If the robot thought anything of the Fool's crazy antics, it said nothing. The journey through the ships corridors, (all octagonal, all well lit), took only a minute or so, and ended in a medium sized hexagonal room with a dark blue floor. "This lift will take you to the crew quarters," the little bot said, Zen's voice sounding a little tinny in the confines of the chamber. There was a feeling of weightlessness, followed by a sensation of rapid movement during which various floors flickered past the the open 'doorway' they'd just come through, followed by a sensation of weightlessness again.

The lift rose up through the floor into another, much larger, hexagonal chamber. With a soft 'click', and a low pulse of purple light, the blue of the lift floor merged seamlessly with the black glass or plastic or whatever-it-was floor of this larger chamber. Various tables (hexagonal in shape and varied in size) were scattered about the room, chairs neatly arrayed around them. What might have been a kitchen area was also visible, and three of the large, sandstone hexscreens hung at angles where the walls joined the ceiling. Behind the hexscreens, running around the circumference of the room where wall and ceiling joined, clear windows allowed Fool to see the darkness of space. The whole place reeked of high-tech wonder, lots of living space, and 'the future'.

Set into each wall was the hexagonal outline of a door. "Your quarters are there," the drone said, pointing at one of the doors near the kitchen area. "The door will open at your touch."

Aaron backflipped across the room to the indicated door. He stopped and casually touched the door with his index finger. "Ping," he said, as the doorway slid silently into the floor, revealing a fairly large bedroom-esque area. Against one wall, to his left, was an octagonal glass chamber that was most likely a shower. Next to it, a basin set just above waist level was affixed to the wall, twin taps marked H and C indicated that this was a sink. Above it,  a medium sized hexagonal mirror.

Against the right hand wall was what looked like a wardrobe area, and home office set-up. And directly across from him, against a wall that was entirely transparent to space, was an enormous bed; hexagonal at the edges, but otherwise exactly what he was used to seeing. And upon that bed lay The Costume. It was just as he'd imagined it.

He had already removed his shirt and a shoe by the time he reached the bed. That was when he felt eyes upon him. Aaron turned to find the little robot standing at the doorway, watching him.

"Turn around," Aaron said.

The little robot cocked it's head.

"Turn around." This time Aaron made a swirling gesture.

The little robot turned around until it was once again facing Aaron.

"Forget it."

It took a minute to figure out the costume. There were no visible seams and no zipper. Getting into it took a bit of trial and error. Once he had it on he ran to the mirror.

The costume wouldn't have been much different if Aaron had designed it. It was a sleek, red and white, form fitting unitard with a red cowl topped with three red and white points, and red and white curly-toed boots. Aaron felt the hat. It scrunched as if it were stuffed with those little pellets that throw pillows are filled with.

Aaron stood with his fists on his hips. "The Fool," he said in an exaggeratedly masculine voice. He cleared his throat and practiced the voice some more.

---

Jeremy took a look around the room as the lift came to a stop and blended into the floor. He nodded as the drone indicated which room was his. ZEN had said something about clothes. The excited man may have been eager it, but Jeremy hoped that ZEN would know enough to realize he wouldn’t be wearing any costumes. Clothes just made him itch. Thinking about that, his wrist was starting to itch. He walked over to the door, examining his wrist where the invisible bracelet was. It had attached itself pretty securely; he would have to find out just how secure it was. He placed his right hand on the door to his room and began to unravel his left, the vines pulling apart and pushing away from each other.

Two things happened: first, in response to his touch, the door slid silently down, revealing a room identical to that revealed to Aaron, sans costume. The second was a clattering, as the teleport bracelet slid down Jeremy's now attenuated arm and hit the floor, wavering into visibility as it did so.

"INFORMATION," came Zen's voice from the drone. "You may remove the teleport bracelets at any time. Due to the malleable nature of your form, measures can be taken to ensure that the bracelet remains with you despite changes in body mass. Do you wish these measures to be taken?"

From behind him, Jeremy could hear someone, presumably the very excited man, proclaiming the words "The Fool!" in a series of different tones and volume levels.

Jeremy hardly even noticed the shouting. He looked at the teleportation bracelet on the floor, then at his unraveled arm, the dozen or so separate vines twitching and moving about. He concentrated and they re-wrapped themselves, two vines twisting around each other, another two attaching themselves to the ends of those two and a third pair onto the end of those, and so on until he had a single long vine that reached the ground. The vine wrapped itself around the bracelet and picked it up, bringing it up to where his other hand could take it.

Jeremy still felt a little odd doing that, but he was getting used to manipulating this body. The exercises and practice Doc Scrubb had had him doing really helped. "ZEN, please clarify what those measures would entail." He was about to continue when the excited man cartwheeled out into the common room in what Jeremy could only describe as jester's motley.

"Hey, I thought I heard someone out here," the Fool said to Jeremy as he once again assumed a heroic pose. "What do you think? Be honest. Be brutal."

Jeremy stared at The Fool for several seconds, amber eyes unblinking. He had no idea how to react. They were supposed to be working together now and he did not wish to offend the man. However, he had asked for an honest and brutal assessment. "You are dressed as a jester. Either a dim-witted man whose stupidity was found humorous or someone who acts as if befuddled to amuse others. Known for making jokes at the expense of others. It is bright, obvious, and suits the name you have chosen." His voice rumbled deep and emotionless. The vine that was his left arm twisted back on itself and began to rearrange itself into his normal arm.

"Oh... kay," Fool said as he processed the information. He then advanced with hand extended. "Aaron Llewelynn, by the way. Good to meet you."

"INFORMATION:," intoned the little drone, finally able to reply to Jeremy's question. "The teleportation bracelet is able to adjust it's size and shape. Provided changes are not exceptionally rapid, this adaptive ability should keep the bracelet in place."

Jeremy glanced down at the drone. "That shouldn't be necessary. I can hold onto it in such a way that it won't interfere." He passed the bracelet from his hand to his chest. The vines on his chest, right below where a human's rib cage would be reached out and wrapped around the bracelet. The vines retracted, pulling the bracelet into his body. Ignoring this, he stared back at Aaron and shook the offered hand. "Jeremy Mathis, the Green Man. A pleasure to meet you." He turned his head slightly, looking aside. The vines that made up his head rippled slightly. It was hard to make out expressions, but he almost seemed nervous. "I...ah...hope I didn't offend you with my comments." He gave an uncertain smile. People were definitely not his strong suit.

Fool blinked. "What comments? Seriously, though, this is some whacky ju-ju you got going on here with the vines and stuff. It's going to be fun seeing what you can do."

"Yes. My ah...transformation has been most... interesting. But hey, if I hadn't turned plant-y I wouldn't be on a spaceship run by an AI with a teleportation bracelet in my gut. Speaking of which..."

He looked back to the ZEN drone. "ZEN, will the teleportation bracelet still function in its current location? Also, go ahead and active the size and shape adjustment functions, just in case."

"Confirmed," Zen's voice replied via the 'bot. Jeremy nodded once to the drone and looked back to Aaron, but the Fool was already rushing off somewhere else. He shrugged and entered his room. He did a quick once over the room before stopping by the sink. He could feel the excess sugar, caffeine, and countless other undesired ingredients still burning through his body. The rush they had given him had been mostly enjoyable, but he needed to clear his thoughts now. He turned both the hot and cold taps on just a little to produce a lukewarm flow of water. He rested one of his hands in the basin, tiny roots growing from the vines to pull in the water. He stood there, the water purging his body of unwanted chemicals, and stared out the window, letting his thoughts drift.

He considered Zen, the artificial intelligence that ran a spaceship with a working teleporter and probably laser cannons. He considered zen, the philosophy of perfection through complete inner peace. 

* * * * *

Joe'd left soon enough after the Onatop woman did that they shared a lift ride up to the living spaces common area. It was awkward for him in that he was constantly finding himself preoccupied with conflicting thoughts while trying not to come off as antisocial. There were the obvious thoughts about being aboard a spaceship in orbit and the attending strangeness of the situation. There was the idea that he was chosen among all the people expressing gifts as being right for the job of... what? Superhero?

And then of course there were the others. The Fool seemed aptly named and Joe wondered what he'd be like to work with. On the construction site, fools got hurt. What ZEN had planned didn't sound any less dangerous. Chris seemed like a decent guy. The plant guy was... a plant.  Onatop here came off a little stand-offish, but given the situation he wasn't about to judge anyone just yet.  It didn't hurt that she decorated the place nicely, the single Dad thought while trying not to come off creepy.

Once they reached the living space, Joe's bot thingy gave him the instructions to open his door. Apparently he shared a wall with Onatop. They stood there and he looked over with excitement/trepidation.  She avoided his look like he was the plague - what was up with that? - but he just shrugged it off and touched his door which slid silently into the floor's recess.  He walked inside and the door closed behind him.

Joe looked around and though tthat it was the biggest bedroom he'd ever had. Even the room he shared wth his brother when they were kids was half the size of this place. It wasn't until he had stepped well inside and looked around that he first noticed the costume. Soundlessly, the companion 'bot crossed the threshold. It still held his beer can in one delicate hand.

It was all of one piece, which immediately set Joe's mouth into a cringe. There weren't any obvious openings - he figured there had to be some velcro on there somewhere - and he wondered how he'd get into it. With a shrug, he asked the robot to seal the door to give himself some privacy and then started to strip and maybe find out.

Once he got it on, he immediately liked it. A lot of his earlier fears had somehow been assuaged. He'd seen Olympic bike teams in their similarly form-fitting trunks and it looked like half a porno. Somehow this outfit was form-fitting and yet alllowed him to maintain his modesty. On the plus side, it showed off the lean, wiry physique he'd spent his adult years developing with all his hard hat work.

The colors were nice. It was all black except for his hands and lower forearms, feet and shins, and from the shoulders on up, including the pull-over head cowl that left his mouth and chin exposed. Those areas along with a stylized "N" on his chest were blue, toned perhaps exactly to match the color of the force he weilded.

The force - it had started as a riff on the old Star Wars trope, using "the force" the way he did. It had become the every-day parlance he and his daughter used to talk about it. And now, it was his heroic handle. It made sense, Joe thought. He spent a minute on the task and concluded that he didn't have anything better.

But what was the "N" all about?

"ZEN, what's with the 'N' on my chest," Joe asked while continuing his inspection of his mirrored image.

"The N indicates that you are part of The Newmen," the 'bot replied with Zen's voice. "This will be the name chosen for your group." 

"The Newmen?" Joe asked as commentary was delivered by his unapproving tone.  "Sounds like a male dancing revue or a television sitcom charcater.  How much thought went into it?"

If the robot had anything to say, it kept it to itself. It crossed to Joe's bed and, setting the beer can carefully on the floor, set about folding Joe's discarded clothing. Starlight winked and glittered through the transparent back wall, the blue-white of the planet below almost surreal in its beauty.

Joe shrugged at the non-response and allowed himself to enjoy the view.  The things he'd read about in newspaper accounts of astronauts being unable to find the words to describe just how beautiful the view from space really was finally started to make sense to him.  There really were no words to describe it.  "Beautiful" continually came to mind but even that didn't quite capture the majesty, the enormity, the fragility. 

"How is this possible," he wondered out loud to himself while he looked down on what looked to be the southwestern United States.    The planet wasn't turning like he'd seen in the movies and it took Joe a few minutes to figure out that ZEN must have the ship parked above Harmony.  It made him smile, he didn't know why.  There was a sensation inside him speaking of better things ahead and it made him feel happy and hopeful for the first time in a long time.  It made him want to drift through the window into a swan dive all the way home.  

"Zip," the Fool said as he charged into Joe's room. "Whoa, slick outfit, very classic, and the black and blue should help hide the bruises. Captain Chlorophyll is having a geekgasm out there with all the tech. I think he's going to wind up being our IT guy."

The Fool hopped up and down and did some deep knee bends. "How are you dealing with that panel that flattens out your junk? It's going to take me a bit to get used to it. Hey, is that an 'N' on your chest or a sideways 'Z'?"

"An 'N'," Joe replied while watching the fool got hrough his calesthenics routine and wondering what kind of locks the door to his room had.  Out of curiosity, he asked, "So what do you do, besides cry out for Ritalin?"

The Fool stared at Joe for a second then burst out laughing. "Hey, you're funny. Who knew? To answer your question I'm a mild mannered advertising guy in my secret identity. I got a sweet gig in the marketing department over at Lady Time Feminine Hygiene Products. Whoa! Is that the Earth?" The Fool walked over to the window, took in the view and whistled.

* * * * *

“These are your quarters.” The drone lifted one arm. Chris stared blankly at the hexagonal doorway for a full minute, not moving. “The door will open at your touch.” Nodding, Chris stepped forward and put his fingers on the door. It slid open nearly soundlessly.

The room seemed spacious, like a futuristic hotel room, complete with bed, bathroom, sitting area and a small work-space. Most everything seemed to follow the hexagonal idiom in shape. And what was with that, anyway? He thought. Made everything seem like a beehive! His eyes caught the windows (hexagonal, of course) and almost without thought he found himself walking toward them. Outside was space. Space. Stars, inky blackness, lots of empty…space.

He turned away, equal parts wonder and fear being suppressed with a deep shuddering breath. His eyes caught a bit of color and he stepped to the bed. Laid neatly across the foot of the bed was a costume.

It was of a single piece, apparently, white from the hooded mask, down across the shoulders and chest and through the inseam, blue on the outside of his torso, legs and down the arms. A hood—mask—was attached by the neck and had a blue blaze like an elongated diamond over white, the top point ending about where his forehead would be. The mask itself would cover his entire head, leaving only the nose, mouth and chin exposed. On the chest—where it was still blue—there was a large hexagonal shape, white, with a bold blue ‘N’ in the middle. There were white gloves and fold-over boots, as well. He stared at the costume for a long while before deciding that it really wasn’t that bad.

He turned around, mouth open to speak, the robot waited patently near the now closed door. Chris' mouth snapped shut again. He didn't have anything to say, really. He shrugged and, after several long moments, decided to try the costume on. That’s what it was there for, anyway.

The ordeal finally over, a slightly sweaty Chris made his way to the large mirror, hesitantly stepping into view. He took a deep breath and gave himself the once over.

He had to admit, the costume made him look good. It hugged his form, and for the first time he was more than thankful that his power, ability, or whatever it was, had also provided him a powerful looking physique. He looked…impressive. That was the word. He found himself smiling for the first time since the ordeal started.

"Enigma," he said aloud, nodding. Silly name. He might have to come up with another. That thought led to another and he frowned in concentration. His form became blurry and he felt the now-familiar floating sensation. He reached out and pushed his fingers into the wall. He smiled again. His suit reacted with his powers, and that was just cool. "INFORMATION," Intoned the small 'bot, just loud enough for Chris to hear. "It would be inadvisable to phase outside of the environs of the ship. Gravitational forces and cosmic radiation could be harmful to you at this time."

Chris nodded and smirked as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. He couldn't take his eyes off the image in the mirror.

"Yeah," he said, nodding again with a wide smile. "Yeah." Now he was starting to believe.

---------------

Nikki was startled when the grouchy older guy got on the elevator with her, and she moved so that the robot shielded her somewhat from view.  Being clad in her bathing suit among this group of strangers was a little stressful, and though a few of them had been nice - namely the Fool and the Green Man - she wasn't sure about this guy.  Keeping her head down to avoid eye contact with him, Nikki was relieved when the elevator door whooshed open.

Her robot sped out of the enclosure and she followed it down a short hall to a communal cafeteria-style room.  It stopped in front of a long wall, where she could make out strangely-shaped doorways.  "INFORMATION: Your quarters will open to your touch" the little robot intoned.

She saw the old guy arrive a few feet away and stand before a similar door, and felt him look over to her.  Nervously she pressed her hands to the smooth coldness and the door slid open.  She and the robot hurried inside, whereupon the door immediately closed behind them.  Relieved, she relaxed and looked around.

The room she was in was larger than her apartment at the commune, and boasted all of the essentials.  She found it spartan, lifeless, and except for the window which boasted a breathtaking view of the planet, devoid of beauty.  She hoped that if she had to spend long amounts of time here that she'd be allowed to decorate, or bring some plants up, or something!

On the bed was clothing, of a sort.  It appeared to be a one-piece bodysuit, in a material that resembled lycra.  She liked the colors - a swirl of ruddy browns and the reds of the mesa, with a small gold N over her heart - and she though it would go well with her dark hair and eyes.  Before pulling it on she deftly got out of her suit, mindless of the robot standing near the door.  Once she was dressed, she felt much better, more confident and she walked up to the robot.

"How does this look?" she asked it.   "I think it needs a black belt."

The small robot pointed. There, lying alongside the pillows, was a belt. Black. Lying on the floor, almost covered by her discarded suite, she found two more items - what appeared to be earth-colored socks and a black mask.   Laughing softly in delight she put on the booties (they were more substantial than socks, with rubber coating on the bottom even) and tried on the mask.  It was all surprisingly comfortable, and she took another moment to gaze at her reflection trying to imagine how people were going to see her in this getup. 

More excited and confident feeling than she'd been in ages, Nikki turned and walked out the door to see what everyone else was up to - and what their costumes looked like!

* * * * *

Chris--Enigma--turned from the lavatory area and stopped in his tracks when he saw the robot. He kept forgetting the thing was there. He regarded the drone with a thoughtful squint for several long moments before speaking.

"Uh, Zen?"

"Confirmed."

Chris nodded as if agreeing with the drone. "So you're always here."

"Always."

Again the young teacher nodded. "So, will the drones always be with us? I mean, do you need the drones to communicate with us, or can we just, you know, talk where ever and you'll hear us?"

"I am able to converse with you at any point within the ship, regardless of the presence of the server drones," Zen replied from out of the air. "Provided you have your bracelet, I am able to converse with you remotely as well." 

Chris tapped his uniform just over the heart. "What's this for?" He tucked his chin against his chest and tried to look at the insignia on his breast. "This 'N'. What is this?"

"The 'N' represent the name that will be applied to your group. Newmen."

"Oh." He nodded. "Right. You mentioned that before." He looked around the room, clasping his hands in front of him. "Okay. Um. I guess that's it, then." He looked back at the drone. "Should I keep this on? I mean, what do we do now? Neural imprinting and all that?"

"If you are ready, the imprinting can begin immediately. I would suggest you make yourself comfortable either upon the bed, or in a chair." 

"No, no, no!" Chris said quickly, putting his hands up. "I didn't mean I was ready just yet. I just--" He dropped his hands and shook his head. "Wow. You sure do take things literally." He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Okay, I'm not ready yet. I was asking because I wasn't sure if we were supposed to do something or be somewhere right away. I'm still getting a handle on all this, so let's go a little slower." He gestured toward the door. "I'm, uh, I'm going to check in with the others, okay? I'll be back for the imprinting in a bit."

"Confirmed", replied the drone. It had begun folding Chris' clothing, laying it neatly on the bed.

* * * * *

Chris exited his room at the same time as the woman did. He started to say something then stopped, mouth open, and took in her appearance. She was in a form-fitting costume of brown and red and looked...well, damn good.

He snapped his mouth shut and swallowed. "Hi," he said lamely, aware he'd been staring. "Um, nice belt."

Turning her head at the sound, Nikki's heartbeat sped up unconsciously at  the sight of the man standing nearby.   Well-muscled yet still lean and tall, she couldn't stop her eyes from devouring every ripple and curve shown off so nicely in the skintight suit.  Unaware that her pupils had dilated, making her eyes twice as dark and intense, she forced herself to breathe.  

Belt.   What belt?  He wasn't wearing a belt.  (but now having looked at his waist her eyes dropped lower).  She blushed and looked up into his face, only then noticing as his eyes dropped to her waist and then back to her eyes.

OH!  SHE was wearing the belt!  d'uh.  Feeling a little stunned, she heard herself respond.

"Thanks.  I like your suit."  and immediately thought how lame she sounded.

Chris looked down himself and smiled. "Yeah. I didn't pick it but it's kinda cool." His brows furrowed briefly. "Hey, was your costume already in your room? Mine was just laying on the bed."

"Yes, it was." she answered.  "I guess Zen picked out all of our costumes for us, maybe based on our powers?"  Nikki  took a few steps closer to him and the door to her room closed behind her.

"What are your powers?  If I had to guess from the colors I'd say you could fly or something to do with the sky, and clouds." 
smiling, she gazed up into his hazel eyes and thought it was awfully warm in the room.

"No, no," he said. "No flying. Not really, anyway. I can float, sort of." He gave a short shake of his head and attempted to start over. "Basically I can increase or decrease my density. When I increase my density I weigh a lot, like literally a ton. But I'm really strong and damn near impossible to hurt when I'm like that. But I can also decrease my density so that I can float on the air, walk through walls...stuff like that."

He chuckled. "You know, that's the first time I've really said it out loud. Described my powers, I mean."

"Zen is calling me Onatah, but you can call me Nikki."  she said warmly as she held out her hand.

"I'm Chris." He took the proffered hand and gave it a light shake. "Zen seems to have named me Enigma, but I'm not sure why."

"Hopefully we'll learn more soon." she replied.  He didn't ask about her powers, didn't really seem interested in her as a matter of fact, so she didn't offer any further info about herself.  Taking another look at his superb physique she sighed and told her hormones to stop acting foolish and get to business.

Shrugging she turned and made her way into the center of the common room and looked around.  She saw what appeared to be a kitchen area and went over to investigate. 

Meanwhile, Joe had exited his room and walked up to Chris.  He made a "what do you think" gesture with his arms and hands.

"I'm not a fashionista, but I like it," he said. 

Chris nodded, chuckling. "It's you," he said, offering a thumbs up. He then held out his arms and did a slow turn. "Huh? Huh? It's me, right? I mean, if we're going to do this we might as well look good doing it, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Joe chuckled back. 

"I still can't believe we're doing this," he added, sobering somewhat.  "Up until now it's been working with heavy stuff in my back yard.  I've never thought about using the force on another person, or against them."

Chris let his arms drop, his expression sobering. "I hear you. An hour ago I was worried someone might find out about me, think me a...a freak or something. But if this is real...I mean, this is real." He waved a hand to encompass their environs. "There's no reason to think the rest of it isn't, either, and if we can do something good..." he trailed off with a shrug. "I'm willing to give it a shot, anyway. See what else Zen has in store for us."

Joe nodded in agreement as Chris spoke.  "Yeah, I hear you.  If nothing else it'll beat trying to keep what I can do a secret."

Chris extended his hand. "I'm Chris, by the way. Enigma, according to Zen, but that'll take some getting used to."

"Joe," Joe replied, shaking the offered hand.  "Or 'Force', I guess.  You know, I kinda like that."

"That's a good name," Chris said. "I assume you do something...um...forceful?"

"Yeah!" Aaron said as he burst from Joe's quarters. "What can you do? What can we all do? Show and tell time, kiddies."

Chris smiled in spite of himself. The one Zen called 'The Fool' seemed eager to the point of obnoxiousness, but there was something likable in his exuberance.

"Well, let's get everyone together, then, so we don't have to do this more than once." He raised his head a little. "Hey, Nikki! You want to join us for a second?" He looked around. "And where's the other guy? The plant guy."

"I'll get him," the Fool said as he ran to the Green Man's room, vaulted over the man, and settled into a crouch on a counter next to the sink. "Come quick, Timmy's fallen in the well." Without waiting for a reply, the Fool ran back to the common area.

---

Jeremy didn’t even have time to react as the red and white form darted into his room, babbled something about Timmy and a well then left just as quickly. It took him a minute to realize that it had been the Fool. He considered this a moment before turning to the Zen drone. “Zen, is there any relevant situation that could be described as Timmy being trapped in a well?”

"Psychological modeling suggest that this is a reference to popular culture, specifically television," Zen intoned via the bot. "The Fool is requesting your presence in the common room." 

Jeremy shook his head and smiled. "That has nothing to do with Timmy or wells. Appropriate considering his title." He pulled his hand from the sink and turned off the faucet. The remaining water was rapidly absorbed into his body. There was still plenty of caffeine buzzing around in his system, but the worst of it was gone. "Zen, is it possible to seal this room? If these are going to be my personal quarters, I would prefer not to have any further intrusions."

"Confirmed." The door behind him slid silently upwards, sealing  Jeremy off from further bother. "State 'lock' or 'unlock', and the door will comply." 

"Please set  the door to close automatically behind me, whether entering or leaving and to only open if I touch the door."

"Confirmed."

Jeremy nodded and walked over and touched the door.
---

Hearing her name Nikki turned to see almost everyone that had been on the transporter pad assembled in the main area of the common room.  They all had costumes on, and looked very different from their first meeting.  They looked, well, like heroes.  She hurried over to the group, smiling at the sight of the Fool racing around in his costume. 

"What's up?" she asked no one in particular.

"Show and tell," Joe replied.  "A little dog and pony show to see what we all can do."

At these words she nodded, still smiling, for she was eager to learn what powers they all had.  The smile soon faded though, as she wondered how she was going to show them what she did here, on a ship in space, in an atmosphere that seemed devoid of earth and living things. 

The door to the Green Man's quarters slid open, revealing the plant person. He stepped through and paused a few steps from the door, looking back at it, waiting for something. The door slid shut behind him and he nodded, finally approaching the others. He was not wearing a costume, instead he remained a collection of intertwined vines forming a human form. He nodded to the others, but said nothing. They would explain in due time. 

Seeing the Green Man join their group, Nikki had hope.  If he truly was a living plant then he would need earth to sustain him, wouldn't he?  There would have to be some on the ship somewhere! 

Chris couldn't help himself from smiling. Seeing them all together--in uniform, and on a spaceship, no less--gave him a little thrill the likes of which he'd never felt before. He'd gone from skeptic to believer, and all it had taken was a change of clothes. And abilities far beyond those of normal men, of course.

"Hey," he said to everyone. "I'm Chris. I, uh...I'm not normally such a dork about stuff. All of this," he waved a hand. "It was just a bit much to process all at once. It's one thing to think you have freaky abilities you shouldn't let anyone know about, but it's something else entirely to discover there are others like you, and that we might have a purpose, after all." He shrugged a little. "I'm just saying I'm still trying to get used to this, and I think it'd help me--all of us--if we knew each other a little better."

Taking a deep breath he said, "Zen is calling me Enigma. I don't really know why. My ability--my power--is that I can change my density. I become super heavy," he concentrated, and suddenly he was thicker than before, more solid. "I'm very strong and very hard to hurt when I'm like this, but like I said, I'm also really heavy. It's hard on the furniture." He chuckled at his own joke, then concentrated again. Suddenly he seemed hazy, indistinct, like viewing someone through a foggy window. "I can also make myself like a ghost. I'm immaterial in this form and can walk through walls and such." He pushed a little and rose into the air. "I'm working on trying to fly but so far it's more of a controlled float." Again that nervous chuckle as he lowered gently to the floor. And just as quickly he was normal again.

He held his arms out in a "ta da" gesture. "And that's me." He smiled and nodded at no one in particular and waited to see if someone else would step up or if he was going to look like an idiot.

"That is so cool," Joe commented while looking Chris over.  He shook himself out of his admiration of what the other man could do and decided to step up.

"Okay, so I'm Joe, pelased to meet you."  His tone and mannerisms were clearly blue-collar and casual.  "My Zen name is Force, which makes sense because that's what I do... uh, use... whatever.  It's probably easier to just show you."

Joe stepped outside of their circle and looked around the common room.  After a moment he extended a hand towards a large padded chair.  A light blue energy shot forth from his hand and captured the chair in a corresponding bright blue glow.  At Joe's command, the chair rose easily off the floor to float in the air near the center of the room.

"I've always called it 'the force'," he said to the group as he made the chair tumble slowly in place around all three axes.  I can lift things, move stuff, throw 'em around pretty good.  The heaviest thing I've tried to move is my truck and that was easy.  I can lash out with it, too.  I smashed up a fridge pretty good."

The chair settled back into place and Joe turned towards the others. 

"I can use it to make stuff, too," he said, and with a palms-out gesture a brilliant blue wall of light appeared and bisected the room between he and they.  "It's pretty tough," he explained.  "I haven't tested how tough, though.  I beat on it with a sledge and hurt my hands, though, so that's pretty tough.  I can do a bubble, too."

And with a shifting of his hands, the wall curled itself into a sphere that encompassed Joe completely.  From inside, his somewhat muffled voice had an odd distorted tone to it.

"Once I couldn't find anything heavier than my truck that I could practice on without giving myself away, I started focusing my practice on handling smaller things and doing finer work."

The bubble containing Joe vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. 

"Watch this," the young construction worker said with an excited anticipation of finally being able to share this with others.

He turned towards the small kitchenette and pointed at the sink.  A small wave of the blue light force shot out to illuminate the faucet and start the cold water flowing.  With a flourish of his other hand, Joe made a force cup appear in the air.  The hand that had turned on the water now directed a flow of just enough water through the air and into his cup until it was three-quarters filled.  Joe used the force to turn off the water and then proceeded to grasp the glowing cup of light and drink the water therein.  When he was done and the cup was empty he made it dissapear and smiled broadly at the others.

"The trick to that bit was stopping the water going into the cup before it overflowed so that there wasn't an excess in the air that I had to send back to the sink.  I used the mop a lot," he admitted sheepishly.

When Joe paused, possibly finished with his demonstration, Nikki took the opportunity to ask a question.

"How long have you been practicing?  I mean, how long have you had your powers?"  she looked at both Chris and Joe.

As the heroes conversed, another of the service drones arrived, rising up out of the floor on the maglift. It moved into the room quietly, behind it floated three octagonal containers daisy-chained together. The containers floated an inch or so off the floor, and were uncovered. Within the first, earth. The second, chunks of what appeared to be rock. The third, sand. The drone, and the containers, stopped near Nikki.

Noticing movement in her peripheral vision, she looked over to see several large floating tubs stop nearby.  Her face lit up when she identified what was in them.  Now when it was her turn she could show them some of what she could do! 
She turned back to the group to follow the conversation.

Joe crossed his arms and thoughtfully looked over at Chris and shrugged.  "A few months?" he asked. 

Chris nodded thoughtfully, adding a small shrug to indicate "give or take".

"At least since last spring," he said to Nikki.  "The first time I used the force was around the end of March.  I've only been practicing seriously for a couple of months, though."

Nikki nodded, impressed.  Their powers were so awesome that she felt nervous and unworthy somehow.

"Same here," Chris added. "A while ago I noticed that I was getting into shape much faster than a couple of trips to the gym every week would indicate. I got a little stronger, too. I can lift a small car even without using my powers. With my powers I can lift a train car. Then the rest of it started kicking in. A few months back I woke up floating above my bed. The day after that I woke up on the floor, having broken my bed." He smirked. "Lots of trial and error figuring my abilities out, I can tell you, but I've become quite the handyman because of it."

Jeremy watched the others quietly. Ah, so it is time for introductions and displaying powers. He nodded to himself and took a half step forward and prepared himself. Introductions were always hard. “I’m Jeremy. My heroic identity is the Green Man, chosen both for the obvious correlation with my new form and for the mythological implications. My ‘abilities’ stem from the fact that I am…well, I’m not…”

He paused, one finger pressed to his lips, eyes staring at the floor. Seconds ticked by before he continued. Finally, he looked back up at them, the vines in his face and body twisting in discomfort. “I hesitate to say that I am no longer human, for I still consider myself as such, however, cellularly, I am for all intensive purposes, a plant. My body is composed of a multitude of separate vines which I can control independently.”

He held out his right arm and it proceeded to unravel. A dozen or so vines waved lazily in the air. He pulled within himself and the vines extended, effectively doubling in length. As he continued, the vines that been his arm wrapped themselves around his chest merging with his body.

“I don’t really need food anymore and I don’t need much sleep. My body is quite resilient and I can have a limited effect on other plants near me.” As he finished, a new arm wove itself out of his shoulder.

“My body began to change about a year ago. I have been doing more ahh…dedicated training over the last few months. I ahh...suppose that is all.” He looked about hesitantly. His solid amber 'eyes' still didn't blink. This was the first time he had ever really shown his abilities off to anyone else and it was rather unnerving.

There was a lull in the conversation, and Nikki sensed the Green Man was uncomfortable.  Taking a breath she decided it was her turn.

"According to Zen I am Onatah.  In native american legends she is earth daughter, earth diver, or earth woman.  That makes sense, I guess, since the powers that I've discovered all have to do with various forms of earth."

Turning around she walked over to the tubs. 

"Zen seems to have brought these up for me to use my powers on.  I'm still learning, but I'll show you what I know so far." 

She reached down and touched the tub of sand.  They watched as the sand flowed over her body, covering everything but her hair.  Within moments it coalesced into a glittering surface of stone.

"I guess this is like armor - in it I can withstand quite a bit more damage than a normal person."

She then held her hand over the tub and the stone covering her body melted back into sand, flowing like liquid back into the container.  Moving to the tub of rocks, she pointed to one of the largest ones - a boulder, actually - and asked the Force if he would hold it up for her. 

"No problem," Joe replied, happy to be able to use his gift without having to look over his shoulder.  He gestured to the large rock and soon had it enveloped within an azure aura of force, hovering off the ground where Nikki directed.

When the boulder, which was approximately half her size, was floating successfully in the air she walked over to it.  Then she proceeded to slowly walk through it.  A disconcerting sight, as they could see her legs still walking beneath the stone while her upper body simply disappeared into it.  She emerged unscathed from the other side and turned to Joe.

"Thank you."

She finally walked over to the tub of earth and paused.  A shy smile appeared as she reached down to cup a large amount of dirt in both hands.  Bringing it up they expected to see it fall away, as the quantity was much greater than the volume her small hands could hold.  Instead they saw the dirt become almost liquid and she moved her fingers to manipulate it as one would mold clay.  Within moments they recognized what she was making - a replica of the little robot that followed them all!
With precision and grace she made a few final caresses and then the object hardened into a glittering stone sculpture. 

"I originally discovered my powers when I was working on throwing a clay pot - suddenly the clay seemed to come to life and became what I saw in my mind almost effortlessly.  I haven't had much chance to find anything other than these abilities I've shown you but I hope to discover more uses for this power than just making pretty things."  she shrugged and passed the little robot statue to the Fool, hoping she hadn't made a fool of herself.

The Fool smiled broadly as he took the statue from Onatah. "You guys are so cool. This is the best day ever. Ever!" He sat the robot statue on a nearby table and limbered up.

"Okay, give me a little room and I'll blow your minds." The Fool did a backflip. A really, really, really good backflip. When he was done he gestured with a dramatic flourish. "Ta da!"

Nikki smiled and gave a little golf clap. 

The Green Man watched the Fool perform a back flip, his eyes silently staring. It was rather impressive. He had never bothered to watch the Olympics, but he imagined that their performances must consist of a lot of that sort of thing. He felt a vague urge to count how many rotations Aaron had completed and hold up a little card with a score. He waited patiently for the Fool to either continue or explain.

The Fool looked from face to face hoping to find some kind of reaction... any reaction. "What?"

It became clear that the Fool’s performance was, in fact, complete. Jeremy thought back over what he had just seen, suddenly confused. The back flip had indeed been impressive, but there hadn’t been anything else there. Unless… yes, that must be it. He spoke up, a hesitant rumble. “The changes to my physiology have not significantly affected my sense. If your powers operate outside of a normal human’s visible or auditory range you will need to explain it.” He paused briefly. His arms hanging at his sides and his eyes still staring, he had hardly moved since the Fool began his demonstration. “In fact, an explanation would be appreciated, regardless.”

"Are you kidding me?" the Fool said. "That was a gold medal backflip. Know what? Forget gold. That flip would have won me platinum. Check this out." He backflipped a complete lap around the room never shutting up for a second.

"I'm like the world's greatest super athlete now, and..." The Fool paused and did his best Keanu Reeves. "I know kung fu." He gave an exhibition of his fighting prowess by punching and kicking a legion of imaginary foes. Said exhibition seemed to have no natural end as he kept kicking and punching, kicking and punching.

"That's pretty cool," Joe said blandly.  He turned to the others and shrugged.  "I can't do that."

Chris nodded briefly, followed by a shake of the head. He couldn't do that, either.

Jeremy shifted to keep the Fool’s performance in view, quietly watching him show off. He didn’t remember any platinum medals in sports. His mind briefly wandered off trying to remember when the last time he had actually been involved in any form of physical sport was, but quickly abandoned the process as futile. Platinum was inherently superior to gold and Aaron’s moves were quite good. Jeremy watched the Fool moving fluidly from one move to the next and knew that he was nowhere near as quick or skilled as the other man. He watched patiently, giving Aaron a chance to finish his routine, but the Fool seemed to have no interest in stopping.

"How do you do with actual targets?" Nikki called to the acrobat.  Reaching into the nearest barrel of sand, she withdrew a series of melon-sized balls and tossed them at him in rapid succession.

The Fool dodged the first sand ball easily, and with a mighty "Haiiia!!" he kicked the second one. That's where everything went south. The sand ball exploded, leaving the Fool covered in sand, blinking and sputtering. He didn't even see the third one which struck him square in the face and knocked him down.

Ducking as sand flew everywhere from the Fool's kick, Nikki hurried over.  Reaching down she touched the sand covering him.  As if magnetized it flowed up her arm, over her shoulders, and back down the other arm to coalesce into a ball in the palm of her other hand.  She held her empty hand out to help him up.

"Guess we need to work on target practice, huh?"  she asked, hoping he wasn't mad.

The Fool took the offered hand up with a smile. "That was so cool! Yeah, we have to practice a lot, like, in a danger room or something."

"I could use more practice," Chris--Enigma--admitted. "But what's a danger room?"

Jeremy watched the performance without comment or expression. He remembered hearing about the Danger Room. It had something to do with comics which meant that the Doc would know. He wasn't certain, so he didn't say anything about it. However, the general idea of training did need a comment. "Practice and training together would be quite beneficial."

He looked to the nearest Zen drone. "Zen, what facilities does the Harmony 1 have that would be appropriate for training?"

"Harmony 1 is equipped with hard light simulations, an extensive neural renm meme library, and several gymnasiums." Zen said from the air. "The ship is also able to teleport you to any destination you wish upon the planets surface for environmental outings." 

"Neural what now?" the Fool said.

"Renm meme's," Zen replied promptly. "Quantum memory engrams." Around the group, the robots that had accompanied each formed a line next to the entrance platform and fell silent and still. 

Nikki had listened to the exchange avidly, yet still had no idea what Zen was talking about.  Searching the others faces she guessed they might not have grasped the computer's explanation any better than she did.  The silence in the room stretched on, confirming her suspicion.

Jeremy considered this. The vines across his face and shoulders slowly rearranging themselves as he thought about it. Hard light simulations...that would be holograms with substance, effectively Star Trek's holodeck. Yet more technology that was way ahead of anything he had heard of. Gymnasiums were obvious and unappealing. However, the third part was what puzzled him and his mind worked hard to decipher what exactly a neural renm meme or a quantum memory engram was. He remained silent while he thought, staring blankly towards the ZEN drones.

"Oh, that," the Fool said. "Why didn't you say so. Everybody knows about... uh... quantum memory... thingees. Listen, I'm going to go back and check out that teleporter. That thing has mischief written all over it."

Joe leaned back against the wall as his expression quickly clouded over like a summer storm.  Danger room, hard light, neural renm memes, quantum memories... none of it made the slightest bit of sense to him and Joe found himself feeling really, really stupid.  He wasn't stupid, he knew that, and his gifts seemed at least on par with what the others could do.  Yet as he ran a hand over the day-old stubble shading his chin he couldn't help but feel like he was, at least intellectually, in way over his head.

"I'm, uh, I'm going to head back down to... you know... the planet." Joe said quickly, the words sounding silly and unreal even as he said them.  He needed to get out of here.  He'd never been claustrophobic but he thought he might be becoming so. 

"Zen, can you teleport me from here back to my house or do I need to go back down to the platform?"

"Please return to the Teleport." Zen replied calmly. "Intra-ship use of the device is restricted to emergencies only."

Watching the others decide to ignore what they didn't understand bothered Nikki.  A lot.  She refused to accept ignorance and raised her voice so all would hear her.

"Zen, I do not understand what a remn meme is as I have not studied quantum memory engrams.  Please explain further, how are they used, and could you show us where the gymnasium is?" 

She looked hopefully at the others.

Jeremy made no reply, but listened intently. These engrams were a curiosity he needed to investigate and if he could get the answers now he wouldn't have to ask about them later.

"The technology to generate quantum memory engrams does not exist currently," Zen replied. "Remn meme's are quantum memories, the process so named after its discoverer, Doctor Lucian Remn. In all of infinite probability, each of you have potentially learned nearly any particular skill. The remn process is able to extrapolate the nueral pathways that would need to exist within your individual minds, create a template of the altered mind, and then apply that template to install the skill." 

As Zen explained, Nikki's eyes lit up.  "You mean, you have a library of any skill we want to know?  How do you install the skill in our minds?  How long does it take?  Are there any side effects?" 

"Confirmed," Zen replied. "The process takes roughly an hour to initiate, run, and validate. Side effects include minor headaches, temporary confusion, and a sensitivity to the colors red, orange and yellow. The medical facilities aboard Harmony One contain the needed equipment to implant the skills in each of you." 

Jeremy considered this. "And this system will work with my ahh... unique body structure?"

"Confirmed."

Chris looked like he was about to join them, then stopped himself. "I'm going to hang out here a bit. See what else there is to see." He smiled tightly and nodded.

"I will remain aboard Harmony One." Jeremy rumbled. There was nothing he needed from the surface and there was so much to investigate here. If this neural remn meme things worked the way it sounded, it would significantly reduce the amount of time he needed to study. He may as well try it. 

"Yeah, Zen I'd like to stay onboard and try out the Meme's if that's ok."  She thought it would at least be really cool to impress her self-defense instructor with new skills if it worked. 

Joe nodded and then gave a slight smile and a shrug to the others before walking over to board the elevator. 

"Um," Chris held up a hand, looking at Joe. "If you're going back down, you might, uh..." he trailed off, waving his hand vaguely. "You know, change. Or not. Just sayin'."

"Nah, I'm good," Joe replied.  "I gotta get used to it anyway."

The Fool, who was already on the platform, cocked his head to one side. "Change? Why should he change? Me, I may never take this thing off." The pair descended, the platform moving smoothly and silently through the unseen innards of the ship. The Fool let out a deep, cleansing breath and rubbed his neck. "What a day."

Joe laughed a little at the magnitude of the Fool's understatement.  "Yeah, no shit though."

Chris waited long enough to see what the others were going to do before clapping his hands together. "Okay. I'm going back into my room for a bit, ask some questions, that sort of thing." He gave a tight smile and a half-hearted wave. "See you guys around, right?"

Jeremy watched the others breaking away and looked to one of the Zen drones. "Zen, how can I get to the quantum memory engram library?" ((Yep, changing actions...)) 

The Fool returned to the bridge and fiddled with the console until he once again read 'Destination Coordinates'. "Zen, I need your help finding something planetside."

"INQUIRY: What is the subject of your search?"

"Trouble," the Fool said with a smile. "I'm looking for trouble." After a brief dialogue with Zen, the Fool disappeared in a flash of white light.

Joe waited until the Fool had gone before boardign the platform himself.  He'd listened to the acrobat's choice of destination and questioned both the man's stability and his judgement, but certainly not his courage.  The kid had guts.

"Okay..."  Joe sighed and then asked, "Zen, can you send me into my bedroom in my house?"

?

(OOC: I've created new game pages for each of you (Chris and Green Man). Feel free to continue on those pages.)