New story
I sat down tonight to write more about Ex Machina, but looking for the files on the laptop hard drive, I found the beginning of a story I was writing about my character in a superhero game alarin612 was running, using the Silver Age Sentinals system, so I picked that back up again.
It may be a bit disjointed because:
a) It's too hot
b) I can't really remember the first adventure that well
c) I was also watching Gone in 60 Seconds and Fight Club while writing it ...
Of Extraordinary People in an Mediocre World
My name is Templeton Sledmier. Most know me as my alter ego: Tempo. Now that I've retired from the super hero game, and most of my enemies have been dealt with, I figure it's time I publish the details behind the stories the world knows about us. I hope the events presented here are entertaining, if not informative.
It all started about thirty years ago ...
* * *
Origins and Blazing Glory
I was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkley. I had always been close to my father. He was coming out to visit me and lend his support while I defended my thesis: The Mathematics of Quantum Neutrino Fields in Interaction with Temporal Governance; the fancy way of saying I thought I had a theory on time travel. Dad's plane crashed en route. From what I could gather, an extremist had hi-jacked it in an attempt to force the government to bend to his will. Some on the plane were not content with sitting idly by, and managed to wrest control from the hijackers, in time for the plane to rendezvous with the rocky mountains of Colorado.
After the funeral, I was given an extension on my thesis defense, and actually managed to defend it fairly well, all things considered. I graduated, but kept up my contacts, especially in the Berkley Nuclear Engineering department, they always got the best toys. Working in my garage/lab, I managed to make a prototype Time Control device. It was large and clunky, the size of an external frame backpack, and weighing in around 170 pounds, but it worked. I was able to freeze time and even go back about 5 minutes, though that tended to overheat the pack, and burn out the battery and half the wiring.
Emboldened by my success, I set to work creating a second, smaller, more efficient unit. This one was no more than a large belt, and a smaller pack, with a control glove worn on the right hand. I tested it again, trying to reverse time far enough that I could save my father, but instead of simply burning out, the control unit self destructed, taking my hand and much of my forearm with it. Fortunately, the explosion cauterized the wound. Unfortunately, without the controller I was stuck in HyperTime, moving infinitely faster than those around me. To an observer, I would have faded out of existence when my temporal field was accelerated, but to me, everything was at a standstill. I knew my only hope for survival lay in the prototype. With it, I could control my field again, and slow myself down to a normal rate. It was difficult to put on and operate with only the one arm, but I managed it.
My first act once in NormalTime again was to call Danny in the NukE department. He knew the most about my project besides me. With his help, the third unit was created, this one small enough to be a robotic/prosthetic hand for me. We started calling it the Hand of Time and the name just kinda stuck. As long as the Hand was in operation, I could exist in NormalTime. If I shut it off or it was otherwise disabled, I went straight back to HyperTime.
Fast forward a year or so, Danny and I have carved out part of a cliff side along the Oregon coast (accelerated erosion is a wonderful thing) and have set it up as a sort of Bat Cave. 'Course, we're both about six years older, but we were able to set everything up in about six months of apparent time, including a host of gadgets.
We settled in to watch the news and see what developed. It wasn't long before something happened. Some nutjob wearing a confederate flag as a cape seemed to be lighting downtown San Francisco on fire. His motives weren't clear, but that was okay. He was goin' down. I jumped in Time's Arrow, my vertical take off and landing jet, and was off toward the bay area before Danny said “Bye!”
Seconds later I was landing on a building a block away from the hot head. Up close, it looked like his head and hands are on fire. At least now I knew how he was lighting the town up ...
I fired a warning volley from the quantum pistol, a low damage, high rate of fire weapon Danny and I came up with. I got the hot head's attention, which was all I was expecting anyway. Now, on to the next part of my plan: hope something brilliant happens and everything turns out for the best. Maybe I should start planning these sorts of things in advance ...
As a jet of liquid flame lashed toward me, something unexpected happened. A stop sign hit the villain in the side of his head.
“Who dares assault Blazing Glory?!” he roared.
“That'd be me,” a young sounding male voice said from about 50 feet away, just before the speaker was engulfed in flame.
“Poor guy ... shouldn't have tried to be a hero ...” I whispered, pausing for a moment of silent reflection in HyperTime. I looked up and before resuming normal time, I noticed the young man was standing in the flame, but not burned at all. His hands were out in front of him in a kind of defiant pose. I peppered Blazing Glory with a few more rounds to take the heat off the new player before dialing back to NormalTime.
About the time the shots hit, I heard the new guy say “They call me Defiant. If you can dish it out, I can take it.”
It was around this time I thought some sort of temporal grenades would be handy ... something that would project a pocket of SlowTime or something. I made a note to make some when I got back.
“You!” Defiant shouted at me. “Keep him distracted.”
“Can do” I said, firing a dozen more shots at the hot head. They hit him in the chest and he staggered back about six paces, providing enough of a distraction for Defiant to get a fire ax and charge Mister Fiery. “Your turn!” I shouted, sprinting toward a firetruck two hundred feet away. Defiant chuckled and kept swinging the ax, until the handle burned through anyway.
I got to the truck and turned the hose on Glory. That seemed to put him in his place, for a while. The police eventually showed up with a refrigerated truck. To take Ol' Glory to a special cell. Defiant and I said our hellos, then our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Danny and I got to work on the Temporal Grenades and I had another gadget to play around with.
Please let me know what you think, what is unclear, what might work better in some places, etc.
It may be a bit disjointed because:
a) It's too hot
b) I can't really remember the first adventure that well
c) I was also watching Gone in 60 Seconds and Fight Club while writing it ...
Of Extraordinary People in an Mediocre World
My name is Templeton Sledmier. Most know me as my alter ego: Tempo. Now that I've retired from the super hero game, and most of my enemies have been dealt with, I figure it's time I publish the details behind the stories the world knows about us. I hope the events presented here are entertaining, if not informative.
It all started about thirty years ago ...
* * *
Origins and Blazing Glory
I was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkley. I had always been close to my father. He was coming out to visit me and lend his support while I defended my thesis: The Mathematics of Quantum Neutrino Fields in Interaction with Temporal Governance; the fancy way of saying I thought I had a theory on time travel. Dad's plane crashed en route. From what I could gather, an extremist had hi-jacked it in an attempt to force the government to bend to his will. Some on the plane were not content with sitting idly by, and managed to wrest control from the hijackers, in time for the plane to rendezvous with the rocky mountains of Colorado.
After the funeral, I was given an extension on my thesis defense, and actually managed to defend it fairly well, all things considered. I graduated, but kept up my contacts, especially in the Berkley Nuclear Engineering department, they always got the best toys. Working in my garage/lab, I managed to make a prototype Time Control device. It was large and clunky, the size of an external frame backpack, and weighing in around 170 pounds, but it worked. I was able to freeze time and even go back about 5 minutes, though that tended to overheat the pack, and burn out the battery and half the wiring.
Emboldened by my success, I set to work creating a second, smaller, more efficient unit. This one was no more than a large belt, and a smaller pack, with a control glove worn on the right hand. I tested it again, trying to reverse time far enough that I could save my father, but instead of simply burning out, the control unit self destructed, taking my hand and much of my forearm with it. Fortunately, the explosion cauterized the wound. Unfortunately, without the controller I was stuck in HyperTime, moving infinitely faster than those around me. To an observer, I would have faded out of existence when my temporal field was accelerated, but to me, everything was at a standstill. I knew my only hope for survival lay in the prototype. With it, I could control my field again, and slow myself down to a normal rate. It was difficult to put on and operate with only the one arm, but I managed it.
My first act once in NormalTime again was to call Danny in the NukE department. He knew the most about my project besides me. With his help, the third unit was created, this one small enough to be a robotic/prosthetic hand for me. We started calling it the Hand of Time and the name just kinda stuck. As long as the Hand was in operation, I could exist in NormalTime. If I shut it off or it was otherwise disabled, I went straight back to HyperTime.
Fast forward a year or so, Danny and I have carved out part of a cliff side along the Oregon coast (accelerated erosion is a wonderful thing) and have set it up as a sort of Bat Cave. 'Course, we're both about six years older, but we were able to set everything up in about six months of apparent time, including a host of gadgets.
We settled in to watch the news and see what developed. It wasn't long before something happened. Some nutjob wearing a confederate flag as a cape seemed to be lighting downtown San Francisco on fire. His motives weren't clear, but that was okay. He was goin' down. I jumped in Time's Arrow, my vertical take off and landing jet, and was off toward the bay area before Danny said “Bye!”
Seconds later I was landing on a building a block away from the hot head. Up close, it looked like his head and hands are on fire. At least now I knew how he was lighting the town up ...
I fired a warning volley from the quantum pistol, a low damage, high rate of fire weapon Danny and I came up with. I got the hot head's attention, which was all I was expecting anyway. Now, on to the next part of my plan: hope something brilliant happens and everything turns out for the best. Maybe I should start planning these sorts of things in advance ...
As a jet of liquid flame lashed toward me, something unexpected happened. A stop sign hit the villain in the side of his head.
“Who dares assault Blazing Glory?!” he roared.
“That'd be me,” a young sounding male voice said from about 50 feet away, just before the speaker was engulfed in flame.
“Poor guy ... shouldn't have tried to be a hero ...” I whispered, pausing for a moment of silent reflection in HyperTime. I looked up and before resuming normal time, I noticed the young man was standing in the flame, but not burned at all. His hands were out in front of him in a kind of defiant pose. I peppered Blazing Glory with a few more rounds to take the heat off the new player before dialing back to NormalTime.
About the time the shots hit, I heard the new guy say “They call me Defiant. If you can dish it out, I can take it.”
It was around this time I thought some sort of temporal grenades would be handy ... something that would project a pocket of SlowTime or something. I made a note to make some when I got back.
“You!” Defiant shouted at me. “Keep him distracted.”
“Can do” I said, firing a dozen more shots at the hot head. They hit him in the chest and he staggered back about six paces, providing enough of a distraction for Defiant to get a fire ax and charge Mister Fiery. “Your turn!” I shouted, sprinting toward a firetruck two hundred feet away. Defiant chuckled and kept swinging the ax, until the handle burned through anyway.
I got to the truck and turned the hose on Glory. That seemed to put him in his place, for a while. The police eventually showed up with a refrigerated truck. To take Ol' Glory to a special cell. Defiant and I said our hellos, then our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Danny and I got to work on the Temporal Grenades and I had another gadget to play around with.
Please let me know what you think, what is unclear, what might work better in some places, etc.