Deae Ex Machinis: Omega 
by MrGreyMan thegreygreyman@gmail.com



"Is it better for Superman to rule, or for everyone to have his powers?"
-Anonymous

Heather decided not to talk to Adam for a long while after that. Even going so
far as refusing to debate him in Mr. Wilde's class. The other boys at that
school seemed to take this as some kind of cue. Heather was also realizing
that something about her new physiology was really affecting the boys in
school, and it seemed to go beyond a simple physical attraction. Many had
taken to following her around, and when she was in a room all eyes always
seemed to drift her way. She resolved to wear baggy clothing as often as
possible to avoid as much unwanted attention as she could.

She had started going to the gym to explain her new body. The weights there,
of course, held no real challenge for her. She had found ways to make it look
like she was really exerting herself. She was also slick with sweat by the end
of one of her workouts, and all the guys in the room seemed to be spellbound.

For better or worse, Fred had taken it upon himself to act as her bodyguard of
sorts. Heather still had nothing but disdain for the boy that assaulted her,
but she did nothing to discourage him protecting her either. If anything, she
was relived she did not have to deal with the sycophants the other boys had
become.

During this time away from Adam she started working on her own plans for her
nanites. She now realized that Adam was probably very Spartan in their design.
She had not fully appreciated his complacent attitude until their latest
fight. Heather first needed to find out how they worked, which turned out to
be an easy task. Instead of wasting time while in the gym, she used her daily
workout sections as a kind of mediation to look inward. She started having the
nanites experiment on one another while she pretend to push herself
exercising.

At night Heather researched how to make them more robust. She discovered that
by enriching them with gold she could have greater control over them and
communicate with them over a longer distance. Also, her current nanites became
inert or fell apart if they were outside her body for any length of time, but
ones with gold in them never broke down.

Heather had discovered this quite accidentally one day when the nanites had
inexplicably devoured a gold necklace she was wearing that her mother had
given her. While she found the loss of the necklace upsetting, the discovery
was miraculous. Unfortunately, gold was not something easily come by, which
might have been why Adam never bothered using it. Heather resolved to acquire
more of the highly conductive yellow metal later; she was also experimenting
with other materials.

Heather had also ordered more of the weight-gaining formula. Her new body took
in even more substance than before and she needed to drink the stuff to
maintain her strength. Since she no longer wanted to deal with Adam, she set
up a false address in a remote part of town to have the powder delivered.
Every Wednesday she would drive out to collect it. It was on one such
excursion that Katy, Fred's former girlfriend, knifed her.

Heather had known that Fred had broken up with Katy after the night she
"counseled" him, and while other girls at school were jealous of Heather, Katy
had been openly resentful of her. Heather had not thought much of it, and had
not realized that Katy would go so far as to follow her and learn her routine.
That night, Katy had left school early to wait for Heather. Katy did not know
what Heather got every Wednesday, she just wanted Heather dead. Had Heather
been alert, Katy never would have been able to get so close to her, but
Heather had been focusing more on her nanites than what was happening around
her. =========

Katy's cheeks were wet with tears, with heavy mascara streaked down her pale,
almost white, complexion. Katy's normally combed silky long blond hair was in
wispy unkempt kinks. The knife she was holding plunged deep into Heather's gut
as big brown eyes saw into wet blue ones. All Heather glimpsed in those
ice-cold globes was untempered hate. Katy was completely convinced that
Heather was the sole source of her anguish. A smile spread out on that pained
face as her gold hoop earnings glinted in the failing light.

But, Heather's blood had barely splashed onto Katy's cheerleader outfit before
the wound was closing. Heather's unearthly strong, deft hands wrapped around
the wrists twisting that blade. Katy's golden bracelets were crushed as the
knife was skillfully wrenched from her painted fingers. Heather had been
studying self-defense, and this time her speed and strength made locking
Katy's arm behind her head an easy task. Twisting her assailant around to face
away from her, one perfect hand was all that was needed to utterly subdue the
crazed cheerleader. Katy struggled futilely against Heather's unyielding iron
grip.

"You fuck-bitch! He's mine! Slut-whore! Put him back, douche-eater! He'll
never love you, cum-compacter! Skank-cunt-sucker-tant-licking-hyper-fucker,"
Katy railed.

Heather's wound was healed as the string of profanity poured out of Katy's
lipstick-stained mouth. Her thrashing was becoming more violent. Katy's arm
was locked behind her head in such a way that only by breaking her own arm
could she free herself, but Heather was now worried might Katy would do just
that, such were her frantic ravings. Not knowing what else to do Heather
placed her free hand over Katy's forehead and, as her nanites swarmed from
palm to face, Katy became calm and collapsed in Heather's arms.

Fred's mind had been like a vast calm cold, so devoid of feelings it was like
a slimy dead thing. Katy's mind was alive, chaotic, hot, and tight. Emotions
that felt like burning knives cut across Heather's psyche. Everything was so
close together that there could be no escape from the raging pandemonium.
Katy's thoughts were like painful shards of glass, and it took all of
Heather's will not to recoil from them. Again, she pushed deeper into Katy's
mind.

Heather saw the damaged little girl that was Katy. Raped by her father, she
had lived in constant fear. Young Katy wished her abusive father would die,
and one day in a car crash, he did. Katy's fear turned to guilt, which mutated
inside of her. The image of her father became that of a caring man, and that
pain he had inflicted on her was a manifestation of his love. Katy was a true
masochist, which was why the greatest day in her life was when she met Fred.
Fred had given Katy what she wanted. He loved to hurt her and she loved him
for it. Their sex was violent and Katy found it full of passion. In her own
way she had found joy dating a psychopath like Fred, but that all changed the
day Fred changed.

Heather realized that in correcting Fred she had also made him understand how
screwed up his relationship with Katy was. Fred had dumped her immediately,
telling her to get some help. Katy rightfully blamed Heather. She saw the way
that Fred had started treating Heather and thought that she had taken her
lover from her. Fred had left her as her father had, and it was more than Katy
could bear.

Heather sighed as she laid Katy on the ground. Heather knew she needed to fix
Katy as she had Fred; maybe she even could get them back together. "This time
they'll be in a healthy relationship instead of whatever their sadomasochistic
thing was," Heather said to herself. She knew she would need the help of the
Internet to counsel Katy. Heather had no computer with her. As she looked down
at Katy's gold jewelry an idea came to her. Heather had her nanites absorb
Katy's rings, earnings, and bracelets. Using these newly upgraded nanites, she
linked to the informational highway without any other interface. Heather was
briefly tempted to just change Katy to remove her variations and to fix her
completely; but Heather refused to change Katy the easy way.

As she had done before, Heather hacked into psychiatrists' computers. Again
she looked into cases similar to Katy's and again Heather found ways of
treating Katy. Again she downloaded the information into Katy. Heather was
much more efficient doing this than she had been with Fred. In mere minutes,
decades of counseling was pushed into Katy, as well as ways of winning back
Fred now that he was adjusted. As she finished, Heather started to feel
overwhelmingly hungry.

Katy's blue eyes opened. She instantly reached out and hugged Heather. "Thank
you thank you thank you," she tearfully cried.

Heather pried herself away from the emotional girl. "Why don't you go get us
some burgers? And, lots of water; I'm parched," Heather said. "I need to load
these things into my car." She gestured at the weight-gaining powder.

Katy nodded enthusiastically. Heather did not want to eat a meal with this
girl, but she was very hungry. "Oh, I had to ... borrow your jewelry. I hope
that's alright." Katy just nodded again as she ran off to fulfill Heather's
request.

Heather again came home late that night. She had used the water Katy had got
to mix more of the formula for herself and she was no longer ravenous. She
still was hungry, of course nothing could stop that, but her appetite was back
to its manageable level.

Her father had been waiting up for her. Heather held new appreciation for him.
As she came in, Heather remembered how much pain he had suffered when their
mother died. On impulse she reached out and hugged her father, who - a little
surprised at his daughter's sudden sentimentality - hugged her back.

Heather knew her father hid it well, but like Heather herself, he must still
feel it each day. 'I fixed those two degenerates,' Heather thought to herself
as she hugged her father, 'Why not do the same for my principled father.'

Heather reached out into her father's mind. When she did, terrorized, she
instantly tried to break free from it and found she could not. Of all the
minds she had seen her father's horrified her the most.

No, it was not because her father was a repressed pervert; it was neither
because he cheated on his wife nor because he held some deep dark secret. Mr.
Halcyona was exactly what he appeared to be: a fine upstanding man that took
his family to church every Sunday. He loved his daughter and after his wife
died he had pushed himself to achieve great things in life so he could provide
for her. The pain of his wife's death lived with him always; he knew he would
never be able to love another as he had her. He had learned to use that pain,
that emptiness, as fuel to make himself a better person. He ran from that
anguish and kept running, always striving to be more than he was, trying his
best never to look back.

Katy's and Fred's minds had been anathema to Heather, but what was intolerable
yet enticing to Heather about her father's mind was that it was exactly like
her own. It was as if she was looking into her own soul as she looked into her
father's. She knew now why the nanites had been pushed to constantly improver
her; why she had never stopped to revel in her power, and that she never
would. She would always strive to greater heights and never look back...
unless she fixed it. She could no doubt lessen her father's pain, and if she
did, she would also be affected. She could not counsel her father without
counseling herself. In this physical and mental embrace they were linked,
their misery feeding off each other. Their shared trauma reflected back and
forth between them, amplifying as it did.

Desperately, Heather tried again to break the cycle of torment she had created
between them. She found it impossible. Despite her physical strength and
towering intellect she was helpless before this mirror reflecting her own
flaws and emotions. Heather realized that the only way to escape was to
repent. However, if she counseled them both as she had Fred and Katy they
would lose their drive; their motivation would disappear. But, she knew there
was another way. There was only one way she could change her father without
changing herself.

Tears streamed down Heather's face as she pulled away from her father. He
looked at her bewildered. "What's wrong, Honey?" he asked dumbfounded, but his
daughter did not answer; she just ran to her room and slammed the door behind
her. All that could be heard issuing from behind that door was uncontrolled
sobs.

* * * * * * * * *

Back at school Heather had almost forgot to tell Fred to give Katy another
chance so engrossed was she with her new ability to absorb the information all
around her. Heather had buried herself in that knowledge, trying to forget
what had happened in the past by looking to the future. Her drive and
commitment had only been strengthened by the mistake she had made with her
father. She was beginning to formulate a plan. She was understanding what her
life should become, what her duty to humanity was. For their sake, she could
not allow herself to waver. But, before she fulfilled her destiny, as
valedictorian she had to give a speech at graduation.

With her new abilities writing and executing a speech should have been a
simple task, but Heather needed to forget what had happened with her father,
so she used this job as an escape; she threw herself into this task with a
sense of reckless abandon.

She studied motivational speeches, but quickly grew bored of the simple tricks
used in them. Instead she dedicated herself to studying the techniques used by
great world leaders. How they were able to drive their nation forward. Heather
learned that in the past true human power did not come from one's self, but
from how one can influence others. She delved deep into sociology and
physiology. Her experiences with Fred and Katy helped immensely. She used them
as two ends of a human spectrum and, from those boundary conditions, starting
mapping out the middle. Having actually touched another's psyche, Heather had
greater experience into the minds of others than any human could.

What to say and how to say it, body positioning, instinct, pitch, tone, rhythm
... . She soon realized that it was this communication that separated humans
from other creatures. Human beings could quickly and exactly share their
experiences; giving them an advantage over other animals. Heather dissected
the way people communicate and then rebuilt her own theories and understanding
of it. She came to the understanding that complex communication was God's gift
to man to separate him from beasts; therein lay the soul. All of this she
incorporated into her speech.

In school she learned that a side effect of her new specialty seemed to be the
inherent ability to get people to agree with her. When she was not being
careful she found people unconsciously nodding in acquiesce with whatever she
was saying. The fact that she now was undeniably the smartest and prettiest
girl in school did not help matters either.

When the day finally did arrive, no one remembered much about it. They came to
graduation and Heather gave her speech. But it spoke to the primal essence of
the audience. They were spellbound and captivated by what she said and did on
the stage. That speech both motivated the audience to become better people and
helped them understand themselves. There was no applause to that speech, just
a content calm and focus. The graduating class now knew what they wanted out
of life and how to get it. It was Heather's gift to them.

Adam confronted Heather at the end of graduation.

"What was that?" He asked in his direct manner.

Heather had inwardly forgiven Adam for the way he had acted at the barn, but
she had been so intent on the task of crafting the perfect speech that she had
not outwardly shown her amnesty to him. "Did you like it?" She asked, but she
did more than that. Conscientiously or unconsciously she was conveying to him,
using her new seductive abilities, that she wanted him to approve.

Which made his decisive "No" something of a shock. She blinked when she heard
it, a little confused.

In her most harmonic voice she tried again. "You didn't like it?" There was so
much meaning in each of her words; she was assaulting his senses, trying to
get him to agree, to approve.

"No, I did not. It was reminiscent of Hitler's 1939 Danzig speech."

Heather balked. "Did you just compare me to Hitler?" was all she could muster.

"I know what you've been studying this last month. I'm sure you know the
speech in question. Yes, while your content was very different from his..."

Heather cut him off. "I should say so; he was rallying the German people at
the start of World War Two."

"... But your mannerisms, the way you spoke, very similar," Adam continued.

Heather decided she didn't forgive Adam after all. "Do you have anything
constructive to say or did you just want to call me a Nazi?"

"I didn't mean for you to use your abilities like this."

"Like what? Motivating people? Making people better? Oh, I'm sorry, did I use
an 'ill-defined term?'" Heather said snidely.

Adam ignored the tone. "Your current actions are manipulative," he stated
matter-of-factly.

Heather sighed. "Adam, humans are chaotic. They need to be guided to the
light, and it is my duty to be the one to do it. I am simply helping them;
fixing them."

"Then we have a fundamental disagreement. I do not see humans as broken," Adam
stated; his green eyes glowed.

Heather suddenly realized she had been talking as if she was no longer human,
like Adam. Disgusted at both Adam and herself she said, "Look, we should just
agree to disagree." She pushed passed him and started walking away.

"But, then we are at an impasse," Adam said, following her. "We need to come
to terms."

Heather turned exasperated. "Why? Why do you need to argue with me over
everything? If you don't think humans are imperfect than why did you do this
to me?"

Now it was Adam's turn to balk. "I..." and he trailed off.

It pleased Heather to see Adam speechless for once; she continued on her way.

After graduation Heather needed to get ready for college. Her method of doing
this was a little different from others. You see, she decided that this was a
perfect opportunity to completely redo her looks. No one would know her at
Brown, and she was no longer bound by trying to make her changes look like a
natural progression. She had been preparing a large quantity of an
experimental vitamin supplement mix for this occasion.

Her father helped her pack the car, and they kissed each other goodbye. He had
not been the same since they had linked, and Heather still got teary-eyed most
times when she saw him. One of the drawbacks of having a perfect memory was
not being able to forget anything. But, they said their goodbyes and she was
on her way. Her car was filled mainly with the mix.

She stopped for the night at a motel. One of the benefits of being
super-strong was never needing help with your bags, even when they're filled
with incredibly dense superfoods.

Once in the motel room she sat on the bed and went over her new body plan in
her mind. She was having doubts about this course of action after her debate
with Adam, not because he had made any points she agreed with, but because she
had spoken to him as if she wasn't human any more. The new body she was
planning would look human on the outside, but would not be anything like a
human on the inside.

Her brain would be so much more powerful than a supercomputer. She would have
perfect control over her voice and posture. Thus, it would allow for feats
even greater than what she had preformed on graduation day with her speech.
She would also be impossibly strong, superdense, and immortal. She would
function completely different from any living creature on the planet. It was
the combination of all of her current knowledge. And the scariest part of it
was that she knew that once she had undergone this change she would no doubt
become smart enough to conceive of an even greater more powerful mind and
body. She had come to understand that there was no limit to what she could
become. Each step she made was just one along a never-ending path. Her desire
to become better would never - and could never - be quenched.

But, she could end this now. She could stop here; remain human.

Sighing, Heather shook her head. She had meant what she had said to Adam. She
knew it was her destiny to run forward to the future, pulling humanity with
her. She began to gorge herself on what she had brought. Much of it was in
fact normally inedible, but she would need the minerals to create her inhuman
body. More and more she ate, feasting and stuffing herself; her stomach once
again expanding to accommodate all that she was shoving into it. Heather
almost hoped that now, finally, she would feel full, but knew that hope to be
what it truly was: a pipe dream.

She needed to eat everything here before she began her transformation. It took
longer than she had expected, but finally she was ready. Her taut belly was so
engorged it touched the floor even while she was standing.

Closing her eyes she could feel her golden nanites flowing through her. She
could see every part of herself. She paused again, savoring this feeling,
this... being human. Then, she gave the order, and the old Heather a started
to slide away, making room for the new, better, Heather Halcyona. She fell to
her knees in the center of the motel room.

Her organs shifted and morphed. Her bones and skin hardened. Her mind gained
ever-increasing complexity. Every part of her insides was affected by this
change. Her belly shrank as the building material was used to construct this
perfect structure. The guess and check method of natural selection had no part
in this evolution. This was planned start to finish; a body designed by a
superior intelligence to be superior.

The internal changes were much more drastic than the external ones, but the
outer ones were nonetheless impressive. Her internal changes required a
larger, more robust outer body. Her hips widened even more, and her shoulders
broadened and thickened. Her muscles increased in size and definition, while
somehow becoming even more feminine.

Some of the alterations she made were purely cosmetic: She had planned for her
waist to become impossibly narrow even while her abs and core gained superb
strength. Her legs lengthened and she grew taller. Her hair went from brown to
auburn, falling over her ever more powerful shoulders in voluminous waves. Her
nails and lashes grew longer and stronger, choice examples of womanhood, while
her breasts became unrivaled examples of perfection.

On the floor of the motel room slick with sweat, Heather's
more-than-stupendous body heaved with true exertion; the time first she had
felt fatigue in months ... and likely the last. Her golden nanites worked,
crafting the body that mankind would weep to see. She felt like howling, but
restrained herself. Her discipline and control had grown with the rest of her.
She was no longer remotely mortal; she was something so much more.

The changes were coming slower now. Finally, the little golden machines had
finished their mistress's will.

Ms. Halcyona opened her sparkling emerald eyes as she felt her hunger wax once
more. On her knees in a breathless voice that could only be described as
angelic the newly forged goddess spoke: "Praise be to God. Thy will be done."

From that moment on Heather Halcyona's life became a blur of activity. Each
step was planned and executed by a mind that mere humans - like you, dear
reader, and me - could not hope to understand. Life itself became a game of
chess, and from this point Ms. Halcyona was terminally one move ahead. Adam,
Ms. Halcyona's only real peer, had been accepted to MIT, which was only an
hour away from Brown but it might as well have been the moon.

Everything in Ms. Halcyona's life accelerated as she blitzed her way through
college. Her charisma and personal magnetism were unequaled. No one could - or
would - deny her anything, not that she requested something of someone that
they would not have done willingly for a heavenly, compelling, and intelligent
woman regardless.

Ms. Halcyona established herself as a force of positive change. She was the
big woman on campus and everyone knew it. She was top of all her classes and
quite the activist, but still found time to get to the gym an hour every day.
She was strong enough to crush the weights she lifted, of course, but still
put on a show of exerting herself. Due to the open buffet policy at the
school, she was also eating the college out of her tuition. Everyone at Brown
knew her, and she knew everyone. Faculty and students were always surprised
when she called them by name even when she had never met them before, as if
she had a database in her head. She knew how to make other people feel
special; Heather had gone from a mousy girl to Ms. Halcyona, a woman you would
trust with your deepest secrets.

While she was working to establish herself at Brown, she was also working to
establish herself on the world stage. Her metamorphosis allowed for a quicker
accumulation of wealth. She could buy and sell stocks in her sleep, as the
saying goes, but she didn't sleep anymore. With her new and improved mind she
was literately always trading, as her brain was now designed for multitasking.
She had petitioned the university for a private dorm room, but quickly moved
into an off-campus town house that she bought.

When she went home for holidays, she dyed her hair and put on brown contacts.
She still was incredibly different, but she was able to use her new
interpersonal skills to deflect questions. Her father was shocked how much his
daughter had changed in her first six months at school, but Ms. Halcyona
quickly set his mind at ease.

Needless to say Ms. Halcyona graduated in record time with a triple major in
modern world politics, biochemistry, and theater. She stayed on another year
to get her masters in international relations. Really, she used the extra year
to buy a controlling interest in a large agricultural company. She developed a
derivative of sugarcane that converted sunlight into food-energy more
efficiently than any plant ever before. It could grow in any climate and was
highly invasive. Ms. Halcyona held the patent for the genetic code of the
crop, and it quickly brought her company to the top of the food industry.

The plant, called 'healthyheather,' contained all the nutrition a human body
needed. Heather spent millions tweaking it, making sure it was prefect to meet
the dietary needs of everyone, especially her. Ms. Halcyona even developed an
aquatic strain so it could be grown in water acreage. Then, in an
unprecedented move on her 25th birthday, she released the patent into the
public domain. While this effectively destroyed her own company and her
credibility as a CEO, it had the ancillary effect of ending world hunger.

Despite Ms. Halcyona's actions as CEO, she still was quite rich; her own board
tried to sue her to prove she had gutted her own company for profit. Ms.
Halcyona simply made all of her private information public, and unequivocally
proved everything she had done to make her fortune was legal. She also knew
she would have to do that anyway when she ran for public office.

During this time Ms. Halcyona kept anticipating Adam to appear. She expected
him to come to her to make some shrewd argument about what she was doing. But
Adam had disappeared after graduating and, despite her attempts to keep tabs
on her old classmate, he had not been seen.

Ms. Halcyona's brilliant campaign quickly elected her as the youngest
congresswoman in history. Once in the House of Representatives she proved
adept at gaining bipartisan support and soon was elected Speaker. Congress was
more productive in one year than they had in decades past. Ms. Halcyona was
respected by both the House and the Senate for her beauty and brilliance; her
charm and cleverness. Using this political platform she was able to go on many
talk shows and was seen on television quite often. Soon she not only had the
respect of the House and the Senate, but of the people as well.

On television she would also talk about what changes she would make if she
were President. Soon, the people agreed that she should not have to wait ten
years to run, and with that mandate Ms. Halcyona was able to propose a
Constitution Amendment allowing someone as young as herself run for the
highest office. It passed both houses of Congress and in record time was
ratified by the States.

Ms. Halcyona had tried to track down the agency that Adam had mentioned as the
place of his nativity. She had found the government had funded the research
that was involved in his genesis, but it had lost that funding when it's prime
experiment vanished. She was starting to miss her one equivalent, but he
seemed to have stopped caring about her. So, as always, Heather buried
anything she might be feeling by facing the future. The void in her heart was
the very thing that fueled her irrevocable drive forward.

Ms. Halcyona's presidential campaign was, as you might expect, flawlessly
executed. It was easier for her to be elected the first Catholic female
president than it was for her to get the Constitutional Amendment passed
allowing her to run. At this point there were many conspiracy theories about
what Heather Halcyona was, but no one had yet be able to prove she was
anything other than an astonishingly persuasive, incredibly intelligent, and
undeniably attractive woman. But, that would change.

As president she spent her first term fixing all of the problems that plagued
the U.S. Unemployment dropped to less than 1% and economic growth boomed. She
was also active in the United Nations. She was always going to countries in
turmoil to try and find a peaceful solution.

Because Ms. Halcyona was exposed on such trips, there were two assassination
attempts on her life. Both failed because the assassins suddenly had an
epiphany. One reported that, as he had seen her face through the cross hairs
of his sniper rifle, he had felt the hand of Mohammed on his shoulder in that
instant. And he had sworn, under a lie detector, that this was true. He
immediately confessed and begged Ms. Halcyona for forgiveness, which she
granted after he turned in the rest of his terrorist cell.

Ms. Halcyona's popularity was to the point that no one would run against her.
Certainly, debating her on television was a very good way to end up looking
very stupid very quickly. Also, she was so loved by the country that anyone
running against her would be cast as the villain for the rest of one's career.
As such, Ms. Halcyona made her real power play in her second term.

This was the toughest sell of Ms. Halcyona's plan, which must have been why
she waited so long. She petitioned congress to allow her to "use" America's
gold reserves. Not spend them, but put them to use. She explained that she had
found a way to solve the world's energy crisis, but she needed the gold to do
it. Of course this met with resistance, especially since Ms. Halcyona refused
to show what her plan was, but what could congress do? No one could challenge
her... well, one could, but he had disappeared. So, they ended up acceding to
her appeal.

Ms. Halcyona took the presentational limousine to Fort Knox. Even though the
Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan has almost twice as much gold, Ms. Halcyona
understood that there was symbolism attached to Fort Knox, and for what she
planned next symbolism was important. Heather could have done all this before,
but she wanted to make sure what she did was legal and had the approval of
Congress and the people they represent.

She was admitted to the Bullion Depository. No one knew what she planned to do
with tons of gold. Many thought that this insanely smart woman had finally
just become insane. But, instead what happened became the major turning point
in human history; it would be compared to the birth of Christ, and many would
find that lacking.

Ms. Halcyona entered the vault of Fort Knox. Before her was almost half of the
country's gold reserves, more than 2% of all the gold mankind had ever mined.
She knew many people, probably even the Secret Service members with her,
thought she was crazy. They could not guess that she really could just pick up
one of these mountains of gold and walk out with it. But, she had finer plans.

As she strode over to the first stack on her powerful legs, she remembered how
hard it was having to hide her true nature from the White House physician. As
president she had to appoint a personal doctor; it had been tempting to pick
someone incompetent, but it would have been unseemly. However, Ms. Halcyona
knew she would not longer need to rely on subterfuge.

Conscious that the Secret Service agents were watching her, Ms. Halcyona
caressed a gold bullion bar as one might caress a lover. They would set her
free. She picked up one of the 400-troy-ounce bars, 27.5 pounds, in her right
hand. She laughed over how light it felt. Then, on a whim, she reached down
with her left and picked up the stack by the steel forklift supports under it.
With one hand and no effort she hefted what was easily 20 tons of gold over
her head. Her muscles bunching in tensed knots, almost breaking through her
suit.

The Secret Service agents fell back from the sudden and unexpected action.
They had seen Ms. Halcyona do some very strange things, but they had no
inkling she was possessed of such strength. Ms. Halcyona was laughing now like
a mad woman. It felt so good to finally be able to let herself go, for she
knew after today she would no longer have to hide her abilities from the
world. She looked at the gold bar in her right hand and -reveling in her
strength- she crushed the malleable metal. The gold oozed between her
indestructible fingers. The witnesses scurried away from her in fear, but
still unable to tear their eyes away from the staggering display.

Still holding the tons of gold aloft with her left hand, the exuberant Ms.
Halcyona looked down at the terrified expressions on the normally impassive
faces of the witnessing agents. As she saw that horror at her unearthly
qualities laid bare, she realized what she was doing. She calmed herself.
Still looking down she now displayed a saintly expression on her angelic face.
In a voice that filled the room like a decree from on high, she said: "You
don't have to be afraid. Not now. Not ever."

Then Ms. Halcyona looked to the heavens let out a sigh, and with that sigh
came her nanites. They flew like a black cloud up to the gold she was holding,
and the gold seemed to melt away. The cloud went from an inky black, somewhat
tinged with flaxen, to a gleaming yellow as it grew in size. Quickly the cloud
split and moved to the other mountains of gold.

The air became thick with activity as the astonished witnesses watched 5,000
tons of gold reduced to shimmering dust. What was once one of the densest of
elements moved through the air like a thing alive. Then - in the same room -
that sparkling dust started to coalesce. From within each of the hundreds of
clouds, a humanoid shape could be seen emerging.

Soon Ms. Halcyona was not the only exquisitely beautiful woman in the room;
Golden Halcyona Avatars filled it. Each moved perfectly lifelike. If not for
the fact they were made of metal, it would have been impossible to tell them
from Ms. Halcyona herself. Their poses and facial expressions were like a
dream, superb in every facet.

Ms. Halcyona turned to her doppelgangers and the witnesses knew information
was being passed between them. Then, all at once, the living gold formed ranks
and marched out of the vault, taking to the air and flying away as they went
outside.

Ms. Halcyona revealed to all of humanity on that day that she was beyond
human. Golden Halcyona Avatars appeared throughout the world. Even then they
did not come as brazen conquerors, but as shining heralds of peace. You see,
from her new base in Fort Knox, Ms. Halcyona had indeed solved the world's
energy problems.

Healthyheather had been growing like a weed everywhere, even in the oceans. It
was getting to the point that the plant was becoming a real nuisance. But Ms.
Halcyona announced through her Avatars that she found a way to convert the
energy healthyheather held into electricity and biodiesel. She had it gathered
and shipped to Fort Knox where it was converted into energy. By the ton, by
plane, truck and by Avatar, healthyheather rolled into Fort Knox where now
only Halcyona's Avatars could be seen guarding this world power-plant.

This effectively turned every empty space on Earth into a solar panel, but if
you wanted that energy you had to become an ally of Halcyona's America, since
only Ms. Halcyona knew how to unlock its secrets. Other countries were
starting to yield to external and inner pressure to join the new super
alliance. Golden Avatars were rallying the inhabitants of Earth to come
together under the leviathan Heather Halcyona had become. There was even talk
about making her Pope, even though she was a woman.

Everything had been going so well that Ms. Halcyona seemed to have forgotten
about the one rogue element. The one person she could not account for or plan
for. He had not been seen nor heard from for years, and Ms. Halcyona thought
he might never be seen again.

That was until Adam Immanuel decided he would show his face at the gates to
Fort Knox.

Adam walked up to the gate, Katy and Fred Mensch -now married- in tow. He was
greeted by one of Halcyona's Avatars.

Adam addressed the Avatar. "Hello, Heather."

The Avatar's golden lips and mouth moved perfectly lifelike and spoke with Ms.
Halcyona's voice. "Adam, so good to see you. I've been looking all over for
you, you know."

"Yes, I know. Do you know why I'm here?" Adam replied.

"Well, I'm guessing it's to try and stop me or something along those lines,"
the Avatar replied. Adam and the Avatar were ignoring Katy and Fred in the
background.

"No, I'm here to see if you will try and stop me," Adam stated.

The Avatar seemed a little surprised at that. "Is that so?"

"Yes. But, first, I'd like to know what you're planning."

"I would think that would be obvious," the Avatar said slightly amused. "I am
going to build a Utopia; a true Utopia. You could be a part of it, Adam. I've
been working on all sorts of wonders inside. I've already ended hunger. War
will be next, and as soon as everyone joins my nation I will share with
humanity the cure to all disease. I even have a cure for aging inside." Adam
looked like he was about to interject, so the Avatar cut him off.

"Yes, yes. Overpopulation. If you want kids you either have go on a waiting
list or give up your immortality. I have it all worked out."

Adam shook his head. "I was going to object to your use of the word 'cure.'
Aging is a natural process, not an illness."

The Avatar's golden eyes potently looked into Adam's green eyes. "You know,
Adam, I've almost forgotten what it's like to talk to someone like you."

"You mean someone that's not overwhelmed by your charms?" Adam said folding
his arms over his chest.

"Anyway," the Avatar said, "Quid pro quo. Why are you here? Why did you bring
the Menschs with you? I don't suppose to pledge allegiance to my movement and
join my nation, but I truly hope it is, Adam. I know in my heart, no matter
how willful you are, you and I are destined to be together."

Adam shook his head, "No. I'm here to see if you plan on stopping me."

"Yes, you said that before. I would have expected it to be the other way
around. Stopping you from doing what exactly? Being irritating?" The Avatar
let out a musical playful laugh.

Adam also seemed to get slightly whimsical for a second. "I've been studying
morality. I came across an interesting theory. 'Act only according to a maxim
whereby you can, at the same time, want that it should become a universal
law.'"

A golden smile spread over the Avatar's golden face, "You mean the Golden
Rule?"

Adam also smiled a little, "Slightly more complex than that, as I'm sure
you're aware. Let's back up for a second. You changed Fred here. After you did
he no longer had the same drive he once had, as a result he became a poor
wrestler and lost his scholarship."

"I see," the Avatar said sarcastically. "So, he's bad at wrestling now? Well,
how many girls has he tried to rape since I cured him?"

Adam ignored the question, "There you go using the word 'cure' again. You also
changed Katy here. You made her content and complacent..."

"And happy," interjected the Avatar.

Adam continued unfazed, "But, while you were ironing out these 'discrepancies'
in others, you never did it to yourself, did you? You are not satisfied or
sated; you still have your drive."

"Logical as always, Adam," the Avatar mocked. "You're quite correct. It is a
burden I shoulder that I've relieved from others."

Adam opened his mouth but the Golden Avatar continued, "And before you accuse
me, yes, I will do my best to make the whole world happy and content. I will
do it without destroying their free will; their souls. Not everyone will need
the same attention those two damaged individuals behind you needed, but in the
kingdom I'm building I will do my best to make everyone content. I will remove
what creates suffering and pain from it, but leave the people themselves as
God intended them."

"Everyone but you. You are not treating others as you would have yourself be
treated." Adam pointed out.

"No, because life is not as uniform as your logic claims, Adam."

Adam smiled knowingly when the Avatar said that, and something about that
smile seemed to infuriate the golden woman. The Avatar said in its female
voice, "Why don't we ask Fred and Katy of they like being happy. Well," it
said looking at the two Menschs. "You two have been very quiet during all
this. Do you appreciate what I've done for you?"

Fred looked at his wife and stepped forward slightly, "Yes'm we do, but we
also appreciate what Adam has done for us."

The Avatar's metal head snapped around and its golden eyes narrowed at Adam,
"What did you do to them?"

"What my morality demanded; what I did for you I must do for all of humanity,"
Adam said simply.

The Avatar looked shocked and then turned back to the two Menschs, "He seeded
you with nanites like he did me?" They both simply and slowly nodded.

The Avatar turned back to Adam. "Yes, it seems you're right; I will be putting
a stop to you. But force is a last resort; first let me try to talk you out of
this mad course."

"It's not mad; it's logical," Adam said. "You are not special; what I did for
you I should do for all."

The Avatar said plaintively, "Adam, the universe is not as logical as you
would make it. I was not special, but now I am. You will get no argument from
me there were people out there that might have been better suited to this
task, but I was chosen for it. You chose me, Adam, and now you have to live
with that choice. I might not have been the best, but I was certainly not the
worst. You would give these powers to everyone? Every murderer, every rapist,
every broken, hurt human? You would make the world as it was instead of the
Utopia I will make it?"

The Avatar seemed to be thinking and then it shook its prefect golden head,
its long blond hair flowing as if it were light as silk. "No, the world you
would make would be worse than what we had before. If everyone had my
abilities then those with access to more resources would be able to make
themselves objectively better. The wealthy would be smarter and stronger than
the poor in addition to being richer. You'd create superhuman feudal lords,
perfectly suited to exploit those below them. Do you really want to trade my
Utopia for a Dystopia?"

Adam just looked into the Avatar's golden eyes. Resolutely he said, "Logic
demands that I do. But, don't claim to know what will happen."

Saddened the Avatar spoke, "Oh, I know what will happen. I'm going to have to
lock you away, and deactivate the nanites in those two." It started to advance
on him.

Adam looked smug. "Your body is here in Fort Knox, is it not? All this food
being shipped in, it's not just for your power-plant; it's for you too,
right?"

The Avatar reached out to pick up Adam. It said patronizingly, "Very clever,
Adam. You must have it all figured out."

"Yes," said Adam, and a burst of energy came out of his body. The wave hit the
metal woman, and the nanites that composted it separated from one another. The
disassembled golden woman became a pile of dust. "And I'm more than clever."
Adam declared as Fred and Katy revealed two strange-looking weapons they had
been concealing.

Adam, Katy, and Fred ran to the main building. Anytime an Avatar got near Katy
or Fred would shoot it with blast of energy and the nanites composing it would
disperse. Adam spoke into the air, knowing that Ms. Halcyona was listening.
"Do you think I would just come here to announce myself without a plan? I know
how to shut down your nanites; I built the prototype for them and you've been
spreading them everywhere. When I arrive at your real body I'll be able to
turn them all off."

Adam and the Menschs arrived at the main building, quickly disabled the lock
and the three were inside. Adam seemed to know where he was going and they
quickly ran through the corridors. An Avatar broke through a wall, but Katy
took care of it. The dust-like gold spilled out onto the floor. Finally, they
arrived at two huge reinforced doors.

Adam informed the two with him that Heather's body was behind them. He went to
the control panel and started to hack it while the Menschs kept watch; they
moved far back to cover as much space as they could. Ms. Halcyona's angelic
voice could be heard over the speaker system. "Adam, please, I'm begging you,
stop. You know not what you do. Some doors aren't meant to be opened."

Adam spoke as he worked. "This is a fascinating encryption algorithm. Anyway,
don't worry I'll reactivate your nanites as soon as everyone else is seeded
with them. I just have to... oh an n-dimensional Bessel function inside of a
Poincar' map? Brilliant, but yes ... there we are."

The heavy doors slid open and behind them Adam saw... perfect perfection.

His green multispectral eyes could see every facet of the magnificence beyond;
she was power, elegance, grandeur, and comeliness made manifest. Every form of
beauty, from mathematical to natural, was represented and enhanced in this
ascended woman. To say she was flawless would have been an insult, for she was
so far beyond what it might mean to have a flaw.

All of the food being shipped to Fort Knox was pouring into this radiant deity
and the power radiated was being collected. Heather Halcyona was not taking
healthyheather from the power plant; she *was* the power plant. Adam could
feel his essence cry out for her even as his physical body was being
overwhelmed and destroyed by the pure energy flowing out between the opening
doors. The feeling as that divine light flowed over him was both awe inspiring
and dread inducing. Adam knew he could not stand against it.

Heather Halcyona was deified as a planetary power plant in the center of this
temple-like auditorium. Her snowy body seemed to me made of solid
luminescence. Her hair had become long bright strands of plasma that lazy
floated in the wonders energy that streamed out of every part of this blazing
immortal. She had transcended sexuality. She was no longer an object of dreams
and desires; she was dreams and desire. Halcyona's Avatars might have been
crafted to play upon the weaknesses of man, but this form was beyond that.
Looking upon Heather Halcyona you feel awe and contentment; as if you could
understand your rightful place in the universe was necessarily inferior to
her, and that understanding brought only reconciliation.

The dazzling splendor before him opened her beaming green eyes and looked into
and through him. Adam knew his being was laid bare in that glance. The
machines in the room slowed as Heather Halcyona removed the feeding apparatus
from her surpassing lips and her supreme heavenly face exemplified sorrow. The
pure light dimmed as she did, but it would not be enough to save Adam.

As the output slowed power-outages swept across the globe. Everywhere people
were panicking for as Heather Halcyona focused her full attention to her only
friend, Halcyona's Avatars fell silent. Without power and guidance chaos would
quickly ensue.

Heather Halcyona's grief was palpable as a perfect tear formed in her
paramount eyes, and was swept away and destroyed in her flowing energy. "Oh,
Adam," she said in a quiet yet wondrously overpowering voice.

Adam looked up at his absolute goddess and said "I seem to have
miscalculated...." and then his body fell away and disintegrated.

Fred and Katy were far enough away that they could escape, and they did. Tears
streamed from Heather Halcyona's mourning eyes and dissipated as she watched
the two flee.

Then, resolutely she put back her apparatus and closed her magnanimous eyes;
determined to bring humanity to (her/their/the) perfect future.

-FIN

Written by: Mr. GreyMan Edited by: Michael-Leonard