DROP OF GOLDEN SUN
Chapter Two: Happy When Skies Are Gray
***
DISCLAIMER:
Young Justice is the property of DC Comics. As always, I quote material throughout my works - this chapter: Alan Bloch, Trooper and Our Lady Peace. I don't take any credit at all for the brilliance of others, ladies and gentleman. Wouldn't dream of it. ^_^
A/N:
This chapter's weird, but trust me - stick with it.
I don't usually do this… but the OLP "Molly and Ray" secret song bit needs some explanation. It's hard to express in words, unfortunately. Ray's voice sounds almost as though he's speaking through a tube and Molly sounds slightly distorted with Ray's voice speaking in unison behind hers. The words "Molly" and "Ray" are randomly spoken in the background all the while in Ray's voice. (Ray here is obviously not YJ Ray. However, the theme and same name fit perfectly - how can I not use it?) ALSO, there's no inside information (as far as I know) to the bit. You're just meant to hear/read it and make your own assumptions. Creepy, futuristic music is always present, though sometimes it rises to the foreground. There. Hope this helps. Again, no connection to YJ - Our Lady Peace secret song from Spiritual Machines.
Thanks! Reviews always appreciated!
***
"Will Kon's porno obsession be exposed? Will Cassidy and Slobo FINALLY get together? And what happened to that other guy... Roy? Find out this time tomorrow on... Super Vi-"
Cassie, furious, turned off the television. "ACE! First off, my name's Cassandra, NOT Cassidy! Second, SLOBO?! Get real! I-"
"Cassidy, Cassidy…" Ace started, mock-soothing charm.
"CASSANDRA!"
"Cassidy's better." The smiling blond didn't miss a beat.
Scowling, Cassie was interrupted by Impulse - "What about the rest of us? I think my issues with Arrowette are WAY more important than Kon's obvious porno problem and a FICTIONAL thing between Cassie and-"
"Details, details…" Ace gave an indifferent, dismissing gesture that matched his tone, cell phone to his face.
***
[Eerie music, futuristic feel]
Ray: Anyway, you do look amazing.
(Molly)
Molly: You say that every time we meet.
(Ray)
R: I mean, you look twenty again, only more beautiful than at the start of the book…
(Molly)
M: I know that's how you'd want me.
(Ray)
R: Ok, you were an attractive young woman when I first met you… and you still project yourself as a beautiful young woman… at least when I'm with you…
(Molly)
M: Thanks.
(Ray)
[Later in discussion]
R: Are you saying your a machine now?
(Molly)
M: A machine? That's really not for me to say. It's like asking if I'm brilliant or inspiring…
(Ray)
R: I guess the word "machine" in 2099 doesn't have quite the same connotations as it does here in 1999.
(Molly)
M: It's hard for me to recall now…
[Music again]
(Molly)
M: I'm really just dabbling, but creating music is a great way for me to stay close with Jeremy and Emily.
(Ray)
R: Creating music sounds like a good thing to do with your kids, even if they are almost 90 years old - so, can I hear it?
M: Well, I'm afraid you wouldn't understand it.
R: So, it requires enhancement to understand?
(Molly)
M: Yes, most art does. For starters, there are symphonies and frequencies that a mosh can't hear and it has too fast a tempo and it uses musical structures a mosh could never follow.
R: Can't you create art for non-orgmantic humans - I mean, there's still a lot of depth possible. Consider Beethoven… he wrote almost two centuries ago and we still find his music exhilarating.
(Molly)
M: Yes, there's a genre of music - all the arts, actually - where we create music and art that a mosh is capable of understanding.
(Ray)
R: Then you play mosh music for moshs?
(Molly)
M: Hm - now there's an interesting idea… I suppose we could try that… although moshs aren't all that easy to find anymore. It's really not necessary though - we can certainly understand what a mosh is capable of understanding. The point, though, is to use the mosh limitations as an added constraint.
R: Sort of like composing new music for old instruments.
(Molly)
M: Ya… new music for old minds…
[More music]
(Ray)
R: Maybe we should kiss goodbye…
(Molly)
M: Just a kiss?
(Ray)
R: We'll leave it at that for this book… I'll reconsider the ending for the movie…
(Molly)
M: Here's my kiss - now remember… I'm ready to do anything or be anything you want or need…
R: I'll keep that in mind…
(Molly)
That's where you'll find me.
(Ray)
R: Too bad I have to wait a century to meet you.
M: Or to be me…
(Ray)
R: Yes, that too…
[Pause]
R: Actually, Molly… there are a few other questions that have just occurred to me… What were those limitations you referred to? … What did you say you were anxious about? … What are you afraid of? … Do you feel pain? … What about babies… and children?
[Pause]
R: Molly?
- Secret Song from Spiritual Machines, Our Lady Peace (1999)
***
Hazy, miserably feverish haze… overwhelming…
"I had a friend once… but I don't know where he went…"
Delirious… hearing voices… half dreaming…
"He just wasn't there anymore - inside. Where did he go?"
Burning… dizzy… overwhelming…
"I just couldn't get him started again. Couldn't turn him back on."
***
Ray stood frozen, the metallic and deathly sharp needle just touching his throat… now remembering a very short space science fiction by Alan Bloch. A robot befriends a man only to accidentally kill him without even realizing so, ignorant of the difference between man and machine. After all, what would a robot understand of death? What would be the robotic perspective of such an occurrence? "I just couldn't get him started again. Couldn't turn him back on…" Or maybe…
OW!
Needle to his neck, the creature's gold-gray gaze drilling intensely into his own and Ray realized to his horror… a robot could never understand mortality - the awing concept of life and death. How could it value life if death didn't exist for it? It was micro millimeters from ending his existence and probably didn't even realize.
As for the creature itself, it was indescribable. No concept existing in 2003 could explain such an appearance - such a foreign, futuristically metallic appearance. It wasn't human, but it wasn't necessarily a robot or cyborg either. It was… something absolutely unknown. Hundreds of thousands of years had to pass before something of the sort was even imaginable. How could he ever hope to describe it? From what served as its hand had instantly and alarmingly shot the needle, aimed at his jugular.
After further intense silence, the creature made some indescribable sounds. At least they seemed to come from somewhere within the creature… Oh GOD. If it was trying to communicate he was absolutely screwed. Silence and then the sound continued, impossible to describe but static-filled. Was that futuristic static?
Suddenly, strange new sounds from somewhere else. Risking a glance out the corner of his striking green eyes, Ray could just make out a second being, slightly different, fumbling with something unrecognizable by 21st century standards. It appeared to be… scanning him? Not like Star Trek or anything of the sort… but the concept was somehow there. Static noises between the pair now. Though there was absolutely no way to judge their tones or expressions, as both were foreign to him, Ray sensed they were perplexed. And rightly so. HE was probably equally foreign. Oh LORD…
"Fhk yqpx bks?" the second creature seemed to patch into some linguistic technology and attempt to speak to him. It almost sounded like human speech, though it was no language or pronunciation of which Terrill was familiar. In truth, there were no characters, no phonics, for such sounds. What would such a written language look like? It was so outrageously guttural. He had no HOPE of imitating such-
His silence indicated they should trial and error further, a new language coming from the creature - "Pepin kaley quaxer bo?
Closer. He could at least repeat that, minus the accent.
Another attempt - this one sounding almost Spanish!
Ray tried to respond, repeating a few Spanish words he remembered randomly.
Perplexed further. Oh crap. Now they'd experiment with Spanish instead of finding English. Oh GOD, his life was hanging in the balance and he was grasping for straws through a language he couldn't even remember. AH.
They tried a few more languages, one that sounded nearly French - well, not French in word, but French in accent - and he was certain to stay silent. Finally, they touched on something he almost understood - "Kut kar ku?"
It almost sounded…
"Kut kar ku? Kare kid ku kum krum?"
Ray's frightened, very uncertain glance kept passing back and forth between the two creatures, his eyes all that dared to move. The needle was so incredibly close to his throat and more pressure seemed to be applied every instant - in fact, it was honestly starting to hurt beyond tolerance!
"Kut kar ku? Kow kar ku kere? Kare kar ku krum?"
"Kut kar ku kade kuv?" the original creature suddenly interjected.
Staring… gaze never breaking… so intense…
The needle creature unmercifully applied pressure as the other repeated, slow and hard, pronouncing every syllable firmly - "Kut kar ku?"
Ray understood. He actually understood. The static slapped a very hard edge on the first syllable of each and every word… but… it was 21st century English.
"I'm organic." He answered instantly, not knowing where the words came from. Organic? It was hopeless! How could possibly explain his composition to these-
"Krorganic?" the first repeated as the pair exchanged expressions. They were obviously unfamiliar with the term. Or perhaps they were merely surprised… yes, they seemed extremely confused about his presence, not his make-up… It was all coming together…
Needle still pressing, Ray eventually managed to convey himself as a creature of mythology, as that was all organic life was to these metallic beings of the future - mythology…
Eventually, they judged him harmless and dropped their guard, leading him somewhere. Greatly relieved, Ray followed, thinking. His powers were low… Glancing up into the sky he noted the sheer gray and frowned, "Where's the sun?"
The creatures froze and exchanged glances before searching their inner databases for an answer, for they were unfamiliar with the term. By the 17th cross reference, Ray's heart had bottomed out… They were both speaking English now… what was the problem? Where was the sun?
Finally, one of the creatures answered, explaining they could find no reference whatsoever of the word 'SUN'… Ray tried to describe the concept, deciding they must have a new word for the sustaining of all life… unfortunately, they just couldn't understand. They couldn't grasp the concept of outer space at all, frighteningly. It chilled Ray to the marrow.
No sun… no powers.
He was stranded in the horrific future!
***
"Will Impulse's anorexia be exposed? Will Secret and Slobo FINALLY get together? And does anyone even REMEMBER… Roy? Stay tuned-"
"AHHH!" Cassie smashed the remote unexpectedly, startling Anita.
Ace entered the room on his cell with an angry Impulse in tow, "Hey, kid…" the executive was countering indifferently, "…You wanted air time and now you've got it. I don't see the pr-"
"But it's NOT TRUE!" Impulse seethed. "I wanted-"
"I thought *I* was with Slobo!" Cassie interrupted, also furious.
"HEY!" Anita was instantly defensive. "You hated that, Cass! I-"
"That's not the point, 'Nita! Now the world thinks Slobo tossed me over for Secret! It's the principal of the thing! The principal!"
"Who the hell is Roy?" Kon entered the room yawning.
***
Deep inside he'd suspected all along. He'd time traveled once before… this had felt similar, though by no means at all the same. Sitting amongst the butterflies and triceratops he'd been forced to final admit he'd time traveled again and that there would be serious repercussions. He was ALWAYS… SCREWING… UP… ERR! The frustration of being trapped in the past and of screwing up yet again in a world of power and egos… it was easy to follow his blasting fury amongst the grazing herds…
Now Terrill found himself futilely trying to explain the sun to two strange metallic beings from the future. Beautiful. Just absolutely beyond sarcastically BEAUTIFUL.
Eventually the pair tired of his nonsense and drew matching scanners… strange sounds followed - futuristic beeping, perhaps? The scan was very warm to the eyes and after a moment Ray's retinas began to burn. Grimacing, eyes closed tightly, he waited the pain out. It seemed some form of… lie detector…
The pair turned to one another and began to speak back and forth in their static-filled native tongue. Alarmed, they were definitely alarmed. What was-
They sat down abruptly, most unexpected, and produced new devices, equally small and with equally new sounds. Something about their body language reminded him uncomfortably of overeager reporters taking notes. Obviously prepared now, the pair glanced up at him. His role was obvious… Terrill sat down and awaited their questions…
***
"Rent Fear" feels like indigestion. In your EYES. I stood there for like a week. Listening to the ghosts. In a corner, a recon patrol of cockroaches snapped photos and took notes. And I swear that ugly sculpture blinked. I forgot to ask if anyone had been murdered there."
- Ray Terrill on his first moments in his first apartment, Ray # 1 (1994)
***
Ten minutes of the most simple, primitive questions passed and Ray was now oblivious to their harsh static. He focused solely on the English and heard nothing else save it. Unfortunately, he was still having great troubles explaining the concept of space - an existence beyond what they knew as, in English, "The Gray". They knew nothing of atmosphere - no stars, moons, orbits - they knew nothing of the composition of the universe!
Sighing, Terrill listened to their endless technological sounds and wondered how artificial intelligence could be so damn unintelligent. He instantly scolded himself, however - remembering firstly that he didn't know anything about these creatures and secondly that the fictional Sherlock Holmes knew nothing of the solar system either. He'd been a strong believer that there was only so much room in one's memory and he had to prioritize. Planets weren't as important as every single syllable of Chemistry and Forensics, for example. According to the famous detective… every time one learns something new… they push out something old. Each kept fact erases something precious from childhood.
Staring up into the gray again, he was reminded of a very overcast afternoon… or a stormy evening… or - suddenly, the answer occurred to him.
"It's pollution, isn't it?" he asked carelessly, eyes up.
The pair stopped beeping and began to cross reference the word 'POLLUTION'… a mere instant and they had an answer. "No, we know pollution. We make it, but we destroy it."
The second added, "Mythological characters were constantly plagued by pollution. We, however, have conquered it."
Then what the hell WAS it?
Ray sighed again, deciding to change the subject - the last thing he wanted to hear was how glorious this time was compared to his own, especially when he disagreed. This lifelessly gray world of neutral metals was just miserable. The air was heavy too. Twenty minutes and he was desperate for home…
The very first question he'd asked when he'd happened upon the two beings was obviously the date. Later it was established they knew nothing of time. They didn't keep track. As for everything else - the composition of creation had probably changed so outrageously that his primitive mind couldn't grasp it. Hell, try dropping a Neanderthal before a computer! Ray's head was aching already…
Well, if they couldn't answer WHEN, maybe… just maybe…
"Where are we exactly?"
Hesitation. "We cannot translate." The second answered.
"Oh." Great. Another set of static sounds he couldn't repeat.
Sincerely, seriously - "To pronounce it we'd have to rip out your tongue." Pause. "That is a tongue, isn't it?"
AH. Ray felt a pang of terror in his chest. It was shockingly the SECOND half of the statement that bothered him. The question. Creepy - utterly, utterly CREEPY… chilling!
Terrill took a long pause to collect himself and then asked, "If I run a few names by you… could you reference them and compare their location with your myth-"
They instantly understood, interrupting and preparing.
"Um, America. North America. South America. Central-"
"Spelling?"
"A-M-E-R-I-C-A… Now, try-"
They interrupted with the bleeps and beeps again, working furiously to cross reference.
Finally, "Nothing. Sorry."
"Europe. E-U-"
"You-rup? We know You-rup." The first interrupted.
"You do?" Ray almost smiled.
"Yes, You-rup is often mentioned in myths. However, Afreek is the main-"
"Africa?"
"Afreek. Where life supposedly started…"
"It did! I mean, that's true!" Ray was growing excited.
"Afreek is of the second world and You-rup… no one knows where that was."
Ray's smile froze on his face, confused, "Um… what?"
The first creature began to repeat the exact phrase again, but Terrill interrupted - "No, no, no! What's this about a second world?"
"Some debate You-rup is among the ruins of the third wor-"
"Oh! The third world countries, second world countries… oh, right…" Ray was relieved, having been very thrown for a moment.
"Countries?"
"How we divided territory. We had over a hundred."
"We call our territories 'worlds' and have only three. However did you divide YOUR worlds? A hundred? You couldn't possibly have divided with The Gray as we have. The world cannot be rejoined, we know this for certain. Even with a hundred little worlds… surely the chaos-"
"Wait, wait, wait - what are you- the SKY? You divided your nations with SKY?"
"We divide with The Gray." The first motioned to the overcast sky.
"Woah… woah… WOAH…" Ray paled instantly, heart racing.
The second, seeing Ray's extreme confusion and fear, began to sketch upon the rock beneath them. (Ray had long since discovered their was no soil or anything organic AT ALL in the future. By 21st century standards it was absolutely horrible.)
"Woah…" Ray interrupted the sketch. "What's this, man? Is this SPACE, like AIR, between these masses of land?"
"It's The Gray…"
"So, these worlds float separately-"
"Float?"
"Um…" Ray pointed to the sky. "That. That up there is between your worlds?"
"It was once, yes. The Gray."
The first interjected, "They did not last long in such a state. The smaller worlds are gone now. Lost in The Gray."
Silence. "OH MY GOD. What the hell happened to the Earth?"
Hesitation, "Earth? … Could you spell that?"
***
"Will Anita's foot fetish finally be exposed? Will Kon and Slobo FINALLY get together? Will Mr. Sarcastic ever contribute anything to this show aside the obvious? Oh, and you can forget Roy… they don't even recognize the name anymore, folks…"
The television instantly cut to Kon yawning, "Who the hell is Roy?"
Snapper had SUCH a headache. "It's just one ploy after another with these people. We can't say anything without them manipulating and - OY, I'd better shut up… they'll just find a way to use THIS sentence against us…" Hesitation. "Oh, but incidentally, girls… I don't care WHAT Ace says… Ray's way better than ROY…"
"I thought Ace promised we could see each episode before it aired… I thought there'd be some control…" Anita sighed, frustrated.
"Nah, I read the fine print of your contracts, kids…" Snapper was blunt.
"And?" Slobo prompted from the couch, reading a paper.
"To be frank - you're totally screwed. You kids haven't a legal leg to stand on…"
"But, he said-" Cassie started to protest.
"You should have got it in writing. Verbal agreements aren't binding, honey. Ace took advantage of your naive sense of business and now-"
"We have to end this stupid show! We have to protect our privacy! If only we could find some technicality… some loop…" Anita was thinking. "…or even catch Ace breaking his end of the-"
Slobo pointed to the television screen without looking up, ten seconds behind Anita Fite was on the screen suddenly speaking - "We have to end this stupid show! We have to protect our privacy!"
Suddenly, the mystery narrator kicked in again, "It seems the team has something to hide! Something they don't want YOU to see. Tune in this time tomorrow to find out exactly what that is… on… Super Vision!"
"ERRRRR…" a collective response.
Cassie, beyond angry - "Who's voice is that?"
***
A strange, sleepy haze… deju vu… a needle… pain… Feverish haze… drifting in and out… distant voices, pressure on his throat… drifting…
"Something's wrong with him…" the second stated simply, as the youth's condition was obvious. "His flesh is discolored - reddening - and he's clearly overheating. In fact, AH, look there!" He motioned to Ray's temple. Blood trickled from a gash unnoticed by Terrill. "He leaks discolored fuel."
"Red like his flesh. We'll have to-"
"And there - clear! Clear fluid leaking from his flesh. I've never seen clear fluid! Terrifying!" The second interrupted, motioning to the gentle perspiration on the young man's anxious face. Anxiety. Great, torturous anxiety and they were aware of it.
"He's barely operating… he can't function…"
Simply - "We'll have to shut him down for observation."
"NO!" Ray fought through the drifting haze to protest. Alan Bloch. Alan Bloch!
Unfamiliar with emotion and extremes, the pair were taken completely aback. "Volume control shot. Locomotion and comprehension shot. Spasms. A major malfunction. Immediate shut down is-"
"No…" Ray calmed instantly, though his voice was very strained, his expression desperate, feverish. "Please, if you shut me down I won't start up again - I'm telling you, I'm not-" The pair were suddenly pinning him down - "NO!!!"
He struggled, both hands struggling against the murderous needle. "I don't shut down! I-"
They were easily about to overpower him…
"Men are different! No, please - men are different!"
***
"It was on my last field trip, to one of the inner planets, that I met the Man. He must have been the last Man in the system, for he'd forgotten how to talk - he'd been alone so long. Once he learned our language we got along fine together, and I planned to bring him back with me. Something happened to him, though… One day, for no reason at all, he complained of the heat. I checked his temperature and decided his thermostat circuits were shot. I had a kit of field spares with me, and he was obviously out of order, so I went to work. I turned him off without any trouble… he stopped moving, just like a Robot. But when I opened him up he wasn't the same inside at all. And when I put him back together I couldn't get him running again. Then he sort of weathered away - and by the time I was ready to come home, about a year later, there was nothing left but bones…"
- Men Are Different, Alan Bloch
***
This time Ray Terrill woke with a frightened start. Wow. Rubbing his eyes, he groggily reflected upon his nightmare. Every aspect of it… beginning with the Race and ending with the scary robots from the fut-
Oh.
Hands from his eyes, Ray realizing the pair of metallic creatures were still present, staring at him intensely.
What was reality?
"Sleep." The first commented quietly. "Was it sleep?"
"Where am I?" Ray realized they were no longer outside.
"Your eyes were moving so rapidly… all about…" the second commented, equally quiet. "You seemed distraught. Myths described sleep as refreshing… pleasant…"
"… like recharging…" the first added, staring intensely.
"I was dreaming." Ray was very uncomfortable. Had he been dreaming? Had he really been shut down? How-
"Dreaming?" the pair were, as always, somehow deadpan with interest.
"Yes, I… um… you didn't try and shut me down, did you?"
The pair communicated a moment and then answered collectively, "Of course."
"I… how am I still alive?"
"Alive?"
The deepest of all concepts.
"Never mind… Um… how did you shut me down?"
"We put you to…" the second hesitated and then tried the word, "…sleep."
"Ah." His memories of Alan Bloch's take on robot versus man had tainted his perspective of the previous situation. He'd assumed incorrectly, remembering the story. Life was like that. Our experiences mold our perspective. Had he not read that short story he-
"You'll have to forgive us, stranger. Getting you inside was the priority, yet, as scholars, we allowed our thirst for knowledge to dominate our sense of morality."
Morality? What the hell would a machine know of morality? Probably the way they understood everything else - conclusions based on fact. WAIT - what? What had he just said? Leaving outside was somehow… immoral? What? Ray could say nothing, extremely confused.
"Now, please…" the first drew its recording device. "If we may continue with the transfer of information…"
"Oh… yes…" Ray tried to remember where to resume, yet, the end of their previous conversation was all a blur. A hazy, feverish blur. "Um…"
"You were attempting to explain 'ORBITS' and 'GRAVITY'…"
"No…" the first disagreed. "He was describing 'PLANTS' and 'ANIMALS'…"
"Actually…" Ray sensed their deception and personal conflict. "I was attempting to determine exactly how our three worlds-"
"Please stranger, tell us of 'WATER'…" the first interrupted.
"You confuse us… redefine-"
"Um, listen - back to 'SUN' - have you ever wondered where your light comes from? I mean, what is The Gray? It's surely smog that the sun can JUST get through enough to - in fact, the reason its so ungodly hot around here is simple. The smog traps the heat against the earth - greenhouse affect, perhaps. I don't know."
"No, no - orbits, tell us of orbits and-"
"And more animals… you left off at elephant…"
"I don't remember defining elephant. I thought I stopped at-"
"PLEASE… orbits…"
Ray sighed, head hurting, "Look, can you cross reference Sir Isaac Newton or something, GEEZ - I've only got home schooled high school science behind me here, guys - like I understand this stuff enough to actually-"
"What?" they were lost now.
"What is a Sir-"
"A person. Credited with scientific discoveries about orbits."
"One?" the pair were very confused. "You want us to cross reference one?"
"One what?"
"Being."
"You can't do that?"
"Of course not. Just one?"
"Um… you don't have individual records? I mean, you're scholars - you don't keep track of who discovers what?"
The pair were as flabbergasted as emotionless droids can convey, the concept of individuality foreign.
"What's wrong?" Ray didn't like their expressions.
"Individual? How do you spell-"
"OK. What the hell…" Ray started, pushing his chair back, beginning to understand and not liking. Creepy, very creepy. "You mean to tell me, you don't keep track of individuals? You don't have personal data? You don't-"
"Individual. What is-"
"Separate. Separate!"
Eyes wide. "Separate? That's impossible."
"OH MY GOD - you're a collective." Another chilling blow.
Silence, then… "Collective?"
"You're all ONE. You're-"
"Of course."
Ray's heart involuntarily sped up again. If this was somehow a much later phase of human evolution - Oh LORD, how he negatively associated collectives with the likes of The Borg from Star Trek. OH GOD!
Silence again, finally - "You are not of a collective?"
He stared at them… realizing everything they thought about him, all the cross references, all the questions and answers - all the other creatures within the collective had experienced themselves as though they were present. It was terrifying. Mindless, collective creatures!
"Creature!" the first repeated, "You are not of a collective?"
Ray forced an answer out, wondering how many could hear it… "No."
The pair began to converse futuristically again and the desperately confused and escalatingly panicked Terrill interrupted, snapping - "NO, stop that - what are you saying? Are you speaking to the entire collective? What are you going to do with me? DAMMIT - tell me what you're saying!"
Hesitation, then, "If this is so, we were debating whether or not to take you to The Garden when the time comes."
"Oh Lord…" Ray muttered, rubbing his face. He was more lost by the instant. This was absolutely hopeless.
Silence, "Please, tell us of Sir Isaac Newton. Time grows very short."
"Was he your leader? Non-collectives have leaders…" the first added.
"No. He wasn't my leader. Each territory had a different leader and typically a group of leaders under them, um, a government… and that changed periodically…"
"But… Sir Isaac Newton?"
Ray sighed, glancing up, "It doesn't matter."
"All information matters. Teach us. You're a primary source, the first in centuries!"
Ray froze, then - "Other people have time traveled here?"
Confused. "People have visited from others times. Yes. Very, very rarely, however. We personally have not seen one in a very long time… the longest of times…"
"Mythology used words like 'CENTURY'… we do not keep time…"
"Woah. Confusion. 'WE' the collective or 'WE' you two? Wait, WHAT? How long have you creatures existed? You really don't die, do you? You-"
"Die?"
"How old are you?"
"We do not keep time."
"Guess! A century is 100 years. A year is 365 days. A day is 24-"
"You confuse us…"
Silence. Thinking. Ray wiped his brow suddenly, "It's so hot in here…"
"Please, Sir Isaac-"
"Forget him!" Ray was frustrated. "Look, damn it! I wanna know how long you people have existed! How long has The Gray been there? When did the world break apart!?"
"What is years?"
"And hours? And days?"
"Clarify, please."
"You… you want me to define TIME? How can a person define-"
"Clarify, please! As a source you are becoming questionable-"
"HIGH… SCHOOL… SCIENCE!"
"Clarify!"
Scowling and overheated, Ray resumed, "Look… you were probably struck my a meteor… that's all I can fathom…"
"Meteor?"
"Could you perhaps create a diagram?"
"And what of 'HOURS'… and 'DAYS'… please define, clarify…"
"Why don't YOU answer some of MY questions!? There's so many of you brilliant machines in there! Your damn collective can't even explain its origins! Where did you come from? What are you made of, hm? Asking me all this crap when-"
"Yes, yes, so you've said. Please… more knowledge…"
"Try not to repeat yourself, time is so very short…"
Overheated, furious - "TIME? You know nothing of time, pal! I…"
"Please, time is short. More information!"
Ray stopped, "Why? You keep saying that. Why is time short? Why-"
The first interrupts, "Tell us of plants and animals… tell us of…"
The voice began to blur and drift away, the room becoming warmer than ever - a warm, sleepy haze overcoming the young man again. The heat had built and now a fever was breaking.
"I… I like toucans…" he admitted, though he liked many other animals equally well, but was clearly drifting into delirium.
"Toucans?" the first repeated.
"I love toucans." Ray corrected, drifting. "Small. Cute. Extremely… cute…"
"He's been taken." The second was almost grim.
"But-" the first tried.
"The time has come…" the second spoke solemnly.
"Surely one more question…" his partner countered.
"The time has-"
"Toucans are tough to explain, anyway…" Ray was drifting.
They were suddenly lifting him, guiding him - walking outside… Hitting the atmosphere, he noticed how thick and heavy the air actually was. Coughing, he hacked disgusting grayish guck into his hand, though he scarcely noticed.
After several moments and many hacking fits, Ray dropped to his knees as the pair motioned down into a large, rocky valley. "The Garden."
Ray's vision was horribly blurred. He could see nothing now. Gray, painful gray…
"The time comes quickly. We'll have to carry him down. Come, hurry, we must take him to his people…"
Ray tried to speak, but no intelligible sounds made it out.
Dropped again in the valley below, short moments later, Terrill struggled to focus his vision. He froze in absolutely HORROR.
His people.
***
"You know, guys…" Ace flopped down on the couch between Secret and Empress, the entire team present, "I was just thinking…"
Collective groan.
"No seriously, kids. We should consider challenges, you know, like all the other shows of this genre…"
"The OTHER shows?" Kon raised an eyebrow negatively, picturing himself running around an obstacle course with coconuts with the rest of the Super Tribe encouraging him loudly, desperately. Kon, the tribe has spoken. OY. Or better yet, passing cockroaches from his mouth to Robin's on Fear Factor… EW…
"Oh ya…" Robin was currently Mr. Sarcastic, "I can just see us eating animal organs and making alliances…"
"I was thinking we'd pair you off… male and female…" Ace's hands were outstretched as though he were a visionary.
"Here we go…" Cassie folded her arms.
"Only… let's see… we'd need to call the Olympic champ to even the numbers… Good thing Roy left… This just might work! Now-"
"There's NO WAY Arrowette would ever agree to-" Cassie started, angry.
"Already calling…" Ace responded pleasantly, phone to his ear.
***
His people.
Hundreds of dark gray, once-living statues conveying sheer terror as they were blanketed in ashy death… like Pompeii… His heart raced as he tried to stand, his legs giving out instantly and sending him crashing down hard on his trembling knees. OH… MY… GOD…
"Your people. We knew you'd want to be with them when your time came."
"We may understand very little of sentimental value, but we've tried. We've tried for you and we've tried for all the other strangers. You, like they, have been brought home to your people for your time. We understand information. We can reach conclusions based upon fact. Even mythological fact."
Ray couldn't speak. He just couldn't speak. Hacking deeply, much more of the gray guck, mixed with a painful twinge of blood, was forced out onto the rocky gray ground…
YES… the ground… the statues… the atmosphere… even the dust settling on the creatures, settling in his clothing… it was all the same shade of miserable dark gray…
"There were once thousands of gardens…" the second commented quietly. "Unfortunately, like all ruins, they eventually wasted away. Were destroyed one way or another. Here survives the last garden… and the remains of your people…"
"There were so many of you… so many… such a large collective. What a glorious world you must have known, creature. How you must have evolved and progressed. We crawl at a snails pace… creating ourselves and recreating ourselves, evolution… if you will…"
"The Gray destroyed them." The second commented… almost sadly…
Ray understood. Somehow when the fiery earth split apart - perhaps a meteor, perhaps an earthquake of unimaginable power - nothing has survived save the artificial intelligence… and The Gray… the gray wasn't smog… NO… it was the ashes, the debris… It was all of the ash and shattered earth caused in the split! It rotated around the remaining chunk of earth like the moon had once around the whole - before God knows what happened to it. The moon. It was probably hurling through space, released - forever lost, a melancholy freedom that would only end in death when it struck something out there. Newton. Damn Newton! Something hit the earth and now the moon and lost chunks of earth would hit something else some century! Space was all CHANCE! All FATE! … DAMMIT!
Yet, that was not the current problem. The Gray was. For the creature was still speaking and it seemed almost… sorry for him. Sorry it didn't need to breath and poor mortal Raymond did…
"The Gray destroyed it ALL… The Gray destroys everything organic…"
Coughing, more coughing… dying… He was such an IDIOT!
The air wasn't breathable! It was thick with the ash and debris! It was practically poison! Everything was coming together a few moments too late… They'd been trying to get him inside to extend his life, get a little more information… They'd known all along. Known from the first instant he didn't have two hours…
Willing himself to fight this, to use his power… Ray tried to stand. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough sunlight. Perhaps if he… perhaps he'd stored enough to-
He was on his feet, glowing.
The creatures panicked. "NO!" They started for him.
The light flickered and died - he hit his knees again hard.
Relieved, the pair resumed their relaxed stances to watch him die. Concerned he would attempt to time travel again, returning to save his people and in the process eliminating THEIR people, they had been ready to murder him… however, that did not appear necessary now. Not at all. He would perish in short seconds.
Eyesight fading at close range now, Ray could hear his lungs and feel the horrible crud within them. His blurry, pained vision studied the petrified, screeching face of a desperate and dying once-human. Gender undistinguishable in this loose, ashy formation - Ray studied the frightened eyes and mouth… the screaming, moaning mouth and the terrified, crying eyes…
Anger. Unexpected and extreme anger took hold of him. Anger over everything! 18 years of lies and darkness. A year of stress, danger and hatred. LORD, he HATED his father! Damn him and damn Josh! Damn everyone! He hated EVERYONE! Trapped in time - the end of the human race. The end of everything he'd ever known including himself! The faces, the hundreds of screeching faces and his would join them. The anger was unmatchable… uncontainable…
If he and humanity had to go, he'd take these heartless bastards and all three worlds with him! - Unfair reaction? Of course. Did it get him on his feet and glowing again? Absolutely.
Unfortunately, as screeching mad as he was - certifiable and furious - Terrill was pinned down again and this time the needle really was going to kill him. Struggling and screeching, too angry to live anyway, he felt the solar energy slip away and the needle begin to pierce his vulnerable throat… struggling, his hand gripped one of their scanners…
PAIN, extreme PAIN - dying… DYING!
His life didn't flash before his eyes. Not at all. Panic. Nothing but pain and panic.
AHHHHH!
At the crucial instant… all his stored energy kicked into self-defense. His powers had always been far more reactive than proactive, after all. In an awesome, head spinning burst of light… everything changed…
***
Cissie answered distractedly, watching the empty rooms on her computer screen. Where was everyone? … "Hello?"
"Arrowette, darling!" Ace's voice was loud and smiling in her ear.
"No one here answers to that name any-"
"It's been ages, dear!"
Confused, "Um, I'm sorry, who is this, please?"
"Now listen, sweetheart, have I got a deal for you!"
"UM-"
"Now, just tell me this, luv - who of Young Justice would be the very last person you'd want to be paired with for a challenge of some sort?"
Uneasy, "Who is this? Is this-"
"Slobo it is then, luv. Thanks for being SOOO agreeable, unlike some-"
"GIVE ME THAT!" she heard Cassie, rough and furious in the background. Her best friend's voice was suddenly on the line, "Cissie, listen: That was the idiot running our stupid TV show. He's trying to volunteer you for some stupid new publicity stunt - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, ok?"
"Calm down." Cissie was blunt, clicking her mouse. "Where are you guys? All the rooms are empty?"
Cassie froze, freaked. "Um, what are you talking about?"
"Is there some safe haven in The House? Why is no one on camera?"
"Woah, woah - 'The House?' - you TV Junkie, Ciss! This is NOT Big Brother, alright? Now what are you on about? You can't watch us when the show's not airing."
"Of course I can." Cissie was blunt. "Web site. 24-7 live feed."
Cassie turned several shades red and calmly turned to Carr, "Snapper… was there anything in our crappy contracts about a web site…"
"Yes…" Snapper dragged the word, unsure of her.
"…with 24-7 live feed?"
"NO…" Snapper dragged this word too, glaring at Ace.
"I'll have to call you back, Ciss. It seems we have a little legal issue here…" Hanging up instantly, Cassie crossed her arms patiently, waiting for Ace to crumble.
Unfortunately, the guy didn't look nervous at all. He was old hat with sour negotiations. "So… you don't like the web site, we'll take down the web site…" he smoothed.
"I say this breech of contract voids everything." Cassie replied.
"What?" Ace wasn't impressed, pretensions down.
"Can the show or we sue." Cassie meant business.
"Can't we cut a deal here, people?"
Eight very angry, intimidating glares…
***
Hurling outrageously through that now familiar void of creation, Terrill tried to focus his vision and found he couldn't completely… He could hear voices though, indescribable voices… the voices of time…
Third time through he could take in more… Woah. Reminded him of the wormholes in the movie Contact, only… real and almost translucent… like eternity or something…
Why did he compare everything to pop culture? He'd been raised by a television, but-
The echoing voices seemed to bounce off one another, piling up, overwhelming…
He tried to cry out… but nothing… no sound… his eyes, his lungs… the painful gray…
He could feel something in his hand - the scanner.
A very loud, terrified voice started to mumble… middle range, male… LOUD…
"…immortal… invisible…"
He could just make out the odd word. What the-
"…'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee…"
Hit the brakes, hit the brakes… Wait, NO DON'T… don't…
Who knew what waited for him. Perhaps he'd stop at the instant the meteor hit… or worse… at some other hideous point of destruction in the earth's miserable history! Oh Lord, Oh Lord, Oh Lord…
"…a light inaccessible… blind are our eyes…"
Stop… no, STOP… Ray… STOP!!!
"…unresting… eternal… and silent as light…"
Hitting the brakes, he-
***
-broke back into reality and into burning, desert sand… it took him several miles to grind to halt, having parted the sand in a long, very deep trial in his wake…
Very ill, Ray lay breathing shallow and raspy in the blazing heat…
The voices he'd just heard were fading from memory, his only focus to survive. He was surely dying after that encounter. He could scarcely move. He couldn't even raise a hand to touch his bleeding throat and judge the damage. Wheezing, gasping… deep breathing nearly killing him…
He was blind. Painfully blind! Blind and his lungs… he couldn't breath… it was like… DROWNING… he was drowning!
Where was he? … Or would he even survive to learn?
***
"Call me if you change you mind-" Ace was smiling pleasantly as Cassandra slammed the door rudely in his face.
"I think that's the last of the cameras…" Impulse zipped before her.
"It's too bad…" Robin entered, finally Robin again. "It was an interesting premise. Admittedly, I was totally against it - but that was personal. Impersonal, it might be good for the public to see all the hell we go through everyday for them, ya know?"
Cassie was still sore with him and not really listening, "What are you on about, Rob? I need to call Cissie back…" Dialing the phone, she was oblivious to Robin's expression and gesture that implied she was in a mood and he would give her the distance bitches deserved.
"Ciss? … Ya, everything's fine now… ya, I - WHAT? That web page STILL isn't down! … You can still see me? HOW? … ERRRRR…" she ripped the mini-camera from her collar. "Guys, we're still bugged. I'd forgotten all about these little-"
"Wow!" Kon was in the next room. "Check this out!"
Everyone gathered before the large computer terminal…
"This is it, people. Our site." Kon was surfing Ace's Super Vision site.
"Hey!" Impulse pointed enthusiastically. "Little us icons… you can click on me and see what I'm personally doing at all times! Cool!"
"NOT cool-" Cassie started and then froze, an icon catching her eye.
Everyone else was suddenly silent, seeing it too.
RAY.
"We could click and see where Ray is right now…" Secret said quietly.
Silence…
"Just to be cruel…" Cassie acknowledged.
"Not like we really CARE…" Robin agreed.
"Right, we just want to prove he actually ditched us coz he's an egotistical, stupid loser…" Kon agreed. "…you know, as opposed to the Impulse theory that he's hurt or captured or whatever…"
"Wouldn't want to leave any doubt…" Anita admitted.
"GUYS!" Impulse cut in. "I'm not AT ALL comfortable with this. I know you're all pissed, but I still like Ray and I think we should let him keep his dignity-"
"Running away coz you suck - where's the dignity in that?" Kon, blunt.
"GUYS-" Impulse tried again.
"I'm SO clicking now." Kon ignored him, accessing the live feed.
They all gasped in absolute terror.
***
Bombarded by the atmosphere
You breath, you choke, you breath again
Conversation disappears
You realize they're not your friends
The panic of the future rears
You dig, you jerk, you find another way
I don't know, but I believe in yesterday
And what it means to breath
And know that you're ok
- "Right There Behind You", Our Lady Peace (1999)
***
A/N: Do these OLP lyrics not fit beyond perfection? Apologies for any typos, etc. I tried. Anyway, more soon! ^_^
Chapter Two: Happy When Skies Are Gray
***
DISCLAIMER:
Young Justice is the property of DC Comics. As always, I quote material throughout my works - this chapter: Alan Bloch, Trooper and Our Lady Peace. I don't take any credit at all for the brilliance of others, ladies and gentleman. Wouldn't dream of it. ^_^
A/N:
This chapter's weird, but trust me - stick with it.
I don't usually do this… but the OLP "Molly and Ray" secret song bit needs some explanation. It's hard to express in words, unfortunately. Ray's voice sounds almost as though he's speaking through a tube and Molly sounds slightly distorted with Ray's voice speaking in unison behind hers. The words "Molly" and "Ray" are randomly spoken in the background all the while in Ray's voice. (Ray here is obviously not YJ Ray. However, the theme and same name fit perfectly - how can I not use it?) ALSO, there's no inside information (as far as I know) to the bit. You're just meant to hear/read it and make your own assumptions. Creepy, futuristic music is always present, though sometimes it rises to the foreground. There. Hope this helps. Again, no connection to YJ - Our Lady Peace secret song from Spiritual Machines.
Thanks! Reviews always appreciated!
***
"Will Kon's porno obsession be exposed? Will Cassidy and Slobo FINALLY get together? And what happened to that other guy... Roy? Find out this time tomorrow on... Super Vi-"
Cassie, furious, turned off the television. "ACE! First off, my name's Cassandra, NOT Cassidy! Second, SLOBO?! Get real! I-"
"Cassidy, Cassidy…" Ace started, mock-soothing charm.
"CASSANDRA!"
"Cassidy's better." The smiling blond didn't miss a beat.
Scowling, Cassie was interrupted by Impulse - "What about the rest of us? I think my issues with Arrowette are WAY more important than Kon's obvious porno problem and a FICTIONAL thing between Cassie and-"
"Details, details…" Ace gave an indifferent, dismissing gesture that matched his tone, cell phone to his face.
***
[Eerie music, futuristic feel]
Ray: Anyway, you do look amazing.
(Molly)
Molly: You say that every time we meet.
(Ray)
R: I mean, you look twenty again, only more beautiful than at the start of the book…
(Molly)
M: I know that's how you'd want me.
(Ray)
R: Ok, you were an attractive young woman when I first met you… and you still project yourself as a beautiful young woman… at least when I'm with you…
(Molly)
M: Thanks.
(Ray)
[Later in discussion]
R: Are you saying your a machine now?
(Molly)
M: A machine? That's really not for me to say. It's like asking if I'm brilliant or inspiring…
(Ray)
R: I guess the word "machine" in 2099 doesn't have quite the same connotations as it does here in 1999.
(Molly)
M: It's hard for me to recall now…
[Music again]
(Molly)
M: I'm really just dabbling, but creating music is a great way for me to stay close with Jeremy and Emily.
(Ray)
R: Creating music sounds like a good thing to do with your kids, even if they are almost 90 years old - so, can I hear it?
M: Well, I'm afraid you wouldn't understand it.
R: So, it requires enhancement to understand?
(Molly)
M: Yes, most art does. For starters, there are symphonies and frequencies that a mosh can't hear and it has too fast a tempo and it uses musical structures a mosh could never follow.
R: Can't you create art for non-orgmantic humans - I mean, there's still a lot of depth possible. Consider Beethoven… he wrote almost two centuries ago and we still find his music exhilarating.
(Molly)
M: Yes, there's a genre of music - all the arts, actually - where we create music and art that a mosh is capable of understanding.
(Ray)
R: Then you play mosh music for moshs?
(Molly)
M: Hm - now there's an interesting idea… I suppose we could try that… although moshs aren't all that easy to find anymore. It's really not necessary though - we can certainly understand what a mosh is capable of understanding. The point, though, is to use the mosh limitations as an added constraint.
R: Sort of like composing new music for old instruments.
(Molly)
M: Ya… new music for old minds…
[More music]
(Ray)
R: Maybe we should kiss goodbye…
(Molly)
M: Just a kiss?
(Ray)
R: We'll leave it at that for this book… I'll reconsider the ending for the movie…
(Molly)
M: Here's my kiss - now remember… I'm ready to do anything or be anything you want or need…
R: I'll keep that in mind…
(Molly)
That's where you'll find me.
(Ray)
R: Too bad I have to wait a century to meet you.
M: Or to be me…
(Ray)
R: Yes, that too…
[Pause]
R: Actually, Molly… there are a few other questions that have just occurred to me… What were those limitations you referred to? … What did you say you were anxious about? … What are you afraid of? … Do you feel pain? … What about babies… and children?
[Pause]
R: Molly?
- Secret Song from Spiritual Machines, Our Lady Peace (1999)
***
Hazy, miserably feverish haze… overwhelming…
"I had a friend once… but I don't know where he went…"
Delirious… hearing voices… half dreaming…
"He just wasn't there anymore - inside. Where did he go?"
Burning… dizzy… overwhelming…
"I just couldn't get him started again. Couldn't turn him back on."
***
Ray stood frozen, the metallic and deathly sharp needle just touching his throat… now remembering a very short space science fiction by Alan Bloch. A robot befriends a man only to accidentally kill him without even realizing so, ignorant of the difference between man and machine. After all, what would a robot understand of death? What would be the robotic perspective of such an occurrence? "I just couldn't get him started again. Couldn't turn him back on…" Or maybe…
OW!
Needle to his neck, the creature's gold-gray gaze drilling intensely into his own and Ray realized to his horror… a robot could never understand mortality - the awing concept of life and death. How could it value life if death didn't exist for it? It was micro millimeters from ending his existence and probably didn't even realize.
As for the creature itself, it was indescribable. No concept existing in 2003 could explain such an appearance - such a foreign, futuristically metallic appearance. It wasn't human, but it wasn't necessarily a robot or cyborg either. It was… something absolutely unknown. Hundreds of thousands of years had to pass before something of the sort was even imaginable. How could he ever hope to describe it? From what served as its hand had instantly and alarmingly shot the needle, aimed at his jugular.
After further intense silence, the creature made some indescribable sounds. At least they seemed to come from somewhere within the creature… Oh GOD. If it was trying to communicate he was absolutely screwed. Silence and then the sound continued, impossible to describe but static-filled. Was that futuristic static?
Suddenly, strange new sounds from somewhere else. Risking a glance out the corner of his striking green eyes, Ray could just make out a second being, slightly different, fumbling with something unrecognizable by 21st century standards. It appeared to be… scanning him? Not like Star Trek or anything of the sort… but the concept was somehow there. Static noises between the pair now. Though there was absolutely no way to judge their tones or expressions, as both were foreign to him, Ray sensed they were perplexed. And rightly so. HE was probably equally foreign. Oh LORD…
"Fhk yqpx bks?" the second creature seemed to patch into some linguistic technology and attempt to speak to him. It almost sounded like human speech, though it was no language or pronunciation of which Terrill was familiar. In truth, there were no characters, no phonics, for such sounds. What would such a written language look like? It was so outrageously guttural. He had no HOPE of imitating such-
His silence indicated they should trial and error further, a new language coming from the creature - "Pepin kaley quaxer bo?
Closer. He could at least repeat that, minus the accent.
Another attempt - this one sounding almost Spanish!
Ray tried to respond, repeating a few Spanish words he remembered randomly.
Perplexed further. Oh crap. Now they'd experiment with Spanish instead of finding English. Oh GOD, his life was hanging in the balance and he was grasping for straws through a language he couldn't even remember. AH.
They tried a few more languages, one that sounded nearly French - well, not French in word, but French in accent - and he was certain to stay silent. Finally, they touched on something he almost understood - "Kut kar ku?"
It almost sounded…
"Kut kar ku? Kare kid ku kum krum?"
Ray's frightened, very uncertain glance kept passing back and forth between the two creatures, his eyes all that dared to move. The needle was so incredibly close to his throat and more pressure seemed to be applied every instant - in fact, it was honestly starting to hurt beyond tolerance!
"Kut kar ku? Kow kar ku kere? Kare kar ku krum?"
"Kut kar ku kade kuv?" the original creature suddenly interjected.
Staring… gaze never breaking… so intense…
The needle creature unmercifully applied pressure as the other repeated, slow and hard, pronouncing every syllable firmly - "Kut kar ku?"
Ray understood. He actually understood. The static slapped a very hard edge on the first syllable of each and every word… but… it was 21st century English.
"I'm organic." He answered instantly, not knowing where the words came from. Organic? It was hopeless! How could possibly explain his composition to these-
"Krorganic?" the first repeated as the pair exchanged expressions. They were obviously unfamiliar with the term. Or perhaps they were merely surprised… yes, they seemed extremely confused about his presence, not his make-up… It was all coming together…
Needle still pressing, Ray eventually managed to convey himself as a creature of mythology, as that was all organic life was to these metallic beings of the future - mythology…
Eventually, they judged him harmless and dropped their guard, leading him somewhere. Greatly relieved, Ray followed, thinking. His powers were low… Glancing up into the sky he noted the sheer gray and frowned, "Where's the sun?"
The creatures froze and exchanged glances before searching their inner databases for an answer, for they were unfamiliar with the term. By the 17th cross reference, Ray's heart had bottomed out… They were both speaking English now… what was the problem? Where was the sun?
Finally, one of the creatures answered, explaining they could find no reference whatsoever of the word 'SUN'… Ray tried to describe the concept, deciding they must have a new word for the sustaining of all life… unfortunately, they just couldn't understand. They couldn't grasp the concept of outer space at all, frighteningly. It chilled Ray to the marrow.
No sun… no powers.
He was stranded in the horrific future!
***
"Will Impulse's anorexia be exposed? Will Secret and Slobo FINALLY get together? And does anyone even REMEMBER… Roy? Stay tuned-"
"AHHH!" Cassie smashed the remote unexpectedly, startling Anita.
Ace entered the room on his cell with an angry Impulse in tow, "Hey, kid…" the executive was countering indifferently, "…You wanted air time and now you've got it. I don't see the pr-"
"But it's NOT TRUE!" Impulse seethed. "I wanted-"
"I thought *I* was with Slobo!" Cassie interrupted, also furious.
"HEY!" Anita was instantly defensive. "You hated that, Cass! I-"
"That's not the point, 'Nita! Now the world thinks Slobo tossed me over for Secret! It's the principal of the thing! The principal!"
"Who the hell is Roy?" Kon entered the room yawning.
***
Deep inside he'd suspected all along. He'd time traveled once before… this had felt similar, though by no means at all the same. Sitting amongst the butterflies and triceratops he'd been forced to final admit he'd time traveled again and that there would be serious repercussions. He was ALWAYS… SCREWING… UP… ERR! The frustration of being trapped in the past and of screwing up yet again in a world of power and egos… it was easy to follow his blasting fury amongst the grazing herds…
Now Terrill found himself futilely trying to explain the sun to two strange metallic beings from the future. Beautiful. Just absolutely beyond sarcastically BEAUTIFUL.
Eventually the pair tired of his nonsense and drew matching scanners… strange sounds followed - futuristic beeping, perhaps? The scan was very warm to the eyes and after a moment Ray's retinas began to burn. Grimacing, eyes closed tightly, he waited the pain out. It seemed some form of… lie detector…
The pair turned to one another and began to speak back and forth in their static-filled native tongue. Alarmed, they were definitely alarmed. What was-
They sat down abruptly, most unexpected, and produced new devices, equally small and with equally new sounds. Something about their body language reminded him uncomfortably of overeager reporters taking notes. Obviously prepared now, the pair glanced up at him. His role was obvious… Terrill sat down and awaited their questions…
***
"Rent Fear" feels like indigestion. In your EYES. I stood there for like a week. Listening to the ghosts. In a corner, a recon patrol of cockroaches snapped photos and took notes. And I swear that ugly sculpture blinked. I forgot to ask if anyone had been murdered there."
- Ray Terrill on his first moments in his first apartment, Ray # 1 (1994)
***
Ten minutes of the most simple, primitive questions passed and Ray was now oblivious to their harsh static. He focused solely on the English and heard nothing else save it. Unfortunately, he was still having great troubles explaining the concept of space - an existence beyond what they knew as, in English, "The Gray". They knew nothing of atmosphere - no stars, moons, orbits - they knew nothing of the composition of the universe!
Sighing, Terrill listened to their endless technological sounds and wondered how artificial intelligence could be so damn unintelligent. He instantly scolded himself, however - remembering firstly that he didn't know anything about these creatures and secondly that the fictional Sherlock Holmes knew nothing of the solar system either. He'd been a strong believer that there was only so much room in one's memory and he had to prioritize. Planets weren't as important as every single syllable of Chemistry and Forensics, for example. According to the famous detective… every time one learns something new… they push out something old. Each kept fact erases something precious from childhood.
Staring up into the gray again, he was reminded of a very overcast afternoon… or a stormy evening… or - suddenly, the answer occurred to him.
"It's pollution, isn't it?" he asked carelessly, eyes up.
The pair stopped beeping and began to cross reference the word 'POLLUTION'… a mere instant and they had an answer. "No, we know pollution. We make it, but we destroy it."
The second added, "Mythological characters were constantly plagued by pollution. We, however, have conquered it."
Then what the hell WAS it?
Ray sighed again, deciding to change the subject - the last thing he wanted to hear was how glorious this time was compared to his own, especially when he disagreed. This lifelessly gray world of neutral metals was just miserable. The air was heavy too. Twenty minutes and he was desperate for home…
The very first question he'd asked when he'd happened upon the two beings was obviously the date. Later it was established they knew nothing of time. They didn't keep track. As for everything else - the composition of creation had probably changed so outrageously that his primitive mind couldn't grasp it. Hell, try dropping a Neanderthal before a computer! Ray's head was aching already…
Well, if they couldn't answer WHEN, maybe… just maybe…
"Where are we exactly?"
Hesitation. "We cannot translate." The second answered.
"Oh." Great. Another set of static sounds he couldn't repeat.
Sincerely, seriously - "To pronounce it we'd have to rip out your tongue." Pause. "That is a tongue, isn't it?"
AH. Ray felt a pang of terror in his chest. It was shockingly the SECOND half of the statement that bothered him. The question. Creepy - utterly, utterly CREEPY… chilling!
Terrill took a long pause to collect himself and then asked, "If I run a few names by you… could you reference them and compare their location with your myth-"
They instantly understood, interrupting and preparing.
"Um, America. North America. South America. Central-"
"Spelling?"
"A-M-E-R-I-C-A… Now, try-"
They interrupted with the bleeps and beeps again, working furiously to cross reference.
Finally, "Nothing. Sorry."
"Europe. E-U-"
"You-rup? We know You-rup." The first interrupted.
"You do?" Ray almost smiled.
"Yes, You-rup is often mentioned in myths. However, Afreek is the main-"
"Africa?"
"Afreek. Where life supposedly started…"
"It did! I mean, that's true!" Ray was growing excited.
"Afreek is of the second world and You-rup… no one knows where that was."
Ray's smile froze on his face, confused, "Um… what?"
The first creature began to repeat the exact phrase again, but Terrill interrupted - "No, no, no! What's this about a second world?"
"Some debate You-rup is among the ruins of the third wor-"
"Oh! The third world countries, second world countries… oh, right…" Ray was relieved, having been very thrown for a moment.
"Countries?"
"How we divided territory. We had over a hundred."
"We call our territories 'worlds' and have only three. However did you divide YOUR worlds? A hundred? You couldn't possibly have divided with The Gray as we have. The world cannot be rejoined, we know this for certain. Even with a hundred little worlds… surely the chaos-"
"Wait, wait, wait - what are you- the SKY? You divided your nations with SKY?"
"We divide with The Gray." The first motioned to the overcast sky.
"Woah… woah… WOAH…" Ray paled instantly, heart racing.
The second, seeing Ray's extreme confusion and fear, began to sketch upon the rock beneath them. (Ray had long since discovered their was no soil or anything organic AT ALL in the future. By 21st century standards it was absolutely horrible.)
"Woah…" Ray interrupted the sketch. "What's this, man? Is this SPACE, like AIR, between these masses of land?"
"It's The Gray…"
"So, these worlds float separately-"
"Float?"
"Um…" Ray pointed to the sky. "That. That up there is between your worlds?"
"It was once, yes. The Gray."
The first interjected, "They did not last long in such a state. The smaller worlds are gone now. Lost in The Gray."
Silence. "OH MY GOD. What the hell happened to the Earth?"
Hesitation, "Earth? … Could you spell that?"
***
"Will Anita's foot fetish finally be exposed? Will Kon and Slobo FINALLY get together? Will Mr. Sarcastic ever contribute anything to this show aside the obvious? Oh, and you can forget Roy… they don't even recognize the name anymore, folks…"
The television instantly cut to Kon yawning, "Who the hell is Roy?"
Snapper had SUCH a headache. "It's just one ploy after another with these people. We can't say anything without them manipulating and - OY, I'd better shut up… they'll just find a way to use THIS sentence against us…" Hesitation. "Oh, but incidentally, girls… I don't care WHAT Ace says… Ray's way better than ROY…"
"I thought Ace promised we could see each episode before it aired… I thought there'd be some control…" Anita sighed, frustrated.
"Nah, I read the fine print of your contracts, kids…" Snapper was blunt.
"And?" Slobo prompted from the couch, reading a paper.
"To be frank - you're totally screwed. You kids haven't a legal leg to stand on…"
"But, he said-" Cassie started to protest.
"You should have got it in writing. Verbal agreements aren't binding, honey. Ace took advantage of your naive sense of business and now-"
"We have to end this stupid show! We have to protect our privacy! If only we could find some technicality… some loop…" Anita was thinking. "…or even catch Ace breaking his end of the-"
Slobo pointed to the television screen without looking up, ten seconds behind Anita Fite was on the screen suddenly speaking - "We have to end this stupid show! We have to protect our privacy!"
Suddenly, the mystery narrator kicked in again, "It seems the team has something to hide! Something they don't want YOU to see. Tune in this time tomorrow to find out exactly what that is… on… Super Vision!"
"ERRRRR…" a collective response.
Cassie, beyond angry - "Who's voice is that?"
***
A strange, sleepy haze… deju vu… a needle… pain… Feverish haze… drifting in and out… distant voices, pressure on his throat… drifting…
"Something's wrong with him…" the second stated simply, as the youth's condition was obvious. "His flesh is discolored - reddening - and he's clearly overheating. In fact, AH, look there!" He motioned to Ray's temple. Blood trickled from a gash unnoticed by Terrill. "He leaks discolored fuel."
"Red like his flesh. We'll have to-"
"And there - clear! Clear fluid leaking from his flesh. I've never seen clear fluid! Terrifying!" The second interrupted, motioning to the gentle perspiration on the young man's anxious face. Anxiety. Great, torturous anxiety and they were aware of it.
"He's barely operating… he can't function…"
Simply - "We'll have to shut him down for observation."
"NO!" Ray fought through the drifting haze to protest. Alan Bloch. Alan Bloch!
Unfamiliar with emotion and extremes, the pair were taken completely aback. "Volume control shot. Locomotion and comprehension shot. Spasms. A major malfunction. Immediate shut down is-"
"No…" Ray calmed instantly, though his voice was very strained, his expression desperate, feverish. "Please, if you shut me down I won't start up again - I'm telling you, I'm not-" The pair were suddenly pinning him down - "NO!!!"
He struggled, both hands struggling against the murderous needle. "I don't shut down! I-"
They were easily about to overpower him…
"Men are different! No, please - men are different!"
***
"It was on my last field trip, to one of the inner planets, that I met the Man. He must have been the last Man in the system, for he'd forgotten how to talk - he'd been alone so long. Once he learned our language we got along fine together, and I planned to bring him back with me. Something happened to him, though… One day, for no reason at all, he complained of the heat. I checked his temperature and decided his thermostat circuits were shot. I had a kit of field spares with me, and he was obviously out of order, so I went to work. I turned him off without any trouble… he stopped moving, just like a Robot. But when I opened him up he wasn't the same inside at all. And when I put him back together I couldn't get him running again. Then he sort of weathered away - and by the time I was ready to come home, about a year later, there was nothing left but bones…"
- Men Are Different, Alan Bloch
***
This time Ray Terrill woke with a frightened start. Wow. Rubbing his eyes, he groggily reflected upon his nightmare. Every aspect of it… beginning with the Race and ending with the scary robots from the fut-
Oh.
Hands from his eyes, Ray realizing the pair of metallic creatures were still present, staring at him intensely.
What was reality?
"Sleep." The first commented quietly. "Was it sleep?"
"Where am I?" Ray realized they were no longer outside.
"Your eyes were moving so rapidly… all about…" the second commented, equally quiet. "You seemed distraught. Myths described sleep as refreshing… pleasant…"
"… like recharging…" the first added, staring intensely.
"I was dreaming." Ray was very uncomfortable. Had he been dreaming? Had he really been shut down? How-
"Dreaming?" the pair were, as always, somehow deadpan with interest.
"Yes, I… um… you didn't try and shut me down, did you?"
The pair communicated a moment and then answered collectively, "Of course."
"I… how am I still alive?"
"Alive?"
The deepest of all concepts.
"Never mind… Um… how did you shut me down?"
"We put you to…" the second hesitated and then tried the word, "…sleep."
"Ah." His memories of Alan Bloch's take on robot versus man had tainted his perspective of the previous situation. He'd assumed incorrectly, remembering the story. Life was like that. Our experiences mold our perspective. Had he not read that short story he-
"You'll have to forgive us, stranger. Getting you inside was the priority, yet, as scholars, we allowed our thirst for knowledge to dominate our sense of morality."
Morality? What the hell would a machine know of morality? Probably the way they understood everything else - conclusions based on fact. WAIT - what? What had he just said? Leaving outside was somehow… immoral? What? Ray could say nothing, extremely confused.
"Now, please…" the first drew its recording device. "If we may continue with the transfer of information…"
"Oh… yes…" Ray tried to remember where to resume, yet, the end of their previous conversation was all a blur. A hazy, feverish blur. "Um…"
"You were attempting to explain 'ORBITS' and 'GRAVITY'…"
"No…" the first disagreed. "He was describing 'PLANTS' and 'ANIMALS'…"
"Actually…" Ray sensed their deception and personal conflict. "I was attempting to determine exactly how our three worlds-"
"Please stranger, tell us of 'WATER'…" the first interrupted.
"You confuse us… redefine-"
"Um, listen - back to 'SUN' - have you ever wondered where your light comes from? I mean, what is The Gray? It's surely smog that the sun can JUST get through enough to - in fact, the reason its so ungodly hot around here is simple. The smog traps the heat against the earth - greenhouse affect, perhaps. I don't know."
"No, no - orbits, tell us of orbits and-"
"And more animals… you left off at elephant…"
"I don't remember defining elephant. I thought I stopped at-"
"PLEASE… orbits…"
Ray sighed, head hurting, "Look, can you cross reference Sir Isaac Newton or something, GEEZ - I've only got home schooled high school science behind me here, guys - like I understand this stuff enough to actually-"
"What?" they were lost now.
"What is a Sir-"
"A person. Credited with scientific discoveries about orbits."
"One?" the pair were very confused. "You want us to cross reference one?"
"One what?"
"Being."
"You can't do that?"
"Of course not. Just one?"
"Um… you don't have individual records? I mean, you're scholars - you don't keep track of who discovers what?"
The pair were as flabbergasted as emotionless droids can convey, the concept of individuality foreign.
"What's wrong?" Ray didn't like their expressions.
"Individual? How do you spell-"
"OK. What the hell…" Ray started, pushing his chair back, beginning to understand and not liking. Creepy, very creepy. "You mean to tell me, you don't keep track of individuals? You don't have personal data? You don't-"
"Individual. What is-"
"Separate. Separate!"
Eyes wide. "Separate? That's impossible."
"OH MY GOD - you're a collective." Another chilling blow.
Silence, then… "Collective?"
"You're all ONE. You're-"
"Of course."
Ray's heart involuntarily sped up again. If this was somehow a much later phase of human evolution - Oh LORD, how he negatively associated collectives with the likes of The Borg from Star Trek. OH GOD!
Silence again, finally - "You are not of a collective?"
He stared at them… realizing everything they thought about him, all the cross references, all the questions and answers - all the other creatures within the collective had experienced themselves as though they were present. It was terrifying. Mindless, collective creatures!
"Creature!" the first repeated, "You are not of a collective?"
Ray forced an answer out, wondering how many could hear it… "No."
The pair began to converse futuristically again and the desperately confused and escalatingly panicked Terrill interrupted, snapping - "NO, stop that - what are you saying? Are you speaking to the entire collective? What are you going to do with me? DAMMIT - tell me what you're saying!"
Hesitation, then, "If this is so, we were debating whether or not to take you to The Garden when the time comes."
"Oh Lord…" Ray muttered, rubbing his face. He was more lost by the instant. This was absolutely hopeless.
Silence, "Please, tell us of Sir Isaac Newton. Time grows very short."
"Was he your leader? Non-collectives have leaders…" the first added.
"No. He wasn't my leader. Each territory had a different leader and typically a group of leaders under them, um, a government… and that changed periodically…"
"But… Sir Isaac Newton?"
Ray sighed, glancing up, "It doesn't matter."
"All information matters. Teach us. You're a primary source, the first in centuries!"
Ray froze, then - "Other people have time traveled here?"
Confused. "People have visited from others times. Yes. Very, very rarely, however. We personally have not seen one in a very long time… the longest of times…"
"Mythology used words like 'CENTURY'… we do not keep time…"
"Woah. Confusion. 'WE' the collective or 'WE' you two? Wait, WHAT? How long have you creatures existed? You really don't die, do you? You-"
"Die?"
"How old are you?"
"We do not keep time."
"Guess! A century is 100 years. A year is 365 days. A day is 24-"
"You confuse us…"
Silence. Thinking. Ray wiped his brow suddenly, "It's so hot in here…"
"Please, Sir Isaac-"
"Forget him!" Ray was frustrated. "Look, damn it! I wanna know how long you people have existed! How long has The Gray been there? When did the world break apart!?"
"What is years?"
"And hours? And days?"
"Clarify, please."
"You… you want me to define TIME? How can a person define-"
"Clarify, please! As a source you are becoming questionable-"
"HIGH… SCHOOL… SCIENCE!"
"Clarify!"
Scowling and overheated, Ray resumed, "Look… you were probably struck my a meteor… that's all I can fathom…"
"Meteor?"
"Could you perhaps create a diagram?"
"And what of 'HOURS'… and 'DAYS'… please define, clarify…"
"Why don't YOU answer some of MY questions!? There's so many of you brilliant machines in there! Your damn collective can't even explain its origins! Where did you come from? What are you made of, hm? Asking me all this crap when-"
"Yes, yes, so you've said. Please… more knowledge…"
"Try not to repeat yourself, time is so very short…"
Overheated, furious - "TIME? You know nothing of time, pal! I…"
"Please, time is short. More information!"
Ray stopped, "Why? You keep saying that. Why is time short? Why-"
The first interrupts, "Tell us of plants and animals… tell us of…"
The voice began to blur and drift away, the room becoming warmer than ever - a warm, sleepy haze overcoming the young man again. The heat had built and now a fever was breaking.
"I… I like toucans…" he admitted, though he liked many other animals equally well, but was clearly drifting into delirium.
"Toucans?" the first repeated.
"I love toucans." Ray corrected, drifting. "Small. Cute. Extremely… cute…"
"He's been taken." The second was almost grim.
"But-" the first tried.
"The time has come…" the second spoke solemnly.
"Surely one more question…" his partner countered.
"The time has-"
"Toucans are tough to explain, anyway…" Ray was drifting.
They were suddenly lifting him, guiding him - walking outside… Hitting the atmosphere, he noticed how thick and heavy the air actually was. Coughing, he hacked disgusting grayish guck into his hand, though he scarcely noticed.
After several moments and many hacking fits, Ray dropped to his knees as the pair motioned down into a large, rocky valley. "The Garden."
Ray's vision was horribly blurred. He could see nothing now. Gray, painful gray…
"The time comes quickly. We'll have to carry him down. Come, hurry, we must take him to his people…"
Ray tried to speak, but no intelligible sounds made it out.
Dropped again in the valley below, short moments later, Terrill struggled to focus his vision. He froze in absolutely HORROR.
His people.
***
"You know, guys…" Ace flopped down on the couch between Secret and Empress, the entire team present, "I was just thinking…"
Collective groan.
"No seriously, kids. We should consider challenges, you know, like all the other shows of this genre…"
"The OTHER shows?" Kon raised an eyebrow negatively, picturing himself running around an obstacle course with coconuts with the rest of the Super Tribe encouraging him loudly, desperately. Kon, the tribe has spoken. OY. Or better yet, passing cockroaches from his mouth to Robin's on Fear Factor… EW…
"Oh ya…" Robin was currently Mr. Sarcastic, "I can just see us eating animal organs and making alliances…"
"I was thinking we'd pair you off… male and female…" Ace's hands were outstretched as though he were a visionary.
"Here we go…" Cassie folded her arms.
"Only… let's see… we'd need to call the Olympic champ to even the numbers… Good thing Roy left… This just might work! Now-"
"There's NO WAY Arrowette would ever agree to-" Cassie started, angry.
"Already calling…" Ace responded pleasantly, phone to his ear.
***
His people.
Hundreds of dark gray, once-living statues conveying sheer terror as they were blanketed in ashy death… like Pompeii… His heart raced as he tried to stand, his legs giving out instantly and sending him crashing down hard on his trembling knees. OH… MY… GOD…
"Your people. We knew you'd want to be with them when your time came."
"We may understand very little of sentimental value, but we've tried. We've tried for you and we've tried for all the other strangers. You, like they, have been brought home to your people for your time. We understand information. We can reach conclusions based upon fact. Even mythological fact."
Ray couldn't speak. He just couldn't speak. Hacking deeply, much more of the gray guck, mixed with a painful twinge of blood, was forced out onto the rocky gray ground…
YES… the ground… the statues… the atmosphere… even the dust settling on the creatures, settling in his clothing… it was all the same shade of miserable dark gray…
"There were once thousands of gardens…" the second commented quietly. "Unfortunately, like all ruins, they eventually wasted away. Were destroyed one way or another. Here survives the last garden… and the remains of your people…"
"There were so many of you… so many… such a large collective. What a glorious world you must have known, creature. How you must have evolved and progressed. We crawl at a snails pace… creating ourselves and recreating ourselves, evolution… if you will…"
"The Gray destroyed them." The second commented… almost sadly…
Ray understood. Somehow when the fiery earth split apart - perhaps a meteor, perhaps an earthquake of unimaginable power - nothing has survived save the artificial intelligence… and The Gray… the gray wasn't smog… NO… it was the ashes, the debris… It was all of the ash and shattered earth caused in the split! It rotated around the remaining chunk of earth like the moon had once around the whole - before God knows what happened to it. The moon. It was probably hurling through space, released - forever lost, a melancholy freedom that would only end in death when it struck something out there. Newton. Damn Newton! Something hit the earth and now the moon and lost chunks of earth would hit something else some century! Space was all CHANCE! All FATE! … DAMMIT!
Yet, that was not the current problem. The Gray was. For the creature was still speaking and it seemed almost… sorry for him. Sorry it didn't need to breath and poor mortal Raymond did…
"The Gray destroyed it ALL… The Gray destroys everything organic…"
Coughing, more coughing… dying… He was such an IDIOT!
The air wasn't breathable! It was thick with the ash and debris! It was practically poison! Everything was coming together a few moments too late… They'd been trying to get him inside to extend his life, get a little more information… They'd known all along. Known from the first instant he didn't have two hours…
Willing himself to fight this, to use his power… Ray tried to stand. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough sunlight. Perhaps if he… perhaps he'd stored enough to-
He was on his feet, glowing.
The creatures panicked. "NO!" They started for him.
The light flickered and died - he hit his knees again hard.
Relieved, the pair resumed their relaxed stances to watch him die. Concerned he would attempt to time travel again, returning to save his people and in the process eliminating THEIR people, they had been ready to murder him… however, that did not appear necessary now. Not at all. He would perish in short seconds.
Eyesight fading at close range now, Ray could hear his lungs and feel the horrible crud within them. His blurry, pained vision studied the petrified, screeching face of a desperate and dying once-human. Gender undistinguishable in this loose, ashy formation - Ray studied the frightened eyes and mouth… the screaming, moaning mouth and the terrified, crying eyes…
Anger. Unexpected and extreme anger took hold of him. Anger over everything! 18 years of lies and darkness. A year of stress, danger and hatred. LORD, he HATED his father! Damn him and damn Josh! Damn everyone! He hated EVERYONE! Trapped in time - the end of the human race. The end of everything he'd ever known including himself! The faces, the hundreds of screeching faces and his would join them. The anger was unmatchable… uncontainable…
If he and humanity had to go, he'd take these heartless bastards and all three worlds with him! - Unfair reaction? Of course. Did it get him on his feet and glowing again? Absolutely.
Unfortunately, as screeching mad as he was - certifiable and furious - Terrill was pinned down again and this time the needle really was going to kill him. Struggling and screeching, too angry to live anyway, he felt the solar energy slip away and the needle begin to pierce his vulnerable throat… struggling, his hand gripped one of their scanners…
PAIN, extreme PAIN - dying… DYING!
His life didn't flash before his eyes. Not at all. Panic. Nothing but pain and panic.
AHHHHH!
At the crucial instant… all his stored energy kicked into self-defense. His powers had always been far more reactive than proactive, after all. In an awesome, head spinning burst of light… everything changed…
***
Cissie answered distractedly, watching the empty rooms on her computer screen. Where was everyone? … "Hello?"
"Arrowette, darling!" Ace's voice was loud and smiling in her ear.
"No one here answers to that name any-"
"It's been ages, dear!"
Confused, "Um, I'm sorry, who is this, please?"
"Now listen, sweetheart, have I got a deal for you!"
"UM-"
"Now, just tell me this, luv - who of Young Justice would be the very last person you'd want to be paired with for a challenge of some sort?"
Uneasy, "Who is this? Is this-"
"Slobo it is then, luv. Thanks for being SOOO agreeable, unlike some-"
"GIVE ME THAT!" she heard Cassie, rough and furious in the background. Her best friend's voice was suddenly on the line, "Cissie, listen: That was the idiot running our stupid TV show. He's trying to volunteer you for some stupid new publicity stunt - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, ok?"
"Calm down." Cissie was blunt, clicking her mouse. "Where are you guys? All the rooms are empty?"
Cassie froze, freaked. "Um, what are you talking about?"
"Is there some safe haven in The House? Why is no one on camera?"
"Woah, woah - 'The House?' - you TV Junkie, Ciss! This is NOT Big Brother, alright? Now what are you on about? You can't watch us when the show's not airing."
"Of course I can." Cissie was blunt. "Web site. 24-7 live feed."
Cassie turned several shades red and calmly turned to Carr, "Snapper… was there anything in our crappy contracts about a web site…"
"Yes…" Snapper dragged the word, unsure of her.
"…with 24-7 live feed?"
"NO…" Snapper dragged this word too, glaring at Ace.
"I'll have to call you back, Ciss. It seems we have a little legal issue here…" Hanging up instantly, Cassie crossed her arms patiently, waiting for Ace to crumble.
Unfortunately, the guy didn't look nervous at all. He was old hat with sour negotiations. "So… you don't like the web site, we'll take down the web site…" he smoothed.
"I say this breech of contract voids everything." Cassie replied.
"What?" Ace wasn't impressed, pretensions down.
"Can the show or we sue." Cassie meant business.
"Can't we cut a deal here, people?"
Eight very angry, intimidating glares…
***
Hurling outrageously through that now familiar void of creation, Terrill tried to focus his vision and found he couldn't completely… He could hear voices though, indescribable voices… the voices of time…
Third time through he could take in more… Woah. Reminded him of the wormholes in the movie Contact, only… real and almost translucent… like eternity or something…
Why did he compare everything to pop culture? He'd been raised by a television, but-
The echoing voices seemed to bounce off one another, piling up, overwhelming…
He tried to cry out… but nothing… no sound… his eyes, his lungs… the painful gray…
He could feel something in his hand - the scanner.
A very loud, terrified voice started to mumble… middle range, male… LOUD…
"…immortal… invisible…"
He could just make out the odd word. What the-
"…'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee…"
Hit the brakes, hit the brakes… Wait, NO DON'T… don't…
Who knew what waited for him. Perhaps he'd stop at the instant the meteor hit… or worse… at some other hideous point of destruction in the earth's miserable history! Oh Lord, Oh Lord, Oh Lord…
"…a light inaccessible… blind are our eyes…"
Stop… no, STOP… Ray… STOP!!!
"…unresting… eternal… and silent as light…"
Hitting the brakes, he-
***
-broke back into reality and into burning, desert sand… it took him several miles to grind to halt, having parted the sand in a long, very deep trial in his wake…
Very ill, Ray lay breathing shallow and raspy in the blazing heat…
The voices he'd just heard were fading from memory, his only focus to survive. He was surely dying after that encounter. He could scarcely move. He couldn't even raise a hand to touch his bleeding throat and judge the damage. Wheezing, gasping… deep breathing nearly killing him…
He was blind. Painfully blind! Blind and his lungs… he couldn't breath… it was like… DROWNING… he was drowning!
Where was he? … Or would he even survive to learn?
***
"Call me if you change you mind-" Ace was smiling pleasantly as Cassandra slammed the door rudely in his face.
"I think that's the last of the cameras…" Impulse zipped before her.
"It's too bad…" Robin entered, finally Robin again. "It was an interesting premise. Admittedly, I was totally against it - but that was personal. Impersonal, it might be good for the public to see all the hell we go through everyday for them, ya know?"
Cassie was still sore with him and not really listening, "What are you on about, Rob? I need to call Cissie back…" Dialing the phone, she was oblivious to Robin's expression and gesture that implied she was in a mood and he would give her the distance bitches deserved.
"Ciss? … Ya, everything's fine now… ya, I - WHAT? That web page STILL isn't down! … You can still see me? HOW? … ERRRRR…" she ripped the mini-camera from her collar. "Guys, we're still bugged. I'd forgotten all about these little-"
"Wow!" Kon was in the next room. "Check this out!"
Everyone gathered before the large computer terminal…
"This is it, people. Our site." Kon was surfing Ace's Super Vision site.
"Hey!" Impulse pointed enthusiastically. "Little us icons… you can click on me and see what I'm personally doing at all times! Cool!"
"NOT cool-" Cassie started and then froze, an icon catching her eye.
Everyone else was suddenly silent, seeing it too.
RAY.
"We could click and see where Ray is right now…" Secret said quietly.
Silence…
"Just to be cruel…" Cassie acknowledged.
"Not like we really CARE…" Robin agreed.
"Right, we just want to prove he actually ditched us coz he's an egotistical, stupid loser…" Kon agreed. "…you know, as opposed to the Impulse theory that he's hurt or captured or whatever…"
"Wouldn't want to leave any doubt…" Anita admitted.
"GUYS!" Impulse cut in. "I'm not AT ALL comfortable with this. I know you're all pissed, but I still like Ray and I think we should let him keep his dignity-"
"Running away coz you suck - where's the dignity in that?" Kon, blunt.
"GUYS-" Impulse tried again.
"I'm SO clicking now." Kon ignored him, accessing the live feed.
They all gasped in absolute terror.
***
Bombarded by the atmosphere
You breath, you choke, you breath again
Conversation disappears
You realize they're not your friends
The panic of the future rears
You dig, you jerk, you find another way
I don't know, but I believe in yesterday
And what it means to breath
And know that you're ok
- "Right There Behind You", Our Lady Peace (1999)
***
A/N: Do these OLP lyrics not fit beyond perfection? Apologies for any typos, etc. I tried. Anyway, more soon! ^_^
