Alexis Suzuki was suspicious. This Max Tally was very good. He was utterly perfect, in every aspect. He had a perfect accent in Nipanderin, a fusion of Japanese and Mandarin, which shouldn't be too surprising, he claimed to hail from Elder Tokyo. He was very attractive, and entirely unbiased. Max was everyone's friend, from the outcast from society, to the New Emperor.

The New Modern Ottoman Empire claimed that Japan wasn't keeping to international law, of rule of the most powerful, but the Japanese just laughed at them, because they were. They had lined up all of the talented, and had gotten untalented judges to pick the strongest, and the most useful diplomatically. Alexis had been very close to the top, (she hadn't wanted to win, and was overjoyed when she didn't) her ability to turn anything she painted to life, but in the end, the emperor's son had won. The Japanese take great pride in control over all skills. No one could argue that he didn't have perfect control over his, control. Shinji would take control of a person's mind, and he'd see what he/ she saw, hear what the person heard, and feel what they felt. Shinji could do this to many people at once, but he could only actually control the body of one person. He claimed to be untalented, but Alexis doubted this, seeing him flinch when in large public gatherings. Maybe he's a telepathic, she thought.

Max seemed to be involved in every project of Japan. He had appeared 1 year after the change, and he'd worked on food problems, population problems, space travel, much increased with the instant rise of engineers, and foreign relations, smoothing out any problems made with the telepathic ambassadors in the year that followed. They were learning how to shield their thoughts, but they still sometimes had cracks in their shields from which secrets flowed. Alexis had no experience with telepathy, and mind control, but from the emperor, she had learned that he had an impenetrable shield, which quite a few untalented also had, although not generally as good as Max's. He also had an uncanny ability to know where everyone was.

Alexis decided to take a walk, draw something, and maybe talk to some friends. As she walked down the street from her house, she remembered some other facts about Max. She had confided her fears in Nalish, a telekinetic who had fled Russia after a mind controller had enslaved her and forced her to smuggle narcotics from super power to super power. Nalish had laughed, and shrugged off Alexis' suspicions. "He's not too perfect, you're just jealous that he's more popular. I think he might like me, really. No, I mean it! Its not like everyone else..." Nalish had replied. Too attractive. Way too attractive, Alexis thought. Half the city's women had a crush on him, and since he was so friendly, everyone thought that he liked them back. Even I may have a crush on him! she thought.

Alexis got to the main street, where there were adolescents everywhere, running to get to work. After impact, all of the grown ups and young kids had died, leaving the teenagers to fend for themselves. Alexis was lucky- she had a brother left, just over the age at which impact cut off. Her brother was 12 and a few days when impact occurred, just two years younger then Alexis, who was 14 at the time. All people under 12 and all over 20 died... I wonder why.

She had been lost in thought, and hadn't even realized that she was heading towards the palace, towards him. Alexis shivered. I should probably send an animated life form up to him. A female, with an excellent personality. That way I can keep an eye on him. Alexis made up her mind, and turned around, only to find that she was again facing the palace. She slowly, and resolutely turned around, and found herself facing back to her house. Hm, I wonder... But, no, couldn't be... and she went back to sleep, dreaming of the half-life to make for him.