Tegan Warner

Character Art by Brahahaga

Tegan Warner was a normal girl until a fateful hiking incident left her fighting for life. The Technocracy saved her and she's a member of Iteration X. Wanting to be the strongest version of herself she uses biotech to improve and upgrade herself. She's never afraid to push the limits of what human and cyber can do.

## Background and Trivia

* Experienced traumatic hiking incident with a cougar at age 19
* Indebted to the Technocratic Union, who paid her medical bills
* Has worked with Technocratic Union for approximately six years
* Obsessed with body modification (better, faster, stronger), as she believes the ideal human is akin to HIT Marks
* Highest ranking character of the cast... by virtue of the fact that she screwed up the least!
* Frequently makes pop culture references
* Approximately 26 years old as of the beginning of this chronicle
* Between episodes 3 and 4, Tegan successfully passed her Seeking/Mediation

## Character Biography

### Oldlife

After her accident, Tegan had emergency surgery. She would later remember a state of feeling frozen, watching the doctors work on her mangled body as her blood continuously trickled down and dripped off her fingers.  She also registered the taste of blood and bile in her mouth.

### Early Newlife

Shortly after her promotion to Tier 3, Tegan was asked to meet a high-ranking Iteration X member named Nell.  They met outside two very large doors that combined a variety of high-tech and low-tech security measures (fingerprint scanners, retinal scanners, deadbolts) and saw she also had a variety of implants.  Nell began by congratulating Tegan on her promotion.  Tegan admitted she was pleased that her hard work was being recognized.  Nell confirmed that her hard work and initiative was being noticed by the ‘people who mattered’. She then asked Tegan if she knew what was behind the doors they stood by.  When Tegan admitted she did not, Nell said the rooms held the greatest accomplishments and failures of Iteration X—specifically, their research on HIT Marks. She could tell Tegan was familiar with them by the excited look on her face and humoured Tegan’s talk about watching Terminator, Robocop and similar movies as a kid.  Nell explained Tegan had earned their trust and wanted to give her a project of her own—one that was need-to-know, but would allow her to build her own team and might be related to HIT Marks.

After Tegan expressed interest, another gentleman stepped out and pulled a key.  The two of them disabled most of the locks. Nell slid back the deadbolt and assured Tegan she would get a key of her own, then brought her inside to discuss her future in Iteration X.  One caveat was mentioned during their conversation: she was asked to go on an upcoming mission to a base designated as the Deep Sea Exploration Zone.  She was tasked with doing her best to retrieve the Iteration X data stored there, along with any other data she could acquire—especially if the base was compromised or destroyed.  While the data retrieval wasn’t essential, Nell left no doubt that it was strongly desired.

### DSRV Rogue

On an undisclosed date in the twenty-first century, the Technocratic Union submarine DSRV Rogue left Seattle for the Deep Sea Exploration Zone, a secret Void Engineers base located near the Marianas Trench.  The Rogue consisted of three decks or levels: the main level (which held the mess hall and most of the quarters were housed), an upper level (piloting, storage and other things), a lower level (mechanical equipment). Although the crew composition was almost exclusively Void Engineers, it had been assembled solely for the mission, rather than a pre-established crew with any working history.  After a week traveling in cramped quarters, dim lighting and stale air, nerves were starting to fray.  The captain, Aaron Gamble, quickly interceded before things got out of hand, but tensions were still running high.

As Tegan was not a Void Engineer, she did not have the clearance to enter certain areas of the Rogue such as the helm, Engineering, storage and the vents.  However, she did enjoy free reign of the rest of the submarine as well as the unexpected benefit of her own room. One of the first things Tegan did was establish a means of internet access so she could stay connected to the Technocracy in general and her Seattle research station in particular. She also used her internet access to stay current on any shows she watched and keep in touch with her parents, who had divorced and subsequently remarried, and her on-again-off-again boyfriend.

After a few days, she was approached by one of the Void Engineers.  While she was briefly sidetracked by her eyes, and whether one of them was a cybernetic implant, Tegan correctly guessed she wanted to gain internet access, as roughly half the crew had already seen her for the same reason and was willing to help as she was bored and wanted someone to talk to.  Tegan was satisfied that she primarily wanted internet access to download ebooks, but asked her to avoid pornography, as it would be difficult to enact and maintain the necessary anti-virus countermeasures.  They mutually agreed that this had been a productive, albeit awkward, conversation.  The Void Engineer explained that she had worked on submarines, but this had been her first submarine mission.  However, she was confident it would be successful.   Tegan introduced herself to the Void Engineer, whose name was Heather, before heading to her cabin to set up internet access on the laptop.

At some point, Captain Gamble would publicly announce that his cabin door was missing and asked if anyone knew anything about the matter.  After the crew laughed, Gamble ordered a crewmate by the name of Devon to act as his new door.  Devon amiably complied, going so far as to maintain his new role until the door was returned.  The prank had a notable improvement on crew morale.

At some point, Nolan, Sophia and Tegan were eating in the mess hall when a ceiling hatch fell down from above.  Sophia managed to dodge the hatch in time. Nolan would have been hit, had Tegan not batted it out of the way.  Looking up, Nolan and Tegan saw Heather’s head sticking out of a ventilation shaft. Heather explained to Nolan and Tegan that she had been in the midst of fixing things.  She then confirmed to the mess specialist that the motor was fixed, which allowed her to start dinner.  After calling out that she was not a god, Heather opted to drop out of the ventilation shaft, into the mess hall… and landed on the head of Tegan, who was attempting to catch her.  The two wound up sprawled on the floor.  Heather helped Tegan up, but was less successful in removing the boot print from Tegan’s face.  Nolan quietly commented on the situation while Sophia worked on her tablet and ignored what was happening.

On the seventh day, Nolan and Tegan were occupying themselves when they heard Sophia screaming.  They ran over to find Heather knocking on Sophia’s door. Heather called out and asked if Sophia was okay. Sophia assured her that she was fine, but evaded her follow up question regarding why she screamed out loud. After confirming Nolan was a therapist, Tegan ignored Sophia’s assurances and used her phone to override the locking mechanism.  When Tegan insisted on seeing her, Sophia opened the door, pointed a taser at her, repeated her words and firmly closed the door.  By that point, several other crew members—including Captain Gamble—had arrived on the scene.  Gamble asked everyone to disperse and give Sophia some privacy, but asked them to reconvene in the dining area in twenty minutes. Tegan felt somewhat slighted, feeling that one should respond when hearing screams of distress. Nolan agreed, but pointed out that some people did not appreciate such wellness checks, no matter how well-intentioned.

Heather followed Nolan as he walked away, reminding him that Gamble wanted to hold a meeting.  Nolan explained he wanted to brush his teeth again after having some instant coffee.  Heather was shocked that he had found coffee.   Nolan pointed out that she had never asked, that this was the first conversation they ever had and offered to share his supply.  Heather promptly accepted, declaring he was her new best friend, and passed the time rambling about various parts of the submarine she fixed while they walked to his room and his supply of ‘magic juice’. Tegan walked behind them, as her quarters were in the same direction, but did not participate in the conversation. True to his word, Nolan gave Heather—and Tegan, when he saw her—some pods from Luna Coffee.

During their conversation about the various brands of coffee Nolan had, Tegan divulged the fact that some research teams were working on a stimulant that was more effective than coffee.  Nolan and Tegan shared a moment over their mutual appreciation of Spaceballs.  Heather and Tegan saw that Nolan’s room was extremely well organized—which spoke to past military experience, OCD or both—and expressed their appreciation.

The crew obeyed Gamble’s orders and convened in the dining area at the designated time.  He told them they had arrived two days ahead of schedule and thanked everyone—particularly the engineering team—for working so hard despite the circumstances. Gamble explained that the Deep Space Exploration Zone was now within range of their scanners.  They had determined that the base still had power and had not been destroyed, which came as a surprise given that the Technocracy had not received any communications in several months.  The Rogue had tried hailing the base multiple times, but had not received any response.  Their current working theory was that the crew of the base were all dead.

As such, the Rogue would dock at the base and her crew would investigate.  Tegan offered to access the base computers and gather more information.  Gamble accepted her offer, recognizing she might have some tools that his Void Engineers lacked and how she had already proven her skills by helping various crewmates acquire internet access.  If there were no problems, the crew of the Rogue would proceed with retrieving data and other elements required by the Technocracy.  If problems arose, however, then they would be expected to deal with them.  Gamble handed out a list of the personnel assigned to the base, their roles and areas of study. Tegan looked at the list, saw there were some Iteration X scientists working at the base and recognized there was a redacted name. She also saw two personnel who only had their first name listed, and recognized that as a standard Iteration X practice for identifying HIT Marks.

Gamble tasked some of the crew to unload supplies, while the rest were ordered to focus on data retrieval.  He then concluded the meeting, inviting anyone who wanted to work with the submarine scanners to accompany him. Heather, Nolan, Sophia and Tegan followed Gamble to the bridge, which was only occupied by the first mate, Tajima Yukiyo.  Heather helped Sophia and Tegan calibrate the equipment so they could conduct their scans.  Heather helped Sophia and Tegan calibrate the equipment so they could conduct their scans. Tegan sent out a signal, but encountered interference that prevented her from scanning within the base.  The only thing she could surmise was that the base defences were active. Sophia and Tegan noted out loud how the base defences were raised, as if they were reacting to the submarine.  Curious, Heather tried recalibrating the scanners and running her own analysis.  She was surprised to detect every kind of Enlightened Science she was familiar with, along with a few more forms.  Hearing this, Gamble took a look for himself.  He said the results suggested that some of the base crew was alive, but found the sheer amount of energy unusual.  Nolan asked if the scanners had taken any external readings of the base, citing hull integrity as an example.  Gamble replied that external scans had either come up clean or were inconclusive due to shield interference.  He advised them to prepare for the worst.

Everyone soon felt reverberations as the Rogue docked with the Deep Sea Exploration Zone.  Hoping the physical connection could bypass the shield interference, Sophia reached out with her senses.  She determined that the air quality and internal temperature was nominal. Curiously, she picked up two extra life signs that were not included in the base crew manifest: one human, one feline. The team speculated on the former, with possibilities including a pregnant operative, a spy and a clone.

### Deep Sea Exploration Zone

Gamble warned the team to be careful, as they did not know what to expect, before opening the airlock to reveal a starkly white hallway.  Two people were already waiting for them: a young woman sporting a ponytail and suit, and an unassuming man who looked them over like a security guard. Sensing something was amiss, Nolan established a mind link with Heather, Sophia and Tegan.

The woman greeted them politely, explaining they had not expected any company.  Flustered, Gamble told them that the Technocracy had been trying to contact the base for months.  The woman replied that they had been sending reports during that time, wondered if there was a problem with the communication systems and invited them to the control room so they could speak to the commander.  Gamble exchanged looks with Nolan, surprised by her detached demeanour, but eventually accepted her offer.  He transferred command of the Rogue to Yukio in his absence.  Gamble, Heather, Nolan, Sophia and Tegan then followed the woman into the base.

Nolan began a running conversation with the woman, who he identified as Dr. Eva Walters.  He mentioned that one of his mentors, Carl Etheridge, had spoken highly of her.  Tegan recognized that Agent Etheridge was the leading Man in Grey who died in 2006 during an onslaught at the Portland chantry.  The fact that Eva did not react was highly suspicious.  Furthermore, she connected Eva to the Special Projects Division of the Syndicate, which she knew had ties to the multinational megacorporation Pentex.

Through the mind link, Tegan told her other teammates that she would complete the data retrieval as quickly as possible, given the suspicious circumstances, and advised them to come find her if she did not return within fifteen minutes.  She then split off with Mateo and Jordan to head for the laboratories. They were greeted by several scientists in lab coats.  Tegan recognized one of them as a member of Iteration X, who apologized for not having the time to transfer the data to an external drive.  Tegan assured her she could acquire the data and popped out her cybernetic eye.  He looked disturbed, while simultaneously giving the impression that he should be used to such sights by now.  Mateo admitted Tegan removing her eye was really cool and really creepy.  While Tegan reassured him that that was a typical response, he quickly went with Jordan to grab some boxes and take them back to the submarine.  Tegan connected her cybernetic eye to the computer.   After it synced up, she found a folder marked Iteration X and transferred the data.

Nolan’s mind link allowed Tegan to sense that her teammates were becoming increasingly suspicious and concerned with their surroundings.  Nolan soon used the mindlink to telepathically tell his teammates everything he knew about the Special Projects Division—specifically that they were an infamous part of the Syndicate that regularly performed unauthorized research on demons, the Nephandi and other Reality Deviants… before vanishing after the emergence of the Dimensional Anomaly.  He also confirmed that Dr. Eva Walters was a high-ranking member of the Special Projects Division and she did not react when he deliberately used the name of a high-ranking N.W.O. agent, Carl Etheridge, who died after her disappearance. Nolan then added the observation of Eva’s eyes turning black.  Sophia revealed that she had also seen eyes turning black during her recent nightmare.  The song ‘Working for the Weekend,’ by Loverboy, began playing over the mindlink as Nolan’s stress levels got the better of him.  Tegan told them that she needed a little more time.  She then sensed horror from Heather and Nolan, who were terrified to connect the observation of black eyes to an adversary they knew as Threat Null.  Nolan began mentally laughing hysterically.

It was at that point that Tegan heard Gamble slam his fist into the console, exclaim that Amelie was his wife and demand that she look him in the eye.  She did not know whether she heard the captain through the mind link or down the hall.  Sophia telepathically urged Heather to explain.  Heather was horrified that Gamble would yell at Threat Null and initially conveyed the belief that they would all die momentarily.  She eventually recovered enough to tell Sophia and Tegan that Threat Null came from beyond the Dimensional Anomaly, should not be on Earth and should not exist as Void Engineers.

Through the mind link, Tegan sensed the reactions of her teammates as everything went to hell in the control room.  She popped her cybernetic eye back in and telepathically told her team she would join them. Ahead of her, she saw Mateo and Jordan slowed down and wondered aloud what was happening. Tegan ordered them to return to the submarine immediately.  She then ran to the control room and joined the teammates.

Sophia fired her taser at Eva, recognizing that, even if it did not hurt Threat Null, it should hurt the host body.  Eva’s back arched as she broke out into spasms. Heather threw a canister of CLN-20 (a.k.a. ‘Fun House’) gas, causing half of the infected enemies to collapse. Tegan joined the others, assessed the situation and fired her LL/AP-15 Finger Guns.  She killed Eva with her first shot and hit Amelie with her second. Nolan moved past Amelie, then used a Procedure to make everyone else think they swapped places. Gamble was momentarily confused by Nolan’s actions, but saw through the illusion. He ordered his crew to return to the submarine.

Sophia pulled her pen from her jacket pocket, intending to stab a hostile and trigger its internal explosive if she could not escape.  Meanwhile, she began retreating to the submarine, planning to advocate for the base’s destruction as she felt its crew was infected and were beyond saving. Heather accessed one of the consoles and found the self-destruct sequence.  Calculating how much time the crew of the Rogue needed to return to the submarine, seal the door and disconnect from the base and set a countdown timer.  She then started the countdown and began to run. Tegan kept the infected base crew at bay.  She then ordered everyone to run back to the submarine, intending to be the last person to leave. Nolan activated a Procedure to improve their chances of success before retreating himself.

The submarine crew ran, with Gamble and Tegan bringing up the rear.  Sophia was the first to return to the Rogue.  Seeing the door was open, Sophia used her life sight to confirm none of the submarine crew had any shadows or signs of infection.  However, she did see the cat that she detected earlier, who had somehow made its way onboard.  Fearing it might carry the infection, she threw the animal off the submarine and explained her rationale to the team.  No one chose to question her motives.  The team was so eager to leave, none of them saw its tag, identifying it as a KIT Mark named Cupcake.  Tegan used her Enlightened Science on the door to seal the infected inside the base.  The Rogue then disconnected and began pulling away.

Everyone felt relieved to have escaped with their lives.  However, Heather then realized that she had failed to factor the blast radius of the base’s self-destruct into her calculations when she set the countdown. Before she could say anything aloud, the base exploded and the submarine was caught in the shockwave.  As they were flung about the corridor, the lights turned red, the alarms began to ring and they felt a strange pressure on their bodies.

The operatives tried to stand up, only to find themselves floating through the air.  They saw all the colours of the rainbow tear through the submarine, its beauty belied by the screams they—and their crewmates—made and the howling winds that seemed to blow through the halls.  One by one, they recalled all their memories—from both their oldlife and their newlife—before they slipped into unconsciousness.

### Beyond the Dimensional Anomaly

While unconscious, Tegan remembered a meeting shortly after her promotion.  When she woke up, she found herself in a great deal of pain. Grabbing Tegan’s face, Sophia warned her not to move. Once she had gotten Tegan’s attention, she abruptly removed the transfusion supplies.  She pressed down on the site to help the clotting process while Nolan administered Vicodin.  Tegan asked where they were.  Nolan dramatically announced they were in space.  Sophia simply said they were in a submarine full of corpses and abruptly declared she had to investigate another life sign.  Over her shoulder, she told Tegan that Heather was the first to wake and had left to restore life support before everyone else died.  When Tegan suggested her computer skills might come in handy, Sophia pointed her in the right direction.

As Tegan went to help Heather, she realized she was still in pain.  She found the sensation curious, as she had not experienced pain since the cougar attack and her subsequent surgery.  Tegan decided to travel through the corridors rather than crawl through the vents.  She knew she was approaching the right location by the sounds of Heather swearing—and a hammer ricocheting off the walls. Tegan called out that she was joining Heather and asked her not to throw anything else.  Reaching the door, she asked if Heather needed any assistance.  Heather gave vague orders to fix something else.

Upon entering the room, she sensed her cybernetic eye was glitching, but assumed it hadn’t been seated properly.  After blinking the sensation away, she began receiving data from the submarine and confirmed several systems were offline, including life support, navigation, steering.  Oxygen was running out (though not as quickly since most of the crew was dead).  Noting that things are suspended and floating.

Tegan saw Heather working and almost got hit by something.  She received vague orders from Heather to fix something.  After some work, she managed to get the computers back online and restore power to the lights in the room.  As she moved around, she found another system that was operational, if not currently on: Artificial Gravity.  After taking a moment to wonder why a submarine would have artificial gravity, she turned that system on.  Heather cursed in pain and demanded to know what Tegan had done.  Tegan apologized for turning the artificial gravity on, but found it curious that such a system existed in the first pace.  Over the mind link, Nolan needed a moment to process that, but eventually found that just as curious.  When Heather got back to her feet, she asked Tegan to find the controls to the PA system.  Tegan managed to turn it on immediately.  She announced to the survivors that she had turned on the PA and artificial gravity system, and apologized again for any discomfort caused by the latter.  An irate Heather threw a wrench at Tegan, only to ask for its return after it fell short of its intended target.

As Heather brought the life support system back online, Tegan began searching through the computer to see what other unexpected systems she could find.  She found some redacted code that had something to do with windows, eventually realizing they referred to actual openings and not operating systems.  Surprised, she restored the code and pressed the relevant button.  She also discovered a reference to an energy source that was located somewhere in the centre of the vessel, though it was not connected to any other systems.

Moments later, Tegan heard Nolan shouting out loud, though his words were somewhat muffled.  Heather calmly asked him to report to Engineering. Heather’s voice came over the PA, asking him to report to the Engineering Room.  Nolan shouted back that there was a big hole.  He began answering Heather’s questions by giving a rough approximation of its dimensions and assuring that he was not being sucked out. During the conversation, Tegan tried to explain that she’d activated the windows.  At Heather’s and Tegan’s suggestion, Nolan tapped the window and confirmed it was made of glass, though it was much denser than standard windows. Tegan explained she had found, and restored, redacted code for windows.  Nolan apologized for distracting them with his inarticulate concerns.  Heather replied she was relieved that he had not been sucked out into the void of space. Nolan asked them how they would feel if that had happened.  Based on their responses, he declared they were in good mental health.  When Heather replied that she was in a great deal of pain, Nolan promised to visit her in Engineering and provide medication after he replenished his supplies from his room.

Heather briefly accessed the PA and requested anyone alive and mobile to report to the cafeteria.  She then returned to her repairs.  Sophia reported there were only five survivors and that she was in the mess hall. Heather, Tegan and Nolan promptly asked for the identity of the fifth survivor and learned it was Mateo.

Nolan eventually arrived in Engineering and received a pop culture-laden greeting from Tegan.  When he offered drugs, Tegan pointed to Heather, who raised her hand plaintively.  After taking her pulse and assessing how much pain she felt, he injected her with a cocktail of amphetamines and painkillers, which he enhanced with his Enlightened Science. Feeling much better, Heather began assessing the integrity of the vessel, considering it endured an explosion that sent it through the Dimensional Anomaly, and ran scans to determine what systems needed repair.  Tegan pulled up a display of the vessel and began running diagnostics. Nolan then asked if there were any means of external communication, which they could use to contact any deep-space stations that had previously been cut off by the Dimensional Anomaly. As Heather began searching for any relevant systems, Tegan revealed that she had discovered an unlisted energy source located somewhere in the centre of the vessel.  Heather and Tegan wondered if it was a warp core.

Looking further, Tegan found some blueprints and put them on the display.  A light was pinging from a room located in the belly of the ship.  Heather was surprised, as her blueprints made no mention of such a room.  They were still pondering this discovery when they were interrupted by the sound of Mateo screaming, followed by Sophia shouting for Nolan.  Nolan promptly left Engineering.

Tegan continued looking through the systems, determining which were critical, non-critical and weird.  In doing so, she found a sequence of code that appeared to enable some kind of information display.  Seeing it was not dangerous, she ran the code.  The display screen briefly went dark, briefly revealing a restart sequence, before returning to normal.  A message appeared in an old font, welcoming them to the Nautilus (episode 1).

The two were confused at the homepage that welcomed them to the ‘Nautilus’.   Heather remembered a panel embossed with the name Nautilus, which she discovered in one of the vents near the mess hall, and mentioned it to Tegan.  The Void Engineer added that she had thought the Technocracy had simply repurposed some parts, but now wondered if the truth was more complicated.  Having agreed that the mess hall would be a good place to start looking for the mysterious power source, the two finished downloading the schematics to the tablet.  Both couldn’t help but note that the computers were now running two operating systems simultaneously.  Before Heather left, Tegan set up a remote connection so she and Heather could communicate.

While monitoring Heather and waiting for Nolan to bring coffee, Tegan began exploring the newly discovered operating software through trial and error.  She did not have much success, which she soon attributed to the fact that it was an older system that she was unfamiliar with—probably Windows 98.

When Nolan arrived, Tegan thanked him for the coffee.  She then asked if his age (compared to her) meant he was familiar with Windows 98.  Bemused, Nolan replied that he had used it when he was a teenager.  Tegan admitted such operating systems were before her time and asked if he could get her access.  Nolan sat down and, after a few minutes, managed to access a desktop screen that had nothing but a start button and a single icon that said KIBO.  Tegan recognized it as an acronym for ‘Knowledge In, Bullshit Out’ and double-clicked on the icon.  Another icon appeared along the taskbar in the form of a black-and-white tuxedo cat with a purple bandana labeled with the word KIBO.  He looked at the Technocrats and offered to help.  After conversing with Nolan, Tegan asked KIBO for help, only to promptly refuse his offer to erase the hard drive.  When she asked to see the hard drive, the screen displayed an image that Nolan and Tegan recognized as a fractal.

The two quickly became distracted by songs, Spotify playlists, generational differences, how people could be tracked and whether the computer had the game Doom installed.  At that last point, KIBO reappeared and told them he could play Doom.  Tegan immediately decided to play the game. Nolan asked how Tegan was feeling and learned that, while she showed the damage sustained from traveling through the Dimensional Anomaly, she did not feel the pain.  He then decided that KIBO was evil after he declared Clippy was his best friend.  His next request was for a stat block.  A card appeared with the KIBO icon and a series of words, one of which was ‘Jhor’.  Tegan asked what Nolan was doing.  Nolan replied he was hacking the database.

Heather called out to Tegan and asked where the item ‘that should not be’ on the vessel was located.  Tegan looked at their location and provided detailed directions. At some point after Heather and Sophia got close to their destination, Tegan began encountering static over the connection. Heather and Tegan tried to talk to each other, only to have trouble communicating. Tegan managed to enhance the communications link momentarily before losing it entirely.

At that point, the ship shook violently.  Nolan asked what had happened, but Tegan had no available answers.  After blaming KIBO, Nolan used the computer mouse to pull him away from the alarm.  Tegan identified the red light as an alarm notification—one that was blinking faster.  Tegan wondered what was going on. Within seconds, Nolan and Tegan began smelling smoke.  They also noticed the red light was now blinking at a slower rate, as if the urgency had subsided, and the light that had represented Heather had returned to the screen.

Tegan began scanning the ship for any power surges, life signs and unexpected phenomena while Nolan continued to wrestle with KIBO.  After some searching, she determined there had been an explosion on the bottommost floor that created a hole in the wall and a fire.  The fire appeared to be suppressed.  Much to her surprise, she located Heather and Sophia inside a room that did not exist on the official blueprints.  For that matter, that entire area did not appear on the blueprints, as it had been cordoned off by wall panels—some of which were ten to fifteen years newer than the others.  A diagnostic revealed that the engines had been damaged, but were repairable.  Finally, there was no more power flowing to the device in the hidden room.  She reported her findings to Nolan.

Meanwhile, Nolan was still having trouble with KIBO.  Pulling out a laser pointer, he aimed it at the screen, employed a Procedure to make it as enticing as possible, pointed it at the Recycle Bin and released the mouse.  KIBO followed the laser pointer and disappeared into the Recycle Bin.  Nolan emptied the Recycle Bin and was satisfied that he had dealt with the program for now.  Nolan and Tegan decided to head downstairs to join Heather and Sophia. They made their way to the room, where they found Heather scanning a device that vaguely resembled a warp core and Sophia searching through boxes.

Nolan asked what was going on.  Heather warned them to stay back.  Sophia explained that a wall had exploded and led to a fire, which they had subsequently put out.  She admitted they were still in the preliminary stages of exploring the room.  In return, Tegan said that Nolan had deleted a cat and she had discovered an entire section of the ship that had been cordoned off, which indicated the vessel was larger than they thought.  Frustrated at this latest revelation, Nolan kicked the wall.  Tegan offered to help, but Heather told her to stay back. Sophia asked if Heather or Tegan was interested in the original blueprints to the ship.  Heather remained distracted, but Tegan readily scanned them with her DEI and uploaded a copy to the implant’s memory.

Heather reported that the device was no longer leaking radiation, which Tegan confirmed from her own scans.  She added that it had started to fail while passing through the Dimensional Anomaly, which meant that the device and the Dimensional Anomaly shared responsibility for killing most of the crew.  Finally, she identified it as a Wonder.  Nolan was shocked, as that meant the device came from the Traditions and not the Technocratic Union.  As the other Technocrats processed that information, Heather added one last detail: while the failure of the Wonder meant it was no longer leaking energy, she also believed they needed it operational in order to cross the Dimensional Anomaly and return home. Tegan wondered if their transit through the Dimensional Anomaly was an accident or whether someone wanted the Wonder destroyed.  Heather reminded them that they blew up the Deep Sea Exploration Zone, which could have triggered a chain reaction.  Tegan was more concerned at the possibility that someone had sent them out on a suicide mission.  Nolan asked how quickly they could repair the Wonder.

After some thought, Heather told the others that she could start repairing the Wonder, but revealed that it channeled energies that were not totally compatible with their Enlightened Science.  As such, she doubted she could bring it fully back online or use it to send them home.  Tegan said her scans revealed that the engines could be repaired, but Heather told them they would only allow the ship to move through space—not the Dimensional Anomaly.  She also pointed out that they did not presently know their actual location in space. Heather then added one more fact: they only had ninety days—eighty-nine, now—to get back before they discorporated and vanished.

Tegan was visibly concerned.  In an effort to take her mind off their impending demise, she told Heather and Sophia that they had found and deleted a virtual cat.  Nolan assured Sophia that he had taken all the steps necessary to fully delete it, but Tegan expressed doubts that it was actually gone.  After making pop culture references about cats, Tegan added that it was holding a red blinking light just before the explosion.  Heather suggested it could have been an alert, as she was sure the Wonder was about to explode on its own.

Nolan got everyone back on track by reviewing how the Nautilus was actually an Etherite vessel that had been repurposed into a Technocratic vessel.  Tegan suggested that they could explore the sections of the ship that had been secretly cordoned off.  Heather was more focused on how to repair the Wonder, as it used energies that were not quite Data or Dimensional Science.  After confirming that it might be the Mage equivalent, Nolan promptly identified the latter as Spirit Magick.  When Heather made a face, Nolan insisted that that was what Tradition Mages called those kinds of energies, even if they were wrong.  Heather insisted that it would be difficult to make Magick fit her Enlightened Science.  After debating whether discorporation was like The Blip (from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and how painful it might be, Nolan, Heather and Tegan wondered if the vessel might actually be a Marauder or Nephandi ship.  Sophia thought it was improbable that the ship had passed through that many hands, but Nolan felt otherwise based on his knowledge of history and classified files.  The Technocrats decided to explore the hidden areas of the ship, but not before Heather applied duct tape to the parts of the Wonder that showed the most damage.

They did not travel far before reaching another wall, but only paused long enough for Heather to cut their way through with a plasma torch.  The Technocrats found themselves in a room with a window that gave them a clear view of the empty void. Tegan dismissed the window and looked around the room.  She then looked out the window, felt the same pain she had experienced when passing through the Dimensional Anomaly and was reminded how she had not felt pain since her surgery.  She dropped to her knees and cried out loud.

Nolan told the others that they were looking at the Dimensional Anomaly itself.  After a brief discussion, he then insisted everyone be quiet and looked for a coffee cup.  After Sophia pointed to a thermos that she had left behind, Nolan retrieved it, drank the remaining coffee and placed it against his ear.  He then hit his fist against the wall and began counting.

Using Cowboy Bebop as an analogy, Nolan explained that the Technocrats were somehow in the Null Zone, a place between realms that the Technocrats did not officially acknowledge.  He added that technology did not normally work in the Null Zone.  When Heather and Tegan asked how their technology was still functioning, Nolan theorized that it was for the same reason that they had accessed the Null Zone in the first place—the Nautilus was an Etherite vessel that employed Magick.  Furthermore, he realized where he had heard the name KIBO before: it was a Virtual Adept artificial intelligence or Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics program program from the late 1990s or early 2000s.  Following his train of thought, Heather and Tegan asked if that meant they had to learn Magick.  Heather refused to draw runes and scribbles on the wall to make the Wonder work.  Tegan pointed out there were no moon cycles to follow or crystals to extract.  Sophia stated that the mad science that Mages called Magick did not make any sense.  Heather allowed that if they all started chanting, they might hit the correct frequencies.  Tegan proposed a group orgy to generate the necessary energies, which Heather and Sophia firmly rejected.

Continuing his explanation, Nolan said past trials proved they could not learn Magick, as they knew (or believed) it would not work.  He then asked if they could move.  Tegan repeated that they could repair the engines, while Heather reminded everyone that the engines alone would not allow them to cross the Dimensional Anomaly.  Nolan said that while the Union had not colonized the Null Zone, the Traditions had.  Therefore, he proposed finding a Tradition Mage on their side of the Dimensional Anomaly and persuade them to help.  When Heather asked how to find one, Nolan jokingly suggested Tinder.  Heather had the idea of using her tablet, coupled with her Data and an Entropic effect, to access a cached webpage for singles and see if the internet was available and whether she could locate any Mages in the vicinity.

Heather announced that she had found KIBO.  After guessing the program had jumped to her tablet, she asked if he could help them find Mages.  KIBO helpfully told her that he was a Mage.  While Heather seemed confused, Sophia looked intently at the tablet and identified the presence of an Enlightened Genius or Avatar.  As Heather revealed her concern, KIBO pulled up a fractal image and said he was placed onboard to protect it.  Tegan identified the fractal as the item Nolan had found while she was playing Doom.  When Sophia asked if it could help them, KIBO said it contained everything known by ‘the Fisher Princess’.

Tegan asked if she could download the fractal.  KIBO admitted she could, but did not know what would happen.  Seeing no alternative, Tegan removed her implant—to Nolan’s disgust and Heather’s fascination.  Sophia told the others that the Fisher Princess was a Virtual Adept who used to run in the late 1990s and early 2000s before disappearing.  Nolan felt that made sense, as her departure coincided with the crash of the Digital Web.  Sophia warned that downloading the construct of a Virtual Adept into her head might be dangerous.  Tegan believed that it was worth the risk if it would help them return home.  Nolan intervened and gave her a Mind shield with a dose of LSD.  Thus fortified, Tegan plugged her DEI into Heather’s tablet and downloaded the fractal. She then hesitantly inserted her implant back into her eye and was immediately bombarded with millions of memes.  After managing to identify that the memes originated from the early 2000s, and realized she had also downloaded KIBO, she passed out (episode 2).

Tegan found herself in a verdant landscape with grassy hills and blue skies that was strangely reminiscent of a Windows background.  KIBO appeared when she called out for it, explaining that she was inside the fractal while her mind slowly processed all the data she’d just downloaded.  Tegan accepted KIBO’s offer to fetch files for her, only to regret it as she was soon inundated with waves of memes.  After spending a few moments trying to glimpse the memes, she realized that some of them were created after the late 1990s and early 2000s—the period when the ship was originally in operation.  When she asked about the incongruity, KIBO explained that there had been an incident that rendered him inoperable, after which he came back online and started collecting again.

She asked the program for any lists of the original crew before the Technocratic Union took possession of the ship.  KIBO blinked away before reappearing with a mouthful of scrolls that he spat out at her feet.  Observing that this reminded her of the Matrix, Tegan opened a scroll and was surprised to see how small the Tradition crew was, compared to the skeleton staff of sixteen Technocrats that struggled to operate the ship.  In fact, it only consisted of four Mages: Captain Jenny Dakkar, The Fisher Princess (a.k.a. Dindaine), Dr. Caleb Whittaker and Dr. Veronica Strong.  With the exception of the Fisher Princess, who was a Virtual Adept, the other crew members came from the Society of Ether.

KIBO helped Tegan find some ship’s logs, represented by another scroll, that were originally made by the Fisher Princess.  A pair of text posts revealed the crew were seeking an individual named Professor Emeritus Alexis Hastings—the Etherite representative of the Council of Nine—only to discover the remnants of the destruction caused by the Dimensional Anomaly—which they called the ‘Avatar Storm’.  They had plans to investigate whether Victoria Station was still active as the Traditions had not received any communications from them in several years.

There was also an audio file embedded in the logs, which Tegan played.  Over the sounds of creaking metal, she heard someone quickly relate that: there had been an attack, she had to dump some data, there were no other survivors, KIBO’s help was required, and she regretted that they found her—or them.

Slightly disturbed from the audio log, Tegan asked KIBO to show her other things.  She was directed to a scroll containing a list of scientific and pseudoscientific papers—some from the Masses, some from the Etherites and some from the Technocracy—in the form of PDFs, MP3s and MP4s.  After accidentally opening a badger meme, she was able to identify more memes—which she decided to avoid— recognize that Project Phoenix as a SETI project to locate extraterrestrial life through radio signals and make note of a paper stating that peanut butter had no effect on the rotation of the Earth.  Tegan also noted some papers that mentioned ether, Umbra and Mercurian Cosmology—which she guessed were Etherite papers that might be relevant to her current situation.  She asked KIBO to set them aside, along with a body modification paper that provided instructions for a detachable, ambulatory, mechanical hand.

Then she found a paper with an image of the Wonder that the Technocrats had found in the hidden room.  Thinking it might contain the information they were seeking, Tegan asked KIBO if they could upload that file to the computer so Heather could look at it.  KIBO said Tegan could transfer the file outside the fractal once she had finished processing it, reminding her that her brain was slow, before asking what she was looking at.  Tegan showed her the paper and asked if he knew anything about it.  KIBO had no knowledge of the file, but suggested the fractal might be more helpful.

Tegan gamely called out to the fractal and asked for help deciphering the paper.  In response, she heard some feedback that sounded like a screeching record, followed by a noise that reverberated in her bones.  Sensing that the fractal was listening, she repeated her question.  She felt more vibrations in her bones, which registered as error codes instead of pain due to her cybernetics, which gave her the sense that the fractal was trying to show her something.  When the vibrations subsided, she understood that she now had the information she sought, but would need to learn how to process and interpret it.

She also remembered the folder of Iteration X data that she had downloaded from the Deep Sea Exploration Zone and decided to examine it while waiting for her brain to finish processing the fractal data.  Opening the folder, she found a single JPEG labelled ‘Kraken’ and a password-locked folder named Project Deepwater.  Unable to determine how many characters the password included, she tried to hack into the folder. After some effort, she saw the code behind the password lock, which let her deduce the password.  Unlocking the file, she saw several more files, labeled with cryptic file names.  Until she found a pattern behind their names, Tegan realized she’d have to go through the files one by one.  Then she got a fuzzy feeling as her vision grew hazy and filled with static, before finding herself in a room, tied up and feeling unwell.

Nolan insisted he was basically sex-less and wordlessly gestured at his marriage ring.  At that point, Tegan began calling out and asking why she was tied up.  Heather explained they had taken precautions in case she woke up as a rampaging rage monster.  After she reassured Nolan that she was not feeling any more homicidal feelings than usual, she repeated her request to be freed.  Heather opened the door and untied her.  Tegan then noticed a note had been tucked into her pocket and read that Nolan had given her a thousand milligrams of Tylenol.  She realized the sheer amount of painkillers was probably why she felt unwell and pointed out that she did not feel pain like most people.  Nolan explained that the model of pain-dampening software she had was known to experience delays when rebooting and wanted to minimize any discomfort she might feel.  Under his breath, he added that it would provide a route for him to shut down her central nervous system—though his attempts at subtlety were promptly countered by Heather’s frank and audible explanation.  Tegan told them she was not thrilled about their open admissions about taking her down, which Nolan and Heather continued discussing.

Heather and Nolan learned that Tegan had received a vast quantity of memes and spoke to the fractal, which responded with vibrations that she felt in her bones.  Hearing the latter, Nolan examined his medications to double-check whether he had given her painkillers.  Tegan added that she acquired several files and revealed that KIBO was now in her brain.  Furthermore, she came across a paper that might discuss the function of the Wonder they had found.  Tegan then asked if they knew anything about Project Deepwater and whether they killed Sophia.  Nolan explained that Sophia had grown tired of their company, while Heather said she had not been killed recently (by either of them).

Tegan went on to reveal that she had uncovered the original crew manifest—three Etherites and a Virtual Adept who was, in fact, the Fisher Princess—and an audio log.  After reciting the crew names, Nolan recognized Captain Jenny Dekkar as an Etherite who had been very active in the late 1990s before vanishing.  When Tegan mentioned they were looking for Professor Emeritus Alexis Hastings, Nolan immediately recognized the name and asked if they were sent to kill her.  Tegan explained that she had gotten the impression that they were sent to find her.  While they had succeeded, they quickly regretted it, according to an ominous audio log.  Furthermore, KIBO had been offline for several years before he was turned back on sometime in the 2010s.  Heather and Tegan speculated that KIBO’s reactivation was due to the Nautilus’s discovery by the Technocratic Union.  By that point, Nolan had remembered enough to tell Heather and Tegan that Hastings was once the leader of the Etherites, but had vanished when the Dimensional Anomaly hit.

She added that the crew was traveling to Victoria Station, which Nolan also recognized, to see if it was still active, as the Traditions had not received any communications from them in several years.  Heather and Nolan felt that Victoria Station would only be active if it was haunted, though Heather conceded that it may have been active and staffed back then.

Now that Tegan had finished processing all the files in her DEI, she decided to find a computer station and start uploading them to the mainframe.  Heather and Nolan followed.  On the way, they passed by the infirmary where Sophia was happily sorting through boxes.  Tegan told her what they were planning, invited her to join them, and gave assurances that she was not a killer robot before they continued on their way. Nolan wanted to change his clothes.  Tegan was willing to wait until he returned and use the time to prepare an ad-hoc presentation.  The conversation turned to Powerpoint Olympics (Nolan was a fan, Heather and Tegan were not), deodorant (Heather offered some to Nolan, which he turned down, before using it herself) and how Nolan felt they were bonding.

Sophia asked if anyone needed Band-Aids.  Heather felt she needed more than Band-Aids considering the injuries she’d sustained passing through the Dimensional Anomaly, suspecting that some of the damage had been done on the molecular level.  Hearing her words, and seeing how visible her injuries were, Sophia entered Heather’s personal space and began a physical examination.  After several calm utterances of pain, Heather was asked whether she wanted to be healed slowly or in a faster and potentially grosser way.  She chose the latter out of morbid curiosity.  Sophia proceeded to give Heather medication and a quick blood transfusion that healed some of Heather’s injuries (and transferred some of the damage to Sophia).  Heather told Sophia she felt the transfusion brought the two of them closer together, which Sophia found unfortunate.  Curious, Heather asked if the blood would register as her own or Sophia’s in the hypothetical event that she was attacked by a vampire.  Sophia replied that it would be Heather’s as she only donated an ounce of blood before eating a cookie.

Tegan set up a Bluetooth connection between her DEI and the computer, then uploaded the files and began methodically going through the ones pertaining to Project Deepwater.  She learned that Project Deepwater had been running for about a hundred years.  Pentex had originally started the project but entered into a collaboration with the Special Projects Division of the Syndicate at some point.  The base served as a platform to run various experiments, though there were plans to open it up as a tourist attraction that ultimately came to naught.  Scientific papers, raw data, statistical models revealed that some of the experiments centred on Chulorviah, which appeared to be Umbral creatures that existed in space and the deep sea.  They were capable of infecting cephalopods and humans like a virus, making the former smarter and the latter more bestial.

After reading several documents, Tegan learned the Project Deepwater scientists were trying to make a computer virus out of the Chulorviah and, by all accounts, may have succeeded.  She also found financial documents that were dated recently and proved that the Special Projects Division was indeed funding the project.  Buried in the middle of the financial documents were additional files.  While some of them looked like gibberish, Tegan found a 2021 watch list containing the names of people who were going to be infected or targeted.

Nolan came back and asked what Tegan was looking at.  Tegan explained that she had found a list of people who were being targeted by something called ‘Chulorviah’ as part of a project that was currently being funded by the Special Projects Division.  She pulled up a watch list, financial documents and some information on the Chulorviah, displaying the files on a computer screen.  Nolan was confused as the Special Projects Division was not currently being funded.  Heather speculated that the list was of people who had already been infected and were currently being monitored.  At that point, they realized that Sophia’s name was on the list, with a notation that she was a ‘Section 12 candidate’. When Nolan asked what the virus could do, Tegan explained that it could make cephalopods smarter and humans more bestial.  Nolan wondered if Sophia was part squid, while Heather asked if that explained the grumpy demeanour Sophia displayed before her morning coffee. Sophia had come across the term ‘Section 12’ and recognized it as a Pentex designation involving werewolves, not cephalopods.

The other Technocrats asked Sophia if she had been squidded, bitten, injected or stared at computer screens for prolonged periods of time.  Sophia did not look impressed with their line of inquiry, but replied that she had never been squidded.  She conceded that she had received several bites—all of which had healed.  Tegan scanned Sophia with her Enlightened Science and determined she was not broadcasting or receiving any signals.  Sophia looked even less impressed.  Tegan pointed out that she woke up tied up in a room because they thought she was a killer robot, prompting Sophia to remind her that she downloaded a Reality Deviant program from a well-known Reality Deviant.  Put on the defensive, Tegan reminded her that her name was put on the watch list.

Tegan found another page on the document in a different font, suggesting it might have been appended at a later date.  The top of the page was marked ‘T0’ and had a symbol of a circle with an X, which Tegan recalled seeing on several other documents such as the watch list, one of the files of gibberish and some financial documents.  Looking further, Tegan discovered that the page consisted of another list of names and immediately recognized two of the names: Amelie Bessette, the leader of the Deep Sea Exploration Zone base, and Sabian Knight, Chief Engineer of what they had originally called the DSRV Rogue. Tegan asked if anyone knew what T0 meant.

Nolan asked Tegan where she got the files from, learning she downloaded several Iteration X files from Project Deepwater.  He then asked what they said about Randall Lang.  Tegan only knew his name was on a list marked T0.  Heather didn’t know what T0 meant.  Nolan told them a few years after the Anomaly, in the early 2010s, there were several reports concerning sightings of entities that were similar to, but different from, the Technocracy.  They were mostly unsubstantiated and subsequently denied, but the Void Engineers seemed to take them more seriously.  Sophia asked if they were like the threats they encountered at the Project Deepwater base.  Nolan confirmed that was why he asked them to run.  T0 was an internal code or tag for Threat Null.

He went on to claim that Randall Lang could not be part of a Threat Null: partly because he was a friend, partly because he was based on Earth and Threat Null had historically appeared in areas where the Dimensional Anomaly was weak.  Sophia suggested that, if he was Threat Null, he could have used a weakened section of the Anomaly to slip through.  Nolan added that he was a NWO handler and thought his inclusion on the T0 list was a mistake.  Tegan insisted Lang’s name was there.  Heather acknowledged that Knight’s name was there as well.  Sophia pointed out that Threat Null was not confined to deep space as they had encountered them underwater and suggested they had been infected at some point.  When Nolan told them Threat Null was not a virus or similar infection, Sophia recalled how everyone at the base exhibited black eyes.  Tegan remembered that Project Deepwater was trying to make some kind of virus based on the Chulorviah and wondered if they could mix it with Threat Null.  Nolan felt Threat Null using the Chulorviah as an infection vector made more sense.

Heather said out loud that the Nautilus—then known as the Rogue—and her crew was selected to travel to Project Deepwater, where Threat Null was already present.  She speculated that the chief engineer might have enough influence to make such arrangements.  In particular, she may have chosen the Nautilus/Rogue because of its secrets, most notably its ability to breach the Dimensional Anomaly.  Latching onto Heather’s references to Threat Null as ‘them,’ which Heather explained meant they were typically found ‘out there,’ Tegan found and played the last audio clip recorded by the Traditions crew for the others: there had been an attack, the recorder had to dump some data, there were no other survivors, KIBO’s help was required, and she regretted that they found her—or them.  The Technocrats agreed that the entities the Traditions had encountered were Threat Null.  They reviewed the fact that the Technocracy had acquired the Nautilus sometime after that recording and effectively disguised it by repurposing it into the Rogue.  Heather asked what Randall did and whether they would be involved in such a subterfuge.  Nolan allowed that it was possible, but felt Iteration X or the Void Engineers were more likely.

Sophia brought the conversation back to Threat Null, mentioning how Pentex had its fingers in a lot of pies.  Nolan said Threat Null had a few manifestations that were on the record.  He mentioned that Tradition Mages—or Reality Deviants—had certain impressions of the Technocrats, comparing them to Men in Black, the Borg and the Stepford Wives.  He then recalled a Void Engineer of his acquaintance who entered a subdimension that rearranged itself into a manifestation based on Valhalla and had regular contact with a Pan-Dimensional entity who thought it was one of the Norse gods.  On his last visit, he met someone in modern business wear claiming to be a legal representative for the gods.

Heather asked if the lawyer was a manifestation of Threat Null.  Nolan was unsure, as his acquaintance said he was someone who knew from college, who subsequently was recruited into the Syndicate’s Special Projects Division before it disappeared.  He concluded with the admission that he had to purge his acquaintance due to orders.  Tegan concluded that all evidence indicated that the Special Projects Division was alive and well.  The Technocrats wondered if they had been sent to Project Deepwater so Threat Null could acquire a means of reaching the surface.  Sophia darkly wondered if they were merely sacrificial lambs or agents who had outlived their usefulness.  Nolan reviewed what they could do, starting with his role in helping agents process trauma sustained in the line of duty so they could return to the field.  He recognized that Heather, while new, worked with mechanical equipment and had restricted access.  Heather agreed, but felt she had ruffled some feathers and had probably made enemies.  Nolan conceded that point, but felt she was low enough in the hierarchy to escape notice.  The two also recognized that Heather was specifically asked to join the expedition by Sabian.  Nolan moved onto the others, claiming that Sophia could be some kind of super agent and admitting he knew nothing about Tegan other than his overinflated fears of her being a killer robot.  Tegan replied with a citation of her computer skills, but eventually admitted she was recently promoted to work on the newest model of HIT Marks before being assigned to this mission.  Sophia still believed their situation felt like a setup.  At Tegan’s prompting, they began reviewing the list to determine who was on Earth.  Sabian was dead and Nolan believed Randall was based somewhere in the United States.  Tegan mentioned Amelie Bessette before Nolan speculated that the mug he was using belonged to Randall.  Heather wondered if drinking from Randall’s coffee mug would infect him with Threat Null.  Sophia pointed out something had happened because they ceased communications for months and the more logical means for Threat Null to reach the surface was to stay in regular contact.  That prompted Heather to ask Tegan where she went after leaving them.  Tegan explained she had gone to retrieve some files from the Project Deepwater base, which were not to be confused with the files she acquired from KIBO.

Nolan asked Tegan was missing any periods of time from her memory.  Tegan was not aware of any lapses of memory.  Nolan explained that, under the circumstances, it was possible she had been compromised without her knowledge.  He asked Tegan to trust her and offered some coffee before asking how long she had her DEI and what happened to her original eye.  Tegan revealed she had lost it to a cougar attack when she was nineteen and would have died, as she could not afford the necessary surgeries, had the Technocracy not offered to pay her bills in exchange for her service.  Nolan felt she had survived and joined the Technocracy because she was a fighter with exceptional talents, which extended to piecing together things that had been omitted.  He asked her to recall what happened on the Project Deepwater base after she left her colleagues while performing exercises like looking out of both eyes or focusing on the tip of her nose.

Tegan remembered separating from the rest of the group to collect some data, though she was accompanied by some colleagues who were delivering supplies.  She reached one of the labs and met a lab technician, whose name escaped her as she was more focused on the carpet, who told her there was a file on the computer to take.  Then she realized that he mentioned multiple files rather than just one.  She plugged her artificial eye into the USB port and selected a file labeled Iteration X.  It was at that point she realized that, somehow, she had also selected a hidden file with no name.  She saw herself transferring both files to the eye, reinserting it into her body, nodding to the lab tech and headed back to join the others to escape the base before it exploded.

Nolan asked Tegan to engage her Safe Mode and open the hidden file.  Tegan complied and was relieved to find it did not contain a virus.  The file was a series of documents from a loyal Technocrat holding out in a base of Threat Null, with the intent of hiding the information, returning it to the surface and warn everyone.  The documents indicated Nolan was right: they were using the Chulorviah as a vector to spread Threat Null.  Furthermore, they were trying to convert them into a computer virus.  While they might have achieved some success with the Chulorviah, they had not determined how to convert Threat Null into a computer virus.  Tegan also found an account from the unnamed Technocrat spanning several months before the Project Deepwater base went silent.  It detailed how people were exhibiting personality changes.  It mentioned how a member of the Special Projects Division had somehow appeared on the base one day and was responsible for cutting communications.  The Technocrat felt any response from the surface would be too late so he compiled the file as a backup.  Sifting through the documents, Tegan discovered a reference to decipher the numbering codes of the other files.  She also found a warning that the Kraken JPEG had an infected EXE file that contained the virus and should not be opened.  Finally, she came across a document that seemed to contain gibberish except for a series of words that stood out: Eater of Souls.

Nolan found the name Eater of Souls disturbing.  Tegan was relieved that she had not selected the JPEG.  Heather sought confirmation that Tegan was okay.  As they began wondering if the JPEG could be deleted, they realized that the files from Project Deepwater and the Nautilus were mixed together in Tegan’s head, which meant that KIBO could access it.  Tegan managed to quarantine the JPEG to prevent any unwanted access.  As she did so, she realized it was heavily implied that the Deep Sea Exploration Zone was not the only base that had been infiltrated.

Tegan recognized they needed to get back to Earth and remembered coming across a paper that might help.  Heather insisted on getting the paper now, had Tegan send it over to her tablet and declared that she would avoid everyone and study the paper until she understood it.  After announcing she would return to the room with the Wonder, she abruptly left.

Tegan was concerned about having a potential virus in her head.  Nolan offered some reassurance while Sophia looked away as if silently saying she warned Tegan that this might happen.  Tegan decided to go over files while Sophia decided to check on Mateo.  Nolan groaned about saving the world again when he was retired.  Tegan was concerned about having a potential virus in her head.  Nolan offered some reassurance while Sophia looked away as if silently saying she warned Tegan that this might happen.  Tegan decided to go over files while Sophia decided to check on Mateo.  Nolan groaned about saving the world again when he was retired.  She revealed she had overheard Nolan, leading him to realize he had spoken aloud and tried to deny the whole thing.  Nolan tried to reassure Tegan that she would be fine and not worry about what was in her brain.  Tegan admitted she was more worried about KIBO (episode 3).

Tegan spent the next hour or so at the helm. Sophia contacted Tegan over the comms and asked if she could come down to the infirmary to look after her injuries.  Tegan did not realize how hurt she (still) was until she ran a self-diagnostic, after which she agreed to see her. After turning off the comms, Tegan subconsciously limped out of the room and down to the infirmary.

When Tegan arrived, she was taken aback at the number of vials and syringes Sophia had set out.  Sophia calmly explained that the infirmary was very well stocked and proposed to start healing whatever was broken.  Tegan agreed, explaining she had not realized how badly hurt she was as the modifications made to her body altered her ability to process pain.  Sophia pointed out how the inability to feel pain was both a blessing and a curse—particularly if she died in the field because she did not receive any feedback on her injuries.  As Tegan conceded that she could program some kind of warning system to give her the necessary alerts, Sophia stabbed her with a needle and performed her procedure.  Sophia was so successful that she completely healed Tegan and was confident that she could heal Heather in a few hours.  Tegan marveled at how good she felt before Sophia shooed her out of the infirmary.

Returning to the helm, Tegan decided to run some diagnostics on the various systems.  She learned that the engines were offline—though she was unclear as to whether it was due to the fact that they were in space or because the engines themselves were damaged.  Safety systems, such as those that would engage to counter catastrophic hull breaches, were running, due to Heather’s hard work.  Some of the weapon systems were functional, while others seemed to be both hidden from the control systems when the vessel was acting as a submarine and deliberately turned off.  External sensors were generally operational, but seemed to be suffering from intermittent glitches that she attributed to the Dimensional Anomaly.

Some time later, Mateo turned on the general comm channel.  Curiously, he made several efforts to alternate his pitch, apologize to someone else and wonder if something was an improvement. Tegan responded first but got little more than a request, from the person she thought was Mateo, for someone other than her to report to the ‘infirmary’ as ‘he’ had done a ‘whoopsie doodle’. She decided to ignore the request.

Some time later, Sophia quietly approached Tegan and called out to her.  A startled Tegan jerked awake and accused Sophia of being a ninja.  Sophia attributed her quiet approach to a career of hunting werewolves and asked if Tegan had any Mind-related Enlightenment abilities.  When Tegan admitted she did not, they wondered if Heather had any such abilities.  Sophia revealed that Nolan swapped bodies with Mateo.  Tegan realized that Nolan pulled a Freaky Friday, put that with the absurdity of Heather repairing a Mage ship and burst out laughing.  Sophia refuted her suggestion that the only thing missing from the situation was a werewolf, firmly stating that they did not need any werewolves on the ship.  When she recovered, Tegan declared that she had to see this for herself.  Sophia warned Tegan to be careful as Mateo was in a very fragile state and Nolan had done a poor job of assuring him that he could fix things.  Seeing that Tegan could not stop laughing at their predicament, Sophia suggested her to take some time to calm down while she sought out Heather.  They agreed that they might have to help Nolan if Heather had no telepathic abilities.  Sophia abruptly left as suddenly as she arrived. Tegan kept laughing for a few minutes before going to investigate for herself.

When Tegan arrived in the mess hall, shd saw Mateo and Nolan staring into each others’ eyes and repeating that everything would be okay.  ‘Nolan’ admonished Tegan for interrupting his session with his patient before asking if she had any familiarity with Life.  He was disappointed to learn that Sophia was the only Technocrat proficient with that Sphere, as he felt she was not interested in this situation.  At ‘Nolan’s’ request, Tegan tried to get their body temperatures but could not initiate any thermal scans with her artificial eye.

Tegan soon gave up on Nolan and asked how ‘Mateo’ was doing.  ‘Mateo’ admitted he was not doing well as he felt empty.  Tegan noted that he was tightly clutching an empty cup.  She soon decided to return to the helm, told ‘Mateo’ and ‘Nolan’ that Sophia was looking for Heather, and invited them to join her if they needed a distraction.  Then ‘Nolan’ had an idea.  Removing the glasses from his body, he told Mateo they would slap each other on the count of three.  At the point of impact, ‘Nolan’ engaged his telepathy and successfully transferred their minds back into their proper bodies.

Mateo and Nolan were relieved to be back in their bodies, though the former still felt something was amiss.  At Nolan’s prompting, Mateo realized he really did need to urinate and ran out of the mess hall.  Nolan thanked Tegan for being present should any extreme measure be required.  The two then went their separate ways.

Tegan set up some subroutines to monitor the ship’s systems.  She left notes explaining what she had done, instructed the reader to wake her up if there were any red flags and insisted they not tamper with anything.  Tegan also locked down the more temperamental and delicate systems and enacted safeguards if anyone tried to access them (episode 4).

Eventually, Heather contacted her over the comms and asked her to come to what she called the Warp Core. Heather told Tegan (and Nolan and Sophia, when they arrived) that she had made the Wonder functional.  All it required was infusions of Data, Dimensional Science and Prime so it could take them home without exploding (probably).  She then proceeded to give them a series of tasks, including ordering Tegan to write some code and input coordinates.

Tegan programmed some instructions based on Heather’s directions.  Heather forced Prime energy into the Wonder to jumpstart it, but saw it was struggling to complete what she wanted it to do.  Partway through, Heather realized the Wonder was exceeding its capabilities and made a split decision to have Tegan change the coordinates.  The Wonder flared to life briefly, blinding the Technocrats.  When their vision cleared, they realized they passed through something and wondered if they slipped through the Dimensional Anomaly as it didn’t hurt like the first time. Tegan’s mind was suddenly flooded with information—specifically, notifications.  She realized how empty she had felt without the constant influx of information from the internet.

When they went to look out the window, they saw nothing but stars—though that was an improvement from the starless void of the Null Zone.  Tegan told them she was connected to the internet again.  Heather cautioned them from celebrating too quickly.  She admitted the Wonder was not powerful enough to take them to their intended destination, forcing her to switch coordinates.  Nolan felt even a partial success was worth recognizing.  Tegan wondered if they would still discorporate.  Nolan did not believe so, while Heather held off answering until she had verified their current location.  Tegan complimented the Technocrats for their accomplishment, though Sophia and Nolan recognized they still had to save the world from Threat Null.  However, Heather and Tegan voiced the need for sleep.  Nolan offered to stand watch while they rested.

Tegan went to read some files before going to sleep, only to start receiving a signal.  She found it disconcerting that she could not discern its source or determine why she heard it in her head.  Over musical accompaniment, she heard a distorted male voice say “Enigma takes you where dogma cannot” (episode 3).

While Tegan was sleeping—and having her Seeking—she subconsciously sensed that something was going wrong with the ship.

Tegan woke up suddenly in a cold sweat to the sounds of alarms going off.  Using her newfound connection to the ship’s computer, Tegan teleported herself to the helm… where she sensed a dearth of breathable air and saw Nolan unconscious on the floor.  Letting out a squeal of fury, Tegan accessed the ship’s systems.  She discovered that Nolan had diverted power to the sensors, which had detected a Forces signature coming off of the Nautilus and a larger signature further away that she could not identify.  Any attempts to investigate further were cut short when Tegan realized that Nolan had rewired the computers and disabled life support.  Furious, she reversed his tampering and restored life support.  As soon as her repairs were complete, she manhandled Nolan and demanded to know what he did, going so far as to slap him.

She asked Nolan why he rerouted all auxiliary systems—including life support—and bypassed her safeguards.  Nolan eventually came to his senses and said there was an alien entity or vessel that tried to make contact.  He claimed he wanted to make sure that more of them were not approaching the Nautilus and that the defences were operational, but was unable to reach her.  At his request, Tegan let go of him.

At some point, Heather and Sophia joined Nolan and Tegan.  While Sophia stood behind them and silently watched, Heather asked why there was a sudden influx of power and why there were logs of systems being shut down.  Tegan explained that Nolan decided to rewire the ship.  Heather observed that he rerouted CO2 recycling without affecting artificial gravity or the blast doors, which Nolan attributed to not knowing what various wire colours signified.  Tegan told Heather that Nolan was trying to contact aliens and sarcastically asked him if they responded.  Nolan explained he was trying to ‘star 69’ them, then realized Heather and Tegan were too young to understand the reference.

Nolan asked if Sophia was around.  Heather, Nolan and Tegan then realized that Sophia had been there the whole time.  Nolan marveled at Sophia’s stealth while Heather thanked her for healing some of her injuries.  Looking around, Nolan realized that Mateo was the only one who was not in the room.  Heather thought he might be in the mess hall, prompting Nolan to explain he accidentally swapped bodies with him.  Furthermore, Nolan had been contacted by some kind of telepathic alien entity while he was standing watch.  Heather was more distracted by the tie that had been turned into a headband.  Removing it and dropping it to the floor, Nolan added that it was a shapeshifter.  Heather wondered if it was really a shapeshifter if it could read his mind.  The two began talking about the productivity of their conversations, whether Heather was weird and how Nolan needed a haircut.

Nolan continued rambling about how the alien read his mind, left before he got its name and how he wanted to ensure it was not a threat.  Sophia speculated that the entity might have been what Reality Deviants called a spirit, it might be easier to contact out in space and it may have left as it viewed Nolan’s request for a name as an attempt to bind it into service.  Tegan pressed further and got Nolan to admit that the entity pulled memories of his mind and assumed the appearance of someone he wanted to see.  Heather and Tegan thought it might have been a way to communicate or negotiate, especially as the Nautilus had recently materialized.  Tegan then recalled the radio signal they had received as they were trying to sleep.

As Tegan said that, she realized that she was still receiving a radio signal but had missed it due to her rage.  She concentrated her attention on the signal and realized what she had heard earlier was a fragment of a longer message that was on a loop.  She eventually deciphered the message, which said “No unity without diversity.  No Ascension without freedom.  Enigma takes you where dogma cannot.  We do not create the path to Ascension; we explore it.”  The message continued with directions to go to a street address at a certain time and date, find the lost boy and retrieve him from Control.

Nolan clarified the street address and admitted it was his house, back when he was a new recruit.  Heather asked how long ago and learned it was 21 years ago.  Heather and Tegan noted that they were about two and five years old at the time, respectively.  Nolan allowed that he was somewhere in his twenties but declined to offer specifics.  Tegan idly speculated whether the signal they were receiving were from spirits. Nolan, Sophia and Tegan put some thought into the message and independently determined that it was being broadcast from somewhere nearby, it travelled 21 light years from its point of origin. Tegan proposed that the message originated from 21 light years away, but Nolan was more inclined to believe time travel was involved and recommended they should invest in Apple.  Sophia quietly suggested the message came from something very close to them.

Heather mumbled that there were no planets anywhere, which unfortunately meant they were not in their solar system.   In addition, the giant energy signature was getting closer.  She was not sure whether they were still in the Milky Way Galaxy or another galaxy, as the scans did not match anything in their database.  Heather suspected they had materialized somewhere beyond Union-known space and were thus far away from Earth, which concerned Tegan greatly.  However, Heather also proposed the idea that they were in a parallel reality, which Nolan emphatically supported.  Sophia suggested they operate as if they were in their own reality for the time being.

Tegan was more concerned that the giant energy signature was approaching their position.  Heather showed her the analysis of the readings she had performed on her tablet.  Nolan offered to hail the energy signature.  Heather and Tegan vehemently said no, even though Nolan suggested it could give them a tow and Tegan was present to prevent him from disabling life support.  Sophia suggested waiting for the energy signature to contact them and reveal its intentions (e.g. whether it was hostile) rather than opening hailing frequencies and giving away their location.  Tegan reminded her that Nolan might have already given away their location.  Sophia conceded the point, but felt that repeated hails might draw its attention and pointed out she was far more familiar with battling threats on Earth than in space.

Nolan remembered to ask Sophia to check on Mateo, who had mentioned feeling hollow during the body swap.  He was not sure whether it was a side-effect of being in Nolan’s body or whether Mateo had been infested with an alien lifeform.  Heather wondered if Nolan was missing something while Tegan remembered the part of the message that referred to the lost boy.  Sophia decided to investigate by scanning Nolan’s body and discovered the only thing missing was his appendix.  After observing that Nolan was unlikely to have appendicitis, she left to find Mateo.

Given that the other Technocrats had had a full night’s sleep, Nolan asked if someone wanted to relieve him.  Heather and Tegan immediately raised their hands, with Tegan telling him to go and sleep.  Nolan asked if Heather could cut his hair, as she had told him she had shears in her inventory, but decided he would rather sleep first and reduce the risk of making any impulsive haircut decisions.  Before Nolan could leave, Tegan walked up to him and apologized for roughing him up earlier, brushing some dirt off and patting his shoulder. Her intent was to use the apology as a distraction while she slipped a surveillance device in Nolan’s pocket so she could keep tabs on him while he slept. Nolan brushed it off, noting they were all tired, apologized for scaring her and assuring her that he would never consciously put any of them in jeopardy.  After promising to be less impulsive in the future, everyone agreed that Nolan needed some sleep.

Tegan passed the time unlocking and examining the weapon systems.  Periodically, she checked on Nolan to make sure he was okay.  She also noticed that Heather was keeping KIBO engaged. Eventually, she returned to her quarters and fell asleep (episode 4). Tegan was woken up by Sophia, who warned over the comms that there was a HIT Mark in the infirmary and Tegan had to wake up immediately.  The message was followed by a loud, blaring alarm.  She began heading to the infirmary, while trying to remember everything she could about HIT Marks, before deciding to teleport there instead.  Rushing to the nearest computer terminal, she quickly wrote some code to dematerialize herself, transmit her pattern through the computer system and rematerialize inside the infirmary.  Unfortunately, she got trapped inside the computer.

Somehow, she made her way to Heather’s tablet, where she found herself in a Dragonball Z episode.  KIBO, who was apparently watching the anime with Heather, noted that they had a visitor.  Heather was surprised to see Tegan appear on the tablet screen and wondered if she was supposed to be in the episode.  Having heard Heather, Tegan set the record and admitted she made a serious mistake.  After pausing the episode, and confirming that Tegan did not freeze, she went to the comms and sent a message of her own, inquiring why there was a HIT Mark on the ship.

KIBO took the opportunity to affectionately rub his head against Tegan’s leg.  Tegan gave KIBO some scritches and asked if he knew how to get out.  KIBO replied that he would not stay in the computer network if he had the ability to leave.  When asked, he admitted that he could go anywhere in the ship, including the infirmary, but did not know if Tegan could as well.  Feeling she had no choice if she wanted to save her coworkers-turned-friends, Tegan tried to complete her teleport and arrived in the infirmary computer.  Rewriting the code, she sent an arc of electricity from the computer into the HIT Mark.  Unfortunately, she was unable to avoid hurting herself as the electricity coursed through her.  Accessing the computer speakers, she informed her colleagues that she would be delayed but would assist them as best as she could.

Through her connection to the computers, Tegan knew the HIT Mark had left the infirmary and deduced he had entered the hallway.  Moments later, she detected Heather accessing the ship’s systems and disabling the artificial gravity.  Tegan tried to find any weapon systems that she could deploy against the HIT Mark, only to find that most of them were on the outside of the ship.  She then successfully left the computers, rematerialized in the infirmary and began to float in the absence of gravity.  Looking around, she saw a terrified Mateo huddling, crying and floating in the corner of the infirmary.  Outside the infirmary, she saw Sophia hovering over Nolan and glimpsed Heather off in the distance—all of whom were floating.  Tegan apologized for getting lost inside the ship’s computers and assured them she was here now.

After shaking off his confusion, Nolan shouted at the HIT Mark, pulled out a flashlight and used a Procedure to turn it into an improvised targeting laser for Tegan.  The HIT Mark turned his weapon on Nolan and pulled the trigger… only to find he emptied his clip on the duck.  He demanded that the Technocrats return what they took from the base.  Given that he was in the middle of the hallway, he was unable to do anything else. Sophia Hypercrammed the knowledge to move in microgravity environments, maintained her grip on her taser—even though the weapon seemed to have minimal effect—and began moving back to the infirmary to look for some kind of weapon. Heather completed a Procedure to ensure the HIT Mark landed awkwardly when she restored gravity.

Tegan shouted out to the others, asking if there was a plan and revealing she could not fire on the HIT Mark while the artificial gravity was disabled.  Glancing over at Mateo, she saw the blank look on his tear-streaked face and recognized he had completely dissociated from the moment.  She told Nolan his services were required in the infirmary. Nolan asked the HIT Mark for more information on what he wanted and how he arrived on the ship.  The HIT Mark replied he followed the ship after the Technocrats left the Deep Sea Exploration Zone and eventually came aboard.  Before he could say anything more, Heather deployed a set of marbles underneath him and restored gravity.  The HIT Mark came down, slipped and fell to one knee.  Mateo crashed to the floor, but the other Technocrats landed on their feet.  Heather grabbed her tablet out of midair while Tegan shot the HIT Mark with one of her Finger Guns.  Sophia crouched down, ran into the infirmary, looked around and grabbed a crowbar.

Tegan realized there was an unfamiliar sound in her head.  After a moment’s focus, she thought it sounded like an old-fashioned phone ringing from the ship’s computers (suggesting she was still connected in some way).  Tegan decided to answer the call.  An older woman responded, asking if they were the Nautilus or the Rogue today.  When Tegan expressed confusion, the woman clarified that she was referring to the ship.  Tegan asked whether the answer could result in the ship’s destruction before shooting the HIT Mark with her other Finger Gun.  The woman assured her that she simply wanted to know who she was addressing and meant her no harm.

By that point, the HIT Mark looked seriously damaged.  Nolan asked again what the HIT Mark wanted and professed a preference for negotiation over further violence.  The HIT Mark stated that the Technocrats took files from his employer and demanded their return before transforming his fingers into claws and slashing Nolan.  Looking down, Nolan was dismayed to see his tie had been severed—ignoring his more physical injuries. Sophia was confused by the HIT Mark’s statement as they were all ostensibly part of the Technocracy.  She darted from the infirmary, told the HIT Mark they had taken files from Threat Null and not their mutual employer—the Technocracy—and hit him in the head with her crowbar.  The HIT Mark managed to look at her—eye twitching, sparks flying from his head, body jerking—before the light went out of his eyes and he slumped to the floor.

Now that combat was over, Sophia asked Heather if she could reprogram the HIT Mark.  Heather hesitated, feeling that would fall under Nolan’s area of expertise.  When Sophia expressed confusion, Nolan shakily admitted he had taken courses in artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence psychology.  Sophia felt reprogramming would require more computer knowledge, prompting Heather to admit she had limited experience in that field.  Nolan interrupted them to point out how much he was bleeding.  Sophia dragged him into the infirmary and stabbed him with another needle to administer further healing.

Returning to the conversation, Tegan gave her name and said she was on the Nautilus.  She told the woman that she and her companions had been unintentionally transported here and had briefly spent time beyond the Dimensional Anomaly before returning to normal space.  Tegan then asked for the woman’s name.  The woman said she was delighted to meet Tegan, introduced herself as Marianna of Balador and revealed that her Pleasure Dome was approaching their ship.  Tegan expressed her confusion at the last part of that response. Turning to her companions, Tegan asked whether anyone recognized the name ‘Marianna of Balador’ or knew anything about a Pleasure Dome. Nolan asked if Tegan could call out Marianna as a liar.  When Tegan refused, explaining Marianna was hailing the ship, Nolan decided he was Napoleon.  Sophia said Marianna had been on several all-points bulletins, had been missing for some time and was concerned that she might be very old and very powerful.  She added that Marianna was an Ecstatic.  Seeing that her colleagues knew more about her than she did, Tegan told Marianna she would redirect the call to the ship’s computers and asked her to wait. Before Tegan could do anything, she began hearing elevator music.  She was mildly impressed by the gesture.

While Tegan considered her options, she realized the communications signal was already broadcasting to the computers and she was simply acting as a relay—something that had not happened twenty minutes ago.  A confused Tegan then rerouted the call to the computers and speakers in the infirmary and told Marianna she was on speakerphone.

A woman’s voice came out of the speakers, confirming she was Marianna of Balador.  She asked to know who she was addressing, besides ‘Tegan Warner of the Nautilus’.  Heather and Nolan introduced themselves.  Heather wanted to know whether Marianna could see them.  A quick discussion established that there was no video connection, but one could be established from the bridge if it was necessary.  Marianna extended an invitation for the Technocrats to visit her Pleasure Dome and receive aid, as they seemed to be adrift in space.  Tegan confirmed her observation while Nolan asked for more details.  Marianna complied, telling the Technocrats they could dock their ship and avail themselves of any of the services within.  She promised that they would be safe as long as they did not harm anyone.   Aside from rest and relaxation, she offered the use of the Pleasure Dome’s drydock should the ship require repairs.

Nolan asked where she had been all this time.  Marianna replied that the fully story would take some time, but briefly explained that she had passed the time in her reconstructed Pleasure Dome as the original had been destroyed some time ago.

The Technocrats discussed their current supply of food and whether they could find someone more familiar with the Reality Deviant technology on their ship before Tegan muted the call.  After several tries, Tegan reminded Nolan of his earlier suggestion about finding a ‘Mage’ to help fix their ship.  Heather agreed someone on the Pleasure Dome might have more experience in repairing the Wonder.  Sophia wondered why would any Reality Deviant help the Technocrats.  Tegan admitted she deliberately used the original Etherite ship name and suggested they could mislead Marianna’s group into thinking they were affiliated with the Traditions.  Nolan agreed that they could try, but Sophia felt their façade would not hold up for long.  Recalling Marianna’s promise that no harm would befall them so long as they did not harm anyone else, Tegan felt it was a gamble they would have to take.  Sophia remained suspicious, while Heather and Nolan were intrigued.  Heather added that her ability to perform repairs would be significantly enhanced if the Pleasure Dome actually had a drydock.

Tegan unmuted the speakers and accepted the offer.  Amused, Marianna told them she would bring ship into dock.  When asked, she elaborated that she would use her magic.  Heather went from alarmed to wary to curious, asking Marianna to explain her process later.

While waiting, Tegan established a remote connection to the ship to make it easier to return in the event of an emergency.  She then went to examine the HIT Mark’s body.  Between her prior studies and her examination, Tegan confirmed that Primium had been woven into the HIT Mark’s chassis for countermagic purposes and thought she could harvest the material.  She also realized that when Sophia hit him in the head, it triggered a self-destruct that wiped his computer memory, but though she might be able to recover the data.  However, both the Primium harvesting and data reconstruction would require a great deal of time and effort.

Heather soon joined her with the intent of moving the HIT Mark to another location.  Determining he was too heavy, Heather disabled the artificial gravity again—after warning her companions over the comms—so she and Heather could move the HIT Mark.  Heather and Tegan then moved the HIT Mark to a storage closet near the Wonder.  Along the way, Tegan told Heather about her findings and requested her assistance.  They moved the HIT Mark into a storage closet near the Wonder.  Heather said that a morgue would be more suitable to store the HIT Mark and the numerous bodies of their former colleagues in an organized fashion.  When she lamented how the ship did not have such a facility, Tegan pointed out that it had been repurposed into a submarine, which typically did not come with a dedicated morgue.

Nolan got on the comms and asked Tegan if she thought Mateo would be allowed to board the Pleasure Dome for sexual healing.  Tegan thought it would be fine once they established Mateo was probably over the age of consent.  Oblivious to the discussion, Heather called out for Tegan’s help to adjust the HIT Mark’s arm so they could put him into temporary storage.

Nolan suggested the HIT Mark might have shapeshifting abilities that could be employed.  Tegan replied that Sophia had triggered an internal self-destruct when she hit him on the head that probably disabled such capabilities.  Moving back to the original topic, Nolan announced that he would bring Mateo over for whatever therapy was required.  When Tegan asked what was wrong, Nolan refused to reply—citing doctor-patient confidentiality—and ended the conversation. In response, Tegan briefly turned off the lights in the infirmary. Sophia let out a roar of rage that could be heard throughout the ship. Heather asked if it would be all right if she removed the HIT Mark’s arm.  When Tegan agreed, Heather cut off the appendage with an electric saw.

After ten or fifteen minutes, the Rogue—or Nautilus—was pulled into a docking bay inside the Pleasure Dome.  Sensors soon indicated that an Earth-like atmosphere and gravity were being established.  The Technocrats assembled in the airlock and opened the hatch, finding that some people had wheeled over a boarding ramp so they could disembark.  Looking around, they saw they were in some kind of drydock that was filled with people who were hard at work.  The Technocrats were directed to a set of doors and were told that Marianna would meet them in the main hall.  Thanking them, Tegan led the way down the ramp.  Nolan initially struggled to carry Mateo before an exasperated Sophia hoisted him in a firefighter’s carry.

The Technocrats entered a large hall that resembled a grand cathedral.  They noted several doors and a row of Grecian columns surrounding a pool before realizing the hall was filled with people who were engaged in carnal activities, involved in public displays of affection, chatting or lounging.  In addition, they noticed the nightclub music playing in the background, sensing it was both out of place and strangely comforting.  A young black-haired woman in her late twenties and of Mediterranean descent approached them.  Extending a hand to Nolan, she introduced herself as Marianna of Balador (episode 5).

## Character Information

**Convention**:

* Iteration X

**Methodology**:

* BioMechanics

**Eidolon**: Dynamic

**Nature**: Machine

**Demeanour**: Innovator

**Attributes**:

* Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity (Hand-Eye Coordination) 4, Stamina 3
* Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
* Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence (Analytical) 4, Wits 2

**Abilities**:

* Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Intimidation 2, Leadership 1
* Skills: Crafts 1, Firearms (Cybernetic Weaponry) 4, Melee 2, Research 3, Technology (Modification) 4
* Knowledges: Academics 1, Computer 3, Investigation 1, Science (Computer Engineering) 4, Helmsman 1

**Backgrounds**: Genius 2, LL/AP-15 Finger Guns 3, Digital Enhancement Implant (DEI) 2, Second Skin 2, Resources 1

**Other Traits**: Entropic Erratic 1, Dynamic Metamorphic 1

**Enlightenment**: 3

**Spheres**: Data 3, Forces 2, Matter 2

**Willpower**: 7

**Merits**: Ambidextrous 1, Computer Aptitude 1, Insensate to Pain 5

**Flaws**: Expendable 3, Addiction 1, PTSD 2, Overconfident 1

**Rank**: T3 - Supervisors and Managers

*Note: Permanent Paradox of 2 points (Digital Enhancement Implant (DEI))*