Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 3: Finding a path

[Mr Fox]

"Hmm... All kinds of stuff goes through my office in terms of orders and paperwork, but I don't know anything specific about the drugs. I'm sure the original distribution orders must have gone through, but I have no idea personally. As for that office, it is where we keep the hardcopies of things like those distribution orders. The legal department insists on having that office for backup storage incase something happens to one of the other offices like mine."

[Omar]

Omar wanted to get to the bottom of things. While the man was telling the truth in what he said, Omar wanted to know everything. He watched patiently as the others questioned the man, but now his patience was wearing thin.

Omar walks up to the man, putting his meaty hand on the desk in front of the man, he leans over. "Please tell us everything. It would be in your best interest. I want to know who your boss is, and where we can find them."

"You see: they are going to make you their fall guy, and kill you. If you don't tell us, we will set you loose and watch it happen like it has in every scenario. Now if you give up your bosses, we can stop that from happenng. Of course, you can be difficult, and I will have to crush your head like a melon."

(Intimidation and Awe Inspiring)

[Mr Fox]

The guy is very, very scared. He gives you the best account he can of the chain of command in his department right up to the board of directors. His fear is making that a bit difficult though he keeps stumbling over his words and getting people confused. On the wall behind the guy Lorean displays an Org chart of Utopia's managers and highlights where this guy fits in. She also highlights the names of the other two guys that died and places them in the org chart according to where they fit in. One is a chemist working for Triton, the other two are administrators inside Utopia. None are particularly high on the command structure, definitly middle management types. It is likely that the orders for the drugs moved through the hands of these men at one point or another. Of course they see dozens of requisitions every day, so the likelihood of the guy remembering on his own is very slim.

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew shakes his head, it looks like the three men may have been killed simply to throw off anybody looking deeper into Utopia and the sterilization conspiracy. A pointless waste of life, but then these people clearly have no regard for life, either nova or baseline. Andrew takes the others aside to discuss privately.

"This guy isn't going to be more more help I suspect. Lets try something though, we go back to right after we took him and put him back, unconscious and none the worse for wear. When he comes to he thinks it's all been a weird dream.

"Then we watch him, I can do that easily enough, and see if he investigates any of this on his own. I imagine that we can even try repeat performances until his "subconscious" i.e. US, convinces him to look at his organization from within.

"It'll take some of our time but I think we've plenty of that and this may turn up much more interesting information in the process.... What do you guys think?"

[Courier]

Steve says,

"If he looks into it on his own he'll just end up dead or fired. By himself he doesn't... I think we're missing most of the puzzle. You don’t kill someone just because he saw the paperwork a year ago. He just doesn’t know what he knows. There’s got to be some anomalies here we just aren't seeing because he, and we, don’t know they are anomalies. Just off hand, maybe someone on that org chart is also on other org charts at different positions. Let’s pick up one or both of the others, talk to them, then put them all in the same room. As for letting them go, I’ve got a good idea on that, but let’s get all three first.”

“Same protocol for picking them up, lets make sure no one has had any warning about us.”

[Mr Fox]

Picking up the other two turns out to be easier than the first guy. They both come with you without a struggle. You follow the same procedure and ask the same questions. The other administrator yields the same results although he does remember a bit more about the actual issuing of the orders for the drug distribution. The thing about it that makes him remember is that the orders didn't go through the normal channels. They came from the usual people, but he had a weird feeling about them, like something was being kept hush hush. Not that he has any evidence, it was just a body language thing he noticed when his superior handed them down to him, and that's all you can get out of him, although he does freely give you his superior's name.

The chemist on the other hand gives you more useful info. He actually complained to his superior when the orders were first issued to produce the drugs. There were compounds that went into the production that had not gone through the normal testing process. Of course when he complained he was told that the compounds had been tested and approved but by a different department, and that if he pursued the matter he would be fired and blacklisted. It was all very subtle, but he was left with no doubt that he had better not put his nose where it didn't belong. He is sorry that he doesn't have any more information than that, but he really believed they would have fired him and he believed until the moment you showed him the infomercial that Utopia was the good guys and would never do anything to harm people. He had just believed that it was some kind of proprietary compound that allowed the drug to work on novas when most drugs are ineffectual. He also gives you the name of his boss who threatened him.

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*Now we go with the obvious move. We tell them one of us is a shapeshifter, and between that and Matter Creation we faked their deaths and took bullets for them. Then we put them back on the timeline where we broadcast the infomercial. We'll find a federal prosecutor who wants to make a name for himself, and he'll give them witness protection, do what we just did, and then start arresting people. Then we’ll see what shakes lose.*

[Andrew Murphy]

"Or maybe we take the more proactive approach I take the place of one of the guys higher on this list and see what shakes loose when I inform the higher ups that one of the men belwo me is asking too many questions and has disappeared."

Andrew looks into the adjacent room at the three men, "We can do that at the same time as we enact your place Steve, but I feel like we are cheating by getting other people to do the hard work for us. We've been given these gifts to use for the betterment of ourseleves and our people, lets use them!"

[Courier]

Steve says,

“Andrew… The first thing that happens if something falls out is they die. I’m not sure you could survive a car bomb if you didn’t see it coming. Utopia knows about Shapeshifters and has lots of novas. The chances of them figuring out you’re trying to infiltrate them is not small.”

“If they do figure out you’re a nova infiltrator, you’ll get a first hand look at novas much stronger than all of us combined, and you won’t have backup. You could be killed, or mentally dominated, or be telepathically probed without realizing it."

“These are the big leagues. Whoever did this is smart, had years of prep, maybe access to novas for decades before N day, and they have contingency plans. He or she or they is out there waiting for us to make a mistake.”

Steve shrugs,

“Not us specifically I hope, but maybe Lorean. I think we have to act through proxies, at least for the next few moves. If we find that the root of all this is a baseline or two, then maybe we'll go back before N-day and grab them. But we might also find Mr. X is a time traveling nova with decades more skill and lots more raw power than us."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew looks disappointed, "I guess, I just feel weird doing all of this behind the scenes stuff. And you mentioned more thna once that we stand a good chance of being outgunned by enemies with far more expereince and yet the only way we can grow is to get out there and do things.

"Maybe we're biting off more than we can chew right now. If so we should consider dealing with other tasks until we can feel more confident in our own power."

[Courier]

Steve nods,

"That's a good point. O.K…"

"...Let's put our trio back after they are assassinated. Then we quit while we’re ahead. We halt the spy vs. spy efforts, and just jump forward to see how successful we were, and what effect we had on the war.”

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew looks almost disappointed, "Can't we go down there and mix it up? I mean look at us! We're like demi-gods or something! We've got these crazy powers but we hardly excercise them, I mean I spend as much time in the lab learning to work with four arms or eight sets of tentacles as I do working on actual chemical analysis.

"Granted I'm close to duplicating your eufiber Steve, and I have a much better idea of how these drugs were put together and interact within the body but I can only learn so much about myself within the scope of my experiments on the ship." Andrew looks visibly excited, it'c clear to the others that he has yet to really find his limits and that is inflating his perception of his power as well as his ego to some extent.

[Courier]

Steve listens to Andrew without his face changing expression. Then he says,

"Well, it is possible your eruption turned you into a combat machine. Omar, would you please take Andrew over to the gym and spar with him for a bit? Preferably without using your powers."

"Lorean, if they start to get to the point where you are going to be injuried, please tell them to stop."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew looks a bit shocked, "Without using my powers? This could be interesting ... "

Andrew is still game and will head down to the gym with Omar. He quickly demonstrates that while untrained he quickly learns to use his natural flexibility and speed to his best advantage, unfortunately he quickly finds that his strength is no better than a strong baseline and Omar is more than able to take a torrent of his weak blows.

[SkyLion]

Quote:

Andrew looks almost disappointed, "Can't we go down there and mix it up? I mean look at us! We're like demi-gods or something! We've got these crazy powers but we hardly excercise them, I mean I spend as much time in the lab learning to work with four arms or eight sets of tentacles as I do working on actual chemical analysis.

Cody laughs.

"Easy there now! Simmer down Tiger. Lorean, our young buck here needs some edutainment. Would you mind pulling up archive footage of Team Tommorow? Preferrably showing Pax in action as well as some of their group tactics."

Cody turns to Andrew.

"Keep in mind that this is just what they show to the public. Theres plenty thats classified. These are the most powerful, and influential novas on the planet, and they have the best resources, the best training and the best backup they can ask for..."

[Omar]

Omar enjoys sparring. It had been a while since he had actually fought without trying to harm someone. Being an experienced wrestler, Omar would try his best to educate Andrew, without hurting him.

Omar grapples Andrew, and finds that he is flexible and difficult to hold on to. Eventually his sheer strength, toughness and experience begin to wear down his opponent. Eventually Andrew finds himself pinned to the mat.

He showed Andrew several ground combat moves, as well as some takedown moves. He did his best not to hurt Andrew, but with all sparring, someone always ends up with a few bruises. Fortunately for Omar, Andrew did not have sufficient strength to do any damage to him, even though he connected wth many blows.

After they were finished Omar thanks Andrew. "Any time you want to do this again, just let me know."

[Mr Fox]

Lorean displays a 3D hologram scene of T2M Americas in action taking down a criminal gang that includes 2 novas. The actions are precise, the movements are coordinated and efficient, and the teamwork is evident and practiced. The two opposing novas and their baseline accomplices fight hard and don't go down easily, but from the beginning the outcome is inevitable. Lorean displays several more scenes of the various T2M teams in action during rescues, humanitarian relief efforts, and violent conflicts with criminals and even elites. They don't always win as easily as in the first scene especially against the elites, but they never lose either.

"As you can see, they are quite impressive. Even during the War they continued to fight against those who would threaten humanity as a whole." Lorean clears the scene and displays three more images, the first is the drug formula you are now so familiar with, the second is news headline and photo of the murdered Jennifer Landers, and finally an image of the Bahrain facility with a headline reading, "Utopia experiments on Novas".

"It seems that thoughout it's existence Utopia has had a darkside. From the later evidence gathered in the future jumps, I believe it is a fairly well accepted fact that many believe Landers was murdered as a result of stumbling onto the sterility conspiracy. Also, though proof was never given, the Bahrain facility is accepted as being the place Utopia dumps those who are considered dangerous or too taint effected to be allowed into society. Rumors are rife that those who fall into their clutches are subjected to Mengela like experiments."

She then shows back to back scenes of Pax as he appeared in 99 and 2005, 2010, 2015 etc. He obviously grows in power, but even in 99 he is very strong by normal standards. "I think it is a safe bet that Pax is no normal nova, though perhaps he is a bit of an egomaniac." Lorean frowns and finishes, "What I am trying to say is that in 99, I don't believe anyone could 'take me away' from you, neither could I rescue you if you fell into the hands of T2M."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew smiles at Omar, "You only had me because I couldn't use my powers! I doubt even you could pin me if I was using my shapeshifting full out. On the flip side though I suspect we will make a good team, I don't have the strength to do much damage but I can grapple far more effectively than most now."

Andrew grows a dozen extra limbs and waves them about for emphasis. He was quite happy with how well he did. He never really got into many fights and had never taken karate or anything when he was younger. He seemed to have applied his dexterity, speed, and heightened flexibility to good use instinctively. Though without his powers he had to rely on his natural endurance, gained from years of running, to get him through the match. It helped that he didn't have any bones for Omar to twist for leverage either.

"I'll take you up on that offer again Omar, I need to learn to use my powers as best as possible for the next time we get into trouble and sparring with somebody who outmatches me in strength and skill is probably one of the best ways I can do that."

[Courier]

Steve says,

"I did some research on the upper levels of power for novas. Just reading the news headings is informative. Up until 2010, it was widely assumed that Pax was the single most powerful nova on the planet. I tried, but failed, to convince myself that he was the public face of our time traveling nova. The problem is none of his powers deal with time."

"And then we have 2010. Lorean show the clip of the Pax vs. Mal fight."

[Omar]

"Next time we spar, we will both use our powers." Omar chuckled. "I will not grow, however, because I don't wish to hurt you."

"Just so you know, Andrew, I used to be an Olympic wrestler. I competed for the nation of Iraq for 10 years." Omar looked off into the distance in longing. "I was my nation's greatest athlete."

Omar turned his attention to Andrew once more. "I will help you become a better fighter, as long as you promise that we do this more often. I miss it."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew tiredly leaves the gym with Omar. He was amazed at how much teh sparring match had teken out of him before his life had fallen apart he had regularly run one, sometimes two, marathons each year. Since his eruption his stamina had even increased further and yet he felt profoundly tired.

"Well I have a feeling I will fare better with our powers in effect. You can't pin me if I can flow out of your grasp and maybe I'll be able to get you in a headlock or soemthing," Andrew smiles, knowing that Omar was a pro made him feel better that he had been beaten.

[Mr Fox]

Later as you gather in the bridge seated in the semi-circle of very comfortable chairs surrounding the hologram discussing your next moves, Lorean appears and asks, "So what are your orders so that I will know how to proceed? Do we continue to watch this timeline and see what develops or do we jump to the another?"

[Courier]

Steve says,

"After we drop off those three, let's go forward and see what happens with this timeline. Same precautions as before."

[Isabel Mendoza]

Isabel rather suddenly appears on the bridge carrying a canvas, with some difficulty. Painted on it is a view of Saturn from orbit, almost more awing, if possible, in the representation than when you saw it in real life, and then, when your eyes shift to the right focus, hidden in the shape of strokes and subtle nuances of color, a portrait of Lorean is beneath it all. You're unsure of how exactly it's done, and it doesn't seem possible, but it's incredibly beautiful, you suppose Isabel must've been locked away working on it these last few days, which is why you haven't seen her around.

"I thought it'd look nice around here," she says, rather innocently oblivious of the discussion at hand, "I guess Lorean can make something to hang it on, no?"

She smiles shyly at the rest of the team from behind the painting.

[Mr Fox]

With a little help from Morgan and his warp you place the three back in their homes or rather their double's homes, and place a few phone calls informing the authorities of their miraculous survival. You wait the necessary day for Lorean to recharge and jump forward two weeks to watch what happens.

The authorities including T2M step in to protect the three and question them under hypnosis as well as using telepathy. It does appear that two of the three were mere cutouts. The scientist however was unwittingly responsible for part of the creation of the drug. Following the trail of orders it becomes obvious that the creation of the drug was kept very compartmentalized with the orders coming from multiple directions. In each case the trail stops with a middle manager or other non-scientist type who has a section of their memories removed preventing further back tracking. Meanwhile Utopia is promising that they will throw significant resources behind reversal of the condition.

Jumping forward one year, and you discover that despite the resources that Utopia has put behind the effort little has been discovered. Another five years on and there has been a break through. Apparently the way the drug actually works is by the addition of two retroviruses which fool the nova's immune system into attacking their own gametes. It seems that the reason it took so long to figure that much out is that only a very small portion of the samples have the sterilization drug in them and they were only held by a few people who didn't themselves know what they were giving the novas. Even the data that you have that Andrew has been working on turns out to have been one of many decoys. Worse yet, the drug still seems to be getting into the systems of newly errupting novas somehow. Also, the reversal of the sterilization has not been achieved except under very expensive treatment and even then it it only a temporary reversal and only works for female novas.

Another five years and an expensive treatment has been developed for men but it too is temporary. Sixteen years out and you find that the cost of the treatments have come down somewhat and the process has become refined and works more often, but surprisingly little real progress has been made. Utopia's reputation has been almost fully restored and there is now a UN watchdog group in place lead by the very popular Jennifer 'Slider' Landers. At least on the surface Utopia seems to be the shining white knight again, however, highly tainted novas or those that are known as troublemakers still seem to end up sterilized, though no link with Utopia can be established even by those like Slider who focus on watching Utopia's every move. It is likely that those within Utopia that started the conspiracy moved outside the organization once the conspiracy was blown.

Moving 50 years into the future and you discover that the Aberrant War still occurs though it was longer in coming, in this timeline and seems to have been even more distructive as the novas have gained more power before the war errupts.

[Mr Fox]

When Isabel presents her painting Lorean is obviously delighted if a bit embarrased by having her portrait done. "Thank you so much, if you would like I can make a spot to hang it here in the bridge or in the dining hall where more people can see it."

[Isabel Mendoza]

"Oh, maybe the crew would like it, you're right. Well, it's yours, "she smiles a bit at Lorean, "so I guess you get to decide."

Then she sighs and gets a bit more serious. "It's a pity about that war, you know. It'd be nice if novas and humans could live happily and progress together... we can do that, can't we? I know I said I was only really interested in painting, but... well, I'd like that. we could go back and forth and work out what makes the war happen and go solving it. Then we'd have a nice future to go to, maybe one that even remembers us as heroes, from where we can explore other places. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Isabel Mendoza

Isabel rather suddenly appears on the bridge carrying a canvas…

Steve says,

“Wow! Isabel, this is amazing. It’s like I’m right there.”

Steve shifts from one side to another and tries to see if the picture is actually 3D or if it just seems it. Steve’s enhanced senses usually show flaws in this sort of thing, but this time they just uncover more and more subtle beauty. Steve continues,

“And this took days and not years?”

Originally Posted By: Isabel Mendoza

"Then she sighs and gets a bit more serious. "It's a pity about that war, you know. It'd be nice if novas and humans could live happily and progress together... we can do that, can't we? I know I said I was only really interested in painting, but... well, I'd like that. we could go back and forth and work out what makes the war happen and go solving it. Then we'd have a nice future to go to, maybe one that even remembers us as heroes, from where we can explore other places. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?"

Steve sighs,

“Yeah… but we are still pretty far from a solution here. I think the sterilization conspiracy is just the tip of the iceberg. To head off the war, we’re going to need to do something about taint, and whoever is behind the conspiracy, and probably the Teragen as well.”

“I have some ideas for all three of them, but we’re operating without a safety net here. If we go digging around Utopian management looking for whoever gives the orders, maybe subbing in Andrew for some of their personal, sooner or later we’re going to run into that telepath. It might even be the telepath that we’re looking for. Good news is Cody can probably teach mental shielding, or at least mental sparing. The bad news is we’re reaching the point where we need to learn them.”

“The other bad news is we aren’t ready for anything to go wrong. If we really want to head off the war, we may have to introduce an external threat… those aliens maybe. But if we going to be fooling around in timelines where they exist, we’re going to need back up if we meet them. Same issue if we want to run the risk of operations going sour while poking around.”

[Mr Fox]

Lorean speaks up, "There is another alternative, we could go in search of a timeline where the conspiracy is exposed and expunged. You've already created a timeline where it the process has been started, there is likely to have been branches in which the full conspiracy unraveled. It might take a few days or even weeks to search it out depending on how few versions of the timeline occur with those parameters. Given the all the details however, you could start many branching timelines where you expose the conspiracy at it's beginning, or even take direct action to prevent it from ever occuring." She smiles at you, "It might not be the same as changing things on existing timelines, but it would certainly make a difference in a vast number of realities."

Lorean creates a holographic illusion of the sun breaking through clouds with a faint background music of angelic choirs singing, "Remember, just the fact that you exist and travel between the different timelines opens up uncountable other possible futures that wouldn't have existed wthout you. So don't lose heart."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew chokes on his drink as he laughs, "I doubt that we fit the traditional image of an angelic host Lorean ... That said I would like to move on to less dire things for a while, we can always come back to the investigation of this conspiracy later and I think that even Steve and Cody must see that we need to get some training under our belts if we are to deal with these threats and create and ideal timeline to retire to."

[Courier]

Steve says,

"Oh, we're going to come back all right. But before that happens at least some of us need to spare with Cody. We're going to have a few days to kill I suspect in transit while we look for the next major set of timelines."

"I figure that world where we got the crew just got a kick in the pants. They should be far more into aliens and spacetravel stuff. We should probably go back there and then start jumping forward until space travel becomes common and available to every nation. That will give them time to forget about us too."

[Mr Fox]

Lorean jumps 50 years into the future of that timeline, and then another 50 years, and then once more. By 2150 on that timeline space flight is well established. However, after observing and gathering data Lorean discoveres that things have progressed quite differently on this timeline.

Apparently, shortly after Omar's big show, people started to come out of the closet about their powers slowly at first then more and more. On this timeline it happened gradualley enough that people weren't alarmed and there was no Utopia. Also, other mutations were discovered displaying a range of psychic based abilities. Much research went into discovering the causes and differences between the two different mutant types. The positive consequence was that unlike your own timeline, there was a balance between the two groups and there were many fewer Novas than Psions as they have come to be called. Taint did eventually become a problem, but since the numbers were manageable and they were balanced out by the Psions. Things progressed much more smoothly and there was never an aberrant war on this timeline. There was an Aeon Society however, who stepped in and worked with the UN to find a solution to the problem. The result is that Novas are both admired and pitied, the Psions are both praised and feared. Theoretically, both groups work for the betterment of mankind, both types are required to register with the government and serve for a number of years. Both are restricted from holding any public office or position of responsibility outside their own branches of the service. All children are required to be tested to discover if they might manifest as a Nova or Psion.

It seems that Aeon Trinity as is it called eventually brought the nations together into a single political unit under the UN and gradually took over the reigns of power for itself. All three human races are governed by this group and supposedly work together for the betterment of all.

From what Lorean can gather, it seems there are some dissedents who don't find this arrangement to their liking. Mostly the dissedents come from the Novas and a few Psions who feel that they are not sufficiently represented in the Trinity.

From a technological prespective, this timeline is the most advanced of any you've seen yet. They have jumpships and biotechnology, advanced nanotech, and weapons that you believe will be compatible with Lorean. They have settled several nearby star systems and even had a short war with an alien race called the Qin. The result of the war is that the Qin have been brought under the dominion of the Aeon Trinity as a subject race. Their own techniques of biotech have greatly advanced those developed by Earth. So far Earth has not encountered any other alien species besides the Qin, at least officially. According to what Lorean can discover however, their are regions of space that are off limits to exploration, and she speculates there is a reason for this.

[Omar]

Viewing the drastic changes in the earlier timeline made Omar feel proud, yet curious. Did his actions really lead to the technological and enlightened utopia they were now seeing? Would they even remember his act in Las Vegas some 150 years before? If they did, how would they react on seeing him again? Omar wanted answers.

"Lorien. What do their history books say about my little act in Vegas?" Omar queries. "Do they have any information on us?"

[Mr Fox]

Lorean smiles at Omar, "Oh yes, you are definitely a footnote in history. In fact the unexplained nature of your departure caused quite a stir at the time. It is partially what led to Novas and Psions having to register with the government and having all citizens tested for the genes that can lead to manifesting as a Nova or Psion." She displays scenes of talk shows speculating on your disappearance and what it could mean. The title scenes of several B-grade movies whose plots are obviously related to Novas living secret lives among the populations. Finally, an impassioned speach before the UN by someone arguing for the registration of 'Humanities different brothers and sisters', in which he makes reference to the mysterious novas who started it all but then disappeared not lending their talents to the betterment of their brothers and sisters.

"I would suggest that you be careful about making contact with others in this timeline. Your images are 150 years old, but most people have seen the footage of Omar's performance in their history education and pictures of the others from security footage at the Belliagio and the other casino's. Luckily, none of the people you gambled against are still alive to sue you over their losses to your nova skills."

"Interestingly from the records, the group of you are view several different ways. Some view you as heroes for 'outing' the novas, some as criminals for defrauding the people you won those millions from, and everything in between."

[Courier]

Steve never knew quite how to react when a lucky happenstance broke the case. On one level it seemed like cheating, this was the sort of thing that should result from calm, rational, ordered thinking and calculated moves. Instead it was like the villain had accidently left his business card at the scene of the crime (again).

Steve commented,

“So, it appears Omar replacing Divis Mal’s Manifesto was a really good thing. Interesting. This also shows us that there were and are other novas which predate N-day, so that’s one mystery solved. And once again, Aeon made it’s move, and here even has taken over the world. Any bets that this was the secrete agenda for Utopia? Conclusion: Aeon had novas.”

“There’s a lot to digest here. The existence of Psions… ah… that might be it right there. Psions are the feared ones here, and here Aeon’s plans worked. Aeon had psions.”

“Hmm… it’s been a 150 years, why is Omar and especially the rest of us still… ah…”

“Lorean, check me on this: Novas and Psions on this reality are much weaker than we’re used to? And much rarer as well? So when Omar showed off, he was showing he was an incredibly powerful nova?”

EDIT: Steve also asks, "Lorean, are there any non-government space ships? Rich men's toys? Corporate traders?"

[Mr Fox]

Lorean pauses to contemplate Steve's question for a moment before answering, "Yes Steve, there are some space ships in private hands, but most ships are government owned. As for your other speculations... I believe that Novas are more rare on this world, perhaps because of the Psions. Psions are not terribly rare though. I believe that given enough time, perhaps a few thousand years most of earth's population will be Psions. Also, I don't think that novas are intrinsically weaker on this timeline, I think that it is a combination of two factors.

Firstly, there is a very heavy social stigma against taint and Novas that develop taint are shunned and eventually 'retire' into government care. So it seems that novas on this timeline are very careful about the use of their powers and make a very concerted effort not to push themselves. The second, and following generations of Nova children seem to be stronger and much more resistent to taint. Nova children also undergo specific government sponsored training at a very young age to indoctrinate them in proper and ethical uses of their powers. Ie, they are brainwashed into serving the government and maintaining the status quo.

Secondly, Noetics(the power behind Psionics) seems to interfere with quantum use and vice versa. The presence of so many Psions helps to keep the nova powerlevel down somewhat. It also seems that each nova is partnered with a Psion, and both the novas and psions undergo regular mental probes to verify their loyalty and ensure they don't abuse their powers."

"In some ways this timeline seems very idilic, peaceful and advanced, and in others it is very repressive and fascist."

Lorean shows you images of the Psions and Novas and their uniforms are very much reminisent of the nazi SS uniforms of WWII. They are formal, tailored black with tall black leather boots, and their ensignia and rank badges are silver. "Disturbing... it seems that there has been some historical rewriting going on too, the Nazi's brutal reputation has had a make over. There is almost no historical reference to the holocost at all in history texts and the worst that seems to be said of the Nazi regime is that Hitler was overly ambitious and made race a political issue, that and he failed in his conquests. Otherwise there is little bad that is said of him or WWII. I definitely detect Aeon's hand in this."

"Steve, there is one more small correction to your conclusions. I can't find any evidence that Aeon actually had novas, though they must have had one. From what I've seen so far, I believe that in all timelines where Aeon exists, they have foreknowledge of what is to come. Though they seem to use that knowledge differently in various timelines."

[Courier]

Steve comments,

"Historical rewriting for the Nazis. Is someone a fan, hiding that they've stolen their play book, or was there actually some connection between them? How's that for a thought, Hitler might have been a nova, or maybe even the entire war was an Aeon ploy that got out of hand. The more we learn, the more I'm tempted to follow the Aeon society back in time in 5 or 10 year jumps. I'll bet we'd find some novas or psions in the news at the time."

"And speaking of getting caught, did anyone else notice what wasn't said? Or rather what was edited?"

Steve pauses for comment then continues,

"Right before Omar started this break, we had two crew take the money and run. Goody for them. So... what happened next? Did they write a tell all book? Go public? Management at the casnio thought we'd claimed we were aliens, but the UN thought and the way it got writen up later we were closet novas."

"I've got to think those two got mind probed by Aeon's guys, so Aeon knows very well what we claimed. Which goes a long way to explaining why our faces are still known. They're waiting for us. If I use the name Steve Courier down there, I'll bet a big red folder will start dinging and storm troopers will show up looking for our time machine."

"How about it Lorean, any records on what happened to our almost crew?"

"OK... before we set foot down there, if we do, we need to know lots more about psions, their strengths and their weaknesses. I'm thinking we also need to know more about Aeon."

"So... let's start small. First we go to the Gold world, 6 months before the rock landed. We look up whether Aeon existed in that world, and if so where their headquarters are and what their GPS location are. Then we go back to Gold-world standard time, and start digging."

"We also spend some time training. Cody shows how to defend mentally, Omar shows how physically."

"What do you all think?"

[Andrew Murphy]

*earlier*

A small bang was suddenly heard from the lab. The door opened to reveal a messy scene as Lorean quickly evacuated the smoke filled air and replaced it with fresh air. Andrew lay on the floor covered in some sort of grey gloop shattered glass and lab equipment was strewn around the room. He blinked a few times and looked around; luckily it seems that nobody had seen what happened.

Looking down at himself as he got up from the floor he found that he was covered in his latest experiment. Damn what a waste, and I doubt that Steve will lend me another sample to catalysis... Wonder why it exploded like that Andrew scratched at his head as he quickly cleaned up the lab before returning to his quarters, there was another meeting shortly and it would be nice to not be covered in goo.

*now*

Much to Andrew's surprise the goo had peeled away in a large mass when he got back to his room. Even more to his surprise was that it formed itself into a nice neat blob before he could try to compress it into the waste disposer. Holy crap I did it! was the first thing that came to mind, immediately followed by, What exactly did I do?

Andrew comes running into the bridge with a blob of grey … stuff in his hands, “Guys, I did it!, I’m not sure how but I managed to replicate enough active eufiber for a suit for myself!!” Andrew demonstrates that he can, with some concentration, change the shape and color of the mass.

“I’ve no idea what happened but suddenly there was a reaction and my beaker exploded. I was trying to use the last of the sample you gave me Steve to catalyze my own compound such that it could take on the final molecular and quantum shifts to be able to store and react to quantum. If I can duplicate this I might be able to fashion enough eufiber to supply the rest of you.”

Andrew looks around and realizes that he came in during the middle of the meeting, “I thought …” he looks at his watch and realizes that it was broken, “Sorry guys what did I miss?”

[Courier]

Steve says,

"Perhaps your shapeshifting power interacted with the eufiber sample. It is also a shapeshifter after all. Congradulations, I think."

Steve thinks,

Some mineral formations will grow if placed in the proper solution... and eufiber presumably feeds on it's host... I wonder if Andrew has lost weight?

Quote:

“Sorry guys what did I miss?”

Steve repeats his comments about their current situation.

[Mr Fox]

After Andrew burst in with his revelation Lorean comments, "I'm sorry Andrew that I did not monitor your experiment so that I could tell you what happened, but I don't monitor inside crew quarters unless specifically asked to do so."

Once Steve repeats his comments for Andrew's benefit, Lorean answers the question, "I do have a record of the two being picked up as part of an aggravated robbery at a jewelry store about a week after Omar's show. Apparently they spent some time in custody awaiting a hearing and were eventually released on a technicallity. Seems they were held too long without being charged. They proceeded to lead clean productive lives after that incident and pretty much fell off the radar. I'm sure that you are right and that someone from Aeon got to them 'in custody'."

Without any warning, Lorean jumps. You feel the familiar falling sensation in the pit of your stomach and then the view changes to that of the dark side of the moon. "I apologize for that. I detected communications to the effect that a jump ship was being despatched to investigate an unknown ship matching our coordinates, and it would have arrived in seconds. Per Steve's comments we are now hiding behind the dark side of the moon in Gold worlds past about 6 months before the asteriod hit." The scene adjusts to show Earth and then zooms out to show a small dark piece of rock hurtling toward Earth at about 20,000 mph. "The aliens were very sneaky. I can see why earth never detected the asteriod until it was too late, it is coming in from this well above the plane of the solar system."