The coma was of your own making, little sister.

Okay, who are you, then?

Correct. I am no God or Shepard. I am a traveler on the path to self-evolution. I am a twit, now?

So, I don't know you, but you feel qualified to explain my existance? How odd.

Lording it over people implies a sense of conquest, or the defeat of a potential equal. That is not the case. Baseline humans are not my equals. While I appreciate their desires and their happiness, I do it because I chose to have concern over the fate of their lives.
It has nothing to do with the fact that they don't have it, but the fact that they will never have it.

If that is all you gained from the experience ...
then you are doomed to repeat your frustrations and sense of loss.
Power opens the door, it is not the end-all of existance. If all you see is a bully misusing their power, I suggest you step away from the mirror of your own fears.

For me, the experience was very different. It was a testement to love and devotion, and to hope. Not only yours, but Mitch's.

What exactly is it you think you are rejecting, little sister?

Sphere

I think you have to be fully fledged before you can join, being latent or baseline you might sympathise, but I don't think you'd be asked to join. Quite why a human or latent would want to actually join the Teragen I really can't fathom but there do seem to be a lot of wannabes.

Never mind, if you can't join you can still wear one of those I'm Mal-icious T-shirts if you really must.

Bastian

And I thought you were such a nice person at first ...

You may be a fellow member of the One Race but lets face it, self evolution or not, you went a bit over the top on that one didn't you?

Walker.

That's odd, bit like saying a deaf person's not allowed to have an opinion until they can hear? Surely if Novas are a separate species to Humans then the boys and girls who haven't yet erupted still count as non-human and have just as much say in how Nova society should form?

You can't be saying that a thug like me can join just because I can chuck plasma, when there are probably latents out there much smarter and more ethical than I am. How come I'd get a vote if I joined and they wouldn't?

Bastion.

Alright there mate? We haven't met, but I've heard a little bit about you from the Aberrants. Sound like bit of a sick boy to me, but it takes all sorts I suppose. That said, if we happen to be in the same city I'd appreciate it if you stayed well away. I'd hate to have to demonstrate the advantages of plasma over scalpels in open-heart surgery.

Ooh, messy.

If the parent had the same genetic sequencing that marks them as a potential eruptee, he or she was a latent Nova. If he or she did not, they were a baseline. Perhaps a bridge between Nova and baseline, but not a Nova.

Dang it. Mom is going to be so disappointed.

Bastian, take a chill pill. Since Novas have infinite potential, what is to say that Vixen is right in who she is and correct in the direction she is going?

Oh, yeah. Cross that line again, and you and I will have to have a short talk. Just letting you know that I like Vixen and will take it personally if she comes to any more grief from your quarter.
You have friends, and I'm sure that's a nice thing. I am just letting you know that she has some friends of her own as well.
You've been warned.
Have a nice Day!

Ashnod, are you saying the genetic potential to erupt is what distinguishes Novas from baselines? If so then, in your opinion, would a latent be allowed to join the Teragen? What if said latent never encountered a situation where they erupt? What distinguishes the latent Nova from baselines except for genetic potential?

May I conclude our discussion is at an end and your curiosity satisfied?

May I conclude our discussion is at an end and your curiosity satisfied?

My curiosity is never satisfied, but you may conclude this chapter at anytime you desire. No hard feelings.
I exist in a world of questions. I don't expect to get them all answered. After all, it gives me something to do tomorrow, doesn't it?

So, Eddie, what do you claim to do, anyway? We can start with the quantum manifestations and work our way down from there.
You have also implied that you base your business practices on some moral code? Curious about that, too.

On the contrary; I merely wished to be certain you were satisfied lest I inadvertently became obligated elsewhere and appear to end the conversation summarily.

The question of business is the more difficult of the two. I hadn't thought of my practices as a moral code though I do possess a sense of ethics and can even speak english when my work demands. Adamant Security is run along principles less a set of commandments or rules than a generalized perception of how things should be done. While not entirely fashionable in a world of increasing pressures and purely acquisition driven activities, a man's business was once considered an extension of his life and I support this view.

Adamant Security is not an elite organization with or without the capital letter. My bottom line is not measured by cheque, nor am I or my operatives for sale. I provide services not servants. The work undertaken is the work choosen, under the conditions stipulated and that I feel needs to be done. As such all clients may expect honor, dedication, committment and civility in equal proportions. From my operatives I expect this as well as loyalty and sound judgment. I have respect for the law but am not adverse to challenging it when misapplied or justice is served poorly. Perhaps it would be simplest to say I am neither avaristic or a seeker of thrills yet enjoy my work thoroughly.

I claim little but dedication and success, although if you come to Havana you will doubtless hear many tales from colorful locals. Your ears will be filled with stories that I can disappear at will, be in more than one place at a time or that the winds will heed my smallest wish and carry news to me from afar. There are even those that refuse to speak my proper name lest their words be carried to my ears.

Havana is truly an imaginative and eccentric place. You will would enjoy spending time there I think.

I see elsewhere you mention passing often through Havana, Jager. Perhaps then I am not so entirely unknown to you after all. If the name Cyclone was not mentioned perhaps you overheard the name El Viento or the phrase el viento que trae dolor.

Merely examples of local color.

Cyclone, you are one of the reasons Havana is such a neutral spot. Apparently you don't like people dropping hate in your home town. Helps keep the visitors in line. I like that.

You may have heard of me, then. You came looking for me a few years back. I'm the guy who broke Dan "The Man-Croc" Danovitz's collarbone with a toothpick. Sorry, but I had to split right after that, or I would have explained the incident. Honestly, I didn't know she was his sister, and I wasn't even the guy she was there to see.

Only one of many reasons. It is but a small example of how society and individuals may beneficially co-exist.

My interest in that particular affair was less the damage done than in meeting man that had done the trick. It takes no little strength but the accuracy was most impressive. Little Daniel was ever one to use his brawn in preference to his brain or he'd not have taken the matter so personally. The sister is married now to the man she was meeting so clandestinely but there was some amusement that she wore white.

Ah, Havana. My adopted home is a most interesting city.

Glad to hear she's married, though the cities nightlife may have lost a flicker on it's Exito-meter.

As for the toothpick, it what I had handy. If I had a pool cue or a bat, I would have much rather used it.

*chuckles*

Wow, when I'm done with my cruise and various meetings, I have to check out this place.

Codex, find yourself a reliable guide before you arrive.

What distinguishes the latent Nova from baselines except for genetic potential?

Bingo. Not much at all. A latent thinks the same, acts the same, and is biologically identical to a baseline human.

Prodigy:

I see where you are coming from with regards to inevitable conflict between baselines and novas. I don't entirely agree, but that's beside the point. My belief that I am human has nothing to do with a sense of security. I have been shot at, physically assaulted, and - in a couple of instances - bombed by humans. I am already fairly comfortable with "the emotional anguish resulting from being rejected."

But humans have been persecuting each other for a very long time - often rejecting the persecuted as 'inhuman.' The label does not necessarily equate with the reality.

Ashnod:

It appears that my commentary is not sufficiently clear. I will attempt to clarify before continuing in this discussion. Please reexamine the following:

a) I do not believe that the genetic marker for latency is a legimate divsion between human and inhuman. Most people with this marker have no other differences from baseline humans - only a handful ever become active novas.

b) If the above is accepted (though I gather that you disagree), a different means of measuring humanity must be found. I believe that examining a person's behaviors makes more sense than examining his or her capacities, because even just homo sapiens sapiens varies widely in such capacities. However, baseline humans do have consistent patterns of behaviors - this is why sociologists and marketers can play their trades. I acknowledge that this may mean that some homo sapiens sapiens are not human. However, that requires further examination - see below ('g').

c) I do not believe that becoming a nova causes one to become 'inhuman.' I believe this because most novas show the same general behavioral responses as most baseline humans - that is, most novas think like humans.

d) I do not believe that enhanced capacities make one inhuman any more than reduced capacities do. This approach seems to be more elitism than anything else. As Ms. McLachlan mentioned, those with greater capacities often declare themselves separate. I grant that gaining the capacity to manipulate quantum is a huge step up, but I see no reason to believe that it is fundamentally different from any other advantage. You have declared that is it different from other inheritable traits, but you have not said why.

e) You say that the marker genes for latency can not be aquired or lost. This is true. The same is true for the marker genes for blond hair - or any other inheritable trait. Both traits may be passed on in the same manner. The latency marker is unique to homo sapiens novus, but using that as an arguement is circular reasoning, since the marker is what defines the subspecies. Members of a subspecies are members of the parent species. The division is simply a place holder made when the biologists need a convenient label for members of a species with one or more important traits.

f) However, I do believe that novas may become inhuman through quantum manipulation. By reconfiguring their minds they may become inhuman. Simple as that - and no more unbelievable than using quantum manipulation to conjure up fire. Regardless, this reconfiguration requires a concious or unconcious choice to do it. Not all of us choose to change. Come to think of it, I suppose a nova could theoretically reconfigure someone else in this manner as well. Though doing so without the subject's consent could probably be considered murder (death of personality).

g) (damn, this is getting long) Is it possible for someone - latent nova or baseline human - to become inhuman without the application of quantum manipulation? I tentatively accepted that this might be true - pending further thought. I do not withdraw that, nor do I more concretely affirm it. I can currently see multiple arguements for both cases, and do not feel able to state an opinion. If you wish, I can elaborate, but don't believe that it affects my core tenant here - that not all novas are inhuman.

Sphere:

1) To my knowledge, no latent Nova has ever approached our movement seeking membership. However, given the expense of testing for latency, and the rarity amongst those latents that would actually seek us prior to eruption, the list of potentials for such an event are quite, quite small. Saying that however, membership in the Teragen is a fluid matter, and initial acceptance is going to depend highly on whom you speak to. For myself, if I were approached by a latent, I would not turn them away, but it would undoubtedly be more difficult for them than for an erupted member.

2) A caterpillar that dies without weaving a cocoon is still a creature that should have changed into a butterfly. That it spent its entire life in its unchanged state does not alter the fact that it always possessed the potential to go beyond it. Since we are dealing with hypothetical situations, ergo, the latent who never erupts, I will propose that it isn't inconceivable at a) a Nova will erupt with or develop the ability to cause eruption in latents, or b) as the species develops, Novas will be born with active Farahcytes and eruption will no longer be necessary.

3) The baseline doesn't have the potential to one day manipulate reality. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but we aren't speaking of someone who is carrying an obesity gene, or a gene that gives blonde hair. If and when eruption occurs, the Nova is put instantly, or has the ability to develop, outside of baseline parameters for biology. The latent might appear human for all intents and purposes, will likely consider him or herself human unless the latency is known, but the latent is still a latent and not a baseline. That the latent is still within baseline parameters until the time of eruption is insignificant.

Mr. Craft,

A) How do you know how many latents currently exist? What percentage of Earth's population is latent? How can you tell how many of that percentage has erupted?

B) How do you determine what is "human" and "inhuman" behavior? What testing are you using? What behavioral standards exist for classifying a sentient species as "not human?" Novas are going to act like humans for a number of reasons: they are currently raised as such, and regardless of biology, it is likely that sentience by its very nature bestows similarity of behavior. Saying that this common behavior is "human" is prejudiced, and that the lack of this behavior is "inhuman" a fallacy.

If I am understanding you correctly, being "inhuman" is entirely a behavioral state, in your opinion. While I personally agree that there are behaviors that are more common to the baseline species than others, and that you may choose to label behavior outside of that commonality as "inhuman," this is not the definition of "human" that I use when speaking in this manner of discourse.

Personally, I believe that some behaviors are common to sentient species, regardless of their origins, and that some of these behaviors will be more common in some than in others. I believe possessing certain commonalities allows different sentient species to be grouped under a similar label, "human" if that is the word you chose to give it, but calling two species "human" doesn't make the species similar enough to say they are actually the same.

C) Again, is this definition of human one of behavior? For the record, most Novas don't think like humans. They have abilities and senses that by their very nature cause ways of thinking and perception that are absent in baselines. This is not the same as being deaf or paraplegic. One is the addition of a sense or ability that is not possessed by the parent species, the other is the loss of a sense or ability that is possessed by the parent species. Understand, as I sure you do, the very act of being able to manipulate quantum changes your outlook of what you are capable of and how you react to the environment on a scale beyond that of any baseline, no matter how educated, skilled, or impaired. Nova potential exists outside every single baseline out there. A deaf baseline can still compete with a "normal" baseline on most fields and arenas. An exceptional baseline will be extremely pressed to compete with a "normal" Nova and has absolutely no chance at all at competing with an above average or exceptional one.

D) Again, you are incorrect here. It's not a matter of possessing greater capacities. It's a matter of possessing capacities completely outside the range of baseline humanity. It's an entirely other scale, and in fact, most scales meant for measuring baselines cannot be used to measure Novas. Read the research, Mr. Craft. Most data at this point leads towards the conclusion that Novas are limited only by self-imposed barriers, ergo, even if they are within baseline measurements now, they have the potential to exceed them. EVERY NOVA. Having surpassed, or having the potential to, every baseline limitation, Novas see the world differently, react differently to it, and by default behave differently to it, than a baseline would, even if they have responses similar to a baseline in terms of ambition and emotion.

E) The "place holder," as you say, in traditional measuring of biological species, kingdoms, genus, etc, has never had to qualify the ability to command reality. This is not a variation of color, wing span, or a minor deviation in a defensive attribute due to environmental hazards. The simple "place holder" might allow the child the abilities, plural, to forego sleep, food, think at 8 times the capacity of the parent, run faster than a cheetah, teleport across the globe, and manipulate the weather. This all in the difference of the parent to the child. The current method of labeling subspecies has never had to account for that great a variance between parent and child.

F) Again, I have to ask you, how is, or what inside, the mind reconfigured to become "inhuman?" What is your definition of this. The absence of common "human" behaviors? One does not require quantum to accomplish this.

Ashnod, if novas are called humans or not,does that change what they are?Does that change what they can do?Does it change why they do it?

You would not be disappointed. Please feel free to contact my agency when you are ready and I will ensure the proper guides are available to you.

I mean hey I believe we are all human, even if we are not surely there laws aren't that badder structure for the beginnings of a new subspecies?

Isn't it a wee bit irresponsible of Mal to make this grand statement and not have any starting points? I mean did the people who moved to America discide "Hey we in a brand new country and no one is here (excuse me mister Indian) so lets abandon all our laws and get some brand new ones that have nothing to do with the old ones until everyone can agree with ALL the laws" I mean it makes no sense.

Okay, I just don't get it. I mean, so what if we ain't really human? We still all gotta live here don't we? What's the big deal anyway?

Oh. You just gotta talk to Walker.

Jason, the simple answer is yes and no.

A light more indepth:
-The closest star is nearly 31 trillion (that's 10 to the 12th power, folks)kms away, and its not considered a habitable system.
-Assuming you can't make it there in one hop, you would have to navigate in open space. Temp is near absolute zero out there, so traveler's beware.
-Again, assuming you can't make it in one hop, you would have to come to grips with how many hops that would take. Can your node sustain you?
If you can only do, lets say, 1 trillion km per hop, you would have to get 31 hops on the money to not be totally lost.

Also, unless you can sustain that level of travel, you are pretty much on a one way trip. So, can you travel 100 trillion kms reliably, or do you have everything you will ever need when you leave the nest?

Yes, you can leave the earth, Jason.
No, it isn't an option for most of us.

Mars,Titan.....

Oh did I just put a hole in Jager's logic.Sorry.

Nope, Signy, but then with current tech, I could build a craft capable of getting there. You stick inside the Gravity Well, you are just going outside to grab a newspaper, not leaving home.

Jager, you overesamate the human will.Staying in the Sol system is not staying in the same home.I could debate you further, but I know my words would fall on deaf ears.

They're used science and technology to derive how novas heal quickly, resist poison and disease, and regenerate "unhealable" organs and body parts, and turned that towards vaccinations for AIDS, spinal repair surgery (or which I'm a bit of an expert, for obvious reasons) and dozens of other minor techniques for medical science. They still haven't nailed down an explanation for biological eufiber that works within known physics but they did manage to derive the synthetic stuff.

I don't think it's entirely impossible to think that someday they'll figure out how a power like Walker's works and incorporate it into a technological advance. And novas like Antaeus and Splash terraformed Ethiopia - while it'd be a bigger project to do an entire planet I'm sure it could be done.

So, the lesson of the nova age is, you never know.

Listening and agreeing are two different things, Signy. Your arguments don't fall on deaf ears. I just think you are wrong. Perhaps you look to much. Maybe you're arrogant about your abilities?
You make alot of pronouncements I disagree with, but that's nothing new for me.

Jager, I think I will call ,Jester.You make such a good Jester.

What's the pay like?

NASA's Mars Project is still coming along nicely. The nature of the space program has changed since the coming of the Nova Age, but it still goes on. After all, the hunger for the Final Frontier is still there.

Aw that's cute. Baselines can meet us at the moon. They'll be in their big bulky spacesuits, tired and cranky after spending months in tight quarters and we'll be standing there in jeans and t-shirts wondering what took them so long.

They could stay in my shed, it's not air tight but it's a home away from home