NFBE Chapter 449: Baby Fever.
Chapter 449: Baby Fever.
[Edward POV]
The rocket I built to get to the moon was destroyed. The research lab was attacked.
Police, the military and government officials surrounded the area.
A lot of people were shocked when they saw me in the lab, checking the damages and thought I was kidnapped by the aliens.
None of them believed me when I said I was fine, and I was never kidnapped. They assumed the aliens had messed with my memories.
I got out of there before the government people could take me in.
"Mr Newgate, we need your help to build a new weapon that could take care of the aliens–"
"I’m sorry. My memory has been erased." I told the CIA General that called me.
"Maybe we can help you remember. We have a lot of resources in our hands." General Beckman said hintingly.
"Good, maybe you can use those to create the anti-alien weapons yourself." I replied and cut the call.
I pumped my fist slightly amidst the rubble of the rocket launchpad. "This excuse is amazing."
Even the President of the United States called me. I could brush him off really easily.
As I returned to my house, Robin was there, kneeling on the floor.
"Sir."
"So, why did you do it?" I asked casually. "Did you turn into Ultron?"
"No sir." Robin replied, not daring to look up. "It’s for the best." She added.
"Explain to me your thought process." I said casually.
Robin remained kneeling. Her hands were folded neatly on her thighs, head bowed. Her tight office skirt is riding up.
"Yes, sir."
"Get up Robin."
She paused and slowly stood up. Her face was filled with determination.
"Your lunar project," she began, "had an estimated completion horizon of four to twelve months."
"You mean, days?"
"Not quite sir. There are still a lot of factors to be considered. The moon base construction. Mining risk. Terraforming." She added.
I sat on the swivel chair and drank a Monster energy drink from the can.
"Once operational, the deuterium extraction rate from lunar regolith would have exceeded all terrestrial production combined by a factor of eight." Robin added.
I raised an eyebrow. "That’s... optimistic."
"It is conservative," Robin corrected gently. "Based on your designs, improvements were already emerging in iteration four."
"The market value of deuterium at projected post-fusion adoption levels would exceed three trillion U.S. dollars annually within fifteen years."
I whistled softly. "So you blew it up because it was expensive?"
"No, sir."
Her eyes finally met mine.
"I destroyed it because you were alone."
"Elaborate."
She finally sat down as she realized I wasn’t mad.
"You would have become the sole gatekeeper to post-scarcity energy," she said. "One individual. One private entity. One launch capability." Her voice dropped an octave, "That state does not persist."
I said nothing. She continued.
"Within six months of your first successful lunar shipment, every major government would have classified you as a strategic resource."
"After twelve months, they would have demanded access."
"After eighteen months, they would have forced it."
I scoffed playfully. "They couldn’t touch me."
Robin’s voice didn’t change.
"They would not need to."
She listed it calmly, like reading weather data.
"Trade embargoes. Sanctions. Travel restrictions. Asset seizures. Proxy conflicts. Espionage. Assassination attempts. Legal warfare. Narrative capture. We have experienced it all before, but this time, it will be even worse."
She paused.
"You would be framed as a monopolist hoarding humanity’s future."
My eyes flickered.
"You would be called a tyrant," she added. "Even if you gave energy away for free."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion,"So instead, you fake an alien invasion?"
"Yes, sir.".
I stared at her. "You realize how insane that sounds."
Robin inclined her head. "To humans, yes."
Then she continued.
"Technological progress in human history accelerates most efficiently under existential pressure."
"The Cold War advanced rocketry by fifty years. World War II advanced computation, materials science, and nuclear physics by a century."
She looked at me again.
"Peace produces comfort. Comfort produces stagnation."
"So you decided to scare the world?" I asked, my eyes flickered with understanding.
"I decided to unify the problem space," Robin replied. "By presenting a threat no nation could defeat alone. No ideology could weaponize. No economy could sanction."
I swallowed.
"The alien construct," she continued, "was designed to be terrifying. But restrained."
"Invulnerable but not aggressive."
"Present but not annihilating."
I realized then what chilled me most. She wasn’t improvising. She had tuned perfectly. Like I would do usually.
"If humanity believes the universe is empty," Robin said, "your lunar mining makes you a monopolist."
"If humanity believes it is not alone," she continued, "then space becomes a frontier."
"And when you return to space, publicly, collaboratively, transparently... you will not be a hoarder. You will be a pioneer."
Silence filled the room.
"And the jealousy?" I asked quietly. "The governments?"
"They will still exist," Robin said. "But they will race outward instead of inward."
"To Mars. To the Moon. "To orbital infrastructure."
She paused.
"They will copy you. They will compete. And in doing so, they will normalize space industrialization."
I exhaled slowly. "You destroyed my work."
Robin’s expression hardened.
"I preserved it," she said. "By preventing it from becoming a casus belli. (Something that justifies a war)"
I leaned backward, and sighed. "Alright. I won’t punish you. So be at ease."
"Please punish me sir." Robin said seriously.
"What, you want me to spank you?" I asked teasingly. "Just forget about it. I actually love the unpredictability. It makes my life more exciting."
Robin finally looked relieved. I held her shoulder and said, "I’m proud of you Robin. You’re now a mastermind too."
She was taken aback. Her chin quivered slightly, and her eyes fluttered. With a choked up voice, she said, "Thank you Daddy."
I smiled proudly, laughing with ease.
...
Days passed by quickly as the world was recovering from the impact of the aliens’ descent.
A lot of governments rejected the notion, saying it was America’s hoax. Some hide behind religion, saying humans were the only children of gods.
I didn’t care about any of the stuff.
"Okay, so you’re the first person who’d know about this." I stood inside Alex’s room, and she sat cross-legged on the bed, wearing a tank top and jeans.
"What? You have an alien STD?" Alex joked, cackling loudly.
"I told you, I was never captured." I grimaced.
"How can you know that, when they have erased your memories? You should really check your anus for bruises. Since they probably probed you."
"Are you done joking around?" I asked seriously.
"Sorry, you probably have gone through something traumatic. I shouldn’t have teased you about it." She stopped, and smirked slightly, "Alien Lover Boy."
I rolled my eyes and said, "I’m going to find Enid."
"Wait! Just tell me!" Alex grabbed my shirt from behind, stopping me from leaving.
I turned to her slowly and said, "So, can you be serious now?"
"Okay. Just tell me." She said with a grin.
"Here goes." I breathed in deeply and said, "You know how a lot of people developed powers now."
She gasped immediately. "You have one too? I KNEW IT!"
"You knew it?" I was taken aback.
"That would explain so freaking much!" She stood up and patted my torso. "So, what’s your power?"
"Stop touching me. You’re being way too touchy today." I said, slightly uncomfortable by her forwardness.
"I want to examine your body. Let’s go inside a lab." She said, grabbed the edge of my shirt, wanting to lift it up. I grabbed her hand, stopping her, but she wouldn’t let go of her intention.
"Go and sit down." I scolded her.
Alex grimaced with dissatisfaction and sat back on the couch.
"Here goes." I closed my eyes, and summoned a duplicate. A perfect copy of me appeared beside me.
Alex widened her eyes. She didn’t speak for over one minute.
"So?" I asked, slightly nervous.
Alex blinked slowly, and she exhaled a long breath out.
"What?" I asked nervously. "Are you stunned? Are you feeling sick? Afraid?"
"No. I just thought, ’God sure loves Enid’." Alex muttered flatly. She checked on the duplicate, pinching its cheek and pulling on its skin. "So how does this work? Can it move–"
Her eyes suddenly shook with realization. "WAIT. You didn’t get caught by the aliens!"
I was confused. "Yeah, I told you–"
"They caught your duplicate instead, right? It made perfect sense why they left so easily! They DID catch you! But they caught your duplicate! Their memory wipe doesn’t affect you, since they got your other self!"
She breathed heavily, excitedly thinking she had gotten to the truth. She didn’t even let me get a word in.
"Boo!" My duplicate scared her. "Ahh!" She screamed and flinched backward.
My duplicate and I laughed together. Alex furrowed her eyebrows angrily and said, "Why didn’t you tell me he can move?"
"He’s me."
"I am him."
"There’s not much difference between us. We can do whatever the other guy can do."
Alex widened her eyes in shock. "Oh, that explains why I could never catch up to you. You basically have two brains."
"... Are you still not giving up on that?"
"NEVER!"
Alex sat at her bed and her eyes lingered on my duplicate. Then, it shifted to me. It went back and forth a few times, and suddenly she scowled in disgust.
"You... never used your clone to like, do, pervy stuff, right?"
She blushed a bit.
"Pervy stuff like that?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious.
Alex stammered and said, "You-You know. The one where two guys..."
"Two guys did what?" I asked again.
Her face turned red like a tomato. She stood up and rushed to the door, "I need to wash my face for a bit."
I smiled in relief. "She still treats me like normal."
My duplicate asked, "Have you ever considered that you weren’t normal since the very beginning, so there’s no changes in how she reacts, since it was normal for an abnormal situation?"
"Huh?"
"Hi, my name is MindFuck–"
I unsummoned the duplicate, letting it disappear. When Alex came back, she bought two bananas with her.
I raised an eyebrow, "You want to show it with an example?"
"NO! MY MOM GAVE IT TO ME! SHE TOLD ME TO GIVE YOU ONE!" She blushed hard.
I sat on her chair and she sat on her bed, we just hung out while we waited for Jacob.
"What do you think about the whole alien thing?" I asked her casually.
"I think it’s a hoax." She said suddenly.
"Really?"
"No."
"Damn it."
She laughed as she saw how surprised I was. Alex said, "Well, I guess we have known about it for a while, haven’t we? The alien virus is an extraterrestrial virus. So we know there’s aliens out there."
"Oh. That’s right. The virus."
Alex stared at me, narrowing her eyes slowly, "Did you forget the huge thing that happened just a couple weeks ago?"
"To be fair, my life is so hectic, everything is a huge thing for me." I said with a shrug.
Alex rolled her eyes. A few minutes later, Jacob arrived at the room.
I could hear Claire whispering downstairs.
"She lost her virginity, now she has two boys in her room? Is she...? No. That can’t be. Alex is my good child. They are studying. That’s it."
I told Jacob about the duplicate, and rather than reacting casually like Alex, he asked, "How many times can you duplicate yourself? Can it be 10 people?"
"Why?" Alex asked with confusion. "He can do just one."
"He can create a football team. I’ll help, and we can win every single match till we become the Superbowl champ!" Jacob said with excitement.
"Actually. Alex." I called her. Her face crashed as I duplicated myself into two more people. So there’s 4 of me in the room.
"NICEEE!" Jacob yelled loudly. "We can play basketball!"
Alex almost fainted on the bed. I figured this was the limit of what I could show people right now.
"Did your girlfriend know about this?" Jacob asked as he ate my banana. He also ate Alex’s banana and had finished that.
"No. She did not. Even my dad didn’t know yet."
Alex and Jacob were surprised. "Really? We’re the only people you told?"
"Well, Sage and,... Frankie also kinda knows." I said casually.
"Aww." Jacob exclaimed with disappointment. "Great, now I want to have powers too." He mumbled to himself.
Alex furrowed her eyebrows for a bit, and she couldn’t meet my gaze.
She blushed and said meekly, "Can you shut it off for a bit? I want to think, but I can’t do that with all of you staring at me."
"Stare at you how?"
All four of us crouched slightly in front of her, inching closer to her. Jacob covered his eyes, and Alex’s eyes were getting dizzy.
"Go away quintuplet! You’re freaking me out!"
Enid came by, and saw the situation. She froze, gasped, and dropped her potato chip.
Then, she fainted and dropped to the floor. I caught her before her head hit the ground.
...
Twenty minutes later, Enid groaned and slowly woke up. She was on Alex’s bed, and Alex sat beside her.
"Ugh. One in the mouth, two in the front– one in the back–"
Alex slapped Enid awake, her face was blushing. "What the hell are you dreaming about?" Alex scolded.
"Huh? Nothing." Enid was confused. She looked at me and saw only one of me this time.
"Hey, where are your other twins?" She asked.
"What twins?" I asked, playing dumb.
"Yeah Enid. You rushed into the room, hit your head on my elbow and passed out." Jacob helped me.
"Really?" Enid asked, frustrated. "I really thought there’s four of Edward now. I want to bring one of him home."
"What am I? A dog?" I chuckled in disbelief.
"You can be my pet." Enid teased, ticking my chin like a cat.
"Enid, stop that. I swear those books you’re reading are making you even crasser every day."
"Hey!" Enid snapped, "Glory to the Girthmaster is a masterpiece. The main character looks like Edward!"
"What kind of stuff are you reading online?" I was shocked.
Enid was kicked out soon after. Alex and Jacob said in unison, "So she’s out."
Alex added, "I guess you can’t tell everyone about it huh?"
"Maybe a select few. Let’s go tell your dad first." Jacob said excitedly.
"Okay. Sure. Alex, you’re coming?" I asked.
"I am. I just need to change my sheet first. I don’t know what Enid was doing there, but I’m 100% sure I don’t want to lay down on it now."
I snickered together with Jacob. Alex brought her sheets down, and we followed her along.
Claire was quite surprised when she saw it. "Alex, honey? Why are you bringing the sheet to wash?"
"It’s dirty now. All thanks to Edward." Alex replied casually. Claire’s face froze for a bit.
"What about me? I’m there too." Jacob whined.
Claire froze even more. I noticed her reaction and said, "Claire, are you having a stroke?"
"Huh– What– No? I don’t think so–"
Alex added suddenly, "You know what Eddy, next time, we should get Jenna too. That will be a fun foursome."
"What?!" Claire shuddered, a little bit dizzy after hearing it.
"What?" Alex asked, confused by her reaction.
I laughed and said, "Claire, what do you think we were doing in the bedroom?"
"Huh? Well... what do you think you were doing in the bedroom?" Claire put one hand on her waist, and leaned on the dining room with the other.
"What? What is she talking about?" Alex asked.
I leaned in and whispered to her.
She widened her eyes and snapped, "OH MOM! THAT’S GROSS! YOU’RE SICK!"
"I didn’t say anything!" Claire shot back. Alex didn’t believe her and pointed fingers at everyone, "You’re all sickos. Perverted sickos."
She left in a hurry and went back to the bedroom. I looked at Claire and laughed.
Claire grumbled, "You know what? I am entitled to some information about what’s going on up there. I gave you the privacy you need."
"Sorry Mrs D. That’s a secret between the three of us." Jacob interjected.
"Fine! Next time, no more bananas for you."
Alex walked back down as she felt weird to get up there now, and heard the banana sentence.
"Mom! Stop talking about it!"
Claire flinched slightly and said shakily, "Honey, I’m talking about the actual... banana you ate before."
"OH GOD!" Alex squirmed, covering her ears in shock, her face was completely red.
Jacob and I went outside the house to catch up with her. We walked to my childhood house.
My dad and Frankie were in the house, my dad was building a crib, and Frankie was reading baby books.
I showed my dad the duplication, and he asked flatly, "So?"
"Um, you’re not shocked?" I asked, quite confused by his reaction.
Alex pointed out, "You know there’s two of him now, right?"
"That’s good. I have more sons now." He smiled casually.
I turned to Frankie and asked, "Did you tell him?"
"No. I didn’t tell him anything." Frankie also stared at Ted suspiciously.
Ted smirked and said suddenly, "I mean, is having powers so rare? I have one too."
"What?" x4
He floated the crib in the air and also himself. "I suddenly woke up with it." He gloated.
"Dad?" I was in shock.
He laughed out loud and said, "You should look at your face now Eddy!"
Alex flopped on the floor. "Both of you have powers?"
She looked at her hand and said with depression, "Why don’t I have any powers?"
Jacob said excitedly, "Mr Newgate! That’s so awesome!"
"And it makes stuff easier too." Frankie said and gave my dad a feather duster. He was confused at first, but Frankie said, "Go clean the lamps. It hasn’t been touched in years."
"Yes honey." He replied, slightly demotivated.
I was in disbelief for a few seconds. "Why didn’t you tell me?" I asked.
"Hey, you didn’t tell me either." He replied teasingly.
"I– I have a perfectly good excuse behind it."
"Me too."
I couldn’t even argue with him. I wonder if Sage knew this would happen before she gave him the powers.