Bob Null wakes up with the smell of bacon. It’s not a bad way to wake up, the only problem is that there shouldn’t be anyone cooking it.
His daughter couldn’t cook even if her life depended on it. Did he bring anyone home last night? No, he’s pretty sure he didn’t, nobody else slept in the bed with him this time.
He gets out of bed and grabs the baseball bat he keeps under it, then drops it.
“Yeah, great idea Bob, somebody must have broken in to steal cash and got hungry. Did I lend the keys to anyone? Nori’s gonna kill me” he thinks.
Walking slowly to the kitchen he’s speechless for how clean everything is. There’s not even a single shard of glass on the floor; after the windows shattered the night before, it was everywhere.
There’s a woman with red hair in the kitchen. She’s wearing orange pants and tube top, no shoes, she’s floating a couple of inches from the floor, and she’s humming.
<Vesta!?>
<Good morning! Pancakes or bacon?> she asks cheerfully.
<How did you get in?>
<I flew. There’s no glass on the windows.>
<So you decided to fly in and make breakfast?>
<I made quite a mess when I blew up the asteroid and you all looked exhausted. I tried to tidy up a bit; is everything fine?>
<I…guess it is> Bob answers, flabbergasted; the apartment was a disaster area, but now it looks perfect. That’s not the only thing he’s looking at. Vesta is floating towards the table, humming a cheerful tune, looking absolutely perfect.
<Null is your daughter, right?> she asks.
<You mean Noriko, yeah. How did you meet her?>
<She walked into the bar where I worked before it exploded. She never told me her name. You look…I’m sorry, I never know how to talk about these things…you have different…eyes? And skin color?> she says nervously.
<It’s okay, I get that a lot. Her mother’s Japanese. Wait, your bar exploded?>
<Well, no, somebody inside it did. Is Noriko alright after what happened tonight?>
<I don’t know…with all the police and firemen and all that mess tonight I haven’t really had the chance to talk to her. I figured I’d let her have a good night’s sleep.>
<I tried to clean her room but she yelled at me.>
<Let me try it.>
Bob is used to find a mess in her daughter’s room; it’s what you expect from a teenager. But what he finds is excessive even for her.
She’s sitting on the floor, in her underwear and the same T-shirt of the night before, tinkering with some electronic parts. She has dismantled a TV, a cell phone, her alarm clock and her computer; the remains are scattered everywhere together with dozens of sheets of paper, filled from top to bottom with formulas and diagrams.
She’s even torn the posters of her favorite bands from the wall, drawing some kind of spherical machine.
<What the hell happened here?>
<It’s a matter of processing power> Noriko answers, not looking up from the device she’s building.
<What?>
<The Heart of the Universe> she answers, pointing vaguely towards the drawing on the wall; now that he thinks about it, Bob can see that the drawing is the cutaway of the spherical rock on the floor.
<It needs a very high number of inputs in order to work, and they need to be very precise. That’s why the Many and I had so much trouble working it; even my brain can’t generate easily that many instructions.>
<Did you even sleep, Nori?>
<Little less than an hour. I kept having nightmares about concentration camps and wars so I decided to keep myself busy.>
<Well, we’re gonna be late. You’ve got time for a shower; we’ll talk about this…mess after school.>
<Father, understanding this alien technology could be humanity’s greatest technological achievement!>
<It can wait after breakfast.>
Marbella, Spain
Hours ahead of the cold New York morning, the sun is shining on a magnificent beach.
Tourists in bathing suits are watching an African-American throw rocks in the air, then seemingly shooting at them with lasers coming out of the palm of his hand.
For Max Black, this is the best day of his life. People are cheering, thinking this is some sort of performance, but he’s doing much more: he’s learning how to use his newfound power.
As far as he can tell, he can turn his body into energy. It didn’t take long to understand how to turn a very small part of himself, much less than a drop of blood, into pure light.
Too bad he doesn’t speak more than three words of Spanish, because he would love to shout at the top of his lungs that he’s the world’s first superhero now.
His cell phone starts ringing, singing the theme song of Captain America’s cartoon show. He almost forgot about it, but it’s in his pocket. He excuses himself from the applauding crowd to answer:
<Hello?>
<Max, thank God you’re alright! I tried to call you all night!> his sister Kayla says.
<Uhm, yeah, I’ve been kinda busy. What’s up?>
<What’s up? A meteor almost landed on New York, you dumbass, that’s what!>
<Oh, right, that. Don’t worry, everything’s fine, I was…I was out of town, yes. Would you hang on a second?>
Max puts the call on hold, grabs the shirt from the sand, and turns his body into light again.
Chicago, Illinois
Kayla is tapping her foot. It’s just like her brother to scare her half to death and then disappear.
Somebody knocks at the door. She lowers the volume on the TV, where they’re showing the walking disaster area that is New York City, and looks through the peephole.
<Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!> she shouts opening the door.
Max is just outside, shaking the sand out of his shirt before putting it on again.
<Mind if I drop by?>
<Don’t tell me: you were fired.>
<What? Oh, the job interview, right, I never got the job in the first place. But something came up and I wanted to talk to you about it.>
<You can’t stay> she says bluntly, walking in. Just from the way she walks, it’s clear she’s upset.
<Oh come on!>
<I helped you move to New York but that’s it; you think it’s easy with a security guard’s salary?>
<Hey I never asked you for money!>
Kayla’s death stare is more than enough to convince Max to reconsider his statement.
<Okay, two or three times. But I paid it back. Mostly. It’s just for a few days anyway, my place is a mess! You should see what happened last night.>
<I thought you were out of town.>
<Uhm, yeah, it’s like…Oh, the heck with it, I suck at this. Kayla, I’ve got superpowers now.>
<Max, I don’t care about your latest game, I have a job remember? Unless they fired me ‘cause I was on the phone all morning trying to reach my…idiot…brother….>
Kayla’s jaw drops watching her brother’s body turn into light, floating on air, with a gleeful smile.
<See? I’m a superhero! How cool is that!?>
<I’ll call in sick.>
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