Heart of Obsidian

BREAKING NEWS

*Hong Kong fire contained. Unknown number of casualties—estimates range from two to three hundred thousand dead.
**UPDATED** Pure Psy sends letter to all major comm networks. Text as follows.*

We take total, unmitigated responsibility for the Hong Kong strike. It has never been our intention to hide what we do—because what we do is necessary to awaken our people to the reality of our ruined society.
Our actions could not have been successfully completed had the world been under the leadership of a strong Council. It is the weak who lead us now, and that weakness will destroy us all. Silence is the only way to counter what has proved to be a fatal flaw.
Without Silence, this is who we will be—a people without protection or will, a people who can be picked off by the inferior races until the world is ruled by savages. We will not permit such a future to come to pass.
This is a call to arms to all who believe in Silence, in the superiority of our race.
    Join us.
    PSYNET BEACON: LIVE NETSTREAM

The letter is nonsensical gibberish. Where in the Protocol does it mandate wholesale slaughter?
Y. Schulz
(Munich)

It is not the “inferior races” who masterminded this attack, but our own. Does that not make us the savages?
R. Gueye
(Riyadh)

Whatever their actions, one thing is incontestable: Pure Psy is not afraid to speak the truth. We have lost our place as the leaders of the world and it is the fault of those at the top. Though Councilor Krychek, at least, has shown significant power. Such a man could rule not only the PsyNet but the world. It is my belief that, together, Councilor Krychek and Pure Psy would make an invincible ruling junta.
K. Choi
(Kingston)

Kaleb Krychek’s actions in assisting to save lives in Hong Kong are to be commended. As a cardinal Tk, he did not have to get involved. That he did speaks highly of his ability and willingness to protect the people he no doubt seeks to rule.
J. Jantunen
(Nadi)

It is clear Kaleb Krychek is using these unfortunate events in order to consolidate his power base. Which leads to the question of whether he is, in fact, behind the attacks and is the puppet master who manipulates Pure Psy’s destructive strings.
No name given
(Hohhot)

Our race can stand tall today—when the worst happened, our people did not flinch. Kaleb Krychek and his men are to be commended, as are Ming LeBon and his team.
Pure Psy, on the other hand, must be eradicated. They are a pustule on the face of our society.
B. Oliveira
(Santiago)

A number of the individuals clad in black with the single star on their left shoulders who assisted in the aftermath of this attack, and several previous ones, are rumored to be part of the shadowy and powerful Arrow Squad, rather than simply Kaleb Krychek’s personal forces.
If so, and if they now belong to Kaleb Krychek, he already has the PsyNet within his grasp. As we have seen today, he could take it by sheer brute force. That he hasn’t makes me hypothesize he seeks a rational solution, and such thinking is something I can support, in a way I cannot support the irrational violence of Pure Psy.
T. Saowaluk
(Vancouver)

The “Pure” should be burned in the same fires as those that consumed their victims. If they have no reason to hide their actions, why aren’t they standing in front of us, willing to publicly own their cause?
G. Barrie
(Tasiilaq)

Pure Psy

    “FOOLS.” VASQUEZ DROPPED out of the PsyNet after reading a sampling of the thousands upon thousands of citizen opinions that had come in since Hong Kong burned.
    The vast majority were virulently anti–Pure Psy, which only went to show the extent of the decay corrupting their society. Rather than seeing in Pure Psy their chance for redemption, the populace saw only what their weak minds had been programmed to see—Psy who weren’t toeing the line, weren’t being the sheep they were meant to be.
    It had reached the point that the Silence of his faithful was being questioned. That could not be permit—
    Sir!
The mental voice of one of his trusted deputies, the tone urgent.
I’ve walked into a trap! Krychek’s men are closing in.
    Do not allow them to take you!
Vasquez ordered.
You know too much.
    I won’t let you down, sir.
    Two minutes later, came a final message—
Absolution in Purity
—and then the nothingness that indicated the deputy had ended his life rather than risk betraying the cause.
    Vasquez deleted the man’s name from his mental list. It was the