H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (29 page)

I joined them and did the same just so I could touch her fingers.  They felt normal, but looked really strange with such a huge tip and nail on each one of them. 
How do they type with only two fingers and a thumb?  That has to be a pain using a keyboard.

I asked, “How do you type on a keyboard with only three fingers?”

Tiriffa said, “What is a keyboard?”

“You know, the thing you type on.”

I moved my fingers as though I were typing.

She looked confused for a moment and then said, “Ah, we swipe and tap on our display screens or holograms.”

Kazhan looked down from the top of the ship and said something in that Gabani language.  Tiriffa looked up at him and replied with a few words.

He nodded and walked back to the top of the plane out of sight again.  A bubble of weird stuff went around and through the plane and us, and then I felt a lurch.  Everything went black for a moment and then came back again, although I noticed we were in a different field somewhere.  We were still near Metrocity - I could see the skyscrapers sticking up over the trees.

Then I realized that Firebane wasn't with us.  I looked around for her, thinking that she might have fallen off the stairs, but she was nowhere in sight.  Then my phone rang - it was Firebane.

"Hello?"

"What just happened, are you all right?"

"I don't know, we're in a different field now, the plane and all of us except for you.  Where are you?"

"I'm back where we were.  I felt that energy stuff come through, and as usual I absorbed it.  Then the starship disappeared and I fell on my butt in the dirt."

"Oh.  Well, we're not there any more."

"Yeah.  Like I said, I see that.  You know, as interesting as aliens are, I do need to get back...."  Then her phone abruptly hung up.

I said, "Well, that was rude."

Tiriffa said, "Did you just communicate with Firebane?"

I looked at her, "Yeah, what's up with that - why didn't she come with us?"

The guy - Kazhan - hopped down onto the wing of the plane, and then again onto the grass of the field.  He walked up to me and held his hand out to shake mine.

I shook his hand gently, "Sorry, I normally avoid that.  I don't want to hurt people with my strength."

"Yes, you are affected by the Dark.  We are as well, or our people have been for centuries.  I am pleased to be meeting you."

"Nice to meet you as well, Kazhan.  So how long have you two studied English, you're pretty good at it."

"Our language analysis and training systems are fairly advanced at this point, we learned them today."

Another blue-skinned guy came to the doorway from inside the plane and said something in another language.

I asked, "Anyway - back to my question - why didn't Firebane come with us when you, uh, moved us here?"

He replied, "I don't have that answer for you, Diva.  I think it is her gift to absorb energy.  She absorbed our shields and the plasma blast; I believe she absorbed my teleportation energy."

"Oh.  Well, I guess that makes sense."

My phone rang - it showed Firebane as the caller yet again.

I answered, "Hello again?"

Firebane said, "Hi.  Sorry about that.  I'm not sure what happened, I was talking with you, was about to say that I needed to get back to work and all of a sudden there was this blackness and I was there.  Just wanted to let you know I'm okay and got back to work fine.  Thanks much for bringing me there - uhh, can you fill in the H.E.R.O. agent guy?"

"Is one coming?  We moved somewhere else, how would they even know where to go?"

"Oh, good point.  You could call him - have you noticed that there is a group of people under a H.E.R.O. Agents group?  Agent Carson comes to most of those in Metrocity."

"I'll call him then."

"Thanks.  Hope I see you again, Diva.  Good luck until then."

"You too, Firebane." 
Gee, thanks for leaving me to do all the boring stuff - without even having a chance to meet the press.

I looked up at Tiriffa.  "Sorry, I need to call my agent."

"Is this required?  Can you choose to not call this person?"

"Well.  I guess I don't
have
to, at least not that I know of.  And we really didn't stop a crime or save normal people, so....  Why don't you want me to call him?"

"It would be better for us to be hidden than allow us to be known to all.  For now, we only wish to study the Dark and the effects on your people.  It may give us valuable information on what happened to our people so long ago."

"Umm. Okay." 
Oh, god.  These are nerds.  I'm so outta here.
  "How about you call me if you need something then?"

Tiriffa asked, "How do I do this?"

I held up my phone, "With a phone, of course."

"We don't have a phone.  May we study the device quickly?"

"Sure, I guess."  I held my phone out to her.

She took it and said, "Please, come inside."

Two other blue guys came past us and left the ship.  I said "Hi" and waved to them, one waved back, the other simply stared at me.

She glanced back at me, "Captain Trilk does not yet know your language.”  The inside of the plane looked really high tech and unusual.  None of the letters on the walls were even English, I couldn't understand anything.  Another guy was inside it - he was working at a computer station with a screen that floated in the air before the wall it was in front of.  He swiped his big fingers right on the screen thingie rather than type on a keyboard.

Tiriffa said, "Qarath also does not know your language."  She spoke quickly to this new blue guy and gestured toward me.  Qarath waved to me and smiled - he had fangs too.

Tiriffa set the phone down on a console and began whipping through menus.  She touched my phone and the screen began changing as though she were tapping the screen, yet she didn't move her big finger off the base.

I heard ringing and realized that she was calling someone.  I stepped closer to her and saw that she was calling Firebane.  After a few seconds Firebane answered.

"Hello?"

Tiriffa leaned down closer to the phone and said, "Hello Firebane.  I am Tiriffa.  I talked with you at the Selestor.  Will you call Diva on her device?"

"Um, sure.  Right now?"

"Yes."

"All right."  The screen showed that the call ended.  A moment later it rang again and showed an incoming call from Firebane.

It answered the call as if she pushed the answer button - yet again she hadn't moved her finger.

Tiriffa leaned down and mimic'd Firebane by saying, "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Firebane."

"Thank you, Firebane.  I believe I can use these settings to call now."

"That's great, I'm glad I could help.  Call if you need help with something, I guess."  The phone showed the call ended.

I asked, "So just making a call and taking a call lets you make your own phone?"

Tiriffa looked back at me and gave me a fanged grin.  "I won't create a device like this.  I will use my own device to send a signal that matches your device and speaks to the other devices that allow it to work."

"I can't believe you learned English today, you speak it really good."

"Thank you.  I wish I could take credit for designing the system, but cannot."  She handed the phone back to me.  I took it and slid it back into the thigh area of my left boot.

"Are you some sort of city defender?"

"Well, I'm a model, really.  People take pictures of me, usually with a product or wearing their clothing or jewelry line and put them in ads.  Just last week I became a super hero.  Hmm, I guess that does kind of make me a city defender.  Why do you ask?"

"You responded to the attack against the Selestor."

"Oh, that.  Firebane called me and asked if could bring her to you.  I'm not sure why she did now, she's really afraid of flying...."

"Firebane is a city defender as well?"

"Yeah.  Today was the first time I met her, though."

"You know that the K'Vor will not leave, correct?  It will attempt to find the Selestor and steal our Gate engine."

"So they are criminals?"

"Yes, the closest word I can find in your language is a pirate.  They steal items and technology to sell."

"Should I put out a warning to the rest of the H.E.R.O. people to watch out for them?"

She shrugged.  "I cannot say.  I do not know how your organization works, but were I near Gahran I would contact the defense force to be on the watch for the K'Vor, if not find them and detain them."

“Fine, I’ll do that.  I guess I don’t have any other plans right now anyway….  By the way, if you need help, Psystar – that’s with a p, and s, and a y at the beginning – is another really good H.E.R.O. to call.  I’ve worked with her several times.  Black Tiger is another good one.  You want their numbers?”

“If by number you mean the unique phone number listed for each person in the list, then I have them, yes.  Thank you for allowing me to use your device.”

“Oh, okay.  Well … good luck on your science thingie then.”

“My thanks.  Are you interested in any information from our initial findings?  It will take us months to study the data, but we may learn something while still here.”

“Me?  Oh hell no.  Psystar would be, though.  She’s studying genetics at the University.  I think that’s kind of the same thing as what you guys are doing.  Or if not, it’s sciency.”

“Interesting, perhaps we shall consult with her to compare information.  It may be a valuable exchange of information.”

“Okay, well, umm, I’ll be going now.  While this place is neat, it’s really not my thing.”

“Good fortune to you then, City Defender.”

“Uh, yeah, you too.”

The ship was pretty small in the sitting room; it made me wonder where they fit the bathroom.  I walked out and down the stairs.  The other men all stood outside the ship talking in their own language – the ship was invisible now from the outside.

I said, “Wow, your plane can go invisible?”

Kazhan replied, “With our individual gifts, yes.”

“I’m heading out now, I’ll tell H.E.R.O. to be on the lookout for the Kevor.”

“K’Vor.”

I shrugged, “Okay.  Well, have fun studying the dark stuff then guys.”

“You as well, Diva.  Thank you for your aid.”

“Bye all!”  I walked a few steps, jumped up and flew off toward H.E.R.O. headquarters, I had a feeling they wouldn’t believe this over the phone.

In about five minutes I landed at the headquarters.  I had to admit, it was a stylish building.  I still really liked the statues of different heroes around it.

I walked in and asked Goldie at the front desk if I could meet with Captain McCain.  I thought that I might as well tell the Captain directly rather than Agent Carson.  Not that they’d believe that I met aliens anyway. 
Hmm, maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all.  A lot of people sound pretty crazy when talking about aliens.  Darn it, we need to keep an eye for this other plane, though.
  I sighed.

Goldie let me know he would see me.  I thanked her and headed toward his office.  I knocked on his door and looked in.  He motioned for me to enter and sit down.  I did so, noticing on the way how he studied my mini-dress costume.  I smiled, but he kept his face rather impassive.  He wasn’t a fun individual.

He said, “Good morning, Diva.  You’ve had a busy few days since joining us.  How do you think it’s gone so far?”

“Morning.  It’s going pretty good.  I really liked helping the people on the highway, well, except for losing my original costume – that was pretty expensive.  This one is much cooler, though.  Did you know these fix themselves?  It’s really awesome.”

“Yes, Dr. Turnquist is quite a boon to our heroes.  I hope she continues her business for a long time to come.  How about the other events?”

“Well, the charity event was cool too.  I liked meeting Silverlash, she’s really nice – and really good with people, too!  Stopping the robbers over on the west side was great, too.  I got to talk with Spartan and Black Tiger there.  Getting shot in the mouth hurt, though.  I didn’t like that.  Oh, and I spent most of the day flying with Psystar.  That was great!  She’s nice too.  She could use a few style pointers, but still comes across as very pretty.  Now the big fight at the jail – oh my God – that just sucked.  I got stabbed a whole bunch of times by this … this … thing.”

“Yes, Kralgon is a truly dangerous individual.  I’d hoped that his memory loss would make him less of a threat, but apparently not.”

“Hell no!  Keep him locked up!  I don’t ever want to get stabbed again like that.  No thanks.  I better not end up with scars.”

“I’m sorry to hear you took some nasty injuries.  I fought Kralgon hand to hand exactly one week before this last Saturday, and he stabbed me a number of times as well.  I can tell you that nearly all damage to our skin heals completely, so I would be very surprised to see you have anything permanent, especially at your age.  I get scars now, but my healing is slower than it once was, and the skin damage isn't perfectly healed.  I’d ask to see how the wounds are doing, but well, with that dress you can’t exactly pull up the top.”

I laughed, “Whatever, I’ve been in front of a room full of guys during some photo shoots with a lot less on than this.  Here.”  I got up, walked over to him and pulled up the dress to show my abdomen.

His mouth opened and closed several times. 
Hah, I made him speechless!

He shook his head and exhaled, and then looked at my abdomen since I was standing right there.  He looked closely at several wounds before nodding.

“Those will go away in a day or two.  You were stabbed Saturday night; I think you are slightly ahead of a normal brick’s healing rate.”

“Awesome!”

“While I don’t want to dwell on your figure, may I ask how much you weighed prior to becoming a brick?”

“Hmm, I was 110, but I also grew a few inches taller.”

He nodded again.  “Interesting.  So you were fairly thin before, then.”

“Thin?  No, I was in good modeling shape.”

“I … yes.  Compared to an average person in good shape, you were thin before.”