Author's Note

To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe. Who paid the expenses of the noble enterprise I don’t know; but the uncle of our manager was leader of that lot.

(Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad)

Interview: Leopold's Ghost

S: And that’s all I know.

M: It’s certainly more than I did. Total light-bending stealth field…

S: Scary as hell.

M: Yes, well, it’s not all that it was cracked up to be. That model isn’t in use much these days. Why, you might ask? Because it was poorly thought out. If you bend all the light around you, you don’t see. Secondly, the cameras it relied on for sight were fragile. And, the weakness I’m most interested in: they were detectable if you knew what you were doing.

S: And do you?

M: Is Charleston a hole in the ground? No. It’s not because I do know. But I don’t have the equipment I had then. I’ll see what I can do. Call back in an hour, and stay out of the open.

S: What comes after?

M: Samantha? What?

S: Sorry. Shoulda said somethin’ before that. I mean, what comes after this? Do they come back? Do we come back? And who is coming back?

M: I can take a moment. You know I can’t see the future, or at least I do hope you know that. I can make guesses, and I think some of those guesses are all but certain things, but I can’t give you prophecies.

S: I have a feeling that your guesses might be closer to that then you think, but keep going.

M: Well, let’s examine what we have. We have a pristine world with, as far as I can tell, a low tech level and a primitive yet not savage native population. I’ve not been in much of a position to make meaningful surveys beyond the woods and the nearby farms, but I’m not sure I need to.

S: Why’s that?

M: Because it really is pristine. You know what the world’s like.

S: Food? Wood? Water?

M: Lebensraum.

S: What?

M: It’s German. Living room, basically. We survive by expanding. We need space to live in, materials to build with, food to eat and an environment that can be cultivated by settlers long enough for synthetic food production to begin in earnest. In short, this place is a second chance.

S: And you’d win the war.

M: The war would be irrelevant, but yes. We’d win the war. But we might save the world without all of the heartache and sorrow of rebuilding. The bans of austerity… all of it loosened because we have a new land to draw upon. I’m not sure what it would look like.

S: But you’ll guess.

M: Yes, I suppose. I’ve been thinking very hard on this. This forest… the farms… even the aliens, in their way. All of it reminds me of a different time. A purer time. Before the war, before the bombs, before the bioweapons. Before the Seattle Plague…. Before everything. We can have this. We must. It’s vital. Through trade, that is how we will prosper--we’ll uplift the primitive native life in return for access to their resources. In return, we provide them with some use out of the raw materials they obviously would only squander trying to advance even at a reasonable rate without hands. We benefit each other while moving mankind forward.

S: Ambitious. And you think we’ll get along just fine, then?

M: Well, one hopes. Eventually, yes. In the short-term, something will have to be done about the effect they have on us. It’s a bit troubling.

S: Yeah.

M: On that note, I suppose we could work out some arrangement with the locals. I confess I’m not quite as conversed in their local structures as you, but I’m sure they have some sort of rudimentary government. I’m sure with some flattery and a interesting trinkets worth sharing but not worth holding on to, you know… ancient generators, early teens’ tech even… we could get them to move away from where the tesseract is anchored.

S: Wait, hold up a bit. Like, relocating? Movin em out? Just… just like that?

M: Don’t be dramatic. It’s not a big deal. We pay them to move, fair value for the land, and at the same time jumpstart their society with technology beyond what they can achieve presently. There is really no downside here.

S: I… I mean, yeah, you’re payin for it I guess.

M: Exactly. The Federal may have dreams of conquest and slaughter but I’ve seen what war looks like, Samantha Marshall. I don’t want to go there again.

S: Right.

M: And I know you understand me. No, I prefer to deal with others on more equitable terms. Trade is the best weapon of the civilized world and of the parts of mankind worth saving. Trade, dignity, and pragmatism. I was actually the one that argued for this mission.

S: Pardon?

M: Yes. You see, the real question was always what came after. I’ve said it so many times that when I heard the words spill out of you I was taken aback for a moment, almost wondering if you had read my mind. What comes after indeed! That is the question we should have been asking all along!

S: Right. I can understand that. I mean… I mean, hell, who sends a bunch of hopped up fascist thugs out into a powder keg? And yet here we are, living in the afterwards. Amarillo.

M: Precisely. Man’s constant inability to foresee the obvious dangers of his actions. Which is why I have spent quite a bit of time trying to see the ends of our own--how this place and its discovery will effect our world.

S: Sayin that like it’s always an accident.

M: Pardon?

S: Maybe they wanted it to happen. Yeah, they don’t see the rest of it coming. Not the Commonwealth or the riots or any of that, but the violence? The death? They wanted it. I saw em. I saw em want it.

M: I… I remember. Watching.

S: Everybody thinks they did.

M: What is your point, though? Beyond just remembering that awful day, I mean.

S: You wanna be friends.

M: With… ah. Yes, of course. Fighting would be wasteful. We don’t know this land and they do--they are useful to us, and we can in turn be useful to them. Exchange of ideas if nothing else, of culture and of fresh perspectives. And afterward, perhaps of labor and goods as any other section of society. Mankind would have a friend in a new world, and perhaps such a stablizing force as a junior partner would keep him in one piece. More importantly, he would have a rich new potential marketplace that would drive his own recovery and assertion of himself upon creation.

S: Like some kind of little brother.

M: Ha. Yes, I like the image. A kid brother. That works.

S: We’ll just help them along, like. Get em up to speed, get em goin, get em workin.

M: Yes, more or less. Eventually, once they’ve been uplifted after some time, we can begin trading on equal terms. Of course, that'll take some time...

S: After we let em get that far.

M: Ah, skepticism. Understandable. It would be in our best interest to do so. But I do see your point. I suppose that it is not foolproof. There is always the possibility of unprincipled men jamming the machine of progress. It is the human way, really. But you must see that it would be counterproductive, and that those of us who make inroads early will be able to shape the policy of our race as it encounters new worlds.

S: Pioneers. Not just now but later, right? You an me an others, all of us first generation folks havin the opinions that matter and sayin the important things. We’re the… whats-her-names. The indian lady with those two explorers.

M: Ha! Sacajawea. Yes, even more so than perhaps you realize. Lewis and Clark were excellent at many things, but she was perhaps the only reason they really were able to “explore” at all. Or stay alive much farther past the Mississippi.

S: Yeah.

M: But yes, you’ve grasped it I believe. We will frame what others see. We must frame it. It is the only way to ensure that our dealings here will profit mankind. And they will, because honestly they must. This is our answer. It has to be. With this, we can restore the America of yesterday. We can expand it beyond the confines of our world.

S: . And how are you going to frame it?

M: This is a land of treasures. It is beautiful and unsullied. Perhaps dangerous, but calm and orderly exploitation is possible. And you?

S: I’ll tell Doc about ponies. He’ll love them. He’ll want to talk to Zecora.

M: Heh. Having met the man, I agree.

S: You’ve given me a lot to think about. You read my file, right? It say anything about me beyond just where I been?

M: The Doctor’s notes on your surprising amount of knowledge, for one raised by the wastelands.

S: I read a lot. I’ve been thinking of a book in particular. Maybe I’ll tell you about it when next I see you. Call when you’ve got that exploit on the suit, ‘kay?

M: Will do. And Samantha… do think about these things in advance. We must do our best to guide the future in what ways we can. I think your bond with the natives will be invaluable and I assure you that it will make you an important woman in the days ahead, once we’ve rid ourselves of the Federal presence.

S: Yeah. Yeah, I wonder if you might not be on to something. Out.