The Angel of Earth

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Twenty

Melody screamed in mindless fear and rage against the all-consuming dark. There was no texture to it, no substance; it wasn't even black. Just nothing.

Then, a glow appeared. Pure, white light flowed outwards from a lone figure, leaving the reporter sobbing in relief at being real again.

After several moments, she was able to tell that the luminous figure had glowing wings. Melody realized that this was Malak, without the pretense of the mortal guise; there was no material shell, here and now, just the pure being. She remembered the legend of Semele. Melody couldn't look away; she just hoped she could survive seeing this glory.

More light joined the first, from another glowing figure. Then another, and another. Soon there were five sources of light. No! Six! Six glowing figures stood guard against that consuming darkness. Each of those subsequent five had various tints in various amounts in their glow, but for each of the sources their light was strong and mostly white. People who had fallen around Melody began stirring, rising. She, herself, finally found the strength to stand.

"What... happened?" Melody asked, her voice hoarse from screaming, as the glow spread outwards from the individual figures and then pushed beyond the walls and ceiling. She could see, now, they were still in that huge room. Or was that "back"?

"Someone nuked the facility!" said CornFed, outraged. "Then... did something...

"I sensed the attack too late to stop it," said Malak, once again at a bearable brightness of being. "I was barely able to protect the lives within. Then that... nullification followed. Apparently intended to ensure that any survivors were removed."

"So, we're alive," said Mysterious Pete, his own glow also still obvious. "How do we stay that way?"

* * *

Professor Edmund Bright was not happy. The realization by those at the Repository that theirs was not the device causing the changes had forced his hand. Still, his response - necessarily crude due to being rushed - had been successful. The Repository and those in it were gone. Now, he just needed to consolidate. Quickly. Starting radially from his headquarters, as he had so long planned.

Soon the world would be a true tabula rasa, and his real work could begin.

* * *

"Are you all right?" said Malak, having moved close to Melody.

"This..." She swallowed, sighed, and after a moment was able to continue. "This... crisis is far better than the nothing which hit us."

"You were aware?" said Mysterious Pete, surprised and impressed. "Interesting..."

"What... happened?" said Melody, with a pleading gaze at Malak.

"Bright," said Lady Dragon, spitting the name. She was also still glowing. "With his machine."

"He doesn't know we're still here," said Mysterious Pete, nodding. "He'll proceed with his other plans, now. Which gives us a chance to stop him."

"He's already started," said Lady Dragon, looking into the distance. "It's slow, for now, a detailed examination of what is already present before destroying it, but he will soon move more quickly. His machine is learning, and will take up more of the task."

"You must go there at once!" said Mysterious Pete, to Malak. His manner was urgent, almost desperate. "We can hold here, in this place, where he cannot look and doesn't even realize still exists. You are the one individual here who can reach Bright quickly and stop him! Go! Hurry!"

"Why not let him do his work?" said Malak, quietly, looking into that same distance. "Let him wipe the globe clean. Once he's done we and a few other enclaves I'm detecting can displace him and rebuild the world properly."

Melody couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You have to save them!" she shouted, astounded at this from him, of all people.

"Why?"

His question was not cynical nor angry nor even tired, but more like a teacher addressing a student.

"Because they can learn!" said Melody, slowly, nodding as she realized what he wanted. "Because they can learn to be better! We still have a long way to go, but humans have been slowly improving themselves for tens of thousands of years. Something you taught me! So, don't give up on them now!"

"Excellent," said Malak, smiling at her. "Yes. If you will excuse me..."

He didn't even wait for her "Of course."

* * *

The source - the center of the disturbance - was obvious. At least, it was to people with a certain type of perception. Malak decided to simply head straight for it. After one, brief diversion.

Normally, when Malak became desolid the surrounding world was still visible, just faded, ghostly. Now, as he left the protected area of the chemical Repository, he noted that this usual view was obscured with what seemed like static. As if all reality were under scrutiny by something inimical and destructive. Something antithetical to reality itself.

He flew first over his clinic, then over the nearby town. He was relieved to see that both were protected. Like the chemical Repository, they were islands of calm and comparative normalcy. Flying into the bubble around the town was a sudden relief from the burden of resisting what was happening outside. Malak saw that the townsfolk were either already gathered in the town square or rapidly headed there. Joe Blank and a few others were the foci of the protective aura being generated by nearly all the long-time inhabitants and even a few who had only been there for a short time.

Malak became visible, circling briefly over the town center, letting himself be seen by those below. A cheer went up. Their surge of faith was bolstering as well as daunting. They trusted him to find the problem and correct it, even though they could not directly perceive it yet. Malak would do his best to live up to that faith.

In his fortress, wearing the special helmet which provided two-way communication with his creation, Professor Bright sensed the resistance to his changes presented by Haven and a few other places. This was expected. There were many who would blindly object to his improvements simply because they were changes. A very few would even be able to resist. They would be eliminated in their turn, as the changes Bright had programmed reached them.

Of more concern were the few of the empowered who had sensed what was happening, and were heading for Bright's fortress in the Ozarks. That, too, had been anticipated. Even though they could not have known of the location ahead of time, there was no way to hide it, now. The protections he had already established would take care of them. If not, Bright was prepared to step in and handle them, through Indigo. That would mean diverting his attention from actually supervising the changes, but such events would only slightly prolong his project. Soon the world would be all his.

Malak again became invisible and desolid as he flew out of the protective bubble around Haven. Once well away from there he activated his fast movement ability and sped toward the source of the disturbance.

There were defenses, of course. Barriers physical and psychic, passive and active, to prevent anyone from approaching. Ghosts and phantoms assailed him, the screams of a million damned souls pierced his ears. He ignored them. They were obviously unreal; he had heard the real thing far too often to make that mistake. When the mental assaults failed a line of... something inimical projected from his destination, sweeping around, leaving smoky webs trailing in the static-filled veil as it sought him out. Malak dodged it and continued on. However, the closer he got the more difficulty he had in avoiding that beam. He now therefore manifested his shield and took the attack head on. Its nature immediately changed, adding a sensation of tearing, searing destruction to the previous effects. This encountered the shield and narrowed down, focusing on Malak. Who pressed more quickly onwards, knowing time was short.

* * *

Bright sighed tiredly, turned the work over to Indigo again and relaxed; with the initial scanning done the machine could operate on its own for now. The expansion had begun; all was being unmade according to the initial stages of his plan. The dome of protected reality around his fortress would remain while the nullification wave proceeded radially outwards. In mere hours it would cover the Earth, leaving a pure world behind it. Then he could literally remake it all in his image of a glorious paradise. For now, though, this homogenization would be enough, would buy him the time needed to work on the details. He had hoped to have all this done before starting, but his enemies had forced his hand. However, now all his enemies were gone, or as good as. Those he had chosen to include here, in the unchanging center, would be the seeds of a new population.

Some of them might be required to take on roles they would not like. For example, most were male, and rebuilding the population would require a large percentage of females. Perhaps they could take turns... If there was too much objection, Bright could use Indigo to give them an attitude adjustment. All for the greater good he had planned for them.

Oh, well, that was for later. Just now, they were celebrating, unaware of anything except the immediate success. His minions cheered, especially those on the parapets. They could see the long-promised changes taking place.

Bright heard the alarm from Indigo, and grabbed for the helmet, too late. The cheers died in a crash and flare as a massive explosion struck near the top of the dome. Those inside were still recovering from that shock when a grey-winged figure landed at the perimeter. The figure set itself in the still-unaltered world outside the expanding dome. Beyond the blank, bland reality Bright's first stage was leaving in its wake. Donning the control helmet for Indigo allowed Bright to confirm the worst. Somehow, Malak was already inside the outer defenses Bright had erected, and even the inner, active measures. All that remained between him and what lay beyond was the wall of change, itself.

Malak leaned into that invisible discontinuity, sparks and smoke erupting where his hands touched it. He grunted, and heaved, and the expansion shuddered to a halt.

"BRIGHT! STOP THIS!"

Inside, Professor Bright quickly resumed full control of Indigo. There was a deep groaning sound, as if the whole world was in pain. The dome shuddered and grew outwards a bit further. Malak was pushed back, his sandals digging grooves in the rock, sending fragments of stone hurtling. The winged figure heaved, and again the expansion stopped.

"It's not too late! Your plan will doom every living thing on Earth! Stop this!"

The minions were panicking, with Bright not much more controlled.

Malak could see the ruin of the land between the walls of the fortification and the current position of the discontinuity. The affected ground was stripped bare of all which had lived, of all detail, of anything larger than dust, leaving only a featureless layer of powdered rock. The living soil had been converted to something plain and inert. As if there had never been any life there; only aeons of weathering. Malak was determined that this devastation would go no further.

Bright again ordered the dome to expand. It shuddered a bit, but stayed as it was. Bright scowled, not sure what to do about this situation. He couldn't order any sort of mundane attack on Malak. Nothing physical would go through the dome intact. Light would, but it would be altered and diffused by that passage. Even clearly seeing Malak and what lay beyond him was difficult. Bright's only recourse was therefore Indigo. How to apply it, though? He could just wait out the false angel, who had to tire eventually, but...

His train of thought was interrupted; Malak was speaking again. Bizarrely, it sounded like he was in the same room as Professor Bright!

"You have the power to remake reality to your will, and all you could think to do with it in ridding yourself of potential opposition was to emulate a nuclear bomb."

"You were plotting against me!"

"In fact, everything you have done with this power has been destructive and reactive," said Malak, sternly. "In your first act you destroyed the Chemical Repository!"

Though he rarely lied, in this case Malak thought the deception necessary. If he fell, only those at the Repository and a few other locations would be left to stop Bright. Better to let the madman think he had succeeded in that task.

"I got rid of all those dangerous chemicals!"

"Which were already well on the way to being safely incinerated. Instead, you killed over a hundred innocent people and actually dispersed some of the chemicals."

"It was necessary! Those researchers could have warned you of my efforts. Anyway, the leaked chemicals were destroyed by the subsequent nullification!"

"You committed mass murder to cover a lesser crime."

"It's for... for the good of humanity! You stand in the way and must be removed!"

"I am here in spite of your attack. How does the result justify your act now?"

"That is on you!"

"You sound like every petty tyrant and spoiled child I've ever met. You feel you are allowed to do anything to fulfill your desires, say anything to justify your acts. Then, when you are frustrated in your efforts, you rant about how unfair it all is and how your failures are not your fault. You will never be satisfied, because you don't even know what you actually want!"

"You are nothing!" screamed Bright, desperately. "You will be removed! The world will be made a better place! A perfect place!"

"How can it be perfect when you don't know what perfect - or even better - is?"

"Indigo knows," gasped Bright, feeling the strain of directing the effort against Malak while arguing with him. "It knows!"

"You aren't sounding so good. You're physically human, despite your enhanced intellect. Even though your machine is doing most of the work, you're still straining to keep up with the situation. I bet your blood pressure is soaring, and your blood sugar is plummeting. Your neurotransmitters are being depleted rapidly."

"I... am fine!"

"Part of the problem is that you won't trust the machine. Rightly so. What you built has no judgement, and cannot actually generalize from what it learns. That means you must monitor everything it does which is not strictly routine. Since so much of what you're doing is non-routine you are overloaded. Right now, how many are dying in disasters - natural or manmade - because of your obsession with stopping me? People either of us could save if we weren't fighting each other? Me to defend myself and my friends and allies from your attacks. You because you're terrified I'll stop your efforts. If you had just been open about..."

"Shut! Up!" screamed Bright, rallying.

"I had hoped to convince you," said Malak, sadly. "I see, now, that is futile. Very well. To throw your own words and intent back at you, this is on you. I have diverted your attention long enough to find you."

Outside the dome, "Malak" disappeared. Inside the dome - within the paranoid Bright's concealed secure room, where even his own minions could not reach or even knew the location of - the real Malak pulled the helmet from Bright. Without hesitation he smashed it on the floor.

Professor Bright screamed at the sudden disruption. He grabbed his head, and looked around desperately. He first found Malak. Then the destroyed control helmet.

"No!!" screamed Bright. He surged to his feet... and collapsed.

Malak quickly knelt beside the fallen would-be god and examined him. Bright was dying from multiple, small brain hemorrhages. Malak, with no hesitation, immediately healed him. As he stood, Malak suddenly became aware that without his double holding back the expansion, the dome was growing again. He quickly located Indigo, and took the breadbox-sized quantum device in his hands, lifting it high. He seemed to hear it whispering to him, tempting him. Refusing to give in, Malak threw it down, smashing it, as well. He then looked around, with more than eyes and ears, prepared to repeat his action it that were needed. It was not. Malak sighed, and relaxed.

"...Always... your problem..." said Bright, determined to be right, even if the effort took his life. "Focusing on the... individual... instead of... the big picture."

"For which you should be grateful," said Malak. "Now, if you'll excuse me, with this settled I have other important but less urgent problems to attend to."

* * *

Back at the Repository, the destruction of Indigo was immediately obvious. There were gasps and moans of relief all around, among those in the shielded computation room. The chaos in the display above them cleared.

"I feel like I been rode hard and put away wet," said Mysterious Pete. However, he was grinning. Tiredly. "It was all worth it, though."

"The greatest threat this world has ever faced has been neutralized," said Lady Dragon, nodding solemnly.

"Sometimes I feel that my continued existence is justified," said Mannequin, also nodding.

"It is safe to assume Bright has been dealt with, then," said CornFed. "Oh, and Melody, I found yo... Uh, Blackpool. I mean, Insight did, as one of its first acts once the interference ended. He seems to be on his way here."

"Quite correct," said Blackpool, entering from the corridor outside the computation room. "Malak found me as soon as Indigo was destroyed, and I brought us both here. Though I needed to make a brief detour to pick up another costume."

"He is largely unharmed," said Malak, coming in right behind the rescued man in black. "He was held naked in a room where all the walls and the ceiling and floor glowed, so there were no significant shadows he could access."

The others there turned towards the voices, some prepared to make various comments. However, all instead fell silent.

"What?" said Malak, puzzled. Blackpool simply smirked through his mask, as he stepped away from the older empowered man.

"Your wings..." said Melody. "They're white!"

Malak extended his right wing and looked at it.

"Huh," said he, for once obviously nonplussed. "They don't... feel any different."

"Looks like someone had a Gandalf moment," said Mannequin, shifting into an older, bewhiskered form, complete with robes.

"White wings, huh?" said Blackpool, grinning through his mask as he hugged Melody. "You couldn't get some nice, handsome, ebony ones?"

"Sorry," said Malak, looking uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "At any rate, Bright is momentarily disabled and his device is destroyed. However, we need to get people there to secure Bright's facility. Quickly."

Despite the activity - which included organizing a group for Gateway to take to fortress - the masked and cloaked figure found a moment to speak privately with Melody.

"While I was held by Bright," he said, quietly, "I thought - and rethought - about several things. If you're still willing, I'd like to start a family."

"Oh, definitely," said Melody. She took a quick look around, and gave her husband a hug and a brief but very passionate kiss.

* * *

There was a huge amount of cleanup involved with the stoppage of Bright and his machinations. Once the immediate crisis was over and Bright's minions were rendered harmless by volunteers from the Repository, most of the work involved Blackpool and his agency. Also, while some of the efforts against the empowered indeed turned out to be the result of Bright and his efforts - with and without Indigo helping - not all of them did. Indeed, there was a reaction against those who had stopped Bright, mostly from people who had an erroneous idea of what he had intended.

Fortunately, most of the developments following the destruction of Indigo were not bad. Indeed, Aaron scheduled an important meeting with Melody at his home in Haven just over a month later, where he delivered some important news.

"You remember me talking about looking for - and eventually finding - my grandson?"

"Yes," said the reporter, sensing there was much more to the tale than this. "You very carefully didn't say much about that."

"For good reason. You see, Louis, discovered something," said Aaron, quietly. "Something which apparently evaded all other researches into empowerment. Something which I and a few others - including Louis - have subsequently been pursuing."

"Spill!" said Melody, eagerly.

"Only if you agree to keep this confidential until given clearance to reveal it," said Aaron, with a slight smile.

The reporter fidgeted and fumed, but after several seconds agreed.

"A person can become empowered without a trigger chemical," said Aaron. "The process requires much longer - perhaps taking years - and still not everyone with the potential can become empowered. At least not yet. However, it does work. This method is also vastly safer than the more common one, of course."

"How... I know some of the tales - folklore, really - about people gaining power from meditation or religious rituals, but..."

"Those methods might have been successful occasionally," said Aaron, nodding. "However, that success would have been as much by accident as design. Also, the subject must be capable of empowerment."

Now it was Melody's turn to nod, slowly.

"Additionally, several of the researchers have discovered that this process can be aided with sub-triggering doses of some drugs. One of these drugs also holds the promise of extending human life. Giving people time to work towards empowerment, instead of having it suddenly thrust upon them."

"Fantastic," said Melody, unable to prevent a grin from spreading across her face. "I can see why you want this kept secret for now. Aside from preventing a rash of 'magic mushroom' events, you want to head off government interference."

"Exactly. I'm only telling you this now so you can keep a watch for any tell-tale signs that someone less cautious might have made the same discovery."

"Gotcha. And: Will do."

"Thank you."

"Now, as you probably guessed from the parcel I brought, I have a reason of my own for wanting to see you."

She retrieved the paper bag she had laid on the floor.

"I have a present for you," said Melody, pulling something out of the bag. "It is, unfortunately, only a modern, authorized printing from microfilm, but it's still a hard-bound copy of something you once told me you missed. I can still see the gap between books on your shelf."

Aaron took the tome, a glint of tears in his eyes as he read the title.

"Alexander Adams: A Life in Music. My God..."

"There are certain advantages to having contacts all over the world."

The pair spoke for a long time before Aaron finally called a halt.

"I can go without sleep for long periods; you can't," he pointed out. "Especially in your condition. Also, tomorrow is a workday for you."

Melody tried to refute his wisdom - and his perceptions - but was foiled by her own yawn. She gave a tired laugh.

"All right, all right. Take me home, then."

They stepped outside into the gathering darkness, Aaron shifting into his winged form. A surprisingly short time later, he was depositing her with superhuman deftness onto her own balcony.

"One more thing," he said, as the reporter unlocked the sliding glass door.

"Yes?" said Melody.

"The past is over and the future is yet to be," said Malak, quietly. "What we have - where we live - is the present."

He smiled.

"Don't get me wrong; I greatly appreciate having such an extended life. My parents taught me to appreciate history, and I have seen a lot of it. I have even participated in some of it."

Melody nodded, slowly.

"I guess we're all - no matter how enhanced - living one day at a time." She winced. "Except that for that friend of yours who is stuck at super speed. Though I guess even he is living life one of his days at a time."

"As the great philosopher put it 'Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.'"