Minutes later Matt leapt off the teleporter pad, his face full of anger. Waiting for Matt in the teleporter room was Theodore, Susan, Jay and Kalomo, the last three recently awoken from deep sleep. Matt had been staying with Cassie and her grandparents, and was summoned from their home in the middle of the night. He walked up to Theodore and said, “Where do you get off letting an alien spacecraft through our defense grids?”
Harlan wanted to smile at Matt's consternation and anger, but he made Theodore’s face to wince apologetically as he said, “He’s a Wonder Hero, Matt. I didn’t think he was dangerous.”
“Harlan was a Wonder Hero,” said Matt, “and he was nothing but dangerous.”
Harlan wanted to blow Matt’s head off right there with a well-placed blast of golden energy, but he restrained himself, biding his time. The only reason Matt was still alive was because Harlan was interested in meeting this alien Wonder Hero.
“Easy Matt,” said Susan, “Theodore made a decision, now we have to deal with it.”
“Thanks, Susan,” said Harlan as Theodore sarcastically, “I can always count on you for support.”
“I’m not supporting the decision, Theodore, I’m just pointing out that it’s too late to do anything about your mistake.” She let this sink in before asking, “Where are they?”
“I let them park their shuttle on the helipad,” replied said Harlan/Theodore, “The bigger ship is in orbit. I’ve got Space Defense satellites 16 and 19 trained on it. The ship dumped its major weapons systems at the outer marker. I’m not a complete idiot.”
Before Susan could contradict this, Kalomo asked, “Any idea why they’re here?”
“No, I figured we should be all together,” said Harlan, smiling with Theodore’s mouth, “Want to meet them?”
Matt hesitated. “They waited this long, they can wait another minute.” He turned to Susan, “Susan? Can I have a minute? Alone?”
Susan looked at the group, and they all nodded their willingness to wait. Susan followed Matt out of the teleporter room and into the hallway of the Wonder Base.
“What’s up Matt?”
Matt looked conflicted. Whatever he was about to say was not going to be easy for him. “I know this is a bad time, what with you dealing with Walter’s death and all, but… I can’t do this any more.”
Susan tried not to get ahead of the conversation, and stifled her worry. “Can’t do what?”
“Lead this team,” said Matt, not meeting her eyes, “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Matt, you’re the only one who can do this.”
“No, Susan, it’s you,” said Matt, “I was only holding your place until you were up to speed. You’re wearing Paul’s gauntlet. You’re Wonder Hero Crimson. You lead the team.”
Before Susan could say anything else, General Rumpole approached them, walking briskly through the halls. “What the hell is going on here? There’s a god damned alien vehicle parked on the roof of Wonder Base!”
“I did it General,” said Matt.
Somehow the General knew that Matt was not talking about the alien vehicle on the roof. “You did, did you?” The General looked at Susan meaningfully. “Well, are you up to this, Susan?”
“I don’t know what to say,” said Susan.
“Look at the facts Susan,” said the General, “You’ve been leading this team for months now in all but name.”
“That’s not true…”
“You know it is,” the General countered bluntly, “Matt’s a great man, maybe the bravest, truest man I’ve ever known, but part of what makes him great is that he knows his limitations. He’s been doing your job for nine months now. It’s time for you to step up.”
“What about the guys?” Susan asked, “Will they be okay with this?”
The General put his hands on Susan’s shoulders. “If you lead them, they will follow.”
There was a moment’s silence, then, Susan nodded. “Okay.”
The General smiled. “Good. Now go get that alien spaceship off the roof.”
In the middle of a field in a little traveled section of upstate New York stood the large, mostly forgotten shell of the giant alien robot invader Brobdignag. Over the last several months Jaimie Karasik, a nineteen-year-old runaway and leader of an extraterrestrial terrorist group had been using the interior of the robot as a hideout. Brobdignag’s outer shell was impervious to all forms of scanners and detection technology, and therefore was the perfect place to build her base of operations.
Brobdignag was crewed with rescued spratsis, humanoid rat-like creatures who had been captured by the Wonder Heroes months ago and until recently held in a camp in Canada. The alien crew were adept at getting disparate alien technologies to work together, and they busily worked to bring Brobdignag back to life, despite the three story tall hole that had been blasted into its chest by the Wonder Giant two years ago.
There were also laboratories on board the robot where new technologies were being developed by spratsis technicians and the two robots, Crush and Kill. It was in one of these laboratories that Jaimie found two of the higher level spratsis busy firing gamma rays through variously shaped substances capable of focusing and amplifying the beams. The focused beams were then directed into the small furious heads of an endless supply of lab animals, mostly Earth rats, but also cats, dogs, squirrels or anything else unlucky enough to be trapped and brought to this Frankensteinian lab.
Jaimie watched as a rat shrieked in outraged fury as the beam fired into its head, only to cease protesting as the ray scrambled its brain. For a brief instant the rat’s eyes glowed yellow-green, then they shriveled like raisons in the rat’s skull and hair fell from the rat’s head, exposing pink patches of flesh.
“Test 206, creature dies,” said the first higher order spratsis, who called himself Razor. His actual rat name was virtually unpronounceable by humans, but Razor was a name Jaimie could pronounce and remember, so it stuck.
The second spratsis, an assistant Jaimie did not bother naming, pulled a small kitten from a cardboard box. He held the kitten in one paw and pulled the brain-scrambled rat from where it had been secured with his other. The kitten attempted to play with the large rat creature, but was shown little regard as the rat assistant secured the kitten’s head with wire to the gamma projector.
“Test 207, ready to commence,” said the assistant.
Jaimie decided to stop watching and let herself be known. “Any idea when this will be done?”
The two spratsis technicians jumped, and as the assistant made himself scarce, Razor hurried to present himself and instantly began to grovel in Jaimie’s presence, pawing at her leather jacket until Jaimie pushed him away. “Ah, commander! Work continues apace, I assure you.”
“I don’t care about how the work continues,” said Jaimie, “I need the device finished.”
Razor nodded. “Yes, but tests have been inconclusive….”
“We had some luck with the gold prism,” said the assistant spratsis, but quieted at a look from Razor.
“I never heard about this,” said Jaimie, her tone a bit sterner than either spratsis card for.
“Because the tolerance was barely over ninety percent, commander,” said Razor.
Jaimie became exasperated. “Idiot! We’re not launching a space shuttle. I don’t need one hundred percent.”
“Surely we can do better…” said Razor, attempting a smile but merely baring its cracked and yellowed teeth.
Jaimie stepped forward and roughly pulled the kitten from where it had been secured, and tossed it back into the cardboard box where it rejoined its brothers and sisters. To the assistant spratsis she said, “You! Get the gold prism.”
“Commander,” said Razor, trying not to let panic creep into his voice, “All I need is a few more days. A week at most…”
“Nope,” said Jaimie, “Time’s up.”
Roughly she grabbed Razor by the greasy fur at his neck and dragged him towards the end of the lab table, where there was a large vice. The spratsis began to struggle, and tried to pull away in panic.
“Hold still,” said Jaimie, but Razor was overcome by panic, his yellow eyes franticly swiveled to and fro, and he struggled against Jaimie’s actions.
Kill entered the room with the clang of mechanized footsteps and pointed the cold metal end of a large energy weapon at the spratsis. The robot’s voice was ice. “Hold still.”
Terror clouded his mind, but Razor allowed himself to be placed into the vice. Jaimie turned the handle tight, only stopping with she heard the crunch of cartilage or bone. The pain was intense, and Razor was held tight. Even if through an effort of moral and physical strength Razor could free himself, the robot Kill would live up to its name and kill him.
The assistant spratsis reentered the lab carrying the three inch long golden prism, and slowed down when he saw his senior’s head held tight in a vice. Jaimie pointed to the spot on the table between the gamma ray projector and Razor’s head where the prism needed to be placed.
Too fearful to comment on what was happening, the assistant hurried to comply with Jaimie’s unspoken command. He snapped the prism in place as Jaimie opened the door to a small refrigeration unit and removed a plastic tub from within. Jaimie reached into the tub and removed the small gray frozen lump from inside. It was the Aierta possessed brain of the dog Vuitton. She placed the freezer burned brain between the golden prism and the immobilized head of the spratsis.
“Commander, please, I implore you,” said Razor, but Jaimie ignored him.
She took a step back and pointed at the assistant spratsis and said, “Flip the switch.”
Too afraid to hesitate, the terrified assistant flipped the switch, over the pleading moans of his imprisoned comrade. The gamma ray projector began to heat up, preparing to discharge.
“Don’t worry,” said Jaimie, “you said you’ve achieved ninety percent right? Your odds are good.”
Razor let out a terrible sad moan, and the gamma projector discharged through the golden prism, refracted through the dog brain, and in an instant engraved a new psychic imprint on Razor’s brain. His rat-like eyes glowed yellow-green, but the color faded quickly, and his eyes quickly reset to their normal shiny black color.
Jaimie released the vice from Razor’s head, and tried to catch him by the scruff of his neck, but the greasy fur slipped through her fingers and he fell to the floor. The lab-assistant rushed to Razor’s side as the robot Kill looked on, emotionlessly.
“How do you feel?” asked Jaimie, kneeling at the rat creature’s side.
There was a long pause as the fallen spratsis learned how to use its new mind. “It worked, commander. I have been imprinted. I am Aierta.”
The assistant’s eyes went wide at the announcement. The robot Kill leaned forward, its only concession to the emotion of surprise. Jaimie smiled.
“That’s it then,” said Jaimie, “We are no longer the last of the Aierta.” Jaimie stood up and looked at Kill with a broad smile on her face. “We are the first.”
Jaimie waved her hand at the various bits of technology scattered about the table that made the Aierta imprinting process possible. “All this stuff, the projector, the prism and the brain? I want it put together into something like a gun, got it?”
Razor stood up, finding his balance. His paws shook slightly as he took control of his fine motor skills, but he was learning quickly, and the tremors soon passed. “Yes, Commander. My host is knowledgeable about such things.”
Jaimie nodded. “Excellent. Let me know when it’s finished and we’ll convert the rest of the crew.”
The assistant spratsis tried to hide his panicked expression, but everyone else in the room noticed and all eyes were on him. Nervously, he raised one claw of a single paw and said, “If possible, I would like to skip the procedure…”
Jaimie laughed. “Not possible. Resist and I’ll have you skinned alive.”
The assistant suddenly felt very trapped and very alone.
Susan led her team to the elevator with Matt just behind her. The rest of the team followed them, even though they had not yet been briefed on Matt’s handing over command of the team over to her yet.
“Roof,” said Susan, and the elevator responded instantly and with zero inertia. The door to the elevator silently reopened a moment later, and revealed the roof, complete with tennis courts, helipads and a large alien spaceship.
“Cool,” said Kalomo, and the rest of the group, including Matt, whose experience might be said to have jaded him somewhat, agreed. They were looking at one of the sleekest extraterrestrial spacecraft that any of them had ever seen. Long and slender with a mirrored surface, the ship looked built for speed, like a terrestrial fighter jet molded from a single piece of reflective platinum.
There were four aliens just outside the ship. Three of them were Broccloids, a slender species that looked humanoid in the way woven cornhusk looked like a Barbie Doll. There was nothing in the area of the face for a human to latch onto visually, the species operated entirely by the waving mass of sensor stalks that jutted from the top of what a human would call a neck.
It was Onalark the Wonder Heroes were most concerned with. He was much bigger in person, a giant of sorts, ten feet tall, with a caramel colored head that was virtually featureless save for two wide dark brown eyes and a wide slit for a mouth. The head was large and proportioned to the alien’s humanoid body. His body was entirely encased in glowing Wonder Armor. The two gauntlets he wore seemed ancient and battle weathered. Despite the slight smile formed by the creature’s mouth, which might have been a frown for all that the Wonder Heroes knew about this particular alien species, the alien radiated coiled power and extreme danger.
One of the Broccloids stepped forward. “Greetings. My name is Tr’ter, I am captain of the Vanishing Spirit.” Tr’ter gestured at his fellow Broccloids, “This is my first officer M’took and my chief engineer B’shat,” The Captain waved his arm-like appendage at the large alien Wonder Hero, “and this is Onalark.”
Susan nodded her head slightly. “Welcome to Earth, Captain. My name is Susan Daystrom,” she paused before saying, “leader of the Wonder Heroes.”
Jay and Kalomo exchanged looks, but Harlan raised Theodore’s eyebrow and smiled. So now it is official, thought Harlan. Matt said nothing, he stood just behind and a little to the right of Susan, backing her up the same way he used to back up Paul on the original team. For the first time in months, he felt a little like his old self.
Onalark stepped forward. His voice was low and filled with reverb that rocked Susan’s eardrums uncomfortably. “It’s always your color, isn’t it?”
Susan held her ground, and found that she was looking up into Onalark’s face. “What do you mean?”
“The leader. I’ve been many places, and met more than a few gauntlet teams, that is, recipients of Cassiopeian technology. The leader always has that gauntlet.” Onalark held out a hand. “I believe it is your custom to shake hands?” Susan reached up to shake hands with Onalark. Her hand was tiny in his.
“Hello, Susan Daystrom,” continued Onalark, “I’m not only all that’s left of my world’s Wonder Heroes, I’m all that’s left of my world.”
Susan did not know what to say, but Onalark’s handshake was surprisingly gentle. “Oh.”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
“My condolences seem too small…” began Susan.
Onalark smiled, or at least Susan hoped he was smiling. “It was a long time ago, Susan Daystrom.”
Susan led the aliens and her team to some deck chairs, and sat down across from Captain Tr’ter. No one seemed to know how best to continue so Tr’ter jumped right in.
“It has come to the attention of many in the wider universe that your planet has been infected with an ancient and almost legendary creature known as Aierta.”
Susan nodded noncommittally.
Somehow Tr’ter’s translator picked up on Susan’s nod. “I represent a group that is interested in capturing one of these Aierta.”
“What group would that be?” asked Matt, standing behind Susan’s chair, arms crossed. Susan seemed to remember that Matt took this position back when Paul was the leader of the team. Paul would lead, but Matt was Paul’s right hand. Somehow, having Matt behind her filled Susan with a feeling of safety and confidence.
Captain Tr’ter’s alien nature made him unreadable as he answered. “The Untime Grindcase Consortium.”
Susan had never heard of them, but Matt said, “Criminals.”
Kalomo called up some data on his Wonder Gauntlet, and he and Jay reviewed the holographic data together. The holographic display was invisible to all but the Wonder Heroes.
“Whew,” said Kalomo quietly to Jay, “intergalactic gangsters. Bad news.”
Jay said nothing, but he noticed that Onalark was watching them. Onalark narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked at Susan. “You’re rather new at this, aren’t you?”
“It’s no secret,” said Susan, “there was a press conference.”
“But not you, Ultra,” said Onalark, “No, you’ve got the look. You’ve seen the really bad stuff, haven’t you?”
“We’re getting off track here,” began Captain Tr’ter, but Onalark dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Onalark leaned forward, and stared at Matt. Matt met his gaze. “Many life times ago,” said Onalark, “I lost my team, my planet and my entire galaxy to the Hole of Holes. Only my mate and I survived. She wore a gauntlet like Ultra’s, but it was too much for her. She had stared into that emptiness and over time the experience consumed her...” Pain flickered across Onalark’s eyes.
“We beat the Hole of Holes,” said Matt, “only one of us died, Wonder Hero Blade.”
“I noticed you were short a full set.”
Matt nodded. “The rest were killed by a traitor. The previous Gold went bad.”
Onalark relaxed, and his shoulders slumped. He seemed less threatening. “Yes, well, you stare into the hole and you don’t come out the same. I haven’t been right in years, and I only caught half a glimpse.”
“I’m sorry about your mate,” said Matt, thinking of Paul. Changing the subject, Matt pointed to the gauntlets on Onalark’s arms, “I’ve never seen anyone wearing two gauntlets before.”
“Neither had I,” said Onalark, his eyes growing wistful, “But I heard a prophecy once, at the Fractoraculum, about one of us, I mean the bearers of Cassiopeian technology, wearing jet-black and pure-gauntlets, fighting alone at the end of time to save the universe at Final Stellar Collapse. I figured that made it at least possible, and wanted to follow Her example.”
“Can we get back on track here?” Captain Tr’ter interrupted, before Onalark started in on his religious beliefs. “What we’re offering could be of immense help to your planet.”
“I don’t like the idea of negotiating with criminals,” said Susan.
“I am not a criminal,” replied Tr’ter, “I am an independent contractor.”
“Who works for criminals.”
Captain Tr’ter cut to the chase. “I have an Aierta detector on board my ship.”
Susan thought about that. As the situation was now, the Wonder Heroes needed to wait until the activities of Jaimie Karasik or one of her robots was noted by the authorities and an alert sent to Wonder Base. If the Broccloids truly had some sort of device that could detect Aierta, then for the first time the Wonder Heroes might be able to get the drop on her. The offer was tempting.
“What do you want in exchange for the technology?”
Captain Tr’ter waved his stalks and said, “We want to take an Aierta back with us, for study.”
Susan frowned, and shook her head. “I don’t know...”
“Allow me to provide some context,” said First Officer M’took, whose voice was oddly feminine where Tr’ter’s was masculine, “The Consortium is spread across twenty galaxies. They will find an Aierta, somewhere, somehow. Whatever they are planning, they will accomplish, with or without our help, or your help, for that matter.”
“The plant lady has a point,” said Jay, “and we need that Jaimie Karasik chick off our planet.”
“That’s not much of a moral argument in the real world, Jay,” said Susan.
“Susan’s right,” said Harlan, speaking through Theodore. “Who knows what the consortium is planning to do with the Aierta? If the legends are true, there’s no more dangerous weapon of war in the universe.”
Kalomo nodded. “Theodore’s right. We can’t let a weapon like that fall into the wrong hands.”
Captain Tr’ter did not like where the decision seemed to be heading. He touched Onalark on the arm, and Onalark knew what he was supposed to say. “Listen,” said the large alien Wonder Hero, “I share your concerns, which is why the good captain here brought me along.”
All eyes were now on Onalark. “I’ve been fighting the Consortium for years. I’m the noise in their signal, so to speak. There’s no way I’m going to let them use the Aierta to hurt people, but if I’m going to stop the Consortium, I need the Aierta. The Aierta will give me an in to the organization, so that I can start moving through their ranks and destroy them.”
Susan looked at Matt, who shrugged in response. She stared Onalark in the eyes. “So it all comes down to whether we trust you or not?”
Onalark gave away nothing with his answer. “Yes.”