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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 10:45:29 GMT -5
"Oh yeah. That old fossil," Lydia mused between bites of her salad. Perhaps in an effort to change the subject to something significantly less depressing, she decided to ask, "Say, what exactly was the Phoenix Project anyway? I know about all the speculation and conspiracies online, but given my dad's hard-on for secrecy, even from me, I figured the real story would be something a lot juicier."
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 10:50:26 GMT -5
Jack sharply inhaled through his teeth, looking nervous and apologetic. How to approach this delicately. "I... don't... think I'm... allowed to really talk about it. I mean yeah, the project's defunct, but it's still a highly classified subject matter."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 10:55:45 GMT -5
"Aw, come on, Jack," Lydia insisted with a coy grin. "What's it gonna matter if the project's been shut down? 'Sides, do you honestly think I'm gonna go spreading this information around? I'd be in just as much trouble if any precious Mexus secrets got out."
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 11:20:17 GMT -5
"Y-Yeah, I guess that's true..." Jack mumbled, casting a quick glance over both his and Lydia's shoulders for good measure. "Yeah, okay, what the heck. It was pretty cool, honestly. It'd be nice to share it with someone."
Once he was certain that no one was listening in, Jack leaned closer to Lydia and murmured with an eager smile, "So the Phoenix Project was... kind of a precursor to the Proteus Project, given its extensive use of nanomachines. These ones were designed to channel astral energy. You know what astral energy is, right? The ethereal stuff that spirits are made of? See, the idea was to use these astral-sensitive nanomachines to create a perfect symbiosis between the body and spirit. That way if the body is grievously injured, the spirit can remain attached to it while the body draws in energy from the astral plane, converts it into physical matter, and near instantly heals the wounds."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 11:28:08 GMT -5
"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute." Lydia was clearly taken aback. She seemed to follow Jack's explanation well enough, but something else had well and truly boggled her mind. "You're telling me that my dad... my dad, the man who looks at superheroes like they're a plague on humanity, was working on a way to create immortality??"
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 11:41:20 GMT -5
"Yeah, I was kinda shocked he went along with it too!" Jack laughed. "It wasn't really Dr. Pendleton's idea, per se. Dr. Perry's actually the one who came up with the project and the designs and what have you. But for sure, Dr. Pendleton agreeing to run it was sort of a departure from his usual line of work, especially after Dr. Perry... um..." He sadly pursed his lips and drummed his fingers on the table. "Well... I'm... sure you know all about that."
Then he perked back up and continued, "I-I really liked working on it, though! The idea of creating a phoenix who could endure all the dangers the island had to offer and act as a beacon of light to the weak and defenseless... it was just inspiring, y'know? I was kinda sad when he pulled the plug on it."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 11:57:27 GMT -5
"Definitely a departure from his usual thing," Lydia choked up somewhat uneasily. Despite this, she managed to shoot Jack an amused smile. "It is a pretty interesting idea, though. Guess it's too bad nothing came of it, huh?"
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 12:21:37 GMT -5
"Mm-hmm..." Jack nodded, his grin lopsided with both disappointment and acceptance. "But maybe it was for the best. That's a pretty intense power for any one man to have. Can you imagine what would've happened if some power-hungry psycho had gotten their hands on the project like they did with... the... micro...?"
Oh God, that's right... The microchip. He'd almost forgotten about the microchip. Someone had broken into Mexus and stolen it. They were after the pod too, but...
Jack looked around at the Plaza, quickly growing anxious and confused. What was he doing here? What was going on? Looking back, he couldn't remember ever leaving the lab for lunch, at least not today. What's more, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something much more important. Something that rattled him to his core and sent a shiver down his spine. This whole situation suddenly felt wrong, like he wasn't supposed to be here. Or rather... like he was supposed to be here... like he had already been here... like he already was here... but this wasn't what he was supposed to be doing.
"Um... Lydia?" Desperately hoping he didn't sound dumb, Jack turned back to Lydia and asked, "Have we... had this conversation before?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 12:28:51 GMT -5
To that, Lydia let out a long, exasperated sigh of relief, casting a smirk at the white hot sky. "Well, it took ya long enough to figure it out, Jackaboy."
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 12:56:04 GMT -5
The air caught in Jack's lungs for a moment after that nonchalant confirmation. He dropped his head into his hands, trying desperately to make sense of the overwhelming mixture of déjà vu and displacement he was suddenly feeling. The longer he dwelled on it, the more he remembered having been here before, and in turn, the more inaccurate this exact moment felt.
"No... This... This isn't how the conversation was supposed to go," he rambled as the memories started flowing again. "You've never pressed me for details on the Phoenix Project. I said I couldn't tell you and... and you just dropped it! I-I've never told another soul about the project! I wasn't supposed to! I...!"
This... This wasn't actually happening, was it? Was he just remembering something wrong? Was he in the middle of something else? Why was he here? Was he...?
With shaking hands, Jack picked up the book he had been reading and stared blankly at the cover. The Golden Compass. This was his first time reading it and he was only halfway through... and yet he swore he could remember every detail of the third act. The heartbreaking cliffhanger ending. All the journeys and battles that unraveled in the two subsequent books.
"...Lydia?" Jack slowly, nervously looked up at the woman sitting across from him. "Am... Am I dreaming?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 12:59:55 GMT -5
"No." All of a sudden, Lydia's expression and tone turned serious and dire, with just the slightest trace of sadness. "Jack, you're dead."
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 16:31:26 GMT -5
"..........................."
The book slipped out of Jack's hand and plopped onto the table.
"D... D...?"
Jack looked down at himself. He was suddenly wearing his lab coat over his sandy yellow sweater vest; he knew for a fact he wasn't wearing it before, and yet he also knew that he was. He reached a hand around and felt his back. The coat was damp and sticky and his back was tender to the touch, and when he lifted his hand up again, he found his fingers soaked with blood.
"Oh God..." Eyes wide, jaw slacked, Jack's mortified gaze flicked between Lydia and his own bloodied hand. Everything was finally starting to click again, and now that it was, the same sense of unbridled panic that he felt before was starting to sink back in. "The break-in... at the lab... I-I escaped with you and the pod before they could get to you... a-and then the man in the suit, he..."
He went rigid for a short while, then he practically jumped out of his seat and began a frantic pace, clutching his head with the hand not covered in his own vital bodily fluids. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my GOOOOOD I ACTUALLY DID THAT...! I outran thieves and saboteurs and a gunman and... and I got shot in the back and I... I...! Oh my God, I injected you into a random stranger."
Jack scrambled back over to Lydia, leaning over the table to anxiously stare her in the face. "Oh God, Lydia, are you okay?! How- How long have I been dead?! What happened to you?!"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 16:45:27 GMT -5
"Whoa, Jack, take it easy," Lydia chuckled uncomfortably, raising her hands and motioning for him to turn it down a notch. "I'm just a projection created by your own subconscious as a means to cope with this new mental environment. I don't actually know what's going on with the real Lydia. Honestly, man, you're the one who just died in some dirty back alley and you're more worried about my safety?"
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ThePopcornFairy
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Jan 8, 2019 17:13:07 GMT -5
"Well... yeah! Of course I am!" Jack straightened up, offering Lydia –or rather this mental projection of Lydia– an anxious frown. Yes, he was absolutely horrified by the sudden revelation of his death, but he couldn't help but be more concerned about what he had left behind. The lab was in ruin, bad guys were after the pod, and by his own volition, Lydia was trapped inside the body of a stranger. Not to mention the fact that she was likely going to flip out the moment she realized what happened to him.
Something deep down inside Jack felt like he probably shouldn't worry about any of this. He was dead. All the burdens of the world of the living were behind him. He may as well cast aside his old life and move on to a peaceful rest.
But... he didn't want to. Even if it was now out of his jurisdiction, he still felt like he should do something about this mess. He still felt responsible for Lydia's current situation. He wasn't sure what, if anything, he could do about it, but it felt wrong not to nonetheless.
"This... This place..." Jack murmured to the Lydia projection, pacing in a slow circle as he took in his surroundings, still trying to make total sense of his present state. "This is my memory, right? You're just a figment of my imagination. So... where am I, exactly? Is this some sort of afterlife?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jan 8, 2019 17:19:50 GMT -5
"Well, yes and no..." Lydia answered, standing up to offer Jack a warm pat on the arm. "Think of this place as... a sort of limbo. A little in-between section between the worlds of the living and dead. I called you here to refresh your memory. Now that I've done that, you can go back if you want to."
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