“She’ll hold her seat. It would be madness to remove her from it if she was doing so well, which she will. So she’ll continue forward. There should be no disasters at all, beyond unavoidable external events, and she’ll handle them with aplomb.”

“Like the event earlier this week?”

“The handling of it was technically correct. Resources were moved, people hired and fired, and mercenaries tapped as an external resource. People higher up in government are applauding her. People on the ground feel safer.”

“Then the threat is… she does too well?”

“Government by parahumans. Once established, it’s hard to shake. There will be no opportunity. No mis-steps, no character weakness. The biggest skeleton in the closet is her past.”

Erwin picked up his phone. He fiddled for a moment, then set it down.

Gary looked. It was Sierra Kiley, one of the other past contenders for the mayorship. She too had stepped down. In the picture, she stood talking with the leader of the Undersiders and Citrine—Jeanne Wynn.

Gary nodded. “The game was rigged.”

“It so often is. But being down doesn’t mean you’re out. I looked for you and approached you because I think I have a plan. You would mobilize on the ground and swiftly rise to power.”

“You want me to use the dissent against parahumans?”

“That’s a sliver of it,” Erwin said. “I think you can get enough people behind you that they can’t ignore you. That would be your first step, and you’re already on your way.”

“What’s the last step? What’s your end goal?”

“That is a very complicated question, and it depends on a lot in coming weeks,” Erwin said. “But… we go back to what I said about the radical.”

Gary frowned.

“Think, Gary. What do these other Earths want? Why do they threaten war and pick at our weaknesses with increasing viciousness? They want the territory. A world of resources, and a network of portals.”

“And?”

“We give it to them. We promise leadership without parahumans in charge, stacking the deck. We turn to an established government we’re on friendly terms with and we invite them in. We become a vassal state.”

“Who are you thinking of?” Gary asked.

“Nobody. That would be a decision for you to make without my input. If I told you one or the other, you would think I’m working on their behalf. There are options. It’s an idea that takes some getting used to, but if you’re thinking you’d like to go home… perhaps a middle-ground solution would be to open communications and borders with a world that has hints of our old amenities and culture.”

It was an idea that took some getting used to.

It was ominous, uncomfortable.

He looked at the television.

The idea of Mortari failing to see the Megalopolis through the winter was terrifying. The people that would die, the desperation.