would be made in conjunction with a great deal of smoke and mirrors. And fast talk, which was his job. "We use two types of gates. Short term exploratory gates, and permanent gates. The Kingdom of the West is keeping an eye on gate making by, to use your term, the Fallen, and limiting our creation of them in the Kingdom."
"How many Worlds do the Fallen control?" One of the Earther's far down the table chimed in for the first time.
Xen fielded that one. "We have, at the moment, twelve permanent gates. Eight are to Empty Worlds, five of which are being colonized, and one is the start of a maze of gates and corridors through Empty Worlds and Dinosaur Worlds. We have two-way trade through one gate to another Exile World with magic. One has an industrial age civilization that we are studying, but have not yet officially contacted. Two are to Worlds inhabited by primitives. We are leaving them alone. Our current gates to Earth and One World connect through the maze. This was a precaution against your discovering your end of the gates."
"That sounds a bit extreme." Urfa looked amused.
Q looked across her shoulder at him. "When we first started making gates, we, umm, couldn't figure out how to close them. Hence the precautions. We have since learned how to make temporary gates, and how to dismantle our 'permanent' gates. So the maze is no longer needed. I suppose though, it counts as thirty-five Worlds we've explored, one of which the One has also discovered. Likewise Earth found one of the maze worlds." She tapped her fingers thoughtfully. "I expect we'll cede any claim to those two worlds, to Earth and to your Empire, in the hopes of encouraging your use of Empty Worlds."
Xen cleared his throat. "Do I need to mention that by Empty Worlds we mean worlds with no intelligent species? It encompasses everything from Algae Worlds to dinosaurs and Pleistocene megafauna."
"Are you continuing to explore?" Finally, a different Earther speaking.
Q looked to Garit.
"Yes, the Kingdom will continue to explore. Disco as well, but not for the purposes of claim or use. For research, to try and understand the Multiverse. And, umm, a stockpile of the coordinates of Empty Worlds will be useful for bribing other Worlds to not invade inhabited Worlds. Plus we're just naturally curious."
"You're not going to use them?" Montgomery looked skeptical.
"Comet Fall's population is roughly five hundred million. We don't even fill our own World. Five Colony Worlds are a bit much. I don't think any of them have a population over five thousand." Garit smiled a bit at their perplexed expressions. "I suppose the other polities on Comet Fall will eventually want Colony Worlds, and we'll establish gates for them.
"Which brings up another matter. Establishing claims. Our three Worlds need to agree on something along the lines of a solar powered short wave radio set up that we can place on Empty Worlds to let each other know when they've been beaten to the punch."
"Why short wave?"
"Because of the excellent bounce off the ionosphere. Better planet-wide reception." Garit managed to say that without boggling, and hopefully without showing his lack of comprehension.
Several people on each side nodded, while the rest looked like diplomats who didn't want to admit it meant nothing to them. Garit sympathized.
"Something of that nature would be easy enough for us to make." The Oner scientist showed his teeth. "And Earth as well. But how will you manage."
"If neither of you will sell them to us, we'll find a near-Earth and have one built to our specs." Q shrugged.
Montgomery frowned. "What do you mean a near-Earth?"
She blinked. "Haven't you checked out the Worlds closest to you? There are tons of tiny splits right around Earth, caused apparently by all the possible ways the Tunguska Event could have gone."
"The what?"
"In your history, a small carbonaceous chondrite exploded over Siberia in 1908. It flattened hundreds of square kilometers of forest. All the
"How many Worlds do the Fallen control?" One of the Earther's far down the table chimed in for the first time.
Xen fielded that one. "We have, at the moment, twelve permanent gates. Eight are to Empty Worlds, five of which are being colonized, and one is the start of a maze of gates and corridors through Empty Worlds and Dinosaur Worlds. We have two-way trade through one gate to another Exile World with magic. One has an industrial age civilization that we are studying, but have not yet officially contacted. Two are to Worlds inhabited by primitives. We are leaving them alone. Our current gates to Earth and One World connect through the maze. This was a precaution against your discovering your end of the gates."
"That sounds a bit extreme." Urfa looked amused.
Q looked across her shoulder at him. "When we first started making gates, we, umm, couldn't figure out how to close them. Hence the precautions. We have since learned how to make temporary gates, and how to dismantle our 'permanent' gates. So the maze is no longer needed. I suppose though, it counts as thirty-five Worlds we've explored, one of which the One has also discovered. Likewise Earth found one of the maze worlds." She tapped her fingers thoughtfully. "I expect we'll cede any claim to those two worlds, to Earth and to your Empire, in the hopes of encouraging your use of Empty Worlds."
Xen cleared his throat. "Do I need to mention that by Empty Worlds we mean worlds with no intelligent species? It encompasses everything from Algae Worlds to dinosaurs and Pleistocene megafauna."
"Are you continuing to explore?" Finally, a different Earther speaking.
Q looked to Garit.
"Yes, the Kingdom will continue to explore. Disco as well, but not for the purposes of claim or use. For research, to try and understand the Multiverse. And, umm, a stockpile of the coordinates of Empty Worlds will be useful for bribing other Worlds to not invade inhabited Worlds. Plus we're just naturally curious."
"You're not going to use them?" Montgomery looked skeptical.
"Comet Fall's population is roughly five hundred million. We don't even fill our own World. Five Colony Worlds are a bit much. I don't think any of them have a population over five thousand." Garit smiled a bit at their perplexed expressions. "I suppose the other polities on Comet Fall will eventually want Colony Worlds, and we'll establish gates for them.
"Which brings up another matter. Establishing claims. Our three Worlds need to agree on something along the lines of a solar powered short wave radio set up that we can place on Empty Worlds to let each other know when they've been beaten to the punch."
"Why short wave?"
"Because of the excellent bounce off the ionosphere. Better planet-wide reception." Garit managed to say that without boggling, and hopefully without showing his lack of comprehension.
Several people on each side nodded, while the rest looked like diplomats who didn't want to admit it meant nothing to them. Garit sympathized.
"Something of that nature would be easy enough for us to make." The Oner scientist showed his teeth. "And Earth as well. But how will you manage."
"If neither of you will sell them to us, we'll find a near-Earth and have one built to our specs." Q shrugged.
Montgomery frowned. "What do you mean a near-Earth?"
She blinked. "Haven't you checked out the Worlds closest to you? There are tons of tiny splits right around Earth, caused apparently by all the possible ways the Tunguska Event could have gone."
"The what?"
"In your history, a small carbonaceous chondrite exploded over Siberia in 1908. It flattened hundreds of square kilometers of forest. All the
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