15

"Did you feel that!" cried Jimmy as he sped into his mom's bedroom. "It felt like one of those earthquake things again! Mom? Are you okay?" Noel, also awakened by the tremor, walked into the bedroom a little more calmly than her older brother.

"Yes, honey. It's all right," said Phyllis wearily. She glanced at her alarm clock. The time was five-forty-six in the morning. It didn't feel like it, but she must have been asleep almost six hours. "From the way it felt, it must have actually happened somewhere far away from here. We're going to be all right."

Noel looked at her mother with more concern than fear. "Do you think it was Metropolis again? An aftershock, maybe?"

"I didn't think you knew anything about aftershocks."

Noel shrugged, "We studied earthquakes in science class last year."

"Oh... No, I don't really know if this was in Metropolis or any of those other cities. Maybe we can find out if we turn on the holovision. It's bound to be on the news, don't you think?"

Jimmy did the honors and the three of them watched in rapt silence new images of destruction with graphics that read "Live - New York City." The news anchor continued to inform the public, "Once again, three more earthquakes have occurred within a half hour. One in London, one in Moscow, and of course, the one we are showing aftermath shots of right now, New York City. the Richter scale is not yet available, but experts that we have contacted say that each quake was probably as high as the ones that rocked three other cities yesterday. Despite this, the early estimates of casualties in New York are surprisingly low as officials there were put on alert following the Metropolis quake. Also at the time of that quake, in the middle of the night on the east coast, most people were asleep in their homes. New York, of course, has had highly reinforced buildings since the early twenty-first century after the infamous terrorist attack of September Eleventh, Twenty-oh-three. Officials there are already crediting these special buildings with saving a number of lives that were in potential danger from this latest natural disaster.

"Meanwhile, in London," continued the anchor as the images and graphics changed accordingly, "the famous Big Ben which has been a major landmark of that skyline, sustained such heavy damage that officials there say it may never be repaired. Buckingham Palace was also damaged , but the royal family was unhurt..."

Noel crawled up into the bed with Phyllis and began to hug her mother like she hadn't done since she was eight. Jimmy kept his concentration on the pictures from the ravaged areas as if stunned. Then, quietly he spoke, "Three cities yesterday. Three more today. I believe in coincidence, but this is too much of one. There must be something that ties these cities together. I wonder what it is?"

"There's a link to this! There's always a link! Gentlemen! Ladies! Somewhere, some way, somehow there is a common thread to each one of these events and our task must be to find it. Who's to say what is next? The Earth itself may be dramatically weakened by these tremors that have presented themselves to us in such a very short time. I beg of you, ladies and gentlemen, we must find this common thread now! Before it is too late! For if we do not, I fear this thread may unravel the final fate of our planet!"

Chester Carr agreed completely. He was part of a group of scientists that had been hastily assembled following the latest tremors. He was considerably surprised that he was asked to join the quorum. Must be my new-found celebrity status, he thought, or else I'd be just another rockhound waiting for the press release from these guys. The man speaking at the moment was Professor Carmine Infantino, a man of obvious great passion who was to have chaired the seminar that Chester had come to Metropolis for as a lecturer. Professor Infantino would have died in yesterday's rubble, except that like Chester, he was late arriving that fateful morning.

"Everything you're saying makes plenty of sense, Professor, but just what are we looking for? And will we be coordinating our search with anyone in the other quake zones?"

"There are already people being organized in all the other sites. I just spoke to a learned colleague of mine in New York before this meeting came to order. As for what we are seeking... Anything! and everything! We will compare findings on an hourly basis until a common denominator has turned up. Make no mistake, something has weakened the very structure of our world. A network of destruction has begun and we must discover a way to halt its deadly spread!"

A determined Chester Carr was more than willing to do his part in stopping it. And he decided the best place to start was back where it had begun for him.

George Kent was most assuredly not Superman! He couldn't fly, he hadn't super-speed, and he certainly was not invulnerable. As soon as he went out the doors of Chez Paris, he broke into a gallop and put as much distance between the restaurant and himself as he could. He was, thankfully, physically fit. His employers had insisted that due to the promotional work he did, George was to undergo a very strict exercise and diet program to keep him as svelte and as "super" - looking as possible. Until now, he never particularly cared for that clause in his contract, but right now all he could think of was Bless you, Yellow Sun!

George knew the Hamilton complex as well as anybody. The area Jennifer had spoken of was just ahead. Now, if only he could find hangar 7716 before she realized her mistake and dispatched large burly men to teach him how difficult breathing can really be. He assumed that would be her next move. She certainly appeared to be a part of an organization that would use violence on a regular basis. In this day and time, most crime had been eliminated, but greed and avarice have no timeclock, and with the current political climate on Mars, unscrupulous types seem to crawl out of the woodwork like cockroaches to take advantage of the situation.

George didn't want to wait around to find out what was motivating these people, he had priorities of his own that superceded anything else. Besides, once his newfound mission was accomplished, he could make sure the authorities became aware of the extracurricular activities of Chez Paris.

There was the hangar just ahead! George began to slow his pace as he neared the entrance. Jennifer wasn't exaggerating - this site was in terrible need of repair. He slowed to a brisk walk now, and took the keys out of his pocket. Giving a quick glance in each direction, he fitted the hangar key into its slot and opened the door. Once inside, George took one more look outside just in case Jennifer's friends were right behind. No unsavory types appeared to be coming this way, but in this zone anyone could be on an illicit payroll. Kent decided it would definitely be in his best interests to get out of there fast.

Closing and locking the door, he turned around expecting to see a spacecraft as run down and rickety as the hangar that housed it, but saw instead a sleek state of the art model built for speed - a Reeves 51 Stellar class runabout. Looks like Jennifer knows a good ship when she sees one, he thought. The craft was large enough to transport six people in comfort and carry a substantial tonnage of cargo, yet streamlined and small enough to outrun most any other vessel that might be in pursuit. It must have cost a pretty penny.

"Well, Mr. Kent?" came the voice from inside George's ear, "Have you found the proper vehicle for our needs?"

"I think so..." he answered as he admired the spacecraft's design. "Yes, I believe it will do very nicely!"

Noel, with her nose buried in the journal of Clark Kent, shuffled slowly into the kitchen to join her mother and brother . "What's for breakfast, Mom?" she mumbled as Phyllis sipped a hot cup of coffee.

Despite the frightening news of the day, her mom couldn't help but chuckle at her daughter's demeanor. Noel had not been up this early on a Saturday since she had outgrown the early morning kids shows on holovision. Seeing her with a book in her face was a bit foreign, too. These days kids preferred to get all their information and literature from a computer terminal. She wasn't sure that many children had even seen a book except in museums. Somehow the sight of her daughter reading an honest-to-goodness, actual, bound book gave Phyllis a sense of comfort that she wasn't sure she understood, but welcomed nonetheless.

"I'm afraid I've been slacking a little this morning, honey. I've been watching the news of the earthquakes on the television."

"The what...?"

"The holovision. Isn't that what I said.?"

"No. You said 'television.' What is that?"

Phyllis noticeably paused and looked confused, then offered, "It's a two dimensional picture that was transmitted in the early days of electronic communication. Now why would I say that?"

"I don't know, Mom. But you know more about those olden days than anyone I've ever met." Noel flashed a devilish grin and jested, "Maybe you lived back then!" Both Noel and Phyllis laughed at the insult.

"Now, you're treading on thin ice, little girl! Just for that, you can fix your own breakfast. There's some cereal in the pantry and milk in the fridge." Phyllis giggled with her daughter once again, but she couldn't help but wonder why she would make a slip of the tongue like that.

"Mom, what cities have had the earthquakes again? Besides Metropolis, I mean?"

"Let's see, besides Metropolis it was Paris, Rome, Moscow, New York and London."

"Hmmm... that's kind of interesting..."

"What's interesting, dear?"

"In this journal that Jim found, every one of those cities is named in this entry."

"Really? Probably just a coincidence," said Jimmy as he entered the kitchen. "I mean, that was written a couple of hundred years ago."

"Maybe," said his mother. "But in geologic terms that barely qualifies as a moment."

"Yeah!" sneered Noel with as much righteous indignation as she could muster. "Besides, didn't you say that there had to be a connection between all these cities? Well, this is the first, and so far, the only connection I've found! You want to take a look, big boy?"

Jim had to admit that his curiosity was piqued. He poured a bowl of cold cereal for Noel and for himself and sat down at the table. "Okay, Squirt. It's your big moment! Show me!"

Noel opened the tome and sat down beside her big brother. Their mother decided the news coverage could wait and read along with her children.