From: FNYK09A@prodigy.com (Gary Himes) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: TO FIGHT THE UNBEATABLE FOE 4/7 Date: 30 Jun 1995 18:22:26 GMT Message-Id: <3t1fd2$bm6@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com> Alarmed by the sheer hatred in the boy's eyes, Sam stumbled backward away from his approaching figure. For a second he thought he might reach the escape offerred by the stairs, but he had misjudged the distance and found himself wedged against the railing overlooking a drop of twenty feet to the second floor. Her face twisted into a mask of rage, Zoey reached for Sam's throat. Lothos was never forgiving of failure, but if she was to face torture for Chandler's escape then Jeffcoate would pay for it. "Clemens!" came a sharp, authoritative voice. Charging up the staircase was a middle-aged man dressed in a gray suit, followed by what seemed to be half the school faculty from the lunchroom. Beside him was Sandy Lindane, obviously bringing in what she considered the cavalry but confused by her ex-boyfriend's disappearance. "Where's Devon?" she asked, but no one had time to answer her. "Busted!" Thames exclaimed, appearing beside Zoey. "If you want another shot with this kid, I'd chill out if I were you. That's Principal Walters and I'd say he's pissed." Zoey withdrew her fingers a half inch from Sam's throat and stuffed her hands in her pockets. Affecting an innocent voice, she asked, "Whatever is the problem Mr. Walters?" Red-faced, Walters growled, "My office, Clemens, RIGHT NOW!" He then turned to Sam. "And I hope you have a good explanation for wrecking school property Dr. Jeffcoate!" As Sam and Zoey marched into the principal's office, Gushie appeared with a confused expression. "What happened? Did I miss something?" * * * * * Explanations had been awkward, but ultimately Principal Walters had agreed not to call in the police. Sam had had to do some fast talking and his claim that he had been delivering Andrew a message from his mother when he had been forced to use the firehose to break up a fight had been accepted with some suspicion. However, when Sandy had backed up Sam's story and Devon Chandler was nowhere to be found, the principal had agreed to let everyone go, provided the broken glass was paid for. Relieved, Sam did so and started to leave. He was about to offer Andrew a ride home when something in the boy's stony features made him back away. During the drive home Sam came to a decision. What had happened with Devon Chandler was not an act of runaway temper but a deliberate attempt at cold-blooded murder. Andrew Clemens, however decent a kid he had been before, was out of control and dangerous to anyone in his path (which Sam remembered ruefully included himself). Maybe it was like John Acton said, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever the reason for his change in behavior, Andrew could no longer be trusted with the increbidle might he possessed. The question remaining was, could that power be safely taken away? The was a way--the x-rays--but would a dose large enough to permanently eliminate Ultraman also eliminate Andrew Clemens? When he reached Dr. Jeffcoate's laboratory Sam decided the most logical course of action was to expose Andrew to just enough radiation to temporarily deaden the effect of the photon beam and then, when the boy was more manageable, try to talk some sense into him. Gushie emerged from the imaging chamber into the basement lab, saying "You've changed history Dr. Beckett, although just how much we're still not..." he noticed the machinery scattered around the floor and the device Sam seemed to be working on. "What's that?" "Forget about that," Sam snapped. "Where were you back at the school when I needed you?" Gushie looked away as his complexion flushed. "Uh, I...was doing reconnaisance." "Oh yes? Where?" Sam shot back. "The girl's locker room?" Gushie cast his gaze to the floor. "I...may gotten lost looking around...I'm still new at this, you realize." The time traveller shook his head derisively. "Gushie, this is not a game we're playing here! A boy's life is at stake in case you've forgotten! Now, if you want to go on doing this I suggest you keep your mind on our mission!" "I'm just trying to do what I think Admiral Calavicci would..." "Yes, okay, Al likes to kid around," Sam admitted. "But he never put fun ahead of other people's welfare, or ignored his duty to indulge his libido. If you really want to follow his example, Gushie, you might want to try focusing more on helping me stop Andrew Clemens and less on 'getting lost'." Gushie looked up. "Stoping him? I thought you wanted to help him." "That may not be an option anymore," Sam replied. He turned back to the device he was building, adjusting a screw to secure a black tube to the front of what looked like a half-assembled large box camera. "Ziggy is having some trouble getting a clear reading on Andrew's future," Gushie said, changing the subject. "Now he doesn't commit the murder at the school, but there is still a 99% probability he kills someone in the next twelve hours." Sam looked up sharply. "Who? And where?" Gushie shook his head as he read the handlink. "We don't know. History keeps shifting and changing...almost like two opposing forces were tuging it in two different directions." "Or maybe because Ziggy is in need of a good debugging," the scientist replied testily. "Well, whatever he's got planned, I think I've found a way to stop the boy. You see this?" Sam indicted the machine. "Uh-huh." "It's a crude cathode ray projector, adapted to function as an x-ray generator," he explained. "From what I've read and what Dr. Jeffcoate told you, the only real weakness Andrew has is X-rays. No matter what he may have been before, Andrew Clemens is out of control, a danger to everybody around him. I don't know how the fine young he was become the...the animal I saw attack Devon Chandler, but I can't let a super-powered madman run around loose." "So you're going to expose him to x-rays to neutralize the effect of the photon beam," the hologram deduced. "I wish I didn't have to do this," Sam said grimly. "Properly used, his skills could benefit mankind enourmously. Maybe if I can just temporarily weaken him, perhaps he can be reasoned with...made to see how wrong this violence is." Gushie looked doubtful. "Ziggy says the odds of successfully exposing him to x-rays are 77%, but cites Lord John Acton on the possibility of restoring him to moral behavior where his paranormal abilities are concerned." Sam raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Lord John Acton?" "He, uh, made the famous declaration that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'." Gushie explained. "In other words, the odds of Ultraman continuing as a force for right..." "...are too low to be an option." Sam cast his gaze back to the makeshift x-ray machine. He intended only to give Andrew a small dose, enough to temporarily bring him under control so some sense could be talked into him. But if that wasn't possible, the only other choice was an exposure powerful enough to depower him forever, an exposure that could possibly be fatal. One young life against Lord knew how much future destruction. "Y'know Gushie, you were right," Sam sighed. "Time and space CAN be a real bitch." * * * * * Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! Zoey slammed the front door of the Clemens house behind her, barely suppressing the urge to tear it off the hinges and throw it into orbit. Things had not gone this bad for her since they lost Alia. And, she realized with a chill, they were going to have to find an alternate method of completing her assignment or face the wrath of Lothos. She winced at the thought; the last time she had failed him, Lothos had made her spend a week as an American newsman kidnapped and subjected to torture in Beruit. The memory still made her queasy. Why in hell had Jeffcoate been there as she prepared to squash Chandler? The excuse he had given the principal had been obviously false; yet he had interfered at the precise moment to prevent her from completing her mission. It was almost as if... Zoey had her train of thought interrupted by the sudden appearance of Thames, looking worn and worried. "You done it this time girl...guess who's royally pissed?" "Well, who didn't warn me that fool was going to interfere?!" she snapped back. "We should've done as I suggested and eliminated him when we had the chance!" "The big 'L' has no idea why nerdley showed up when he did, but his little rescue pushed him up on the list of problems to solve," Thames said. "If he interferes again, sanction him intensely." "Why wait?" Zoey demanded. "Why not wipe him now? Before he has a chance to cross us again?" "Lothos is considering it," Thames admitted. "In the meantime, we've gotta find a way to muddy up Ultraspaz's rep. Remember, your forty-eight hour deadline is coming up." Zoey looked thoughtful. "How about a rematch with Chandler? I was looking forward to our little..." she smiled slyly "...heart-to-heart." "Possible, possible." Thames's eyes narrowed as he read his handlink. "Hmmm, looks like opportunity's knockin'." Thames grinned lewdly, sending a shiver of delight down Zoey's spine. Whatever dark thoughts lurked behind that pleased expression, she knew, promised her a memorable night's entertainment. "In the mood for some mass murder?" Thames asked. "Aren't I always?" Zoey replied brightly. Leaping did have its rewards. * * * * * Devon Chandler took a long drink from the whiskey bottle and then passed it on to his cronies. The alcohol did little to numb the pain he was feeling. "You feelin' any better Dev?" Mick asked. Mick was a pot-bellied, squat boy of sixteen with a prematurely receding hairline. Of the four delinquents who regularly attended Chandler, he was the only one stupid enough to ask questions when their leader was both angry and drunk. Still, the bully was in an unusually subdued mood and so did not reply with his usual blow to the face. "That Clemens, he must know kung fu or something. No way he coulda got away from me if he didn't cheat." No one bothered to point out to Chandler it was HE who broke and ran, or that Andrew Clemens lacked the cuts and bruises that covered his body. Now, as they sat in the back of Mick's pickup truck parked across from the city park, all they could think of was to try and find some way of placating their chief before he decided to take his aggressions out on them. "So, what are you gonna do?" Mick continued. Chandler considered for a moment, his face showing the strain of reasoning. "We're gonna get that little snot all together, that's what we're gonna do! First we gotta get him somewhere nice and private, then all you guys hold him down so's he can't do his karate shit while I feed him my fist!" Everybody nodded and agreed enthusiastically that it was a great plan, a wonderful plan, and wasn't he just the smartest guy in the world for thinking of it? What none of them wanted to mention was their apprehension at going up against someone who had managed to beat their brutish boss into hamburger. "So, where we gonna do it?" Mick asked. Brad, a short, dark boy with the skittish nature of a chihuaha spoke up. "How about the radio transmitter tower out on route 11? There's nobody around there to spoil your fun!" "Good idea," Chandler grunted, grabbing the whiskey bottle back. "C'mon, let's go on out there." "Ain't you forgeting somethin'?" Mick spoke up. "Don't we have to get Clemens out there?" "Oh, yeah," Chandler said, then backhanded Mick across the face for making him look foolish. "So how we gonna get Clemens to come out to the radio tower?" The question caused them all to fall silent for a minute. The quiet was broken as Brad pointed to the playground across the street. "I think I got an idea." The group all followed Brad's direction and looked to see a young girl of ten climbing down off the monkey bars. A dark-haired young girl named Erin Clemens. "Perfect," Chandler said. * * * * * Zoey was pacing when she heard a knock at the bedroom door. "Andrew, have you seen your sister?" came the voice of Stephanie Clemens. "Oh, spare me," Zoey murmured. Then, in a louder voice, "No." "I'm going to drive down to the playground and get her," Stephanie said. "If she comes home before I get back make sure she stays for dinner." "Of course," Zoey replied, then in a whisper, "you cow." As she heard Stephanie exit the front door Zoey dropped down on Andrew's bed. According to Thames, by now Erin Clemens had been grabbed by Devon Chandler and his gang, who would soon be calling to lure her into a trap. But the joke was on them, and so would be the shrouds when she was finished with the little bastards. Shutting her eyes, Zoey concentrated and willed herself to float upward. With a flush of photonic energy she felt herself become weightless and rise above the sheets. It was, she reflected, an uplifting experience. In a way she was going to regret completing this mission. There was so much lovely mayhem she could create as Andrew Clemens. Being a superhuman among these suburban idiots was rather like being armed with a machine gun against cro-magnons. Speaking of cro-magnons, she thought as the telephone rang. Zoey floated down and picked it up. "Hello," she said sweetly into the receiver. "Andrew!" it was Erin Clemens' frantic voice. "Help me! These buncha jerks grabbed me and--" Her voice was cut off, replaced by Chandler's. "You want this brat back? You come meet me at the radio tower out on route 11 at eight o'clock. And don't tell anyone or bring anybody with you, or we'll make you an only child, understand?" "Oh please, please don't harm my precious little baby sister!" Zoey said with mock concern, laying it on a bit thick. "You heard me--be there," Chandler grunted and hung up. Zoey almost licked her lips in anticipation. According to Thames there would be at least four youths besides Chandler lying in wait for her. They would make a delectable little appetizer before devouring her main course--Chandler's heart. Deciding to take advantage of Andrew's unique skills the evil leaper crossed to the open window and prepared to exit through it. Before she could soar skyward her hologram appeared outside the window. "Gonna buzz the neighborhood?" Thames asked. "Where have you been?" she demanded. Thames walked though the wall and faced her. "Been keepin' an eye on Beakman next door. You might want to know just what the little twerp has been up to." Zoey looked at him impatiently. "And what's that?" "Oh, you are gonna love this!" Thames exclaimed. "I just checked in on him and found him puttin' together an homemade x-ray machine. I think he's plannin on blowing one of Andrew's fuses." Zoey considered his words. "I'd say that definitely constitutes interference, wouldn't you?" Thames' handlink beeped steadily. "Lothos says you got a green light on the sucker. Sanction him into dog chow!" Zoey threw herself out of the window and into the twilight of the evening sky. This was delicious--not only was she going to destroy five teenaged imbeciles and Clemens' reputation, but now she got to have Jeffcoate for an appetizer. Tonight the world was definitely her oyster. "Happy hunting!" Thames called after her. * * * * * Sam fixed the final connection in place and stood back to survey his handiwork. From the spare parts he had salvaged from the lab (and by partially disassembling Dr. Jeffcoate's satellite television system) the scientist had produced an x-ray projector that looked like a cross between an old-fashioned box camera and a leaf blower. It wasn't pretty, he decided, but it would do the job. Now all that was left to do was lure Andrew in front of it. For the first time in this leap he found himself wishing Gushie would show up. Sam had sent the little programmer back to work out whatever had Ziggy's problem was and find out what Andrew's next move was going to be. It was curious how she seemed unable to get a clear fix on the boy, but then nothing on this leap seemed to be going right. Under ordinary circumstances (whatever those were to a quantum leaper) he might have allowed himself to be more patient with the man's peculiarities, but Andrew Clemens represented a unique challenge that needed the full commitment of both leaper and hologram. This was no time to have a novice blundering around. But right now he needed Gushie. They would have to lure Andrew in front of the projector for at least three seconds to have the desired effect, and considering the boy's speed Sam was going to need a hologram's advance warning to even stand a chance of taking him unawares for that long. And if he failed and Andrew turned on him...well, he couldn't forget the sheer savagery he had seen in the boy's eyes. It was probable this was one failure he wouldn't have the chance to learn and live with. "Al, I wish you were here," Sam muttered. Right now he felt like he was Batman stripped of Robin and forced to make do with Steve Urkel. Suddenly two things seemed to happen almost simultaneously. As the imaging chamber door opened and Gushie emerged, saying "Dr. Beckett I have to warn you that-" as a blue streak burst through the laboratory door. Before either leaper or hologram could react, the streak smashed through Sam's x-ray projector, showering him with debris. Sam stumbled back as a whirlwind sped through the lab, upsetting chairs and tables in an wanton orgy of destruction. Sam backpedaled away from the carnage toward the basement door, but before he could reach the stairs he suddenly found himself confronted by the glowering figure of Andrew Clemens. For a second they regarded each other, Sam's expression shocked and "Andrew's" intensely sinister. Suddenly his gaze shifted to the right, to a heavy metal shelf filled with electronic components. "His" expression shifted from speculation to a grim satisfaction. In a flash Sam realized what he intended, but before he could react Zoey shot out an arm, grasped the shelf and effortlessly sent its huge bulk crashing down on the scientist's stunned form. Zoey rubbed her hands together in gratification, surveying approvingly the damage she had wrought. From beneath the shelf and assorted debris she heard Sam moan lowly. "Still alive, eh? You are a stubborn man Dr. Jeffcoate; normally I enjoy training that out of a man, but right now I really don't have the time." She walked to the only undamaged segment of the lab, a table filled with various chemicals and related apparatus. "Perfect," she purred. With practiced expertise she began mixing certain of the chemicals, measuring amounts into a large glass container. "A few common household chemicals mixed in just the right proportions," she murmured distractedly, placing the finished concoction atop a bunsen burner. "It's amazing the things a girl can learn during a college internship with the weather underground." A still-dazed Sam Beckett, his head and shoulders showing from beneath the fallen shelf pinning him, shook his head to clear away the cobwebs. "Girl?" "I really don't have time to explain, luv," Zoey said, lighting the burner. "If I remember correctly this little potion should send your little laboratory sky-high in about ten minutes, with you leading the way."