Okay, I waded through *all* of Bentley's tremendously long post, editing
for spelling, grammar, and the occasional continuity oops. (Panda? That
beam was *not* telepathic ;) If you want the unedited version, ask for
it from Bentley. This is the official version; it passed "inspection". ;)
-----
The Poker Game part 2
"Time to go to bed." A voice murmured from the kitchen. The blue
glare from the computer screen in the dining room threw a blue haze over
Robert Bentley's face as he typed away on his little story. He blinked for
a moment, and his eyes turned away from the screen in front of him towards
his mother who was turning off the kitchen lights. She locked the front
door and padded across the kitchen floor towards the living room. "See you
in the morning," she yawned.
"I'll be up in a sec," he replied and finished off the sentence.
He rubbed his fingers together for warmth and didn't even look up at what
the thermostat was turned to. He wagered sixty since he was already
freezing. He was the one wearing the t-shirt and jeans in the middle of the
winter. Wear warmer clothes my ass, he thought. He leaned back, to the left
in the chair and listened while his mother went upstairs. He frowned and
looked into the living room, or at least what he could see of the living
room. The only light was on little hutch next to his father comfy chair. He
nodded inwardly, he's out with Cornwell and co. His brother had the night
off and was driving around town somewhere.
Bentley put his elbows on the computer desk, his head into the
palms of his hands and thought. "So where does she go from here," he
murmured. To earth, he thought. He sighed, not yet. Too soon, he thought,
not until she finds out what's in storage. He slowly began typing up a
scene involving her and some of her friends when something caught his eye.
He continued to type, letting his hazel eyes dart away from the screen and
watch quietly. He started the next paragraph; his fingers missed a few
keys--backspace backspace backspace. He blinked a few times and shook his
head. He eyed the picture of her on the computer desk in front of him and
smirked. "You're something I wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley." He
muttered.
"I am?"
His finger hit one key and his eyes looked up at the sound of the
voice. Something was staring at him, just inside the hallway between the
living room and the dining room. The light in the living room had been
turned off, and he hadn't even noticed it. The something was keeping out
range of the light in the dining room. Golden eyes smiled back at him. He
swallowed hard. "Who.."
A white toothed smile formed just below the eyes. The eyes and the
smile were just above the thermostat. Something moved below them, a tail?
Shorter than me, he thought and looked straight at the light in front of
the something. A figure formed while he stared at the light and not at it.
A cat like figure, just like the one on....
"You don't scare easily," a purr came from the shadows.
"How did you get here?" He didn't get up, he didn't need to.
"Easy, through your window; you left it locked. You really should
clean that place up. I nearly broke my neck." The figure leaned a little
forward, placed a hand on the long necked white lamp in front of her for
support as she leaned. Sapphire smiled at him and took a look at the
screen. "What're you writing?"
"What do you think?" Bentley asked, his left pinkie finger hovered
over the ESC key. He was still used to people not looking at his work and
still too used to Appleworks on the Apple IIGS that collected cobwebs on
his desk in his room.
Sapphire hesitated, and ventured a guess. "My story?" Her eyes lit
up at the idea.
"Forbidden Ops, yes."
"Lemme see...." she had entered the room completely now and at
that point Bentley's right hand went over to the mouse and minimized
the story. She sighed. "You're no fun, you know that?"
Bentley smiled. "Something you wanted to asked me?"
Sapphire took a seat and nodded. "Was wondering if you could deal
without me for a few hours, there's another poker game coming up. Some
friends and I wanted to get together."
Bentley nodded to her surprise. "I didn't create you, you know.
You did that yourself. Although my drawings are much cruder than what you
look like in real life. You are you own person."
"You keep saying that." She had one of his drawings in her paws
already. He reached out to snatch it away, but her eyes met his and his
hand retreated. Her whiskers twitched while she looked at it. "Just need
some help on chest area."
Bentley dipped his head and groaned slightly. "It's not at bad as
Chabot's drawings, o.k..."
"That was a compliment."
"I know."
"Uh huh."
"So who's going to the game?" He got up and went into the kitchen
to grab a drink of water.
"A few people. Why?" Sapphire watched him chug down an entire
glass and waited for him to turn around. "You plan on tailing me?"
"Nope."
"Why's that?"
Because you're a figment of my imagination...well some of you
anyway, he thought. "I've got an 8 o'clock class tomorrow," he replied
instead.
"You really need to get a life, you know that?"
"You sound like my mom," he said as he sat back down and looked her
over. "Didn't know you were into spandex."
"This is what I usually hit the sack in, you like?" She stood up
and turned all the way around and sat back down again.
"Thought you went to bed nakid." He smirked and leaned back so he
couldn't get hit.
"You think I would show up here, nakid?" She mimicked perfectly.
She bapped his playfully as his eyes wondered and an imaged formed in his
mind. "Stop that, save that for later."
"Ah yes, the scene between you and..." he voiced trailed off and
laughed.
"Who?"
"I thought you had a poker game to go to, hrmmm?"
"Write faster."
"Pass all my classes for me."
Sapphire got up from her seat and laughed. "You need to do that
all by yourself. Like what you did with the beard by the way." She looked
at the picture he had done of her. He nodded and she placed it gently into
her duffel bag.
Bentley rubbed his red curly beard smiled. "Thanks. Win some for
me, eh?"
"Don't wait up," she replied and stepped back into the shadows and
was gone.
Bentley blinked. He looked up at the screen, saved the story, and
waited. It saved and he proceeded to shut down the computer. He donned
his black leather jacket from the hall closet and walked out the front
door. Stepping off the porch and into the night air, he took a deep breath
and yawned. He walked in between 89 Taurus and the 89 Chrysler and walked
into the middle of the circle. The light attached to the telephone post
between his house and neighbors house hummed quietly while the world around
him slept, or at least the east coast. He looked up at the stars and
looked towards Seco or at least where it would be in forty-two years.
"You know the one thing I hate about being stranded in the past?
People from the future drop in on you without giving any warning." He
watched the crescent moon rotate on its axis. "She's getting better at it,
she's learning too much from you."
"I taught her nothing," a breather hissed from behind him, probably
on one of the cars or even on top of telephone post.
Bentley snorted. "What is this out of character, she comes and asks
me if it's o.k. to go to a poker game?"
"It usually a good sign of character if one's student asks a
teacher for permission to go somewhere."
"I'm not her teacher." Bentley muttered.
"You're sure about that?"
Bentley turned and looked. She was gone too. He sighed and looked
once more at the stars. "I'm really starting to hate this job."
Fin.
Well the ending was weird but hey, it's 11 pm at night; you expect
me to come up with a swish bang ending?
Sapphire: (munching on popcorn) What's this teacher stuff anyway?
Captain: You'll ruin it, let it play out.
Brett: So he's typing away on the computer in the past, he's stuck
there and needs to get back? *rustling of paper* When does this happen?
Bentley: Hey quiet down back there, some people are trying to read!
Aaron: Well this little ditty made no sense at all.
Zodiak, dressed it a 3 piece suit: *Ahem.* We'd like to comment on
how this writer is directly infringing on something our writer has already
made a fad. Unless said writer ceases immediately we will have to sue the
livin *censored* out of ya.
Allegra: You tell 'em!
Rob: Not nice to copy other peoples' stuff, Bents.
Bentley: Sowwies. O.k. fine, everybody out of the movie theater!
Out, out, get out!
Virgo: Aaron was right, this spam made no sense at all.
Bentley: Well it was either that or a take a space gopher hostage
for some C+C. Which was nicely done by the way.
Rob: Thank you.
Bentley: I need to kill some time before I hit the sack. Which I
should be in now.
Sapphire: Then go to sleep.
Bentley: Yes ma'am. Goodnight everybody.
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
-----
Editor's note: Editorial license taken. Excerpt unhentaified. (no
hentai round robins here, nope... 8)
-----
Bentley mulled over the invitation. His hot chocolate cooled off
while his eyes read over the invitation once more. The rest of the Rhode
Island College Coffee Ground went about their business, people worked on
their algebra homework, made plans for keg parties and wrought the only
occasional dumping of said girl friend or boy friend. The atmosphere for
this little hang out on campus was cheery, considering it was nine o'clock
on a Monday. He had no classes today, so technically he could have easily
passed all of classes and come off with an MA or a BA in computer science
or something. But he didn't. He didn't need to; he and the other five
Riders trapped in the past would be leaving soon. He didn't need more
worries.
One worry was this invite. From Japan? Bentley took a sip through
the red coffee stir and jumped a little once the liquid nearly burned his
tongue. He wiped his beard off with a napkin and made a slight face. It
might be fun, he hadn't played cards before he need some help, Saf was
going to be there. A smirk formed for a moment and he chuckled.
"And what's so funny?" A female voice asked from next to him.
He turned his head to the right and found Pam leaning over his
shoulder, actually he bumped right into her chest.
"Well someone's happy to see me," she smiled and nudged him
playfully. The sandy brunette psychology major straightened out her extra
large green sweater and adjusted her glasses. "Whatcha reading?"
"An invitation." Bentley settled back into his seat and tried to
think of something else besides Pam. "To a poker game of sorts it appears."
"You going?" She pulled up a chair and straddled it. "There money
involved?"
"I guess, never been really good at cards." Bentley eyed the
location. A zoo?
"Oh sure, blowing up evil chicken tenders is easy but cards is
hard?" Pam whipped the invite away from him and read it slowly. "Japan?
Never been there yet. Sounds like fun, is anyone else going?"
"Saf, that's all I know at the moment."
"That cute little blue tigress of yours eh?"
"She's not cute and she's not mine."
"Aaron's then?"
Bentley hesitated at opening his mouth. DarkWind was another
problem entirely. "Sorta, I think."
"Sorta?" Pam looked at him from behind her glasses. She crossed
her arms over her chest and Bentley's eyes looked back up at her face with
a very sly smile. "Says here you leave in a few days, I can give you a
crash course by then." She got up and handed the invite back to him. She
leaned down so she was face to face with him. "And Bent, no strip poker k?"
Bentley opened his mouth to say something but just smiled. "You're
no fun, you know that?"
She grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm barrels of fun,
just need to find the right barrels." She turned and walked towards the
door.
Bentley sighed and waved. "I'm not even going touch that one," he
muttered.
Sapphire slid silently onto the ground from the tree she had been
perched in for most of the day. Her tanning lotion bounced around in her
duffel bag while she stretched, her claws came out and then went back in
again. She turned slightly at the sight of movement and saw what it was.
DarkWind was practicing jumping from one tree to another and even trying to
scale the walls of Bentley Priory. The scaling he still needed to work on
but the "bouncing" as she called it from one tree to another was definitely
his forte. At least this time he had left Aaron's spatula on the ground.
The large dark shape scared the birds from the trees and sometimes the
tourists to the castle. But most of the public had gotten used to seeing
the two of them either sun bathing or resting around the castle grounds. At
least the English didn't scare as easily as the Americans.
She cracked her knuckles and looked at her watch. A few more days
till the game, and she had even gotten an invite from Panda to come. I
wonder how he got my address, she thought. She was about to join DarkWind
in a game of tag when she noticed her shorts and tank top on the limbs of
the tree above her. One set of claws were already extended before she even
finished her thought of going up there. She giggled and decided not to, and
with a silent thought she resembled a four legged blue tigress. She enjoyed
this form, one that she rarely used but enjoyed much more due to the fact
she could run, climb and pounce without getting of her clothes or equipment
wrecked. One quick bat of the tree with her tail however, and the clothes
were tucked away. There were some lines even she would not cross.
She bounded up the grassy hill, scaring away four to five pairs of
adults while their children just watch and giggled at the big blue cat
while she arced her head to see where her mate was headed for. She wanted
to surprise him.
Her rather large claws now sank into the tree's bark and she
climbed her way up the rather tall tree. By the time she reached the higher
branches she had reverted back to her original form and waited. The
whistling of the wind blew through the trees and her nice thick fur while a
rather large dark shadow started to swing right towards her.
Raft Bentley watched the two aliens play around the castle and
smiled at how much more tourists there were today. His wife had retired
from the morning tours of the castle and was reading a Dean Koontz novel in
one of the many converted luncheon areas of the Castle. "We should have
thought of this a long time ago," he murmured.
"The others wouldn't have liked it. Bad enough we're sitting on a
freezer ship," his wife turned a page. They were both into their mid-
sixties and were both thinking of retiring and letting their children run
the castle while they went on a nice long holiday, away from England, the
castle and these aliens who seemed to be popping up all over the place. "I
think I got a letter from one of the Kasarian Sects, they wanted to know
weather or not Sapphire and Dark were staying."
Raft turned from the window and stuffed his hands in his pants
pockets. "Was it an inquiry or a demand?"
"A simple note, I think they're tired of hiding."
"You think we may get more of them?" Raft almost smiled. He was
enjoying the company of the young pair. They were both able bodied and
strong, especially DarkWind. "When did you get the note?"
"About two days ago, I didn't know what you wanted to do. It seems
we're getting a second family, again." She smiled and looked up from the
book. "I can take that as a yes then?"
"And an invitation to visit."
"You think she knows?"
"About?" He turned back to see Sapphire climbing a tree, and his
eyes caught movement. DarkWind was heading for her, or was it the other way
around?
"About him and what he is?"
Raft tilted his head down to the plaque that was in the middle of
the castle garden, the newly replaced plaque. The one plaque that did not
belong. "I don't think she does."
"Should we tell her? I mean, we're sitting on what could be a
powder keg. What if something happens?"
"Then he'll show up, he always does. I wonder if he knows what he
is?"
Sapphire went down on all fours and waited as the shadow got bigger
and bigger, her tail wrapped around her thigh and her claws retracted back
into her paws. She could hear him now, huffing and puffing. She smiled like
a Cheshire cat and waited until she could see the whites of his eyes
and....
"Hey sweetums!"
DarkWind snapped his head up as a rather large blue object fell on
him from above. He bearly let out a yell when the special effects man woke
up and decided to add a very large:
POUNCE!
Sapphire purred quietly on top of DarkWind. They had both landed on
one of the larger tree limbs. "Now that was easy, wasn't it." She smiled.
"I almost had my last record beat and you decide to place Jane of
the Jungle," DarkWind stopped and looked at her. "Um, today isn't....."
His voice trailed off as Sapphire's tail nudged him playfully. He quickly
and nervously noted that look in her eyes, and her purring, loud enough to
wake the dead.
"Yep, Happy Valentines Day." She kissed him gently and sat back for
a moment. "Where's my present."
"Um...."
"No present, hmmm...guess that means I'll have to tickle it out of
you."
"No no no. It's around here somewhere." DarkWind gulped. "Can we
just get down to the ground, maybe I can find it down there."
"But you'll run away from me then."
Took the words right out of my mouth, he thought. "No I won't."
Sapphire nodded and pressed against him, this time so she was nose
to nose with him. "You are not leaving this tree till I get a present."
DarkWind turned to the audience and held up a wooden sign with big
black lettering which said: HEEEEELLLPPPPPP!
Fin.
Pam: The plot thickens?
Sapphire: Would appear so. (looks over plot again) What's this I'm
dating two people?? @_@
Pam: Bents is getting weird on us, where is he?
DarkWind (whews): I think he did just fine. (looks at Sapphire who
is glaring daggers at him) Um...you're right he could have done better.
Panda: So bring on the poker game already.
Bentley: I'm getting to it. :)
Sapphire: Hey where's your mom Bents?
Bentley: She went to Seattle to see my dad for a few days.
Pam: Party over Bentley house! Wa-ho!
Bentley: (erks) That's it for now kiddies, who else is in this game
sides, Sapphire, me, Fozzy and Panda?
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
The Gathering......
'Still no invite. Hm. Then again not many mail services have access
to interdimensional portal spawners.' He wandered over to his terminal and
activated it, typed in a rapid series of commands. 'Perhaps a good old-
fashioned party crashing is in order...'
A skinny man in a blue pin stripped suit faded into existence
behind Mike. He reached into his jacket removing a Cuban cigar, then dug
an ivory inlaid lighter with the letters 'B.B.' engraved on the side.
Snapped the lighter open with a flick of his wrist while biting the end off
the cigar, and lit it. "Who needs an invite?" He said with a sinister
undertone, then faded out leaving a think hue of cigar smoke where he
stood.
Mike looked at the dissipating smoke. 'Why do I let every Joe and
Jane with a spawner, teleporting abilities, and other do-dads simply drop
by? Especially badly dressed ones who prefer Tekken 2 over Virtua Fighter
2.' He pressed a small red button on the underside of his desk. 'Next
person who drops by uninvited is gonna get a *nasty* surprise.'
A shadow rose from behind the desk, solidified into the form of
the Neoculture Wraith. "I take it then that floating up instead of
dropping by is acceptable?"
Michael's body jumped slightly, and in doing so caused him to let
go of the button. A trapdoor opened above Neo's head and a large safe
containing Michael's Sailor Moon Video Tape and Memorabilia Collection
fell upon the Wraith.
Or, rather, *through* the Wraith.
Neo looked around, a little surprised. "Quite a draft you have in
here. You really *should* get this room insulated."
A little dismayed by the failure of his crude - but usually
effective - trap, Mike reached into a tiny drawer - and pulled out an evil
looking 8 meter gun.
"EAT PSIONIC PLASMA, EVIL WRAITH-THINGIE!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!"
"Evil is a relative concept," decried the Wraith as plasma bolts
punched holes through the fabric of its self. "What is Evil to you might
be perfectly OK by me - who is to... I say, would you *please* put that
gun down? First of all, there is only four meters between the two of us
and I just *cannot* understand how you are managing to fire an 8 meter-long
gun at me. Second of all... It tickles."
As Mike's finger began to depress the trigger of his Psionic
Plasma gun again, a bright blue flash blinded him momentarily. As his eyes
adjusted, and his vision returned, he saw four midnight-black metallic
cyborgs surrounding him in stoic silence. Before he could raise the gun
again to fire on them, one of the cyborgs emitted a piercing whistle, and
reached over with a lightning motion to remove the gun from his grasp. The
Wraith displayed a sinister grin and then descended into the floor whence
he came. Four black-metallic cybernetic beings regarded Mike with a cold
scrutiny. One of them leaned closer, its eyes appearing as twin beams of
blue energy that suddenly flared a crimson red. . .
Neoculture <aubry.thonon@qed.qld.gov.au>
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
"Matt V. Playle" <ue921@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
askuse@execulink.com
"We didn't expect so many to gather for this," a voice commented as
the scene played out. "You of all people should know what this might mean."
Captain turned slightly from the 3-D monitor and snorted softly.
"The gathering for this type of game is not something you should concern
yourselves with. The group of races aren't even close to assembling."
"What would you know about that?" Another voice asked from thin
air. The room she was in hadn't been used in years, no one would even
walking in on her conversion with her companions. It was a rather large
room, one large window that looked out upon the city. All the power to the
room had been shut down by her in another life. "You haven't been checking
in with us as often as some of us had planned. What have you been up to?"
"You keep tabs on me all the time, what do you think I've been
doing?" Captain turned around fully now to face the mists that had begun to
surround her, she was with out her outfit or her helmet. Her outfit was in
the next room over, she almost felt naked without them against her skin.
She was what she was and always had been. Her eyes narrowed at the mists of
energy, once beings...now something much worse. "What concerns you more?
My involvement with Hitomi's Dragoons, the Signari team or the Riders?"
"All of them my dear, all of them." One of her companions' life
forces flashed now while he talked. He had been her mentor, the only reason
why the three mists had him was that she had pleaded his case at the time
of his death and now he was something much more powerful then he ever was.
"You have been away from the judging for too long. Your little side trip to
this spec of the universe has taken you away from your clear path."
"My clear path was something I had no say in, this little spec of
the universe as you call it is path, one of many I am currently
transgressing." She turned now to image as it displayed all of the people
attending. "What do they know?"
"They know all that we know, you know the rules of the game. It is
forever equal no one side knows more then they other. But in the case of
your involvement-"
"I'm tipping the scales?"
"Correct."
Her eyes narrowed on Sapphire's and Bentley's images. "He doesn't
know yet?"
"Your powers do not seem to work on him, why is that?" Asked one of
them.
She looked over her shoulder at them for a moment. "There are some
things that will be revealed shortly. Some already know them, others do
not."
"Always with your riddles, why must you do this?" Her mentor asked.
She smiled. "Keeps you on your toes and me five steps ahead of
you."
"And what of them? Do they know?"
"Since you do not, they do not. Quoteth the rules. This might be
interesting to watch from a safe distance."
"Always from the ever concealing shadows, my dear?" Her mentor
smiled, he ignored the glares from the other three beings.
Her expression hardened for a moment and a smile broke the ice.
"Always. Besides they may need some help."
"Help from you would appear to be a double edged sword, my dear.
Make sure you don't cut yourself with it."
She chuckled. "I'm rubbing off on you guys, this is truly sick."
Bents
Bentley: Yes it was rather short and very weird and probably made
no sense. Get used to it. ;)
Captain: I'll bring the chips, who's bringing the liqueur?
Sapphire: I'm brining the toons.
Bentley: And the next installment, I'm getting myself to the game
in all seriousness. Unless people like at how slow a pace this is going....
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Mike was getting extremely angry. "THIS IS GETTING FRICKIN'
ANNOYING!!!"
He pressed a button on his right glove, and the house - and indeed,
everything - faded from view, leaving only the odd, slightly purplish haze
that naturally existed there.
He looked at his four assailants, grinning slightly. A split second
later, he simply vanished.
The cyborgs look around frantically, trying to find their target.
"Ahem. Behind you."
The cyborgs turned and looked up. *Way* up.
There stood.... the Macross.
<Everyone on the ML: "A bit excessive, don't'cha think?"
Mike: "Hey, it's my reality, I can do what I want. So :p ">
After reducing the cyborgs to free-floating particles, he dissolved
the Macross replica and pondered how to improve security. 'Is it so much to
ask that people knock first?'
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
Neo continued to sink through several layers of reality, returning
to the Central Office. Re-materializing near a very short Asian female, it
tapped her on the shoulder, having to bend down to reach it. "Yeah? Oh,
it's you again."
"Hello Nina," said the Wraith, solidifying into its alter-ego.
"How are things at ground zero?"
"I thought we'd agreed - no more 'Short' jokes." rebuked Nina,
throwing a pile of paperwork at Neo.
"Hey, hey. OK, no prob. As of now, no more short jokes. Only
long and elaborate ones."
Nina hissed something not quite understandable. 'I came in to see
how They were doing."
"Not much. Their Author has decided to go on a holiday for a
while. The only ones that don't seem to be affected by this are Thallin
and his pet AI. I swear that girl gives me the creeps."
"I'll be sure to tell Thallin next time I see him." smiled Neo.
"Don't you dare! One wrong look at Thallin and Izabelle'd have my
hide."
"Life's tough when you get the short end of the stick." Neo looked
through some folders, trying to find the info he was searching for. "You
wouldn't happen to have seen file PGF960216, would you?"
Nina smiled. "Seen it and hid it. You're trying to cheat again,
are you? You *know* you're not allowed to look at F-History files when you
are involved in the Event. It's against the rules."
"I'll cut you in on the kill." Neo winked at her.
"No go, Neo."
"What would it take to see that file."
Nina looked at Neo for a moment. "Dinner. Movie. Coffee. Sex.
Not necessarily in that order."
"No deal, Neen."
"Didn't think so."
Neo got up and kissed Nina lightly on the forehead. "Well, gotta
go. Oh and I need-"
"-an Authorization for Personal Event Appearance. I filed one for
you three months ago, my time."
"You're a gem, you know that?"
"Yeah. Made of carbon and kept under pressure. That's me all
right. Neo?"
"Mmh?"
"Don't forget to re-align your D-field. Last thing you want is to
Wraith-out while in the middle of *that* bunch."
Neo laughed, Wraithed-in and sank through the floor. "See you in
the Timestream."
Neoculture <aubry.thonon@qed.qld.gov.au>
Mike stepped out of a portal behind the Captain.
"Look, I don't really understand what's going on here, but I
dislike being watched almost as much as I hate unannounced visitors. Got
it? Fair warning..."
The portal reappeared and he vanished.
"He would appear to like his privacy," her mentor murmured while
she grabbed her outfit from the next room over and started to suit up.
"Have you checked in on the others as of late?"
Captain shook her long locks of hair left to right while she held
her breath. She squeezed her eyes shut as well and reached out with her
hands, looking for her helmet.
"At your feet and to the left."
She smiled a thank you and grabbed the helmet. She bent over as if
trying to comb her long hair, which dropped into the helmet as she aimed
and with a snap and a hiss she let out the deep breath she had been
holding. Arching her back, she took a deep breath. "Much better," the
breather hissed.
"You never were good at holding your breath," he muttered.
The red slits that were her eyes narrowed and she smiled behind
the breathing helmet. She moved her head around to get all the kinks out
and to make sure the connections were secure. "The truly sick part of this
is that I'm getting used to wearing this thing," she tapped a painted nail
on the side of the breather. She felt her horns mesh into the sides of the
breather and the horns that adorned her head now, adorned the sides of the
helmet. Three spikes appeared on the top and the visor appeared soon after
in the up position. She had never asked why this was waiting for her on
Signari Charlie Zimal Nine, she had simply grabbed for it on the carton
that was in front of her and it had fit like a glove. She had been wearing
it ever since. The air it supplied her with came from her homeworld, but
where the breather got this endless supply of air was another mystery.
She felt the metal blades that resided in her elbows twitch as her
body got used to the pure air from the breather. She pulled on her jumpsuit
and zipped it up from the waist, then attached the cords from the
jumpsuit's breather attachment on her back out of old habit. She took a
deep breath and let it out, and the jumpsuit started to conform to her
wishes. The material turned to black leather, the empty shoulder patches
were filled with silver spikes, the elbow blades slid out into place while
she pulled on her metal tipped boots.
"I see your run in with the Lanconia II Huntsman left you with a
few additions." Her mentor looked over the spikes on her shoulders. "Did
he give you anything else?"
"Elbow blades are thicker and stronger, ditto for the claws and my
toes. Breathing the atmosphere on Earth seems to be one of the lesser
abilities he gave me."
"No rifle, this time my dear?"
Captain shook her head and stretched. "Someone's holding it for
me. I'll pick it up when I get there." She headed for the door from there
she would fold back to Earth. "I'll see you in few days."
"Win some for me."
Captain laughed as she concentrated and disappeared.
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
A man sat behind a large oak desk drumming his fingers, frowned at
a monitor displaying the message 'Signal Lost'. "Miss Chamberlin, have my
limo brought around." He said into the intercom.
"Yes sir Mr. B." Her voice was crisp and clear, even the static
from the 'Com couldn't distort it.
He stood up and looked out the immense window in his office, and
the city that was far below. Those cyborgs cost money, and there
destruction caused a serious set back in his plans. He sneered, this
matter would require some personal attention.
"Matt V. Playle" <ue921@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
'China, hm? Gotta pack.'
Mike glanced to his left. Slowly, a small desk appeared in the
purple mist. He walked over to it and pulled out the bottom drawer.
Rummaging through odds and ends, he began taking things out and setting
them on the 'ground'.
'Enhanced portal spawner... I may need to get out of there in a
hurry. Reality sampler... juuuust in case.' He stopped. What if someone
starts some serious trouble? 'Hmmm... these should do nicely.' He reached
deep into the drawer and pulled out three glowing orbs.
After a few minutes, the area was littered with a plethora of
gizmos and other items, far more than it would seem the drawer could hold.
'Now... to fit them into my suitcase...' Depressing a control on his glove,
the items lifted off the ground.. and begin *shrinking*. Soon they were no
longer visible. One by one, the now molecule sized items drifted into a
tiny box affixed to his belt.
'Show time. Now... who's gonna make the most impressive
entrance...?'
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
Silently the half-human, half-fox (all woman) contemplated the
messages on the screen. "Hmm," she said, "so, they're playing another
poker game and *I* wasn't invited. I'm going to have to have a talk with
our mutual friend."
She started packing for the long, long trip ahead of her, muttering
as she placed each item in the large carisak, "Lessee, bowling pins,
grappling hook, Batarang, knockout gas, anime videos, water, cyber-
chocolates, Shurikens, double barreled Gatlin gun, phone..."
"And me," a voice from behind her said.
"What? You, come with me, to a poker game? You'll probably ask
them if they want to play a stupid game like canasta or gin," the fox
sputtered as she checked her munitions pile.
"But I like to play games, provided that there's no swearing
involved," the voice pleaded.
"You are not coming with me and that is final!" the fox shouted at
the voice.
"Okay," it said, vanishing into the air again.
"Honestly," the fox muttered, "of all the psyches in all the brains
in all the world, she has to walk into mine."
With that, the fox hefted the heavy sack on her back as she slunk
out of the room, muttering imprecations about ill-mannered voices and cigar
smoking pandas. As she left, the voice materialized and whispered a soft,
"Good luck..."
A fox-girl carrying a carisak popped up out of the rubble left by
the Macross. "Well, if you paid attention more," she said, trailing her
one razor sharp finger nail down his cheek, "you might have found out all
the people's weaknesses and planned accordingly. Bye, I'm off to find a
Panda."
And she left, leaving Mike staring in ferocity. *Who was she?* he
thought. "BTW," she said, her voice faint with distance, "I'm....
After minutes spent searching and some panda butt-kicking, the fox-
girl, (heretofore known as Foxtrot) found out that it wasn't he who was
responsible for the oversight on her invitation, but some geek named
Bentley with some of his own people inhabiting his reality. "Great," she
said to herself, "Like we really need more alternate realities converging."
She was able to piggyback a ride to the game place by tucking herself into
he back of a black limousine hired by a guy a by the name of "Mr. B".
Soon, she thought, when he makes his entrance, I will make mine too!
Foxtrot the Furryous
XTSEBASTIAN@ccvax.fullerton.edu
As Michael left his home to make his way to the airport, a black
metallic hand amid the rubble strewn about his room, began to stir. The
rubble continued to fall away from the hand, revealing a forearm and then a
shoulder. Set into the forearm was a keypad that flickered and then glowed
a dull blue. One of the buttons on the keypad labeled "ALIAS MODIFIER"
suddenly glowed red and the room was washed yet again in a blue flash of
light. Four sinister looking cybernetic beings appeared as the light faded.
Their prey no longer in sight, they began to comb the room
meticulously for clues as to his departure. In the corner of the room, a
computer monitor hummed steadily, while an email program waited patiently
for a command.
The last few messages received were currently displayed on the
screen, and one of the cyborgs leaned closer to inspect them.
A sudden raptor-like scream pierces the air, and the cyborgs moved
as an organized stream through the doorway leading to the outside world . .
.
askuse@execulink.com
Mr. B sat comfortably in the back of his limo, unaware of the
hitchhiker he had picked up. Rolling down the window a crack he flicked
the butt of his cigar out, then took another one from within his jacket
and lit it with ease.
He grumbled at the car phone when it rang. He hated them, only
allowing them because of there necessity in the line of work he was in, or
more appropriately, the line of work he controlled. He snarled, "Yes?"
picking it up.
Grinning at the news he had received, he hung up, "So Mike, it
appears I will be seeing you sooner then I had anticipated."
"Matt V. Playle" <ue921@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
Allegra: Hmmmm.... :)
Zodiak: You are not crashing this game.
Allegra: Please?
Zodiak: You have to take care of a few things you left behind
during the war.
Allegra: Oh, A-ko... Geez, you throw red kryptonite at the girl
and she just holds a grudge like no one's business... What a spoilsport...
Virgo(poker visor): Deal me in!
Rob "Who said you could play?!" Orick
-------------------------------
Rumiko(carrying two bags): I got the chips!
Jody(sarcastic): And I think I just found the dip...
Robert G Orick <rgorick@eleven.uccs.edu>
Wandering through the airport ( 'What am I doing here? I have a
portal spawner!' ), Mike noticed his belt was beeping. Glancing down, he
enlarged the remote viewer connected back to his native reality, and his
'room'.
'They reassembled themselves from *vapor*? Not bad. Someone has
more in mind here than poker.' He put the screen away and pulled out his
'reality sampler', and tiny device that fitted on his left control glove.
Activating it, he was surrounded by a purplish haze identical to the one in
his native reality. 'Everybody's ganging up on me. Let's see how they
handle this.'
He noticed everyone in the airport is staring at him. "What?
You've never seen a parallel dimension emulated in your own before?" He
smiled and shook his head. Time to leave. Turning a dial on his left glove,
a portal appeared. He stepped through and vanished.
Everyone in the airport got $100 from the National Inquirer for
their story.
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
David sat, hawklike, watching the deal. He was very suspicious when
they all grinned like Jackanapes. David's grin was not revealed by his
encounter suit. He folded immediately. All the others were betting and
raising, doubling. One called and revealed 5 royal flushes in the same
suit. Someone had been fixing the cards. Foxtrot looked cross. Hell even
David's encounter suit managed it. This was obviously the work of someone.
Cyborgs dropped in, only managing to scratch the encounter suit. It
glowed with blue fire and threw them away firing the organic.
Wraith looked cross. Perhaps he ought to concentrate on one thing
at a time. Back to the bouncer.
Mr David A Houghton <ph41dh@surrey.ac.uk>
**********
"Computer ETA to Beijing Zoo?"
"One hour current speed."
Phantom Riders Dropship Three roared silently over the United
States of America. The ship's cloaking device that resided deep inside the
ship hummed quietly while the ship's defense and offense systems remained
at stand-by. The back up one man cockpit that was built into the end of the
body between the ship's two booms was empty. The cushioned pilot seat
hadn't been sat in since the ship had taken off from the Rider's enclave in
Rhode Island. The control panel in front of the seat was off-line, while
the ceiling panels blinked and beeped, while a Three-D map rotated just to
the left of the seat. A small red dot glowed and moved across Utah, and a
blue dot pulsed in Japan.
Through the bridge door, up the tight fitting stairs and into the
cabin of this alien built dropship. He sat there in the light, the high
backed gray blue cushioned seat, the arm rests up along with his feet on
the table in front of him. The ceiling lights were on half while the circle
windows displayed a darkened sky. In all actuality it was noon straight
up. Next to one of the ceiling lights a Three-D projector shined images
down to just above his size thirteen boots. An image of a gathering.
Robert Bentley eyed the image while the different people and places
played out in front of him. His black leather jacket hung over the top of
the chair while his duffel bag and dark glasses occupied one of the chairs
that lined the opposite wall. He didn't look at the detail files that had
been handed to him before his preflight check, he knew some of them
already. Sapphire's file was the first on the list. Others under her were
Micheal White, The ZAV Band, the Wraith and others. "Computer: Increase
speed to Mach One once we clear land and request a altitude of five hundred
feet. Reconfigure radar track to passive."
"Affirm."
He felt the ship rush forward for a moment and barely heard the
voice of a Delta pilot of a 757 300 ask for an altitude of one thousand
five hundred inbound to Beijing. He leaned back in the seat and let out a
sigh, pulled the notebook from the seat next to him, and read over some
chicken scratch notes. The same notes he had taken over at Pam's house a
few days prior. He had barely taken in all she had taught him, she may not
have been the right person to be a teacher but no one else had been around.
He plopped the notebook back onto the seat and sighed. "Why did I even
accept this invite?" He finally muttered.
"You're a quick learner." A breather hissed behind him.
He chuckled and leaned back enough so he could see her. She was
sitting on one of the couches, her own feet propped up and helmet sitting
next to her sharp toed boots. Her myth rifle was no where in evidence but
since one of her many bondings to either her home world or the fact she
wore a bracer like one of the Riders, her weapon could have been waiting
for her at a holding jack station somewhere in hyperspace. The ceiling
lights above her had somehow burned out, and the only thing he saw of her
was of course her eyes. "There are a few sodas in the fridge if you want
some. We'll be landing in about forty minutes." A silhouette of her head
nodded and she leaned to the left towards one of the portable fridges on
deck. Her elbow length gloves were nowhere in sight, instead a scaly hand
with very long black fingernails pulled a Coke out of the rack.
"We've been studying?" She asked, she popped the top and took a
guzzle.
"You mean the attendees, or the game itself?" Bentley replied and
looked through Micheal White's file. "I don't see anyone on my own favorite
COD lynch mob society. Besides Saf, no one else knows me."
"Word's gotten out, a little but enough," she got up, grabbed a
towel and came over to him. When she got up and moved the light above the
coach came back on. She leaned on the top of chair next to Bentley with her
elbows, the area around her sizzled with energy. "Would seem as though Mr.
White has a few people looking for him, the ZAV Band are a little rough
around the edges but they seem to be normal."
The deck plates shivered as the Dropship broke the sound barrier
and the wide open ocean came into view.
"Normal? Nermia and Normal do not mix."
"Panda held this little game before and Sapphire won. I'd be
careful."
Bentley smirked. "Ah yes, our little blue anime bounty hunter
tigress." He leaned forward and turned off the image. "I don't expect to
win, I have not a clue what I'm doing."
"She left the Priory about two hours ago, so she should either
already be there or en route."
"Are we expecting anyone unexpected?"
"Not to my knowledge, although Mr. White would seem to be very keen
about keeping his privacy," she herself smirked, turned and headed for the
main computer console in the center of the room.
"I see. Making new friends?"
Sapphire set the Aloi Jade into a standard descent over Beijing
and keyed the fold gate for Panda's Pen. The skyline came up in front of
her a sight she welcomed. She enjoyed traveling around this planet. Even
though it was far away from home, she still enjoyed this blue green world.
"Computer prep ship for landing and load coordinates for jump into the
gate's nav map."
"Affirm."
She smiled. "Now, let's win some money."
She ran a paw through her blue fur and took a quick look in the
mirror. She smiled and waited for the gate to open, the sound of chanting
was what she heard first, then the wind picked up. The bridge of her ship
became bright as a nova for one moment and then was silenced. The little
ship dropped down towards the skyline and fired maneuvering thrusters once
or twice as it headed in on final approach.
Sapphire felt the energy of the fold nip her fur while she blinked
out from her ship's bridge and waited for the door to the receiving end to
open. She only waited a moment as the white light around her became dark
and a door formed. She stepped out into the darkness and looked around.
Behind her tentacles of energy lapped around at the leaves and trash. A few
sparks of light strobed around the area she had arrived in. She frowned.
Make mental note to overhaul computer, she thought.
She had folded onto an iceberg littered with now awake and very
scared penguins. They skittered about and watched from a distance as she
looked about and finally found the fence to the rest of the zoo. She got a
unning start and leaped from the iceberg to the stone wall, then her claws
dug in and she started to climb. She didn't have to go far. Reaching the
top, she spotted Panda's Pen on the other side of the path.
Chang walked down the path between the two pens with a few sake
bottles in one hand and a very small wheel barrow in the other. He looked
like he was in for a long night.
"Hiya Chang!"
Chang flinched for a moment and slowly turned to see the bounty
hunter walking towards him. She brushed the snow off her paws and hugged
him. "Ready for a long night?"
Chang smiled and continued to walk towards Panda's Pen. Sapphire
walked along with him while the others started to converge on the zoo.
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Mike was bored. There was supposed to be a poker game going on now,
but almost no one had shown up. Well, he had run out of patience. A portal
appeared in front of Panda and Sapphire ( at least someone had shown up )
and Mike stepped out, still surrounded by a sphere of purple mist.
He turned to Sapphire with a grin. "Greetings, Madame. I trust you
will be partaking in the game?"
"Ahem."
"Oh, hello... Panda." Mike still wasn't quite sure who had sent
those cyborgs. It seemed both Panda and a certain 'Mr. B' were after him,
and he would have to be one his guard. And there was that *wraith* to worry
about. But that Foxtrot was an intriguing character, to say the least.
Panda seemed slightly miffed. "Did you bring any money?"
"Money... yes... I suppose that would be helpful." Mike simply held
his hand out, and a stack of hundred dollar bills appeared. He smirked at
the shocked reaction on Sapphire's and Panda's faces.
"Don't be too impressed - it's Canadian. Now... where are the
players?"
"One honored guest at your service." A voice replied to Mike's
question.
Panda turned and scanned the area where the voice has come from.
The far wall of the Pen, although the lights from the playing area were on
there were still some spots without any light. That was where something
moved and stepped out into the light. Bentley nodded to a surprised
Sapphire.
"I didn't know you knew how to play," she started to say and gave
him a hug.
"I don't," he muttered into her ear which received a laugh. He
nodded to Mike. "You must be Mr. White and you would have to be Panda."
"Do I know you?" Mike asked.
"A colleague of mine, tall, wears leather, helmet with horns on
it."
Mike bristled. "Her!"
Bentley nodded and caught a glance from Sapphire. <Don't worry
about it,> he thought to her. "So what do we do now?"
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Mike looked at the new arrival. 'Hmmm... the plot thickens.'
He took a good look around the pen, trying to determine how the
newcomer had arrived. Tapping commands on his right glove, he switched his
scanners from passive to active. Instantly, a warning sounded in his ear.
"Warning! Cloaked vessel detected at 27 degrees.
Configuration........unknown. Armament.. considerable. Defensive systems.."
Mike spun 27 degrees to his right, and an image of the cloaked ship
was projected inside his contact lens. 'Interesting. I think I'll leave my
active scanners on.'
He looked at this newcomer, this Bentley. He was chatting with
Sapphire and Panda, ignoring him. 'I don't like being snuck up on.'
Pulling out his pocket viewer, he hacked into the ships' computer and
downloaded everything. 'A file on me? Heh. Doesn't even have my name
spelled correctly.'
Still, despite being about 80% inaccurate, it was more information
than anyone should have been able to garner on him. Was someone else out to
get him, or was he just curious? He sure hoped the game would be worth all
this hassle.
Bentley stretched and looked around the pen, a rather large place,
bamboo grew in a patch just behind him while a small pond was just in front
of the door to Panda's inner lair. He had also noticed the cable hookup
dangling from one of the many telephone poles that dotted the area in the
zoo. The stone wall that encased one wall of the pen along with the chain
linked fence that encompassed the entire pen were the only things that
didn't seem out of place. Chang had put down the bottles of sake, and had
started to get chairs together while another person arrived in the pen. The
chain gate creaked open and the sound of footsteps echoed about the pen
while the person walked down and inside.
"And what do we have behind door number 1?" He murmured.
Panda looked up at the new arrivals, "Hey B-Man, long time no see."
"That it has been, Panda dude. And who is this lovely creature."
He motioned toward Saf the Blue Tigress, taking a seat directly across the
table from Panda. The chauffeur took up a position just beside the door
and stood there silently.
"Sapphire." Her voice had a soothing purr in it, "And you?"
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am simply known as Mr. B"
Then turned toward Mike, a slight grin formed on his lips as he slipped his
hand inside his jacket.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the revered Mr. B," Mike was saying
sarcastically. "I do believe I have something that belongs to you."
With that, he pulled out a curved piece of metal and tossed it at
Mr. B, who barely managed to catch it. After a moment of study, he
recognized it - a strip of chest armor from one of his cyborgs.
Mike smiled as Mr. B snarled at him. "Next time, don't send a toy
to do a professional's work. On second thought, don't even send a
professional."
He smirked and turned to seek more engaging conversation.
He found it. Bentley looked from Mike to Mr. B and back again. "I
see we know each other," he quietly said. He frowned slightly at how well
Mr. B and Panda were getting along.
"We've have some encounters," Mike let a smile form on his face.
"I didn't know vessels were allowed in the park's perimeter."
Bentley's eyebrows raised, and he nodded slightly. "The fuel the
ship needs is in short supply, and it wouldn't be able to hold a pattern
around the zoo till morning. Find something you like?" His smile told Mike
he knew already. He raised his right arm and showed him something on his
wrist, a glowing bracelet. "This allows me constant contact with the ship,
nice to know you didn't activate the weapon systems and blow us all up."
"Why do you have a file on me?"
"I have files on everyone, except Mr. B," Bentley accepted one of
the folding chairs from Chang and took a seat. "Little miffed around your
privacy eh?"
"Yes. What right does your friend have spying on me?"
Sapphire pulled up a bean bag chair and curled up. "You didn't say
she was spying."
"Watching yes, spying no."
"Where is she?" Mike was getting more then slightly miffed. "I want
to talk to her," and some other things too he thought. Even before he had
gotten that thought out both Bentley's and Sapphire's eyes were on him.
Mike looked at them quizzically, you and your big mouth Mike.
"I'd calm down before you do that," Bentley scritched Sapphire
playfully under her chin. "She's more trouble then you know."
Sapphire purred at the attention and tickled Bentley in return
much to his surprise. "Where is she anyway?"
"Taking a walk."
The lions were asleep when the sound of boots against the
cobblestones echoed around the pen they slept in. The lioness was curled up
against her mate and purred quietly in her sleep while her little slept
next to her. Out of the three, two of them were completely asleep while one
of them rolled around in the grass and listened to the sound. She padded up
to the fence and looked around.
The female cub looked to the left then the right and sniffed that
air for a moment. That's a new spell, she thought and put her front paws as
high as she could on the fence to try and get a better view. A pair of
human legs quickly appeared, she let out a sharp cry and fell over. The cub
rolled onto her paws and growled at the legs. She tried to crane her neck
to see who it was but the owner was too tall, instead the owner got down on
her knees and smiled at the cub. The cub's ear's twitched and looked as the
human slid her fingers through the fence in a friendly manner. The cub
padded forward slowly and sniffed her hand. This smell was different than
a moment ago, she let the fingers scritch her behind the ears.
"You should be asleep little one," a voice she could understand
soothed her. The cub looked into the human's eyes and bared her teeth for
the hell of it. When I grow up, no curfew the cub thought and scampered
back towards her parents and siblings.
The human rose to her hull height and let the breeze blow through
her hair. "Feels nice to be in this form for a while," she commented and
looked around at the signs on the pens. Her eyes caught a name on one of
the signs. She moved closer to take a look at it. "Blue Tigress?" She
murmured and frowned. She turned her head in the direction of the arrow and
walked down a path towards the pen.
"Let's see what I brought," Bentley opened up his duffel bag and
pulled out his Aiwa stereo, a few CDs toppled onto the ground but none were
cracked. He looked around quickly for a plug and found one, while Sapphire
eyed the wires and then slowly attached wires to plugs. She smiled at her
work as the digital display came to life. The clock was still on eastern
time which she fixed and proceeded to try and find some radio stations.
"Huey Lewis, Def Leppard, Anime Soundtracks, Movie Soundtracks....anyone
have any requests?"
Mike leaned back in the bean bag chair and noted how many more
chairs Chang was bringing out. "How many people are coming to this thing
anyway?" He asked and accepted the glass of sake from Panda's robotic
butler.
"The ZAV Band is coming from what I heard." Sapphire ran a long
nailed finger down Bentley's rather large CD collection. "I dunno Bents,
I'm impressed. No Lion King though."
"I'm waiting for the Gargoyles tracks to come out. Hans Zimmerman
is a good composer. I haven't found the time to buy it yet." Bentley pulled
out the soft tacos he had bought just before he left and looked around for
a microwave. "I'm gonna nuke these; I've got nachos in here too. Anyone?"
"Sure." Sapphire pulled out Out of Africa and looked some more.
"You pulled some of your dad's stuff too."
Bentley found the microwave, plopped the Mexican food in and set
the timer. "I thought the bag felt a little heavy. Just as long as we don't
miss Daytona we'll be fine."
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Interlude 1:
"You want me to do what?" DarkWind turned around and stared down
Raft and his wife. They were standing atop one of the four main turrets of
Bentley Priory. It was getting to be five o'clock and Sapphire was prepping
the Aloi Jade for a run to the Beijing Zoo for the annual poker game
between friends.
"We want....would like you to meet the delegates when they
arrive," Raft started. "It might be better for us if you were to meet them
and not us. They've dealt with a few human but haven't been out among
people in a long while."
"Like how long are we talking?"
"Give or take three thousand years." Jenny, Raft's wife replied.
"We've been part of this for a long time, much long then you might think.
We think it's for the best."
"What kind of delegates?"
Jenny looked at Raft for a moment and tried to find the right
words. "They're Kasarian delegates. They're the ones who built this
castle."
DarkWind's tail stopped swishing and his jaw dropped. "Why not
Sapphire?"
"She's a little young, and they may not recognize her."
"And they'll recognize me?"
Raft nodded and DarkWind leaned against the cold stone wall.
"How?"
"You were brought here when you were in your growth flux, and your
parents made us promise we would make sure you would stay away from this
planet." Jenny moved a little closer to the young Kasarian male. "This is
a good sign. People are starting to trust again. This will work."
What you're suggesting is that we introduce alien life forms onto
this planet that weren't ment to be here in the first place. What if after
all this happens we're rejected?"
"There is a large amount of people who have known of your existence
for some time already. They have been waiting for the right time to act."
Raft crossed his arms and sighed. "With the Riders' disappearance six
months ago and their re-appearing from no where, it's gotten some people on
edge. We think something may have happened?"
DarkWind leaned forward. "Like what?"
"The only thing we know is the Dropship folded into Earth orbit
with enough carbon scoring on her hull to warrant she was a heavy fire
fight and sending out a primary distress signal ment for the Riders on
Earth."
"So?"
"The log dated the fold entry at April 1, 2046 A.D." Jenny
finished.
DarkWind blinked. "A time slip?"
"Yes."
He turned and watched Sapphire. "You think she knows something?"
"We think she does, but if not her, her comrade, the one with the
helmet."
DarkWind flinched inwardly. Captain what have you done? He thought.
Mr. B smiled knowingly and shook his head, wondering what the
piece of metal *really* was . . .
Meanwhile, across the span of inter-dimensional free-space, four
cybernetic beings came to the end of their quarry's trail. It was as if
their prey had simply vanished. The trail from Michael's "room" had led to
an airport. After a scan of the airport's free-space for recent teleport
distortions, the trail had led back into the inter-dimensional void. Now,
after a brief four-way debate consisting of short whistles and clicking
sounds, the leader of the metallic quartet tapped the keypad in its
forearm, and the ebony cyborgs disappeared in a flash of bright blue light.
It had been a long chase through time and free-space. Michael was
a wanted man back in MegaTokyo. Years of time travel in a stolen Time
Cruiser had made him a rich man, his wealth derived from pillaging the
inventions of the future and returning to the past as their creator. But
this theft of ingenious devices had not gone unnoticed. Since setting up
White Enterprises on Earth, Michael's main competitor Genom had kept a
careful eye on him. Genom's new CEO Mr. B had immediately ordered the
manufacture of "watchdogs" to keep a close watch on this mysterious new
upstart. Now the four "dogs" had been loosed, their mission to find out how
Mr. White was manufacturing his futuristic devices with seemingly little
overhead. Mr. B had spared no expense in the design of his watchdogs.
Built-in matter-displacement systems known as "alias modifiers" had
prevented their destruction at the hands of Michael's stolen Macross mech.
As long as the AM systems remained operational, they could not be
destroyed, only changed temporarily. This design feature alone meant that
Mr. White could not escape from the cyborgs' scrutiny. They would chase him
to the ends of the universe . . .
Back to you Bents ;)
askuse@execulink.com
[While no one was looking, The Gopher swiped some of the spice and
flavored the next round of food scheduled for Da Poker Game....and
waited....]
AlberCrombie <cesnyd01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>
Perusing the file he had liberated from Bentley's computer, Mike
grew more and more amused.
'They think I'm a simple _businessman!' He shook his head. 'Well,
all things considered, that's probably safer. Doesn't do much for the ego,
though.'
He wondered what kind of a story Genom would manufacture to get
back at him. 'The things a corporation will do to you for a little creative
computer work.' Genom's deal with the military went through, despite his
distributing a copy of it to every major news network in the world. His
uncovering of that deal had rattled quite a few cages in Genom, and
might've even been partly responsible for Mr. B's rise to the helm.
That's irony for you.
So they'd made him a criminal, had they? And a 'time cruiser'
thief, no less. Never mind that he could already alter time, albeit only
slightly.
And there was indeed a 'White Enterprises', but that was more of a
way of getting access to certain people. Presidents wouldn't meet with some
nobody, but they would meet with a multinational corporation owner. So he
had bent some rules setting up the corporation, so what? Wasn't like he
was out for money. Well, it had about outlived its usefulness anyway.
Mike was feeling better already. So his security _hadn't_ been
compromised after all. He had been afraid that someone might have found out
about some of his more... sensitive experiments. He had already mastered
the art of manipulating matter and energy ( and to a lesser extent, time )
inside the dimension he had created. The problem with that was once he
returned to normal space, his powers went kaput. Indeed, beyond the
purplish haze that surrounded him, he couldn't 'play' with anything.
However, inside that haze... the laws of physics were his to
command.
And in a few short months, nothing would stop him.
Mike shook his head a little. He mustn't lose sight of why he was
here. Anyone with the potential to discover his plans was going to be at
this game. It was vital that he check them out - personally.
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
"Ahh... so this is the place for the poker game that I have heard
so much about.." said the shrouded figure as he entered the door.
"Hello Ozzy," replied Panda. "Nice to see you take time from your
busy schedule to join us in a game."
"Fellow greetings, Panda. Man, maintaining a web page is a full
time job." Ozymandias turned to Sapphire. "And it is a pleasure meeting
you, Sapphire. A ray of light in this denzine of corruption and shady
characters."
Sapphire blushed.
Ozymandias turned to Mr. B. "I see, a new character joins the mix.
Let me introduce myself, I am Ozymandias, King of Kings, the ruler of the
Kingdom of Dust. All my friends call me Ozzy." Ozymandias humbly bowed to
Mr. B.
"I am known as Mr. B, my friends call me Mr. B. However, you can
call me Sir." replied Mr. B, pulling out a wad of Canadian bills and
placing them on the table, "And where is your ante?"
"Ahh, the ante." sighed Ozymandias. "Here is my ante."
From the folds of his cloak, Ozymandias revealed a gold circlet
with what looked like eyes carved into them, and tossed it onto the table.
"I won this from a thief named Wood. He was pretty good, did neat little
magic tricks." <G>
Ozymandias took a seat at the table, "So who else is coming to the
game?"
Something looking rather out of place in an anime news group and
would be better put on alt.conspiracy.vorlon appeared.
"Ahh... so there IS someone here that hasn't watched 'The Record
of Lodoss War' yet. " replied Ozymandias. "And..." Ozymandias looked at
the new person's name tag, "David... David. O.K., David, do you want to
join?"
CLINK CLINK CLINK
<Do you mind if I join in the game>
"Only more money for me to win, if you want to join "quipped
Ozymandias. Panda, Sapphire, Mr. B, and Bentley chuckled.
Meanwhile the addition of the Universal antidote on the spiced food
started to bubble, combing into new and various chemicals. One bit
received a Jyusenkyou drink effect.
"Ahem."
Ozymandias turned and saw Mike standing there, surrounded by that
odd purple mist. "Greetings, Ozymandias. Always nice to have another
player. Interesting trinket you have there."
<I'm not a trinket> goes the encounter suit after getting the wrong
idea.
Mike: No the eye. You're a Vorlon you so ought to know.
After much explanation the encounter suit explained. He's trying
to more or less even up the field. Besides, the suit doesn't make the
Vorlon. This was said very cryptically though. He didn't know the eye. The
Suit asked if he wanted a practice hand as cold water leaked in. His
telepathy exploded.
<I'm just wondering why we all have Royal flushes..>
Mike: Nothing wrong there.
<OF THE SAME SUIT>
Mike: Don't shout, it must be Ozymandias
Ozymandias: Why me?
Vorlon: Look on my works ye mighty and despair. We do know a few
have been cheating. Hot water please.
The Vorlon turned back into a normal human.
David: I knew I shouldn't have snuck through the Takahashi-verses.
Fell in pool of drowned 'angel'. Very tragic legend 40,000 years ago..
His suit clunked him so he hid back inside.
Suit: FIZZLE
Do you really =need= a translation?
"Why yes, it is, mm...." looked at the name tag (slightly
obscured by the purple mist), "Ahh, Mike. I've been tempted to put in on a
few times, you know, try it on for size. But I always had this nagging
feeling about this thing that there was something just not 'right' with
it." Looked at Mike.
"Are you interested in, perhaps, purchasing it?" inquired
Ozymandias.
"Oh, no thank you." replied Mike. "I had a girlfriend who had a
circlet just like that. I think her name was <insert sounds of gears
grinding> Leylia. Yeah, that's her name. She joined the Peace Corps and
went to this little, third-world nation, Lodoss. <G>"
"So, when does the game start?"
Suit: EEYA EAYA.
Mike: I think the Vorlons recognized it or at least something
similar.
David: I'm a not a Vorlon. I think that might by something of
Sauron's. Any volcano's near here? I'd drop it in one if I were you.
Speaking of the game, how about right now. Would you kindly deal,
Ozymandias?
Ozymandias: With pleasure.
Mr David A Houghton <ph41dh@surrey.ac.uk>
ozymand@netzone.com
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
Blue Lightning drifted into orbit.
Damon shifted nervously in his seat. "Get me a date, Chris."
Chris nodded, and scanned several of the major cities in rapid
succession, with a precision camera that could read the date off of a dime
in the sand if necessary. After a long wait, she finally straightened up.
"The timejump did it, and we've just made it. They're about to start."
Damon nodded. "Then I'll only be a few minutes. Do me a favor and
park her behind the moon again. I don't want to annoy the locals."
She smiled, and watched him go.
Minutes later, a flitter dropped through the thick atmosphere,
through several layers of clouds. The Beijing zoo wasn't far.
Settling to the ground, he opened the canopy and jumped out.
"Forgive me for being a little late, but I just had something to say."
Glaring at Mr. B, and at the rest of the assemblage, he muttered "Let's not
get too friendly now, shall we?"
Saf looked up.
"Saf is after all a lady, and an attached one at that." He quirked
a grin at her, setting a hand on her shoulder.
The aforementioned assemblage stared as Saf blushed red. "But
still dangerous, and I'm in my element." She recovered quickly. "Will you
be staying?"
Damon shook his head, smiling sadly. "No, I just dropped by to say
hello. Staff meeting on Hbria, and I have to be there a few million years
ago. I'll be back after the game."
Saf watched as the flitter rose through the clouds. "So, shall we
start the game, or are there more people who want to lose?" She grinned,
showing her teeth.
Mr. B chuckled as the flitter faded from view. Pulled a Cuban
cigar from his jacket and offered it to Panda who gladly accepted it, then
got one for himself.
"You told me a lot about our Tigress Panda, but failed to mention
she was attached. Funny how things like that just slip one's mind." He
took a long drag from his cigar.
"I mentioned it B-Man, can I help it if you can remember anything."
Panda replied sneaking a nervous look at Saf.
"Ahh well.. C'est la vie." Mr. B grinned and turned to Saf, "It's
still a pleasure to know someone as beautiful as you."
Panda watched the flitter disappear and stared hard at Saf. So he
was back. The one man who stood in his way of happiness. But that wasn't
quite true either. For the Blue furred object of his affection had no idea
how he really felt about her. Hmph. Fooey! Spaceships and transporter
devices. What did she see in these space traveling tech-heads? In his heart
he knew that he was the right ma- ahem- panda for her. He was reliable,
trustworthy and a great host, not to mention fur-covered like her. So what
could he do? Panda scratched his head in frustration. There had to be a way
to make her notice him. Hmmm. He might as well offer her some food first.
That might get the ball rolling.
Panda sauntered over to the refreshment table and made a small
pile of nachos on a plate. He then picked up a spoon to ladle a little
nacho dip onto the side of the plate when he noticed something funny about
the way the dip looked. Not being too picky about what he ate, Panda
plopped a bit of the strange concoction onto the plate and then proceeded
to where Saf was standing near the pond . . .
askuse@execulink.com
From behind a tree, a figure popped his head out for a peek at the
gathering of gamblers who gambled with money, time, and emotions. Well,
maybe not time. The name tag on his sweatshirt said "Wing".
"Hmmm... wonder what the rules are... oh well, guess they won't
mind my digging into the food. Hehe..." he muttered to himself as he
tiptoed over to the food table and helped himself to a plate and some
nachos.
nagisa@primenet.com
Mike wasn't listening. He watched the flitter rise through the
clouds. This was most definitely not a good development.
He pulled out a small device, pointed it at the flitter, and
pressed a red button. Analyzing the display, he frowned. 'Not what I
expected. But then, that seems to be status quo for the past few days...'
**********
Damon walked onto the bridge, and then stopped. "Yes? Why's
everyone looking at me?"
Chris coughed. "Damon..."
Lucky punched up a command code. "Watch this."
Damon watched the log replay. When it finished, his expression was
not one that one would want to be responsible for. "Competition. Hmmm."
He thought a moment. "Ah. This should solve the problem. Steve,
I'll need to borrow your board."
Steve snickered. "Be my guest, Mr. Pacifist."
"Be quiet. You haven't seen what I'm going to do yet. Nobody's
gonna get it."
Meanwhile, on the planet below...
A thin, red beam penetrated through the clouds, leaving its mark
on a stone walkway near the poker table, then winking out. Panda, curious
as pandas tend to be, ambled over and looked at it.
"Why don't you ask *her* first how she feels? --Damon"
-----
Editor's note: Panda goofed, and thought the pulsed laser was
telepathic...
-----
Panda looked around frantically, wondering at the source of the
celestial beam. Wondering if his conscience had somehow migrated to a
distant spot beyond the clouds, he mulled over the wisdom of the words. His
thoughts far away, Panda grabbed a nacho and sank a corner deep into the
strange looking nacho dip. As his courage waned, he absent-mindedly
shoveled a dip laden nacho chip into his mouth. No sooner had he swallowed
the offensive tasting mixture when he began to undergo a strange mixture of
sensations. As the red beam slowly faded away behind him, he turned and
proceeded to where Saf was waiting. Standing before her, he raised the
plate of nachos and dip for the Blue Tigress' perusal. Smiling politely,
Saf selected a crisp chip, and after a nose-twitching motion at the smell
of the nacho dip, she scooped up a bit of the condiment onto her chip and
quickly stashed it in her maw.
Panda shuffled his foot back and forth in the grass below, as he
struggled to get a question out of his mouth. Finally, raising his head to
peer into her eyes, he saw a strange look on her face, of confusion and
then a slow building look of burning desire.
Panda looked closer, his own heart beginning to register new
emotions. Emotions that he had never felt before; emotions that he never
thought he would feel . . . emotions of disgust.
Gopher watched from a dark corner, chuckling mischievously. His
"opposite feeling" potion had worked perfectly. Saf desired Panda and Panda
was repulsed by Saf. Served the Panda right he thought, for all the torture
he'd put him through, with nicknames and what not. It was the ultimate
revenge . . .
Mike had returned to sitting in the beanbag chair, a glass of some
sort of beverage in his right hand. He was simply watching the goings-on,
observing the plots and counter-plots, most of which seemed to center
around a certain Blue Tigress.
He took a sip of the drink. And almost choked. 'Ugh... what is
this?' He looked at the glass, and the liquid suddenly turned orange. 'Good
old orange juice - nothing beats it.' He slowed down the molecules
composing the juice, making it nice and chilly. He took a drink. 'Aah...
refreshing.'
Looking over the edge of the glass, he looked at the poker table.
'Is this game ever going to get underway?' A thought struck him. 'Or... are
we waiting for someone? Or something?' He sighed. 'I really should deploy
some probes...'
Finishing the drink, he levitated it and floated it to the table.
Once it reached the perimeter of his purple mist field, he wrapped it in a
small amount of the mist, allowing him to control it. Once he had set the
lass down, the mist rushed back to rejoin the rest.
Mr. B looked around the table at the restless people, except for
the Tigress who seemed all a little too relaxed. None of the faces he
recognized except Panda's, Saf's and Mike's. Sapphire's from Panda's
descriptions of her, and Mike's since he had been watching him closely for
some time. He had little info on this person, he seemed to go through
extraordinary lengths to insure his privacy. But his resources were slowly
gathering more info on him.
However none of this was his main concern now, he was here to play
a game of poker. Though Mike's ability to change molecular structure
concerned him and what it might do to a deck of cards, in his favor.
He produced a set of cards and set them in the center of the
table, then put on his poker face. His eyes held no emotion and seemed to
look right through one, and his lips formed a slight grin. Probably a face
that had been forged by cold blooded killings...
**********
Damon watched the unfolding events from the bridge. "These kids
need watching," he sighed. "Looks like I need a volunteer."
He thought a moment, and then a slow smile broke his face. "I've
got the perfect man for the job."
The scoutcraft sped away from Blue Lightning, as Blue Lightning
picked up speed, shooting off into the distance. Moments later, it had
vanished from sight.
And then something spectacular happened. The whole sky lit up
with a brilliant flash of light from a distant explosion.
John shrugged. "He always did know how to make an exit. Wonder
what the locals thought?"
Shortly, the scoutcraft touched down again, meters from the zoo.
The exit ramp lowered, and John walked out. He grinned at his audience,
who were looking rather amazed and annoyed all at once.
"Well, I'm here. Looks like I'm just in time." He produced a vial
from his satchel, uncorked it, and waved it under Saf's nose.
She shook her head, blinking rapidly. "What happened?"
John shrugged. "Don't ask. But I'm supposed to keep you company.
My name's John." He looked over the assemblage. "I'm a doctor," he added
as an afterthought.
"This is a poker game, not a hospital," someone shot back.
He grinned. "Doesn't bother me any. I'm up for a game." Reaching
into his satchel again, he pulled out a small chip, and tossed it in the
air.
Several low whistles sounded as the chip glinted brightly in the
sunlight. "What the--" He grinned even wider. "Do you think this'll be
enough to start with?"
Excellent. Mike was hoping someone from that ship would attend.
Time-jumpers were always trouble, no matter their intentions or
allegiances. The hair-sized probe he had fired into the flitter's hull had
already told him everything he needed to know about their technology, but
very little on what they wanted.
He was aware they considered him a threat. It wasn't his intention
to make enemies, there were just more important things at stake than
friendship...
John frowned. "You mean we're *still* waiting for people?"
Several unhappy looks greeted his question.
He shrugged. "Fine, I can deal with it." He dug around in his
satchel again. "Now where did I put that home lobotomy kit..."
He looked up again, and chuckled at the stares directed his way.
"I just love messing with people's heads."
Meanwhile, on Blue Lightning...
Damon nodded to Jeremy. "The translator was acting a bit funny
while I was there. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I was hoping you
could take a look." He popped the device out of its socket behind his ear,
and dropped it on the table.
"All right," he said. "It's probably just time for maintenance.
But I'll take a look at the log for now. Just a sec..." Jeremy twisted
around, and hooked a few leads up to it from a rather complicated looking
oscilloscope-with-friends. "One moment."
A speaker from the equipment shot out a strange hum, over a
distorted, crackly recording.
"...something...Saf...lady...attached...dangerous...million..."
Then the recording ended.
"I don't get it." Jeremy frowned. "Looks like you picked up
*something*, but I'm not sure what. I'll get back to you on it, okay?"
Damon nodded. "There were some rather high tech persons attending
that supposedly 'friendly' game. I'll have Chris do a scan of me, the
flitter, the ship, etc., just to be on the safe side. Somebody might be
holding a grudge against advanced technology or something."
The bridge was silent, and the mass of dim, blue starlight ahead
was a bit disconcerting. Damon sat in thought, while Chris made a few
routine checks, then left for the "night", as ship's night was just
beginning.
She should be okay, he thought. I wonder what the trouble is on
Hbria this time, though. It's rare they send out a jump probe to come
*looking* for me. And the encoded message wasn't very helpful, either.
He nervously watched the screen, awaiting whatever might lie ahead.
Mr. B's limo sat out site the gate of the Zoo. The high necked
lamps from that were built into the sidewalk shone white rays of light down
onto the brand new vehicle. The lights had been turned off but the motor
was still running. The emergency brake was on but the transmission was
still in drive. The sound the engine was making reverberated throughout the
entire car. The driver side door was slightly ajar, the window was half way
down, and the rest of it was smashed in. The bits of unbreakable glass
gleamed unnaturally in the light. The bullet proof glass that made up the
windshield was melted together, and one part of the melted mass looked like
a imprint of a hand being pushed out, like it was trying to escape.
Mr. B's limo driver......
The trunk lid made a slight noise. The lock was burned through in a
few minutes, the blue flame hissed in the night air for a moment then died,
itself. The sound of some one thanking god was barely heard as the trunk
lid popped open hard. A few more pieces of glass fell onto the already wet
pavement. A shape hauled itself out of the trunk and landed on the pavement
with no sound at all. It looked around for a moment and then leaned over to
the left, getting past the trunk lid to see what was going on. It blinked
and un-holstered one of its sidearms, cocking the hammer when it saw the
driver's side door slightly ajar and the glass all over the street. The
safety was lowered to fire when it saw some of the glass was melted into
the pavement.
"What the hell?" Foxtrot murmured, as she looked in the front seat.
She didn't sit down in the nice cushioned seat, but knelt down on it
instead and pulled back the in between glass and breath a somewhat sigh of
relief when she saw no one in the back, at least no one who could audition
for a venetian blind.
"I take it you were responsible for this?"
She whirled right went down on one knee and aimed at the voice.
The voice belonged to a thick silvered haired rather tall woman. She was
dressed in a rather new pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and a black leather
duster. A pair of sun glasses dangled from her mouth, her right gloved hand
already out in a sign of non aggression. "I'm unarmed." She had some kind
of accent Foxtrot couldn't place.
"I didn't," Foxtrot didn't move. "Where did you come from?"
"I was over in the tiger cages when I heard the noise." The woman's
eyes flashed in the darkness. "I'm part of a poker game going on inside."
"Oh really? Who's hosting it?"
"Panda. Your looking for Bentley?"
Foxtrot frowned and eased off on the weapon slowly. "How did
you...?"
"I'm not from around here."
"Neither am I."
"I noticed. You mind lowering the weapon?" The woman took a step
forward, both gloved hands raised. "I really don't like people aiming
weapons at me."
Foxtrot slid the safety on the weapon back into place and rose to
her full height. "What happened here?"
"I don't know. What does it look like?" The woman walked past
Foxtrot and eyed the windshield. "Looks like someone was pissed."
"I was in the trunk hitching a ride, and I fell asleep. The next
thing I know the engine is making all these weird noises," Foxtrot
holstered the weapon. "So who are you and since when did you get an invite
and not me?"
"I'm a friend of Bentley's." The woman ran fingers through her
hair and sighed. "Jeez Bentley, who the hell did you piss off now?"
"He does that a lot?"
"Where he goes trouble follows." She slid into the driver's seat,
slammed the selector into park and turned off the car. Well whoever it is,
they know we found the limo, she thought and closed the door behind her.
"You know who's car this is?"
"Somebody by the name of Mr. B." Foxtrot grabbed her stuff from
the trunk and closed it. "We going to call the police?"
"No." The woman turned and started to walk into the zoo's back
entrance.
"Are we going to call anyone?" Foxtrot followed her into the zoo.
"No." They started to pass the closed refreshment stands and soon
they were walking on the path towards Panda's Pen, the woman slowed down as
they passed the Blue Tigress's pen. "You know anything about Blue
Tigresses?" The woman asked Foxtrot.
"I know a blue tigress by a name of Sapphire, dunno about any
others."
The woman nodded and they continued to walk towards the pen. Back
in the pen of the Blue Tigress a set of feral eyes gleamed while a growl
surged from the darkness and one word was breathed: "Captain......."
-----
Editor's note: Small amount of editorial license taken, continuity error
fixed. (*is* Saf "attached" to two people?? ;)
-----
"So she won the last game eh?" Bentley sipped on his soda while the
nachos with cheese rotated in the microwave. He leaned against the kitchen
table in Panda's kitchen. He watched for an answer from Chang who was
trying to lug a rather large wooden keg up the stairs from the basement.
Bentley slid the soda onto the table and walked over to help. "Hang on,"
he tapped Chang on the shoulder and motioned him aside. He moved and
watched as Bentley lifted it up and put it on his shoulder. Bentley smiled
and walked out of the kitchen door, disappearing for a moment.
"So what did I miss?" He asked as he reappeared into the Panda's
Pen. He watched as Flitter lifted off from the ground and back up into the
sky. He blinked for a moment and shrugged. "Should do this more often." He
smiled and looked for Panda. "Any idea where we should put this?" He asked
the ever growing crowd. He walked past the Vorlon-type, the King of Kings
and Mike and placed it next to his stereo. He looked for the spout which
was placed in his hand by Chang who was gratefully relieved. He handed him
a bottle of sake. Bentley shook his head. "Don't drink but thanks though."
He turned to head back into the kitchen when Sapphire and Panda
caught his eye. He smiled and chuckled. "We should offer Saf as the grand
prize," he murmured, but then reconsidered, remembering her attached
status. He pondered putting on some music but the smell of what he thought
was burning nachos caught his nose.
"What do you mean he didn't make it back to airport?"
Bentley cocked an eyebrow and looked at Mr. B for a moment. Mr. B
lowered his voice and spoke quietly into his portable phone. The set of
cards he had put onto the table had been swiped by Mike in case the worst
happened and he started to throw them What the hell is up his butt? He
thought and shrugged again, not on duty stop letting one's imagination run
away with itself.
The front door opened and echoing of padded feet met his ears. He
turned to see what appeared to be a hybrid fox human with a rather large
bag over her shoulder. Her eyes darted from person to person until they got
to him. "You're Bentley?" She asked once she reached the pen's floor.
Bentley nodded. "You're?"
"Foxtrot."
"Ahhhs, nice to meet you."
"Did I miss anything?"
Bentley looked around. "Not yet, we're either waiting for people or
something. We invite people and we haven't even started to play yet. Weird
eh?" He looked her over. "Are you from around here?"
"Yep."
Bentley nodded, sure looked like one he thought. "Whelp there's a
stereo over there, there's a fresh keg of sake there and the nachos seem to
be making their rounds over there," he pointed in Panda's and Sapphire's
direction. "I'm making more nachos in the kitchen. Unless they're on fire
by now."
"Surprised you guys haven't started, though it looked that guy was
about to start," she nodded to Mr. B.
"Under unanimous vote he decided to take all the shark objects away
from him including any of the chips, cards and bean bags chairs." He
grinned, then looked and knew he was seeing smoke coming from the kitchen.
"I'll be right back, excuse me."
Foxtrot made her way over to the table where some of the people
seemed to have been sitting there for a little while at least. "Anyone up
for a round?"
Mr. B shut off his portable phone and calmed himself rather
quickly. "Yeah where are my cards?" He hissed quietly, he grabbed a seat
and sat down, somehow she knew the red aura was going to start showing up
on this guy soon.
"Something wrong?" She asked while she took a seat.
"My limo driver was supposed to return to the airport, he hasn't
done that yet."
"You might want to check the red entrance, your limo is there."
Foxtrot put her bag onto the ground and waited for the cards to be dealt.
But they weren't, instead Mr. B's eyes glared at her. "What?"
"How would you know?" He asked.
"Easy, I hitched a ride in the trunk."
The cards he had been shuffling dropped onto the table.
Mr. B took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. He couldn't
contact his driver, the limo hadn't shown up at the airport, and he had
given a ride to a fox/human hybrid to the game. "You wouldn't have seen my
driver would you?" He queried as calmly as he could.
"Nope, nice hand print in the melted glass like someone was trying
to get out." She replied like it was nothing.
He frowned, was someone trying to kill him. He already knew the
answer to that, there was always someone trying to kill him. It went with
the territory. As well he had been expanding his business, and doing so
had stepped on a few toes. Returning to shuffling the cards, he glared
around the table wondering if someone here was after him.
Something up in the trees watched the poker players slowly assemble
for their game. It had been sitting in the trees, watching everyone move
above, noting certain arrivals and dismissing others. It resided on the
highest branch it could find and simply watched. Its mind had started to
form a plan, a plan that was easy and workable. The idea had been discarded
once more people had started to show up. It had already scouted out all of
the pens and found the one it was looking for. It's prey had already
arrived as well as some other people on its list. It hadn't expected him to
show up or a few others, he was higher on the list than they were. That's
how Burke had instructed them, he was always on the top of every list, no
matter how small or large it may be. He was always top priority. Now this
Mr. B had caught its attention. This man was worthy of the game but
something had set him off inwardly, was it the fact his vehicle had been
attacked. It cocked an eyebrow and sighed slowly, it moved out onto the
branch just to the very tip. Its arms and legs balanced it perfectly, and
the only thing that gave it away was the branch swaying in the wind. None
of the birds or animals that usually hung out at this tree were here, as it
had scared them away days ago. So now something of the night stood on the
tallest branch of the tree and watched quietly as the light and voices
drifted up to it. It mimicked one of the sounds for a moment, just one
little moment, a sort of a test.
Mr. B was the only person to hesitate from the practice game. It
sensed his ears try to ignore everything around him and listen for
something. It smiled as he shook his head and listened to the Foxtrot's
conversation.
Most interesting, it thought.
"What the..." Mr. B glared at Foxtrot, his hand reflexively
reaching for the weapon he knew wouldn't work. "How in the hell did you
get into my trunk?"
"Geez, like the locks and security system and the intruder alert
systems weren't easy to bypass." Foxtrot hefted her carisak onto the table
and pulled out a mini-computer and some various cables and gadgets. "You
see..." and she explained how she first jimmied the safe codes encrypted
into the trunk hatch, then disabled the sensor system in the trunk and set
up a dummy weight and counterbalance for the trunk, then (for safety's
sake) slave-linked the detection system to the mini computer in her left
hand. All in under fifteen minutes. "Really," she said, sipping the sake
offered by Michael, "it was child's play."
Mr. B brought up the weapon higher, aiming right for her face.
"All right Ms. Know It All, tell me one reason why I'm not blowing you away
right here and now."
Foxtrot got up from the table and sashayed over to his chair,
stopping right beside him. "Because, big guy, your weapon isn't charged
and it's not likely to be in the two seconds I have to do this," and she
neatly disarmed him, while pulling her own unpowered Beretta and aiming it
towards his crotch. "Your move."
Mr. B glared at her, and grudgingly admitted her expertise. "So
what happened to the limo driver?"
"I don't know exactly, " she said and replaced the gun. " I fell
asleep between here and the airport and when my computer link started
buzzing I didn't know what to think. There were the sounds of metal being
contorted and there was heat and then something exploded, but it was a
silent explosion, if you know what I mean. I was knocked out and woke up a
couple minutes later. I got out of that trunk, and that woman over there,"
she said, pointing in the direction she was last seen, "led me to the game.
Ah, Panda," she continued, "I thought you were going to let me know about
the game. But this isn't your game now, is it?"
"Well, Bentley and I are sorta making this a joint venture."
"Like how the *last* game was a joint venture?" she said, raising
her eyebrow.
Panda hemmed and hawed, but Mr. B interrupted saying, "So what
you're saying is you know that someone powerful tried to kill me?"
"I'm not saying that at all. All I'm saying is that your limo was
"taken care of" by the best, and I that I wish I had that person's
arsenal." Foxtrot delved again into her carisak, changing the subject. "I
brought some chips and dip and some margarita mix if any one wants any."
Foxtrot turned to go towards the kitchen to find the salt when she
felt a (tremor in the Force) presence behind her and that presence was
definitely not friendly. Diving towards the farthest end of the table, she
somersaulted to the edge and dropped behind it, coming up with her machete.
Standing on the other side of the table was a tall heavyset man with a burn
mark spread all over the left half of his face. He wore all black and was
brandishing a wicked looking energy weapon. "I've found you now, Foxtrot,
now you're gonna die for what you did to me!"
"Dammit, Jenao, how many times do I have to explain to you. Both
the Furnabi Corp. and Janeson Industries wanted that bomb. We were both
hired to get it, and both of us knew what would happen if either company
got ahold of it. We *agreed* we would blow it up together and make off
with the money. *You* were the one who backed out, who almost got 4 1/2
million people blown to smithereens. So if there's anyone to blame for it,
it's you!"
A few of the poker people jumped at the arrival of this newcomer.
They all turned slowly towards the conversation that had just ended.
But the man was enraged past the point of reasoning. He aimed his
weapon straight at Foxtrot and as everyone on her side of the table fled,
he pulled the trigger. Quickly she leapt out of the line of fire, fearing
that her tail would be singed only to find that the weapon didn't fire.
"What the...!!" shouted Jenao, but he was too late. Foxtrot leapt
upon him, wielding her machete and after a fierce struggle, she brutally
hacked him to death.
The metal in his cybernetic joints was immediately shredded as were
the fiber optic "nerves" and his synthflesh was soon strewn all over the
ground like so many pieces of trash. Everyone in the pen was stunned at
the sight of a disemboweled Cyborg when they expected to see a disemboweled
human. Sheathing her machete, Foxtrot kicked aside some of the debris.
"I'll find Chang, he'll know what to do with this stuff." Leaving the
pen, she thought to herself, "I'm glad I "brought" Jenao with me. These
dupes are fun to have around in situations where I don't know what I'm
walking into. Seeing me destroy "him" like that will make them think twice
about messing with me and it'll put them on edge. All the better to hustle
hem out of their money." And she laughed as she entered the kitchen,
reaming of the filthy lucre she'd gain by the game's end.
r. B sighed and put down his cards. He bowed to the people at the
able and pushed his chair back from the table. "If you will excuse me, I
eed to check on something," his white teeth gleamed and he headed towards
he exit.
ike watched as Mr. B walked towards the exit, obviously going to
see what had happened. A few curiosity-seekers had followed him. Mike
sighed, setting his second glass of sake-turned-orange juice on the ground
- manually this time - and jogged after them.
A few minutes later, they stood around what remained of Mr. B's
limo.
Mr. B was not happy.
"YOU did this!" he shouted, pointing at Mike.
Mike looked mildly miffed. "Me? Hardly." He looked the car over.
"I have bigger fish to fry than your limo."
That was true. Still, Mr. B wasn't willing to dismiss him as a
suspect. Meanwhile, Mike had drifted over to the limo and was inspecting
what looked like a hand print. 'Poor sap. I hope he got out in time...'
Then it hit him. He knew what had happened here. Mike looked up at
the sky. They had found him. 'It took them thirty years... but they finally
traced my original portal.' He suddenly felt very vulnerable, very exposed.
It did not pay to make enemies in the Near Realities...
A taxicab drove up to the zoo's entrance with a shriek. A young
woman in a white blouse, red vest and jacket, and a knee length red skirt
stepped out of the vehicle and lifted her dark sunglasses slightly to look
around.
"This is the place...," she promptly put the glasses back down and
picked up her bag. She paid the driver.
"What?! No tip?!" The woman flicked her left wrist and metal
strips of her left armband slide out and form her claws.
"The tip is never make me arrive late for an important game. Now,
go away before I decide to carve my initials in your forehead!" The taxi
drove off with the back door still open. The claws slid back into their
normal places on her armband and she stepped inside the zoo. She walked
over to the group gathering about Panda's place.
"Konnichiwa!" she bowed to them and her long white hair flowed
around her head to cascade to the ground. She quickly gathered her long
locks up into her arms and begun to braid them. "Dammit! Sorry about
that, I thought the hair band would hold it back." After swinging her
braid to come off her left shoulder, she took off her sunglasses and put
them away. She offered her hand to the people she hadn't met before.
"I'm Virgo Celestra. Zodiak sends his regrets, but he's attending
a meeting at Furinkan to "persuade" the principal about not taking another
trip to Hawaii. Allegra is having an argument with A-ko. Jody is...
unattainable, as is Musica. Rumiko's spying on the Kuno residence. Rob's
in class. So that leaves me as the only one who's free to play," Virgo
looked about. "Um, there's a ship flying above us. Is that normal?"
askuse@execulink.com
Michael White <aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca>
Damon Jason Casale <scyth+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Robert G Orick <rgorick@eleven.uccs.edu>
Fozzy: <Hmmmm.... good question.> Hey, Ash! Are ya busy?
Ash: Go away! Can't you see that I am watching COPS?
Fozzy (glancing at tv): Mardi Gras. Cool.
Ash: The varieties of human behavior never cease to amaze me.
Besides the show is often quite hilarious. Anyway, what did you want?
Fozzy: You still got your saddle right? .....(Ash nods an
affirmative)..... Good. Mr. White wanted to know who would make the most
impressive entrance. I figured you would be happy to oblige.
Ash: It depends. Have you written anything on the outline for the
story?
Fozzy: Yep. Look here. A whole paragraph.
Ash (looking dubiously at the indicated material): It's better than
nothing. <sighs> I suppose. Get your things together while I fix the
saddle. (trods off to his lair)
Fozzy: <Lets see. Two Dr. Peppers... money... poker visor... chips
& dip...
Ash: Hurry up or you're going to miss the game.
Fozzy (grabbing a couple of bags): All set. Let us depart on a
wing and a prayer.
Ash (groaning): On a wing anyway. <that was bad, really bad> Just
one question......
Fozzy (distantly): Huh? Whadda ya wanna know?
Ash (grinning evilly): Did you bring your Dramamine? Humph.
Fozzy: Double barreled gattling gun? Violent, aren't we? Why don't
you pack the whole Warthog?
Ash: Now now Fozzy, be nice.
Fozzy: Gomen. Just got a little carried away.
Ash: I should say so. <By men in white suits.>
The Beijing Zoo was unusually quiet. All except for the panda
enclosure. Sounds of a party were emanating from it. A half-human fox and a
woman in jeans and a black leather duster could be seen making their way
towards the noise. They were too engrossed in conversation to notice the
shadow pass by. The owner of the shadow appeared to be looking for
something; a place to land.
Spying just such a place adjacent to the front door to the panda's
pen, the owner met his shadow with surprisingly little noise. Though not
without causing a small breeze. The fox, who had just disappeared through
the door, did not notice but the woman in the duster did. "Duster" turned,
examined the disturbance then calmly remarked, "Now there's something that
you don't see every day." She found herself confronted with a 150-foot (tip
of snout to tip of tail) purple dragon.
"Ahhhh. Now that was fun," the dragon sighed in contentment. He
noticed "Duster" giving him the once-over. "Greetings my dear lady," he
rumbled. "It is indeed a pleasure to meet you."
A figure dressed in a pirate's outfit and carrying a backpack
climbed off the back of the dragon. It heard the dragon greet someone.
"Ash! Will you PLLLLLLEEEASE shut up," the figure cried.
"C'mon Fozzy. I'm trying to make friends," Ash admonished. "Surely
you can't argue with that."
Ignoring his erstwhile companion, Fozzy made his way toward
"Duster". "I would advise not paying too much attention to this schmuck,"
he remarked jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "His idea of fun is
playing chicken with a 747 and a C-5A Galaxy!"
"An unusual pastime indeed." "Duster" remarked noncommittally.
"You don't know the half of it. I'd love to stay and chat but I'm
a little late. Through the door I presume?" Fozzy got an affirmative nod
from "Duster". As he hurried for the door, Fozzy called, "Ash, try not to
cause too much trouble. Remember, we are guests here."
"No problem Foz," Ash replied. "I'll tell you what. I'm going to
scope out the area. There was a bus on the road a ways back and I'd like to
take a look at it. I promise I won't hurt them." With that said Ash took
off, flew over the pen and started hunting the ZAV bus.
<I'm glad I'm not on that bus,> thought Fozzy. <It's liable to get
*very* messy in there.> <Well now, what have we here?>
What greeted Fozzy upon entering the pen was quite a sight indeed.
There was a stereo set up on one wall, playing something he did not
recognize. On another wall, there was a long rectangular table filled with
munchies. Someone was taking them and trying very hard not to be noticed.
Equidistant from the two was a circular table, around which sat
the most unusual group of people Fozzy had ever seen. There was Panda of
course. It was his place after all.
Chang looked to be on his way to grab a snack. A couple of others
that Fozzy did not know what to make of were looking about, wondering when
the cards would be dealt. The half-human fox Fozzy had noticed earlier was
sitting next to an empty chair. "Is that seat taken," Fozzy asked as he
approached her.
[Meanwhile]
<They're around here somewhere,> Ash thought as he flew over the
highway. After a few minutes he spotted a small bus weaving erratically.
<Got 'em!> Making note of the terrain (flat), traffic (none) and any man
made obstacles (none of any consequence) he maneuvered his way over to the
bus undetected. Considering the amount of noise coming from it, not that
difficult. He positioned himself directly over the bus. Then he stuck his
head down, looked the driver right in the eye and said in a loud voice,
"BOO!"
(coutureg@comm.hq.af.mil)
(fozzy@radix.net)
Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu
* Love *
Between two people, there is nothing that
can draw them closer together
Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu
* Love *
Between two people, there is nothing that
can draw them closer together