Launch Day

Deirdre busies herself with first finding the missing adrenaline ampoules that might have saved Weintraub's life. Then she sets about organizing the first aid and medical supplies while she fights with herself about not accepting the blame for the poor man's death. Then she writes up the details on his death and files it away.

Hamlet floats over to Belton and takes a look. "What the hell is that? That's not standard. Get Woolrich on the radio and ask for an explanation. I'll check the other MMU."

"I'm going to check with O'Niel first. See if he can determine what it is, so we know if command is bullshitting us," Belton replies thoughtfully before heading to O'Niel.

"Hey, I know this isn't exactly your job description but we found something out of the ordinary added to the MMUs and I was wondering if you might help us make heads or tails of it?"

Spay doesn't pipe in regarding the MMU modifications. But he keeps tuned in to the situation and is waiting to see if Belton can get anything out of O'Neil before Spay get on the radio to headquarters.

When Deirdre finishes her housekeeping she floats over to join the others and observes what's going on.

With her having to falsify the health examinations, it didn't surprise her at all that the mission was not what they thought it would be.

"We've already lost one crew member. This is ridiculous. Unconscionable. So what do we do now?"

Of course she was one to talk.

Belton's jaw goes slack, no doubt for far longer than was socially acceptable. Eventually regaining his composure, he blurts out, "What in the 'Hory Hoasts of Hoggoth' and 'Crimson Bands of Cyttorak' are you talking about? This is starting to sound like some Harry Potter shit."

O'Neil barks a laugh. "You're closer to the mark than you think. It's also why we couldn't train you to do this. Its very theoretical, but the closest I can explain is like this. The human body is a record player and the mind is a record. Even if the body dies, the mind remains, just as the grooves remain on a record. Perhaps that's an outdated analogy. The body is a computer, and the mind is a floppy disk. Shut off the computer but the data still remains. Same idea. That's because their is stored energy in the mind, the spirit if you will, that can be released. Just like splitting an atom releases atomic energy. We call it 'unspooling consciousness.' This energy can be used to power magic rituals. It's one reason we think human sacrifices were more common in ancient civilizations."

With his hand still on the radio and with his mind completely baffled on how to approach this crazinesses, all Spay can think to do for the moment is play along with the madness, "Okay, so now you revealed that not-so-small piece of information, you might as well tell go ahead and tell us why we need to destroy the satellite, what's the purpose?"

O'Neil shakes his head. "The only way to destroy it is through hypergeometry. It does what you were told it does: it is an anti-satellite satellite. It has the power to de-orbit any other satellite the US wishes. What they didn't tell you is that it is constructed from parts not of this world. With technology beyond what humanity has discovered for itself. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm sorry to have dumped this on you, because now that you know, you are involved. No matter what choice you make from now on, major life changes are coming your way. Welcome to the club," he gives a grim chuckle.

"Well obviously one of us won't have to worry about that," Belton replies dryly. "Humor me. Once we get all ancient Aztec with one of us to abracadabra the on switch... what happens to the dead guy? Do they actually die, or is their soul trapped in a satellite that'll serve as a personal hell for eternity?"

He crosses his arms accross his chest. "Y'know... hypothetically."

O'Neil shrugs. "No one knows for sure, but I don't think their soul will be stuck. Soul is not really accurate. As I said, its consciousness, but unspooling it terminates that consciousness and releases the hypergeometric energy. I'm not asking you to believe me. Hell it's better if you don't. If you knew half the things I know about what exists beyond our space and time, you'd never have a good night sleep again. There are things out there than feed on consciousnesses for eons. Unspooling is a far better alternative, believe me."

Shaking his head, Belton replies, "Well, I guess we can take some small solace in that. From a more technical standpoint... how often does this satellite have issues? Do we feed it people every year? Is this the first time it's gone dormant? Or what?"

"So where exactly did these "not of this world" parts come from and how were they obtained?"

Dierdre decides to focus on the technical details as a distraction from her impending panic at the unbelievable revelations. She was a student of science. Magic mumbo jumbo never entered into any of it. At least until now, in the form of objects outside their sphere of knowledge. Wasn't that what magic was, after all?

Dirk sets the coarse for the shuttle and lets the autopilot do the remaining work for now. He joins the group just in time to hear O’Neils explanation of the program…and not believing a word of it.

"What the hell are we talking about right now? Human sacrifice? That’s completely ridiculous. Even if it were true, what makes this satellite worth it? We can knock out satellites with a simple missile."

"The malfunction was part of the cover story. Nothing is wrong with the satellite. I am not an engineer so I don't know all the specifics, I'm just here to destroy it. Sure, you can shoot down a satellite, but not without risking an international incident. And definitely not raising questions about how the US knew who has what secret satellites and where. With BLACKSAT there is no proof of anything, and governments can't make the information public without showing their hand as well. It'd be like a drug dealer calling the police because he was robbed of his heroine. As for the details, it's not something you want to know. I already said too much. At a minimum all of you are probably facing the ends of your careers after this. Probably assigned to desk jobs in Alaska. If you want to know even more, there's a good chance you'll meet an unfortunate accident."

"At this point, I'll welcome a desk job. Actually no, I'll welcome getting back alive."

This nightmare was only getting worse by the minute. And deadly.

Belton just shook his head. "Man, ain't this some bullshit. I thought Tuskegee, Radiation Experiments, and MKUltra were bad, but here we are. Just outright human sacrifice now."

With that, he floats off to put the MMU he inspected back, having finished the inspection itself.