He turns and smiles while he reaches for a pillar. His fingers brush a hidden button and there is an audible click.
“Stand here,” he points to the ground next to him. “There are things about me others don’t know. They can never know,” he says while taking his helmet off. His eyes are the darkest brown I have ever seen. He steps closer to me and I fight the urge to step away. “But I’m told you’re trustworthy.”
“I like to think I am,” I say lamely. How to accept a compliment like that graciously is beyond me.
The ground shakes for a moment then lowers. It’s an elevator! We pass through the level of dirt and stone and a door slides shut above us once below ground level. From beneath us a blue light emanates lighting up a cavern in a soft light. The underground cave is amazing, a languid waterfall splashes into a small pond in one corner. Light beams into the room from behind the water giving which is where the blue light comes from. I’ve never seen water so blue.
It’s a good thing you moved me into the armor. This room is one-hundred percent signal proof. I would like to inquire as to how they have achieved that.
When the platform halts Sydney steps off toward the far corner where a mannequin stands. He places his helmet on it, then leans his shield down. When he unbuckles his chest piece my palms start to sweat. I know he saved me and all but I hope he didn’t get the wrong idea…
“How did you know this place existed?” I ask, trying to divert my nervousness.
“This has to be one of the most explored historical sites in the world. I’m stunned no one’s discovered this underground chamber.”
“It’s on a separate plane of existence from ours. Parallel to Earth, but off by a hairsbreadth. Or, at least that is how it was explained to me.” He finishes pulling the breastplate off, leaving him dressed in a simple knee-length red tunic, not unlike the ones the Spartans and Romans wore. All respect to Luke, but damn this man has muscles on his muscles.
“You’re saying we aren’t on Earth anymore?” My nerves vanish with the scientific implication of his words.
He nods, “I don’t understand all of the details, but Pythia does and she is the one who told me to bring you here. While the powers I wield are great,” he turns and waves his hand around the room, “they’re only half the equation.”
“Did you say Pythia?”
“That would be me,” a little girl’s voice says from behind. I leap in shock, stumbling forward and scrambling for footing as I turn to face an olive-skinned girl with long braided black hair and impossibly large eyes. She can’t be older than thirteen, dressed in sleeveless white robes with intricate gold stitching running on either side down to the floor. She smiles patiently with her hands clasped in front of her while I recover.
I can see and hear her, but Amelia, she isn’t there in any other respect. No vitals, no thermal variances, nothing.
“Are you saying she’s an apparition?” I ask Epic.
She laughs, “No, tell your computer I am no apparition.”
Now both Epic and I are speechless. My armor is sound proof. Epic does a fantastic job of knowing when I’m talking to him or the people around me… she couldn’t have heard me let alone know Epic is a computer.
“What… what are you?” I ask.
“I am Pythia, High Priestess of Apollo, Oracle of Time and Guardian of the Gates of Olympus.”
“Right.”
She smiles, “It amazes me, Amelia, that you invented a machine to walk for you, fly for you, think for you, yet are these the only impossible things allowed?”
Stun round number two… how the hell does she know who I am?
She gestures toward the far wall. The light level raises revealing a large wooden table with a spread of food that would make a king envious. Fruit, meat, cheese, drink, the whole nine yards. Protector claps his hands and practically runs over, “I’m starving,” he says straddling the bench seats and digging in.
When Wardenclyffe Tower went online in 1903, Nikola Tesla and three square miles of New York vanished in an explosion that blew out windows in Manhattan. The best scientist of the day couldn’t figure out what happened to him. Von Braun, the German scientist who eventually joined America after World War Two was the one who broke the forty-five-year-old mystery. Tesla had opened holes into other dimensions. Superpowers were nothing more than the physics or reality of another dimension inhabiting one person. Who, how, and why we're still, and are still a mystery.
I guess if I accept that, then I must accept this… to a point. I don’t for one second think the gods of Olympus are real. However, Mr. Perfect thinks his magic is real, and regardless of what I believe, he does have a flying carpet.
“Give me a second, I usually catch on pretty quick but this is a bit much. You want to tell me how you know who I am?”
“Please, join us?” she says moving to the table. A plate of food, with all of my favorites including a cold can of open Coke with a straw sticking out, sits across from Sydney. He’s busy wolfing down sliced ham, cheese, and the occasional grape.
“No strawberries huh?” I say as I walk around the table. Sitting in the armor is never easy. While it is flexible, it is only flexible to a point. I can’t cross my legs or do fifty other things non-armored people can. I slip as best I can into the bench like seating. Epic triggers my faceplate so I can try the food if I want. I eye that straw, the conundrum of this is firing around my brain like a Gatling gun.
“You’re very interesting Amelia. By far and away you are the most clever mortal we’ve ever met.”
“Well, you are like five minutes younger than me so how many could you have met?”
She laughs and it’s like chimes and bells.
“She’s a lot older than she looks,” Sydney says between bites. “I know this is hard for you to accept, I’ve read enough sci-fi to know the science-minded find it difficult to imagine things they can’t prove, but trust me, she’s the real deal,” Sydney says with an earnest expression.
I nod, “How can you be sure she’s just not a figment of your powers?”
He takes a long drink from a bronze cup, “Good question. Mostly, because I don’t have any powers.”
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 was in 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 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.”
A famous religious passage says there is nothing new under the sun. I respectfully disagree.
-Notes On and 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 to Phoenix. 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 that? Do I believe she is the Oracle of Delphi? The prophetess of Apollo? No. But, results speak for themselves. Whatever power 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. 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 plops down 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 this
.
“I don’t follow?”
I pull the breaks off and roll over to my computer screen, waving at the third one. 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 climbs up, “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 leaps up, running to the window. He opens the glass and sticks his head out, hand frantically waving in the air. Looking back over his shoulder 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.
Unstoppable Arsenal Page 7
