We're celebrating Klordny Week, Superboy!

And the debate continues.

June 20
[Aberrant] The "Opinion Forum" segment of N!'s Nova News Now! features a debate over Slider's murder between Chad "The Living Wreck" Berger (Chicago's franchised public defender) and alleged Calcutta cop Edgar Rhys.

I don't know whether Greg Stolze (author of Exposé: Aberrants) was trying to present a parody of our he-said/she-said media and the way it sets the limits of acceptable discourse, but that's the effect achieved, with Rhys treating Corbin as guilty until proven so and Berger unable to do more than poke a few holes in the case without coming across as a conspiracy nut. The closest he comes to speaking the unspeakable truth is in this exchange:

Rhys: If Corbin is innocent, why is he running?
Berger: Maybe he's afraid. Someone who could kill Jennifer could probably kill André too.

I find it worth mentioning at this point that the Aberrants, like Gaul, are divided into three parts. Berger, Renaissance Man, telepath/precog Mina Takamura, and a handful of others who worked with Utopia continue to do so, hiding their sympathies. Rousseau coordinates these Hidden with all the cunning at her disposal, as they attempt to determine the extent of Proteus' control and to (hopefully) shut it down without destroying Utopia, in whose goals they still believe. They're the smallest faction, according to E:A.

The largest (with nearly half of the allegiance's 40 or so members) is the Quarry, the Quitters who left Utopia after they got hints of Proteus, and as such find themselves on the run with no idea where to run to and only a vague notion of what they're running from. Corbin leads them, and leads them surprisingly well. Proteus' winged monkey may think of the Scotsman as the Scarecrow and/or Tin Man, but he's showing himself to have plenty of heart, and courage too.

And then there are the Rebels, the Radicals who were already on Utopia's bad side, either because (like Dr. Worm, their leader) they considered the Project "a kinder, gentler fascism" from the word Go, or because they "just don't play well with others." I suspect many of them would be Terats if Cargill hadn't gotten to them ahead of a Teragen spokesman.

Separated for now.

June 1
[Aberrant] In response to Rousseau's telecom virus, the initial roster of the Aberrants (including Jacques Angel, Chad "The Living Wreck" Berger, Toren "Dr. Worm" Cargill, Danielle Coleridge, Edda Cznievski, Kimberly Dame, Diane "Intergalactic" Holm and Asa "Renaissance Man" Karadakas) meets in the Amp Room. Corbin is pointedly absent, on the grounds that bringing an emotional broadcaster/amplifier into a room full of anxious novas can only end in fire.

It's Karadakas (referred to on the transcript as "Unidentified Man") who points that last bit out, when Angel is demanding to know where Corbin is and why he's not explaining things in person. Rousseau confirms that, and volunteers to take any questions.

( Q&A. )

Anatole Siervich of Nova-Express Caterers is contacted by (fellow) suspected Teragen sympathizer Eric Ballard with final information about the upcoming Pantheon meeting.

It's all about the seating and the dishes. ( Food, glorious food! )

News from opposite sides of the divide.

May 30
[Aberrant] The mysterious Sophia Rousseau contacts the fugitive Corbin (Proteus had feared she might get in touch with Slider). Their underground organization immediately begins contacting friends and acquaintances in the nova community, as well as newly erupting novas. The group's goal is to expose the hidden corruption in Project Utopia, and Corbin dubs its members "Aberrants" in an ironic usage of the anti-nova epithet.

It starts when she calls him at a public phone terminal, identifying herself only as "[s]omeone who's well aware of who you are and what you're running from." She then says, after pointing out that this isn't necessarily a secure line,

I have resources enough to keep you hidden — but I also have resources enough to back you on a more aggressive course of action, one that stands to help you correct some of your current problems.

After that, she sends a "telecom virus" to those friends and acquaintances, stating that Corbin's folder of Slider's evidence makes a strong case "that elements within Utopia seek to subjugate or regulate, possibly even systematically eliminate, novas as a whole." But they need more than a strong case; with Utopia's presence "in every aspect of normal life", they can't go to any authorities, and "to overturn public confidence in [Utopia] could lead to catastrophic panic worldwide." They don't even know for sure to what extent Utopia is compromised. "Nonetheless, we cannot remain passive against a clear and present threat", so she's inviting "[n]ovas interested in defending their rights as individuals" to meet on Sunday at the Amp Room.

Caestus Pax fires off an angry memo to William F. Reed, director of T2M Americas, ordering him to reprimand Ana Graça Texeira and Gvuthbjörg Danielsdottir for their participation in a recent Queer Nova Alliance demonstration.

A T2M agent has no business getting involved in political or social issues. You will immediately remind them that they represent Team Tomorrow and that they do not have the authority to use their T2M status to further their own agendas without getting prior approval through the proper channels.

He recommends they be sent out on widely separate assignments (Ana to hound the Medellín in Colombia, "Guggie" to handle a matter in Ontario). "You let this kind of thing continue and your agents will start thinking they have rights."

Oh, Shelby... just because you're in the closet, you want the whole queer world to stay there with you. ("A T2M agent has no business getting involved in political or social issues"? Then what the hell business does T2M have even existing?)

[Everything from here down was added in an edit June 4.]

Jesus "Matador" Morales, a Terat mascara in Mexico City, sends an encoded message to his mentor Feathered Serpent about his recent meeting with Meztiszo, of the Aberrants, to open ties between the two anti-Upie groups.

I was thinking of posting this June 30, as it seems to make more chronological sense and be less sudden, but as Ian points out below, Aberrant: Teragen has it taking place today, so there it is. (Of course, now I come to make this edit, I can't actually find the passage in A:T.)

Old Charlie stole the handle and the train just keeps on goin', no way to slow down.

May 8
[Aberrant] Spike in Jose Diaz' communications.

Which might have something to do with this.

second week of May
[Aberrant] An official Project Proteus audio communiqué, Clearance Beta, all field agents' priority, designates Jennifer Landers as "a threat to Utopia and Proteus longevity."

She's contacted "no fewer than 16 novas and no more than 19 novas" with what she knows. They know about Corbin, XWFer Diane "Intergalactic" Holm, fellow Utopian Christoph "Shadow Artist" Yannik, Meztiszo (yes, that really is how he spells it), "Greer... Cherpa and Fong" (I know nothing about them, save that "Fong" is obviously not Caroline Fong). They haven't yet been in touch with Sophia Rousseau that Proteus knows of, but that might change. Even as it stands, even though "Proteus secrecy has not been compromised", just from what's already in her head, Jennifer constitutes a

liability to Projects Utopia and Proteus to such a degree that her continued performance exists more as threat than mere agitation. Act per Code Omega directives, under normal Proteus visibility guidelines.

And this is the earliest verifiable mention of Sophia Rousseau. She's been around from early in the Nova Age — not as early as The Fireman or Duke "Core" Baron, but she's no Booster-come-lately either. What she is, according to one nova, is "a storm of psychic static" that he feared would destroy his powers if he got too close (which, for those of us possessing familiarity with what comes chronologically after Aberrant, calls into question her general identification as a nova). Everybody's heard of her, but nobody can quite recall where or what they first heard about her.