Saturday, August 13th, 2016, Washington D.C.[/color] Dr. Derek Speers, having to stand and report before the Committee on Public Use and Safety of Devises, no wonder he is so nervous. At least he came prepared and looks nice.
"I am here to present the findings and results of DARPA project LIFELINE.
Okay, why does that project name make me nervous?
Eusebius Feltch aka Schrodinger Maxwell, a great codename for a mad scientist.
All of his devises involved some strange interpretation of quantum physics, such as the tunneler he used to phase through bank walls. What interests us today is this."
Okay, now that is a scary area for a devisor to work in.
Figure 2a: a blueprint for a devise, looking like something a little more than a phone booth and a little less than a full TARDIS.
*facepalms* Please say he didn't "invent" time travel, I thought that all but impossible for anyone but cosmic beings in the Whateley Universe.
Doctor Who and someone who doesn't know how he is, love that Senator Larson brought him up.
"This thought experiment was conceived as a means of testing the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Inside the box is a gun, along with a device which measures the spin value of a random proton every ten seconds. This value has a fifty-fifty chance of being one or the other. If the measured value is in one direction, then it signals the gun to fire. Thus, in half of all possible worlds, the subject shall live, and in half she shall die. The experiment may continue for as long as the subject has the nerve, with one half of her possible selves dying every ten seconds. Statistically, if the subject should survive two minutes of this, it would more or less prove the many worlds interpretation as viable, if only to that universe."
Yikes, that is one harsh experiment to prove that theory. And SM thought to test this in reverse, very interesting.
"The idea was the same: that in every instance of quick and sudden demise, under binary life/death circumstances, there would be a splitting of realities, a parting of ways between he who died and he who did not. Given the proper coordinates in time and space, the magic box would collect the quantum image of that survivor and make it real. In essence, a clone with all the memories and physical characteristics of the original."
And the experiment just got more terrifying. Far from the weirdest devise the Committee has reviewed and since Dr. Speers is there it worked at least once, we know devises can do some weird stuff but this is nuts.
"Hmph, trusting the word of a mutant." And right there was the reason why he'd not voted for Murtaugh -- the man was a rising star in the Rights of Man movement. Murtaugh had also been one of the first to use the refined metagene screenings to "prove" his baseline credentials with his constituency.
An anti-mutant bigot on a committee like this, just...great. So Dr. Speers is codenamed Retrofit, cool. And SM died back in 2006, good that the devise has such limits. *facepalms* SM used the devise as a central part of his escape plans, he was nuts! And 3 successful test runs using a teenage boy, Chester Ferris, who committed suicide, oh boy.
Friday, November 15th, 2013
Chester killed himself by jumping off a water tower, all because of his Dad, bullies, and someone female. This is why I can't stand bullies.
Monday, June 20th, 2016
And brought back to life as if no time has passed for Chester. Waking up in this place and wondering how I hope they didn't just treat him as an experiment. Marty Yunker stabbed him with a pencil causing a wound which still has a scab, that is some brutal bullying. And told by a woman Dr. Speers would be in shortly, poor Chester is having a weird day.
Seesh, if I say a doctor come in looking like Dr. Speers is I would want to change HMOs as well. Using a "tricorder" on Chester, scanning him and only making a "hmm" for a half-hour, I would have cracked sooner to demand what is going on than Chester did. Speers talking into a recording mike, no answers for Chester who realizes this isn't a hospital. At least Chester finally gets answers and learns he is in a DARPA-funded place, so not a prisoner of a supervillain.
"Chester William Ferris, son of Charles Walter Ferris (USMC, retired) and Silvia Ferris (deceased). Born May 9th, 1999, died November 15th, 2013. Freshman at Carter High School, Calumet City, Illinois. Even have your mid-term grades here," the man noted. "Passing English, failing algebra, borderline in biology. Some positive comments from your teachers."
Well, they are thorough. And guessing her from before he hit the ground was losing his mom, ouch. Remembers everything up until the moment before he hit the pavement, interesting.
Ack! Dr. Speers sounds like my brother, won't stop talking about something once he starts unless almost yelled at. And ouch, he was trying to explain to Chester about the machine which brought him back, I think even quantum physicists might get a headache trying to understand all that. 2 years and 5 months and Chester's dad never got his stuff out of the police evidence locker, that has to hurt. All his clothes and stuff set up like that, I would be creeped out.
"We're batting a thousand so far," said assistant #5. "The serial numbers on the bills are all the same, as are the dates on the coins. Aside from blood and other fluids, both sets of clothes have the same identifying marks. And so far all the books and notes have the exact same handwriting and graffiti."
And they haven't told his dad about Chester being alive again, way to complicate things even more, guys. *eyes bug out* It can have all those side-effects, yet they used it to bring someone back anyways. Are they nuts?!?
Senate Committee Meeting, Wednesday, August 13th, 2016
Senator Ashkettle brings up an important, and scary, point of how this devise works.
"How does the box account for the relative distances involved? If the, er, subject died thirty-one months ago, then his, ah, point of departure would now be on the other side of the solar system, almost two astronomical units." Ashkettle checked his equations again. "I mean, assuming that space-time coordinates means what I think it to mean, then the velocity from his fall should be the least of his problems. The velocity discrepancy just from the change of orbital location would be somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty kilometers per second. That sort of stress would vaporize damn near anything I can think of."
And Speers isn't sure how it does that, now I'm even more scared of this devise.
"No." He was very firm with that single syllable. "I am a scientist, yes, and a technician. My MID has Gadgeteer on it, if that means anything to you, but not Devisor. I don't make the truly impossible; I merely work with the impossible things that other people have made. That is why DARPA hired me."
As close to pinpoint accuracy best for using this devise, I would hate to see what happens to subjects if they are off by too much.
The box requires a precision of within two meters for the location of the target, by latitude, longitude, and altitude. For the temporal co-ordinations, it has a window of approximately two minutes. Obviously, if we know the precise details of a death, the process would be simpler, but as the project was begun with the intent of reversing assassinations or retrieving key intelligence agents who were killed in action, we needed multiple trial runs to see how rigid the box's required parameters actually are.
Please say they didn't decide to push the box's capabilities too much. Myra Paget, to die so young.
It took us three attempts to retrieve her, and there were one or two unfortunate complications."
And they pushed the box's capabilities, at the expense of someone who didn't have a say in participating in their experiments.
December 31st, 2000
Okay, why was Myra Paget an intruder with a purpose at this party, just what was she up to back then? Johnathon Green brought here by a message from Myra, glad she didn't bring it up in front of Eliza. Oh no, don't tell me she tried to blackmail someone who is having an affair and was murdered? Says she is going to leave the area entirely, goes running from Johnathon, the boat lurches and she hits the railing, then something hits her in the back. Sounds like she was having an affair with Johnathon, got pregnant with his child [note how she kept one arm around her belly as she fought to keep her head above the water], and was going to leave but Johnathon didn't wish to risk it. So he used the lurching of the boat and her hitting the railing to knock her overboard. At least that is what it seems like to me.
Monday, June 23rd, 2016
Brought back to life, the water along with her, they have to get it out of her lungs, and she is bleeding, from going into labor from the sounds of it.
Friday, June 24th, 2016
Yikes, unconscious with a breathing apparatus over her mouth and nose. Chester notes she is awake and goes to get Dr. Speers. Ouch, to wake up and find out her baby died, was going to name her Melanie, now that is pain.
Saturday, June 25th, 2016
Calling Chester by Ches, someone has to keep Myra company. A Terry Pratchett novel making more sense than her own life right now, sounds about right.
"Well... we're in the same boat, y'know? Both 'out of time' and all that. No one knows we're here, so all we got's each other. So... I watch out for you, you watch out for me. Like family."
Chester knows just what to say, sensitive young man. Bwahaha, Chester testing her about being the big brother because he came out of the box three days before her and her response, too good.
Just what is Ms. Wilkins? And I love how Myra got Chester to leave so she could get a shower, cruel, true, but still funny. Just how many other people live there without a choice like Chester and Myra do? At least Myra is regaining some of her strength, that is good to see. Dang, got me tearing up here. Myra lost all that and still went on, then to lose her little girl...
Straight of a Heinlein novel and Ms. Wilkins says it is par for the course, I would hate to be around Dr. Speers too long.
"I'm his minder. It's up to me to make sure that he doesn't get too sidetracked on personal projects, doesn't get too obsessed with main projects, remembers to eat regularly, that sort of thing. A lot of professional gadgeteers and devisors have someone like me lurking in the wings to keep them safe and sane. Granted, I've yet to see him him interested in anybody to the degree he devotes to his work. No woman or man could compete with that. It's all I can do to keep up with him at times."
Interesting, a minder, wonder if some of the students at Whateley hire others to be theirs if they can afford it.
Ella Wilkins, cute name. And being reminded everyone he brings out of that box is a professional guinea pig, eep. Not even able to go shopping for her own clothes, now that is torture! Peaceful, if tragic, circumstances and the next person brought will come from a worse incident, right now I pity the poor soul.
August 13th, 2016, Senate Committee Hearing
*facepalms* He delegated preparations for his subjects in the facility to Mr. Thurgood from DARPA, a man who didn't think the box would ever work and didn't prepare. And the little weasel used the funds for early retirement in Karedonia, dang it!
For example, Ms. Paget proved to be carrying an H1N4 variant, and within three days half the lab was sick with the so-called 'quantum flu.'
Yet another danger of using this devise, good grief.
Sgt. Garrett, altered time-stamps on videos made this attempt fail. Agent Wozniak, CIA mole in Dr. Diabolik's armed forces, executed by Dr. D himself for betrayal, yikes. Darn, he was a double-agent working for Dr. Diabolik all along and is still alive, the trial failed again. Laurence von Groenwald aka Mauer, I remember this guy, request withdrawn to attempt to bring him back, smart move. Unnamed operative for the XVQW, no one knows anything about the organization.
We even logged a new error message," he noted. "Division by zero, universe not found."
Division by zero! Ahhhhh! *runs off screaming*
Marcus Billings, a kid who died at the age of 12 alongside his parents in the Fools Fight. And images from the Fools Fight which pinpoint his time of death as well. And he brought Marcus back, 25 years of change to adjust to, his parents gone, that poor boy.
Monday, April 1st, 1991
Having to hide and remain moving in a warzone like that, a nightmare come to life. And he panicked, running for it as he needed air, dang. And to get a breath of fresh air only to look up and see a missile heading right towards him, horror comes in many forms and this reminds us of that.
Thursday, June 30th, 2016
Oh boy, waking up, thinking he is dead only to hear other people's voices, then finding out he is trapped inside something. From one horror to another. Sounds like claustrophobia. Asking what he recalls and Marcus blacks out, ouch.
A shark's grin and eyes were painted on the head of the missile, that is just so wrong. Calming him so he can go back to sleep, hope the nightmares don't haunt him again. Poor kid has been through enough already.
Friday, July 1st, 2016
Oh boy, I remember nights like that when I was younger, wishing to sleep but the nightmares keep waking you up over and over. Snoopy Dance to see if everything is working fine, now that is a unique way to check.
Myra brought food for Marcus and herself, but he has gone and hid. Hiding under the bed, oldest trick in the book. Granola with milk or yogurt and apples as well, now that sounds good. Introduce each other and Marcus finds out he is a guinea pig like her, oh boy.
Marcus keeps from panicking and eats at least, plus he is definitely on the edge of puberty with how he is checking out Myra. Oh good, Myra gets to explain it to Marcus, lucky. Bringing up Star Trek and how a transporter works, about the closest analogy to what the box does so far. And explaining the Mr. Scott episode of TNG to him, this will be fun. And now the two Rikers episode, even in these terms Marcus' head is going to be swimming by the end.
And now we get to the point of it all and Marcus wondering what happened to the other version of them. And Marcus losing strength like that and going down with Myra having to hold him, shock after shock for the poor kid.
Time with a psychologist and shown around the DARPA facility by Chester. Showers to clean up and then dinner.
I got a second life to live, and it's mine to control -- not the bullies', not my dad's, but mine. So yeah, you could say I'm taking it well. Better than Myra."
So that is why Chester is taking it all so well. Myra really wanted to work with Marcus, helping them helps her and she definitely needs all the help she can get right now.
Fried some important bits from reaching back so far for Marcus, does that mean the machine will never function again? Bwahahaha, what Myra said to Dr. Speers to get him to shave, priceless. The problem with being in the future, loving all the cool stuff, but no way to go home again. Future shock, a good term for it.
"Why don't they let dogs in the White House?" The question came out of left field, which was to say, out of Dr. Speers' mouth.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" he heard Ches, say, but the doc's violet eyes were on him. Was he supposed to know the answer to this? It sounded familiar.
"Because they'd chase the Quayle and pee on the Bush." Once Speers provided the punchline, he recognized the joke, and the tingling in his nose got fizzled out by a hiccupy giggle. That was not the sort of thing he'd expect the man to say.
Now that is a good one.
Things which Marcus would recognize to interact with and all of them socialize more. Myra is good, to get Dr. Speers to listen to her like this.
Speers back in his quarters, and he makes my brother's room look clean and orderly, yikes. Pile of paper on a metal desk, a bedroom which looks like a wardrobe had exploded inside it, I pity whoever has to help him pick up this mess. "Toy warehouse", that is a workshop and I hope he has proper ventilation for it. Good with electronics, but not with people, common enough, at least he is trying.
Breakdowns in communication, in research, in understanding, in trust, in emotions -- those messy emotions! -- plagued his life now.
No matter what for those with technical skills, making sense of electronics and machines will always be easier than making sense of human emotions. Shoot, even those in fields dealing with people have a hard time making sense of human emotions some of the time.
Gaining their trust, giving them these freedoms and Myra the responsibilities to latch onto is a good start. Give Myra the job which Thurgood ditched, I hope this works out as he thinks it will. Just what had he been making all this time?
Ah, worried about invading Myra and the boys' space, Dr. Speers needs to learn not to let his fears hold him back so much from interacting with others. Eating pizza with Ella there, I have to agree with Chester and Marcus, supreme pizza, the peppers I like, mushrooms and olives, ugh. Roam more freely in a day or two, good news! A health monitoring device with a panic button, so that is what he was working on.
"Of sorts. They also serve as vocal communicators, but only between each other."
"What's that mean?" asked Marcus.
"Dick Tracy watches," said Ches.
Dick Tracy watches will never not be cool, imo.
Added money from his own private accounts for them to use, but not saying so. Reintegration into society, someone in DARPA working on Myra and Marcus, but Chester has to contact his father, rats. And Chester doesn't wish to talk to his father, thinking he either gotten over him being dead or never needed to. Speers pushes the subject, bad movie.
"And I'm telling you right now," Ches said, suddenly out of his seat and in Speers' face. "I'm not talking with him. I'm not seeing him. Heck, I'm not even really his son, am I? You pulled me out of the box; that makes you more of a parent to me than he is. Sad thing is, you're still the better one, awful as you are at it. So don't call me Chester, and don't be calling that old idiot about anything, you hear?" The teenager stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, onto empty silence.
*tries to find a sweater to warm up* Just how bad were things with his father before he died?
Marcus sent after Ches to distract him with something until Myra can come. Dr. Speers doesn't know how he blew it, Myra having to ask him why teens commit suicide and he doesn't have any idea why.
"People commit suicide to escape," Myra said flatly. "Teens especially. They're caught up in something, or several somethings, that they don't think they can handle. The world is ganging up on them. They've lost all control, or at least they think so. When caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, sometimes the final way out seems like the only way. Now ask yourself: if the bullies were Ches's rock, then what was the hard place? What else in his life might make him believe there was no way out, no safe place to find safety and comfort?"
And Myra hits the nail on the head, Speers realizing how he blew it finally. And we see why you don't want to make Myra upset, yikes can she be scary.
Calling Dick Tracy, now there is something you can only hope to have a chance to use. Steampunk jewelry wasn't expecting the monitoring gadgets to look like that. Marcus is with Ches and Ella, and they have their own lo-cal ice cream maker, now that will cheer you up some. Eww, random numbers and Marcus got tuna ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Ches has good taste.
"Code number 7-9-3-2-1-7. It's... purple."
Japanese sweet potato, actually sounds good.
Myra was in Chiba for a month during the summer of 1990, staying with a host family. Played straight through Dragon Quest IV, impressive. Myra getting migraines at least once a day now when before she would have two or three episodes a year, why does this feel ominous to me? 240 at 14 and a half, eep.
"Good. Then let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall diet!"
I like Myra, good sense of humor.
Sunday, July 3rd, 2016
Ches having to go through a battery of physical tests, no wonder he is in pain. Stiffy and achy at 9:30, rested 10 hours out of 18 since the exercise, ow.
Mr. Charles Ferris had lost a bit of himself -- specifically his left leg -- during Desert Storm, and a larger bit of his heart when his wife died eight years ago. Stuck in a chair all day, he took out his frustrations on his only child, who he felt was wasting the luxury of free movement.
Yikes, no wonder Ches doesn't want his father to be contacted or to talk to him.
Forced to try sports and join teams, despite the bullies he would encounter on each of them, is it any wonder he didn't things would get better. Either something in bringing them back after so many years has complications or it somehow triggered latent metagene complex, at least it seems that way. Hiccups and Myra thinks it is the quantum flu, seems like the start of burnout to me.
Telling Myra to go with Marcus on the outing without him, despite them being a family now, just asking for books to read including some D&D stuff, always wanted to be his character. Why do I have a strange feeling we have met Marcus before, but he has changed so much we couldn't identify him from his description in this story?
"I understand, buster. Hopefully I'll find some old sourcebooks. The three of us can do a campaign together this weekend. That sound good to you?"
And even invite Dr. Speers, Ches surprised he doesn't have his own campaign going already, heh. Falling asleep in that state, I hope Ches is going to be okay.
Myra loving the sun on her skin, 11 days since she was brought back now.
In fact, it looked like a regular old office complex in the middle of a suburban industrial park. It could have been an insurance agency, a travel bureau, or the Ministry of Funny Walks, for all she could see. The small placard near the door identified it as the "Speers Institute," which she thought was a little gauche. Named it after himself? Really?
Best way to hide a lab like this, in plain sight.
The thing's paint job had to be custom, because there was no way any self-respecting car dealer, new or used, would let that eye-searing combination of neon orange and deep violet sit on the lot for even a day. The bright orange swirled and twisted through the darker shade like colored oil in water, and she could almost swear the patterns were moving.
Speers painted it himself, didn't he? And modified inside with tech as well, definitely Speers' vehicle.
"Nah. This is Doc Speers we're talking about. He gadgeteered himself an even better one. Had to put in a limiter to make sure she won't exceed the safe structural speed for a VW bus. Otherwise, we might be able to hit Mach 1 with this baby."
*eyes bug out* He had to put a limiter to keep its top speed to 200 mph, dang.
Okay, what is that song Marcus and Myra are singing?
'Beep Beep' by the Playmates, circa 1958."
Asked and answered, thank you. Carlos is 25 to 26 years old, Myra is good at guessing people's ages.
Carlos Ramirez, age twenty-five, was clean cut and serious looking when on the job, and at first glance he seemed like a square peg in one of Speers' irregularly isohedral holes.
Part of his graduate studies program, going for his PhD.
"Sociology. Difficulties and breakdowns in communication between high technologists and the common manager."
Interesting study, wonder what his findings will yield.
Last two doctors full on Diedrick's types, eep.
"Diedrick's Syndrome is a neurological disorder that a lot of superpowered types get, but especially the brainy ones. Symptoms include megalomania, paranoid dementia, delusions of grandeur, a tendency to monologue, and -- unfortunately -- being extremely good at whatever it is they do, which is often weaponized. The ones at the lighter end of the spectrum are generally lucid with occasional embarrassing episodes, but way too many Diedrick's types get lost in their own manias if they don't take their meds."
Nice to have more details on what Diedrick's Syndrome entails.
LONGSHOT sounds like a great idea, way to keep an eye on those who might instead become dangerous mad scientist supervillains and allow them to be productive.
"He tried to bring back Schrodinger Maxwell, the inventor of the box, using coordinates from one of the guy's previous check-ins. Apparently you can't duplicate people like that. The box went into meltdown, and they had to evacuate a suburb of Milwaukee for a while. That was two years ago, and Doc Speers only got the thing up and running again last month."
At this point I wish a devisor would invent a "common sense" pill. Hehe, Marcus just couldn't resist the old "Are we there yet?" bit.
Marcus thought the 'market' would be a mall, but it is very different, sounds like an open-air market. Oh crud, all those places blending together and smoke coming from the food court, Marcus is reminded of the place he died before and almost has a panic attack if not for Myra holding his hand.
Every Marvel comic book movie from the last decade and a half, a ton of action movies and comedies, a couple of romances (at Myra's insistence) as well as the entire Audrey Hepburn collection, plus some oddball VHS tapes that Myra recognized and insisted upon. The Boris and Natasha Movie looked interesting, at least. He'd seen enough Rocky and Bullwinkle Show reruns to get the jokes there, for sure.
That is a lot of old VHS tapes and DVDs.
A treasure trove of comic book and video game prints, very nice haul. Oh god, getting caught up on 25 years worth of video games, fun but also could drive yourself crazy. Mega Man 3 the last game he got for his birthday the year before his death, now that brings back memories. A green Game Boy SP, all those games, he is going to have fun.
Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Alys Rasmussen, Kate Elliott, Terry Pratchett -- Terry was a girl's name, right? A couple of authors, like Tanith Lee, C.J. Cherryh, or J.K. Rowling, he wasn't sure about, though the book covers sure looked interesting. And it was hard to miss her cry of delight when she uncovered a paperback titled Villains by Necessity. "Been out of print for ages," she explained to him later. Finally, she pulled a couple of old D&D books from the shelves and added them to her personal pile.
Now those are some great authors to choose from.
A new last name and Myra goes with Barnes, oh god, this is the Barnes' family origin! Chili dogs and cheese fries, man, I haven't had those in years. And Ella is the cook at the lab, she is a woman of many talents it seems. Oh crud, men in camo pants and with guns, never good. Defense of Humanity, Troop 32, great, a bunch of anti-mutant bigots who probably thinks any non-mutants killed by them are "acceptable losses" in their private war. And these idiots are scaring Marcus, just like the supervillain all those years ago.
"We should all be scared, ma'am." The leader actually got down on one knee in front of Marcus and tried to give him a brotherly pat on the shoulder. "Your boy's a smart one. He sees the terror in this world."
They are worse than I thought. Myra trying to get them to stop, they have a permit to demonstrate for the next half hour, the second you show up armed for a demonstration like this the permit should be null and void. Plus not letting people leave is basically holding them hostage, a crime.
It kind of looked like a leprechaun. It really looked like a leprechaun. It was, in fact, a leprechaun, just like the Lucky Charms mascot. About a foot tall, with bright orange hair and emerald green clothing, it darted around the feet of the assembled commando wannabes so lightly that they didn't seem to notice. It wasn't until they began a parade bit that they discovered their shoelaces were all tied together.
Just who or what is Marcus seeing? A mutant who looks like a leprechaun, a manifestation of another mutant, or something else?
It looked like the invasion of the Lilliputians, with an assist from the Lollipop Guild. The paramilitary morons had been all prepared for the ceremonial substitute for phallus-waving when a little green man knocked them down like a bunch of impotent dominos. Then all his buddies came from the woodwork out, piling onto the stricken dickheads and stripping their weapons of ammo. Then, as a final insult, the miniscule marauders formed a big circle around their victims and sang a series of limericks, each one more insulting to the men's collective manhood than the last.
Oh, that is just too good. Evolution Rocks! and the guy's name is Boggart, guessing those are manifestations of his, impressive.
And free to go now, so Myra grabs Marcus and dashes to the Volkswagon, blocked by a perverted gnome who learns not to tick off Myra, that glare of hers.
"Sort of a political extension and evolution of the old Humanity First movement. A coalition of the crazy, swinging from die-hard conservatives to far-left control freaks who don't like that just anyone could develop superpowers without oversight. They popped up after the current prez got elected and started supporting laws they didn't agree with. Like equal rights for mutants."
And just as I thought, a bunch of nuts who don't like things they can't control. And Myra's head is hurting her again, why do I have the feeling that glare of hers is part of her mutant powers activating?
Speers bumps into Myra as he leaves and actually blushes and apologizes, there is hope for him yet! Ches and worse is relative, he transformed while they were gone.
And Myra is concerned that Ches might be seriously ill, so many things which might not have been taken account for. And Ches is transforming, if it was a snake it would have bit me! Ches is Chessa, he is becoming she and half-dragon, like Ches' character. Underneath that mass and dense skin Ches is undergoing a huge transformation, wonder how Ches will take it when it is finished.
Myra'd had the basic training allowed by the Missouri state board of education of sixteen years ago in regards to what to do if a student showed mutant powers in class. For the most part, it had consisted of "evacuate other students, call police, wait."
*sighs* An energizer and just the beginning, wonder if it will be finished by the end of the first half of this story.
An image appeared on the monitor, but it was strangely dark. Myra could remember her own sonogram, not that long ago with Melanie. All that black meant there was a large space of relative emptiness, perhaps full of fluid.
I wonder if there is fluid in there, helping shield Ches from some of the strain of the transformation.
Inside and still the general shape of a human, good news for everyone worried about Ches right now. An incubator sounds right for the transformation Ches is undergoing. Another look-over for Marcus and Myra, if anything could cause enough stress to manifest being brought back to life by that box certainly would.
Marcus had to go through 3 and half hours of testing, three layers of skin off his left arm, yow! Dr. Stapleton sounds like he enjoys doing these tests on subjects, despite him trying outwardly to be nice. Refusing tests and he drops the nice guy act, figures he is a jerk. Myra in an argument with biology dude as Marcus dubs him, the nurse has to get his meds, great, a Diedrick's Syndrome type. Just what Marcus doesn't need to deal with.
Past the first level on Mega Man on the Game Boy, knew Marcus would have fun. Finding out Ches is a mutant and wonders if they are. Oh boy, afraid those Defense of Humanity goons will come and take away Ches. You have captured PTSD perfectly, poor Marcus, now we know why Myra insisted he is in Poe to remain close to her. Myra is really good at calming kids, so glad we get to see all this.
Speers regrets bringing in Jacob, great, the bio-devisor going off his pills for days at a time, I've seen what can happen with just "normal" mental issues left improperly treated.
"That was basic stuff in my freshman engineering class in high school, I'll have you know."
So Speers is a Whateley graduate, I'm guessing. A PFP for Marcus to make him feel safer, Speers, use your heart instead of your head for once.
"No." She shook her head. "Help him make one. He needs to trust in himself, and a defense he made with his own hands will be worth a lot more psychologically than one that's just given to him. I know, I know," she said, guessing his next objection, "he probably won't understand most of it. Show him the parts, help him put it together, and if you need to personally add a bit of your super-scientific hoo-doo to do it, that'll be okay. As long as he's directly involved. Is that workable?"
Guessing this is how they discover Marcus' mutant power.
Blue eyes with little flecks of gold, guessing Myra has already manifested and just doesn't know what her power/powers are yet.
That section of his brain that normally worked best with machines clicked on, performing its powers of analysis for human feelings for once, and he could see that this was a problem which she could not deal with, which she didn't know how to begin dealing with.
His power letting him analyze human feelings for once, whoa. Aww, upset when she didn't hug him, is Dr. Speers developing a crush on Myra? Ella teasing him that Myra reminds her of his mother, the annoying and good bits as well. I love how Ella is treating Speers right now, so like a mother or big sister.
Terry Pratchett novel, Monstrous Regiment
Good book to settle down with, so I've heard. Read 2/3rds of the book in 3 hours, that is a 368-page book if hardback. They kept Melanie in a jar and Myra had to find it out from Jacob during his Diedrick's rant, that is the worst possible thing they could do without telling her. Ah, she is reading the paperback version.
"Dr. Stapleton's already been escorted home," Ella informed her. "And no, we didn't let him near Melanie, so there's no need to saw off his ears with a rusty razor, puree them in a blender, then force-feed him the raw slurry via the Eustachian tubes. I read the transcript of the fight," she added. "Carlos took notes, very detailed ones. He seemed to approve of your creativity."
I pity the student who tests Myra's limits, eep.
And Ella reveals they have a plot with a really nice marker already picked out for Melanie in a nearby children's cemetery, good, she deserves it. 4 hours, what are Derek and Marcus up to in the "toy closet"? Okay, didn't expect to find them playing a game of catch like this, interesting "gloves" and Speers isn't letting Marcus out of their match, insulting nicknames for each other even. That is a big change from before.
Hehehe, impatient and Myra catches the 'ball' right out of the air. An interesting thing for a ball, very interesting with Speers' explanation. A trampoline using force fields, now that is fun. Marcus made all of this on his own and doesn't realize it yet, now that is impressive.
A lullaby out of the theme for the Dragon Quest series, now that is great. Marcus manifesting all the mental trait associating with devisors and gadgeteers, cool.
"This is a devise. The sum of its parts cannot account for the effects it produces, at least not enough to be in accordance with several sections of the laws of thermodynamics. It is solely the creation of Marcus, and while others may be able to duplicate the effect, no one will be able to copy its exact design or nature."
Love the origin story more and more.
"So gadgets are things ahead of their time, but devises are out of this world?"
"Precisely," said Speers. "Well put. Now, the gadgeteer trait was originally associated with the ESP family of abilities, despite the fact that it very rarely coexists with any other ESP trait, and many theorists still place it with or near intuition and precognition on that spectrum. My own ability, for example, is all about understanding how systems work together, and then getting them to work the way I need them to. Devising is more problematic. In truth, anyone with sufficient scientific knowledge on a subject and an intense will to succeed has the potential to create a devise. When a baseline human does it, it's called the Schimmelhorn effect."
"Schimmelhorn..." said Myra. "That sounds familiar... Oh!" She tapped her head, willing her memory to sort through more quickly. "Wasn't that the oddball inventor from the story, 'The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out'?"
Great, now that I know where Papa Schimmelhorn comes from I want to look up the books. Nice details on the differences between gadgeteer trait and devisor trait.
"Mutants with the devisor trait are a different matter. There are many theories as to how they break the laws of physics on a regular basis. Some class them in with the reality-warpers, while others make a case for a connection to the more mystical traits. The main fact here is that devisors create the impossible on a regular basis, and do it with stunning levels of object stability, while rigorously trained scientists and gadgeteers might only do so by accident, and with far less predictable results."
"So... the two types are coming from different directions, but use similar processes, and may occasionally make the same kinds of things?"
"Pretty much. A well-trained devisor may make reproducible gadgets, once the more problematic elements of the design are carefully pared away. Likewise, a gadgeteer may find that his newest invention harbors a literal miracle at its core, but the focus of each trait is still demonstrably different." Speers activated the force-ball and bounced it on the floor a few times before turning it off to continue. "When I watch another gadgeteer at work, it's like I'm seeing someone put together a large puzzle. The pieces may be scattered, but the way they fit is obvious. Watching a devisor, though... It's like seeing someone work with many disparate threads. I can see where they come from, and I can see where they end up, but in the middle there is an immense Gordian knot, and I simply cannot keep track of where it goes."
I'm loving the discussion on gadgeteers and devisors so much.
"Yes. With surprising ease, I might add. He may have some gadgeteering intuition, or more likely he's exhibiting some of the exemplar mental package, with enhancements to how his brain retains and organizes information. We'll need to test him more thoroughly to be sure."
So Marcus isn't just a devisor from the sounds of it. Interesting about Speers first act of gadgetry, plus the trebuchet incident, who wouldn't want to build one of those at least once.
Environment and boys being boys, plus Marcus wants to make a 'bubble lead' generator, uh oh.
"It's an armament from Mega Man 2," she informed him. "I think it was supposed to be an acid bubble with high surface tension that could crush or bowl over enemies, but that force-ball of his looks a lot like a miniature version of it." She rubbed her temples. "Dear lord, this is going to be a mess."
Mega Man themed devises, Marcus is going to be dangerous if not monitored.
'CAUTION: COFFEE OF DOOM', cute coffee mug. Hot milk, honey, and a light dusting of cinnamon powder, yum. Myra showing in her bathrobe after a shower, Speers is going to have a system error if that robe slips even a little.
"Research. I borrowed Marcus's Game Boy SP and his set of Mega Man games. Spent the last two hours playing through them and taking notes." Cup in hand, she sat down at his table and presented him with a notepad. "Best I figure, there are forty-five different Robot Masters in the old Game Boy series alone, but he'll only be familiar with the bosses taken from the first three NES games for now, which adds up to twenty-two. Not counting sufficiently similar abilities, that's fourteen more possible weapons for him to dream up. The last three aren't likely, though," she added as he scanned the list.
Aww, his mom forced away from nerd culture by work, never heard fafiated term before.
Ouch, both his parents caught in a bio-terror attack back in the mid-90s. And Derek made her a long hairclip, a more advanced version of the field monitors, hope it isn't needed. Patted him on the cheek and winked, Speers definitely has a crush on Myra with the grin he gets.
Monday, July 4th, 2016
Marcus calling out and saying about seeing something cool. Myra, Derek, Ella, and Carlos all stuck at the lab over the holiday weekend.
now gathered in the wide alley between the lab and its storage facility. It was perhaps a hundred feet from one blocked end to the other, and various strange scorch marks on the walls gave testament to its occasional use as a testing range.
Dummy decoys, just what is Marcus showing them? Aww, no lab coat in Marcus' size to complete his outfit. *eyes bug out* Marcus made that already, that is one impressive devise imo.
A small control panel in his belt and recall for the core devise, very nice. Carlos recording it all, Marcus using technobabble and making up half the words, heh. That 'bubble lead' is going to be a potent weapon, especially when he improves upon it later. Derek's control panel on his belt setting off an alarm, time for Ches to come out of his shell.
Ches wasn't sleeping, not dreaming, not awake either, interesting.
In the absence of light, his brain supplied the illusion of it, turning the space dark red and orange at times, with strange threads of bright yellow criss-crossing like lightning in slow motion.
I wonder if that is just his brain supplying the illusion of light or something else. No negatives in this place, yet no positives, yikes. Breaking the shell of the world so he can have a life, literal but almost feels like a metaphor as well.
All those sensations hitting at once after isolation, eep. Like yoke from an egg, that is pretty much what it is. The machine setting off the alarm, Ches still doesn't realize what has happened. Everyone staring at Ches and Myra having to ask if it is Ches, yup, big change. Myra actually hugs Ches, despite that goop all over Ches. Marcus has bugged-out eyes, I'm guessing she is naked as well, oh boy.
Ella and Myra, Ches wrapped in a sheet, lead Ches to the showers and Ches tries to go to the men's side, but Myra decides to heck with tact. Yup, Ches has become Chessa. Ella had to tell Ches what happened, how the shell formed, and such. Hair like copper wire that might actually be metallic, a little shorter than Myra now.
Her skin was pale and surprisingly hairless, except for the shock of coppery brown-yellow hair and a pair of eyebrows like tongues of yellow flame.
He looked herself in the eyes, saw the slit pupils in emerald green, and lost it. Not because he couldn't accept it. Not because he refused to believe it. Because he knew that face, and he'd never thought he'd see it whole again.
And Ches has become her RPG character.
Myra not concerned about the crying and shaking, then Ches darts out of the bathroom knocking Myra on her butt. Ah, went to her old room to look for her character sheet I bet.
Through the front, Myra could see an image, a hand-drawn picture of a girl in fantasy-novel armor, with copper-brown hair and green eyes.
Don't tell me, father didn't like his son roleplaying as a female character, oh brother. Na'chessa and based on the shape of the drawing, Chester's dad tore it up.
Oh boy, Ches just sneezed lightning, didn't she. Ches staring at the scorch mark in wonder and realization, she has figured out how far her changes go.
"Ches, could I see that file for a moment?" She plucked it out of the girl's limp hands and pulled out the paper. It was a character sheet, Dungeons & Dragons. She recognized the basic format, though it looked like someone had made personal alterations to accommodate some homebrew elements. Both it and the drawing had been ripped to shreds at some point, then carefully taped back together. So much cellophane tape had been used that the pages were practically laminated. "Hmm. Name, Na'Chessa Rakia Faroving, Human Fighter..." She skimmed over the basic stat and feat information, looking for any clues. On the back, she found her answer. "Secret trait: secondary class, Dragonblooded. Bronze dragon lineage." While she'd never had the chance to play a 3.5 game, since it hadn't even existed when she checked out, and it could just as well have been something homebrew, she could take a stab at what that meant. If it worked the way she thought it did, and if Ches had somehow got him-- herself a mutation based on it, well then...
Dragonblooded, Bronze dragon lineage. Crap is right, lightning breath, able to breath underwater, and a lot more physical changes that haven't finished yet in store for Ches. Can't wait for the 2nd half of the Barnes origin story.
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Princesses of the Pizza Parlor, ep. 1: Princesses Don't Do Summer School
Note: My story comments can't nor are trying to replace reading the stories, simply my way of enjoying them and letting the authors know I enjoy them.
