Guilty pleasure

Posted on 07 Aug 2021 @ 7:24pm by Captain Patrick Jackson

1,178 words; about a 6 minute read

[ON]

Patrick made his way down the halls of the Starbase as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. He was always grateful for leave, but this was extra special. A holodeck program he paid no small fee for finally arrived. It was installed on the base computer for trial and if approved by him, would be loaded into the Tomcat database. He walked by the first holodeck he found and saw it was empty. Oh he hoped this was a good sign. He keyed in his unlock code and activated the program and made sure it was private for him alone.

He entered the open doors and found himself on the street with people walking around the sidewalk. A moment later the computer clothed him in a decent looking slacks, a buttoned up shirt and glasses. He did not really recognize what city he was in even though it was supposed to be Earth current day, but it was modern enough. At this point, if anyone could walk in, it would look almost like real life and could be one of a hundred different programs that involve some form of murder or mystery.

"Ok, let's see if this is worth the money." He said and took off his glasses and pulled open his shirt. Immediately, everything seemed like it slowed down. People moved slowly, birds flapped slowly and the wind felt calm. He grinned and continued to disrobe and revealed a form fitting blue body suit with red boots and red cape. A gold and red "S" was on the front of his chest. A moment later, things sped back up to real time and people moved normal again, who then stopped and all said the word "Superman!"

Patrick grinned. This was going to be fun. He looked himself over. "How does he possibly manage a cape this big and boots like that in a suit?" He asked out loud. The people looked around a little. "Are you ok Superman?" He nodded. "Yeah, I'm..." he trailed off. He decided to go ahead and let his inhibitions out. "I'm super." One young woman put the palm of her hand against her face, which was echoed by a couple groans at the pun.

"Ok, let's see how this works." He said and made a fist. He looked up and punched up into the air. Immediately he shot up like a rocket. "Whooaa!" He yelled pull his hand down and found himself hovering twenty stories up over the sidewalk. He grinned and thrust his fist forward again, rocketing off again. He flew for a few minutes circling clouds and waving at passengers in shuttles and then slowed down. He saw a military installation far below him. He needed to try something.

A second or two later he was hovering over the ground and then softly touched down one red boot at a time. An officer was there to greet him. "Hello Superman. Can we help you with anything?" He asked cautiously. Soldiers slowly formed up behind him, trying to be casual but it was obvious it was to try and protect him.

"Afternoon Colonel. Just one little request actually. " He said and looked over at a tank. "Would you mind if I tried to lift that up?" The Colonel had puzzled look on his face. "Not much we can do to stop you I suppose. Just please don't break it. Those aren't cheap."

"I'll be careful Colonel. Thank you." He said and walked over to the massive tank. It stood nearly three times his height and the barrel alone was big enough he could crawl into tightly. As a Marine, he knew exactly how many tons this was supposed to be and it was physically impossiblefor even a strong man to budge it by himself. He gripped the front armor carefully and slowly lifted. It went up as if he was lifting a load of groceries. He was glad he was cautious. If he wasn't, he probably would have flipped the tank on its back.

"Thanks Colonel." He said setting it down gently. "Take care. And thank you for your service. " He said and shot off into the sky. He gained altitude and then shot off as fast as he could, the sonic boom trailing far behind him. He watched landscapes speed below him and shuttles in the distance get overtake and fall behind him in a moment.

He made his way to what he thought was the center of the Pacific ocean and slowed down. He dropped down to a low distance above the ocean and squinted. Red beams of energy came out of his eyes and boiled some of the water. He took a deep breath and blew, watching a wind come from his mouth and slow the bubbling down and then freeze a cube of water. "They really did do all his abilities." He smiled and shot back off into the sky arcing in a long circle.

He flew for well, he was not entirely sure. He just was flying all over. Time just slipped away with the speed. He relished the freedom and flew all over the Earth before getting an idea. He pitched up and gained altitude and continued to climb until he was in orbit. He got some good distance and then stopped. He floated in space, gently moving with the Earth in geostationary orbit. He ended up over Japan at night. He could see where new Tokyo was and smiled at the lights of the city and shuttles moving back and forth. Occasional winks of light flashed as ships went to warp away from the planet and he could make out stars in the distance.

It was beautiful. Peaceful out here with no atmosphere to transfer sound. Just silent beauty. He took it in amazed and after a moment something caught his eye. He pivoted a little to his right to see what it was when he realized it was light. He looked far over the horizon of the earth and golden rays of light slowly peaked over the edge. He watched the sun rise over the planet and slowly coat him in solar radiation. It was warm like on a spring day to him. He closed his eyes and basked. He could feel himself getting stronger, recharging with the sun. It was an amazing sight and an amazing feeling to be floating above the earth and watch the sunrise.

He prepared to make his way down to earth and find a crime to stop when the computer interrupted to let him know that the holodeck was reserved in the next 10 minutes and if he wanted to save. "Yes, save program and transfer to the Tomcat." He paused and a smile spread across his face. "Computer, also order, download and transfer the group Hero's package." The computer acknowledged and the room slowly faded leaving him back in his regular uniform. He sighed. "Back to the real world I guess." He mumbled and walked outside but whistling the theme to Superman.

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