(Chapter 40)Job Offer to Rip Van Winkle

Steve Rogers was… really fit. Honestly I don't think I'd ever met anybody in that good of shape in my old life. He was wearing a mostly blue-and-black ensemble, plain clothes, a heavy light over a pale blue shirt. A mad urge to explain everything to him had nearly overwhelmed me. But I sold my soul for this and I wasn't going to try some harebrained refinancing scheme to get it back before I had gotten everything I wanted out of the deal

"Captain Rogers," I said, smiling and extending my hand. He took it and shook it back.

"Mr. Trent," he said, sitting down in the mostly featureless interrogation room where I had been waiting for him.

I began to internally recite goals to myself to stay calm. I must not reveal my evil schemes. I must not appear to be a smarmy asshole. I must appeal to Captain America without doing either of those things. "Congratulations on your life as a bridge of trust in an untrusting world I guess."

"Thanks," he said, sitting down across from me. "Saw your proposal. Did she say yes?

"Unfortunately, she's been incommunicado since I got back to Earth two days ago," I said, not bothering to hide my grumpiness about the fact. That was a good proposal and I was having to wait for her response for far too long. "She works for the government, some nondescript threat analyst. I guess people are worried she leaked something? Not really clear on that. I'm getting worried about her." I wasn't actually worried. We'd agreed in advance that losing her position in SHIELD was something that might happen anyway. And Pierce would prevent any serious legal consequences for her.

Steve smiled and shook his head, looking down at the ground. "She's fine," he said after a moment.

"Do you know where she is?"

"No… But I know who she's with."

And there it was, an opportunity to use his honor against him. "Then how can you know if she's okay?" I fretted momentarily. "I don't know if you can appreciate this, Captain, but Andromeda is my first love and I'm worried about her."

"I understand that," he said, taking a breath and looking distant. "Believe me, I understand."

"Oh. I'm sorry," I paused for space, "I guess you left somebody behind when you left New York in '43."

Steve laughed for a moment, "Not exactly."

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely. And I was sorry. We hadn't had the aging glitch in our time travel practices, but I was still conducting minor experiments hoping to get it going. If I did, I would be able to give Steve his true love and SHIELD a figurehead that could rival Pierce in prestige. And then I could probably dose Carter with the Super-Soldier serum and they could have a hundred and twenty years.

Look, I really like Captain America and Peggy Carter okay. They're cool.

"Thanks," he said. "I'll check on your hopeful fiancé after this meeting. So, they said you wanted to talk about me being your next captain?"

Space was, technically speaking, the "province of all mankind, held in trust" by a "select committee" appointed by the U.N. that was actually the SHIELD board of directors. There are lots of those little select committees that are made up of the same people or their lieutenants because SHIELD, technically speaking, does not exist. Or rather, its extant forms are actually deputized agencies of national governments. SHIELD exists to protect Earth from alien threats or from runaway technological chain reactions. Is it good at this job? For awhile. But that shared interest was enough to knit together real concessions from the leaders of Earth's nations.

Expanding on those concessions was the crux of the whole plan here

"Sure, the deal's simple - I build the scout ship and SHIELD staffs it with reliable people, you included. Together, we broadcast early exploratory efforts. Humanity takes its first broad steps into a wider world."

"I gotta ask, why'd you do it yourself?"

"I didn't know that SHIELD existed," I said after a moment. "But I knew that extra-orbital space was 'held in trust' for all mankind. And I don't trust people who think they know better than everybody else."

"But you know better than all the leaders of the free world?"

Yeah, I guess Cap would have a rosier vision of the United Nations since he just came from them being the strongest force against literal Nazis and Hydra terrorists. "It's not about me knowing better. The world is full of people who try to rule by brooding over their secrets. I'm not trying to rule anybody, I'm just trying to lead. To show that there's a better world out there. I've never made a secret of my inventions or tried to leverage them without the consent and feedback of a free government and a free nation. But I'm not going to sit in silent reverie to laws written by bureaucrats when nobody was looking. If mankind wants to stay on Earth, well, they know they can leave. I've done my part."

"But you think they don't,"

"You wouldn't be here if they didn't." I shrugged, "Democracy is a beautiful thing."

"Now that, we can agree on."

"So will you do it, will you be the representative of the free world into the wider universe?"

"Why me?" Steve asked

"Seriously?"

"I've spent almost seventy years on ice. I don't know how to work a computer or how to operate these modern telephones. Why put me on this ship?"

"Well, I'm a big fan of yours, first of all, and I wanted to give you a chance to make a mark on the world that was as beautiful and peaceful as you deserved. I guess that's a silly reason, but I'm far from the only one. You're new to the twenty first century, so I know you don't have too many allegiances. But all the reports I could find about you were that you were smart, kind-hearted, and brave. That you fought, not just for a flag, but to, 'vanquish cruelty, evil, and privation in all their forms' and to advance the cause of democracy on the earth. I don't know what's out there - I hope that space is full of gentle-hearted geniuses who've outgrown our earthly foibles, but I'm afraid that there might be some stellar empire ready to turn us into slaves or a rubber colony or to slaughter our families and children and steal our homes. I want to send someone out there who can fight, who is smart, but I don't want to send someone to start a war. I want to send our best - And that isn't just you, obviously, but it definitely includes you. "

My stomach churned within me. The words were close enough to true. They could've been true, in another life, in another world. They could've been the reasons, all of the reasons, for doing this. But I actually thought that Captain America would always be at odds with life as a standard agent of SHIELD, a spy. Life as the leader of the first interstellar team would be different, and I didn't know how long the missions would be. That would keep Cap busy for anything I was doing.

"I think that the reports you're reading are a little too flowery," Steve said. "And I'm flattered. But if there could be stellar empires out there, why go at all?"

"It's not really very complicated from my perspective. If there are stellar empires, they'll come here one way or the other. There's no safety in the ostrich approach. Better to know and be able to act. Imagine if they came to Earth when we were in the middle of a world war, think of how dangerous that would be. Better to know the truth, make our decisions from there."

Steve thought about it for a long moment and extended a hand across the table, "I can work with that."

I shook it and said, "Can you please get them to let my girlfriend go, though? I'm getting anxious about that question."