Beyond the Veil - part 1
A tale of a possible future of Freedom Force by Silver Age Fogey

Chapter 1 - "The bird of time has but a little way to fly..."

2002 AD. High above North America, a spacecraft makes final approach toward a city in the northeast of what was once the United States of America. Great banks of clouds and fog cover much of the land, and through breaks can be seen gigantic tracks of forests run wild, or blazing and scorched ruins of earth miles in diameter, or tumultuous waves where land once stood high. Far to the north, mammoth glaciers marched a slow path over all in their way.

"Rings of Rexhall! This... this cannot be! When we left this land, it was beautiful and fertile, clean... not like this! I must head for... Freedom Fortress!"

The craft continues its trajectory toward a beacon still alive in the northeast of the tortured land. It descends into what was once a city of magnificent stature... but now merely a gigantic graveyard of brobdignagian tombstones that were once skyscrapers, the easternmost with the hungering sea waters lapping greedily at their bases.

"This was Patriot City... what disaster could have caused such devastation?!?" The pilot of the craft guided it toward one of the few remaining buildings left intact... a tall, white structure once referred to as Freedom Fortress. When anyone cared about freedom.

The ship hovers above the ground outside the building as a pair of doors open slowly, grindingly, almost in pain, sliding apart to make way for the craft. As it settles gently, its inhabitant can see graffiti over the face of the building, rubbish piled and burnt outside the white, still gleaming doors, and - worst of all - dead bodies lying about... some partially consumed.

Under the ground, the landing equipment still functions, and automatic rays guide the craft to a soft, smooth landing. However, as the pilot exits his craft, the lights he expects do not arise. Emergency beams glow faintly, surrounding all with a twilight haze, barely enough to see.

"This cannot be. The power source for Freedom Fortress would last for centuries! And the automatic maintenance systems should have kept the base in perfect condition! What disaster could have fallen upon my friends and comrades, that such devastation has come unto them?"

And in the shadows, a harsh baritone voice rasped in answer, "What disaster? YOU'RE the disaster, Mentor!"

The Mental Marvel turned toward the voice, but it continued louder, "No you don't, alien! Stand where you are or I'll fire!"

"I... I do not understand! What is this? Who are you!"

A tall lanky figure limped into the light, dressed in black mask and torn gray overcoat, holding two large handguns on Mentor. "You know me. You made me what I am today... you and that flag wearing idiot. I said freeze, Mentor. Move and I'll blast you."

"I still don't see - Nick? Nick Craft! Liberty Lad!"

Chapter 2 - "And sold my reputation for a song..."

A bitter fifty-five year old man slowly made his way forward. "Liberty Lad... I haven't heard that name in a long, long time, alien. 'Gee, Mentor, it's you!'" Nick mocked, in a false cheerful tone that set Mentor's teeth on edge. " 'You came back! Boy, it's just swell to see you again! Wait'll I tell everyone you've returned!' "

"Lib- Nick, what has happened? Where are the others? What has happened to Patriot City? And what has happened to you?"

"What happened? YOU happened. Forty years ago, Mentor, you came to Earth, with the seeds of its destruction. Look around, tell me what you think; because everything you see is ALL YOUR DOING!" he roared.

"How? What has occurred? Nick, please, tell me. If it can be fixed, I will never rest-"

The one-time Liberty Lad grabbed the alien by the shoulders and shook him, hard. "Shut up. Shut up! You've done ENOUGH! And you, you don't even KNOW what it is you've done. You thought you were helping us..."

A crackling, static filled buzz rang through the air. A mature female voice softly rang, "Nick? What's the problem?"

He answered, "No problem, Merry. Just an old... an old friend, paying us a visit."

"Oh... oh, no! Get back here, I'm powering up defense weapons now!" the panicked woman answered.

"No need," Nick replied. "We aren't going to get any trouble from him... are we, Mentor?"

"Mentor?" the woman asked. "MENTOR? He's been gone for thirty years!"

The Telepathic Titan answered, "It is I. Who is this I am speaking to?"

"It's me, Mentor," she answered in a subdued tone. "Merry Mason."

"Merry- Sea Urchin? Is it you?"

A bittersweet laugh answered him. "Sea Urchin. How long has it been...? Yes, it's me, Mentor. Well, Nick, are you going to stand there foolishly with those guns? You and I both know you're not going to shoot him. Bring him in."

As the two men traversed the semi-shadowed halls of Freedom Fortress, Mentor was speechless as he looked around at what was once a bastion of justice. There were cracks in the walls, rubble and detritus littering the floors, and the lights that were left were only at half power at best. "Nick, can you tell me-"

"I SAID I have nothing to say to you, Mentor," he snapped back. "And I don't think you should bother to wear out your welcome here." And that was all the conversation they had until they got to the main meeting room.

The large chamber was, as the rest of the fortress, dimmed with low power lights. The computers seemed to be functional though, and the room seemed cleaner than anywhere else the duo had passed on the way back. In the farthest corner of the room was a large tank of some type, with equipment apparently moved next to it, and a figure swimming in it.

Mentor walked up to it and peered into the dark water. A soft female face flowed up to the side, and the alien saw a young visage through the glass, a twenty-five year old woman. "Sea Urchin? You look so young and beautiful."

She smiled and tapped a button at her throat. Her mouth moved, and a speaker above the tank answered, "Thank you, Mentor. You haven't changed at all."

"My race is long lived; to me, I have not been gone a long time at all. But apparently, things have changed greatly here on Earth. Are you well?"

"As well as can be expected, old friend," the speaker crackled in answer. "And you? How goes the battle for freedom on your world?"

"This is all VERY touching," Nick snapped, "but I have real work to do. Merry, you know where I'll be. Good bye, Mentor. Don't hurry back again." And the dark man slid out of the room and into the shadows without another sound.

Chapter 3: "...Indeed is gone with all its rose..."

"Merry, can you tell me why Nick is so bitter? He accused me of causing all of this - what 'this' does he refer to?"

The woman swam up to the top of the tank and, gripping the edge, flipped out and onto a large platform near the top. She spoke aloud, in a rasp, and said, "Mentor, you must know that things have changed radically since your departure all those years ago."

"Obviously - but what did I have to do with it?"

She sighed as Mentor focused his mentatic might, and levitated up to the platform next to her. "Mentor, Nick blames you because you're the one who brought Energy X to Earth."

"But that was for the good of your people! The Dominion were going to conquer your world!"

She patted his arm gently. "I know, Mentor, I know. And Nick isn't entirely right; it isn't your fault... completely. It's the fault of Energy Y."

"'Energy Y'? There is no such thing!"

"Ah, but there is. Our scientists found out that Energy X could be transformed through electron bombardment into another form, one that was more adaptable to humans."

Electron bombardment? No one on my world is insane enough to try it! It could cause an explosion that would destroy a continent!"

"And it eventually did here." Merry tapped on a computer console on her platform, and the computer screen slowly warmed up, showing a map of the Earth. The young woman sighed, "Mentor, things really have changed. Look at the map."

They stared at the distorted geographic outline that once had been North America. Merry continued, "The whole north of Canada and Alaska are frozen. Just to the south, in Washington state and Idaho and Montana, there's something of... well, I guess it would be called a conflict zone. The overgrowth of trees and vegetation fight the encroaching ice for domination of the land there.

"You see that Texas to Florida and Cuba and most of Eastern Mexico are gone, flooded over? That was the first lab to try to modify Energy X. They bombarded it with X-rays. I guess someone thought x-rays for Energy X made sense."

Mentor looked aghast. "That is insane!"

"Yeah, we found out. That's when we lost... we lost..." She gulped hard, and said, "Mentor, you don't know. There's almost no one left."

"No one in the Freedom Force?"

She shook her head. "Almost no one on Earth. The wars, the devastation... the plague. Oh, lord, the Energy X plague." She made a sharp, gasping sound, and clutched at her throat.

"Sea Urchin!" Mentor asked in concern. "Are you well? What can I do?"

She hacked again, and gasped, "There's nothing to be done, Mentor. I have to submerge for a while. Please wait for me...?"

"Of course, Merry. I will endeavor to try to fix the Freedom Fortress."

"I don't think it can be done," she rasped sadly, "but there's no harm in you trying." She flipped backwards and noiselessly slipped into the waters without a splash.

Mentor floated down and looked sadly back at the tank, before he went to the main computer. "I MUST effect repairs, or my plan will fail. And I see now that failure is not an option. Not even for this ruined world." A determined look fixed his face. "I can not be deterred from my task! I shall not!"

To be continued...