Evil Game Master Society

Wouldn’t It be Good Part IV - Story Arc #7

Wouldn’t It Be Good

Part IV

Jez turned away from Guardian now and directing her attention towards Rosie. “Jezebel. I hunt daemons, devils, ghosts, and those sorts of things.” She said this loud enough so that daemon boy should be able to hear her, but not loud enough to have to be shouting at the top of her lungs. The statement was mostly for his benefit though. Though he probably already knows what she does and she knows that. “You can call me Gillian though, everyone else does.”

Jez paused and the shrugged, “So what do we do at these first time superhero meetings? Beat the snot out of each other for a misunderstanding, just like in the comic books? Or do we just go get a pizza and get drunk or something?”

Rosie’s smile stayed in place. “I don’t know what the protocol is, exactly. I’ve never met other superheroes before.” She extended a hand. “I hope it’s the latter, though, because I’m a firm believer in ‘make love, not war.’”

Then her smile faded. “That is, except where people like those responsible for what I saw earlier are concerned. Like I said to Guardian, I’d like to do whatever I can to help. Now I hope that we’ll be able to say ‘Cracklin’ Rosie, Get On Board.’” The joke, small as it was, brought the light back into her eyes. “Speaking of signing up, who do I talk to about that?”

*Anook this has become a rather frequent question that has been asked in the last few days. We never did have a chance to discuss the protocols involving this. At this time there are three that wish to join the Sentinels. This culture is so bizarre.*

*Many people need an example of behaviour, or a situation, to get them motivated. These people may have been wanting to use their powers for good, but have not had the opportunity to do so.* Aidan explained. *Those who wish to join the group need to be interviewed, like that reporter did with you after the incident at the convention. I will tell Boreas and Nathan that there is someone who wishes to join the team. Pick a place to meet, Guardian, and I will have the others meet you there.*

Noticing that the silence was seemingly growing in response to her question, Rosie added, after several moments, “Uh, have I asked a sensitive question?” She deliberately avoided referring to Gillian’s personal remarks to Guardian, or her allusion to other Sentinels being injured. That didn’t mean she was unaware of them, however. Rather, she was taking the opportunity to get some idea of the group’s internal dynamics, before she got directly involved.

*Perhaps Anook,* Guardian said to Aidan. *A room somewhere would be more appropriate as opposed to meeting out in the open. A hotel room perhaps? There are a few all night places open downtown that I have passed on my way to the movies. Perhaps one of them would be more appropriate?*

*I will make the arrangements,* Aidan replied. *Get everyone into the van and go to the Ambassador Suites hotel.* He gave Guardian the address. *There will be keys waiting for you at the front desk.*

“If you will get into the van,” Guardian announced, repeating Aidan’s words. “We will be going to a safe place where we can meet.”

Rosie sent out another message to her “family”. *Looks like we’re off to the powwow. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get home.*

The drive to the hotel was uneventful, and Guardian got the keys to the suite with a minimum of fuss. She was thankful that Aidan had insisted that she learn to write in the human’s crude language, because she had to sign her name on some papers.

Rosie looked around. “Do you suppose they get this kind of clientele a lot?”

When she returned to where the others were standing, Boreas arrived, bringing with her a wave of cold air.

“Brr!” Rosie said. “Isn’t it supposed to be Summer in this hemisphere right now?”

An icy chill preceded Boreas’s entrance into the suite. She was back in her blue and white body suit with brown leather jacket, her standard heroing attire. She noticed some of the looks of discomfort. “Uhm, would you guys like me to turn up the heat a bit?” She began to move over to the temperature controls, but her rollerblades caught in the thick vermilion carpet, almost causing her to trip and fall. Sitting down in a chair she removed the weathered black blades. Everyone noticed her movements as a bit slow and jerky, while accompanied by an occasional grimace. The result of the bruises and concussion she had sustained earlier that evening.

“So guys, Aidan like tells me there’s a new girl-type who wants to join our little posse.” She gingerly got up out of the chair and walked over to Rosie. Passing by Guardian she whispered, “It would be nice if you could find a few cute guys who wanted to join up too ya know.” Without waiting for a reply she extended her hand toward the newcomer. “Nice to meetcha. I’m.” She then glanced at Jez. “Hey are we on a first name basis, or double-ultra-secret-ID thingie here?”

Rosie’s first reaction was, she’s cold. Her second reaction was, she’s cute. Thus she was glad that she was wearing both the thermal bodystocking and face mask which were originally intended to keep her from freezing while she flew. She had little doubt that the young lady could probably make things even cooler if she wanted to, however. Her ears also pricked up at the mention of the name “Aidan.” Could that be their leader? If so, why wasn’t he meeting her personally? Despite the girl’s off-handed question, secrecy did appear to be important to these people. Gillian-Jezebel’s earlier remark about those who were still mobile, combined with the girl’s apparent discomfort, suggested that it was with good reason.

“How do you do,” she replied, holding out a hand. “Call me Cracklin’ Rosie, and I have no problem with keeping secrets, yours or mine. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ always seemed to me to be a fine theory.” Smiling, she gestured toward a chair. “Why don’t you sit down? No need to go to any trouble on my account–and you look like you wouldn’t mind, either.”

“We are still using our id’s, Boreas,” Guardian replied. “There are a few others who also wish to join the Sentinels as well.”

Boreas turned to look at Guardian quizzically. “Others? So is it like pledge week for Harbingers or something?” She smiled at Guardian and then turned back to Cracklin’ Rosie and shook her hand.

Cracklin’ Rosie noticed that Boreas’s hand was actually quite warm, much warmer than she would have suspected given her chill cast. However when Rosie removed her hand, it was a tad numb, as if it had been stuck in a bucket of ice.

Boreas eyes betrayed no hint that there was anything wrong in the simple exchange. “Nice to meet you Rosie. Cool name by the way, but do you mind if I just call you Rosie, or do you go by some other nick-name like Crackers?” She said with a slight grin. “Like the Amazon said, my Harbinger name is Boreas and I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of this little meeting sitting down.” With that she plopped down into a plush loveseat.

Rosie flexed her hand, trying not to be too obvious about it. In some ways, it was rather like a good, firm handshake. “Rosie is fine,” she replied. “If you’re not a Neil Diamond fan, then it would take a while to explain where my nom de guerre comes from.” She paused and looked obliquely at Boreas. “I draw the line at being called a cracker, though.”

Boreas shrugged. “Sure like no prob Rosie.” She mulled the name over in her mind and couldn’t quite place it. “Neil Diamond huh? I don’t suppose he’s related to Travest Diamond who plays for the Avalanche? Eh, well didn’t think so.” Now that she was sitting and comfortable the ambient air temperature seemed to warm up a bit.

“Still it’s a cool name.I just like pulled my name outta a book myself.nothing special about it.” She said with a slight frown.

To her initial assessment, Rosie added, _she’s even younger than she looks, too._ Aloud she said, ” I wouldn’t say that. ‘Boreas’ is both succinct and poetic. And anyway, a friend thought of ‘Cracklin’ Rosie,’ not me.” She also noted the apparent lack of reaction on anyone else’s part to the expression “cracker.” If terms like that weren’t in common use on this side of the border, it was just as well. Clearly Boreas hadn’t meant anything by it…

“So like who’s gonna start the 20 questions?” Boreas asked to no one in particular and then wondered to herself why she was acting so flighty. Perhaps it had something to do with the healing drugs she was given?

“Do you think that 20 questions will be enough?” Rosie asked, amused. “And do I get to ask questions too, or is this a one-way transaction?” One could almost hear the twinkle in her eye. “Sure I am game, as long as like both sides here” She looked around at her cohorts, “understand that there are some matters that should remain private.” She finished off with a smile.

Guardian contined to stand off to one side of the room watching the interaction between the three of them with great interest. At the mention of 20 questions got a bit of a puzzled look on her face.

Rosie spread her hands. “Fine by me. If you don’t ask, I won’t tell, and vice versa–unless it’s something important that one of us has missed. Now, what do you want to know first?”

Jezebel just shrugged, looking like she wasn’t really too engaged in this conversation. “Whatever you want to do. Now I see why superheroes always fight when they meet each other… These conversations don’t exactly make gripping reading.”

Jezebel stood up from her seat on the tabletop and offered an open hand to Rosie. “Hi. I’m Gillian. Resident pain in the ass. I call myself Jezebel…even though I’ve been told that that’s not an appropriate name.”

Following the handshake, Jez looked towards Boreas. “Now that everything looks like it’s under control, I’m going to go play a video game… Or, better yet, see if I can figure out how to program our exercise room…”

As she starts to walk away, the sharp eared might hear her mumble something like… “I hope this thing works like those rooms on Star Trek…”

Guardian looked at Jezebel. “Yes, the exercise room at base does work under the same principles as those from the show Star Trek The Next Generation. It uses a holographic projector to simulate the surroundings and scenarios. Aidan would be more the willing to help you, program it.” Guardian absently looked at the mechanical spider on her shoulder and then looked at Rosie.

Rosie hadn’t had a chance to get a word in edgewise. She realized that it didn’t matter, either. The contradictions between Gillian’s words and actions raised a lot of questions in her mind, but they clearly belonged to the category of “matters that should remain private,” at least for now. She filed them away for future reference, together with the other things she was noticing, and looked around at the others, waiting for the open questioning to start.

Guardian gave Rosie a lopsided big goofy grin that somehow seemed out of place on her. “Here I was afraid, that I did not know the procedures for such a meeting. I do admit I am some what relieved that I am not the only one fumbling right now.” The look remained plastered on her face. “Perhaps the best question would be why do you want to join our ….. Team”

On her way towards the door, Gillian paused and glanced at Guardian. After a moment’s thought, she gestured towards the metallic spider on Guardian’s shoulder.

“You mind if I borrow that for a couple of minutes?” she asked Guardian. “I think I need to have a conversation with it.”

Guardian looked at Jezebel and you could swear for a second a look of panic passed across her face the goofy grin gone. And her normal look replaced on her face. After a second she reached up for the mechanical spider.

Rosie’s eyes narrowed behind her mask, but she kept her thoughts to herself for the moment. Now was definitely the time to observe.

Guardian held up her hand and let the mechanical spider walk on her hand and she held it out for Jezebel. “Please be careful with him.” A soft look on Guardian’s face as she held it out.

Gillian gingerly took the spider from Guardian, perhaps even more gingerly than Guardian expected. Gillian held her hand out, palm up near Guardian’s hand to allow the spider to scurry across of it’s own intention.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him.” Gillian said and then winked at Guardian. “I’ll go out and show him the town. Take in a show. Dinner afterwards, of course. I’ll make sure he charges it all to your credit card.”

Gillian grinned back at the goofy, confused expression she expected Guardian to return, and then started heading towards the door. Not paying the spider that much additional attention, she allowed it to perch where ever it seems to feel comfortable.

In the uncomfortable silence following Gillian’s departure, Rosie spoke up again–as much because her curiosity was piqued, as to try to get things back on track. She jerked her thumb at the door by which Gillian had left. “OK, since no one seems to have anything to ask me, I’ll ask _you_ something: what was that mechanical spider-thing? I’ve never seen robotics that sophisticated–or that small. What’s so special about it?”

Boreas jumped to her feet, looking around somewhat startled. “What Spider thing?!?” She then waits for a moment before cracking smile. “Oh you mean Aidan’s little helper! Well our benefactor is an absolute whiz with machines and the like, creates all these like funky gadgets and gizmos…just like in one of those Space Trek shows.” She then sidled up next to Rosie making sure that Guardian would have trouble hearing. “Frankly no one’s really SEEN this Aidan fella’…I’m thinking he may be a bit on the odd and/or shy side myself. You know how those reclusive, millionaire, philanthropists tend to be.” She finished with a wink.

Rosie glanced sidelong at Boreas, then once again at the door through which Gillian had left, then back at Boreas again. She wasn’t entirely sure what the girl was getting at–or perhaps avoiding–but her manner suggested that wasn’t all there was to the story. Still, it did confirm Rosie’s suspicion that the mastermind was not present, at least, not physically. “I… see,” she replied after a moment. “So, Aidan, you said? Does he control everything by remote, like Charlie’s Angels? And things like that spider are how he communicates with you?”

Boreas just stared at Rosie, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide. “Woah! Like you can fly!” She followerd that declaration with a half dozen other questions in rapid fire succession concerning, how high, far, fast, before she realized that perhaps a little more composure on her part was in order. She was supposed to be a superhero after all , and these things…while way friggin kewl, were just part of the local harbinger scene. Therefore, lest the others take her for a total newbie to the whole superhero gig, which of course she was, she tried to recover. Calming down a bit, she adjusted her jacket and spoke in a more casual tone. “I mean flying can be like a a big asset to a team.” She looked at her feet in disappointment. ” I just skate and make things cold.” She said solemly.

“Uhm…so…like what else do you do?” Her voice perked up a little.

Rosie smiled warmly at Boreas’s enthusiasm. She understood all too well how the younger woman felt. She hadn’t been like this for even a year yet herself. On top of which, she was finally in the company of other Harbingers. A little bit of gushing on her part might have been understandable as well. “If you substitute ‘fly’ and ‘electric’ for ’skate’ and ‘cold’ in that sentence, you have the basic idea,” she said. “As best I can make out, I’m superconductive at room temperature. I can give off about as much current as your average lightning bolt, except with no measurable resistance and no accompanying magnetic field. That’s the Reader’s Digest version, anyway. Now about your other questions…” She ticked them off on her fingers. “I haven’t tried to find out how high I can go. I’d need life support gear to go above about 3000 meters, though, since I still breathe air like other people do. I also don’t know how far I can go yet, though I seem to hit a point where it feels like I could go on as long as I like, a sort-of ‘cruise control.’ As for how fast, well, I’ve clocked myself going just over 400kph, once I get going. About the only things on land that go faster than that are some of the new high-speed bullet trains in Japan.”

With that, Rosie took a deep breath. “Now what about the two of you? Boreas, how cold can you make things? What makes that thermodynamic reaction happen? And when you skate, how does that work? My first guess would be that you somehow reduce friction coefficients between yourself and whatever you’re standing on. However you do it, it’s amazing.” She was genuinely interested; her engineering background was coming to the fore.

Rosie turned to Guardian. “Sorry I blanked on what you said earlier. That whole thing distracted me.” .o0 Not to mention that look you get on your face, 0o. she added to herself. .o0 Botched plastic surgery? 0o. She quickly continued, “I only just now realized that you were asking me a question after all. Like I said at the rendezvous, I don’t like people who take advantage of other people. Never have. Until I got like this, though,” and here she made herself crackle more noticeably, floating slightly off the ground, “reacting to trouble was all I could do. But now I can be proactive instead. And I think I can do more good as part of a group than by myself. So if you’re recruiting, here I am.”

With that, Rosie lowered herself back to the floor. “So is Mr. Aidan the one who will rule on my application? And what else would you like to know about me? Maybe we can swap notes about our respective abilities? I’m open to suggestions.”

Boreas started to chuckle. “Oh you’ll be finding out about Aidan soon enough I guess. He’s a bit reclusive, so I don’t know what he would have me tell you… However a scientist is just one of his many talents I would think.” She looked at the others in the room. “I can’t speak for the rest, but I think you would be a fine addition to out merry little band here. I mean most of us are new to the team too.” She then glanced around the suite looking for a computer terminal. Spying none she walked over to a nearby phone and picked up the receiver. “Hey Aidan, you there?” Boreas heard only the dial tone.

Three quick knocks on the hotel door and then before it can be opened, Jez pushes it open and walks casually back into the room.

“I know what you mean, but I still prefer the original series.” Jez said out loud, to nobody in particular apparently. “Riker is no Kirk. I always preferred Spock to Kirk though.” She paused and then glanced around the room, oblivious to the possibility that she might have just interrupted an important conversation.

“Hey, the arcade downstairs is excellent. The restaurant menu doesn’t look very good though.” Jez paused long enough to glance around the room to make sure everyone was still alive before she continued talking. “I think Aidan might have a date with the reservation’s computer too. I told him to stop flirting with the terminal, but he just wouldn’t listen to me.” Jez turned her head slightly to look at the construct sitting on her right shoulder. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re working two jobs to support a half dozen pocket calculators.”

Rosie found all of these comments peculiar, to say the least. She wasn’t sure just how much importance to attach to them, however, given the source. But combined with Guardian’s reaction to being parted from the miniature robot, it might be much more significant. Was this device how Aidan communicated with his agents in the field, perhaps? Rosie put that train of thought on the back burner, because there wasn’t nearly enough information yet to enable her to go beyond pointless speculation. There was something to be said for her taste in TV watching, though.

Jez brought her attention back to the newbie now, walking right up in front of her and looking her in the eye for a moment without saying anything. Finally, just a few seconds before the situation became uncomfortable Jez said, “Hi.” and have a small introductory wave.

Jez then said nothing for a few seconds again. “So, if you don’t mind, I think we’d like you to accompany us back to our headquarters for a little bit. We’ll have to blindfold you probably, but those types of decisions are not up to me. It’s those super-spy, James Bond kind of things.”

“Oh,” Jez said with a smile, as if it had slipped her mind. “My real name is Gillian. Gillian Harrison if it makes a difference to you. You don’t have to tell me your name if you don’t want, I just don’t have anything I need to be defensive about.”

Rosie smiled and waved back, but gave no other indication that she was rising to the bait. “For now, I think ‘Rosie’ will be just fine, thank you,” she replied, her voice as nonchalant as the rest of her.

Jez wrinkled her nose slightly, as if she was a little surprised that her intentionally odd behavior didn’t ellict a more extreme response from the newbie.

“Rosie then. That’s fine with me.” Jez said with a slight shrug. “Probably just means you have a better social schedule than me… If all the people I knew just dropped off the face of the planet, the world would probably be better off for it…”

Jez paused and then glanced at the floor for a second, before mumbling under her breath… “Of course, if all my dates in the past month disappeared it would probably be the same as giving the world gene pool a good scrubbing.”

“Anyway, like I was saying,” Jez said, her mind hopscotching across conversations. “I set up a kind of training scenario back at the base in our danger room, hologram, virtual reality thing. It will also give us a chance to show you the digs back at home.”

Jez paused, as an after thought, and looked to her comrades. “That’s if no one has any arguments with my plans?”

“I’m willing to undergo any reasonable precautions, if it means we can continue our negotiations in real privacy, with everyone concerned present. And this holographic danger room sounds interesting too.” With that, Rosie fell silent, waiting for the reactions of her hosts.

“Yeah, the pay by the hour special rate room near the highway isn’t quite the best place to hold auditions.” Jez commented and then finally backed out of Rosie’s personal space. “So how are we going to do this? Blindfold her? Drug her? Teleport her?”

Jez turned to look at Guardian now, “Security is your thing, isn’t it? Got any ideas.

Guardian looked much calmer after getting Aidan back. “We will take the van. There are precautions in there.” *Anook, good to have you back. I will take Rosie through one of the entrances with the van.*

*I would recommend blindfolding her once you leave the hotel,* Aidan replied mentally to Guadian. *I do not want to have to destroy one of the entrances to the base if things do not work out.*

For someone who professed to have nothing to hide, Gillian seemed to regret an awful lot of things, Rosie thought. She still wasn’t sure how much was real and how much bravado, but the important thing right now was to find out whether they would be able to work together. There would be time enough for personal issues once they answered that question.

Rosie kept her smile in place, hands at her sides. Inwardly, however, she was delighted at the thought of getting to meet the man behind the team. Now they were getting somewhere. She cared very much about the feelings of her prospective teammates, but she also preferred to deal directly with the decision-makers wherever possible.

In the sudden silence, Rosie had an inspiration. She looked at each of them, then closed her eyes and turned around, crossing her wrists behind her back. Letting herself be blindfolded was a symbolic gesture at best, and she knew it. She also knew that sometimes the symbolic gestures are the ones that matter most. This seemed to her to be one such time.

“Who’s credit card is the room on?” Jez asked, rhetorically, as she reached into the closet to snag one of the extra pillows. “I’m not sure how much they charge for missing linen.”

She then pulled the pillow out of it’s pillowcase and dropped the pillow onto the closet floor without a second thought. She then offered the pillowcase to Guardian. “Blindfold. Good enough for you?”

Guardian nodded and took the pillow case and walked over to Rosie. “Are you ready?” Guardian looked down at her.

Without changing her stance, Rosie replied, “Something just occurred to me. Wouldn’t it be better to do this after we leave the hotel? Even if no one turned a hair when we walked in, the sight of one of us exiting blindfolded and surrounded by the others might still raise a few eyebrows, no pun intended.” Her posture showed her willingness to cooperate in any case.

” I was not planning on blindfolding you here,” Guardian replied. “But in the van. If you are ready we shall go.”

At these words, Rosie opened her eyes and turned to face Guardian. “In that case, after you,” she said, gesturing at the door.

Boreas fastened her blades back on as people were making ready to leave. She was giddy with excitement thinking that this appeared to be more of a sorority for harbingers than an actual hero team. And here was there newest applicant ready to jump through all the initiatory hoops that the put forth. At least Rosie was being a good sport about things. Boreas imagined her reaction may have been a little more on the side of cautious paranoia.

“So guys, like how long is this whole initiation thing gonna take? Just wondering since some people have to be up early tomorrow.”

“Not very long.” Aidan’s voice came from the small spider construct. “The testing scenario is set and awaiting your arrival. The length of time needed to complete the scenario will depend on the efficiency of your actions.”

“Huh, that’s funny. Sounded like we are all supposed to participate in this.” Boreas quipped. “I don’t need to remind people of what happened the last time I was put in that room do I?” She said gravely, but then quickly reconsidered her wording. “Not that there’s anything for you to worry about Rosie!” She finished with a half smile.

It took Rosie a moment to realize that Boreas was speaking to her. The voice that came from the spider-bot made her do a double-take. She looked at the (significantly) younger woman, smiling again at her enthusiasm. Then she recalled what Boreas had said about her abilities earlier. “I hope you’re right,” she replied simply.

As they filed out of the room, Rosie said, “By the way, I’m sorry if I alarmed you earlier. I wasn’t thinking straight. Whatever you’re doing, it can’t be nuclear. If it was, you’d be a walking hot spot.” At best, she added to herself.

“Yeah I kinda figured that when I didn’t glow in the dark. Would have made crime-fighting late a night a lot more interesting.” She laughed. “But I appreciate your concern. Fact is I try not to think about how all the radiation I absorb is screwing me up inside. One of the reasons I don’t carry a cell phone with me. But I figure I must have some harbinger ability that neutralizes the harmful side-effects…at least I haven’t noticed any so far.”

She then noticed the others giving her some questioning glances. “Except for blowing up that is.” She amended sheepishly. “But I think I’ve got that under control now.”

“Heh,” Rosie replied. “Whatever these Harbinger effects are, they’re not science–at least, no science I ever heard of. I’m grateful for them–but I don’t understand them. Still, they’ve kept this long, so I expect they’ll keep a little longer. Let’s go meet the boss.”

“You may remove Cracklin’ Rosie’s blindfold now,” Aidan said, his voice coming from the spider-bot that sat on the dashboard of the van. The ride back to the base had uneventful. “Proceed directly to the training room. The simulation is loaded and waiting for your arrival.”

Guardian removed the blindfold from Rosie and then motioned her to follow her. “If you come this way we shall begin. And are there any particular weapons that you will need? As well as questions.”

Rosie shook her head, trying to take in the scene around her. “No,” she replied, “no weapons, I think. As for questions… I’ll get back to you on that, when I have an idea of where to start.”

Rosie’s eyes adjusted to the bright light quickly and she saw that she was in a huge underground cavern. Near where the van was parked was a huge pool in which was docked something that looked like a cross between a jet-boat and a submarine, and a crane was installed next to the pool, probably to lift the boat out for dry dock repairs.

To the right of the pool were two sports cars, also on platforms, with ramps leading to tunnels which extended off of the cavern. Continuing to the right were a pair of motorcycles. There was another pool containing something that kind of looked like a plane with some really weird engines. All of the vehicles were painted in gray marine-style primer.

In the farthest most corner of the cavern was a huge alcove-like area in which robots were working on-stop. There appeared to be no vehicle inside, and it was unlit.

At the far side of the cavern was a set of stairs leading up to a platform in front of a large pair of elevator doors.

The talking spider-bot was still amazing enough. Or so Rosie thought before she saw the inside of the cavern. As they walked on, she tried to take in as much
as she could, even if she couldn’t make much sense out of it. Her expression changed from delight to confusion. “How do they work?” she wondered aloud.

Guardian stopped and turned to Rosie. “Most of them work by a simple motorized preprogramable system with a remote access modem to update there programming. They take care of the bases simpler repairs and maintenance. They are a very common site here. The more advance ones work off a different system but that is about all I can say about them. Any other questions?”

It took Rosie a moment to realize that she had spoken aloud, and another moment to realize what, specifically, Guardian was referring to. “Oh, you mean those robots?” she said as they made their way up the stairs and toward the doors.

“I was talking about these vehicles,” Rosie explained. “I can’t tell what they use for engines, which is just one more thing that interests me. I’m curious about those robots too, now that you mention it, but cybernetics isn’t really my specialty. Those would have to be pretty impressive ‘modems’ to send enough data at high enough speeds to run machines that sophisticated, though.”

With that, she went silent for a moment. Before they stepped into the elevator, she thought of scanning the wireless communications bands most likely to fit the bill. Then she remembered that anything she might pick up would be so many ones and zeroes, at speeds faster than she could hope to decipher. Besides, such things weren’t her reason for being there, and like the others, she wasn’t quite ready to reveal all of her secrets, either. So she put the idea on the back burner for the time being.

“The engines work on a form of technology that is rather difficult to explain to someone not familiar with it,” Aidan explained, his voice now coming through speakers hidden somewhere in the elevator. “And it would take far too long to explain at this point in time. Perhaps, at some point in the future and you are made a member of the team, I can attempt to explain it to you. Suffice it to say the engines are pollution free and have little or no detectable emissions when operating, nor do they contain radioactive elements.”

Rosie’s eyes widened and she pursed her lips at these words, but she continued to hold her peace.

The elevator moved upwards for a time then stopped. The doors opened to reveal a short corridor which opened out into a large room. A door just large enough for Guardian to get through could be seen in the far wall opposite the elevator.

Guardian led the group into the room. To the left Rosie saw what must be some kind medical station. At first glance it seemed to be outfitted to service trauma such as broken bones and emergency first aid. Other than a medical bed, there was no other furniture in this room.

But that was nothing compared to what dominated the room. To her right she saw what looked for all the world like a loading bay door, and it was heavily reinforced. On either side of the door at the upper corners were panels of lights. About chest height to the right side of the door was a complex control panel with what appeared to be a speaker. As she watched, the door slid open and the light above the door turned a brilliant green.

“This is the HSTS, or the Holographic Simulation Training System,” explained Aidan. “It uses a form of solid light and a variety of other equipment and devices to simulate any and all possible environments, objectives and opponents. With the safety features in place, no one can receive lasting physical harm from participation in the scenarios. Any powers, no matter what their origin, are suppressed and replaced by the system with effects that duplicate them and their abilities within certain limits. In many ways,” Aidan continued, and Rosie could hear a touch of amusement in his voice. “it is similar to that of the holodecks as seen on Star Trek. And
please, do not ask me to explain how the system works or the technology that is uses. It is on a need to know basis and right now, I’m afraid, you don’t need to know.”

(Continued in “Rosie Tries Out For the Team.)

© Lisa Hartjes, 1999-2000, 2006.