I hope this is the last revision I'll have to make.  But the only way I'm
gonna find out is if I can get some C&C on it.  ^_-

For all of you who've never read this before, and might like a scifi/
romance/angst story, give at least the prologue and the first chapter of
volume one a chance.  I'm hoping you won't be sorry you did.  8)

-----

				   *******
				Blue Lightning
				   *******
				   Prologue

			   (c)1995 By Damon Casale


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

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


	I wrote that only five years ago, trying to come to grips with the 
backsliding the entire world had gone through in such a short period of 
time.  By the end of the 1990's, there was already plenty of evidence that 
something was seriously wrong.  Economic crises were being referred to as 
"recoveries", foreign "aid" and other blunders had drained the coffers of 
the only remaining superpower, and people generally tried to ignore it all 
and just eke out a living.  It only got worse during the first decade of 
the twenty first century, when world councils were formed from the dying 
nations to combat the evils, and given outrageous amounts of power to do 
so.  The remaining intelligence agencies sold themselves out, turning 
either mercenary, or working for some faction or another left over from the 
power struggle.

	It almost seems like an eternity since then.  I've seen more and 
lived more in the past few years than I had ever, before.  And I'm not just 
referring to my only partially successful attempt to escape the 
totalitarian rule.  I should start at the beginning, of course, but then 
the story would take forever to tell.  So I'll start five years ago.  The 
day Kerin died.
	Am I writing this for myself?  Yes and no.  I can't hold it inside 
any longer.  But more than that, I want to remember.  Kerin and I had had 
good times and bad times together, that was what was important to me.  No 
matter who she really was, I needed to remember to survive.  I would never 
have left Earth, if it hadn't been for her.

	I know I'm not making any sense, but it's too much to tell all at 
once.  Thinking back to five years ago...  There were twelve of us who knew 
about the project, not including myself.  The ship, Blue Lightning, had 
finally been completed, and was ready to launch.  I had been careful enough 
to avoid being discovered by the various intelligence agencies, or so I 
thought.  There was only one thing left to do...

	Oh.  Before I even get into that, I should introduce some of the 
major players in my story.  You might know me already.  Then again, you 
might not.  I was a scientist, who'd managed to stumble onto something I 
shouldn't have.  Other than that, I'm pretty average, or at least I try to 
look it.  My greatest flaw, as Steve would have it, is that I'm a pacifist.
	Steve, one of my closest friends since we were kids, became my 
personal bodyguard.  Well trained in many styles of martial arts, and a 
connoisseur of anything from a semi-auto to a rifle, he'd had many 
occasions to put his talents to use.  When I'd first started the research 
and development company bearing my ship's name, the powers that be were 
understandably suspicious.  Several times, we'd both had rather unpleasant 
encounters with intelligence agents after certain secrets...but I'll get 
into that later.

	There are plenty of others who have a part in my story.  Chris, the 
navigator I'd chosen to fly my ship.  She was still pretty much an enigma, 
her past mostly a mystery even to me.  John, the diminutive ship's doctor, 
who had an acidic wit that would offend even McCoy.  Jeremy, the ship's 
engineer, if anyone could be said to hold that title.  He wasn't a Mr. Fix-
it, although his electronics and computer skills I'd had many occasions to 
appreciate.
	And of course, there was Kerin.  But before I get ahead of myself, 
let me begin my tale...the day Blue Lightning lifted off...


Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu

				* Love *
                 Between two people, there is nothing that
                      can draw them closer together