HEROES - PART 5 - SESSION 1

Notes taken by Matthew Johns.


Session 4.10   Index   Session 5.2
Events Since Session 4.1 and Now


SINCE SEPTEMBER 1995

As time passes, Truth distances herself from the Salvation Army in an attempt to minimise the fallout from the work of her evil impersonator while we were all off in space. The impostor herself seems to have disappeared since Truth spent an inordinate amount of time shadowing her every move and generally being a pest.

Truth has been feeling sick and has lost some hair during these bouts of sickness, perhaps as some sort of side effect of being caught in the nuclear blast when Project Safeguard blew up (even though she was desolid at the time). However, by February 1996 she feels better and her hair has grown back.

Truth tries to help out at other charities in London. Unfortunately her time at the Samaritans, on their phone-line, is a disaster despite her best endeavours. Feeling obliged to tell the truth all the time is not an advantage here!

The charities Shelter and Centre Point both reject her help, having apparently been forewarned about her by others in the charity sector. The Camberwell Hostel eventually allows her to help behind the scenes, making sure she avoids direct contact with the homeless and the public.

She keeps in contact with all the other team members during this time, skipping into their lives from time to time without invitation or embarrassment.


Blitz spends his time recuperating from the strenuous events we have been through before rejoining public life in a burst of publicity. He makes his reappearance at the head of an Anti-Nazi League rally before mounting a lively crime-fighting campaign across London.

Public sightings of him initially gather significant press coverage and then quieten down as he carries on in this vein.

After a little while, on one of her visits, Blitz asks Truth to infiltrate the British National Party (BNP) and find out about their racist activities so that he can disrupt their operations more effectively. She agrees to do this entirely illegal thing, and together they seriously disrupt some of the BNPs more dodgy schemes.


Servo's new company, founded along with Dr Brian Clinton, his father-in-law, following the take-over of Colmar Technologies by Amtech while we were in space, is properly set up and begins to make money.

As part of their new product development Servo builds a homing rocket-propelled device that sprays mace into a target's eyes. He also works on a more advanced design that uses iris recognition to target specific individuals and that is reusable. This is less of a rocket and more of a small autonomous aircraft. He also considers the possibility of modifying this, as it already has optics in place, into an eye-in-the-sky version.

He also continues to work on anti-gravity theory, studying John Doe now that he can generate biological anti-gravity. However, he has so far been unsuccessful in understanding how it all works.

Later, he approaches Noesis and asks to study how his telekinesis works. Noesis reluctantly allows himself to be studied too, briefly at least.


Jon Doe carries on investigating his history as a garden shed in Teddington while continuing his new career as a BBC special effect.


Elsewhere in London, Void, with the help of STOP, largely completes his acclimatisation to this universe.

STOP helps Void gain an official identity as Winston Gordon, his civilian identity, and a new profession, that of a trainee school teacher. They also help him get a flat. He completes basic teacher training and learns to hate the London transportation system, which is far inferior to that of London in Monarchy World. He learns to drive, which is actually quite difficult as the controls of vehicles here are very different to those back home.

He is regularly interviewed by STOP and other people from the government and academia about Monarchy World, and investigates claims and theories about alternate universes. He has no success in finding out anything useful in this. For example, as far as he can tell other than himself no-one has successfully claimed to come from another reality.

Having completed his teacher training he joins the staff of a South London sink school, teaching physical education and maths. His presence allows him to cow the kids although his mix of loyalty to the Crown whilst being dismissive of the Royal family and supportive of public demonstrations make a confusing role model for the kids he is teaching.


Meanwhile, Noesis has, along with Professor Napoleon Barker, has been developing a modification to his shell to enable him to film what's going out the back of his bubble and project it on the front with the intention of creating a form of unidirectional invisibility. This seems to work.

He also adjusts to his new 'space-going' shell.

As a hobby he begins to look at proactive genetic engineering, using use retroviruses to genetically modify people and produce superior humans. Eventually he wants to develop a contagious virus that will kill the sperm and eggs of humans that carry genetic disorders. After some work he realises this dream is, at present, a long way off.

He shares the samples of genetic material that he has accumulated from his friends and enemies with Professor Timothy Blank to help with this investigation.

Professor Barker puts in cooling towers around his house outside London, in Berkshire, that make it look rather castle-like and that end up housing bats.


DATE: 1ST FEBRUARY 1996

The weather is cold and rainy. In their respective home, each of the team turns up their heating and goes to bed.


As they sleep a common dream comes to them all. In each dream the individual is standing on a misty plain, in the distance an indistinct shade covered figure is calling to them. "Come... Come..."


Truth follows the figure through the mist for a considerable (although indeterminate) period of time. The figure stays a constant distance ahead of her regardless of her speed.


Void also follows his figure through the mist.


Blitz refuses to comply with the figure. The voice becomes louder as he stays where he is. "Come... Come..."


Noesis attempts telepathic communication with the figure. He latches onto a strong, old, female mind but cannot make out any thoughts.

Looking down he realises that he has a body in this dream (as he sometimes has when he sleeps, though less and less frequently), and decides to take a while to enjoy this.

The dream appears lucid and he can create items that he can enjoy by thinking about it.

As he refuses to pay attention to it, the voice of the figure gets louder and more insistent. "COME... COME... COME..." it insists.

"Hello, this is getting a little tiresome," Noesis comments to it.

"COME... COME..." The voice continues to get louder.

"Oh blast," mutters Noesis. He tries to block his ears, with no success.

"It's only a dream... I'll come. Oh hang on..." he says.

When he looks for clothes to dress himself a smart tailor-made suit shimmers into existence around him.


Servo checks that he's in his armour. Initially he is not, but as he thinks about it, it materialises around him. He then tries to escape the dream landscape and wake up, using the power of his mind, but seems unable to do so.

He tries to run away, but can't get away. The figure remains a constant distance from him.

He tries to get a signal on his radio and fails in this too.


Blitz initially tries to wake up but then calls out to the figure and is argumentative. "Why? What do you want?" he asks.

The voice does not respond. It continues on insistently, and gets louder. He resists the call of the voice, which gets louder and louder.

He eventually stomps after the figure just to get it to shut up. When it retreats he angrily rants at the voice in German.


Void's imagination places him back in his spacesuit - that he wore for his disastrous space-voyage that brought him to our Earth. He drifts after the voice. As he imagines more a vehicle shimmers into existence around him until he is eventually flying along in a space shuttle.


Eventually Servo follows the voice, which is, by now, very loud.

He tries various devices but can't trap the figure (or even catch up to it; it remains a constant distance ahead of him) or silence its voice.


As he follows the shadow figure, Noesis complains about the lack of food and a frying pan of bacon appears in mid-air. Noesis eats it and discovers that it is ideal bacon - the best he's ever had. As he thinks about it he decides he wants more, and at his thought black pudding, mushrooms, fois gras, champagne and single malt whisky all appear. Eventually he ends up accompanied by a floating hostess trolley and attractive young woman who is suddenly naked with a nearby bed.

"COME... COME..." booms the voice.

Noesis decides he wants to retire here...


Blitz draws a gun that he now seems to be wearing - a Luger - and shoots at the figure when its voice gets too loud. This seems to have no effect. He runs at the figure, which flits away before him, and ends up chasing the figure through the grey mist.

He seems to be wearing a grey military uniform now - perhaps a German one from World War Two?


Servo uses the rockets on his armour to shoot through the dreamscape but the figure always stays ahead of him, a constant distance in front.


Having spent some time with his dream woman, Noesis imagines sailing and although there is no sea for his dream-yacht, the wind and spray are just about perfect. He sails along after the calling figure.


Eventually a light becomes visible through the mist ahead and it brightens into a daylight-like state.

Noesis and Truth each sees a dim light. Everyone else sees a brighter light.

The shadowy figure moves into the light...


Blitz stomps angrily into the light.

Truth follows the shadowy figure into the light.

Noesis follows when he realises he cannot sail away from the light but does stop for a brandy and a Cuban cigar before going in.

Void sails into the light, his space shuttle and space-suit fading as he enters the glow.

Servo rockets into the light, his armour also fading around him as he does so.


Objects begin to resolve themselves out of the light. We all feel a wrenching sensation as if of internal adjustment, as if something inside us, something fundamental, was changing shape to fit into something else, and there is a sense of whatever-it-is sliding home somehow.


For Noesis, as the objects resolve out of the light they prove to be furniture, in a room. And Noesis has a body, a real one rather than a dream body this time, that is lying in a double bed, with a plainly carved wooden headboard and a white wall and light coming through the plain curtains.

He gets up to looks in the mirror and finds that he is wearing a long cotton night-gown. There is a mirror on one wall, over a desk by one of the two doors out of the room, so he goes over there.

Looking in the mirror Noesis sees that he now looks similar to his original body, but not exactly the same, as if this body was the brother or cousin of his original self. He tries and fails to levitate.

Slung over the back of the desk's chair are black trousers, a white shirt and a black jacket. A pair of black shoes are on the floor by the chair. The clothes are of a very plain style, but of rich fabric.

Surveying the rest of the room, he sees a black book on one of the side-tables by the double bed. A black Bakelite telephone and wireless are also on the bedside table. An ornate carved wooden cross hangs on the wall above the bed. A large wardrobe stands in one corner, holding more black and white clothing of the same type as the ones slung over the chair. A chest of drawers stands by a window. The bedding is plain white, and the floor is covered with a plain grey fitted carpet, quite plush. A light-bulb in a simple glass shade hangs from the ceiling. The room has the appearance of a high-class but nonetheless plain hotel room.

There are three black and white photographs on desk, of a woman and two children. Looking at his hand, Noesis discovers that he is wearing a wedding ring.

He puts on a set of clothes from the wardrobe - a white shirt and black suit - having a little trouble with the separate collar that he discovers the shirts have. Then he goes and looks out of the window. Everything feels real; this does not seem to be a dream.

Pulling back the curtains, Noesis discovers that he seems to be on the fifth or so floor of a building in a city that he does not recognise. Opposite where he is the other side of the street is lined with tall buildings that appear very plain, but also of quality construction. They block any view of what is beyond.

He opens the window and looks out, finding the air cold, as if it were winter. Down the street it can be seen that the front of one building is being repaired. Further away a clock tower - rather like a very plain Big Ben - is visible off to one side. In the street below some black cars that look like something out of the 1920s or 1930s are driving past. Along with some black machine-gun armed armoured cars and black half tracked vehicles, these last two both flying a black flag with some kind of design on them.

Everyone on the pavements seems to be wearing black.


For Blitz the shapes that swim out of the light resolve into the contents of a tent as he awakens on a single camp bed in a large one man tent, on his own. He sits up quickly and almost throws himself out the bed - everything seems lighter than he is used to. As he does this he discovers that he is wearing a long white cotton night-gown.

From outside he hears sounds that he recognises from past experience as those of a military camp. He heads for the entrance of the tent and looks out. He seems to be in the officer's part of the camp (which would explain why he has quite a large tent to himself). Neat rows of other tents extend off in all directions. A large command tent nearby has a plain black flag with a plain white cross in its centre flying from the main tent-pole. He does not recognise this, or where he is, but everything seems to be of a 1930s type vintage.

The flag flying over the camp

Soldiers are moving about the camp, and guarding the command tent. They are wearing black uniforms under primitive body armour consisting of jointed dull metal breastplates and pot helmets. They carry self-loading rifles of a type Blitz has never seen before.

As he watches a black staff car with a white cross on the driver's door pulls up outside the command tent and the driver quickly gets out and opens the passenger door. An officer type wearing a black uniform of a type Blitz has never seen before, but it has more insignia on its than that of the driver, gets out and goes into the command tent.

As far as Blitz is concerned everyone seems to be moving in slow motion.

He ducks back into the tent and examines his surroundings more closely. In his tent there is a nightstand by the camp bed with a Bakelite telephone and wireless set on it. A chest with mirror, bowl and jug stands to one side with a pair of highly polished black jackboots on the floor beside it. Next to the chest is a desk. A lantern hangs from the ridgepole of the tent, and a plain wooden cross hangs above the bed. A plain grey rug covers the centre of the floor of the tent, beyond which a ground sheet extends to the walls.

On the desk is a framed black and white wedding photograph of a man and woman on the steps of a very plain-looking church. The man looks like Blitz and Blitz looks like the man, as if they were related. He notices that he is wearing a wedding ring.

Blitz opens the chest and finds a wide choice of civilian clothes inside, along with several sets of black officers uniforms (though with fewer insignia than the man he just saw go into the command tent).


Void wakes in another tent very much like Blitz's with the sound of primitive but powerful aircraft engines outside - piston-engined ones, driving propellers. He can also hear people shouting and moving about.

He gets out of bed and prowls around. He is not wearing a wedding ring, so he is probably not married. In the mirror he sees that, as with the others, he looks like someone related to his real self rather than an exact match. On the desk he finds a black leather wallet, in which is a folded-up black and white photograph of two older people, himself, and two younger people. All four of the other people bear a distinct resemblance to one another and to him - parents and siblings, perhaps?

He also finds some money in the wallet. On the head side of the coins is stamped the profile of a noble-looking man marked Lord Protector Matthew Cromwell! The coin is dated 1990. There are also a few one crown notes and a pound note, all drawn on the Bank of Massachusetts. The front of the notes have another picture of the Lord Protector. The back of each note has a picture of a city on a hill with a cathedral in the centre of it. The pound note has different size, picture and design to the one crown notes.

Void also finds an identity card in the wallet. It is slightly dog-eared beige cardboard stamped with an illegible mark of some kind. It has no photograph, and is the identity card of a member of the New Commonwealth Special Forces named William Gordonston (Void's real name is Winston Gordon).

Going to the tent flap, he peeks out. Outside, he seems to be in the midst of a thrown-together-seeming air base, with tents and camouflaged aircraft dotted about.

It becomes clear that the motors are obviously those of aircraft as two spitfire-like planes speed overhead. Each one is camouflaged with a jagged green, grey and brown pattern on top, with an equally jagged sky-blue and grey pattern on the underside. Close to the end of each wing, and on the tail, is a roundel consisting of a black circle with a white cross inside it.

A black flag with a white cross flies over the camp. Soldiers and men in overalls move around purposefully.

Ducking back inside, Void considers all of this. A short time later there is a cough from outside.


Servo wakes in another very similar tent. However, he quickly notices that he can see through the tent walls, and in new colours, almost as if he was seeing with some form of non-normal light, perhaps radar. From outside he can hear lots of noise, and it seems that he is also in an army camp. His bedside photo is of three people who again bear a distinct family resemblance that he takes to be mum, dad and a little sister.

Looking out through the tent walls with his new sight he can see other tents with solid things inside them and flags flying. The engines of vehicles begin to sound outside.

From a wallet in the bedside table, Servo finds that he is Captain Marcus Forfar of the New Commonwealth Special Forces (his real name is Malcolm Forfield).

He dresses in a uniform from the chest and picks up the phone. An operator answers. "Can I have some breakfast?" he asks.

"Who is this?" asks the operator.

He gives his name and rank.

"Your valet should be dealing with that," says the operator.

"He's late," says 'Marcus'.

"I'll chivvy him along," promises the operator.

"Good," says 'Marcus', putting the phone down.

While waiting for his breakfast to arrive, Servo turns the radio on and tunes it in. Looking through the Bakelite case he can see that the radio components inside, though primitive values and so on, are different to anything that he has seen before. However, after a little study he can see that although odd they do seem to be operating on the same laws of physics as the ones he is used to.

The first radio station that he comes to is the Massachusetts Broadcasting Corporation (the MBC). The programme, which seems to be something like 'Songs of Praise' is being broadcast live from St Michael's Cathedral in New York City. The announcer has a slight American accent but not like anything he's heard before.

As Servo listens further he begins to get 'double hearing', as if he were hearing the programme from two places at once. He turns off the radio and discovers that he can listen in to the radio in his head, with no technology required.

After some practise with this he eventually learns to turn it off, up and down, and how to tune it in. He tunes his head up and down the radio spectrum, finding several military stations, which seem to be encrypted in some fashion he can not immediately decipher. In addition to the MBC there also seem to be a French civilian service, a German one and a Dutch one, with perhaps other fainter ones too.

At this point, seeing through the fabric of his tent, he notices a middle aged subordinate approaching his tent...


Truth wakes in a small bedroom, in a single bed with the ubiquitous phone, cross and radio. Getting up she finds that she appears to be in a cheap room; it is lit by a bare electric bulb, and the carpet does not reach to the walls, instead ending a good metre from them. A wardrobe stands in the corner next to a desk. A chest of drawers with bowl and jug stands under the window. The only colour in the room is a large framed colour poster of a noble-looking man in armour on horseback emblazoned 'CROMWELL - DEFENDER OF THE FAITH'.

The man from the poster, by Bryan Talbot

As she gets up she notices everything feels feather-light compared to normal, and also dull, as if all her senses were less acute than normal, or blocked, as if she had a cold, although there are no other symptoms. She also notices that she is breathing. Looking in the mirror hung over the desk she can see that, again, she appears to be not her old self, but could be related to her. One odd thing is that her eyes have a glassy sheen to them.

Truth is wearing a long very plain white cotton night-dress with a high neck. In the wardrobe she finds she has a black uniform consisting of a number of sets of plain white military-style blouses, long plain black military-style skirts, plain black military-style jackets and several pairs of black jackboots. A wallet in the bedside cabinet holds, among other things, a red identity card, again with no picture of the person it is for, that identifies her as an officer of the Security Police - Captain Charity Lynch of the Anti-Sedition Branch.

Looking out of the window she can see a plain brick-built barracks below. She seems to be looking down from the first floor. Uniformed people and armoured 1930s-style armoured cars are visible in the yard below. The black flag with a white cross is everywhere.

She tries to use her powers. Her skin turns glassy when she tries to become intangible. As she concentrates more, as if to turn both intangible and invisible a glassy force field extrudes from her skin in a faceted shell. She throws some coins up in the air to see what happens, and they bounce off this shell.

Just then a knock on the door causes her to relax, and the force field fades quickly away, her skin turning back to normal too.

She skips over to the door, trying not to bounce.


In the more luxurious surroundings in which Noesis has found himself he concludes that he must be in a hotel room. He examines the book on the bedside table and finds that it is a well-thumbed Bible. Inside the front cover is an inscription: 'To Doctor Raymond James, for his loyal service, Cromwell' (his real name is, of course, Dr Reynard Jack). It is a King James Version, printed in 1995.

Examining the room further, he checks the doors. One, opposite the end of the bed, is locked, with the key in the lock on this side. The other leads into a very plain white, 1930s style bathroom, with bath, basin and toilet. No shower. There are some toiletries on a shelf over the washbasin. There are no razor blades in the bathroom, but there is soap and a toothbrush and tooth powder.

In the bottom of the other wardrobe he also finds a black medical kit containing what are, to him, really quite primitive implements, antiseptics and anaesthetics. Noesis gets some implements out of the bag and decides to fake an accident so that he can claim to be concussed and thus having memory problems. He decides to throw himself downstairs.

He unlocks and opens the door into the hallway. Outside a very plain wood-panelled hallway lined with plain doors leads off to windows at each end, one closer than the other. Sat on a chair next to the door is a hard-looking man in his fifties wearing a kilt, with a long, functional-looking dirk tucking into one sock and a Tam O'Shanter on his head. Possibly a Scotsman. "Ah Doctor," he says as the door opens (in a Scottish accent).

"Good morning to you," replies Noesis. "Might I trouble you for a razor blade?"

"If you wish Doctor," he replies. "But you do have your whole medical kit in there."

"I want to shave, man! Not operate!"

The Scotsman looks at Noesis in a somewhat confused fashion. "But you've never needed a razor as long as I've known you," he says.

"I've run out," says Noesis.

The Scotsman shrugs, then nods. He gets up and goes into the room opposite that Noesis just emerged from, and quickly comes back with a cut-throat razor for Noesis.

He takes this and goes back inside his room. He decides to investigate his powers. Assuming he has any.

Closing and locking the door again, he tries to levitate. Nothing happens but he feels that something is trying to happen. He tries to make telepathic contact with a passer by outside the window instead. He fails to do this, but Noesis' right arm does instead stretch unnaturally towards the window, reaching out five feet and touching the glass. Icky!

He replicates the effect with his other arm and then shrinks them back to normal again. He then practices manipulating his fingers, then his stubble, which he can retract. He gives himself a horse's head. He tries to grow into an elephant but turns into only a small elephant, the same mass as himself. As he tries to get bigger he begins to absorb the carpet from under his feet. He finds that he can extrude the carpet back into its original form again.

Then he completely detaches his little finger. It continues to move, but more like he is shapeshifting it at range rather than controlling it as a normal part of his body. When he turns it into silkworm he cannot see out of its eyes. When he tries to have it produce silk it extrudes some white stuff. It might be silk...

A knock at the door at this point is the Scot with a plain cooked breakfast, salted porridge, buttered toast and tea. He puts this down on the desk.

Noesis sits and sticks his finger into the porridge, absorbing it directly for a while before deciding to eat it.

The Scotsman watches all this impassively, obviously used to it. "Would you like me to wait, sir, or shall I see if you're needed?" he asks.

"See if I'm needed," replies Noesis.

The Scot nods, and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Noesis quickly changes his features so as not to be recognised and, after giving him a few seconds, follows him out of the room at a distance and off down the hallway outside.


"Come in," says Void, responding to the polite cough from outside his tent.

A tough-looking middle-aged man wearing a black uniform comes into the tent. In one hand he carries a covered tray. "Morning sir," he says.

"What's the news?" asks 'William'.

"Well sir, the second fighter squadron has just taken off," responds the other man. "It'll be attacking over Le Mans within the hour."

"What time is it?"

"Half past seven, sir. We thought you might appreciate a lie-in after your efforts of yesterday."

"Thank you," nods 'William'. "I'm not feeling myself today."

"Well, perhaps breakfast will help sir," says the batman. He puts the tray down on the desk and removes the cover. Underneath is breakfast, consisting on bacon, eggs, bread, porridge and salt with a pot of tea on one side.

"Run me through today's schedule again," says William. "My mouth will be full, so you do the talking."

"Very good sir. You're scheduled to be briefed by General Burgess at eight o'clock. He'll be telling you the orders of today, after which you'll go down to the armourers where you'll receive the ordinance that you are to be delivering. Once you've delivered it you'll then be surveying along the Loire front ready for the Big Push."

"Better get a move on then!" quips 'William'.

"I'll shave you once you had your breakfast, sir."

"Can you get one of the medical guys along later," asks 'William'. "I could do with a check-up."

"Of course, sir," replies the batman.

When Void has finished his breakfast the batman brings in a shaving kit, pulls out a cut-throat razor, stops it, lathers up Void's chin and starts shaving. In an almost instinctive reaction Void tries to turn his skin into a force field as the blade approaches his throat.

This does not work, but a small red dot appears underneath his chair and another at the end of the tent. He cannot see these, but can sense them somehow. They expand into small rings, but Void then stops himself doing any more. The rings fade away.

The shave proceeds without any other injury or incident.

Freshly shaved, and moustache groomed, 'William' gets dressed in jackboots and uniform.

He finds that he has a pocket-watch, too, so he knows when to go for his eight o'clock briefing. He guesses to go to the large command tent he can see close by, and leaves his tent for it.

As he walks along he keeps his eyes open for how people salute one another here. He quickly sees that it is an extended arm with a clenched fist (rather like a Nazi salute, but with a clenched fist rather than an open hand).

As he reaches the command tent he hears the rumble of artillery in the distance. He salutes and tells the guards on the tent's entrance that he is here for General Burgess' briefing. The two guards nod, and one holds back the tent flap for him to enter. He does so...


In his tent, Blitz finds a small identity card folder in the chest. Inside is a red identity card, identifying the bearer as a member of the New Commonwealth Special Forces Security Branch named Henry Smith, who has the rank of Captain (Blitz's real name is Hans Schmidt). He also finds a large seven-shot revolver.

He then opts for the full black uniform and jackboots that are there rather than the civilian clothes that are there, and dons it. As he finishes dressing there is a polite cough from outside the tent. "Come in," he says.

"Morning sir," says a hard-looking middle-aged man in a military uniform not unlike the one Blitz is wearing, though with fewer insignia as he enters the tent with a covered breakfast tray. To Blitz he seems to moving very slowly.

He puts the tray down on the desk and takes the cover off, revealing a breakfast essentially the same as that delivered to Void. "Is there anything else I can get you, sir?" he asks.

"Remind me of my duties this morning," 'Henry' tells him as he begins to eat.

"I don't know, sir," he replies. "I believe you're to meet with General Winterton at eight to discuss your mission for today."

It is currently half past seven.

Blitz eats, dismisses his batman and, when he out of the tent, attempts to hover. He fails to do this, but the air around him thickens. As he tries harder the air thickens more. He tries an energy blast from his hand. Nothing happens. His force field just seems to thicken the air. Having finished eating, he steps outside his tent.

He seems to be in a military camp. It is rather bit battered, with shell craters dotted about, and distant machine gun and artillery fire audible in the distance. Armoured vehicles - primitive-seeming tanks and armoured cars - can be seen and heard moving around.

Thinking that his powers may be some form of time control (as he seems to be moving faster than normal) he takes off his pocket watch, hangs it on his tent-pole and thickens the air around it, as that should let him see if time is slowing. He does this, and it does not seem to be.

Attempting to fly seems to thin the air around him. He seems unable to affect time, but does seem able to alter the density of the air instead.

Looking about he sees that the array of tents ends quite close by in one direction, and stretches off in another. He goes towards where there are more tents and quickly comes to a parade ground where some primitive tanks and armoured cards are parked. Some smaller and more shabby tents are off to one side, as opposed to the larger and somewhat better-kept tents in the part of the camp where he woke up. Passing soldiers salute him.

It now being nearly eight o'clock he returns to the command tent, returns the guards' salutes, coughs, is announced by a guard, and enters the tent.


In the barracks, Truth answers the door. A sixteen year old girl in a white blouse, black skirt and black jacket with a mob cap on her head stands there. Her clothing is of noticeably lower quality than that Truth is wearing.

"Good morning sister," she says. She is holding a covered tray.

Truth takes the tray. "OK?" she asks the girl.

"Is there anything else I can do?" she responds.

Truth shakes her head, shuts the door, and eats breakfast. It is, again, bacon and eggs, toast and butter, porridge with salt, and tea. It is all very dull-tasting.

Having finished breakfast, 'Charity' leaves the room, coming out on a landing with three other doors opening off of it, a window to one side, and a staircase going down on the other (on the side of the barracks yard). It looks like a floor of living quarters. She goes downstairs and hears kitchen and dining room-type sounds.

Reaching the foot of the stairs she steps into a stone-flagged entrance hall. To one side is a refectory. Looking in sees men in a male version of the uniform she is wearing being waited upon by the girl who brought her breakfast and others like her. Some of the men notice her but do not comment or otherwise respond.

She goes out into the courtyard and is saluted by passing men; the same extended arm and clenched fist salute as the others have seen. She returns the salute.

Looking around she sees that the barracks seems to be a walled compound. There is a long two-story (ground floor and first floor) building running along one wall, from which she has just emerged. There are another two entrances to the building visible along the front. The double doors she has just emerged from are labelled 'Officers Quarters and Mess'. The next set of double doors are labelled 'Enlisted Mens' Refectory and Barracks'. The third set is labelled 'Administration'.

Other shed-like buildings are built against the walls of the compound. There are two sets of large double gates, both closed and guarded, in opposite walls of the compound (the walls to left and right of the main building). As 'Charity' wanders about, a man dressed in an officer's uniform who is striding purposefully past speaks to her.

"Captain Lynch, good morning! Lookin' forward to the off?" he says brightly.

"Yes," nods 'Charity.

"I know you look forward to these little outings," nods the officer. "As long as these Catholics keep believing then we'll have work for you . Need to root these priests out of their holes."

Truth heartily agrees with all of this. "What time are we off today?" she asks.

"Major Jackson was going to brief us at eight o'clock," replies the officer. "After you." He indicates the door into 'Administration'.

He and 'Charity' both head that way.


Elsewhere, Servo is shaved by his batman. Once this is done and he has eaten his breakfast and dressed in his uniform he asks the batman how he looks, to check that he is properly dressed and to find out what is on this morning.

The batman fiddles with his collar a little, and tells 'Marcus' that he is meeting with General Bailey in fifteen minutes.

Servo thanks him, and he leaves. He then leaves the tent too and goes for a little walk, looking through the walls of the tents around him as he goes. He can see that the camp has been in battle but the craters and so on are being filled in. Some tents have bullet holes in them.

He quickly realises that he has a 'command' tent.

Coming to the edge of the camp, which is quite close by, he sees that farmland surrounds the camp. However, it has suffered quite badly from the war that seems to be going on. Shattered trees and buildings and shell holes dot the landscape. From far away he can hear faint sounds of combat. Three 'spitfires' fly overhead towards the front.

Using the few minutes before his meeting with General Bailey wisely, he experiments with his powers. Trying to bend a blade of grass with telekinesis causes a blast of energy to come from his face, obliterating the grass instead. He tries to reverse the process to absorb energy and has a limited effect. Hmm...

Time now being short he goes to the command tent, salutes, and is admitted by the guards.


As this point we all notice a faint tugging in a particular direction and four other fainter attractors pulling in other directions too. To Truth and Noesis three of these fainter tugs are very weak indeed while one is noticeably stronger. To Blitz, Servo and Void two of them are stronger and two weaker...


Session 4.10   Index   Session 5.2
Events Since Session 4.1 and Now

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The picture of Cromwell is by Bryan Talbot, and comes from the 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' comic book.

This image is used here without permission but for personal game use only and not for profit or commercial gain.