Bundeskanzleramt Berlin

The chancellor's office was the same as before, the occupants were the same as in the meeting four weeks before and still things were very different. Olaf Scholz was obviously far more relaxed while Simone Peter as distraught as before.

"I do not want us to restore more of these things."
"Why not?"
"They are far too destructive. Haven`t you seen the pictures of the crash site? Looks like the moon`s surface."
"Yes, that tends to happen when you drop two kiloton KEW from orbit, especially when you use five of them. But I was told that the Marches of Madness were nothing to brag about before that and they did the job. Free of fallout by the way, so much better.
But if that bothers you so much, I am told that some of the weapons left by the Old Ones are considerably smaller. And of not we can make them from the debris in orbit. Not every threat uses such a big hammer."
"And that is part of the problem. It is so easy, so free of political risk, no risk to our glorious armed forces. Something pops up we do not like, or we do not understand or whatever and we drop a KEW on it or five. All problems look like nails when the only tool you have is a hammer, no?"

"So you do not like them and do not want to fund the program to acquire more of them?"
"Right you are."
"So many things you do not like. You do not like to fund armed forces that can do the job. You do not want the KEW that would make it easier to react to threats, and yes, this bloody world has threats enough and then some. You do not like the Empire`s steam locomotives but you do not want them to use more trucks. You do not like that the Reiksbund steps on the slave trade but you do not like slave trading either. One of these days you should make a list of things you like and try to assign the resources realistically needed to achieve them. That would contrast quite nicely with stating only what you do not like."

In the end the Greens stayed in the coalition, anything else would have been political suicide. Three of their members of parliament left and stayed independent till the end of the legislature period. The traffic light coalition still had a majority but it was extremely small. They made do with some nice infrastructure programs in the new territories, that allowed the representatives from those areas to vote with the government when needed.

Main Market, Weijin, Cathay

For the Chinese-born Germans among the table tennis players and team staff, visiting Weijin again was the most bizarre experience of their lives. Being suddenly ripped away from Earth into a realm out of a fantasy novel, meeting another variant of Germans was of equal strangeness, no doubt, but unlike the born Germans they knew exactly what China was like.

And the capital of Cathay made it clear to them regularly that it was different way beyond technological differences. The German and Chinese languages might each share a vast dialect continuum, sometimes with barely mutual understandability, but hearing Cathayan took the cake. Speaking with the natives was fine, then suddenly without warning it became gibberish until returning to something the Earthers understood.

It seemed like a mix of Warhammer examples of Mandarin, Wu and Cantonese, maybe or probably some non-related Warhammer language mixed in. Still, on Earth this language would be listed among the Sino-Tibetan family, the markers were this clear.
The tribes who became the Empire had been related, so Reikspiel came out to be another variant of German, even if the language researchers´ heads were smoking when thinking about this parallel development. The probability for such parallel development was extremely small, nearly immeasurable, yet it happened not only with the Empire, Kislev, Bretonnia, Estalia, Tilea, Nippon and Cathay to take a few, were other cases.

But language alone was not the only reason to feel like looking at China through a trick mirror. Even this "skewed" China that Cathay was, was hard to see for Xiaona Shan. She had been the one among the table tennis team who had the worst Weltensprung. At the day of the world-shaking event, she had been visiting her parents in Anshan. They were sitting in a restaurant, eating and talking, having a good time, when the rainbow light blotted out all sight. When the light receded, Xiaona found herself, unsurprisingly disoriented, at home in her flat several thousand kilometers further west and as it would come out later, a universe away.

Just 4 years ago she had had contact with her family on Earth again. For those "displaced" with family left on Earth, part of the sending time during the few data-exchanges was reserved. They could pre-record messages which would be given to their loved ones.
Those on Earth would record messages which went out with the stuff from Earth to Germany.

Castle Wolfenfels, Sigmarstag 27 Vorhexen, 2530

The view from the Donjon was superb as always. A full Mannslieb and a canopy of stars illuminated a landscape clad in virgin snow. Well, as much virgin as Heinrich and Wolfgang, Nathan`s twins had left while they learned how to make a snowman. They were safely asleep together with Ermine while Nathan enjoyed the clear cold air and the view. The stars looked different from down here, they twinkled and there were fewer and still they were a grand sight that would never tire for him.

His musings were interrupted by the creaking of the heavy door that led to the donjon`s parapet and slow, heavy steps were muted by the snow. He had anticipated this, actually he had gone here to make an opportunity. The smell of oiled leather, a hint of beer and of old man stated that he was correct. He did not want to start things and both men watched the sky in amicable silence. It lasted till a warm yellow light rose above the horizon, crossing the sky with a speed unmatched by any other celestial object. The "Kopernicus" soace station was well visible from the ground.

"So you will go back up there, right?"
"Yes Heinrich, I will. The place will change a lot in the next years and if I want to be part of that I need to go again."
"So your promotion came because of that?"
"In part. They would have promoted me anyway after that fracas with the KEW, but if I would have said "no" they would have found me a desk to fly."
"So what will you do with the place?"
"Oh, we get another, bigger, inflatable dock and a second gravwheel. There will be more people up there, far more, and we will start building more things there instead of bringing them up from down here. We will build a couple of new ships, and at least another warship."

"And all of that because of these, how did you call them, Quewe?"
"KEW. Yes, they are that powerful. One of them you destroy this castle and a couple of kilometers around it. It would do all of that without poisoning the ground. Yes, the Reiksbund wants these very much, but this is only part of it. We will start bringing something off Mannslieb that will power the new fusion plants we build. And last not least we will have at least one dedicated warship as we learned you have to be ready for everything. "

"Ermine told me you asked her before you decided to take that position. Remarkable."
"It is the German way."
"One of those newfangled things I am not so sure about."
"With Ermine there would be few other ways. She fell quite close to the tree."
"Ha, you never met her mother, but you are right there. Doesn`t matter. Still, we need to talk a bit."
"Thought so."
"Yes, you did."

Nathan turned to face Baron Heinrich. The light might be good enough to see the landscape but left his father-in-law`s face a bit obscure. That was a blessing all in as age had finally managed to catch up with Wolfenfels` ruler. That he was still alive was due to the German doctor who had diagnosed the diabetes in time to save his life. He had not been there in time to keep the illness from wrecking too much of the Baron`s body. He had been a powerful, stout man before and now he was slow, weak and his eyesight had declined badly.

"Ermine`s place is at your side, or at least as close as possible. She told me that much and this is just right and proper."
"Yes, I am a lucky man."
"Which brings me to the point. My time in this world is limited and I have to think about what comes next."
"Don`t say so Heinrich."
„Shut up you..ah thanks Nathan. But we both know that facts can only be ignored for so long. I am happy Nathan, my realm is in a much better shape than it ever was and the prospects are good. My daughter is married well and you two bring up great grandkids. The thing that vexes me is what will happen when I am with Morrs. You will not take up my mantle, that much we both know, and while Ermine could she wants to be at your side. So what will I do?"

"I do not know."
"The proper thing I hope. When this winter is over the craftsmen will erect a summer residence close to Radebruch, at Rad, that is ten kilometers south of here. I think it will be very nice and it will be Ermine`s and yours. I will set up a fund for the twins, to be used for their education."
"That is very generous."
"No it is not. I will finally do what I should have done many years ago. Wolfgang may have been borne on the wrong side of the sheets but he is my son. And he did a spectacular job in managing the fiefdom. I will adopt him and he will be the new Baron Wolfenfels, I am sorry Nathan."
"Don`t be sorry Heinrich. This really is the right way."
"Then let us get inside, my old bones are cold enough as they are. I happen to have a bottle of obstler that is made for this occasion."

Battle Barge Ragnarök, 120 Light Years from Medrengard, Ouiet Zone inside the Eye of Terror

The room was a study in epic Nordic fantasy-wooden benches and tables roughly done from sturdy wood, furs that covered a wall to protect from non-existent drafts, lights that flickered a bit and a high ceiling blackened by smoke. Some of the bits were real, like the furniture, some window-dressing like the flickering lights and some mere holograms as the room was far lower than it seemed. The beings around the table fit right into the setting, larger than life and looking like consummate warriors armed with impregnable armor and legendary weapons. They were real, no window-dressing was necessary to make looks match reality. The soldiers in this room were every bit as capable and dangerous as they appeared.

All of them watched a high-resolution hologram that appeared above the table between them. It showed a vast, red, malevolent wound in the fabric of rational space. A dome-shaped black region of blackness blotted about 1/6th of that wound and held a multitude of multicolored light. The lights closest to the border of the dome blinked in a deep red.

The beings around the table were of very different sizes. The smallest were simply tall humans who stood in the shadow of their Space Marine brethren. All were dwarfed by the mountain of a man who sat at the table`s end. It was that giant who spoke first.

"So it is confirmed then, the Quiet Zone is collapsing again?"
"Yes Patriarch, the scouts have brought proof enough. The borders of the zone retreat ever since the astropaths report that the "scream" is gone."
"So it finally died. Funny, father predicted that it would last longer."
"What died?"
"The thing inside the Runefyhre. Don`t ask. Do we know how fast the zone is shrinking now?"
"As might be expected it is not even. In some regions it is roughly speed of light, in others huge regions turn from normal space into madness in hours. If things remain as they are currently the Zone of Quiet will be gone in 20 years, maybe a bit later."

"So need to pull back from the border and soon. Give me a list of priority targets we can still reasonably hit and I`ll have a look at it. And Lorgan?"
"Yes?"
"When we evac the Imperial Guard make sure that we have an escort of our own nearby. I have heard what the Inquisition did on Armageddon and there won`t be a repeat on my watch."
"The Inquisition will still want to have a look at those troops for signs of corruption."
"They can do that at a place of our choosing, why not take Hakon IV, we use it for resupply anyway. But nobody will kill father`s soldiers wholesale because they might have seen something, not while I am alive"
"This will look bad Leman."
"Why?"
ause it will allow the Inquisition to claim we, the Space Wolves, build up our own power base."
"Nonsense."

"You know it and I know it, they will probably know it but paranoia is their middle name and they resent us for a long time. And put yourself in the shoes of a High Lord or the Ultramarines. We now have a chapter fleet second to none, we trained and equipped a lot of regiments that are Imperial Guard in name only and control now what-21 planets. This is a small Empire and that the way we run things is often cited as the better way is not winning us any friends with the Administratium. I`d normally tell them to fuck a Kraken but the level of interference we face is rising to bothersome levels."

"I`ll take it to father then."
"You do that if you are sure that he sees things your way. He has a certain history of treating the troops he no longer needs like shit."
"He and me had that little chat already, about some other poor schmucks. As long as we do not cripple the ops we are fine."
"From your mouth to the Emperor`s ear."
"Exactly."

"Satt" (Full), restaurant in Berlin, Brunntag 10 Nachhexen 2531

The Halfling-run restaurant was one of the more popular and upscale of its kind. It was a far cry from the many street vendors who had replaced more than a few Döner stalls or Currywurst snacks that had been the main staple of street food in Germany. Their stews were delicious no matter if sold on a treated paper plate or on nice china. The Halflings were still trying to learn why so many of their customers seemed to like "vegan" stew when one could have as much pork or chicken to their hearts content. They were certainly not arguing though, when the money was right so certainly was the customer.

"Satt" was one of Berlin`s in-places and offered a wide range of cuisine. Their signature dishes were several stews which were mouthwatering good. Frank Horch had another spoon full of pork, creamy sauce and mushrooms while managing not to think about how many additional minutes of jogging would be needed to remove the calories he just enjoyed. Instead he watched Katja Suding, Martin Zeil and Tarik al-Wazir work themselves through their dinner.

All of them were not the main dealers and wheelers of their parties, but none of them was far from the seat of power. Unlikely as it would have seemed before the Weltensprung the four of them had found a certain respect for each other. They were able to exchange ideas far more freely than their more famous superiors who were under closer scrutiny and their meetings influenced important decisions more than once. They were known as the "Eintopf-Connection" (Stew Connection) by those in the know.
It fell to Martin Zeil of the CSU to open the conversation as his plate was empty first. A diet that included pork knuckles and Bavarian sausages probably helped with that.

"So Frank, you said you had something interesting to share that might break the deadlock in our little discussion."
"Yes, I have. The team at the Otto-von-Guericke University at Magdeburg has finished a series of experiments. When they were done the results were declared confidential immediately, so I have to rely on everybody`s discretion here."
"Go ahead."
"You know it."
"You have my word."
"Thanks. Well then, some assistant professor got the bright idea to try whether the Nanites we have can separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238 with any degree of efficiency. Unfortunately, they had a pretty decent yield and with about 10 iterations they managed to achieve 90% U235."

"Fuck"
"Oh Lord."
"Err…"
Four people looked at each other, one of them embarrassed, the others trying to hide their amusement. Tarik al-Wazir of the Greens took the mantle.

"Martin, Uranium 238 and 235 are both Uranium Isotopes. As U-238 has a much longer half-life there is much more of it, by the tune of 99% or so. That is a good thing as U-235 has a tendency to go boom when provided with enough provocation. It is usually very hard to separate the two, needing huge parks of centrifuges that handle large amounts of one of the most toxic brews known to man. The energy requirements are huge and so is the required skill set needed to keep such a plant running. This is what kept nuclear weapons from most tin-pot dictatorships on Earth. If the Magdeburg guys have found a way to separate the two isotopes easily then this changes things considerably. Imagine one of the groups leaving Germany to erect their little kingdoms somewhere in this world with only a kilogram of nanites, they might have a nuke within a year or two. And if they would not have their "hosts" might. Druchii or Chaos Dwarfs with nukes, no thanks."

"You are unhappy with anybody having nukes, including us."
"Yes, I am. I am not sure this world is a better place as we have them, but this is neither here nor there. Potential enemies like Chaos or the slavers with them should be a nightmare even for you."
"They are, they are. It is just such a convenient excuse for you two to keep the Nanites under state control. This is what you like right, having the means of production in your hands instead of companies? I cannot believe we will ever achieve the full potential of the Nanites if we keep them in some state-owned company."
"Martin, I like free enterprise as much as you do, maybe a bit more. But even we two want to keep the means for making such weapons under control. With this the Nanites become far too dangerous to put them into the hands of companies unsupervised."

Katja Suding was a member of the "Freisinnigen", the most economy-friendly party represented at the table.

"Still very convenient."
"And still a fact I am afraid. And really Martin, we face a huge problem together with these bright new prospects and we will need a lot of money to solve it. Not to speak of the fact that even without the nuclear problem these Nanites are able to produce literally everything, including conventional explosives and weapons. And we already control the means to produce these."
"But still we keep these at privately owned enterprises."

"Yes we do. But really now Martin, face the facts. 27% of all workers in Germany manufacturing of some kind. Half again that work in health care. And guess what, lots of these jobs will become obsolete when the Nanites have reproduced sufficiently to supplant more conventional methods of production. And then what? Even if we follow your idea and just sell the Nanites for a good price this is a finite amount of cash and there will be many people out of a job. And while your buddies earn lots of money we have to finance the retraining, early retirement and simply basic income for a lot of people. And I am not too sure if the producers will be so very happy. To cite Henry Ford: Cars do not buy cars, people who earn good money do."

"So you want to go for a state-planned economy. That went so well in East Germany, didn`t it."
"No we do not want to go down that path. But we need to manage this, otherwise we face huge social problems and none of us want that. And remember, the people whom you will piss off might get access to some of these Nanites. If they program them right they do not need to make a nuke, they`ll just recycle you."
"You mulled that over already, so what`s your suggestion then Frank?"

"I have two and they might prove not to be mutually exclusive. First off I suggest that we transfer most of the production Nanites into a new company, jointly owned by the State and the Countries. If somebody wants to manufacture something with them he asks them and they do it. That way we can control the Nanites, the products and the prices and still keep things on a private enterprise basis. It works for the railroad or the Frankfurt airport, it should work for this. What it will not do is taking care of the medical Nanites and Tarik here would like to produce as local as possible so transport is less."

"And the Nanites recycle at least as good as they produce, let`s not forget that."
"And right you are Tarik. There is also the medical nanites and they open a can of worms potentially larger than the simple production ones."
"What about them?"
"For starters Hypatia was able to copy most functions of the ones found in the Amazon well and we all know how old they become, right?"
"No I do not know."

"Nobody does Katja. So far none of them is known to have died of old age. Given their environment that is not saying so much but some can become remarkably old. And they sure as hell need no dentist and none of them ever complained about things like cancer. So if this ever becomes widespread we can forget about the current pension system for starters. But that is not the really interesting news. The really interesting news is that the nanites can edit DNA, even on the fly."

"Does on the fly mean what I think it means?"
"Please keep quiet about this Martin, but yes it means that you can rewrite adult DNA. Want black hair, go for it. Want to grow a bit, it is possible. Burn fat easier so this lovely stew will not settle at the hips, easy. Want wings, probably doable if you do not want to fly. Want only blond, tall people around you? You can ask them to become that."
"Oh joy."

"Good news is that is pretty far away. Simply medical nanites will take ten years at least, the rest will take longer. But it will come and then this place and us will never be the same."
"Yes indeed. So what is your solution for that?"
"Medical one, no idea. About the rest best we could think up is only letting "neutered" Nanites out, they lack the capability to reproduce themselves. We can lease these out and provide their interface, with that we can limit what can be made with them. With the money we make from the leasing and the prices we set for production we can make sure the old industries do not vanish overnight. We can retrain people, we can pension some off early and we can lower the social security insurance rates so that people can work lower hours."
"So onwards to socialist paradise?"

"We will need to find a balance between the companies and the workers, otherwise things will go pear-shaped in short order. This is not the first time that new technology costs lots of jobs, ask any printer, farmer or typist about that. When the Nanites are ready they will replace so many jobs at the same time, the economy will not be able to absorb so many. And many of the jobs are well-paying blue-collar jobs. We tell them to go burger-flipping without any aid we will have problems. And given that we see this change coming and given that we see what is on the horizon we would do a piss-poor job if we do not do something. We will have to negotiate things for sure, but we cannot simply let things go without intervention. Even if we wanted to go full Adam Smith and trust the market it is too dangerous."

"These negotiations will be a beast and a half."
"Yes, of course. Have a better idea?"
"Yes, we order desert and a shot before we continue."
This suggestion was taken by acclamation.