It looks like I'll have to cut it to one part at a time.  I don't really
have the time to do more.

That, and it's a headache reading this script, converting it to prose.

Well, enjoy.  And keep up the C&C.

----------

				  *******
			       Blue Lightning
				  *******
				 Volume II

			  (c) 1995 By Damon Casale


* Dark Mirror


	Space.  Cold and empty, yet starkly beautiful.  The crescent of a
moon hung in the sky, dimly gleaming.
	In the distance, there was a tremendous explosion of light.  It
faded almost immediately, leaving no trace of its passing.

	Blue Lightning surged forward, hurtling away.

	"I'm slowing us down.  We picked up a lot of speed from the jump.
Almost 300 kps."  My fingers played over the nav console, as the crescent
moon grew closer.
	"So where are we?"
	"Let's find out."

	The ship circled the moon.  Beyond, a dingy blue planet spun, a
misty cloak of brown swirling about it.

	"Inhabited or not?"  Steve dropped into a chair.
	"I'm scanning it now."

	I got up and moved to ops.  This console had the finer details the
nav console lacked.  Like a computer directed scan.
	I peered at the tiny screen.  "Only a few different types of
lifesigns.  And a lot of industrial activity--I'm reading huge amounts of
pollution."

	I looked up, contemplating.  "Low level radiation over the entire
planet.  What have they been up to?"
	"Care to find out?"
	"Not sure."

	We watched as the planet circled beneath us, a silent mystery.

	"You probably show up on whatever instruments they have by now."
	I gave a halfhearted chuckle.  "Ooops.  Hold on."

	At the nav console again, and a few taps later, the planet spun
away, and the moon reappeared.  Filling half the viewscreen, the ship
finally entered a stable orbit.
	"I'll leave the ship here.  With any luck, this moon will serve as
camouflage."
	"Good plan."
	Yeah, yeah.  I'm not on my toes.  I'm supposed to be new at this,
remember?

	I returned to ops.  "I'm laying in an autoscan program.  After
we've orbited the planet, we should have a pretty good idea of what's going
on down there."

	Steve shrugged.  "Let's not get into any trouble this time, okay?"
	"If and when I decide to go down there, I'll let you know."  I
threw him a look of mock annoyance.
	Steve sighed.

	"There."  I stood up.  "How 'bout a game of chess?"
	"Sure, why not."

	Moments later, the bridge was empty.  On the viewscreen, the planet
continued to circle, silently.
	A bright flash of light flared soundlessly, covering a large area
of one of the bigger continents.
	It slowly faded away, leaving a slightly darker smudge.  And the
planet blithely circled on.


	I opened the wooden box, and emptied the chess pieces onto the
table, then flipped it over.
	We sorted out the pieces and started placing them on the
chessboard.

	"So.  Planning on going down there?"
	"I haven't decided yet, but I probably will.  Just to take a look
around, at least."
	"You're taking a big risk.  Look what happened the last time you
did that."

	"Don't remind me.  We'll be more careful this time."  And risk is
our business.  I didn't say it aloud, because I knew just what Steve was
thinking.

	I moved my pawn forward.
	"Why should I go?"  He moved a knight out.  As usual.
	"You have a job to do, remember?"
	"Right."

	Another pawn.  This usually got me a rook of his.
	Steve moved one of his.
	I set up with the bishop.  If he was careless enough...
	"What did happen that day in the lab, back at the company?"
	Eh?  "What brings this up?"

	He moved a rook.  Well, I wouldn't have gotten that one anyway.
	"I don't know.  Just curious, I guess."

	It was time to set up the defenses.  I moved a knight out.
	"That's when I told Kerin I knew."

	Steve dropped the pawn he had been fingering.  "And she disappeared
the next day."
	"Yeah.  They wanted her out."

	"Your move."
	He looked up at me.  "Want to talk about it?"
	"Why don't we just play, for now?"

	He put the pawn back on the board.  "I'm not that interested any
more."

	I sighed.  "You're not gonna leave me alone about this, are you?"

	He gave me one of those looks.  Yep, that's what I thought.
	"Let's go get something to eat."


	I surreptitiously dropped the subject, and he didn't bring it up
again.  There were enough problems to deal with, already.  I didn't need to
rehash the old ones.

	One of those problems was waiting below, looking grim and
mysterious.  I didn't have a clue as to what I'd find down there, but I
wanted to be prepared.

	"I'm back with another problem for you."
	Jeremy smiled.  "What can I help you with?"

	"I've been thinking.  If we run into any other aliens, it's going
to be a lot harder than it was last time to learn each others' language."
	"See if you can put together a memory aid for my translator.  I'd
like to be able to instantly memorize any foreign word, and its meaning,
when I hear them."

	He frowned.  "I'm not too sure about that.  I'll talk to Jeff about
it."
	"Anything else?"
	"No, that's it for now.  I've been working you pretty hard lately."
	"It's okay.  Don't worry about it."

	"Thanks."

	I had a lot to think about.  The electronics lab wasn't the place,
and Jeremy wasn't the person I wanted to be around right now.  Well,
neither was Steve, but that was another matter.  If he wanted to hang
around, there wasn't much you could do about it.
	Two doors later, I reached the ladder, and started climbing down.

	I always felt a little lightheaded doing this.  The rungs ended,
and I floated free, weightless.
	I pulled myself around, facing the other way on the ladder and
started climbing again.  Momentarily, I felt the tug of the artificial
gravity again, and up was down now.

	I emerged into the ship's garden.  Almost seven tenths of a square
kilometer, filled with corn, green beans, peas, and other crops, it just
barely fed the twelve of us.

	I continued up the ladder, reaching the center of the ship.  Here,
a huge skylamp hung, looking somewhat like a fluorescent bulb, with a
greater range of wavelength output.  The greenery needed it.
	Weightless again, I reversed myself, and climbed down the ladder
into the park.

	I'll never forget the first time I used the ladder.  I almost got
sick.  And I was the one who designed it, gravity variations and all.  The
stairway was even more fun, twisting and turning to keep the sensation of
'up' in the right direction.

	I finally sat down beside the tree, the brook burbling in front of
me.  Thinking.  Thinking of that day.
	It was very painful.  Out of all the time we spent together, that
was the only day I wanted to forget.


	"You found out, didn't you?"  Her anger was icy cold, her voice
never wavering.

	"Say something!  You knew, and you let things go on anyway?  What
were you trying to do?"
	"I don't know.  I wish I knew."

	Kerin gestured at the desk.  "And when I put the electronic bugs in
your computers two weeks ago, you knew about that too?"
	"That's why I had them sent away to be 'fixed'."

	"Why?"  It was a plaintive cry, almost.
	I was silent.  What could I possibly say?

	"Goodbye.  Of course, I won't be seeing you again."
	"Wait!  I--"

	The door opened, and slammed shut.
	I stopped.  And stood there.

	I lost something that day.  I never understood just how precious it
was, until it was gone.
	For years, we'd lived a beautiful lie.  But finally, the ugly truth
had surfaced.

	A single teardrop hit the floor.


	"Damon?"
	I looked up.  The intercom was blinking.
	"You'd better get up here.  There's something I think you should
see."  Steve's voice had a note of urgency in it.

	The pain had never really gone away.  But just like opening an old
wound, a little carelessness could bring it back, fresh and new again.


	I emerged onto the bridge.  The viewscreen was flickering slightly,
'paused'.
	"Watch this."

	The picture resumed.  And the same bright flash appeared, fading
rapidly away.

	It paused again.  "Well?"
	A bit distracted, I looked back at him.  "It looks like we walked
right into the beginning of a war."

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?