This is a two thread, two team suggestion game about a quasi scientific superpower. This is one of the two main threads. Intentionally vague, brief descriptions of each team are below.
(unless you don’t wish to participate, of course).
: You control a young person who has until recently led a perfectly normal, boring life, but is beginning to realize he/she has an extraordinarily powerful, unexpected, and dangerous ability.
: You control one or more different larger groups of people who do not have any special “abilities” but who are likely to be very interested in the actions and situations of the main character from the other thread.
The setting begins in America in the near future. That is, with current culture and technology, but not necessarily any specific current events.
Again, do not click this unless you want to play in this thread (the group of other characters)
You are in control of a covert U.S. government program tasked with locating and securing hypothetical individuals who can consciously manipulate quantum wave functions.
Decades ago, a group of DARPA scientists (who now work in your lab) postulated that certain types of humans may possess the capacity to sense and meaningfully interpret different possible quantum outcomes in any given situation, and then consciously influence how and when the wave functions collapse into a particular eigenstate (in other words, which possible outcome from amongst the possible branches becomes their established reality).
Actually, ANY human is capable of this according to the scientists, but the vast majority of people would only be able to theoretically “hold open” a wave function for a period of time on the order of microseconds, and with highly random, widely spaced intervals. Not being long enough to become consciously aware of the situation or to make any conscious choices, these people would have no real control over the wave function at all, and might as well effectively have no abilities.
Like with most abilities, though, the entire population represents a bell curve. Some individuals can “hold open” the set of all possible outcomes longer than others... Your scientists estimate that about 1 in 5,000 might have the potential to suspend wave function collapse for long enough to make meaningful choices. On the order of half a second. Rarer individuals could suspend for even longer. Those people could then push the world in certain directions at key moments that would be advantageous to them (or to their country...). Stronger natural abilities would also theoretically come with an ability to recover and re-use one’s ability more quickly.
The scientists were unable to PROVE their theory without at least one live subject with measurable ability. And unfortunately, even though half a second of wave function suspension might theoretically be useful for U.S. strategic purposes, it is still so subtle that a person with that amount of ability might live their entire life without realizing they were unique in any way. This would make them impossible to detect or to utilize.
A solution was found to this problem: DARPA developed a chemical catalyst designed to uninhibit relevant parts of the central nervous system and trigger spontaneous micro-seizures that would activate any quantum abilities involuntarily from time to time. The idea being that people with sufficient powers would connect the dots, realize, and learn to control their abilities, then proceed to give themselves away by triggering a series of noticeable, highly unlikely events around them. A monitoring team could then swoop in, secure, and train these people before they realized the full extent of the situation.
The catalyst is not exactly... FDA approved... and unfortunately, it can only be effective if administered prenatally, so volunteers were impossible. Nor do your scientists have any idea how long it would take for powers to manifest and mature in an individual. There was no reason to believe the chemical to be outright deadly (or detectable), however, and the program had such dramatic potential to advance national strategic interests that the president authorized the introduction of the catalyst to a randomly selected population of 100,000 pregnant women across the country. Your program was put together to track and observe their children, watching for any and all signs and symptoms of quantum wave function manipulation over the years.
You have recently detected a handful of possible leads. But they trace only a slow and gradual story. The catalyst should only trigger events on a timeframe of once every month or so. Sometimes, this might be during sleep or during a meaninglessly dull part of a subject’s life, so noteworthy events are potentially few and far between. Still, you have collected enough evidence that the Secretary of Defense is convinced a positive detection (or several) may be fairly likely. He has just decided to allocate you more resources, and you have been given the opportunity to request what form they should take. You are not to move on any subjects until further notice.
First, some background on your current state of affairs and possible events you have detected, and then your options for resources.
ON YOUR TEAM ALREADY
- A few dedicated bureaucrats and managers of the project (that’s you).
-10 scientists responsible for the original and/or further development of the core quantum theory and for advising the team on its particulars
-40 analysts and programmers who have been monitoring your subjects remotely.
-10 field agents, similar to FBI agents, trained to investigate, run surveillance, and work undercover.
For the most promising subjects (see below), you have been given clearance to install surveillance equipment in homes and workplaces, and you have 2 field agents in place near each for equipment maintenance, moving (vehicle, walking, etc.) surveillance, local discrete investigations and any other tasks needed.
POSSIBLE QUANTUM EVENTS
Your interest currently centers around three subjects in particular. All subjects are 27 years old (the age of the program):
Martin Hall – Recently married, psychology graduate student living in Medford, MA
-The subject was observed by a large number of witnesses to be sitting studying in outdoor seating of a local coffee shop. Within several seconds, half a dozen squirrels, several birds, and one witness reports “voles” descended upon the subject’s table, and “lined up in order, chattering and squaking at the top of their lungs.” The animals then suddenly stopped this behavior moments later and scattered all at the same time. The incident inspired a human interest article in the community newspaper.
-Three months prior, as your staff discovered from canvasing after the first event, lightning was observed striking the same tree three times in under 10 seconds, less than a block from the subject’s apartment building,
Sarah Bronstead – Single, software designer living in West L.A., CA
-The Subject’s car and the car in front of her spun out of control on the local interstate highway. Both came to a stop without injury. The car in front fled the scene. Your staff located the driver, who reported that he fled the scene out of terror from feeling “possessed” and obligated to turn left into the median. The man has no history of mental illness or abnormal behavior.
-Three weeks later, a man was observed by several witnesses to walk in and out of a local camera store doorway several times over the course of about ten seconds, seemingly “in a daze.” Afterward, he became suddenly enraged and verbally confronted the store owner, convinced something about the store forced him to act against his will. Traffic footage we obtained shows our subject walking on the sidewalk across from the store in question at the exact moment of this event.
Irene Parsons – Single, unemployed petty criminal, currently incarcerated by the Lynn County Sheriff’s department in Cedar Rapids, IA
-Subject was observed shoplifting jewelry from a local department store by an employee. A silent alarm was triggered, and 4 nearby police arrived on the scene quickly. When they attempted to approach for an arrest, security footage shows the subject performing a series of highly complex evasive maneuvers over several seconds, consistent with advanced martial arts training (and significant luck beyond that). Your (admittedly spotty) records of this subject confirm no record of any such training or obvious opportunity for it. Subject was later that night apprehended without any significant resistance.
-After 2 months in lockup in county jail, the subject was discovered outside of her block in an escape attempt. Security footage shows the subject passing into a small blind spot, during routine daily movement. The subject disappears from footage and was later discovered in a lightly secured outer office area several hallways and two locked doors away about a minute later by staff. The subject was recaptured, again without significant resistance.
YOUR BUDGET IS BEING RAISED
Due to promising results, you have the option to name some additional resources that would be most effective in preparing for possible positive identifications.
* You can be assigned more analysts, or engineers
* You can be assigned more FBI-type field agents
* You could be assigned a small team of special forces if desired
etc.
* No matter what, you are also being given access to local law enforcement, national guard, coast guard, etc. men and resources on an as needed basis. On the condition that these people should not have any idea what you're actually after, and you should expose them to minimal risk of witnessing supernatural events.
Don't worry about being super detailed -- just focus on suggesting whatever broad strategies you'd like to equip yourself for for first responding to sudden additional events.
The #1 priority is secure containment after identification! If you can do that quietly and peacefully and without pissing off a subject, so be it. If not, your superiors are confident they can convince even the most hostile subject if it comes to that... as long as they are contained...
Author
Topic: A Fateful Series of Coincidences – OTHER characters thread (Read 530 times)