Starrider: The Birth of L5

All around us, my brothers gently spun and tossed in the silent void. They struggled to regain their own control. I found myself slightly out of control as well and asserted my own renewed modicum of control. I looked upwards to see the fate of Connie Robin Wilcoxin, and there she was - not frozen, not in the throws of death, but naked and triumphant. Her back to the sun, she was gloriously halo-ed by the un-hindered force of the sun's light. She floated there, her arms were stretched out in a flight formation, her knees were slightly bent, and her hair was wildly floating around her head as though she had been beneath the waves of her own Earth ocean.

On her face was a gleaming smile, her eyes curiously were no longer green but now large and dark, perhaps even black. Her hair as well, no longer auburn but now raven in much the same fashion as her ancestor, Jehanne. She had truly transformed, for whatever purpose Love would have for her young life, she had become something new, a human who had acquired the ability to stave off the laws of physics, much in the same fashion as most Starriders took for granted.

She was glorious in her new position, a step in the return from fallen greatness to what was once all of mankind's right. I felt hugely honored to have been a part of this transformation, but just the same, I also recognized why such a thing must happen now, in this time and on this day. As harbingers go, this was perhaps one of the greatest of all time. In my inner heart, I longed for the Earth to be set right, for man to return to the family of the cosmos. My only concern was whether or not Connie herself would be able to handle the coming massive responsibilities.

*******

Churning beneath us, seated in her lofty, silent place among the sparkling universe of stars, Earth spied back at us as we hung in the void between mother and moon. Connie supported herself there, flying under her own new-found power, radiant in her new-found contemporary prowess. Now clothed in the outfit she had hidden in her closet, away from the world, she would make quite the splash upon the populace as she now went about the long sought after mission of making a difference in those areas where previously only a song and a smile could be offered.

Her long black hair, which could be willfully changed back into its original auburn tincture for purposes of keeping her identity safe, flowed behind her in slow motion action due to the state of non-gravitational reality of space. She wore an amber colored translucent visor across her large, dark eyes; which could also be willed back to their original Kelly green color. There was a "one piece swimsuit" looking body suit wrapped around her torso, with much cleavage, covered in a field of stars and also with amber and teal bands on each shoulder which had slight points at the heightened ends. Her high heeled boots which she wore upon her feet were of the same dark field of stars with amber-teal bands around the knee-high tops. Star splattered gloves covered her hands and forearms and they ended in sharp points behind the elbow, whose amber-teal design was once again repeated at the endings.

"She is all yours now." I told her as we regarded the big blue planet beneath us.

"I hope I'll be worthy..." She whispered thoughtfully.

"You will win some, you will lose some. It is the way things happen on Earth."

"Any advice from the sage?" She asked with a whimsical smile.

"You must always work in the name of Love. This will be your constant challenge. You will lose your abilities to the extent that you allow your motivations to drift from the most responsible of love motivations. It will not be an easy thing to maintain, considering the jungle of mankind you will deal with on a daily basis."

"I could lose my powers if I become... selfish... or angry ... or ..."

"Not angry, but apathetic. Love can know anger, but apathy is the opposite. If this happens, you will have to work back up to your current levels before you can operate at full capacity. In the mean time, you could be killed while at a vulnerable position."

She blanched and replied, "You don't pull any punches do you?"

I turned to her an met her eyes, the eyes of the only other being I have ever had union with and found myself caring in a strange way. I said, "I do not wish to see you needlessly killed. I stopped the death of your ancestor, but I may not be in the vicinity to prevent harm from befalling you."

She nodded and smiled to me. She then reached out and caressed my shoulder. "I will not forget you, Praetor-Sunil. Or the magical time we have had together. I hope to do you proud."

"You will." I responded. "What will your moniker be?"

"I entered this life at this point in space. I think I'll call myself 'L5', in honor of that moment."

I mused. "A most progressive name."

"I'm gonna stay here a while, experiencing space, and the view of Earth and the Moon. You need to get back to Jacell, she is very concerned over you."

"I shall be in her arms in but moments!" I reassured her. "Farewell, Connie Robin Wilcoxin. I will return to check up on you now and then, but until then, I shall be among the stars."

"I will remember to always work for Love, Starrider. And I will always watch the lights in the sky."

I nodded my approval and then turned and slip streamed away from the Earth, leaving her to her revelry and her future as L5. For my own part, my position on Earth and its inhabitants has been curiously altered as well. No longer was I perplexed over the existence of man in an ordered universe. For surely, there is something about mankind which exists nowhere else. Namely: potential... intrinsic complexity... and mostly, as it were, the UNKNOWN. For in a universe where all things are known, how wonderful can a creation be which introduces the possibility of chance variance?

A most wonderful creation indeed. Only this - and so much more.