H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (26 page)

"Wow, I didn't realize that."

Odes said, "Cool stuff, I wish I could be there."

I tapped the screen on my phone to wake it, there weren't any new messages.  I swore.

Trevin asked, "What's the issue?"

"I'm waiting for a response from a hacker guy - I'm hoping he and his buddies on the net are hunting down research companies in the area that might be pissing off the mutant community.  Word is out that they are planning some kind of attack, but we don't know who they are going to hit."

"Any old research company or a genetics company?"

"Rayna wasn't clear on it.  It would have to be one doing something that mutants wouldn't like."

Kell said, "Sounds more like a genetics company then - they are more likely to be looking into mutant aberrations or such.  You said Rayna talked to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a pair of magazines.  He flipped through them until he found a page and laid it down before us.

He said, "She's cute as hell - check her out.  Plus her costume's tighter on the butt than yours is."  He grinned.

Megan and I both rolled our eyes and sighed.

Megan asked, "Is that your defining criteria for a cute superheroine, Kell?"

"Not the only one, I was actually speaking about her overall look, her face and hair.  The way she smiles."

"You sound like you're in love."

"Not love - but I
am
fond of her.  Plus, check this picture out - see this thing mostly behind her?"

I stared at the photo.  It wasn't clear what was behind her, we could only see a pink ball, some hair and a pincer.

I asked, "What is it?"

"No one knows, and she doesn't say much about it.  Normally if she meets with the press or a photographer they aren't even seen.  But on rare occasion someone sees these floating eye creatures with her.  They look like a ball with two arms that have pincers, a huge mouth and center eyes, and stalks that have eyes on them.  They have a mohawk and a goatee.  Rumor is that they are aliens and that she's working with them."

I said, "Aliens?  Really?"

Trevin pulled out his tablet and did a few searches until he found a better picture of one.  He held it out for us to see.  "There, see?"

"Wow.  Well, they do look like aliens, or something you'd see in a computer game."

Kell said, "I was thinking something you'd see in a role-playing game myself.  But yeah, there are so many computer games out with that type of thing that it's similar.  So she talked to you, right?  Any chance you could set up something where we could meet her?"

"Oh, man.  Now you want me to use my H.E.R.O. status to get you to meet other H.E.R.O.s?"

"Umm.  Pretty much, yeah."

"If the opportunity comes up I'll ask her - but I don't even know her.  She sent me a text asking if I knew of a research company.  Remember - that's the topic we're on here."

"Oh yeah."

Trevin said, "Let's see, a company who was kidnapping mutants might be suspect.  As would any doing direct research on supers - although I've not heard of any.  In fact, you're the first super I actually know of that's willing to go through testing to find out what's different.  They probably all hear that someone wants to shove a tube down their throat and go running off…."

I put my hands up in the air, "Psycom did it with the F.B.I., but generally yeah.  After hearing about some of the tests you'd like to see done I'm not sure even I want to do it.  Next thing I know you'll actually want to be doing those 'soft tissue density' tests you were trying to do on Friday night."

"Actually, yeah.  That
is
a real test to do.  Well, not grabbing them, perhaps.  But poking you with a needle, ah, well, there, and finding out if they are as fatty as a normal human's would be a valid test."

"Ugh.  I'm not sure I want you in one of these groups."

"What, you think I'm the only one thinking of tests?  Steph, I'm not really interested in hurting you.  I'm interested in the science of it.  What's different, how or why does the super body work the way it does.  Why do powers work?"

"Okay, okay.  I can see from your mindview that you are telling the truth.  You sure do get excited just thinking about research.  Have you considered seeing a psychiatrist?"

Kell laughed.  "You don't see him digging into things at the house as a hobby.  I think he's a bit crazy."

Trevin waved his hand in the air, "Laugh all you want, smart guys.  We're on the edge of some great things, what with the supers and all.  Someone's got to dig into it.  I'm glad Steph is standing out from the crowd and helping with it."

I smiled.  I kind of wanted the credits and to discover some things about myself, but I hoped he was right.

He continued, "Anyway, I'd check out Laronics Research, Fargene, and Regenetics.  All are pretty leading edge, and I've seen things that make me think they are either studying meteorite samples that have fallen, or attempting to research supers in one way or another."

I said, "Wow, thanks.  I'll send those to Rayna."  I grabbed my H.E.R.O. phone and replied to Rayna's text with those three companies as likely possibilities, and that I had someone else also looking into it.  Last, I mentioned that I'd like to meet sometime if she's willing.

Kell said, "Good ideas, Trevin.  But ... we're out of time here, guys.  We need to get to class."

We quickly picked up our trash.  I looked at my phone before putting it away; there was still no response from Jim.

Preview Chapter 5 - Mutation

Third Person Perspective

At Fargene Biotech Cam Huntsbury sat with his two assistants, Joel and Fred.  Each had a laptop at the table in front of them, along with binders of data.

A technician assigned to the reactor they were about to use reviewed the device to ensure everything was normal.

Cam asked, "I'd like to do a final checklist before we begin testing to ensure we didn't miss anything.  Joel - you entered the full parameters for the initial sequence of tests with the reactor, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Fred, you went through and verified that there were no typos or other errors in the settings?"

"Right.  He had them all correct.  I even printed them all out and checked off every one of them to make sure my eyes didn't play tricks - see?"  He flipped to a set of pages in his binder, spun it around and pushed it toward Cam.

Cam looked it over, tapping his pen on each of the entries.  He nodded after a minute.

Cam said, "I verified them as well and found no errors.  Joel, you've separated the test fragments into the test compartments?"

"Yes, pre-measure pieces from last week.  Each has the same weight of meteorite."

"Can anyone think of anything we missed?  We've followed the protocols set forth by Hyperion Tech for the use of the reactor.  Our test equipment is connected after theirs.  I can't think of anything else.  Excuse me, sir - do we have everything connected properly?"

The technician over by the machine nodded.  "All tests out fine."

Fred said, "We're good to go.  We've studied this in detail the last few weeks, Cam.  We're good."

"Then we move forward."

He stood up and performed one last walkthrough of the machinery with the technician.  His own sensor equipment was connected to the Hyperion reactor.  Each piece of test material would be irradiated, and then pass through his equipment, coming out in a protected container.

Cam continued, "If we see no results from the initial samples, I want to move ahead with breaking down some samples and try them on animal subjects to determine if the proximity to their cells has any different effect from our previous tests."

Fred nodded, "I've got the supplies ready for that step as well."

Cam said, "Here we go.  Guys, come up here and walk through each step with me."  He moved up to the Hyperion Tech reactor and carefully walked through the steps to power up the reactor and begin the test sequence per their data file.

He verified one last time the file name from the network, entered it and the file was displayed on a screen.  He glanced at it - the file was the same he'd poured over the day before.

He finally pushed the button and watched the machine pull in the first sample container.  Apart from the increasing sound of humming from the reactor the first test was unremarkable.  The machine showed low power levels, nothing looked unusual on the video of the container, and none of the sensors built into the reactor displayed any unusual results.

Cam sighed.  While he didn't expect any great visuals or fireworks, it was still disappointing to have such a powerful machine at his disposal and not see anything exciting from it.

The technician said, "It's running perfectly."

The machine closed the test container and moved it into the post-processing area.  The second test container was pulled in and the next test began.

Again the machine's humming rose in volume and it performed the test, passing the sample on to Cam's equipment afterward.  Cam walked over to the table, spun his laptop toward him and brought up his test equipment screens.  His sensors were just beginning their scans of the first rocks.

The machine's humming rose yet again as it performed the third test.  Had the scientists seen the latest numbers used, they would have noticed that the radiation levels used on this sample were one thousand times above that of the prior samples.  The volume seemed to rise more than before, and Cam glanced at his two assistants - they were both looking up as well.

The technician - still near the reactor - fell over as he walked toward the emergency stop, but failed to reach it.

Cam jumped to his feet and ran toward the machine when he felt something.  In moments, the meteor samples on the table off to his left began glowing, as did most of the animals in the cages.

As he glanced around, he noticed that Fred was glowing as well.  Then the sensation of fire tore through his blood and he fell over in pain.  Soon all of the creatures in the room had fallen in their cages and began to convulse.

On some animals, the skin stretched as muscles enlarged and new strands grew.  Others the fur began changing colors.  The claws and fangs on some grew to massive size.

The reactor continued along with the next sample - the humming grew to an even greater level as the machine now put out ten thousand times the radiation on the sample, which reacted with another invisible wave of energy that struck the other meteorite samples and caused another chain reaction of DNA-changing energy waves from the meteorite samples in the room.

Preview Chapter 6 - Dark Energy

Third Person Perspective

Gahran-Universal Language converted to English

The starship Selestor had maintained its orbit over the fourth planet for a day while Kazhan and Tiriffa programmed the system to study the various radiowaves coming from the third planet, decode them and modify their language system to use them for training purposes.

Kazhan remarked, "It's very interesting to see the quantity of languages this planet uses.  The vast majority of broadcasts are only in a few languages, I'm nearly ready to prime our language trainer."

Qarath said, “I’m surprised to see the similarities between our species.”

Rishan replied, "Excellent timing too - while searching for Dark Energy regions to study, I've detected a fresh burst of energy from a location on one of the continents."

Kazhan said, "Are you certain?  This could be a monumental find for us.  Have you determined what caused it?"

"I haven't detected anything significant to cause it.  However, I'm also detecting a massive Dark Energy reading from a second location on the same continent - it's consistent with a Paragon."

"Truly?  A Paragon, here?  We need to move in and determine if one of our people is already here.  Tiriffa, how many languages have we completed analyzing?"

She replied, "Only the most common two.  However, it looks like the majority of those broadcasts are coming from the same continent that Rishan's obtaining his readings from.  I believe we can move forward with training those."

Kazhan replied, "Let's go ahead with that.  Captain Trilk, would you move us over that continent on the third planet?"

The Captain replied, "On our way now.  Do you have a preference on which location?"  He slid his three clawed fingers over the display on his console.

Kazhan pointed at Rishan's display, "Move us over the first location Rishan found.  We ought to be able to determine if it is one of our Paragons in the other location from there."

The ship sped out of its location near the fourth planet and shot toward the third planet.  A second ship soon left its location behind a moon and followed.  The ship was barely visible as light and other energy waves were deflected at odd angles away from it.

As the Selestor closed on the planet Rishan commented, "The first event has quieted, but I have the location locked down.  The Paragon is still highly active - a massive amount of Dark Energy is being controlled there."

Kazhan asked, "Still no other energy readings to give a reason for the energy surge?  Could it have been a being emitting it?"

"No, it was pure Dark Energy in a burst of some type.  There are numerous beings infused with the Dark in the same city region as the burst, a few are close enough to possibly be a cause."

Captain Trilk said, "There are many satellites around the planet, the Selestor is not built with a true energy deflector.  I could tweak her to absorb most incoming low yield energy, which would leave a hole in any sensors, but we would not be truly invisible."

Kazhan replied, "Please activate that.  We don't want to disturb anyone until we have an idea what their intentions may be."

Tiriffa said, "The language tutor is online for the two languages."

Kazhan said, "I'll use it first."  He moved over to a station, picked up a device resembling a small helmet with a set of fingers attached – each with sensor pads at the end that touched the wearer's head.  The top of the helmet followed a cable that ran up into the wall.