The Arrival

The meteorite shot through the Arizona sky. Hundreds of people as far away as Phoenix reported sightings of the massive shooting star that night. They noted its unusual descent speed, how long its comet-like tail was, how it seemed to grow brighter as it fell. But only the residents of El Picaro, population 295, saw the landing.

The impact shook the entire town as well as every cactus, tumbleweed, and desert creature within a twenty mile radius. El Picaro’s residents would certainly have been quite alarmed by it all if not for the mist rising from the crash site. The narcotic fog dropped everyone and everything in the surrounding area in to a deep sleep.

Had they been awake, they would have been able to see the large metal sphere at the center of the blast crater. The perfect sphere hissed as its northern side cracked open. More gas poured from inside. It would be several hours before the pod would clear of the inertia chemicals and the occupant would need at least that long to reacclimate to the atmosphere.

He just hoped he had made it in time.

*****

Harmony Ledger rested in the back of the Challenge jump-jet. After days in the hills of Tibet, jumping from one mountain to another in search of the mystical land of Kunlun, she was ready to get back to the regular routine of her classes back at the University of Washington. Once again her dad and his stupid job were getting in the way of her normal life. She loved Doctor Theodore Ledger, but sometimes she would rather punch him than look him in the face.

Her cousin Matt Ledger sat in the chair next to her. His head was hung downward and was cocked to the side at an old tilt, but it was the snoring that was the sure sign he was asleep. Harmony couldn’t quite understand how the slightly older blonde could sleep on the turbulent flight across the Pacific.

Coal growled at Doctor Challenger in the cockpit. The former Corwin Taylor shoved Challenger from the co-pilot’s chair. “I don’t want your damn help,” Coal bellowed. “Get your butt in the back with the rest of the yahoos!”

Coal and her father’s relationship had always been cold at best, ever since the accident that gave Harmony and Matt their powers and turned Coal in to the over-sized human-shaped piece of black rock he was today. On numerous occasions, Coal had tried to end Challenger’s life. Challenger wanted nothing more than his former friend’s forgiveness, but even Harmony knew his hopes were fleeting at best.

Theodore Ledger looked he would respond to Coal, but even the legendary Doctor Challenger knew when to keep his mouth shut. He walked over to the communication array to Harmony’s right and took a seat in front of it. Harmony tried to avoid eye contact with her father, but it was already too late.

“Thanks again for coming,” he said. “I know Challenge Squad missions aren’t always the easiest for you anymore, but your nation and world need you.”

“Or at least you need the paycheck.”

“Your sarcasm isn’t necessary, Harmony. I am trying to accommodate your student life as much as possible. But the fact remains, we are agents of the United States government, and we need to act as such.

“Ask all the kids in Viet Nam what they think of your great government, Dad.” She couldn’t believe the audacity of her father. She wanted to stomp off, but she had no where to go in the confined jet. So she went for the next best thing.

“Just screw you, Dad.” Harmony rolled over to look face to face with her drooling cousin. She no longer cared what he looked like. Better his company than her father’s.

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

It was obviously not meant to be. The communication array suddenly went wild. Multiple print-outs started up as the headsets blazed to static-filled life. The jet filled with a mind-numbing blare. The blare faded, to be replaced with words, but not from any language she ever had even heard. The voice was deep and utterly monotone. Something about it sent a shiver down her spine as it spoke its strange language. After fifteen seconds of the auditory rampage, the array suddenly fell silent.

Harmony rose and headed towards the scattered papers on the floor. “What the hell?” she said.

“I don’t know, honey, but we’re going to find out.”

“What’s going on?” Mass said. He stretched as he sat up from his nap.

The radio came to life with the gobbledygook that made up a Chamber scrambled message. Doctor Challenger flipped the descrambler on as he placed the headset he threw aside during the array’s freak-out back over his ears.

“What is it, chief?”

“Trouble in Arizona,” the voice on the other end of the radio said. Challenger switched the communication over to the loud-speakers. Harmony recognized the voice of General Lester Wallace immediately. As the Army liaison to the Chamber, he also served as the Challenge Squad’s primary contact within the organization.

“Challenger-1, I’m getting static on the line. Do you read me?”

Her father adjusted his headset’s microphone before he spoke. “We read you, General. We are experiencing some kind of audio distortion over the ocean. How can we help?”

“We have an extraterrestrial object fallen just outside a small town in Arizona, El Picaro. The location coordinates should be feeding to your communicator now.”

“Any details?”

“No. The town’s completely unconscious. We’re holding troops back until we reached you. You will be the first unit in.”

Challenger turned towards the cockpit. “You get the coordinates up there, Coal?”

“Yeah I got it, fancy pants. I’m making the course correction now.”

“We’re on our way,” Challenger said back in to the mike. “ETA should only be about thirty minutes or so.”

“Acknowledged. Good luck and Godspeed, Challenger-1. Chamber out.”

The radio fell silent again as Harmony stomped over to her father. She punched him in the shoulder.

“Harmony!”

“Why the hell did you do that, dad? You know I have to get back to school!”

“This is our job, Harmony. I’m sorry about your schooling, but I warned you when you enrolled. The Squad comes first.”

“Screw you and your damn Squad!” The entire plane shook at the sonic vibrations from Harmony’s words.

“Calm down or you will shake the jet to pieces!”

Harmony shook her head and stomped up to the cockpit. She dropped down in to the co-pilot’s chair and slammed the hatch to the main bay closed.

Coal glanced her way. “Been one of those—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” Coal turned back to his console as Harmony stared down at the coastline below. One more mission and she was done. Her days in the Challenge Squad were over.

*****

The sky over the Seaside Islands grew suddenly dark. The morning light vanished as thick black clouds filled the sky. Streaks of lightning shot from cloud to cloud as the entire sky went black in seconds.

Even in an area as known for odd happening as the Islands, the people of Seaside were not used to this. Traffic stopped on the bridges as every head from West Seaside to Seaside City on the mainland looked up to the sky.

A strange metallic object lowered itself through the clouds. It was massive, at least the size of a city block. It continued downwards towards Everett Park on the northernmost island. People scrambled away as the ominous metal surface lowered to the earth.

It continued its slow descent for several minutes. The metahumans of the islands sprang in to action at the park. Doc Tesla and Sea Sorceress rushed dozens of civilians from the park, while the members of the super-powered degen team Uplift tried to stop the device’s descent.

After twenty minutes, the park was clear. Tesla and the Sorceress joined Uplift in watching the massive rectangular structure crush the park beneath it.

They were still watching when the burst of light flooded over them and the city. Hundreds of citizens were caught by the beams and each of them dropped to the ground. All of them shook and seized in some kind of epileptic fit.

None of them saw the massive figure emerge from within the column.

*****

Tensions had cooled in the jump-jet as the Challenge Squad flew over the quiet town of El Picaro. After a brief stop to check the condition of the residents, they continued out in to the desert.

“The impact crater was far smaller than it should be for a meteor of that size,” Doctor Challenger said as he looked through the cockpit window. He pointed to a flat rocky area just south of the crater. “Can you bring us down somewhere close to there?”

“No problem, Doc.” Coal turned the jump-jet toward the flat land and sat it down gently.

“Let’s play this safe, team. We—”

Matt sprang from his seat towards the hatch. He morphed in to a vulture as he cleared the jet and flew straight for the alien craft.

“Animale, wait!”

Matt made no sign of hearing Doctor Challenger as he swooped straight down towards the pod.

“Damn it, Matt!” Harmony shot skyward. Only recently had she mastered her sonic powers enough to propel herself in flight, but she could travel far faster than any bird. She flew straight between Matt and the craft. Matt squawked and flapped wildly to avoid her.

Blasts of energy streaked within inches of both Harmony and Matt. Their attention moved downward where the pod stood open. And a cowboy was doing the shooting.

Well not a cowboy exactly. His arms and legs were covered in some sort of metal armor, but over them he wore a poncho and cowboy hat. His eyes were covered by a pair of blood red goggles, and his skin was a pale gray. In each hand he held a six-shooter made of pure energy.

“You and your varmint aren’t takin’ me alive!”

The cowboy continued to fire as Harmony took evasive action.

Matt screeched in pain as a blast caught him in the wing. He plummeted to the earth, straight towards the cowboy. His body suddenly shifted in form and an African elephant crushed the cowboy beneath him.

Matt the elephant trumpeted his victory, only to be cut short as he was thrown to one side. The cowboy rose back to his feet, apparently unharmed.

“I don’t reckon I know what kind of devils you all are, but I’m a’thinkin’ you don’t stand a chance.”

The cowboy leaped in to the air, and a glowing halo of energy formed between his legs. Harmony quickly realized it was some kind of horse.

I thought I’d seen everything, but … a space cowboy? She didn’t have much time to consider her conundrum as the cowboy opened fire again.

“Down to the ground!” Harmony didn’t know where her father was, but she knew instinctively to trust his judgment as his voice came over their radio-link. She dropped towards the ground, just as something sailed past her head.

She looked up to see some kind of energy wave overtake the cowboy. It took the farm of multiple rings, and as they struck, they entangled themselves around the invader. He struggled to break the bonds, but they only constricted more. His horse and six shooters vanished, and the cowboy dropped to the ground.

Coal wasn’t ready to let up. He charged forward and slammed a massive ebony first in to the cowboy’s chest. The cowboy dropped hard to the ground. Coal moved to continue the assault.

“Coal, stand down!” Coal turned and stared daggers at Doctor Challenger, but he held his attack.

“He’s incapacitated.” Challenger walked up next to Coal. He held one of his super-tech devices in his hand, some kind of notepad-sized computer complete with flashing lights and doodads. Harmony joined her father, Coal, and a limping Matt as her father finished fiddling with the device.

“My genetic scanner says he’s a baseline homo sapien, metagene active. But how could he have come from outer space?”

The cowboy struggled in his bonds. “Don’t play the fool, scion. I came for your master. Manchurian thought he could break down my home world, he’s got another thing comin’.”

Matt looked to the rest of the Squad. “Anyone got a clue what he’s talking about?”

“We obviously have a case of mistaken identity here, Animale.” Challenger turned back to the cowboy. “My name is Doctor Challenger. My compatriots and I are a United States government force tasked with the investigation of extranormal activity. Consider yourself contained.”

The cowboy climbed to his feet. “No, I must be free. Manchurian must be stopped!”

“Who is this Manchurian?”

“You honestly do not know?”

“I know of the region called Manchuria, but—”

The cowboy shook his head. “No, he’s far more than that. And his story is invariably linked with my own…”

*****

I reckon it began right here in the Arizona territory some ninety-odd years ago. The war was over, and I was workin’ the territory as a U.S. marshal. Which is how I came to El Picaro the first time.

The town was a stop on a couple dif’rent wagon trails, which kept it alive, barely, as a trading post. Until the sky-rock blew half the town off the map.

The rock was massive, big as a mesa. Me and the boys were the only government folks nearby. We rode in to a ghost town. None of the people were anywhere to be found, so we made our way to the rock.

That’s where we found him, or it. As we rode towards it, we could hear a bunch of alien mumbo jumbo, broken up by clicks and whistles and whatnot. Gus was the one who thought the noises sounded kind of like the word Manchurian. Anyway, I’ve been using that name for the hombre ever since.

He looked like a massive man, dang near fifteen feet tall, but his skin was chalk white. He was naked, but he didn’t have no hair or anything else a naked man might have. Beg your pardon, ma’am.

Anyhoo, somehow this big bloke was makin’ the people of El Picaro do his work for him. But not by choice. Their brains weren’t workin’ right. He controlled them somehow. They used some strange alien doohickeys to strip min the desert for some kind of magic stone the big guy wanted.

Me and the boys knew we had to stop the thing, and we knew that we couldn’t wait for the army to move in. So we attacked that giant bastard.

We never made it anywhere close to him. Our bullets couldn’t even touch him, and we didn’t have a clue how strong his control of the town was. I got free and headed towards Manchurians ship, but Gus and Jake weren’t so lucky. I watched as the townspeople tore ‘em limb from limb. And that ain’t no colorful turn of phrase or nothin’. The sight was somethin’ gruesome.

I climbed in to an opening on his ship; only at the time I thought it was still some kind of big rock. Inside I found gadgets and whatnots like I never done seen before. I made a decision then and there as I looked at all them doodads. I might not be able to fight that big monster, but I could sure as hell break down his nest. I emptied my six-shooters wildly in just a few seconds, and then I went to work with my bare hands and Bowie knife.

I broke open a tube that let out some kind of strange gas in to the room, and a couple seconds later I buried my knife in to what I guess was the wrong panel. A shock of ‘lectricity sent my body a’spasming all over, and it set my brain fit to bursting.

Somehow everything his ship knew flooded in to my noggin. I suddenly could tell Manchurian was after some freaky alien mineral hidden deep in the earth’s crust. I knew he needed it to sustain his life. I knew he’d strip-mined thousands of planets of every iota of the stuff for the past hundred thousand years. And I knew if he finished on earth, there wouldn’t be nothin’ of a planet left to live on.

I also knew he had a weapon powerful enough to stop him sittin’ right there on his ship. I still got it now. This stuff I’m wearin’ is called bio-armor. It was made by one of the planets he ‘et up thousands of years ago. It bonds with the wearer at a molecular level, and it makes ‘em one mean hombre. At least as long as it has power.

The problem is it’s fueled by the same mineral Manchurian wants. I don’t need much of it to live, but to take on Manchurian—

Well, let’s just say that planet didn’t survive the fight.

My own throwdown was massive. We lit up the sky for miles, but when it was over, I had shoved Manchurian back in to his ship. We also stripped that mineral from miles around here to fuel our fight.

I knew I couldn’t let him loose out there either, and my own energy consumption made me a danger to the world. So I followed him in to space in one of his pods. I’ve been callin’ myself the Westar Kid ever since that there day.

*****

“I have ruined his day for dang near a hundred years, and now I’ve followed the bastard back to earth. He’s desperate for energy now. Only he’s not here where I was expectin’.”

Doctor Challenger, Harmony, and Coal all stood in a loose semi-circle around the Westar Kid. “I think if your story is true, we need to be on the look out for this Manchurian.” Challenger turned to his teammates. “Agreed?”

Coal nodded, but Harmony said nothing. She turned away as Matt came running back from the jump-jet in cheetah form. He morphed back to human form a few yards before he reached the Squad.

“Uncle Theo, we got trouble over on the Seaside Islands. It sounds like another E.T. A big, white one.”

“Manchurian!” Westar Kid flexed his arms and tore through the energy bonds. “We need to get to these islands before he can do any more damage to the planet.”

Challenger turned to the Squad. “Load up. We’re heading to Seaside. This Manchurian is obviously a danger whether Westar Kid’s story is true or not, and I don’t see a reason to doubt him on this. We’re going to Seaside and we’re going to teach this Manchurian that the earth is a far more dangerous target than it was a hundred years ago.