Sophia Smith

Character Art by Brahahaga

Who you gonna call when the ghosts show up? Not the ghostbusters. Sophia Smith is a member of the Progenitors and their Damage Control division. She is constantly working to balance the demands of her sleeper family and her real life, but is steadily becoming more and more a part of the Technocratic machine.

## Background

* Relatively shy
* Skilled at making connections and devising solutions on the fly
* Snatched up by the Progenitors shortly after her Enlightenment due to an undisclosed traumatic event
* Regularly sent out to deal with emergency situations
* In episode 3, it was revealed that Sophia’s nightmares were caused by at least one traumatic encounter with werewolves.

## Character Biography

### Oldlife

Sophia struggled to maintain a steady relationship with her family, as she prioritized her missions with the Technocratic Union over family gatherings and functions.  She was unable to say ‘I love you’ to her grandma during what turned out to be their last phone conversation.

### Early Newlife

Sophia initially worked with the Deviancy Scene Investigators, but later requested a transfer into Damage Control as she increasingly saw the former as nothing more than a cleanup crew.  The transfer would eventually be moot when the two Methodologies merged together.

Shortly after the Deviancy Scene Investigators merged with Damage Control, Sophia went on a supposedly simple clean-up job from a Marauder encounter.  The mission encountered some complications, partly because the N.W.O. agents had not cleared the area, partly due to an encounter with the Dimensional Anomaly. As such, she was required to submit to a debrief at the Descartes Institute for Mental Health, where she met Dr. Nolan Westcroft.  She was notably tense and unhappy at the meeting.

After offering some refreshments, and turning on a metronome to break the silence, he asked why Sophia was here.  Sophia told him her team had encountered a Dimensional Anomaly while cleaning up a scene that had not been properly cleared.  She was required to submit to the debriefing before returning to work. She admitted feeling some impatience as her work was very important to her.  Sophia told Nolan that her last mission did not have a significant impact on her relationship with her family.  However, that was only because they were already unhappy with her work in general: not being read into her life with the Technocracy, they only had a vague idea that she had a science-related occupation that kept her away from family life. When asked to recount her experiences, Sophia recalled a great deal of pain, coupled with the sensation of coming apart, but had not experienced any nightmares.  As far as she recalled, the rest of her team had also survived the encounter without any side effects, but she admitted she did not know them well as she did not have a regular team.  Nolan probed further and learned Sophia’s team was clearing up a scene where a Marauder had previously visited, but had not encountered the Reality Deviant themselves.  Despite the experience, Sophia believed her team had cleaned up the scene and had left no psychoactive traces behind.

Nolan confirmed that Sophia did not have any gene modifications, but sometimes resorted to making and self-administering narcotics in the field.  He then gave her a stress ball to squeeze in time with the metronome while he ran some simple tests. Nolan tried to surreptitiously mind scan Sophia to see if the Dimensional Anomaly had caused any psychological damage or gaps in her memory.  He sensed she was lying about some lingering effect the anomaly had on her, but could not discern any more without further tests.  Unfortunately, his efforts would eventually exacerbate her developing nightmares and PTSD. Nolan felt Sophia needed additional counseling and scheduled her for another appointment.  Sophia reluctantly agreed, as she felt her colleagues needed her back in the field.  Nolan replied that the best agents were healthy in mind as well as body.  He also assigned her to desk duty and limited work hours until their next appointment, asking her to try to observe the latter. Sophia pointed out that there was always something that required Damage Control.

### 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 Sophia 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.  She spent the time reading scientific papers rather than interact with the rest of the crew.

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 of her journey, Sophia dreamed about having a pleasant dinner with her old team to celebrate the success of their last mission together before they were all reassigned by Damage Control.  She found herself walking home with her co-worker, John, until he suddenly stopped and asked if she had heard anything.  However, Sophia had not.  While they soon resumed their walk, John seemed on edge and Sophia had reached for the taser in her pocket.  She was subconsciously aware that she was dreaming, as the night had taken a different course in real life.  She soon heard a twig snap behind her and spun around, only to find the urban cityscape had transformed into a wooded area.  John wondered aloud what was causing the noise but agreed they should continue moving, going so far as to hold her hand.

Shortly after, she looked into John’s eyes and saw they had clouded over with an inky black hue.  Sophia began finding it difficult to breathe.  As the blackness began streaming down John’s face like tears, she withdrew her hand.  John asked what the problem was.  Sophia was unable to respond as the blackness began spreading up her body.  She woke up from her nightmare, screaming out loud. 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.

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. Sophia looked at the list and saw there were some Progenitor scientists working at the base.

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. Sophia ran her scans after Tegan, using the submarine scanners to search for life signs.  Her scans were cut off, but not before she detected the presence of complex life within the base. 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.

Sophia returned to her quarters, slipped into her Black Suit and strapped on her gear, fully expecting a bad situation.  She also raised a shield to soak aggravated damage.

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. Sophia engaged her cloaking to draw less attention from potential hostiles, remembering why she requested a transfer to Damage Control.

### 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 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.

With the afterimage of her recent life scan, Sophia realized the woman was the extra human life sign she had detected.  She could not sense anyone else.  She quietly told Nolan he was right about his suspicions, as the woman was the source of the extra life sign. 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.  Sophia 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.  This raised some concerns as Pentex was infamous for many things the Progenitors disapproved of, particularly projects involving the entities colloquially known as werewolves.

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.

Gamble, Heather, Nolan and Sophia eventually arrived at the control room, where several people were bustling about.  As they looked through the reinforced windows and saw the Marianas Trench, Eva approached a middle-aged woman standing by one of the consoles, greeted her as Commander Bessette, and informed her that they had visitors.  Bessette casually dismissed them as she was busy.  A stunned Gamble spoke to her, calling her Amelie, but she did not respond.  He walked over and quietly spoke to her. Sophia found Bessette’s behaviour unusual, donned her glasses and activated her life sight again.  She saw a shadow over the life signs of every crew member from the base, and realized something was terribly wrong.

Sensing things were becoming increasingly suspicious, Nolan 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. Sophia 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 Gamble slammed his fist into the console, exclaimed that Amelie was his wife and demanded that she look him in the eye.  As everyone in the room froze, 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.  As Nolan tried to suggest to Gamble that they should run, Amelie coldly ordered her crew to kill them all.

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

When Sophia came to, she found herself in the dark with a dimly lit figure nearby. She flinched away and almost punched Heather before recognizing her.  After Heather asked Sophia not to punch her, she explained she had to deal with failing systems.   In a slightly incoherent ramble, she asked the Progenitor to deal with the mass of unconscious and dead bodies around her.  Sophia asked what was going on.  Heather explained there was an explosion, she believed they had traveled through the Dimensional Anomaly, she felt like her cells were being shredded with glass and life support was failing.  Having gleaned enough information to understand the situation, Sophia urged Heather to begin repairs.  Heather floated away, but not before saying she was glad Sophia was not dead.

Left alone, Sophia remembered her last encounter with the Dimensional Anomaly and the events of the base, before shaking the memories off and getting to work.  Recalling that her abilities should still function, based on her knowledge of the Void Engineers and their travels, she raised her life sight began scanning the bodies to determine who was still alive.  She sensed Heather (moving away), Tegan (whose life signs felt strange due to her implants), Nolan… and another life sign somewhere farther away.  Sophia assessed Tegan and Nolan, as they were in the immediate vicinity.  She determined that Tegan was seriously injured from her journey through the Dimensional Anomaly, while Nolan was barely hurt and likely fell unconscious as his mind could not handle the transition.  Sophia decided to wake Nolan up, so he could watch their surroundings while she focused her attention on Tegan.  After determining that he was not physically hurt, and having become somewhat impatient, she decided to rouse him by slapping him in the face.

Sophia explained to a confused Nolan that they had crossed through the Dimensional Anomaly and that anyone surviving had taken some damage.  As such, she needed to perform a Procedure on Tegan, who was seriously hurt, but did not want to do so alone.  She added that everyone else was dead before turning her attention to Tegan.  Nolan asked Sophia how she was doing and was told she was not as hurt as Tegan. Exasperated, Nolan gave her a quick-dissolving strip of Vicodin (to counter the pain she felt) and stimulants, which he enhanced with Enlightened Science.  After accepting his drugs and feeling the pain recede, Sophia examined Tegan more closely.  She then straddled Tegan, who was still floating, and gave her a blood transfusion. Sophia also used a Procedure to transfer some of Tegan’s injuries to herself.

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.

Sophia left to follow the remaining life sign, soon realizing that it was coming from one of the bunk rooms.  In the terrifying silence, with all the machinery offline, she could hear the sound of her own breathing… and someone crying from the other side of some door.  She tried the door handle before asking if the person inside was on the other side of the door.  The person was surprised to hear another voice before confirming they were not by the door.

Satisfied, Sophia shoved the door open.  Lying on one of the beds, looking up with fear and hope, was a young teenager who she recognized as Mateo.  Even from the doorway, she could visually see his injuries on the surface of his body. As she approached, she sensed Mateo’s life signs were weak.  She determined that the Dimensional Anomaly had accounted for half of his injuries and he would die if he sustained any more damage.

Sophia healed some of the damage with pharmaceuticals, coagulants and Enlightened Science, and sensed some of his wounds healing after her administrations. A grateful Mateo managed to thank Sophia before passing out.  She decided to fashion an improvised sling to haul Mateo to the mess hall, as its centralized location made it a natural meeting place.

Shortly afterwards, she and Mateo abruptly fell to the floor as, unbeknownst to her, artificial gravity had been activated.  Over the mind link, Tegan apologized for turning the artificial gravity on, but found it curious that such a system existed in the first place.  Over the mind link, Nolan needed a moment to process that, but eventually found that just as curious.  Seeing that Mateo had not suffered any additional injuries, as her body had cushioned his fall, Sophia employed a firefighter’s carry technique to take him the rest of the way to the mess hall.

They heard Tegan’s voice overhead announcing that she had turned on the PA and artificial gravity system, and apologizing again for any discomfort caused by the latter.  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 the operation of 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.

Having overheard the conversation through the PA, Sophia wondered what she had gotten herself into and expressed concerns about the members of her teams.  She then heard Heather make a request over the PA for anyone alive and mobile to report to the cafeteria.  Sophia reached out with her senses, but detected no additional signs of life.  Heading to the intercom, she 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.

At some point, Sophia sensed Mateo returning to consciousness.  When he woke up, though, he immediately started screaming.  Sophia lunged for Mateo, assessed the situation and quickly determined from his blank unseeing stare that he was re-experiencing some kind of trauma.  She shouted out for Nolan. Hearing her call, Nolan quickly rushed to the mess hall.  Sophia quickly told him Mateo was suffering from some kind of mental trauma.  He gave a quick assessment and asked Sophia to back up. Nolan considered his options before asking Sophia not to question his methods and pulling a plush llama from his coat, which he called a ‘trauma llama’.  Sophia was visibly surprised, but quickly recovered her composure. Nolan then removed a baggie from the llama’s head and pressed it to Mateo’s skin.  Watching Nolan work, Sophia began to suspect why her therapy had taken so long to complete.  After some time, Mateo stopped screaming and curled up with the plush llama.

Sophia asked whether Mateo was experiencing some kind of mental trauma or displaying the first sign of infection from what they encountered at the Deep Sea Exploration Zone.  Nolan admitted he could not answer without psychotherapy sessions, but his treatment should keep him calm, if not sleeping, for the time being.  He advised her to watch out for aggressive or uncharacteristic behaviour, though, as that could indicate something else.  Guessing he was referring to infection, Sophia told Nolan she would space Mateo if his eyes turned black.

A disturbed Nolan asked if Sophia had spaced anyone else.  Sophia replied she had not done so during this trip, as everyone else was already dead.  Nolan sought clarification that they had not died by her hands, as he was unconscious at the time.  Sophia assured him that she was also unconscious until Heather woke her up. When Nolan admitted his concerns about whether she was exhibiting some form of trauma response herself, Sophia explained that her trauma responses manifested as an inability to sleep.  She evaded his follow-up question on how she was currently sleeping.  Nolan offered another plush llama should she need it, but Sophia assured him she had her own remedies.

When Nolan offered the llama again, Sophia asked what it was coated in.  Nolan told her the plush contained chamomile… along with cannabidiol, cannabigerol and other substances.  Sophia then asked about the llama he used on Mateo, learning it was coated in synthetic methamphetamines, psychocilibin and certain compounds that were not public knowledge.  After Nolan explained the methamphematine countered the hallucinatory properties of psychocilibin, Sophia sought confirmation that he was not a Pharmacopoeist and asked why he was not one of the Progenitors.  He told her the Convention would not accept him, which he attributed to his lack of bangs.

Nolan then apologized that he could not help her with her desk duty.  Sophia was surprised, but accepted his apology.  He revealed that while her superiors wanted her back in the field, he had seen the detrimental—and sometimes lethal—consequences of such decisions and wanted to avoid that.  Sophia expressed her appreciation, as she preferred being uninjured and alive. Seizing the moment, however inappropriate it might be, Nolan asked who she had lost in her life (episode 1).

Not getting a response, Nolan wondered if the sub had coffee before proceeding on a meandering conversation that ended with a yawn and the suggestion that Sophia could use her abilities of heating water to make coffee.  Stifling her own yawn, Sophia conceded it was possible but she preferred not to use them on such trivial tasks.  Nolan expressed gratitude that he and Sophia had some kind of connection.  Sophia did not seem to know what to make of that statement.  Nolan continued rambing on, pausing only to give another yawn. He soon ended the conversation, which Sophia had found quite confusing, and decided to go look for coffee.  Sophia agreed to follow Nolan and make sure he didn’t slip anything in her coffee.

Nolan found a kettle and began a largely one-sided conversation, though Sophia occasionally provided contributions.  The two then began rummaging through the kitchen, with Nolan finding coffee grounds and Sophia discovering a giant percolator.  After some more chatter, they began making coffee. Sophia heard someone approaching, opened a drawer that she knew held steak knives, and casually grabbed one.  When she saw Heather, she closed the drawer. Sophia asked Heather if she wanted coffee.  Nolan was so preoccupied that he did not realize Heather was present until Sophia told him she had joined them.   Heather told them she was looking for a secret power source but would happily take coffee first.  Sophia eventually confirmed that the secret power source was not on the blueprints they were given.  Tegan’s voice echoed from the tablet, startling Nolan and Sophia until Heather explained she’d established a communications link between Engineering and the tablet.  Tegan told Nolan and Sophia that she had unlocked a hidden operating system that said they were on the Nautilus and there was some kind of warp core or power source hidden onboard.  Sophia asked if they were on a submarine or a spaceship.  Tegan guessed both, but pointed out that she had discovered window controls and artificial gravity systems, both of which were incongruous to submarines.

At that point, Nolan announced that the coffee was ready.  Tegan was excited to hear they had coffee and, not dissuaded by Heather’s warning of its smell, asked for some.  Sophia found a travel flask and filled it with coffee.  She also suggested that someone should physically accompany Heather, noting the limitations of Tegan’s remote monitoring.  Heather was amiable to having either Sophia or Nolan accompany her.  Sophia decided to volunteer, as Mateo would not be going anywhere.  That prompted Heather to ask what was in the llama, a question that confused Tegan.  Nolan replied that the plush had been dipped in a cocktail of MDMA, psychocilibin and Tylenol-3 (with codeine).  Heather admitted that that explained why her hand hurt less.  Nolan asked if she needed drugs and began searching through his supplies.  Heather eventually accepted some extra-strength Tylenol, but not the LSD.  Tegan repeated her request for coffee and Nolan agreed to bring some over.  Heather began dragging things over to a vent with Sophia’s assistance.  She then climbed up, secured a rope and dropped it behind her so Sophia could follow.  Once Sophia joined Heather, they began crawling through the vents.

Heather stopped when she found the panel that bore the name ‘Nautilus’.  She stopped, uttered the words ‘Open Sesame,’ knocked on the panel and stared at it intently. Sophia turned on her prime sight, looked at Heather and saw a plethora of ‘soul-based’ scars that she guessed was the result of the damage she’d sustained from passing through the Dimensional Anomaly.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flare of energy that incorporated Prime.  The flare also had something that was similar to Data but looked wrong.  Looking in that direction, she saw it was actually a series of small flares, punctuated by a larger one, that was emanating from a couple floors beneath them.  She got Heather’s attention and told her about the flares. Heather looked closely but could not detect anything.  Sophia guessed it would require some sort of trigger.

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. Digging out her table, Heather re-synced the device to refresh the schematics.  Sophia asked if it was possible that there was a transporter on the ship, but Heather was certain that was not possible.  Sophia then asked whether she was certain the Technocracy built the ship or merely repurposed and liberated it.  Heather allowed that that was entirely possible before silently leading the way to the mystery item. They eventually made their way through the vents and down the ladders to one of the lower floors, making their way past boxes (holding supplies that were supposed to have been unloaded at the Deep Sea Exploration Zone) and the workshop where Heather was usually assigned. Sophia saw another flare coming from behind the wall that she and Heather were approaching. Heather was certain that what she was looking for should be nearby.  When Sophia suggested it might be hidden, Heather began a closer examination of her surroundings. Heather and Tegan tried to talk to each other, only to have trouble communicating.

Heather applied a soldering iron to a portion of the wall before telling Sophia it looked newer.  Sophia saw another flare but noticed it seemed fractured, as if it was not fully penetrating the wall.  Sophia commented that she saw a flare that did not seem to fully penetrate the wall before reaching out to touch it.  She asked aloud if the wall should feel warm.  Heather thought it was possible, now that the power was restored, but it depended on what systems were inside.  She then touched the wall herself and immediately declared it was not just warm, but hot.  As she discussed the unexpected temperature, Sophia’s instincts, honed from constant exposure in the field, warned that they were in danger.

Alarmed, Sophia grabbed Heather’s arm and yanked her to the side just before the metal exploded.  While Sophia’s armour protected her from the shrapnel, Heather sustained further injuries.  Smoke began to billow through the hall. As they coughed from the smoke, they could hear something burning from the room revealed by the exploding wall—a room that should not exist according to their original schematics.  Heather was confused by the existence of the room, but Sophia was more concerned by the fire.  After looking around, Sophia found an electrical fire extinguisher and began to put out the flames.  Sophia donned her goggles and put on some heat-resistant gloves. Looking inside, they saw it was clearly designed for a specific function, despite the occasional boxes that had been left there for storage.  A large, circular object stood in the centre of the room.  The large crack and hole in its size suggested it was the source of the fire and explosion.  Its appearance was reminiscent of a warp core, albeit a cheap, jury-rigged version of one.

Sophia continued to put out the fires in the room. By the time she was done, their lungs were thoroughly irritated. Sophia began searching the room.  At first glance, she was confused as to why it was sealed off when it was filled with nothing but junk.  Then she found a slightly singed box full of hard drives.  She began rifling through the boxes in that part of the room, but was soon interrupted by the arrival of Nolan and Tegan. 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. The next box Sophia found proved to be a treasure trove of information, as it contained original blueprints for an Etherite spaceship. 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. After looking at the blackness, Heather, Nolan and Sophia saw a flash of light that resembled the Aurora Borealis.  While it resembled outer space, they did not see any stars. Sophia saw how the light briefly revealed some kind of edge, as if the ship was resting on something.  She had the feeling that she was seeing something happen just beyond her reach. The other Technocrats were startled when Tegan dropped to her knees and screamed.  She soon indicated that whatever she experienced had passed.

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. Sophia quietly decided to find a crate to sit upon and watch the chaos unfold before her.  Her instincts suddenly sensed a presence, drawing her attention to Heather’s tablet.

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’. Sophia needed a moment before remembering the Fisher Princess was a Virtual Adept who operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s before she vanished.

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.  After a moment, she passed out (episode 2).

Nolan nervously asked for water to splash on Tegan and flashed a light in her eyes to check her pupillary responses.  As Sophia and Heather began looking for water—or cups—he began a physical and—given her cybernetic status—technological examination.  He saw her human eye was dilating normally, but her DEI and brain were processing so much data that it overwhelmed Tegan.  Having concluded his exam, he reported his findings to the others.

Nolan wondered if she was sealed and whether she’d ever eaten anything.  Heather thought she was, but could not remember seeing Tegan eat or drink anything.  Sophia, looking visibly unimpressed with her colleagues, pointed out that she’d had coffee and was sealed because she had blood.  Nolan was delighted to hear that and asked if she had retrieved any water.  Sophia explained she had not, as the mess hall was a fair distance away.  After Nolan pointed out that he was supporting Tegan’s head, Heather volunteered, emptied a coffee cup that one of her colleagues had put down and left to retrieve some water. Sophia carefully guarded her coffee mug as Heather departed.  Nolan took out a container and told Sophia that it only contained painkillers.  Far from being reassured, Sophia told Nolan that the statement made her consider that he was lying.  Nolan replied that he would admit it if he was planning to drug Tegan, pulling out another container.  He idly commented that he was running low on pharmaceuticals, but was confident he could make more given a decently supplied chemistry lab.  The Technocrats agreed that synthesizing drugs was not difficult.

Heather eventually returned and handed Nolan the water he requested. Sophia made a mental note to be careful about what she accepted from Nolan in the future. Nolan added some painkillers to the water, as he was concerned Tegan’s cybernetics would not come back online with her biological systems and short circuit, sending her into an uncontrollable rage.  After pausing to label his containers, he poured the dosed water into Tegan and made her swallow it.  He left her a note explaining how much Tylenol he had given her, written in a scrawl that Heather found illegible and tucked it into her pocket.  He then asked how bad the situation was, given that Heather had given them eighty-nine days before discorporation.  When Heather confirmed her earlier statement, Nolan asked how time passed in the Null Zone and whether anyone was proficient with time.  Heather laughed nervously before admitting she was chronically late, while Sophia said she always met her work deadlines.  However, neither of them was proficient with the Enlightened Science of Time.  Nolan took a sip of his drink, was visibly dissatisfied with the taste, and asked how his colleagues were doing.  Heather admitted she was still in a great deal of pain, but set it aside to study the original blueprints of the ship on her tablet.

Sophia expressed her hope that Tegan would not wake up, reveal she was infected and attack.  Nolan pointed out Sophia could use her field training and experience to deal with Tegan, but was alarmed when Sophia interpreted his words as a suggestion to kill their cybernetically augmented colleague.  The two began arguing, with Nolan promoting the option of non-lethal force versus Sophia’s training and experience in using lethal force.  They began finding common ground over the possibility of disabling Tegan’s cybernetics.  Nolan asked Heather if she could create an EMP while Sophia considered using her Taser, which had been calibrated to incapacitate werewolves.  However, it took her some time before she responded.

After Nolan went on a conversational tangent on how to address deceased werewolves, he asked Heather if her command of Forces extended to creating an EMP.  Heather replied by pointing out the dangers of setting off an EMP on the ship.  Nolan and Sophia emphasized that they wanted one that would only extend to a very limited range.  When Heather asked why they needed one, Sophia explained it was for Tegan, in case there were any dangerous side-effects from downloading a Reality Deviant program.  Heather suggested tying her up instead.  While Nolan accepted the more analog solution, Sophia was concerned that Tegan would escape her bonds, attack them and infect the rest of the ship.  While Nolan and Sophia argued, Heather retrieved a rope from her kit, tied Tegan up and dragged her to a room to lock her inside.

Having reached the limits of her social interaction skills, Sophia looked out the window, drank her coffee and kept an eye out for anyone who might approach her.  She then decided to slip out while Heather and Nolan were distracted and return to Mateo, as he was unconscious and thus would not require her to be social. Nolan belatedly broke off from his rambling to offer his assistance.  Observing her handiwork, he asked if Heather tied a lot of people up, as he did not remember anything in her file that would suggest such proclivities.  Heather explained that she was good at knots, citing a brief period of time in the Girl Scouts.  The conversation led to thin mints and whether they would make it back to Earth.  Heather admitted she did not know whether or not they would return, but felt it would be an adventure either way.  Nolan admired her optimism, which Heather mistook as him trying to flirt with her.  After confirming they were colleagues, but might become friends, Nolan finally understood the implications behind his earlier statements.  He insisted, repeatedly and emphatically, that he was not trying to make any romantic overtures. Sophia left, but not before she overheard, and was mildly disturbed by, the conversation between Nolan and Heather.

When she returned to the mess hall, she saw Mateo was still unconscious and was clinging to Nolan’s plush toy.  She donned a pair of gloves to avoid making skin contact with the llama.  She performed a physical examination on Mateo and gave thanks for the blessed silence around her—which was only briefly interrupted by Nolan’s voice repeatedly saying no to something.   She then gave Mateo a more thorough examination and found signs of external and internal injuries, including some internal bleeding that had since stopped, which she attributed to the Dimensional Anomaly inflicting and cauterizing damage.  In her assessment, Mateo would heal, given enough time and rest.  Sophia followed up with a self-examination, which confirmed she had sustained mostly internal injuries that would also heal over time, before looking for the ship’s infirmary.

Sophia found the infirmary and was not surprised to see it was filled with boxes of supplies, as it had been similarly cluttered at the start of the voyage.  However, many of those boxes contained medical supplies.  Furthermore, she found an unlabeled box filled with items that would not be found in a normal infirmary.  Mentally settling into her ‘happy science place,’ she cleared a space in the infirmary, rearranging the boxes and rigging a makeshift alarm system to prevent anyone sneaking up on her.  Having done so, she began assembling a personal bag of supplies and devices for medical and offensive purposes. She was interrupted when Heather, Nolan and a now-conscious Tegan passed by the infirmary.  Tegan told her they were going to view some of the files she had downloaded and invited her to join them.  She added that she was not a killer robot, which left Sophia at a loss for words.  The other three continued on their way.  Sophia eventually left the infirmary to find the others. Sophia entered the room and kept to herself as Heather, Nolan and Tegan discussed alternate ways of phrasing their budding integration as a team.  Nolan then left to change his clothes.

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.

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.

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. When Tegan repeated that her name was on the watch list, Sophia read the file and, after a moment, performed a Life scan on herself.  As she expected, the results showed she was entirely human and had no signs of infection involving werewolves or cephalopods.  Regardless, she now had a keen interest in the list, as she realized Section 12 was involved with efforts to cure or cause lycanthropy.

Heather, Nolan and Sophia saw that Tegan had found another list of names.  They all 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.

Sophia found the discussion about the Chulorviah somewhat familiar, based on their connection to Pentex and her knowledge of its numerous subsidiary companies.

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 (episode 3).

Sophia spent the next hour or so in the infirmary, sorting through the mess of crates and building things that she thought would come in handy.  The more she worked, the more she felt she had encountered some kind of resistance whenever she performed her Enlightened Science that caused some kind of blowback or Paradox.  That resistance, which she had sensed everywhere else in the Nautilus, did not seem to exist in the infirmary.  In other words, Sophia believed she could perform her Enlightened Science in the infirmary without any risk of Paradox.  After some thought, she decided she would continue healing Tegan or Heather in stages while giving herself time to heal. 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. Sophia reconstituted various vials and lined up a row of syringes in preparation for Tegan’s arrival.

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 marvelled at how good she felt before Sophia shooed her out of the infirmary. Sophia continued cleaning up the infirmary and making it a place she could call her own.

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’. Despite her better judgement, Sophia’s curiosity compelled her to investigate.

When she arrived at the mess hall, Sophia saw Nolan, terrified and not talking, and Mateo, talking like Nolan through a constantly fluctuating voice pitch.  ‘Mateo’ told her he made a mistake. After ‘Mateo’ admitted he had to urinate and shower and ‘Nolan’ wonder if he was stuck, Sophia whistled sharply to get their attention.  She told ‘Nolan’, who she realized was Mateo, not to panic as they would fix what happened.  She also told Nolan, who had clearly swapped places with Mateo and was in their body, to shut up.  Nolan insisted that he was fine other than finding the situation weird.  Sophia expressed skepticism and told him that talking about being stuck and not knowing how to fix it was counterproductive and would cause panic.  After assuring both of them that they were physically okay, she asked if anyone else had experience with the Mind Sphere.  Nolan sheepishly admitted that he was the only one.  All Sophia could suggest was to meditate some more before trying to reverse whatever happened.  Nolan asked Mateo how much he remembered.  When Mateo mentioned a tower, Nolan guessed that he remembered everything, declared that they should not revisit that memory and might have to stay in their current bodies for the duration.

Mateo asked if he was supposed to feel empty inside.  Sophia guessed the answer was no, allowed that it might be understandable given the trauma he’d experienced and suggested the question was best answered by a therapist.  Nolan asked what he meant by ‘empty’.  Sophia took that as a sign to leave, but not before grabbing some coffee for herself.

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.

After making a brief detour to the infirmary to pick up the syringes she had prepared, Sophia went to find Heather.  When she did not respond to her presence, Sophia waved a hand in her face. Once Heather finally asked what was happening, Sophia jabbed her with a syringe, healed some of her injuries and explained Nolan had an accident.  Once Heather was assured that Sophia’s injections contained drugs from the infirmary and not from Nolan’s stash, she admitted that she had no talent with Mind or any soft sciences beyond physical incapacitation with blunt objects.  Sophia withdrew her syringe from Heather’s body and left without a word (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.

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. Sophia realized she was also tired and returned to her quarters to sleep (episode 3).

Sophia woke up in a start to the sounds of alarms going off.

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.

While Nolan and Heather talked, Sophia processed what Nolan said.  Her best guess was that Nolan may have encountered what Void Engineers called extra-dimensional entities and Reality Deviants called spirits.  She also knew some Mages could summon these spirits, which was a difficult feat on Earth but might be easier in space.

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.

After some thought, Tegan told the others that she was still hearing the radio signal and that it comprised of a looping message that 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. 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.

True to her word, Sophia went to check on Mateo.  She started with the mess hall but could not find him.  She saw a pot of coffee that seemed fresh, suggesting someone had been there recently.  Pouring herself a cup, she went to the room where she first found him.  Mateo was not there either, but the bed was now freshly made.  She decided to head to the infirmary in the hopes of meeting him along the way.  As she walked, she heard his voice coming from the infirmary itself, though he could not hear the words.  However, she also heard another voice.  Sophia slowed down and began sneaking forward.

As she got closer, she realized she had heard the other voice before—he was the man who, along with Eva Walters, met them at the airlock when they arrived at the Deep Sea Exploration Zone.  She could not remember whether he had dripping black eyes as well, but assumed he probably did.  As she approached the infirmary, she saw the shadow of someone significantly bigger than Mateo spilling out from the open infirmary door.  She could hear Mateo quietly crying while trying to negotiate with the man… who was holding him with one hand and pressing a gun to his head with the other.  Making sure her shadow did not give her presence away, she readied her PAWS taser (episode 4).

Sophia quickly realized the individual, who she had not detected during her life scans, must be a HIT Mark.  She knew that the HIT Mark program had been suspended for a time, meaning few had been out and about recently.  From what she recalled, Sophia knew they were cybernetic or fully artificial killing machines who probably possessed multiple weapons that she was not aware of.  She also knew that Tegan would be more knowledgeable about them.  Given the circumstances, she decided to spend a few minutes to gather as much information as possible, including how the HIT Mark got onboard, what he wanted and whether he was infected.

She saw steam rising from the HIT Mark, as if he had been somewhere very cold and was now in a significantly warmer environment, and guessed he had been clinging to the outside of the ship.  As she watched, he demanded to know where the others were.  Mateo confessed he did not know, but thought most of them were asleep.  Peering inside, she saw him rummaging through the boxes and supplies that she just organized.  She snuck back to the comm and sent a broadcast throughout the ship that there was a HIT Mark in the infirmary and Tegan had to wake up immediately.  As soon as her initial warning was sent, she activated the alarm.  As the blaring klaxon sounded, she repeated the message.  Soon after, she heard a clatter from the infirmary, followed by a grunt.  Nonplussed, Sophia decided to continue repeating her warning for as long as possible.

A short time later, she heard a louder crash and the sound of a body hitting the wall.  Stopping her warning, she looked around and noticed various storage rooms and bunk rooms.  She also saw Nolan running down the hall towards her.  Pulling her Black Suit aside to expose some bare skin, she injected herself with a chemical compound to help her absorb damage.  She then slid into view of the infirmary door, taser in hand, and saw that Mateo had been thrown into the wall.  The HIT Mark turned its attention from Mateo and stared at Sophia.  At that point, Heather’s voice came over the comms, asking why there was a HIT Mark in the infirmary.

Nolan joined Sophia by the infirmary door.  Expressing his dismay, he asked Sophia if she had the situation under control.  Sophia was not sure.  After confirming the HIT Mark had hurt Mateo, he told the hostile being that his friend—referring to a rubber ducky he pulled out of his jacket—said the HIT Mark’s mother was a toaster.  In response, the HIT Mark tried to punch Nolan.  However, Sophia fired her taser just as the fist made contact—causing the HIT Mark to seize up and an electrocuted Nolan to fly into the wall.

Heather arrived just before electricity arced from the computer into the HIT Mark.  Tegan’s voice came over the computer speakers, informing her colleagues that she would be delayed but would assist them as best as she could.  Mateo assessed the situation and scooted back into a corner.  Nolan wheezed that the rubber ducky delivered the insult before throwing it down the hall and passing out.  Succumbing to Nolan’s Procedure, the HIT Mark fought through the electricity of Sophia’s taser to walk down the hall and fire his weapon at the rubber ducky.  Keeping a firm grip on the taser’s trigger, Sophia sidled over to Nolan, stabbed him in the chest with a needle and administered a healing compound.  When he woke up, Sophia apologized for her abrupt method of healing.

Moments later, Heather, Nolan, Sophia and the HIT Mark began floating off the ground.  Tegan then rematerialized in the infirmary and began to float as well.  She 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 suddenly said hello out loud.  In between pauses, she mentioned the ship’s name and asked whether an answer could result in the ship’s destruction.  She then shot the HIT Mark with her other Finger Gun.

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.

Tegan said her name out loud, said she was on the Nautilus and asked for the name of the person she was addressing.  She was clearly confused by the response. Turning to her companions, Tegan asked whether anyone recognized the name ‘Marianna of Balador’ or knew anything about a Pleasure Dome. Through her study of Reality Deviants, historical and current, Sophia knew Marianna of Balador was a very old and very powerful member of the Cult of Ecstasy that was on various all-points bulletins. 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.

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, Sophia used some Procedures to prepare some compounds—one to administer healing and one to provide a prophylactic treatment against any drugs she might encounter.  At some point, Heather got on the comms and announced that she was temporarily disabling artificial gravity again.

During the preparation, she noticed Mateo was still in the corner.  Seeing he was crying, and in a dissociative state, she lifted him up and deposited him on one of the infirmary beds.  As she moved him, she sensed something was amiss.  Following her hunch, she used the infirmary equipment to perform a series of scans before returning to her chemical mixtures.  When she went back to her equipment, she was surprised to find the scans had finished without providing any information.  On closer examination, she realized the results were consistent with scans of Extraordinary Citizens, not Technocrats.  This suggested that Mateo no longer had any Genius—the scientific spark that provided Enlightenment.  After considering the possible ramifications, she activated the comms and requested Nolan’s presence for a consult.

Nolan quickly joined Sophia in the infirmary.  She asked him if he ever came across something that could remove or block Genius.  Nolan began to reply that he had encountered the latter when Sophia interrupted, explaining her instruments indicated that Mateo was merely an Extraordinary Citizen, not a Technocrat.  Both of them knew that was unexpected, considering their original mission required the entire crew to be comprised of full-fledged Technocrats.  Nolan speculated that it might be possible if Mateo’s mind or will was damaged enough, but discounted the possibility that it was due to their recent body swap.  Sophia noted that Mateo had been in a dissociative state since his encounter with the HIT Mark, while Nolan revealed Mateo had been in some kind of hell during his telepathic scans.  She asked if there was any way to undo what had happened, as she believed it was responsible for Mateo’s current condition.  Nolan briefly considered a few options, but ultimately proposed that Marianna use her centuries of knowledge and magic to restore Mateo’s Genius, after which they could reindoctrinate him back into the fold.  He admitted it would violate several rules and likely result in some kind of reprimand, but felt it would be easier than any alternative.

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.

Sophia returned to her compounds, visibly regretting all the choices that led her to this point.

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. Moments later, the lights in the infirmary momentarily went out. Sophia let out a roar of rage that could be heard throughout the ship.

Nonplussed, Nolan asked Sophia for vitamins, anything with SSRIs, mood stabilizers, Valium, painkillers, caffeine and methamphetamines.  She looked through the medical stores and found ADHD medication and a copious supply of caffeine pills.  When he asked her to crush them into a powder, Sophia asked if Nolan wanted another injection.  He declined, given that she already stabbed him twice.  Sophia told him he was welcome and pointed out an injection was more effective than snorting any powder.  Conceding the point, Nolan used a Procedure to synthesize a chemical compound that would restore lost Willpower and injected it into his bloodstream.  Sophia finished her own compounds and administered them to herself in the same fashion.

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**:

* Progenitors

**Methodology**:

* Pharmacopoeists/Damage Control

**Eidolon**: Dynamic

**Nature**: Monster

**Demeanour**: Hacker

**Attributes**:

* Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
* Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3
* Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4

**Abilities**:

* Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Expression 1, Subterfuge 1
* Skills: Firearms (Energy Weapons) 3, Melee 3, Research 2, Stealth 1, Survival 1, Technology 3, Jury-Rigging 1
* Knowledges: Academics 1, Computer 2, Esoterica (Reality Deviants) 3, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult 2, Science (Chemistry) 1

**Backgrounds**: Avatar 2, Cloaking 1, Hypercram 2, Requisitions 3

**Enlightenment**: 3

**Spheres**: Data 2, Life 3, Prime 2

**Willpower**: 5

**Merits**: Concentration 1, Iron Will 3, Lightning Calculator 1, Poison Resistance 2

**Flaws**: Impatient 1, Nightmares 3, PTSD 2, Shy 1

**Rank**: T2 - Agents and Operatives