Hey! I've been writing a 30-page book for writing class, and I finished the first two chapters (about 18 pages) recently. Now, it's still pretty rough, it'll require editing, and so forth, but I think it's a good start. I figured I'd post it here and get some opinions. Enjoy!
Keith Herring was just one of the programming worker drones for Ulysses Software. A long job, full of long days, and once he got home all he wanted to do was sleep - this night was no different.
The young man, scrawny as can be and wearing an ill-fitting suit, fumbled with the key to his nondescript house. He finally managed to get the door open and dragged his briefcase behind him into the dark lounge. Keith dropped his case on the kitchen table on top of a stack of discarded newspapers, unanswered mail, and assorted junk before entering his bedroom, and there to fall immediately asleep in his clothes.
Some life.
With the front door still hanging open, with his suitcase gently sliding off the table, with cool breezes sending springtime chill through his house, Keith was still able to sleep soundly. His dreams were a kaleidoscope of lives more interesting than his, the offspring of a tired mind and too much coding. All in all, you couldn’t have picked his life out from a crowd or recognized him at a glance - just another ordinary face, out in the world.
It probably would have interested him to know that as he slept soundly, around him something decidedly abnormal was taking place. He didn’t know, however, and so his normal life continued.
*Bzzzzzt!*
Keith’s eyes flashed open at the alarm, and he began to stir. Morning light fell on him from a window, which prompted a groan. He ran his fingers through thick brown hair, and turned to look at the clock that had buzzed. Eight o’clock, it mercilessly read.
“Oh hell.” he said, leaping from bed and hurriedly brushing his suit to be presentable. He rushed out of his bedroom and got into the bathroom, with no time to wonder what had possessed him to leave the remote control there. A quick shave and tooth-brushing later, he was out again combing with one hand and adjusting his tie with the other. Keith grabbed his wallet from the table, and reached up to take his briefcase from atop the fridge-
-Wait. The fridge? What was it doing... Oh wait, breakfast! Keith opened the fridge and grabbed an apple. Now ready to go, he stopped to see that somehow leaves had gotten blown into his room. Puzzled, he unlocked and opened the door and kicked the leaves out. Ready to go, he pulled the door to behind him, and made a mad dash for the bus stop.
What he hadn’t noticed was that his alarm clock had ran out of batteries three days ago.
So, with his briefcase in one hand, and a half-eaten apple in the other, he made it to the bus stop, humbly beginning one of the most important days of Keith’s life.
Keith got on the bus, nodding to Blake the bus driver and remembering to drop a quarter in the slot. “Morning Blake.”
“Mornin’ Keith.” he chirped “Got a big day ahead?”. Blake was a morning person, so Keith offered up a polite smile and a nod, then shuffled off to the back. He sat in his usual grime-free seat, and began to read the adverts - was there much else to do on a bus?
A new one for beer had been added, where a muscular man downed a bottle while two gorgeous girls hung on his mammoth arms. Keith rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Who came up with this stuff, anyways? Next to him, an old man with a springtime scarf wrapped tightly around his neck gave him a silent nod of agreement. Such was bus social etiquette.
All the regulars filed onto or off of the bus at regular intervals, until quite unexpectedly, at the corner of Winchester and Marshall, two new arrivals - a sullen goth couple - got on. With a curious eye, he watched them pass and sit right at the back, there to make out in an unpleasantly public show of affection. Keith just turned his focus further to the front, ignoring them as best he could.
At last, the bus reached his stop, as it had hundreds of times before, and he got off in front of Ulysses Software’s office building.
“Another day, another dollar.” said Blake pleasantly as Keith went down the steps of the bus.
“Your optimism’s an example to us all, Blake.” replied Keith with a grin, and he left the bus behind to begin the daily grind. For a second, behind him, the bus stuttered.
“That’s weird.” said Blake “Who turned the parking break on?” He flicked it back off, and the bus drove away.
“Ah, sweet coffee.” declared Keith. He took the pot with great reverence from its’ stand and poured a large cup of molten black ooze. The offices that the programming staff worked in all surrounded a central break room, complete with meeting table, motivational poster, and most importantly of all - the holy coffee maker.
“Hey Keith!” said Drew, another programmer, as he entered the room. “Pour me a cup of that black magic, will you?”
Keith chuckled “Gladly. I see you trimmed back the beard a little.”
“Just a little. Chicks dig the beard. Everyone knows a black man with a beard is someone you don’t mess with.” He eagerly took the cup from his friend and downed half the burning contents in one go.
“Drew, you still cry when you watch Old Yeller, no one’s going to mistake you for a tough guy.”
“Hey, hey, the beard is more powerful than you’d think.” said Drew. “Remember that biblical story of the guy with the hair which made him a super man? Same deal.”
“Oh really?” Keith crunched his empty styrofoam cup in his hand. “Well let’s give it a try, Samson, right now.”
“It’s on!”
The two dashed to opposite sides of the conference table, and started working a fierce arm wrestling match. It was as they strained and grunted to push the other over that the break room’s door opened, and Liz walked in. She gave them a mock look of horror over her glasses. “I can see I’ve walked in on something. A little male bonding, maybe?”
“Liz! Great timing!” growled Drew as he struggled to move Keith. “You’re just in time to see me beat this geek once and for all!”
“Not likely!” countered Keith, under a renewed effort to bring down Drew. “And for the record, who is it who has the whole Transformers series on DVD?”
“Hey, Transformers are still cool.”
“Wasting time in the break room is not, however.” said a new arrival. Behind Liz, the bald, serious, and (Keith liked to think) seriously overweight Marcus entered - head programmer. “The work day started two minutes ago, why aren’t you in your seats?”
Keith and Drew quickly got back up, and looked awkward “Uh... just getting some coffee.” Keith mumbled.
“Well, you’ve had your coffee, now get to work.” He looked Keith up and down, and added “While we’re at it, what’s the matter with you? Your suit looks like you slept in it all night. Try and look presentable when you’re in the workplace, got it?” He left them just as quickly as he had came.
“Aw, too bad.” said Liz “The world may never know which of you is the bigger geek.”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” grumbled Keith. The three of them filed out of the break room and off to work.
Keith worked in complete silence. His office, adorned with posters, post-it notes, calendars, reminders, newspaper cutouts, and the occasional doodle, was a sort of controlled chaos. The only constants were the table, the computer, and the silence. In his own world of variable, triggers, and switches, he made the guts for this application or that device, hammering it out all day long with almost nothing to break up the monotony. Today was a little different.
Today, he could hear conversation. His silent meditation was broken, as just outside his door he could hear the faint whisper of Marcus’s voice.
“Twice now in one week... getting unreliable... do I have the authority?.. hard worker... hard to fire hard workers...”
Confused, Keith quietly rose from his desk and opened his door. Marcus was indeed across the hall, but he was entirely alone, reading a printout at the company printer in the corner.
“Hey... uh... Marcus?” He asked, feeling awkward.
“What is it, Keith?”
“Was that you a minute ago saying something.”
“Uh... no, Keith. It’s just me out here.”
“Oh. All right then...” He closed the door, and sat back down. Keith turned his focus back to code, and tried to trace the location of a particular bug that continued to cause the application he was working on to restart itself.
Again, he could hear a voice - this time, Drew. “If the switch keeps turning on before the server restarts, then maybe the problem is that the command is resumed after the server restart, meaning the command is still carried out even if the file is wiped.”
That was especially weird, Drew’s office was next to his, but the wall between them was solid enough to block out murmurs and low chatting. Keith minimized the program he was working on and sent an instant message to Drew saying “Have you tried checking the ram to see if it’s got a record of performing the action after the restart?”
The reply popped up. “Uh... no... how did you know what I was working on?”
“I could hear you through the wall.”
“What? I wasn’t saying anything.”
Keith decided to drop it for now, and focus on his work. Two other programmers walked by outside his office, and as they passed he was sure he could hear the snatches of programming code they were discussing... or not discussing.
Suddenly worried, Keith began to run his hand through his hair. He quickly crossed the hall into the break room - by now the voices were like a very faint, low hum. He grabbed a cup and poured himself a cup of coffee, downing it fast - and gagging, as he burnt his tongue. He breathed deeply, closed his eyes, waited...
...And the voices went away. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Rough night?” Inquired Liz, as she stopped in front of the open break room door.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Sure.” He sighed. “Probably just not getting enough sleep these days.” Really? Was twelve hours not enough? He hardly did anything else besides work and sleep these days.
“Well, this is your lucky day then.” said Liz with a smile. “Don’t tell me you forgot? It’s a half day, they need to close early for the fumigators.”
Immediately, Keith perked up. “Really? I’d completely forgotten - great! Maybe I can get some more sleep.”
“Some of us are going out for an early dinner at The Patio, you want to come with?”
“Uh... no, I better not.” said Keith, still thinking of the voices. “I’ll just have an early night.”
“Okay, that’s cool.” Liz said “See you Monday.”
“Right.” he said, before reaching for the coffee pot to pour another cup. His hand felt nothing, and Keith looked only to see that the pot had been moved off its’ stand and down the table. That was weird, he was almost sure he’d put it back on the stand...
“It looks good.” said the sales assistant, Penny, as Keith measured himself up in the mirror.
“Really? You don’t think it’s a little too... I don’t know... Rastafarian? The collar’s a little messed up too...” He tried another pose “Have you got anything like this in a red?”
“Let me check.” said Penny, leaving Keith to admire himself more - nothing helped him unwind more than trying out new looks.
The shirt was good, no mistake. He’d wanted something festive, colourful, and casual. On the other hand, he didn’t want to look like a Californian surfer. He spotted the proffed red shirt in the corner of his eye and took it, draping it over his chest and looking in the mirror. “Now that’s way better, thanks.”
“Er... thanks for what?” said Penny, standing to one side, holding another of the same shirt in her hands. Keith looked at her, looked at the shirt he was holding, then looked around behind him to see if anyone was there.
“Oh, um, I found the one I was looking for. Thanks though.” Again, he ran his hand through his hair and bought the shirt quickly - the one Penny had found.
Home again, Keith leaned back on the door and sighed. What a day. He threw his briefcase down on the floor, threw his suit into the wash basket, and changed into his ‘lounging’ clothes to unwind on the couch. Where had he left the remote? Ah, here it was, on the coffee table.
It felt good to stretch out, watch some TV, and generally waste time after the day’s events. He did his best not to think about it, but every so often - especially when commercials rolled around - his mind drifted back towards wondering what exactly had happened.
Keith lived alone, a quiet existence punctured with work, computer games, and his collection of styles and looks - although the last two had dropped off somewhat lately, as sleep began to claim a larger share of his time. Today had been a close shave - maybe it was time to see a doctor? Going to the doctor was always an unnerving experience, but on the other hand, it wasn’t six p.m. yet and he was already beginning to feel drowsy.
How had he been able to hear everything he had heard at work? Why did things keep moving about? Keith didn’t believe in ghosts, or the supernatural, so his mind drew a blank as he tried to sort it all out. Maybe he had imagined it? No, Drew had confirmed he was hearing thoughts. Then maybe that meant he’d imagined the discussion with Drew? That route only led to madness, and it also didn’t explain where that shirt had come from or why things kept moving around. Throughout all this, he was still feeling unnaturally tired, no matter how much sleep he got.
Finally, he decided to make an appointment to see a doctor over the weekend, and resolved to just go to bed early tonight and be done with it. The lights went out in his home, and he was asleep almost before he hit the bed.
In the middle of the night, he heard a garbage can fall over, and immediately sat up in bed. A week ago, he’d have dismissed it as a raccoon, but right now, pumped full of fear he was ready to grab the baseball bat from under his bed and take a look.
He crept out of the house under the moonless sky, and headed for the alley between houses. It was empty, except for the one tin garbage can discarded to one side. Maybe he had just been imagining it all along? That was that, first thing in the morning he’d phone a doctor and-
At once he was surrounded by terrible screaming, like a wave of sound had hit him - it had, all around him dirt and grit was flying through the air. He strained to turn and see what was going on, but the sound pierced his mind like a thousand nails on a thousand chalkboards, and he collapsed - the world was split into double vision, the pain was intense. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see huge, laughing man with a scraggly black beard and dreadlocks, wearing patched clothes, seemingly hurling screams at him.
Then, he heard gunshots - that is, he thought he heard them. The sound was strange, warped, as if heard through a funnel. Flashes of light and colour replaced his vision, and Keith was sure he must have been on the verge of death. As suddenly as it had been upon him, it was over, he was left gasping in the alleyway.
Was he going mad? Was this a dream? What was happening to him? Keith staggered to his feet, and immediately came face to face with a complete stranger.
He wore a stainless white suit, with a pure white tie and equally white pants. His shoes were white, his hair was white, and his skin was as pale as any Keith had ever seen. The only thing that wasn’t white on him were his shades, which were built thick like heavy-duty reading glasses.
“We can’t stay, it isn’t safe here!” he said.
“Who... are you?” managed Keith, suddenly wondering where he’d dropped the baseball bat.
“No time, he’ll be back soon! Come on, it’ll be safer in the next street.”
For a moment Keith considered running, but decided to follow the stranger instead. They reached the other end of the alley and took cover on the far side of the street.
“My name is special agent Taps, I’m with the Unknowns.” said the stranger, who flashed a badge Keith had never seen before. “Although I imagine you already know that.”
“No, actually.” said Keith “Seriously though, who are you, and what do you want with me?”
Taps turned away from the alley they’d run down, and gave Keith a careful look. “Oh... so you can’t tell yet? I guess you’re not as far along as we thought.”
“Can you start making sense now?”
“Oh, right, sorry. My name is special agent Taps-”
“You said that already.” said Keith, who peeked around the street corner they were taking cover at.
“Sorry, a little off today. Okay - you’ve been noticing some weird stuff going on, right? Stuff moving around, hearing conversations, that sort of thing?”
“How did you know that?” said Keith, who began to feel anxious about the newcomer’s surprising knowledge on his situation.
“That’s not important right now. What is important is that you get out of here and back to Sanctuary before Auron comes back.” Taps seemed entirely distracted, as if the conversation was more with himself than Keith.
“Look, buddy, I’m not going anywhere until you answer my questions! Who are you? How do you know what’s been going on? Where are you taking me and what happened back there? I heard gunshots.”
Taps sighed, as if settling down for a long speech. “Okay, Keith - we have to make this quick. I’m with a special agency in the United Nations responsible for looking after... special cases. Your powers? Those mean you fall under our jurisdiction, and more importantly, make you a target for people like Marius and his lackey Auron.”
“Wait - I have powers? What, like Superman?”
“Less ‘faster than a speeding bullet’, but yeah, sort of.” Taps gave another anxious look around the area. “It isn’t safe for me to explain all this here, just suffice to say that what you’re becoming is putting you in danger - it’s not your fault, but now we really have to get you to a safe-”
That last word was completely lost, it turned into garbled static the instant Taps tried to speak it. He suddenly registered surprise, but Keith could hear nothing over the screech of static. The sound vibrated through his body, and he could feel himself getting dizzy - the drowsiness was suddenly back, and much stronger than before. As his vision faded, he could see lights and colours swirling around Taps, before he finally lost consciousness altogether. The world sunk back into deep shadow.
Keith didn’t know how long he was out, only that when he awoke, it was still night. He was sitting upright in a clearing, on a log placed before a roaring bonfire. On all sides were trees, that made the night deeper and more oppressive, and the combination of smoke and shadow made seeing anything outside the circle of light difficult.
Despite this, he got the feeling that there were others around him, watching him from the dark. He still felt drowsy, and even looking around became quite difficult. Inside the ring of fire itself, the ragged man with the dreadlocks he’d seen earlier sat with a huge grin, but he said nothing. Finally, Keith became aware of a man sitting nearby on another log, also near the bonfire.
He was wrapped in a black cloak, but his face was visible - it was gaunt to the point of being skeletal, and where Taps had been pale, this man was grey, almost inhumanly so. His hair was a neat black layer, and his frame suggested that he kept in shape. Beyond that, there was nothing else to notice about him, he simply sat there.
“We have waited some time to speak to you, Keith. I am Marius Luther.”
Eventually, Keith recovered enough to speak. “Who are you? Are you with Taps?”
There was some barely contained laughter from the tree-line. The cloaked figure slowly shook his head. “No, we are not. Taps works for a division of the United Nations dedicated to hunting down and enslaving people - those with power, those with abilities that make them hard to control. We are seen as a danger, because our abilities mean we can right wrongs and reshape society in ways that many in power would not like to see. So great is the danger of a few exceptional individuals, that these powers set aside their differences in the United Nations to form a body to hunt us down.
“You are now their latest target, Keith Herring.”
“Bullshit.” said Keith. Nervous energy began pumping through his veins - he’d been kidnapped by madmen! Some sort of cult, maybe. He wanted to run, but inexplicably, he could sense the presence of all those around him, waiting in the shadows.
“Oh really? Your abilities are not as visible as my compatriot Auron’s sonic manipulation” The dreadlocked man grinned, and nodded. “Nor as simple as Taps’ power over light, but think deeply. How can you explain the movements of your belongings? The power to hear the minds of others? Strange dreams slowly becoming premonitions and a red shirt coming straight to your hand? Oh yes, we have watched you for some time, and I assure you, the powers we have observed you wielding are quite real. You are a latent psychic, Keith, one of the most powerful of the Touched.”
He had long lost a handle on the situation, and now had also lost the seatbelt and was headlong into the air - but he wasn’t free falling yet. He needed to buy time to figure this out. “What are the Touched?”
“The Touched are individuals like you and I. People such as Auron, and Taps, people who make up my organization and people who hunt us by the will of those who fear change. We are gifted with the ability to warp reality and unleash abilities humanity had long resigned to myth and legend. With time and training, you could pluck secrets from a secure mind, hurl a car through the sky without lifting a finger, and bring even the strongest, fastest beings to their knees.
“Perhaps it is necessary to give you some history, to help you understand why you are here. The Touched are a persecuted people, though are so few in number, because we cannot be controlled. My organization was formed to use our powers to break free from the usual bounds of humanity, solving the world’s problems through our gifts and casting down tyrants and oppressors through sheer will. A Touched can defeat an army or assassinate any world leader, no matter how secure, because our gifts are beyond the scale of the common man.
“Naturally, this has made us a target, and those world governments - the United States and Europe included - seek to destroy us, by employing their own team of Touched that are brainwashed into believing us nothing more than anarchists and madmen, a threat to be contained, when the only thing we threaten are the thrones of tyrants.”
Keith was stunned. Confused. Unsure. “Then... what do you want with me?”
“As I said, your powers are beyond even many touched - psychics are the rarest of the rare. Whichever side possesses your as-yet sleeping potential would have a serious advantage in this ongoing shadow war. I want you to join us, Keith. Join the Visionaries, and we may overcome the United Nations’ lapdog Orion, and his team of brainwashed slaves. Then, we can reveal corruption and darkness the world over, remaking the world into a better place - a truly free place.”
For some reason, Keith’s exhaustion had been entirely relieved. He felt alert, and full of energy again. Marius smiled, and said “The drowsiness you have felt these past few days were a result of the manifestation of your power. It is unknown where these powers come from, or how they are chosen, but they always come with a period of acute exhaustion followed by a sudden recovery. Most Touched manifest much younger than you, but then Psychics are an exception to the rules anyways.”
Suddenly, a man in a leather jacket, jeans, and black goggles seemed to glide into the middle of the circle of light from above - after the day Keith had been having, this was hardly par for the course. “Marius, Orion’s dogs approach us from the south-west.”
“Damn - they are moving faster than I’d anticipated.” he turned to Keith, and said “We must get you to safety, we can continue our discussion later in a more secure place. Xenon?”
An oriental woman in a black dress and short-cropped hair seemed to appear from the edge of the shadows.
“Take Mr. Herring back the way we came, it is of vital importance he reaches our base before we are forced to retreat.”
Xenon nodded, and took Keith’s hand - he didn’t resist, at this point he was beginning to feel like an observer to his own life. In an instant, he felt shadow washing over them, and they became invisible. Without a word, Xenon led him through the woods, seemingly towards some fixed point deeper in. It wasn’t long before the sound of gunshots, strange noises, and shouting was just audible behind them, but she didn’t stop, and continued to drag Keith along behind her.
Finally, they reached a stump in a clearing. She let go of his hand, rushed forwards, and stomped on the top of the stump - it flipped open, revealing a tunnel.
“Get in.” she said.
Keith hesitated, but took the first step towards the tunnel. Something was wrong though, he could somehow sense that not everything was as it appeared. As he squinted at the stump, the surface of the bark seemed to move and shimmer. A hand made of wood suddenly lunged out, grabbing Xenon by the neck and hurling her into the woods. There was an audible thump.
Keith thought of running, but he was bolted to the ground in awe as the hand stretched out to reveal an arm until a whole person had just ‘climbed out’ of the wood of the stump, made entirely of bark and wood.
Suddenly, the wood and bark faded away, revealing a normal woman beneath. She wore a black jumpsuit, a backpack of gear, and had a noticeably threatening handgun in one hand - and she was shouting. “Come on! We haven’t got much time!”
At this point Keith wasn’t making any decisions for himself. This was getting way out of hand, with visionaries and people climbing out of solid wood. He just stood there, until finally the woman sighed in frustration and walked over to him. “I said come on!” She grabbed Keith by the arm, and with a fair amount of force, yanked him past the stump and to a nearby helicopter.
Inside, Keith could see Taps, as well as several others he was unfamiliar with. The helicopter did have the United Nations emblem painted on one side, which made him hesitate for a moment, but he was pulled aboard nonetheless and the chopper quickly took off, leaving the darkened woods behind.
“Good thing you made it.” said Taps, as he gave a look to Keith. “We were about to depart for Sanctuary when Merge picked up your trail.”
“Huh?” Keith managed, and the woman who had climbed out of the tree - now identified as ‘Merge’ - gave another frustrated sigh.
“Taps isn’t good at explaining things. We managed to follow Auron - the man who abducted you - back to the base camp of your kidnappers. Now we’re trying to get to a safe place so we can explain the situation to you.” She paused, and added “You’re familiar with Stockholm Syndrome, right?”
“That’s... that’s when a hostage feels sympathy for the hostage taker, right?”
“Yeah, well... it looks like you’ve already met Marius.” she frowned. “You’ll have to hear our side of the story when we get back to Sanctuary - let me tell you, the Visionaries aren’t what they sound like.”
“It’ll be a long trip back.” said Taps “You might as well get some sleep.”
Though he didn’t feel as drowsy any more, the overwhelming situation he was in made him happy to take the opportunity to close his eyes for a while. Even with the noise of the chopper and the murmured discussion of the agents aboard, he managed to find rest again, even if only for a little while.
He woke up, and for a few moments imagined it was all a dream, that he was going to wake up, get out of bed, get on to Blake’s bus, arm wrestle with Drew, and get out of work early to see a doctor. There were two things wrong with this scenario: firstly, as he opened his eyes, he saw that he was not at home at all, he was in a conference room, with a mahogany table and neat chairs arranged around it, with plants in the corners of the room and a blank screen covering one wall. Secondly, he remembered that today was Saturday, meaning he wouldn’t be going to work anyways.
“I see you’re awake.” said a deep, soothing voice. The screen lit up, and an old black man appeared on the screen, sitting behind a desk but otherwise apparently nowhere. He had grey hair, neatly trimmed and groomed, and wore a meticulously cared-for old suit.
“Yeah...” said Keith. Unfortunately. He started to feel a passing stomach cramp, and began to wonder when he’d last eaten, although his curiosity was soon drawn to this new face.
“I am Orion, it’s entirely possible that Marius mentioned me while giving you your... introduction to this war of ours.”
“He mentioned you in passing.” said Keith, shiftily. Marius had been a little disturbing, but his condemnations still rang in Keith’s head.
“Well, I’ll just have to try and work around that. Mr Herring, Orion isn’t my real name, as almost everyone else in this war does I use a codename to keep my identity hidden from enemies, as well as from revealing this conflict to law enforcement or the media - what we do is technically outside of the U.N.’s charter, but then again, no other body could be found that could house such an organization as the Special Agents of the Unknown, or ‘The Unknowns’, as some agents have taken to calling us.”
Something went click inside Keith’s head, and he rose to his feet. “Now hold on just one damn minute - who the hell are you, where am I, what is going on!? I’ve been kidnaped, fought over, attacked, and told I’m some sort of psychic chess piece in a war I haven’t even heard of! Get me out of here! Now! Now, or I’ll-”
“Calm down, Keith, please.” said Orion, and once again the deep voice calmed him. “I am sorry for all this, and I’m sorry that we’ve put you through so much already, but if you give me just a few minutes to explain myself, then I hope you can understand why it had to be done.”
A wall-panel slid open, revealing a hallway. Keith eyed it suspiciously “So you’ll explain what’s going on?”
“Yes, Mr. Herring, just step that way.”
Slowly, he did, and entered a brightly lit hallway with the clean, streamlined metallic look of futuristic labs and space stations. Monitors and glass cases lined the walls of the long hallway, and a floating screen hovered nearby. The floating screen flickered, and Orion once again appeared.
“All right... I’m in your hallway.” said Orion “Start making sense.”
“Walk this way.” said Orion, and he began drifting towards one end of the hall. “Orion, thirty years ago, people started manifesting powers for the first time that were completely beyond the norm. There was no genetic indicator or trace, and no common thread between those with the power, the only thing that we know for sure is that around the same time several dozen teenagers and young adults exhibited the ability to alter reality around them.” A screen lit up, showing images of a warped street, with a glass case below showcasing a mirror that gave a twisted reflection. “Early incidents were uncontrolled.
“Eventually, however, those ‘Touched’ with the power were able to bring their abilities under control. This was still during the Cold War, and each nation was eager to recruit those who could change reality to their side. Many were recruited by the CIA, including one Marius Luther.”
As they continued down the hall, Orion’s screen paused next to another wall screen and glass case. Keith looked into the case, and saw an I.D. card for the CIA’s headquarters, with the picture of a much younger, much healthier Marius. The screen showed him in a locked down room, in complete calm as fire washed over him harmlessly.
“The powers of those Touched were varied, but few were as strong as Marius. He was immune to many of the basic laws of physics and thermodynamics, some believe he may be entirely invulnerable. He was the star field agent of the CIA for many years, until one day, during a mission in Bolivia, he snapped.”
The next screen showed a black and white photo of a jungle, torn apart with craters, wreckage, and fire. “He refused an order to kill a warlord whom he had befriended, and the CIA quickly moved to neutralize him. A team of their best Touched were sent in, in what was one of the most public and terrible battles involving supernatural powers.” The screen changed, although the image was now almost impossible to see clearly - blurs were fighting in all manner of ways, it looked to Keith like an abstract painting by a particularly twisted mind.
“Marius showed an unprecedented skill at oratory. Half the agents sent to capture him instead defected, and the fight was so terrible that the very laws of physics were broken in that stretch of Bolivian countryside. That area has been out of bounds for some time. By the end of it, some of those involved in the defection were dead, but others - including Marius - escaped, and were not heard from again for years.
“With the end of the Cold War, new administrations were concerned with how to deal with the Touched. The Soviet Union and the United States abandoned their individual programs as part of a deal to reduce their arsenals, and instead turned over jurisdiction of the Touched to the United Nations in private. Maybe that would have been the end of it, if Marius hadn’t struck again.”
They were reaching the end of the corridor, but one last screen showed a picture Keith had never seen before - the United Nations building in New York twisted and warped like a fun house mirror. “Marius had been sharpening his ideology and his private army of Touched in hiding, and attempted to wipe out the United Nations in one strike. Luckily, those Touched still loyal - including myself - had been transferred to the United Nations and were on hand. It was a close fought thing, but we managed to keep his power from bringing down the tower as well as creating an illusion to hide the incident from the public.”
They reached the end of the corridor, and another wall-panel slid open to reveal a more conventional lobby entrance. “Ever since, Marius has been running the Visionaries, trying to find more Touched and use them to further his goals by any means necessary - and I do mean any. Those who don’t join him, he kills. He has indulged in terror attacks against many major governments and his tactics don’t discriminate for innocent bystanders. His ‘Vision’ for a better world is a bloody one.” His floating screen entered the lobby, and Keith followed.
“All right... so that makes things a little clearer.” said Keith “Why me, though? What makes me so important? Am I one of these ‘Touched’ people?”
“Yes, Keith. In fact, you’re one of the most powerful, but we’ll get to that later. You asked me where you were, and who I am, so I should explain. Firstly, though - I believe you’ve already met Taps? He controls light and colour, and is head of the team trying to capture Marius.”
In the lobby, the team from the chopper lounged around patiently as Keith and Orion’s screen came over to them. Taps lay at east in a chair, his eyes closed and a look of complete rest on his face. “We’ve been introduced.” he replied.
“Good. This team was especially chosen to counter Marius and his close allies’ powers. This is Merge.” The woman from before still wore her jumpsuit, but now a long braid of red hair was visible too. She stood leaning next to a doorway, and nodded. “Merge can join with any inanimate substance, if it’s big enough, and take on its’ properties. She’s also quite an accomplished agent.”
“Looking forwards to working with you.” she said, in a businesslike tone.
“Here, we also have Highrise.” Now Orion turned to a relatively short man with a rangy look and a thick leather jacket. “Incredible ability to jump with strength and momentum that should be far beyond someone of his stature.”
“Howdy.” he said with a grin. Kevin gave an uncomfortable nod back.
“And, last but not least, we have Sureshot, a respected-”
“Oh, let me show him what I do!” The speaker was a grinning young man with tufts of black hair held firmly under a cowboy hat. Beyond that, he wore a casual suit and a holstered pistol - one which he eagerly unholstered. “Okay. Nothing in the clip, see? And - hold on.” He pulled his hat down over his eyes “Now I can’t see either. So watch this!”
The worrisomely blind gunman pointed his pistol behind him, and with great concentration, fired. Keith almost jumped out of his skin as a ghostly bullet came out of the supposedly empty gun and ricocheted up towards the ceiling, off the ceiling and towards a wall, off the wall and into the bull’s-eye of a dartboard behind the reception desk. Besides Keith, the others hardly even noticed.
“Sureshot is an unnaturally skilled marksman.” supplied Orion, as he noted Keith’s shocked expression “He is inexplicably linked to his handgun, and the finest shot on the planet. Well, that should cover introductions for now. Taps? If you could join us in Magellan’s tomb? There is one more thing I should show Mr. Herring.”
Taps gradually got to his feet, and gestured for Keith to follow, which he did. Keith frowned, and said “Just where are we, anyways?”
Orion’s screen paused in mid air, and he said “Oh, of course! I forgot to fill you in on that - Taps, hold on a second. Keith? Go ahead and open our front door.”
Curiously, he crossed the lobby and did so - and immediately regretted it, clinging to the door. “Holy hell! What’s going on?” Directly down was what appeared to be a hundred meter drop to the surface. As he threw terrified looks around, he could see that the entire building was a flying fortress, hovering over the outskirts of the city like a futuristic castle. “How are we still in the air?”
“Partly, because of advanced and experimental steps in aeronautics not yet released to the public, but mostly, it’s thanks to Magellan - to meet him, walk this way.” And with that, Orion’s screen floated through the door Taps held open.
Starting to feel uncomfortable again, Keith hurried over to them, and passed into an elevator. Taps pressed a red button, and he felt the elevator begin to descend.
“This is Sanctuary, Mr. Herring.” said Orion “A base that is both invisible and flying because it does not obey the same laws of reality that you and I have taken for granted. Built to help us track Marius’s movements as well as other dangers, we’ve used it as a training facility, a combat base, and a transport when the Special Agents of the Unknown need to organize. There are many agents throughout the world, but all call Sanctuary home.”
“So... how does it fly like this?”
The elevator doors opened, and revealed what looked like a lab from sci-fi movies - metal catwalks hung from the walls, and large glass tubes went from the floor to the ceiling. Most notably was the central chamber, a metal-encased tube where a man floated as if frozen in time - a stillness that was downright unnatural. Orion and Taps entered with a distinctly reverent air.
“This, Mr. Herring, is your answer. Magellan. More powerful than the Unknowns, or the Visionaries, or Marius. He wasn’t the first Touched, but he is the greatest. The only other confirmed psychic in existence, his power is the mind as well as physics itself.”
Slowly, Keith followed them, keeping his eyes fixed on the man floating in the tube. “Wait, so he’s alive?”
“We don’t know.” said Taps, his voice deep with respect. “When he was, though, he could erase memories, stop a building from collapsing, hold back a tidal wave, and bend reality like a blanket - he was a walking god.”
“Somewhat melodramatic, but not far from the mark.” said Orion. “Magellan was the founder of the Unknowns and one of the survivors of the battle with Marius. Shortly after the end of the Cold War, however, he became terrified of his own power and put himself in a deep coma. He hasn’t woken once since, but his powers still work on a subconscious level, and they’re what hold up Sanctuary.”
“So this... Magellan... he’s like your god?”
“Not quite, no.” said Orion “Without him, though, we wouldn’t be able to protect Sanctuary, or hunt Marius - and in the wrong hands, his powers could be terrible.”
“Okay, you guys aren’t sounding much more sane than that Marius nutjob.” said Keith, feeling mounting frustration - and again, mounting stomach pains “Does this make you the guardian of some sort of messiah? I don’t want anything to do with all this, just send me home - god, first thing in the morning I’m going to the doctors, and maybe a therapist too, this has to be a dream!”
Taps seemed annoyed, and started to speak, but Orion cut him off. “Mr. Herring, what you have to understand here is that, wether you or I like it, you’re now part of the war - blame the hand of fate if you must, but the chance at psychic power is something Marius will hunt to the ends of the Earth. Magellan is what’s given us the edge in this war and keeps it from spilling out into the ‘real world’, and he’s unconscious - Marius wouldn’t think twice of destroying your life to harvest your power for his cause.”
Keith gasped for breath, feeling a mix of stress as well as the mounting pain in his gut. “I... I don’t care! Take the power from me then! I don’t want to help either of you, I just want to get out of he-”
Before he could finish that sentence, the pain became sharp, and he doubled over. Taps rushed forwards and caught him before he hit the floor. Keith gagged, and felt something in his throat. One more dry heave, and a metallic lump came out of his throat about the size of a small battery - a light on one side was flashing.
“A tracker!” cursed Taps “He’s been bugged! This was a set up-”
Instantly, the building shook, and gunshots could be heard up above - as well as the sound of paranormal abilities warping the lobby above their heads.
“Defend Magellan and Keith!” shouted Orion through his screen, before rising from behind his desk and running off-screen “I’ll be down as fast as I can!”
Keith was still gagging on the ground, so Taps helped him up. “Get down the catwalks! Stay on the ground, don’t let them see you! And Keith?”
Keith paused as he moved down the ladder. “Yeah?”
Taps had unholstered his pistol, and now stood between Magellan and the elevator door. “This would be a great time for you to start manifesting some psychic powers, so - y’know, whenever you’re ready.”
Keith nodded, and clambered down under the catwalks, there to take shelter behind a frosted glass tube - if he squinted, he could still see through at what was happening.
The sounds above were of a raging battle, gunshots, screams, and the unusual sounds of powers. Finally, they died down, and a chime indicated the elevator was on the way down. Taps stood calmly and steadily, his gun held lightly in one hand. The doors buzzed briefly as security locks came into place, but a resounding splintering sound shook the room and the door shattered into a thousand tiny fragments.
The first one to exit the elevator was a man in a black raver’s costume. He grinned, and nodded. “Taps! I wondered where you’d gone.”
Taps just nodded, unusually grim. “Culprit. Good work on the door.”
Then followed Xenon, the small oriental woman showing no lasting harm from her earlier encounter with Merge. Then, Auron, who gave Taps a dirty grin and chuckle. After that followed the flying man with the black goggles.
“Still against us, Skylord?” said Taps, as he sized up the newcomer.
“Are you still a puppet of a corrupt cartel of the powerful?” replied Skylord, who hovered a few inches off the ground.
Finally, Marius entered, and in a smooth movement, Taps brought up his pistol and unloaded several shots - each bounced harmlessly away before they even reached their intended target. From behind Marius, a huge, muscular man in black track pants and no shirt - he seemed to be holding an invisible force-field in front of Marius as he advanced, and Taps’ bullets were useless.
“Still trying?” said the muscle man, with a malicious grin.
“Never hurts to try, Parry - unless we’re talking about your mother last night, of course.”
Parry burst out in a huge, deep laugh and said “Same old Taps!”
“Are we quite finished?” said Marius. “Right, If we’re through rehashing old introductions, I’ll be taking Magellan from you now Taps. You can let us, and we’ll kill you quickly, or you can resist, and although we haven’t got time to kill you slowly, know I’d dearly like to. Now stand aside - you already know you’re no match for all of us.”
“Is that so?” said Taps “Depends how many of me there are.”
In a brief flash of light, there were suddenly a room full of Taps. While the other Visionaries looked confused and began lashing out at illusions, Marius moved with purpose towards Magellan and rammed his hand through the glass - it shattered, leaving his hand uncut. Keith realized what was happening a moment before it happened, as the real Taps tried to hit Marius from behind, when Marius suddenly swung round and sent him flying into the wall with a resounding thud. Calmly, Marius turned back to Magellan, and grasped him by the arm, pulling him from his containment.
Slowly, the building began to lose buoyancy. Culprit - the raver who had blasted his way through the security door - touched the wall of the lab, and in a moment it burst outwards, showing the windswept trees and roads that marked the edge of the city. Dawn was coming, and the sun was now just visible on the horizon.
Xenon clambered on to Parry’s back, as the muscle man leapt out the hole - creating a shield to allow him a safe landing. Culprit grabbed on to Skylord, who flew out into the open air. That left Auron and Marius, with Magellan thrown over his shoulder, waiting at the gaping hole in the wall as the building continued to fall.
“Keith...” he began. “I know you’re in here. This building is going to fall and be destroyed, your only hope is to come with us.”
Keith’s mind was racing - what did he do now? Where the hell was Orion? He turned a little to look at Taps’ crumpled body at one side of the room, and back at the gaping hole where Marius waited.
“Don’t give your life up, Keith! Come with us, and help usher in a new age - with Magellan’s power and your potential, we can liberate people from the oppression of world governments and the elite! At last, a chance to bring real democracy and freedom to the world through the awesome might of our power, your power, the power to know all there is to know in the world, to pry secrets from the mind - we can do it!” He looked out the hole, and turned back to the lab. “We’re running out of time, Keith, you have to make a choice soon.”
Slowly, Keith stepped out from behind the pillar. He glanced nervously at Taps’ discarded gun, which lay just a few meters away, and then again at the hole and Marius - and the rapidly approaching ground. He must have had less than a minute left at this point.
What was he going to do? Which side was he going to pick?
Marius, however, could now see him, and he said “You’ve made the right choice, Keith. Auron? Pick him up immediately, we have to hurry.”
Skylord flew back up, hovering outside the hole, and said “Marius! Move quickly, Orion has-”
A streak of green light, like a tiny comet, shot across the lab and struck Skylord in the chest, knocking him out of the air and out of sight. Everyone turned, as Orion entered the lab. He’d taken off his jacket, leaving the vest and shirt, but pulling up the sleeves and pulling on a pair of blackened gloves that now smoked faintly. Entirely calm, he took a few more steps into the room. “You’re taking a dear friend of mine, Marius, and you’re not even asking politely.”
“I don’t have time for you, fool.” said Marius, with a scornful lip “You waste your powers fighting for the very people that enslave you - you are lower than scum. Keith, get over here before-”
Orion’s hand whipped out with speed that belied his age. This time, though, Parry was not here to shield Marius, and the green comet struck him hard, burning his cloak and causing Marius to grunt in pain. Auron dashed to his leader’s side.
“Fine!” Spat Marius “But it is death to stay here! You are all lost!”
With that, he grabbed Auron by the coat and leapt from the hole - Keith dashed over to look out, seeing Marius land in a cloud of dirt, but it seemed that momentum and impact were among his immunities as he walked away unscathed.
“We’re going to crash!” shouted Keith, turning to Orion “What are we going to do?!”
Orion was squatting next to taps, inspecting his injuries. “We’ve got just one chance - get into the shattered tube. With a little luck, it’ll still function and magnify your power to put Sanctuary back in the sky-”
“Are you nuts?! I’m not going into that thing - I’m not about to end up like Magellan!”
“Look down, Keith. We haven’t got much of a choice.”
He shivered at the thought, but there really wasn’t any choice left. With more than a little reluctance, he climbed into the tube and... what? How did he activate his ‘power’? How did it always work in the movies?
He closed his eyes.
Immediately, Keith felt something rise from deep within, like a current that had broken free of a dam. It rose through the tube in which he stood, and the force of it lifted him bodily from the floor. The building shuddered and shook, trying to overcome the massive downward thrust it had built up.
“It’s too late!” he could just hear Orion, muffled, as if through a thick blanket “Brace for impact!”
Now a new sensation ran through his body - the crash was like a terrible convulsion, and Keith struggled to keep himself together. Under the pressure of it all, he once again felt darkness descend, and his mind’s eye went out.
Keith groaned - he was getting sick of waking up all over the damn place.
As his vision returned, he could see he was in the middle of a forest. It looked like the one that bordered on the edge of town, but after the night he’d had anything was possible. In fact, the first thing he really noticed was that it was now day.
As he got to his feet, he could see the members of the Unknowns arranged around the clearing. Not far from where they stood, the majestic metallic fortress of Sanctuary was now ground into the earth - not destroyed, it appeared Keith’s efforts had at least softened the crash. Out of the hanging front doors, Taps and Orion emerged, dragging sealed crates.
“I see you’re awake.” said Orion, with a smile. “Again.”
“You’re going to make a habit of it, like this.” said Taps, who gave a much fainter smile. Keith noticed the bandages that had been hastily wrapped around areas of his torso.
“Did anyone die in the crash?” said Keith, as he rubbed his forehead. It felt like the dam was still broken, only now he was feeling the dam’s point of view.
“No, we were lucky.” said Merge. “Sanctuary’s been put out of commission, though, and we couldn’t recover Magellan.
“Me ‘n Sureshot followed the bastards as far as the town” offered Highrise. “...But we lost their tracks - Xenon’s a crafty one, she is.”
Keith wobbled a little as he stood, but managed to get a grip before saying “Well, great, okay. I guess I’ll just walk home from here - don’t worry, I know the way, and it’s a Saturday anyways, so-”
“What?” said Highrise. “You can’t go, right? Can he go? How will we get Magellan back without a psychic?”
“Now hold on, here, no one’s saying anything yet.” said Merge “Orion, if you can just explain that-”
“I’ve already explained everything I can, Merge.” said Orion, quite calmly, as he seated himself on a crate. Even in the face of chaos and destruction, he was serenely in control. “If Mr. Herring still wants to go, then he is free to. We can’t make him do anything, and now that Marius has captured Magellan, he may well leave Keith alone from now on.”
“Good.” said Keith, and he immediately rounded on his heel and began to walk away. Behind him, there was a moment of stunned silence.
“Wait!” shouted Sureshot, anger rising in his voice “We went through all that - I mean - but - he has to help us, sir! We can’t stop Marius without Sanctuary or a psychic! We couldn’t even stop him with both of those things!”
Keith stopped in his tracks, half from the shouting behind him, and half from the dizziness he was still trying to shake. Behind him, Sureshot gave enraged looks at Keith, then turned to Taps. “Tell him! Tell him, Taps! He can’t just walk away now, we need him!”
Taps took a moment, processing his answer patiently. “Well... Orion is right. We pulled him into this ourselves, he never said he wanted to join the Unknowns, so he isn’t obligated to join us now just because-”
“Now I calls bullshit on that, right now.” said Highrise, getting up from the crate he was sitting on. “Marius is a goddamn mad man - a terrorist. Whatever he’s planning will probably kill a lot of people, or screw a lot of people up. Can’t we deputize him, or something?”
“No, not really.” said Orion, still as calm as ever. “We technically have no legal authority in this situation, and if Marius is successful, then there would likely be no courts left to try him in for refusing to help us, or whatever charge we could bring to bear. Not to mention that we’d also then have to reveal the Unknowns, which besides being a verbal paradox would generally be a bad idea.”
“If I may, sir.” said Merge, it was clear her voice was just barely restrained. “Marius and the Visionaries found Sanctuary because of Keith, and the bug he was carrying. Not to mention your account of the events in the lab show he made no effort to resist when Marius took Magellan, resulting in considerable harm to Taps.” The last part of her last line betrayed a slight drop of concern by the serious officer. “In fact, many of our current problems can be directly blamed on Keith’s-”
“No, Merge.” said Orion, now using a firmer tone. “It was our choice to bring him into Sanctuary without testing for bugs, and we also chose to try and recruit him in the middle of the night. We have yet to give him a reason to trust us, or side with us, that Marius has not countered with his oratory - something all of you at one time or another felt the sway of.” The agents began to look uncomfortable, and the protestations dropped off.
Satisfied that he had reassumed authority, Orion said “Keith, you are free to go - the most I can do is ask for your help. Whatever Marius is planning will have far-reaching repercussions, and we will do our all to stop him. If you do go, I must warn you that should we fail the city may no longer be safe. Leave, if you can, or take shelter.
“I’ve already told you everything there is to the situation, and by now you already understand the stiff odds we’re facing. Taps is wounded, and I’m getting too old to fight with Marius. He may even have found ways to draw power from Magellan, and at that point I don’t think even I could stop him. If you choose not to help us, then just walk away.”
Good. Thought Keith, but his feet didn’t move. He looked towards where the forest thinned, and the edge of civilization waited, but something was starting to move in his mind. He felt uncertainty.
Even if he joined this war, did he know where his loyalties lie? Was it with Marius’s revolution, or Orion’s peacekeepers? He didn’t even want to fight a war! He wanted to go home! He wanted to try on the red shirt again and go to The Patio with Liz, and arm wrestled Drew, and endure Blake’s morning energy, and come home tired and bored.
And yet... Keith knew even before he finished that thought, that he couldn’t go. Not now that he knew. He’d spent a whole night seized with fear, confusion, and anger, while people fought over powers he had never felt or seen. Now that he’d finally learnt the truth, however, he felt a strange sense of peace. Could he even go back? Could he take another day of programming computers at Ulysses, knowing what was going on?
Keith turned back to the Unknowns, who waited in silence, looking at him from amongst the salvage of their wrecked base, just as weary as he was. Finally, he sighed, and shook his head. “I’m in.”
Chapter 1
Keith Herring was just one of the programming worker drones for Ulysses Software. A long job, full of long days, and once he got home all he wanted to do was sleep - this night was no different.
The young man, scrawny as can be and wearing an ill-fitting suit, fumbled with the key to his nondescript house. He finally managed to get the door open and dragged his briefcase behind him into the dark lounge. Keith dropped his case on the kitchen table on top of a stack of discarded newspapers, unanswered mail, and assorted junk before entering his bedroom, and there to fall immediately asleep in his clothes.
Some life.
With the front door still hanging open, with his suitcase gently sliding off the table, with cool breezes sending springtime chill through his house, Keith was still able to sleep soundly. His dreams were a kaleidoscope of lives more interesting than his, the offspring of a tired mind and too much coding. All in all, you couldn’t have picked his life out from a crowd or recognized him at a glance - just another ordinary face, out in the world.
It probably would have interested him to know that as he slept soundly, around him something decidedly abnormal was taking place. He didn’t know, however, and so his normal life continued.
***
*Bzzzzzt!*
Keith’s eyes flashed open at the alarm, and he began to stir. Morning light fell on him from a window, which prompted a groan. He ran his fingers through thick brown hair, and turned to look at the clock that had buzzed. Eight o’clock, it mercilessly read.
“Oh hell.” he said, leaping from bed and hurriedly brushing his suit to be presentable. He rushed out of his bedroom and got into the bathroom, with no time to wonder what had possessed him to leave the remote control there. A quick shave and tooth-brushing later, he was out again combing with one hand and adjusting his tie with the other. Keith grabbed his wallet from the table, and reached up to take his briefcase from atop the fridge-
-Wait. The fridge? What was it doing... Oh wait, breakfast! Keith opened the fridge and grabbed an apple. Now ready to go, he stopped to see that somehow leaves had gotten blown into his room. Puzzled, he unlocked and opened the door and kicked the leaves out. Ready to go, he pulled the door to behind him, and made a mad dash for the bus stop.
What he hadn’t noticed was that his alarm clock had ran out of batteries three days ago.
So, with his briefcase in one hand, and a half-eaten apple in the other, he made it to the bus stop, humbly beginning one of the most important days of Keith’s life.
***
Keith got on the bus, nodding to Blake the bus driver and remembering to drop a quarter in the slot. “Morning Blake.”
“Mornin’ Keith.” he chirped “Got a big day ahead?”. Blake was a morning person, so Keith offered up a polite smile and a nod, then shuffled off to the back. He sat in his usual grime-free seat, and began to read the adverts - was there much else to do on a bus?
A new one for beer had been added, where a muscular man downed a bottle while two gorgeous girls hung on his mammoth arms. Keith rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Who came up with this stuff, anyways? Next to him, an old man with a springtime scarf wrapped tightly around his neck gave him a silent nod of agreement. Such was bus social etiquette.
All the regulars filed onto or off of the bus at regular intervals, until quite unexpectedly, at the corner of Winchester and Marshall, two new arrivals - a sullen goth couple - got on. With a curious eye, he watched them pass and sit right at the back, there to make out in an unpleasantly public show of affection. Keith just turned his focus further to the front, ignoring them as best he could.
At last, the bus reached his stop, as it had hundreds of times before, and he got off in front of Ulysses Software’s office building.
“Another day, another dollar.” said Blake pleasantly as Keith went down the steps of the bus.
“Your optimism’s an example to us all, Blake.” replied Keith with a grin, and he left the bus behind to begin the daily grind. For a second, behind him, the bus stuttered.
“That’s weird.” said Blake “Who turned the parking break on?” He flicked it back off, and the bus drove away.
***
“Ah, sweet coffee.” declared Keith. He took the pot with great reverence from its’ stand and poured a large cup of molten black ooze. The offices that the programming staff worked in all surrounded a central break room, complete with meeting table, motivational poster, and most importantly of all - the holy coffee maker.
“Hey Keith!” said Drew, another programmer, as he entered the room. “Pour me a cup of that black magic, will you?”
Keith chuckled “Gladly. I see you trimmed back the beard a little.”
“Just a little. Chicks dig the beard. Everyone knows a black man with a beard is someone you don’t mess with.” He eagerly took the cup from his friend and downed half the burning contents in one go.
“Drew, you still cry when you watch Old Yeller, no one’s going to mistake you for a tough guy.”
“Hey, hey, the beard is more powerful than you’d think.” said Drew. “Remember that biblical story of the guy with the hair which made him a super man? Same deal.”
“Oh really?” Keith crunched his empty styrofoam cup in his hand. “Well let’s give it a try, Samson, right now.”
“It’s on!”
The two dashed to opposite sides of the conference table, and started working a fierce arm wrestling match. It was as they strained and grunted to push the other over that the break room’s door opened, and Liz walked in. She gave them a mock look of horror over her glasses. “I can see I’ve walked in on something. A little male bonding, maybe?”
“Liz! Great timing!” growled Drew as he struggled to move Keith. “You’re just in time to see me beat this geek once and for all!”
“Not likely!” countered Keith, under a renewed effort to bring down Drew. “And for the record, who is it who has the whole Transformers series on DVD?”
“Hey, Transformers are still cool.”
“Wasting time in the break room is not, however.” said a new arrival. Behind Liz, the bald, serious, and (Keith liked to think) seriously overweight Marcus entered - head programmer. “The work day started two minutes ago, why aren’t you in your seats?”
Keith and Drew quickly got back up, and looked awkward “Uh... just getting some coffee.” Keith mumbled.
“Well, you’ve had your coffee, now get to work.” He looked Keith up and down, and added “While we’re at it, what’s the matter with you? Your suit looks like you slept in it all night. Try and look presentable when you’re in the workplace, got it?” He left them just as quickly as he had came.
“Aw, too bad.” said Liz “The world may never know which of you is the bigger geek.”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” grumbled Keith. The three of them filed out of the break room and off to work.
***
Keith worked in complete silence. His office, adorned with posters, post-it notes, calendars, reminders, newspaper cutouts, and the occasional doodle, was a sort of controlled chaos. The only constants were the table, the computer, and the silence. In his own world of variable, triggers, and switches, he made the guts for this application or that device, hammering it out all day long with almost nothing to break up the monotony. Today was a little different.
Today, he could hear conversation. His silent meditation was broken, as just outside his door he could hear the faint whisper of Marcus’s voice.
“Twice now in one week... getting unreliable... do I have the authority?.. hard worker... hard to fire hard workers...”
Confused, Keith quietly rose from his desk and opened his door. Marcus was indeed across the hall, but he was entirely alone, reading a printout at the company printer in the corner.
“Hey... uh... Marcus?” He asked, feeling awkward.
“What is it, Keith?”
“Was that you a minute ago saying something.”
“Uh... no, Keith. It’s just me out here.”
“Oh. All right then...” He closed the door, and sat back down. Keith turned his focus back to code, and tried to trace the location of a particular bug that continued to cause the application he was working on to restart itself.
Again, he could hear a voice - this time, Drew. “If the switch keeps turning on before the server restarts, then maybe the problem is that the command is resumed after the server restart, meaning the command is still carried out even if the file is wiped.”
That was especially weird, Drew’s office was next to his, but the wall between them was solid enough to block out murmurs and low chatting. Keith minimized the program he was working on and sent an instant message to Drew saying “Have you tried checking the ram to see if it’s got a record of performing the action after the restart?”
The reply popped up. “Uh... no... how did you know what I was working on?”
“I could hear you through the wall.”
“What? I wasn’t saying anything.”
Keith decided to drop it for now, and focus on his work. Two other programmers walked by outside his office, and as they passed he was sure he could hear the snatches of programming code they were discussing... or not discussing.
Suddenly worried, Keith began to run his hand through his hair. He quickly crossed the hall into the break room - by now the voices were like a very faint, low hum. He grabbed a cup and poured himself a cup of coffee, downing it fast - and gagging, as he burnt his tongue. He breathed deeply, closed his eyes, waited...
...And the voices went away. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Rough night?” Inquired Liz, as she stopped in front of the open break room door.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Sure.” He sighed. “Probably just not getting enough sleep these days.” Really? Was twelve hours not enough? He hardly did anything else besides work and sleep these days.
“Well, this is your lucky day then.” said Liz with a smile. “Don’t tell me you forgot? It’s a half day, they need to close early for the fumigators.”
Immediately, Keith perked up. “Really? I’d completely forgotten - great! Maybe I can get some more sleep.”
“Some of us are going out for an early dinner at The Patio, you want to come with?”
“Uh... no, I better not.” said Keith, still thinking of the voices. “I’ll just have an early night.”
“Okay, that’s cool.” Liz said “See you Monday.”
“Right.” he said, before reaching for the coffee pot to pour another cup. His hand felt nothing, and Keith looked only to see that the pot had been moved off its’ stand and down the table. That was weird, he was almost sure he’d put it back on the stand...
***
“It looks good.” said the sales assistant, Penny, as Keith measured himself up in the mirror.
“Really? You don’t think it’s a little too... I don’t know... Rastafarian? The collar’s a little messed up too...” He tried another pose “Have you got anything like this in a red?”
“Let me check.” said Penny, leaving Keith to admire himself more - nothing helped him unwind more than trying out new looks.
The shirt was good, no mistake. He’d wanted something festive, colourful, and casual. On the other hand, he didn’t want to look like a Californian surfer. He spotted the proffed red shirt in the corner of his eye and took it, draping it over his chest and looking in the mirror. “Now that’s way better, thanks.”
“Er... thanks for what?” said Penny, standing to one side, holding another of the same shirt in her hands. Keith looked at her, looked at the shirt he was holding, then looked around behind him to see if anyone was there.
“Oh, um, I found the one I was looking for. Thanks though.” Again, he ran his hand through his hair and bought the shirt quickly - the one Penny had found.
***
Home again, Keith leaned back on the door and sighed. What a day. He threw his briefcase down on the floor, threw his suit into the wash basket, and changed into his ‘lounging’ clothes to unwind on the couch. Where had he left the remote? Ah, here it was, on the coffee table.
It felt good to stretch out, watch some TV, and generally waste time after the day’s events. He did his best not to think about it, but every so often - especially when commercials rolled around - his mind drifted back towards wondering what exactly had happened.
Keith lived alone, a quiet existence punctured with work, computer games, and his collection of styles and looks - although the last two had dropped off somewhat lately, as sleep began to claim a larger share of his time. Today had been a close shave - maybe it was time to see a doctor? Going to the doctor was always an unnerving experience, but on the other hand, it wasn’t six p.m. yet and he was already beginning to feel drowsy.
How had he been able to hear everything he had heard at work? Why did things keep moving about? Keith didn’t believe in ghosts, or the supernatural, so his mind drew a blank as he tried to sort it all out. Maybe he had imagined it? No, Drew had confirmed he was hearing thoughts. Then maybe that meant he’d imagined the discussion with Drew? That route only led to madness, and it also didn’t explain where that shirt had come from or why things kept moving around. Throughout all this, he was still feeling unnaturally tired, no matter how much sleep he got.
Finally, he decided to make an appointment to see a doctor over the weekend, and resolved to just go to bed early tonight and be done with it. The lights went out in his home, and he was asleep almost before he hit the bed.
***
In the middle of the night, he heard a garbage can fall over, and immediately sat up in bed. A week ago, he’d have dismissed it as a raccoon, but right now, pumped full of fear he was ready to grab the baseball bat from under his bed and take a look.
He crept out of the house under the moonless sky, and headed for the alley between houses. It was empty, except for the one tin garbage can discarded to one side. Maybe he had just been imagining it all along? That was that, first thing in the morning he’d phone a doctor and-
At once he was surrounded by terrible screaming, like a wave of sound had hit him - it had, all around him dirt and grit was flying through the air. He strained to turn and see what was going on, but the sound pierced his mind like a thousand nails on a thousand chalkboards, and he collapsed - the world was split into double vision, the pain was intense. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see huge, laughing man with a scraggly black beard and dreadlocks, wearing patched clothes, seemingly hurling screams at him.
Then, he heard gunshots - that is, he thought he heard them. The sound was strange, warped, as if heard through a funnel. Flashes of light and colour replaced his vision, and Keith was sure he must have been on the verge of death. As suddenly as it had been upon him, it was over, he was left gasping in the alleyway.
Was he going mad? Was this a dream? What was happening to him? Keith staggered to his feet, and immediately came face to face with a complete stranger.
He wore a stainless white suit, with a pure white tie and equally white pants. His shoes were white, his hair was white, and his skin was as pale as any Keith had ever seen. The only thing that wasn’t white on him were his shades, which were built thick like heavy-duty reading glasses.
“We can’t stay, it isn’t safe here!” he said.
“Who... are you?” managed Keith, suddenly wondering where he’d dropped the baseball bat.
“No time, he’ll be back soon! Come on, it’ll be safer in the next street.”
For a moment Keith considered running, but decided to follow the stranger instead. They reached the other end of the alley and took cover on the far side of the street.
“My name is special agent Taps, I’m with the Unknowns.” said the stranger, who flashed a badge Keith had never seen before. “Although I imagine you already know that.”
“No, actually.” said Keith “Seriously though, who are you, and what do you want with me?”
Taps turned away from the alley they’d run down, and gave Keith a careful look. “Oh... so you can’t tell yet? I guess you’re not as far along as we thought.”
“Can you start making sense now?”
“Oh, right, sorry. My name is special agent Taps-”
“You said that already.” said Keith, who peeked around the street corner they were taking cover at.
“Sorry, a little off today. Okay - you’ve been noticing some weird stuff going on, right? Stuff moving around, hearing conversations, that sort of thing?”
“How did you know that?” said Keith, who began to feel anxious about the newcomer’s surprising knowledge on his situation.
“That’s not important right now. What is important is that you get out of here and back to Sanctuary before Auron comes back.” Taps seemed entirely distracted, as if the conversation was more with himself than Keith.
“Look, buddy, I’m not going anywhere until you answer my questions! Who are you? How do you know what’s been going on? Where are you taking me and what happened back there? I heard gunshots.”
Taps sighed, as if settling down for a long speech. “Okay, Keith - we have to make this quick. I’m with a special agency in the United Nations responsible for looking after... special cases. Your powers? Those mean you fall under our jurisdiction, and more importantly, make you a target for people like Marius and his lackey Auron.”
“Wait - I have powers? What, like Superman?”
“Less ‘faster than a speeding bullet’, but yeah, sort of.” Taps gave another anxious look around the area. “It isn’t safe for me to explain all this here, just suffice to say that what you’re becoming is putting you in danger - it’s not your fault, but now we really have to get you to a safe-”
That last word was completely lost, it turned into garbled static the instant Taps tried to speak it. He suddenly registered surprise, but Keith could hear nothing over the screech of static. The sound vibrated through his body, and he could feel himself getting dizzy - the drowsiness was suddenly back, and much stronger than before. As his vision faded, he could see lights and colours swirling around Taps, before he finally lost consciousness altogether. The world sunk back into deep shadow.
***
Keith didn’t know how long he was out, only that when he awoke, it was still night. He was sitting upright in a clearing, on a log placed before a roaring bonfire. On all sides were trees, that made the night deeper and more oppressive, and the combination of smoke and shadow made seeing anything outside the circle of light difficult.
Despite this, he got the feeling that there were others around him, watching him from the dark. He still felt drowsy, and even looking around became quite difficult. Inside the ring of fire itself, the ragged man with the dreadlocks he’d seen earlier sat with a huge grin, but he said nothing. Finally, Keith became aware of a man sitting nearby on another log, also near the bonfire.
He was wrapped in a black cloak, but his face was visible - it was gaunt to the point of being skeletal, and where Taps had been pale, this man was grey, almost inhumanly so. His hair was a neat black layer, and his frame suggested that he kept in shape. Beyond that, there was nothing else to notice about him, he simply sat there.
“We have waited some time to speak to you, Keith. I am Marius Luther.”
Eventually, Keith recovered enough to speak. “Who are you? Are you with Taps?”
There was some barely contained laughter from the tree-line. The cloaked figure slowly shook his head. “No, we are not. Taps works for a division of the United Nations dedicated to hunting down and enslaving people - those with power, those with abilities that make them hard to control. We are seen as a danger, because our abilities mean we can right wrongs and reshape society in ways that many in power would not like to see. So great is the danger of a few exceptional individuals, that these powers set aside their differences in the United Nations to form a body to hunt us down.
“You are now their latest target, Keith Herring.”
“Bullshit.” said Keith. Nervous energy began pumping through his veins - he’d been kidnapped by madmen! Some sort of cult, maybe. He wanted to run, but inexplicably, he could sense the presence of all those around him, waiting in the shadows.
“Oh really? Your abilities are not as visible as my compatriot Auron’s sonic manipulation” The dreadlocked man grinned, and nodded. “Nor as simple as Taps’ power over light, but think deeply. How can you explain the movements of your belongings? The power to hear the minds of others? Strange dreams slowly becoming premonitions and a red shirt coming straight to your hand? Oh yes, we have watched you for some time, and I assure you, the powers we have observed you wielding are quite real. You are a latent psychic, Keith, one of the most powerful of the Touched.”
He had long lost a handle on the situation, and now had also lost the seatbelt and was headlong into the air - but he wasn’t free falling yet. He needed to buy time to figure this out. “What are the Touched?”
“The Touched are individuals like you and I. People such as Auron, and Taps, people who make up my organization and people who hunt us by the will of those who fear change. We are gifted with the ability to warp reality and unleash abilities humanity had long resigned to myth and legend. With time and training, you could pluck secrets from a secure mind, hurl a car through the sky without lifting a finger, and bring even the strongest, fastest beings to their knees.
“Perhaps it is necessary to give you some history, to help you understand why you are here. The Touched are a persecuted people, though are so few in number, because we cannot be controlled. My organization was formed to use our powers to break free from the usual bounds of humanity, solving the world’s problems through our gifts and casting down tyrants and oppressors through sheer will. A Touched can defeat an army or assassinate any world leader, no matter how secure, because our gifts are beyond the scale of the common man.
“Naturally, this has made us a target, and those world governments - the United States and Europe included - seek to destroy us, by employing their own team of Touched that are brainwashed into believing us nothing more than anarchists and madmen, a threat to be contained, when the only thing we threaten are the thrones of tyrants.”
Keith was stunned. Confused. Unsure. “Then... what do you want with me?”
“As I said, your powers are beyond even many touched - psychics are the rarest of the rare. Whichever side possesses your as-yet sleeping potential would have a serious advantage in this ongoing shadow war. I want you to join us, Keith. Join the Visionaries, and we may overcome the United Nations’ lapdog Orion, and his team of brainwashed slaves. Then, we can reveal corruption and darkness the world over, remaking the world into a better place - a truly free place.”
For some reason, Keith’s exhaustion had been entirely relieved. He felt alert, and full of energy again. Marius smiled, and said “The drowsiness you have felt these past few days were a result of the manifestation of your power. It is unknown where these powers come from, or how they are chosen, but they always come with a period of acute exhaustion followed by a sudden recovery. Most Touched manifest much younger than you, but then Psychics are an exception to the rules anyways.”
Suddenly, a man in a leather jacket, jeans, and black goggles seemed to glide into the middle of the circle of light from above - after the day Keith had been having, this was hardly par for the course. “Marius, Orion’s dogs approach us from the south-west.”
“Damn - they are moving faster than I’d anticipated.” he turned to Keith, and said “We must get you to safety, we can continue our discussion later in a more secure place. Xenon?”
An oriental woman in a black dress and short-cropped hair seemed to appear from the edge of the shadows.
“Take Mr. Herring back the way we came, it is of vital importance he reaches our base before we are forced to retreat.”
Xenon nodded, and took Keith’s hand - he didn’t resist, at this point he was beginning to feel like an observer to his own life. In an instant, he felt shadow washing over them, and they became invisible. Without a word, Xenon led him through the woods, seemingly towards some fixed point deeper in. It wasn’t long before the sound of gunshots, strange noises, and shouting was just audible behind them, but she didn’t stop, and continued to drag Keith along behind her.
Finally, they reached a stump in a clearing. She let go of his hand, rushed forwards, and stomped on the top of the stump - it flipped open, revealing a tunnel.
“Get in.” she said.
Keith hesitated, but took the first step towards the tunnel. Something was wrong though, he could somehow sense that not everything was as it appeared. As he squinted at the stump, the surface of the bark seemed to move and shimmer. A hand made of wood suddenly lunged out, grabbing Xenon by the neck and hurling her into the woods. There was an audible thump.
Keith thought of running, but he was bolted to the ground in awe as the hand stretched out to reveal an arm until a whole person had just ‘climbed out’ of the wood of the stump, made entirely of bark and wood.
Suddenly, the wood and bark faded away, revealing a normal woman beneath. She wore a black jumpsuit, a backpack of gear, and had a noticeably threatening handgun in one hand - and she was shouting. “Come on! We haven’t got much time!”
At this point Keith wasn’t making any decisions for himself. This was getting way out of hand, with visionaries and people climbing out of solid wood. He just stood there, until finally the woman sighed in frustration and walked over to him. “I said come on!” She grabbed Keith by the arm, and with a fair amount of force, yanked him past the stump and to a nearby helicopter.
Inside, Keith could see Taps, as well as several others he was unfamiliar with. The helicopter did have the United Nations emblem painted on one side, which made him hesitate for a moment, but he was pulled aboard nonetheless and the chopper quickly took off, leaving the darkened woods behind.
“Good thing you made it.” said Taps, as he gave a look to Keith. “We were about to depart for Sanctuary when Merge picked up your trail.”
“Huh?” Keith managed, and the woman who had climbed out of the tree - now identified as ‘Merge’ - gave another frustrated sigh.
“Taps isn’t good at explaining things. We managed to follow Auron - the man who abducted you - back to the base camp of your kidnappers. Now we’re trying to get to a safe place so we can explain the situation to you.” She paused, and added “You’re familiar with Stockholm Syndrome, right?”
“That’s... that’s when a hostage feels sympathy for the hostage taker, right?”
“Yeah, well... it looks like you’ve already met Marius.” she frowned. “You’ll have to hear our side of the story when we get back to Sanctuary - let me tell you, the Visionaries aren’t what they sound like.”
“It’ll be a long trip back.” said Taps “You might as well get some sleep.”
Though he didn’t feel as drowsy any more, the overwhelming situation he was in made him happy to take the opportunity to close his eyes for a while. Even with the noise of the chopper and the murmured discussion of the agents aboard, he managed to find rest again, even if only for a little while.
Chapter 2
He woke up, and for a few moments imagined it was all a dream, that he was going to wake up, get out of bed, get on to Blake’s bus, arm wrestle with Drew, and get out of work early to see a doctor. There were two things wrong with this scenario: firstly, as he opened his eyes, he saw that he was not at home at all, he was in a conference room, with a mahogany table and neat chairs arranged around it, with plants in the corners of the room and a blank screen covering one wall. Secondly, he remembered that today was Saturday, meaning he wouldn’t be going to work anyways.
“I see you’re awake.” said a deep, soothing voice. The screen lit up, and an old black man appeared on the screen, sitting behind a desk but otherwise apparently nowhere. He had grey hair, neatly trimmed and groomed, and wore a meticulously cared-for old suit.
“Yeah...” said Keith. Unfortunately. He started to feel a passing stomach cramp, and began to wonder when he’d last eaten, although his curiosity was soon drawn to this new face.
“I am Orion, it’s entirely possible that Marius mentioned me while giving you your... introduction to this war of ours.”
“He mentioned you in passing.” said Keith, shiftily. Marius had been a little disturbing, but his condemnations still rang in Keith’s head.
“Well, I’ll just have to try and work around that. Mr Herring, Orion isn’t my real name, as almost everyone else in this war does I use a codename to keep my identity hidden from enemies, as well as from revealing this conflict to law enforcement or the media - what we do is technically outside of the U.N.’s charter, but then again, no other body could be found that could house such an organization as the Special Agents of the Unknown, or ‘The Unknowns’, as some agents have taken to calling us.”
Something went click inside Keith’s head, and he rose to his feet. “Now hold on just one damn minute - who the hell are you, where am I, what is going on!? I’ve been kidnaped, fought over, attacked, and told I’m some sort of psychic chess piece in a war I haven’t even heard of! Get me out of here! Now! Now, or I’ll-”
“Calm down, Keith, please.” said Orion, and once again the deep voice calmed him. “I am sorry for all this, and I’m sorry that we’ve put you through so much already, but if you give me just a few minutes to explain myself, then I hope you can understand why it had to be done.”
A wall-panel slid open, revealing a hallway. Keith eyed it suspiciously “So you’ll explain what’s going on?”
“Yes, Mr. Herring, just step that way.”
Slowly, he did, and entered a brightly lit hallway with the clean, streamlined metallic look of futuristic labs and space stations. Monitors and glass cases lined the walls of the long hallway, and a floating screen hovered nearby. The floating screen flickered, and Orion once again appeared.
“All right... I’m in your hallway.” said Orion “Start making sense.”
“Walk this way.” said Orion, and he began drifting towards one end of the hall. “Orion, thirty years ago, people started manifesting powers for the first time that were completely beyond the norm. There was no genetic indicator or trace, and no common thread between those with the power, the only thing that we know for sure is that around the same time several dozen teenagers and young adults exhibited the ability to alter reality around them.” A screen lit up, showing images of a warped street, with a glass case below showcasing a mirror that gave a twisted reflection. “Early incidents were uncontrolled.
“Eventually, however, those ‘Touched’ with the power were able to bring their abilities under control. This was still during the Cold War, and each nation was eager to recruit those who could change reality to their side. Many were recruited by the CIA, including one Marius Luther.”
As they continued down the hall, Orion’s screen paused next to another wall screen and glass case. Keith looked into the case, and saw an I.D. card for the CIA’s headquarters, with the picture of a much younger, much healthier Marius. The screen showed him in a locked down room, in complete calm as fire washed over him harmlessly.
“The powers of those Touched were varied, but few were as strong as Marius. He was immune to many of the basic laws of physics and thermodynamics, some believe he may be entirely invulnerable. He was the star field agent of the CIA for many years, until one day, during a mission in Bolivia, he snapped.”
The next screen showed a black and white photo of a jungle, torn apart with craters, wreckage, and fire. “He refused an order to kill a warlord whom he had befriended, and the CIA quickly moved to neutralize him. A team of their best Touched were sent in, in what was one of the most public and terrible battles involving supernatural powers.” The screen changed, although the image was now almost impossible to see clearly - blurs were fighting in all manner of ways, it looked to Keith like an abstract painting by a particularly twisted mind.
“Marius showed an unprecedented skill at oratory. Half the agents sent to capture him instead defected, and the fight was so terrible that the very laws of physics were broken in that stretch of Bolivian countryside. That area has been out of bounds for some time. By the end of it, some of those involved in the defection were dead, but others - including Marius - escaped, and were not heard from again for years.
“With the end of the Cold War, new administrations were concerned with how to deal with the Touched. The Soviet Union and the United States abandoned their individual programs as part of a deal to reduce their arsenals, and instead turned over jurisdiction of the Touched to the United Nations in private. Maybe that would have been the end of it, if Marius hadn’t struck again.”
They were reaching the end of the corridor, but one last screen showed a picture Keith had never seen before - the United Nations building in New York twisted and warped like a fun house mirror. “Marius had been sharpening his ideology and his private army of Touched in hiding, and attempted to wipe out the United Nations in one strike. Luckily, those Touched still loyal - including myself - had been transferred to the United Nations and were on hand. It was a close fought thing, but we managed to keep his power from bringing down the tower as well as creating an illusion to hide the incident from the public.”
They reached the end of the corridor, and another wall-panel slid open to reveal a more conventional lobby entrance. “Ever since, Marius has been running the Visionaries, trying to find more Touched and use them to further his goals by any means necessary - and I do mean any. Those who don’t join him, he kills. He has indulged in terror attacks against many major governments and his tactics don’t discriminate for innocent bystanders. His ‘Vision’ for a better world is a bloody one.” His floating screen entered the lobby, and Keith followed.
“All right... so that makes things a little clearer.” said Keith “Why me, though? What makes me so important? Am I one of these ‘Touched’ people?”
“Yes, Keith. In fact, you’re one of the most powerful, but we’ll get to that later. You asked me where you were, and who I am, so I should explain. Firstly, though - I believe you’ve already met Taps? He controls light and colour, and is head of the team trying to capture Marius.”
In the lobby, the team from the chopper lounged around patiently as Keith and Orion’s screen came over to them. Taps lay at east in a chair, his eyes closed and a look of complete rest on his face. “We’ve been introduced.” he replied.
“Good. This team was especially chosen to counter Marius and his close allies’ powers. This is Merge.” The woman from before still wore her jumpsuit, but now a long braid of red hair was visible too. She stood leaning next to a doorway, and nodded. “Merge can join with any inanimate substance, if it’s big enough, and take on its’ properties. She’s also quite an accomplished agent.”
“Looking forwards to working with you.” she said, in a businesslike tone.
“Here, we also have Highrise.” Now Orion turned to a relatively short man with a rangy look and a thick leather jacket. “Incredible ability to jump with strength and momentum that should be far beyond someone of his stature.”
“Howdy.” he said with a grin. Kevin gave an uncomfortable nod back.
“And, last but not least, we have Sureshot, a respected-”
“Oh, let me show him what I do!” The speaker was a grinning young man with tufts of black hair held firmly under a cowboy hat. Beyond that, he wore a casual suit and a holstered pistol - one which he eagerly unholstered. “Okay. Nothing in the clip, see? And - hold on.” He pulled his hat down over his eyes “Now I can’t see either. So watch this!”
The worrisomely blind gunman pointed his pistol behind him, and with great concentration, fired. Keith almost jumped out of his skin as a ghostly bullet came out of the supposedly empty gun and ricocheted up towards the ceiling, off the ceiling and towards a wall, off the wall and into the bull’s-eye of a dartboard behind the reception desk. Besides Keith, the others hardly even noticed.
“Sureshot is an unnaturally skilled marksman.” supplied Orion, as he noted Keith’s shocked expression “He is inexplicably linked to his handgun, and the finest shot on the planet. Well, that should cover introductions for now. Taps? If you could join us in Magellan’s tomb? There is one more thing I should show Mr. Herring.”
Taps gradually got to his feet, and gestured for Keith to follow, which he did. Keith frowned, and said “Just where are we, anyways?”
Orion’s screen paused in mid air, and he said “Oh, of course! I forgot to fill you in on that - Taps, hold on a second. Keith? Go ahead and open our front door.”
Curiously, he crossed the lobby and did so - and immediately regretted it, clinging to the door. “Holy hell! What’s going on?” Directly down was what appeared to be a hundred meter drop to the surface. As he threw terrified looks around, he could see that the entire building was a flying fortress, hovering over the outskirts of the city like a futuristic castle. “How are we still in the air?”
“Partly, because of advanced and experimental steps in aeronautics not yet released to the public, but mostly, it’s thanks to Magellan - to meet him, walk this way.” And with that, Orion’s screen floated through the door Taps held open.
Starting to feel uncomfortable again, Keith hurried over to them, and passed into an elevator. Taps pressed a red button, and he felt the elevator begin to descend.
“This is Sanctuary, Mr. Herring.” said Orion “A base that is both invisible and flying because it does not obey the same laws of reality that you and I have taken for granted. Built to help us track Marius’s movements as well as other dangers, we’ve used it as a training facility, a combat base, and a transport when the Special Agents of the Unknown need to organize. There are many agents throughout the world, but all call Sanctuary home.”
“So... how does it fly like this?”
The elevator doors opened, and revealed what looked like a lab from sci-fi movies - metal catwalks hung from the walls, and large glass tubes went from the floor to the ceiling. Most notably was the central chamber, a metal-encased tube where a man floated as if frozen in time - a stillness that was downright unnatural. Orion and Taps entered with a distinctly reverent air.
“This, Mr. Herring, is your answer. Magellan. More powerful than the Unknowns, or the Visionaries, or Marius. He wasn’t the first Touched, but he is the greatest. The only other confirmed psychic in existence, his power is the mind as well as physics itself.”
Slowly, Keith followed them, keeping his eyes fixed on the man floating in the tube. “Wait, so he’s alive?”
“We don’t know.” said Taps, his voice deep with respect. “When he was, though, he could erase memories, stop a building from collapsing, hold back a tidal wave, and bend reality like a blanket - he was a walking god.”
“Somewhat melodramatic, but not far from the mark.” said Orion. “Magellan was the founder of the Unknowns and one of the survivors of the battle with Marius. Shortly after the end of the Cold War, however, he became terrified of his own power and put himself in a deep coma. He hasn’t woken once since, but his powers still work on a subconscious level, and they’re what hold up Sanctuary.”
“So this... Magellan... he’s like your god?”
“Not quite, no.” said Orion “Without him, though, we wouldn’t be able to protect Sanctuary, or hunt Marius - and in the wrong hands, his powers could be terrible.”
“Okay, you guys aren’t sounding much more sane than that Marius nutjob.” said Keith, feeling mounting frustration - and again, mounting stomach pains “Does this make you the guardian of some sort of messiah? I don’t want anything to do with all this, just send me home - god, first thing in the morning I’m going to the doctors, and maybe a therapist too, this has to be a dream!”
Taps seemed annoyed, and started to speak, but Orion cut him off. “Mr. Herring, what you have to understand here is that, wether you or I like it, you’re now part of the war - blame the hand of fate if you must, but the chance at psychic power is something Marius will hunt to the ends of the Earth. Magellan is what’s given us the edge in this war and keeps it from spilling out into the ‘real world’, and he’s unconscious - Marius wouldn’t think twice of destroying your life to harvest your power for his cause.”
Keith gasped for breath, feeling a mix of stress as well as the mounting pain in his gut. “I... I don’t care! Take the power from me then! I don’t want to help either of you, I just want to get out of he-”
Before he could finish that sentence, the pain became sharp, and he doubled over. Taps rushed forwards and caught him before he hit the floor. Keith gagged, and felt something in his throat. One more dry heave, and a metallic lump came out of his throat about the size of a small battery - a light on one side was flashing.
“A tracker!” cursed Taps “He’s been bugged! This was a set up-”
Instantly, the building shook, and gunshots could be heard up above - as well as the sound of paranormal abilities warping the lobby above their heads.
“Defend Magellan and Keith!” shouted Orion through his screen, before rising from behind his desk and running off-screen “I’ll be down as fast as I can!”
Keith was still gagging on the ground, so Taps helped him up. “Get down the catwalks! Stay on the ground, don’t let them see you! And Keith?”
Keith paused as he moved down the ladder. “Yeah?”
Taps had unholstered his pistol, and now stood between Magellan and the elevator door. “This would be a great time for you to start manifesting some psychic powers, so - y’know, whenever you’re ready.”
Keith nodded, and clambered down under the catwalks, there to take shelter behind a frosted glass tube - if he squinted, he could still see through at what was happening.
The sounds above were of a raging battle, gunshots, screams, and the unusual sounds of powers. Finally, they died down, and a chime indicated the elevator was on the way down. Taps stood calmly and steadily, his gun held lightly in one hand. The doors buzzed briefly as security locks came into place, but a resounding splintering sound shook the room and the door shattered into a thousand tiny fragments.
The first one to exit the elevator was a man in a black raver’s costume. He grinned, and nodded. “Taps! I wondered where you’d gone.”
Taps just nodded, unusually grim. “Culprit. Good work on the door.”
Then followed Xenon, the small oriental woman showing no lasting harm from her earlier encounter with Merge. Then, Auron, who gave Taps a dirty grin and chuckle. After that followed the flying man with the black goggles.
“Still against us, Skylord?” said Taps, as he sized up the newcomer.
“Are you still a puppet of a corrupt cartel of the powerful?” replied Skylord, who hovered a few inches off the ground.
Finally, Marius entered, and in a smooth movement, Taps brought up his pistol and unloaded several shots - each bounced harmlessly away before they even reached their intended target. From behind Marius, a huge, muscular man in black track pants and no shirt - he seemed to be holding an invisible force-field in front of Marius as he advanced, and Taps’ bullets were useless.
“Still trying?” said the muscle man, with a malicious grin.
“Never hurts to try, Parry - unless we’re talking about your mother last night, of course.”
Parry burst out in a huge, deep laugh and said “Same old Taps!”
“Are we quite finished?” said Marius. “Right, If we’re through rehashing old introductions, I’ll be taking Magellan from you now Taps. You can let us, and we’ll kill you quickly, or you can resist, and although we haven’t got time to kill you slowly, know I’d dearly like to. Now stand aside - you already know you’re no match for all of us.”
“Is that so?” said Taps “Depends how many of me there are.”
In a brief flash of light, there were suddenly a room full of Taps. While the other Visionaries looked confused and began lashing out at illusions, Marius moved with purpose towards Magellan and rammed his hand through the glass - it shattered, leaving his hand uncut. Keith realized what was happening a moment before it happened, as the real Taps tried to hit Marius from behind, when Marius suddenly swung round and sent him flying into the wall with a resounding thud. Calmly, Marius turned back to Magellan, and grasped him by the arm, pulling him from his containment.
Slowly, the building began to lose buoyancy. Culprit - the raver who had blasted his way through the security door - touched the wall of the lab, and in a moment it burst outwards, showing the windswept trees and roads that marked the edge of the city. Dawn was coming, and the sun was now just visible on the horizon.
Xenon clambered on to Parry’s back, as the muscle man leapt out the hole - creating a shield to allow him a safe landing. Culprit grabbed on to Skylord, who flew out into the open air. That left Auron and Marius, with Magellan thrown over his shoulder, waiting at the gaping hole in the wall as the building continued to fall.
“Keith...” he began. “I know you’re in here. This building is going to fall and be destroyed, your only hope is to come with us.”
Keith’s mind was racing - what did he do now? Where the hell was Orion? He turned a little to look at Taps’ crumpled body at one side of the room, and back at the gaping hole where Marius waited.
“Don’t give your life up, Keith! Come with us, and help usher in a new age - with Magellan’s power and your potential, we can liberate people from the oppression of world governments and the elite! At last, a chance to bring real democracy and freedom to the world through the awesome might of our power, your power, the power to know all there is to know in the world, to pry secrets from the mind - we can do it!” He looked out the hole, and turned back to the lab. “We’re running out of time, Keith, you have to make a choice soon.”
Slowly, Keith stepped out from behind the pillar. He glanced nervously at Taps’ discarded gun, which lay just a few meters away, and then again at the hole and Marius - and the rapidly approaching ground. He must have had less than a minute left at this point.
What was he going to do? Which side was he going to pick?
Marius, however, could now see him, and he said “You’ve made the right choice, Keith. Auron? Pick him up immediately, we have to hurry.”
Skylord flew back up, hovering outside the hole, and said “Marius! Move quickly, Orion has-”
A streak of green light, like a tiny comet, shot across the lab and struck Skylord in the chest, knocking him out of the air and out of sight. Everyone turned, as Orion entered the lab. He’d taken off his jacket, leaving the vest and shirt, but pulling up the sleeves and pulling on a pair of blackened gloves that now smoked faintly. Entirely calm, he took a few more steps into the room. “You’re taking a dear friend of mine, Marius, and you’re not even asking politely.”
“I don’t have time for you, fool.” said Marius, with a scornful lip “You waste your powers fighting for the very people that enslave you - you are lower than scum. Keith, get over here before-”
Orion’s hand whipped out with speed that belied his age. This time, though, Parry was not here to shield Marius, and the green comet struck him hard, burning his cloak and causing Marius to grunt in pain. Auron dashed to his leader’s side.
“Fine!” Spat Marius “But it is death to stay here! You are all lost!”
With that, he grabbed Auron by the coat and leapt from the hole - Keith dashed over to look out, seeing Marius land in a cloud of dirt, but it seemed that momentum and impact were among his immunities as he walked away unscathed.
“We’re going to crash!” shouted Keith, turning to Orion “What are we going to do?!”
Orion was squatting next to taps, inspecting his injuries. “We’ve got just one chance - get into the shattered tube. With a little luck, it’ll still function and magnify your power to put Sanctuary back in the sky-”
“Are you nuts?! I’m not going into that thing - I’m not about to end up like Magellan!”
“Look down, Keith. We haven’t got much of a choice.”
He shivered at the thought, but there really wasn’t any choice left. With more than a little reluctance, he climbed into the tube and... what? How did he activate his ‘power’? How did it always work in the movies?
He closed his eyes.
Immediately, Keith felt something rise from deep within, like a current that had broken free of a dam. It rose through the tube in which he stood, and the force of it lifted him bodily from the floor. The building shuddered and shook, trying to overcome the massive downward thrust it had built up.
“It’s too late!” he could just hear Orion, muffled, as if through a thick blanket “Brace for impact!”
Now a new sensation ran through his body - the crash was like a terrible convulsion, and Keith struggled to keep himself together. Under the pressure of it all, he once again felt darkness descend, and his mind’s eye went out.
***
Keith groaned - he was getting sick of waking up all over the damn place.
As his vision returned, he could see he was in the middle of a forest. It looked like the one that bordered on the edge of town, but after the night he’d had anything was possible. In fact, the first thing he really noticed was that it was now day.
As he got to his feet, he could see the members of the Unknowns arranged around the clearing. Not far from where they stood, the majestic metallic fortress of Sanctuary was now ground into the earth - not destroyed, it appeared Keith’s efforts had at least softened the crash. Out of the hanging front doors, Taps and Orion emerged, dragging sealed crates.
“I see you’re awake.” said Orion, with a smile. “Again.”
“You’re going to make a habit of it, like this.” said Taps, who gave a much fainter smile. Keith noticed the bandages that had been hastily wrapped around areas of his torso.
“Did anyone die in the crash?” said Keith, as he rubbed his forehead. It felt like the dam was still broken, only now he was feeling the dam’s point of view.
“No, we were lucky.” said Merge. “Sanctuary’s been put out of commission, though, and we couldn’t recover Magellan.
“Me ‘n Sureshot followed the bastards as far as the town” offered Highrise. “...But we lost their tracks - Xenon’s a crafty one, she is.”
Keith wobbled a little as he stood, but managed to get a grip before saying “Well, great, okay. I guess I’ll just walk home from here - don’t worry, I know the way, and it’s a Saturday anyways, so-”
“What?” said Highrise. “You can’t go, right? Can he go? How will we get Magellan back without a psychic?”
“Now hold on, here, no one’s saying anything yet.” said Merge “Orion, if you can just explain that-”
“I’ve already explained everything I can, Merge.” said Orion, quite calmly, as he seated himself on a crate. Even in the face of chaos and destruction, he was serenely in control. “If Mr. Herring still wants to go, then he is free to. We can’t make him do anything, and now that Marius has captured Magellan, he may well leave Keith alone from now on.”
“Good.” said Keith, and he immediately rounded on his heel and began to walk away. Behind him, there was a moment of stunned silence.
“Wait!” shouted Sureshot, anger rising in his voice “We went through all that - I mean - but - he has to help us, sir! We can’t stop Marius without Sanctuary or a psychic! We couldn’t even stop him with both of those things!”
Keith stopped in his tracks, half from the shouting behind him, and half from the dizziness he was still trying to shake. Behind him, Sureshot gave enraged looks at Keith, then turned to Taps. “Tell him! Tell him, Taps! He can’t just walk away now, we need him!”
Taps took a moment, processing his answer patiently. “Well... Orion is right. We pulled him into this ourselves, he never said he wanted to join the Unknowns, so he isn’t obligated to join us now just because-”
“Now I calls bullshit on that, right now.” said Highrise, getting up from the crate he was sitting on. “Marius is a goddamn mad man - a terrorist. Whatever he’s planning will probably kill a lot of people, or screw a lot of people up. Can’t we deputize him, or something?”
“No, not really.” said Orion, still as calm as ever. “We technically have no legal authority in this situation, and if Marius is successful, then there would likely be no courts left to try him in for refusing to help us, or whatever charge we could bring to bear. Not to mention that we’d also then have to reveal the Unknowns, which besides being a verbal paradox would generally be a bad idea.”
“If I may, sir.” said Merge, it was clear her voice was just barely restrained. “Marius and the Visionaries found Sanctuary because of Keith, and the bug he was carrying. Not to mention your account of the events in the lab show he made no effort to resist when Marius took Magellan, resulting in considerable harm to Taps.” The last part of her last line betrayed a slight drop of concern by the serious officer. “In fact, many of our current problems can be directly blamed on Keith’s-”
“No, Merge.” said Orion, now using a firmer tone. “It was our choice to bring him into Sanctuary without testing for bugs, and we also chose to try and recruit him in the middle of the night. We have yet to give him a reason to trust us, or side with us, that Marius has not countered with his oratory - something all of you at one time or another felt the sway of.” The agents began to look uncomfortable, and the protestations dropped off.
Satisfied that he had reassumed authority, Orion said “Keith, you are free to go - the most I can do is ask for your help. Whatever Marius is planning will have far-reaching repercussions, and we will do our all to stop him. If you do go, I must warn you that should we fail the city may no longer be safe. Leave, if you can, or take shelter.
“I’ve already told you everything there is to the situation, and by now you already understand the stiff odds we’re facing. Taps is wounded, and I’m getting too old to fight with Marius. He may even have found ways to draw power from Magellan, and at that point I don’t think even I could stop him. If you choose not to help us, then just walk away.”
Good. Thought Keith, but his feet didn’t move. He looked towards where the forest thinned, and the edge of civilization waited, but something was starting to move in his mind. He felt uncertainty.
Even if he joined this war, did he know where his loyalties lie? Was it with Marius’s revolution, or Orion’s peacekeepers? He didn’t even want to fight a war! He wanted to go home! He wanted to try on the red shirt again and go to The Patio with Liz, and arm wrestled Drew, and endure Blake’s morning energy, and come home tired and bored.
And yet... Keith knew even before he finished that thought, that he couldn’t go. Not now that he knew. He’d spent a whole night seized with fear, confusion, and anger, while people fought over powers he had never felt or seen. Now that he’d finally learnt the truth, however, he felt a strange sense of peace. Could he even go back? Could he take another day of programming computers at Ulysses, knowing what was going on?
Keith turned back to the Unknowns, who waited in silence, looking at him from amongst the salvage of their wrecked base, just as weary as he was. Finally, he sighed, and shook his head. “I’m in.”
