Autumn glanced at her phone and blinked in surprise. It was three am. Surely they hadn't been playing for so long? It felt like a couple hours at most.
She had never felt so energized, surrounded by thousands of people eager to listen to them perform. And perform they had, like never before. The power of the music had gripped the audience like a vice, synchronizing the mass of people into a single collective mind. The choir had been joined by thousands of voices, even though they had never heard the songs before—Heidi never replayed songs from before. It was always new content. The skies above them had lit up like a Christmas tree, with red and green lights undulating across the sky.
Despite a loud protest from the crowd, Heidi had announced that the concert was over. The auroras illuminating the skies above slowly faded as the energy in the crowd dissipated. Autumn unstrapped the electric guitar and began rubbing her sore shoulder as she placed the instrument onto a stand. Without the intense energy that accompanied the music flowing through her, bone deep weariness washed over her.
She yawned widely, trying not to stare at Nadia. The young Danish woman was grinning broadly as Cody sauntered up to her with a grin of his own.
"Did you enjoy your flight?" Cody asked dryly as he engulfed her in a bear hug.
"It was a nice little warm up exercise," Nadia answered with shrug.
"So you got your ass handed to you," Cody guessed with a snort.
"Pretty much," Nadia admitted with a small blush. "I've never fought an Analyst before."
"You'll get plenty of practice in the coming months," Heidi assured her with a grim smile. "They've been popping up sporadically for the last seventy years, but their frequency has increased significantly in the last decade."
"What woke them up?" Nadia asked curiously.
"The Truth Seekers," Heidi replied in disgust. "When they started playing around with teleportation it triggered the startup sequence."
"They can teleport?" Aria asked in surprise. "You mean, like jump through a portal from one place to another?"
"To put it crudely, yes," Heidi nodded.
"How does that work?" Aria asked in fascination. "Is that what they are doing with those particle accelerators?"
"Particle accelerators?" Heidi frowned. "No, teleportation doesn't require anything so complex. Anyone can do it."
"Is that a fact?" Nadia asked sarcastically.
"Well, with enough training, anyone can do it," Heidi amended with a smirk.
"When she says enough training, she means thousands of years of training," Nadia told Aria pointedly. "I've been trying to do it for a long time, and I still can't do it unaided by technology."
"How does it work?" Aria asked curiously. "In lay terms, please."
"It's simple," Heidi shrugged. "Consciousness is generated in fifth dimensional space. One of the rules that governs this reality is that higher dimensions trump the information layer of lower dimensions. If your consciousness claims you are in Buenos Aires, reality overrules third-dimensional space and accommodates fifth-dimensional data."
"So I just tell myself I'm in Buenos Aires and I'll suddenly be there?" Aria demanded incredulously.
"Yep," Heidi nodded with a small smile. "That's all there is to it."
"Yeah, that and learning how to trick the system that governs consciousness that your individual interpretation is correct and that the collective view is incorrect," Nadia drawled with a wry smile.
"That too," Heidi agreed blandly.
"How do you do that?" Aria asked expectantly.
"You just have to separate your consciousness from the collective field that binds you to everyone else," Heidi answered simply. "Once you leave the club of collective consciousness, the rules of the collective no longer apply to you."
"How do I leave the club?" Aria asked with a frown.
"With a lot of patience, and a hell of a lot of mental discipline," Nadia informed her with a resigned shake of her head. "Or you can take the easy way and use a device that temporarily jams your connection to the collective."
"I see," Aria said thoughtfully. "And where do I get one of these devices?"
"I haven't created any yet," Heidi replied easily. "Using a device to teleport acts like a beacon to the Titans. Right now, they think there are only a few people teleporting around. The more widespread the beacons, the sooner they awaken. As we get closer to the end, I'll make sure the world has all of the teleporters they need to move people out of harm's way while we do battle."
"Are you the only one that can teleport without technology?" Autumn asked with a glance at Cody.
"Cody and a few others can as well," Heidi replied with a nod at Cody. "Nadia can too, just not consistently. She is more skilled in other areas."
"So why have we been driving everywhere in a freaking car if we could have been teleporting?" Aria growled in irritation.
"You mean skip the journey?" Heidi asked with a raised eyebrow. "Would you rather watch a movie, or slide shows? Teleporting everywhere you go is a great way to miss out on life."
Aria tilted her head thoughtfully as she pondered Heidi's words. "Okay, I suppose that makes sense, oh wise one."
"I like this one," Nadia told Heidi with a grin at Aria. "She's feisty."
"She's a regular pain in the ass," Cody observed with an obnoxious grin.
"You're going to have a pain in your ass if you don't wipe that grin off your face," Aria told him sweetly.
"So what are the particle accelerators for?" Autumn asked uncertainly. "Aren't they for smashing atoms or something?"
"Ostensibly, yes," Heidi answered after sharing an amused look with Cody. "In reality they were first used for harnessing what contemporary physicists call zero point energy. With larger conduits, more current can flow through."
"For a moment, pretend that I'm a complete idiot, and just tell me what the hell zero point energy is," Aria said with a pained expression.
"I won't need to pretend," Cody told her with a grin.
Aria glared at him as Heidi shook her head ruefully.
"It would help if you were familiar with how electricity works," Heidi begin after taking a deep breath. "Energy always tries to find a state of equilibrium. When two bodies come into contact with each other, their electrical current will equalize across the joined bodies. When someone shocks you with static electricity, it is the difference in electrical charges that creates the exchange of current. Zero point energy is the same way, except that they are tapping into dimensional timelines that have a different charge than ours. Even the most inept of scientists should understand what kind of danger this kind of energy manipulation can cause. Think of a U shaped water pipe. Imagine connecting the two pipes with a small straw to pull some of the opposing current into the other pipe. Each tap lessens the flow of current in the pipe. Not only does it diminish the current, but it also risks a breach in the system if the straw is ruptured."
"What happens if the current stops?" Autumn asked uneasily.
"The same thing that happens to you when your blood stops flowing," Heidi replied grimly. "This reality dies. Fortunately, these pipes have natural capillaries to repair breaches in the structure. However, a large enough breach will do the same thing that a large tear in your flesh will do to a human. The capillaries are unable to overcome the pressure pushing out of the breach."
"Is there any technology our civilization is playing with that isn't on the verge of destroying the universe?" Stefan asked in exasperation.
"Not very many," Heidi replied without a trace of levity.