Subject: Blue Lightning, v1.7-8
From: Damon Jason Casale
Date: 10/22/1995, 2:07 AM
To: fanfic@andrew.cais.com

Okay, it looks like this'll be the only time I'll have this week, so here
goes.

----------

				   *******
				Blue Lightning
				   *******
				   Volume I

			   (c)1995 By Damon Casale

	The year is 2008.  Overcrowding, a totalitarian government, and
vicious, constantly infighting intelligence agencies plague the world.
It's not a nice place to live.

	I had a plan.  There was a way out, away from all of the worst
humanity has to offer.  It was only a matter of time...


* Communication


	The memories faded away like a half remembered dream.

	"I'm not sure what to say."
	"You could at least say, 'Thank you'."

	I smirked.  "I don't know what I'd do without you."
	"But...that....  Images, sounds, feelings.  They all flashed past
so quickly..."

	I looked at Weya.  "In the span of a few seconds, I just relived
both Weya's and my lifetimes.  It was...incredible."

	"I can tell you this much, though.  That wasn't filtered through
the spiders' language.  Pure thought.  I wonder how she did it..."
	"Well, don't leave me in the dark.  What's going on?"

	"I don't think she knows."
	"Now that *really* helps."
	"I remember them building most of those machines over at the
construction site, but not much else.  Except..."
	"What?"

	I looked back at him.  "Something one of the spiders said.  'It
must never happen again'.  It doesn't make any sense."
	"You're right, it doesn't.  Now make yourself useful.  Get that
food back they took from me."
	"You know this only works one way."
	"So?  You're good at talking with your hands.  Now's the time."

	Oh, well now.  "Thanks.  But I don't think that's gonna work."
	"What else can we do?  Steve's probably a vegetable by now, his
arachnophobia and all.  We can't stay here.  Do something."
	"Look I appreciate--"
	"Damon."

	Huh?

	Weya pointed at her buret, then at me.
	I replaced my buret.

	-Damon, listen to me.  Whatever we do, we need to do it together.
The spiders never realized we were intelligent.  We have to prove them
wrong.-
	So.  That was it.  -Okay, I have an idea.-
	-It *might* work.  Shall we try?-

	"John, come on.  Let's go."
	You sure they'll let us leave?"  He closed his suitcase.

	"Of course.  They're coming with us."
	His jaw dropped about three stories.  "W-H-A-T??"

	I chuckled.  "Finally got a reaction out of you.  Come on."

	The spiders, naturally, tried to stop us, but were more curious
than anything else.  They followed us down the corridor, and Steve joined
the parade reluctantly.
	-Weya, we'll work this out together.  I promise you that.-
	She smiled.  Or tried, rather.  It came out rather well, all things
considered.


	The two scoutcraft flew into the sky.


	"Good thing I bothered to put stairs in here."  We emerged onto the
bridge.
	Jeff gaped.  "Houseguests?"

	"You could say that."
	Weya sat down at the nav console.
	"Wait a second.  Just how much did you get from me?"
	-Everything.-

	-Strange.  I saw only bits and pieces.-
	-I'm sorry about your husband.-
	She looked away.  -Don't be.  He died saving the entire village.
That means something, doesn't it?-

	"I guess it does.  But it still hurts, down deep.  It still
hurts..."
	"Did I miss something?"

	"It's personal.  Do me a favor, will you Jeff?  Tell Jeremy I'll
need two voders ASAP."
	"Okay."  He headed for the ladder.

	I looked back at the viewscreen.  The planet looked a little
closer.
	-Weya, what are you doing?-
	-Putting the ship into orbit.  When we return our guests, we'll
take them directly to their ship.  That way, we'll get the same tour you're
about to give Krrlik and Uyykevk.-
	I smiled.  -How'd you guess?-


	-Nice atmosphere, for a spaceship.-  She sat down, hanging her feet
in the brook.
	-Thanks.-
	"You two ready?"
	"Plug us in."

	The two spiders looked on curiously, while Jeremy handed out more
presents.
	"I'm acquiring a headful."
	"That's not my fault."  He smiled.

	The grinding noise filled the air.  But it looked like the spiders
had been expecting *anything*, after seeing Blue Lightning.  Talk about
enough surprises in one day.
	Finally, communication took place.  I think we got our point
across.  Just a *bit* more intelligent than they had first surmised, and
not the 'smart monkeys' they'd expected.

	"<You probably realize now that all you had to do was ask them.
They would have helped you voluntarily, I'm sure, if it was that
important.>"
	"<Realize that we do, yes.  Changes nothing.  Must still be
repaired our ship.>"
	Black chimed in.  Or rather, Krrlik.  Old habits don't die easily.
"<Have lost many who slept.  Will die more if hurry we do not.>"

	"<I can volunteer my crew.  With their technological knowhow and
the iron you're about to mine from the surface-->"
	"<--we can repair your ship a lot sooner.>"  Weya smiled.

	"<Grateful are we.  Sorry are we to have caused pain to you.>"
	"<Let's not worry about that now.  What's done is done.  Let's save
your people.>"

	Enough misunderstandings for one day, surely.  I took out my
communicator.  "Jeremy, we need some more help.  Sorry to bother you again,
but this is gonna be a big job."


	It didn't take more than two days after the iron was mined to
repair their ship.  Fortunately, there were no more casualties in their
hibernation units.
	A new era was beginning.  Peace, even cooperation between the
spiders and the seadwellers, had finally come to pass.

	Very fortunate, since they both originally came from the same
world.


* Discovery


	Nick flipped on the projector.  The screen lit up, showing pairs of
strands of greyish-black material, speckled with whitish stripes.
	"That's right, a 97% match.  There's your theory."
	"I was pretty certain to begin with.  That fossilized spider
couldn't have gotten there any other way."

	"Just out of curiosity, how do we compare?"
	"With humans, there's about an 80% correlation.  Still fairly
impressive."
	"I'd say."

	-Weya, what say we take a look at that cave?  I'd like to get a
look at those myself.-
	She sighed.  -If that's what you want.-

	"Nick, have Eric meet me in bay four in 20 minutes, okay?"
	"No problem.  Mind if I come along?"
	"Sure.  Join the party."


	The scoutship settled onto the beach, next to the prairie.

	-Lead the way, Weya.-

	The grass came up to our waists, making wading through it a bit
difficult.  But shortly, we reached the dark opening I remembered.

	-I'll go first.  Hold the light for me to see.-

	I gestured to Nick.  He held up a softly glowing rod, and Weya
carefully crept down the unsteady rocks.

	-This is it.-
	I stood next to her, while Eric made his way down.
	-Not a pretty sight.-

	"Eric, get a sample of this.  I'd like to see how old it is."
	He slipped, landed on the floor, caught the light that Nick
dropped, and walked over.  "You're not gonna be able to date it that way.
Carbon 14 dating only works for much more recent stuff."
	"Suggestions, then?"
	"There might be other radioactive trace elements in the fossil,
but I can't guarantee it.  That's the easy way."
	"Should I ask?"
	"We look for traces of radioactivity in this strata, and date the
fossil from those."

	"Damn.  All right, let's get some help here.  Steve, you
available?"
	Click.  "Not another problem, I hope."
	"Not this time.  You get to date a fossil."
	"Beth would not appreciate that."

	I smiled.  "Oh, I don't know.  I think it looks kinda cute."
	"All right, I'll be down in a few minutes."

	I put away the communicator.  "Eric, bring that light over here."

	"Hmmm.  This must be what killed them.  Wonder what it was."
	"Your guess is as good as mine."

	"But not his.  Nick, we'll load this up and ship it back to your
lab.  You and John should be able to come up with something on it."
	"I'll see what I can do."
	"Good.  Weya and I will take a look around the area.  You guys can
work on this problem."
	Beep.  I pressed the communicator.  "All right, I'm here.  Where's
the date?"
	"I've got your dead spider right here."
	I could hear him clenching his teeth.  "I hate you, Damon."


	I had an idea that that wasn't the only remnant of the catastrophe,
so long ago.  I didn't know what I was looking for, but I needed more to
work with.
	For hours, we flew onward, covering great sweeps of the continent.
We might have passed it, for all we knew.  Buried in the forest, or long
rusted away.
	We were expecting something a little more spectacular, but...

	Something glinted in the distance.

	It turned out to be the rusting structure of what was once a small
building.  At least it was something.

	-Not much to look at.-
	-Its existence tells us a lot.  They must have built this solidly.-

	The foundation was overgrown with weeds, and rubble covered the
area.

	Ouch!  Well, tripping over it is one way to find it.  I tugged on
the rusty handle, but it wouldn't budge.
	-Weya, over here.-
	-What is it?-

	-It's stuck.  Can you lend a hand?-

	With an agonizing creak, the trapdoor slowly opened.  I got a funny
feeling that I wasn't the one doing most of the work.
	Below, a metal stairway descended into the darkness.  But the
stairs, amazingly enough, showed little sign of rust.

	Somewhere below, a room slowly brightened, and we stopped.  -Now
this is really odd.  Still power, even after centuries.-

	Weya wandered into the room.  Huge computer banks lined the walls.
Chairs?  If that's what they were, were spaced along at even intervals.
And some were still occupied.
	Weya touched one.  The spider crumbled away into dust.
	-This must have been a research center of some kind.  Nearly
airtight, but they still died.-
	-Luckily, your people survived this, somehow.-

	-But there has to be something here!-
	-I think there is.  This bank still has power.-
	-What?-

	A few, dim lights blinked on the console.  -You're right.  I can't
read anything, though.  We'll tell the spiders about it later.-

	At the end of the hall, a steel door blocked the way.

	-Locked.  That's it then.  Let's go.-


	A low growl sounded.
	-Uh oh.-

	The catlike creature crept closer.  Large, almost six feet long,
with a ring of ribbed, greenish bone around its neck.  Its feet, taloned
like a hawk's, flexed in anticipation.
	-Climb down that stairway again, very slowly.-
	-What are you going to do?-

	It didn't waste any time.  Less than six feet away, it hissed with
the satisfaction only a predator could know.

	-I'll be right behind you.-

	Ready...

	The creature leaped.
	-Run!-  I dived for the stairs, but too late. Claws dug into my
neck, tearing.

	Suddenly, an ear-shattering squeal pierced the air, and the
creature fell away, cringing.  My voder, in pieces, dropped beside it.  And
the trapdoor fell into place.  Safe.

	-It had you back there.  You could have been killed.-
	-I was lucky.-

	She hugged me tightly, nearly crying.  -Don't ever frighten me like
that again.-
	-I promise.-

	She'd almost forgotten what it was like to care about someone.  So
had I.

	It was time to get some answers.  What had happened on the planet
below us, so long ago?

	The scoutcraft entered an octagonal portal, which promptly slid
closed.

	"<Uyykevk!  Nice to see you again.  And this is?>"
	"<Hkkex this is.  Pleased am I that here are you.  Our thanks we
give again, Weya.>"

	"<Uyykevk, we have a few questions we'd like to ask.>"
	"<About Great Death, yes.  Tell you we will.>"
	"<Long is story.  Will take some time to tell.>"

	"<Go ahead, Hkkex.>"
	"<Then our story this is.>"

Damon Casale, dc56+@andrew.cmu.edu

* Maison Ikkoku * Kyoko Otonashi * Video Girl Ai * Amano Ai *
               * Blue Lightning * Kerin Gray *
Blue Lightning forever...Kerin, are you out there?