[PLOT THREAD4.3] DR: Three Lock Box

[SalmonMax]

The inventor shook her head. "Overly specific, that's deeper in the weeds than I've had time to decipher. I can give you a guess though."

 

"First off, noetic energy isn't really more fundamental, from what I can tell. It's more like a different means to an end. What we use is more like directly manipulating the quantum fields that underlie reality as we know it. The specifics of what we can do and how we can do it depend entirely on what fields we can manipulate and even more, how we can change their relationships with each other. Noetic energy is more like..."

 

She paused for a moment, trying to think of a good metaphor. "It's more like an actual exotic energy outside the Standard Model. We'll need new math to describe it. Stormers that use noetic energy can use it to manipulate quantum fields...but it's sort of indirect, which makes it a bit harder for them on average to get the same results as us...but it also means they're insulated from some of the effects. And, I theorize, they might be able to learn how to do more. Sort of like...QFM Stormers, we have a 'thing,' right? One guy can turn into a lightning bolt, another guy can move things around. And while our powers can grow to SOME extent, I'll never suddenly be able to control minds, or grow plants super fast."

 

"But I think, because noetics access the quantum fields using exotic energy as a TOOL, they could be more flexible. Sort of like, if I had a hand where all my fingers were drills, I'd be great at drilling...but I couldn't eat with that hand, and the exact kind of drill would be pretty much set in stone. But a noetic just...goes and gets a drill from the garage. Holds it IN their hand. We embody the end result we want, they use a tool to get the result they want."

 

Deezy waved a hand around. "Just a theory though. Needs SCADS of tests!"

 

"As for the other bit, that's easier. This process was all very...planned out. The goal wasn't to maximize the raw amount of the harvest. As far as I can tell, the goal was to balance tensions between two poles." She held out her left hand. "Amount of energy to be gained..." then she held out her right, "...versus the risk factor in gaining it."

 

"Let it grow too long, and you risk...well...catastrophe. All that work and expense and time for nothing. Also, you may have just spawned a super-species of reality manipulators. Don't wait long enough, and you don't fill your gas tank. Seems like our aliens here are the conservative type...and why not? The risk/reward calculation is pretty simple over the long term. They weren't AFTER a special species. They just were...you know...gassing up the cosmic fuel tank. It was routine for them."

 

She tapped the side of her nose. "There's no entry in the logs at all about the space station though, and that station used QFM tech. I have a feeling it might have something to do with those errors. Not a theory, just a guess. It's possible they were trying to do something similar, piggy backing their own desire for power on top of the existing system."

[Shameless]

"interesting."  He said quietly, and meant it.   "I mean it's obvious these aliens played the long game, and more, from what you said, it illustrates just how valuable this noetic energy was, or is, to them, if they were willing to start sixty-five million years ago for a potential fifty-five million years later."

He looked at her, and then Temple.  He didn't speak aloud, but through the mental link they shared.  "What exactly do we do with this place now.   When we return, they're going to expect answers, very specific and detailed answers I'm sure.   Even with evidence, what do you think the revelations you've already gleaned will cause?"

"What do we do with the information you've learned, and i guess another question, now that we can come here as we like, how would you like to proceed?"

This would definitely be the beginning of a massive research undertaking, one that it was unlikely they'd be able to hide, and contractually, they were supposed to reveal what they discovered here.   He wasn't just asking Deezy, he was also asking Temple.

"If this gets out, everyone will want a piece, or to destroy this place, or capture it solely for themselves.  He looked at Deezy  "A facility you are now the only person alive who can control, unless I misunderstood what you mentioned earlier."

[Nina]

Temple who's own mental acuity was bolstered by her network link with Deezy and Ryan shook her head, "No, the data stored here is obviously incomplete, either by damage or outright omission. Noetic energy, what we call Psi, is fundamental, it is the basis of everything. Not that there is any definition in the database but I know this from experience, which I have and you don't.

 

Everything has a psi or noetic signature and emits a field. A Psion can interact with these fields but we produce our abilities internally. If I fiddle with someone's mind I am directly doing it to their mind not their Psi field. But I am using my psi field as the conduit.

 

You Novas are different. You do have psi fields but they are minimal. Your Quantum energy disrupts your own field but not my or other Psions who use our abilities on you.

 

Your Quantum energy is external. you Channel and store the energy and through some sort of mutation seem to use your latent Psi abilities to manipulate that energy to do what it is you do.

 

But while you were scouring the data base for historical highlights I was looking for specifics. These aliens, the masters, are obviously Psionic and have built much of their technology based on psionic. However there is nothing in this database that reference powers like yours and the other novas, nothing at all. 

 

They don't have any knowledge of Quantum Powers, which leads me to believe that Novas are unique and were technically created by the sudden release of millions of years of bound up psionic energy."

 

Both Deezy and Ryan were staring at the teenager.

 

[SalmonMax]

"So, like I said...SCADS of testing. The info here could give us the keys to really understand these powers," agrees Deezy, switching mental paradigms to take Temple's words into account. "Also, she's right that they didn't know what we were. The AI flipped completely out because it had no idea what was happening, that was clear from the system logs."

 

"But Temple doesn't know about the space stations, which did use QFM tech. It's POSSIBLE those powers are a side effect of the surge, but I'm not completely dismissing the possibility that QFM-using aliens may have modified these noetic aliens' tech on purpose to produce this effect. We'd need more study of the stations to know for sure what they were up to, and for how long."

 

She took a deep breath, "but none of that matters to the question at hand, which is exactly what Ryan was saying. We have to decide what to do with this facility. Ryan, correct me if I'm wrong, but given how far we traveled to get here in that tramway, past those ruins, we have to be in or around Utopia-controlled land, right? Meaning this territory is technically theirs."

Edited April 14, 2022 by SalmonMax

[Shameless]

Ryan's eyes narrowed for a moment as he did some spatial calculations, and he nodded.  "One moment."  He said as he spoke the measurements his abilities were giving him.  "We are in the middle of a massive complex of Structures and alien equipment, covering nearly fifty square miles.   The upper levels of these structure  are between twenty and twenty five kilometers deep, and some extend all the way down into the planet's core.  The original tunnels we were exploring were only a hundred to two hundred meters below ground.  Factoring everything else, We are roughly nineteen hundred to two thousand Kilometers from the coast,  Beneath the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, which happens to be pretty close to the center of Utopia."

"So the stations were clearly put in place by another alien race, as I'd said earlier, one familiar with quantum technology, and this was a much older race that left this facility."

He looks at Deezy.   "Is there any way for you to put in some sort of security lockout protocol?   I'd say it's a safe bet the activity  likely didn't go unnoticed, even if we are this deep.   We can't just remain here, but we can't leave it where someone else might be able to decipher and make use of the facility."  He was sure she'd thought of this already, but given she'd gone through so much data, a reminder could be helpful.   There were no certainties in this life, and with something as profound as this, he didn't want to take unnecessary risks.  

"As an Aside, we have already shown them that the Object responds to quantum enhanced people.  they could seek to continue research there without us, they are the government after all."



 

[SalmonMax]

Deezy winced a little and said, "I don't know if I could do much to this data that it being encoded in alien ciphers on alien technology doesn't do already. The thing is that there's no code, no encryption, no alien tech that will last forever here. We can't keep it a hundred percent out of Utopia's hands. Full stop. Our choice is...do we want to sabotage it as much as we can, make it harder for them to get anything out of and give the world more time?"

 

"Or...do we want to help them, and hear me out."

 

"If we hide a spike in this tree, it will be obvious we did it. Assuming they have someone smart enough to figure this out at all, they'll also be able to figure out that it was tampered with. There's not many people in the world that COULD do it, and of those only I was actually caught snooping around old ruins in their turf before. So you and I, Ryan, would be burning that bridge. Any chance we might have had of cordial relations with Utopia...probably pretty much out the window."

 

"But consider this. If we contact Utopia ourselves now, let them know the circumstances, and what we found. Cooperate. They won't be thrilled we went under their territory, but at least we're not trying to go behind their backs. Not to mention, if I give them some help with the tech, that should smooth over feathers here. Then, you and I go home, and immediately jumpstart our own R&D program to get our version of that tech up and running. If we throw resources at it, leveraging our advantages, we can probably get our versions out on the global market first. And that means Utopia doesn't get an overwhelming tech advantage over everyone else. They get their future tech. Everyone gets their future tech. The status quo...unstable and awful as it is...continues."

 

"There's risks either way...but I'm really worried if they come down here and find a vandalized alien supermachine, they'll very accurately realize that we're trying to hold them back as we develop technology that they can't match. That's the kind of tactic that puts their backs against a wall, you know? I'm not sure we want to see what happens then."

 

She sighs and rubs her forehead. "The thing is that...I may be smart, but I don't really know war, you know? Because it might be that if they see us getting a huge tech advantage, they'll back down and try to buy time to catch up, and that works in our favor. I can see a lot of possible outcomes here, but I don't really understand politics enough to figure out how to decide how likely one is over another."

 

"So I could use some help here. We should agree, because it's up to us. Once we do whatever we do and go...then we shouldn't count on being able to come back."

[Nina]

"Or we just remove it from the equation."  Temple crossed her arms under her breasts. "Once they, meaning Utopia, know about the machine, then they have machine, and our side is left out in the cold. You know that, that, is a big thing. All we will have is data, they will have hands on, and who knows what data we might miss that they will find down the road by opening a panel or a door. "

[SalmonMax]

"Hoo, yeah, I gotta be honest. If I could think of a way to get rid of all this safely, I'd be all for it," Deezy agrees. "Except for two things."

 

"The first is that its self-destruct...like I said...would pretty much end the planet. And it's so big and deeply rooted that destroying it any other way wouldn't be a lot better."

 

"The second is that these aliens may still be out there, and they are not going to like what happened here. Not to mention the ones they're fighting. This represents their technology millions of years ago."

 

She sighs.

 

"The human race, Stormers and all, has a lot of catching up to do. This is one of our best options for that. Maybe we can work with the Utopians. Joint research project or something. It could bring us all together, even."

[Nina]

Temple reached out and put a hand on Deezy's arm, gently, "You can do it, remember the storm, we can help, Ryan and I, but you can do it Deezy.

 

Utopia doesn't care about the human race, they don't consider themselves a part of it. They may never find this place on their own, Only a psion would be able to see thru the camouflage. And I don't think many of us joined them. But once we tell the government what we found, it will eventually get out. And when that does they will take this place and use it up. And they won't let anyone stand in their way doing it."

[Shameless]

Ryan looked torn.   "You both make some excellent points, but as a soldier, as someone who's actively taught warfare, I have to say Temple is right."  he shook his head.  "You're right Temple. I truly wish you weren't, but you are.   Having heard their rhetoric, and seen what they do, Utopia cannot be allowed to have access to this technology.  If we gave them access, it would literally turn the governments of the world, not to mention the people, against us.  The thing is, I don't really trust them with tech like this either.   Maybe in time, things will change, but not now."

He sighed, "We cannot risk them finding a vandalized machine, and frankly, the world isn't really ready for this sort of revelation, let alone the technology we stand amidst.   If we were to reveal it, and make our own, the government will know we held back, leading to a critical loss of faith, not just in us, but in all Enhanced.  We can't remove the machine, even if I had the power to do so it would leave a path all the way to the core, which could cause massive geological repprecussions, and leaving any part of it would reveal that someone had come and taken away something.  So that's out."

"Before we actually set about destroying this facility in a way that doesn't destroy the planet, Deezy, can you fabricate some sort of data storage, large enough to contain all the data stored here?  How long would you need to do that?  That way at least all the data could be saved, even if the machine itself must not be?"

 

[SalmonMax]

Even with the feedback she'd requested, Deezy hesitated. It felt like they weren't listening to her, that they hadn't grasped what she'd tried to tell them...but that fell apart when she looked inward for even a moment. She'd just wanted to preserve this machine. Some way. Any way. The things Temple and Ryan had said to her weren't hard to predict...she'd thought of similar objections herself, but had managed to talk herself into thinking maybe there were ways around them. It was a little bit of humility to realize that being smart enough to see an answer didn't mean you were immune to the human frailties of selection and confirmation bias. It was a good piece of reality; a solid and empirical explanation for the importance of making and maintaining social bonds.

 

She took a deep breath and nodded.

 

"Yeah. Okay. Lets do this."

 

Temple knew what to do this time. The reflexive immediacy of life preservation was replaced now by something more considered, more crafted. Along the outer edges of her mind, Deezy could feel Ryan's thoughts and feelings in a dull murmur, unintelligible for the moment...and Temple's mind likewise became 'entangled' with her own, albeit loosely.

 

Contact was consensual. She reached out to the two and her plan unfolded before them, as if they'd all imagined it at once. Each had contributions to make, but it took only moments for them to reach agreement.

 

It started with Ryan. His ability to sense and instinctively comprehend the deep structures of spacetime made him perfect for 'mapping' the Great Machine, sensing the minute differences in local gravity where its alien construction ended and bedrock began.

 

The Machine was, to put it mildly, titanic in scope. Stretching miles in every direction, and many more miles straight down; following some kind of borehole that no doubt used geothermal taps to generate at least some of the energy required to run the place. Deezy's power was constrained primarily by raw data limits. Her mind, her brain, even with all the many enhancements she'd undergone from the Storm, could only handle a finite...if incredibly large...amount of information. Transmuting matter meant having to interact with that matter and the fields that made it up, at the scale of individual atoms and particles. The difficulty rose almost logarithmically with the complexity of the change being made, and the sheer mass being altered. In this case, the change was easy enough. But the size of the place put it well outside of her practical limits.

 

She could still feel the echo of what she'd done before though...the little Storm she'd somehow managed to summon up inside her own mind, her own body. The iron of her was still ringing from that blow. It might not be safe to strike again so soon, but...there wasn't another way. And truth be told, even with the risk, there was a part of her that wanted to experience it again. That moment of feeling the universe itself, on every scale from Planck to galactic supercluster, yield to her desire.

 

There was a moment, a panicky instant, when it didn't seem like it would happen again. It took Temple, who despite not having any idea what exactly Deezy had done the first time, quickly realized through the link what needed to BE done.

 

"Focus on what you want, Deezy," she urged. "Not all the reasons why you can't have it. Just want it, need it. Let your power worry about how."

 

For Ryan, the experience was somehow both familiar and completely unexpected. He'd felt what Deezy had done before, but only indirectly. It had been like listening to music played through several feet of concrete. Now he had headphones plugged in, and on his ears.

 

For Deezy, it was fuel, it was fire. A heat that seemed like it must consume everything, but didn't hurt, didn't destroy. She kept reaching further and further with her senses, greedily gobbling up that intuitive information about the precise state of matter and energy that formed the web of reality describing the alien base. She reached her limit quickly, and kept reaching...and as more data came in, the heat ignited. As she reached further, it got hotter. At any second it felt like it was too much, she couldn't go further. But then she reached further anyway, and somehow no matter how many balls she added to the juggling routine, she was able to keep them in the air. Flickers of memory flashed like lightning bolts; memories from the Storm, of assembling gigantic towers of exotic matter at a whim to help contain the weather gone mad. This was a fraction of that, but what was infinity divided by ten?

 

Then, like flipping a switch and with a pulse of energy from Deezy that felt like an intangible hurricane, or tornado of fire, the Great Machine was gone. All of it. All at once. Frozen in stone; the same igneous bedrock that formed the surrounding crust. Someone coming down to the tunnel and making the incredibly long journey through it, would find a petrified marvel; its secrets irrecoverably lost.

 

Well. Maybe not entirely lost.

 

In Deezy's hand there was something that hadn't been before. A globe of some kind of clear or translucent material containing luminous gelatin shot through with tiny tendrils of darker substance, branching in fractals that got smaller and smaller until they dwindled from view entirely. The side of the orb that was facing down into her hand had a metal panel with some kind of interface built into it. Despite being made of more than one material, there were no breaks, no welds or seams. It had been created ex-nihilo, precisely as it was.

 

In it was what could be salvaged of the alien data, collected over millions of years. Stored in the interference patterns of multiple pairs of entangled particles.

 

Deezy cleared her throat, which had gone dry, and looked the sphere over. She'd made the thing, but even now could only barely remember how she'd put it together...let alone found the mental bandwidth to so quickly transfer all that information.

 

"...I sure hope I'm not emitting gamma rays or something when I do that," she commented, with an apologetic look at Temple and Ryan. "We're going to need to do some testing on this."

[Shameless]

Ryan stood there with the two of them, the only women he'd willing shared his mind with, and then smiled.  A real smile, and let out a breath he'd not realized he was holding.   "Lots and lots of testing."  

He looked to Temple, then back to Deezy.  "Together."  The Revelations they'd learned, and their combined act of denial, it bound them together.   If the world ever learned of it, there would be many who would decry it, and vilify them, and yet others who might even thank them, for being sane enough to realize the threat outweighed the potential gains.

"When we're ready, you'll make something eve better, and safer, because you have the accumulated knowledge of what they did.  Of that I have no doubt.   We still have the Moon, Mars, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn to explore and colonize."  He wasn't being patronizing, this was said with earnest belief, a faith in someone he called a friend and partner.   

"I will help make that better future a reality any way I can."

[Nina]

“We should leave, that was a lot of power and the machines shields failed as soon as Deezy started. We’re pretty far away but someone in Utopia may have picked it up.” Temple said as she canceled the network with a visible sigh and slump of overtaxed muscles.  The other two agreed.

 

Ryan opened a warp back to NOVASTORM, so they could get out of the suits and clean up. And get their story straight.

 

Spoiler

That ends this adventure. i will be issuing XP later today to all dr characters. once you recive your xp you may spend it if you wish.

 

I need to know ooc what you all are going to tell the government and what your next steps are going to be. I intend a small time jump of about six months so you will have time for any personal projects. If you wish some extra credit you can write a small solo bit covering this time period.

 

this thread is now closed