(Conference Room, Blackstone Station, Star’s Reach)
“So, someone explain to me what in the hell is going on?”
An uneasy silence fell over the crowd as they looked at each
other questioningly. I had brought together some of the brightest minds and
most connected individuals Black Star had to offer to try and figure out just
what in the hell was going down. Oh, sure, some of them were busy working on
the stuff we got from the alien space hulk, but that wasn’t the point of this
meeting. There was craziness going down all over Known Space, and I wanted to
know what it meant, or if anything like this had been seen before.
A discontented sigh came from one part of the crowd I was
facing. My eyes were drawn to the spot. It was a Vrok scientist, sporting a
slave collar. One of the Nomads I had captured before the system was open to
the public, or something like that. What was his name again? Ah, yes,
Tesla_coil.
I’d had reports about him. Apparently, he was brilliant as
all hell, but his brilliance began and ended with Science (capital ‘s’). I
wasn’t sure if he was roleplaying, or if he was really like that in real life,
but he’d gotten a reputation amongst the science department for being the very
best person to study new and ‘interesting’ scientific breakthroughs… as long as
he was somewhere very far away. He was the reason the research base was being
built in Beta Darconyx.
“Something you would care to add, Tesla_coil?”
The Vrok scientist did not get a contrite look on his face,
like I had hoped would happen when I called him out. Instead, he just looked
annoyed. “Well, it is obvious what is happening. We’re experiencing a galactic
energetic phase shift event instigated by massive transdimensional siphonage
and disturbances.”
When no one seemed to understand what he meant, he sighed,
and said, “Fine, kiddie science time. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It
merely changes form. There’s some entropic loss during the translation, but that’s
advanced material. In a closed system, this means that the total energy in a
system is set, and cannot either increase or decrease.”
“Under normal circumstances, the universe is a closed
system. However, the people in this universe have been twisting and turning the
fabric of reality into new shapes for hundreds of years, if they aren’t just
punching a hole in it. Sure, these rips and tears tend to disappear as quickly
as they’re formed, since it is hard to force the universe to bend in a certain
way, and have it stay bent. The universe is an incredibly resilient thing.
However, that resilience appears to have limits, which have come and gone.”
I frowned as I considered what the scientist was saying.
“What do you mean, ‘punching holes in the universe’? That doesn’t sound like
anything I’ve seen in this world.”
Tesla_coil waved his hand dismissively. “Of course, you
have. What the hell do you think those Transition Drives do? Or the Gateways,
or these X’thari Anchor Drives? Hell, even the normal warp drives take physics
out back and beat it like a bunch of schoolyard bullies. And that is not even
considering the effects of psychic powers on the universe. Frankly, it is
surprising something hasn’t happened already.”
“So, what you’re saying is that the various forms of faster
than light travel are responsible for, what, wearing a hole in the universe?”
“Yes, yes. And the Transition Drives are the worst offender.
Yes, the warp drives are playing with the fabric of the universe to cheat
relativity, but they play mostly within the rules, and don’t cause nearly as
much damage. We still don’t know how the Gateways or Anchor Drives work, but
creating stable wormholes, or getting instantaneous travel to any point in the
galaxy so long as one end of the trip is near a Gateway is clearly breaking the
rules. How much damage is it doing? Who knows? For all we know, there are
safeguards in place on those systems, so that they don’t have a lasting
effect.”
“But the Transition Drives? They’re definitely breaking the
laws of physics. Did you know that, when you use a Transition Drive, for an
instant you are literally in two places at once? Do you know what that does to
reality? At least the Anchor drives look like they take you out of reality
before forcing you back in at a new location. And the Gateways ensure that each
molecule is only in one place at a time. Sure, those places can be on opposite
sides of the galaxy, but none of them have someone at two places at the same
time!”
“Honestly! It is like someone was just TRYING to get the
universe torn into itty bitty shreds. Which is why you have to let me get back
to my research project! If I can find a way to replicate some of the Lost
Technology discovered here in Star’s Reach, we could make the Transition Drive
obsolete, or at least refine it so that it is not a threat.”
As the scientist finished his rant, General Khan spoke up.
“Transition drives aside, what was that about Psychic powers being an issue?
They aren’t exactly that powerful, for the most part. Certainly not as powerful
as some of the man-portable weapons we have access to.”
Raven cleared her throat to interject herself into the
conversation. “Ah, I believe I can explain that. As you are no doubt aware, any
living creature is capable of producing psychic energy, which we measure in
‘Psychic Points’ or ‘PP’. Even some machines, like this robot avatar I’m using,
are capable of utilizing psychic energy to some extent, due to conversion
systems like the one I use to take in ambient energy and transform it into an
approximation of psychic energy.”
“However, despite all living creatures having the potential
for using psychic powers, the proportion of those creatures that actually are
able to even just manifest the weakest Psy Power is something on the order of 1
in 100,000. Exact numbers are impossible to pin down, of course, but that is a
close approximation.”
“Which is not to say that people are incapable of using
their psychic energy. Anyone can use weapons or other items that require
psychic energy to recharge, like your Psyber Pistol. Most do not have a large
pool of PP to draw from, however, which makes using these kinds of items almost
as limiting as having to use guns with physical ammunition, for instance.”
“It should be noted that there are some instances of
unconscious activation of powers, or individuals using abilities that they did
not know they possessed. These incidents typically occur in high-stress
situations, or during life-or-death struggles. Usually, these powers only last
while the individual is ‘in the moment’, but there have been records of people
‘unlocking’ the ability permanently. Current scientific journals identify these
people as Latent Psy Users.
“Simply put, most creatures in the galaxy, while capable of
using psychic energy, are incapable of using that energy consciously, without a
structured guide limited to a single purpose, such as recharging a Psyber
Pistol, for instance. Unlocking the skills needed to use Psy Powers appears to
be something that people either have an innate ability to do, and this ability
is not evenly distributed either in population size or in intensity, though
there appears to be a genetic component to the distribution. Furthermore,
training these skills and powers to the point where they can be effectively
used in combat situations is not easy, even when one does possess the ability.
Combat-capable psychics are roughly one in ten million individuals.”
Raven paused, and looked directly at me. “However, this is
only the case for Locals. While there has been no hard science done, for
obvious reasons, starting with the fact that they’re still so new to this
world, it appears that Nomads have a higher than normal incidence rate of being
psychically active than locals from the same background. Further, several
Nomads have appeared to have far greater power and control over their abilities
than many Locals. While scientific journals are still coming to terms with the
existence of Nomads, there have been hypotheses that there is something in the
genetic makeup of Nomads that makes them better psychic energy manipulators
than locals, likely due to the nature of how they manifest in new bodies when
they transfer to this world.”
Tesla_coil harrumphed. “You’re talking about Swiftbreeze’s
Treatise on Nomad Biology, right? Bunch of unproven crap. He hasn’t been
through the peer review process because he hasn’t even bothered to do the most
basic testing! It is barely worth calling his work a hypothesis. ‘Wild guess’
would be more accurate.”
Raven shook her head. “At any rate, Psy Power usage is
relatively rare, and refined usage is rarer. However, there is some evidence
that part of the refinement process involved in learning the skill and gaining
power in it is that it makes the process more efficient, and uses less ‘waste’
energy. Think about electricity. What is more dangerous, a live wire with the
wiring exposed, lying in a puddle of water, or a wire that is properly
insulated, twenty feet in the air? Even if the second wire was carrying ten
times the current, it would still be a safer option to the first one.”
I nodded slowly that all made a certain kind of sense. The
game developers no doubt wanted players to have a bit of an edge on the locals,
even if they didn’t come out and say it. Everyone wants to feel a bit special
when playing an RPG, after all. “All right. If that’s the case, what does this
have to do with the current situation? Things appear to be focused primarily in
Imperial space, after all, instead of spread out across Known Space.”
Raven shook her head. “There are three massive events that
have happened relatively recently which could have a destabilizing influence on
things, especially if, as Tesla_coil proposes, the fabric of reality was already
weakened by many years of experimental FTL travel. The most recent, of course,
is the destruction of the X’thari Harvester, along with a large portion of the
X’thari Swarm that surrounded it. The psychic scream from the Harvester was
enough to temporarily incapacitate every living creature in the entire system. The
backlash of so many creatures dying at once had to have an impact on the energy
of the universe.”
“Of course, another incident is the introduction of the
Nomads to the universe. Their higher incidence rate of being active psy users
means that the throughput of psychic energy being used and transformed from one
type of energy to another has increased dramatically. Since energy in a closed
system is fixed, the increase in energy being used, without causing issues
elsewhere, suggests that the system is no longer closed, if it ever was to
begin with.”
“The most wide-ranging event, however, would be the Imperial
Civil War. It is impossible to overstate the impact the Civil War has had on
the galaxy, no matter what metric you use to describe it. However, speaking
solely about psychics and psychic powers, the Usurper and his Machine God,
Deus, forcibly converted millions to his newfound faith. There is some evidence
that this caused many of the new converts to become latent psy users at the
least, and any latent users that were converted were most certainly turned into
active users.”
“The largest population of these followers was on Earth
itself, during the forced ‘upgrades’ the population was subjected to. Not long
after, however, the war came to a close, with Greenwave wiping out most of the
upgraded population. But a planet full of believers… where did that energy go
when they died?”
I groaned out loud. I couldn’t help it. Here I was, so happy
that I didn’t have anything to do with the latest round of insanity hitting the
universe, but, no, I had to get drawn in to it. After all, I was the one who
activated the Greenwave bomb in the capitol.
“Fine. I get why it is happening in Imperial space, then.
So, what do we know?”
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354XBook I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
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City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
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Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
