The Carrier
From DC Database
Contents |
History
The Carrier is the base of operations of The Authority. It is a shiftship, a ship capable of moving through the Bleed, the red space which separates alternate universes in the Wildstorm/DC multiverse. It is 50 miles long, 35 miles high and two miles wide. It is powered by a caged baby universe.
It is known that the Carrier was originally a trading ship, used to travel and trade between alternate dimensions, but its black box was found all but wiped and so its true origins remain unknown. The Carrier was parked in Earth orbit sometime in the past and remained dormant until it was discovered by Jenny Sparks of The Authority and used as their base of operations from 1999 onwards.
The Carrier exists in orbit around the Earth but at the same time continuously sails through the higher dimensions of the multiverse. It is capable of opening "doors" between any two points in space, allowing quick access from the Carrier to anywhere on Earth, as well as to the past, future and to alternate universes. While it is also itself capable of traveling almost literally anywhere, the Carrier stays tied to Earth orbit so that whoever left it there can come back to collect it. It is reluctant to leave although will do so if convinced that it is necessary. Its talents have been used on many missions, such as to infiltrate (physically entering) a vast biological lifeform threatening Earth and to actually evacuate Earth itself when another situation endangers it.
It once crashed to Earth after being infiltrated by the government sponsored super-hillbilly, Seth Cowie. For some time after this, the Carrier was controlled by a government-run replacement Authority team; it did not co-operate as well with these newcomers. Eventually this team was slain by the original Authority.
Sentience
The Carrier has always been shown to have some degree of intelligence. It was explicitly revealed that it is, in fact, sentient. It is also able to control time in a small area, for a short period. At one point, Kevin Hawkins almost destroys the Carrier with an alien-controlled atomic bomb. The Carrier puts up its defenses and saves approximately seventy percent of itself, but not the living quarters, causing the members to 'lose all their stuff'.
Junction Room
The Carrier exists outside space and time, but is technically also in the same place as Earth, because of the reality anchor that was dropped there. The "Door" works, when it is requested a destination and walk through, the Authority can get where they want because the Carrier is everywhere on Earth at the same time.
Death
It is later revealed that the original Carrier was placed in Earth orbit primarily for the benefit of Henry Bendix by an alternate Bendix from another universe. Unable to make use of the Authority's Carrier, Bendix instead obtains an identical Carrier of his own from the same (still as-yet unrevealed) place the first Carrier originated. It is visually similar to the authority's Carrier, though doubled and connected at the center between them. Follwoinf the defeat of Bendix only at the cost of the destruction of the Authority's Carrier; the Authority take over Bendix's Carrier instead.
Carrier Traveled Dimensions
- The Bleed = Superposed Channel between alternate realities.
- Devachanic Realm = where it moved as a speed of twenty-five dreams per second.
- Outer Oceans of Ideaspace = during the spawning season, keeping pace with a school of obsession fish.
- Mind Barrier Reef = where the brains of the latent telepaths grow together in their sleep.
- The Center of a Superstring
- Sliding Albion = world where open contact between aliens (the blues) and humans during the 16th century led to interbreeding and an imperialist culture similar to the Victorian British Empire.
- Edge of the Millennium
- Keeping Pace with the Dead = swimming up reality to witness the conception of an infant parallel universe.
See Also
Links and References
- None.
