From:	ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.colorado.edu>
Subject:	Heavy sigh
Date:	Thu, 7 Dec 1995 17:48:46 -0700 (MST)

>>>>>[Your physical prowess is impressive, and certainly you both deserve
the title of Major League matrixwalkers for what you do. But evidence
as to nova status? That you need to prove yourselves disqalifies you
immediately. Mayhaps the fault is mine, in assuming too much. Mayhaps
my qualifications are so stringent that only I adhere to them In order
that our disagreement become less and common ground be reached, I shall
explain my requirements prior to one becoming nova.

I'll use small words so you'll understand.

If you have to prove you're nova, you're not. If anyone has to ask if
you're nova, you're not. If you have to penetrate a facility in order to
get at isolated data, you're not nova. If you can't penetrate the Denver
Data Haven, against the residents and all thier IC, and permanently erase
data as if it never existed, you're not nova. If you've never run
against the Corp Court and the Gemeinschaft Bank in Zurich Orbital and
succeeded, you're not nova. If you can't run 2 or more cyberdecks
simultaneously, you're not nova. If you haven't run against Fuchi,
Renraku, MCT, Ares, etc. and stolen thier most secure data, you're not
nova. If you can't reconstrut a path and an identity from data spread
over the world and discover who someone is, you're not nova. If you
can't plant a forged identity that will defeat a class 10 identity
scanner(you know, the ones that "don't exist"?), you're not nova. If you
can't crack the best encryption that the Data Haven, Pueblo, Fuchi, and
Maxim Arms has to offer, you're not nova.

I'll let you in on a secret. As good as you are, you're not nova.
Neither am I. I've known only one nova decker personally, and she's
dead. I know of some 12 worldwide, a few by name, all by reputation.
Neither of you individually nor both of you together qualify as nova.

As to maintaining a written log, electronic or hardcopy, of one's
exploits induces certain questions as to your professionalism as well.

Personal backgrounds exist as they do. If either of you have the
occasion to interact with me in this consensual reality, either in
conflict or in honorable peace, you will know why I am aliased Mercury.
Hiding such a fact is unnecessary.

I claim the right to determine who is nova through contact with
matrixwalkers who are, truly, nova, in addition to extensive personal
experience.]<<<<<
-- Mercury <17:47:28/12-07-56>