December 1, 1562, New Imperial Calendar. Imperial Palace.

Hiro entered Kaede’s room, he saw Kaede, in a night-dress and diaper, standing in his crib. Hiro raced over to him.

Kaede lifted his arms and said, “Father.”

Hiro immediately picked up Kaede and ran out of the room to the knights outside, a broad smile on his face. “Has the Emperor left yet?” Hiro asked them.

“Operator, what is the status on Green Dragon?” The first Knight asked.

“Green Dragon is in the top of the Tower,” the operator in the palace security room replied in her ear, the Knight then repeated that to Hiro.

Hiro headed down the hall, and he carried Kaede, followed by the knights. “Delay him, but don’t tell him why. I want to surprise him. I know you must call ahead, but please only inform him my intent is to see him off?” Hiro asked.

“Yes, Prince Hiro,” the first Knight replied. “But you have a car waiting to take you to the airport for a flight to the New-Ghana Space Centre.”

“Cancel the car and give my seat to someone else. If necessary, I can ride in one of the company’s cargo flights out of New-Singapore,” Hiro replied.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the first Knight said.

Hiro went down the hall to the central shaft. He placed his hand on the scanner above the lift button, then pressed up. Soon one arrived, and they entered it. The Knight whispered into her microphone as they went up three floors, to the top of the tower. As they rode the lift, a camera in the ceiling zoomed in on each of them, in the security centre an operator spoke to one of the knights outside the kitchen on the top floor.

Emperor Takahiro had a large residence top floor of the two-kilometre tall tower; it occupied five floors, the first three were mostly bedrooms for the Empower, his security detail and companions, six female Dwarfs. Above that was the flight deck with three hangars. On fifth was a three-story high dome. It had dining tables around the two-story shaft. Stairs around shaft lead to its roof. The dome was made from a plastic able to transition from transparent to white.

The residence of the Emperor had marble floors. Inside the central column was a pair of large red iron doors with the symbol of House Hashimoto above the metal ring knockers. Beside the doors is a security desk. When the lift opened, Hiro saw the two knights already standing. They bowed as the doors to the residence opened. He looked at the first Knight with him.

“Prince Hiro, your father, is in his kitchen,” one of the knights at the desk said.

Hiro left the central column, via the iron doors, into the large foyer. He headed to the door on the north side. The two knights that were him waited inside the central shaft. The iron doors closed fast and loud behind Hiro and Kaede. The metal bolts inside the door slid into their slots with a loud clang.

Hiro entered the kitchen. His father was in a house robe eating a bowl of ramen. A Japanese Dwarf, Masahiko, in a black, short, maid uniform with white lace trim, with a large frilly white apron, stood beside him. “Son, you know I am heading to Shanghai soon and the Night Owl is preparing to depart,” Takahiro said.

“Yes father, but I have something more important to show you,” Hiro said as he placed Kaede on the floor.

“I have already seen him trying to stand. I know how proud you are of Kaede, now you know how I feel about you,” Takahiro said smiling. He handed the empty bowl to Masahiko and stood, she went to the sink and washed the bowl. Takahiro came out from behind the breakfast table in the middle of the kitchen and stood in front of Kaede. He leant over and held his hands out to Kaede.

Kaede stood and held up his hands. Takahiro, surprised, stood erect and took a step back. He pulled out of his sleeve a long thin bamboo Wand, and it had a walnut sized bulb on its end and an image of a Green Dragon on the side. He pointed it at Kaede.

Takahiro looked at Hiro, “I am not using magic,” Hiro said.

“You are right. I see Kaede is standing on his own. I detect no magic, not even residue.”

“Just before I came to see you, I saw him stand, and he spoke his first word.”

Takahiro returned his wand to its pocket inside his sleeve and lifted Kaede, “Come with me, we will hold a press conference before we board my flight to New-Shanghai.”

“What about your business?”

“I already know what the research director will say. He will tell me how they have not found a way to reduce the size, increase power output or increase the efficiency of a fusion reactor. He will then ask me for more funds and more time. I have already decided to keep the facility open. What about your flight?”

“I already gave up my seat on the shuttle leaving The New-Ghana Space Centre. I can take a supply shuttle from The New-Singapore Space Centre, and the ship can send a shuttle to collect me from a space station.”

“You can come with me to the airport. I want you to show Kaede off to the media. You can then fly with me to New-Shanghai. I will talk to Viktor and explain why you are not racing to your ship and I will have a hyper-jet get you to New-Singapore.”

“Thank you, father.”

“Son, have your bag and spacesuit brought up.” Takahiro turns to Masahiko. "Masako, send for the púca carrier, then notify my transport we are bringing Hiro and Kaede with us."

“Yes Emperor,” Masako said and left.

Hiro came close to Takahiro. “Is she a full-time employee now, father?”

“Yes."

“Are you going to object if Freya stays in my room while I am on deployment?”

“No, just remember what I told you."

“Father, nappy,” Kaede said. He was wiggling and holding his arms out toward Hiro.

Takahiro was startled. He looked at Kaede then inspected his diaper, “Not only does he speak, but he also recognises you and knows his diaper needs changing,” Takahiro said.

“I can hear Dain now, he must be two years old,” Hiro said.

“I told you to ignore him, son. I have put up with his petty jealousy for centuries. The price of our freedom is not just lives lost fighting our enemies, but the home front must battle against the fools who abuse the very freedom we fight to protect,” Takahiro said.

“Dain is no fool. He knows his supporters will believe him and help him erode our market share,” Hiro said.

“Son, pay no attention to Dain. Let me deal with his rumours and insults. I dared anyone to prove he is not three months old; we have surrogacy contract with Blood-Witches witnessed by Patya, and you have a license to have a púca from the Blood-Witches. We have his DNA report stating he is a pure-blood and confirmation you are his father,” Takahiro said.

“I want to be the one to protect him from politics,” Hiro said.

“You can express your desire to do your best to shield your son from malicious gossip from fools and bullies who go so low as to attack a púca for attention. Showing the Empire Kaede walking and talking will take the cameras off Dain,” Takahiro said.

Hiro brought Kaede to the east door of the kitchen, followed by a Knight with the púca bag, they go to the mother’s room between the toilets. Hiro removed the soiled diaper and placed it in a disposal bag, but when he tried to put a new diaper on him, Kaede squirmed and kept moving his legs away from it.

“No,” Kaede said.

“Son, you need to wear a diaper,” Hiro said.

“No,” Kaede said.

“I am your father, and you will do as I say,” Hiro said.

Takahiro behind him laughed. “Son, remember the time you were thirteen and obsessed with getting a motorbike?” Takahiro asked.

“You refused to buy me one, so I saved my allowance and bought one,” Hiro replied.

“The next day you broke your arm in three places trying to jump over the swimming pool,” Takahiro said.

“The following year I won the dirt-bike championship,” Hiro said.

“Milk,” Kaede said holding out his hands to the Knight with the púca bag.

Hiro held the diaper up and said, “Diaper.”

Kaede looked at Hiro, then he stopped moving his legs and held them out. Kaede watched Hiro put a diaper on him; once the diaper was on, Hiro handed Kaede to the Knight, who bottle-fed Kaede. Kaede started working the tabs on the diaper.

They took the lift up one floor to the flight deck, Kaede undid his diaper and tossed it off as they left the lift. The Knight turned, but the doors closed.

They entered Hangar One. Inside each hangar was a luxurious thirty passenger helicopter. In Hangars Two and Three, knights and staff boarded a helicopter. Each had the symbol of the Empire on the tail and the symbol of House Hashimoto on the sides. A pair of Sky-Force Officers piloted each craft.

A Knight put a new diaper on Kaede and then dressed him in a púca suit. The Knight placed him in a púca carrier and strapped that into a seat beside Hiro, who watched Kaede squirmed trying to see out the window.

The outer door to the hangar lowered onto arms that extended from the tower to form a deck. Kaede giggled with excitement as the helicopter started its engines at the same time as the inner shutter rolled up. The powerful turbine engines roared to full power as it rolled out onto the deck and the helicopter took off.

One by one, the three helicopters took off. Once there was sufficient clearance, the roller doors lowered, as the outer doors raised, and the arms retracted. Each craft circled the two-kilometre tall tower until all three were airborne, they formed a ‘V” formation and headed east.

The three helicopters swapped places in the formation until they landed at the 100,000-ha civilian airport, 50 kilometres from the eastern shore of Imperial Lake. It was south of the Imperial Command and Imperial Office buildings, separated by the Eastern Highway. The parking lot had a transit tower between the ramps to and from the highway.

Behind the wide five-story entrance were five terminals. The first three connected directly to each other by two concourses with both a walkway and light rail inside. The first, second, and third were public passenger terminals. Each had three small helipads on the roof. The fourth terminal to the west was a cargo terminal. It had one large helipad on the west side. To the east was the fifth terminal, it was only for VIPs. It had three helipads on top.

There were six runways south of the terminals, five of them were traditional flat concrete with blast shields at one end. Four were 4,000-metres long, and the fifth was 6,000-meters long. The six and the furthest runway from the terminals was a 1,000-metre-long electromagnetic aircraft launch system.

Waiting at the fifth terminal is a huge suborbital, it was red with a Green Dragon painted on the both sides of the nose under the cockpit. It had the symbol of the Empire on the wings, and the symbol of House Hashimoto on its tail.

Inside the fifth terminal at the departure lounge, a group of reporters watched the helicopters land on large screens. Inside the helicopters, the passengers waited after landing for the ground crew to secure the rotor blades. The Knights were the first to depart, followed by Takahiro then Hiro carrying Kaede, Masako and the staff came out last.

When the group came down the escalator from the roof Takahiro in the lead, waved to the reporters, who watched from behind a group of House guards at the bottom.

“Hiro, wait in the lounge, they expect me,” Takahiro said.

Hiro with Kaede, the staff and Masako went past the reporters into the departure lounge, while Takahiro gave a press conference.

A Knight placed a small blanket on the floor; then Hiro placed Kaede on it. Kaede stood, ripped off his púca suit and his diaper, then he ran naked to a female Knight, who was carrying the púca bag. He stood before her with his arms up, “Milk,” he said.

One of the camera crew was filming Kaede. The others pushed past each other in a rush to get Kaede on camera. Czar Petrov arrived to see Hiro and knights as they tried to capture Kaede.

In the first floor of the seven-story palace around the base of the tower, Dain was watching the interview with Emperor Takahiro at the Imperial Airport. Dain was drinking apple juice. Dain spat out his juice when on screen was Hiro, with a diaper in hand as he chased Kaede around the VIP Lounge.

“No way he is three months old!” Dain exclaimed.

A group of knights headed off Kaede, as Emperor Takahiro and Czar Petrov, watched on and laughed at them. Kaede stood facing the Knights, as they advanced on him. He turned to see more knights behind him, with Hiro in the middle; he was holding a diaper. “No!” Kaede said.

“High Lord Dain, care to comment on the fuel program?” a reporter asked. Dain turned to see a female flower Elf reporter with a camera crew. He walked away. She turned to Maharajah Desai behind her smiling and asked, “Do you have any comments, Maharajah Desai?”

“Yes,” Maharajah Arjuna Desai replied and smiled. “Alcyone Three is one of many worlds with little to none oil or gas deposits. We have relied on plant oils for centuries to produce various hydrocarbons. However, to meet growing demand as natural deposits dwindle, the Empire needs a new program. I believe we have in place the right programs to meet demand for hydrocarbons and maintain our high air quality.”

“Maharajah Desai, what to have to say about High Lord Dain comments on Prince Kaede’s age?” the reporter asked.

“Dain is entitled to his opinion; The Charter of Rights and Responsibilities guarantees freedom of speech. I remind everyone that the first six floors of the palace are public space and in public. Lords should choose their words with great care. I believe his accusations to be false. He has raised his doubts before, and the Emperor already responded to him, he needs to move on,” Arjuna replied.

“So, you are not of the opinion Prince Kaede is older than the official statement?” the reporter asked.

“We Night Elves believe that life starts from the moment of conception; as do Flower and Forest Elves. To us, Kaede is two years and three months old; we include the two years of an Elven pregnancy. I see no reason why the Blood-Witches, the Emperor or so many others would lie. I believe the Prince was born three months ago; We Elves are exceptional in longevity, health, and intellect. We have seen extraordinary púca before, just not this young,” Arjuna replied.

Stolen story; please report.

Inside the suborbital, Hiro placed Kaede inside a púca sized capsule with clear lid. Crew strapped him in and sealed it. The capsule was strapped tight to a seat, and then the air supply was connected. Hiro wore a light-weight spacesuit and sat beside him.

Once everyone was aboard and strapped in the sub-orbital craft was towed to the sixth runway. Once it was in position on the electromagnetic rail, the pilot and co-pilot waited for the crew to perform the final safety check. Once completed, the external shutters on all windows, including the cockpit, were lowered.

Behind the sub-orbital craft, the blast shield raised. The tower gave clearance to launch to the pilot. He brought the engines to full power and the co-pilot activated the electromagnetic rail. In seconds the almost wingless, wedge-shaped craft was in the air and nosed up. It was near vertical as it pierced the clouds. It continued to accelerate and rose until the sky turned from blue to black. Then as it levelled out, the pilot cut the engines. They were weightless and the external shutters opened.

Kaede looked out the window, he saw the stars and reached out with his hands. Hiro released Kaede’s capsule from the seat and held it to the window. For twenty minutes, they were in zero gravity. Then the exterior window shutters were closed, and the plane descended.

Hiro carried an excited Kaede on his shoulder as they left the plane. While they did, outside Blood-Tower a group of old Blood-Witches held a press conference to confirm Kaede’s age and condemn any challenge to their integrity. The video of Kaede naked running around the VIP lounge had gone viral. Dain received many angry calls.

A humiliated Dain issued a retraction in a phone interview. He said, “I was referring to the belief by some that life begins are conception.”

An hour later, he was again under fire, this time from his clan and supporters who believed in life at birth. Dain appeared on a late-night talk show on the Dain Network.

“I received unfair criticism today. I want to be clear about Prince Kaede’s age. I do not doubt the Blood-Witches. I made observations about how advanced Kaede is,” Dain said.

As Dain left the studio, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, then answered the call. “Yes Abel?” he asked.

“Do you need help removing your foot from your mouth?” she asked in reply.

“You are hysterical,” Dain replied.

“Again, the Emperor has poked you in the eye. You should have expected him to have reporters from the Hashimoto New Network to follow you around in court. You only have yourself to blame. Questioning the integrity of the Blood-Witches to get at Takahiro was a bonehead move,” Abel said.

“Reporters should not be in court. It is not dignified,” Dain said.

“For a thousand years, the public has had the right to be in court, and that includes the media. If you want privacy, then go to the seventh floor. Oh right. When the Emperor is not in court, his staff close the throne level. Well, you can always go hide in your office,” Abel laughed.

“Did you call me just for your amusement?” Dain asked.

“You are three points down in the polls,” Abel replied.

“You could not wait for me to return home to tell me?” Dain asked.

“True, but since you did not go with the Emperor to represent Dain Corporation, despite the fact we own the carbon processing plant that supplies Petrov Oil’s plant. I have gone in your place; my flight will soon descend into New-Vladivostok. If you want to know what happened to those three points you lost, they went to the Emperor,” Abel replied.

She ended the call.

As Abel’s plane descended, Dain entered his mansion, and he found Abelard waiting outside his office.

“Father, Abel left a few hours ago and didn’t say where she was going,” Abelard said, standing.

“Relax Abelard, she called me,” Dain said, unlocking the door to his office. He turned to his son. “I told you to put a tracker in her car and have a team follow her with drones.”

“She drove to Camp Bravo, I am not sure how she knew, but when Aunt Abel stopped, she stood at the gate and looked back in the direction of the drone, then it went offline. The car following her remained on the highway, but a road block with knights was waiting for them. After entering the base, she said some rather insulting things about you, then the bug inside her car went silent,” Abelard said.

“So, I take you want me to call General Feygold to have him release my own House Guards from detention?” Dain asked entering his office.

“Lady Toshiko has your guards; she sentenced them kitchen duty for thirty days for being out of uniform. Also, she billed you for cleaning Abel’s car, and the ammunition used to shoot down the drone. She also issued you a fine for the drone being in restricted airspace,” Abelard said following his father in.

“One of these days I will hit that witch,” Dain said, offering Abelard a chair at his desk.

“Is that before or after you invent your magic, Quantum computers, shields, deflectors, ultra-drive, ion-gravity drive, gravity beam and hundreds of other products we licence from the Lilith Foundation, of which she is CEO,” Abelard said as he sat.

“They belong to me. My mother invented magic and built the first spacecraft, I was there. Toshiko was just her assistant,” Dain declared. He poured two brandies, handed on to Abelard and sat on the other side of the desk.

“Father, why must I remind you that your mother was-” Abelard said.

“Watch yourself, son,” Dain interrupted.

“-Tragically lost in an accident and she left the rights to all her inventions to Lady Toshiko,” Abelard continued.

“I am Lilith’s son,” Dain declared, charged with emotion, he stood and walked to the fireplace. He took out a long thin chocolate coated cigar from inside his jacket, “Toshiko has no right to charge me a licence fee to make technology designed by my own mother.” He took his wand out, lit the cigar with a flame, and then holstered it.

“I am sure the Emperor will gladly let you get in the ring with Lady Toshiko today if you like. She is an active Knight, and it has been a long time since you were in active service. Any public feud with her would lose you more support, the public loves her,” Abelard stated. Dain stared at empty fireplace without responding. “Shall I renew your gym membership?” Abelard pressed.

“What? No, I will not give Takahiro the satisfaction. He has been smug ever since The First Ice War. He sat nice and cosy in his mountain fortress for centuries, then he spends five minutes on the front lines, and to everyone, he’s the hero,” Dain said looking at Abelard.

“That is because he tamed the Dragons. After all this time, he still has them still wrapped around his little finger,” Abelard argued.

“Yes, because he gave them eight large, tropical worlds. There are vital resources locked away just so Dragons can frolic in the meadows,” Dain responded.

“The Dragon treaty granted them the same rights as other higher life forms, which enabled us to defeat the Giants, Ogres and Titans, ending the Third Ice War. He saved millions of lives,” Abelard said.

“What victory, he first retreats to Mars, then after the fall of Tir Na Nog he took over and followed the founders into space instead of retaking Terra,” Dain said.

“Why are you so obsessed with ruling one over-crowded planet that freezes over every twenty thousand years? The last one lasted over one hundred thousand years. Do you forget we have 114 star systems, with terraforming on ten worlds underway?” Abelard asked hoping for an answer. Instead, Dain smoked until the last question.

“Why? Because it is our home, that is why. I did not object to sending the Dwarves, Giants, Orcs, Titans, Goblins or Dragons away, nor to establishing an Interstellar Empire. No, my objection is to leaving our home to ungrateful half-Dwarf, half-Giant barbarians,” Dain said.

“Father, must we always have this discussion? Terra is an old world, look at how quickly Mars decayed without constant attention. We are immortals. Thus, we will live to see the day when Sol expands and engulfs Terra and all the other planets. Leaving Terra was inevitable,” Abelard said.

Dain turned to face Abelard, leant over, his hands on the armrests and his face right up to Abelard's. “Yes, that is why we should have mined Terra, Mars, and the other planets of everything, not leave behind tens of billions of tonnes of carbon, iron, methane, gold, oil, uranium and other resources. We should have left those ungrateful barbarians a husk, we saved those mud-hut dwellers from the ice and floods, only to have them repay us with rape and war,” Dain said. He went and sat in his chair.

“Then one day we will return, with you as our king, father,” Abelard declared standing, he looked at Dain’s smile. “Don’t forget to include a defence plan. The Ogres with their Orc, Goblin, Titan, Oni, Troll and Black Giant allies will attack us for violating the Dragon Treaty.”

Dain walked to the door and stopped in the doorway, “Abelard, you know these discussions help me think. But if I wanted the Emperor’s advice, I would call Abel. Come, we have work to do,” Dain said.

“Father, was it you who leaked the information about the Stem Cell Program?” Abelard inquired. Dain walked out without answering. Abelard got up and followed Dain to the kitchen.

In New-Vladivostok, Emperor Takahiro was on a tour of the massive oil plant with Czar Petrov, a group of knights, house Guards from two houses and engineers from technical services, Petrov Oil, Hashimoto Resources and Dain Minerals.

“This is where the powdered carbon, dissolved in distilled water, is pressure cooked in hydrogen. Each tank produces a different product. If you like a detailed explanation of the chemical process to produce different hydrocarbons, ask the engineers,” Patya said.

There were four groups of engineers. The first group with Patya from ‘Petrov Oil’. The second group with Takahiro from ‘Hashimoto Resources’. The third team from ‘Dain Minerals’. The fourth group had ranks on their collar and were engineers with Technical Services, a department of the Imperial Security Agency.

Abel arrived and stood in front of the engineers from Dain Minerals. “Emperor, Czar, sorry I am late, had to hitch on a cargo flight from Camp Bravo when I found out my brother was unable to attend. I have read the reports on the carbon dioxide extractors. I read the new regulations, and they require a higher daily target meet on how much carbon dioxide they must scrub and inject as carbon into the process,” Abel said.

“Yes, the Ministry of the Environment sets those targets,” Patya responded.

“Nice to see you, Lady Abel. We already toured your carbon processing plant; I am impressed. Your engineers assured me your facility is capable of meeting the new targets,” Takahiro stated.

“Of course, it can, the plant is state of the art; it can process timber, coal, as well as carbon dioxide and produce pure graphite in solution. It can crush asteroids and separate out diamonds and Lonsdaleite,” Abel affirmed.

“This is a crucial project. This project is not just to reduce our dependence on hauling liquid crude from other worlds. It is to avoid an Empire-wide fuel crisis,” Takahiro declared.

“I know how important this plant is. I am sad to report we are a month behind on building spaceships designed to collect carbon dust with a modified fuel scoop,” Abel said.

“We cannot comprise on quality, all spacecraft must use the best technology, be made with the best materials, to the highest standard and construction itself must be as safe as possible,” Takahiro asserted.

“My Emperor, I am not my little brother, I am not suggesting that you to reduce any standards; I am saying we need to increase industrial output and have more space docks building ships,” Abel responded.

“Yes, Lady Abel, I know you are not your brother. I am glad you and he are not here at the same time, for he would start arguing with you over who is the older twin. Patya’s planning team took delays into consideration. We are all aware of the shortage of engineers. I have already spoken with Árni about increased training. I know your brother would rather see more immediate results by increasing the work day from six to eight hours but keep the working week six days long and no pay increase. He has called for a reduction in the number of inspections during construction, reduced hull thickness and a dozen other measures he calls cost-cutting. I fear he would have existing ships fly longer between maintenance checks,” Takahiro announced.

“Dain would reduce the number of holidays to just Yule and then reduce Yule to one day,” Abel said.

“We had too many deaths this year in the construction industry, not just in starship construction. We must work harder to reduce this. As head of the Inquisition, I have held many inquiries into workplace deaths; we must not sacrifice safety to meet demand. Let us not forget that six workers died while building this plant. I am sure Dain is not here because of that,” Patya said.

“Dain’s response is well known, increase robotics,” Abel said.

“Robotics has a significant level of opposition, my inquiry into robots learnt a great deal. Many worker’s groups showed me how it would cost far more jobs than will be created because robots will build and eventually repair robots,” Patya stated.

“Yes, look what happened when we increased the level of robotics in manufacturing, clothing, automotive and consumer products. Unemployment rose, and we are still struggling a century later with the unemployment that created. The cost of retraining so many workers to re-enter the workforce in the food, service, construction and agriculture industries has cost the Empire more than the revenue increase,” Takahiro said.

“Emperor, I am aware of the problem the Empire has with unemployment, we are unable to find a way to reduce the cost of relocating the unemployed from cities to small towns, they are used to the services in a city,” Abel said.

“Yes, it will take all ministries, not just the Ministry of Business, Finance, and Economics to get many people to see the lack of services in a town is an opportunity for small business,” Takahiro said.

“Alcyone Two has a shortage of farm labour, and Alcyone Four has many vacancies in factories, but their youth would rather come here hoping to become lawyers or accountants,” Patya said.

“We can discuss methods of getting people to return to those worlds without force tonight,” Takahiro said to Abel.

“I shall. I need something to tell my brother so he can present it to the Senate. Of course, if it succeeds it is his idea and mine when it fails,” Abel said. She stopped and looked at the large tank in front of them. “Rather large for filtration, isn’t it?”

“We have already inspected the second stage filtration process. This tank is the main hydrocarbon pressure cooker,” Patya replied.

“I see," Abel said. She pulled her tablet out of her back looked at it, then raced over to Takahiro. "Emperor, do you still plan on sending the crude to New-Singapore for processing and distribution?” Abel asked as Takahiro examined the maze of pipes overhead that connected the various tanks.

“Until we have more of these plants operating. This facility already provides fuel to the local market and natural gas to the pipeline to New-Moscow. Once we increase production, we supply the gas pipeline to New-Beijing. A third pipeline is planned to New-North Pyongan, once the plant goes to full production,” Takahiro said.

“I don’t recall seeing a fuel quality report, how does the fuel compare to other fuels?” Abel inquired.

“It is high quality, as good as natural or biomass fuel; I can provide you with a copy of the report,” Patya said.

“I am not against biomass, alcohol or plant oil fuel or electric cars. Chief Belaúnde is producing fuel from sugar and biomass, but his solution has only met 20% of the demand for small vehicle fuel,” Takahiro said.

“Once this plant is operating at full capacity, it will produce 1,500,000 barrels of oil a day. We need to build eighty of these plants to meet global demand, more if any sugar or biomass fuel plants close,” Patya said.

“Abel, carbon and sulphur space mining is short term. Once the plant is fully operational, in twenty years, we will have atmospheric extractors globally to capture sulphur and carbon dioxide,” Takahiro said.

“Good. What about those who worry about the environment?” Abel asked.

“Yaotl assured me if we keep the global level of sulphur and carbon dioxide well below dangerous and the air quality is good, then he will not shut down the plant. I have already increased the size of all my kelp farms,” Takahiro said.

“If only he let us reduce the size of the Sahara Desert with tree farms,” Patya said.

“The environment is his portfolio; Mine is treasury and internal trade, Dain had agriculture, and you have Business, Finance and Economics. Not that you cannot suggest, but you know as well as I do, that he will tell you even a desert has its place,” Takahiro said.

Patya stopped, “Lady Abel, my apologies, do you need my engineers to explain to you these high-pressure tanks?” Patya asked Abel.

“The pipes deliver pure carbon in the form of fine graphite dissolved in purified water from your desalination plant. The tanks first heat the carbon; steam is collected and recycled; then the carbon is super-heated under extreme pressure with hydrogen,” Abel said.

“Correct, then it is filtered to remove any carbon and hydrogen gas, returning them to the boiler. We have many tanks, to simultaneously produce various hydrocarbons, depending on heat and hydrogen levels. Last some products have sulphur, and other chemicals added,” Patya said.

“I understand the process, and the product is good. I know you are running the plant at low power. The decision today is to bring the plant to half power, but the plastics recycling plant is behind schedule,” Abel said, “Patya, I would like to know the why did you reduce the sulphur content?”

“That is one of the legal requirements from Yaotl to reduce acid rain,” Patya replied.

“I am aware low sulphur diesel fuel is the cause of engine damage in older engines. Dain was in Senate when we voted to approve Yaotl’s changes to the Clean Air Act,” Takahiro said.

“My brother feels these regulations target him,” Abel said.

“Yaotl is targeting pollution; he does plan to increase the number of electric vehicles produced and have cities improve public transport. Your brother has no excuses; he was present when Yaotl tabled his plan to fight pollution,” Takahiro said.

“Dain feels his regulations are targeting his new four-wheel drive,” Abel said.

“Lady Abel, I did not appoint Yaotl as the Environment Minister, he chose to be when Dain was our ruler. Nor did I demand him to find fault with everything, he does that on his own. Dain has known Yaotl for over 15,000 years, he should be aware by now Yaotl’s level of commitment to the Environment, and these laws should not be a surprise to him,” Takahiro said.

“You should have designed it to the new standards,” Patya said.

“I didn’t design the Stag, Dain did,” Abel said.

“Then he should have had you design it, the last good car made by Dain Automotive was the Model 101,” Takahiro said.

“I agree with you, but Dain ceased production of the Model 101, and I have not designed any vehicles since,” Abel said.

“We can discuss this back at the hotel tonight,” Patya said.

“Yes, when do we start construction of the second plant?” Abel asked.

“Arjuna wants it in New-India and Takis wants it in New-Alexandria. Naturally, Yaotl prefers we build more sugar ethanol fuel refineries, like those he built in Amazonia,” Petrov said.

“Yaotl knows we cannot sacrifice any more peanut oil, sugar, soy or corn, to produce fuel,” Abel said.

“If Takis and Arjuna do not budge, then we have them fight each other to see who gets the next plant. As Emperor, it will be my duty to host and referee,” Takahiro said.

“You mean you will make sure they don’t kill each other,” Abel said.

“That too,” Takahiro said.

They all laughed.

Late at night, in the hotel room of Emperor Takahiro; he was sitting, with a gō of sake, by the fireplace with Czar Petrov, who was drinking vodka. In front of them was a drinks trolley with Sake, Vodka and a decanter of Germanic Raspberry Brandy on top with a tray of snacks, under was a púca bag with a diaper beside it.

Prince Kaede was on a rug, in a nightdress without a diaper. He was playing with a puzzle cube. Abel before entering removed her large handgun from under her jacket and handed it to the Knight on guard outside the room.

“You know what my brother is still angry he was deposed and given Agriculture. I am sure you know he plans to create and have you run the department of waste management when he took over,” Abel said, she sat on the rug, she took the cube and showed Kaede how it is solved, then she scrambled it and handed it to him.

“He had made no secret of his desire to take back the crown,” Takahiro said.

“Abel, you and Dain are my dear friends, but when he lost Tir Na Nog by refusing to destroy the invading Celts at sea. We still do not know how he made the dead walk, but his actions caused the Exodus from Terra to Mars, we ended rule by a single noble,” Patya said.

“I don’t fault you for bringing him back to life Abel, but he lost the sword of light, the ball of power and the mirror of far-talking. We still unable to replace them,” Takahiro said.

“I cannot tell you what he was thinking then. He is not happy to this day that I carried his lifeless body to a cauldron of everlasting and that the blood witches returned him to me using rebirth. He doesn’t believe me that resurrection failed three times, and I am sure he is angry at me because I raised him as a púca. I believe this is second to his anger at the Emperor for saving us from the humiliation of been forced to live underground. I am angry at Dain; his peace deal with the Celts had our females forced to mate with them,” Abel said.

“I noticed you handed in your weapon. There is no need. You are trusted to remain armed in my presence,” Takahiro said.

“True Emperor, but I wanted to play with the púca,” Abel said.

They all looked at Kaede; he was standing, cheering loudly and holding up the solved puzzle cube.