THE OPERA

"Speaking of, I need the Opera's help to get out of this 'Financial Citizen' program."

"The Opera have dropped you in a river of shit. Maybe I can help you get yourself out of it."

"The Opera want me to wang the Grand Lich. Me! Got to make a whole squad and a plot and everything."

"Now the Opera's got you on a daring new assignment, set to strike the hidden face of Mass Culture itself. Good chance to see whether you're as hardcore as you let on."

"You could've brought this to the Opera."

"Doubt it would be of interest to the Opera, sadly. At least in its current incarnation." A bitter edge there.

"There was a time when someone believed you might, seeing as they trusted you to set up the Opera's last Portofiro network. Didn't turn out so hot, if reports are accurate."

"Reminds me of something else I saw recently: One of the Opera's finest discovers her inner poet, then guts it out against one of EMTERR's most sadistic interrogators. Highly experimental, especially for syndication."

"Now the Opera's got you on a daring new assignment, set to strike the hidden face of Mass Culture itself. Let's see if you can make it up to all those you let down the last time."

"So, what, you're back with the Opera now?"

"Reminds of something else I saw recently: One of the Opera's finest infiltrates a secret EMTERR jail, then guts it out against one of their most sadistic interrogators. Bold, reckless. Real human drama, you know."

"You're a traitor to the Opera and the People's Republics."

"Now the Opera's got you on a daring new assignment, set to strike the hidden face of Mass Culture itself. Time to see whether your conspiratorial ramblings match up against reality."

Cryptonym: ████████. Date of birth: ██████. Nation of origin: Disputed. Joined the Opera late 40s. Declared NULL ENTITY in 69.

"Hard to discredit decades of rumours, some as old as the Opera itself. An incestuous little process, I understand, the Luzian elite being mental duplicates of some long dead original."

"The Opera want me to kill the Grand Lich. Me! Got to make a whole squad and a plot and everything."

"Try the Opera's own archives, or EMTERR's, or that of dozens of smaller agencies. Eerie, when the shadow world reaches consensus. Now, for the juicy bit..."

"I don't think this is about the Opera, I think this is about your 'side thing'."

"Reminds of something else I saw recently: One of the Opera's finest infiltrates a secret EMTERR jail and makes it out without a scratch. Bold, lucky. Real crowd pleaser."

"Now the Opera's got you on a daring new assignment, set to strike the hidden face of Mass Culture itself. We'll see can you maintain your air of philosophic detachment."

"You got me out of jail to get back in the Opera's graces."

"Call it talent scouting. I may be a non-entity, but I'm not entirely out of the game. Wanted to see for myself what it is the Opera once saw in you."

"Call it talent scouting. I may be a non-entity, but I'm not entirely out of the game. Wanted to see for myself what it is the Opera once saw in you."

"I'm picking up trace-amounts, that's true enough. Maybe the Opera weren't wholly delusional to pull you out of the freezer."

"Reminds of something else I saw recently: One of the Opera's finest trusts her fate to a mysterious payphone, then guts it out against one of EMTERR's most sadistic interrogators. Bold, reckless. Real human drama, you know."

Sock merchant for the Im-Ex Bureau. One of the Opera's most battle-tested covers.

"With the Opera, I mean. I want to join."

"I really don't think you should join the Opera."

"This job takes anything of you that is yours. I do not exist without the Opera."

"The Opera, Hershel, is an organisation like any other and we do as we're assigned. For example -- you hooked me to EMTERR, you abandoned me to EMTERR. With EMTERR I now remain."

"The Weeping Eye are always watching, Hershel. Don't you understand? They're not like the Opera. They are everywhere, they are merciless, they are..."

"The Opera never tires, ESTOC. We collect what's due."

"What did the Opera do with you, after you extracted yourself?"

"Who are we to say? Officially, the Opera does not exist."

"Believe me when I say this... You are not the person for this job. There is no way the Opera seriously thinks you could pull this off. This is suicide."

"If this is a collaboration between the Opera and the Weeping Eye, I am... unaware of it."

It's hardly news. The Opera did not drag you back into the field to live a long and productive life.

"Ahh, so the Opera's been doing some sneaky sneaking of its own. Good, that's a good twist."

"I serve the Opera. My task is to zero out the Grand Lich. I have nothing to do with the Weeping Eye."

Stay calm. Even if the Opera's purposes dovetail with those of the Weeping Eye, it makes no difference to your mission.

"Let's keep the questions coming, if you haven't got anywhere else to be... How long have the Opera been in bed with the Weeping Eye?"

"I'm from the Opera, who the fuck is 'Tesoro'?"

"The Opera."

"What do you mean, the Opera's in bed with the Weeping Eye?"

"You're right. I'm actually with the Opera."