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


jameson (ST)

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"If they are on the moon then they are secret even from the moonies, unless the moonies ARE the colony. I think it more likely they went further out, most likely entirely out of the solar system. During that time they would have had access to Novas that could warp well outside the system. But asking the moonies is right out. They wouldn't likely be truthful with us even if they were willing to answer, worse, if they weren't aware of the deception on Mars we could be putting an American colony in danger by revealing their existence. Last but not least it would tell them of our intentions to flee. What if they would rather see us dead than a potential threat?"

In response to Ash's question, "That sounds like a good idea. I'll take you there after I rest up some. That trip to Mars was very taxing."

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"Whoa," Ash replied, waving her hands. "We can't just -appear- in West Point unless you want to suck down a hail of bullets. And not just bullets. They've got rockets, and even a handful of these super-bullets they call anti-nova rounds. Not sure what they were used for before the burn...penetrating personal body armor maybe."

"Anyway, standing orders are if an aberrant appears in the compound to call for backup and shoot to kill. It'd be a smart idea to scout first. Then...I don't know, maybe we can get some regular people to go there for us. They do some trade with human enclaves."

She hesitated, then added, "And...I don't know. If I'm shut down I might be able to get the perimeter guard to listen before he shoots. But that's a big maybe, and I'm pretty vulnerable like this."

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Doug replied, Wet Mars didn't go far enough along to matter, and it strongly looks like it was irrelevant to the other colony anyway. And I'm sorry, but I highly doubt a secret hidden deep enough that the Chinese intel novas couldn't find it would also have been wide-spread enough that it still exists at West Point.

West Point was a military school, they had no need to know these things so presumably they didn't know. Places that would are the White House and various other places that are now radioactive craters.

Although... we might look for the original information that a planet was habitable. Those big telescopes weren't military targets during the Burn. And besides, we're not looking for a colony, we're looking for a habitable planet to build one.

And I don't know why you're so concerned about the Moonies. Assume we go there, and we find out from them the location of a habitable planet. If they're peaceful, then there's no problem. If they're not, then nothing stops us from going all nuclear after-wards. Either they'll be dead or we will.

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"I don't know, West Point might not have the answer but they might know of someplace that would. Either way, Ash, I suggested I take you there for a reason. We go in 'ghost form' and no bullet can touch us. If you know where that kind of info would be kept then you can lead us directly there. Also, what you are saying about West Point in nearly five year old information, before things went nuts. Those who lived there might have abandoned the place."

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Ash looked away, her throat tightening for a second...and she nodded. "I realize that. That's why we should scout first...see what condition the place is in. If this...whatever...made lots of people go nova, West Point probably lost a lot of personnel. On both sides."

She takes a deep breath and concludes, "But if they are still there, I don't want to just breeze through and take what we want while they can't stop us. That's the kind of shit that makes them hate novas in the first place."

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Doug said out loud, "Ash... over a two day period, several of us have seen very significant taint accumulation. The amount of time we should spend working around the Point's hurt feelings is at most hours, not days, certainly not weeks."

"Dorm down and let Raider ghost you. While you're there maybe you can talk them into fleeing the planet with us. Considering their attitude I doubt it, but it's worth a try."

For the first time Raider and Ash noticed Doug's appearance had become nova perfect.

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"Why bother waisting time with them?", the female yet deep voice of Anna filled the room. Her upper body was almost completely covered in thick treebark and her mass has increased visibly. Actually if they wouldn't know her from the past they'd have a hard time recognising her.

Anna's hair had completely turned into a thick rastalike tanglement of vines and leaves and her eyes had lost all resemblence to real eyes. Instead two amberpools stared indifferently at her "friends".

"I can't help him... he's beyond my abilities to heal. I wish I could do more for him but... but I can't."

It sounded as if she wanted to cry but couldn't.

"So what's the plan this time? Which godforsaken place have you scouted out in the meantime?"

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Doug replied, "In the meantime we scouted out Mars, found the base, and it was a serious bust. It was destroyed by it's owners long ago. We think the Americans had a colony somewhere else, maybe on another planet. This city has historical records which suggest that."

"The current plan is to abandon the Earth for an Earth2 and let the Lunnies do whatever they want with it. The problem is finding the old data on habitable planets."

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Raider looked a bit defeated. "Before the burn Earth with all it's resources either did not find an alternate Earth or if they did they kept it secret. With what we have now, we just don't have any way to find one that I can see. Some of the satellites are still up there but ran out of power a hundred years ago and wouldn't have records even if they did have power. They beamed whatever info they gathered down to control centers down here and those are cold dead radio active craters now. This seriously limits our options."

"The way I see it we can try and look for defenses, but we've got no leads on those and the City's AI seems to have been left deliberately in the dark about them." He didn't look hopeful.

"Finally we can confront the Moonies and ask our questions straight out so that they can't lie. Then we'll know for sure if they are genocidal or not. If not then we ask for their help. Maybe they could let us know of extra-solar planets that we could retreat to, then everyone wins. If they are genocidal then we cross that bridge when we come to it."

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"I'm not going to the moon.", Anna stated bluntly. The former almost timid treegirl had changed her demeanour. She wasn't willing to compromise much more.

"I'm not going to stay here, either.", she added just as convicted. Her eyes wandered to Ashley, the last person besides Gregory Anna still trusted. It was hard to read Anna's expression since it was devoid of any compassionate signs that the tall treewoman actually cared about anything that happened here. Still she seemed to be waiting for a response from Ashley.

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"Anna." Ashley went to her friend's side and put a hand on the barklike skin of her arm. "We can't stay on Earth anymore. Whatever happened that changed everyone, it's still in the air. It's all around us. It's still changing us. We're trying to find somewhere else for us...somewhere safe we can go."

She took a deep breath.

"As for that...I think it's a bad idea to put all our eggs in one basket. We can split up. One team goes to the moon to ask for help...the other team stays here to try to find the defense network and hope it knows more about these programs than the normal computer."

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"I'm - not - going - to - the - moon. And I won't partake in any plans to retaliate. Go and play warmongers if you want but leave me out of this madness...", the large treewoman looked down to Ashley and smiled friendly at her.

"I'll stay with you, Ashley.", that's all she said, no more, no less.

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Raider was starting to wonder how Anna would look planted in a nice garden on an island somewhere in the south pacific....

"Feel free Anna. When we go to the moon we will be seeking answers and if they aren't homicidal maniacs we'll seek their help. If they are actually seeking our destruction and deaths, we still won't bother you, you can sit here at home safe and sound mutating more and more every day knowing that you don't have to get your hands dirty, we'll save the world without you. Or we'll die, but you don't have to participate."

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"Maybe," Ashley replied tiredly. "Who knows? After awhile, maybe it won't be so easy. Maybe one of these days I'd just explode..."

She shrugged. "Point is, we don't really know how this works. But we can see where it's going, and it's nowhere good."

"Anyway, I figure the best place to look for defense systems in the city is underground. Deep underground. They'd want it to survive a direct attack, and probably not just by nukes but aberrants too. Unless I hear a better idea, that's where I want to start."

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„You self-righteous bastard…“, Anna spat and kept the rest of her anger in check. There was an odd cracking sound as Anna reflexively grew a few inches in response to her angry state. Before she got too big for the room she turned for the door.

„I won’t listen to you no more.“, the treewoman said with a cold voice and left the building searching a place outside that was untouched by human hand – the park. As soon as she reached fertile soil she relaxed and closed her eyes listening to the earthmother and what she wished her to do. Anna stopped caring about rebuilding the city or any other town – she learned that she would always be prejudiced against because of how she looked – an Aberrant.

Click to reveal..
ooc: those approaching will notice that she has taken root with the soil
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Raider shrugged at Anna's melodramatic departure then looked to Ashley. "I think we do need to do something as quickly as possible. With the quantum so hot on Earth right now we can't stay here long without becoming aberrants. If you want I can search underground, but I think Doug and I need to go soon. What do you think Doug? Anything we need to do before we go?"

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Anna's bare feet sunk into the soil, roots extending deeply and widely. She drew up nutrients and also something else. Energy. It was like being grounded, rooted, like this allowed her easier access to the power that fueled her abilities. Anna grew, gaining height and mass, and becoming all the more tree like. She stopped herself, reluctantly, and with more than a little effort, sensing that if she went too far she might lose herself and not be able to find the human shape again.

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Doug waited till Anna had left then said tiredly, "And then there were three. KB. Gregory. Anna. Maybe Adam... We're rapidly losing people and running out of time."

Doug added, "If the Chinese knew the location of Earth 2, there's no reason for the AI to not know. It's not a military secret from their point of view. I think we have to confront the Moonies while we're still sane enough to do so. Maybe they have a way out of this."

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It was tempting to draw more energy and keep growing. She felt the power the earthmother bestowed her with and she would in return be her keeper and protector casting away all enemies of Eden...

A tiny voice in the back of her mind incited fear in her. You're losing human shape but you wanted to be human, didn't you? Anna widened her eyes and gasped and then with a laboured grunt she unrooted herself from the soil and assumed a more human shape. As soon as her roots retracted back into her legs the connection to the earthmother was severed. She could still feel her beckoning and touching the soil with her bare feet alone gave her strength but nothing like the energy she felt a few moments ago.

Anna looked back to the building where the others probably were still debating about the future. She didn't believe a single word they said and Ashley would probably lean more towards them then to her. They still looked human and this lesson she had to learn the hard way. It was human nature to stick to your kind and cast out those who don't look like they do.

"I've got to get out of here...", she quietly decided - but what would become of Gregory? What of Ashley? She cared about her friends but if they decided to stay here or go with Raider and Doug... then their paths would part. Anna wasn't sure if this saddened her. Her attachement to human emotions was slowly dissolving or she just didn't care as much about that although she still felt compassion - but it was different now.

Preserve life, she heard a female voice in her head which wasn't hers. Anna looked to the ground and kept standing there perfectly still as she listened to the voice...

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"Maybe," Ashley allowed. She took a deep breath, then said, "Give me a second to go talk to Anna. There's a pretty good chance we won't be coming back from this."

She turned and headed out of the room...and was relieved to see Anna had left her 'tree' form for something more communicable.

Still, she recognized a distance in her friend's eyes now as she stared distantly off at nothing that Ash could see.

"Anna?"

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Anna blinked several times before she took notice of Ashley. On hindsight it was one of the very few gestures that made Anna appear human. Whereas she formerly looked like a human mimicking a tree Anna now looked more like a tree mimicking a human. Her clothes were long tattered and torn by her constant growing but she didn't seem to be bothered by her indicent exposal anymore.

"Ashley", she answered, "They're going to start a war.". Anna's voice was still pregnant with the power she just tasted. It sounded like a choir of Anna's voice resonating from the depths of her broad chest. Even though she had assumed a more human appearance, Anna was still huge and far away from being human. The haunted look she used to have - the selfloathing and guilt it reflected about her monstrous appearance was gone and replaced by something that came closer to pride. She felt whole - something she never knew before but there was still the beckoning of the earthmother that kept singing in her voice. It would just take one step... only one step...

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"A lot's changed," Ashley says. "They don't want to go to the moon to threaten them, or blow them up anymore. But we've found out that the Earth's saturated in this...energy or something. It's constantly working on us, pushing us away from what we used to be. None of us are going to stay human if we stay here."

She hesitated, then asked, "Does that matter to you anymore?"

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"Everything matters, Ashley...", Anna's voice was sounding less like a choir now and resembled more the voice Ashley was used to.

"I've stopped being human when I became what you see now. It happened a long time ago and I never accepted it. But not anymore, Ashley. I understand now, that I'm different and though we are all Nova's there's still a difference between you and me. You are closer to Doug and Raider - you want to save yourselves, because you fear what you may become. What mother earth may do to you. I know longer fear that. I understand it now."

Anna knelt down to be face to face with Ashley. "You've been kind and nice to me although you had all reasons on earth to hate me. I thank you for that, Ashley. And I understand if you prefer to stay with Doug and Raider - you still are... human. I'll never be like that again."

She reached down with her huge hands and grasped the soil, "This is my home, Ashley. I will not abandon it - I will not leave Gaia even if that means being the last on earth. It's my destiny... I just repressed it because I didn't listen to her."

Anna smiled at Ashley with the same compassion she used to have albeit it did have a motherly touch now.

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You have the power within you. It is your to grasp, to begin the healing of this world. The voice reverberated through Anna's mind and for the barest instant she wondered why the voice sounded so very familiar. Of course it was the voice of the Earth, why would it not? The soil in her hands pulsed with life, but within it too was poison that needed to be removed, to be sequestered or destroyed. The work would take ages, but she could begin immediately if she wanted.
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Doug watched Ashley walk out and took a deep breath. It was time. Finally. Doug switched the link to Raider and left it there.

Odds were really good his life expectancy was measured in minutes now. That didn't really matter any more. If he stayed on the Earth he'd fry with taint and go nuts. Hanging out on Mars for the next century or two by himself would do much the same. Survival was overrated.

I think that's it. We can't take Ash, she'd sabotage the mission if it goes bad. For that matter even if we could trust her we still couldn't take her. If the bomb goes off you'll be able to save only one of us.

I'm ready.

{Activate Lie Detector}

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Raider looked to Doug and nodded, Let's go. The question is how are we going to do this? I port you in, then jump back with the bomb and wait for your word?

That seemed like the only way, but Raider would have to be insubstantial when he went back or he'd likely be shut down somehow, even so the best thing would be to have the bomb rigged with a deadman's switch.

You realize no matter how well prepared we are they might still be able to shut us off somehow? I'm sure they have way's of neutralizing novas. Let's just hope they can't neutralize a nuke on a deadman's switch.

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Doug sent back, Presumably they won't let you walk in carrying a nuke. First you get the nuke ready if it's not.

Then you port me there. Perhaps you should let me fly in under my own power to give them something to watch and you some time to go back. You get it and port back but some distance away. I'll knock on the door and wait and keep the link up. When I walk in, you port in under the city.

I'm reasonably sure the link will work from any point on the moon so that's not a consideration. And chin up, maybe Ash is right and it won't come to that. Ideally they'll tell us where Earth2 is before anything unpleasant happens.

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The next couple hours were busy. It started with a trip back to Newborough so that Raider could visit his secret sanctuary. He left Doug in his old lab and went to collect the Nuke. While he was in the hidden facility he took the time to rig a simple mechanical deadman's switch, once armed it would detonate if the button was released. That took only a short time since he had expected something like this to be necessary when he had first retrieved the bomb from the space platform. Once it was rigged he returned to Doug and nodded grimly.

He spoke very quietly so that only Doug could hear, "It's done. We transport up and I drop you off. I return immediately and grab the package and jump back as quick as I can. Hopefully before they reestablish the time field. Try to relay as much as possible of the conversation as you can. Maybe I'll think of things to ask that you miss."

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"This has nothing to do with 'mother earth,' Anna," Ash replied, almost pleaded. "It's this...this POWER. It gets into your head, it twists how you see things! You don't think I feel it too? Whenever I light up, I feel it. I hold it back because I remember what I feel like now, but I can't do it forever."

She stepped forward and reached a hand out.

"This world is...tainted. It's poisoning our minds and our bodies..." She broke off and shook her head.

"Look...I just came out to say that I want to go with Doug and Raider. If nothing else, maybe I can at least stop them from doing something stupid and wiping out the people up there. If nothing else, at least I'll be able to say I tried."

"I think there's a good chance none of us will come back though, so I just...wanted to thank you for helping me all the times you did. And I want to say I'm sorry that I can't help you now."

She quickly blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

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Anna shook her head and kept her warm, yet detached smile „I knew you would go with them and I don’t blame you for your decision. They are going to start a war and you won’t stop them, Ashley. Maybe you should better try and save yourself. You’re a good person and I accept your apology – I know you can’t help, you don’t have to anymore.“

Anna rose up to her full height again, shoulders squared and standing proud, unencumbered by all the guilt she carried in the past. Her eyes wandered over the city with a look of disgust and a decision slowly formulated in her mind. She would fulfill her destiny and cleanse the world from it’s taint.

„Ashley… I can heal Gaia – I can save you all, I feel it. I know it. Don’t deny what is happening to you Ashley, it’s a natural process. It happens to us all. What you need to do is focus, Ashley. Focus and accept, then you’ll know freedom. I’m going to stay here and become Gaia’s protector – I will cleanse her from the poison.“, there was no doubt in her voice and no pride either. Anna looked down to Ashley and reached out to her with one of her mighty arms. „Don’t let them kill you, Ashley. They’ve lost their minds – they know only hate and destruction don’t let that taint yourself, Ashley – come with me.“

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Raider took hold of Courier, grasping the larger man's shoulder and the two men imploded. Reality screamed. Inside a studio in what was once China air rushed to fill a sudden vacuum. A thunderous clap followed, one that could be heard outside where a young woman and a spirit of nature held palaver...

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"How is coming with you..." Ashley started to ask, when she heard the thunderclap in the control room. Her heart leapt into her throat. She knew that sound.

They wouldn't.

"Anna, hold on a second okay? I have to...check...something..." She ran into the control room. "Raider? Doug? Guys!"

They didn't.

The room was empty. She trotted to a halt, eyes stinging as she realized she'd been dumped. And if they'd dumped her, there was probably only one reason why. They were going to do it. They were going to nuke the moon, and they didn't want her interfering.

Ashley hesitated, trying to work out numbers. The moon was what? Twenty five thousand miles away? Two hundred fifty thousand? Shit! Why hadn't she paid attention in class?! Either way, at her fastest, it would take hours or days to get there. But there was that guy who made doors...Adam. Maybe he'd help!

She rushed back outside to Anna.

"They left without me, Anna! I think they're going to do something terrible. I have to try to get there. I'm going to find Adam and ask if he'll open one of his gates there for me. Just...tell me where you're going, in case I make it back."

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Anna felt the touch of Gaia once more, Goodwood. Return to that place where the latest damage was done.

Anna looked down on Ashley, "I'm going to return to Goodwood. This started there, it will end there, I'll start my healing where the Earth is most hurt."

Together they went to the city center, to the plaza with the fountain. There were now two gateways open. Burning holes in the air that led to other parts of the world. One was clearly the blackened and blasted ruins of Goodwood. The other, was drab muted green scrub brush and sandy brown dirt. The two said their farewells for neither could know the future and so it was impossible to know if they would meet again. Anna stooped, bending over almost double, nearly going to hand and knees, and passed through the flaming hole in the air to the ruins of Goodwood.

Ashley hesitated, unsure what to do or where to go. The second portal beckoned, enticing Ashley with the simple fact that Adam had opened a portal to somewhere, for some reason. Why would he do so and not go through? She nodded to herself and plunged through the second portal hopefully to follow and locate Adam.

OOC: Continues in Chapter 6 parts a, b, & c

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