Susan
The Amazing Adventures of Sara Corel
A novel by Toomey


Sara's Powers
- 'Fanboy'

['Fanboy']
        Your stories seem to focus on Sara's powers essentially duplicating those of the "classic" Supergirl. While this is good, it seems to me that this just barely scratches the surface as far as her potential powers are concerned.

[Toomey]
        Oh, absolutely! A being constructed as she is will have a potential so vast, our imaginations may not be up to the task of fully grasping it. 'Supergirl' was the Cryptoalien's obvious model, so as to seem familiar and reassuring to us humans. But she's a lot more than that. A whole lot more.

['Fanboy']
        I have already mentioned the possibility of Sara generating a tractor beam. I think some of the other powers she could develop could be based on the fact that she is a living supercomputer. This gives us a lot of potential in that she could conceivably link with and override just about any computer on our planet.

[Toomey]
        That is her importance. Her super powers are practically trivial side effects of her construction.

['Fanboy']
        She might use this ability to override some mad villain's superweapon before it blew up the world.

[Toomey]
        I'm not going the usual supervillain route. Any serious match for Sara would have to be made by the same Cryptoaliens who made her. I got the supervillain thing out of my system with the Midgarde virtual adventure (and, oddly enough, it was Sara who blew up the world…) Bruce Wayans and his pal Robbins are projected to be my supervillains (counting vast wealth and political power as superpowers), but the Black Knight's chief role is to lead her into temptation.

['Fanboy']
        Sara's ability to sense and manipulate energy also gives us some promising potential. Her ability to project images, for example, could evolve into an ability to project ultra-realistic holograms. This could come in handy when she was doing her job of protecting people from danger, in that the images could fool bad guys into thinking they have hostages, when the real people are safely hiding behind a holographic wall generated by Sara. In fact, I would say that the only limits on Sara's powers would be her imagination, and in that, she may more closely resemble Green Lantern than Supergirl.

[Toomey]
        Undoubtedly, Sara will have a few 'supergirl' adventures, but the real focus of my story will shift more and more to her role as a super-duper computer capable of managing everything by means of a profoundly interpenetrating global network. This is the essential test of our species that her capabilities present to us. Will we succumb to the temptations of a universal, benevolent welfare state, micromanaged to perfection by a near-omniscient and omnipotent instrumentality? Or will we take control of our own destiny and reach for the stars? Sara can either be our goddess — and we her dependents — or she can be our partner. We may even decide to ignore her.
        The novel as outlined in my latest update on the Susan home page will be a complete work that will come to a definite conclusion. However, I hope to add a lot of side trips — short stories about various adventures, 'real' and/or virtual. The 'virtual' adventures (like the Midgarde First Interlude) could be a lot of fun, since there are practically no limitations. I would even consider stories contributed by other authors, as long as they conformed to the same guidelines as the Susan story and were of high quality. I would have to reserve the right to reject submissions or edit them as I saw fit.
        I wrote (or at least outlined) several chapters that didn't make the cut so far that could be used as short stories. I'd like to find a really good illustrator for the main story. I also eventually want to record a CD of the author (that's me) reading the story, like a talking book. The various authors of the Aurora Universe are jointly writing a story called SaraCon, about us getting together at a sci-fi / fantasy / comix convention (Sara shows up, along with various other denizens of the Aurora Universe).

['Fanboy']
        Since Sara's got a computer brain, you might consider the possibility that she might get her own website in your stories.


[Toomey]
        Now, that's a really interesting idea. Sara's website. Hmm… If I have enough time, I could actually create one that would be as if she created it herself. It would be a typical teenager's vanity site, with lists of her favorite stars, cutesy stuff, pictures of her friends, some of her artwork, maybe even a diary. (Went to Venus yesterday. Borrrr-ing!!! Like, totally GROSS acid rain, you know? Jimmie acts like he just thinks I'm some stupid robot or something <sigh>. Did you see Mystery Men? Boy, I hope I don't end up like them! Who wants to BE a superhero, anyway? I mean, duh…)

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© Patrick Hill, 2000