Chapter 47

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Finally, president Odonnell met with Nicolae Carpathia, secretary of state for the other world. It was across the stars, through closed circuit television. Carpathia's office was relatively bare, as was Odonnell's office for this virtual meeting.

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Carpathia: Thank you for agreeing to this meeting mr president.

Odonnell: My pleasure, I'd like us to get to know each other better.

Carpathia: I understand you have granted assylum to refugees from, our war.

Odonnell: These refugees have been granted assylum in Antarctica. Their sovereignty over this land had been recognized by the United Nations.

Carpathia: As you can imagine, my people do not have good relations with them. Please let them know that we have no desire to interfere with them. They are free to live their lives in peace.

Odonnell: That's suprising, given how they tell the story.

Carpathia: There's an expression in my world, perhaps it exists in your world as well. "There are three sides to a divorce, his side, her side, and the truth." Do you really believe than an armed conflict will have fewer than three sides?

Odonnell: Fair point. Please, tell me your version of events.

Carpathia: Very well. I was created from genetic material from at least two fathers, and a woman was impregnanted with me after pledging her allegiance to this cult. They thought I could bring peace and freedom to the world, that together we could make our world a paradise. Just as the master plan was coming to fruition, a rpture occurred, those who had pledged their allegiance to this "God" were swept into Heaven. We thought this was a good opportunity, that maybe he was finally letting us have the world and fleeing. But the militias refused to accept our authority, and we defended ourselves.

Odonnell: I heard you used nuclear weapons, destroyed entire cities.

Carpathia: To frighten the survivors into ending their terrorism. Maybe we went too far, but what can I say, war is hell. God continued to attack our world again, suppossedly to frighten people into pledging allegiance to him. It was war, and my side lose. Cast into Hell for eternity, or so they thought.

Odonnell: Yeah, I heard that Evil sprung you.

Carpathia: What you call Evil saved myself and so many others who wrongly cast into Hell. We retaliated, we did no more to them than they did to us. We have differences, perhaps we will never see eye to eye on certain things. But does that neccessarily mean we must be at war?

Odonnell: I don't know. I remember a time, when everyone was certain that America and the Soviet Union would inevitably be at war. But for all the extreme rhetoric the cooler heads and the diplomats prevailed, mostly.

Carpathia: Can't that happen again?

Odonnell: Perhaps. What is your proposal?

Carpathia: We can work out the specifics over time, but mainly I'd like for our two worlds to be at peace. Anyone would have the right to live in whichever world they so choose. Perhaps we can start with a diplomatic mission, you and yours can visit our world, see what it's really like.

Odonnell: Sounds like a plan.