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ysabetwordsmithBased on an audience poll, this is the freebie for the December 1, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl making its $200 goal. It was spillover from the October 6, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman, bairnsidhe, readera, and lone_cat. This poem belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes.
WARNING: This poem contains disturbing material that may upset some readers. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes relationship challenges, interdimensional travel, major character death, universe death, refugee children, and other challenges. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding whether this is something you want to read.
"The Glass Hammer Knocks on the Nursery Door"
[Wednesday, September 23, 2015]
Not far from the cottage that
Elonso and Davide shared with
their sons, a small forest wrapped
around the edge of the compound.
The land there was rumpled and
rocky, left wild because it would
be too difficult to develop.
Elonso walked beside
his bodyguard Edoardo.
Twilight was just falling,
the liminal time that made
the forest seem more magical.
Most of the leaves were still green,
but some were starting to turn gold,
drifting down through the sunbeams
to land on the dark brown ground.
"Autumn equinox today," Elonso said.
"A time of balance," said Edoardo.
"How are you doing, my friend?"
"Better than I was earlier
this year," Elonso admitted.
"Moving to Italy was hard, but
I'd do anything for the boys.
I'm getting used to it here."
"You and Davide?"
Edoardo said gently.
"We're ... working it out,"
Elonso said. "That hasn't
been easy, but I think that
we'll be okay in the end."
Davide had been a superhero,
but had turned his cape --
kidnapping Elonso and
their sons -- to keep
the family together.
It had been rough, but
they'd made progress.
"Good," said Edoardo.
"You deserve happiness."
"Everyone deserves
happiness," Elonso said.
Up ahead, the sunbeams
seemed to condense in
the shadows, twinkling into
lines, almost like a door.
"Get behind me," Edoardo said,
pulling Elonso back even as
the bodyguard stepped forward.
Then they heard a baby cry.
Both men bolted forward,
loping over uneven ground.
What they found in the hollow
of stone defied explanation.
There was a sturdy playpen
crammed with children, at least
a dozen from infants to preschoolers.
The infants had been swaddled
and hung along the sides, with
the toddlers standing in the center.
There was a large gray machine
that gave off wisps of cool vapor, with
a column of green lights down its front.
Leaning heavily on the machine
was a woman with long blonde hair.
At the sound of their approach,
she looked up. One lens of
her large round glasses
was cracked clear across.
"I need your help," she said.
"What do you need?"
Elonso said, stepping up.
"Sanctuary for our children,"
she said. "My name is Alex.
I'm from another dimension --"
"What?" Elonso said, shocked.
"There isn't much time!" she barked.
"We'll listen without interrupting,"
Edoardo said. "Tell us what you can."
"There was a fight. They holed
the Tef -- the Teflon Tesseract --
no way to fix it. Quantum energy
pouring through, going to flood
the whole dimension before long."
"Jesus Christ," Elonso muttered,
then waved for her to continue.
"We only had enough energy
to open the gate once, so we ...
filled it by weight. Pat's kids,
Chris' baby cousins, and
the gamete/embryo bank of
the Waxahachie Fertility Clinic,"
Alex said, hugging the machine.
Elonso realized that all of
the children wore nametags.
Well, at least that was something.
"We will see your children safe,"
Edoardo promised. "I am of
the Marionettes, and children
are among our responsibilities."
"They helped my family,"
Elonso said. "You came
to a good place, Alex."
She smiled faintly. "Yes,
this dimension has
a good reputation."
"Is there anything else
we can do?" Edoardo said.
"We have healers here --"
"No," Alex said, waving a hand.
Sparks glittered at her fingertips,
dripping off like water droplets.
"Quantum instability. Won't be
long now. Nothing you can do
for me, I was in the control room
trying to fix the Tef before we
realized how bad it was."
Elonso's stomach churned,
thinking of his own family.
"What about the children?"
"All from outside the Rim,"
Alex said. "They'll be fine."
The dripping was faster now.
Elonso couldn't see her fingers.
"Your dimension, if it's failing --
how close is it to our own?"
Edoardo said urgently.
"Are we in danger too?"
"No. Lifeboat," Alex said.
"I set the gate to a safe place,
then pulled it in after me."
"How does that even work?"
Elonso said, shaking his head.
"It's like ... pulling one lace
through on your shoe," Alex said.
"The bow still collapses, but the knot
stops it from unraveling everything else."
The sparks flowed up her arms now,
running in lambent streams until
her whole form was lined in gold.
And then she was gone.
Elonso and Edoardo were
left in the liminal woods with
nothing but a bunch of babies,
a softly steaming machine,
and questions that could
never be answered.
While Edoardo called
the compound and asked
for a medical teleporter,
Elonso did what he did best.
He comforted the little ones.
* * *
Notes:
This is NOT core!Alex and dimension, but alters from another dimension.
In Terramagne-Italy, Davide and Elonso share a cottage which belongs to a Marionette compound just outside of Velletri, Lazio, Italy. This forest fills a rugged area on one edge of the compound, left wild because it is too jumbled to develop easily. So they use it as a private park.
Liminal time lies between the ordinary times, like equinoxes and twilight. Unusual things can happen then.
Babies in a lifeboat appear often in literature.
siliconshaman, bairnsidhe, readera, and lone_cat. This poem belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes.WARNING: This poem contains disturbing material that may upset some readers. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes relationship challenges, interdimensional travel, major character death, universe death, refugee children, and other challenges. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding whether this is something you want to read.
"The Glass Hammer Knocks on the Nursery Door"
[Wednesday, September 23, 2015]
Not far from the cottage that
Elonso and Davide shared with
their sons, a small forest wrapped
around the edge of the compound.
The land there was rumpled and
rocky, left wild because it would
be too difficult to develop.
Elonso walked beside
his bodyguard Edoardo.
Twilight was just falling,
the liminal time that made
the forest seem more magical.
Most of the leaves were still green,
but some were starting to turn gold,
drifting down through the sunbeams
to land on the dark brown ground.
"Autumn equinox today," Elonso said.
"A time of balance," said Edoardo.
"How are you doing, my friend?"
"Better than I was earlier
this year," Elonso admitted.
"Moving to Italy was hard, but
I'd do anything for the boys.
I'm getting used to it here."
"You and Davide?"
Edoardo said gently.
"We're ... working it out,"
Elonso said. "That hasn't
been easy, but I think that
we'll be okay in the end."
Davide had been a superhero,
but had turned his cape --
kidnapping Elonso and
their sons -- to keep
the family together.
It had been rough, but
they'd made progress.
"Good," said Edoardo.
"You deserve happiness."
"Everyone deserves
happiness," Elonso said.
Up ahead, the sunbeams
seemed to condense in
the shadows, twinkling into
lines, almost like a door.
"Get behind me," Edoardo said,
pulling Elonso back even as
the bodyguard stepped forward.
Then they heard a baby cry.
Both men bolted forward,
loping over uneven ground.
What they found in the hollow
of stone defied explanation.
There was a sturdy playpen
crammed with children, at least
a dozen from infants to preschoolers.
The infants had been swaddled
and hung along the sides, with
the toddlers standing in the center.
There was a large gray machine
that gave off wisps of cool vapor, with
a column of green lights down its front.
Leaning heavily on the machine
was a woman with long blonde hair.
At the sound of their approach,
she looked up. One lens of
her large round glasses
was cracked clear across.
"I need your help," she said.
"What do you need?"
Elonso said, stepping up.
"Sanctuary for our children,"
she said. "My name is Alex.
I'm from another dimension --"
"What?" Elonso said, shocked.
"There isn't much time!" she barked.
"We'll listen without interrupting,"
Edoardo said. "Tell us what you can."
"There was a fight. They holed
the Tef -- the Teflon Tesseract --
no way to fix it. Quantum energy
pouring through, going to flood
the whole dimension before long."
"Jesus Christ," Elonso muttered,
then waved for her to continue.
"We only had enough energy
to open the gate once, so we ...
filled it by weight. Pat's kids,
Chris' baby cousins, and
the gamete/embryo bank of
the Waxahachie Fertility Clinic,"
Alex said, hugging the machine.
Elonso realized that all of
the children wore nametags.
Well, at least that was something.
"We will see your children safe,"
Edoardo promised. "I am of
the Marionettes, and children
are among our responsibilities."
"They helped my family,"
Elonso said. "You came
to a good place, Alex."
She smiled faintly. "Yes,
this dimension has
a good reputation."
"Is there anything else
we can do?" Edoardo said.
"We have healers here --"
"No," Alex said, waving a hand.
Sparks glittered at her fingertips,
dripping off like water droplets.
"Quantum instability. Won't be
long now. Nothing you can do
for me, I was in the control room
trying to fix the Tef before we
realized how bad it was."
Elonso's stomach churned,
thinking of his own family.
"What about the children?"
"All from outside the Rim,"
Alex said. "They'll be fine."
The dripping was faster now.
Elonso couldn't see her fingers.
"Your dimension, if it's failing --
how close is it to our own?"
Edoardo said urgently.
"Are we in danger too?"
"No. Lifeboat," Alex said.
"I set the gate to a safe place,
then pulled it in after me."
"How does that even work?"
Elonso said, shaking his head.
"It's like ... pulling one lace
through on your shoe," Alex said.
"The bow still collapses, but the knot
stops it from unraveling everything else."
The sparks flowed up her arms now,
running in lambent streams until
her whole form was lined in gold.
And then she was gone.
Elonso and Edoardo were
left in the liminal woods with
nothing but a bunch of babies,
a softly steaming machine,
and questions that could
never be answered.
While Edoardo called
the compound and asked
for a medical teleporter,
Elonso did what he did best.
He comforted the little ones.
* * *
Notes:
This is NOT core!Alex and dimension, but alters from another dimension.
In Terramagne-Italy, Davide and Elonso share a cottage which belongs to a Marionette compound just outside of Velletri, Lazio, Italy. This forest fills a rugged area on one edge of the compound, left wild because it is too jumbled to develop easily. So they use it as a private park.
Liminal time lies between the ordinary times, like equinoxes and twilight. Unusual things can happen then.
Babies in a lifeboat appear often in literature.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 12:50 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2020-12-10 01:16 am (UTC)They took Pat's kids and Chris' cousins because those guys were already on the team and their families knew enough about the weird shit to believe them quickly. And they had a friend at the clinic, which was a long shot but worked, letting them save a lot more.
It's not a great solution, but it's less bad than the alternatives.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2020-12-10 01:49 am (UTC)Hmmm...did they maybe set up a phone tree or 'Tef Wierdness Alerts' for things like 'Stay indoors until we've caught all the facehuggers,' or 'please call us if you see the tye-dye Bigfeet,' that was used to summon everyone to a central location?
Being trusted with someone's kids is a major indicator of how much they trust you. (So is seeing exactly how kids interact with a given adult.)
The handful of people I know who'd listen to me if I said "Give me your kid and RUN" is pretty small...and most of them already consider me a reliable authority on risk assessments.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 01:27 am (UTC)That is odd; but I can think of a few possible explanations:
1) There may have been a time crunch, and they only had time for stopping at 2-3 places.
2) They prioritized family ('cuz that's how humans are wired), then ran out of space after 15+ related kids, and while they had enough space for a cooler/lunchboxwith embryos, they couldn't fit another actual person.
3) If you need to grab the maximum number of people quickly going door-to-door won't cut it (too many arguments); you're gonna cherry-pick the people who will accept "No time to explain, get in the truck!" Mostly this will be people you know well.
4) First-draft crisis plans are just plain weird, doubly so if they're a new problem and/or you can't refine them.
I suspect it was a combo of space and time constraints, filtered through various social stuff. And then they had to go with a plan slapped together in 10 minutes or less.
Also, some cultural notes:
I can reasonably see the Pat and Chris younglings that are too young for school being watched in large groups.
- Chris' family is not wealthy enough to afford individual child care per child. If both parents (or a single parent) need(s) to work, it makes sense to pool childcare with Grandma or whoever, for both financial and social reasons. (Also, in some parts of the rural US, 'cousins' extends to 5th cousins/shared g-g-g-g- grandparents.)
- Pat's family is poly; I'm guessing that the childcare-inclined adults just act as stay-at-home parents for /everyone's/ kids, which might end up being a lot of kids, depending on how big the family is.
-Also, either arrangement could easily include a visiting friend (or more), for any number of reasons.
And in large families or rural areas where there aren't many playmates, you may indeed have a bunch of friends from the same clan or household. (Clan =/= household.) I can think of at least two examples from my family histories.
Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 01:39 am (UTC)They had a little time, but not much, having first tried to stop their dimension from collapsing. So not much time, not much room, and they focused on sure things first followed by the biggest bang-for-buck long shot.
And yes, both Pat's family and Chris' family have wee herds of kids running around en masse under the feet of whichever adult is watching them that day.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 02:02 am (UTC)Disasters...are messy. And most people won't really understand until they seen or been involved in a lot of not-good stuff.
Me? I listen. I read voraciously, about a lot of things, including disaster prep, psychology, and sociology. I'm usually puzzling out new ideas or problems in the back of my mind /for fun/. I assimilate very odd sources of information into my worldview, then jury-rig them to new problems. I am the anxious prepared one. I've had people casually mention to me horrible things they lived through, that I can't fix or stop. And I have had to do 'resource triage' (prior to this year) because there's not enough stuff or time to go around.
Sometimes you can't fix the world. Sometimes there aren't any real choices, and you choose something because everything else is worse.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 02:18 am (UTC)Very true. Even minor disasters like a localized ice storm or tornado can disrupt nearby towns for weeks.
>>Me? I listen. I read voraciously, about a lot of things, including disaster prep, psychology, and sociology. I'm usually puzzling out new ideas or problems in the back of my mind /for fun/. I assimilate very odd sources of information into my worldview, then jury-rig them to new problems.<<
Same here.
>> I am the anxious prepared one. <<
I try to be level-headed and prepared. People call me paranoid. That doesn't stop me from being usually right.
>> I've had people casually mention to me horrible things they lived through, that I can't fix or stop. <<
I spend a considerable amount of time cleaning up after other professions' mistakes. I can't count how many people have told me I'm more helpful than their alleged professional, just because I listen, I look up some resources to explore, and I remind them that they make the choices for their own life.
>> And I have had to do 'resource triage' (prior to this year) because there's not enough stuff or time to go around. <<
Yeah. We've never had a lot of resources, and that's true of most groups I work with. Do what you can with what you have.
>>Sometimes you can't fix the world. Sometimes there aren't any real choices, and you choose something because everything else is worse.<<
Too true.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 03:06 am (UTC)It's not paranoia if its neccesary.
And there's an annoying tendency for people to decry your preparing...right up until they need your help or stuff.
>>...their alleged professional,...<<
Some of these things, I suspect I'm more accesable than the official person. (Also; personnel triage, especially recently.)
And flipped around, I get tired of (other) people being helpy at me rather than being helpful (or failing that, at least listening to me).
>>We've never had a lot of resources, and that's true of most groups I work with.<<
Yep. Everything from designing paperwork, to fixing up ratty old bicyles.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 02:19 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 03:14 am (UTC)(Basically, like Branch from Trolls, but with everyone actually having high-quality social skills, instead of acting like toddlers on a sugar high.)
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 03:16 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 03:35 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 05:20 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 05:33 am (UTC)The Marionette compounds are based on classic Italian layouts -- a large manor, a guesthouse, sometimes other central buildings like a hospice, common amenities such as swimming pools, all surrounded by small cottages and sometimes larger houses. It's a lot like a little village unto itself.
>> The Chris-lings at least could be subdivided into different-yet-nearby units.<<
That's possible. I'm not sure how many parent-sets they came from. It might work out if adoptive families consisted of sibling-spans and their spouses or spice. But the kids don't think of themselves as clusters of cousins, they think of themselves as one group, because -- as someone else pointed out -- the blue-collar version of daycare is packing the kids in Grandma's house or else passing the whole litter from one sibling to another.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 06:28 am (UTC)While I'm familiar with the concept of 'raised by the clan,' as a thing that happens, I had a mostly-standard American nuclear family upbringing with a parental divorce and no siblings. (All my cousins are a different age group, and live far away.)
The closest match in my family history that did something similar /did/ have age-cohorts of cousins...but those get-togethers stopped about forty years before I was born.
Basically, I'm guessing they'll be closer than myself and my cousins, or myself and my schoolmates, and while I don't think going home to different houses on the same street would be terrible, I really don't have the emotional knowledge of that sort of a sibling/peer/playmate relationship.
(I do expect they likely will be clingy once they start missing their parents, or get weirded out by being in Italy-not-Texas...)
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 03:46 am (UTC)"When You Strike and Overcome Him"
"The Oldest Associations"
"Think First of the Action"
(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-19 11:03 pm (UTC)Numbers... you can fit a LOT of frozen embryos in a very small space.
Yes ...
Date: 2024-12-20 09:15 am (UTC)Why the contents of the fertility clinic? I'd bet on a close friend or family member working there and asking, "Wait, can you take the babies from work too?"
"How much do they weigh? ... yeah, we can do that, we're running out of people who think we're not crazy."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 01:56 am (UTC)wowsers.. that...that was more of a punch than expected. I mean, I know what my prompt was, but I did not expect it to be that.
So.. a bunch of inter-dimensional foundlings. That's going to lead to unanswerable questions in a few years.
and poor Alex... at least quantum decoherence isn't painful, but still.
and yeah, the Tef is one of the few things worse to shoot at than nuclear weapons. That's a 'say bye-bye to your universe' ... hm, the dissolution would take time to spread as well. I'm not sure I want to try and imagine being trapped in a reality that's unravelling.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 02:08 am (UTC)Hopefully it didn't last long enough for too much "Screw the Rules, its the End of the World" violence...
As for the kids...report them as 'abandoned in the woods,' or give them forged papers, or use connections to expedite real papers.
Terramagne is going to need policies for interdimensional refugees if this sort of thing keeps happening...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 02:19 am (UTC)Yeah, I thought of both of those scenes, or the beach scene from Deep Impact... or this XKCD
and yeah, I hope it wasn't too long for them, just long enough to say goodbye or have a glass of wine and watch the last sunset.
Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 03:06 am (UTC)That's signal splatter. Only one landing, but sometimes the message gets into adjacent dimensions, which really sucks.
>> and yeah, I hope it wasn't too long for them, just long enough to say goodbye or have a glass of wine and watch the last sunset.<<
I'd guess about an hour, maybe less, no more than two. Most people didn't know. There was nothing to be done about it, so the only people the Heroes told were those in actionable positions: Pat's family, Chris' family, and their friend at the fertility clinic who probably told his wife when he went home.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 03:10 am (UTC)Better to check, if you can. Just in case...
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 03:36 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 03:00 am (UTC)See elsethread regarding cascade failures. Once the final gate cycles, the pressure will collapse everything at once, like a bubble popping.
>>As for the kids...report them as 'abandoned in the woods,' or give them forged papers, or use connections to expedite real papers.<<
An advantage of the Marionettes is that they already have access to everything they need to create valid identities for the toddlers and infants.
They'll be reaching out to Kraken too, and with that many embryos/gametes needing homes, operatives with outside contacts will likely be asked if they know interested naries. That will actually be less complicated because those babies will get standard paperwork wherever their adoptive parents live.
>> Terramagne is going to need policies for interdimensional refugees if this sort of thing keeps happening... <<
Kraken already has policies for everything. The Marionettes didn't have one specifically for interdimensional refugees, but just used standing orders to protect children. SPOON, as a superhero organization, has parameters in place for handling incursions; we've seen those in effect a couple of times. And Soup to Nuts already handled a different branch of Schrodinger's Heroes.
In terms of national or global government, very little is far enough along for that level of planning. Thalassia will get there first, of course, simply rolling in their prior plans. I expect they'll share that with the Maldives, and President Latheef will arrange mutual aid agreements. The Marionettes might tip Italy, which is farther along than most countries in terms of integrating soup and nary folks.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 04:56 am (UTC)Hmmm...I wonder how those aliens in Antarctica deal with immigration? ("I hate people so I'm going to be a therapy human in Antarctica! Yes, I'm sure, if I don't have to deal with all this social nonsense!")
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 05:11 am (UTC)I agree. They are already very interesting.
>> Hmmm...I wonder how those aliens in Antarctica deal with immigration?<<
Antarctica was the discovery of the frozen-and-thawed ship. The aliens invaded New York. Nowhere on Earth is really hospitable for them, although Antarctica may be less far off than usual.
>> ("I hate people so I'm going to be a therapy human in Antarctica! Yes, I'm sure, if I don't have to deal with all this social nonsense!") <<
LOL yes. That's Antarctica already. Continent of the Weirdos.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 05:50 am (UTC)Isn't that every 'newly discovered inhospitable wilderness' after about 100yrs? (See: New England, the Wild West, the rest of the Americas, Australia, age of sail pirate crews/ships...)
And logically extended to:
"[Bleep], we're being invaded by aliens."
[Few years later] "So wait, all these invaders are incompetents or political dissidents?"
[Few more years later; aliens] "Okay, who had the bright idea to put all the troublemakers in the same place as these crazy-smart, crazy-aggresive aliens?"
Or, in other words, this fanfic:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/2613368/chapters/16283231#workskin
Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 02:44 am (UTC)It wasn't your prompt that gave it this direction, it was
>> So.. a bunch of inter-dimensional foundlings. That's going to lead to unanswerable questions in a few years. <<
All the finders know is the few lines Alex had time to share: Once upon a time there was a team of interdimensional heroes watching over a portal that couldn't be completely closed. Bad guys came through and broke the portal in a way that couldn't be fixed. One of the heroes gathered up all the babies that she could and took them to safety before she died, like putting Moses in a basket.
And yes, the Marionettes will ensure that all the kids get families. It might take a bit of hunting around to find two families able to take groups that big -- Pat's kids and Chris' kids add up -- but they'll manage. The contents of the gamete/embryo bank can be spread out as desired. The Marionettes can afford to sponsor them. Probably they'll ask to have it posted on Kraken's job board:
Multiple parental positions available
* Surrogate gestational parents for 9 months babysitting duty
* Permanent adoptive parents
Are you ready to see storks? We have several thousand orphaned embryos and gamete samples in need of good homes. Peculiar circumstances apply; details available upon request. All sex/gender/family combinations welcome. All expenses covered.
>> and poor Alex... at least quantum decoherence isn't painful, but still.<<
Just exhausting.
>> and yeah, the Tef is one of the few things worse to shoot at than nuclear weapons. That's a 'say bye-bye to your universe' ... <<
Yeah, like backing a starship into a sun. Some types of stardrive can start a chain reaction that could take out three-quarters of a galaxy.
>> hm, the dissolution would take time to spread as well. I'm not sure I want to try and imagine being trapped in a reality that's unravelling.<<
That scenario sucks, but is not this scenario. The pressure is building rapidly and the Tef can't hold it off much longer. It'll go from a building trickle to a cascade failure very quickly. My guess is that they calculated the timing and mass potentials down to a hair's breadth, meaning they used the last of the Tef's energy to cycle the final gate. As soon as that completes, the dimension will collapse under the pressure like a bubble popping.
Uh oh
Date: 2020-12-10 02:01 am (UTC)Re: Uh oh
Date: 2020-12-10 02:13 am (UTC)Re: Uh oh
Date: 2020-12-10 03:44 am (UTC)is ouch
ECR.
Also, where is the L-Earth portal to Terramagne?
Re: Uh oh
Date: 2020-12-10 03:47 am (UTC)Re: Uh oh
Date: 2020-12-10 04:19 am (UTC)cough progress is being made. nuff said at current; bit of a mess due to Circumstances. poof
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 02:38 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 05:50 am (UTC)Like - would any of these kids be soups? Would their kids?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-10 05:56 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2020-12-10 06:05 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 06:39 am (UTC)Factors include but are not necessarily limited to:
* Metagens can have a broad, narrow, or singular effect. That is, some can spark almost any superpowers, others only a limited set of related abilities, and some just one.
* Some metagens can have successive effects because they unlock latent potential. The Aegis vaccine base is the best-known and most famous of these (and the only one generally considered harmless). If the person has potential for Super-Immunity, it activates that first, and for most people that's all they get. But if they have other potential, sometimes that appears too. This also tends to carry over; children can inherit Super-Immunity, and usually do if both parents have it.
* Some superpowers run in families and have a strong genetic component.
* There is no single "X-gene" here. Super genetics in Terramagne work like genetics in general: some things tend to be dominant, some recessive, others modifiers in more complicated relationships. (#$@! leopard complex *&#@!!!) The same or similar abilities may be caused by different genes that don't match up. However, there are at least a handful of known "latent" genes that give the potential for superpowers, and if these combine in the same person then superpowers become more likely.
* There are a lot more latents than active soups. Many powers require some kind of trigger, which can be a stressful event, or puberty, etc. Traumatic manifestation consistently produces superpowers that relate to the stressor, if the person's potential permits that type of expression.
* Nuclear technology has sparked a substantial increase in manifestations worldwide, but more in the most active countries.
* Some other patterns have emerged due to other events. Laos, the most-bombed country on Earth, also has the highest rate of Self-Detonators.
* There are a number of drugs, dietary supplements, etc. which can manifest superpowers. Most have a limited range of possibilities. Another range of metagens appears in cosmetics and tattoo inks. Some natural substances are metagens too. These include both activating and additive versions; that is, some can only reveal what is already there, while others can create something that wasn't there before.
* Nanotechnology, grafting, cyborg implants, and other mad science techniques offer further options. People sometimes argue over what counts as "real" superpowers.
>> Like - would any of these kids be soups? Would their kids? <<
It is unlikely but not impossible. They don't come with a world known for superpowers, but then neither do we and there are more than a few here. All worlds have Super-Intellects since they are simply the top of the intelligence quotient. There were at least two in Schrodinger's Heroes, Alex and Ash. Pat was more of an emotional genius. If anything were going to crop up, I'd watch for an empath among Pat's kids. Chris is downright ordinary.
However, they did all come through a tesseract. Quantum science is all about probabilities and by nature it pries the frame off reality. Given that, anything could happen to anyone.
Hence that little rider about peculiar circumstances in the ad.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2020-12-10 06:58 am (UTC)And there's not all that much stopping any of them from being supernaries of some sort, if that's what they want to do.
(Chris's nephew/cousin in that other story seemed to be doing alright as a moral human being, even if it was just standard-grade human empathy.)