eement could not be expected to alter the world right away with no difficulties. Difficulty one? Extracting a dreadnaught from Universe Testament. Parking on the fountain Quircy Rau had brought along turned out to be impractical for the ship and career-ending for the fountain.

“In anticipation of such an eventuality, we requisitioned a quantity of fuel from Project Contrails so excessive that it would have made us look foolish if we had not needed it in the end. Now we look like geniuses. This is all very excellent.” Model Zero explained the Furious Galaxy method of Opuwa access to the locals, who responded with a bombardment of the indicated fuel supply.

“Next.”

“Check this out. You can record it, but playing that footage later is subject to fees and restrictions.” Mr. Linnell took his Legendary War Chronicles Cracked Orb of Mastery in one hand, his Cracked Orb of Mastery from Calamity Online in the other, and matched the edges to make a Complete Orb of He Already Left. Nothing could demonstrate the soulless corporate culture of Convergence/Divergence's Security faction more exactly than that.

“Where was the lovely assistant to prove there aren't any wires? Which doesn't mean anything because she's in on it?” A hunter from Afterschool Hunters said what everyone was thinking. Confidence in C/D's leadership hit an all-time low, prompting fears of a run on the market until the Underground half moved to restore stability by having 5* Gunner ALL=truism put on a show.

He called for a volunteer from the audience, and what luck that even though he blindfolded himself before he waded into the crowd he somehow put his hand on the shoulder of MIDORI, the 5* alt of Underground's main character, midori. Together they levitated, sank into the ground, pulled a string of memos tied together out of Vice President Lane's pocket, and escaped from the mind-bending Divergence Room before making their exit from the stage and the game as a whole by means of Cracked Orbs. Amid the cheers, hoots, and immoderate clapping, Lua circulated a petition to switch Commandment of Hero to the Cracked Orb standard while the flotilla of Universe Testament ships overhead opened all bays to release confetti cluster bombs.

When ALL=truism and MIDORI reappeared, the demand for an encore performance overwhelmed any objections they might have had to it in some alternate dimension where showmen are shy about showing off. Using that as a distraction, Eten resumed building a stadium, but a few missile salvos from above expressed the wish of the natives to retain control of their entertainment options. The first contact concert had to be held later in Styleful Happy!! To the Live instead, and though the promoters sent tickets to Universe Testament, none were used.

The concert attendees enjoyed the all-star lineup. With refreshed enthusiasm, they went to work on landing pads designed by the finest engineers to be capable of accommodating the big boys their new allies would bring over. “A Furious Galaxy pad, but bigger,” they suggested.

“That's a good start, but we'll need more detail,” Eten said.

Cantrell Uwendis entered a huddle with his fellows from a dozen games. “Three thousand times bigger,” he relayed, which satisfied Eten. The practiced Construction ministry slid into action, as did Furious Galaxy's Logistics and every employee on the Convergence/Divergence organizational chart who reported to someone who reported to Miss Hawkins, vice president of physical expansion. Those departments swelled in personnel and budget as leaders reviewed their organizations and made adjustments to stay lean and innovative, capable of meeting future challenges while exploiting past successes.

“That's how Mr. Linnell put it. I think he just likes firing people.” Quircy Rau addressed the non-Construction ministers and representatives of allies and tributaries in a side room of Always Leveling Titan's underground complex. A number of excavated rooms of various sizes had been made available for book clubs, birthday parties, and meetings of secret societies the sun would have wept to see on the ground above. A pool filled the bottom, since the residents estimated they had dug deep enough for any reasonable purpose to which they might put the area. Even moles stop somewhere.

“I want to try a different approach. Let's run down the list of ministries and decide what to do about them. Agree?” After waiting for objections, Quircy continued. “Exploring. We can't explore anywhere right now. Suspended, everybody go help Construction. Information Gathering. Well now. Anything we want to know, we can 'just ask.' It's a new era of 'comity!' You're 'abolished.' Did you all see those air quotes?” Inorrea Vacationer, Wruden Calx, Gaelvry Bride, Nimue, and Ruthven all winked, smirked, and made finger guns, though Lasva declared she would never stop gathering information, no matter what some jumped-up tyrant from Enzet had to say about it. “That's the spirit! Speaking of esprit de corps, Plundering. You guys seem tighter than, I don't know, some kind of simile. I'll suspend you for reassignment to Construction for now, but don't get too used to that job.” The sound Ivar, Fafnir, Asmodeus, and Youl Sandshaker made when they tried to clap resembled somebody who carried too much change around fishing in his pockets for his keys. The countless rings and bracelets they had accumulated testified to their skill, though not perhaps to their honesty.

“I love the energy, don't love the corruption, we'll discuss it later. Next is Planning. The good news is, we still need plans. The better news is, it isn't the kind of planning you guys do. You're all fired. Cantrell Uwendis is in charge now. Surt will join him, and we can fill in the rest later. Go bug Eten for something to do. Bye!”

“Bye, Quirce. I'll be in Climax Net if you need me.”

“As my final contribution, allow me to suggest you not publicize our firing. People will wonder why it took you so long. I expected to be dismissed long ago.” Gintus Pelluina bowed and left the room along with his fellow ministers.

After Michael closed the door when Smidgen failed in her attempt to do so, Quircy resumed the meeting. “I won't advertise that, and I definitely won't say out loud that I didn't fire them earlier because Gintus Pelluina intimidates me. Whoops! Looks like that'll be a Quircy secret between friends!” She winked at the council members, an act which required three winks for full coverage. “What else? Cataloguing. We still need that. For everybody who isn't fired, I got you a gift. Reach under your chair to find out what it is.”

With giggles and gasps they did so. What they found were hard hats. Quircy Rau had provided one for herself as well, and while standing she put it on. “Back to work, everybody!”

The other empires acted out scenes similar in result if not in content, with the result that almost the full manpower of that chunk of games applied its muscles and tools to finishing the landing facilities before Universe Testament withdrew its cooperation. Two-thirds paved. One-sixth erected hangers, control towers, and gantries. The last sixth spread glowsticks, light strands, and lanterns everywhere. Those had to go somewhere, and Always Leveling Titan's new pool ruined the possibility of dumping them in the hole, naming it the Abyss of Endless Oblivion, and fabricating spooky stories to tell the characters whome the various gachas would spit out later.

The workforce, energized and enormous, finished the project in more time than it took to decide an attack on Commandment of Hero was a bad idea but less than needed to convince your colleagues that factors other than your poor leadership and fightsmanship caused the debacle. Vice President Lane was still struggling with that one.

The representatives of the three empires posed in the center of the unreasonably huge paved area, shovels in hand, to signal the completion of the effort, as well as for a photo opportunity if anybody wished to take advantage of it. “You bet I do,” Lasva said as she elbowed her way past a Convergence/Divergence reporter more appreciative of the potential in developing a reputation for approachability, adaptability, and a cooperative spirit. Some critics might have floated the idea that elbowing, if sometimes necessary to push through a surging crowd in order to reach the military commander with information about the monster only you possess, could be considered excessive when competing with only one other person to ask questions. The other reporter claimed that very thing, but Lasva stuck to her principles. “What do you say to allegations that your sudden infrastructure kick is nothing but a way to distract from repeated failures regarding your stated policy of, and I quote, 'continual expansion,' end quote?”

“I'll field this one.” Quircy Rau released her sassy leaning-on-a-shovel pose, raised the aforementioned shovel, and yelled, “Hey! There's one now!” Nobody would have remained in ignorance of Universe Testament's approach without her exclamation, but it was nice to hear from her every now and then. The hamlet-sized incoming ships could not be missed, not when they cruised in the corridor between the ground and the terrible clouds, higher than a Climax Net superstar could jump but not so high as the typical altitude aircraft maintained, let alone spacecraft.

The chatter of waiting characters filled the air, which needed filling as the developers of Universe Testament had neglected to implement sounds for ships in atmospheric flight. Their silent glides might have seemed eerie if the noisy boys below ever shut up, but anyone who bet his life savings on that would have a sleepless night or two in the future.

The watchers cleared space for the first landing, a lot of space, more than that, not quite that much. Though its captain assured them only a portion of the star-crossing leviathan would touch ground, that sounded like the setup for a fun prank. Suspicious Sams backed up a little more than Trusting Tonies for that reason. How silly they felt when they saw the craft descend, slowly at first, slower later, and slowest of all in the seconds before the lowest rectangular portion of the hull made contact.

“Hurray!” everyone cheered, and then the floor broke.