SW10/HCC: Superhuman World 2011: Endgame #1

Scott Eiler seiler at eilertech.com
Sun Aug 5 08:00:14 PDT 2012


At Spokane Community College, Gaio Matrix reflected on 'games'.  He was 
playing one, with other mages.  They called it an Olympics.  But it was 
more like ritual combat.  And it was nearing its end.  This end would be 
the end of the world if he had his way.

He asked a fellow student:  "What do you call the last part of a 'game'?"

"Depends on the game.  In football, it's the Two-Minute Warning.  In 
baseball, it's the Bottom of the Ninth.  In chess, it's the endgame."

"Yes.  *That's* it.  Endgame."

---

23 September 2011:

Nora Jibson finally had her spaceship back.  The U.S. Government had 
grounded it, ever since the human-owned part of the secret Lunar base 
had been forcibly relocated to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. 
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2007/occupation.htm#earthfall )  But 
now they wanted someone to go to Jupiter.  Their spaceships couldn't do 
that.  Hers could.

Jupiter was on fire!  Well, everyone knew that.  Aliens had set off a 
runaway fusion reaction there in 2009 - while flinging a planet at the 
Earth.  (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2009/trillions.htm )  The Gov 
was afraid they'd fling more planets.

For her own part, Nora wanted to visit some real estate she had on 
Jupiter's moon Europa.  She'd mined there.  But now people might be able 
to live there, since Jupiter had turned into a sun...

Alarms went off in her spacecraft.  Massive energy source, on the moon 
of Io!

Nora checked the scanners.  One of the Infrared Sunbreaker Choir was back!

Io exploded.

...

24 September 2011:

Nora was still alive.  She'd gotten to safety on Europa, after dodging a 
hail of meteors.  They were all headed for Earth.  One or two month 
trajectory on each one... but they were each dinosaur killers.

She sent a message to Earth.

...

9 October 2011:

Wyatt Ferguson gave the cab driver a good tip.  His job paid for it. 
And the driver had earned it, by not being scared of his passengers. 
Wyatt was in his signature hat and trenchcoat; his companion was dressed 
the same way.  Under the coats, Wyatt *wasn't* even scarier - but his 
companion was.

... Wow.  This winery had really gone downhill, ever since Michigan 
stopped growing fruit.  But then, who knew Lansing ever *had* a winery? 
  At least the Gov was taking advantage.  The construction was done.

Another car arrived.  The driver stepped out.  He was covered with 
electronic gear.  He said, "Here's your car.  Here's my card.  I know 
I'm late.  Just be glad you're not dead."

Wyatt's companion growled.  The driver said, "We'll talk later," and 
disappeared in a poof of smoke!

The card said on the front side, "Thunderstrike".  On the back was 
written, "You just survived an assassination!"

Wyatt pressed one button on his Gov-issued cellphone.  It responded, "USIB."

"Hey!  I'm on site, and I have my vehicle, but your driver just sucks."

"Oh...  Thunderstrike?  He's an old enemy of Ellipsis.  He has teleport 
gear that nobody can build more of.  We hired him away from the Black 
Mages."

"...Okay then.  I'll check in again once I've made contact."  Wyatt 
turned the phone off.

A three-foot-wide Space Jellyfish was floating beside him.  It said, 
"Greetings, Progenitor of DominationFest.  Preparation nears completion. 
  David greets you."

"I greet David.  See you tomorrow."

Wyatt pressed his cellphone button again, and said, "It's still on."  He 
disconnected, then turned to his companion and said, "Pizza in the hotel 
room now."

"Rrrright."

---

10 October 2011:

Wyatt's hotel room was cheap, and pretty much untraceable.  The former 
winery was almost as good for that.  The *north* side of Lansing seldom 
got visitors.  That made it near perfect for a new U.S. Government 
facility.  It was about as secluded as a secret facility can be, while 
still being convenient to highways, government, and the National Guard. 
  And now it had a sausage stand - because the Space Jellyfish were 
having a festival!  It was their price for cooperating with the Gov.

Wyatt Ferguson had been asked to volunteer for another cyber-strike 
against aliens, in Lansing!  The last one was against alien records; 
this one would be against alien minds!  The winery had the apparatus for 
it; that's what the construction was.  Wyatt didn't know why aliens were 
important all of a sudden, but Vice-President Corrigan had told him it 
was definitely time to find all the aliens on Earth.

Wyatt's companion was Reticent, The Alien Beast!  He was there for both 
security and a reference point.

The Space Jellyfish were cooperating, on condition that there be another 
DominationFest!  (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2004/magellan.htm ) 
With their help, the U.S. Gov planned to rebuild the Occulator 
Compuplex, the ultimate alien eye of observation! 
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2005/occulator.htm )  It would find 
every alien on Earth, including the ones in hiding who meant Earth ill.

Wyatt wondered, why Lansing?  Maybe something to do with Ellipsis 
technology.  It had been invented in East Lansing, twenty years before. 
  (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/1988/balance15.rtf )  Now that the 
tech was open source, the university was hosting a convention for it.

...

In Spokane the evil alien mage Gaio Matrix looked at his alien computer, 
and noticed the concentration of power near Lansing.  He said into his 
communicator:  "Send the full brood.  Include the special."

Then he prepared a spell.

---

11 October 2011:

It was a Tuesday on the old-style calendar.  But the Jellyfish 
considered that irrelevant, given Earth's new orbit.  Their weekend 
festival would begin this day.

Humans didn't mind.  So many were unemployed, they were ready for a 
weekend festival any time.  The Jellyfish had insisted on free 
admission.  Roger Waters and the Siouxsie and the Banshees reunion were 
co-headlining.  So there were crowds.

...heh.  The more the Earth dies, the more it still lives, Wyatt 
Ferguson said to himself.

...

Gaio Matrix got the message.  "Brood on target."

"Excellent.  Deploy."

...

The concert had reached its height.  The headliners got on stage 
together to sing, "What Shall We Do, to fill the empty spaces..."

Over the stage, a giant eye formed!  The Occulator Compuplex was underway.

Then the Alien Beast growled.  "Rrrrr... Incoming!"

He was promptly mobbed by his own race!

...

Gaio Matrix got the message.  "Deployed."

"Excellent."  These aliens came from the breed farms on Venus, same as 
the Alien Beast!  Surely numbers would tell.

...

Wyatt looked on from safety.  Few people (or Space Jellyfish) were as 
good at getting out of the way of the action as he was.  Still, the 
crowd was scattering, and the Occulator Compuplex had dissolved.

The Alien Beast was holding up so far.   He was the best of his species. 
  But then two streaks zipped in.  The action started going faster than 
Wyatt could track.

"Well.  *That* must be what this helmet was made for."  Wyatt put on the 
Insight helmet USIB had given him for this mission.  Their battlesuits 
only worked for women, but the helmets were good for anyone.

The Alien Beast was fighting his two children!  Uh oh, could be trouble 
for him...

Well, not for long.  They'd been bred to be stronger and faster than he 
was.  But he'd still been bred to be their sire.  He had them on the 
ground, with his hands on the back of their two necks.

...

Gaio Matrix got another message.  "Main brood plus two additions 
neutralized."  Gaio's spell had turned the Beast's two children, but not 
for long enough.

"Curse!  ... Activate the special."

...

Wyatt said "Huh!?" as, from the woods near the winery, a sixty-foot 
alien emerged!

Now *that* was too much for the Alien Beast to handle.  As the giant 
alien stomped, the Beast dodged and ran for the woods.

The giant started ripping up trees.  But from one tree top, the Alien 
Beast jumped onto the back of its neck!  Well, all right, Wyatt thought. 
  One good claw strike and this fight would probably be over.

But in the sky from the southeast, five flying humans appeared - all 
crackling with energy.

Oh, shit.  Ellipsises.  Or Ellipses.  Or whatever.  Can you say 
Collateral Damage, Wyatt thought.

One Ellipsis had covered himself with flame; he was hanging back and 
shouting orders.  Four others were apparently ignoring him.  They buzzed 
the giant alien.  It swatted one down.  Another blasted the giant where 
the Alien Beast was perched!  The Beast had to jump off.

Wyatt yelled, "You dumb$#!+s!"  They didn't hear him.  But wait... He 
was wearing a USIB Insight helmet!  He cyber-twiddled a dial, aimed the 
helmet at the flaming leader, and yelled again, "YOU DUMB$#!+S!"

The flamer responded, "Hey, at least you can call me *Mister* Dumb$#!+. "

The voice was familiar...   Wyatt said, "Jimmy Flamer?  This is Wyatt. 
What you doing with these $#!+s?"

"Watch that potty mouth!"

"Sorry... hanging out with Corrigan does that to you.  But *stop being 
such a dumb$#!+!* "

"What you mean?"

Wyatt pointed.  The giant alien was stomping on cars in Interstate 69 
now, as three Ellipses blasted it - and the road around it.

Jimmy turned toward the battle.  "No no no!  *This* is how you do it!" 
He aimed a flame burst at the giant alien's eyes.  Then he burned its 
heels.  It ran off the highway, onto an open field.

Jimmy yelled, "*Now* burn it!  Full body!  Like this!"  A massive jet of 
flame came from his entire body, hitting the alien in the middle of its 
chest.  It screamed.

The three Ellipses did likewise, with energy bursts which were 
concussion and lightning at the same time.  Two of them missed.  But one 
hit the alien's left knee.  It fell down.

Jimmy said, "Okay!  Can you ladies *hit* it now that it's not moving?" 
Wyatt was pretty sure, the Ellipses were all men.  Oh well, that would 
be Jimmy's command style.  And it worked.  The Ellipses blasted the 
alien to unconsciousness - at the very least.

Wyatt turned to his side.  The Alien Beast had crept up on him!  It 
growled, "Overrrr?"

"Yes."

"Mmmmm."  It collapsed!

---

12 October 2011:

Gaio Matrix had at least disrupted the Occulator Compuplex.  But he knew 
his remaining time on Earth was limited.

He said, "Do it.  Blow Yellowstone."

One of the other Black Mages said, "Of course, Brother Gaio.  With 
provisions..."

...

Jimmy Flamer had been in Lansing to train Ellipses!  That made sense, 
Wyatt Ferguson thought.   When you need someone to train a bunch of 
novice energy wielders how to fly, blast, and look good in an energy 
field, if the original Ellipsis couldn't be bothered, the local 
equivalent of the Human Torch was an awfully good substitute.  Of course 
Jimmy'd left town as soon as he could after the battle.  USIB couldn't 
even find him!  Hey, maybe he'd cashed in a ticket to his home universe. 
  Wyatt would consider getting off this planet too, if it weren't his home.

The Alien Beast was in a coma!  The Combine said, it was his way of 
healing after a great exertion.  Too bad, Wyatt thought.  The Beast was 
the best hunter on the planet...

Then Wyatt said, "Oh, screw it."  The damned Black Mages had hurt his 
friends *again*.  They'd done that *every* four years, for their 
*damned* Black Mage Olympics.

"That is *quite enough*.  This time *I* hunt."

---

To Be Continued - in Earth 2011:  Endgame #2!

---

Author's Notes:

And so Earth 2011 lurches on to the end.

Gee, writing is harder than it used to be.  I'm not trying to reproduce 
any of my earlier writing styles; I'm just trying to get this story 
done.  So it's kind of like a real story.  It reminds me of Dvandom's 
stories of 2026, actually.

My plan is still to shut this universe down, since it's collapsing under 
the weight of its plotline.  My ambition is to kill it with style.

I can't call this The Last Superhuman World Story.  That slot's taken 
already - more than once. 
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/neverwas.htm and 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2009/beyond.htm )  But I plan this to 
be the last text story to get me there.  The story is probably worth 
more than one episode, though.

 From here, the story shifts to comic strips.  People don't want to read 
my dry boring text, they want to see my fun zippy art.  And I don't 
blame them.  When I read my old stories, I usually say "Wow, I *drew* 
all that?"

My present-day comic strips have helped me focus this story.  When I 
have to describe the end of the world in eight panels, it helps me throw 
out unimportant plot elements.  I really should have tried that long 
ago.  But now that the story is focused, I'm tossing stuff back in while 
I can.  Reference list with origins, where not mentioned in story:

*  The Infrared Sunbreaker Choir: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2009/trillions.htm .

*  Thunderstrike:  http://www.eilertech.com/stories/1988/balance9.rtf . 
  Yes, he goes back that far.

*  The Space Jellyfish: 
http://www.eilertech.com/me2002.htm#ultimatebrawl .  Also seen in the 
Super Wizard from Space #23! 
http://wil.alambre.ca/racc/posts/read/726/.  They get around.

*  Open Source Ellipsis Tech: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/page.php?fn=useless.txt .

*  The Brood Farms on Venus: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1954.htm !  Heh, this old 
Powernaut story really *is* in continuity.  In fact, it's creepy how 
well the story fits in.

*  USIB, the United States Insight Battalion: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/cauldron.htm .

*  Jimmy Flamer: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/neworbit.htm#anotherearth .  Hey, 
I got him in the story!  It's unrecorded how he met Wyatt Ferguson, but 
they have lots of mutual friends, such as Nell the Waitress. 
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/waitress.htm )  I wanted to send 
Jimmy home with a murderous alien on a leash, but that's not *this* 
Torch's style.

*  The Combine:  http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2008/combine.htm .  It 
is the world's largest collective of superhumans and their allies. 
Depending on how you define it, President Barack Obama is in the 
Combine.  Vice-President "Crusher" Joe Corrigan is too.

*  The Black Mage Olympics: 
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/me1999.htm#olympics .  Was someone 
asking for a story about the Olympics?

I'm going to give Wyatt Ferguson a special focus before I shut things 
down.  He really, really hates evil mages.  And he can actually hunt 
them.  http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2007/me.htm#dog

This story is in response to Rec.Arts.Comics.Creative High Concept 
Challenge #31:  Big Monster Battle.  A big monster is precisely the 
extra ingredient this story needed.  So the challenge is forcing my 
hand.  The end of the world proceeds now!

(signed) Scott Eiler, 4 August 2012.


-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

Let's take a look, if you will, at the Second Amendment of the
Constitution, which protects every American's right to shoot another
American.  This cherished constitutional right to shoot people and make
them dead is currently recognized in all fifty states, most recently
Florida.

- The Borowitz Report
(http://www.borowitzreport.com/2012/03/29/an-argument-against-healthcare/),
March 2012.



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