Yesterday...

Simon had been at the Project Utopia compound for two weeks when the letter showed up.

It was nondescript, had no return address and could have been printed from any one of a thousand generic printers. But it was the content that had him concerned.

He had heard of Project Hestia and had met some of the others--both novas and baselines--who were on the list for the mission briefing. Until the last of his orders cleared, though, he wasn't fully privy to the latest mission briefing. The letter made him wish he was.

Luckily, he knew who to take it to. If he could catch Agent Dame at the end of the briefing, he was sure she'd know what to do.

Tucking the letter into his pocket, he made his way out the apartment door and down the hall toward the elevators.

The elevator door slides open and Simon finds himself face-to-face with Major Samuel Dietrich, the U.S. Army's main representative to this Utopia branch and his immediate superior.

"Sir," he snaps to attention and salutes, "I have recieved something that may be important to a current Utopia Hestia mission."

Dietrich almost casually returns the salute and gestures for Simon to join him in the elevator. "Let me see it, son." Simon hands him the letter. After reading it, Deitrich frowns a little, retrieves his key card from his pocket and overrides the elevator commands. "I need to make a call. You did the right thing bringing this to my attention."

The elevator changes direction and when it stops, Simon follows the major to his office.

A hushed and clipped phone call later via the secure line, Dietrich returns from the conference room. "Sergant, we've got a special mission for you. This could be very important intelligence you recieved... or it could be someone's idea of a joke. Before we turn it over to Utopia, we're going to need you to do some one-on-one investigation."

"Yes, sir." Then, with some trepidation, "But isn't there someone who would be better for this mission? I mean... I kind of stand out in a crowd..."

"Nonsense. In this day and age, it doesn't matter. Especially over there in Bhutan. They love novas over there. You'll be able to get in anywhere and talk to anyone with just a smile and a handshake. You are to leave immediately. Transportation to Andrews AFB should be waiting by the time we get to the roof. I hear the boys of the 89th have a new transport they've been itching to try out."

***

The "new transport" the 89th Airlift Wing had was the most impressive thing Simon had ever seen. An odd blend of technology and biology with a nova virtually wired into the cockpit. He didn't even pretent to understand it, but one of the white coat clad technicians said something about trying to accentuate the nova's teleportation abilities with computer guidance and some extra quantum batteries. Whatever it was, he was told it was top secret and highly experimental. "If it weren't for the importance of this mission, you wouldn't know about it at all," Dietrich told him.

While the passenger seating wasn't the greatest--especially for someone built like him--Simon couldn't complain at all about the reduced travel time. The jump plane took him from Andrews to an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean in less than six hours. He barely had time to read through the ream of information Dietrich had given him about the current situation in the country.

A quick conventional flight later, Simon found himself in downtown Thimphu with a small suitcase and a general issue duffle bag. Both full of what would look to most like standard tourist fare. He was told to meet his contact in the hotel bar to get more information and arrange transportation to the location of interest.

Two Weeks Ago...

[Clip from FoxNet Tulsa's Rise and Shine]

Sandra Sharon: And welcome back to Rise and Shine. I know all of you are going to be really excited to see our next guest. He's a local boy who's made quite the name for himself serving his country. We all first saw him like this...

A shaky video clip of a smoky battlefield plays. It follows a soldier as he rushes some children into what looks like a mine shaft. The camera jerks to the left, losing focus for a moment, and zooms in on a glowing, hovering man shooting scarlet beams from his hands. Again, the camera swings, this time following the path of one of those beams as it crashes into mountainside where the soldier is standing, firing his weapon at the attacker. The mountainside collapses in a spectacular cascade of rocks, dirt and dust. For a moment, all is quiet. The camera zooms back to take in more of the scene and is just starting to pan away when the pile of rubble begins to move. It rises, revealing a statue-like figure in a tattered U.S. army uniform. He's holding the tons of rock above his head. Then, without so much effort as someone tossing a crumpled piece of paper, the hurls the remains of the mountain at the hovering figure. Quickly, he looks around and then dips back into the cave, only to emerge carrying a half-dozen children. The clip ends...

SS: I'd like you all to welcome Sgt. Simon Quarry, hometown hero and all-American nova!

Simon Quarry walks out from the side of the stage, dressed in a crisp, custom-tailored army uniform. He stands more than six feet tall and where skin would normally be visible there is a motled gray and brown rock. He smiles and waves to the crowd as he takes the seat next to the host.

SQ: Thanks for having me Ms. Sharon. I'm very excited to be here. I used to watch this show all the time when I was getting ready for school.

SS: hahah... Oh, Sgt. Quarry stop it. You're going to make me feel old. And, please, call me Sandy.

SQ: Yes, ma'am.

SS: Now Sergant, we've all seen that clip--and anyone who's been paying any attention at all has seen it a lot in the past few weeks--can you tell us what was going through your mind during that ordeal?

SQ: Well, ma--uh, Sandy--I was just concerned with the safety of those kids. That particular attack came out of nowhere and we hadn't had a chance to finish evacuating the civilians from the area.

SS: Yes, but what made you risk your life for them?

SQ: Gee, Sandy, people keep asking me that question and I just don't get it. I mean, if you saw someone in trouble, wouldn't you try to help them? That's why I joined the Army in the first place. I saw how dangerous the world was getting...

SS: You mean because of all the nova eruptions?

SQ: That was part of it. But just in general. The 20th Century was one of the most violent in history. Most of it wasn't big, showy violence like the World Wars, but little things that most people didn't pay much attention to. I remember hearing about Kosovo when I was in school and wondering how we could let that go on for so long without doing anything...

SS: But the nova eruptions were the deciding factor?

SQ: No. I had already made up my mind before they really kicked in. I'm glad I did, too. Novas can be very dangerous, but so can regular old humans. If you go back and watch the history vids on the OpNet, you'll see things that regular people did to one another that make the worst nova attack look kind.

SS: How do have you come to terms with your eruption?

SQ: I don't know... I figure I'm still the same person. I still love my family and I still talk to my friends whenever I can. I just look a little different than I did a year ago.

SS: And you can lift mountains.

SQ: hehe.. yeah, and I can lift mountains. But that's really not important. It's not who I am, it's just what I can do. Everyone has some sort of talent they can use to make the world a better place. I've just gotten lucky in that mine let me live long enough to save those kids.

The crowd erupts in applause.

SS: Sgt. Simon Quarry, everyone. We'll be back with more after this message...

[End Clip]

Ten Weeks Ago...

Video excerpt from a Project Utopia entrance interview with Sgt. Simon Quarry:

[The man in the video sits ramrod straight in the chair, his hands folded in front of him, eyes forward. He wears a crisp army dress uniform, obviously specially tailored for his broad shoulders and barrel chest. He looks like the perfect solider. The only thing that would set him apart from any number of other enlisted men is the fact that he appears to be carved from a deep gray stone. An off camera voice says, "Please, Sergent Quarry, tell us a little about yourself..."]

Yes, sir. I enlisted just over a year ago in order to serve my country the best I could. No offense, but American can't rely too much on external entities for it's protection--even one as benevolent as Project Utopia. And we've been hurting a little for recruits, so I figured I'd follow in my daddy and granddaddy's footsteps. I signed up not expecting to do much more than some low-impact tours, maybe some support for the Corps of Engineers in some of the rougher areas.

I was only a PFC, but I apparently scored well enough on some tests and made enough of an impression on Captain Sennat that I was selected to be part of the U.S. contingent sent to assist the United Nations with the Kashmir operation.

Well, you know how that went.

I was there in the thick of it when all those novas let loose. Like the rest of my platoon, I was trying to get as many civilians out of the line of fire as possible. As you can imagine, there weren't a whole lot of places to go that were safe. I had found a group of eight or ten kids huddled in a building and got them out of there as quick as possible. Did it just in time, too. That building was flattened a few minutes later.

I had seen a cave or mine entrance a little earlier and thought that would be a good place to have the kids hole up. We made a bee line for it and got inside when one of the Chinese novas spotted us. I hustled the kids as far back into the mountain as I could and got a few shots off before the nova fired on us.

As the mine entrance collapsed on me, I thought that was it. Not just for me, but for those kids.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the next thing I knew I was digging myself out from under a few tons of rock. Well, not exactly digging myself out. I just kind of picked it all up at once. It was pretty unexpected.

[The voice from off screen says, "So you were standing there holding tons of rocks... what did you do then?"]

Well, sir, the only sensible thing to do. I threw it at the Chinese nova who had dropped it on me. Figured it was only fair to return the favor.

[From off screen: "How did he feel about that?"]

To be honest, sir, I think he was surprised as I was. Last I could see him, he was trying to blast through the rocks as they crashed down on him. From what I hear, he didn't make it.

I gathered up those kids, since most of the cover from the cave was gone, and got them back to the mobile command post. I tried to join back up with my unit, but they had been wiped out. General Alvarez had me stay with the command group to provide support and defense as most of the novas we had brought with us were heavily involved in the fight.

["And what happened after the battle?"]

The OpNet reporters were there, of course and had some footage of me and the kids. I became the "human interest" piece of war stories. Back in Oklahoma, it was the "Home Town Boy Makes Good" angle. In most other places it was the "Good Soldier Goes Nova and Saves the Day" stories. I fought the publicity for a while because, well, I was just doing what anyone else would do, y'know. I mean, by all reckoning, I should have been dead. I was given a second chance and special powers, what kind of man would I be if I didn't make the best of that?

[End of Clip]