28.      Et Tu, Homer

Riker surveys the destruction of one of Homer's space stations by VEHEMENT and notes Homer's uncharacteristic emotional withdrawal. Simultaneous terrorist attacks in Florianópolis suggest possible coordination between VEHEMENT and Earth-based groups, prompting Riker to theorize about hidden communication methods.

Riker views wreckage from an exploded space station that Homer had spent six months developing. Homer appears devastated by the loss and delivers VEHEMENT's latest announcement blaming humanity as a cancer. Riker tries to reassure Homer and expresses concern about his withdrawn demeanor—Homer has stopped his usual banter and avoids eye contact. Riker notes the reduced station output will force short rations or increased kudzu production. When Riker queries Guppy about transmissions related to the destroyed station, no relevant communications are detected aside from Heaven vessel activity. Simultaneously, terrorists attack Florianópolis, destroying the power system and killing multiple people. Riker observes that these coordinated strikes suggest possible communication between VEHEMENT and Earth-based terrorist cells. He theorizes about how such coordination might occur in the post-apocalyptic world with limited communication infrastructure, considering three possibilities: missed communication channels, steganographic encoding, or low-tech methods. He concludes steganography is most likely, given bandwidth constraints, and retires to VR to investigate further.