Right after I started solving the puzzle about female Turians, I suddenly heard, "Are you alright, son?"I turned away from the window and looked at the old lady sitting across from me. With a wrinkled face, at the same time expressing boredom, concern, and smugness.I turned away from the window and looked at the old lady sitting across from me, her wrinkled face somehow expressing boredom, concern, and smugness simultaneously."Everything is fine," I automatically replied."Everything?" she raised an eyebrow and grunted. "Even despite my pestering? If so, then I'm really glad to finally meet such a monk." She chuckled. "None of my business, of course. But if something's bothering you, feel free to ask this old bat." She shrugged.I thought about her offer, wondering if I indeed could ask her something relevant right now.'I possess a power that soon will give me complete self-sufficiency. Soon, I'm going to use the aggregation of all human knowledge to solve problems that ordinary people can hardly know, let alone influence. Which...'"Your thoughts are too loud. Just ask your question," the woman smirked, clearly forgetting about the "feel free" part."I'm new to the city, just out of curiosity, what other parahumans were in Marquis' gang?" I asked the first thing that came to mind."Parahumans? Tsk. It is always about parahumans now." she replied with annoyance. "I only moved to Brockton two years after they locked him up.Rightfully so. From what I heard from my sister, may she rest in peace. Ava had worked as a postal clerk for 45 years, so she knew what she was talking about! Marquis' famous "honor" was just empty words. He was a typical scumbag who ruled by typical scumbags. But with some flares, yes.Other parahumans in his gang? Hmm...Don't remember anything like that. But one time, my friend Marta and I. May she rest in peace. We saw Oni Lee! Right in the middle of Lord Street Market! One moment he is here, the next over there. And when he wasn't, he moved like a nimble cat. That day we—"I suppressed a groan and kept listening to — as she later introduced herself — Karla, for the entire 20-minute trip toward Downtown.Mostly her personal reminiscence, but also with a few interesting tidbits.According to her, the "Cops and Robbers" theatrics is a very recent development.Back between 1982 and 1993, when "villains" still were just "parahuman criminals," firearms were everywhere and used by anyone. Criminals, cops, civilians. Everyone had guns and was very trigger-happy. At least in Brockton Bay, which always had port-city peculiarities.Only after 1993, with the formation of the PRT and Protectorate, and the passing of insanely strict firearm laws, had things begun to change. With real traction only in the 2000s.Anyway, perhaps Marquis indeed did have other parahumans in his gang. But since in his gang he alone had protection against gunfire — more so, through several means — it's unlikely that such capes were part of his gang for long.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Before my stop, I said goodbye to Karla and got off near City Hall.After a short walk through a few lovely Christmas‑decorated streets in the architectural center of the city, I approached and entered the massive Brockton Bay Central Library. Most likely built at the same time, and perhaps even by the same architects, as City Hall, which shows the priorities of the past.Getting my library card didn't take much time.Following the librarian's instructions, I entered a hall with three rows of computers. Took the farthest seat from the entrance, and—'What The Fuck is this abomination?!!'—I was immediately faced with a circular interference desktop with radial menus... and wallpaper featuring grotesque orange with eyes and a pipe-like mouth... in the same size as the operating system's central circular interference... so during the use of the interface it looked like...'At least now I'm REALLY sure that I'm indeed in Worm universe.'Temporarily putting aside my question list, I started exploring the OS360 operating system.It was running on a 5.5GHz 64-bit single-core Sears — WTF is Sears? — CPU. With 4 threads and 4GB of 4-channel memory.And had "MSlot-3: 1/2."WTF?After fast googling by literally Google, I encountered another shock.In this world, PC development followed a path between "The Apple Jonathan PC" and "Intel's Slot 1." Combining the CPU, memory, sometimes a video-chip, and copper plating into a single "Processing Block."Motherboards typically support 1-5 Processing Blocks, where the weakest of them are usually used entirely for the operating system's functions. And have up to 10 MSlots, Motherboard Slots, used the same way as PCI-Express.The obvious advantages of MSlots - were very simple upgrades and scaling, as well as incredible compatibility - in this world, laptop and even tablet markets were essentially side branches of the PC one. Also - enormous motherboards and platforms lifespan. Typically - over 7 years.The downsides? MSlot's much more complex architecture and longer update period than PCI-Express's lead to much slower CPU-GPU data transfer rates. This is slowing down GPU and games development for at least 3 years.'Is this the result of some "Better Humans Reproduction" Fortuna's patch?' I wonder.Also...'FUUUUK! Of course!You're a tinker and want access to high-quality electronics?Sorry, all electronic boards are completely sealed with epoxy molding compounds! Try to join the Protectorate!'Despite my intense curiosity, I set IT-related questions aside, pulled out my notepad from my jacket's inner pocket, and started looking for more important information.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Naturally, I began with the NEPEA-5 bill.Its history was something like this.The Protectorate was created in 1993. But by 1998, it still had fewer tinkers than the Uppermost organization, essentially a group of useful for corporations, and payrolled by them, parahumans.To take away these tinkers, the US government introduced the NEPEA-5 bill.Officially, it aimed to "protect businesses from unfair competition from parahumans and ensure that the commercial use of superpowers will be taxed."But in practice, its main goal was to complicate ANY direct cooperation between businesses and parahumans by adding government control and oversight: power testing, the necessity of creating legal identity for parahumans, and, of course, licensing for EACH form, project, plan, and act of commercial use of superpowers.For parahumans with straightforward powers who wished to work as security guards or entertainers, it wasn't all that bad.But for parahumans with versatile superpowers and large businesses? The NEPEA-5 bill essentially drowned them in bureaucratic red tape.Between 1999 and 2001, the NEPEA-5 bill allowed the Protectorate to acquire a huge number of tinkers and thinkers. And other types of parahumans, too.Of course, it was!Your superpower gives you a bit more stamina, and you used it at least once at work? If you haven't registered this, you're guilty of tax evasion, and the PRT has the legal right to press-gang you into the Protectorate.Lovely, isn't it?Yeah, parahumans didn't like this one bit. So, after the NEPEA-5 bill "stick," the government — cough-cough Cauldron cough-cough — dangled a "carrot" - the MIRIS Initiative.On paper, the MIRIS Initiative was simple and beneficial for everyone. Parahumans and businesses could come to the PRT and register their requests in a unified registry. Giving the PRT the possibility to act as a matchmaker and broker. Among other things, providing security and insurance services. Fuck, at some point, PRT even paid all the rogues in Chicago for any community work!But the MIRIS Initiative didn't work out.Why? Every comment on the subject had a different explanation. Which meant that the reason was not one big issue, but many small ones.After the NEPEA-5 bill, many parahumans lost their trust in the government. So, after the introduction of the MIRIS Initiative, they decided not to risk with de facto unmasking in front of the government and, in many cases, businesses.Once the Protectorate claimed all the best rogues, big business lost interest in the rest - parahumans with almost always unscalable superpowers. At best, still using parahumans as mascots and glorified guards.99% of parahumans' superpowers were interesting only to small businesses. But the potential gains just weren't worth for small businesses the additional risks. Including related to parahumans penchant toward conflict. Not openly discussed, of course, but quite obvious to people who could read statistics.So, after a brief surge of interest, the MIRIS Initiative began to die down, leaving only the NEPEA-5 bill and a situation in which commercial use of superpowers is still theoretically possible but very inconvenient. Especially for healthy paranoid rogues.Except for one Sun-sized "loophole."Who Watches the Watchmen?No one.The PRT is completely free to cooperate with parahumans as it wishes.If a parahuman has something the PRT really wants and the PRT is willing to pay billions of dollars for it, the PRT has the legal right to complete a legal trade in minutes by legal funds. Over the heads of all other government agencies.As it was with Uppercrust's coastal force fields. Or with The Guild, to which — as a subcontractor — the PRT granted a long list of rights on the USA soil.In other words, the NEPEA-5 bill was PRT's versatile tool.However, so that NEPEA-5 bill could become negotiable for me, I need to develop things that are being hampered by the same bill. Firepower and precautions against a sudden visit of the Triumvirate or portal-dropping of me into another world, with a following visit by Simurgh.Which, of course, was largely illegal.'Fuckers!'⸻⸻x⸻⸻From a lot of sarcastic responses to questions from new tinkers, I gathered that under a certain limit of unusual profitability and atypical purchases, the chances of a sudden accusation of tax evasion and press-ganging into the Protectorate were quite low.But such a limit was rather low - under $10,000 per month.Illegal paths to something more?They were almost fully closed.
⸻⸻x⸻⸻Cryptocurrencies and the Darknet? Predominantly just theoretical concepts.Donations? Only after legal registration with the PRT and mandatory power testing.Selling my services in other countries? Also requires PRT approval.
⸻⸻x⸻⸻Toybox? Toybox only provides three services: the creation and delivery of tinkertech, and the rare maintenance of its own tinkertech. For anything else, you need to join the organization.How?By living and frequently moving with an "enclave" inside Dodge's pocket world, of course!Probably because frequent shipments of tinkertech for maintenance were too traceable. And remote cooperation was just gibberish exchange.
⸻⸻x⸻⸻Vigilante's Looting Law? De jure, it doesn't exist. De facto, there are some legal gray areas that, with almost nonexistent city cameras, indeed made a "legal ninja build" theoretically possible.But guess what? If, after looting Skidmark, he complains to the PRT that what I looted has more value than some sophisticated limit per month — more so if I take his drugs — and if I didn't report such things to the PRT, then the PRT could accuse me of tax evasion... from looting... yeah.Also, is a few thousand bucks per safehouse worth bothering with my capabilities? No, definitely not.
⸻⸻x⸻⸻The Number Man? Based on the information I found, for most clients, he only offers savings deposit services. Despite the fact that due to strong banking restrictions and the absence of paper money in the USA, he is the only global broker on the planet!
⸻⸻x⸻⸻All other gray or black brokerage activities were handled by local and regional gangs.For me, such gangs consisted of the egomaniacal Coil, Lung with his "farms," literal Nazis, and unreliable super-junkies. In Boston, there were also schizo, and, limited in scope by nearby heavy-packed by heroes New York, Accord's Ambassadors.'WHERE THE FUCK IS THE LAUGHABLE PRT STUPIDITY?!!' I raged at some point of my unsuccessful searches, telling me that North America was almost completely under PRT control.Not locally, of course... however... yes, locally, problems were also predominantly celled or at least stalemated by PRT departments, Quarantine Zones, public and classified government projects. Mainly on behalf of "Let's throw more trash at Scion!" plans... still...'No way a 15‑year‑old traumatized girl with zero trust in authorities and from one of the shittiest cities in the USA was so biased in her assessment of the main anti‑godling battlefield!Lie! Lie!GIMME my incompetent PRT, Beep‑Boop Armsmaster, and dupe Coil!'After over 2 hours of studying, the best I could come up with was this sketched plan:
Early development: avoiding attention from the PRT and gangs.
Perhaps a few cape personalities.
Middle development:
Clearing out local gangs (after Leviathan?).
Healing the dying Uppercrust.
Using Uppercrust's very convenient — located in nearby New York; business-oriented; the most ethical — cell of Elite (Uppermost's successor) to fill the power vacuum and deter other gangs from the city. Without my constant distraction from crafting toward advertisement, my overpoweredness to Slaughterhouse 9 and Eidolon-Simurgh.
Based on a clear history of conflicts between me and PRT, cooperation with PRT on my terms and via "PRT Prime Contractor" legal status.
Satisfied with this rough outline — as with all such plans, at least somehow doomed to go to shit — I turned my attention to other questions.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Firearms? Legal acquisition is very difficult and, in the next two months, absolutely unrealistic.Creating one-off firearms is a laughably easy engineering task. But pointless in a world with very strict regulations on cartridges, explosives, and their precursors.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Technological level of Earth Bet?Between Meh and Wow.Due to Japan's economic collapse, imperialistic China, Endbringer attacks, and so on, investments in new technologies and large-scale production lines became, to put it mildly, not very popular among investors.Of course, there were exceptions in the largest cities and for the wealthiest individuals, but at least in consumer electronics, Earth Bet's technological progress was notably behind "real 2011."But if you take a step away from the consumer market, to military, paramilitary, and government projects; to their frustration at Scions pacifism, Endbringers, parahumans related threats?Oh boy.Two out of seven US Quarantine Sites are near oceans...So, how PRT control such sites?By two PRT's carrier strike groups, of course. With blackjack and tinkers.
But things are especially fascinating in, frightened by imperial China, Indonesia. With its super-syndicate that not only has thousands of cyborg super‑soldiers, but also owns private cities and businesses that sell to global elites goods created by a stable superpowered fusion of biological and electronic components.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Earth Aleph? Information exchange with Earth Aleph is almost nonexistent. Publicly, both sides occasionally exchange some entertainment content, and that's all.Unavailable even detailed official information about the historical differences between the two worlds.⸻⸻x⸻⸻BioWare and Mass Effect?As expected, I didn't find any information about them. The same applies to many known to me potential settings for Gates.But during my jot down in notepad the necessity to open a Gate to a world closer to my original one, I suddenly paused... and groaned.'Of course! According to The Gates description, I cannot create Gates only into settings created after my insertion, with low complexity and popularity of the main information source. Which means I can travel to unique settings from Earth Bet and from other universes!How did I not realize this sooner?!Not that it really matters right now.'⸻⸻x⸻⸻Parahumans Online?PHO indeed turned out to be the most popular parahuman-related forum in North America. Yet, a very new one, created only 3 years ago, at the end of 2007.Of course, I tried to create a burner account from the library, but that turned out to be impossible.⸻⸻x⸻⸻Earth Bet internet?Without a strong Japanese influence, the Internet became much less entertaining and more telecommunication-oriented. More boring, with a pragmatic survivalist undertone. For example, with the possibility to easily migrate accounts between social networks. And with at least textual hubs between them.At the same time, Earth Bet's Internet was more... Internet-like. Decentralized and free.Without the noticeable signs of raging enshittification that, in the "real world," started in the late 2000s and had already become mainstream by 2011.After a few hours of online surfing, I was finally able to give my verdict:'/// There are many fewer clickbait articles; unfunny LOLs; "inoffensive redesigns," visual babyfication, and semantic infantilization./ Much smaller dehumanization Overton window./ Much fewer wars of digital tribes created by filter bubbles, content farms, and echo chambers. Much less political and commercial men/bot-made polarization and groupthink./ Much fewer games with DLCs and any other forms of subscriptions./ Large sites still can't successfully predict what users don't want to see, to feed them predominantly digital shit for the creation of digital shit addiction. Or purposefully show users shitty search results for "extended user experience" and disinformation for better "social engagement indicators."/// On Earth Bet, there is still no sexual counterrevolution./ Much less spread of the USA's religious "sex > violence" worldview and agendas./ Much less "PROTECT CHILDREN!!!" SFW hysteria as the main excuse for mass surveillance./ The quality of sexual content still isn't limited by bank transaction restrictions./ Characters still aren't created with Asian and Eastern audiences and laws in mind./ Governments, religious bureaucrats, and billionaires still don't control gender roles and norms agendas; using science as a driver of new puritanism, social atomization, and the subsequent Loneliness Epidemic./ Making acquaintances with girls in public places, flirting, and male initiative in general, still aren't suppressed by the risks of accusations and Stranger-Danger scare./ Preferences for the age of sexual partners that reflect the age of the average first sexual experience and most typical formation of primary sexual imprintings — instead of corresponding to personal age — are still not reprehensible. So, old people who recollect their youth; or "defective" Leonardo DiCaprio, who "should have" but for some strange reason still don't have "normal" sexual desire for menopausal women, still aren't labeled as latent pedophiles./ Most men also still aren't labeled as pedophiles, mainly because in some USA states the age of consent is 18-21 years. And real 12-15-year-old raped girls still aren't legislatively forced to go through unwanted pregnancy, despite the fact that even 22-year-olds are considered too young for adoption./ Earth Bet has many fewer problems with the use of one of the simplest technologies in existence, house building, on one of the most abundant resources on the planet - empty space. And there is also the lesser spread of the absurd notion that housing is the best investment... despite the looming demographic crisis everywhere except the largest cities, widespread automation, online shopping, remote work, and so on. One of many types of investments into absolutely anything except the literal factors of social sanity and health./ LGBT is still about 3% of humanity, not largely the main political topic, reason for social division, and used by Human Resources departments' anti-union trick./ Feminism is still about women's legal rights and personal freedom, not about paternalism and anti-liberal apologism for government regulations of human nature. Therefore, there is still no ideal rallying point for pro-strong-government anti-liberal forces, and their successful use of similar pro-regulatory apologism to advance their own agendas./// There are still no dystopian things like TVs and cars with constantly working cameras, or suburban streets with fewer people than cameras, which exist because if the government pays corporations for violations of the Fourth Amendment, that doesn't count as a violation of the Fourth Amendment by the government./ "National Security" is still, at least in part, about reducing people's naivety, ignorance, and stupidity, not about hiding important facts./// Earth Bet had only a few years of trickle-down economics, so no decades of untaxed corporations, deterioration of educational standards, and substitution of liberalism by two versions of "liberating government regulations."/ In this world, Ronald Reagan and corporations didn't replace desire for freedom via truth-education with widespread commercialization of blind faith, so by "social influencers" people still mean respected scientists (who are still not predominantly discredited by corporations corporate slaves), not amateurish stand-up comedians./// Even history TV channels still aren't predominantly talk about aliens——100% aliens——colorful 100% aliens——more than 4 colorful 100% aliens!/ At first glance, there are also fewer popular movies and TV shows with clearly dumb down scripts. Or blatant use of nostalgia for normality via sequels.Hey, maybe Worm isn't such a bad pla—It's Betamax?!Sickos!'⸻⸻x⸻⸻Earth Bet didn't have the Half-Life franchise. Magic settings were much more popular than sci-fi ones.The Lord of the Rings was even more popular, and DnD took the place of Marvel and DC conveyor belts. Earth Aleph's Harry Potter was known, but wasn't as popular as Maggie Holt, which was created by—Neil Gaiman—'Oh, it's just a mix of Stardust and The Sandman with some co-authorship with Terry Pratchett.'⸻⸻x⸻⸻Endbringers between attacks? Inactive. Also, for some reason, the public wasn't considered Endbringers as parahumans, who in turn are often seen as the result of some evolutionary virus. Perhaps because of some anti-Scion preparatory plans.⸻⸻x⸻⸻The mystery of Taylor's and The Trio's 18th birthday was solved rather simply.In this world, children go to school 1-2 years later, so at the end of 12th grade, they graduate not like 17-18-year-olds but as 18-20-year-olds.Because all 12th-grade students are adults, 12th grade is legally named not as 12th grade as "Adult Grade." But people typically call it as "Isn't School." Or "parodic year," because even though everything seems similar, in reality, everything is completely different. Fully adult.Wards also transition into the Protectorate only after they turn 19. In some states, of course, at 22 years.I didn't dare Google Sophia Hess in a public place, but I tried to find something about Emma Barnes. And to my surprise, I actually found her portfolio on a modeling site, with several photos of her face and examples of her photo shoots for women's clothing catalogs.As expected, 18-year-old Emma was beautiful... by the typical static, makeup‑peaked, "model beauty." Without any particularly unique charm or likability, unlike the playful and lively photos of many other girls on the site. However, because some girls wore the expression of Spartacus before his "Are You Not Entertained?!" shout, Emma wasn't the worst either. Just average.For me, it was very obvious why Taylor and other women at school saw Emma as a prom queen. Women tend to overestimate the importance of women's faces, especially when those faces have a masculine, low-fat, sharpness. And Emma was slightly malnourished.
Yet. In modeling, Emma clearly was mainly because of her figure - "lithe hourglass" one. Especially because of her very thin waist.Taken as a whole, with her skinny face and lack of zest?Emma didn't really strike any chord, more so, didn't satisfy my hunger for interesting extremes with retention of healthy ratios, and a spark of fire, or even madness, in the eyes.Of course, for friendship purposes, I also checked out the appearance of such respected heroes like Narwhal, Glory Girl, Miss Militia, and Mouse Protector. And I found them quite... friendable.Especially Glory Girl. Even more so compared to her own stepsister, Crystal, which gave some credibility to the theory of conscious or subconscious cosmetic corrections by Amy.By the way, in this universe, Amy was not in the "cute super-curved raccoon" version, but the canonical bleak one.
Not bad per se... but nearby Vicki's "9/10 for body and 8/10 for face without cosmetic" Amy's 6,5/10 looked worse than it was.
'One of the epitomes of Wildbow's incredible talent – the stunning richness of characters,' I thought while studying videos with Faultline's Crew. 5 people with — seen even despite full face masks and inhuman biology — completely different behaviors and attitudes. Still without Spitfire in the roster.'More than 100 characters. And almost all with fully unique neuroses and goals. Fascinating.In the past, a more optimistic me would have said something about their unrealistic stupidity. But not now.'Even though I was tempted to check my universe on "Alexandria's costume malfunction trope," I figured that this would soon lead me down a path of topics I wasn't ready to explore just now. People only have so much mental and emotional energy per day, and with all this stress and amazement, I felt like I had already burned through more than half of mine.⸻⸻x⸻⸻After a quick googling about Brockton Bay's rogues; the number of parahumans in the world; list of Brockton Bay's Rogues, etc. — with each query adding more entropy to the canon timeline — I suddenly felt a sharp pang of hunger.Glancing at the OS clock, I realized I'd spent over six hours in the library.I rubbed my tired eyes and tried to think of any other question that needed an immediate answer. But by then, I had learned everything I needed to know to send my money and charges.⸻⸻x⸻⸻So, soon I started stretching and thereafter left the library.On the way to the bus stop, I stopped at a small store and bought a 0,5L bottle of water and three chocolate bars, two of which I ate on the way to the stop and while waiting for the bus.After two stops, I found myself near the city's largest shopping center, Hillside Mall.During the ride, I still held a faint hope that the exorbitantly high prices for electronics on websites were just an anomaly of underdeveloped e-commerce.But such hopes were quickly shattered inside the first electronics store.'Basic office printers starting at $400.To get a kinematics FDM 3D printer, I would need parts from about three such printers. Or $1200 just for the kinematics!SLA 3D printer kinematics would need just one office printer, an LCD screen, and powerful ultraviolet LEDs for secondary backlighting. But in 2011, photosensitive resin is likely to be incredibly expensive.AI? The AI neural networks I know require months of training on about 800,000 GB of video memory. The most powerful graphics card in the store, for $3000, has 0.5 GB of memory and about 50 times less bandwidth than necessary. But, yeah, at least its prices are somehow normal...What do you want, dear client? Arduino? What's Arduino? A microcontroller board? Oh, I haven't seen anything like this for sale. If your electronics are broken, just take them to the repair shop! W-why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?Joy.'⸻⸻x⸻⸻With the help of a middle-aged consultant, I tried to find the cheapest combination of laptop and smartphone with router functionality. But their prices, along with a mobile plan, would leave me with no money at all.So, after another sigh of frustration — feelings as someone who was robbed of his wish-fulfillment adventure, and left only with questions, problems, and risks — I have begun looking for a bank branch and a loan.
Author's Note:
Image sources: https://www.deviantart.com/quantumbranching/art/Worm-World-726358648 ; http://linaleez.deviantart.com/ ; https://www.deviantart.com/cpericardium/art/Just-Took-a-DNA-Test-Turns-Out-She-s-933532912