F@nService Diner: Chapter 02 Catalyst

Chapter: 02 Catalyst

Adam awoke to find himself drooling into his pillow.

“Of course — it was just a dream.” He muttered to himself. It had been way too good to be true. Adam sighed. If he had figured out he was dreaming he would have tried to speed things up a little bit. Now Tevera was going to be in his head all day. Not that he minded. The big, blue girl-next-door had been living there practically rent-free these days. Still it would have been nice for the dream to have a happy ending.

Adam got out of bed to silence his Omni-phone’s alarm on the other side of the room. Switching from the phone’s clock to the Bible app Adam recited the Lord’s prayer, trying his best to internalize it and make Jesus’ words his own. This took a couple times to get right as he started to dose off and lose his train of thought. Adam finished his prayer and had the app read him a chapter from the Bible in the voice of the mythical James Earl Jones.

Once he was satisfied he had made an honest attempt to realign himself with the will of his creator Adam began his morning exercise routine. Adam liked to keep it simple. Push yourself too hard or make your workout dependent on specialized equipment you won’t always have access to and you’ll be tempted to skip workouts. Adam had no illusions about his level of discipline and decided the fewer excuses he had to skip a workout the better. This routine he could do anywhere. It was a modified version of the workout championed by Saitama, the comically overpowered yet easy going hero from the anime One Punch Man. It consisted of 150 push-ups, leg lifts and squats. Adam had heard somewhere that leg lifts were better than sit ups so did those instead. He also left out the 5K running portion of the workout in favor of fifty more reps for the other three sets. Adam really hated running and leaving the house in the Neon Phoenix summer heat was another hurdle decided he didn’t need.

With that out of the way Adam exited to the common area outside his bedroom where he had the space to start the kinetic portion of his workout.

As dream-bride Tevera had previously established, Adam Terranova was a kinetic. What is a kinetic?, you might ask. A kinetic is a specialized kind of human born with the ability to bend gravity and, to a lesser extent, the electromagnetic and atomic forces of physics to his will.

Their existence, or rather the knowledge of said existence was a relatively recent phenomenon. Maybe it was the advent of blackhole reactors that triggered a gravity bending mutation in a small percentage of humans. Or perhaps kinetics had always existed and it was only now that instruments designed to measure gravitons were able to detect their presence. What had initially been misdiagnosed as attention deficit disorder was actually the symptoms generated by a brain that was subconsciously preoccupied with the quantum processes necessary for hacking the fundamental forces of the universe.

When kinetics were first discovered they were considered something of a scientific novelty. At that time the power a kinetic could bring to bear was so inconsequential as to be almost impossible to observe without the aid of graviton measuring instruments. That all changed with the invention of stem-matter weights and vector-clothing. It was discovered that electrically charged stem-matter, in close proximity, had an exponential effect on a kinetic’s power output. And further testing revealed that prolonged exposure to energized stem-matter gradually increased a kinetic’s base power level.

While stem-matter weights boosted a kinetics powers, vector clothing used a stem-matter infused mesh weave to focus kinetic power and bend space into whatever shape the clothing took. These practically-invisible but devastatingly powerful, three dimensional projections were called vectors. The ones manifested when Adam’s gloves were activated took the form of giant hulk hands. Adam also wore vector boots. Titan-sized hands and feet were all the tools a kinetic needed for most situations.

The vector gloves and boots had a metal lip around the openings of the wrists and ankles where the stem-matter weights were attached, one on top of the other; stacked like the segments of a telescope.

During the course of his day Adam walked around with three weights attached to each of his arms and legs, but for all practical purposes the third one might as well not be there. Until you run an electrical current through it, a stem matter weight weighs about as much as a day old helium balloon. Only the first two weights were engaged in the circuit which meant each arm and leg carried an extra 4.84 pounds. It didn’t sound like a lot but it took a toll if you wore it the entire day, which is what you did if you were trying to gradually level up your kinetic powers. Currently Adam’s powers were such that when amplified by two stem matter weights, his vectors were capable of lifting a semi truck. To Adam this seemed like a perfectly reasonable trade off. He had gotten used to carrying around an extra 4.84 pounds on each arm and leg and he didn’t foresee any situation arising that would require more strength than what that gave him. He was just a firefighter after all, not Superman. He had considered trying to move up to three weights but adding that third one was easier said than done. For stem matter weights to work in a circuit they all had to be of equal vector weight. Vector weight was the number you got when some scientist who studied such things applied a mathematical formula to the mass of the weight and the purity of the stem matter used to make it. Adam understood how some of the math worked but had never tried to do it himself. Mixing numbers with letters never seemed to end well for him.

Vector weight meant two things to Adam.

Firstly, it meant that the total vector weight of the circuit was what each of his arms and legs would have to lift as long the circuit was active.

Secondly it meant that the total vector weight was not what you got by adding the stacked stem-matter weights. It’s what you got when you multiplied them. The stem matter weights reacted to the presence of their neighbors and multiplied each other's power.

Translation, stacking two of the stem matter rings didn’t make that big of a difference. Adam used 2.2 lb rings which meant stacking 2 gave him a total of 4.84 lbs per limb. That was .44 lbs more than what he would have had to lift if the stem matter weights added normally. Now an extra .44 wasn’t that big of a deal, but once you stacked a third weight things got, interesting. Instead of 6.6 lbs per limb it jumped up to 10.65. 10.65 lbs per limb wasn’t bad for a quick workout but carrying it around all day got old really fast.

Not only were three weights exhausting but they also slowed him down more than he was comfortable with. In his profession strength was important but then so were speed and endurance. And three weights gave him more strength than he could ever conceivably need at the expense of two things he did not have a lot of to spare. So he activated three weights for his morning workout but only kept two charged for the rest of the day.

His kinetic workout started with Tai Chi stretching. He then moved on to jump rope. Once he felt he was sufficiently loosened up he donned his specialized kinetic-vector augmented reality goggles. The sleek, orange goggles not only looked cool and protected his eyes from flying debris, they also interfaced with his vector boots and gloves. This allowed him activate his vectors with a simple eye gesture. They also beamed a holographic representation of his vectors directly into his eyes, allowing him to see exactly where his vectors were manifesting. This was crucial when performing tasks more delicate than juggernauting though a wall while yelling ‘OH YEAH!’ like the Kool-Aid Man. Being able to see your own vectors was also useful if you were trying to avoid squishing innocent bystanders who happened to wander into your cone of smashing. It happened less often than you’d think but still it did happen. They’d been shown medical photos back in Psy School of what could happen when a kinetic didn’t keep track of their vectors. Adam decided back then he did not want to be the guy responsible for that kind of carnage. For this reason Adam set up his vector gear to only activate with a combination eye-command and hand gesture. He liked to think of it as the safety on a gun. This way there was far less chance of him accidentally activating his vectors in the middle of a crowd or some other catastrophically bad time.

The goggles had other uses too. Though designed for kinetics and built to Solar Emergency Response standards they also had fairly decent AR (augmented reality) capability and a link to the Omni App Store where Adam had downloaded a Cathurian sparring program.

Cathurian Noir Paladins were some of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the known universe, second only to the Minkan Rangers. Unfortunately for Adam the minkan martial art of Shen-Jaka would have been little help to him as it relied heavily on the use of four sets of forearms, a tail and the ability to jump twenty feet in the air and impale an opponent on the spring-loaded stinger female minkans had in their shock-absorbing heels.

So Adam decided to learn from the second best. Cathurian Ghost Boxing had been proven time and time again, both in the asteroid trenches of Cathuul and in The Hex mixed martial arts tournaments.

Adam selected the five minute sparring session. Grayscale cubes wreathed in pale blue halos drifted up from the floor and came together to form Bruce, Adam’s Noir Paladin sparring partner. Bruce was rendered almost entirely in monochromatic gray with the silvery-blue tint of a noir detective film. The only part of Bruce that wasn’t in black and white was his eyes which burned an almost orange brown. Like most Cathurians Bruce had classically chiseled features and was slightly over six feet tall. The height disparity made little difference to Adam. In fact he preferred it.

Though Adam was only 5’6”, slightly below average for a Solari human male, his inner self felt 25 feet tall. This was a side effect of the 25 foot in diameter sphere of gravitonic influence that surrounded all kinetics. Within it a kinetic could raise or lower the gravity in this sphere as easily as flexing or relaxing a muscle. To Adam the gravity around him felt like an extension of his body. It’s not that weird if it’s all you’ve ever known. This twenty five foot field greatly improved a kinetic’s situational awareness. It was basically like having short range, three dimensional radar. It was also a huge boost to Adam’s physical confidence.

However this boost in confidence only applied to physical challenges. When it came to social challenges the effect was inverted. Three dimensional hyper-awareness was not very helpful in crowded social situations. It registered like a constant low-level alert telling him to watch out for something he should knew he should ignore. It was like trying to carry on a conversation while multiple car alarms blared in the distance. Or maybe it was more like having a jar of crickets dumped on your head and being expected to ignore it. This produced an uncomfortable but could-be-worse level of social anxiety around people Adam did not know.

This sense of unease was further complicated by the presence of any woman he found attractive. A pretty woman who invaded his bubble could be completely unaware that he was alive but to him it felt like she was sitting on his lap and tracing her nails along the nape of his neck. He had learned the hard way not to trust his instincts in these situations. No matter how intense the compulsion to react romantically was it was a safe bet that he was the only one feeling. So he did his best to tune out and avoid focusing on any attractive woman who got too close. This was much easier said than done, especially when he had to talk to one. It took every ounce of self-awareness and willpower to act normal when a tornado of temptation and mixed signals was staring him in the face. How many legitimate, romantic opportunities he had missed because of this was anyone’s guess. Not that it really mattered to Adam. He wanted Tevera.

“Are you ready partner?” Bruce asked.

“Huh?” Adam snapped out of his big, blue daydream. “Yeah, ready when you are.”

Bruce removed his trench coat and fedora; placing them on a holographic hat rack that ghosted away after serving its purpose.

Adam raised his fists.

The hard-boiled paladin flexed his fingers and cracked his neck before stepping forward.

“Let’s dance.”

The first tenet of Cathurian Ghost Boxing was, ‘Cause as much damage to the enemy as possible while using as little energy as possible.

The second was, ‘Make the enemy do the opposite.’

Adam deflected with his right forearm; sliding around the first punch. Then pressing forward with his back foot he slammed his open left palm into his opponent’s ribs. A flash of orange light rippled through Bruce as he stumbled back, clutching his side. Adam had been through this enough times to know it wasn’t over, not by a long shot. Bruce leapt back and strafed to the side, forcing Adam to turn to keep the Paladin in his line of sight. A malicious grin spread across Bruce’s face just before he lunged forward. This time Adam was too slow and the punch caught him square in the chest. The hit was a holographic illusion but the AR goggles interfaced with his stem matter weights and tapped into his own power to simulate the force from the Cathurian’s punch. Even though the hit physically registered only in his wrists and ankles, he had seen the punch land and his brain filled in the gaps. Adam stumbled backwards, feeling as though the punch was real. Even before he had fully regained his balance, Adam spun / fell onto his left foot; narrowly dodging just as Bruce launched a wild haymaker into the spot where he had been a split second ago.

“You’re too slow today partner.” Bruce jabbed.

“Yeah I know. — It’s the weights.” Adam shot back.

“That sounds like an excuse.” The Cathurian smirked. “You know what excuses get you?”

“Thaalarian jackboots in your trench.” Adam answered with the second half of the saying.

“Oh — I’ve said that before haven’t I?” Bruce seemed uncertain.

“Um, yeah — once or twice.” Adam admitted.

“I’ve been around awhile. — Sometimes I forget who I said what to.”

Adam fought back a smile, unsuccessfully.

“Now that sounds like an excuse.”

Bruce responded by launching a fist at Adam’s grinning face. Fortunately his hands were high enough he was able to block in time.

“And by the way, that wasn’t an excuse. It was an explanation.” Adam said as he crossed wrists with his opponent.

“Well then, if you know what your problem is then you can correct it.” Bruce strained but Adam’s blocking arm did not budge. Bruce threw a second punch with his other arm. Adam caught that one too.

“Eh, not exactly. I’m wearing the extra weights to become stronger.”

“So it’s a choice then. You’re sacrificing speed for strength. — Choices have consequences.” Before the words were completely out of his mouth Bruce maneuvered his left hand around the block and jabbed Adam in the face.

“Agh!” Adam was knocked back.

“All the strength in the cosmos isn’t going to do you any good if you’re too slow to catch your opponent.”

Three weights really had slowed him down quite a bit. He probably could have blocked that last hit if he had been wearing two weights. But then again, if Bruce had been set to fight at his maximum difficulty Adam wouldn’t have been able to block him even if he wasn’t wearing any weights — in half normal gravity.

Adam recovered and raised his fists.

“But if you’re all speed and no strength you have to hit your opponent over and over again. You can’t make any mistakes. If your opponent is strong enough he only has to hit you once.” Adam objected.

“Everyone makes mistakes partner.” The Cathurian said cryptically.

“So, in your experience — which is more important, if you had to choose one to level up; speed or strength?” Adam asked without lowering his guard.

Bruce considered this, took a step back and lowered his fists.

“In my experience? — Wisdom.”

That was not the answer Adam was hoping for.

“Wisdom learns from passed mistakes; both yours and those made by others. It tells you where you need to improve. It tells you to surround yourself with allies who make up for your weaknesses. Wisdom detaches, sees the world for what it is; not what we’d like it to be. Wisdom observes the situation, predicts where it’s going and tells you what you need to do to get a favorable outcome. With wisdom you can avoid unnecessary fights and win the necessary ones before they even begin. Does that help?”

“I — think so.”

“Good, think about it and don’t stop. Always be learning.” At that the Cathurian dropped back into a boxing stance and the fight resumed. Adam would manage to stay one step ahead for most of the fight but eventually he would start to tire and slow down. Bruce would pick up on this and wake him back up with some well placed jabs. Then the cycle would begin anew. After the five minutes were up a bell rang in the goggle’s headphones. Bruce looked up and to the left before he lowered his fists.

“Sounds like we’re out of time partner.”

“Sounds like.” Adam agreed.

“Think about what I said.”

“I will.”

The Cathurian gave him an acknowledging nod before reaching out into nothingness and retrieving his fedora and trenchcoat. Bruce then disappeared from the goggle’s heads-up-display in much the manner he had arrived. A grid of soft blue, glowing lines formed haloed silver-gray cubes that broke away and floated off into the air until the hologram was no more.

After his workout he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth with his left hand. He had heard somewhere that brushing with his non-dominant hand was good for the brain. Focus was something all kinetics struggled with. Most had been diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder) at an early age. Adam had dabbled in meditation, to limited success. Most times he just ended up falling asleep. He found this less time consuming. Adam then took a warm shower. In hindsight he should have gritted his teeth and opted for a cold one. The sexy Tevera dream was still vivid in his mind. When he finally stepped out the bathroom mirrors were all fogged up. He sighed in frustration at his own lack of discipline and reached for a hand towel to clear the fog off the mirrors. If only he could marry that girl and make the dream a reality, but he’d been too much of a coward to let her know how he felt. Sure he had dropped subtle hints here and there but she never seemed to pick up on them. He was beginning to suspect that minkan women were even more dense than he was. Of course it could just be Tevy. Adam didn’t know any other minkan women besides Tevera and her polite but stand-offish and honestly kind of intimidating mother.

After Adam had messed up his hair exactly the way he liked he descended the stairs while trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to wake his little sister with whom he shared the rental house. For the same reason he opted not to turn on the kitchen light. He knew instinctively where the fridge was and once opened it provided its own soft light. Adam was greeted by rows of food. After selecting the ingredients for fixing a paleo-breakfast he shut the refrigerator door and was startled when it revealed it had been hiding a towering, curvaceous, shadow with three glowing, ruby-colored eyes.

Adam gasped but managed not to drop the food.

“Morning Little Dude.” Greeted Tevera.

“Huh, hey Tevy — Morning.” Adam fumbled. “I didn’t know you were here.”

Tevera flicked on the kitchen light with the tip of her tail.

“Sorry, if I startled you. Astrid gave me a key so I could crash here. She’s my ride to work. I hope it’s not a problem.”

“Oh it’s no problem at all.” Adam blushed. “You’re always welcome here.”

“Aw thanks.”

“So when did you come in?” He asked.

“Oh about half an hour ago. Just been waiting on Astrid. You know, you guys take an awful long time in the shower. What do you do in there?”

Adam’s blush intensified.

“Stuff, you know, cleanliness is next to — uh, being clean is good.” Adam aborted the pithy saying he thought trivialized godliness.

“What?” Tevera cocked her confused head to the side and flicked her ears. “You look like you want to say something.”

Adam did want to say something. He wanted to tell her about his dream, about what could be. He wanted to tell her he was crazy about her; that he had been for years. He wanted to tell her she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in real-life. That summer they went to the water park he didn’t even want to look at the other girls there because he knew the sexiest one by far was standing right next to him. And he wasn’t crazy about her just because she had the body of a big, blue sex-goddess, the face of an arhken princess and the voice of a star-siren. She was also the coolest girl he had ever met. She loved the same nerdy things as him. He would’ve wanted to spend time with her even if she wasn’t a beautiful woman. And it went even deeper than shared interests. She knew him, the real him. She remembered the awkwardly honest home-schooled kid he had been before public high school had taught him to hide his internal monologue from the world. She would occasionally remind him of things he had forgotten, things that were said or done by a different person than who he was now. And in doing so she seemed to reconcile his past with the present; bringing his childhood self back from the dead.

And he remembered the uncomfortably spindly, blue-skinned late bloomer who had practically glued herself to his little sister’s side because she was afraid of being left alone at school, surrounded by people who saw her as alien. Tevera was the only minkan at their high school. Needless to say she attracted a lot of attention. Sometimes it was completely innocent, a person talking to her would zone out and get lost in her third eye. Some of the more bold kids would ask to touch her dual-joint elbow. Some of ruder kids would try to grab her tail when she wasn’t looking. The extra attention was annoying but most of it was harmless. True racists where rare but unfortunately they did exist. Unfortunately for them you had to be a special kind of stupid to pick a fight with a minkan — in front of her kinetic friend. Granted, at that time Adam had only been wearing his stem-weights for a couple months and had no vector gloves. Not that he would have been allowed to wear them at the school. He was still able to raise the gravity around him slightly. This, combined with his kinetic radar gave him the edge he needed to fight off multiple attackers. Eventually one of the racist goons managed to get in a decent hit, with a chair. But all that did was give the hesitant Tevera the incentive she needed to take off the metaphorical safeties and show them what a pissed off minkan was truly capable of. Fortunately no one was killed but did she send two of the goons to the emergency room. Afterwards Tevera’s Mom had taken them out for ice cream. The point was they shared a history. They knew each other, sometimes better than they knew themselves. Wasn’t that a good reason to want to marry? Adam wanted to tell her all these things but instead all he could force out was:

“Um, you want breakfast?” Adam offered, pointing with his chin at the arm-full of groceries.

“I would love breakfast.” Tevera smiled, much to Adam’s relief.

Soon the house was filled with the smell of eggs, turkey sausage, beef bacon and coffee. Adam and Tevera sat across the dining room table from each other. Cool blue predawn light poured through a sliding glass door as it silhouetted some palm trees on the other side.

“So how’s work?” Adam asked before taking a bite of turkey sausage.

“Oh you know, more of the same. Customers be customers.” She replied.

“I’m not really sure what that means.”

“People are rude and inconsiderate. A lot of them don’t tip.”

“Yeugh.” Adam made a sound of disgust.

“Although it’s not all bad. Sometimes you get to have fun messing with people.” She added.

“How so?”

Tevera seemed to perk up and, putting down the fork and knife, began gesturing with all four of her hands as she talked.

“Well about a week ago some drunk frat guys stumbled into the diner and — for some reason — they seemed to think it was a strip club.”

“A strip club?” Adam almost spit his coffee through his nose.

Adam tried to imagine what the diner might look like to a bunch of really drunk dudes. The strangely-shaped angular building, strangely-shaped because it was actually a decommissioned minkan warship, was haloed in holographic neon lights. High above the entrance, where it could be seen from the street, was an animated holo-neon sign depicting a pinup of a voluptuous minkan waitress cavorting atop the red neon words:

F@NSERVICE diner

The keyword ‘diner’ was written much smaller so as to be easily eclipsed by what was happening on the rest of the sign. Which was the minkan waitress pinup playfully reclining up top in a manner that could be interpreted as either innocently playful or flirtatious, depending on whether you were drunk or just into 4-armed blue waitresses. Whether this was intentional or due to a failure to adequately communicate the desired tone to the artist hired to make the sign was anyone’s guess but Adam could foresee a scenario where the addition of alcohol could create some confusion about what services the establishment offered within.

Tevera continued.

“It was cosplay night and I was dressed as Major Kusanagi from Ghost In The Shell.”

Adam blinked twice.

“Which version?” He asked, his imagination starting to boil.

“Stand Alone Complex — minus the jacket. I mean, I started in the jacket but it was too hot for leather so I left it in the car.”

Adam gulped behind his mug of coffee.

That must have been something to see. Adam briefly considered asking her to send him pictures but then thought better of it.

“So, uh, The Major from Stand Alone Complex. That’s my favorite version of the character. — I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in that costume.” He tried to say nonchalantly.

“I’ll send you the pictures.”

Now Adam’s blood was boiling. He tried his best to hide it as he took another poker-faced sip of coffee.

“Cool. — So what happened next?”

“Oh I’ll tell you what happened next.” Said a voice directly behind him.

Adam glanced over his shoulder, momentarily startled. He had been so focused on the mental image of his big, blue crush wearing cyberpunk lingerie-armor that he hadn’t heard his little sister’s bedroom door open.

“Morning Astrid!” Tevera smiled and waved to the bathrobed, petite brunette who zeroed in on the coffee machine like a sleep deprived, caffeine-seeking missile.

“Morning.” Adam greeted. Astrid did not respond until after she had poured herself a cup into an ‘Employee of the Month’ mug, mixed in some hazelnut creamer and took a long sip.

Tevera, tired of waiting for Astrid to say something, continued her story.

“Anyway, one of the frat guys asked if…”

“She told them the diner was a strip club.” Astrid cut her off.

“I did not!” The minkan flailed defensively. “They called it a strip club.”

“But you didn’t correct them, did you?” Astrid questioned, hiding her smirk behind her mug of achievement.

“No.” Tevera lowered her pointed ears like a cat, if cats were actually capable of feeling guilt. “I told them there was a five dollar cover charge.”

Adam snickered and coffee almost came out his nose.

“And a four drink minimum.” She added.

“Seriously, what made you think you could keep that charade going without them catching on?” Astrid scolded.

“I have very high charisma.” Tevera said shyly. “I would’ve gotten away with it too if one of them hadn’t asked Astrid for a lapdance.”

Now Adam did shoot coffee out his nose. Astrid blushed.

“She was dressed as Alice In Wonderland. — I guess that was his thing.” Tevera explained resentfully.

“I bet that went over well.” Adam commented as he wiped up the coffee with a napkin.

“You have no idea. She threatened to have me throw them out, not knowing the whole thing was my fault.”

“Lucy you got some splaining to do.” Adam imitated Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.

“Fortunately once Astrid got the gist of what had happened she was able to diffuse the situation. — I didn’t get to keep my cover charge though.” Tevera pouted.

Astrid continued to hide her face behind the coffee mug.

“I think my Mom’s getting worried now that you’re about to get your paramedic certification.” Tevera said in Astrid’s direction.

“Wait, you are?” Adam asked.

Astrid’s smile peeked out from behind the mug.

“I thought that was farther off.” Adam continued.

“Nope, I’ve been taking that course for a year now. The final exam is in two weeks.” Astrid said proudly.

“Wow, it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year.” Adam reflected.

“Of course it doesn’t. You’re not the one taking the class.”

Adam thought back to Psy School where he had learned to focus his kinetic powers. Had it really been two years since then? ‘Time flies when you get comfortable and stop paying attention.’ He thought.

“I’m sure you’ll do great.” He said.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, Astrid’s the only person she trusts to run the diner when she’s not around.” Tevera swallowed a bite of egg before she turned to Astrid. “Things are going to get very uncomfortable around there when you quit.” She sighed and began flicking her necklace, a triple-helix cage in the form of an hourglass that contained two marbles.

“I’m sure she trusts you. You’ll just have to step up and pick up the slack when Astrid leaves.” Adam said without thinking. A choked half-snicker followed by a wheezing sound came from Astrid’s direction. Adam looked over to see his sister wide-eyed with coffee dripping out her nose. She looked as though she were trying to hold something in.

“You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah (cough) — gyime fine. (wheeze)”

“You sure?”

“Yes! I’m fine! Oh, I just remembered a thing.”

At that Astrid retreated back to her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Adam stared at the door for a while before he realized what he had said. Now he felt bad. He knew that Tevera and her Mom didn’t get along all that well. Adam always felt helpless in these situations. As someone who had a good relationship with his parents, he had trouble coming up with the right thing to say to those who didn’t. Most times the best he could do was just sit there and look sympathetic. He sighed and looked down. He took a gulp of coffee to give himself time to think. Maybe he could change the subject. He noticed that the three crimson bars of Tevera’s hourglass pendant held a whitish green marble in its top half.

“Is that a new myth-marble.” He asked.

Tevera’s face brightened, much to Adam’s relief.

“You noticed! I just got it yesterday at that little shop in Litchfield.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t know yet. It hasn’t woken up since I got it, but judging by the color and mottling there’s a good chance it might be Alien.”

“The first one?”

“Yeah, either that or something we haven’t seen yet.”

“That’d be cool to be the first to discover a new myth.”

“Yup, way I see it, it’s a win / win. The downside is now I’ve got to make sure the recorder’s always ready in case it wakes up. Myth-marbles are like babies, they always come at the worst possible time.”

Adam chuckled, thinking about how he and Astrid had both been born at four in the morning. He looked out the sliding glass door. The sun was about to crest the horizon. It was a lightly cloudy day and the approaching sun’s ray painted the feathery clouds in pink, purple and orange.

“That sure is a beautiful sunrise.” He commented.

“Oh wow, look at that.” Tevera turned in the sun’s direction.

Adam admired the way the warm light reflected off her face.

“Yup beautiful just like…um.” He stopped himself. “Uh Tevy.”

“Yeah.”

Now was as good a time as any. ‘God please help me. Please let this work.’ He silently prayed. “There’s something I’ve been wanting tell you.”

“What is it?”

She really looked like she had no idea what he was about to say. ‘Doesn’t matter, if you don’t say it now you never will. LEEEROYYY JENKINS!’ Adam’s internal monologue invoked the timeless World Of Warcaft Myth for inspiration.

“Well we’ve known each other for a long time and…” Adam thought he heard something but tried to ignore it. Tevera’s pointed ears pricked up. Adam forced himself to keep talking. “You know since that whole thing with Sarah I haven’t…” There it was again, louder this time. Adam lost the path that led to him asking Tevera to be his girlfriend. Instead he asked, “Do you hear thunder?”

Tevera’s ears turned like radar dishes, zeroing in on the sound.

“That’s not thunder.” She said cryptically.

They were blinded by a flash of white and orange light. A split second later a deafening BOOM rattled the walls and shook the ground.

They both jumped to their feet. Adam braced himself into a blocking stance as if to fight the explosion. The sliding door shattered with a broken glass crash as Adam activated his vector gloves and boots. He stepped in front of Tevera to shield her when the blast reached them. It never did.

“Whatcha doing dude?” Tevera asked.

“Uh, making a shield.”

“The explosion wasn’t that close. We’re save here.”

“Oh.”

“So — why’d you break the glass?”

“I didn’t. The shockwave from the …oh.” Adam mentally kicked himself when he realized it wasn’t the shockwave from the explosion that broke the sliding door, it was his vectors manifesting halfway through the glass. Those were the kind of mistakes he wanted to avoid. At least he didn’t hurt anyone.

Behind the swaying palm trees a ball of fire and smoke rose into the sky.

Astrid burst back out of her room.

“What the crap just happened?” She demanded and was answered by the shrill tone of Adam’s firefighter radio. The shifting tone sounded for what felt like forever before the female dispatcher’s voice filled in the details.

“Dispatch all EMS personnel. Uh, there are reports of multiple explosions. The orbital early warning system is down?”

The dispatcher sounded as if she was getting the information in real time without a chance to prepare a proper dispatch.

“There are sightings of drone swarms…”

And then the radio went silent. Adam looked at Tevera.

“I think I need to go. — Can we talk when I get back?”