To: [REDACTED]

Date: 12 December 2000

Subject: File V139350804011967

As per your instructions of the 4th, I pursued a deep datamine on Biofile V139350804011967 a.k.a. “Sam Herneson” and at least nine other semi-active aliases. Despite our ability to cross-correlate every intergovernmental infosource across the planet, I cannot find definitive data to confirm (beyond 75% accuracy) the facts about this person.

This is a man who either does not officially exist or lives in ten different aliases, any of which could be his “real identity.” If I did not know better, I would believe he worked for us, as I have not seen an identity trail this complex outside of the Agency.

Hard Data

The only facts that can be corroborated are these:

• Said individual corresponds with the DNA samples provided by [REDACTED];
• Said individual stands 74 inches tall and weighs approximately 185 pounds;
• Said individual has black hair, though he has dyed it on occasion in various idenitites;
• Said individual has a unique eye color—an amalgamation of blue, green, and gray (described by witnesses as “marble and steel” or other inexact and colourful adjectivals);
• Said individual has 20-20 vision (and this agent discounts witness accounts of his having additional eyesight capabilities such as “vision like a cat!”);
• Said individual has had his wisdom teeth removed and has nine artificial teeth to replace natural teeth broken or lost (Agents recovered Tracker x030-a, along with the tooth, on 110597 from an impact point 15 feet up the trunk of a cedar tree in eastern Oregon.) Attempts to track said individual by monitoring specialized dentists have failed, though one assumes he has replaced this molar as well by now.
• Said individual has multiple tattoos on both arms, both legs, his chest, and back (though the exact number—more than six specific tattoos, less than 15—and their precise imagery can only be estimated for reasons noted in Agency file JMX93XA);
• Said individual is licensed to drive or fly with eight current drivers’ and pilots’ licenses under four different aliases (all seemingly valid birth certificates from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand—indeterminate if these were done at Agency requests or by other resources);
• Said individual (as “Samuel Carter”) registered for the United States Selective Service on August 17, 1984 more than seven months before his apparent 18th birthday (though the fingerprints provided with that application have not been detected or collected at any time after April 8, 1988);
• Said individual applied for and officially changed his legal name from “Samuel Carter” to “Sam Herneson” on March 18, 1990;
• Said individual no longer responds to nor seems monitored by our AJAX systems despite [REDACTED] assurances that [REDACTED] could not be removed under any circumstances;

All of the above data comes from Agency datafiles despite the loss of AJAX-Alpha on 033197. The ability to track data on this individual before 061495 or after 033197 draws on less-objective methods of witness records, inexact video records, and extrapolation of various data, rather than hard records or actual contact by the Agency.

Soft Data

The individual known currently as “Sam Herneson” was born at 9:17 a.m. on April 1, 1967 at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. The boy’s birth mother (Biofile X09340D04011967X) died from multiple injuries sustained in a car accident. The boy was born an unknown number of weeks early but was healthy. His name came from a note scrawled by the semi-conscious woman in the ambulance, though the note’s details became obscured by some of her own blood. According to a police statement from Roger Acres (her paramedic), the woman’s last words were “He must not follow…” He claims she looked afraid, though he attributed that to a common fear of death at the time. She never regained consciousness and died shortly after arrival in the emergency room. Doctors delivered her baby by caesarean section.

Hospital officials recorded the boy’s birth certificate name as “Samuel Gabriel Ambnel,” though his father’s name was recorded as “Unknown.” His mother bore a silver bracelet with the name “Karen” on it and no other identification. Said bracelet has also disappeared from government files sometime between [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], preventing extrapolation of [REDACTED]. The woman’s remains are irretrievable as well, due to her cremation on April 5, 1967 after her autopsy concluded she died of injuries consistent with her accident.

For the next nine years, “Sam” shuttled between a number of orphanages and foster homes across the state of Wisconsin. No extraordinary occurrences led to the boy’s appearance on our systems until Samuel and Angela Carter (V139340011151943; V139340107031945C) adopted the nine-year-old orphan and ward of the state in 1975. The boy spent the rest of his formative years in Madison Wisconsin in a household deemed unconventional at best. The Carters were anthropology and psychology professors at the University of Wisconsin and by all public terms an upstanding family. These two were also members of the anarchist cell calling itself the Vanguard.

Aside from minor adolescent indiscretions and lawlessness common to late teens, “Sam” appears a model normal citizen. The Vanguard cell trains its people well to maintain solid and nigh-indistinguishable cover identities and alibis. Given the surveillance problems on this man in the years since he entered our notice, we know “Sam” gained some training in the abnormal abilities of his parents and those of their associates.

[Damn. Signal loss! Let me do my—ha!]

—an unknown number of months with her. Visual and eyewitness confirmations link him directly with Oscar Kharm (see File V139178403301935) as early as October 1992, though there are multiple potentials for contact earlier (see Files V139178109221909, V1392488111021931, V139338801101942, V139340011151943, and V139340107031945C).

Public records note the employment of a “Sam Herneson” (no records of name being Samuel or other variants) within Bulwark Publications human resource and tax records as of 04301990, engaged as a janitor. Continually on Bulwark payrolls since that time, “Sam” has worked in the United States, Canada, and Britain for no less than nine Bulwark Publications’ subsidiary or holding companies. “Sam Herneson” has worked as a mail clerk, file clerk, assistant proofreader, assistant reader, art intern, colorist, inker, penciller, assistant editor, editor, and writer. His current official job description lists him as the reprint line editor for Bulwark Comics, and his name appears on releases every 3rd month as such. However, “Sam” has not physically arrived or worked directly at any BC main or subsidiary offices since 091400. His connections to Kharm allows him the ability to set his own schedule. The current cover is he works via Internet telecommuting using the Herneson@gmail.com account.

This agent cannot stress enough the extreme care to be taken around this individual. His exact parameters are only 75% mapped and his combat readiness has only been increased since [REDACTED]. To date, there has been no absolute confirmation of any extraordinary abilities on Sam’s part aside from AJAX records (see Agency files [REDACTED], JMX93XA, [REDACTED], and TRX98AV). From 061495 through 040197, this individual operated within AJAX program parameters under [REDACTED].

[Damn. Either the signal's lost--nope. End of file. Want to dig for the unredacted version?]

© 2009 by Steven E. Schend. All rights reserved.

“Sam Herneson” Appearances:

• “Concerning a Gambit of Fraternity,” Fellowship Fantastic (DAW; January 2008; ISBN 978-0-7564-0465-9)
• “Being Played,” Gamer Fantastic (DAW; July 2009; ISBN 978-0-7564-0563-2)