And for our next trick

[Light Rises]

This was new. Cole Topol had been living aboard a starship for most of his life. A student of whatever the ship could afford, and for him? Some of the best education in the galaxy. And what did he focus it on? Xenobiography and Astrogation. He wanted to know what made this galaxy tick, and these were the best choices he could find to do that. Throw on that a job with Silk Holdings and a recent job offer and acceptance from Akure Executive, he was well on his way. The position was something about a research assistant, and they seemed to be okay with his taking contract spots from Silk aboard vessels.

Another job, really, and this was hopefully what he was looking for. He had to take a quick physical, some blood work, but he was fairly certain they'd see everything was well. The Dawn Treader was working on genotyping perfection even if they weren't 100% with phenotypes yet. But, that didn't matter. The Force, dexterity, intelligence, those were all at the peak of human evolution for Cole, add in the use of the Force, and an experiment that worked the midichlorians in his blood to higher than the Starchaser genetic template ever hit, he was fairly certain he'd be fine.

Not that he knew what he was in for. But the pay was right.

What was a leather and designer goods company needing a research assistant for?

Really, who cared? For the credits, Cole was excited. And ready. Walking into the AEI building, he took the turbolift to the appropriate level and was asked to wait in a waiting room. He could do that. Do that real well.

[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Cole Topol"]

The door opened, and a compact brunette in her late twenties -- early thirties maybe -- looked him up and down. "Topol? Xenobiology, astrography? You'll do."

One of the wealthiest women in history ushered Cole into a fairly large office festooned with tasteful, elegant Sith artifacts. Her mind was pretty clearly elsewhere. To be precise, her mind was on a set of flimsiplast photocopies strewn across her desk.

"'What is the Force?'" she said without preamble, reading off the first sheet. "'The Jedi say it is created by life. But I say the Force creates life. It is a simple deduction -- an obvious conclusion when supported by structured experimentation. Yet consider this: the galaxy's leading scientific minds are largely ignorant of the Force, and the galaxy's most skilled Force-users reject science. The latter are caught up in romantic mysticism, convinced they have been called by a higher power. The former have no excuse.' That was written a thousand years ago by a forgotten pioneer. What's your opinion, Topol? Is there a balance to be struck, and, if so, how do we strike it best?"

 

[Light Rises]

When the door opened, Cole got to his feet. He gave the woman who stepped out a once over, just to memorize her face and features. Right, was this his new boss? She was calling his name. He nodded at that. He'll do? He had two degrees and a history working on an exploration vessel. Not to mention substantial genetic modification. He followed her into the office.

Taking a look around, he was recognizing some of the designs. While his family was more a mixture of various Dark Side Force users, there was plenty of Sith lore lying around. And that was what he was noticing here.

When the woman started talking, Cole was listening. The Force. He'd spent some time trying to figure it out. It was mystic and lofty but... There had to be more to it. And this was exactly where [member="Rave Merrill"] was going. "I feel that there has to be a way to strike it into science. Where I'm from, we have found a way to monitor the potential of a being by monitoring their blood. That means there is a physical manifestation, or... measuring stick out there. It isn't a far jump to say that life could be created by the Force."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Cole Topol"]

"You'll have to tell me more about that," said Rave absently. "For now, keep doing what you're doing -- being my sounding board. In a trial sense, anyway."

She continued reading aloud.

"'Thus, I will be the first to pursue this line of inquiry. A scientific understanding of the Force is not the same as the memorization of incantations.' Agreed, Plagueis, but how to unshackle...hm. 'Science seeks to understand the principle behind a reaction, not merely how to replicate it -- particularly when the formulas for the reactions are bloated with centuries of empty ornamentation.' Dear feth...this man was a genius. This is...

"'To study alchemy, one must strip away' -- 'to study alchemy, one must strip away its rhyming phrases and its perverse obsession with blood sacrifice.' Thank you. 'To study a shamanistic talisman, one must look beyond the words of invocation. When a talisman unleashes its power, what is the true trigger? The words? The speaker's tone? His mental state? If a talisman's power resides inside the gem, what will happen if a fragment is shaved off, then another? Does the energy dissipate when sufficient mass is lost? Is the ratio consistent for similar gems and similar talismans?'

"'The Sith of old never asked these questions, for tradition and obedience extinguished their spark of curiosity.' Ahhh. Nicely handled, Plagueis." She glanced up at her new sounding board. "Your thoughts?"

 

[Light Rises]

Sounding board. Roger that. Cole nodded to [member="Rave Merrill"]. He had a few ideas of his own, but if he was correct this was the Leather Jacket Billionaire and combining the Force and the physical world was something that she knew how to do, and how to do well.

He was taking notes in his mind, remembering the passages and the names involved. Plagueis, he knew a tale of that one, more a ghost story than anything else. That world, when this supposedly all happened was so far beyond where they were at. If it wasn’t for the physical trail of information, he’d believe it only to be fairy tales. But moving science and the Force into the same research trail. This needed to happen.

He wasn’t that familiar with alchemy, aboard the home-ship, they were more worried on combat applications of the Force, aside from some other advanced powers. Chasing after nullifying the Force, and mechu deru, and easing movements, it was all the same in his home life.

Looking up to Rave, Cole considered the passages. “Without curiosity, there is really no way to continue. Raised as a student of… everything, I was always taught to question everything. Finding the real reason that things work, that is important. If you could cut out the superfluous incantations, that would speed and strengthen the process, no?”

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Cole Topol"]

"All right," she said, setting the page aside, "now you're just telling me what you think I want to hear, or regurgitating. I don't know which is worse. You're here as a sounding board, Topol, and that means telling me what you really think and what comes to mind. Be broad-minded. Extrapolate."

 

[Light Rises]

Restating and saying everything that [member="Rave Merrill"] wanted to know? Maybe Cole was doing that a bit. But he was a sounding board. He wasn’t supposed to be giving his own bits, yet, was he? What came to mind? Cole looked back at the woman.

“Well, what comes to mind is something about pushing the Force to the limits. Making it so anyone who comes across me, or whoever.” Really, Tion, probably. Heil. “I know your work, the merging of technology and the Force. But what if the bounds were pushed? What if we reached to what really binds the universe together? In a sense of bending it to our wills?”

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Cole Topol"]

With a noncommittal grunt, Rave returned to Plagueis.

"'And these questions are much more than idle speculation. My science will remove everything superfluous. In this way, the true nature of the fundamental elements that the Jedi and Sith wield so casually will be revealed.' Then a note from Luke Skywalker -- 'The element that Plagueis couldn't measure is the will of the Force. The Jedi hear this call, and I believe the Sith do, too. I don't think the Force felt compelled to speak to Plagueis.'" Rave barked a laugh and kept reading.

"'So it must be that I am the first. I will change it all. The Sith wallowed in ritual even during our centuries under the Rule of Two, playing dress-up in frightening costumes and posturing for our followers. I will burn away the colorful wrappings and study the skeletal structure that reveals the architecture of reality.

"'My ultimate goal is the secret of life -- that life that gives us consciousness, for without consciousness each of us is nothing. Through science, I will create new life and sustain my own. There is no reason why Darth Plagueis could not life forever.' Well, he's a bloviator all right. Feth. I was hoping for something a little more clear-headed.

"'Influencing the Midi-Chlorians.' Here we go. 'The Force is found throughout the universe, not only in living things. Everything in existence that draws upon various aspects of the energy we call the Force may be classified into three categories.

"'The aperion includes and unites all matter, giving it shape and cohesion. Aspects of the aperion include gravity and electromagnetism -- though the term encompasses everything in space and time. Many of the abilities understood as belonging to the Unifying Force are tied to the aperion.' So he was positing a sort of fundamental subatomic particle for the Force, an aspect of it that related not to life or intelligence but to the laws of physics. Fascinating.

"'The anima gives life -- but not thought -- to animals, plants, and other living beings. Midi-chlorians are responsible for inducing and sustaining anima in almost all species.' Almost all? Carefulness, carelessness, or did he know of an exception?

"'The pneuma is the expression of conscious thought. Thinking, self-aware minds contribute to the collective pneuma, which is accessed by many naturally telepathic species, as well as by the various mind tricks of the Jedi and the Sith.' So that's why you don't need to warp a brain to bend a will. Interesting, for what it is.

"'These fundamental forces would exist even without midi-chlorians.' Fascinating. 'However, midi-chlorians are the beneficiaries of an unusually strong connection to all forms of physical and psychic energy. Because the midi-chlorians inhabit living cells, the host organism is able to draw upon this connection. Midi-chlorians are endosymbionts. They die when their host dies, and no host can live if completely purged of midi-chlorians.' Feth...feth. Look at this diagram, the three-lobed midichlorian structure. It's not perfectly symmetrical in this drawing. I think he was hinting that a truly skilled alchemist could alter their own midi-chlorians for certain effects." She shivered at the audacity of it, grinning. "And this labelling -- 'The visible biology of the cell and its midi-chlorians is a product of the invisible interactions of the aperion, anima, and pneuma.' Then a commentary by Skywalker: 'The entire focus on midi-chlorians is misguided. They are a natural lesson in symbiosis. When we listen to the smallest creatures, they open to us the expanse of the Force. Only a Sith would seek to dismantle a relationship that benefits both parties.' Maybe so, Skywalker, maybe so..."

 

[Light Rises]

What was [member="Rave Merrill"] after here? These works, where did they come from? Cole had questions, but he wasn’t sure if he should speak up. After all, Rave Merrill was in fact Rave Merrill. He had only heard rumor, what he was assuming could be true, but who was to tell? He was listening, taking mental notes. There was talk about creating life and bending the Force and science.

Melding them and letting them loose on the galaxy at large. Cole had seen plenty of things happening in the galaxy, he’d seen a lot that the galaxy had to offer. He was still not expecting this.

Three aspects of the Force? For life, thought and matter. That was interesting. “So, we’re talking about the ability to break the bonds that the Force creates in everything? Is that even possible?” And the midichlorians created the Force, didn’t they? And the Force creates life?

This was one of those fowl or egg deals, wasn’t it?

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Cole Topol"]

"The bonds...that the Force creates...in everything. Interesting way to put it, Topol. But in those bonds, the smallest of them, is the Force the agent, the motive lowercase force, or is it the material, the substance, the thing acted upon? If so, by what if not by us? Are there repercussions for interference, perhaps?"

 

[Light Rises]

Now they were getting into it. Cole had a military upbringing which meant he put one hundred and ten percent into everything. And his thirst for knowledge? That just meant that he had the voraciousness for study and research. An academic at heart, he wanted to figure out everything, and how it all worked. Of course, he wasn't going to be able to affect it all, a plague of the genetic template. But he had his sensing, and his telekinetics, maybe he wasn't passed over for a stronger power after all.

Just hadn't figured it out yet.

"That seems to be the question. If the laws of physics are accurate, that means matter and the atomic structure is the binding agent. But if the Force connects everything, wouldn't it also connect on the subatomic level?" Right, physics. "Breaking something down, it takes the Force to do it with our minds. What if there is some marriage of the physical and the metaphysical as we get smaller?" Or, you know, crazy talk.

[member="Rave Merrill"]