"And by close enough, you mean…" Lori said.
"I may, in fact, be in outer space," Billy said.
"Way to keep a lid on your top secret mission, Billy Case," Emily said.
"You texted your mom ten minutes after we found out about this, don't judge me," Billy said.
Lori turned her attention to Emily.
"Your mom have a card for this Sam Barren, Department of When, Where, and Why too?" Lori said.
"My mom can fly. She's got things covered," Emily said.
"Melinda can fly?" Lori said.
"Just blew your mother's secret identity, Em," Billy said.
"Are you kidding?" Emily said. "I already told her to check on your folks if things get bad! They were going to find out anyway."
"Melinda… can fly?" Lori repeated.
"I had pretty much the exact same reaction when I found out, Mrs. Case," Emily said. Her phone chirped. She set aside her knitting to answer and said, "Talk to me."
"Billy with you?" Jane said.
"Is he ever not?" Emily said.
"Fine. Come back to the base. We'll patch Titus and Kate in from the road and get them caught up."
"Roger roger. On our way. Over and out," Emily said. "Hey Billy, time to make your PowerPoint presentation."
"I don't really want to," Billy said.
"Well, I don't really want to knit a ten-foot long scarf by hand a second time, but we all have things we'd rather not do," Emily said.
"Does my son really have to prepare a PowerPoint presentation?" Lori said.
"Nah," Emily said. "I'm just being metaphorical."
"I was going to say, I don't think he knows how to work PowerPoint," Lori said.
"Thanks for the votes of confidence, everyone," Billy said. "We have to go now, Em?"
"Her majesty says chop chop," Emily said.
Billy stood up, letting Watson jump to the floor. He looked at Emily.
"I'll bring him back if we need to," Emily said. "Right?"
"Right," Al said. "We'll be waiting. The Department of Who info will be taped on the fridge."
Billy pointed at his father, his face almost comically serious.
"You call them."
"We will," his dad said.
"You promise."
"Promise," Al said. "What's got you so worked up? What's happening, an alien invasion or something?"
Billy and Emily shot each other identical horrified expressions.
"We're going to be late!" Emily said, grabbing Billy by the arm and dragging him and the dog out the front door. "It was good to see you Mr. and Mrs. Case! We'll be back again soon!"
Emily bubble-of-floated all of them into the air before Billy had a chance to answer. Dragged off the ground, he waved to his parents and scooped up Watson—who had become bizarrely comfortable when floating with Emily—into the crook of his arm.
"Well, now they know we're being invaded by aliens," Billy said.
"I think it's time to admit neither one of us can lie," Emily said.
"There are worse things," Billy said, watching his family home grow tiny on the ground below.
Chapter 4:
The mission is go
A well-dressed woman sat alone at a table at an outdoor café in Seville. Large sunglasses covered her face, a floral scarf hid her close-cropped, dark hair. She sipped a short glass of beer, golden in the warm sunlight, and drank in the smell of orange blossoms. Sometimes, she thought, it almost became possible to forget how many people wanted her dead, how many enemies she had, and all the many ways her life and career had gone wrong.
Her legs crossed, her elevated foot rocking rhythmically, she watched families walking by pushing strollers, small children in button-up shirts eating little cups of ice cream with tiny spoons, school girls dressed in classic uniforms scurrying home from class. She wouldn't stay here long. She never did. Movement remained the key to her survival, she knew. But this place, the orange blossoms, the crowds, the old buildings blending Christian and Muslim and Jewish architectures in elegant displays… this place could be home, if she gave it half a chance.
But people like her never get to go home. It's the choices we make, she thought, and the actions we perform.
Her phone rang, a soft classical tune. She looked at it, wondering who might have the number. It was a burner phone, a temporary device to be discarded once it outlived its usefulness. But then again, the people who knew her, both allies and enemies, had ways of finding a temporary cell phone number if they needed her.
She answered.
"Hola," she said. "Quien es?"
"No need to pretend, agent," the voice on the other end of the phone said. "Don't worry. You're among friends."
"I have no friends," the woman said in American-accented English.
"With skills such as yours, you'll always have friends," the voice said. "We remember the good work you did for us."
"So you're a client," she said.
"Your very best client," the voice said. "We told you we would need you again someday."
The woman sighed, sipped her beer again, and gazed at the humanity passing around her. This had been nice for a little while, she thought, allowing herself a few more moments to muse on the illusion of a different life. I wish I'd had more time.
"What do you need?" the woman said, her tone becoming more formal and business-like. If you're going to take my peace away from me, she thought, it had best be for a good reason.
"We told you when you worked for us before that your job was to stockpile the best human weapons you could find," the voice said.
"Well, that didn't end well," she said.
"To the contrary, madam, your work invigorated the right people. It moved a new generation of super humans to action. You played the foil perfectly. And you got them prepared."
"It would have been nice to know that was the plan from the beginning," she said. "I might have played the game differently."
"We apologize. But we had our reasons for keeping it close to the vest."
The woman stood up, leaving twice the cost of her beer in cash on the tabletop, and drained her glass before placing it on top of the Euros. She scanned the crowd for anyone who might be watching her. Seeing no one, she moved away. Though unarmed, she was far from defenseless. She possessed powers herself and knew how to use them to deadly effect.
"So what's your game now?" she asked, slinging her bag tightly across her chest in the event she had to start running.
"Our worst fears have been realized," the voice said. "The most terrible thing that has ever happened to our world is on its way."
"Why are you telling me this? I'm a little short on miracles here."
The voice on the other end of the line laughed.
"Oh, but my dear, you know where all the miracles are buried. That's what we paid you to do all those years, wasn't it?"
The woman stopped, the phone still pressed to her ear, and stared at an expensive black car that hadn't been there moments before. She waited for enforcers to step out and grab her, but they never did.
"That car is empty. The keys are in the ignition. You'll find travel papers in the glove box," the voice said.
"I'm perfectly capable of getting my own papers, thank you," the woman said.
"Just trying to save you time. You do have a lot of work to do."
"And what type of work is that, exactly?" she asked, taking off her sunglasses and opening the car door.
"Welcome to the side of the angels, my dear," the voice said.
"My fee structure hasn't changed. I don't care if I'm working for Heaven itself," she said.
"And we'd not have it any other way," the voice said.
The woman slammed the car door and drove away, heading for the nearest airport.
Chapter 5:
The Origin of Dude (or: All the flying elephants are gone)
Billy toyed nervously with a remote control, the device which it controlled a complete mystery to him, as Emily and Jane
tinkered with the futuristic videophone in the Tower's command center. They were trying to patch Titus and Kate in from the road, and for some reason neither of them wanted to ask Neal to do it.
Billy looked at Doc, who watched the small argument between the two women with weary confusion.
"Why don't they ask Neal to patch them in?" Billy whispered to Doc.
"I…" he said, before making a vague, confused gesture with his hands.
Working on the assumption it actually controlled the television in Emily's room, Billy pointed the remote control at the videophone anyway, pressed a few buttons, and suddenly Titus's face lit up on the room's main monitor.
"Oh, there you are," Titus said.
"I told you I could figure it out," Emily said.
Billy and Doc exchanged looks, then both shook their heads "no," but didn't correct her.
"Where are you?" Jane asked the giant Titus-face on the screen.
"We're on the highway. Kate's driving." The werewolf angled his phone so that everyone could see Kate in the driver's seat. She looked through the camera from the corner of her eye and then turned her attention back to the road.
"Kate can drive?" Emily asked.
"One of us should know how," Titus said. "Do you?"
"I don't drive, I float," Emily said.
"So what's going on?" Titus said.
Jane gave him the thirty thousand foot overview—alien crash landing on earth with the same powers as Straylight, possible invasion imminent, Billy's plan to go scouting while the rest of them prepared. The worry on Titus's face was comically apparent projected on a screen so large, and even Kate, steadfastly trying to remain her usual stoic self, kept looking over at the camera as if to verify Jane was telling the truth.
"So this is a nightmare," Titus said.
"I wish," Emily said.
"What do we know?" Kate asked, eyes remaining on the road.
"We believe this is an invasion force that Straylight's species has faced before," Doc said.
"Which is helpful," Titus said, his voice dripping in sarcasm, "given that we know almost nothing about Straylight's species in the first place. So what's the deal, Billy? Does Dude have some good intel for us?"
"That's the other reason we've patched you in," Doc said. "Billy is going to translate for us so Dude can fill us in on the big picture."
"I don't know if translate is the right word," Billy said. "I'm mostly just going to repeat what he says inside my head—does this sound as crazy to everyone else as it sounds to me? It seems nuts to me."
"Not gonna lie, Starbuck, it is pretty messed up," Emily said.
What about you? Are you ready for this? Billy thought.
Honestly, I should have told you all of this a long time ago, Dude said.
Why didn't you? Billy thought.
Because at first I needed to make sure you'd be a worthy partner. And then we were too busy saving the world a few times, Dude said. I did have every intention to share this information with you.
Anything I'm about to translate for the rest of these guys that's going to make me really uncomfortable? Billy asked.
Truthfully? Probably all of it, Dude said.
Well that's reassuring, Billy thought. Where are we going to start?
At the very beginning, Dude said. You should know where you come from.
Last time I had this conversation, it was a very awkward afternoon with my dad, Billy said. Let's get this over with.
"Hey Billy, you've got that slack-jawed look going on," Emily said. "You talking with Dude?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Whenever you're ready, Billy," Doc said. "No rush."
How do I begin? Billy thought.
Like you would any story, Dude said. You start, and I'll tell you what to say.
* * *
And Straylight said:
Once upon a time.
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?" said Emily.
"Quiet, Emily,"said Jane. "Let him talk."
She's not wrong, Straylight said. It was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. My people, the beings you call the Luminae, had a home world. It was a planet made of light.
"Humans call you the Luminae," Jane said. "But that's not your real name, right? What should we really call you?"
"Oh sure, you get to interrupt him and I can't," said Emily.
"Hush, Em," said Jane.
No, it's okay, said Straylight. My real name, our real name, is made up of light, a certain tone and glow. It can't be translated for human language. Your people called us the Luminae, and that is a fine name. A strong name. We accepted it gladly.
"You said once upon a time you had a home world," Titus said. "It's gone?"
We had a home world made of light, Straylight said. It was the most beautiful thing you would ever have seen. And we swam along its surface like fish, glittering in the daylight. It was paradise.
But it had a flaw. All worlds have a flaw, you know. All worlds, great and small, have some crack, some imperfection, and because of that imperfection every world is one bad day away from becoming nothing. This is the way of the universe. Nothing is perfect, and nothing is forever.
"Does our world have a flaw?" said Jane.
Of course, Straylight said. More than one. As did ours. And when our world died, we fled. We ran to the stars. We rode the cosmic byways like dolphins along the prow of a ship. A school of shooting stars.
"Is your world gone?" Emily asked.
Gone like a dream the moment you wake. A haunting memory in the corner of your mind, something you can't quite recall, a thing you love but can never touch. There was nothing like it in the universe. We know this for sure, because in our search, we looked for a new home, a place like ours, with seas of light and mountains made of moonbeams.
"Well this is off to quite a depressing start," Billy said, deviating from the script. He felt Dude admonish him silently. "Sorry. I was editorializing. I'll continue."
As I was saying. We went to the stars, in search of a new home. And we found one, on a large planet not unlike your own. Temperate, filled with life. Its dominant species welcomed us, but we couldn't survive there. We needed to live as they lived, to breathe as they breathed. We needed their ability to survive in order to survive ourselves.
This was how we learned to share bodies with hosts. One of the eldest among us, and the bravest, tried first, bonding her energies with one of these beings. And in bonding, she gained the being's abilities, and the being gained hers. The two, together, were more than the whole.
"So, if Billy had powers, you would have absorbed them?" Jane said. "If you and I bonded would you have my powers?"
Not necessarily, Straylight said. We absorb survival instincts and genetic necessities. We absorb the ability to survive as the host does. I suppose it might happen, that one of us could mimic the powers of someone such as yourself, but I've never seen it. Our ability is to grant strength to those who need it, not to steal from those who have it. The opposite, in fact, of our enemy, but I'll talk about that later. We are symbiotic in nature. The sum of the parts is better than the pieces.
We stayed on this host world for centuries. We became part of their culture. We grew to love each other, as brothers in peace. It was the second time we found a home. It did not replace in our hearts our luminous birthplace, but here, among these kind and noble beings, we found a sense of belonging.
"Were they like us?" Emily asked.
No one is like you, Straylight said.
"No, I mean were they like us physically. Two arms, two legs…?"
The closest Earth species I am aware of that these beings resembled, said Straylight, is your elephants.
"Wait," Billy interrupted again. "Your first host species were… flying elephants?"
Please just tell the story and stop interjecting with your own comments Billy Case, Straylight said. And no, they weren't elephants. I just said that the closest physical approximation to them here on earth were el
ephants. May I continue?
"Please," Jane said.
We stayed so long that this new world became our home. Entire generations came and went. Our host bodies became heroes and leaders. We began to travel the stars together. We learned of other civilizations just beyond our reach and dreamed of ways to communicate with them. To build a bigger universe. To touch the hands of gods.
And then the Nemesis came to our doorstep, and nothing was ever the same.
"The Nemesis?" Kate said. "What is this?"
I have called my species symbiotic many times. We share with our hosts. We give them benefits they cannot achieve on their own. They give us a home. A way to survive. The Nemesis is a species much like ourselves. They require hosts. They require bodies. But they do not do what we do.
The Nemesis are parasites. The words symbiotic and parasitic are not so dissimilar, in some ways, but know this: one leeches off the host, takes and takes and takes until there is nothing left. And the Nemesis is truly a parasite. They seek out worlds, and they devour them. They take just enough to continue their never ending search to quench their hunger, stealing bodies, stealing technology, but they leave each world they touch a dead husk, a graveyard of dust and ruin.
"They destroyed your second home," Jane said.
We would later learn that others had encountered them as well. Many species know of them, and each have their own name for these creatures. The Devourers. The Locusts. One of your writers here on Earth learned of them and called them Outer Gods. But to us, they were the Nemesis, our dark shadow, a vulgar and brutal reversal of the shared life we tried to create.
We were not ready. Their armada struck hard and fast, terraforming the beautiful world of our hosts. Friends and allies died fighting them. Some might call it a war, but it was not. It was a slaughtering field. It was genocide.
But our noble hosts, these great and brave beings, knew they could not save their own world. They knew they couldn't protect it. They knew they couldn't escape. But they knew we could.
"The Luminae," Titus said.
They told us to flee. To run back to the stars from whence we came. Our surviving hosts came with us, brave souls, rising into the darkness of space as their world crumbled to dirt and ash behind them. But this time, we did not swim as school of shooting stars. We fled in pairs or in trios, or sometimes alone. We flew in every direction. We aimed ourselves at every star. We went looking for life.
Like A Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4 Page 3
