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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 172: Cooper 55
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 136
Mister Rufus Dandridge, one of his coworkers in the computer research field, walked up to Brian’s desk, and stood there waiting as Brian finished a quick calculation. Looking up, he raised an inquiring eyebrow, and said, “I assume that you’re finished with your project, but I thought you were reporting to Granville.”
“I am. I was just hoping you might take a quick look-see over my work to make sure it’s good.” Agreeably, Brian held out a hand, and took the five sheets of paper covered with detailed diagrams. A quick check at the end revealed a number that was way out of the ballpark.
In math you can get a feeling for which numbers are reasonably possible, and which are not. When an answer is expected to be somewhere around one volt and the answer is ten thousand volts, that usually meant a mistake somewhere. Of course, Brian also knew he lived in a superhero universe right now, and he had seen Doctor Mordenslice’s forcefield generator that had somehow worked. Maybe Mister Dandridge had unwittingly invented a megawatt electric particle cannon powered by a nine volt battery?
Quickly digging into the logics, he went for the places where a student was most likely to make a mistake. Five minutes later, he was certain. Dandridge had not invented an electro-blaster, but he had put a decimal in the wrong place by two columns, and he had confused several NAND gates (or Not AND) for the simpler AND gate. Gently as he could, he pointed out the errors. This was rather reminiscent of his time as a professor.
Like everyone else in the computer research department at BBS, Mister Dandridge was smart. He quickly grasped that he had wasted the last two days of work. Running his hand through his thinning hair, he groaned, and then theatrically tossed the painstaking diagrams into ‘the circular file’, the small metal trash can next to Brian’s desk.
“Thanks, Brian, you saved me from looking like an idiot before the boss.”
“We’re engineers, Rufus. It’s our job to make mistakes, figure them out, and find ways to fix them.” The man left even as a secretary rushed in and put a small note on Brian’s desk then rushed on her way like a tiny tornado. That was Stephanie, who had two speeds, fast and superfast. He picked up the note, and read it.
Call me. William Keller.
Since William Keller was on the board of directors of BBS, Brian had no problem with calling the man right then--but he used the Tell hotline phone. To his surprise, he got a busy signal. Trying back thirty seconds later, he got through.
“Sir.” This was always polite, unless you were talking to Red Swashbuckler. It could be used for both identities. “This is Brian Barrelmaster.”
“I”m back from Yel--up north.” That was vague. William Tell still struggled with keeping his super identity secret. “I’d like to pick up--your friend.” Ah, either Tomiko or himself as Mister Justice.
“The young lady?”
“No, the other one.”
“OK.”
“Roof. Lunch.”
“I’ll be there.”
He found Tommy at her desk. “Are you going to the bank today?”
“That’s the plan. Why?”
“I’ve just been called away. Can I get you to deposit my paycheck for me?”
“I guess. Can’t be too difficult.”
Producing his passbook and paycheck, he endorsed the check and wrote on the back “Deposit Only” and his account number, and gave both to her.
Thirty minutes later, in his full Mister Justice regalia, he stepped onto the roof of BBS to find William Tell Junior waiting for him. The man was usually straightforward, but today he had an impish grin on his face. He urged Brian to stand two and a half feet to his left, facing to the east where The Eagle’s mountain lay, and Last Mountain as well. Brian was getting a definite vibe that he was about to be the butt of some joke, but--
Suddenly he was airborne, and shooting out over the roof edge. Preparing himself as well as he could to suddenly die from high speed impact, he found instead that he was not falling. Instead, he was going upwards, with a roar of rockets above him. Craning his neck, he saw The Eagle. To his right, he saw William Tell Junior who was laughing hysterically.
Feeling his heartbeat begin to slow down, he breathed out, and considered. Initiation rituals were commonplace in a lot of secret societies. He supposed he had just undergone one. He nodded equably over at William Tell Junior whose look changed from laughter with a bit of worry to noncomprehension. It was hard to speak, but after realizing he was being carried by a metal hook dropping down from The Eagle to his utility belt, he settled himself in to enjoy the ride.
Looking down, he wondered if he would ever be able to fly like this. As they crossed the river with the railroad station where he had fought the Blackmask Gang to his left, and the city roofs turned suburban, the engines shrilled louder, and they started climbing more steeply. Within a few minutes, the trio landed next to a lighthouse with red and white diamonds on its exterior atop the mountain. A small stone block house was attached to the lighthouse, and behind it he saw an aircraft hanger with an open door revealing a Cessna inside.
The Eagle detached them, and the trio stood on a twenty-foot square concrete pad in front of the lighthouse.
“Tell, you were supposed to tell him, not surprise him like that. This is the third time you did that,” The Eagle said. His voice was as always distorted by his bird-like mask.
“Seems only fair. After all, first time you hooked me, I wasn’t warned.”
“Yes, well, you were on top of a burning factory so speed seemed more important than courtesy.” He turned to Mister Justice. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Brian, as Mister Justice, shrugged. “It’s not a problem,” he said equably. It truly wasn’t.
“I do it--” Tell began, interrupted by Justice.
“Because you need to see how I’ll react.”
“And because it’s harmless fun. “
Brian nodded agreeably.
“You’re really not mad? Wow. First super I did it to was Fisticuff. He blackened my eye and chipped a tooth before The Eagle calmed him down.”
`”Let’s go in,” The Eagle suggested. He led them into his ‘Roost’. The door was iron and had interior hinges, and Brian thought it probably weighed at least a ton. The outer walls were several feet thick, reinforced with rebar, and airtight.
The first room was quite small, and had only one door on the far side. Brian was not sure what it was, perhaps an airlock, but when The Eagle said ‘going down’, and the floor fell away a four count later, he realized he was in an elevator. They went down for several tens of seconds and stopped, and the door on the far side opened.
Lights blinked on, and The Eagle led them out and into a round room with a set of cabinets on all the walls, except for a small door with a clear sign of ‘bath’. In the middle was a circular table. It had six seats around it, and as The Eagle took off his backpack and hung up his jet, Tell hung up his crossbow. Mister Justice considered hanging up his utility belt, and found a spot just for it, on the back of a chair with a golden J on its headrest. He made use of the comfort, and the others took their chairs. Each of the chairs had a name and a symbol on the front in a covering going over the chair.
William Tell Junior had his name in white against the black field, and a crossbow. The Eagle had his name also white-on-black, and a flying eagle insignia. He had the gold J. There were three other names, surprisingly one of them Truth, with the double-T symbol that she liked to use. There was also Fisticuff, with a fist symbol, and Sockajawea with a tomahawk. Clearly The Eagle loved all this stuff.
“This is impressive.” Brian said.
“I am obsessive. It’s what drove me to build such a fortress, after Shieldarm died. It also drove me to invent the Eaglejet and Eaglebike and Eaglemask. It’s what drove me to fight crime. The logical thing was, someone needed to, and that led to the next question, why not me? I tried to come up with a good answer, but I couldn’t, so here I am.” He drummed his fingers on the steel table. Brian also saw the need for speed, which might be part of the same personality type.
“My turn,” Tell said. “Mister Justice, you mentioned to me about Yellowstone, and so I took The Eagle and went up there to check things out. We were able to talk to Master Fong, and Lady Limestone. Star Miss was not in town. Those are the only superheroes I know in Yellowstone City.” Brian restrained himself from asking about them and their powers with difficulty. He planned to search more next time he could get to the library.
He gestured for William Tell to continue on. “So, what did you learn?”
“Not much, really. I did hear that Jonas Cutter bought some property north of the city, an abandoned factory complex. He seems to be refurbishing it, but no one knew for what. That, though, was really the only thing they had observed that was different. I’m wondering if Yellowstone was a red herring.”
Justice considered that. “I suppose it’s possible. On the other hand, I don’t see how anyone else could have scratched the word into the wall of the cell like that, so it’s apparent that when he was dying Gorillaxe wanted to communicate that to someone. We’re assuming it was intended for us, but I don’t see who else it might have been.”
They stared at each other. What was it that Gorillaxe knew about Yellowstone that they didn’t?
“Do you think we should ask Sockajawea?” Brian suggested. “I’m assuming she’s a genuine Native American--”
“I’m sorry,” Tell said, “do you mean ‘indian’?”
Justice nodded. “If so, her people might know something about the place that we don’t.”
That proved to be the only idea any of them had at this point. After a few more minutes of silence The Eagle stood. “Well, thank you, gentlemen. If anyone can find Sockajawea, ask her, and let us know. Get your things; I’ll have to drop you back home.”
They returned up the elevator, and The Eagle hooked them to himself and flew back.
As they landed on the roof of Berkeley Business Systems, Brian realized he had missed lunch. Still, he wondered whether they had learned anything significant.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #519: Versers Congregate. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
