07-23-2021, 09:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2021, 05:16 PM by Marcus DuBois.)
Marcus' noted Nox's stare at Ascendancy and filed it away. It was probably nothing. An offhand appreciation. But he wouldn't be the first person to be attracted to the most powerful man on earth, even if only subconsciously. The man was aesthetically pleasing, after all. And Nox seemed to fight a deferential spirit. Perhaps that was part of the reason. You never knew what could be useful.
More interesting was the information about VaiaPlus. His eye twitched as he processed what he heard. Irritation bubbled across his mind. No. More than that. Disgust. Anger. He was all for experimenting with the Power. But contagion...he responded with a visceral horror at the word. Biological agents and their vectors were unpredictable in the best of times. The algorithm of life was self perpetuating and ever adapting. It was a pattern that, once hit upon in any medium- as organic machines, as abstract entities within computer networks, even in the potential play of molecules of crystals or gases- did one thing above all. Survived. Oh, there were bottlenecks for certain species- for even certain sizes or types of creatures, like the meteor that brought on the K-P Extinction event that swept dinosaurs from ascendancy, leaving room for the small rodent like placentals to take over. From there it was a straight line to humans.
But once it started 3.5 billion years ago, life never ended. Through innumerable winnowings and extinction events and the constant back and forth in the internecine struggle for supremacy, there has always been one form of another of it, surviving in the most brutal and inhospitable of environments, extremophiles. The weed that cannot be killed.
Playing with that force, unleashing a new strain of that algorithm was foolish beyond belief. He would make sure Ascendancy knew how incredibly dangerous VaiaPlus' work was to humanity.
What good was trying to bring order to humanity if there was no humanity to bring order to?
He looked over at Carpenter. Sanjay had- during what appeared to be casual conversation- told him all about the other Rods. Carpenter was an interesting one. Hard and driven, of course. Focused. That was to be expected of any man who learned to use the Force. Those with weak constitutions would be obliterated by it, he thought, remembering Pyotr. Not that he knew for certain. But the man had disappeared. Weak as he was- and the sheer force of will required to dominate was formidable- he wouldn't have been surprised if the man had been swept away by the torrent of power.
The man seemed brittle though. Sanjay said he suspected it was a legacy of his childhood. Marcus understood all too well. A furnace, to be sure, one that tried all people's mettle. Attachment was always the problem. Hunger. The desire for approval or the constant need to fill that hole, that lack. Marcus had dealt with his own demons. Nothing controlled him. Even Malik had been put in his place, recognized for what he had always been, a crutch. The silence from the back of his mind testified to that. The whimpering he heard was probably from the Force enhanced abilities. Their actions had been cruel but necessary.
Still, he wandered over to Carpenter. The man seemed to have the knack for relaxing in the oddest places. He eyed the water bottle on the ground, thinking he probably would need to replenish himself from his own stores. He modulated his voice to one more joking. "I could weave you a pillow of air, if you'd like. No need for a blanket down here." The smile on his face was friendly, the makings of an overture of friendship.
More interesting was the information about VaiaPlus. His eye twitched as he processed what he heard. Irritation bubbled across his mind. No. More than that. Disgust. Anger. He was all for experimenting with the Power. But contagion...he responded with a visceral horror at the word. Biological agents and their vectors were unpredictable in the best of times. The algorithm of life was self perpetuating and ever adapting. It was a pattern that, once hit upon in any medium- as organic machines, as abstract entities within computer networks, even in the potential play of molecules of crystals or gases- did one thing above all. Survived. Oh, there were bottlenecks for certain species- for even certain sizes or types of creatures, like the meteor that brought on the K-P Extinction event that swept dinosaurs from ascendancy, leaving room for the small rodent like placentals to take over. From there it was a straight line to humans.
But once it started 3.5 billion years ago, life never ended. Through innumerable winnowings and extinction events and the constant back and forth in the internecine struggle for supremacy, there has always been one form of another of it, surviving in the most brutal and inhospitable of environments, extremophiles. The weed that cannot be killed.
Playing with that force, unleashing a new strain of that algorithm was foolish beyond belief. He would make sure Ascendancy knew how incredibly dangerous VaiaPlus' work was to humanity.
What good was trying to bring order to humanity if there was no humanity to bring order to?
He looked over at Carpenter. Sanjay had- during what appeared to be casual conversation- told him all about the other Rods. Carpenter was an interesting one. Hard and driven, of course. Focused. That was to be expected of any man who learned to use the Force. Those with weak constitutions would be obliterated by it, he thought, remembering Pyotr. Not that he knew for certain. But the man had disappeared. Weak as he was- and the sheer force of will required to dominate was formidable- he wouldn't have been surprised if the man had been swept away by the torrent of power.
The man seemed brittle though. Sanjay said he suspected it was a legacy of his childhood. Marcus understood all too well. A furnace, to be sure, one that tried all people's mettle. Attachment was always the problem. Hunger. The desire for approval or the constant need to fill that hole, that lack. Marcus had dealt with his own demons. Nothing controlled him. Even Malik had been put in his place, recognized for what he had always been, a crutch. The silence from the back of his mind testified to that. The whimpering he heard was probably from the Force enhanced abilities. Their actions had been cruel but necessary.
Still, he wandered over to Carpenter. The man seemed to have the knack for relaxing in the oddest places. He eyed the water bottle on the ground, thinking he probably would need to replenish himself from his own stores. He modulated his voice to one more joking. "I could weave you a pillow of air, if you'd like. No need for a blanket down here." The smile on his face was friendly, the makings of an overture of friendship.