Searching Far and Wide

[intricate_engineer]

Glen was creating a prototype for a new gate design. It was meant to be affordable and provide quick transport between individual homes. She tests several objects and a rat and everything seems to be working.

She steps through. Instead of finding herself in the room next door, she finds herself standing on a sidewalk in an empty city. The buildings are tall and perfect, colorless with doorways far too tall for any human. The roads have no straight lines and twist in on themselves. There is no life or sound.
Glen tries to stay calm. She begins to walk along the road, randomly opening doors and exploring buildings that are as silent as the rest of the world.

She opens a door that she hopes will lead onto a roof and is instead met with warmth, and soft noise, and color.

Comments

[intricate_engineer]

"I know. Maybe they'll be more willing to engage once we've made some progress. Okay, the second one. This world has not-quite humans. In this world everyone has a really weak telekinesis and telepathy. One person can't do much, but the people here can form into groups. They share emotions and some thoughts and are drastically more powerful than the sum of the individuals."

[the_very_best]

"Huh, psychics here don't do that."

[intricate_engineer]

"I think it's a separate thing from being psychic. When people join, they act as an entity, and when they separate they've changed a little. The groups are constantly in flux. There are huge ones that stay the same even though the individuals that make them up are constantly shifting. The government is one such group. Smaller groups are being created constantly. A group of friends will group together when they meet up, everyone working a business will group up for the day, sometimes even strangers group up. It's rare to be completely alone in your own head."

[the_very_best]

"I would not like it there."

[intricate_engineer]

"Children there begin grouping before they have time to form that opinion. If you were born there, the current you couldn't exist. It's strange. There are duplicates of known people on that world. Usually duplicates are similar, similar personalities, similar goals, but not ones from that world."

[the_very_best]

"Then how do you know they're duplicates for real and don't just look alike or something?"

[intricate_engineer]

"I guess we don't, but it's not just superficial similarities. They have the same DNA, but identical twins have more in common than people from that world and their duplicates."

[the_very_best]

"Weird. Do these worlds have names, by the way?"

[intricate_engineer]

"They have the locals' name, official designation, and our unofficial nicknames. Local world names have a ton of overlap, the official designation is just a string of numbers. We called this world Insync."

[the_very_best]

"Cute."

[intricate_engineer]

"It's a creepy place, though maybe that's not fair. One person will start a conversation and another will pick it up. Certain people will do certain tasks, sort of like they are all parts of a machine. Someone will offer to take you jacket, and someone else will come up behind you and remove it. One person will be completely silent and do all the menial tasks. They won't look at you, won't eat, won't sit down, but the person is experiencing the same thing as everyone else."

[the_very_best]

"They don't eat?"

[intricate_engineer]

"They don't eat the dinner they just made. The body will get the necessary calories at some point, but it isn't participating."

[the_very_best]

"How do they allocate the tasks?"

[intricate_engineer]

"It depends on the group and the situation. Maybe it's based on who is the most physically fit, or maybe they take turns."

[the_very_best]

"Do people who aren't from there have the capacity to get pulled into groups?"

[intricate_engineer]

"Nope. We even brought in some people with different kinds of magic, and none of them could join."

[the_very_best]

"How functional are the people if they aren't in a group?"

[intricate_engineer]

"Functional, but kind of blank. Time seems to help, but they don't have many independent thoughts. Something about getting used to immediate feedback."

[the_very_best]

"This must make families weird."

[intricate_engineer]

"Children grow up a lot faster. They are pretty much in a group with their parents 24/7 until they start school."

[the_very_best]

"How far apart do groups get?"

[intricate_engineer]

"They are initiated by touch, but aren't limited by distance. A few are even maintained in-between universes, though at least one member has to be in their home universe.

[the_very_best]

"Oh, what happens if they all leave?"

[intricate_engineer]

"The group breaks. Apparently it feels like the others all died."