In his sleep Milo once against found himself in Nadarska's realm. Milo wondered what the point was to make him walk the short distance over to where Nadarska was standing. He felt a reluctance to go speak to him, but after a moment forced himself to move.

"I have a favor to ask of you" Nadarska said as Milo got within a few feet of him.

"Actually" Nadarska continued, "you may have enough interest in it that it would be no favor." Milo for some reason couldn't muster the words to say anything. He didn't feel any anger towards Nadarska, just a disinterest in talking to him.

"You feel kind of ambivalent towards me, I can sense it" he said. "But I came to an epiphany when you informed me that you were able to move around in the hyperplane."

"What's that?" Milo asked with some of the indifference at once disappearing from his mind.

"When the Elven Grand Admiral Agorja confiscated my talisman, he apparently wore it around his neck as a trophy for the defeat of the humans and the Church of Saint Vernon in the war. What he didn't realize, though, that as it was active it created in its vicinity a recallable impression – or recording if you will – of everything around it. Of course I can only discern from the recording what I normally can in real time, meaning I can't pick up on conversations. But with your unusual neurotype being what it is, you might be able to read the recording."

"What are these recordings of?" Milo asked.

"I have plenty of them, but there is one part I think is of particular interest. It's apparently a conversation between Admiral Agorja and the then-Human President, Henry Alamore right as they were negotiating a surrender." All at once Milo's eagerness exploded.

"I'll take a look at it" Milo said with no hesitation.

"Hold on a moment" Nadarska said. "I want to warn you that there is a risk here, although I think it's small. I don't want to make you feel as if you owe me this, but I'd appreciate it.

"I'm willing to take that risk" Milo said feeling way too excited for any apprehension to come over him.

"All right" Nadarska said closing his eyes. "Well, as long as you're sure, I'm not going to take up any more time." His arms reached out and for the first time ever, Nadarska touched him, and his surroundings immediately faded to blackness and reformed into a familiar room. It was the oval office. He recognized Henry Alamore sitting behind the desk looking at a figure in the seat across from it, facing away from where Milo was standing. There appeared to be no one else in the room – no security or anything. He walked closer to the desk, assuming that he couldn't be seen.

Admiral Agorja, on the other hand, was wearing his elven officer's uniform and his flawless hair was pulled back into a pony tail. They were apparently talking about relocations and inspections of union fleets. None of it was overly interesting. The conversation continued for several minutes and Milo was almost ready to give up, when he finally heard something Admiral Agorja say that caught his interest.

Stolen novel; please report.

"I had quite a long conversation with her majesty Queen Tarissa" Agorja said lighting his pipe. "She agrees with me that we must initiate a new…order of things within the hominid kingdom that will benefit both human and elf." Henry Alamore nodded his head.

"I hear that you have read and concur with the works of the great Humanologist Bloize Hather, do you not?"

"I have" the president said. "Very compelling."

"Good" Agorja said. Agorja had was almost seemed to be a deliberate air of superiority that Milo didn't like at all. "Then you have an…" Agorja took a drag on his pipe as he searched for the right word "understanding and respect for the accumulated wisdom of the kingdom of the elves and the need for certain…machinations going on behind human democracy."

"Indeed" Alamore said. "You're going to have to be very careful here."

"What we're going to build is very elaborate and complex. We will make sure that you come out of this surrender looking good by granting full autonomy to the Earth sector planets. We can ensure that you and your wing of your party are the dominant force in Union politics for a long time."

The president eyed the elf for a few seconds with a look that seemed almost solemn, then nodded his head. "Looks like I'll either be one of the great heroes of the history of the union or the greatest villain" he thought out loud.

"Indeed" Agorja answered plowing a small puff of smoke. "But you need to understand that we have just as much at stake – if not more – than you do. We must work carefully together to make this work. If we do our jobs correctly even should go smoothly."

"First things first" Alamore said changing the direction of the conversation. "Have you found Grithmeer?"

"We're closing in on him" Agorja said with a smirk on his face. "We will take care of him soon." Alamore didn't appear to be even a little bit assuaged.

"The key he has to the wormhole network. We cannot allow the Church of Saint Vernon to get their hands on it. Do you have it, yet?"

"There is wormhole network, Henry. And there's certainly no so-called 'oracle', either."

"How can you be sure grand admiral?"

"A wormhole network with the reach that is described would emit a very large amount of dark energy and strangelet waves that simply can't be concealed. It's just another way that the grays exploit the gullibility of religious humans. Do not worry about him. We will ensure that he pays for his treachery to the kingdom."

From there, the man and elf discussed reelection tactics and political maneuvering. There wasn't anything overly interesting in it, and he wasn't paying much attention thinking about the things he heard. The conversation didn't go on long before his surroundings again melted away and changed back into Nadarska's tree and his wasteland.

Milo didn't wait for Nadarska to say anything.

"I saw Grand Admiral Agorja and President Henry Alamore!" Milo said. "They were talking about creating a new 'order', it was completely surreal. The ghost of Icarus Beed hinted at the goddess having hidden means of control over the kingdom. This is absolutely crazy!" Nadarska didn't seem to even flinch.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of" Nadarska said. "Needless to say, our focus is now going to be on severing this tie. I'm going to let your brain have some rest for now. Expect to start hearing from me more frequently now." And Milo's consciousness faded out, except this time he almost immediately woke up. It took a while for him to clear his mind and finally get back to sleep.