Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 8: Those who have strayed from the path.

[Ulric Reikspar]

Over the Link:

*Even if he walks away from this without criminal charges, I will do my damnedest to let the whole world know what level of treason this man committed. Imagine how well he will appreciate his life then? I do not see me doing this man the greatest kindness. I do think it is important to everyone concerned that we keep our word, though.*

[z028 Riley]

Over the link:

*Some of us at least should tend to Earth while the others finish the interrogation. It does us no good to have these two if the world is still thrown into panic and disarray. The President needs to be seen doing what it is his job to do: lead. If you are all serious about what was discussed before, about leaving, then this is the time to decide if you do so with your secrets in tact or if you reveal all of yourselves to the world.*

Although her words were well thought out and directed a quivering could be heard in her mental voice. Kyria was a child of this world, and not much more than just a child. *It might be best that the world does know that they have had guardians and protectors for the past century, and that this threat is great enough to spur even them into their greatest actions. Humanity needs both understanding and hope; you can give them both. After this crisis you can also show them that you were but parts of the whole that kept them alive. In the flush of victory they might well push themselves to be all that you and my father have molded them to be. They would believe they could handle their independence then, and that is the greatest step to actually being able to. Either way, action is needed now.*

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*Ulric, in that room you are 'good cop'. Not 'good president'. Part of G.C.'s job is to make promises that other people can and will over rule. If you can't deal with that then walk out of the room right now.*

*And if I were him I'd start over with a new identity. Ten, twenty years from now we'll find out he's been mind raping and murdering people left and right.*

*And what's this "tend to the Earth" business? What's going on?*

[Mr Fox]

Morgan doesn't look up from his station in the infirmary where he is monitoring the two prisoners, but sends back, *It's bad Steve, very bad. We didn't get them all, at least one more proxy if not two are still out there, and they've begun their attacks on humanity. Government facilities all over the planet have suffered explosions, the death toll is in the thousands. Less immediate, but more deadly, the economy is being targeted. A run is being made on a number of key commodities in an attempt to throw the markets into chaos.*

[Courier]

Steve gets a very unfocused look and holds up a hand to let Adam know he is talking to someone. He says out loud,

"Ah heck. OK, acknowledged."

Steve turns to Adam with a very grim look and says,

"Well, it's started. Death toll is currently in the thousands and we're only just begun. Explosions and someone trying to undercut the economy. So far our lizard aliens haven't made a move but we're meeting with them in a few days so it's really only a matter of time."

"Adam, this is what we call decision time. Right now, right this moment you have to decide. You tell me everything you can about everything that's going on, specifically and especially who the other proxies are and I'll make it clear that you switched sides when you found out what the plan really was."

(Steve is quite serious).

[Mr Fox]

Adam turns white at Steve's words and is now sweating profusely. "Robin... Robin York, he would be the one hitting the economy, he's a billionaire, inherited his money. Sascha Velicor is the one attacking the government facilities, I'd bet on it. That wasn't supposed to happen though, they weren't to be hit while occupied! Martin Abersdale is planning to kill many prominent members of the government, and Joshua Abersdale, he was working for Avantech and was planning mischief at the spaceyards, he's Martin's brother. That's it. I don't know of any others. None of this was supposed to be violent at all, it was all just supposed to scare people into voting out the current government and then we were going to come in and save the day. We were going to make the world a better place and make everyone into psions." Adam continues to babble out everything he knows so fast he trips all over himself in his attempt to 'be cooperative'. The facts that come out over a period of about 30 minutes of his constant confessing:

* There were 5 proxies.

* Joshua Abersdale - (aka Psionsickle) had a hate of Novas. He was working for Advantech in the space yards as Jemma's assistant. He would have been the one giving the Alien's the tech. He also planned to destroy the shipyards to disrupt construction and the space program.

* Martin Abersdale - Brother of Joshua. Ambitious. Plans to be the President in the new government. Very cold blooded. Adam is afraid of him. Was planning to eliminate key members of the current government through assassination, and by mind raping others into committing scandalous acts.

* Sascha Velicor - Former member of the League Navy, demolitions expert. Was very close with Joshua and hated Novas at least as much as he did. Adam fears her more than any of the others, but that is because she is the least stable of them all. He believes the process of unlocking her potential may have unhinged her just a little. She was supposed to plant explosives in various government buildings, but they were to be keyed only in the event that the other options failed to topple the government.

* Robin York - Heir to the York fortune. His grandfather made his millions in the big construction boom in the early days of the League. Robin is a spoiled, bored rich kid that Adam believes is part of the conspiracy just for the thrill of it. He's the sole remaining member of his family. Adam believes he murdered his grandfather rather than wait for him to pass on of natural causes. His parents died in a plane crash when he was a child. Robin was to corner the market on several important commodities that would be very important in the reconstruction period in the early days of the new government.

* Adam - He was approached by a middle aged man and offered power and wealth and a position of respect. Adam had been a simple technician in the power industry with little or no prospects for advancement about a decade ago. The man who he only ever saw the one time said that he could make him the one of the strongest telepaths in the world if he would undergo a simple procedure. The procedure was simple enough. He was placed inside a tank filled with some kind of liquid that seemed to be alive. He underwent pain like he's never felt before for what seemed like days and when he was removed from the tank, he was indeed one of the strongest ever. He woke back in his old apartment with a satchel full of money lying on the bed beside him and a card with an address and a date on it. When he arrived at the location at the appointed time the other four 'super-psions' were there. Over the next couple years they met occasionally and Martin devised the grand plan that was supposed to end up with them leading the new government. Each of the others reported a similar experience of being contacted by the man and being put into the tank and waking up later with money and a note.

* Novas were to be eliminated. Adam is unclear on how this was to be accomplished, and admits that he suspects Joshua and Sascha were planning genocide, although he never asked and avoided the subject because he was uncomfortable with the strength of their prejudice.

* All humans would be given treatment just like they were, but of a lesser form to become psions as well. He also doesn't know how this was to be accomplished and doubts that any of the others do either. He suspects that it was really just a fond boast of Martins. Although if accomplished it would make people very indebted to them.

(While all of this is being divulged, Lorean will have jumped back to Earth and the President, Joani and Omar will have addressed the people. Still waiting for Joani's reply before posting their actions.)

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric looks at Martin and quietly says,

"Too late."

To Steve,

*Calm down. What matters now is that we have the key conspirators names. Find out everything you can about how they were supposed to make contact with one another.*

Back to Martin, Ulric adds,

"Save what you can. We have the names of the other key conspirators. What do you know about the man who put you in the tank and the tanks themselves."

[Courier]

Steve pinches his nose and sighs, commenting,

"So what's going on is Sascha and Robin have jumped the gun, and she's running around committing mass murder... OK, how were you supposed to make contact with them after it all came down?"

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Ziggurat

Omar needed to get to the surface to help. Turning his attention to Joani. "I need to get back to earth. With your absence from the Paragons, it will fall on me to rally them to deal with this crisis." He could see the anguish in her eyes. "The president needs to be protected."

Sitting himself heavily into a chair, Omar spoke, his voice much weaker. "We should alert the others." Putting his head in his hands, the Ziggurat of the Confederation, The Rock of Babylon, Omar, cried.

Joani nodded to Omar and briefly added, “Coordinate yourself with Kara, she’ll know what to do… and take care, Omar.”

Then she saw Omar almost collapsing on the chair and starting to cry. Biting her lips she hesitated to give him some comfort and instead addressed the President.

“I think it is time to coordinate some governmental duties, Mr. President. This is a crisis, Earths people need you now.”, Joani helped the President to his feet ready to face whatever the alien threat threw against them.

Once Lorean made her jump back to Earth Joani felt more comfortable even though the situation was grim. She followed the President to every meeting never straying from his side and giving her advice here and there. It almost felt like when Ulric was President only that there was no such threat during his term in office. She hoped they would get a hold on this soon enough, she hoped Kyria was right and they emerged successfully out of this crisis. The President was about to speak to the people and a dreadful sense of foreboding crept up her spine.

[Omar]

It took several minutes for Omar to compose himself. He hadn't cried like that since his wife died in an automobile accident. The images of the smoking rubble and dead bodies, brought back other memories as well. This Sascha and her cohorts had to be punished. As the scenes of carnage scrolled across the screen Omar's rage grew. The small table next to him, exploded in a shower in toothpicks, as his fist smashed down onto it.

"I want to go after Sascha." His voice was deadly serious. "And crush her into mush." Omar watched the others, daring them to tell him he couldn't.

He continued. "Then once she is gone, we bankrupt the billionair. Without his money to protect him, he will be an easy grab." Omar called his broker to start bidding for the same commodities as Robin. If he could stop him from cornering the market, it would break the man. He looked towards Steve and flashed him a big smile. "Steve, you might want to likewise place bids on those commodities."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Ziggurat

"I want to go after Sascha." His voice was deadly serious. "And crush her into mush." Omar watched the others, daring them to tell him he couldn't.

Steve sends,

*No choice on that one. Don't give her the chance to take people with her, she will.*

Originally Posted By: Ziggurat

He continued. "Then once she is gone, we bankrupt the billionaire. Without his money to protect him, he will be an easy grab." Omar called his broker to start bidding for the same commodities as Robin. If he could stop him from cornering the market, it would break the man. He looked towards Steve and flashed him a big smile. "Steve, you might want to likewise place bids on those commodities."

Steve replies,

*What we want to do is bid but let him win. He'll be the proud owner of commodities that aren't going to be used. There isn't going to be much 'rebuilding' because you are going to stop Sascha and we have already stopped the others.*

*We'll also pick him up and let his plan run on autopilot. He's probably told his people to get that stuff at any cost. His money will hang him, the moves he has made to profit from mass murder won't look good to the public and his money won't spend well in prison.*

*But economic war via commodity manipulation sounds like a job for my lovely wife.*

[Mr Fox]

The President stood before the screen flanked by the two greatest heroes the world had ever known and felt utterly defeated. How had this happened, they had caught the bad buys and stopped three threats... only there had been more than three threats, and the two they'd missed were causing untold amounts of damage while the President sat safe a full light year from where the trouble was happening. Tears rolled down his face but at Omar's words a steel resolve filled him and a determination to see his people through.

"Lorean, jump us home immediately, and open the emergency broadcast channel. I must speak to the people and reassure them and tell them what has transpired." Turning to Omar, "Stand beside me, both of you. I don't care that there are tears on your face. It is important that the human race see us and know that their heroes are ready to defend and protect them."

Without warning Lorean jumped back into direct communications and teleport range of Earth. "Mr. President, I have a channel open for you."

The president straightened his back and made himself as dignified as possible, "Citzens of humanity, it is with great sadness that I address you today. A terrible tragedy has befallen us today and our hearts go out to all those who have lost friends and loved ones. I wish that I could tell you that this calamity was an isolated incident, but as we have all seen on the news, facilities all over Earth are being targeted. There is some hope however, we have learned who has perpetrated these heinous crimes and I will be dispatching two of the worlds greatest heroes to apprehend the villians. Joani and Omar, the leaders of the paragons will have the two remaining members of this conspiracy in custody shortly. At this time I will also ask that all trading on the stock and commodities exchanges be halted as part of this attack has been against our economy. As I said, there is some hope, while we were unable to capture Sascha Velicor, and Robin York before they launched their attacks, we did capture their three fellow conspirators and prevented them from launching other attacks that would have had consequences equally as dire as those we have seen today. Once the other three conspirators have given their statements we will release further details. I can tell you that these terrible crimes were aimed at overthrowing the League government, in a coup that would have lead to tyranny the likes of which the world has never known." Gesturing toward Omar and Joani, "Thanks to these brave heroes we have been spared that fate and their quick action in apprehending the first three of the conspirators, and it is with great sadness that they were not able to round up all three before they had time to act. Citizens, in this time of tragedy, I ask, no, We ask that you pull together and help in any way that you can those who have suffered loss this day. Thank you." Through out the broadcast it was clear from the images the tears in the eyes of the President and the paragon's leaders and the people will know that those who have the power to make a difference care and will act.

After the broadcast the President moved quickly to a terminal and issued immediate orders to have the markets frozen and all assets of Robin York and York Enterprises siezed. He also issued orders for the arrest of Robin York and Sascha Velicor, but added that in should they be spotted that they not be engaged directly, but to notify the Paragons immediately.

[Courier]

Steve sends to everyone,

*Wearing my law enforcement hat I think he just made my job harder. It would have been easier to pick up those two if they didn't know we know about them or that we had the other three.*

*On the other hand I think politically this was the right move. Calm down the world and all that. We'll just have to play with the cards we have.*

*I don't know where Sascha is but all the big commodity trading is in New York. Robin should have an office there and I'd expect him to be there right now running things. If we hurry we might get him before he flees.*

[SkyLion]

Cody mentally slaps himself in the face.

(Over the link)

*The good President appears to have left his common sense at home. Shows you never to let a politician handle police work. Warn the extremely dangerous supervillains we're coming, yeah that will do the trick.*

:Sigh:

*Well there's nothing for it anymore, best be swift about it you two.*

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand Cody addresses Martin.

*Sorry Martin, but the time for bargaining is over. You will recieve no pardon. You will be held up before the world along with your fellow proxies and tried. You will most likely be executed or lobotomized. All we need is the information on your benefactors. Go ahead and make me ask the hard way...*

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*It's a long shot but we might try porting to Sascha's home and hope she's there. And did I say New York for Robin? A better bet is probably Chicago or London... of course as a Billionaire trader what office he trades out of are probably pretty well known.*

[SkyLion]

Cody checks out for all of 30 seconds while he makes a few near instantaneous "phone calls.".

*I have a trace going through my networks. We should be able to locate them telepathically or electronically within moments.*

((OOC: Contacts 5 is handy...))

[Omar]

Omar shifts his Eufiber into an all black, single piece outfit. On the front of it is the arabic word for Justice: (Unfortunately, UBB code won't let me paste the translation.)

He sends back to Cody and the others: As soon as you have her location, you send me there. She is mine!

[Joani]

Joani searched for Omar's eyes and tried to sooth his anger. "Please, don't forget that revenge isn't Justice, Ziggurat. Justice will be done, I promise."

As she watched him changing his Eufiber and preparing himself for the mission she added, "Take care..."

[Mr Fox]

Within minutes, Lorean spoke up from her console, "I have a location for the billionaire, he is in an underground basement under one of his office buildings. I can't transport him without a visual though. I will need someone to go in there and confront him so that I can get a lock on him, then I will bring him aboard and sedate him like the others."

[SkyLion]

*Omar. Would you mind if I joined you on this one? You can take point, of course, but if he tries any of his enhanced psychic wizardry my abilities might give us the edge we need...*

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*I'm a bit tied up in interrogation. Everyone wear cameras. I suggest just porting down some gas into that location before going yourselves.*

[Omar]

Omar turns and gives Joani a big smile. "You are right, of course. I should let the courts punish her."

He sends to Cody. "Sometimes I leap into the fray before thinking. It would be wise to have your abilites with me in case he has potent mental abilities. Sascha's apprehension will have to wait."

[Mr Fox]

Cody left the interrogation to Ulric and made his way to the transporter room where Omar was waiting. Lorean's hologram appeared, "I will transport you as close as I can to minimize the time Robin will have to detect your minds approaching. Take these two cameras and get me a picture of the target a quickly as you can, and remember, he is a super telepath. Cody, you might be of some help, but don't forget that Michael fell to one of them and don't try to confront him on your own. Good luck."

The hallway where the two appeared was awfully nice for a basement. It was lined with dark wood paneling and carpeted and had fine art work on the walls. Definitely not your average basement even for the building of a billionaire. According to Lorean Robin should be somewhere beyond the door at the end of the hallway. Moving quickly but quietly Omar took the lead and used his strength to force open the door. It made a bit of noise, but there was no one in the room to hear. The room that was revealed looked to be a secretaries office and waiting room, two door were set equally distant on the back wall of the room, either of which could be the door behind which Robin waited.

[SkyLion]

Cody pays attention to his intuition as they make their way toward the enemy. As soon as they catch sight of him, Cody is going to unleash a massive wave of disorientation upon him.

((OOC, please include initiative bonus from Intuition and make a tactics roll to further initiative.)

[Omar]

Omar looked over at Cody and sends: *This feels wrong? There are no guards on duty. No secretary. What if this place is wired with a large bomb?

Omar looked at each door, postulating which one to go through. If there was a bomb, it would go off when the doors were disturbed. To be safe, he would have to make his own door. Fist though, he wanted some input from Cody.

[SkyLion]

*A part of my mind is constantly tracking for threats; if we are about to spring a trap I would feel it. Lorean is standing by with the teleporter just in case. Would you prefer I take point?*

Cody's body shimmers as his tactical armomr reappears around him from its extra dimensional pocket. Shortly thereafter a massive canon materializes encompassing his left arm up to the shoulder.

((Cody's armor and gun look essentially like the leftmost character in this pic:

))

[Joani]

Joani watched Omar and Cody approach the target location and instinctly reacted just like Omar.

*Lorean, teleport me there in case something goes wrong. I'll be your back up, guys.*

Until now they had been relatively lucky considering how much damage the proxies could have caused. She was sure that the aliens had conceived some kind of fall back plan in case things didn't go the way they planned. She steeled herself mentally and prepared to be teleported while she hoped that it wouldn't be necessary.

[Omar]

I hope Cody is right. It was not that he was so worried about his own safety, it was the safety of his teammates.

* Just stay behind me. Cody, if something goes wrong, I want you to leave. Joani, you needent risk yourself on this one. But thank you...for everything.

Omar felt the familiar surge of quantum that accompanies a charge. He struck the wall like a freight-train. If he picked the right spot, the wall would explode away from him, and shower the room with whatever material it was made of. In the case of drywall, a large cloud of dust coated everything and hung over the room like a fog, obscuring his attack. On other occasions, the wall fragmented and sent shards of itself into the room. This usually sent its occupants diving for cover. Like many times before, Omar hoped that this would provide the initial advantage necessary.

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*Amber, try a look ahead and warn Lorean to pull them out if you see something. I know this is a bit of a reach but it's worth a try.*

[Mr Fox]

Cody feels no sudden sense of danger as Omar charges toward the wall to the right of the right hand door. It's moments like these when having Amber close at hand would be very nice, on the other hand neither of the men would have let her put her in this kind of situation. So Omar charges blindly through the wall discovering as he goes that it was actually reinforced concrete. Good thing he'd been leading with his shoulder and not his head. As cement and steel rip through the room Cody feels a brief flare of his danger sense, but it fades almost as quickly as it comes. It quickly becomes evident why as the two men prepare to take whatever action is necessary. No sooner do their eyes lock onto a man sitting behind a heavy oak desk than they see his eyes quickly glaze over and slump forward to collapse face first on his keyboard. Before either man can react Robin disappears teleported away.

Lorean says over the link, *I have him, but he is dead. He seems to have had a major brain hemorrhage Similar to what Michael experienced, but of a much stronger degree. I can't be sure, but it looks like he may have done this to himself.*

Back in Robin's subterranean office it is plain that Omar's entrance has caused a good deal of damage, but the desk itself doesn't appear to have been hit much and the computer is still active.

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*I'm not sure it was self inflicted. It's possible he was a super quick thinker and had accepted he'd lost, but short of that he should have still been in denial this could happen to him. Even with it he shouldn't be realizing just yet how hosed he is.*

*I suspect if we look at Mr. Cold real hard we'll find he has a similar injury. I also suspect what we just found out whoever created the Proxies is still on the Earth. The President's speech alerted their master.*

*He just hit this guy's kill switch.*

[z028 Riley]

Kyria shivered as she listened to conversations going on over the link. Everything was moving so fast and was so....awful. Her father had told her stories of war, and she'd seen the occasional story on violent crime that occurred around the world, but this was a level of malevolence and destruction that had been relegated to nightmares and horror fiction decades before she'd been born. Instinctively she reached for her father, and when there was no response, to Cody.

*I-is there something I should be doing? Something to help? I don't know...what to do.*

She was shaken but her plea showed that she had been raised for action. She needed to feel like she could do something more than sit in a corner and quiver.

[Mr Fox]

In the infirmary, on an instrument panel in a quiet room there was the briefest flicker of activity that faded back to the near flat line it had showed before.

[SkyLion]

Cody sighs wearily.

*I'm afraid there is little that can be done here now.* he responds to Kyria.

*Lorean will you please transport the desk and computer on board as well? Omar and I are going to mop up and look for any clues and then head home. Any more leads on Sascha?*

[Mr Fox]

Lorean projects back to the group on the ground, *Prepare for transport...* Within minutes everyone is back aboard as is the desk and computer. Meanwhile the interrogations continue uninterrupted in two different parts of the ship.

Minutes later Lorean announces to all over the link, *I have all the contents of Robin's computer and access to all his other systems, including complete financial records. At the very least they will paint him as a greedy and unscrupulous man who was seeking to profiteer off of humanities misfortunes. Combined with the testimony of the two prisoners it should be enough to condemn him in the eyes of the populace of the conspiracy that the President announced he was part of.*

Just seconds after she finished her last communications she breaks in with urgent news, *I'm afraid there has been a development in the search for Sascha. Apparently she was in a cafe in Paris with a view of another government building that was in flames when she suddenly collapsed dead. When medics arrived on the scene a positive identification was made and they notified the League. Her body is being taken to a League medical facility for autopsy. I have a speculation, but I don't believe that it will be a very welcome one...* She pauses for a second before continuing, *I think Steve was correct. I believe the proxies are being terminated to avoid risk of exposure. I think it is likely that the two in custody are still alive only because the drug is suppressing their psi abilities. Once the drug wears off I don't believe we will be able to keep them alive.*

[SkyLion]

*That and possibly your shielding. Lorean we need to keep these two doped up and shielded at all costs. Right now they are the only link to the batsards that did this and if we don't catch them now they are going to strike again and again. We need to wrap this up before we meet with the Chromatics.*

[Omar]

Omar was relieved that he had not killed Robin. He was also angry, that the person behind the whole scheme was killing off the conspirators. As news came that Sascha was killed too, he angrily began to pace back and forth in Lorien. He didn't even bother with removing the concrete dust from his outfit, which left a small cloud behind him.

"We need to get them away from Earth." He finally sends.

[Courier]

*We've got 3 fresh corpses to look at... maybe we can figure out and remove their kill switch. It might be as simple as a brain implant.*

*And someone make sure the President knows the last two are dead and their master isn't.*

[Andrew Murphy]

Originally Posted By: Courier

*We've got 3 fresh corpses to look at... maybe we can figure out and remove their kill switch. It might be as simple as a brain implant.*

*Lorean, transport me up, it seems I have work yet to do.* Even over the mental link Andrew does not seem himself, he is unusually quiet and his tone seems saddened and withdrawn.

Within the blink of an eye a flash of light engulfs Andrew as his matter transmutes to energy. Instantly he reappears in sick bay, a pop and a flash of light preceeding him. Sighing he relectantly begins to examine the newly recovered proxies.

The only thing I can do is keep fighting ... I'll fight until I cannot do any more.

[Mr Fox]

Meanwhile on Earth...

In cities all over the world where smoke still rose after the extinguishing of the fires. Thousands upon thousands of people some still in shock, some feeling dispair, some compassion gathered near the buildings needing comfort and giving comfort. As the hours passed more people streamed in from near and far to help and to assist. Fire departments from cities hundreds and thousands of miles from the explosions rushed to the scenes of tragedy. Churches and civic organizations from around the globe sent people and aid and donated blood by the hundreds of gallons.

In Berlin just yards from the devastation wrought on the Unity building where several thousand people were gathered, a mix of victims, family, aid workers, and citizens, a elderly woman still in shock stood looking at ruins of one of the most magnificent buildings in this history of the human race. Hilda had been a young woman when the structure had been built, she had attended the Unity rallies that had lead to the forming of the League. This place was just stone and mortar and others might argue that this building or that elsewhere in the world were prettier or grander or more historical, but Hilda had the conviction of belief and this building was a symbol of that belief. A physical symbol of the unity of the human race. She remembered a time when it seemed that humanity was likely to pull itself apart and be destroyed by it's own greed and hatreds.

Hilda was just three and a half years shy of her 100th birthday, and though the doctors told her she was likely to live another 20 years she didn't feel like she was going to live another day. All she believed in and all she dreamed of lay in ruins before her, smoke rising to the sky from a huge blackened hole. Still in shock she didn't know why but she felt if she could just recapture the song, perhaps the building itself would become whole again. After all the building began with a song didn't it? Wasn't it the Unity rally and the song that had started it all? She was only 16 at the time, but she had had one of the most beautiful voices in Hamburg and had been chosen to attend the first Unity rally and represent the people back home. The rally began with ten thousand voices then swelled to one hundred thousand, then more and more until over a million people had sung of Unity and the world had listened and over time had joined the song at later rallies, but it had all begun with ten thousand singers.

She was only one. 93 and a half years old, stooped and bowed with age heart breaking and in shock, but she began to sing quietly to herself convinced that if she could just recapture the song everything would be better. She stood looking at the smoke singing the Unity song quietly but with the conviction of faith. She sang the first verse alone just like the ten thousand had that first time. A young boy of six sat a few feet away not really understanding the fact that his father would never be coming home again, but he heard the song, and began to sing along with the old woman. The boys mother and older sister sat on the ground weeping onto each others shoulders, but somehow the song broke through their grief and touched something within them and despite their sobs they joined in the third verse. The song swelled from there, in twos and threes and then in tens and twenties and hundreds until the entire crowd stood facing the burning symbol of Unity and sang despair slowly fading and being replaced by hope. Within an hour people from all over Berlin had taken to the streets joining in, from a dispirited crowd of a few thousand, the Song grew to a million, then two then four and everyone in the city even if they couldn't join the crowd sang.

It spread from Berlin as news reports reached other suffering cities. New York, Tokoyo, London, Paris, Cape Town... the Song swelled and with it hope began to replace despair. Neighbors reached out and clasped hands, strangers hugged and clung to strangers. Everywhere, and in every city and human colony the Song rose and for several hours all activity ceased except for the song.

In Berlin, Hilda came out of her shock and as more and more joined in the Song, hope and conviction became one. With a faith that could not be denied she knew in the core of her being that the Unity building would rise again, but more importantly the Spirit that built it wasn't dead, it was stronger than ever and for the second time in her life she felt a sense of complete and total perfection. All was right with the world.