He nods. "That's reasonable.

"I don't have any more questions, I think. Do you? Other than the one about how the Protectorate is organized."

"We need documents in order to be allowed to work, can the Protectorate help with that? And can Deskyl get her powers certified without having to go to the Protectorate building itself?"

"The Protectorate most certainly can help with both of those things. What sort of work are you interested in?"

"I can do most kinds of unskilled work, and Deskyl wants to reinvent some of the technology she's used to."

"Reinvent? That could be very useful and pay very well. She can get certified and we can get you both documents in no time. She will need to demonstrate her powers to get the certification, though."

"Yes, that's no problem."

"Very well. I can get her in contact with someone for her questions and we can schedule the certification testing by email."

"All right. I think that's everything -" She checks with Deskyl.

"Will they need a complete list of her abilities, or only the ones she wants to be certified to use?"

"Only the ones she wants to be certified to use."

She nods. "All right. We'll have that ready for them. Thank you for your help, sir."

"It was no problem."

And back they go. DZ has already put together a list of companies that might be interested in hiring Deskyl; she sends out a round of emails while they wait for the Protectorate to get back to them.

They get an email!

Hello! I believe you've expressed interest in being in contact with someone who can detail some things about the Protectorate? I could do that for you.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

As well as another more official-looking email asking for when it's best for them to schedule the power certification thing.

Daisy sends an email back, explaining again that they aren't used to empowered people being able to work together like the Protectorate does and asking how they manage it and what that means for Deskyl.

The second one gets a reply that they're free any time - afternoons and evenings are best - and a list of powers she'd like to have certified:

Thinker powers:
* Danger sense (threats to self only)
* Enhanced senses, all except hearing, 2-3x human baseline
* Emotion detection; range depends on strength of emotions, half-mile baseline up to planetwide in extreme cases
* Force-based extra sense, loosely vision-like but doesn't require light, baseline half-mile range, more with meditation and/or familiarity with the area
* Diagnostic health sense, 40' range

Brute powers:
* Telekinesis of self to enhance strength and durability
* Poison resistance, comprehensive, always on
* Protection against heat, cold, radiation, and similar environmental hazards
* Reduced physical needs, 1/3 to 1/5 human baseline; e.g. can function in a vacuum for 2-3 minutes

Shaker powers:
* Aura of poison resistance, comprehensive, 40' range (poisons metabolize quickly without affecting a protected person, but resume affecting them if they leave the aura before they're entirely metabolized)
* Aura of protection against heat, cold, and radiation; 50' range

Blaster powers:
* Lightning generation, regular and kinetic, strength varies with emotional state
* Telekinesis of objects, sight range, no size or weight limitation

Mover powers:
* Telekinesis of self, to enhance speed, jumping capability, etc; strength varies with emotional state, 3-4x human baseline when calm

Master powers:
* Emotion manipulation, aura or targeted; strength and range vary with emotional state, 40' baseline when calm

Striker powers:
* Personal-range lightning generation, regular and kinetic, strength varies with emotional state

I am not entirely sure what's the point of disconnect in expectation. Parahumans have worked together on Earth since they first appeared a few decades ago; how is it in your world, for me to have some basis of comparison, and why is it that way?

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

They want some details on the powers to better prepare the tests:

• What counts as a threat to self?
• In what ways are her senses enhanced?
• How fine are the emotion detection and manipulation? Can she give examples?
• How fine is the diagnostic health sense?
• How strong is the telekinesis of self?
• The protections against poison, heat, cold, and radiation are how comprehensive, exactly?
• Are the protection auras as comprehensive as the self powers?
• Can she detail the lightning generation further?
• How fine is the telekinesis of objects? Does it work on live beings?

What counts as a threat to self?

Any situation that would, if she failed to react to it, physically harm her.

In what ways are her senses enhanced?

Increased sensitivity, acuity, and clarity.

How fine are the emotion detection and manipulation? Can she give examples?

The level of detail she gets from emotion detection varies with her attention, and with her familiarity with and distance from the subject; it's not fundamentally different from mind-reading, and can be arbitrarily precise with enough focus. Casual use on strangers generally gives her about as much information as reading their body language would, if they were being entirely honest with their body language.

The emotion manipulation is much less fine-grained at her current skill level; the usual use of it is to inflict fear, as a warning, though she's also reasonably good at making people calm. Other emotions are easy for her to pick up, if there's call for them.

How fine is the diagnostic health sense?

She hasn't had an opportunity to test the limits of this, but expects that it works similarly to the emotion sense. She has an automatic sense of nearby peoples' general wellbeing even when she's not paying any particular attention, and will notice any significant physical complaints if she does pay any attention to an individual.

How strong is the telekinesis of self?

Strong enough that she can casually jump several stories; not strong enough to allow her to fly.

The protections against poison, heat, cold, and radiation are how comprehensive, exactly?

The radiation and poison protections are fairly comprehensive. The protections against heat and cold make environmental conditions that humans would find tolerable safe and comfortable instead; they won't protect against being set on fire, but will prevent heat stroke and frostbite. All of these protections only work on living things. She can allow specific drugs to work while blocking others, or to have only some of their usual effects, if she focuses on doing that.

Are the protection auras as comprehensive as the self powers?

Yes, with the noted exception in the case of the poison protection.

Can she detail the lightning generation further?

Probably; what would you like to know?

How fine is the telekinesis of objects? Does it work on live beings?

She has about as much dexterity with it as with her hands, at close range; at a distance, she's constrained by needing to see what she's doing. It does work on living things.

And to Flora:

I am not entirely sure what's the point of disconnect in expectation. Parahumans have worked together on Earth since they first appeared a few decades ago; how is it in your world, for me to have some basis of comparison, and why is it that way?

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

We aren't sure what the disconnect is either, though it seems to be a difference in both the nature of Sith compared to capes and in culture. Sith are more volatile than capes - though Deskyl is, as I've mentioned, an exceptionally calm Sith - and by nature bad at setting their own wants aside to cooperate with each other, and Sith culture doesn't encourage it. There aren't laws to speak of, for Sith; disagreements are traditionally resolved by duels, often to the death, and otherwise Sith do as they please, or as stronger Sith make them. Allies and coalitions aren't unheard of, but infighting and betrayal are common, and it's rare for unallied Sith to share a planet for any significant length of time without coming to blows. The most stable arrangement of Sith is a master and their apprentice or apprentices, and even then, it's practically traditional for a Sith who takes apprentices to eventually be killed by one.

Things are obviously very different here, but it's still strange to her to see powerful, volatile people working together, and she's not sure how you make that work in practice: How are disputes resolved? What kinds of threats or other escalations are used before or instead of violence, and what traditions do you have regarding them? Are there laws that she's expected to follow, and if so, what are they, and how are they enforced?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

Can she detail the lightning generation further?

Probably; what would you like to know?

It was described as both a striker and a blaster power. What's the range? Where is it generated? How much energy can it be used to generate? How many sources and/or points of contact are needed/used/possible?

These are the last questions and after they're answered a session can be scheduled.

Flora replies to her email, too:

We have a system of law that applies evenly to parahumans and non-parahumans, with some exceptions and added rules for parahumans in particular, since the system was created prior to their existence and had to be adapted to them. The fundamental final threat is violence, but the stepping stones involve formal intimations, fines, and incarceration. There is a special tinker-built prison with a very large number of security features that serves to house the most powerful and dangerous parahuman criminals. I am attaching to this email a text document with the basic information about law in the United States that we send to amnesiac parahumans.

Disputes are typically resolved amicably when at all possible. When it is not possible and the dispute does not have a clear winner in the law, it is possible to formally challenge someone to a legal dispute, and then legal specialists are hired to argue their clients' case and other legal specialists are also consulted to make a decision. Violence between civilians is typically only permitted when the aggressor is a member of law enforcement in the course of their job, in self-defense, in order to prevent further harm or worse violations of the law, or in particular to contain dangerous individuals. Some more cases and examples are covered in the document I am sending, but a full study of all specific edge cases would be very extensive because U.S. law relies by and large on precedent for those, and it is typically not necessary in order to live an ordinary (or parahuman) life.

I hope these were sufficient to clarify most of your doubts.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

She emails back about the lightning power. Deskyl can do it in two ways: the standard version, which acts much like a natural bolt of lightning starting at her hands and going where she directs it, and a personal-range version, which arcs within six to eight inches of her skin, wherever on her body she likes. The standard version becomes harder to control and tends to go to ground if it goes more than a few dozen feet, and it generates about as much energy as a natural lightning strike; in practical terms she can control two bolts at a time - one for each hand - and aim for either a specific object or a general area. The personal-range version is somewhat less powerful, but she has better fine control over it. Both can have a kinetic effect added, to push affected things away when they're hit or try to touch her; the advantage of this over using telekinesis separately is that it takes less of her attention. Neither is suitable for day-to-day power generation, though they could be used for that in an emergency.

And to Flora: 

That's very helpful, thank you.

Do you happen to know whether I would count as a person here, for legal purposes?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

That's all the information they need, they can schedule something in two weeks at the earliest.

Your case is unprecedented, but I believe it could be argued; the possibility of a parahuman-made sapient being has been discussed in legal circles before, so you could be the precedent-setting example.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

Their schedule is open; the time in two weeks will be fine.

And-

Deskyl wants to clarify that she didn't make me; robots are common, mass-produced technology where we're from.

She is interested in having the precedent set as soon as possible, though; who should we talk to about that?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

They are scheduled!

There is actually a law draft waiting for a situation. You can contact Senator Burges. His contact information is attached.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

DZ sends her a thank-you email, and, a conversation later, composes an email to Senator Burges.

Dear Senator Burges,

I am writing to you on behalf of myself, a robot, and Deskyl, my owner. We understand that you have a law drafted regarding legal recognition of robot personhood; we'd like more information about that, and might be interested in being the precedent-setting case for it.

For context, we're new to your planet; Deskyl has powers similar to your parahumans, and teleported us here about two months ago. We're still adjusting to local conventions, but she'd like to arrange for me to have the same protections that a human would as soon as possible. It may also be important that I receive some of the protections usually given to children; robots like me are not very much like humans, but Deskyl estimates that I'm about as mature as a human nine- or ten-year-old right now.

Thank you for your time, and we look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

Dear DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl,

It is a tremendous pleasure to hear from you. I have indeed been working on such a draft; it was only a matter of time until parahumans—or, as it turns out, people like Deskyl—would one way or another produce nonhuman sapient life. We even have cultural protocols for robots, and I am sure we could arrange for your sapience to be certified without doubt.

I would like to meet in person. Would that be possible? When would be best for you?

Best regards,

Manfred Burges

Dear Senator Burges,

We appreciate your foresight. We can certainly meet in person; our schedule is mostly free right now while we wait for Deskyl's powers to be certified, though we do have an appointment for that in two weeks. You should know, however, that Deskyl can read minds; she can't do it casually, especially to new acquaintances, but the Protectorate was concerned enough about it to arrange for us to stay elsewhere anyway.

We're staying at the Shoreline Resort in Brockton Bay at the moment, and have used the nearby Hidden Groove Coffee Bar for previous meetings, or we can meet elsewhere if you can arrange for transportation.

Sincerely,

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

I'll be in New York next weekend, I can hop by Brockton Bay for an afternoon on Sunday. The mindreading is disconcerting but I'll trust you. Does that sound good?

Manfred Burges