I blinked. “They have another one?”
“Yes!” She clapped her hands again. “I really have missed you. Now the secret is simple but depends on knowing something about the Teatime Anarchist, a limit to his power—and since he rarely told the truth and never all of it to anybody there is no reason why you should know.
“It is as simple as this; for him time spent in the probable futures or the realized past was the same as time spent in the present. So if he traveled forward and spent a week in New Washington, for example, a week passed in the here and now, in the all-important present moment. Do you understand?”
I nodded, shook my head. “I think so, but why is that a limit?”
“Simply that if he spent weeks in the future studying and acquiring its secrets then his ‘evil twin’, as you liked to call him, was free to mess about back here without obstruction. Every present action that eventuated while he was in the future was one that he could not come back and undo. He was traveling in the future when the other one triggered the California Quake.”
Her smile had gone. “Thus, the Oroboros. I’m sure they represented themselves to you as being initially a research group. And they were, but they didn’t do research just for the government. They cataloged events, studied their significance, prepared tools, in order to have a resource waiting in the future, whatever future came, so that the Teatime Anarchist could call for it and go home. The Oroboros wrote the Future Files, and I am the last Oroboros of my own probable future timeline.”
Her smile came back. “And already as I am now, a quantum soul tending my library, when he brought me back with his last collection. I think he knew it would be his last trip and that meant the Oroboros’ mission was going to change.”
“You brought the other Future Files! The ones that Shelly didn’t recognize.”
“Yes, and I am its keeper, in the same way that Shelly—Shell now?—keeps yours. I am not what Shell is, the quantum-computer I am installed in is much more limited than hers. But I find myself more a librarian by nature these days and she has wider responsibilities, so I am content to help the Oroboros the way that Shell helps you, if not as fully and actively.”
“If I’m not your responsibility, why show me all this now?”
“Because we have finally met! A little earlier than in my original probable history, but this is still something of a milestone. And you are stepping onto a wider stage now, your life is going to become much more interesting than it already is.”
Her ageless face grew serious. “You have checked the Ascendant for now, and you are going to find that he and his Ascendancy may be your greatest enemy. And others have noticed you as well, for good and ill. Things will get difficult, and I wanted to show you…” She waved a hand at the glade and it disappeared, reverting to the white room and the passing clouds.
“I wanted to show you that all will be well.” The ceiling went invisible to show me the stars again and, sailing beneath them, the strange and impossible blue moon.
“Not certainly, of course, but possibly, and more probably now because of what all of you did in Littleton. Aunt Hope.”
Epilogue
“Do you really think she’s—she grows up to be—the Western Warden of the Confraternal Unity?”
I lay stretched out on my stomach, watching Atifa show Grendel and Kindrake where to add another wing to her sandcastle. Kindrake had tried to pass off Her Little Highness’ requested construction project, but big tough Grendel had a weakness for small cute things and Atifa had the universal child-sense that told her when she’d found someone who would bow to her wishes.
Shelly—Shell—whoever—raised her sunglasses to better see the builders. “She already knows how to order everyone around.” With Galatea in pieces and the government still twitchy about her virtual presence in anything linkable to their systems, she and Shelly had reentered gestalt mode to share the day at Littleton Lake. I was going to start referring to her as The Shellys when she did this.
Mistress Jenia had gently booted me out of her virtual world after calling me ‘Aunt Hope’, leaving me to have a panicked midnight conversation with Shell—who had only just learned about her before I did. Jenia had needed access permission from Shell to link to me, and Shell had given her a one-time pass only on the condition that she could listen in.
The Shellys’ thoughts skipped a track. “Do you think that we should offer Deitz and Lauer our help with security for the conference tomorrow?”
“Not our circus, not our monkeys,” Jacky yawned from my other side.
“What?”
“Polish proverb. Today it means that when the government calls a top-secret international conference and decides it’s okay to hold it in a building where they’re still fixing the front door, it can handle its own security.”
From our umbrella-shaded beach blankets, we watched the volleyball game going on between Jamal, Mal, Reese and, of all people, Ozma. Last night she’d flown down with Nox and Nix, the mundane way in the Sentinels’ reserved jet. Blackstone came too, to keep things official and nice for the certification review board. The US Marshals let them in because she promised to make Littleton tornado-proof, and she was doing a good job keeping the game honest—she’d informed Jamal if he sped and Reese if he blew a puff of wind they’d be her new beach hat.
I looked at my friends, and thought about the Bees. I’d gotten a text from Julie, just LIOB –Love In Our Bond, the Phi Mu statement of sisterhood. She’d ended it with “Later!” and a smiley face that matched mine, so things would be okay again. But we hadn’t been Hope and the Bees for a long time now, really. Not since the fall of our freshman year. And I realized that I was okay with that; circles could grow as well as shrink, and different wasn’t wrong.
Kindrake said something that made Atifa laugh loud enough for me to hear over the music and the game, and my smile got wider. Kindrake could wait, too, and the questions that came with her. The lake was just too inviting, Jacky really needed to let more sun touch her Snow White skin, and even the troubles back in Chicago could wait another day. I stretched, feeling fewer aches, and bounced to my feet.
“C’mon girls, it’s time to get wet!”
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Glossary
(Wearing the Cape through Young Sentinels)
Acacia: aka, Stephanie Dupree. A vampire-wannabe lucky enough to experience a “turning” breakthrough instead of dying, Acacia was victimized by a deranged “Master Vampire” and rescued by Jacky. A mentally fragile young woman, she is under Jacky’s protection and watched over by the Master of Ceremonies and his minions when Jacky is not in town.
Aftershock: The first “supervillain,” dubbed Aftershock by the media, is a Chicago gang member who gained the power to project brick and steel-shattering sound waves. He and his gang decided to rob a bank, leading to the first superhero vs. supervillain fight between him and Atlas and beginning the media-practice of giving all public breakthroughs codenames if they don’t choose one for themselves first.
Ajax: aka Professor Charles Gibbons. One of the founding Sentinels and the naming breakthrough of the Ajax Class, Ajax wore Greek-style armor and carried a huge short-handled battle maul. He was also tenured professor at the University of Chicago (he wrote The New Heroic Age, the seminal work on superheroes and the Post-Event Era), and was one of Astra’s trainers. He was killed in the Whittier Base Attack by Seif-al-Din, and Astra carries his maul in his honor.
Alex Chandler: Atlas’ older brother, Alex Chandler is probably the greatest unsung hero of the New Heroic Age; a partner in a Chicago marketing firm, after the Event he was the one who convinced John to become Atlas, complete with cap
e and mask. He steered the public-relations campaign that put the public on the side of the Sentinels, and helped the shaken public to see superhumans as potential superheroes rather than dangerous freaks. He still manages the Sentinels’ public-relations and marketing alongside The Harlequin, but since Atlas’ death he has done it from his Michigan Avenue office rather than from the Dome.
Andrew’s Designs: Somebody has to help capes look good and not so much like happy cosplayers. That’s Andrew, the premier costume designer for capes who can afford his exclusive services. He designed most of the Sentinels’ and Young Sentinels’ costumes. Andrew is something of a mystery; he is well-built, very fit, and carries himself like an ex-soldier—not exactly a normal thing in the fashion industry. Meeting him, Astra and others have wondered if he might be a cape himself (some keep secret identities, after all).
Anne Marie Corrigan: Anne Marie is the daughter of an old blue-blood Chicago family. She scandalized high-society by marrying John Corrigan, who was a decade older, from a much lower class of family, and not yet successful. When Faith, her oldest daughter, died of a childhood disease, Anne Marie founded the Faith Corrigan Foundation. She throws charitable art and social events where she collects millions of dollars in donations from Chicago’s elite towards medical research and children’s aid at home and abroad.
Artemis: aka Jacky Bouchard. Jacky was the victim of a deranged breakthrough who was obsessed with her and believed himself to be a true vampire of the Dracula variety. He killed her parents, kidnapped and imprisoned her, and used his vampiric powers to drain her will before he drained all of her blood and turned her. She staked and decapitated him, burned him to ashes, and scattered him on Lake Michigan. Jacky never had any vampire obsessions before, so she did not “inherit” that part of her supernatural breakthrough; she is not repelled by crosses or garlic, does not need permission to enter a home, and now she is the world’s only known vampire “daywalker.”
The Ascendant: Just three years after the Event, Doctor Simon Pellegrini wrote The Sleeper Must Awaken, the manifesto of The Foundation of Awakened Theosophy. An organization dedicated to using meditative imaging and “enlightenment” techniques to trigger breakthroughs in its followers, it was dismissed as one of the more harmless “origin sellers”. Unknown to the public, Dr. Pellegrini was also the Ascendant, a supervillain terrorist who claimed credit for several mass-disasters which killed hundreds or thousands while triggering handfuls of breakthroughs. It is believed that the Ascendant was behind the Green Man attacks on Chicago.
The Ascendancy: Discovered to be behind the Wreckers, the Ascendant has disappeared while at the same time declaring the Ascendancy. So far the only known members of the Ascendancy are the Ascendant and the Wreckers, plus escapees from the Detroit Supermax breakout (many of them teens) who may have stayed with him. The DSA is closely monitoring all former members of the Foundation of Awakened Theosophy as well. The Ascendancy believes that 1.) breakthroughs are the next step towards racial apotheosis, and 2.) that as transcendent humans, breakthroughs are spiritually awakened and superior and should “guide” unawakened humanity.
Astra: aka Hope Corrigan. The titular heroine of the stories, Astra achieved an A Class Atlas-Type breakthrough when the Dark Anarchist dropped the Ashland Overpass on her in a messy assassination aimed at someone else. In short order she became Atlas’ sidekick and then the youngest member of the Sentinels. Family: her parents are John and Anne Marie Corrigan, her brothers are Aaron, Josh, and Toby, and she has an older sister (Faith) who died when Hope was only three.
Atlas: aka John Chandler. Atlas was the first Post-Event superhuman to be caught on film (impressively catching a falling plane), and the first to put on a costume and give himself a superhero codename. Only eighteen at the time and “Just a boy from Texas, ma’am,” Atlas dedicated his life to protecting others and advancing the image and position of superheroes. The naming breakthrough of the Atlas-Type, he died at the hands of Seif-al-Din while protecting the President during the Whittier Base Attack. In many ways he is the archetype by which superheroes are measured.
Barlow’s Guide to Superhumans: Barlow’s Guide is a famous publication, updated annually, listing all known superheroes, their powers, and brief biographies. It’s pretty thick, and it established the Power Scale (A Class through D Class) denoting highest to lowest power levels and the Power-Type lists.
The Bees: Julie Brennan, Annabeth Bauman, and Megan Brock. The Bees were that circle of It Girls you hated or idolized in high school: glamorous, from “good” families, and supremely confident. When Shelly died during high school freshman, year Julie led them in “adopting” a broken and lost Hope. Julie is the bossy leader, Megan the group’s snarker, Annabeth the nice one who just likes everyone to be happy, but since graduation they have all shown other sides of their character (especially Annabeth). They remain very important to Hope, although she struggles to maintain the connection under the pressures of her superhero career.
Doctor Beth: Doctor Jonathan Beth is the Sentinels’ resident physician, and a researcher of “superhumanology.” He studies breakthroughs and the manifestations of their powers, and has written many monographs and given lectures around the world. He carries lollypops for good patients and reminds Astra of her family doctor.
Blacklocks: Capitalism means that a service is created for every need. Blacklock Security is a developer and supplier of superhuman restraints, everything from titanium shackles and cells to “sandman” tranquilizer packs, hoods, and more exotic means of restraint. Today most heavy-duty shackles are referred to as Blacklocks.
Blackout: The lead drummer for Freakzone (see Freakshow), Blackout is a “supervillain” breakthrough capable of generating and controlling clouds of dark particles. He can concentrate these particles to create insubstantial shapes of pure darkness, or spread them wide to create vast clouds of obscuring mist.
Blackstone: One of the Sentinels’ founders and a mentor to Atlas and later to Astra, Blackstone was a retired US Marine turned stage magician. His power is essentially “stage magic”—he can appear and vanish both himself and objects he pulls from his hat or waves away (teleportation), fly (levitation), and spin completely convincing visual illusions. He has always been the team’s intelligence analyst, and after the deaths of Atlas and Ajax, the last founding members, he became the team’s de-facto leader.
The Block: California’s supherhuman prison, the Block is famous for being escape-proof (so far). Bryce Walters, the Plasma Projector whose hatred for breakthroughs triggered his own (he took a shot at Astra during the recovery mission in LA), is known to be incarcerated there.
Breakthrough Powers: Breakthrough powers come in all shapes and sizes, although most tend to conform to “types” made popular by media exposure or societal beliefs, and they range from trivial or close to human ability (D Class) to amazing (A Class). Power naming conventions vary; the most common powers are named after the first breakthrough witnessed exhibiting them (Atlas-Type, Ajax-Type, Volt-Type, Verne-Type, Merlin-Type, etc.), or a classic type (Speedster, Kinetic). (Author’s note: one of the best sources for power-types is the TV Tropes wiki, under Stock Superpowers. But beware, TV Tropes is best read with someone who can force you to stop.)
Brick: Brick, a B Class Ajax Type, began his career as a Sanguinary Boy in Chicago. When the Sentinels took down the team and he was convicted of Manslaughter, the US Military offered him parole in return for military service. He went AWOL in China, reappeared in Cuba where he fought Astra a second time, and is probably now back in military service (with heavy security measures).
The Brotherhood: In the aftermath of the Event, many street gangs found themselves becoming minions to street-level supervillains. Chicago developed two such supervillain/minion gangs: the Brotherhood and the Sanguinary Boys. The two fought constantly for turf rights to various criminal activities (mainly protection rackets, prostitution, and street-distribution for the Chicago Mob).
Burnout: aka Roger Carr.
Burnout was one of the super-celebrity creations of the entertainment industry; a talented singer who manifested pyrokinetic powers (immune to heat, able to generate and control flame), he became a huge recording pop-star. Which lead him into drugs, groupies, and eventually convictions for multiple counts of statutory rape and drug possession.
Byzantium: The Caliphate War ended with the establishment of the first incorporated organized US Territory in more than a century; the US claimed and occupied the ten percent of Turkish territory west of the Bosporus, the strait separating Asia Minor from Europe. The US Congress restored the old name of Constantinople to the half of Istanbul west of the Bosporus and made the city the capital of the new US Territory of Byzantium. The territory has become a magnet for the hundreds of thousands of Christian refugees being driven out of the Muslim states of the Middle East and North Africa during and since the Caliphate Period; Coptics, Eastern Orthodox, Nestorians, they are all immigrating to Constantinople and its territory even as many Muslim Turks are leaving—making it likely that by the time Byzantium holds the promised referendum to determine its final status as America’s 51st state or as an independent nation, Muslims will be a minority in the territory.
The Caliphate (Alliance): In post-Event Turkey, Armagan Acar, an army officer and ardent nationalist, found himself possessed with the secret gift of superhuman persuasion; he could turn the loyalties of whole regiments and crowds with his words. Within a few years he had risen to be Turkey’s Prime Minister and drawn the principle states of the Arab League into an alliance to counter the new League of Democratic States. Founded on Islamic Nationalism and anti-Semitism, the new league named itself The Caliphate. When the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza tried to join the Caliphate, Israel refused to allow it. Tensions and accusations escalated until the PLO launched a Caliphate-backed takeover of the West Bank. Massacres of overwhelmed Jewish communities ensued, and the Caliphate militaries invaded Israel. The League of Democratic States backed Israel. The ensuing war was short and resulted in: 1.) The dismemberment of the Caliphate, 2.) The ejection of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and their absorption by the ex-Caliphate powers, 3.) The establishment of Eretz Israel (all of Israel and Palestine) and Kurdistan, 4.) The creation of the US Territory of Byzantium (from all of Turkey’s territory west of the Bosporus), and 5.) The creation of The Caliphate as a terrorist organization.
Wearing the Cape 4: Small Town Heroes Page 25