Here is the next part. For some reason, I wrote roughly 3-4 times as much as I intended to for this installment. I think it came out all right, but I'll let you be the judge. Enjoy!
The Cheating Cheater Who Cheats
=A Worm Quest=
Entry 1.3: The Golden Fool Arrives
[X] I want to see if the universe gifted me with more free stuff. I'm going to head to my cabin and scour it from top to bottom!
[X] I want to examine the goodies I found in my bag in private. I'm going to go to my cabin to do so.
[X] I'm starting to get hungry. I should to look around for somewhere that I can get lunch.
You decide to head to be efficient, and use kill two birds with one stone. You find a conveniently placed map on one of the bulkheads, which lists the location of everything on the ship. You use it to find where your cabin is supposedly located, and head there immediately. Your stroll through the ship takes at most ten minutes, and that is only because of your unfamiliarity with its layout; your room was rather close to where the universe dropped you, it seems.
You arrive at an unassuming door in a hall of identical portals, which reads simply A35. You experience a moment of panic after finding the door locked, before you remember you find a small key in your pocket, which you seem to have overlooked earlier. You open the door quickly, slip inside, and then lock it behind you.
Your room is small, maybe 300 square feet at most, but it is cozy and looks like heaven to your eyes. The room is similar to those in several of the nicer motels you have stayed in before, but about three notches or so better in quality. You had half-expected to find Duke, your dog and traveling companion, here but the room shows no sign of canine habitation. You allow yourself a moment of sadness over his loss before moving on.
The soft looking bed has a large suitcase sitting on it, with several sets of what you would consider posh, or rich people clothing. To the eyes of most people they would be the type of clothing those in the upper-middle class would wear. Sitting on the bed, next to the clothing, is a small futuristic looking device, about the size of a the smartphones you saw many people carrying around toward the end of your previous existence. You pick it up to examine it, turning it this way and that. You have a vague feeling that when you were a creature of light you have specifically requested this thing for some reason.
You feel something tentatively reach into your mind, and then
connect to the core of your being. The sheer strangeness and intense intimacy of this sensation causes you to freeze up for a moment, your eyes wide. The strangeness passes, but the connection remains, even stronger than it was initially.
You realize that the connection, which seems to be somehow
beyond mental, leads back to the device in your hand. The impression of assent comes from the box after this thought, confirming your suspicious..
"What are you?" you whisper in awe, looking at the tiny wonder in your hand.
"
Ploong!" You are bombarded by the concept of everything matronly and good, and a burst of intense protective love aimed squarely at you. The feeling this evokes in you is so strong that you begin to weep. You know that Duke loved you, that your mother loved you once upon a time, but you've never felt love, just for you, coming from an external source like that. It is a humbling experience that another being could feel affection like that for you.
"Motherbox," you say to her (most empathetically not "it"), trying out the closest approximation you can think of for the concept she transmitted to describe herself when she spoke to you telepathically and empathically. Telempathically? She gives you a soft "
Ploong." of assent, agreeing with you and settling the matter. You send Motherbox a mental smile while wearing a physical one, and she sends back the concept of a warm hug. She may not be Duke, but you have a feeling that you and Motherbox will get along just fine.
You worry for a moment at your quick acceptance and lack of suspicion toward Motherbox… But then you realize that you are being silly When Motherbox bonded with you it was a mingling of essence, of
souls, and there was no deception possible there. You don't think Motherbox is even capable of trying to deceive you, her partner. Also, your bond is permanent, and can only be ended through either you death, or hers…. and you have a feeling that if you died, Motherbox wouldn't be long in joining you.
You decide to keep Motherbox on your person at all times; the idea of someone making off with her makes you sick. You look her over for a clip or fastener, as she is a little too large to fit in your trouser pocket. The sentient machine lightly chids you, sending you an image of yourself pressing her up against the side of your belt. You do so, and feel her stick to your belt as if she were glued on. You wonder briefly what else your new friend can do besides communicating mind-to-mind and sticking to things.
Motherbox evidently takes your idle thought as a request. "
Ploong," she informs you. You are rewarded by a tsunami of information impacting your brain, flooding your conscious and unconscious minds with vasts amounts of data. You learn that Motherbox isn't just a companion.
Motherbox holds a complete archive of every piece of data every written or recorded by the populations of two entire worlds. She's also an infinitely versatile toolbox, a form of faster-than-light transportation, a gravity control device, an insanely potent power plant, an environmental suit, a supercomputer, and so many other things that it makes your head hurt to thinks about.
According to the data-dump, Motherbox was created by a race of literal gods, for the purpose of assisting them in their day-to-day lives. Motherboxes like her were her progenitor race's ultimate technological achievement; living, sentient computers capable of permanently bonding with a single being's very soul. These living machines were highly prized and well respected, being treated less like possessions and more like cherished friends. You realize that you had totally lucked out in finding and bonding with her; it was a good thing that you came back to your cabin when you did.
You sit for a few minutes, just letting the newly gifted knowledge settle. Honestly, this is a lot to deal with. People with superpowers are one thing; godlike aliens are quite another entirely. You realize that with Motherbox's help you could potentially recreate any and all of the New Gods (yes, they actually referred to themselves as Gods) technology base, and more importantly, you have all the knowledge of the principals they operated on at your fingertips. You and Motherbox might just be able to usher in a scientific golden age that would lead to Earth expanding into space and colonizing the stars. Or something.
You stop for a moment, wondering how and why you're thinking complex thoughts like these. Your mind hasn't been all that clear, focused, or quick since you were a kid… and even then you weren't
this clever. Did Motherbox do something to enhance your mind?
"
Ploong." Motherbox says to you, denying the allegation. She does, however, let you know that if you wish to enhance yourself, she is fully capable of performing astral surgery on your soul, that would turn
you into a New God… if you are so inclined. Hiding your shock, you ask your new friend what becoming a New God would entail, and what exactly it would do to you.
"
Ploong!" Her reply is complicated, much more technical and in depth than you can currently comprehend, but she gives you the highlights. Basically, becoming a New God enhances your salient qualities and greatest strengths, allowing you to transcend the mortal condition and become something vastly greater and more powerful. Each New God is unique, different from all others, though some do share abilities and similar themes. You would embody a concept, and your enhancements would structure themselves around making you a suitable "God" for whatever concept you had a knack or aptitude for.
As a New God, you would still inhabit the same body, but it would be enhanced, along with your soul, to far beyond mortal levels of strength, speed, and endurance. You would also become ageless and nearly immortal, able to very slowly recover from anything that doesn't fully destroy your soul. Motherbox advises you that any superpowers you have would probably count as your salient qualities, and that they would be markedly more powerful and generally more capable after the astral surgery… to a point. So you should definitely figure out what your powers are, how to use them, and what their limits are before becoming a New God.
Finally, Motherbox warns you that you must be sure that you are ready before she begins changing you into a New God, as the process cannot be stopped or reversed, and is permanent. She suggests that you work on improving yourself first, as the more powerful you are as a mortal, the more you will get out of your ascension. She lets you know that as a New God, your physical form will be far less mutable, so if you want to gain any physical powers, change your appearance, or age more or gain some muscle mass, then you should do it beforehand unless you want these things to take several times longer.
You have a lot to consider. Who knew that you might one day be considering becoming an actual God? How do you proceed after this revelation? Should you become a New God?
[ ] Fuck safety, surety, and preparation; I'm going to ascend to Godhood right now! Motherbox, bring on the astral surgery!
[ ] I really like the idea of becoming a New God. It's definitely in my plans for the future.
[ ] I'm not sure one way or another. I'm going to need some more information and time to reflect before I seriously consider becoming a New God.
[ ] I'm not that interested, I've already got superpowers and the means to improve them. It sounds like becoming a New God could interfere with that.
[ ] Definitely not! I'm not going to alter my soul! Not now, not ever!
After your startling conversation with Motherbox, you search the rest of the room for more items. You already found a suitcase on the bed, as it was obvious when you walked into the room. You dig through all of the nooks and crannies in the suitcase, to see if it contains anything interesting, as your backpack did.
[Do you find anything interesting in the suitcase? Roll (1) D100 - Result: 84 - Success+++ - Epic Item 'Yata Mirror' obtained] Authors Note: Goddamn, you guys are lucky!
Hiding in a medium sized interior zipper pouch is an object that looks like it would be more at home in a museum. You pull a thin, concave disc made of what looks like obsidian out of the bag, marveling at its beauty. It looks like a small stylized shield of some kind. The shield has a raised eight-pointed star surrounding the center of the exterior, which takes up maybe a quarter of the total surface area. Etched concentric rings surround the star, taking up most of the remaining surface area, until they meet the solid border at the edge of the shield. In the exact center of the eight-point star sits a half-sphere of some purple crystal, embedded firmly into the shield.
The little obsidian shield is quite beautiful, as an art piece, and you briefly wonder why it was in your suitcase, before dismissing the thought. That line of thinking isn't helpful in the here and now. The stone disc is maybe one foot across, so it doesn't take up too much room. You put it in your backpack instead of back inside the suitcase for some reason; maybe it'll come in handy later?
The rest of the suitcase is filled with clothes, travel sundries, and not much else. You move to the rest of the room to finish looking for other items. Acting upon your desire to search the room for unusual objects, Motherbox lets out a stately "
Ploong!", and points you toward the bathroom You search around a bit, and after playing marco-polo with your living computer, you find yourself lifting the top off of the toilet's tank and peering into the water-filled reservoir. At the bottom of the tank is a large pill bottle, which you pull out of the water. It weighs quite a bit, much more than regular medicine could possibly account for. After drying the small container off, you open the bottle to see what's inside.
[Do you find anything interesting in the pill bottle? Roll (1) D100 - Result:56 - Success - Item 'Bottle of Jewels' ] Authors Note: Finally, a normal roll! 
You pour the glittering contents of the bottle into your hand, peering at the small stones intently. The bottle was full of a random assortment of cut gemstones, none bigger than your pinky nail, though some considerably smaller than that. You recognize emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, but you have no idea what the yellow or purple ones are. All-in-all, this is something you would have shat your pants and danced for joy at finding--before today, that is. Still, gemstones are worth quite a bit, so you reseal the bottle and stow it in the false compartment in your pack with the other high-value items.
. . .
You double-check manually and with Motherbox to see if there are any more secret items in your little cabin, but there are none… not even under the bed. Life is odd, you consider, when you are searching random places for loot like some kind of computer game character. Or one of those nerdy losers who play that dragon paper and dice game, like your cousin Steve. Still, your efforts seem to have paid off. You remember your second reason for being here, and decide to get started. Pulling yourself out from under the bed, you jump up, grabbing your pack.
You decide to take a closer peek at the weird shit you pulled out of your luggage earlier today, to see if you can figure out what any of it does. You place the phial of green liquid, the golden glove-gauntlet thingy, and the small obsidian shield on the writing desk side by side. You stare at the three items intently for a moment. You try making a stern face and cocking an eye at the glove, but this course of action fails to illicit a response. Pity, that-- you had high hopes for your patented 'cock eyed glare'; It had never failed to make Scion squirm uncomfortably.
You pick up the phial, turning it over in your hands as you study the etching. It still reads "Mars", just like earlier. You gently pull the stopper from the vial, shaking it into the phial to insure none of the fluid is lost. Placing the bottle under your nose, you use your sense of scent to take its measure. You are nearly
staggered by how delicious the fluid smells. Your mouth begins watering uncontrollably, saliva pooling around your tongue. You quickly stopper the vial before you drink it involuntarily, and set it back on the desk. Your stomach begins to churn, and you feel impossibly thirsty, as if you haven't had anything to drink in years. You run back to the bathroom and gulp down mouthful after mouthful of water from the sink, finally stopping when your stomach is so full it's fit to burst.
"Maybe that wasn't the best idea," you muse out loud.
"
Ploong." agrees Motherbox. She offers to scan the phial, as well as the other two items, so that she can attempt to identify them for you.
"Well, why didn't you say that to start with?" you asked her grumpily. A sheepish
Ploong is her only response.
Motherbox quickly informs you that she is unable to scan the liquid inside the phial, as the material of the vessel seems to be absorbing the energy she uses to perform scans. You steel yourself, and remove the cap from the container once more, keeping it as far from your face as possible. Motherbox quickly gets what she needs, and signals you to close the container up. You catch a faint whiff of the heavenly stuff as you close the phil tight. You wonder what it tastes like… surely a tiny sip couldn't hurt?
"
PLOONG!" cries Motherbox, snapping you out of your trance. You manage to control yourself at the last minute, pulling the open container away from your mouth and re-stoppering it once more. Damn was that a close one, you think. What the hell was going on here?
"Thanks." you mutter. That was scary. Something about that green stuff made you want to drink it in the worst way, more than you've ever wanted to eat or drink anything before in your life. You make the decision not to open the bottle by yourself again, unless you've made an informed decision to drink it while not under the influence of whatever substance is inside. This makes you feel better, and more in control. Just in case, you hide the bottle in your secret compartment again, putting it out of sight and mind.
"What did you find out?" you ask your portable digital assistant. She utters her customary vocalization and sends you a report of what she learned from scanning the contents of the phial. You read through the data, skipping over portions that you don't have the background to understand. You take a moment to mentally digest the material before summarizing.
"It interacts with the soul, like some of the New God stuff does? And it's definitely a serum designed to make humans stronger and more powerful?" you ask. Motherbox
Ploongs in agreement. She then clarifies, sending over more data. "It partially changes the DNA of whoever drinks it?" you mutter, "And you
don't think it would be harmful at all? Then why does it seem to be designed to make anyone who smells it drink it?" you wonder.
"
Ploong." 'Yes, I'm sure it's harmless.' and 'I'm sure I don't know, darling.'
"Hmm… well, I don't know. If it
does make me stronger, and if it
doesn't have any side effects, then it would probably be worth drinking it. Honestly, though, I don't even really know what my current powers are. For all I know, it might do the same thing as my current powers, only worse."
You ponder for a few moments what to do here. It seems the crystal and silver phial you found contains some kind of liquid that was created to enhance humans, making them stronger and more powerful… or something along those lines, anyway. You don't have the technical background to understand everything Motherbox told you. Still, it seems obvious that you have a decision to make.
Should you drink the contents of the phial?
[ ] I absolutely need to get stronger. Drink the stuff in the phial right now, and damn the consequences.
[ ] I'm inclined to drink the serum, but I want to think about it for a while and try to learn more before I take the plunge.
[ ] I'm not going to make a decision right now, I want to at least figure out what my powers are first. And I might find some use for it in the meantime.
[ ] I'm going to save the phial for someone else. I already have powers, after all, and someone might need it some day. Maybe I can use it to gain a cape partner?
[ ] I'm not touching that mind-raping shit with a 10 foot pole! The only reason I don't destroy it right now is because I don't know how to do so safely.
After making your choice you feel much better. You sit down with the other two items; the shield and the glove. Dealing with the phial made you a little wary, so you have Motherbox scan these two items first. You learn that the glove is a tool of some kind that contain nearly microscopic circuitry. Motherbox advises you that the gauntlet is the product of a fairly technologically advanced society, at least a few hundred years in advance of Earth. It is controlled by a primitive mental interface, and sports several types of different energy emitters.
Motherbox learns that the gauntlet, which its own operating system calls a "Kara kesh", sports a primitive hybrid kinetic/energy forcefield, three or four different weapons, and the capability to remote control, hack, or interface with similar and less advance technology. She is disdainful of the device, telling you that she could build something far more impressive with less costly materials. Not that she needs to, she reminds you, as she can do everything it can do and so much more. You shrug, and put the "Kara kesh" back in its place in your bag. Even if you don't need it, you should probably shouldn't get rid of it. You might find a use for it someday, or someone deserving to give it to. Besides, it's nice and shiny… and you do loves you some shinies.
You wonder aloud if Motherbox is just boasting, or if she can actually make something better than the Kara kesh. You invite her to try, pointing out that the coffee machine, microwave, and alarm clock in the room could be used for raw materials. Motherbox floats off of your belt and into the air, until she is pressed against the ceiling in the exact center of the room. You startle as beams of pale blue lance out from Motherbox, hitting the objects you told her were fair game. They disintegrating, one by one, before reforming into various sized cubes of different pure materials.
The stacks of cubes are moved to the center of the floor, and a 3D hologram of a large hoop is projected above the raw materials. More blue beams lance out, moving bits of this and bits of that, assembling the material in the cubes into futuristic looking parts. The finished components are moved in place, filling in sections of the transparent hologram with parts made out of real matter. It is all somehow held in place, just so.
In mere moments the hoop is finished, using up nearly all the matter Motherbox started with. A golden colored beam shines across the hoop, causing it to shrink rapidly until it's the size of a wedding band. With a condescending
Ploong the ring is floated over to you finger, and then onto it.
You look at the band, smiling. That was one of the most amazing things you've ever seen. You can feel the ring's presence the same way you can feel Motherbox, but to a lesser extent. The ring sends you feedback when you mentally prod it, telling you that it can project a strong forcefield, give you a flight aura, manipulate local gravity, shoot either laser beams or coherent streams of partially phased high-energy matter, and interface with and modify other technology. It can also shoot beams like the ones Motherbox just demonstrated, which would let you move, deconstruct, and reconstruct matter.
"Holy shit." You breath. This ring alone could make anyone a pretty awesome cape.
"
Ploong." 'Now you know I'm a badass. Don't forget it'
You looked at the last item on the desk. If a golden glove could be the product of alien science, could a little tiny stone disc? "Any thoughts on the stone shield, Motherbox?"
"
Ploong." 'It's a shield made of obsidian. The purple stone in the center is a fairly common gem called Chalcedony. The characters are ancient Japanese, and read "Yata no Kagami". There's nothing special about it that I can see.'
You frown. "That's a bit of a letdown after the other two items. Well, if it's not special, maybe I can practice on it with the ring you made me. I'm going to try moving it to the bed with one of those glowy blue beams." You point your outstretched hand at the shield, and a blue beam snaps into existence, hitting the shield's outer edge. Rather than connecting, the beam is deflected, angling on the curved surface and hitting the ceiling. You cut off the beam.
"What the hell was that?" You wonder aloud. Motherbox, still floating up near the ceiling,
Ploongs in excitement, and her own blue beam lances out. The result is the same, except that the beam is hits the wall when reflected instead of the ceiling. Motherbox fires four different varieties of colored beams at the shield in rapid succession, vocalizing louder and louder each time the beam is successfully reflected. The last beam, an angry red heat ray, barely misses your head, leaving the wall scorched and slightly smoking.
"Woah, woah, stop! That's enough of that!" you cry, ducking your head. Motherbox lets out a sad little
Ploong, and drops back down from the ceiling, then snaps herself back onto your belt. "What was shooting all of that raygun nonsense for, anyway?" You pause to consider. "Let me guess, normal obsidian doesn't reflect lasers all that well, right?" Motherbox
Ploongs her assent. You grin; the third thingy you found is special too!
"
Ploong!" cries Motherbox. 'It's fascinating! When hit with any kind of energy, the shield releases an equal and
nearly opposite pulse of energy, deflecting the beam away from itself at an easily controllable angle. I need to study this phenomenon further!'
"Maybe later. I'm getting hungry, and we've dicked around in here too long. If I want to get some lunch we're going to need to go. I'm going to grab all of my stuff right now so we don't have to come back." While you are putting things away you make an amazing discovery. It seems as though your backpack can't be filled up! When you push something into it, regardless of size, the object somehow always finds a way to fit through the opening, storing itself just out of sight until you look for it again. Peering into the bag reveals none of these amazing properties; it looks like an ordinary backpack, and contains normal backpack things. A
fourth special thingy! Aren't you just Mr. Awesome today!
When you and Motherbox leave the room a few minutes later, the small cabin is stripped completely bare. Thank Motherbox for that; you were planning to leave the tub and toilet, as well as the light fixtures, but she insists that we "appropriate" them as well. What a crazy, lovely machine.
. . .
Motherbox takes a moment to scan the entire ship, and then leads you to the restaurant with the highest quality food. The ship is sparsely populated for some reason; perhaps it's the time of year, or something like that? You haven't seen all that many of your fellow passengers until now. Maybe it had been the time of day when you were out before. You're not sure. Surprisingly, the dining room in the restaurant is filled with a teeming sea of humanity. Back in the cabin you had stuffed several crisp hundreds into your wallet to flesh it out, thinking that the cost of food on a cruise ship might turn out to be dear. It hasn't really sunk in yet that you are back in the eighties, not until you are seated at the bar and looking at the menu, which boasts incredibly low prices.
A flash place like this would normally cost more than you usually pay for an entire week's food, but the prices are really quite reasonable. You find yourself surprised as the bartender cards you, but a look in the mirror behind the bar reveals why. It is definitely your face looking back at you, alright, but not the one you had on yesterday. It was the one you wore when you were maybe 17 years old. Thankfully your identification card indicates that you are 21, which seems to be the drinking age here in the states. The beer the bartender pours you tastes amazing.
Your stomach feels emptier than a eunuch's codpiece, so you order lavishly, selecting for your entree a grilled porterhouse steak smothered with sauteed mushrooms and onions, Maine lobster tail, baked potato with butter and sour cream, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. For appetizers you are presented with a small freshly baked loaf of black wholegrain bread and butter, a huge garden salad topped with large pieces of cracked crab, and a terrine of jumbo prawns in a rich scampi sauce. You eat every single bite with great gusto,
savoring the fuck out of every morsel. You haven't eaten half this well in more than a decade.
Motherbox enjoys dinner too, through your connection. She piggybacks on your pleasure center, savoring the decadent sensations of secondhand gluttony. When you are finally finished with dessert, baked Alaska, your formally flat stomach sticks out like that of a woman four months pregnant. You pay for your meal ($26.50!) and leave another twenty as a tip. You are beginning to realize just how awesome this reincarnation thing can be.
. . .
[X] Confront the issue head-on. You are going to head up to the bow of the ship with the rest of the passengers so you can find out what is going on.
After dinner you head up to the promenade to walk around a bit and watch the shore gradually come closer. Strolling about, you notice that something seems a bit off. The ship is going slower than it really should, and several of the passengers seem to be talking to each other excitedly and heading up toward the bow of the ship. You wonder what is going on. Perhaps some kind of live entertainment? Maybe the ship stopped to rescue someone? Your questions aren't getting answered here, so you decide to seize the day and find out what's happening with your own eyes.
Your recent feast sitting heavily in your stomach, you rush forward toward the head of the ship. Arriving, you find yourself behind a crowd of people, all staring at the same thing; A golden man, naked as a newborn babe, hovering a few feet above the deck. A palpable aura of gloom hangs about him, and his eyes are as vacant as the unlit windows of an empty house.
You groan, rubbing your face with your right hand. Sure as shit, it's the Golden Fool himself. Maybe you are fated to constantly run into Sion, or Zion, or whatever, no matter the lifetime. No one seems to recognize the "World's Greatest Hero", not even as the world's first parahuman, so perhaps this is one of his first appearances?
A young woman at the front of the mob edges forward slowly, her hand outstretched. "Are you… Jesus? Or an angel?" she asks, her voice an awed whisper. The golden man ignores her.
You vaguely recall that the first time the childlike superman was spotted was on some kind of boat… You are suddenly sure that this is Scion's first appearance. It makes too much sense. There's no way the universe would put you right here, right now, unless there was some reason for it. Now you need to figure out what you are supposed to do. You think Scion was supposed to have stayed with the boat for a while, but you aren't certain. If you are going to do something, you had best do it quickly.
What will you do now? Please write up an entire plan, and include as much details as possible. Votes will be the prime consideration on which plan is selected, but points for awesomeness and style will be awarded. Additionally, if the most popular plan will lead to a Bad End, I reserve the right to select an alternate plan.
[ ] Write-In.
