Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 5: Breaking New Trails

[Mr Fox]

The various invitees to the Aeon Society take their own turns and introduce themselves. Some of the more 'normal' ones, ie those without nodes, are a bit shocked by some of the abilities demonstrated, but that makes them all the more interested in what Max has to say. Max gives his own introduction although no one in the room is a stranger to him. He gives the basic outline of what he would like the Society to do and accomplish. Mostly he sees it as an organization that will investigate the unusual and where necessary take action to protect the innocent from those who would abuse their gifts. Unlike the historical original meeting he also mentions that much needs to be done to insure that those with gifts can live in peace with those without. He also lets everyone present in on the secret that there are at least 4 different types of the gifted. Novas, proto-novas, Psiads, and those who manipulate chance in some unknown way. "Each of you present fall into one of these categories. What we need to insure is that strife does not arise between us and those without the gifts, while we may have great powers and great ability, we must insure that all mankind prospers and has a voice in our future."

To one degree or another everyone seems to accept the 'mission' and agrees to join and promote the Aeon Society's agenda.

After the meeting has broken up Max comes up to the group, "Thank you my friends. Your help will make the difference I am sure. Between your own work and that of the Society we will make a brighter future."

After Max wanders away to see to those guests that will be staying the night, Lorean speaks to the group, "We should meet in the morning for a strategy session in the galley on board ship. I think we need to discuss our plans just for the record and to make sure we are coordinated."

[Omar]

Returning to Lorien, Omar packs his things for the mission. It will be good to return home. he imagined sitting on some chairs, by the Tigris River, with a bunch of locals, drinking coffee, and sharing stories. Even if it is not really 'my' home, it is still home. Hopefully when I am finished, they will still have their unique culture. This was Omar's biggest fear and it tore at him. He knew that many cultural practices would need to be eliminated, if the Middle East was to advance. Other long held practices and beliefs had to be adjusted, to use a phrase by Cody. The biggest obstacle was going to be Islam.

As he carefully folded his shirts and pants for the journey, his thoughts returned to the challenge of reforming Islam. While at this time in history, most Muslims were moderate and even quite liberal, taking on Western dress and customs, there was going to be problems with certain sects who would refuse to have Islam placed outside government. Omar knew that these groups would fight him every step of the way. As the rest of the Arab and Persian society grew more modern and secular, and women took their place as equals with men, these 'primitive' groups would lash out. Would they wage Jihad against me as a last desperate gasp?. Omar felt queasy as he remembered the bombings and terror from his own history. Clenching his teeth, Omar vowed.

"انا لن تقدم"

(I will not submit)

,,

Once he finished packing, he went to the library and researched the great Turkish leader Attaturk. Attaturk had successfully combatted the radical elements in Turkey, and secularized the nation. Omar was appalled at what he might have to do, what Attaturk had to do. With a heavy sigh, Omar returned to his bedroom for a restless night of sleep.

[Mr Fox]

The next morning everyone meets in the galley for breakfast and a planning session. The crew has set up a nice buffet style breakfast, of a size to feed a horde of hungry people. It just be just enough for the novas and your guests. Here also are Maxwell Mercer and Michael Donnighal seated together at the table. Since there are extra guests this morning Lorean has arranged two tables in a V shape with her holographic display floating in the air in the hollow of the V so that everyone can easily see each other and the display at the same time.

Lorean and Lorean the hologram confer quietly before the meeting begins and then once everyone has had time to at least blunt their appetites, physical Lorean stands up and addresses the gathering. Looking to Max and Michael, "Thank you both for coming. Given the importance of what we are about to embark on I thought it only right that you both be in attendance."

She moves over beside the hologram and Holo-Lorean disappears to be replaced by a holographic whiteboard. "I'll start out and give my plans for the next year, five years and ten. If my projections are correct by 10 years out we will be diverging significantly from the original timeline and anything planned now will need to be reevaluated beyond that point."

"As you all know I've begun by opening offices in every major city in the world for information gathering purposes. Over the course of the next year I will be expanding that effort to include moderate sized cities, state and regional capitals, as well as strategically important locations. As we begin to make inroads into monopolizing the media I will feed information to our media outlets that are appropriate from my information network. Beyond that I will continue to help coordinate your efforts and act as a base of operations for our on going activities, as well as providing instant travel and communications between each of you. That's it for the one year plan."

She smiles as bullets points of what she has said appear on the white-board next to her.

* Expand information gathering network

* Feed useful info to media

* Act as base of operations

* Act as communications hub

"For my five year plan, I intend to continue expansion of my network down to the point where every city on Earth has at least one agent. I will also continue with my other activities. In addition, I will expand the role of the network to gather not only information, but also talent. It will incorporate and one division of the Network will be to gather in talent which we can use in our activities. As people are identified that could be useful they will be contacted and recruited for whatever purpose that might suit their talents, be it Hollywood Actor, or political candidate."

A two new bullet points appear under the heading 5 year Goals:

* Continue previous activities

* Expand role of Network to include Talent broker.

"Finally, beyond the five year mark all previous activities will continue, and the Network will expand down to a local level all across the planet as well as growing in already established locations. The talent broker portion and information gathering portions of the Network should be profitable by making commissions off any hiring as well as from selling stories to the media. I will attempt to have the Network keep a low profile until it is so well established that no one will question its existence." She grins, "I will personally lead the Network, and use my ability to shapechange every few decades."

"On the personal side, I plan to learn from Cody so that I can assist and do my own scans when interviewing talent. I'll leave the 'adjustments' to Cody."

Under the heading 10 year Plan two new bullet points appear:

* Incorporate the Network

* Learn Telepathy

*****

After Lorean finishes she motions to the next person at the table, at which point Morgan gets up and moves over next to the hologram whiteboard.

"Good Morning." He stands up taller and a little of his military background shows through in his bearing, "For my one year goal, I plan to continue working toward German economic recovery and stability. I also intend to begin addressing some of the underlying issues that face the German people including racism. I plan to play on German national pride to spur the recovery, but this time around we will be avoiding the whole Jewish purge and Aryan Race business. I will also be utilizing the media just as Steve will in America to try and slowly phase out the prejudice issues. One way I will be doing this is to organize local meetings and sponsoring the arts, particularly choral and the theater. The themes of the performances of course will be national pride and strength in unity, that sort of thing. Historically, the German peoples have a tendency toward organization and discipline and innovation. I plan to make use of those characteristics the same way the Nazi's did, but direct them toward more globally beneficial and friendly ends."

Again the whiteboard updated the One year bullet points:

* Continue to encourage German economic recovery

* Encourage German national pride

* Sponsor the Arts and theater and use the Media to lessen racial tensions.

As he continues you get the definite impression Morgan has stood in front of a chalkboard giving out mission objectives before, "Five year goals will include updating German industry to match our own goals and assist with the rollout of new technologies. Firmly establish German national spirit and direct it toward the goals of progress and global unity. Bring all German media under the control of our group. Adjust key individuals in Europe to pave the way for making the League of Nations the world's primary governing body."

As he speaks the new goals are added to the board:

* Modernize German industry

* Direct national spirit toward progress and global unity

* Monopolize German media

* Adjust leaders to follow the League of Nations

"And for the ten year goals, I will continue with those already stated as well as further working on the surrounding European countries to ease German relations."

The final two bullet points are added:

* Continue with previous goals

* Ease German relations with its neighbors

Once he finishes Morgan nods for the next person to replace him.

[Omar]

Omar rises and moves to the front. He picks up the marker, which looked like a small crayon in his large hand, and started his presentation.

"As most of you know, I have been running a sucessful Arabic language newspaper in Chechynia, to counter the Soviet message in the southern USSR. Its circulation has spread to many other areas of the Middle East, and consequently, my name has too. Even among the current leadership, I have influence. The people have even begun to call me 'Ziggurat'. Now, however, I see the need for a change in the region...a change towards modernity and Western Pluralism; not just in the areas of governance, but of culture and religion. This brings me to my bulletpoints:

*Democratization, by referendum: start the process of allowing the people to chose their leaders. Each country will start by holding local elections, then provincial, then national. Once all the nations have their leadership in place, I will call a convention, very much like the Constitutional Convention from the US, and all the nations will enter into a Federalist system, with me as it's first President. I hope, by forging a common bond, to prevent the alienation and radicalism that has plagued the ME throughout our history.

"*Weaken the influence of Islam, and religion in general, in politics. No more Caliphates, or Ayatollahs.

"*Prevent Islam from radicalizing and returning to it's primitive past. This will be very difficult, because already there are those crying for the people to return to the 'true roots' of Islam. I will not allow that virus to grow and spread. Unfortunately, as a Christian, I will be the target of their retribution. But also fortunate, as a Nova, I also have the best chance at surviving their assassination attempts.

"*Industrialization: The region needs industry, so they will have an exports other than oil and terror." That last sentence came out of Omar's mouth as if he had something sour in it. It seemed as if he was swallowing his pride to make that admission.

"Finally, to bridge the gap between the two largest groups in the ME, the Persians and the Arabs, I will sell my paper to Azzemudin Faisal, an Iranian. He is of course, a crew member of ours at the moment, and has access to out wealth. I will use that money to finance Democratization. The newspaper will begin printing in both Arabic and Farsi. Also starting will be a radio/TV network, also run by Azzemudin."

Omar sat down and waited for the others to continue in their plans.

[Courier]

Steve steps forward and says,

"Most of my plans won't bear fruit until after the current year, but my one year plan is to see Aeon gets off to a good start and to move against some of their more problematic foes before they get organized. The most important of these is the Dragon. He's going to be a global player and his gang of organized criminals will generate long term problems. Ideally we'd co-op him, but he was likely evil before gaining his powers so it's probably too late. Other than the Dragon, there's several foes of Aeon who might be salvageable at this stage. It's not quite a one year plan but some of the groundwork starts here, I'm going to look up Lindbergh and see if he's a paranormal."

The white board reads,

SC: One Year Plans

1) See that Aeon gets off to a good start.

1a) Research their members and foes.

1b) See any novas are given proper information about taint.

1c) Push hard against some of Aeon's future foes before they get organized.

2) Look up Charles Lindbergh and see if he's a paranormal.

(OOC: Asking Lorean out to dinner and dancing isn't put on the chart).

Steve watches the points appear on the board and then continues. "At five years we should see some results. Hopefully by this time the "modern" economic theories on how an economy works will start to be accepted, at least by the experts. The economic reforms we've already started and are still pushing for should prevent the depression. I should note heading that off will be easier than originally thought, Andrew's technological releases will spark new businesses which will raise economic prosperity. I expect that the USSR will collapse and/or transform around this time. If Lindbergh's not a paranormal then I'm going to find or create a black man to do his thing a few weeks before he does. Hopefully this will raise awareness of race in a positive way. Ideally I'm trying to groom someone to head up the Civil Rights movement in the 30's."

The white board reads,

SC: Five Year Plans

1) Publish and distribute the various economic theories on how a modern economy works.

2) Finish up economic reforms which should avoid the great Depression.

3) Spread of ideas from #1 and #2.

4) Collapse and/or transformation of USSR.

5) If Lindbergh is a baseline, find a black man to replace him.

6) Ideally this will raise awareness of racism and groom a 1930's Martin Luther King to head up the Civil right movement.

Steve continues,

"10 years should be really something. By that point the various companies we own and/or control should be rich and important enough to push for things without using our powers. Media will continue to be a high priority, it's not clear to me whether we'll be buying them or starting them, but I suspect both. As previously mentioned, the slow raising of awareness of racism will continue and should start making waves around this time."

SC: 10 Year Plans

1) Be rich enough to be able to push economically and politically without using powers.

2) Break up of China (if desirable, this needs more study).

3) Continue take over of media.

4)Civil rights movement.

Steve comments,

"It may simply be too soon for the Civil Rights Era. Without highways and such in place the out-back is further out-back than it will be in the future. One of the tactics I'm going to try to bring into play is to point out how much wasted potential the South is giving up, and I don't just mean the blacks. By deliberately staying backward they're choosing to stay poor. Or at least that's the message I'd like to send... it helps that it's pretty much true."

[SkyLion]

Cody then takes the floor and his sonorous voice is projected through his link with Lorean though his mouth does not move.

"As you all know, I have expressed my preferences for looking into the greater mysteries at hand, and for not becomming too attached to this timeline. As such my main focus is to look for any signs of the Watchers that may be present in this era, by tracking data similar to the clues that led us to Lorean here in the first place."

"Closely alligned with the first is an exploration into the nature of the Hammersmith "accident" and it's effect on Lorean. I will be reviewing what can be gleaned from the ship's sensors leading up to the explosion and it's effect on the quantum fields surrounding this planet. As some of you may know the event triggered an interesting reaction in my own quantum matrix that I am still exploring. With luck and perserverance I hope we can break free from this specific timeline back into the greater multiverse. In this matter, our good Doctor Donnighal has proven to be a most valuable and insightful collaborator "

"Now that isn't to say I don't have my own idea for this timeline. I know it may seem trivial to put out the fires of an particular world among infinite possibilities, but it remains that the people on the planet below are just as real and alive as us, and that alone perhaps justifies the efforts we expend in such a lmiited scope. Of greater usefulness to us is the knowledge and experience we will gain in social engineering and the effects and possibilities of time travel."

"With that in mind I intend to help each of you with your individual goals as well as pursue a few avenues of my own curiosity. While the rest of you focus on geopolitics and bringing media and financial technology up to date I intend to do the same for global education. It does not matter what infrastructure and technology we give people if theirs is not an enlightened will to wield it. Not only does this work in direct concert with the Aeon Society but our ability to travel through time will allow us to perform an interesting pan-generational experiement."

"it is my goal to create an international private trust fund...one of largest in the world, exclusively for developing high end educational systems, from pre-school through university and to facilitate its implemtation across all nations. If we have done our job correctly, and combined with our advances and control of global media, then within two generations we will see a more educated, informed, and creative global populace than any we have experienced in our home timelines. A key to this is the creation of my Foundation, which will insure that the political machine will not interfere with the goals of a truly enlightned educational system."

"Speaking of politics, it is an ongoing pet hobby of mine to monitor the political figures and agendas currently in place. As with Russia and germany I think it is vital we root out the seeds of corruption planted in governement since the Roman era. In particular I would like to set up a system that allows for true democracy and enlightened self governance. When we leave this timeline for deeper waters i should not like all our hard work and time invested to be undone in a matter of generations."

Bullets have been appearing on the holographic board as he has been "speaking."

One year plans

1.) Pour over data from Hammersmith's. Search for clues as to why Lorean remains "stuck."

2.) Search for any clues to the Watchers in this era.

3.) Establish philanthropic identity and lay groundwork for the "SanSalvador Foundation for the Mind": A living trust of international scope dedicated to research and the modernization of education.

4.) Assist Steve, Omar, Andrew, and Morgan in shaping their respective governements and the implemtation of the League of nations.

5.) Continue to root out corrupting influences in world governments and military forces.

Five year plans.

1.) Full realization of The Foundation for the Mind. Global education reforms across the board, emphasizing science and "clean" technologies. Full collaboration with Andrew and his network of Scientists.

2.) Continue to shift economies from militarism and conquest to science and exploration. Strengthen the League of Nations and "groom" the greatest minds for positions of leadership.

"I have deliberatley kept my agenda loose in the 10 year range. Much of what goes on then will depend on the successes and discoveries of my very first two items. Ultimately this Earth is just a laboratory and stepping stone back to the multi-verse. If it turns out that we are trapped here indefinitely, that sentiment will change but for now it is of prime importance."