Subject: [Fanfic] Through the Eyes Of the Enemy - Ch.1
From: Michael White
Date: 2/2/1996, 8:13 PM
To: fanfic@andrew.cais.com


So I finally decided to post one ( insert applause soundtrack ).

Semi-relavent stuff: This fanfic is related to Robotech, but you don't 
really need an intimate knowledge of RT to follow it ( I hope! ). Oh, 
this is only the second fanfic I have ever written during the entire 
history of me :) Excuse? Wh..what are you talking about? ;)

Mini-glossary=>
Micronian: human sized life form
Micronization: shrinking a Zentraedi to micronian size.

C&C accepted. Address all hate mail to my evil twin.

								- MW

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       \\  /*MW*/*MW*/*MW*/  Michael White  \*MW*\*MW*\*MW*\  //
	\\/*MW*/*MW*/*MW*/aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca\*MW*\*MW*\*MW*\//
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	 //      "Besides your looks, what have *you*	    \\
	//           contributed lately?" - Rand	     \\
       //     "Look beyond your eyes with your song..."       \\
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	Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Story of a Zentraedi Warrior

			    Written ( in reality :) ) by

					MICHAEL WHITE

	Well, this time around I felt like writing a story from the 'bad
guys' point of view. The only important thing to keep in mind for this
chapter is that it is all setup, just introducing the primary characters
( well, most of them ) and laying out the ear early years of Muers' life.
	Comments, suggestions, flames: aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca

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Nothing in here is intended to infringe on the rights of Harmony Gold.
Please don't sue me! I'm really a very nice person!
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	Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Story of a Zentraedi Warrior

				   Foreword

	It's hard to believe that the SDF-3 will be departing in less than
a month.  This may be my last opportunity to thank all of those people
who, throughout my life, have shown me kindness and friendship.  I
sincerely appreciate it.
	The first thing I want to make clear is that I am no one
important, nor have I associated on a regular basis with any great people.
I have no idea why GreenSpan Electronic Publishing, co. decided to ask me
to write my lifes story. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact
that my clone queue possesses a near-photographic memory, and that my
fairly extensive collection of journal disks survived. Or perhaps my
relatively comprehensive english language courses were what attracted
them. In any case, I would like to point out that I have never written
much more than weapons catalogs before, and you'll have to excuse any
examples of poor writing style. English is a lot more complex than
Zentraedi. 

							Muer Tai

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****Authors note: all items marked with [rt] are Rough Translations from
Zentraedi, using the closest or most appropriate English equivalent.
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				 Chapter 1

				  Harduin

	If, ten years ago, someone had told me that I was going to wind up
on a mission to destroy or at least neutralize a threat from the Robotech
Masters with Micronians as my allies, I would have serious doubts as to
the gene content in your cloning queue. For you see, I, Muer Tai, am
Zentraedi. And ten years ago I was a Battlepod pilot aboard a ship in the
Imperial Fleet. And this is my story.
	Where to start my story.... at the beginning, I suppose. I was
'birthed' or 'cloned' sometime in early 1977, according to the human
calendar. The memories of the early part of my life are somewhat clouded.
That is not unusual, given the state of mind so soon after activation. My
first clear memory is of a sharp pain in my upper left arm. It was on a
world, I remember that. A cold world, and I was in some sort of training
exercise. I seem to recall a multitude of Battlepods, but I cannot
remember if I was operating one when I sustained my injury. In any case, I
still have the scar from that incident, despite occasional micronization.
It is probably appropriate that my first real memory is of war, since that
is what would occupy the majority of my life.
	My first assignment was to a small outpost on a world known as
Harduin IV D, a small moon circling a large gas giant in a star system far
removed from Tirol. We were, to use a human term, cannon fodder. Harduin
was in a direct line from the star system Ginken, which contained two
vital mining colonies, and the heart of the Invid empire. The entire
reasoning behind our stationing on that barren chunk of rock was that any
assault force en route to Ginken would hopefully defold in the Harduin
system, since long-distance folds were rarely done in one jump. Then, if
we were fortunate, we could get a rough estimate of the size of the
assault force and relay that information to the large garrison on Ginken V
before we were obliterated.
	Our garrison was by no means well equipped or well manned. Of the
roughly one hundred Zentraedi on the moon, 67 of them were on their first
assignments. The rest were unremarkable warriors who occassionaly hindered
their units but for some reason kept coming back alive. We had roughly 75
Regult Battlepods on the base, as well as two Quel-Quallie recon ships.
However, being so close to Ginken meant we were well supplied, more so
than even Grand Fleet ships. Which actually added to the lack of
discipline and general laziness on the base.
	It was not a situation conducive to long life, nor a brilliant
start to a military career.
	Our commander was Tul Sarden. Rumor had it that he was a cruiser
commander in the Imperial Fleet until he executed a defold in the middle
of an asteroid field. With three asteroids fused into the hull. I suspect
the rumor has been somewhat exaggerated, but it is obvious that Commander
Tul fell out of favor with the High Command, and was assigned to
stewardship over the Harduin Garrison as punishment.
	I met Lord Tul on my first day at the garrison, roughly in the
fall of 1978. It was not a particularily auspicious meeting.
	"Watch where you're going! Imbecile.."
	"Yes, sir. Sorry sir." I apologized. Quickly, I stooped to pick up
the crate I had inadvertentely knocked out of his hands. It was
undamaged.. relatively. He turned and walked away while I was still bent
over, a fairly clear indication that I was to carry the crate for him. I
trotted to catch up with him as we walked to the launch bay.
	"Over there. And next time watch where you're going. Fortunately
for you I'm in a good mood today..."
	"Yes m'lord. I'm sorry sir..."
	"Stop groveling and return to your post immediately!"
	I had the sense to salute and leave without saying another word. 

					*  *  *

	"A 'good mood'? What would our glorious commander possibly be in a
good mood for on this pathetic chunk of rock?"
	This, from Jaren Kell. We had met on the transport from Ginken
yesterday. He had been at the garrison for two months now, and was
returning from delivering some 'secret documents' from Tul to the Ginken
garrison commander. We weren't exactly friends, but he was the only person
I knew there. Besides, he had the bunk across from mine. We were in those
bunks now, off duty but too restless to get any sleep.
	"He didn't say." I replied. Jaren had told me of Commander Tuls'
frequent irritability and mistreatment of subordinates. I felt lucky to
escape the incident with only a few harsh words.
	"Hmm, nothing good for us, you can be certain of that. I wonder if
it has anything to do with that freighter ..."
	A Garudan freighter had gone 'missing' near Harduin just over
three days ago, officially the work of 'unidentified pirates'. Garuda was
a Tirolian-occupied world at the time, but still had a remarkable level of
autonomy.
	"I do not know. I don't imagine that we will ever find out either."
	Jaren frowned. "No, I suppose not."
	We turned our heads toward the rear of the room as the barracks
door opened, and the rest of our comrades returned. They looked weary,
having come of another of Commander Hurk Olgins' intensive but pointless
training exercises. Hurk was the garrisons Chief Mecha Officer and
piloted the only Glaug - Officers' Pod - on the base. This particular
exercise had begun well before we had returned from Ginken, a blessing as
Jaren had said. In another twenty minutes they were all asleep in their
bunks. Ten minutes later, I joined them.
	And so ended my first day on my first assignment.

				*  *  *

	It was six days later that I met Officer third class Glyga J'nas.
I was there as he stepped off the Ginken transport, looking completely
disgusted. He was there to replace our previous unit commander, Mohkan
Vrell, whose Battlepod was found in smoking bits two days before while he
was on another one of Hurk's training excercises. None of us would miss
Mohkan, he was incompetent, but at least he pretty much left us alone.
	Glyga's hard gaze traveled across the bay, and came to a rest
upon Lord Tul. "Officer third class Glyga J'nas, reporting as ordered...
sir."
	Tul frowned deeply. "Mmmm.. yes. Welcome to the Harduin garrison."
Tul looked around the bay. "Are any of you from the 4490WNE regiment
[translation note: the most common term for the unit reffered to here is
'team', as in a team of Battlepods. However, t he literal translation of
the Zentraedi term is closer to 'regiment']?" he asked. 
	Typical. I had to be the only one there. I stepped up to Tul and
saluted him. "M'lord. Soldier fourth class Muer Tai of the 4490WNE
regiment."
	Tul spoke to me, but looked at Glyga. "Soldier, show your new
commander to his quarters."
	"Yes m'lord. Sir, if you'll follow me." I really didn't want to
have this 'honor', but I also didn't want to slip up in front of the two
people who could make my life a 'living hell', so to speak.
	"Very well." Glyga said, looking me over. He turned to Tul. "If I
have your leave... m'lord."
	Tul nodded. One did not need to look too deeply to tell that these
two apparently had some history. And from what I had seen, it wasn't a
good one. 

					*  *  *

	"So what does this regiment have in way of mecha?" Glyga asked. We
had just exited the launch bay, and were en route to the underground
tunnel linking the main complex to our barracks.
	"Twenty Regult Battlepods, four with a light artillery
configuration. The commanders pod.. that is, your pod, has a heavy
artillery configuration."
	Glyga had stopped suddenly. He was glaring at me.
	"That's no way for me to command a regiment! In a Heavy Artillery
pod? The thing runs at half the speed of the majority of the unit! I
should have a Glaug, or at least a standard Regult! Whose asinine [rt]
idea was this?" Glyga was furious, and I was the only one around for him 
to yell at. Typical Muer Tai luck.
	"I believe Commander Hurk is responsible for mecha assignment,
m'lord." I said, trying to sound as deferential as possible.
	Glyga gazed at me intently. I felt like I was being appraised,
judged in some manner. I stood at ease, looking as impassive as I could
manage. I hoped Glyga wouldn't find anything unusual about me. In the
Zentraedi Armada, being noticed was usually a bad thing.
	"Hurk, eh? Competent man?" he finally asked.
	Great. Hurk was most definitely not competent, but by saying that
I could be tried and possibly executed for treason. But by not answering
Glygas' question, I could suffer the same fate for insubordination. And
lying to my new commander would not be part particularily healthly either.
	"Commander Hurk is... highly particular." I said, hoping that he
would get the meaning, without bringing me up on charges.
	Glyga frowned. "I see." He glanced at me. "Now, take me to the
unit I am to command." His tone of voice brooked no argument.
	"Yes, m'lord, but do you not wish to see your quarters first?" That
was what I was ordered to do, after all.
	"Bah. I can find my way around this dump. I want to rattle a few
cages [rt] first."
	"Yes, m'lord, but Commander Tul specifically ordered me.. "
	"Don't worry about Tul." Glygas' eyes narrowed. "I'll handle him." 

					*  *  *

	"Glyga, damn you [rt], where are you?!?" bellowed Hurks' furious
voice over my Battlepods' radio. So much for 'strict radio silence'.
	"Coordinates 420.12 by 324.54, as ordered, m'lord." came Glygas'
calm reply. 
	"Where? I don't see you."
	I rolled my eyes, despite myself. Wasn't that the whole point of
the exercise? Glyga was an impressive commander, even though his methods
were harsh. In the past week, he had managed to whip our regiment into an
efficient fighting unit, by far the best on Harduin. This, despite
constant interference by Tul and Hurk. Hurk was, to borrow a human term,
'sucking up' to Tul by making life hard for Glyga.
	"Would you like us to emerge from concealment, sir?"
	"Yes, damn you, show yourselves." I hoped I'd never have to go into
battle under that idiots' command.
	"4490WNE regiment, emerge from concealment." Glyga ordered with
patent disdain. I smiled as I thought of the look of Hurks' face as twenty
Battlepods emerged all around his 'elite' regiment in an optimal attack
position. Myself, I had both my PB-10 gatlings  trained on a Light
Artillery Pods' hind quarters, a sure-kill area.
	"Is this satisfactory, Lord Hurk?" Somehow, Glyga kept any hint of
amusement out of his voice. I let out a small laugh, my radio being in
receive only-mode.
	There was no reply.

					*  *  *

	It was exactly four months and two days from when I arrived on
Harduin to the day when an Invid invasion fleet defolded on the outer
reaches of the system. 

					*  *  *

	"All pilots report to your Battlepods, all pilots report to your
Battlepods... "
	Jaren and I traded looks. Neither of us had been in actual combat
before. We were about to turn and run for the launch bay when there was
another announcement.
	"Members of the 4490WNE Regiment, report to Commander Hurk for
special reassignment." Our regiment.
	"'Reassignment'? Now?" Jaren chuckled "Maybe we're being transferred
to Ginken." 

					*  *  *

	"The Invid have found us." Hurk was saying "We have a fair estimate
of their size, but they are jamming our communications. We cannot relay
this information to Ginken."
	Communications jamming was not a typical Invid tactic. They
weren't particularily adept at it, but a fleet was more than capable of
disrupting the garrisons' equipment.
	"We need you to travel to the Ginken garrison and relay this
information to them."
	We all looked at each other incredulously. Had Hurk gone mad?
	"Sir, there are no fold-capable ships on Harduin. How are we
supposed to get to Ginken in our lifetimes?" asked Cornis Trelg. Cornis
was a loose acquaintance of mine at the time. Jaren, however, despised him
for reasons I never did understand.
	"Three of you will pilot this." With that, Hurk turned and walked
into a bay none of us had ever entered before. Confused, we followed him.
And there sat strangest looking ship I had ever seen.
	"That's a Garudan design." Jaren whispered to me. "From that
freighter three months ago, no doubt."
	It was a micronian ship, Garudan, if Jaren was right. The forward
section did indeed resemble a Garudan shuttlecraft, but the aft section
was completely unfamiliar to me. Its markings were consistent with the
rest of the ship.
	"This ship was ... recovered ... four months ago. A crew of three
micronized Zentraedi will fold it to Ginken."
	Fold? We were all floored what Hurk was telling us. Such a small
ship.... could it indeed be fold-capable? And how would the Garudans, of
all people, acquire this technology?
	"Officer third class Glyga will lead the micronized team." Hurk
said with a hint of smugness. You must remember that going into battle in
service of the Masters was the greatest honor a Zentraedi could receive.
Being assigned to crew a barely-armed alien ship whose mission was not 
to engage the enemy but to run away to safety was an extreme insult, 
especially to a regiment commander. It implied that he was worthless, and 
his unit would get by better without him. I half expected Glyga to 
physically attack Hurk on the spot, but he remained 
astonishingly impassive.
	"The remaining crew will be decided on a volunteer basis."
	Now there was a stupid idea. Who in their right mind would
volunteer for such a mission?
	Jaren stepped forward and saluted. "M'lord, I volunteer to crew
the ship."
	I gaped openly at Jaren. What was he thinking? He must have had
some good reason for doing this, so I figured I had better come along, if
only to find out what it was.
	"M'lord, I also volunteer." I looked at Jaren, and he nodded
approvingly. What was he up to?
	Hurk frowned. "Very well, if that is your wish. Report to the
micronization chamber immediately." Hopefully the Invid wouldn't attack
until the process was complete.... 

					*  *  *

	"I don't know why I volunteered. It was just something I felt I had
to do." Jaren was saying. I frowned. There was clearly more to it than
that, but this was not the time to press him for details. "In any case,
I'm glad you decided to come along."
	We were aboard the Garudan ship, micronized. I sat in the gun
well, trying to figure out the primitive controls. Jaren was looking over
the flight controls, while Glyga was puzzling out the fold systems. The
Invid were apparently concerning themselves with re-forming their fleet
for another jump. However, three of their Sheldor troop carriers had
detached and were headed in our general direction at a fairly leisurely
pace. Glyga had said that since our communications were jammed, there was
little need for the Invid to eliminate us right away.
	"I'd much rather go into battle in my Battlepod, you know. The
things you get me into..."
	Jaren laughed. "You can thank me later, Muer."
	Glyga, seated to the right of Jaren, turned to me. "Do you think
you can work those weapons?"
	They were pretty primitive. On the top was a turrent which fired a
constant stream of projectiles of a somewhat higher caliber than on a
Zentraedi AC-L. There were also two missile tubes of unknown
effectiveness. The controls themselves were simple enough, though.
	"Yes sir, though I have my doubts as to their effectiveness."
	"Yes, well, do your best." He turned to Jaren. "Can you fly this
thing?"
	"Yes sir. The controls are fairly standardized."
	"Good. I think I've gotten this fold drive worked out. We should
wait until we're past the orbit of the sixth moon before we..."
	Hurks voice came over the crafts' primitive radio. "Are you
prepared?"
	"Yes, m'lord." Glyga responded. "We can launch any time."
	"Launch immediately. The remainder of your regiment will escort you
to 12,000 km [rt] above the moons' surface, where you will execute your
fold. Understood?"
	Glyga shook his head. They were too close to the gas giant for a
safe fold. But there was no point in arguing with Hurk.
	"Yes, commander. We understand."
	"Good. the 4270WNF and 2581WND regiments will engage the enemy to
cover your escape." Hurk was apparently enjoying 'rubbing in' the fact
that we would be fleeing while he would be engaging the enemy in glorious
combat.
	Glyga frowned, but responded. "Understood, m'lord. Beginning
launch procedures." Glyga hit the kill switch, then turned to Jaren. "Lift
off. Get us out of here."
	"Yes sir." Jaren grasped a large lever on his right which was lying
on the floor, facing forward. He pulled it swiftly to a vertical position.
I could hear the four thruster ports on the outside of the ship swivel,
their nozzles coming to a liftoff posit ion. I watched as he powered up
the ships' engines. The strange craft began to shudder as a deep roar
built up behind me. Jaren pulled back on what was apparently the throttle,
and the ship lifted off, gaining altitude smoothly. He pushed the thruster
 positioning lever forward while slowly bringing the main engines up.
Soon, we were flying forward, and gaining altitude rapidly. It was an
incredibly smooth liftoff, especially for a pilot who had supposedly never
flown this type of ship before.
	"We're at an altitude of 25 kilometers [rt]. Stand down from
liftoff positions."
	"Yes sir." I said. I unlocked the gun well, testing the turrent to
insure no damage had been incurred during liftoff.
	"Arm weapons. We're due to link up with the remainder of the
regiment in roughly three minutes [rt]. At last report we shouldn't
encounter any Invid during our... mission, but stay sharp." Glyga was
obviously still uncomfortable with the nature of our mission, but he
still kept his professionalism. In fact, I would say he was being
downright civil.
	I armed the ships' autocannon and missiles, and checked the sensor
display on my right. It showed 17 pods directly ahead, no doubt the
remainder of our regiment. There was also an unfamiliar board on my left,
which I could not identify the function of. 

					*  *  *

	Approximately five minutes later we had rendezvoused with the
remainder of our regiment. The pods had taken up a defensive formation
around us. Five of them remained near the ship, while the remainder flew
loose escort. I really had very little to do except double-check sensor
readings. The Invid were closing more quickly than anticipated, but we
would still make it to our jump-point before they could catch us. I was
growing increasingly aware that this gun well had been designed for
someone a lot smaller than myself and was really quite uncomfortable, when
one of the Invid troop carriers vanished from the screen.
	I didn't even have time to wonder what was going on before it
reappeared... about six kilometers behind us.
	"Damn!! Increase thrust! All Battlepods, prepare for enemy attack!"
Glyga had suddenly become animated, the prospect of imminent battle
clearly working on him.
	I felt the craft lurch forward slightly as Jaren pushed the
oversized engines to their limits. As I swung the turrent around to face
the new threat, I caught a glimpse of the sensor display. Most of our
escorts were behind us now, that being the area of greatest threat. But
what disturbed me most was that the paint created by the Invid carrier was
growing.
	It was launching mecha.

					*  *  *

	"At this rate, they'll catch us well before we reach the designated
jump-point. Increase speed to maximum. We're breaking formation." Glyga
was somewhat less energetic than before. Certain defeat had that effect on
a Zentraedi.
	The ship lurched forward again as we began outpacing the
surrounding Battlepods.
	"That's better. We might actually make it."
	I am now aware of Murphy's Law, and the notion that everything
that can go wrong will go wrong. I don't know if I put much faith in them.
However, upon reviewing my life, I can see how people came up with them.
	Which is why I should not have been surprised when a second Invid
carrier appeared a mere 2 kilometers in front of us.
	Jaren uttered a Zentraedi curse, and somehow managed to avoid
slamming into the ship. Its mecha bays opened, and suddenly we were
surrounded by Invid Iigaa scout ships. Conventional wisdom would say we
shouldn't have lasted three seconds. But, while almost all our escorts
were wiped out, we somehow survived.
	The story of my life.
	I was firing wildly, usually connecting but rarely destroying
anything. I thumbed off two missiles, creating a small opening that Jaren
took advantage of. Then the ship shook violently as we took a hit in the
port side.
	"The fold drive's not engaging!!" Glyga shouted. "I don't know
what's wrong!"
	I remember thinking something along the lines of 'Well, we're
dead'. Then the ship was hit again, and I was showered with sparks. When I
uncovered my eyes, I saw that the gun turrent was destroyed and missile
tubes were disabled. I told as much to Glyga, but he didn't acknowledge.
	Well, I didn't want to go out like that. Then I turned my gaze to
the panel on my left. What did I have to lose? I started fiddling with
controls...
	There was a tremendous flash of light inside the craft, then all
the lighting went out, to be replaced by dim red illumination.
	But even more miraculous, the Invid had stopped firing. Jaren and
Glyga looked at each other, then looked at me.
	"What did you do?" Glyga demanded.
	All I could do was shrug and look stupid. 

					*  *  *

	"Sensors have been shut down. Communications are offline.  Engines,
weapons, practically everything is offline or on standby. Prior to...
whatever happened happened... we jettisoned a large quantity of.. of
debris." Jaren said. "For some reason, the Invid have lost track of us. I
simply cannot understand it."
	Glyga, who was trying to puzzle out what was wrong with the fold
drives, simply grunted. He had the control panel opened and was peeking
inside. I'm sure he felt that all this was fascinating, but right now we
had a mission to perform.
	Meanwhile, I was having no luck figuring out what I had done,
although I certainly wasn't going to try and undo it. It was all very
puzzling. What was this ship? Where did it come from? Who possessed this
technology? This could tip the balance of power in the entire quadrant!
Assuming we survived.
	Glyga had his head stuck inside the panel now. I heard him say
"Perhaps these two wires...".
	And suddenly we were folding... 

					*  *  *

	"And you have no idea where this ship came from?" Commander Tinaras
Ful'den had his arms folded across his chest and was staring at us in a
rather hostile manner.
	Commander Tinaras was the commander of Ginken garrison. Upon
defold, we managed to deactivate the 'invisibility device', or whatever it
was, and communicate our identity to the garrison. We landed under close
guard and were immediately whisked to Tinaras for debriefing. We hadn't 
even been returned to full size.
	"No sir." Glyga answered. "Commander Tul never mentioned where he
got the ship. However, Commander Hurk did indicate it was 'recovered' four
months ago."
	"'Recovered', hm? And what of this 'Invid Fleet'? Why did the
Harduin garrison not contact us directly, instead of... this?"
	"The Invid had jammed the garrisons' communication array. Strategic
data on the Invid fleet is contained in the ships' computer."
	Tinaras nodded, then looked at Jaren and myself. "Do you two have
anything to add?"
	"No sir." we replied in unison.
	"Very well. Report to the resizing chamber at once. We'll conduct a
further debriefing once you've returned to normal size."
	"Yes, m'lord." 

					*  *  *

	The remainder of the story is fairly routine. We were returned to
full size and subject to two days of constant debriefings, none much more
productive than the first. The Invid fleet was intercepted by a Zentraedi
fleet of much greater strength and completely obliterated. At least after
that, we were treated as Zentraedi warriors once more, instead of possible
hajoca. Eventually we returned to a relatively normal life, as normal as
is possible in the Zentraedi Armada. We were ordered not to divulge anything
 about the 'Harduin incident' by High Command. It was also decided that
we would share all our future assignments, to minimize the damage should
we decide to talk.
	Little did I know that that ship, and the two people who had flown
it with me, would have a profound impact on the course of my life. I would
discover things that would shake the foundations of all I believed in as a
Zentraedi warrior, and even affect the course of the Robotech War. But I
am getting ahead of myself. I am tired, so I will call an end to this
chapter, and start the next one tomorrow. 

					*  *  *

- TO BE CONTINUED...