Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Book 2: Chapter 4: The Division Bell

[Mr Fox]

Raider looked at Ash curiously, "We can do something about it, that's why we are talking. We also have some facts, and the bigger picture that those little snapshots add up to is pretty disturbing. At first I was thinking that there might well have been another explanation for what happened here. Now I'm not so sure this last small thing really matters in light of what else we know."

[Joani]

"If they can drop a taint bomb to make us all Aberrants... maybe they know a way to cleanse us from it, too? You can't tell me that they haven't found a way to reverse the effects in years of research?", Anna's voice sounded desperate.

"If we kill them we'll never know if there is a cure!", Anna was slowly getting too large for the room but was oblivious to what she was doing.

[Courier]

Doug said, "Anna! Get a little smaller please?"

Doug shook his head slowly, this wasn't going to be good news, "We asked them. They weren't lying when they said there is no cure. I think the discipline works a lot better than they give credit for in keeping us from going down that path, but that's a different subject. The power to shoot someone isn't the power to heal them."

Doug's voice was surgically flat, "They don't have a cure."

[Gregory]

This was madness. Doug and Raider needed to learn what he discovered. The only reason he cam back was because it would have taken days to travel down the trail he had found. he had better speak up before everyone decides that moon people are the only ones to do the taint-thing to abbies.

"I found a trail." Gregory says, as he still wondered if Doug and KB were sane. Doug had seemed to acknowlege that further investigation was warranted, and that was a good thing.

"It goes away from here... and not towards York..I think? There were eaten people and no animals or anything were alive down it. We can look down road but it will take several days I think."

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Courier

Doug's voice was surgically flat, "They don't have a cure."

The words cut like a hot knife into her brain. First there was panic but it got quickly replaced by another wave of nausea and the feeling of being helpless. Anna collapsed not only physically but also mentally and started crying. She shrunk as much as she could bracing herself as she fell to her knees. For a brief moment she looked up at Doug and then to Ashley.

Anna shook her head and sobbed - this was too much for her. She didn't have the fortitude to endure these kind of talks. All she ever wanted was to be normal again. Or be able to change back - like Ashley...

[SalmonMax]

"Shit."

Ash put a hand on Anna's back and looked at the others.

"Alright, lets call time out here. We're all getting worked up, and that's the worst way to make decisions. Everyone just...ease off for a second."

[jameson (ST)]

KB turned rose into the air once more, crackling with barely contained power. "We have the power to destroy our enemies, to crush them beneath our feet, to drive them like beasts before us. We should seize the opportunity now before they gain the upper hand, before they choose to use their power against us. The weak shall perish and the strong shall rule over the remnants!" She turned toward Raider her whole body aglow with power, "Have they not proven with their actions thus far that they are our enemies? Why spare them a moment of pity or mercy when they have shown you none?"

[Courier]

Doug said to Gregory, "We don't want to follow that trail, it's going to lead to what's left of the city's novas. If we find them, they'll kill us. Those are our friends out there eating people and destroying the landscape."

Although Doug corrected KB he was really talking to everyone else, "Before they use their power against us again. They've done it three times, do we really want to wait around for a fourth? Wasn't three bad enough?"

Doug said, "And if someone has a different plan that doesn't rely on the Moon people being decent human beings, now is the time."

[Gregory]

KB's outburst and questioning frightened Gregory, and he did his best to hide his trepidation. He needed to find out more about why she was so willing to harm people who might not have harmed her. If they hurt the moon-people, and they were innocent, then the real bad people would get away. Doug's subsequent statements and queries did not help Gregory's anxiety. Gregory himself, was tainted like some aberrated freak and he was sure the moon-folk were not responsible.

"How do you know the path I was on went to nova city place?" Gregory blurted out, somewhat defensivley. "It might take us to place where bad people do bad things to nova." Things were falling apart, quickly. Soon he would find himself without a voice. A plan formed, desperate and despicable. He would need to enact it soon, or Doug and KB would 'burn' the moon-people whether the rest of them wanted him to or not.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

"How do you know the path I was on went to nova city place?" Gregory blurted out, somewhat defensively. "It might take us to place where bad people do bad things to nova."

*It still hasn't sunk in yet for him.*

Doug replied gently, "Gregory, it doesn't matter were it leads. What's important is where it started, and that was here." Doug pointed down at his feet. "You found our nova friends and allies. The people I used to trade with and call friend. The people who ran the city, who built the electrical grid, the diplomats and the scientists."

"The Taint bomb went off, and right here hundreds of novas succumb to taint. Many started eating people. That's who you found. Perhaps dozens of novas are leaving a trail of death and destruction. If we follow that trail what's at the end will kill us. They're going to be stronger than we are."

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, like your girlfriend has eaten us," Ash says. "Oh wait, she hasn't. A few bats in the belfry, but she seems to be keeping it together more or less."

She rubs her forehead.

"Look, my position's the same as it's always been. We need to find out what happened, and why and how, BEFORE we act. To do that we need to find witnesses and physical evidence. Sounds like Gregory may have found a way to find both. Lets hear him out."

[Courier]

Doug frowned at Ash's comment about his girlfriend but said, "Finding out what happened is a part of my plan. They were very open about what they'd done to us and why. I go in and talk to them, see if they'll brag about how badly they screwed us over again, if they don't then we back off."

"However... Gregory, how good are your senses? Could you track that thing from the air? Say, if I flew around with you?"

[SalmonMax]

"Last time we were lucky they let us go. They didn't have to. If we show up again..."

Ash shakes her head. "Whatever. Do what you do. I can't stop you."

[Courier]

Doug sighed and said, "Ash..."

Doug apparently made up his mind and said, "Ash, Anna, Gregory. If Raider, KB & I go forward on this, there's an excellent chance we won't be coming back."

"That means you three will be the only novas we know who can still teach new novas how to not abuse their powers and drive themselves nuts. You'll be the only ones who can rebuild the idea of baselines and novas working together."

"I think the Earth is in for a period of darkness, maybe lasting for a long time. But please, try to save as much of the next generation as you can."

[Gregory]

"Track? There was nothing to track. Just a trail where all things are dead. No birds or squirrl's or buzzing things." Gregory was not sure if Doug undestood, but he tried. "We can follow trail from on ground but might take a few days."

Thinking for a minute, Gregory seemed to get an idea. "We can follow from air. It take less time and."

When Doug gave his euology and wishes for the future, Gregory's mouth opened in shock. He closed it, only to open it again.

"We all go to trail. I can find bad guys before they will see us. We can run if they are too hard to beat. I won't let you go off to die and leave us alone."

[Joani]

Anna was slowly calming down again and asked through teary eyes, "What sense makes that to sacrifice yourselves, Doug? I don't think you should take the risk. Who knows how much of Earth is left to rebuilt from? I can feel her dying - the whispers of live are ebbing away... they've won. There's no sense denying it."

Anna wasn't really saddened by that fact - she was slowly coming to terms with it and saw no reason to act - not even to retaliate.

[Courier]

At Anna's statement Doug gives a half smile at her naivety. Doug explained, almost softly, "No. They haven't won. Not by their standards."

"Do you really think they want a planet with people eating aberrants running around? Remember their first move? They thought the rock would kill everyone and they could start over. They thought we were crazy and without technology. They were wrong, we stopped the rock, then we told them about us."

"And now we're exactly what they were first expecting. Their next logical move is to go back to plan 'A'. Find another rock, and this time it will work like it should."

"This is about survival as much as anything else. If we back off, most everyone left will die on their next move. They aren't going to stop unless we make them stop. If I don't go, sooner or later they're going to get every one of us."

[Mr Fox]

Raider had sat listing but in the end they really didn't have any good choices. "I don't plan to destroy the moon people unless they are guilty. But Doug is right. Last time they talked to us and didn't have any issues with admitting what they had done. If they admit to it then we destroy them. If they deny it then we can keep searching for why it happened, but our time is limited. You are right that they may not talk with us, but if they do then we can try. Consider this however, even if they weren't responsible for the burn they 'expected it to destroy all of mankind', that means even if they didn't cause it they did nothing to prevent it. Meaning they chose to allow genocide to occur. Afterwards they assumed we were all dead. A compassionate society would have checked and would have done something to help the survivors. Instead they knew about the rock coming toward Earth and blissfully let it come crashing toward us with a force that would have destroyed the remaining life on the planet. Again, they didn't bother to check and see if anyone remained alive before the rock hit."

Raider was getting more passionate as he spoke, "After the fact, once we confronted them they knew of our existence. Did they, an advanced society with the technology to help Earth survivors offer to help? No, they consider us not worth saving. Are those the actions of a compassionate society? They are willfully allowing us to die and choosing not to lift a finger, and that is the best case scenario. At worse they may be responsible for the deaths of billions of people and the intentional destruction of all remaining higher life on Earth." He finished up his impassioned speech with, "Ash, Gregory, Anna, if it were you on the moon and you discovered that after 100 years of believing humanity was dead only to discover there were survivors still alive and struggling to carry on, how would you have reacted? I know I would have been ashamed I had not done anything to help, and knowing that I could help I would have immediately offered to do what I could to make things better. Contrast that with how they reacted! We were like insects to them for all the concern they showed to our plight."

With less passion but just as much conviction he finished, "Even with all of that, I if Doug can't get them to admit their guilt I'll consider a live and let live policy toward them because I want whoever actually is responsible to pay for what they've done. I just think they are guilty."

[SalmonMax]

"Jesus," Ash said, "Calm down a second. I'm not singing their praises! As far as I'm concerned, they're a bunch of hypocritical assholes and I'd be happy as pie never to see or hear from them again!"

She takes a deep breath, and follows her own advice.

"But there's a huge difference between passively standing by and letting something terrible happen when you could help...and actually CAUSING something terrible to happen. If they'd thrown the asteroid, if we knew that, maybe I'd feel differently. As it is, I don't see how them sitting on their hands and letting the asteroid come at us is justification for us taking vengeance on them. Does it make them nice? No. I never accused them of being nice. But it doesn't make them 'guilty' either. By that logic, this town should be toasted for failing to help the slaves in York."

[Courier]

Doug said, "Ash, they did throw the asteroid. They said an aberrant did it, but they lied. They knew who did it, and it wasn't one of us."

"That's not the same as saying, 'We did it', but it's close. Who else is there? A baseline? And how do they know who did it if they didn't do it themselves?"

"And finally, why bother lie about it? If some baseline nation did it way back when, and they somehow know about it, why not just say it was a baseline nation?"

[SalmonMax]

Ash stares at Doug for a second and asks, "Do you even listen to yourself? First thing you say is 'they DID throw the asteroid,' the next thing you say is 'okay, I don't know that, but what else could have happened?' Look, I'm not them. Maybe they honestly don't know how that asteroid got shifted into that orbit, and when they said an aberrant did it they were guessing, or assuming, and that felt like a lie to you. I mean, that thing must have shifted orbit a LONG time ago, right? And it would have happened way far out, past Mars. They probably have no clue what really happened. But when you're facing down a squad of pissed off novas, 'I don't know' probably sounds like a really dumb thing to say."

[Courier]

Doug slowly shook his head and replied, "You're just making excuses. They were there many, many, many generations. Assume it was just folklore that an abby dropped the rock. That would feel like the truth."

"If you tell me what 'everyone knows', that feels like the truth if you believe it. I run... sorry... I used to run into that all the time. Our goods are the best in the world. My husband is the best crafter ever. This is a fair price."

"Stupid assumptions aren't lies, they're just stupid assumptions. That Ass on the moon who said that all novas become Aberrants? He was telling the truth as he knew it. If they don't have a problem shifting us forward in time several years out of sadistic glee, then they weren't afraid of us."

"And while we're on this subject, no, the rock was almost certainly NOT shifted in orbit a long time ago. This is Raider's subject more than mine, but an orbit like that is impossible to make that accurate. It wasn't moved hundreds of years ago. For that matter, it's very hard to see how an abby could have done that even 3 years ago. The power, the precision, the control, the intelligence, the ability to survive in space, to find the rock... someone that powerful should be a household name."

"So, they KNOW, or at least they think know, that it wasn't an abby. This raises the next question which is, who do they think moved the rock if they don't think an abby did?"

[SalmonMax]

"Better question. If they have the power to reach into deep space and move a hundred thousand ton asteroid onto a collision course with Earth, and do it that fast, what exactly do you intend to do to stop them?"

She pinches the bridge of her nose, annoyed. "Okay, that's defeatist. Not helping. But it does bring up a point. Lets say worst case scenario. You find out somehow that they're the mustache-twirling villains behind it all. They brought the asteroids, they did the Burn, they dropped the aberrant bomb, and they import babies every month for their desserts. What ARE you going to do about it? Showing up in person looks to me to be a really really bad move."

[Courier]

Doug said, "You're thinking like a nova. Someone as strong as Pax or Divis Mal isn't the kind of person you want to confront in person. But they're not Pax or Mal."

"Think of our conflict with York. We had problems with organization, with mobilization, and they were stronger than us. Now imagine us having a century to plan and act for every day York has. In person, without the time field giving them centuries to plan, mobilize, and act out every move, they're going to be much weaker."

"In person they're going to be as weak as a baseline leader. Don't think of them as Pax, think of them as the President of the United States. They have a lot of power, but NOT face to face. We're going to lose if we keep trying to respond to what they're doing."

"What we have to do is make them respond to what we do. A direct, brutal, surprise, below the belt attack in their own time stream."

[Gregory]

Pax? Divis Mal? President of the United States? They must be talking in that code stuff again. Gregory was puzzled, but he was pretty sure that that Doug was referring to people he'd never heard of.

Gregory sighed. "I want to make sure we have right people. We need checking of all... clues, before we talk to moon-people. Maybe someone in another town saw something or knows something. What about the draining guy? He might still be around"

[Courier]

Doug asked, "Gregory, how long do you want to do this? If we're looking for evidence the moon people did something, then there is none here, they struck from orbit. If York did something stupid, then they destroyed the evidence afterward. With both of those covered I think you're just looking for reasons to not make us as bad as they are."

"I think the draining guy... I think John would be an excellent person to go to. He's not a nova, he might have lived through it. The novas inside his bubble might still be functional. That would be a great place to relocate and start building again. Teaching again."

Doug says to Anna, "If he's still alive, John could make you human again Anna. His powers drain novas of all their energies and make them baseline while they're close to him. Outside of his building you'd go back to being nova and regain your powers, so you'd even still be able to heal people."

[Courier]

Doug attempted to shift the link to Adam and send, *Adam? You awake? We've found out a lot, things are a mess in York too and the damage done here was done by our people.*

*We have two, non-conflicting plans. We'd like you to relocate everyone over to John's place. He wasn't a nova, with his damping powers he might have come through this with sane novas. Also if Raider's dad is alive he might have some insight.*

[jameson (ST)]

*Come on through, I don't think you'll like what you see though.* As if in reply a slash of light quickly formed into one of Adam's odd horizontal warps Gregory and Ash had to nearly leap out of the way as it open where they were standing. As the "doors" dropped open the novas could see the ground on the other side. They all dropped through quickly and found themselves in the forest. After a second to orient themselves they spotted Adam near the edge of what remained of Goodwood.

The ground was scorched black and the buildings were little more than charred matchsticks jutting into the air. The town had been ravaged by fire, burnt from the earth. Here and there the occasional white of bone, dirty with soot but still identifiable, could be seen within the ash and rubble. "I came up here after we got back. I dunno why, just felt like it would be someplace safe, sane. I haven't seen or found any trace of life." Adam's voice was flat and his eyes stared blackly at the charred carnage. The other could see that he was dirty with soot, especially on his hands and knees. Lines on his face spoke of tears that had long since ceased.

[Courier]

Doug said with a grim wonder of hope crushed, "John's power failed, or the T-Bomb killed him. This was ground zero for a bunch of medium to high taint novas when they all became very high taint abberants." *So much for talking to people and looking for clues. For that matter, so much for thinking it was just us and York.*

[SalmonMax]

"I dunno," Ash said grimly, putting a hand to her forehead and squinting against the dust.

"This looks like a regular bomb went off. If it was a bunch of aberrants all mutating at once, I'd expect to see lots of different kinds of things."

She looks at Adam. "How far is this from where we just were?"

[Courier]

Doug answered, "Several hundred miles. And 'a bunch' might be an over estimate, they didn't exactly advertise."

Doug floated up into the air, "But let's see what it looks like in the air." 4 feet in the air Doug moved to John's "house" then he moved straight up in the air to see if there was a single blast pattern or what.

[Joani]

Anna had really hoped that Doug's claim there was someone who could make her normal again was true but when they stepped through the portal it was yet another site of destruction. Her heart ached as she saw the devastation that was indiscriminate. The Earth was scorched and Anna could feel Gaia's pain. It was almost physical for her.

Anna fell to one knee with tears in her eyes clutching herself while her hands dug into the ashes and the remains that was once fertile land. She felt like dying and almost wished she had.

"Oh no...no no no...", she whimpered.

[jameson (ST)]

KB soared into the sky as well following Doug. It took him some time to locate what must have been the remnants of Johnny's place. There was only the slagged remains of the foundation to mark the spot. KB looked down at it and seemed to shrug, "It would seem that Beth finally found the ecstasy of release. To have held her power back for so long, it must have been glorious for her." KB's voice seemed both joyful and distant, as though recalling some memory. Together they soared upwards into the cool sky. At a thousand feet up it was plain as day, Johnny's place was the epicenter of the firestorm.

[Courier]

Somehow knowing the name of the person who had slaughtered her family made things worse. Doug closed his eyes for a moment and pretended that the world hadn't gone bad and he was just floating around with KB like he had so many times before.

When he opened his eyes the world hadn't changed. Doug sent back over the linke, *'Group' appears to have been the wrong word. The effect is a perfect circle. It's centered on John's place and KB remembered that John's girlfriend Beth had fire powers. This is all her work, maybe she was the only one to slip his control and maybe she just killed everyone before they got a chance to do anything.*

*The way I remember she was the only for real nova they had so it plays either way. No, wait, that tentacle boy might have been tough enough to live through this.*

Doug felt dead inside. John and Beth reminded him of himself and KB.

*Hey Raider, do you remember what room your dad was in? That gun of his might have survived the fire.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider had kept silent during the latter part of the discussion even though he disagreed with Ash. Morally there was no difference between picking up a knife and killing someone and not preventing that killing if it was in your power to do so. The moonies were monsters that deserved to be eliminated, but he did agree that knowing they were responsible was best before destroying them. Then they would be able to stop worrying that someone was out to get them.

When everyone took to the air Raider followed although slower than the other two. What he wanted to know was if this could have been from the weapon the moonies had used on the comet.

((Using Analyze Weakness to try and figure that out.))

[jameson (ST)]

Raider made a circuit of the scorched village. He checked the buildings and the edge of the area before he floated up to view the area from above. Whatever, whomever, had done this had been amazingly precise. The demarcation between the burnt and blasted ground and the healthy forest was so crisp, so clean, that it was impossible a weapon from orbit, let alone the moon, could have done this. Whomever had done it had been here and almost definitely a nova. Or an aberrant, not that there seemed much distance in light of everything he had seen lately.

[Gregory]

Gregory survey the blasted landscape and frowned. There had been so much death already and to see what had happened here only made him more determined to find out who was responsible.

"Do you think the moonies did this?" Gregory asked as he looked around him. He did not have the mental facilities to understand completely what he was seeing. He only knew how it made him feel.

[SalmonMax]

"Not exactly," Ash replied to Gregory. "An aberrant did this. What we're trying to figure out is what made the aberrant go crazy. Something made all the 'novas' turn into aberrants. It might have been the moonies, but we don't know for sure yet."

She chewed her lip consideringly. "But whatever it was sure covered a lot of ground."

[Courier]

There's a glory to flight that ground pounders will never understand. For a few minutes Doug played with KB in the air and remembered days gone past... two days ago or four years. When his hand passed through KB's hair he was forcefully reminded that yesterday was very, very far away...

...and he blew KB a kiss and let himself fall to the earth, only slowing down a dozen feet before impacting the ground. Doug landed in the center of the circle of death, and started looking around the slag for relics. That gun had been light, it should have floated to the top of melted rock... or burned up. And if this was a fruitless task, at least it was one that took his mind off his past, present, and future for a few minutes.

[Mr Fox]

Raider descended to the ground disappointed. He'd had a good theory that it was the moonies. That idea was shot to hell in the face of the evidence. Not that it still couldn't have been the moonies responsible what what the aberrant here did, they just didn't pull the trigger themselves. "Definitely an aberrant that did this, no doubt. Of course we still don't know what caused the novas to go aberrant. Could have been Divis Mal for all we know. So here is what I propose. Courier and I will go to the moon and ask. Everyone else search for someone here on Earth to ask. Maybe one of us here will have some luck."