Chapter 11 – Who's on First?
"This is surprising."
Intelligence agencies sharing data supposedly came "in vogue" after the tragedy of 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. In practice, governments remained as bureaucratic as ever…until a young woman with blonde hair showed up manifesting powers beyond understanding. All of the sudden, you might as well have had telephone wires crisscrossing the oceans.
"The United States picked up right away. I think seeing a character walk out of a movie screen and spray ice all over a prize tourist attraction might have gotten their attention."
It was quickly confirmed that while Florida had Elsa and Anna, Norway had Hans. The connections between the three were, in a word, too specific to write off as some ordinary citizen trying to talk their way into something cool—who just had a whole bunch of working cannons laying around? And then there was the matter of a small village in Norway that appeared to be slowly phasing into the past.
"I don't understand. Our top scientists have told us that every single thing we are seeing is impossible."
Nobody wanted to say it, but the Secretary of Defense finally let it out.
"Mr. President, if sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, what's to say this isn't, functionally speaking, magic?"
"We also have a village that no longer seems to realize it is in the twenty-first century" said the Prime Minister of Norway, connected via video-conferencing. "Every piece of technology not present in the mid-1800s disappears without a trace."
"Has anyone been harmed?" demanded the President.
"No, that is the strangest aspect of this" replied the Prime Minister. "Though things disappear, people are able to move about as they always have, except the building they step into might be something a great-great-great grandparent would recognize."
The Norwegian woman disappeared, replaced by photos that could have come from any history textbook. It was, remarked the President, odd to see such things in color and know they had not been processed or colorized since sepia was the predominant tone for what few photographs existed then.
"What about these three people?" she asked upon returning.
"My wife was disappointed that 'Frozen' was 'too young' for our children. I arranged family movie night and got a copy of it—for national security reasons of course." He chuckled. Yes, even the President of the United States remained aware that "security as a reason" wore quite thin, but was also willing to mock it.
"It appears we have the good guys and you have the bad" he finished.
"Assuming the movie is accurate" countered his Norwegian opposite. "Hans here claims that Elsa is actually the problem. He even asked if we had any unusual weather recently."
"Well, the internet did blame Elsa for this polar vortex we had…"
"…and Hans implied this was exactly the reason. A convergence between our worlds."
Several Cabinet secretaries looked at the video screen as if seeing it properly for the first time. The Prime Minister seemed far more willing to accept the fantastical.
"You're not seriously suggesting…"
"…that we take him at his word?" replied the incredulous PM. "Absolutely not. Unless Elsa has actually attacked anybody, I think he is simply trying to sow fear in order to gain allies."
"Certain domestic elements have received this rather badly" mused the US leader. "Some talk about a dark lady and the end of the world, but if she wants to take over she's doing a very bad job of it. The last update I received was her reunion with her sister at the Orlando Police Headquarters."
[…]
"Well, we've been in communication with Norway" harrumphed the Chief. He'd thought it best to minimize the number of new people communicating with the young women, especially the emotionally-fragile Elsa (who had been armchair-diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as a fictional character). "They say Hans is making all sorts of claims that you are going to take over the world, hold us hostage with your ice powers, or do something else evil."
The Chief's face suggested he found this notion absurd as the rule that would have barred Sasha and Liz's participation. Seeing the relationship between Anna and Elsa, combined with assuming (correctly) the movie got it right, he figured anyone approved by Anna would likely not upset Elsa.
"I don't know what to do" whispered Elsa quietly. "If what they said is true and Hans was invading Arendelle when he ended up here…"
"These people have planes, cars, and no pox!" said Anna reassuringly. "They have to have something!"
"But that's just it" objected Liz. "We don't! None of this makes any sense! We believe that you're real, your kingdom is real, and that you came here somehow. How to get you back where you belong is a complete dead end!"
"And what about Hans?" Anna pouted. "If he manages to convince people that Elsa is a problem…"
She stopped talking, but even in her Arendelle garb (helpfully washed at the hotel) her balled-up fists suggested she would not go down without fighting.
"What if it is magic?" asked a higher-pitched voice. "Like Elsa's snow?"
The snow in question had actually retreated significantly since the arrival of Anna, Sasha, and Liz. Chelsea took off her winter clothing, down to a jumper, and sat on Elsa's lap.
"The movie showed you doing magic without words or potions. Is it always like that?"
Elsa thought for a moment.
"Yes, it is. I just think, and things are."
"Then why don't you just think about going home?"
Feeling rather silly, Elsa shut her eyes and concentrated hard on Arendelle. Upon reopening them, she wasn't surprised to see the same faces she'd been conversing with moments ago.
"Okay, that didn't work. Next?" Anna tapped her foot impatiently.
"That doesn't rule out magic, though" insisted Sasha. "We may just be doing it wrong. It's lev-O-sa, not levio-SA…"
"At least nothing's exploded yet" remarked Liz. "You remember the next part of that scene…"