NOVEL NEXT 11 - Crossing I's And Dotting T's
Cabinet Room, Australian Parliament House, Canberra
Bunyip (Draco Orientalis Australis) – subtype of oriental lung dragon. Follows the general form of other lung dragons (serpentine body, four legs, amphibious, 10+ metres long). Native to the continent of Australia. The Bunyip has many fleshy flaps, resembling a leafy seadragon. All recorded instances have been shifters. Grat’s Magical Bestiary
The replies from allied countries that had been informed of the existence of the paranormal was mixed. Some still thought it was an elaborate hoax, while others reacted with a ‘you didn’t know?’.
With the decision that the shifters would ‘go public’ and that the magi would follow at some time in the future, the plan for the ‘big reveal’ was put in place, including the agreement to take some refugees if required. The offer for contact with their local paranormal councils had been offered and, in some cases, accepted. Canada, Greenland, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden had taken up the offer of accepting paranormal refugees.
The refugee evacuation was a real eye opener for those involved who were not part of the paranormal community. ACoS and ACoMP stepped in and converted an abandoned outback mining town into accommodation for ten thousand in a week. At the end of the week, they opened a portal to the first target country and some six thousand refugees came through. They were all questioned, and the two dozen planted spies and career criminals were identified and teleported back with their memory of the morning wiped. They would wake up later that day with a migraine and a missing town. Those accepted were then healed, vaccinated, processed by the Australian Immigration people and then they could sit down with representatives from the various countries to negotiate their final destinations.
ACoMP provided two sets of their ‘truth chairs’, so everyone who sat in one just wanted to be helpful and provide as full an answer as possible. It took a little while for the immigration people to get used to being able to quickly get to the truth of each case, but it allowed them to process everyone with amazing speed.
Within three days, the six thousand were processed and on their way to their final destinations, via portals. Three hours to clean up the site and then the next most urgent evacuation could occur. Once the fifteen towns that were in danger had been processed, the arrivals settled down to a stream of extended family groups and lone individuals.
For the final group, it was all hands on deck. They systematically raided labour camps, prisons, and research facilities of the worst of the countries involved and pulled out the paranormals that had been captured by regimes and were being exploited or experimented on. Some non-paranormals were also taken, as were the associated families that wanted to relocate. These were mainly classed as ‘political prisoners’. These were all given new identities.
After years of abuse and torture, the healers worked on the families. They both repaired the physical scars and helped the victims to gain a context to their torture. They opened up enough mental space, for the victims to be able to lay down new memories. They would not forget the abuse, just be able to stop that abuse from defining who they were, who they will be and allowing love to re-enter their lives.
As a side effect, the bureaucrats were able to record the memories of the abused, adding to the evidence against their torturers.
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Calling the meeting to order, the Prime Minister said, “Anything stopping us starting the ‘great reveal’ next month?”
Fran Conte, the Minister for Defence, said, “I’m still nervous about this.”
“Nervous? I’ll probably have to go and change my pants after this. But this seems to be our best way forward at this point.”
“There’s a lot of unknowns here.”
“Yes. But the decision trees are firm, we’ve workshopped this out and mapped out multiple paths to get to our desired endpoint. There are too many people involved to be able to control this like I’d prefer, or to delay much longer. So, it’s a go?”
Nods around the table said yes, it’s time to start.
The Prime Minister couldn’t resist, saying “Make it so, Number One.”