Cold Start (Epilogue)

Madrid Principality, March 13th, 2060

"I'm so sorry your highness. However much we all may feel the urgency of the refugee situation, the mandate of this council, it's justification for existence, is the protection of the Virgo supercluster against another Jötnar incursion. We truly can not risk losing the mandate given to us by the Earth/Mars Union of Sovereign Conurbations And Nation States by involving ourselves in the political struggles surrounding the Northern European refugees. I'm afraid our current mandate prohibits us from even bringing this motion to a vote, my Prince."

This hadn't been the first time Principality officials had tried to pressure the council into taking action in local matters, or more precisely, into using the council's military standing to force a handful of African conurbations into taking in the refugees they had agreed to harbor four years ago, and in doing so creating relieve for the tense local refugee situation. It was the first time though that the Prince himself had requested an audience with the council to plead his case. Robert looked at the Prince trying to gouge his expectations. The prince knew very well what the council's mandate entailed and that his pleading had no chance succeeding. His eyes! There were the eyes of a desperate man.

"Please Mister chairman, my Principality has turned into the proverbial pressure cooker. Twenty million refugees! Three Northerners for each and every Madrileño and hardly anyone of them speaks more than two words of Spanish. My people are feeling like foreigners in their own conurbation. I am truly not sure how long I can maintain the peace in this town but I'm quite sure it won't be for months. Unless the council forces the West Africans to uphold the refugee targets they agreed upon in the 2056 Casablanca accord, we could have a civil war on our hands within weeks!"

"If I may interrupt", Bjarne spoke. The old man was one of only three remaining original members of what used to be the secret Ragnarok Society, that had now turned into an official EMUSCANS body of government. "The weather patterns are already getting less extreme."

"Please continue Professor Fjelstad" Robert responded.

"This winter has been the less extreme than last year's winter, that in turn was less extreme than the winter before it. Current projections are that the glaciers will reach their most Southern point within the next five years. That might not be fast enough to safe Munich, no, but we have confidence that within two years much of the south of France, as high up North as Clermont Ferrand, may be suitable for resettlement."

"With all due respect for the honorable learned professor, Mr chairman, but how is Clermont Ferrand going to help? We have less than one million French refugees. The rest of the twenty million are from Scandinavia, the British Isles, the Benelux, but mostly from Germany. Resettlements, apart from the fact that it is pretty sure that they won't even start this summer, are much more likely to allow millions of French refugees from Africa back in, than even a single one of 'my' German refugees. But apart from that, there truly is no time Mr. Chairman. One drunk german getting in a fight with the wrong Madrileño could ignite the spark that will blow up my beloved Principality like a barrel of gunpowder.

"I shall speak on your behalf my Prince" A soft and friendly female voice spoke with a tone that while humble betrayed the majesty of her standing. All faces turned toward Imelda. The beautiful widow of the former SAGDA leader, Admiral KITU, or as Robert had known him, Dakilla the Wizard. Imelda carried herself like royalty. Not only was she the Widow of the almost legendary Admiral KITU, she was the mother of the new sisterhood.
Everyone looked at Imelda with surprise. Despite the political influence in former SAGDA territory, that included much of sub-Saharan Africa and South America, that she had inherited from her late husband, Imelda had never shown any interest in actually using that influence for anything beyond arranging for introductions and getting people invited to the right parties.

The Prince closed his eyes and sighed deeply in deep relief.

"I can not begin to express my gratitude, my lady. I have one more favor to ask of this council Mr chairman. I'm scheduled to speak at a gathering of angry Madrileño, it would truly help to defuse the tensions if a spokesperson of the council could accompany me and make a public statement of support for the widow's generous offer of mediation."

Robert looked at the Prince, attempting his most stern of looks. While he felt sympathetic for his situation, the maneuvering room for the council was really limited. Making a "public" statement as such at a public gathering was out of the question and both he and the Price knew that.

"Je viens avec lui", it was Dominique, one of the sisters. One of the augmented human conduits. While the sisters had become an indispensable part of the council and the military force it commanded, the sisters never quite managed to play by the rules dictated by the EMUSCANS mandate. What mischief could they expect this time? The prince looked quite happy, at first, but then as he noticed the look on Robert's face, the look of contentment quickly changed into one conveying doubt. Robert knew he should for form and appearances make this look like a democratic decision of the council. He also knew that if the council were to vote against it, Dominique would join the Prince regardless. He needed to think quickly. Robert looked at Dominique for a split second without thinking about it. Her eyes were deep. Robert looked at here and saw no malice. No intent to go against the mandate of the council. Robert realized in this split second that Dominique only wanted to go as an observer.

"I don't believe there would be any objections to you going with the prince, Dominique"

"Mister chairman!?" Bjarne spoke angrily as he stood up and slapped Robert on the back of his head. "She is a mirror, remember?"

As Robert broke eye contact, his clarity returned. He shouldn't have allowed her to make eye contact with him. Despite the years of training and all his experience with Hylobo conduits, human conduits, these sisters, were quite something else. While their telepathic powers were not close to as powerful as those of the Hylobo, they were much more subtle. A mirror indeed. What Robert saw in her eyes or believed he saw in her eyes was nothing but a mirror. She made him consider what he himself would do in her shoes and then he made himself believe that it was that what she intended to do.

"Dominique, would you like us to bring your proposal to a vote, or could we agree you accompany the Prince merely as an observer and report back to the council?"

Robert took care this time not to look her in the eyes again this time.

"Je ne parlerai pas" Dominique responded in a soft tone of voice. She would not speak. Robert knew very well what she meant by that. With her persuasive powers, she didn't need to speak to calm down the assembled crowd enough to keep it from turning into a violent mob. Dominique was giving him a way out. A way to keep a volatile situation from turning into something explosive without the need to risk the mandate of the council being revoked as a result of the council overstepping its bounds.

"Then I see no reason to bring this matter to a vote. Please accompany the Prince to his gathering after this meeting ends." Robert turned his attention to the Prince now. "I hope to welcome you back to next week's meeting your highness. Our next item on today's agenda happens to be a confidential one, my Prince. So to my regret, I must ask the Principality delegation to leave now."

As the Prince stood up, he gave Robert a rather unfriendly look. The prince had no idea of the size of the concession he and the council had just offered him by allowing one of the five sisters to come with him to his gathering. It might not diffuse the situation, no, but she should keep it from exploding for at least a one or two weeks. And if Imelda's efforts would end up being fruitful, these weeks might be just enough for negotiating a lasting solution.

Bjarne whispered "I hope this one doesn't come back to bite us" then looked at Robert with a hint of worry in his posture. "These sisters, Robert, these sisters". Robert gave Bjarne a look of understanding. The sisters sure were a handful. They were though, despite of their advanced age, the strongest line of defense against the Jötnar. Both Bjarne and Robert had been Aesir pilots, good Aesir pilots, but these sisters could pilot an Aesir ship without an Hylobo conduit connecting them to the ship. Just telepathic enough to communicate with the living ship and their telepathic mirror trick worked wonders at preventing any type of cultural clashes with the often hot-headed ship.

"Last item on this week's agenda, we need to discuss the subject of tubal ligation for the new sisterhood"

Dominique made a bit of a grunting sound that left no doubt about how discontented she was about this subject coming up. Robert knew they were treading on thin ice bringing up this subject now, but he also knew it needed to be brought up.

"Dominique, in English please."

"Thank you, Monsieur chairman" Dominique spoke in agitated voice with a heavy accent. "As everyone here knows, the predecessors of this council violated us the same way the council is about to violate these young girls. While I do now understand the concerns that led to us being violated in this way, they took our chances at becoming mothers, to become grandmothers without our consent. If they would have just consulted us, informed us about the dangers of getting pregnant of boys, we would have made sure to take precautions. They wouldn't have needed to violate us in the way the council is now considering violating the new sisterhood. The girls should be consulted. I know they are still young, but we have worked with them, trained them. They are capable to decide for themselves."

"With all due respect, Mr. Chairman", Ian interrupted, "We have repeatedly witnessed how incontrollable these sisters can be. They are ninety-year-old elderly ladies for heaven's sake. Just imagine a capricious adolescent boy with powers like these. No, don't imagine it! We have all read the Loki files.

"Connard, quatre-vingt-neuf!" Dominique snapped.

"We have all read the Loki files" Bjarne replied. "We are all aware of the dangers of an adolescent male human conduit. But to be fair, the Loki incident happened over twelve thousand years ago and Loki wasn't just a normal 15-year-old boy, we know now that Loki had a narcissistic Machiavellianism personality disorder with possibly a psychopathic component. Loki connected with Aesir from a young age. Even in the case one of the girls would end up pregnant with a boy, there should be possibilities for enough safeguards to avoid another Loki incident."

"Gentlemen, please, order!", Robert spoke firmly. "Unless Dominique has any more to add, I would like to give the mother of the girls the opportunity to address the council."

"D'accord" Dominique replied.

"Imelda?"

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to address the council on behalf of my daughters. I can speak for all of my daughters when I say none of them is exactly thrilled at the prospect of a tubal ligation. None of them, except for one is prepared to risk a political crisis over the question though. Given that none of my girls is sexually active yet, and given the advancements in auto-immune med-tech, I have a motion that I would like to bring before the council on behalf of my daughters and myself, Mr. Chairman"

Robert looked around the room. Ian was shaking his head looking worried. Bjarne, in contrast was nodding. Robert looked at the old man. You sly old bastard, Robert thought, the sisters restoring his memory definitely had left a sisterhood print of sorts on Bjarne. The rest of the council seemed to respond rather stoic to the idea of an unlisted motion.

"Given the extraordinary circumstances, I am going to allow you to bring a motion before the council. Normally all motions are submitted in written form one week ahead of being brought before council so please observe the same rules for form as those for written submission." Robert turned his head and looked at Bjarne intensely. "Yet I suspect you have had some help already." Bjarne averted Robert's eyes and turned his eyes to the edge of the table. Robert was sure now. Whatever it was Imelda was about to bring before the council, these would be Bjarne's words, Bjarne's ideas.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to bring the following motion before the council: Mars-One scientists have worked with Singapore doctors on autoimmune technology. I have been assured that a Y-chromosome vaccine should be less than two years away with the right funding. I can provide this funding from my own pocket if needed if the council agrees to bridge the two years period with LARC anticonception instead of tubal ligation."

"If the council approves of this motion, funding should not be an issue", Robert spoke in a friendly tone at Imelda. Imelda looked nervous. Obviously, this meant a lot to her. Robert realized that it meant a lot to the sisterhood as well. If the council voted against this motion, the sisters might become even more of a problem than they already were. But then, the motion did sound solid.
"On motion number, ….." At that moment Robert realized this motion didn't have an official motion number yet. "On the motion to allow the new sisterhood to use LARC anti conception during the development of a Y-chromosome vaccine, may I have everyone's votes, please?

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Cover art by Keith Draws