Post by dans on Nov 21, 2023 1:14:47 GMT
Ned and Krista Quest (the technology powered heroic pair, Dr. Lambda and Lady Lambda (Retired)) and Ray and Sandy Trask (the spiritually powered heroic pair Thunderbird and Rain Bird) head north for a week of relaxing hiking and camping in the Adirondacks. Will they find the peace and quiet they are looking for?
Set in my OC universe on Eorth* (Other Earth), in late summer 1945 - after the surrender of Germany in World War II, but before the surrender of Japan. Dr. Lambda and the Stormbirds are members of Eorth's foremost mystery hero teams, the Alliance of Mystery Heroes. Dr. Lambda operates out of Opal City, Maryland, and the Stormbirds call Buffalo, NY home.
I think you can pick up whatever other details you need from the story. I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
Other Eorth, Late July, 1945
"It was swell of the Alliance of Mystery Heroes to loan us a plane for our vacation," Krista Quest (Lady Lambda, Retired) noted to her three friends who were helping her unload their packs and camping gear from the baggage compartment of their 6-seater Beechcraft Model 18, in a rented corner of a small hanger in a small airport near Lake Placid, NY. "Much more comfortable than flying here ourselves!"
"Yeah, and a lot less tiring," Sandy Trask (Rain Bird) replied. "You guys got your Stellar Scepters to carry you, but Ray and I depend on muscle power, and the three hour flight from Buffalo would have been a VERY very tiring. None of that 'supersonic' stuff for us birds!" Sandy and Ray Trask were also the spiritually-powered mystery heroes known as the Stormbirds (Rain Bird and Thunderbird, respectively) and when they manifested their powers, they were magically transformed into feathered beings who flew using their wings. Their other powers were not so obvious to the eye...
"It does help that Sandy's the current Chairman of the AMH," Ned Quest (Dr. Lambda) quipped. "And it will keep reporters from asking why the retired Lady Lambda is suddenly donning the gear again!" As the Lambdas, Ned and Sandy wore brick red and gray costumes with copper-colored half helmets, and carried devices called Stellar Scepters - inventions of Ned which absorbed and controlled stellar energy, allowing the Lambdas to fly and create force fields, as well as other powers.
"What, you think I play favorites?" Sandy replied jokingly. "And what makes you think any of the three of you are on my favorites list, anyway?" She attempted to sound stern. And then continued happily: "Anyway, it's great that the AMH now has enough members now that they ought to be able to cover for us for a week. Ron has certainly proved himself many times, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Darryl performs as Chairman in my absence."
Ron Watson was also known as Raptor, and had recently established himself as an independent hero after a few years as the Volunteer's sidekick. Darryl Hunter was Wayfarer and he had begun his heroic career in 1942, shortly after Dr. Lambda, but he had not joined the AMH until last year - and it was already clear to everyone that he was a born leader. They all agreed, though not without reservation, that the remaining members of the AMH should be able to handle anything that could come up in the next week. And everyone deserved a vacation now and again!
The four had flown in their civilian identities with Kris piloting, and had told the airport staff they were going to go hiking and camping in the 'Adirondack High Peaks' region and had paid for the hanger space for a week. They DID plan to be away for that long, but their plan was to mostly fly through the mountains rather than hike through the mountains.
"Ned, I'm kind of curious why you picked Lake Placid? Are you familiar with the area?" Ray wanted to know.
"Not really sure," he replied. "Sandy's been on this mystery kick for weeks, about wanting to vacation in some remote mountain valley, and we're all a little concerned about travel time and being too far away to respond easily from the Rockies in case of an emergency, and I'm really not comfortable in the summer heat in the South, so, since you let me choose, this place seems to fill the bill..."
"Seems as good as any," Sandy agreed. "So, let's get this row on the shoad!"
They'd landed a bit before noon, concluded their business with the airport manager, had lunch, and were headed for the woods by 2 PM. They planned to strike out to the northwest as there was a very scenic river running through a deep gorge a few hours hike away, and it seemed like a great place to have dinner and pitch their tents. The plan was that tomorrow, they'd start their day with some aerial sightseeing and go from there.
Originally the workers in the hanger and then the airport manager had given them wilderness tips and advice, but that had run down sort of humorously after Sandy and Ray identified themselves as members of the Onöndowága nation. 'Like selling ice to Eskimos!' Ray joked later. Then they were warned that there were bear, wolves and moose around, and an unexpectedly high number of wildcats had been spotted this summer. And apparently there were rumors that the windingo seemed restless...
"What's a windingo?" Krista wanted to know as they started their hike.
"An Algonquian legend, a wild man-shaped animal, larger than a man, covered in shaggy hair, who lives in the wilderness - walks upright on two legs so it's not a bear. A lot people think it's a legend, a lot of us don't." It was clear what Sandy thought! "But no one has ever seen one face to face or captured one," she explained further.
Ray followed with: "They are supposed to be shy and avoid humans; besides, with our powers, any one of us should be able to handle one. I'm way more worried about protecting them than protecting us from them!" He and Sandy gave them many more details about windingos as they hiked.
The airport was bordered by woods to the north and they could see the area they had chosen to head for, the Adirondacks High Peaks, some of the highest peaks on the East Coast of North America - so they just headed directly from the airport to the woods. As soon as they were out of sight, Ned broke out two special hiking staffs he had created at Krista's suggestion; the bottom ends were standard but they had sockets at the top so that the hilts of their Stellar Specters could be inserted into the staffs, so they would always have their special tools available as they hiked. Ned had never done much outdoor stuff as a kid and had been obsessing about predators and falling and getting lost until she pointed out this simple solution. Since then, he'd been much more excited about the trip. It was one of the things that exasperated her about him - he was an inventive genius, but sometimes he didn't seem to have the common sense to see simple solutions to simple problems!
Near the airport the trekking was pretty easy - there was an old, overgrown logging road running in the general direction they wanted to go. But the woods grew thicker and the terrain more rugged as they got deeper into the mountain range and although they found an occasional game trail headed their way, they were usually pushing through thick underbrush, climbing over downed trees, going around large boulders, and occasionally climbing or descending very steep hillsides and some actual cliffs. By the time they reached the gorge that was their initial destination, Krista was exhausted and Ray and Sandy weren't far behind. Because of his super strength and endurance, Ned fared better than his companions - but he really didn't like fighting his way across the landscape, so he may have used the Stellar Scepter to make his climbs a little easier - though he would never admit it!
"Definitely going to be doing a lot of sightseeing from the air tomorrow!" was their happy consensus as they set up a camp site for the night.
Before they set up their tents in a small clearing at the top of the ravine, both Ray and Sandy changed to their Stormbird forms. The change took about a second, and it was perhaps similar to watching film develop in a darkroom - the air around the two seemed to blur and then their new features sort of faded into view - first their almost transparent mighty wings, then feathers faded in to cover the wings and their bodies, and finally their noses and mouths were replaced by sharp curved raptor beaks, then some buckskin clothing formed from the air, and then they were solid again, looking like personifications of the Thunderbird clan from Haudenosaunee legends!
"We're going to make sure there are no large predators around who might be interested in having us for dinner," Rain Bird announced. Her voice was a bit eerie - it seemed to come from the air in front of her face rather than her beak, and somehow when she spoke they sensed a light rain; the Quests knew she could shriek much louder than a striking hawk when she wanted to. The two took to the air with a whoosh, gentling their wing strokes - again, the Quests knew that the wings of these mighty heroes could produce thunder louder than the loudest thunder ever produced by lightning when they felt it appropriate.
The pair swooped around, performing joyous acrobatics and stunts while probing the nearby landscape with their mystical senses. Meanwhile Ned and Krista prepared a campsite, using their Stellar Scepters to ease some of the tasks, such as scooping a fire pit and latrine, and gathering stones to line them. Krista noted with amusement that it wasn't until all the boring work was done that the Stormbirds returned with information about the local area.
"There's a crevice partway up the wall of the chasm that's home to a family of bobcats - a pair of mature adults, two young adults from last year's litter who are just about ready to strike out on their own, and two very young bobkits from this year who are just learning to hunt. I 'talked' to mama and papa and suggested it would be a good idea to stay away from the strangers at the rim, so they shouldn't bother us tonight. A pair of bears not far away, but they had a successful deer hunt today so they aren't hunting now; as long as we don't bother them, they should leave us alone," Stormbird reported. "We should be good for the night."
Ned wasn't going to doubt his friends, but he'd brought his own safety net as well. He was always tinkering with improvements to his Stellar Scepter; when he'd been preparing for this trip (and after Kris suggested he stick to simple solutions!) he'd implemented a new experimental feature that he could test on the trip. He could order the Scepter to create and maintain indefinitely a very weak force field which he could expand to encompass the entire camp site. It would not stop anything from passing through it - but it would detect anything larger than a racoon passing through it, and activate an alarm in his Lambda helmet, as well as a small buzzer he could carry with him or tuck under his pillow as Ned.
They had dinner and sat around a fire as the sun set, telling stories. Ray and Sandy talked about growing up on an Onöndowága reservation near the Finger Lakes, and the many legends of their people. Krista had some ghost stories from when she was a Girl Scout, and Ned talked about some of the amazing astronomical discoveries he'd made. The fire was extinguished, the campsite tidied up, they crawled into their tents and sleeping bags, and they all slept through sunrise the next morning!
Set in my OC universe on Eorth* (Other Earth), in late summer 1945 - after the surrender of Germany in World War II, but before the surrender of Japan. Dr. Lambda and the Stormbirds are members of Eorth's foremost mystery hero teams, the Alliance of Mystery Heroes. Dr. Lambda operates out of Opal City, Maryland, and the Stormbirds call Buffalo, NY home.
I think you can pick up whatever other details you need from the story. I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
*You can read ALL the Eorth stories here: Heroes of an Other Earth
Other Eorth, Late July, 1945
Wings and Stars, An Adirondack Vacation
Almost There!
"It was swell of the Alliance of Mystery Heroes to loan us a plane for our vacation," Krista Quest (Lady Lambda, Retired) noted to her three friends who were helping her unload their packs and camping gear from the baggage compartment of their 6-seater Beechcraft Model 18, in a rented corner of a small hanger in a small airport near Lake Placid, NY. "Much more comfortable than flying here ourselves!"
"Yeah, and a lot less tiring," Sandy Trask (Rain Bird) replied. "You guys got your Stellar Scepters to carry you, but Ray and I depend on muscle power, and the three hour flight from Buffalo would have been a VERY very tiring. None of that 'supersonic' stuff for us birds!" Sandy and Ray Trask were also the spiritually-powered mystery heroes known as the Stormbirds (Rain Bird and Thunderbird, respectively) and when they manifested their powers, they were magically transformed into feathered beings who flew using their wings. Their other powers were not so obvious to the eye...
"It does help that Sandy's the current Chairman of the AMH," Ned Quest (Dr. Lambda) quipped. "And it will keep reporters from asking why the retired Lady Lambda is suddenly donning the gear again!" As the Lambdas, Ned and Sandy wore brick red and gray costumes with copper-colored half helmets, and carried devices called Stellar Scepters - inventions of Ned which absorbed and controlled stellar energy, allowing the Lambdas to fly and create force fields, as well as other powers.
"What, you think I play favorites?" Sandy replied jokingly. "And what makes you think any of the three of you are on my favorites list, anyway?" She attempted to sound stern. And then continued happily: "Anyway, it's great that the AMH now has enough members now that they ought to be able to cover for us for a week. Ron has certainly proved himself many times, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Darryl performs as Chairman in my absence."
Ron Watson was also known as Raptor, and had recently established himself as an independent hero after a few years as the Volunteer's sidekick. Darryl Hunter was Wayfarer and he had begun his heroic career in 1942, shortly after Dr. Lambda, but he had not joined the AMH until last year - and it was already clear to everyone that he was a born leader. They all agreed, though not without reservation, that the remaining members of the AMH should be able to handle anything that could come up in the next week. And everyone deserved a vacation now and again!
The four had flown in their civilian identities with Kris piloting, and had told the airport staff they were going to go hiking and camping in the 'Adirondack High Peaks' region and had paid for the hanger space for a week. They DID plan to be away for that long, but their plan was to mostly fly through the mountains rather than hike through the mountains.
"Ned, I'm kind of curious why you picked Lake Placid? Are you familiar with the area?" Ray wanted to know.
"Not really sure," he replied. "Sandy's been on this mystery kick for weeks, about wanting to vacation in some remote mountain valley, and we're all a little concerned about travel time and being too far away to respond easily from the Rockies in case of an emergency, and I'm really not comfortable in the summer heat in the South, so, since you let me choose, this place seems to fill the bill..."
"Seems as good as any," Sandy agreed. "So, let's get this row on the shoad!"
First Evening in the Wild
They'd landed a bit before noon, concluded their business with the airport manager, had lunch, and were headed for the woods by 2 PM. They planned to strike out to the northwest as there was a very scenic river running through a deep gorge a few hours hike away, and it seemed like a great place to have dinner and pitch their tents. The plan was that tomorrow, they'd start their day with some aerial sightseeing and go from there.
Originally the workers in the hanger and then the airport manager had given them wilderness tips and advice, but that had run down sort of humorously after Sandy and Ray identified themselves as members of the Onöndowága nation. 'Like selling ice to Eskimos!' Ray joked later. Then they were warned that there were bear, wolves and moose around, and an unexpectedly high number of wildcats had been spotted this summer. And apparently there were rumors that the windingo seemed restless...
"What's a windingo?" Krista wanted to know as they started their hike.
"An Algonquian legend, a wild man-shaped animal, larger than a man, covered in shaggy hair, who lives in the wilderness - walks upright on two legs so it's not a bear. A lot people think it's a legend, a lot of us don't." It was clear what Sandy thought! "But no one has ever seen one face to face or captured one," she explained further.
Ray followed with: "They are supposed to be shy and avoid humans; besides, with our powers, any one of us should be able to handle one. I'm way more worried about protecting them than protecting us from them!" He and Sandy gave them many more details about windingos as they hiked.
The airport was bordered by woods to the north and they could see the area they had chosen to head for, the Adirondacks High Peaks, some of the highest peaks on the East Coast of North America - so they just headed directly from the airport to the woods. As soon as they were out of sight, Ned broke out two special hiking staffs he had created at Krista's suggestion; the bottom ends were standard but they had sockets at the top so that the hilts of their Stellar Specters could be inserted into the staffs, so they would always have their special tools available as they hiked. Ned had never done much outdoor stuff as a kid and had been obsessing about predators and falling and getting lost until she pointed out this simple solution. Since then, he'd been much more excited about the trip. It was one of the things that exasperated her about him - he was an inventive genius, but sometimes he didn't seem to have the common sense to see simple solutions to simple problems!
Near the airport the trekking was pretty easy - there was an old, overgrown logging road running in the general direction they wanted to go. But the woods grew thicker and the terrain more rugged as they got deeper into the mountain range and although they found an occasional game trail headed their way, they were usually pushing through thick underbrush, climbing over downed trees, going around large boulders, and occasionally climbing or descending very steep hillsides and some actual cliffs. By the time they reached the gorge that was their initial destination, Krista was exhausted and Ray and Sandy weren't far behind. Because of his super strength and endurance, Ned fared better than his companions - but he really didn't like fighting his way across the landscape, so he may have used the Stellar Scepter to make his climbs a little easier - though he would never admit it!
"Definitely going to be doing a lot of sightseeing from the air tomorrow!" was their happy consensus as they set up a camp site for the night.
Before they set up their tents in a small clearing at the top of the ravine, both Ray and Sandy changed to their Stormbird forms. The change took about a second, and it was perhaps similar to watching film develop in a darkroom - the air around the two seemed to blur and then their new features sort of faded into view - first their almost transparent mighty wings, then feathers faded in to cover the wings and their bodies, and finally their noses and mouths were replaced by sharp curved raptor beaks, then some buckskin clothing formed from the air, and then they were solid again, looking like personifications of the Thunderbird clan from Haudenosaunee legends!
"We're going to make sure there are no large predators around who might be interested in having us for dinner," Rain Bird announced. Her voice was a bit eerie - it seemed to come from the air in front of her face rather than her beak, and somehow when she spoke they sensed a light rain; the Quests knew she could shriek much louder than a striking hawk when she wanted to. The two took to the air with a whoosh, gentling their wing strokes - again, the Quests knew that the wings of these mighty heroes could produce thunder louder than the loudest thunder ever produced by lightning when they felt it appropriate.
The pair swooped around, performing joyous acrobatics and stunts while probing the nearby landscape with their mystical senses. Meanwhile Ned and Krista prepared a campsite, using their Stellar Scepters to ease some of the tasks, such as scooping a fire pit and latrine, and gathering stones to line them. Krista noted with amusement that it wasn't until all the boring work was done that the Stormbirds returned with information about the local area.
"There's a crevice partway up the wall of the chasm that's home to a family of bobcats - a pair of mature adults, two young adults from last year's litter who are just about ready to strike out on their own, and two very young bobkits from this year who are just learning to hunt. I 'talked' to mama and papa and suggested it would be a good idea to stay away from the strangers at the rim, so they shouldn't bother us tonight. A pair of bears not far away, but they had a successful deer hunt today so they aren't hunting now; as long as we don't bother them, they should leave us alone," Stormbird reported. "We should be good for the night."
Ned wasn't going to doubt his friends, but he'd brought his own safety net as well. He was always tinkering with improvements to his Stellar Scepter; when he'd been preparing for this trip (and after Kris suggested he stick to simple solutions!) he'd implemented a new experimental feature that he could test on the trip. He could order the Scepter to create and maintain indefinitely a very weak force field which he could expand to encompass the entire camp site. It would not stop anything from passing through it - but it would detect anything larger than a racoon passing through it, and activate an alarm in his Lambda helmet, as well as a small buzzer he could carry with him or tuck under his pillow as Ned.
They had dinner and sat around a fire as the sun set, telling stories. Ray and Sandy talked about growing up on an Onöndowága reservation near the Finger Lakes, and the many legends of their people. Krista had some ghost stories from when she was a Girl Scout, and Ned talked about some of the amazing astronomical discoveries he'd made. The fire was extinguished, the campsite tidied up, they crawled into their tents and sleeping bags, and they all slept through sunrise the next morning!