Doc Stalwart #254

Judgement Day

Adapted from the Mighty Doc Stalwart #254 (May 1984)

By Michael T. Desing

      The Beetle skimmed across the surface of the moon, kicking up dust as it zipped forward, its nose slightly dipping.

      Inside, Doc Stalwart sat at the controls, pushing the little explorer ship to its limits. Next to him, Mikah brooded, deep in thought. This had been Mikah’s first foray into space; he should have been struck with wonder. And on some level, he was. However, Doc had been so workmanlike in the mission that he had taken the natural amazement that should have accompanied the trip, reducing it to a series of checklists, “Reconfigure gravity regulation. We’re at .162 right here, which is a bit lower than the ship is compensating for. I’m thinking that the inverse thruster might be stuck in phase 4.”

      Mikah looked. It was. He reset the modulator, and it found its way to phase 3 on its own, leveling the ship off and smoothing out their exploration of the moon’s surface.

      “There we go…”

      This was the first mission that had included just Doc and Mikah. They had left Zirah back at the Tomorrow Project in a device Doc had created to stabilize her phantom form, and Jynx was hooked up to it as well, allowing his blood to power the device. Both were in rough shape after their last mission.

      It was a whole thing.

      “Why didn’t you tell me… that Zirah was…”

      “Dead?” Doc answered, keeping his eyes on the moon’s surface as they glided above it, “it doesn’t define her. Jynx is from Hell. We’re an odd team, for sure, but we’re family. Living, dead, or in between.”

      Mikah was not particularly pleased with this answer, but Doc seemed as if the issue were closed, “So, about this mission… We got a message? Or a signal?”

      “A ping. There is an ancient alien construct on the dark side. We found it twenty years ago. Examined it. Explored it. No idea what it is or what it’s for. However, we left a series of sensors around it in case something happened.”

      “And?”

      “Something happened. The sensors picked up an energy discharge, or rather a series of them, from the construct. They are getting stronger and more frequent… almost like contractions when a woman is near giving birth.”

      “That can’t be good.”

      “Maybe. Maybe not. But we’re going to find out… the Americas are readying a shuttle exploration team, but it will be two weeks before they can get here. I knew that we could be here in two hours with the Beetle...”

      Ahead, maybe a mile out, Mikah could see the demarcation where the dark side of the moon began; it was a solid line. On this side, you could see the vast grey expanse punctuated by craters and low, rugged mountains. But beyond that line… nothing. Pitch black.

      Doc switched on a series of search lights, “Crossing to the dark side in 3… 2… 1…”

      Absolute, all-consuming emptiness set upon them. Mikah had never known there could be such darkness. He never knew the stars could be so crisp. Automatically, purplish lights came to life in the cabin of the Beetle. On the navigation computer, the red dot crept closer to the blue circle. 

      “We’ve analyzed it,” Doc continued, checking several sensors and adjusting levels, “made of an alloy we cannot identify. At least three unique elements. Exceptional conductor of electricity. Shares properties with a battery, but we couldn’t get it to charge or hold a charge. Not sure what it does.”

      “I could probably tell you,” Mikah offered, absently.

      “That’s the idea. I made a suit for you...” Doc gestured towards a storage compartment behind Mikah. Mikah tapped the button to open it, and a small space suit emerged, “... try the left glove…”

      Mikah slipped it over his hand. It felt thinner and lighter than a space suit should appear, and it filled him with apprehension. This didn’t seem strong enough to keep him alive on the moon.

      He slipped the glove on. He could feel an array of sensors activating against his fingertips.

      “The glove extends your touch. Your powers should work through it.”

      Wearing the glove, Mikah touched the wall of the Beetle and tried to read it. He got flashes of red-skinned aliens on the other side of the galaxy in this ship, exploring a vast chunk of rock. He saw these same aliens - scientists he was sure - gathering flora from a luscious blue planet. He saw the spores that killed them all. Their faces as they asphyxiated.

      He pulled his hand away. “The Beetle… it wasn’t made on earth…”

      “Well duh,” Doc joked, “it was a Zylakar scout ship. Ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic. We figure it crashed on earth maybe 300 years ago. I was able to decode its memory drives, and we learned a lot about what is out there… but we still don’t understand... this...” 

      They had arrived.

      They were at the bottom of a shallow crater. Rising from the grey dust that was everywhere, a silvery arch, a perfect half circle, loomed above. It was maybe a hundred feet across, the top maybe fifty feet overhead. Something like an arc of lightning moved across it suddenly, pulsing from left to right.

      “Yeah,” Doc nodded, “that’s new.”

***

      They had donned their suits and were moving about near the archway. Doc had closed in to examine the arch in greater detail. He was bigger, his suit was lighter, and he had the benefit of experiences in different atmospheres.

      For Mikah, not so much. He found the suit even more cumbersome than it looked (and it looked really, really cumbersome), and he found the altered gravity unsettling. He felt like he could take a good bound and just keep lifting. It was sort of like being underwater, but in this case you always wanted to touch the bottom again.

      He was maybe twenty yards from the arch when it activated.

      That’s about the best way to describe it. A series of electrical pulses crossed the arch from right to left, and Mikah soon realized (which Doc must have already known) that the whole thing was a circle, and half of it was in the ground. The current wasn’t beginning and ending; it was just going in a faster and faster circle around the whole.

      Mikah said, “I’m not an astro-physicist, but that isn’t good, right?”

      “I am. And I think you’re right.” Doc stepped back. Mikah stopped altogether. They watched.

      Soon the electrical current became a constant glow that spread from the arch towards the middle of the gap, creating a field of blue energy that filled the whole. As soon as the gap was enveloped in a curtain of sparkling radiance, something stepped through.

      It was human...oid. About 10’ tall. But it was not human. Not by a long shot. Can something be made of blue flame? If so, it was this guy. It held an axe or spear of some kind, but it was hard to tell with all of the blue fire burning everywhere on and around it.

      Its voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “I am the Augur, the Voice of Ro.”

      As if that explained anything.

      “Why have you come?” Doc demanded. He didn’t get a chance to answer. 

      A burst of white energy knocked the burning blue giant alien backwards, slamming him against the side of the arch.

      Mikah looked back. Another figure was in the air, hovering over the Beetle. This one was human, wearing black and white armor. She shimmered with a blue energy. A barrage of this struck the Voice of Ro guy.

      “Emissary!” Doc called. These supers all knew each other?

      “Doc Stalwart!” the Emissary answered, “He must be stopped! If Ro steps through that portal, it means the extinction of man!” Another wave of white energy hammered the Voice of Ro.

      Doc pushed off and flew towards the Augur, delivering a rapid series of punches. He landed three, but the Augur caught the fourth. Doc’s eyes flashed surprise. The Augur started to crush Doc’s hand in its own. 

      Doc was the strongest creature Mikah had ever encountered. The Augur was stronger. Doc winced, dropping to one knee as the Augur kept squeezing. Mikah thought he could hear bone snapping.

      The Emissary had hovered to get a better vantage point before launching another fusillade of attacks, but this gave the Augur enough time to use his free hand to aim the weapon it carried; this emitted a pulse of blue energy that sent the Emissary spiraling backwards. She landed awkwardly, kicking up a cloud of fine grey dust that hovered in the minimal gravity.

      But Mikah had spent the last few seconds getting closer to the arch. He brushed it with the tip of his fingers, and felt the entire universe laid bare before him. He saw it all. Everything. It was too much.  

      “Stop!” Mikah shouted. He called with a new authority and confidence.

      The Emissary had dragged herself to her knees. Doc was humbled, holding his broken left hand in the right. The Augur turned to Mikah, “You are wise.”

      The energy increased. The portal whirred with new life.

      Ro stepped through.

      He was as big as Gorillo had been but was composed of the same energy as the Augur. Reflexively, Mikah knelt. He was in the presence of a god, after all.

      The Augur shifted into a more ceremonial demeanor, “Ro, the Ravager of Worlds, Adjudicator of All Things, Dispenser of Divine Justice, and Keeper of the Great Scale has come.”

      “Ro!” The Emissary called, “You have no authority here! This world is under my protection.”

      The Emissary sent forth a powerful burst of light. It could have knocked over a skyscraper.

      Ro didn’t notice.

      The Augur kept speaking, “Ro has watched your world and has judged. Mankind has been found wanting. The judgement is annihilation.”

      “Ravager!” Doc gritted his teeth as he cupped his hand, “will you destroy the good men with the evil? That is not just!”

      The Augur seemed to look to Ro. There was a pause. The Augur spoke, “Ro will stay his hand if a hundred good men can be found.”

      “What about fifty? If I can find fifty noble men, will Ro stay his hand?”

      Again, the Augur waited. “Yes. For fifty noble men, Ro will stay his hand.”

      “What about ten?” Doc was pushing his luck.

      The pause was longer this time. “For ten, Ro will stay his hand.”

      “What about one truly noble and good man? Will Ro stay his hand for one truly noble man?”

      The pause lingered. “Yes. If you can present one good and noble man, pure in heart and virtuous of soul, Ro will stay his hand.”

      Got him.

      “I submit myself for consideration,” Doc bowed his head. Ro extended a huge hand over him. It hovered there for a time.

      It returned to Ro’s side. Doc looked up, confidence gleaming in his eye.

      The Augur spoke, “You have been judged. Mankind has been found wanting.” The Augur moved his weapon towards Doc’s head.

      Mikah had crossed between. He shouted. “He’s a good man! The best! You have to see that!”

      The Augur hesitated and stepped aside. Again, Ro’s hand came forward. This time, it lingered over Mikah’s head.

      And lingered.

      The Augur spoke, “Ro… will withhold judgement. This generation will be allowed to prove its worth.”

      And then they were gone. The silvery arch had gone cold. 

      Doc looked at Mikah, examining him closely. Doc held his crushed hand against his chest. With the other, he patted Mikah on the shoulder.

      But Mikah knew. The Ravager had crushed more than Doc’s hand. The confidence in his eye was gone.

      Doc and the Emissary exchanged a few pleasantries, talking about people Mikah didn’t know, events he knew nothing of, and places he hadn’t heard of. The Emissary tried to use her bluish energy to help ease the pain in Doc’s crushed hand, but there wasn’t much to save. It was a mess.

      After a few minutes, the Emissary took flight into the great vastness, and Mikah helped Doc aboard the Beetle. They were silent for the entirety of the trip back. Mikah almost asked three times about how Doc was doing. He didn’t need to. He knew. Doc was broken.

      And Mikah had resolved himself to fix him. He just had no idea how.