“So… are we just going to ignore the people trying to blow up our plane?” Andrew asked.
“My plane.” Chris corrected.
“Do you have a better plan?” Greg replied. “I mean, you remember what happened the last time we fought a cultivator, right? Didn't exactly do much.”
“Sure, but we could at least confront them about it, couldn't we?” Andrew sighed.
Greg raised an eyebrow. “And what would that accomplish?”
“Might stop them from following us.” Chris offered.
“They're following us?!?” Andrew asked incredulously.
“Not very well, but yeah.” Chris shrugged. “Did you think they would just ignore the strange flying object they can't destroy?”
“Shit!” Andrew cursed in frustration.
“Okay, buddy, you need to calm down.” Greg insisted. “There was no way we were going to avoid catching the attention of the cultivators. In fact, catching their attention is a good thing! The more people we have against us, the more they resist us, the more we can show how much we just don't care. If we prove that we can do whatever we want, no matter how much people try to stop us, then people will be that much more motivated to make sure we don't want to do anything.”
Andrew grimaced. “That- are- are we terrorists?”
“Eh?” Greg wiggled his hand at him. “I'd say fifty-fifty between that and freedom fighters. Not that there's much of a difference.”
Victoria sighed. “The problem is that we don't have the power to actually defend ourselves, so our only recourse is to create a credible threat that will prevent anyone from attacking in the first place. Establish that any action against us will force us to impose… consequences.”
“So do what we say, or we'll hurt you.” Andrew grumbled.
“It's more like here's the line. Cross it, and there will be consequences.” Victoria replied.
“But first, we must establish what the consequences are.” Greg added. “And that we do indeed have the power to impose those consequences. Otherwise they're just going to cross the line and force us to do it anyway, possibly with severe consequences. Best to avoid that and establish things now.”
Andrew shook his head. “I get it, I'm just- ugh, I'm having an internal conflict between the need to see problems solved and the need to- to not be an asshole about it, you know? It just sort of feels like we're imposing our wills on everyone, and that's- as much as we like to say we're gods, we're not- our power doesn't make us any more right than anyone else, and I don't want to see us go down a path where we think it does.”
“So what would you have us do?” Chris asked. “I agree that we're not the end all be all of righteousness, but there's no way to solve problems without enacting some form of change. We either act ourselves or give others the power to act for us, which basically results in the same thing. I'm not sure there's any way for us to act without our power pushing people to accept our will. It's simply the nature of power. The more you have, the more people listen to you. The only way to keep that from happening would be to do nothing, and that makes our existence rather pointless.”
“It isn't about not throwing our weight around, it's about making sure we only do it when absolutely necessary. When there is no other option, and the alternative is… heinous.” Victoria commented. “In this case, we have no safe means to sway the Elven King, and the result of his actions could be the destruction of the City. If we attempt to argue, then any slip could result in an unstoppable army being sent at the City, one which we would be forced to destroy, if we even could. When we already have plenty of evidence that Jer'tunal is more than willing to send this army, taking that chance would be criminal of us. I agree that we can't just enforce our morals on everyone, but I don't think we need to beat ourselves up over preventing genocide.”
Andrew sighed. “I guess not… but what about the show of force and making everyone scared of us? Doesn't that seem a step too far?”
“Depends on how we use it.” Victoria shrugged. “All this will establish is that people have to be… aware of us. It's up to us to determine what that means. Do we stop tyranny? Or is this just about the threat to the City? There's a generally accepted attitude that people can do whatever they want to their own people, but the moment you try to take it to someone else, that's when you've crossed the line. Of course, that's no one's official stance, but it's generally how things play out. Is that the stance we want to take? Or should we be policing how governments actually treat their people? Because some governments on Earth are… horrendous. But, technically, governments represent the will of the people, so we'd be saying that will is wrong if we step in.”
“There is no way in hell I'm getting involved in reforming governments.” Greg shuddered. “Just trying to convince the Damir their faux slavery is wrong is making me regret immortality.”
Victoria nodded. “So, we're only dealing with intergovernmental affairs.”
“I think we should make sure everyone has access to both my world and the system.” Chris interjected. “It would ensure that everyone is at least capable of surviving and leaving if they wish.”
Victoria nodded. “I can agree with that. As long as there are no Immortals waiting to destroy everything because it's too ‘chaotic’.” She added with a grimace.
“Of course.” Chris agreed. “Have we figured out any reliable way to actually tell yet?”
Victoria sighed. “No.”
“Though the fact that Alexander exists is probably an indication that there isn't an Immortal here.” Greg pointed out. “There's no need to create a new protagonist when one already exists, right?”
“Unless the Immortal is the one who caused Alexander.” Chris countered. “Maybe they're bored and wanted to see what happens? Or this is their method of fixing potential issues in the World. They'd be in a similar position as us, after all, too much power for their actions to be taken lightly. Why not empower a noble soul and send them at the problem? Just enough to make sure they're capable of handling the problem, but not enough that they can force the issue.”
Victoria scowled. “Fucking Immortals.”
“If that is how they operate, they might at least be one of the good ones.” Andrew commented.
Victoria paused. “Maybe… I still don't like it.”
“Okay, I know this might sound a bit… off, but should we actually care whether there's an Immortal or not?” Greg asked, holding up his hand to forestall Victoria. “I know, I know it could go badly for the World if there is an Immortal, but… wouldn't that be inevitable? We can't make any meaningful changes while hiding from an Immortal, right? And if we find out one does exist, what would we do? Focus on connecting as many people as possible to Chris's world? Wouldn't that in itself cause enough problems that the Immortal would have to take notice? At some point, no matter what we do, the changes we make will force the Immortal to act. So why not just make the changes we want to make, instead of sneaking around doing half measures, and if there are consequences, well… the consequences would have happened anyway. I mean, there was no way we would have ever accepted the monstrous races being… well, monstrous. We always would have insisted they change at some point. So why not just do it? If we're going to piss people off no matter what, we might as well just get it over with.”
“Because of the amount of people we can save.” Victoria growled. “If we take our time to set up, then we could save at least most of the people in a World. If we just go for it, we can't even do that!”
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Greg shook his head. “What would it actually take to connect most of the World to Chris's world? Do you really think that level of propagation would go unnoticed?”
“At least once it is noticed, there would already be a significant amount of people connected to his world!” Victoria retorted.
Greg waved his hand dismissively. “Sure, that's fair, but… okay, let's assume there is an Immortal, we slowly build things up, and then boom! They wipe everything out and start over. What's our next step? Try again? Slowly build things up until the next wipe, over and over and over and over and… you get my point, right? If we focus on saving as many people as possible, we'll never actually get to solving the problem! It's- it's treating symptoms, and not the disease! Yes, people will die, and that sucks, but ultimately less people will die if we just go all out and actually take out the Immortal than if we let them restart the World over and over, killing millions or even billions each time, saving less and less as they catch on to us faster and faster.”
“Except for the fact that we don't actually know how to handle an Immortal.” Chris pointed out.
“And we'll never figure it out if we never actually confront them.” Greg countered. “The only question is whether we do it now, or a dozen iterations down the line.”
Chris paused, before shrugging. “Well, that has me convinced. You guys?”
Victoria grimaced, staring at the floor in consternation. “I- I can see the logic, but- we can't just give up on saving people!”
“I'm not saying we do. We absolutely should try to keep as many people safe as possible, just not to the point that it prevents us from taking action.” Greg replied. “We can't allow the fear of people getting hurt to make us passive. And I'm not saying we should be reckless either. Even without an Immortal, we need to be careful about how we act, but ultimately, we do need to act. Otherwise we should just hide in Chris's world and never interact with anything outside it again.”
“Not the worst idea.” Chris muttered. “I could even make people for us to interact with, so we wouldn't get lonely.”
Andrew blinked. “Wow… my respect for the sanctity of life just took a hit.”
“Excuse me?” Victoria muttered incredulously.
“It just hit me that Chris can literally make billions of people with a snap of his fingers!” Andrew explained. “That- okay, I'm getting back to the fact that it's more about the lived experiences than the actual existence of a person, but when a life can be replaced that easily, it just- I dunno, it makes it seem less special. Not to the individual, obviously, but as a whole. I bet this is how Immortals turn into assholes, seeing people die and be replaced over and over… like watching a hive of ants. You don't care about the individual ants, just the hive itself. As long as it exists, you're happy, no matter how miserable any individual ant might be.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes at him for a moment. “That- is a terrifying idea. Particularly since we could so easily slip into similar mindsets.”
Greg blinked. “You mean you guys don't see people as ants?”
Chris cocked his head. “More like tools, honestly. Or NPCs.”
Greg winced. “Shit, I was joking before, but… I'm pretty sure I've used that NPC metaphor before. Legit caring about people is hard.”
“I find caring is unnecessary as long as you recognize that a person's value is directly tied to their agency. The unpredictability of individuality that allows them to innovate and twist ideas into something new and exciting.” Chris commented. “If you want something predictable, make a machine. If you want something special, use a person.” Chris paused. “For you in particular, I suppose it's summed up with ‘no people, no books’. The more people there are, the more diverse their experiences, the better stories they can create.”
Greg blinked, suddenly feeling inexplicably motivated to ensure the health and individuality of all mankind. “Huh… that does help.”
“The two of you worry me on so many levels.” Andrew sighed.
“If treating people well wasn't logical, then it wouldn't be right.” Chris shrugged. “People who rely on emotion to do so are unpredictable savages.”
“So if you decide one day that it isn't logical to treat people well?” Victoria asked.
“Then obviously my approach to people would need to adjust to the most logical path.” Chris replied. “But the idea of that happening is somewhat ludicrous because I am a person, and my goal is to treat myself well, so to say treating people well is a problem would be to say treating myself well is a problem, which is the ultimate result of what we're trying to accomplish, turning the whole thing into a farce.”
“But there are a lot of benefits in taking advantage of people.” Victoria retorted.
“In the short-term, maybe, but in the long-term you benefit most from ensuring that everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. The more people succeed, the better it is for everyone.” Chris countered.
“But-” Victoria began.
“Why the fuck are you trying to argue him out of caring about people!?!” Andrew hissed at her.
Victoria blinked, coughing awkwardly as she realized she'd gotten a little caught up in ‘winning’ the argument. “Uh, right, caring about people is good. We're good.” She paused, thinking back to what they were talking about. “So… we should just ignore the Immortals?”
Greg cocked his head. “I think that's what I was saying… I dunno, I'm pretty sure it made sense, but I've lost the thread I was following.”
“Basically Immortals can replace life over and over again, so the more time we waste trying to save people, the more people will actually get hurt.” Chris explained. “Instead we should focus on dealing with the Immortal and save people as we can in the process.”
“Right…” Victoria muttered. “I suppose the crux of this issue is how do we take over a World. Because ultimately, that's what we're going to have to do, isn't it? If the goal of a World is to pump out an Immortal, it's going to happen at some point, whether we want it to or not. The only way it isn't going to happen is if we control the Core, and… I have no idea how we could pull that off.”
“The first option is getting an Immortal that will work with us.” Greg commented. “Then we'd be free to do anything we need to do.”
Victoria's expression twisted slightly. “That's true, but I'm going to say it's probably going to be a rare case.”
“Literally two thirds of the Immortals we've met have been cooperative so far.” Greg pointed out. “Doesn't seem that rare.”
Victoria grunted noncommittally. “Still, we need a plan for when they aren't cooperative, or if the World doesn't have an Immortal.”
“It all comes down to the Core, doesn't it?” Chris replied. “We need to control it, which means either connecting it to my world, using points to manipulate it, or Andrew becoming it. Maybe Greg could dissolve it? Maybe it'd even take all four of us taking over the various aspects of the core we represent. But ultimately, what we need to do is find it, which seems like an Andrew thing. I'd check the core of the planet. Seems like a good place for it. Or the sun… or the center of the universe if we're really unlucky.”
“Which universe?” Andrew asked, slightly exasperated.
“Both? Either?” Chris shrugged. “I feel like it should be present in all of them, honestly. It's the Core of the World, the center of… everything. It'd be like if there was a part of my world I wasn't in. It makes no sense.”
“But you aren't physically in every part of your world.” Andrew pointed out.
“I am every part of my world.” Chris retorted. “This meat puppet isn't me, it just makes it easier to interact with people.”
Andrew frowned. “Okay… but that just gets back to my point that the Core is a singular thing. Your singular body can't exist in all your worlds, so why would the Core?”
Chris paused. “Fair… still, I get the feeling that it does. It just feels… right.”
“His feelings do have a tendency to work out.” Greg added.
Victoria shrugged. “He is a living world. He probably has some insight on the matter.”
Andrew sighed. “I guess. Fine, I can check out the center of the planet, but I'm not going to the sun or the center of the freaking universe.”
“Fair.” Greg chuckled. “But for now, we have a king to depose, and we should probably figure out how we're actually going to do that in the next… four hours?”
Victoria shook her head. “We really need to figure out a system for all this. We either plan too much or have no plan at all.”
Chris shrugged. “It's worked out so far.”
Andrew grimaced. “Has it?”
“Well enough.” Greg grinned. “Now, what do you guys think our entrance music should be? I'm thinking Ride of the Valkyries.”