Part 4
"Gone?" said Shayera. "What happened to it?"
John jumped out of bed and pulled a robe off of a nearby hook. "Power rings are programmed not to directly respond to the subconscious mind; it makes them safe to wear while you are asleep. I removed that failsafe because doing so decreased its reaction time in battle - sometimes milliseconds may mean the difference between life and death." He shrugged sheepishly. "I forgot to put the failsafe back on when I got sick, and the ring mistook my fever dream for a real situation and acted accordingly."
"So where is the ring now?" Shayera asked.
"Probably somewhere on Earth, on the finger of someone it has chosen to be my replacement."
Shayera thought for a moment. "You have the Power Battery here, don't you?"
"Yeah, I brought it up for my shift. It's in my locker." John replied.
"Get it and meet me in the Monitor Womb," Shayera said. "I've got an idea." She put on her helmet, spread her wings and flew out the door, soaring up the central spine of the Watchtower and alighting on the Monitor Womb deck, where all of Earth's communications were studied and sensors constantly scanned the surface for signs of trouble. She sat, adjusted the console and powered up the main display.
John joined her a few minutes later, wearing a T-shirt and sweat pants, carrying what looked like a green railroad lantern. He placed it on the console and sat down beside Shayera. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.
She picked up a scanner and passed it over the battery, then fed the readings into the console. "Now that I've got the scent, I'm scanning the Earth looking for the energy signature of your ring; when it's used, we should be able to pick it up. Good thing your battery's here, this only works when it's part of the loop."
Ten minutes passed, with the Earth slowly turning under the scan. Relay satellites scanned the Earth's far side. "There!" John shouted. The alarm sounded and green cross hairs appeared over the northeastern U.S.
"Pulling up those coordinates.." Shayera checked the readouts. "...It's a city in the United States called 'Lawndale'."
"I'm checking radio traffic in that area for Green Lantern sightings," John said, tapping the keyboard. "Nothing…"
"Well, we know where the ring is," said Shayera. "The Javelin can get us there in twenty minutes."
"Wait," said John. "Here's a emergency call."
"Unit 22, fire reported at a residence south of Cranberry Commons mall," the speaker blared. "Will give address en route, please respond."
"You think our ring bearer may be there?" Shayera said.
"Maybe," John replied. "It's worth checking out."
They got up and started to leave for the hangar deck. Suddenly, the monitor alarm again blared. The pair turned back to see the screen shift to a view of deep space.
"Wormhole opening up inside the orbit of Mars," Shayera said, sitting back down at the console. "Object emerging...It's headed straight for Earth."
John checked the readouts. "No, it's headed straight for us. And it's putting out a metric buttload of energy...Power Ring energy. It's another Green Lantern."
The pair watched as the Lantern approached the Watchtower, slowed, than stopped outside the large Earth side picture window. The glowing green figure hovered for a moment, then its ring produced a giant hand. Its fingers curled into a fist, raised up over the plexisteel, and then...gently rapped on the transparency.
"Well," said Shayera, "Aren't you going to let them in?"
John placed a force field over the window, then opened the pane to admit the visitor. The Lantern entered, and the window closed.
"John Stewart," said the Lantern, "I thought that you were dead. I'm pleased to see that I was wrong."
Shayera's face was an unreadable mask. John turned to her and gestured to the Green Lantern. "Shay," he said, "You remember Katma Tui, don't you?"