SOSPITAS

ARTEMIS

“Mister Butler, are you all right?”

Artemis sighed and waved the lab tech off as he climbed out of the toy box. The machine had cut down the amount of time required for his treatments dramatically, but it was still tedious. He gestured for his cane, and someone placed it in his hand without delay. He stood slowly, finding his balance, and enjoying the feel of the smooth wood under his palm.

He always enjoyed getting his cane back after his treatments. It represented stability to him, although that didn't really make much sense. He knew most men in his position hated the tools that reminded them of their illnesses. But he liked his cane, and that was that.

He walked back to his car slower than necessary, enjoying the simple feeling of walking for as long as he could. For all his contributions, he thought he deserved two minutes of selfishness. When he climbed inside the car, it sped off quickly, his destination already established. His driver was a professional, and knew better than to interrupt when Artemis was thinking.

“What's on the agenda today, Mary Christina?” he asked the empty air. Normally his secretary would handle this, but he was busy at the moment. Besides, this briefing was more relevant to her work than his.

“Besides the fact that we have a bunch of vampires yelling at us about that apartment building that burned down during the fight with the bats?” a voice said from the car's speakers.

Artemis sighed. “Yes, besides that. Though I was meaning to ask... how many is that? Buildings that Miss Akiyama has destroyed, I mean.”

“That makes sixteen. Though, in fairness, only two of those were really her fault.”

“Yes, well... that's something for another time. What else?”

“Grain is trying to hook up to our 'net.”

Brian Grain was a New York senator, and one of the biggest threats to Domina City, largely because he kept to his issues like a dog with a bone. He also had a large amount of popular support, not least because he was actually a good man. That was part of the problem, really. You couldn't bribe good men.

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“Tell Jamie to divert their attention to that alleged child porn case in California.”

“Good call. Send them on a wild goose chase.”

“Precisely.”

One of Domina's first lines of defense against outside interference was the simple fact that no one outside the city could view their internet. The city could receive, but only corporations specializing in data had any ability to send anything out.

If Grain managed to secure funding to build their own link to the city, there wasn't much Necessarius could do to stop him. And once outsiders could view the Domina internet, all of Artemis' carefully-maintained propaganda would go to waste. No one would believe his lies any more, not with Domina's extremely active bloggers and vloggers and so on contradicting him. The military wouldn't believe that the illegal use of the toy maker was minor, and limited to cosmos only, not worth sending in armies to arrest people en masse. The president wouldn't believe that the cultures were just a few minor gangs of kids, not worth paying any attention to.

This misdirection would help, and a few careful bribes to less honest men would also make Necessarian lives easier. Sooner or later though, that wouldn't be enough. The day was fast approaching. Artemis could hide the truth, but not for long.

The gangs were gone. Mostly, anyway. The Rahabs were proving difficult to flush out, and the cultures were still annoyingly violent at times, but overall the city was infinitely safer to live in than it was fifteen years ago. Most of Artemis' propaganda exported to the outside world was focused on maintaining the illusion that it wasn't.

But unless he turned Domina into a police state, the outside world would find out. People could visit, and see that the city was safe. Residents sent e-mails to their friends and families outside the city, talking about how much better it was to live here now. People even left the city for greener pastures every once in a while, as people were wont to do.

The only reason the secret had survived as long as it had was because no one actually cared about Domina. Sooner or later, governments would feel safe enough to send spies that Necessarius wouldn't be able to bribe or kill.

And very soon after that, armies.

Could Domina survive that? Perhaps. The city was hardly defenseless. Besides, they didn't have to win, they just had to weather the first couple waves, long enough to erode popular support for a war. It would require more bribes, more blackmail, and even a few assassinations. Ghosts would be called in. Artemis would have to play almost completely under the table, simply to keep the city alive.

Because it was necessary.