Star Harbor Nights

Argos, the Pantheon's main Chariot, was more than just a vehicle. It was a fully autonomous flying headquarters. In addition to the comfortably appointed seating area, it had a medical bay, a machine shop, a small lab, a modest library, a galley, and bunks for sleeping. As there was nowhere in the world it couldn't reach inside an hour at top speed, these amenities did not find frequent use, but the gleaming silver and gold antigravity jet was intended to double as a base of operations in case of disasters.

For non-emergency flights over the continental United States, Argos's speed was restricted to just subsonic speeds. Allison and her assembled allies--minus the Hex Kittens, who had a concert to perform--were going to have a few hours in the air. Amy stayed in the front during the pre-flight routine and through take-off, until the jet reached its cruising altitude, then came back to show everybody where to find refreshments and how to use the computer screens that were set into the walls of the cabin.

"I'm going to stay up front, on the flight deck," Amy said. She hastened to add, before anybody could respond, "and no, I do not mean any sort of a pit."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Allison said. "But doesn't this thing pretty much fly itself?"

"Pretty much," Amy said. "But that doesn't mean the controls should be left unattended. I'm supposed to be the pilot for this trip, and you never know when my dad'll decide to check in. I do not want him to think I would shirk my duties, especially with two of my best friends on board."

"I didn't think he rode you that hard about stuff like that."

"Oh, he doesn't, really," Amy said. "But he doesn't have to. I would disappoint myself as much as him if he called and I wasn't at my station."

"Okay, well, maybe I'll come up and keep you company in a bit," Allison said.

"Why wait?" Amy asked.

"I, uh, I've got some stuff to talk about with Minerva," Allison said, quietly. "And it's not that I'm trying to keep secrets or anything, but it's got to do with a lot of stuff you probably don't want to hear."

"Oh," Amy said, the skin on her nose crinkling. "Well, I should call Storm Siren and make sure she knows we're coming, and has everything set up with the hospital. Just, come on up when you're done, okay? I get lonely a million feet above everything and hundreds of miles from any shore."

"I will," Allison said, giving her friend a tight hug.

"Mind if I borrow a bunk?" Ford asked. "We did run all the way from Kansas to California, and I was up late last night studying."

"I think I'll do the same," Echo said. "I've spent a lot of time traveling today as it is."

"No, go ahead," Amy said. "Everybody, just make yourselves at home."

"Is there, uh, somewhere I can go and make a phone call... like, in private?" Beau asked.

"Well, there's communication lines in all the rooms, but without opening up other areas of the ship, the best place would just be one of the bathrooms," Amy said. "Just touch the rectangle to the right of the mirror, and it'll come on."

"Oh, hey! Is it just a phone, or is it like a video phone, too?" the speedster asked.

"It has video capabilities, but that only works if the other person has a video phone or teleconferencing software," Amy said. "Why?"

"Claire's not supposed to have access to computers or cell phones," Minerva said, divining Beau's intentions. "But every time we take one away, she makes or steals another one. I'd say that chances are pretty good she'll be able to, uh, accommodate you."

"Good thing you'll already be in the bathroom," Allison said. "Plenty of tissue right at hand."

"If you will excuse me, I am going to go crash the plane into the ground," Amy said, heading back towards the front.

Minerva laughed.

"This could be good for Claire," she said. "You know, her crazy fucked-up brain misfires every time she gets a little juiced over something... maybe a little long-distance romance will help her get over that. Like how I got her to quit having fits every time she heard the word 'penis' by sneaking up behind her and saying it all the time."

"You know, I've never met Athena, except for when she tried to kidnap me last night... but why do I get the feeling you two have very different views on parenting?" Allison asked.

"Because we do," Minerva said. "Mainly, I realize we're not Claire's parents. The girl needs protecting, but you can't keep someone that clever sheltered from the world for long, and even if you could, she's hardly innocent, in any sense of the word, bar one. Anyway, we've got the cabin to ourselves now... what did you want to talk about in private?"

"Good hearing," Allison said. "Mainly, what happened last night."

"Oh, that," Minerva said, in as off-hand a manner as she could. "Did you tell Thoth about your little dream sequence?"

"No," Allison said. "The others don't seem to realize what I saw... I'd like to keep it that way. There was a lot of intensely private stuff going on there."

"Fair enough," Minerva said. "But I think he might find it interesting... might even be able to help you figure out what happened."

"I used to get 'dream leakage' all the time, before I learned how to shield," Allison said. "This was more intense, a little different... well, very different, even... but maybe it's just the same thing at a higher level?"

"But the way you went from dream to dream," Minerva said. "It's almost like you were linking to all of our minds at once, one big psychic network."

"Complete with ads on late night cable?" Allison asked, laughing. "I... I don't think that's quite what I was doing. I think it's more like my sleeping mind was roaming from mind to mind, one at a time."

"It could have been, but weren't you getting 'multiple inputs' at one point?" Minerva asked. "It makes me wonder if you could do that, in a battle situation... link up everybody's minds, coordinate tactics, stuff like that."

"Oh, no. I can't do anything like that while I'm awake," Allison said. "Even with the mesh. It's a little... disconcerting... to think I might be stronger in my sleep, actually."

"Well, like you said, you've learned to shield yourself. Maybe that's why you seem weaker when you're awake. But you can't really know for sure, without more information... which is exactly why I think you should mention it to Thoth," Minerva said. "Anyway, you don't necessarily have to tell him the content of the dreams... I, for one, would prefer that you didn't... but wouldn't it be useful to at least get his perspective on the mechanics of it? I mean, what if it keeps happening?"

"I don't know," Allison said. "Anyway... I know you told me you had the lucid dreaming thing, but how do you know about me seeing the others' dreams?"

"Dream knowledge... I didn't know why or how I knew it, but when you came into my room in the dream, I knew what you were doing," Minerva said. "Could have been the universal wisdom talking, or something coming from your telepathy, or a mix of both. But, do you... uh... do you remember what we talked about?"

"Yes," Allison said.

"That's good," Minerva said. "Because I'm really not sure I could go back over it in the clear light of day."

"I remember everything I dreamed last night, in incredibly vivid detail... which is odd. I mean, I usually remember my dreams, but they fade. This one isn't. What's even weirder is that somebody inside the dream told me to remember it."

"Somebody from the beach house?" Minerva asked.

"It was a woman on a fence post," Allison said. "Or... a bird."

"You don't remember?" Minerva asked ruefully.

"I remember who I talked to," Allison said. "I'm just not sure what. After I left you, the dream kind of continued, but I think it was, you know, more an actual dream at that point. There were people in it, or things that looked like people... but not anybody who was in my apartment. Not anybody real."

She shivered.

"Sounds like it turned into a real nightmare," Minerva said.

Allison just nodded.

"Can we talk about... what I saw?" she asked, after a few moments. "In my dream, or your dream, or whatever."

"Sure," Minerva said. "I guess. I mean, I don't exactly like talking about my past... but if it'll help you to be prepared for meeting with Pallas, I guess we can."

"I don't mean your memory," Allison said. "I mean what I saw in the bedroom. Your, uh... sexscape."

"Good word for it," Minerva said with a small laugh. "I'm sorry if it freaked you out to see all that. I don't normally put it on display."

"It didn't freak me out," Allison said. "Surprised me a little, maybe, but it would take more than that to freak me out. It's just... well..."

"Yes?" Minerva prompted.

"You looked so sad," she said finally.

"In which one?" Minerva asked.

"All of them."

"Different people have different needs," Minerva said quietly.

"Look, I understand masochism," Allison said. "Or at least, I understand that it exists. I know there are people who genuinely do enjoy taking pain or submitting themselves to the will of another. That's not what I saw on your face in those encounters. It doesn't take a shrink to see that you're punishing yourself... or to guess what for, after the other thing you showed me."

"Okay, yeah," Minerva said. "Most days I'd argue with you... or just tell you to shut the hell up... but until we get my sister back I'm stuck holding the universal wisdom and it says I should listen to you. So, I'm messed up. What am I supposed to do about it? I can't change what happened, and I can't change who I am."

"Well, that's just it," Allison said. "You can't change what happened. So why spend the rest of your life beating yourself up over it? I mean, what does it accomplish?"

"It makes me feel better..."

"Does it?"

"Well, no," Minerva said. "But what else am I supposed to do?"

"Not to be trite, but they say the working definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting different results," Allison said. "Maybe instead of going from partner to partner who just feeds your need to feel worse, you could find one person who actually makes you feel better about yourself?"

"I don't think I'm wired for that... I'm naturally polyamorous," Minerva said. "I get that from my mother."

"Alright, so, maybe we just met, and I don't know any more about your parents than what anybody else in the general public does," Allison said, "but the impression I always got... once you got past all the right-wing smears and fear-mongering... was that they were in a committed relationship that just happened to include more than two people. I don't really understand that, I'll admit... but I think you're doing her and your father a disservice."

"Okay, right... well, maybe," Minerva said. "But dragging them into it is conveniently one more thing I can feel guilty about, isn't it? I mean, this is all fascinating, and I can't really say I completely disagree with any one particular thing that you're saying, but do you really think it's that easy to change things? That I haven't heard this stuff before, from Athena... from myself?

"No, I really don't think that," Allison said. "I spent a lot of time in therapy a while back... enough time to know that all the well-meaning people in the world can talk at you forever without it making a difference. The saying 'You have to want to change.' is true, even if ninety percent of the people who say it are just repeating something they've been taught without really understanding it."

"The universal wisdom is informing me you have some latent hostility towards the mental health profession," Minerva said with a half smirk.

"Frustration, more like," Allison said. "Like I said, I spent a lot of time in therapy... before I found my own way of dealing with my issues."

"Would that be about the time you started going out as Mindfyre?" Minerva guessed. Almost immediately, she said, "No, it's not that, is it?"

"No, that would actually be about the time I started painting again," Allison said. "Mindfyre came shortly after, once I felt like I'd got a handle on some things. Psychokinetic powers can behave... unpredictably... when used under stress. The last thing the world needs is a pyrokinetic poltergeist."

"You know something, Alli?" Minerva said. "You're more complicated than you look."

"Yeah, well, we don't all wear our scars on the outside," Allison said. "Though, you know, I have my share of the other kind, too."

"I don't," Minerva said, sighing. She sounded like she regretted it a little. "Even if I hand off all the powers, my body restores itself to pristine the next time I go invulnerable. I sometimes wonder... what am I missing in life, not having to ever worry about broken bones, cuts... the bumps and bruises of experience..."

"How about getting stabbed by the asshole that you thought loved you?" Allison said. "Finding out you can never have kids..."

"Not too much worry about that... Amazons pretty much have direct control over our reproductive sys..." Minerva began, before she realized what Allison was saying. "Oh. Damn. I'm sorry... listen to me complaining. 'Poor little supergirl,' huh?"

"We all have our problems," Allison said, with a forced shrug. "Who's to say which one of us really has it worse? I could wish it hadn't happened, but I don't think I would trade my parents' lives for it."

"Very profound," Minerva said. "So your advice for me, Dr. Powers, is to stop fucking around with Tom, Dick, and Mary and try to find my One True Love. I'll admit, there's a part of me that longs for old-fashioned fairytale romance... but do you really think that works for everybody?"

"I... don't know," Allison said. "I used to think so. But, I do know that what you're doing right now isn't working for you."

"True. So, uh... how's it been working for you, then?" Minerva asked. "The One True Love thing."

"It's... uh, God, let's say it's a work in progress," Allison admitted. "And just lately, there's been very little work and even less progress. I mean, I go on dates... I even have a bit of a beau." She glanced down the length of the cabin in the direction of the bathrooms. "Or a suitor, I guess I should say, given our present company."

"A suitor, huh?" Minerva said. "That word implies to me a bit of distance. Not a boyfriend or a fuck buddy or a steady, but a suitor... somebody pursuing you, which means you're doing something to keep your distance."

"Yeah, I have been kind of keeping him at arm's length," Allison admitted. "But it's complicated, for more reasons than my baggage. He's kind of, well, famous... and any relationship I have with him has to be in my costumed identity, or it'll raise too many questions."

"A hero?" Minerva guessed. "No... not a hero, but somebody super, right?"

"I guess I shouldn't try to be coy with the bearer of the universal wisdom," Allison said.

"Yeah, we kill at twenty questions," Minerva said. "So, who is he?"

"Amy's boss, actually," Allison said. "One night, the two of us really needed a night out... well, it was Amy who insisted that I did, actually, so I said we should go to Valentine's in our costumed identities, never thinking she'd actually agree. She was just a station chef at that point, but was already making waves... no pun intended. I was sure she was going to blow her cover, but nope. She turned a lot of heads when she walked in as Amphitrite, and nobody who wasn't in on her double identity was any the wiser. I couldn't believe it, but once I got to know some of her friends in the kitchen, I asked her what they thought about Amy, steering it towards appearance. I couldn't believe it when most of them described her as plain, or average-looking. I was like, 'What are you talking about? She's beautiful... she's a goddess.'"

"Point of interest?" Minerva said. "Talk like that's probably why people think you two are into each other."

"Yeah, that's what the girls in the kitchen thought, too," Allison said. "But, anyway, I just don't get it. She hides her hair under a wig, and of course, she's wearing a chef's outfit instead of a one piece... but even if nobody recognizes her as a superhero, how could anybody mistake her for somebody... ordinary?"

"Amphie's beautiful, there's no two ways about that, but so much of perception is subjective, based on people's expectations and our own bearing," Minerva said. "If you think back to when you were in high school, imagine the faces of the popular, pretty girls and those of the 'ugly' ones that everybody picked on. Ignoring the few who probably really did have some unfortunate conditions... was there really that much difference?"

"You know, I kind of thought that sometimes, but I figured I was the only one who noticed it," Allison said.

"You were probably one of a small group," Minerva said. "And that's the kind of shit I think about all the time, when I'm stuck with wisdom."

"What, you'd rather be shallow?" Allison asked.

"I don't mind having the option," Minerva said. "But we were talking about your love life, and now we're talking about Amphitrite. I know you're not a lesbian... aside from you saying so, we've touched minds on a pretty intimate level... but don't you think that still might say something? That you're using her friendship as a substitute for love?"

"Friendship isn't a substitute for love, it is love," Allison said. "But okay, yeah, maybe on some levels I've used the woman in my life to tide me over, as a substitute for a man in my life. Like I said, it's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress."

"When you get right down to it, is there really anything wrong with that?" Minerva said. "I mean, even without any major baggage... what would you be, if you weren't 'in progress'?"

"Complete," Allison said.

"Complete... or done?" Minerva asked.

"I don't know," Allison admitted. "But, enough bullshitting... let's go keep Amy company."

"Okay," Minerva said. "Five bucks to whoever makes her crash us for real."

"Make it ten, and you've got a bet."