Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. Anything you recognize is not mine. All characters and events in this story are entirely fictional.
-=oOo=-
Cat Grant's employee Snapper Car played Cat's message on a large television mounted on the wall of his office.
"Snapper, I have taken a role as advisor to the Empress of the Abh Empire in a universe far from this one. Interviews with the Empress, views of their ships, and everything is following this message. That doesn't mean you can slack. They say I can visit from time to time and the stories we are going to tell are going to be grand. Also, don't let Kara slack either and take this seriously."
"Well I'm not impressed yet, but keep it playing," said Snapper dryly.
Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"How much video do you have?" asked Snapper.
Jimmy logged into his laptop. It seems that everything that would fit on our machines is full. It looks like a years worth. Most of it isn't in our story, well our first story. That was about the asteroid, the cause, and the solutions."
"And what was all that about?"
"Oh, the asteroid had thrusters attached to it. They managed to track, after a lot of effort, the thrusters to a universe similar to this one. In our version there was a planet Superman and Supergirl came from as well as its sister planet Daxom. The same thing mostly existed there but it was like it was in the past. At any rate we found that Queen Rhea of Daxom has a son who was seeing the younger version of the alternate Supergirl, and she did not like it. The two worlds didn't like each other much. Her father kept her away from the guy to keep the peace, but apparently the Queen and her son found out about our Supergirl and she is a bit of a nut," said Kara.
"Are you literally telling me that they tried to snuff out our world to kill Supergirl, because some woman's kid might chase after our copy?"
"If we were making up the story it would be less stupid," said James dryly.
"There is more. The reason Supergirl and Superman are here is their planet blew itself to bits because they over mined the core of the planet for energy. Supergirl was there too, our Supergirl I mean. She reported it and the Alliance made plans to evacuate both planets."
"Why evacuate both?" asked Snapper curiously.
"Apparently, when Krypton exploded in this universe it pretty well destroyed the sister planet Daxom. They shutdown the energy mining as slowly and as safely as they could then brought in technology to create doorways between worlds and get people off both planets. They still have nearly a year of work there. The people of both worlds have a lot of work to rebuild. They will bring everything they can, but it is a massive undertaking. We have recordings of a lot of it, including flyovers of both planets in high definition," said James.
"Please tell me the nutcase is locked up?" asked Snapper.
"Yes, the Alliance removed her and will try her, and possibly execute her. Attempted genocide is frowned upon, and they didn't particularly give a damn that that wasn't the primary goal," said James.
"I can get behind that. Stupid people with more power than sense. Now let's see what you wrote."
"We actually just focused on the removal of the asteroid. We figured saved more for future stories," said Jimmy.
Snapper nodded.
"Oh, there is one more thing," said Kara.
"And what is that?" asked Snapper dryly.
A rather attractive twenty something brown haired and brown eyed woman wearing the Alliance uniform ported in.
"Hello, I'm Phoebe. I decided to come give this world a hand and maybe teach a bit."
"Are you another of the ones from Krypton or Daxom?" asked Snapper, without missing a beat.
"Nope, I'm a strong telepath and kinetic. Supergirl is stronger than me, unless of course I see her coming. Then it might be interesting."
"Do you think you two might fight?" asked Snapper curiously.
"Doubt it. She seems to be one of the good guys. I admit, I only got a partial briefing from my sisters."
"And what are you going to teach?" asked Snapper.
"My own skills of course. Most can learn at least enough telepathy to talk to someone silently when near, and of course to shield casual reading. Kinetic manipulation is a bit rarer, but not that uncommon. Some will be stronger. Kara here managed to learn a bit."
"Like what?" asked snapper.
The pen on Snapper's desk floated to Kara's hand.
"That's about my limit so far, but its cool, isn't it?"
Snapper rolled his eyes, then asked Phoebe, "Who are you going to teach?"
"That is a good question, that I haven't decided the answer to yet, but hopefully good people. Maybe I'll give James a lesson. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Well I could use the ability to read minds," said Snapper dryly.
"Anyone we think is going to abuse the ability would be right out. Eventually you would have to police yourselves, but we want to at least try to start with those that are the most ethical," said the brown eyed Phoebe.
"What does that even mean?" asked Snapper in irritation.
"Do you consider the consequences of your actions? The consequences of those consequences and so on? Not just what you think is right. Anyone can believe they are right and fight for what they believe is a righteous cause. Some of the greatest atrocities in history were commuted by those kind of people. Do you do the hard thing when it is really hard and costly, even when no one will ever know you did it?"
"Not as often as I'd like," admitted Snapper.
"Fair enough. Honestly is always a start, and we surely know we aren't perfect. The press serves a vital role as do other forms of feedback."
"So your not teaching me to spoon bend?" asked Snapper dryly.
"Pardon?"
"I think supposedly some psychics supposedly can been spoons," said Kara absently.
"Why ever would you do that?"
"Not a clue," said Kara.
Phoebe turned back to Snapper. "So no, for now at least, I'm not teaching you, though I would consider your suggestions."
"Why?"
"Ms. Grant impressed us. We figure you were hired because you impressed her."
He nodded. He said, "You may want to work with local police. The regular ones that have to clean up the messes. I don't know who, but that might be a place to begin."
"That's helpful. Thank you."
"Not a problem. Come to think of it, paramedics might be an even less ethically gray area, though some of them can be bastards too," said Snapper.
"Thanks. Goodbye." Phoebe vanished.
"Handy ability, more useful than flying," added Snapper.
"Oh, she can do that too, not super fast, but kind of normal speeds, or at least I think she can. Her sister could," added James.
"We have a lot of work to do," said Snapper.
-=oOo=-
Phoebe walked up to the entrance to the DEO and calmly waited to be let in. Hank, fortunately, knew she was coming and met her just inside the door with Alex Danvers. They were surprised when Superman walked in right afterwards.
"Where is Supergirl?" asked Superman.
"She is fine. Everything is normal," said Hank.
"I need to know where she is. I just flew back from Metropolis, again."
"Come with us," said Hank.
He lead them to a closed area and unlocked it. They walked in.
"I really wish you would not keep kryptonite here," said Superman.
"I really wish some of the people from that area of space would not come here, you and your sister excluded, but we sadly don't always get what we want," said Hank.
"You're her cousin correct?" asked Phoebe.
"Yes. Where is she?"
"She went back to her day job. We got back not that long ago. She is fine."
"Something's wrong. Everybody in this facility just freaked out. Something about Venture," said Celeste.
"I thought you didn't read thoughts without permission," said Hank.
"It helps if people have enough training not to shout them. Come on. We need to find out what is going on!" said Phoebe.
They exited the closed area and ran down stairs to the main area. There they saw it on several large televisions.
"Crap. I need access to the biggest reactor you have available with as much spare capacity as possible and I need it now! I also need a view of that!" said Phoebe.
"I'm going," said Superman.
"Hold on. I'll manage it. You'd probably rip it in two."
"Can you read my thoughts then?" asked Hank.
"Yes, we are going there now." Phoebe's well flared and all four of them appeared in front of a very larger generator in an industrial area. The sound of rushing water almost drowned out everything else. Hank pulled out his phone and soon had a live view of the Venture they were still somehow tracking.
"Send me near it, if you can move people," said Clark.
"Fine, but don't try to do more than a small amount. You are liable to rip it in two," said Phoebe.
Superman vanished.
"Watch my body. Keep that visible to me." Phoebe leaned against the wall to the massive generator, which was one of many. The noise from the entire group doubled over the next thirty seconds as she pulled all the power she could, while also using her well. The craft visibly slowed. They could see Superman trying to stop it. A few minutes later Supergirl appeared on the scene. The craft had already slowed and was coming back in with a sane landing trajectory when Superman managed to extinguish the ruined engine. Supergirl continued to lift underneath as it continued to descend to the ground.
"They are so going to get the credit, but your doing the work, aren't you?" asked Alex.
"More or less. Guards are coming. Make sure we don't get shot," said Phoebe.
Alex pulled out her badge. Hank next to her just remained still, keeping Phoebe in view out of the corner of his eyes. Phoebe kept her absolute focus.
"Freeze."
"I'm Alex Danvers with the FBI. Your cooperation is required as well as your silence. You can call the FBI and give them my badge number. The use of this generator is required and I cannot divulge details."
She handed him her badge, which stayed with its current disguise. He took it and said, "I'll check this. You keep them covered."
"What are they doing? That generator sounds like it has the entire country on its shoulders," asked one of the technicians that came with them.
"Again, we can't tell you. Please check with the FBI hot line. They will confirm our authorization," said Alex.
Sweat was beginning to form on Phoebe's face as the Venture continued to descend. Several minutes later the Venture touched gently down into a corn field. Phoebe's well vanished and she got up.
"We will talk more when we are back where we were," said Hank softly.
Phoebe nodded.
-=oOo=-
"Why did it take your organization an hour to confirm we were not bad guys?" asked Phoebe.
"Sometimes the FBI guys like to dig into what the DEO is doing. Given that we were half way across the country in an instant, they probably wanted to dig," said Alex.
"Where was that anyway? I only read enough to figure out how to get here."
"That was the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. I think it is the biggest electrical plant in North America," said Hank.
"The problem is that particular reactor wasn't that big, by my standards, and I could only draw from the ones directly near me, and even then it was a pain to draw from multiple. I'll need to recharge my reserve, though it can wait a bit and will be slower."
Superman and Supergirl walked up to them as they walked down the street.
"You know you could have given us more of the weight," said Supergirl.
"Wasn't sure how massive forces at a couple of points would affect an already compromised ship. Didn't want to risk it. I considered porting the passengers off, but that ship is the only evidence we have of whatever happened."
"Well it certainly worked. You lifted more or less what we together could manage," said Superman.
"I had a power plant and a personal energy reserve. Speaking of power plants, if you want me to do that kind of thing again, I really would like a better setup with a much larger individual reactor. Without my well I'd have been lifting maybe half of that," said Phoebe.
"I'm sure we can work out something. What was the original reason you wanted to meet?" asked Hank.
"Oh, Kara's boss suggested teaching paramedics, well them and police, but paramedics sounded better."
"How much can your realistically teach?" asked Superman.
"I don't know. It depends on what I find. Those like me are rare. For now, I'd rather just teach some truly dedicated people rather than trying to search out the highest potentials. I assume they could learn basic telepathy and maybe a bit of kinetic. I figure when it comes to finding injured people that will be a huge assist," said Phoebe.
"You are probably right. I'll get you some names. I don't have them yet," said Hank.
Phoebe nodded.
"Where are you staying?" asked Alex.
"I don't honestly know yet. I do have some flawless gemstones. Would it be possible to sell them and establish funding?"
"I would have to pass them up the chain of command if you give them to me. You could probably pretend you didn't say that and I can try to get you the credentials and funding you need without it," said Hank.
"That's a good point. You never know when you might need money off the books," said Alex.
"You can stay with us tonight, if you want," offered Kara.
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"We could probably just use a bigger place, assuming everyone is okay with that," said Alex.
"Is there a reason you suggest that?" asked Kara softly.
"Yes, there is."
"You want me to teach you so you can keep up better," said Phoebe.
Hank, Clark, and Kara looked on curiously.
"You do understand that either of these two could kill me before I could react, to say nothing about some of your other enemies," said Phoebe.
"We are hardly likely to do that," said Superman.
"True, I wouldn't have said that if I had that concern, but telepathy, particularly low level telepathy, unless your fortunate enough to gain the higher levels is not going to make you a lot stronger. Sure I can fly, but that is a very difficult skill and does require a fair amount of potential. I have no protection against physical weapons unless maybe seeing them coming and porting out of the way."
"I could see being able to read a super powered persons mind as one hell of an advantage," said Alex.
"We prefer not to do that."
"But you would, if it was a fight, and your life was on the line," said Hank.
"Or the life of an innocent. The council can choose to incarcerate us if they don't agree with our reasons. The rules have all been agreed to. They don't have to agree that your circumstances justified it. Have we done what we had to do? Yes. I'm not proud of that, probably no more than Hank was proud of housing Kryptonite. No, I didn't read you, but your feelings of guilt were huge and shielding only goes so far. Normally I'd shut up about such things."
Superman looked on thoughtfully, absently nodding.
"What do you need to begin teaching?" asked Hank.
Phoebe tapped her com badge. "Computer beam a copy of the Alliance rules and regulations to a standard media for this world."
A usb drive appeared on the ground. She handed the drive to Alex. "Feel free to copy. Nothing there is secret. Once you understand the rules I will do a one time read deeply enough to determine if you intend to break them. If you do, I will not teach you."
"All the rules, or just the ones involving telepaths?"
"All the rules. There shouldn't be anything in the Alliance rules that are that onerous. We do allow for circumstances. If in doubt people do review it and make calls and even those can be appealed. We support our people as best we can, but if someone does abuse their position, we do address it."
"Lafiel didn't ask some of this before she taught me," said Kara.
"She was teaching someone already powerful minor things. That is not what Alex asked for. She wants whatever I can teach, and probably other help."
"Yes, I want a fighting chance, that if it comes to a fight against someone powerful I don't just get pasted," said Alex.
"I haven't said no. I've just pointed out the cost."
"And if someone just wanted to make sure their thoughts weren't read?" asked Hank.
"It doesn't work entirely that way. Oh I can teach less, but it is not like a one hour session. It is still at least a couple months of work and a lifetime of commitment to it," said Phoebe.
Hank nodded.
"We need to figure out what happened to the Venture. Any chance you can help on that?" asked Hank.
"If your asking me to read someone without their permission, well that requires a very good reason. It's generally not permitted. Now if someone is apt to die if you don't get this information and you didn't engineer it, call me. Finally, I can read people that agree, to try to pick out clues," said Phoebe.
"That could help. We will be in touch," said Hank.,
-=oOo=-
"You look exhausted Alex," said Hank as she came in the next morning.
"Spent half the night reading. Honestly, I don't think its going to be anything insane, provided you know where I'd be limited. They have thought through most of the ways to abuse things and figured out how to stop most of it."
"Alright, I'm willing to trade losing some flexibility for whatever gains she can teach, particularly if she helps in other ways," said Hank.
"I was hoping they had power armor or something. She said they could likely make it, but generally when a situation gets dangerous they blow it up with ship weapons."
"What's the general gist?" asked Hank.
"Mostly it is a long treatise on ethics of having paranormal talents, when to use, when to not, how to sort through the ethical quagmire."
"Now if only every one that had such skills agreed to follow it," added Hank.
"No kidding. I'm getting some coffee. Find anything out about the Venture yet?"
"The explosive was a shaped charge designed to direct the force downward to destroy a key regulator and force the rocket to go out of control. We did find out that Lena Luthor was scheduled to be in that seat before she canceled. The cancellation looks legit."
"They were trying to kill her?"
"That is what it looks like, though given the place destroyed, well the usual result would be everyone dies. We do have two superheroes that may have saved the craft without Phoebe, but I doubt anyone who placed it wasn't willing to have everyone die."
Phoebe walked into the underground section of their headquarters later that day under the escort of a guard.
"Morning. I walked with Kara to her building then walked back here. I assume that is okay," said Phoebe.
Hank turned to the guard. "You can go." He nodded and left. He then turned to Kara and said, "That's fine. Yesterday you mentioned recharging that invisible thing around your neck," said Hank.
"Yes, that is a priority, because you never know."
A siren sounded. A young man said, "We have an incoming object from space. It's about the size of a car."
"Well that's timing. Can we get it on a screen?" she asked hopefully.
"I'm working on it," said the man.
"You can do this without recharging that?" asked Hank.
"Yes. It's a lot smaller, but right after?"
"I've got it on a satellite. I am highlighting us as well," aid Winn.
"Good work Winn," said Alex.
Phoebe sat in the nearest chair and focused on the image. Her well lit up again and the craft slowed. Just as it was about to touch the ground Supergirl got it.
"Well that's handy. I want to meet the person in it, but as he is passed out, I suppose recharge first," said Phoebe.
"Alex, secure whoever is inside till we know more," said Hank.
"I can probably tell you if he means you harm without being too rude, but right now he is totally unconscious. He seems healthy though, and actually kind of attractive," said Phoebe absently.
"Are you interested?" asked Alex curiously.
"Based on looks alone? Well he has those."
"Here look at this. Here is the craft enlarged," said Winn.
"I reviewed the mission to Krypton. That's their tech. Well, I'm pretty sure it is," said Phoebe.
"It is," agreed Alex.
"He didn't feel like Kara or Superman. Close, but different. That is not an exact science, and I wasn't part of the other mission."
Hank nodded.
-=oOo=-
Supergirl and Phoebe sat by the side of the unconscious man. Hank agreed not to use a bit of Kryptonite to keep him weak until they knew who he was since Phoebe did not sense anything of concern. He did not agree to leave him unlocked. Supergirl, Phoebe, and he were all three in the most secure room they had on a lower level of the DEO.
The man's eyes blinked open. "What? Where am I?"
"Your on Earth," said Kara.
"Why are we in locked up?"
"We have food. Once we convince the powers that be that your not an enemy we can let you out, but first, I'm certain of it. Your not Kryptonian," said Phoebe.
"Of course not. I'm a Daxomite. My name is Mon-El. Why would you think?"
"The pod," said Phoebe.
"How did you get that?" asked Kara.
"It was there for a party. I forget who brought it. That was when Krypton blew to bits. What the hell were you doing?"
"I was gone before that. They over mined the core for energy," said Kara.
"Stupid."
"Yes it was," agreed Kara.
"Do you have a place you would like to go?" asked Phoebe.
"Daxom is destroyed too. Some might still live on it, but I can't think it would be easy," said Kara.
"If there are living people on it, we need to help them. I'll have someone check," said Phoebe.
"You can return to Daxom?" asked their guest.
"It probably isn't an emergency so it might take a week or two till someone gets time."
"Assuming you can do that, what's the point? What can you do?" asked Mon-El.
"We would find a home for your people. Somewhere else. Not here. That probably would not work well. Do you have powers?" asked Phoebe.
"I have no idea."
"You do. I'd bet on it," said Kara.
"I have the ability to read thoughts. I try not to. I did read enough to determine you mean no harm," said Phoebe.
"You could have told me."
"You are potentially incredibly strong, and did not appear to be the owner of that craft. I assure you I did not pry," said Phoebe.
"She is teaching me a bit. I can shield at least casual thoughts now," said Kara.
"Your shielding leaves much to be desired, but yes, you are learning," said Phoebe.
"So, when can I get out of here?" asked Mon-El.
"Probably soon, though in truth I don't work here, so have very little say. I'm curious though. What do you want to do?"
"Go back in time before the mess and stop it."
"We can't do that. I could give you a ride to another world. Perhaps if there are others of your people alive, you could join them there."
"Is there any way to tell?" he asked.
"Not unless your people are strong telepaths. I suppose if your ship is repairable, I might be able to take it, but again, we should get someone here within a couple weeks."
"I'll see if Hank will let us out of here," said Kara.
A few minutes later Alex came and opened the door.
"You were monitoring us?" asked Mon-El.
"Yes, did you expect otherwise? Please consider it from our point of view."
"It's weird to be thought of as strong," said Mon-El.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone."
-=oOo=-
About ten minutes into their introductions Winn said, "We have a problem. Some nutcase has military UAVs."
"Dammit. I'll deal with it," said Kara who flew off.
"I'm going down to the power room. Mon-El would you like to join me or?" asked Phoebe.
"Well if I have powers, I don't know how to use them yes, so why not?"
-=oOo=-
Hank looked on in the DEO situation room. Superman had joined them to help. They managed to prevent severe damage to a couple of buildings and destroy the UAVs with no loss of life, though it was close.
"Winn, tell me you have a target?"
"I have. Just how."
"Send the details to Phoebe. Maybe she can fetch him."
Ten minutes later Phoebe walked in. "He is in the prison we were in. I did lock it of course."
"We need to know who he is working with," said Hank.
"I'm willing to ask for permission, but not willing to do so without it, unless there are lives currently at stake."
Hank gently held her left hand with his right. She looked at him puzzled and then nodded.
"I'll tell them to hurry."
"Thank you," said Hank.
-=oOo=-
The Enterprise moved into a cloaked orbit above Earth. Rowan and Deanna were also aboard.
"I am receiving beam down coordinates. They have a sample of the radioactive mineral we need to locate," said Mr. Data.
"Proceed."
-=oOo=-
Data beamed down with the security guard and was soon led into the DEO main offices where a very thick safe was unlocked. Data scanned the material with his tricorder for several minutes.
"That is sufficient," said Data.
Hank nodded and locked the safe. Data began manipulating his tricorder.
"What are you doing?" asked Hank.
"Attempting to see if the path the missing mineral took can be traced. I believe I have a possible lead."
"Let's go then. Alex, you are with us."
They traced it to a locker and then to a specific employee who started to run. Data pulled out a phaser and fired.
"It was on stun. I believe you will want him for questioning. The missing material was clearly in that locker for a time," said Data.
"Do you know where it is now?" asked Hank.
"No, but we can likely find it from Enterprise."
"Good. Let me know of any help required. I'd rather have it all destroyed than it get out."
"I understand." Data touched his com badge. "Two to beam up."
-=oOo=-
"I can't believe they wrapped up the whole organization in a day," said Alex.
"They did remove most of the Kryptonite and put a multi key lock on the rest, which they would be notified if we opened," said Hank.
"And its a really good lock. Seriously, if you can't do the teleportation thing, that is a really good lock," said Winn.
"It's still better than having Cadmus have it. At least the organization is locked up, and if all goes well, will be executed," said Alex.
"What about Luthor?" asked Winn.
"They didn't see converting Lex's sentence to the death penalty a sufficient reason to violate his mental privacy. He is already sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. They did agree to implant a sub-dermal implant, that he shouldn't detect so he could be tracked, if he did escape," said Hank.
"And the telepath thing? Wasn't she going to teach?" asked Winn.
"Actually, I'm heading out with a group of people from all over. Apparently the Alliance hand picked people, somehow, then made offers through their governments. They found a world comparatively near Daxom for the remnants of that civilization and are helping them get started. For us, they found a world closer to Earth. Five hundred of us are heading out to begin there. I'm just going to learn. It isn't a sun like our own. Supergirl would have powers there, but they would be more limited," finished Alex.
"Why go there?" asked Winn.
"They looked at our world and concluded that anyone taught might be targeted," said Hank.
"That's probably fair," said Winn sadly.
"How many will that world take?" asked Hank.
"A lot, but they are counting on the people there to build it, mostly, so the plan is for that to be slow and done right, without all the nationalities and such," said Alex.
"What language will they use? They surely have to settle on one," said Winn.
"The Alliance is suggesting the Abh language as the primary, if everyone doesn't agree, mostly as giving no one an advantage," said Hank.
"So they are going to speak that one. Got it," said Winn.
"Right, no one agreed," added Alex.
"What about Kara?" asked Winn.
"She is going, officially as a reporter. She probably won't stay because this city is nuts, and she is likely needed here. Also, I really don't think she likes not being at full strength," said Alex.
"Who would?" asked WInn.
"No one. For now I can pull in some more resources to cover you two, at least if it doesn't get too crazy," said Hank.
"Thanks."
-=oOo=-
Phoebe walked in the tent Kara and Alex were using. It was a rather nice tent, but it was still a tent.
"Excited to explore a new world?" asked Phoebe.
"Don't you have some super building construction thing?" asked Alex hopefully.
"We do alright, but this is your resources, your world. What you build is ultimately up to you. We are helping to create a plant to build solar panels and batteries, and are helping with other things," offered Phoebe.
"To try to keep this world clean?" asked Kara.
"Well, to at least give you a better chance," said Phoebe.
"So when do we start?" asked Alex.
"Now if you want," offered Phoebe.
"So, do you get to read my mind now or?" asked Alex.
"Given your continued conflict of interest yes, but I'm not going to do so nearly as much as you think. Kara can come along if she wants."
"I can? I can read all Alex's dark secrets?"
"Not so much. I'll keep it as narrow as I can," said Phoebe.
"So, how does it work?" asked Alex.
"Take a seat both of you, and join hands. It is not strictly needed, but we all like to keep it simple, and it is easier to perform delicate work when your touching."
-=oOo=-
Kara felt how amazing it was to feel not just Alex's mind but Phoebe's as well. They were together. She felt Phoebe direct her probe on Alex's intentions. She intended to keep her word unless someone's life was at stake, and then keep it as best she could. Phoebe probed further. They now understood her ethics were not much different than their own. They also felt how much Kara meant to Alex and visa versa. Content they carefully stepped back, separating first from Alex and then from each other.
"Yes, I did slightly prod you to be honest in your feelings, but it was very slight. Either way, you pass," said Phoebe.
"Good, now, I want to fly," said Alex in what seemed an effort to move on.
"You do get that I'm not quite sure how much kinetic potential you have yet, and you may not reach this on your own," said Phoebe.
"Yes, but I still want to fly."
"Okay. I'd also like to bring Kara in as well, since she knows how to fly a different way. Still want to try?"
"Yes."
-=oOo=-
Alex felt Phoebe and Kara with her. She felt their vast strength as part of her own. She thought up and suddenly knew how to go up, only to raise an inch and fall.
"More slowly," they thought. Thoughts exchanged at a rapid pace as she slowly learned to lift off the ground using not her strength but Phoebe's, though parts of her mind seemed to awaken the more she did it. An hour later she was hovering a foot of the ground in the tent and moving around in slow circles.
"And that is enough," thought Phoebe.
"What? I just started," she thought back.
"Yes, that is enough for a serious beginning. Land and we will separate."
Sighing, she slowly did, little by little till her feet touched the ground, and then they separated and she felt so much less.
"Our ship will be by in about a week to check anyone that has began like you, but I didn't sense anything of concern," said Phoebe.
"Is that really a concern?" asked Alex.
"We have found a few. Actual treatment occurs in less than a percent, and it is unlikely you have to have it, but if something is found, we can prevent it from reducing your long term potential by catching it early. Realistically, me doing over half the work to land that plane with that generator was more dangerous to me, and yes, I've been checked since then. Catch problems early and we can pretty easily fix them," said Phoebe.
"What about me? Could I do the kinetic bit? I seem to have some of the telepathic potential," said Kara.
"Actually, my guess now is that Alex might reach T2 if she works very hard in both path and port. That is nothing to sneeze at. I'm a T1, and a strong T1. My mothers are both T1, but Rowan is more like fifty percent more."
"Mothers?" asked Alex.
"Yes, we can do that."
"I wonder about two fathers," mused Kara.
"I'm pretty sure the Abh know how to do that. They regularly use gestation cradles."
"Really?" asked Kara in surprise.
"Pretty sure, though most of them do pair off male and female, and most children are what they call children of love. They truly love each other, but still tend to use the cradles most often."
"When can we do this again?" asked Alex.
"Not for at least a day. Even if there is nothing that requires treatment, you need to rest, particularly after your first step into our world."
"Me two?" asked Kara.
"By rest I mean mentally, and mostly in regard to attempting path or port. If you want to exercise, or do physical work, go for it, just maybe don't do anything too mentally taxing for twenty four hours, and get rest tonight."
"So what's next?" asked Kara.
"There is a meeting in a short time to discuss some of the initial work. I have a suggestion for you Kara that you can of course ignore."
"Okay, I'm curious," said Kara cautiously.
"We were very picky in who we picked. To the best of our knowledge these five hundred are all good people. We are going to be somewhat picky for awhile who we add to this. That doesn't mean you won't eventually have your secret get out either to people here who come after we stop being picky, or back to Earth, but I honestly don't think you need to choose to live a double life forever. There are Federation worlds that would welcome you. The Earth in our main universe would, as would the one in Rowan's. I'm sure there are many others."
"But, I want to make a difference on my Earth."
"As I said, you can ignore me."
"Be careful Kara," said Alex quietly.
"Why?" asked Kara.
"You could do a lot of good here if you didn't have to pretend, particularly early on. That would likely earn you a lot of respect. I certainly intend to do what I can. I can, if you want, replicate you the artificial lights for where you sleep. They help a bit," said Phoebe.
"You have a ship then?" asked Alex.
"Yes, though I'm trying to keep that mostly need to know."
"Can we fly it?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "It's purpose is to watch over this world. We could fly around this system a bit, but officially I am on guard duty here. We can't leave this system."
"Hell, I've never left my planet before this. I'll take it," said Alex.
"I used to go on trips when I was younger. I miss those," said Kara.
"The first meeting of the settlers of Altair IV will begin in ten minutes. Please make your way to the main tent," said a voice over the external speakers.
-=oOo=-
"Hello all. I am relieved to have so many of you here. I am also more relieved that the Alliance gave us all communicators that translate so we can communicate. My name is Keiko Yamada. I have been given, for now at least, the duty of leadership. In a month we will vote again and that can be changed, if there is the desire to do so, or if not, and I will continue in this role. I will first tell you that in that month I'll ask you to vote what language we want to all learn in common. I have heard that the Abh language suggested as the default is actually reasonably easy to learn and well designed, but as I don't have any idea how to speak it, I suppose the first order of business is to ask if anyone can speak it?"
Phoebe raised her hand.
"Yes Phoebe."
"I can and I can probably get a few others to help us learn it, if that is what you decide. I'm not a native speaker. It is a second language to me that I do not use all that often. What you choose will affect everyone else that comes, unless of course they all get together and change it. The choice is yours. We do, however, ask that you make it."
"Well said, and I'm sure we will come up with something. Since you are here, can you cover the initial things your people have setup?" asked Keiko.
"Sure. Most of this is purely your material and your work. The biggest thing that you can see is the building at the edge of town. That is linked with a subsurface well. It can supply a great deal of water, easily handling probably ten thousand people. Federation water filtering is in place, though the water is actually perfectly safe without it. The same technology as our our starships is used to process the waste from restrooms. There are also laundry areas there and several large kitchens and a lot of food. In short, it is what we could foresee needed first, but it is only the beginning."
Whe continued, "We will be building a tower that I can use to receive pods from Earth. Several hundred miles away there is the beginning of a city that will produce solar panels and batteries using technology we freely gave you. It has space for many more factories. We plan to cut a road between the two places, with the wood and materials extracted from the process usable as needed. I think that is the highlights."
She added, "Most of the work is of course yours. We will help and handle reasonable requests. I can transport people around this planet, within reason. I can also replicate some of what you might need on my craft. Matter replication is an expensive process, so that is a limited resource. I hope to have a counterpart on Earth within a month. The Alliance does this kind of thing fairly often, and finding those that can learn my skills to the level required is difficult, though I did just find someone with considerable potential. In six months or so, if all goes well, she may be able to help move some smaller non living packages, that is if we can convince her, and if her potential is as I hope it to be. I do ask that those who wish to learn be patient. I need to focus on about twenty early on and train them so they can hopefully train, well probably around ten or so each, with my help. As you can see, the process will pick up in time. I think that is about all I had to say."
"Well, tomorrow workers are going to start clearing this area for buildings. Does anyone else have anything they would like to say?" asked Keiko.
Kara walked down. She was wearing a very familiar dark gray sweater and pants. She turned to face the crowd.
Everyone got quiet to listen.
"Phoebe encouraged me to do this. This is very scary for me. Some of you may have saw me in this outfit a couple years ago. My sister Alex was on a plane that was in trouble. I jumped towards the sky and nothing happened. It took me a few tries. I had been hiding for so very long. I wasn't even ready. I just barely managed to save the plane, and here I'm maybe half my strength. We, those of us from Krypton or from our sister planet Daxom gain a lot of strength under Earth's sun. I just wanted to let you know that I'll work hard to help this place while I'm here and to ask you not to tell anyone back home please. A lot of people might be endangered," said Kara softly.
Everyone tried to talk at once. Phoebe, rather than standing where she was, flew into the front with Kara and touched down. She held up her right hand and the crowd quieted.
"Please respect Kara's wishes here. Should those back home find out, there is a good chance we will find out who told and send them back to Earth. I do not mean that as a threat or anything. It just is, and yes, I can fly. The potential is there for anyone who is probably a T4 or above kinetic talent. Some of you will probably get there, though probably less than twenty. We cheated a bit in our selection process to pick those with somewhat higher odds that also had the ethical standards we were looking for. We plan to maintain some control on who comes and goes for a year or two. After that, we hope you will be able to do this all on your own, moving back and forth to Earth and all the rest."
She looked at them all again. "I confess I am a little envious of Kara's ability of flight, and her strength. It is truly impressive. Learning to fly for us was not easy at all. It is the pinnacle of our skill, but we can do it, and that potential is part of mankind. To get an idea of what that potential is, I was the one that carried at least half of the weight of the Venture as it landed, using a power plant very ill suited to the purpose to aid me."
"She really did. Superman and me didn't actually have to work that hard," said Kara.
"And what is more, that person I mentioned, might be able to do as much as I did, if she had the generator we are building here and not the one I used," said Phoebe.
Alex walked down. Before she was all the way to the middle she said, "She was talking about me. I convinced her to train me. I'm one of the people that work behind the scenes in National City for the Department of Extra-normal Operations. I'm was born on Earth. I'm a regular human like anyone else. We adopted Kara long ago. Please keep all that a secret."
The crowd again began to talk among themselves. Keiko raised her hand. After it got silent she asked Alex. "You can do what Phoebe can?"
"No. I mean I flew earlier, but that was using her power, not mine, and I was like a foot off the ground. Maybe one day I can do part of it."
"Where do I sign up?" asked Keiko.
"I want to be clear on something. Flight is hard. If we fall from any height, we probably die. Teleportation is actually safer, if you can learn that, and with the support of a generator a fair chunk of you may manage it," said Phoebe.
Keiko nodded.
"Alright, well, with Kara here, who is also learning, that makes three," said Phoebe.
Half the hands in the audience shot into the air wanting to be the others.
"There is no possible way I can choose fairly. For the remaining seventeen please work out a way to randomly choose," said Phoebe.
"Well I guess that is it for tonight, though those interested should stay. As you leave you can write a name on a piece of paper. Once everyone is out of the tent I'll walk out and shake the names up then pick someone at random to draw one after the other out," said Keiko.
"Thanks," said Phoebe.
-=oOo=-
Kara and Alex beamed up with Phoebe to the runabout the next morning.
"I was working on this program the last morning. You two can sit at the other stations and watch to make sure this does what we intend to do." With that Phoebe hit a button and began the phaser and transporter program.
"Your cutting the trees and stacking them in that cleared area outside the town," said Alex impressed.
"Modern technology has its benefits," said Phoebe.
"So we just watch?" asked Kara.
"Yes, let me know if there are any problems. I'm going to make you a suitable axe or probably several. Be careful with it."
"Thanks."
They did ten miles along the road the first day before they decided they had done more than enough for now.
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