Like the big guy said, this is Karl. I came to work for the Power Patrol last month. My previous employer didn't like the way I was kind of doubting one of my bosses' sanity. And that's fine. I wasn't too happy with life, and I was ready to move on anyway.

And that's all fine. But then my last boss wrote the Powernaut, asking for help. And the Powernaut helps everyone. So now I help everyone too. So, I had to help my former boss.

His problem? He wasn't real. His relatives wished him back to life during the first reality shift this year. So most of his memories were missing.

Now, my boss wasn't a bad guy... when he was alive. It would be counterproductive to list all the things he ever did... but among other things, he sent subsidies to a disadvantaged child in the Philippines. The Powernaut and I were able to find this out about him.

So, we got his charity to send him an invitation to visit his sponsored girl in Manila. And then we arranged for the Powernaut to visit that child too, and all her friends. My boss was wanting to talk with the Powernaut anyway, so he practically had to go to the Philippines.

I could write a whole journal about the details... but it's really not important. Suffice it to say, it was a midnight meeting. A fun slumber party for the kids, and convenient for the arriving tourists from halfway around the world. I sadly found out, my old boss likes to sing "MacArthur Park is Melting in the Dark". Boy, it's schmaltzy. And the Powernaut now has a Filipino passport. He's their goodwill ambassador now!

Aside from schmaltzy music, I'm pleased to report, the trip went well. The Powernaut loves kids, and kids love the Powernaut. But more to the point of the story, my boss loved his kid, and his kid loved him. It was like he'd recovered a bit of his past.

The important thing is, the trip helped people. That charity does trips like that all the time; you can find a more complete travelog of one of those trips here. The Powernaut loves to help charity. And I have to admit, it feels good for me too.

(signed) Karl Scribner, 27 September 2005.

I'm finally back! Really! This is Wyatt Ferguson.

I'll admit it. I'm the slimy ex-boss that Karl Scribner was writing about. We all worked for the FERG, the Freedom Engineering Research Group, which my Ferguson siblings and I run. Don't ask me how I got to working alongside them, but it seems to have worked out well. For everyone except Karl, anyway.

Like Karl said, I had some problems. Apparently I'd suffered from the recent reality shifts, more than most people. I had amnesia for everything before the shift. My relatives found me, and rehabilitated me. They not only nursed me back to health, they gave me a real job. With the FERG. For that, I owe them more than I can ever say.

But I owe Karl too. And you too, Powernaut. When I was down, you gave me a hand. You gave me back part of my history, the night you led me to someone I'd helped in Asia. It was such a small thing to me back then, but it's such a big thing to me now.

But then I needed more. I needed all my past. Even down to those Monkees CDs that I used to own. I was sick of lying awake in the middle of the night, wondering what my life should be about.

So, I started searching. And it didn't take much. It seems I was an addict of web logging, even before the World Wide Web really existed. I'd filed my entire damn personal history for public perusal on a web site! I'm not certain why I did this, but it surely came in handy for me.

One thing I learned is, I've had superhuman powers! Another thing is, I have the ability to create and merge with bits of myself! (Stick with me here, this is important to the story...)

It looks like, Karl Scribner is actually a piece of me! I think the Powernaut might be one too! In any case, he seems to have merged with Karl (or maybe out of Karl) during the reality shifts, whenever they found it convenient.

Well, I've found Karl. He was leaving work late one night, and I was waiting.

Karl and I are one again. Believe me, he was older and tireder than he had any right to be, and he was ready to be a part of something greater. And he led the way to the Powernaut. Even the Powernaut is with me now.

You may see Karl sometimes, or you may see me, Wyatt. You may even see us as the Powernaut.

• We can change shape; that's one of our superhuman powers.
• We're also multi-actual. That is to say, we can separate ourselves when we feel like. That's a surprise to me... but that's how Karl and the Powernaut were able to appear together in public. People think that proves they're different people... but given the range of superhuman powers nowadays, that really means nothing.
• And you may yet see any or all of us. We all have good purpose to exist. You shall see each of us, and read our words, whenever we serve the purpose.
• I'm still exploring just what powers we have. For one thing, I can now summon a very small thunderstorm, about the size of my hand, and raven-shaped. This actually came in handy, while I was trying to get a fair price for those Monkees CDs I was looking for. (5 Oct 2005)

Karl and the Powernaut have done some good things. They've somehow built a corporation with massive voluntary support from the world. This is a useful base of operations, to gather my friends and allies. The FERG used to do that, but now it mostly just keeps my relatives happy. I can't say that's wrong, but I can still say, there's more to life than that.

I've got myself back, but I want my history. The real history. Superhumans, high-tech island nations, warts, and all. I can't believe anyone's really happy with the current history. Even the benevolent secret leaders of Earth can't quite keep things together here.

• Where I come from, admittedly the United Nations is bogged down in a four-way Iraqi civil war, with federals, Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds. And the U.N. is taking a lot of heat for it. But here it's just the United States taking on the world's role in that same war. Admittedly, this U.S. has mostly kept the lid on... so far.
• And here, New Orleans is actually sunken, just like in the apocalyptic literature back home. Corpses and chemicals floating in the streets, just like the stories said.
  • It seems the U.S. couldn't go to war by itself and maintain the levees that protected the parts of its coastline that had depressed under the sheer weight of humanity, when the next major hurricane came.
  • And now that New Orleans has been destroyed, everyone's scared when a hurricane comes. You should have seen the traffic jams out of Houston, even though Houston is not below sea level. What's next? Jacksonville, the Beaches of Doom?
  • ... Okay, I'm just glad I ever got to incorporate the phrase "Jacksonville, the Beaches of Doom" into a story. It's a 1970s Soviet-phobic invasion-apocalypse thing where I grew up. But sadly, it might yet apply.
• Where I come from, there was superhuman technology. It was a weapons problem, but it also had some potential to save humanity. But here, they can't even realize that petroleum is obsolete.
  • Even with this world's tech, corn alcohol would suffice to run people's cars. Even here, they already use sugarcane alcohol for that in Brazil!
  • But here, the United States is still fixating on petroleum prices. It's like the Gov has a secret pact for price fixing with oil merchants or something. Maybe the oilmen took power after the last reality shift. I recognize their old Guvna in the White House now.
• There's still a danger of reality shifts. The Powernaut and his Power Patrol are fighting to control them, with the power of concerted united desirous thought. Prayer, that is. Mass prayer. The Powernaut may not call it that, but that's what it really is.
  • But when it comes to mass prayer, natural advantage comes to some organizations. Churches, that is.
  • Fundamentalist Christians and Moslems seem to be winning in this brave new world. They're building up their power bases in national governments, and they're co-opting the Iraq war for their own crusades and jihads.
• I wish we could turn the reality shifts off. There was once a time, I held in my hands a Gem of Permanence. That would come in awfully handy to turn off the shifts. I wonder where it is? But before I invoke Permanence...

Things have to change. This is the start. I'm on a mission. The war to bring the real world back is hereby declared.

First, I make my relatives safe in my absence. I really do care for them, now more than ever. But in my brave new world, I have to break the traditional family structure.

• My mom should be safe with my sister, in their new Connecticut coastal mansion, on the cliff near where the son-in-law keeps his yacht. I've helped move Mom in. (6 Oct 2005)
• My sister is glad to be back near her husband. She always seemed uncomfortable with having FERG headquarters in the Speedway industrial park, that close to our homestead in Clermont, Indiana. Admittedly, Indiana is not for everyone; some people grow out of it. My sister is one such.
• My brother will be fine. Where I come from, he was a corporate vice-president, and an Army-trained superhuman-battlesuit warrior. Here, he's less than that, and he's ready for a bit more responsibility. He's finally moving away from Indiana, to work with friends of his in Michigan.
• And Dad's just smiling. It's like he was expecting his family structure to fall apart. He says he has his own places to go now. But he's taking his aluminum siding with him, dammit; it's good for a refund. One morning, I wake up to the god-awful noise of him stripping it off the family homestead. (10 Oct 2005)

Then I gather my friends. I've already found Suresh, looking for work in Boston. He works for us now! I hope I'll find Vince, Matt, and Chang. (2 Oct 2005)

Then I take my reality back, one step at a time. Wherever I need to go for this, I will.

• But how do I take reality back? Simple desire seems to be the way. But I certainly can't do it by myself. Just to make sure, I declared myself the Crusader King of Jerusalem one day in my mom's basement. It didn't work. (12 Oct 2005)
• But, "concerted mass desire" seems to work. In that respect, the Powernaut and his Power Patrol seem to be the best thing this side of church. So, I now have good allies.
• What part of reality first? I think I'll go for the silly stuff. The World Journal Monthly is good for that. So, I'm going to promote their stories as much as I can.
• What about the superhumans? Well, there's this new guy called "X the Unknown". He's powerful enough to evict the mind of Thanos out of the body of the genie Vesper. Which is annoying, because Thanos was working with me. But for now, I suspect X is working the superhuman issue, so I'll just leave it alone. (10 Oct 2005)

I've already had to evade one defender of the new reality. He came from the Church of the Super Savior, and he called himself the New Sentinel. He was ready for a fight.

• But I'd wisely shifted shape into a little boy called Billy. Shifting shape hurts, dammit, but it was worth it this time. I just played dumb, and he patted me on the head and went away.
• Even so. The war for reality is on. I will fight as need be... and work in secret as need be.
• And the enemies are well placed. The purveyors of the Super Savior crap are influential in the U.S. Gov now. And reality is changing to suit their whims. For instance, they can quote Bible passages from an Old Testament book of John, about how U.S. national parks should be under church control. (15, 19 Jan 2006)

And I'm writing it all down here. As ever. I've found that making my whole damn life public, pays off. And a flood of public web pages, is practically the best place to keep a secret nowadays.

• It may offend my relatives, and anyone else I write about. But this is hardly a new problem for writers. For what it's worth, some web log writers mention me sometimes, in ways I'd rather they didn't. Oh well.
• Despite offense, it's entertainment for most people. Most of the world won't believe these stories anyway.
• But it's my real history, and I'll believe it. And I now know, this comes in handy. I owe my own memory to all the stories I ever wrote before.

But it's scary. History might change again, as long as the reality shifts continue. I've driven reality shifts before, so history might be depending on me this time.

Of course I'm not the best one for the job; my many mental neuroses are well-documented by medical professionals. And since then, I've gotten multiple personalities. But I'm the only one there is. Let's hope I don't $#@! up.

In the darkness of night in my bed, I would lay awake with no purpose. In the darkness of night in Asia, I met someone who started to restore my purpose. In the darkness of evening in America, I got parts of myself back. Now, as the nights grow longer in my part of the world, I go forth to get my real world back. In the darkness, as need be.

(signed) Wyatt Ferguson, 16 October 2005.

Domination of Eiler Special Journal

Operation Frankenstein

The Domination of Eiler vs. the Powernaut

Halloween Friday, 28 October 2005

As ever, the Domination of Eiler observes Halloween Friday with one or more costume contests. Each victory is another step toward world domination.

This year, the Domination of Eiler dressed up as the Domination of Eiler. Of course, with world domination as the ultimate prize, the possibility of superhero intervention had to be considered.

The planning paid off, when the Powernaut showed up at the party! The Domination Guard engaged and neutralized the Powernaut, thereby allowing the party to proceed to its successful conclusion.

All Hail the Domination!

(signed) S. Eiler, Fist of the One Maker, for the Domination of Eiler.