Stand Alone 9

Sapphire sighed. She had been doing that way too much these days. “That didn’t tell me anything. I have no context for that meeting.” 

Zoe spoke up at her side. “Perhaps you asked the wrong question?” 

Sapphire shot her a dirty look. “I am being given free reign over The Knowledge, and when I was with the Archivist I was given specific ‘visions’, and those led me to other specific trains of thought. So now I see a catalyst moment in time without context, and I’m supposed to try and gain some kind of epiphany from it?” She frowned at Zoe and then threw herself to the ground and sat crossed legged. 

“I have no idea what to ask next." She thought for a while, and at last something emerged from the edge of her memory. "…Everyone has a boss...”

Stand Alone 9 - Authoritative Action

“Everyone has a boss.” He spoke to his minions beneath him.

“Even you, sire?” One of them asked.

Nearby, Darion leaned forward to regard the minion with wonder. They hadn’t been designed to question, and this was an enormous oddity. 

He smiled at it. “Everyone, even one such as I, has someone that they must answer to. But I am very near the top of our chain of command, and that is something that I have worked very hard to achieve.”

His lieutenants, Darion and Kristoff, walked over to his side. “I am their boss, and you answer to them. Someday you might gain enough status to have your own henchmen to command and so on and so forth.”

The minion smiled, “I hope so, sire! I truly hope so.” He beamed at the masters and their lord. 

Kristoff leaned forward and held out a palm, and the orbs within incinerated the small being. “The cattle shouldn’t speak or think for themselves.” Darion snickered as he flickered in and out of phase-space. 

“I am sorry, my lord, if I acted out of place.” Kristoff bowed.

“Do not be hasty, Kristoff. You eliminated a potential threat to your command... but I do feel that it might prove interesting to watch over.” He snapped his fingers and the total obliteration of the minion was reversed, and the being began screaming as soon as it was whole again. Kristoff shot his lord a look, who merely shrugged. 

He stepped forward and laid a hand on its head and it quieted down. “Little one, you have proven to be a curiosity, and so I have decided to give you a chance at life... a chance to survive against all odds.” The being smiled at its lord.

“Thank you, sire. I will try my best.”

The lord smiled at it and snapped his fingers again and the being vanished. Kristoff cocked an eyebrow. “You will keep an eye on it for me, Kristoff. Do not interfere with it at all, or you will be punished severely.” Kristoff frowned. “Keep me informed on Project Genesis.”

TBC in Religion 108

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