Saturday Super Stories - The Event 1

"I have pulled from The Knowledge tales from the Event that ravaged two universes.  I start at the beginning and will tell the important parts, and while there are many stories to be told, this will be quick."  Chief Archivist of the Catalogers.

The Event - The Family Part 1 (Escape from Dimension X)

<The Omega Sanction>

"WE HAVE INCOMING!!!" One of the techs screamed at Alpha just as the roof caved in with a gigantic explosion. Fire and shrapnel ripped through the main computer room, sparks shot from the various devices stored in and around the main hub, smoke began to billow and swirl around.

Alpha stood as the last pieces settled on the ground, he surveyed the area and found his entire technical staff dead, 90% of the machines inoperable and a large ship punched through with its engines winding down. Across the bow, the paint badly damaged: HelixONE.

Alpha sighed and strode to the hatch of the ship. He reached out and grasped it by the hinges and wrenched as hard as he could, the metal quickly cooled, then cracked and shattered under the pure PSI of his grasp.

"I know that you are in there. Please exit the ship quickly." He called into the opening, his voiced echoing back at him.

"I'm coming, and I'm all alone! I'm coming out." A massive pile of rocks shifted into position in front of the door, started to climb out, then collapsed. "But I think something went wrong." It mumbled.

"No shit," One of the wounded not quite dead technical staff whispered.

"Grab that...whatever the hell it is and bring it to the Gamma Labs. Send in two teams to search the rest of the ship." Alpha walked away before his anger destroyed the creature and before he could get some answers.

<Inside HelixONE>

Richard Reader watched from one of the still working monitors. Robert Garvey had saved them for a few minutes at least. "I don't know what to do." His wife, Sadie, hissed at his side. "I can't stop glowing." He shot a harsh look over his shoulder at her.

"Be quiet. I'm thinking," He whispered.

"Don't do that, this is affecting all of us," she retorted. "You aren't alone here."

"Yes, DEAR," He replied. "But unless you have a plan in that glowing bosom of yours I suggest you be quiet." Her mouth opened and closed but she remained silent.

The entire ship shuddered as the zone next to it exploded in a million shards of icy death, flying into the corridors and wrecking havoc. 

"I think perhaps, things outside have gotten worse," Reader spoke, "We need to move now, before something even worse happens." He grabbed his wife's glowing hand and motioned for the super-heated Jordana to follow them. He led them up the length of the ship and towards the landing gear compartments.

Outside the gear's hatch in an adjacent hallway, two of the Omega Sanction employee's were working on cutting into the ship from below, and were taken completely by surprise when the outside of the hull exploded outward in super-heated metal. Their deaths were instantaneous.

Reader dropped out and then helped Jordana and Sadie down in turn. She gasped at the melting, burning corpses, and then began to cry. Reader's eyes narrowed. "We don't have time for this, we need to find Robert and escape from wherever we have landed, without 'starting shit' as Black put it."

"I think we're too late for that," Sadie responded.

He smirked, "You may be right, dear." He began to move.

<The Omega Sanction>

Black Sapphire walked from the hole she had created down from the surface along side of the crashed ships impact point.  Freezing the soil down on an angle and boosting her strength to its maximum before punching and shattering a hole down into the underground complex.

“ALPHA!!” She screamed out.

She strode through the debris of the earth, metal and ship as she searched for her opponent.  She heard a chuckle from the ground near her feet and she looked down and saw a computer tech buried under the rubble, a pool of blood slowly spreading out from him.  “What’s so funny jackass?”  She asked as she knelt beside him.

“You, you’re here…cough…to die, just as the shit starts to hit the fan…cough…heh, Alpha is going to kill you, we know everything there is to know about you,” his eyes slid shut and he breathed his last breath.

“Not everything retard, I hardly ever use all of my powers.”  Sapphire stood back up and stepped over the corpse and continued to make her way through the hallways leading out of the central computer zone, she noted as she exited that the walls were painted like a hospital with colored arrows leading to different parts of the complex.  She noticed some blood on the floor heading towards the Gamma Labs and Central Offices; she started down the hallway in that direction.

<Deeper in the Omega Sanction>

"I have no idea what is going on but we need to find Robert and exit as soon as we can."  Richard hissed.

"These tubes..." Sadie pointed as an explosion shook them violently in their housings. "There are people inside of them." From behind the glass a woman in the nearest tube stared at them, her cheek crossed in a scar. "I think she's awake."

"It doesn't matter. Let's move." Reader pulled at her and they continued deeper.

<The Epsilon Center>

Sapphire walked into the Central Office and found a maze of cubicles and a large empty room.  Large flat screen televisions were scattered around the room, several had the rainbow of a dead signal, but one showed a group of technicians fighting a pile of rocks and Alpha talking to them as they struggled.  She snarled and stepped back out and began to run down the hallway towards the Gamma Lab.

<The Gamma Lab>

Sapphire kicked the sliding doors of the Gamma Labs inwards in an explosion of glass and metal shards.  She snarled at the technicians frozen in shock at her entrance and they began to back away from her.  Alpha smiled at her.

“Welcome child,” he spoke loudly and his voice carried.

“Asshole it’s time I took you down for all the crap you have put me through,” her knuckles popped as she leapt at him.  He responded with a single fist, the shockwave rocked the floor.

<The Surface>

Agents stood around the massive wounds in the Earth, their weapons at the ready, just as Reader and his people breached the surface nearby.  The Agents pivoted on the new opponents.

Reader stared back at them.  "We Come in Peace?" He spoke quickly.

Agents Frost and Powerhouse moved to the front of the group.  “We’re with the DSA and you will submit to containment until the scene is secure and we have had time to question you thoroughly about what has happened.”  Reader nodded.  Several Agents moved up with handcuffs, two of which were bulky and when placed on Jordana and Sadie shut their abilities off. 

“Interesting,” Reader mumbled.  The Agents led them to a van and placed them in the back and closed them inside and moved back to secure the scene as the sounds of battle began to waft up through the holes and the ground began to vibrate from the conflict that raged beneath the surface.

Saturday Super Stories - Religion 108 Part 2

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

“Without me you wouldn't even have made it this far.”  Wynn shouted over his shoulder over the sound of the wind.

“What makes you say that?”  Sapphire responded back at him.

“You aren't magick for one, and you never would have passed the trials of the Grandwood.”  He retorted.

“Trials?! Seriously?”  Wynn nodded back at her.  “What kind of trials are we talking about?”

“Magickal ones obviously, they test your skills and resolve, and each one is more difficult than the last.”

Sapphire sighed, “How many are there?”

“Different for each individual, I had eleven when I came here; a few of my friends were in the single digits.  They say each of the Proctors had triple digits and that’s why they lead us, they have the most skill and wisdom of the whole city.”

“Alrighty then we still should have tried to transport here, Conjuressa has a pod.”

Wynn stopped and glared at her, “You really do not understand magick at all do you?  This place is unfindable by science, it exists in another phase space, touching at least one another dimension, the astral plane.  You cannot just ‘jump’ here willy nilly.”  Sapphire’s eyes were sad as she thought back on Walter’s words.

“ We've already wasted four days and we aren't even close to our goal.”  Wynn shook his head.

“The Grandwood plays with time we haven’t even lost a full day yet, and we’re here.”  He pulled a branch from the path and the Mystic City of Sham’bala lay before them.  “Hopefully you don’t manage to piss off their leaders and we can find out why we’re here.”

Religion 108 - Part 2 “Old Testament”

From Astronomy 102 Part 3

"Those who came before decided that if they were to be the Deities of this new universe that they had forged on the bones of the one before, they must purge themselves of the traits that might affect their judgment. So my brothers and sisters and I were born. Each of us an embodiment of an attribute they found to be cumbersome.

"Eons passed and eventually some of us began to war with one another, this was a dark time for us. By the time everything was said and done, there were only a few of us left. The remains of my brothers and sisters evolved in the ether, and became what humanity has come to call the Star Force."

"The Star Force is the remains of dead Gods?” Spectacular was genuinely surprised and astounded. “Fascinating.”

"They who were slain were scattered apart; and some of their essence evolved into the Star Force and the rest of their life force became the stars that burn in the heavens."

The War of Sorrows itself erupted many years after we were created by Those Who Came Before.  It was fueled by Jealousy and Avarice as they mounted a two sided assault against all of us in a bid for the power that they were able to claim for themselves after one of us fell.

We did not know at the time that we could lose our essence to another.  Cowardice was the first to fall, one day he was just gone, and then some of the other, weaker entities were attacked and then the sides and the line were drawn.  Two leaders emerged and other powerful emotions picked their sides and some tried to remain neutral as long as they possibly could.  That did not last long.

The War raged for centuries and many of died or were consumed by the others, only a few of us remained active in the following years.  In this age I alone remain, because I alone need to feed on the universes Chaos.  Somewhere Hope is being rekindled, she grows within herself and will be reborn when the time is right and on that day the universe will feel her and once again feel her, for that was her true power.

I fear that day will not come soon enough, forces are constantly in action against Hope, and try to keep Hope at bay, but she cannot and will not be contained or shackled, Hope springs eternal.

But some of them lost so much of themselves when they died, what they had been was lost too.  There is not a Star Force for each of the emotional states that were purged, but some of the strongest have representatives.  I must also make the mention that some of the stars themselves became Star Forces, but these rare few were not powered by the emotions but they were pure, driven excellence, and they are the most powerful.

One of them is on your Earth now, the Dawnbringer, the king of the second born Star Force.

Excerpt from a Talk with Gods by Richard Reader aka Spectacular.

TBC in Religion 108 Part 3

Stand Alone 8

Sapphire sat up and yawned. “I feel like crap,” she declared to the empty chamber. She stood up and stretched before walking to the wall and requested water from the food-generating device attached to it. Soon there was a knock on the door, and it slid open silently. A young female alien entered and bowed before her.

“I am called Zoe. and I have been sent by the Archivist to assist you with anything you may need this evening.”

“Evening? I was only asleep a few hours.”

“Incorrect. You were asleep almost one whole day by your Earth standards.”

“Well shit, that kind of screws up my plans then. I was only planning on being here for a few days before getting back home and trying to deal with this Coming Darkness thing.” Sapphire sat back down on the edge of the bed and held her head in her hands.

“You came to us in search of Knowledge, and that knowledge tends to add more questions. Perhaps you are looking at the problem in the wrong way?” Zoe had moved across the room silently and was standing to the side of Black Sapphire now.

“When I was still on Earth with the Dark Avenger, and before Zero happened, I had access to his database. And the files written by the heroes involved in all the cases he handled with the WMD and the IED and his other various alliances like the Raven Institute and the Family. I thought they were as complete as I could get before I discovered that you people existed. Now I have access to a font of the universe's knowledge and I don’t know the correct questions to ask it.”

“Correct. I was once taught by another of the Catalogers, one who became exiled. He is only referred to as the Nameless now. He told me two simple things. There’s always a Bigger Picture, and everyone has a boss.”

“So I should ask what the bigger picture is.”


Stand Alone 8 - V

We were the future of the world, this Earth.

The five of us made a pact to change things.

We were wrong.

*******

“Alright, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves. I’ll start. My name is Richard Reader.” He tipped his cap and sat back down as the next member stood.

“Harold Prick.” Reader cocked an eyebrow. “Please don’t call me Harry,” he sat back down.

The next man stood up and cleared his throat before speaking. “Andrew Jessup, and that’s my sister Erica sitting in the corner. I have to watch out for her and she had no place to go tonight.” Reader nodded and continued to ignore the young woman. Andrew sat back down and looked to the next in line.

“Oswald Johnson.” He stood and returned to his seat quickly and looked to the final member of this group that Reader had brought together.

“Rex Ruthless.”

 Harold gasped. “Don’t you already have a company that you run?” he asked. Ruthless nodded. Harold quickly followed up. “Why do you even need to go to college?”

“Because while I am in the top one percent of the world’s most intelligent people, there are things that I still do not know. Also, it is my father’s company, and I am only technically the Vice President of it.” Harold frowned. “For now,” Ruthless finished. Harold leaned back, suddenly slightly scared. He shut his mouth and looked back to Reader.

“We five are the future. We have the highest GPA's and make up the most brain power in the entire school. Each of us has similar interests in science, astronomy, genetics and other various fringe sciences. I propose that we work together to make the world a better place.” 

Ruthless snorted. “I do not think that I will or can work well with others. I tend to be a brutal taskmaster when it comes to doling out assignments, and I expect them to be done my way.” Rex spoke honestly. 

Reader listened and nodded his assent. “I am the same way when it comes to my experiments.”

“I work with my sister when it comes to the things that... fascinate me,” Andrew added. “We make a great team.” 

Erica smirked from her chair. “Only when you get something right,” she muttered under her breath.

Richard Reader stood. “Any one of us can change things as an individual, but as a unit, we can change and progress the entire world along any path that we choose.”

TBC in Demonology 107

Stand Alone 3

Black Sapphire gasped and staggered away from the Chronicler. "I... how... why would you show me that?" She jumped at him and grabbed at his collar, and pulled herself up to meet his face, which stared at her impassively. "WHY?!"

"I did not choose that history to show you. I do not know why it showed us that. It should not have been able to. Those were your memories, Mercedes," he replied.

"My history should be none of your business! How was that there?" she screamed.

"The logical explanation is a Cataloger has been to your home universe, before the Cascade had been sealed."

"Then my history was deemed important somehow?" She released him and stepped away. "Then...what happened a few years later makes more sense now. Show me Spectacular and the day he and his Family invaded my universe." The archivist nodded and held out his hand.


SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 3 - "Family Matters"


"My name is Richard Reader, and this is my family. My wife, Sadie, her sister, Jordana, and her husband, Robert Garvey." He rolls his eyes. "Everyone calls him Bob." Richard stood before HelixONE, the experimental space craft that he had been building for the better part of five years.

"Our mission today is to pierce the veil, the barrier between worlds. I theorize that with the Helix, I will be able to punch a hole into a parallel universe. Passing through the Kligenberg/Heizenrose Bridge and into the world beyond. There we hope to discover anything that might have caused their path and ours to diverge, and perhaps with enough data I may be able to form a mathematical baseline for our universe and theirs and through that knowledge determine...is anyone actually still listening to me?" One hand rose. He sighed. "Yes, I thank you Jackson. I assume you and your 'covert' group of secret agents is watching intensely."

"Yup, I sure as hell am. Don't want you starting no goddamn war with another people or some shit." Jackson Black stood as he spoke. Several of the people around him snickered. He glared at them, and they stopped. "It's not funny. We sure as hell don't need to be starting anything with no other realities. These powered people that are popping up hither and yon are damned well worrying enough.  Definitely do not need any of this shit too."

"I assure you, I have first contact protocols for just such an occasion. I will not be starting 'shit' with another people." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is an exploratory mission. We have stealth gear, and my computer systems are capable are taking the information wirelessly, provided that they have the capabilities for such a thing."

Jackson smirked. "Don't fuck up." He spun on his heel and strode from the auditorium, several people standing and following suit. Reader clenched a fist, his knuckles white.

*********

The HelixONE ripped through the cosmos heading for the Tear in space time that Reader had taken to referring to as the Kaleidoscopic Cascade, named for its blackhole-like qualities, but more for what appeared to be images fractured all along its event horizon. These images when ran through a super computer appeared to be other worlds, different variations of this world.

Bob spoke up from behind him. "Hey boss, we have unexpected company." Reader turned and looked at him incredulously.

"We're in hyper space, nitwit. How do we have company?"

"I dunno, but there's some kind of alien watching us, from over there." He shrugged his head towards the aft of the compartment. "One of those monitoring whatsits pinged him a few minutes ago and then stopped. I had to use dem goggles you crafted to find the...substructure of the...cascade, the things you use to spot the invisible cracks in time/space." He held out another pair. Reader grabbed them out of his hand and put them on.

"So help me, if you are wasting my time on this." He turned his head and sure enough a tall humanoid figure was standing, a glowing stone in his hands, cupped together before him, as if in prayer. "Well, there you go. Get yourself a cookie and leave me alone." Robert turned and yanked the goggles from his head and slammed them on a counter as he stormed out of the room.

"You are aware of me, are you not, Mr. Reader?" It stated.

"Yes." He answered simply, pulling a ray gun from a holster on his side.

"You cannot harm me."

"Oh really?" He aimed and pulled the trigger. A bright purple energy lanced and struck the alien full in the chest. Greenish lightning danced around his form as he was wracked with pain. Reader ripped the goggles off his face, and tossed them next to Garvey.

"What have you done?" It asked, gasping for breath, its body convulsing as the electricity wore down.

"Pulled you into our Space/Time. I hate those goggles and didn't bring my corrective lenses, so this was easier. You are now in my phase-space, so we can talk. So first things first, who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

It stared back at him impassively. "I am called the Squire; I am of an alien species called the Cataloguers. We watch and record the events of the universes. I am tasked with viewing what is about to occur."

"What is about to occur that is so monumental that it needs to be observed?" Reader asked.

"The first contact and a new people are born this day."

"What?" Suddenly the alarms, proximity and the danger klaxons erupted, and the HelixONE began to violently shake. "What the hell just happened?" Reader screamed and whipped back around, his hands flashing over keys as he tried to right the ship. The voice that replied was in his ear.

"Just because you could not see the images did not mean that they did not start light years from the epicenter of the 'Cascade'. You have already flown into it."

Reader grinned and whispered, "Spectacular..."

*********

"Sadie, Jordana, is everyone alright?" Reader asked through the comm unit he had devised and had built into each of their suits. Sparks shot from the console in front of him, and the ship groaned as it tried to hold itself together.

"This is Jordana. I don't think everything is okay, Richard. We slammed into something as we were crashing but it didn't feel like ground, it had too much give. I’m thinking a building or a... forest maybe. I was on the observation deck with Robert and the place is filled with gray stone. Some of the consoles around me appear to have been melted, or are melting."

"Have you seen Sadie?"

"No she was on the upper deck before impact." Jordana watched as the stone mass began to move.

Reader headed for the lift to the upper deck and stopped. He turned back to the main console and asked the computer a simple question. "How many life forms are on the ship?"

"FOUR."

"How many are human?"

"NONE."

"Fascinating..."

"Honey, I think something's wrong with us." Sadie spoke from behind him, his shadow cast on the console, and he turned to see her glowing. She looked beautiful, her skin alight.

"I think something has gone right." Reader replied.


NEXT ON SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ARCHAEOLOGY 103: Part 1

Astronomy 102 - Part 4

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I'm the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I'm out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ASTRONOMY 102: Part 4 "A New Hope."

"They call themselves the Branded." Walters voice came through the comm unit. "I’ve been researching them for awhile now. I thought they might be some kind of gang, but it seems they are all victims of one of the Scions attacks... those who lived. The effect of the God Seed leaves them tainted, or branded as it were."

"This helps me how? There's got to be more than a hundred here, and they're all looking right at me. I won't fight civilians."

"I don't think you will have to. They are gathering, drawn to that location by the Scion's arrival."

"So they are the bullseye on the landing zone?! Great." She turned back to the crowd. "YOU PEOPLE NEED TO MOVE BACK!!! THIS THING IS COMING IN HOT!!!"

The crowd as one, looked skyward, and watched the flame streak across the sky and get closer.

"PLEASE! YOU ARE ALL IN DANGER!!!"

"He comes for us." One of them called out, his arms in the air, beckoning. "He comes for us ALL!!!!" he screamed. The light grew closer and closer, and brighter and brighter. The city around Black Sapphire was a light, as if it was high noon.

"The object is slowing down. I have three angles of it now. Hacked one of the Ruthless satellites. It appears to be a ship." Walters spoke. "Small one, two man craft at the most, armored and built for speed. No FTL that I can discern."

"Faster-than -light? I thought light speed and hyperspace were outdated. So what's the play here? The Scions all fly on their own power. None of them need a ship, but your scans read "Scion.' So..."

"I don't know. Could be a trap."

"You always say that." She could feel the heat from the engines now. The light dimmed, and it came in for a slow landing. The ship itself was ugly. Squat and in need of a serious overhaul. She could see the patches from the ground. If she didn't know better it was vaguely like a bull's head in shape.

The engines sputtered and shut off and it dropped to the pavement, slamming into the ground and grinding the asphalt to dust. She watched as the crowd of Branded in unison took three large steps back and dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.

The 'mouth' of the craft opened and being walked out, standing around three and a half feet tall. Its space suit also looked like a bull, or a Minotaur. He strode forward purposely and stopped in front of her. He looked up at her, the faceplate black on the helmet.

"Um, welcome to Earth?" She stammered. The little being cocked its head to the side and slapped a hand on an orange button on the front of the suit, and it seemed to fold into itself and retract behind him. Before her stood what she would call a myth, a minotaur, only very tiny. He cleared his throat.

"Oy!! Prisoner transfer. I bring one Scion back to his place of origin and do hereby relinquish custody to you." His accent was vaguely British. "You 'ave the proper paperwork or wut?"

"Huh? Prisoner transfer? You...captured a Scion? How? What?" She was flabbergasted, and having a hard time coping with what was happening.

"I don't have the bleedin' time for this frail. I have one Scion, you are at the LZ for the pickup. You're a woman, so I assume you're Director Calm of the Column?"

"What? No way, she's crazy, and it's Chalm." She waved her hands as she spoke.

"Whatever." He pulled out a remote and hit a bunch of keys on it and the ship began to make noise, metal on metal, and another hatch began to move.

"So how did you manage to bring this one in?" She inquired.

"Easy. I am one of the universe's greatest bounty hunters. Plus I have this!" He slapped a hand to the armor covering his chest, the colors rapidly shifted through the spectrum and settled back down to a dull green. "It's prismatic, you see. These energy-types are easy with this thing on. I just have to make sure I don't get hit with the right thing at the wrong time, or it gets a bit dicey."

"Huh. You got a name by the way. Feels like I should have asked that forever ago."

He nodded, "Hr'lune, Bounty Hunter and agent of the Academy."

"The Academy?" She asked.

"The Xenobiological Institute for the Discovery and Archival of Foreign Species. They are basically a bunch of space scholars, run around the worlds and spy on everything and study it, and take samples. They employ a diverse range of species to acquire things for them." He shrugged his head back, one of his horns pointing towards the hatch that had almost finished its cycle. "Sort of like this one. They got their readings, took some blood and whatnot and turned him over to me to release back into the wild. But it turns out that there's a bounty on the Scions, all of them, and it’s a biggun'" He grinned a mouthful of yellow and black teeth.

"Who on Earth would have placed a bounty on the Scions?"

"Bloke named Spectacular." She sighed and face palmed.

"That jackass."

"Quiet, there's a chance he's listening in on Comms." Walters said. She sighed again.

"Anyways...I'm not from the Column, and I can't pay your bounty, I was here to prevent a Scion from destroying the city. I didn't expect you at all." The arm holding the prisoner swiveled into place and rested the restrained prisoner on the soil. Sapphire gasped, and took a step back. Her eyes wide behind her mask.

"What? I agree he's not the prettiest of the lot, but he's no danger right now, as long as we get him into a secure facility." He poked a stubby finger into the meat of the man’s thigh.

"No, you don't understand. That's my father."

To be continued!

Next up: Stand Alone 2

Astronomy 102 - Part 3

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I'm the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I'm out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

"Once upon a time I was one of the Cataloguers, and I failed my order after failing my blood brother. I am now Nameless, but I still possess knowledge. The following are excerpts of a conversation that I witnessed firsthand. These are only excerpts because their talk took hours." He sighed. "Spectacular doesn't know how to shut up..."

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ASTRONOMY 102: Part 3

"No One Can Hear You Scream."

********

THE ARRIVAL

Spectacular maneuvered his craft through the depths and ignited the forward thrusters to come to a stop before the gigantic entity before him. He exited from a hatch in the side of the ship and space-walked towards the being. His suit pinged and blipped as it ate the raw data streaming from the being, data he would spend decades pouring over and never coming close to understanding the being's true nature or origins.

"WHAT INSECT DARES COME BEFORE ME? A MEAGER HUMAN?" The Entity spoke and its voice carried, even in the vacuum of space.

"Ha Hah! You confuse me with other humans! I am one of the, if not THE smartest people on the  face of the Planet Earth. You may refer to me as Spectacular, the world's smartest and most dashing man. What may I call you?" His helmet glowed as it projected his voice to the being.

"My true name is unpronounceable in your language, but the Universe has taken to calling me The Entity." His voice narrowed and seemed to be carried right to his ears now.

"Is that so? Doesn't seem too foreboding enough of a name to me, with your destructive purpose and all."

"My purpose is not inherently destructive; the end goal tends to lead to destruction; destruction caused by my Scions. I feed upon Chaos and destruction is a seed sown by them."

"Your Scions?"

"I imbue some with genetic superiority... vessels that are able to contain my God Seed... pieces of my essence... to be my children. I send my Scions forth to find worlds to sow the seeds of Chaos so that I may harvest and feed upon it."

ON THE ORIGIN OF A SPECIES

"Those who came before decided that if they were to be the deities of this new universe that they had forged on the bones of the one before, they must purge themselves of the traits that might affect their judgment. So my brothers and sisters and I were born. Each of us an embodiment of an attribute they found to be cumbersome."

"Eons passed and eventually some of us began to war with one another. This was a dark time for us. By the time everything was said and done, there were only a few of us left. The remains of my brothers and sisters evolved in the ether, and became what humanity has come to call the Star Forces."

"The Star Forces are the remains of dead Gods? Fascinating." Spectacular was genuinely surprised and astounded.

"They who were slain were scattered apart, some of their essence evolved into the Star Force and the rest of their life force became the stars that burn in the heavens."

THE NATURE OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE CASCADE

"Every universe out there is but an echo of one or more of the Prime Universes." The Entity seemed to ponder this as it spoke.

"Throughout the years I've traveled to several alternate dimensions, and I have met other versions of myself. On one he was Fantastic, another was Amazing, and the last was Incredible," Spectacular reminisced to himself.

"How did you achieve this?"

"I traveled through the Kaleidoscope Cascade... a hole punched through all realities."

"The Cascade is all that remains of the first of us."

"The first of you?"

It nodded. "Those Who Came Before crafted the first being of their new universe. It was so powerful and insane that it committed suicide with just a thought. Its death ripped a hole through Reality, and created the Cascade."

"Why didn't they seal it?"

"This I do not know, it is beyond me. I do not think the Cascade can ever be sealed."

"There are days when I wish it could be. We've been having incursions from parallel realities, growing in frequency. I fear that we may soon be at war with another universe."

********

Soon...

Sapphire screamed against the howling vortex, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS, PANDEMONIUM!!"

She looked back at Black Sapphire with a sadness that had never before crossed her perfect features. "If I do not, then they will win. We cannot allow this to transpire. We have already lost so much."

"But...why does it have to be you?" Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"Because of what I represent. When I am gone, the world will be a better place." She turned away and leapt across the void, the Cascade shuddered and snapped back in on itself and ripped and tore at the Universe. The Armada was lost, and the Cascade was gone.

"She saved the universe..."

To be continued in Astronomy 102: Part 4

********

Spectacular finished the last adjustments on a device, harvesting the technology from a dying hybrid of another world. "Okay, let's try this again.  Tell me your name, Entity." He flipped the switch and the machine powered on.

“KEODUHFOIFWPOIDJPIFJDPFNPNSXPWNOIDUHATYGCBJEBOFUDHFWDOFBPOWFCBUDHIFWHPVCNCIWPNPIHWPDYFHPFWPIFJHPFIH

NFWPIFHFPWIJPF," The Entity finished, and stared expectantly at him, waiting for the results.

The device pinged, finally translating the word. "Ted."

Astronomy 102 - Part 2

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I'm the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I'm out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ASTRONOMY 102: Part 2  "Where No Man has Gone Before."

"Any clue which one of these things is coming?" She asked Walter's, looking up from the database.

"Has to be one of his Scions. Size doesn't indicate the Entity itself."

"That narrows it down...not at all..."

***********

A'gon appeared alone in the skies above Neutron City, home of superheroes The Family and more importantly, Mr. Spectacular, Earth's mightiest hero... well, smartest at least. He drifted through the mid afternoon clouds, causing them to open and allowing the sun to break through for a moment. He surveyed the city below, twisting his grip on his axe and clenching his jaw beneath the face plate of the featureless helm that he had been cursed to wear.

He was physically the strongest of all the Scions, and his muscled frame showed it, his skin glowed slightly from the power in his veins; power gained from the God Seed buried deep within his soul. He continued to drift downwards until he was level with the 100th story of several buildings around him.

It took him several minutes to notice the human floating on a short platform in front of him. One of this planet's heroes? he thought to himself.

"I think you'll be leaving now. You are outmatched.," The man named Spectacular called out to him.

"Puny human, you cannot possibly conceive what I am capable of." A'gon flicked his axe and the wake carried across the chasm created by the skyscrapers of Neutron City. It collided with a radio tower positioned on top of one and sliced cleanly through, the metal heated to a point that it glowed red hot.  The tower dropped back into place, welded neatly. "We are precise in our methods, and you will not stop what our master has ordered of us."

He smirked. "Oh really? Give me a moment." Spectacular flicked a toggle on his wrist. He flickered for a second. "There we go. You are a Scion of The Entity. You have come to Earth to sow the seeds of Chaos to feed your master."

If A'gon had facial expressions, he would have been surprised. "How?"

"Oh, it's sad really, I just went and had a talk with 'God' and tried to stop you in Tunguska."

"What?" A'gon was taken aback.

"You see, I traveled to Tunguska to attempt to prevent you from destroying it, and then I built a ship outfitted for deep space travel and found your master near Saturn, watching the Chaos on fourteen of the moons. I was actually surprised that some of them had life that was more advanced than anything I could have predicted."

"But... I...?" A'gon growled low. "Enough of this madness!" he roared.

"What madness? I. AM. SMARTER. THAN. YOU. The second you came to Earth and I found out about you, I was better than you. You 'Scions' are a predictable sort, you come here and perform your task and then leave us. That was easy. Coming up with a way to defeat you... now that was tricky. You come from Saturn, you killed your entire family and are having an affair with your fellow Scion Spin'dell."

A'gon's grip tightened on the ax handle and he took a step forward, his massive frame shuddered with anger.

Spectacular pulled out a pistol and pointed it at A'gon's chest. "Ah ah ah, I haven't finished gloating yet."

A'gon shifted his head from side to side, the neck and spine snapping like cord wood. "I will kill you, and your pathetic Family human. I will make them suffer for this affront."

"You won't actually. Your honor forbids it. I know everything there is to know about you. I know your true name. Here on Earth, true names have power. I wonder if that is the case for your people?"

"I...yes, it is true. Who I was before I was gifted with the God Seed is lost to me. Forbidden knowledge. I am Scion now, and that is all. This is the case for all of the Scion."

"Hmm, this is news to me. Congratulations! You have surprised me." Spectacular tucked the pistol back into the sheath at his side. "You and your master are more complicated than I thought. I will allow you safe passage from my city. Do not return, or I will end you."

A'gon snorted. "You heroes don't kill. That is your weakness."

"Who said I was a hero?"

To be continued in Astronomy 102: Part 3!

Astronomy 102 - Part 1

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I'm the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphirewhen Im out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ASTRONOMY 102: Part 1 "Space the Final Frontier"

Walters finished his swim in the Olympic-sized pool on the west side of the Avenging Cavern, deep beneath the city. He surfaced and pulled himself to the lip. "The universe is a vast and mysterious place," Walters spoke up from the pool.

"Um? Duh?" Sapphire said from the weight bench, located a dozen yards to the south of the pool.

"You don't understand do you? This is important." Walters said.

"Where is this coming from? Why are you even bringing this up?  We havent dealt with any cosmic stuff, like, ever," Mercedes responded.

"Early warning system that Spectacular and I left outside Jupiter pinged a few hours ago, then Mars a few minutes ago. Trajectory says New York City. Hit the books. You have a few hours before it breaches the atmosphere."

"Sigh..." Black Sapphire dropped the weights to the floor and strode north towards the cooled area that contained the computer archives.

*********

The two Scions floated in the void... the vast empty nothingness of space. A'gon and Spin'dell spoke quietly to one another.

"You know our true purpose Spin'dell. We come upon a world and sow the seeds of chaos so that our Master may feed on the destruction."

"Yesss A'gon, thisss I know all to well. The Entity and hisss Scionsss came upon my world ages before you were hatched. We must tarry no longer, for he grows impatient." A'gon nodded. They turned in unison and drifted towards the world.

"How do you want to do thisss?" Spin'dell's slender frame drifted to a stop, wisps of her carried off by solar winds.

"I don't have any way in particular in mind this time." A'gon shrugged. They turned and continued down towards the Earth.

<Previous Encounters>

1883 - The Volcano Krakatoa erupts killing thirty six thousand people. The loudest sound heard on the planet Earth. Triggered by Cyn'dre, the woman of Mercury, third of the Scions.

1348-1350 - The Black Death ravages Europe, killing as many as possible before time and distance halt its spread. Considered a failure by the Entity, as the panic and chaos caused by the plague was brief, and all too fatal in every instance. The plague was crafted by the creature from Pluto, Fre'on.

234- September 4, 476 - The Fall of the Roman Empire. The initial plan only led to a centuries-long decline. It was the greatest failure of the Scions. N'tre, the man from Saturn's attempt at Earth reclaiming its land from whom he considered the despoilers. This was his one and only failure, as the Entity took his Seed back.

79 - Pompeii, the precursor to Krakatoa.  Brief and extreme. Complete and utter chaos incarnate. Perfect in its execution, and completely fatal. Saw a resurgence of Chaos in the 1700's when the destruction was finally discovered.

The First Encounter, billions of years ago - An asteroid, the Planet-Killer, arrives from deep space. The First's ultimate solution; his only flaw was that the dominate species at the time, the dinosaurs, were not intelligent enough to cause enough panic and chaos to feed the Entity. What could have been a feast was merely a snack. This would be a plan the First would use multiple times across the millennia, until his demise at the hands of the Third.

Now...

June 30, 1908 - Tunguska, Russia

"These are just the ones that I have tried to confirm. Witnesses have been hard to come by, but some accounts of the later instances exist, in journals and diaries, and in one case oral tradition passed on through a tribe of Native Americans." He snapped the laser pointer down on the table.

"Why are you bringing this to my attention?" Asked the regional director of the Okrug.

"Well, because if I'm right, and I usually am, the next event will be today. Here, in Russia." He smiled.

"Who are you?" The director asked.

"Oh me? I'm Spectacular."

To be continued in Astronomy 102 - Part 2...