I was surprised at how quickly Pryte managed to get all the moving parts into place for the meeting. Rabyn, John, Glorp, and the brothers were in the kitchen getting to work on the meals while Maud had taken the kids on a hike to keep them out of trouble and hopefully distract a certain curious moose. That left the rest of us to wait for their arrival. We did that with awkward small talk and attempts to avoid just what we were about to deal with. Soon, the noise of several vehicles came from outside. Pryte stood up and nodded to me, signaling it was time for both of us to go meet the delegation that had finally arrived.

  Outside the house were three large black SUVs, each with people climbing out of them. While the back doors emptied, the two people in the front of each vehicle stayed seated, watching us closely. Laura was all smiles the moment she exited, the president standing tall beside her. At least no one looked angry already. That was a good start.

  “Mr. Imogen,” the president said as he walked toward me, extending his hand. I reached out and grasped it in return, reminding myself mentally not to use any real force in the handshake. The president made his own attempt at a show of force with a squeeze, though, and as my hand didn’t budge in the slightest, I hoped he regretted the attempt.

  “President Roberts, welcome to my home,” I said, as invintingly as I could muster. “The man next to me is Pryte. He’s a gnome from the Spiral and has been my go-to man for a lot of what has changed. He is an amazing resource and will be doing his best to answer many of your questions today.”

  “Glad you could all make it. If you could follow us inside, we have a room set up for the meeting,” Pryte said, giving the tiniest nod of his head.

  “Thank you for arranging this,” the president replied as the group followed us through the door. Inside, the others were already sitting on one side of the table with two chairs open for us still remaining. Pryte led the group to their side before taking his place next to me. I caught Laura and Alex smiling at each other from across the table.

  “So as you can see, we have a few people who aren’t human here already. Just in case everyone didn’t hear Dave earlier, my name is Pryte, and I’m a gnome. This is Constance Aurelia V, a dwarf of some fame who has signed onto Dave’s squad. The man floating next to her is Mel, a renowned Arena manager of the cloud people,” Pryte said, pausing for some of the reactions to the very inhuman man that was Mel.

  He resumed after a few stares seemed to resolve themselves. “Next to Mel is Timon; he’s our transport specialist. On the other side to my right is Elody, a Paladin of Knowledge who, despite her other obligations, has also joined the squad. And finally, Alex Imogen, the heir to the newly founded Empire of Dave. I believe some of you already know her.”

  “Hi, Mom,” Alex said, giving a slight wave to her after Pryte finished. Laura returned a smile and a nod of her own.

  “On our side, we have the President of the United States of America, Stephen Roberts. Myself, his top advisor, Laura Imogen. Colonel Grant is on my left,” she said as Grant nodded at me. I was glad to see he had gotten a promotion, not that I was sure how that worked in the military. Did the president just get to do that?

  “Irwin Smith and Thomas Pelt are both United States senators who were rescued recently and briefed on what has been going on. The next three members are diplomatic representatives of Canada, Mary Filke, Gerald Polk, and Rory Thompson. Last but not least, we have two members of the European Parliament that were with us when this all started, Rapha?l Favreau and Harald Sauer,” Laura finished with her introductions. I noticed she hadn’t said what level of communications had been restored with Europe, but I assumed if they had an airbase ready to go here in Alaska, something had already started.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are glad to host you in our first joint meeting. Now, as I’m sure you have a ton of questions, why don’t we start there before any food is served,” Pryte said.

  “Yes, thank you. I’ll start,” the president said. “Dave, I know from our previous brief meeting and the results we’ve seen in the world that you’ve gained your own magical abilities, and I assume those around you have their own as well. How can we extend that to more of our people?”

  “At the moment, we can’t, at least not without off-world travel, and even then, there would be more requirements that would not make it feasible. The Empire of Dave isn’t in a spot yet where the mana flow allows for us to begin teaching the populace to form their own cores. But, in the future, it is our goal to work on increasing the magical abilities of this planet as the mana flow allows,” Pryte answered.

  “When you say off-world, what exactly do you mean? Where do the invaders come from?” he asked next.

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  “That’s a bit more complicated. The orcs that invaded here come from another planet that has been fully integrated into the Spiral, the same thing your world is currently undergoing. The further along it gets, the more the mana flows, and various other influences will bleed into your universe. Earth just had the luck of being the intersection point; eventually, the energies will spread through the entire universe,” Pryte answered, this time with several gasps. Apparently, Laura hadn’t fully briefed everyone on what she already knew.

  “And this Empire of Dave, what exactly is your plan with it? You understand this is American soil here, correct?” As he asked this question, I caught Laura frowning slightly. Had she been against it?

  “Was American Soil. As per the ruling of High Judge Zcalria, this entire universe falls to the purview of the Empire, assuming, of course, we secure the rights within the Arena. That said, even if we don’t, it will still not fall to you, and the repercussions should we fail will not be something nearly so favorable as a native human overseeing this planet’s integration,” Pryte said, causing a glare to form on the president’s face.

  “You understand that isn’t an authority we recognize?” he replied, with a tiny bit of anger in his voice.

  “Whether you do or not is irrelevant. It exists, and it has far more power than any of us. I understand you aren’t happy about this, but considering nothing can be done about it at the moment, why fight about it?” Pryte asked earnestly. I was surprised he moved to de-escalation instead of pushing for more of a fight, especially considering how he started that part of the answer.

  “That isn’t an unfair point, I suppose. You’ve referenced the universe several times and not just this planet. Does that imply there is more life directly in our own universe and not just beyond?” he asked, some of his anger seeming to deflate. Looked like he was either somewhat of a reasonable man, or he just realized he couldn’t win. I still didn’t trust them not to make plans against us the moment they left.

  “That we don’t know. Likely there is, yes, but I do know there are at least a few universes that have never been found to have life outside of a singular planet. When it comes to the infinite within the infinite, things become harder to talk about in complete certainties. Depending on how fast this integration occurs and their own technological development, it could be a while before we encounter anyone,” Pryte answered.

  “Speaking of that, Dave, what is the state of the Spiral in comparison to us when it comes to their technology?” Laura asked, cutting in.

  Pryte didn’t move to answer, so I decided that meant he wanted me to. “Strange, and honestly I don’t fully understand it. There are basic things they should know that seem to be missing but also would have to exist for some of their artificial intelligence, assuming, of course, that even is what the System is. I’ve read references to faster-than-light spacecraft, but that could also just be magic. Which gets into the whole territory of whether magic and science are truly two different things-”

  Elody surprisingly cut me off. “As Pryte said, I am a Paladin of Knowledge, and the answer to your question is as difficult as Dave is making it sound. The reality is there are many technological breakthroughs that remain closely guarded by the factions that make them. Independent study is very much discouraged. Based on what I’ve heard from Dave and his family so far, there are ways I believe Earth is ahead of the Spiral, at least as it stands now, but it likely wasn’t always that way,” she explained.

  “Fascinating, and this may be rude, but your eyes seem to move independently of each other. Do you still form a simple composite image in your mind?” one of the Canadian representatives asked.

  “Yes and no. I can do that, but generally, the top set of my eyes is used for the detection of energy signals outside the standard range of human eyes. And to be clear, I do not find your question offensive. I, in fact am glad that there are more of your people as curious as those I have already met,” Elody replied with a smile.

  Before anyone else could say anything, the door to the kitchen opened, and Glorp, followed by the brothers, came in with trays of food. “Ah, it looks like lunch has been delivered,” Pryte said. Several faces were focused on Cecile and Elicec.

  “Why don’t we break for some small talk while we enjoy a meal? I’m sure Laura wants to talk to one of the chefs,” I said. There was a round of words of agreement as Glorp began lifting lids off serving platters.

  “John prepared this?” Laura said, quickly getting to her feet. Alex did the same next to me. It was time for another family catch-up meeting.

  The easiest universal integrations during full Spiral expansions are those devoid of life. Why they are more common than universes with only small pockets of life is something for philosophers to debate over; all I know is that the resources gained during expeditions to lifeless universes carry far fewer risks initially. As integrations proceed, though, this isn’t always true. The problem with a lifeless universe is that once the mana flow permeates throughout it, who is there to stand against the formation of dungeons? In the depths of some of these universes, long since harvested for their useful minerals, what waiting terror slowly grows?

  Expansion Expeditions by George

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