Event: Consolidation Theory, Part Six

[snowblindmods]

Characters: the marked, the unmarked, and their rescuers
Location: ???
Date: Morning 356
Summary: Time to get out of here.
Warnings: gore, psychological horror, warn for specifics in the subject lines

Part Six OOC Post

Comments

cw continues throughout thread

[thewarningafter]

Or they got jealous of Miller hogging all the torture sessions.

[If they're following this line of supposition.]

I know my perceptions have been altered. Beyond the drugs...I know the second wave of people see this place differently. That it's dirty for them, that they don't see force fields in the doorways.

[termineur]

Yeah, and we saw some of that in the videos that went out through the tablet. I don't know why it's set up that way- why Miller would even have the two groups see something different in the first place.

Of course, I snuck in- had to sneak past the static figures and everything. And I'm seeing the big empty room. There's some sinks on the edge but- that's about it. It's interesting- every so often I'm seeing someone walk to a sink and walk all the way back. That's a lot of perception to change if you're seeing the sink in the room. I wonder if anyone feels the extra exertion.

[thewarningafter]

Considering the force fields are keeping us all in...best way to keep someone in place is to convince them they can't move....

The sink's just right there.

[He points to the corner of his nonexistent cell.]

You saw the static figures? Those are real for you, they're still static?

[termineur]

[ He squints, looking where Stephen's pointing but obviously not seeing anything. His head turns to look at where the sinks actually are, then back to the spot, visualizing it in the space. ]

Yeah, I saw them. I don't know if it's some visual representation of Miller's control, or if he's hiding real people sent to catch us, but I definitely saw them. Made sure they didn't see me.

You know, they could be anomalies that Miller's figured out how to control to some extent. You felt dizzy and weak when they came to get you, right? I felt a little dizzy when one got kinda close.

[thewarningafter]

Weak and dizzy, yeah. I didn't pass out, though, and god knows they touched me.

[He does pull away now, not making eye contact. He'd panicked. Fought, when he knew fighting wouldn't do any good--but he hadn't been able to cope with being taken away to face the unknown at their hands.]

[termineur]

...yeah.

[ He didn't see it in any of the videos he'd watched before, but even thinking about it is making him break out in a cold sweat. It's all too reminiscent of the Tower, and he can just imagine how it was for Stephen. No wonder the guy's checked out.

Gabriel's not entirely sure how to reach him, he admits to himself. Maybe he's gotten better at connecting with people over time, but he's not good at this. How do you snap someone back to reality when reality is just as ridiculous? When you're used to things making sense?

The only thing he knows is he's not going to leave without Stephen. ]

So that's probably not accurate, then. We know they can build androids- maybe Miller just shoved some VR static on some robots and sent them out.

[thewarningafter]

[Addressing what's happened logically isn't the worst approach, really. The one thing Stephen hasn't had in a long time is control...or even the illusion of it that comes from thinking he understands. His brow furrows as he thinks it through.]

Or something that triggers a response in the nanomachines, causing a spike in MN poisoning....

[termineur]

[ Gabriel nods thoughtfully. ]

Right. It could easily be just a concentration in radiation or anything else that'd cause our nanomachines to glitch out- maybe not as high as the anomalies, but high enough to make us dizzy when we get close? Miller's got access to whatever's underground, so maybe he has access to something that wasn't hit with the full force of the fallout.

[thewarningafter]

Or the androids are giving off radiation, inadequate shielding of the power supply....

[Assuming they're androids. Assuming any of their perceptions can be relied upon as data. Stephen shakes his head.]

He shouldn't have this kind of control at all. How does he keep wresting it away from the Admin?

[termineur]

That's not a hard thing to figure. He's IT. And when even the whole town runs on wifi, then the guy who set it up is going to be able to basically play god.

[ He looks annoyed but plays it off with a shrug. ]

I'm sure they've got safeguards and failsafes and all of that, but most of that's probably gone by now. If he was doing security for the Admin system, then he knows all the weak spots. The big question is more-- how did he acclimate himself to the current setup if he supposedly has been in cryo for a thousand years? Wouldn't it have changed quite a bit? Especially with the nanomachines being 'adaptable', whatever that means.

[thewarningafter]

Unless he wasn't in cryo. Unless he's been uploaded to the server this entire time and we haven't been dealing with a physical human being from the start.

[Stephen's own frustration wears through in his tone.]

[termineur]

Yeah, exactly.

[ Stephen's definitely thinking about all this, now. It's a good sign. ]

And the data collective, when I talked to them, they told me that cryo didn't exist as a technology here. So I'm willing to bet he's on the server too. Which is making me wonder why we haven't been lucky enough to come across his dead body yet. I'd really like for his data ghost to head for data heaven already.

[thewarningafter]

Data oblivion....

[Guess who doesn't believe in heaven.]

He said he and the Admin were bunkered underneath the town. It's possible both of them died down there.

[termineur]

Very possible. That might even explain his cryo claim- maybe that's something he came up with himself to explain how he's around after a thousand years. It might be hard to reconcile the rest of it right after you're 'reactivated' or whatever.

[thewarningafter]

We could all be making up explanations for ourselves...I could be making all of this up for myself.

[It's a somewhat idle thought. He doesn't really think that. Doesn't want to think that.]

[termineur]

It's possible, but unlikely. I've been watching for signs of that since I first got here. Our minds occasionally have a hard time interpreting what we're seeing, whenever there's a particularly strange glitch or anomaly out there, but on the whole? I agree with House. Our experiences have a layer of augmented reality over them, but we are here.

[ He smirks just a little. ]

Still not sure we have our own bodies, but at least we've got something.

[thewarningafter]

And here is one place to half of us, and something else to the rest. And then the third group, you....

This is real to me. The cell, the force field...it's as real as anything else I've encountered in Norfinbury.

[But the fact that he's voluntarily bringing the conversation back around to that topic is at least a sign that he's considering it's a subjective kind of reality.]

[termineur]

Yeah, I can imagine. But if someone put you here, and he has control of the AR in our nanomachines, it makes sense he'd build a cell system for you all to stay in. I mean, maybe there'd be a series of cells underground in this town- we know it was hardly a normal Alaskan town- but would it look like what you're seeing? Or would it be run down and half-broken from a millenia of decay?

I also suspect with AR, it's harder to take away what's there than paint over it. If I was the one seeing things incorrectly, I'd have to be weaving around all sorts of walls I can't see. Have I done that, as far as you can tell?

[ He knows that Stephen was pretty much Not Here when he arrived, but he wants the guy to place himself in this space more, and really think about it. ]

[thewarningafter]

[Thinking about it means thinking more about the other places where he's been put against his will over the months.]

The pit looked clean.

[And that was probably fake, too. Had to be fake. He knew that even while he was there, but he's never really learned to cope with the fact that he can't trust his own senses. He shuts his eyes; works his jaw.]

...You came from the wrong side of the room. The door's on the other side.

[termineur]

[ If Gabriel were in Stephen's shoes, he suspects he'd be having just as hard a time accepting that his eyes weren't telling the truth. Especially after the Tower, when everything in those cells blurred together. So he tries to keep it focused on the now and inching out those differences. ]

I came from the back? So maybe I came through the wall, from your perspective? You want me to try it again, see what it looks like to you? You'll have to point where the walls are, but if I walk through them instead of around them- I'd say that's a point in favor of me seeing reality.

[ He starts to stand, ready to try this out. ]

[thewarningafter]

If you're really here.

[That's the other option, Gabe. Still, Stephen nods--for a second he lifts his hand to gesture at the far wall where Gabriel must have come through, but then he turns and presses his hand against the wall directly behind himself instead, fingers splaying in midair from Gabriel's perspective.]

Here.

[termineur]

There?

[ That's a good enough place to start. He walks with purpose, past Strange and where his hand is splayed out. He marches back after going another five feet or so, passes through where he expects the wall to be, and then turns around and tries standing right where it would be. ]

What does it look like to you? I've always wanted the ability to be incorporeal.

[ He's always wanted every ability, but shhhh. ]

[thewarningafter]

[And just like that Gabriel is gone, right through the wall. Stephen knew to expect that on some level, but it still makes him sit bolt upright, turning in place to climb to his feet and stare at the wall. He's reaching out to touch it when Gabriel suddenly appears--or rather, about half of Gabriel reappears. He looks the other man up and down.]

It looks like you're halfway through a wall. Like you're on the astral plane.

[He reaches out and puts his hand on Gabriel's shoulder...and gives him a little push to see if he'll disappear back through it.]

[termineur]

Ha, is that what the astral plane looks like?

[ He'd never have guessed. He isn't sure what Stephen's trying at first, with the hand on his shoulder. So he resists at first. But once he notices the direction he'd be going, he steps back through the 'wall'. ]

Testing the limits?

[ Wait, he's on the wrong side, so maybe Stephen can't even hear him. He steps back through. And even though Stephen is now three feet away when he was just five, it's time to ask the question. ]

Did you hear me just now, when I stepped back?

[thewarningafter]

Kind of.

[That's the answer to several questions that were just asked. His hand stops short of the "wall" when Gabriel goes through it and the way his eyes don't focus in the right place makes it clear that he can't see the other man. The moment Gabriel's visible again is marked by Stephen's eyes locking on him once more.]

Like you were in the next cell over. Who--who's in there? Did they get out?