Reroll

The holographic projectors in my quarters are fun: I can link them to various data sources, no problem… which, right now, means I have ten different holograms of big screen TVs, each looking at a different news channel… and I have a shadow dressed up as Alice on each… and they're all live feeds. Heh.  This will really confuse people. I only have the sound up on one, of course.

“This is Joyce Jones of J5 news, coming to you live from our studio where the world-famous healer, Alice, has just dropped a bomb on the people hunting her.  Alice, please tell us what I'm holding.”

“Thank you Joyce.  That is a backup disk, containing some rather gruesome videos produced by the supposed ‘Federal Bureau for the Preservation of Human Rights’ with supporting documentation that can be used to verify the authenticity of the videos: Names, reports, locations… there's a lot there… all leaked by a soul who I refuse to name.” That's technically true… I leaked it, after all. “Given just how brutal this Federal Bureau actually is, I prefer to call them the Inquisition. They find innocent people - American citizens, on American soil - who have had an Event that changed them from baseline humanity… and ‘suppress’ them.  Most of the time, that means ‘execute without trial’ - sometimes it's much worse.”

Joyce looms at Alice, “You have a gift for understatement. Let's show video ninety-six.”

The feed switches to a view of Joe, in his mermaid form, naked (his chest blurred out) while two Guardians holding him in place, stick him full of needles, and strap him into a milking machine… this one is apparently from pretty early on, as he's begging them to just let him go, letting them know he has a wife and kids to get back to… until one of the giant, beefy Guardians punches Joe in the face, audibly breaking bones… at which point, Joe just whimpers.

Sorry Joe: I didn't mean to make you famous… but it's for a good cause.

The feed cuts back to the news crew, and Joyce adds, “These are ranked by just how gruesome they are.  Ninety six is one of the least bad samples on here.  Trust me, no amount of editing makes anything below number forty safe for broadcast… but you can find the entire, unedited archive available for download on J5 News dot com slash extreme… just be warned: It is SERIOUS nightmare fuel,” Joyce actually shudders.

Th e real woman on screen pauses, touches her earpiece, and says, “Come again?” She pauses, and says, “I'm looking at her right now, directly, with my own eyes.  Alice is HERE. I don't know who K6 has, but….”  Another pause, and she turns to Alice, “Alice, you ARE Alice, correct?”

Alice chuckles, “I am.  I can explain, kind of.  This is VERY important news, wouldn't you agree?”

Ms. Jenkins nods, “Proof positive of supernatural forces, some rather extreme violations of personal liberty, systemically, on US soil, for years?  Biggest news since World War II.”

“All right.  Well… where I am and what I'm doing is… subjective.  This is very important news, and a lot of powerful people don't want it to get out.  So for you, and for these cameras, I'm here, talking to you.  But they've staged terrorist attacks on me before, and it's very important this gets out.  So while for you I'm here, talking to you… for the K6 news crew and their cameras, I'm there, talking to them; the same  for NCC; the same for Dog News; and so on. Depending on who you ask, I'm in any one of dozens of different places… and none of those answers are wrong, because it's a matter of perspective.”

The reporter blinks a few times, “You're in multiple places doing different things simultaneously?”

My messenger giggles, “No, I'm in just one place, doing one thing.  For you, that's here, talking to you. But where I am and what I'm doing is subjective.  For someone else, I am also in one place, doing one thing, but that one place is a different place than it is for you, and that one thing I'm doing for them is a different thing from than that one thing I'm doing for you.  But I'm still in one place doing one thing.  Make sense?”

The J5 reporter puts her fingers to her temples, “Not even slightly.”  Which is kind of the point, for me....

My fake angel shrugs, “Well… the theory works.  Talk to a physicist if you need the math of how: Quantum Mechanics and Relativity don't mix well.”

Ms. Jenkins really crinkles her forehead at that, “But you're not super tiny or going at near light speed… this is just too trippy.”

Alice chuckles, “Imagine what it's like for me.  Sadly, doing things like I am prevents me from healing right now,” Well… she can't heal right now because that Alice is set up for other tasks… which is technically part of how she's doing things right now.  Close enough, “so I can't use that as my ‘ID’ until after we’re done here, at which point I won't be here for you anyway.”

The reporter considers, “Does this mean what I think it does for alibis?”

My shadow grins, “It's a good thing I'm not interested in petty crime, isn't it?  I'm sure a lot of laws will need overhauling to account for... baseline divergent humans who are less nice than I am.”

Hmm… that's getting into dangerous territory… I send a retrieval signal to all my Warp Alice's, and watch in real time as she continues, “However, I am at the limit of what the goddess will let me do for now, so it's time to say goodbye….”

I switch them all to fully suppressed, and they head back here… it's fun watching them all vanish on screen; I know it's all at the same time, thus I pick up on exactly how much buffering is in line for each station.

The J5 reporter blinks, “...and there you have it. Another mind-bending interview with Alice, that enigmatic messenger of the mysterious goddess… whom we can only hope is real.”

Well… I am… kind of... but probably shouldn't have aich a lofty title.

Of course, with the Link talent in play, I can talk to the shadows on the way up.  I get a run down from each on who they spoke with, what they said, and such.  I also take the time to dig up and watch the recordings of each for what went on the air… it would not do for me to not have at least a passing memory of whatever happened.

Of course, dozens of five minute news clips takes a few hours to watch, especially when factoring in finding each one and all the bloody advertisements mixed in (even science fantasy ad blocking doesn't get them all).  

Which means by the time I'm all caught up on all the things ‘Alice’ saw and did, there's been lots of time for everyone to react, with the Federal Bureau for the Preservation of Human Rights being unable to coordinate to keep their story straight.

So I check social media: I start with UsTube: “How could this happen?” “Is that what happened to my missing brother?” and “Shut those monsters down!” are very much trendy topics. Chatter is about the same… plus lots of cursing. BookFace has a lot of longer, written pieces… that largely amount to the same thing.

Yeah… I think I have the general public on my side.  Just to be sure, I call Signal 69 to authorize some overtime… and they tell me they're already on it… but that it would have been nice if I’d given them some warning. I promise them I'll do better next time (I'm hoping I don't need to do this ever again).

After that, I start hitting the news again for the follow up articles… okay, yes, lots of condemning of the Inquisition… from both sides of the political fence… yeah, everyone likes an easy target… oh, breaking news, an announcement from the president, huh?  I click it, and jump to the live feed:

“My fellow Americans, it is with great sadness this day that I learn of the atrocities that this ‘Inquisition’ has been committing in the shadows of our illustrious nation.” Ah, right… I'm winning on terms with the political types because everyone wants to distance themselves as far as possible from the Inquisition... which means using the agency's title in the US as little as possible.

"Rest assured, there will be a FULL investigation on how this cancer infected us, and we WILL excise the tumor. Pending full, open congressional hearings, by executive order, all operations of the so-called ‘Federal Bureau for the Preservation of Human Rights’ are hereby immediately suspended, and all of their funding frozen.  We, the people WILL have a FULL accounting, and everyone involved will be SORELY punished according to the magnitude of their crimes, in a court of law… because even the worst criminals have basic rights, unlike how this Inquisition has been treating our citizens.  Rest assured, this will NEVER happen again.”

As he drones on, I take a minute to process that.  I won.  There's no way the Inquisition is getting out from under that pile of their own garbage that I dug up and dumped on their heads… at least not in this country.

I won.

…oh no.