Z-E-R-O (part 18)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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2nd January
15:15 GMT -7
"You're the what?"
Wait. Someone with superpowers and a stupid name suddenly appears. Was.. the librarian whose name I didn't get the guy all along?
**I am the Scintillating Psionist and you will respect me!**
Pale pink lights shimmer under the skin of his brain and-. People stop running, their bodies locking up.
**Answer my question!**
"Okay. No need to do anything hasty."
Neural chaff grenades as a possibility, but against a non-standard neural structure I can't be confident they would work. And the few nonhumanoid telepaths on record are noted as being able to do things with their abilities that humanoids flat out can't. Star Conquerors couldn't function with humanoid minds, and M'gann's abilities have come on in leaps and bounds since she stopped restricting herself.
Worse, I don't know what would happen to the people he's connected to. There are ways to accidentally fry people's brains when you're hooked up like this. To say nothing of the neural programs that he could have inserted. Doing things like that should take years to learn, but whatever else the dial does it appears to give at least some people an intuitive understanding of what they can do.
"I don't know who has the dial. The last person I know of who had it was so surprised by their transformation that they accidentally threw it off a bridge, and we haven't been able to find it since."
The 'Scintillating Psionist' considers this for a moment.
**Reveal your mind to me!**
Selective revelation is possible against a humanoid telepath. Or at least I could stick my barriers back up if something untoward was happening. Against a being like this… I don't like my chances of pulling something like that off.
"Why?"
**I want the dial!**
I squint. No, no you don't. You want something, but it isn't the dial.
"Okay, if you have some sort of documented proof that it's your property, I'll return it to you just as soon as the current user has disconnected themselves."
**Unacceptable! Who dares to use the dial!?**
"They didn't realise what it was. And they very much want to stop using it. They didn't mean to offend you, and I'm sure they're very sorry about the whole situation."
**The dial is useless while they use its power!**
That's a relief. We don't have to worry about a mad serial killer getting hold of it or something.
"Then you've got every reason to want them to disconnect willingly, haven't you?"
**I will have the truth from your mind!**
"Looking into my mind wouldn't show you the difference between false memories and genuine ones."
I take a hologram projector out of subspace and… Create an image of Mr Hamill's current form, taking care to alter her facial appearance.
"The woman in question came to the Justice League looking like this."
Another wave of colour passes under the brain's… 'Skin'. Any observable-?
I spot a woman who had been frozen between steps regain at least some ability to move as she looks up in growing horror at…
Ring, what is the librarian's name?
Local government personnel records list him as 'Jonathan Dow'.
Jon Do-? Really. How long has he worked here?
Approximately thirty years.
Fair enough, then. The woman looks up at me for a moment, and I make an urgent 'push away' gesture with my right hand. She takes the hint and starts creeping away from our confrontation, and I notice a handful of others doing the same. Good. I don't know what sort of range Mr Dow has, but if they can get out of it then-.
**I can't find her!**
Everyone freezes again, and I don't think it's from fear. How much range does he have? A telepathic life form of that size… Star Conquerors with brains that size were proved to be able to operate across a continent…
"Yes. The dial grants powers at random, doesn't it? I found it had several curious interactions with my rings. I did wonder if it was perhaps due to transformed individuals not being there in the conventional sense."
**Where is she?!**
"Mister Dow-."
**I am the Scintillating Psionist now!**
"Scintillating Psionist, why do you want to know where she is?"
**So that I can recover the Dial!**
"And then what?"
**That is not your concern!**
"Scintillating Psionist, I'm perfectly happy to return your property to you, but I can't in good conscience give you the location of someone you're simply going to attack. If you would like to accompany us during our search, we'd be happy to have you along. And as I've said, if you can prove that you own the dial then we will return it to you."
**Give! Me! The! D-!**
"Oh God, Jon, what have you done to yourself?"
A woman stares out from the hole in the wall in horror. That would be… Patricia Birchall, the other librarian.
**I am completing our mission! The Dial belongs to the Master!**
I check, and a portion of the crowd are once again trying to make themselves scarce. Okay, good. He isn't facing my way but… Yes, I can feel the weak telekinetic field he's using in place of sensory organs. What do I do? I could try suppressing his desires, but I don't know if he'd realise what I was doing. And frankly his desire network looks weird.
"Jon, it's been decades-."
**That doesn't matter! I can't live like this any more!**
Ring, can we… Analyse his current physiology?
Analysis complete.
Oh great, even my ring isn't sure how that thing is functioning. Okay, assume that a lot of the work is offloaded onto whatever dial he just used… I just need to shut down his telepathy.
"Jon, just-. Just use the dial again, and we can sort this out."
Reconfiguring neural shock generator, ready filament-based area evacuation.
Compliance.
**You're just distracting me.** The brain turns back in my direction. Is the telepathy direction-restricted? **TELL ME WHERE IT-!**
I trigger the generator.
15:15 GMT -7
"You're the what?"
Wait. Someone with superpowers and a stupid name suddenly appears. Was.. the librarian whose name I didn't get the guy all along?
**I am the Scintillating Psionist and you will respect me!**
Pale pink lights shimmer under the skin of his brain and-. People stop running, their bodies locking up.
**Answer my question!**
"Okay. No need to do anything hasty."
Neural chaff grenades as a possibility, but against a non-standard neural structure I can't be confident they would work. And the few nonhumanoid telepaths on record are noted as being able to do things with their abilities that humanoids flat out can't. Star Conquerors couldn't function with humanoid minds, and M'gann's abilities have come on in leaps and bounds since she stopped restricting herself.
Worse, I don't know what would happen to the people he's connected to. There are ways to accidentally fry people's brains when you're hooked up like this. To say nothing of the neural programs that he could have inserted. Doing things like that should take years to learn, but whatever else the dial does it appears to give at least some people an intuitive understanding of what they can do.
"I don't know who has the dial. The last person I know of who had it was so surprised by their transformation that they accidentally threw it off a bridge, and we haven't been able to find it since."
The 'Scintillating Psionist' considers this for a moment.
**Reveal your mind to me!**
Selective revelation is possible against a humanoid telepath. Or at least I could stick my barriers back up if something untoward was happening. Against a being like this… I don't like my chances of pulling something like that off.
"Why?"
**I want the dial!**
I squint. No, no you don't. You want something, but it isn't the dial.
"Okay, if you have some sort of documented proof that it's your property, I'll return it to you just as soon as the current user has disconnected themselves."
**Unacceptable! Who dares to use the dial!?**
"They didn't realise what it was. And they very much want to stop using it. They didn't mean to offend you, and I'm sure they're very sorry about the whole situation."
**The dial is useless while they use its power!**
That's a relief. We don't have to worry about a mad serial killer getting hold of it or something.
"Then you've got every reason to want them to disconnect willingly, haven't you?"
**I will have the truth from your mind!**
"Looking into my mind wouldn't show you the difference between false memories and genuine ones."
I take a hologram projector out of subspace and… Create an image of Mr Hamill's current form, taking care to alter her facial appearance.
"The woman in question came to the Justice League looking like this."
Another wave of colour passes under the brain's… 'Skin'. Any observable-?
I spot a woman who had been frozen between steps regain at least some ability to move as she looks up in growing horror at…
Ring, what is the librarian's name?
Local government personnel records list him as 'Jonathan Dow'.
Jon Do-? Really. How long has he worked here?
Approximately thirty years.
Fair enough, then. The woman looks up at me for a moment, and I make an urgent 'push away' gesture with my right hand. She takes the hint and starts creeping away from our confrontation, and I notice a handful of others doing the same. Good. I don't know what sort of range Mr Dow has, but if they can get out of it then-.
**I can't find her!**
Everyone freezes again, and I don't think it's from fear. How much range does he have? A telepathic life form of that size… Star Conquerors with brains that size were proved to be able to operate across a continent…
"Yes. The dial grants powers at random, doesn't it? I found it had several curious interactions with my rings. I did wonder if it was perhaps due to transformed individuals not being there in the conventional sense."
**Where is she?!**
"Mister Dow-."
**I am the Scintillating Psionist now!**
"Scintillating Psionist, why do you want to know where she is?"
**So that I can recover the Dial!**
"And then what?"
**That is not your concern!**
"Scintillating Psionist, I'm perfectly happy to return your property to you, but I can't in good conscience give you the location of someone you're simply going to attack. If you would like to accompany us during our search, we'd be happy to have you along. And as I've said, if you can prove that you own the dial then we will return it to you."
**Give! Me! The! D-!**
"Oh God, Jon, what have you done to yourself?"
A woman stares out from the hole in the wall in horror. That would be… Patricia Birchall, the other librarian.
**I am completing our mission! The Dial belongs to the Master!**
I check, and a portion of the crowd are once again trying to make themselves scarce. Okay, good. He isn't facing my way but… Yes, I can feel the weak telekinetic field he's using in place of sensory organs. What do I do? I could try suppressing his desires, but I don't know if he'd realise what I was doing. And frankly his desire network looks weird.
"Jon, it's been decades-."
**That doesn't matter! I can't live like this any more!**
Ring, can we… Analyse his current physiology?
Analysis complete.
Oh great, even my ring isn't sure how that thing is functioning. Okay, assume that a lot of the work is offloaded onto whatever dial he just used… I just need to shut down his telepathy.
"Jon, just-. Just use the dial again, and we can sort this out."
Reconfiguring neural shock generator, ready filament-based area evacuation.
Compliance.
**You're just distracting me.** The brain turns back in my direction. Is the telepathy direction-restricted? **TELL ME WHERE IT-!**
I trigger the generator.
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