(no subject)

40.

The boys and their mother wandered the hallways for some time. They spoke of insignificant things, hoping to avoid the hopelessness of the situation that faced them all.

“Is there anything you miss,” Mickey asked his mother, “About losing your powers?”

“You father once told me that whatever is just is. If you can live with that truth, everything else just falls in line,” She told them.

“Yah, but . . .?” David reposted the question.

She laughed an looked at them.

“Well, gee,” She thought aloud, “There were so many powers.”

“You never told us what your powers were,” Mickey said.

“I had the ability to fly, super strength, spectra vision . . .”

“What’s that?” David asked.

“Oh, that was cool. I could analyze the metallurgical elements in object just by looking at them. I could tell what was paper, plastic or lead. Came in handy in battle.”

“It probably took a while to get a handle on that one,” Mickey said.

“It took training, but it was worth it,” She admitted.

“What else?” David questioned.

“I could control my molecules and merge with organic things, but just for a moment. But it let me read minds by becoming a part of the enemy.”

Mickey got “that” look on his face.

“You could become part of organic things, could you pass through inorganic?” He asked.

“Never thought of it,” She mulled the idea, “But don’t see why I couldn’t. But that was when I had powers.”

Mickey decided to move on, “So, you never answered the question. What do you miss the most?”

She stopped walking for a moment, and leaned against the wall. She was lost in thought for a moment, and then she answered, “There is nothing like flying when you get down to it.”

“Hey, I should be able to take care of that,” Mickey laughed, “Master David, will you take us out into the clearing?”

“As you wish,” His older brother bowed and opened the door to the central core.

A few moments later David carried his mother and brother out of the base and into the nearby clearing.

“I can maintain it for about 10 minutes, so don’t get so high that you can’t safely get back down,” The boy advised his mother.

He then focused his powers on his mother.

She got a look on her face that was something akin to the response one get on seeing the first lighting of the Christmas tree lights.

Then she rose.

She flew straight up so fast David couldn’t keep up with her.

She was among the clouds in seconds, flying above the world as she had done so long ago. The only way to track her was by her hysterical laughter

She streaked across the sky, with the wind in her face and her arms at her sides, and joy erupting from her soul.

She raced the birds and swooped in and out of rainstorms.

Finally David caught up with her and the two of them spiraled through the heavens in a dance that would have put any ballet to shame.

They locked hands and spun around so fast that laughter laced the heavens. This was one of the most wonderful moments in either of their lives.

Time had no meaning up here. Maria felt like she could have raced David to the moon and back. She knew she couldn’t, having gone high enough once before to have reached atmosphere so thin
that she nearly passed out. But it was tempting.

When they decided to return to the base, they were really sure how far it was. They had been so caught up in celebratory flying that they hadn’t kept track.

The moved down, close to the ground and found that they were over the ocean.

The ocean was not close to Thunderbase. How far had they
traveled?

They rushed back in the direction that seemed most likely.

After some time, traveling at break-neck speed, they passed over the jungle and came within sight of Thunderbase.

They looked relieved at each other, but Maria was sure they had been gone too long. How long could Mickey maintain the powers? How far was his ability able to stretch? They had been so far away.

When they came down in the clearing Mickey stood agast.

“You’ve been gone an hour!” He said.

She looked at her son, and realized something. “Your belt buckle is a tin & aluminum alloy with traces of lead and steel.”

Had Mickey somehow triggered the return of her powers?

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

(no subject)

41.

They didn’t have a long time to worry about what it was that caused the loss of her abilities, or the return of them.

She demonstrated for Stonedragon and the panel of Thunderbase the range of those powers that were back again.

Then she and Mickey outlined their plan.

“If she can actually pass through the solid outer shell, can she defuse the device?” the boy asked.

“Its programming would be such that even that might not be enough,” said Barry Judge, known as “The Blaster” for his ability to focus massive amounts of energy towards any solid objects and cause them to explode, “The circuits are not wired, they are direct electrical transmission. Like contained lightning jumping from the device to the transmission stations without any interruption.”

Maria and Mickey held their own council and then Maria turned to the council.

“If the device was taken from the containment, and taken far enough away, could that do the same thing as defusing?” She posed.

The panel now held council.

“We think that might work, but how could that be done? Once the device was gone from it’s security containment it would begin the countdown to firing. How could it be done?”

“If The Blaster,” Mickey said, “Could open a passage to the sky from the room in which the system is housed it could be made unsubstantial long enough for it to be flown straight up to near orbital height. If it explodes,” The boy took his mother’s hand, “No one is more able to handle that.”

The panel began to talk again.

“We don’t have a lot of time to discuss this sort of thing,” David demanded.

Without further talk, the entire group left the center and trekked to the security center.

Desperate as it might be, it was at least a chance, and that was more than they had when they started the day. Mickey knew, when all is said and done, there is no greater super power than hope.

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

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(no subject)

42.

Mickey had read the words, “The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife,” without ever really understanding it. Now he wished he had a sharper knife.

The Blaster had opened a path up through about ten stories of tower. You look up and see the sky, but it was as though you were looking from deep within a cave.

Mickey flashed on his encounter with a bear outside a cave, just months ago. It was funny for some time. Now it seemed to be ancient history. He wondered how the bear was doing.

To think he had come so far, and now stood at the possible “end of the world.”

He had been pouring all his power into his mother. If there was a way for her to have even more power, after being adjudged one of the most powerful of the powerful, he was going to make sure there was every ounce of ability that her slender frame could contain.

In the middle of the room stood the offending console, surrounded by more lights than a science fiction movie “mad scientist” lab.

The device sat in a lump of metal about the size of a picnic cooler. It was taller, and made of metal, of course, but still much smaller than anyone would have believed something so devastating could contain. Pandora's box must have been a purse.

Maria stood silent, staring at the lump of metal

“What cha’ got?” The boy asked his mom.

“I’ve got the base metals that make up the box. The security circuitries, like bands of Marti Gras beads, are clear to me, and easily avoided. But, that is only going in. In my intangible state I could bypass them completely, but to lift the thing I will have to have some amount of tangibility.”

“If the security picks you up,” Basic, the computer master on the staff, said, “We think you should have a 30 second fuse in effect.”

“Will we know,” David asked, “If and when it goes into effect?”

“There will be an alarm,” said Stonedragon, “We were very specific about the security for the system. No one can get it . . .” He stopped when he realized what he was about to say, that no one could get in without setting off the alarm, was not true.

The personal betrayal again cut him deep in his gut. This was a personal thing. But he would deal with that later. He returned, within seconds, to the stiff countenance that they had come to depend on.

“Then, we have no time to lose,” Maria said.

“I’ll be flying right behind you,” David reminded her. “If you need me to carry you back, I’ll be there.”

"My flying knight," She said. She turned back to the task at hand. She stood like a Madonna about to raise up a child not her own. She was the vision of “careful” as she leaned down to insert her hands through the sides of the box.

They had spent two hours perfecting as much of this ability as they could.

But, while that is enough time to gain some proficiency, but little to gain any aplomb about risking the rest of life on Earth to your newly learned ability.

No one in the room breathed for quite awhile.

Her fingers passed through the surface of the box as though it were the finest sand.

David realized he had developed a case of the hiccups. He closed his eyes and prayed to God that he wouldn’t ruin the whole thing.

No one else noticed.

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

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