Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > To the End of the World . . . and After
To the End of the World . . . and After
A Teen Titans fic, by DrT
Chapter IX – At the End, and After
Raven’s arrival to another world.
Garfield fidgeted, his eyes never leaving the clock showing the time in Jump City. He and Koriand’r were in the transport room of the Justice League’s Watchtower, now moved well out of Earth orbit. Koriand’r was looking out the portal into space. While invisible to human eyes, she could see the power growing around the planet she had called her home. She could only hope that Raven would be contacting them soon. The only others in the room were the three technicians and the communicator operator.
Suddenly Raven’s voice was heard. “Please,” the voice almost begged, “get me out of here!” The two Titans winced at her tone.
“This is League One,” the communicator officer responded. “We have your comm signal and your transport platform signal, and are awaiting transport signal lock.” He pointed out a side screen to Garfield and Koriand’r, which showed the strength of the signal lock, which they knew had to be at least 87 percent to try and transport supplies in an emergency, and really should be closer to 97.5. The number pulsed on and off:
41
42
44
47
50
53
57
61
65
67
68
69
69
70
70
71
72
72
72 The number stopped pulsing and stayed at 72, glowing red, meaning deadly to transport. Koriand’r nervously took Garfield’s hand, but their eyes were fixed on the screen.
The operators looked at each other and grimaced. “Station to Raven, transport lock incomplete. On the underside of the console, you should find two toggle switches.”
“I found them,” Raven replied.
“Are they both set to the left?”
“They are.”
The operators still looked very worried, but perhaps now a tad less than they had been. “Flip the left toggle to right, and then watch the read out.”
“Done.”
The number quickly climbed to 80, but again stayed still.
“The signal lock may increase without further power boosting, but that could take up to twenty-five minutes,” the operator said. He, and Raven, both knew that this process would therefore take far more time than she had, but he went on, “You have just over eleven minutes before the window for transferring to the other dimension closes. If you hit the other toggle, you will have just over two minutes of further, and perhaps stronger, boost, and then the power will give out in less than a minute, if it doesn’t burnout even faster.”
“Switching the other toggle . . . now.”
The readout went from 80 to 84 very quickly, but then again slowed.
85.
86.
87.
Then Raven’s part of the system powered down.
“Raven to station. Is Garfield Logan present?” Her voice was still calm.
Garfield steeled himself. “I’m here, Rae.”
“I love you, Garfield.”
“I love you, too, Raven,” came his somewhat broken response.
“Raven out.”
Garfield fell to his knees, his face showing his silent rage and anguish at losing Raven. Koriand’r stood, her hands balled into tight fists, tears pouring down her cheeks, as she forced herself not to unleash her fury inside a space station.
The other four in the room gave them their space. They were grieving themselves, after all, if not for Raven, then for their world.
Everyone on the station had tears on their cheeks as they saw the Earth disappear from their universe. 108,051 of the general population had been saved plus 14,514 (including Raven) of the various metas and their support groups and families; while the mystics, their families, and the Dreamwalkers accounted for a further 72,636. In addition, most of the Amazons and Atlantians had also evacuated at the last minute, adding 101,097 to the survivors. A total of 296,298 individuals out of just over 7,000,000,000 . . . a touch more than .004% of Earth’s population, divided into a number of small groups and distributed around the galaxy.
*
A dark blaze of violet light lit up the spring sky on the California coast. After about three minutes, Raven’s soul form walked into her new dimension and the light disappeared. The black energy dissipated, leaving Raven standing on lichen-covered rock.
She was shocked.
Jump City in 1920 had been a busy seaport, started in the 1850s as the ‘jumping off’ point of trade between the west coast and China, and then Japan, set up by a stock company which wanted to avoid both San Francisco to the north and what were then the less lucrative ports to the south (Los Angeles and San Diego).
There was really nothing here, though. Not only was there no Jump City, there wasn’t even a village. Raven could hear the ocean in the distance, and, climbing a nearby hill, she surveyed the area.
The geography was very different, which no doubt accounted for the lack of a town. The shoreline was slightly further away than it should have been, and was straighter, so there was no real bay. The mountains behind her were a little lower as well. Obviously, the seismic forces which threatened Jump City had either already affected this section of the coast or were still to come. It made Raven wonder how different this world actually was from hers.
Seeing there was no sign of humans nearby – even reflected candle light from any cabin or farmstead would be readily apparent – Raven left the hill and moved into an area of scrub bushes, cancelling the full invisibility. She would be able to disillusion herself using her own powers easily enough if she needed to. She had just used the ring because the amount of light caused by her entrance to this dimension could not be predicted, and she could not afford to be seen. She walked slowly away from the view of the shore.
Once she was in an area that seemed protected from the wind and out of any obvious lines of sight, Raven used her powers to set up the large tent she had called from a pocket dimension that had travelled with her.
She was exhausted, and needed her rest before exploring this new world.
*
Around the world, the few psychically-aware on this version of Earth felt troubled, but for the most part they did not know the cause.
In Melbourne, though, a man’s head snapped around, towards, he somehow knew, the west coast of North America. Something had entered the world, something alien, and at least potentially dangerous. He sighed. He would have to investigate, but it would take some time to leave. He hoped there was a ship to the States leaving soon.
*
Aboard the station, Koriand’r entered the cabin she was sharing with Richard. Seeing the look on her face, he simply came to her and embraced her.
After a few minutes, he asked, “When can we test the lockets?” They had been warned not to try them immediately, as the inter-dimensional forces could be interfered with.
“In a little more than three more hours,” came the muffled reply. “I told Garfield we would meet him in Conference Room 6 in two and a half hours.”
*
Monday, May 22, 1920
Raven looked around the small compartment with some satisfaction. She had been very busy since she had woken up that first morning, but now, for the first time, she could relax a bit. She was aboard a train which would take her to Chicago, and then the railcar she was in would be one of those transferred to a different train taking her on to New York. Before she could really settle into this planet for what she hoped would be a short exile, she had to set things up, and that would be best done in London, just in case she had to go on to India.
Other than some tests, she had used her powers very little after she had flown herself to San Francisco. She had influenced a few people to trust her, but she had not cheated them as she sold them jewels. In addition to her train and ship tickets, she now had an additional $1000 in gold coins, $300 in silver, and $8,000 in travelers’ checks, plus the money she had brought with her (a quick look as reassured her that at least the American money she had brought with her was the same as what she had gotten in San Francisco). In 1920, that should easily last her at least two or three years, even if she splurged.
Raven opened one of the books she had purchased in San Francisco, a history of the 19th century. By the time she sailed, she should have made it through the half dozen histories she had purchased, and have at least a rough idea of how this world might differ from the one she had left.
*
May 27
The man usually thought of himself as a hunter, looking for the odd things that happened and, on those occasions when it had been warranted, taking care of the problem. He didn’t like having the feelings which called out to him, but he had learned not to ignore them, so he could hardly ignore the biggest thing that had ever hit him. Still, for some reason he thought of himself now more as a seeker – hunter seemed too confrontational this time.
He suspected his quarry had moved on from San Francisco, but he needed to know what the Stranger had been up to while she was here.
*
May 29/30
Raven came out of the small lavatory attached to her first class stateroom. She begrudged the costly necessity of travelling first class, but she needed her privacy. Granted, ‘first class’ in this case was not terribly descriptive – other than in terms of cost, this was really not all that ‘first class’ aboard even this older, slightly run-down ocean liner. It was easily the smallest of the first class cabins, but it had its own lavatory, which the slightly larger single second class staterooms did not. Raven wanted to use her holo-ring as little as possible, and so the more privacy the better.
She sat on her bed and contemplated, but did not slip into meditation. She needed to consider this planet yet again.
On her version of Earth, mystical/magical powers of all descriptions were not terribly uncommon. Mystics had long classified most of them, and had developed 7 power rankings for them. Actually, there were 13 – 7 levels of mystical powers and three levels of degrees of sensitivity below them, although just being sentient and sapient earned most people an S-1 level. There were also 3 levels higher, but those were possessed by mystical beings not really native to that dimension. Her father and most of the Olympian gods and the like were the level above the mystical levels. The Spectre and a few of the gods were likely the power level above that. As for the highest power level, well, that was claimed by the believers for some versions of the Creator.
On her Earth, nearly half of the ‘regular’ people were on the second level of sensitivity, and people on the first level of power were not uncommon, even if many of them, like the spider/man Fang or Johnny Rancid, were quite odd. Many ‘normal’ people were right on the cut-off between sensitives and powered (usually called P-1), often able to ‘pass’ as ‘normal’ even to themselves, but therefore able to operate on the physical level of various mystical and metas, like Robin and Batman. Of course, the metas, who had a different power scale, did not always have mystical/magical powers, but most Earth-born ones had at least been S-3s.
There had been no P-7s on Raven’s Earth (although Raven had suspected that Robin’s ‘DNA buddy’ Larry might have been one), and Dr. Fate had been the only P-6, and that just barely. She had been one of the dozen or so P-5s, although as she grew she knew, especially if she had had the right training, she might have developed into a P-6 over time. There were a few thousand P-4s, and so forth.
On a ship this size, with passengers and crew numbering a little over 3000, there should have been at least 1400 S-2s, 300 or so S-3s, and a couple of (probably unrecognized even by themselves) P-1s. Instead, there were 8 S-2s and herself. Perhaps a third did not even seem to be S-1s, which would have been unheard of on her world.
That ratio seemed to hold true of this world in general. Throughout her trip so far, she had detected no one higher than an S-2 within several miles of her, and what seemed like far too few of those. This lack of the mystical and meta, however, meant that she could sense far far further than she ever dared allowed herself back home. She therefore knew that there were no other P-5s other than herself on the planet, let alone any P-7s or P-6s. There were no more than a handful each of P-3s or P-2s, and there seemed to be no more than few hundred P-1s. She did not dare let her sensitivity reach that level of searching the planet to get a more exact count; those numbers could still overwhelm her senses.
She had, however, detected one just in the P-4 range, and she knew he was searching for her. He had left Australia and had been heading slowly in her direction while she had been in San Francisco. He had spent more time there had she had thought he would in California, but he was now travelling faster towards New York. Obviously he had been moving by ship to San Francisco and was now going by train. Considering the time he had spent on the west coast, he had not detected anything other than her arrival and the few bursts she had allowed herself to lay a trail for him. The smaller uses of her powers, to influence a few people and of course her continued disguising of her coloring, had not revealed her use to him, although it was possible he might run across those she had touched with her powers. The same was true in New York, where she had again exchanged jewels for gold. Only her transferring from the earlier-sailing liner to Hamburg over to this one might have been detected, and he should not be able to tell what she had done. Hopefully he had found the clues she had left for him and would seek her in Berlin, rather than London, assuming she had not already left for India by the time he arrived in Europe.
Raven smiled to herself, and decided she should enter her mirror, the first chance she had to do so since a week before she had left.
*
Nevermore was like it should be when Raven arrived, isolated rocks in space that represented possibilities. She thought, and a path formed, allowing her to access the library. When she arrived, her emotions were seated around a conference table. At first glance, all of course looked like Raven had when she was her uniform, except for their color-coded cloaks. There was, however, one major other difference. In this context, all were the close to the size that particular emotion was exerting at the moment. The terrible twins, Rage and Hatred, were the smallest, as they had been since she had defeated her father some time before as that had finally separated them into two emotions. They were glaring from the highchairs they were chained into. Happy was a bit smaller than Raven would have liked, about the same size Timid was these days, but at least both were taller than Sloth and Pride. Raven was assured, seeing that Timid did not have any signs of Depression about her, but she was a bit surprised that Timid was holding a very fluffy teddy bear – one that was ‘Beast Boy green.’ Hope was a bit too small as well, but under the circumstances, that was understandable. Affection was the second largest, but from the added swirls of colors in her cloak, that was because she was still being strengthened by the sub-emotion of Lust. As this was the library, Wisdom, her cloak showing Knowledge and Intelligence, was always the tallest, although Bravery/Determination was close.
“I see things aren’t in an uproar,” Raven commented.
“As you suspected,” Wisdom pointed out. “Do you know why else you have come?”
“Why, to see if Knowledge had found out anything more about the Seeker, of course!” Knowledge could search through Raven’s memories, especially of books and other things she had only glanced at, much more efficiently than Raven could directly.
Wisdom shook her head. “And why else?” she demanded.
Raven flushed slightly, and Affection shrank just a tad as Lust appeared next to her. “To relive the emotional memory of my first sexual encounter with Garfield,” she confessed.
“Know thyself,” Wisdom teased. “We, or at least most of us, are gratified for your decision. It gives Hope and Happy more power as well. It is not weakness, unless you become addicted.”
Raven blushed a bit more as the library reformed into her old bedroom in the Tower. Obviously, at least some of her really wanted to relieve more than the emotions.
*
June 4
Aboard his ship, the Seeker lay on his bunk in his third class cabin and thought about many things. One thing underlying his worries was that he hoped he had guessed right. He didn’t have a great deal of money. In fact, this trip saw him nearly flat broke.
He sighed. He hated using his powers to make money; he knew he was cheating. When he ‘gambled’ with others, there was very little risk to him. He could read their emotions too easily when he concentrated, and even saw some of their thoughts. He would always come out at least slightly ahead in any card game that lasted for very long. Even when shooting craps, he had just enough power to influence the dice to break his way over time. Still, he didn’t have much choice if he were to follow the feelings that prompted him.
What was a real gamble was this ship. He had barely felt the one short burst from the Stranger, whom he had now dubbed ‘the Alien,’ since she had left San Francisco; the day she had apparently left New York. Still, he had made progress. He knew that the Alien had so far not hurt anyone as far as he could tell, and that she could use low bursts of her power he could not detect, at least at the distances he had been from her. She had apparently used her powers to convince some jewelers in San Francisco to buy some very excellent gems from her, but if those dealers were upset it was because they had paid very fair wholesale prices to her, rather than cheating her.
Well, he acknowledged, he was hardly in a position to have any moral outrage about that.
He had a description of her, and a name: Rachael R. Roth. That he was trailing a woman of some sort had been a bit of a surprise. He also had left San Francisco having an idea about where she was going. However, he had discovered in New York something which showed she might suspect someone was following her: at some point she had booked passage on two ships leaving the same day. One was what he thought was likely her original ship, booked in San Francisco and sailing to Hamburg, Germany. The other he wasn’t sure when she had booked, perhaps in San Francisco, which he had not discovered when he had been there. This one was going to Liverpool. If he had not been checking the passenger list for the ship heading for Germany, he might not have seen her name also on the list of passengers sailing for England.
That had left him with a conundrum.
Could there be two women named Rachael R. Roth sailing from New York on the same day? Possibly, no doubt, but rather unlikely. Still, he had learned both women had apparently sailed. So, if it was the Alien, which ship had she sailed on? Was the original ship to Germany a blind, or was it the ship to London? The reservations had been made through different agencies, but both of those agencies had main offices in New York. He had not been able to discover if the London booking had been made in San Francisco or made the day the Alien had left the US or at any point in between. If it had been made in San Francisco, then it was her. Of course, despite the cost, it was possible both ships were blinds, and he was sailing away from his quarry.
However, he had arrived in New York with his own reservation. Due to the vagaries of ships sailing times, he was heading to Amsterdam. He would have to decide then if he was going on to Germany or over to England.
Unfortunately for the Seeker, he had not realized that Raven did not know that passenger lists, especially of the first class passangers, were often published in newspapers. If he had, he might have known she was more likely on her way to Britain.
*
“I guess this is where we go our separate ways,” Richard said sadly.
“You gotta make your own lives,” Victor pointed out. Bumblebee had already left the station, although she was planning on returning periodically.
“Still, there is much sadness that we cannot stay together,” Koriand’r pouted.
“Nah, besides, we’ll be able to stay in touch,” Garfield said firmly.
“Not easily, but yes, we will,” Richard agreed. He and Starfire were leaving the Justice League station, now renamed ‘Earth II.’ They would visit Tamaran, but then head to an interplanetary training academy for a program which would last about two Earth years. Cyborg was staying as part of the station crew, which would be monitoring the space that Earth had occupied. Garfield had also signed on, although he was not part of the main tech crew, like Cyborg. Still, a small general maintenance crew was also needed. Garfield would also be taking courses via computer.
Overtime, the loss of the Earth would cause changes in the solar system. Mercury, the moon, and eventually Venus would spiral inwards into the sun, the outer system would slowly drift outwards and those on the station would monitor those changes. Still, outside the system, life would go on.
A Teen Titans fic, by DrT
Chapter IX – At the End, and After
Raven’s arrival to another world.
Garfield fidgeted, his eyes never leaving the clock showing the time in Jump City. He and Koriand’r were in the transport room of the Justice League’s Watchtower, now moved well out of Earth orbit. Koriand’r was looking out the portal into space. While invisible to human eyes, she could see the power growing around the planet she had called her home. She could only hope that Raven would be contacting them soon. The only others in the room were the three technicians and the communicator operator.
Suddenly Raven’s voice was heard. “Please,” the voice almost begged, “get me out of here!” The two Titans winced at her tone.
“This is League One,” the communicator officer responded. “We have your comm signal and your transport platform signal, and are awaiting transport signal lock.” He pointed out a side screen to Garfield and Koriand’r, which showed the strength of the signal lock, which they knew had to be at least 87 percent to try and transport supplies in an emergency, and really should be closer to 97.5. The number pulsed on and off:
41
42
44
47
50
53
57
61
65
67
68
69
69
70
70
71
72
72
72 The number stopped pulsing and stayed at 72, glowing red, meaning deadly to transport. Koriand’r nervously took Garfield’s hand, but their eyes were fixed on the screen.
The operators looked at each other and grimaced. “Station to Raven, transport lock incomplete. On the underside of the console, you should find two toggle switches.”
“I found them,” Raven replied.
“Are they both set to the left?”
“They are.”
The operators still looked very worried, but perhaps now a tad less than they had been. “Flip the left toggle to right, and then watch the read out.”
“Done.”
The number quickly climbed to 80, but again stayed still.
“The signal lock may increase without further power boosting, but that could take up to twenty-five minutes,” the operator said. He, and Raven, both knew that this process would therefore take far more time than she had, but he went on, “You have just over eleven minutes before the window for transferring to the other dimension closes. If you hit the other toggle, you will have just over two minutes of further, and perhaps stronger, boost, and then the power will give out in less than a minute, if it doesn’t burnout even faster.”
“Switching the other toggle . . . now.”
The readout went from 80 to 84 very quickly, but then again slowed.
85.
86.
87.
Then Raven’s part of the system powered down.
“Raven to station. Is Garfield Logan present?” Her voice was still calm.
Garfield steeled himself. “I’m here, Rae.”
“I love you, Garfield.”
“I love you, too, Raven,” came his somewhat broken response.
“Raven out.”
Garfield fell to his knees, his face showing his silent rage and anguish at losing Raven. Koriand’r stood, her hands balled into tight fists, tears pouring down her cheeks, as she forced herself not to unleash her fury inside a space station.
The other four in the room gave them their space. They were grieving themselves, after all, if not for Raven, then for their world.
Everyone on the station had tears on their cheeks as they saw the Earth disappear from their universe. 108,051 of the general population had been saved plus 14,514 (including Raven) of the various metas and their support groups and families; while the mystics, their families, and the Dreamwalkers accounted for a further 72,636. In addition, most of the Amazons and Atlantians had also evacuated at the last minute, adding 101,097 to the survivors. A total of 296,298 individuals out of just over 7,000,000,000 . . . a touch more than .004% of Earth’s population, divided into a number of small groups and distributed around the galaxy.
*
A dark blaze of violet light lit up the spring sky on the California coast. After about three minutes, Raven’s soul form walked into her new dimension and the light disappeared. The black energy dissipated, leaving Raven standing on lichen-covered rock.
She was shocked.
Jump City in 1920 had been a busy seaport, started in the 1850s as the ‘jumping off’ point of trade between the west coast and China, and then Japan, set up by a stock company which wanted to avoid both San Francisco to the north and what were then the less lucrative ports to the south (Los Angeles and San Diego).
There was really nothing here, though. Not only was there no Jump City, there wasn’t even a village. Raven could hear the ocean in the distance, and, climbing a nearby hill, she surveyed the area.
The geography was very different, which no doubt accounted for the lack of a town. The shoreline was slightly further away than it should have been, and was straighter, so there was no real bay. The mountains behind her were a little lower as well. Obviously, the seismic forces which threatened Jump City had either already affected this section of the coast or were still to come. It made Raven wonder how different this world actually was from hers.
Seeing there was no sign of humans nearby – even reflected candle light from any cabin or farmstead would be readily apparent – Raven left the hill and moved into an area of scrub bushes, cancelling the full invisibility. She would be able to disillusion herself using her own powers easily enough if she needed to. She had just used the ring because the amount of light caused by her entrance to this dimension could not be predicted, and she could not afford to be seen. She walked slowly away from the view of the shore.
Once she was in an area that seemed protected from the wind and out of any obvious lines of sight, Raven used her powers to set up the large tent she had called from a pocket dimension that had travelled with her.
She was exhausted, and needed her rest before exploring this new world.
*
Around the world, the few psychically-aware on this version of Earth felt troubled, but for the most part they did not know the cause.
In Melbourne, though, a man’s head snapped around, towards, he somehow knew, the west coast of North America. Something had entered the world, something alien, and at least potentially dangerous. He sighed. He would have to investigate, but it would take some time to leave. He hoped there was a ship to the States leaving soon.
*
Aboard the station, Koriand’r entered the cabin she was sharing with Richard. Seeing the look on her face, he simply came to her and embraced her.
After a few minutes, he asked, “When can we test the lockets?” They had been warned not to try them immediately, as the inter-dimensional forces could be interfered with.
“In a little more than three more hours,” came the muffled reply. “I told Garfield we would meet him in Conference Room 6 in two and a half hours.”
*
Monday, May 22, 1920
Raven looked around the small compartment with some satisfaction. She had been very busy since she had woken up that first morning, but now, for the first time, she could relax a bit. She was aboard a train which would take her to Chicago, and then the railcar she was in would be one of those transferred to a different train taking her on to New York. Before she could really settle into this planet for what she hoped would be a short exile, she had to set things up, and that would be best done in London, just in case she had to go on to India.
Other than some tests, she had used her powers very little after she had flown herself to San Francisco. She had influenced a few people to trust her, but she had not cheated them as she sold them jewels. In addition to her train and ship tickets, she now had an additional $1000 in gold coins, $300 in silver, and $8,000 in travelers’ checks, plus the money she had brought with her (a quick look as reassured her that at least the American money she had brought with her was the same as what she had gotten in San Francisco). In 1920, that should easily last her at least two or three years, even if she splurged.
Raven opened one of the books she had purchased in San Francisco, a history of the 19th century. By the time she sailed, she should have made it through the half dozen histories she had purchased, and have at least a rough idea of how this world might differ from the one she had left.
*
May 27
The man usually thought of himself as a hunter, looking for the odd things that happened and, on those occasions when it had been warranted, taking care of the problem. He didn’t like having the feelings which called out to him, but he had learned not to ignore them, so he could hardly ignore the biggest thing that had ever hit him. Still, for some reason he thought of himself now more as a seeker – hunter seemed too confrontational this time.
He suspected his quarry had moved on from San Francisco, but he needed to know what the Stranger had been up to while she was here.
*
May 29/30
Raven came out of the small lavatory attached to her first class stateroom. She begrudged the costly necessity of travelling first class, but she needed her privacy. Granted, ‘first class’ in this case was not terribly descriptive – other than in terms of cost, this was really not all that ‘first class’ aboard even this older, slightly run-down ocean liner. It was easily the smallest of the first class cabins, but it had its own lavatory, which the slightly larger single second class staterooms did not. Raven wanted to use her holo-ring as little as possible, and so the more privacy the better.
She sat on her bed and contemplated, but did not slip into meditation. She needed to consider this planet yet again.
On her version of Earth, mystical/magical powers of all descriptions were not terribly uncommon. Mystics had long classified most of them, and had developed 7 power rankings for them. Actually, there were 13 – 7 levels of mystical powers and three levels of degrees of sensitivity below them, although just being sentient and sapient earned most people an S-1 level. There were also 3 levels higher, but those were possessed by mystical beings not really native to that dimension. Her father and most of the Olympian gods and the like were the level above the mystical levels. The Spectre and a few of the gods were likely the power level above that. As for the highest power level, well, that was claimed by the believers for some versions of the Creator.
On her Earth, nearly half of the ‘regular’ people were on the second level of sensitivity, and people on the first level of power were not uncommon, even if many of them, like the spider/man Fang or Johnny Rancid, were quite odd. Many ‘normal’ people were right on the cut-off between sensitives and powered (usually called P-1), often able to ‘pass’ as ‘normal’ even to themselves, but therefore able to operate on the physical level of various mystical and metas, like Robin and Batman. Of course, the metas, who had a different power scale, did not always have mystical/magical powers, but most Earth-born ones had at least been S-3s.
There had been no P-7s on Raven’s Earth (although Raven had suspected that Robin’s ‘DNA buddy’ Larry might have been one), and Dr. Fate had been the only P-6, and that just barely. She had been one of the dozen or so P-5s, although as she grew she knew, especially if she had had the right training, she might have developed into a P-6 over time. There were a few thousand P-4s, and so forth.
On a ship this size, with passengers and crew numbering a little over 3000, there should have been at least 1400 S-2s, 300 or so S-3s, and a couple of (probably unrecognized even by themselves) P-1s. Instead, there were 8 S-2s and herself. Perhaps a third did not even seem to be S-1s, which would have been unheard of on her world.
That ratio seemed to hold true of this world in general. Throughout her trip so far, she had detected no one higher than an S-2 within several miles of her, and what seemed like far too few of those. This lack of the mystical and meta, however, meant that she could sense far far further than she ever dared allowed herself back home. She therefore knew that there were no other P-5s other than herself on the planet, let alone any P-7s or P-6s. There were no more than a handful each of P-3s or P-2s, and there seemed to be no more than few hundred P-1s. She did not dare let her sensitivity reach that level of searching the planet to get a more exact count; those numbers could still overwhelm her senses.
She had, however, detected one just in the P-4 range, and she knew he was searching for her. He had left Australia and had been heading slowly in her direction while she had been in San Francisco. He had spent more time there had she had thought he would in California, but he was now travelling faster towards New York. Obviously he had been moving by ship to San Francisco and was now going by train. Considering the time he had spent on the west coast, he had not detected anything other than her arrival and the few bursts she had allowed herself to lay a trail for him. The smaller uses of her powers, to influence a few people and of course her continued disguising of her coloring, had not revealed her use to him, although it was possible he might run across those she had touched with her powers. The same was true in New York, where she had again exchanged jewels for gold. Only her transferring from the earlier-sailing liner to Hamburg over to this one might have been detected, and he should not be able to tell what she had done. Hopefully he had found the clues she had left for him and would seek her in Berlin, rather than London, assuming she had not already left for India by the time he arrived in Europe.
Raven smiled to herself, and decided she should enter her mirror, the first chance she had to do so since a week before she had left.
*
Nevermore was like it should be when Raven arrived, isolated rocks in space that represented possibilities. She thought, and a path formed, allowing her to access the library. When she arrived, her emotions were seated around a conference table. At first glance, all of course looked like Raven had when she was her uniform, except for their color-coded cloaks. There was, however, one major other difference. In this context, all were the close to the size that particular emotion was exerting at the moment. The terrible twins, Rage and Hatred, were the smallest, as they had been since she had defeated her father some time before as that had finally separated them into two emotions. They were glaring from the highchairs they were chained into. Happy was a bit smaller than Raven would have liked, about the same size Timid was these days, but at least both were taller than Sloth and Pride. Raven was assured, seeing that Timid did not have any signs of Depression about her, but she was a bit surprised that Timid was holding a very fluffy teddy bear – one that was ‘Beast Boy green.’ Hope was a bit too small as well, but under the circumstances, that was understandable. Affection was the second largest, but from the added swirls of colors in her cloak, that was because she was still being strengthened by the sub-emotion of Lust. As this was the library, Wisdom, her cloak showing Knowledge and Intelligence, was always the tallest, although Bravery/Determination was close.
“I see things aren’t in an uproar,” Raven commented.
“As you suspected,” Wisdom pointed out. “Do you know why else you have come?”
“Why, to see if Knowledge had found out anything more about the Seeker, of course!” Knowledge could search through Raven’s memories, especially of books and other things she had only glanced at, much more efficiently than Raven could directly.
Wisdom shook her head. “And why else?” she demanded.
Raven flushed slightly, and Affection shrank just a tad as Lust appeared next to her. “To relive the emotional memory of my first sexual encounter with Garfield,” she confessed.
“Know thyself,” Wisdom teased. “We, or at least most of us, are gratified for your decision. It gives Hope and Happy more power as well. It is not weakness, unless you become addicted.”
Raven blushed a bit more as the library reformed into her old bedroom in the Tower. Obviously, at least some of her really wanted to relieve more than the emotions.
*
June 4
Aboard his ship, the Seeker lay on his bunk in his third class cabin and thought about many things. One thing underlying his worries was that he hoped he had guessed right. He didn’t have a great deal of money. In fact, this trip saw him nearly flat broke.
He sighed. He hated using his powers to make money; he knew he was cheating. When he ‘gambled’ with others, there was very little risk to him. He could read their emotions too easily when he concentrated, and even saw some of their thoughts. He would always come out at least slightly ahead in any card game that lasted for very long. Even when shooting craps, he had just enough power to influence the dice to break his way over time. Still, he didn’t have much choice if he were to follow the feelings that prompted him.
What was a real gamble was this ship. He had barely felt the one short burst from the Stranger, whom he had now dubbed ‘the Alien,’ since she had left San Francisco; the day she had apparently left New York. Still, he had made progress. He knew that the Alien had so far not hurt anyone as far as he could tell, and that she could use low bursts of her power he could not detect, at least at the distances he had been from her. She had apparently used her powers to convince some jewelers in San Francisco to buy some very excellent gems from her, but if those dealers were upset it was because they had paid very fair wholesale prices to her, rather than cheating her.
Well, he acknowledged, he was hardly in a position to have any moral outrage about that.
He had a description of her, and a name: Rachael R. Roth. That he was trailing a woman of some sort had been a bit of a surprise. He also had left San Francisco having an idea about where she was going. However, he had discovered in New York something which showed she might suspect someone was following her: at some point she had booked passage on two ships leaving the same day. One was what he thought was likely her original ship, booked in San Francisco and sailing to Hamburg, Germany. The other he wasn’t sure when she had booked, perhaps in San Francisco, which he had not discovered when he had been there. This one was going to Liverpool. If he had not been checking the passenger list for the ship heading for Germany, he might not have seen her name also on the list of passengers sailing for England.
That had left him with a conundrum.
Could there be two women named Rachael R. Roth sailing from New York on the same day? Possibly, no doubt, but rather unlikely. Still, he had learned both women had apparently sailed. So, if it was the Alien, which ship had she sailed on? Was the original ship to Germany a blind, or was it the ship to London? The reservations had been made through different agencies, but both of those agencies had main offices in New York. He had not been able to discover if the London booking had been made in San Francisco or made the day the Alien had left the US or at any point in between. If it had been made in San Francisco, then it was her. Of course, despite the cost, it was possible both ships were blinds, and he was sailing away from his quarry.
However, he had arrived in New York with his own reservation. Due to the vagaries of ships sailing times, he was heading to Amsterdam. He would have to decide then if he was going on to Germany or over to England.
Unfortunately for the Seeker, he had not realized that Raven did not know that passenger lists, especially of the first class passangers, were often published in newspapers. If he had, he might have known she was more likely on her way to Britain.
*
“I guess this is where we go our separate ways,” Richard said sadly.
“You gotta make your own lives,” Victor pointed out. Bumblebee had already left the station, although she was planning on returning periodically.
“Still, there is much sadness that we cannot stay together,” Koriand’r pouted.
“Nah, besides, we’ll be able to stay in touch,” Garfield said firmly.
“Not easily, but yes, we will,” Richard agreed. He and Starfire were leaving the Justice League station, now renamed ‘Earth II.’ They would visit Tamaran, but then head to an interplanetary training academy for a program which would last about two Earth years. Cyborg was staying as part of the station crew, which would be monitoring the space that Earth had occupied. Garfield had also signed on, although he was not part of the main tech crew, like Cyborg. Still, a small general maintenance crew was also needed. Garfield would also be taking courses via computer.
Overtime, the loss of the Earth would cause changes in the solar system. Mercury, the moon, and eventually Venus would spiral inwards into the sun, the outer system would slowly drift outwards and those on the station would monitor those changes. Still, outside the system, life would go on.
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