Starman
To Inherit the Stars
by Libbylawrence
As firemen labored to control a blazing building, a large section of wall began to break away and loomed menacingly above them. Screams echoed from the watching crowd as the wall crumbled down toward the brave men below! Seconds before they could be crushed by the impact, a flying figure swooped down and caught the wall in his bare hands. He shoved it back away from the fleeing men below!
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it. I also made a sweep of the building. It is empty now!” said the young man with brown hair who had saved them.
“Thanks, Starman! You sure saved us a lot of time and danger!” said a fireman.
Starman smiled and replied, “My pleasure. You guys are the true heroes.”
He carefully moved the piles of brick aside and used his energy-based powers to fuse the rubble in a tight mass. He looked around and saw more flames spring up above. He flew closer and smothered them with a hastily grabbed tarp. That takes care of this one. I’ve been on the go for hours. Good thing I don’t really need to eat. There are pluses to being a living star being! Starman thought.
He could joke about his altered condition now, but there had been a time when Will Payton had been so upset by the changes to his metabolism that he had sought to remove himself from all contact with normal humans. Now, he was content to use his special powers for the common good. He had been very busy since the Invasion had started!
The aliens have been driven away from here for now, but the damage they’ve done has been more than enough to keep me hopping. I’ve put out more fires than I care to remember! he thought as flew off.
The firemen watched in appreciation. “There goes a real hero. Good thing Justice Leaguers like him are around!” said the fireman.
Starman heard him and smiled. I’m just a standby with the League, but maybe that will change one of these days. I like working with them. They all treat me really nice and don’t look down on me any, he thought.
He zoomed across the desert and reached the small but comfortable Payton home where Will lived with his sister and their mother. “I should be getting a place of my own, but with all the running around I do as a hero it seems pointless to settle down!”
He frowned as he landed and changed clothing quickly behind the house. He altered his features and resumed the normal look of Will Payton as he ran up the steps and knocked on his sister’s door. She’s crying. I hope Mom’s OK! he thought as he waited for her to answer.
“Jane, it’s Will. What’s wrong?” he asked.
Soon Jane Payton opened the door. She was a pretty and perky young woman who taught school nearby. She was home since schools had been closed for use as shelters and refugee stations. The Invasion had brought aliens of different types to Earth for decidedly hostile purposes, and the common people were feeling the effects of the attacks. She was weary looking and her eyes were red. She wiped at them and fell into his arms. This was odd for the normally demonstrative girl.
“Will! I’ve been waiting for you. Mara said she would call you, but now that you are here there’s no need!” Jane said.
Will replied, “Right. Mara’s busy with Captain Comet’s team. What is wrong? Is Mom hurt? The aliens didn’t attack the factory did they?”
Jane shook her head. “Nope. Mom got called it. They are really busy now that war is on, but that’s not the problem. Will, you remember when you introduced me to Dr. Danvers at the lab in California? Well, I later met his assistant Lucas Carr. We hit it off. He and I just connected. He’s smart and funny and eager to please We even have science in common.”
Will frowned. “Sure. He’s a good guy. I love it when he falls into that weird slang of his and tells me about his JLA days. I didn’t know you met him. I like working with them at S.T.A.R. Is he OK? Clearly, you’re upset about something.”
Jane said, “Will, he and I have become very close. You’ve been busy lately, so you didn’t know that he’s come here for a visit once or twice. And I’ve been out to see him too. I wanted to tell you, but I wanted to wait and see how the relationship progressed first. He’s become very important to me, but now …he’s missing!”
Will hesitated a moment and then replied. “This is a lot to take in. I really have been letting my Starman duties take me away from my family too much. I do know that a lot of people have vanished. I’ll go talk to Dr. Danvers and see what I can learn. Don’t worry. I’ll find him. I promise!” He kissed her on the cheek and then rushed out once more.
“I don’t know how I feel about Jane seeing Lucas. I guess I’m fine with it. I like the guy. I know that she’s clearly worked up over him. I hope these powers of mine enable me to find him. It would be good to be of use to those I love as well as to strangers!”
Starman reached S.T.A.R. labs in southern California in a short time and joined a weary Dr. Fred Danvers in his office. “You are here about Lucas?” the worried scientist asked. “It’s the strangest thing, son. He vanished from his own apartment without a trace. I mean nothing was disturbed, and none of the neighbors saw or heard anything odd. Still, he’s proven to be a reliable man and a good friend to me. I can’t believe he would leave willingly without some word.”
Starman nodded. “My sister Jane is worried about him too. I said I would find him, but I wonder if that was one promise I should not have made. I’m no detective. Still, I’ve had a bit of experience with alien science. With the Invasion going on I assume his disappearance is connected to the hostile aliens around us. Do you think you could rig any type of energy detection device? If Lucas Carr was taken away via alien teleportation or some means like that used by the JLA for their own teleportation system, we could find a trace of the energy still lingering at his ‘pad’, as he would call it.”
Dr. Danvers said, “Of course! I can do that. Come with me, and I’ll take you to his apartment. The superintendent knows me well from my past visits. Still, I have a better idea. I’ve been looking over the scans we performed on you a while back when you first came here. Starman, I think you could detect such a pattern yourself. We have yet to determine the exact limits or nature of your own powers. You can absorb energy and generate it. Why not attempt to detect it? Your eyes change when you assume the features of Starman. I wager they could also change in terms of what levels of energy they may perceive.”
Starman agreed readily and quickly flew the scientist to the Carr apartment where the superintendent allowed the pair to enter the missing man’s home. Starman concentrated and briefly assumed his normal appearance before resuming the slightly alien look he normally wore while in costume. His eyes became white, and finally he stared directly at empty space until something began to pass before his line of vision.
“Weird! My mother has floaters. She has those little black dots that appear before the eye when certain functions begin to be limited by age or use. I almost get that same effect now. Still, I don’t see the pigmentation dots associated with floaters. I see energy! You were right on the money!”
Starman said, “Dr. Danvers, I’m going to follow this trail. It appears to lead into space itself. Would you use the special number I gave you and report my actions to Dolphin or Captain Comet? It won’t hurt to have some back-up in case my trip leads me to trouble.”
Dr. Danvers agreed and clasped the young man on the arm. “Be careful, son. I know you’ve proven yourself again and again, but this could be something larger than you’ve encountered before. I know from contact with … Supergirl and Superman that space is a dangerous place with perils little imagined by science fact or science fiction!” The doctor looked oddly pained as if he was recalling some past memory with an unpleasant association.
Starman nodded. “Thanks for the concern. I’ll be fine. Wish me luck!” Starman flew into the upper atmosphere and left earth behind him.
It is a beautiful sight, still it’s certainly not free of problems. Alien crafts are around here. Some are cloaked, but I can sense their own energies. But, none of them are at the end of Snapper’s energy trail. I have to ignore them for now and concentrate on finding the end of the pattern. It should lead me to where he is being held. I can well imagine that as a former JLA associate his memories and inside data would be a treasure trove from enemy aliens with advanced technology.
He began to fly faster, and his body started to glow with stellar fire! Couldn’t move like this back on Earth, but being in such proximity to the stars is really feeding me extra energy and power! It’s almost intoxicating! he thought.
He thought of his sister and her anxious condition. Poor Jane! I hate to think of her sitting back home sick with worry. She has it bad for Carr. I wonder if Mom felt like this all those nights after Dad deserted us. She loved him in spite of his actions, and I’ve often wondered if she ever completely stopped caring for him. Beneath the bitterness she may still have some more caring feelings for him. I wish that was a riddle I could solve with my own powers, but he sure didn’t leave any energy trail behind when he waked out on his wife and two little kids all those years ago!
He gasped as his flight was stopped short by a blinding burst of energy that enveloped him and left him stunned for a moment. “Can’t see! What was that? It hit me like a bolt from the blue.” Starman looked around. “I’m not in space anymore. That beam must have been a teleportation ray. I can’t detect the energy pattern that led out of Carr’s apartment.”
He saw the world around him come back into focus and stared in amazement at a huge structure with ornate columns and a gleaming floor. “This is some kind of palace!” He saw a massive skylight that revealed the stars above and the multiple moons of a foreign cosmos.
“Guess it would be too much of a cliché to say we’re not in Kansas anymore!”
A strange looking man in a red and gold robe approached him and said, “You are most welcome here! I am Er’ija Rantas. I am the most loyal servant of High Queen Merria. She asked me to bring you into her Divine Presence!”
Starman said, “Queen Merria? I don’t know her from Princess Di! Where am I? More to the point why did you grab me out of space with that beam?”
The little man said, “Her Divine Majesty will explain all. She awaits you!”
Starman shrugged. “No need to take out my frustrations on this poor guy. I guess this Queen Merria will give me the answers I need. I hope they are good ones. Her little stunt made me lose all track of the energy pattern I had been following. Poor Lucas Carr could be toast by now!”
He looked around and noticed something that he had missed before. He had been captivated by the sheer size and splendor of the palace, but he had failed to see the signs of war and of loss. The huge complex was almost devoid of life. He saw guards and other courtly officials, but he heard no sounds of joy and saw little sign of pleasure on the grim faces he passed.
He stopped when his guide ushered him through a set of large double doors. He looked up to see a petite blonde woman sitting demurely on an elevated throne.
“Well met! I am Merria, High Queen of Kranaltine the Throneworld of the Empire! You must forgive Us for Our drastic actions, but We are in need of the help only a hero such as you may give!” she said.
Starman felt that she was sincere. Her beauty was distracting, but she also had a sense of gravity that broke through her obvious physical charms to lend an air of dignity and need to her words.
“I will help if I can. Your world is under attack? I begin to see signs of battle, ” he said.
High Queen Merria said, “An Invasion force has closed in on our world. If Throneworld falls then so will perish the freedom of all the natives of every world in our Empire. Once our world had a noble defender. He was my beloved Prince Gavyn. He died during the Crisis that swept across the universe like an unending plague. Your heraldic symbol reminds me of that noble soul!”
Starman glanced down to the star on his chest. She had gently caressed that emblem. “I am called Starman. It’s not really a title. I picked it to honor a hero from my childhood. Did Prince Gavyn also wear such a costume?”
She laughed and said, “He was known to many as Starman. His power defended us. Something in your manner reminds me of him. I suppose it is nothing more than a lover’s pale fancy.”
A deeper voice echoed from behind them as a tall figure came out of the shadows. “No! Majesty, it is more than your heart’s wish altering your perceptions. This Starman selected his name for reasons more subtle than even he knows! His name, his purpose, his powers, his destiny all decree that he brings noble Prince Gavyn to mind. He is the late Prince Gavyn reborn!”
High Queen Merria inhaled sharply. “Rikane! You speak madness. Tis known that my beloved was meant to die four deaths yet how can this heroic stranger be my hero?”
Starman frowned. “Hold it pal. I’m an earthling. I like hot dogs, baseball, and Rick Nelson’s music. I’m not the man you lost. I’ll try to do what he would have done. I’ll try to drive off the invaders, but that’s the extent of our connection!”
Rikane said, “I am Rikane. Starman was my ally. I speak the truth. The very stars that gave him power foretold that he would die four times. His death in crisis was nothing more than a second death following the first one in which he gained his stellar might. Prince Gavyn’s soul lives on in this man. He guides him even as I speak. That is why I urged you to bring him here with the energy trail. It was desired to lure him into the path of our tractor beam.”
Merria said, “Rikane monitors other worlds regularly, and he saw how one of your powers could save the Empire! Forget us for deceiving you by luring you within range of our teleportation beam.”
Starman shook his head. “OK, look here, Buck Rogers. I’m not Gavyn! I may have powers like his, but I can tell you for a fact that I was born on Earth. My memories are real and vivid. I know my folks were not aliens. I am likely not much younger than your late hero if that painting depicts him. I can’t be his reincarnation!”
High Queen Merria spoke softly as tears filled her luminous blue eyes, and she looked at a painting of a blond man in a colorful costume. “Yet how like him you seem!” she whispered.
Rikane said, “You are not his reincarnation. Such a concept is foreign to our culture. I say that though your body is that of a man of Terra, your soul is imprinted with the essence of Prince Gavyn the Starman! I will prove it through use of his royal staff of office!” He raised a curious staff and touched Starman’s face for a moment.
Starman grabbed it away and cried out in pain. “By the stars! I recall it all now! I truly am Prince Gavyn! I was fighting the waves of antimatter during the Crisis. I came too close to one and knew no more until this moment. I feel as a dreamer who wakes to find a fresh new life yet recalls still the pleasures of his past!” he said.
Starman took Merria in his arms and kissed her as she clung to him. “Rikane, you have awakened me! I live once more and I thank you!” he said.
Starman held the blonde beauty and shook hands with Rikane in an odd gesture that combined the Americana of Will Payton’s life with the regal manner of the alien prince. He still knew all about his life as Will, but he now also felt and knew all that Prince Gavyn had known.
I can’t explain this. I feel as though I am meant to be here. If I am Gavyn then how can I also be Will? he thought. I love Mara yet this Merria is also dear to me. I recall her touch, her kiss, and her tears. I joy at the sight of her yet I still know that I never loved her…or did I?
Rikane said, “You are troubled and well should you be. I will explain. Your life ended in the Crisis. Yet, because of the stars that give you sustenance, you could not cease to exist while they still whirled above. You were grafted on to this earth man and he also received your powers if not awareness of your past. I awoke both when I touched him with the staff you once carried!”
Starman nodded. “I understand, but I also feel as though I am one going through the motions without being fully in control. I see that action alone can bring me repose! Let me take to the skies and defend our world!” He kissed Merria again and flew off as she watched and clasped her hands together prayerfully.
“He will save us all!” declared Rikane
Merria nodded. “But will he lose himself doing so?”
Starman flew high into the air and soon reached the space around the planet. He saw a large warship hovering in orbit around the Throneworld. That ship bares the hallmark of our ancient enemies the J’Ai! That in itself explains how they could menace our Empire with naught but one ship. It is not the ship or its armament that is the peril. The J’Ai are inhuman weapons in and of themselves! he thought.
Starman did not hesitate to ponder how he could know such information about the odd craft or its occupants. The facts came from the memories of Prince Gavyn. The facts came from his own memory as he struggled to adjust his way of thinking. After all he was Prince Gavyn!
He crashed directly through the ship and shattered its hull without stopping. He ignored the alarms and lights that went off around him. He merely smashed through the metal with brute strength and flew faster and faster as he damaged the weapon systems. He knew that the artificial weapons were not the main danger.
He continued his destructive rampage and then turned to face the aliens as they emerged from the wrecked ship into space itself. They came in single file and were silent and menacing. Each one was around two ties the size of a human and each one had four or six arms. Their faces were shielded within an armored crest that spread across the top of each head like an ornate battle helmet. Their eyes were somewhat recessed.
They are like giant humanoid ants or insects! They don’t seem to have any individuality. They also lack any obvious means of communication with one another! They appear to be moving and acting in one accord but without actually working together or talking! he thought as the part that was Will Payton asserted itself from within the memories of the late Prince Gavyn!
He felt a stinging blow as the first of the J’Ai warriors connected with a blow. He shrugged it off and blasted it backward with a blazing nimbus of stellar fire! The alien reeled backward and collapsed. As it fell it tore open its own armored thorax and shuddered in the final moments of life.
“Great Scott! It killed itself!” he gasped.
The fallen J’Ai warrior had indeed taken its own life. Will had been careful not to kill the creature since he valued life in all its forms and felt that this could not change no matter what Gavyn believed! The alien’s death served a grim purpose for as it died, eight other J’Ai warriors emerged from the shell and grew to the size of the original!
“My memories from my time as Gavyn are fading in and out! That means I don’t know what that thing is doing but I have a bad feeling that I’m witnessing what makes them so deadly! Each one dies and then produces eight more! They are like that monster Hercules fought in the old myths! The Chimera? No! The Hydra! The Hydra could lose one dragon-like head only to sprout two more! These things multiply as they die! They use no true combat strategy. They just swarm like alien bugs and use sheer numbers to crush their prey! I wonder if they follow a particular life cycle like some insects? ”
He struggled as the eight J’Ai warriors battered him. He could resist them one at a time but their sheer mass and power could hurt him! He fought free of them and flew backward.
“Got to think! Gavyn is gone. I don’t know what that means. It makes me doubt I truly carry any trace of their hero within me! That feeling only came on when he touched me with that staff! Still, that riddle can wait. It’s up to plain old Will Payton to save the day or at least keep alive!”
Starman saw the wave of alien warriors grow closer as they followed him downward to the Throneworld below. “I can’t let those people down. They may not be my people but they need help and I won’t turn my back on them!” he said.
He smashed his fist through one J’Ai and grimaced as it also shattered its own thorax and multiplied. “OK, energy or force will still cause them to pull that trick! That means I need to stop them without actually touching them!”
He frowned and drew back until his hovering form was all that stood between them and the world below. All of the aliens could see him outlined against the planet and like a human constellation Starman hoped to alter the destiny of the people below!
He concentrated and began to generate not heat but light! He strained until his body glowed ever brighter. The energy came from the stars around him and he felt both a thrilling sense of power and a rushing sense of dread!
I’ve blinded them! Those strange helmet things must be their means of seeing. I’ve dazzled them all and stopped them cold. They don’t know what to do since they are not hurt. They can’t pull that suicide multiplication tactic without receiving some type of injury of the physical or energy based kind! Just shining so brightly that they lose their sight is not triggering their war tactic! Still, I’m getting tired! I can’t keep this up indefinitely. I’ve held them off but if I can’t find an additional source of energy then when I falter they’ll conquer! he thought.
He shook his head in disgust and flew back to the palace at blinding speed!
Merria and Rikane greeted him with eager faces. “You drove them back but they still come!” said Rikane.
Merria said, “Beloved! What can we do to help?”
Starman said, “The staff! I need a power source. Let me draw upon its unique energies to try to blind them all!”
He grabbed the fallen staff and said, “I sense that this staff can somehow generate enough raw light to force them to flee. They won’t be able to function with such a blinding power blazing in their path. They aren’t the smartest race around! ”
Rikane said, “If you can hold them off or drive them away their normal cycle of hibernation will be in effect not many moons from now! That is why they attack at only certain times. They must dwell in their hives for much of the year!”
Starman felt a surge of power and the memories of Gavyn came back anew!
He also felt an odd sense of purpose as he flew back and raised the staff. This time the raw energy came from within the staff and fueled his own energies. He felt the power surge within him and he struggled to keep from screaming as the light threatened to overcome his very sense of self!
An explosion of light erupted in the upper atmosphere and when the light had faded, Starman was alone!
The energy had blinded the J’Ai warriors and had left them unable to function. They had fled and he felt some ghost of a memory whisper that such was their way. They would return to their nests and heal for perhaps years to come. Their threat would not return for several of their odd and mysterious life cycles. Rikane’s words had been correct as far as the J’Ai were concerned!
Starman felt drained and he slowly made his way back to Throneworld where cheering crowds welcomed him as their champion!
Merria rushed to him, and he stopped her gently but firmly.
“Starman defeated them. They won’t be back for a long time if ever!” he said.
Rikane said, “You are Starman! As I said, you are Prince Gavyn!”
Starman gazed at the lovely blonde woman and the stalwart man and shook his head. “Nice try, but it won’t work. I am the same guy I always was. The memories of your late Prince were not imprinted within me nor was his soul linked to mine. You planted those memories when you touched me with his staff. It was a nice trick and it worked. You wanted to make me think I was this hero so I’d save you all. Well, while you used me and tried to rob me of my very identity, you also gave me his skills and his knowledge. Prince Gavyn was the one who saved your world. You see you had it all wrong. I know you were just trying to save your Empire and I don’t blame you but there’s irony in what occurred. There’s irony and tragedy. You see Prince Gavyn did live on after the Crisis. His soul or essence as you called it went into the staff when he was converted to pure energy!” said Starman.
Rikane buried his face in his hands and gasped. “No! I thought it was merely Gavyn’s strong personality and the mystic connection between one of royal blood with the staff itself that enabled me to place those memories within you for a time after the touch of the staff! You mean our champion truly lived on within that staff?” he said in a broken voice.
Starman nodded. “Yes. He guided me in defeating them. He knew their life cycles were such that driving them off in such a way would prevent their return for a long, long time. He also knew that in expending that energy so completely he was giving up what life remained to him. Prince Gavyn sacrificed himself to save you all!”
Merria began to weep silently. She said, “Thank you. You honored him. We will remember you and we will never forget him!”
Rikane said, “I have cost us our champion. My blind manipulation of this man led us to this final loss of Gavyn!”
Starman said, “He did not blame you. I sensed only love from his final thoughts of you and this world!”
He turned to the blonde woman and said, “You say he was destined to die four times. Perhaps, even this time did not truly end his life. If he existed as pure energy of an unknown type then he may be able to reform eventually or perhaps his essence now exists in some other universe only a being like that could access!”
Merria nodded and said, “You are kind. You are a true hero. Gavyn would have been honored by your friendship!”
Starman said, “I am glad I was able to help but my own world is facing an Invasion as well and I have friends in need. Please return me to the space ways and I will go home. Since the energy trail you created to lead me here was fake then I have no way to trace my own missing friend.”
Rikane activated a small glowing sphere, and Starman found himself back in space and quickly began to make the journey homeward. He cold detect no sign of Snapper Carr and he prayed that the young man was still alive.
I can’t give up but I’m going to need to rethink my efforts. One man can help me for sure! Captain Comet! he thought as he flew off.
High above the Throneworld while Merria and Rikane stared upward at the now peaceful skies, a single star gleamed with an unusual brilliance as if in final benediction for a departed champion.
