In the Warpwold of the Terminus, beyond time and reality lies the Ark of Worlds. Currently the Ark is not a peaceful place.
The alarms chimed incessantly throughout the Ark. Inside the cavernous structure was a veritable hive of activity. Nothing the toiling hands and minds did seemed to make the alarms abate. If anything the loud exchanges of the person present simply added to the din.
Within the main observatory one woman, thin, scholarly, deceptively young was apparently arguing, debating and conversing with herself. Each retort contained a fractionally differnt inflection hinting that despite there was one body, there was more than one person at work.
“Unexpected reality turbulence!”
“We have a newly emerged Microverse. Rapid ascent from the Terminus.”
“It’s on trajectory to collide with Earth Prime.”
“Probable impact?”
“Almost certain.”
“Jane is there.”
“Pull her out. Pull her out now!”
“Someone shut that damn alarm off.”
"I'm on both!"
The cacophony of noise ceased but the heated exchange the woman was holding with herself continued unabated.
"Thank you. Now we can think."
“Activate counter measures.”
“Jane’s free and in transit to the Ark. She’s not happy.”
“I don’t care if she is happy or not, I just want one of my best operatives out of harm’s way. She can yell at us later.”
“What’s the reality barrier tension of the new microverse?”
“Small size means robust but the rapid ascent from the Terminus is burning off tension fast. I’m not sure when it will stablise.”
“Will the microverse rupture? Maybe collapse?”
“Unlikely.”
“Will it rupture Earth Prime’s reality?”
“Unknown.”
“Counter measures have failed.”
“Chance of scuttling it?”
“It’s too small and fast.”
“Reality tension of new microverse is softening. It’s going to be close but it might be enough for Earth Prime to integrate the new reality into itself.”
"Get Jane to try deflection. Do we have time for Pulsar to get in for a quick recon?"
"Negative on both."
“Impact!”
Silence descended on the scene. The woman stopped. Her face flicked between various emotions with unnerving rapidity.
“Analysis indicates… integration. Due to the comparative size and age of the two realities we have minimal reality realignment in Earth Prime. Most microverse reality was rejected. I am confirming minor alterations on Earth Prime.”
“Jane is on board the Ark and inbound here to the Nexus.”
“What changed on Earth Prime?”
“Preliminary analysis indicates a minor overwrite of some parties.”
“Anyone significant?”
“Maybe… we can confirm at least one entangled group. There may be more.”
“Who can you confirm?”
“Mostly former Next Gen members.”
Swearing.
The tall athletic form of Jane swept into the room. Her habitual jeans, t-shirt and flannel were absent. In their place was the red and black "uniform" she wore when she assumed the role of "Genesis". Jane blew errant red hair from her face. Her face was flushed with exertion.
"This better be good Vicki," Jane fumed.
The other woman, Vicki, ignored Jane and continued the conversation with herself. “That’s a lynchpin continuity group. Who in that subset exactly?”
It was clear that Vicki was not oblivious to Jane. The "talk to the hand" gesture was quite clear.
“Looks like an older cohort," Vicki continued. "We now, and now always have had, some variances to type 6 super cluster origins and historical events.”
Jane forced her way into the conversation. “Again Vicki? So now we have even more deviations from type 6. Why do we keep getting minor course adjustments for Earth Prime.”
“The Earth Prime orbit remains stable, just a little further away from the Type 6 Super cluster.”
Jane's releif was clear as she sagged against a convenient console. “I can live with that.”
“A hiccup in reality. The world changes and no one in it knows." Which ever Vicki was currently speaking it was clearly of a more poetic bent than the others. "Once again, no one will know but us here in the Ark and only because we were outside the reality and happened to observe it at the time.”
Vicki continued. “Sometimes I wonder if we preserve variations or if we are a collection of paradoxes and things that never happened. Imagine the changes that occur all the time that are never recorded and therefore never technically occurred at all.”
Jane noted that this quantum version of Vicki had been speaking longer than any other thus far. Jane also recalled that if less analytical iterations of Viki were manifesting then clearly Vicki Prime was tired.
Abruptly Vicki's tone switched from maudlin to being driven once more. “Jane, you’re anchored to Earth Prime, right?”
"Uh yeah," Jane sometimes had trouble knowing exactly which iteration of Vicki knew what. "I just set up shop there. Got a job, apartment, stopped working for you. The whole shebang."
Vicki didn't react to Jane's proclamation. “Remember your memory will synch into the new modified reality. The realignment of Earth Prime is currently localised but there may be flow on effects in other connected realities. Due to your cross linked reality anchor, point of origin and nature of your powers I expect there to be some limited flow on back to Earth-65126 when you visit home. We’ll keep an eye on it.”
Jane gave Vicki her best unfazed expression. "Just like always. It's why I avoid the archives. I hate finding cool stuff that I once did but now never happened."
“Okay people, listen up. It was a near miss and everything has settled down. Log it. Update key staff. Back to work people.” While Vicki may have appeared to be talking to herself she was dismissing the multitude of others in her head.
Peace finally returned to the Ark of Worlds.
The alarms chimed incessantly throughout the Ark. Inside the cavernous structure was a veritable hive of activity. Nothing the toiling hands and minds did seemed to make the alarms abate. If anything the loud exchanges of the person present simply added to the din.
Within the main observatory one woman, thin, scholarly, deceptively young was apparently arguing, debating and conversing with herself. Each retort contained a fractionally differnt inflection hinting that despite there was one body, there was more than one person at work.
“Unexpected reality turbulence!”
“We have a newly emerged Microverse. Rapid ascent from the Terminus.”
“It’s on trajectory to collide with Earth Prime.”
“Probable impact?”
“Almost certain.”
“Jane is there.”
“Pull her out. Pull her out now!”
“Someone shut that damn alarm off.”
"I'm on both!"
The cacophony of noise ceased but the heated exchange the woman was holding with herself continued unabated.
"Thank you. Now we can think."
“Activate counter measures.”
“Jane’s free and in transit to the Ark. She’s not happy.”
“I don’t care if she is happy or not, I just want one of my best operatives out of harm’s way. She can yell at us later.”
“What’s the reality barrier tension of the new microverse?”
“Small size means robust but the rapid ascent from the Terminus is burning off tension fast. I’m not sure when it will stablise.”
“Will the microverse rupture? Maybe collapse?”
“Unlikely.”
“Will it rupture Earth Prime’s reality?”
“Unknown.”
“Counter measures have failed.”
“Chance of scuttling it?”
“It’s too small and fast.”
“Reality tension of new microverse is softening. It’s going to be close but it might be enough for Earth Prime to integrate the new reality into itself.”
"Get Jane to try deflection. Do we have time for Pulsar to get in for a quick recon?"
"Negative on both."
“Impact!”
Silence descended on the scene. The woman stopped. Her face flicked between various emotions with unnerving rapidity.
“Analysis indicates… integration. Due to the comparative size and age of the two realities we have minimal reality realignment in Earth Prime. Most microverse reality was rejected. I am confirming minor alterations on Earth Prime.”
“Jane is on board the Ark and inbound here to the Nexus.”
“What changed on Earth Prime?”
“Preliminary analysis indicates a minor overwrite of some parties.”
“Anyone significant?”
“Maybe… we can confirm at least one entangled group. There may be more.”
“Who can you confirm?”
“Mostly former Next Gen members.”
Swearing.
The tall athletic form of Jane swept into the room. Her habitual jeans, t-shirt and flannel were absent. In their place was the red and black "uniform" she wore when she assumed the role of "Genesis". Jane blew errant red hair from her face. Her face was flushed with exertion.
"This better be good Vicki," Jane fumed.
The other woman, Vicki, ignored Jane and continued the conversation with herself. “That’s a lynchpin continuity group. Who in that subset exactly?”
It was clear that Vicki was not oblivious to Jane. The "talk to the hand" gesture was quite clear.
“Looks like an older cohort," Vicki continued. "We now, and now always have had, some variances to type 6 super cluster origins and historical events.”
Jane forced her way into the conversation. “Again Vicki? So now we have even more deviations from type 6. Why do we keep getting minor course adjustments for Earth Prime.”
“The Earth Prime orbit remains stable, just a little further away from the Type 6 Super cluster.”
Jane's releif was clear as she sagged against a convenient console. “I can live with that.”
“A hiccup in reality. The world changes and no one in it knows." Which ever Vicki was currently speaking it was clearly of a more poetic bent than the others. "Once again, no one will know but us here in the Ark and only because we were outside the reality and happened to observe it at the time.”
Vicki continued. “Sometimes I wonder if we preserve variations or if we are a collection of paradoxes and things that never happened. Imagine the changes that occur all the time that are never recorded and therefore never technically occurred at all.”
Jane noted that this quantum version of Vicki had been speaking longer than any other thus far. Jane also recalled that if less analytical iterations of Viki were manifesting then clearly Vicki Prime was tired.
Abruptly Vicki's tone switched from maudlin to being driven once more. “Jane, you’re anchored to Earth Prime, right?”
"Uh yeah," Jane sometimes had trouble knowing exactly which iteration of Vicki knew what. "I just set up shop there. Got a job, apartment, stopped working for you. The whole shebang."
Vicki didn't react to Jane's proclamation. “Remember your memory will synch into the new modified reality. The realignment of Earth Prime is currently localised but there may be flow on effects in other connected realities. Due to your cross linked reality anchor, point of origin and nature of your powers I expect there to be some limited flow on back to Earth-65126 when you visit home. We’ll keep an eye on it.”
Jane gave Vicki her best unfazed expression. "Just like always. It's why I avoid the archives. I hate finding cool stuff that I once did but now never happened."
“Okay people, listen up. It was a near miss and everything has settled down. Log it. Update key staff. Back to work people.” While Vicki may have appeared to be talking to herself she was dismissing the multitude of others in her head.
Peace finally returned to the Ark of Worlds.
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