this is crazy

[from_scratch]

Cam is watching a new recording of Atriama, tail swishing in the gap in his couch, and doesn't stop to pause the show when he feels a summons go by.

Comments

[from_scratch]

Fucking hell.

Okay.

Cam needs help or at least recognition to do more than occasionally act as benevolent Santa Claus. Japan is near enough to a blank slate with a population that probably fondly remembers being a high-tech cultural center. He can start here. Who's running the place?

[wormcan]

It's still the same constitutional monarchy as before. Political structures are among the things least affected by tidal waves. He can get the Prime Minister's name and the address of the new Kantei trivially.

The government might be less willing to listen to him than they should. For one thing, there are ultranationalistic minority parties who might want nothing to do with him on that basis alone. And nearly all parahumans, like most other people in a position to leave, left. For the last ten years anyone with powers has more or less always been a new cape in the process of getting the resources to leave by any means. The exceptions are the occasional visitors from the Russian parahuman underworld, who are rarely acting as Santa Claus.

Cam is of course both a foreigner and apparently a parahuman, but with what he's offering they better pay attention anyway.

[from_scratch]

Right then. He conjures up the recent email correspondences of movers and shakers, obtains their private email addresses, and sends them all mail in politely formal Japanese taking credit for the restoration of Kyushu and asking if there is anything else they would like done, no strings attached, he realizes this sounds too good to be true but when you can make Kyushus from nothing you don't have a long list of demands?

[wormcan]

It took longer than it ought to for anyone to confirm that they did get their island back. Once there's both confirmation that it happened and exactly one person claiming to have done it, everyone pays attention. Most relevant people would like to meet in person before Cam does anything big. Anything else big.

[from_scratch]

That's fine, where would they like him?

[wormcan]

Transport isn't quite as trivial as it used to be. If Cam can come to Tokyo, as many as possible of the important people will be able to meet him.

[from_scratch]

Transportation is, like, really trivial for Cam! He is happy to appear in Tokyo. Where would they like him to land his shuttle?

[wormcan]

He gets an address, and when he lands near their White House equivalent he's met by a man surrounded by much warier-looking security guards.

"Ryutaro Reijiro, prime minister. A pleasure to meet you."

[from_scratch]

"Pleased to meet you too. My name is Campbell Swan."

[wormcan]

"No pseudonym? It might not be quite universal, but usually the powerful parahumans are even more concerned with their secrecy."

[from_scratch]

"I know, but I think I can establish as much secrecy as I need by simply not explaining my life story to everyone I meet."

[wormcan]

"If you say so. Your risk to take."

"We have most of the Cabinet assembled inside. Your offer created quite a stir." He leads the way to the collection of ministers.

[from_scratch]

Cam follows along. He has no tail and he must wag.

[wormcan]

Most of the Cabinet means, apparently, about fifteen ministers each with a few staff. Following a round of introductions, someone (Ichiro Yukari, Minister of Justice, if Cam's keeping close enough track) eventually gets around to business.

"You made an impressively open-ended offer. Did you have anything in mind that you planned to ask in return?"

[from_scratch]

"Not really. I mean, information on what could use doing is good, but I have an excellent power and I'm pretty much set for things I need personally." He makes a sushi roll and eats it. When in Tokyo. "So I don't require payment or an exchange of any kind."

[wormcan]

This of course translates to "I'm playing a longer game of some kind," but given that the first thing he did when going public was Kyushu, that almost doesn't matter.

"What exactly can you do?" the prime minister asks. "Our recovery still has a long way to go, as I'm sure you saw on the way in, but it's thankfully not a case of missing islands."

[from_scratch]

"I can make things! The things must, once made, obey the laws of physics. I can't do antimatter. Objects cannot begin in motion but may begin under tension, in midair, or on fire. It is neater but not strictly necessary for me to be looking at the place the things are going to go."

[wormcan]

"Anything at all? Land masses to sushi?"

[from_scratch]

"Or outside the range, if you need, I don't know, bucky balls or an extra planet, although I'd have to do a lot of math before I'd make a planet in this solar system."

[wormcan]

"Anything." The Minister of Land and Infrastructure is too surprised even to ask it as a question. "I was expecting to suggest some of the highest-priority repairs, but given your recent performance it might be simpler to just build a duplicate of the entire country, as it used to be plus a wish list, and import the entire population."

"Can you make populations?" another asks. "They're between buckyballs and planets, and we lost a lot of people."

[from_scratch]

"Ooh - no. I mean, I can make bodies but I can't do minds. Kyushu has no vertebrates. My bugs and snails can struggle along okay but if I'd tried to do those adorable flying squirrels they would, let's say, not fly. Also making an entire duplicate Japan would probably present sea level issues."

[wormcan]

"Perhaps. I'll have some people estimate the change. Assuming for the moment that it can't be safely done, there's subsidence on these islands that you might be able to reverse. That would have to have less impact than repairing Kyushu did.
As for what's on it, there's power generation, communication, even cultural property that could be restored."

[from_scratch]

"Sure. I can improve on what you had in some areas, power generation included, if you like. Subsidence will be easiest to fix if I have an extremely accurate map of where you want how much gravel or whatever added."

[wormcan]

"And it would just appear? We have detailed maps of how much change there has been where, but there might be people or property in some of the same space."

[from_scratch]

"I probably should not try to fix subsidence that is currently under somebody, particularly if I don't know they're there and can't accordingly go slow."