"In 1934, Enrico Fermi became the first human to conclusively induce man-made nuclear fission, though it took him several years to understand precisely what he and his team had done. This date is important in the realm of Specials oversight and administration; it represents our Year Zero. After decades of exhaustive and painstaking research, we've yet to find any evidence of Specials existing at all before that time. There has been much speculation as to whether the act of splitting the atom lowered some sort of 'quantum threshold', thus allowing for Specials to arise; given what we do know of how their abilities operate, there may be no small grain of truth in this hypothesis.
To recap from the initial oral briefing, Specials are human beings born with the potential to Emerge. Complicated changes rapidly manifest within their brains, usually sometime between the age of 15 to 22. Though we still barely grasp the mechanics of it, the metamorphosis brought on by an Emergence allow Specials to affect the fabric of reality through the direct mental manipulation of quantum phenomena. These effects can be as obvious as pyro, cryo and telekinesis, enhanced strength, endurance and reflexes, or the creation of solid light constructs. Other abilities are more subtle: from the common mind control to the more exotic influence over probability and chance, or even, as in my case, broad, across the board boosts to cognitive function: intelligence, creativity, intuition, etc.
Complex sentience appears to be a requirement for Special ability; curiously, there are a small handful of reports that suggest similar abilities have arisen not only in elephants, but several types of cetaceans as well.
Currently, there is no known method of detecting a potential Special. After Emergence, only intense sub-atomic scans or specialized tMRI tests can spot the difference between a Special and a Mundane. Though not always a requirement, a moderate majority of Specials report that their Emergence came about during a moment of intense personal stress or tragedy.
Specials are broken down into three sub-categories. Those with obvious powers that directly affect the outside world and require a certain amount of concentration are known as Actives. Those, such as myself, with powers that are 'always on' and often only affect the individual themselves, are known as Passives. The third and rarest classification are Nulls. This group occasionally possesses minor secondary abilities, but by and large, they are able to effectively cancel out the powers of almost all Actives, and many, but not all Passives. What few Nulls are known to exist come in a widely differing spectrum of strength and range, and I'm rather proud to note that our own Agent Wright is one of, if not the most powerful Null on Earth.
Research indicates that Specials do not exist in the population at concentrations greater than one per five million humans. While this creates a potential worldwide pool of roughly 1400, we have reason to believe the actual numbers are quite a bit lower. Not all Specials survive their Emergence with their sanity or even their lives intact. Sometimes, the results can be quite dramatic, even permanently affecting our planet at large. (Please see attached subsection Appendix B: Incidents 1 through 33.)
In 1968, the United States government formed the Specials Oversight and Administration Project as an independent task force, and for many decades, it was primarily dedicated to research and development. However, in the wake of 9/11, SOAP was given far broader powers and goals, and largely reorganized into a "black branch" of Homeland Security known as the Damocles Initiative. In short, our mission today is to detect, recruit, train and utilize the abilities of Specials in the service of protecting the interests of the United States and its allies.
When a Special first Emerges, there are certain unique sub-atomic interactions that can be detected at a distance with sophisticated sensor equipment. There appears to be a certain 'strength' to Emergence, which often but curiously does not always directly correlate with eventual 'power'. Agent Tim Snord, for instance, almost completely failed to be detected by the PAN-Opticon, despite his ability to bench press 5 tons and comfortably go for a month without food or water. The window of opportunity to track Specials from orbit, or through the use of customized triangulation vehicles, decays rapidly over time, usually lasting no less than one week, and never more than three. Once the so-called 'flare window' is past, it becomes far more difficult to detect a Special at long range. It's as if the Emergence of a Special temporarily disrupts reality itself, but as it copes to adapt with the change in situation, a new normal arises, and things settle out.
While Specials can be extremely useful, or even dangerous, their potential to affect the world at large is limited by the rarity of their numbers, and the fact that none have Emerged with truly world-shaking, godlike power. Furthermore, every government in the world with their own Specials team has managed to acquire at least one Null, and so the balance of power has been largely maintained.
Still, what keeps most of the DI awake at night is the thought that this status quo could be disrupted at any moment. At present, I see no reason thus far why a so-called 'quantum leap', where we suddenly see the Emergence of much more powerful Specials, is out of the realm of possibility. In a very real sense, we may be witnessing the beginning of a new phase of human evolution at work.
Good luck, Director. And welcome again to the DI."
Except from Specials: An Overview.
Prepared October 2007, by Senior Field Team Leader Camilla Davies.
Paul Martinet was a thin, almost wiry male in his early to mid fifties. A successful tenure at Homeland Security had, as of six months ago, secured him his current position as Director of the central branch for the SOAP. Though HE certainly judged himself capable on his own merits, he'd also found Camilla Davies' insight and expertise invaluable in coming up to speed. He'd made noises and put out feelers about pushing her up to Deputy Director, but she demured so far. He knew the type though; she was effectively the head of field operations as well as overseeing a large chunk of research and development - owing largely to the fact that she required almost no sleep - and he could hardly begrudge her the desire to keep from being stuck behind a desk for the rest of her career.
Sitting back, he started, "I'm still getting used to the big chair here, Camilla. Walk me through what we're looking at here. Why is this Emergence so special? And what IS a PO-BS-009?"
Davies slowly recrossed her legs and tapped at her data pad for a few seconds. With measured grace, she took a breath, before diving straight in with with her explanation. "Fifteen years ago, I transferred to the SOAP from Task Force Excalibur in order to head up research and development here. One of our first projects was the design, development, and deployment of what is now our most current iteration of the Planetary Awareness Network. As part of the process, I came up with a list of what I call 'black swan events'; moments in history that are both unprecedented and unexpected, but with the benefit of hindsight, cause experts and even lay people to ultimately declare 'it was bound to happen.' The term itself originates from the discovery of black swans in Australia in the 17th Century. Before that time, scientists had declared with certainty that all swans MUST be white. When new and unexpected evidence to the contrary was suddenly discovered, zoologists threw up their hands and admitted, "Oh! Of COURSE there are black swans. We should have known it all along."
"Ah. I'm only just aware of the term...it's a rather new development, isn't it?"
"From a public perspective, the theory of how to detect them is quite a recent development. I've allowed others to pick up and run with some of my initial work, and apply it to statistical modeling. MY black swans, however, are theoretical Specials with abilities that could completely shift the balance of power, reshape the course of human development. Or even change our understanding of reality itself. In many ways, we've been fortunate so far. We've yet to see the Emergence of any singularly superior individuals; no Supermen, no Wonder Women. But I always assumed that sooner or later, it was 'bound to happen'. The black swan list was an exhaustive catalogue of what I felt would be the most dangerous, most unexpected, and world disrupting powers: things such as massive strength and invulnerability, long-distance teleportation, significant control of any of the four Fundamental Interaction forces, the creation of massive amounts of free energy, and last, but certainly not least: temporal manipulation."
Martinet steepled his fingers together, tapping them against each other for a few seconds, as he composed his thoughts. "I'm going to assume that by saving the best for for last...that's what we're talking about? That whoever has Emerged has the ability to what? Travel through time? See the future? Change the past?"
"Yes. Maybe. One, or possibly all of those things. Understand, I didn't exactly know what specific signs to look for when I was inventing the sensor technology and coding the algorithms. I ran millions of simulations, crunched every scrap of available data we had on hand at the time, and continued to update those algorithms as new information became available over the past fifteen years. We don't know for certain that we've discovered a time controller, but whatever we DID stumble across thirty six hours ago, it appears disturbingly close to what I THEORIZED it would look like."
Martinet gripped at his chest for a moment, could feel the heartburn burbling up from his stomach. He'd only been briefed on the existence of Specials shortly before being offered the position. Six months seemed hardly enough time for him to completely grasp the full ramifications of their existence.
"Christ. We picked a hell of a time to change administrations." He chuckled, somewhat derisively, at himself. Truth be told, when he first took the job, DI had impressed him as something of a milk run: a good capstone to a career with no more than ten years or fifteen years left. A nice way to take the victory lap, given how quiet and predictable the situation with Specials had been for at least the past two decades.
"With all due respect, sir, I think a fresh pair of eyes may be helpful. Because in a very real way, the game is about to change. We've enjoyed a certain level of superiority, and the rarity of Specials has helped minimize their disruptive influence on society. Whoever manages to find him, or her...well. We're potentially talking the Manhattan Project, the Trinity test, Fat Man, Little Boy. All that rolled up into one."
"Damn. You don't pull your punches, do you Davies?"
"I...could be wrong, sir. Once we catch up with them, we may discover it was but sound and fury, with the appearance of much, but actually meaning little."
He tilted his head, and sighed heavily. "Have you ever BEEN wrong?"
She gazed upward at the ceiling, twitched her lips, then answered, "Oh my, yes. Once. When I computed my yearly prediction for the Superbowl back in 1997, I missed the point spread by two! I mean, I still won the office pool that year, of course, but...my God. I had such egg on my face!"
Martinet was torn between laughter and anger at the situation he now found himself in. Switching gears, he asked, "I know intel's probably sketchy right now. Do you have anything at all? Who else might know? And WHAT they would know?"
Once again tapping away at her datapad, Davies answered, "I have enough data at present that I can combine with what I DO know of our various rivals and their abilities, and make a projection with a 91.18357 percent rate of accuracy, plus or minus half a point variation."
He smirked, "Only 91.18357?"
She grinned back. "Bear with me, sir, it's the best I could do on such short notice. Right then: The Russians and the Koreans probably have no clue, although they'll eventually figure something's up. It's just a matter of time. The Chinese MUST know something is going on, because I've already detected a strong uptick from their cyberwarfare divisions making attacks on our server farms. Bless their hearts, they almost got through the first firewall. They have their own detection methods of course, but I suspect they can only track things as far as the entire West Coast. Fortunately, they've yet to figure out how to cut through the background noise left by Incident 23. At least as far as we've been able to tell."
"Europe?"
"I've done my best to keep their questions at bay. Blighty especially is ever-so-curious, with any number of old Excalibur contacts trying to cozy up to me, and the French and Germans are blowing up DHS's email accounts at present. But as far as they and the rest of the EU knows, this is simply an Emergence with a particularly loud 'ping'."
Bringing his steepled fingers up to the tip of his nose, he blew out one word. "Japan?"
Closing her eyes, and giving a shrug, Davies remarked, "I'm just glad they appear to be on our side, sir. Rising Sun is easily the best funded, and most capable Specials group after our own. Shimeko Tetsumaru - she's sort of my counterpart over at RS - JUST left me an intriguingly pointed message as I was on my way to your office. If anyone's figured this out, it's them. But given our two groups past history, I think if we come clean with them sooner than later, and promise to share our research data, they'll back off. They might even help keep the rest of Asia off the scent, if we catch them in a good mood, and impress upon them how important this is. Also, if we really ARE talking about trying to understand the effects that a time controlling Special might have, they possess some unique expertise we might benefit from."
Martinet laid his palms flat on the top of his desk, and slowly, almost wearily, lifted himself up to his feet. Pushing back from his chair, he walked over to the glass window and looked out across the skyline of Seattle. It was a holographic projection, done to give the illusion of being above-ground, when in reality, Zion itself was a considerable distance beneath the city streets. Furrowing his brow and then drumming his fingers against the glass, it was a good minute before he finally spoke again.
"Clearly, we can't mess around with this one. I want you back with your team in the field as soon as this meeting is over; find our target ASAP." He paused, pulling off his wire-framed glasses, removing a lint cloth, and took the time to wipe the lenses. As he replaced the glasses on his face, he added, "Furthermore, I'm retroactively classifying this as an Omega-Black Emergence."
Davies paused, clearly not anticipating this. "That...seems a bit extreme, Director? With all due respect, Omega-Black has only been used to categorize Emergences that ultimately spiraled into Incidents; literally, the only reason that label exists is to give us a catastrophic top level on the grading curve"
He nodded once, "It also gives us extraordinary legal powers as to how we handle this situation."
Narrowing her eyes, Davies said, "The Wayden Amendment. Ah yes, one of any number of goodies sitting in a black file, waiting for an event like 9/11 to come along so that it could take advantage of the chaos and panic, and glom onto the PATRIOT Act's passing."
Marinet gave a soft, singular laugh, "Robertson warned me on the way out that you were going to be a pain in the ass."
Smiling almost painfully, she replied, "I prefer to think of myself as the conscience of the Initiative, sir."
"Well, you're still here after fifteen years, so you've managed to figure out how far you can push it. Robertson said that, as well. Regardless, while I appreciate your concerns, if this is as unprecedented and historic an event as you've presented it, then we could be looking at a national, possibly even a global threat. I'm not taking any chances."
"Not while you're still this green". Davies thought to herself.
"I...appreciate your abundance of caution, sir. But Theta-Red might make much more sense at the moment. Certainly no higher than Omega-Green; it would be a less...well...alarmist way to classify the situation. Omega-Black..." she drifted off for a moment, waving her hand in the air, as if to pluck the next set of thoughts out of the air. "If we were looking at something with Incident potential, we'd clearly know by now."
"How so?"
"Well, for starters, there isn't a giant smoking crater in the ground somewhere in Western Oregon."
"Yes, well, you say this is time manipulation. How do we know the past hasn't been altered in some catastrophic way already?"
"That would be difficult to detect, to be certain. Once we secure the Emergent, I might be able to discern how to create some sort of - I don't know - temporal interferometer, for lack of a better term. Still, I must stress, Director, this COULD just be a mouse that roared. For all we know, whoever we're looking for might be able to see but a minute into a future. Or they could only peer back in time. Or they could not so much sense the future, but every potential future, making it difficult for them to discern which one comes to pass. All of these things could be useful, even dangerous in the wrong hands, but hardly Omega-Black material. What I'm saying, is that the subject could turn out to be a Passive, not an Active. But getting back to the original point, thirty six hours in, there would be NO debate about whether we've already witnessed an Incident or not. It'd be too damn big to ignore"
She stopped short, the color draining momentarily out of her face, "Oh! Oh...bloody...hell!"
Martinet blinked, turned quickly back to regard Davies.
"No offense, Camilla, but your reaction suddenly fills me with a boatload of dread."
"My apologies, but it should have occurred to me sooner! We may not be seeing obvious signs of an Incident, but that doesn't mean that this Emergence isn't playing havoc with the local reality while the flare window's passing. To an extent where other people will notice as well. Give me just a minute, please."
Her fingers began to fly over the tablet with almost lightning speed, face falling into an almost unreadable mask of concentration. Martinet returned to his chair and waited.
"Damn. I've been so wrapped up in coordinating with Nicole and preparing reports, that I've completely neglected to check anything my personal software agents might have found scouring the news feeds. And...yes. There. We. Go."
Martinet leaned forward, anxiety written on his face. "Well? What did you find?"
"Yesterday evening, there was a freak snow flurry. Early October, not entirely out of the realm of possibility, but damned unlikely. That alone wasn't enough to get on my radar, but this..."
She handed her data pad to the Director, who quickly scanned the display.
"UPDATED FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO: MULTIPLE WHALE BEACHINGS REPORTED IN LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON. FULL DETAILS TO FOLLOW..."
"Beached whales, while rare, aren't unknown on that part of the coast either."
"Yes. But in the exact same town?"
Understanding lit up in his eyes. "I see. Is this just the beginning? What sort of danger are they in?" He double checked the screen. "This...Arcadia Bay."
"Hard to say, sir. I won't know more until I can get there, and take more precise readings. Let me stress though that the fact there still IS an Arcadia Bay is a highly encouraging sign. That said, I'd put the National Guard on quiet standby. In case we need to prepare for an evacuation. The good news is that whatever 'fallout' is occurring, it WILL eventually stop happening. Especially if we can secure and move the Emergent away from their current location. Or at least...it has in past cases. That'll lower the localized...well...I refer to it as the Chaos Field Index.
"I suppose that's some comfort then. How quickly can you get out there?"
She cleared her throat, chasing away the look of uncertainty from her features, and continued, "Agent Wright and her team are out in the field. Douglas County. They've not had any additional hits so far, which is rather unusual, but if this Arcadia Bay is the place, then I imagine we should have this situation wrapped up well before the flare window passes. By the time they've driven the distance, I'll be on the ground to meet them there, if I leave within the hour."
He nodded once. "Do it. Keep me informed. I want reports every six hours. Two, once you start making solid headway."
Davies rose from her seat, turned on one heel, and made her way out of the office.
"Oh, and Davies?" Martinet called out.
She hovered at the door. "Yes, sir?"
His face softened. "I'm not Robertson. I hope you'll find that out on your own in time."
Giving a pleasantly neutral smile, she nodded. "As you say, sir."
Striding through the door and down the hall, she mused to herself.
"Whether that's a good or a bad thing is what worries me."
A/N: So I actually rode solo on this chapter. It occurred to me that if I really wanted to try and get a quick pace going on the first four or five chapters, I was going to need to occasionally take over some of the editing duty myself so as not to overload poor Cory (who actually has like...a life and things!), and hope that I didn't botch it up too badly. This was an easy one; I'm a pretty big fan of world building. The next chapter will be several days to at least a week off, and after that, I might try once again to edit a chapter on my own.
Have a good evening!
8-19-15: Fixed a typo where a line that Davies was speaking was attributed to Wright. Who isn't in this chapter at all. Thanks to NuqueerWarhead for catching that!