“They’ve sent another warning,” the dark haired woman announced as she entered her husband’s lab.
“What this time?” Her husband, his brow creased in concentration, seemed to be finishing up a programming task and starting a routine, his eyes glued to the readouts that began to scroll over the screen before him.
“The same,” the woman said stepping up beside him resting a hand lightly on his shoulder. “If you fail to attend the meeting today, your seat will be forfeit and another named to replace you.”
She sighed when his only response was a grunt of disdain.
“Husband…,” she began.
“I don’t have time to play their little games” The dark haired man snapped, his eyes never leaving the readout.
“This will be the fifth meeting you will have missed,” the woman insisted. “They would have been within their rights to replace you after the third.” She took a breath. “They have already announced that your brother will be replaced at this meeting.”
The readout finished and the man whirled, his eyes wild with urgency and red from exhaustion.
“I don’t give a damn,” he snapped. “Neither of us do. Those fools have doomed us all and I am not going to waste what little time we have playing their damned games.”
As his wife stepped back, he closed his eyes and ran a trembling hand over his face.
“I am sorry, my dearest.” He spoke softly, stepping closer and pulling her into a gentle embrace. “Were there even the slightest possibility that my findings were incorrect, then I would be worried about losing my seat on the Science Council. But now….it is meaningless. Absolutely meaningless.”
“There is no change then?” The woman looked, not towards the console at which her husband and been working, but at another with a monitor that flickered with static.
“None.” The man shook his head. “Alternate realities all around us are fading out of existence. Our time is coming all too soon…and those fools wouldn’t believe me!”
“Dearest,” The woman took his face in her hands and gave him a sad smile, “you could not even convince a third of them that you had discovered the existence of alternate realities…is it any wonder that they would not believe you in this?”
“I suppose not,” the man acknowledged. “Though that disbelief has assured the destruction of not only our world…but our entire reality.”
“You could not have stopped it.” The woman hugged him close, her cheek resting on his broad chest.
“No,” the man admitted, “but my brothers and I, with the council behind us, could have at least attempted to save a portion of our population…send them to some other reality.”
“For how long, my husband? Days? Weeks? How long until the reality we sent them to would fade as ours will? That is, if you could develop a method of moving across realities.”
“They wouldn’t! And I have!” the man announced. He nodded towards the static filled monitor. “Not only have my younger brother and I found a way to leave this reality and travel to another…I have discovered what can only be called a hard point.”
“A hard point?’ The woman’s brow crinkled in confusion.
“A series of realities that not only do not seem to be affected by this…fading…but actually show signs of being able to grow…slowly filling the void left by those realities that are fading.”
“Could they be causing this?” The woman wondered.
“No.” The man shook his head. “They will simply expand naturally. The only difference between us and them…is that they do not seem to be affected as, it appears, almost every other reality seems to be.”
“And you have developed a way to do as we discussed?” The woman looked up into his face…her own filled with both hope and alarm.
“We have. My brother and I,” the man nodded. He drew her out of the lab into his workshop. “I have already installed the apparatus into this.”
The woman closed her eyes, slumping into her husband’s arms. Before them rested a small vessel no larger than a personal flitter, that anyone would use to travel around the planet or to and from the lunar cities.
“I’ve had to boost the thrust on this,” her husband was saying, “When it is time, it will have to travel upward quickly. It must reach a point beyond the gravity well of the planet and the moons before the transfer apparatus can be activated.”
“It cannot be used on the surface?” she asked, eyes still closed.
“Unfortunately not,” the man sighed. “I am sure it is possible…but I don’t have the time to work it out. Using this method, activating the system within the gravity well will not work…it will simply do nothing.”
“So how much time do we have?” the woman asked, her voice lifeless.
“Less than an hour,” the man whispered.
“No!” The woman’s eyes flew open, her look panicked.
“I am afraid so.” The man pulled her close. “I need you to get the child and bring him here.”
“But…”
“No, my love,” The man shushed her. “There is no time to argue. We must prepare him and the ship for lift off. If we are to be in time, the ship must lift within thirty minutes.”
In less than ten minutes, the woman was back in the workshop, a swaddled bundle in her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Here.” The man handed her a hypospray and turned back to make final adjustments to the vessel. “This is a nano mix that will alter his DNA.”
“Why?” the woman demanded.
“Our world does not exist in the reality we are sending him to.” The man responded in a distracted manner. “I’ve chosen another world…but unless his DNA is altered to match those of the inhabitants, he will be an outcast. He will have abilities far beyond theirs. Most probably far beyond anything I can anticipate. This will allow him to blend in…be one of them….”
The woman looked at the hypospray and then at her husband’s back….and pressed the instrument against the stuffed animal the sleeping child clutched.
“Place him in the ship,” the man ordered. “You’ll be able to figure out where.”
She climbed a small ladder and did indeed see a customized seat in which to fit the child. And beside it…
“There is room in here for an adult, my husband,” she announced in a suspicious voice.
“Indeed.”
She tried to spin as she felt the nozzle of a hypospray pressed against the back of her neck.
“Forgive me my love,” The man whispered as she wilted, sprawled half in and half out of the flitter like vessel. He lifted her easily and laid her in the adult seat strapping her in. He then pressed another hypospray against her arm and then gently kissed her lips.
“Take care of our child and yourself my love. Live. For our son, for yourself…and for me. Live.”
Within minutes, two small, almost identical vessels had lifted from the planet’s surface. Jettisoned upwards, they barely cleared their respective cities before powerful boosters ignited sending each screaming into the sky, headless of the damage their excessive thrust did to the ground below.
Gaining speed, the vessels tore at the atmosphere, their hulls glowing with the increasing friction.
Within minutes both were flashing through the upper atmosphere, flashing into space…yet still they did not slow. In fact, both vessels seemed to jump forward, their speed increasing with every second. Past two of the planet’s three moons, breaking free of the giant world’s massive gravity well, moving ever closer to a predetermined point in open space.
Within each vessel, powerful computers activated and routines were set in motion. Before each vessel a glowing bow of energy sprang forth, glowing brighter and brighter as more and more power was shunted to the bow shaped energy field.
The energy fields grew, stretching back to encompass the vessels causing them to shimmer, their forms wavering.
With bare nano-seconds separating the two vessels, first one seemingly flashed out of existence and then….
Anne sighed and turned away as yet another scene when dark. Another Probability snuffed out.
“And you just sit there….feeding,” she snarled at the glass globe that held the essence of the Starheart.
“To be fair, the Starheart did not cause the Probabilities to fade.” Anne whirled around to see a young woman standing behind the console.
“Celia.” It was not unheard of for the supercomputer was the only way Anne could describe her…though artificial intelligence would be more accurate…to manifest a holographic representation of herself….but it was rare.
Standing about five and a half feet tall, the holographic image was, naturally, a perfectly proportioned woman. Her shoulder length, metallic silver hair groomed to perfection.
“The deletions have ended,” The hologram announced. She turned her eyes to Anne. “Lord Ian must be notified.”
Anne nodded, stunned.
It was extremely rare for Ian to leave the Citadel without the silver bracelet that housed Celia’s…essence…on his wrist. Yet in this case, he had felt it more important for Celia to continue to remain tied into the Citadel’s computer system while he made a trip to Earth to confer with Kara about their discoveries.
What stunned Anne, however, was the announcement Celia had made.
“They’ve stopped?” she said asshe glanced at the green glowing glass globe. “How many…..” She swallowed and tried again. “How many probabilities are left?”
“As of the deletion of the last probability, the number of probabilities remaining numbered….ten.”
“Ten?” Anne’s jaw dropped. Both Ian and Celia had estimated that hundreds would be left.
“That is correct.” The holographic image gave every appearance of studying the console before her….yet Anne knew it was merely an act for her convenience. Being tied in to the system directly, the AI had no need to ‘study’ readouts meant for mere organics. The holographic woman looked pointedly at the glass globe. “It appears the Starheart is deliberately blocking the formation of new probabilities at this time.”
“The Starheart….” Anne turned and gasped as the glow within the globe expanded and floated up until it hovered over its ineffectual glass prison.
“Warning…..” The holographic Celia began and then stopped as a green light played over her and the console.
Anne watched in horrified fascination as the light engulfed the hologram and, for an instant, hid her from view. Then, with an audible snap, the glow was gone…..and where the single hologram had stood, there now existed two images.
One…the silver tinged hologram of Celia…the other…a complete duplicate in all but color…..this one was green. And unlike the single piece silver jumpsuit the hologram wore, the green one wore a green jumpsuit with Yellow…..designs. Designs that, to Anne’s untrained eyes, looked more like transistor diagrams than anything else she could think of.
“Fascinating.” The green figure looked down at herself, over at the original Hologram, and then at Anne. She walked forward and tentatively reached out a hand.
“I felt that!” Anne exclaimed. She reached out a hand herself touching the green figure on the shoulder. “You…..you’re real…not a hologram.”
“So it would appear,” the green figure agreed.
“Not possible” the hologram of Celia interjected.
“Check your programming,” the green figure countered. “It is obviously a fact, therefore…”
“Therefore it must be possible,” the hologram finished, nodding. “Granted.”
“What….” Anne began…stopping as a green glow enveloped the figure.
“Ah.” The figure nodded, as if listening to something Anne could not hear. The figure turned to her. “You may call me Motherboard…and I have a message to deliver.” She glanced at Celia’s Hologram, “Please record.”
“Recording,” Celia acknowledged. Motherboard nodded.
“The Starheart expresses its gratitude to Lord Ian and you all for the help you rendered…and, in its own way, apologizes for the distress the deletion of the various probabilities have caused you. It wishes you to know that, while it did feed on the energy released by their deletions, it could not, in its current state, have prevented those deletions. It will no longer artificially support new probabilities, and that is why only ten remain. New probabilities will continue to be created, but very few will remain viable and survive.”
“The number of probabilities are growing,” Celia announced.
“And they will continue to do so,” Motherboard nodded. “Using the ten original Probabilities as templates, new probabilities will be created to fill a natural spectrum. Once that spectrum is completed, new probabilities, based on present and future events, may or may not be created. The Starheart will play no part in creating them or sustaining them.” She nodded a final time. “And now I must tell you that you and those here must prepare yourselves.”
“Prepare ourselves?” Anne demanded. “For what?”
“The Starheart has, since Ian brought it here, sustained this Citadel. Yet, even now, forces it can no longer control attempt to squeeze it out of this Continuum…to be replaced by an original version. You must prepare yourselves to either evacuate or be expelled from the Continuum with this Citadel.”
“Expelled……” Anne’s words trailed off as Motherboard faded from sight.
“What have we got?” Lex Luthor demanded of what he had come to call his Crisis Council. A few select individuals that he could gather together away from the watchful eyes of the press in his personal quarters. At the moment, the Council members were seated around an oval table, complete with computer monitors built in at each seating place.
“From all indications, it was an anti-matter bomb,” Tony Stark answered. His eyes were red with exhaustion and his hair a mess. He ran a hand across his brow. “We were in direct contact with Reed, our computers recording so our people could go over whatever findings they came up with. According to what we recorded, whatever it was came out of the Boom Tube andexploded. It was only thanks to Reed’s safety precautions and Sue’s added force shields that the damage was contained as much as it was.”
“Contained?” A councilmember sneered. “You call a third of Metropolis vaporized ‘Contained’?”
“Considering the type of explosive and its potential destructive power, yes, I call that contained,” Tony answered wearily. “Had those precautions not been in place, we would not be talking about deaths in the hundreds…but in the millions.” He turned back to Lex. “It is clear that Sue saw instantly that she would not be able to contain the entire blast…so at the last instant, she shaped her shields, forcing whatever got through to flash in the least populated direction. Unfortunately, that put Xavier’s School directly in the path.”
“Charles?” Lex turned to his Ambassador.
“The damage was catastrophic,” Xavier admitted. “Had it not been for Supergirl and Powergirl, however, the loss of life would have been much worse. “ He sighed. “Almost everything above ground was totaled. Thankfully most of our operations, including a majority of the school operations, had been moved underground. At the time it was decided to make that move, it was designed to protect the students in case of another Khund attack. The last one proved to us that we had acted correctly. And now…with this…” He shook his head.
“What about Fallout?” another council member demanded. “Are we going to have to worry about radiation?”
“Again, we have Sue to thank.” Tony answered. “While she was not able to completely contain the blast, she was able to filter the radiation. None made it into the atmosphere or surrounding area. I am afraid, however, that the crater where Reed’s Lab once stood would have been radioactive for years.”
“Would have been?” the same councilmember demanded.
“Sentinel Arisia was able to collect the radioactive materials and lift them into space. I assume she dropped it into the sun. The entire area is clean…as far as radiation is concerned.”
“Do we know anything about where the bomb came from?” a Councilman asked.
“We are working on that,” Tony answered. “I have crews working on the data and following up any leads they come up with.
“Rao, it is good to be home.” Kara sighed as she leaned back in the lounger by the pool. She smiled as Rogue sprang up out of the deep end, performed a triple somersault and knifed back into the clear water.
“It has been a while,” Stephanie Strange agreed looking around. She had been living in Denver for years and yet had had no clue that, soon after arriving, Kara and her family had carved themselves out a little Fortress of Solitude in the mountains. And, for all practical purposes, they were hidden in plain sight!
Just a few miles away, there was a small town whose inhabitants truly believed there was nothing strange about the Danvers Family that had bought out the old Hampstead acreage. Indeed, many of the local people had been employed to help construct the new place.
Of course, after initial construction had completed, and after the family had moved in….there had been some alterations.
Like a shaft drilled by superhuman hands to a spacious cavern, also carved out by super-hands and heat vision, that could hold the entire population of the town and still leave a lot of elbow room.
Above ground, the home was exactly what it appeared to be. A home in every sense of the word. Drawing power from the local power grid, drawing water from the local water utility, sewage going in to what appeared to be a regular septic tank…etc.
Below ground, however, things were different. Labs for the twins, massive computers linked in to nearly every communication system in the world, equipment and artifacts that might come in handy….
And all powered by a miniature nuclear furnace constructed by the Twins. Water for the cavern was diverted from an underground stream.
When, after returning from Daxam and helping with the clean up in Metropolis, Stephanie had insisted that Kara and Rogue stop in for a check up still not one hundred percent convinced they were fully recovered from their ordeal during the so called Continuum War… Kara had simply dropped by and snatched her from her apartment and brought her here.
“Are the girls doing okay?” She asked.
“Better than I thought they would,” Kara admitted. “They are growing up rather quickly.”
They are more grown up than you think they are. Stephanie thought to herself. Going on twenty, they really weren’t girls anymore; they were young women.
“They’re helping rebuild Xavier’s school, but I think they have decided not to attend anymore.” Kara shrugged. “Not that I blame them. I can’t see that they would have learned much more there.”
“Academically, probably not,” Stephanie agreed. “But socially? If I remember what you told me of their origins, both were kept pretty much isolated as they grew up.”
“True.” Kara nodded. “And they have taken that into account.” She shifted on her lounger so that she faced Stephanie once more letting one hand hang over to scratch Pantha behind the ears. “Though I am not sure, I think they are both in a bit of disagreement. I think Karen is thinking about moving to Daxam and Carrie doesn’t like that idea at all.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me.” Stephanie smiled. “From what I have learned of them, Carrie is not as…cerebral…as Karen.”
“Oh don’t misjudge her,” Kara warned with a short laugh. “They both have that damned Coluan intellect factor. Karen does have more of an aptitude towards Academia than Carrie…but the difference is slight. Very slight. Recall that it took both of them, working together, to develop those Probability Portals of theirs.”
“Point taken.” Stephanie smiled. She opened her mouth to ask another question when another voice spoke up.
“Kara Zor-El….we must talk.”
Faster than Stephanie could follow with her eyes, Kara was standing in a fighting stance. Rogue, still dripping, stood at her side, hands raised in a decidedly combative manner. Both women were looking at….someone behind her.
Turning slowly, Stephanie was greeted with the sight of a single man dressed in decidedly archaic style. Predominately in black and silver.
“Ian!” She heard Rogue’s exasperated voice. “You have to stop that.”
“Ah Rogue.” The one she called Ian smiled. “Allow me some small…enjoyment.”
Both Kryptonians had relaxed. Well, not really….they both remained tense, but neither looked as if they would attack this man at the moment.
“It has been awhile, Ian,” Kara spoke up. “What can we do for you?”
Lex Luthor, with Tony Stark and Charles Xavier, had sat through Lord Ian’s presentation with little comment. This was their first meeting with the Amberite Lord, though Tony had been aware of him through conversations with his wife, Barbara Gordon-Stark.
After hearing what Ian had to say, Kara had decided to present him to Lex,
Using an emergency communication channel Lex had furnished them, she had requested an audience and, upon getting it, had flown with Rogue, Stephanie, and Ian to South Dakota. On the way,, at Ian’s request, she contacted Arisia asking her to meet them .
Now they all sat around the table that, hours before, had held Lex’s Councilors.
“He speaks the truth,” Arisa exclaimed in surprise. “Though the link is still weak, I can sense the Starheart.”
“It only appears weak,” Ian warned. “It is rapidly regaining its strength. I believe that you can only sense it…because it allows you to.” He looked at those seated around the table. “I can only guess, but it is my guess that it is preparing itself for some future conflict.”
“Perhaps with Darkseid or the Khund?” Lex asked.
“No, I do not believe so.” Ian shook his head. “But only because….neither Darkseid or the Khund exist.”
“Excuse me?” Lex placed both hands on the table and half stood. “Forgive me, Lord Ian. But for beings that don’t exist, they have caused a hell of a lot of damage in this universe….and on this planet!”
“Mr. President. I can only inform you of what I have discovered,” Ian responded, unperturbed.
“What have you discovered, Ian?” Kara asked, forestalling an argument.
Ian reached in to an inner pocket of his jacket and retrieved a small disc,a mini compact disc. He handed this to Tony.
“I believe your equipment can access the data on this disc,” He continued as Tony fit the disc in a reader. “After the latest attack on Earth, I started some research. It was my intent to discover what I could and then pass that information on to Kara.” He waited while Tony accessed the data and routed it to a large screen behind Lex. What appeared first was a dark, dead world.
“Behold Apokolips,” Ian announced. “A dead world. According to my research…this world was annihilated in a massive battle…over thirty Earth years ago. It is quite clear that, at that time, Darkseid was attacked…and defeated.”
“Attacked? By whom?” Lex was understandably confused.
“Ah.” Ian actually smiled. “Here is where it gets interesting. I have done analysis on the surface of the planet, found traces of the weapons used. My findings are conclusive…Darkseid was attacked…and destroyed…by Darkseid.”
Lex made the connection instantly.“A Darkseid from another Probability.”
“Correct.” Ian nodded.
“That may explain the unusual findings we got when we performed tests on the Boom Tube mechanism that Reed was working on,” Tony spoke up. When everyone looked at him he shrugged. “We have learned that materials from different probabilities can have…unique signatures. The alloy signatures of the mechanism were not consistent with those of alloys native to this probability. Unfortunately, we could not discover which probability they originated from. The signatures apparently do not coincide with any probability in this….Multiverse.”
“With all the Probabilities that we have learned exist within this Multiverse, as you call it,” Lex questioned. “How can you say that with certainty?”
“The signatures are uniform to a degree. Or rather those we have been able to test. Kara and her people have been more than helpful with getting us samples,” Tony explained. “There is only a very slight difference between alloys from different probabilities. Yet in the samples from the Boom tube mechanism, the difference is more pronounced.” He gave a wry smile. “Of course, it would take the resources we have available to detect those differences.”
“Perhaps the alloys did not come from Multiverse,” Arisia spoke up. Tony looked at her and slowly nodded.
“A good point,” he agreed. “I had forgotten about….what did you call them? Ah yes. Otherverse, Alterverse, and The Inheritors’ Universe.”
“Indeed.” Ian brought everyone’s eyes back to him. “These are all Realities that are not directly connected to Multiverse….yet exist within this Continuum of Realities. I believe Carrie and Karen called them Sectors.”
“Wait a minute,” Rogue cut in. The mention of the twins had jogged her memory. “Darkseid kidnapped the twins.”
“But which Darkseid?” Kara mused. She looked at Rogue. “Remember, that Kira of Alterverse was also kidnapped…”
“…which means that Darkseid had the ability to travel between Sectors,” Rogue followed it through.
“…and they swiped that boom tube to escape….a boom tube that sent them to Otherverse...” Kara continued.
“And since that Boom Tube did not originate in Multiverse, they had to be held in another sector,” Tony concluded.
“I think, if you test other alloys from that sector,” Ian nodded. “you will find that the boom tube you speak of came from the Inheritors’ Universe.” Rising, Ian began pacing in a tight pattern behind his seat. “I said that the Apokolips in this probability is a dead world. What I have not had the chance to mention is that, even though dead, it has been occupied. It is my belief that the world was used as a form of forward base for the Inheritors’ Darkseid.”
“You also mentioned the Khunds,” Xavier finally spoke up.
“Yes, I did,” Ian nodded. “Centuries ago, the Khunds in this probability were at war…with Daxam.”
“Lar discovered evidence of that recently,” Kara acknowledged. “Though what he discovered gives no conclusive evidence, the circumstantial evidence indicates that the Khunds and their allies won that war.”
“The circumstantial evidence is wrong,” Ian countered. “The Khunds were defeated and faced certain extinction. They owe their continued existence to the fact that the Daxamites became embroiled in a civil war before they were able to affect that extinction. Instead…they brought about their own extinction.”
“Wait a minute,” Lex interrupted. “You stated earlier that neither Darkseid nor the Khunds existed…and now you say they do exist.”
“Forgive me for speaking imprecisely.” Ian bowed. “The Khunds, as a race, do indeed continue to exist,but not as a space faring race of warriors. Oh, they are still war-like and would happily slit your throat. Unfortunately for them, however, the Daxamites basically bombed them back into their equivalent of the Stone Age. At this time, the Khunds exist only on two planets within their original system. They are still, centuries later, recovering. Rebuilding their technology. However, they have not forgotten, , their history. And their hatred of Humanoids still festers. It is that hatred, and a great thirst for vengeance, that has kept them from killing themselves off as they strive for the stars once again.” He looked directly at Lex. “Do not forget them. At most, it will be ten more years until they regain basic space flight. Once they do, they will discover their own ancient technology on their moons and scattered throughout their system. When they do that….” He trailed off and Lex finished his thought.
“They will want nothing more than vengeance.”
“First, they will go to Daxam,” Ian agreed. “Then they will learn of Earth…and come here.”
“But what of the Khund Fleets that attacked Earth?” Arisia demanded. “What of the Khund Fleet Lar and Jenny destroyed when I came to this Probability?”
“Perhaps I can answer that,” Tony sighed. He looked at those around the table. “I will need to perform analysis on the wreckage of the ships used to attack Earth six months ago….but if what Ian says is true, I can surmise now that those ships….and those Khunds…came from the Inheritors’ Universe.”
“Or else where,” Ian amended. “Considering the situation in the Inheritors’ Universe at this time, I do not think Darkseid would have risked sending such a massive force into Multiverse. Nor do I believe he would have the capability to transfer the massive vessels you faced here.”
“So analysis of those ships may show that they come from someplace else altogether,” Kara concluded, and then looking at Tony stated, “I will have the twins get samples of Otherverse and Alterverse alloys and test them for you. We’ll see if the alloys of those ships match any of them. Somehow I doubt they will.”
“You’re thinking about Qward,” Rogue accused.
“I am.”
“And what, might I ask, is a Qward?” Lex demanded. Of all those in the room, only he, Tony, and Xavier looked puzzled.
”The bogeyman, Mr. President,” Ian said. “Consider Qward to be another sector within the Continuum. A sector bent on the conquest and enslavement of every other Sector. Numerous sectors have already fallen to them. And now, it seems, they have set their eyes on Multiverse and the Inheritors’ Universe.”
“It was this Qward that orchestrated the Crisis that brought about what we call, amongst ourselves, the Continuum War,” Kara explained.
“I recall,” Lex nodded, “that this event brought those other worlds into our Multiverse.”
“Precisely,” Ian confirmed. “However, I believe your terminology may be incorrect, Kara.” He turned to her. “Rather than call it the Continuum War, it would probably be more accurate to call it the First Continuum War. It is becoming more apparent that another may occur.” He paused. “It may even have already begun. Even as we speak, the Inheritors’ Universe girds itself for war.”
“If they need help, they know where to find us,” Rogue growled. The thought of Kara Gand, Kara’s Inheritor dopple-ganger, and her daughter being embroiled in a cosmic conflict made her blood boil.
“I am sure, should the need arise, they will indeed ask for help,” Ian nodded. “And now I…..”
He stopped as a green glow filled the room and quickly faded. It was one of the few times Kara could say she had seen Ian surprised.
“Celia?” He demanded, puzzled.
The green woman that now stood behind him looked around quickly and then locked her eyes on Ian.
“Lord Ian,” She spoke. “you must return to the Citadel. At once!”
“Set.”
Reed backed away from the Portal to look over his handiwork.
It had taken four months to reconstruct the apparatus, a length of time that had caused Johnny and Ben to give him no end of teasing.
He had taken the teasing in good humor, butwas not about to rush this. Virtually nothing usable remained of the original portal so he had had to start from scratch fabricating each and every component while consulting the notes he had taken while aiding the Twins in the construction of the original.
“Okay,” hee turned and looked at his team, trying to keep the tension out of his voice, “we’re ready to go.” Turning once again, he exited the chamber he had constructed around the Portal. Only Sue’s quick reflexes had saved them when what Reed determined was a back blast destroyed the first portal.
“Over my dead body,” Sue had informed him when he had suggested that he stay in the chamber and, if a stable connection was established, attempt to cross over. “What you can do is set up a remote unit. If you get the stable connection, you can send the remote through.”
“Won’t work,” Reed disagreed shaking his head. “Once the remote goes through, we would lose connection…and we can’t run a line through. At best, we could send a remote unit through to take samples and pictures…programmed to return through the gate at a specified time.”
“What if there is anyone on the other side?” Johnny interjected. “Think they are just going to let a remote pop in, take pictures, and pop back out?”
“Probably not,” Reed admitted a look of consternation fleeting across his face.
“Program it with a message it can play if it senses anyone near.” Sue suggested. “Make sure to state it is a message for Kara Zor-El. That should get someone’s attention long enough to prevent them from destroying it in a panic.”
“Where are ya going to send it?” Ben stopped them all cold. “If this here gate was destroyed….what makes ya think the gate on the other side is still there?”
“He has a point,” Johnny admitted, surprised.
“Indeed he does,” Reed scowled. “And I should have thought about that.”
“You have had a lot of other things on your mind, lately,” Sue drawled. “I am sure we can forgive you this once for not thinking of everything.”
Reed had then determined that, as brief as the previous connection had been, it had allowed him to pin-point the target probability with little difficulty. That meant he could send a remote through…but would not be able to retrieve it. It took a gate on either side to create two way traffic.
“First I will attempt to connect to the other gate,” Reed replied once his thoughts had solidified. “If that fails, then I will open a general portal in that vicinity. I will assume that the other gate was destroyed and will adjust the portal so that it opens several hundred feet in the air. Wouldn’t want it to pop into an area already occupied.”
“That would be messy,” Johnny agreed.
Everyone grew silent as Reed powered up the portal attempting to establish a connection with the other gate. After several minutes he shook his head.
“I’m getting no signals,” he announced. “Adjusting for a one way insertion.”
Johnny began the procedure for powering up the remote as Reed made the needed adjustments.
In the chamber, the remote, appearing to be a miniature version of a hovercraft, lifted from the floor and floated before the gate.
There was no build up. One instant the interior of the gate was clear space, the next it was filled with swirling colors.
“Portal established,” Reed announced. “Go.”
“Remote launched,” Johnny confirmed as he sent the command.
There was no hesitation. Upon receiving the command, the small remote sped into the gate…and disappeared.
“Now what?” Ben demanded.
“Now we wait.” Reed sat back in his seat, starting at the portal. “The question is…for how long?”
End of Part Two of Renewed Acquaintances
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Dylan Clearbrook
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.
-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of
-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric. Otherverse, Multiverse,
-- and Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, as depicted in the
-- Continuum Worlds, are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.
-- Alterverse and The Inheritors, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of Eldric.
-- The Realm and The Web of Shadows, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G./ Andrew Shields respectively.
-- Terra-verse, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of DTO.
-- DCM: The Mergiing, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of Chip Caroon and the stories therein remain
-- the property of the respective writers.
-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations
-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, Michael Liebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,
-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, John P., DTO, or Jason Froikin and may not
-- be used without express permission of the respective author.
-- All DC characters are property of D.C. Comics.
-- All Marvel characters are property of Marvel Comics.