by Charlie Wood
The robot sighed. “Whoo boy. All right, well, let’s get started, then. This can get kinda nuts.”
The robot flipped through the book, stopping on a page with a black rectangle on it; when he pointed to the rectangle, it was slowly filled in with hundreds of twinkling stars, and also a yellow-and-green-and-blue planet rotating in space.
“This,” Scatterbolt said, “is the world of Capricious.”
Tobin watched a series of scenes play out on the page: there was a futuristic city; an ancient jungle; a land made out of ice and snow; a place with mountains and volcanoes; a village inhabited by monsters. The variations in climates and cultures seemed to be endless.
“Capricious is made up of all kinds of different places,” Scatterbolt said, “and also all kinds of different people, too. Some of these people look similar to what you have on your world…”
A man in a suit and tie appeared on the page. He looked out at Tobin and waved.
“Some of them look a little different...”
The man’s skin turned yellow. He looked at his hands and arms, confused.
“Some of them look a lot different…”
The man suddenly turned into a yellow-furred, half-man, half-cat. Now he was very confused.
“And some of them even have super powers!”
Finally, the man turned into a superhero, with a red-and-yellow costume and a red cape. Pleased, he flexed his biceps and flew off of the page.
“These people with superpowers are rare even in our world,” Scatterbolt said, “but they play an incredibly important part in our lives, and are really the defining characteristic of Capricious. Some of these super-powered people use their powers for good…”
Tobin saw an image of Orion in the book: he looked out and fired an arrow, and the boy ducked, laughing at himself.
“And some of them,” Scatterbolt said, “unfortunately use their powers for evil.”
Tobin saw an image of a grey-haired man; he was dressed in a black-and-green uniform, and standing with his arms across his chest. As he looked out of the book, he sneered.
“Um,” Scatterbolt said, “let’s move on.”
The robot turned the page; now Tobin saw a series of bold, golden letters. They read:
THE GUARDIANS.
“Out of all the superheroes we’ve ever had on this world,” Scatterbolt said, “the most important and most famous were a team who called themselves ‘the Guardians.’ Their leader was a man named Titan, who had immense strength and also the powerful wings of an eagle.”
A blonde-haired superhero appeared in the book; he was wearing a white-and-gold costume, and had feathered wings on his back. He was also wielding a shining sword.
“Then there was the Red Wolf, who had incredible eyesight, unmatched intelligence, and the ability to hit nearly any target with his bow and arrow.”
A young Orion appeared; he was wearing his same long, red coat, and also a red mask over his eyes. After aiming his bow, he let go of an arrow, which nailed the bullseye of a target on the next page of the book.
“And finally,” Scatterbolt said, “there was Strike. He was a fearless daredevil with amazing agility, and also the power to control lightning.”
Strike appeared; he was dressed in a blue costume, with a black cape on his back and a blue mask over the lower part of his face. As he twirled a wooden bo-staff around his head that sparked with blue electricity, he looked out at Tobin and winked.
Tobin watched the image. Even though he knew full-well who the person was behind the mask, he still tried to convince himself he was wrong.
Scatterbolt turned the page; the blue-and-yellow-and-green planet appeared again. This time, it was split into dozens of countries.
“There are fifty-seven countries in Capricious,” Scatterbolt explained, “and each one of these has its own leader, who is elected in much the same way as many of the leaders of your world. We used to have fifty-eight countries with fifty-eight different leaders, but the leader of the fifty-eighth country...well, he did something very bad.”
The grey-haired man appeared in the book again.
“This is Vincent Harris, the former fifty-eighth leader of Capricious.”
Tobin watched the book; now Vincent was standing behind a podium and giving a speech in front of thousands of people. Many of the people had skin that was a light shade of green, and they were all cheering Vincent’s every word.
“Vincent was at one time a great leader, but he was also one with dangerous, misguided ideas. He firmly believed that Earth—your world—was inhabited by alien beings who were inferior, destructive, and a threat to the rest of the universe. When it became clear that your species was moving closer toward the technology for space travel, Vincent decided he had to act; in speeches and televised events, he began to convince his entire country that Earth was a world that needed to be forcefully controlled and monitored, for the safety of Capricious.
“He became obsessed with swaying the rest of the leaders of Capricious to agree with him, but they did not, and instead they grew concerned with his fear-filled messages. They demanded that he stop these actions immediately, but his warnings about Earth only became more fierce and frightening. He was out of control, causing widespread panic about a world that didn’t even know this one existed, so the other leaders were forced to strip him of his power and put him on trial.”
Tobin watched the pages of the book; now he saw Titan, the winged-superhero, walk into a dark office of some kind. The winged-man began to look through the files of a computer, and he was very concerned with what he was finding.
“Not long after Vincent’s trial began,” Scatterbolt said, “the leader of the Guardians discovered a horrible secret: all along, Vincent had been planning to invade Earth with a team of monsters and super-villains from Capricious. He knew that your world had no superheroes to defend it, and that it would be incredibly easy for him to take control of it and rule over it, as he saw fit.”
Now Tobin saw a prison in the book; Titan was walking through its halls, and holding a folder of papers under his arm. When he reached Vincent, who was sitting in a jail cell, he showed Vincent the folder.
“Titan confronted Vincent and told him he had discovered his plan, but Vincent grew enraged. The evil man was too powerful for Titan to take on alone, and Titan was defeated.”
Vincent held his hands out between the jail cell bars, blasting Titan with black, searing fire from his palms. The flames threw Titan all the way across the spine of the book, and he crashed onto the next page, sending the words and letters there scattering.
“More powerful than he had ever been, Vincent escaped from Capricious and traveled to your world. As he hid there with his team, he waited and planned his invasion.
“When Strike and the Red Wolf learned what had happened to Titan, and what Vincent was planning to do, they went against the wishes of the leaders of Capricious, and traveled to your world on their own.”
Tobin saw Strike and the Red Wolf travel through a portal and arrive on Earth.
“The two heroes lived on your world under secret identities for months, all the while searching for Vincent. Finally, after many battles and near-misses, they found him.”
Tobin watched Strike and the Red Wolf fight Vincent and his team in a warehouse. It was a brutal battle between the two heroes and many super-villains.
“Thankfully, the Guardians were victorious; they were able to disrupt Vincent’s plans for invasion, and send him back to Capricious where he belonged.”
Strike and the Red Wolf led a bruised, shackled Vincent through a mirrored portal. When they were on the other side, it snapped with electricity and disappeared.
Then the pages of the book went blank.
“So,” Scatterbolt said, “that’s everything Orion wanted me to tell you, Tobin. What do you think?”
Tobin stared at the book. “I think, that if any of you guys actually thought that was going to make me feel better, you’re all out of yo
ur minds.”
As Scatterbolt’s history lesson was wrapping up, Keplar and Orion were upstairs in Orion’s kitchen.
“The kid seems smart, O,” the dog said, handing Orion a cup of coffee. “He looks like he has a good head on his shoulders, but...he’s so damn young.”
“I know,” Orion sighed. “It’s horrible, isn’t it? I always swore it would never come to this. I don’t know how I ever let it get this far.”
Keplar shook his head. “It’s not your fault, O. You know that. This woulda happened to the kid no matter what we did to try and stop it. Now, we just gotta do what we gotta do, and make sure nothing else happens further. But you had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to him.”
Orion drank from the coffee. “I know. I keep trying to convince myself of that.”
Outside, in the tops of the tall trees that reached all the way to Orion’s apartment, a creature was rustling: it was a robotic chameleon, a half-organic, half-mechanical creature, with a tarnished metal head and a body made out of wood and springs. The being had found Orion’s apartment after using the coordinates gathered from the third blood bird, and was now moving on to the next step of its mission: scanning the building with its bionic eye.
After spotting Orion through the kitchen window, the robo-chameleon leapt onto the building with a springing of its legs; instantly, its body changed from the color of the green leaves to the color of the grey apartment. In little flits of movement, it then dashed down to the window, reached toward it, and stuck one of its suction cup-like feet onto the glass. It could now see and hear everything that was happening inside.
With its mission accomplished, the robo-chameleon raised its head and blinked its eyes. As it began to emit a soft beeping sound, like a satellite giving off a signal, it beamed the images and sounds of the apartment to someone else—someone far, far away…
In the security room of his skyscraper, Vincent Harris was studying one of his monitors. Onscreen, he could see Orion and Keplar, having their conversation in Orion’s kitchen.
“Where’re going after Scatterbolt’s done talking to the kid?” the dog asked.
“Well,” Orion replied, “there aren’t many places we can go where they won’t come looking for us, but Gallymoora is one of them. As soon as they’re finished in the library, that’s where we’re headed.”
Keplar grumbled. “Great. Gallymoora. My favorite place.” He finished his beer and tossed it into a recycling bin. “Well, you’re right about one thing, bro: they won’t ever look for us there.”
Vincent smiled and pushed a button on the intercom in front of him. “Rigel, send the Hoplites to Gallymoora immediately. Have them wait there until further word.”
“Yes, sir,” Rigel’s voice crackled through the speaker.
Vincent looked back to the screen, pleased with how the surveillance mission had succeeded. But then he watched Orion. The old man brought the coffee mug to his mouth, but his hand was trembling so much that he had trouble sipping from it without it spilling. He was younger than Vincent, but looked so much older.
Vincent watched the image in silence. The smile was now gone from his face.
CHAPTER NINE
AFTER TAKING OFF FROM ORION’S apartment, the Sky-Blade was in the clouds and soaring to its next destination. Keplar was using the time to catch up on his sleep in the cockpit, with his cowboy hat over his eyes and his feet propped up on the control panel, while Scatterbolt was standing next to him, doing his best to steer the ship along its way. The robot’s metallic arms were just about long enough to reach the controls, and it was a bit of a struggle, but he didn’t mind, as flying was one of his favorite things to do in the world, right up there with playing poker and reading about frogs.
In the cabin of the ship, Tobin was sitting all the way in the back, as far away from the others as he could possibly be. Orion was also in the cabin, but he was sitting up near the front, sharpening his arrows with a square stone.
“You must be very frightened still,” Orion said, trying to get the boy to open up. He had barely spoken since they left Quantum City.
“No,” Tobin said, his arms across his stomach. “Nauseous. Dizzy. Kinda feel like I’m dying. But that’s about it.”
Orion chuckled. “That sounds like fright to me.”
“I guess. Either that or my body is collapsing in on itself. One of the two.”
Orion laughed again. “You haven’t asked me any questions about what Scatterbolt told you back at the library. I thought there’d be plenty of stuff you’d want to know more about.”
Tobin grabbed the sides of his chair as the vehicle banked and picked up speed.
“No offense,” he said, “but I don’t really feel like talking. To anyone. I just…want this over with.”
Orion nodded. “I understand. But if you want to talk, I’m here.”
A silence. Orion looked out the window next to him. “All right, Scatterbolt. You can take us down now.”
“Here?” the robot asked. “But we’re not near the city yet.”
“I know.” Orion slung his quiver onto his back. “But we’re gonna walk the rest of the way. It’ll be safer.”
“Okey dokey,” Scatterbolt replied. Then, with an easy push of a lever, he brought the ship slowly downward.
Once the Sky-Blade’s engines turned off, Tobin walked out its door and down a metal ramp that jutted into the ground. The ship had landed in a forest, but it was the swampiest forest Tobin could ever imagine: the ground was nothing but brown sludge, with large, random patches of moss resting on top of the sludge like bizarre islands. There were also thick, winding trees crawling out of the islands, which seemed to be scratching at the clouds with their brittle, leafless branches. Heavy thickets of fog were floating through the area, like curious residents inspecting the new arrivals, and strange animal calls and insect clicks were bleating out from all around the deep darkness.
“Well,” Tobin said, stepping onto the ground, “this is the creepiest place I’ve ever seen.”
Scatterbolt walked off the ship next, and his big, round feet sunk into the mud, all the way up to his ankles.
“And the grossest,” he added with a sneer.
Next, Keplar walked off the ramp, waving his hand at the football-sized horsefly buzzing around him.
“And buggier than hell, too,” he grumbled.
Lastly, Orion walked off the ship, picking up a long skinny tree branch and using it as a walking stick. He moved ahead of the others and toward the dark forest, as if it was a completely normal thing to do.
“Which is exactly why it’s safe for us to hide here,” he said. “Follow me, everybody. A friend of mine is waiting for us up ahead.”
Following the old man, Tobin stuck close by Keplar, as he was growing more nervous with each sound from the trees.
“You guys actually know somebody that lives in this place?” he asked the dog.
“Yeah. Her name’s Aykrada. She used to be a superhero in this place not too long ago, but now...well, there’s not much of a place left.”
Tobin noticed a couple of small, shanty-like houses on the edge of the forest, but they were rundown and abandoned, as if nobody had lived in them for months.
Tobin was about to ask Keplar another question when the horsefly returned and landed on his shoulder. He turned and saw its kaleidoscope eyes staring back at him.
“Aaaaahh!” he screamed. “Get it off, get it off!”
Jumping up and down, Tobin waved his arms, until finally the bug flew away. It let out an insulted little buzz as it zoomed into the forest.
Keplar laughed, throwing an arm around Tobin’s shoulder. “Ain’t hanging out with superheroes fun?” he asked with a grin.
Behind the group, Scatterbolt was doing his best to keep up, but his feet kept getting stuck in the mud, and he had to pull them out with loud, sticky SHLURPS!
“Hey!” he called, shaking the mud from his foot. “Wait up, guys! C’mon, wait for me!”
“Oh, no,” Scatterbolt said, holding his hands out. “Stay back, boy. Don’t you get any funny ideas.”
But the horsefly was too curious to regard the robot’s warning, and it stepped closer.
“All right,” Scatterbolt said. “You asked for it.”
The robot’s arm quickly drew back into his body. Then, after a few whirs and clanks, a new arm popped out—this one had a spray can on the end of it where its hand should be. A label on the can read:
BUG-BE-GONE!
“Open wide,” Scatterbolt said with a smile.
The nozzle on the can descended, and instantly a toxic spray shot out from it and enveloped the horsefly. It flew away, coughing and hacking, finally taught its lesson to keep its distance.
Relieved, Scatterbolt ran through the mud and caught up with his friends.
“Hey, guys! I almost just became something’s dinner! C’mon, wait for me!”
After a short (but skin-crawlingly creepy) trek through the dark forest, Orion, Tobin, Keplar, and Scatterbolt came upon a faded billboard: WELCOME TO GALLYMOORA! it said, and underneath the words there was a picture of a lively city, awash in sunlight and home to a magnificent marble fountain. The city looked nothing like the area Tobin had seen so far.
Tobin realized somebody was waiting for them underneath the billboard: it was a beautiful woman, wearing a long, brown dress. She was about forty years old, with friendly green eyes, and wavy, brown hair. When she saw the group approaching, she walked toward them with a smile.
“That’s not a cane, is it?” she asked. “I know you said we were getting old, Orion, but, geez, it can’t be that old, can it?”
Orion laughed and embraced her in a hug. “No, not for you, but definitely for me.” He looked her in the eyes. “Thank you for helping us, Aykrada. It really means a lot to us, more than you could ever know.”
