Chapter 1: Once More, With Feeling!

“Over there!” I pointed, voice almost lost in the din of the construction site. “No, over there dammit.”

I shook my head as the two men stumbled, almost spilling the pallet of metal onto the ground. We were working with spools mostly, so it was no great loss, but winding them all again would be such a fucking chore. Still, even having metal wire would be such a massive boon, once we’d gotten the infrastructure in place to actually do anything with it.

I pinched my nose, trying to supress the headache growing behind my eyes. “Where’s my fucking coffee.” Joke’s on me, there’s no such thing as coffee in this world! Think, Via, Think! Why did you invent electricity before the french press?

“Get the carts back to the dock.” I waved a hand. “We’re running out of daylight.”

“Yeah, boss.” I waved him off. I hadn’t picked the name boss, but it had kinda stuck.

Well, more like my gang was all calling me that, and all the local villagers didn’t want to offend the new petty tyrant too much. I hope it helped that I brought them a new source of income and plenty of food, but mostly, it was that I told my boys (and girls) to keep their goddamn hands to themselves or so help me—

“Lady Via.”

I let out a long breath, smiling slightly as Rel pressed an earthenware cup of something herbal into my hands. “Thanks, Rel, you’re a lifesaver.”

The young woman ducked her head, tugging on the rim of her fedora. “It’s nothing, my lady.”

And yes, I did invent fedoras before I invented coffee. Cursing my own demented genius, I threw back the tea. “What’s the progress going like at the dock?”

I started walking, and Rel fell in step beside me. “It’s proceeding well within accepted limits. I wasn’t a shipwright, nor was anyone else that came with us… but we’re making do.”

We had a few people who knew how to hammer a pier together if nothing else, she meant. But really, that was all I needed.

“And the village?”

She paused, looking off to the side. “… Still tense.” Rel shrugged. “But less than they were the first week? You’ve been good on your word, Lady Via. That means a lot.”

I nodded. “I keep my promises.” Till all my debts were paid. I’d been racking up a fair few of those the last few months on this world.

I stepped to the side as a group of children rushed down the street, giggling playfully. One of the boys sketched a little bow, and I waved him off—more gently than I’d sent the workmen going, I’ll admit. I always had a soft spot for kids.

“This school system…”

“I won’t budge on it.” I said. “If nothing else, universal education, universal opportunity to excel is a human right as far as I’m concerned.”

Rel nodded.

“Look at me, preaching to the choir.” I sighed. “You had it even worse than I did.”

It really drove home how, despite the flaws I’d battled against for years, earth was a post-scarcity society in so many ways compared to this world. But then, if I were unable or unwilling to kill the good to save the perfect, I never would have been a villain in the first place.

“Tell the people worried about it that we will speak on the subject at the next town hall meeting.”

“It will be added to the list of topics for your next audience,” Rel said.

I growled. “Now that I thought we’d talked about already.”

Rel smiled. It was a sly one that she’d picked up from Electra no doubt, the kind of half-smirk that said ‘I know more than you.’ “Yes, my lady, we’ve talked about it.”

“And there’s a reason we’re calling them town halls, dammit. There has to be a velvet glove to go with the iron fist here, Rel.”

Relia shrugged. “You told me to, ah, focus group it? My Lady.” She shrugged. “People responded best to Public Audiences.”

I grumbled, finishing off my tea. “Never should have called myself Empress.”

Rel blinked. “What else would you be?”

“Oh I had a bunch of ideas.” I waved my hand in the air. Around us, the once small village of Ineir bustled with activity. I’d had plans, I’d had money, and most importantly, I’d had food enough to see us all through the winter, and so people got to work. “Black Cipher, Mechaness, the Techno Qu—” I pulled up short, just before a cart rolled across the intersection in front of us. “Gotta get those stupid traffic lights installed, and the roads paved before it snows.”

I groaned, pressing a hand to my face. “This is why I don’t do minions.” I spun, pointing at my ever-reliable right hand. “You did this to me.”

Rel simply bowed. “I am yours to command.”

“You’re such a sap.” I clapped her on the shoulder. “Now come on. We have places to be tonight.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“And I told you not to call me that.”

“Of course, Mistress.”

I held back another groan.

“You reward a girl for going above and beyond the call of duty one time…” I pretended not to notice Rel preening at my side, her fingers ghosting over the ornate silver bracelet I’d given her.

Some would call it a waste of silver. Me? I called it an investment into the most valuable coin of all.

Still, no matter how much I griped about the workload, there was something… captivating, about watching the city spin to my will. Around me, there were work crews—mostly women, as the men were still needed to tend to the fields as winter approached—digging holes, putting up posts, and as ever, running more and more wire through the air.

Let me tell you, finding something to use for insulation had been a bitch and a half, but luckily there was this demon with some strangely useful intestinal physiology—and no, I didn’t just cut up my demons for parts, that wouldn’t be economical.

At last, we made it to the river. The village, now quickly growing into the town of Ineir if I had anything to say about it, boasted a single river that ran along its southern border. Honestly, the river was probably the sole reason for its survival, cutting off the thick jungle and putting them on a trade route between Silverwall to the north and the Capital City of Corvander on the opposite side of the island’s isthmus.

Of course, just because it was a source of fish and irrigation for the city didn’t mean it couldn’t be used for so much more. Hell, they’d already had a water wheel when I got here.

“It’s come a long way.” Rel looked up at the much larger wheel house. The newly installed overshot wheel spun round merrily as the river gushed out to sea.

“Not hard.” I shrugged. “It was practically falling apart when we got here.” Really, reforming this entire village in less than a month would have looked like an impossible task, but many hands made light work.

Two Slythids, snakelike demons that loved nothing more than to lounge next to warm stones, opened the doors for us as we approached. I smiled.

I had the most hands of all.

Inside, of course, the water wheel couldn’t have looked more different. Gone was the millstone (though we’d set it up elsewhere for the time being), gone were the half rotted supports and drafty wooden walls.

In their place were stone walls, with masonry. The floor was tiled and leveled. The beams were varnished, and their connections sheathed in strong steel.

And of course, the piece de resistance, a massive spool of wire in the middle of the room, set around the world’s first, greatest, and grandest artificial magnet.

If we were being honest, this is what had taken most of my time.

“Okay, flip the connection!”

Luckily, I hadn’t been alone on this either.

Electra grinned from one of the catwalks, uncaring of the bare wire she was holding in her hand as two burly men manually spun a series of gears leading to a smaller ‘backup’ generator.

She lit up like a livewire, before diverting the current to another series of wires. I felt myself smile as another series of crude lightbulbs began to glow.

Electra, for all of her flaws as a person, did possess at least a rudimentary understanding of electricity, even if it was only because the PR team had forced her to take classes after she blew out an entire skyscraper’s power grid that one time.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. “We ready up there?”

Electra leaned against the railing as the generator whirred to a stop. “Empress! Yeah, we’re about done!” She looked back over her shoulder. “Whaddaya think, guys?”

“Looks good to me, ma’am.” The workman shifted. “Er, uh, yer majesty.”

I held back the urge to snap at him.

They’ll think it was because he didn’t address you properly, Via. And then they’ll all be calling you ‘your majesty’, and that would be even worse than ‘boss’.

“Hay que pena,” I muttered.

Rel leaned forward. “What was that, my lady?”

“Nothing.” I straightened with a grin. “Good work! Why don’t you join us up on the balcony?”

“Er, uh.” The first man glanced at his friend as Rel and I made our way up the stairs. “We couldn’ im-impose like—”

“Hey don’t sweat it!” Electra put one of them in a playful headlock. “Now c’mon, don’t you want to see what all the big fuss was about?”

The two looked torn, but it was clear they were curious. I’d only given basic explanations of what I was doing, after all. Enough to show its value, but still, to see it in person?

I waved them after me. “It’s a special occasion, after all.”

We emerged onto the stone balcony overlooking the village of Ineir just as the sun began to sink below the horizon. On this, the western shores of the island republic of Vecorvia, the sunset painted the ocean in brilliant chromas of purple and scarlet.

Below, the shadows had begun to lengthen, the air just now starting to cool. I picked out Dee and Dum at the edge of the town square, herding people into it. I quirked my lip when I saw that the entire village had more or less turned out to the mill.

“I said it wasn’t mandatory.”

“Gimme a break, Em’” Electra socked me in the shoulder. “Everyone wants to see what’s up with this giant brick house you built instead of a palace.”

“Who needs a palace?” I tilted my head back. “Too many rooms.”

Electra just laughed.

I waited for the rest of the crowd to filter in, and they waited below, a sea of upturned faces waiting in the growing twilight.

Waiting for me to change the world.

“Everything ready below?” I asked.

“Yep!” Electra popped her lips. “We just did the last batch of tests, and general Tock was in charge of getting the wires together after.”

I smiled. “And my little robot is nothing if not punctual.”

“Yep.”

I nodded once, taking a deep breath. Usually, for occasions like this, I would go out of my way to prepare a speech. But this time, in this place, I decided that actions would speak far louder than words.

I turned to look at the two workmen that had accompanied us. Evandr and… Merz if I remembered correctly. “Would you two like to do the honors?”

They shared a glance, and I waved at the sturdy wooden lever just inside the door of the balcony. “Well, go on.” I smiled. “Let’s not keep everyone waiting.”

With one last nervous glance, they pulled the lever. There was a massive clunk that echoed up through the soles of my feet. The great gears behind me strained, taking up slack, before slowly, ponderously, beginning to turn. A whirr filled the air, something that you felt more as a prickling on your skin than heard. It grew louder and louder, into a hum that seemed to sing of a future we’d long since forgotten.

And then the night turned back into day.

The wires, the streetlamps, simple crude lightbulbs sitting on simple crude wooden poles, they were electrified.

First the square lit up, as voices started rising through the air. The darkness of the main road was peeled back by a wave of gentle golden light. Even though it was only one square and one road, it bathed the entire village in warmth.

The sun set on Vecorvia, but in the tiny village of Ineir, a new day had only just dawned.