Chapter 11 : Proton Dreams

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.

The Proton King hummed happily to himself as his sleigh sped through the New Year gap into the Christmas Passage and towards the Gateway into Autumn. Of course all Christmases were white in the Christmas Passage now and had been for quite some time. So perhaps he should create new words for the old tune? - something more appropriate for his new crusade…

I'm dreaming of a white Autumn, not like the ones you've ever known.

Yes, that was much better!

It was time to take personal charge of this campaign in the Autumn Country. He shifted the crown of sharp icicles which sat in a ring round his head like a crown of thorns. They were very cold; so cold in fact that the ice had morphed into a new allotrope which behaved more like stone. At that temperature it would have been impossible to sustain any chemical reaction which could support the speed of thought inside the Proton King's head. Fortunately, the Proton King didn't use chemistry to think. Where the Proton King originated there weren't enough atoms to do any chemistry anyway and the occasional wandering proton in the deep void was a jewel of rare price. The Proton King employed quantum vacuum fluctuations to manage his mind. In fact, his mind was only a pattern of quantum vacuum fluctuations and he had no need of all the riches of these myriad atomic particles in this weird gravity well. He still enjoyed them, though. And above all, he enjoyed controlling them - slowing them down and bringing them back to the pure state of absolute zero and absolute beauty. The icicle crown was just an affectation - something he wore for the sheer style of it. It was important to work with the local Laws of Form and the local Conventions when you couldn’t change them. Or at any rate couldn't change them yet.

The Stability Council was ready to fall. They had defended the Stable Worlds for a long time now, allowing them to grow fat, lazy and rich behind the Barriers. Now like some ancient mighty oak tree which has started to rot from within the Council stood waiting for the next storm to send them crashing to their death. The Proton King intended to be part of that storm. And he was less worried about the inevitable end of the Council than he was about his rivals for the feast of Realms to come.

The Silent Alliance had become strong and confident in the Twilight Realms. Dr. Jungle was expanding his sphere of influence. Saint Zero and the Prophets Of Infinity were terrorising a wide swath of Realms and had even established an outpost of the Church Of Integers on Quitheria II. According to sources he trusted Lady Lust had moved the base of her operations from Reshalion VIII to Jonah II.

Then there were the minor players; powers who couldn’t command the resources of the Great Patrons but who had to be watched in case they made dangerous alliances. The Ice Sisters had chewed up Lower Cattic and were looking for trouble again. Rumour had it that they had their eye on one of the Water Worlds. The Wild Knight had been reported on a dozen worlds. And who could say what the Old Techno-Gang were planning?

The acquisition of the Autumn Country was simply a wise investment for the future. It had been difficult to arrange for the Owner of the Autumn Country to be looking elsewhere when he chose to strike. The Owner would be furious but it would all be over by the time he could do anything about it. Quite a nice little move in the endless game of Clients and Patrons.

The Proton King was positioning himself for the coming conflict and ensuring that he had a secure base of operations closer to the primary routes into the Stable Worlds. After that, who knew what might happen? There were interesting times ahead, that much was certain…