Lisa tried calling Bonnie on her cell. Nothing. Then she tried Betty. Again, nothing.
Restlessly, she walked to the corner, hoping to catch one of them on the way home.
Far away, in the depth of the Siberian wilderness, Johnny Gunn sat with Uri Presputnik and Pam Gilroy in a small, cramped trailer. Most of the limited space was taken up by electronic equipment, with oversized monitors sitting precariously on a long, old desk with a PC that dated from the late 1990’s. The rest of the space had a few wooden chairs, and a space heater. The place had several competing smells, with body odor—Johnny Gunn’s own above all—being dominant. Gunn now sat in the corner, complaining loudly about the low class of the facility. Pam sat up front with Uri, scrutinizing the monitors.
“There!” said Pam, “Something is moving extremely fast. See?”
“Got it,” said Uri, “Yes. Only just visible, and flying right into the direction of our setup. That has to be Ms. Infinity.”
“Don’t mess this up!” said Johnny Gunn.
“And don’t you worry,” said Uri, “I have experience. You’d be surprised at what we tried with our own cosmonauts. We weren’t afraid to lose a few for the cause.”
“Wait,” said Pam, “You shot at them with nuclear weapons?”
“No. That would be nuts even for the Soviets. But we tried a lot of risky moves. Believe me. I know just what I’m doing. You won’t be troubled by this Infinity Lady ever again.”
Back from saving a family from an auto accident in Brooklyn, The Guerilla Public Servant flew in invisibly through her window and, becoming visible, she was Betty Boring again. She heard a distant sound. Looking up, she saw the strange sight. “No,” she said to herself, “It couldn’t be. Those things don’t just come out of nowhere.”
She looked in Bonnie’s room. “Where is she? She should be coming home by now. She’s really got to give this room a once over, or a twice over. I’d give it a full excavation if I were her, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Betty stepped outside, hoping to catch Bonnie walking up. Instead, she saw Lisa running.
“Mrs. B!” called Lisa, “I’m so glad you’re here!”
“Have you seen Bonnie?” asked Betty.
“No. I haven’t,” said Lisa, “But I have to tell you something. I don’t know how to say it.”
“Pardon?”
“So…I just heard…and I don’t know if this is true…Oh! How do I say this?”
“Honey, I don’t know what you’re trying to say. Maybe….”
“I think I’m right about this…”
“About what? Lisa dear, it’s okay. You know what? I think we’d better just get some things out in the…”
Suddenly Betty heard an ominous sound in the distance. She looked up into the sky. Using her super senses, she saw her daughter flying up to the moon. She scanned beyond her, then gasped.”
“So this woman I know…”
“No time!” said Betty, “Gotta run!”
“It might be more than you know...” shouted Lisa, but Betty paid her little attention as she darted back into her house. In an instant, she flew through Bonnie’s closet, not bothering to change her form, or turn herself invisible, though her maddening speed rendered her imperceptible as she flew far into the sky.
Ms. Infinity was finally approaching the moon’s gravitational pull. There was little but quiet and darkness about her as she continued her mission.
She scanned in front of her. There were two vapor trails, certainly something asteroids would not have left. They began somewhere near the spot where she had first seen the conveyances, then turned away into the distance. She began to follow the trails. She was surprised that they led her to the dark side. She wondered what kind of objects could move that way. She did not have to wonder for long. Within a few seconds, she met the them as they headed toward her.
These were not asteroids, nor rocks, but spaceships. They were obviously of Earth. They had that crude, fledgling human level of space technology that she had come to expect of her adopted world. But why were they disguised? Were they meant as some kind of decoys? Had she flown into a trap?
The realization finally came to her that she had indeed just flown into a trap, but it came too late.
Betty flew in a panic. Her head was racing with thoughts of the fate that might befall her child. It was seconds before she reached the moon’s vicinity, just within sight of Ms. Infinity. For a fleeting moment, she saw her transformed daughter at a distance, facing the strange spacecraft. But before she could act, she saw the blast. She gasped as she saw her only child engulfed in a nuclear explosion.
Even one of these missiles delivered an explosion large enough to destroy an entire large city and all its inhabitants. And there were two of these, both aimed directly at a single person, and both hit her directly, a lone target in the void of space.
Were these missiles dropped on a ground target, the blast would have blown upwards, blowing a vast cloud of dust into a mushroom cloud. But there was no ground, only a minimal influence of gravity, and very little material to combust apart from the contents of the missiles themselves. There was simply an intense and dramatic inferno that rapidly spread in every direction, engulfing and overwhelming its target many times over.
There was no noise. In space, there is no sound, only the powerful force of impact, and the tremendous light in the void. The explosion seemed like a silent movie of a strange disaster. And then, gradually it ended. It burned out, slowly fading into large embers of various colors, which then faded in turn, and once again became an undisturbed stretch of the void of space.
Betty struggled to process what she had just seen. For a moment, it didn’t seem real. Something in her seemed to protect her from the reality she was facing. Everything seemed separate, outside of her. But within a few seconds, she felt a deepening pain in the pit of her throat. She looked down and closed her eyes tightly. Her heart soon began beating rapidly, her face freezing in a look of shock.
She tried to tell herself that everything was alright, but she could not be convinced. So many times, her daughter had cheated death. They had lived many years on their native world, among many people who were their equals, or at least nearly so, and many weapons that could harm them. But so far, so far, they had not faced any such threats on Earth. She and Bonnie had been hit by bullets before, and been in large explosions, and crashed into enormous objects. But this? No. Neither one of them had experienced a nuclear detonation.
She tried desperately to fix the problem in her mind. She could not stop turning the clock back that few minutes, as if she could change the outcome. If only she had reacted immediately after she saw the suspicious object. And then, Lisa must have known about this somehow. If they had been able to speak openly, she might have gotten there in time. No. She knew the problem. She should never have allowed her daughter to play superhero in the first place. She was the mother. If she had put her foot down, Bonnie would be angry, but she would still be alive.
These thoughts raced through her head, one fix after another, and the scene replayed again and again. But it was useless. She could not change the past. She could only face the reality that was upon her.
So now, all she could do was hope against hope. Could she hope? Was there a chance that Bonnie somehow survived that explosion? Maybe there was something she could do to save her.
As much as panic wanted to overtake her, she could not let it. She had to keep her head, and think through the situation carefully. She was her daughter’s only chance at survival.
She flew to the spot where the explosion had happened. There was no sign of her. Something would have happened to her body, or at least she thought so. Was she still alive after all?
When she thought a few moments, it occurred to her that just finding Bonnie wasn’t good enough. She would have to save her too. Then she thought of something. On the Dark Side of the Moon was their ship! She would go and fetch that, then use its tracking to find her. She co
uld take her aboard and care for her.
Many thoughts raced through Betty’s mind as she flew. Only a couple of weeks earlier, she had celebrated the Eve of Empowerment alone, regretting her daughter’s refusal to participate. Alone she had celebrated the idea of empowering the weaker members of the community, helping them to help themselves. She had hoped that somehow Ms. Infinity would have realized this meaning, but now, alone, unsure of her daughter’s survival, what meaning was there anymore?
She remembered that if one prayed with a clear and honest heart and unselfish intent, their prayers would be favored against the arrogant. That applied even to those without power, indeed especially to those without power. Did she believe it now? She didn’t know.
Hundreds of thousands of miles away, back on Earth, Lisa Lin sat helplessly on her best friend’s doorstep, weeping.
She couldn’t know for sure, but things didn’t look good. If everything was alright, they would have been back already. Now it was nearly an hour.
The last time she saw Bonnie, she would barely speak to her. What if that truly was the last time? She was angry because Bonnie wouldn’t share her secret with her. But now, how much did that really matter anymore?
She picked up her head and closed her eyes. I don’t have a religion. I don’t know what is the right way to pray. But if you are there, please. Please. Bonnie deserves to live. I don’t care what she does to me, but she is good, and does many good things for many other people. We need her. And I love her as a sister. Please let her live.
At that moment, Tracy came up to her. Lisa looked away. “Please Mom. I really can’t now. I promise, you can lecture me all you want tomorrow. This is a horrible time.”
Tracy looked upon Lisa kindly. “What is the matter, honey? I’m worried.”
Lisa took a deep breath, and tried to hold back her tears. “I can’t say. It just…It has to do with Bonnie.”
Tracy was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “Lisa dear. I know this much. You have made yourself available to her every step of the way, unconditionally, for many years. If you can’t help her now, then please don’t blame yourself.”
Lisa began to cry again. “Thank you, Mom. I won’t.”
“Direct hit!” shouted Uri, “I told you! Your enemy can’t possibly bother you anymore!”
“You sure about that?” said Johnny, “We didn’t see her blow up.”
“How would you possibly see that?” said Uri, “The explosion is overwhelming. You can’t see details like that.”
“Can we look closer?” asked Pam.
“This is as close as this monitor goes,” said Uri, “It’s the best video technology we have.”
“Yeah. Russian crap!” said Johnny.
“Don’t knock it!” said Uri, “Russian crap just destroyed your Ms. Infinity!”
“We’d like to be more certain of that,” said Pam, “Understand, this woman seems pretty invincible.”
“I don’t care if she’s made of rocks. Those weapons could kill thousands of people. Millions. She’s gone. I promise you.”
“Okay,” said Johnny, “I guess we have no choice but to believe you.”
One of Uri’s men came in. As Uri spoke to his assistant, Johnny spoke to Pam. “This had better be good. I don’t want her showing up again.”
“I don’t know how much more we could have done.”
“Damn it, when I want something, it had better be done. In a minute, we’re talking about the next stage.”
“What is that, by the way?”
Johnny explained his plan to Pam. As he spoke, she began to show apprehension, then soon, her face turned to horror. Oblivious, as ever, to his assistant’s reaction, he was self-congratulatory in his tone.
“Told you it was going to be great! I’m going to rule America! There’s no stopping me! You see how lucky you are? You got in with Johnny on the bottom floor!”
“Wonderful!” said Pam, trying to conceal her expression.
“Here,” said Johnny, “You sit down. Let the men talk.”
As Johnny began to speak to Uri, the men failed to notice Pam sneaking out of the trailer.
Pam quickly turned and ran behind one of the back trailers.
“What do I do?” she said to herself, “She’s supposed to die. That’s the whole point…but…I never meant to cause this.”
She paced around, talking quietly to herself. “No. It can’t be. After all this, it’s all wrong. I mean…I’m supposed to…This is all supposed to…It’s for…”
Pam stopped in her tracks. “I don’t know. For weeks I’ve been looking away, trying to ignore what was right in front of me. But no. Here it is different. And it is better too, not being the property of a man. Now I see, home was not what they told me it was.”
She paced a little more, then shook her head. “Yeah, Gunn’s smug little expression. It’s like Dad’s when he thinks he’s the savior of the universe. But I understand now. I’ve looked the other way too many times when horrors were going on right under my nose. I’m not doing it again. I’m certainly not going to be the cause of the deaths of innocent people. She’s the enemy, but…”
She stopped again, then picked up her head. “No! I won’t accept that… How could he want to kill his own? Father, you also want to kill your….Oh, no. It’s all wrong. Sorry, Father. You may disown me. But I can’t let this happen when I have the power to prevent it. This is it. My decision is made.”
At that, Pam suddenly flew away into the sky, nearly as fast as Ms. Infinity.
Betty Boring landed on the featureless sands of the Dark Side of the Moon. She soon reached the area where their ship was kept. It was invisible from the outside, so she did not expect to see it. But as she got closer to the spot, she expected to sense it, as she and Bonnie could do. To her surprise, it was not there.
She wondered what this could mean. Who could have moved the ship?
Deep in the cold, flat wilds of Siberia, Johnny Gunn stepped outside Uri Preputnik’s trailer. Uri came outside after him, looking upbeat as the sound of the door slam vanished into the Arctic wind. Johnny seemed no happier than ever, despite the apparent death of his sworn enemy.
“So my friend,” said Uri, “I want to ask you, are you going to announce this? I bring this up because I hope that you don’t bring me into…”
“Take it easy, Romanov! I’m not saying anything right now,” said Johnny, “Not in public.”
“So you want to keep it a clandestine operation. Believe me, I specialize in those. I kept three nuclear-armed space probes hidden for a quarter century. I can certainly keep your secret.”
“Well, just for now. I’d love to brag about killing the witch, but I have to be in a better position first. We have to talk about the next stage. I was explaining that to Pam a few minutes ago. So, that last nuke is for…”
“Hold on, my friend,” said Uri, “This operation was not cheap. We just unloaded some of our biggest assets. Before we go any further, we are going to have to discuss payment.”
“I see. So that’s how you want to play it. Alright, Ruskie, so Pam can help you there. Pam, why don’t you…?”
Both men looked around, and finally noticed that Pam was missing.
“What the stink?!” shouted Johnny, “I didn’t excuse her!”
“Alright, my friend,” said Uri, “We can finalize that later. What do you have in mind?”
“This Wednesday, I’m making a big announcement back home. You and that last nuke are going to be the lynchpin.”
Betty settled in for a long spell. She sat down cross-legged amidst the moon sand, concentrating, sending her mind in every direction across the moon’s endless surface and the dark, airless sky above.
She had little time, and the vastness of the moon to search. And so she had to make judicious use of a power so awesome, so tremendous, that she feared the consequences of using it, the power to manipulate the fabric of time and space itself. With minimal use of her powers, Betty changed the
way time flowed within a small radius of her position, reducing her many hours of concentration within to only a few minutes without.
Betty had been loath to tell her daughter of this power they possessed; the potential dangers were great and could not be fully predicted. Yet unbeknownst to her, Bonnie had discovered it herself.
Some three years earlier, Bonnie had taken her first solo mission into another galaxy. She was helping the people of a distant, primitive planet restore its base features after a major disaster caused by an antimatter storm. Taking her mother’s advice, she transformed herself to resemble a native of that world, a humanoid perhaps a third of human size, with a turtle-like appearance under primitive clothing.
When it was time to use her powers, she would secretly transform into an unfamiliar being who would be seen as a magical savior—actually her usual appearance as Bonnie Boring but in a superhero costume. To the eyes of the planet’s natives, this seemed a gargantuan being of unimaginable power. In a sense this served as a precursor to Ms. Infinity.
Her powers were tested to great extremes as she raised mountains, created rivers and diverted the world’s oceans. It was in one such effort that she was using several skills in tandem that she accidentally stumbled upon this ability; she was astonished to find that in many days of labor, only a few minutes had passed.
She kept this discovery to herself, but on the journey home, she made a somewhat more significant experiment. Applying her understanding of many different dimensional planes, she carefully manipulated the threads of the continuum, effecting a shortened trip home.
In the three years since then, Bonnie had carefully experimented with her “time manipulations.” She discovered certain ironclad limitations; she could not turn back time, and ultimately was destined to move through time like all living creatures. But she also came to see many possibilities within these bounds. With her new alter-ego, she considered it a potential part of her power arsenal, albeit one she had not dared discuss with her mother.
Amidst the emptiness of the moon’s rocky surface, in a state close to death, lie not Ms. Infinity but Bonnie Boring. Without the presence of her will to keep her shifted shape, her body had snapped back to her natural state; not that she would have been easily recognizable in either form. Her body was burned, her bones fractured.
Where Infinity Begins Page 16
