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Superhuman World 2010 March

"The Rise of Cap-Macaya" by Scott Eiler Click here to read issue
Oh, shit. While we're all following other stories, the big one rises. In the finest tradition of our Superhuman World, a new mini-nation is rising in Haiti. And of course, I'm involved... (signed) Wyatt Ferguson. - 21 February 2010: It's rumored, Cuba has an ex-Nazi enforcer who looks like a tattooed crocodile man. He may have been bio-engineered in the 

Oh, shit. While we're all following other stories, the big one rises.
In the finest tradition of our Superhuman World, a new mini-nation is
rising in Haiti. And of course, I'm involved...

(signed) Wyatt Ferguson.

-

21 February 2010: It's rumored, Cuba has an ex-Nazi enforcer who looks
like a tattooed crocodile man. He may have been bio-engineered in the
1950s. Is he still around?

28 February 2010: I find this out in Evansville, Indiana. Someone
might be trying to recruit me.

    * After one beer with dinner, I fly home above wires and a
highway. I avoid mean-looking people on sidewalk, but a woman waves me
down for a neighborhood concert. Maybe I'll have one more beer here
instead of home.
    * In a house next door to a brightly-colored temporary office,
some businessmen are meeting. One old cow-orker invites me in, and I
meet another going up the stairs.
    * We're all suffering from indecisive employers again. But one
businessman gives us cards and tells us to stop by for interviews. All
in all a good night.

The interviews specify I go on heavily-guarded military-style
transport with wireless transmission disabled, to a secret
destination. I agree. At least someone respects my power to instantly
give my commentary throughout the world, at least enough to pay me not
to do it.

6 March 2010: When I arrive, I learn more. Oh, joy, here I am on a
secret airfield in Haiti. More specifically, South Haiti.

    * Haiti has grudges. http://www.iacenter.org/haiti/ reads like it
was written by the last dictator of Haiti, but it correctly lists how
Haiti was under international sanctions until at least 1862, and its
troubles started when Christopher Columbus found it in 1493.
    * Haiti has secret history. In the Civil War Louisiana campaign,
the Federals evacuated freed slaves from New Orleans to near Pic-
Macaya, the west tip of Haiti, right about the time the U.S. finally
recognized Haiti. The U.S. was not always comfortable with freed
slaves then, and was happy to get them away anywhere.
    * After a recent mid-Haitian earthquake, foreign aid is flooding
into east Haiti, but South Haiti is cut off by that same earthquake.
Cuban advisors are coming in with aid! They can do that, after
Russians attacked all of North America in 2007 and Cuban sanctions
were loosened.
    * Haiti has secret military connections other than Cuba, though
the Cubans help connect them. Reportedly the Philippines has the best
aviation radar, left over from old U.S. military bases. Filipino
military trains are so uncomfortable that women are advised to wear
bubble wrap around their sarongs, though that hardly affects Haiti...
(10 Mar)
    * With foreign aid, the southwest tip of Haiti is declaring
autonomy, under the name of Cap-Macaya! There's only one road there
from the rest of Haiti (Route 200), and it's pretty easy to block that
off.

10 March 2010: I called Vice-President Corrigan to report a potential
military situation in Haiti. I think President Obama himself answered.
The VP was in the bathroom.

    * ... Why am I calling the Vice-President on direct phone? He
actually trusts me, more than any other superhuman. A bunch of us
worked with him in 2003, when he was Governor of California. Unlike
the others (aside from John Brandywine who has some issues with
literal alcohol dependency), I'm still more-or-less independent.
    * So I get kept on site in South Haiti. Let's hope I find out some
stuff.

14 March 2010: There were some men involved in a plot in South Haiti
in 1960. Some Eastern European women who were there are cooking dinner
for us tonight; caterers are setting up the tables for them. One John
Paschatta narrates; he and Gander AFB were part of the plot.

15 March 2010: On patrol with the Army, I find why entire units come
from one town. You really do work with people better if you grew up
with them. We go through an organic farm where an engineering friend
of mine works. The chickens surely are fat, and the pigs are cute and
fuzzy.

16 March 2010: A Chicago newscaster friend of mine (Jodi Beaudine, if
you must know) is doing a video news segment from a pilot's seat at an
aviation museum at Guantanamo Bay. Most U.S. military bases, current
or former, have some kind of museum. And Guantanamo is now becoming
famous for being close to Haiti.

18 March 2010: Back in our hometown (well, Replica Tropical Speedway-
Florida filled in from the Everglades near Port St. Lucie) on a Friday
night, my sister figured she could meet me at Replica Mom's favorite
restautant. But the Army was patrolling, and she got lit up with
targeting lasers. And I'm not even there; I couldn't make it home from
South Haiti. Replica Tropical Speedway is now our staging zone, and
it's classified. )

19 March 2010: My cellphone's trying to navigate me to a Cuban
restaurant, but I have to ask my boss where we're starting, and paint
my own license plate. How about white on red?

28 March 2010: I have to backfill my diary now. This happens often,
and I sometimes rewrite my diary to look like I wrote something every
day that something happened. But this time I have an excuse. I was
crippled.

    * I was with a U.S. Army Ranger force, on patrol (oh joy). We'd
done hard hiking to the head of a river valley north of Cavaillon-
Haiti, to see if that was a back way around how the highway was being
blocked. Cavaillon was just past where all but the one road ended, so
that what where we went to look for the way around. (24 Mar)
    * We saw Russians. For some reason, they're working with Cubans
again!
    * I figured, New Russians instead of Gov-Russians...
    * Cubans have a military tradition and are always ready to
intervene for Caribbean solidarity.
    * Gov-Russians can't really afford to support anyone, even though
they have effective control of outer space since 2007... Hey, how'd
they afford that?
    * But New Russians are like robber barons. They like Cuba and can
easily support a few nearby military plots. It seems Cuba was just
collateral damage when the Russians took over Earth orbit.
    * I'd camouflaged myself with landscape to hide from them. My
camouflage didn't work, which could be fatal. I hope my companion did
better; he sewed himself a fur hat. (24 Mar)

Both my knees are out of joint. When I try to put them back in, it
just hurts worse. When I try to drag myself with my arms, the right
side of my chest feels like somethng might pierce my lungs. Nobody's
here to help me; I see dead Ranger bodies all around me. I still have
my canteen and provisions, and so do they, so I won't die of thirst or
hunger. Just of neglect.

As far as I can figure, I'm in between two cliffs near Haitian Highway
2. At the bottom of this chasm, I alternate days facing up vs. on my
side. Today is Frontal Sunday. Will I be around for the next one? (27
Mar)

    * Where I lay, I think of a documentary on old weapons. It had 19
missiles on 17 targets for one big fireball, all coordinated by radio
spotters and cassette tape guidance programs. I guess old tech is good
enough to explain what just happened to me... Really, a roadside bomb
would be. But I think I saw the Cuban Crocodile-Man too. (27 Mar)
    * The next things I recall are thrift store ladies asking Judy
about me, Judy asking her grand-niece Mary Mystery, and Mary coming to
complain about my drinking problem. Mary has issues with me, and has
come to make sure I get treatment... Right. I'd guess this is a
hallucination, like maybe the weapons documentary. I think it's Side
Monday by now. (28 Mar)
    * But I wake up in a hospital - in Germany! I guess Mary Mystery
came through.

29 March 2010: I'm being treated in private, by the "American-German
Business Club". (Yes, there really is one.) Germany may or may not be
interested in what I'm doing in Haiti, but at least certain business
organizations give them some deniability.

    * I've always been good at going out for a walk. I cut through a
bad neighborhood near the MLK Strasse in Bonn. A soldier wants to swap
his scarf for my sweater, but I borrowed the sweater and can't offer
it. He takes it anyway and says he'll just have it washed for me.
Right.
    * This is on the south side of town, where the main attractions
are the United Nations Premises and the Consulate of the Republic of
Togo. These both have some German guards now. Much like any town in
America, Bonn's gone downhill in recent years, since the German Gov
has moved out. Much like any town in America, the Martin Luther King
Street is the typical place to find this.
    * In my absence, South Haiti was not exactly subdued. The United
Nations agreed to a Cap-Macaya Cuban assistance zone there, manned by
Cuban soldiers under United Nations observance, with a demilitarized
zone near where I spent days under cliffs. The Crocodile Man has not
appeared.
    * Cap-Macaya has some Internet opposition to its autonomy, but
that's about all Haiti can muster. Cap-Haitien's web site calls itself
Macaya.org, but it's on North Haiti and prides itself on its having
led Haiti once ... and not being quaked lately.

-

April

10 April 2010: Despite my personal failure in bringing the rule of law
to South Haiti, I'm briefly famous as a rescued American civilian. I'm
on a boat for American-sanctioned R&R, playing frisbee with President
Obama on the shore. He might get his feet wet. Oh, well, that's why I
respect most anyone.

12 April 2010: I'm on the move again, because I am an actual American
secret agent. Yes, really. Nobody takes my web journals seriously
anyway, so I can pretty much go where I want. But my fiancée
Judy's
going with me, so she doesn't have to get Mary Mystery to invoke
demonic powers or whatever to watch me any more.

    * So she and I have made it to a store in an obscure part of
China, near Shanghai. She wants to listen to Lounge-a-Palooza or
Temple of the Dog. I forgot those CDs, but we can buy them bootleg
here for under $2. (12 Apr)

15 April 2010: We see military police cordoning people in a park and
telling them to take off their shoes... Folk tradition in many nations
beside China will testify to foot-borne folk remedies.

16 April 2010: Judy acts as my sponsor in a women's club. The leader
is okay with my flying North Korean and Somalian flags, as long as
they're not US. A high school friend of mine is trying to infiltrate
the club in drag... Well, I guess he's cover for me, because I
actually *am* infiltrating.

    * Heh. The Panlucida women's clubs survive, especially in China.
I'd hate to be China when all the Chinese who hate their government
rise up. "Tea Party" hardly begins to describe it.

-

So, what have we learned?

    * The trend of the world seems to be toward mini-nations. One
superhuman, Ellipsis, believed in this and supported it. Friends of
mine are sure he's not supporting the trend now, but it's still
happening.
    * We may secretly fear China, but China will probably implode some
day. Let's hope it doesn't take the world with it.
    * Case in point... Since 2007, we feared a sort of monolithic New
Russia. Now the Russian Gov seems friendly enough, but it's a pretty
virulent vessel for New Russians who don't need their own mini-
nations, because their maxi-nation lets them do what they want.
    * I've seen a prediction that Cubans would be spreading out
throughout the Atlantic by 2011. Now in 2010 I finally see it
happening. In my world, that really is a sign of the Apocalypse. Oh,
shit.

-

Author's Note: The Superhuman World website now works with concepts
from the Usenet group rec.arts.comics.creative. But this story does
not. This is where the regular writer of the series tells everyone,
"Oh, look, my regular plotline's interfering!"

After I finished writing contest and other miscellaneous entries and
sorting out other stuff in my life, the main thread of Superhuman
World 2010 finally reasserted itself. This story occurs around "The
Opposites" which is now March 2010 #2, but that is not important to
either story's plot.
On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:41:28 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

>     * After one beer with dinner, I fly home above wires and a
> highway.

Wait, he actually has powers?

> The interviews specify I go on heavily-guarded military-style
> transport with wireless transmission disabled, to a secret
> destination. I agree. At least someone respects my power to instantly
> give my commentary throughout the world, at least enough to pay me not
> to do it.

This too?

> 15 March 2010: On patrol with the Army, I find why entire units come
> from one town. You really do work with people better if you grew up
> with them.

Of course, see Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Dead for the drawback to
this.

>     * This is on the south side of town, where the main attractions
> are the United Nations Premises and the Consulate of the Republic of
> Togo. These both have some German guards now. Much like any town in
> America, Bonn's gone downhill in recent years, since the German Gov
> has moved out. Much like any town in America, the Martin Luther King
> Street is the typical place to find this.

Wait, there's a Martin Luther King street in Germany?  Or... are we in
America now?

> Author's Note: The Superhuman World website now works with concepts
> from the Usenet group rec.arts.comics.creative. But this story does
> not. This is where the regular writer of the series tells everyone,
> "Oh, look, my regular plotline's interfering!"

Heh, nothing wrong with that.  Keeps it from being a string of unrelated
incidents!

Anyway, this issue was very good!  Some action, some characterization.  A
few points were confusing, but overall, definitely an improvement.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, radishes!
Andrew Perron 
On Apr 30, 10:15 am, Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:41:28 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:
> >     * After one beer with dinner, I fly home above wires and a
> > highway.
>
> Wait, he actually has powers?

Yeah, but they're intermittent.  His flight powers work best near
electrical wiring.  He sometimes has other powers, but only in a "Dial-
H-for-HERO" manner at times of great need.  Mostly his power is, he's
in the middle of things.

> > The interviews specify I go on heavily-guarded military-style
> > transport with wireless transmission disabled, to a secret
> > destination. I agree. At least someone respects my power to instantly
> > give my commentary throughout the world, at least enough to pay me not
> > to do it.
>
> This too?

Yeah.  Wyatt Ferguson has the power of Internet.  8{D>

> >     * This is on the south side of town, where the main attractions
> > are the United Nations Premises and the Consulate of the Republic of
> > Togo. These both have some German guards now. Much like any town in
> > America, Bonn's gone downhill in recent years, since the German Gov
> > has moved out. Much like any town in America, the Martin Luther King
> > Street is the typical place to find this.
>
> Wait, there's a Martin Luther King street in Germany?  Or... are we in
> America now?

No, Bonn-Germany has all sorts of streets named after foreign
dignitaries.

> Anyway, this issue was very good!  Some action, some characterization.  A
> few points were confusing, but overall, definitely an improvement.

Thanks.  I'll try to resolve the confusion as it comes up.  It's
obvious to me that Wyatt has "Plot Device" power, but not everyone's
been in on his storyline for twenty years like I have.
Scott Eiler, author 
On Sat, 1 May 2010 00:41:24 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

> On Apr 30, 10:15 am, Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:41:28 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:
>>>     * After one beer with dinner, I fly home above wires and a
>>> highway.
>>
>> Wait, he actually has powers?
> 
> Yeah, but they're intermittent.  His flight powers work best near
> electrical wiring.  He sometimes has other powers, but only in a "Dial-
> H-for-HERO" manner at times of great need.  Mostly his power is, he's
> in the middle of things.

Ahhhhhhh.  

>>> The interviews specify I go on heavily-guarded military-style
>>> transport with wireless transmission disabled, to a secret
>>> destination. I agree. At least someone respects my power to instantly
>>> give my commentary throughout the world, at least enough to pay me not
>>> to do it.
>>
>> This too?
> 
> Yeah.  Wyatt Ferguson has the power of Internet.  8{D>

Heeheehee.  Well, I figured it might be... 

>> Wait, there's a Martin Luther King street in Germany?  Or... are we in
>> America now?
> 
> No, Bonn-Germany has all sorts of streets named after foreign
> dignitaries.

Ohhhhh, okay.  ...in real life?

>> Anyway, this issue was very good!  Some action, some characterization.  A
>> few points were confusing, but overall, definitely an improvement.
> 
> Thanks.  I'll try to resolve the confusion as it comes up.  It's
> obvious to me that Wyatt has "Plot Device" power, but not
everyone's
> been in on his storyline for twenty years like I have.

You should probably toss off a bit of exposition the first time someone
uses their powers in an issue; either that, or do a roll call at the
beginning.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, or both.
Andrew Perron 
On May 1, 8:15 pm, Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 1 May 2010 00:41:24 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:
>
> >> Wait, there's a Martin Luther King street in Germany?  Or... are
we in
> >> America now?
>
> > No, Bonn-Germany has all sorts of streets named after foreign
> > dignitaries.
>
> Ohhhhh, okay.  ...in real life?

Why, yes it does.  I gave myself "MLK-Strasse" as a plot concept, and
I went to great lengths to find the one city in our real world that
actually has one.  Bonn also really has that "German-American Business
Club".  As sometimes happens, my research actually helped advance the
plot.  8{D>

> You should probably toss off a bit of exposition the first time someone
> uses their powers in an issue; either that, or do a roll call at the
> beginning.

Thanks for the reminder, Andrew.  Every issue is someone's first,
after all.

> Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, or both.

"Roll Call:  Wyatt Ferguson!  Powers:  Anything for a Buck!"

... I went to see the Kick Ass movie today.  Wyatt's kind of like Kick
Ass, in the middle of things beyond his skill level.  But Wyatt's been
at it for twenty-five years and he's picked up some stuff, kind of
like certain superhero spouses should.
Scott Eiler, author 
On Sun, 2 May 2010 01:50:24 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

> On May 1, 8:15 pm, Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 1 May 2010 00:41:24 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

>>> No, Bonn-Germany has all sorts of streets named after foreign
>>> dignitaries.
>>
>> Ohhhhh, okay.  ...in real life?
> 
> Why, yes it does.  I gave myself "MLK-Strasse" as a plot concept, and
> I went to great lengths to find the one city in our real world that
> actually has one.  Bonn also really has that "German-American Business
> Club".  As sometimes happens, my research actually helped advance the
> plot.  8{D>

Hah, neat!

>> You should probably toss off a bit of exposition the first time someone
>> uses their powers in an issue; either that, or do a roll call at the
>> beginning.
> 
> Thanks for the reminder, Andrew.  Every issue is someone's first,
> after all.

Indeed!  And you've been getting better at that aspect, too.

> ... I went to see the Kick Ass movie today.  Wyatt's kind of like Kick
> Ass, in the middle of things beyond his skill level.  But Wyatt's been
> at it for twenty-five years and he's picked up some stuff, kind of
> like certain superhero spouses should.

Mmmmmm.  Makes much more sense, really.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, why don't you just put
the whole world
inside an action movie!?
Andrew Perron