Private The Catalyst Protocol: Simulated Mindscape

[Liin Terallo]

I am a danger to myself and to others.

That is what Nos Voros had told me. And in some respects I understand what he means. Being untrained anything and everything that can happen with this synthetic Force is reactive. And I have no control over it. I could seek help from Balun Dashiell ; however I want to try something else first to at least give him more to work with than the unknown. An idea came to mind of using a technical interface to mimic reality so that I can maybe practice my limits without causing anyone harm.

With Mister Voras' help, I am secured in a sterile chamber with motion inhibitors and synaptic anchors to protect my body from siezures or shocks. On my head is a biometric headset that I had developed; made with Isotope-5-fuzed neural fibers calibrated to my unique genome. Together this system simulates an artificial Force Field by modeling how neurons fire when a true Force Wizard channels energy. It then runs that through my synthetic alterations. In simplist terms it is a virtual environment shaped by my subconscious. These are not visual but emotionally encoded zones which are not perfect. They are a bit unstable, responsive to thought, and can be corrputed by stress, trauma or outside interference. So I have Mister Nos keep watch over me just in case.

It took a moment or two for the interface to start to work. At first I see nothing but darkness. And then in an instant everything is bright. I can see a laboratory floating within a void. And just like magic I float into it. It is almost empty except for a few things. I see flickering screens and a shelf containing half-filled canisters. And then there is a mirror on the wall nearly floor to ceiling in height. Upon closer inspection I notice that it is not reflective of me. It almost looks liquid in form.

Something is there within it, however. It is fuzzy, but seems to be taking shape on it's own.

What is that?

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Son of a.."

Getting this entire ghost transportation thing down pat was difficult. Jorus Q. Merrill had taught her how to transcend death over the course of a few hours near his gravesite. What he hadn't taught her was the finer points of moving about. It was hit and miss. Delila thought she would have figured it out by now but apparently a few weeks was nothing compared to an eternity. In the grand scheme of time it might as well still be day one for her.

Either way, now she was in a laboratory. A small frown as she tried to get her bearings around her.

"Great, transported to nerd central." She paused. "Not even worth haunting. Why couldn't I have transported to somewhere I want to haunt? Maybe be one of those mystical types that appear in gardens....wait, that's not me. Mystical type that appears on the battlefield. There's the goal...or just randomly inside spacer's vessels...."

Delila was talking to herself. Most people didn't see her anyway so it wasn't worth trying to find someone to interact with to ask questions. More regroup and try to ghostly apparate somewhere else. She didn't hold high hopes.

Liin Terallo

 

[Liin Terallo]

The fuzzy form slowly took shape in what I had assumed was a mirror. It appeared to be a woman and not one whom I recognized. Her movements did not match mine, so clearly this was not a reflection of me. Perhaps what I had assumed to be a mirror is instead a window?

I reach over to touch it, yet instead of my fingertips hitting something solid; it was liquid. Even stranger is that my finger does not feel wet. This is not real. I must treat it like a dream, I think. And so, given that the mirror of sorts goes from floor to ceiling, I step into it.

And that is when I heard her voice. She appeared to be complaining or chastising herself. I wonder if she can even see or hear me. Is she just a part of my subconscious? Or a part of the interface program?

"Excuse me? Hello?" Now to see just what my brain or perhaps the serum has manifested now.

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

As she was trying to figure out how to get out of this plane of....existence? Delila wasn't paying much attention to the other in the room. Wouldn't do much good - again it was very hit and miss on who could hear her. Or see her. Just didn't fall down a line of Force Users either. Plain, everyday folk has held conversations. Her working theory was perhaps she hadn't fine tuned her ghostly presence. One had to find the right frequency so to speak, like tuning into distant comms while out in space.

"Excuse me? Hello?" Now to see just what my brain or perhaps the serum has manifested now.

Head turned in the direction of the other in the laboratory. This woman didn't look ghost-like. More of the still alive and kicking variety.

"Hello." Delila paused, thinking. "I would ask if you need help but I can barely help myself."

Liin Terallo

 

[Liin Terallo]

"Barely help your -- Who are you?" I stammer out of utter disbelief. Is this some strange part of my subconscious? Or is it someone brought here to help me? I cannot say that the Force has anything to do with it, because it does not. However maybe this Echo that courses through me is.

"How did you get here? You do realize that this place is not real, right?" As if to demonstrate the point, I place my hand through the mirror and back again. Such was a feat that surely could not happen in the real world?

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Delila Castillon. Former General of the Rebel Alliance. Former Captain in the Omega Protectorate. More recently spacer and mercenary and even more recent, dead. No ranks in that I can assure you."

Force Ghost Delila looked around, curious at the sights before her as the stranger pointed them out. Who would make a laboratory in another dimension? Seemed like a waste of a dimension. Yet this all went back to her learnings on time and space and the Force. Never one to care about the Force, there were many steep learning curves she was trying to figure out.

"No idea how I got here. Lady, trust me when I say I have zero concept of what is real and not real anymore. I'll let you be the judge of telling me what is firmly rooted in reality."

A small pause.

"You have a name or are you not real either?"


Liin Terallo

 

[Liin Terallo]

My eyebrows rose in sudden surprise as this individual identified themselves. What is even more surprising is the fact that she revealed that she was deceased. So how did she appear in the interface? Perhaps she is a figment of my imagination. Perhaps she is some kind of training mechanism that my mind and the interface program had made up. Or perhaps the synthetic serum somehow drew her here.

"I am real. My name is Liin. I am currently laying unconscious on a table within my laboratory. What brought you into my subconscious, I am uncertain. So were you a Force Wizard? When you were alive, I mean." If she was a Force Wizard, then that will open up a whole series of other questions.

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Wait...why are you laying unconscious on your laboratory table? Its not a kink thing is it? Zero judgement on my end, I'm just saying don't waste your time talking to me if something better is about to happen."

Ghostly shoulders shrugged. It seemed this Liin might be just as confused at her. Was this a drug trip gone wrong? Experiment gone wrong? Weird way to spend her time? A new hobby the kids were into? Even alive she had never kept up with trends.

"Hell no."

Delila realized that may be a little harsh, especially since she knew nothing of this Liin Terallo .

"A war buddy of mine taught me this trick after he died. Wanted to see if it would work on us normal folk. Didn't have much to lose so I tried it. The after instructions have been a little fuzzy hence not being able to control my apparition fully. I'll get there."

 

[Liin Terallo]

I could not help it. My jaw just dropped open as she surmised that what I was doing was something sexual in nature. Oh how absurd and completely the opposite of my dignity! Perhaps most people are loose and laid back with those sorts of things, but I am not. No gentleman has ever had an interest in me. I work too much. And these days I am doing so alone. It is safer that way. But I cannot expect a stranger ghost or hallucination to understand that.

At least she was not a Force Wizard. Yet somehow she learned how to become one of their ghosts without having their powers. That is a very strange development. Of course she mught of been a Force Wizard to some extent without knowing it. That is a possibility as well.

"I am conducting an experiment. And I figure that the safest and easiest way to do it is while unconscious. But how or why you are here is rather....curious. Either the Force is trying to stop me or is using you to study me. I am not quite sure of which I am more comfortable with."

I suppose that answer would be neither. But I will not say it out loud. Instead I switch the topic. I hold up my hand towards her a little. "I am curious to know; are you able to touch my hand at all?"

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Experiment? What kind of experiment? I give you props for using yourself..."

Now it was her turn to laugh. Not at Liin Terallo and her experiments, no. Laugh at the reasons Liin listed for her being here. Typical Jedi, always trying to bring the Force in as some mystical presence to stop them. Delila found this with most cult religions but the Jedi were especially clingy to blaming or praising the Force for every single thing. Idly she noted perhaps more blame should have been placed on mystical powers when she was alive. Would have been better than taking the blame.

"I am not the studious type. Nor do I have any intention of stopping you."

Eyebrow raised at the mention of touching hands.

"My dear, normally I require dinner first. Seeing I can no longer indulge in a good nerf steak..."

Ghostly hand reached out to clasp the others.

 

[Liin Terallo]

First she asks wuestions and then she laughs. Such a carefree spirit that I do not believe that I have ever possesed. Although perhaps I had when I was very little. That is until I was nearly a teenager. But those days feel like another lifetime ago; and in a place that is now only a dream for me.

Her little quip was amusing, yet I maintained a serious composure. Most especially as she reached out to my hand. And once the two got close; they connected. But not quite in the way that it would normally feel while awake. Instead of feeling solid, it felt like very dense water, similar to a thick kid of mud. And the more that I focused on it; the thicker it became. I could smell the level of static in the air increasing. The hairs along my neck and arms began to rise. I could even hear the static in my ears.

Around us the laboratory lights flickered. But it is not as though they were turning on or off. No - they were flickering in and out of existence. Such a phenomenon continued outward, spiraling and moving along the walls, floor and ceiling. Bits and pieces of them flickered in and out of existence as well; revealing a dense forest seemingly devoid of civilization.

"Are you seeing this too?"

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila didn't know what touching someone was supposed to feel like. Again, everything was brand new. She was still trying to get a feel for her newfound "life" in general. Still trying to figure out who could see her and who couldn't. That seemed like it would be an ongoing issue. Maybe she could find an unlock to that.

Removing her hand back from Liin Terallo , an eyebrow raised.

"You mean the forest? Yes. Looks like somewhere I've fought and done battle but frankly....if you've seen one forest you've seen most of them. Unless it is somewhere important to you? Perhaps I can use my skills in death to transport us both places. Couldn't tell you where but it certainly was not your laboratory."

Delila stretched out her hand again.

"You want to go?"

 

[Liin Terallo]

At least I am not the only one to see the trees, to see the walls and lights blinking in and out of existence. Just what it is that this interface program was up to, I do not know. But bringing forth someone that was apparently dead was unexpected. Or perhaps she is part of the programming too?

I had intended it to be a safe place to learn what my newfound abilities are and how to use them. But this seems to be something else. Or it could be one and the same.

I return my focus to the ghost-like being in front of me. She holds out her hand to me and I accept it. "I just hope that it is not the forests of New Cov. Those are very, very dangerous." They may look pretty, but the plants of New Cov held many of the flesh-eating variety. The population was safely kept in domes for a reason.

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

It was the forests if New Cov.

Delila didn't know that at the time of 'landing' so to speak. She was just thrilled to actually go somewhere that wasn't a mistake. Public toilets. Locker rooms. Dumpsters. Really horrible string of luck to where she was dead certain the other ghosts were making fun of her. Dells was positive there was some cool ghost club and she wasn't in it.

"Look! We got somewhere. This is awesome. Can't tell you why we are 'here'. Spiritually speaking of course. My body is busy doing crimes and yours is in that lab. Does this place look familiar to you? Looks like any other forest to me....I used to like to camp when I was alive. Maybe its a memory from that. Not sure why but again....still calibrating this ghost thing."


Liin Terallo

 

[Liin Terallo]

"What do you mean; your body is busy doing crimes? Is it not buried or in a tomb somewhere?" That comment had thrown me off guard. Yes, my own body was in my laboratory connected to wires and machines. But I thought that hers was dead. Perhaps it is some glitch in the programming of this altered state. I cannot tell for certain.

My focus them shifts to the forest that we have been brought to. I watch the foliage carefully for signs of aggression and then slowly crouch down to make myself smaller. Time bends here as evident by the sun quickly setting, shifting the daytime sky to night.

I find myself whispering to her. "Stay low, slow and quiet. If it is New Cov, which I suspect that it is; the worst dangers come out at night."

Tag: Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"I didn't intend to die - I guess no one really does. The person literally forced out my....soul? Life essence? and split hers to go into my body. Joke is on that heifer because my knees were basically shot from years of soldiering. Then she isn't wearing sunscreen....do you have any clue what happens to the body when its that pale? Yes I freckle but she's going to make me look like a leathered old hag in six month's time..."

Delila was clearly more upset about her body turning weather-worn than being dead. She still couldn't believe the nerve of the woman to not have the common decency to just take care of her new vessel. Guess she could always get a new one but that was besides the point. Plus that was wasteful in her eyes.

Ghostly eyebrow raised as Liin Terallo crouched and whispered.

"I'm dead. What are they going to do to me?" Head turned slightly to the side as she thought. "As a matter of fact, you're just a spiritual entity right now too. Anything in this....simulation?Memory? isn't going to eat you. Now if your body gets destroyed back at the lab...eh...yeah then you'll be in a heap of trouble."