Other Secrets

Now we're busy making all our busy plans
On foundations built to last
But nothing fades as fast as the future
And nothing clings like the past, until we can see
More than this
More than this
--Peter Gabiel, More than this

Mfanasibili Hhohho, the 10 year old nova who caused the Mbabane Disaster, is alive. He is nearly indestructible and has the ability of converting matter to quantum energy – when he erupted parts of his surroundings was converted into a nuclear fireball and he lost consciousness. When he awoke in the ruins he did not at first realize that he was the cause and instead considered himself lucky to have survived whatever it was. But over the next few weeks he began to realize his powers, and after accidentally setting fire to a farmstead he fully realised that he had killed thousands. Driven nearly mad by grief and guilt he tried to kill himself, only to fail. After several tries he instead began to get away as far as possible from his former home and the horror. Right now he is drifting through the slums of South Africa, a ticking bomb waiting to detonate.

Nikodem Mierzwa, a young Polish nova, is conducting a rape and murder spree worldwide without anybody noticing. He uses long range possession to gain control over people, using them to satisfy his “playfulness” and then making sure no witnesses remain. Should he ever be revealed it will hurt novas immensely – but he must be stopped before he starts to play with world leaders.

The US, Russia and Britain have started a secret organisation called “Reprint” to deal with nova terrorism wherever its origin. Right now it is trying to deal with domestic terrorism in Russia and the Middle East situation. It is recruiting novas but keeping them outside the key chain of command just in case. It is quite possible that Reprint will try to neutralise novas regarded as dangerous for the allies even when they are not terrorists; on the other hand it is a small operation that does not want to draw any undue attention. It is trying to gain access to ENA, using the UKNTF as a bridge. However, some planners have begun to wonder if the entire scheme might not be a part of a bigger plan – what if there is a mega-manipulator somewhere using Reprint as its tool?

The US has deployed an “official” nova in Iraq, FireStorm. FireStorm is a persona cover for Noemi Caves and Ted Califano. Noemi Caves was a schoolteacher who erupted with the ability of projecting images and sensing danger; she was recruited as a “consultant” to help find Labib. She is quite eager to do her patriotic duty, maybe too eager. Ted Califano was a former sergeant who erupted while in military prison for punishing some of his men too harshly. The DoD secretly released him on parole in exchange for active duty as FireStorm. In fact, his eruption triggered a serious religious conversion in Califano and he is now quite willing to obey orders and be a good soldier – much to the relief of his handlers, who had planned to deal with a monster. Maybe they should consider the risks of having a highly religious nova on the battle lines, and whether Noemi (usually regarded as the less dangerous of the two) really is loyal. Noemi and Ted work well together, but have so far not been able track down Labib. Noemi is starting to get a bad feeling about the entire situation, but cannot point out what is wrong.

Chinese researchers at the MSS have been pursuing a nova-breeding program. Rather than waiting for random eruptions they have been doing their best to get novas to have children – either with baselines or with each other. They are not particularly subtle about their aims, and some novas (especially women) deeply resent it. Others find the exception from the one child policy promising. So far the program has not yet produced any nova children, but there is much hope.