"I love you," Alice declares.

"I am thoroughly impressed," says Bridget. "Anybody mind if I quit school and move to Mars?"

"Not me."

"I'm standing on a magic planet," Lazarus says happily.

"Whee!" says Bridget, and goes charging down the mountainside.

"Probably a good idea," Lazarus concurs. "Can I move to Mars? Actually, hold that thought, I should talk it over with Kolya first."

"Well, feel free, the both of you, if you'd like," Bella says. "Libby? Want a place here?"

"Eventually, yes," she says. "But I should probably stay on Earth for the time being. I have responsibilities."

"Fair enough. It's going to be possible to drive here, FYI. Big magic door and some manner of passkey system once I have immigration set up."

"Have you decided how you're going to introduce that notion to the various governments you will be providing with shiny new borders in unexpected places?"

"I'm thinking a system along the lines of 'move it if they complain, somebody will want the throughput and the economic boost'."

"That should be interesting."

"Yes. Yes it should," says Bella merrily. "Lazarus? What does Kolya have to say?"

"We're going to talk about it later," he says.

"Hi, Janine," says Bella. "I can teleport. Also, I have declared myself the Empress of Mars. Do you want to come live there?"

"Well, I put a palace on the moon, first, but then I decided the people of Earth might find it threatening if my empire was directly overhead. So I terraformed Mars. And put a city on it, which I now mean to populate. It is full of magic things. I decided not to be secretive about this, so you can see that Mars is terraformed if you happen to have access to a telescope that will show you that it's now green and blue instead of reddish."

"If magic is the kind of thing that lets people be Empress of Mars, why are you the first Martian empress I've heard about?"

"Wishes come in sizes. It takes the very biggest wishes to be Empress of Mars, and big wishes are both harder to get and less safe to use. Also, a surprising number of people don't want to be Empress of Mars."

"I don't want to be Empress of Mars," says Janine. "Do they need electrical engineers on Mars? Does anyone else live on Mars yet? How hard is it to go back and forth?"

"The basic appliances run on magic," Bella says. "The lighting, food replicators, and plumbing will all carry on behaving completely independent of any electrical work. However, if people want to have printers or white noise machines or electric razors on Mars, someone is going to have to install electricity. I am not going to do everything for my Martians, just ensure that it's basically livable even if they opt to be lazy. So yes. I think electrical engineers could be useful. I have a tower on Mars that I could claim to live in, but I also have the moon palace, this room, and both of my parents' houses to claim to live in, plus I don't actually need to sleep anymore, so I'm not sure if I can be said to live there. Bridget has decided to move there, though. I plan to make it possible to drive there, so people can bring their stuff, but I should warn you that I might have to move the border if the government complains, so it might go from being as easy as driving to the highway to being as easy as getting to Tokyo or Moscow."

"Then I think I might like to move to Mars when I am an electrical engineer, if at that time it is possible to get there without leaving the continent first."

"So not soon? Okay. Well, you're allowed to jump the queue when the time comes," Bella says. "Any other questions?"

"Does this mean you will not be attending Stanford anymore?"

"Yeah," Bella says. "There is no obvious point to continuing. I'll go formally drop out later today."

"Good luck with your empressing!" she says. "I will miss you!"

"I am going to have the internet there," Bella says. "We can write. Also, I am telepathic; want to be added to my telepathy network? We call it a 'brainphone'."

"How are you going to get the internet on Mars? What is brainphoning like?"

"By magic. And it's like talking, only without talking. Or there's a text channel."

"Then yes, I would like to be on the brainphone network, please."

[Hi,] says Bella.

[Oh!] says Janine. [That is interesting.]

[Isn't it? It comes in handy. Alice is also on here, and some people you don't know. If you don't want to take calls you can block them and put up a message for anyone who tries.]

[Well, that is convenient. Thank you!]

[You're welcome! I'm going to go drop out now. I've been rudely skipping classes without notice while I designed me a Mars.]

[I will inform you when it's driveable. Maybe we'll have tour buses set up.]

[A tour bus to Mars,] Janine muses. [My life just got really weird.]

[Everyone's did,] laughs Bella, and she opens the window and flies out of it.

Janine blinks after her for a moment, and then goes back to studying.

[Not with my whole brain. What's up?]

[If Kolya moves to Mars, will you ignore him whenever he has his power on?]

[...Wait, are you saying I'd have an option? My power beats his?]

[It's more likely than it isn't, I think. Did I not mention that before? Sorry.]

[It hasn't come up, no. Cool. How am I supposed to tell when his power's on, then?]

[More magic?] he suggests.

[All right. I'll ignore him when his power's on as long as he's not doing anything staggeringly inappropriate,] Bella says. [I have no idea if he's likely to or not, but it seems an important caveat.]

[Cool. You're still there, right? Kolya can walk there if he likes. The magic door in your building permits him now, and it goes to the moon palace and the moon palace has one to my tower.]

[Well, that's convenient. Thank you.]

[It does not! Are you still on Mars, that she found you and asked you?] Bella says. [Does she want to be on the brainphone?] Bella perfects the design and goes to fetch Tegu and drive it to Mars by way of testing.

[Yes and,] pause, [yes.]

Bella burns a hex to make the brainphone network modifiable by her without expending any further coins, and adds Bridget to the list. [Hullo,] she says to Bridget. She lands on her motorcycle to the bewilderment of onlookers and drives away.

[Hi! So, no calendar?]

[Nope! Unless NASA or whoever has one cooked up. Want the job?]

[Sure,] she says. [You know, I bet they have. I'll look it up and see if it's any good.]

[Has to be usable by people who live on the planet,] Bella reminds her. [And who may commute to or visit Earth.]

[Well, yeah, that's the idea. Luckily the day's not too far off,] she says. [Apparently the favourite scheme is to use hours, minutes, and seconds scaled up by 2.7%. Sound good?]

[Sounds fine to me. What're the terms for when you want to actually time something, like, I don't know, boiling pasta? Ignore it? 'Mars minutes' and 'Earth minutes'?]

[I think we can call them 'Mars minutes' and let casual usage figure itself out. Oh, and a Martian day is a sol.]

[Cool. I obviously had to magic up the temperature some, but I let exact temperature variation throughout seasons within livable ranges figure itself out, so those should correspond to the relevant astronomical phenomena.]

[Great. I'll be over here doing math, then.]

[Plenty. What do you need?]

[Nice big lot nearish -] She gives the address of a Starbucks within a stone's throw of the magic door. [On which zoning would be friendly to an office space of the sort relevant to processing applications to live on or do stuff on Mars. Possible I should have done this the other way around. I will when I make more. But there's random land around, I assume some of it's for sale.]

[Give me half an hour to make some calls,] she says agreeably. [Do you have the money to put into it, or should I cover that too?]

[Sure,] she says agreeably. [Does Star Empire currency have a name?]

[Nah,] says Alice. He is back in his lair and has just sat down to sew for a while. [Maybe later.]

[Asters,] says Libby. [That's my vote.]

[Nah, whatever,] says Alice.

[More or less, yeah. I say go for it.]

"I wasn't, a minute ago!" says Bella cheerily. "What kind of muffins?"

"Maple walnut."

"Delicious. Is Judith home?" Bella inquires. "I wanna tell you both something."

"She is, as a matter of fact! What kind of a something? You grab a muffin, I'll grab the lady of the house."

"A very big something," says Bella. "It may be hard to believe." She sidles in - not flying, restrainedly - and collects her muffin. Nom!

"Okay. You could drive there, but the magic door is in the Bay Area, so I'd have to teleport you there for a visit to be at all convenient," Bella says, flipping midair. "I should warn you, the sky isn't that butterscotch color anymore, I didn't like it and I wasn't sure what it'd do to the plants. My palace on the moon might be more convincing. It still looks pretty moony."

"Well, it's possible someone will take exception to me having declared myself the Empress of the Stars. I originally thought, well, obviously, moon palace, because that will cut collateral damage, but then I decided it wasn't a great idea to be directly overhead, so this is still here but the city I'm going to be operating much of the empire from is on Mars."

"And you declared yourself Empress of the Stars because...?"

"I thought it sounded nice? I hope it's obvious why I'd want to be any sort of empress."

"The only reason I'm coming up with here is 'because you can'."

"I can, and I don't think the world is being run adequately, so I'm going to supply an alternative," Bella says, unfloating to sit on the steps and look up at the Earth.

"That's nice of you," says Hilary. "So what kinds of things do your magical powers do besides levitation and moon palaces?"

"Whatever I want," Bella says. "They are wish-oriented powers. Have any wishes?"

"Fresh out," says Hilary. "What's this empire of yours going to be like?"

"I'm still working out some details, but do you want to see Olympus? That's the city on Mars. I put it on Olympus Mons."

"Sure," she says. "Gimme the grand tour."

"Thank you," says Bella brightly. "The ecosystem's a little simple - I figured as long as I was designing it from scratch, I didn't need parasites or predators, just enough scavengers that I don't have to make all the animals sterile and immortal. And of course I don't know about all the plants and animals that exist. So between those factors there's only a few hundred kinds of them, and a comparable number of plants. But that's not something the human eye notices immediately, and I can add stuff later."

"How are you planning to run the place?"

"There are magical laws operational over the whole planet, preventing people from getting up to too much mischief, and notifying me if they get up to medium-sized amounts," Bella says. "Me and a friend of mine are working on a personnel layer between me and everybody else who'll move in so I'm not stretched too thin." Pause. "Why, do you want a job?"

"No thanks," she says. "Got one already, remember?"

"Yes, but I don't know if housekeeping for Judith is what you want to do for the rest of your life," shrugs Bella. "If it is, more power to you."

"It keeps me busy. And paid. I do like getting paid."

"I plan to pay people who work for me," says Bella indignantly. "Just, you know, in Imperial Asters." (She is designing these in her head. She is considering making coins be a thing just because they can be so pretty.)

"Right," says Hilary. "Which are worth how much in existing currency?"

"Until there's enough in circulation and Mars is populated enough for me to decouple them, one to one for US dollars."

"Well, that's not terrible, I guess. Want to take me back home before Judith has too many conniptions?"

"Thank you," says Bella, dipping her head politely. "You can carry on calling me Bella if you prefer, though. Since you knew me before, and everything."

"Well, that's kind of you," says Judith. Hilary smiles and shakes her head.

"Also, unless you move to Mars, I am not your Empress particularly. I considered taking over the world, but this seemed less generally objectionable."

"No," she agrees, "but all the same, being polite to empresses is a good habit to have. Don't you think?"

"Yes, I suppose if I meet any others I'll try to be polite to them. I don't suppose you do want to move to Mars?"

"Surprisingly few people I have asked want to move to Mars. I suppose I'll have better luck asking among populations who'll find the free rent and the food replicators and the lack of utility bills compelling."

"Maybe you should lead with those next time," Hilary suggests.

"They'll feature prominently in the brochure," says Bella. In her head, she finishes the design of Imperial Asters. "Either of you wanna buy some Empire of the Stars currency against the possibility that its value will go up after I decouple the exchange rate?"

"What is the exchange rate?" asks Judith, who wasn't around for that part.

"A dollar to an aster, to start. I figure I'll sell half a trillion of them and then not make any more unless there seems to be a reason to."

"I'll give it a little more time," says Judith. "If the offer stays open, that is."

"Oh, probably it will," Bella says. "Unless I get a lot of speculators and it looks like there won't be any asters left for people who actually wish to move to Mars."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable to me," says Judith.

"I think so. Well. Unless there are further questions, I think I'll go down to Florida and try to figure out how to explain this matter to my mother."

With impeccable timing, Libby says, [I found some real estate that fits your specifications.]

[Your choices are bigger, closer, and half a million, or smaller, farther, and three hundred thousand. I'll take Bank of Mars either way.]

[Bigger enough. I'd go for it if I were you.]

[Done. Where do you want the paperwork?]

[The boring kind, and yes.]

[I'll get it there. Does the moon palace need a name? Does your tower on Mars have a name?]

[I don't, as it happens.]

[That's adorable,] says Libby. [Okay, paperwork incoming. Sign above the helpful little post-it notes, then the place is yours.]

[Nah, just keep it. The address should be in there somewhere.]

It is. Bella teleports there and surveys the place. [Have I got a height limit?]

[Not explicitly. Someone will probably be upset if you present an obstacle to aircraft.]

[I'll let her know,] says Libby. [You're delightfully productive for an empress, have I mentioned that recently?]

[I don't see what else the point would be,] Bella says, furrowing her eyebrows and wishing a number of attractive photographs of Martian locations into existence on her hard drive. She's started to use her coins almost like they're part of her body, like wishing is a native power of hers and not a tool she's wearing in quantity.

[And that is why I am helping you take over the world.]

[I've never tried,] she says merrily. [Give me, oh, two hours.]

[Excellent.] Bella's already got her own ISP on Mars so people can use their devices. She registers a slew of domains for various governmental purposes, puts up little flags and notices about what they'll be for later on most of them, and, on mars.eos, puts up the one she's currently working on. Nothing on it is innacurate, it just has a few "under construction" notices. She text-channels the URL to Libby. [Whaddaya think so far?]

[Very nice,] says Libby. [I like it. By the way, NASA is finally starting to believe the message you left in front of Spirit.]

[Do tell!] exclaims Bella. When she finishes the website, she's going to update the sign for them. [I bet they insisted on getting ordinary telescopes and checking to see if the planet had changed color first.]

[I don't know all the details, but yes, they did. After running an amazing number of diagnostics.]

[We're all moved in,] says Lazarus. [There's not much to do around here. Does your empire need a translator, by any chance?]

[Sure, why not. mars.eos here, let's have versions of that in some languages. Do you need any more languages?]

[I don't know all the languages in the world yet,] he says. [But I also don't know what all the languages in the world are... I can translate your website into all the ones I know, though, that'll keep me busy for a while.]

[Nice bank,] says Libby.

[We'll remember to ask you if he gets restless, then. Oh, you're paying me in advance, that's nice. Magic banks are my favourite banks.]

[Summon some cash,] Bella invites gleefully.

[Worryingly?] she laughs.

[Worryingly, as in, I have never previously been tempted to keep a fifty-dollar bill as a pet! It has stubby little wings, Bella. Stubby little wings! Because it is an origami ostrich!]

[It's an anti-counterfeit measure,] Bella says innocently. [I'd like to see anyone make convincing fake asters without magic.]

[People are going to collect these. You have a two-hundred-aster bill and I am going to end up socking my first one away in the Bank of Frequently Hugged Table Decorations, I just know it.]

[You think they're cute enough to interfere with their use as a currency?] Bella asks, concerned. [It's not like they're unique - everyone who has two hundred asters can make an identical swan.]

[Well, if someone wants to populate their shelves with an army of little five-aster ducks, that's their business. Not that I'm considering it, or anything.]

[I suppose that since the bank doesn't pay interest there's no reason for people not to store their slush fund in bird form,] Bella acknowledges.

[Exactly. Also, people who can't see magic probably don't find them quite as cute. They have such helpful, polite parameters!]

[I did expect that you'd like them,] giggles Bella. [The coins just glow on request. Is that cute too?]

[Less so, but yes. The penny is particularly endearing.]

[Why the penny?] Bella laughs. She starts working on the brochure version of her website so there can be a stack of them in the building.

[Because it's little, I think.]

[Fair enough. What language are you doing first, for the site?]

[French, why?]

[I haven't actually decided what language the next city will use. I suppose I could go with French.]

[All official documents in English and French is a Canadian habit. I'm going to do Russian next because that's the next one I learned.]

[I have a lot of pentagons that are no longer able to do anything but teach languages. Want some?]

[Yes!]

She sends him thirty. (She teleports to Mars, first, because squares don't have the range, and continues working on the brochure in the office in her tower.)

[Thank you!] he says happily.

Libby's promised immigration officer is there already, decorating her office.

"Hallo!" Bella says. "I brought you some brochures. We have a website now, too."

"Thank you!" she says. "You must be the empress. Is there anything I should know about immigration policy that's not covered in the literature? The job offer was short on details."

"I am," says Bella. "I'm trying to be fairly transparent, and what I have so far is all on the site and in the brochure - we can and will accommodate lots of people who need Mars, but we would also like a healthy proportion of particularly talented and ambitious people who will make it an interesting place to live. Lazarus was complaining that there's nothing to do there. I want that fixed, and I don't want to have to do everything myself. For Olympus, everyone has to speak English, but if you get applicants who don't, you can put them on waiting lists for other cities - keep me posted on what languages there's demand for." She drops five language pentagons on her desk. "In case you don't speak anything else yourself, these'll help with that, one language per, deploy as needed. I'll put you on the brainphone network." [Like so.] "Have you got a name, by the way?"

"Harriet," says the immigration officer. "Harriet Yu."

"Pleased to meet you. Any questions?"

"Not currently."

"All right. Do you want to get paid in asters or in dollars?" And, because she does not know this person personally, [Libby, how much am I paying Harriet?]

"As you like. I'm going to give you access to an account full of asters -" this has to be done manually; Harriet hasn't been to Mars - "and you can sell people asters out of it, one-to-one exchange with dollars till further notice. Take whatever form of payment you know how to get into a bank account for this office. No exchange fees unless there are transaction costs to us - credit card merchant fees or whatever. When you've put up your Craigslist ads or whatever and gotten this place more fully staffed let me know if that job's going to someone else. Let me know if you run out of asters."

"Sure," says Harriet. "That all sounds very reasonable."

"I try," says Bella. "Anybody you hire gets their choice of being paid in asters or dollars, too. If they don't visit Mars, then I need to set up aster accounts manually until I hire someone to run the bank." [Libby, I would like someone to run the bank for me.] "Benefits consist of being allowed to go to Mars even if they don't live there and take advantage of the services, which are going to include magic healthcare and already include free meals. If people want other stuff, we can talk." Bella decides she doesn't really want to hire medics; she's just going to install some health-artifacts. Since they will work instantly she doesn't imagine she'll need many.

"Yes, free magic healthcare." [They can work remotely if they like.]

Bella points out the window. "There, that tunnel in the parking lot. It takes you down to the parking structure if you or anyone in your vehicle are not allowed to go to Mars, or if you are not trying to visit Mars. Otherwise, it takes you through to a similar tunnel in Olympus. There are separate lanes and magic safety features to prevent this from doing anyone harm. Speaking of being allowed to visit Mars, I'm authorizing you to issue day passes. For reporters and suchlike. You can be quite free with the day passes. After 24 hours, if the bearer hasn't left, they'll be teleported safely back here. And it won't let them claim apartments or anything. But they can look around. We might do tour buses later." Bella conjures a big stack of red paper squares marked "DAY PASS TO MARS"; the magic door was already designed with this in mind.

"All right," says Harriet. "Are the passes per person?"

"Yep. I don't really care if someone swipes one without asking for themselves, but if someone takes a bunch, tell me. And as with the asters, let me know if you run out."

"Got it."

"Let's see..." Bella taps her foot, thinking. "Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Libby recommended you so I assume you're brilliant and worth paying attention to."

"Do the day passes show time remaining?"

"They do now," says Bella, patting the stack. "Oh, and the 24 hours are Mars hours, so it's a little longer than an Earth day." It occurs to her that she doesn't have any way for hotels to operate on Mars, considering that she doesn't let people claim too much space. She designates four apartment buildings around Olympus to be refitted by would-be hoteliers with the best bids.

"Some clocks that show Mars time would be handy," Harriet muses. "And a calendar, if calendars are available."

"I have someone working on the calendar." [How goes calendar-ing?] she asks Bridget. "Clocks I can do, how many do you want? What kinds?"

"A few as watches, a few for the walls... let's say five each," Harriet says. "If Mars ends up with a thriving tourism industry, Martian watches would be a good thing to sell at the gate."

[Pretty good!] says Bridget. [Do you want any input on the names of months and so forth? What year should be year zero?]

[The year's twice as long as Earth, so we get twenty-four twenty-eight-day months, with a little intercalary fudging to keep the equinox lined up. Arbitrary, but conveniently familiar.]

"Not in the clock business," says Harriet, looking at the clocks. "Right. Okay, I'll look into it."

"Sure," Harriet says agreeably. "The irony was entertaining, that's all."

[Trust me, when it comes to months, the moons of Mars are no help. And it's early spring.]

[If we move day one a little, there's a handy equinox to put it on,] says Bridget. [And I've got a list already; how do you feel about zodiac signs?]

"No, that's it for now," says Harriet. "Thank you. You're a very helpful empress."

[The creator of the calendar I'm working from named the months after the zodiac signs in Latin and Sanskrit.]

[Huh. What are the names? What's the calendar you're working from?]

[The Darian calendar. Sagittarius, Dhanus, Capricornus, Makara, Aquarius, Kumbha, Pisces, Mina, Aries, Mesha, Taurus, Rishabha, Gemini, Mithuna, Cancer, Karka, Leo, Simha, Virgo, Kanya, Kibra, Tula, Scorpius, Vrishika,] she rattles off.

[Let's tentatively go with that. How much would we have to move the start date to get an equinox for the first of Saggitarius? I would like day one to be a significant event.]

[Six days back,] she says.

[Enh, that's at least during when I was programming the procedure,] Bella says. [Let's do it.]

[In that case, you have a calendar. Oh, days of the week - Sol Solis, Sol Lunae, Sol Martis, Sol Mercurii, Sol Jovis, Sol Veneris, and Sol Saturni. Work for you, or would you prefer something less clunky?]

[Less clunky. I suppose just going with Monday, Tuesday, etcetera leads to awkward not-matching with Earth... Why were those names chosen, was there a rationale?]

[Going back to the Latin names for weekdays and replacing 'Dies' with 'Sol'.]

[Did the Romans seriously preface every mention of a day of the week with "Dies"? That's even worse. I'm tempted to do days named after the Latin names of the shapes the folding money folds into. But there's only six of those, and while Anatidae and Cygnus and some of the others sound all right, Struthio camelus doesn't lend itself. Hmm.]

[I don't know, I think Struthio is a perfectly good name for a weekday,] Bridget says cheerfully. [The odd one out is tougher. Then again, you could always make a seventh bill. What's the biggest denomination?]

[*200. I could do a *500, promote the *200 design so the swan is still the highest denomination, make the *200 bill something else. Put a picture of a beach... It can be a seagull. So then we have Anatidae for the duck, Strigidae for the owl, Trochilidae for the hummingbird, Struthio for the ostrich, Spheniscidae for the penguin, Laridae for the gull, and Cygnus for the swan.]

[People are going to have trouble with Spheniscidae,] Bridget predicts.

[Aptenodytes?] suggests Bella, narrowing down the penguin variety. [Or I could make it a pigeon and we can have a Columbidae.]

[Columbidae sounds much better, as much as I love penguins. My rule of thumb here is, is it easier or harder to spell than Wednesday? Harder is out.]

[Columbidae it is,] she says, editing the *100 bill.

[Great.]

[Lazarus thinks the bills are terribly cute, but he didn't mention the penguin specifically the way he did the ostrich, so perhaps he won't miss it overmuch.]

[Maybe the penguin can be a collectible,] she suggests. [Like a coin with a stamping error, or whatever.]

[I changed them all in one go,] says Bella. [Oh well.]

[Oh well,] Bridget agrees.

That seems to be that. [Any news from NASA?] Bella asks Libby idly.

[I think your note should maybe have specified that you're human,] says Libby.

[Well, that should stir things up a little.]

[I wonder if I should visit them. Or the UN, maybe. There are not really instructions on the Internet for how to start a Magic Space Nation.]

[I say let them come to you. More fun that way,] says Libby.

[What, and sit around on Mars waiting for them to put together an expedition? Or metaphorically by sending me a polite email?]

[I'm betting they're going to go the email route,] says Libby. [And I'm betting it won't be long.]

I have a few questions about your new empire, and something tells me it would be easier for you to arrange a diplomatic visit to me than the other way around. Do you have the time?

Pat Madison, President

Sure. Promise not to have anybody shoot at me if I teleport into your office? Because I'd find that upsetting,

[Congratulations,] Libby brainphones back. [Did she say anything interesting?]

[Wants a visit, has some questions. I've solicited a promise that the Secret Service won't gun me down if I appear.]

[That's always a good start.]

[Yes. I mean, I'd be fine, but it would be so impolite.]

Absolutely. Just as long as you warn us first, because it is the job of security people to be easily spooked by unexpected arrivals.

Is now good?

Yes it is.

Bella turns invisible first - just to be sure - and teleports and has a look around.

It's the President's office. It contains the President, sitting at her computer, and one security-ish-looking person.

"Do presidents call royalty by royal styles?" Bella asks curiously. "How do you address the Queen of England?"

"I am going to address you by your name, if you tell it to me," she says. "And you can call me Pat."

"Hi, Pat. I'm Bella. It's nice to meet you," says Bella, floating into the air and twirling. "I hope I haven't caused too many NASA folks and miscellaneous government officials heart attacks." Pause. "If I have literally put anyone in the hospital, I can fix that, but I'm finding people don't even faint when exposed to magic."

"Look at me, not fainting," Pat says agreeably. "As far as I know, there have been no Mars-related hospitalizations. But since you seem generally keen to make people's lives easier, would you like to talk about the shiny new national border you've given me in Palo Alto?"

"I can move it if you want," Bella shrugs. "It was just convenient. It doesn't work for any random person who might want to go to Mars. At a minimum they have to stop inside and ask Harriet for a day pass first. And there's only a handful of people on Mars right now who might use it the other direction. Although I suppose two of them are Canadian and you might want to look at their passports before they walk in for symbolic reasons, because Canadians are very threatening."

"There are not that many people who can teleport, at the moment," Bella says. "I mean, under their own power to arbitrary places. My city on Mars has a teleportation-based subway system but that probably doesn't bother you. I don't mind that much if you want to put up customs to harass people exiting Mars through the magic door; that seems like your prerogative. I am happy with the system I have regarding people visiting Mars."

"Well," says Pat. "We can handle this one after the fact just fine, but in future, it would be nice of you to let the appropriate people know before you set up the magic door, so they can make sure nobody gets through un-harassed. I'll come up with an appropriate person and have them email you."

"Sure. I expect any such emails would have been laughed off if I sent them yesterday," Bella points out.

"Times change," says Pat. "Sometimes rapidly."

"That they do. Did you have any other questions?"

"Plenty," says Pat. "Such as: are you planning to establish an official diplomatic presence in this country?"

"I haven't hired any ambassadors, but that sounds like something I'd want to do eventually."

"When you do, I'm sure there will be an appropriate person to talk to about that too."

"Excellent," says Bella. "You're very neighborly about this, I'm so glad."

"It seemed like the best option," she says.

Bella nods. "Yes. That doesn't mean everyone would take it."

"I'm good at that sort of thing. Which, ideally, is why I am sitting in this nice fancy office."

"It is quite a nice office." Bella is still floating. "What else should this meeting cover?"

"Trade agreements," Pat suggests. "It also occurs to me that we might do best to collaborate on any public announcements about your new empire. You look more legitimate if I agree you exist, and I look less ridiculous if you're there to be all demonstratively magical."

"I can show up and be magical in front of people a reasonable number of times, and claim the end of malaria and spam email and whatever else I get around to before these appearances," Bella says. "Regarding trade, Mars isn't producing much yet. Needs people in it first to be all entrepreneurial. That's why I put the door in the Bay Area."

"Smart empress," says Pat.

"Thank you."

"And we can always discuss trade again when your planet has some exports."

"Sure. Is that normally particularly complicated? I have wondered why trade is a thing that happens on the national level, instead of people just writing to businesses overseas saying 'mail me that and I will give you money'. I suppose things get taxed."

"Things do get taxed," says Pat. "Complicatedly, in some cases. Less so in others."

"I wasn't planning on having taxes at all," Bella muses.

"It's hard to run a government that way," Pat says mildly. "At least if it's the kind with employees that need paying."

"I wasn't planning on having no income. There are things I'm in a position to sell. For example: Immigrants to Mars are allowed to claim a relatively small amount of space - if someone wants a hotel, they need more than that, and I can sell the privilege."

"And you're probably not running out of planet anytime soon," Pat concedes.

"Planets," says Bella. "I'm just starting with Mars."

"Do you have some reasonable idea in mind for colonizing multiple planets in your lifetime, or are you also planning to become immortal?"

"Second thing," Bella says, grinning.

"Why not?" Bella says. "I'm magic. My magic didn't come with rules. I haven't quit aging yet because I'm not as old as I think I'd like to get, but I already regenerate from injury and any attempt by infectious agents to move in."

"You are definitely magic," says Pat. "That much is obvious."

"Yep," says Bella smugly.

Pat laughs.

"I plan to make immortality generally available to Martians but haven't figured out how to advertise it yet," Bella says conversationally.

"I feel like that's the kind of problem that will solve itself eventually," Pat muses. "I also feel like Mars would be a great place to retire to."

"I hope it will be a great place to live at any stage in one's life," Bella says. "So - how do you go about setting up press releases at which one might be magical?"

"You find someone whose job it is to do that kind of thing, and ask nicely," says Pat.

"Makes sense," Bella says. "How long does it normally take this person to do that?"

"Not that long. A day ot two should do it, since spontaneous empires aren't really an emergency."

"They could be if I weren't running it," Bella says.

"True," says Pat. "Friendly spontaneous empires then. Also, a word of advice: that sounded a little like a threat. I didn't think it was, but someone else might've."

"Noted," says Bella.

"Plenty of people are going to find you terrifying just on principle," she says. "It'll be better for everyone if you don't encourage them any more than you absolutely need to."

"Any other tips in that department?"

"Hire ambassadors," she suggests, half-smiling. "And PR people. Good PR makes the world go 'round."

"Oh, you're telepathic, too? Why am I not more surprised," says Pat.

"I am whatever I want to be," Bella explains.

"You are going to scare the hell out of people," Pat predicts.

"I am a benevolent nigh-omnipotent sorcerer-empress," says Bella in mock protest.

"Not everyone will believe that as easily as I do," says Pat.

"Why do you believe it, out of curiosity?" Bella inquires.

She grins wryly. "Pascal's wager."

Bella snorts. "I don't think the payoff grid is the same. I have never threatened to punish believing unkind things about me with eternal torment."

"No, but the basic point still works. You're demonstrably so much more powerful than anyone else in this solar system that not believing you when you claim to be benevolent isn't going to do me any good at all. Also, you're young enough that the idealism fits, and you haven't done anything to indicate you might not be as nice as you want people to think."

"Very friendly," Pat agrees. "And slightly unnerving."

"Everything's under control," says Bella.

"It never is."

"As close as I can make it," Bella shrugs.

"Nothing springs to mind. Want to be on the telepathy network?"

"I think that would be extremely convenient," she says, "thank you."

[Is she disposed towards banking? I imagine being a precog would give her an advantage as an anything, banker included.]

[She'd have fun,] Libby assures her.

[Sure,] Bella says. [She okay with being on the brainphone network?]

[Yep!]