Chapter No.47. Up, up and away.

Sylvia looked at her mother sitting in a chair just staring at nothing as if in a trance. She knew that it was a definite sign that her mother was suffering dementia. She went over to her mother and placed a hand on her mother's forehead.

Her mother looked up at her daughter. "I'm sorry," her mother said. "I must have dosed off."

Sylvia smiled. "I cleared your dementia. You're free of it now."

Julia stared at her daughter for a moment before sighing. "I realize that I'm sick, but I didn't know what to do about it."

"Mother! You're no longer sick. I cured you."

"How could you cure me?" She asked, her expression hinting of confusion.

"I have superpowers now. They were awoken in me when James Steris cured me."

"I don't understand how that's possible."

"It's because God is conducting an experiment to determine if humans could possess superpowers without using them to become rulers over all mankind. He gave these powers to the Steris family. They're the superhero family that's doing all those amazing things you see on the news. It seems that I was also given these powers, and I've joined with them."

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't complain now that you've . . . helped me."

"Maybe it would help if they talked to you."

Julia fretted and fussed with her wild grey hair. "I'm not very presentable for that."

Sylvia went over to her and placed her hand on the top of her mother's head. "Now, you look fine, Mother."

Julia stood up and looked at herself in a mirror. "Yes, I do look better now."

"Good!" Sylvia said. "I'll have the Steris family come here now."

Robert, Janet and James appeared, startling Julia.

"Hello, Mrs. Wells," Robert said. "We didn't mean to frighten you, but we have the ability to instantly be anywhere we wish. Your daughter has that ability too."

"How is that possible?" Julia asked.

"We're not sure. I became aware of these powers while I was in a coma for ten years. I met a man who I assume was from God and he told me that I would have the ability to stop an evil demon from destroying mankind. It seems that my family were given these powers and the same applies to your daughter."

"Why would this person include my daughter?"

"We don't know. All we do know is that God is in charge of this and evidently He wanted your daughter to be involved."

Julia smiled. "I suppose I shouldn't complain. She cured me of my . . . my dementia."

"Yes," Robert said. "We included her in one of our healing evening sessions at St. Peter and Paul's. She now realizes she's able to cure people. Eventually, she'll learn how to resurrect people."

Julia's eyes widened briefly. "You can resurrect people?"

"Yeah, as long as they haven't been dead too long."

She batted her eyes. "Goodness, now I realize what Nancy Felds was trying to tell me about someone resurrecting a woman who had been killed by a car in the church parking lot."

"That was me," Robert said.

"I'm concerned about what might happen to my daughter. Some of those things you people do are dangerous."

"You have no reason to worry, mam. None of us, and that includes your daughter, can be killed or harmed. Only God can claim our lives."

Julia smiled. "I believe you. Thank you for telling me this."

"You have the right to know what's going on,"

James and Sylvia exchanged knowing smiles.

It wasn't until the next week that Janet answered a call from NASA. She told them that they would come to JPL to see what they wanted.

Jason was there, along with Cody Singh, a Pakistani man who was in charge of the engineering for the new Space telescope project.

"We've completed the testing and setup of the new Fisher Space Telescope, but we were wondering if you could place it in the L2 point, which is 1.5 million kilometers away."

"The distance is irrelevant," Robert said. "The size and mass could be."

"Let's show it to you," Cody said.

Robert, Janet, James and Sylvia followed Cody and Jason to a large room inside an assembly plant. The new Space Telescope sat on a massive stand.

"Holy hell!" James exclaimed. "That's huge!"

"It has a seven-meter mirror and an encompassing sun shield," Cody said, his voice exhibiting pride.

"How much does it weigh?" Robert asked.

"Around seven thousand kilograms." He tilted his head. "Is that a problem?"

"I don't think so since we would teleport it to the location rather than fly it there."

"This is a test for the idea of placing a new space station in orbit," Jason said.

"Yeah, that's true," Robert replied. "So, is it ready to go?"

"Yes," Cody said. "We've certified it for launch, but if you teleport it there, it should arrive in better shape."

Robert turned to his other superheroes. "Are we ready for this?"

"We can do it, Dad," James said with a subtle grin.

"Okay, let's put our hands on it and then do it."

They positioned around the telescope and placed their hands on it as if they were going to shove it. Jason and Cody watched the superheroes and their telescope vanish.

"We're taking a chance with this crazy idea," Cody said.

"Yes, but we've had good luck with them. They'll be okay."

Cody wasn't so sure, but he didn't have a say in how his baby was going to get where it was going to do its thing.

The superheroes and the telescope appeared at the L2 position of the Sun-Earth system. The sun looked smaller further out, but it was plenty bright enough.

"I think we're in the right position," Robert said. "Why don't you go back, James, and see if they can determine if we have it where they want it."

James saluted and vanished.

His sudden appearance back at the JPL mission room caused both Jason and Cody to become alarmed.

"Is something wrong?" Cody asked.

"No," James said. "We're not sure we have the telescope in the correct location. Is there some way you could determine that?"

"Yes," Cody replied. He sat down at a mission station and began using a keyboard to determine where the telescope was relative to the Sun-Earth Lagrangian-2 point. After several minutes, he turned to James. "Yes, it's close enough. The system has thrusters so that we can orient it in a orbit around the L-2 point."

James smiled. "Great. I'll go tell them it's okay."

Cody smiled at him and watched him vanish.

James appeared at the location. "Yeah, it's close enough. The thing has thrusters to adjust its position and orientation."

"Well," Robert said. "I guess we're done here."

"That's it?" Sylvia said. "That's all we have to do?"

"Yeah, sometimes it's that easy."

"Don't worry," James told her. "We'll definitely be involved in more challenging missions."

With that, the superheroes returned to the JPL Mission room.

"We already got some really fantastic pictures," Jason said, pointing to a screen displaying a picture of a nebula. "Have a look at this."

"Wow!" James reacted. "That's cool!"

"We hope to see planets orbiting stars with this device," Cody said. "It could possibly detect life on other planets."

"Well, I'm glad we could help you," Robert said.

Jason smiled. "You've done more for us than I could have every imagined. We're grateful for all that you've done."

Robert nodded before he and his superheroes vanished.

They returned home, and James and Sylvia instantly changed to go swimming. Robert and Janet decided they would rather lounge on the patio while drinking rum and colas.

"I wonder if we're maybe doing too much for NASA," Janet mused after taking a sip of her drink. "They're getting spoiled."

"Yes, but just think of what we're doing for the advancement of science. Assuming they can get authorization for the construction of a new space station, they'll want us to put it in orbit. That would be a huge advancement in space science."

"It seems that we're becoming the only safeguard against the possibility of human extinction."

"Maybe that's what God wants. Maybe the extinction of an intelligent species is a given and it takes extraordinary intervention to prevent it."

"Are you suggesting that this has happened on other planets?"

"It's a possibility, and maybe God has tried this superhero idea and it has failed. Maybe we are the only experiment that might succeed."

"That puts a lot of pressure on us," Janet said.

"I agree, but I think we're up to it."

"What makes our chances of success better?"

"I think it's because we're not infatuated with our superhero status. We really didn't want to be superheroes, but we have no choice."

"The only personal thing I like about it is my new looks," Janet said with an ornery grin.

Robert flashed an ornery grin back at her. "Yeah, you're a hot babe now."

She giggled. "You're full of it!"

He laughed.

"Your parents seem to be more fun than I had imagined," Sylvia said as she lounged near the pool.

"You have to remember that they were separated for ten years while my dad was in a coma. My mother could have divorced him to avoid the expense of maintaining him in a nursing home, but she didn't."

"Why?"

"I think that she realized something good was going to happen."

"That makes sense. I knew that something good was going to happen to me."

James chuckled. "Yeah, and I am very happy to have been the one to make it happen,"

They laughed,

James' parents were happy to see that he was happy. He had finally come out of his shell and was growing in his confidence. But there was no way to anticipate what superhero status would do to him, or them.