April has been finalized. Let's see how many posts it takes.
April 1: A little after midnight that morning, NASA begins receiving transmissions from the Spirit rover on Mars. At first, this is believed to be a joke in poor taste, but it is repeatedly confirmed. The rover is mobile, but only just. In Infopunk Britain, a newspaper called The Sun reports the crowning of a new King o' the Cats, witnessed by a reporter for The Sun, Queen Elizabeth II, and Ambassador Brigith mírchArthur ('mírch' means 'daughter of'; it seems to have been 'merch' in Old Welsh, but she's from about 300 years too early for Old Welsh to exist). Also in The Sun, a young couple reports having been chased out of a graveyard by a weeping angel statue, though what they were doing in a graveyard at night is left to the readers' imaginations. In orbit of Clp-Earth, the last Martian scout begins its survey of the planet, starting with the debris ring, from which it takes a few small samples.
April 3: A civilian-owned, refurbished, and modified F-104 Starfighter is launched from Japan. The highly unusual design includes a crude fusion impulse engine, using a pair of enhanced polywells for power, and somewhat based on a partially lithium-fueled engine that
NASA is working on. This is not the only innovation on it, which is proven when the old fighter leaves the atmosphere, makes three orbits around the Earth, and re-enters the atmosphere (protected by an endothermic force field, which took longer to make than any other component of the spaceplane, being a new creation, rather than modified and enhanced off-the-shelf technology), requesting landing clearance at Vandenberg Space Force Base (which is eagerly granted). Step-by-step instructions for the upgrades are made available online, in Japanese and fairly understandable 'Engrish'. The pilot, Kurita Omiko, applies for and receives a job at Lockheed-Martin, as do some of her team. The rest, unskilled in Engrish, much less English, are hired by the Japanese equivalent of DARPA. The most flight-worthy (which in this context mainly means 'the airframe can still take the load') of the retired F-104s under US government control are ordered transferred to DARPA and LockMart for testing and possible upgrade (start with what already worked, before trying it on other vehicles). Other governments in possession of F-104s begin to do likewise (as do some that have other fighters, with varying degrees of success).
April 4: The Martian scout at Clp-Earth appears to have finished its work, for it returns home. On Stp-Earth, Congressman Jesse Woodson James (D-Mo.) files suit against various Inp- and Dp-Earth filmmakers, authors, and publishing houses, for defamation of character. Also on Stp-Earth, the Papal Expedition to Inp-Earth is launched. On Dp-Earth, at a site code-named 'Ort Fünf' (Location Five), in German East Africa, a new group of rockets is launched, while that part of the world is facing away from the other Earths. The rockets dock in orbit and vanish, as before.
April 5: At Dartmouth College, on Inp-Earth, Dr. Paul Vincent says "Gee, that's funny," and vanishes, along with his lab bench, and the equipment thereon. A particle spray is detected, centred on that location, but is markedly different from those of arriving spacecraft, seeming somewhat 'inverted'. Also on Inp-Earth, all bearers of the surname 'Spock' (an old and respected English family, sometimes found in the colonies) have developed Vulcanoid characteristics by this date. In many cases, this is limited to pointed ears, upswept eyebrows, and an increased ability to control the expression of emotion (though 'ability' is not the same as 'desire, or 'necessity'), but quite a few also report increased strength, touch telepathy, and so forth - none of them have hearts where their livers should be, though. NYC's 'vigilante problem' makes the international news, when the Russian ambassador is saved from an assassination attempt by a minor Chechen faction by a 'Batgirl' (Steph Brown version, w/ gas mask) and a 'Spider-Man' (Miles Morales costume, but an adult). The superheroes could not be reached for comment. General William L. Shelton, USSF Chief of Staff, breaks ground for the United States Space Force Academy campus, by San Francisco Bay.
April 7: Time-Warner/DC begins founding Green (and other colours) Lantern- and Justice League-related NGOs. Their purposes are primarily SAR and other disaster relief, but also private investigation and bonded security, with required classes for any branch, and some overlap between branches by individuals and teams. They do this mainly because they are scared of Nekron, and deeply worried about the lack of visible government response to the vanishing Black Lantern rings. A few Inp-Earth aerospace corporations begin plans to test the Japanese 'Starfighter' upgrade on their own products. Last transmission from the
Sanctus Christopherus indicates that the whole expedition is being arrested, on the orders of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition.
April 9: A second attempt is made on the Russian ambassador's life (well, the life of his body-double), this time by what appears to be a
shapeshifting clay-golem, which later admits to being 'in it for the money', and a guy in a Rhino suit, as well as an Orange Lantern who arrived late (and was also in it for the money). They are defeated by a 'Batman, three people who
acted as superheroes before the Event (with names made up themselves), and two Spiders (adult Miles again, and an Iron Spider of uncertain gender). The arrival of the Orange Lantern attracts a Green Lantern, a Blue Lantern, and a male Star Sapphire (purple speedo with boots, gloves, and a full-face mask), who contain both the Orange Lantern and the shapeshifter, allowing the others to overwhelm the Rhino and the small team of disposable terrorists.
April 10: As a publicity stunt on Infopunk Earth, Robert Downey, Jr. and Troy Hurtubise (and several less well-known, very well-paid, and very nerdy engineers, mostly off-screen) build a suit of working Mark I Iron Man armour, in a cave, with a box of scraps (well, more of a large crate of carefully selected scraps, and a few more crates of tools). The armour is capable of keeping the operator fairly comfortable in the Nevada desert for twenty-four hours of operation (though Downey is only in the suit for about three hours of filming, before handing it over to an Army Ranger for the full twenty-four), before needing replacement of food and water stocks, and is eventually shown to be able to work for a week (much to the shock of the Ranger testing it, and other Army personnel) without needing any maintenance that the operator cannot provide in the field, mainly thanks to the multi-mini-polywell 'Arc' reactor in the chestplate (and redundant mini-polywells elswhere). It cannot fly, and is technically unarmed, but the enhanced strength is close to peak human limits, though with greater endurance, the speed is about equal to what an Army Ranger could make in the same terrain (though he'd make less noise without it), and the armour plating is highly resistant to bullets. The engineers are immediately hired by DARPA, to work on the next model of the suit, while Hurtubise is hired by the Canadian equivalent.