I am taking the time to make a bit of fruit. First, just to give my people time to discuss things. Second to show Anjali that all is well, by making her mangosteen.

I return to a room looking at me. „Yes?“ I ask nobody in particular. „We talked about this a bit more.“ Anjali says. „Yes?“ I repeat myself. She answers „Well, we asked ourselves whether Marental would really have been ready to lose a familiar whose tree for some reason stood here, if a source’s security system were triggered, while he was elsewhere. We have come to the conclusion that he wouldn’t. A backup should exist.“. I answer „Good. Then we know what the team looking for switching the mana source should do first. We should drink some tea and look at the rest of the tasks before us.“

Branislava heads back to the blackboard. She hesitates but then writes down

5. We walk / use sleds / short range teleportations to get to the coast.

„Thank you for writing this down, although we all know who is most likely to die in that case. I say outright that we should return to this option only if we run out of options. Please proceed to the next option.“ I say in my most authorative voice. So much for the principle of free discussion. Branislava’s smile however is very bright as she returns to the blackboard.

6. We buy a means of transport / passage from the Dark Elves

That causes a stir. I stand up again. That is the problem if you surpress discussion once, such things bite you in the ass. „Am I right in assuming that your problem is with trading with Dark Elves, not the basics of the proposal?“ I ask.

Hildegard also stands up and says „No. I am sorry, but no. The problem would exist in any case when the people we trade with know our intent. The Dark Elves are sort of unavoidable, if we want to sell the stuff in here. That may be a problem, as Marental may have notified them over other channels and they may not show up or make no deal in order to not anger him, but it won’t be dangerous.“ „Why wouldn’t it be dangerous?“ asks Branislava. „Would you attack the people who took an Atlantean’s base away from him while they are still in that base with unknown strength and weapons?“ responds Hildegard. Branislava’s eyes widen „But if we are under their control …“. Hildegard nods. „Does anybody know a way around that basic issue?“ I ask. „We could steal a vessel or force them to give us passage.“ suggests Zewrepa. „Do we have any control over what they are doing once they start using this earth magic for travel?“ I ask. Melo responds „No, but we don’t need to. They have magic. We can torture them into giving us a binding promise not to betray us.“. That is escalating quickly. Leuma responds in an amused voice „Yes, we could do that. But it may be simpler to just pay them to give us such a promise. Especially as that takes away the reason to send a message with a warning of us to others or to come after us for revenge.“ Zewrepa is sounding a sequence of power chords before she says „Yes, that was a bit overeager. Maybe we should hear the other proposals? If one is clearly better, this question becomes moot.“. „There is only one other proposal.“ says Branislava.

7. We power a long distance mass teleportation with spikes

I hiss and remark „How would you test that? Even if we assume that the process does not suddenly turn dangerous if some limit is not respected, we don’t have an unlimited number of spikes for systematic testing. And what if half of us end up in an unknown hostile place after a jaunt that does not work quite right?“

„You are looking for a strategy without risk. You won’t find it.“ says Anjali. „There is a difference between a calculated risk and starting with three pregnant women and an infant as your test subjects.“ I retort.

Zewrepa intones a longer piece on a pentatonic scale. She finishes and speaks up „I urge calm. Do you see any way to reduce the risk inherent in using this approach?“ Anjali is honest enough to not seek any circumlocutions. „No. We could do a small number of tests with less mass and a few tests with a significantly too large mass of cargo and animals. But, indeed, the short time frame would not allow proper testing with pregnant animals.“

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Leuma remarks „Very well, can we convince Dark Elves, that either they should transport us even if Marental has told them not to or to think that Marental would not have a problem with them transporting us at the rates appropriate during Ragnarök?“. Hildegard is staring into a vista only she can see, but then simply says „We could offer them the mana source.“

That triggered almost half a minute of silence. She then defends herself „Peregrinus has a few days to study it. In terms of actual usage it is worthless, isn’t it?“ Anjali retorts „Yes, it is and that is the reason we would part with it. If we do not admit that the mana source is broken, why do we all leave? At the rates they will charge during Ragnarök? Marental did transport his people himself.“ Melo asks „So it would need to be a transport that Marental wouldn’t handle himself but would also justify selling off the stuff in this base?“. To that I answer „In the medium term this base will need to be given up in any case. The snow that will fall during the winters won’t have time to melt in the summers. These mountains will be covered in ice. At least there is a decent chance of that. And polar monsters will walk these mountains sooner or later.“. Melo shakes her head. „That is a reason to dissolve the base, but it could wait. He’d still do it himself. You’d need an urgent reason to hire somebody.“ Zewrepa turns in „The people in the village.“ Melo’s voice sounds confused „But he never would evacuate them.“ Zewrepa uses a diminished cord and says „Exactly. He’d sell them. But not himself. Not during Ragnarök. Being forced to abandon an untenable village that is a salvage sale and without people for experiments the base makes no sense. Winding down a base that is now a liability is exactly what he would send his familiars to execute.“

Leuma shakes her head „But there is still no need for paying the current rates. Why would he need to evacuate this base now? He could let the villagers die and evacuate this base next year and it would be cheaper. Selling the villagers into slavery makes sense, but only if he needs to evacuate the base immediately.“ Melo suggests „The stuff in the base?“. Anjali quickly says „But then we could not sell the stuff. We’d have to pretend that he needs it. And then we are back to step one. If he needs it, why doesn’t he come and get it? I still think that teleporting away has merit.“

I signal Branislava. She steps to the blackboard and speaks up a bit louder than usually: It looks like we are not making progress. So it looks like we better include the destinations. That has people go quiet.

She starts writing

1. The closest town on the coast

2. A major town on the coast (Ragusa / Naples / Venice / Constantinople)

3. An island

4. Far abroad (North Africa / Persia / Mauretania / India)

5. The Caspian Sea

6. Another realm

Is this just me or is this essentially a list of increasing distance? It seems that if you try office politics by scripting meetings, you better be good at it.

Zewrepa states it, though she does not do derision „The main difference about this list is the distance from us, aside from specifically the Caspian Sea. I think we can agree that if we move conventionally we’d be limited to a very close location.“

Leuma adds to that „We need to be more specific. The Exterminatus would not look kindly on any of us, except Branislava. We need to avoid at least Egypt and its allies.“. I am alarmed „What is the Exterminatus? I have a strong feeling that they are something I need to be concerned about.“ Leuma looks me directly into the eye and nods courtly „Yes, you do. The material I have is outdated by a century or so. We can do this now or delay it until after this meeting.“ I consider and ask around „Does anybody think that we’ll come to a good conclusion today or that we are in that much of a hurry that we need to go on?“