Steve says,

"Good work Lorean. And speaking of the aliens, they may still be around. Feel free to port back to Gold world proper if it gets hot."

"That's quite alright I took adequate notes and I think that, barring some sort of unexpected interference or contaminate, that I can figure it out eventually."

Andrew sits down and listens to Steve's recount. He pokes and prods the lump of eufiber, if effect doodling with it by changing it's shape and color. It grows more resonsive to his thoughts as the meeting goes on which serves to reinforce what he had been told earlier about eufiber adapting itself to match it's owner's quantum signature.

"I agree with Steve let's start gathering some information personally. I think we will need to get involved if we go back in time. Prior to the 1980's there will be very little data or wireless information for Lorean to scan and sort for us, forcing us to do the footwork if we are to uncover evidence of past novas or these psychics."

Lorean spends the better part of a day carefully monitoring communications and records and can't find any record of the Aeon Society on this timeline. This was a non-nova timeline as well. Had there been novas someone could have stopped the asteriod. Scanning the records from other timelines that you have been to it seems that the Aeon society has existed on all timelines where novas existed. It also existed on the non-nova timeline where you picked up the crew, but then there were novas there, they were just in hiding until after your appearance.

Steve remarks,

"It's certainly looking like that. Aeon being a nova crew or founded by novas sounds reasonable. A couple of data points do not map out a city, but if we assume Aeon has some type of future knowledge, and some type of access to novas, then they'd tend to see this sort of thing coming and do something about it. Or maybe that's 'psions'."

"I had some thoughts about our future asteriods. We could probably divert them now simply by disabling the mass driver. No mass driver, no navigation, that could turn them into near misses."

"And speaking of asteriods... do we tell them? Lorean, can you broadcast?"

Lorean responds, "I can certainly broadcast and will be more than happy to send a warning, with exact coordinates and trajectories."

"There is one thing though, I believe I have miscommunicated the means of delivery for the asteriods. Mass driver is merely a term coined to describe using an intersteller body like an asteriod as a projectile. Originally the theory was that a ship in orbit would toss many relatively small iron asteriods at a planet using railguns or other such means to accelerate the rocks to extreme speeds. In this case there is no actual means of propulsion on these particular rocks, they have simply been nudged out of their original paths and into a direction that will collide with Earth. These asteriods were problaby chosen because their velocity relative to that of the Earth will mean collisions at around 20,000 mph. My guess is that the aliens assume no defense will be mounted and so felt confident to remain out of sight and do their dirty work from a safe and inconspicious distance."

"All we would need to do to keep them from impacting Earth would be to give them a nudge so that they turn into near misses, just as you say."

It was a lot of information for Omar to digest. Over and over he repeated what he had just heard about the world they picked up Andrew and the others in. He was the trigger for a worldwide transformation. He was studied in school. Some hated him, and others praised him. Another group of humans evolved with powers. There was no war between humans and Nova. Adolf Hitler was not a bad guy?!!.

Omar was excited about these revelatons. He was also slightly frightened. When they made the emergency jump back to what was now called 'Gold World', he relaxed. He had been wondering what would happen if he made an appearance. That idea would now have to wait. Right now, there were more important things. The people of this earth needed saving.

"What would it take for us to nudge an asteroid off its intended path?" Omar asked after some time. "I don't know if we have the ability to move something that massive, just yet. As for finding Aeon, why not search for a timeline where Aeon was discovered, or is out in the open? Then we find out who runs it, and head back to find that person in these other timelines. Then we track them as they age and set up Aeon."

"That way, we could get to know the organization better than it knows itself"

While waiting for her energy to recharge for the next day's jump, Lorean broadcasts the message about the asteriods to Earth.

The obvious origin of the signal helps to convince governments to mobilize and in just hours confirmation has been established on two of the asteriods. Emergency meetings are called and before you jump out the next day the UN has gathered representatives from every country that could possibly contribute to an effort to divert the disaster.

Lorean speculates, "I believe that advanced warning of the threat will put this Earth on guard and bring it's peoples together in a way that has never happened before in its history. There is something about an us against them mentality that creates bonds. It would be interesting to come back to their future at some point and see how they fare."

"Shall I jump in search of another timeline that contains Aeon but falls into a disaster like this world did?"

Steve says,

"Yes, but we'll probably be following this world forward at some point."

During the various down times that they are waiting for Lorean to recharge or scan, Steve does an exhaustive analysis on Psions. What they look like, what they can do, their strengths and weaknesses, etc.

Edited: Investigative Prodigy On.

Steve answers,

"Actually, I'm intending something similar to that. Part of the problem is Aeon predates electronic records by a fair amount. But the real issue here is we need to get a good grip on the scale of this."

"Consider, even with a time machine, they've been several steps a head of us. We haven't exactly lost, but the shear scale of what we're finding is impressive. Implied time travel. A genetics war. Someone possibly covering up the manipulation of the Nazis."

"So... how big is this? How far back does this go? World war 2? World war 1? The foundation of America? How about the evolution of humanity?"

"I'm tired of them being several steps a head of us, I want to raid their headquarters and see what's on the other side of the looking glass. So we go to a world where humanity doesn't exist, and Aeon did... if that's even possible. Then we walk into their headquarters and see what we can find."

Lorean responds, "It is very possible, but it will take time, anywhere from several days to several weeks, though I would guess closer to days."

*****
What you find out about the Psions:
They look absolutely normal, except for the jackbooted uniforms, which the Novas also wear. They bear the same genetic marker that indicates a baseline has the potential to errupt. It seems that Psions and Novas come from the same stock, it is unknown if there is a seperate genetic marker that causes someone to manifest as one instead of the other or if it is a matter of environmental factors or experiences. Certainly exposure to quantum will tend to influnce a latent to erupt as a nova rather than manifest as a Psion. Also as an added bonus, you now know there is a relatively simple test for latency.

Steve says,

"Please."

(Is that something that Andrew or whomever could replicate?)

Lorean considers, "Yes he could replicate it but it will take some specialized supplies that we don't carry on board from that world. They have made somewhat of an industry of it. 14 Billion people produce lots of children that need to be tested afterall. Interestingly, I was reviewing the records and discovered that they have colonized mars. They are in the very beginning stages of terraforming, but it seems that they will be living underground there for many generations, perhaps for as long as men live on Mars. The red planet already has a population of over 500 million. Seems that they are doing the same with the Moon as well. There are a couple of surface cities on the moon, but most is underground. Over a billion people on the moon. Oh, they do have artificial gravity by the way."

Meanwhile Lorean spends about a week and a half jumping trying to narrow it down to a timeline that contains everything you are looking for.

"It was very difficult to find this timeline. I also have a few conclusions for you that I have gathered from the jumps through the various timelines. In every timeline I have seen where Aeon exists Novas also exists. In most of these, humanity survives to some degree or other. This Earth in fact doesn't appear to have been destroyed by aliens, but by more mundane means of war. It seems that the Aberrant war started much early here and resulted in nuclear war. I would suggest that only novas who have space suits or can survive hard radiation go ashore."

She creates an image of the ruined building that is the remains of Aeon's headquarters. "I don't gurantee that you will find what you are looking for, but this is probalby the best place to start. Despite it's association with Novas, Aeon even in this timeline seems to have somehow kept their distance from the conflict."

After his research is done, Steve says to everyone,

"Psions are kind of a mixed bag. They don't appear to get taint or aberrations of any sort at all. They also don't have all of the nova strengths, or options, or potential."

“As you might expect since nova power seems to increase with taint, they don’t seem appear to have access to the really scary levels of power. There’s no Psion equiv of Pax or Mal. Not that this helps us.”

"No node. Their powers don't seem to have a central focus, more on that latter. No Quantum. I assume no node pings, maybe the ability to see quantum directly would show something, like a blank spot, but that's unclear."

"Psions always look human, which is kind of a clue to some of their limitations. No default nova style body type. Direct enhanced physical strength and maybe durability is extremely rare or non existent. There’s no pictures of them picking up cars and the like. Even aside from this, they tend to be less physical than novas. My impression is that they're more stable but physically weaker, at least most of them are. They can have abilities to compensate for this... I get the impression that telepathy is very common, and they do have the occasional shape shifter so they can directly effect their bodies, or at least some of them can.”

“I think their abilities tend to be much less extreme, less physics breaking. I saw a few pictures of Psions manipulating things, TK or animation, but none of the let’s create something out of nothing. There is very little on nova vs. Psion combat, and what they have says the Psions always win. I think it's pretty clear that's propaganda. Much of the system is set up to control novas, they wouldn't need to do that if they weren't scared of novas."

"On the other hand, they can detect nova energies, some of them at least can even disrupt them. Presumably we could do the same to them, but none of us are going to know how. Also they’ll know what to look for to spot a nova, that really hurts, and we have no real way to spot them.”

“It’s unclear to what degree they can look for quantum itself, they can, but it might be something they have to actively look for. So maybe, maybe, maybe Andrew could get some mental shields and give it a whirl, but we might want to locate one of their colonies and try there if that’s what we’re doing.”

Steve asks,

"Lorean do you sense any living creatures around, specifically novas?"

Steve gets out all of the Geiger counters and tests them, and he also rounds up a crowbar and shovel. Most of the counters he leaves next to the exit so they can check people coming in. He takes his gun and puts it in a pouch in his eufiber.

He says,

"So who's coming?"

Andrew's form wavers before settling down again, "I believe I can ignore the effects of the radiation now. You may need somebody who can go all terrain ...besides I could use the practice."

Andrew grabs a re-breather unit and a pair of gloves, "Always good to be prepared"

Steve says,

"Lorean, you know as much about his condition as anyone, do you think that sounds right?"

Lorean responds, "I detect many life forms, but no civilization. There may be places on the planet where some scraps of humanity survive, but it is almost certainly in a preindustrialized state."

"In regards to Andrew, as far as I know he should be able to make his form at least very resistent to the radiation. Most novas have at least some resistence above that of baseline humanity. I think Andrew likely has enough."

"I do not know if I am resistant to radiation." Omar speaks nervously. "I would hate to go down to the surface and get radiation poisoning." Omar then looks at the others with a sheepish smile, "I think I left my space suit on that moon of Saturn back in our timeline."

"Lorien...do you know if I can tolerate the radiation? If not, is there any way to have a suit made or give me another form of resistance?"

Lorean smiles at Omar. "I believe your space suit is aboard. I even had the crew clean it as best as possible. In the suit you will be fine. We also have radiation pills aboard that will help somewhat if you are exposed, but not if you were to take a massive dose. Morgan would be the only one that could help at that point."

Assuming Lorean is at the location, Steve reconfigures his eufiber into something that is slick and unlikely to capture radioactive dirt, then he takes one of the counters, a shovel, crowbar, and large sack and goes outside.

Once outside he immediately measures the level of radioactivity.

Andrew waits inside as Steve goes out for some preliminary radiation measurments, "How's it look out there boss? Safe for the rest of us ... I mean safe enough anyways?" Andrew leans against the communications board and idly scratches at the eufiber suit he is wearing. He twirls a large flashlight in his hands and waits for the other man to respond. I gotta figure out how to make some permanent upgrades to myself, Steve and Omar both have incredible intrinsic ability, strenth, dexterity. There must be a way for me to achieve that without having to concentrate all the time.

Steve finds the radiation levels in the expected range. It will not be an issue for anyone in a suit, or anyone that is adaptable enough to handle strange environments. Definitely wouldn't be healthy for a baseline, although brief exposure wouldn't kill.

In this case though, Lorean doesn't want to get too close to the hot zone so she stays in low orbit above the site you will be digging in and has Morgan open a warp which Steve has gone through. After he gives the ok, Andrew, Omar and Morgan all head through. The suits hold about four hours of oxygen, so those in suits will have to return periodically to get their tanks topped off. Once everyone arrives you head inside the building, which depsite common wisdom is not glowing after being nuked. Inside the radiation levels are significantly lower than outside. In fact even a baseline could work in here if necessary, though long exposure would still potentially cause cancer. Seems Aeon was prepared for the possiblity of radiation/nuclear attack. Within the building you find that things seem to have been abondoned hastily. No doubt after the attack. This location obviously was not hit by a direct attack, but the clouds of radition carried on the winds obviously did their jobs after the fact. Once inside you are able to read the kiosk with general information posted on it. Top floor is dedicated to the board of directors, below that are high level managers, below that middle managers and specific novas, all of the floors below that are for the people that do the actual work assigned by the managers above. The bottom three floor are mostly meeting rooms and other public spaces like cafeterias, etc. From the elevators you can also tell that there is a basement, though there is no mention of what might be down there. Commonly, buildings put their machine rooms and systems down there.

Where do you plan to look first. Are you staying together, or splitting up?

Andrew flashes his light over the kiosk and then looks at the others, "I say we split into pairs. Might be best for Omar and Morgan to stick together as you both need the suits and you can watch each other for mechanical problems and Morgan can get you back to the ship in a hurry. Steve and I have less to worry about and so can wait for a second pick up if need be."

He strokes his chin and twirls the flashlight about in his hands, "Two up top to check out the director's offices and two downstairs to look for the servers or any below ground levels? I think we'll be lucky to find intact computer records, magnetic at least, but with luck there will be at least some optical backups."

Steve says,

"Basic survival SOP is groups of three or more. Maybe after we're been here a while that will change, but right now I'm worried about running into aberrants, or psions, or old style traps and/or defenses."

"At a guess we're looking at another cut out or a cover story. It's possible those computers would show us something, but let's go the easy route first. Assume for the moment that this group has something to hide. Relics from WW2, hidden novas from before N-day, whatever. That's not the sort of thing you leave out in the open, so let's look for things and places that they took trouble to secure."

"Where would I put the company safe? Basement probably. Maybe even a hidden room or hidden level. Or possibly we're in the wrong building... even paper records from before computers would be interesting just for addresses."

"Let's all four of us head for the basement and see what we can see. If there's nothing there then we'll check out the rest of the building."

(Activate Investigative Prodigy, on every new level or room turn on EM Vision at the start and look for hidden pannels or rooms or whatever).

The stairwell is locked, but that is no hindrance to Omar. With a simple punch the door flys off its hinges and into the stairwell. With just a little effort you shift the door out of the way and proceed into the dark stairwell your lights being the only light. It is very creepy as you descend below the ground with only your flashlight providing illumination. For those in suits you hear nothing but your breathing and the mechanical gizmos in the suit. It's worse for those not encased in suits. The silence is almost palpable. To be surrounded by apparent civilization and hear nothing is just plain weird. Nothing but the sounds you are making as you descend.

Once you get into the basement it looks pretty standard. You see all of the pluming for the building and the furnaces to heat water, and the electrical boxes where the power comes into the building from underground cables.

Steve seems to be onto something, but after poking around for a bit whatever it is seems to be elluding him.

Steve measures out several rooms by pacing and then finally turns to the rest of the group in irritation and says,

"Well, I have to admit, they're good. Really, really good."

Steve shines his flashlight on some pipes that run from the ceiling to the floor.

"See these pipes. The big one should be sewer, usually they'd go sideways on the bottom level, but OK, fine, it's possible they have a vertical feed. But this one here is a gravity fed water pipe. The only reason you'd put a water pipe through this level is if there's a level below us. But I don't see how they access it."

Andrew looks at the pipe for a moment before turning to Steve and saying with utter seriousness, "How sure are you? 100%? Omar can tear the pipe out and I can pour myself through the hole, or the pipe for that matter, but if you aren't sure there's hardly any reason for me to risk ending up in a septic system ..."

Steve says,

"Building like this should be on city sewer, not septic, that pipe isn't big enough to be sewer and I don't see any other reason for this. Call it 95%. As near as I can tell there is no entrance on this level, there must be a hidden elivator or something on another level."

"Hmm... those pipes are probably still full of water, and the building's container might still be full. Just pulling the pipes off will be messy..."

Steve traces the pipe and looks along it's route for a sink or drain or something similar. Assuming he finds one he says,

"OK, squish the pipe right here, and try to close it off. Water being what it is, that might not work so try to direct it there."

"The good news is water can't be made radioactive. The bad news is it'll be dark down there. I suggest you try to glow or something up here first."

A world without life was eerie to Omar. That the billions of humans and trillions of lifeforms no longer exist, sends a shudder down his spine. He kept shaking his head: Such a waste.

Omar will grab the pipe and do as Steve asks. He hopes that it doesn't damage the suit. He escaped sterility at the hands of Utopia, and he wished to remain fertile.

"If you find anything, let us know." Omar says to Andrew. "If there are any doors or other areas that we can use, come right back. If this place is as isolated as it seems, there may be hostile survivors down there."

With a large smile, tinged with a bit of envy. "If you can't avoid a fight, remember what I taught you."

Omar gently squeezes the pipe shut so that little or no water can squeeze through then rips the bottom out of the floor leaving a hole about 3 inches wide. There doesn't seem to be any water in the pipe. Seems that whatever water there was must have evaporated or been used up long since.

Before decending Andrew works on trying to figure out bioluminesence. Luckily he is able to mimic properties of a fish he has been studying that provides it's own light for luring prey. Turning himself into a slightly glowing liquid he lets gravity take him down the pipe. They are dusty but otherwise not in bad shape. After a decent that seems like quite a long way he comes to intersections in the pipes at which point they become horizontal. Picking a direction at random you head down the pipes until you slither out of the pipe into a sink in what is obviously a men's restroom. It took a number of tries before you found the open faucet and it is very good that you are not claustriphobic or the narrowing pipes would have been very disconcerting.

It is just as dark down here as elsewhere, but it seems creepier since you are alone now and there are absolutely no other sounds besides those you are causing. The air is foul and stale and you soon discover why. There are the remains of a number of survivors here. Looking around the complex it doesn't take long to discover an elevator shaft. The elevator is down here at the bottom but there is a hatch in the top of the elevator open and you can see metal rungs set in the wall heading up into the darkness. Along the way you notice two men lying on the floor with their hands wrapped around each others necks. They obviously died choking the life out of each other. You also see several other corpses none of which are in a very good state having decayed for years down here.

The underground comples itself contains office space, and entire rooms full of files and disks and servers. Other doors are locked, but this place must have doubled as a bomb shelter. Pretty exclusive perhaps given the small number of remains to be seen.

Climing the shaft you find the doors open on the top floor of the building and have to make your way back down to the basement by the normal stairwells.

Climbing out of the elevator onto the top floor Andrew scowls, I knew we shoulda split up.... He reforms, taking care to maintain hiscellular protection from radiation, looks down and forces his eufiber back into something approaching normal clothes and then decends back down to the basement via the stairs. Andrew makes a point to whistle a jaunty tune as he comes down the stairwell, no need to get his head knocked off by Omar by accident.

Once in the basement again Andrew relays what he saw, "OK So the elevator is express to the penthouse, top secret stuff I guess. There's bodies down there, and they stink. I think it would be a smart idea to see about respiration for Steve and I as well. A couple of the bodies looked to have killed each other, hopefully not a drug or biological weapon but better safe than crazy."

Andrew stops and thinks for a moment, "Morgan if you create a warp to space will it suck the bad air out such that it can be replaced with clean air from the elevator shaft? That'd get rid of the smell and any possible contaminents..."