Tasha says the holographic connection will be fine. Dominic and I are coming in person. Now, Tasha is laughing at me and calling me a technophobe.

Atwight, I am honored. However you would like me there I would be willing to oblige. Holographic interface would be fine, or if you would prefer in person, just give me some GPS coordinates and I can teleport there.

In person is not a bad idea, one thing my mere presence instucts is the uncomfortable aura of a rich source of taint.

OK all, I have sent coordinates for a safe "classroom" to those of you who wish to attend in person. Jager, There is some communications and holo-generating equipment waiting for your pick-up. Tell your team to follow the instructions included precicely. Neutrino com signals are very secure, but I have to know the exact location of the equipment to make the connection. James, I think it would be good for the kids to meet another high taint nova, just to observe and learn the pros and cons of that path to power. If I am forgetting anything, let me know.

Atwight, how are they going to tell that he is hight taint? James seems perfectly normal to us. Well, as normal as he is, anyway.

Jager, you should know better. Taint does not just alter a person on the physical or mental level. It is a life altering force that changes everything about a person on a fundamental level. That is why baselines feel uncomfortable around those who suffer from excessive taint. They can sense, on a subconscious level, the differences this taint creates. By introducing the children to different people with varying levels of taint exposure, I hope to show them how taint can affect people in different ways and how different people cope with it. James is taint-ridden, much like myself. He has been fortunate in the sense that his body is still basically human and his abberations are more of a mental nature.

Well, I have always wondered why it doesn't set off the same resonance in us? I never had the time to look into it and I can tell by sensing whether someone has taint or been 'elevated', so it never seemed that relevant. Any ideas?

Actually, it seems to but there are mitigating factors.

1. Nova's that grasp intellectually what that "uneasy" feeling is are less apt to respond in wholly instictive manner.

2. Those with higher levels of taint do not react to lower levels of taint in the same manner. Possibly because their own resonance serves as a filter and possibly #3.

3. Familiarity breeds ambivalence. TER'R music is a good example. The die hard Ter'r clubbers interviewed on OPNET always come across as emotionally numbed. Over-stimulation leads to failure to respond.

____________________________________________

I once thought that taint was a manifestation of degradation and warping of the primal patterns which shape quantum force. I came to this conclusion by observing the warping of patterns in those manifesting even trace amounts of taint, e.g. anima banners and superficial changes to the body. Of late, and in light of recent events, I've begun to wonder if excessive channeling of quantum doesn't warp the probability directly. Causing extremely low probability events to manifest consistently over long periods. Something which is theoretically possible but so unlikely to occur as to be labeled impossible. Like a person spontaneously bursting into flame or frogs raining from the sky.

Please forgive my pertinence, Atwight, if I use your form as an example. Atwight manifests as a creature straight from the UFO mythology of the latter half of the 20th century. Yet, I would bet his DNA samples even in nova form shows only minimal changes, and that the few changes it does show would appear to genetic defects and possibly nonviable mutations. So how does he manage to manifest a form that is in direct contradition to his DNA without conscious attemtps to do so with application of quantum power?

Is it possible his "taint" is an ongoing warping of probabilities over an extended period? And if consciousness is itself a quantum event as supposed by some researchers, then the affect of a gross altering of probabilty may in fact register. Bypassing the normal senses, it may be noticed by the subconscious mind which in turn impings on the conscious mind as a feeling of unease or apprehension. Simple biologic reaction to abnormal states. Lacking a conscious awareness of what is really happening, individuals react instictively. The mind says danger, unknown, alien, change, fight, run, and the conscious mind (not understanding the stiumulus) rationizes it's own responses.

I remember shortly after Galatea, and before my own eruption, some researchers making a big thing out of the fact that a family dog refused to go any where near a nova after he erupted. The effect was noted in the case of other novas, but more often when the were actively using their power. PU aggressively took over nova research after that I lost track. Haven't heard anything since along those lines.


[This message has been edited by Wizard (edited 05-19-2001).]

For the longest time, taint research has been fairly well concealed. The only indie researcher that I was aware of was Jessica Aubrey, and her career got shot down in flames shortly after her taint project got off the ground.

About the same time Father Ryan went after her...and the Syndicate got in her face...my, oh my.

Perhaps I've found a project to keep me occupied then. I'm mobile and just gathering data at the moment, possibly in ways no one else has thought to go.

Speaking of which, what happened to Aubry? I heard about her at the time I first began posting but nothing lately.

Figured out a new trick, fresh out of the box. I use two constructs, one capable of linking with my psyche by resonating on my EM wavelength, the second digitaling duplicating the datastream from the first. Wanna see what the world looks like when viewed through my eyes?

Wizard, is light going to be a satifactory medium?

Ask anybody that works with fiber optics. The light is a transitory state used for transfer of data. By using the process I can utilize opnet technology and use a computer to record the media into non-volatile memory storage like any other data. Think of it as a simple movie file. The only difference is that the original data comes from my perceptions.

The one drawback I've run into is that portions, perceptions of quantum probabilities more than a few seconds away from actualization do not translate visually. On the replay they appear as homogenous color splashes. This may be why I perceive them in sounds and scents as well as visual. My visual processing just isn't up to handling more than two dimensions and inferring the third. Add in the time factor and the neurons overload.

Wizard, your idea is sheer brilliance. Have you thought of making it a live connection rather than recording for playback? Also, if you can digitize visual sensory input, the same theories should also hold true for any of your senses. All you would need is a device that can feed olfactory, gustatory, and tactile information into the recipients brain.

Taking up the torch of Taint research is a brave thing to do. I wish you luck in your studies. Just be careful, try to avoid becoming tainted in the process. Too much exposure to radiating taint can have devistating concequences.

The class is set, Jager your people should have that equipment set up by now, and you all have the time and location. The children are eager to meet you all. There will only be the first class of the 4 older children. Thomas is dying to speak with you Jager, he has been reading the threads here and wants you to show him the same things you have shown Jordan.

I am popping to Egypt for a little assist work, but I hope to be there on time. Some joker is hunting down childern and Wizard has gotten ahold of his trail.

I would have missed that on my own, thank you for offering insight. Yes, I can conceive of a way to process the info live but I don't have the expertise to figure out how to encode the data in a manner that can be reproduced later...

Atwight you're a genius! You just gave me an idea for equipment to deal with the bodyjumper!