11th May 2024
23:34 GMT
Anissa's smile fades slightly in favour of a look of curiosity as she accelerates towards the Viltrumite ship and I
manage to keep up with her. Viltrumites can fly faster than light under their own power, though she's not doing that at the moment. They don't use parallel universes with different physical laws, they don't bend spacetime to get around the infinite energy requirement by
technically not going faster than light, they don't transform themselves into exotic matter…
More exotic than they are anyway.
As far as I can tell from the records I've been given access to and my own observations, they just don't experience inertia. The built-in speed limit that everyone else has to deal with just doesn't affect them. I'm half-wondering if that's because it's too high-concept to instinctively grasp and so they can fly that fast because they don't know that they shouldn't be able to.
I -on the other hand-
do experience inertia. If she starts accelerating seriously I'll have to bend space or do the semi-teleport thing where I become orange light. I'm not…
Sure if Invincible or Omniman
know I can do that, so it would probably be better not to reveal it if I don't have to. But winning Anissa over probably takes priority, so if I can do that by flying fast then… Great.
"What are the-"
That actually gets me a frown. "-conditions? Am I allowed-?"
"How is he talking to me?"
"Universal translator. It doesn't need the spoken-." I come to a halt as she
appears right in front of me. "Spoken
word. A certain degree of intent is all that's required. With most people I'd have to make an effort-" Meaning extend my environmental shield over them. "-but I've noticed that viltrumites-" Invincible. "-are easier to interact with."
"It's not telepathy."
"No. If I could read minds then… I'd be in a very different position. With most humans I can read patterns of brain activity, but that doesn't work on viltrumites at all."
She stares at me intensely for a few moments, perhaps trying to work out exactly where the cut-off for 'communication' is. Then she turns and accelerates
fast towards the ship's open hangar.
I
head after her at
maximum space speed. Enough to be noticeable, not enough to trigger a response. I hope.
The aliens inside the hangar briefly glance around as Anissa flies in. I have no idea what species they are, though as far as I can tell they have four arms and no legs. If the ship
has artificial gravity then they've turned it off, and the aliens are moving cargo and moving around by grasping rungs with their larger arms and performing fine object manipulation with their smaller arms. Artificial or arboreal, I wonder?
Anissa opens a wall-mounted locker and pulls out a headset and air mask which she then puts on.
"
Vidor, come to the hangar. I've got a sparring partner for you."
Listen in.
"Is it Nowl-Ahn's son? I've been wondering whether he takes after his father more than his mother."
"My… Mate."
"Oh." The interior airlock cycles and a blond viltrumite man floats out, hands by his sides and fists clenched. In addition to the masculine version of Anissa's clothes, he's also wearing communications gear and goggles. He's looking at Anissa, and doesn't bother looking at anyone else. Including me, and I'm glowing orange. "Is he supposed to be some sort of warrior?"
"He builds things. I need to know how weak he is."
Now he looks at me. "It's Nowl-Ahn's planet and the Regent's order. Is this approved?"
"Apparently, this planet uses synthetic reproduction technology. I can follow the Regent's order as long as his scrotum remains intact." Vidor raises an eyebrow at her. "Nowl-Ahn wants him to stay alive. Anything else is acceptable."
It's… True that I can
heal anything else. Implanting my ring in my skull looks like it was a better and better plan every day.
"You're being
wasted, Anissa. You should have chosen to mate with a viltrumite; they wouldn't have selected you for this if you
had."
Track and prepare to teleport.
"I'm a
warrior, not a breeding sow." Vidor raises his eyebrows. "Say anything else and you will fight me
instead."
Vidor shrugs, then turns and floats towards me. I raise my right hand. "My orders don't allow me to take actions that could damage the Earth. Do you have a preferred location in mind, or should I select one?"
"It makes no difference to me." He narrows his eyes slightly. "I'm curious why Nowl-Ahn gives you his attention."
I nod and fly out of the ship, heading for… Venus, yes, that's probably safest. Vidor takes after me, making a point of flying
just behind me. Yes, he can fly faster than me like this. Worth knowing, but not exactly surprising. Anissa follows from further back, keeping us in viewing range without risking losing track if we start moving at viltrumite speeds.
According to my alter-egos, a Lantern with a system to fight in should never lose to a melee specialist. Viltrumites don't even have the option kryptonians have of using heat vision if forced to fight at range. Though kryptonians can't fly faster than light at will. But… They don't have faster than light senses whereas I
do.
"Is this as fast as you can go?"
"I doubt that you respect me, but please don't assume that I'm
quite stupid enough to share tactical information with an opponent."
"I really don't understand why we're leaving your males alive. Using the females for breeding makes a degree of sense, since Maah-Akh has proven himself competent. But what possible purpose could
you serve?"
"I don't know. If you're asking me to guess, it's a combination of human males making up the vast majority of Earth's labour force and the Viltrumite Empire's lack of the infrastructure to support the useful parts of Earth society in our absence. You're right about using female viltrumites in this way, though. Adding human males to the breeding pool doesn't increase the number of children female viltrumites can have."
"Hm." He sounds approving. "Have you spoken of this to Nowl-Ahn?"
Monitor.
"No, it's not my place. The only reason I could think of was there being some kind of genetic bottleneck which necessitated an injection of fresh genetic material, in which case encouraging female outbreeding would make sense."
Yes. His face hardens. Something's… Happened. Were the survivors of the Great Purge all related? Have they created a problem using genetic engineering, making themselves stronger but more similar to one another? I don't know, and I probably shouldn't push in case they decide that I need to have a 'training accident'.
And there's Venus. Viltrumite eyes are
good, but I can see him wherever he goes. Dust clouds and coloured gas will only help me, and the atmosphere might do him
some harm. I could
ask him, but… No.
I descend through the atmosphere, selecting a reasonably level plane as the starting point.
Automate dodging,
prepare needles and…
Scan the surroundings in detail. And that's it for now.
I land on the ground and wait for-.
Vidor
slams into the ground a short distance away, creating a mild earthquake in what I assume is an attempt to intimidate me. He looks at me in a cold and calculating way.
"Ready?"
"Y-."
And he's
gone and I've
moved.
