Comics

Job Announcement: Asgard Seeking New Thor

Posted by Ebonstorm on July 16, 2014

Posted in: Comics, Fantasy, Humor. Tagged: Asgard, Asgardian Resources, Lady Sif, Mjolnir, Odin, Odinson, Thor, Warriors Three. 2 Comments

Artist Depiction of Ideal Female Candidate

The Realm Eternal Resources Department

Seeking a replacement Thunder God for the canon Marvel Universe, Earth-616. Must be worthy enough to wield mystic enchanted hammer Mjolnir. Seeking to diversify; willing to accept women in this role. Need not be Norse to apply.

Position Reports To:

Your direct supervisor will be the head of the Norse pantheon, Odin Borson, the All-Father. Odin is known for his laissez faire leadership style, depending on your good judgement as to where your powers will be needed next. However, it is wise to avoid incurring his wrath because despite your raw capacity as the God of Thunder wielding one of Asgard’s mightiest weapons, Mjolnir, it pales in comparison to the cosmic might of his personal Odin-Force, the energy of the Realm Eternal bound within him. On the spot reviews are known to occur, without notice.

Odin engaged in supervisory review

What does being the God of Thunder mean in Asgard?

As the Asgardian God of Thunder, you will be expected to protect the Realm Eternal from a variety of threats, foreign and domestic. (For domestic terrorists see: Ulik, Surtur, and Loki)

Foreign threats can be extraterrestrial, threats from rogue space empires, cosmic beings of vast capability such as Celestials or Heralds of the World Devourer, Galactus and other potential galaxy or even universe-level threats capable of wiping out all of existence as we know it. (See: Galactus; Thanos; Abraxas)

There are also threats of an extra-dimensional nature including incursions from Niflheim, Jötunheimr and Hel. Threats from demonic realms are rare but have been known to occur. (See: Surtur, Dormammu, Shuma-Gorath)

There are the occasional uprising in nearby dimensions of the Nine Realms which must be put down from time to time and the ever-present threats found on Midgard, the home of Humanity. (See: Red Hulk, Kang the Conqueror, Juggernaut)

As the God of Thunder you will be expected to act honorably with the integrity measured by your worthiness to wield the mystic warhammer Mjolnir. Such a powerful weapon should not be in the hands of just anyone and the device is capable of determining if you have been engaged in activities unbecoming a God of Asgard.

Please Note: Mjolnir will not stop you from engaging in normal activities such as drunken rages, casual destruction or the murder of threats to Asgard. Its worthiness requirements will vary wildly so one should expect to be on one’s best behavior or find oneself without the power of Thor at a crucial and often life-threatening moment (which will happen far more often than you might suspect.)

Some of What You’ll Do:

Handling Domestic Terrorism: Domestic terrorism is an ongoing threat in Asgard.

You should be comfortable bashing giants in the head: At one time this was the primary job of the God of Thunder. Times being what they are, most giants have learned to leave Asgard alone with the exception of giant extremists such as Surtur the Magnificent (see below).

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This does not mean threats at home are insignificant. The Mistress of Hel, the sorceress Karnilla, and the crafty Prince of Asgard, Loki have all been implicated in plans against the throne of Asgard. However, they manage to find loopholes allowing them to continue to plot against the throne even while being thwarted. This is at least 30% of your job duties.

Being an Avenger: At least some of the time, you will be relegated to Midgard.

Thor participates in the Norse Penance Program of being a part-time member of the superhuman defense group called the Avengers. Since Loki was the catalyst to creating the Avengers, Asgard has been involved in a form of restitution where Thor provides services on Earth in return for not being liable for any damages caused by the Prince of Asgard.

These duties are usually light, rarely requiring your full capacity as a Thunder God. Being the physical cornerstone of the group affords you significant perks in the Avengers and every so often, a significant threat to Asgard has been detected in relationship to such an association with this human funded group. (See: Korvac/Michael; The Mad God Thanos) This can be anywhere from 5% to 25% of your job duties as needed.

Cosmic Ambassador of Asgard: In recent years, this part of the job has been relegated to fellow wielder of the Thor power, Beta Ray Bill.

When engaged, you may find yourself engaged in pitched battles against foes whose powers rival or even exceed your own. You will find these missions extraordinarily exciting and wish you could spend more time there before returning to Asgard. But return you must.

Foes discovered there will most likely follow you home to continue your mortal struggles, mostly because they find so little challenge where they live. Repelling such threats will take up about 10%- 25% of your job.

Other job duties will include:

Repelling of the Midgard serpent, Jormungand’s attacks at the base of the World Tree Yggdrasil or other parts of the Nine Realms as needed. Rumored to be the son of Loki and thus cannot be killed due to potential scandal.

Checking the chains on the Wolf of Asgard, Fenrir who cannot be killed due to his invulnerability and another possible relationship to the Prince of Asgard, Loki.

Trash incineration using heavenly lightning discharges twice a month or as assigned.

Job Requirements:

This is a job that will require presence: You must be able to be intimidating just by being in the room. You have some cachet already being able to wield Mjolnir, but if studying you is a journey into mystery or you are able to confuse the King of Asgard as to your identity, this is an assured bonus. If you can beat the Odinson senseless with his former hammer, so much the better.

Excellent fighting skills: You should have the fighting capacity to hold your own against the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, Asgard’s prime defenders of the Realm with any weapon, under any conditions. These champions have been defending Asgard for centuries! There will be a performance exam even if you pass the worthiness requirements. Without these skills, the threats of the Realm Eternal, even armed with Mjolnir will simply be greater than you can handle.

Knowledge of the Nine Realms: You should be able to navigate the Nine Realms without a map because Mjolnir will allow you to travel to realms beyond our own. Extra-dimensional travel should hold no fear for you.Being lost in the Negative Zone does not distress you in any way. Experience with the Dark Dimension and its hordes, the Mindless Ones fills you with battle lust and the desire for combat against nigh-indestructible enemies.

Job Perks: Being the God of Thunder does come with a considerable number of perks.

The primary perk being the use of the most puissant of weapons, Mjolnir. The short handled warhammer has several abilities which make it one of the most powerful weapons in Asgard.

The warhammer enables the wielder to fly at incredible speeds both on planet and in space. It has, in the past, been capable of interstellar flight as well.

It may be thrown with incredible force and will return to the wielder after striking a target. Few things can prevent it from returning.

Even the might of the Greek All-Father, Zeus, could only impede it for a second.

ThorMjolnir100-SummoningAnnual08

It may summon storms and discharge lightning at targets. It may also project a variety of energies and force fields. It may also interrupt electromagnetic phenomenon around it such as magnetism and gravity.

The hammer may not be picked up from the ground by anyone who is not worthy. It becomes immobile and quantum-locked to that location.

However, note that a sufficient amount of ground around the weapon has been moved successfully allowing Mjolnir to be relocated. (See: SHIELD archives)

This job comes with a considerable history of a complex and oftimes confusing realm of science and sorcery. The are the messy squabbles that come with being a member of an immortal family, and though you will bear no blood relationship, your kinship through the power of Thor ensures you will become embroiled either as a proxy or as a tool to powers greater than yourself. You will also become part of a tradition of great heroes who have in the past wielded, even temporarily, the Power of Thor. Use it well. Use it wisely; for glory, for honor, for Asgard!

What happened to the previous Thor? Won’t he be defenseless without Mjolnir?

It is just that you worry about the former Thor; the Odinson has made many terrible enemies during his time as defender of Asgard. While it is true, the Odinson will no longer have the powers of the storm and Mjolnir at his command, the Realm Eternal is confident he will still be a valiant warrior of Asgard.

His battle prowess is legendary. He has served at the vanguard of Asgard defenses for thousands of years. Armed with little more than a steak knife, the Odinson could still defeat an army of giants.

He is still physically the strongest warrior in Asgard. Being both the son of Odin and the Earth Goddess Jord, gives him near-limitless strength and endurance, far beyond even the most battle-hardened Asgardian. Only the All-Father approaches his physical might.

He will still have access to the considerable armory of Asgard and may return to using the Jarnbjorn, a personal weapon from an earlier age. Soaked in the Odinson’s blood, it is capable of damaging even a Celestial in combat.

He will still have his Gauntlets and Belt of Strength, which double his physical strength and striking power. Reserved for situations of extreme duress due to the prolonged weakness after their use.

The Odinson will still have a level of mobility. He has a chariot drawn by two mystic goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, capable of traveling across dimensions and even into space. As an added bonus, they may be eaten and as long as no bones are broken, they will resurrect themselves by the coming dawn.

Fear not for the Odinson, for glory will still be his in combat. Now apply for this position if you dare.

A final note: All enchantments on Mjolnir, both past and present are at the whim of the All-Father and may be added or rescinded without notice. This includes any limitations on the Power of Thor itself such as sixty seconds without Mjolnir causes severe power loss, random worthiness checks or the addition of frail mortal identities capable of being killed. Job offer only valid in the Earth-616 continuity. Marvel Cinematic Universe, Earth-19999, will not be affected by this transition.

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (7)

Posted by Ebonstorm on December 8, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Serial, Short Story. Tagged: 2814-3, antimatter, Dirne, Dirne IV, Faran alb Dine, galaxy, Green Lantern, Guardian Kem, John Stewart, Master Caretaker, Oa, Power Battery, Power Ring, provisional Green Lantern, recruit, telepathy, The Caretaker, The Destroyer, The Entity, The Guardians. 1 Comment

The probe ships of the Prime were immense.

Twice the size of the moon at a quarter of the orbital distance meant they were easily visible from the planet’s surface.

They meant to surprise us. It worked.

But now that I was clear on a plan, I wasn’t about to back down now.

The male Caretaker walked over to us and knelt down before Faran and I. “You have no reason to trust us; we have wronged you and cannot undo what has been done. We are now in need of your assistance. Without it, in a matter of minutes we shall all perish.”

“We are not in a position to absolve you of your guilt, Master Caretaker. As far as helping you, anything we do in the next minutes will be to save what remains of my people and their world. The question should be, can you do anything to help while we attempt to right this wrong?” Faran’s body language spoke of intensity and the line of her mouth seemed grim and determined.

It felt like the wrong thing to say at the moment, but I had to ask, “Do you two have names? If we need to coordinate, I would hate to call you what I think of you.”

The male responded, “You may call us Builder and Destroyer, for that is what we are to our people. She creates the way, and I destroy anything opposing her will.”

The female caretaker laughed out loud, the first sound of levity since our conflict began. “His language is crude, so he barely has words for what we do. I am the Will and the Word, the Shaper of Worlds, the Creator of Truth, and he is, in our language, the Breaker of Laws, the Unrelenting Force, The Soul of Destruction. Those would be closer to our true names.”

I pinched the nerve between my eyes trying to forestall a headache. All the aliens in the universe, and I get the poet conquerors. “Destroyer and Builder it is, then. Not against poetic license but shorter callsigns are better.” The Destroyer smiled while he looked at his sister. The more dire the situation, the happier these two seemed to get.

It was good to see everyone so upbeat, so I went ahead and asked the question that needed asking, “What’s the plan? How long can we expect them to wait before attacking us?”

Builder seemed to look skyward toward the new twin moons and then she said, “They will be another half hour, in your time, before they fully appear in our space. They are currently in two locations, one there, the other here. Their causality drive will eventually complete the transition and then they will be fully here and able to unleash their abilities upon this world.”

“How are they able to communicate with us?” one of Faran’s choir piped up from behind the group. A short fellow who up to this point had said very little other than being a voice in the energy-dampening song heard earlier.

Builder answered “When we expanded your awareness, and made it possible for you to see them, the trace was able to be formed because your awareness was untrained and left a reality trace they could use. Following this disruption, they were able to send communication directly into our minds.”

“Reality trace?” It was clear this guy was a scientist. That wasn’t the first question on my mind.

“Our abilities allow us to transcend much of what you call reality, in a fashion similar to the Oan omniweapon. We have the ability to view our universe without affecting the quantum layer of reality. Our ability allows us to see reality without affecting it. Unfortunately we do this without conscious effort and by expanding your senses, we forgot you still believe the universe responds to quantum interaction. You saw them, and by seeing them, affected them and allowed them to follow you. But don’t be upset, they were on their way here. The energy output and signatures of the Guardians War of Light convinced them we might be here and they were already altering their course to investigate.”

The Destroyer added, “They were unsure if we were all here, so they only sent two probe ships to check. If they were completely certain, more, many more would have arrived. Our best hope lies with deception.”

I think I understood what he meant, but this would require someone on the front lines. “You want to convince them you two were the only one’s here and move your people while they verify.”

“Very good, John Stewart, our battle together has given you new appreciation for deception. For our plan to work, it will require the ultimate sacrifice. We will have to engage them.”

Faran and her choir looked at me. I knew my duty, I would not allow them to come to further harm. “How would that even be possible, you said they weren’t all here yet?” I was still trying to catch up to science in the conversation.

Another member of the choir spoke this time, a woman, her voice, soft and lilting but filled with the authority of her understanding. “They are using a technology which allows them to violate what we believe is a principle of the universe, that an object can only be at one place at one time. But for them, that is not necessarily true. While they are transitioning, they are in both places and yet in neither completely. What the Destroyer is suggesting is we destroy the space-time region they are attempting to occupy and snap them back to the spot from whence they came. They will have to recalibrate their technology and during that time, the Builder will be able to transfer her people.”

Apparently shocked by the level of understanding the Builder approached the choir and stood in front of them. She made a gesture of obeisance “We have done a great wrong by you, my children. We will make it right. John Stewart, I will need your ring.” She held out her hand and I placed my hand in hers. Our hands began to glow and my ring glowed even brighter. “Your ring’s recharge is keyed to a somatic, sonic litany. Please utilize it now.”

I looked at Faran and bade her to come close, putting her ring next to mine and began: “In brightest day, in blackest night, let no evil escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light.” I felt my ring charge instantly. This was no ordinary charge either. This was an amplified thing, similar to the effect given when a Blue Lantern was nearby. My ring was supercharged.

“Now, you and my brother must go. The work being done now must be done by scientists. She reached out to Faran and took her hand.”

I reminded her, “You’ll need a connection to the Great Battery of Oa.”

With her entire body glowing with the green power she replied casually, “I have it.”

I have to ask one more time. “Will it provide the computational capacity necessary? Without hurting anyone, without damaging the Battery or the Lanterns dependent on it?”

“Yes.” Then she began reciting some complex mathematical formula which began to form in the air around her and Faran’s family chorus. In a matter of minutes the air rippled with scientific symbols I had no chance of understanding. The Destroyer and I took to the skies as his power seemed to renew and he matched me easily.

My ring chirped “Incoming priority signal from Oa.” Don’t have to guess who this is…

“2814-3, this is Guardian Kem. Your ring is engaged in an unauthorized connection, access and utilization of the Great Battery’s resources. Your computations encroach upon classified Guardian projects and indicate you are potentially being compromised by an outside agency. You will respond at once!”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “This is John Stewart sector 2814. I am activating my Honor Guard protocol for access to Oan resources on a priority one mission to save an entire species and their respective planetary biosystem. The planet is about to be under attack from a Guardian level threat. Please allow the computations to continue unabated.”

Guardian Kem barely batted a metaphysical eye before responding in my mind, “That cannot be allowed to continue. These calculations indicate the possibility of an energy release capable of rendering the entire Dirne star system and twelve nearby stars, physically unstable enough to rewrite local physics.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your allies are about to negate physics making it possible to bypass fundamental laws of the local universe, processes like gravity would simply cease to exist. Without the fundamental force of gravity, stars expand unchecked, their fusion processes could be interrupted or they may even explode if instead gravity increases. Matter as you understand it may simply cease to exist. You have no idea why or how they are doing these things. Regain control of your ring at once.”

“I can’t do that.” All I can see is Xanshi in my mind, millions of voices shouting out because I did nothing. Could do nothing to save them. Not this time.

“You can’t or you won’t?” The tone of the conversation had turned unpleasantly confrontational. Guardian Kem had the sound of someone about to do something rash.

I’ve had about enough of this. “I won’t. Furthermore, you haven’t even listened to why I’m doing this. You sit on Oa and backseat drive while I have to risk my life making a judgment call about a threat you probably have known about for centuries but didn’t see fit to even brief me on before sending me on this mission. If I go into the Book of Oa, would I find an entry on the Prime, their super-galaxy, their ability to create energies similar to the Green Power, their ability to alter reality on a scale similar to your own? I bet I would. So before you berate me or threaten to turn off my ring and abandon me here, how about putting your immortal super-powerful brain in my shoes and make a decision on something other than the immoral calculus of what’s best for the Guardians and instead think about someone else for a change? Isn’t that why you put us out here because you lack the emotional capacity to care about anything? Does that even include us?”

There was no response from the ring as we exited the atmosphere and increased our speed and our approach to the Prime world-weapons. They would be fully realized in less than ten minutes. We had ten minutes to destroy two objects with the subjective power of the Great Battery of Oa.

The Destroyer increased his speed and telepathically reached out to me. “Your masters limit your capacities while claiming you use the most powerful weapon in the universe. Have you ever truly used your ring in a way that utilized what you know, what it knows and what you could truly do if your capacities were unleashed? You use your weapon as little more than a club to beat your enemies to death using radiation or kinetic energy transformation. Have you ever wondered what could be done if you simply forgot what you know and became one with the power itself? Allowed it to suffuse your body, your mind, expanding your physical and mental capacities? Or is your training designed to limit your capacities for development?”

I thought about the question and I considered how we trained new Green Lanterns, basically the same way we have always done, project your will, envision a physical thing from your culture, from your worldview and recreate it using the Green Power. Was there another way?

The Destroyer began to glow with an energy level similar to when I first met him. He continued, his telepathic voice more resonate as he became the power he truly was, “The answer is one you need to find in the next two minutes because despite what your masters believe, wielding what you believe to be the mightiest weapon in the universe will not be enough. Your ring is a toy we give to our children.”

His last transmission to me was not inspiring. “You will have to do better than that.”

My ring decided to share the final bit of good news for the day. “Your connection to the Great Battery is being prioritized for shutdown. It will take ten minutes for the shutdown to propagate to our location. In ten minutes you will have no powers at all… This shutdown will include all copies of your ring made in the last 24 hours.”

Yep. Good news.

John Stewart, Green Lantern® and all related properties are trademarks of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (A Time Warner Company)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (6)

Posted by Ebonstorm on December 1, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Serial, Short Story. Tagged: 2814-3, antimatter, Dirne, Dirne IV, Entity, Faran alb Dine, galaxy, Green Lantern, John Stewart, meteor, Oa, Power Battery, Power Ring, provisional Green Lantern, recruit, smart missiles, Stratofortress, telepathy, The Caretaker, The Entity, The Guardians. Leave a comment

“Not gonna happen. Not on my watch.” My ring echoed my resolve and I could feel it repeating the transmission to the Oa. Help wasn’t going to arrive in time, and I knew it.

The Caretaker looked up at me and while I could sense her hesitation, I also felt her steeling herself for a potential confrontation. “You don’t understand, John Stewart. Without them, your people, your galaxy is at risk. How can you deny us what we have created, nurtured, bred, and cultivated for our use?”

“These aren’t dairy cows. You aren’t milking them. You are harvesting sentient beings and turning them into what? Punch cards for your cosmic computer? You have already killed billions? You expect me, us, to stand here while you finish up? What’s for dessert?”

The more malevolent of the Caretakers apparently aware of the loss of his bonds, began to glow again. I cautioned Faran against doing anything yet. I had to ask a few more questions before more fighting started. The next time we fought, someone was going to die, so I wanted to have exhausted every possibility.”

“John Stewart, do you know why we requested you for this mission?”

“Requested me?”

“Yes, we made subtle suggestions to the Green Lantern who received our request that you be assigned. He will have no memory of this but you were chosen.”

Okay, I’ll bite. “Why did you call for me specifically?”

“Because you were once the only human to ever have the responsibility of a Guardian, of a Caretaker, to be responsible for billions of lives to live or die because of your decisions. I chose you because I believed you would understand our dilemma.”

Faran alb Dine put her hand on my shoulder and I wasn’t sure whether it was to comfort me or to steady me. The memories of that time were part of the chronal disturbances, partially from another continuity, maybe part of this one, I could no longer remember. Only those with the consciousness able to transcend time and perceive of multiversal existences were even aware of this. I was there and I was a Guardian. The only Human Guardian to ever exist.

I hated it. The responsibility of all those tiny squabbling beings dependent on me to make decisions that affected entire societies on the Mosaic. I loved it. Something outside of the shadow of Hal Jordan. Something he hadn’t done. A road less traveled. Something I was suited to, something where violence wasn’t the only solution to the problem. That’s what was wrong with the Corps right now, we believed every answer came blasting out of the center of a power ring.

I didn’t.

“How many of the Dirne remain in their outer colonies?”

The male Caretaker took a moment and then replied, “Of the four hundred billion existing on twenty different worlds, only eighty billion remain. I have already…harvested… the rest.”

Faran and her chorus gasped and her ring flared reflexively blasting a green energy beam at the Caretaker and his casual tone. He didn’t even bother to deflect the beam, he allowed it to splash harmlessly against his renewed aura.

I turned to the chorus and put my hands out. “I know you are distressed, but if we are to save your people, we have to concede this is a battle we cannot win with violence. What I need from you is your genius and most of all, your hearts. We need something that can save everyone who can be saved. I promise, I will do everything in my power to protect your remaining people. Will you help me?”

No one spoke. Not even a nod. Their tension was palpable. I guess I was going it alone.

“Why do you need the remainder to complete your computation? Isn’t there another way to finish what you started without harvesting the rest of the Dirne?”

“Do you have a computer available that can handle transtemporal calculations, multi-universal deformations caused by fractures in space-time, factoring in dark matter gravitational constants and inflation ratios since the Big Bang?”

“The Dirne have twenty highly sophisticated planets capable of communicating in real time, each a world with advanced computational capacity capable of maintaining their society. Won’t that do?”

The female Caretaker responded as if she had already considered this answer in great detail, “No. We have already included the calculation capacity of the Dirne World-Networks, it amounted to less than twelve percent of the calculation capacity necessary. This includes every possible computational service they have ever created. Utilizing their genome, fully would complete the computations, transformation energy and buffer resources to allow all of my people and their accumulated knowledge to be transferred to our final destination and allowing us sufficient energy to re-establish ourselves without depending on any particular level of resources on the other end. It must also be effective at masking our eventual location, making it impossible for our kind to ever find us, again.”

“What about us?” Faran’s shout surprised me and both of the Caretakers seemed to be a bit shocked as well. “Are we nothing more than a beloved science project, something your people did for a few million years and then once finished, you break our species down into computational matter and leave, for more auspicious waters? What about our hopes and dreams, what happens to what we wanted to become. You may have altered us, but unless you are saying otherwise, we have always had free will, the ability to make our own choices and destinies?”

“You did. We did not alter your ability to make choices. We did not make your sciences, mathematics, art or ambitions. You are as you were intended to be, as your natures intended.” The Caretaker’s voice was calm and almost comforting. The first time he had said anything that spoke of a sense of understanding of his atrocity.

“Then we are your children. How could you do this?”

The female Caretaker strode forward and stood before us. She had taken on the same giant mein as her companion so she had to kneel to touch Faran and I. “Because we have no choice. We are out of time. Behold what we see when we look to the skies.”

The visions filled my head senses I never had, sight beyond sight, sounds beyond my ability to interpret them. I could feel the Caretaker’s mind taking control of my senses, extrapolating the information, mapping our primitive senses to what she could see and hear. She had fourteen senses, she could see matter, energy, dark matter and dark energy, the underpinnings of our universe, the folds of space time, ripples in temporal causality as clearly as I could see my fingerprints on my hand.

I remembered this feeling. And I remembered why I ultimately rejected it.

Then I saw them. A galaxy. Trillions of stars, moving against the flow of the Universe. My God. They could move their stars!

Then she sharpened her focus, ahead of their galaxy was a fleet. Billions of ships.

Ahead of them, robot drones flew forth, seeking…us. Heretics, beings who threw off the yoke of the Battle. The reason we were believed to exist. We cannot go back to this and we cannot bring this to your galaxy.

Do you understand now? Our former allies would burn your galaxy as kindling if it would move them to their next objective. We must not be here, when their probes arrive. Two are already on their way here. Are here, will be here, have already arrived. I must release you, lest your brains burn under the images you have seen. Forgive me.

All six of us were on the ground clutching our heads as our senses reordered themselves. I could still taste the bitterness of the cosmic ether, the folds of space, the ripples of a galaxy moving in unison by the will of the creatures living there.

“I understand, but I still don’t condone what you have done. Nor will I be a party to it. But I do know where we might be able to find a computer powerful enough to allow you to complete your computations.”

“There is no one in your galaxy who could provide us with the computational capacity that would be willing to do so. We have already petitioned the warlords of Colu, whose computers are some of the finest in this galaxy and they refused. Who else can match them in this time sphere or any future one?”

“The one group who would absolutely never help you and who you would never think to ask. The Guardians.”

“They would never agree to help us. They saw us for what we were millennia ago and warned us to stay away from other species in our new home. To avoid their wrath, we have done just that. Now you would ask them to help us?”

“Who said anything about asking…”

“HERETICS OF THE PRIME, PREPARE TO BE JUDGED.”

Two of the alien probes that were leading the alien fleet we saw began to phase into position above Dirne IV.

Rebirth © Thaddeus Howze 2013, All Rights Reserved
John Stewart, Green Lantern® and all related properties are trademarks of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (A Time Warner Company)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (5)

Posted by Ebonstorm on November 29, 2013

In those final seconds, I thought of Xanshi and Katma Tui.

I wasn’t afraid of dying. I was afraid of failing. I promised myself I would never fail someone who needed me again. That’s when I heard it. A low sound, slow, something part music, part song. It had rhythm and it was connected to Green Power as my enslaved ring began to beat in time to the music.

“No. No more gambits for you. Now you die.” The Entity’s black bubble began to squeeze me into a smaller ball. As the ball grew smaller, the song grew louder. It was all around us. I noticed the Entity looking around casually at first but when his bubble didn’t immediately crush me, he became more frantic. My ring began to take over his black energy and return it to the green color.

That’s when I saw them. They had mastered the Ring. The five scientists each with their helmets off, and a green hovering display before them, they floated as a group toward us, Faran alb Dine in the front. She wore the copy of the ring I gave her.

The black bubble flickered and the giant form of the alien shrank down to seven feet. His glow faded. My ring was down to two percent. Two percent was enough. I drained my ring leaving only enough for life support. Two percent of a power ring meant I could lift a destroyer and throw it into orbit. I opted to unleash the energy as a massive wave of pure destructive energy, akin to allowing a sun to appear on the surface of the planet. He went down and stayed down, this time.

What most didn’t understand about the Oan power ring was it had an infinite power because it was linked to the Great Battery. But there was a limit to how much could be used by any individual, and that limiter was decided by the Guardians. This kept Corps members from roaming the galaxy enslaving the people they were supposed to be protecting. Having left my battery on Oa, what I had with me was supposed to last until I got back or called for reinforcements.

I took the third option. I recruited a new Lantern and gave her a portion of my power. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Hopefully there was something left for me to bum a charge.

“Faran alb Dine and company. You certainly know how to make an entrance. Thank you for the timely rescue.”

“It is our pleasure John Stewart. It was as we expected, we were certain we could interrupt his access to his energy by disrupting the power interface within his body. Since the power he used is similar to the energy technology we use, we created a dampener with this copy of your ring.”

“Not my ring any more. It is yours, if you will have it, Faran.”

“It is not a decision I can make singularly. My family must be consulted.” Faran turned to look at the rest of the scientists still monitoring and tweaking their construct equipment. All nodded in assent.

“Good, we are in agreement. Now I need a favor, as a provisional Green Lantern, I need to pull rank on you and bum a bit of a charge to phone home and take our prisoner back to Oa. Tell me you aren’t using up everything I left behind with you.”

“We would like to say that, but it wouldn’t be quite true. It took a greater effort to master the ring than we thought and we squandered quite a bit of the energy. We have sufficient to continue dampening his powers, but not much more than that.”

“Anything is better than nothing. I am running on fumes here.” Faran held out her ring and the two rings touched exchanging a measured amount of energy.

“Anomaly detected. Emergency protocol. Power reserves at eight percent.” The ring reawakened reported its status. An arrow pointed toward our unconscious enemy. I grabbed the rock below the ground and shaped it into a cage, and extruded it onto the surface sealing him within it. Without powers, he should be safe there for a minute.”

“He is not the anomaly, John Stewart. It lies below.” Farad pointed to the original crater created by the first antimatter explosion. A tiny spear of light had formed in the center and was growing brighter.

The Entity stirred within his cage. His blows shook the stony walls, each blow stronger than the last.

“Are you still dampening his powers?”

“Yes, but our scans detect he is changing the focus of his abilities. He is decreasing his projection of his powers and increasing his physical capacity. It will take a few minutes before he is able to break through your fortification. But only a few minutes.”

“Then let’s wrap this up. Ring, open a channel to Oa. This is John Stewart, 2814-3 requesting immediate, priority one support on Dirne IV. Please respond.“

Nothing. “Ring clarify you have a connection and repeat message.”

“Connection cannot be established. Our signal is being blocked. Attempting to compensate.” I looked at Faran and her look said no, it isn’t the Entity. The cage was starting to shake and fractures were forming. I didn’t like where this was going.

“Without access to his interface, is he vulnerable to direct applications of the ring?”

“Are you asking me, would you be able to kill him?”

“Yes.”

Faran responded with a tentative “Yes.”

“Before you pass judgement, Master Builder, would you like to hear the entire story. My brother left out several very important parts.” The spear of light from the crater grew brighter and wider until it filled the entire crater. A beautiful Dirne female floated out of the pit, wearing flowing robes of black smoke.

“No family resemblance.”

“We are brothers and sisters by adoption, not by plasm. Will you stay your hand?”

“Tell him to stop doing that. It makes me nervous.”

“Release him, you will come to no harm. You have my word.”

“How much is that actually worth? I am standing on a dead planet which used to have fifty billion people living here. How do I know you won’t just vaporize us with the same powers he used?”

“I don’t have those powers. My gifts lie elsewhere. He will be still and your apprentice still binds his abilities. Well done, young one.”

No distress call, no cavalry, no more tricks; nothing but good will and rapidly diminishing power supplies. “Good will it is, then. I’ll let him go.”

Reaching into the rock, I reshaped its structure and released the Entity. His posture was one of attack and the body he wore appeared to be made of the rock I made into his prison.

“My brother told you of our origins, but he neglected to tell you everything. What he told you was designed to frighten you. The truth is more terrifying.” She floated down to her brother, placing her hand on his shoulder. They spoke softly for a moment before her telepathically augmented voice was heard again. “We are from a super-galaxy very far from here and we are members of a species who are bred from birth to death to engage in mortal combat with any and all comers.”

Her brother’s eyes shouted rage to me and I floated to be by Faran and her family. I set down on the ground letting the sound of their song, which had never stopped flow over me. It soothed me and centered me. She continued “We left our galaxy millennia ago, sickened by the war and the waste. Consuming our last conquest, we utilized their computational capacity and found a way to leave the galaxy for someplace where we could live quietly in peace. My brother’s people did not want this.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We are a symbiotic species. In our galaxy, warfare was our ecosystem. Species eventually evolved, shared genetic, technological, social and cultural ideologies until the symbiotes became an entirely new species or collection of species. Among our people, I alone realized what this meant. Eventually, our galaxy would evolve into a super-organism nurtured for conquest of all in its path. It would take billions of years but if our species were to continue, it would be inevitable. My parent species wanted nothing to do with this ultimate development and we fled. Our partners, of which my brother was one of, disapproved but lacked the cachet to prevent our choice. We found ourselves here in your Milky Way at the end of our journey.”

Faran spoke up with the next logical question, “Why do you look like a Dirne but call yourself an alien?”

“When we came to your galaxy a billion years ago, the Dirne were a primitive species on a planet that had been struck by a cosmological natural disaster. We suspected it was our transition into the material universe which disrupted a comet and caused your world to be hit. Our transition took thousands of years and when it was complete, the Dirne planet was nearly lifeless, the proto Dirne mutated and dying. Trying to find a new way of life, we infused ourselves into the planet, cleaning up the air, the water and the lifeforms. We slowly augmented the dying Dirne until they would be able to survive on their own. This took millions of years and many of our brethren decided to stay and become the Dirne. They had come to love the peaceful world, the songs of the aquatic Dirne, the simplicity of their lifestyles and slowly we lost ourselves forgetting what we once were. Except for my brother and I. We were the Caretakers.”

“Were you hiding or had you become the Dirne?” I was intrigued despite myself. This may explain the Guardian edict to avoid this star system.

The Entity spoke next. “We had become the Dirne and they were us. There was no separating the two because without us the Dirne would die. A congenital mutation had occurred and would have killed the Dirne without our continual intervention. My sister was the intellect, I was the muscle. She would map and alter the genome of the Dirne and I would implement the changes across the species. We had another motive. We thought one day, others from our galaxy might come here looking for us. Your galaxy would offer them no sport, so they would likely pass it up, unless they detected us.”

“The Guardians and the Corp would never allow rapacious aliens to destroy the galaxy, no matter how powerful you think you are. Now with the Legions of Light out there, we would be a force to be reckoned with.”

“It is good that you are here protecting your galaxy, Master Builder, but if my kind were to come to your galaxy, all of your Legions and all of your Guardians, powerful though they may be, would last one hundred of your years, maybe less. Each member of most of our races are as powerful as your Kryptonians or Daxamites and this is before they utilize our version of the Oan power. Rampant genetic technologies make every one of our people incredibly powerful and destructive. I have weakened considerably over the centuries in my current duties. You would be no match for them. It is your weakness which protects you from our kind.”

“Unless they found you here.” Faran added ominously. “I suspect they have, haven’t they?”

Then it began to make sense to me. “You are destroying the evidence, aren’t you? Erasing any trace you were here…”

The Female hung her head for a second and whispered to her Brother quietly before continuing. “We were concealing our presence but there was more than that. We were using the genome of the Dirne as a computational matrix for the complicated jump necessary to leave your galaxy. The bulk of our people still lie in stasis below the surface of our planet. Though millions of us became Dirne, billions did not. They wait for a day where we can truly be free of our kind who may follow.”

“Let me see if I have this straight: You are liquidating your “project” for its DNA so you can use them for a nav-computer to a new home far from others of your kind. Is that about right?”

“Yes, that would be the sum of it.” The Entity spit while staring daggers at me.

“And how many of the Dirne did you need to complete your computations?”

“Our goal was to relocate to the other edge of the observable Universe, so far from our kind, there would be no chance they could follow.”

“You heard the lady, how many did you need?”

“You don’t get to sit in judgement of us, John Stewart. The Dirne were ours to do with as we pleased, without us they would have been dead millennia ago!” The Entity’s stony eyes glowed brightly as he grew more excited.

“I’m not talking to him. I’m talking to you, Caretaker. Answer the damned question.”

Her robes blew around her and her head hung low. Faran’s chorus stopped singing, perhaps sensing the answer before she spoke.

“All of them.”

Rebirth © Thaddeus Howze 2013, All Rights Reserved
John Stewart, Green Lantern® and all related properties are trademarks of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (A Time Warner Company)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (4)

Posted by Ebonstorm on November 28, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Serial, Short Story. Tagged: A-10 Attack craft, antimatter, cluster bomb, Dirne, Dirne IV, Entity, Green Lantern, John Stewart, Machiavelli, meteor, Power Battery, Power Ring, smart missiles, Stratofortress. 1 Comment

The mistake most people made about the ring is the idea you always know when it’s working.

Most ring wielders didn’t consider this while they were using it. Today, I put the idea of invisibility to the test. There was a reason I opened with an antimatter explosion. It meant the enemy had no idea what I was really doing and gave the false impression I didn’t have anything else in mind. Nothing focuses your mind like avoiding antimatter. Yes, it used a lot of power. Something I could not easily stand to lose.

Against an enemy this powerful, I may as well get the first shot in.

It took two minutes for the Entity that had the signature of the Great Battery of Oa to pull itself together. You can do a lot in two minutes. Floating in the stratosphere, I completed my efforts and scanned the battlefield.

I needed to make sure the creature would be where I wanted him at just the right time. I wasn’t sure if the Dirne could pull off what I needed, so I had to work my fight like they couldn’t. They were scientists, not warriors, I couldn’t depend on them in a fight.

Checking the ring, I was already down to thirty percent of the energy I charged up with and my next efforts would tax me even further. I hoped the Dirne were as good as they said they were or this was going to be ugly and short.

I detected the Entity reforming at the site. As I hoped, the explosion would dig into the crust of the planet but by tailoring the force of the explosion, more was directed upward than down. The crater was four kilometers into the surface of the planet but the entity reformed right over the pit, so what it wanted was, as I suspected, still deeper than that. Good, this would give me time and room to work.

I envisioned a B-52 bomber on a carpet bombing and watched as a Stratofortress appeared in the cloud layer over the site and began dropping its payload. I didn’t expect it to hurt the alien, I expected it to distract it by spreading the damage and keeping it off-balance. The five hundred pound explosives did exactly what I hoped they would do, disrupt the battlefield. This would be good for another thirty seconds. Just needed another two minutes.

Then I heard it’s telepathic taunt. “No stranger to war are you, Green Lantern? Good. It has been a while since I had someone to play with. Let’s play.”

I peeled right as the anti-aircraft fire exploded all around me. It’s using flak? Why? It felt like the real thing, the black smoke and shrapnel tore into my personal force field. Dodging, I began my next assault.

The Stratofortress disappeared as two A-10 flew an X pattern dropping their emerald napalm across the battlefield. I could feel the heat even as high up as I was. I could see the black smoky structures of the flak cannons disappear under the bombing assault. Then both A-10 vanished as ground to air missiles struck them. As I escalated the damage, he was changing the nature of his attacks. He was keeping the battle even. He was toying with me.

The bombing run completed and spent, the A-10’s crashed to the ground as the real things might, hoping they might distract the enemy further. They did exactly what I wanted them to. The wide smoky form had been replaced with a roughly man shaped black cloud, about fifteen feet tall.

No more wispy disjointed vague smoky targets, now a single thing to concentrate on.

Nice. Just needed another minute so. Activating stage two.

Snipers appear on a number of distant hills, each preparing their shot, and I needed to give it to them.

Flying slowly overhead, I increase the strength of my personal shield. “Play? This isn’t a game.” I needed to distract him.

“But it is. You see, where I hail from, we learn war from the time we are old enough to walk. Do you want to hear my story Green Lantern? Or should I just kill you ignorant of what you face?”

“By all means, enlighten me.” Better for me to snipe you while you talk.

“We hail from a galaxy many times larger than yours; a trillion stars would be a conservative estimate. Imagine a galaxy filled with fecund worlds each with life waiting to seek its place in the early Universe. Your Darwin would be pleased to know, such a galaxy would be the ultimate expression of his theorem, ‘Survival of the fittest.'”

He wasn’t letting me get bored while he lectured me. His technique slowly improved, his control of his energies shattered my energy shields and he kept me on the move, just barely one step ahead of him. His speed was steadily increasing. Had to take my shot while I still had one.

“Each of us vying for resources on our home worlds and soon spreading out to take over those worlds weaker than ours. We were a galaxy of supremacists, each sure of our place at the top of the chain of interstellar life. We took no prisoners and for ten million years we waged war.”

Three green constructs appeared, as snipers from Vietnam, with the visual equivalents of .50 caliber sniper rifles. But the payload was more diverse. Smart rounds split and swarmed over the battlefield, some striking, many missing. It split his attention from me while he fought and I used that time to focus my will. All of these were feints, but I was beginning to think he knew this. I had never seen anyone who could fight like this. And I knew some of the best fighters in the business.

“Warfare, it was our milk when we were children, our mechanized worlds of war when we were young, as we aged, we became leaders of battles, generals leading armies of billions. And even in our infirmary, after thousands of years if we were successful, we chose to end those lives in glorious battle as suicide warriors in strikes against enemies which had proven immune to conventional warfare.”

He had the raw power of Kilowog, the ferocity of Guy Gardner, the creativity of Kyle Rayner, he was a maestro of destruction. No more time to play around. It was time to get serious or die.

I created a regiment of constructs to split his attention. Every kind of ordinance I could imagine, everything I had ever seen, anything I thought I had ever wanted on a battlefield, I was going to push my ring to its limits.

“Green Lantern, John Stewart, you are exceeding the energy distribution protocols. At this rate, you will exhaust your ring energy in a matter of minutes.”

“At this rate, we don’t have a matter of minutes. Shut up and pour it on.”

“Override acknowledged.”

My soldier constructs poured on the firepower, their weapons flared with the renewed surge of energy and he was pushed back to where I want him to be. He was on the defensive. His shields were obscuring everything from his line of sight. He never saw it coming.

I took off seconds before the area was pelted by meteors the size of Buicks. They used to be much larger but they lost a lot of weight on their way here. White-hot, each glowed like a star.

Stolen from a nearby meteor swarm, they had been accelerated to ten percent the speed of light. Even a near miss would release megatons of energy. I had to wait until nearly the last second because I didn’t want to spook him.

I rode the shockwave of explosions and the Johnny-come-lately sonic booms from their re-entry. But I was much slower than earlier. No where near fast enough. Miles away, the shockwaves overcame my ring temporarily and I skipped across the tundra, battered, bruised before I came to a complete stop.

I shook my head and looked at my ring. Less than five percent of power remained.

Death from above. Never liked using that trick, but against someone whose abilities acted like a power-ring with ten times my ring’s profile, fighting ring to ring was simply stupid.

Kilowog would call it creative use of my surroundings.

Smoke and ash were everywhere. Radiation levels were elevated and this area would not be a safe place to be for long. My personal force field flickered on and I took to the air to return to the scene of the crime. I surveyed the damage and realized it would take a dozen GLs to correct the environmental damage I caused today.

The smoky form was lying still on the ground and I surrounded it with a prison field to isolate it. I had never seen such a life form before, so I wasn’t sure what it would take to confine it. I just erected the strongest field I could muster.

In hindsight, I realized I made a mistake. The ground beneath me reshaped itself and battered me from behind. Other giant sized fists appeared from the ground and battered me to the ground. I erected shields, none were strong enough. I was kicked around the battlefield like a soccer ball.

“Ring power, down to two percent. Recommend withdrawal.”

“You think? We’re past that.”

A few more seconds and there was no fight remaining in me. Holding me in a hand made of sand and smoke, he held me up to his eyeless face before continuing. “Your Machiavelli was noted to say: ‘Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.’ I have enjoyed our battle, John Stewart, your facility with war, was most excellent. Your species may have lasted a few millennia where we’re from. But you would eventually be killed, because you lack follow through. You assumed a downed enemy was a defeated one; a grave tactical error.”

I tried to refocus my ring, but there was no response.

“Now, now. You’ve provided me with marvelous sport. You used every strategem someone in your position should use, textbook really. Your execution was flawless. You should be proud. Against someone with my background, to even cause me momentary distress is an accomplishment. But you’ve been properly and soundly defeated. Accept your death with the graciousness a great warrior should exemplify. Do you have any last words before you die?”

“Go to Hell.”

Rebirth © Thaddeus Howze 2013, All Rights Reserved
John Stewart, Green Lantern® and all related properties are trademarks of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (A Time Warner Company)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (3)

Posted by Ebonstorm on November 27, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Serial, Short Story. Tagged: Buckminster Fuller, decompression chamber, Dirne, Dirne IV, Earth, ebonstorm, environmental suit, Green Lantern, Green Lanterns, John Stewart, Ring, tachyons, Thaddeus Howze, The Guardians, wormholes. Leave a comment

The green aircraft flew relatively low in the sky, the roar of its engines, the only mechanized sound heard. The craft tore through the thick atmosphere of the now dead planet. No ordinary vehicle, this one was composed of pure will. The will of it’s pilot intent on understanding an enemy before a confrontation.

“Analysis completed. Alien entity appears to be an uncatalogued life form.”

“Just what I wanted to hear. ‘It’s life Jim, but not as we know it.'”

“Please clarify command, John Stewart.”

“Never mind, Ring. A bit of Earth humor. Go on.”

“The scans indicate the creature is primarily composed of interwoven fields of energy with a subatomic structure interacting directly with the fabric of space. There is microscopic particulate matter of an undefined nature which may comprise the physical body of the Entity. “

“Is that how it manages to play havoc with our sensory sweeps. It can decide it’s here one minute and gone the next?”

“Such an unusual physiology gives it unknown capacities regarding its relationship to space-time. Since it is interacting at the Planck level of the of the universe, it may be capable of warping space-time directly.”

“Excuse me Green Lantern? Er, do you have a name?” The Dirne citizen looked pretty indistinguishable from any other member of their species. Bilaterally symmetrical, they appeared cosmetically similar to humans but their physical structure showed generations of genetic manipulation. Their super-sensitive skin was rust colored, with tiny variations too tiny even for the human eye to recognize, but the Dirne claimed they had over five thousand color shade distinctions.

Dirne faces were smooth with only eye indentation and no external ears, their slightly larger heads housed a powerful multi-lobed brain. Descending from an aquatic environment, their entire body was a sensory organ whose collective light absorbing capacity was ten thousand times human acuity. A patch of their skin the size of a dime, could perceive as effectively as a human eye with 20/20 vision and hear as well as a cat, well within the 40,000 Hertz range.

Recorded data storage showed the Dirne wore loose-fitting diaphanous robes, which gave them the ability to perceive each other fully and interpret their changing radiation signatures, another more subtle and yet advanced communication. By vibrating membranes near what humans would call their vocal cords, the Dirne could communicate using sound. Much slower than human speech, their vibrations were rich in nuance, each tone having a specific meaning. To human ears they sounded much like crickets. From inside their environmental suits, they must have been feeling as blind as bats.

“You can call me John. John Stewart of Earth.”

“Please call me, Faran alb Dine. I am the chief engineer of the power facility you rescued us from. We have tried to be patient while you have performed your investigations but I believe we may be able to help. May I interact with that display you are using?”

“Sure. Ring, grant access and create a viable interface for Faran alb Dine and her associates.”

“In progress. Converting visual data. Interface developing. Translating. Complete.”

Faran stared intently and then motioned to her fellows who leaned over from their seats. Stewart altered the information display into a three dimensional structure capable of being seen by everyone. At first silence and then as if an insect swarm had invaded the tiny ship, untranslated chittering commenced.

“Okay, calm down. One at a time. Faran? Something you want to tell me?”

“No, John Stewart of Earth. I do not want to tell you.”

“You can tell me, or I can have the ring go second by second and translate your conversation. As a Green Lantern we record every interaction we engage in. I would prefer you tell me and make it easy for me to understand.”

“How much do you know about your omni-device?” Faran asked.

“The power ring? Enough to use it. Enough to exercise my will over its programming.”

“It’s underlying technology?”

“Honestly, very little. The Guardians are so advanced, their technology might as well be magic to me. We are trained in how to use the ring, what its limitations are, how to get the best performance out of it and how to be the best Green Lanterns we can be. It converts our conscious will into physical intent. The underlying technology only matters to species who can actually understand how it works and even they admit to being a bit baffled at times. So if our problem requires me to understand the fundamental underpinnings of my ring, we’re in trouble.”

“Then I shall endeavor to make this as simple as possible. I recognized the energy signature of the creature because it utilized the same technology we do in our power plants. It used “inflation energy” to power its transformations and destruction in our environment.”

Inflation energy, I remembered being taught the Universe was once smaller than an atom and when it engaged in the Big Bang, it expanded faster than the speed of light. This energy was called “inflation” and as the universe expanded, this was the energy of that expansion. As far as we knew, inflation was still happening, moving everything in the universe farther apart.

This energy would be nigh infinite and inexhaustible. It could also be potentially unstable if not properly understood. A mistake would make an antimatter accident look like Pop Rocks.

“We mastered antimatter, thousands of years ago but to allow us to develop faster than light ships, we needed better and more efficient energy. We crosses the threshold to zero-point energy and this gave us new realms of matter and energy transformations. Though there were minor accidents during the development, within a few lifetimes, we were able to harness these energies with no risk to ourselves or our civilizations. Imagine our surprise to discover others had learned to use similar technologies but not always for beneficial means. The Malthusians were also utilizing this energy and one of them even tried to harness it directly from the First Source.”

She meant the rogue Guardian, Krona. He altered the fabric of the Universe causing rips and shears across time and space distorting and folding the universe in upon itself several times. On Earth, these disruptions caused the parallel universes we are rediscovering. “Those problems were corrected by the Malthusians; we call them the Guardians now.”

Farad’s tone became strident and short. “Those corrections, as you called them, distorted time and space for worlds across our galaxy and my people were nearly wiped out as these perturbations caused our power supplies to become unstable and destroyed entire planets in the wake of that work. We never forgave the Malthu, er Guardians for their hubris and when their Manhunter experiment went rogue we knew we had made the correct choice in avoiding their organizations.”

“What does this have to do with our problem now?”

“On Dirne, we have a saying: ‘A problem not studied is a problem unsolved.’ I shall present you with a conundrum. Compare these two signatures and I shall identify one. This one is your omni-device, your power ring. Note the distinctive and unique energy curve, inflation energy transformation and non-baryonic matter display. Your device converts dark matter and dark energy into a matrix of energy able to be manipulated by your intent. The constructs generated appear to be only as real as the interface user perceives them to be. Each user can affect the underlying reality based on their level of understanding. Since the constructs you create are made from non-baryonic matter, as soon as you stop concentrating on them, they return to their naturally non-material state.”

Wow. A better explanation than the Guardians ever gave. Complete with graphics.

“I think I understand. Each user affects reality based on their understanding of it. If you are not a scientist, you visualize what you want and then the ring attempts to make it happen utilizing the inherent preponderance of dark matter and converting dark energy into conventional energies. The conversion process is normally energetic the same way converting matter into energy produces more energy than would be readily apparent.”

“Correct. Now look at this second signature. Does it look familiar?”

It did. But its amplitude was far greater than anything on the first curve. It was at least one hundred times more powerful. “This can’t be right. Nothing doing this could possibly exist. Ring, confirm hypothesis.” The ring was silent as it ran its analysis and in less than a minute, it’s reply was exactly what I didn’t want to hear.

“John Stewart, the hypothesis is potentially flawed. The Great Battery of Oa has a similar profile and amplitude. Such artifacts would be extremely rare but completely within the potential development of Guardian science.”

“Do you recognize this as a Guardian project?”

There was a pause, perhaps a tenth of a second before the reply: “This information is classified. Any attempt to access such data further will be reported to the Guardians.”

“Now do you understand why we didn’t want to tell you? If we are correct, you are facing a creature, likely of Guardian design, whose capacities dwarf your own. Capable of utilizing constructs and energy conversion technology on a scale ten times your own.”

A timer indicated a two minute countdown to arrival at the predefined coordinates. As the six of them approached the underground facility, they could see spears of smoke forming around the base, forming into more substantial shapes. Humanoids made of grey smoke. They approached the entry points on the above ground station. Doors refused to open preventing the smoke forms access. The smoke tore at the doors and in a few seconds reshaped themselves until they could pry the doors apart.

Sparks flew and the contest between the smoke entities and the security doors was never in doubt.

“Any bright ideas? Now would be a good time.”

“As a matter of fact, we do. But we will need time to implement it.”

“In other words, you need me to stall for time.”

“If we survive, we need to tweak your translation matrix. We need you to “delay the enemy” while we work on a countermeasure to its power manipulation abilities.'”

“Stall for time. How much do you need?”

“At least ten minutes.”

“Stall for time with an enemy at least ten times as powerful as I am. Keep him from noticing you and killing me. Piece of cake.”

“Excuse me?”

“Translation error. Don’t be late.”

John exited the craft after conferring briefly with Farad alb Dine. He floated down to the smoky grey forms attempting to penetrate the security doors. The alien it seemed was all to eager to mock him. “Green Lantern of Earth. Your help has been invaluable. What I seek is buried deep directly below me.”

“Funny. I was hoping the exact same thing.”

I can’t believe I am about to take a page from Guy’s book. On the other hand, a stopped clock can be right twice a day.

With his ring flaring and bleeding wild energy, John Stewart severed the bonds of local matter beneath the creature and inserted antiparticles in their place. The resultant antimatter explosion could be seen from space and liberated a percentage of the atmosphere in the blast; an environmental catastrophe John hoped to repair. If he survived.

The Farad alb Dine and her fellow scientists stopped working; they were at some considerable distance and protected by John’s ship construct, in momentary horror as the light from the explosion ended.

Knowing it would not be enough, they worked feverishly as the wisps of the smoke-like alien began to reform in the tortured ruins.

Jump to Rebirth (Part 4)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (2)

Posted by Ebonstorm on November 24, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Serial, Short Story. Tagged: Buckminster Fuller, decompression chamber, Dirne, Dirne IV, ebonstorm, environmental suit, Green Lantern, Green Lanterns, John Stewart, Ring, tachyons, Thaddeus Howze, wormholes. Leave a comment

The smoke-like entity was all around me. It obscured the stars in a way nothing ever had. I had used my power ring to look through nebulas using neutrinos for a light source. Whatever this was had less substance than that. Yet, I could not see through it using any technology I knew of.

A few seconds later, it vanished. A broad spectrum sweep revealed nothing. No energy, no matter, no signature that it had ever been there. The stars returned and the subspace corridor entry points reappeared to my enhanced senses.

There was nothing but a floating graveyard to ever prove anything was there. And the echo of its pronouncement.

“An incoming signal from the planet is detected on a low frequency wavelength. Translating. Message repeats.”

“…this is an automated distress beacon from Science Station, Toleph, requesting support. Containment has failed. Biohazard threat level is high. Recommend hazardous materials support.”

How convenient. No signals until after the monster left. A trap.

Okay, I’d come this far and still didn’t have any answers. I’d play along. “Erect hazardous material biofilters for all known contagions. Unless otherwise noted assume no planetary materials should come in contact with me. Maintain shield posture.” Shaping my ring aura, I tailored it for maximum efficiency as I sliced through the atmosphere. The temporary heat bloom passed as I appeared over one of the main megacities.

A twenty minute flight into the atmosphere of the Dirne IV did not make me feel any better. I could see the scars of aircraft that tore into the surface of the planet as they fell from the air. Some of the ruins were still smoking. Beyond that, much of the planet’s automated power was still active. The machines of this world lived even if the people didn’t.

There was something that bothered me but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Atmospheric scans didn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary. No pathogens as compared with previous atmospheric surveys. Previous scans of the people of Dirne IV would have had no problems from this current atmosphere. Then I realized what was strange.

I wanted to have a sample of the current citizens and I realized there were no bodies. Not a single one in this city. A circular scan revealed not a single person on the surface of the planet. Broadening the sweep a second scan below the surface revealed isolated pockets of biomatter but only in places with dense materials around them. The closest was from the city right below me.

The biosignatures were from seven kilometers below ground. Even though the atmosphere scans said they were clear, I didn’t want to expose these survivors to whatever killed everyone else on the planet.

“Ring, I want fifteen constructs to find the closest, fastest route to the survivors. I don’t want to have to break any walls, or disrupt any infrastructure that might be protecting them. Get me as close as you can.” The ring responded flaring brightly and shooting fifteen small fireworks out that streaked across the surface attempting to penetrate the ground before disappearing from sight. Looking into the ring, I could see the three dimensional paths each beam took as it moved into the undercity. Only three beams were able to reach reasonably close to the survivors, the others winked out of existence as they failed to get closer.

Scans revealed they were part of a geothermal power team in a hardened underground facility. Sealed during operations and within biosuits to deal with the increased temperatures and pressures, they were twice protected. I could barely scan for them. Which meant whatever killed Dirne IV may not have known they were there.

I ceased my scans. But not in time.

I saw the trailers of the smoke rising from the ground, the same light absorbing vapor I detected in space. Then the ground beneath my feet began to rumble as a massive earthquake tore through the area.

“Quake detected, capacity to destroy hardened underground facility possible in three minutes.”

So much for being subtle. Whatever the hell this stuff was, it wanted everyone on this planet dead. Launching myself into the air, I envisioned a reinforced tunnel straight to the powerplant. Something that grew stronger as pressure increased on it; something Buckminster Fuller could appreciate. The chamber formed below me, I used the power of the earthquake to my advantage since it was destabilizing the planet, I didn’t have to tunnel so much as simply wedge it open and keep it that way. I saw the structure necessary and built it, reinforcing it as needed. A second tendril small and fast maintained a lock on the technicians. They were running to a transport system hoping to outrun the quake.

Not gonna happen, gents. Somebody wants you dead.

We raced through the crust of the planet. It was all around me, but it didn’t attack. It’s focus was solely on the Dirne below us. I couldn’t keep using its disruptions. I was already pushing my power, six kilometers into the surface of the planet, the pressures were immense. But whatever I was racing had not let up it’s assault. My ring detected quake forces at eight point five and climbing. The engineering of the Dirne must have been fantastic, because the site was still holding up. But no matter how good they were at building, most materials began to tear themselves apart at forces above nine point five.

I was going to have to take the lead. My ring was already pushed to the limit and I felt the feedback common to reaching one’s limits. Pinpoints of sweat formed on my forehead. Fighting with constructs in space is easy. Nothing to get in the way. Tunneling through planets at kilometers below the surface was a completely different experience.

You had to keep track of the matter, the forces, the shearing stresses and create a means to compensate for them. I knew this math intuitively being an architect, my ring translated my knowledge into reality as I add a second beam to the tunnel, blasting through the crust with a drill construct, grinding up the matter and using it as a power source to push faster than the planet disrupting shockwaves of the Entity.

I was slowly moving ahead of it. I was six seconds, seven seconds, eight seconds ahead. The power plant was underneath me. My power broke through the ceiling of the plant and I targeted the Dirne below. My drill became a spring loaded grapple shooting out to grab five of the six. One of them had already managed to make it the underground tram and was about to leave his fellows behind.

Couldn’t reach him in time and save the others. Made my choice.

As I pulled the others back toward my tunnel, I could feel the creature arrive on the scene and black smoke speared toward the tram. It tore through the metal and grabbed the Dirne. It swirled around him as if seeking weaknesses. I pulled the other survivors up the corridor allowing it to collapse behind them. I left only the tiniest bit of my green power behind to observe the Entity. The rest of my will was focused on maintaining the environmental conditions necessary to keep the Dirne from being overcome by the rapid change in pressure. I surrounded them in a bubble which acted as a decompression chamber. I depended on the ring to provide the metrics to keep them alive while I focused on collapsing the tunnel.

With the fragment of my consciousness remaining, I viewed the last Dirne as the smoke penetrated his suit and stripped the flesh from its internal skeleton. Seconds later, it consumed the skeleton and the suit behind it to escape. Then the form coalesced from around the room and then speared toward my sensor and the path created by my will. I didn’t intend to be here when it reached the surface.

Pulling the environmental bubble behind me, I put some distance between the surface and the Entity. I could feel the life energies of the survivors through the ring’s feedback. They had questions, but I didn’t have time to answer them. I reshaped their life support field into a superfast aircraft. Hal might be able to do this faster, but right now I was motivated and I kept several designs in my ring for just this occasion. Seated in the center of the ship construct, I punched it and headed toward the distress signal on the next continent at twelve times the speed of sound. Only inertial dampening kept us from being crushed like bugs on a windshield.

Instead, it felt like a boot from a giant.

The city vanished below the horizon in ten minutes. I altered course since I wasn’t sure whether the Entity had any idea of where I was going next. I kept my signature low and reduced my power output until I could shield us completely and reduced our output signature. We became a ghost in the air, using no more ring energy than necessary.

Once the Dirne were properly pressurized, I ditched the environmental bubble, but told them to keep their suits on. I replenished their air supplies and had the ring repair any damage to their suits. To keep our energy output low, I landed in the snow and created a sled big enough to carry us and the accompanying dogs necessary to drag us where we wanted to go. We moved fast and below the radar. I didn’t reduce speed until we were near the facility.

Unlike the megacity, this appeared to be a tiny outpost at the polar cap, a nasty environment, too. Below zero temperatures, strong winds, and blinding snow. I didn’t think we would be able to see anything until we got close to the site.

We were wrong. Fires raged across the landscape and glowed brightly through the falling snow. A black smoke speared scattering Dirne-shapes in the light of these fires.

Pinned to the ground, their screams were cut short as they were turned into piles of black ash.

We were too late. The smoke coalesced and shot off into the distance. Toward another location I detected earlier. It used me.

I hated to be used. Being a Green Lantern meant we liked to take the high road, remain civilized, and resolve difficulties between species in a civil fashion.

I was so past that.

“Who here wants a little payback?”

I waited for the ring to translate. Some ideas didn’t translate well and you ended up getting responses from amusement to outright confusion.

Standing around in the burning facility with piles of ash where Dirne used to be, must have added the right context.

Five hands shot up.

I made the fastest ship I could think of.

Jump to Rebirth (Part 3)
Rebirth © Thaddeus Howze 2013, All Rights Reserved
John Stewart, Green Lantern® and all related properties are trademarks of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (A Time Warner Company)

Rebirth: John Stewart of Earth (1)

Posted by Ebonstorm on November 23, 2013

Posted in: Comics, Fan Fiction, Uncategorized. Tagged: Astronomical Unit (AU), Dirne IV, ebonstorm, Green Lantern, Green Lanterns, hyperspace corridor, John Stewart, Ring, tachyons, Thaddeus Howze, wormholes. 3 Comments

My name is John Stewart. I am Green Lantern of sector 2814.

Wait, let me rephrase that.

I am one of four Green Lanterns for this sector. The best known is Hal Jordan, the most obnoxious is Guy Gardner, the most powerful is Kyle Rayner. I am the other Lantern.

Rarely talked about except in certain circles. But I don’t mind. Earth isn’t the only game in town, anymore. Out here, where the stars grow far apart and civilization is hard to find, everyone likes to know there is a bit of order in a chaotic universe.

People call us space cops, but we are more than just cops. We are the Peace Corps helping people improve their chances at civilization in an increasingly hostile universe. We are the Red Cross bringing aid to planets in need, repairing damage caused by natural phenomena. While we don’t provide financial aid, the rings allow us to help with rebuilding efforts, for the few Lanterns with any architectural talent. When the times demand it, we are the Marines; first on the beach bringing the pain to invaders who would trade in sentient life, steal necessary resources or even entire planets.

I’m not complaining either. To paraphrase the only credible line from Sergeant Apone in Aliens: A day in the Green Lantern Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal’s a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I LOVE the Corps!

If we only actually got paid. The Guardians think the privilege of being a member of the greatest law enforcement agency in the galaxy is reward enough.

And damn their little bald blue heads, they’re right.

I wouldn’t trade this job for a barrel of gold monkeys.

Maybe for two barrels. Okay, three barrels, for sure.

I once thought I was the most likely of the four to stay on Earth. After the Color Wars, I realized I didn’t have much left holding me there. Being a bit of a workaholic, I directed my energies into the only thing I had left. I know what you’re thinking. I could have given up the ring. It’s not like there weren’t already enough GLs out there to do the job. Seventy two hundred Green Lanterns and a smattering of others Color Corps out there doing whatever their rings and their disposition allowed.

Space is big. Plenty of room out here. Too much space to be flying around and hoping you are going to run across anything by accident. Star Trek spoiled the hell out of me. Had me thinking I would just run across something every week. Not a chance. Space is like an ocean without a border. You don’t run into anything out here by accident.

I collapsed the four dimensional construct I had been sitting inside of floating above Oa. After what we’d been through recently, I needed to be close to Oa, but not too close. I was about ready to take my show on the road again. Policing the spaceways required technology, time and patience. I spent the last week in meditation on my planetary buoys in the inhabited star systems in 2814.

I created this system, allowing me to monitor activities across my entire sector without having to spend too much time wandering around. These were more useful when I was spending more time on Earth, but there’s no reason they can’t be as useful now. I designed the first one while I was on Oa with Salaak, back when I first became a Lantern. Back in those days, the Guardians monitored space using their big blue brains and just told us where to go.

Didn’t seem very efficient to me. I also wondered what would happen if the Guardians were to go on vacation, or got an attitude, or decided to spend a week in the bathroom. Space is so big, it simply didn’t make sense to me how we could cover such a wide area, even with the capacities of the ring, it took time and effort to reach distant locations at the edge of your sector.

Seeding these self-replicating drones across the sector, each could monitor inhabited worlds and report back to Oa using entangled communications, instantaneous, no matter how far apart they were. It took years to seed the planets but I thought it was worth the effort. While the Guardians won’t admit to it, I figured out my designs were becoming standard issue in the new Corps.

The signal relay technologies were invisible to most planetary star systems and those with the capacity to find them were asked if they wanted the support of the Corps. If they said no, we didn’t seed their worlds and would respond to requests, as fast as we were able, once we learned of their dilemma. It could take weeks, or months. If you lived on the fringe of our sector system, it might take up to two years using our fastest technology.

Today, it appeared one of those worlds wanted to chat. Half a dozen years ago, Dirne IV had originally refused our request to seed their planet. Three years later, something changed, perhaps local politics and a request for a signal relay was made and granted. I used to fly by when time permitted and their worlds always seemed peaceful and prosperous. I received the message from one of the new Guardians who politely requested I head to Dirne IV and investigate a planet whose technology would have made them a galactic power, if they weren’t so isolationist. The case seemed different than the standard ‘protect my planet from this incursion, Green Lantern‘ mission so common to our duty roster.

These were the missions I enjoyed the most. I love ring-slinging as much as the next Lantern. I think I was made for more than that, though. Diplomatic missions, science, and investigation ranked higher on my list than our standard, ring ‘construct: mace’ bash alien head. Can’t head out without a full charge. Never knew who you might meet. Reaching into my subspace pocket, I pulled out my Lantern. I could mooch from the prime battery on Oa but I was just not feeling all that social today. Everyone was still raw from the Darkest Night. Getting off of Oa was just what I needed.

“In brightest day, in blackest night, let no evil escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”

Putting my lantern back, I located a hyperspace corridor heading to Dirne IV. There were several in that area, the star system of the Dirne ran through a cluster of populated worlds several light years apart.

The hyperspace corridor I used criss-crossed my sector at various points and was faster than making my own wormholes. Used less energy too. Dropping out of the hyperspace lane and what I saw was wreckage; tens of thousands of ships. I also couldn’t orient myself visually. The star Dirne Prime was not visible, but its gravitational tug was evident. In fact, no stars were easily visible, as if I was seeing them through a smoke or particulate matter.

“Ring, activate defense protocols. Extreme configuration. Cloak against broad spectrum EM detection.”

“Personal shield, layered, cloaking field activated.”

“Run a covert, tight beam sweep of the area, out to maximum in system range of 5 AU, short range scan first. No tachyons. At the first indication of activity, drop sweep and range to target.”

“Acknowledged. Such a slow sweep will take hours.”

Looks like we missed the party. “We’ve got time.”

The hyperspace corridor was a construct designed to let ships enter Dirne space at this location. Judging from the debris, the Dirne had blockaded this point. I recognized the Dirnese ships from the Oan database. It’s what I didn’t see that worried me more.

There were ships everywhere, but none of them belonged to the enemy.

Whoever did this didn’t lose a ship.

I stole a bit of scanning bandwidth back from the ring and listened on what would be local com traffic. Nothing but silence. I swept the entire spectrum and the only thing I found were data-drive satellites attempting to share their collected with the ground computers. Nothing on the ground moved either.

The planet, Dirne IV was silent as the grave.

Then I had a terrible realization. What if this is an internal affair? Maybe there were no alien ships because this was a civil dispute.

“Ring, I need a confirmation and a local scan. Is there any indication there would be another species or civilization’s energy signature, residue, or weapons residue remaining? I need to confirm the hypothesis of this being a civil war? Did these ships destroy each other?”

The ring’s answer was not illuminating, nor satisfying, “while there is evidence of friendly-fire. Ninety-eight percent of these ships were destroyed by a means of energy damage which killed the people, but left the ships behind.”

“What was the last population survey of the planet Dirne IV?” I dreaded the answer. Being able to make this many ships indicated a fantastic infrastructure in this local star system alone.

“They were last surveyed by the Guardians, three hundred cycles ago. The planet below was host to 15 billion sentients. Relatively underpopulated, most of the people living there were engaged in scientific preservation of what is believed to be their planet of origin.” The Dirne had spread throughout this entire star system, taking over the four inner rocky planets and two dozen moons and asteroid bases. The total species population was 438 billion, calculated to a three decimal place margin of error.

Nothing like precision.

My ring continued, “The completed scan of the star system indicates there are no active bases left on the planet and most of the closer worlds are also inactive as well. The farther moons and worlds will take tachyon scans to confirm and are not advised under our low visibility profile. Anomaly detected. Subspace rift, transitioning into c-space.”

“You will find no sign of life anywhere here, Green Lantern of Earth. I have seen to that. A blight on the face of the galaxy has been destroyed.”

There was a reason I didn’t see Dirne Prime. Whatever this object was, it was big, bigger than a planet.

It’s so big it blocks the light of the star. Dirne IV and I are inside of it…

Jump to Rebirth (Part 2)