The Tower (12 page)

It was just before six and I was headed toward Times Square in New York. Cutting through the crowds of people alternately laughing and cursing the snow and cold weather, I found her near the Square leaning against a lamppost. She'd arrived out of costume, wearing an eye-catching red dress, high-heeled boots, and a fur coat, open in spite of the cold. “Hey, you,” she said breezily, striding up to me on the street moving people out of her way with ease. “Cold enough?” she asked.

Actually, it was, although she didn't seem to feel it. “Being thick-skinned helps,” she said with a laugh. How could she do it? I was wearing a fairly heavy coat over top of a suit I'd recently bought and was still a bit cold; she didn't give the weather a second thought.

“I'm hungry!” she announced. When wasn't she hungry? “And where are you taking me for dinner?” she asked with a grin. She said she was in the mood for curry. Curry sounded good. We found a nice Indian food place near 44th Street, and had a very huge vegetarian meal, with me footing the tab.

Anyway, after dinner it was time for the present. With a little flourish, I took out her gift and gave it to her. “Go on and open it,” I suggested. She did, and her eyes started to water. What was wrong, didn't she like it?

“It's beautiful,” she half-sobbed, and kissed me then and there, ignoring all the patrons' looks, and hurriedly put it on. “I'll never take it off, even when I'm fighting crime,” she said, whispering the last part.

“I guess that means we're going steady,” I told her. She gave me a blank look for a second, and then smiled as she got the joke. “Not yet,” she said and pulled out a small box, handed it over. “Your turn.”

Opening it, I saw a gold ring which had been sized perfectly to fit my left ring finger; a plain band, but on the inner part, I could see that both our names had been engraved. Man, I didn't know how to take this! I didn't think it would feel this serious…and y'know, I liked that feeling, although at first I wasn't sure. Like when you have your first crush and you don't know if the other person feels the same way, or the first time you kiss someone and it feels sort of “ootsy” and then you really like it? That's how I felt, all in the space of three seconds.

I put the ring on, knowing that she was watching my reaction and I kissed her back. “It's perfect!” I said. “Just like you.” After paying the bill we walked out, holding hands in the chilly night air. I noticed some mistletoe above the store we ducked under. A perfect time to plant one on the woman of my dreams and…

…a scream rang out ahead of us. A man, running at full speed, had snatched a woman's purse and was high-tailing it in our direction. Crime didn't take holidays. We looked at each other.

“You wanna take it or should I?” she asked.

“It's my get,” I answered. Six months ago I would've frozen up and not done a thing but not now. As the man neared us, two police officers hot on his tail, I casually put out my foot and the robber tripped over it and went sprawling on the sidewalk, the purse flying out in front of him and him skidding into a snow bank.

The police grabbed the dude and hauled him away. Oriana and I just continued on our walk, and thankfully there were no more incidents. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and greetings to all the other faiths out there. Message from the Tower: “Have a safe and happy holiday season.” Oh, and one more thing which I now knew for sure: This was definitely not a crush.

I really
was
in love. What a way to end a year.

Twelve: Space Cadet

And a Happy New Year to everyone! My first six months-plus on the Tower had come and gone so fast it seemed like a dream. In many ways it was. I'd been rescued from certain death in my universe and taken to wherever
here
was, I'd been given a job, a home, my health and every day was an adventure and all was good and right and true.

The three-months-to-vibratory-changes thing hadn't happened; when I'd gone in to see Dr. Fustus, he took a blood test and said just one word: “Healthy.” Good enough for me, duty called.

“You ready to go, pard?” That came from Lawmaker. We were set to go on patrol down on Earth.

“Yeah, let's get to it!” And then we'd race each other to the lift. (He always won).

My life had expanded over the past few months. Work was plentiful, there was time with Oriana and after my first relief mission with her—and due to the fact that I didn't bugger anything up—Avenger had gradually assigned me to more and more Earth patrols, almost every night, it seemed.

“If it's too much, just tell me,” he said, “and I'll cut it back.”

“I can do it,” I replied confidently, and off we'd go, The Tower Team, ready to save the world. Okay, that was a little lame, but that's how I felt. We were the planet's hope and I didn't want to let my teammates down. Whether it was a patrol of crime-swept areas, relief duties in some third-world country, or a rescue mission, we were there.

Big Gelt would often clap me on the shoulder and say, “C'mon, guy, let's go save the world! It's drapes for those bad guys!”

“That's ‘curtains,' Big G,” I'd correct him.

A blank look from him and then, “Drapes, curtains, who cares, man; they're
really
gonna get it this time!”

Gelt was on the dim side. Being a hero, he really took to his job and he proudly showed off the inventions he'd come up with for his suit: The power disrupter, the laser beams, “The Tornado” (which formed a swirling cone of wind around any of his opponents) and others. Those toys were truly hot, and on the ship's practice range one day, he showed me how they worked. I even got to fire away with the “Melter,” a weapon that would cause any object to dissolve into butter instantly. Man, I thought stuff like this was only in the movies!

“These are sweet!” I told him. “How did you do it?”

He waved his hand dismissively, taking the weapon back. “Just tinkered around 'til I got it right. I'm pretty good with machines. And yeah, they're great inventions and all that, but that's just part of the job; my dream is to be on TV one day.”

Be a TV star—was that what he meant?

“Yeah, Bill, that's exactly what I mean, A TV pitchman; I can sell anything! Can you dig it? Me: The star of my own TV commercial show. Whaddya think?”

He had me there
. “Sounds good, what does Avenger think of it?”

“He hates it, guy, but I'll get him to see it my way one day. C'mon, let's go do some good.” And off we'd run, do the patrol thing on Earth, and try to “do some good.” As hard as the work was, and as long as the hours were, it was still a thrill for me to work alongside my heroes.

None of the other staff members was really all that hot on going because it cut into their free time too much. Dan liked being on the Tower with Cathy, and since John was the oldest member he needed a bit more down-time than the others.

“Besides,” he added. “I got a life planet-side and I want to enjoy my golden years,” he stated. “The young studs like you can protect us all.”

Yeah, okay, that was
his
opinion. Me, I wanted more, and after seeing all the other techs and Ultras go off on interstellar missions, I wanted my chance, too. So I put the question to Mr. Wonderful, and he in turn relayed it to Avenger.

Sure enough, the next morning after my shift had ended Gelt caught up with me as I was leaving the Commissary and asked me to go along. He waited until we were out of earshot and then said sort of confidential-like, “You're one of us, ain'tcha?”

How could I answer? “Yeah, I guess so. I work here, don't I?”

That comeback puzzled him at first but he laughed it off and said, “Sure thing, buddy! Listen, Avenger told me to fill you in: Mission in another galaxy, just one world to visit. Wanna come along?” He looked at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.

“Of course I want to go. Who else is coming?”

He put a hand to his head and tapped it as if to draw out the details. “Aah, Deanna, PowerGuy, a couple of the others, and a few Techies from the regular crew. It'll be fun. We'll be gone about three days.”

Oriana, she got a bit teary-eyed when I told her and she wished me well, told me to be careful, and touched my cheek softly. “I'll see you off,” she said. “Get packed.” On my way back to my quarters, I ran into John, Gwyneth, and a few others.

“Where are you guys going?” I was surprised to see John in anything other than a cook's smock; he and the others were dressed smartly in suits and ties. All were carrying suitcases. “Going home?”

“Nah,” John answered. “Off to Pleasure World.”

“Where's that?”

John looked at me, surprised. “You don't know?”

I shook my head. “No one ever told me about it.”

Gwyneth looked at me blankly for a second, and then said: “Oh…right, Bill, it's one of the small satellites around the Tower. You have to work here a year before you can go.”
Hadn't been aware of that. Oh, well, someday…
.

“It's just a quick trip for four days and then back here. We still got a job to do,” said John.

“What about your family?” I asked.

“Oh, they'll be coming up to meet me,” he answered. “Job perks; family goes for free and they're gonna enjoy it.”

“Yeah, four days of swimming, beaches, and food!” chimed in Gwyneth. She looked to be dressed in her finest—not a bad outfit, although I wondered why they were so formally rigged out when they were just fifteen minutes from the satellite. “They even have a casino there!” she said. “I love to gamble!”

Weird, sounded like an ad from an old TV show. “Have a good time,” I told them, secretly a bit jealous. Okay, someday I'd get there, but first there was
this
trip, and I didn't want to lose out on anything. John and the others wished me well and we parted ways.

After packing, I made my way to the Hangar Bay. Oriana caught up with me before I went inside. “Be careful,” she said again, her voice cracking a bit. “Come back to me.”

“Don't worry, I'll be fine,” I said, and hugged her. “Miss you every day.”

“I'll be here,” she said softly, then she kissed me and Miracle Mistress called my name.

“It's time!” she cried, and everyone went to the Darts.

Oriana touched my face tenderly, and then turned away. At first, I felt a bit lost but I knew she'd be waiting for me when I returned. That was what counted and took away a lot of the nervousness that'd been building up inside me.

PowerGuy had command of the first Dart, and Miracle Mistress took the lead in the second. Along for the ride on my ship was Big Gelt and three other techs: Blue Lancer and Skree, plus two techs were in the other shuttle.

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” said Gelt, and he closed his eyes, although he didn't fall asleep.

The all-clear was given and we shot out of the Hangar Bay doors, jumping quickly into hyperspace. A sudden acceleration through a brightly colored wormhole, a feeling of momentary disassociation of body and consciousness, like looking at myself outside of my body and time and space, and then back to my “whole” self and the darkness and twinkling lights of the farthest reaches of this universe. Oh, man! This was a trip! I could definitely get used to this. A quick glance told me the other techs had passed out. I was too excited to sleep, and spent the time staring out at the stars.

We landed on a world called Vetraxos, where two similar cultures were at war; the Association had been called in to broker the peace. The people of that world were huge and savage-looking. Well over seven feet tall, similar to Cro-Magnon's but infinitely larger and more feral, with four legs and a third arm protruding from their sides. Despite their savage appearance, they had a high degree of intelligence, they'd been able to develop advanced forms of technology, and were just beginning to explore the regions of their galaxy. Still, wars over the usual things—mineral and ore rights, water, land, and so on—had devastated much of their planet.

PowerGuy offered to have both sides sit down and hash it all out but that proved to be an unworkable idea. One side started calling the other something along the lines of “traitorous scum” while the other side countered with “sub-Vetraxian garbage.” They almost came to blows during the “discussion” and PowerGuy had to forcibly separate them. One of them actually took a swing at PowerGuy, he just ended up breaking his hand. Hitting PowerGuy was like hitting solid iron; not a wise move.

Since neither side was willing to concede the other's position, it was decided that combat was the order of the day. “Choose your champions,” ordered the Kreg leader (the other side was called the “Malds”) and Skree, Deanna, and Blue Lancer faced off against their top three.

“Why do the combat thing?” I asked another tech, a swarthy guy named Lou.

“Search me, man,” he replied. “I've been here before and all I can say is it's their world and their rules. I know the Ultras gotta prove themselves worthy of being considered peacemakers.”

Maybe so, but as strong as the Ultras were, I wondered if they could take on three massive, sword-wielding, fanged monstrosities and come out on top. The Kreg leader bared his teeth in what seemed like a smile when PowerGuy told him who his men would be fighting. Like all the Ultras, PGuy could speak many different languages, including alien ones; he was one himself, after all.

“It'll be like squashing bugs, especially the female ones,” he snarled.

Not exactly the smartest thing to say.

The rules were simple: Each member of the Ultras would take on a Kreg, the winner would stand aside and wait for the outcome of the next two matches. If all three Kregs won, then the Association would be powerless to prevent the conflict.

Blue Lancer was up first. The Kreg slashed at him with his sword. Lancer calmly evaded the killing blow and took out a stunner lance and hurled it at the oncoming monster. The electrical charge was like that of a Tazer, only more powerful. The Kreg fell to the ground and lay twitching as the current shorted out his nervous system—one down.

Deanna handed me her sword. “Keep this,” she said. “I won't need it.” As it turned out, she didn't. The Kreg came at her quickly, swinging his weapon and it took her just fifteen seconds to break all of his arms and one of his legs. Two down, one to go. The Kregs gasped at this display of power. They weren't used to losing.

Finally, it was Skree's turn. She was much smaller than Deanna, perhaps a little over five feet tall, and with her long, red hair, blue eyes, and altogether sexy figure she looked more like a model than a fighter. Bad assumption on my part. Lancer just nudged me and said. “Cover your ears.”

“What?”

“Just do what I said, Cover your ears.” I saw that everyone else was doing the same. When the Kreg came at her, Skree just flung out her hands and her
palms
split open and out came an ear-splitting “SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”—I could see the sound waves emanating from her hands! So
that
was her power; she was a mutant who could blast sonic waves of sound. Damn! The Kreg was flung backwards into a rock outcropping, he banged his head and fell to the ground. Contest over.

“Now, are we ready to talk peace?” Deanna inquired sweetly.

The deal was struck in less than ten minutes to both side's satisfaction. As a token of their thanks, the Kregs and Malds invited us to partake in a rather primitive feast of the creatures of the planet, large bovine-like creatures, similar to yaks but much hairier and smellier than the real thing. While I couldn't stomach the foul-tasting meat the Ultra crew ate everything with relish. “Custom,” said PowerGuy. “You don't always have to like it, but you should respect it,” he continued, pulling a stray hair from his mouth.

Pass on that, thank you very much. I'd already lost weight on this trip and even the protein bars the ship carried weren't enough to stop my stomach from churning when I smelled the meat cooking.

“Where'd they go?” asked Lou asked about an hour after the feast was over. The Ultras had politely excused themselves, and we were all waiting back at the ships. No one knew. After another ten minutes, we saw our leader coming back, walking a tad unsteadily towards the Dart. Deanna was leaning on him, and Big Gelt was crawling behind them. Lancer and Skree brought up the rear, staggering and falling to the ground at times. They were all a pretty shade of sky blue…and had they all just puked?

“Something…something in the meat,” PowerGuy gasped out. “It's…reacting badly with our DNA. Don't worry, set the ships on auto-pilot.” One of the other techs did it, and the Ultra crew went back to the cargo area to lie down. We all spent the next two hours listening to their moans of pain. As awed as I'd been of the Ultra's power, this little incident was enough to take some of the luster away.

* * *

After arriving back home, it was a relief to see that the shock of the food had worn off and all was alright in the galaxy again. We landed safely, and everyone went back to work immediately. Deanna was back to her usual self and reminded me that hungry stomachs were waiting. “It's almost five a.m. and the staff is hungry,” she said. Yeah, a job was a job and you know something, it was nice to be home.

Inside the Commissary, John, Gwyneth, and the others were busily preparing the food for the morning crowd. “Hey, you're back,” John greeted me. “Where'd ya go?” I tried my best to tell him, and he bobbed his head vigorously at my clumsy attempt to describe what I'd seen and done.