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Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Book 2: Chapter 3: Pulse


jameson (ST)

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"Yes...Maybe." Gregory responds hesitantly. "But baselines have never done me more harm than they do to each other."

Gregory wondered if James was serious about a Nova's only place and then realized that it might not be so good for baselines. "I don't want baselines to be slaves. They need free as much as we do. The city you came from has baseline slaves. Why should I trust you?"

Gregory wanted to know what Jame's real intentions were. If he continued to be sneaky in his words, Gregory might have to make him 'fess up'.

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Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)
"We can't all breathe vacuum dear. Don't tell me you salvaged some spacesuits and weren't telling me?" KB gives Doug a jab to the ribs and a playful wink.
Doug gives a false "Ow..." then retaliates by picking up KB, sitting down, and dropping her on his lap. He said, "What, isn't there weather on the moon?" wink
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Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)
"We can't all breathe vacuum dear. Don't tell me you salvaged some spacesuits and weren't telling me?" KB gives Doug a jab to the ribs and a playful wink.


Anna opened her eyes half shocked at KBs words. "Spacesuits? But... How can I...?" fit into one?

Anna looked helplessly around - she didn't want to be a liability but this was getting worse from minute to minute.
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"We don't even know that's how we're doing it yet," Ashley says to Anna. "We could just as easily send whatshisface to the moon by himself to spot a good location, then have Adam open one of those portals. If they've got some kind of habitat up there, then we'd never need to be exposed to vacuum in the first place."

She shrugs. "Or we could try to take a space suit and use it for a template to build a bigger version."

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KB mock frowns at Courier but doesn't make any effort to move from her new position. "Are you sure that just going up there would be wise? I mean what if they took it as an incursion, and attack? Its not like we didn't already toss a comet their way. Accidentally or not they don't have any way of knowing it was a mistake."

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"Well," Ash points out, "They would have known it was heading for Earth. They might not have expected us to be able to deflect it, but they can't blame us for trying. Still, that's a good point about just showing up. How about a radio? Does your city have anything strong enough to broadcast to the moon?"

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James sighed, "Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to survive. I'm not like you. I can't run around naked and not feel the cold. I can't go without food, or shelter. I can't survive without companionship. But look at me. Do you really think I'd have been accepted here? Its only a matter of time before your plant pal out there gets forced to leave. Baselines are just fine with us when we look like them and help them, but as soon as we start to look a little too weird for their taste, or as soon as we start looking out for ourselves first and them second they don't much like us at all. York provided me with a way to survive, at least until I got in over my head."

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Doug let his hands rest on KB's knee and replied, "Checking out who is space worthy wouldn't attract attention. They're on the back side of the moon and a long way away."

"As for just going up there... if we teleport or warp then I don't see how they'll know where we're from. That's why I'd rather go that way than use a radio or something. If they are hostile then I'd rather have them know we're somewhere from the Earth and not from this city specifically."

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"I know about being unwelcome." Gregory said with a sigh. "I was always able to go without food and roof over my head. I needed to stay with people. After short time I had to leave because I hurt land around them. Plants and animals get sick if I stay too long." Gregory looked very sad, as he knew that he would eventually leave Newborough as well. "I leave towns before they chase me out. It easier that way. I want to survive as well."

"This place different than most. They live in peace with us."

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"If we had a portable set we could travel out a ways from the city before transmitting," Ashley points out. "Or maybe there's an old radio array somewhere we can find that survived the Burn. A lot of them would have been built in high, remote areas, and wouldn't have been targeted."

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Doug considered and replied,

"Raider could probably whip something up. But they're on the back side of the moon and we already know abby city uses radio. Unless we set up our transmitter on the back side of the moon we'd be telling the wrong set of people what we're up to."

*Now when was the last time I called the residents of Abby City "People"?*

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Anna stifled a yawn, she was still very tired by the exertion of using her healing powers to help the frostbitten.

"Maybe we should get some sleep and make plans tomorrow - with Raider."

Anna retreated carefully from the table they were sitting at and tried to not destroy anything as she moved through Raiders shop. Finding a place that was large enough for her was difficult but not impossible. The floor would do fine if she got some light in the morning. She lay down there hoping not to dream of the moon.

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"They live in peace because it serves them. They benefit by tolerating us. Next time you are out there observe the work that our people do compared to the baselines, you will see that our people built this city. The humans live off the work of novas." James scowls and shakes his head, returning to work on some gadget.

*****

"I'm sure you will think of something. But whatever it is I'll be staying here, there's still much work to do." KB smiled and looked out the window at the clouds.

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The Next Morning, 9 am

James stumbled out of a spare bedroom and down to the living area where he found the others already awake and chatting. He shook his head wryly. "Do any of you ever sleep?" he asked as a joke. He found his way to the stove and helped himself to a pile of food before sitting down between Gregory and Raider. "So, what's the plan then? Or do we not have one yet?" He took a few bites of food before he continued, "You space worthy guys going to just fly on up and knock on their front door?"

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"I don't know if Adam is space worthy or not but I can teleport up there with him and he can then open a warp back to here for the rest of you to come through. Another option would be to take a radio up with us and announce our presence before we just go barging in."

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Gregory didn't sleep. James's words echoed in his head and he tried to sort out the meaning of those words. By morning he believed he had sorted them out.

The others were using strange words again. All he could do was sit there and watch while they talked about Og'mentayshun and combining powers.

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Doug replied,

"No, I never have, and no, I didn't know we could do that."

He frowned for a moment and then said, "I count myself lucky..." *that the taint techniques were explained* "...never mind. So tell us James, how does that work? Can any nova boost any nova, or do you both need the same powers, or what?"

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Anna followed the conversation warily and tried to keep her head down and move her bulk without damaging the interior. James was creepy on some indescribable level. Not that she was any less 'aberrated' than him - in fact she thought she looked worse and more monstrous than him but yet his demeanor was menacing to her.

He wouldn't be the first on her list of people she'd heal if he got injured. That meant a lot in her world. She wanted to ask what those were supposed to do that weren't spaceworthy but suddenly the subject changed to a new matter. It would have to wait for later.

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Doug nodded and mentally searched for ways to use this information. *Flight sounds silly and Superstrength already works in combo for picking up things. So not me.*

*...KB? Increased weather manip sounds spiffy, but with Cal dead she's the only one around. Raider? Anna? Wait, Adam! Of course I've no clue whether or not he even needs augmentation to get to the moon. Warp might not have a range.*

Doug said,

"Let's ask a different question. Who here is space worthy? I am. Raider is. James I gather is not. KB we're not sure about but she's going to stay anyway."

"Anna? Gregory? Ashley? Adam?"

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Anna quickly shook her head. She was most certainly not "spaceworthy". She thought that she didn't belong anywhere but on earth - bare footed without any artificial construction obstructing her contact to Gaia.

She was so intimidated by the thought of going to space that she couldn't even fathom to answer and choked instead of saying something.

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"Adam doesn't have anything against the folks on the moon. They weren't responsible for him spending the last several months helping to save the lives of people in this town." He looked pointedly at James, "So who were you suggesting that should Augment? More importantly what are the risks of augmenting?"

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James looked right back at Raider, "Better check yourself there brother of mine, I wasn't responsible for this ... this mess." He gestures out to the windows which are blocked by piled snow. "Though if I were I'd be pretty damn proud, it must have taken some impressive weather craft to fuck everything up this good."

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"Me? No I wasn't planning anything, I just suggested that my range would not be sufficient without it. See there's two ways that one can have power. Raw talent and skill. A lot of novas, aberrants, whatever you call us get by with a little of both. Myself, I've refined my telepathic skills to make up for my law of raw power while others can achieve feats similar to my own through brute force.

"I don't know anybody I'd trust, and who would trust me, to augment. The whole thing works like any other waveform constructive or destructive interference. Two of our kind with the same ability can overlay their powers to reinforce each other. Just like with sound waves or light. But the process also means that you are operating on the same wavelength so to speak, for telepaths it means that either can exert their control over the other should they choose."

He chewed another bite thoughtfully, "No, I'm just fine thanks without opening my brain up."

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