Relaxation
The Supers get a bit of a break at the lake... and make some discoveries
Last time - the team had to deal with a bank robbery, and the implications that there may be a Super that was manipulating events.
(Check out all the Stories here)
Conduit - 29, male, established hero, energy absorption and reflection
Blink - 25, male, junior hero, teleporter
Awareness - 31, female, junior hero, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings
Reset - 45, male, junior hero, able to send himself back in time and change his actions, healing ability
Portal - 54, male, trainee, suspected cause of Portals, Substacker
Awareness smiled as she heard Blink’s guffaws echoing out of the kitchen, breaking the peace of the beautiful lake morning in the most pleasant way. She was out on the patio, enjoying her first coffee as Blink and Portal busied themselves with breakfast in the kitchen. It seemed Portal had found the perfect audience for his self-professed ‘dad jokes’ and was taking full advantage. And while part of her missed the quiet of a Saturday morning on the lake, having two goofballs handing her a coffee and taking over the kitchen was a pleasant compromise.
The Agency protocol after a ‘Super-involved combat incident’, even without direct proof, was to enforce a mandatory suspension of duties to the Agency assets involved, as they sorted it out. Conduit’s team was furloughed to the lake for at least the weekend, with Conduit being the only member expected to be on comms. The Agency had provided additional cabins near Awareness’, including one for Portal. He hadn’t participated in the events at the bank, but there was a suggestion that he would benefit from a change in scenery. That suggestion might have come from Awareness as she was enjoying working with him on his new stories. None had manifested a portal, but the Agency scientists were more certain that he was involved.
The team had eaten dinner at her cabin last night, gathering around the firepit as they arrived from the nearby towns in their Agency provided vehicles. It wasn’t that the regular villagers were nosy, but an occupied cabin without a truck out front raised some questions. The dinner around the firepit was a pleasant necessity as well, as Conduit was working on improving his control over his powers. Awareness had noticed that Conduit’s release of stored energy shortly after absorption seemed to be more of a habit than a requirement. He simply hadn’t trusted that he could store the potential energy. But Awareness noticed something during the apartment fire. She had pointed out that Conduit had no issue moving from floor to floor, absorbing the flames as needed, without a single release. She’d convinced him to hold on until later for the impromptu fireworks show at the lake.
This weekend, Conduit was still holding the bulk of the kinetic energy he had absorbed from the bullets the robbers had fired at him. Hence the outdoor dinner, it wouldn’t do if Conduit suddenly released that much kinetic energy into the cabin’s kitchen floor! Portal took the opportunity to light up a cigar, “since they were all going to smell like smoke anyway.” And Blink entertained them, briefly, by playing the opening notes of “Silent Lucidity” on a guitar he’d found stashed at his cabin. Reset had playfully snatched the guitar away once it became apparent that Blink only knew the opening notes.
As they dispersed for the night, the agreement was that Blink would surreptitiously relocate Conduit to a campsite on one of the lake’s isolated islands. Conduit assured the team that he was looking forward to a weekend of roughing it in solitude.
Reset would also be spending the weekend in solitude. He had two goals in mind, the first being to exceed a 24-hr reset - which meant he was not eager to constantly replay conversations with his colleagues. The second seemed to be progressing well, as Awareness noted that his watch was still resting on the kitchen counter that morning. He had surrendered the watch with the promise he would attempt to use other visual cues to anchor a reset. She had noticed he was still holding the confiscated guitar as he walked to his cabin that evening.
Over a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, Blink and Awareness discussed their assigned tasks for the weekend. He would be teleporting his way east to Saskatoon to start. The city was within his currently established range, but he’d never been there, so he’d be taking advantage of the vast openness of the Canadian Prairies. Even the slightest rise allowed one to see for kilometers in any direction, so he’d be treating the trip like wind sprints. Two or three jumps in an easterly direction, then back to his cabin, repeating until he reached the Agency offices in Saskatoon. Once there, he would be meeting someone who had volunteered to “walk” Awareness around the offices.
She would be testing her ability to maintain a connection to an unfamiliar, albeit willing mind across the distance. Additionally, they would continue practicing using visual cues from a stranger to guide Blink’s teleportation. It would be valuable training, yet still relaxed as there was no time pressure involved.
The three enjoyed their breakfast and said their goodbyes, such as they are when they all knew she’d be monitoring their minds for the day. And as she walked into the kitchen she was reminded that while ‘many hands make light work’, they also apparently make big mess…
Later that afternoon, after ‘visiting’ the Saskatoon office, Awareness decided to drop in on Portal as Blink continued to make his push east. Conduit was so lost in a book that she was loathe to do a check-in. He was enjoying his solitude so much, he seemed to have forgotten about the massive amount of energy he still contained. And Reset’s mind was still the impenetrable mass it had become over the last months.
Portal’s mind was awash with images of cathedrals and Roman Catholic hierarchy as she approached his cabin door. She could tell her interruption would actually help, as he was going down a writing rabbit hole of research, instead of thinking of plot and character. Just as she was about to knock, she was startled by three phrases clearly popping in to her thoughts. “Notre-Dame” “St. Peter’s” and “Partially correct”.
Those were not Portal’s thoughts!
He was focused on images of the massive St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome with a sense of awe. The other mind she sensed was awkwardly forming some sort of correction. But there were no other cues that Portal had company. No stray emotions or images, other than a little hunger, as Portal had researched through lunch.
Cautiously, Awareness steadied the small plate of sandwiches in one hand and knocked.
“Come on in!” came the shouted reply through the door. But nothing from the other mind, it had gone completely silent. Minds don’t go completely silent.
Awareness tried to keep her tone light as she opened the door and stepped in, “Have you got company, Portal? I can come back?”
Portal looked at her quizzically and replied, “Uh.. no? Do I?”
She saw that his living room was empty, save for Portal and his computer. The soft notes of classical music were coming from the speakers.
“Sorry, I thought for a moment…”
“Nope, all alone, just me, Beethoven, and Monet. Writing up a storm.”
The music was obviously Beethoven, but the artwork in the room, while pleasant, leant more towards Canadian scenery and not soft watercolors. Then a thought occurred…
“Do you mean Monet, the AI Assistant?” She asked.
“Yes,” Portal replied, while trying not to look at the sandwiches too greedily, “I have been doing some research on great pieces of artwork in cathedrals across Europe to see if I could tie some references into my story.”
She extended the plate with a smile and Portal grabbed one at random and returned to his desk.
“I was just looking for the names of some pieces in St. Peter’s when… oh…”
“What is it?”
Portal chuckled, “And this is why I need to research. According to Monet, St. Peter’s in Rome isn’t technically a cathedral! I had just assumed.”
Awareness moved around to look at the large monitor as Portal seated himself and started in on the sandwich.
“I’ve been trying to focus on something other than the portals, and was working on a novel I had in…. oh!” he suddenly exclaimed.
Awareness could see a wall of text appear in the window for the Monet app. At the very bottom, an image of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Her hands involuntarily went to her mouth.
Without noticing her reaction, Portal remarked, “Monet says that the Sagrada Familia is ‘also not a cathedral, despite being a very recognizable landmark in Barcelona.’ Which, I guess is useful, but I’m going to burn through a lot of credits if Monet starts showing me every church in the world that isn’t a cathedral.”
He turned with a smile that quickly disappeared as he regarded Awareness’ expression.
“What is it?” he asked softly.
“I… I was thinking about a trip I took to Barcelona and how I made the same mistake about La Sagrada Familia when I first saw it…”
“That…” Portal turned back to the screen, “that has to be a coincidence…”
Awareness was stunned. The ramifications were… But, maybe Portal was right. She had to test.
“Portal,” she began, “later on that trip, I went to the far northwest tip of Spain, and was fortunate enough to see a church with a gigantic incense censer swinging before the service, it was…”
The screen filled with text and an image again. This time, a stationary image that Awareness barely recognized as the censer.
Portal started reading, “Yes, that censer - the Botafumeiro - is located in the Santiago do Compostela Cathedral, which as the name suggests…”
He turned and looked at her. Her initial apprehension wiped clean by the huge smile and waves of eagerness surging out of him.
She had to return his smile - who better to discover a new aspect of your power with than a budding writer?
The weekend ended much as it had begun, gathered around the fire pit at Awareness’ cabin, enjoy the company and the food. Of the five, Blink looked the most exhausted. He had persisted on his ‘wind sprints’ until he had reached the city of Winnipeg. A distance of over 1000km from where they were sitting. The use of his power hadn’t had much physical effect, but the constant mental strain was showing.
“I’m aiming for the Agency HQ in Ottawa next time I get the chance.” He confidently boasted.
Conduit had revealed that he still held the bulk of the kinetic energy he had absorbed. And he probably looked the most relaxed. The combination of a new understanding of his power, and the forty-eight hours of peacefully puttering around his little island had done him a world of good. He was also looking forward to returning to the Agency offices in Calgary to test his controlled energy release with the analysts.
Awareness and Portal’s experience with the Monet AI Assistant caused a great deal of conversation and speculation. So far as they could tell, the ‘intelligence’ was inert unless prompted, or responding to a typed prompt, but they had come up with a number of more experiments they were eager to try.
It was the honest-to-goodness smile on Reset’s face that garnered the most attention. He had apparently succeeded in both of his goals, setting anchors that weren’t his watch, and he had extended his window to the full 48 hours of the weekend. When Blink tried to press him on the number of loops he had experienced, Reset would only smile.
After the plates were cleared, and Portal’s cigar lit, Reset picked up the guitar he’d walked back with.
Blink’s eyes went wide and he whispered, “Did you ‘Groundhog Day’ guitar lessons?”
In response, Reset began playing a technically proficient, if not yet personalized version of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”.
After the two “action-oriented” stories, I wanted to do a little bit about the Supers in their downtime. A training montage at the Agency didn’t feel right, so I moved them to the lake. I also wanted to explore a neat discovery I’d heard about Anthropic’s Claude and “J-Space” thinking. After watching the Anthropic produced video, it sounded a lot like what I envisioned Awareness’ growing power looks like.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
Dave