Metro-something, Anyway...

etroStoicism is a hard and narrow path to tread, and it leads to many unexpected turns and opportunities. This morning, as I walked between the glass giants of our business district, the Sun crowning them with tiaras of light, a odd little man spoke to me.

-"You are Mathieu, of Ban Sidhe?", he asked. -"Ye-ess?", I stammered, aghast that the first fan to recognize me should turn out to be such an ugly little runt. -"Of MetroStoic fame?", he insisted, holding out a little card. I glanced at it, and, oddly, it held a hologram of a Glass Spider and my new domain name. -"I am.", I took the card, puzzled that it seemed to be mine. -"I understand you are looking for a job?", he squinted up at me, and I looked away from his oddly deconstructed features. "We are the Metrostoic Institute for Defense, and we think we can offer you a ... prime position that would suit your unique talents." -"Keep talking.", I said, scanning our surroundings for the Old Man's operators, my erstwhile colleagues. -"We are based in Torino, Italy, and we need your assesment on our strategy in the on-going war with the Space Fiends." -"Space Fiends?", I goggled. -"Yes, they've beaten us back to Saturn, but we're finally holding the line. We need some new ideas, and we'd like you to consult for us.", he paused. "Should you like what you see during that mission, we're prepared to integrate you with the full rank of Colonel, and a share of the Institute." -"I'll think about it...", I temporized. -"Don't think too long. Give us your answer on your blog, we monitor it." -"I'll do that." -"Don't call us, we'll call you.", he added, rather unecessarily, and blanked out of existence.

As I walked to the Old Man's Operation offices to hand in my cancelled OM Operator cellphone, I found in my pocket a little disk, the MetroID Primer. I've only gone thru the first section so far, and I'm stuck on the second, but I think I'll enjoy this MetroID job. Colonel Mathieu... I like the sound of that...