In a corridor of the Green Lantern Citadel, just outside the infirmary where Iona Vane had had her wounds cleaned and dressed before being gently sedated and laid between antiseptic sheets, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Kilowog stood foursquare, speaking in low and serious voices.

“Of all the times and places Parallax could have resurfaced,” Hal Jordan said, “I didn’t expect the fifty-eighth century.”

“I think that goes for all of us,” John Stewart agreed.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I need to deal with him myself, wherever or whenever he may be,” Jordan insisted.

“If that means you wanna be personally involved, I hear ya,” Kilowog said. “But if it means you think you’re goin’ after Parallax on your own, you gotta ‘nother think comin’. He’s not just your problem – he’s the whole Corps’s problem.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Jordan nodded.

Kilowog waved the thanks away, with a not insignificant flick of his massive hand. “Even if what I just said wasn’t true, I’d want another shot at Parallax myself, anyway.”

“All right, so we need to put together a team to go into the future,” Kyle Rayner said.

“Not necessarily ‘we’, Kyle,” Jordan objected. “Since I’m going, I think you should stay behind. At the very least so that if the Justice League needs Green Lantern …”

“Whoa, Hal, come on, that’s not how it works,” Rayner protested. “We’re talking about time travel here. We’ll come back to whatever time we left, and the League won’t even notice.”

Jordan shook his head. “I just don’t think that …”

“Hal.” Rayner spoke his fellow ring-wielder’s name with such force that all eyes turned to the youngest Lantern in the hallway. Rayner waited a moment to be absolutely certain he would be heard, then went on, “You can’t treat me like your little brother or your kid sidekick or something. I may not have as much experience as you with this whole far-future Solar Council thing, but I damn sure have more experience going up against Parallax. More than you, more than anyone else in the Corps. You are not leaving me out of this.”

The silence spun out for a few seconds, finally broken by John Stewart. “Kinda hard to argue with that,” the human Guardian observed. “And if it makes any difference, I’ll stay behind. At least a former League-GL will be on-hand for the split-second you guys are all that way up the timestream.”

“Fine,” Jordan acquiesced, in a tone with more respect than resentment. “The three of us, then, plus Salakk, I assume.” Jordan gestured toward the infirmary, where Salakk was visible through the doorway, sitting beside Iona Vane’s bed, holding her hand in all four sets of his slender alien fingers.

“He’ll come,” Kilowog confirmed.

“We don’t want this operation to get too large and unwieldy, so let’s say we cap it at seven Lanterns,” Jordan suggested. “Who should the last three be?”

“Apros?” Stewart recommended.

“Gpaak.” Kilowog added.

“Umburu’s pretty good in a fight,” Rayner pointed out.

“No objections to any of those, and that’s seven,” Jordan said. “Let’s inform the other ‘volunteers’.”

Forty minutes later, the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians filled the courtyard of the Citadel, except for a few still recuperating and not yet returned to active duty: Stel, whose splintered robotic frame remained in an unfinished state of repair in Kilowog’s workshop; M’Dahna, nursing a nearly-severed fin; Voz, just beginning to regrow stubbly brown fur over countless deep scars; Poggepgee Pego Pau, meditating in convalescence after being tortured by the Manhunters.

Most of the Green Lantern Corps stood near the perimeter of the courtyard, while those selected for the time-travel mission were clustered near its center. The damaged time bubble which had transported Iona Vane to the twenty-first century had been removed, but the soil was still deeply gouged from its crash landing, and it was near this elongated crater that the Green Lanterns gathered. Kilowog of Bolivax Vik stood with his powerful arms crossed over the lantern symbol on his barrel-chest, his wide and jutting jaw set with determination. Umburu of Z’Nang was not quite as tall as the Corps’s recruit trainer, but was arguably more physically imposing, unmistakably muscular beneath his uniform with a definition more pronounced than Kilowog’s blunt thickness of limb. Umburu’s face, humanlike despite its deep purple skin tone and pure white hair and beard, was serene. Apros of -7Pi, long time member of the Green Lantern Corps Honor Guard, had no face and was distinctly alien, a squat creature resembling a bundle of giant yams, with a cluster of short tendrils atop its crown and a profusion of longer tendrils emerging from its underside. Only the glowing power ring encircling the tip of one of the lower extremities marked them as the limbs of a sentient creature. Gpaak of Zoa was equally non-human, a constantly shifting mass of translucent pink protoplasm surrounding a spherical red nucleus. While Apros wore the badge of the Corps on its brownish-orange hide, Gpaak had the same symbol affixed to the red globe within its fluid form, yet kept its power ring at the quivering end of a pseudopod. Just in front of the two bipedal and two non-pedal aliens, Kyle Rayner waited for the remaining pair of Green Lanterns.

Hal Jordan emerged from the citadel, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder as he passed through the assembled Green Lanterns. He looked up into the stony face of Brik, the Green Lantern of Dryad. “Be careful, Hal Jordan,” she said somberly.

Jordan was unused to seeing Brik so reserved, but he knew that even the idea of Parallax was a cause of distress for her. He looked into her white eyes – usually so wide in the presence of her idol, but now narrowed almost to slits – and told her, “I will be. And I’ll be back before you know it – with Parallax dealt with once and for all.”

Brik seemed satisfied at that, and removed her hand from Jordan’s shoulder. He proceeded to the middle of the courtyard and stood beside Kyle Rayner. “Is Salakk coming?” Rayner asked.

“He should be right behind me,” Jordan answered.

Less than a minute later, Jordan was proven correct. Salakk passed out of the citadel doors and made his way through the assemblage of Green Lanterns. The magenta-skinned alien appeared eerily serene, his four slender arms held straight at his sides, the narrow diamond of his head held high, his eyes straight ahead. As Salakk crossed the courtyard, his fellow Corpsmen cleared a path for him with silent reverence: Larvox, the Green Lantern of Sputa, glided back on macro-cilia; Galius Zed, the cephalo-tripod ring-wielder of Kaminal Major, shuffled aside on his three short legs; even Raker Qarrigat, late of the planet Apokalips, bowed his head deferentially as he made way for the Slyggian Green Lantern.

When Salakk arrived before Jordan, the two veterans exchanged a silent nod of understanding. Then Salakk turned to face the rest of the Corps.

Ommek Obobo Ok stepped forward to speak for the Guardians. “When we Malthusians attained immortality, it was not without cost,” the gnomish, blue-skinned figure recited. “We may not, for example, detach ourselves from the timestream, nor travel bodily to the past or the future. Such actions would propagate energies that would imperil the fabric of the cosmos itself. Therefore, we must rely on our trusted servants to respond to the peril that will be faced nearly four millennia hence. Go, Green Lanterns, and know that your Guardians have the utmost faith that you will succeed.”

Ommek Obobo Ok raised his hands, and the rest of the Guardians mimicked the gesture. Radiant emerald energies swirled forth from the fingertips of the ancient patrons of the Green Lanterns, and began to coalesce around Apros, Umburu, Gpaak, Kilowog, Salakk, Hal Jordan, and Kyle Rayner. The undulating waves of viridian light rotated faster and faster and shone brighter and brighter, until the seven Green Lanterns were completely obscured from view. Then the power of the Guardians dissipated in the blink of an eye, and the seven Green Lanterns were gone.

A wild torrent rushed past the Green Lanterns on all sides at a speed beggaring comprehension as they were conducted physically through the timestream. When the coruscating eddies of power slowed and finally stopped, the seven ring wielders were standing on a man-made surface, slightly uneven due to recent damage. The material extended approximately one hundred feet in all directions before joining with the remains of walls that had appeared to have been detonated by tremendous explosions, leaving only jagged plasti-steel rubble. Beyond the toppled walls, the darkening violet sky was visible, vaulting over a wide view from a great height.

“He … he has returned! Open fire!” a voice shouted with barely restrained terror. Several individuals rose up behind the largest chunks of the former walls, each one holding a sleek rifle. Volleys of blaster fire came at the Green Lanterns from all sides.

The Lanterns reacted instantly, each raising a power ring and projecting a shield to deflect the incoming attacks. Gpaak projected a spongiform mass of emerald light. Umburu willed his ring to create a glowing green coat of arms, a slightly curved triangle emblazoned with crossed swords. Kilowog erected a wall of square jade bricks, Apros generated a broad and leafy canopy, and Hal Jordan’s ring emanated energy that coalesced in a giant human hand holding its open palm towards the keening rifles. All of the photonic constructs overlapped side by side to form a nearly complete dome of green energy around the Corps members.

“So this is the year 5713, I guess.” Kyle Rayner said. He had summoned forth a ten-foot tall manikin, featureless except for the concentric rings that evoked a practice target at a firing range. “Sure is friendly.”

“We are wasting time,” Salakk declared, his usually stoic voice charged with emotion. Encased in a protective sheath of power ring energy, Salakk rose into the air above his companions. “For the love of mercy, STOP!” Salakk commanded.

The storm of blaster fire abated somewhat, as some of the soldiers obeyed, while others continued to shoot wildly. After a few moments, however, a lone figure stepped out completely from the relative cover of the collapsed walls, holding one hand high in a halting gesture. “Cease fire!” the man barked. “The Solar Council recognizes its former champion.”

Salakk alighted in front of the man who had called off the attack. “Pol Manning,” the Slyggian nodded gravely to him. “It should please you to know that Iona Vane was able to reach us in the twenty-first century.”

Pol Manning sighed. “That is indeed a relief. When Parallax took aim at her time bubble, we feared the worst.”

“Can you explain what the hell Parallax was doing here in the first place?” Hal Jordan demanded, stepping up beside Salakk. “Iona said it had something to do with a Solar Council summons.”

“I will explain as much as I can,” Manning replied evenly. “But I suggest you save your belligerence for one who truly deserves it.”

Kyle Rayner leaned closer to Kilowog. “Is it just me, big guy, or does that Solar Council guy look like a dead ringer for Hal?” the young Lantern asked.

“Yeah, that’s not exactly a coincidence, poozer,” Kilowog replied. “But it’s a long story. Let’s just say Hal and Pol go way back.”

“The problems began,” Manning said, “with the return of the Aoran known as Evil Star.”

“A new Evil Star?” Jordan asked.

“No,” Manning shook his head. “This was the same being you had met and combated many times yourself, Hal Jordan.”

“He returned by means of time travel, then?” Umburu of Z’Nang asked. He and the rest of the Green Lantern contingent had lowered their shields and were listening attentively.

“Only the most conventional means of traveling through time,” Manning replied. “Chronologically, via the aging process.”

“That would make him almost four thousand years old,” Salakk observed.

“Yes, and quite insane, as a result,” Manning conceded. “The Starband’s greatest power was always its ability to extend Evil Star’s life, but it could not preserve his mind in the same way that it sustained his body. The madman arrived full of boasts of killing the Green Lantern of Earth and crushing his homeworld to dust as a final triumph. Thus the decision to summon Green Lantern, specifically Hal Jordan, to our time.”

“Whose decision?” Jordan asked.

“Mine, on behalf of the Solar Council,” Manning stated, with a hint of officiousness. “I am the current Solar Director.”

“But why Hal Jordan specifically?” Salakk probed. “Many Green Lanterns have been Earthlings, or lived on Earth for extended periods, including myself. And I have been summoned many times before …”

“Our historical records showed that Hal Jordan had more direct experience in dealing with the Aoran,” Manning explained. “This expertise was deemed to be of the highest value, while at the same time we hoped that if Jordan were the Earth Green Lantern whom Evil Star was so proud of having murdered, his appearance would rattle the villain and make him easier to deal with.”

“So you fired up the timescope matter transporter,” Jordan surmised. “But you didn’t get hold of me.”

“Obviously not,” Manning retorted. “Somehow, the Parallax being was the entity which was retrieved. We have not yet been able to ascertain why. Our scientists are eager to begin investigating the question, but our computers suffered as much damage as the other structures during the ensuing battles.”

“Battles?” Kyle Rayner repeated. “More than one?”

“That is correct,” Manning confirmed. “Parallax was more than happy to oppose Evil Star’s plot to destroy the Earth. As you can see, Earth remains, so in that sense Parallax was successful.”

“Where is Evil Star now?” Salakk asked.

“Dead, of course,” Manning answered. “Note that I said the Starband was able to prolong his life. In the past tense. But even the Starband could not oppose the cosmic might which Parallax commands. The battle between Evil Star and Parallax was brutal and intense, but brief.”

“And the second battle?” Jordan asked.

“Once Parallax had dispatched the Aoran, he announced that he intended to ‘fix the Earth,’ although it did not seem that he meant to repair the architectural damage caused by Evil Star and himself,” Manning recalled.

“No, that wouldn’t have been what he meant at all,” Jordan said darkly.

“Realizing that Parallax’s intentions were suspect, the Solar Council attacked him, and ultimately drove him off,” Manning concluded.

“Drove him off how? Where did he go? What did he say?” Kilowog asked, stepping forward. “Think real hard.”

Manning considered the massive Bolivax Vikian, then said, “Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Solar Council scourged Parallax with every weapon at our disposal, and in the end he simply chose to depart. He mentioned something about Oa, ‘where it always begins and always ends’, or something to that effect.”

“Not a huge surprise,” Jordan reflected. “Then Oa is where we’ll be heading, as well. Manning, we’ll come back to help you with rebuilding the city as soon as we’ve dealt with Parallax, but obviously tracking him down has to come first.”

“I completely agree,” Manning affirmed. “And that is what we will do.”

“We?”

“I take responsibility for what has happened here,” Manning explained. “I will accompany you to Oa. I will not accept ‘no’ as an answer. I will rendezvous with you in Earth orbit as soon as my cruiser is ready for lift-off.”

With that, Manning turned and stalked away, followed quickly by a pair of guards.

“You guys go way back, huh, Hal?” Rayner asked. “Can’t wait to hear this one.”

Soon the seven Green Lanterns were flying through the vast icy black silence of interstellar space, accompanied by a titanium white cruiser piloted by Pol Manning. Outside of the Sol system, the cruiser took the lead, guiding the Green Lanterns through various galactic sectors whose politics had changed over the course of several millennia.

As the group passed near the gravity well of a binary star, Hal Jordan spoke into his ring: “I think I spotted something. I’m going to check it out.” The ring broadcast the message to the other Green Lanterns, as well as to the shipboard transceiver of Pol Manning’s craft, and Jordan veered away in an emerald arc.

“So Pol Manning is basically just a copy of Hal?” Rayner said to Kilowog, on a closed ring frequency.

“Well, not an exact copy,” Kilowog admitted. “Every time the Solar Council brought Hal to their time to do their dirty work, they’d wipe his memories before sending him back. That took a toll. And when you mess with the mind of a GL enough, strange things can come out of power rings.”

“I guess that’s the downside of the universe’s most powerful weapon channeling willpower,” Rayner mused. “That abstract mental component makes everything kind of unpredictable.”

“Yeah, but that’s the upside, too,” Kilowog pointed out. “It’s how the Corps has survived as long as it has, by being unpredictable. The Guardians knew what they were doing when they laid the groundrules. It’s the poozers who mess with others’ heads who cause the problems.”

Before Rayner could respond, Jordan’s voice came through once again. “Everyone follow the beacon of my ring. Now.”

The party obeyed and quickly located Hal Jordan amidst the wreckage of a starship armada. The ships were massive and heavily armed, as far as could be inferred from the twisted remains. Several bodies floated in the zero-gravity expanse of debris, all of them giant humanoids composed of various materials, no two the same: here a creature made of what appeared to be copper-blue crystals, there a creature covered in dark red feathers, off to the side a creature with flesh made of flowing mercury.

“What are these things?” Rayner asked. “And what happened?”

“They’re Appellaxians,” Jordan answered. “We ran into them on Earth once, when the Justice League had just formed. They almost beat us, too. Tough customers. As far as what happened to these particular Appellaxians, one guess.”

“Parallax,” Salakk said.

“If this is any indication of what Parallax is leaving in his wake, we need to move faster,” Jordan informed his comrades. “Manning, how fast can that bucket of yours fly?”

“Try to keep up,” Manning broadcast back. The rockets of his cruiser flared with incandescence and the cruiser shot out of the debris field, with the Green Lanterns quickly falling into pattern behind. In a moment the stars all around them had turned into slender lines of pale blueshifted light.

In the seeming span of only a few heartbeats, the planet Oa came into view, and Manning and the Green Lanterns dropped their speed. “So what’s the approach now?” Rayner asked.

“Brace yourselves,” Jordan responded. “Because I believe the welcome wagon is about to roll up.”

From the surface of Oa, several contrails of emerald light began to rise meteorically. As they drew closer to the Green Lanterns, the forms within the contrails could be distinguished. One contained a black-haired Khund, looking almost human except for his bright pink skin and impossibly heavyset frame. Another shaft of jade energy contained a silver-and-sky-blue scaled Hykraian, the shape of its body and the water-filled helmet around its head and gills bespeaking its aquatic heritage. Two Thanagarians, complete with Nth metal wings, arrived in green energy beams of their own, followed by an orange-skinned Durlan. A trio on their heels, two women and a man, appeared very nearly to be Earthlings, with appropriate hair colors and skin tones and physiques, but each of them had glowing yellow eyes due to their mechanized internal systems as Lisnarians. An alien from Penelo, nothing more than a four-foot wide amber-irised eyeball surrounded by pale green tentacles, flew into view in a green halo. A Kalanorian, distinguishable by her dark purple skin and spiny fan atop her head, cruised up from Oa’s surface next, immediately joined by a bizarre creature which was bright crimson and resembled a naked, disembodied circulatory system. A giant which seemed to be made of sentient fire then arrived, burning incessantly within a sheath of verdant photonic force. The assembled aliens were not dressed in uniforms; some did not wear clothes at all. None bore the badge of the Green Lantern Corps, yet every one of them wore a power ring on a finger or analogous appendage. The aliens seemed to be waiting for the final bolt of emerald light to ascend and join them.

When the last ray of green had reached the gathering above Oa, it contained a figure wearing a Green Lantern uniform. She was dressed in a dark green miniskirt and matching boots, and a white bustier and white gloves. A green drape around her neck supported a Corps badge just above her sternum. The young girl had golden skin, sun-yellow hair, pointed ears, and a beautiful face. The look in her eyes and on her lips, however, was fierce.

“My … God …” was all Hal Jordan could utter.

“You’ll go no further,” Arisia said. “Oa is under the guard of the agents of Parallax!”

TO BE CONTINUED ... !!!

NEXT ISSUE: The Green Lanterns of the 21st century battle Parallax's 58th century Corps at the center of the universe! Need we say more?