Journey Into Unknown Worlds #63 featuring Earth-S, one of the many Earths that populate the Omniverse. In the 1940’s, the Golden Agency battled there for justice. In the 1950’s, the Silver Stars fought against crime and communism. In the modern era, the Squadron Supreme and the Justice Coalition struggled against the awesome menaces that beset this world. One of these menaces was the time-travelling Scarlet Centurion. The self-proclaimed Victorex Prime had carved an empire in various time eras. From his base in the 40th Century, he hoped to finally conquer the 20th, but a band of heroes opposed him in that future era. Written by Bob Gansler

Zones of Influence
Crisis Across Time – Part II

Craynium-97 looked with amazement at Tymd Rydar. The other Corpsmen were astonished by the revelations as well. The pre-eminent Computer Giant was beginning to believe that Tymd was what he claimed to be – a Knight Temporal from the 42^nd Century.

"You’re here to help us," Craynium-97 said. "If that’s so, why did you wait so long to reveal yourself?"

The silver-suited Tymd sat down and began his explanation. "The time, if you’ll pardon the expression, was not right. Now it is. You have the opportunity to break the Centurion’s hold on this era. That is something that the Order greatly desires."

"This Order, you’re supposed to be from," the winsome Weightlass asked softly, "what’s your purpose?"

"The Knights Temporal are committed to the downfall of the Scarlet Centurion in every time era," Tymd responded firmly.

"Every time era? How many has he conquered?" Solarrus was obviously agitated by the revelations. Sunspots were forming all over his body.

"Too many for our liking," Tymd replied. "Both in the past and future, relative to this era." He took a deep breath. "The Centurion has been active at many points along this timeline. We have been working as quietly and as secretly as we could to sow the seeds of his destruction."

Shadowfall was puzzled by Tymd’s words. "Which means what?"

"Simply put," Tymd replied, "We need to create an impenetrable barrier in the timestream during the late 20th century. This will ensure that the Centurion cannot attack the Squadron Supreme until they are ready for him."

The explanation just added more confusion to Shadowfall’s thoughts. "But if it’s in the past, hasn’t it already happened already?"

"Time is a fluid quantity," Tymd said. "It flows many ways. Suffice it to say that I know of what I speak. The ultimate victory or defeat the Centurion is not pre-ordained. We have the power to make that come about."

"Power," Craynium-97 chimed in. "That’s exactly what we lack. The concept of the Veilmaker works. You know that, Tymd, but we don’t have the power source to operate it."

"How about in the future?" Pulsar suggested. "Do you Knights have that kind of power?"

"We do," Tmyd replied. "But we couldn’t channel that kind of power through the timestream without doing grievous harm to the continuum."

"Then where are we going to find the power?" Shadowfall asked.

Powerball bounced up. "Our enemy has it, the Scarlet Centurion himself."

"That’s right!" Craynium-97 exclaimed. "The power that he requires for his Temporal Transporter has to be enormous." He did a few million calculations in his head. One second later, he continued, "That’s more than enough to operate the Veilmaker."

"So the plan is we attack Earth, hook up your Veilmaker device, and the Centurion is stopped? Sounds simple enough to me," Wolfling growled.

"We need to meet in executive session," Psimone declared. It was her right to call for such as session, as she was one of the founding members of the Corps, along with Electrolight and Magnos.

The three founding members of the Corps shuttled off to another room while the others waited. A few minutes later, they returned.

"We’ll need to bring in all the support that we can. We’ll have to hope we can convince the Nomads and the Heroes of Rorral to aid us," Psimone stated.

"We’ll split up - one team to rescue Ler Gans, one to contact the Nomads, and one to talk with the Heroes of Rorral," Electrolight announced.

Assignments were given, and the Corps split into three teams. One remained on Balu to work with Tmyd and Craynium-97 to rescue Ler Gans from the Transtemporal Zone. The other two set off in a small contingent of ships to contact the Nomads and the Heroes of Rorral, respectively. Those two teams shared the Corps’ mission to destroy the Centurion, but they went about it in their own ways - guerrilla warfare. As such, they could not be contacted by normal electronic means.

The Nomad Contact team consisted of Micron, Solarrus, Shadowfall, and Wolfling. As she piloted her ship, Micron thought about her longtime love, Red Giant. It had been a long time since Gymm left the Corps to join up with the Martian resistance. He felt that he could do more good there, in Earth’s backyard, than out here in Federation space. She had not received any word from him in a while. It was not easy for Gymm to get a message out; Mars was, after all, part of the Centurion’s empire and firmly under his boot.

"If this whole operation works," she thought, "we can be back together again." That is, assuming Gymm was still alive. There had been reports of a squashed uprising on the Red Planet. If there truly was one, she knew Gymm would have been a part of it. She prayed that he would have survived.

Shadowfall’s thoughts were on the events of a few months ago. The Galactic Corps had suffered greatly in its last battle with the Scarlet Centurion. The Victorex Prime had formed his own battalion of superhuman, the Earthcore. The blood of most of the Earthcore was on the Corps’ hands, Corps blood also flowed that day. The deadliest human alive, the Weapon, was killed that day by a former Corpsmen and fellow recruit, Rival. His lover, the hologram-projecting Imagineer, exacted revenge upon Rival and then resigned her commission and returned home in grief. Now all four of the recruits of 3952 were gone. Ironwill had perished while trying to destroy the Centurion with the Solar Storm Bomb in 3954.

The hours stretched on until the team reached the Kerbee system. The Nomads had used this system as a base of operations from time to time. The team flew directly towards the Kerbee star. After donning a spacesuit, Solarrus slipped outside and soared into the giant solar body. Using his own solar powers, he caused a series of sunspots to erupt. This would send a message to the Nomads, if they were in the system.

The team waited for a few hours. Soon, there was a single silver streak bearing in on them. Wolfling was the first to recognize the winged shape once it came into view. "It’s Spacehawk," he exclaimed.

Spacehawk came to a stop just outside of the Corps ships. "Greetings, Galactic Corps," he stated. "Wave detected the sunspots with her quantum powers. To what do we owe this visit?"

"We need the help of the Nomads, Spacehawk," Micron replied. "We’re ready for a major offensive against the Scarlet Centurion."

"We’ll need to consult with the rest of the Nomads," Spacehawk said. "Mentac and the others are down on Kerbee-3." He pointed to the third planet in the system. "I know that the White Dwarf is itching for a fight, as is Gilead." He put his hand to his temple. "Let me send a mental message to Pathway for her to relay to the team."

The second team had now reached the Rorral system. The planets in this system had been decimated in a battle with the Centurion’s forces a few years ago. The superhumans from his system, the Warriors of Rorral, had survived for the most part. They continued to operate out of this system, for the most part, despite regular incursions by the Centurion’s fleet.

Quadruplex was in charge of the mission. Her four bodies were hard at work performing the piloting, communications, navigation, and tactical functions. Along with her were the lovers Wisp and Pulsar as well as Gravimetric. As they neared the Rorral-4, they were met by the rapidly approaching form of Amalgomac.

The powerful leader of the Warriors of Rorral let his ability-duplicating powers sense the powers that were nearby. After a few seconds, he transmitted radio message. "Ahoy, Galactic Corpsman. It feels like Wisp, Pulsar, Gravimetric, and Quadruplex inside."

"Ahoy," one of Quadruplex’s bodies responded. "We need you Warriors for a big counterattack against the Centurion."

Amalgomac sighed. "Rorral’s still hurting pretty badly after the Centurion’s last push against us. We’ll have to talk with the other Warriors." He indicated for the Corpsmen to follow.

"It’s been some time since we last worked with the Warriors," Pulsar noted. "It will be good to see Animator and Vaporon again."

"You better not be making eyes at those girls," Wisp remanded. "I might just do some flirting with that big-brained Tempus."

Pulsar jabbed Wisp in the ribs. "And here I thought you liked him when he was in his simian form."

"No," Wisp replied laughingly. "Menagerie looks better as an ape."

"Enough joking around," Gravimetric scolded. "This is serious."

Tymd Rydar and Craynium-97 had been feverishly busy working on the Temporal Lighthouse for two days straight. Despite Craynium’s insistent questioning, Tymd would not provide any more details about the mysterious organization - the Knights Temporal - to which he belonged.

Craynium looked at the reading on his hand-scanner and adjusted a few capacitors. "I think we just about have it. We should be ready to open a doorway into the Transtemporal Zone."

"Good," Tymd replied. He checked the chronometer on his wrist. "Time is running short."

"How can it be running short?" Craynium wiped some beads of sweat from his brow. "You Knights are supposed to be the masters of time."

"There are lots of secrets in the timestream. We have to make our move now." Tymd fastened a panel back to the wall and stepped back. "We’re ready."

Craynium spoke into the Corps communicator embedded into his wrist. "We’re ready for the rescue operation. Meet at the Lighthouse in ten minutes."

Exactly ten minutes later, the Corpsmen still present on Balu were all gathered. Craynium handed each - Psimone, Electrolight, Magnos, Atomage, Weightlass, Spectral, and Powerball - a homing device. "This will lead you back to the doorway," Craynium explained. "Don’t lose it, otherwise you’ll be lost forever in the Zone." He indicated for all of them to stand on a platform that was laid into the floor.

Craynium and Tymd worked the controls and the Lighthouse hummed to life. Sparks of energy began erupting in front of the assembled Corpsmen. The sparks eventually coalesced into a shimmering portal. Beyond the portal lay the Transtemporal Zone. The Corpsmen entered one by one and began their search for the legendary Marvel Man of Dakkam, Ler Gans.

Hours went by while Tymd and Craynium waited. They watched the controls carefully, making sure that no temporal instabilities formed in the portal. Once again, Craynium tried to draw some information out of Tymd, but the Knight was becoming very closed-lipped.

Frustrated, Craynium tried another tack. "So what you can tell me about Ler Gans? Did you ever meet him in your travels?"

"I never was assigned to that era," Tymd replied. "But I have read some first hand accounts that were stored in the Chronal Cathedral. He was one of the most powerful men in history, perhaps even greater than Hyperion. He led the CORPS against the Scarlet Centurion, and he continued to fight even after that brave resistance organization crumbled. He was apparently destroyed in a cataclysmic battle with the Centurion in the heart of the Neonian system sun." He smiled. "But we know different."

"Yes, we ..." Craynium’s sentence was interrupted by commotion emanating from the portal. The Corpsmen were returning one by one. Psimone, Electrolight, and Magnos were the last to come through and they carried with them the dazed form of Ler Gans. He looked just like the history records indicated. His massive body was dressed in a simple brown bodysuit with black trim. Even with his haggard and confused looks, everyone could feel the aura of power that he exuded.

"Where am I," Ler said weakly although his voice was stronger with each word.

"Where?" Craynium replied. "The planet Balu. The more appropriate question for you is when. It’s they year 3960. We are the members of the Galactic Corps, founded in memory of the brave organization that you once led. We fight the same battle you did. The Scarlet Centurion rules in this era as well. We rescued you from the Transtemporal Zone to help us deal with him."

Ler was now standing confidently on his feet. "A chance to get back at the Scarlet Centurion? You won’t have to ask for my help. It’s yours to command."

I know it’s been a long time since I published the first part of this serial, but it will be finished with the next installment, "Conflict on Earth-S", The Galactic Corps, the Warriors of Rorral, the Nomads, and Ler Gans make an all-out assault on the Scarlet Centurion’s citadel. Will all these superhumans be enough to allow Tymd and Craynium-97 to create the Veil of Time?

Comments, criticisms, and concerns for JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORDS accepted at rgansler@facstaff.wisc.edu

The Tales from Earth-S web page is at http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gansler/journey/earths.htm