Ten days had flown by since Diana visited Gaia. Their trip to Sweden had been fun, spent on exploring New Oslo the megacity where Gaia had moved most of the country's seven million superhumans.
Morning was dawning over Apokolips. The new imperial palace was a golden ziggurat with five stories. Its four terraces were decorated with flora from across the universe.
The top-level held the bed chambers, where the spouses were soundly asleep. Her arms were draped around him, and both faces had a faint smile. The silken duvet covered most of them.
Diana woke eventually and sat up. Her hair was messy, and weary eyes looked at their bedroom. She saw several doors now.
She looked at Darkseid, eventually seeing his eyes open.
"Good morning," he said casually, eyes briefly on her chest.
She smiled. "Good morning to you too. Now, what do you say to a bath to start the day?"
"I would like that," Darkseid replied, rising from the bed.
They went to the pool room - a relatively wide chamber with an immaculate-white marble floor and walls. Diana smiled as she walked into the heated water.
"Have you any particular ideas for today?" he asked blandly while immersing himself.
"A sector survey, and perhaps another trip to Vega," she replied. A long pause followed, then an idea occurred. "Perhaps we can begin conquering other universes." She felt a sense of deja-vu.
"The idea has merit," he agreed. "I will discuss it with Desaad later."
"Good. For now, let us just have fun," she said. Closing her eyes, she relaxed into the water.
The ship was currently parked in sector 1470 and empty space. A colorful starfield surrounded it in every direction... and for precision's sake, the closest inhabited planet was thirty light-years in the upward west direction.
Diana was seated in her bedroom at the ship's bow, smiling as she watched the stars through the wide window.
Eventually, she thought, "Maybe I should search this galaxy next week. Overlooked territory is only natural, on this scale."
Pausing the thought, she clicked a button on the left armrest's comms-panel. "Tell me the next system's name."
Four floors down, a handful of her minions read the name bars on the computer's galaxy map.
In her quarters, Diana heard the answer. "The Sazen system is all that remains in this galaxy, my queen."
"Sazen?" Diana thought. If she remembered right, that system was mostly harmless. "Return us to Apokolips, then."
The crew complied, and the Boom Tube soon flared to life. Once the ship had crossed through to the other star system, she picked her Mother Box up.
"I beseech you, open a Boom Tube to my home," Diana said. As always, the Mother Box read its user's mind to know the desired destination.
Over in Desaad's laboratory, the god of pain and a few assistants were busily brainstorming the details of this new endeavor. The Boom Tube's thunder rang out, interrupting his thoughts.
Desaad turned slightly to see the familiar concentric-circle portal and Diana's emergence.
"What progress have you made?" she asked promptly.
"We are still at the theory stage," Desaad said, smiling widely. "Breaching other universes should be as easy as modifying a Boom Tube generator. However, I would like a week at least for the testing stage."
"Alright, granted," Diana said indifferently. A moment passed in silence before she thought of something. "Once you complete a prototype, I want this project moved to some disposable planet for safety's sake."
"Understood," Desaad agreed. "Will that be all?"
Diana turned to leave without answering.
A week or so passed swiftly. Desaad and his subordinates like Justeen had continued researching the subject of interdimensional travel.
Diana had spent a day training, with four-point-seven kiloton weights and sparring matches on Tamaran, while Darkseid had been content to savor the fruits of their rule. At present, the rulers were in Desaad's laboratory.
"My lieges, I have made fascinating findings," he announced proudly. "The heart of the problem is knowledge, not power. The Boom Tubes can travel to other universes as they are."
Diana looked surprised at that declaration while Darkseid remained indifferent.
"We have traveled to other universes in order to gather data," he elaborated. "Our findings suggest that divergence theory is true. The parallel worlds correspond to past events."
"I see," Darkseid said, uninterested. "Has there been any signs of cosmic nonsense that could pose a problem? By that, I mean the likes of forces that respond to dimensional travel."
Diana smiled. "Amusing how that's a reasonable concern these days."
"Not from what I have seen so far," Desaad answered. "We will naturally continue our studies and observations, and I will notify you both personally if such things are discovered."
"Anyway, I assume that the other universes are very similar?" Diana asked, vaguely curious.
"Indeed, mistress," Desaad confirmed. "For example, one of the five known parallel worlds formed centuries ago, when Lord Darkseid refused the peace treaty with New Genesis. There seemed to be no major divergences."
Diana frowned. "I see."
She turned to leave, and her husband followed suit. No words passed between them as they made their way out of Desaad's place. Diana opened a Boom Tube to the Palace's fourth terrace.
They looked at one another for a moment, and Diana laughed. Darkseid gave a rare smile at that.
"You aren't excited about this project either, are you?" she asked him.
"I think not. This universe offers conquest without end, and what is the multiverse but more?" he asked rhetorically. "How odd that such an idea can seem trivial."
"True," she agreed, and silence followed. She couldn't think of anything else worth saying.
Diana put her hand on his cheek and leaned in for a kiss. Darkseid draped his arms around her in return, eventually breaking away.
Pleasant silence lingered in the air.
"I'll see you later," she said eventually and held her Mother Box up. The portal opened to sector 0052, accompanied by its signature thundering.
Diana saw a purple sky and blue sun on the other side. A city nestled within a verdant forest stretched beyond the western horizon, and a small pack of yellow birds flew on the left side.
She smiled and considered just enjoying the view. She soon heard a voice speak in accented Apokoliptian, "Greetings, Lady Diana," and turned to her right.
A humanoid with orange fur was looking calmly at her. "I assume you have come for the usual reason?"
"Yes, I have," Diana replied, simply.
"Well, I am pleased to say that all is well here," Kalta said. "In fact, we have plenty of lumber to spare if any world needs it."
Diana couldn't think of one. "I will keep that in mind." Silence followed. "Are you positive there is nothing else?"
"Quite, Lady Diana," he asserted.
Diana quickly opened another Boom Tube, to a nameless planet in the neighboring galaxy.
Sathe looked up from the round computer when she heard the Boom Tube sound. Diana looked straight at the lizard woman.
"How goes the day?" she asked promptly.
Sathe took a moment to compose herself. "It's been sharp flying, Lady Diana. We're just wrapping up the clean-up from a disaster last month."
Diana smiled slightly at the alien slang. "Good to hear. How are your resource levels?"
"They're steady," Sathe replied with certainty. "A delivery wouldn't hurt, but we can handle things."
"If memory serves, you had a criminal problem," Diana said, her smile growing. "Is that still going on?"
"I think you're thinking of another planet," Sathe said, voice laced with nervousness. "All in all, we're good."
"I see," Diana said indifferently. "In that case, I must be off."
The narrator decided to wrap things up here.
Diana opened another Boom Tube, this time to the planet Syarlis, and was soon finished there too. Her survey of the sector occupied most of that afternoon, taking her to three galaxies and eighty-seven planets. The regents of most worlds reported no trouble or scarcity. One of the few exceptions was a bird named Hoku, on Totega IV.
Once all visits had been paid, she returned to Apokolips and Darkseid. And so, this chapter was over.