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

[SalmonMax]

Meredith lingers a little in the hallway, but quickly, guiltily retreats when Joani starts pouring her heart out to Ulric. She skitters down the hallway of the ship, finally slowing to a walk when she realizes she has no idea what to do now.

Now that her life was no longer a constant struggle for survival, Meri was forced to come face to face with the thing that had plagued her throughout her 'ordinary' life. She had no real direction or goals. She'd taken up art classes, sculpting, because they'd seemed fun. Other classes because they were required. Others because friends were in them. But she'd never had a clear idea of where it was all going.

In hindsight, she wondered if even then she'd known that nothing she did on Earth really mattered. That her existence would not be defined by the courses she took in college, but by her transformation after the apocalypse...and now the looming potential for yet another. What would happen to HER? Would Meredith cease to be; overwritten by some alien mind? And if so, would it be that big a loss? Her world was dead. Her friends and family, dead. She hardly knew the crew of the Lorean, really. She hadn't been part of their struggles, and still wasn't.

Coming to a stop in the corridor, Meredith put a hand out to touch the smooth gunmetal grey wall. The color spread out into her hand and up her arm. Shaping. Transforming. These were her powers.

But the only things that needed to be transformed were intangible. Joani's pain. Andrew's taint. Materially, they had no needs unfulfilled. No requirements unmet. What use was an alchemist in a city of gold?

"Lorean," Meri said. "Are there any commands I could give that you wouldn't obey?"

[Mr Fox]

In the Med bay:

"I suspect you are right Andrew. If you don't mind staying here where we can observe your vitals I'd appreciate it. Also, when you are feeling stronger I'd like to perform a series of tests to see what effect the serum has had." Morgan looked over to Omar, "You can stand guard or relax, it's up to you. I think Andrew is as lucid as ever at the moment. It's not until we start testing that you'll really be needed again."

In the corridor where Meri is leaning against a wall:

Lorean's hologram appears next to Meri, "There are many commands that I would not perform. I would not jeopardize the crew knowingly, I would not self-destruct, I would not attack the innocent with my new weapons... In short, I have free will." She smiled kindly at Meri, "the part of you that is a watcher might well be powerful enough to compel obedience, but is the same not true of anyone? Michael compelled Cody's obedience even though Cody didn't realize it, but that did not make Cody's life any less his own. I was created by the Watchers, but the life they made for me is my own to do with as I see fit." Looking curiously at Meri, she finished, "Was there something specific you needed?"

[SalmonMax]

"I don't know," Meri confesses. "I just feel so disconnected from everything. I want to DO something, or take part in what's going on, but I can't. Maybe I really -am- a watcher...that's I've done since we left my world."

She looks around at the hologram.

"Why do you do this? If you have free will, why do you carry us around instead of leaving us behind and going wherever you want?"

[Mr Fox]

"What would be the point of traveling around feeling all empty inside? My purpose is to be a vessel for travel, and I just wouldn't feel very fulfilled if I didn't have you all to share those travels with. It doesn't matter to me where we go or how long we take to get there as long as we are on a journey." The hologram smiled, "If you all ever settle down some day or go off on your own, I will continue to travel, but I would find others to take along on the ride and I would most likely take them where they asked to go, because that's what makes me happy."

The holorgam looked with understanding at Meri, "That is what is eating at you isn't it. You don't know your purpose, so how can you be happy? Maybe meeting other Watchers will explain to you more about what that purpose might be? I think that is our next stop, or at least that seemed to be the consensus."

[Ulric Reikspar]

He held her. No more words came easily to him, so he held her. His world was focussed down to her and her needs. He wished he could do more.

[Omar]

"I didn't smack you around." Omar replies with relief. "Although, I will stick around here just in case I get the opportunity." It was clearly a jest meant to lighten the tension following Andrew's seeming recovery.

"If this ends up working, I might look into taking a dose myself, though I have become accustomed to my aura" Omar sat in one of the chairs in the infirmary, idly picking at the tip of one of the claws. After a few minutes, he realized that they were no longer needed and he retracted them.

[SalmonMax]

"Maybe," Meredith admits. "But I'm worried too. What if my 'purpose' expires when we get there? Then they won't need me anymore. What if all this comes together with me being replaced by that Watcher for good?"

[Mr Fox]

Lorean's hologram looked sympathetically at Meri and said, "I wish I had more of an answer for you. I don't think you will be replaced or that your current 'self' will disappear, but that is just a feeling, and I can't make you any guarantees." Lorean looked thoughtful and added, "If it were me, I'd much rather know for sure than live in fear of 'what ifs', even if it meant disappointment."

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, I can deal with disappointment," Meri says. "But this is more like...obliteration. Stakes are a bit higher."

She sighs. "But I guess the answer's still the same. Lets just get it over with. One way or another, I'll find out what this is all about."

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew smiles, "Yeah that's if you can hit me!" He looks thoughtful for a minute, "Could just be this enthralling conversation but I do feel like my head is clearer. I dunno, I imagine things will be more obvious given some more time."

[Mr Fox]

Two days past with Morgan running Andrew through a battery of tests. By the time it was done several things were obvious. First, Andrew's taint induced rage was completely gone, as was the absent mindedness, even with multiple clones in existence. In short, while the cure didn't remove all his taint, it did at least completely halt the progression of his taint and reversed his most recently acquired aberrations. On the bridge with everyone gathered Morgan made his pronouncement, "Andrew's cure works. It isn't a complete success in that it didn't remove all his accrued aberrations, but try as we might we couldn't push him to the point of acquiring any new ones and at least two of his previous quirks have vanished." He grinned, "I think it is safe for someone else to try it when Andrew is ready with a dose for them."

Lorean made a spatial jump and added, "I have a bit of news as well, I have created the new weapons and I'd like to demonstrate them." The holographic battle display appeared in the middle of the bridge, and it was apparent that the ship was in the middle of a cluster of asteroids, each object in the display quickly went through a series of changes as the they were classified and several turned red to designate them as enemies. "I hope you enjoy this," Lorean said as the ship swept into a diving roll an lined up on first one rock then another and blasted them into tiny fragments in quick succession. The battle display was replaced by Lorean's grinning face, "That was fun!"

After a moment, the physical Lorean also wearing a big grin, said, "So what's our next move? Do we remain here longer, or do we head to Atlantis?"

[Andrew Murphy]

"Yeah, step right up for Mr. Andrew's Miracle Cure! I've no doubt that with continued treatment I can remove the last vestiges of damage to my system. In fact I hadn't expected an instant cure for myself, too much damage to repair with a single go. I don't know if its connected in any way with my taint or simply the result of being drown out by my aberrations but I've run some tests and my intellect is expanding again, my ability to multitask with the clones is practically the reverse of what it was before." As if to illustrate the point one of Andrew's clones walked into the room, computer tablet in hand, and grabbed some food before ducking out.

After Lorean's display Andrew leans forward, "Lorean what was the power output of those blasts and how long could you keep that kind of firepower up while maintaining maximum shielding?" He pauses then continues, "Not that I'm expecting a fight but it's always keen to know what our capabilities are."

[Mr Fox]

"I could maintain firing nearly continuous bursts for about an hour, but the likelihood of a space battle lasting for an hour would be pretty low. We would either be destroyed by then or would have destroyed the opponent. In time as I am able to expand my quantum storage capacity I will be able to fire for longer periods of time, perhaps as much as two or three hours. That is of course while maintaining shields and other systems. If I were for some reason diverting all power to wepons, they could fire much longer."

[SalmonMax]

"You can manufacture explosives though, right?" Meredith asks Lorean. "And you can teleport things. Why bother throwing energy around when you can just teleport a bomb into an enemy ship?"

"Besides, we're not going to Atlantis to fight...are we?"

[Andrew Murphy]

"Lorean's weaponry can be used for more than pure combat. We've encountered aliens in the past who used mass drivers to divert massive asteroids or planetary remnants toward earth as weapons. Knowing Lorean's capabilities is important should similar situations pose themselves to us in the future." Andrew tried to smile reassuringly, he knew he had a lot of ground to make up for a great many years of his taint affected mind causing him to act out.

[Mr Fox]

"As for fighting the Watchers, I don't really think that is an option. Given the display we saw down on the planet between you and Michael, I don't think we can muster the kind of firepower that would make a dent in their defenses." Lorean smiled amusedly then finished, "As for teleporting explosives into other ships... that would be possible and very effective if they aren't shielded, however, that presupposes carrying around explosives inside of me, which I am not very keen on doing, except perhaps under special and limited circumstances."

[Ulric Reikspar]

"We could just teleport Omar over. He would be more precise than any bomb and we wouldn't have to risk destroying the vessel in case, let's say, all we wanted to do was look it over."

Ulric still looks worn and unhappy, but his mind remains as sharp as ever, or so it seems.

[Omar]

Omar smiled, from ear to ear, at Ulric's comment. "That is an excellent idea." He quickly acknowledged. "That way, I can get a good workout and we will have captured a ship."

"Of course if they have shields, we will have to figure out some other way of getting me there." Still grinning, he looked around for Joani. "I suppose Joani could toss me at their ship, or we could have Lorien fire me like a torpedo."

He was not sure if Ulric was serious, but he liked the idea. That he could die was the farthest thing from his mind.

[Andrew Murphy]

"All questions of alternate form ballistics aside I think we're as ready as ..." He pauses and looks for a moment at Joani, he had heard about her apparent continued breakdown. Nothing I can do about that now. Perhaps once we are on the other side of this... "Umm, yeah I think we are as ready as we are going to be. Lorean why don't you jump us to Atlantis. Let's see the famed and fabled soggy city. I for one am plenty eager to have a mystery from my home world solved ... even if it ends up raising more questions."