Spacebullies Two: The Search For More Parody

The cavalry consisted of three persons transporting three other persons, all coming down from New York. Nolarivu Pamizo flew down carrying She-Hunk, while John Stewmeat brought Unfindable Man. Woman Torch theoretically could have made the flight under her own power, but she would have taken ten times as long as it took Green Flashlight Poradsimu to haul her along.

As the only one of the passengers who COULD fly independently, Sushi flamed on and veered off as soon as they caught sight of the troublemaking Sapphire Sisters. Not being any more eager to kill anyone than the troublemakers were, Sushi bluffed them, shooting flame sort-of close to them. Jimmy and Jasmine, both able to survive high falls, also cut loose from their carriers. Jimmy trapped two Sapphires in a force field of his own, while Jasmine tried a more assertive approach. Catching no less a person than Stairway-to-Heaven-cough-cough by the hair, she set index finger and thumb against the tall woman's forehead gem, while shouting--

"DON'T MAKE ME HURT YOUR LEADER!!"

Nolarivu was already trying to reason with fellow Sapphires who had been disarmed, or who had not been issued stun guns to begin with. John and Poradsimu didn't need much time to collect the dropped sonic weapons before Heart Sisters could reclaim them. One orange-skinned and -haired Sister named Sitskorba (belonging to the same species as Hayakeeba who was in New York) wailed at Nolarivu: "Darling, how can you turn against us?"

"Me turn against you?" Nolarivu retorted. "YOUR side brought guns! YOU tried to enforce your will with sonic stunners!"

Sitskorba hugged Nolarivu's neck, and her sobs were not fake. "How can this happen? It's all the Flashlights' fault!"

Nolarivu kissed her friend's cheek, but answered firmly, "John was looking after things just fine, before any of you interfered-- and you purposely chose your time while he was away helping to save another Earth." Now Sitskorba clung still closer, and not in any effort to shift the advantage in the bizarre semi-fight. She blubbered what seemed like apologies, and Nolarivu tenderly stroked her hair in acceptance of those apologies.

Most resistance by the Sisters had stopped when they saw the tallest of their number helpless in She-Hunk's grip. "I don't want to hurt you," the green super-chick told the Sisterhood commander. "But in any valid civilization, your actions ought to put you under arrest. So your Sapphire thing comes off now. If my taking it would injure you, I'll allow you to remove it yourself."

The few Sisters who still were airborne came to earth, and none tried any longer to take back the sonic weapons. Stairway-to-Heaven-cough-cough lowered her gaze..... plucked off her forehead gem..... and handed it to She-Hunk. Now it looked as if a few other Sisters would offer to make the same gesture of capitulation. Rohavra, looking especially intimidated, actually did raise her fingers to her own artifact.....

But there was one other weapon in the equation.

With a berserk shriek which must have been very bad language in somebody's language, Grrrryll the daughter of Twerpseid knocked Rohavra sprawling with a blow of her left fist. Then she pounced on Stairway-to-Heaven-cough-cough, and sliced her throat wide open with a barbarically- designed knife. John, Poradsimu, Jimmy or Nolarivu could have blocked the attack-- if they had been looking in the right direction at the crucial instant. But they hadn't been looking there. Sharon did knock down Grrrryll, but had not seen clearly what the she-monster was doing.

So now, the tall space-queen's blood.....

DIDN'T come spraying out of her neck.

Because one man had been looking..... who had high-precision telekinetic power.

As if creating a bandage with his mind, Trace Dickey MADE the Sapphire leader's blood stay inside her blood vessels. Then Sharon, in turn, had an inspiration. Her new fire-dousing power worked by generating cold; so she froze the wound shut. With luck, she would be able to keep that place frozen until someone could suture the damaged carotid artery. She was even precise enough that her action didn't BLOCK that artery, because happy ending.

But now she glanced at the prostrate Grrrryll. "I hit her fast; evil though she is, I hope I didn't....."

"You did not slay her," groaned Rohavra, rising to her feet. "In the last minute or two, she regained a fraction of her old power against Green Flashlights. The very fact that Flashlights were active nearby lent her strength: just enough so her upper spine was not cracked when you struck her."

"Then Grrrryll can face the justice of whatever world her would-be victim comes from," Poradsimu suggested. John gave a nod to this, then told his neckless comrade, "But someone other than us will have to transport her there. Truthside can probably take care of it. For now, let's not use any more Flashlight energy within a hundred yards of her, unless it's absolutely necessary. She-Hunk is more than capable of keeping her subdued."

Nolarivu and Sitskorba were still embracing, though looking now at the tableau around Stairway-to-Heaven-cough-cough. "Absorb this!" Nolarivu told her friend. "Your leader now OWES HER LIFE to Captain Dickey and Miss Rockwell. Yes, she owes her life to two persons who hold the same world-view that she describes as 'hate'."
 
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You may have wondered where Big Barndora and Wispy Mythical had gotten to. Any version of Earth is a big and populous planet, and Highfyver wanted to establish (albeit through his proxies) moral authority over the entirety of Jersey Earth. It was wondrously convenient for New Laziness that lesser beings on Earth-Whichever had sacrificed THEIR blood to conquer Twerpseid; now, King Highfyver wanted to expand his intergalactic influence before any new mega-villain comparable to Twerpseid could start a new dominion.

So, ascertaining that the businessmen who had gathered in the Samoa of Jersey Earth were still there (seaborne traffic was reduced, as were land and air traffic), he had told Rohavra to drop off the non-Sapphire couple on Upolu, that part of Samoa where the tycoons' hotel stood. Wispy Mythical was a slick talker, with a plotline-convenient language-barrier-crossing ability, and Barndora could manage any needed scare tactics.

Lubtifor the raven-tressed Sapphire sister still was here, and so was Fazlendel of the bird-like Brabsool race. Shimtuku the cricketoidd Green Flashlight was away making rounds of other Pacific islands, helping people in need any way he could. Fazlendel was not thrilled to see that (as far as she knew) Lubtifor was receiving allies to help her keep the Earthlings confused; but neither was she frightened.

"From the ultimate home base of the Sapphires, are you?" Fazlendel glared at Barndora. "I sense that you're stronger than you look; but be advised, if you try to change the debate into a brawl, I can kill you faster than you can flex a bicep."

"I'm sure you can," said a voice from behind the bird-being's right ear; "but only if you retain THIS." Unaccountably, the small man who had been standing beside the big woman, was now on Fazlendel's flank, and had impossibly detached the Flashlight prosthesis from its place adhering to the top of the Brabsool's beak. She just had time to see that her power-item was in the small man's hand, and then the man was back beside the muscle-woman.

Lubtifor was nearby; she had just been in the middle of stubbornly repeating to Fazlendel the same arguments which Fazlendel (and Shimtuku) had already proven to be wrong twenty or thirty times. Knowing who Barndora and Wispy were, she cried gleefully: "Magnificent! Thank you! But she could still fly away physically." The svelte beauty created a confining sphere around her debate opponent. "Let's tie her up, and imprison her someplace."

Her exultation, however, didn't last long. Her energy construct vanished, and Fazlendel was free again-- because Wispy Mythical had ALSO snatched the Sapphire artifact off of Lubtifor's forehead.

As Wispy came into focus beside his wife again, Fazlendel gasped: "That's the most impressive super-speed I've ever encountered!"

"Not exactly speed," replied Wispy. "It's more a matter of altering space itself. But enough about me; let's talk about this Earth-variant."

"We don't want to take sides if we can avoid it," said Big Barndora. "Green Flashlight person, we will temporarily give you that woman's Sapphire artifact. Heart Sapphire Lubtifor, you may hold the bird's Flashlight artifact. So you each have a bargaining counter with the other. Let us now take negotiations further. After getting Fazlendel's name: "Fazlendel, you have an obvious physical advantage over her, so I'll say outright-- you are not allowed to do her any violence. Not that I thought you would. But Lubtifor, be warned in turn: if even once you say that logical thinking is the same thing as hate, I will invite Fazlendel to toss your Sapphire into the ocean."
 
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THE PLANET CAKEBUN, which had been defended against a Barnsmell invasion by a combined force from the Bubblewrap Coalition and the Republic of Lots of Worlds, had not since then seen any new threats. But they were not forgotten by the side of good. Goldarnit, a member planet of the Bubblewrap Coalition, sent four space battlecruisers and an infantry regiment to garrison the Bakesum System. In appreciation for this involvement, Elizabeth Broccoli had given them data on how other Coalition ships had been provided with beyond-the-hull protective screens. While statione in the Bakesum System, engineers on board the battlecruisers would work to upgrade one ship at a time.

Oo avoid being a burden to the people they were safeguarding, the Goldarns had brought along agricultural modules which could be set up in places where they would not interfere with the locals. These would grow Goldarn-suitable foods, especially the stuff they called Sproosh.

Duke Diskoduck of Directvideo was firmly established as his home star system's ambassador to the Cakebunders, with a side gig as the on-world contact person for the major powers which had helped this planet. So he was prompt about befriending the Goldarns, and soon determined that their merchant fleet could help him fulfill his promise to make pineapple plants available to the Cakebunders.

His friends from Chimpanzia, Antilacor and his wife Lucasta, were still with him. The idea of disguising them as Barnsmell, to trick the sadistic brutes, had not been a bad idea, but so far they had not come up with a good enough disguise for their heads. It remained an option, if they eventually COULD achieve a good enough disguise method. Meanwhile, the simian couple played a lively role in promoting good relations between Cakebunders and Goldarns.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

"Master Korn," Wilma Dearthing asked the noble Fuss master, "have you tried Sproosh yet?" The lovely space pilot herself was eating some of the nutritious yogurt-like food.

"My species eats a lot of meat and high-fiber vegetables," Plow Korn answered her, pointing at his own tusks. "But I know that Sproosh is digestible for us. And I suppose it's tactful if I buy and eat some. But come to think of it, there's further cause to start eating the stuff."

"Let me guess: as an opening move in the project of trying to find out whether any Goldarns could become Fuss users?"

"Exactly so. I've learned that the Goldarns have no natural telepaths, which is why the ones on Bubblewrap Five were happy to receive Nonsmoka Tiptoe's treatment to shield them against being mind-scanned. They should be still more pleased if some of them prove able to acquire powers roughly equivalent to what they've been missing."

Wilma's expression turned solemn. "I expect that you know how people who have been at a disadvantage for a long time, if their situation suddenly gets better, may go a little crazy: over-extending themselves, biting off more than they're prepared to chew.... even seeking revenge over old grudges."

"Your concern is correct. I promise you that I will not be hasty to offer Fuss training to any Goldarns. But some of their men and women definitely are virtuous in character, and would not be likely to abuse power. Time will tell."
 
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A simple in-system spaceship had been placed at the Duke's disposal, so he could visit the mineral-extraction stations on various moons and asteroids of the Bakesum System. Three or four colonial women who were astronaut-qualified offered to pilot such a tour, because they accurately assessed him to be a prosperous man who would never even think of mistreating a girlfriend or wife. But Wilma, for her part, accurately assessed the gold-diggers, and invoked her official status to retain her position as his pilot. It helped that she could point to Clankalot, her high-grade robot assistant: he had already downloaded comprehensive navigational data about this star system.

So it was that, after a few days of meeting with Goldarn officers (as part of a slow, careful buildup to letting Plow Korn seek students from that population), Diskoduck boarded his local-use ship, accompanied only by the woman who loved him and the robot who was loyal to the woman.

There would be no lightspeed jumps inside the system; this ship wasn't capable of those anyway. So the two humans had the better part of three days in which to pass time talking before coming to a planet with mineral-wealthy moons. The following was one of their conversations, and is pretty much representative of their whole body of talk during the outward flight.

WILMA: How old were you when you first thought of girls as attractive?

DUKE: Well, if you mean just SEEING that girls could be pretty, I think I understood that much before I could read and write. But as a child, girls or women being beautiful was just part of the world around me, like rain coming from clouds or trees having leaves.

WILMA: Now that you put it that way, boys or men being handsome was like that for me too, when I was little. A fact of life, like weather or gravity. My understanding of love between men and women first came to me in a way that wasn't even about looks. My father was NOT anything like 'handsome' to look at; but he was wise and good, he loved Mother and loved us children, worked hard for us, took care of us, and pointed me in the right direction for life. Of course I have nothing AGAINST a man being pleasant to look at; but my father taught me that what's INSIDE a person is a million times more important than their outside appearance.

DUKE: You're very smart, Wilma, did I ever mention that?

WILMA (smiling): A time or two.

DUKE: Having a second inhabited planet in our own star system has probably benefited all of us Directvideans more than we realize. Meeting Chimpanzians, having commerce with them, has meant that we were already prepared to accept physical differences ever since we achieved local space flight. If I had never grown up possessing that experience, I probably would be scared of Plow Korn, even though he's one hundred percent on the side of good.

WILMA (with her exquisite eyes burning holes through him): Right you are, Diskoduck. Being foolishly afraid of Master Korn would have deprived us of a wonderful friend and protector. That works between humans too. If I knew a man who was as good-hearted as my father was, who always tried to do the right thing, who routinely practiced kindness and loyalty, I wouldn't care what he looked like.... or what his family background was.... or, well, for instance, if he worked as the overseer of a planet's forest resources. I would value him for what his HEART was like.

* * * * * * * * *

Your storyteller wants you to understand that Diskoduck was not a complete idiot. When placed in an administrative role, he always did an acceptable job, kept good records, and treated subordinates fairly. And no, he was not blind to Wilma's dazzling natural beauty. He did in fact feel attracted to her. But it would have been unthinkable for him to use his social rank to pressure any woman for her attentions. And it was equally inconceivable to him that a woman with such combined attractiveness and talent as Wilma possessed, if given her free choice, would ever PREFER him over all the other men she could have had for the taking.

But yeah, Wilma did prefer him over all other men. And yeah, the storyteller does like happy endings.......
 
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This system had just one planet resembling Jupiter, and three resembling Uranus.

Your historian informs you here that, contrary to old, old jokes, the letter "U" in "Uranus" is properly pronounced "Oooh," not "You." And the letter "A" here is properly pronounced "Ah," not as an English long "A." The name "Uranus" comes from Greek mythology, and the Greek latter Alpha is NEVER pronounced as an English long "A."

As in the solar system containing Original Earth, gas-giant and ice-giant planets all had moons. The second of the three ice-giant planets, named Gateau, was valued simply for its water. Exactly as in the star system where we saw Mopey-One getting together with Massage Breathless, the Cakebun System found reachable worlds with ice deposits highly valuable. (Meticulous searching had turned up no sign of native life which would be harmed by taking the ice.) Ice collected from outer-system bodies could be propelled onto high-speed courses which would bring them close to the two Mars-like planets that the Cakebunders had begun to colonize.

Duke Diskoduck, and the Goldarns, had been let in on the fact that something of interest BESIDES water had been discovered on the largest moon of Gateau, called Ganache. The Goldarns were busy with the far more urgent business of improving their ship defenses, but Diskoduck had pledged that he would pass along to them anything he learned about this discovery. To cover himself, Diskoduck messaged ahead to the ice miners on Ganache, telling them: "If you have seen anything which you want to keep as a secret for your world alone, DO NOT TELL ME what that thing is. Do not even tell me-- and I won't ask-- that there IS anything being kept secret. Prepare your own sanitized tour for me and Wilma."

Clankalot landed them on Ganache thirty-one hours after the ice miners had sent a neutral acknowledgement of the Duke's message.

A site supervisor named Isabel Asimova met the visitors, getting right to the point:

"What we found HAS TO be made known. We already know that humans aren't the only sapients in the universe; look no further than our Goldarn visitors." She paused to look around, then said, "Master Drool, if you're watching, KEEP ON watching, as I show Ambassador Duck andbor who his companions what we uncovered." Drool in fact was not watching at the time, so Miss Asimova led her space-suited guests (and the robot who needed no suit) into a tunnel.

At the end of the passage stood a smooth, featureless rectangular object, taller than a man. Clankalot told Diskoduck and Wilma: "The object is proportioned by an unmistakable mathematical formula. Its width equals four times its thickness, and its height equals nine times the thickness."

"Has the object moved, or emitted any signal, since you found it?" asked the Duke.

"Not a thing,"replied Miss Asimova.

Just after this exchange, Diskoduck came to a spot whose distance from the rectangle was equal to SIXTEEN times its thickness. An instant later, every living person anywhere on the moon Ganache heard music playing.

:::::
 
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The music held the attention of all present, including Diskoduck. So much so, that until the music stopped, no one realized that the rectangle had vanished WHILE the music played. Miss Asimova hustled everyone out of the tunnel, for fear that there might be some caustic vapor there which could also eat through their environment suits.

Only when they were inside one of the airtight surface buildings did a clue emerge of what had happened. A bluish-gray rectangular mark, about three centimeters high by one-and-a-fraction centimeters wide, was plainly visible ON DISKODUCK'S FOREHEAD.

Wilma was the first one to notice this, because she was the only person who had her eyes fixed on the Duke. Immediately she caught hold of his shoulders, half-consciously noticing that his shoulders were firmer than she would have expected them to be. "Disko, are you all right? Does it hurt?"

Others, hearing Wilma's anxious voice, looked also, and also saw the mark. One worker who had also been in the tunnel, blurted out, "Is that the Mark of the Beast?" Wilma angrily snapped back, "The Mark of the Beast is taken by those who intentionally reject God in favor of the Antichrist! This is only a physical phenomenon somehow connected with the unknown artifact. Again, Disko, does it hurt?"

"Not at all," the Duke assured her. "I wouldn't have known anything was there. You say it's connected with the-- is there a mirror here?" Getting no response to this, he faced Wilma once more, and raised one index finger. "Is it shaped like this?"--and his finger traced a rectangle in the air, long way vertical.

As soon as he completed the four-sided shape in the air-- the same piece of classical music played from nowhere. And again, the others were mesmerized, lacking the will to DO anything else until the music ended. But this time, Diskoduck WASN'T caught up in it. He alone was able to move around at will. The length of the Dawn Sequence from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" was enough to let him feel the pulses of two men standing near him. Their heart rates and their breathing appeared normal; they simply were entranced. As the music reached its organ-chord conclusion, Diskoduck tried one more thing: hurrying to that part of the room which was farther away from where he had been standing when the music began.

When the music ended, the next thing the Duke heard was Wilma's alarmed voice: "Disko! Where are you?"

When he called to her, everyone else was treated to the sight of the level-headed, responsible astronaut running to the Duke, flinging her arms around his neck, and breathing hard with relief, though she couldn't kiss him through two helmets. He was too shy to return her embrace, but he did tell her and everyone what he had just experienced. Then he looked at Miss Asimova.

"Do you have industrial hearing protection here? Ear covers that can prevent you from hearing anything?"

Understanding his intent, Miss Asimova sent a worker to fetch ear covers. While waiting, Clankalot told them, "My receptors were unimpaired during the neuro-sonic phenomenon, although I did experience a calmness, a perception that no action was necessary. All of you humans, except Diskoduck, exhibited brainwave patterns resembling sleep, although none of you fell down. My conjecture is that the now-vanished artifact always was intended to imprint one flesh-and-blood being, imparting the ability to stop other people from taking any action for a short period."

The worker who had been sent out returned with three sets of ear covers, and promptly donned one set himself. Miss Asimova took the second set, and gave the third to Wilma. "Lord Duke, as soon as all three of us are hearing-protected, please repeat whatever you did to make the music return. Droid Clankalot, please gather any additional sensor data you can pick up."

When Diskoduck drew the shape in the air again, and the "Space Odyssey" music played again, Wilma, Miss Asimova and the one workman were able this time to pay attention to things OTHER THAN the music. And they confirmed for the Duke that high-quality hearing protection would block the hypnotic effect.

"Well, this has got to be the most narrowly specific super-power anyone ever acquired," he sighed. "I would have LIKED something like being able to walk through walls, or being invulnerable to laser fire. But I suppose that this COULD serve as a way to prevent other people from starting fights-- like if I dragged one guy a hundred feet away from the other guy while the music was playing. But I wonder why that rectangle waited for centuries to give ME a really peculiar super-power?"

Having gotten away with hugging her dream prince's neck once, Wilma made so bold as to do it again. "Disko, you already answered your own question. When you wondered what use this odd miscellaneous power was, the first use you thought of was PREVENTING violence! Another man receiving the exact same gift might have chosen to pick other people's pockets while they were hypnotized."

Isabel Asimova wasn't in love with Diskoduck, but she did love the concept of operational security.

"Listen, ice miners! We will search for more alien artifacts on Ganache, and on other moons for that matter, but I don't believe we'll find any others. I believe that the intent of those unknown plotline-advancing super-aliens has been fulfilled. Ambassador Diskoduck is known to be a man of goodwill, NOT someone who would take selfish advantage of receiving a metahuman ability. Strange and limited though his new power is, there surely are ways it can accomplish good results...... but only if everybody in the Bakesum System DOESN'T know he has it.

"Right now, no one outside this habitat has any clue. But if criminals on homeworld all start wearing ear covers, I'll know that someone blabbered about the Duke's gift. I can't control every move you people make, especially once your work tour is ended; but if you care at all for the well-being of our own society, you WON'T tell anyone what happened. As for that, it occurs me that the up-sider Plow Korn WOULD be able to determine who leaked the Duke's secret."

Wilma drew near to the worried mining boss. "Here's a related thought, Miss Asimova. Being a normal man in the best sense, Ambassador Diskoduck naturally wishes-- and deserves!-- to find a bride who can be, who WANTS to be, a supportive partner in his life. It should be a woman who has known and loved him for years, who has learned the meaning of responsibility and integrity, who wants Diskoduck always to succeed and not fail, who will faithfully guard his new secret, and who is eager to give him at least three children."

Miss Asimova smiled at Wilma. "I'll bet we won't have to look very far to find the perfect woman for this assignment."
 
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Back on Cakebun, on a hill not used by the human residents, the Goldarns had set up three of their greenhouse-like Sproosh-growing modules. Master Plow Korn had begun his vetting process, not by lying, but by NOT VOLUNTEERING the fact that he was looking for potential pattycake-awans. He talked with numerous Goldarns, asking questions both about Sproosh production and about the defensive improvements to their battlecruisers. Just being near them during these conversations began to give him a sense for their minds and spirits.

As of the time when Diskoduck and Wilma came back from the outer-system tour-- and announced their engagement-- Plow Korn had met with about two percent of all Goldarns in the Bakesum System. Neither of the two newly-bonded sweethearts, nor the robot, uttered a word about Diskoduck's unanticipated gift. Plow Korn sensed that they had some secret, but also sensed that he didn't need to know it anytime soon. They couldn't pretend that Diskoduck didn't have a new mark on his head; but it was not a lie to say simply that the mark appeared on the Duke's face after the alien artifact disintegrated, and they didn't know why this had happened.

On the flight back in-system, Diskoduck had still been incredulous about Wilma really really loving him with all of her heart. For certain, his rescuing her mother had been an important part of it; but she had seen enough of him in the years following, that she could be certain that his lifesaving act had not been a fluke. He really WAS an overall good guy.

He still wasn't as smart as Wilma was, but his deeply-ingrained decency was something she could look up to.

Fuss masters were widely regarded as clergy, so Plow Korn officiated at Diskoduck's wedding to Wilma Dearthing. She would keep her last name: not as a gesture of disrespect toward her bridegroom, but because he didn't exactly HAVE a last name. Unless you counted "Of Directvideo" as a last name. Antilacor and Lucasta got to be attendants for the couple, and the droid Clankalot gave away the bride.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
 
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ON URTH, telepath Charles Crazier had been given a personal compact hovercraft by the Justified League, to replace his old wheelchair. This enabled him to take a more active role in the latest investigation being undertaken by Lorelei "Black Parakeet" Landis and Jeff "Nonwhite Lightning" Pierson. He began by finding a chance to pass near the lodging used by the Senphatorian woman Veelo Bamrac, who had been at the superhero museum. Recording her cerebral signal-mix, Professor Crazier hopefully would be able to spot the same signature in other Senphatorian visitors.

The superheroine Brazilian Flame accompanied the Professor on open tours of public places that Senphatorians had been known to visit. It turned out that EVERY Senphatorian currently visiting Urth displayed the same little brain-quirk. At one point, taking advantage of the fact that the Professor could receive her thoughts, Flame voicelessly asked him, "Could this merely be a minor genetic trait of all Senphatorians, having no connection with experiential effects?"

He thought back to her, "No, the Senphatorians are too perfectly identical to us genetically, for them to have this different a bit of brainwave structure. Moreover, before Proxima Straightup and her Urth-born husband rode the Tachyon Loop to Senphatori --and I'm starting to smell a rat in THEIR long absence-- I had occasion to look into Mrs. Straightup's mind, and it DIDN'T contain this mystery signature."

"So does this mean someone tampered with the delegation sent back to us?"

"In all probability, yes. My hypothesis is that someone came to Senphatori from another world: someone who isn't exactly a telepath, but who has a form of hypnotic ability. That person would have been trying to create, for OUR consumption, an illusion that all was well with the Senphatori people, when in fact all ISN'T well over there."

Later on, they hit paydirt. A pre-teenage Senphatorian boy, walking with his father along a riverfront, carried in his subconscious a visual memory not found in any of the other offworld tourists. The boy had seen a big, hard-looking man, who had worn a black suit with a lightning-bolt symbol on the chest. The boy's walled-off memory recollected this big man being called something-or-other "Atom." Seizing on this clue, Crazier transmitted the same image to Flame.

And it had a meaning for her. Thinking at him, she told him:

"Yes! Professor, I know of such a man--yes, a villain. Mike Deep Swimmer--" (meaning Urth's Green Flashlight) "--once described him to me. He calls himself Block Atom, and he is AT LEAST equal in power to Superdude. No single Green Flashlight has ever been able to defeat him, but he has fled any time three or more Flashlights confronted him."

"Now we're getting somewhere, Flame! I can see in your mind the additional fact, told to you by Mike, that Block Atom is NOT known to possess any telepathic or hypnotic talent, apart from his mind being defensively screened against scanning or outside control. But of course, he could have gained an ally who does have such talent."

"So, Professor, will you try a deep mind-probe on that boy, or on any Senphatorians?"

"No, because I don't know the opposition's level of skill. Block Atom's new associate might be able to sense it if we mentally dig for clues. We need to prevent them from knowing that we know."

"Then what about Zoorama Sotero, the good witch from that other Urth? Maybe her true magic would bypass our enemy's telepathy, and gather information for us without showing our hand."

"Excellent! Yes, I give it favorable odds that Zoorama can perform a thought-search for us without this unknown mind-bender noticing it; or maybe SHIELD ME so I can do that search unsuspected."
 
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A day and a half later, a conference was held inside Justified League headquarters. Present were Charles Crazier, Flame of Brazil, Black Parakeet, Nonwhite Lightning, Moistureman, Howie Maui, Zoorama, Doc Slippage, Master Kam, Mistress Bao, and Exohern. Looking at the last four, the Professor began by saying:

"I hear from Whiskey Dallas that her team has gleaned all possible information from the New Lazinessers who came to Cambodia to make contact. The meta-canine Tin Rin Rin's remarkable communication ability was most helpful. Those alien soldiers had received only vague orders from King Highfyver, to ask humans for any news they could supply about super-villain activities on Urth. Civilians did give such information, and the visit by the alien soldiers ended with no adverse incidents."

Mistress Bao raised a graceful eyebrow. "Ended, you say?"

"Yes, ended. Those men had not harmed anyone, so Miss Dallas declared that there were no grounds for interfering with their departure."

"Does she have any guess of their actual reason for coming to Urth?" asked Howie Maui.

The Professor smiled. "She had no guess, but the dog did. As interpreted by the boy Jeff Stierman, Tin Rin Rin believes that Highfyver is probably sending contact parties to MANY inhabited worlds, with inoffensive tasks to carry out, in order to prevent persons like us from discovering that New Laziness has at least one covert operation in progress somewhere. An operation which ISN'T innocent."

Nonwhite Lightning blew out a loud breath. "Is that a dog, or a demigod?"

"Probably both," replied Black Parakeet.

"Since we have a definite lead to follow here in America," said Moistureman, "should we ask the other party from Awkwardlisp to join us here? I can provide swift and secret underwater transportation for them, from the Mekong Delta and across the Pacific."

This time, Crazier sent his answer straight into the brains of the others: "There still are evildoers in Southeast Asia who need tracking and capturing. Clean Hornet, Squire Vindictive and Petsarat Kingpavong can do a lot, but they can still use help. And Greg and Ruby ought to be permitted to have their honeymoon! I want to request that, from Miss Dallas' team, only Jeff Stierman and his super-dog join us here."

Accordingly, the fearless boy and his flawless wonder-dog were in America twenty-two hours later. Zoorama cast a helpful enchantment to nullify jet-lag effects for them, so they could function unimpaired in this time zone.

Jeff and Tinty both found Exohern startling, but accepted that he was human in the ways that mattered most. And Tinty was the first to state bluntly that Phormidba, the ex-War Witch, found Exohern appealing. (His antlers were not so large that a woman couldn't get close to him, provided she used just a bit of caution when leaning in.)
 
The first ten or twelve Senphatorians whom Professor Crazier mind-probed yielded nothing useful pertaining to the likely activity of Block Atom, but they did give the telepath a better feel for thought-patterns common among the alien humans. At this point, he was able to input far narrower search criteria into the Secret Plotline-Advancing Machine. Master Kam asked him, "Apart from saving time, is this method better than meeting them in person? After all, the total number of Senphatorians on Urth now is limited."

"Your question is reasonable. Besides saving time, there's the matter of secrecy. The very fact of my being seen close to any Senphatorians could sound an alarm with our enemies, if those enemies are in a position to know that I was near some Senphatorians."

The Tiger Style kung-fu master fingered his chin. "You know, even the most powerful and gifted super-villain, if located light-years away, would be less likely to notice your activity here, than a henchperson of his who IS here on Urth."

Crazier nodded. "Indeed so. And friends of mine who are good at hunting hidden foes, are already on the hunt. Especially in the Asia of this world, where there is much super-criminal activity. And in the interest of compartmentalizing information, they don't need to know about my hunting for clues buried inside the brains of innocent Senphatorians."

Thanks to being able to tune out Urthian humans and "receive" only Senphatorian humans, Crazier didn't need much more time to identify the two most intelligent persons in this category. Urthians already knew, from Adam and Proxima Straightup, that Senphatorians had excellent health habits, which caused the great majority of them to retain clear minds until the very end of their mortal existence. Thus, the two smartest Senphatorians currently on Urth were also among the oldest: the retired criminal-court judge Dobbish Buckloddler, and the tenured college-professor equivalent Toblia Jadzug.

Without letting his own name come into it, Crazier arranged for the reporter Jimmy Ulcer to be assigned to spend more time with Tablia: nothing that would arouse any suspicion, since it was no secret that Jimmy and Tablia had already become friends. As for Judge Buckloddler, the fact that Nonwhite Lightning was new to the Justified League made it plausible for him to expand his crimefighting knowledge by talking with a man who was part of his own planet's judicial system. Black Parakeet would of course accompany Lightning; it would create suspicion if she DIDN'T do so. As for the young reporter's safety: precisely because the superhero Howie Maui wasn't personally acquainted with Jimmy, it was a less obvious protective measure to have him hang around not far from where Jimmy would be.

At the time of the planned encounters, the Professor would purposely NOT scan Tablia or Dobbish deeply, little more than confirming that it WAS they: again, to reduce the hazard of a hostile psychic noticing the operation of the S.P.A.M. device. But by maintaining a mind-link to Parakeet, Lightning, Howie and Jimmy, he hoped to get an indirect reading from the two Senphatorians' minds. If this didn't work, he could still decide to risk some direct probing-- BRIEF direct probing-- of Dobbish and Tablia themselves.

---- AUTHOR'S NOTE: FOR THE SAKE OF MOVING THINGS FORWARD, WHEN I NEXT REVISIT PROFESSOR CRAZIER, HE _WILL_ HAVE TURNED UP SOMETHING USEFUL, SO THAT WE CAN GET SOME ACTION.

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
 
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JERSEY EARTH AGAIN----

Heart Sapphire Lubtifor, in the presence of thirty-five or forty Samoans, had wonderfully defeated herself in the debate against the winged Green Flashlight Fazlendel. The fabulously gorgeous, very Earthwoman-like black-haired lady had predicated most of her argument upon a dogmatic insistence that people owning private property made them greedy and selfish and hard-hearted. She hadn't realized-- had not bothered to find out-- that almost every adult human looking on WAS a local private business owner, or closely connected with a business owner. And every business establishment represented here had been injured, if not wiped out of existence, when the Sapphire Sisterhood had shattered global infrastructure.

When she realized that NOBODY gave any credence to her purely emotional pronouncements about love and oneness, Lubtifor had resorted to crying again. Fazlendel had exchanged artifacts back with her. Lubtifor then could have instantly flown away from the Samoan island of Upolu; but the natives had killed her with kindness, forgiving her for (as they put it) her ignorance. They had invited her to stay one more night at the least, to be well rested. They even told her that if she chose to stay on AND LISTEN TO THEM, they would advise her on how best to repair the damage, and would no longer hold her unwise actions against her.

Lubtifor did stay overnight-- but after an early breakfast of Samoan fish and yams, she left without a word except thanking her last hosts.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

In Sudan, east Africa:

"Lubtifor, darling!" exclaimed a close associate of Rohavra, the hairless (but like Massage Breathless, beautiful all the same) Veblith Timtaf. "Have you come to assist me?" Veblith was working at something of genuine benefit to the Sudanese people, something only a senior Sister was able to do: atomically transforming sand into genuine water, in places where the resultant water could be collected by humans and not be lost. She never asked herself why the Sapphire Sisterhood had not BEGUN with indisputably helpful actions like this.

"Yes, Veblith, sweetheart, I want to work with you now. It will take wisdom like yours to salvage our loving cause."

The two Heart Sisters went on doing things which really promoted the survival of Earthlings-- desperately hoping that this might yet suffice to convince a whole planet that being rational made the Green Flashlights guilty of evil bigotry.
 
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Synthesizing water took time. The silicon atoms in the sand had to be changed into hydrogen and oxygen atoms to make water. The Sapphire artifacts knew how to do this-- or sort of knew; but the Sapphire Sisters did need to keep on reminding their gems that water WAS what they wanted. Not glass.

Except when deliberately creating glass jars for the nationals to STORE the water being synthesized; and more needy Sudanese kept coming as word of the new supply spread. Accordingly, when three less-experienced Sisters flew in to assist, Veblith and Lubtifor took to exclusively creating glass vessels, leaving the new arrivals to carry on producing water.

All five Heart Sapphires grew fatigued-- even with meal breaks and rest breaks; but the compassion taught by their order, albeit inefficient and unwise in many ways, was not a false pretense. They were still working when sunset came; but someone seemed to have set up some kind of lighting so the operation could continue. Sudanese men even began bringing sand closer to the Sisters in wheelbarrows, in order that the Sisters would not dig themselves into a pit in their haste to make more water out of sand that was nearby.

The work didn't stop until the light source which had been brought to the scene was the MAIN provision for visibility; and whole Sudanese families, whole clans, knelt with gratitude to their offworld benefactors, assuring them that there was enough stored water now to sustain life, including the life of domestic animals, for the next two weeks. Only now did Lubtifor take another look at the water jars not yet removed from the work site. There were more jars than Lubtifor could remember herself and Veblith making.... and some of them were of a SHAPE different from any of those the two elder Sapphires had created this day.

Only now did it penetrate Lubtifor's mind that the light which had facilitated the final stage pf their labors..... was green.

For at least the last hour of the task, without formally making her presence known, the mantis-like GREEN FLASHLIGHT Zaz-Chispa had been creating jars also, and producing her own contribution of water to fill these.

Two hours ago, noticing Zaz-Chispa's intrusion would have sharply annoyed Lubtifor and the other four Sisters. But now, they were all too tired to conjure up any prideful hissy fits. Lubtifor, speaking for them all, merely said, "Why did you join us in this work?" She didn't even have the energy left to make herself believe that Zaz-Chispa was trying somehow to embarrass them, or to steal the credit.

The insectoid super-heroine gave a direct reply to the simple question: "You were doing something to preserve life, with no bad side effects. Why SHOULDN'T a Flashlight help you in that? Do you really believe that WE DON'T like to preserve life and relieve suffering?"
 
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All right, it's been a while since I last posted a jumping series of single vignettes, to update multiple arcs....

On Senphatori, villains from other worlds had begun arriving to offer their fealty to Block Atom and Princess Serrimu. Most were only footsoldier material, pirates and bandits, but prepared to obey a strong leader. Block Atom was nothing if not strong, and his Senphatorian supporters could provide the new recruits with excellent infantry-level weapons.

The first meta-powered bad guy to sign on was destined to become an example to warn the others. He was a vampire-like being called Kujoruk; and within two minutes after pledging his fealty to Block Atom, he attempted to drink the blood of a Senphatorian woman who was among the onlookers. Before the quasi-vampire could get one fang into the woman, Block Atom grabbed him by the neck, and hurled him a hundred feet straight up into the air. This was to prevent any bystander from being harmed by what followed.

From where he stood, Block Atom launched a stupendous lightning bolt upward, completely disintegrating the would-be predator. Serrimu grabbed the opportunity to tell the spectators, "Behold how the mighty Block Atom protects those who are loyal to him!" And it was true that her lover didn't mind helping and protecting people who obeyed him, provided he didn't have to endanger his own precious life to do so. He even felt sufficient fondness for Serrimu that he would have gone to some trouble to keep her safe.

The first incoming super-villain who DIDN'T disobey Block Atom was a brutish biped called Plasstar, who could survive in vacuum, and had muscular strength and damage-resistance approximately fifty percent of his new commander. His signature power was a departure from the law of conservation of energy, but fantasy story: he could shoot bursts of hot atomic plasma from his hands, and was himself immune to any non-magical burning less intense than the interior of a star. A voluntary test showed that he could even withstand a lightning bolt from his new leader. Block Atom in turn could withstand Plasstar's plasma attack, and physically was capable of breaking Plasstar's neck at need; so Block Atom did not feel threatened, and gladly accepted this alien's joining up.

He told Plasstar, "You're close enough to me in power to make a good second in command-- on the condition that, like me, you respect Serrimu's wisdom in matters of planning. This planet can furnish you with a flying craft if you require it. If I ever need to execute a pincer movement against a hostile army, you will command the second wing."
 
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ON PLANET ANOXIA, at a sort of boarding house in Rebellion-held territory, good-girl Winkyblue and redeemable-bad-girl Interrupta were still crying a lot. They would begin crying as soon as they first laid eyes on each other in the morning; they cried before every meal, whether together or separately; they cried each time Winkyblue escorted Interrupta to the Learning To Be Good school, and cried when Winkyblue came to pick her up. They cried whenever they disagreed on anything, AND cried when they AGREED on something. They cried when they attended side-of-good social events, and cried when they said goodnight.

Eventually Dowel, the talking bird-like being who was She-Wow's friend, managed to visit both women at the lodging place at a fortunate moment when they WEREN'T crying. Standing on a table, since he wasn't very tall, Dowel spoke to them as if reciting a television script:

"In today's story, Interrupta was sad because she had been tricked into helping naughty people, and Winkyblue was sad because she felt sorry for her new friend Interrupta. They both cried, because they were worried about each other, and because they both lacked self-confidence. But then a flesh-and-blood counterpart of a harmlessly silly cartoon character told them to breathe deeply and think about tomorrow, and they both started laughing merrily at how vacuous his advice was. That's all for today, kids."

Interrupta and Winkyblue both started laughing merrily at how vacuous the pretended advice was, and both were cured of their crying fits. His work done, Dowel went on his way with ending-credits music playing. Interrupta soon graduated with honors from the school of goodness, and began designing vending machines which DID work right.
 
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Going all the way back to the Spaceballs-derived setting which began my story:

Professor Jean Yuss, who had been prominent in deposing Bob Snooze from the Spacebullion presidency, had invited a Chimpanzian scientist named Stamplector to accompany her on a space flight to Planet Waterpark, the ancestral home of House Ashtrayides. They announced their coming in advance by subspace radio: something the Dune-derived characters were still getting used to, since the services of Naughtygators had long made it unnecessary.

When they landed on one of Waterpark's few land masses which were LARGER than two miles across, they were met by the gallant old warrior Alec Hurdygurdy, who had been like an uncle to the late Paul Muddy-Drip Ashtrayides. Despite the Dune-derived characters normally NOT having any contact with non-human sentient races, Alec was unperturbed by the sight of Stamplector, and shook hands with him. The ape scientist was all eagerness.

"General Hurdygurdy, I'm so honored to meet you. My own people to this day have not built any spacecraft of our own, in part because we can obtain space transportation from our Directvidean friends. But the narrow escape Directvideo had from genocide woke us up. We're going to want our own spaceflight capability, at least in-system, ideally interstellar."

Alec nodded. "Then we'll start at the beginning. Do your people have AIRPLANES?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then I'll have one of the boys take you up in a propellor-driven aircraft: lead you through the fundamentals of artificial flight. When you go home, I'll send a man back with you, plus the parts and instructions for a similar airplane, free of charge. After four or five of your people qualify to fly in atmosphere, THEN we can discuss getting you spaceborne."

While Stamplector was enjoying his introduction to aviation, Jean and Alec enjoyed a long conversation about many subjects, including how helpful the Spacebullion time-reviewing device had proven to be. They found they enjoyed each other's company greatly. But they never outright fell in love and got married.

Not every potentially perfect couple always gets together.
 
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On Seedubb Earth, Blue Junebug's lengthy efforts paid off. Working with satellites, he finally intercepted AND cracked an encrypted transmission from Beijing, directed TO someone in Startled City, Washington State, U.S.A. The transmission's origin point was the very spot where Lex Loozor and Red Headbone were working for the Chinese Communists.

Startled City being home base for Green Crossbow, Junebug alerted that hero to look for a Red Chinese agent in his territory. Then he messaged The Whoosh: "Come on, Opposite Whoosh is dead, you can stop hiding in your basement and get back into action!"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Having something to prove, The Whoosh gave it all he had. Running all the way across the surface of the Pacific Ocean in three minutes, he reached the inland location Blue Junebug had provided in another minute, phased through all solid obstacles, then knocked out a dozen soldiers, Count Verygone, the Face Twister Doubleslick, Lex Loozor, and Red Headbone. He left Marcie Graze untouched, because he was SO HORRIBLY PATRIARCHAL as not to want to hit a woman who could do nothing to stop him. (Doubleslick had still been in her disguise as a Leakymurian man at the time, or he would have gone easy on her too.) As Marcie stared in horror-- though relieved when she realized that Lex Loozor was not seriously hurt-- Whoosh commanded her:

"If you know where Marysuefire and Goldfinch are, and how to get them out, tell me now. If you don't know, tell me who might know. Also where Captain Patriot's shield is, if you know that. If you cooperate, I won't haul your boyfriend back to America to stand trial."

Marcie was able to get the shield and hand it over, but she didn't know how to liberate the two Teen Tryouts members. Consequently, after tying Marcie up so no one would blame her for the intrusion, it took Whoosh A WHOLE NINETY SECONDS to find and capture an officer senior enough to provide the information he needed. Phasing into the secure installation where his friends were held, he found a big switch labelled in English:

"THROW THIS SWITCH TO RESTORE MARYSUEFIRE'S POWERS."

Once Marysuefire had her powers back, she was able to carry Goldfinch with her on a homeward flight. So The Whoosh only needed to get himself out of China, return home, and notify Blue Junebug and Batfellow of the successful rescue.
 
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The Applejackers of the Human Federation's Movable Infantry had come home to Federal Earth. All of Juan Ricosuave's troopers were individually equipped with new Awkwardlispian body armor, the gift from King Truthside-- which would NOT give way like wet tissue paper the moment a Creepycrawlid claw-tip touched it. And they had spare sets, in a range of sizes, enough to protect as many soldiers again.

There could not have been a better time for them to return to their own Earth. Having acquired a Naughtygator hyper-jump ship during Juan's absence, the Unified Services wanted to pull a surprise attack on Stonehive, one of the four most important Creepycrawlid base planets. The military command structure unanimously agreed that it was worth postponing this assault, to get additional Starship Grunts accustomed to the new armor. A few of the rayguns formerly wielded by Pukedemons had also been given to the Applejackers, but these were given to the Space Force, to be installed in transatmospheric fighter-bombers which would support army landings.

If the Starship Grunts resented the transfer of beam weapons to the fliers, they stopped resenting it when the landing came. Ground soldiers carrying unaccustomed rayguns might perhaps have hit friends by mistake, whereas the strike fighters avoided any friendly-fire casualties by using the beams to soften up the targets BEFORE the infantry descended.

Final results were gratifying. Human losses were exceptionally low, partly thanks to the new body armor; and the landing inflicted enormous damage on the enemy, which would certainly motivate the Psionic Bugs to go more on the defensive, allowing the Human Federation to repair its own damage.

During this action, Lizzy Florist DID remember to watch her back. No Creepycrawlid approached her from behind, without her spinning around and shooting it dead. She was determined to LIVE, so as to marry Juan when duty permitted it.
 
In the United States as it existed on "Terra," police horsewoman Denise McFogg had returned to her beloved rural county in the Southwest. But the evil immortal Screendoormammu had not forgotten that Denise was one of the heroes who had given so many setbacks to the cause of badness on Terra. So he decided to recruit some Nazis to start ambushing good guys. After all, television and movies were always claiming that a new Nazi Reich was THE supreme danger to humanity.

He spent eight years trying to find some Nazis. Of men who weren't actually part of the army in some petty dictatorship, he was not able to find EVEN ONE sick Hitler admirer who was tough enough or smart enough to accomplish anything without constant supervision. Realizing how much time and effort he had wasted, he exerted enough magic to travel back in time so he could try a different approach.

Using one of his prominent human slaves who was wealthy, Screendoormammu hired a dozen ordinary street gangsters to DRESS AS Nazis. Then he transported them to Denise McFogg's territory. Choosing a time when she was vulnerable-- out in the desert alone, searching for clues to a crime committed on a stretch of highway-- the puppet-thugs dressed as Nazi soldiers appeared and attacked her.

Being a GENUINE strong woman, rather than a noisy girl-power talker, Denise took down the first two bad guys; but the others mobbed her, clubbing her nearly into unconsciousness. It really did appear that All Was Lost.

But before any further harm could be inflicted on her, TWO MORE persons appeared from nowhere. One was the masked crimefighter Dreadfuldevil, and a welcome sight he was; the other was a black African woman who was wearing something like a winged Viking helmet on her head. The woman shouted something in an unfamiliar (presumably African) language; Denise got the strangest feeling that the African lady was casting out a demon. Then Katuva Walton-- for this was she, the Sky Lioness-- joined Dreadfuldevil in hammering the other ten dress-up criminals into submission.

Katuva used her power to heal Denise's injuries, and she and Dreadfuldevil hung around until other cops arrived to take custody of the make-believe Nazis. Then, accepting Denise's thanks, the two superheroes departed. Mutt Muckrake and Katuva Walton both had plenty of hero-business to attend to elsewhere, because (contrary to movie scriptwriters) there were lots of evildoers on Terra OTHER THAN stereotyped would-be Hitlers.
 
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ON PLANET FREESOIL, the planet where Dark Headgear had been drawn to the up-side without being sure how it had happened, colonial farmer Abner Littleton was giving a tour of the colony to the Edgar Rice Burroughs-pastiche hero John Cardsharper.... when they both noticed a phenomenon in the sky, over toward the central stockade. "That looks like a wormhole opening!" exclaimed Abner; and the two men ran in that direction. Just in case this was an alien attack, John drew his sword and handed his pistol to Abner as they ran.

But Lylah Doxum-Cardsharper met them, looking unworried. "John, Abner, it's all right! Krayzee and I both used The Fuss to determine that the newcomers are friendly. In fact, John, they're from YOUR previous world of residence."

Boone Crockett and other locals were already getting acquainted with the tall, green-skinned, frog-faced visitors, twenty or more of them-- who, conveniently, shared with John Cardsharper a sufficient degree of telepathy to understand new people and be understood. The Greedorks who now lived alongside the human pioneers were especially happy to see more green people. Each of the newcomers had three pairs of limbs: regular arms topmost, regular legs placed lowest, and between these a pair of LONG arms which could serve as extra legs if the green person had to walk while heavily burdened. (The articulation of their spinal columns was remarkable, for allowing the changes of posture involved when using the middle pair of limbs each way.)

The biggest of the aliens was telling Chief Planner Crockett: "When Edgar Rice Burroughs imagined the version of Mars which became the template for our story-world, these dual-purpose middle appendages were his idea, and they work well for us. But everybody who ever adapted a movie or a comic book from our saga, always opted for dumbing down the concept, simply designing us with four identical arms placed close together. I wish that Original Earth story-adapters had more faith in the intelligence of their audience."

An instant later, this individual mentally sensed John Cardsharper's approach, and turned toward John with his version of a smile. "John, good winds to you! We all missed you!"-- and he hugged John with his middle pair of limbs.

"Tarp Kanvas!" John exclaimed, hugging his friend in return. "I missed you too! I see that Semolina is over there"-- looking at a green female, who was Tarp Kanvas' daughter. "But how is it that you can even stand up in this heavier gravity?"

"AsaLion did it," the green chieftain explained. "He felt like livening things up in this segment of The Never-Stopping Story, so He gave us the boost in strength we would need here. Are there any evildoers around here who need to be shown the error of their ways?"

"Not just now," Boone Crockett replied. John added: "But you never know. Meanwhile, the Freesoilers can help you to understand that productive work, as well as fighting, is honorable."

Tarp Kanvas shrugged (with just his regular arms). "Oh well, me being over two hundred of our years old, maybe it IS time for me to learn something new."
 
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On Mediumgard Earth, the King of its version of Wakanda HAD NOT died. The sad passing of a respected movie actor on Original Earth had not affected the derivative character of Plaque Panther, who was a dentist in addition to being a superhero.

Although his people adhered to an ancient tribal religion, Plaque Panther did not object to Christian missionaries peacefully promoting their faith on his territory. But he was taken aback when his kingdom received its first visit from Lance and Shelley Heflin..... the couple who had had a talk with the corrupted Tibetan mystic Drigum Namdre. On the day when he welcomed the American couple at his airport, almost the very first words from the Heflins were these, uttered by Shelley:

"King Panther, we have learned that your nation is MORE PROSPEROUS than any of the nations bordering on it. This is a violation of distributive equality! Just because your land had the good luck to possess the only supply of a valuable mineral, this gives you no right to be any more affluent than others!"

The King answered calmly, "Five minutes of online searching would show you that our meteoric metal just LYING THERE would not have made us prosperous, if my ancestors had not DONE THE WORK to refine it into usable forms. We were never colonized from outside, so European people get neither the credit nor the blame for our history."

Not letting her husband her husband say a word, Shelley bristled: "Work isn't the point! ONENESS is what matters! How can the world enjoy oneness if someone has more than someone else? You need to give your mineral wealth equally to everyone on Earth! Jesus said that everyone must give up all their private assets to the people's collective!"

Plaque Panther shook his head. "No, actually, Jesus DIDN'T say that. He told one man to give away all his wealth, because THAT man was obsessed with money and property. But in many of His parables, Jesus would use rich men as illustrations, WITHOUT saying it was a crime for those men to be rich. And if Joseph of Arimathea had been commanded by Jesus not to own anything, Joseph would not have owned a tomb for Jesus to be buried in."

Plaque Panther still allowed the Heflins to move about freely, but he kept an eye on them.

NEXT PAGE, WE GO BACK TO LONG-SEQUENCE POSTING.
 
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