Nathan Returns Read online

  “Heracles,” she said. “Hercules is from the Roman mythos.” Professor Farnsmith smiled. “Sarcasm is the tool of a weak mind.”

  “I would like to know what the issue is, that certain factions of the government and the military, have with Nathan,” Senator Kelly said as be repositioned himself in the chair. “If the fact alone that the President of the Unites States has zero issue with him isn’t enough, what is it that bothers people? He’s not acting as law enforcement. He’s never performed any function as a citizen. He’s assisted when called upon, but it’s not like he made citizen arrests. He’s been on the scene of the occasional crime, like when helping with flooding and holding looters while the police arrived, but he’s effectively never acted independently.”

  Adia got up from the couch to get something to drink, and said to the television, “You tell them, Senator.” She made her way into the kitchen and continued to look back at the television as Senator Kelly continued.

  “The fact of the matter is, with all the powers he has, I think he’s shown great restraint. I wonder how many other people could do the same. Perhaps it’s why they chose him.”

  “All this issue aside with the Greek gods, Senator, granting powers and all,” General Westmartin said. “I have never seen, in man or nature, an imbalance to any one side, maintain. With man, when one side moved away from clubs to fire sticks, so did the other side. Right now, we stave each other off with tons of nukes pointed at one another. Oh, sure, they are dormant now, and the escalation is way down from where it was in the 60s and 70s, but they are all available to use when and if needed. As far as nature goes, I am far less the expert, but when too much groundwater is tapped, we have sinkholes. When too much overfishing is done, other species suffer or die off. If there is so much of a counterbalance in a force of good, my concern is when the opposite of Nathan shows up.”

  A quiet pause fell over the panel for a moment.

  Adia walked from the kitchen with her glass of water and set it down on the coffee table.

  “Would you care to elaborate further on that, General?” Mark asked to try to re-engage the conversation.

  “There are two major issues on this point; let me start with the first one, Nathan himself. What if the power goes to his head? What if he suddenly does decide he is bigger than all of us and decides protecting isn’t enough and that he should rule? How can we possibly defeat someone so powerful?”

  “His powers are not absolute,” Senator Kelly said. “He confided in me that fact, and I hope he’ll forgive me if it was something he wanted kept more confidential. He never explicitly identified as such but … he indicated that his powers are … regulated, to a degree. He basically said that the Greek gods granted them. He knows this, although he never explained how, and freely admitted he’s never seen or met any of them. Since he’s indicated that much, I believe that if these beings decided to intervene in such a way, to try to affect without directly getting involved, that they would also have a way to intervene should he become a direct threat.”

  “What makes you so sure?” the General asked.

  “Faith,” Senator Kelly said. “It would seem to me that if they desired, these beings could directly involve themselves as they did millennia ago. For whatever reason, they left and decided to stay gone, as far as we’re all aware. Who knows if they indirectly influenced things along the way? We’ll never know for sure unless we could communicate with one of them. At the end of the day and for whatever reasons, they have decided to act in this manner through Nathan. From what I’ve seen, in such an ordinary man, they have found someone extraordinary.”

  Adia smiled. Her thoughts drifted to the last time she’d seen Nathan and the day he said goodbye. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “Excuse me,” Mark said, moving his hand up to his earpiece. “We are getting word now that there is an emergency at the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant. We are going to interrupt our broadcast. … Stacy Martins for the local affiliate is on the scene. Stacy … we are live to you.”

  “Yes, good evening, Mark. Details are sketchy at the moment but apparently there was an issue earlier with one of the reactors and its cooling system. About an hour ago, the criticality level changed from Site Area Emergency, which is an issue contained within the site boundary, where no action is needed by the general public, to General Emergency. With that enacted, the evacuation order was initially given for the two inner zones around the plant, but that now has been escalated, and emergency sirens have gone off. I have unconfirmed reports that containment loss may occur if they cannot get the situation remedied in short order.”

  Aida said, “Come on Nathan … show them what you’re made of.”

  ***

  Persephone stood in the garden by the reflecting pool on Mount Olympus. She smiled upon the chaos occurring on the scene. With the crisis at the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant escalating, Zeus and Hera also arrived.

  “Fancy seeing you here, daughter,” Hera said while walking around the far side of the reflecting pool. “Slow at this time in the Underworld?” she asked and waved her hand while she looked down at the ensuing emergency.

  “My hand is not in this, as it is, of course, forbidden,” Persephone said with a feigned smile, and then turned to her father. “I am, of course, as equally surprised to see you here—both of you. It’s unusual to see either of you at the reflecting pool at all, let alone together.”

  Zeus said nothing but only looked down into the pool at the scene.

  “We all feel it too; I do expect you to realize that,” Persephone said, looking at her father. “The hero Nathan is pulling power from this realm, and through all of us, as you commanded, Father. It may be expressly the twelve, but we all feel him. We all know when something is amiss. You may feel it first, but we know it too.”

  ***

  Adia continued to watch the scene unfold on the television when suddenly Nathan appeared on the screen, landing in the background of the shot with the reporter. She clasped her hands together and prayed.

  “Yes, Mark, it does appear that Nathan has arrived.”

  “We have confirmation here as well,” Mark said. “We are getting the automated telemetry feed information from Nathan’s Computer Central network. As viewers might be aware, since enabling the Computer Central network a few months ago, Nathan makes available to all news reporting networks, via the AP feeds, all and any pertinent information for any major emergencies. You will see this information on the right side and bottom of your television screens at home. From time to time as well, the view on the screen may break away from our network control to live feeds that Computer Central provides. Nathan has maintained that he does this in an effort to provide clarity and transparency to anything that he is doing in the public interest.”

  The camera in the studio zoomed out to show the entire panel and then the shot went back out to the reporter on the scene. Almost immediately, the shot then cut away to the raw feed from Computer Central.

  ***

  Nathan entered the facility and raced toward the reactor core.

  “Computer Central,” Nathan called out, tapping the small device in his left ear.

  “Enabled,” the female voice of his computer system responded through the communication device.

  “What’s the status of the core?” Nathan asked as he reinforced his personal shielding as Captain Delta.

  “It will go critical. It will need to be evacuated.”

  Nathan moved quickly to the area of the core. “Looks like I’ll have to pull the same move I did with the shuttle; I’m going to need to extend my shielding, and then move this whole unit.”

  “Affirmative. You will not be able to contain the reactor once the critical level is reached.”

  “I might have been better served today to be Mister Atomic; he could have absorbed all this radioactive energy until it became inert.”

  “Confirmed,” Computer Central responded. “The known quantities of nuclear and radioactive material on site
Hanford Nuclear Power Plant are within Mister Atomic’s capabilities to neutralize.”

  “I’ve learned not to second guess the compulsion to don one shirt over another,” Nathan said while he focused and extended his personal force-field around the failing reactor core. The action sheared electrical circuits and crushed much of the support and surrounding superstructure. Once fully enveloped, he strained to raise the enveloped material while he gravitated alongside. “How far …” Nathan asked, his voice straining under the duress. “Do I have to get this into the edge of space to jettison it completely out of orbit and Earth’s gravity well?”

  “Scanning the mass of the matter you are now raising based on density. Scanning. … Sending the information to your wrist monitor. It is based on my readings. I have added twenty-five percent to the weight calculation and the speed requirement based on the readout. You will need to reach that altitude and speed away from Earth to send the matter away successfully. I have also plotted a course to allow it the best trajectory towards the sun.”

  Nathan glanced at the display. He continued to strain as he raised the material. “That exceeds the highest altitude I’ve ever attempted as Captain Delta.”

  “Affirmative. By 313 percent. It is within the parameters of the character’s abilities based on the fictional accounting of his powers.”

  “Yes,” Nathan said and continued to lift the mass, under pressure. “Nothing like the words ‘fictional accounting of his abilities’ to instill my personal confidence.”

  The emergency crews on the ground watched the major portion of the reactor complex lift and leave the site within Nathan’s protective shielding.

  “Segmented portions of Captain Delta’s powers are derived from willpower,” Computer Central responded as Nathan continued to lift the radioactive materials and the remnants of the reactor tower and core skyward. “Your supply of willpower, to date, does not have an upper measure.”

  Nathan continued upwards for several minutes in silent concentration at his best speed to reach escape velocity.

  “Distance from ground?” Nathan called out, and his voice broke.

  “Twelve-point-three miles.” Computer Central responded.

  “Is the radiation leaking outside the shielding?” Nathan asked, looking around.

  “Negative.”

  “Storm clouds are forming out of thin air up here.” Nathan’s tone shifted to concern.

  “Analyzing … analyzing … conditions are not permissible for the formation of storm clouds at your location.” Computer Central responded.

  “What?” Nathan asked, slightly dazed, as he began to slow his acceleration and move lateral and away from his original position directly under the core materials.

  Lightning strikes leapt from cloud to cloud, and then exchanged down to Earth.

  “The clouds should not exist, given your location and the present conditions,” Computer Central responded.

  Suddenly, Nathan grabbed his throat, gasping for air, with his personal shielding gone.

  With the total loss of his powers, he plummeted toward Earth, and the reactor materials fell with him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Zeus stared into the water in the reflecting pool, and then waved his hand into the water. No images from Earth showed in the pool. He waved his hand again in an attempt to render anything from the prime plane. Only the water showed.

  “HADES!” Zeus screamed. Thunder rumbled but muted quickly. Hera appeared surprised at how fast it dissipated, given Zeus’ anger.

  Zeus concentrated, and the gods of Mount Olympus appeared one by one around the reflecting pool. They each responded to his call and gathered.

  Zeus looked around for Hades, but he hadn’t arrived. “What ploy is afoot? Mount Olympus has lost its connection to the Prime Universe. The hero Nathan is in dire peril at this moment. He was in the middle of a mission of mercy. Whatever power grab this is, by any of you, it must cease immediately.”

  Hades finally arrived and approached from the rear of the group of gathered Olympians. “This is no power grab from anyone here in Mount Olympus, The Underworld, or even Tartarus, for that matter. The interference is coming from someone in the Prime Universe, on Earth. I have been trying to track the minor interruptions prior to this major one.”

  “And this is the first I am hearing of your discovery?” Zeus yelled. Lighting ripped across the sky, followed by light thunder.

  “Notice your powers are partially dissipated? As are mine,” Hades said as he moved about the others. “This anomaly has severed our connection to the Prime Universe, which is the root and funnel to our powers. With the connection severed, the dissipation will continue. There is a low-level minimum that our plane will provide to support us all, but I do not know what that threshold is.”

  “This is unprecedented,” Zeus said in a quiet voice. “What mortal could sever the connection?”

  “I don’t believe it was just any mortal,” Hades said. “You will need to summon a Watcher; they likely know.”

  “They are not bound to this realm, Hades, and you know that. I cannot command them here. We need to re-establish the connection, or Nathan falls to Earth.”

  “Earth,” Demeter said with an excited gleam in his eyes. “I can still feel her. Nathan is falling. He is disconnected from us. He is reaching to her.”

  “I can feel Nathan’s pull,” Athena said and stepped forward. “His pull; not the realm. How is this possible with the connection to the realm gone?”

  Zeus looked over to Hera, then Hades, and then stepped back to the reflecting pool. Still dark, it showed only the surface of the water. One by one, the gods nearest to the pool stepped over to look in and saw only their reflections.

  ***

  The images unfolded on the television screen, and the telemetry shown changed dramatically.

  “Analysis,” Computer Central said over the airwaves. “All power levels read zero. Heart rate rising. Blood pressure rising. Calculating rate of descent. Calculating radiation levels. Calculating impact area. Calculating losses.”

  “This is what I am talking about,” General Westmartin said and jumped out of his seat. He mopped his forehead with the palm of his hand and snapped the sweat off onto the floor. “There is a failed nuclear reactor plummeting to Earth. This superhero yanked the emergency out of an area that was prepared to deal with the issue and evacuate, and it’s falling to … wherever it’s falling to, where nothing can be done. It’s going to impact and wipe out wherever it hits.”

  Congressman Johnson walked over to one of the monitors to get a closer look at the trajectory. He pointed to the screen to an area marked in red. “It’s dropping to the metro Phoenix area. My God … that’s America’s sixth largest city.”

  Senator Kelly, who had remained seated at the broadcast roundtable, stepped away to place a phone call.

  “We need to send up a nuke,” General Westmartin said. “If we do that, and incinerate the core and the critical fuel—”

  “We’ll poison more of the atmosphere with radiation, and affect a larger group of people, than letting the reactor plummet to the ground wherever it’s heading,” Professor Farnsmith said, and then came over from the broadcast desk. “The only hope we had before to avoid a Chernobyl-like incident on American soil was Nathan. And to get out of this now, he remains our only hope.”

  “What do you suggest we do, Professor Farnsmith?” General Westmartin asked. “Pray to the Greek gods to grant Nathan back his powers? Whether it was on the ground or falling from the sky, this is a level seven INES nuclear event.”

  Professor Farnsmith looked at the General. She then turned away and knelt on the ground, lowered her head, and did as he suggested.

  General Westmartin shook his head and turned his attention back to the studio monitors. He focused so he could listen to the telemetry being delivered by Computer Central on the audio channel, and they continued to review the feed information on the display.

  “Trajectory confirmed;
metro Phoenix area. Two-point-one miles north of city center. City population, census estimate, 1,537,058. City shielding capabilities not fully online. Cascading shielding will be ineffective. Attempting cascade remapping. Available power insufficient. Grid re-alignment at sixty-four percent.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Congressman Johnson asked when he came alongside the General.

  “That goddamned computer is re-routing electrical power from the grid,” General Westmartin said and pointed to the power map on the screen.

  “For what purpose?” Senator Kelly asked, coming over and slipping the cell phone back into his pocket.

  “I don’t know, but I remember enough of these readings from my days as a plant operator; if that mess of automated circuit boards continues with the re-route, it’s going to take the cycles per second beyond what the grid can handle. It’ll auto trip the relays in the substations and bring down the whole Western Interconnection at the worst time, in the middle of all of this mess,” Congressman Johnson said.

  “It’s trying to draw power.” Senator Kelly ran his fingers through his hair.

  “To what end?” General Westmartin asked, again in a loud voice. “Look, it’s calculating maximum draw from the Texas Interconnection.” He pointed to the voltage maps.

  Congressman Johnson focused on the readings and the map. “It’s tapping the relays,” he said with wide eyes. “It’s locking out the overrides. It’ll burn the grid right out.”

  “How quickly?” General Westmartin asked.

  “It depends on the power draw,” Congressman Johnson said.

  Then, Nathan’s weak voice came over the communications channel. “Computer Central?”

  “Enabled.” Computer Central responded.

  “Status?” Nathan asked just as lightning ripped across the sky.

  “Trajectory, metro Phoenix area. Two-point-one miles north of city center. City population, census estimate, 1,537,058. City shielding capabilities not fully online. Cascading shielding will be ineffective. Cascade remapping failed. Power amplification insufficient. Discontinued. Grid re-alignment canceled and returned to WECC control.”