Thresholder, ch 182, We Have a YouTube Channel

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~~~~

Perry had always known that politics was an absolute fucking nightmare, but he hadn’t realized how bad it was on the inside until he started working through a plan to present the Farfinder and its diplomatic mission to the world without offending anyone. No matter what Perry could think of to say, he knew he’d sound like a crank. What he needed was clear proof that they had access to multiversal travel, but in such a way that didn’t freak anyone out too bad, and ideally, that didn’t get screened as nonsense by whoever was in charge of putting letters from the mentally unwell in the bin.

Unfortunately, the AI boom that happened when he was gone had gotten fake video to the point that it was difficult to distinguish from real video. Not impossible, but difficult, and a man in power armor flying through the air was the sort of thing that the models could cook up with relative ease. There were lists of tricks for spotting fake video, and ways you could shoot a video that the models couldn’t easily match, but it took some doing.

Still, Perry put out diplomatic feelers with Marchand’s help. While the truth of the multiverse would be dismissed as a hoax by anyone with a brain, there were carefully prepared data packets from back on Markat, along with a statement of intent. He waited six hours, got zero response or indication that anyone had taken it seriously, then posted a video and simultaneously emailed a bunch of reporters. Marchand spammed socials with the video, and Perry waited to see whether it would make the splash he was hoping it would.

They’d gone for an underproduced look with lots of camera movement, something that the models didn’t do well with. It was high definition, high detail, high consistency, a catalog of the worlds that Perry had been to and what they were like. The formatting was simple, like someone with a cheap video editor had slapped some stock text onto footage they’d shot themselves, and that was partly to give the illusion that this was the work of an amateur traveler. Perry was the narrator, though not named in the video.

The public would assume that it was the work of an insanely talented VFX artist, or a high-end video model that was about to stealth release, or an ARG put on by some studio to promote a movie. That wouldn’t stop it from becoming popular though, if Perry was any judge, and it helped that the first five seconds were a splashy bit of video that seemed to promise more than just a short documentary.

At the end, there was some information.

The first was a set of coordinates on the moon. The video claimed that a new retroreflector had been placed there, and it showed Perry doing it. It would be verifiable by only a handful of facilities around the world with pulsed lasers, but it was clear proof that someone had been on the lunar surface, and greatly narrowed down the range of possibilities for what was true about Perry’s claims. He guessed that within hours, at least one of those facilities would confirm the retroreflector and help get the ball rolling.

The second piece of information was that these visitors from another world would show up outside of the United Nations and give a peaceful demonstration of their powers.

If the other thresholder was already on Earth 1, then they would certainly hear about it, but this was better than the alternative of staying stealth and getting surprised that they’d been laying in wait, cooking up plans. That was a real risk of ducking out early and avoiding a fight entirely. They didn’t actually know for certain that punching through with Perry aboard would stop the Grand Spell either, that was just theory backed up by sketchy physics and weak math. They would want to travel the Loop quickly to get back to Earth 1, just in case.

Perry felt awkward in the power armor, but he strolled into Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, north of the UN building, with Hella beside him. There were people there, and he drew stares. Some of those people had been waiting for him. There’d been six hours' notice, but a paltry number of people, and most were there for other things, or just spending some time in a section of green space. There was a small protest going on whose nature wasn’t clear to him, though one sign said “Free Tigray!”, which didn’t illuminate much. From research, he knew the plaza was a designated protest spot, the kind they set up far away from the actual UN building so it could be safely ignored.

It was a pathetic start, and he’d have much preferred to have built up some kind of anticipation before going out in public. The YouTube channel that March had created was posting a video every hour, short five minute pieces that showed off the different worlds and gave facts about each of them. They were getting traction, but less than Perry had hoped. Part of it was that the media presence had come out of nowhere and the algorithms hadn’t had time to respond; ideally by the time he left it would be all anyone was talking about.

“I’m Perry, and this is Hella,” he said to the five or so people. Only one was visibly recording, but the footage was being live-streamed by Marchand. “Hella comes from another world, a distant one. I come from this Earth, one of many, and have finally returned home. We’re seeking an audience with the United Nations to establish trade and diplomacy with the many worlds. These are different places, with different people, and we have much to learn from them.”

He crouched down, then lifted up into the air. It was his second best trick, and the crowd — the five people, anyway — immediately started taking him seriously. They were looking for wires or thrusters, something that was holding him up, but there was nothing. They still didn’t believe it, but it was proof that he wasn’t just a delusional cosplayer. Maybe they thought he was an illusionist, but he didn’t imagine they would think that for long. More people began to come over, including a pair of police officers that Perry wasn’t thrilled about.

Hella lifted up too, as they had rehearsed.

“There are many abilities across the worlds,” she said as she hovered. “And while we can’t offer all of them to you, we do have a lot to offer.”

Perry landed back on the ground. “I need a volunteer,” he said, aware of how much that made him seem like a magician.

A white guy in a beanie stepped forward. He was in his twenties, with a hipster look that apparently hadn’t gone out of fashion. He had a coffee in hand, and sipped it while looking skeptically at Perry.

“How’d you do that?” he asked.

“I have a magic sword that lets me fly,” said Perry.

The guy laughed a bit. He didn’t seem intimidated by the armor.

“I have a different power that lets me show you a vision,” said Perry. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to show you a vision of a forest. You’ll still see me standing here, and you’ll still be here physically, so don’t flail and don’t move. I’ll remove it after ten seconds.”

The man gave Perry a skeptical nod.

As soon as the vision was in place, the man freaked.

“What the fuck!” he shouted, spinning around. “What the fuck!”

“It’s just an image, the redwood forests of the Muir Woods,” said Perry. “You’re still here, in New York, you haven’t moved.”

The guy bolted and slammed straight into a different member of the crowd who hadn’t been able to get away fast enough. Perry dropped the vision.

“Sorry about that,” said Perry. He looked at the phones that were filming him, more of them now. “I apologize, but that’s not one that you can see at home. I know you’re probably thinking that he was a plant, but I’ll do it to anyone here.”

He ended up doing it four more times as people came forward. None had the same reaction as the guy with the coffee, who’d run away and was now staring at Perry from a distance. The reaction was always extreme though, wide eyes and a sharp intake of breath, and in one case, a giddy laugh.

He was wary of spending too much time. It was good for the stream, which was picking up viewers, and a long time spent meant less chance that people would think it was all a stunt, but it was better to be short and snappy, at least in his opinion. The two police officers were in conversation on their radios, keeping a distance and just watching. Perry hadn’t broken any laws yet.

“Alright,” said Perry. “Now I’m going to show you something new.”

He waved his hand, and opened up the shelf space.

This was met with audible gasps, and it felt like the whole plaza was now looking at him. They were shifting from side to side to get a better angle on the entrance, as though it would disappear if they tilted their heads. Perry stepped in, then shut the entrance. He had thought about letting people in, but figured that this would serve as proof enough. After a count to five, he stepped back out again, and nearly bumped into someone who’d rushed forward to feel the empty air.

“Easy there,” said Perry.

The crowd was thicker now. They were talking among themselves, and more were coming over from elsewhere, some of them probably having seen the stream. Others had just noticed a commotion and wanted to see what was what.

“Last one is a big one,” said Perry. “Don’t be afraid.”

Even at those words, people began to back up.

Perry raced through the transformation as quickly as he could. The mecha wolf’s transformation was captured by several phones, and he knew this was going to be the one that was scrutinized. He held his head high and sat like a good, obedient dog, though his eyes were on the police, who were shouting at their radios now, and still not coming near.

“We want an audience with the UN General Assembly,” said Hella. “We’ve sent information on the worlds to all world leaders.” She paused slightly. “We also have a YouTube channel, or you can find us on Instagram. Search Farfinder.”

Perry transformed back, which drew more reaction from the audience, which was less positive than before. The mecha wolf had a warlike look to him. Perry was thankful that he’d been convinced not to do the bullet parrying trick.

“We’ll be going now,” said Perry. “We want you to understand that we’re offering a lot to this world, some of which we couldn’t bring with us this time. The other worlds want to trade. They want to connect. They want to hear our stories, and for us to hear theirs. I’ve enjoyed my travels, and want to share what I’ve found.”

He lifted up into the air again, higher than before, and Hella followed after him. One of the policemen had his hand on his gun, but he was in conversation with his partner, and didn’t seem like he was going to shoot. Perry and Hella flew side by side, and he knew they looked like superheroes, but better to be thought of as that than aliens.

When they got to the East River they dropped down and flew close to the surface of the water. With the sword, it was slow going, and if traffic wasn’t bad, a taxi could have easily paced them.

“That went okay,” said Perry. “Delivery was stiff.”

“Odds they shoot at us?” asked Hella.

“Low,” said Perry. “We didn’t hurt anyone. We’ll see what the response is, but most of what comes next can be done remotely. It’s only a question of how it shakes out.”

~~~~

Their YouTube channel kept posting videos, one an hour. It was nothing major, drip-feeding information that had already been sent to the world powers through diplomatic channels, freely readable if it hadn’t been binned.

There were two exceptions.

The first was a video focused on Perry, which hadn’t been a part of the prepared political dossiers. It was more produced than the others, but people had begun to trust the reality that these videos presented, especially with the demonstrations at the plaza and all the corroborating videos from other channels. It was still being called a hoax, since the vast majority of people had only seen proof as information over the web, but the opinion that it was real was gaining steam.

The video of Perry was light on the action, and had no gore in it, though it did show Perry facing down his opponents a few times. It also gave people their first glimpse of the portals, which looked too simple and too fake. Some of the video was fake, but it was always done in such a way that it was plausible. Perry had wondered if they should put an overlay on that would say when it was generated imagery, but had never pressed for it. Perry came out looking like a hero, as Marchand had been generous with the text descriptions that appeared alongside the video.

The second exception was a video that revealed the existence of the thresholders and the Grand Spell. The video first outlined what was known, then added in some direct quotes from the people who knew the most, including Maya’s recounting of what she’d been told. The video concluded with what Perry hoped wasn’t a bombshell: he was a thresholder, and had been fighting his way across the multiverse, with the Farfinder finding him halfway through. The Farfinder was going to leave before the other thresholder showed up, subverting the Grand Spell, and this was the reason that their scouting mission would be cut short.

It was a band-aid that had to be ripped off. Earth 1 would learn about it eventually, and hopefully, they'd never actually have to deal with a thresholder fight on their home turf. Still, from a certain perspective, Perry had invited evil to come to his home planet. He was hoping that wasn’t the way that anyone would see it, but he knew how people could be, even with a relatively careful roll out of information.

There was immediate blowback, but it was quick to burn itself out. The Farfinder had admitted to directing the portal to Earth 1, but people were already excited about what might come from future ships, as well as the chance to go to a whole new world: the Farfinder already had offers in the millions to be aboard the next voyage. And while there was danger if another thresholder showed up, everything that had been released about the thresholders had downplayed their lethality. The commentariat had already argued extensively about what it would take to kill Perry, with most people thinking that a single tank would be enough to take him down. When the conversation became about some hypothetical second thresholder, there were a lot of people not thinking that far outside the box.

It was impossible to know what the military officials were thinking, but maybe it was along the same lines. They would have gamed out how to drone strike him, how to snipe him, how to simply bomb the general area he was in, all kinds of things. He was fairly sure that if they put their backs into it, the American military could find a way to kill him, so long as they had the guts to have civilian casualties along the way.

Perry didn’t like being called a “street level” superhero, but it was tactically beneficial for people to think of him that way.

Eventually, their hand was entirely played, and the only thing to do was to wait. They had explained that they were leaving, and if the UN didn’t convene, that was no big deal: the UN would have to convene anyway, and by the time the Farfinder or one of the Markat fleet returned, they could get some actual diplomacy done. That was the line they were going with, anyway.

~~~~

Perry was surprised to find himself standing in front of the UN General Assembly two days later. He hadn’t known the UN could move that fast, but generally speaking, the UN didn’t want to move fast. They’d had a call with the Secretary General, and she’d seemed extremely skeptical of the claims that were in the dossiers, as well as the videos, but either there was pressure coming from somewhere else, or she felt like sticking her neck out. The media firestorm had definitely helped. Marchand thought that part of the impetus was the Farfinder being spotted on radar by various governments, and someone having connected the dots.

It was the 12th Emergency Special Session in the UN’s history, voted to convene by a nearly unanimous Security Council. The mechanism was only supposed to be used for threats to peace, not for something like this. Still, it was happening, with the whole world watching.

Almost the entire time before the session was convened was spent hammering out the logistics with UN staff. They had wanted a lot of things, including for Perry to take off the armor and submit it to various inspections, and Dirk had said in no uncertain terms that this was simply not happening — the power armor was the most valuable asset and would not be separated from its owner even momentarily. That had been the biggest sticking point, if Perry was going to be there, but Dirk had won out in the end, partly because they hadn’t shared what the power armor was actually capable of. Dirk might have implied that it was necessary for Perry to live.

Maybe Perry should have expected it from his time on Markat, but the plenary meeting was incredibly boring. It turned out that meetings were mostly just about people talking to each other, and often about information that they should already have known. Everyone in the room, representatives from every nation, had access to the same information that had been compiled back on Markat, and it was comprehensive, though not necessarily geared toward Earth. So Perry found himself standing there, extremely bored, while it was mostly Dirk that fielded the questions. Dirk was from Markat, and they were the only one signed on to the Loop, so that made sense, but it left the others to simply stand there looking calm and pleasant.

They asked about nuclear weapons, about refugees, about immigration, about advanced weapons, about threats from beyond, about verification of claims, about legal frameworks. They broke for lunch, and then there were more questions, many of them about technologies, trade goods, and the basic science of the multiverse.

Perry was an omniglot thanks to second sphere, and was keeping that to himself, partly so he could gain an advantage, but also because he was looking for a chance to bust out perfect Chinese. It never quite seemed to happen.

Mette spoke briefly, as a representative of the Natrix. It was likely that they would evacuate everyone from that planet to Markat, a clear example of how the worlds could help each other. She talked about their technological sophistication, even given their scant resources, and didn’t take any questions.

Hella spoke for the Farfinder, and of her own Earth, which was beyond her reach, and probably would remain so unless a great many ships like her own were sent out into the perilous unknown to make contact. Maybe at some point in the future, there would be more than one Loop, safe paths to travel across the multiverse, connecting like-minded people.

And Perry eventually spoke too, delivering a monologue that he’d prepared with March’s help, detailing his travel between worlds and his attempt to find his way home — something that he’d never actually made an effort toward. He spoke his name, and knew that a thousand keyboards would be searching him up. He’d forewarned his family, who were going to bunker down, because there would be all kinds of questions. He’d thought about trying to stay stealth, but he didn’t think a secret identity was tenable in the long term, not when the Loop consisted entirely of planets he’d visited. Marchand had at least gone through and cleaned up his socials, but there would be backups that Marchand couldn’t touch.

Perry had already looked at the worst of the worst of it. While the AI bubble had popped, the machines had also gotten a lot smarter and more useful than they’d been before, and a collection of tens of thousands of comments had been chewed through in an hour, surfacing the ones most likely to get him in trouble. He’d never been a shit-flinger, but he’d gotten heated once or twice, and had expressed some ideas that were impolitic. He’d expressed disdain for the Constitution and the federalist system, and while it had been in the context of education reform, it would be easy to make it look like he just hated his country.

He didn’t take any questions from the assembly, and when he was done talking, melded back into the crowd. He had removed his helmet and allowed them to see his face, that he was human beneath there. He hoped that his presence wouldn’t overshadow what Dirk was trying to accomplish, but in the armor, and with the demonstrations he’d done, he knew he was a topic of interest. Three days had been more than enough for the media and the social websites to run away with speculation. There were memes of him, and eventually, someone was going to make one that was actually funny.

The Farfinder was set to leave after the second of the day’s plenary sessions. The purpose of the UN session, at least from Dirk’s perspective, was to announce the Loop to the world and give them a chance to talk amongst themselves, getting all their ducks in a row. He was just one man, operating on behalf of Markat, and a new ship would be back with a full diplomatic complement. In the meantime, the nations of the world could reorient themselves around the new reality, and everyone could keep a cool head.

That was the theory, at least.

They’d been asked for more time, for at least a week of meetings, for more information, for time to go over the information they’d been given, and Dirk had kept saying no. The question of a second thresholder showing up was the stated reason, but Dirk was essentially running solo as far as diplomacy went, backed up by March. Whatever his qualities as a man, dealing with that many nations would have put a strain on anyone.

“If only there were two of me,” he said with a little laugh as they started to leave.

“Mr. Holzmann, I need to have a private word with you,” said a short man with thinning hair as the Farfinder group made their way out of the building. He had an American flag pin, and it took Perry a moment to realize that he was the current Secretary of State.

“Hella, a minute?” asked Perry.

She nodded. She had his earpiece in, and if anything happened, he would know about it.

Perry followed the Secretary of State into a side room, one with a large table and a bevy of chairs, but no other features to speak of. Two armed men followed them into the room, hulking goons that were part of some security service.

“I wanted to deliver this message personally, Mr. Holzmann: you’re facing significant legal trouble,” he said.

“Oh?” asked Perry.

“You can’t do what you’ve done here,” he said. “Forget this armor, forget the displays of power, a private citizen can’t negotiate with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.”

“I haven’t done that,” said Perry. “I don’t intend to do that. I’ve talked to people about Earth 1 and my understanding of it, but I haven’t made any promises or commitments.”

His hackles had been raised but his voice was even. He was being threatened, that much he was sure of, and it was probably for some purpose. He wanted to know what they were going to try to extract from him.

“You’re unaccountable,” the Secretary of State said. “You have no legitimacy, no authority, no oversight. What you’re talking about, that’s a job for a professional, someone selected from the diplomatic corps. You’ve heard the questions, they want to know what’s true, whether we can trust what you’re telling us. If you come back in a month, in two months, what’s going to be different?”

“We’ll have made contact with the other worlds,” said Perry. “We’ll have spoken with them about the Loop, gauged their interest in trade and what they have to offer, and we’ll have diplomatic briefs from them. Plus this gives the UN a chance to get their shit together, and we both know that’s going to take some time.”

“We need guarantees, Mr. Holzmann,” said the man. He was almost a full head shorter than Perry, though some of that was the power armor. “You’re American, and while we’ve found some pretty inflammatory statements in your socials, I have to believe that you love this country, same as I do.”

“Inflammatory?” asked Perry.

“You don’t think highly of the Constitution, nor of federalism, nor of the former President,” said the Secretary of State. “You’ve been gone five years. The bots are very good at combing through a person’s footprint now.”

“I don’t know the context of those comments,” said Perry. Marchand had scrubbed Perry’s socials, but obviously there would be inaccessible backups, especially for Reddit. “From my understanding, the president is a lame duck. He’s got a 37% approval rating. The economy is on fire. Unless something drastic changes, he’s going to badly lose the coming election. The multiverse? It’s a huge unknown. And in unknown times, people want someone they can get behind, a steady hand at the rudder. This is a gift to him, surely he sees that.”

“You’re offering him nothing,” said the Secretary. “You’re making him look weak. You fly down through American airspace, you show up in New York, you traipse around like you don’t give a fig about the authority of this nation? That’s not good for the polls, and from what I’ve read, you steeped yourself in politics enough to know that.”

“Are you trying to arrest me or trying to get me to do a photo op?” asked Perry.

“Depends on which way you want the wind to blow, Mr. Holzmann,” said the Secretary of State with a self-satisfied smile. He’d probably practiced that line.

“I’ll do a phone call, not a photo op,” said Perry after a moment. “That gives him something to crow about. It’s favoring America, but meeting at the UN is favoring America, and hell, I’m an American. I don’t think it’s going to help win the election, but there’s not enough time for public sentiment on this to shake out.”

“You’re saying no to a sit down with the president?” asked the Secretary of State.

“I think you’re underestimating me if you think that the status of the office is going to sway me,” said Perry. “We’re gone in a few hours, tops. We’re gone because if we’re not, a fight might be coming to America’s doorstep, and I know no one thinks it would be all that bad, but you haven’t seen everything that I’ve seen.”

“Exactly why you need to meet with the president,” said the Secretary of State. “We’ve been watching the videos. We read between the lines.”

“The diplomats will talk to him,” said Perry. “I’m gone.”

He walked out of the room without so much as a look back.

By special allowance, the Farfinder had been parked nearby on a grassy area, and Eggy had been left inside to guard it. The ship was in radio contact with Perry, and he’d have rushed out to help her if anything had happened, the kind of role that was both extremely boring and also fairly important. Thankfully, nothing had happened. They filed into it, sealing the door behind them, and waited for the ship to take off.

“I don’t really understand this,” said Eggy, from inside the cabin. “This world has advanced AI like Marchand, but we still file this flight plan that needs manual approval? Seems like the kind of thing that you could do a lot better with automation.”

“I beg pardon, miss,” said Marchand. “But the artificial intelligences of this world are quite crude by the standards of Earth 2, and any system implemented which depended upon them would surely result in lives being lost.”

“There’s not even any air traffic around this city,” said Eggy. “I don’t get why we can’t just go.”

“They’re afraid you’re going to run into a building,” said Perry.

“So?” asked Eggy. “If they’re worried that we’re going to run into a building, I don’t understand why we have this flight plan that says when we can go, it’s not like leaving at the right time means that we would run into a building.”

“They’re touchy about people running into buildings in New York City,” said Perry. “Wait until the appointed time.”

“With all of us sitting here together, it would be a great time for us to get hit with one of those Predator missiles,” said Dirk with a glance at the computer screens.

“They’re Predator drones, not Predator missiles, and they replaced the Predator with the Reaper,” said Perry. “They use Hellfire missiles, which are what they’d fire at us.”

“Seeing how violent your people are really puts you in context,” said Dirk.

“Violent?” asked Perry. “We’re in the middle of a quiet city.”

“You know what I mean,” said Dirk.

Perry knew. He didn’t think that America was, overall, particularly warlike when compared to any other nation across the multiverse, but it definitely had its moments.

After being cleared by air traffic control, Eggy lifted off, being very careful not to hit any buildings, though all that took was getting out over the East River and then shooting up off into the sky. There had been a large number of cameras around the lawn, and people would be tracking them as they went through the sky.

“Perfect time for them to shoot us down,” grumbled Dirk.

“We’ll punch out soon,” said Hella. “Then we’ll have some other problem to worry about.”

“I’m waiting on a phone call from the President,” said Perry. “It seems like I’m being personally threatened with legal action.”

“Sir, I’ve hired a law firm for you,” said Marchand. “I had meant to mention it to you earlier.”

“It might have been a good idea for me to talk to my legal representation before I spoke at the UN,” said Perry.

“They will largely be representing you in absentia should any problems arise,” said Marchand. “While we’re gone, my clones will be delegated to lesser tasks that do not require my specific attention, but the accrual of capital will continue apace unless there’s any significant problems. Sir, there’s a call for you.”

Perry took the call inside his helmet, blocked off from the rest of the ship. They were on the edge of space, high enough that they could see any incoming weapons if someone decided that the whole multiverse was just not worth the bother.

Talking to the president was strange, and also a little boring. They didn’t talk about anything, and it took Perry a while to realize that this was the point: the president wanted a phone call, one human to another, and then a sound clip so that he could relate to the masses and pretend to be a real human instead of a politician. The call lasted seven minutes, and was awkward as hell — the man’s lack of charisma worked even over a voice call. They talked, very briefly, about the University of Puget Sound and the Mariners, and maybe there was enough in there to craft some kind of message that would swing three voters.

“Done,” said Perry when he was finished. He’d thought that it would make him feel something, but it didn’t.

“Then we’re out?” asked Hella. She looked at Perry. “Last chance to change your mind. I think, having seen your people, that on balance I agree, but we’re shaping the forces of magic and physics on Earth 2.”

“If I was going to back out, I’d have done that by now,” said Perry. “I don’t want an atrocity on Earth 1, just for its own sake, but if it happened, it would also probably take a decade for the Loop to stop being seen with suspicion or as an enemy that needs to be conquered.”

“March, just a double check that we have no incoming signal from another thresholder?” asked Hella.

“We are clear, miss,” said Marchand.

“Then Eggy, punch it and prepare for a hard landing,” said Hella.

Perry braced.

With this, the thresholder spell would be done with him. He was giving it up, and he knew it was the mature thing to do, the moral thing, the smart thing, but a piece of him wanted to yell at Hella to wait, that he’d changed his mind.

He held his tongue as the ship moved between the membrane of worlds.

Richter was waiting for him.