Microstory 596: Claims of New Anomaly Revealed Erroneous

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It has been decades since someone with a special anomaly ability has been born. The majority of anomalies belonged to the first generation, with very few of them bearing children with abilities of their own. Even fewer of those gave us third generation anomalies, and a fourth generation anomaly is completely unheard of. Scientists and believers hoped this was changing following reports of a man displaying superhuman qualities that was spotted around Los Angeles, Usonia. Though some anomalies remain today, including those in the first generation whose abilities grant them extended life spans, all are considered inactive. The primary organization responsible for anomalies, Bellevue was designed to study anomaly abilities so that they could better the world through technology. For the most part, this has happened, and any individual possessing such power isn’t really needed anymore. They’re generally left to live their lives as they choose. But there are those who believe the bloodlines remain strong, that there are more out there, and that they have simply chosen to return to a status of anonymity. This theory was tested this week when Bellevue agents were dispatched to L.A. in order to investigate the rumors.

The man in question has been seen all over the city, and its surrounding suburbs, as a vigilante against petty crime. Global crime rates have dropped dramatically since the first anomalies stepped into the light last century, with the help of equalizing technological, medical, and political improvements. Still, some highly concentrated metropolises continue to experience an unsettling amount of violent crime. Cities like Hudon, Tokyo, Paris, and the aforementioned Los Angeles seemed to rely heavily on the interventions of high profile Bellevue operatives like Pantera, and Garner. Like our new subject, Garner possessed no abilities of her own, instead using ancient alien technology to battle criminals and terrorists wherever she could find them. A man whose true name has yet to be released by the authorities, but who calls himself Capacitor, has recently been taken into police custody for vigilantism. Witnesses first believed him to be a new Bellevue operative, or at least a new anomaly, since he exhibits similar traits. Seemingly out of his own body, he can propel bolts of electricity to stun his targets. He can also absorb them into what appears to be artificial simplex dimension, before depositing them at the nearest law enforcement building. He carried with him no obvious equipment that would allow him to do such things, but once Bellevue apprehended him, they were able to learn some things. He was evidently a gifted engineer, but also a lucky one, having uncovered evidence of ancient technology not dissimilar to the kind once protected by Garner and historically, her family. He adapted these plans and instructions into his own designs, miniaturizing and flattening the components so they could fit within the confines of regular clothes. Though without a current public identity beyond his codename, Capacitor has been allowed to release a personal statement. “I meant no harm to my beloved nation’s justice system. I saw a need, a void, an opportunity...and I took it. I do not regret my desire to help, but I do wish I had handled it better. I should have contacted Bellevue before jumping into this with so few resources. I’m just glad they stopped me before I hurt myself, or did something irreparable.” It is not known at this time if the city, or the national government, intends to press charges against Capacitor, or what his destiny is as a whole. Perhaps they will allow him to resume his activities, but this time under supervision. The city of Los Angeles declined to comment. Bellevue declined to comment. At the time of this publishing, the Usonian government has not responded to requests for comment. At the time of this publishing, the Confederacy expressed a reiteration of their policy against commenting on the business of lower governments, and external agencies.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: July 15, 2130

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The first thing that Mateo did when he woke up in 2130 was take inventory. He didn’t need to know how much fish they had in their tarp aquarium, or how long their alien coconuts would last before they climb for more. No, he needed to know who was left on the island. The last several years had come with so much drama, and time away from the group, that he hadn’t really gotten a chance to see what things looked like. Mario was the worst off. He mourned for his daughter, who was still alive, but not for his wife, who had been ripped from time. He couldn’t remember her, but deep love seemed to do something for people that not even time could break. He was feeling an emptiness that he couldn’t explain, even after being told of Angelita.

Darko was still there, working his ass off to provide for the group, something that Vearden did in bulk before he died. Other choosing ones acted like they would be lost without their time powers, but not Darko. Mateo never once heard him complain, or accidentally try to thread an object before realizing he could no longer do it. Apparently, he was good either way. Mateo still didn’t understand what Lincoln’s power was, how he could see time from an outside perspective. It sounded like something no one could understand if they couldn’t see it for themselves. He especially didn’t know how much of that power Lincoln retained on the island. Whenever they crossed paths, they would give each other this look, like they were trying to communicate telepathically. At first, Mateo assumed it was hard for him to pretend to be as oblivious as everyone else, but now he was thinking that Lincoln had been dealing with that his whole life. The woman he had known as his mother in another timeline was still alive too. They never spoke to one another, and she seemed to have lost interest in learning about in getting to know him better. She knew an alternate version of her had given birth to him, but also that he was raised primarily by other people. Loving him was a level of social connection that she was incapable of feeling. If she didn’t outright hate him for being ultimately at fault for her life on this island, she was at least indifferent to him as a stranger.

It was Horace who Mateo felt worst for right now. He was looking around camp, sifting through other people’s bags, and even digging holes in the sand. He walked back and forth, sometimes checking somewhere he had already checked. He was growing more and more frustrated, stopping periodically to determine whether this was even real life. One time, Randall and Carol took Mateo to a nursing home to visit his third cousin something-something-something removed. He was so young that he now couldn’t even remember the man’s name, but this image of him in his room has never gone. The cousin never quite understood who the three of them were, or how Mateo was related to him. He just stood in the middle of the floor, staring at his surroundings. What Mateo didn’t realize at the time was that he had a form of neurological damage, coupled with age-related dementia. Everything around him was unrecognizable, like it not only didn’t belong to him, but that he couldn’t even figure out what they were in the first place. What do beds do? How do you open a dresser? What are mirrors for? The look of fear in this man’s eyes as he placed as much distance between him and the unknown had haunted Mateo ever since. Horace was acting like that right now, and it was because his daughter, Paige had been torn out of time.

“What are you looking for, hun?” Aura asked tenderly.

Horace just grunted.

“If you tell us what it is, we can help you.”

Horace grunted again, but also lunged in her direction, letting her know that she needed to back off.

Aura wasn’t letting up, though. She tried to reach for him, even seeing that he was not in the mood. Mateo stepped in instead, before it could escalate to violence, taking Horace by the arms.

Her name was Paige Turner Reaver-Demir. You and Serkan raised her after accidentally bringing her through time. Arcadia has removed her from the timestream, and has erased your memories, but...”

“She can’t erase my soul,” Horace finished. “What’s happening to me, Mateo? Surely I wasn’t in her presence every second of her life. What about when she went to college, or backpacking in Europe? If she’s only been gone for a couple hours, why do I feel like my organs were replaced with rocks? Why does it hurt so much?”

“She hasn’t just been gone for a couple hours, Horace. She’s been gone forever. The lost of a child can’t—” He stopped mid-sentence to switch gears, “it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you last saw her; the void consumed you immediately.”

Horace still had no memory of Paige, but knew on an unspeakable level that he was supposed to. His eyes teared up slowly, but then fell out of his eyes like a bursting dam. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground so hard that Mateo couldn’t hold the weight. The crowd gathered around him, to form a protective shell that no threat could break, sending him as much positive energy as they had themselves.

“Dad?”

Horace stopped crying, but didn’t raise his head. He went back to the face that was reminiscent of Mateo’s brain-damaged relative. What is a dad? His mind corrected itself quickly, though, and he was able to look up and into his daughter’s eyes. “Paige?”

She was holding Arcadia’s hand, like a child who was too young to fly alone, and was assigned one of the flight attendants to supervise her. She removed her grasp and dove down to hug Horace’s neck, and together they cried.

Mateo stood up and stepped over to Arcadia. “Why did you bring her back? Not that I’m complaining.”

“I couldn’t do it,” she said. It’s easy when you can erase their memories, because...” She could barely speak; distracted by the expression of devotion between a father and daughter. “Because then it’s like it’s not even real. But with two people like them, my power can only do so much. Seeing him break down like this...it just didn’t feel right.”

“None of this is right, Arcadia.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you do it?”

“I was literally born for this. Altering the continuum is all I know. Take that away from me, and what am I?”

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?”

“No jokes.”

“I’m sorry.” He took a few beats so they could continue watching the sudden reunion, then he turned towards Arcadia. “I don’t know who you are. You’ve never given me the chance. But no one has to be like this. No one has to do this to people. It’s a choice.”

“You’re not given a choice,” she said to him. “You’re a salmon. Everything you do is at the mercy of someone else.”

“So what’s your excuse?”

“Centuries of being just like you. They didn’t call us salmon, but that’s what we were. We were slaves to our nature, as well as to them.”

“Well they no longer control you, so you don’t have to be like them anymore.”

“I’m not like I was. Now I make the decisions. You’re right, I have a choice...and I still choose this. For now.” Her whole body faded to black, and then faded away. Her voice remained in the air for a few seconds, though. “Paige and Horace will never again be separated by my hands.”

Horace broke free from his little girl, and approached Mateo. “Is this over? Is she really back?”

“She’s back,” Mateo assured him. “I can’t tell you what happens tomorrow, but Paige is safe.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Darko asked. “Can we fight back?”

Mateo and Lincoln exchanged that look again.

“No,” Mateo said. “We just have to get through it, and we can’t let it break us.”

“Well, what are we doing today?” Mario asked.

Mateo had no answer for this, but Horace did. “We cherish every moment.”

That night, they had a feast, provided for them by Arcadia, who never appeared herself, but apported any food to them upon request. As they were joking and laughing during desert, a one-armed man walked through a door that was hovering just over the table. He was followed by another man who held his own arm at his back, presumably holding the door open.

“Keanu,” Horace said, angrily and under his breath.

“Tauno,” said Paige in the same way.

“I am not so generous,” the one Mateo guessed was Keanu said.

Horace knocked his chair behind him as he was standing up to reach for Keanu’s legs. Tauno raised his free hand to him, sending Horace falling through a hole that wasn’t there before. They then heard the same yelling from a football field away where he was falling out of the exit portal. The rest of them tried to stop the two intruders as well, but were met by the same fate. They all began running back towards the table, but none of them was able to make it there before Keanu had pulled Paige into their main portal door, and closed it permanently.

“Arcadia!” Mateo screamed.

As if on cue, Arcadia teleported in herself and said, “looks like you’ll get a Paige expiation after all.”

“Where are they?” Mateo asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “That’s what’s gonna make this one so difficult.”

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Flurry: A Sound of Thunder (Part VIII)

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If this were an unrealistic action film—one that, for some reason, featured a gay couple—Serkan and Ace would have taken the time to hold hands and look into each other’s eyes one last time. And this time would last a lot longer than it would actually take to fall from x amount of height. The picture would probably smash to black just before the characters hit the ground, spending a few seconds of suspenseful silence before starting the music score and credits, letting the audience know that this truly is the end. But what’s happening here isn’t an unrealistic action film. It’s an unrealistic slipstream fiction story, and in this story, there exists a series of walking deus ex machinas known as Saviors. In recent times, there has only been one Savior alive at once. It is their job to teleport all over the world, and save people’s lives, before zipping away to save somebody else. Of course, this was not Serkan and Ace’s end. Having been from the future, Serkan didn’t think it was either, because Ace should still be alive come two years, but it was also possible that he changed things by time traveling. There was just no telling what would happen, because he didn’t have all the information. One important bit of information he was missing was that the two of them were in the best position to take care of something for a powerful group of people. These people needed the two of them to remain alive, at least for now. So they sent their Savior to rescue them.

Just before Serkan hit the ground, he felt something around his waist, and then found himself standing safely in a sparsely wooded area. The snow was gone. Ace was standing next to him, just as confused as he was. A woman was resting her hands on her knees and panting. “I hate the falling ones,” she said in between breaths. “I wish I could apport people. That would make my job a lot easier.”

“Thank you for saving us,” Ace said to her, even without knowing her motives.

“Don’t mention it.” She reached to her back, but came up with nothing. She touched her shoulders, and then started looking around. “Where the hell’s my bag?”

“Maybe you dropped it at the castle,” Serkan suggested.

“What castle?”

“Do you know how far we are from where you caught us?” Ace asked her.

“Are we even in the same time period?” Serkan added.

“I’m not a time traveler,” the woman explained. “And no. They don’t tell me where I’m going. But yeah, I must have dropped it wherever that was.”

Ace introduced himself, which prompted Serkan to do the same.

“Daria Matic,” she said. “Salmon Savior.” She looked around again, but it was more like she was taking in her environment. “I don’t know why I’m still here, though. They should be sending me off.”

“Perhaps they wanted you to stay long enough for me to cook a thank-you meal,” Ace said.

She pointed to his stomach. “Are you the guy with the quiche?”

This surprised them both. True, that was his go-to move for getting people to like him, but he wasn’t famous, or anything. “Uhh...I believe I am.”

She nodded and took a deep breath to finally get back to equilibrium. “Sounds good. Where are we, by the way? They wouldn’t have had me teleport us very far from where you’re supposed to be.”

“Kansas City,” Serkan said, pulling up the Escher Card to find their exact location. “Ever been?”

Daria looked longingly to the distance. “My home.”

They made their way back to the city through a ride-sourcing service. All the while, Daria stared out the window, admiring the sites. “City of Fountains,” she whispered to herself. “Hey, who runs this town now?”

Serkan wasn’t sure what kind of answer she was looking for, or how long she had been gone, so he just did his best. “The Tracers.”

She nodded. “Slipstream alive?”

“Uh, she should be?” he answered.

“What about Fairware?”

“What’s that?”

“Never mind.” She smashed her face against the glass. “Mendoza Park?”

“Yeah, it was named after—”

Daria interrupted him, “he died?” She looked down at the floor and thought for a few moments. “I’ll need to see his grave.”

“We can do that. I just have to find out where it is,” Serkan explained.

“I don’t know how long I have.”

“We’re here,” the driver announced.

“Take me to Slipstream,” Daria demanded.

“I don’t know who that is, lady,” the driver retorted. “If you don’t request the destination, I can’t take ya there.”

“Here’s fine,” Ace said as he was stepping out. “Now we have our own car.”

Once they were out, Serkan said to their new friend, “I can’t let Slipstream see me. I’m from a couple years in the future. She’ll never understand.”

“That shows how much you know about Slippy. But if you won’t take me to her, then I suppose Kyle Stanley will do.”

“Kyle Stanley?” he asked. “The lawyer?”

“Yeah, don’t tell me seeing him will interrupt your timeline too.”

“I don’t...think so,” he replied. “I never met him. I only ever worked with Rutherford, and he’s never been much help.”

“I just wanna find my friend’s grave. Stanley will know.”

Before either of them could assure her that they would help, the snow returned. It didn’t just start falling. At first, it would blink back into existence, and then blink out. It did this a few times, like the interface of a cracked phone struggling to keep the screen on after having been in the toilet. The three of them could see that something was wrong, but people in the street seemed to be part of it. They too would spontaneously switch between summer clothes and winter clothes, without having any clue that anything was changing.

“What’s...going on here?” Daria asked.

“We don’t really know. I guess I thought someone went back in time and stopped the snow from ever happening, but maybe Keanu found a way around it.”

This scared her. “Keanu? You’re dealing with a Snowglober?”

“Yeah, so it would seem.”

“Oh my God,” she said, more frightened than ever, “I have to get away from you two.” Just as she turned to put distance between them, the weather stopped oscillating, and remained in its wintery state.

Former founder of High Castle Corporation, Keanu ‘Ōpūnui appeared suddenly to block her way. He was still missing one arm. “You must be the Savior.”

She slowly back away. Ace and Serkan shielded her about as well as was possible when dealing with someone who could manipulate time.

Keanu continued, “don’t worry, I cannot hurt her. The powers that be would be all over me about that. You, on the other hand, are fair game.”

“We didn’t do this to you. It was that woman you were keeping as some sort of slave.”

“Yes. I didn’t actually come for you.” He nodded to their house. “I hear she lives here. I was hoping to pay her a visit and return a favor she did for me.” He presented his shoulder stub.

“We live here,” Ace told him.

“Exactly.”

“What?”

“Ugh,” he sighed. “You two will never understand time travel.” He started heading for the front steps. “Anyway, I have to go kill your daughter.”

With zero hesitation, Ace planted his leg in front of Keanu’s, and then slammed his face right onto the pavement. The snow was painted red...and could probably go for a cool mil if seen by the right obnoxiously rich white people. Keanu calmly picked himself up, wiped his mouth, and dialed his phone. “Twenty seconds oughta do it.—Thanks Jesi.”

Time suddenly started rewinding. They could perceive their own actions in reverse, but could do nothing to alter them...not until time restarted at its normal pace, and in the proper direction.

“Let’s try this again,” Keanu proposed. Again, he started walking towards their house, and again, Ace forced him to the ground.

“I don’t care how many time friends you have!” Ace yelled at him. “I’ll never stop droppin’ you down!”

Keanu stood up, but did not wipe the blood from his face this time. Instead, he aggressively placed it right in front of Ace’s. “You think you have any power? You think you’re safe? You think your daughter’s safe in that pocket world? I got a friend who can cross dimensions, bitch! You can’t stop us!”

Ace moved his feet in closer. “That’s the second time you’ve used that term. The third will come with consequences.”

Keanu lowered his voice and looked at Ace with crazy eyes. I said biiiiiiiiiiiiiii...”

Ace reached up and struck Keanu in his throat, which caused him to stumble backwards and try to protect himself. Ace wasn’t done, though. He punched Keanu in the face with a nice right hook. Keanu’s arm broke his fall, but Ace took this opportunity to kick him right in the stomach. He then proceeded to whale on Keanu’s face over and over again, each blow as chilling as thunder. Serkan tried to pull him away, but wasn’t strong enough. “Think you can talk on the phone now? Who ya gonna call? Huh? HUH!? You killed her. You killed Leona, you piece of shit!”

“STOP!” Serkan ordered.

Ace looked up to see a few bystanders on the sidewalk, a couple of them holding their phones down at the scene.

“Who the hell is Leona?” Serkan asked after someone he thought he knew stood back up and hunted for his breath.

“I don’t know,” he answered before starting to walk away. “I don’t know,” he repeated, mostly to himself.

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Microstory 595: Atlantis Will Sink

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When our people first came to this world, it was by accident. Our ancestors found themselves trapped in a scary new universe, with primitive technology, and superstitious inhabitants. We wanted to live in peace with them, but this was not possible. We would have to reveal our scientific understanding to them at a time when we felt it would not be appropriate. Or we would have to live like them. Of course, since then, Priority Two has altered our perception of best practices around the rest of the universe, but for this world, the rule remains. We must not come out to the natives, or we will face consequences from several authorities. Long after the first accidental trip, we came upon a large island in the ocean. At the time, the natives were barely venturing out to the sea, so we knew we would be safe so far from the mainland. Over time, more of our people came through the tear in spacetime, sometimes accidentally, but not always. We monitored these crossings, tracked their movements, and read them into the situation. Since then, our established culture has grown on this island, which has been named Atlantis. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has advanced to the point that we are no longer a secret. Already rumors are spreading across two continents, telling of the City of Atlantis, with its powerful magic, and its dangerous army. We know that we remain here in peace, but we’ve found it next to impossible to convince the natives of this. So a choice was made, and soon, it will be realized.

After long deliberations, and input from all current residents, our leaders have decided to hide Atlantis from the rest of the world. This will be the largest project Atlantians have ever attempted, and it will not be easy. A number of plans have been proposed, all of them with their faults. Some want to drop Atlantis into a simplex dimension, but the power requirements would render life inside difficult. We would need to take drastic precautions to protect ourselves from plex radiation. To avoid this, there are those who say we should phase ourselves out of perception, but this is a class of technology we do not possess, and we do not feel it to be in our best interests to ask for it from our allies. Some say we should build a dome that covers the entire island, and then sink it into the ocean, but the construction alone would be noticed by outsiders. This we cannot risk, but the suggestion did give us an idea of what we could do. The new plan incorporates the best aspects of all other ideas, but removes most of the dangers. Make no mistake, this will be dangerous as well, but experts believe it to be the safest choice imaginable. We are going to sink the island, but instead of building a dome, we are going to keep the waters at bay using a series of redundant telekinetic fields. Scientists have begun work designing TK field generators to be placed all along the border, and later on our tallest buildings. To make up for the gaps, and before the buildings can be raised, witches will use their learned telekinetic gifts. The best witches can secure telekinetic fields with little effort, and walk away. Others will have to operate in shifts. They will take turns maintaining the protective barrier until something more permanent can be installed. Scientists are still working on the details of this mission, with no intention to reach our goal for at least another half year. Within one week, our progress will be released to the public. We are asking for help from anyone and everyone. Even if you do not have the educational background to understand the plan from an engineering standpoint, we urge you to speak up with any thoughts. We welcome all perspectives, for if we do not get this right, only the vampires will survive. Instructions will be sent out by email in time.

Microstory 594: Miscalculation of Largest Particle Accelerator in the World

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The Adnington Joint Global Accelerator was designed to be the largest in the world. Sixteen nations came together to draw up these plans, with five more agreeing to sell, donate, or lease the land necessary for the completion of the project. The Adnington Institute also needed Confederacy approval to operate across the ocean bed in international waters. The AJGA, affectionately nicknamed Aggie, was hoped to be not only the largest particle accelerator in history, but also the largest manmade structure in the universe. At a length of just over 145 shemko, Aggie would circle the entire globe. Due to geographic constraints, it is not possible to build her at the planet’s equator, but it will still be a milestone ingenuity, and a testament to the human spirit. Noted slipstream fiction author, Jeloni Jax first proposed the concept in her mid-16th century novel series The Chronicles of Pastel, though only in the third book. The series relates the fictional future development of the human race, symbolized by the ever-increasing size of our particle accelerators, the largest of which circles the whole galaxy. The series is notable for its fairly accurate prediction of technological advances, and has been used by scientists as roadmap to that end. Unfortunately, it’s possible that this particular dream of hers may never be realized, as least not by Aggie.

The accelerator was not started in one place with plans to move ever Eastwards. Instead, each participating nation began construction simultaneously, with the intention of eventually connecting the multitude of sections. Engineers spent years prior to this construction surveying the land, and designing the structure. Ever minute detail matters. Even a slight perturbation in the construction could result in a complete failure of the experiment. This type of ring must be a perfect circle if it is going to be able to accomplish what Adnington proposes. At the moment, it’s estimated that about 31% of the construction is finished, with sections from two nations having already joined together. However, a surveyor has recently discovered there to be a literal disconnect between two other locations. Still thousands of nayko from each other, it’s already been discovered that the Usonian and Moroccan sections will not match up perfectly when they meet in the middle of the ocean. Both teams are off in their calculations, resulting in each one already heading in conflicting directions. A few suggestions have been made by the scientific community, one being that both countries could remove the offending sections and start again. The problem with this is that Usonia would have to rebuild over one hundred nayko, while Morocco would be responsible for about four nayko. Neither country is sure at the time whether this will be a financially feasible option. The Adnington Institute has begun an audit of the process, and will make a determination as to the fate of the project in a month. For now, nine of the other countries have put their construction on hold, while the remaining five have continued under the assumption that these issues will be resolved. Some say that this venture is too soon, citing Jax’s estimation of an accelerator this large not being built until around 1915. The future of particle acceleration may be uncertain, but lead researcher at the current largest accelerator, Megarelativstic Ion Collider (Mick) in Greenland put in his two cents. “We’re happy to keep the lights on, so to speak, until the globotron is completed, in whatever form that takes.”

Microstory 593: Prophet Warner Clemons’ Death Ruled Murder

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This world has seen a great many Prophets over the years. They arise outside of any pattern, and they cannot be predicted. Anyone can be born a Prophet; be it a king, or a beggar, or salesman. They come with a wide variety of skills and educational background. Some are teachers, some are poets, some are musicians, some are journalists. The one thing that binds them together is their drive to spread their spiritual message to everyone willing to listen. Prophets hold the world together, providing its peoples with unconventional perspectives when they’re needed most. One of our more recent Prophets, Warner Clemons decided to take his message as high as he could by pursuing a life of politics. He started out small, as most politicians do, running for class president every year of grade school. He didn’t always win, but he always learned something new, and this was when he began to form lifelong friendships with people who believed in his words. He started out officially in local government, making sure his neighborhood’s voice was heard, and soon started to make waves on larger scales. The Council of Prophetic Scrutiny officially certified Clemons as a High Prophet amidst his first senatorial campaign, fittingly on his thirtieth birthday. This pushed him over the edge in the polls, with some detractors claiming this tactic to be unfair to his opponents. In true Prophet Clemons form, he ended up absorbing all of these opponents into his advisory board, ensuring that they retained their own voices in the government. Prophet Clemons went on to become Ambassador to the Confederacy seven years ago, but did not hold the position long, for he was soon chosen to be the organization’s Chief Mediator. He used his words to spread peace and understanding between the most unstable of enemies. His works have not been met with total support, which is to be expected. Factions of Amadesins opposed his position on world government, leading the Chief Mediator to carry with him a higher number of personal bodyguards than usual. Unfortunately, one of his own men has turned out to be the perpetrator of his murder.

Brandis Cunningham started his short life as a common criminal, robbing convenience stores with his uncles and older siblings. Over the years, his crimes became more violent, ultimately resulting in a charge of attempted murder when he was only seventeen years old. The justice system gave him a choice: go to prison, or join the Usonian military, and learn how to channel his rage productively. Interviews would later reveal him to have become a model soldier, instinctively protecting the weakest in his group. He even took the fall for misbehavior that had actually been carried out by others. But not even this was enough to keep Cunningham from going back to his old ways. He was dishonorably discharged following an altercation with a superior officer that left them both in the intensive care unit. It would have seemed that his career was over, but Prophet Clemons saw something in him. He used different tactics, and channeled Cunningham’s skills once more. He focused less on the rule-following, and more on the protector instinct, quickly fostering his aptitude for private security. It wasn’t long before Cunningham became the Prophet’s primary guard, protecting him at literally all times. They not only lived together, but slept in adjoining rooms. There were even unverified rumors that Cunningham, Clemons, and Clemons’ wife were in a polyamorous relationship with each other. Investigators do not wish to speculate, nor does this publication, as to the motives for Prophet Clemons’ murder. It has only been confirmed that Cunningham was the culprit. Shortly after inflicting fatal wounds against Clemons in front of his wife in the Chief Mediator’s office, Cunningham attempted to escape. He was met with his former comrades in arms, who apprehended him, and tried to take him into custody alive. He continued to fight, however, eventually the point of being gunned down by an unconfirmed member of his own security team. The police will be releasing further details at the appropriate time.

Microstory 592: Surviving AMF Platoon Primarily Incipiants

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News brief: following the attack on our galactic military force, a small group of soldiers were left standing amongst the rubble. Only they remained of the Astral Military Force’s once great numbers. Several organizations are attempting to run independent investigations in the matter, but this small contingency has pushed them back every time. We still do not know what happened to the vast majority of AMF soldiers, but we do know that even those on other planets were affected. This led some to question how it is that anyone survived, but there is a logical explanation. The survivors are primarily, and possibly exclusively, incipiants. These are the newest recruits, having been just recently introduced the day of the initial attack. They have not even been there long enough to receive their standard-issue medical implants. This is what sets them apart from the others, and explains why they alone survived. Their authority over the galaxy is questionable at best, but for now, they maintain power of all interstellar transportation. More details to follow.

Microstory 591: Visitors Have Yet to Leave Ship

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Hundreds of years ago, our ancestors found a way to travel from their homeworld to this one. They didn’t necessarily have to. Sure, there was some water here, but not as much as there was on the eighth planet in the solar system, Aziïr...or on two of the moons of gas giant, Polavia. At the time, Keres was uninhabitable, but it had a lot of potential, and so they set about a journey to transform themselves into an interplanetary civilization. Over time, they were able to actually become an interstellar culture, but Keresites have generally remained here. The Great Flood brought this planet the greatest exodus humans have ever seen. We’re descended from those refugees. Since then, we have made this world beautiful. Gardens spread all across the surface, with new life being created by the Azi water. This is now our home. No one living today has ever been alive at the same time as anyone who was alive during The Great Exodus. Now there appears to be some kind of new possible exodus that we can’t explain. A massive black ship, large enough to blot out the sun, has arrived in our atmosphere. After coming out of the green simplex dimension, it has done absolutely nothing. We have attempted to communicate with it, and even tried to access the vessel, but have found no success. We don’t know if they are humans from an exoplanet, or aliens from another galaxy, or even our own descendants from the future. The fact is that we know nothing about them, and this has caused a stir amongst our populace. Already the government urges civilians to remain indoors. Every city has deployed an emergency fleet of armored vehicle drivers to deliver rations to every household. Please note that each and every household will be serviced by this network. Do not leave your residence without true necessity. Anyone with educational backgrounds in engineering, electronics, plex mechanics, physics, rocket surgery, anthropology, xenopology, linguistics, or related field is being asked to contact their local representative for the possibility of assisting with our exploration into this development. We still don’t understand what we’re dealing with here, but if Keresites work together, there’s nothing we can’t get through.