I nod. "I was surprised that they turned out like that. Clarissi Dox doesn't have much of an aesthetic sense."
Jay frowns mildly in puzzlement, then shakes his head. "Ah, no, no. I was talking about the Earth."
Ah, OL. Always focusing on what's in front of you, to the detriment of all else... It's practically the source of all your current problems, really.
He gestures downwards, and yes, there it is. Blue and green and grey and white and brown. The current extent of the white patches at the north and south means that it doesn't quite match up with the various pictures of the Earth that I remember from Earth Prime, and the surge of greenery enveloping South America means that a good deal of the grey and brown there has been beaten back. There's a similar patch in North Africa where Adrianna's doing something similar. From this height I'd say that it improves the way they look, though I know perfectly well that it's a mess at ground level.
Like a duck or swan. Looks graceful, elegant and serene on the surface, but when you look below, it's frantic motion and desperate activity...
"Guess if you see it enough times it loses some of the appeal."
"It's more that it's nice to be home after a while away, but once you've been back for a day or two you remember that the garden waste bin is overflowing because you missed the pick up and there's a crack in the paint in the guest bedroom and the carpet's getting worn in the study."
Making a not-so-subtle point, OL. Both men can get your drift without over-extending the metaphor...
"You're saying that whenever you come back, you start seeing all of the problems."
I point downwards.
Time for an object lesson in the problems everyone
expects him to be dealing with. But because OL is OL, he's letting people blunder their way through their own shit...
"See Brazil?"
"Ah. I see what you mean. What's it like at ground level?"
That bad, eh? Especially with Brazil one of the hardest hit nations by the Sheeda? Because the favela slums would be
prime targets, at least until they ran into super-powered tribesfolk...
"We're lucky that it's summer. Euanthe isn't keen on creating original plants, and the Accala don't value modernity. There's no economy and the people in charge have no interest in trying to even have a currency."
"If they don't have a currency, how do they trade for things?"
Badly? But seriously, I expect the tribes have a much stronger position now that the rich people's money has turned out to be worthless.
"Barter, or they just don't. Isolated agricultural communities don't really need a lot of things. And the things they do need… Did you see on the news that spokesman for 'Viva! Water' complaining about the tribes stealing their property?"
"I think I caught that."
And yet corporate entities are still bitching about having a hard time? Some things never change.
"Agriculture does require water, so anyone messing around with access to water is going to get turfed out. Anyone who owned land that a tribe had a claim on is going to get turfed off. And of course there's no way that the Accala are going to take on the Brazilian government's debts, so anyone lending money to anywhere in South America is in trouble because they're not going to be able to recover it."
"And I guess they're not going to want to borrow money themselves, because they're self sufficient, so the usual penalties aren't any sort of disincentive."
Only natural. But that's going to have knock-on effects, no matter what Ploûtus can do to mitigate it.
"Yep. So we're looking at a total collapse of the modern banking system."
"Because of Brazil? How in debt were they? And why did people keep lending them money?"
Economies don't operate in a vacuum. International trade is dependent on lots of things being bought and paid for, and after an alien invasion, I doubt there's much concern about keeping the lifeblood of trade flowing...
"Everyone likes it when governments spend money on them, but no one wants to pay for it. And now even countries that are still functioning can't pay. Poor countries can't pay because everything they've got is going on reconstruction, and rich countries can't pay because no one can buy their stuff and they can't transport it to the few who can and they were all running a deficit under the assumption that there wouldn't be any major fundamental shocks to the world economy. Combine that with a radical economic shift like arcane primitivism suddenly going mainstream and suddenly what everyone was sure about isn't true."
So the world is going to be in financial dire straits for a couple of years until things recover. And recover they will, as countries adapt and shift economic gears. Especially with a God of Money working behind the scenes. I bet Greece's economy will be a lot stronger in the years to come.
"I thought America made out alright."
"Oh, sure, America as a country made out alright. The Sheeda killed a relatively low proportion of the population and didn't cause much infrastructure damage. And America has a big enough internal market that it doesn't need international trade, so… If you're being optimistic you might see a return of manufacturing. But the financial mechanisms that would usually lend the money for that sort of development are about to fall apart."
But, again,
international trade. There are still things America gets from outside. Oil, for one, unless someone pushes Cosmic reactors (hint, hint, OL!) I suspect it'll start to be less of a powerhouse as the breadbaskets and factories of Russia and China start seeing more profits...
"Oh."
Alan drifts closer, smiling sympathetically.
"Bet you're glad that you asked."
Heh. Benefit of these two being as old as they are: They
remember the last big global economic downturn. You might remember it, too: The Great Depression...
"I wouldn't say glad. But if I learned anything from the thirties, it's that being ignorant of economics is no defense."
"All I remember learning is that people will still buy radios when the economy's in freefall. And that gambling's for idiots."
Of course the man who worked in radio broadcasting would be interested in that.
We turn away from the Earth and accelerate towards the flag ship's shuttle bay. L.E.G.I.O.N. ships have teleporters, but they're not designed for bulk transportation. We could have come up like that, but I thought it might be nice for Jay to fly up. Flying still hasn't quite lost its-.
"Oh? Is that Lantern Coutara?"
I'm guessing the teleporters are used for long-range or emergency drop operations. And the scenic route is always more fun, if less efficient. But sometimes, you need to
relax.
Alan peers at the shuttle bay as an orange light flies out to greet us.
"No, that's her daughter, Lantern Taranna. I'm a little-." A second orange shape heads after her. "And that's Lantern Yat. I'm glad he's here, actually. This will be a good learning experience for him."
Ooh, I wonder if he plans to go looking for Kal-El. I bet the latter could use something like this to pick his spirits up a little.
"Because Earth's crazy?"
"Because there aren't a lot of kryptonians left, and even fewer good sources of information on kryptonian culture. Hello!"
Divergent as it is, Daxam is still a Kryptonian colony. Let's just hope Sodam Yat is smart enough to check for environmental issues he might have
before he learns of his people's lead allergies (assuming OL didn't give him that info earlier.)
"Illustres." / "Illustres."
I take a closer look at both of them. Yat's put on a little muscle and looks a little less anxious. Taranna looks much the same, aside from one rather noticeable change.
And they're just about the right age... Wonder if there's been any
fraternisation going on amongst the Corps.
"I see you've switched to organic eyes."
She smiles, shaking her head. "No, the physicians just made me cybernetics that look more like organic eyes." She looks at Alan, taking in his blue glow. "Who is that?"
Hey, who'd go back to the old Mk. 1 eyeball when you've had bionics? After all, can regular eyes see in the dark? See through walls? Okay,
besides kryptonian eyes, that is. Seriously, there's a reason cybernetic eyes are a popular first step in cyberpunk games' upgrade paths...
"Hey there, little miss. I'm-."
I hold up my right hand. "Ah."
Ah, OL, ever the teacher. Reminding them of a little habit they've probably gotten out of around so many familiar faces.
Alan frowns, but stops talking.
"What do you do when you want to find out who someone is?"
"Ignore polite social convention and ask my power ring?"
Discreetly, please! Why make it obvious? To be honest, they should have made an initial scan well outside visual range.
"Yes. Because while I know that Alan and Jay are nice men, for all you know they're mind controlling me. Earth is a conflict zone, and you shouldn't treat it as a safe harbour."
She nods, mildly chastened. "Yes, Illustres."
Still, it is reasonably safe, if you ignore the super-science, super-powered being and... Okay, maybe it's a
good idea for off-worlders to be on guard. Especially after, again, an
alien invasion.
A large blue hand shoves me aside and Alan floats forwards.
"I'm Alan Scott, Earth's Blue Lantern."
Not quite a dope-slap, but Alan's polite like that...
"Hello, Alan Scott. I'm Taranna re'Coutara, and this is my friend Sodam Yat."
Alan nods. "Hi there."
And at this point, they should have discreetly accessed their ring's databases for information on both Alan and his ring. OL's going to have to work to get them to be properly paranoid.
"Hello."
"Paul tells me that you're kryptonian."
"Well, kinda? I'm a lot like a kryptonian inside, but I grew up on Daxam."
With one notable difference: Their bodies react poorly to Lead, rather than exotic isotopes of their ancestral birthworld. Because why have a bunch of pseudo-kryptonians running around
without balancing them via weak-sauce weaknesses and Xenophobia? Are we
sure Boss Smiley's only at work on
Earth?
"Most of the kryptonians on Earth grew up on Earth, so I doubt that you'll have any trouble on that account."
"Your mother said there was a message for me?"
Back on topic. Ah, OL. No time for social niceties when work calls, eh?
"Yes, but Clarissi Dox only told it to her."
"Rightoh. Could the two of you give Alan and Jay a tour of the ship while I go and talk to her about it?"
At least he's sensible enough to realise that the others might have different ideas on priorities...
