Me in Comic Books:
Startup Escalation 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
A Prequel Dreamtime A Sequel
2007 2008 Another Sequel 2009 .

The Comic-Book Adventures of Me 2006

Dreamtime

Superhuman crusaders have already popped up on the Earth of "Dubya" Bush. Which is to say, on your Earth. They came there from my Earth.

Now, the villains are coming. And new superhumans are arising. And the realm of dreams is starting to get ugly... Oh, shit.


Roster. Before we get into another big battle over the fate of our world, let's review the factions, shall we?

  • Our Earth never had superhumans before last year. We all came in last November, after a reality shift. At first we were low-powered, but we got better in July after another reality shift. We haven't really started $#@!ing things up on our own yet, but that time will surely come.
  • Our galaxy is full of alien races who consider our Earth to be the most exotic place in the universe, what with its profusion of weird lifeforms and its susceptibility to reality shifts. So they secretly grow us like a garden, and harvest us occasionally via flying saucer. They also stand ready to plow the whole place under if it gets dangerous. They have half a base on the Moon; secret renegade humans have the other half.
  • The Strategos leads the human half of the secret Lunar base. He's an ancient Greek, made immortal by alien expirmentation or whatever. He swipes Earthlings via teleportation on occasion, and makes them wrestle in front of cameras for his amusement. Andy Kaufman faked his own death to work for him.
  • There's a renegade alien invasion force on the Earth right now. They may include the alien killing machine Spanker 4 somehow reactivated from my own feces (don't ask), and/or the dreaded Oversaur which once threatened to eat all superhumans. They're working with reincarnated dire wolves - and with one human Julie Wolcott, who has many links to Earth superhumans.
  • The Earth Redeemers are various militiamen and repressive-government heroes, largely U.S. and Argentine, who want to take revenge upon extraterrestrials. So they're invading the galaxy - through the Dreamtime! The strange thing is, the Galactics aren't expecting anything so boneheaded. So the invasion might actually do some damage.
  • The Black Mages are gearing up for their 2007 quadrennial competition next year, kind of a Black Arts Olympics. The Dreamtime is a big source of power for them, and figures prominently. One mage may be working for the Strategos.
  • Of course, there are White Mages too. I'm loosely affiliated with them, because they're the most sensible superhumans I know. I'll do what I can to help them keep the lid on things.
  • The Balance is Earth's first big deal superhuman team. I've recently described their latest incarnation. The important thing about them now, is: One of them's apparently been cursed by a Black Mage, after raiding the Lunar base of the Strategos. They seek a cure in the Dreamtime.
  • Total Conversion is sort of an offshoot of the Balance, but has taken on its own corporate life. It has the world's largest and most powerful collection of superhumans at present.
  • The Power Patrol has lots of young idealistic superhumans, led by my old friend the Powernaut, who's basically a big boy scout.
  • There's a network of vigilantes, centered in New York City, who loosely work together.
  • There are some Secret Masters of Evil or something, working their way into Earth's power structure faster than the rest of us can. They're starting to lead a Big Gov reaction to superhumans.
  • There are new superhumans arising. Our seed, their soil, as it were. Let's hope they like our brave new world.
Adversaries of the New Present. Two months ago, the Heroes of the New Present had a conference in Cuba. Their enemies mostly skipped it - but now they're having their own conference. And they're linking Cuba and the heroes with terrorism! Apparently terrorism is the new convenient bogeyman here, because rogue states just aren't vile enough, the way they are where I come from.

Meanwhile, new superhumans are emerging.


What's This About the Dreamtime? It's time for backstory about this Dreamtime thing.

  • We all know, our universe is surrounded by Ultimate Darkness, which insulates us from other universes in a multi-dimensional way. The Dreamtime is a layer that helps insulate the Ultimate Darkness from our nasty human thoughts. Which is a good thing.
  • The Dreamtime is strange. Sometimes people can enter it mentally, sometimes bodily. Australian aboriginal mystics may have done either or both.
  • Godlike beings live in the Dreamtime. The strongest survivors of ancient pantheons seem to have retreated there, when their Earthly worship failed them.
    • At least one such being has tried to take over the Earth through a sleeping sickness. The Balance stopped him, in their first year of operation - 1991 or so.
    • More recently in 2005, a sleeping sickness was used as a convenient cover for a reality shift. Ellipsis, formerly of the Balance, was involved.
  • Assuming you're human, not godlike, the Dreamtime will change you. It will suck away either your ambitions, your powers, or your self. These stay behind, as features of the Dreamtime. Lack of ambition explains some things about the original inhabitants of Australia, in my opinion.
  • The Dreamtime changed me. In 1996 during the first Escalation, I was considered North America's leading Dreamtime mage. But the Dreamtime sucked away my ambition. Or so I'm told. Now, I float aimlessly through life, driven by dreams. ... That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Until I find an even better excuse for the way I live.
  • The Dreamtime changed one old superhuman, Doctor Lithium. He'd once assassinated the governor of South Carolina, thinking the governor was Adolf Hitler reincarnate. Doctor Lithium was actually right, but that was beside the point. In punishment, Ellipsis banished Doctor Lithium to the Dreamtime. Best guess is, his self got sucked away there, leaving only his flame powers. Which is coincidentally the same sort of power Karla has now.
  • The Dreamtime changed the heroes of our "old" present. They once left Earth through the Dreamtime. It sucked away most of their powers. They only got them back after the latest reality shift.
  • The Dreamtime can get you to alien planets! That's where some of our "old" heroes went when they left Earth. The Earthlings were reportedly not well treated. Some Earthlings have vowed revenge against these aliens. They could try to find spaceships to go back across the universe... but they already know the way, through the Dreamtime.
  • And now, the Balance is charging into the Dreamtime too, to find a cure for Karla.
  • So, there's a lot of $#@!-ed up side-effect $#!+ that may be going on in humanity's dreams now. That's what happens when you $#@! with the Dreamtime.

Balance Quest. Given all these menaces, I may have to reunite with the Original Balance. Or at least give them a courtesy call. But they may not be available.

This is where I call for help. My power is small, but my connections are great. In particular, I know lots of mystics.

I don't know how this will turn out. But there's another of those Black Mage competitions next year, every four years since 1991. And one can bet, these evil mages are already preparing to manipulate the Dreamtime. Oh, shit, this could be bad.

They Dreamt That Evil Died Today. My world's superhumans have fought evil in the realm of dreams before. This time, the battle ends.

In the winter of 1991, four college students were witness to a sleeping sickness - an attack upon humanity from out of the Dreamtime.

This year, those same superhumans are fighting that same battle again. They've been attacked from out of the Dreamtime, and their friend Karla Melhor has been cursed. The Balance intends to reverse this curse.

I get there just in time to see the final battle. The Balance is gathered around the place of power, but they're under great assault. Karla's back to normal, but Morningstar's down. And so is Julie Wolcott.

Then I rescue survivors. Well, actually they already rescued me; I just help them cope with where their rescue lands us. I have some power of omniversal navigation, which comes in handy when the Ultimate Darkness dumps us in the middle of itself, and its favorite human has just gone to sleep.

When we come to, Laura doesn't take it well. She wanted to make herself a heroic sacrifice, alongside her friends. But her friends knew better than to let her do that, because she's got a family to live for. And, thanks to that phone call I made, her family's come to save her! It's like bouncy nephews... but that's what Laura needs. We leave her alone with them, while we discuss the future.

Laura James formerly a.k.a. Morningstar lives, beyond the loss of her powers and the apparent death of her oldest friends and teammates. But the team lives on, because they each hand-picked a successor.

I like this new version of The Balance. I won't sign up, but I will work with them, as much as I can.

I was tempted to call this story "Their Journey Ends Here". But when three mortals install themselves as iconic powers in the realm of human dreams, one has to doubt they've died the True Death. I have some knowledge of Death, so I'm confident in this assessment. They are not now in Death, they are in dreams. And this gives them power over dreams. For one thing, I'm already starting to think more like Ellipsis when I dream. Eww! (8 Nov 2006)

Interlude

When it's over, the survivors of the Balance invite me to stay around. They've noticed, I'm a force of chaos, but I'm inexplicably good at helping in emotional healing.

But I'm wanted in a witness protection program! My own brother and sister come to recruit me. Of course, they can track where I'm staying; I paid by credit card.

Back to normal life and its dangers for me. But I think under the circumstances, I'll keep moving. (9 Nov 2006)


Me in Comic Books:
Startup Escalation 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
A Prequel Dreamtime A Sequel
2007 2008 Another Sequel 2009 .

All characters in this fiction are copyright © 2007 by Eiler Technical Enterprises.