Chapter 1 - Beginnings

Chapter 1 - Beginnings

In a room in a building on a landmass on a planet orbiting a star which most people to whom it mattered called Lighter, and which everyone else probably had named with some obscure word in a forgotten language, an important event was taking place. Exactly half of the people in the room at that moment had absolutely no idea that it was even going to be important to their personal lives, let alone the lives of billions of people, and the other half knew quite well that it was going to be important, because every event like it had made at least some sort of impact on the universe. This may have seemed like an odd coincidence if there hadn't been exactly two people in the room.
Not much appeared to be happening. What appeared to be happening was that a man in his mid-thirties and a leather jacket was talking to a good-sized feline which was for some reason wearing clothes. Of course, this was only what appeared to be happening. In reality, the man was actually several millennia old and the other was completely unaffiliated with the genus Felis, and knew very well why she was wearing clothes, thank you very much, and hoped the person posing the question knew why too, because dancing naked in the streets usually draws funny looks and the police. Also, the jacket was fake leather.
The man seemed very calm as he spoke, though he was probably as nervous as he had ever been. Which actually probably wasn't all that nervous. "I've called you in here for a very serious reason, Konnie," he said.
Well, he wouldn't fire me, so it can't be too bad, thought Konnie, who was the furrier one, and not some sort of invisible being the man was directing his words at. She was about to be proved wrong.
"There is a scientific law that states that all order, given time, will gradually degenerate into chaos. No form of order is exempt from this law. Life, as you know, is a form of order."
So he called me in here to tell me that stuff dies, thought Konnie. And this is pertinent because...?
"You've probably thought for a long time that my species is immortal," the man continued.
Konnie stared at him. Not because the man had seemingly read her mind. He did that often. She was staring because she realized where this conversation was going.
"Actually, my species can hardly fend off death any more than yours can," said the man. "We have a very specific lifespan. And my lifespan is going to end in several days."
Konnie had never imagined life without Mr. Tentley, the man speaking to her. She had been his faithful assistant for her whole nine-year-long life, helping with projects ranging from interspecies translators to creating wormholes. And now, that was all going to end. What would she do? She couldn't just live her life out as an average Ra'ana, or Ailu, as people who had trouble pronouncing the ' sound called her species. She just wasn't suited for it.
Fortunately, Mr. Tentley already had the solution. "My species, the Elementals, does not have a civilization. Generally, we can't stand to be around each other. Since an Elemental would be horrible at raising a child, we spend our childhood in the form of another species, completely oblivious to what we really are. The species I believed I was is now, sadly, extinct. There are several such children in existence at the moment. I have chosen one to continue running this building after I die."
Konnie was instantly captivated. So she was getting a new boss. And he or she was a kid, too. This would be interesting.
"His name is KJ Fox, and he is human. He's around your age, too - about a year older. Humans have a similar life cycle to your race. KJ is what humans call a 'nerd'- he's interested in more scientific and mathematical activities, rather than physical- and social-oriented ones. It's not a desirable title."
“How typical for humans,” Konnie scoffed.
"Ah, good, you spoke. I was afraid you'd been replaced by a mute double." Mr. Tentley was making jokes even though he faced imminent and inevitable death. Wow, he's got nerve, thought Konnie. Mr. Tentley continued talking. "I need you to go take the Comet over to Earth and bring KJ back here. I think he'd be more comfortable with you than with me. You know plenty of human pop culture, so you should have at least some conversation material."
"Righty-o, sir," said Konnie, trying to stay lighthearted in the situation.
"Don't call me sir. I thought you stopped doing that years ago. Now get going."

The aforementioned KJ Fox was at not quite that moment, but somewhere around there, having one of the least enjoyable days of his life. School had been a "fun" all-phys ed day to celebrate the end of the school year. Like it was an occasion for celebrating. School was one of the few places KJ felt safe, and he actually enjoyed the classes more than most of the rest of his life, except when it came to activities involved with things that had screens. He often disappeared into video games and sci-fi movies and shows to escape reality. That was what he had wanted to do after a hard day of being pummeled by volleyballs, but having gotten home, he found that his sister, Kate, had destroyed the movie he was going to watch. With a steak knife. Kate was two years older than him and tormented him at every opportunity. She had done that ever since their parents had died four years ago. KJ was too young to remember it at the time, but Kate remembered it well and had been bitter and cruel since then. It didn't help that they were living with their crazy uncle, either. Their uncle was probably one of the least apt people to take care of kids. He was prone to often contradictory and always not quite sane actions. For example, he had changed religions six times in the past year, and had had two (very brief) jobs, one as a McDonald’s cook and the other as a government scientist. Most of his interaction with KJ and Kate was comprised of two things: yelling at them and screaming at them. As such, the two kids were not fond of him, to say the least.
At the moment, KJ was trying to imagine the movie he would've watched that afternoon - The Matrix, his favorite - had it not met an untimely fate. For some reason, he always rooted for the Agents - the bad guys - rather than the hero. KJ had just always liked the gun-toting, computerized Agents more than a sappy and over-attractive idiot. At the moment, KJ wanted this reality to be unreal - even one where the human race was held captive by robots would be better than his current life, sitting on a log in some forest that was hardly a forest waiting for the next dismal thing to happen. Fortunately for him, that life would disappear with the next three words he heard.
"You're KJ Fox?" asked someone behind him. KJ turned around to see who was speaking and promptly fell off the aforementioned log.
"Well?" asked Konnie.
KJ tried to keep calm, despite the fact that the being who was talking to him looked like the end result of magnifying a Maine Coon by 10 and giving it access to some sort of Star Trek-style clothing store. "Yes, I am. And you are...?" KJ wasn't sure if his last question was asking who or what.
Konnie answered both. "Konnie Dizo, at your service. I'm an Ailu. I'm here to introduce you to a new career opportunity!"
"What?" KJ was, to say the least, puzzled.
"No, I just always wanted to say that. What I mean is, we got a job for you on another planet." KJ blinked, speechless. "Interested?" asked Konnie.
"Hell yes!" yelled KJ. This was much better than being held captive by robots.
"Then follow the brown Ailu," said Konnie. She winked and walked toward a clearing in the semi-woods. KJ ran after her.
"How'd you know I was thinking of The Matrix?" asked KJ. For all he knew, Konnie could've been psychic.
"I didn't. I just happen to like the movie." Actually, Konnie didn't particularly like the movie, since it was a bit too grotesque and didn't make sense, but she knew KJ loved it and thought she might as well make a good first impression.
"So how are we getting to... wherever we're going?" asked KJ as they reached the clearing.
"Ever heard of a ship?" asked Konnie, pressing a button on her PDA. A blue light blinked some 30 feet into the air and a laser started moving down from there like a giant fax machine. And the fax was printing a spaceship. The ship was sleek, roughly triangular, and fiery-red. Odd curling letters adorned the sides. Konnie pressed another button and a doorway in the side opened. A ramp slid down from the opening. Konnie stepped onto it. "Coming?" she asked KJ. He ran up the ramp past her. She chased him onto the ship.
The interior of the Comet looked like an expensive house. Konnie strode forward across the plush carpet while KJ stopped to look into the gadget-filled rooms. He would definitely have to check out the multimedia center later on.
The control panel was a mess of buttons, switches, and levers labeled with curled letters in another language. KJ stared at them in wonder as Konnie pressed one. Although KJ didn't feel any motion, the view on the huge screen in front of them changed from trees to sky. A thought suddenly struck KJ. "What if someone sees us?" he asked
"They won't," said Konnie. "We have a hologram projector. And even if someone did see us, they'd just be billed as a lunatic."
"True," said KJ. You could always rely on human stupidity.
"Say, do you wanna fly the ship?" asked Konnie.
"I'd like to, but I have no idea how," said KJ.
"Do you play many spaceship-piloting-type video games?" Konnie asked.
"Do I ever!" said KJ emphatically.
"Then you do know how," said Konnie as she pressed one of the buttons on the panel. She loved buttons. The control panel's array of buttons and such disappeared. In its place was the D-pad and joystick of KJ's favorite game controller.
"Sweet!" said KJ as he ran over to the controls. Konnie got up from her swivel chair and let him have the seat. KJ began tapping the controls expertly.
He's pretty good, thought Konnie. And the autopilot helping a bit doesn’t hurt either. "You're gonna need to get us in orbit," she said out loud. "There's a portal right above the Pacific that'll open up for you. You can fly right into it."
KJ broke through the stratosphere and followed Konnie's instructions, slowing over the Pacific Ocean. "Nice," commented Konnie. "Is your middle name Anakin, by any chance?" KJ grinned at her. A purplish dot appeared in front of them. It expanded into a nebulous circle of shifting light. He flew into it, expecting some sort of hyper-spatial tunnel. Nothing like that happened. In fact, nothing seemed to happen at all. KJ was about to comment that it didn't work when he noticed that the stars were in the wrong place, and the planet he was orbiting had oddly shaped continents. "The ship has the coordinates for the landing area," said Konnie. "Just aim to the center of that there landmass." She pointed to one. KJ pulled the ship into a dive.
The ship settled down near a large building made of something that looked like concrete. It was drab, squarey, and government-looking. The same curled sort of letters adorned the front. Here the day was bleak, with the sun showing through a thin layer of clouds, whereas in Stone Creek (the city where KJ lived) the day was bright and sunny, as if it had been mocking KJ's mood. "This is the Tentley Center," said Konnie.
"The what?" asked KJ.
"The Tentley Center. It's run by Mr. Tentley," Konnie replied.
"And he is?" KJ asked.
"My boss," replied Konnie. She walked towards the door. KJ followed.
The Tentley center looked like some sort of old-fashioned fancy hotel. It was smothered in velvet and mahogany, with nice-looking chandeliers at regular intervals. Konnie skipped her way towards a door at the end of the hall, KJ following. The door opened into a nondescript room where almost everything was off-white, except the table in the center and the man sitting at it. There was something not quite right about the man - his goatee and nose were a bit too pointed his hair and eyes a bit too orange. He smiled at them and motioned for KJ and Konnie to come in. "Welcome to the Tentley Center, KJ," said the man. "I am Mr. Tentley."
KJ sat down in one of the chairs at the table. Konnie followed suit. "The center is mainly an all-purpose science lab. There's an astronomy center, a genetics testing lab..."
"Sounds great," said KJ.
"And you're going to own it," continued Mr. Tentley.
This was the part that KJ wasn't expecting. His jaw dropped. "M- Me?" he managed to stutter.
"Yes," Mr. Tentley said. "KJ, have you ever wanted to have superpowers?"
KJ was about to respond that yes, it was one of his lifelong dreams, when he lost his train of thought. At the same moment, about a thousand other thoughts ran through his head. KJ had no idea where they came from, or even what most of them meant, but he was somewhat preoccupied thinking them. It felt like looking at a huge amount of computer code in a language KJ didn't know - he had no idea what it meant, but he was sure they were instructions. KJ opened his eyes. He had lost track of time while he was sitting there. Actually, he still hadn't found track of time. No, that wasn't it. It was more like time didn't really matter anymore.
"Well, now you do have superpowers of a sort." Mr. Tentley smiled again.
KJ was somewhat shocked. He didn't feel very different. Well, he did a little. His thoughts were a bit clearer and the world was a bit less interesting, but not much else.
"You have three 'powers'," said Mr. Tentley. "Please name them."
What was this, some sort of pop quiz? thought KJ. He decided to answer Tentley as if it was one. "Xstore, xmance, and xarrange," said KJ, and then, preempting the next question, he explained them. "Xstore removes molecules from this plane of existence, xmance brings them back, and xarrange moves matter while it is still in this dimension." KJ sat back and crossed his arms, then blinked. Why hadn't he noticed that? The powers didn't exactly feel new to him - they just felt like something he had never needed to use before.
"Right," said Mr. Tentley. The tabletop suddenly burst into flame. A metallic cube appeared on it and the flame died down. Konnie looked up to see the top. The table was stronger than it looked. "Xstore this cube," Mr. Tentley said to KJ.
KJ looked at the cube, and then looked closer. Way closer. The individual molecules of the cube were suddenly clear to him. He looked over them, noting their differences, and then looked at all of them at once. KJ made a sort of mental swiping motion at the cube. Blue lightning ran over and around the cube, which then disappeared.
"Ooh..." said Konnie. When Mr. Tentley used his powers, things always burst into flame. Blue lightning was something new.
"There was exactly 3 pounds of gold in that cube. Xmance a three-pound gold brick," instructed Mr. Tentley.
KJ repeated the mental swiping motion, this time in reverse, keeping in mind what the gold molecules had looked like. He imagined the shape of the brick, even adding the words 3 POUNDS on the top. KJ repeated the mental reverse-swipe and the brick appeared on the table. At first it glowed blue, but it faded after a moment. KJ was going to grin, seeing as he had created something that was easily worth a huge amount of money, but he decided against it. It had been easy, and anyways, he grinned too much.
"Very good," said Tentley. "Now xarrange it into a sphere."
KJ looked at the brick's molecules. He didn't need to move each molecule individually. That would take ages. Instead, he zoomed out to a couple of millimeters and nudged them mentally into the shape of a sphere, although for some reason it took a bit more effort. The brick glowed blue again, then morphed into a sphere. The blue glow faded and the sphere rolled off the table, where it just missed hitting Konnie's foot.
"That'll be all," said Mr. Tentley. "There are more things you can do, like power extensions and shape-shifting, but you'll learn those later. Now, you have two options. The first is that you can stay here and be the rightful owner of the Tentley Center. I will erase all records of your existence on Earth. The second is that you can go back to life as an average human. You'd be famous, probably, although you would be famous if you stayed here too... We'd have to delete your memories of today, but you might find your powers on your own, who knows..."
"I'll choose the first option, thank you," said KJ. What did Tentley think he was, an idiot?
Looked like the customary hate of other Elementals had already taken effect on KJ. It didn’t really matter. Tentley wasn’t going to be around much longer, anyway. "Right. You can take the Comet to Earth to say your goodbyes."
After KJ left the room, Konnie turned to Mr. Tentley. "I thought it was impossible to erase memories," she said.
"I knew he wouldn't refuse," said Mr. Tentley.
Back in Stone Creek, KJ walked up to his home. The door was unlocked. His uncle was so absentminded. KJ turned the handle and walked in. His uncle was sitting on the couch in front of the TV. "Uncle?" said KJ. His uncle appeared not to notice. KJ tried again. "Uncle!" The man still didn't respond. He was fully glued to Fashion Makeover X. Ah well. It probably wasn't worth trying. Next task.
"Kate?" asked KJ. The girl appeared from around the corner of the hall.
"Need a haircut?" she asked, grinning and brandishing a Swiss army knife. KJ searched for a good comeback, and then decided on one. Kate stared at her hand as KJ xstored the knife. "What the-" she asked, eyes wide.
"I'm fine, thank you," said KJ. "So long, dear sister." He winked and strode down the hall. There was nothing left for him here.
The next hall KJ strode down was one in the Tentley Center. "Done," he said to Konnie and Tentley.
"That was fast," said Konnie.
"There weren’t many people to say goodbye to," replied KJ.
"And done," said Tentley, who had erased all legal documents that mentioned KJ. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." He left the room promptly.
"So, you're an Elemental now," said Konnie.
"That's what we're called?" asked KJ. It was a pretty cool name.
"Yep," responded Konnie. "Welcome to your new life as a super-powered alien!"

Three Years or So Later
Some things hadn't changed. The star still gave light, the planet was still as peaceful as its name - Idyll - implied, the landmass hadn't sunk into the sea. The building, however, was different. First of all, it had been renamed as The Asylum, since there was absolutely no reason to call it the Tentley Center anymore. Mr. Tentley had died about a week after KJ arrived. Since translators would only interpret the word "Asylum" as meaning "safe haven", and there were few human visitors to Idyll, the double entendre was only really for KJ's enjoyment. The building had been revamped to be more steel and glass than concrete. The room had been revamped and was now used as a transmission center, which at that moment KJ was using.
KJ hardly resembled the shy 10-year-old human that Konnie had first met. He was far taller - around five foot four. He liked to be at least one inch taller than Konnie just to annoy her. He had grown out his pale blond hair, because he liked it better long and there were no humans around to tell him he looked like a girl. KJ usually wore a lab coat and boots, just to give the general impression of an intellect, despite Konnie's repeated demands to get some variety in his fashion choices. He had learned how to use the powers Mr. Tentley had mentioned. Power extensions consisted of giving another being or object a small amount of his abilities, and he had learned how to shape-shift into several forms, including a raven and a large, demonic-looking wolf. He had practiced using his abilities, and could hide the blue lightning for small items.
Right now, KJ was worried - although if you didn't know him, he would have seemed perfectly calm. If what he was looking at was real, the entire galaxy was at stake. KJ finished his soda, xstored the can, and turned on the visual intercom. "Konnie, come see this."
"Gah!" Konnie yelled, throwing aside her copy of The Mystical Nor of Shnor. She had been startled by the intercom's sudden appearance. Konnie was one of those things that hadn't changed - at least, not much. She was still the cynical, wisecracking, sassy Ailu, older but not much wiser. "What is it? I was at the good part of the book!"
"Yeah, there probably is only one good part. This is important, though. Get in here and I'll show you." Grudgingly, Konnie obeyed.
When she was inside, KJ gestured at the screen. "Remember our spy satellite over Kyr? Well, it's picked up a pretty damn important broadcast. This is what the Reiak have been up to all this time."
On screen, a uniformed Reiak - probably someone of high status - was on a podium. "At last, the time you've all been waiting for is nigh!" the Reiak said to the unseen audience. "With the Zer out of the way..."
"They got rid of the Zer?" asked Konnie, shocked. Although generally an unpleasant race, the mantis-like Zer had always helped to keep the Reiak in check.
"...we have been able to implement our plan for galactic conquest," the Reiak continued. Konnie gasped. KJ nodded grimly. "We'll be attacking the weapons-rich, primitive planets first. They won't have knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses, so they'll be powerless against us. After they go down, we'll use the weapons and slaves we've gained to take down the more advanced planets. Quite simple. And after that's finished... the galaxy will be ours!" The Reiak acknowledged the cheers of the crowd. "The first planet to go down will be a little backwater place named..." The Reiak paused, trying to figure out how to pronounce the name. He was obviously reading off teleprompters. "...Midgetan. And the attack will commence about..." The Reiak checked his watch. "Now." The crowd cheered more and the camera zoomed out. A weather-robot appeared with that week's forecast. KJ turned the transmission off.
"We have to stop them!" said Konnie panickedly.
"Agreed," said KJ.
"So... what are we gonna do now?"
"We're going to go to Midgetan. Go start up the Comet."