The Tower (28 page)

Eventually, I found myself on the Promenade Deck. With all that had happened in the past few hours what could I do now? I'd found out that I wasn't who I thought I was and never would be again. As had been the case with discovering the secret about the Ultras, shock was now slowly moving into acceptance.

I stopped for a second to gaze out at the stars; they smiled back at me. Take a good look, Bill, they seemed to say. Enjoying your stay here? Yeah, up until they took my life out of my hands and turned me into a maple tree. Or would I become pine or oak? A bizarre mental image of that formed in my head and I laughed a little. It had been a long-but-not-so-long time in my life and with all the questions I still had only the stars knew the answer.

My thoughts drifted for awhile and then a voice calling my name came from behind me. A young woman in a gorgeous evening gown holding a rabbit was looking right at me and then came over. Yeah, it
was
her, alright; Tenkita! I looked at her face. Now whole and perfect again, young and beautiful. Her youth had been restored, all that…and more. Her face wore a look of appreciation on it.

“Just wanted to say ‘Thank you,'” she said with a broad smile. She handed me the rabbit and put her arms around me, hugging me tightly. She whispered into my ear, “You shouldn't have done what you did. It could've cost you your life, but thank you.” The rabbit nuzzled me fondly.

“You're welcome.” All I could do was smile back, my buddy feeling better made me temporarily forget about my own problems. Truthfully, I was just as surprised as Tenkita to find out Sa'Fina had changed her mind. I'd been hoping against all hope that she'd undo the spell and there'd been no reason for her to do so, but she did. I didn't know why and never would. Sometimes, it was better not to know.

There was one little leftover, Tenkita reminded me. She unzipped the side of her dress and on her left butt cheek, there was one, tiny, multi-colored lump. “I call it a beauty mark,” she said. “And a reminder of what I'd looked like before; my sorceress friend left it there. And that's okay,” she added.

“Sorta cute, don't ya think?” asked the rabbit.

Yeah, it
was
cute. “Suits you just fine,” I told her. Tenkita snapped her fingers and the bunny levitated down the hallway.

“Back to my room,” she said offhandedly, and then she paused a little. “Will you be leaving us, Bill?” she asked. While she'd known all along that I'd come from another dimension, did she also sense that I was different? Maybe her abilities allowed her to see the difference in all things, maybe not. I figured she was just concerned.

“I don't know,” I answered truthfully. “Where is there left to go? I don't really want to go back.”

In answer, she waved her hand at the sea of light out there. “There's always another way,” she suggested. And in a blinding flash of insight, I realized that there
was
another way; in fact, a whole lot of other ways…forty or more, by my count….

I heard a very soft beep. Tenkita touched the intercom device in her ear, spoke softly, her hand cupped around her mouth. “The wannabes,” she said, “I still need them.”
Yeah, she did
. “And I promised to help them with their levitation training,” she added.
Yeah, that too
. Another hug, and this time, instead of flying off, she just walked away. I was left standing there, and was excited, finally, by the prospect of what Tenkita had suggested. I went back to the Justice Room; there was something I had to ask Avenger

* * *

“You're sure you want to do this?” he asked me. We'd been staring at the view-screen for the better part of an hour. Ori still hadn't returned.

“Yeah, I'm positive.”

“We'll see what she has to say, it's her decision, too.” He'd accepted my apology and told me there was no need to say sorry, had the same thing happened to him, he also would have gone more than a little ballistic. “Find your own way, Bill,” he told me. “We'll always be here for you if you need us.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, and meant it. We had a few drinks together and since there was nothing more to be said for the moment, I went back to my room to think of how to tell Oriana about my plans.

Later on, I heard the sound of her boot steps and I went and knocked on her door.

She opened up and after I'd entered and started to tell her about The Change, she simply looked at me with compassion. I told her about the shock, the pain, and the uncertainty I'd been feeling. It wasn't anything against her people or mine. It was simply my not being prepared for becoming something other than what I'd always been, all clearly laid out for her. Oriana took it all in stride and held me closely. And then I told her of my plan. In truth, I half-expected her to turn my proposal down but she didn't. “Wherever you go, I'll go, too.”

“You sure?” I echoed Avenger's question. Once again, ironically, he'd denied me being with her due to my humanity; now, since The Change, he'd reversed his “no interspecies fraternization” policy and if Ori and I wanted to go elsewhere, he wouldn't stop us.

She looked at me as if I were the densest person alive. “When I make a decision, I run with it. Bill, keep this in mind: When we choose someone, it's for life.”

I could live with that. Before I could say anything else, she grabbed me and kissed me, our kisses became more than kisses, and all I'll say is that adult stuff ensued. Never mind the details, suffice it to say that no mysteries of the universe were unraveled, no great problems solved. Even with all the false starts and hesitation and what have you, it was nothing more than a release, an energetic burst of joy, a beginning for the both of us. And what with the bell sounds, it was a whole lot of fun.

It was time to go. “You're both absolutely sure of doing this?” Avenger asked us again. We nodded, although deep down I felt nothing was a lock. In the Justice Room, Avenger, Ori and I had gone over the various Earths, checking and re-checking the data he'd compiled. He'd suggested only one to us and we agreed with his decision. Very much like this one and very much like my own Earth, with a few minor differences, of course. After all that had gone in my life for the past year or so, everything,
everything
had changed. From my outlook on what the universe was like to who and what I'd become, everything and every day was going to be a new adventure.

“You do know there is a possibility of you changing even more,” Avenger told me.

I was aware of that and if it did, it did.

“You'll always be welcome here,” he continued, repeating the words he'd said earlier. “You know that.”

“I know.”

He nodded briefly. We were on a lower level. A portal with its familiar glowing green door had been set up and all we had to do was step through. First things first—the goodbyes. All the heroes were there, their faces somber. The human techs were back at work and since it was the evening, everyone assumed that I was off-duty. I imagined that Avenger would tell everyone I'd quit and had gone back to Portland; in this case, it wasn't really a lie. As for Oriana, he'd think of some excuse. We just stood there, waiting. It seemed no one wanted to be first to say or do anything.

PowerGuy broke the silence. He cleared his throat and indicated all the Ultras present. “Thank you for making the Tower and this world safe,” he said. “And for keeping our secret,” he added. “Be well.” He handed over a small suitcase. I guess he'd had someone pack my stuff for me, Ori had her own bag as well.
Thanks a lot, Big Man. You're still the greatest
.

There was something I'd been meaning to ask, something that'd been bothering me all this time. “Why me?” I asked. “I mean, why all the great friendship, more than with anyone else?” Even after all that had happened, I had to know the reason, and it wasn't because I'd become somewhat like them.

PowerGuy shook his head slightly and said, “On our world, our names denote who and what we are; we take great pride in what they mean. In your case, your name has shown us that you are, indeed, special, and a leader.”

“William?” I asked. “It's a very common name….”

“No,” Miracle Mistress interrupted. “Your
family
name: It denotes one who is special, or dear, you are dear to us. And it is a truly rare thing to have that appellation.”

“But I met my counterpart here,” I began. “I saw my other-mother, her name….”

“Her name is ‘Lamp,'” said Deanna. “You
do
have a counterpart here, but counterparts are not always alike in every way.”

Was it possible
? “You mean I'm the only person on this planet named Lampkin?”

“Yes, we searched this world's database, and you're the only one named Lampkin.” She paused for a moment. “As your name implies, you are also a kin to, and a familiar with, the light.”

“The light?”

“The light is what guides us, heals us, and protects us. We don't mean that in a religious sense; we have no religion among our kind,” she explained. “It's more of a physical feeling. The light is part of our psyche, our being. In time, maybe you'll understand what we mean. At any rate,
you
have that light within you. We all recognized it as soon as you came on board and you have shown yourself to be worthy. You'll always be special to us.”

Actually, Biblical references aside, my name didn't really mean that, or maybe they were making too much out of it, but it was nice to hear, anyway. I never thought about my name all that much on my Earth but here, it made me one of a kind and now I was, in more ways than one.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me.” PowerGuy then shook my hand, stepped aside. Miracle Mistress kissed me on the cheek. BG also shook my hand, “no hard feelings,” he said. Blue Lancer strode up and shook my hand, almost crushing it. He smiled, and this time, it wasn't so scary to look at.

Avenger gave me a heavy satchel and a small kit full of medicine. “Just in case,” he added, as he gave a curt nod.

One by one, they all wished us a good trip. Big Gelt was the last, tears in his eyes. “You really are one of us, y'know?” he said and gave me a bro-type hug. He kept crying, practically drowning me with the water spewing out of his eyes.

BG just shook his head and muttered, “Duuuuumb.” BIG didn't hear, just squashed me in a bear-hug and turned away, arms turning into tendrils as he wiped his face. I'd made sure to take his DVD and mug with me. Dim as he was, he wasn't a bad guy after all, and he'd proved himself as worthy as much as everyone else had. Oriana had said nothing all this time; her eyes were wet. Leaving her friends and her own kind, It must have been just as hard for her as it was for me. The fear of the unknown—I guess it was common to everyone, no matter where they came from.

I had a lump in my throat. My friends, the heroes I'd grown with and had finally outgrown—I was about to say goodbye. If I hadn't stepped through that door to begin with, if they hadn't rescued me…they'd given me my life back. Even though it hadn't turned out to be the life I would have chosen, it was still a second chance for me and the Ultras/Actu-urans had done so willingly and without thinking of anything in return. Like the parents who watch their child grow up from a newborn to walking, then running, then off to school and finally leaving home, they were here to see me off and were making sure I was ready to get on with the next phase of my life, whatever and wherever that would be.

And yet, I'd never really outgrown them; I realized that now. I just looked at them in a different way. They would always be close to me and aliens or not, superpowers or not, they were heroes in the truest sense of the word, and I was glad, really glad, that they'd taken me in and helped me find out who and what I was.

Though now a hybrid life-form, I was still me and nothing and no one could alter that fact. The alien-Ultras had treated me like one of their own; how could I repay them? I couldn't, and that made my leaving all the harder. I stepped through the doorway first, waiting for Ori and then I heard the words:

“No! Get her back, get her back!” and then….

Epilogue

I ended up in an alley, very much like the alley where it had all started. It was dirty and there was the smell of rotting food, cat's pee, and wine.

NO! The doorway turned red and closed instantly; Ori hadn't come through. What the hell had gone wrong? I started hammering on the wall, yelling, “Open up! Open the hell
up
!!” It was no use. The wall remained as it was.

“Get her back, get her back!” Those words rang in my ears—what happened? Had they suddenly changed their minds, had she decided not to come with me…or had the portal malfunctioned somehow? Avenger told me once that if the portal did break down while someone was in transit, then their atoms would be torn apart, their death instantaneous. I didn't want to believe that'd happened to Oriana…but if so, then I hoped her passage had been mercifully quick.

Damn it; damn everything!
I slammed my fists against the wall, beating on it as if I could open it up again. Some passersby took a look at the idiot in the alley smashing the wall; they probably thought I was just another stoner. I didn't care. I'd lost the only person who ever mattered to me and was now stranded on yet another oh-so-familiar-yet-alien world.

Sinking to my knees, I rested against the wall and surveyed the area after I'd calmed down a little. It was night, around nine or so. Summertime: The air was warm and cottony soft, the sky was clear, the stars were bright, and after getting my bearings, finding an old, discarded newspaper and seeing the Portland Gazette banner I wondered what to do next. Looked at myself; no changes. No changes, I was the same here as I was there, just as if I'd never left. But things could and would never be the same.

I took a deep breath.
Alright, you started out this way, Bill, and this is how it will be; carry on
.

Checking in at a nearby hotel, I examined my options. Opening the satchel Avenger had given to me, I found the princely sum of three million dollars, a passport, driver's license, and other identification had also been included. It was some severance pay. I'd have given it all back if I could…no…no use thinking about that now. I was here and had to figure out a way to live. Hopefully, Avenger's information on this new world was correct.

The Tower Team had certainly done their homework. My name had been registered in their Portland City Hall database system and all the documents were accepted. I went to a bank the next day, set up an account with no trouble at all and deposited the cash. Then I went to a local clinic, paid for a full physical, and waited back at the hotel for the doctor to call me.

The result: Perfect health, a nice carryover from the Other Side. In spite of my being different, the tests showed me as human and that was enough for me. If there were any other physiological changes to come, then they would happen in the future and I'd just have to wait. Also, I had to find a place to live.

“Calvary Real Estate, Myra speaking. May I help you?”

“Yes, my name's Bill Lampkin. I'm looking for something in the suburban Salem area. What have you got?” Myra the real-estate agent found me a lovely Tudor-style house right where I wanted it. I paid cash for everything. Two weeks later, I moved in. I set up a home-training center and bought all the furniture, I was good to go.

Most of the money went into blue-chip stocks. That got me set for life. I didn't really have to work but wanted to do something to keep myself occupied and sane, so I found a job at a local inn as a chef. What else could I do?

In spite of my schooling over there, I was still behind everyone else, so cooking remained my fall-back job, and it was still an enjoyable challenge to prepare low-calorie and nutritious meals. Since my manager didn't complain and the guests didn't either, then I guess I'd found my calling after all. PowerGuy had been right: Find something you do well and then go with it. So I got to it, worked my butt off and then worked some more. It helped assuage the pain, but only a little.

About this Earth, this version of it—Earth 27. It was much the same as my old Earth. The cars were a little different, the styles were fashionably retro, and the people were the same as everywhere else. But my past life on my Earth was now a distant memory.

However, I did think of the “old” me. The hospital staff probably would have gone on a search for my whereabouts, but when one “moves on” as they thought had happened, then one moves on and that's all there was to it. They had other responsibilities, taking care of those who needed help, those who could be cured…and those who were on their Final Journey.

Even though I couldn't have helped those kids back then who needed it, I did take comfort in one little factoid: Avenger had slipped a computer disc into the money satchel which was compatible with this world's technology and it contained all the necessary chemical equations to synthesize cures for a variety of illnesses. I'd make sure some doctor or pharmaceutical company got their hands on the data and damn the profits; people wouldn't have to die in vain.

In my spare time, I thought about my old life and my friends, painful as those memories were. John would be cooking breakfast and Gwyneth would be there, too. Joe and Chuck would still be training, and by now, Dan and Cathy would hopefully be married. They'd all been good friends but I missed my super-powered buds even more.

Big Gelt: Did he finally get the TV fame he was after? He really loved doing his job and meeting people. Dim as he was, in many ways he could have become the Association's greatest spokesperson.

Doctor Fustus: No powers at all, but thanks to him for the medicine he developed. While it ended up changing me in a way that Mother Nature had yet to determine, I still owed him big-time for saving my life. I couldn't forget that.

Miracle Mistress/Deanna: Like a big sister, full of wisdom and kindness and good counsel. That was another memory to sustain me.

Crazyman: My first instructor who'd put me on the path to bettering myself. I imagined he was still there, training the newbs and beating on them 'til they got it right.

And Skree, Blue Lancer, Repello, and all the others: Still out there, fighting the good fight and never giving up, never giving in.

Then there was Avenger: My mentor, the one who'd made it all possible. In spite of his gruffness and his no-nonsense attitude, he was a true leader and he'd helped me more than anyone find out who and what I was. And through him and all the others I found that I could be a lot more than even
I
thought possible.

Finally, Tenkita, my first friend; I missed her most of all. She was full of light and goodness and, yes, magic, the magic that made all things possible. She was probably still giving lessons to and taking lessons from the wannabes, just doing her thing, as all of them were doing. I could only wish them well.

More time passed. Time—there was that word again. How much time did I have? Even though the doctor had given me a perfect health profile, I wondered how long I had to live. And the answer was: I didn't know. Does anyone? All I could do was live for that day, and then the next day and the next, and whatever happened, happened. That's all there was to it, really.

There was work and there were my workouts; those were the only two things in life that mattered. There was also no way I could form any close friendships with anyone. We all got along, and perhaps my co-workers saw me as a nice guy, I didn't know and never asked. My feeling was that they saw me as someone who was likeable but also someone they couldn't get close to. I wouldn't let them—I couldn't.

I'd often catch myself looking into coffee shops and department stores and other gyms on the way home from work. There…she looked like Oriana…no, her nose was the wrong shape. Over there…no…her hair was the wrong color and style, or her eyes were too close together. What with the constant comparing and typing and keeping all emotion out of my life, it got to be so bad that I considered seeing a psychiatrist. However, had I told the real story, I'd be writing this inside a mental institution instead of in my living room.

At first, I started searching for another portal. Put up a map in my bedroom and checked a different area each day, an empty lot here, a house there. Before work or after work or even after my workouts, I'd check and search and hope, but it was no use. The dots on the map grew smaller one by one. Portland and Salem must have had over a million alleyways, not to mention regular buildings, houses and whatnot; there was no way of telling if anyone had come in or not. Finally, I just gave up.

In all that time, I realized that I wasn't searching for a way back. I was looking for that which gave clarity and meaning to my existence, some shred of evidence that defined me as to who and what I was…and I was equally sure I'd never find it. Hope springs eternal or so they say; I had lost that all-important part of me and here I was, just doing my job and my workouts and the world continued spinning without my participation.

My education continued, though, it was a matter of personal pride to better myself intellectually. In the hours between searches and my cooking at the inn, I'd go into the biggest bookstore in Portland. I'd buy a few textbooks on economics, math, and physics to tide me over and spent my evening hours studying. I didn't need to sleep much.

However, one day, I wasn't interested in anything and wandered over to the “Classic Cartoon MVD” section. They had mini-DVDs, that was a new one. Names totally unfamiliar to me: “Major Freedom” “Blaster” “The Invincibles.” A little boy, maybe five or six years old, was with his father and he asked, “Dad, can I get a mini, please? I wanna watch Major Freedom fly!”

I almost told him, “Kid, I could tell you stories; I
lived
it!” Almost, but didn't, they wouldn't have believed me. Then I saw a jacket cover, a figure so much like Oriana's: Long brown hair, a gorgeous figure so much like hers…. The emotions just welled up in me, tears came to my eyes and I hurriedly brushed them away. The little boy and his father stared at me for a few seconds and then left. They probably thought I was some kind of a nut. Yeah, right; what kind of rational person would be crying over a mini-disc?

A voice came from behind me: “Hey, you! I'm way better-looking than that!”
What the…
?

I turned around slowly, hoping that it wasn't just my subconscious talking and that I hadn't finally gone crazy.

No, I was still sane. My moment of clarity had arrived and was standing two feet in front of me, hands on her hips. The dark cloud of funk I'd been under lifted and a smile, a genuine smile, came to my face, the first time in a long time something like that had happened.

“Hello, Ori.” The words were barely out of my mouth when she cut loose with a right hook to my jaw that floored me. I saw stars and little tweety birds; yeah, it was her, alright. A shot to the jaw was the best medicine I could have gotten, although it wasn't something I'd recommend to anyone else.

“Do you know how long I've been looking for you?”

The portal hadn't killed her; it had malfunctioned and sent her to another world, and she hadn't given up searching for me. Jumping from dimension to dimension had been a pain but she finally got back to the Tower, and they'd sent her here.

“What do we do now?”

“Get married and do something fun.”

We went to Disneyland. My first adopted world had no such thing but this one did, so everything was a new experience for her. Saw the sights, bought everything we felt like buying, did all the rides and she even changed into her real form inside the Contiki Hut. I almost had a heart attack after seeing her shift. All the other people stared at her and commented on how lifelike this unusual tree was.

Ori's little joke on the world.

After that, back to Salem and back to our lives. Ori told me she wanted to get used to the rhythms of my world, know about the nature and the powers that resided in the life forms here. We were also busy at night, bells and all, as we had a lot to catch up on. And in between all that, she still had her duties to perform.

Yes, duty called, she couldn't give up her old ways. Buying a motorcycle, we modified it and at night off she'd ride as she went on her missions to clear up crime all over the state. It was just something she had to get out of her system, I guess.

“Be careful, sweetheart,” I'd tell her although I thought it was the crooks who should have been watching their asses. I often went with her as backup, not that she needed it, but as she said to me what seemed like so long ago, “We make a great team.”

Yeah, we did, but we soon found out that she wasn't the only super hero in town.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that. We'd been walking downtown in Portland one day, me showing her the sights, and ahead of us there came a loud “BANG” and the sound of gunshots. Great, a bank robbery was happening, and Ori had left her costume at home. We ran forward to see if we could do something when suddenly a red, white, and blue blur shot by us and landed lightly on his feet not two yards from where the action was taking place.

Shouts came from all sides, “It's Major Freedom!” “Kick their asses! Take 'em down!” we heard. “
Major Freedom
?” And I'd thought the MVDs I'd seen were only cartoons. No, this was reality. Freedom's costume was white all over, with blue bands circling his torso and a large red “F” on his chest. Red boots completed the outfit.

Six men came running out of the bank, money bags in one hand, machine guns in the other. They started firing in the air to ward off any onlookers and a getaway car raced up to meet them. An escape? No way; not happening. Freedom strode over to the car and they started firing at him. The bullets hit his sculpted, god-like body and he just “absorbed” them. Awesome.

“Sit down!” he thundered. They hesitated only slightly, and then from the sky, a fire-bomb came hurtling to the ground, blowing off the back end of the getaway car and almost incinerating one of the robbers. After that, the gang just gave up and sat down, waiting to be arrested.