Microstory 715: Closing Earthquake

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When the seven Heroes were finished with their jobs, they left the universe, one by one, utilizing the magical doors that would appear out of nowhere.  By now, it has been almost exactly eight years since The Light Wars began. Though we have yet to declare their end, we are now in a period of peace. As if to mark this occasion, on December 21, 2012 Earth Common Era, an earthquake erupted off the coast of an Earthquake island nation called Vanuatu. This was significantly smaller than the inciting quake in 2004 ECE, but the epicenters were not too far from each other. The later one has largely been considered the final breath of a dying world, the destruction of which began following the first quake. Out of this event came an interesting development. The Lactean irritants who once plagued Fostea—and disappeared after their unique contribution to the first Light War battle–resurfaced. They return to a changed universe, marked by the embers of reconciliation between the cluster’s greatest two cultures. In fact, an intergalactic council has formed of present informality. While we are working on solidifying this joint effort, the ad hoc members currently seated at the table are planning the observation of a holiday that can be enjoyed by us all. The working title is Ember Day. At the same time, Lightseers are continuing to evolve the faith, taking into consideration a sense of community never felt before. We look forward to the oncoming remaining taikon as well, now with fresh perspective on the endeavor. Though the Light of Truth was always meant to shine on all things, we now recognize that this happens across a broader spectrum. What we once perceived as darkness may, in fact, be nothing worse than a different shade of the Light. We have always appreciated diversity, but now we know what that truly means. Furthermore, we see the value in darkness, for it is what gives light meaning. This is what the taikon have been trying to show us the whole time, and we are grateful for this lesson. And what luck it is that our budding relationships with our neighbors have begun now, for we are in the midst of recovery from the quantum darkness, and the Light Wars. The galaxy is nearing comparable levels of habitability to where they were before this all started...better, even.

Microstory 225: Perspectives (Introduction)

What the hell is happening here?

There is an old expression that goes something like “judge not a man before walking a mile in his shoes”. I say it’s an old expression, and fail to provide you with a proper source, because there does not appear to be one. Many have attempted to pinpoint its origin, to no avail. Regardless of where it came from, there is a lot of wisdom in its words. I was recently diagnosed with autism, and this opened my eyes—not to how I see the world, since I already understand this—but to how others may see me. I’ve always been “the weird one”. I’m extremely quiet and reserved. I generally speak only when spoken to, not because I submit to others, but because I see little reason to communicate unless we’re trying to accomplish something. Whenever you talk about the weather, or your other aglets of conversation, I just cannot relate. I’m not saying that every conversation you have must be all business, or that I don’t want to hear your anecdotes. It’s just that my brain isn’t wired for appropriate response, and my default reaction is silence. Though I did not know my specific mental condition, I grew up having a pretty decent grasp of who I was. I developed coping mechanisms to function in the world. It’s still easy to notice how strange I am, but I can get through a sentence, if need be. I can convey information, if need be. It may be more difficult for me, and it causes a huge amount of stress and anxiety for me, but I’ve become surprisingly good at faking it. Sometimes, I even convince myself that I’m human. If I acted the way my brain is constantly demanding me to, however, I wouldn’t have so much as gotten through middle school.

I’m not telling you this so that you’ll treat me differently, or stop judging me. That’s not going to happen. I’m at this sweet spot on the spectrum where people can tell that there’s something wrong with me, but they still think that I should be able to “get over it” and “act normal”. I’ve accepted this, and I know that the only way I’m going to survive is to pretend to be a neurotypical. I don’t know that I could raise much awareness about this one specific issue, mainly because I’ve not researched it as much as I probably should. Instead, what I’m going to do is spend the next 74 microstories trying to give you—what’s the word...perspective. Each installment is going to be told from the point of view of a different person. I’ve not thought much about the kind of people I’ll be profiling, but I feel the need to note that any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This is still microfiction, and even though I occasionally open a door through the fourth wall, I do not intend to tear it down completely. Except for the 100 stories coming after this series. I’ve not yet decided how those are going to work. Lastly, my Word Origin of the Day entries will temporarily step aside to make room for Name Origin of the Days.

Enjoy, and please...keep an open mind.

Perspective One

Microstory 192: Paulo Rocha

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An important early member of Bellevue jumped ahead of that infamous short list of anomalies, and discovered Paulo Rocha living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was born in a small town nearby, but moved to the city to be closer to the targets of his ability. He could sense and manipulate waves on the microwave section of the Electromagnetic spectrum, including ultra-high frequency, super high frequency, and extremely high frequency waves. This allowed him to interface with television broadcasts, walkie-talkies, cell phones, GPS, and later line-of-sight communication such as wireless internet and near field communication. He could push the boundaries and adjust or redirect these signals beyond their normal range. He was always a curious boy, and liked to listen in on private conversations. He never worked in espionage, or sold information to the highest bidder. He just liked to know that he knew things that others wouldn’t want him to know, and would do him harm if they knew that he knew. But this early Bellevue member was desperate. A friend of theirs had unknowingly become father to an extremely powerful Generation Two, and the infant needed to be protected from the world. Much of Brazil was about as remote as one could get in the world, and Paulo was about as random an anomaly as one could find. He agreed to raise the child in secret. He remembered learning of a small tribal village that had experienced minimal outside contact from his life in the small town, and so he took her there. He kept that baby safe, teaching her to control her abilities, and to make her own choices for what she wanted to do with them. Many years later, after hearing of her birth father’s death, this girl took to the skies and became a superhero to honor his legacy. She traveled to Bellevue and secretly absorbed the abilities of all anomalies she could find. She then went around the world, mostly in South America, saving everyone she could, and capturing criminals. Bellevue officially contacted the two of them not long after, and discussed their options. Paulo ended up holding on to his connection with his adopted daughter, and ran communications for operatives in South America, much like Radimir in Europe. His ability was perfect for it.

Microstory 131: Radimir Lazarov

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There were a number of completely unrelated people who could either sense or, in some way, manipulate waves on the electromagnetic spectrum, but they all sat in their own spot. Radimir Lazarov was capable of sensing radio signals ranging from high frequency to very low frequency waves, but could not transmit or manipulate them in any way. This allowed him to receive data being transmitted across the FM and AM bands, analog television, and shortwave radio signals. He was born and raised in Russia and actually never stepped foot in Bellevue, or anywhere outside of Europe, for that matter. He grew up not really having any idea what he could do with his ability. He was able to listen to music or watch television no matter where he was, and without anyone knowing, but he never thought that to be very useful to others. Once joining Bellevue, however, he was assigned to the Communication and Handling division for all of Europe, working closely with Tracy Wickham and her team of field operatives. As the result of a conversation two early members of the organization had regarding the mere possibility of someone with Radimir’s abilities, he was jokingly addressed as the Human Police Scanner upon first discovery. In fact, European operatives would come to refer to the HPS system when learning or discussing the details of their missions.