Year 5 January Tim Hartin & Lonni Holland

Issue 455 "Pomp and Unusual Circumstance"

The NASA space shuttle, Atlantis, floated gently in orbit. Her crew were at LaGrange Point as they prepared the Santa Maria, a prototype Light Sail vehicle, for her maiden voyage to Mars. The sail consisted of a large, polished metal film on a thin, circular, titanium disc. It was attached by a titanium shaft behind the small elliptical spacecraft. At the end of the shaft a small casing housed a miniature nuclear generator and a highly powerful, optical laser, pointing towards the sail. When activated, the laser would bombard the sail; with each reflection of the beam, twice the number of photons would be expelled, creating acceleration. NASA predicted that the craft would reach speeds currently unattainable by chemical rockets with a subsequent range vastly superior. As long as the laser was on, the craft would continue to accelerate, and operating the laser would take a lot less energy than carrying the fuel required for standard rockets.

On board the shuttle, Commander Jack Maxwell was in contact with fellow crew members, Mission Specialists Grant Medeski, Robert Martin and Jodi Wood, aboard the Santa Maria. These astronauts were crammed into a narrow circular hive that housed the ship's computer brains. They were preparing these computers for the maiden test flight to Mars, and making final adjustments to the craft's electronic systems.

The com-link crackled as Maxwell inquired, "Well, team, how do things look? Over."

Medeski reviewed his board. "Power is on. Generator running at full optimal efficiency. This new compact nuclear generator is going to revolutionize space exploration."

Martin glowed like a proud pappa. "Sail systems test positive. Electromagnetic field is fully operational and stable."

Wood finished tapping on her computer keypad and gave a smug grin. "Navigation system is online and fully operational. She's ready for the big test tomorrow. I give the Santa Maria two thumbs up."

Suddenly the overhead lighting systems switched to a soft red glow.

Wood glanced up in surprise. "What's going on? What happened to the lights?"

Martin shook his head. "I don't understand this. The computer reports that the laser has been activated and is firing at 200% efficiency! Isn't that logistically impossible?"

Medeski checked his onboard scanners. "My god, we're accelerating, aren't we? This can't be happening. This isn't supposed to be a manned space-flight."

Wood grimaced. "How do you think I feel? I'm not even a man."

Commander Maxwell, back on the Atlantis, was feverishly trying to make contact with his crew. He watched in horror as that Santa Maria pulled away from her position, first slowly, then with ever increasing speed. She gradually disappeared from his line of sight, although he could still trace her progress on his instruments. As he continued to try to make radio contact with the others he was interrupted by a transmission from NASA mission control.

"Jack, this is Houston. Over."

"Roger. To borrow a well used phrase, Houston, we've got a problem. Over"

"So we see. Do you have any idea what started the engines?"

"Negative, Houston. One minute the pre-flight check was going as scheduled, the next they started moving away. Before I lost radio contact the others sounded just as perplexed as we are. Anything from your end?"

"Nothing here. We are tracking her flight path and it is way off course from what was programmed. Unable to make radio contact from here, as well. Prepare to return the shuttle to Earth. We're going to call in some experts to help."

"Roger. Preparing to come home."

Maxwell started his return flight calculations while wondering who could possibly be an expert in a situation like this.

There was excitement on the streets of downtown Manhattan. Police cordons were keeping the traffic and pedestrians at bay, while the press were milling about in front of a one hundred story building in one of the more prestigious areas of town. On the street, one of the reporters was making a live broadcast.

"This is Paul Clarkson, for SCN, reporting live, in front of the newly renovated Four Freedoms Plaza. In just moments we will be taking you inside for an announcement by the leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic himself. Speculation has been rampant for the last three days, ever since the FF announced this press conference. Rather than hazard a guess at this point we will soon be able to bring you all the details. Again, we are broadcasting live, but we now turn you back to Janet O'Brian, in our studios, as we await the moment when the conference will begin. Over to you, Janet."

Back in the studio the announcer repeated the scanty information she had, and then quickly cut to a commercial. Meanwhile the crowd in front of the building began to move. The doors opened and the press was admitted. Already inside were various dignitaries, including the Mayor, the Governor, the Dean of ESU, the Wakandan and Inhuman Ambassadors, and a representative of the nearby United Nations.

Off to one side were an odd collection of people who were friends of the super team. Among them Wyatt Wingfoot chatted with elderly postman, Willie Lumpkin, while Jennifer Walters, the She Hulk, divided her attention between doorman Shamus Hoolihan and Ant-Man, Scott Lang. She turned her attention to a wall of orange rock.

"Ben! How the heck are you, you old heap of boulders? I haven't seen you in ages. Where's Alicia. I expected her to be here. Everyone else seems to be."

The Thing grunted, "Yeah, well she's doing this European art tour thing." He broke off quickly and turned his attention to the left where the arrival of one of his teammates seemed to be creating a stir. A hush came over the crowd as Reed Richards stepped up to a microphone situated on a platform near a set of elevator doors.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Four Freedoms Plaza." Applause broke out but stopped quickly as Reed continued. "After a lot of work by the Damage Control group, in consultation with myself, we are pleased to announce that Four Freedoms is again ready for occupation. In the past, the lower fifty floors of the building have always been leased out to various commercial groups and I am pleased to report that, as of this morning, over seventy percent of these tenants are planning to return to the refitted premises." More applause.

"As most of you know, the Fantastic Four has been making its home at Pier Four since our return to this time and place. It is time for a change. On behalf of the Fantastic Four Corporation I would like to call up the Dean of ESU and present him with this 99 year lease on fifty percent of that property, to be used for further research groups from Eastern State University." As the Dean approached the platform Reed continued, with a smile, "For those of you keeping track of your tax dollars, this lease has a rental of a nominal one dollar per year." He turned to the Dean. "Sir, I hereby present you with the key and lease to your new property."

They both posed for pictures, shaking hands and signing the lease. The Dean cleared his throat. "Professor Richards, on behalf of your special group of students, and all of ESU, I thank you." He stepped back.

"Obviously a man accustomed to giving speeches, short and to the point." The audience laughed and Reed went on. "Now that seems to have left us with no place to call home." There were a few more polite laughs as he carried on. "It seemed appropriate that we return to our roots. When the Fantastic Four was first formed we made our base right here, on this site, in what was the old Baxter Building. Later, Four Freedoms Plaza was built on the same locale. Effective immediately, the Fantastic Four are returning to downtown Manhattan, where we belong. I would now like to call on someone very special to cut the ribbon at the elevator bank leading to the FF floors. Ladies and gentlemen, the most important person in my life, my wife, Susan Richards."

Sue Richards, the Invisible Woman, took the ceremonial scissors that had been created for just this occasion, lead the way to a very special group of elevators and snipped the blue ribbon that extended in front of them, accompanied by applause, flashbulbs and the whir of video cameras. Again, Reed Richards called for everyone's attention back at the platform.

"Now, we are going to reconvene this conference upstairs in the main lobby of our headquarters. For security purposes we won't be revealing what floor this is on, however we will be distributing information packets and giving you further details once everyone has arrived upstairs. Now, to the elevators, if you please?" As everyone started to press forward Reed called out, "No need to rush. Mr. Hoolihan will be checking everyone's credentials and ensure that everyone gets on one of the elevators. He will notify me when the last of you have left the lobby so don't worry. I'll won't make any announcements without any of you."

The team and their friends entered one of the elevators. The press and VIPs milled about as their security passes were checked and they were ushered into queues to ride to the Fantastic Four Headquarters. Off to one side a dark-haired man buried his goatee further into the upturned lapels of his coat and slipped out the doors on to the street, discarding a rather flimsy looking press pass as he did. A quick glance at his concealed micro-scanner confirmed that he had the data that he sought. Had anyone been listening to him they would have heard his muttered oaths and threats of revenge against the Fantastic Four and their overwhelming hubris.

On the seventy first floor the Fantastic Four and their friends were awaiting the arrival of their visitors. Roberta, the robotic receptionist, gestured to Reed and handed him a message. He glanced at it, nodded to her then hurried over to his wife's side.

"Sue, you're going to have to make my excuses and handle the rest of the formalities. I have a priority call from NASA." He hurried off to a small conference room. His wife started to follow him but the first of the members of the press began pouring from the elevators into the reception area and she turned back to greet them.

Off to one side She Hulk noted to Wyatt, "I see nothing much has changed. The paint on the walls is a bit brighter but it is still the same old FF blue, and Reed is still rushing off somewhere so Sue is the same old blue as well." Wyatt grinned.

In about ten minutes all of the members of the press and the dignitaries who had bothered to stay were assembled in the now rather crowded reception area. Several HERBIE robots floated amongst them distributing press packets. Sue moved in front of Roberta's desk and spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen." She raised her voice slightly to be heard over the buzz of conversation. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Everyone turned towards her. "Dr. Richards has been called away for the moment so I will be handling the rest of the briefing. Welcome to the Fantastic Four's Manhattan headquarters. This will be the central base for most of our operations. We will still be maintaining some laboratory space at Pier 4 as well as our Antarctica research station. By spreading ourselves over these areas, especially Antarctica, we will be able to keep my husband's more dangerous activities away from downtown New York, something I'm certain that our Mayor will appreciate." She smiled at the Mayor who nodded seriously while the others laughed.

"These details, as well as many others, are contained in the press packets that have been distributed. If anyone has not yet received one please see one of our robots. Now I would like to invite you all into the large conference room for refreshments." She pressed a button behind her on Roberta's desk and two doors opened to reveal a lavish room with tables laden with food. As everyone surged forward Sue added "There will also be a short film presentation outlining some of the new features of Four Freedoms Plaza." No one seemed to be listening. "Now, if you will just excuse us for a moment…" Her comments when unheeded as the smell of fresh coffee and Swedish meatballs enticed the visitors away. She motioned to Ben and Johnny and headed to the private room where Reed. Was.

At NASA mission control there seemed to be no outward appearance that anything was out of the ordinary. To the casual observer everything would have seemed quite normal. Only someone highly familiar with the workers might have noticed the odd tightness around the eyes of the head of communications, or the slight twitch of the index finger of the second assistant computer technician. Other than a few outward signs like that the routine of preparing for the return of the shuttle Atlantis seemed as usual, even mundane.

Such was not the case in Room 3B, where a red faced man in a dark suit chewed on the tattered remnants of an unlit cigar, a press liaison officer nervously twisted a lock of her hair with her left hand as she hastily made notes on her laptop and an overweight, dark complexioned man in his late fifties mopped sweat from the back of his neck as he talked into a communications screen.

This was Dr. Lawrence Kunduri, head of the Light Sail project, dubbed Operation Christopher Columbus. The Santa Maria was his baby, the culmination of years of research by his team, the pinnacle of his career. Now he was trying to explain to Reed Richards, of the Fantastic Four, that his ship had run away from home.

He stopped for a gulp of water. Looking back at the comm screen he saw the remaining members of the Fantastic Four enter the room and stand silently behind Mr. Fantastic. He carried on with his briefing, "So you see, Dr. Richards, that we weren't expecting anything like this. The crew that is on the Santa Maria isn't supposed to be there. This flight was never intended to be manned. There is enough air for a time, but there are no supplies, no sanitation facilities, not enough room to keep them from literally sitting, or standing, on each other's laps."

Reed nodded. "I understand that, Dr. Kunduri. Still, how far can they have traveled in this time? I'm certain that we can intercept them with our rocket that we have in our Antarctica Research Station."

Looking embarrassed Dr. Kunduri stammered. "Well, you see, this didn't just happen. In fact we lost contact with the crew about twelve hours ago except for…"

"Twelve hours!" Reed was livid. "Why did you wait that long? The safety of that crew was jeopardized with every passing minute! Waiting twelve hours is tantamount to criminal negligence!"

The suited man broke in. "That was at my orders, Richards."

"And you are?"

"Suffice it to say that I represent your tax dollars at work. You can call me Smith. I am your Uncle Sam personified for this operation." He tossed his well chewed cigar in the direction of a waste can. "For starters, the ship disappeared from the NASA scanners almost instantly. There was no chance to trace it. One thing that is known, it did not head on the planned trajectory. Secondly, details of this entire mission are top secret. Revealing that we have misplaced one of our ships would not only have made us look like idiots, it would have destroyed over a year of effort to keep this project from becoming public before the time is right." He paused for breath and glared at the comm screen. "Thirdly, as a private individual, who has no official government standing, you have absolutely no right to accuse anyone connected with this project with negligence. If you don't want to assist us we'll find someone else, maybe the Avengers. If you do want to help then shut up and listen."

Teeth clenched and a flush near his collar betraying his feelings to his teammates, Reed countered, "Fine then, tell me why you have called on the assistance of the Fantastic Four, or was there no answer at the Avengers' Mansion?"

Dr. Kunduri looked embarrassed. "Well, Dr. Richards, we have now heard from the Santa Maria. It has taken 12 hours for the message to reach us. I will play it back for you. We've cleaned the signal up as best we can but, considering the distance it has traveled, I suppose that some static is to be expected."

He reached forward to the table in the conference room and flipped a switch.

"Mayday, Mayday. This is Mission Specialist Jodi Wood. I don't know if anyone can hear this message but we are in a critical situation." The recording hissed and popped but the tenseness in her voice still came through in spite of the sound quality. "The Light Sail vessel Santa Maria has left Earth orbit and accelerated at a velocity that is off our scale. The set trajectory of Mars has not, repeat, not been followed." There was a slight gap in the transmission, as though the speaker was searching for the correct words. "We are now in a polar orbit around Pluto, repeat, Pluto. At present we are well and in no immediate danger but, based on the air capacity of this vessel, Specialist Medeski estimates that we have less then 36 hours of breathable atmosphere. I repeat… Mayday, Mayday…"

The message started to play its ominous refrain once more.

On the seventy-third floor of the Fantastic Four's headquarters the hallways were painted in the same egg-shell blue as the other floors. The floors were carpeted in the same light grey wool carpet, and the doors were the same highly polished chrome. It was only the contents of each room that made them different from any other room in the building.

Behind a door, innocuously identified as 73G, the Fantastic Four were gathered before a bank of computers. Reed Richards played his fingers over a keyboard like a piano virtuoso. As he tapped in his final commands a green glow spread across the wall just to the right of the computers. It rippled and expanded until it covered a rectangle three feet wide and just over six feet high. Reed smiled in satisfaction and turned to his teammates.

"Sue, Johnny, Ben, I've been working on this for a few weeks now, although I've had the idea for some time. I call it the Nexus Corridor."

The Thing scratched at his head with his rocky fingers. "The whatsis corridor?"

"Really, Ben. You should know that word. After all you did attend college, or didn't they teach Bonehead English in the Football Express courses?" Johnny Storm stood up straighter and stroked his chin assuming what he hoped was a professorial stance. "Nexus, a noun meaning a tie, link, connection between members of a group, or a connected group or series, from the Latin nectere, meaning to bind. At least according to Webster's."

"Geez, Louise! When did you swallow a smart pill? According to Webster's, my Sweet Aunt Petunia."

Johnny winked and twisted his hand quickly so the Thing could see the Palm Pilot he was holding. "Just thought I'd use some of the latest technology to keep up with my brother-in-law."

Sue snickered and Reed cleared his throat in annoyance.

"If you two clowns are quite finished….. Now, as I was about to explain, the Nexus Corridor is a transmat device which I have linked to our most frequent destinations. There is one portal here, obviously, as well as at Pier 4, the Storm Museum and the Antarctica base. I can set up others if it seems prudent. Right now I need to introduce each of you to the control program." He was oblivious to their confused looks as he continued, "I decided that we needed a higher level of security to access the Corridor, since we may have to use it as an escape route, therefore I have set up a triple level clearance system. First, the vocal recognition. I need each of you to say your code name as I point to you. I'll start. Mr. Fantastic."

"Invisible Woman."

"Human Torch."

"Thing."

In turn they responded as Reed pointed to them, making further keyed entries after each one spoke. Next he directed each of them to look into a hooded instrument that recorded their retinal patterns. The he had them register their palm prints on a scanner.

Nodding to himself and making some final adjustments, Reed explained, "It will take a combination of two of these identifications to activate the corridor. I've also programmed the computer to determine that the requestor is conscious, either via pulse patterns in the palm print, or responsiveness of the retinal scan. This would prevent an enemy from using the comatose body of one of us to access the device. There is also a keypad directly beside the retinal scanner that will allow us to indicate how many people will be traveling within the next thirty seconds. This will allow us to take someone with us if we wish. It will also prevent an enemy from following us, unless he butts in line, of course." Reed smiled at his own joke, although no one else did.

"D'at's great, Perfessor, but are we gonna go any time this month?"

"Of course, Ben. I've already set our destination, although that can be done orally as well." He turned to Sue. "Ladies first, my dear."

Sue placed her hand on the panel directly beside the corridor then softly spoke her code name. Nothing seemed to happen but Reed motioned her to step forward. As she touched the glowing section of wall it rippled like liquid and allowed her to pass through. Each of the others followed. Moments later they were all in the main research lab of the Antarctica base. Nothing seemed changed since their last visit, some months ago. Even the houseplants that Sue had placed around in several niches seemed healthy, thanks to the attention of the HERBIE maintenance robots.

Johnny shivered. "Geez, Reed, I'm a hot blooded kind of guy. Does this base really have to be in the Antarctic? I'm cold already."

Striding towards a door at the end of the lab, Reed commented, "Nonsense, Johnny. The internal temperature is kept at precisely 72° F. Now come along, all of you. It will take us a few minutes to do our pre-flight check."

A short time later several penguins were startled to see a huge silver shape rising from a hole in the ice and head skywards, propelled by a narrow column of blue-white flame. Thousands of miles away the same scene was played on a monitor in a dark room. The lone room occupant watched, nodded to himself, and smiled.