Paul had wanted to save humanity. Instead, he'd have to settle for cleaning up his own mess.
Just launching the generator into space wouldn't be enough. He wanted to get it as far from Earth as possible-preferably beyond the moon-so its explosion wouldn't prevent mankind from creating a new home there, if necessary. But that meant staying with the generator. Luckily, the little access room had some air in it, so he'd be good for at least an hour or so. Assuming the generator didn't explode before then.
Forget it, Paul...you've got more air than time. You're gonna ruin the moon for everybody. When the generator blows, it'll probably make space travel too dangerous for thousands of years. Radiation can last that long. You'll create a cloud of it or something, and that'll be the end of our astronaut dreams.
Paul braced himself against the rumbling shielding. He still wasn't afraid of dying, but he was sorry that he'd never lived. Paul just hadn't been able to let go. Finding out that he was a freak, his parents abandoning him, all those years of suffering and pain. Even when that part of his life was over, he'd still felt hopeless. And he'd thought that his personal emotions were everyone else's reality. He'd secretly felt doomed, so he'd assumed that the entire world was doomed, too. But at least he'd seen the truth before it was too late.
As the generator flew into space, Paul started smiling. He was thinking about the "Silver Age" label he'd come up with-and wondering if it was more right than he knew. In the old stories, silver was what killed the monsters. But, in modern times, it turned potential monsters into heroes. The Fantastic Four were glorified accident victims, their bodies had been painfully transformed...but, instead of becoming bitter, they chose to continue being explorers. Thor had started out as an arrogant god, and he was cast down by his father, which could have turned him evil. Instead, he became humble and chose to serve mankind. Tony Stark had made money off of weapons that were used in controversial conflicts; he later stopped doing that and invented/funded his very own superhero. Spider-Man went from selfish celebrity to selfless hero (and no one knew why). The Hulk was an actual monster, but he fought creatures that were even more dangerous.
They could have easily ended up as villains-and some of them probably would have-but the Silver Age had other plans. It was the same for Paul. Instead of being known as the lunatic that blew up New York, he'd be known as...well, the lunatic that almost did that, but chose to sacrifice himself, instead. His death would give humanity a shot at a better future. His physical sickness was gone, but he'd been mentally sick, too, even if he hadn't realized it. A superhero had cured him.
Paul remembered some of the old verses that his mother used to quote: one of them talked about being "raised imperishable," and being given an indestructible life. That was how he felt. Sure, he'd be dying soon, but he felt strong, healthy. It had nothing to do with his body and everything to do with the age they were in. He finally felt it, now. The hope, the imagination, the wonder. That was what the Silver Age did. It took potential monsters, humbled them, and then raised them back up, better and wiser than before.
It's incredible, and you're about to destroy it. Once this thing blows up, space will seem scary, not promising, and we'll retreat back into our shells. You screwed up, just like we alw-
The generator hit...something. Some kind of energy field. For a moment, Paul was terrified, thinking that it would cause the generator to rupture. But it didn't. Instead, the kaleidoscopic energy penetrated the shielding and washed over his body. It was a storm of cosmic rays. The thing that had given the Fantastic Four their powers; the thing that had started the Silver Age. The cosmic rays didn't seem to be affecting the generator, but they were definitely affecting him, because he felt more powerful than ever. When his newly-formed rings hit the generator, the huge object lurched and vastly increased its speed.
Paul risked a quick downward glance. Earth loomed large, and a blink later, it was a tiny blue orb. The generator was going straight up. They were suddenly past the moon, and then both Earth and the moon were barely-visible dots, and they were whisked away to the side. They'd orbited beyond him. He was high, incredibly high, in the upper reaches of the galaxy. Paul laughed and kept firing. If it exploded up here, it wouldn't matter, because Earth's orbit was far below. He might even be in some other star system by now.
Thank god, thank god, it's working. But you paid attention to the wrong signs, genius. Your abilities create silver energy, and your suit is mostly silver, too. When you first called it the Silver Age, you should have known. You should have known that you were wrong. You belong to this age, and you always did, and the cosmic rays are just even more proof. But you could have done so much more, you could h-
The generator erupted in a blinding flash of light.