Prelude #4 - A bit of a problem

43 days, 22 hours, 34 seconds until Penumbra

The neon-blue screen had become almost burned into the retinas of Paul Perry. Incident after incident continued to appear on his screen, and the mountains of data had threatened to bury him alive more than once. Paul could nearly feel himself falling into the dull pattern of sleep, the data displaying records that had dated back to the Second World War, and still nothing. It was beyond infuriating, as Paul tried different avenues to connect the data together...different approaches, attacks, vectors, and lines of thinking to try to make order out of the chaos that the information provided. Four months and still nothing...no answers...no reasons...and worst of all, no real direction. Paul would soon enter a meeting with some of the most important people in the world and repeat what he had told them on eight separate occasions - He had nothing.

Defeated, Paul rose from his desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose while sighing. It wasn't like him to fail...and since his rescue and subsequent rise among the AEGIS SMEs, Paul had gained a reputation as a problem-solver. Now faced with a problem that was full of contradictions, he collected his 'Evil Abed' coffee mug and walked towards the small kitchenette that served the Advanced Data Center for AEGIS's intelligence service.

Paul stood quietly as co-workers and other AEGIS personnel conversed. Paul attempted to relax, attempted to ignore everything that was going on around him...zone out for a few moments in order to return to the mountain of files, images, and folders that awaited back at has desk. The sounds of the vending machine rejecting money playing out amid the other distractions. Paul looked up, and for a moment, seemed oblivious to the world, his eyes focusing on the attractive brunette who was attempting to feed a dollar to the notoriously difficult machine. When she turned to face the collection of AEGIS staff in the break-room, the question was obvious...and Paul for a moment felt his left hand move instinctively towards his wallet.

The bill in her hand made him freeze for a moment. The bill wasn't traditional currency, and Paul began to feel his unconscious mind working on a new problem. Another co-worker managed to solve the dilemma, and then joked that the pretty girl had inadvertently attempted to feed the machine the wrong denomination...just a casual accident. Paul's eyes looked sharply towards the dollar, as he reached out and took it. Looking at the bill, Paul's mind raced with possibility, and then it rendered everything clear...the answer was right in front of him.

Handing the dollar back, Paul ran to his desk, sweeping the piles of documents onto the floor, keeping one folder firmly in his right hand. Paul collapsed into his chair, pulling a pencil free from his desk holder and began to mark up the 70+ year old document. Once the pattern had been established, everything had fallen into place, as it always did for Paul...


43 days, 20 hours, 12 seconds until Penumbra

'Gentlemen and ladies' Paul began casually, standing before the podium and the assembled group, 'For some time we've been looking for answers and drawn to this symbol'

Paul's hand moved across the holographic display, reproducing a symbol that they had all come to know in one form or another over the course of the investigation.

'We know' Paul began, 'Historically what this symbol is. We've come to believe that the symbol is linked to the current world-wide situation, and if the intelligence is true, than we've got to believe that this symbol is key to understanding elements of God Mechanics.'

Collecting himself, Paul looked quickly around the room, realizing that he had the complete attention of some of the most powerful individuals in the world. For a moment, Paul felt out of his depth, but the data could not be denied, not by Paul...not by anyone.

'I think...that we've looked at the problem as to being around the creation and subsequent account of the project's birth. I think that we've been looking at this in a different light. We've tried to connect to the original account...the account that launched dozens of follow-up projects which did not replicate results. How is that possible? How is it we can't find the data or connection that the account was to provide?'



Paul stopped to look around the room, and then cleared his throat. Paul could feel their eyes upon him, and he knew that within a moment, he would fundamentally change the truth many of those present had accepted as fact.

'The account was a lie. A convenient lie which was created to conceal the truth...whatever that truth was. The report was created, carefully crafted at probably the highest levels of the government at that time to conceal whatever created the Star Sentinel. All of our work since then in attempts to recreate the program failed because....because the report that we based the majority of our work on was a lie'

Paul continued to look down at the document in front of him. He could hear the murmurs and discussions drowning out the world again, his eyes stared at the simplicity of his notes, the scribbled hand-writing in the margins, and the circled points he had made.

'Why?'

The man's voice resonated and ended the murmuring. Paul looked up and met the gray eyes of Michael Deckard, who stared with an intensity which made Paul slightly nervous. There was a mutual moment of silence as the two men stared at each other, and as the answer came, Paul felt himself unable or unwilling to break eye contact.

'I think....I believe....that it was orchestrated to cover up something major....something that was serious enough that they had to concoct a story about Precursor medical experimentation as a lesser alibi'

'Well' Deckard said after a moment, 'I suppose then we find out why that was...after you answer a question'

'What question' Paul said, eyes still locked with Deckard.

'Is this your best guess?' Deckard said calmly. the coolness in his voice betrayed nothing of his intentions or thoughts, and Paul found it difficult to read the older man.

'It is the only answer that makes sense. None of the other data supports any other answer...and it would answer the question you asked originally - Why is it the Precursors are so important to God Mechanics? The truth is...they're not....they didn't create the Star Sentinel, even by accident. Something else is at work here'.

Paul felt the data recombine as it always did, attempting to quietly assemble itself inside his mind into new and different avenues of thought that could make the theory fit. When after a moment he could not make the answers work any other way than how he had presented it, Paul felt himself say 'I'm absolutely certain'.

'Then...' Deckard added, 'We see what we can learn about the Star Sentinel, and why he's so damned important to Target: Shadow'

'But where to look' Paul said, 'Where to look?'



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ECLIPSED
Marscon 2014

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