Until That Day

Until That Day

Mark A Davis

239

The hero known at F8Wasp -- pronounced "Fate Wasp" -- pulled a long steel shaft covered in ancient grease from a pile of junk.  "Ew!" she exclaimed.  The young woman had long black hair and wore a sleek black and silver outfit with a mask, and was currently the sidekick to Grandpa Anarchy, world's oldest hero.  For her current mission she'd added gloves and coveralls.  She was attempting to clear a path through a pile of junk into a corner of the Anarchy Cave.

"I swear," she said, "Pixy Dreamgirl and her team supposedly cleaned this place before their Halloween party, but you'd never know it.  There's junk everywhere."

"I suspect  that by cleaning up she meant removing years of dust," said the omnipresent voice of the new Anarchy Computer Mark 2 -- code named Annie Two.  "She did not mean actually uncluttering the place.  There's a century of stuff down here, and even I don't know what lies hidden."

"A whole lot of absolute junk, by the looks of it," said F8Wasp.

"My records only go back to the mid sixties," said Annie  Two, "when my predecessor the Anarchy Computer Mark 1 was created.  Those records largely consist of whatever the current sidekick at the time deemed worthy of adding to the data base.  I have managed to supplement some of these   records with information taken from the Temporary Superfriends computer system, and from city hall and the corporate networks of Omnigen, as well as the Grandpa Anarchy fan website, which is very well maintained, but that still leaves us with a whole swath of things that any given sidekick might have deemed unimportant, or might not have had the time to key in, not to mention a good fifty years or more of activity prior to the advent of a computer, for which our best source of information is Grandpa Anarchy himself.

"However," said the A.I., "with my most recent sensor upgrades I believe I have detected a heartbeat in this corner of the cave.  It is an anomaly for which I have no answer."

"And you're sure it's not coming from the Forgotten But Not Gone room?" asked F8Wasp.  "There are things in there which are certainly alive in some sense...."

"None that would produce a heartbeat, I think," the computer AI replied.  "I have gone over that room with Mr. Anarchy and I have a fairly complete list of what's inside it.  This is something different."

F8Wasp continued to clear a path to the corner, pulling strange objects from the pile of junk and setting them aside.  These included an ancient aquarium, several broken chairs, a retro-futuristic space rifle of some sort, jet boots, a signed photo of some long-forgotten boxing champion, and case of gin, possibly from as far back as the 1930's.  Finally she pulled aside some over-sized WWII billboards featuring Sgt. Anarchy and his support for the war effort, and revealed a large reinforced cylinder.

It was like a 19th-century bathysphere, or perhaps a sci-fi coffin or oxygen chamber circa 1910.  It was a long brass tube with reinforced rings.  It showed signs of corrosion.  There was a thick glass viewport, but it was green with dust and slime and covered with frost, and virtually opaque.  It was plugged into an electrical outlet by ancient cloth-wrapped cords, and it hummed.

F8Wasp frowned.  She tried to peer through the glass, and could see just  enough to know that a body lay inside.

***

Grandpa stared at the brass coffin.  "Huh," he said.  "Never seen it before in my life."

"I estimate that this capsule was installed between 1920 and 1935," said Annie Two.  "You have been in possession of this building since 1920, so it stand to reason you know something about it.  You may have forgotten.  We believe there is a human inside.  This capsule appears designed to keep someone alive in suspended animation."

"Okay," said Grandpa.   There was a long pause.  Annie Two and F8Wasp continued to stare at Grandpa.  "What?" he asked.  "Why are looking at me like that?  I told you, I got no idea what this is."

F8Wasp sighed.  "You mean you've had a human being in suspended animation in your basement for nearly a hundred years, and you don't remember who it is or why they're here?"

"Hey," said Grandpa.  "A hundred years was a long time ago."

"Was she possibly a sidekick of yours?" asked F8Wasp.

"Oh, no," said Grandpa.  "That much I know for sure.  My first official sidekick was Miss X in 1950.  Before that I had partners and companions, but no sidekicks.  In the twenties and thirties I had several female companions with special powers who helped me with my investigations.  There was -- let's see -- Lady Prometheus, she could conjure fire...."

"Ah, yes," said Annie Two.  "A companion of whom there was no official record until you told your story to the Princess of Purple Prose, and she published it on her web site.  I have tried making inquiries to flesh out my information on her, but of course you're practically the only person from that era who is still alive...."

"Then there was Hurricane Hazel," said Grandpa.  "She controlled weather.  There was Sub Zero Sadie, she was an pagomancer -- that is, she controlled ice.  I teamed with my brother for a while too -- Sargent Order.  And there was Miss Bloodraven, of course."

"My records do not cover most of these people," said Annie Two.  "Who was Miss Bloodraven?  What was her special talent?"

"She was a shapeshifter," said Grandpa.  "Miss Emily Sheraton.  She could turn into a very large raven, and also a panther.  I teamed with her for almost a year back in 1922.  But something happened to her -- can't remember what exactly -- and we couldn't fix it.  We had my neighbor Professor Victorian Honesty St. Normal build some kind of suspended animation coffin and we put her in it until we could figure out how to save her."  Grandpa rubbed his chin.  "You know, now that I mention it, I can't for the life of me  remember what the resolution to that problem was...."

***

Sarah Mickens, was a young woman who was leader of the Continuity Crusaders.  Formerly known as Kid Continuity, she had recently gained new powers and a new costume due to participating in something called an Infinite Secret Crisis Wars, and now called herself Continuitae, Avatar of Continuity.  She was dressed like an extra from Sailor Moon, with a white leotard, dark purple skirt with a stardust pattern, thigh-high boots of white with purple trim, and a necklace and tiara set with amethysts.  There were many ribbons, ruffles, bows, and bracelets.

She clapped her hands together.  "Oh, this is so exciting!" she exclaimed.  "An honest-to-gosh Grandpa Anarchy mystery!  I know absolutely nothing about most of the companions Grandpa worked with in the twenties and thirties -- I mean, some of them are mentioned in Evron Lempel's pulp stories, but he played fast and loose with reality and so you never know if a story companion is based on a real person, or simply made up.  Miss Bloodraven appears in two stories -- Broke Down in Bandersnatch Hollow and The Mind Snare From the Pit.  But I had always assumed a woman who transformed into a giant bird was one of Mr. Lempel's more fanciful inventions."

Beside Continuitae was her companion, Freya Willikins, aka Saturnae, Avatar of Time.  She also looked like a rejected Sailor Moon character, with a white leotard, boots, and brown skirt that approximated a clock when seen from above, and a staff with an hourglass symbol on top.  The necklace, tiara and bracelets were set with chocolate diamonds.

"So the question is," said F8Wasp, "why is Miss Sheraton sealed away like a biology sample?  Did she had an inoperable tumor?  A disease for which there was no cure?  Was she sick in some way?"

"Something like that," said Grandpa.  He shrugged.

"I am still reading vital signs," Annie Two the computer AI replied.  "I should be able to revive her, but it would help to know what ails her before we do so."

"I was never very good at keeping records or journals," said Grandpa, "that's kind of the sidekick's job, and this was before I had sidekicks...."

"Well," said Continuitae, "that's a problem which Saturnae and I can solve.  Before we  revive her, we'll go back in time and figure out why she was put in this pickle jar in the first place.   That way we can be prepared to deal with the problem when we revive her."

"Nah," said Grandpa, "we don't got time for that.  Let's just open up this coffin and find out that way!"

Continuitae frowned.  "Grandpa," she said, "firstly we've got all the time in the world.  Miss Bloodraven has lain in this coffin for nearly 100 years, she can lay there a few more weeks if necessary.  Secondly, time travel does not take any time by definition.  We'll be back before you know it."

"You mean we're going to do things just because they're logical?" Grandpa exclaimed.  "Where's the sense in that?"

Continuitae just rolled her eyes.  She took Saturnae's hand.  Saturnae held her staff overhead and called out, "Khronos, time gate!"  The two vanished.

"Great," said Grandpa.  "How long are we supposed to...."

Continuitae and Saturnae reappeared.  "For the love of god, do not unseal that coffin!" Continuitae exclaimed.

***

"In his story The Mind Snare From the Pit," said Continuitae, "Everon Lempel tells the tale of a demonic entity that ensnares Miss Bloodraven and possesses her body.  They only cast it out with the aid of the Supreme Sorcerer of the World.  In Lempel's story that was a made-up man named Alexander Mark Cabal, but in reality, the Supreme Sorceress of the World in the 1920's was a woman named Dermota Avalon."

It was a day later, and multiple people were gathered around the strange brass coffin.  Along with Grandpa, his sidekick F8Wasp, Continuitae and Saturnae, they now had a medical doctor named Doctor Emily Zoldak -- who had once been a sidekick to Grandpa Anarchy named Girl Zodiac.  Also present were Dark Dr. Dark, the Supreme Sorcerer of the World (seven times running, non-consecutive) and Black Dahlia, his former sidekick and disciple.

"Ms. Avalon was my mentor," said Dark Dr. Dark.  "She was a very powerful woman."

"However, the events in Lempel's story were not made up," said Continuitae.  "Miss Bloodraven was possessed by a demonic entity...."

"Yeah," said Grandpa.  "I remember it all now.  The demon's name is Hamorai, and it's a very powerful one.  Problem was, Dermota Avalon wasn't on earth at the time, so there was no one to deal with the demon.  After two days of fighting we managed to subdue it and sealed poor Miss Bloodraven away until the day we could get Ms. Avalon to cast out the demon...."

"What happened?" asked Dark Dr. Dark.

"Well," said Grandpa, "I got kind of busy dealing with an alien cult, and then there was that business with the Deros from underground, and that thing with the yeti, and that sorceress from dimension X...."  Grandpa shrugged.  "We just forgot about it."

"Well," said Dark Dr. Dark, "the day for revival has arrived.  If Miss Dahlia is ready, then please open the coffin...."

Grandpa and F8Wasp unsealed the chamber.  The upper half swung up and open.  Revealed within was a lovely young woman in a red dress, apparently sleeping peacefully.  Ice crystals clung to the sides of the coffin, and wisps of vapor  rose from the cold interior.

Doctor Zoldak leaned over and placed her hand on the girl's forehead, then her chest.  "She's cold," the doctor said, "but breathing...."

The girl stirred, then opened her eyes.  They filled with a red rage and an unearthly glow.  "Oh.  My.  Infernal.  Majesty," the girl said.  "Ninety-four fracking years!  Ninety-four!  I was only going to possess this girl for an afternoon!  Ninety-four years!  By all that's Unholy, can't you people even be bothered to banish a poor demon...."

Dark Dr. Dark and Black Dahlia began to chant.  "Hades, yes!" the girl exclaimed.  "Banish me back to the pits from whence I came!  Seal my soul!  Forbid me from returning to the mortal plane!  I haven't been home in ninety-four years...."

The sorcerer and sorceress finished  their spell of banishment.  "Begone, foul demon!" Dark Dr. Dark exclaimed.  "Leave this earthly vessel and return from whence you came!"

The body of Miss Emily Sheraton writhed and convulsed.  "Yes!  Yes!" she exclaimed.  F8Wasp and Continuitae held her down.  "Yes!  Someone finally gets it right!  Thank you!  Thank youuuuuuuu..."

The light faded from the woman's eyes.  She collapsed, lifeless.

***

Miss Emily Sheraton slept peacefully in a medical bed that had been set up in the Anarchy mansion.  There did not appear to be anything wrong with her, but two days had passed with no signs that she would ever awaken again.  Dark Dr. Dark, Doctor Zoldak, F8Wasp, Grandpa and Annie Two -- the A.I. appeared on a nearby monitor -- watched over her.

"Her soul appears to have long ago fled," said Dark Dr. Dark.  "Since she was not in possession of her own body, there was no preventing it from leaving.  In essence, she moved out and left the demon holding the lease.  Now that the demon has been banished, what we have left is an empty husk."

"I am unable to detect or measure a soul," said Annie Two.  "But what I can determine is that there is no higher brain activity.  It is as if the girl is braindead.  There appears to be nothing of her left, save the body itself."

"All we can do now," said Doctor Zoldak, "is wait, and pray.  Perhaps a miracle will bring her back to us."

"That seems unlikely," the computer said.

"Stranger things have happened," said Grandpa.  "Around here, more often than not.  You just watch."

***

A week later, Miss Sheraton awoke.

"Ha!" exclaimed Grandpa.  "I told you!  Stranger things have happened!  There, see?  She's alive!"

"Indeed she is," said Annie Two.

F8Wasp smiled.  "It's a miracle, I guess?" she suggested.

"Shows what you know, Annie!" Grandpa crowed.

"Yes, it does," the girl in the bed replied.  "Apparently I was wrong, Mr. Anarchy.  My mistake."

Grandpa did a double-take.  The voice had sounded remarkably like the A.I., but hadn't the words been spoken by Miss Sheridan?

Grandpa stared at the young woman for a long moment.  "You know," he said, "I heard F8Wasp and Annie Two  talking very late last night.  Something about machines with souls...."

"Ah," the young woman in bed said.  "We were discussing whether an artificial intelligence can have a soul.  We know a human soul can possess a machine, for that is exactly what Girlbot 9000 is -- a human soul in a robotic body.  But is the reverse also possible?  Could an artificial intelligence possess a human body?"  She shrugged.  "I guess we'll never know."

Grandpa stared at the woman.  He glanced up at the image of Annie Two -- who always appeared to be some kind of 19th-century librarian.  "Who was speaking, just now?" he asked.

Miss Sheraton blinked.  She exchanged a glance with F8Wasp and the image of Annie Two.  "That was... the computer AI, of course," she said.  "Why would I say that?"

"What Miss Sheraton means," Annie Two added, "is that she overheard us speaking last night, as she was coming out of her coma.  She's still a bit confused, having slept for ninety-four years.  Naturally."

"Yes," said Miss Sheraton.  "That's it.  Of course.  My name is Miss Emily Sheraton, aka Miss Bloodraven.  I was your companion in 1922.  I was momentarily confused -- just an error in programming, nothing more."  She smiled and added, "I am human.  Humans make mistakes; everyone knows this.  But don't worry -- everything's going to be just fine from now on."

FINI