Aberrant: Trans-Dimensional Explorations - Trans-Dimensional Explorations

[BlueNinja]

"Oh, hell." His eyes snapped open just before the priest ignited the wood Theo brought in. "Don't do that!", he barked.

He freezes, motionless, but a moment too late. The other new eruptees are startled as hell as well, and Kristin half-fades from view before returning to normal. As Brandt starts his explanation, she picks up the cat and starts petting him.

Brandt sighs. "To put it simply, this world's quantum field is like the Jell-O. Even the slightest interference in its field will travel much, much further than it would in our world. Maybe as much as an order of magnitude greater in distance. On the plus side, we don't have to worry about whether it was us or the portal that started this. We found these guys," he gestures to the natives, "on accident. If there are any other eruptees, anywhere on this planet, that are unaccounted for, there will be no stopping it."

Sticky whistles. "So you mean, by all of us suddenly gaining our powers, and using them, we could have accidentally caused even more people to start being affected in their own manners?"

"In a few hours, we'll be able to open a portal back to our world. We can bring our device here, and check for the alien fleet. In the meantime, we can work on helping you control your powers. I helped teach some of the people here how to dorm down - to suppress your powers and become a normal human again for a while. When you're all ready, we can start practicing that. I'll be walking you through a guided meditation - kind of like a group prayer, but not exactly - that should help you focus your mind and suppress the power inside you."

Bradley glances over at Sticky, and then down at his own (four) fur-covered hands. "Perhaps we should start with that now."

Sticky, however, manages to force himself out of his chair. "We can't. Or at least, not all of us can." He glances at the Priest, and frowns. "If there are other people out there, with powers that they can't control, the first thing that's going to happen is people are going to call the police. If the police come, and find someone like me - or maybe someone who grew wings of fire," he nods towards Bradley, "or, or a tail, or red skin - they're going to call the Inquisition. And then there will be a continent-wide witch hunt. They'll think we're all demon-possessed. We have to put out some kind of proof before they can start that." Everyone (except Theo) can tell he's obviously completely convinced this will happen. Priest is frowning, considering the possibility, but he isn't speaking out against it.

[Alex Green]

Paul says to Brandt,

"Wait a moment, 'anywhere on the planet'? Do you really think we're looking at that kind of range?"

Sticky [says] "...they're going to call the Inquisition. And then there will be a continent-wide witch hunt. They'll think we're all demon-possessed. We have to put out some kind of proof before they can start that."

Paul glups and rubs his eyes,

"OK, so on this timeline the Church still has a lot of secular authority, and if there's one thing novas do quite well it's threaten people's beliefs and established authority. In part that's because there's an excellent chance that we are the angels, demons, and even gods of legend. Not that this stops us from being people, which is basically the problem. That and five dollars will buy you a cup of coffee."

"So... how do we go public on this?"

[archer]

Paul says to Brandt,

"Wait a moment, 'anywhere on the planet'? Do you really think we're looking at that kind of range?"

Brandt nods, reluctantly. "Yes, I do. I can't be positive without more information, but based on what I know at this moment...?" He trails off, shrugging. "If we can access the news and see if there have been any more reported incidents, and how far away they were from our original point of entry, I should be able to calculate the effects more precisely, but to be honest, I don't think it really matters at this point."

Sticky, however, manages to force himself out of his chair. "We can't. Or at least, not all of us can." He glances at the Priest, and frowns. "If there are other people out there, with powers that they can't control, the first thing that's going to happen is people are going to call the police. If the police come, and find someone like me - or maybe someone who grew wings of fire," he nods towards Bradley, "or, or a tail, or red skin - they're going to call the Inquisition. And then there will be a continent-wide witch hunt. They'll think we're all demon-possessed. We have to put out some kind of proof before they can start that."

Waving a hand at Sticky as if to say, 'You see what I mean now?', Brandt's eyebrows climb nearly to his scalp as Paul adds his own bit.

"OK, so on this timeline the Church still has a lot of secular authority, and if there's one thing novas do quite well it's threaten people's beliefs and established authority. In part that's because there's an excellent chance that we are the angels, demons, and even gods of legend. Not that this stops us from being people, which is basically the problem. That and five dollars will buy you a cup of coffee."

"So... how do we go public on this?"

::blink "Are you insane, or do you really think that's somehow a workable idea?"

[Alex Green]

Brandt's eyebrows climb nearly to his scalp as Paul adds his own bit.

::blink "Are you insane, or do you really think that's somehow a workable idea?"

Paul snorts and says,

"Hey, why does it have to be either or?" ::laugh

"More seriously, how likely is it that this can be kept quiet? Either we go public with what's happening, or the church does. That includes the aliens, a central foe to keep people together is a good thing."

[Bahamut810]

Ash considers wether going public with the *aliens* is a good idea.

"Alright guys, lemme hit ya with some questions. How does your media work? If what you are saying is right...most if not all the newpapers, news programs and online news are controlled by the church. Which means that going public with this would be a *disaster*, unless we can convince someone in the church that we arent demons...someone in a high place. I wonder if we could go with the "not-demons-but-repentant-fallen-angels" thing. It might get you all peace keeping jobs as well if we go that route..."

(do I get any feelings off going that route?)

[AnonCastillo]

"The last thing I want to see happen is for you all to become targets of the Inquisition. That's why we need to go public, to explain what's happening to you, and to explain why people need you and how much good you can do for society. If you can't go public, we can help you hide the changes and go back to your old life, but we have to go public for the sake of everyone like you who's been affected."

[Expendable]

"The last thing I want to see happen is for you all to become targets of the Inquisition. That's why we need to go public, to explain what's happening to you, and to explain why people need you and how much good you can do for society. If you can't go public, we can help you hide the changes and go back to your old life, but we have to go public for the sake of everyone like you who's been affected."

"People are afraid of what they don't understand," Theo stated, shaking her head. "If they see Novas as demons..."

She looked up at the native novas in front of her.

"What you need to become is heroes."

*think about it. the selfless superman routine is the only way to go here.* Theo sent. *the whole 'just like you' isn't going to go well, they have to show they're on the side of right.*

[Alex Green]

Paul sends back,

*A Fantastic Four? That's... not bad. So what heroic deed do we have them do?*

[Expendable]

Paul sends back,

*A Fantastic Four? That's... not bad. So what heroic deed do we have them do?*

*We can't set anything up, it'll feel wrong. An actual emergency.*

[SkyLion]

He freezes, motionless, but a moment too late. The other new eruptees are startled as hell as well, and Kristin half-fades from view before returning to normal. As Brandt starts his explanation, she picks up the cat and starts petting him.

,,

Esteban purrs, sending mentally to Paul and whomever else is connected at the moment,

*I like this one... ::happy *

,,

After listening to the others discuss for a few more minutes he adds,

,,

*This world is run by the church...we just heard they have an Inquisition. History has shown us on our world that the Cathoic church in particular and many religions in general are created to control the populace...the peasants if you will. The priests hold the power...historically they were often the only ones able to read the sciptures even, leaving the superstituous peasentry to listen and obey or face eternal damnation. What we have here is a whole world steeped in that level of fear and superstition. I remember once as a child, someone said that even if God himself were to appear before the world as a glorious incarnation, the people would still cast him down as the devil. God only has power so long as he remains a mystery far removed...if you make mystery manifest to all then the Clergy is no longer needed and loses its power...this is why the Church has worked so hard to keep the people ignorant and superstitous. I am not sure what can be done to help such a fearful society...with the advent of Novas and the lack of a ready Project Utopia we are standing at the brink of a disaster....how will we convince them to believe us? *

,,

[Shade Sentinel]

Simon breaks his long term silence to respond.

"Then we give them a Project Utopia..."

[Expendable]

Simon breaks his long term silence to respond.

"Then we give them a Project Utopia..."

"They'll need someplace safe as a base. If we're truely alone up here, this should be ideal."

[Bahamut810]

Ash shakes his head. "Only if they wanna stay out of the worlds eye. If they wanna do good...they are gonna need to be closer to a city or something or someone to transport them."

[Alex Green]

Paul asks,

"Do we have a radio here?"

[BlueNinja]

Ash considers wether going public with the *aliens* is a good idea.

"Alright guys, lemme hit ya with some questions. How does your media work? If what you are saying is right...most if not all the newpapers, news programs and online news are controlled by the church. Which means that going public with this would be a *disaster*, unless we can convince someone in the church that we arent demons...someone in a high place. I wonder if we could go with the "not-demons-but-repentant-fallen-angels" thing. It might get you all peace keeping jobs as well if we go that route..."

(do I get any feelings off going that route?)

If you want to go public with it, it's going to have to be pretty damn impressive. Sort of an all-or-nothing bet.

As for communications, there's nothing out here - that's sort of the point. The nearest town is about ten miles away.

[Shade Sentinel]

Paul asks,

"Do we have a radio here?"

Simon smiles deviously.

"Could probably dig one up."

[Expendable]

Paul asks,

"Do we have a radio here?"

"I can hear radio," Theo shrugs. *activate hyperhearing* "Is there something you want me to listen for?"

[Alex Green]

Paul replies,

"Mass panic, weird things, you know, N-day."

[Expendable]

Paul replies,

"Mass panic, weird things, you know, N-day."

Theo blushed. "World gone mad, right. Let's hope nobody's out there doing an Orsen Wells."

Moving to a corner, Theo sits down and begins scanning the radio bands....

[BlueNinja]

Theo scans the radio bands, quickly locating the frequencies for public stations. For the first several stations, there is nothing unusual, then one station, playing music sort of Rat-Pack-esque, stops and announces the daily "News of the Weird." From the description, it seems someone caught Sticky's eruption on tape - and managed to get it to someone in journalism.

Ash thinks this might be a good opportunity to pull a public unveiling - but only if they can move fast enough to beat the Inquisition's spin doctors. The main problem is that there's no guarantee the major news hubs are in the same places.

Then (as the News has moved on to something about a rose tree blooming in Mexico), Theo hears/feels a massive spike of static run through the radio frequencies. Everything scrambles for a moment, then comes back a few seconds later.

[Expendable]

Theo scans the radio bands, quickly locating the frequencies for public stations. For the first several stations, there is nothing unusual, then one station, playing music sort of Rat-Pack-esque, stops and announces the daily "News of the Weird." From the description, it seems someone caught Sticky's eruption on tape - and managed to get it to someone in journalism.

Then (as the News has moved on to something about a rose tree blooming in Mexico), Theo hears/feels a massive spike of static run through the radio frequencies. Everything scrambles for a moment, then comes back a few seconds later.

Theo cocks her head to the left and frowns. "Uh oh. I think someone with a vidcam caught Sticky's eruption and sold the video to some news outlet. He made 'News of the Weird'. I..."

Theo screams, instinctively ducking her head and clapping her hands over her ears. Panting, she shakes her head to clear it. "What was that?"

To their questions, she shrugs, frowning.

"The guy on 'News of the Weird' was talking about a rose bush blooming in Mexico, then out of nowhere I heard this really loud burst of static. I mean really loud," she says, speaking a little louder herself. "But I can still hear the other radio stations."

[Alex Green]

Paul says,

"EMP pulse. Freak chance, or a magnetic nova. We missed someone. So... either we act right now and get in front of this or someone else will and they'll scream demon."

[Centimane]

Zhenglai listened as the others conversed and found himself agreeing with what they said. However, at his age, he favored slow steady caution over quick and bold impulsiveness. He could not help wondering if there was anything they were missing. This was an entirely different culture after all.

Zhenglai set his mind to considering the situation at hand in an effort to gain some insight into the minds of the people of this world. He felt that encouraging the new novas of this world to be honest and forthright with the baselines of this world was a wise course of action, but there were many ways to do this. And he wondered what would be safest for them.

((Zhenglai will use his Precognition to get a sense of what (might) happen in the future, specifically dealing with the proposed public unveiling. He'll also use his Autonomy to in conjunction with his Precog to try find any real threats to a successful unvieling of the new novas. Basically he's trying to gain as much insight as possible into how this society thinks and acts, and what's the best way to go about introducing this world to novas without making things worse or compromising their own mission.))

[Bahamut810]

Ash nods. "Right. We need to get a station to give us an Exclusive interview right now...before the Inquisition can spin this. What news stations do you guys have now? Whats the most watched one?" he asks the youngins.

[Expendable]

Paul says,

"EMP pulse. Freak chance, or a magnetic nova. We missed someone. So... either we act right now and get in front of this or someone else will and they'll scream demon."

"EMP pulse?" Theo blinked. It reminded her of something. Something bad. "Isn't there something else that can make one of those....?"

A bomb. An atomic bomb. Glancing at the natives, Theo asks, "You guys aren't fighting with anyone, are you?"

[SkyLion]

Paul says,

"EMP pulse. Freak chance, or a magnetic nova. We missed someone. So... either we act right now and get in front of this or someone else will and they'll scream demon."

*Either that or it means Big Brother just swept the network...*

Esteban continues to purr in Kristens lap, blinking once as he speaks over the link and looking at his friends through half-closed eyes.

[BlueNinja]

Theo would note that the static burst was across the radio frequencies, or at least all the public ones - but not other frequencies, which she can sort of sense but not really 'hear'. ((Not a high enough roll.)) It happens three times, but not with any kind of recognizable signal.

Zhenglai turns his mind to their predicament. He knows they have a chance - but their opening is slim. In some ways, the ubiquitous religion in their life is similar to some of the swells of Communism - usually after the purges have passed, where everyone is being on their best behavior so they don't become the next people to go missing in the night, bound for the labor camps. A forceful statement, made with the appearance of knowledge, could work - certainly you have an even chance.

Bradley looks at Ash. "Well, Brother Max is probably one of the most popular shows on the screen. He runs a call-in show, helping people who have problems with their children, or their siblings. He's supposed to be a good soul, certainly his charity is one of the largest in the country." The priest nods along with this, his eyes looking far away.

When Theo asks her question, Kristin is the first to speak up, her hand clenching in Esteban's fur for a moment. "We're at war with the Confuciuns in China, but, well, it's more like nothing's happening. We sail our battleships around theirs, and nobody fires, because they're afraid to start a full-scale war. Then there's the Mexicans, but their army isn't large enough to stand up to us when they pick a fight." As the other locals stare at her, she blushes and hides her face. "We were talking about it in Social Studies last week."

[Bahamut810]

Ash nods. "Then we will head there and tell everyone what is going on. Where does he film?"

[Expendable]

Ash nods. "Then we will head there and tell everyone what is going on. Where does he film?"

"Maybe suddenly showing up on a crowded set isn't.. hey!" Theo winces as another burst of static bursts across the radio bands.

"Two," she whispers, holding up a finger to forstall questions. The third burst hits her shortly after, the radio stations distorting crazily in her head - then returning to normal.

"Three," she says, waiting for the next burst. When it doesn't happen, she frowns. "That was weird."

"I don't think we should just appear on the set," she continued. "I think we should be outside and call in. Is it a live show?"

[BlueNinja]

Bradley nods to Theo. "His show comes on every evening at 8pm in Plymouth. It should be starting in a few hours. Are ... are we just going to ... appear?" He seems nervous, and oddly giddily excited. "I ... do you think you'll really be able to convince him that I'm, er, we're, normal?" He shares a glance with Sticky.

Zhenglai's vision hardens a bit. If they can convince this Brother Max, then this world will be prepared - and possibly even bring about a moderation in their Inquisition. If they cannot, this world will end up in similar dire straights to Overclocked - over Tainted novas erupting and bringing about the collapse of civilization.

[Expendable]

Bradley nods to Theo. "His show comes on every evening at 8pm in Plymouth. It should be starting in a few hours. Are ... are we just going to ... appear?" He seems nervous, and oddly giddily excited. "I ... do you think you'll really be able to convince him that I'm, er, we're, normal?" He shares a glance with Sticky.

"We can try," Theo answers, burying her face in her hands.

*What else could cause a surge in emp?* she asked mentally. And then it hit her, making her feel sick. *Could it be...them? Are we too late?*

[Shade Sentinel]

Simon glances at Theo, then adjusts his body to stand before all of them.

"Perhaps we should move sooner rather than later...if we wait too long, Damage control will be out of our hands...Give me a location and I'll take us there."

[Alex Green]

"We can try," Theo answers, burying her face in her hands.

*What else could cause a surge in emp?* she asked mentally. And then it hit her, making her feel sick. *Could it be...them? Are we too late?*

Paul sends back,

*A fair number of novas can do EMPs, especially during eruption. That magnetic T2M nova did it... Skew? Nuclear weapon could. I don't think it's the aliens. If those aliens were taking out cities, well, we'd notice. Big flashes of light, lots of panic, people talking about cities going down, and Z's visions.*

Bradley nods to Theo. "His show comes on every evening at 8pm in Plymouth. It should be starting in a few hours. Are ... are we just going to ... appear?" He seems nervous, and oddly giddily excited. "I ... do you think you'll really be able to convince him that I'm, er, we're, normal?" He shares a glance with Sticky.

Paul fiddles with his PDA and comments,

"Normal you aren't. None of us are. What we're aiming for is telling people that you aren't intrinsically evil. The world is far better off with you than without you."

Simon glances at Theo, then adjusts his body to stand before all of them.

"Perhaps we should move sooner rather than later...if we wait too long, Damage control will be out of our hands...Give me a location and I'll take us there."

Paul says,

"Plymouth is... um... here."

Paul shows the map in his PDA.

[Expendable]

*how long before they blame us for ruining their lives?* Theo sighed.

[Alex Green]

*how long before they blame us for ruining their lives?* Theo sighed.

*As long as they wait till we're on the other side of the gate, I don't care. For that matter... I'm not sure we did mess them up. We might convince people novas are rock stars and not demons. And no matter what we do, the aliens are coming.*

[Shade Sentinel]

"Then what is the plan? Without a plan we will dig ourselves into a bigger mess. Are we headed to Plymouth or not?"

Simon's voice sounded slightly impatient.

[SkyLion]

Bradley looks at Ash. "Well, Brother Max is probably one of the most popular shows on the screen. He runs a call-in show, helping people who have problems with their children, or their siblings. He's supposed to be a good soul, certainly his charity is one of the largest in the country." The priest nods along with this, his eyes looking far away.

Esteban has continued to purr in Kristins lap, occasionally cleaning his fur...

(Over the link)

*Supposed to be. More than likely his "good soul" image is concoted by church-controlled-media spin doctors, and his oh-so-altruisticly-publiscized charity is another front. You'll pardon my apparent cynicism, but at least thats the way it works on our world...80-90 % of the money gets filtered through the organization and never makes it to the "front lines."*

*I'd also like to add that I dont trust the Priest here. He's been being a bit too shifty and I can see all over his face he is waiting to go all fire and brimstone on us. His beliefs are too deeply ingrained and probably had something to do with his manifested abilities. I'll be keeping a *close* eye on him...*

,,

"I don't think we should just appear on the set," she continued. "I think we should be outside and call in. Is it a live show?"

Bradley nods to Theo. "His show comes on every evening at 8pm in Plymouth. It should be starting in a few hours. Are ... are we just going to ... appear?"

*Any other time I would suggest calling in, then warping right onto the sound stage. Given Brandt's theories however that could be exceedingly dangerous. Someone in the audience erupts and our whole plan backfires spectacularly. On the other hand we don't much have the luxury of time...and even if we had a phone and called in, who is going to believe us?*

[Alex Green]

Paul says,

"Unless someone has personal contacts to this guy I think we just warp into the studio."

*I don't think we have a choice. If someone erupts there then they'll likely erupt anyway from one of the others. This is going to spread, we're past the point of being able to worry about that. We're also past the point of being able to worry about making the situation worse. We are in a race with the Inquistion while Rome is burning.*

*Even if we assume the church will be slow, and that's not a good assumption since the police normally aren't, our race is against a random nova erupting on camera and then starting a panic. After that someone will scream demon and it will snowball. We have minutes, not hours, the police were already on their way for Sticky.*

[Shade Sentinel]

"I agree on the warp, I can get us there I'm quite certain."

He addresses everyone with a calmer voice.

"This venue is a good place to make our pressence known. Show the world that we are not monsters...that we can help them with the coming changes and that these new eruptions are a blessing...not a curse...Though I could be wrong."

[Expendable]

"I agree on the warp, I can get us there I'm quite certain."

He addresses everyone with a calmer voice.

"This venue is a good place to make our pressence known. Show the world that we are not monsters...that we can help them with the coming changes and that these new eruptions are a blessing...not a curse...Though I could be wrong."

"The question is if we can find the place first," Theo sighed, looking up. "So where is this again?"