Museum Core Chapter 6: The New World

“Yeah, that’s it, I’m done,” Jaclyn said.

Or at least, that was what she wished she could say now, then throw up her hands in consternation and just … leave.

It was an impulse she’d felt many times before, throughout her career. Cases so horrible they shook her to the very core, made her question her very faith in humanity, but she’d always dealt with that situation the same way.

Stop paying attention to what she was feeling, and do her damn job, then deal with the emotional repercussions later.

Jaclyn had by no means been slouching up until this point, but now, she squared her shoulders, stood ramrod straight, and looked the orc straight in the eye.

Her conversation partner was utterly covered in furs, rune-covered cloths, with only her face exposed. At least Jaclyn assumed she was talking to a woman, based on appearance and their name.

… assuming that orcs even had such things as men and women. Or that they made those distinctions in language.

What she could see of them was a hard face, weathered and sun-beaten, with two gold-painted tusks jutting out of the corners of their mouth, reaching almost all the way up to the bottom of their nose. She’d ask after this, as politely as humanly possible.

“When will it happen?” Jaclyn asked.

There were countless more questions she wanted to ask, but this was the most important one. If they had time, she could ask more, later. If they didn’t, then she would ask what she could and get to work ASAP.

“The seeds of destruction were laid the second magic entered your world, but you have a few years, a decade, perhaps, to prevent it,” Gula said.

That … made a terrifying amount of sense. Magical alteration of the flow of time alone could create some serious problems. If part of the world started moving more slowly and the planet kept spinning, could the very Earth tear apart?

Not to mention that there were more effects at play than just temporal fuckery. The flow of time getting accelerated explained how plants grew in a matter of seconds, but that alone couldn’t have turned downtown London into a jungle. Plants came from somewhere, and she was pretty sure the seeds for those exotic-looking plants hadn’t been there when the streets had been built.

Which meant that those plants had either been created ex-nihilo, or those seeds had been placed there via magic. Either way, those were two very distinct magical effects she’d encountered in the span of a single trip through London. Who knew how many more were out there?

“And how will it happen?” she asked.

“Your world is beginning to fuse with others, overlapping, bringing foreign creatures here. Many are harmless, even friendly, but I can feel the presence of several beings of immense power in this world. The kinds of creatures who create legends whenever they move, who are used to scare children even millennia after they have left or died. You have until they acclimate to their new surroundings to prepare.”

Jaclyn winced at that, but it seemed the orc wasn’t done yet.

“In addition, access to this universe has been opened. My people are travelers by nature and were the first to come to this world alongside the Jungles of the Verdant Hell, but others will come, especially once the connections stabilize.”

Oh, hell, … on one hand, that sort-of explained matters. Why she was standing here, talking to a creature straight out of a fantasy novel, how a jungle could appear out of nowhere?

The big question now was just how powerful these things were, and what they were. Godzilla was imposing as hell, but against modern weapons, what could he really do? Even a modern destroyer packed a main gun that could accurately strike a target from almost 15 miles, capable of shredding a kaiju from well beyond where it could engage. And that was just the information that was publically available, who knew what destructive toys the military had hidden away?

Also, nukes existed, the ultima ratio of military responses. Well, unless the monsters in question were able to absorb the power, that was. So yes, if these things were strong enough to resist a nuclear blast or otherwise survive it, humanity was in trouble.

If nukes worked though, this situation should be fixable.

However, that wasn’t something she could really discuss with an orc she’d just met. She didn’t really want to explain everything about what a nuke was, and she also didn’t want to reveal what might end up being humanity’s ace in the hole when shit hit the fan.

So she changed the topic.

“And what do you hope to find here?” Jaclyn asked. It might not be the most polite thing to ask at the moment, but it was also what she needed to know right now.

Everyone had stuff they wanted. And if you knew what that stuff was, you could use that as the basis for negotiation. Or, you know, bribery and blackmail, though that most certainly wasn’t what she was aiming for.

And then, she desperately wanted to hear more about these Jungles of the Verdant Hell. Unless she missed her guess, she’d just gotten a name to put to the thing that had swallowed up most of central London.

“A refuge, possibly even a home. The multiverse is in upheaval, and my people aren’t well-liked at the best of times.” The orc explained, gesturing around at the camp.

That was … staggeringly upfront.

Jaclyn looked around, at the series of tents that had to have been constructed in the very short amount of time since the world had stopped making sense.

But the place wasn’t primitive, not in the slightest. She could see how they went together, with color-coded connectors that would make putting things together a piece of cake. Not to mention that there were several inconsistencies that were likely down to magic, such as the campfire that seemed to emanate from a single rock that never got any smaller or changed in any other way.

“This country does have a long history of cultural exchange.” She finally said. Sure, there were also plenty of assholes who had a huge problem with them, but in general, England was a very attractive place for asylum seekers. And chances were that the bosses upstairs were going to accept them for their magic.

“What are your society’s core values?” Gula asked, “I find that understanding what’s important to a culture is vital when it comes to negotiations.”

“On paper, we value democracy, the rule of law, respect, tolerance, and individual liberty,” Jaclyn said. God knew she’d heard the “What We Stand for” speech a million times before.

Gula nodded knowingly “That’s how the world works. You attempt to create a just world, and yet the king decapitates anyone who looks at him the wrong way.”

“Actually, he doesn’t,” Jaclyn said.

Gula raised a questioning eyebrow, so Jaclyn elaborated.

“A few months ago, someone threw eggs at the king. He isn’t allowed to come within five hundred meters of the king anymore or have eggs in public, and he had to do some community service.”

That particular news story had been worth a good chuckle.

“Is community service a metaphor?” Gula asked, looking thoroughly confused “Public torture for the amusement of the crowd, perhaps?”

Now, it was Jaclyn’s turn to gape “No, he just has to clean up garbage.”

Gula then started laughing “And I presume you fall short when it comes to the value of respect because some people use slurs and commit crimes against other species, Justice doesn’t work because sometimes the rich escape punishment? If your king cannot or will not execute someone who disrespects him, then you’re clearly doing something right.

“At the very least, you seem to be trying. So many civilizations boldly proclaim their values, then never make the slightest attempt at creating a society that caters to them.”

The orc gestured around at the camp “We value honesty, to not let disagreements fester and turn into problems.

“We value cooperation because together, we can do things that we couldn’t achieve on our own, no matter how difficult.

“For example, my people value self-improvement because the multiverse is an incredibly dangerous place, that would eventually kill any ordinary person who attempts to travel it.

“Yet some of my people still lie, cheat, and laze about. Just because a society isn’t the embodiment of its values doesn’t mean it’s failing to uphold them.”

That was an interesting way to put it. Jaclyn herself didn’t see things quite as optimistically, she’d seen too much crap for that.

But still, someone not getting immediately beheaded for chucking eggs at the king was quite an improvement over how things had been the last few hundred years.

“I think that maybe we’ve gotten a bit off track.” Jaclyn said “The world is ending, but you want to move here. Which there’s a way to avert the apocalypse.”

Declaring that with such confidence might have been a mistake, but quite frankly, this was the end of the world looming over her. Death for all of humanity, including her daughter, and that was, quite frankly, unacceptable. No matter how stubborn and unreasonable it made her look, no matter what it cost her, she would fight that rubbish to the bitter end.

“Yes. We of the Worldstrider Tribe will help humanity harness the System.”

What System? Magic? Some kind of Anime-esque martial arts thing? What in the blue blazes was that supposed to be?