Black walked into Antigamma's conference room. It was large and round, with a simicircular table right in the middle. The flat side faced a projector screen. On the round side, a whole host of individuals were seated in various stages of boredom.
Right near one of the corners of the table, facing away from Black, lay the hulking figure of Antiradio, his head resting on his folded elbows, fast asleep. To his right, a small girl was bouncing up and down on her chair, the floor, the table, and Antiradio, while uttering small exclamations. That must be Antimicrowave. To her right sat Far Anti-Infrared, tipping his chair back, with his arms crossed and a sullen look on his face. Past him were two empty chairs. She skipped the first one and sat in the second, edging her chair away to her right until she almost bumped into Near Anti-Ultraviolet with a loud buzzing noise. Near Anti-Ultraviolet glowed blue and glared at Black, who moved her chair back a little.
Next to Near Anti-Ultraviolet sat Far Anti-Ultraviolet, then the flickering forms of Soft and Hard Anti-X. Next to the Anti-Xs, at the other corner of the table, sat the ethereal form of Antigamma. At least, Black thought he was sitting; it was a little hard to tell because of the fact that Antigamma seemed to be made entirely out of dark smoke with two pure white eyes, each marked with a black Γ symbol.
"Ah, Antivisible. You've arrived. That's everyone, right?" Antigamma squeaked at Black. His voice still gave Black a jolt of surprise, even after she heard him speak countless times. It was squeaky, unnaturally high-pitched, perhaps from being near the high-frequency end of the spectrum, but somehow managed to seem charismatic and authoritative.
"Not everyone, sir," Hard Anti-X said. "Near Anti-Infrared is late as usual."
"Oh, the heck with him," said Antigamma dismissively. "Let's just start."
Almost on cue, the conference room door opened and a figure walked in. He looked a bit like Yellow, but taller, and he was a dark reddish color. The figure strutted over to the empty seat next to Black and plopped himself down in it. "Hey, Blackie," he said with a wicked grin, and simultaneously burst into flame. His voice, too, was different from Yellow's. Black moved her chair away from him again, heedless of Near Anti-Ultraviolet glowing an even brighter blue.
"Near Anti-Infrared." Antigamma's voice hardened. "You are late, again, and harrassing Antivisible, also again. Nobody appreciates that. Stop for once in your life." He stopped himself before Near Anti-Infrared's expression could grow any more disdainful.
"Seriously, though, Infrared," Black said quietly. "You need to learn what limits are."
Antiradio bounced up and down on her seat. "Can we start alreadyyyyyy?" she shrieked. "I don't care how much of a pest Near Anti-Infrared is, I just want to hear something interesting."
"Okay, okay," snapped Antigamma. "You'll hear something interesting. You are definitely not going to like it, but it's interesting. Hard Anti-X, may I have the first slide."
Hard Anti-X prodded a button on the projector. Everyone's heads simultaneously turned towards the projector screen as it flickered to life. A most alarming picture displayed itself upon the screen.
"Anti-UVB!" gasped Far Anti-Ultraviolet, for indeed it was she whose battered face filled the screen before a backdrop of destruction. Her usually perfectly permed hair fell ragged around her face, and one eye was swollen.
"Gamma's forces are once again threatening attack," Anti-UVB's voice said from the speakers. "This time, though, there is evidence that they are likely to follow through. All of AER, prepare."
Nobody moved. Nobody pointed out the rhyme. Nobody even blinked. Even Antimicrowave stopped bouncing. A heaviness settled over the conference room.
All the leaders of AER knew about Gamma and Antigamma's falling out, billions of years ago, when matter first decoupled from radiation. Gamma chose the world of light, while Antigamma was relegated to the darkness. He didn't mind, in fact he disliked the intense brightness of the normal spectrum.
However, Gamma cut off all contact with AER and forbade his subjects to visit their antiradiation counterparts. Black didn't care, she couldn't stand White (or Visible, as she was known formally), but Far Ultraviolet and Far Anti-Ultraviolet were very attached to each other. Besides, Gamma had developed into a psychotic warlord since the separation. If he finally got involved, there was a good chance that the whole of their solar system would be destroyed...or at least left with a radiation-shaped hole.
