Aberrant: 2011 - Start Up

[Ravenshire]

{Note: This might be a tad boring}

Part One

Daniel came down the spiral staircase, toweling off as he went. His mornings always began with an intense 45 minute workout. A brisk shower followed and then it was time to monitor the markets. Asia was closed for a few more hours and Europe was hitting is midday stride. New York and Chicago were going through their pre-opening adjustments.

Daniel walked past the twelve monitors. He was still quietly amazed at the search engines he had created to mine the necessary data that made his company something more than a dream. He was even more surprised that his ‘instincts’ for proper investments had been so accurate. Daniel had created his own network, his own security protocols, and put into motion a very successful financial strategy. Two months ago, he couldn’t balance his credit card statements, could barely tell the difference between a laptop and a wireless keyboard, and thought that being secure was remembering to log off.

A promising report from a company out of China caught his attention. The company had just won a contract with a joint Sino-Russian venture. Cross-referencing that with some previous geological surveys made by oil interests fifteen years earlier …

Daniel went over and put his buy order in, still shaking his head in amusement. It was almost like watching someone else do these things sometimes, except the ideas were his. Somehow, he instinctively plucked out the relevant data from the constant whirlwind of thoughts going on in his head. It was also a bit scary.

Breakfast was a bran cereal, diced bananas, and a multi-vitamin. Part of him still wanted other stuff … like bacon, waffles, and a dozen other things that were not that good for him. This was yet another part of the changes that had overcome him in the past two months. He ate twice as much food, but it was food that was better for his body. Worse, he actually liked this ‘healthy’ stuff. It was like he had taken over some food guru’s body. At least the body was in great shape.

The steering wheel vibrated ever so slightly beneath his hands as Daniel changed lanes. Quantum-honed instincts maneuvered him through traffic and he let his hands guide him toward his destination. Once more, he barely felt in control of his own body, so new and exhilarating were these newfound skills. Not only could he spot traffic patterns like never before, but his reflexes were so much better that driving had become fun. He had already picked out a pay lot to park in and he was out for a mid-morning meeting with a perspective client.

He caught a look of himself in a window as he walked down the street and thought, ‘Damn, but I look good,’ with more than a hint of surprise. No more T-shirts and tennis shoes for him. Now, he could pick out the right suit for the clientele, the setting, and the weather … things he hadn’t even known to think about prior to his eruption.

Daniel knew that in time, his fascination with the gifts his eruption had provided would fade. Already he was feeling more comfortable in his skin and with his newfound depth of capacity. This afternoon, he was going to be putting more time into qualifying for his pilot license. He smiled at that. He would be flying helicopters before too long and the thought of VTOL flight thrilled him.

The meeting had gone well. Daniel had caught the nervous glances the wait-staff had given his prospective client. Something about the guy put them on edge and he felt it was something beyond his client’s profession as an elite. No, it smacked of quantum backlash, which probably was part of what earned him the client’s interest. If he was making baselines nervous just by being around them, a go-between could be very useful. Beyond that, his client hadn’t spent much of his time building up on his socialization skills. The client had given him a small fortune to invest as well as bought into his list of other services. So far, so good and this nova would give him a total of three. As he made his way back to the car, Daniel let his mind wander back to the facility and the reason he was here.

Daniel had erupted quietly and it had taken him a week to even realize he had erupted. Of course he had gone to the closest Rashoud facility and told that outside of having a node, they couldn’t discern any abilities. He couldn’t fly, teleport, lift tanks, or any of the myriad cool things that other novas could do. His abilities, while exceptional, were still within the human range. They couldn’t find a good explanation for what he could do. His reflexes had become trained for all sorts of things he had never done before. He could figure out almost any dilemma they put before him. The scope of his knowledge was phenomenal, but only humanly so.

He had been sitting back in a common room when another new eruptee had sat down and started up a conversation with him. She had been frightened and nervous. She was still mastering her own abilities and thinking about the offers that were coming in. In short order, she had asked him to help her make a decision and he had been more than willing to try. The conversation had gone on through lunch when she asked him,

“What do you plan to do when you leave?”

Daniel hadn’t given it much thought and the lack of attention shocked him. He had no idea of what he wanted now that he had erupted. All the plans he had made previously had resulted in him becoming a rather callous and shallow college junior in a Liberal Arts programs. No real plans or prospects, a part-time job, and no real ambitions to do anything beyond graduation … save maybe working towards a Masters in something or other. Now, his life had changed.

“How many offers have you gotten,” she followed up with.

“No serious ones,” Daniel had replied. “No one wants me for what I do. They just want to hire a nova and that doesn’t really sound all that appealing.”

“What then,” she asked with a genuine concern.

“I don’t know.”