The Challenges of Life

Faré

For the record, my name is Faré Jake Adair Barnes, I am, rather I was a… huh?

…Yes, I understand that this account is going to be shipped to another Dimension, one similar to my own but one in which Earth hasn't had the dubious pleasure of meeting the Supremis on open terms yet.

All I can say is that if and when it happens, I wish them luck. They'll certainly need it.

… That’s true. It is probably better that this won’t be published openly as fact. I just hate to think that people are going to see my whole life as a work of fiction.

You want me to get to the action? Tough, you'll have to wait awhile - or read what Linith wrote, she LIKES to relive our more exciting moments. I like to take things in their own time.

Start from the beginning? Okay, I'll start from the very beginning.

For Humanity, the 17th of November, 1983 was an insignificant date. As far as I know, nothing of historical significance occurred, was created, commemorated or otherwise recorded on my birthday.

Why am I telling you about insignificant things? Well, I’m starting at the beginning. The next few years aren’t significant either – just a boring, happy childhood.

Linith would be/is/was (keeping my tenses correct is going to be hell) my best friend. We first met seriously when I 'saved her' - at least that’s how she describes it - from some bullies back in school.

To hear her tell it, I infiltrated enemy territory, single-handedly fought, and defeated two giants, stole a precious artefact, and returned, preserving the virtue of my fair lady.

In reality all I did was make sure some guys gave her back the book she’d been reading. I think it was how I did so without resorting to violence that impressed her. Then again her version isn’t all fantasy; she’s always been my fair lady.

I say it was the first time we met seriously because it wasn't the first time we’d met. Our parents were old friends and, being such, they naturally wanted us to grow up to be old friends as well.

Their efforts hadn’t had much success. To be frank, in the early days neither of us had much time for each other. I suppose it’s ironic that a single confrontation could bring us closer together than a hundred dinners, play dates and day trips.

Though to be fair, we were both in pre-school at the time.

***

After that, my childhood continued on a normal course. There were some unusual occurrences: for example, on my sixth and seventh birthdays I received presents that my parents couldn't remember buying, but that was about it.

…Actually that's not entirely true, not many ten-year-olds save someone's life.

On one of England's (very) few sunny days, Linith and I were at the beach. My parents had volunteered to take us out, and to increase our enjoyment of the day, they’d gone to get us ice-cream (yes it really did take two of them, you haven’t seen the size of the cones), leaving us to play sand castles.

Back then, Linith was the embodiment of a tomboy. At ten she didn't do anything feminine, she even went so far as to complain to the head master when, at the inauguration of that term; she found she could no longer play football with the boys.

In my opinion it wasn't just the law that made him turn her down. I think he forbade her from playing because he knew she was not only better, stronger and faster than any male on the pitch; she enjoyed proving that superiority. But then I'm biased.

On with the story. After half an hour of frantic digging, building and strengthening, Linith was content that hers was undeniably the larger sandcastle. We’d been neck and neck for a while and there’d been some contention over whether a flag counted as part of a rampart's height or if it was just decoration, but she soon settled the debate by furiously adding to the wall until her ‘castle’ could, in a good light, have been mistaken for Sauron’s fortress.

Then I heard the scream.

Actually it was more of a gurgle and Linith was so busy with her construction efforts that she only realised that something was going on when I started sprinting down the beach.

Sometimes I envy females. While we might not have problems such as finding something to wear at formal functions, and of course, that time of the month, women generally think more about their actions before charging off; men don't.

I hit the water face first and at a run. Linith was still on the beach.

I didn't even know the direction of the person in danger, just that they were out in the water and needed help. Our section of beach was far from deserted, but we were a long way from the major concentrations so no other help was likely (Later I'd use that in defence of my impulsiveness, but I only realised it after I’d returned to the sand.) I guess I just wanted to help.

I was thirty metres into the sea and almost upon her before I worked out exactly why the girl was in danger; the coast where she’d been playing ended sharply. The water beneath us went from one to ten metres in the space of a few steps.

Then I began to realise that she wasn’t the only one in trouble, I wasn't that strong a swimmer and the girl - she couldn't have been more than six - was flailing at me. Still, I’d completed my water survival training (both classes of it) and tried to act out as much as I could remember.

After much thrashing and splashing, I eventually managed to grab hold of the girl and make my way back in the direction of the beach, but by then it was clear that we weren't going to make it. Not so much because of my less than stellar swimming abilities, but because the girl had stopped struggling. In most rescue situations this’d be a good thing, however it’s not when the person you’re rescuing has stopped struggling because they’re in the process of strangling the life out of you.

The beach was sinking under the waves when a strong arm wrapped itself around my chest and started to drag us both back towards the beach. Given that I’d been in danger of drowning and the girl was still threatening to crush my larynx, I didn't care who my saviour was, I just assumed that my dad had come back and seen what we were doing.

Washing up on the sand, I barely had the strength to continue breathing, let alone raise my head, so I just lay there spluttering while the girl was lifted off of my shoulders.

“That was stupid, Faré.” Linith rolled me over.

“Yeah,” I whispered, then realised what must have happened with a start. Spitting sand I exclaimed, “That was you!”

“Who'd you expect?” she asked, “Give me some warning next time.”

“But how did you do that?” I looked back at the sea and how far I thought I'd swum. It felt like kilometres. “I mean….”

“Say a word about me just being a girl and you'll regret it.” She put her hands on her hips and looked down at me. “I’m not kidding.”

“No…” I pushed my earlier thought to the very back of my mind, “It's just that it's so far, how’d you do that?”

“Who's won the award for life saving the past three years?”

“You came in fourth.”

Linith just shrugged. “If I had done better it might have looked suspicious.” The girl pulling on her arm distracted her.

“Excuse me. Thanks for what you did but,” she looked around worriedly, “do you know where my mummy is? I was swimming and I went too far and she’s going to be very worried and….”

Like most children under seven, the girl had a remarkable set of lungs that even swallowing half the Channel couldn’t spoil. However at that moment neither Linith nor I cared. “You'll be fine.” Linith answered briskly and turned the girl in the direction of a somewhat overweight woman in a striped bathing suit who was running towards us across the beach, “Your mum’s over there.”

“Mum!” The girl screamed, “You'll never guess what happened….”

After that, the genie was out and explanations had to be given, first to the girl’s mother, and then to my parents once they turned up, ice-cream in hand. To my great surprise I was given credit for the rescue. Linith wouldn’t even have got a mention if I hadn’t spoken up for her. Even when I did she downplayed her own involvement and pretended that I’d done all of the work. According to her version of events, she hadn't actually helped until I was running up the beach.

Long story short, the adults believed her interpretation of events and assumed mine had been distorted by my excitement. Looking back at it, I guess I can’t blame them, after all I was male and appeared to carry more muscle than she did. Who could have believed that someone as slim as Linith could swim two people back to shore and carry them up the beach?

Later, when we had come home and were alone in my room I asked her what she’d been thinking.

“Why didn't you say? You did all the work.”

“No I didn't,” She laughed, almost nervously waving her hand to dismiss the notion, “You rescued that girl. Don't you remember? You were running up the beach and I pulled her off your back.”

“Linith, she was choking me, I couldn’t even walk up the beach let alone run. I was out in the water when you grabbed me.”

“How could I have done that?” She giggled. “I could never do that, I'm just a girl.”

“But you…” My perception of the world, given a knock by the assurances of my parents and now a fully fledged knock out punch by my friend, was beginning to twist alarmingly and I grasped onto the first thing that entered my mind. “…you said about your lifesaving badge?”

“Sure,” Linith nodded. “CPR. That girl was half dead when I reached you. You saved her.” She fixed me with this strange look. I might have called it desperation if I could have brought myself to believe Linith could be desperate about anything. It was almost as if she not only wanted me to accept what she’d said, but actually needed me to believe it as well.

I looked my friend over. As a five year old I’d been the taller by a few centimetres, but an early puberty had stepped in and put an end to that. In a matter of months she’d shot up to tower over me. Being a girl, she’d matured faster and while I was left in the geeky, cumbersome stage where nothing fitted right and every step was a perilous balancing act, Linith's body was already well on the road to womanhood. Though she’d retained a little of her baby fat, it remained in places where it turned what should have been an unnaturally lanky frame into a perfectly proportioned one.

Linith was, without a doubt, the most beautiful girl in school. Even the upper sixth didn’t have anyone that could match her for sheer good looks.

Something else no one in the upper sixth could match her at was muscle.

That might be an exaggeration, of course, while no one would have thought a ten year old could outmatch a mature teenager, Linith just had an aura that suggested it wouldn’t be much of a contest.

She wasn’t a body builder by any extent; her arms weren’t laden down with the pits and valleys of overdeveloped deltoids, but they did look strong and they’d helped her gain a reputation as the schools’ star athlete.

There wasn’t a sport played in which Linith wasn’t an expert at by the time she kitted up. At hockey, tennis, baseball, rugby, rounders or badminton, there was no one more aggressive or skilled, in football schoolyard myth dictated she’d been promoted from defence to attack when she put the ball between the posts from the goal line. Her goal line.

The one thing she didn’t do, much to the coach’s chagrin, was gymnastics. Rumours persisted quite late into Linith’s life about that woman would have been willing to do to get her on the team.

I weighed all this up very quickly and made a few deductions, the most significant of which was that I didn’t want to get on Linith’s bad side. After all, the entire school treated her as if she could break arm bones without a thought.

“…Yes Linith,” I compromised, “Whatever you say… it must have been the excitement.”

She beamed at me, “Good, that's how it's meant to be.” There was an odd sense of finality about her sentence, but I shook it off and we went to go and play outdoors.

In the coming days, as more and more people clapped me on the back and offered their congratulations I tried really hard to take Linith’s account as fact, but it was a lie and I knew it. If Linith hadn't been there to save me, I would have drowned. What reason could she have had for not wanting to say that?

***

The next six months evened our statuses somewhat, at least with regard to our physical maturity. While I was never again as tall as my friend, the gap wasn't really noticeable unless we were standing right next to each other.

Linith still played sports with passion and after some cajoling, she eventually managed to get me into some extra-curricular field hockey (one of the few ball games I could play without tripping over my own feet). It was fun… even if that fun was tempered with a bit of humility whenever Linith stepped onto the field. My friend was good, better than good, in fact, best. Even professional players would have been stretched (or so I believed) playing against her, and it wasn’t just additional training - which she had in spades - I swear that at times she could fly down that pitch.

She was just as good at team play. She never showed anyone up, even though it would have been easy to do so. Instead she preferred to hand off the responsibility if someone else was in a better position to shoot, had a wide open field, or – as frequently happened - didn’t have half the opposing team barrelling down the pitch towards them in some futile attempt at defence.

No one ever took the ball off of Linith, or kept it during tackles

***

But then things changed. When she turned eleven Linith turned away from sports and started to concentrate on more… ‘academic’ subjects. And no, while I'm sure that she learned a lot from exploration, nothing she did caused anyone any real concern. After all, all the girls were beginning to realise that boys had some purpose other than to be a source of ridicule and obnoxious chants, she just realised this earlier than most. Because she could pass for fourteen in good light, the more mature boys paid court to her. Instead of running away or giggling, she took the attention as her due, and even flirted back a little. The boys inevitably had a shock when they found out her real age.

***

Then there was the time that she decided to take over the world.

It wasn't serious, more a theoretical concept than an actual plot. Still, she put a lot of thought into something that only came up in casual conversation.

We were playing Monopoly and I was winning for once (it often seemed as if Linith could throw any number she wanted) when she raised her head to ask.

“Faré, what would you do if you had Velorian powers?”

“Depends,” I answered, trying to avoid her sparkling blue eyes, “What's a Velorian?”

“You know, one of those aliens who’re always flying about America.”

“You actually believe that she's real?” I asked. “It's a hoax.”

“Been going on a long time,” she moved the Boot (she was always the Boot) onto Leicester Square.

“Sometime pranks get a life of their own. I'll buy that.” I gestured to the property she’d landed on.

“Wait a moment, I haven't decided if I want it.” She looked thoughtfully at her substantial pile of cards, and then her even more substantial pile of money, before offering up the required sum.

Reluctantly accepting the money and handing over the title deed, I watched Linith shuffle it into her collection before she continued. “Anyway, it's just theoretical. If they were real, I mean?”

“And if I were one.”

“Yes. What would you do with that much power?”

“Don't know,” I grunted as I landed on the Super Tax. “Stop wars or end hunger I guess.”

She laughed, it was a beautiful, sensual - at least to my inexperienced, pre-adolescent ears - sound. “I think that you're overestimating what they can do.”

“Really? That uhh 'SuperFemme' is supposed to be able to walk through a nuclear explosion without a scratch.”

“I would hardly say she 'walked' through it. But yes, she can survive that… I think.” She added quickly.

“Well I don't know!” I exasperated. “You seem to know so much. What would you do?”

“Like you said,” She hopped her boot another two spaces onto the Gasworks, “Stop war.”

“I own that. Sixteen pounds please.” I stuck out my hand and she graciously tendered the rent. “And how would you go about it?”

“Simple. I'd take over the world.”

“Why?”

“Because I could.”

“I think some people might have something to say about that.”

“So what?” she asked, “Like you said, if I was SuperFemme I could walk through a nuclear explosion. Who could fight me?”

“I was talking about a single weapon, what if they all fired on you at once?”

“I could avoid them.” She answered confidently, “They're only missiles, fairly slow by Velorian standards.”

“If you say so.” I sighed, “What would you do when you got rid of the armies then?”

“Make a list of all the boys in the world and make the handsomest go out with me.”

She was just teasing me but I responded nevertheless. “You're weird, you know that?”

“Just you wait; sooner or later you'll find a girl you like and then you'll understand.”

“I already know a girl I like.”

“Who?” Linith looked up in genuine interest.

“You, silly,” I chuckled, “Now are you ready to get back to the game or not?”

More than a little peeved at my reply, Linith shook her head. “You don't believe I could do it, do you?”

“What, take over the world? Of course you couldn't.”

“I mean if I were a Velorian.”

“Someone would stop you, the human spirit is a powerful thing.”

“Very powerful,” She agreed but there was a sharpness in her tone, “But don’t you think that it might be worth it, if someone could really do it, I mean? Have you looked at the news lately? North Korea is building nuclear bombs, Russia is selling theirs. France just admitted that it has five hundred warheads and that they just completed their first nuclear warship.”

“So they’re all radioactive. What's your point?”

“Radioactive!” She threw up her hands and nearly shouted, “The world is a mess! Russia wants to invade Chechnya, probably with chemical weapons, and there are wars all over the Middle East and Africa. With all of this destruction, maybe we need something to take our minds off of it!”

“A common enemy?” I asked, skipping my piece along a couple of places.

“A universal ruler.”

“You?”

“I can think of worse examples.”

“You're taking this a bit seriously. We said that this is just pretend after all.”

“There is nothing funny about war.”

I looked at her oddly, “Well not everything is doom and gloom. I heard yesterday that they're downsizing the army by fifty thousand.”

“Which makes us easier to invade.”

“Invade. England,” I almost laughed. “Why would anyone do that?”

“That's not the point.” She answered moodily.

“Okay, what about Northern Ireland? The peace talks are going so well that they're thinking of reducing the military presence and, since you mention it, with the end of the Bosnian War, the Middle East is more peaceful than ever.”

It wasn't a very effective argument, but it seemed to work as she turned back to the board, moodily dropped the dice and flicked her piece along another seven places. I tried not to notice that she did so without needing to check what denominations came up on the dice.

Admittedly it wasn't the greatest plan for global domination (or world peace, take your pick). But the gravity with which she uttered those thoughts was almost frightening. Still it was only a game: I mean, what were the chances that my friend was going to become a cartoon super-villain? It was just an elaborate put on.

***

Up until the 13th April 1995 life was just existence. Playing, schooling, that sort of thing. Nothing truly important

Then came my first big holiday out of England.

Oh, I'd been out of England before, but only briefly to places like Normandy and Wales, they didn't count. This time I was travelling to Crete with my mother, father and younger sister.

We were midway through our journey.

In the dark sky the two black shapes were almost imperceptible. Designed to be invisible to systems far more advanced than the radar of a civilian aircraft, their only visible trace was a slight flicker of starlight reflecting off their polished shells.

They struck and ripped our plane apart.

The first missile hit the starboard wing, severing it and part of the fuselage from the frame. The second weapon struck a half second later, tearing the tail and most of the aft compartment away from the aircraft's body.

***

An explosion, followed almost instantly latter by the horrible sound of metal being ripped apart shook me awake in time to see the entire right hand wall of the cabin disappear in a mass of flame.

I didn't have time to dwell on this thought as the floor pitched roughly and thrust upwards and to the right. The force of the explosion had been enough to twist the airframe against its centre of gravity.

The cabin pressure dropped to almost nothing. Alarms sounded and oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling only to be whipped by the roaring winds into the night. The air was sucked out of my lungs and I grabbed onto my sister as the second explosion tilted us violently towards the inky sea below.

There was a scream from the passengers aft of us as their compartment was ripped into metallic fragments and scattered over the Mediterranean. For some reason I didn't do likewise, I remember thinking that there didn’t seem to be any point in screaming because in a few seconds we were going to die.

Wanting to have a last look at my family, I glanced across at them. I still wish I hadn't. When the wing had exploded, it had lanced the cabin with shards of metal the length of my arm. One of them had caught my mother through the back of her seat, another had hit my father. Worse than seeing my mother still and unresponsive, was the sight of my father staring down at the piece of crimson metal protruding from his chest.

Metal tore with a scream next to my head and I wondered what new torment was being forced upon us. Looking to my left, I was shocked to find that the bulkhead beside us wasn't there any more. In its place was a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in a blue and red uniform, a yellow, vaguely S shaped rune was on her chest.

The woman glanced about the aircraft before fixing her eyes on us. I can't imagine the carnage that she must have seen, in some respects I was lucky that the seats prevented a good view of what was going on. Making a decision, she bent down and pulled us out of our seats before diving backwards out of the plummeting aircraft.

My sister was unconscious and I was heading that way - why I wasn't already I don't know, but I tried to gasp a warning and tell her that my father was still alive. Whether she heard me or not was academic, we’d barely cleared the frame when the entire aircraft broke apart.

I though I heard a scream and looked up. The pained look in the woman's eyes as she saw a hundred and seventy one lives end was almost as painful as seeing my parents die. But I didn't understand, this was supposed to have been a holiday. A time of fun, and in the space of a few seconds, I’d had everything that meant something to me taken away and bloodily slaughtered before my eyes.

I was actually watching my parents falling into the Mediterranean Sea! I wouldn't accept it, there had to be a mistake, I began screaming and clawing at the woman, trying to convince her that my family had to have survived. She didn't even seem to feel my protests and then, with a final mind numbing certainty, my oxygen-starved brain shut down.

***

I awoke hours later on the beach of a small island. My sister and I were alone, the flying woman was nowhere to be seen.

Reviewing my last few moments of consciousness, I felt my chest filling with a numb emptiness as if a Novocain bomb had burst between my ribs. Later on a psychologist would tell me it was shock protecting me from the reality of the situation, but I didn’t know that at the time and wouldn’t have cared if I had. Thoughts of my family brought back the memory of an exchange between my father and myself. Just before we’d left the house he’d taken me aside and pressed some paper into my hand. He had said that if anything ever happened to them, the white slip would take care of it.

I checked my pocket, it was still there.

In neatly written scrawl, fourteen digits stared up at me. A phone number? If so, the longest I’d ever seen.

Such thoughts were not for now, I carefully folded the paper and replaced it in my pocket. Aggel was sleeping peacefully, there was no blood and if I was lucky, she had been spared witnessing the violence of our parent's demise.

I began to examine the island upon which we’d been marooned. It didn't take long. Two minutes walking could take me from one end to the other; it was barely more than a sand bank with the mainland a few kilometres south of us. There were a string of other islands so if we had to, we could swim to safety.

Other than that, the sky was clear and the beach warm. Right now the only danger my sister and I faced was if the local crab population objected to visitors.

It occurred to me that I wasn't acting normally, I should be panicking or crying. But instead I was carefully evaluating our options and objectively watching for danger. Apparently it was another stage of shock.

An incredibly loud boom snapped my head upwards. I couldn’t find their source, but an instant latter I didn’t need to. The… what did Linith call them? 'Velorian' was standing before me, scraps of metal intertwined with her fingers, I didn't need to guess where they’d come from.

The fragments dropped to the sand as her legs gave out under her.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I…couldn't save them…” she whimpered, “…I couldn't save them….”

“Save who?”

She looked at me as if noticing my presence for the first time. And then I noticed the tears that were streaming down her face. “The people on the plane… they're all gone… they killed them.”

I had no answer.

“I am so sorry.” She got to one knee and faced me, “They… those people, they were your parents weren't they?”

“Yes.” I mumbled, “…Did you manage to save anyone else?”

“Just you.” She apologised, “And your sister. I am so sorry.”

“Don't be.” I answered. “The people who have died have gone, nothing you can do will change that. It's the living who deserve your tears, not the dead.”

Her bright blue eyes blinked and she looked at me in surprise before deepening her gaze. For an instant I could have sworn I saw her eyes glow a more intense cerulean, then she smiled slightly. “That's a remarkably mature attitude.”

“Thank you.”

“Keep that view,” she ordered. “Maturity is something most adults lack.”

“Including yourself?” I tried to smile.

This time her tear stained grin was true. “Sometimes…” she looked over the horizon, “I have to take you to the mainland… find someone who can look after you.”

I nodded in agreement, then remembered my fathers words, “Before we go. My dad, he gave me something before we left, he said that should anything happen… it would help.”

“Yes?” She looked at me expectantly.

“Could you tell me what it is?” I showed her the crumpled slip.

“A Swedish telephone number.” She announced, “Do you have family over there?”

“No.” I looked back at where my sister was sleeping, “Actually… we're all that's left. I don’t know of anyone else.”

“No grandparents? Cousins?”

“None, Dad is… was, an only child and my mum's brother died last year.”

“I'll help you,” she swore, “whatever it takes, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

***

As strong as she was, SuperFemme couldn’t carry the both of us without risking broken ribs, and since I wasn’t strong enough to hold onto her neck, we had to take two trips. I went first as I was old enough to safely stand in a back alley for a few minutes while the Velorian went back and collected my sister.

All together again, we walked out onto the Grecian streets on the lookout for a payphone. Once we’d found one that was out of sight of the main thoroughfare, SuperFemme gave me the money and held Aggel while I made the call

Logically, I assumed, any response should be in the form of a rebuke at the indignity of answering to a child. Yet to my surprise, while the phone was answered on the first ring and the voice was hard, there was not the slightest sign of irritation at my being an adolescent.

Unfortunately this was because my age was irrelevant.

“Yes?”

How do you answer a question/statement like that? An answer was clearly expected, the voice had a tone that made me suspect it wouldn't take dead air for very long, I could practically hear the system tracing the call.

“I'm sorry to bother you, but I have this piece of paper that my father gave to me… he was on this flight, then…”

“You're Faré?” as if a switch had been flipped, the voice changed, modulating to a gentler waveform. “Then something has happened?”

“He's dead… my mother is dead… He gave me this slip of paper?” I glanced at the Protector, some nervousness had crept into my tone as what happened on the plane began to sink in. The Velorian merely smiled, prepared to wait as long as necessary.

The voice paused as if listening to another's command. “Don't move from where you are. I'll send a car for you.” The line went dead.

I went over to the Protector and tried to explain. She smiled reassuringly and said it was unnecessary, she’d heard every word and would wait until the car arrived.

It didn’t take long for a sleek black limousine to glide up alongside us. The driver wound down his window and told us to get into the back. He didn't even acknowledge SuperFemmes’ presence until she refused to let us open the door without an explanation.

When she made an issue of it, the driver explained he’d been instructed to take two children matching our description to a house a couple hours away. He gave her the address and said that she could follow if she wished.

After that, there was no further conversation. The driver was almost mechanical in the execution of his orders. Dressed in a simple black tuxedo and dark glasses, he had no distinguishing features whatsoever, almost to the point where he could have been pressed out of a mould. He didn't look around as I lifted my sister into the back seat. The door closed automatically and we were off.

***

I won't bore you with the details of the journey. Mainly because I slept through most of it. When I awoke, we were just pulling into the wide gravel driveway of a large estate. The Velorian was no longer overhead. I looked for her but the sky was clear.

Looking at the immaculately kept lawns and giant mansion, I guessed that whoever owned this land had a lot of money. Getting out of the car, I stretched the cricks out of my legs and was about to reach for my sister when the door shut with a click and the engine started up again. Too shocked to react, I couldn’t do anything but watch as the sole surviving member of my family was driven away, leaving me alone in what was suddenly a very large world.

There was nothing else to do but walk up the driveway. It led to an imposing Victorian-styled house. Had I been older, I might have wondered what such a building was doing in Greece. Or why storm clouds were now covering a sky that’d been cerulean blue, and vacuum empty when I entered the car.

I didn't see any of that, but I wasn't totally ignorant. I did know something was strange. The air didn't feel right, it was cold and clammy. Not at all like a hot country should be, in fact, it felt just like England. But I was young, I didn't know any better.

Dreading the response, I reached the door and beat the cast iron knocker against solid oak. The timber hadn't stopped resonating before a young woman prised the door open.

Dressed in a similar, if slightly more revealing tuxedo than the driver, she acted with the same mechanical precision and had the same mould perfect features as the person who’d driven me here. Two grey, eagle sharp eyes studied me for a moment before admitting me into the huge entrance hall.

As she led me along the darkened corridor, I couldn’t help but notice how she kept her movements lithe and moved in such a way that she kept her hands free. After a minute of watching her back I realised this might be related to the fact that her jacket hid a lot of space. Space in which, say a pistol, could be concealed without fear of unsightly bulges.

She maintained a fast walk for almost ten minutes. Not once did she look behind her, she simply assumed I was following. When we stopped, there was just one ornate desk and a chair in the middle of an otherwise dark and empty room, I was taken to it and left. After a minute another woman entered, dressed like a solicitor this one was more mature with a streak of grey in her shortly cropped platinum hair, yet she had the same quick intelligence in her eyes.

The woman sat down but made no indication for me to do the same. I got the feeling this wouldn’t have been the case even if there had been chairs to go around.

“Faré.” She announced from behind interlaced fingers. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”

“No.” I shook my head

“I am the person in charge of your father's finances.”

“How?” Images of my mum bent over receipts and ledgers flooded my mind, “We're poor?”

“That is the illusion that your father wished to maintain. Tell me, do you know what embezzling is?”

“It's when you steal money from a company.”

“Close. Your father has, for the past few years been embezzling money from the Navy, he was hoping to create a trust for you. However with his death our plans have changed.”

“'Our?'”

“I share some personal involvement. Rest assured, I wish the best for you.”

“What about my sister?”

“She is being cared for, though…” She mulled over the phrasing, “As I said, things have changed.”

“How?”

“Without his presence, the military will quickly become aware of what he has been doing and, thought there is no possibility that they could trace the money back to us, it is sufficed to say that the supply of money will end.”

“What about my sister?”

“She will be taken care of.”

“But…”

“Your father has taken measures to ensure your safety. Those measures, his death having occurred prematurely, do not allow for you to be together.”

“You're splitting us up?” My voice rose with my indignation.

The woman answered without a hint of remorse. “Yes.”

“You can't!”

“I can and I have.” She shook her head. “I am sorry, but it is for the best.”

“Will I see her again?”

The woman paused, “Perhaps. I do not know, if circumstances allow, you will.”

“What happens to her in the meantime?”

“She will be provided for. People I personally trust will ensure her safety and education.”

I didn’t question her statement, her ‘people’ would be the most loyal and devoted keepers a person could hope for. This woman exuded sound judgement.

“And me?” I asked, a slight quaver entering my voice.

“Things will be different. You are… how old? twelve?”

“Yes.”

She nodded as if this resolved some internal argument. “That is old enough.”

“For what?”

“To leave the nest.”

“No!” I declared, “You can't throw me out?”

“I am not. As I said, you will be provided for. You will own an apartment which no one will trouble you over, you will receive an allowance and you will receive food.”

“What about school?”

“After a few months you will return to your school and you will make no mention of what has happened, or anything regarding this fund, or myself.”

“What happens if I do?”

“All funding ceases for both yourself and your sister.” She fixed me with a deadly serious gaze, “Do not tempt providence, you will be watched closely.”

“You’re…” I swallowed, “threatening me?”

“I apologise, but it…”

“…Is for the best.” I finished, the same hardness that’d allowed me to survive the days’ events suddenly crashing down. “I heard the first time. When do I go?”

“Now. We will not meet again.”

I couldn't say thank you. This person had just ripped apart what small fragment remained of my family and done it with all the emotion of a rock. I nodded, turned on my heels and marched out of the room.

Linith

How do I start…? I guess the beginning would be as good as the end. And that way it’s more of a surprise.

First of all, I should introduce myself. I am Linith (Jane) Katherine. The first Terran Supremis.

I suppose describing myself would be redundant. If you’ve seen one Velorian you’ve seen them all, I’m tall, blonde, strong, quick… you get the idea. I’m just more so than most.

How much more, I’m not entirely sure. I can beat Kara Zor’El (that’s Earth’s Protector) without working up a sweat so that should give you some idea of my physical abilities.

My parents were the two kindest people you could hope to meet. Who else would take in an Alien infant and raise it as their own despite knowing that said infant would eventually become so powerful as to be able to defeat every army on Earth with ease?

Perhaps that’s why they did it, they didn’t want such a powerful weapons falling into the wrong hands. God knows what would have happened should someone else have found me?

But I digress.

The very begging was hot.

My earliest recollections are of extreme heat and acceleration. Then the worlds biggest thump.

After that there were voices and the faint perception of movement above me.

I don’t remember what happened after that. My parents filled me in years later.

*

I’ve never had the luxury of not knowing what I was. I was more fortunate than most Velorians who are born off world – it happens more than you’d think – as all of their abilities manifest almost immediately after birth. Me, I had to learn them as I grew up, which, as frustrating as it was, helped me to avoid many of the accidents that comes from being a few thousand times stronger than everyone else. (It wasn’t until my own children were born that I truly realised the heroic efforts my parents went through in raising a super-powered five years old)

‘Hide,’ ‘Enshroud,’ ‘Conceal.’ These are words that I lived by during the first fourteen years of my existence. Not once in that period did I reveal myself to anyone, not even my closest friends.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My first (and best) friend is a boy named Faré Barnes. ‘Faré’ is a corruption of ‘Fari,’ which is Latin for ‘Speak’ or, taken in context, ‘Fate.’ It would be a long time before I got the joke.

Our inaugural meeting wasn’t that great. We’d known of each other almost since we were born because our parents were friends. Somehow they got into their heads that their children should be the same. They tried to bring us together at every opportunity, but it wasn’t until after our first month in school that we said more than two words to each other.

It’s amazing how personality traits can materialise even at young ages, and how even Velorians can be taken down by Terrans if the right strings are pulled.

In this case, the strings were my nerves and the Terrans were Tommy and Tony. T & T, I used to call them; two bullies, one brain. Unfortunately, it was a very good brain. At least for their age.

Tony was the one with the brain, he was the one who made sure that they looked like little angels in the eyes of the teachers and never got into trouble, Tommy Tooshoes (his real name incidental) was the one with the muscle. Of course, even combined, they were no match for a Velorian. But I couldn’t just show them what I was, could I?

Their favourite nickname for me was ‘Baby blue.’ In other circumstances, it could be flattering, but here it just reflected the ultra-clear, almost infant-like nature of my eyes.

I had made the rather stupid mistake of isolating myself in a small corner of the main library when no one else was around.

*

“What y’ doing Blue?”

That was Tommy.

“Reading.” I answered, hoping that they’d just go away.

“I don’t see any cartoons,” Tony asked, “have you finally got onto real books?”

Okay, so reading didn’t come easily to me. They didn’t need to rub in it. “Please,” I asked, “go away.”

In answer Tommy took the book from my hands, “B-rareruh Rahbit.” he read aloud.

“That’s Brer Rabbit!” I made a grab for it and missed, “you don’t like it. Give it back!”

“Why should I?” He asked, “I might like to look at the pretty pictures too.”

“But there aren’t any in there.” I told him.

“Well, lets make some then.” Tony said calmly. “I have some crayons….”

“No!” I begged, “please, I like that book. Destroy one of the others if you must. But not that one.”

Needless to say, they didn’t listen to me.

“Why don’t you do as the lady asked.” A new voice broke in.

We all looked around. The bullies because they wanted to see this new threat. Me, because I’d never been called a lady before.

Faré stood there. He was tall for his age, the tallest person in class by at least three centimetres – taller even than I was. But it wasn’t his height that was important, it was the fact that he stood up to T & T. No one did that.

The two bullies looked at each other while Tony’s brain tried to process this new information.

Of course, there had never been any violence. Young children are notorious for letting on when they’re hurt. So you could never actually accuse T & T of assault. But there were rumours, and with an overactive imagination, that’s enough. The mere threat Tommy’s fist was enough.

Now however, someone was standing up to them, they didn’t know how to act.

“Or I could tell the librarian that you’re damaging school property.” Faré continued.

Fazed, they just stood there. Even if they just dropped the book and walked away they’d loose face, but if they stayed here they were holding the proverbial ‘smoking gun’ and their previously immaculate reputations would be ruined. For a few moments it looked like they might stay and make an issue of it, then I stood beside Faré and added my above normal height to his. Between us, we had a good ten centimetres on T & T.

Like all bullies, the two boys folded when faced with a superior foe. They decided that discretion was the better part of valour and dropped the book before making a strategic withdrawal.

Retrieving the volume from the floor, Faré handed it to me. “Here, I think that you were reading this.”

“Thank you.” I looked at the floor in the way children do when they don’t know what to say, “I though that they were going to damage it… the school only has this one, and it’s my favourite.”

“I like it too.” He smiled and after a few seconds of silence, he shrugged, “…well. See you sometime.”

“Sure, mom and dad are always round your house anyway.”

*

We didn’t become friends immediately after that. Very few things happen that quickly, but it was the first step towards what would eventually become a very satisfying relationship.

T & T didn’t bother us again, in fact they actually began to change their ways – especially after I ‘accidentally’ showed Tommy a small fraction of my strength. Tony wasn’t quite as nice but at least he kept his distance, without Tommy’s brawn he was a coward.

Soon our pair became a trio as Donna joined later in the term. I quickly warmed to her though her materialistic sensibilities worried me sometime, in my youth I thought it was something to do with being American. Then a cute African named Delilah Ball joined us and we were a quartet.

As close as we became, I always felt myself more drawn to Faré than the others and that was why I found it so hard to keep my deepest secret from him. Well, you know what it’s like when you know something but can’t tell anyone about it. As a child that’s a million times worse.

But I resisted my impulse and somehow kept my mouth shut.

*

During the next holiday, more of my Supremis heritage became evident. Tachyon vision; brilliant when you want to read another persons mail, skim an entire book without taking it off of the shelf. Or seeing what the inside of the male changing room looks like - although I didn’t think of that last perk until I had matured somewhat.

One of the disadvantages, at least in the formative stages. Is not knowing what’s in front of you. My eyes would chose the most inopportune time to start looking through walls (like when I was approaching a door, or major supporting wall). If you combine that with invulnerability and mega-strength, you have a recipe for disaster.

To my credit though, only once did I reach for something that – after the dust cleared – turned out to be in the next room.

*

That summer, I learned to fly when I took a running leap… and never touched the ground.

That was actually a lot easier to do that Tachyon vision because I didn’t have to think about it. As Ford Prefect said, ‘just aim at the ground and… miss.’ At first, I could only do it while jumping, but after a bit of practice – away from anyone so that they couldn’t see when I fell flat on my face – I could do it from a standing start.

*

It was after this latest manifestation that my parents sat me down and explained a few things.

My father started it off, “Linith… I don’t need to say that you’re different to other children. But your mother and I have been talking and… we feel that you should know some things about yourself.”

Mom continued, “you’re not human.” She saw my horrified expression and tried to pacify me, “you’re better than human. A Supremis.”

“What’s that?”

“They’re a species of humanity that live out in space.” Dad answered, “they’re very strong, very smart and practically indestructible.”

“Are you a Suppressus too?” I asked them.

“No, we’re Terrans like the rest of the people on this planet. We found you many years ago. You came to Earth in a spaceship. Why your people sent a baby, we don’t know.”

“But you know a lot?”

“The ships’ computer told us all of these things.” He continued, “it explained everything about you, about what you would become. And what is coming.”

“What is it?”

“Something.” He shook his head, “there was damage, it couldn’t say what this darkness was. Just that you would be our greatest hope… or our greatest fear.”

“Why?”

“You have great power now,” mum rested her hands on my shoulders, “but you will grow stronger. You’ll be able to lift a thousand tonnes without effort, never get hot or cold, and be invulnerable to everything. If you chose too, you could dominate this world and nothing we have could stand in your way.”

“You mean I could take over.”

Slowly, she nodded. “If your ship is to be believed, yes.”

“Why would I want to?”

The question clearly threw them, after exchanging glances, dad fielded it, “you’re too young to understand at the moment, but this planet isn’t perfect. You see wars on the news and eventually you’ll understand that they’re more than just pictures, you may even want to stop them. If that happens, the question you will have to ask yourself is, ‘should I?’”

I thought about this revelation. I had never considered being like Superman and helping people. Sure I knew I had powers and stuff, but, stopping whole wars. I’d never thought about it.

“But you taught me always to do what’s right. Wars kill people… shouldn’t I stop that?”

“No, people kill people.” Jane answered, “war is just a name.”

“It’s small steps you see.” Dad went on, “how would you stop a war? Destroy all the guns?”

“Maybe?”

“That wouldn’t stop them, they’d just use knives or sticks. The suffering would continue. Maybe you think to yourself that if you get rid of the leaders, the soldiers will stop. But what if it doesn’t, there will still be Generals and they can keep on fighting even without someone to tell them what to do.

“You can get rid of them too, but then what are you going to do. Put them in jail, just because they were trying to save their country?

“So perhaps you try to stop this at the source, you make yourself leader. You know that you would never do anything wrong so it’s okay.” He gave me a thin smile, “so you’re up there. Empress of the world giving out all of these proclamations, telling people to behave. But this world isn’t perfect. People will always fight, and even if you tell them to stop, they won’t. You can use your powers to enforce what you say, but who’s to say that you’re right and someone else isn’t?”

Jane held my hand, “you won’t have been elected and you won’t have been chosen. You’ll just be there because you think that you’ll be better than the last guy.”

“And what happens when you make a mistake?” John asked, “because you will make them, no one, no matter how good their intentions are, not even our little angel, can go without doing something wrong, it’s part of life. Then what happens if you do something and it causes someone to die. Is that right?”

“Well if they killed someone…” I hesitated.

He smiled and shook his head, “unfortunately not all criminals carry bags marked ‘Swag.’ What if it was an accident, how will you know. Perhaps it was a fight and they had no choice.

“There are a million and one ways in which an innocent person can do something wrong. And if you slip up even once, someone could die.”

“I see father.” I looked at the floor, “but I wouldn’t!”

“You say that now.” He laughed, “give yourself a few years. See how the world works, then make your decisions. You’re still a child, enjoy it while you can.”

“I will.” I promised, more to him than myself. He had given me a lot to think about.

*

‘See how the world works.’ My father’s words to an innocent five year old.

I saw how it worked alright. When I was twelve, Faré’s parents and eight-year-old sister were killed in a plane crash. Leaving him alone in the world.

And I knew that he was all alone, there might have been some faceless simpletons who went to teacher nights and said they were his guardians. But it’s hard to hide things from a girl who can see through walls. At twelve, my friend had move out of the home he’d lived in his entire life and go to a tiny flat in a large town twenty kilometres away.

I think that my parents knew as well, they kid of hinted at it in conversation but never openly discussed it.

Worse than that, his ‘foster parents’ wanted to sever all ties. More than just moving him out, they threw away most of his stuff. About the only thing, that they did keep the same was his school. It should have meant that I could still speak to him, but something was missing. His eyes were cold, almost lifeless.

He was quiet now, sitting in a corner of the classroom diligently doing the assigned task and answering questions. Which is what he was supposed to do, but he didn’t make jokes or play games. He’d been pretty good at hockey before the crash and now he’d given it up entirely, seemingly content to drift around the school hallways until the bell sounded the end of break. He possessed none of the life that he’d had previously, almost as if he’d been killed along with his parents and his body just hadn’t got the message yet.

He didn’t go into the playground any more.

He didn’t use the computers or read books. He was just a ghost that hid from the world.

And he wouldn’t speak to me. That, more than anything else hurt the most.

Mum and dad said that he was grieving. That in a few months he would meet up with himself again.

But they couldn’t see him, they didn’t know him. It wasn’t just grief, he didn’t see death as something to be mourned. Something was happening inside. You could see it in the way he moved, it was mechanical, angry. Different.

I looked at his huddled form and saw no tears running down his face. Underneath it all he was sad, but it was more than that, I just wish that I had known what it was so that I could have helped him.

*

He didn’t get better though. Even six months after the accident there was no change, both Donna and Delilah had drifted away from him and I was beginning to accept that this was how he would be for the rest of his life when he came up to me.

“Linith…” he hesitated. “…I’m sorry….”

To tell the truth, he had caught me off guard. Months of silence, now an apology?

“Sorry?” I asked, “for what?”

He would not meet my eyes as he answered, “I’ve been a lousy friend. You’ve bent over backwards to be nice to me and… I’ve ignored you. I was so wrapped up in my own concerns that I didn’t notice you. I was selfish…”

I actually laughed out loud. “You – are – sorry? I think that it can be excused. You lost your entire family. I could have accepted it if you never spoke to me again in your life.”

“I could have told you.”

“For what? Being human? Grief is normal, you don’t need to apologise for it.” I looked into his heart broken eyes and put my hands on my hips in mock anger, “what do you want me to say? That you’ve been a terrible friend. Well you haven’t, you’ve been a great friend. You have stuck with me through everything before this. That time when I missed a goal and cost us the game, you were the only one who spoke to me after the match. I won’t fault you for feeling an emotion.”

“A real friend would tell you everything.” He answered and for a moment, I thought that he had finally worked it out. “…I wish I could.”

I relaxed somewhat. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t say.” He began heading in the direction of his next class. “…I’ll be around.”

“So will I.” I ran a hand through my hair and wondering what was really going on at his home.

*

Arion: Sub-species, Homo-Sapience Supremis : Velorian.

Highly dangerous.

Little respect for non-Arion lifeforms.

Two sub-categories: Alpha, Beta.

Alpha. Preferred name(s), ‘Prime’ ‘Primal’

Strength approximately equal to one thousand Terrans.

Typical Supremis abilities.

Lethal

Cannot fly

Notes: Almost universally accepted as the most dangerous known lifeform.

Beta. Preferred name(s), NONE.

Aliases: Betan

Strength equal to Four/Five Terrans.

Vulnerable to most weapons, no significant Supremis abilities.

Dangerous

Cannot fly

- Suggested actions: Destroy at all opportunities.

The above passage is nothing that I can remember reading or being told about. Yet during my thirteenth year, it was all that I could think of.

The words would just pop into my head unbidden and stay there until I said them aloud. I even began writing it down without realising it. Once, I finished writing a ten page English essay only to find that I had actually copied out those paragraphs hundreds of times.

The strangest thing? I didn’t even know what an Arion was.

Until I met one at least, then a whole host of information popped into my head. The most prominent of which was.

‘Arion Prime: The most dangerous lifeform in the universe.’

Not the most inspiring of things to hear when you’re going to into battle.

*

In all honesty, I don’t remember what I was doing that day, or what a single, unarmed Prime was doing in Portsmouth. Maybe he just wanted a holiday?

What I do know is that he got the drop on me. (However, no one was around so until now, that’s been my little secret).

The first indication that I was in trouble was when a hand wrapped itself around my neck and lifted me off of the ground.

“Velorian.” A deep voice whispered into my ear, “make a sound and I will break you apart.”

There wasn’t anyone around so I even if I could get the air to cry for help, none would be coming. Not that they would have been able to assist me.

The creature pinned my arms to my sides and dragged me into the bushes where he had been hiding. More information regarding Arion treatment of prisoners, or lack there of, began flooding into my mind. Rape seemed to be a large part of it.

It was not something that I wished to experience, but at the moment, there was little that I could do. The Arion seemed to be much stronger than I was and he had leverage.

Then I remembered, I could fly, I didn’t need my feet on the ground to get the best of him.

The Arion had expected a normal Velorian child and was using the appropriate amount of strength for one. But I, as my mother would attest, was not a normal child.

He had pulled me into the bushes, out of sight of anyone who might come by. For some reason, this was important to me.

I stayed in place while my captor strained against an immovable object.

While he did, he created a small gap between his chest and myself. It allowed me to slip free and face him.

“Care to do that again Arion?” I asked while levitating a half metre off of the ground.

“How?” He demanded, getting back to his feet. “No Velorian your age could do that?”

I shrugged, “I can.”

“It makes no difference,” he answered, “it will make my victory all the more sweet.”

“And it’s going to eat into my shopping time.” I answered, “let’s get this over with.”

He moved almost too fast to see. Almost. The first blow was his, it was straight to my head and really, didn’t hurt? It was more shock than anything else that snapped my head back. Somehow, I had thought that ‘the most dangerous lifeform in the universe’ might pack more of a punch.

He seemed as surprised as I was when I stood up again.

“How!?” his voice carried the barest tint of fear as I shook off his strongest blow.

“Dammed if I know. But if that was your best, I’d give up now.” I floated towards him. In a way, I was enjoying this, finally someone other my parents who I could show off to.

He didn’t give up. But, I didn’t want him too. There was just something that wouldn’t let me let him go.

The next time he struck, it was as fast as before. But now I was ready for him. I ducked under the fist and landed a blow on his jaw that sent him flying. Pursuing his form, the thick bushes snapping around my invulnerable body, I caught up with it before he landed and slammed my fist into his midriff.

Another blow with my elbow snapped his head to the side before I crushed his skull into a rock. Kicking him in the kidneys lifted him from the ground, but did little more than anger him.

The fifth rule of combat, according to Faré, is ‘Once the enemy is down, don’t let him get up again.’ I failed in that. Although he needed a tree to steady himself, he was on his feet again, and running towards me.

I dodged and chopped the back of his neck as he went by, it felled him. But he just got up again. Nothing I could do, whether it was punches, kicks, knees, or whatever, would slow him down for more than a few seconds.

And nothing in my memory would tell me how to kill him either. I knew that now, that his death could be the only way that this battle would end, but that meant little if I couldn’t find a way to do that.

He was on his feet again, circling warily. His feet sinking into the deep mud that we had churned up in our battle. A small trickle of blood was making its way down his face from a cut I had inflicted. But if that was the limit of my damage after all of this time…

He ran and I jumped over his head. He couldn’t fly so as long as I stayed in the sky, I was safe. At least until he jumped and pilled himself into my stomach.

Fighting him off in mid-air, I began to think. He couldn’t fly. That was it, I didn’t need to kill him. There was a better place for his kind.

Sticking my fingers into his unruly black hair, I tightened my grip and broke his hold on my abdomen. Spinning on the spot, I generated enough centrifugal force to keep him away from me, while still maintaining a hold.

He was too confused to understand what was happening too him. By the time he had, we were in orbit.

That was actually scary, I’d never been this high before. Hell, I’d never even gone over an ocean before. And a vacuum is a lot more dangerous than a few hundred thousand kilometres of seawater.

I had instinctively held my breath as we passed the ionosphere, that turned out to be a mistake as the Arion took my hesitation as an opportunity to bring his elbow up into solar-plexus. Driving the air from my lungs in an explosive gasp.

Expelling the air was disorientating, and a Prime never misses an opportunity. The stars hadn’t even stopped floating before my eyes before he had landed a half dozen punches. I tried to respond, but fighting in zero gravity isn’t like fighting on Earth, he very quickly got the better of me.

One of those strikes must have rattled my brain because I had forgotten why I had come up here. Driving my elbow into his side, I felt something – hopefully a rib – give way. Finally, I had hurt him. Right when I didn’t need to.

I was free now. Floating away from him and I couldn’t repress the grin as he fumed silently.

I was almost tempted to leave him there. But if something happened… a meteorite, a passing satellite, he only needed a light shove… The chances were pretty remote but I couldn’t risk it.

A hard kick sent the Prime towards Jupiter. I don’t know what happened to him after that, presumably he died of exposure – even Primes can’t survive more than a week of hard vacuum. There is a chance that he lived long enough to hit one of the moons but it was so unlikely as to be neatly impossible. More probable is that my aim was off and he spent the rest of his short existence exploring the inner solar system.

After that, I started taking Self-defence, Karate, Judo, and a half dozen other classes. If that Prime was an example of what I was up against, I definitely needed training.

One positive of the encounter was that blasted passage stopped echoing through my mind.

*

Heat vision was next. Boy, that was fun. For the first few days, I thought that I would have to welding goggles for the rest of my life but after a while I got the hang of it. Nothing was seriously burned during my experimentation – though we did need to replace the wallpaper in my room.