Using the model I’d made of the space, I followed the trail of whatever the CDPS was detecting in my head. It originated near three different spheres in a cluster.
With a glance toward Spark, I flew toward the cluster, guessing that by the time I got down there I might be able to sense something.
With my rockets firing, it didn’t take long to reach the spheres, all three glowing. While they weren’t blinding, my helmet did dim their intensity as I looked them over. Unlike a number of the spheres, I couldn’t see the inside of any of these. Continue reading The Core: Part 8→
I’d expected the primary thing I sensed to be empty space or perhaps distant hints to chase, but that wasn’t what I found.
This place pulsed with energy. The Core device kept these worlds alive. I didn’t know what was in them, but I could sense energy traveling to each one and a smaller amount of energy leaving each sphere.
The energy output might be worth investigating, provided they generated enough that I could sense it from a distance. Another idea might be cutting off energy if I could do that. Making the assumption that the pocket universe would disappear and the original League would pop out, it might even be the best option. Continue reading The Core: Part 7→
If I weren’t already prepared to notice the differences, I might have thought I’d appeared in outer space. Within the last few days, I’d traveled to the Moon, Mars, distant future Mars, an alternate Mars, and the orbit of a satellite around distant future Mars.
In short, the differences stood out.
To start? My suit’s location in time and space still showed as an error. If that weren’t enough, it did detect an atmosphere—oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen in Earth standard percentages.
“Wait,” I said, adjusting to that information, “what was he doing with them? Are you saying he brought them through to train them or to use them as guinea pigs to test the system?”
I looked over the faces. There were at least ten or fifteen people.
“Both,” she said. “You both can bring guests, but you’ve been taught what you are and trained to begin to use your abilities. He hasn’t and hasn’t always known what he was.”
“Interesting,” I said. “I guess I’m stuck with them then, but if I had my own allies, that would help.” Continue reading The Core: Part 5→
Meeting my eyes, she continued, “That’s not all. A new owner has the option of flushing everyone who’s entered in between owners from the system or selectively allowing specific entries.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing as I said it what that meant. “So, if Magnus were to gain control, he could wipe everything that’s happened in the meantime, but he could also allow the specific entries that led to him controlling the system.”
In this case, that meant that Magnus might be able to remove the original team, and we’d be forced to find out what would have happened if they’d never entered while keeping Lee and Nataw’s respective entries that accidentally allowed him in. Continue reading The Core: Part 4→
Grandpa wore the late 50s and 60s version of the Rocket suit. Giles Hardwick wore the final version of his costume—red with a lightning bolt under an arch decorated with hieroglyphics. He’d always been fascinated with Egypt.
Captain Commando’s blue costume with a US flag on it echoed Cassie’s, or more accurately, vice versa. Grandma wore a white jumpsuit, which seemed closer to skintight than I imagined for that era. Night Wolf’s black-accented grey costume with wolf head symbol had been the model for both Haley and Travis’ designs. Continue reading The Core: Part 3→
She shrugged. “My apologies. I have to follow the rules set out for me by the system I exist within. I think you’ll understand what that means and how to work within it.”
“I get it,” I said, and I did. “You’re a thinking being, but you’re also a program running on a kind of hardware, not so deeply integrated into it that you can reconfigure every piece of it at will. So… What can you tell me? What resources do I have access to by default?”
“You have access to this construct’s life support systems and certain informational resources. There are triggers set up that give you limited control of the device.”
The fall felt both endless and instantaneous. Darkness surrounded me, and it went on forever, except for the glowing opening to the room I’d left.
As the opening and the portal on the other side grew larger, I saw myself in the Rocket suit flying out of nowhere toward the portal. We were close enough to collide as I fell into the space, and I wondered if I’d screw all of it up.
What if we both went through to wherever Govan sent me? Some new alternate universe, or maybe a time loop? Continue reading The Core: Part 1→
I don’t know how long I talked. He’d ask questions on human culture and sometimes small details about Lee or Kee’s actions or statements. When I did remember them, he’d nod slowly as if it meant something to him.
I couldn’t be sure that was a good thing.
He’d found the story of The Thing That Eats particularly interesting, both because I’d been able to tap into Lee’s power when creating a sword and because of Amy’s spear. She’d stabbed the Thing and seemed to be at least as responsible for killing it as I was.
He’d been at least as interested in the fact that the Bloodspear could absorb me, asking a series of questions that amounted to, “But how much of you do you think it could absorb? Do you think it could reach into other universes?”
I held up my hands, “I have no idea. I’m not in any contact with other versions of myself except when I meet them.” Continue reading The Portal: Part 10→
“Now,” Govan continued, “how are Lee and Kee? Those aren’t their real names, by the way, but I know who you mean. Is Kee still pushing the younger races to develop while Lee does… whatever he does? I haven’t seen him in quite some time.”
Here’s a funny thing: Stapledon had a track meant for street-level heroes and for those heroes whose strengths lent themselves to espionage. I’d taken exactly one class in that track—the required one: Managing Dual Identities.
From what Haley said, higher-level classes focused more on skill development in reading people, verbal misdirection, and extracting information from conversations.
