Minor lore: The Roulet Estate¶
Minor lore entries of The Roulet Estate, in alphabetical order. Larger topics of the arc have their own pages, including Andrew's Condition, The Drugged Water and Chimney Passages.
Christmas Eve Secret Santa¶
The "twenty-five days ago" flashback in Roulet Estate 01, set at the task force office on Christmas Eve 1992 after fifty-three days of paperwork on Utah. Diane gives watercolor paper for Kurt's daughter, a hand-knit sweater for Andrew, scotch for Huell and new shoes for the Biz. Diane receives Andrew's pashmina shawl, Kurt's stolen NSA chair, Huell's scotch and the Biz's Southwestern scratch-off tickets, some already scratched. Among the agents, Kurt gives Andrew a fake alien fetus in a jar, Andrew gives Huell a Dunhill lighter and cigar cutter, Huell gives the Biz a fake ID and the Biz gives Kurt a floppy disk. The exchange is interrupted by Big Bill, who eats biscochitos and gingerbread and brings news that the task force will be disbanded. Andre noted at the table that the time skip had skipped over Christmas, which is why the party is staged as a flashback. (Roulet Estate 01)
David Huggins Paintings¶
Paintings by the real-world artist David Huggins, who painted his claimed experiences with a gray alien girlfriend. Zack showed them at the table as the visual reference for the intruder: naked, unnaturally thin and long-limbed, with a classic grey face. (Roulet Estate 01) See also The Roulet Intruder.
February 1993 WTC Bombing¶
The real-world bombing of the World Trade Center, which becomes Andrew Howard's desk case in New York in the epilogue. He analyzes bomb photographs from an office high enough up to be unaffected by the blast, making notes for the FBI on the types of bombs used and their consequences. (Roulet Estate 03) See also World Trade Center.
Inauguration Day 1993¶
The title card of the cold open in Roulet Estate 01, and the day on which the four agents wake up sick in the abandoned Rhode Island living room. It is also the day on which Ross Perot is to disband the task force. In Roulet Estate 02 Big Bill is said to be due to be fired "sometime today." The flashbacks are labelled "78 days ago" and "Twenty-five days ago." (Roulet Estate 01, Roulet Estate 02) See also Perot's Insurgency Task Force.
Jonestown Cover Story¶
Big Bill's official explanation for the Utah disaster. In Roulet Estate 01 the table settles on a radical domestic insurgency: a cult compound under the multimillion-dollar community center, embezzlement to fund a violent uprising, and a Jonestown-style mass killing when investigators arrived. The agents listen in bed to radio reports of the incident and of Perot's victory. Andre puts the deaths at roughly three or four hundred across the two towns. (Roulet Estate 01)
Kurt's Portal Theory¶
Kurt Larson's private belief, voiced in the April 1993 epilogue, that a force "on the other end of a portal" is covertly influencing America. His discreet feelers turn up nothing credible or verifiable, nobody takes him seriously, and he usually stops pressing before people tap out. (Roulet Estate 03)
Lost Time¶
Missing time, a classic sign of abduction. Kurt Larson loses a minute while hammering at the steel door of the weapons closet, just after Andrew Howard glimpses a brilliant light streaking through the woods. The others find him staring at the door, dizzy and disoriented. The Roulets' own notebook also records lost time. (Roulet Estate 01) See also The Roulets' Notebook.
Roseanne¶
The TV show that signals rock bottom. In March 1993 Huell Kendrick day-drinks and watches it, something he had earlier told McManley was rock bottom. By the end of the epilogue Kurt and Andrew are watching it too, Kurt in his hotel and Andrew in New York. It returns in Radford Horrors 01. (Roulet Estate 03)