Shifting Balance
The intercom on Winema Wazzo's desk buzzed.
"Urgent call for you on Line 1, Madam President," her secretary said.
"How urgent, Sheroff? I have a Security briefing in five minutes-"
"Top Priority, Ma'am."
There was a pause.
"And if you'll excuse me saying so, Ma'am- after taking this call I think your Security Council is going to have to rework all of their assumptions about the balance of power in the galaxy."
"Are you messing with me, Sheroff?" she asked after a moment's consideration.
"No, Madame President. I was being deadly serious."
"All right, then, Sheroff. But if you're wrong-"
"I know I'm not, Ma'am. Connecting you now."
Winema picked up the communicator.
"Hello, this is President Wazzo."
"Greetings, President Wazzo," a man said. "I am An-Sor Tre-Or, Head of State of Krypton."
The man paused.
"Actually, I suppose that is presumptuous of me. I am Mayor Tre-Or of Kandor, properly; but at this moment in time Kandor is the only Kryptonian city in existence. I fear that the entire sovereignty of Krypton has been reduced to a city-state."
Winema was speechless.
Tre-Or continued.
"We have only just been re-enlarged -and by the most unlikely persons, I must add- and I am sorry to say that we are rather behind the times. We called our sister peoples of Daxam, but they were curiously unresponsive. We eventually managed to hail one of your ships and were directed to contact you. Could you appraise us of the current state of the galaxy, at this time?"
He waited for her reply.
"President Wazzo?"
She attempted to rally her mind into something resembling coherent thought.
"Re-enlarged, you said?" she asked faintly.
"Yes," Tre-Or sighed. "We have been stuck under a glass dome these last thousand years, awaiting salvation. It arrived earlier today in a most unlikely form- our prodigal son, Kal-El, accompanied by a descendent of our old foe, Brainiac of Colu, and a few others-"
"Please excuse me for interrupting you like this," Winema said desperately. "Could I put you on hold for a few moments? I have something I must attend to."
"Of course, President Wazzo. I am quite content to wait. I know that running on city is hard enough. I cannot imagine all the things one must do to run an entire galaxy."
Winema held the communicator carefully at arm's length and made absolutely certain that she pressed the right button to put the man on hold. Then she typed in a number she'd memorized long ago.
Across the galaxy, a communicator buzzed.
Phantom Girl sighed at the familiar tone and dug it out.
"It's my Mom," she told the other Legionnaires in the room tiredly. "Let me see what she wants and then I'll be right back, okay?"
She phased through a few walls until she reached her temporary quarters. Then she answered the call.
"Hi, Mom. Yes, I'm doing fine; no, I haven't gotten myself hurt lately-"
"What in the name of all things holy have you people gone and done now?" her mother shrieked.
Phantom Girl quickly moved the communicator away from her ear.
"Mom-"
"I have the Mayor of Kandor on the other line, Tinya. Of Kandor. The capital of Krypton. Why is this?"
"Mom-"
"He says it's because Superman and Brainiac 5 showed up with some Legionnaires and un-shrunk the city!"
Her voice rose several octaves.
"They have been living under glass like- like a museum display for the last thousand years, Tinya! What could have possibly possessed you to have re-enlarged them now, when everyone already has so many things to deal with as it is?"
"MOM!" Tinya said forcefully. "I have no idea what you're talking about! Brainy and Superman and Shrinking Violet and Timber Wolf and Chameleon Boy and Lightning Lad are out chasing Imperiex. But if you give me a minute, I'll call, and ask, and tell you what's going on!"
"By all means do that, Tinya!"
She hung up.
Tinya put her communicator away and brought her flight ring up near her face.
"Hey Brainy?"
His face popped up after a moment.
'What do want, Phantom Girl?'
"My Mom just called and decided she needed to scream at me about something to do with shrunken bottle cities."
She watched him flinch.
"Care to explain?"
He looked a bit hunted.
'We followed Imperiex to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. He discovered the Bottle City of Kandor within and shrunk himself down to get inside-'
"Save it for my Mom, Brainy. Just call her and explain before she completely loses it."
She ended the call and phased back through the walls.
"Guess what I just found out."
The light on Sharoff's desk that indicated a call blinked.
He picked it up.
"This is the Office of the President of the United Planets-"
'This is Brainiac 5, of the Legion of Superheroes. I have just been indirectly ordered to call the President. Apparently, I owe her an explanation. Could you put me through, please?'
"Right away, Brainiac 5."
He put the communicator down and pressed the intercom button.
"Another call for you, Madame. It's Brainiac 5."
Winema had been working to get the communications rigged so she could talk to two people at once. Eventually she hit on the right combination of commands. Two screens popped up above her desk, angled so that anyone on the other side of one could see both the person behind the desk and the person on the other screen.
Tre-Or looked at her in surprise as she got her first look at him. He was old, hair gone completely grey. He was dressed distinctively, like she was, in what most people would call 'cultural costume'.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "You're Bgtzlan!"
He stopped himself.
"I meant no disrespect, Madame; it is just that the last time we were connected to the galaxy Bgtzl had withdrawn from foreign relations-"
"It's quite all right," she assured him. "Bgtzl is still quite a bit like that. I and my daughter, Tinya –she's a Legionnaire, like the people who visited you- are the only ones currently in this dimension."
"How interesting-"
"Hello?"
Brainiac 5 appeared on the other screen.
"Ah, Brainiac 5," Winema said, letting some of her discontent seep through into her voice. "So nice of you to join us."
"Hello, Madame President."
He shifted slightly to look at the other screen and said something that was probably a greeting in what she assumed was Kryptonian. At least, the mayor seemed to understand what he was saying. She could only pick out Tre-Or's name.
The man bowed slightly to him and responded in the same language. The Legionnaire seemed oddly embarrassed by this. She assumed it was something he said.
The two finished their short conversation and turned their attention back to her.
She looked squarely at Brainiac 5.
"Explain this to me."
He did, pausing only a few times to explain some concepts- primarily this 'Messenger', and how one changes the color of a star.
She got the feeling he was leaving something out.
Winema sat quietly for a moment and thought over what he did say.
"So now the capital of Krypton is sitting, full-scale, on an entirely barren, newly-reformed world?"
Brainiac nodded.
"Terraforming is most likely in order."
"Oh, can you do that within a reasonable time frame, now?" Tre-Or asked brightly.
"Certainly faster than was once possible," the Legionnaire conceded. "May I suggest you call Colu and ask for assistance?"
"Of course. You may offer whatever help you like. I shall do so right away."
Winema gave him a look while Tre-Or was busy off-screen getting a communications line open.
"What makes you think they will help?"
He smiled bitterly.
"Nothing. But they should at least be informed that Krypton has returned, should they not?"
Winema leaned back and waited for contact to be established. She wondered what had happened for Brainiac 5 to be so badly-dispositioned against his own people.
Tre-Or brought a comm-screen up to face the one he was currently using, fussing with it until he was sure all three of them could see it properly.
The screen winked for a moment and then a face that could be described as humanoid because of the placement of the features appeared.
She saw Brainiac 5 smile faintly.
"Greetings, Chancellor Alset."
The head didn't even turn.
"Brainiac 5," a cold metallic voice replied. It had undertones of femininity. "We of the Coluan Collective were not expecting to receive a call from Kandor."
Tre-Or seemed to be attempting to regain his composure.
"Neither was I, Chancellor," Winema said.
"Explain this."
Brainiac repeated his story for the Chancellor.
There was a silence as she seemed to mull it over.
"We shall send aid to Kandor," she said flatly. "You shall receive a call when the volunteers are ready to depart."
It had the finality of a parting message. Tre-Or interjected just before she could end the transmission.
"Excuse me, Chancellor- are all Coluans now as you and Brainiac 5?"
"We have found it to be a superior way of living."
Winema didn't miss the faint trace of discontent on the Legionnaire's face as the screen winked out. Perhaps not everyone agreed on that point?
Tre-Or moved to clear the blank screen away.
"I would also suggest calling Daxam again," he told the Kryptonian. "I can give you a proper number to call their Head of State, instead of simply sending out a general signal in hopes that it will be answered."
"That would be most welcome."
They spent another minute or so waiting until Daxam picked up.
Tre-Or rambled along brightly about Krypton's current situation and Daxam's own history as a colony of the planet. The person they had contacted seemed rather shell-shocked.
"You understand, of course," the Daxamite said. "That Daxam has its own share of pending difficulties to confront and overcome-"
"But what better use of someone's time could there be but to preserve life?" Brainiac 5 asked.
Winema glanced over at his screen. He had leaned back in his chair and steepled his hands in front of him, looking impassively at the Daxamite.
Tre-Or was the only one who missed the context inherent in the comment.
"But of course," the man said, rallying magnificently. "I shall bring the matter to the other officials and we will call you when we reach a satisfactory decision."
"That will be most acceptable," Tre-Or said, just before the screen went blank.
A commotion went up on the Kryptonian's side of the communication.
"Oh dear," he said, seeming slightly embarrassed. "It would appear that there is an urgent matter I must attend to. Shall I call you back later?"
"Why not let the President contact you?" Brainiac suggested. "She can return your call when a report about the last thousand years of galactic history and its bearing on the galaxy's current state is ready for your review."
"That is a wonderful idea," Tre-Or said gratefully. "Krypton thanks you deeply for your assistance."
The Legionnaire accepted the thanks with a gracious nod and the screen blipped out of existence as the mayor turned his attention to matters closer to home.
Winema looked at him critically.
"You were managing that man all through the conversation," she told him. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
He smiled.
"I assure you, I was not managing. I was offering advice. Those people have not been in contact with the galaxy for just over a thousand years, Madame President. In order to prevent them from falling into chaos and help them maintain order in their society, they need a bit of guidance to start in the right direction. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Legion matters to attend to."
Winema frowned at the space where his screen had been, turning Brainiac 5's words over in her mind.
They would bother her for the rest of the day, even as she attended innumerable emergency meetings about the sudden upset of the galaxy's status quo.