But so it goes. That was how academia, how science worked. She accepted that. It was the price she paid, and at least she knew that one day that would be her. By the time she reached Frank's age, she hoped to be driving a solid gold car, thanks to the proceeds of electronics patents. And this baby was the biggie, the one that the whole event had been organised for. The shindig would eclipse the lab opening too. Aurora's Light was here with a posse from the Seven Wonders.
Jeannie straightened her lab coat and adjusted her glasses, instantly feeling like a heel. For the occasion she'd even tamed her short black hair from its usual vertical position to something resembling a fringe and parting. She'd even gone so far as to swap the gemmed stud in her nose to a subtle pewter button.
Aurora and the Seven Wonders was big news. Even back home in Albuquerque she knew who they were. While the rest of the superheroes of the world had either retired (White Nancy), vanished (the aptly named Secret Sin), or gone into the cosmetics business (hello, Doctor Litewave), the Seven Wonders still held San Ventura, protecting it from the Cowl. Everyone in the country knew that, and not a week went by without a news report about the latest diabolical scheme foiled by the all-powerful Aurora and his team. Of course, if he really was all-powered and the Seven Wonders really were the world's last-standing super-team, then surely the Cowl would have been disposed of long ago, like every other supervillain in the world.
She pushed the doubts to the back of her mind and sucked her teeth as a distraction. She was nervous. Aurora was a celebrity, his wife and co-leader Bluebell a famous beauty. Not only that, they were here to talk to her about the big project. Okay, Frank Cane would do the talking (and take the credit), but it was all down to her. That's what she'd been hired for after fnishing her post-doc at the University of New Mexico and…
Someone nudged her in the ribs on the left, and someone said something on her right. She half-turned to ask the speaker to repeat, but Frank Cane was too busy shaking Aurora's hand to answer. Making her way down the row of scientists and offcials next to her husband was Bluebell.
Aurora. Tall, broad, handsome even though only the lower half of his face was visible, but the jaw was chiselled and the mouth was set into an expression that at frst looked like a smile, but it was slight and raised at one end more than the other. A smirk, but not an impolite one. It was confdent, bold. Superheroic.
And then he was past her, and she realised she'd shaken his hand and said something nice and friendly and hadn't even registered. Her hand was grasped by Bluebell's. Jeannie smiled and said hello, but there was something behind Bluebell's perfect smile she didn't like. Maybe it was just Bluebell herself, perfect in every way and from every angle, her short blonde hair expertly coiffured and tousled just like she did with her own when she wasn't trying to look more like a scientist and less like, well, a vaguely cool person. Jeannie's smile tightened and she felt even more stupid.
No, there was something else. Bluebell was looking into her eyes but it felt like she was looking past them somehow. The moment passed, Bluebell smiled, and moved on.
It was later. The drinks were out. The only time you can ever drink actually inside a laboratory is when there is a party, or an opening, or royalty comes to say hello. This occasion defnitely fell into the latter category.
Frank Cane held court as Jeannie chatted to a lab tech, joking about the defnition of interstitial time. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Aurora and Bluebell. They stuck together throughout, Aurora doing all the talking and Bluebell laughing at the appropriate points. But there is was again, that look, that intense… look, that wasn't a stare and it wasn't rude, but there was something else. When Bluebell met her eye with a smile the back of Jeannie's scalp would itch.
Jeannie watched as Bluebell took Aurora aside by the elbow and whispered something over this shoulder. He nodded, and for the frst time they split up. Bluebell returned to Dr Cane, and placing a friendly hand on his shoulder, asked him something about his home town back in England. She'd done her research.
"Dr Jean Ravenholt." Aurora held his champagne in one hand, and had the other extended. Jeannie shook it, remembering this time. His gloved hand was hot and the champagne in his other hand appeared to be steaming slightly.
"Mr… Aurora's Light, it's a real honor to meet you."
Aurora laughed like a Hollywood flm star of the 1940s. His eyes fashed white and his fame-hair swirled. "Just Aurora is fne." He took a sip of his drink. "I understand you developed the theory of the black light converter back at Albuquerque."
Ah. Forbidden territory. It was true, she had, but Cane took the credit. Even though he lived in an entirely different hemisphere, he was the spokesperson for the lab. Jeannie had to tread carefully.
"Hmm," said Aurora, half into his glass. "Don't worry about Dr Cane. Bluebell has his full attention. I just need to know that the black light converter theory is actually yours, not his."
Jeannie's eyes fickered to Dr Cane. He and Bluebell were laughing together like old friends. Aurora smiled.
"She can have quite a way with people."
"I'm sure."
"Like you wouldn't believe."
Jeannie took a gulp from her own drink, slightly too large than intended. The champagne was too dry.
"The converter is built on my design, yes. The whole thing is, truth be told."
"Ah." Aurora smiled, wider this time. His teeth we perfect. "How have the tests been so far?"
Jeannie relaxed. Aurora the superman was trusting her to a conversation she shouldn't really be having. Fuck it, go for broke.
"Well, actually," she said. "Energy transfer and absorption has been eighty per cent, which is beyond our initial hypothesis and more than enough to depower a hero." She paused, aware again of who she was talking to. "Of course, in theory only. We have only tested it on controlled power outputs."
Aurora nodded. "Of course, of course. Would you be interested to know that with just a few adjustments you can actually transition the energy source from one type to another, transferring the electron balance across space and time to another target?"
Jeannie stopped with a mouthful of champagne. She swallowed only when the fzzing on her tongue became too sharp. "Are you sure about that?" She raised an eyebrow.
Aurora raised his glass. "Quite sure, yes. I will transmit the schematics to you in the morning."
"Ah. You will? Okay… what for, exactly?"
"You've made an admirable start here, Dr Ravenholt. But we need the device a little off-spec, shall we say."
"You need?"
Aurora smiled. The warmth had gone. "Who do you think is funding this project? Funded your post-doc? Arranged the opening in San Ventura?" He gestured to Frank Cane with his now empty champagne fute. "Found you a suitably senile and absent boss?"
Jeannie gulped. Despite the radiant heat from Aurora, she felt cold in her chest. Her eyes ficked the Bluebell. The beautiful superheroine was looking at her again, the smile as perfect and charming and fake and dead as Aurora's.
"What do you want?"
Aurora sighed. "Dr Ravenholt, I want a weapon that will let me steal the superpowers of other heroes and transfer them to me. And I'd like your help with that."
He clinked his empty glass against Jeannie's half-full one, that hung at a limp angle from her hand.
"Here's to the start of something beautiful."
ANGRY ROBOT
A member of the Osprey Group
Lace Market House,
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www.angryrobotbooks.com
Up, up and away!
An Angry Robot paperback original 2012
Copyright © 2012 by Adam Christopher
Cover art by Will Staehle (lonewolfblacksheep.com)
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc., New Yor
k.
All rights reserved.
Angry Robot is a registered trademark and the Angry Robot icon a trademark of Angry Robot Ltd.
This is a work of fction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fctitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, superheroes or other persons, living, dead or imaginary, is entirely coincidental.
Sales of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as "unsold and destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it.
ISBN 978-0-85766-196-8
EBook ISBN 978-0-85766-197-0
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Table of Contents
SEVEN WONDERS
AUTHOR'S NOTE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DELETED SCENES
#1: TONY AND THE ATM
#2: THE START OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
Seven Wonders Page 44