THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

[modormenace]

 

A

rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

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or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

A

nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."

The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.

"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

THE WHITE TOWER SANCTUM AURORAE KRAKOA HOUSE OF M EMPIRE OF LIGHT EQUALITY BEFORE LAW THE TWIN CITIES OLIN VALE EDEN SEEKERS OF THE NEW DAWN NORTHWESTERN IMPERIUM GREEN PIECE MAD BURNISH LUMINARY

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

[What is it? David turns and throws a psychic blade toward the nearest tree, hitting it dead on.]

Punishing whoever hurt him.

[rebelarrow]

For a brief moment, the ground rumbles.

I thought that would be a given.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Well, that's intimidating. In a way that David wants to applaud.]

He won't thank us for it. It puts a target on Krakoa.

[rebelarrow]

That entirely depends on the campaign. Arrows were known as ghosts of the Net. There were entire parts of the Psy population that were not fully convinced we existed.

And yet for the sake of preserving... ["of preserving Silence" was a lie. They had long strayed from that objective with Ming in charge.] for the sake of preserving Councilor Ming LeBon's political power, we got our hands dirty regardless.

I see no reason things would have to be different here.

[helpdesk_hero]

That isn’t what Krakoa is. I would rather your intellect be put to defending us. And helping me ignore fatigue. I need to think of a way out of this.

[And he needs to get them another gate, another island, in secret.]

Too bad I can’t get you in position to steal all the secrets of new gate tech.

[rebelarrow]

Arrows were once used to preserve Silence. What we thought would protect the Psy race as a whole. That aim was more what I had in mind. Ming twisted it into something ugly. [He pauses as he looks at David.] And if I had even a hint that any of you were like him, I wouldn't be here.

[At the last part, he arches an eyebrow slightly.]

Has their been movement on that? Do we have a better idea of how that's being developed?

[helpdesk_hero]

[White Tower is good at the gate tech. They’re the ones closest to the Porter. The oldest. The reason so much was what it was.]

I don’t know. I can’t... Stark is SUCH a barrier for me.

[rebelarrow]

Has anyone tried more... mundane methods of breaking in? Psychic or otherwise?

[He knows with Psy, sometimes they spend so much time fortifying something psychically, they forget to do the same thing physically.

It's a mistake a Psy makes only once, but sometimes its enough.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[What's the point?]

Do you really want to try and get past Rey Palpatine? The woman is mad.

[rebelarrow]

[He shrugs.]

It's been a while since I've really tested my abilities. She may be crazy, but so long as I can get within range, I could feel her heart in my hand.

[And that's what made him such a good killer. He didn't have to get close. He just had to get close enough for his psychic hands to reach around specific cells.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Something David wishes he could ask for. But what was the point of assassination when the Porter just brought them back? It wasn’t much of a thing.]

It’s nice to imagine. But it’s fruitless.

[rebelarrow]

It might not be permanent, but it would still be long enough to get what we need.

[Look he's a pragmatist.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Would it, though, Judd? Or would it finalize bringing the Tower down on them? They are an island of children and teens. That needs remembered. Adults are few and far between.

David wilts, all the energy for the fight leaving him as he dismisses his blades.]

You're a good man, Judd. You do right by our people. I just wish any of this went the way we had wished.

[rebelarrow]

[This may be true, but the adults that are here are stronger than most people give them credit for... or Krakoa would never have made it off the ground in the first place.

He frowns somewhat, realizing he must have said the wrong thing again.]

It isn't perfect, but it's still home. It's still worth protecting.

[helpdesk_hero]

[They were stronger because they had the weight of a whole world on their shoulders.]

I know that. I’ll protect it with all I have. But mistakes were made.

[rebelarrow]

["Heavy is the head..."]

We'd never have been able to break away from the White Tower without their "approval."

[helpdesk_hero]

While it is true that they helped establish us...

[Well, David lets that trail off in a weighty way. He doesn't think they should remain beholden now.]

[rebelarrow]

I didn't mean to imply that we should ally with them forever.

There will come a time where we will need to sever ties or admit we're simply a colony to the White Tower.

[Let it be said that Judd doesn't hold back.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[David’s not sure they should ally with these people another week. But he can’t do so much.]

You’re right. There will. And I fear that point.

[rebelarrow]

[Judd has wisely kept his thoughts out of the matter for years. It isn't his place to say.]

We will overcome.

[Or they will die. Such is the way of the world.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Horrible song, that one.

[David sighs and rubs at his temples before moving to a tree to lean against it.]

And if we don’t? If I’ve helped lead us all to our deaths?

[rebelarrow]

[Judd isn't fully sure what he means, but he knows that's beside the point so he lets it drop.]

David, not to undercut anything you have done for us since Krakoa's founding, but you did not make any of us come here. You control none of our lives. We were all well aware of the risks that would come from founding this place.

[helpdesk_hero]

[The adults were. The children, the teens...]

Not everyone here has a fully developed pre-frontal ccrtex, Judd. Some people are still shit at decision making.

[rebelarrow]

[Judd's quiet for a moment, debating something. Finally...]

They wouldn't kill the children or the younger teens.

[A pause.]

They're more valuable to them alive.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Kill? No. Take? Yes. It was David and Rimuru and Jane and Allison that would suffer for the decisions they had made.]

You're exactly correct, of course. They are more valuable.