POWERNAUT 2006!

This was the Caribbean in August. I'd really rather not have been there. But since I was, I get to report.

This is a Powernaut story, so it does not represent how boring this conference actually was. Basically, *everyone* got to report their status. I will admit, this series hits the high points. And I may have left before the action. But I'm glad I was at least there for Kwame Cannon. He's the son of Stonewater Smith.

I suspect that what everyone really wants from me, is the celebrity list. Let's catch up, from the beginning in order of appearance - and left to right when necessary. (Documentary support where hyperlinked.)

1. Lucianus Autonomus. "Castro's Favorite Boxer". World champion in the 1970s; amazingly vigorous for his advanced age. Indeed, he is the world's leading "white mage"... so he may have the secret of growing old gracefully.
2. Kwame Cannon. a.k.a. Ron Cannon. Formerly known as "The Devil in White", urban mentalist. Born in Hypergaard; son of Paula Power and Stonewater Smith. Nowadays, he's really getting into his African self-identity.
3. Me, Wyatt Ferguson.
4. Leo. Cat-powered, former member of Total Conversion, and almost as much of a weirdness magnet as I am.
5. The Powernaut. Latest in a lineage which goes back at least to 1968.
6. Vara Hosea. Former Champion of Death, former member of Total Conversion, and ongoing "white mage". As we all know, the color of our magic auras is not equal to the color of our skin.
7. The Mighty Tim. Energy projector, teleporter, and experienced hand-to-hand fighter. Former member of The Balance, which makes him the first real superhero other than the old Powernauts.
8. Doctor Fu. Practitioner of weird science, from Taiwan. At superhero conclaves, weird science is always welcome.
9. Stonewater Stern. Superhuman self-styled samurai, with some elemental control powers. Member of Total Conversion.
10. Private Danger. Reluctant patriotic hero, fresh from World War 2.

(to be continued, in the next commentary)

We have a few more guest stars here.

1. Adu Asantemantse, the Warrior Ashanti. An actual African prince, of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Mid-level superhuman strength, with enhanced reflexes and resilience. He once served in United Nations peacekeeping forces, alongside the Mighty Tim.
2. Hedasys (the Dragon). Apparently, Hedasys is a bonafide ancient Greek warrior, probably immortal somehow. And not time-traveled or captured by aliens or something. But he is known as Hedasys the Dragon! He may have actually cleared the way for Alexander the Great to advance into Persia with his fire breath. (Or napalm, or somthing. "Greek Fire" was a phenomenon back then.) That makes a lot more sense than the normal theories of how Alexander made it into Persia over the mountain passes from Asia Minor. (The normal theory is, "Oops, we forgot to defend the pass!")
3. Gray Lion. In his advanced middle age, his physical strength inexplicably began doubling every year. Now he is up to upper mid-level superhuman strength.
4. Rock Pile Jim. An Earth human whose brain was transplanted into a rock-creature body. High-level superhuman strength and damage resistance, plus the ability to adjust his own bodily density by eating or excreting minerals.

Since the comic is talking about a particular historic hurricane, I sense a need to talk about the state of the Earth's history - especially in the last year. The aliens say, our Earth is infamous for having a reality shift every couple of years. But in the last year, we had *four*.

0. Baseline: All our heroes plus these United States Presidents since 1989: George H.W. Bush 1989-1999, Hillary Rodham 2000-2003, and Orrin Hatch 2004-next reality shift.
1. July 2005: "Humans of the Earth! We Are In Control!" George W. Bush is now U.S. President, in a world familiar to that of many readers, complete with familiar hurricanes. Superhumans disappear; when they reappear, they are depowered.
2. November 2005: "Occulator Compuplex." The world stays as is, except most of the alien and superhuman enemies of Spanker 4 are imprisoned.
3. May 2006: "Yesterday the Future (of Darkness)." Forces from 2006 and 1945 intertwine, to produce a Fascist modern world.
4. July 2006: "The New Present." Earth's superhumans are repowered, and the world reverts to a history based on April 2006.

The "Flying Super Process Server" was apparently really, really poorly equipped for getting out of Cuba *without* creating a spectacle. Intentional...? If he is any sort of "ambulance chaser", he can probably use the publicity.

Despite the conspiracy theory, the main discussion about him has been: Is he a failed *infiltrator* or a failed *exfiltrator*? That is to say, did he fail inbound or outbound? ... It's obvious he failed outbound. But his root cause may have been, attracting attention during infiltration. Of course, a veteran exfiltrator would just let the suit *get* the attention. and then take a cab to Havana airport... The debate has no answer yet.

From university in Purdue, I visited Michigan State University in East Lansing once. We walked out a trail, to a highway underpass. Beyond was a pub. My companion said, "Let's not go there."

Beyond, was South Lansing. It was a cheap place for college students to live - if they wanted to drive to campus, good luck with that. It was also a factory town for General Motors. My own General Motors metro area in Indianapolis was not much different... It all depends on where you live.

Later in 1991, South Lansing would become infamous for raids by Captain Gonzo and the Mighty Tim (later, to join Ellipsis and Morningstar as The Balance). They were campus superheroes, looking for adventure. They wound up at some drug houses and some really skeevy bars. They broke up one biker cult and freed a couple of sex slaves. I hear, though, they went into one bar and wound up sitting beside the Mayor. And that sounds right, from what I know of bars and Mayors.

I might have to go check out South Lansing sometime.