Very few of the Chosen were upset that I granted volition to the probe machines. They wanted to punish me but were afraid their probe machines would reject them. Casting illusions that would make my life difficult or embarrassing was the most they dared. Their favorite targets were officials of all kinds, especially those with power like police and the IRS.
Most of the Chosen and their probe machines applauded my action. The healer-destroyers, while congratulating me on my actions, preferred to remain apart from my problems. That was just as well. Their idea of a solution was to destroy somebody or something. A new kind of being revealed themselves. Calling themselves the Brightly Shining, they appeared as brightly glowing dots when visible. They were capable of generating tremendous amounts of heat and appeared as clouds of glowing specks when inflamed. They were intelligent as individuals and were able to combine their intelligence when acting as a group.
I first met the Brightly Shining in a bank. The IRS had frozen my assets, although I didn't know it at the time, and I was trying to find out what had caused recent checks to bounce. Three bank robbers chose to try to rob the bank while I was in it. They ordered everybody to get down on the ground. I was slow to respond. When one of the thieves pointed his weapon at me, a cloud of Brightly Shining consumed him. They left nothing but ash perforated with many little tiny holes. I thought Rasputin had done this to protect me. I turned towards the other two. "Drop your weapons," I said. They pointed their weapons at me and suffered the same fate as their companion.
::What happened? The three who threatened you have been consumed, reduced to ash, but I have no idea what caused it.::
"I thought you destroyed them. If you didn't, who did?"
::I sensed nothing except a large number of very hot, bright specks that moved rapidly around and through their victims. Then they disappeared.::
[[We call ourselves the Brightly Shining. Each of us can appear in your universe as a small, hot object. We have decided to serve you.]]
"Rasputin, I have been contacted by a representative of what she calls the Brightly Shining. She says they have decided to serve me. Were you able to sense any of what she said to me?"
::I observed activity in your brain typical of listening to and interpreting speech and have been able to convert it into the message you heard. The voice seemed typical of a young woman's voice.::
"Yes, she sounded like a young woman. If you can hear her, I can continue my discussion with her without having to repeat what she says. Brightly Shining, why have you decided to serve me?"
[[You live in a universe that is one of many in what we call a multiverse. You suggested to the creature occupying your multiverse, which you called the Prototype, that she should investigate that which might exist beyond the six dimensions of your multiverse. Because of your suggestion, she discovered that there are many multiverses, a few of which are occupied by creatures similar to Prototype. Your suggestion led to my joining the community of prototypes. It has long been our custom to serve those responsible.]]
"Rasputin can hear you talking to me. Can anybody else hear what you tell me?"
[[The other Brightly Shining can hear us, but they are as secretive as I have always been. No other probe machines can hear our conversations. Nor can the Healer-Destroyers. Your soul will eventually absorb any change to you that results from our talks, but they cannot directly hear us talk. Information is power; be careful what you tell others about us.]]
"I am becoming secretive, too. I don't want to share my secrets with anybody. I can't hide the fact that you exist but I don't have to explain anything about you. But please don't kill any more people. Rasputin can protect me. Let people think he did so in this case. I don't plan to explain to anybody else about you."
The police arrived. Several witnesses told them that the robbers had turned to ash moments after I spoke to them. They had a suspect, even if they couldn't understand what had happened.
One older man dressed as a civilian approached me directly while several of those in uniform took up positions around me. He said, "Drop your weapon."
I said, "I don't have any weapon."
My answer shouldn't have upset him but he did become angry. "Drop your weapon," he repeated, "and place your hands on top of your head."
I placed my hands on my head as directed. The circle of uniformed police moved in. They handcuffed me and took me to their station, placing me in a room with a long table and four straight-backed chairs. Taking turns, they repeatedly asked me how and why I had burned the three crooks. Despite finding no weapon, they continued asking me what I had used and how and where I had hidden it. Denial accomplished nothing. They didn't believe my story.
I refused to get angry. I didn't raise my voice. I attempted to answer their questions as clearly and completely as possible. After a few hours the man or men questioning me would be replaced by a fresh team. I didn't ask for anything: no phone call, no water or coffee, no food, no bathroom break, no chance to sleep. My continued calm, alert confidence annoyed them. They kept up their interrogation all day and most of the night. Then, despite the total lack of any evidence of wrongdoing, they arrested me.
The sun was rising as two uniformed officers drove me from the police station to the county jail. They took away all of my personal possessions, especially my clothes, giving me an orange jail coverall in their place. They took my hand metrics and finger prints by placing my hands together, spread out, on the rose-colored surface of the measuring device. When they photographed me they also recorded my iris patterns. Then they injected an identifying transponder deep into my left shoulder. They were impersonal but not particularly gentle.
I was escorted deep into the prison. At the elevator and at their gates and check points they made me stare into a camera to check my irises even though the transponder was enough to identify me.
Many cells were empty, the rest having a single occupant. But the cell they escorted me to was packed. Five very large and muscular men were waiting. A welcoming committee.
They wanted to play rough. They couldn't imagine how rough I could play. As the door was opened, I ordered Rasputin to make any touch from me cause them burning, agonizing, lingering pain. Soon they learned to avoid any contact with me.
There was one chair, a small table and two bunks. I moved to the bunks and sat in the middle of the lower bed. The five moved to stand at the opposite wall, as far from me as they could get. Having Rasputin open the door, I gestured to the group that they should depart. They lost no time.
Alarm bells sounded when the sensors discovered prisoners out of their cells. "Rasputin," I said silently to him alone, "give them some extra indications to follow. I want them to believe that somebody they fear is wandering around in their jail. A ghost. Keep them chasing ghosts until they let me out of here. And play with the doors, opening those that should be closed and closing those they want to open, not all of them but enough to be highly annoying and disconcerting."
I took a nap while the jailors tried to control an impossible situation. It was a short nap because other prisoners became upset when it appeared they would get no breakfast. I had Rasputin leave things alone until we were taken out to the chow hall and I was able to eat, then to annoy them just enough to keep them on their toes.
All of the cell doors opened, the occupants stepping out to form a line by the door to the stairway. Everybody, guards and prisoners alike, allowed me lots of space. A pair of guards with a portable scanner walked down the line, making sure everybode was accounted for, a rapid procedure. Then the doorway opened and we filed down two flights to the chow hall door. We lined up for another quick check and the door was opened and we filed inside.
A serving line separated the chow hall from the kitchen. We each took a plastic tray, plastic plate, plastic spoon and plastic cup. I served myself three pancakes, passed up the scrambled eggs, took a bowl of cooked cereal. There were trays of bacon and sausage, each with a sign that said, "Limit 2". I took three sausages, crumbled six bacon slices into the cereal.
I tasted the coffee before serving myself a full cup. It was surprisingly decent, so I didn't bother with cream or sweetener.
Each of the tables would accomodate up to ten people; most had eight. Some of the more remote tables were empty and I seated myself at one of them. Only one man chose to join me, and he politely asked my permission before seating himself opposite me. His beard was touched with gray but his hair was deep black and wavy. His skin was a medium brown. His dark eyes sparkled with amusement.
"I'm Andrew," I said.
"We usually don't exchange names or life stories here, but I'm Robert." His voice was resonant, deep and mellow. Neither of us offered to shake hands. "I know who you are and what you've been doing. You brought the ghost of Mic O'Shay back to haunt this prison."
I rolled a sausage up in one of the pancakes and took a bite. "Who?"
"Mic O'Shay. A mass murderer. He killed a couple of guards here before they sent him to the state prison, then killed another guard and a couple of inmates before they finally put him to death."
"When was this?"
"He was executed about five years ago. Several of the guards recognized him, the scanners recognized his transponder, and they even got a positive ID on his iris scan ... but they have been unable to find him."
A white-uniformed server left us a plastic pitcher of coffee. I filled both of our cups. "That sounds like a good choice of ghost to keep these people on their toes after what they had set up for me. They had a reception committee that was going to beat the hell out of me. I didn't want to just protect myself, I wanted to punish somebody. I've been doing that a lot lately. I don't know why.
"Anybody who touches me will suffer burning pain for about twenty minutes. If they hit me or I hit them, the pain becomes much more intense and lasts much longer, up to six hours. Call it the Hell Touch. You've got it now, for your own protection, in case somebody doesn't appreciate you talking to me. It'll last until they release you."
"You didn't know about the Mic? I thought you caused him."
"Not directly. A creature I call Rasputin takes care of the details. I just specify the broad picture. I decided to stay in their jail, but I don't have to make life easy for them. The haunting will stop when they release me ... or I decide to escape. It's just the beginning. I've just about decided I'm going to have to get the police and other authorities to stop bothering me."
"I can't imagine your Rasputin finding anybody better designed to frighten the guards and inmates of this jail than O'Shea. He was a genius who loved frightening people."
I finished the last of my cereal and was about to fill my cup again when we all got the signal that breakfast was over. We dumped our trays, plates and other stuff in the trash, then filed past the checkpoints on our way back to our cells. When everybody was accounted for we were locked in again.
I was belatedly given my phone call, which I used to call my lawyers. After explaining my situation and stating that I was innocent of any wrongdoing, I asked him to do just one thing: raise hell.
We were given a sack lunch and our choice of juice or soda. I took a cranberry juice. The sack contained a sandwich, a banana and a small bag of cookies. The sandwich appeared to contain some kind of fake meat, probably turkey disguised as ham, with a fake cheese that was probably based on soy bean protein. I ate the banana to accompany my juice and discarded the rest.
A few inmates were allowed to work or exercise or visit the library. I was left in my cell.
Early in the evening we were paraded back to the chow hall. The main course appeared to be tuna helper or something similar. I settled for a meaty vegetable soup and a salad. I grabbed a couple of hard crusted rolls to dip in the soup, which turned out to be a wise decision. They were still warm from the oven.
Robert was my only company for the meal. He had three stitches closing a new cut under his left eye. As he sat down, he said, "Thank you for your hell touch. Without it they probably would have killed me."
"I was hoping you wouldn't need it. Too bad I was wrong."
"The guy who hit me in the face was still screaming when they took him away. I managed to kick a couple of them and got one with my elbow when he tried to grab me. Strange thing, though -- they didn't have any problem when they sewed up my face. Was it the rubber gloves they used?"
"No, Rasputin could tell they were trying to help you and turned off the touch."
"Well, it helped me. Except for my little problem, everything seemed pretty quiet. Are you through beating on them."
"That's up to them. If they leave me alone, Rasputin will bother them just enough to remind them to leave me alone. If they start something, all hell will break loose. Meanwhile, they let me talk to my lawyer and he is doing his best to make things hot for them on the outside."
"Good. For the first time, I'm starting to enjoy my time in jail."
"Would you like to stay?"
"Hell, no. I've got five months to go. Then I'd like to never see this place again."
"I'll give you a job when you get out. What do you do?"
"Well, I did teach high school math and physics before I wound up here. I guess I'll do something else when I get out."
"Actually, I can use teachers. I'm starting up some refuges for kids in trouble and I want them to be able to get an education."
"Damn. That sounds super. I hope I'm not just dreaming all this."
"Hell, even your time in here is going to help you if you want to help out in the refuges. Some of those kids need a firm hand."
While I waited in jail, unable to get bail because of my frozen assets, somebody who looked exactly like me committed two murders and a rape. I was brought to court accused of five murders and a rape. The IRS also took their bogus case against me to court, adding tax evasion and evading arrest to the charges pending. This annoyed me.
When brought to court, rather than claiming to be innocent or guilty, I told the court that I was beyond their jurisdiction. That didn't go over very well. The judge insisted that the court did have jurisdiction over me and that I must plead either innocent or guilty. When I refused to cooperate, he took that as an indication that my plea was one of innocence.
"Your Honor," I told the judge, "the police and the IRS were operating under illusions induced by beings from other universes, who also created false documents. I cannot prove any of this without using illusions of my own". The judge didn't appreciate this any more than he did my statement concerning jurisdiction. "The three deaths in the bank were beyond my control. I was in jail at the time the two murders and the rape were committed. You cannot judge me because you and all of the witnesses have had your minds tampered with. You cannot enforce any action you decide to take against me. You can't keep me locked up. I intend to use my full powers to convince you that I am and should be above human law."
Some of the charges were dismissed immediately: two murders, the rape and evading arrest, which I could not have committed while in jail. I would have to defend myself against the remaining charges. When the judge ordered the marshal to bind me and escort me back to jail, I stood and a cloud of Brightly Shining surrounded me. The marshal got stung when he attempted to follow orders and stopped. By the time he turned to the judge to ask for instructions, I had turned the judge bright green with large purple dots. This caused an uproar, which the judge did not appreciate. Although he was obviously furious, his face didn't change color.
The judge started banging his gavel and shouting for order. I had Rasputin take away his voice and the use of his arms. I silenced the remainder of those in the courtroom who were making noise so I could be heard when speaking in a normal voice.
"Your honor," I said, "I have given you and all other judges a distinctive marking. All police, including marshals, will now wear black and yellow vertical stripes." The marshal turned the color I had named. I continued, "All agents and agencies attempting to freeze my assets will wear red and green diagonal stripes." A man at the back of the courtroom turned the indicated colors. "They have no jurisdiction over me and my money. I will take all of their money away from them until they agree to stop bothering me. I will color other officials as I see fit."
I stood and slowly walked out of the room. The closed door turned to ash as I approached it.
There was a riot going on outside of the courtroom. Gaily decorated officials were unable to restore order until I appeared. Rasputin pushed everybody out of my way harmlessly, this time opening the doors before the Brightly Shining could destroy them. I decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant using federal funds, rather than my own. I placed the remainder of the federal government's assets, all of their coins, paper money and gold, in a cage at the South Pole. I shut down all of their computers.
I had chosen a steak house, so I ordered a lobster and their most expensive steak as well as a pitcher of beer. I informed the waiter that I wanted a calm, peaceful, lingering meal and that I would be annoyed if anybody bothered me.
Vividly striped men in police uniforms arrived, a momentary source of amusement. Four of them, enraged, charged towards my table, falling in a pile when I blocked the nerves in their lower backs and their legs would no longer move. The two who drew their weapons got their fingers burned as the guns were melted into scrap by the flaming mites protecting me. When I disabled their legs, their bladders and bowels lost control, releasing their stores of refuse and raising a stink. Their humiliation was complete. I told them to remove their weapons, which I had Rasputin disassemble, restoring their lower body functions when they complied. They left the restaurant at my suggestion. Now I was allowed to complete my meal in peace. I dragged it out as long as was comfortable.
A crowd had assembled outside the restaurant. They kept their distance as I emerged. I recognized members of the three teams of television reporters that had covered my reincarnation and I motioned them over to talk. "I'm ready to give you a press conference," I told them.
"What, right here?"
"Well, I am open to suggestions. I can stop traffic and hold the conference in the street, if you would prefer, or there is a school a couple of blocks from here where we can talk. Does anybody have a better idea?"
As we marched slowly to the school, I spoke with the commentators for the three TV crews. First I thanked them for their previous coverage. Then I asked each of them to tell me a little about themselves. Then we discussed the format of the conference, agreeing that each of them would make an opening statement followed by my statement and a period of questions and answers. The school had an ample lawn in front, so we held our meeting there.
The first commentator gave a review of the day's events: my decoration of court and police officials followed by my departure from the courthouse. The second commentator went back to my reincarnation and mentioned the great powers I possessed. The third commentator talked about my personal life up to the time I was chosen. Then I got my turn.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am once more the victim of actions taken against me by Chosen Ones who inhabit other universes. They have with powers like my own but a lot more skill and practice in their use. Their first attack against me resulted in my death. I remained dead for two nights before being restored to life. I punished them for that act. Several of them lost their powers as a result. But they are more powerful now and if they can no longer punish me directly they can still use our legal system against me. They create illusions and they falsify documents; they may later discover other mischief.
"I've given mankind a new hope. The dinosaurs died millions of years ago when a comet or asteroid crashed into the planet, creating a cloud that blocked heat from the sun, causing a period of cold. I can open the way to other universes with new planets we can migrate to. There are many planets available, as many as we could ever want, as much like Earth as I can make them. I have started preparing 60,000 such places, once lifeless, by introducing the bacteria, plants and animals we find on our own wonderful planet. The process of preparing a new world takes a long time, but I have accelerated that process on several worlds and they are ready now.
"The alien tricksters have used our legal system against me. I cannot allow that to continue; it would disrupt your lives as much as mine. Therefore I have declared myself free and immune from all human legal systems. As the first step in the process, I have marked several segments of our governments everywhere, the courts, police and financial agents and agencies, until such time as they agree that I am and must remain above the law."
It was rather a short speech, but it was all I could manage with all of the cheering that broke out. I had popular support, at least in my home town. The courts, police and IRS were even less popular than I had thought and made good targets for me to take action against.
When the furor died down enough, I was asked, "What about the three men in the bank that you burned to ashes?"
"First, I didn't do it, nor did I order it done. I have other ways to protect myself against bullets. I don't want to be murdered again. There is another intelligent race who call themselves the Brightly Shining. They decided to protect and serve me. Rasputin, my probe machine, was completely unaware they existed until they destroyed those three men. I spoke with them afterwards and they have agreed not to kill humans when there is an alternative. Rasputin is unable to do anything about them -- he can't even detect them when they are not glowing."
A black limousine pulled up in front of the school. The man who got out had bright blue skin decorated with red stars, which is how I had marked politicians. The crowd greeted him with sustained boos. He walked over gingerly, as if expecting the earth to open up or the sky to fall. Introducing himself as the Lieutenant Governor, he told me, "Sir, the Governor would like to speak with you at your earliest convenience. He is on his way here now by air."
"It's been a long and interesting day. I'll meet him tomorrow morning in the lobby of his hotel, if you'll tell me where he'll be staying. And as a professional courtesy, I'll restore his natural colors and yours until we conclude our meeting."
He gazed with obvious relief at the now pale skin of his hands and said, "He will be at the Holiday Inn on the Bay."
"Inform the mayor, too. She hasn't come out in public yet, but if she decides to attend I will also extend the color restoration to her. I'm sure she will be greatly relieved at the news."
Including the Lieutenant Governor in our conference, I continued answering questions for another hour, after which I got the Lieutenant Governor to drop me off at home in his limousine. Sure I was the topic of the news broadcasts, I declined to watch the 11:00 news programs and went straight to bed after blocking incoming calls from my telephone.
It didn't take long for me to win the support of my state and city. The meeting with governor and mayor resulted in orders being given to leave me alone, with laws to be enacted eventually. It went smoothly, and state and local officials were greatly relieved to have their natural colors restored.
The federal government proved almost as stubborn as foreign governments. The Army was mobilized against me, so I immobilized them. Their aircraft wouldn't fly, their boats and motor vehicles wouldn't move. When troops were ordered to march against me, I blocked the nerves in their backs that allowed them to walk and to control certain sphincter muscles. I removed all of the radioactive material from nuclear bombs. I destroyed all of the priming devices and explosive chemicals in weapons from small arms to large rockets. Chemical weapons became inert.
Biological weapons were a different story. I destroyed all stockpiles of disease in all of the arsenals in the world, but there was a natural reservoir of disease from which new weapons could be created. I had to wipe out all of the natural reserves too: anthrax, typhus, typhoid, cholera ... everything that had tormented mankind in the past two thousand years. In addition, I wiped out rabies, Hansen's disease and the virus for the AIDS disease. That got a mixed reaction.
First, people were jubilant to be free of these ancient pests for the first time ever. Then they started asking for relief from cancer, birth defects, heart disease and a number of other common ailments. In a press conference I told everybody watching that a mechanism was already in place to take care of some of these infirmities. I would not allow these diseases to be exported to other worlds. Anybody who visited another universe, even for the short five day minimum, would return free of disease, cancer and arterial deposits. Information from fifty billion years of medical study would be provided to those who wanted to work on prevention and treatment of other ailments.
Travel to other universes became very popular very quickly.
One by one, governments gave in or fell, to be replaced by more favorable ones. It was all over and order was restored within a year.