“Lady and gentlemen, this has to come off like clockwork,” I say. The planning meeting again consists of Al, Chin, and me plus Sean and Governor Algers.
“With Major Rufus’ help,” I begin, “we’ve picked three targets where we can make guest appearances and get a lot of exposure. Sean, I’ll let you describe those locations.”
“Thank you. First is the Founder’s Monument in Harmony. Since that’s the capital of Concordia, the strongest nation on this world and a main member of the xenophobe faction, Kull’s showing up there will demonstrate that ‘strong national will’ is not enough to stop him.
“The second is the Crimson Rock of Gonjiha, the most sacred site of Gontal, on the other side of the world both physically and culturally. Showing up there will wake up another large chunk of the world that this is their problem, too, not something remote.
“The third is the Water Gardens of Roger III, ancient, revered by the artistic community and a popular tourist destination, and far away from the other two.”
“Thanks, Sean. The key point is that Kull has to show up at all three locations—the same Kull. All the suits are being refurbished and detailed to look like Mary Mayking. We each make an appearance at the right time, down to the minute, then disappear so there’s no overlap. We play a canned speech of thirty seconds to a minute, or as much of it as we can; it’s more important to disappear on time than get the full speech played. Then we get smuggled back here to Verdant.
“This is a talking appearance, not Theater of Terror. Don’t shoot things up, and most important, don’t take hits yourself. If you get your suit marred, someone may wise up when they compare videos.
“Any questions?”
“It’s a pretty plan, Franky. No questions here,” says Al.
“OK, let’s make it happen. Chin, you get first appearance at the Gardens. Al, you appear next at the Gontal site, and I’ll do the finale at the Concordia Founder’s Monument.”