Ian strode into the Observatory, followed by Keirin, Anne, and his man servant, Gerald.
First things first, Ian moved to the central consol and picked up the silver bracelet lying along the top edge.
“Celia. Holographic mode, please.” He ordered.
Instantly, a silver tinged woman, with metallic, shoulder length silver hair sprang into existence.
“Celia, explain Motherboard.” He ordered after looking the hologram over for a moment. “Specifically, tell me how a green version…a very real version…of this hologram appeared on Earth.”
“Analysis indicates that the Starheart scanned this unit and fabricated a pseudo-organic duplicate.” The hologram responded. “How this was accomplished is unknown at this time. I have been able to determine that the method used was not magic.”
“Which is why it is unknown.” Keirin quipped. “I know of several high level practitioners that could accomplish the same thing.”
“But at a heavy cost.” Ian agreed.
“Well, if the Starheart can terraform a planet in an instant and alter the DNA of a race….” Anne shrugged.
“I take it Motherboard passed on the Starheart’s warning to you?” Keiren asked.
“She did.” Ian nodded, twirling the bracelet in his fingers.
“Well you don’t seem too worried.” Keirin drawled.
“It was not….unexpected.” Ian shrugged.
“Not unexpected?”Keirin demanded. “I can tell you that it came as a bit of a surprise to me.”
“It is quite possible that an action of mine is the cause.” Ian mused. He gave his cousin a wry smile. “In fact, I am willing to bet on it.”
“What did you do this time?” Keirin demanded.
“Perhaps it would be best to show you.” He said. Fastening the bracelet on his wrist, he led Keirin and Anne out of the observation room.
Thirty minutes later, after a long trek from the highest point of the Citadel to the lowest dungeon level, he stopped before a massive wooden door.
“It began.” He explained. “when I discovered that Anne could create a workable deck of trumps.” He pulled out a deck of what appeared to be slightly over-sized playing cards. The Trumps. He fished out cards that showed pictures of Kara, Rogue, Keiren, and Anne herself. There were many more and he knew that the decks Anne had made for herself and Keirin contained cards representing himself.
“Yes?” Keirin prompted.
“Well, being from the Courts of Chaos, perhaps you would not know….but to the best of my knowledge, only someone from Amber…or someone with Amberite blood, can create a working trump!”
“That…..” Anne began, startled. “That’s not possible.”
“On the contrary, it is easily possible.” Ian countered. “As Keirin can testify, those from Amber and the Courts of Chaos are often….spreading their seed, so to speak, in various shadows…or parallel realities.”
“Okay.” Keirin nodded. “I can see that. But….”
“I wanted to know her linage.” Ian continued. “If only to determine which family members we might have to deal with. Who ever it was, however, masked their trail very well….and the upheaval in Otherverse caused by the Ripple covered the tracks even more. After exhausting all alternative methods of discovering her linage, I finally came to the conclusion that the only way to find out was to have Anne … Walk The Pattern.”
“Walk The….” Keirin was thunderstruck He took a deep breath. “Then I guess we don’t find out. The Pattern is in Amber and…..” He cut himself off, seeing the look on Ian’s face. “Ian….you didn’t?”
Ian retrieved a key from his vest and unlocked the door, pushing it open.
Keirin, not waiting for an invitation pushed past him and stopped in the opening.
“Great Gods, Ian….what have you done?”
“I couldn’t take Anne to the Pattern….so I created one….here.”
MVP1-19
Much later, in Ian’s den, Keirin was shaking his head.
“You recreated the Pattern.” He was still stunned.
“It has been done before.” Ian mused. “Corwin did it. His son, Merlin did it.”
“And each time it caused instability.” Keirin thundered. “And now it is causing instability here….Causing us to be ejected from the Continuum.”
“I don’t see the problem.” Anne shrugged. “I’ll just walk it and then the two of you can remove it.”
“Absolutely not!” Keirin whirled towards her. “I forbid it.” Seeing the thunderclouds gathering in Anne’s face he quickly back-pedaled. “Walking the Pattern is not something done lightly. It can be difficult…and extremely dangerous.”
“Keirin is correct.” Ian agreed. “It can be difficult…and once started….you cannot stop. There is no turning back. You must push through to the end.” He eyed her speculatively. “Even so, dismantling the Pattern afterwards is not an option.”
“Pardon my interruption, sir.” For the first time Gerald spoke up. “What exactly will occur when we are evicted from the Continuum?”
Ian thought for a moment and then shrugged yet again.
“Honestly, I don’t know. In fact, I cannot say for sure that we will be evicted from the Continuum completely. We may simply be ejected from the Multiverse.” He paused, a calculating look on his face. “Come to think of it, I believe that complete expulsion from the Continuum will not occur.”
“Explain.” Keiren demanded/
“I have created a fully functional Pattern.” Ian looked at his cousin. “The chances are that we will simply be ejected from the Multiverse…in order to form a new sector.”
“Dear Gods.” Keiren breathed, leaning back in his seat. “It’s going to create an Amber Sector!”
“I believe so.” Ian’s gaze hardened. “Or rather, it is going to recreate Amber. Up to and including Amber proper, The Courts of Chaos and the Logrus….and all the Shadows inbetween!”
He shook his head and addressed the air.
“Celia.” the bracelet throbbed on his wrist once in response. “See if you can access Motherboard. If so, I want you to download your complete memory system to her.” He paused and then sighed. “Then I would like you to open up a communication channel with Kara...” He continued to speak but he looked at the others as he did so. “…it is time we said our farewells.”
Author’s Note: Those wishing to learn more about Amber can find more information here: The Chronicles of Amber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Communications interrupted.” MotherBoard announced. Her head tilted slightly. “They are gone.”
Kara and Rogue sighed. They had not been extremely close to Ian, but he had been a friend…and when needed, had added that last little bit of help that was always needed. And, if Ian were correct in his assumptions, the Pattern he had created would hamper communications to and from the newly formed Amber Sector and the rest of the Continuum for months, if not years or decades, to come.
“That means the Citadel is gone.” Rogue frowned. “Or rather, that Citadel is gone. And the chances are….a new citadel has taken its place…complete with a Time Trapper.”
“One crisis at a time.” Kara grumbled.
‘Not to sound callous,” Lex spoke up. “But at least he was able to send us all his data.” He nodded towards Motherboard who stood at the end of the table, watching them with an apparently insatiable curiosity. “Tony Stark’s people will be sifting through it for months.”
They were once again seated in the conference room…though this time only Lex, Mercy, Arisia, Kara, Rogue, and Motherboard were present.
“So what do we do with this….Motherboard.” Rogue eyed the green woman suspiciously. “Do we even know what she is?”
“Well…” Arisia began. “I’ve been able to determine that she is not in any way connected to the Starheart. It is as if the Starheart created her, sent her here, and then withdrew.”
“So she is not an artificially created Sentinel.” Kara muttered.
“She’s not like me, though.” Mercy spoke up.
“No.” Arisia stood and walked towards the green woman. “Her body, like yours, might be an artificial construct, but, unlike you, she has no human experiences or references. Quite frankly, she is nothing more than a highly advanced computer in a flesh and blood casing. She acts and reacts just like a computer.”
“But, she was modeled after Celia.” Kara wrinkled her brow. “And Celia was damned near human, even if she was an artificial intelligence.”
“The key word there is modeled.” Arisia mused. “She was modeled after Celia…but is….was…not a complete duplicate. I think that much of what made Celia what she was…was magic. That is something this Starheart could not duplicate.”
“So what do we do with her?” Mercy wanted to know.
“We send her to Prof. Xavier.” Rogue surprised everyone. “Computer or not…she is obviously human now. She has to learn what that means and I can’t think of anyone else that could help her accomplish that better than the Prof and possibly Jean Grey.”
“I think you are right.” Lex agreed. “But we have to be careful. We’ve already learned that she can effortlessly access any and every computer and communications system on and off the planet. If she fell into the wrong hands….” He waved away that thought and went on. “I am certain we can insure security while Xavier works with her….then, “he smiled slightly, “Then we leave the choice up to her.”
“Looking good.”
Carrie and Karen stood at the front gate of the School grounds, looking over the area.
Work crews could be seen here and there, finishing up the job of reconstruction. Not as many as could have been used, but the number of qualified people was at a premium, most of them needed in the reconstruction of the damaged portions of Metropolis.
Just seeing the destruction from the blast, both girls could imagine the destruction the city had seen years earlier when the Phantom Zone Criminals had been released. To hear Lucy Lane tell it, a good portion of the city had remained as piles of ruins for years….housing the most unsavory types…before Lex’s Forces had been able to clear them out.
“Look, there’s Motherboard.” Karen pointed to where the green woman walked through the flower garden in the entrance court.
Ever since her appearance, the twins had been fascinated with the human computer and had spent countless hours with her, discussing topics that would, quite frankly, leave many of Earth’s scientists scratching their heads and feeling very inadequate.
They would often talk while walking and it never failed that Motherboard would make every experience a novel one.
“I think she’s looking for us.” Carrie said, narrowing her eyes. Usually when Motherboard walked through the garden, she took her time, seeming to stop at every plant to marvel. Now, however her pace seemed to be filled with purpose and, upon spotting them and increasing her pace, Carrie’s assumption was verified.
“Carrie. Karen.” Motherboard spoke when she reached them. A vast improvement from when they had first met. It had taken a full month for the twins to break her from using their full names when ever she addressed them.
“Something up, Motherboard?” Karen asked.
“Indeed.” Motherboard answered. “An event has occurred which, I believe, is directly involved with the two of you.”
“What kind of event?” Carrie asked patiently.
“A mechanical probe has appeared in the sky above the school.” Motherboard informed them. “By my calculations, the probe can only come from another probability.”
Both girls looked up, activating their telescopic vision, scanning the skies.
“I see it.” Karen announced, pointing. “Thanks, Motherboard. We’ll check it out.”
Both girls leapt upwards, leaving Motherboard to look up after them.
“Not possible!” Rogue walked around the probe…clearly not believing what it represented.
The Twins, after retrieving the probe from the sky above the school, had flown with it straight to the Danvers Home. Now, deep in the underground Fortress, they, Kara, Rogue, Stephanie Strange, and Arisia regarded it with amazement. They had elected not to call in Jenny until the origins of the probe could be verified.
“We should have brought Motherboard with us.” Carrie mused. “She could have accessed it with no problems and verified where it came from.”
“We can do the same thing.” Karen argued even as she sped around the lab, turning on equipment, making adjustments, and finally hooking in the probe.
“The message was clear enough.” Kara pointed out. “Somehow, when those other worlds were brought into the Multiverse, Your WORLD…” Here she pointed at Rogue. “was pulled along with it.”
“But the Ripple….”
“I know.” Kara nodded. “Obviously something didn’t go exactly as we thought it would.”
“Everything checks out.” Karen finally announced. She looked over at Carrie who nodded and powered up the Portal Broach the twins had constructed in the lab.
“I am setting the coordinates now.” Carrie explained as she worked. “We should be getting something…..Now.”
They all looked towards the gate and waited as it filled with swirling light.
“Contact established.” Carrie called out.
“So do we go through?” Rogue wondered.
“No need.” Carrie pointed. “They are coming to us!”
All heads turned to the Broach as Reed Richards stepped through, followed closely by Sue, Johnny Storm, and…..”
“Dad?” Stephanie paled as Steven Strange stepped in behind Johnny….and promptly fainted.
MVP1-19
“It was a bit of a shock.” Stephanie was still shaky. After fainting, Kara had whisked her up to the living quarters of the home….letting the others follow at a more leisurely pace.
Stephanie had been well aware of the existence of Alternate Probabilities…and alternate Sectors within the Continuum, having been trained in her arts in the Realm. Yet the shock of seeing a slightly younger version of her deceased father step through the broach was a bit more than she could handle at the time.
“Understandable.” Steven Strange agreed. If Stephanie had been shocked at his appearance, he was equally stunned. In his probability, while he could claim numerous dalliances, he could recall none of which he had considered having children with. And as for the woman that Stephanie had named as her mother….he had not met the woman. Just another sign of how things could differ from one probability to the next. According to Stephanie, he was already several years older than her father had been when she had been born.
It had been uncomfortable for both of them, but rather than avoid each other, they had both elected to face it and bull through it.
“He’s the one you told me of.” Stephanie had demanded of Kara. “The one that helped resurrect you.”
“He is.” Kara admitted, smiling at the magician. She had then tearfully introduced Reed, Sue, and Johnny, and demanded where Ben was.
“He’s watching the equipment.” Johnny had laughed. “Said someone with brains had to stay behind to pull our butts out of the fire.”
“That sounds like him.” Kara had laughed.
“And I have a message for you.” Sue had pointed to Rogue. “Prof. Xavier wished me to offer his apologies for not being able to come but he hopes you are well. And….” Here she hesitated, glancing at Kara. “Gambit wanted you to know that he is sorry…and he truly hopes you are happy.”
Rogue smiled.
“Thanks, Sue. How is he?”
“He and Alison Blair are planning on being married in a few months.”
“Dazzler?” Rogue laughed. “How did that happen?”
“From what I have been able to learn, they met when Dazzler showed up at the school to help with the Twins’ musical lessons.” Sue smiled. “She was kinda put off by him at first, but, after you left with Kara, they seemed to be thrown together a lot. Neither of them really chased the other…it just sorta developed.”
“And if we are done with ‘as the stomach turns’…” Johnny groaned to the amusement of everyone.
The conversation then turned serious as Kara explained what had happened.
“An anti-matter blast.” Johnny had whistled, He had grown a bit pale when Kara explained that the back blast that had ruined their original Broach had leveled part of a city and killed hundreds…including this world’s version of Reed Richards, Sue Richards, and Johnny Storm.
“What about your Ben Grimm?” Reed asked.
“From what I understand, this world’s Ben died several years ago.”
“I suppose it is a good thing that the Broach at your Xavier’s school was located on the outer edges of the blast zone.” Reed said as they allowed the news to soak in. “Had it been much closer, then the back blast would have probably overloaded both Sue’s shields and our safety measures.”
Sue, for her part, was clearly astounded.
“I could not have done what this Sue did.” She said in a quiet voice, her eyes haunted. “I would not have the power….”
“From what I was able to learn, it was not believed that this Sue could have generated that much power.” Arisia nodded in understanding. “But if there is one thing I have learned…when the need arises, we can always find the strength to do what we need to do.”
After visiting a bit longer, the four had returned to their own Probability, but not before promising to recalibrate the cross probability communicator that the Superman of what was now Probability 9 had constructed for them and to fabricate several duplicates. One specifically for Lex so that he could, if he wished, open up diplomatic relations with the other probabilities.
It was a quite day.
Motherboard stood duty at the satellite, a task she was more than suited for and one, truth be known, she enjoyed.
Over a year had passed since she had arrived on earth.
Much of that time had been spent simply learning to be human. A unique experience. She would never, she had long ago concluded, ever be truly capable of interfacing flawlessly within human society. Such ability, it seemed, only came from being raised in such a society. She could, however, make do.
Of course, there was nothing she could do about her coloring. Unlike some of the others, Jenny and Arisia, to name those she was most familiar with, she could not change her appearance at will. That alone would cause her to stand out.
One of the most disturbing things she had discovered over the past year was exactly how much like a human the Starheart had made her. Though a perfect specimen, she still had the weaknesses of the average human. She had to breathe…eat…eliminate waste…and even sleep. And the Starheart had not stopped there. She had, it appeared, the same emotional capability as the average human. And, most annoying of all…she had to suffer through what, as a computer she had simply considered an interesting condition suffered by the females of the human species. She had a menstrual cycle! That, coupled with a complete examination by Dr. Stephanie Strange, had indicated that she was, indeed, a true human female, capable of reproduction. In fact, Dr. Strange had given her a very stern warning.
“Motherboard, I would be very careful if I were you.” The doctor/sorceress had said. “By all indications, you have to be the most fertile woman I have ever examined. If you don’t take precautions, you will be popping out babies left and right. Hell, I think you could get pregnant if a man simply sent a lusty thought your way.”
“Not possible.” Motherboard had answered. “The process of reproduction requires…”
“I know what it requires.” Stephanie had cut her off, blushing. “It was a figure of speech, Motherboard. One thing you are going to have to learn is to not be so literal. But I guess that will just have to come in time.”
After spending time with Xavier and Jean Gray, during which time they had done what they could help her integrate as much as possible, while at the same time, evaluating her thoroughly for President Luthor, she had taken her time figuring out what she wanted to do.
Another unique experience. Though she could remember being Celia, those memories, clear as they might be, had the feel of belonging to someone else. Celia, as versatile as she might have been, was still little more than a very advanced computer. She, on the other hand, was something Celia would never be. She was truly autonomous. She had her own free will and the ability to assert it where and when she wished. Fascinating indeed.
It had not taken her long to discover that, with her unique abilities, she could best be utilized in an information capacity. Within days of being offered the position of Oracle, Motherboard had completely rewired the JLA installation and, with the help of Stephanie Strange, had had computer jacks surgically implanted at the base of her skull. This allowed her to remain in constant surveillance mode….even when off duty or sleeping. The jacks were not needed when she was awake. Though no one had as yet discovered how she could do it, Motherboard could access any computer system on the planet with a mere thought. When aboard the massive construct that had basically been built around the original JLA satellite, she had found that she could still access the systems on Earth and, with just a little more effort, access the more major systems on the surfaces of Mars and Venus. Computer systems of the various orbital colonies and space craft were no problem what so ever. In fact, one of her duties was to regulate traffic within the system…constantly checking and rechecking to make sure that safety procedures were being followed…and that no vessel with evil intent came anywhere close to one of the inhabited worlds or orbital colonies.
So it was she was in place when the calm of the day was disturbed.
Though not necessary, Motherboard had discovered that, when jacked into the Satellites sensor array, her capabilities where massively increased. Thus, when the strange, small craft exploded into existence some distance beyond the orbit of Jupiter, she was instantly aware of it.
Despite its unorthodox method of entry into the Sol System, she followed procedure and aimed a routine query towards the vessel and waited the few minutes that would be required for a response.
When no response was forth coming, she turned more attention to the strange vessel…her senses reaching out to….She pulled her mind back in shock. Not Possible!
After her first few weeks as Oracle, it was extremely unusual for Motherboard to call for help. She did not hesitate now, sending an urgent request for Kara Zor-El. And, after only a split second of hesitation, she included the rest of the resident Kryptonians and Team Sentinel in the summons.
MVP1-19
“What’s up, Mom?” Carrie and Karen had zapped up from the surface of the planet, joining Kara and Rogue as they flashed over Metropolis before heading straight up.
“Not sure.” Kara answered Carrie’s question as the girls fell into formation with her and Rogue. Carrie on her side, Karen on Rogue’s. “Motherboard reported a strange vessel popping into the system. It did not answer her attempts at communication and when she tried to access the onboard computers, she discovered something that she was not ready for. Something she felt should involve us.”
“Is she getting old or have we just never noticed how cryptic she can be?” Karen asked Rogue, rolling her eyes.
“I think you just never noticed.” Rogue laughed. She then grew serious. “I received a simple summons, probably just like you. Motherboard probably didn’t see the need to relay all the information she had already given to Kara.” She shook her head. “She is getting the hang of this Oracle thing...but she is going to have to learn that she has to be a bit more informative.” She noticed Kara was not listening and frowned. “What’s up, Kar?” she demanded.
“The computers on the ship.” Kara sighed. “Motherboard insists that they are Kryptonian!”
“Kryptonian?” The Twins exclaimed together. “But that is impossible….”
“According to Motherboard, the indications are that this vessel comes from another probability. Most likely a probability that ceased to exist when the Multiverse collapsed in on itself.”
“But that was over a year ago!” Carrie exclaimed.
“Wouldn’t matter.” Karen countered, instantly thinking the problem through. “I can think of several reasons why a vessel launched then would not reach us until now. And I would even go so far as to say that most likely, as far as whoever is aboard, if anyone, is concerned, the trip probably seemed almost instantaneous.”
“She’s your daughter.” Rogue muttered to Kara under her breath, though she could not help smile at yet another sign of the Twins’ intellectual capabilities.
“We’ll find out soon.” Kara responded. “Arisia and Jenny have intercepted the craft and are transporting it to the satellite.”
MVP1-19
“Well, it’s definitely Kryptonian.” Kara mused as she studied the craft.
Arisia and Jenny had deposited the craft in a hanger hastily vacated for the purpose. As a precaution, Motherboard had sealed the hanger off from the rest of the satellite, reinforcing shields around the area and restricting access, for the time being, to the Kryptonians and the Sentinels. She, herself, remained in the control center, observing events via remote hookups.
“Sensors are unable to penetrate the hull to determine if there are any life signs.” Her voice sounded over the intercom.
“She sounds rather peeved.” Rogue grinned, though her attention was on the craft as well. They had already determined that there was enough lead in the make up of the hull to frustrate their attempts to use their x-ray vision.
“A wise precaution.” Motherboard had informed them when they discovered this. “A lead mixture within the hull would be an effective protection from some solar radiations.”
“Hmmm.” Kara shook her head. “Probably. But I don’t recall there being any lead in Kal’s space ship. It wasn’t really needed since Kryptonian science had long ago found ways to protect from solar radiation other than lead.” She glanced over at the Twins, both puzzling over the craft with looks of intense concentration. “Energy fields. Null screens. There would have been no need to resort to something as primitive as lead in the actual hull.”
“It’s not lead.” Karen finally spoke up. “Similar properties…but I think it is merely the mineral composition from where ever this thing came from.”
“Different histories.” Carrie nodded. “Obviously this ship was expected to endure extremely stressful conditions…so the maker developed as strong a hull metal as he could…while still keeping it as light as possible. The result…an extremely tough hull…that just happens to also hamper our x-ray vision.”
“Quite possible.” Motherboad’s voice came over the com.
“Do you ever get the feeling that we are not really needed at all?” Kara asked the room at large.
“Only when there are too many Kryptonians in one place at the same time.” Jenny quipped, smiling. Standing beside her, Arisia unsuccessfully attempted to smother a giggle.
“Right.” Rogue smiled and shook her head. “Back to the problem at hand. What do we do with it?” She held up a hand and ticked off points on her fingers. “One, we have no clue what, if anything, is inside. Two, if it comes from Krypton, even a Krypton in another reality, are we prepared to open it and let a super powered whatsit out? Three, how do we know that it is not a plague ship….”
“I have scanned the exterior as much as possible.” Motherboard interrupted. “I detect no dangerous microbes.”
“We don’t open it here.” Kara announced before Rogue could continue. She glanced at Jenny, took a breath and continued. “We take it to Daxam and hand it over to the Science Council.”
Jenny’s face lost all expression and Arisia moved a bit closer, putting a comforting hand on her team mate’s shoulder.
It had been close to six months since Lar Gand had announced that he was retiring to Daxam to take up a new career as an archeologist, attempting to piece together the torrid history of this Probability’s Daxamites. Seeing the destruction of what, had he been born in the reality, would have been his home world had deeply affected him.
The arguments that had then ensued between him and Jenny had been nothing short of catastrophic. With his decision made, he had fully expected Jenny to retire with him to Daxam. Jenny, on the other hand, had other ideas. She had no intention of retiring from what she considered her duty to dig through the dust and bones of a long dead civilization. Especially since the enlarged Kandorians that now inhabited the world could do the job fine without her, thank you very much.
For her part, Arisia had remained silent, taking neither side, though Lar did try to get her to convince Jenny to see his side.
Hers was a very fragile position. Through a quirk of fate, she was co-mother with Jenny of Lar’s child…a child that would not be born for another thousand years.
When push came to shove, however, and she could no longer sit on the fence, Arisia found that she had to agree with Jenny.
In the end, with emotions raw from the beating both Lar and Jenny had given them, the two had agreed on a formal separation.
Kara knew, from her talks since with her father, that Lar would not change his mind any time soon…and she could not see Jenny giving up herself and her life to appease Lar. She was convinced that any day now Jenny would announce that she was divorced. Since the two had been married in another reality…and since in this reality, on earth at least, divorce was mostly a case of “go away”…there would be no formal breaking of the relationship.
“If you can transport the ship, I can take care of the twins when we enter the range of the Red Sun.” Arisia offered, hoping to spare Jenny the trip.
“No.” Jenny shook her head and squared her shoulders. “If they have to stay there more than a couple of weeks, Kara and Rogue will need a lift home as well.” She was, of course, referring to the unique ability that Kara and Rogue had of retaining their powers under a Red Sun for a short period of time.
“No need to worry about us.” Karen sighed, glancing at Carrie. “We won’t be able to make this one.” When Arisia raised a questioning eyebrow, Rogue answered with a laugh.
“They’re in the middle of a concert tour.” She chuckled. “Introducing this reality to the music of Pat Benatar, Blondie...and who knows what else.”
“Well, with the first Khund invasion, this reality missed out on some good music.” Carrie shrugged.
“One of these days they are going to put out a song and someone is going to wonder how the twins got a hold of their music.” Rogue shook her head.
“We are always careful about that.” Karen disagreed. “We never take credit for writing the music.”
“This isn’t a space craft.” Carrie announced, turning everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand. When everyone was looking at her…she shrugged. “It’s a sports car.”
“A what?” Jenny looked first at Carrie, then at Kara, then at the vehicle.
“Look.” Carrie went on…seemingly talking more to her twin then to the others. “You can see where the frame has been reinforced. The canopy does not match the rest of the vehicle. And these protrusions….I would bet anything these are part of a mobile broach generator.”
“I think you’re right.” Karen nodded, looking more closely. She ran a hand over the hull.
“It’s a flitter!” Kara announced, her voice full of astonishment.
“A what?” Jenny repeated herself.
“A kryptonian sports car.” Kara explained. “One or two passenger personal vehicles. Used in much the same way humans use sports cars. Though these were basically air craft. Flying cars. There were strictly terrestrial versions and versions that could make short hops into space to travel between Krypton and the colonies on the moons.” She rubbed her chin as she studied the vehicle. “I would say this was the latter version. But there is no way one of those could have made it much further than the furthest moon.”
“Well, Carrie did say the hull had been reinforced.” Rogue mused. “There are probably other modifications as well.”
“There would have to be.” Karen announced as she and Carrie continued to examine the equipment that protruded from the hull. “From the looks of it, for this broach generator to work…it had to be beyond the range of the planetary gravity field. Including the gravity fields of the moons.” She looked up at Kara. “It had to be in open space….and from looks of these engines…which have also been highly modified…this ship…this sports car…had to get from the planet surface into open space in a hurry.”
She conferred with Carrie for a moment and waited until her twin nodded.
“We’re going to postpone the final leg of our tour.” She announced. “We need to get this flitter to Daxam.”
“No need to cancel.” Arisia pointed out. “I can take it to Daxam….” She stopped as Rogue started laughing.
“I don’t think you are going to talk them out of going.” She told the golden skinned Sentinel. “They aren’t going to pass up the opportunity to study this.”
“Well….” Carrie shrugged. “One of the things we had pondered was how to create a mobile broach generator. From the looks of it…this uses much less energy than any broach we could construct.”
“It just can’t be used in a gravity field.” Jenny pointed out.
“And that could probably be why it uses less energy.” Karen agreed. “We didn’t even consider creating a broach in a gravity free environment”
“Then it’s settled.” Kara said. Then, speaking to the air…”Motherboard, could you please inform President Luthor that we are going to be out of the loop for a week or so? And I am sure the twins can give you the information you need to see that their concert tour is postponed.”
“Affirmative, Kara.” Motherboard’s voice came back. “By the way….I have a communiqué from Kent Nelson for the twins. He requests an audience with them at their earliest opportunity.”
“Kent?” Rogue frowned. “As in from Alterverse?”
“That is correct, Rogue.” Motherboard responded. “Shall I inform him that Karen and Carrie will contact him when they return from Daxam?”
“Yes.” Karen spoke up before anyone else could.
“What would Kent want with the twins?” Rogue demanded of Kara in a whisper.
“I don’t know.” Kara looked at the two girls that were, for all practical purposes, her daughters. “But I get the feeling that this isn’t the first time they have talked to the wizard.
“Are you sure, Jen?” Arisia had pulled Jenny aside. She held her hands on her team mate’s arms. “You do not have to go.”
“Yes I do.” Jenny disagreed. “It might be painful but….” She trailed off, blushing a darker shade of green.
“But it would be more painful for me to be there without you.” Arisia finished for her.”Jenny…for all practical purposes…you and Lar are now free individuals….but I am your friend. I would not make a move on Lar. Free or not…it would be wrong. Friends do not do that.”
“I know.” Jenny nodded. “But….”
“But you still have to go.” Arisia nodded. “I understand.” She gave Jenny’s arms a final squeeze and then turned to the others and spoke up. “So when do we leave?”
“Right now.” Kara announced.
End of Part Three of Renewed Acquaintances
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 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 Merging, 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.