Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Book 2: Chapter 5: The Final Cut

[SalmonMax]

Ash scratched her chin, then said, "What do you know about the Daedalus League? Anything about where they were located?"

She looked at the others and explained, "If they knew something about other planets, and left, maybe they also left behind clues for other novas to follow."

[jameson (ST)]

The is little information about the Daedalus League in my database. They were a group of like minded Novas who had the ability to teleport, fly, or crate passages in space who used their abilities to explore outer space. Beyond that they kept to themselves and once the war broke out those members who were known to the public vanished. It appears that they had left the planet. May I ask a question? Why is it that you are suddenly concerned about other worlds?

[Courier]

Doug sent, Adam, we're back, thank you. I'm seriously impressed by the way, you kept that gate up for much longer than I've ever seen you.*

*Raider has an idea that might fix all our problems at once, and it even doesn't involve bloodshed. He's wondering if another habitable planet was ever discovered. If we could gather up what's let of the baselines and just leave, that would eliminate the need to worry about the high quantum field, the moonies, and the remaining super-aberrants.*

[SalmonMax]

"We're trying to figure out what all of our options are," Ash tells the computer. "Whatever happened here has made Earth dangerous for us. We don't want what happened to everyone else to happen to us."

She pauses, then adds, "You know about the moon base. Can you send some kind of radio message to it?"

[jameson (ST)]

The AI quickly replied to Ashley's question, I have no ability to transmit to the moon. It would require coordination with at least one relay satellite which I am no equipped to do. I am sorry.

Meanwhile Adam replied to Doug, What are you talking about? Or perhaps I should just ask what is it you want from me this time?

[Courier]

Doug closed his eyes, Adam was feeling abused, that wasn't a good thing. Adam, can I come see you and we'll talk over a beer? We should be able to find beer around here somewhere.

[jameson (ST)]

Why? So you can try to convince me that you're right? So that you can explain your grand plan to escape to some other world where you lay plans for revenge against those people on the moon? Face it Doug, they won, and more importantly, they were right. Look at this place, look at what has happened because of us. Novas, aberrants, we're all the same and we have burned and ruined this planet. Novas were the reason why the burn happened and the reason why mankind has almost disappeared, what right do we have to go on?

[Courier]

Doug replied, Baselines did the burn. What should have happened was a baseline alliance with sane novas against the insane aberrants. There's reasons why they lumped us together, mostly it comes down to not wanting to share power.

The taint bomb was the same story again. Look around and see the moon people's handy work. Left alone we would have rebuilt the world into something glorious. That's why they stepped in, it's what they were afraid of. They decided to push us over while we still couldn't stop them. The Earth's current condition is their victory.

I think it's grossly unjust to leave them here alive, but I'm willing to do it. Let them have their 'victory'. Let them choke on the ashes of a world they tainted up. On a distant world our descendants will be better able to either make peace or war with those bozos. So, no, if we leave it won't be to plot revenge.

[jameson (ST)]

Shit man, do you really buy that shit you are selling? You really want to leave? What are you going to do when none of the baselines want anything to do with you? You saw how they were in the city man, they've been burned twice now by our kind. First the burn, now whatever happened while we were gone. Once bitten twice shy. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me. Face it, you'll never get them to go with you.

[Courier]

Doug replied, A fresh start, even if it's with a few novas, should look real good compared to being eaten, irradiated, or otherwise killed by thousands of abbies. Pure and simple, if they stay then they'll die. Some will understand this. Some might even see if the abbies don't get them, then the moonies will when they drop the next 'purge' rock.

I used to be a salesman, this won't be that hard a sell. We're not even starting from scratch. We have the city's resources backing us up, I still have some of my old contact network, and I think all my social skills are now quantum fueled.

[jameson (ST)]

You know what, fine. If you want to leave and never come back that's fine by me. Whatever. You're such a good salesman you've sold yourself lie after lie, because you think you know what is right and what is wrong. Fine. You tell me where you want to go and when, and if I'm still sane I'll send you there, one way only.

[Courier]

Doug sent, Thanks, I guess. If I'm lying to myself, I hope it will be one of those dreams we can make real. Adam... do you want to talk about anything?

Doug carefully didn't send over the link his private thoughts. The three who where having serous taint progression issues were Gregory, Anna, & Adam. The first two are badly warped, and now Adam doesn't want to see me and he's worrying about when he goes nuts. He's also had an extremely serious power upgrade. Keeping a gate open for multiple hours... has he become his power?

[jameson (ST)]

I'd rather not. Your mind seems unreasonably set. There's little point given that. Contact me when you are ready. The mental connection broke in a way that suggested a phone being hung up with more than a little too much force.

[SalmonMax]

"Who were you talking to just now?" Ashley asked Doug, studying him intently. "Your face doesn't look like it's good news."

[Courier]

Doug said, "That was Adam."

Doug relayed the spoken message as best he could then added, "The most disturbing thing he said up there was, if I'm still sane. He's gotten a ton stronger, he's not showing himself, he was having taint progression issues before the bomb. I think he can feel himself slipping."

"That's Gregory, Anna, and maybe Adam, all in two days."

[Mr Fox]

Raider frowned, "I've been having to hold myself back from using too much quantum. The environment is so 'hot' with it right now it's very easy to draw to much or push too far. I've literally been focusing on not using more than normal. I've got all the aberrations I want now and given what my brother looks like I don't want to end up with tentacles growing out of my nose or something."

He looked thoughtfully at Doug, "So he's gotten a ton stronger, question is can he open a warp to another planet? If so that means we need to find one somehow, and I'm not sure how we go about it if the city doesn't have any info on it, this is the most likely place to find it, unless..." He trailed off in thought.

"I think we should check out Mars. I'll try and teleport out there and see if I can find where the colony was. If it's still there maybe they would be helpful. If not maybe they left behind records of that Daedalus league."

[SalmonMax]

"Hold on a sec," Ash said, then turned to address the AI. "What do you know about the Mars project? You said the United States sent it, but do you know any details?"

She looked back at Raider with a shrug. "Might as well learn what we can -before- you jump right into the middle of them, right?"

[Courier]

Doug commented dryly, "Like where it used to be? Also if Mars doesn't have a high q-field then you might be running on batteries... implying you might want a flier."

[jameson (ST)]

Please clarify; do you wish to know more about the Wet Mars Project or the American Colonization attempt? Ash shrugged, and replied that she wanted to know about both. Affirmative. The American Colonization project was started fifteen years before the war with a manned spacecraft launched via a powerful nova. The mission was deemed a failure when all contact with the vessel was lost three months into the transit.

Intelligence gathered by Chinese nova telepaths and infiltration specialists suggests that the mission was not a failure at all but a ruse to cover the existence of a highly powerful nova spatial warper. If indeed the American's had a nova capable of bridging space-time with a wormhole like effect it is possible that they had already succeeded at establishing a preliminary base.

This information runs counter to the Wet Mars Project, also called Blue Mars by the public, a UN and Æon sponsored project to divert Haley's Comet and other near earth Kuiper objects to Mars. The goal of the project was to replenish Mars' water supply and allow for the generation, via hydrolysis of water, a new atmosphere. With sufficient carbon dioxide concentrations it was believed that Mars could retain enough solar energy to support human temperate ranges.

The primary revenue and technology contributors to Blue Mars was the United States of America, however if they had already established a presence on Mars the Wet Mars Project cometary impacts would jeopardize that colony and the personnel. There was no ability to verify and repeated attempts by the Chinese government to request and or illegally obtain the information on the American attempt all failed. It seemed they were using counter intelligence novas, which in hindsight was no surprise. Regardless once the war broke out no further resources were allocated to Blue Mars. The status of the cometary impacts, their effects on Mars, and the possible American colony are all unknown.

[SalmonMax]

"Wait wait," Ash suddenly said, lunging forward and putting her hand on the plastic, largely unused, control panel. "Comets?"

She looked back at Raider and Doug. "That thing we launched a nuke at...was it a comet or asteroid? I'm fuzzy on the physics of all that. But if it was a comet, maybe this Mars thing explains what happened."

[Mr Fox]

Raider considered for a moment. "Asteroid or Comet doesn't really matter but that is not to say a nova involved in the Wet Mars project couldn't have diverted one to hit Earth instead once the war started or was lost. It could also have been done after the war by some other nova. If the project was known by the public then any nova powerful enough and wanting revenge after the burn could have altered the rock's course."

[SalmonMax]

"Or," Ash says with a touch of impatience, "It could have been an accident. Maybe that comet was MEANT to hit Mars, something went wrong, and it came our way instead."

She thinks about it for a second, then grimaces. "Though...I guess that's actually pretty unlikely. Earth's a pretty small target from Mars."

[Courier]

Doug said, "Mars, Jupiter, and the other planets will never hit the Earth no matter how long we wait because their orbits don't intersect. Anything that does intersect with Mars orbit is stunningly unlikely to also intersect with the Earth's. It's not the sort of thing that happens by accident."

"I'm also skeptical some nova could have changed things right after the burn. It's like... I pull out a gun and pull the trigger, expecting that the bullet will in 100 years kill someone's grandchildren. Think about how unlikely it is that I could plan it, then remember that it's probably easier to do that than the rock."

[SalmonMax]

Ash shook her head. "All right all right. I'm just saying, this Mars thing was using technology that could move comets around. If nothing else, maybe there's answers there we can't get anywhere else."

[Jor]

Raider shook his head, "Not technology. Novas, and powerful ones at that."

"Also, keep in mind that a small change 100 years ago will make a rock hit earth now, but the longer you wait the bigger a force is needed to alter it's course enough to hit us, so it probably was done right around the time of the burn."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Ash shook her head. "All right all right. I'm just saying, this Mars thing was using technology that could move comets around. If nothing else, maybe there's answers there we can't get anywhere else."

Doug replied dryly, "We Americans can't move rocks around any more, and even if we could, we wouldn't. In fact the list of people who do have the technology is pretty short. Oddly it matches exactly the list of people who would benefit by dropping rocks on the Earth."

"But I'd still like to see Raider go to Mars, just for other reasons."

Originally Posted By: Jor

Raider shook his head, "Not technology. Novas, and powerful ones at that."

"Also, keep in mind that a small change 100 years ago will make a rock hit earth now, but the longer you wait the bigger a force is needed to alter it's course enough to hit us, so it probably was done right around the time of the burn."

Doug replied, "The issue isn't force, it's aim. The level of precision required is absurd. It makes my bullet example look reasonable."

[Mr Fox]

"Lets go." Raider was done with talking, it was time to try the trip to Mars. He wasn't entirely sure he could get there easily, but it had to be tried. He reached over and placed a hand on Doug's shoulder. "Hang on, you don't want to get separated."

Click to reveal..

Raider is using the intel gathered from locating the rock and all those space observations to determine where Mars is. The info is 4 years out of date, but Mars travels the same orbit at a fixed rate so with his big brain Raider should have a pretty accurate idea of where in it's orbit it is. Once there he's going to use his mega-perception High-EM Scan to look for where the colony is/was. He'll start at the poles and search toward the equator since the poles are where the water is most easily accessible.

[4] + 6 + 1 mega

(11:19:23) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,2,8,6,4,2.

(11:19:27) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 9.

8 successes total on the teleport.

that is 200,000,000 km enough to reach Mars. Mars ranges between 35 million and 100 million km depending on where in their orbits the two planets are at any given time.

Searching for the colony:

(11:26:00) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 5d10 and gets 10,8,10,9,2.

(11:26:03) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 2.

4 successes

[Courier]

Doug put a loop of his eufiber around Raider's waist and shifted the link to him.

Click to reveal..

Awareness Roll: 1 mega + 8 dice.

3 sux : http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2362269/

9d10 → [5,5,9,8,2,2,5,1,8] = (45)

[jameson (ST)]

They tore through the fabric of reality instantly crossing millions of miles with all the effort it took to snap ones fingers. In the stillness of space Raider and Doug floated above the rust colored planet. From pole to pole and around the planet they blipped, cutting through space-time like a hot knife through soft butter. Below the planet was undisturbed. Raider was quickly growing tired; tired from using his powers, his energy draining away like it wasn't doing on Earth. As they neared the threshold of his limits, the end of his reserves they located a single artifact.

The footprint of a building, twisted metal, scorched concrete, and blasted Martian dirt. The scattered remnants were covered with drifts of fine red dust that spoke of the time between the explosion and the current. Raider knew that this was no nuclear weapon, and likely no aberrant power but simple conventional explosives. Of the American colony nothing but a flag remained, flapping in the Martian wind, soiled red from its time on the alien world.

[Courier]

Doug was becoming increasingly concerned, Raider was reaching his limits. Raider, give it up right now and take a rest. We're living off of Quantum out here. If you run out you'll have to breath the air no matter how thin.

[Mr Fox]

He agreed, but getting back would be difficult and there was no guarantee they could make it back in one jump anyway. Fly us to that building and we'll rest a bit before making the jump back.

[Courier]

Doug sent back Agreed and rocketed both of them to the former base. As soon as he got there he started searching and digging.

{Activate Flight, Hyperflight}

[jameson (ST)]

Together they found nothing. Nothing but twisted and burnt wreckage and a stained old flag that fluttered in the Martian wind. Whatever was here was a total loss, there could be no mistaking this as an accident, somebody had set charges and exploded this structure with the goal of wiping it off the face of Mars. There was precious little debris though and Raider easily came to the conclusion that either the building was small, far smaller than a colony, and that it was probably empty as well. The easy answer was that the American demo'ed their own base in preparation for the comet strike that was to terraform the surface of Mars.

[Courier]

The air might have been thick enough to talk but Doug felt an irrational need to not open his mouth and expose himself to the dust.

Doug sent, The interesting part is what's not here. No dead bodies. Nothing usable. No one died here. There was nothing usable here even before they blew up the place, this was planned by the owners.

Something odd here. They weren't planning on coming back. If you're planning on dropping a comet on the base, then you take what you want and just leave. The base probably won't survive, but if it does then that's a good thing.

I think they had a colony, but it wasn't here. They blew this place up to hide that they didn't have a colony here... hmm... and there's no contradiction between having a colony and terraforming Mars if the real colony is elsewhere.

[Mr Fox]

But where? This obviously wasn't it and I agree with your reasoning. The question is where it was if not on Mars? I'll take us back to Earth now if you don't have any other suggestions.

[Courier]

Doug sent back, Earth2 or the Moon come to mind. And yes, let's go back, this is a dead end.

[Mr Fox]

Yeah, hang on, here we go.

Click to reveal..

(18:24:11) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,10,3,9,9,7.

(18:24:15) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 6.

8 successes

200,000,000 km

[jameson (ST)]

... and then they were back. It was dark now and Ash was sitting bored in the studio, waiting for them to return. They decided that both food and palaver were needed and returned to the hospital to see if Gregory was awake and if he or Anna would join them. On the hospital's first level they found a cafeteria that quickly prepared steaming bowls of soup and noodles, and stir frys with crip vegetables and tender meats (or what they thought were meats) in spicy sauce.

[Courier]

After getting back Doug shifted his Eufiber's Mars dust and grim off like a dog would shake it's fur, then he inhaled and exhaled several times to the 'taste' of it away from him.

Doug sent out the following to everyone while he ate, Mars has a higher sulfur content and it smells about like you'd think. It's cold, nasty, unpleasant. The only thing we learned was it's owners dismantled then destroyed the colony before the rocks started to fall. They did a good job too. IMHO there were no clues left to be destroyed by the passage of time, which means they were hiding something.

Probably the 'Mars Colony' was never on Mars. That explains why they were willing to drop rocks on it, but it doesn't tell us where it actually was. Maybe they hid it closer, like on the moon. That makes a fair bit of sense, the moon would be close enough to supply really well and if you hid the location then people like me would never think to take the month journey to check.

Does anyone see any way to locate habitable planets outside this system? We might be back to going back to the moon and asking if they do.

[SalmonMax]

Ashley glanced up at Doug and frowned.

"It sounds like this Wet Mars project never happened then. But if it never happened, then rocks never fell..."

She shook her head. "It seems like we need more information. These were probably military projects...the base, the terraforming... I wonder if there are any record of them at West Point..."