Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins (31 page)

Thanksgiving had come and gone in a flash.  Eve, Shruti and Jess all went to LA.  The dinner was extravagant and fun.  Eve still couldn’t see why it was much different than any other dinner with friends.  They told her to wait for Christmas.

But before that, came the Winter Dance.  It was one of the strangest things Eve had experienced yet.  All of the kids in the Residence and some of the adults dressed in a variety of formal wear.  The entire first floor was decorated with fake snowflakes and colored lights.  Eve and Joe spent most of the night in the banquet room dancing; the other kids were shocked to see them together.  It was the talk of the night.  There was a lot of laughing and giddy happiness.  Eve found herself swept away in celebration.  She couldn’t wait until Christmas.

And now it was here.

They had put a large fir tree in the arboretum at the Complex.  It was decorated with shiny ornaments and lights.  From time to time, Eve heard people singing some of the same songs over and over.  The store at the Complex had been packed with gift items and wrapping paper.  Using her modest allowance, Eve took on the challenging task of buying gifts for her friends.  Sara taught her how to wrap them, and when she was done, she began to understand the holiday a little better.  She was filled with a nervous anticipation about how her presents would be received.  Her choice of a gift for Joe was enough to give her a panic attack.

Eve was thinking about Joe being with his parents as she portaled into LA.  Jess and Henry had joined her, and when they arrived, the LA weather hit them at once.

“Es ist verdammt heiß,“ Henry grumbled as the three started pulling off their coats.

Jess gave Henry an odd look.  “You know Fugen translates everything for me, right?”

Henry shrugged in response.

Alison heard the noise from the kitchen and popped her head out.  “Where's Shruti?” She asked.

“We had her killed for her presents,” Henry said flatly.

Jess ignored him and answered, “She's spending Christmas with Saga.”

Robert came from the bedroom smiling and hugged his friends.  “I’m glad you guys could make it,” he told them.  “Alison has been in the kitchen all morning and she won’t let me in.”

“Is that a subtle clue not to complain about the food later?”  Henry asked.

Alison slapped him with a spatula.  For his own safety, he hopped over the back of the couch and plopped down on the cushions.

“Okay ladies,” Alison announced.  “Time to get to work.”  She pushed Robert toward the couch and went back into the kitchen.

“I can't cook,” Jess argued.

“Neither can I,” Eve added.

“Better go in before you get in trouble,” Robert said to them.  “Can one of you get us some beer while you’re in there?”  He took a seat on the couch next to Henry.  The TV was on, but neither of them were paying attention.  A moment later, Alison came out and handed each of them a bottle.  She kissed Robert on the cheek and disappeared.  Robert sipped his beer.  “You said something about a problem?”

Henry checked to see that the women were preoccupied.  “If I tell you what I know you could get in trouble,” he said.

“I understand,” Robert replied.  “Is this about the accident?”

“Partly,” Henry answered.  “Because I was there, and already know too much, Kelley has me working on it.  I’m sorry I’m being so… undeutlich.”  Robert furrowed his brow.  “Vague,” Henry translated.  “Been reworking my processors, and there’ve been some glitches.  Anyway, while I was digging around some files, I began to notice a disturbing trend.  Since the accident Kelley has been ordering a series of secret projects geared toward military applications.”

“The One does a lot of work with military organizations,” Robert commented.

“These aren’t for Norm use,” Henry said.

“Are you saying he’s preparing for war?”  Robert asked incredulously.  “With who?  Why?  He’s been anti-war since he accepted the directorship.”

“Peace doesn’t pay the bills,” Henry said.  “The Super-Human population is growing, and keeping them reined in costs money.  So to answer your question, I don’t think the ‘who’ matters.  All he needs is a reason for The One to step in.  Imagine a Super-Human police force keeping the peace for cash.”

“Next you’re going to tell me he’s organizing a conflict,” Robert dismissed him.

“I’m telling you what I saw,” Henry said.

“And making a lot of assumptions,” Robert retorted.

“You know me, when was the last time I was this serious?”  Henry asked.  “Just keep your eyes open.  We have to stick together, watch our backs; you, me, Alison… just in case.”

Robert leaned back on the couch.  “We’re always watching each other’s backs,” he said.  “But I’ll keep my eyes open.”

The women were in the kitchen where Alison was surveying the food.  She opened the oven.  Inside was a golden brown ham.  “Robert, come take this out of the oven,” she yelled.

“Wait for a commercial,” he yelled back.

“Really, what is the point of men?”  Alison sighed.

“I think you know that answer better than the two of us,” Jess remarked.

Alison gave her an uncomfortable smile and eyed Eve.

“Is this about sex?” Eve asked.  “I never know what people are using as an innuendo anymore.”

“Uh,” Alison tried.

“Have you been talking about sex much lately?”  Jess inquired.

“Danni and Sara were asking me a lot of questions about Joe,” Eve answered.  “I didn't understand anything they were saying.”

“Oh,” Alison gasped.  “I think I need some wine.”  There was an open bottle on the counter.  She poured herself a glass and listened.

“What kind of things were they saying?” Jess asked.

“First they talked about bases,” Eve told her, “and they didn’t know which ones were which.  So I tried to figure it out for myself.”

Alison nearly choked on her wine.

“Did you find out what a home run was?”  Jess asked nervously.

“It's sex, right?” Eve said.  “Sara thought it was supposed to be a grand slam.”

“It could be a
grand slam
,” Jess joked and Alison snickered.  “I mean, did you and Joe.... You know what sex is, right?”

“Yes,” Eve replied.  “Where I come from we are paired with our best match and then mate.  Here it seems like you can mate with anyone regardless of consequences.”

Alison finished her glass and poured another.

“Uh, well consequences… a lot…,” for the first time in a while Jess was at a loss for words.  “When you say mate with
anyone
, are you talking about free will to mate or... uh... a lot of... uh… mating”

Robert walked into the kitchen and stopped dead.  He looked at all three ladies and could tell something was up.

“What are you guys talking about?”  He asked.

“Girl stuff,” Jess replied.

“Can you stop so I can take out the ham?  Please?”  He asked.

Inside the brightly lit security room, the personnel wished each other a preemptive Merry Christmas.  Lieutenant James Carr sipped his coffee, letting the steam warm his face.  They were approaching the third day of Christmas PR, and Carr didn't have the patience for anything anymore.

“Rrrrr,” Carr grumbled as someone passed a present to their friend.

The man looked up at the noise and then turned quickly away.  No one wanted to get on his nerves, especially since the officer assigned to relieve him was running late.  Most likely because he was celebrating Christmas early.

Carr grumbled again.

He was tired, cold and bored.  His standard duties required that he monitor five miles of wall, including the main gate.  For the last couple of days, Carr had been stuck answering stupid questions from stupid civilians.  Thousands of them were piling through his gate, and they all wanted to get in quickly.  They all had their reasons why they should bypass security.  They all asked, ‘just this once, for Christmas.'  They all thought they were an exception.  But he expected the civilians to be annoying and inconsiderate.  The fact that his replacement was late when he knew how exhausting this job was, that was pissing him off.

Carr yearned for the days of Field Duty.  He may have just been a body guard, but it was enjoyable.  Something was always happening.  Then they go and promote him, and OIS thinks he'd be better suited guarding a gate because of his abilities.  He even considered turning down the promotion, but word was that Director Kelley wanted security beefed up.  In Carr’s opinion, the man was paranoid.  What use could someone who was immune to Super-Human powers be just watching a gate?  It made him a good body guard, but a good watch dog?

So all night he stood in this cramped little room growling at his new platoon.  The night had been slow.  Only a handful of people had come and gone.  Everyone else was already enjoying Christmas somewhere else.

“Incoming,” a voice squawked over the loud speaker.

Carr looked over at a video monitor that showed a minivan pulling up to the gate.  It stopped, and a man in a bulbous coat stepped out of his car to submit to inspection.  Standard operating procedure dictated that one man search the car, a second questioned the occupants and a third stood in the control booth.  Their radios were open at all time so their conversations could be overheard in the tower.

Carr listened to them now, “State your business.”  It was a senseless question because there was only a handful of reasons to be here.

“We're visiting our daughter,” the man replied.

Carr's eyes automatically flicked over to the screen that showed the passenger seats.  He could barely make out that there was a person sitting in the back.  The button to talk to the man in the control booth was at his elbow, and he hit it.  “I need a visual confirmation on the passengers,” he said.  On the monitor, the guard in the booth walked out and around the car then went back to his post.

“Caucasian female, late thirties,” the guard said over the radio.

Lieutenant Carr strained his eyes looking at the monitor.  All he could see was someone wearing a hat.  He hit the button and said, “That's a female in the back?”

The guard replied, “Negative.  Female is in front passenger seat.”  The voice was anxious as they began to realize something was wrong.

Carr was about to give the order to apprehend when one of the men at the computers said, “Sir.”  He pointed to the screens.  One by one they went blank then a single word popped up.

“Hubris.”

Without thinking, Carr hit the big red alarm button.  His eyes stopped on the screen in front of him.  The man in the big coat looked up at the camera and smiled.

The explosion rippled outward tearing apart everything in its wake and filling the night sky with fire.

Batista – Matter changing skin

Beach - ?

The Boneman – Break bones by touch

Branch - ?

Scott Brown – Invisibility

James Carr – Immunity to super powers

Alison Cortez – 3 second precognition

Chuck Darren – Precognition of danger

Caroline Day - ?

Robert Day – Plasma bursts

George Deacon-Slater (the Dragon Slayer) - ?

Rachael Debord – Super eyes sight

Joe Epper – Dark projection

Michael Epper – Light projection

Elena Florian - ?

Petr Florian – Calming

Anne Marie Godfrey (Angie) – Animal instinct and claws

Phillip Green (Flip) – Controls perception of himself

William James Kelley Jr – 100% data retention

Sara Klass – Shapeshifter

Koji Kojima – Super power duplication

Jessica Lang – Demon summoner

Eve Levitas – Dimensional portals

Lewis - ?

Jason Mallory – Disintegration beam

Daniel Muir – Werewolf

Victor Orlando – Fire projection

Jigoro Oyama - ?

Shruti Pandey – Telepath

Poole - ?

John Porter - Invulnerability

Dr. Richter - ?

AJ Rodgers – Hyper reflexes

Dani Rodriguez – Creation of shadow creatures

Saga - ?

Elizabeth Santiago – Physics manipulation

Henry Schreier – Cyborg

Victor Franklin Stein – Scientist

Torres - ?

Gabriel Wilson - ?

Originally written in 2008, Absolute Power has been a process of evolution.  The first incarnation was a 800 page epic with much of the same storyline it has today.  But as it sat on the virtual computer shelf it began to grow a life of its own.  Many of the main characters now, side characters then.  As the people developed, their lives developed with back stories, through stories and plots.  Eventually the characters themselves began to change the shape of the story.  The result was that Absolute Power had to be broken up into 4 separate books.

The greatest thing about this process was that because I knew the beginning and end of everything, I was able to interweave hints, clues and foreshadows from the first book to the last.  If I’m lucky enough to keep you as a reader, I think and hope that by the end you’ll flip back through from the beginning, and maybe kick yourself a little for not noticing.

And the other good thing, since all 4 books have at least a first draft, the delay between releases won’t be too long.

I remember independent before the major companies took over and it was usurped to mean a style of music.  Independent meant being free of the genre boxes and major target markets.  It was the ability to do what you wanted and how you wanted.  But it was more than that, it was the declaration that you didn't have to be backed by a billion dollar corporation to cut a record or make a movie.

It seems like it was a long time ago where people scrounged cash, sold blood and borrowed all they could in order to make a movie.  They had one camera, a friend's house and a neighbor's car.  Maybe the production value wasn't amazing, but they made some of the most legendary films.

Independent means standing up and just doing it, with all you have and all you can muster.

And somehow literature lost that passion.  An idea has grown that a good story or a great character is secondary to production value; that books are now literally being judged by their covers, and maybe by their commas too.

But the independent author should always attempt to reach the highest quality possible.  I hope that what I managed to scrape, muster and make did my writing and your time justice.  And since you’ve reached the back of this book, I thank you for reading, supporting the independent and giving this a chance.

Grayson Queen is a full-time novelist and painter located out of Orange County, California. His artistic passions range from deeply philosophical to unusual science fiction and fantasy.

In his free time, Grayson dabbles with music, sculpture, and various explorations of geek culture. He is happily owned by two amazing cats.

Check for other upcoming books in print or ebook at:

http://thequeencreative.com

Novels:

Orange Buffalo

Absolute Power: Book 1: Origins

Short Stories:

3676

A Pirate's Life for Me

Coinage

Dehydration

Fix It

Hostile Takeover

The Telltale Toilet

Graphic Stories:

Dead Happy

The Eater

Children's Books:

The Angry Dragon

The Lonely Robot