Chapter 156
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Some of those that Blaine rescued came from a kingdom ruled by Randall Flagg. In his world Flagg had been born human, but achieved demonic power. He participated in lynchings with the Ku Kux Klan, and helped slaughter entire villages with the Viet Cong. After this world was ravaged by a plague, Flagg helped rebuild a world in Las Vegas. Somehow the God of this world allowed Flagg to hold power for a little while, then personally destroyed Vegas by setting off a nuclear bomb. In some ways Flagg could relate to Nicolae Carpathia, the antichrist of his world. Flagg had a problm with Gardner taking his people away, the man got all of his strength by people worshiping him. They had agreed to mediation, Carpathia was here as a mediator. Flagg hoped that Carpathia would be more sympathetic to his side, but feared that war between their kingdoms would lead to him losing his followers. This was a peace summit in Hell, their respective "queens" came as well. When Gardner plotted his military coup, he had two mistresses. One was Wynter, the head of a defense contractor. He had promised to make Wynter the first lady of their Ark. But then his other mistress made Gardner believe that Wynter was secretly plotting against them, and he murdered her. As it was, their coup failed, and Gardner realized too late that he had trusted the wrong mistress. Flagg brought his queen, Nadine, the mother of his unborn child. But Nadine discovered that Flagg never intended to survive childbirth, she killed herself before giving birth, killing their son as well. Despite their past histories, Gardner and Wynter had reconciled, as had Nadine and Flagg. The two women talked while Gardner spoke with Flagg, and Carpathia was here to help with negotiations. It seemed that Carpathia had actual duties as secretary of state in Hell, such as settling internal disputes.
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Carpathia: Gentlemen, thank you both for coming. Now, if I understand correctly, Gardner took more than fifty of Flagg's citizens to Earth. Flagg wants these souls returned, or some form of compensation.
Gardner: I won't return them here. Do you know why I organized a military coup to overthrow president Gardner?
Flagg: Power, truley believing you knew what was best more than your elected leaders.
Gardner: Our society built Arks to survive the asteroid. But we always knew there would be enough resources for, at most, 2% of our population. Some tried to sieze these Arks, called themselves patriots, claimed they were starting a new country. It was really about survival, but they wrapped it up in their alleged cause. This led to America's second civil war. We won, and lost many of our own soldiers in the process. President Mason ended the war, in part, by promising lottery chances to these seccessionists if they surrendered.
Flagg: I'm sorry, you decided who would go into the Arks by lottery?
Gardner: Ten percent were chosen for their neccessary skills, doctors, farmers, engineers, and so forth. The other 90% were chosen were scheduled to be chosen in a random lottery. People earned more lottery chances by building the Arks, working to gather fuel in coal mines and oil fields, and so forth. Loyalist soldiers earned more chances, but the president was willing to give those traitors more chances. That I did not like, that the very men I had fought and died with were being left out, while traitors were being let in. That is why I organized the coup, so that these soldiers would be safe. We made some exceptions for collectivist doctors. To make a long story, slightly less long, when I give someone my word that I will protect them, I keep it.
Flagg: You say it like you're noble, but really you're just playing both sides. You want allies, in Antarctica, and here in Hell.
Carpathia: I'm sure that it's a little bit of both. Now, general Gardner, your allies gave you things for these souls, correct?
Gardner: Yes, we get weapons to defend our borders, and keep some of our citizens from leaving. We also get comforts, to make our citizens less likely to want to leave.
Flagg: I might be willing to let this slide, in exchange for some of these weapons and comforts. But what guarantee do I have that you won't "liberate" more of my citizens.
Gardner: I think we can work out specifics, more weapons and comforts for more people.
Carpathia: This sounds like a fair compromise. Perhaps, I can offer my services to help create a balance of this that is to be fair to both sides.
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Flagg and Gardner each nodded, then at Carpathia's urging they shook hands. It was unclear if they could really be long term allies, or avoid war forever. Still, for now at least they were willing to work together.