The Campbell Chronicles Part Two
Chapter 2
Nicholas floated above Cradle, staring down at the planet's changes in the last year. Towns had popped up around the obelisk, where resurrected individuals would emerge. Each home was grown from merged trees that looked like something out of a fairytale.
A layer of earth covered the outside of the wooden homes, adding defense and insulation. Sap sprouted from window frames to form glass.
Hardened leaves covered the roofs; wooden chimneys layered in earth produced then streams of smoke. Light shone from windows. Thanks to the technology created by his organic Nanites, each home now possessed electricity produced by the planet's rotation and the thermal energy from its core.
Stone pathways weaved through the trees, connecting each town in a spiral-like design.
Nicholas floated down, eyeing the black disk in the center of each town. Once Cradle's population reached 15 million, the obelisks sank into the ground, and the appearance of new mutants slowed. Everyone from other realities who wanted to come through had for now. Roslyn Grey began working with Forge to release the souls she had captured when the Phoenix was trapped inside the dominators, wanting to give the souls she had shielded eons another chance at life.
The obelisk had sunk into the ground, becoming smooth disks of stone in the center of town. They were now used as a form of transport for the people of Cradle, but occasionally, a resurrected mutant would appear on one of them as they came back to life and chose a town to live in.
The sun began to rise, its Golden rays peeking through the trees.
People emerged from their homes and walked toward the black disk in the town center. They vanished in a blue light as they stepped onto the disk, only to appear above the city. As one, they shot through the air, heading to an asteroid that had been moved close to thecradle's orbit, Psyche 16.
Once there, they would begin mining metals.
Turning away from the people, Nicholas flew toward the town of Foliage, where Pamela Isley resided. Each city was presided over by an elemental.
Near foliage was the town of Obsidian, which Gaia Rosenstein watched over. However, recently, she had somehow fostered those duties off on Pamela so she could mingle more with her people.
Oceana is a seaside town where many mutant Atlanteans and people with aquatic mutations live. Mai and her boyfriend Namor preside over it. They provide a sustainable number of fish for Cradle.
Then there was the town of Elysium, which was looked over by Jade, the former death elemental. People whose abilities leaned toward death lived there, learning to control their abilities from her. Ironically, many of them worked as healers.
Nicholas's gaze drifted upward, staring at one of Cradle's two moons. Then there was Luna, a town founded by Bailey Brandon on one of Cradle's two moons.
Even from here, he could see the buildings made out of Greystone and the rock wall that encircled the settlement. Teleporters, or people whose powers dealt with energy, lived there. It was, ironically, the place his parents chose to live since his father could absorb no small amount of energy from the moon as it reflected sunlight.
David chose not to build a town. He spent most of his time with Forge, Penelope, Emma, his mother, and Arcanna in the science Citadel, using the materials collected to build Cradle's infrastructure.
Salvé, the embodiment of life, chose to live in foliage with two adopted children, Mark and Jill. He helped Pamela grow produce for the people of Cradle.
Shortly after his mother Alexi hid the world of Cradle with the others, Yolanda left the planet. She returned regularly with animals from dying worlds, and when she was around, she ensured Cradle did not overhunt the animals for meat.
Recently, it had been discussedwhether they should start cloning meat, but Yolanda vetoed that idea, not wanting the animals to become overpopulated; the people of Cradle also voted against it since some of them had a stigma about eating cloned meat.
Nicholas didn't care where his meat came from as long as it tasted good. A blue flash drew his attention to Eugene Donovan, who appeared below with his team of teleporters, dropping off the latest goods from Earth.
People moved forward, inspecting the goods to ensure they contained no spying device or harmful contaminant. Nicholas watched as they began picking up the goods and walking down the spiral streets to deliver them to those who had ordered them.
Landing on a balcony of a building surrounding Foliage's disk, Nicholas pushed open the double doors, shivering slightly as he felt energy wash over his body. His DNA was checked against the database, along with his fingerprints and retina.
From the corner of his eye, Nicholas watched dirt flow away from his body and disappear into the ground, feeding the earth.
Moving past open doorways, Nicholas entered a conference room. A large window along one wall let in the morning light. He moved to the center of a long rectangular table in the middle of the room and sat down, eyeing the other occupants.
Emma Frost was head of their genetics division. She was 5'10" tall, with long, straight blonde hair, plump breasts, pale skin, and blue eyes. Silver-framed glasses drew the light and highlighted an angular face. Today, her hair was pulled back into a severe bun.
She worked with his grandmother, Penelope, trying to find a way to help those mutants who were unsatisfied with their ability. So far, they have discovered a way to slightly alter one's ability if it stays in the same vein. When she wasn't helping his grandmother, she was with Roslyn Grey Howlett, designing the curriculum they would teach young mutants.
Currently, telepaths have downloaded primary education into kids' minds, but some feel thatchildren are missing out on social contact.
Beside her sat her cousin Hazel Donovan. She was 5'10" tall, with shoulder-length Brown hair, blue eyes, and a large bust. She wore white combat fatigues and was head of their intelligence division with his grandfather, Jeric.
Before her death on Earth 1610, she was a bookstore owner and information broker by day and a spy by night. She uses those skills to fill Cradle's libraries and watch for emerging enemies.
To Emma's rightsat his grandmother, Penelope Campbell; despite being centuries old, she looked like someone in her 30s, thanks to a serum she had created back on her original earth.
That serum was called the Phoenix's Rebirth. It fortified the cells of a mutant's body and strengthened their genes to make them hyper-dominant. It also strengthened the mutant's powers and ensured mutant abilities would grow stronger with each generation.
The original people of Brigadoon had this serum introduced into their bodies to survive in the harsh environment of the prehistoric earth. It was again introduced into the surviving meta-humans after the dominator manipulated their DNA, hoping it would undo what the dominators had done.
Ironically, generations later, the effects of the serum made it difficult for the science Citadel to change a mutant's abilities.
On the other side of Hazel sat Roslyn Grey Howlett and James Logan Howlett.
Roslyn was 5'10" tall, with wavy blonde hair, healthy pale skin, green eyes, and a small bust. She wore a black bodysuit with a stylized Phoenix on the chest. Cradled in her arms was her three-month-old son, Liam Scott Howlett. A light green aura surrounded the child before flickering out of existence.
'What was that?'
Roslyn helped with many things on Cradle, from designing the education system to keeping the peace, but mostly watched over the children.
James Logan Wayne was 6'2" tall, with blue eyesand black hair. His sideburns curved along his jaw. His broad shoulder stretched his flannel shirt and strained against his defined muscle.
He worked alongside Hazel Donovan, managing security and the military of Cradle.
Pamela, Mai, Namor, Jade, Bailey, and Gaia walked into the room and sat on Nicholas's side of the table.
After her enhancements by the void Titans, formally known as Celestial's, Pamela was 5'8" tall, with sun-kissed tan skin, vibrant red hair, green eyes, and a prominent bust. She wore a white toga accented with green. Green vinelike markings spiraled down her arms, stopping just below her biceps.
She was the voice for the town of Foliageand was responsible for producing produce for Cradle. She taught her people how to grow sustainable food without harming the land and how to nurture the land to get what they needed.
Mai Miyazaki stood at 5'11" tall. She was well muscled with large breasts, dark blue skin, red irises, an angular face, and dark green, almost black hair. Thin membranes of blue skin connected each finger and stretched as she clasped Namor's hand.
Namor McKenzie stood at 6'3" tall. He was well-muscled with a healthy tan. Pointed ears poked out from the side of his head, and if you looked just right, you could see the gills of his race behind his ears. His close-cropped black hair shone in the light as his blue eyes surveyed the room before he sat beside Mai.
Though he meant Cradle no harm, he couldn't have been resurrected otherwise, He didn't trust its people yet; the world he came from had been destroyed by war. He led the mutant remnants of his people through the gate, looking for a safe place to rebuild their species, but he was always tense, expecting to have to fight for their lives.
Nicholas hoped that one day he could relax, but he was also afraid that the day he did, the world would be attacked.
'Amanda Waller hungers for control; there's no way she will leave us alone, even if we are on another world. That's not to mention the other threats hidden in the universe.'
Gaia Rosenstein was 5'10" talland curvy with tan skin, amoderate bust, red hair, and golden eyes. She wore a white blouse, light tan leather pants, and thick-soled work boots. In the year since Cradle was formed, she found that she cared nothing about managing thetown of obsidian, so she left that up to Pamela, feigning uncertainty while mingling amongst her people and helping build homes, businesses, and other structures.
She became part of the construction societyafter having Roslyn Grey download everything about architecture there was to be learned into her brain. It left her with a headache for a month, but she was happy and seemed to have found her place in the world. There were rumors she began dating someone, but Nicholas didn't know who.
A smirk curled his lips; he couldn't wait for Pamela's reaction.
Jade Tice stood 5'7" tall, with grey skin, purple eyes, dark blue, almost black hair, and a prominent bust. Purple lipstick highlighted her lips. Today, she wore a short-sleeve white shirt underneath a black vest, black leather pants, and black boots with a three-inch heel.
Despite her rough exterior, she seemed happier after training with Roslyn, having found that her powers could do more than kill. She worked side-by-side with Salvé to heal those injured on the joband help give birth to new children. She developed a fondness for the children he adopted.
'I wonder what would happen if those two had a child together?' Shaking his head, Nicholas turned his attention to Bailey.
She had changed very little, even after the void Titans manipulations. She stood 5'4" tall, with healthy, almost luminescent white skin, long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She wore a dark blue bodysuit with a Crescent moon on the chest.
Nicholas cleared his throat, "I take it Yolanda and David aren't coming?"
Bailey plopped in the chair furthest from Nicholas, "No, Yolanda is off saving more alien animals, and David is working."
Penelope leaned forward, "Working on what?"
Bailey raised her hands, "I have no idea; I can barely get them to talk to me."
Roslyn smirked and allowed her eyes to trail over Bailey's body, "Maybe you need to give him an incentive."
Bailey blushed, "Are you really going to say that with your son in your arms."
Roslyn leaned on Logan, and the man smirked and put his arm around her, "How do you think I got that son?"
"Did we come here to gossip, or are we going to discuss how we should protect this world once the dimensional fold times out," Namor cut in.
Nicholas raised a hand. "Easy, Namor, we're just having a bit of fun." He looked around the room, "but you're right.I suppose we should get business out of the way first."
Nicholas looked around the table; "When the fold ends, I will project a psychic message to the meta-humans of Earth and offer them a place here on theCradle."
"Is that safe?" Hazel asked. "How do we know someone won't slip in as a spy or an undesirable wouldn't appear? We don't want a supervillain running amok in our world."
"As long as they don't mean cradle any harm, your past will be forgotten here. After all, Pamela and Jade's histories are less than clean."
"Wanda is working with my mother and Arcanna to develop a spell that will only allow those who mean cradle no harm directly or indirectly onto the planet."
"What about sleeper agents?"
"I don't think they will get past the spell, but just to be safe, I think you and Jeric should scan the minds of those appearing on the planet."
Bailey knocked on the table, "What do we do about people bringing ideas from earth to Cradle?"
"As long as they don't harm society, we will let the people decide. Anything that would harm society must be vetoed, and we'll deal with the consequences."
Pamela raised her hand. "Since we will be appearing on the world stage, I think it would be good PR to offer some of our excess food to those less fortunate."
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, "I didn't expect that from you."
Pamela stared into the distance. "I may not be connected to the green anymore, but I still remember his screams and the pain of the people that live on earth."
"We can do that, but I don't want them to become so dependent on us that ithurts our people."
Pamela looked at Gaia, and the other redhead nodded. "If everyone is okay with it, I will head to those less fortunate places with some of Pamela's people and make the land fertile. We will teach them how to grow things and build homes."
Nicholas looked at the others, and everyone nodded, "That's fine, but if people arecoming to destroy what you built or harm those trying to help, you need to be prepared to put them down hard."
"If the people you are helping do not like those actions," Bailey began, "finish what you're working on and leave. We will not risk our people for those who don't appreciate it."
Mai spoke up; "Offer your help first. Don't just go in and change things. If they refuse, come home."
"Take a telepath with you," Hazel suggested. "Let's make sure they don't mean any harm to us and know ahead of time whenthey tried to manipulate you for political gain."
Gaia nodded.
"On the subject of helping people," Mai began, "Namor and I would like to head to Atlantisand offer the meta-humansa place in Oceana before the announcement."
Namor clenched his hand into a fist, "they may not be the people of my Atlantis, but they are still children of the sea. To see the ruling body treat them differently because of how they were born is despicable."
"I don't have a problem with that. Does anyone else?" Nicholas looked around the table as everyone shook their heads.
"The spell should be ready in the next six hours,. I won't make the broadcast until tomorrow at 8 AM, so you have until then."
Nodding, Mai and Namor stood to their feet, quickly making their way out of the room.
"Oh, by the way, Mai."
The blue-skinned woman paused in the doorway and looked at him, "While you're on Earth, can you use your water portals to retrieve the rockets left behind when the world's government launches astronauts into space? I want to break them down for materials."
Mai nodded and followed Namor out of the room.
"Is there anything else?" Nicholas asked.
Everyone shook their heads and stood to their feet.
Nicholas focused on Hazel as everyone began to leave. "Starting tomorrow at 6 AM, I would like you and Jeric to help me telepathically connect everyone in case things go wrong."