of the conflict, and hearing Ms. Luthor's reactions sours the gray man's expression even more, "More and more it appears your kinsman is not the hero he claims to be, Ms. Luthor. How are we to judge when we do not know this world? I feel like we would need to live here some time, walk a few leagues in their boots, to be able to judge the worth of either man's word."
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Kara smiles. The smiles remains motionless as she replies. [to Shale]:'Are you offering to take a lady out to dinner? Oh my how bold, Mr. Shale! Very well, I accept. Just don't get your hopes up, Stud. I don't do the book on the first date. But since Mr. Monarch has promised us safe passage on his planet, t'would be a waste to not take advantage of it.
Are you able to get us planetside from orbit, or shall I have Captain Aterro take the ship down?'
"I don't trust either of them, but of the two I'll take the one not threatening to subjugate our universe."