History Girl leaned back on the Ergosphere's couch and told him the whole about how her parents were killed, how she deduced the existence of the Temple, how she rejected the Temple, and was eventually caught by its agents. She then described being pulled into the future which the Ergosphere knew as the present. She went on to tell him about a "school of wonders" and the "futuristic girl" who granted her the gift of her guns and her S.T.E.E.D., as well as her freedom.
"Where I come from, it was the lawless land," she said. "But this year looks to me like another lawless land. Sure, you got your sheriffs with their badges, but you got medicine that kills, folk killin' other folk in the streets, and these electric machines with the moving pictures putting funny ideas in people's heads. It's the Wild West all over again, ain't it?"
"And the Temple?"
"I tracked down a man in Reno. Folk call him a con-spir-acy theo-rist, whatever that means. He said there was a cowpoke named Donnelly, who had some kinda darkness in his head. Didn't understand much, but I thought it could the Temple up to something."
The Ergosphere nodded. "You're not just good in a fight, you're smarter than you let on."
"'Course I am," she said. "My mama and my daddy raised me right."
"The problem is, I came to Vegas hunting Donnelly as well. He certainly had issues, but it had to do with a whole other universe. I saw no indication the Temple is involved."
"Sassafras," History Girl swore, shaking her head. "Another trail gone cold. If you ain't kidnapping me, then leave me somewhere in the desert outside a' town. I can make camp by myself and then hunt down a varmint for my dinner."
The Ergosphere sat down next to History Girl. "That futuristic girl who befriended you? She and a few others like her are taking on the Temple. There's an all-American girl still learning what it means to be all-American, there's a lonely guy turning his dreams into reality, and there's a sad old man questioning whether his life is truly worthwhile. They're starting a team of some sort – God help them – and they could use your help. You've got the tech, you've got the brains, and you've got the attitude."
History Girl looked him up and down, and then said, "Seems that everything you're saying to me is what you mean to be saying to yourself."
"I'm not..."
"What's your interest in the Temple, Mr. Ego?"
"That's Ergosphere, comma, the."
"Answer the question, mister."
"I've traveled far and wide, farther and wider than even a time-traveler like you could possibly know. I have seen wonders and beauty beyond imagining. My enemies are those who seek replace beauty and wonder with their phony, artificial idea of beauty, destroying that which is truly wondrous. If that's what the Temple is, then I will make myself a nuisance to the Temple."
History Girl smiled, and playfully punched him in the arm. "When I first came to this time, the futuristic girl let me go. She gave me my freedom so I could follow my own path, so I could go wherever life takes me."
"And?"
"Life's takin' me to you, and it's takin' you toward the Temple and to them other super folk. When you ask me to join the four of them, you're really looking for someone to give you permission to join them. Am I right?"
The Ergosphere couldn't breathe for a second. All the sarcastic quips left his thoughts, as did all his deeper obsessions about the unending vastness of all multiverses. There was nothing left for him but to laugh.
"Yes, you're right," he said. "You really are a smart one, aren't you?"
"Like I said, I'm ahead o' my time."
* * * *
Two nights later, Sam Woodstock, dressed once again in his full Dreamsmith outfit, stood on the roof of his apartment building, staring right at the Ergosphere. Sam's cape conveniently hid the prehensile tale he'd woken up with that morning.
"You met History Girl? And you just let her go?" Sam said. "Despite everything she knows? And everything she can do?"
"I'm in."
"What if she gets hurt or arrested while wandering around like she's been? Does she even have a place to live? What if... Wait, what did you say?"
"Those coordinates you told me about. Out in the ocean, right? And there was something about a submarine? I've got my ship. I can take you all there."
"Yes, of course. Let's do that. But what about History Girl?"
"She's moved on. Greener pastures and all that. History Girl has, somewhat appropriately, decided not to dwell on the past."
Sam thought for a second. "What now?"
"Must I constantly state the obvious? Call U.S. Amy and tell her we're heading out to Atlantic Ocean. We're going to show those Temple bastards that they've got not four but five superheroes after them."
Sam adjusted his hat. "Five it is."
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END OF CHAPTER 16
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