8FOLD/HCC: Journey Into # 15, Slow Build

[Tom Russell]

On Sep 30, 8:36 pm, Scott Eiler <sei... at eilertech.com> wrote:
> On Sep 29, 1:02 am, Tom Russell <joltc... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Humphrey Law." So called because it was passed in 1972, following the
> > revelation that 1968 Presidential Candidate Hubert Humphrey often
> > disappeared to fight crime as the Happy Warrior while serving as
> > Lyndon Johnson's Vice-President.
>
> Heh.  I knew I wasn't breaking ground by having a superhuman Vice-
> President, but you've gone a lot farther with the concept than I have.

It was an idea I've toyed with for a while-- since Jamie and I first
started talking about Eightfold, in fact-- but had shied away from
until now due to a general distaste for secret/alternate histories in
my superhero settings.  The idea, of course, comes from the period in
which Humphrey, once a very vocal and outspoken politician, especially
on social issues, became noticeably mute and low-profile at Johnson's
behest.  This was quite a change from the man who, at the 1948
Democratic Convention, had such courage in his convictions that he
made a speech that caused the "Dixiecrats" to join the Republican
Party.  Tom Lehrer wrote a song about Humphrey's sudden meekness,
"Whatever Became of Hubert?", and my absurd but cheeky little answer
is, he was out being a superhero-- probably of the social justice
variety that would become popular in the seventies.

At the moment, I have no plans to give actual super-powers to Super K.

> >    "You, with no power, have this responsibility, where Brian, with
> > great power, has none?"
> >    "I guess that's just... where he and I differ.  I don't know,
> > dear.  It was something that needed to be done.  The right thing to
> > do.  Even if it wasn't the right thing for me to do, in terms of my
> > own life, I was in the position to do it.  And so I did."
>
> Nice twist on "With great power comes great responsibility".
>
> I also liked the description of super-speed perception without super-
> speed.

Thank you, Scott.  Glad you liked it.

==Tom