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contributions helped the Legion’s ever-growing budget needs –
and a number of local residents, who despite working with Neolympians day after
day seemed to retain their appetite for the pomp and pageantry of it all. Was
he a source of inspiration, or merely titillation? He was no longer sure.
    Time to come down to earth and mingle
with the mortals.
    Ultimate and his companions floated down
to the podium and waited for the outburst of applause (mainly from the
tourists) to die down. He did the usual dog and pony show, greeting everyone,
introducing his fellow spokesmen – spokespeople, he corrected himself – and
then ceding the floor to Doc Slaughter for the main fluff pieces: reports of
progress assisting the victims of Japan’s earthquake, the capture of a cell of
anarchist terrorists, and the release of three new pharmaceutical patents (one
developed by Kenneth Slaughter himself, the other two by fellow genius inventor
Daedalus Smith) into the public domain. One of those three drugs would soon
make the HIV virus as irrelevant as smallpox or the common cold (the latter
cure being another Daedalus Smith breakthrough).
    Artemis took over and delivered
statements dealing with some not-so-bright spots. Things in Iraq were getting
nasty, with a neo-pagan movement led by several mythology-inspired Neos
clashing with the Islamic Brotherhood. A joint Legion-UN mediation team had
been beset by assassination attempts from both sides of the dispute. Things
remained chaotic in several countries in Africa, thanks to Neolympian warlords
stirring old tribal feuds into life. And of course there were the two great
bogeymen of international politics.
    “Will the Legion support new trading
sanctions against the Empire of China?” one of the reporters asked as soon as
the floor was open for questions.
    Imperial China was one of those
nightmares that refused to go away. Four hundred million people lived under the
tyranny of the Dragon Emperor. Famine and repression had led to the deaths of
millions, and only two brutal wars had prevented the Empire from overrunning
the Republic of China.
    John found himself flying over a burning
city, helplessly watching thousands die under unrelenting artillery fire he was
too late to stop. He saw a little girl run into a house seconds before a shell
erased it from existence…
    “… new sanctions will work?”
    John shook his head and returned to the
here and now. Those episodes of lost time were becoming more frequent every
day. His mind wandered off without warning, especially when he wasn’t
concentrating on something. John noticed some of the people in the press
watching him intently. There already had been rumors circulating that Ultimate
was losing it, mostly in the blogosphere, but that was becoming more and more
important every day.
    Hell, he was losing it.
    “We are doing our best to build the
international consensus needed to deal with rogue nations like the Empire and
the Dominion,” Kenneth said smoothly. Too smoothly by half. John had been
growing steadily more cynical about the two evil empires of the 20th century as
they endured and prospered into the 21st. The Dominion of the Ukraine
languished under the Iron Tsar, and its influence over Eastern Europe, Russia
and the former Soviet states had only grown over the decades. The Chinese
Empire had become more cunning after the Second Asian War, and now it could
garner several dozen UN votes among smaller countries in Asia, countries that
viewed the growing power and influence of the Republic of China with envy and
trepidation. When the Dominion and the Empire cooperated (something that was
happening with increasing frequency), they often had the votes to render the UN
helpless. There was even a movement underway to grant the Empire a seat at the
Security Council.
    John suddenly realized he had missed
another question, this one directed at him. “Can you say that again, Peter?” he
said with an apologetic look. Ultimate: Going