#pilot program polycule

Forces with great power and lots of money have identified the Pilot Program™️ as the biggest threat to their plans. Both because they’re the stewards of new magic writ large, and because they’re incredibly powerful in their own right.

Somehow, some way, every member of Triple P (the pilot program polycule) is captured and held prisoner by these forces. Except, this is a group of certifiably insane young adults that destroyed an archaic system of magic on accident at the ripe ages of 17 to 18, and then three years later, when magic was greatly fucked, all managed to merge with pillars of magical potency, rework the entire system, AND establish magical laws that weren’t written anywhere physical but in the very fabric of magic itself. That’s some powerful fucking shit. They’re powerful. And not a single goddamn one of them is giving up any useful information to the baddies — let’s call them “Governmancers.”

In some ways Triple P aren’t able to give anything up because they specifically designed the system not to be beholden to any one person, themselves included, but they’re also not spilling details on how they reworked the system in the first place. They’re not explaining the ritual, or the time loop, or the fact that they communed with personifications of the schools of magic to form bonds with magic itself.

Because of that, the Governmancers don’t know Sam’s highlights are worked into her DNA now because she merged with the golden ideal of divination. They don’t know that Dr. K Tanaka isn’t actually a doctor or that their eye is red because they have a server room full of magic in one of the hemispheres of their brain. Plus, a bunch of people have wings (or other more insane non-human body mods) now, so Jammer’s whole deal isn’t even registering as bizarre. And Evan is… Evan. So, they just go ahead and chalk that one up to demons and a lack of therapy.

Basically, the Governmancers fail to realize Triple P’s connection to magic on an almost spiritual level. They know LIMPT, but they don’t grasp how respect of and for magic granted four nerds the ability to literally change the rules. And this is important because Triple P’s connections to these deific embodiments of magic grant them an incredible measure of protection as some Really Bad Shit Happens To Them.

The long and short of it is that the Governmancers can’t kill Triple P because they need information. But… they can’t get it, and every minute they allow Triple P to sit in their cells is another minute they have to plan their escape. And magic or not, Evan Kelmp is an insane person. They’ve got his wife (Sam) and his besties trapped elsewhere in their own cells, so he’s gone full feral animal and is THRASHING at the bars of his enclosure to test for weak spots. He’s either gonna get out or die trying. Meanwhile, Sam is terminally charming (with or without the magic) so the Governmancer’s are trying to find a single goddamn guard to watch her that won’t become enthralled. Jammer is also charismatic, but the real problem is that he keeps getting contraband into his cell and no one knows how? He’s come this 👌🏽 close to breaking out of his cell already. All he has are the clothes on his back at this point because they think he’s using transmutation to get shit, but that’s not it at all. He can just make it. Material can be dust or a memory or an idea. And then there’s K, who somehow had an inside man in the Governmancer operation already. So now there’s like six guards at their cell at all times, and most of them have their guns pointed at each other to make sure no one turncoats.

As you can imagine, this is not an ideal situation for the Governmancers, so they decide to do a little magic about it. Both to keep Triple P preoccupied and to gather information. If they can’t divine how Triple P established New Magic, and they can’t reverse engineer the process or undo it, maybe they can trick Triple P into revealing something important by trapping them in a spell/fantasy. Commence Operation: Dreamstate

First problem with this idea: Jammer’s affinity for creation magic. The Governmancers put him into a magically induced coma with the rest of Triple P, telepathically linking all of them in this shared dreamstate so they’ll think they’re free and tattle on themselves, right? And this is not them magically appearing on the set of Britain’s Got Magic out of nowhere. The spell is going to make it seem like they were all questioned and released (and will also get rid of some memories of the bad very illegal shit that happened to them while being held). However, before Triple P is put under, they’re brought to a room together. All of them are like strapped to gurneys and monitors and have been magically gagged. They know something is about to happen to them but they don’t know what and there isn’t enough time to read each other’s thoughts to communicate. Not even Evan and Sam can manage.

So Jammer has two thoughts going through his brain as he’s being put under:

1. I gotta save my friends

2. This is some straight up horror movie bullshit

Second problem: K’s tendency to amplify. They’re also put under for the spell and that server room full of magic in their brain sparks off of Jammer’s thoughts and facilitates the creation of an entire world that all of them are thrust into BEFORE the Governmancer’s dreamstate world can be created.

Third problem for both Triple P and the Governmancers: Evan’s natural propensity to curtail kicks in, except his panicked and frazzled state and fucked up thoughts (what if I lose the only people I love, how do we get out of this, are they gonna make me forget them, etc) are reacting with K’s amplification magic.

Now we’ve got this magical world/space created by Jammer to protect his friends that has the sheen of a horror movie on it, helped along by K’s amplification but curtailed by Evan’s panic in such a way that — in the dreamspace — none of them fucking remember each other and they’re all separated by very real distance. Which sucks, but it does protect them from being preyed upon by the Governmancers. Defense is not without its consequences ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now you’re probably thinking, “Grey, Sam’s connection to the Qohlye and inherent ability to divine things would cancel that out, right?”

WRONG. I’m writing this and I get to be mean.

That said. Problem four: Sam’s got this natural affinity for the mind/Seegenpelater, and this additional, profound connection to divination/the Qohlye which means:

1. she is incredibly paranoid about something or someone being out to get her (i.e. she’s the closest to remembering what came Before This. she’s the prophet having visions of a reality beyond this that make no sense to her in this world)

2. she knows that she has to find people. she doesn’t know who, she doesn’t know where they are or how many of them there are, and she’s not sure how to find them,

BUT

3. her intuition will never lead her astray. so long as she follows her gut, she’ll get where she needs to be.

Essentially, Sam’s ability to recognize something Isn’t Right offers her a level of manipulation of the world to get her where she needs to be. She also has enough “clarity” to notice the fact that writing on things like cans of food and posters are completely illegible. Think dream rules. However, the problem with this is that the rest of Triple P fully believe in the illusion and see no flaws, so if Sam doubts herself even a little she’ll chalk it up to like… needing glasses and they’ll be led astray. You think my girl had that moment with the Qohlye and was suddenly cured of her inability to believe in herself? Think again, that kind of healing takes YEARS and we’re about to put that to the test baby.

So, putting all of this together from the top: Triple P gets put into a magically induced telepathic coma together. Their inherent magical gifts reach out in their own ways to protect all of them, and co-mingle. Jammer creates a space for them, but because he’s afraid, it’s built like a horror movie. K amplifies this so that the space is incredibly real and VAST. We’re talking a country’s worth of space and detail. At the same time, Evan’s fear of losing everyone/forgetting them coupled with his reflexive attempts to curtail and protect means that what gets cut from the movie is their knowledge of each other and it also scatters them across this “country.” And last, but certainly not least, Sam’s intuition puts a fun little spin on the flavor of the horror movie.

Sam knows, somewhere deep inside, that people want information from her/them and what better monster to represent that fear than zombies?

Yes, that’s right, this was all an elaborate ruse for me to write The Pilot Program Polycule into a zombie apocalypse movie! Eating brains and stealing memories/info? Same difference.

Think of the drama! The emotional turmoil of trying to find your people to stand against The Horrors when you can’t remember them. Think of the slow sinking feeling that something (else aside from the zombies) isn’t right, slowly regaining your memories but because you lack context you feel like someone is implanting false recollections into your mind. Do you trust what’s real if you don’t know it’s real? And why are these strangers so familiar? Humans are inherently social and altruistic, but some people are still incredibly selfish and will fuck you over in the apocalypse - so why are these guys so easy to trust if you don’t know them? (Also think of Sam and the inevitability of falling in love with your husband a second time because you’re so gross and in love and It For Each Other that you fall in love in every reality. I’m gonna yartz.)

All the while, their gifts help them navigate back to their bodies to break out of the hold of the Governmancers.

Jammer’s connection to the dream world allows him to manipulate events without even realizing it. An exit appears where they least expect it when backed into a corner by a hoard of zombies (Governmancers that have been sent into the mind space to extract information by force now that they lack control over the spell). Or even small shit like Jammer having a can opener that he doesn’t remember grabbing when they set up camp to eat whatever preserved foods they scavenged.

Evan has always been a fighter. He doesn’t indulge in fantasy (if he knows that’s what’s happening) unless it’s absolutely necessary to do so, which means the record of this fake world almost skips around him. A zombie that definitely should have bitten him misses, or the zombies die way too easily - like before he hits them, or everyone turns around and suddenly there’s five less zombies in the hoard chasing them. He’s the glitch in the system, eroding the bullshit so they can see through to the other side of this and get the fuck out.

K does indulge, but that doesn’t necessarily perpetuate the fantasy or keep Triple P from breaking free of it. They’re the battery that’s keeping this shit afloat. Without K, this safety bubble that Jammer created would pop. It wouldn’t be sustainable. Buuut, K’s thoughts are also influencing the world. So there’s some paranoia that puts them in Sam’s bracket of almost being able to see beyond the veil. But even beyond that, there’s this element of excess. In a dramatic sense. Like, some of the zombies are a little too over the top. Not in a dangerous way, in a “there’s no way a dead body had that much blood left in it that could spray with that much force when you cut off its head” kind of way. The co-mingling with Jammer’s creation abilities means there are two front doors on some of the houses and stairways that lead nowhere a la Winchester Mystery House.

And then Sam (Buffy in this world, because she’s about to be a slayer of the undead and she doesn’t know that but some part of her does because she’s influencing the world) is like the fucking oracle Cassandra. She’s getting visions of the truth but no one believes her (at first) and if she doesn’t dig her feet into the ground and get obstinate and trust her instincts, it means the world gets more whacky.

“Sorry!” she cries, her knuckles going white with how hard she’s grasping it. After a second, she asks, “why can’t I fly with just my knees, like everybody else can?”

“You’ll get there,” he chuckles. “But don’t you dare try flying without your hands before you master it with them first.”

She’s facing forward so he can’t hear it, but Evan knows she’s pouting. “Alright,” she says, a little sullenly.

“You ready to go down?” he asks, sensing that she’s getting tired.

“No,” she whines, “I wanna keep flying.”

“Okay,” he says with a smile. “How’s this sound- let’s fly like old times.”

“Oh! Can we? Can we? Pleasepleaseplease!”

Evan chuckles, wrapping one arm around her middle to lock her firmly in place against his chest. The carabiner has her hooked against him and the broom, but the last thing he wants is to have to catch her if they both go tumbling. “Okay, baby,” he says, “You can let go now. I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

She snuggles back against him, her tiny body feeling so small and fragile against him. He didn’t think there could be anyone in the world this precious to him, but the first time he’d laid eyes on her, felt her tiny fingers wrap around his thumb, his heart had been stolen permanently.

“Hey, look,” he points down at the ground. “You can see your mama down there.”

“Mama!” she cries, suddenly with enough energy to wave frantically down at the ground. “Can she hear us? Mama! Mama, I was flying!”

Smiling, Evan dips them down low enough so they can see Sam more clearly. They fly around her in wide circles, giggling when it makes her plant her hands on her hips and give them a mock stern look.

When they finally land, she’s full of energy, bouncing with it the moment he unhooks her. She goes flying at her mother, straight into Sam’s arms. “Mama, mama, I was flying!” she cries. “Did you see?”

“I did see, young lady,” Sam says, giving their daughter a firm smooch on the forehead. “Why don’t you run inside and clean up and help your papa set the table? Your mom’s gonna be home with dinner soon and then you can tell us all about your flight with your daddy.”

“Okay!” she slams open the patio door and forgets to close it behind her. In the house, Evan can hear her shouting, “Papa, papa! Did you see me and daddy! I flew him around!”

Evan carefully disassembles the broom and then walks over to Sam, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“Hey, babe,” she says, smiling up at him. “You two have a good flight?”