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

[Mr Fox]

Raider decided he'd seen enough. If the moonies responsible then this touching scene had just cost them years of preparation time. It was time to get on with the business at hand, at least it was for him. He jumped in to the sky above the Earth where it was still daylight, but high enough up that he could see great distances. He'd seen pictures like this from before the burn of astronauts looking down and being able to see an entire continent from their orbit. That was what Raider did. Start out with the widest possible focus since he'd never been to other parts of the world. Then he could use line of sight to jump down closer to the surface for a better look. He picked the west coast of first since it was in daylight and jumped down toward the remnants of what looked like a major city, probably La or Sandiago.

((Depending on his findings there he will repeat the process jumping down into South and Central America since they would have been less likely to have been completely devastated by the burn having fewer targets.))

[jameson (ST)]

Flick

From above the Earth seemed so much more peaceful. Unlike the view he had had from orbit he could still see much of the detail, the blighted scars dotting the east and west coasts, the wide swath of golden plains in the center of the country. Raider could correlate the scarred wastelands with the major cities of the old United States; New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, St Louis, Los Angeles, Denver, and more.

Flick

The city wasn't one he knew with certainty, but he was pretty certain it was Lincoln, Nebraska. The windows were blow out of every building, and the ground and streets were already being reclaimed by the trees and grasses. Here and there skeletons littered the street, some were blackened, charred and grisly, others scattered or crushed. None were fresher than at least a couple of years, corresponding to the time of the event or soon afterwards. Closer inspection showed that there were buildings with boarded windows, plots of tilled land that had turned fallow, and evidence of debris having been cleared. Though small there had been a community here, and it was gone now, wiped away just as easily as the burn had done so to the city upon who's ruins this community had been built.

Flick

The ruined town was smaller from above but outside of the ruins, in what had once been farmland, Raider saw herds of cows, and something else, something that looked like an armored ape scaled up to nearly fifteen feet tall. The cows seemed to pay it no mind and the creature just stood there watching them, perhaps some last shred of sanity in the aberrant's mind kept it herding its old charges. Maybe it knew that these would feed it longer if they were kept and not destroyed.

Flick

The dry brown of old Mexico stretched out and faded into a deep green as the continent narrowed further south.

Flick

Flick

FlickFlickFlickFlickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflickflick

South America lay below, the wild verdant green of the Amazon rain forest broken only by the massive muddy trail of the Amazon river. Along the coast Raider could make out still more nuclear scars; Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio, others that he could not name. Here and there he had seen some pockets of civilization, clusters of huts or houses, sometimes just a series of old tractor trailers that have been converted. Nothing he saw could be classed as anything larger than a village and less than half were still populated. Now he was faced with a choice, return to the others and tell them that the few of them and James may well be the only remaining novas on this side of the planet, the only sane ones anyway, or explore the other half of the world. The night side, the lands unknown to him beyond even a basic level of information gleaned from a book.

[Gregory]

Seeing that Anna was struggling, Gregory allowed the energy to permeate through his body once more. If she couldn't assume a normal form, then neither would he unless it was necessary.

"Anna.." Gregory broke off. "We teach you how to dorm, ok?"

[Joani]

“Really?”, her voice was full of hope again. It was as if Gregory just offered her the road to salvation and it almost made her cry of joy. Happily she reached out for him and hugged him again this time with a little less regard to his smaller and most likely less sturdier frame than hers. When she realized that she almost crushed him she put him down again smiling shyly.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”, her eyes couldn’t meet Gregory’s but she quietly said, “Thanks”

[SalmonMax]

Ash came over and patted Anna's arm a bit hesitantly.

"I'll try to help if I can," she offered. Then she grinned and added, "No hug necessary though."

Still smiling a little, she looked around. "Raider's been gone awhile. Hope he's okay."

[Courier]

Seeing the others were helping Anna, Doug shifted the link to Raider and tried to follow what he was up to.

[Mr Fox]

As the question of his wearabouts was raised Raider was busy confirming if the other hemisphere was in the same shape as this one.

FlickFlickFlickFlick....

All across Asia, the pacific, Australia, India and finally the Mideast and Europe. Having seen the details in North and South America, he knew what he was looking for so after verifying if the phenomenon was universal or not he didn't need to spend as much time in each place, just look for the signs and move on...

[jameson (ST)]

Flick

Raider started to consider returning, he'd never teleported this much before and he should be tired but he found that he wasn't. He was here, and he was feeling as well as he had when he set out. He continued on, as soon as he felt his power wane he could return but there was no need just yet ...

FlickFlickFlickFlickFlick

Flick

Destruction, cities long since demolished by conventional weapons, or the ravages of time ...

Flick

... devastation, blighted blast zones miles across, scars on the very Earth itself ...

Flick

... rebirth, the wilds returning to claim long dead towns and cities ...

Flick

... a small town of baselines, barely eking out a survival ...

Flick

... the piled remains of aberrants and humans alike, a veritable mountain of bones ...

Flick

... more of the same ...

FlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlickFlick

Flick

The impossible. A city. A true city, its streets not overgrown with vegetation, its buildings more intact than not. Raider marveled and hope sprung forth. Flick He moved closer, the city seemed deserted, the street lights casting their glow into the darkness for no one. Flick He braved a building, its inside still comforting, homey, intact. He glided through the apartment marveling at how intact it all was, and then he saw them. Two adults and a child. They were seated at the dining room table, they must have been eating a meal together when the end came.

He moved closer, inspecting the bodies, there was little animal activity and so there was dry dessicated flesh still clinging to the bones, Raider couldn't smell the room, but he was glad for that, it would not have been pleasant. The father and the child appeared to have died in agony, the father had fallen into his food and the child to the floor, their skeletal hands still clenched in fists and claws of pain. The third, the mother, was not normal, nor human. The skeleton showed massive reshaping, twists and growths and changes, and based on Raider's medical knowledge they had been happening even as she died.

Flick

More bodies. All the same, all in pain, clutching at their bodied, fallen where they had been struck by something. Others showed similar mutation, signs of aberrancy cut short but death, a mercy perhaps given how it could have ended in madness. This city was dead. It had died a few years back, more evidence of the event. It was global, it was unrelenting, unforgiving, undiscriminating, but something else had happened here, something that had killed every man, woman, child, and erupting aberrant.

Flick

By a pool, a fountain creating arches of crystal clear water within, sat a man. Raider observed silently. Flick The man was sitting peacefully, a book in one hand and a gun in the other. Flick Raider could see that the back of his head was missing, his jaw gaped and he knew that this man had killed himself. He drifted closer, the body was far more fresh than the rest of the city. He realized that it was not more than a few days old. The book was a plastic bound notebook, an elastic loop held a pen to be used to write in it. The characters were unfamiliar, something completely unlike what he knew. Raider knew they were Asian, Chinese perhaps though he knew not where he was.

[Mr Fox]

Raider took the journal from the deadman's hands. He didn't know what had happened to kill everyone, but it just didn't matter in light of what else he had seen today. Perhaps it was some aberrant going nova, but it really didn't matter. Nothing mattered any more. The human race was all but dead.

He felt dejected and depressed when he returned to the small town where the others were gathered. Seeing them sitting and talking he approached. "It is global. I have been all around the world and it is everywhere. I believe it may have been an attack, but perhaps we should investigate more. I found a town in Asia I think that was almost entirely intact except that there wasn't a single survivor. I saw evidence of people who died from erupting into abberants. I'd like to go back and look more, I think maybe it might have been ground zero for the event from what I saw. I also found a very recently dead man with a journal. Anyone able to read any asian languages?"

[jameson (ST)]

Raider opened the journal and realized he's been wrong, it wasn't a book at all but a microcomputer slate. Upon closer inspecting the pen was in fact a stylus for entering hand written data directly to the computer. This would have been top of the line tech before the burn given its slim size and weight. The right hand "page" displayed the last entry and the left was blank waiting for input, a blinking Kanji icon at the top. The entire package had been cunningly designed, and when closed it looked and felt so much like a simple bound paper notebook that only opening it revealed the truth.

Adam shrugged, "Maybe it can translate? Try putting something in American in." Raider did just that, writing, Please translate into American in the journal. The screen wiped clear and the display returned, Unknown language "American". With a bemused expression he tried again, Translation to English. The screen replied, Translating content please wait ... After a minute the screen displayed what seemed to be the last few entries.

Originally Posted By: Journal, 27 May 2119

The comet disappeared from the sky. Last night it loomed like a great beast coming to devour us all, to destroy the world. Despite our fore bearer's best efforts to ensure that our species and our culture would live on the cosmos mocked us. One day later the human race's reprieve has been renewed once more. I cannot imagine how but I fear that the truth may be horrible to consider.

I will set this journal aside now, it seems silly to leave a record behind when our existence is so clearly fragile and dependent on forces unknown to us.

Originally Posted By: Journal, 13 September 2120

They are all dead. Had I, in the past year, considered picking this journal up once more I would never have thought that that would be the first sentence I would write. I cannot think of anything better however. My city has been killed; 357,483 men, women, and children. I alone remain and I know that it is because their deaths are my fault. For the first time in my life I am alone in a city that is silent. Silent as the grave it has become. I wish I were a scientist or a doctor, such that I could leave behind a more apt description of what happened. I could paint it but I do not think I could withstand that horror that I would put to canvas.

It was early evening when it happened, I cannot describe it better than to say that it felt like awakening from sleep. Some of the others felt it as well, they stopped in the park and asked the companions, "Did you feel that?" They did not, most did not. That moment was fleeting. Some began to change almost immediately, their bodies changing, radiating light or fire or electricity. Others twisting into inhuman shapes or becoming mineral or plant.

I killed them all. I didn't realize what I was doing or how. It felt like I was immersed in a pool of energy. I wanted it all, I needed it all. I was mas, or compelled, or perhaps I knew deep down what I wanted. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter because I soaked it all up, I took it all in. All of it. When nothing was left I took my first look around and saw the death I had caused. And I knew it was me, I could hear their voices. I could feel my sister and my nephew, their minds were only two amid the sea of them that I had drunk in.

That was days ago. I've become an aberrant. I don't look like a monster but in an instant I consumed so many lives and I think maybe I can even live with that. The voices are gone now, I only feel the fullness of their energy.

Originally Posted By: Journal, 07 June 2123

I've decided to end my suffering. I am starving, slowly but surely I am starving. The animals cannot sustain me and there have been no other people since the day that this happened to me. I am become a monster, an eater of life. If anybody still remains in the world perhaps one day they will find this and understand that I killed my people. Our honored fathers ensured that humanity would survive the Ultimatum and I have destroyed that legacy. May the Gods and my ancestors have mercy on my soul.

[Courier]

Doug came back and landed when Raider returned. He said, "What a waste. The city, the tech, and the guy too." *If he'd waited a week or two Raider could have teleported him up to the moon.*

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah," Ash agrees quietly, re-reading the journal. "At least we have some hard intel now though."

She taps the entry talking about people aberrating.

"That gives us a date for the event. Now we just have to find out what happened on that date that caused all this."

[Courier]

Doug said, "He was just a painter, and he still had this thing. He didn't know of any other cities that survived the burn."

"...you know we really should take over that city. They might have had some other records on what happened, like sighting a space craft right before it."

[Gregory]

When the journal was passed his way, he opened it and stared at the characters inside. His lack of education was another reminder of what the Aberrants did to his life and the decade spent surviving in the wilderness.

"Uhmm.." Gregory paused. He didn't know if the others knew he never learned how to read. "Could you just tell me what it says?"

[Mr Fox]

Raider reread the entries aloud for Gregory. When it was done he looked to Doug. "I agree. That city is the best preserved place on Earth. If we can deal with the threat of the moon people we should move everyone we can to that city and see if we can't rebuild some civilization."

[Courier]

Doug said, "Why wait? We have to set up shop 'somewhere' and that place seems better than this one."

[jameson (ST)]

Adam looked at Doug, "What if whatever was there is still there? I mean we don't even know where it started or how or what it was. Frankly I think we're taking pretty big risks already."

KB alighted next to Doug, her hand entwined with electricity, "Shall I kill him?"

[Courier]

Doug said to KB, "Please don't. He's one of us, we're going to need him."

{Persuader On KB: Trying to convince her of this}

Doug said to Adam, "I think we're past the point of riskless moves. If you want to move against the moon instead I'm good. But we're not going to learn any more here and I'm not sure it's less risky. Ditto if we go back to our own city."

"Art's city..." Doug motioned to the Artist's 'book' "...could be a big help on several fronts. Maybe they knew more than us. Maybe they even have something we can use against the others."

[jameson (ST)]

"You're not fun," she said pouting at Doug before pirouetting away into the air once more.

After a few seconds once she was out of earshot Adam said, "Shit, she's fucking nuts man. I can't, no, no way, I can't put up with that. And no I don't feel like moving against the moon, not now not ever, what's the damn point? Why follow violence with violence? Is this ever going to stop?"

[Courier]

Doug replied to Adam, "If they did it? Then it will stop when all of them are dead or every man, woman, and child on the earth is dead."

Doug motioned to the burned out village and continued, "This was just the 2nd act. First was the rock, which we stopped. They weren't expecting us to be able to, and now we're not in any shape to stop a repeat. That's another reason we need that city, if they've already found and moved another rock we need to know about it."

[jameson (ST)]

"Shit ... Why? Cause you are either proving them right about us or you are killing innocent people. I ... know what, nevermind." He walked away, heading toward the edge of the town.

[Mr Fox]

"Big risks? The world has ended, there is barely enough humanity left to rebuild civilization if we collected everyone in the world together. On top of that we have the moonies either actively or passively trying to wipe us out. What's left? Sure it's risky, but the people of our home town want to drive us out with pitchforks and torches... what's not risky. At least we should go investigate."

[Gregory]

Gregory watched and listened. What the others told him left him with a sick sensation in his stomach. Everyone was gone- even abbies. When the others started talking about killing the moonies, Gregory came foreward.

"What is moonies are all that is left of us?" gregory asked cautiously. "They have tek'nawl'ogy stuff and they healthy. They did not do this. The man in letter thing did. We need them to come back to earth."

[Courier]

Doug shrugged at Gregory's comment and said, "That man didn't pull the trigger, he was a politician, the group he was leading did it. And yeah, I'd be delighted if they came back to the earth right this minute."

"Problem is before that happens they think they need to kill everyone. That's the part I have problems with."

[Joani]

Anna had finally calmed down knowing now that there was at least a chance to be normal again. Ash and Gregory would show her, they promised.

Watching the others arrive Anna slowly rejoined them trying to be as 'invisible' as possible. Her near nervous breakdown was embarassing and she would've had redglowing cheeks if she was still human.

Any idea about rebuilding gave her hope but again Doug and KB talked only about killing. How in Gaia's name were they supposed to ever find peace if all he could think of was retaliation and destruction?

"We still don't know anything for sure, do we?", she asked quietly. "It's all just assumption based on a few minutes talking to them.", she looked up when she said 'them'.

[Courier]

Doug gave Anna a big smile back and said, "A few minutes? Funny, it felt like years to me. And..." Doug gestured to the graveyard of a city "...this doesn't look like the act of a friend. Neither was the rock. Neither putting it there or destroying it the moment it was going to kill them and not us."

"Can anyone give me *any* reason why I should think they're friendly? Why I should think that they're *not* behind some or all of this? I know I'm not a hyper-intellect, is there something I'm missing here?"

[Mr Fox]

"I think Doug is right. They've done nothing at all to help us and we do have reason to believe they wish us ill. I want to investigate that city. It might shed some light on our situation, but if we don't find anything to contradict what we already believe I think we should take action against the moonies."

Raider looked at Gregory, "You might be right, they might be humanities best hope, but they wish us dead. Us specifically I mean. They want all novas dead and believe we cannot be saved. So sure they are human and they are advanced and if we were to all die suddently they would come back to Earth and rebuild. But it would be over our dead bodies and that is not a price I am willing to pay. Oh, and the other cost for 'regular' humans, IF they would even allow them to live is that they would have to live according to their warped rules and society. Even if they would allow us in, that would be at the cost of our freedom to live as we choose. I'd rather take my chances. Besides, if we didn't have someone trying to actively cause our extinction then perhaps we, meaning us, could help humanity rebuild civilization, and one that would be free to choose it's own course."

Looking to everyone, "Lacking any better options, I am going back to that city to investigate and see if there is anything to find. After that if we don't find anything, I'm going to fight the moonies."

[SalmonMax]

"The burden of proof is on the accuser," Ash said. "That's what I was brought up to believe."

"I'm fine with investigating the city. That sounds like a good idea to me. A great idea even. But if we don't find real evidence that the 'moonies' did this as a deliberate attack, then you'll be fighting them without me."

[Mr Fox]

Raider nodded. "So be it, we don't have a knife with their finger prints on it, but we've got enough circumstantial evidence that I'm convince they are bad guys. Whether or not they are the only bad guys, or the ones responsible for particular events is another matter. And yeah, I'd like to have unequivocal proof, but that may not be something we can do and just because we can't gather proof doesn't mean they aren't out to kill us all."

[Gregory]

"I never said they was friendly." Gregory said angrily. "I said they might be only chance for us humans on earth to live."

Gregory eyed the psychotic KB and wondered if anyone could survive wiht her around. Abbies like her would have to be taken away or killed. He would miss her and feel sad but it would be a mercy killing.

"Do moonies know what happened here? They may be different if they knew what happened. They might help us now."

[Courier]

Doug waved at the burned out village and replied, "Gregory... the rock would have done much MUCH worse, and they knew about that."

[Joani]

“I agree with Ashley – we should investigate the city and see if we can rebuild it.”, Anna said looking at Raider and Doug. She warily watched KB feeling like she could lash out and kill her anytime she wanted – just because she felt like it. KB had really lost her mind and Anna was scared to end up like her one day.

At least Gregory and Ash gave her new hope and she quietly smiled at herself – if this worked, if she could really dorm down, shut off the energies that flowed through her body she could be normal again. She didn’t know how she looked like anymore and hoped her body would remember better.

[Mr Fox]

"Also Gregory, you just said, 'us humans', but the Moonies don't consider novas to be humans. They said flat out that they don't believe that we can possibly be saved from taint, that we are destined to give in to it. So while they might be willing able to help the regular humans here on earth, though I seriously doubt they would, they certainly won't help US. They would just as soon we died quickly and vacated the planet so they can take over."

"I would much rather we rebuild that city and help humanity stay free of the moonies and their society."

[Joani]

"But that means we have to deal with them somehow? And from how I understand your position you prefer killing them all, right?", Anna looked at Doug, KB and Raider.

"I honestly don't know what is right or wrong - maybe we should put this to a vote before we lose ourselves in more debate about ethics and morale... If you asked me, I say we try to rebuild the city and live in peace. No killing. That's my vote."

[Courier]

Doug said flatly, "Not killing isn't an option. A vote to not kill is a vote to let them kill us."

He waved at the burned lifeless city and added almost as an after thought, "And not just us. Everyone on the Earth. Discrimination isn't one of their strengths. This isn't behavior that should be rewarded, it's behavior that should be punished."

[SalmonMax]

"Jesus, we still don't even know for sure what's going on, and you're in full on 'kill or be killed' mode," Ash says sourly. "I grew up in the military, but even I don't feel comfortable wiping out forty thousand people without being sure of what I'm doing. And frankly, even if I was sure...it'd be a hard thing to do."

"You're too eager for this. You've already decided to kill them, I think. Now you're just looking for an excuse."

[Courier]

Irritated, James responded, "An excuse? An EXCUSE?!!!"

James visibly restrained himself and said with soft tension, "You're right, we do not have perfect knowledge of all their actions."

"But we know they were willing to let a planet of people die from a rock they could stop. We don't know if dropped the rock because they consider us to be diseased animals, or if they had other reasons. But we know they think we're diseased animals and they lied about who dropped the rock."

"We don't know why they used their funky time machine on us. At best it was out of shear sadistic glee. At worst it was to remove internal rivals to drop the taint bomb. Either way, we know they didn't think it was a crime because the 'good' people up there still consider us to be diseased animals."

Doug added coldly, "So if you'd get your head out of your ass and stop worrying about your ethical purity, you'd see I don't need to *look* for an *excuse*. The people who think we can be killed like diseased animals have already given that to me. I'm sorry saving the planet makes you 'uncomfortable' but this isn't about you and it isn't about me."

[Joani]

Anna watched Doug with worried eyes and slowly realized. He’d never understand what she would say now because it was completely out of his logic. He’d rather kill everything – even himself to have his vengeance and she was in no position to stop him.

“So why bother talking to us then? Why even put it to debate? Is this group – no let me correct – was this group ever about doing what was right or wrong or about doing what you.”, she pointed at Raider and Doug, “made us believe what is going on. You have all knowledge in your hands – or at least that’s what you claim and we just follow trusting your decisions are right. What if we are truly ‘diseased animals’? How much time has passed since the coming of Novas and what has ever been achieved in terms of avoiding becoming an Aberrant? Nothing!– not all the collected superminds have ever accomplished to find a cure for what taint does to us. You may have no idea about what it feels like being… abnormal. You don’t know what it means to look nothing like a human being. We are exactly what they claim us to be and if I was in there position I very well may have acted just the same. That’s the only thing you and them got in common – your conviction. There is no flaw in your perception, isn’t it?”

Anna prepared herself to be either attacked by Doug or KB bracing herself for any kind of impact. Doug could tell that she was slowly backing off in a defensive motion.

[SalmonMax]

"I'm not trying to say they're good and kind and wise people. But being assholes doesn't mean they should be genocided. If being an asshole was a capital offense, you'd be dead by now," Ash points out.

"You have no idea if killing them will save anyone or anything, and I don't think you care. You're right that this isn't about me or you. It's about her."

She nods at KB.

"Someone you love is basically gone now, and you're so pissed off you can't see straight. You want to kill whoever's responsible, but if you can't tell who that is, anyone'll do. And since we already have some good reasons to be afraid of and distrust the moon men, hey...why not them? From there, you've just been using assumptions and circumstances to justify back-building a case against them."

"But nothing you've said, including not intervening to stop the asteroid, is justification for nuking forty-thousand innocent people. That's not 'ethical purity,' Doug. It's just...common sense."

[Courier]

Doug was almost amused by Anna's statements, putting a pin to this balloon would be easy, "What have we achieved in avoiding becoming Aberrants? Remember the discipline Anna? Remember learning what damages your node and what doesn't? Doesn't that explain why I don't know what is means to not look human? Or we could talk about Dorming."

Doug continued, "As for us being what they claimed, look around. The vast majority of the people who died when the taint bomb went off were baselines. The vast majority of the people who would have died from the rock were also baselines. How many baselines would you kill if you had their power?"

Doug added, "They have oceans of blood on their hands. The difference between them and us is they want to kill us, while I just want to stop them from killing us. It's not our fault that the only way to stop them is to kill them. If you have a different suggestion for how to get them to stop committing war crimes on us, by all means put that option on the table."