Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 10: All roads lead to Rome

[Mr Fox]

Back aboard the ship everyone appears in the teleporter room and Meri can't help but notice that this room looks exactly like the transporter room from the old Star Trek show. Morgan is waiting and greets everyone. "Welcome back. Meri, I am Morgan, welcome aboard Lorean the most advanced ship in human hands, or perhaps I should say Nova hands. Lorean has prepared quarters for you, but if you would like I'm sure someone here can show you around the ship." He smiles and adds, "Oh, and Lorean is not just a ship, she is actually sentient, if you get lost you can always just call out her name and she can help you no matter where you are on the ship."

[SalmonMax]

On arriving in the Lorean, Meredith's face is a study in contrasts. She frowns with her eyes, but laughs with her mouth, as if thinking she was the victim of a practical joke that, while irksome, was also pretty funny. It takes a few minutes as the situation is explained to her by Morgan for the insulating layers of shock to peel away.

"Wait," she says in a shaky voice. "This...isn't possible. I'm sorry, but it's not. Nothing like this could have come from Earth, but you're all human...I can tell...your chemistry...everything in your bodies is human."

She reaches up to rub her cheeks between her hands. "I used to...pretend...that people were there. I used to pretend they were coming to find me."

For a moment it seems like she might dissolve into tears or just faint dead away...but she takes a deep breath and collects herself. When her eyes open, there's a determined glint to them.

"So either I've finally cracked completely, and I'm no longer in touch with reality, or this ship is something much stranger than just a spaceship." She frowns. "I can't really go any farther if this isn't real...anything I sense would be suspect. But...it feels completely convincing, right down to the composition of the walls and each of you. There's nothing dreamlike about it."

Meredith looks back at Morgan then, all trace of panic gone.

"So this must be...some kind of time traveling ship then, right? You're all from the future."

[Ulric Reikspar]

"We are not from the future ... ummm, your future anyway. We have jumped timelines from a date in your past to your present. Like you, I am a refugee of sorts and this is my first attempt at cross-time travel. Others are more experienced."

He puts a hand on her shoulder.

"You are not insane, trust me. You've been through a terrible crucible, but you've come out of it alive and sane. Now, you can think about staying with us, or we can drop you off in my home timeline, were you will be safe."

"Life is very differnt there. There is one World Government. The planet is unified in its attempt to make life better for every citizen - no lie, its true, and we have some influence there. If you chose to remain, you could do so as quietly as you wish for as long as you wish. We are already heading into space too."

"Of course, it isn't your home and after what you've been through, you may not be comfortable there. Its a peaceful world that hasn't known real war or natural disaster in half a century. You could stay with us instead, and keep exploring - and maybe helping - other worlds."

"To answer that question - Could we save your world?, the answer is "No." WE can save an alternate form of your planet, if we can block the strike, but that doesn't help the people you knew and loved. It only creates a splinter reality. That's how we've believed it to be so far."

While his face is young, Ulric speaks with a Fatherly wisdom backed up with a powerful presence. He seems sincere in welcoming Meri into her new life, if she so chooses to follow it.

[SalmonMax]

Meri stares at Ulric as he talks, apparently absorbing everything he says. Finally she speaks.

"Alternate universes...that's...amazing..." She draws in a deep breath again, slowly, as if getting used to it. "I'd love to see this world you're from, but, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay on the ship with you. I'm pretty good with gadgets and gizmos these days." Meri grins. "I've had lots of practice with the ones in the vault. And I can sort of...sense how things are put together. Right down to the atoms. So it's really easy for me to figure things out."

"There's just one thing I'm not sure I get. You said you can't help Earth, I mean, my Earth...but then you said you go around exploring and helping people."

[Ulric Reikspar]

"That's the plan anyway. We have various technological and medical advances we can share with other world. We can share knowledge and gain data for various problems our world hasn't faced before. And, we have a starship that really helps," he adds with a smile.

"We don't want to change life too fast on these alternate Earths, either. We want to be careful with what we do. You can help with that, analyzing a world's tech and guess what technologies we can share. Would you like that kind of challenge?"

[Joani]

Joani joined her husband standing right next to him and smiled confidently at Meredith. "Besides that, I think this little 'Men's Club' could use some more female influence."

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

"There's just one thing I'm not sure I get. You said you can't help Earth, I mean, my Earth...but then you said you go around exploring and helping people."

"What we cannot do is reverse things. We can't undo something that has happened. We can only create an alternative version of a timeline once we've taken action to change things. I'm sorry that we cannot prevent what happened to your home. What we can do is help where we see a chance to make a difference. Take your time to think about this. I agree with my husband - we could really use your help."

[Omar]

Omar returned from his room, munching on several salt tablets. He listened to Ulric and Joani explain to Meri their situation. After a few minutes, Omar speaks up.

"What happened to your world was not an accident." He would let that sink in before telling her what the crew knew a century before. "There is a group of aliens who seek the destruction of humanity. In this timeline, we were not able to prevent them from sending an asteroid to destroy it."

"We hope to prevent this same fate from befalling our own world."

Omar turns to Morgan. "If you can, I would like you to repeair my eufiber. It was burned in an attack by an aberrant, and I had no quantum available to absorb the damage."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan smiles and looks at the rest, "You may not need it but I can heal everyone at once if you'd like. Just step out of the room if you don't want healing." He waited a moment for anyone that wanted to leave then raised his right hand and gestured. A bright glow surrounded him for a moment and everyone within the room suddenly felt somewhat refreshed, at least physically and Omar's torn eufiber mended in seconds. "Sorry, I can't do anything about your drained energy reserves but I'm afraid that's beyond my abilities."

[SkyLion]

After finishing the upload Cody beams back aboard where Meri's debriefing is in full swing.

He approaches her, a very healty and handsome looking man appearing to be in his mid to late 20's with the exotic appearance of melato ancestry. His eyes however are hidden behind reflective chrome lenses that completely cover and wrap around each of his eyes individually. He is dressed in a skintight outfit made of a sleek unkown material and is colored in simple yet bold pattern of greys blues and black. His thick african hair is buzzed close to the scalp and he is holding some kind of device in his hands.

There is something slightly foreboding about him as he approaches though he is smiling. Looking into those opaque lenses and seeing her own reflection it almost seems to pull Meri in and she can feel the beginning of vertigo and a wavering on the edges of her vision. It is almost as if his eyes would swallow her up if not for the barrier seperating her from whatever lay behind.

A voice picks up on the comm and as it seems to come from all around it takes her a moment to realize that it is the man before her, though his lips do not move.

*Hello Meri. We are all fortunate to have had your assistance on the planet below and I am glad that our presence frightened you. You are among frineds now.*

*My name is Cody. You are no doubt wondering why my voice is voming in over Lorean's communication network. The short answer is that up until a few hours ago, i haven't used my vocal cords in over a century. I am a telepath, and many of Lorean's control systems are based on mental interface. This hypospray contains a psylink that will allow you to communicate with us even from vast distances. Don't worry, it's entirely non-invasive. It only picks up surface thoughts and only when you wish to transmit or recieve. You can turn it off at any time. May I inject you?*

[SalmonMax]

Meri is gaping at Omar, totally confounded when Cody makes his approach. She looks at him as he gets closer, and reflexively takes a few steps backwards.

"Wait..." she begs, holding up a hand as if to stop him. "Just wait a second."

She closes her eyes, trying to make sense of things. Intellectually, she understood what they were saying easily...and saw ramifications that even the people telling her might not have. Emotionally, she lagged much farther behind. Relief and gratitude at Joani...dawning horror and outrage at Omar...and a terrifying, instinctive fear and loathing at what Cody was offering. It was too much.

"All right," Meredith says quietly. "Thank you, Joani. Omar, I'll get back to you." She opens her eyes and shakes her head at Cody. "No. If you can...communicate with me some other way, then that's how we'll do it. No injections. No telepathy."

[Fahrenheit]

nothing to see her, wrong login.

[Joani]

Joani sent over the link *Maybe we should give her more time. I'd like to talk to her in private, make her feel more comfortable and try to explain what our intentions are. I think she'll understand if we give her just some more time.*

Assuming the others agreed with her proposal Joani walked slowly towards Meredith keeping her confident smile. "I can understand your situation, Meredith. I had my own worries at first when I met these people but today they are my most trusted friends. I'd like to show you your quarters. Lorean will provide you with anything you need. Maybe studying some of our records well help you to adapt more easily. I offer to stay with you and explain if you like, or maybe just to keep you some company. I want you to know that you're not alone anymore and you won't have to be ever again."

Joani offered Meredith a hand to take her back to the crew quarters.

[SalmonMax]

Meredith looks at Omar, then at Joani. "All right," she says to Joani. "Just one second."

She goes over to Omar and asks, "Why do the aliens want to kill us?"

The question was insane, but it was an insane world, wasn't it? It had been even before these people found her. It still was...just a different KIND of insanity.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

Joani sent over the link *Maybe we should give her more time. I'd like to talk to her in private, make her feel more comfortable and try to explain what our intentions are. I think she'll understand if we give her just some more time.*

Steve sends,

*Agreed. She just saw us kill 5 novas and she's been hunted by other novas for a while. I'd be nervous if I were her.*

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

She goes over to Omar and asks, "Why do the aliens want to kill us?"

Steve answers with,

"60 years ago we exterminated the malaria mosquito back home. It's needs conflict with our own."

"We're a young species that is confined to one world but has the potential to expand dramatically. We have super powers. They don't need us and they don't want us. From their point of view, they're better off killing us while we're weak, because they won't be able to when we're strong."

[Omar]

"Steve is right." Omar says to Meri, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. He had heard Steve's warning and was taking it to heart.

"If you must know, Merideth. We are from different Earths. If that makes any sense. Steve, Morgan, Cody and myself are from one earth. Andrew is from another. Ulrich, Joani, Michael, Amber and Kyria all come from the most recent earth we visited. All of us lived on the last earth for over 80 years."

[z028 Riley]

Kyria looked over at Meri, trying to be helpful and not as intimidating as the others out of sheer inexperience. She grinned at Omar and then Meri, "To be fair, I've only been alive on my Earth for 17 years."

[SkyLion]

*There is a bit more to the story than that.* Cody says in response to Meri's question. He has also put away the hypospray at her request. *The truth is it's still something of a mystery, and one of the next one's on our plate. We don't relly know exactly why these aliens want to lob asteroids at Earth. We have never even seen one. We do know that there are more than one race of extraterrestrials ad that at least two of them are at war with each other. The destruction of Earth may not have nbeen anything personal. Steve and I were private investigators who found evidence of the alien Watchers on our home world before we they exiled us. Their enemies appear to be our own but truthfully we are still investigating.*

[SalmonMax]

A peculiar thing happens. Meredith stays calm...but her body's substance seems to flicker. For a moment she's made of metal, a statue of the same alloy the Lorean's floor is made from. Then she's a ragdoll, the same fabric that her shirt is. Each change lasts only a heartbeat, a warping of her body's composition that ripples over her then away, leaving flesh in its wake.

She doesn't seem aware of it, whatever it is. She closes her eyes and her head droops forward, as if a weight had been tied around her neck.

Finally she looks up again and says, "What's in those computer files that you want so badly? What could my world offer that all of you, with all of this, could possible want or need?"

[Omar]

"We are here looking for information that Proteus had on Nova physiology and Taint." He says watching her odd shifting.

"We believe we are close to a cure."

[Courier]

Steve... observes, considers, evaluates, and waits.

[Joani]

Joani was still waiting for Meredith to join her. The way Joani looked and acted gave no doubt that she was truly the aforementioned Supergirl. Her smile was perfectly comforting and she looked like she would never have something like a "bad hair" day. Everything about her looked perfect.

"I'll explain on the way, if you want. But I suggest to get some rest and food first."

[SalmonMax]

"I don't need rest or food anymore," Meri says dully. She looks back up at Joani and the instability in her structure seems to stabilize, returning her to flesh and nothing more. Then, despite her naysaying, she goes Joani.

"But I remember liking them." She looks back at the others. "I guess I'll see you all a bit later."

[Courier]

Steve nods and says,

"Take care. Go explore and meet people. Learn some alternate history if you want to. Fair warning, all this time travel stuff will mess with your head, that's normal." Steve smiles with that last statement, he doesn't expect problems but he's serious.

EDIT: And then he goes to get some sleep.

[Joani]

Joani took Meredith's hand and and guided her through the ship to the crew quarters. "We really mean you no harm, I promise. Like the others said, we are currently working on a cure for the Quantum Backlash Syndrome, better known as Taint. One of our main goals is to prevent the so called Aberrant War and try to save humanity from what has happened to your home.", Joani stopped at one of the doors and asked Lorean via the link to open it.

"This is going to be your quarters. If you don't know how to get back here or to the bridge just ask Lorean. She will guide you through the ship. You can rearrange your room as you wish and you'll find out that Lorean can provide you with almost everything you want. I suggest starting with the historical files of the cabal to help you understand what we've been through and why we are doing what we are doing.", Joani gave Meredith her warmest smile and hoped this was not too much for the young woman.

"Is there anything you like to eat in particular? Any favourite meal?"

[Omar]

After a hearty meal, Omar decides to head of to his quarters and get some sleep. Just to be sure that his energy is recharged, he choked down another salt tablet before bed.

In the 'morning', as if there is really any morning in space, he would help Merideth with any questions she had. He would also pay Andrew a visit to see if he could help him, as a test subject, with the information from the computers.

[SalmonMax]

"Pasta," Meredith replies absently as she walks into her new quarters and looks around with a wide-eyed dazed look to her. "I liked pasta. Fettuchini and alfredo."

She doesn't look back at Joani when she asks, "So...the war against this alien race is called the Aberrant War? Is that what we call them? Aberrants?"

[Joani]

Joani hesitated a moment before she answered obviously trying to find the right words, "Aberrants... are not the alien race."

After another double take Joani continued, "I suppose the historical events known to us are completely different to how things transpired on your home. The Aberrant War was a terrible conflict between baselines and novas... mostly novas that succumbed to taint and where heavily... mutated. Both physically and mentally. The Novas that attacked us - they were pretty close to what I would call Aberrants. They were out to eat us. Maybe you should start with the historical files while I get us some food. Fettuchini Alfredo - a big bowl for both of us.", Joani put on her warmest smile and went to a terminal which looked much like a microwave oven embedded in what appeared to be a closet. After a few seconds she retrieved a huge bowl of warm steaming Fettuchini Alfredo and offered Meredith a plate.

[Andrew Murphy]

Bah, if I can't do anything but rest I'll at least rest in my own damn room. The pinkish sludge oozes up and over the edge of the bed in the medbay. With a plop it lands on the floor and begins to runs toward the floor. To an unaware onlooker it would appear that somebody spilled some sort of slime and that it was slowly running down the floor's slope toward the door. Andrew made his way slowly in part because he wasn't used to flowing around like this and in part because the perspective from the floor was radically different from nearly six feet above it. Wow, I should do this more often, it's kinda fun.

With a quiet "shush" the door slid aside and the goo continued through. Andrew kept to the walls as he made his way through the ship, in part because he wanted to avoid getting stepped on an in part because he liked that he could ooze up the wall with a minimum of effort. Going was slow because unlike a real ship Lorean was built perfectly. There were no slopes, or sags. As a living being she was able to maintain perfectly level floors and perfectly perpendicular walls. Andrew found himself rather amazed at the perfection of the ship at this level and this manner of sensing.

After a while, and with some difficulty, he found his room. He entered and took stock of the place. What a stye, I should really clean up more. Or maybe have a clone do it tomorrow ... wait no that seems like it's probably exactly why it's such a mess in here. Slacker clones ... Andrew made his way over to the bed and like some sort of sci-fi horror slime he oozed up the side of the bed and into a puddle in the middle of the mattress. In no time he was alseep.

[SalmonMax]

Meri takes a seat and hesitantly starts to eat. It's not so much that she's forgotten how as that she's not sure if she still can process food.

She watches Joani eat too, her stare a little glassy, as if looking at a spot behind her, rather than at her.

"I've never had a chance to just sit and watch someone alive before," she says after a moment. "It's pretty amazing."

Then she adds, "There were novas on my world...and I think I even remember hearing about quantum backlash. But there was no war. Everything seemed fine, until the asteroid hit. Some novas seemed pretty mutated, but none of them were murderous, man-eating cannibals until after the meteor."

[SkyLion]

Cody nods to the others before taking his leave, sending a gentle mental squeeze to Kyria along with the thoughts, *I'll be in the meditation chamber.*

[z028 Riley]

Kyria sent a response of warm thoughts and a few minutes later quietly entered the chamber and settled into a meditative state as well. Joani would take care of Merideth, the computers could wait for a bit, and a little quiet to digest what had happened on her first jump was well in order.

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric gives Joani a quick kiss.

"I'm going to check on the computers and see what I can see, honey."

He heads off to confer with Lorean about the best tact to take with the files without losing them to corruption and any other self-destruct layers. He whistles as he goes off. This work is about getting the best data to the right hands - namely Andrews - so that he can save the Nova race. This kind of positive buildign is more what he has in his heart, not the combat of today's earlier encounter.

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Meri takes a seat and hesitantly starts to eat. It's not so much that she's forgotten how as that she's not sure if she still can process food.

She watches Joani eat too, her stare a little glassy, as if looking at a spot behind her, rather than at her.

"I've never had a chance to just sit and watch someone alive before," she says after a moment. "It's pretty amazing."

Joani registered Meredith's odd behaviour with some concern. She must've been through hell all alone. But she is slowly opening up that's a good sign.

Joani listened carefully to what Meredith said and tried to keep the conversation on a pleasent level, "I hope the pasta is fine? It is based on a recipe I learned years ago in Italy. You should visit my home one day I'm sure you're going to like it.", her voice was calm and melodious overplaying her concerns about Meredith's mental stability.

As she finished her third plate Joani slowly felt refreshed and invigorated. The Quantum nullifier had hit her unexpectedly and for a moment she felt the same when she lost her powers years ago because of her own Taint.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Then she adds, "There were novas on my world...and I think I even remember hearing about quantum backlash. But there was no war. Everything seemed fine, until the asteroid hit. Some novas seemed pretty mutated, but none of them were murderous, man-eating cannibals until after the meteor."

"A good friend of mine is working on a cure and once he found it our chances to prevent any Aberrant War are almost secured. You'll understand better once you watched the historical files. Lorean, can you please play back the files for us?"

The room changed it's lighting and several screens in the room started to show in a documentary style what the history of the cabal was and how they came to the present day.
(ooc: I'm not sure how long this will take?)

[SalmonMax]

"Pasta's good," Meredith says absently as the show starts. For the next long while she's quiet, chewing and swallowing at a leisurely pace as she watches the files play out.

[Mr Fox]

Sometime during the night those awake felt the familiar drop in their stomachs that comes with a jump.

Sensors told Lorean that Meri had noticed and her heart rate had begun to increase slightly so a faintly glowing hologram of her head appeared inside the darkened room. "I am sorry to disturb you Meri, but I sensed that you might be somewhat alarmed by the sensation you just felt. I wanted to reassure you that everything is fine. That sensation is what you will feel when we make a jump from one timeline to another."

Lorean paused as her internal scanners did a more thorough scan of the newest member of the crew. "Are you..." Lorean's voice was peaked with concern for just a moment then returned to normal, "Never mind. I find that you are completely healthy, and I don't believe you have suffered any ill effects from your recent environment." After a moment Lorean added, "It is an honor to have you aboard, please contact me if you require anything," then her hologram faded from view.

The next morning, Michael said his goodbyes and teleported down leaning forward to Kyria and placing his head against hers for a moment. In her mind Kyria hears *Say your farewells daughter and do not be too long in coming. I will be awaiting you, we have much to do here at home while our friends are off traveling and seeking the answers to their questions. Be gentle with Cody, he has feelings for you that he hasn't felt in many years and your staying here will pain him.*

After only a second Michael withdrew and teleported away after a last wave and smile.

The rest of the day passed quickly, a brief shopping trip was made down to the surface for Meri's benefit. Aboard ship Lorean downloaded all the data from the Proteus databases into Andrew's computers, and several of the crew took the opportunity to take a last day off before venturing out into the unknown since for them it would be the first time they would be making any extended journey aboard Lorean.

On the bridge the crew gathered for the next jump, even Morgan and Andrew pried themselves away from reviewing the medical data of several thousand new novas gained from Proteus. The last to arrive and with only a minute to spare was Kyria. She settled in next to Cody just as the Lorean announced over the intercoms, "Jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2, Jumping....

The familiar drop came and went and with it a complete change in the view on holoscreen.

[Mr Fox]

Where the view on the screen should have been that of empty space, everyone aboard ship was surprised to find a massive ship floating in space a short distance away.

Before anyone could even react to question the site Lorean jumped again with another drop in the pits of your stomachs. The new view resolved to another massive ship in almost the exact spot on the view screen. Lorean jumped a third time in the space of three heartbeats this time into low orbit above Iaeptus near the exact spot where the Watchers hidden base had been on her origin timeline. Again the screen resolves into the sight of another ship, this one smaller, but again disconcertingly close. After three tries it is impossible to believe it coincidence.

Lorean's hologram appeared next to the screen, "It appears we are expected. I am sorry, but I can jump maybe three more times, but if they are prepared for us at those other locations as well, I'd rather just stay here where I have some energy left for whatever evasive countermeasures might be necessary. One second..."

Lorean looks concerned, "I can't infiltrate their systems they are too advanced, I do have a transmission coming through, putting it on screen now."

On the screen an incredibly attractive woman of indeterminate age appeared, "Greetings wayward travellers, I am Joannie Reikspar welcome home. I apologize for the startling reception you've had from the two warships that greeted your appearance, but it was foreseen that you might end up here if they were positioned there with a 57% probability."

Joannie's image froze on screen and Lorean looked a bit worried but also somewhat relieved. "You all wanted to jump to a future where we could upgrade my weapons, and I thought what better place than our home timeline 300 years in the future. I had no idea... I am sorry, I was worried about the danger from those other possible future scenarios and thought this would be safest."

On screen Joannie's image unfroze and she was in mid sentence, "...to meet you all, I've heard so much about you from Grandfather, it is a little surreal to finally see you all here. May I come aboard, or would you prefer to visit me on my ship?"

[Joani]

Joani stepped forward mouth agape. The woman on the screen looked like a better version of herself and it startled her a little. Looking at the screen she asked, “Is that my great-grand-daughter?”

[Omar]

"I don't think she's yours, Joani." Omar said jokingly. "She is far to pretty." Omar winked at her.

He wondered if any of themselves were on board. Omar hoped that his Nova stamina would have kept him alive for many centuries. THe only way he would find out was to go over there and ask.

"Let's get over there and see who's still alive. Besides, I'd like to see if Amber and Steve had any kids."

[SalmonMax]

"I hate to be a spoilsport," Meri says, "but just being in this future pretty much means it won't be our future. It might be our future NOW, but when we go back to our time with knowledge of it, that knowledge will make us do things differently, which will lead to a different branch forming."

She shrugs.

"So...lets go!"

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew starts fidgeting, "... this doesn't make sense, why would ... why would they even know we were coming? And how could they ... umm .... know where we would arrive not once but three times?" Andrew looked like he wanted to say more but then just as sudden as his outburst he calmed down, "I ... we ... this doesn't feel right..."