System Supervillain, Chapter 198 (Patreon)

Chapter 198 – Sealed

Edward started pulling up reference materials on his System interface, while Web Mistress began using her abilities to draw local data and run calculations. My job was to stand back, make sure no one interfered, and deal with other problems as they became relevant. I was not offended by that division of labor. You don’t get to be a supervillain who has had as long and as successful a career as I’ve had without understanding when and where you are not the best person for the job, and, more importantly, learning when doing nothing was the best thing you could do.

As they worked, Edward started giving us more information about how the ‘back end’ of the System was set up and maintained. Local Administrators were the ‘boots on the ground’ types. If everything was working correctly, Local Administrators handled about 99% of all the tickets people put into the System. When things screwed up, they were the first ones to go in and try to fix things.

Above them were Sector Administrators. They basically had the same function as Local Administrators, but extending to multiple solar systems. If there was something going on that caused problems with the System on a larger scale, they were the ones who handled it. Sector Administrators also adjudicated when there were disputes between Local Administrators.

Above Sector Administrators were Galactic and Universal Administrators. Like the names suggested, they were the same as Sector Administrators, but at the galaxy and universe stages of things. For all their power, though, Universal Administrators apparently didn’t actually do much, relying on all the people below them to handle most matters. Of course, when they acted, they could alter the structure of the entire universe, so it was probably for the best that they did as little as possible.

Supervisors, like Edward, actually existed to the side of the Administrator track. They were a more recent addition, only about one million years old. Unlike the Administrators, they rarely got involved with the technical side of the System. Instead, they acted more as a check and balance against the possibility of rogue administrators.

“I’m sure you’ve figured out by now all the trouble that can happen if an Administrator lets the power get to their head,” Edward explained. “Apparently, there was an incident bad enough that the System deleted an entire universe and created the Supervisor role to keep something like that from happening again. No one knows exactly what happened, but apparently it involved a rogue Universal Administrator.”

I nodded slowly. “So, the Supervisor acts as an appeals process for Administrator decisions?”

“Something like that. We’re also the ones responsible for sorting out issues between universes, like this patch job, obviously. That’s also why the System has those requirements on who can respond to non-emergency requests. They want either a native of the planet, or someone of the same base species as the dominant species of the planet. Stated reason is supposed to be that would more closely reflect the needs of the inhabitants, and all that, but the real reason is the same as why there are rules about how Administrators can get involved in wars.”

Web Mistress grinned. “Yes, from what we’ve seen so far, the System likes to be ‘hands off’, with things running more or less automatically. Administrators are encouraged to only respond to problems with the System’s mechanics, leaving other things as they are. Makes sense that Supervisor roles would be the same.”

“Exactly,” Edward said, turning back to his notes. “Fortunately, simply knowing that there are Supervisors out there means Administrators are less likely to abuse their powers. Every so often you get one who is too stupid to know better, usually inheriting the position when an Administrator dies without having another Administrator registered, so they didn’t go through any kind of vetting process.”

“Like what happened when the System turned on, and I got named Local Administrator simply because I was closest at the time,” I chuckled. “Automatic systems don’t care about suitability so much as process. Fortunately, the people we’ve elevated to Administrators are the types that can be trusted to be reasonable about things, and smart enough to pick others of the same type to elevate alongside them.”

“I noticed that there are three Local Administrators on this world, and two of them are here. But you’re talking about other planets? Some kind of interstellar war?”

“Yes, when the System came back on, here, an interstellar empire decided it would be a good idea to invade. We managed to push them back, partly because they were paranoid fucks who rigged automatic overrides into all their ships, to put down uprisings amongst the lower castes. Web Mistress activated those overrides, and the whole fleet quickly became floating tombs. While striking back at the empire, we arranged for different administrators to be placed on some of their planets. By that point, though, the empire was collapsing into civil war. Which is what happens when the leader holding everything together is taken out, without a clear heir to take up power.”

“Ah, yeah, something like that happened to my country, when the guy at the top died, along with the guy pulling the strings behind the scenes. Whole system fell apart, and it was years rebuilding things. Glad it wasn’t my responsibility to put things back together.”

“Edward, I believe these are the last calculations,” Web Mistress cut in. “Is this enough to repair the dimensional rift?”

Edward checked her figures, and then compared it to the intricate circles he’d been drawing on the floor. They looked almost like magic circles from an occultist’s workshop, or maybe something out of a fantasy anime. However, even though I couldn’t understand half of what it was covering, I could tell that the writing around the edges was some kind of scientific notation. A mix of magic and science from his world, maybe?

“Right,” he said, nodding. “Everything checked, and checked again. Learned my lesson about just making assumptions on things long ago. Cost me an arm and a leg, and my brother had it worse.”

That sounded like a bad memory being dredged up, so I politely avoided asking questions about it. “So, we can ensure that anyone on the other side won’t be punching through, here?”

Edward shook his head. “Not entirely. I can seal the damage, and repair the barrier between worlds, but that won’t stop someone with more power than sense from blowing another hole open. They’ll just have to start from scratch, instead of using an existing tear.”

I nodded. “Good enough. Can you set up an alert, so that if someone comes through from another universe we’ll get a warning?”

Edward grinned. “First thing I did once I started looking at the interface. Any further jumps between universes in this solar system will alert any Local Administrators. Won’t help you with repairs, but it will at least help you contain the damage, somewhat.”

“Damn,” I whistled. “Guess there’s a reason they made you a Supervisor.”

“Eh, most of it was my having gone through some universe hopping before. Long story, don’t want to talk about it. Anyways, let’s get this tear sealed, before anyone starts asking where I’ve been.”

With that, Edward set his hands by either side of the circle, and it glowed with a blue-white light. The light shot up in beams towards where the portal had been. Then, the portal was open again, though it didn’t look to be attached to any universe in particular. The lines of light began zipping back and forth across the edges of the portal, and I realized what was happening. Edward was literally stitching the wound in reality closed, with each stitch of white light bringing the edges closer and closer together.

I kept one hand on my sword without needing to be told. If something bad was going to happen during the sealing process, it would be at this moment, while the repairs were underway. Either from someone on this side interfering, or from something trying to force their way through. Didn’t matter which it was, I was ready to step in, if it happened. But I’d be much happier if I didn’t have to draw my blade, here.

And, in the end, I did not have to. The lines of light zipped back and forth, back and forth, until one side of the portal touched the other. There was another flash of blue-white light, and then, the portal was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place.

Administrator-Level Alert

A dimensional tear in Lack Mackay, Australia, has been sealed by Supervisor Edward. No further action required at this time.

“Good,” Edward said, looking at his own notification as he rose to his feet. “Looks like the automated alerts I put in are working as intended. This will allow you to be notified if anyone pulls something like this again. Normally, checking in on something like this would be a Supervisor’s position, but since you don’t have one, this is the next best thing.”

“While that certainly helps,” Web Mistress said, doubt filling her voice, “you wouldn’t happen to know how we can go about recruiting a supervisor, would you? I don’t think summoning a Supervisor from across the multiverse every time we need help is a good idea, after all.”

Edward shook his head. “I don’t know the process, exactly, since I was made a Supervisor by one of the existing Supervisors. The need to recruit a Supervisor from a population without one already present hasn’t come up in living memory, you understand. And there are some very long-lived or even immortal types out there. Still, it would be a bad idea to leave this place without path to getting a Supervisor, now that there are Administrators here.”

Supervisor Edward has shared System documentation files (Supervisor_Requirements, Supervisor_Selection, Supervisor_Recruitment) with you.

“Right, those files have the System’s baseline requirements for the Supervisor position, recommended selection criteria, and the guidelines on how to elevate someone as a Supervisor. And, before you go and start reading it, I can say from personal experience that the normal Recruitment process, when done with a Supervisor involved, requires at the minimum a four-month vetting period, with another four months of training and evaluation before the candidate is elevated as a supervisor, unless they have the kind of feats and character to back things up.”

Skimming through the files, I saw that the mandatory vetting and evaluation periods were there for a reason, so that you got the right person in the job. Dealing with interdimensional rifts was one part of the job, and arguably the most visibly important. However, the waiting periods were due to needing to evaluate someone in both the classroom and the field, so that they could see how they would relate to problems. After all, a Supervisor was supposed to be an auditing force, looking for Administrator overreach. It was also supposedly divorced from real-world applications, save for dealing with rifts. And with no hierarchy, like the Administrators had between levels, Supervisors were largely unchecked, themselves, which meant they needed to be someone who wouldn’t let the power go to their head.

The base requirements for a Supervisor was INT, EGO, and PRE of 20+, which was more than for a Local Administrator, and they couldn’t be bound in any way to an Administrator, which meant I couldn’t just promote one of my pets. Annoying, but expected. After all, if an Administrator could own a Supervisor, that would completely negate the purpose of the role.

Edward looked at us, and said, “All right, I’ve done what I came here for, and any more than this and I’d be meddling in this world’s affairs more than is proper. You’ll have to figure some of that stuff out yourself, but considering you’ve come thus far without screwing up enough to get higher powers called down on you, I think you’re going to be fine. Oh, be sure to wash away the chalk. Don’t want anyone learning things they shouldn’t, and all that.”

And, with that, Edward clapped his hands, and pressed them to the floor. The blue-white light appeared once again, surrounding him, bright enough that we had to look away. When it faded, he was gone.

Web Mistress chuckled. “Well, at least he left us the documentation. That’s something we’ll need to figure out later.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Later. First, we deal with the refugees from another universe, and all the people they put on a hard drive.”