snowblindrpg | Event: Consolidation Theory, Part Six

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.

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.

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.

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.]

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.

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.]

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. ]

[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.

[ 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. ]

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.

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. ]

[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.]

Edited 2018-07-06 02:56 (UTC)

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?

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?

It's sort of hard to tell, because you're all sitting around- but there was no one very close by. Whoever it was must've gotten out.

[ He says this while peering that direction. Couldn't there have been lines on the floor to denote where the cells were supposed to be? ]

So you even heard my voice muffled- damn, no wonder the illusion's hard to break.

A very complete illusion...or a subjective reality.

[Stephen reaches up to touch Gabriel's shoulder again. He stands there frowning, taking one deep breath and then another--and then he curls weak, crooked fingers into Gabriel's shirt.]

Go through again.

[He's not waiting, though; he shifts his weight to take a step forward, hanging on tight as he can.]

[ His eyes search Stephen's, as if trying to make sure he really is ready-- but then Stephen's already moving. He's clearly made up his mind. ]

Okay.

[ He steps forward, half-expecting to feel some of the resistance Stephen expects to get. He put one arm around Stephen's back, ready to support him if anything happens. He almost tells Stephen to close his eyes, but he doesn't want to trip up whatever determination his friend's already pulled together. ]

[Stephen breaks eye contact, gaze flicking here and there over the wall before him as Gabriel steps through. There's a moment of fear, of wanting to let go, but then it's just a strange tug on his hand as it passes through the wall along with his friend. Stephen lets out a shaky breath and presses on--it can be real and unreal; he can do this, he is doing this, and then--

He gazes around them just a few steps later, surprise in his eyes.]

This place is a shithole.

[ Gabriel hides the concern, but the relief on his face after Stephen opens his eyes is clear. He lets out a huffy laugh. ]

It sure is. Just like the rest of town, unfortunately.

You see the one big room now?

[ It's important to check, right? ]

Yeah.

[Stephen doesn't quite let go, one hand still on Gabriel's shoulder, but he turns to look behind him at the cell from which he just came. Nothing there, of course, just an indistinguishable patch of the expanse of open floor.]

That was a hell of an illusion.

[ The relief coalesces into a smile. He'll keep an arm around Stephen's back- this is definitely one of those circumstances where physical contact is a must. He doesn't want Stephen to feel like he's going to disappear. ]

No kidding. Multiple layers, and it was in there deep. I knew Robert Miller was going to be a problem, but if he can whip up something like that--

[ His eyes flash dangerously as he imagines what he'll do if he manages to find Miller. But they can leave that for later. ]

Come on, let's get the hell out of here.

[Stephen doesn't set out to argue; he's ready to move, to get out of here, back to the surface--but as he gazes around at their filthy surroundings, a question occurs to him.]

How many of the places we've been taken have just been this same room?

[ Gabriel snorts, hearing that question. ]

Could be almost all of them. We'd have no idea.

We wouldn't. That room under the coffin--we assumed the underground all looked like that, but what if it's all just this?

I wouldn't be surprised, actually. The metal those rooms were made of- the way the structures made no sense, and sometimes the walls were seamless? I remember Andromeda- or Winter- saying that that was the rooms they had when they were initially started up. Like training rooms, right? I'm betting very little of it was real.

Event: Consolidation Theory, Part Six

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