I laugh, he’s pulling my leg… He’s not pulling my leg.
“You’re The Protector… I watched you pull a cruise ship… A cruise ship to shore using the anchor. And then just today you stood up to Hand Cannon with your shield and…”
Oh. That’s not possible… my mind scrambles for another explanation.
Pythias eyes light up and she giggles, “She is clever! I believe you mortals call it Ochams Razor.”
“All things being equal, the simplest explanation is most often the true one… Your armor? Your powers come from the armor?”
I suddenly wish very much I had his shield in my lab.
“All of them, in a way. Putting the armor on infuses me with the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury, etc. But the real power is the Armor. If I were ever killed, Pythia would simply find some other worthy wielder.”
How? His armor is bronze, it looks awesome, right out of Spartacus, but all the same, it’s bronze.
“Let’s pretend I believe this. There are supers who have armor besides me, though none of their armor operates without them. They’re all elementals or mentally controlling constructs they wear. You’re saying the bronze shield leaning against the mannequin is really Aegis? Like from the movie?”
He smiles, “Now you’re getting it. Aegis is the shield, the breastplate belonged to Hercules, the spear was forged by Hephaestus for Achilles. The helmet was a gift to Leonidas from Athena. She granted him his wish to defend Sparta from the Persians.”
I shake my head, “Okay, okay, I get it. Ancient Greek gods and artifacts of power. Wow. Okay.” I raise my hands, “I know when I’m beat,” I grin, “Now tell me why you are sharing all this with me? The person least likely to believe any of it?”
Sydney pushes his plate aside, “Do you want to tell her or should I?”
Pythia glides over and straddles the bench beside me, looking up at me with her eyes like dark pools.
“Amelia, of all the heroes you were drawn to Sydney as a child, why?”
I open my mouth to speak when I clamp it shut. She couldn’t possibly know that… the wiggle of her eyebrow tells me she knows exactly what I was thinking. Either my telepathic defenses on the armor aren’t working, which I doubt is true, or there are some things I’m going to have to accept on faith… for now. I glance at the straw. That I like Coca-Cola would be easy enough to divine. Heck, most of this she could know through hacking or careful observation. But there is no way, at least no way I can imagine other than what she is telling me, she could know I needed a straw to drink while I’m wearing the armor. Just no way. I decide to proceed as if what they say is the truth. For now.
“Hope,” I say. “He gave me hope.”
She nods, “Exactly as he’s supposed to. When the gods lived on Earth, before the natural dimensional orbit drifted from their home plane, they tortured humanity with petty wars and affairs. Since then they have… matured. The guilt they feel over how they treated humanity eats at them. When Nikola Tesla turned on his machine they were given a chance to right a great wrong. Sydney and I… we work together to help humanity.”
“This is all very interesting, but how do I fit in?”
“She’s the Oracle, Amelia, she sends me on my missions. With the spear, I can be anywhere in the world a few seconds. How do you think I know where to go? Why do you think I knew exactly when to show up today to save you?”
Okay. I’m trying real hard to accept what they’re saying. Otherwise, The Protector, the most powerful human being on the planet, is out of his mind crazy. I really could go either way at the moment. However, there is an abundance of proof he’s not.
“Sydney gives humanity something to hope for and with my powers, I try to guide him to do the most good. As he said, I’m an oracle. However, I can’t see the future, per se, but I can see probabilities. Likely outcomes of actions. I am… somewhat omniscient. I see thousands of futures, sometimes of an individual, like you, and sometimes of all of humanity.”
I put a grape in my mouth, they’re delicious and I try to keep my skepticism in check. “You can see the future? Okay, cool. Again though, why bring me here?”
Sydney glances over at Pythia, I can tell there is something even more pressing they want to share, but are concerned about how I’ll react.
“Listen. You two obviously want to say something, and trust me, anything you have to tell me is going to be easier to accept than ancient Greek gods seeing the future and gifting humanity with a champion. I love sci-fi, not fantasy, this is all much harder to accept then you know. But as long as we’re shooting for the moon here, let’s pull all our cards on the table.”
Pythia nods, her smile lights her eyes and she speaks, “Amelia, humanity is in great danger. Fifteen years ago we had an infinite amount of futures. A year ago we had thousands. Six months ago, a few hundred.”
A lump forms in my throat, I don’t like where this is going. “And now?”
“Two,” she says quietly.
“I take it these two options aren’t awesome?”
She shakes her head. “Something terrible is coming. There is nothing that can stop it. Sydney and I have tried. Whatever is coming can… hide from us, I don’t know how. No action we take makes a difference for long. We’ve delayed for as long as we can and honestly I don’t know if we’ve made it worse or better.” She sighs with a shake of her head. Whatever else she might be, she genuinely cares I can see it in her eyes. “Three months ago things changed. I don’t know exactly how, but your team had just defeated The Creature when it happened. We went from one horrible future to two. At first, I thought this was good… but it isn’t, Amelia. Whatever force is driving humanity forward, it’s driving them toward slavery and despotism. A tyranny unlike the world has ever seen.”
I… I knew something bad was out there. Whoever took my parents, the people behind the weapons and the robots, the mind control… they had to have a plan and the only plan that made sense was this. Her words make more than one thing click into place. They want to conquer the world. As crazy as it sounds, it makes sense. A sufficiently powerful telepath could do it. Hitler was the last person to try and even he knew he couldn’t have it all. No Army could ever keep the whole world in check, but a telepath? Yeah, they could… maybe. It would have to be one crazy powerful telepath, though.
“I don’t know how they’re hiding from you, but they can’t hide from me. They took my parents, Pythia, they took my life. And now you’re telling me they will take even more from everyone I care about? No worries, you may not be able to stop them, but I can.” This is exactly what I needed. Independent confirmation. Her crazy aside, she obviously knows the whole story which means I’m on the right track.
“No, Amelia.” her voice pulls my soul and I can see the sorrow in her eyes as she speaks. “Despotism is the best outcome. The other, the one where you continue your crusade, it ends with the death of humanity. The extinction of your people from the face of the Earth. For the good of the future, Amelia Lockheart, you must stop. Let events take their natural course. In a few centuries, the natural ebb and flow of humanity will correct the wrong and overthrow the shackles of tyranny. However, this is the only future humanity has. You must let it play out. If you don’t stop, if you don’t let it go, then humanity has no future, because there won’t be any humans left.”
14
A famous religious passage says there is nothing new under the sun. I respectfully disagree.
-Notes On an Electronic Life, by Epic
The screen shakes as GAME OVER scrolls across. My avatar lies dead and Carlos chuckles as he pops another Coke.
“Someone’s on fire,” he says before swallowing half the can in a few seconds.
I try to care, but Pythia’s words have haunted me since I returned. All of this, laid in a grave and I’m the one who’s going to cause it? I don’t know how to be okay with ending humanity? Do I believe she is the Oracle of Delphi? The prophetess of Apollo? No. But, results speak for themselves. Whatever po
wer she has is real, regardless of where it comes from. The evidence is too great to deny it.
“Amelia? Hello?” Carlos waves his hands in front of my face. He’s crouched down looking up at me with his puppy dog eyes.
“You’ve been staring off into space for a good minute, everything okay?”
“Sorry… sorry,” I run a hand through my hair, “Hero stuff on my mind.”
“I can tell; I don’t think I’ve ever beat you three times in a row. What’s going on?”
I want to tell him about my parents about everything. How do I say, “An immortal oracle of an ancient god told me if I don’t stop going after the man who stole my parents I’m going to destroy the world…”
I shake my head. I can’t tell anyone except Kate. At best people might think I’ve lost my mind. Not to mention this knowledge would put him in real danger. His only defense is he doesn’t know anything. For me, I don’t leave my lab unless I’m armored and Kate has her own defenses. No one else does.
“Is it trouble between you and Luke?” He stands to lean against the wall and finish his soda. Carlos has always been a good friend, ever since we were sixteen. If anyone deserves to know, it’s him.
But deserves got nothing to do with it.
Instead, I get the bright idea to tell him about my pet project.
“No, really. Luke and I are fine, though we haven’t spent nearly enough time together lately.”
“Where is the hombre?”
“Him, Fleet, and Perfect are on a special mission for the Governor. She flew to DC for a conference and took the boys as a special security detail. Show the flag, so-to-speak.”
He nods. “So what’s on your mind then?”
“Artemis,” I lie. I hate lying to him. Add another grievance I am going to extract in flesh from the person responsible for all of my pain.
“I don’t follow?”
I pull the breaks off and roll over to my computer screen, waving at the second of three monitors. Epic senses the movement and brings it to life. The screen lights up with a video of Earth from orbit.
“I’ve seen this channel,” Carlos says as he walks over to lean on the desk, “Anyone can tune into the camera on the ISS.”
“Oh, this isn’t ISS. Epic, zoom.”
The image blurs and we’re looking at a slightly angled image of Phoenix. Another blur and the image shifts to our HQ.
“Pop the window,” I order. The metal storm shutter creeks up as the image of our HQ on the video does the same.
“Holy crap!” Carlos runs to the window. He opens the glass and sticks his head out, hand frantically waving in the air. Looking back over his shoulder so he can see himself.
“You have your own spy satellite? That can’t be legal…”
I start to respond then stop, it never occurred to me it might be illegal. I know there’s a treaty against weapons in space, but that’s for governments.
“I’m not sure if it is legal, but what country’s laws am I violating? It’s space, I’m pretty sure it’s past the twelve-mile limit,” I say with a grin.
“That is frickin cool!”
The door slides open, revealing Kate and Glacier. Carlos spins around so fast he loses his balance. Stepping sideways, he tries to recover and ends up driving himself into the beanbag chair he favors for playing games.
I shake my head, Kate rolls her eyes and Glacier giggles. I couldn’t be more surprised at the ice queen if she suddenly turned human.
“Hi,” Carlos says from his half-fallen, half-laying position on the bag.
“Suave,” I say. I’m actually glad he fell. I don’t want anyone else knowing about Artemis and I haven’t had the chance to tell Kate. I may never have to use her but if I do, I want it to be a surprise. You can’t defend against what you can’t see coming.
Kate throws a glance my way, an eyebrow quirking up. Crap. She can probably sense my desire to keep Artemis hidden. I flip the monitor off and rely on Epic to take care of the rest. The window closes and the shutter rolls down into place.
“Carlos, this is Glacier, she’s the newest member.”
Carlos scrambles up pulling his shirt down and takes his ‘cool’ stance before muttering a ‘hey’ at our resident ice elemental. To my utter surprise, she actually smiles at him and does a little wave. I can tell it’s caught Kate off guard too, she gives them both a look before returning to me.
“Amelia, you mind if we talk for a moment?”
“Sure, Carlos can you show Glacier the break room?”
He stands up straight like he’s just been ordered to protect the Queen of England, “Of course. Uhm, I guess you probably don’t eat, huh?”
Good one Carlos, stick that foot right in your mouth.
“No,” she shakes her head. “You can call me Monica,” she says. Carlos walks over to join her. I can’t really read her expression, the ice moves exactly as human flesh would, but being partially see-through makes it impossible to read the minutia.
“Well, then maybe I can interest you in a game of foosball?”
“You’re on,” she says as they walk out together.
“Should I be jealous?” Kate asks after the two leave.
“Maybe?” Kate isn’t serious, of course. Carlos, like virtually every other man in her life, crushes hard on her. But as she told me, it isn’t her, it’s her powers. Part of being an empath is everyone feels a connection to her, even if she doesn’t reciprocate. It just so happens my armor protected me when we first met. Our friendship is actually a friendship. It’s why she could teleport to me shortly after we met. Something that normally takes weeks or even months of knowing a person.
“Two things,” Kate says as she slides her shapely bottom onto my desk, “Any progress on Glacier? I know she’s hard to read but she really has built up some hope that you’re the real deal.”
I wheel myself back and spin around to my research station. I have the lab set up in parts. Armor maintenance, utility, and active research. Utility covers Artemis and just about anything I’m actively doing that isn’t the other two. My research station is farthest from the door and the most powerful quantum computer I’ve ever built. After I transferred Epic out of his housing and into the armor I re-purposed his old case as a research machine.
“She’s interesting, that’s for sure. You know about the Tesla waves right? The catch-all name for the other-dimensional energy scientist theorize you supers use?”
“Sure, that’s the thing they figured out after World War Two? Right?”
“Head of the class,” I mutter as I tap a few keys. What I wouldn’t give for a holographic interface like she has on her phone, but I will be damned if I allow any Cat-7 gear in my lab. And that kind of tech is slightly outside my bailiwick. Everything in here is something I’ve built myself, or had custom manufactured for my shell company, Mars Tech Global.
“Well when you or any super aren’t actively using your powers your Tesla waves look something like this,” I pull up a scan of Kate from a couple of months back. Epic needed a detailed biometric map of her for security reasons. The image of her body fluctuates in many different colors. With the punch of a key, I highlight the Tesla waves. They’re there, but faint.
“Now, if you use your powers actively,” the faint blue energy turns brilliant and blinding.
“Wow,” Kate says. She slides off the table and leans over my chair to look closer at the monitor. “How did you find this?”
“Epic. He did the math, I just set the parameters.”
“Does anyone else know this?”
“About Tesla waves? Sure, but there isn’t anything noteworthy in it. We can’t quantify the waves, measure their power or anything other than see the effect they have on our bodies’ electromagnetic field.”
“So this isn’t actually the waves we’re looking at.”
“Nope. This is a magneto scan of your field. As you exert power your field amps up. Think of a battery. Just sitting there it doesn’t really have much going
on. But, if you charge it or expend the charge it lights right up.”
She nods, “Damn, I thought you were on to something with this. No Nobel prize for you then.”
“Ha, as if I want one.” I punch a few more keys and throw up a scan of Glacier I did a few days ago. “What do you see?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. Looks like mine.”
And it does look like hers… “Except it shouldn’t.”
She takes her glasses off, pulling the guest chair up next to mine and sitting down, “I don’t follow.”
A few clicks and I move their EM field to a side by side. “You’re a flesh and bone person, Kate. A perfect person, but a person all the same.”
She shrugs the compliment off, “Hardly perfect.”
“Still, you, me, anyone and everyone has an EM field. Some people naturally have strong ones, some have small ones, but everyone has it.”
“Okay, you’re telling me she’s just like everyone else.”
I wait for her to put it together. She’s not stupid, despite her public persona, she knows what’s what. Her eyes light up as she figures it out. “But she’s not like you or me?”
“Bingo. Ice doesn’t have an EM field. It’s just condensed gas, really. How does she have an EM field if she really is just gas?”
“I don’t suppose you know…”
“Not yet,” I grin, “But you know how much I like puzzles. We have EM fields because we’re physical matter with iron, copper, flesh, and bone. Our brains generate an electrical field that’s relayed through our central nervous system. If I had to guess, I would say Monica’s body is out there, somewhere. Maybe in whatever dimension the ice comes from. If that is the case, then there has to be a way to bring her back. However, that’s something I am nowhere near.”
I tap a few more keys and pull up the status of the labs Faraday cage. I’d put one in the whole building but everyone claims they need cell service or some such nonsense. Status is a hundred percent which means our conversation is private. “Okay, shields are up. What is number two?”
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