OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oOOOO OOOO. OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" .OOOOOO OOOOOo OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO oOOOOOOO OOOOOOO. OOOO oOOOO OOOO .OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOOo OOOO OOOO" OOOO oOOOO OOOO OOOO "OOOO. OOOO OOOOo .OOOO' OOOO .OOOO" OOOO OOOO OOOOoOOOO "OOOO. oOOOO OOOO oOOOOOOO..OOOO OOOO "OOOOOOO OOOOoOOOO" OOOO .OOOO"""OOOOOOOO OOOO OOOOOO "OOOOOOO' OOOO oOOOO ""OOOO OOOO "OOOO OOOOOO |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | There Ain't No Justice | | | | #104 | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| - Dark White - - 05: The Bright Ones - by Ironhorse Stark sat staring at the television, it had been some time since he had let the president have back his daughter. He didn't rape her. He didn't even touch her. He didn't have to. The president was very accommodating. Today he just appointed a new vice president. There was chaos everywhere. In the street. In the United State's president's limo. In the room eleven stories above the limo, and especially in Randal Smith's head. Someone was screaming at him. Being a telepath he was used to sensing anger towards him but never had anyone actually screamed at him. { Who are you? } he asked mentally, still taking in the area in which he was and the knowledge he just saved the president's life. { Many people know me as Warren Zeeber, others as Great White. You have just condemned me to death. } { What? Where are you? } { Here, } Zeeber spoke, guiding Randal's mind's eye to an extremely faint apparition in the corner. { Well what are you? } Randal asked with an eye on Zeeber as Randal examined Lynch. { I am what you call super-human. In fact I am an alien. My race has been called many names. Shestars. Sun-people. Star-children. The Bright Ones. } { How did I kill you? } { I was to take the body of the man you shot. I would have prevented this tragedy. } { What tragedy? } As he asked, Smith's walkie talkie sounded. ~~Smith, you read? ~~ ~~ What's the problem? I got the gun man. ~~ ~~ That's excellent as usual. But it's the first lady, she's been shot. ~~ Silence. ~~ She's dying Rand. ~~ "No!" Joey Russo sat bolt upright in his bed and his mother came rushing in. "What's the matter Joey?" she asked, embracing the boy. "He's going to die," he cried. "Shh," calmed his mother, "it was just a dream." "No, it's real. He's going to die!" "Who dear?" "Warren Zeeber!" "Great White? Honey, Warren Zeeber died some time ago." "No he didn't." "Yes he did, up on the mountain in Hollywood. We talked about this just the other day..." "No..." Joey cried and his mother held him in her arms. Soon the boy was asleep and she left, not knowing Joey was right, this night Warren Zeeber would die. Somewhere in an incomprehensible parallel universe of pure energy tethered to this one exists what is known to Great White as the Elders. To depict it's members as equivalents of panel members on a human council would be grossly inadequate as they have no form, are all able to share their thoughts with each other and those they council instantaneously, and hold privilege to realms of knowledge dating back nearly twice as far as the creation of the Sol system. The human mind can scarcely fathom that they can access even the smallest piece of this archive faster than a man could think of his own name. However, with all their grand consciousness, they are unable to exert any control over this universe. In fact, the portal which connects the two was created by some long ago race even the Elders know little of. Yet, the portal is now here, and has been for several billion years, and for the last million of those the Elders have been sending explorers into this universe to gather that which they love - information. Great White is just one of them. Their first experiments were dismal failures. Their for was not able to exist for long inside this universe, those few brave Shestar that entered it first tasted something these immortal beings never knew - death. Their forms just scattered as they penetrated the portal's barrier. Luckily for the Shestar time is irrelevant. In the first few millennia of an immortal race time seems something that there is too much of. However, once having existed for the billions of years the Shestar have, time simply does not matter. So they waited. And waited. And waited. Approximately 2,999,000,000 years later a galaxy finally drifted close enough to the portal for the Shestar to try again. And they were successful. The first Shestar presented himself to the first solar system he encountered. Seeing the immense energy formation in the center, he tried to communicated with it. Then he decided it might be a good idea to enter it. The second Shestar sent out after the death of the all before him elected instead to try one of the orbiting rocks that circled the light form. With a bit of luck he happened to select a planet with life on it. It was here the Shestar first came in contact with the equivalent of a Earth duck. In his energy form the Shestar tried to communicate with the duck. It modulated the air around itself ( a mixture of chlorine and iodine ) to make noises like those he heard around himself. Nothing worked. At last it attempted to read it's thoughts. He doubted anything constructed of matter could have thoughts. Surprisingly, it did. In seconds the Shestar knew exactly how the 'duck' had died. The Shestar decided he had to help it and approached the lifeless form. Unknowingly it got so close it actually entered the body of the 'duck'. Instantly the 'duck' was "alive" again. The Shestar began their possession of material forms. The Shestar learned quite early they could possess the forms of things alive as well as dead, but they learned this deprived the material forms of their own lives and declared the bodies of things alive off limits. However they soon discovered a problem. Every time they possessed a form the time their entire race was able to possess any member of that species was reduced by half. As the Shestar were all possessing forms left and right soon almost the entire biosphere of the first planet they landed on was unstable for their exploration. Again luck intervened as one of the last possessors of the 'duck' species flew too high as, like Icarus, he attempted to fly to the sun. And, like Icarus, his wings melted away, as well as the rest of his body in the upper atmosphere. However, the Shestar found himself outside of the planet in interplanetary space. And he was not in pain, pain not being new to the Shestar anymore as they endured it all the time in their transits from the portal to the planet. This was different. Somehow the body of the 'duck' game him a special boost of power. He shared his thoughts with the Elders instantly. And shortly he died. It didn't take long for the Shestar to discover how much "power" they needed to get to their next planet. It was this dilemma that was facing Warren Zeeber right now. Back in Detroit... { So you can't live here no more? Go find a dead body, get your 'juice' and move on, } replied Smith a-matter- of-factly after Great White related his tale. { I } Zeeber paused in pain, { can't. } { Why not? } { Since the fight with Projector my ability to possess the dead has ceased.} { So you must? } { Exactly...... And I choose..... to get someone...... who is..... going to die...... already, and deserves.... it. } { Maybe this time you don't have that luxury. } { I........ think........ you're..... right. } { What are you going to do? } Smith asked. Silence. { Zeeber? } Smith's radio called. ~~ Yes? ~~ ~~ Rand, the First Lady is dead. ~~ "Goodbye Warren," said Joey Russo as he looked out of his bedroom window with a tear in his eye. 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