a city and a mint who sleep very little between them

[self_composed]

Bella bikes to the airport on Friday. She gets a little reading done on her flight, then sleeps-on-purpose through the remainder of the trip, waking up precisely when the plane touches down. One nice bonus that she didn't even explicitly build into the power is that she can sleep at will in virtually any position; she doesn't have to get comfy if that's not convenient.

She steps off the plane, backpack full of her things over her shoulders, and stalks into the halls of LaGuardia, eyes peeled for Libby.

Comments

[prima_sequentem]

"Boo is a bad plan," says Libby. "Presidency is not going to work, because no one is going to accept that you have the authority to call an election for president of the world in the first place, because you don't. Space Empress has a shot, depending how good your PR is, if you can get past the initial hurdle of people not wanting to move because no one they know lives in space. And knowing you, I bet there's going to be a little bit of Supergirl in whatever you end up doing anyway."

[edgeofyourseat]

"I want you to be Space Empress," says Alice.

[self_composed]

"I'm leaning Space Empress myself," Bella agrees. "Although Big Sistering deserves a little more thought. I don't have a great sense of what stars can do, yet. If I can make them make really sophisticated judgment calls according to really complicated algorithms..." She makes a face. "But then a lot of the system is awfully nontransparent."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Space Empress is cooler," says Alice.

[prima_sequentem]

"And I'm not sure you could really test the limits of a star's ability to do that kind of thing without just trying it, which I bet you don't want to do."

[self_composed]

"Yeah." Bella chews her lip. "I don't think there's a downside to Space Empressing. It's compatible with doing anything else on the list later. Could even give me the authority boost to declare an election, but you're probably right about that not being a good plan."

[prima_sequentem]

"Go for the Space Empress!" encourages Libby.

[self_composed]

Bella grins from ear to ear.

"All right. I think I will start with Mars; I feel like Earthlings might feel a little threatened if they knew me to be directly overhead. Automatic law enforcement, hmmm... need laws, first. This could take a while even at 12x. So first, something that has been bothering me..."

She snaps her fingers.

"Malaria has ceased to exist," she announces merrily. "That took a star, to get it all at once, but now it is gone and I will have to think of another example of things the world needs a magical empress to do."

[prima_sequentem]

"I like the way you operate."

[self_composed]

"I wonder how long it will take everyone to notice," Bella muses. "I should also decide if I'm going to continue to attend school."

[prima_sequentem]

"Is there anything you're getting from school that you can't get with magic or by becoming space empress?"

[self_composed]

"Potentially, some form of networking that will be useful later when I do Planetary Union or whatever I call it. If being friends with you strictly dominates attending Stanford for that purpose, do tell."

[prima_sequentem]

"You will meet different people through me than you will meet at Stanford," she says, "but I am a much better filter for usefulness."

[self_composed]

"I suppose it's also possible I'll have better credibility as Space Empress if I have some manner of formal credential," muses Bella. "Are you professory enough to award me any form of degree if I write you a dissertation in the next hour with pentagons and super-speed?"

[prima_sequentem]

"If you want a degree, I can get you a degree," says Libby. "If you want a legitimate degree, I can get you one of those too, but only in math."

[self_composed]

"I was thinking math, yeah, I don't think I can please most of the people who'd care what kind I have, because if I accumulate enough credentials to do that it's going to be obvious I 'cheated' and many of them would probably care, but it wouldn't be terribly difficult to placate the ones who just want a degree, any degree."

[prima_sequentem]

"Do some math, then," she says. "I'll handle the rest."

[self_composed]

"All right, that goes on the to-do list," Bella says, expending a pentagon and wiping the bad ideas from her magic whiteboard. "Space Empress" increases in font size, and she adds substeps:

- Terraform Mars (hide this to start? don't bother?)

- Write Martian Constitution and install relevant wards to enforce it

- Design Martian city with its expansion vector and choose and invite people to live in it (conceal that it is on Mars to start? don't bother? if yes, initial design will have to give way to final design; when?)

- Troubleshoot with small population until smooth, then up-to-double once a month

There is also a to-do list that does not appear under "Space Empress":

- Catalogue world magic

- Acquire staff

- Star versions of defense powers

Bella asks, "Do you happen to know... Is it possible to wish other coins constrained in what wishes they can make? If I wind up trusting someone to, I don't know, be the town immortality vendor, but don't quite trust them not to take their hexes home and use them for nefarious purposes, can I render hexes unable to do anything else but the authorized wishing?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Try it," says Alice.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby shrugs.

[self_composed]

Bella plays with coins for a few seconds. At length she reports, "A coin can limit another of the same size, and up to ten of the next size down. And a hundred of two sizes down, so now I have a whole lot of pentagons that are only good for languages."

[prima_sequentem]

"...I find it disconcerting how casually you throw around stars," says Libby.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice beams.

[self_composed]

Bella pats him on the head. "I'm sure he would be happy to show you how he throws around star-making," she says. "But you might or might not want to see."

[prima_sequentem]

"I'll pass, thanks."