Among the learned, there are those that theorize that, within the realms of reality, there exists a circle of infinite possibilities and infinite probabilities.
For example, they might say, somewhere on this circle of reality, there exists a universe in which super beings are no more than flights of fancy. Yet the further along this circle you travel, whether deosil or widdershins, things will gradually change. For example, by traveling deosil, or clockwise, you will eventually come to a reality that is occupied by a universe in which super beings struggle among themselves for domination. And if you were to travel widdershins, or counter clockwise, you would eventually come to the same universe.
Further, these learned ones will argue, each and every ‘probability’ along this circle is, in itself, part of another circle, just as this circle we inhabit is but part of a much larger circle, etc.
So what happens when these circles within circles begin to converge? What happens when, for however briefly, different realities collide?
To Discover a World
Barren of stars, the void was a vast wasteland of space. Home only to a few scattered chunks of rock and the occasional rogue planet or planetoid.
It was through this desolate area of space that Jennifer Walters sped.
At the moment, she slept, trusting the ships deflectors to brush aside the dust and gravel that could easily damage her ship. Her trust also lay in the proximity sensors that would sound warning should they encounter any objects too big to be deflected by the screens and the ship’s computer, which would react to such a warning, altering course to avoid a collision.
Yet neither the screens nor the sensors could be trusted to react to a mass that suddenly appeared within their spheres of influence. Nor could the computer cause a vessel moving as fast as this to turn quickly enough when the mass in question appears mere yards ahead in it’s path. Indeed, even a computer that made millions of computations in the space of a nano-second would scarcely have a chance to notice the obstacle before collision occurred.
The green sphere that appeared in the path of the vessel was only slightly more than man-sized. It was stationary and remained so as the vessel struck it. To say that the sphere ruptured the hull and traveled the length of the vessel before emerging at the other end would be only slightly inaccurate. Better to say that the vessel slammed into the sphere and continued, it’s structure bending and tearing around the still motionless sphere as it’s own inertia pushed it onward.
Within the sphere he huddled, curled into a fetal position. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of this new development. He was dead. That much he knew. Whatever else might have happened or might yet happen, this was an unalterable fact. He was dead. Slowly he straightened, stretching his awareness to its limits, tapping into a source of power more intense than any mortal should ever know.
It was not long before he had the answers he sought for. An upheaval in the fabric of reality was occurring. The minds that he briefly touched named the occurrence a Cosmic Union, or so he gleamed from his brief glimpses.
For an instant, he contemplated his own power. With very little effort, he could fix things. He could stretch out his hand and, here in this new place, recreate that which he had sought to create in his own universe. He pushed the thought away, repulsed. The old saying was true. Power can corrupt. He had tried to recreate his own reality. He had tried to correct what he saw as flaws, mistakes that need not have happened. Instead, he had caused more harm. He had caused the death or, worse still, the total non-existence of countless beings in the past, present, and future.
One whom he had long called friend had stopped him, finally. He could still recall the tears in Oliver’s eyes as he had drawn back the bow and let his arrow fly.
NO! He would not cause that to happen here. Already, his power told him, there were those that were working to get their reality through this period of upheaval.
Besides. Once this crisis passed and reality returned to normal, he would return to that state from which he had been dragged.
He let his senses focus more on his immediate surroundings. At first he was puzzled by the amount of debris that surrounded his protective sphere. Then, as he locked in on the now tumbling wreck, he pieced together what had happened. His sphere had appeared in the path of a space vessel. He probed the wreckage, looking for signs of life. He was both relieved and alarmed when he detected the faint signals of one being, just hanging on to life. With just a minute portion of the power at his command, he expanded his sphere and drew the wreckage in.
He extended a hand and green beams slashed outward from his fingertips, slicing through the tangled mess. When beams reached the area from which the signs of life came, he stopped. Now the slashing beams steadied and stabbed inward. Within moments, the beams backed out of the wreck, a limp form suspended within their light.
He grimaced at the sight of the broken body. The vessel’s occupant had been female. He contemplated what his next move should be. For an instant, he considered an attempt to heal the damage. Yet his past troubles had come from trying to be something he was not. And he was no doctor. No. He could lend his power to heal her, but one that knew what they were doing should guide such healing.
With a sigh that was audible only within the sphere of green energy that surrounded him, he allowed his energy to touch the mind of the female. It was his thought to pick her destination from her mind and thus gain some idea of where he should take her. What he found shook him to his very core.
“She’s dead!” He whispered. “I saw her body!”
With a casual flick of his fingers, the wreckage of the vessel was expelled from the sphere. As an after thought, a slim tendril of green energy wound through the mess, gleaning every bit of data that could be lifted from the navigation computer. Now he had the coordinates. The green sphere shrank until it enclosed only him and the injured female. Once again he touched her mind, this time infusing it with his own energy. Perhaps, though he could not, she could aid in her own healing.
Satisfied that she would live, at least until they reached their destination, he gave the mental command and the sphere shot off, destination: Rokyn.
She had no way of knowing how long she had been out of it. She could, by concentrating, vaguely recall being bundled up and rushed out of the abandoned dwelling. Who ever her captors were, they knew enough about the effects of Green K to limit her exposure to it. One person, she could never tell if it were the same one or not, would check on her and occasionally open the lead box in which the hunk of deadly metal was kept, bathing her in it’s radiation. Not enough to kill her. Just enough to render her incapable of escape.
Now, able to open her eyes and focus for short periods, she could not decide whether to applaud the ingenuity of her captors or curse it. They had placed her in a dark room; surely lead lined and underground to keep Kara from finding her with her x-ray vision, with a mechanical device that served to periodically expose her to the Green K. It was rather a simple affair, she realized. And thus less likely to break down. It worked much as a pendulum. The lethal Kryptonite placed in a wire container affixed to a long metal bar that swung ever so slowly back and forth. Precisely timed, she assumed, to keep her powerless, yet alive.
Yes, her captors had most definitely done their homework. Yet, as she studied the simple apparatus and gauged her own responses, she had to smile. True, they had done their homework, but they would not be scoring a hundred on this assignment. They, whoever THEY were, had timed the exposures to keep her physically inactive. But they seem to have overlooked some of the other aspects of a super powered Kryptonian. Not all the powers were of a mere physical nature. By straining, she could barely feel her vision powers returning. It would take awhile but she would ultimately, she believed, be able to sustain a steady beam of heat vision. Hopefully. So, with nothing better to do, she settled in to wait. She would have to time it just right.
To Discover a World
“I’m sorry, Kara.” Zor El shook his head, the only part of him visible in the vid screen. “We’ve been able to find where she went and discovered residual traces of Green K, but otherwise, nothing.”
“Green K.” Kara frowned and shook her head. It hardly seemed fair that Rogue, who had not been born a Kryptonian, should be vulnerable to a purely Kryptonian weakness. Yet Reed Richards had said that, due to a combination of Rogue’s original absorption powers and the rejuvenation factor of a super Kryptonian, Rogue was now more Kryptonian than Terran. Indeed, he had even gone so far as to say that even top-notch geneticists would be hard pressed to tell the difference between Rogue and a native born Kryptonian. Though, to be honest, he had only the cell samples he had taken from her to go by and she could not be said to be a true, native-born Kryptonian. Though she knew the history that is all Krypton had been to her…history. She, herself, had been born in Argo City, the domed city that had some how survived the destruction that had befallen Krypton. She had not even been born when Krypton had exploded, but had been conceived years later, as Argo City floated through space.
Kara shook her head and turned her attention back to the vid screen.
“At least she’s alive, Kara.” Zor tried to console his daughter. “If they had meant to kill her, all they had to do was expose her to the Green K and leave her there. She would have been dead be fore we could track her down.”
“True.” Kara conceded the point. Yet the planet has phased once since then. Right now, that is what I am worrying about. Was she able to survive that?”
“Why should she have a problem?” Zor had a puzzled look on his face. “When we went through the first phase, there were no injuries. At least none directly related to the phasing. There were quite a few accidents caused by the surprise, though.”
“But you all were attuned to the planet when you were enlarged.” Kara protested. “Rogue has had no such attunement.”
“I see what you are getting at.” Zor smiled thinly. “No, the attunement allowed us to live with the phasing long term. After a few years of phasing, an unattuned person might start to feel some detrimental affects. I don’t think that is something that we have to worry about in this case.” His face hardened. “Our worry is to find her before we have to evacuate. If she is, indeed, weakened by Green K, I doubt she would be able to survive the break up of the planet.”
Kara opened her mouth to reply but closed it with a snap when the ship’s proximity alarms sounded.
“I’ll have to get back to you, Dad.” She blurted. “Either help has arrived or some one else is taking an interest. Either way, I’ve got visitors up here.” She signed off and her fingers flew over the controls, pulling up a visual of the sector indicated by the alarms.
At first, there was nothing to see. Rather than waste time ordering the computer to magnify the visual, she turned her head and activated her x-ray and telescopic visions.
There! A small green sphere traveling unbelievably fast. Kara frowned. The sphere was reminiscent of…but no, he too, was dead and belonged to a reality that no longer existed.
In any case, it was apparent that her curiosity would not be long in being satisfied. For even as she watched, the sphere had traversed the distance and was closing with her ship. For a brief instant, the sphere floated off the port bow, as if whatever power controlled it were hesitant. Then, as if resolved, it closed the last remaining distance until it actually touched the ship.
“Do not be alarmed.” The voice rang out through the bridge of the vessel. “I am bringing one in need of medical attention. I am entering your forward airlock.”
Kara wasted no time in moving to the airlock. She waited, fists clenched as the lock cycled. The outer door closing, heated air pumped in and equalized, and then the inner door sliding open.
Kara’s glanced at the strangely clad man but her attention was focused on the limp figure in his arms.
“Jenny! Oh Rao!” Without thought, Kara snatched Jennifer Walters out of the man’s arms and flew towards the ship’s infirmary.
“It is she.” The man stared at the empty space that Kara had occupied a mere second earlier. Shaking himself, he scanned for her and followed. By the time he had caught up to her, she had already placed Jenny in a machine that was obviously some sort of healing device.
“It’s not working.” Tears of frustration streaked her cheeks as she looked on helplessly. “The gamma radiation in her system is interfering with the machines.”
“Gamma radiation?” Kara turned at the question, her eyes widening.
“Hal?” She could not believe her eyes. “Green Lantern?”
The stranger reached out and wiped the tears from one cheek as he looked at her.
“It is you.” He whispered. “You are Supergirl?”
“It’s me, Hal.” She nodded. “But I thought….”
“That I too had died?” Hal Jordon smiled, but it was a smile devoid of mirth. “Indeed, I did. Though many years after you yourself were killed by the anti-monitor.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Kara shivered. She still woke in the middle of the night, at times, biting her lips to keep from screaming. “But how…I mean, I have met the new Green Lantern.”
“Kyle.” Hal nodded. “He is a good man, worthy to be a Green Lantern.” He looked as if he wanted to say something else. Instead, he turned his attention to the green skinned female in the healing machine. “Will she live?”
“I don’t know.” Kara almost moaned. “Dammit, I should never have called her for help. “ She shook herself. “All we can do is wait, to see if the machines can heal her despite the Gamma Radiation.”
“What is this gamma radiation?”
“A long story. But it is what gives her the green appearance and superhuman strength and near invulnerability.”
“Then it is also what allowed her to live through a disaster that would have killed a normal human.” Hal mused. He squared his shoulders. “You mentioned that you had called her for help. Perhaps I can be of some aid?”
Kara looked up, astonished and a bit chagrined. True, her friend might lie near death, but, on the planet below, another friend was held captive and several thousand beings were in danger of destruction if she did not act. And here…. here was help unlooked for.
“Yes I think so.” She said. She touched Jenny’s forehead, whispering, “Forgive me.” She turned away, leaving the machines to do what they could as she left the infirmary.
Hal followed, but at the doorway he paused, looking back. He raised a hand and a green tendril shot forth, bathing the healing machine and its occupant. Jennifer Walters would live, that was now a certainty. Yet her life would never be the same. Turning away, he followed Kara to the bridge.
To Discover a World
“So that is the story.” Kara had briefed Hal on the current situation. Now they stood on the bridge as the main view screen showed the planet spinning below them.
“I remember Kandor.” Hal said. “More than once Kal had taken me along on his visits to the bottle city.” He turned to Kara. “And you say that a majority wish to be returned to a bottle?”
“It’s either that or death.” Kara sighed. “Besides, my father has determined that while the miniaturization may be permanent, there is no reason that they will have to be kept in a bottle. They could easily, with their science, chose to colonize another world…. if that is their wish.”
“Possible.” Hal stroked his chin with a thumb and forefinger in thought. “And you have not attempted to force the minority to go along with this plan?”
“I couldn’t, Hal.” Kara frowned at the thought. “I don’t have the right to choose for them. I can only offer them alternatives.”
Hal looked at her and then sighed.
“So young and yet so wise.” His eyes were haunted. “I wish I had been so wise.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My sins, Kara.” He turned his gaze back to the planet. “You said you have met Kyle. He didn’t tell you what had become of me or the Guardians of the Universe?”
“No.” Kara answered, slowly. “What happened, Hal?
“Nothing much.” He laughed, a bit hysterically. “I merely went insane, destroyed the Guardians and drew all the power of the Great battery into myself.” He turned to Kara.
“You called me Green Lantern. I don’t have the right to that title anymore, Kara. Now I am known as Parallax.” He turned away. “I destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. I damn near destroyed the universe. All for good reasons, of course. I was going to set everything right. I was going to change things back to what they were before the Anti-monitor appeared. I was going to use the power of the Green Lanterns to right those wrongs I saw, real or imagined.” He shrugged. “I guess it is all moot now. I have, as far as I can tell, died at least twice. Once at the hands of Green Arrow and once, later, working with Kyle to save what I had so recently tried to destroy myself.”
“I guess you could say that I have atoned, in part, for the grief and destruction I wrought.” He said after a pause. He turned to Kara again. “Though there are some things that I can never atone for. He took a one of Kara’s hands. “It is because of what I did that there is no memory of you. All that you knew, when you lived, was swept away by my power and rebuilt. Though, I must admit, that had Oliver not loosed his arrow while I was distracted, I would have been able to complete my task and you would have been restored.” For a brief moment he considered telling her of the last thoughts of one she had held dear…. Of how, the Brainiac 5 of that time had looked upon the grave of his love, Laurel Gand, and wondered whether, in truth, Laurel should be the one he mourned. In the end, he decided against it. The young woman had too much on her mind now as it was.
For a long moment, Kara merely looked at him. Then she sighed.
“I wasn’t there, Hal.” She finally said. “I have no right to judge. All I can go by is what I knew of you when I…. died.” She squeezed his hand. “But right now, we have a job to do. Shall we get to it?”
“Indeed.” Hal straightened and turned back to the screen. “I’ll go to the planet and locate this Rogue of yours and complete the construction of the city. You continue to work with your father.” He started towards the air lock. “Exactly how much time have we got?”
“There is no exact deadline.” Kara admitted. “Though both my father and I have come too the conclusion that the final break up is mere days away. Go find Rogue and I’ll get to work.”
“Will do.” He stepped into the air lock and let his green energy surround him as the air was pumped out.
On the vid screen, Kara watched as a streak of green angled away from the ship and flashed towards the planet’s surface. Hal would find Rouge.