[Mage-Blackbird] Background
ooc - Feel free to ignore, just Blackbird, my OWOD Void Engineer Rogue's original background. Putting it on here so I've always got it. Totally irrelevant to anything anymore.
"What is your Name, rank, and Designation?" The Man in Grey asked in a mostly toneless voice. Seated at the foot of the hospital bed under the TV tuned into CNN he regarded her with a blank expression.
"Mia 'Blackbird' Davis. Staff Sergeant for Unit Ares 14 Border Corps Division. Designation alpha tango bravo three seven three seven dash zero four foxtrot." A half remembered morphine drop accounted for the slurred speech. Even through the drugs most of her body ached and half thoughts she shied away from brought moments of terror and tears to her eyes.
"Who sent you here?" his voice was penetrating, hard and impossible to ignore.
"What? Who sent me where? When is it?" It was clear this was a room on Earth somewhere but the window didn't show the scenery of Alaska. Thoughts kept shifting away from the man in front of her and slipping back to the last thing she remembered. Sent to deal with a reality deviant in the Oil Fields in Alaska there had been an explosion or something.
"Where exactly am I and who are you?" Her voice cracked and she looked around for water. A glass was proffered by the man just within reach of her outstretched arms. Cuts, stitches, and gauze caught her drug fuddled gaze and it was a moment before the glass was remembered and drunk. Before the explosions there had been running battles and several months worth of pain and agony while the ships surgeon had patched her up after the encounters with… something her mind refused to let her remember.
“… NWO. You are in a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona and the date is July 15th 2003.” The rest of it had been lost during the reverie but the first part sent chills down her spine. If she was the only one left of the damned missions gone horribly wrong, they would nail her to a wall and crucify her with the blame.
“You appeared in a fashion that suggests a Paradox Effect and I felt it the correct response to allow your wounds to mend so we could discuss your appearance.” There was pressure behind her eyes as if someone else was also in her head, it must be the drugs or the Man in Grey was using mind manipulation upon her.
Without meaning to she began to speak, telling of the last earth length year; of the mission the Voidcraft Janus Mark VII Cassani AUC was sent to death on and the last emergency procedure which nearly claimed Mia’s life. A 3 year space marine, who had spent a year battling Reality Deviants on the Front Line in Siberia and the Artic, her crew had lucked out two years ago when they were assigned to patrol missions on the Colonies in the Outer Solar system. All had been well until they had been assigned to pick up a VE technician that had been working at an ItX construct in the Kuniper Belt.
Once there, the Captain received orders from the higher levels of the Union. There was a distress signal that had recently been received. The ship it purported to be from was presumed lost during the beginning of the recent issues with the Dimensional Barrier and since it was just now contacting the Union it was being given top priority and the VC Janus was sent to investigate and retrieve any survivors. Refitted for a 6 month mission the ship left, little knowing they were flying into a death zone. Three months in they had been attacked by deep space creatures repeatedly and the engines had been taken offline. Drifting for what seemed to be a week the engines were brought back online with some jury rigging and they called back for further orders. Shockingly, they were informed they must finish repairs and make all haste to the site of the distress signal as a single message came through indicating they had information on a movement of a new form of Dimensional Anomaly.
“Who ordered you to continue?” His voice broke her out of the dead voice recitation of the events. There was a genuine note of curiosity and surprise in his voice or so it seemed.
“I don’t know. I’d tell you to ask the Captain but he was killed later when we made the rendezvous. As was our navigator, our Lieutenant, half of engineering and three fourths of the Marines.” He only nodded and indicated Mia should continue. “We pulled the ship together and went. However it wasn’t the missing craft we had been told to expect but a… thing.” Again her voice cracked and the Man in Grey furrowed his brow and reached forward to tap at the machinery surrounding the bed. Just a moment later the morphine drip started again and a detached calm settled on the wounded woman.
She continued to speak of the encounter with a sleek black organic craft and the breeching of the Janus’s hull and the corridor battles. According to the other survivors Mia had displayed the talents of the Enlightened crew and had apparently undergone Empowerment of an awesome degree; she remembered none of it. Luck alone saved them as their dying Navigator used his abilities at Enlightened Astronavigation to chart a course within range of a near by spatial anomaly that trapped the organic ship long enough for the Janus to destroy it with her Force Cannons. Lacking the Enlightened crew necessary the Janus was forced again to limp home. The congratulations were brief and no assistance was forth coming according to the orders they were given.
Worse tragedy struck when as they approached Earth space they were informed that the ship would dock for repairs but the crew would be sent to assist an issue in Alaska with a Reality Deviant, classification Dreamspeaker, who required termination under Article Five of the Precepts of Damian. This mission had also gone terribly wrong. The procedures and devices used to set up the Union Paradigm and grab the RD had backfired catastrophically.
“And that’s where you found me I guess. I’ll be damned if I know why we got that set of orders.” Bitterness and grief pour from her and despite effort Mia broke down sobbing. A nurse came bustling in and she was quickly sedated. John Parker, Rogue NWO agent and former Director consulted the data pad he had removed from Mia’s effects. A little effort and some digging yielded her personal profile and history to his perusal.
The child of two un-enlightened Void Engineers she had been earmarked from her first year of high school. Her father, Arthur Oswald Roberts, was a retired Colonel in the Air Force who had served as a test pilot for top secret projects out of the Edwards Air Force base. Before his development of Alzheimer’s he had gone on to education of new VE recruits. He was now in a Veteran’s Administration hospital with the mind of child.
Her mother, Renee Harding-Roberts, had been the child of devout catholic parents and attended private Catholic schools for most of her youth. In 1970 she was one of the first women who attended CalTech in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. Initially contacted by Itineration X for her mathematical skills, rather oddly she had been instead snatched up by the Void Engineers and she abruptly left CalTech for UCLA. Finishing her degree she was shipped to the Halley Academy at the Copernicus Research Center. It was there her parents had met and were married shortly after their return to Earth space. Mia, born Jessica Renee Roberts, was one of a few who had been conceived and born in the COP.
A bright child Mia had attended public schools and excelled in her grades and most specifically in sciences and mathematics to the delight of her parents. After her freshman year of high school they quietly brought her to the attention of their VE supervisor at the NASA Dryden flight research center. Guided and tested from an early age she showed the same potential for Enlightened Science as her parents; the potential for a raw and very strong Genius. A curriculum of outside activities - Math and Science camps, camping and hiking, and flight training - were designed to encourage her in the Technocratic direction. Like a duck to water they proved a successful method and Mia graduated a year early at barely 17 and was accepted into CalTech for a Bachelors degree in Applied Physics and Quantum Mechanics. Graduating in three years with a 3.98 GPA a push from higher ups in the Void Engineers earned her a scholarship to MIT.
“Water. Please.” Mia’s voice interrupted the reading. Her eyes were dry now and haunted.
Handing her a glass of water John regarded her. “The physician says you are capable of leaving. Please shower and change into the civilian clothes next to the shower. We will be leaving once you have finished and when we do please stay within the field I will be generating to avoid reminding them to ask about your unusual physical enhancements.”
The next day found her waking up on a drab couch in a drab apartment with a world of pain. Next to her was a simple breakfast and two aspirin. Eating swiftly, she was still unable to finish before the Man in Grey, now dressed in a simple white shirt and black slacks came out.
“I am John Parker. Are you aware that you appear to suffer from nightmares while you sleep?” He took her silence as acquiescence and seated himself in an armchair across from her. Behind the chair lay a bag with some of her gear sticking out of the top and she could see the outline of an energy weapon under the chairs covering. “I am sure you are wondering why you are here. I am trying to determine what to do with you: whether I should reprogram you, terminate you or find a something else. You pose a threat to me as I am no longer a member of the Technocratic Union.” Mia’s heart stopped for a moment and in her drugged condition she froze. When would her damned luck change? If this man was rogue and he had not acted yet there must be something he felt he could gain but there was no way to tell what it was without playing along.
“Fine, You are a Rogue. Why?”
John ignored the fact that it was a blatant stall for time. “Until I know what I am to do with you I will not disclose a full briefing. I will share the synopsis of why I have left the Union. I believe that they are ignoring a threat to the Paradigm that will shatter it and devastate the masses. The Ivory tower has forgotten the true intent of the Precepts of Damian.”
“Why didn’t you push the issue? Why not work within the Union for the good of the Masses and take it to the next level up?” Stalling still, she was unsure if physically she was up to trying to take on someone who could go rogue or if he had implanted commands or conditioning in her mind to prevent such actions.
“I did. They ignored me.” John produced her datapad and handed it back to her. On it was a summary of statistical anomalies all leading to the same conclusion: that there would be a massive breaking of the Paradigm by the year 2005. Examining the summarized report closely Mia began to question his methods and how he reached such statistics. An hour later it was apparent she understood at least the basics of his methods, Enlightened Math though they may be, and understood far more than a simple Marine should.
“You appear to understand the mathematical principles underlying my report. How is it you became a space marine with such qualifications?”
“I failed my final mathematics test by three points.” Her voice was bitter; the only test she had ever failed.
“Why did you not retake the test?”
“I did. I failed by six points on that one. It’s always harder the second time around. So instead of becoming a helmsman and navigator I qualified to become an officer in the Border Corps Division with the Marines.”
With some probing John received the full story. Her Advanced Statistics and Projected Mathematics teacher had been an ItX member on loan to the Academy for the term. Designation 001100100100, the students nicknamed him “Bob”, had taken an immediate dislike to Mia after finding out who her parents were. The issue hadn’t been helped by his refusal to deal with certain aspects of Chaos math and her continued baiting of him by bringing those points up. By the end of the year it was clear he had a personal deep hatred of not only Mia but her mother as well. From inference he had had an affair with her, prior to his Empowerment, and it had ended badly. It was his final that she had failed twice and denied her the ability to pilot in the space she so dearly loved. While she spoke John appeared to be making notes on her datapad which he then handed her after she had stopped speaking.
“It is 93.578% likely that your test was designed to fail you by a percentage that would not be flagged by the grading computers. It appears that ‘Bob’ has deviations from routine actions and your failure was the end result of a personal and deeply illogical vendetta it carries against yourself and your mother. In light of all the data you have provided and my personal knowledge of ‘Bob’, it is the only likely and statistically possible conclusion that you failed due to personal politics.” Each word was like a knife; denied the dream of piloting in space because a fucking computer brained weasel was upset her mother had dumped him and his Convention. The pain of fingernails digging into palms brought Mia back from the anger.
“It is also 85.624% likely that the missions you have recently survived were designed to terminate your and/or your unit. There are coincidences that chaos math cannot explain and the failure to send assistance when your ship had been disabled is against all standard procedures and protocols. It is additionally likely that if the first probability is correct, as the remaining known officer you will be held responsible for the failure of your Units last mission.” The matter of fact tone was chilling. Nothing being said seemed to surprise him; Mia wondered if he had seen this coming.
“If you read the next section there on your Datapad you will see my report regarding the Statistical chance of an apocalyptical event by the year 2005. You may not follow all of the mathematics involved as statistics was not your major but you appear to comprehend the advanced mathematics enough to understand the basic principles involved.” John sat back in his chair as she began to read the report.
The main thrust of the report was the statistical likely hood that the Reality Deviant and Superstitionist beliefs of a world wide catastrophe were supported by statistics and information that could be graphed and tracked. An event of this caliber would destroy the current paradigm and cause the swift death of the majority of the masses. The rest would be left in a world populated by monsters and deviants who would remake the paradigm in their image. As they talked through the larger report he led her down the mathematical processes individually and they began to become clearer. While John guided her through the procedure, quietly, to Empower her mind further he told of how he had come to leave the Ivory Tower.
The report had been presented to his supervisor, who returned it without comment. He pursued the issue, ending up in a meeting with other Directors and those above him and laid out each piece of the puzzle that formed so bleak a picture. He was informed that the actions he suggested were needed were not only unnecessary but would cause problems for the Five Year Plan. Further resistance to dropping the idea lead him to Room 101 and reprogrammed to lead a field office. But his Eidolon was to strong and his Genius would not rest. Numbers and horrors came to him at night and eventually he broke through the social conditioning the NWO had implanted. Arranging for a series of events on what should have been a routine mission allowed him to seem to be dead amongst the carnage of a data gathering gone wrong.
“What do you plan to do about this report now? You’ve left and this doesn’t seem to be the type of thing one person, no matter how Enlightened, could handle.” Mia’s instincts for saving the masses, the heroics of the Void Engineer’s missions warred with the implanted conditioning that the Technocracy was the only hope for Man in a universe arrayed against them. Taught young that it was a person’s responsibility to make the world a safer, better place, Mia wondered at the bureaucracy that corrupted this simple ideal.
“You are aware of the findings on the Superstitionist threat in the year 2001, correct?” He continued after she nodded her assent. “It was determined that they are less of a threat than other forms of Reality Deviants. The Classification Vampire RDs while individual in their powers are on the large scale working for the same ultimate end goal. The Classification Werewolf, while having no discernable goal we have yet determined, still presents a clear and present danger to the Masses. The Superstitionists, while all seeking to shape the paradigm do not share a common view of it. They each pursue their own goals which are often counter to the views of their associates.
“However, it is known that they have at least some feelings towards preserving the masses from the other Reality Deviant classes. As such, I feel that it is probable that I will be able to find those among the Superstitionists who will understand my report and assist me in preventing the destruction of the Paradigm and of the Masses themselves.”
They sat in silence for some time as these revelations processed. Returning to the Union was the first consideration. It was where she belonged, with her Convention and with her beloved space. But it was also where the nightmares came from; wasted lives on a personal vendetta and the memories of running in the Things Beyond. Perhaps it would be fine but if half of what John had said and Mia suspected were correct then she would be the sacrificial lamb to sweep the whole series of events under the table. And if she went back, what of the report and the hard mathematics showing the Masses, the very existence so hard fought and won, would be destroyed and the monsters would win. A mobius loop of cons and pros, should and shouldn’t dos ran through her head for nearly an hour until she finally regarded John with a grim expression.
“What do you intend with me? I don’t think you just idly tell everyone with a grasp of math your findings. That would be illogical. Why tell me at all?”
“I am presented with four options: Reprogram you and allow you to return to the Void Engineers. It is known your convention is on the outside of much that happens within the Union. The second option is to terminate your existence as you pose a threat to mine and my goals. The third is I can reprogram you to forget all this we have spoken of and the Technocracy as a whole and allow you to live out some span of a normal life.” Mia regarded him suspiciously as he spoke and her reply was some time in coming.
“You said it yourself, statistically I am likely to bear the brunt of blame if I go back. This is assuming they do not break through my reprogramming at your hands. That makes option one most distasteful. I’m sort of attached to life, I fought this long to keep it, so Option two is one I would rather avoid. And if I’m Empowered with Genius as you assert I am… how would I avoid notice when I began to use Enlightened Science in front of the masses? That does rather neatly shoot down option three as it would likely lead the Union back to yourself. What is option four? You didn’t say.”
John looked steadily at her before answering. For the first time there was something behind the Man in Grey mask he wore, a sort of hope and a bit of worry. “The fourth option is that you, who seem to uphold the intent of the Precepts of Damian and the creed of your Convention to Explore and Protect the Masses from unnatural things, could join in my goals. Assist myself and those who I convince to the cause and attempt to save the masses. I can instruct you in the matters of Enlightened Science and understanding your Eidolon and Genius. Once you have mastered these abilities, you can still choose to be reprogrammed and set loose to live in quiet amongst the masses. Or you can turn them to good cause,“ He almost smiled, Mia swore.
“And as it is statistically likely you should have died in the Paradox Effect in Alaska, they should not be actively seeking you out. Particularly not in the Southwestern United States.” He waited again with the infinite patience of a man who has run the numbers and knows where the odds lay. Mia struggled with the concepts of duty and loyalty until she had exhausted all avenues of logical possibility. John watched, knowing each argument she had with herself. One did not become a Man in Grey without knowing something of human nature and how one reacts to conflicting priorities.
Her voice sounded strange to her, hollow and defeated. “I’ll give you one year. You teach me of the ways of the Enlightened and show me your words in actions, Greyman. In a year we’ll renegotiate. Deal?”
With a half smile he extended his hand. “Deal. Now, would you care for something to eat? There is a number of excellent restaurants that deliver here.”
"What is your Name, rank, and Designation?" The Man in Grey asked in a mostly toneless voice. Seated at the foot of the hospital bed under the TV tuned into CNN he regarded her with a blank expression.
"Mia 'Blackbird' Davis. Staff Sergeant for Unit Ares 14 Border Corps Division. Designation alpha tango bravo three seven three seven dash zero four foxtrot." A half remembered morphine drop accounted for the slurred speech. Even through the drugs most of her body ached and half thoughts she shied away from brought moments of terror and tears to her eyes.
"Who sent you here?" his voice was penetrating, hard and impossible to ignore.
"What? Who sent me where? When is it?" It was clear this was a room on Earth somewhere but the window didn't show the scenery of Alaska. Thoughts kept shifting away from the man in front of her and slipping back to the last thing she remembered. Sent to deal with a reality deviant in the Oil Fields in Alaska there had been an explosion or something.
"Where exactly am I and who are you?" Her voice cracked and she looked around for water. A glass was proffered by the man just within reach of her outstretched arms. Cuts, stitches, and gauze caught her drug fuddled gaze and it was a moment before the glass was remembered and drunk. Before the explosions there had been running battles and several months worth of pain and agony while the ships surgeon had patched her up after the encounters with… something her mind refused to let her remember.
“… NWO. You are in a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona and the date is July 15th 2003.” The rest of it had been lost during the reverie but the first part sent chills down her spine. If she was the only one left of the damned missions gone horribly wrong, they would nail her to a wall and crucify her with the blame.
“You appeared in a fashion that suggests a Paradox Effect and I felt it the correct response to allow your wounds to mend so we could discuss your appearance.” There was pressure behind her eyes as if someone else was also in her head, it must be the drugs or the Man in Grey was using mind manipulation upon her.
Without meaning to she began to speak, telling of the last earth length year; of the mission the Voidcraft Janus Mark VII Cassani AUC was sent to death on and the last emergency procedure which nearly claimed Mia’s life. A 3 year space marine, who had spent a year battling Reality Deviants on the Front Line in Siberia and the Artic, her crew had lucked out two years ago when they were assigned to patrol missions on the Colonies in the Outer Solar system. All had been well until they had been assigned to pick up a VE technician that had been working at an ItX construct in the Kuniper Belt.
Once there, the Captain received orders from the higher levels of the Union. There was a distress signal that had recently been received. The ship it purported to be from was presumed lost during the beginning of the recent issues with the Dimensional Barrier and since it was just now contacting the Union it was being given top priority and the VC Janus was sent to investigate and retrieve any survivors. Refitted for a 6 month mission the ship left, little knowing they were flying into a death zone. Three months in they had been attacked by deep space creatures repeatedly and the engines had been taken offline. Drifting for what seemed to be a week the engines were brought back online with some jury rigging and they called back for further orders. Shockingly, they were informed they must finish repairs and make all haste to the site of the distress signal as a single message came through indicating they had information on a movement of a new form of Dimensional Anomaly.
“Who ordered you to continue?” His voice broke her out of the dead voice recitation of the events. There was a genuine note of curiosity and surprise in his voice or so it seemed.
“I don’t know. I’d tell you to ask the Captain but he was killed later when we made the rendezvous. As was our navigator, our Lieutenant, half of engineering and three fourths of the Marines.” He only nodded and indicated Mia should continue. “We pulled the ship together and went. However it wasn’t the missing craft we had been told to expect but a… thing.” Again her voice cracked and the Man in Grey furrowed his brow and reached forward to tap at the machinery surrounding the bed. Just a moment later the morphine drip started again and a detached calm settled on the wounded woman.
She continued to speak of the encounter with a sleek black organic craft and the breeching of the Janus’s hull and the corridor battles. According to the other survivors Mia had displayed the talents of the Enlightened crew and had apparently undergone Empowerment of an awesome degree; she remembered none of it. Luck alone saved them as their dying Navigator used his abilities at Enlightened Astronavigation to chart a course within range of a near by spatial anomaly that trapped the organic ship long enough for the Janus to destroy it with her Force Cannons. Lacking the Enlightened crew necessary the Janus was forced again to limp home. The congratulations were brief and no assistance was forth coming according to the orders they were given.
Worse tragedy struck when as they approached Earth space they were informed that the ship would dock for repairs but the crew would be sent to assist an issue in Alaska with a Reality Deviant, classification Dreamspeaker, who required termination under Article Five of the Precepts of Damian. This mission had also gone terribly wrong. The procedures and devices used to set up the Union Paradigm and grab the RD had backfired catastrophically.
“And that’s where you found me I guess. I’ll be damned if I know why we got that set of orders.” Bitterness and grief pour from her and despite effort Mia broke down sobbing. A nurse came bustling in and she was quickly sedated. John Parker, Rogue NWO agent and former Director consulted the data pad he had removed from Mia’s effects. A little effort and some digging yielded her personal profile and history to his perusal.
The child of two un-enlightened Void Engineers she had been earmarked from her first year of high school. Her father, Arthur Oswald Roberts, was a retired Colonel in the Air Force who had served as a test pilot for top secret projects out of the Edwards Air Force base. Before his development of Alzheimer’s he had gone on to education of new VE recruits. He was now in a Veteran’s Administration hospital with the mind of child.
Her mother, Renee Harding-Roberts, had been the child of devout catholic parents and attended private Catholic schools for most of her youth. In 1970 she was one of the first women who attended CalTech in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. Initially contacted by Itineration X for her mathematical skills, rather oddly she had been instead snatched up by the Void Engineers and she abruptly left CalTech for UCLA. Finishing her degree she was shipped to the Halley Academy at the Copernicus Research Center. It was there her parents had met and were married shortly after their return to Earth space. Mia, born Jessica Renee Roberts, was one of a few who had been conceived and born in the COP.
A bright child Mia had attended public schools and excelled in her grades and most specifically in sciences and mathematics to the delight of her parents. After her freshman year of high school they quietly brought her to the attention of their VE supervisor at the NASA Dryden flight research center. Guided and tested from an early age she showed the same potential for Enlightened Science as her parents; the potential for a raw and very strong Genius. A curriculum of outside activities - Math and Science camps, camping and hiking, and flight training - were designed to encourage her in the Technocratic direction. Like a duck to water they proved a successful method and Mia graduated a year early at barely 17 and was accepted into CalTech for a Bachelors degree in Applied Physics and Quantum Mechanics. Graduating in three years with a 3.98 GPA a push from higher ups in the Void Engineers earned her a scholarship to MIT.
“Water. Please.” Mia’s voice interrupted the reading. Her eyes were dry now and haunted.
Handing her a glass of water John regarded her. “The physician says you are capable of leaving. Please shower and change into the civilian clothes next to the shower. We will be leaving once you have finished and when we do please stay within the field I will be generating to avoid reminding them to ask about your unusual physical enhancements.”
The next day found her waking up on a drab couch in a drab apartment with a world of pain. Next to her was a simple breakfast and two aspirin. Eating swiftly, she was still unable to finish before the Man in Grey, now dressed in a simple white shirt and black slacks came out.
“I am John Parker. Are you aware that you appear to suffer from nightmares while you sleep?” He took her silence as acquiescence and seated himself in an armchair across from her. Behind the chair lay a bag with some of her gear sticking out of the top and she could see the outline of an energy weapon under the chairs covering. “I am sure you are wondering why you are here. I am trying to determine what to do with you: whether I should reprogram you, terminate you or find a something else. You pose a threat to me as I am no longer a member of the Technocratic Union.” Mia’s heart stopped for a moment and in her drugged condition she froze. When would her damned luck change? If this man was rogue and he had not acted yet there must be something he felt he could gain but there was no way to tell what it was without playing along.
“Fine, You are a Rogue. Why?”
John ignored the fact that it was a blatant stall for time. “Until I know what I am to do with you I will not disclose a full briefing. I will share the synopsis of why I have left the Union. I believe that they are ignoring a threat to the Paradigm that will shatter it and devastate the masses. The Ivory tower has forgotten the true intent of the Precepts of Damian.”
“Why didn’t you push the issue? Why not work within the Union for the good of the Masses and take it to the next level up?” Stalling still, she was unsure if physically she was up to trying to take on someone who could go rogue or if he had implanted commands or conditioning in her mind to prevent such actions.
“I did. They ignored me.” John produced her datapad and handed it back to her. On it was a summary of statistical anomalies all leading to the same conclusion: that there would be a massive breaking of the Paradigm by the year 2005. Examining the summarized report closely Mia began to question his methods and how he reached such statistics. An hour later it was apparent she understood at least the basics of his methods, Enlightened Math though they may be, and understood far more than a simple Marine should.
“You appear to understand the mathematical principles underlying my report. How is it you became a space marine with such qualifications?”
“I failed my final mathematics test by three points.” Her voice was bitter; the only test she had ever failed.
“Why did you not retake the test?”
“I did. I failed by six points on that one. It’s always harder the second time around. So instead of becoming a helmsman and navigator I qualified to become an officer in the Border Corps Division with the Marines.”
With some probing John received the full story. Her Advanced Statistics and Projected Mathematics teacher had been an ItX member on loan to the Academy for the term. Designation 001100100100, the students nicknamed him “Bob”, had taken an immediate dislike to Mia after finding out who her parents were. The issue hadn’t been helped by his refusal to deal with certain aspects of Chaos math and her continued baiting of him by bringing those points up. By the end of the year it was clear he had a personal deep hatred of not only Mia but her mother as well. From inference he had had an affair with her, prior to his Empowerment, and it had ended badly. It was his final that she had failed twice and denied her the ability to pilot in the space she so dearly loved. While she spoke John appeared to be making notes on her datapad which he then handed her after she had stopped speaking.
“It is 93.578% likely that your test was designed to fail you by a percentage that would not be flagged by the grading computers. It appears that ‘Bob’ has deviations from routine actions and your failure was the end result of a personal and deeply illogical vendetta it carries against yourself and your mother. In light of all the data you have provided and my personal knowledge of ‘Bob’, it is the only likely and statistically possible conclusion that you failed due to personal politics.” Each word was like a knife; denied the dream of piloting in space because a fucking computer brained weasel was upset her mother had dumped him and his Convention. The pain of fingernails digging into palms brought Mia back from the anger.
“It is also 85.624% likely that the missions you have recently survived were designed to terminate your and/or your unit. There are coincidences that chaos math cannot explain and the failure to send assistance when your ship had been disabled is against all standard procedures and protocols. It is additionally likely that if the first probability is correct, as the remaining known officer you will be held responsible for the failure of your Units last mission.” The matter of fact tone was chilling. Nothing being said seemed to surprise him; Mia wondered if he had seen this coming.
“If you read the next section there on your Datapad you will see my report regarding the Statistical chance of an apocalyptical event by the year 2005. You may not follow all of the mathematics involved as statistics was not your major but you appear to comprehend the advanced mathematics enough to understand the basic principles involved.” John sat back in his chair as she began to read the report.
The main thrust of the report was the statistical likely hood that the Reality Deviant and Superstitionist beliefs of a world wide catastrophe were supported by statistics and information that could be graphed and tracked. An event of this caliber would destroy the current paradigm and cause the swift death of the majority of the masses. The rest would be left in a world populated by monsters and deviants who would remake the paradigm in their image. As they talked through the larger report he led her down the mathematical processes individually and they began to become clearer. While John guided her through the procedure, quietly, to Empower her mind further he told of how he had come to leave the Ivory Tower.
The report had been presented to his supervisor, who returned it without comment. He pursued the issue, ending up in a meeting with other Directors and those above him and laid out each piece of the puzzle that formed so bleak a picture. He was informed that the actions he suggested were needed were not only unnecessary but would cause problems for the Five Year Plan. Further resistance to dropping the idea lead him to Room 101 and reprogrammed to lead a field office. But his Eidolon was to strong and his Genius would not rest. Numbers and horrors came to him at night and eventually he broke through the social conditioning the NWO had implanted. Arranging for a series of events on what should have been a routine mission allowed him to seem to be dead amongst the carnage of a data gathering gone wrong.
“What do you plan to do about this report now? You’ve left and this doesn’t seem to be the type of thing one person, no matter how Enlightened, could handle.” Mia’s instincts for saving the masses, the heroics of the Void Engineer’s missions warred with the implanted conditioning that the Technocracy was the only hope for Man in a universe arrayed against them. Taught young that it was a person’s responsibility to make the world a safer, better place, Mia wondered at the bureaucracy that corrupted this simple ideal.
“You are aware of the findings on the Superstitionist threat in the year 2001, correct?” He continued after she nodded her assent. “It was determined that they are less of a threat than other forms of Reality Deviants. The Classification Vampire RDs while individual in their powers are on the large scale working for the same ultimate end goal. The Classification Werewolf, while having no discernable goal we have yet determined, still presents a clear and present danger to the Masses. The Superstitionists, while all seeking to shape the paradigm do not share a common view of it. They each pursue their own goals which are often counter to the views of their associates.
“However, it is known that they have at least some feelings towards preserving the masses from the other Reality Deviant classes. As such, I feel that it is probable that I will be able to find those among the Superstitionists who will understand my report and assist me in preventing the destruction of the Paradigm and of the Masses themselves.”
They sat in silence for some time as these revelations processed. Returning to the Union was the first consideration. It was where she belonged, with her Convention and with her beloved space. But it was also where the nightmares came from; wasted lives on a personal vendetta and the memories of running in the Things Beyond. Perhaps it would be fine but if half of what John had said and Mia suspected were correct then she would be the sacrificial lamb to sweep the whole series of events under the table. And if she went back, what of the report and the hard mathematics showing the Masses, the very existence so hard fought and won, would be destroyed and the monsters would win. A mobius loop of cons and pros, should and shouldn’t dos ran through her head for nearly an hour until she finally regarded John with a grim expression.
“What do you intend with me? I don’t think you just idly tell everyone with a grasp of math your findings. That would be illogical. Why tell me at all?”
“I am presented with four options: Reprogram you and allow you to return to the Void Engineers. It is known your convention is on the outside of much that happens within the Union. The second option is to terminate your existence as you pose a threat to mine and my goals. The third is I can reprogram you to forget all this we have spoken of and the Technocracy as a whole and allow you to live out some span of a normal life.” Mia regarded him suspiciously as he spoke and her reply was some time in coming.
“You said it yourself, statistically I am likely to bear the brunt of blame if I go back. This is assuming they do not break through my reprogramming at your hands. That makes option one most distasteful. I’m sort of attached to life, I fought this long to keep it, so Option two is one I would rather avoid. And if I’m Empowered with Genius as you assert I am… how would I avoid notice when I began to use Enlightened Science in front of the masses? That does rather neatly shoot down option three as it would likely lead the Union back to yourself. What is option four? You didn’t say.”
John looked steadily at her before answering. For the first time there was something behind the Man in Grey mask he wore, a sort of hope and a bit of worry. “The fourth option is that you, who seem to uphold the intent of the Precepts of Damian and the creed of your Convention to Explore and Protect the Masses from unnatural things, could join in my goals. Assist myself and those who I convince to the cause and attempt to save the masses. I can instruct you in the matters of Enlightened Science and understanding your Eidolon and Genius. Once you have mastered these abilities, you can still choose to be reprogrammed and set loose to live in quiet amongst the masses. Or you can turn them to good cause,“ He almost smiled, Mia swore.
“And as it is statistically likely you should have died in the Paradox Effect in Alaska, they should not be actively seeking you out. Particularly not in the Southwestern United States.” He waited again with the infinite patience of a man who has run the numbers and knows where the odds lay. Mia struggled with the concepts of duty and loyalty until she had exhausted all avenues of logical possibility. John watched, knowing each argument she had with herself. One did not become a Man in Grey without knowing something of human nature and how one reacts to conflicting priorities.
Her voice sounded strange to her, hollow and defeated. “I’ll give you one year. You teach me of the ways of the Enlightened and show me your words in actions, Greyman. In a year we’ll renegotiate. Deal?”
With a half smile he extended his hand. “Deal. Now, would you care for something to eat? There is a number of excellent restaurants that deliver here.”