Post by redsycorax on Jul 6, 2023 1:41:39 GMT
On Earth-3182, the world's greatest metahuman heroes, the Formidable Five, were not situated in the United States. History diverged from the datum there during the "White Death" pandemic of 1918-19. There were many deaths in that virulent epidemic who might have gone on to other things- a Viennese artist, Adolf Schickelgruber; Benito Mussolini, an Italian journalist; Mao Zhe Dong, a Chinese student; Josef Djugashvili, a Russian Orthodox Georgian priest; and countless others.
Then, in the mid-twenties, when the anti-communist White Russians won the Russian Civil War. Unfortunately for Europe, their anti-communism did not necessarily mean that they were liberal democrats. Instead, in 1939, the White Star Army swept through Northern Europe, occupying much of it, but given their resource constraints, they stopped short of France. France was subjected to heavy bombardment and shelling, but given that Britain had seen the threat earlier and rearmed under Winston Churchill, it was able to provide assistance. The United States had turned isolationist after FDR's premature death from polio in 1933 and President John Nance Garner was a fiscal conservative who did not want 'excessive' spending on the armed forces. Because of Russia and Japan's historic enmity, there was no 'axis' on Earth-3182. The Second International War ended in 1943 when British E missiles struck numerous Russian cities with chemical warheads. Japan took advantage of France's weakness and the collapse of their Russian foes to initiate the Third International War (1943-1947), which ended in a stalemate, given that Britain and Japan had both acquired nuclear weapons. Other divergences occurred- Canada purchased Alaska off the penurious United States and angered by the closure of the Pearl Harbour military base and the refusal to grant statehood, Hawaii seceded from the United States in 1959. The United States lay supine in the North Atlantic as Britain and Germany dominated the European Free Trade Network and preserved the British Empire, while Imperial Japan kept its own gains in Manchukuo, the Eastern Chinese coast, the Philippines and Indochina, careful not to attack Malaya, Singapore or the SEATO-aligned Indonesian Confederation. Consequently, in a multipolar world in which the proverbial sun still never set on the British Empire, the world's premier metahumans emerged in the United Kingdom of Scotland, England and Wales.
Captain Universe (James Logan) had been given his abilities by the Pantheoniki, aliens who had psionicorded the collective intellects of Earth's greatest scientists and it required only the mnemonic trigger word GALAP (Galileo, Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle and Pythagoras) to transmorph him into his metahuman identity and from it once more. Doctor Dread (Nathaniel Crane) used his empathic ability to influence emotions against crime. Electrowoman was a European Space Agency interstellar astronaut, Alice Ryan, who went through the Ouroborus wormhole in the solar system's Oort Cloud to emerge near a large planetoid. Her sensors told her it was inhabited and she had to restock, but the lightning beasts of Korbal interacted with her alien human physiology to give her control over electrical energy. Red Artemis (Bianca McDell) was given her proficiency at archery from the eponymous Greek goddess whose sacred bow, arrows and quiver she found in an ancient temple near Olympus in Greece. Reaper (William Norris) was a bivalent character- he was the Earth's agent for the Grim Reaper Corps, avatars of death. He could be either eu thanatos (benevolent and merciful death) or kako thanatos (terrible and punitive death). These five metahuman icons fought everyday criminals, malignant super-scientists, hostile aliens, maddened individuals from the future and other threats to the security of the Imperial realm. On that universe, as in many others, other gaudily costumed individuals like Super-Man, the Bat, Flash-Man, Captain Britannica, Ironhand and the Green Behemoth were fictional characters for the entertainment of youth. Unfortunately, the Formidable Five's careers were much less innocent.
For example, take Aeonik. That being was the former tyrant of inhabited Neptune-3182, who ruled with an icy grip over its panocularmegacephalopod inhabitants. Fortunately for that ill-starred world, the science hero Captain Future discovered the ruthless aspirations of the sinister entity and after an epic battle, she banished it to the periphery of the Oort Cloud, where it brooded and reconstructed numerous attempts to invade the inner solar system. One problem with this was that although Captain Future had tragically perished trying to protect a deep space interplanetary exploration vessel from an ice asteroid bombardment, Aeonik still harboured deep enmity against humanity and those who defended it. While the Formidable Five had numerous other opponents, like the evil scientist Una Von Koestler, the interdimensional barbarian Nekronathyn the Dark Sword, the Psychonese Hordes and diverse analogues, Aeonik was never to be underestimated.
F5 COREBASE:
Stationed near the Earth's mantle/core dichotomy, the world's mightiest humans were safe from the heat and pressure outside due to the inertron properties of their spherical activities centre. As usual, Captain Universe was observing the world's surrounding newsfeeds with a pensive air. Alice cleared her throat and he looked up, a smile cracking his taciturn features. The two colleagues loved one another, but their relationship was... complicated. For one thing, Captain Universe's deadly enemy Una Von Koestler had been romantically involved with Geoff Rains, Alice's brother and Alice could reach Una through Una's residual grief and love for her dead partner, which had resulted in the use of several technological innovations that the Five had used against their other opponents. The problem was, Captain Universe had failed to stop the nuclear destruction of the German city of Mainz, where Una's husband and daughter had lived, and she blamed the Captain for relative negligence in not preventing the tragedy that had fallen her beloved family and city. However, and unusually for science villains, she had a strict moral compass of her own and there were areas of villainy she would not countenance because of the enduring pain and trauma that had blighted her life. She would not kill. She refused to use weapons of mass destruction and would even assist the Formidable Five to neutralise any that she was told about. Particularly, she had bitter enmity with Aeonik, Captain Universe's other paramount foe, given she was honestly sickened at the brutality and terror that his regime visited on the hapless Neptunians and his disregard for other sentient life.
Alice had her own sorrows, though, apart from her twin brother Geoff's premature death. Her older brother, Mark, had replicated her exploratory wormhole mission and also achieved the electrical control capabilities that Electrowoman wielded, but his rejection of his upright Anglican family's strict moral code had led to estrangement between the two siblings. Mark Rains had instead styled himself Storm King and used his abilities for personal gain and avarice. Alice hated what her brother had become, but at the same time, he could be reached through other avenues.
Red Artemis and he had fought side by side to resolve a hostage situation and established their own rapport, even if Bianca disliked his villainy. However, Red's heart belonged to Reaper, her F5 colleague, although he could never have unprotected intimacy with her, given the involuntary nature of his psychopomp abilities, which relied on tactile contact. Bill Norris could not remove his gloves or facemask, or it would kill Bianca instantly. But Bianca loved him anyway, even if Bill was fearful of what might happen if he ever let his guard slip, even for a moment.
Of all of them, Doctor Dread- Nathaniel Crane- was probably the best adjusted. He was the mainstay of law and order in Gloucester, using his empathic abilities for good against a veritable 'rogues gallery' of costumed criminals, ably assisted by his wife Vina Verne, formerly editor of the Gloucester Gazette, a great provincial civic newspaper. Some of them were merely amusing and inept, like the Clown Gang. Others were more menacing and even predatory, like Deathwing, the bat-costumed criminal whose lethal fighting skills and razorangs sowed death whenever he ventured out into the chilly Gloucester northern nights. Unknown to Nathaniel and Vina and even perhaps Deathwing himself, he was secretly millionaire Benjamin Wayne, whose parents had died in a police shoot out twenty years ago.
Worst of all of their adversaries was the ruthless alien warlord Aeonik. Without scruple or moral restraint, the monstrous Neptunian had invaded Earth on numerous occasions, attacked neighbouring solar systems, tried to regain power in his former Neptunian methane ocean realm, experimented on human captives, and had even established a temporary bridgehead in the distant future. Aeonik was without soul or pity and would stop at nothing to destroy his bitter foes. His preliminary hatred had been directed at Captain Universe, but he had fought the others both individually and within the context of the Formidable Five. However, when it came to Terran allies, his megalomania and ruthlessness had alienated the likes of Una and Storm King. Only Deathwing was willing to align himself with the grotesque thousand-tentacled behemoth and even then, he was careful to limit their interactions.
SIRIUS:
Several astronomical units away from the pulsing, restless white giant Sirius and its smaller white dwarf binary partner, Aeonik drifted in its former imperial flagship. Just as well that this universe had no interstellar police force, it reflected. It reached onto its control console and ignited a row of neutronium implant explosive devices within the larger star's expansive blinding form. As a consequence of the interference, something that shouldn't have happened for a billion years did so- Sirius A went nova, without undergoing its red giant nova phase, which it would not have otherwise reached for another five hundred million years. As it coursed away, Aeonik allowed itself a moment of malignant self-satisfaction as the blinding pyre of destruction coursed outward... and into several strategically positioned wormholes, each with outpoints within the inhabited solar systems of Alpha Centauri, Barnards Star, Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi... and Sol.
EARTH:
"This is BBC Luna. Earlier this morning, the Astronomer Royal, Dame Katherine Branagh, stated that there were worrying irregularities in the nearby binary star system Sirius. Sirius is composed of a white giant, Sirius A, and a white dwarf, Sirius B. The irregularities are unlike anything ever witnessed before, Dame Katherine added, and cannot be adduced to superjovian planets, sunspot activity or other neighbouring stars. The Sirius binary has no extant planets. Nor is it expected to reach its red giant phase for at least a hundred million years. In an ominous tone, Dame Katherine said the instability was akin to those witnessed in prodromal nova phases in larger and older stars..."
"GALAP!" But as Captain Universe uttered the mnemonic trigger word that gave him access to the abilities of Galileo, Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle and Pythagoras, he was felled by a coruscating effect as his transformative triangle blazon failed to complete its sequential formation. There was a deep and reverberent cry from the World's Mightiest Savant as he fell to his knees and then to the floor, unconscious and breathing minimally: "Jim!!!"
Electrowoman ran into the F5 main foyer, scooping her fallen lover up in her arms. She slowed to a halt as she saw Reaper:
"Bill? Oh, no. No. Please-tell me this isn't his time. It can't be. He's survived more than this. We need him. I need him."
"You can rest easy, Alice. It's not him. But someone will die during the next day or so. I can feel it. And I can't tell you who."
"Is Nathaniel around? Perhaps he can help out with this? Bee? What is it?"
"We have multiple interstellar alert cues, Ally. It's another wormhole- not the Ouroborus you traversed to get out to Korbal, another one. And it's spewing out superheated interstellar gas and debris. It's quite high above the elliptic at the moment, but at the rate it's going, the material will reach Earth and other planets within our solar system within two or three days."
"You said multiple."
"Yeah, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi, Tau Ceti, Alpha Centauri A and Barnard's Star are all reporting the same effect. And here's the clincher."
"What, that BBC Luna broadcast...? Hellfire. I see what you mean. Is that interstellar gas and debris...?"
"It's consistent with Sirius A having gone nova."
"If only Jim were conscious! We need his Galileo-born astrophysical knowledge now!"
"He is unavailable and summonable only by James. However, the Higher Powers of Scientia called on my intercession."
As the two women blinked at the sudden lightplay, Alice recognised the form in its midst: "Caroline Herschel? The co-discoverer of Uranus?"
"I'm glad you recognise me, Electrowoman. I can tell you that Captain Universe will recover. However, the news that I impart to you is not so favourable. As your comrade Red Artemis here has observed so sagely, the interstellar debris and superheated plasma that currently assaults our solar system has originated from the Sirius A nova. Moreover, this will be its orbital trajectory..."
Electrowoman frowned: "Miss Herschel, can we have overlaid schematics for the other solar systems under attack? Thank you. Yes, as I thought. It could be no other, but it's only ever confronted us once before on this scale."
Red Artemis gasped: "Aeonik?! You mean that giant pile of rancid calimari is responsible for this?!"
"Exactly. Look at those trajectories above us. Notice anything about those planetary orbital tracks?"
"They...they avoid Neptune in our system, Georgium Sidus around Tau Ceti, Heimdall around Epsilon Eridani, Anakreon around Alpha Centauri A, Lakshmi around Epsilon Indi and Ursoror around Barnard's Star. But all of them are ice giants around the same size and mass. Oh, of course. Aeonik's going to use the destruction and mayhem here and elsewhere to seize power back home on Neptune and use that as a bridgehead to establish an empire on analogous exoplanets near us." By now, the two women had deposited the prone and unconscious Captain Universe on a pallet in Corebase's medical centre as Doctor Dread moved to stabilise the patient:
"He'll be okay. Damn it, though, I wish my empathic abilities were effective against Aeonik, but his species of alien doesn't have a susceptible neuroconfiguration."
"Fortunately, the same can't be said for my arrows and archery capabilities. Or your electrical capabilities, Ally."
"I know, but that leaves us seriously short-staffed... wait a minute. Message incoming."
And then, in the middle of the room, stood the holographic form of someone they knew all too well. Oddly enough, though, her appearance had provided an inkling of hope within Electrowoman:
"Una?"
"Ja, Alison. I see Universe is out of commission. That is as it should be. I have no wish to relitigate my existing grievances against his incompetence and neglect when it came to Mains. I'll come straight to the point. I surmised Aeonik was behind the Sirius nova and the threat that its wormhole portals pose in terms of its incoming superheated interstellar gas and debris. I will accompany you to Sirius and its environs. That ruthless abomination needs to be stopped. This is no time to pursue whatever rivalries otherwise beset us."
"Thank you, Una. I always thought you were capable of nobility and self-sacrifice. Your offer of assistance is gratefully accepted and much appreciated."
As Von Koestler's image dissolved, Red Artemis looked pensive:
"Hey, I know you and Von Koestler have a special bond over your late kid brother, but can we trust her? She's got a major hate on for Jim."
"While that's true, she's also shown herself capable of putting humanity and decency above the darker aspects of her character. She won't kill, she doesn't torture and she's implacably opposed to terrorism, genocide and mass murder. And don't forget, those time's she's demonstrated the iron in her soul, twice before it was against Aeonik."
"I hope you're right, kid. Looks like the Emancipator's fuelled up and ready to go. The three of us against H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe's love child."
SIRIUS ORBIT:
As Aeonik turned its myriad eyes toward a disturbance in the adjacent fabric of space and time, it gripped weaponry and initiated launch sequences in its polycephalopod arms. The accursed Emancipator appeared, with three of the humanoids that had regularly frustrated its schemes for regional interstellar domination and its return to its former domain on Neptune over the decades. Telepathically, it snarled: "No! You will not defy me or deny me on this! Neptune's glory will reach to the nearer stars and then out into the remainder of the universe!"
"Not at the cost of rampant butchery and mass slaughter, you fiend!" Electrowoman snapped, her hands gesturing as she threw off prodigal amounts of electrical energy while deflecting Aeonik's assault against the Formidable Five starship. Red Artemis loaded her multiple impact retaliatory arrows into her bow, each of its arrows containing several smaller ones with a selection of pathogens, radioactives and other inimical materials, all calculated to exploit Aeonik's known vulnerabilities. Battle raged for several hours, exhausting the three combatants on both sides, until Aeonik replied:
"We are at an impasse. Yet you cannot prevent the end of the puny usurper sapiences in the lesser planets that litter surrounding space. Including your own presumptuous race."
"Grandiose and presumptuous of you as ever, you abomination. You will not triumph."
"And who will stop me, Von Koestler, you pathetic, powerless primitive? I am Aeonik, Tyrant of Neptune!"
"Hold that thought, you obscenity. Goodbye, Alison, Artemis. You were worthy adversaries and even worthier friends."
"Una, no! Please! You don't need to prove anything to me!"
"Alison, listen to me, please. I have an antimatter fusion device in my backpack. I won't ignite it until you and Ms. McDell are safely out of the area and bound for home. As soon as you are clear, I will establish a Capacity Four force screen around this area. The force of the detonation will close the wormholes and volatilise the remaining gas and debris and invert the spatiotemporal trajectories of the material."
"No! No, there must be some other way! Not like this! Not at the cost of your own life!"
"Alison, leibchen, I loved your brother so much. He provided sanctuary and hope for me. If things had been different, if Aeonik there hadn't slaughtered him in cold blood...farewell, my friend. Live on for me. And I cannot let you throw your life away as well. I have preprogrammed the Emancipator's navigational computers."
"UNA!!!" Electrowoman screamed as the polarity screens and sensors indicated a translucent blue sphere and as Aeonik moved in toward the capsule where Una Von Koestler waited. She turned:
"Hello, William. It seems as if you were correct."
"I agree with Ally, Una. This is such a damned shame and waste. You deserved so much more than this."
"Ach, part of it was my own damned fault, Willi. I should not have let my vendetta and consuming hatred for Universe blind me to humanity and its needs."
"Well, you're compensating for it now. Look into my eyes, Una."
"Thank you for this, Willi."
"Given what you're sacrificing, at least I can make sure this will be quick and gentle. For you, at least." And with that, Una Von Koestler silently passed away, as a gentle death overtook her. Then Reaper stared at at the malignancy that was suddenly aware of its own nakedness, exposure and vulnerability as it tried to evade its inevitable destiny and retribution. For Aeonik, the end was not gentle but harsh, consisting of unimaginable pain across its vast nervous system and agonising neurological and circulatory failure as the antimatter fusion blast spread out across its kilometres-wide body and scorched and burnt it from existence. And while its consciousness survived, Aeonik still felt pain and cringed, as it sensed the hatred, anger and desire for vengeance of the spirits and psychic remnants of its enemies across the decades and light years. It screeched as it was consumed by the maelstrom, one which repeated infinitely and was never diluted or ended.
EPILOGUE:
On Earth, several weeks later, Electrowoman was still distraught as she held Captain Universe in her arms:
"I'm sorry, Ally. I should have been there. If I had been..."
"No, Jim, you weren't to blame. It was Aeonik's arrogance again, breaching the energies that flow between your body and Scientia. It thought that by incapacitating you, it could more easily succeed in its insane plans to destroy us and all the other sapiences near us that it loathed and hated."
"And Una...I admit it. I was wrong about her."
"She admitted the same. I miss her. Her friendship, her intellect, her valour and courage. She redeemed herself at the end."
"Are you ready for the statue's unveiling, Ally?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. Come on. Let's honour her one last time."
And at Lagrange Point 5, carved from a near-earth asteroid was an immense carbonaceous chondrite statue of Una Anna-Marie Von Koestler: Scientist. Genius. Saviour of Humanity.
Friend.
THE END [1.10 PM, JULY 12, 2023]
Then, in the mid-twenties, when the anti-communist White Russians won the Russian Civil War. Unfortunately for Europe, their anti-communism did not necessarily mean that they were liberal democrats. Instead, in 1939, the White Star Army swept through Northern Europe, occupying much of it, but given their resource constraints, they stopped short of France. France was subjected to heavy bombardment and shelling, but given that Britain had seen the threat earlier and rearmed under Winston Churchill, it was able to provide assistance. The United States had turned isolationist after FDR's premature death from polio in 1933 and President John Nance Garner was a fiscal conservative who did not want 'excessive' spending on the armed forces. Because of Russia and Japan's historic enmity, there was no 'axis' on Earth-3182. The Second International War ended in 1943 when British E missiles struck numerous Russian cities with chemical warheads. Japan took advantage of France's weakness and the collapse of their Russian foes to initiate the Third International War (1943-1947), which ended in a stalemate, given that Britain and Japan had both acquired nuclear weapons. Other divergences occurred- Canada purchased Alaska off the penurious United States and angered by the closure of the Pearl Harbour military base and the refusal to grant statehood, Hawaii seceded from the United States in 1959. The United States lay supine in the North Atlantic as Britain and Germany dominated the European Free Trade Network and preserved the British Empire, while Imperial Japan kept its own gains in Manchukuo, the Eastern Chinese coast, the Philippines and Indochina, careful not to attack Malaya, Singapore or the SEATO-aligned Indonesian Confederation. Consequently, in a multipolar world in which the proverbial sun still never set on the British Empire, the world's premier metahumans emerged in the United Kingdom of Scotland, England and Wales.
Captain Universe (James Logan) had been given his abilities by the Pantheoniki, aliens who had psionicorded the collective intellects of Earth's greatest scientists and it required only the mnemonic trigger word GALAP (Galileo, Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle and Pythagoras) to transmorph him into his metahuman identity and from it once more. Doctor Dread (Nathaniel Crane) used his empathic ability to influence emotions against crime. Electrowoman was a European Space Agency interstellar astronaut, Alice Ryan, who went through the Ouroborus wormhole in the solar system's Oort Cloud to emerge near a large planetoid. Her sensors told her it was inhabited and she had to restock, but the lightning beasts of Korbal interacted with her alien human physiology to give her control over electrical energy. Red Artemis (Bianca McDell) was given her proficiency at archery from the eponymous Greek goddess whose sacred bow, arrows and quiver she found in an ancient temple near Olympus in Greece. Reaper (William Norris) was a bivalent character- he was the Earth's agent for the Grim Reaper Corps, avatars of death. He could be either eu thanatos (benevolent and merciful death) or kako thanatos (terrible and punitive death). These five metahuman icons fought everyday criminals, malignant super-scientists, hostile aliens, maddened individuals from the future and other threats to the security of the Imperial realm. On that universe, as in many others, other gaudily costumed individuals like Super-Man, the Bat, Flash-Man, Captain Britannica, Ironhand and the Green Behemoth were fictional characters for the entertainment of youth. Unfortunately, the Formidable Five's careers were much less innocent.
For example, take Aeonik. That being was the former tyrant of inhabited Neptune-3182, who ruled with an icy grip over its panocularmegacephalopod inhabitants. Fortunately for that ill-starred world, the science hero Captain Future discovered the ruthless aspirations of the sinister entity and after an epic battle, she banished it to the periphery of the Oort Cloud, where it brooded and reconstructed numerous attempts to invade the inner solar system. One problem with this was that although Captain Future had tragically perished trying to protect a deep space interplanetary exploration vessel from an ice asteroid bombardment, Aeonik still harboured deep enmity against humanity and those who defended it. While the Formidable Five had numerous other opponents, like the evil scientist Una Von Koestler, the interdimensional barbarian Nekronathyn the Dark Sword, the Psychonese Hordes and diverse analogues, Aeonik was never to be underestimated.
F5 COREBASE:
Stationed near the Earth's mantle/core dichotomy, the world's mightiest humans were safe from the heat and pressure outside due to the inertron properties of their spherical activities centre. As usual, Captain Universe was observing the world's surrounding newsfeeds with a pensive air. Alice cleared her throat and he looked up, a smile cracking his taciturn features. The two colleagues loved one another, but their relationship was... complicated. For one thing, Captain Universe's deadly enemy Una Von Koestler had been romantically involved with Geoff Rains, Alice's brother and Alice could reach Una through Una's residual grief and love for her dead partner, which had resulted in the use of several technological innovations that the Five had used against their other opponents. The problem was, Captain Universe had failed to stop the nuclear destruction of the German city of Mainz, where Una's husband and daughter had lived, and she blamed the Captain for relative negligence in not preventing the tragedy that had fallen her beloved family and city. However, and unusually for science villains, she had a strict moral compass of her own and there were areas of villainy she would not countenance because of the enduring pain and trauma that had blighted her life. She would not kill. She refused to use weapons of mass destruction and would even assist the Formidable Five to neutralise any that she was told about. Particularly, she had bitter enmity with Aeonik, Captain Universe's other paramount foe, given she was honestly sickened at the brutality and terror that his regime visited on the hapless Neptunians and his disregard for other sentient life.
Alice had her own sorrows, though, apart from her twin brother Geoff's premature death. Her older brother, Mark, had replicated her exploratory wormhole mission and also achieved the electrical control capabilities that Electrowoman wielded, but his rejection of his upright Anglican family's strict moral code had led to estrangement between the two siblings. Mark Rains had instead styled himself Storm King and used his abilities for personal gain and avarice. Alice hated what her brother had become, but at the same time, he could be reached through other avenues.
Red Artemis and he had fought side by side to resolve a hostage situation and established their own rapport, even if Bianca disliked his villainy. However, Red's heart belonged to Reaper, her F5 colleague, although he could never have unprotected intimacy with her, given the involuntary nature of his psychopomp abilities, which relied on tactile contact. Bill Norris could not remove his gloves or facemask, or it would kill Bianca instantly. But Bianca loved him anyway, even if Bill was fearful of what might happen if he ever let his guard slip, even for a moment.
Of all of them, Doctor Dread- Nathaniel Crane- was probably the best adjusted. He was the mainstay of law and order in Gloucester, using his empathic abilities for good against a veritable 'rogues gallery' of costumed criminals, ably assisted by his wife Vina Verne, formerly editor of the Gloucester Gazette, a great provincial civic newspaper. Some of them were merely amusing and inept, like the Clown Gang. Others were more menacing and even predatory, like Deathwing, the bat-costumed criminal whose lethal fighting skills and razorangs sowed death whenever he ventured out into the chilly Gloucester northern nights. Unknown to Nathaniel and Vina and even perhaps Deathwing himself, he was secretly millionaire Benjamin Wayne, whose parents had died in a police shoot out twenty years ago.
Worst of all of their adversaries was the ruthless alien warlord Aeonik. Without scruple or moral restraint, the monstrous Neptunian had invaded Earth on numerous occasions, attacked neighbouring solar systems, tried to regain power in his former Neptunian methane ocean realm, experimented on human captives, and had even established a temporary bridgehead in the distant future. Aeonik was without soul or pity and would stop at nothing to destroy his bitter foes. His preliminary hatred had been directed at Captain Universe, but he had fought the others both individually and within the context of the Formidable Five. However, when it came to Terran allies, his megalomania and ruthlessness had alienated the likes of Una and Storm King. Only Deathwing was willing to align himself with the grotesque thousand-tentacled behemoth and even then, he was careful to limit their interactions.
SIRIUS:
Several astronomical units away from the pulsing, restless white giant Sirius and its smaller white dwarf binary partner, Aeonik drifted in its former imperial flagship. Just as well that this universe had no interstellar police force, it reflected. It reached onto its control console and ignited a row of neutronium implant explosive devices within the larger star's expansive blinding form. As a consequence of the interference, something that shouldn't have happened for a billion years did so- Sirius A went nova, without undergoing its red giant nova phase, which it would not have otherwise reached for another five hundred million years. As it coursed away, Aeonik allowed itself a moment of malignant self-satisfaction as the blinding pyre of destruction coursed outward... and into several strategically positioned wormholes, each with outpoints within the inhabited solar systems of Alpha Centauri, Barnards Star, Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi... and Sol.
EARTH:
"This is BBC Luna. Earlier this morning, the Astronomer Royal, Dame Katherine Branagh, stated that there were worrying irregularities in the nearby binary star system Sirius. Sirius is composed of a white giant, Sirius A, and a white dwarf, Sirius B. The irregularities are unlike anything ever witnessed before, Dame Katherine added, and cannot be adduced to superjovian planets, sunspot activity or other neighbouring stars. The Sirius binary has no extant planets. Nor is it expected to reach its red giant phase for at least a hundred million years. In an ominous tone, Dame Katherine said the instability was akin to those witnessed in prodromal nova phases in larger and older stars..."
"GALAP!" But as Captain Universe uttered the mnemonic trigger word that gave him access to the abilities of Galileo, Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle and Pythagoras, he was felled by a coruscating effect as his transformative triangle blazon failed to complete its sequential formation. There was a deep and reverberent cry from the World's Mightiest Savant as he fell to his knees and then to the floor, unconscious and breathing minimally: "Jim!!!"
Electrowoman ran into the F5 main foyer, scooping her fallen lover up in her arms. She slowed to a halt as she saw Reaper:
"Bill? Oh, no. No. Please-tell me this isn't his time. It can't be. He's survived more than this. We need him. I need him."
"You can rest easy, Alice. It's not him. But someone will die during the next day or so. I can feel it. And I can't tell you who."
"Is Nathaniel around? Perhaps he can help out with this? Bee? What is it?"
"We have multiple interstellar alert cues, Ally. It's another wormhole- not the Ouroborus you traversed to get out to Korbal, another one. And it's spewing out superheated interstellar gas and debris. It's quite high above the elliptic at the moment, but at the rate it's going, the material will reach Earth and other planets within our solar system within two or three days."
"You said multiple."
"Yeah, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi, Tau Ceti, Alpha Centauri A and Barnard's Star are all reporting the same effect. And here's the clincher."
"What, that BBC Luna broadcast...? Hellfire. I see what you mean. Is that interstellar gas and debris...?"
"It's consistent with Sirius A having gone nova."
"If only Jim were conscious! We need his Galileo-born astrophysical knowledge now!"
"He is unavailable and summonable only by James. However, the Higher Powers of Scientia called on my intercession."
As the two women blinked at the sudden lightplay, Alice recognised the form in its midst: "Caroline Herschel? The co-discoverer of Uranus?"
"I'm glad you recognise me, Electrowoman. I can tell you that Captain Universe will recover. However, the news that I impart to you is not so favourable. As your comrade Red Artemis here has observed so sagely, the interstellar debris and superheated plasma that currently assaults our solar system has originated from the Sirius A nova. Moreover, this will be its orbital trajectory..."
Electrowoman frowned: "Miss Herschel, can we have overlaid schematics for the other solar systems under attack? Thank you. Yes, as I thought. It could be no other, but it's only ever confronted us once before on this scale."
Red Artemis gasped: "Aeonik?! You mean that giant pile of rancid calimari is responsible for this?!"
"Exactly. Look at those trajectories above us. Notice anything about those planetary orbital tracks?"
"They...they avoid Neptune in our system, Georgium Sidus around Tau Ceti, Heimdall around Epsilon Eridani, Anakreon around Alpha Centauri A, Lakshmi around Epsilon Indi and Ursoror around Barnard's Star. But all of them are ice giants around the same size and mass. Oh, of course. Aeonik's going to use the destruction and mayhem here and elsewhere to seize power back home on Neptune and use that as a bridgehead to establish an empire on analogous exoplanets near us." By now, the two women had deposited the prone and unconscious Captain Universe on a pallet in Corebase's medical centre as Doctor Dread moved to stabilise the patient:
"He'll be okay. Damn it, though, I wish my empathic abilities were effective against Aeonik, but his species of alien doesn't have a susceptible neuroconfiguration."
"Fortunately, the same can't be said for my arrows and archery capabilities. Or your electrical capabilities, Ally."
"I know, but that leaves us seriously short-staffed... wait a minute. Message incoming."
And then, in the middle of the room, stood the holographic form of someone they knew all too well. Oddly enough, though, her appearance had provided an inkling of hope within Electrowoman:
"Una?"
"Ja, Alison. I see Universe is out of commission. That is as it should be. I have no wish to relitigate my existing grievances against his incompetence and neglect when it came to Mains. I'll come straight to the point. I surmised Aeonik was behind the Sirius nova and the threat that its wormhole portals pose in terms of its incoming superheated interstellar gas and debris. I will accompany you to Sirius and its environs. That ruthless abomination needs to be stopped. This is no time to pursue whatever rivalries otherwise beset us."
"Thank you, Una. I always thought you were capable of nobility and self-sacrifice. Your offer of assistance is gratefully accepted and much appreciated."
As Von Koestler's image dissolved, Red Artemis looked pensive:
"Hey, I know you and Von Koestler have a special bond over your late kid brother, but can we trust her? She's got a major hate on for Jim."
"While that's true, she's also shown herself capable of putting humanity and decency above the darker aspects of her character. She won't kill, she doesn't torture and she's implacably opposed to terrorism, genocide and mass murder. And don't forget, those time's she's demonstrated the iron in her soul, twice before it was against Aeonik."
"I hope you're right, kid. Looks like the Emancipator's fuelled up and ready to go. The three of us against H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe's love child."
SIRIUS ORBIT:
As Aeonik turned its myriad eyes toward a disturbance in the adjacent fabric of space and time, it gripped weaponry and initiated launch sequences in its polycephalopod arms. The accursed Emancipator appeared, with three of the humanoids that had regularly frustrated its schemes for regional interstellar domination and its return to its former domain on Neptune over the decades. Telepathically, it snarled: "No! You will not defy me or deny me on this! Neptune's glory will reach to the nearer stars and then out into the remainder of the universe!"
"Not at the cost of rampant butchery and mass slaughter, you fiend!" Electrowoman snapped, her hands gesturing as she threw off prodigal amounts of electrical energy while deflecting Aeonik's assault against the Formidable Five starship. Red Artemis loaded her multiple impact retaliatory arrows into her bow, each of its arrows containing several smaller ones with a selection of pathogens, radioactives and other inimical materials, all calculated to exploit Aeonik's known vulnerabilities. Battle raged for several hours, exhausting the three combatants on both sides, until Aeonik replied:
"We are at an impasse. Yet you cannot prevent the end of the puny usurper sapiences in the lesser planets that litter surrounding space. Including your own presumptuous race."
"Grandiose and presumptuous of you as ever, you abomination. You will not triumph."
"And who will stop me, Von Koestler, you pathetic, powerless primitive? I am Aeonik, Tyrant of Neptune!"
"Hold that thought, you obscenity. Goodbye, Alison, Artemis. You were worthy adversaries and even worthier friends."
"Una, no! Please! You don't need to prove anything to me!"
"Alison, listen to me, please. I have an antimatter fusion device in my backpack. I won't ignite it until you and Ms. McDell are safely out of the area and bound for home. As soon as you are clear, I will establish a Capacity Four force screen around this area. The force of the detonation will close the wormholes and volatilise the remaining gas and debris and invert the spatiotemporal trajectories of the material."
"No! No, there must be some other way! Not like this! Not at the cost of your own life!"
"Alison, leibchen, I loved your brother so much. He provided sanctuary and hope for me. If things had been different, if Aeonik there hadn't slaughtered him in cold blood...farewell, my friend. Live on for me. And I cannot let you throw your life away as well. I have preprogrammed the Emancipator's navigational computers."
"UNA!!!" Electrowoman screamed as the polarity screens and sensors indicated a translucent blue sphere and as Aeonik moved in toward the capsule where Una Von Koestler waited. She turned:
"Hello, William. It seems as if you were correct."
"I agree with Ally, Una. This is such a damned shame and waste. You deserved so much more than this."
"Ach, part of it was my own damned fault, Willi. I should not have let my vendetta and consuming hatred for Universe blind me to humanity and its needs."
"Well, you're compensating for it now. Look into my eyes, Una."
"Thank you for this, Willi."
"Given what you're sacrificing, at least I can make sure this will be quick and gentle. For you, at least." And with that, Una Von Koestler silently passed away, as a gentle death overtook her. Then Reaper stared at at the malignancy that was suddenly aware of its own nakedness, exposure and vulnerability as it tried to evade its inevitable destiny and retribution. For Aeonik, the end was not gentle but harsh, consisting of unimaginable pain across its vast nervous system and agonising neurological and circulatory failure as the antimatter fusion blast spread out across its kilometres-wide body and scorched and burnt it from existence. And while its consciousness survived, Aeonik still felt pain and cringed, as it sensed the hatred, anger and desire for vengeance of the spirits and psychic remnants of its enemies across the decades and light years. It screeched as it was consumed by the maelstrom, one which repeated infinitely and was never diluted or ended.
EPILOGUE:
On Earth, several weeks later, Electrowoman was still distraught as she held Captain Universe in her arms:
"I'm sorry, Ally. I should have been there. If I had been..."
"No, Jim, you weren't to blame. It was Aeonik's arrogance again, breaching the energies that flow between your body and Scientia. It thought that by incapacitating you, it could more easily succeed in its insane plans to destroy us and all the other sapiences near us that it loathed and hated."
"And Una...I admit it. I was wrong about her."
"She admitted the same. I miss her. Her friendship, her intellect, her valour and courage. She redeemed herself at the end."
"Are you ready for the statue's unveiling, Ally?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. Come on. Let's honour her one last time."
And at Lagrange Point 5, carved from a near-earth asteroid was an immense carbonaceous chondrite statue of Una Anna-Marie Von Koestler: Scientist. Genius. Saviour of Humanity.
Friend.
THE END [1.10 PM, JULY 12, 2023]
