Fate of the Universe

Sailing across the stars, a small ship about 40 metres across is carrying with it half a dozen passengers, including an onboard Ai. It is a Diameter, one of the many ships the transport-ship-turned-operating-base Galactic Orb has in its arsenal, and it is half way to its destination, a planet called Homgern.

Its lunch time, and the crew are gathered in the cafeteria of the ship. Nodume, the co-pilot, is lying back in his chair, trying to relax as his duty is mostly covered by the newly implemented AI. Elexa, the ship technician, is finishing her ration quickly so as to get back to monitor the AI that was donated by the allied Faction called Green Window. One can never know these days if anyone, especially an AI, is a spy of a rival Faction, or even worse.

The others present include Medical Officer Yond, Duty Distributor Morvin, Princess Purra Fatelight, and Investigator Xóchitl Atlacamani.

After Elexa scoffs down the last of the brown pudding, she grabs her computer tablet that was lying on the table and rushes out of the cafeteria. She will likely be at the cockpit, connecting her tablet and reading data from the ITARI.

Meanwhile, Yond stands up and does stretches, looking out through the round purple-tinted window of the ship. Stars and a single distant brown planet slink by.

"Ah! By Ureka!" Elexa gave a surprised scream, before quickly composing herself. "Oh, it's just you. Just... don't mention that I still use my local god's name. Anyways, I'm still trying to understand how you function. Despite being 2 weeks of studying these results, I think I just barely scratched the surface..."

Morvin the Duty Distributer puts away the book he was reading, and pulls out the file containing the mission information. "Guys, I know you don't like me to repeat this again, but to refresh your memory, your mission is to find this man named Scepio Valik. Also known as the Preservator by the local civilians." Morvin says in a dreary voice.

"Try not to draw too much attention. Only those at the top of the government, and our local spies, know of our arrival. This man is suspected of being an Outsider agent and infiltrator. I can't give any more information, as the Information Distributive Department felt that you are too low ranking to be trusted to handle excessive info. Your mission to have enough proof of that he is not who he say he is, then call in reinforcements that will handle the situation. But if you guys are confident enough, you might take him on your own..." Morvin gives a wry smile.

Ah yes." Morvin says as he flips through the document. He shows the Princess and the Investigator two pages containing photographs of a well dress middle aged man. "This here is him 2 months ago, and this one is him last month. You may take note of his eyes." The older photo have him with brown eyes, while the newer one has his left eye being green.

"Of course, this might just be some new fashion of Homgern, but we have to take anomalies very seriously especially with doppelgangers and possessors in our times. And concerning about the name Preservator, it's just a dramatic title. The locals give to their famous people similar names like that. Dr Valik is the lead scientist of a medical research organisation called Tanks For Life. His team have invented a method to preserve organs indefinitely, and is now working towards immortality and suspended animation."

Elexa looks up at the projected image of ITARI. "Um..." thanks?" She says with a blush and a brief look of concern. Then a moment later after she turns back to her tablet that she realised that the AI is being subtly angry at her intrusions into his inner workings.

"Oh! You mind that I am checking if you're a... ah I mean, that I'm studying you! OK, I'll stop now." She exits the program that was on the screen, and disconnects her device, before nervously nodding to the hologram as she makes her leave to the sleeping quarters.

Elexa stops and hears itari's explanation. "I see. You trully are advanced, almost as if you're a real person. Um, do you take offense to that? OK, I'll respect you like a patient, and I will be sure to let the others know that you have feelings too.

2 more weeks passed, and the ship is finally nearing its destination. The planet of Homgern has pale green oceans, jade forests, and brown deserts. If one were to look at the windows facing the planet, it will look to be the size of an outstretched clenched fist.

"Yo, guys." The co-pilot calls out to the gathered group. "We'll be landing in a couple of minutes. Just to let y'all know, there is a beacon placed by our guys down there. Wherever it is, they believe it's the best place to park our ship secretly. Oh, and we'll be using basic cloaking. With the technological level of Homgern, no one will likely detect us if we turn on our defense fields as we descend."

Morvin speaks this time. "We at the United Worlds Project believe in having the worlds that we come into contact with to maintain their culture and have a natural development of their technology. If we deem a world to be unsuitable to introduce our standard of space travel to, then our interactions will be kept as low as possible. We had break ups in our old organisation in the past. We were once called the Galaxial Initiative, a splinter group of our original Faction: The End of Universe Project. Don't be alarmed, that old name was in reference to our resistance to the prophecied fate of our universe."

"But I digress. Because of our history of members having different ideas of how to progress our union, we feel that to avoid such infightings again, we'll be more selective in which planets we "ascend". In regards to Homgern's hostility. I'm afraid it's likely that some local nations will regard us as a threat, but the country we will go to is amiable with us, as we have established secret relations with their government. If the military identified us, they'll be ordered not to attack. However, we can't tell how the common civilians will react. It's best that we blend with them when we- I mean you 3 attempt to accomplish your mission. The other important reason to do so is because our target might indeed be a malicious infiltrator and flees if he knows we are after him. We'll be protecting the ship and keep in contact with you with our communication devices. As for their technology level, they have computers and Internet at a basic level, they have yet to land on their moon, and their most advanced area of science so far is in medicine and genetics."

It did not take long before co pilot Nodume steers the space craft into the planet's atmosphere. The beacon is set at a desert region, and the time of day would be in the early morning as the surface is still under darkness. With the automated systems kicking in, and the activation of the defense fields, the ship swiftly lands on solid ground. After the docking bay decompresses, the landing walkway opens up, and the party sees 2 people waiting for them right outside. Under the lights from inside the ship, it can be seen that they are wearing camo hoodies.

"Come with us." A gruff male voice says as one of the hooded walks away.

"Ah, apologies for him." Says the other, who is a lady. "He tends to be like that. Anyways, hello fellow friend of the UWP! I am Saromia, and that guy that is now heading to our base is Gorovon. Its nice to see that the UWP is so welcoming these days, as I get to see many exotic and beautiful woman such as you! Oh did I get too carried away? My bad! Anyways, we are the local spies of UWP, and our duty is mainly to send reports of any suspicious activity of possible alien incursions to our noble employers. You probably have knowledge of what the present issue is, if not, we can discuss it at our headquarters. Come, let's go!"

"Well, for one, his personality suddenly changed. Before, he was rather reclusive and prefer not to go for public events, and he is respectful and reserved when he speak. But now, he have been filling all online message boards with his rantings about religion and sexuality, saying that all religion should be destroyed, and that anything besides cis-gendered heterosexuality is insanity. It might be posible that he simply changed by coming across toxic ideas online, but if it weren't accompanied by his one green eye, I would not have sent the report... Anyways, let's get going before somebody might see us."

As the 3 member party and the hooded lady left the landing site, she continued talking. "I agree! Especially since right now, Dr Valik is an influencial figure, and with him spouting all sorts of hateful messages, I fear that we'll be headed into another era of conflict. We've been living in peace for about a century since the last awful war that have caused a third of the world to be wiped out by bio-weapons..."

"Presently, he has only a small loyal following. Most of the people generally are surprised and bothered by his new attitude, while the rest simply does not care. As for Internet connection, we've got a really fast one at our base. Or atleast relative to most of the world."

After treking for roughly 20 minutes under the dim light of the moon, the group have arrived at a building that sits in a valley of a mountain range. It has a large radio tower, as well as a sizable telescope, emerging from the simple looking structure. As they near the entrance, Gorovon is standing infront with a bored expression. "Took you long enough. Also, you look funny." He says with his eyes leveled at the disguised robot.

"Hey, that's rude to speak of our guests like that, Gorovon!" Saromia reprimands her partner.

Still not changing his expression, Gorovon says: "What? He does not look like a real person. Even his walk his weird."

"Anyways, welcome to The Obervatory, our little hideout where we both serve the local government and the UWP." The lady says, turning to the party. "Please ignore my friend, he is not used with dealing with people, especially those that are from another planet."

"As for old connections, we have not delve too deep into researching Valik's group, but we do know that the team is made up of people from different countries. But, we found that he himself is from Ginoma, the country that was responsible for the deaths of millions in the war."

"Oh! Well, we have face masks and some spare hoodies that you can wear. Though it won't make you completely inconspicuous, atleast it's less alien than what you're currently wearing. And also..." She turns to Gorovon. Please help me boot up the computer, thanks Goro."

"As we wait, I'll tell you more recent news. Lately, Dr Valik have gone on public speeches organised by himself this past few weeks. Today, he'll be going on another one, conveniently at the nearby city of Vas Conra. We can send you there with our van this afternoon if you think it's a good opportunity to meet him. "

"Yup, it's one of those masks. And well, hacking is illegal. The government and company sites are full of security, and if you do manage to hack into them, there is a chance you may be traced. As for the government doing hackings... I am not aware of that, so there is that risk of a deeper conspiracy. But of course, since you are no doubt professionals, then you may find some info without too much trouble, I hope."

ITARI is next level with his ability to hack into the Network. His bots manage to uncover posts made by Dr Valik, before and during his present rantings. Before his tirades, he was only posting research notes and developments, and a few tame commentary on science. There are also articles with his name in them, mostly interviews and biographies of him.

His first aggressive posting occurred about 2 and a half months ago, at night at a location supposedly in a house in a wealthy neignbourhood along the western sea. It was a week ago when he had attended a talk before his change, which was about space travel.

"Alright! I'll get the van ready! Gorovon, shut down the computer come with us!"

Within a few minutes, the group have gathered into a van and is heading out from the isolated observatory. The sun have just peeked from the horizon as the vehicle left the Dusty ground and entered into the main road towards the city of Vas Conra.

"So guys, we will be your get away vehicle. If anything goes wrong, give us a call with this walkie talkie, and we'll come rescue you. Also we've got ourselves guns, but hopefully, we won't have to use them." Saromia says as Gorovon tosses a walkie talkie to the back.

The van drives past other similarly styled vehicles and the looming shadows of the buildings downtown. It did not take long before the van turns into a parking lot and is fully parked.

"Here we are, the Vas Conra Theatre. We'll expect you to come back atleast half an hour after the speech ends. But you can also call us if you wish to leave the place by some other means so we'll not get too worried. Oh, and also it looks like the event will start in 15mins, just to let you know. " Saromia says as she checks her watch after unlocking the van doors.

Purra can feel the anticipation of the audience, along with hints of defiant anger.

Soon the MC came on stage. "Thank you all for coming today! Now, we'll present the Great Preservator to speak with you all about social and mental issues! Give it up for Dr Valik!"

Once the MC left the stage and a green suited, balding senior gentleman enters from the left, the crowd goes wild with cheers and applause.

"It is great to see that more people are starting to believe in my cause. This plague of ill thoughts is worse than the virus that killed 300 million of us. This week, I'll discuss about the reasons for unnatural thinking, and the consequences if we leave them alone for the future of our generation." Dr Valik continues to speak into the microphone at the given podium.

Dr Valik proceeds to passionately talk about how humans have been manipulated since early times to believe that they came from The Great Green Ocean, where a god supposedly shaped humanity from the foam and the sand. He says that there is growing evidence the people were originally from another planet as archaeology slowly reveals. This goes on for about 20 minutes before he continues on to explain what he calls "Sexual Deviancy" to be the result of society's standard falling as the people grief over their mortality.

Meanwhile, Purra is able to notice that a man in front of her is subtly shaking his head eveytime the speaker made another point. Due to stamping down her power, she can't definitely tell if the man disagrees with Dr Valik.

As Princess Purra tries to study the audience, she realises that the person behind her is starting to glare at her as she checks the rear of the crowd. Purra manages to find out that at least 40% are supportive and 5% are against. The rest are hard to discern or are neutral. As she looks back to Dr Valik, she sees that he is now watching her as he monologues. "Now if you wish to ask me questions, please do so at the end of the talk..."

Finally, the lecture is closing to an end. The first question that comes up during QnA is about the posible solution to the problem of "ill thoughts", and Dr Valik answers that it requires a severe change in society, and that he can't answer yet. The second question is about whether Dr Valik have discussed his views with other professionals, and the he just gives a scowl at the questioner, who is being insulted and jeered at by the other audience members until he leaves the theatre. Once that is over, Dr Valik asks "Is there anyone else who wishes to question my knowledge?" He says as his eyes scan the room.

Dr Valik raises his eyebrows at Purra's questions. "Yes, we came from the stars, but it is not yet proven that sexual deviance is natural. In fact, it have just came up often these days, as people are trying to, so called, "improve civil rights". I doubt its actually noble. And second, the government actually refused to give further funding for space exploration, what with the risks and unidentifiable benefits. And even if we have funding, I believe making sure civilisation doesn't collapse from hedonism and delusions is a much better path, in my opinion." The followers holding cardboards with slogans cheered on, and the person that is in front of Purra turns around and gives an apologetic look.

You can see that the doctor's green eye glowed a small bit, and for a brief moment he had a look of confusion, before returning to his usual annoyed and smug look. "What happened? Well, I changed. I'm no longer the naive man I was, and finally saw the truth. The truth that humanity needs a redemption, and fast..."

Meanwhile, some members of the audience saw the unnatural glow, and 1 group of fans lowered their card boards in concern.

Dr Valik changes his expression into a scowl again. "I don't need to answer to any of this insulting questions! Listen, all of my fans! Please help me show these supporters of degeneracy our wrath!" A number of his fans all turn around, looking for targets to fight. Meanwhile before this, Purra is trying to turn the audience against him...

The nearby people hears this, and some become angered by this relevation. A few ex-fans begins to call Dr Valik a hypocrite, while others call him a filthy degenerate. This commotion have made the nearby mob of loyal fans lose some morale. This however, made the stoic followers eager to start violence...

The Fan Mob in front begins to attack anyone who is jeering their idol. And a number in that mob sets their eyes on Purra. However, since now all hell have broken loose, the rest of the audience begins to flee the theatre hall for their safety. The Mob of 4 Fans will have difficulty in their attack.

The Mob of 5 Fans in the rear also attempt to attack a couple of fleeing folks, making their way to Itari.
[Attack will have +0, as individual Fight is also +0]

[Dr Valik: Aspects: Semi-Respected Scientist, Mysterious Eye. Skills: Medicinal(+2), Rapport(+1), Will(+1). 1 stress box.]
Dr Valik shouts into his mic. "You, at the back! Know that no matter what, people like me will always triumph!"

I'm thinking of either "restarting" this game, or simply closing it. "Restarting" will mean that those who wish to still play in the same setting will get to either continue with their present character or make a new one, and the others will be removed. When we do restart, I'll change the starting mission, and have the players do Phase Trio for character creation. Do let me know what you think.

I'll keep playing with ITARI, if that's no issue

OK, I'll keep you and remove the others. They can come back in if they want.