Chapter Text
Danny stares at the screen in front of him. The fact that he’s in a library is the only reason he stays quiet as he clicks around the perfectly functional website before him. As it turns out, this dimension does have NASA. That fact on its own isn’t too terribly surprising, considering all the other ways it’s similar to Danny’s home. What is surprising (and, in no small part, exciting!), is that this dimension's NASA seems to have insanely good funding, judging by all the submenus he's seeing. Danny had managed to resist looking up anything related to space for the first hour of his time in the library, but that resolve had crumbled when he'd chanced across an article about the ISS. Not even fifteen minutes later, and Danny is here, exploring the very nice NASA website. It practically works as its own separate space-related Wikipedia, with all the information stored on it. It's very obviously more information than NASA had back home, and the few images he's seen are far clearer than anything Danny's set eyes on in his life. Plus with the repeated, casual references to things like the current-day livability of Mars, Danny can't help but wonder what they'd have to say about the likelihood of aliens. Danny can't even begin to imagine what divergent experiences lead to any of this.
Danny hovers over the link reading opportunities again. He's been fighting with himself over whether to click it. It feels wrong to dive into such thoughts so soon; he's only been in this world for a couple days, after all. Besides, from a practical perspective, he's got no resources to seek those opportunities with. But even if he can't get a job it would be cool to see what sort of things this version of NASA is hiring for.
Maybe they’ve already come into contact with aliens, Danny thinks. I wonder what sort of jobs first contact would even create! It’s that thought that gets him to actually click the tab, desperate to know more. Unfortunately, the page that opens doesn’t really list specific jobs or anything. Mostly, it seems to just be advertising that NASA is always looking for smart people that are passionate about space (Danny’s definitely one of those things, at least), with a further link to the government's hiring portal. But beneath that is a delightful little section on youth opportunities, and the first thing there is a little banner advertising a NASA Summer Camp 'for aspiring astronomers, ages 14-18.'
Danny stares at the banner for a full minute, his mind running in frantic circles. He'd dreamed of space camp before, but had also been well aware that it wasn't likely to actually happen. Not with his parents' obsessive and sole focus directed at ghosts. Of course, his home world hadn't had anything directly associated with NASA, but still.
He almost definitely can't afford it, though. He's been wary about using the cash Sam had sent with him (who knows if it's similar enough to pass off) and he has no clue how much the jewelry Sam gave him is worth. Attempting to pawn it would undoubtedly see him getting scammed.
It would be so much easier if Danny had a social security number. Or, like, literally anything proving that he really does exist. But, well, technically he doesn’t exist here. Obviously, physically he is here, but he certainly wasn’t born here. He’s basically an undocumented immigrant, just from a place that he literally can’t ever physically go back to. Even the computer he’s using right now highlights just how alien this place is to him, with its large, flat screen and graphics better than anything he’s ever seen in his life. It runs so smoothly, too, that he just knows Tucker would cry if he could see it. And this is what they have in a library . Danny can’t even begin to imagine what high end tech here might look like.
Everything here is strange and new, and Danny doesn’t even really know what he needs to catch up on. He wishes he could have stayed. He had wanted to stay. Of course he had. But after the second time the Guys in White managed to capture him, well, it wasn’t hard to see why they wanted him gone. So when Sam and Tucker and Jazz had cornered him, and explained that they’d found a way to send him away, to somewhere that the GIW couldn’t follow, he hadn’t argued. He hadn’t argued when they dragged him down to the lab, and he hadn’t argued when Jazz shoved a backpack into his hands, and he hadn’t argued when Sam had told him that she’d added cash and jewelry to what Jazz had gathered. He hadn’t argued as Tucker had messed with the portal, and he hadn’t argued when they pushed him towards it.
He can’t go home now. Maybe not ever. The ever-present buzzing at the back of his mind is gone now, and he just knows the portal is destroyed now. They'd not said, and Danny hadn't asked, but it makes sense. They were getting him out of harms way and that isn't worth much if the GIW could still theoretically track him down. But now he's alone, here, in an unfamiliar world. And he can’t see his friends, and he can’t go to sleep in his own bed, and he can’t come home from school and play Doomed with Sam and Tucker. He doesn't even know if Doomed exists here. The unfamiliar silence in his mind resonates with the hollow feeling in his chest; a symphony of misery that only Danny is privy to. And yet, staring at this little digital banner, he feels something else settle into that space. It's not entirely pleasant; he feels a little nauseous as he thinks, but maybe. Just maybe...
Danny clicks on the banner.
The first thing he notices as he reads through the description, is that its a lot . Eight weeks, overnight in a specialized science camp facility, an opportunity to experience both a shuttle launch simulation and a zero gravity simulator? The opportunity to experience multiple different kinds of jobs? This clearly isn’t some camp that wants to introduce kids to the idea of astronomy, this is designed for kids who already want to be astronauts. It screams of funding, which implies a distinct increase in interest. His fingers itch with the desire to learn more. Is the Cold War still happening here? He knows that back home, that was the driving force in space research, and suddenly the idea of first contact doesn't seem so crazy. If anything were likely to inspire an interest in space, it would be something else being out there. He just hopes that if it did happen, it wasn't violent. Sci-fi tends to be pretty touch and go with with whether it thinks first contact would go well, and though Danny prefers to keep his daydreams optimistic, he knows firsthand what happens when humans find out that other powerful beings exist. And the idea of some crazy intergalactic war just doesn't appeal to Danny they way it did when he was younger. Still, he'd love to meet an alien. That, he thinks, would make this all worth it.
Danny gazes at the list of activities wistfully. There's no mention of aliens specifically, but it does mention something about cultural studies. The context for it is unclear, though, so it could just be talking about how different cultures interpret the skies or something. He aches with desire to find out, but there at the bottom of the page is the listed price point, and four and a half thousand dollars is definitely out of Danny's range. His chest burns. Sam may be rich, but he's not nearly good enough at bartering to pull that kind of price out of a pawn shop. Besides, summer is a long ways away. If Danny could somehow scrounge up the money, he'd still have to last long enough to make it to summer.
Beneath the price point, there is a note about scholarships, though. If anything that would probably be his best hope. He may not be good at essays, but he can talk space with the best of them, and Danny's definitely got a lot of free time, now. If he really focused on learning everything there is to know about astronomy in this dimension, he might be able to pass a test on it. But there's no way he'd pass the necessary GPA requirements. Danny's grades back home had been abysmal, not that it even matters, when he has no record of even existing here. The financial hardship scholarship presents a similar problem, in his lack of proof. He paused on the final scholarship, though. He has no idea what that could mean.
Danny knows the word meta. It’s like self-referential shit or something. But it’s not exactly a scientific thing. That’s language arts stuff, the kind of thing Mr. Lancer goes on about, and there should be no reason for it to be a kind of scholarship. Maybe it’s an acronym or something? Danny mouses over and clicks through to see what exactly it is, even if it probably won’t be relevant to him.
“Here at NASA we understand that people don’t always fit our standard expectations of normality!” The page's text cheerily announced, much to Danny's immediate alertness. “In our efforts to expand our understanding of the infinite expanse of space, it only makes sense to do our best to work with those who do not conform to those expectations, especially when those exceptions often represent unique opportunities for possible field work. If you identify as a meta, and believe your talents make you uniquely suited to extreme environments, we welcome you to apply for our full-ride meta scholarship!*”
The introductory paragraph only leaves Danny more confused, and a bit wary. The references to normality and unique opportunities for field work have bile rising into Danny’s throat, and he opens a new tab with shaking hands. Dread floods his system as he types four letters into the search bar and hits enter. If they’re experimenting on people here too -
The search returns a terrifying number of results. He can see loads of news articles, most of them referencing a Meta Rights Act (sounds nice, but it depends entirely on what those rights are). Luckily the first link is to wikipedia, and Danny clicks on it, hoping to god that the summary can help explain what the hell he's stumbled on.
Metas refers to an individual who possesses meta powers. Derived from the prefix “meta-”, meaning beyond or transcending, meta powers are innately defined by the natural capabilities of the general population. Thus, on Earth, the term meta, or metahuman, typically refers to anyone who has abilities beyond the standard human experience. A significant portion of metas can be attributed to the human metagene, which typically triggers in moments of intense physical or mental stress, and can produce unique situational abilities. Other metas, may belong to other species who naturally have certain abilities, or to individuals who are granted powers by various deific forces or even objects.
Danny goes still, as he comes to the end of the first, brief, paragraph. There's loads more to read beneath it, but the words are already slamming painfully around in his head, implications unfurling into a confusing mess of emotions, each of them at war with each other. It can’t possibly be that easy, Danny thinks. This world can’t possibly be that perfect. Somewhere to his left, somebody coughs, and Danny jumps, breath flooding his lungs on instinct. He has to keep reading. Beneath the overview, he finds a colored map, identifying some sort of quality index for Meta Rights, and as he scrolls further, he finds a scope of laws section that details what kinds of laws are considered to count. Danny lets out his breath, and though it comes out a little shaky, he pulls air in again all the same, trying to settle his racing heart. There's something about the variety of colors on the index map that makes it all feel so much more normal. Whatever the hell happened in this dimension, this whole meta thing must have a bit of history to it, and though it doesn't appear perfect, that's probably more comforting than if it did. After all, that means there's much less of a chance that the whole article is fabricated.
Besides, if this is the publicly available information, then he can at least count on everyone not automatically presuming him to be non-sentient. And that counts for more than Danny ever could have imagined. Danny scrolls down the page, reading intently. Much as he hates it, this is definitely more important than space camp, or what the ISS looks like. He stays there, reading the full text of the article and occaisonally clicking on links when he needs more context, until the library finally closes and Danny is sent off into the night.
The good news is, Danny's found out at least one of the major points of difference between his home world and this one. Apparently, there's literal, actual superheroes here. Like, a lot of them. And these Superheroes have fought against numerous world-ending threats and won. So that's pretty fucking cool. And supposedly, those same superheroes have worked with the world governments, and ratified the protection of metas’ rights as fundamental human rights. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Danny really is safe.
Still, Danny knows first-hand the way that governments can and will lie. And just because the internet claims that these so-called metas are treated fairly, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true.
Propaganda, Danny thinks. Who’s to say it isn’t all just propaganda? I need to be more careful about transforming tonight.
Danny ducks his head down, trying look less interesting as he walks in the dim evening. With any luck, he'll be able to find a good spot in one of the trees. Not that he thinks he'll be falling asleep anytime soon, with his mind running a thousand light years a minute. The idea of space camp seems so far away now, with the entire idea of meta rights taking up so much space in Danny's thoughts. Danny needs to get further from civilization if he wants to transform tonight. He follows the main street out, away from town. Maybe in a field somewhere, he’ll be okay? This doesn’t exactly seem like a large town.
Even if it’s not true, Danny thinks as he walks. At least I’m not alone here. And I didn’t see anything about ghosts at all.