Aberrant: In the Beginning - Richard Stevenson

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Titan

Wow... you look pretty young. And that's your daughter? You must have gotten started early... although...

Rich sent absently, *Sam is 19, I'm 45. Part of the Healing package. Used to look my age and had a nasty facial scar, crippled hand too. I'll tell you about it sometime.*

Quote:

Originally Posted By: Courier

He clenched then relaxed his left hand and restrained himself. Just a little longer.

You look... incredibly familiar, somehow...

Without thinking Rich sent, *Yeah. I get that a lot nowdays.*

Quote:

Originally Posted By: Courier

He waited for everyone to get in position, took a deep breath, and reached out...

Oh. My. God. It's YOU!

*???*

Quote:

Rich has only been listening to her with half his mind, focused on what he must do. Suddenly, his healing power seems to twist in his hand, and he feels Radiation beginning to boil out of his pores. Dangerous, deadly radiation.

How could I have trusted you? YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!

Rich immediately moved his hands to his own chest and stepped back, trying HARD to redirect all radiation into himself and fighting to stay in control of his powers. Angry and frustrated, Rich sent,

*What do you think you're DOING!?! What did I do?*

(Drop a willpower point on this if it's a contest).

[Titan]

Panting, Rich reaches out for every scrap of radiation, pulling it back, damping it down. Bob looks at him, questioningly. He can tell something is wrong.

It was you! In the street, I told you! The man who sucked my life away! That was you! I remember that clearly, if nothing else before. You are the one who did this. Why? Why have you done this to me? I trusted you! And you are the one who trapped me here. I am a fool!

Rich is containing it, but it is a close thing. He hasn't shut it down, but he's at least absorbing it as fast as she is putting it out. A trickle of sweat traces its way down his forehead, catching in his right eyebrow. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sam, hands clasped beneath her chin, looking down at Emily. Hope shines from her face. She has no idea how close she is to death. How close they all are.

[Courier]

Rich stared down at Emily and sent back with a quickly growing rage,

*So now you're going to murder my family, right? And the dozens of doctors watching here. Then what? You going to butcher the thousands of people outside too? See? Now I remember you too you LUNATIC!*

*For weeks I thought you were a hallucination, but no, you were REAL! Female Novus. Blessed with wonderful powers. Survived re-entry and right out of the box your FIRST ACTION WAS MASS MURDER!?!*

*You FATALLY contaminated me, 241 others, then WHILE you were MELTING some guy's face off I went Novus! You've got NO beef with me, even then all I did was help everyone. I healed, I tried to turn you to lead, and I...*

The other shoe dropped and Rich finally realized what had been going on and why. He continued in a somewhat calmer tone,

*And I absorbed all the radiation. But you weren't made of Plutonium, you were Radiant Energy.*

*Wow. I'm sorry. This wasn't...*

The knowledge that she had a point tore at Rich for a moment and he felt his concentration waver. But stopping Carol or whoever she was from committing mass murder on his family was a lot more important than his own moral purity. Victim or Victimizer, Rich again bore down.

(Drop another willpower point).

[Titan]

His control on the radiation power stretched tight, pulled thin, then snapped back into place. She retreated 'back' from his consciousness, once again reduced to a sobbing wreck.

Sam was looking at him now, her face concerned. Rich shook his head. He was back in control, and he was going to do what he came here to do. Even if most of the joy in it had been sucked out, he wasn't leaving without seeing if he could put Emily to rights.

He reached out his hand, ignoring a slight quiver. He could feel her, in his mind. Emily, that is. With a mental shrug, he concentrated on forgetting who else was in there with him. Emily. He could feel her muscles, twisted and atrophied from her long convalescence. He poured his power into them, first. When she woke, she would be perfect, he thought. The watching physicians gasped, as did Bob and Sam, to see her straighten there on the bed. Her body filled out to a normal muscle tone, if still thin and probably weak. He looked for anything else that needed doing, but she seemed perfectly healthy.

He turned his attention to her mind. Channeling the quantum energy stored up in his cells, he forced her mind to forge connections long severed. He did it all at once, telling her mind to fix itself, and checking that it did. He closed his eyes from the effort, and to hide his fear that he would be disappointed.

Then he heard Sam's shout.

"Emily!"

His eyes flashed open. There she was. Her eyes were open, and she was looking around. She locked onto Bob, who was grinning ear to ear. She smiled. She smiled. As the power became a trickle, then stopped flowing altogether, Rich felt a tickle in the back of his throat. His eyes stung. Emily swung her gaze around, past him, and rested on Sam briefly. Her brow wrinkled in puzzlement. She pushed herself to one elbow.

Something like sixty doctors stopped themselves from lunging forward. Hell, Rich almost tried to stop her, and he knew how complete his healing could be.

"Sam?" Her voice, much clearer than he had dared to hope. She sounded as though she had been asleep for hours, rather than years. "Sam... is that...?"

Sam turned to Rich, her eyes shining. "You did it, Daddy! I can't believe it!" She turned to Emily, swept her up into a fierce embrace. Over her shoulder, Emily stared at Rich, her eyes stunned.

"Daddy? What- But, you're so... Daddy?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Titan

His control on the radiation power stretched tight, pulled thin, then snapped back into place. She retreated 'back' from his consciousness, once again reduced to a sobbing wreck.

Rich thought, *That could have gone better...* he glanced at Emily and Sam and reconsidered, *...or much, much worse.*

Quote:

Sam was looking at him now, her face concerned. Rich shook his head. He was back in control, and he was going to do what he came here to do. Even if most of the joy in it had been sucked out, he wasn't leaving without seeing if he could put Emily to rights.

*So, I'm a cannibal... Worry about it later.*

Quote:

He turned his attention to her mind. Channeling the quantum energy stored up in his cells, he forced her mind to forge connections long severed. He did it all at once, telling her mind to fix itself, and checking that it did. He closed his eyes from the effort, and to hide his fear that he would be disappointed.

Rich muttered, "Hard. That was hard."

Quote:

Sam turned to Rich, her eyes shining. "You did it, Daddy! I can't believe it!" She turned to Emily, swept her up into a fierce embrace. Over her shoulder, Emily stared at Rich, her eyes stunned.

"Daddy? What- But, you're so... Daddy?"

Several weights Rich had been carrying left him. Tears started to fall from his eyes and Rich had to reach over and grip the bed before he fell over. He sat down next to Emily's feet facing her.

Survivor's Guilt. Shame. Deserved or not he'd been the only one who'd walked away from the accident and Em had been a constant reminder of his failures. He'd been behind the wheel, if he'd driven a little faster or slower they wouldn't have been there.

Rich croaked, "Em..." and paused and tried again, "Em... I'm your Daddy. I'm..." *I'm a Novus. I'm a Healer. I'm a manipulator of radiation. I'm like Jesus*

"..um... There's been some medical advances recently. It made me look younger, and it woke you up. You've been asleep for years."

Rich paused, both because he couldn't go on and because he wanted to see whether she'd accept this. He also dreaded her next question and he steeled himself to answer it anyway.

[Titan]

Emily pulled out of Samantha's arms. Her eyes grew even wider.

"Asleep for years? How many years?" She looks down at her body, taking in her young woman's curves.

"I don't understand..." She looks up at Rich, then Samantha and Bob. She turns, and scans the group of doctors and nurses watching. She turns back to Rich, her face a mask of fear.

"Mommy? Where's Mommy?" She looks around again, "Where's Bobby? Why aren't they here?"

[Courier]

Rich reviewed what happened for the millionth time and the pain still fresh like new.

*I was driving, Alice was riding shotgun, you kids were in the back. The other driver crossed the center line and hit us head on. He was drunk. I don’t remember what the police said his blood alcohol was but it was a lot. Our air bags deployed, mine broke my nose and crippled my hand by throwing it through the driver’s side window. We were wearing seat-belts. Everyone survived the initial impact.*

*But he was driving a monster big car and we weren’t. We spun; the world was a horizontal blur. We ended up in the oncoming traffic where we got hit again. Another car ran into the passenger’s side. Alice was right under the impact; she died right then and there. Behind her Bob lived, but only long enough for me to turn off his life support two days later. Several people got his organs; I didn’t bother to learn the details. On the other side of the car you and I were thrown sideways. Glass from the window scarred my face. You bumped your head and damaged your brain. The guy who started it wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and did a head first into his windshield and ended up in a coma too.*

*I woke up a day later looking the worst of the four of us, but all my injuries were on the outside. Sam was there, Bob was with you and Bobby. Alice was already gone but even dead she was beautiful. The Docs already knew about Alice and Bobby. I signed the paperwork on him and said goodbye. Then we waited for you to wake up... and you never did. We waited, and we waited, and now it's six years later and I have to explain it to you.*

Rich took a deep breath and tried to start,

“Em… there was a car accident. You and me and Bobby and Alice all got hurt real bad. You bumped your head and couldn’t wake up. It's been 6 years now. Bobby and your mother… they…” Rich choked and continued, “They died honey.”

[Titan]

The next hour and a half of Rich's life was one of the most intensely personal times of his life. Suffice it to say, there were tears on all sides. Emily flatly refused to stay another second in the hospital, and Rich was not afraid to pull strings.

The woman inside was silent. It was an ominous silence, and Rich knew there would be a reckoning eventually.

He, Bob, Samantha,and Emily left together. It was bittersweet, but it was something that Rich had hoped and prayed for for six long hard years. They fought their way past the crowd, who although they were leery of touching Rich, had no problem touching Emily. She reacted badly, not realizing that she was herself known nationally since that morning. Eventually, they made it out to Bob's car. Bob drove them to Rich's house. They rode in silence.

[Courier]

All of them were emotionally wrung out and over stimulated, and Rich was glad Bob had driven. Rich considered his next few moves as they drove.

*13 year old just starting 2nd grade? That spells Tutor. Maybe in four years she can pick up 10 years worth of teaching. Ouch. Make that expensive Tutors. Of course she is my daughter, if whatever happened to me is in my, and thus her blood, maybe she'll go novus and fix that.*

*And maybe I'll get the power to bring Alice back from the dead while we're at it. The problem with relying on miracles is God doesn't follow through.*

*All this fame is going to have some down sides... money could shield us somewhat but not 250 grand. I've got more fans than Gates without his money. That's going to have to change or this goose laying the golden eggs will get cut open by people searching for them.*

At Bob's place Rich turned on CNN so they could see if they ended up on the news. The Rich asked Sam to watch Emily for a bit and let him talk some things over with Bob. Rich said,

"Bob, you're a rock, and as crazy as things have gotten lately, I need to bounce some things off you. In London I worked out two good moves for what to do, then yesterday I talked with President Clinton and he added a third."

"Firstly, in England a crew of Doctors convinced me the cure for cancer and a hundred other plagues can probably be reverse engineered from what I do. That's something that needs to be done."

"Secondly, the press has kind of missed this, but I can destroy atomic waste. I think the Nuclear Power Industry would pay a lot, like tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars to make that happen. There'd be lots of details to work out there, but I could call my boss Dave and arrange a demo and then set up a company to do this like once a week or something. That's important because with this level of fame I'm going to need serious money to shield the family from the insanity that comes from it. Emily is going to need private tutors, body guards, that sort of thing."

"Better still, going public with these things would go a long way to settle the world. Novus can do a lot of good in the world, and get paid a ton of money while doing so. That's the way the free market works."

"Then I saw Clinton. Nice guy by the way, very... Presidential. Bob, he's got nothing to stop me from going in there and just killing him. I could probably even get away afterwards too. It doesn't bother me that I could do this, but it bothers me a lot that others could."

"I think he figured it out. He asked me to set up a Novus branch of the Secret Service. We'd probably need a Presidential Directive and maybe a special name... I figure Bill will give us one went he makes the Directive. If I don't do this, one of these days, maybe someday soon, we're going to hear on the news that a novus killed the President. I think without law enforcement we're going to have idiot novas running around wild."

"This is overwelming... I guess I'd like to hear your view on... this."

[Titan]

Sure enough, their exit from the hospital was on at the top of the hour. Rich and Bob watched for a minute before withdrawing.

Bob listened to Rich's recital of events gravely.

"Ok, I'll take these in the order that you presented them. First, if you don't try to work out cures for those diseases that can be worked out, not only will your conscience bug you, I personally will never speak to you again." He grinned. "But you say you're going to do it, so that's great. On your second point, I think you are right about the money. And it's not just Emily. Sam is going to be under intense scrutiny from the press, and her peers. She's gonna need bodyguards, Rich, much as I hate to say it. But, as an added bonus, less nuclear waste in the world. I'd almost say, 'do it for free', but grab whatever you can for your family."

Bob pauses for a moment, thinking. Then he raises his head, and looks Rich in the eye.

"Ok, you know how I feel about Slick Willie. I never was a fan. And, the whole cheating on his wife with a twenty two year old intern disgusts me. The man is a liar, and a cheat." He sighs. "That said, he is the President. My question is, 'Why you?'. He has to have representatives in London, why do you have to-"

A scream from the other room sends both men running. They reach the living room in time to see Samantha running down the hall to the bathroom. Another shriek splits the air. Sam practically breaks down the door before getting it open. The men look at each other, fearing what, they don't know.

From the open door of the bathroom they hear Emily.

"Bleeding, I'm bleeding, Sam! OH, I'm BLEEDING!"

"It's ok, honey, you're ok, Emily, I promise it's ok. Shhhhh. It's ok, it's normal, just sit there, and I'm gonna shut the door, ok. "

"Are you sure, Sam? I don't want to die!" Emily, on the verge of hysteria, is sobbing with fear.

"I swear to God, Em, it's ok. I'm just gonna shut the door, okay?"

Samantha sticks her head out of the bathroom. Her eyes seem haunted, fear still leaving its mark on her face.

"I'll handle it, Dad. She's fine, she's just... well, you know."

She shut the door to the bathroom.

Bob slowly lowered himself to the couch. His face was pale, and he too seemed haggard.

"It's going to be a long road, Richard."

[Courier]

Quote:

Bob slowly lowered himself to the couch. His face was pale, and he too seemed haggard.

"It's going to be a long road, Richard."

Rich nodded and commented, "Don't blame me about Bill, I voted for the other guy... twice". Rich walked over and got the TV's remote control, making sure to 'accidently' touch Bob in passing. (If Bob's paleness was a symptom of something other than worry Rich will attempt to clean it up). Rich turned up the news and the two men watched for a bit.

Quote:

CNN is still showing Pax and Ray's confrontation in Cairo...

Rich commented during the news,

"Both of them were with me in London. Pax's skin condition is my doing, sort of. He had all his skin burned off and his powers fought with mine in healing it back. He changed his name right after that to 'Pax'; you have to wonder who'd give their kid the name 'Shelby'. Despite Rich's light words the news was grim and it darkened both men's faces.

Quote:

In other news, the fires in Edinburgh have finally been brought under control, another Novus disaster for the world to worry about. The tornadoes in Birmingham, Alabama leave 32 dead in their wake. Meteorologists say again and again that this was a natural storm, the result of a freak pressure inequality, yet pundits blame the Novus, on no evidence.

Rich turned off the news as the pundits started to blame Novus. He turned to Bob and said,

"Well, it's started. Every time a cow gives sour milk it will because a Novus did it. But think how much worse it'd be if we also had a Novus Presidential assassination. Bob..." Rich chose his words carefully, "...that's not..." Rich started to say the word 'hypothetical' and changed his mind, "Bill choose me because... um... let's just say there's a reason he thinks I'd be good at it and he could trust me."

Rich struggled to continue, "If this is going to work we need law enforcement and the President needs better security. Novus as a whole needs better PR and someone needs to explain to those knuckleheads that working inside the system leads to fortune and fame while robbing jewel stores leads to the death penalty. Unlike in comics the general public isn't going to tolerate super-villains."

Rich sighed and said, "OK, enough ranting. First things first, and the first thing is this family needs money. I'll give Dave a call and set up a meeting in an hour or two... after that I'd like to use the internet."

Rich attempts to call Dave (failing that in an hour or two he intends to walk down the street a bit then fly over to his place of work anyway), and in the mean time he types in "Galatea flight crew" into a search engine and sees what he can find out about his mystery woman.

[Titan]

Rich dials the phone, then as it rings, types in 'GALATEA+FLIGHT+CREW' into the Yahoo! search engine. He waits, while his dial-up connection loads the page.

"U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this is Dr. Brown's office, may I help you?"

The page has finally loaded, and Rich scrolls until he finds a suitable site. He clicks on "Names of the Galatea dead: We honor those..." and waits.

"Hi, Natalie, it's Richard Stevenson, may I speak to Dave?"

"OH! My gosh, Rich! I saw you on the news this morning! How's Emily? Is it true that you healed her with your Nova power?"

Rich chatted with Natalie amiably. She was a nice lady, genuinely concerned. Although it was starting to wear on him just how much everyone seemed to know about his life, there was no reason to brush off a friend. While they talked, the list came up.

Commander Justin Gregoli

Commander Franco Jameson

Lt. Commander Jai Kurasawa

Lt. Commander Cheryl Wilson

Major Ronald Wheaton

Major Susan Znamorowski

Captain Dean Cooledge

Lieutenant Elizabeth Nibblett

Lieutenant Herman Rogers

"...and so all we can do is wait and see."

"Well, I sure am happy for you, Rich. I'm praying for your family."

"Thanks, Nat. I appreciate it."

"Let me put you through to Dave. Bye, Rich."

"Bye, Nat."

Bob stuck his head in Rich's office. Rich waved him in.

"The girls are playing 'Crazy Eights'. Emily is fine, but keep your ear out, I'm going to run get us some lunch. Your cupboard is bare, brother. Be right back"

Rich nods, and Dave picks up the phone. His tone is subdued.

"Hi Rich, welcome home. I saw you on the news this morning. I hope Emily is okay. They caught the guy who killed Stephanie, did you hear?"

[Courier]

Quote:

"OH! My gosh, Rich! I saw you on the news this morning! How's Emily? Is it true that you healed her with your Nova power?"

Rich chatted with Natalie amiably. She was a nice lady, genuinely concerned. Although it was starting to wear on him just how much everyone seemed to know about his life, there was no reason to brush off a friend.

As Rich chatted he was a bit relieved to know that there was good news about the Novus in the news... maybe the witch hunts could be put off. Then the list came up...

Originally Posted By: Titan

Commander Justin Gregoli
Commander Franco Jameson
Lt. Commander Jai Kurasawa
Lt. Commander Cheryl Wilson
Major Ronald Wheaton
Major Susan Znamorowski
Captain Dean Cooledge
Lieutenant Elizabeth Nibblett
Lieutenant Herman Rogers

Rich considered, *That's the list. No 'Carol' or 'Shirley' in there, but 'Cheryl' sounds pretty close. Are the pilots the highest ranking guys on space craft? I think they are, so even that matches and she's supposed to have some rank... although even Lieutenant's have some I guess.*

*So... Cheryl Wilson. Could be one of the others I suppose. Susan Something-unpronounceable. Znamorowski. Za-na-mo-row-ski? Elizabeth Nibblett. The others are probably guys, but I should see if they have a crew picture and check. No, let's try her picture first. NASA always releases close ups don't they? Maybe I'll get lucky and recognize her face. If not I can see which of the chicks were pilots.*

Rich copied and pasted all the names and ranks into Word and then hunted for a crew picture, or better yet, a close up of 'Cheryl Wilson'.

Quote:

Bob stuck his head in Rich's office. Rich waved him in.

"The girls are playing 'Crazy Eights'. Emily is fine, but keep your ear out, I'm going to run get us some lunch. Your cupboard is bare, brother. Be right back"

Rich nods, and Dave picks up the phone. His tone is subdued.

"Hi Rich, welcome home. I saw you on the news this morning. I hope Emily is okay. They caught the guy who killed Stephanie, did you hear?"

Rich responded,

"Emily is... as well as can be expected I guess. She's missed a lot of time. And No, I didn't hear. Tell me about it."

Rich decided, *He needs to talk about this and I need to hear it. I'll set up a meeting after he's done.*

[Titan]

Dave spoke almost monotonously, but with the intensity of a man retelling a story that repulses yet fascinates him.

"Yeah, they caught the guy. Originally, they thought that they had him in Ocean City. The detective that tracked down the bastard that was putting her- her body parts into dumpsters, she turned out to be a Novus, like you. She melted his face off, with her powers. I would give a great deal of money to shake her hand. Word is, she went to London soon after, so maybe you ran into her. Detective Sanders? Caryn Sanders?"

"Anyway, after searching the guy's room, the cops find detailed notes, which lead them not only to believe that this guy is just an accomplice, someone to dispose of the body, but they also find out who the real killer is. Philip Masterson, his name is. They go get him, this rapist and killer, and he surrenders meek as a mouse. They are holding him for trial in Maryland Correctional, in Baltimore. I hope they bury the sonofabitch."

When he finishes this recitation, he is panting a bit. Dave is not holding up well, but it is unclear just how he should be holding up, or what can be done for him.

Rich has easily found a headshot of the Astronaut Cheryl Wilson. The last he saw the woman that is inside him, she was glowing with a green energy, and her only 'hair' was a stream of fallout from the crown of her head. Comparing that to the picture on the screen, all Rich can think is... maybe.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Titan

Rich has easily found a headshot of the Astronaut Cheryl Wilson. The last he saw the woman that is inside him, she was glowing with a green energy, and her only 'hair' was a stream of fallout from the crown of her head. Comparing that to the picture on the screen, all Rich can think is... maybe.

*Hmm... maybe. Let's just try adjusting that.*

Rich took a sheet of paper, tore it in half and folded one just so. Then he held it on the monitor so the picture didn't have any hair.

*Closer... but we're not there yet.*

Rich turned the color adjustment nob until the woman on the screen was a sickly green, then put his pieces of paper back.

*Considering I only saw her one time, in a stressful situation where I was going Novus, more than two weeks ago... sure. *

*Well it wouldn't stand up in court, but let's run with it. If she was the pilot we'll assume it's true.*

Rich read what the site said about Cheryl then he went back to Yahoo and entered "Astronaut Cheryl Wilson Family and History".

Originally Posted By: Titan

Dave spoke almost monotonously, but with the intensity of a man retelling a story that repulses yet fascinates him...

Rich waited till Dave was done then said,

"I know Caryn. She's already picked out a novus name, Wraith as I recall. If she ever answers her phone mail I might... but that's a different story. I'm glad Philip Masterson is in jail. Given how they treat rapists, well, he'll have a very 'hard' time."

Rich considered, *Poor guy. I know how I felt when I found out that the idiot who did Em was in the same facility. Does Maryland even 'have' the death penalty? East Coast? Probably not. I suppose I could sneak in there and incinerate him. No way they could stop invisibility and flight. No, better yet, sneak in and poison him. Of course it'd be like 8 kinds of wrong. And I should NEVER mention to Dave it's an option.*

Rich considered... then decided he'll try to make his pitch over the phone. Rich said,

"Dave... I don't know if you've been watching what has been happening in my life recently. Natalie has been following the news, so you can ask her for details if you need to."

"OK, thing is, the Press has done their usual screwed up job in reporting what I can do. Yeah, I can heal people, including Emily. All of that's true, but I can do it only because I can undo radiation damage."

"Dave, my power, my *big* power, is undoing radiation, and not just for injuries. I permanently make radioactive material, like waste, non-radioactive. It mostly turns into lead. And Dave, this is an area of effect thing and the area isn't small. It's close to a 200 foot diameter sphere."

Rich pauses to let this sink in.

[Mr Fox]

"Rich, did I hear that right? 200, with two zeros? That could negate an entire reactor core that was melting down. Make it safe to enter the reactor core of a facility without protective gear even. Hell man, if we'd had you twelve years ago we could have prevented Chernobyl. Shit, with you around nuclear power just became the best viable energy choice again! I see a large increase in our operating budget in the near future." After a moment he wound down and then went silent.

Almost quietly he asked, "Rich, you aren't planning to leave us are you? I mean you will still be part of the team right?"

[Courier]

Rich said,

“The Russians still wouldn’t have admitted a problem until after a big body count. We could clean up the seriously nasty stuff they’ve got left at the site though. I can move the field around, it’s not centered on me, but Aeon didn’t measure the field down to the foot. It’s somewhere between 190 and 210 feet. Mostly they focused on exploring Healing… *well, that and teaching me now to not become a mass murderer.*

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Almost quietly he asked, "Rich, you aren't planning to leave us are you? I mean you will still be part of the team right?"

Rich replied,

“That’s a simple question with a complicated answer.”

“I really can cure cancer, and other stuff, the press got that part right. There’s a pack of scientists who want me to help them win a Noble Price in Medicine or six. There’re also thousands of people following me around trying to get help for their loved ones. Explaining to the parents of a five-year-old with cancer that the walking cure is busy with atomic power and doesn’t have time to help him isn’t going to play well to the public. We don’t need another black eye and this would be that.”

“Oh, and next week President Clinton is going to change my job description. So there’s going to be massive changes here.”

“Researching Healing doesn’t need to come first, but it does need the majority of my time. I think there’s a way to supply 90% of the benefits of having me around without much of a time commitment. My vision on how this would work is once a week I’d fly to a site, zap all the waste, and then leave.”

“Note we’re talking about moving from regulating nuclear power or its safety to permanent waste disposal. That’s providing a service and implies what we really should do is make a private company and have industry bid on what site they want done next. That’s the most efficient way to distribute scarce resources. You know and I know that the amount of money involved here is insane. Nuclear Waste is a negative asset worth Billions of dollars, maybe even hundreds of Billions over time.”

“Also, none of this changes that I’m not going to have time to run a company. Healing is this massive time sinkhole and that’s not going to change. So what I need is someone to be the CEO of a nuclear waste disposal company. He’d have to have lots of contacts with the nuclear power industry people, the regulators, and he’d have to have years of experience working in the industry and have a great understanding of nuclear safety issues and the like. He’d have to be someone I trust, preferably someone I’ve spent years working with. He’d also have to be willing to live with ‘only’ an extra zero or two dropped at the end of his salary, while I’d probably end up with more.”

“So what do you think? Know anyone like that?”

[Mr Fox]

There was silence on the line for a minute while that sunk in then Dave responded, "I might just know someone, but that someone doesn't have the business sense to run a company. I think you need two people. Much as I'd like to take all the credit, I just don't know the ends and outs of running a private company. Managing people and negotiating deals I can handle and I know all the regulations better than just about anyone alive, but I don't know enough about finance and budgeting. You know as well as I do that our budget gets handed to us every year by the feds and we make do divvying it up, but that's a whole different kettle of fish from planning a company and dealing with the IRS." Dave finally wound down and then added with a chuckle, "Oh, and make it 2 zeros, like I said I do know about negotiation."

[Courier]

Rich laughed and said,

"Two zeros sounds doable. I'm not worried about budgeting, our cash flow and profits are going to be insane. Like, Fortune 500 insane. Finance and corporate structure will be serious issues, mostly we're going to want to minimize taxes."

"Bad news all of this is just theory. Aeon didn't have large amounts of nuclear waste sitting around. I'm 99% sure this will work on the scale we need it, but trying to explain to some industry CEO why he should pay us 10 million dollars to use magic on his waste is a non-starter unless we're proven."

"I'm thinking Zion, or maybe Zion two. They haven't run in years, they're close by, they're just these massive money pits for someone. We stage a trial run, maybe even before setting the company up."

"You tell some industry heads what I'm up to and get permission. I'll invite the media, they're already following me around. Any failure would be mine alone, but so what? Even if I have an upper limit of a gram you'd still have your job and I'd still be the guy with the cure. But that's not the way to bet."

"When it works, and it will, the whole world gets to see nuclear power is a reality again."

"As for a finance guy... I guess we have to call around and see who'd be good for this kind of thing. Any lawyer meetings and the like are on my dime here. We already have start up capital, Aeon gave me a quarter million for what we did in London."

Rich sounded pretty confident of his abilities, 'failure' wasn't really an option.

[Mr Fox]

Dave sounded thoughtful, "Quarter million startup? That buys a lot right there. I think you are right about the media and trial run. We throw the dice and if we win we'll win big. No, no, I don't doubt you, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking this is all new and unproven. Tell you what, I'll get on the phone right now with those guys at Zion and we get this set up. Probably take a week to get all the clearances in place to bring in the media, less time if you are willing to grease some palms. Given those places haven't been running in years, it's gonna need some cleanup to make it presentable for the media. Or like I said we make a few gifts and get in sooner and the media gets a real show seeing what the place looks like without any primping. That would make for a better spin on the story I think. Up to you though."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

...Or like I said we make a few gifts and get in sooner...

Rich thought ironically, *Oh, I love Chicago* then said,

"Easy choice. We need to act and establish facts while we can. I'm not sure how legal this will be for me in a week what with what Bill's up to, but if there are problems we seriously want to be grand-fathered."

"This could get political very quickly. If and/or when it does we'll want industry pulling for us. They've got Billions on the table, they just don't realize it."

Rich pauses then says,

"So this is a forced move. You start making phone calls. I'll write checks as needed. Ideally we'll have the company created by next week."

[Mr Fox]

"Sure thing Rich. I know just the people to call, they stonewalled me a few times on inspections and I'm pretty sure it was because of money so maybe they'll do a 180 with money on our side when they realize this is about profit and not the condition of their facilities. Call you tomorrow afternoon with whatever we've got." With that Dave hung up the phone.

Life was peaceful and perfect for at least the night. Sam and Em were getting along like long lost sisters which in a way they were and were really bonding. Em was still having trouble adjusting though. After breakfast Em was taking her plate to the sink when she tripped over her own feet and took a nasty spill cutting her hand on the plate which of course shattered into a hundred pieces. It was barely a thought to heal such a small injury, but calming the distraught young teen was a different matter.

"I hate this!" Em wailed out amidst the tears that were streaming down her face. "I can't get used to my own body, I'm inches taller that I was yesterday. At least that's how it seems to me." On Em's other side Sam stroked her hair and mummered comforting words, leaving Rich to hold his daughter in his own unnaturally young strong arms.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

"Sure thing Rich. I know just the people to call, they stonewalled me a few times on inspections and I'm pretty sure it was because of money so maybe they'll do a 180 with money on our side when they realize this is about profit and not the condition of their facilities. Call you tomorrow afternoon with whatever we've got." With that Dave hung up the phone.

Rich nodded and spent 20 minutes more looking into the life of Cheryl Wilson. Then printed what he had and gave up for now. He briefly wrote a note to himself... Philip Masterson: Maryland Correctional, in Baltimore. Caryn Sanders connection. ... Must be a way to use this to recruit her. Then he started one file titled "Caryn Sanders" and another titled "Cheryl Wilson" and put the relevant information in each. He considered starting another file for the new company but decided to join his daughters instead.

Quote:

Life was peaceful and perfect for at least the night. Sam and Em were getting along like long lost sisters which in a way they were and were really bonding. Em was still having trouble adjusting though. After breakfast Em was taking her plate to the sink when she tripped over her own feet and took a nasty spill cutting her hand on the plate which of course shattered into a hundred pieces. It was barely a thought to heal such a small injury, but calming the distraught young teen was a different matter.

"I hate this!" Em wailed out amidst the tears that were streaming down her face. "I can't get used to my own body, I'm inches taller that I was yesterday. At least that's how it seems to me." On Em's other side Sam stroked her hair and mummered comforting words, leaving Rich to hold his daughter in his own unnaturally young strong arms.

After Em dropped the plate Rich was instantly by her side, and he healed up her hand in just a moment. He held her for a few moments and just listened, then he said,

"Em... you are inches taller. Twelve, maybe fifteen, something like that." Rich paused and realized his bald statement of fact probably won't be all that reassuring. He tries again,

"Em, honey, I know this is new. The world has changed lots. Sam is older, I'm younger, and you're in a different body than the one you remember. But... you'll get through this. It's just been a few hours, you need to give yourself time." *Being a parent means learning to lie. It'll take a lot longer than that before I'm used to my new body.*

"I know this isn't fair, or what you wanted, but it's what happened. You're not alone. We're here with you."

[Mr Fox]

Em's crying reduced to sniffles then to a calm resignation. "I know daddy, but it's so different. I miss mommy so much." Sam gave her a strong hug, "I know Em, we all do."

After the minor disaster and meltdown in the kitchen it seemed like everything would get better and calm down for a while and it did outwardly,

*She's a pretty girl, must be terrible to lose your mother like that, and to wake up in a different body. I wouldn't know anything about that though... mine was just stolen from me.*

There was a fierce bitterness to the thought. Then she was quiet again.

[Courier]

Rich sent back,

*'Just stolen' implies without reason other than greed. Would you like to talk about this Lt. Commander? A lot has happened in the world.*

[Mr Fox]

*So I've gathered. What are you trying to say Rich? That I deserved to have my life hijacked? I'm like a kidnap victim with absolutely no hope of escape or rescue. Speaking of that, since you seem to know who I am now, do I have a greaving family who thinks I am dead or missing? And what is my name?*

(OOC: Apologies for taking so long. Things have been crazy for me this week.)

[Courier]

Rich sent back,

*I'll let you judge for yourself what you deserved. Some of what I'm going to say is well informed speculation, but this is the truth as much as I know it.*

*I think you're Lt. Commander Cheryl Wilson, Astronaut and Space Ship Pilot. So basically you're a hero. I'm sure you met the President and all that. The web site I found didn't say you were married but it didn't say you weren't either. The world is mourning you if that helps. Two weeks ago on March 23 you were on board the Space Lab Galatea when the world got strange and reality screwed you over.*

*People across the world started to exhibit physics defying powers. Flight, Telepathy, Energy Projection, etc. We don't know why. Maybe magic came back, maybe some god is playing a joke, maybe physics isn't uniform and the Earth entered a different area, but whatever. It happened. Scientists claim the empowered are Homo-Novus rather than Homo-Sap. More or less, when you go Novus you get one wish and then are stuck with those powers.*

*I’m certain you became a Novus, I’m also sure the Galatea blew up and the other 8 Astronauts died. What I’m not sure is which of those events caused the other. There’s conflicting information. Reports of a core breach, but NASA claims nothing went wrong and what I know of reactors doesn’t support an explosion. I suspect they had some kind of problem and you gained powers that made things worse.*

*What I do know is your powers made you a walking atomic pile... which implies that the increase in radiation was your doing. In any case, the Galatea blew up and maybe 20 minutes later you fell to Earth and landed near me in Chicago.*

*Still not understanding or accepting you were doing these things, you fatally contaminated 242 people with radiation. One was me, I also went Novus and tried to stop you. I tried to absorb the radiation, which should have left you alive but non-radioactive. Instead you 'were' radiation and I absorbed you entirely. Not what I wanted but that's what happened.*

*So did you Deserve this? No, you didn't, but neither did your victims. Cheryl, I'm very sorry this happened, but letting you walk around making a radioactive mess of Chicago and killing everyone in sight wasn't an acceptable option either. This was a messed up situation before I got involved, and if I hadn't stepped in you'd still be screwed. I’m not your kidnapper, I’m your warden.*

[Mr Fox]

The only response you receive is silence. Further attempts to speak to Cheryl prove fruitless.

Around 10:00 am Dave called sounding as excited as he ever got, "Rich, we are a go on the project. Bad news is they wanna do it today. The big boss is out of town and will be back tomorrow, but Gordon, the second in charge over there is willing to scratch your back if you know what I mean. He's a younger guy that is tired of stagnating in his current position sitting watchdog over a pile of waste and sees this as his ticket out. He just wants to be remembered if this succeeds and make sure he gets the credit and maybe a promotion to a facility that is actually doing something."

The doorbell rang but Dave continued, "So do you think you can do this on such short notice? Do you need to do anything to, you know, prepare or something?"

Em came into the room still looking a little unsteady and unsure of her new body, like a newly born colt not quite sure how to run. "Daddy, the mailman is asking for you."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

The only response you receive is silence. Further attempts to speak to Cheryl prove fruitless.

Rich thinks,

*End of discussion. But she can look in on things... Can she read my mind? Or better yet, if she has become some kind of alternative personality, can she control my body? Do I even want to know the answer to that one?*

Quote:

Around 10:00 am Dave called sounding as excited as he ever got, "Rich, we are a go on the project. Bad news is they wanna do it today. The big boss is out of town and will be back tomorrow, but Gordon, the second in charge over there is willing to scratch your back if you know what I mean. He's a younger guy that is tired of stagnating in his current position sitting watchdog over a pile of waste and sees this as his ticket out. He just wants to be remembered if this succeeds and make sure he gets the credit and maybe a promotion to a facility that is actually doing something."

The doorbell rang but Dave continued, "So do you think you can do this on such short notice? Do you need to do anything to, you know, prepare or something?"

Em came into the room still looking a little unsteady and unsure of her new body, like a newly born colt not quite sure how to run. "Daddy, the mailman is asking for you."

Rich said to Dave,

"Gordon is right, this should get him up and out. We'll put him in front of the press and let it be known that he's got contacts inside the nova comunity." *Grrr... That's 'Novus'; now they've got me doing it.*

"And No, I'm set. No practice, no prep needed. If I were there I could do it right now. What do you think? 2 o'clock sound about right? 3?"

Rich nods to Em and starts walking to the front door and the Mail man while he's still talking to Dave.

[Mr Fox]

The mailman was standing impatiently bored outside the front door. When Rich appeared he offered two letters, one of which was registered mail and offered a pen and clipboard on which to sign the return tag. The registered letter was from someone in the Justice department requesting written authorization to do the full background check before beginning the process of getting Rich his necessary security clearance. The other was addressed to Rich but bore no return address. The first paperwork was easy to deal with and was done before Rich even finished his phone conversation, and Em was able to give it to the mailman before he made his way back down the other side of the street.

"So, I'll get everything ready from the NRC's side of things for this afternoon. You need to get on the phone and use your new fame to get some press there. Two should be fine, they'll break in to the local stations with the announcement I'm sure, and by five CNN will be running it."

Listening with half an ear to what Dave was saying Rich opened the second letter.

Richard Stevenson.

So nice to put a name to the face after seeing you so briefly the other day. I thought it would take ages to track you down, but then you went and made my life so much easier by plastering your face all over yesterday's news. You have a lovely family. Especially that youngest one that was in the coma. I'm looking forward to getting to know your family better, especially the young one.

PS. You really shouldn't have pissed me off and ruined my plans.

[Courier]

Rich said,

"OK Dave, 2 it is. I'll deal with things on my end" and hung up.

He glanced quickly at Em then watched her come back inside and tried very hard to keep a frown off his face. After she came back inside he walked, he hoped calmly, to the kitchen and put the letter inside a fresh zip lock bag and closed it. Then he did the same to the envelope it came in, checked on Em again, and considered,

*Gang banging idiot. What, I'm supposed to tremble in fear waiting for his arrival? Classic serial killer. Not only does he think he’s ‘better’ than me, but everyone else has to know it. Time to demonstrate that police work is a team sport. What’s the saying? ‘Teaming: To be better than the best’.*

*Seriously good odds his prints are in the system, and seriously good odds he's thinking of me as 'the-healing-guy' and not 'the guy with an inside line to the Secret Service. I have no way to figure out who this guy is... but the best police types in the country work for the President... and he's already turned over that beehive.*

*No, wait. Maybe I could buy a clue first. The best guy in the world for this sort of thing is Peter Bell. He’s in London, so it’s what, 4pm his time? Let’s give that a try.*

Rich looks up and dials Peter’s number...

[Peter Bell]

Peter looked over at Dania for a second then gave a sheepish grin when he remembered that he too was carrying a phone. It just never rang, or so it seemed.

"Hello. Peter Bell. How may I help you?"

Peter half expected his agent, certainly not America's #1 novus.

[Courier]

Rich spoke with an under current of relief and desperation,

"Peter, this is Rich Stevenson. We met at the clinic. I need a favor."

"A few days ago I stopped a telepathic novus from thrill killing ...ah... someone important. The SOB dominated someone into stabbing him, then when he couldn't do the same to me he telepathically swore vengeance. From his mental tone and what he said I'm guessing he's a gang banger serial killer."

"I just got a letter from him telling me he knows who I am and that he's going to kill my family."

Rich paused to let that sink in, then continued,

"Considering how easy that'd be for him, and that he already does this sort of thing for fun, I'd say he's serious. I'd owe you big time if you could make a drawing and point me the right direction on him."

[Peter Bell]

"Tell you what. I'm working with the NYPD right now, but ... but I'm going to go to my place. I have a sketch of you there. I'm going to make it a full blown painting. It should take me about an hour to do. Can you come up, or send someone up to get it from my place? I can't promise you it will make too much sense at first, but keep at and the painting has a way of working out."

Peter gives the concerned father his address as he gets up and gets his jacket. He whipsers to Alvarez that he needs to go by his place, all but begging her to come along.

To Richard,

"I hope this is going to be enough."

[Courier]

Rich answered,

"I hope so too, and thanks, I'm seriously going to owe you. I think I can get there myself, I'll try to pop-in in about two hours or less."

Rich hangs up and then attempts to call three TV stations, CNN, and the Tribune and tell them he's going to try to de-radiate the Zion Nuclear Power plant and they're invited. He also tells them he'll take some questions afterwards and how to get there.

After that he got out the letter, went and checked up on Em again, and considered...

*Smart thing to do would be to call up the Secret Service and tell them I've got a lead. If he left his prints on this paper and if they're in the system, figuring out who did it would be easy. And then...*

*...and then... we arrest him? He could kill Em from inside prison I'd think. So... we kill him? Lobotomize him? Do you really think you could get a judge to sign off on that based on Telepathic Evidence and Visions of the Future?*

*Maybe I should wait an hour or two and see what Peter comes up with? Say he comes up with the guy's address... what do I do then? Kill him? I need some other options here.*

Rich tabled that issue for the moment and tried to print out maps to both Zion and Peter's location... with an eye towards an aerial visit. If Em showed the slightest interest he tried to show her how he was doing it... computers weren't as big when she went under.

[Titan]

CNN, NBC-5, WLS TV-7, CBS-2, and Marty Shapiro from the Trib all agreed to be at Zion before 2pm. The TV people all accepted his claim without question. Shapiro expressed a bit of skepticism.

"Congratulations on your little girl, Mr. Stevenson. You really think you can de-radiate the pile at Zion, though? I'll give you this much, sir, you've got stones. I'll see you at two."

Looking at the letter, he re-read the P.S.

You really shouldn't have pissed me off...

He supressed the emotions that reading the letter brought up in him, and looked in on Emily. She was snoring lightly, camped in front of the T.V., on the couch. Sam waved silently, and put a finger to her lips. She went back to Bob Barker and his hopeful contestant.

Mapquest gave him both Zion and Peter's block in N.Y. quite satisfactorily. He had them both printed out by 10:30. Not much to do now but wait.

[Courier]

Rich's thoughts swirled for several moments between fear, doubt, and disbelief then he took a deep breath and dismissed circular emotionalism as unproductive.

While watching Sam & Emily and ignoring Bob Barker, Rich reviewed the situation again and looked for obvious moves he was ignoring.

*If Peter's picture doesn't have an address, then I bring in the Secret Service. And if it does...*

*Assume Pete's painting has Mr. Bang is pictured reading some junk mail with his name and address. What then? Menu options.*

*1) Direct Confrontation and try to put the fear of God into Mr. Bang. Even if I win, which isn't the only outcome, he gets serious about dealing with me and kills Sam and Em after I'm dead, just because they might know who he is. Or maybe he skips town. Or maybe he leaves me along and runs around killing mayors and the like.*

*I think that's what we call being 'movie-stupid'. Give a dangerous man the chance to prove he's dangerous and odds are good he will.*

*2) Turn him over to the law. Of course if I'm going to do this then I might as well do the SS fingerprint search right now... or rather when I get back from the reactor. Problem is I'm not sure if the law can actually do anything. Do I have anything that would stand up in court? And what do we want to do, put him in jail?*

*3) Direct Confrontation with none of this 'give the evil man a chance to kill everyone bullshit'. Just try to kill him. Sneak in and incinerate him while invisible. Assassination. Open Murder.*

*Can I do that? It's been years since I was military and I was a navy tech, not a Seal or Rambo.*

*Odds are... probably not. Even ignoring what it would do to me, odds are very good I couldn't live with it or I'd get caught. For that matter he's experienced at murder, I'm not. I need another menu option.*

Rich put the letter away in his sock drawer then watched his daughters, and waited for Bob to return and/or for the clock to say Peter was done. After a few moments he closed his eyes and meditated.

[SalmonMax]

It took Richard a little time to quiet his thoughts...he had a lot on his mind. When he'd finally found his center though, and stilled his inner monologue, he realized there was something going on in his head. Something quiet and in the background. When he focused his attention on it though, something strange happened...

He's standing in the kitchen of his parent's winter cottage up in Pennsylvania...a rustic, pleasant glorified cabin they sometimes vacationed in. At the wood burning stove is a woman he doesn't recognize at first, though she seems familiar. She's looking morosely down at a skillet on the stove. Inside it is something sizzling.

"I didn't choose this," she says softly, and Richard places her. It's Cheryl...the astronaut. The woman in his head. Her voice is the same too. Before Richard can say anything, she looks up and sees him. The sensation is weirdly upsetting...like realizing that a character in a television show is -seeing you-. She stares at him, shocked, and whispers, "You."

And Richard found himself jerked roughly out of his trance by the ringing of his cellphone. On looking at it he saw the call was from Peter. It was later than he'd planned too...but he thought if he just swung by Peter's place and picked up a picture, he'd still have plenty of time to get to the waste dump by two.

(OOC - Feel free to have a conversation with Peter over the phone, or we'll just do a quick jump inserting you into Peter Bell's thread when you come over to pick up the piece.)

[Courier]

Richard picked up the phone and said, "Hello? Peter?"

"Peter Bell here? What can I do for you? Hold on. I'll put you on speaker phone. I'm in the middle of something."

"It's Richard. Please tell me you're done... no, please tell me you're done and it's a massive address label." Rich's statement was more serious than jest.

"No. I don't ... the visions don't work that way. You need to come by and see it, or send someone to pick it up. The truth is in the painting, but I hope you have a better time figuring it out than I have. It is complex and cryptic. I wish I could make it clearer for you, because I don't like what appears to be at the heart of this one. Hurry if you can."

"Here is what I have:

A man strapped to a bed, and from his fingertips dangled strings. From the strings dangled more people, all with bloody hands. A bearded man with two faces shoved money into his pockets, not seeing that they had no bottoms and the money just poured out again, nor the shadow creatures that surrounded him. Slashed across the canvas, thousands of wasps were flying. When Peter looked closely, he could see many of the people in the painting being stung by individual wasps. In the bottom, a war. Above the battle, swinging on the moon, a woman laughed. And at the top of the painting, and splitting it into two sides, a being of light screamed to the heavens.

I think you are the being screaming to heaven. The wasps have something to do with what went down in Egypt. I'm not sure about the rest."

Rich paused to absorb some of this. *Lovely. I'm asking someone for what's written in the sheep entrails. 'If you do this a great empire will fall.' If he wasn't... Focus. He's the real deal, just like your 'faith healing'. He was at the clinic just like you, this is what he does.*

*Wait. People with strings with bloody hands? That's Mr. Bang right there. What do you want to guess that Pete's got the guy's real face on the bloody painting?*

Rich replied, "Hey Peter, if I dropped by within the next few minutes, you'd be there and it'd be ready for me to fly off with, correct?"

"Yep, I can put it in a box for travel in about three minutes. No problem. Tell me if it helps. I need to get better at this stuff."

Rich said, "I'll be right over" and hung up.

[Courier]

Rich checked the apartment. Em was still asleep... sensory overload he guessed. They'd probably see a lot of that in the next few days. He motioned Sam to come with him to the kitchen where he said,

"I already told Bob this but it fell into place just after he left. I'm walking out the door in two minutes, you're in charge still Bob gets back with more food, I should be back after three."

"I'm going to go to the nuclear waste site at Zion and destroy the atomic waste there at 2pm. The Press will be there, this should make the 5pm news. This family needs money to go with our new fame, and nuclear waste disposal should be worth... well... a lot."

"Sam, be sure to keep a close eye on Em. I'm worried... that she'll do something self destructive. She just lost not only Mom and Bob junior, but herself and both of us too in a sense."

Rich waited to hear that Sam understood, then he searched himself and left on the counter everything but his maps and cell. He wasn't sure how heavy this painting would be but it was going to be close to his limit.

Then Rich went outside, attuned everything, and attempted to turn into Radiation and fly off.