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The Summer of Discontent
Part 3: The Deal
WORLD JOURNAL MONTHLY
May 25, 2011
THE DEAL!
Envoys From Our Earth Bargain For Our Future!
Correspondent: Noelle LaRue
What Has Gone Before: There's a Plan to defeat the next great winter by moving the Earth back to its old orbit. One part of The Plan is to get the Council of Ordered Realities to drop its universal blockade against this Earth. (www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/discontent1.txt )
May 25:
At 2 pm, the famous pianist and singer Vara Hosea walked into a Georgetown cafe in the District of Columbia - along with two others. They were shown to a private dining room. Two people waited for her there. They were big burly superheroes, wearing their outfits.
One was sitting, but Vara could tell he was almost seven feet tall. He wore a metal helmet, and a blue cape which Vara knew concealed more armor. He had a battlestaff, propped up against the wall. He said, "Hello, Vara. Are these others with you?"
"Hello, Mighty Tim." Vara knew his real name wasn't Tim, but he preferred his superhero name. Most mages had public names and private names too. "Yes, they are here for the mission. This is Wenchy, and Finster." As the woman and the man with her nodded, Vara turned to the other hero. "And you must be the Powernaut."
"I must!" This one was standing. He was six and a half feet, and had a bright yellow bandana and cape. "But enough talk! Can you send us now?"
Vara said aside to Mighty Tim, "Wow. He really does talk like that." Then before the Powernaut could respond, she continued. "Yes, I think we can. Something made it out through the barrier last Saturday." (www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/rapture.txt ) "So it can be done."
Vara pointed at a door in the room. "This is the Sunset Door that Wyatt Ferguson went through, when he went where you're going." (www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/sunsetdoor.htm ) "So this is where we'll try it today. Mighty Tim, you'll provide your own teleportation ability. Powernaut, you have the power. My associates and I will tie it all together, and try to punch it through that door."
"Let me punch through the door!" The Powernaut cocked his fist.
Vara responded, "No, that won't work yet. That's how strong the blockade is, even now. It has to be all of us together. You'll get your chance, Powernaut. But let us set up first."
...
Within fifteen minutes, ceremonial candles were lit. A pentacle was taped on the floor, next to the closed door. Vara had the party sit at the five points: Powernaut and Mighty Tim by the door, with packs handy; Vara facing it. Finster held a large skeleton key, Wenchy a rope, Vara a dagger.
Vara spoke first. "Powernaut, Mighty Tim, this is a solemn ritual. That's the only way the three of us can contribute. Please just sit where you are, and let us tell you when to do what you do best." The heroes nodded.
Then Vara, Wenchy and Finster spoke in unison: "Hecate, Goddess of Doorways, we hold the key of the worlds, the rope of birth and renewal, and the dagger to cut through delusion. We pray you, unlock the door, let life through, and break through the delusion that ties us to one world."
A wind rose in the room. The candles flickered. But they were restaurant candles in glass bowls, so they didn't blow out.
Vara gestured. The three mages recited the same spell again. The candles flickered again - but then a dim light flickered through the door.
The three recited once more. The candles were firm - and the light was dim but firm too.
Vara said, "Mighty Tim. Open the door. Both the physical door, and the door that you truly wish." He stood and opened the door. Flame spurted out.
"I see the mark of your power, Mighty Tim. Now, Powernaut. Punch through the door. Both..."
The Powernaut said, "At last!" He swung his fist as he disappeared through the door.
The Mighty Tim said "Thanks", and jumped through behind.
Vara sighed. "I see the mark of your power, Powernaut... I think it worked. It's all up to them now."
May 26:
The Powernaut woke up, under a canvas lean-to in an open field. He said, "Did we make it?"
The Mighty Tim had a fire going. He grasped the Powernaut's hand and pulled him up. He said, "We made it. You literally punched us all the way through."
"I did?"
"You did. And there's breakfast."
The Mighty Tim watched the Powernaut eat most of their rations right there. But he'd earned it. Either they'd get help that same day, or their mission was in trouble anyway.
After breakfast, Mighty Tim said, "We're just outside Indianapolis, near where the last envoy landed. The next step should be easy. We're going straight to Warsaw-Saint-Lawrence from here. That's where he went for help. He got stopped on the way. But I'm going straight there. You ready?"
"Let's go!"
"All right." The Mighty Tim teleported them.
He'd been given coordinates and a description for Ordered Realities Plaza in Warsaw-Saint-Lawrence. But they landed somewhere else. There was a sign saying, "Ordered Realities Badge Station, Brantford, Ontario". They'd been stopped on the way!
Behind the sign, a short woman with a Sherlock Holmes outfit faced them. Behind her stood a tall muscular blonde guy in blue tights and carrying a war hammer, and an almost-as-tall muscular almost-naked guy with slick hair and a loincloth. The men were probably superhuman, the Mighty Tim thought. The woman was probably the brains, and likely a martial artist from the way she stood.
The woman said, "Welcome to Ordered Realities. Are you here to represent your planet?"
The Mighty Tim nodded, pulled out an envelope, and handed it over. He'd been given credentials for this mission.
"In that case, we have a message for you." She held out a video screen. The Mighty Tim took it. The screen lit up, and showed Wyatt Ferguson's face speaking.
"Greetings, envoy of Earth-SW10. My name is unimportant, but if you want one, you can call me Wyatt. I'm the Chancellor of Ordered Realities.
"I know you did not reset your planet's orbit on the Sixth of May this year. My universal blockade would have stopped you if you'd tried. It messes with teleportation, as well you know. Ellipsis once came here and put a much more severe blockade on your world." (www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/passover.htm )
"I've already mentioned to your leadership, the blockade is in place to prevent The Trillions from swarming other universes. But now I hear you have a plan to restrain The Trillions on your Earth.
"So I have to ask myself: Shall I lift the blockade to let you shift the planet? And what if I don't? Probably an incursion. I know there are some of you who can push your powers to the limit and individually break through my blockade. You are getting this message because you've done that.
"After what Ellipsis did here, we prefer to avoid the people of your world. But despite what you may have heard of us, we have more important things to do than to squash your planet's struggle for survival."
"So in the name of the Council of Ordered Realities, I now agree to lift the current blockade of Earth-SW10, provided that your Earth show its resident Trillions are under control by Earthlings."
The message ended. The Mighty Tim looked up. The Sherlock woman said, "Is that what you came here for?"
The Mighty Tim said, "I suppose it is."
The Powernaut said, "What? No fight?" The people behind the Sherlock woman seemed eager for a fight too, and disappointed.
But the Mighty Tim said, "Depends. Can we go home with this, or is there some trick?"
Lady Sherlock said, "No trick. You're welcome to try to go home with that. But the blockade's still on. When you give up, we can send a message home for you."
The Mighty Tim had to think. "If there's still a blockade, how will you send the message back?"
"Messages are easy, at least from our end. If you want anything more than that, you'll need to make an appointment with the Chancellor."
The Powernaut said, "No! Tim, just point me at where to go! I'll get us there!"
The loincloth man said back, "Lady, let me know when you wished him stopped." The hammer wielder joined in, "And I."
Mighty Tim considered the odds. "Maybe later, Powernaut." He turned back to the Lady Sherlock. "For now, just send the message. The deal is on."
She pressed a button, and responded, "Done. Now please come with us, Ambassador..."
"I think not. If there's no further business now, I think we'd better go the other way. We'll be in touch." Flame erupted around the Mighty Tim and the Powernaut!
The hammer wielder said, "But they cannot teleport from here!"
Lady Sherlock responded, "They're not, Thor Man. Look!" The Powernaut shot out of the flames, carrying Mighty Tim.
The loincloth man shifted into Subhuman shape and sprinted on his four legs. Thor Man flung his war hammer. But the Powernaut dodged! He disappeared into the southern sky.
"Fine," Lady Sherlock said. "I don't think they'll like the rest of our world very much."
The Powernaut said to Mighty Tim, "Thank you! Thank you for not staying there another second!"
"My pleasure... We need to find food somewhere. But we'll get by. And we'll go back when the right time comes."
"Back there? Back home?"
"Both."
See Our Next Stories:
THE AGENTS! The Deal, Continued! www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/discontent3a.txt
THE MYTH! RACC High Concept Challenge, Continued! www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/discontent4.txt
THE STRIKE! The Summer of Discontent, CONCLUDED! www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/discontent5.txt
Author's Notes:
Shit! Ha ha!
This is the first time I've ever written dialog for the Powernaut when he had to interact with halfway-normal people. I hope he comes across as stereotypical but not loonie. After all, he is part of a major superhero organization in this world. But others lead him, as they do in this story.
This is #3 in my Summer of Discontent storyline. It occurs in parallel with two other plot threads: 2014 / 1971, and The War / The Myth. I suppose there might be a follow-on to this episode, but we'll see at the end.
I'm intentionally keeping the Ordered Realities team mysterious. I may eventually tell a secret about one of them. But the SW10 team are all returning characters. Appearance List:
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Vara Hosea: First in "Champion of Death", 1996, www.eilertech.com/stories/wave3.htm#death . Most recently mentioned in Part 1 of this storyline.
Wenchy: First in "City of the Dead, Revisited", 1997, www.eilertech.com/stories/wave4.htm#death . Yes, she goes back that far. Most recently active in Part 1 of this storyline. But you probably know that, because Wenchy's getting around this year.
Finster: First in "Mage War 2003", www.eilertech.com/stories/magewar03.htm#finster . Most recently in "Panlucida", 2008, www.eilertech.com/stories/2008/jan.htm#panlucida . Someday I'll tell why Finisterre John Loring and the others of his order take up silly nicknames as their magic aliases. And speaking of silly nicknames...
Mighty Tim: He is actually Hero #1 ahead of Ellipsis, because he dressed up first. 1990, www.eilertech.com/stories/1988/balance.rtf . Yeah, I know the link says 1988. Maybe I'll clean that up some day... Most recent appearance, after this story! "The Coming of the Super-Mage", August 2011, www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/superwizard.txt . So I guess he survives. But we have yet to find out how.
The Powernaut: First in "Power Patrol", 2005, www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/powerpatrol1.htm . Last mentioned in "Rednecks from Mars", 2010, www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/rednecks.htm . If you'd like to see what he and the Mighty Tim look like (more or less), the cover at www.eilertech.com/stories/2006/newpresent.htm would be good to look at. Also featuring Stonewater!
...
As far as the Internet knows, that Hecate ritual is plausible. www.goddessaday.com/greek/hecate/. They even have an idea how to pronounce Hecate.
Thor (and thereby Thor Man) is of course public domain. Thors are pretty easy to find in pop fiction, after all. All other characters in this fiction are copyright 2011, Eiler Technical Enterprises. All this year's stories are online at www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/.
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