Planet Hero- Civilian

by M. A. Carlson

  Thankfully, Winston did the thinking for me when he asked, “You used it? You used the device, didn’t you?”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  “And you lived?” Winston asked, sounding even more surprised.

  Now I had a plan. I knew exactly how to play this. “I don’t remember. My memories are all . . . messed up. I woke up near Wu-Shan with no idea how I got there. There was something charred and melted that looked like it might have been a device, but I couldn’t be sure. What happened to me?” I asked, grabbing Winston by the lapels of his jacket and pulling him close to my face so I could look him in the eyes, and he could get a clear look at me.

  “I warned you not to use it. It was too unstable,” Winston tried to defend himself, shying away in terror. “I still don’t understand how you’re still alive.”

  Good, one gap closed. Now I needed to press for more information, especially if he expected the device to kill me. But why would I . . . erm, Dr. Portal use it if I . . . he knew death was a likely outcome? I pushed him back into his chair which rolled closer to the edge of the roof. “Why? Why did you think it would kill me?”

  “The other test subjects,” Winston started, finally looking ashamed and guilty. I knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “They . . . it was too much power for their bodies to handle. They . . . just died not long after use. Their bodies shut down rapidly.”

  I now had my answer as to what happened to the original Dr. Portal. The device he used to come to my world killed him, not some mysterious disease. “Then why am I alive?”

  “I don’t . . . I don’t know. I would need to run some tests,” Winston said.

  “No!” I snapped, acting angry for him even suggesting it.

  “But . . . we need to understand why you lived when all the others didn’t,” Winston tried to protest starting to stand from his chair.

  I pushed him back into his seat and off the roof. He fell, screaming. And before he hit the ground, I opened a portal under him. The man shot upwards from the portal’s other end that was level with the roof in front of me. He went up a few feet before his ascent arrested and began to fall back toward the rooftop. I closed the portal and let him smack bodily into the roof. I didn’t like this particular part of the plan. Para insisted it would keep Winston talking. Keep me in control of the conversation. I was more worried about him having a heart attack from the fall.

  Winston laid on the roof, breathing rapid, panicked breaths, clutching at his chest. I gave him a quick check to make sure he wasn’t having a heart attack, and once I was sure he was good, I slapped him, bringing his attention back to me. I was also hoping the sudden pain would keep him from going into shock.

  “Now, why did I steal the device? Who is this he? Why does he want it? Why would I agree to try to keep it out of the hands of whoever he is?” I asked rapidly while I had Winston’s undivided attention. I really wish I didn’t need to scare him like this. But Para’s whole ‘be a villain’ speech kept running through my head.

  “T-T-T-T-Terminus,” Winston eventually stuttered out. His whole body was shaking in a way that made me worried he was about to go into shock anyway, if he wasn’t already there.

  I stopped myself from asking who that was. I was sure Para would inform me. “What did Terminus plan to do with the device?”

  Winston looked up at me slowly, his eyes wide. “To bring about the end of all abilities.”

  Okay, that was going to take some explaining. “Explain,” I ordered.

  Winston swallowed thickly, then said, “With that device and his ability, he could permanently, take away everyone’s abilities.”

  There was just one question left on Para’s list, I asked, “I assume, he took the engineers that made the device? To rebuild it?”

  Winston just nodded.

  Satisfied and unable to think of anything else to ask, I opened a portal under him again. I set the other end to spit him back out in his office.

  “Is that what you wanted?” I asked, knowing Para was still nearby.

  When Para reappeared, he looked as if he’d seen a ghost. He was sickly pale and his hands were trembling. “What? What is it?” I asked, feeling very worried to see the seemingly unflappable paranoid hero was that terror stricken.

  Para took a minute to gather himself. Then, his voice shaking, he said, “We need to go, right now. Get us back to the safe house as fast as you can without being seen. We need to warn Major Miracle, now! Hurry, before it’s too late!”

  That sounded really ominous to me. Still, I wasn’t going to argue. I opened a portal that was nearly at my maximum distance and followed the still shaken Para through. I had a really bad feeling about this.

  23

  Major Miracle was silent after hearing the report Para just finished. He sat on the opposite side of the conference table from Para and I, his hands steepled in thought. For a moment, I thought I saw a small tremor in his hands, but it was gone too fast to be sure. I didn’t like the long silence, it was awkward. And of course, there was nothing I could say to break the silence. Not that I had any idea what to say.

  Finally, Major Miracle broke the silence, “And you’re sure about this information?”

  “As sure as we can be,” Para answered.

  Major Miracle closed his eyes and sighed. “So, Terminus did survive.”

  Now, I did have something to say, or rather a question to ask. “Who is Terminus?”

  Major Miracle opened his eyes and leaned forward, then answered, “He is what a civilian would call an arch nemesis, my arch nemesis to be exact.”

  I nodded. That explained some of Para’s panicking. “And what did you mean ‘survive’?” I asked.

  “A few years ago, Terminus attacked the Hero Association in force. Thirty-three villains against nineteen of us. Ten heroes . . . ten great men and women, including my mentor died that day. Six more chose to retire when it was all done. I fought Terminus myself. Fought him without any abilities, that was his power you know. He could stop the Abilities of others from working.” The Major got a faraway look on his face, caught up in the memories of the past.

  Major Miracle took a deep shuddering breath and refocused on me. “I was losing. I was going to die, and I knew it. Then I tripped over something. It was the body of a villain. And then I saw it. A weapon, a gun. I took the gun from the body of the fallen villain and I shot him. I shot him repeatedly, I continued to shoot him even as he ran. A normal man would have . . . should have died.”

  “When the fighting was done, I tried to follow after Terminus. His blood trail led to the New Haven aqueduct and ended there. It was assumed he fell in and drowned. We could never confirm it,” Major Miracle finished his story.

  “Why did he attack?” I asked. “Why would he attack the heroes back then? Why would he want to get rid of all powers now?”

  “Why does any villain attack heroes? Because the heroes stand between them and whatever they want. I have no idea what Terminus wanted then, and I still don’t. I’m not sure why he would want to eliminate all abilities. It would make more sense if he just wanted to eliminate my powers, or the powers of all the heroes,” Major Miracle answered.

  Silence returned to the room.

  This time, it was Para that broke the silence. “Do we keep going?”

  Major Miracle looked to me. “That is up to Davis,” he said.

  “If he gets rid of all powers, that means I’ll never go home, right?” I asked.

  Major Miracle frowned but nodded.

  “Then I’m in.” I was scared to death of facing a villain like this, but I was more terrified of never being able to go back home.

  The Major nodded once and said, “Good, that’s good. Para, what are our next steps?”

  “We let Davis get captured,” Para replied.

  “Excuse me?” I said, hoping I just misheard him.

  Para smirked, then sounding far too pleased, he said, “If Kidnap, And, and Ransom are working f
or Terminus, then letting them grab you is the best thing we can hope for.”

  “And if they are working for the other guy, what’s his name?” I asked, trying to remember the name. “Hedge,” I said as it came to me. “What if it’s him?”

  “You’ll just need to ask the trio who hired them? If it’s Hedge, you run. If it’s Terminus, you cooperate,” Para replied.

  “This seems like a really bad idea,” I said. “And what happens if they don’t want to answer the question? What happens if I can’t escape?”

  Para shook his head. “Don’t worry so much, it’ll be fine. We’ve got your back.”

  I really wasn’t feeling good about this plan.

  Before I could protest further, Para continued, “I’ll start floating word to some of my contacts about the safehouse you’re hiding out in. It might take a few days, but they’ll show up.”

  “And I, what? Sit in this safehouse waiting for them to show up and hope they feel like talking?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Para replied. “Anyway, I have work to do if we’re going to pull this off.”

  I looked to Major Miracle hoping he would have something to say. “And you’re okay with this plan?” I asked.

  “I don’t much like it myself,” Major Miracle replied. “But if you’ve got a better plan, I’m all ears.”

  That was a problem in itself, I didn’t have a better plan. I didn’t know enough about this world to be able to make anything even resembling a plan.

  “Davis, I know you’re nervous. But try to have a little faith in us. We can, and will, help you through this,” Major Miracle promised, failing to reassure me. “Anyway, Ward is waiting for you in the hall.”

  Seeing I was dismissed, I left the conference room. Ward was waiting for me in the hall as promised.

  Ward spoke first, “Davis, how are you? How has the mission been going?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about it. I just knew that if I started talking about it, I might breakdown. I couldn’t have that right now. I could breakdown when this was all over.

  “I understand,” Ward said, nodding solemnly. “Anyway, I was able to get you some of the early research notes on Nanos and a few autopsy reports from people that died during the transition and those who died later. Unfortunately, the data is old and might not be accurate.”

  I happily accepted the thick stack of papers, stopping myself from thumbing through them immediately. Instead, I asked, “What about that lab equipment I asked for?”

  “I needed to call in some favors, but I was able to get you an antique microscope. I asked a Nano-Engineer who owes me a favor if she could make a modern version, but it will take a few weeks, same for the centrifuge you described,” Ward answered. “As to the samples you asked for, I was able to get a few for you to examine.”

  It was something. And it gave me something to do while I waited for my inevitable kidnapping.

  24

  My safehouse was a simple apartment in a rundown, nearly unoccupied apartment building. It had everything I needed, bathroom, bed, kitchenette and a fully stocked refrigerator. Other than that, there was my makeshift lab which consisted of a few beakers, a brass microscope with some glass slides, a scalpel, and a small cooler with the samples I requested. The only thing I really wished I had was a centrifuge. This world might not believe in using science, but I still did.

  I had spent most of the first day reading and rereading the various reports and autopsies, Ward was able to make copies of for me. At least, I think they were copies. Anyway, the autopsies were about what I would have expected from something out of the dark ages of medicines. Okay, maybe not that archaic, but still very dated. And the methodologies were . . . not good. Honestly, some parts of it read like ‘it’s magic, just accept it’, which obviously, they did.

  Still, there were some interesting tidbits. One of the first real researchers into the bioenergy converter organ had determined that it was far and away the largest source of Nanos in any body. It was also extremely toxic, which wasn’t clearly explained. And it was also combustible . . . very combustible when exposed to excessive heat, around 156⁰F.

  It was about then I checked the thermostat in my safehouse. It was a simple dial device, dated like many things in this world were. That wasn’t the interesting part. The interesting part was the temperature. It was set to 63⁰F. I should have been cold at that temperature. But I wasn’t. I was in fact, very comfortable. Now I had one more thing on my list, a thermometer. If I was comfortable at this temperature, my body must have been running hot.

  Then there were the samples Ward provided. The samples were bioenergy converter organs from a handful of beasts. None of them were really fresh, as they were all frozen and could have been that way for a long time, but they gave me something to analyze. That is, if I could ever get a proper sample to look at under the antique microscope.

  “Okay Dave, slice this one even thinner,” I said to myself. I was preparing another slide with a cross-section from a sample labeled doose, which I thought was some kind of a duck-goose hybrid based on the name and small size, but it could have just as easily been some kind of dog-moose hybrid. Whatever it was, it was small, and considering the size of the slide and the microscope, it was exactly what I needed. As carefully as I could, I sliced into the frozen organ, trying to cut a thin, very thin sliver of the organ. As the almost paper-thin bit of organ peeled away, I groaned in frustration. In spite of it being the thinnest slice so far, it was still too thick. I supposed that was another tool I would have liked to have, a microscopic specimen slicer. A person just could not do such fine work by hand . . . unless there was someone out there with an ability to do it.

  Still, I would try. I would see if it was thin enough for me to view under the microscope. I put the slide into the holders of the microscope and turned on the light under it. I leaned down, and turned the nobs, adjusting the resolution. I got an image. It was rough and there were too many layers, but I could actually see the dead cell structure and unmoving dots that didn’t appear to be a part of the cell. I supposed they could have been the Nanos. Dead and floating there, barely moving.

  I jerked away from the microscope, blinking a few times before looking again. The dots, they were moving. Barely but they were. No, no, that couldn’t be right. Nanos would have been smaller. I shouldn’t be able to see individual Nanos even with this microscope. But . . . what if they weren’t individual Nanos? What if they were clusters? Or colonies?

  I reached out with my Spatial Awareness, pushing my energy to get the most out of it. I could feel Nanos within the organ slice. There were barely any of them, but they were there. Sluggish and unresponsive, but they were alive. They were also unwilling or unable to move from the organ slice. It felt like they were suspended in molasses . . . or fossilized tree sap like those prehistoric mosquitos.

  Still, there must be a way to get to them. It would just take a lot more work . . . and a centrifuge.

  I sat back from the microscope and sighed when I felt someone enter my passive Spatial Awareness . . . three someone’s to be exact.

  “Took you long enough,” I said, writing notes on what I’d learned so far.

  One of the three asked, “You are ready to come with us?”

  “It depends,” I said. “Do you work for Hedge? Or Terminus?”

  My question was greeted by silence, so I turned on my stool to look at the trio.

  “We do not work for Hedge,” the one in the center finally said.

  “I need you to confirm, you work for Terminus?” I asked.

  All three frowned, looking from one to the other. The one in the middle eventually nodded.

  “Excellent,” I said, moving toward the door where my coat was hung. As I pulled the coat on, I asked, “Where are we going?”

  One of them produced a black bag, most likely meant to go over my head, to which I responded with a firm, “No, that won’t be necessary.”
<
br />   “We have orders,” the leader of the trio said.

  “Look, I think I’ve proven that I can leave anytime I want. Your hood doesn’t really matter,” I said. “So, either we go, or I leave. The choice is yours.”

  They shared looks again before the hood was put away.

  “Good,” I said. “Lead the way. Oh, and who’s who? Are you Kidnap, Ransom, or And?”

  “I am Kidnap,” the leader of the trio replied.

  “Well then, Kidnap, lead the way,” I said, opening my front door and motioning for them to go ahead.

  Kidnap nodded just once. I followed him and his cohorts to the roof where a car was parked. I wanted desperately to ask why there was a car parked on the roof, but I didn’t want to sound like an idiot.

  Ransom or And opened the rear door and motioned for me to enter the vehicle, I still didn’t know who was who. Still, I was cooperating. I just really hoped Para and the rest of the heroes were tracking me, or watching me, or . . . something.

  The car, lifted gently, silently from the roof and flew rapidly across the city.

  “Won’t the heroes see us?” I asked, curious.

  Kidnap gave me a clipped one-word answer, “Invisible.”

  An invisible flying car. The five-year-old in me was over the moon. The scientist in me wanted to start asking questions about how it worked, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I tried to lean back and get comfortable.

  “How long until we get to wherever you’re taking me?” I asked.

  “A few hours, no more questions,” Kidnap replied snappishly.

  A few hours seemed like a long time. I tried to look out the windows to get a clue as to where we were going but they were blurred out. There was no way I was going to be able to see where we were going.

  “You still haven’t told me where we’re going or why,” I protested. “Let’s start with that.”

  Kidnap huffed in irritation, “We are not permitted to say.”

  “Then what are you permitted to tell me?” I asked.

  “We have already said too much,” Kidnap said.