We're celebrating Klordny Week, Superboy!

Stuff in general.

September 2
[Aberrant] Geyser, a novice Tomorrowite, writes home about her first days on the job with T2M-Americas.

They flew her and Christoph Yannik to Mexico City on a private jet, where Skew himself met them at the airport. "And god, is he handsome! I thought I was going to melt!"

After getting showered and changed into their official Team Tomorrow eufiber onesies unitards, they proceeded to a pig roast ("three whole hogs roasting on spits") attended by a lot of reporters, "at least a hundred other [ordinary] people" and the entire rest of T2M-Am "except Ana Graça Texeira, who had something else to do, I guess". (You guess right.)

Things got a little tense for awhile, when one of the reporters started asking questions about Slider, but Mr. Montoya-Bernal was so cool about how he answered the questions and then moved on so that the reporter couldn't bring everybody down. It was a party, after all and nobody wanted to talk about sad things.

She breaks off there, as she's about to head off on a mission and will be too busy to talk (even if she were allowed to, which she suspects she won't) for a couple of days.

Marietta Jackson, a developed sphinx, turns the Dominoes, a group of novas under her direction, against Randel Portman.

Marietta's body, animated by a subconscious mind that does a completely convincing imitation of normal human consciousness, tends a bar in Garza Bay, Costa Rica. "Her conscious mind wandered off long ago into abstract realms of number theory and linguistics, and it's not planning to return until it can drag its body into those realms with it." Her subconscious considers that Portman poses a threat to her just by the two of them existing, and is enacting countermeasures.

The Dominoes are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction have an allegiance "generally opposed to the [player] characters', ideally one with an interest in protecting America." Silvia "Anne Steiner" Calendri is a former NSA crypto expert who became a chaos generator after a virus wiped her hard drive. Bard Crosby is a body-hopper and social monster. "Mary Mary" Martinez is almost entirely focused outward, which means she doesn't pay enough attention to herself to stay the same shape from moment to moment. Reginald Daniels, the optional big gun, is an old-school angel, praising his God but with one wing dipped in blood.

Taking advantage of a gap in the schedule to fit this in. (I meant it to go up on Friday, but it wasn't quite ready.)

June
[Aberrant] Director Ozaki records a conversation with Director Thetis in which she insists that there was no nonlethal way to solve the problem of Slider.

The conversation is in Japanese (though Aberrant: Project Utopia provides an English translation), and she addresses him as "Ozaki-chan" throughout, except for one instance where she calls him "Director Ozaki" (italics hers, probably ironic). She does this either [a] to remind him of their relative positions or [b] because White Wolf understood Japanese honorifics about as well as they understood Texas geography or Nordic ethnography.

Her reasons for encompassing Jennifer's doom basically boil down, in my eyes, to "Because shut up. Anyone who discovers Proteus' existence without my permission can't be trusted." If I'm exaggerating, I can't see how.

I'm reminded of something I was going to mention last month, in re Thetis' desire to manage public perception of novas and apparent wish that she could manage novas back into invisibility. In his Aberrant/Mage: The Ascension mashup "To Tear the Scales from Their Eyes", ezrael made Thetis an agent of the Technocratic Union's NWO.

Despite how distasteful our agendas can be, we cannot allow anyone (no matter how popular or high-placed) to jeopardize the work we do. Despite our personal preferences. The Project is all that is important.

Ozaki wonders if he should consider that a threat. Thetis assures him that he's "too important to the Project — and to me" for her to dispose of him so casually, and I can believe her (though I'm trying to decide whether I actually do). After all, she could have left him to dry when the yakuza and the Ministry of Trade discovered the manipulations by which he'd helped Saisho happen and made Japan's first novas into pop sensations.

Lost in the debate over Slidergate is the matter with which Ozaki opened the conversation; Chiraben has "begun to get sloppy. He's enjoying his work, and he may be growing careless in adherence to the visibility guidelines." At least, the recorded portion of the conversation never gets back to it. As we'll see, though, Ozaki doesn't forget, no matter how much Thetis might like him to.

Human and otherwise.

May 25
[Aberrant] N!terview's "The World's Opinion" segment shows the diversity of answers to the question "Who killed Slider and Why?"

A Michaelite in Texas says that "the more novas who kill each other off, the better." A high school student in New York thinks Corbin did it "because she knew about something he did, something really bad." A steel worker in London "think[s] those Teragen arseholes did it." An OpNet programmer in Hong Kong plugs his OpSite about "a secret cabal inside Utopia who want to control society and technology." A columnist in Rio guesses that "[s]omeone's trying to destabilize Utopia and provoke open war with the Teragen."

Raoul Orzaiz appears live from Ibiza on N!Sight with Parker Stevenson.

( We could always send a telegram to the Right People. )

Earlier, Stevenson mentioned the media buzz linking the Teragen to the Slider murder. Raoul says point-blank "the Teragen had nothing to do with the death of Jennifer Landers. We are, however, quite interested in finding out who did, if for no other reason than to clear our name." In response to the suggestion that protection of nova interests should be left to Utopia, the count points out the buzz about Utopia's black-ops side and says "I, myself, have seen evidence suggesting that the late Jennifer Landers was a victim of Utopia's baseline agenda."

( While the theory behind Proteus' secrecy is sound, Thetis has taken it too far to keep it manageable. )

Back to Raoul:

Utopia is a product of the Æon Society, which gained status in the United Nations by promising to deal with the so-called nova crisis. The nova crisis, Parker. At its very inception, Utopia designated us as a problem to which it was the final solution.... If we continue to serve humanity as executors of their will, we unavoidably become the instruments of still more bloodshed and terror.

He considers the inclusion of novas in the human community a violation of the UN Charter's guarantees of self-determination.

After yesterday, is it any wonder I'm reluctant to go on? Besides, it's all downhill from here really.

May 14
[Aberrant] Jackie from Capitola [CA] calls in to talk radio's Jordan McDevitt Show to ask what Novelty Consulting is and why Slider was working for them.

He answers as best he can.

Talk TV's Monika Show does a segment with Mary-Beth, a mother whose daughter wants to join the Teragen.

I couldn't even watch read the talk-show segment all the way through; it just rubbed me the wrong way in ways I find hard to articulate. Maybe it was because neither side seemed to know what they were talking about. (One audience member says the Teragen is a front for a white-slave ring.)

A Terat who rejoices in the sobriquet "Penetrator" sent Geryon an email about "this sensationalist crap":

We're being turned into the new goblins. Next they'll be saying we steal children's breath or hide beneath bridges and whack people across the head so we can suck their bone-marrow.

To which James replies "I can't think of a better hobby, can you? ; )"

Short and to the pointless.

April 9
[Aberrant] A Ms. Anderson ("theprkid@t2m.com") sends an OpMail to Josiah K. Filbent , human resources agent for T2M Central, requesting advice on what to put in the press release announcing her need of an assistant. He cites her mail in his reply.

And I pretty much summarized the bit he quotes; if there's more to it than that, he's not bothered with it.

Something of a rarity.

February 28
[Aberrant] Le Monde reports that endangered monk seals off the coast of Hawaii faced a threat from a diesel fuel spill before T2M-Americas worked with American government novas to clean it up.

Outwith these sort of clearly defined moral dilemmas, the US government and Utopia get along like a house on fire (in Pterry's sense of rising flames and frantic calls to the emergency service of choice). Personally, I suspect it's because America resents having any rival, even a technically multinational one, for Top Nation status.

I was going to say "recently" in the TU, but the items labeled "February" may not all have happened yet.

February
[Aberrant] CNN reports that South Africa is instituing a pilot program requiring novas within its borders to wear radio beacons, allegedly due to misbehavior by elites from Nigeria pitching liberties in Capetown. Geryon decides that the man behind the project, Minister of Home Affairs Malcolm Chigwedere, needs to have his head launched, no matter what his Pantheon colleagues may say about no violence, and gets help in the endeavor from Epoch, Leviathan (who later shrugs "telling Geryon not to commit violence is like telling a baby not to piss itself") and the Confederate.

I think that one speaks for itself pretty well. I almost missed including the next two items. Speaking of the Confed...

Natalya "Swarm Queen" Dornova sends a note to Allison "Shrapnel" Hughes warning her that Barry Meldrum is going too far, from his alliance with Alafin Sango to the massacres, of baseline and nova alike, that follow him everywhere he goes.

She understands her (rumored) occasional lover's hatred of baselines and agrees that "[t]hey have to be taught a lesson," but doesn't think extermination of the monkeys is the way to go about it. "I realize that Bahrain must fall and that Tarik is blocking us, but what can Sango get us that we can't get ourselves — besides genocide?"

This month's Scientific American includes the article "Quantum Force Manipulations and the Mind" by Dr. Shawn Worth.

Briefly, Worth theorizes that nova powers merely "magnify and externalize" the manipulation of quantum forces inherent in the quantum-level nature of consciousness.

An internal Directive memo on Pantheon Productions, Narcosis' corporate arm; its entertainment powerhouse status and diversified holdings; and its Teragen ties.

"A number of reports seem to suggest that PP is heavily involved in drug trafficking.... More disturbing is the possibility that PP is one of the leading manufacturers of soma — a fact that makes PP a danger to baselines and novas alike."

February 3
[Aberrant] First airing of History Channel documentary Homo Sapiens Novus.

An exploration of the role of novas in modern society from N-Day to now.

N!'s Beautiful Nova OpCasts live from the Calcutta premiere of Narcosis' new movie One God. It is the last time host Jeffrey Hiens is seen on the air.

Maybe even the last time he's seen alive.

Case-file T2M-020308-TP0019 is filed by Thanorm Prakarnchai, executive assistant to the director of T2M-Asia/Pacific. It concerns what appears to be Heaven Thunder Triad underwriting of Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) cultivation in the highlands of North Vietnam.

Prakarnchai recommends that a T2Mer surveil of the farms to confirm the nature of their crop, then "counsel the farmers on more productive farming methods, using whatever means necessary to persuade them." After that, continued surveillance, "and should they falter in their responsibilities to international law, a team will destroy their contraband crops and will arrest the criminals involved." (Nice bureaucratese there.)

Maria "Rattler" Cabral writes in her journal about the Cult of Mal gathering she recently attended in Paris.

The whole experience is already starting to fade, to become an episode. She suspects something in the communion chalice the Apostle gave her is to blame. On the one hand, there's a lot of truth in his words; on the other hand, he takes those truths in dangerous directions. "If we don't stop him soon, I fear the worst — then again maybe we need to purge our ranks?" Delorimier has turned #13 Rue de Temple into, well, a temple to the Beacon Mal, one where Cabral could almost feel The One's presence.

Having been there from the beginning, Delorimier knows or at least guesses that Mal's eruption predates the Galatea explosion, though he doesn't seem aware of the Donighal's personal responsibility for the event. He warns that when The One comes out of his Chrysalis, "he'll lead those with pure hearts to the Promised Land, casting the rest aside to the baseline lions."

Rattler experienced a moment of doubt, but Marcel's voice washed it away along with the room: "...some hide behind masks and riddles, afraid to take the leap and follow Mal. They may be Terats now, but tomorrow, who knows?... Open yourself and accept the Will of Mal."

Yeah, I've been dragging my heels on this. Mostly the transition to a new flashdrive, with a possible subconscious dose of "Maybe if I don't do it this year, I can pretend that the tragedy of May 13 doesn't happen."

January
[Aberrant] This month's issue of Humanity magazine (v.1 #4) contains Gwan Myung-sun's article "The Day the Coconuts Fell Without a Sound", on the disappointing reaction of Utopia to a personal complaint by the families of people killed in a T2MA/P raid on a Nakato-gumi warehouse.

The name sounds Korean, but somehow, I don't think of Koreans as using metaphors like "the ripe coconuts of our hearts". Then again, given what White Wolf's writers of the time were able to say straight-faced about northern Europe and the southwestern US, it probably shouldn't be surprising that they can be equally de-informed about Asia.

[Aberrant] Nathan Black hosts the N! special The New Gods: Humanity's Next Step.

It includes a demonstration of electrical power by Detroit franchisee* and part-time Utopian Jonas "Kikjak" Kincaid.

January 3
[Aberrant] This week's issue of Newsweek carries an article "Eruption of Wonder: Science in the Nova Age" by Dr. Paul Tandy.

Here in OTL, I'm not sure there was an issue of Newsweek for that week (it would've been cover-dated January 7, I think).

January 7
[Aberrant] Amanda Wu, CEO of Novelty Consulting, sends congratulations to all researchers and analysts working on "the Kim project" (a planned land-grab by North Korea).

First time I've had occasion to mention her, and I wish it were going to be the last.

* Licensed urban defender.

Remember, Sol Invictus is the reason for the season.

December 28
[Aberrant] William Reed, director of T2M-Americas, submits casefile T2M-122807-WFR0054, concerning the Peruvian nova who styles himself "Inti" (after the Inca sun god).

The Utopia investigation began several months ago, with strange lights in the Andes. It's now led to Inti and the community of followers he's established in the ruins of Machu Picchu. He's believed to have caused at least eight deaths in the name of protecting his privacy (possibly including a tourist helicopter) and he's known to have gathered some acllas to himself, from among his followers' virgin daughters, in exchange for his "mercy".

"The Office of Intelligence Services, T2M-Americas, believes that we should eliminate the threat posed by Inti immediately and scatter his followers." It's possible he's just an India Syndrome case, but Reed considers it more likely that Inti has been driven mad by taint. If taken alive (not the office's recommendation), "he should be remanded [to] Bahrain."

One of those items probably only of interest to the boring completist. (Hi!)

July 12
[Aberrant] Baseline employment opportunities at Team Tomorrow for this week include a helicopter pilot for T2M-Asia/Pacific, an aerobics instructor for T2M-Europe, an event promotions coordinator for T2M-Central, and a hypercombustion engine mechanic for T2M-Americas.

And that's it really.