01-26-2015, 10:21 PM
A quick quip eschewing rest and she seemed to burst into a whirlwind as her finger flew over the screens and monitors. A myriad prompts and menus flashed and disappeared and he couldn't help but smile at her competence. Very impressive.
He sat still, allowing the taps of fingers on keys and screens, the slow breaths of both of them, the subtly noticeable hum of air conditioning machinery and consequent change in pressure to become his world. In the heart of the earth, he could almost feel the pulse, the steady ebb and flow even though he knew, intellectually that even down deep here, they were but on the crust of their world. At the center, spinning its still hot iron core was the true heart, surrounded by the bloody outer core and mantel carrying the inexorable forces that drove the continents and raised mountain ranges.
And in the distance, he felt the Force call to him, the ability to control those forces. No one had any clue what was at his fingertips. Ascendancy very likely did. Maybe Michael. The sheer power that needed only to be seized and manipulated. As subtle as the workings of politics, a nudge here, a slight shove there could produce a storm, level a mountain, or rend a landscape.
He found himself relishing the depth of this place, this cthonthic realm that felt like home.
His reverie was interrupted by her words. He smiled at her and allowed her to take the lead. Despite the artificial cooling, the heat of this place was unavoidable. He followed her, noticing the stray hairs escaping her bun- the small beads of sweat that manifested- and his nostrils flared as if inhaling the scent. This place brought truth to the surface. This woman was formidable, pressing forward despite the fears and uncertainty that she had to feel.
She led him to a room and with a brief explanation and request, sealed him up. He'd never had an exam like this and was curious. He bent his neck until he felt the deep crack on each side. She asked for him to use the Force. Marcus felt a small pang of pity for her. So alien, this world. And yet she was tasked with understanding it.
The tests began, mundane games that began simple and progressed to complex. He seized the Force and felt it flow into him. The dual struggle- controlling the power and answering the questions- was interesting in itself. But he decided to go one step further.
"The power is like a river of fire. It seeks to ravage the man that would control it. It is only with a supreme act of will that one is able to force it. But that control is precarious. It would destroy the inattentive. You will need to watch for that in your subjects."
He smiled, no doubt visible to one of the monitors.
"What the power is, I cannot say. I have my personal theories. I believe that in addition to the three fundamental forces in nature, there is another that is responsive to will. This may play into Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. At the very least, the observer affecting experiments at the quantum level is an established fact for over 150 years. How it works I do not know. But I will say that it is my belief that in some way, this power allows the user to use a resonance with matter and energy and then manipulate it. There is a resonance between matter and the threads we weave. For example,"
he wove a flame of fire.
"This is a simple weave. A single thread of fire that I have created. There are five such types of threads."
He proceeded to demonstrate. "Fire, earth, air, water, and spirit."
For the last, he didn't do anything. "Spirit appears to be unique and is not actually visible. It seems to be...malleable. In my equations it appears spirit and its resonance to materials can be modified, can even be attuned to specific people. I am not sure of that yet, but the suggestion is there."
He shrugged as if no matter.
"In any case, one can combine these threads of the power to create still more complex patterns in exactly the same manner one creates digital circuitry from simple ones. The machines you are using are a testament to what one can make with that. With the power, it is the same. So this, for example,"
he wove a weave he remembered "is a weave that can detect the use of the power. This one-"
he wove again "can allow one to listen in to conversations or to speak to someone in private."
"There are many uses to these weaves. One only has to think of what they would like to do and then figure out how to do it."
He remembered forcing that woman to kill herself. Forcing the aide he first met at the Kremlin to open up. He did not tell her about those uses of the force.
He sat still, allowing the taps of fingers on keys and screens, the slow breaths of both of them, the subtly noticeable hum of air conditioning machinery and consequent change in pressure to become his world. In the heart of the earth, he could almost feel the pulse, the steady ebb and flow even though he knew, intellectually that even down deep here, they were but on the crust of their world. At the center, spinning its still hot iron core was the true heart, surrounded by the bloody outer core and mantel carrying the inexorable forces that drove the continents and raised mountain ranges.
And in the distance, he felt the Force call to him, the ability to control those forces. No one had any clue what was at his fingertips. Ascendancy very likely did. Maybe Michael. The sheer power that needed only to be seized and manipulated. As subtle as the workings of politics, a nudge here, a slight shove there could produce a storm, level a mountain, or rend a landscape.
He found himself relishing the depth of this place, this cthonthic realm that felt like home.
His reverie was interrupted by her words. He smiled at her and allowed her to take the lead. Despite the artificial cooling, the heat of this place was unavoidable. He followed her, noticing the stray hairs escaping her bun- the small beads of sweat that manifested- and his nostrils flared as if inhaling the scent. This place brought truth to the surface. This woman was formidable, pressing forward despite the fears and uncertainty that she had to feel.
She led him to a room and with a brief explanation and request, sealed him up. He'd never had an exam like this and was curious. He bent his neck until he felt the deep crack on each side. She asked for him to use the Force. Marcus felt a small pang of pity for her. So alien, this world. And yet she was tasked with understanding it.
The tests began, mundane games that began simple and progressed to complex. He seized the Force and felt it flow into him. The dual struggle- controlling the power and answering the questions- was interesting in itself. But he decided to go one step further.
"The power is like a river of fire. It seeks to ravage the man that would control it. It is only with a supreme act of will that one is able to force it. But that control is precarious. It would destroy the inattentive. You will need to watch for that in your subjects."
He smiled, no doubt visible to one of the monitors.
"What the power is, I cannot say. I have my personal theories. I believe that in addition to the three fundamental forces in nature, there is another that is responsive to will. This may play into Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. At the very least, the observer affecting experiments at the quantum level is an established fact for over 150 years. How it works I do not know. But I will say that it is my belief that in some way, this power allows the user to use a resonance with matter and energy and then manipulate it. There is a resonance between matter and the threads we weave. For example,"
he wove a flame of fire.
"This is a simple weave. A single thread of fire that I have created. There are five such types of threads."
He proceeded to demonstrate. "Fire, earth, air, water, and spirit."
For the last, he didn't do anything. "Spirit appears to be unique and is not actually visible. It seems to be...malleable. In my equations it appears spirit and its resonance to materials can be modified, can even be attuned to specific people. I am not sure of that yet, but the suggestion is there."
He shrugged as if no matter.
"In any case, one can combine these threads of the power to create still more complex patterns in exactly the same manner one creates digital circuitry from simple ones. The machines you are using are a testament to what one can make with that. With the power, it is the same. So this, for example,"
he wove a weave he remembered "is a weave that can detect the use of the power. This one-"
he wove again "can allow one to listen in to conversations or to speak to someone in private."
"There are many uses to these weaves. One only has to think of what they would like to do and then figure out how to do it."
He remembered forcing that woman to kill herself. Forcing the aide he first met at the Kremlin to open up. He did not tell her about those uses of the force.