MsBlackandBlue

We're still working hard on The Malison Hotel, but in the mean time, this story has refused to leave my mind. I don't know what form it will ultimately take. For now, it wants to be a novel, but that may change.  My apologies if it ends up disappearing unexpectedly. Right now, I'm mostly hoping to get a sense of how people react to it.

CW: If you've seen the tags, obviously you know this story needs a content warning for abuse. It's mostly backstory stuff, so not too heavy, but it is there. so be warned. There's also a bit of gaslighting/manipulation throughout. Again, nothing too heavy, but I want to be sure I'm being thorough.

Shudder sat cross-legged on a table as she watched Orbis Tertius slowly charge.

Despite its name, no part of the collection of machinery that formed it resembled an orb. There was a large box which resembled a desktop computer; that was where all the data was stored. Once Orbis was activated, the data would be read by the pseudocerebrum, a wide, flat, square-shaped device whose complex network of parts was currently hidden by a plastic cover, and converted into thought. Then the large, cylindrical antenna-like psionic emitter would deliver the results as a psychic pulse. The enormous effort would burn out both the psychic emitter and the pseudocerebrum, but it wouldn’t matter. They only needed to work for an instant.

Then the world would be saved.

Shudder could barely contain her giddiness.

She looked eagerly at Dr. Tlön who sat relaxed in an easy chair—one of her lair’s few homey comforts—sipping tea. It was a strangely mundane sight for such a momentous occasion. Shouldn’t there be something more? Not parades and fanfare. But something, right?

On the other hand, she decided, maybe it was better this way. A moment like this should be quiet. Just the brilliant Dr. Tlön and her loyal assistant. Both in costume, despite the safety of their lair. This was, after all, the culmination of all of their work. It was only natural to dress for the occasion.

Shudder couldn’t begin to quantify how fortunate she was to have fallen in with her mentor. The doctor had taken Shudder's meager talent and shaped her into someone worthy of standing at her side. There was nothing in the world that could make Shudder more proud than the fact that she was valued by Dr. Tlön, that she alone got to share in her mentor’s secrets and change the world with her.

Shudder grinned. Dr. Tlön offered a small smile back.

Their moment of contentment was interrupted by the sound of an explosion from somewhere above. Dr. Tlön quickly set down her tea and rose, adjusting her lab coat as she rushed to a nearby console.

“Is it Whisper again?” Shudder asked hopefully.

“We’re well beyond that now,” Dr. Tlön replied. “Thanks to that weasel’s discovery, every crimefighter in the city must be hunting for us.”

Shudder’s heart began to pound. She hopped to her feet. “I’ll go up there. Lead them away.”

Dr. Tlön shook her head. “They would capture you in an instant. And if there’s a telepath among them, you’ll lead them straight to us.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Don’t panic,” Dr. Tlön said calmly. “Take the Orbis controls. Be ready to activate it.”

Shudder made her way to the keyboard that controlled Orbis Tertius. Here she had a clear view of the small red LED on the pseudocerebrum which would turn green when the emitter was charged.

For her part, Dr. Tlön took position at a device Shudder had once jokingly described as a “sci-fi raygun.” The Uqbar did have a rather old-fashioned science fiction look about it, particularly the clear plastic dome on its front, which was now pointed at the room’s main entrance.

For a few tense minutes they waited, hearing the occasional crash from above as the invaders clashed with Dr.Tlön’s automated defense systems. Shudder kept her eyes on the red light. How much longer would it take?

The doors crashed inward. There was a high-pitched whine as Dr. Tlön activated the Uqbar, directing its psychic waves at the gathered heroes. As one, the group halted in place, giving Shudder a chance to see who had arrived to stop them.

It was Nova Legion. Technically a locally-based team, they were much bigger than the confines of Fairfield. They fought off alien invasions and stopped dimensional collapses. They traveled all over the world. Shudder’s stomach twisted as she realized that of course the scope of the situation was enough to get their attention. Was this the fanfare she had imagined?

It was amazing that Uqbar could hold them. Gaelos Hex’s talismans couldn’t protect him? Repulse’s psionic shields couldn’t block Uqbar’s waves?

“I have to stop you. I…” Repulse’s voice trailed off, sounding almost tired.

“Can’t quite bring yourself to do it?” Shudder finished gleefully.

“Focus, Shudder,” Dr. Tlön said sternly. With a jerk, Shudder snapped her eyes back to the light.

“Think about what you’re doing,” Hypersonic protested. “The entire world is at stake.”

“The entire world is exactly what I’m thinking about,” Dr. Tlön explained. “Thanks to Orbis Tertius there will be no more war, no more hunger. I’m going to succeed at something none of you ever have. I’m going to save the world.”

Shudder squealed with delight.

“By placing it all under your control?” Repulse asked.

“Don’t mistake this for some megalomaniac fantasy,” Dr. Tlön replied. “I’m doing this to save lives, not to rule. This world is a network of heartless systems built on cruelty and exploitation. Enough resources exist for everyone to live comfortably yet countless people lack what they need to survive, or languish unnecessarily in prisons, or are crushed to death by an enemy whose face they never see. I have an opportunity to put a stop to all of it. How could I do otherwise? You’re fighting to keep those systems in place.”

“No matter how you paint it,” Gaelos Hex said, “you’ve built a mind control bomb. Nothing is worth the cost of free will.”

Shudder frowned at Hex. A mind control bomb? What an odd way to describe Orbis Tertius.

“Free will is an illusion,” Dr. Tlön explained. Shudder loved this part. It was so eye-opening. “None of us exist without the influence of others. Many people use that influence to maintain those same cruel systems. I plan to use it to help people. They’ll be more free than they ever were.”

Titan, famously quiet, spoke up for the first time. “The way you influenced Shudder? She’s just a child, and she’s committed countless crimes at your command.”

“Shudder was nothing without me,” Dr. Tlön snapped. “Before I found her she was trash in a gutter. I gave her her clothes, her name. I showed her how to take her lackluster ability and build it into something valuable. This world is full of people like her, who can be so much more than they are as long as they have the right guidance.”

Something about that felt off to Shudder. It wasn’t wrong on its face. In fact, every word of it was true. But it filled her with an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. Before she could dwell on it, however, she remembered what she was supposed to be doing, and looked back to the light. It was green.

“Doc, it’s charged,” she announced.

“Then activate it,” Dr. Tlön commanded.

Shudder winced at her own foolishness and, with a keystroke, activated Orbis Tertius. Lights spread across the pseudocerebrum as it converted data into simulated thought.

There was a grunt from Dr. Tlön and Shudder looked over to discover that she had been shoved away from the Uqbar by the Aerialist. How had Shudder failed to notice that he was the only member of Nova Legion who wasn’t present? True, his powers of longevity and enhanced agility weren’t as impressive as the rest of the team, but Dr. Tlön had always warned her not to discount him as a danger. How many mistakes had she made in the last minute?

Before either of them could react, the Aerialist pulled the small lever which deactivated the Uqbar, silencing its whine. Shudder felt herself beginning to panic. After all their planning, were they about to be defeated by a seventy-something relic with “super acrobatics” whose dated costume looked like red pajamas?

She glanced at Orbis. The pseudocerebrum was fully lit. Any second now and the emitter would send out its pulse. Her power couldn’t match up to the Uqbar, but with the entire world at stake, the collective fear of the gathered heroes practically formed a haze. Reaching out mentally she touched it, enhanced it. If she could make them hesitate just a little…

The room spun around her and she stumbled to regain her balance. Hypersonic, moving faster than she could see, had yanked her away from the Orbis’ controls and was now staring at the keyboard. “How do I stop this?”

In an instant, Shudder had her baton in hand and was rushing at Hypersonic, tugging at his fear in a desperate hope that it would slow him down. But Repulse had already caught up, her fist moving too fast for Shudder to avoid. She found herself laying on the floor, pain blossoming across her face.

“Easy, sport. She’s just a kid,” said the Aerialist.

“Kind of trying to save the world here,” Repulse replied.

A moment later, and there was a crash as Titan, grown to twice his height, smashed the emitter. Dr. Tlön let out a scream of frustration.

Shudder lay still, watching her quickly-swelling skin crawl across her vision until her right eye was completely closed. It was her fault. They’d failed and it was all her fault. If she had kept a closer eye on the light, if she hadn’t hesitated when she saw that it was green, maybe it would have ended differently.

Hex had immobilized Dr. Tlön with some sort of magical ink dabbed on each of her hands, and was now examining her with a lens that looked like it was halfway between a monocle and a magnifying glass. “Huh. Interesting.”

“I saw some other equipment in the back,” the Aerialist announced. “Could be a secondary system.”

The heroes made their way in the direction he indicated, but he hung back. For a moment, he looked down at Shudder, meeting her eye and jerked his head to the side, indicating the door, then he turned to follow his companions.

Shudder didn’t understand why, but it didn’t matter. There was only one thing left to do. Struggling to her feet, she ran. She ran away from the only person who had ever shown her kindness. She ran away from her one chance to make a difference.