Her Superhero Lover: A BWWM BBW Billionaire Superhero Romance

by Lionel Law

  It was only when the terraforming of Venus failed for the fifth time that some in the system wide government looked around and realized that once again, humanity had wasted most of the bountiful resources presented to it by nature and was on the brink of crisis again. Using the best estimates, man had only a century at most, unless drastic cultural changes were made, or new options for expansion were discovered. Since the last thing humans often want is to make changes to the way they live, resources were poured once again into discovering habitable planets in at least somewhat nearby star systems.

  For Professor Ravid Karrlson, it was unknowingly the way he would write his name in the history books. Born in New Tokyo and educated in Berlin, he had accepted the research position on Luna because it gave him the best chance to do what he wanted to do, look at the stars. Growing up, he had thrilled as he thought of Copernicus and Galileo using the first optical telescopes to look out into the solar system, and realize that some of the blobs of light in the sky were more than just random glowing motes in the curtain of the night.

  Unfortunately for Ravid, optical telescopes were far too weak to do any of the sky gazing he had to do. Instead, modern telescopes were composed of dozens of complicated sensors that sometimes took up dozens of square kilometers of space, along with computers that, even with isolinear chips and molecular data storage capacity, took up a large room. He even had three artificial intelligences working for him, poring over the data at speeds thousands of human workers couldn’t, before he even looked at a single data display.

  With close to one trillion stars in the Milky Way however, even the most advanced systems took time. Ravid could show the politicians and those in control of the money all the data he wanted, but after five years, all he had was a list of solar systems that didn’t pan out. The list was long, and the data took up teraflops of memory, but that didn’t matter to the government.

  Munching on synthesized coconut ice cream, Ravid was going over the day’s reports, wondering if he could somehow spin the latest sets of figures for the budgetary committee meeting next month when his moment in history came, not with a clash of sirens or bells, but with a simple beep, and the flash of a happy face in the upper right corner of his data screen.

  When he saw the face pop up, Ravid’s spoon, which had been halfway to his mouth, froze in place before tumbling from his nerveless fingers. Hurriedly wiping his sticky fingers on his jumpsuit, he tapped the screen, his ice cream and spoon forgotten. Eyes flickering from side to side, he felt sweat break out on his forehead, and his stomach balled up tight. Later, when interviewed by the Solar Broadcasting Company, he stated that the only experience he could compare it to was when he was eighteen, and had a naked girl in bed with him for the first time. “Sure, I’d practiced what I was going to do thousands of times in both instances, but when it came to go time, terror was mixed with excitement pretty equally. I’m just glad I handled it better at thirty seven than I did at eighteen.”

  “Oh? And what happened at eighteen?” the interviewer, a perky brunette with a photogenic face, supermodel body, and morals of a pit viper, asked with a grin. “Anything for our listeners?”

  “Nothing to brag about,” Ravid replied with a sheepish grin, his cheeks turning slightly pink. The image made him even more famous, and within a year he had gotten marriage proposals from over one million women, including a famous porn starlet who swore she could turn him into an expert lover regardless.

  Ravid’s discovery was simple and profound. First classified as YT-X7-4B, then renamed Karrlson’s Rock before the government stepped in, the planet was as close to Earth as had ever been found before. Orbiting a star both younger and larger than Sol, it still was within the so-called “Goldilocks zone.” A perfect nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere combined with a mass only ten percent heavier than Earth’s. Almost eighty percent of the surface was covered in water, and by all initial readings the planet was perfect for human life. It even had two moons, which provided tides and protected the planet from meteor strikes. In fact, the only major difference between Karrlson’s Rock and Earth was the length of its year, which was nearly three times that of Earth. Dying at thirty ‘years’ old would be commonplace.

  Once his discovery was confirmed, Ravid Karrlson became more of a public figure than a scientist, and his work was taken over by engineers and scientists in other fields. Knowing about Iðavöllr (as it had been renamed) was only part of the problem. Getting people there was the bigger issue. While faster than light communication had been conquered early in the twenty second century, FTL drives for physical matter had been a much more difficult challenge. Despite development of warp bubble theory, the largest object yet sent through warp space and confirmed to have survived were barely larger than the typical office desk. A few pundits cracked jokes about building a billion “space coffins” for the mission, before the censors stepped in and shut them up.

  Another concern by the Solar government was support. With resources already stretched, any colonization attempt would have to be a self sufficient mission, able to survive years without exterior support. There was no way they could build two ships at a time, even if they could figure out just how the hell to get them to Iðavöllr. The facilities and resources just didn’t exist.

  The big breakthrough came when the CyberGalactic Corporation partnered with ExpandedReality Ltd. The credit was claimed by both companies, and ended up going into litigation that stretched out until both companies were bankrupt. Not too many people were upset over it, since both were due to obtain enough money to bankrupt Mars at least.

  The biggest problem facing the designers was power supply. Geometry states that as a sphere expands, the surface area of the sphere increases not linearly, but by a cubic factor. If you double the size of your sphere, you create eight times the amount of surface area. Tripling the size requires twenty seven times the surface area, and so on and so forth. In the realm of warp bubble generation, surface area equated to power. There was no technology in human science that could create the power needed to generate a stable warp bubble large enough for a colony ship, it would take a fusion reactor the size of a medium sized apartment building, even before any sort of radiation shielding, fuel supply, or other necessities. The pure amount of size needed was stopping the colony ship.

  In the end, the solution was elegant, dangerous, and groundbreaking. By combining fusion technology with controlled anti-matter explosions, the ship would be able to generate enough power to run the ship, provided the ship stopped at regular intervals to collect interstellar fuel, in what the designers called a “lily pad” arrangement. By eliminating the huge fuel tanks, the ship could just squeeze inside the possible warp bubble when combined with the new power supply arrangement. Of course, there were plenty of dangers too. If the ship miscalculated any of their jumps by more than five percent, it would run out of fuel.

  With the major design flaws taken care of, the government turned its attention to the ship’s crew. Debates raged among the various political factions, until once again economic and political expediency took over. Population was the biggest pressure in the colonization effort, and the powers that be wanted real estate that other people were living in. The problem was that, regardless of power, there were laws in place that were hard to circumvent. In setting up the colony program, the unspoken goal was to free up valuable areas for those who wanted it. As such, the use of the media was required.

  The media campaign was unprecedented, and carefully planned. The first wave of the campaign came through the political pundits and talking heads, who carefully crafted their commentary to stoke the twin goals of sowing economic discontent and the idea of new frontiers. A lot of it required subtle timing and juxtaposition, combined with data mining of social media commentary. Regardless of what privacy laws were put in place, the government could read every packet of data that crossed the solar system if they wished. Instead of taking out enemies however, they used this informational intelligence to instead steer t
he public opinion. It was much more effective than direct action anyway.

  After a year of stoking the fires of public discontent, the next phase of the plan was launched. With great fanfare, the existence of the new stardrive design was revealed, and plans were announced for a new government program for development of large scale interstellar ships. While the idea of a colony program was not specifically announced, the government let the people put together the ideas on their own. It wasn’t long, hours in fact, before the first public petitions (electronically signed by eight million) reached the government’s servers. By the end of the first week, over one hundred million people had signed various electronic petitions requesting colonial programs, deep space exploration, and various other ideas.

  The trickiest phase of the government’s plan came next. With public pressure at a high, the government had to look inept and careless, or at least partially corrupt. Unleashing the media again, populist politicians and media personalities cast doubt on any unannounced governmental plans for picking colonists, making it seem as if the system was corrupt. “Only those who have ties to the power players in the government are going to get this opportunity when it arises!” Takahiro O’Shea, one of the most popular media icons, blared one day. “This corrupt system of currying favor for your friends has got to stop! What are you supposed to do if you are what our leaders call Dirts? Stuck in your dead-end jobs, economically and politically bereft of any power or influence, you’re stuck while the Quals march onto their shiny new colony ship to go off to the stars, and to a cleaner, better future. Perhaps it’s time to raise a ruckus, and storm the new Bastille?”

  The results were predictable, especially among the Dirts. Outcry started, and tension ratcheted up in the Dirt enclaves. The police responded by increasing both the number and the severity of their patrols, until the inevitable happened. On Mars, a police arrest of a forty year old Dirt man who had been violating curfew due to working overtime at his job, ended in a police shooting. Within a week, another shooting in South America led to riots, and an outcry for justice. When the flames were high enough, the government stepped in, the President declaring he will be making a public statement at noon, Greenwhich time. The riots subsided momentarily, while the Solar System turned its attention to the President, who spoke from in front of the classic facade of Buckingham Palace.

  “Citizens of the Solar System, good afternoon, wherever and whenever you are.

  “Recently, we have watched as neighborhoods have burned, torn apart by social upheaval. Regardless of the reason behind the upheaval, businesses have closed, homes have been destroyed, and innocent men and women lie bleeding in the streets. Now, there are some in our society who claim that since these riots have been confined to the areas inhabited by those who are commonly called Dirts, that it doesn’t matter. They’re just Dirts, you say, let them destroy themselves.

  “I cannot let that happen. I was elected to represent and lead all of humanity, Qualified and Unqualified. I refuse to use the word Dirt for those who are not Qualified any longer. For you, the Unqualified, I say here today that we are going to institute changes. I have already spoken to the leaders of the System Congress, and have submitted bills to speak.

  “Long before we had a System-wide government, the nations of this planet represented many different areas. I myself come from North America, where about six hundred years ago another group of what we can only call Unqualifieds stood up against the man who lived in this building behind me now. They rioted, they looted, they burned, they fought, and they won their freedom. From them, a new society rose, one which a few hundred years later became the most powerful on Earth at the time. While that nation, America, has faded into the pages of history, the fact is some of their ideas have stood the test of the centuries.

  “Opportunity should not be limited to just those who are Qualified. History has shown us that regardless of their status, every human being has the potential to make something of themselves. While our current society tries to provide that opportunity for everyone, the fact is that some manifest their talents at times later than others. Some manifest those talents in situations they would never have before. Abraham Lincoln was a failure as a lawyer, and was barely mediocre as a state legislator. Yet, when confronted with the crisis of the First American Civil War, he led the nation and held it together.

  “Even in more modern history, we see this lesson. Tamara Villalobos Griorgina was born to one of the most extreme levels of poverty ever seen. Growing up in the Australian outback, she writes in her autobiography that she often had to catch locusts that would infest the solar farm her father worked at in order to have enough to eat. Yet, she went on to pass her Qualified exam and stand where I am today, as President of the Solar System.

  “Therefore, in agreement with the heads of the Space Agency and with the leaders of the major parties of the System Congress, I am pleased to announce that opportunity has again arisen for every resident of the Solar System, Qualified and Unqualified alike, one that hasn’t been seen in human society in two centuries.

  “Five years ago, we as a people were greeted with great news, long in the waiting. Professor Ravid Karrlson discovered the first truly Earth like planet in orbit around another star. While Professor Karrlson has been rewarded greatly for his efforts including the Nobel Prize, his discovery sat dormant for far too long, tantalizingly out of reach due to the limits of our technology. Recent technological breakthroughs however have allowed us a new future. Starting in two weeks, construction begins on humanity’s first interstellar colony ship. This new kind of vessel will be the first of many, to take humanity out of just our neighborhood and into the wider galactic neighborhood. As such, it is with only a hint of sentimentality that we have agreed to name the ship Glorious Enterprise.

  “The Enterprise is designed to be able to carry five thousand colonists from our Solar System to Iðavöllr and allow them to set up the first human colony on another Earth like planet. While the ship’s crew will be made up of mostly Qualified individuals in order to ensure those with sufficient levels of skill and education are present on this adventure, they make up only one hundred members of the total crew. The rest of the crew will be colonists, composed of both Qualified and Unqualified members alike.

  “At the behest of the Party for an Equal Society, I have agreed that the colonial crew will reflect human society, with two thirds of the remaining colonists coming from the Unqualified. With that in mind, I am announcing the Great Colonial Lottery. All Unqualified citizens of the Solar System who wish will be eligible to enter a random lottery for slots on the Enterprise, and for later consideration upon her sister ship to launch later, the Columbia Ascendant. Upon reaching Iðavöllr, the potential and possibilities of a new world await anyone who can seize it in their own two hands.

  “With that however, there are certain rules that must apply. Only those who are citizens of the Solar System are eligible for the Lottery. As such, those of you who are rioting, or are convicted of a felony, will be stripped of your eligibility for the Lottery. So I advise all of you who are rioting now, go home. Put down your rocks and your firebombs, and rebuild. Enter the Lottery, and take control of your own future. I thank you, and wish everyone the best of luck.”

  The few members of the assembled press corps called out questions, but the President ignored them, going inside Buckingham Palace without another word. By the end of the news day however, the details had emerged, released by his press office. There wasn’t much that wasn’t already known.

  Any citizen with voting rights (Qualified or Unqualified) had the opportunity to enter for one of the slots available to their particular group. Officially, that meant of the 5000 colonists (the crew would be separate), one thousand would be for Qualified colonists, while another 4000 would be set aside for Unqualified colonists. The only requirements were to be healthy, and between the ages of fifteen and forty five. If you wished to enter, you only had to go to a governmental health facility to get
a checkup and enter your name. Two thousand Quals and five thousand Unquals would be picked, with the leftovers being backups and offered first slot on the Columbia.

  The results were just as those in power anticipated. Within twenty four hours, those in the most severely affected areas of rioting quieted down, while those in the areas where tension was high but nothing had broken out yet were flooding their local health facilities in order to sign up for the trip. Of course, few if any of the potential colonists noticed the fact that by accepting a berth upon the Glorious Enterprise, they were rescinding all claims to land or property within the Terran solar system.

  Just as the powers that be intended…

  *

  Want to read more? Then click here to get My Alien Lover now.

  You can see more paranormal romance books from myself and other top authors by clicking here.

  Also available: The Dragon’s Captive - a dragon shifter romance by my friend Jane Rowe.

  Click to get it free now: