20345/The Signal from Shwar

The Signal from Shwar
Date of Scene:	30 March 2025
Location:	The Moon
Synopsis:	A flickering candle of thought, on an island a Galaxy away.
Cast of Characters:	J'onn J'onzz, M'gann M'orzz

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J'onn J'onzz has posed:
In theory, the Justice League's Watchtower should be peaceful and quiet. To the average human mind, it's hard to conceive of a location much more remote and tranquil than Earth's Moon. And for ordinary purposes, the Watchtower is indeed a welcome getaway from the hustle and bustle of the planet that it orbits. It would explain why a mind in need of rest would spend so much time there, as J'onn J'onzz has been doing for the better part of a year.

And yet, we find him outside the Justice League's glistening headquarters, so far away that its outline is barely visible behind him against the white rock of Luna. Within the Watchtower, the teleporters periodically buzz as heroes come and go. The steady thrum of generators provide power for the systems that maintain a livable environment and normal gravity. And then there's the sound of Batman's chewing... exacerbated by a preference for crunchy foods.

But out on the surface of the Moon...

Floating above the lunar soil, the Martian Manhunter's cape drapes over his shoulders and nearly touches the ground. Almost unmoving in the stillness, it looks limp and dead hanging from a frame that is almost as still as a corpse. With his legs crossed, and his fingertips pressed against his sizeable forehead, the Manhunter searches the cosmos behind closed eyes.

He has almost found it...

Features begin to shift, his face growing more Martian in appearance as he pays less attention to his physical self, relaxing for the sake of moving his mind outward beyond his own body. The signal is there... almost within reach...

Gone once more.

Eyes open, glowing red against a backdrop of green, and a simple thought is uttered wordlessly to the only person within this lunar orbit capable of receiving it.

"M'gann..."

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann might not be the only one able to hear J'onn's thought in Earth's orbit. She isn't, after all, the only other psychic. She -is- the only one going to answer it. Anyone who doesn't know where it came from probably isn't interested. Anyone who does probably knows better.

It's only a few moments before M'gann arrives in silence, her own cape dragging behind her only due to inertia. She comes to a stop before the meditating Martian Manhunter, her cape frozen in a still billow behind her.

"I am here," she thinks. "What do you need?"

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Among the fringe perks of a Justice League identification card, the greatest has got to be nearly instantaneous travel anywhere within Earth's orbit. Of course, the ten percent discount at Big Belly Burgers is nothing to sneeze at, either. But it would have baffled the mind just a few years ago to imagine that someone on the Moon could expect someone to simply come and meet him within mere moments. For those with a memory of Martian culture, however, the technology here is still roughly akin to a backwater like Narglok IV.

There are no noises to signal the approach of a fellow Martian. No disturbances in the unmoving environment. Yet the approach of his 'niece' brings a reflexive smile to the Martian Manhunter's face. A small one. He is, after all, a borderline depressive accustomed to dealing with psychic traumas that would cause a lesser mind to seek out voluntary lobotomization.

His words can be felt within her mind, but the voice is different. Less 'alien', like the voice that he puts on when dealing with humans. Instead, the tones are more naturalistic, and genuinely Martian.

"Thank you for coming, M'gann... something has been attempting to make contact with me. I have been trying to locate the source of the signal, but I believe that the distances might be too vast to pinpoint."

Turning over his shoulder to look at the comparatively younger woman, he remains hovering above the landscape, cross-legged, as he speaks with unmoving lips.

"Perhaps with your assistance, I might have better success."

There are more awkward ways of asking for help.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann has been summoned to more desolate places for worse reasons. She listens, and just nods once, meeting her 'uncle's' gaze. "I will help you," she says. "I will try, in any case."

She floats closer, drawing her legs up. She doesn't go full cross legged like J'onn, but she draws them up like she's sitting on a sofa, legs curled to one side. Her eyes close, and she reaches out with her mind.

This kind of thing is always strange, loaning someone your psychic strength. There's always a bit of melding, of personalities and thoughts mixing. These two are good enough to keep it at a minimum.

Her mental voice echoes. "My power is yours. Seek."

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
For a psychic scan of this magnitude, a state of almost perfect calm is required. The physical form of J'onn J'onzz relaxes as his red eyes close, and all tension disappears from his body. He seems to be floating, held up by pure buoyancy in an ocean of inky blackness. As his body grows still, any signs of life become minimal, until he is almost as cold as the surface of the Moon.

With his physical form relaxed, he reaches out. Not to the signal he seeks, but to the familiar tether less than a meter away from him. Energies meld, the 'We' becomes the 'I', and a clarity arises from a shared purpose.

The planet 'above' them is noisy. Billions of minds crying out for understanding, and thousands of psychic thoughtwaves from those who have learned to direct their mental energies, or who merely do so reflexively. Some of them cry out for help. They must all be ignored. Letting go, the planet seems to grow quieter, until it disappears entirely from the background.

Only then can the signal be felt.

Against the absolute coldness of space, there is a bit of warmth. Like a candle flickering on an island well out of reached, and viewed through a telescope. Still, it exists, though its light might be impossibly faint.

The vast distances of space can not be traversed so casually. But thought can move faster than the speed of light, once fixated clearly upon a signal. Any distraction from the stars and planets between them and their goal would cause their thoughts to go astray.

J'onn can feel his mind being pulled away. A crisis on another world. The last screams of a species that went extinct an eon ago. The birth of a star from the dust of an old Universe.

There on the Moon, his body begins to tense, his face contorting with effort.

"Not yet..."

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
Not in control anymore, M'gann is an amplifier for her far more skilled 'uncle'. She quiets herself, shuts out everything but him, and grants him access to her not inconsiderable psychic might. From this moment on, she is merely a passenger, a passive witness and battery.

Her eyes almost open at the candle flicker, shocked to feel it, to almost see it. Training keeps her composed. As J'onn starts to get distracted, she does what she can to angle him back on course. To the goal. The signal, not the other tragedies and triumphs of the vast universe.

"Uncle, stay the course. We are close."

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Unbeknownst to J'onn, his physical form begins to relax once more. He has no way of knowing what his body might be doing, as he's lightyears away from it and rapidly picking up speed. But as he begins to get pulled away in a billion different directions, a comforting presence helps to both anchor him and help him accelerate. It's a paradox understood only by those who have projected their minds across the astral plane, from one end of the galaxy to the next.

The flickering candle is so close now, reaching out one could almost knock it over. An unfamiliar world, where no Martian has ever gone. Why then is this solitary voice crying out for the Manhunter from Mars?

Or is it truly him that the voice seeks?

"Father... help me."

The voice of a child, terrified. The thought patterns are clearly Martian, unmistakably so. But through the eyes of this child, a horrific sight fills the shared mindspace of these Martians, tethered together on a desolate rock.

Humanoid figures loom, staring back curiously. They reach for the child, sinister despite making now overtly hostile action.

And then they all burst into flame.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
Everything is going fine. Maybe not -perfect-, but fine. The vast distances skew M'ganns sense of time. Seconds are eons, minutes are days. It's disorienting, but she manages. She does what she can to keep J'onn on track. To let him seek and fine.

And they do.

Her heart cracks a little at the raw fear and despair of this distant martian child. Then she screams in silence, recoiling as the figures reach and burst into flame, the psychic whiplash severing the connection and dropping her to the dusty ground in a tangle of her own limbs as she fights to maintain her shape.

"W-what -was- that," she thinks, her thoughts even panting in terror.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
The sight of the flames causes shock to run all throughout Martian Manhunter's psyche. When he comes around moments later, he finds that he is lying on his back on the lunar soil, panting furiously for a breath that isn't likely to come. The Moon isn't exactly famous for its oxygen...

If there were any observers to see the way that his form has been altered, they would undoubtedly be horrified. Nearly a meter taller than usual, his limps are extremely stretched out and buglike, while his head curves backward in a crescent shape, and a wide monstrous mouth filled with nothing but canine teeth covers most of his face. But the fear will leave eventually, and a quick check of himself and the surroundings reveals that the fire was not real. Or at least it isn't present here with them.

But though his appearance is greatly changed, J'onn's voice sounds the same within the mind of a fellow telepath. Reassuring and warm, though obviously shaken.

"A mind in pain, calling out across the stars. We must answer... and I believe we have enough information now to pinpoint the signal."

As he rises from the ground, J'onn's form shifts back into something more familiar. More familiar to his other 'family' in the Justice League, that is. He reaches out a hand to help the young woman up, though it is almost certainly not needed.

"Once again, you have my thanks M'gann."

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann accepts the hand up, boots kicking up puffs of dust as she stands. "I will come with you, uncle," she replies in his mind. "I cannot allow that much pain and sorrow to cry out and not answer."

She dusts herself off, wanting to take a deep breath, even though it's needless and useless up here. "When you have it pinpointed, tell me, and I will go with you."