You guys get this because you've chosen to go with characters from the original Starfish game.

As Alicia and Cassandra settled into the simulation chair, the familiar sense of a weight pressing in on them abruptly stopped.

Truth was, UNISON and AEGIS had never adequately calibrated the simulation process to work with Cassandra's unique physiology.  Thy were still hopelessly sight-dominated.  Dr Khan had made great strides in the sensory feedback area such that Cassandra's own brain provided the appropriate sensory stimuli, but it still felt hollow somehow.

But this... this was something different.

"Is the simulation engaged?" a woman's voice, quiet but precise with the barest hint of a west-coast drawl.

"Ma'am." Dr Khan.  He'd been overseeing the simulation.

"Good.  Get these two ladies out of there.  I'[ll meet with them in interrogation room one."  the quick click-clack of heels on tile, then a brief silence.

Dr Khan removed the blindfold from Alicia and the electrodes that had been affixed to their skulls.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Dr Khan said.   He was an older black man with an enormous mane of dreadlocks and a relaxed smile.   "Room one has the highest level of soundproofing.   Whatever Director Maddox wants to discuss, she's not taking any chances."

Interrogation Room One was set up with a low table and three comfy chairs spread at equal distances.   There was a modern chronme and glass tea-kettle and cups laid out with a small flower arrangement in the middle.

In one of the chairs, a lady with the slim build of a former athlete laid back.  She wore a conservative blue pant-suit, and a pair of low heels laid to one side of the chair, while she crinkled her toes.

Calpurnia Maddox had been Director of the Emerald City office for six months and had cleaned house.  Staff turnover was at an all-time high and rumor was that she had a vendetta,, though for whom or against what wasn't clear.

In person, though, she could have passed for any of a dozen nondescript professionals.  Doctor, banker, engineer.    Except that her eyes were intense and she kept a slow rhythm tapping with one foot on the floor.

"Ladies." she said.  "Please come in.  I didn't know what kind of tea you preferred.  So I'm afraid I defaulted to Earl Grey.   I"m sorry we haven't had a chance for me to brief you before this.  But there's a fair bit we need to discuss.

As far as your simulation?  It's active.  Drs Khan and Hollins tell me that they have enough data to model your actions.  And at any rate, you don't need to be assessed for suitability.

So...  You can continue to post in the Simulations thread.  But I wanted to have some extra information available to you two to give context.  What you do with it is entirely up to you.

"You were both members of The Original Starfish Project.  You worked with Sebastian Swift in New York.    I know about the colonies.  Swift Recommended you two for this and I agreed.  Because I believe there's a war coming soon.  And I need  to know what we're facing."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:28, Sun 08 Mar 2020.

Project Elysium has been studying the colonies.  Doctor Harding has identified nine primary strains of the Alnaas, each with unique temperaments.    Apparently, the Alnaas encode their history directly into your DNA.  Everything you've done, everything they've experienced.   But, like any body of information that size, so much of it gets archived and forgotten or treated as myth and legend.

Doctor Harding's colony has an ancient myth of an exodus from an eternal war.   From what we can tell, they've been fighting this ideological conflict by proxy for... well, from before they colonized doctor Harding.

She estimates that nearly two thirds of all metahumans have been colonized.  Though from what Doctor Harding tells me, only first and second generations--yours--actually communicated with their hosts.

Totally your call whether you want that to be a thing or not anymore.  If not, then there had to be some sort of precipitating event that made them go quiet.  And that would likely have been contact with a specific individual... Willing to discuss, 'cause I have nothing defined.  Just trying to restructure what was to fit with the current setup.

At Mr Swift's behest, the existence of the Alnaas has been classified.  This puts us in a difficult position of needing to gather intelligence and assess our position whilst still maintaining the secret.

We've identified the Silver storm as--we believe--the first time the Alnaas have successfully transported via an airborne vector.    With new metahuman eruptions happening every day and a disproportionate number of them hapepning here in Emerald city, I want to know what this war is about and if we are in danger.


This message was last edited by the player at 14:35, Sun 08 Mar 2020.

  "Wait, so you have a simulation of me giving the simulation shit for being simulated?  Because I know that's what I'd be doing."  Cassandra laughed, bright and bubbly.  She'd been so relieved to get out of the simulation, she hadn't cared where they were going instead, and the news of war had done nothing to dim her spirits.

  "So our genes get turned into a history book?  That's awesome.  I wonder if mine include the future; the Cassandrii have a lot of prophets.  Hey, Alicia, you got an Olympic games in there or what?"  She had to squat nearly to the ground to poke the tiny woman with her elbow, but she did it.  And then, at the last instant before the Director grew cross enough to say something about her inattention, she took a swallow of tea and casually traipsed into the actual conversation.

  "So is it that none of the other colonies has been able to elaborate on that myth?  You've got a bajillion little brain-squids who came to earth to get away from some huge war of the squishies on another planet or another dimension or something, and it's been..."  Cassandra paused to tap a random-looking pattern of her fingertips together.  "Thirty-eight generations of cooling off and forgetting since Harding turned into a biodome, plus however long they were swimming around before they were discovered.  And you're seriously worried that the groups back home haven't chilled out or forgotten in all that time.  Why?"

"Call it paranoia."  Maddox said without missing a beat.  "So many generations have passed for them.  But we know from our own people that myths carry enormous power.  Was there really a Jesus Christ?  It doesn't matter.  It matters that millions of people believe it and some came to believe it so fervently that crusades and wars and terrorist acts happened because of people's respective beliefs regarding those myths.

More recently, though...  we've documented several interpersonal conflicts between metahumans who have no prior documented contact.  Earth-Mover and Cascade was one such.  There was no precedent for it because there was no ideological or historical precedent.  They'd never met each other, never interacted with each other--not even on the Internet.  It's possible there was communication we aren't aware of, of course.  But we have eight other metahuman conflicts in the past year that match the same set of data-points.

Doctor Harding theorizes that there is some sort of trigger involved, perhaps an ancient... racial kind of thing.  Or perhaps a Manchurian Candidate scenario.

Mr. Swift wanted me to keep you in the loop on this.  One of your primary roles will be the mentorship of the newly erupted.  This puts you in the perfect position to assess whether there is any strength to Doctor Harding's theory.

"For my part... I haven't formed an opinion yet on what this means.  To you, to me, to the... un-colonized."  Maddox offered a softer smile.  It was clear she'd finished off the rehearsed portion of the discussion.  "I'm hoping you'll help me form an opinion.  We're going to have to put forth a policy sooner or later.  We have right up until the colonies become public. So, I need you to help me understand."

Being low to the ground thanks to her reduced size, Alicia immediately noticed the steady tapping of Director Maddox's foot upon entering the Interrogation Room and assumed it to be a sign of impatience.  That seemed to be confirmed when the director started the discussion as soon as she and Cassandra had entered the room.

"It seems kind of weird to be talking about them and making plans when they're in the room with us," the tiny woman tried to explain.  "I can only tell you about my personal experiences and what were originally told after the therapy."

She took a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing.

"Although the colony has communicated with me, we haven't had what I would call deep conversations -- nothing about a war or even their history.  I would almost describe them as being...", she looked a little bit guilty as she finished what had always been a private thought, "...primitive.  I mean, they were praising me like I was some kind of god or something."  Alicia glanced over at Cassandra to see if she had the same type of experience.

"Obviously, I can't know for sure whether or not they are capable of communicating with the other colonies somehow without being aware of it, but I don't have the feeling that they are doing that unless they are pretending to be naive when they are communicating with us."

  "Oh yeah, totally a god," Cassandra confirmed, not sounding embarrassed in the slightest.  "I try to stay involved, you know, keep any crazy heresies from cropping up.  Imagine if there was a schism, right?"  She grinned for a bit at that thought before raising her head toward Maddox again.

  "And we are, honestly.  I mean, compared to normal people, we're at least up there with the Aztec and Sumerian hero-gods.  But for the little guys?  Were the Hellenes crazy to pray to Gaia?  I wouldn't say that.  I control life for their entire civilization, and they've done a lot to...  Hm."  Cassandra turned her head toward the door and chewed on the inside of one cheek for a few seconds, thinking.  Maybe a few seconds.  It was always hard to tell with her.

  "I think... I'm probably the one who's had them the longest.  It's thirty-eight generations for Harding, more like twenty-four for most of the initial group.  I'm at forty-five—the speakers have kept track.  It's kind of like having an ant colony that can hold a conversation."

"Your concern is valid." Maddox said.  "It's actually the reason why Swift recommended you two.   It's a risk.  Definitely a risk.   But however this plays out, we're going to end up taking a side.  They're just too integrated into our society for us to even attempt the Chamberlain accords.   At it's worst, we can safeguard our own and minimize loss-of-life.

"I'm not colonized.  So, I don't know.  I'm hoping you two can help give us a direction.  We don't want to blow it out of proportion but we don't want to be caught with our pants down either."

Which brings us to The Aberrants.  President Portman is considering labeling the Aberrants a terrorist movement.    Much of our activities here will be trying to acquire information on the Aberrant movement. 


--
Swift: Sebastian Swifdt, the guy who funded the original Project Starfish, started the original UN pilot project for AEGIS.  Now an advisor to the UN on metahuman affairs.

Also, Lachesis, You've definitely got a good grasp on how I envision them...  THanks!