Biography: Nicolae Pastore

Last modified by Charter Agent DGA

Biography: Unlike his wife’s family, no one helped Nicolae learn about humanity’s connection to the Anomaly. His affinity for creative chaos developed in complete isolation. The only child to two emotionally distant parents, Nicolae grew up in a remote country home in Kansas, far away from children his own age.

Nicolae was a chronic daydreamer, so much so that his parents worried there was something wrong with him. Nicolae had peculiar habits. He would turn the family television to static and watch the noise until his parents would make him stop. He would cup his hand in front of the screen, as though he were trying to catch the electric hiss from it in his hands.

Determined to focus Nicolae’s attention on something useful, his father bought him a viola. That viola, more than his parents, raised Nicolae to be a servant of the Anomaly. Nicolae quickly realized the tangible quality of the notes he played. He pictured himself reaching out and grasping them. The notes felt as solid as iron bars before they faded out of his hearing.

One night after a fight with his mother, Nicolae ran into his room and picked up his viola, sawing one ragged, angry note against the strings. As he played the note his door slammed shut seemingly on its own. Pictures fell off Nicolae’s bedroom wall.

From then on, Nicolae focused his thoughts on that moment. His sessions on the viola sounded like caterwauling noise to anyone else, but Nicolae was in ecstasy, summoning chaotic musical forces around him like a localized storm.

Sound was Nicolae’s connection to the Anomaly. As a teenager he became a minor celebrity in the local arcade for his ability for his ability to play Galaga while blindfolded. He shattered high scores by listening for cues from the cabinet, dwelling on the pregnant pauses between sound effects. He listened for the timbre of electric current passing through the machine to change just as an enemy was about to fire. The newspapers called him “Kid Galaga,” a title Pastore cherished his entire life.

Nicolae had a vision one night while he was playing his viola. He would build an instrument, a machine that could manipulate sound in three-dimensional space. He would sculpt sound rather than play it. He could fine-tune frequencies to allow him to shape sound, time and space. The instrument would be so delicate that it couldn’t be built out of wood and strings. No. Only light was fine enough to give Nicolae maximum control over his creative chaos. He called this concept the “laser harp.”

He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to study under an amateur (some Earthers would say “kook”) scientist who studied “acoustic levitation.” He interned in Santa Fe for several years before meeting his wife-to-be Piper Selig.

After eloping with Piper, Nicolae moved to his wife’s childhood home in Mendocino, California. The couple had a pair of twins, Lex and Morgan. Today Nicolae works as a producer at a local radio station. His nights are spent trying to perfect the machine he saw in a vision all those years ago. He must never be allowed to complete it.