Chapter 37

The spaceship was mostly ready, it just needed a pilot navigator and any modifications that were necessary to gel my abilities with the directions from the said pilot. The pilot could hardly just point in a direction and ask me to push. Ruth, of course, had been unavailable for the last six weeks so Steven had taken the reins. Using a combination of money, favours and old boy charm, he had managed to get NASA interested. Steven negotiated an agreement. We would perform a number of jobs for them and they would program our computer, link it with theirs and lend us a pilot. To prove it was worth their while, I needed to take a couple of astronauts up to replace others at the space station.

For this trial run, a very sceptical pilot was loaned to us and communication was set up between our spaceship and NASA. We decided to call our spaceship Angel one. Programming our computer was a much harder and longer project but wasn't necessary for just visiting the space station. I did however need to be guided and someone giving me a set of numbers was completely unhelpful. We rigged up a device that would take the numbers that Bob provided, usually repeating what someone in a NASA control room was telling him, to mechanically point in the direction we needed to travel.

I could feel that metal rod with my domain and move us in that direction. I also needed to be provided with a number to work out how hard to push, how long to push and when to stop. It was too complicated remembering all the different levels of force so I used a mind partition to do direction, acceleration and even constant speed since in the atmosphere we had variable resistance. I could negate a significant portion using my domain, so it was easier to ask what speed and use a gauge they provided to modify my force to a constant speed or a constant acceleration. Gravity itself was interesting as, within my domain, gravity was what I wanted it to be and that was usually one G as that was what I was used to. My partitioned mind didn't immediately respond to the changes that the pilot wanted but waited for my go-ahead, which worked well because the pilot usually set up a clock timer for when the change was to be implemented, how long for, at what acceleration, or at what speed to maintain.

A lot of it was testing and set up for the longer journeys into space. Bob also came with multiple instruments that would be assessing things like oxygen levels, air composition and air pressure. Although Bob was very professional, he was also a condescending male chauvinist pig. I could deal with taking him on the trip to the space station, but there was no way I would be able to spend long periods of time in his company. He had already hinted at sharing my bed. I spoke to Steven about it and suggested that a female co-pilot be brought on and for any long journeys, Bob would stay Earthbound. I told Ruth that we needed to train one of our own and have some way of doing this without NASA. She told me that when we had enough money it would not be a problem and she was working on it.

Once everyone was happy with all the tests, I took Bob, Cathy, the requested female co-pilot, and the two replacement astronauts. All four were dressed in spacesuits and were surprised that I wasn't. I sat in the comfortable leather chair that was in the centre of the craft so that my domain had an even reach in all directions. There were two chairs at the front, meant for the pilot navigator and myself when I needed more of my domain for what was in front of us. In this case, Cathy was in that seat as the co-pilot. The two passengers were strapped behind me.

The first shock was the lack of acceleration that they could feel. I usually allowed my passengers to feel a certain amount of acceleration when I flew because I thought it would be helpful for their minds. You feel the acceleration, you know you are moving. It was, however, a choice for me and after a snarky comment from Bob that I did not appreciate I wanted to mess with his mind. I could see him constantly checking the gauges to confirm that he was actually moving. The next shock was the fact that the gravity did not change, even when we were docking with the space station.

For me, it was a very slow and boring experience. I just told my partitioned mind to act when it was time to, based on what Bob had programmed in. For the astronauts, it was a magical experience. The journey was mostly silent, with a few awed whispers, it was ridiculously fast by NASA standards and the views were amazing. Because I couldn't feel anything beyond my twenty metres of domain, I wanted to be able to see around me, so part of the design incorporated many windows in all directions. Since they were all made of diamond they were probably stronger than the metals they were encased in. In front of the pilot navigator were a bevvy of screens representing all the cameras that had been installed. We also had what I called the sensor suite, but it was just an infrared camera and spectrometer and an x-ray into gamma-ray spectrometer. Theoretically, that was going to be pointed at asteroids to determine their composition so we could work out which ones would be worth refining. It was going to be the computer's job to analyse the data and tell us the results.

The mission was a complete success, so the next step was to leave Angel one with NASA for them to sort out the computer and recommend any changes. I could see that being a headache, but it was Ruth and Steven's headache. The first fight was going to be getting Bob off the team, but there was no way I was spending a prolonged period of time in close proximity with that man. Ideally, I didn't want to go asteroid hunting until I had created a few Shadow Angels and Hannah could come with me. If she wanted to, which I hoped she did, not that I was expecting...

I had to tear my mind thoughts away from my loops in logic and emotion. What will be, will be.

Chapter 38

I couldn't do any more on the spacecraft front, although I had an interesting chat with one of the NASA scientists who had been very curious about my ability to create sheets of diamond. Surprisingly enough his interest was not about getting rich quick and he mentioned that they had increased security significantly when they realised what they thought was glass, wasn't. Joining NASA for Mark, the scientist in question, as well as for a large number of employees was about the dream of man conquering space. Many worried about an extinction-level event since asteroids have impacted Earth on a number of occasions and the next one was overdue statistically. Bearing that in mind, the dream of man living on more than one planet was shared by many at NASA and they were constantly thinking of ways to make that possible.

Mark's question was if I could make diamond from coal, could I make graphene and could I make contiguous graphene or single-crystal graphene. Mark was of the opinion that man's best chance to explore space was by using a space elevator and the main obstacle was producing a tether strong enough. Single-crystal graphene has been predicted to be strong enough but it would need to be a minimum of 36,000km long. I wouldn't have any difficulty creating the graphene, but a minimum of 36,000km? Not interested. You would need some kind of industrial process to produce those sorts of quantities. When I looked it up, 36,000km was just to reach geostationary orbit, but most suggested a tether of more than double that with a counterweight on the end.

Graphene itself, though, was a very interesting material and might be useful for creating our Shadow Angel super suits. It was electrically conductive which means it might be able to create a faraday cage to protect our girls from supers with lightning and strong enough to stop knives and bullets. Ruth would be in charge of organising that, or finding the right person to organise that, but it was worth letting her know that I could produce the material if it was needed.

Since I couldn't do any more on the asteroid-hunting until NASA was ready with our modified Angel one, I wanted to turn my attention back to creating Shadow Angels. While Ruth was researching Shadow Angel candidates, I felt I could use my traditional method of helping people who might then want to help others.

I tried to be as legitimate as possible. I spoke to the New York supers before I ventured out, I had a phone with GPS so that I could be obviously tracked, videoed everything for evidence and asked my telepathic mind division for a mature person who was calling for help.

Stephanie's POV

The problem with drinking was that there was a consequence. I tapped Karen on her shoulder and pointed to the toilets. The music was too loud to make talking worth the effort. She nodded her head and passed both our drinks to Isla and readied herself to get up. The last thing we needed was doctored drinks. Not that anyone would deliberately spike mine. I did my best with a wig, close shave and lots of makeup, but my jawline and adam's apple gave me away, so I still got the looks of disgust and abusive mutterings.

One of the reasons we chose this place was because it had disabled toilets. We had to line up with other, clearly not disabled people waiting to use it and went in together when it was available. It was only women in the line and I wasn't sure if that was because there was an even longer line to the ladies or because they were like me, just better looking and indistinguishable from genetic girls.

We had just left to head back to our table when I felt a hand land on my shoulder and grip strongly. Karen was in front of me and I called out her name as she was getting further away from me, then turned around to face whoever it was. It wasn't one person though it was three and they looked mean and angry. To say I was scared would be an understatement. I tried strongly to pull away, but more hands grabbed me. I started screaming, but something hard hit my jaw and shut me up and disorientated me. When I had gathered my senses, I was already halfway through a fire door exit leading onto a dark alley.

I took in a deep breath “Help!” I shouted, except one of them punched me in the stomach before I had got more than the 'H' out so the rest was more of a moan. I couldn't breathe and bent over from the hit. They were shouting things at me and punching me and I was panicking and just wanting to get a breath in. I fell to the ground after a sharp pain in my knee. I tried to curl up in the fetal position and protect my head as the kicks kept coming.

Between one moment and the next, it just... stopped. To be honest, I thought that I had died. The sound cut out and the kicking stopped, but I could still feel pain all over my body, especially my knee so I quickly realised that I was alive. Either that or I was going to be very disappointed in the afterlife. I took my hands away from my face and looked around to find the three men on the floor around me vomiting and clutching their balls. Looking up I saw Angel, floating serenely above, staring with anger at the downed men, holding up a phone obviously videoing.

Then she turned to me and compassion filled her face. “I'm not a healer, but I can do some repair to the bones and ligaments. Give me a sec while I work it out.”

I didn't see the difference between healing and repairing, but I wasn't going to say anything.

“Try moving your knee,” she told me and as she spoke the door burst open and Karen with Isla and Tania came rushing out with a bouncer following.

I moved my knee and found it wasn't as painful. I gathered myself and stood up.

“What happened?” the bouncer asked while my girlfriends looked on in shock.

Angel looked at him like he was an idiot. 'What do you think happened?' clearly going through her mind.

“These three... men, attacked this lady here. All I've done is stop them, but I would suggest they go to hospital to be checked out,” Angel said.

Then I felt myself and my girlfriends lift off the ground and be pulled together as we went straight up.

“I didn't think it would be nice staying there. I have all the evidence that the police should need if you want to press charges,” Angel said.

“Thank you so much. I think you saved my life.”

“You're welcome. I wish I could come before the action starts, but people don't call for help before the action starts, even in their minds. Anyway, first off, you don't owe me anything. I was happy to help,” Angel started.

“But...?” Karen questioned, the cynical person that she is.

Angel smiled at us, but it wasn't an upset smile. “But I could do with some help. Do any of you know what it is I'm trying to do?”

“You are part of that Angel foundation, looking after abused kids?” Isla asked more than stated.

“Yes, that is part of it, but I am also trying to set up a group of Shadow Angels to go out and save people,” she explained.

“Why do you call them shadow angels, doesn't that imply they would be vigilantes and how would we be able to help, we don't have any powers?” Karen asked.

“Unfortunately, going into homes, taking video evidence and saving kids is not a legal enterprise. Tonight, those three men will find they have a condition called twisted testicles or testicular torsion. The vomiting was just temporary vertigo. The testicle issue is treatable, but they could try and sue me if I was part of a legal superhero group. That is one reason and the other one answers your other question. A friend of mine has a very unique ability. She is able to copy people and transfer their consciousness into the copy, however, she can alter the copy so that her new self is a superhero. At the same time, they regress in age to about sixteen years old. She is paranoid and secretive because the process itself is uncomfortable and painful, taking six weeks, but the powers that be are already trying to get hold of her. She must not fall into the wrong hands. I, myself, protect her when she goes through the six weeks, but she is prepared to do that for a good cause,” Angel explained.

“Could the copy change sex?” I asked trying to contain the excitement that was trying to bubble up.

She smiled at me. “I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. It's a little complicated and I don't know it all, just what she has explained to me, but everyone has a part of their DNA that really matters, that can't be altered without changing who that person is. She calls them the read-only files. Anything else can be altered, so height, hair colour, you name it, most of it is in DNA expression and you can choose what you want.”

“So you want us to become Shadow Angels?” Karen asked.

“Not quite. I want you to apply. As you can imagine the cloning process is unpleasant and takes time. There is also the thought that power corrupts, so we have to be careful who we chose. I am not in charge of that side of things but the idea is to have a psychologist and a telepath interview you.”

“I want to apply,” I said almost before she finished. “I also know a lot of individuals who are transgender that would apply. Yes, a big motivating factor would be the complete genetic sex change where you can literally choose the body you want, but the group as a whole are very open-minded loving individuals who tend to care strongly about others. The idea of saving kids will appeal to most of them.”