Tales of the New Orbit

RACC High Concept #7 Entry

Talk Back!

January

The Ministry of Speed. Commentator: The Superhuman World web site now presents our world's leading expert on super-speed: Erik Katzman, The Hurrier.

I admit to surprise when this web site asked me to comment about the new super-runners on our planet. The Superhuman World web site is run by my ex-wife and my greatest rival. But we live in peace now. And I will admit, I am the longest-lasting super-speeder on Earth. I have also researched the origins of super-running and of super-speed, so I am entitled to comment.

Please allow me to first tell you two important things about super-speed:

1. Super-speed differs from super-running. I have true super-speed. I can do all things quickly. I can even make others do things quickly. Others have just super-running; they can move quickly, and perhaps react quickly also, but they are powerless when they have to stop moving.
2. Super-speed and super-running are both different from just moving swiftly. A rocket may move swiftly, but it cannot react swiftly. Super-speed gives increased subjective time, which allows swift reaction. But a true speeder loves the joy of speed, so his increased subjective time is mostly spent enjoying how fast he goes.

There may be many sources of super-speed. The leaders appear as:

1. The Haste of Jesus. It's said that the Holy Mother Mary was in a hurry to go to Bethlehem and give birth to the Savior. I've heard that Mary's haste may have been a separate holy entity, similar to some conceptions of the Wrath of God.
2. Pagan gods. Every primitive culture had its own god of speed. The Romans called their speed god Mercury, the Greeks Hermes.
3. A "force of speed" from beyond our known world. That is to say, some higher power other than gods.
4. Scientific treatments. Usually these involve some interaction of mental discipline and charged particles. I have never seen such a treatment work, though. My own powers arose mysteriously but naturally.

I have arranged this list from higher power to lower. It must be emphasized, none of these sources excludes the others. Higher powers often work through lower ones. I have investigated many of these sources, including the pagan gods. I personally believe the Haste of Jesus gave me my power, but then I am a Catholic Christian.

Now I come to why I was invited to comment: Our Earth has new super-runners. Nobody can quite tell where they come from. They may be from other Earths that we've supposedly be exposed to during Earth's new orbit. I reserve judgment about our exposure to other Earths, and advise others to do the same.

One of the new super-runners seems to be a Christian also, but a fundamentalist at that. He calls himself Quickpassage. He quotes Bible verses that promise speedy judgment upon the Earth. I would guess he acknowledges the Haste of Jesus (or something like it) to be his source of power.

The other new super-runners reportedly believe in the "force of speed", though some of them got their powers scientifically. As part of their devotion to speed, most of the speedsters actually change their names. One faction of speedsters is led by their elderly matron, Lily Speed. (I'm told that names like "Speed", "Quick", "Zoom", and "Hurrier" are unusual in English, though "Hurrier" - that is, "Eiler" - is a common surname in German.) Lily Speed claims she got her own speed powers as an American at the end of the Second World War.

I met Lily Speed at her office in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. She informed me, she was opening a ministry to super-runners and super-speeders.

I first asked her about her relationship to the super-runners. She told me, two were related to her, and they'd taken her family name. Others just needed her help.

Ms. Speed informed me, several of the new super-runners first did whatever they wished when they first exercised their power upon our world. But they found, people could easily defeat them simply by tripping them. Then the police would impound them, and they'd have no support. Ms. Speed was able to give that support, while channelling the new super-runners into responsible use of power. She said she wasn't responsible for Quickpassage, but the others were within her support group.

Most of the runners now work for corporations as messengers. Lily said, they navigate corporate dinner parties fairly well, though they are still adapting to the corporate culture. Some of them get impatient when women offer them legal advice about their job hunting. But Ms. Speed says, it's like a ministry to addicts. In this case, the patients are addicts to speed. (22 Jan)

I asked what support she had for her ministry to speed. As with any ministry to addicts, no minster can do it alone. She responded, she was recruiting extensively, and she'd gotten one Charles Brown to join her staff. He was known to her patients as an expert on speed. I was able to take a moment to confirm, Charles Brown was at least affiliated with one known superhuman-mage Linus van Pelt. So her story was at least plausible.

I asked if she knew the difference between super-running and super-speed, as this might pertain to her ministry. She said, "There's basically no difference. We treat every runner as though he might get complete speed, because he might."

I was then concerned whether the new super-runners had any disputes among themselves. If they argued among themselves about the origins of their powers, that could be as devastating as the religious Thirty Years War was in Germany. Lily responded, the ones within her ministry would be given one origin story, the "Force of Speed", and then told to respect other origins.

Of course I advised them all to register as guest workers, follow our Earth's laws, and be as welcome as any immigrant anywhere. My home the Federal Republic of Germany welcomes guest workers within its borders, as long as they are documented. Almost all other nations do likewise. Ms. Speed responded, of course they were doing the paperwork. There is no "check-box" for "extra-dimensional" on these documents, so they were responding in the names of their home nations. That may have been why they've been accused of subverting the immigration process.

I mentioned, I was concerned about abuse of personal power. I myself had dreamed of running in the Olympics; I'd even been approved for Federal Germany's Olympic track team, before I discovered my connection to speed. Of course, I removed myself from the team. I needed to know, all super-runners would only display their powers publicly, not try to hide them and secretly use them for advantage.

Lili responded, "We all do what we can. That's natural. If it's not legal, we'll work with that."

"You will comply with our laws when they restrict you?"

"But of course. Everyone must."

"And moral codes, to not abuse your power?"

"Please define."

"You teach people to respect Higher Power. Do you get moral codes from that Power?"

"We don't teach any specific Higher Power. Alcoholics Anonymous doesn't teach that either. Every patient is encouraged to find his own Higher Power, and get his own morality from that."

I had no further advice for them. Their ministry is rudimentary but they know how to build it, and they are working through our Earth's legal processes in admirable manner. And I do not fear those who want to go fast. Indeed, I wish all humanity would embrace speed.

Response by Wyatt Ferguson, Editor.

Erik, I respect your assessment as expert writer of this article. As we agreed, I've approved your article for publication with no alteration, and now decline to comment about alternate Earths near our own planet's new orbit. But I hope you respect my own comment as editor: For once, you trust people and I don't.

Our new super-speedsters have already formed one more secret society on Earth. You used to worry about secret societies of superhumans, just because they had the power to break our laws. This new society can do that too. Is this new society trustworthy, just because they've said they'll be legal and moral? We should not sympathize with them just because they have speed.

I don't have any counter-proposals, though. In my world, they're just more superhumans, one more society, with their own agenda. Our world survives with many such. One more is probably even a good thing. But let's watch them.