“It’s a good job that orange monstrosity enjoyed the sound of his voice so much!”

“He did, didn’t he?! He thought we were actually listening!” They all laughed at his error.

“And the whole time we planned our move through your telepathy! Inspired!” Agwé marvelled.

“A toast to Mindy’s telepathy!” Blane cheered, raising his glass with the others. “And to Agwé’s plan!”

As a result of the meteor strike off the coast of Rio De Janeiro, and despite the combination of Blane’s work to reduce the impact of the landing meteor and Agwé’s impressive job at preventing a catastrophic tsunami from wiping out the city, the streets and buildings still took some damage. Windows were blown out and building foundations took a battering that would inevitably cost millions and take time to repair.

It didn’t take too long for the fearless five to find a food outlet (or ‘café’ as Agwé had informed them) that hadn’t taken too much damage and had a willing owner to open for them. They weren’t sure if he had looked at the group and thought better than refuse them, or if he was opening anyway, but they sat around a table situated outside, overlooking the sandy beach and a now calm sea. Do’Lânqwa had left the infant he rescued to sleep in the craft, which had its invisibility setting activated to allow the child some peace.

“So you didn’t notice anything out there, Sheriff? No signs of life?” Holt asked after taking a sip of juice.

“Nope, not a thing,” was the response. Holt thought that the Sheriff didn’t sound too enthralled.

“Which I suppose isn’t surprising considering he had meteors dropped on him,” the Sheriff continued.

“But you’re not entirely convinced, are you?” Mindy enquired.

“Look, I’m a results man. In my work, I see a job through, then there’s a result. I get results. I’ve lost a lot for me to be here. It’d be nice to have something to show for it,” Sheriff finished, pushing back in his seat, gazing out into the sea. The triplets bowed their heads slightly at the mention of losses.

“So what is your story then, Sheriff?” Blane asked. The Sheriff rubbed his eyes with one hand and sighed a deep sigh.

“I was a police captain, newly appointed. I was a husband and new father. I still am I suppose. I was woken by one of my officers who was at the scene of a murder of a family. The house had been destroyed and four of the five were brutally killed, with one missing. I was called back to the office to be told that the case was closed by some Government lackie but I didn’t accept it. I couldn’t. They needed justice. But it was all highly classified and the only way of me knowing was at an unknown high cost. What I didn’t know was that the cost was never seeing my wife or my child grow, and to have to take on the title of The Astral Sheriff.”

Sheriff was very matter of fact about it all but the pain was in his eyes. The others sat silently and allowed him the time to continue when he was ready. “My planet have been testing on subjects to create highly weaponised soldiers. It completely goes against the way of life on our planet and it was a dirty secret of theirs. The 45th had gone rogue and killed the family of the person in charge of the experimentation programme. The infant in my craft asleep is the youngest member of that family. The price of me knowing all of this was to then be sanctioned with the task of ensuring he didn’t go back and bite them on the ass in the future,” he said.

“Sorry, I’m just getting my head round the fact that there are other planets- what is the way of life on your planet? Why is it so different?” Agwé asked.

“So I’m from Earthgrë, a passivist planet which doesn’t believe in arming itself for warfare… or anything really. We still represent ourselves in the Council of the Universes, but we actively avoid conflicts or wars, essentially,” Sheriff explained.

Agwé was visibly impressed and fascinated. Turning to the triplets she asked, “And you lot, you’re not from Earthgrë?”

“Oh no no no. We are from Earthtun,” Blane hastily informed.

“Earthgrë? Earthtun?” she repeated aloud. “And now you’re here on Earth?”

“Well actually…” Mindy paused when two waiters came out with some of the food they ordered.

There was an obvious language barrier established very quickly, so after a lot of gesturing at how hungry they were, and a lot of eager pointing at the menu, a lot of food was ordered. Most of which weren’t your typical breakfast affairs either. The plates were placed down and another waiter came out with more. Blane and Holt rubbed their bellies eagerly, marvelling at the welcome sights and smells.

“Do you think he’s on the menu somewhere?” Holt whispered to Agwé, as the waiter leaned over with a beefy looking burger. She gasped as she stared between him and the waiter.

The table was filled with fruit juices, burgers, steaks, fries, omlettes, coffee and pizzas. It was a feast fit for the small army ready to consume it! The waiters left after wishing them luck in a broken English.

The group tucked in, reaching over each other and grabbing from this plate and that plate unapologetically. In between mouthfuls, Agwé picked up the conversation from before the food came.

“So Mindy, you sounded like you were going to say something before, about the Earths?”

“Oooh yes! So. Do’Lânqwa comes from Earthgrë. My brothers and I are from Earthtun. And right now we’re on Earthuu.” Mindy could tell what was coming next, but she allowed Agwé to say it anyway.

“Huh? But this is just Earth here. I know I’ve missed ninety years but I’m sure that that hasn’t changed.”

“You’re half right. To the inhabitants of each Earth, their Earth is Earth. But the suffixes at the end differentiates the Earths between each other and is used by the people not from that planet.”

Mindy laughed seeing Agwé’s expression, putting down her slice of pizza to process what she was just told. She had another go at breaking it down. “So like, me and my brothers, when we were on our planet, sure, we called it Earth. It’s our Earth. The Earth. But Do’Lânqwa would have known our planet as Earthtun. Does that make more sense?” she asked, allowing herself to briefly shovel more steak into her mouth.

“Yes… Yes I think so. So for me this is Earth, but to you guys its Earthuu?” Mindy nodded in confirmation.

“You’re humans on this planet. Hence Earthuu,” Blane added, throwing in some more information into the mix.

“And I’m a grëhman,” Do’Lânqwa contributed.

“Okaaaay, so this is making more sense now. It’s blowing my mind, but it’s slowly making sense. How many different Earths are there exactly?”

“Including this one, there are eight. All spread out all over different, vast universes.”

Holt almost mind read Agwé’s next question and answered before she could ask it. “There’s Earthriq, Earthzab, Earthsle, Earthnek, Earthrab and then the three we are all from.”

“Blimey! How do we not all know this? When Do’Lânqwa first came knocking at my friend’s house last night, Raj and Adam called him an alien- they told me that some people think there is life out there and some people don’t believe. This has got to be huge news!”

“Well, this is where it gets interesting,” Holt said, turning to Mindy and smiling.

“Yes!” Mindy exclaimed! “You’ve had your geography. Now for some History. The thing is, your planet did know about all the others out there. Once upon a time there was a seat around the Council of the Universes for Earthuu.”

“How long are we talking?”

“Your twelfth century- year eleven sixty seven to be precise.”

“Woah…!” she muttered in amazement.

“I know all of this so I’m going to check on the infant,” Do’Lânqwa interjected and just got up and left, leaving Mindy to carry on.

“Right, anyway. So travel between the Earths back then was very rare and difficult. It still is. Earthuu wasn’t very well established or developed. The Council of the Universes organised for Zaraanfinah Zaisom from Earthriq to actually come to Earthuu, here, to work with the leaders to help develop technologies. She was an amazing person. A former representative for Earthriq in the Council. Very highly respected. Anyway, they did their best to accommodate her, but Earthuu wasn’t ready. And she was murdered.”

“Murdered?”

“Yes, no one knows what happened, and there was uproar over how something so terrible could happen to someone so loved. There was anger at how useless Earthuu was perceived to be, to be so unable to protect her, despite some group called The Round Table being around. So the Council, the seven other earths, joined together to make the Pact. The Cross Galaxial Multi-Planetary Alliance Pact. A bit of a mouthful if you ask me, but it essentially froze out Earthuu from the friendship circle. Banned anyone travelling here and imposed that if anyone did, for any reason at all, would be stuck there forever or at least not allowed back. This left Earthuu to look after itself.”

“But how do we not know about any of this? I went to school when I was young. We weren’t taught this. And why can’t the Pact be lifted? It was so long ago.”

Mindy laughed, “some genius created a solar flare storm in your sun that was actually cover for a mass memory wipe. Nothing like that had ever been done. It was actually Earthgrë where the idea and technology came from. But there was guilt and shame over their involvement, which was when they decided to turn passive and not get involved with conflicts anymore.”

“Well I never. It’s all fitting into place. So that’s why you and Do’Lânqwa were saying that you shouldn’t be here. You’re not going to be allowed back?”

“Well it won’t stop us trying. We are the first to actually dare coming here.”

“And we were here for a good reason,” Blane quickly added. “Think of what would have happened if we didn’t?”

“Well I wouldn’t have had a building dropped on my head for starters,” Do’Lânqwa quipped as he sat back in his chair, back from checking on the infant.

“How’s the boy doing?” Holt asked.

“Still asleep. Running a temperature higher than I’d like, but he has been through a lot.”

“Poor kid,” Mindy sighed.

“So come on then. Tell us what did bring you here and involve us in your affairs?” asked Do’Lânqwa picking at a burger he had previously started.

The triplets exchanged looks, and the atmosphere around the table changed. Blane and Mindy looked at their older brother, volunteering him to do the talking. For the first time they looked vulnerable, their cheerful and courageous façade slipping and revealing pain.

The three of them each wore the same navy blue jumpsuits that looked more like a stretchy textile than a metallic suit like the Sheriff’s. Each suit had panels and piping on the arms and legs with colours that differed from each other’s. Holt was orange, Mindy had purple on her panels and Blane was emblazoned with a golden yellow. On their left breasts bore a logo- four squares, one inside the other, each one getting smaller the closer to the middle it was. Each square’s colour matched with the trim on their individual suits. The smallest square though in the middle was a light blue. Do’Lânqwa spotted this and decided to press with his questions.

“You lost someone didn’t you?” he asked, taking a punt. Mindy became overwhelmed with tears. “Earlier, when I talked about my loss, you all reacted the same way, like you knew what I felt. And with your logo of four squares, I sense someone is missing now. Who was your fourth?”

Holt exhaled loudly. “Oh boy, ok then. It all started a few hours before coming here…”

In the next issue, The Power of Three #3, ‘The Death of QuadForce’

We get taken back to the events that let the triplets to Rio De Janiro, and a well timed, kind gesture opens the group to new opportunities.