"Please, wise and noble crone, share your wisdom with this unworthy one."
"Oi, less of the crone. But do you hear it?"
Heh. The joy of sharing similar senses of humour.
I make a point of listening, but it sounds quite a lot like it did last time I was here. The thing about Kahndaq is… They have their own oil extraction and refining facilities. Their own farms. They're a bit short on metal mining but other than that they're pretty self-sufficient. Sure, their exports took a hit, but they can stockpile or put the oil rigs in mothballs until things pick up again. After the Sheeda incursion they were increasing the size of their manufacturing sector to take advantage of the reduced fuel cost and the fact that Adrianna was perfectly capable of taking the carbon out of the air with her plants…
So it's become
something of a paradise in this modern age. As much as a place with petrol-burning cars can be, anyway.
"Probably not?"
"This is the first place I've been that didn't get blasted with Anti-Life for a month. It sounds different."
There's bound to have been some long-terms effect from that, even with the White Light, that's for sure.
"How so?"
"Difficult to explain. People walk different. Talk different. Talk the same as they used to, I mean."
Probably slightly more subservience to authority, too. Maybe a greater willingness to listen to charismatic figures...
"And other people don't?"
She focuses on me, raising her left eyebrow. "You haven't noticed?"
That's a good question. Has he bothered to get street-level anytime lately, outside of looking for something on the ground?
I make a flicking motion with my right hand. "How many remotely normal people do you think I talk to in the average week?"
"Right, you moved out of Gotham, didn't you? Okay, for example, people don't raise their voices as much. Here…"
More of the 'move about your day in quiet unless you have to talk to people' mood? Like the whole world is still a bit depressed and gloomy.
I listen to the sounds of the city. Angry shouting, happy shouting, raucous shouting… And then I compare it to Hub City.
"I see what you mean. Is that everywhere?"
...Hub city might not be the best comparison, between the reduced population and the previous normal atmosphere.
"Most places. Depends how close they were to a broadcaster." She shrugs. "And then there's the cars of course. Britain's opening the coal mines again."
"Wouldn't nuclear be better?"
Eh, I suspect the plants will need considerable checks and repairs due to the Anti-Life interfering with maintenance schedules.
"Where would we get the fuel?"
"Australia? I'm sure someone from the League could fly a few tonnes over as a one-off thing. I could. It's not like it goes bad particularly fast."
And you don't need much at a time, unless you're running
their systems
very hard.
"I'll pass that on. Could you build the plant, too?"
"Well, if this law goes through, not only will I be able to build it, I'll be able to mandate its use." Oh. "So I guess that private car use isn't really a thing in Britain any more?"
With what petrol? I expect the government has been confiscating stocks for emergency vehicle use, and even if it wasn't, the price would be in a skyrocketing death spiral.
"We're importing electricity from France."
"The shame of it. Those lovely nuclear reactors on the north coast, right?"
Since they haven't gotten around to anything more advanced.
"The North Sea is still producing. The gas pipes are still there. Anyone with electric cars can still drive." She shakes her head. "We've actually started putting old milk floats back into service to keep supermarkets stocked. I've only seen them once before because The Milkman drives one."
What, electric ones or horse-pulled? Heck,
some could even be pedal-powered.
I frown. "Yes, that's… What they're for."
"No, not the milkman. The Milkman."
Note the capital letters, OL... And yes, that's an actual
person.
"Oh! Oh right, yes. That's so much clearer."
"The superhero." She regards me quizzically. "That's funny. Do they still have milkmen in your Britain? 'round here he's who most people think of when they hear 'milkman'."
Sadly, most people these days get their milk from stores. Not sure I've ever seen a milk delivery service, even when I was a kid in the Eighties. And my mother's side of the family lived in a town small enough to have had one back in the day...
"Ah, we had one when I was little. I don't remember exactly when it stopped. And the.. dates don't quite match up, so it's not quite the same."
"And yours is-."
Yeah, OL's from a
little further in the future at the point of insertion, wasn't he?
The door to the rooftop opens, Amon stepping through and holding it open for Dawn. She… She's switched to slightly more modern clothing, I suspect at Adrianna's suggestion, but a quick look at her body language doesn't suggest that she's feeling any more settled.
"Hello, Amon." Beryl smiles warmly at him and Dawn. He give her a quick nod before focusing his attention on Dawn again-. I extend my translation aura to her because intelligent as she is, as far as I know she's not an expert on pre-European American languages. "Dawn, right? I'm Squire."
Looks like the lady isn't enjoying the new era. And if she could speak their language, she'd probably be letting people know about it...
Dawn regards her cautiously. "Are you one of Osiris' friends?"
"Ah…" Beryl looks at Amon for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say we're friends. We're on the same team. I'm here because Orange Lantern thinks I might be able to help you."
Hmm... How old
is Dawn? Maybe too old for the juniors, but still useful as a team associate? that could be something useful to do.
"'Help'…" She shakes her head. "I have visited the descendants of my people. I have visited people who live as we lived. I have no bond with either of them. My world is vanished in the dust of the past. You cannot rebuild a fire from ash."
Beryl thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Okay, let's not bother, then. The other thing we're here for is that Orange Lantern is worried about a law our governments are passing and wants us to take a look at it."
True, her people were not any of the modern indigenous tribes. The comics equated them with Apaches because of the
subtle '
Apache Chief' reference that Manitou Raven was made to be, but... Supposedly their magical tradition is closer to the
Algonquin.
"I don't know anything about your.. councils."
"You're not really starting with a disadvantage there. Honestly, having someone who doesn't know how they work will probably help."
...And the language barrier? can't really download English into her brain, can you?
Dawn doesn't look even slightly convinced.
But I smile. "Amon, did Adom ever tell you about the time when Captain Marvel tried explaining the American government to him?"
Amon nods. "When he told me of the American system, he said that he was recounting what Captain Marvel told him, with his own observations."
That would have been an amusing game of Telephone. I hope they both double-checked against actual sources.
"Ah. So he didn't mention that him doing that forced Marvel to rethink the whole thing?" Dawn watches as Amon shakes his head. "Marvel thought that the brilliance of the system was self-evident. But when he had to explain why some things work the way they do, he couldn't convince an open-minded and disinterested party. For the first time in his life he had to think about whether or not there were better ways to handle things. He actually wrote an essay on how the American system of government has changed over the centuries, and how some things people today consider essential are actually pretty recent changes."
'Recent' having an interesting scaling for a system that's still got a year or so before it hits 250. Then again, there have been some big
changes over the years. And that's
just the constitutional amendments... (I couldn't find any
succinct lists of actual law changes.)
Amon nods again. "So Dawn can help, because she does not know the system, and so does not assume that it makes any sense."
Dawn shakes her head. "Nothing I have seen of this world makes sense. And I cannot read your language."
She does kind of need to learn. And it may let her find something to do with her life other than 'being Manitou Raven's wife.'
"I can translate it for you. There will be a few words which don't-."
"My language doesn't have a written form. I can understand a handful of words."
Ooof. Good point, her existing language is long dead, and the closest indigenous ones are very different. Like a modern person trying to read the oldest recognisable written English without training. Seriously, look at
it...
"Okay, well, I can make a machine that can read the words to you when you point it at them. Is that any good?"
She thinks for a moment, not really looking at any of us. Then she shrugs. "It may as well be."
Evidently doesn't think much of his plan, but at least she's being
polite?
Makes him look panicky and hesitant about having too much power. Might not be, but you never know...
