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SW10: Superhuman World 2014 Annual: Office Hours
Wyatt Ferguson woke with a start. He was seated facing the djinn Vesper.
Vesper smirked at him. "Have you been following what just happened?"
Wyatt thought for a few seconds. He'd just been possessed - by a Wyatt from back in 2011! So he'd just missed out on some important 2014 stuff. (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/2014.txt)
He responded, "I get it now. And for what it's worth, I would have had you make this world Never Was."
Vesper grinned. "That is what I thought... And so my work here is done." He disappeared in smoke.
Wyatt was safe for the moment, and no one was expecting him anywhere. So he remembered...
The aliens had come back to evacuate some more Earthlings from the doom of the planet earlier this year. Wyatt had tried to meet the ships in the sky - but he'd been trapped! By... probably his Satanist enemies, but he couldn't be sure.
Now he was stuck in a resistance movement, against President Trump and Vice-President Sheen. His elder brother Calvin was a resistance leader, and was even then fleeing to build a new resistance cell. Resistance, resistance, resistance...
Wyatt had just been indwelt by an optimistic self from the past. That's the only way he could account for what he said next...
"No. There must be a better way."
In the news, the Canadian Prime Minister admitted almost all of Canada now had permafrost and could no longer support agriculture. The St. Lawrence Seaway now required ice-breaker ships to enable navigation in the summer. Fortunately most of the population of Canada had disappeared in late 2011, in what people called the "Powernaut Rapture". About half the world population had gone with them. What was left behind was either stubborn or downright nasty.
In related news, powers and technology were as weird as ever... An alien ship had crashed at the Hollywood Bowl. Sentient superpowered wolves were roaming the Great Plains; Texas was threatening to secede and then invade Colorado to interdict their path. Russia was rumored to be supporting secession movements; the U.S. Gov in return was debating a ban on the wearing of any sort of tricolor flags. The Ukraine was also nervous about Russia, but in more of a position of strength; they'd just launched a fleet of flying battleships.
In culture: McDonalds started selling fried fly patties; the healthiest people in South America were the ones who could pop their leg tumors; the U.S. Congress had started deciding funding bills via duels. It looked to Wyatt like the march of history was spiraling down.
On that note... A man walked in. "Wyatt, what have I told you about broadcasting yourself to the world?"
"Uh... Good day to you too, Grampa. What're you talking about?"
"You wrote a story three years ago that told everyone you'd be in Lafayette today!" (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/2014.txt )
"But that story had no dates outside 2011! I didn't even know what the date was today!"
"Like we wouldn't know when Vice-President Sheen would be leading a raid here."
"Ah, but you're special. Speaking of which, you're a long way from Labrador now." (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2006/go_home.htm#north )
"Well, yeah. I could still survive there, but it's a lot less interesting since the hydro dams all became glaciers. Civilization kind of sucks down here, but at least you still have it... But don't change the topic! If I can find you, so can anyone! Move it or you'll be captured!"
Suddenly the windows glowed and the house filled with light. A woman in a racing suit appeared, floating above the floor. She said, "Oh, I think you're safe for now. But perhaps introductions are in order."
...
The woman landed and walked to the older man. "Hello, Calvin Fremont Ferguson. I'm Racer Girl, but you can call me Linda. I used to work with your grandson. And with the Powernaut."
"The real Powernaut? 1944?"
"Well, 1966, but that one too." (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1966.htm)
"Okay, now I'm impressed. But seeing as how you just turned on all the lights on this house, what's your plan to get us out of here?"
"Relax. We're inside a Pentahedron. No force short of a Sunbreaker can pierce it. And when we want to leave, it will transport each of us wherever we wish."
"So, you could get Wyatt off-world? Away from Trump?"
"If he wants. But if he wanted that, he could have taken himself off-world." Linda turned to Wyatt. "I know you've had mental issues... Do you recall going on Pentahedral Patrol with us?"
"Yeah, that I do. I've been fine, thanks. And I took copious notes." (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/pentahedron.htm)
"Well, I'm here on patrol. Your world is now the most dangerous Earth in the known Omniverse."
Wyatt looked skeptical. "Really? More than Ordered Realities?"
"Really. Ordered Realities isn't flooding the universes with refugees. Your world is."
"Oh, come on. That's just the Powernaut. And you just now said you were working with him."
"No, it's more than that. Did you know Lateran is out there too? He went to work for the Turkish Empire! And your Satanists sent a legion to yet another Earth! So... You know most everything about your planet. Do you know of anyone working on any other 'Raptures'?"
"Oh, are those little lunatic-fringe Raptures that important? The real problem would be..." Wyatt shuddered. "Oh, shit, I bet Trump's trying to create his own Rapture machine right now."
Linda and Calvin said together, "That would be bad."
"Yeah. Now imagine if we, yourselves and I, were the ones to make this conflict interuniversal. Trump would go crazy. And he'd probably find allies. Even if I did leave, I wouldn't be safe out there."
Then yet another voice said, "That's not the worst of it."
...
Calvin snarked at Linda, "You said this thing was impervious." Linda looked confused.
Wyatt responded, "If we're still on Earth, this guy can get in." He turned to the new arrival, a young man in a backwards baseball cap and a t-shirt with an icicle-laden "C" on the front. "Hi, Stan."
"Hi, Cousin Wyatt! Hi, Linda!" Linda reluctantly waved at him.
Calvin rolled his eyes. "Oh. He must be from your mother's side."
Wyatt responded, "And a proud side it is. This is Ultimate Low C, the Champion of Cold. He basically rules the world right now." (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2006/journal_c.htm)
Stan said, "Yeah, but I never wanted to. And I got even more power I need to get rid of. Death needs a new Champion."
"What happened to the Brotherhood of the Reconnaissance? Weren't they the Champions of Death?" (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2007/others.htm#recon )
"Yeah. But they kept getting distracted on vampire hunts and stuff. Death needs someone more committed. And it can't be me, 'cause Death and Cold are way too connected now anyways."
Calvin said, "Got that right."
"Thanks, mister... And this is important 'cause of all the death in the world. And there's more coming soon."
"So shouldn't we be stopping all this death, instead of helping it along?"
Stan stammered, so Wyatt spoke. "Probably not gonna happen. I've seen some forecasts that only the Executive Branch gets to see. We all either hibernate, get off planet, or die by 2022."
Calvin thought for a moment. "And those friendly aliens who were gonna help us hibernate, all got chased off planet themselves. So, why aren't we migrating?" (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/discontent5.txt)
"There's been some spaceflight, but not enough to save more than a few cities. All the other Earths we've sent people to, are done talking to us." Wyatt looked at Linda. "And I sense a reluctance by the rest of the Omniverse to open up the borders with Planet Trump." Linda nodded.
Stan chimed back in. "So Death's looking for Her old Champions. And Vara Hosea's gone. So you're next." Stan's voice became deeper. "Wyatt Ferguson, will you once again become a Champion of Death?"
Wyatt shrugged. But before he could answer, Calvin spoke. "I heard some of the stories. But could you two tell us again what a Champion of Death does?" Linda nodded.
Wyatt responded. "We move to the side of some of the dying, if they really need help to pass. There's nothing that can stop us."
Calvin responded, "And this is important... why?"
"Simple. Do we want a world full of ghosts?"
"Oh... If it's gotta be done, then it actually sounds like a really good life choice for you. At least Trump can't get his hands on you."
"Grampa, with Death and Cold at hand, Trump really doesn't matter." Wyatt turned toward Stan. "I could at least be the Deputy again, if you really can't find anyone else. After all, you're literally here to deputize me. But could I at least see the Boss before I sign back on?"
Stan said, "Sure. She wants to see you first."
A small pale-skinned, black-haired woman walked in the room. She grasped Wyatt's hands.
Calvin shuddered. "Seen you before! Way too much!" The woman shrugged.
Wyatt said, "Hi, Boss..." His voice deepened. "I accept. I will take up your watch as Deputy Champion of Death."
The Boss hugged Wyatt, then dissolved away. Wyatt's face became covered by a death's head, but that faded also.
Linda grasped Wyatt's hands. "Oh, Wyatt. You have gone where even Hypergaard will not go."
"Oh, Linda. Some millennium, Hypergaard will go there too." Wyatt turned to Calvin. "Grampa, I guess you'll have to worry about the world for me. Your other grandson Calvin cares about Trump. He could use any help you care to give."
A tear came to Calvin's eyes. "I'll go check on him now. But let me say... I've never been prouder of my family." Calvin hugged Wyatt.
Linda said, "Uhh, Calvin Senior, I'll send you to your grandson. Here's something you can call me with, when you have need." She handed him a flat triangular plate. "I guess the rest of you can find your own ways." Stan and Wyatt nodded.
...
The triangular pyramid enclosing the house dissolved. Only a vacant lot remained.
A ring of federal troops surrounded that. Their commander Imperilus shrugged. "Whatever just happened, 'least they can't blame that on me."
Author's Notes:
This story's been stalled for a while. But now it gets a boost just 'cause Trump's back! Yes, that's Earth-SW10: making Donald Trump president in a 2011 story, when even he'd given up on the concept in the Real World!
Now we get into the secret shared history of Wyatt Patrick Ferguson, Calvin Fremont Ferguson a.k.a. the Secret Commando, Stanley Timothy Levitz a.k.a. Ultimate Low C, and the Racer Girl from Hypergaard. Stuff like this should go in the Wiki in a "Team-Up" category. And I have added Wiki support for the Commando. (ref: www.eilertech.com/stories/wiki/Secret_Commando.htm) But for now, other Wiki stuff goes here.
- Wyatt had a troubled childhood, dating back to the 1969 "Hypergaard" incident. Calvin (as the Secret Commando) and Racer Girl were on opposite ends of the portal which brought Wyatt back. (www.eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1969.htm)
- In two later separate time travel incidents (2005/1993 and 2011/1971), Wyatt had to intervene to counteract his autistic tendencies and jumpstart his own (or his alternate self's) maturation. Racer Girl was present for the first of these. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/pentahedron.htm , www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/1971.txt)
- Wyatt and the males of his family have a superhuman bloodline. Their blood activates superpowers upon their first death. This happened for Wyatt in 1996, his father in 1990, and his grandfather in 1915. Other males of the clan have yet to see that happen. (www.eilertech.com/stories/bigwave.htm)
- Wyatt's Grampa is the Secret Commando of the 1910s through 1940s. Nowadays he is motivated by paranoia; he wishes to keep the family's superhuman bloodline secret. Wyatt's brother's family can currently pass a blood test, but Wyatt can't. The Secret Commando once invaded the compound of Ellipsis in Greenland to prevent such a test. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/crockery.htm)
- Wyatt's father may be autistic; he tends to withdraw from his family whenever he gets the chance. He may have secretly trained to be the Secret Boy Commando of 1944-45. In any case, he's well hidden and can take care of himself, at least enough to satisfy Grampa... Grampa may be first-generation Childfree, and Wyatt third-generation.
- Wyatt never met his grandmother - at least not that he knows of. The relevant period of the family history is the 1920s, when his grandfather was an adventurer who had a lot of encounters with Amazons... Is Wyatt the grandson of Zenobia?? His grandfather has declined to mention, despite a lot of story-swapping in 2006 (www.eilertech.com/stories/2006/go_home.htm#darkmaneuvers3). But: (1) We don't know a lot about Wyatt's grandma, but there's nothing to indicate she was ever part of his family life. (2) Wyatt and Zenobia met in 1996; this was still Roman Empire times from her perspective. But they seemed to notice a link between them, and it wasn't sexual. (www.eilertech.com/stories/duopol2.htm)
- Racer Girl is the closest thing Wyatt has to a childhood imaginary friend. She met him in 1969, but his memory of that incident is fragmentary. (www.eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1969.htm) She met him again in 2004, but he recognized her only as a cartoon character from his childhood. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/4heroes.txt) They met one last time in 2005, but he took her (and two other Hypergaardians) only to be extradimensional superheroes. Her team did nothing to correct that impression. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/pentahedron.htm)
- Wyatt and his grampa have (at the very least) hyper-dimensional blood, as does Racer Girl. So, how many electrons can the shells of their atoms hold in four dimensions? No one seems to know - but if it's anything other than (for most important elements) eight, organic chemistry falls apart. So I'm guessing that Hypergaardian space-time is sufficiently curved that the answer is still eight. The next greatest possibility is, atoms behave according to the rules of their home universes, no matter where they may be.
- Then there's Ultimate Low C. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/journal_cold.htm) His history with Wyatt is well-documented. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/diary.htm) And he and Racer Girl have some shared history related to Hurricane Katrina, in the background of a Powernaut 2005 episode - and a World Journal Monthly story, in which he and Ellipsis talked about that mission. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2006/journal_c.htm)
- Of all of them, Wyatt is the ranking expert on inter-universal adventure on a human level. And just two or three years ago, he was a National Security Adviser. So he knows, if any more of Trump's enemies get Raptured, Trump's gonna be even more motivated to build his own dimension gear - if he hasn't already!
COMING ATTRACTIONS! Special Content Visible Only on Web Site!
As a fundamental force of Cold and Death, Ultimate Low C may know things about the Earth even the others don't. Like...
There is a Weather Enhancement Field, overlaid upon the Western Hemisphere like ripples. The world is taking a recovery day to see what the weather is like now... Ellipsis is probably fiddling with the planet again. (16 Mar)
Spaceships are rising from Mars! Dom-Ra the Solarian may well have gone there with several Earthling cities; Mars already has freelance human colonists. One ship gets in trouble near the Super Bowl - 13 Feb. And later that year, Dom-Ra follows. It's not long before Ellipsis starts punching holes through mountains like he used to... (29 Sep and 14 Oct)
Oh, and a recent development... Just wait until Mexico has most of the crops in North America, but Trump still has the U.S. Army!
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