"Sorry about breaking your ring, it just seemed like the best choice in case you were being controlled by it," Guy apologized.
"If it had been controlling me it would have been," John agreed, "but it was easily fixed so no harm, no foul."
"Thanks," Guy said. "So, since Bats is going to question me about everything we talk about in exacting detail, what was your arrival like? I've never been through a time change… at least one I remember."
"I woke up naked in orbit with just my ring," John replied. "Took me a second to figure out I wasn't dreaming and that I couldn't remember anything. I questioned my ring, but it had no records of what had happened or who I was."
"Having him show up at my door naked was a bit of a surprise," Alan agreed, "thankfully I was still up."
"Didn't have a change of clothes in your subspace pocket?" Guy asked with a grin. "Rookie mistake."
"No idea," John said with a shrug, "not that it would matter since my pocket was wiped as well. All I had was myself and my ring."
"What about your lantern?" Guy asked, concerned.
"Gone," John replied. "My subspace pocket was wiped from existence."
"You poor bastard," Guy said with a wince. "Want me to ask the Guardians for a replacement?"
"That'd be great," John said. "Not sure they'll give me one, since I'm not one of their Lanterns, but I'd appreciate the effort. Who knows, I might get lucky."
"Sure I can't convince you to join up?" Guy asked.
"I'm sure," John said. "If I can't get a Lantern from them I'll just look into alternate ways to charge my ring or see about finding another device that taps into the emotional spectrum."
"What, like Sinestro's ring?" Guy asked.
"Doubt I'd be able to get my hands on that, but there have been a number of devices created by various races that could work," John said thoughtfully.
"I think it'd be hard to get your hands on most of them," Alan offered. "Items with that kind of power usually have a long list of people wanting them."
"You have to think outside the box," John said, "and possibly know a bunch of secrets and things everyone else doesn't. Too bad I can't recall how I got the information, but I have it."
"Like what?" Guy asked.
"Well if I told you it wouldn't be a secret," John replied with a grin, getting a chuckle out of the two.
"If the Guardians won't give me a Lantern, as I'm not one of their Lanterns, I'll accept a lesser recharge device good for at least a third a ring charge a day for everything I know of the other Lantern Corps from my timeline, since they don't seem to have them here yet," John offered.
"What if they give you a Lantern?" Guy asked.
"Then I will definitely tell them everything I know of the other Corps," John said. "I can't see them not wanting the information and it's probably a good idea to pass it on regardless."
"Hopefully they'll give you a Lantern," Guy said, checking his pole to see if something was nibbling on the bait.
"It'd be nice," John agreed, "because all the other methods I can think of involve an element of danger."
"As long as it doesn't involve attacking anyone in the Corps I'm happy," Guy said.
"You're perfectly welcome to keep using mine," Alan reminded him.
"I know and I appreciate it," John said, "but there are going to be times where it's going to be inconvenient or impossible to drop by and recharge, so I'd like to get one of my own for emergencies."
"Not to mention having a ring that isn't weak to wood," Alan said thoughtfully.
"Weak to wood?" Guy asked, confused.
"Alan has a slightly different Lantern," John said with a grin, "so rather than weak to yellow, it's weak to wood."
"Huh," Guy said, shaking his head, "That's probably a pain on Earth, but it'd be a boon in space. Seems like most space pirates know to use yellow lasers against us."
"Buy a laserproof vest," John suggested.
"Buy a… that may not be a bad idea," Guy said thoughtfully. "Pretty sure Bats would know what I need and I can just subspace it when not on patrol."
"You could also get your own laser gun to fire back with, save on ring charge," John pointed out.
"Guardians are big on non lethal," Guy pointed out.
"So don't use a lethal one," John replied, "if we can have ice rays then getting stun weapons should be a piece of cake."
"That's what I use the ring for," Guy said.
"Yeah, I'm talking about backup weapons and emergency supplies," John said, "unless there is a limit to how much you can carry in your subspace pocket?"
"I don't think we have a limit," Guy said, "at least no one's ever mentioned running out of space."
"What all do you carry in it?" Alan asked curiously.
"Can't recall storing anything important in it," Guy said with a shrug. "Mainly I just keep my Lantern and some spare keys."
"Ask your ring," John suggested, "it should have a list of everything that's been stored in it."
"Ring, give me a list of everything in my subspace pocket," Guy ordered. His eyes glowed green and his jaw dropped.
"Found some things you've lost?" Alan guessed.
"Not sure I could find anything I lost in this mess," Guy said. "You know how rings are passed on when the current wielder dies?"
"Yeah," Alan agreed. "I've talked to Hal about how he got his ring a time or two."
"My ring has gone through hundreds of wielders over the last hundred thousand years… and none of them have cleaned out the subspace pocket connected to it," Guy explained.
Alan and John just stared at him.
"You know how scientists say at least ten percent of the universe's mass is missing? I think I've found it," Guy said, only half joking.
"Got a couple of solar systems in there?" Alan asked with a grin.
"No, but I seem to have a couple dozen asteroids, one small comet, and… a planetoid," Guy said, his eyes glowing green as he examined the list.
"A planetoid?" John asked in disbelief.
"About the size of Pluto," Guy said.
"There's got to be a story behind that," Alan said.
"Probably, but I'll have to go through the records to find out what it is," he said, dismissing the list and grabbing another beer. "It's going to take me years to go through everything in my pocket."
"Might want to talk to the Guardians about making some kind of Corps wide announcement," John suggested, "God alone knows what all has been tucked away since the Corps was founded."
"Not a bad idea," Guy agreed, "I'm going to need permission to make multiple rings and charge them for the power needed to take the planetoid out of my subspace pocket, so I'll do it then."
"Where are you going to put it?" Alan asked.
"Haven't thought that far ahead," Guy said. "Where am I going to put it?"
"In orbit around Venus," John suggested. "It'll give the place tides and make my terraforming efforts much easier."
"You're going to terraform Venus?" Guy asked, surprised.
"It's on my to-do list," John replied. "I'd terraform Mars, but it's already inhabited. I may check to see if they'd mind me terraforming the surface, but that'd be a later project."
"You really plan on terraforming Venus?" Guy asked. "You're not just pulling my chain?"
"No, I really intend to," John said, "and I'm not sure why no one has done it yet. Seems like such an obvious idea."
Alan and Guy exchanged confused glances.
"How is it an obvious idea?" Alan asked.
"Mankind's going to spread throughout the solar system eventually, why not give them a leg up? Plus, there is plenty of room for endangered species so we can increase their numbers," John explained. "Having more habitable planets is never a bad idea."
"You really think you can pull it off?" Guy asked.
"Sure," John replied, his eyes glowing green as he examined all the various terraforming methods that he now had access to from the pilfered Green Lantern files, "It'll just take a decade. Still, the sooner I start, the sooner it's finished."
"That sounds like a reasonable amount of time," Guy decided. "A lot can happen in a decade if you work at it."
"So you'll give me the moon?" John asked hopefully.
Guy nodded. "I've got no use for it."
"Excellent, saves me the trouble of making one," John said, before his pole gave a quiver.
"Looks like you caught something," Guy said.
John reinforced his pole and yanked at it.
"Brawhh!" Roared the ten foot long, seven foot tall, thirteen hundred pound moose as it broke through the ice, the three Lanterns immediately taking to the air, taking the shack with them.
The three just stared as the moose fled across the ice, heading for the forest.
"I saved the beer," Guy said after a few seconds of silence.
"Good thinking," Alan said, as they settled back down, refreezing the surface of the lake and using their rings to retrieve anything that fell into the icy water. "Burgers are a loss, but we still got beer and our poles."
"So, back to fishing," John said. "If we get hungry I've got some pizzas in my pocket."
"Back to fishing," Alan agreed before creating a pair of green scissors that cut John's line. "Just for safety's sake."
"Yeah, that's probably for the best," John admitted.
Four Hours Later
"Well, it's been fun, but I need to head home and get some sleep," Guy said. "I'll pass along your offer to the Guardians and see what they say."
"We'll be here all weekend," John said, "and here's my ring address." A spark of green energy floated from his ring to Guy's. "Call if you need anything."
"Will do," Guy replied and vanished in a flare of green light.
"I'd forgotten how good it was to just hang out with other heroes and talk shop," Alan said.
"Guy's a pretty cool… guy," John said after a pause and unable to think of a more appropriate word, "when he isn't suffering from physical trauma induced personality derangement."
"What?"
"Got hit by a bus giving him brain damage that affected his personality until it was fixed or he received a blow to the head," John replied, vaguely recalling the plotline DC Comics had come up with to explain a couple of their writers refusing to work together.
"You're kidding," Alan said.
"It's not the strangest thing I've seen, but it is something that they based an episode or two of the Flintstones on, so I can understand your doubts," John said with a grin. "Both personalities are talented ring wielders, one's just more aggressive and confrontational."
"Any way to fix it?"
"I wouldn't trust my ability to work on brains, much too complex," John admitted. "Alter the wrong thing or maybe even the right one and it's like they are a completely different person."
"I know what you mean," Alan said, thinking of his long dead lover.
"Pretty sure a couple of the other ring types could handle it, but Green isn't one of them," John said while retrieving another beer.
"I thought you took Guy breaking your ring a lot easier than I would," Alan said, changing the subject, "but then I recalled yours could make copies and you'd already given me one."
"Always best to have a backup," John agreed.
"Now that Guy's gone, would you mind sharing some of the ideas you had? If not I'll understand," Alan said, "it's mainly just curiosity on my part."
"Sure," John agreed.
"There are an infinite number of alternate universes, so finding one where a Lantern is lying around after its owner died is always possible. Now that idea is time consuming and risky since there's no idea what I'll find, but it's doable."
"And you know how to travel to alternate universes?" Alan asked, surprised.
"Not a clue," John said cheerfully, "but since I just got a replacement copy of my ring's lost database there are probably a couple dozen methods listed."
"Lost database… the copy of Guy's ring," Alan realized.
"The Guardians load them up with everything but the kitchen sink," John explained, "so I just copied it over to my ring. James, send Jeeves a copy."
The two rings glowed as files were transferred, though Jeeves' glow was just barely visible through the top of Alan's boot.
"I presume you are going to use a safer method since you don't seem enthused by the idea," Alan decided.
"I could just make a couple dozen rings and shape them like Legos to make a Lantern," John said. "Your Lantern leaks enough that it'd probably charge them over the space of a day or two. It wouldn't be an actual Lantern, but I could switch out rings for a couple of weeks before needing to get a recharge."
"That's an amusing thought," Alan said. "Does my Lantern really leak that much?"
"Like radiation from a nuclear reactor," John said, "except not bad for the environment. The sheer amount of power stored in your Lantern is pretty much limitless."
"That seems like a workable idea," Alan said.
"I'll probably do that even if I get a Lantern from the Guardians because the Starheart has some advantages over a standard Lantern and having a ring powered by each type covers one of our glaring weaknesses. In fact, I'd suggest making a third ring we charge up with my Lantern so you can do that as well."
Alan chuckled. "Keep this up and I'm going to run out of places to wear power rings, I've gone from one to two with a plan for a third one now."
"Some would say I'm paranoid," John said.
"But?" Alan asked after it became apparent he wasn't going to say anything more.
"But?" John repeated back, trying to sound confused.
"Usually there is a 'but' after a statement like that," Alan pointed out with a grin, knowing he was joking.
John shrugged. "In the superhero biz, a little paranoia isn't a bad thing as long as you don't go full on Batman paranoia."
"I've heard he's wound up a bit tight," Alan allowed.
"Just a bit," John agreed. "Anyway, I don't think covering for your weaknesses is being too paranoid, it's just common sense."
"Cover for your weaknesses and always have a backup," Alan said with a nod. "Put like that it makes perfect sense."
"I thought so, but others disagree," John said. "Superman hasn't bothered investing in protection against magic or mind control as far as I can tell. Hell, he hasn't even bothered with radiation protection so he can ignore kryptonite."
"Those are some rather large weaknesses," Alan said with a frown, "but considering the amount of power he has and his personality… he's probably left himself open that way on purpose."
John frowned in thought and took a sip of his beer. "Worried about being too powerful and no one being able to stop him?"
"That's my guess," Alan agreed.
"Yeah, I can see it," John said thoughtfully.
"So, what is your most likely to be used plan for getting a Lantern and how can I help?" Alan asked.
"The Guardians aren't the only people to tap into the emotional spectrum, they're just the ones who created the best instruments for wielding it," John said. "Of course since I have a ring I don't need an instrument, just a power source which should be much easier to find. I figure a few trips to some advanced alien civilizations who have died out or fallen back to the dark ages should net me something I can use. It'll likely be less powerful and much larger, but it could be the size of a car and I'll still be fine with it since I have a subspace pocket."
"Where are you going to find a list of advanced alien races who have died out?" Alan asked.
John held up his ring with a smile.
Typing by: Abyssal Angel