Vignette: The Human Sun in: Terror in the Donghai!

By Roshita Narasimhan.

Off in the distant red giant system of Arcturus, the planet of Xenon was a prosperous civilization, having eradicated hunger, disease, capitalism, and other vices, becoming a burgeoning space faring civilization that seemed like a utopia. That is, until their red giant sun began the process of collapse, threatening to destroy their last hope.

The scientist Ra-Ye proposed a mission to restore their sun as a last resort. They and a small group of intrepid astronauts attempted to launch an electron bomb to restore fusion. However, due to an error in the coordinates, they ended up being crushed and destroyed. In a last bid for the survival of Xenon, Ra-Ye sent a bit of their own DNA in a shapeshifting substance on a tiny rocket, ready to go to the nearest inhabited planet and take the form of its dominant life using its DNA.

Eventually, the little rocket would make its way to the “Sun”, and the blue planet known as Earth. There, it would crash into “Bororostan” in central Inqa. There, it would take the shape of a human baby, specifically one resembling the couple who found them, a pair of Bharati farmers named Shreys and Kalpana Ramshekar. Naming him “Rohit”, the two would raise him in the traditions of their homeland, instilling within him strong moral values, a deep Hindu faith, and an overwhelming sense of justice.

This would be useful, as Rohit increasingly got strange powers when exposed to Earth’s yellow star, powers that rivalled that of the sun itself. He could lift 10 times his own weight, he could move faster than an airplane or a freighter train. He could leap great distances, sometimes across entire city blocks in one go He could control the electromagnetic spectrum, hear radio waves, see in ultraviolet and infrared, produce intense lasers and gamma rays. More importantly, he could produce small explosions.

With increasing anti-Hindu sentiment (especially as the Mughals fell under the sway of National Legalism and began conquering the Hindu states to the South and enacting increasingly genocidal measures against the Hindus), he decided to take up the cause of equity and fairness. After moving to Qusqo to become a physicist, he would use his powers to form a new persona: The Human Sun.

During the “War of the Five Emperors”, between the World Alliance (USI, Nippon, Ming, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Councilist Union) and the Anti-Councilist League (Yuan, Thai, Mughal, and Albion), the Human Sun and other so-called “science heroes” were recruited to help with the war effort. Ironically, Rohit Ramshekar was recruited to “Project Inti” to produce the first “sunbomb”, while the Human Sun was set to thwarting saboteurs and spies (though restricted to Inka and Yingzhou due to Bogd Khan’s use of the “Sword of Tengri” to prevent supernatural interference with the war), as well various attempts by the Yuan and Albionese to produce beings that could match the Human Sun’s power.Such as the following:

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Shanghai, Occupied Ming, H. 1358

“Alright, this looks like the place.”

Viet reporter Trinh Trinh put the instructions back in his pocket of his blue mandarin shirt, while his pet snow monkey, Yuki, climbed up his back. They stood at the front of the bar, the Hungry Lion. A shishi head stared down at them, between the letters of the name, while the sounds of rowdy, ethnic music blared. Trinh scratched his head, disturbing the little quiff on it.

“Normally, the Captain wouldn’t associate himself with such an establishment…”

As if to answer him, Captain Hikori, wearing his traditional kimono and straw hat, launched out the doors, missing Trinh and Yuki as he landed on the street. He got up, sake bottle in hand, and burped: “You bastards! You son of a bitch! I know you took more off… Kamiga...”

Hikori rubbed his beard, lit up a cigarette, and stumbled with his peg leg towards the nearest chair. Trinh approached.

“Captain? What…”

“The bastard fucked me! We were playing Tien Gow, and he kept getting higher combinations…”

“He?”

“Owner of the bar. I know his die…. Whatever, how ya doin’ kid?”

“Captain, sorry to barge in on you so soon after we defeated those opium traffickers in Kashmir.”

Hikori laughed. “We gave ‘em a good ole ass-whopping, is what we did, kid.”

Trinh was embarrassed a bit before continuing: “You know the paper has been collaborating with the Yuan and the Thai since they liberated Ming and Viet. They’ve sent me on numerous assignments”

Hikori felt a tinge of irritation at “liberation”, but Trinh continued:

“The observatory in Dong Quan [Hanoi], found an object falling from the heavens. It landed in the Donghai[Pacific Ocean], that may be the secret for victory in the battle against Communalism!”

“An object?”

***

Office of Espionage and Counterespionage, United States Ministry of Defense and War, Undisclosed Location

“An object emitting a strange amount of radiation. There was some disruption with the trade routes, but nothing severe. Then one of our navy ships out near Maegre noticed strange things happening to them. They were weak, some of them were pale or green. It was radiation poisoning.”

“Could it have been natural?”

“No, we know of big uranium deposits in Kikongo and Navajo, but we have control of those. Also, there are reports of fish that are half skeleton swimming. Giant sharks. Huge whales that spit acid.”

“Understood.”

“And now we hear that the League is sending in experts to find the island and exploit it for Yuan’s benefit. We can’t allow that to happen. That’s why we need to send you in.”

“You do know…”

“We don’t believe this will be dangerous for you. We have no evidence that it is the type of radiation that is dangerous to you.”

“Still, I ought to be careful…”

“Well, the boys at Inti do have a contingency plan…”

***

Somewhere out in Donghai

Aboard his junk ship, the Kamikaze, Hikori struggled to maintain the balance of the ship as the waves hit him. Nevertheless, he persevered, managing to turn the rudders to keep it from tipping over.

“Ain’t seen a storm ole Hikori-san couldn’t beat. Aye!”

Inside, experts, including Professors Monkeemur of Ulaanbaatar Academy, Korapoo of Bangkok Academy, Suleiman of Delhi Madrassa, and Lord Willington of Cambridge, all sat uneasy, as Trinh laid out a map of Donghai. An X marked where the strange object landed.

“Now, according to my calculations, we are a mere 10 parasang [a little more than 50 km] away from where the object landed. Now, we already have seen the undead sharks emerging, and even the strange octopi who clanged to our ship. “

“Yes.” Professor Chan of Dong Quan Academy, lead academic on the expedition, rose. “We believe that we have the skills to safely extract the object. Remember to put your suits on, this radiation is unlike any we’ve encountered.”

Suddenly, up above, Hikori caught sight of another junk struggling with the waves. However, it seemed to move smoothly along with them, slowly moving up and down. Hikori recognized it immediately from his telescope.

“That squid-faced son of bitch actually followed me!? Oh, he’ll be…”

Hikori couldn’t finish the thought as he saw something emerge from the bottom of the ship. Not for long, as the entire ship shook. Trinh walked up to the deck.

“Captain, what happened?”

“It’s me old rival! I don’t know what he’s doin’ here.”

“I do.”

The two turned to see a towering, muscular figure standing before them, wearing a rainbow skintight circus suit with a flowing cape. A symbol of the sun stood in the centre of his chest. He had long flowing black hair and a dark black beard. He had striking grey eyes.

“The Human Sun!” Trinh had heard the stories of the Inqan superman, but had never seen him up close.

“You should really consider turning around.”

“Like I let somin’ who wears underwear on tha outside tell me what to do!”

“Well, that’s unfortunate.”

The Human Sun grabbed the captain and threw him out to sea, while Trinh loaded his gun.

“You know who I am. You know those can’t hurt me.” The Human Sun approached Trinh: “I don’t want to hurt you, son. Please give me the….”

Trinh fired one shot directly into the Human Sun’s neck, and it seemed to singe him. He stumbled and fell, before realizing what had happened.

“Xenonite…”

“Very good, my dear boy…” Rohit could make out the sound and shape of a figure approaching Trinh. Clad in a black cape, wearing red goggles, seemingly wearing a military uniform. The figure approached him before Rohit blacked out.

***

Uranium Island (crash site)

When the Human Sun awakened, he immediately tried to move, only to realize he was locked into a massive metal contraption, holding him down. He could make out Trinh, Captain Hikori, the figure in black, and several others. They all wore grey suits that covered the entire body. Their faces were still evident. Surrounding them were walls of bright green rocks, emitting a strange, ethereal glow to them.

“You are awake.”

The figure in black, still wearing red goggles, approached the Human Sun.

“Professor Chan, I presume?”

“My reputation precedes me.”

“It should. You’re one of the most notorious collaborators in Viet. They say you tortured and killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people on behalf of the Thai occupation.”

“Oh, I can’t brag.” Chan hit Rohit across the chest. “The great Hindu superman, champion of the barbarian Inqans and their mongrel breeds. Brought to shame by the superior Legalist way.”

“I will stop you….”

“You can’t! These cuffs are made of the finest metal made in Qing. Specially made to hold aliens.”

“Why didn’t the Xenonite bullet kill me?”

“Oh, it’s doing its job. Keeping you sedated. Because while the bullet might’ve been easier, I wanted to show your corpse, in Shangdu, held before the entire world. The great invincible Human Sun, brought to heel by the new Yuan secret weapon.”

Chan moved to Trinh, who was silently observing the proceedings, and pulled him over.

“Professor, what are you….”

Chan ripped up the suit, exposing Trinh’s body to the glow of the surrounding green.

“This gift from the heavens will produce our greatest soldiers!”

Trinh felt a ping, before immeasurable pain consumed his body. He screamed in agony as he grew in size. His muscles definition increased. His teeth jotted out from his jaw. His pants ripped open, revealing gigantic muscles. Worse, his skin become a distinct blue colour. He continued to yell, the pain going into the very centre of his mind.

“Hare Ram, Hare Krishna,” Rohit could only mutter as he witnessed this.

“Kid….” Hikori felt powerless as his friend morphed into a giant ape-like creature (still with his signature quiff)

As the newly mutated Trinh recovered from the transformation, Chan simply made one command:

“Kill the alien.”

Not fully cognizant of its own actions, Trinh immediately lumbered towards the Human Sun, about to kill it, when it suddenly stumbled back. Something had rushed into the cave and punched it.

Trinh rose to see the culprit: A giant muscular, bearded sailor, wearing wokou armour with giant boxing gloves, an eyepatch, and smoking a cigar.

“Toratora,” Rohit mumbled.

“Aye see ya hurtin’ me gud friend, da hughmansun.” Toratora spoke so fast, the other occupants were very confused.

“How are you able to stand in this location?”

“No idea. I gues’ me tomatoes are jus’ tha gud!”

Trinh had recovered enough to punch Toratora directly in the jaw. He stumbled and rubbed it a bit

“Oh, a sucker-huh. Well, I’s can do dat.” He responded with a gut punch, before sending in an uppercut. Trinh grabbed Toratora and threw him to the wall.

“Aye, you ain’t half bad. Ain’t half gud, neitha.” Toratora kicked Trinh in the head, before grabbing one of the rocks around him and throwing it into his face. Trinh in turn, grabbed Toratora’s beard and slammed him into the ground.

As the Human Sun witnessed this struggle, he felt a sharp pain in his neck where the Xenonite bullet had landed. After that, he suddenly felt stronger. The grips were also loosening. The Human Sun turned to find Hikori loosening it.

“Why…”

“He’s a good kid. I hate what they did to ‘im. You have to stop them.”

Trinh had Toratora on the ground, prepared to stop him, when he was suddenly grabbed on his lower extremities by the Human Sun, and rushed out of the cave by the Human Sun.

“Ya get ‘im, you deviant!”

The Human Sun and Trinh emerged in the now glistening green surface of the new island. The Sun threw Trinh into the ground and grabbed his head. He shook it several times, leaving Trinh confused.

“That should buy me some time.” Rohit immediately used his x-ray vision to pinpoint the exact body structure, infrared to check heat distribution, and used his super thinking to try to figure out how to reverse the mutation. Finally, with his control of the four elements, and his knowledge of the workings of the sun, he carefully used his gamma radiation and super vision to find the mutated parts of his DNA. He then conjured the necessary strands to replace them.

The others emerged from the cave to find a now normal Trinh, laying under the shadow of the Human Sun.

“Nooooooooooo!” Chan was brought to his knees. Hikori immediately grabbed Trinh.

“You alright, me boy?”

Trinh smiled before passing out.

“I can do this to one, I can do this to any of the soldiers you make. It’s over.” The Human Sun stood before Chan.

“I can’t… this failure…” Chan couldn’t fail this mission. The NaLas would destroy him for failure to follow their ideology. Luckily, he had a backup plan. He took out a remote.

“If the National Legalists can’t have this, then the Councilists and their financial backers can’t either.”

The Kamikaze, docked out at sea, suddenly turned and moved towards the group.

“What did you do to my ship?” Hikori could watch as his beloved vessel moved towards them.

“It is loaded with explosives. It will destroy this island, and all on it!”

The Kamikaze picked up speed as it rushed towards the group. The other experts panicked.

“You’ll thank me later! Your deaths were either here, heroically fighting the Councilist-Inqan scourge, or shot like dogs in your capitals.”

Rohit wasted no time, grabbing Hikori, Trinh, and Toratora, and jumping out of the way.

“You will see, Human Sun!” Chan yelled out. “The NaLa will destroy Inqa! Destroy Nippon and Europe! There will be no place to hide.”

That was the last bit before the Human Sun managed to get out of earshot. It almost seemed like he was flying at that point.

“I bruh me ship nearbys, case yee needed it.” Toratora pointed to his tiny ship, the Siberian Tiger.

As the Human Sun landed, he safely placed his passengers on the ship. Hikori laid Trinh down and lit a cigarette.

“Hat’ to admit it, but the Tiger did good.” Hikori looked at his rival with consternated respect.

“Nice ta se ya still hav’ a heart in the’” Toratora bowed.

The three watched as the small island sank to the ground.

“I gus tha thin fella had enuff explosives in theye. Hm.”

“Outta ship.” Hikori despaired.

“Perhaps if you and the young man could testify, we could give you a new ship?”

Hikori patted Trinh. “Ya. Them National Legalists ain’t too bright. Trinh might need some time away from ‘im.”

Toratora moved to take control of the ship, but not before turning to the Human Sun.

“Say, it seems ta me you wuzza flyin’ there.”

“Was I?”

“Yah, it wuzznt no jumpin’, like the papers say.”

The Human Sun thought for a moment.

“Perhaps the exposure to Earth’s yellow sun has increased my abilities, such that now I have the ability to fly.”

“Hm.” Toratora just walked off.

Rohit sat and looked towards the Sun. A thought came to his mind: He already had all the powers of a god, what else could there be?

NEXT TIME: THE HUMAN SUN TAKES ON SABOTEURS IN QUSQO IN “ALBOTEURS!”

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Roshita Narasimhan is an author published in the Sea Lion Press anthology Pride and Points of Divergence.