Jupiter watched the cards as they slapped down in front of her, swallowing nervously.
The nervous looking, if buxom, bookworm across the table continued to look nervous as if afraid at any moment that she would lose and be revealed to all the world as a failure. (Actually an accurate appraisal.)
Jupiter had the Queen of Spades, Three of Clubs, and the Six of Hearts. Nineteen. A good hand. One of the best she'd had.
"You can do it! You can do it! Girlz rule!" "Show those manlovers that the lesbian way of life is superior!" "Go Jupiter!"
Jupiter almost wept. Ganymede's fan club had been very vocal, but then her fanclub had responded by getting louder themselves.
The women in question had begun making and waving banners among other things. It would take a near miracle at this point to convince the world press that they were NOT as Uranus had painted them - a group of freeloving lesbians who wanted to eliminate the male gender.
Ganymede looked nervous and revealed her own cards. A Jack of Spades, and the Ten of Diamonds.
Now:
"So," said the well-known talkshow host whose real name is not mentioned here - so we'll just call him J. "You're the Governor Elect of Australia, given control of Australia, Tasmania, and other nearby areas. I don't see horns or a forked tail."
"Neither is a job requirement, fortunately," said Governor Kemp.
"I've noticed your fellow Governor hasn't had nearly the public presence you have," said J.
"He's not that comfortable with the job and has been looking at candidates to turn the whole thing over to," indicated the Governor.
"Well, I'd imagine there are some perks going with that," said J. "Absolute ruler of a large area has to be better than head cook at the local diner."
"Yes, but you typically aren't burned in effigy or targetted by foreign assassins if you work at the local diner ," pointed out the Governor. "Unless you're in the Middle East of course."
"Well, heck, in some areas there just washing dishes should carry hazard pay," agreed J.
"True, but that's part of the African continent so it's the Senshi's problem now. Yeah, there are some benefits. Complete restoration of health, relative luxury, you have an almost completely free hand in developing your territory and can indulge in some personal projects like the Spaceport I've had built."
J nodded. "So, what's it like - working for an alien would-be conquerer?"
"Mostly boring administrative work, which is another reason to put in those exciting projects. Like the monorail system across Australia."
"Why is that exciting? It doesn't seem that different from stuff that we could do without alien technology," pointed out J.
"That's because it is done without alien technology," proclaimed Governor Kemp. "The laying of track and tunnelling out, and all that - yes we used alien technology for that and parts fabrication. However the train, rails, and all the systems that keep it running - purely terrestrial but state of the art technologies. Whenever possible our techies familiarize themselves with the 'white box' levels of technology involved. If Kachoo loses that final fight, and we think that's a good chance, then there's a distinct possibility all the 'black box' technology will cease to function."
"Kachoo might lose?" J looked astonished. "I thought he was a near omnipotent alien?"
"He is, but apparently he plays by rules if he understands them. Having set this all up, if he loses the final contest - which I understand he's already talked to the Senshi and set up as a game of baseball - then he leaves. Earth is spared an alien dictator and we can all go back to blowing each other up and the usual political scandals."
"Wait a minute, there's something about this," J held his hand up. "He made this agreement and if he loses he's leaving as promised?"
"Yes," said the Governor. "Kachoo is an alien being but he apparently does value traits such as honesty."
"An honest and promise-keeping politician," said J, looking into the camera. "It's official. He has to be an alien."
"Ah, they're down to the final hand," said the Governor. He understood that Mercury had wanted tape delay used. Just in case Uranus-san or one of the others said something she wanted edited. "Poor Jupiter-san."
"Because she lost? She'll do better next time, though losing your homeland has to hurt," said J.
"No. That's not quite it. Actually I've met the Senshi and have a fair amount of respect for them, despite that they're underage and trying to defend the world while wearing fairly ridiculous cheerleader costumes." Governor Kemp thought for a moment. It didn't hurt to flatter your opponents just in case the alien did leave after the end of these contests. "I can see why Kachoo holds them in high regard though I think luck factors heavily into their previous victories."
"Despite being a manhating lesbian," said J. "Frankly it sounds as if we males have a better chance of survival if the alien wins."
"That may well be," admitted the Governor. "Except that Jupiter is neither a manhater nor lesbian from what I've observed."
"She's not?!" exclaimed J. "But that Sailor Uranus said..."
"Sailor Uranus is, so is Sailor Neptune," said Governor Kemp. "While they were touring the changes I'm putting into place in Australia I was able to keep an eye on them. Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus were checking out guys at nearly every site we visited. Mars and Moon would stare at the more attractive individuals of either gender, while Uranus and Neptune checked out women only and several of the male guards could actually feel the hostility from those two - or at least reported it."
"So it's not just one big happy Sailor family," guessed J. "I see. So what about if the alien does leave? Exit strategies?"
"The previous government will take over. All the 'black boxes' will probably fuse immediately, any technology given us would suddenly stop working. I will quietly vanish and I'm not giving details." Governor Kemp leaned back. "I'd suggest digging foxholes otherwise. There will be some tech which will remain in place of course - the space elevator and borehole in Australia, the slingshot spacerail and geopressure reactor in Germany. Things like that. What will happen when the remnants of this technology remains - never mind the threat of other aliens that might be sitting off the solar plane right now waiting for their chance to invade. What will other Earthly nations do to 'unfair' amounts of potential wealth in the countries that have them?"
"You think they'll make an attempt to grab them?"
The Governor nodded. "Every country acts in the interest of themselves. Countries - like people - tend to be self-centered. They couldn't survive long otherwise. There's a very real chance of a new world war erupting if Kachoo leaves and these other aliens don't attack. If they do attack we may be spared the world war only because our only chance of survival is cooperation."
"Pretty bleak future, or is that in the alien's interests?"
Governor Kemp shrugged. "Mainly what the nearly omnipotent alien hanging overhead does is send me a message saying something like 'When you've got a moment - there's a problem with the deforestation in Tasmania.' At which point I gather the information, check with my resources, and try to find a solution for it. For example with the deforestation, I instituted a policy of environmentally friendly logging - that way the trees are thinned and the underbrush cleared but you don't have the area getting denuded of trees. There's also some reforestation going on, of course. It's just that is a more longterm project."
"What about dinosaurs?" J asked. "I've heard something about a Dinosaur Park like the Creighton novels?"
"First I've heard about it," confessed the Governor.
"Ah, I've just received word that the Senshi are being moved to their Antarctica base," said J.
"Well, it's better than moving them to the Mid-East. Cho, can you cue up a picture of the Fortress Of Solitude?"
The Governor's attache/girlbot Friday nodded offstage and fed data into the display system.
J blinked. "Fortress of Solitude?"
"No relation," admitted the Governor. "I was curious and had one of my androids try to get info. Antarctica isn't that far from the Southern coast you know."
The pictures came up. J stared. "That's..."
"I know," said the Governor. "It's a fortress. The town below was built by refugees from Germany and Australia who didn't hold with the idea of Alien Overlords. A lot of Americans are apparently on their way."
"It's not that," said J. "It's just that it looks like:"
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(Posted Sat, 27 Sep 2003 13:48)
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