"Lorean did you just say that Utopia was implicated in a plot to sterilize novas?" Andrew sits a the large round table with the other novas eating a bowl of something he refers to a nova granola.

"I've been reading up on Utopia while trying to figure out what that secondary effect within their drugs was, I have to agree with Steve, based on their reputation accusations like that are pretty shocking. Though I can't help but think that I now have a decent theory on what those drugs were spiked with.

"I can't help but wonder what kind of effect it would have on the timeline if we exposes Utopia's plot early on?"

Andrew leans forward and shovels a huge mouthful of the concoction into his mouth chewing thoughtfully as he mulls the information over.

"Lets move forward along this timeline again, and see how this all plays out. If we have a better idea of how the events cascade we may have a better idea of what we can do within other timelines if we want to change things.

"Suffice to say I would imagine we can get a few hundred years in this timeline taken care of pretty quickly, maybe 3 more days. After that we decide where we want to branch off and try again. Maybe we go back, expose some bit of information we learned and see how that cascades down the timeline?"

"If you would like me to search for a timeline where that is a primary focus, it could take some time. That would be a fairly significant difference. It might take me several days of jumps to find such a timeline, but I could do that. Also, from what I have gathered in this timeline, the teragen claim to have a method for channeling taint in a constructive fashion, but from the records I can find, it doesn't seem to be a very effective method. Of the members reported to have used the method, there seems to continue to be a significant amount of instability."

Lorean pauses in her commentary for a moment then continues, "I am surprised at how little real progress has been made. It seems that the most significant changes occured in the first few years after N-day. There have been incremental changes in the last few years, but no great leaps like there were at the beginning. I find this curious." She frowns, "I can attribute some of this to Project Utopia's Technology division policing the new inventions to prevent dangerous things from getting out. Some I can attribute to baselines taking a backseat to nova scientists. Even so there still seems to be less advance that I would expect."

"Should I search for a timeline focused on curing taint, or continue into the future of this timeline?"

Steve says,

"Let's go further on this one. I for one have a personal interest in this sterility thing."

Lorean replies, "Very well, we shall continue forward. I will jump us when I have sufficent energy."

The next morning Lorean jumps forward ten years to 2035. After spending most of the day scanning and downloading data she reports, "The years is 2035, but I am afraid things remain much the same. It seems that Utopia never actually did admit to any wrong doing or intentional sterilization, but it was through Utopia that it was carried out. They also never did anything to help correct the problem. Utopia's reputation has suffered greatly, but still seems to be the bulwark against those novas who would set themselves against baselines. Instead of making great strides in invention and progress in the sciences as they did in their early years, the trend toward policing technology has become one of their greatest focuses. The teragen has continued to grow in numbers and boldness. Tensions are even higher now. Several countries, have launched orbital defense platforms, they are often being used to respond to novas that have lost control due to excessive taint. Also, interestingly, the US has established a lunar base."

Another day passes and Lorean jumps to 2045.
"Tensions are very high between the baselines and novas. Novas losing the battle with taint are becoming a regular occurence and causing a great deal of damage. It is causing public opinion to turn very much against novas, though Project Utopia and many novas are working very hard to prevent such occurences."

One more jump to the years 2055 and things have changed greatly.
"I've pulled the following major events from the headlines:
2046 — The Aberrant group Allah's Legion
seizes control of the African island Bahrain. The
event initiates widespread conflict between humans
and Aberrants.
2049 — The United Nations declares war on
Aberrants.
2049 — Aberrants calling themselves the
Space Brigade take over Olympus Base. This
group destroys 75% of OMEN satellites(orbital defense platforms). Olympus
remains under their control until the war ends.
2052 — Aberrants destroy Jerusalem.
Reconstuction delayed until 9061 due to ongoing
Aberrant conflict.
2053 — China launches Xingyeng Sujia, the
first manned interplanetary exploration craft. Its
destination: Mars.
2054 — Aberrant Calvert Wycoff explodes over
the North American Great Plains in a flaming
ball of plasma. The detonation is blamed for the
devastating blight that follows, which destroys
Morth America's grain belt.
2055 — The United States invades Canada [with
Quebec's assistance]. Ostensibly, this is done to
claim Canada's marginally healthier farmlands, but
it boils down to U.S. need for Canada's resources
[geographic and financial] in the ongoing war.

For the past three days Andrew has been alternating between his lab and the bridge. He has devoured the data Lorean has gathered on the sterility drug and continued his research to a countermeasure for the drug.

In the meantime he has also made huge strides in the development of his own pet project. As it turns out the chemical composition of his own polymer and that of eufiber are nearly identical. With a few small additions and changes he has generated an identical formulation but it does not have the same bizzarre lifelike properties and quantum storage as "real" eufiber.

Further experimentation has lead nowhere, though Andrew feels he is very close to being able to duplicate the eufiber he seems to be missing some critical step or process.

On the fourth day Andrew sits slumped on the bridge listening to Lorean's new report; War between Humans and Novas, now being called Aberrants. A shiver creeps up his frame and he shakes his head. "How did could they let this happen? Are we all doomed to fall to the taint or much like the novas of this world will a few of use remain in control and have to put down our fellows?"

Andrew looks around the table at the others, "I think we need to go back. With the information from Lorean's scans of the past 40 years and my own research we can prove beyond a shadow of doubt that Utopia is spiking their drugs with a compound designed to sterilize novas. Perhaps we can change the course of the conflict between Novas and humanity and Utopia."

Andrew rubs his hands over his face, its clear that he is tired and the others know that he has been working nonstop in the lab or the library. Andrew looks to the coffeemaker across the room and extrudes a tentacle toward it. He prepares a cup of coffee and reels it in all from his seat in a casual way that shows the otehrs he has become very comfortable with certain uses of his new abilities.

"Here's what I think, let me know what you think," he says after taking a long drink from the mug, "We can't really change anything, Lorean has stated that any time we change something it creates a new timeline. So the idea of fixing the wrongs of the multiverse, megaverse, what-have-you, is just not worthwhile. Better still to use Lorean and our own abilities to tweak a timeline into existance in which we eventually want to settle down in.

"We can pick a timeline and start tweaking things, then move forward and observe the effcts. We can then go back and change things more, or less, until we get what we want. With a little effort maybe we can achieve world unity."

Lorean looks very sad. "Even at this time Project Utopia seems to be mostly a force for good. It is hard to understand how such a high minded organization could be involved in the sterility conspiracy. Nor can I find any records detailing their guilt, or ordering it done. Still, there is no doubt that it was through Utopia that the drugs were developed and distributed."

"While it is not possible to change a timeline by going back to the past, it is possible to change the future of a timeline by effecting the present. For example, going back to the earth that was devastated by the asteriods and keeping the other three from hitting would prevent that timeline from becoming an earth devoid of life since that has not occured yet. Once a timeline has come into existence, we cannot unmake it, however we can prevent one from occuring by selectively manipulating the course of its history. So, while you cannot make much of a dent in the big picture, you can have a great effect on the small scale."

Lorean smiles sardonically, "To muddy the waters even more, remember that a myriad of new timelines have sprung into existence as a result of your own choices. But don't be too disheartened by the inability to fix all the problems, even though you may not see that you are having much effect, the ripples of your travels with me will spread far and wide through the multiverse."

"So shall I continue forward in this timeline and learn what the results of the war are, or shall we move to other timelines?"

"Wait ... what? Our actions have effects outside of the timeline we take them in? How does that work?" Andrew clearly looks confused, and yet a twinkle of hope shines in his eyes.

Steve says,

"Let's go forward again and see who wins. If anyone does."

"As for going back... I think that's an excellent idea, but it doesn't go far enough. I think breaking the news of the plot early will just make things fall apart early."

"We could... sorry. I'm more than a little angry with Utopia, or whoever was behind that. We could go back and see if there are timelines that have more medical knowledge. Maybe a cure for what they did. Or we could go back and prevent the plot to start with, although I think that would require more information. Maybe a timeline where the plot was fully broken out into public would also be one where more research was done on it?"

Lorean responds to Andrews question, "What I am meaning is just like the natives of each timeline, every decision you make causes a new timeline to branch off. So as you travel through the various timelines you cause many new timelines to exist that would never have existed otherwise."

"Makes one wonder how the Watcher's percieve time..."

Cody had been quiet for a few days, apparently brooding in his stateroom.

"Personally Im not *that* surprised about Utopia. They always did seem a little Spin-heavy with things. And who names their organization "no-place" anyway? Far as Im concerned, its just business as usual for us humans. Power corupts and all that..."

"That sterility thing does suck though...I guess that means we're probably sterile as well. Not like I was planning a family or anything but...jeez, makes ya feel violated!"

"Im defintely in favor of looking for medical advancements firstly. if there is a nova-war, I think we had best stay out of it..."

"Other than that, I'm honestly not really sure what we should be doing. What are our responsibilties now? Before there was always a human scale to things...a sense of duty, or at least purpose. I used to trhive on solving problems, but as Lorean has shared with us, there are infinte problems to solve and who can say where to begin? If I had my druthers its a good mystery. Im sure you can empathize with that, eh Sherlock?" He punches Steve in the arm.

"And the mystery most pressing on my mind is the one that brought us here in the first place...Who, and what, are the Watchers?"

The image of Lorean nods, "So priorities are as follows?
1) Continue further along this timeline to understand what happens.
2) Seek medical knowledge including any treatment for Taint.
3) Seek weapons technology.
4) Return to the devastated earth and prevent the 3 asteriods from further destruction.
5) Visit one of the timelines on which the Watchers may be present.

Is this correct?


Over the next two days Lorean jumps twice more, with each jump things become more grim until 2067 when they start looking more hopeful. Here are the major headlines for the next twenty years:
2061 — The Aberrant Mungu "Backlash"
Kuwasha destroys the OpNet, setting back communications
technology 100 years.
2061 —China makes its "Earth Strike Ultimatum."
Aberrants leave Earth with the threat of returning.
The war ends. The Chinese fleet stands down.
2061 to 2070 —The Crash. Millions are dead.
Half of the world's arable lands are infertile. The
world's financial and ecological resources are
drained. The world economy collapses. Conflict
erupts between nations. The Comm Crunch hits.
The Urban Schism occurs. Orbital expansion is
attempted to revitalize the world.
2067 — At Nippon's suggestion, China
reconfigures its economy on a platinum standard.
Other nations follow. This is a significant step toward
revitalizing the world economy. International
commerce changes from a dollar to a yuan base.
2071 — The "pseudo-graviton" is developed;
gravcrystal grids make artificial gravity possible
on spacecraft and in other microgravity environments.
The discovery heralds an end to global
strife; warfare diminishes and nations become
culturally and technologically progressive.

After delivering the headlines Lorean suggests, "Given the hatred toward 'aberrants' that the baselines feel in the aftermath of the war, I would suggest we seek weapons and medical technology on another timeline in which the war does not occur."

Andrew rolls his eyes and chuckles, "Yeah I'd say that's a sound bit of advice. It looks like we have our work cut out for us if we are to create a world in which Novas and baselines can eventually get along in peace. "

Andrew looks around at his fellows, "I think we should go back and see what changes if we either expose Utopia's plot or simply get the jump on them and make clean nova drugs available before they can. I can't help but think it will go a long way toward keeping the peace. Then again I'm an optimist."

Steve says,

"I want more experience under my belt before going after the watchers. It feels too much like an 8 year old challenging a pro-basketball player to a game and beating his life on the outcome."

"As for Utopia... just exposing them early won't do it. Do that and the novas leave the Project earlier, and the situation falls apart quicker. I *never* get angry and I'm furious about this. The more emotional novas, which means pretty near everyone, will feel worse. "

"What I REALLY want to do is go back to 2025 and then go to a timeline where more information became public. Who did what, and why. Preferably a timeline where they seriously look into what happened and Utopia takes responsibility and finds out how to fix it. I think that will be a good first step to increasing nova medical knowledge. Utopia supposedly attracted everyone who was trying to wear a white hat, this mess was a disaster and was a huge step towards the war.”

“From there, we can try to head off the whole mess by getting Utopia to clean up their act before it happens… make them understand that everything they do will be in the public eye. But I have to confess… I don’t think this is enough to head off the war. I’ve put together a couple of files detailing the really large scale messes that the powerful and tainted novas created. Destroying cities. Destroying the entire North American grain belt. Obliterating Florida, the state, not the city. Destroying the op-net. The sterilization scandal might have been the start of the avalanche, but the snow was still there.”

“But first things first, and the first thing we need is more information on what happened and why. Too many people in Utopia joined to wear white hats… some of them must have tried to go public.”

"I think you're missing my point here Steve, we simply don't know what will happen. We have, quite literally, all the time in the world. If we stop the sterilization plot in its tracks we can then see what happens, how does that tie into the other events." Andrew looks at the older man, square in the eyes, and holds his gaze.

"You state that the snow is already there, I propose that we start a controlled avalanche and see what happens. You sound like you want to shovel the mountain clean of snow. I agree we need more information but I think that we should be proactive and not reactive.

"We've been in this ship for well over a week as it is, the normals are starting to get cabin fever, and frankly I could use some fresh air too. It doesn't hurt to try and we might be suprised by the outcome. The outing of Utopia early, before the taint plauge, might result in a more rational reaction as opposed to the catastrophic results we have seen. Let's go down there, do what needs to be done and see where it leads."

Steve pauses and says,

"I don't really have much hope for this... but... I have to admit I'm in the mood to punish Utopia. So, we go public on them, when? 2004? Lorean, when is the eariest that we know they were putting the drugs in?"

Lorean responds, "From the data, I would say they were putting the drugs in very early, perhaps even as early as 1998. It is hard to be sure of the date since there were so few novas that first year and it is possible that none of them tried to conceive in the beginning. Also, this is conjecture, but I believe that even without the sterility drugs, novas might find it somewhat difficult to conceive with baselines even under optimal conditions. Depending on their taint manifestations and powers, it could vary somewhat. In either case, Project Utopia had a very intricate drug developed very quickly. It is hard to believe that they would have a mega intelligent nova working for them to develop a sterility drug that would affect novas, which makes the early development of the drug even more impressive."

Omar had stayed silent for most of the conversation. He was content with just listening. But as the realization that Project Utopia was sterilizing people like him began to make him angry.

"If they are sterilizing Novas, we should expose them." Omar interjected with a cold stare. "They should be punished for such a despicable act."

"We should go down there and stop their plans, regardless of the danger. Something like this is too important to ignore."

Cody clears his throat. Speaking with words was so slow...

"I think now may be the time to bring up the hubris discussion. I mean, come on! Whoever is behind this conspiracy is going to sic their dogs on us in a hot second. Id say take the evidence to the Directive, but we don't *have* any hard evidence. What are we going to do? Walk up and say "Excuse me, our time-ship scanned the future headlines and we thought you should read this article..." And even supposing we can make it go public, I've already mentioned the Juggernaut of their PR machine. At best, we will be discredited. At worst, they track us, kill us AND Lorean, or worse..."

"Oh yeah...and while Im holding the talking stick, Id just like to say that I agree its a good idea to shelve the Watcher mystery...for now. I would however, like it to be acknoledged on our long term agenda, so we can steer there over time." Cody's head moves as if he just rolled his eyes at himself for his unintentional metaphor.

"I want to be clear that Im not interested in revenge. I just want to continue the Investigation to the next logical level..."

Steve frowns but doesn’t say anything.
Steve continues to frown in thought, but he does nod in agreement to Omar, and then again at Cody’s statements.

“Agreed about the watchers, and agreed about Utopia as well. I think it’d be nice to see a timeline where they are exposed. And if we do it early enough, we should be able to sidestep most of their options. That PR juggernaut was unstoppable in 2007, and probably in 2004 or even 3. But in 1999 it wasn’t anywhere near that big or well formed.”

“But one of the things that bothers me is the speed at which this thing formed. Forming a conspiracy takes time, then they had to create the drug, and with nova drug resistance that would have been difficult and time consuming. Then they had to test it, and distribute it. I’d say they were very lucky in about three different ways. The sterilization agent’s development, having people with black hats controlling people with white hats, and being ready to deal with novas in general. They were in the right place at the right time, etc.”

“It’s possible it happened that way… but there is a saying. ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.’ It’s possible we’re getting the timeline confused here. Other than luck, I see two alternatives. One, they had novas and research on them before 1998. Or two… a lot of this makes more sense if someone had a time machine. For example, it’d make a lot more sense to develop that drug in the 2030’s or 2040’s. These two ideas aren’t exclusive.”

Andrew mulls this new information over, "When exactly did you say that novas starting popping up? Was it in 1998?" Andrew takes another pull from his coffee and then stretches to get a bagel from across the room.

"I'd have to agree with Steve, somehow they put into effect a highly effective combination drug in a scarce few months. This would indicate two possibilities. One, foreknowledge of the existance of novas, possibly indicating that there were novas prior to that point who remained in secret. Or two, time travel. You said that these Watchers were keeping you from going back to interfere in your world's normal timeline so I would wager that option two is less likely.

"I wish I had more time to study the history of your world but I do still require sleep and I can't read any faster than before. Sadly that has kept me from getting up to speed and I'm not sure how much help I can be in planning our actions."

These past few days Alejandro as barely left his quarters and spends most of the time in bed, moaning, with a massive headache that gradually subsides. He is blissfuly oblivious about all these debates of Utopia sterility and alternate timelines.

Steve says,

“N-day was March 23, 1998. Everyone who was old enough knows what they were doing that day. I was home, working on a crossword puzzle.”

“Before 1999 there were supposedly about 600 novas. Call it three a day. Aeon supposedly started talking to the UN on April 12. On May 1st they had UN support and started asking for interested novas. Zurich was on June 30.”

“This is what I call happenstance. May 1st was 39 days after N-day, call it 120 novas. A baseline charity can have UN connections without too much a problem, and this is their first piece of really good luck. They managed to connect a mega-social nova or two or three with their UN connections.”

“Where we have a possible coincidence is the sterility drug itself. And then finally, for our third outrageously lucky coincidence, having selected for a benevolent charity, someone high up there secretly had genocidal intentions, which apparently they managed to hide from the novas.”

“I looked it up. Team Tomorrow was founded Jan 1st, 1999. The first Rashoud facility opened in New York on Jan 8th.”

“Lorean, check me on this, but that’s when the drugs first started coming out, right? Early 1999?”

Lorean looks thoughtful, "With the number of nova timelines I have scanned, I can not be absolutely certain when the drugs started making their appearance, but it is likely that it began with the opening of the Rashoud facilities. Given this I would say that it would be virtually impossible that they could have pulled this together in a matter of months. It seems to me that there must have been foreknowledge, though I can't say whether it was from timetravel or because there were secret novas."

Steve says,

"They got me... if that really is a sterility drug. We need to confirm that. The crew could use a break, and we're going to need to take some tests and set things up."

"We go to another timeline, one without novas. Say, one like where we picked up the crew, but where we never showed up. The crew takes shore leave. Those of us who want to know get fertility tests. If I'm shooting blanks, then we'll assume the drugs do what they say."

"Then we go back to nova town, say 2 weeks after they open up the clinic. One of us goes in, complete with a video camera recording himself. He claims he’s a new nova with a headache. Get the drugs, flee the timeline with the drugs and test them."

"Let's say they really are sterility agents. On the timeline without novas, we put together an infomercial. We lay out exactly what we know, we claim that our powers let us figure it out, then we pay to have the infomercial shown on public TV. No, make that a dozen different TV stations.”

“The powers we claim we have are… body awareness, so we could feel what the drugs did but not stop them. Precognition so we can claim that every time we see going public or just to PU, we end up dead. We prove we really are a high level precog by posting info from the future, like the winning lottery numbers and other ‘newspaper-from-the-future’ type stuff. Then we vanish.”

Following instructions Lorean makes the jump the next morning to a timeline close to the one from which the crew was hired. In the bridge Lorean speaks to you, "I have taken the liberty to jump to the year 2015 as I believe that will allow you the best possible medical attention without going so far as to put you into danger.




Surprisingly, some of the crew elects to stay on board. In the short time since they have been here the crew has adapted surprisingly well to ship life. Given the entertainment options that Lorean offers it is hard to beat what she offers. Every movie and television show ever made is stored in her memory as well as nearly every piece of recorded music and artwork. Those who do go ashore do so mostly for interaction with other people which is limited onboard. The crew despite how different some of them are from each other, seem to have really bonded well. Most of them are choosing to go out in groups as opposed to individually. They also ask for an advance on their pay to use for buying goodies.

At breakfast that morning Mary asks a question of Steve and the other novas, "You mentioned that after a year we could choose to be put ashore on a timeline of our choice with a large sum of gold or currency. Given that we are visiting some advanced timelines and being exposed to some high tech gadgets and advanced knowledge, will we be allowed to take that knowledge with us to profit from? An ipod or laptop computer would be worth a fortune 20 years before it's invention.

Steve, Cody, Morgan, Andrew and Alejandro all go to the fertility clinic to get tested. Morgan, Andrew and Alejandro are the control subjects. Morgan because he was from the original timeline but didn't take the drugs and the two new guys because they could never have been exposed. Cody may or may not have been exposed. The doctors at the fertility clinic think it is kind of odd that a group of 5 guys is coming in together to get tested but a little greasing of palms gets you very prompt service and their full attention. Those with medical knowledge find things to be quite a bit more advanced than you remember. Despite the lack of novas in this timeline they have made great strides in medicine. They put each of you through a battery of tests including a newer version of the MRI that is backed up by realtime modeling software. The MRI can also image things down to a cellular level. They also take blood and semen samples.

Right away they detect problems with Steve's system. They say it will take some time for analysis to figure out why there is a problem. Morgan, Cody and Alejandro are all pronounced fertile, but Andrew causes quite a little sensation. At first they think there is something wrong with their equipment, but after the third time they are in shock. Unfortunately Cody has to step in and adjust their memories slightly to believe there was an equipment malfunction. However, the results of the MRI were quite interesting to those with medical knowledge. Andrew not only has no node, but no internal organs.

It takes a day but the doctors inform you that Steve's own immune system is targeting his semen and killing it. They feel that it might be possible to selectively supress your immune system in that part of your body, but if so then they would recommend artificial insemination as opposed to intercourse due to the risk factors. For a price they are willing to share all the treatment details with Morgan and Andrew who between them should be able to follow their instructions and make the drugs. Also, knowing how the sterilization drug works on you will go along way toward figuring out how to reverse it.

After collecting the crew you move on to the next step in the plan. The crew comes back aboard with a number of nifty tech gadgets including wearable all-in-one computer/communications devices. The devices don't compare to Lorean's equipment, but they will be very nice toys if they ever get dropped off on another timeline.

The next step in the plan turns out to be the easiest. The newly built Rashoud facility in the Nova timeline, year 1999, is only too happy to give you the drugs. You then retreat back to the non-nova timeline to make your infomercial.

Steve nods… he’s not looking forward to this.

Steve says,

“Gold bonus at one year. Another year’s gold and the cure for cancer or something like that at two. I’ll even help put together a business plan. But I’m not going to take your belongings at one. I think you’re kidding yourself if you believe you can plunk a laptop on someone’s desk back in the 1980’s and have them reverse engineer it. :Shrug: I might be wrong. Maybe at a year we’ll have someone try it and we’ll skip forward a few decades and see how it worked out.”

:Grrr:

Steve thinks but never says,

*And this is something he wanted.*

Steve comments dryly, although Cody knows him well enough to know Steve is fairly pissed,

“So in other words, not only does the drug work, but the tech police must be preventing research into this field in order to keep it working.

Steve says,

“We might be getting ahead of ourselves. Andrew still needs to confirm the drug is there.” From his tone he doesn’t believe this.

“But… who wants to be in pictures?”

In private, either back on the ship or when the doctor is out of the room, Andrew looks to the others. "Not that I didn't believe Lorean's scans but seeing it in 3-D sure makes it hit home. Of course if it weren't for this new body structure I wonder if I'd be able to do this ..."

With tha Andrew concentrates momentarily and his form shifts, Suddenly a doppleganger of Steve is standing across from him, though dressed in Andrew's clothing. He speaks, using Steve's own voice, "I'm guessing this will come in almost as handy as some of the other tricks I have learned."

"That's a neat trick", Omar says to Andrew. "You could fake your own death and no-one would be the wiser."

Omar was thinking about how and who should make the public service announcement. Omar knows that he had the appearance for the job, but he also knows that whoever makes it, might be a mar