And All Of Us Are Dying
By Dannell Lites
The time stream ebbs, flows, and finally overruns its banks with a will. Reality shatters. Like fluttering butterflies, possible futures take wing and fly beyond their borders, mixing and mingling the waters of the time stream in a great well of MightHaveBeen/NeverWas growing deeper and more real with every second.
But reality is not so easily thwarted as all that. It has chosen a very special young man to save it from this folly ... Look there! You can see him clearly now, swimming strongly against the currents of history, struggling, determined to set things right once more. In fact ... observe closely: there are many of him, striving against the flow of the time stream, now. His way is hard, difficult. The eddies in the time stream are swift and fierce. But he is strong; very strong. Watch as he makes his way through reality after reality ...
* * * * *The young Daxamite boy smiles up at his father. Kel Gand is retired now from his world's Space Exploration Agency. No longer will he chase from star to star, always seeking what lies just over the horizon, just beyond the reach of his questing hands. No longer will he neglect his family in his wanderlust, leaving a void in the life of his eldest son Lar that can only be filled with rage and punishing fists. His family, he has decided, is the most important thing. The thing he loves the most.
"Come on, son," says Kel Gand, smiling, "let's go check out that new cruiser of yours. Think you've got her space worthy, huh? We'll see!"
"All right!" the boy cries enthusiastically. Grabbing his father's willing hand, the youth pulls him along to the family garage where the shining spacecraft waits.
"She's a beauty, Lar!" Kel slips an arm around his son's broad shoulders in affection. "You're the youngest and the best mechanic in the Sector and I'm proud of you." The boy's shy answering smile is beautiful.
"Father? I'm glad you decide not to take that Observer's position with the Alliance Army. I don't think I like the sound of what they're up to." His father frowns.
"Neither did I, son, neither did I ..."
In this time, this place, Lar Gand will never leave his homeworld of Daxam in search of the truth of his father's death during the Invasion of Earth. He will never gain superpowers under the kindly advent of another, paler sun. The Legend of Valor dies aborning. Instead, he will became a renowned engineer and spacecraft designer on his homeworld of Daxam at a very early age. He will, perhaps, be happier.
Briefly.
For, slightly less than four months past his nineteenth birthday, Lar Gand, along with a more than a two thirds of his world, will perish of an unknown malady brought to his planet in the wake of a simple act of kindness. The Daxamite Fleet, returning home from their show of force to halt the Invasion of Earth, had no way of knowing that the stranded alien spacecraft they towed back to Daxam for simple repairs contained massive quantities of lead, a poisonous element, fatal to Daxamites. Its journey through the planetary atmosphere released huge quantities of ionized lead into the air of Daxam. Death spread itself on the shouting winds.
Since he was the mechanic who repaired the disabled ship, Lar Gand was among the first to die.
* * * * *It was not a Daxamite ceremony.
Once again, the Legion Of Super-Heroes gathered on the asteroid Shanghalla to bury one of their own. Phantom Girl held on to Ultra Boy's hand tightly. Mon-El was Jo's closest friend and this was very difficult for him. Several of the young heroes and heroines wept in open grief.
Conspicuously, there was one who did not cry. One who had no tears for her lover.
Shadow Lass, Tasmia Mallor, was dry eyed. Standing strong and stiff, her back straight against the emotional assault surrounding her still form, she stared ahead with seeming calm. More than one pair of accusing eyes fell upon her, wondering why she did not grieve. She ignored them.
Mercifully, the ceremony was brief. They'd all done this before, after all.
Few were brave enough or, perhaps, foolish enough to approach Tasmia when the rites were done. No one wanted to intrude. And she did not invite sympathy. Forming into small groups with aimless Brownian motion, the Legionnaires whispered among themselves.
"... so cold ... how can she be so damned cold ...?"
"Sh-h-h-h! Drake, she'll hear you!"
"Good, Dawny!"
"I - I never thought he might die. Never thought he could die, I guess. I mean ... he was invulnerable for Space's sake! Invulnerable!"
"So was Superboy. Any thing mortal can die, Ayla. Even invulnerable heroes ... "
"I know, Garth, I know ... but ... but ... What if it had been Imra? Damn it Garth! She has a husband and two children! Wasn't it hard enough for you to have to watch her risk her life as an active Legionnaire while you stayed home with the kids? How could she do that to you? To all of us? Lie to us and then run off and do something so stupid! She could have died!" Pale and shaken, Lightning Lad, Garth Ranzz, said nothing.
"Oh Gods, Chuck! It's so unfair ... Mon ... wasn't supposed to die ..."
"Lu ... Lu ... You all thought you were going to die. You must have. God ... fighting The Time Trapper on his home ground ... where he's strongest ... That was one of the biggest reasons you four didn't want the rest of us involved, right?" Chuck Taine clutched possessively at his wife with desperate hands, as if to remind himself of her continued existence.
Still physically weak and shaken months after the events of their vengeful battle at the end of time and psychologically stricken by the death of yet another of her three bodies, Luornu Durgo Taine sobbed softly in her husband's comforting arms.
"Oh, Chuck ... can you ever forgive me? Can you? I lied to you and got another one of me killed ... and all for the sake of - of - "
"Sh-h-h-h. All for the sake of love, Lu. All for the sake of love. I've always known how you felt about Kal. Always knew that he was there in your heart before I came along. It's - it's okay. Just as long as there's still room for me in there, too, it's okay ... "
Hugging his wife tightly, Bouncing Boy told himself yet again that was true.
It had to be, didn't it?
Saturn Girl was the first to break the wall of silence. The first to go to Shadow Lass and speak to her.
"Tasmia?" The Talokian woman did not precisely ignore her, but neither did she acknowledge the Titanian telepath and former Legion leader. Imra Ardeen Ranzz did not let that stop her.
"Shady, you can't keep doing this. You can't. Mon-El was the one who died ... not you. He wouldn't want you to shut yourself away from everyone like this. He wouldn't. Moons of Saturn! How long and hard did you fight to keep Mon from doing that very thing? And it won't work. All that grief and anger has to go someplace. You can't just pretend it doesn't exist. If you don't let it out it's going to fester and when you least expect it ... it'll explode. Don't do this to yourself. Don't. I know about repressing your feelings, Tasmia. Believe me .. I know ..."
But when Tasmia Mallor stalked away, her teammate Saturn Girl did not follow.
A brief flash of guilt flashed through the Talokian Champion, but she still did not pause in her flight away from Imra Ardeen and her too discerning telepathic mind.
"I never even thanked her for being the first to bring Mon from out of the Zone," she thought. "Imra was the first one to give him hope. Hope that he might one day be free. Without her, I'd never have loved him."
With a sigh Imra joined her husband and sister-in-law and was welcomed into the comfort of Garth Ranzz's strong arms. Her guilt about deceiving them in the early days of their "conspiracy", when she, Brainiac Five, Mon-El and Duo Damsel had taken it upon themselves to exact revenge upon The Time Trapper for the death of Superboy, would be with her for a very long time, she suspected. Almost as long as her guilt for what happened to Luornu ... and Mon. She smiled when she saw Element Lad, Jan Arrah, speak to the bereaved woman. Perhaps he would have better luck, she hoped. But, somehow, she doubted it.
His voice was soft and kind, as always, and Tasmia could not bring herself to dismiss him as easily as she had the others.
"Shady, I just wanted you to know ... if you need some time ... time to yourself ... I'm sure I can help arrange leave for you with Sensor Girl. If you just need to be away from us right now, we understand. If you want to stay we'll be there for you, I promise. Whatever you need."
"Thank you, Jan," she replied in an even voice after a moment and watched him frown at her too calm tone. "That's exactly what I want. I'm going home. Home to Talok VIII. Your help would be very greatly appreciated." Jan nodded, unhappy.
"If you're sure that's what you want ... " Tasmia turned away.
"I'm sure," she said with finality.
In defeat, Element Lad shook his head and moved off reluctantly.
Shadow Lass steeled herself when she saw Jo and Tinya moving toward her with purposeful steps, preparing for the coming pain. This was going to be very difficult. So very difficult ... "Ancestors give me strength," the prayer left her tightly drawn lips. But all too soon the couple, her very best friends, were standing before her with pale faces and pain clouded eyes. Resolutely she thrust angrily away all her memories of their many shared times together ... all the missions the four of them had undertaken together ... Jo and Tinya ... Mon and Shady ... almost like a single unit in the minds of so many of their teammates. The food and drink that passed between them on long lazy afternoons in the sun ... the smiles ... the laughter ...
And ... yes, the tears as well ...
Phantom Girl tightened her grip around the grieving Ultra Boy's waist. Jo looked at his deceased friend's lover through earth brown eyes bright with unshed tears.
"S - Shady, I know it doesn't help ... but ... Mon ... he-he died a hero. He-he'd have wanted it that way ... "
For a moment the Talokian woman's lips thinned themselves into a straight line of pale blue flesh and the muscles of her jaws and neck hardened and worked themselves silently. She looked away. Her eyes did not let themselves fall upon the fresh grave, the shining new Memorial. That wound was too fresh; too raw and still bleeding. Tinya noticed her eyes lingering for the briefest of moments on the older, simple Memorial dedicated to Querl Dox, Brainiac 5. The Time Trappers vengeance had been swift and through before his defeat and death. Like the laser vision of the departed Mon-El, Tasmia's glance grazed off the Memorial of her young cousin, Grev Mallor, Shadow Kid. When she turned at last to face Jo once more her face was still, like the dead, betraying nothing, and her voice was calm and steady.
"Oh yes," she said softly, "all my men are heroes."
Two days later, she left for Talok VIII and her self imposed exile.
There was no one there to see her off. And she was glad of that.
* * * * *She clutched his hand and cried out in wonder.
"Oh, Lar! It's so beautiful! Just look at those double rings!" she thought via the telepathic ear plugs they all wore. "Why, they put the ones around Saturn in the Sol system to shame! Aren't they gorgeous, Jo?"
"No kidding!" agreed Jo Nah, once known as Ultra Boy. He grinned at his two friends.
Laughing, Lar pulled Tasmia into a tight embrace, kissing her with great passion. With a happy smile Jo joined them. Even through the transuit she wore to protect her in the vacuum of open space, Tasmia's body tingled and her breath came in short, ragged gasps.
"Almost as beautiful as you, Shady m'love," Mon-El declared. Jo rolled his eyes at the blatant flattery. But, Tasmia Mallor, the former Shadow Lass, blushed a becoming shade of cerulean and lay one hand tenderly on her new husband's highboned cheek.
"Oooh you .. " she cried, delighted in spite of herself. The Talokian champion and ex-Legionnaire grinned. "But now I know it's love," she teased. "If you're comparing me to the beauties of space ... well!"
"You outshine them all," he assured her. "I've always loved exploring ... seeing what's just over the next hill ... waiting in the next star system ... But this wouldn't be half as glorious if you two weren't with me. How did I ever get so lucky? The three things I love most in the Universe ... you, Jo, and the freedom of racing from star to star ... just to see what's there. And now I have them all." Smiling, he peered down into her eyes.
"Do you ever miss it?" he asked softly. "The Legion, I mean? Do you regret leaving with me?"
A vigorous shake of her night dark head set the glory of her jet black tresses spiraling out around her like a nebula and Lar Gand caught his breath at the sight. Her onyx colored eyes shone brightly enough to rival the stars around them.
"Never, lover!" she assured him, laying her head on his chest, smiling into the broad expanse of sun-warm flesh there. "I don't regret it for an instant. How could I? I've never seen you happier. So am I. We had to leave when we married. The Legion Constitution says so! And it's not as if we never see the others, now is it? Why just last month we spent a week with Brainy on Colu. If they need us, they won't hesitate to call, I'm sure. In the meantime ... we all have one other. Why, we're still practically on our honeymoon!"
With a chuckle Lar swept her up entirely, holding her effortlessly aloft against the breathtaking crown of stars that encircled them. "It's been three years, Shady!" he reminded her. "You and Jo and I have been married for three years!"
"That long?" she murmured, settling once more into the firm embrace of her two lovers, luxuriating in the feel of the strong bodies beneath her caressing hands. "It hardly seems more than a heartbeat ... " She lay her head upon Jo's broad chest and smiled, listening to the thunder of his heart. With more anxiety than he knew he processed, Lar Gand turned probing eyes on Jo Nah.
"What about you, Jo? Any regrets?"
For an eternal moment, the pain still living in Jo Nah's earth brown eyes stabbed at Lar Gand's heart and he was almost forced to look away. But when the former Ultra Boy shook his ginger colored head in vigorous denial, Lar breathed easier.
"Not one!" he averred, lowering his head at the painful memories that suddenly flooded his mind. "A-after Tinya died ... I was a mess ... If it hadn't been for you two ... grife, I don't know what would have happened to me. Something bad, probably. Grife, I even considered going home to Rimbor. What I thought I was gonna do there, I don't know."
Tasmia kissed him gently on the lips, running her fingers through his fine spun hair. "Shhhh," she soothed him. "Shhhh. You're here now with us. And we love you, Jo. I'm so glad you decided to come with us ... to marry us ... "
Lar squeezed a muscular shoulder in comfort. "So am I," he murmured. "It was touch and go there for a while, I'll admit. It took a long time for Earth to recover from the technological and economic damage done by those so called 'Magic Wars'. As I recall there was even talk of seceding from the United Planets. Thank Space that nonsense passed quickly. But, I didn't think we were ever going to finish with the repairs so we could leave. It was almost as bad as Daxam after Darkseid. Still ... with the help of the rest of the United Planets, Earth recovered. There's still a strong Terra to lead the UP ... and still a Legion to protect it. So none of us need to feel guilty about leaving." Tasmia stroked Lar's hair and frowned in rising frustration.
Damn this transuit! It was splendid for enjoying the sheer magnitude and loveliness of open space, but ... lacking ... in so many, many other ways. It was time to find a planet.
"I want to really feel their bodies," the thought was urgent. "I want .. want ... "
Too late, she forgot to shield her naked desire from them. Lar's sapphire eyes grew dark and hooded, stained and smoky with rising passion and her heart leapt within her at the welcome sight. Jo's lecherous smile was heart stopping.
"There's a planet nearby ... " Lar whispered, holding them, " ... clear, bright blue skies ... warm breezes ... soft, lush grasses and the smell of flowers in the air ... birds the color of flames singing with beautiful, high voices in the trees ... I've meant to take you both there for a long time. It's uninhabited ... they'll be no one there but the three of us ... just us ... "
"Yes," she answered him, "oh, yes ... "
"You don't have to ask me twice, buddy," Jo husked.
Their mutual kiss was broken only by the sight of a brilliant flash of color streaking passed the yellow sun at their back. Mon-El's eyes widened.
"Look!" he cried, "a comet! Heading in the same direction we're going!" Like tinkling silver bells Tasmia's musical laughter filled his senses. Instantly he grabbed Tasmia up with a joyous cry, and, racing after the shooting star, gave chase.
"All right!" Lar crowed. "It's been a long time since I paced a comet! But I think I remember how it's done! Hang on, Shady! Come on, Jo!" With only his blazing smile for comment, the Rimborian ex-Legionnaire followed close behind.
Laughing, their desire and anticipation rising, the three of them sped after the fading glory of the fleeing comet, toward the future and their lover's tryst.
* * * * *Glorith stared down at the swiftly spreading wine stain now discoloring her iridescent shimmersilk gown, wide enraged eyes flashing angry blue fire.
"Clumsy fool!" she spat at the trembling, cowering slave holding her over full wine cup. "The garment is ruined! Ruined!" For a moment she wiped at the stain with futile, clumsy fingers, only to see it spread further to her dismay.
"Your pardon, Empress!" cried the frightened slave, who threw herself prostrate at Glorith's feet, quaking with fear. "It was unforgivably clumsy of me!" Glorith, by her own hand newly christened Empress of the Galaxy, smiled with satisfaction at the soft sobs escaping the terrified slave girl.
"Yes, it was," the beautiful woman agreed, still smiling. With seeming gentility, the ruler of the Milky Way reached down and assisted the weeping, fearful slave to shaky feet. "But I forgive you," she purred. "I forgive you ... "
"Ma-Ma-Majesty?" the slave hiccoughed, unable to believe her good fortune. Hot tears still rushing down her pale cheeks, the slave girl gasped, "You - you are merciful, Oh Great Empress! You are mer-merciful!" Glorith sighed.
"Yes," she agreed, "I am, aren't I?" She shook her white-blond head in rueful acknowledgment. "It's really my gravest flaw," the Balduurian sorceress sighed once more with regretful exasperation. "I'm too kind. And people take advantage of me ... People like you ... "
Too horrified to speak, the slave quailed when the tall woman reached for her, bringing her closer for a chaste kiss on her still wet and tear stained cheek. Glorith watched with approval as, within moments, the once young and lovely servitor was reduced to an oozing puddle of primordial slime, spreading itself slowly on the marble floor of the sumptuous palace.
"Damn it, Lori, now look what you've done!" drawled a deep, bored masculine voice from her back. "We just had her well trained. Now who's going to fetch the wine properly?"
Glorith grinned and turned to face her Consort. "Don't worry your pretty head about it, Lar," she chuckled. "There are plenty more where she came from. An inexhaustible supply. Why, there's a whole galaxy of slaves out there. And they belong to us!" Lounging with casual grace upon one of the twin thrones, wrought of gold and silver, inertron and viridium-steel, inlaid with precious gems and woods, Glorith's lover Lar Gand, Valor, smiled in return, saluting her wordlessly with his wine cup.
Glorith never tired of the sight of him. Naked to the waist but for gold and sapphire armlets encircling his wrists and biceps, his long hair (the exact color of midnight, Glorith thought) spilling over his shoulders, caressing the golden flesh there ... he was beautiful.
"And he's mine," the exultant thought thrummed through her. "All mine!" Wetting her full lips, the Empress of the Milky Way let her eyes linger, ghosting down her lover's body, across the broad, muscled chest, down the washboard stomach, to rest on the tight silk and leather clothing his trim hips.
Her voice low and heavy with desire, she waved a hand in harsh dismissal. "Leave me!" she ordered the numerous slaves and courtiers around her. "Now!" Without thought they obeyed.
Glorith watched Valor smile in welcome as she approached him. Straddling him, she seated herself on his lap and ground herself against him ... sweet friction. Entwining her long fingers in the silken mass of his hair, she claimed his lips, plundering their sweetness. His small moan of pleasure was music to her ears.
"Ah, Lori ... " he rasped in her ear, his breath warm upon her flesh. Like a great cat he lapped at her earlobe, nibbling gently and she arched the long column of her neck to ease his way. "What a contradiction you are!" he chuckled. "Like the bargain you offered me. Remember?"
"Of course, I remember, my sweet boy," she crooned against the sensitive flesh of his neck. "How could I forget?"
"'Join me,' you said, 'and rule at my side ... Or die a painful, lingering death from lead-poisoning!' Not much of a choice, was it?" he muttered. She kissed the hollow of his throat, nipping at the golden flesh there with tiny, sharp teeth.
"I didn't mean for it to be! I never claimed to play fair, Lar!" she laughed. "I wanted you in the worst way. From the first moment I ever saw you. I was taking no chances you might refuse me."
With a smile of his own, he ran one finger lightly down her spine. "And I didn't, did I? No one wants to die, I guess. Before I met you all I ever wanted to do with my life was help others. How boring! And where did it get me? Dying of lead poisoning is where. And look at me now. Your Consort. Commander of your armies and co-ruler of the galaxy. Much better, don't you think?"
"Oh, I do! I do!" she burbled merrily. "I just knew I could teach you to be a realist ... if you'd only give me the chance!"
His hands came to rest on the sides of her neck, stroking and caressing. She closed her eyes in bliss.
"Oh, yes," he murmured, " ... a realist ... "
And with a twitch of his fingers, he snapped her neck. Caught completely unawares, she didn't even have time to scream. His smile was a breathtaking one, full and vibrant, rivaling a star for brilliance.
"See what I learned from you, Lori? And how well I learned it!" The smile that graced his smooth features as he gazed down at the body of his lover was bright, yes; but it was not a pleasant one. Not a pleasant one at all. He shook his head in rueful mockery.
"Really, Lori ... " he crooned in a light, indifferent voice, "just how big a fool did you take me for?" The glint in his glacier blue eyes might have brought a chill to the hard vacuum of space. "Did you think I wouldn't figure it out? That I didn't know that when you tired of me, when you didn't need me anymore, that you were going to kill me? Of course you were! And I want to live, Lori. Didn't I prove that when I accepted your oh so kind offer? And I have a taste for power. You were right about that, too."
With a sharp, but carefully controlled clap of his hands, he summoned the Court Chamberlain, calling "Attend me!" in a loud voice.
The tall dignified Balduurian elder appeared promptly. If he was surprised or shocked to see his Empress lying still and obviously very, very dead at the foot of her throne, he gave no sign of it. Which was very wise of him. Lar looked grave.
"There's been an ... accident," he informed the Court functionary. "A tragic ... accident ... "
Composing himself, the Chamberlain nodded curtly. With a snap of his fingers he summoned others. At his beck several slaves materialized. Trembling and unhappy, they were less controlled, more blatant about their fears. The Chamberlain pointed to the body of the Empress. He was very glad that his hand did not shake.
"Clean up that ... mess ... " he ordered.
The slaves scrambled to obey him.
His hand was still steady enough to pass when he brought the Staff of his Office down, rapping it sharply three times against the marble floor as tradition demanded.
"Summon the Court!" he commanded in stentorian, official tones.
As the courtiers assembled in their finery, the Chamberlain tried very hard not to look at the man lounging with such casual grace upon the throne before him, watching him, judging him, waiting for him to act. He did not entirely succeed. He found himself captured by those eyes, hooded by long smoke colored lashes, but still hard and glittering as the stone beneath his feet. He shivered. But he did not hesitate. Not for an instant. He let his voice ring out, loud and strong in the large Audience Hall.
"The Empress is dead! Long live the Emperor!"
On his golden throne, Lar Gand, once known as Valor in another life that was only a swiftly fading memory now, smiled.
And darkness descended upon the galaxy for more than a millennium.
Until the coming of the Legion of Super-Heroes ...
Part 2
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This site is dedicated to the memory of Dannell Lites, who died unceremoniously on 16 September, 2002, in Kansas City, MO. Other than characters, place names, etc., which are ©DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Warner Bros., WGBS or any other television/movie owner, or Wizard Magazine, all content is ©2002 Dannell Lites. Background set ©2002 by SleepyHead. Please do not use without her permission. Site url= http://dannfan.50megs.com/