January 2145

2 January 2145
ANCHOR: In her first public appearance since her stay at the Cher Institute, President Clarke used a hearing on the growing dandefox controversy to show off her new look.

CLARKE: Anything that adds beauty to the world and helps keep the Last Visitor alive can't be all bad.

ANCHOR: Madam President, the world wants to know: is this a biomorph or a holographic make-over?

CLARKE (haughtily): I don't see that as a question FTL's audience should concern itself with.

ANCHOR: But why the change?

CLARKE: Why not? This is the 22nd Century, isn't it? People can look as they feel. And I felt it was time I should look as I feel.

3 January 2145
ANCHOR: Dr. Winston Rylo announces Operation Reach Out's Team Europa.

VISUAL:
 * Rylo and McDonald
 * STILLS of Dr. Pablo Blaine, Colonel Elaina Koblatz and Dr. Tashi Karawara

RYLO: I am proud to present Captain Michael McDonald of the NAU, chief officer of the mission to Europa. He will be ably assisted by team leaders from the Hispanic Commonwealth, the EC, and the APS. Captain McDonald will be the spokesperson for the mission, issuing regular updates from space. We hope this unparalleled example of intercombine co-operation is a sign to whatever awaits us out there that Earth is truly a global village.

ANCHOR: Elsewhere, there are reports of what can only be described as a mass migration to the Cher Institute since President Clarke revealed her new look.

4 January 2145
ANCHOR: The VR Presence has returned. We recorded the following directly from the Net only moments ago.

VR PRESENCE: The third moon, the smooth moon, the death moon... the blue world becomes a red world... the third moon, the smooth moon, the death moon... the blue world becomes a red world...

ANCHOR: The message was repeated seven times and then the Presence disappeared. We are awaiting word from SHIVA to see if it was able to locate the origin of the Presence signal.

ANCHOR: On a more tangible level, dandefox lovers have converged on Combine capitals all over the world to demand decriminalisation of the alien plant.

PROTESTERS: Legalise dandefox! Legalise dandefox! Legalise the dandefox!

5 January 2145
ANCHOR: SHIVA reports that it was unable to capture the VR Presence or pinpoint the signal source of its appearance yesterday. Rick Hawthorne, Straub Professor of Paranormal Phenomena at Milburn University, says he knows why.

HAWTHORNE: I'm going to be addressing SHIVA's annual meeting next week. I've got the answer to all their questions right here. We speak of "the ghost in the machine". If you only knew...

ANCHOR: And this from the Kevorkian Medical Center: the Last Visitor is not only thriving on his dandefox diet, he actually appears to be gaining intelligence.

6 January 2145
ANCHOR: From The Hague, official confirmation of the recent rumour that the World Congress will decriminalise T. martianis. The dandefox ban is lifted. And no one seems happier to hear that than President Madeleine Clarke.

CLARKE: Finally those old fossils in the World Congress have got some sense into their heads. This dandefox ban was simply wrongheaded. To mark the decriminalisation, I'm ordering all the planters in the Capitol rotunda to be filled with dandefox. The whole capital could do with some brightening up.

ANCHOR: And as Kyle Swann chips away at the last remaining ICE in the CenBank CPU, the question is being asked: Can we afford to shut down the AI?

9 January 2145
ANCHOR: While dandefox owners around the world rejoice at the decriminalisation of their beloved plant, Dr. F. Paulson is not amused.

PAULSON: This could be a black day for the Earth. We don't know nearly enough about these plants, but one thing we do know: normal Earth plants give off oxygen – these alien weeds suck it up. Doesn't that strike a warning bell? They're oxygen eaters!

ANCHOR: Dandefox may eat oxygen, but we know someone who eats dandefox: the Last Visitor continues to thrive and gain intelligence on a steady diet of the plant. He said his first English word today.

VISITOR: More!

ANCHOR: What next? A request to "phone home"?

10 January 2145
ANCHOR: Who speaks for "R"? Kyle Swann has been the leader of the resistance group since he founded it three years ago. But now a new voice is challenging Swann's leadership. His name is Cameron Grant.

GRANT: Kyle Swann has been co-opted – seduced – by the very forces he swore to resist. The war for liberty is not over! What about Clone Rights? What about the Hordes in the unpatrolled zones? What about Identity Chips and the NAU's policy toward the New Amigos? We've only just begun to fight, Swann. So I ask you: Are you with us? (menacingly) Because if you're not with us, you're against us. And we'll treat you just like all the other fat cat oppressors!

ANCHOR: Kyle Swann was not available for comment on the unfounded remarks by this upstart in "R", so I'll speak for him. Kyle Swann seduced? Absurd! He's as vitally committed to liberty as he ever was. (beat) He's simply become aware of the considerable rewards of peaceful coexistence. And at the Montauk Spaceport, thousands watched and cheered as the first modules for the Operation Reach Out craft were launched into orbit.

12 January 2145
ANCHOR: SHIVA held its annual meeting today. Not everyone was welcome. Dr. Rick Hawthorne, for instance...

HAWTHORNE (to someone off camera): Yeah? Well, same to you, fella!

ANCHOR: Dr. Hawthorne, what happened?

HAWTHORNE: SHIVA kicked me out. For all their professed open-mindedness, they're as hidebound as everybody else. (leaning closer) You see, I know the secret of the VR Presence. It's not extraterrestrial or digital, like they think – it's ectoplasmic... what we used to call a ghost.

ANCHOR: Then you believe in ghosts?

HAWTHORNE: Of course I believe in ghosts! I've always believed in ghosts.

13 January 2145
ANCHOR: More from Dr. Rick Hawthorne:

HAWTHORNE: It's pretty obvious when you think about it. Where is there left for the traditional ghost to dwell? All the old wooden buildings with their organic residues of psychic emanations have been razed. Everything now is steel and plastic. Ghosts are drawn to the warmth of life energy. And where do we find an overwhelming concentration of life energy these days? In the VR Net. Wake up, SHIVA! The "ghost in the machine" truly is a ghost!

ANCHOR: SHIVA declined any official comment.

16 January 2145
ANCHOR: From within the Unprotected Zone of Manhattan, Cameron Grant issues a challenge to Kyle Swann:

GRANT: Today I assume leadership of "R" and re-dedicate it to fighting the injustice of NAU policies. Kyle Swann is too busy fraternising with politicians and playing ICE-man with the AI to speak for "R". There are too many unresolved issues – Clone Rights, the treatment of the Horde, and Identity Chips – to have a leader who's... (a smirk)... in bed with the Government.

ANCHOR: Using her Little Geneticist Kit, Keva Handly turned her younger brother, Mooney Handly, into an over-sized puff rock lizard. Little Mooney has since disappeared and the Handly family is asking everyone to keep a look out for him.

17 January 2145
ANCHOR: With Kyle Swann at her side, President Clarke lost no time in responding to Cameron Grant's challenge to Swann's leadership of "R".

CLARKE: There's only one leader of "R" for me, and that's Kyle Swann... (coldly) But let me warn this upstart: I may have changed my outside, but I'm still the same Madeleine Clarke inside. Do anything rash and I'll have the Double-Ys on you in a nanosecond!

ANCHOR: Mr. Swann, any comments?

SWANN: Not on that subject... but I am close to the heart of the Artificial Intelligence. It won't be long before I crack the last ICE... and then the AI's days are numbered.

18 January 2145
ANCHOR: Tragedy for the Handly family: little Mooney Handly – genetically altered to resemble a puff rock lizard by his sister – is dead. A frightened neighbour stumbled upon Mooney in her backyard and sprayed the lizard boy with a powerful pesticide. Under the strict provisions of the Genetic Crimes Law, Mooney's sister Keva was immediately taken into custody. And at last we know who the Last Visitor is. The increasingly intelligent alien actually said his name at the Kevorkian Medical Center earlier today:

VISITOR (chewing on a dandefox with relish): M..mmm.... (Pounds his chest) M'ti!

ANCHOR: Welcome, M'ti!

19 January 2145
ANCHOR: It is a historic day at Space Station Costello. Assembly of the Europa mission spacecraft, Nautilus, has begun. The first modules are already in place. Meanwhile, on the ground, Captain Mike McDonald and his crew continue their grueling preparations for the longest manned space journey ever. And could romance be blossoming along with the dandefox in the Capitol Rotunda? The close working relationship between President Clarke and Kyle Swann recently led to the inevitable rumours, but now there are reports that they pair spent a weekend at the same exclusive floater resort over Lake Huron.

20 January 2145
ANCHOR: Despite her tender age, Keva Handly has been charged with second degree genetic battery for altering her little brother Mooney's genetic code. Mooney became a puff rock lizard and was subsequently killed by a startled neighbour. Keva was unrepentant at her hearing.

HANDLY: Lemme go... I didn't mean it. He was a brat anyway. He was always trying to get his sticky fingers on my Little Geneticist Kit... so I let him play. Lemme go!

ANCHOR: And in a brilliant display, dandefoxes all over the world went to seed yesterday, filling the air with their beautiful golden seeds – which, so far, appear harmless.

23 January 2145
ANCHOR: With the stunning display of the world's dandefoxes going to seed still a beautiful memory, some owners of the little Martian plant have expressed worries about the red dust left behind. Caren Ginjerbu has some reassuring words.

GINJERBU (Looking with adoration at the plant and talking to it as if were a kitten): Didn't we tell the world that you were a thing of beauty? And no one should worry about the red dust left behind. It's formed by the crumbling of the pretty petals. Fear not! New ones will begin to replace those petals immediately. As for the red dust, why... (Ginjerbu holds some dust in the palm and blows it)... it's perfectly harmless.

24 January 2145
ANCHOR: Amazing news that the Last Visitor's intelligence has reached average human level. The little fellow has even started to read children's books. Here, from the Center, is live footage of M'ti with a favourite. Go ahead, M'ti.

M'TI: See... the clone run... (flips the page) See another clone run. (flips another page) See two more clones run...

ANCHOR: That's very good, M'ti.

M'TI: See a whole room of clones run– (sound is cut)

ANCHOR: FTL will continue to follow the literary progress of M'ti.

25 January 2145
ANCHOR: After weeks of surveillance, Police Chief Darryl King and a crack squad of clone troopers were stopped today in their attempt to enter the Rossum's Universal Retrofitting factory.

KING: We determined that someone had changed the facility into an illegal robot factory. Under direct orders from President Clarke, we attempted to enter the building – and were repelled by a heavily armed battalion of robot guards.

ANCHOR: Chief King, who do you think is controlling the factory?

KING: That's just it. We don't know who or what is holding the plant... all we know is that every day we wait, another squad of armed robots is produced. We can't wait much longer.

26 January 2145
ANCHOR: The stand-off at the Rossum's Universal Retrofitting factory has ended. Clone troops penetrated the factory. Once inside, the complex assembly line was stopped and the remaining robots destroyed. But a surprise awaited them.

KING: There were only machines inside, tactical combat bots, and it looked like some pretty deadly modifications were being put into place.

ANCHOR: And there were no humans?

KING: No. I've spoken with Kyle Swann at the Capitol – and it's his belief that this factory was being run by the Artificial Intelligence... who was trying to create a robot army that would be completely loyal to it.

27 January 2145
ANCHOR: A massive explosion ripped through two modules of the Europa expedition ship docked near Space Station Costello. We go live to President Clarke at an emergency VR Conference for details of the disaster.

CLARKE: The explosion of the two modules will unfortunately delay the launch of the Europa expedition. World Congress authorities at the Space Station have begun a thorough investigation.

ANCHOR: President Clarke, could this have been sabotage?

CLARKE: Nothing is ruled out at this time.

ANCHOR: And if it was sabotage, could "R" be behind it?

CLARKE: I doubt that. But working with the World Congress, we will find out what happened.

30 January 2145
ANCHOR: Sources confirm that the explosion of the Europa expedition modules was sabotage. In a message traced to the Unpatrolled Region of New York, Cameron Grant – challenger to the post of Rebel leader Kyle Swann – takes credit for the disaster.

GRANT: The Earth-First Brigade of "R" accepts complete responsibility for the explosion of the Europa modules. Clarke and her NAU are squandering much-needed resources on an interplanetary wild goose chase to a ball of ice around Jupiter. As long as there are people or clones without food, or shelter, or Net access, the Earth-First Brigade will fight for their rights.

ANCHOR: There has been no comment from Kyle Swann.

31 January 2145
ANCHOR: President Clarke fights back. She spoke to FTL at the Capitol Rotunda.

CLARKE: Cameron Grant and his Earth-First band of terrorist scum will be destroyed. The NAU will provide complete security at Space Station Costello. There will be no more sabotage.

ANCHOR: President Clarke, how will you capture Grant and his splinter group?

CLARKE: This hasn't been decided yet. If Kyle Swann wasn't so busy cracking the Artificial Intelligence, I'd have him head up a special task force.

ANCHOR: Any truth to the rumours of an affair between you and Kyle Swann?

CLARKE (snapping): How can you ask such a question at a time like this?