Since Stargazer has deemed it almost obligatory that I produce or suffer
the consequences...  8)  ...I'll go ahead and post what I have for
chapter 2.  It's *really* short, so don't shoot me.  :P

I'm gonna watch ep 2 of BGC again, then call it quits for the evening.
Sunset's in about an hour, so I have to get ready for the Sabbath.  8)

Any C&C appreciated.  Thanks goes to Stargazer for the useful BGC info,
again.

BGC/WHO:  Slipt, part 2.

        It was several hours before Ace and the Doctor arrived at what
could loosely be termed civilization.  A small electric lantern allowed
them to pick and scrabble their way towards the city, across the canyon
along the only major thoroughfare which had been cobbled together since
the last great Kanto quake of 2025 to bridge it, and into the dangerous
side of Tokyo that had the disheartening appearance of one huge,
run-down trailer park.  It was the worst place to begin asking questions
about what might have caused their troubles the evening before, and the
worst time of the day, when the dawn was just beginning to creep over
the sleeping giant of a city, stirring it to reluctant, wary
wakefulness.
        Naturally, it was there that they began.

        A thundering horde of motorbikes roared past them on the street.
Most of the bikers headed left down a side street ahead of them.
        A huge, crudely shaven brute wearing an earring sporting a
skeletal, but clearly human finger pulled up in front of a bar across
the street.  His motorbike was a hulking monster, idling at a dull
roar, with the moniker "Cranks" neoned onto the gas tank.  The unfortunate
bouncer at the bar's door was shoved bodily through the wall, the crash
and sickening wet slapping sound audible even over the motorcycle's
engine.  Moments later, the street was almost quiet again.
        "Doctor," Ace whispered, "I don't like it.  Let's go back."
"Nonsense," he replied.  "We've only just arrived.  We haven't even had
breakfast yet."
        Ace glanced around the street.  Nearly a mile away, a woman
screamed shrilly, then fell silent in mid-scream.  "I'm not very
hungry."

        From a trailer at the end of a dirt cul-de-sac, a pair of
intensely brown eyes followed them down the street suspiciously.
"Shit," muttered a woman's voice just inside.

                        *       *       *

        "Priss, you can't be sure they had anything to do with it," a
short, redheaded girl said.  The short redhead in question was leaning
against a wall in a meticulously neat storage room.  Several boxes were
carefully piled in short stacks in a far corner.  Most were labeled
"Silky Doll".
        "Oh yeah?  Explain those two strangers showing up in *that*
district of MegaTokyo the morning after we saw that--that *thing*."  This
time it was a taller woman wearing a biker jacket.  Those same intensely
brown eyes hammered unmercifully against an innocent dust bunny drifting
across the floor for a full three seconds, before she turned to gaze at
the lady standing across from her.
        Lady, was all the description Sylia needed.  Her demeanor spoke
of an inner calm that radiated outward, sweeping away Priss's low,
rumbling anger.  She wore a small, practiced smile which flicked to
cover the other three women present.
        "Priss has a valid point," Sylia concluded.  "Nene--"  The
redhead nodded quickly.  "I'll find out who they are," she replied.
        The fourth woman, who had thus far remained silent, now spoke.
"But they're not Genom people, are they?"  She seemed the most nervous
of the four.
        "No," Priss agreed.  "But they're dead if they stay around there
for too long."  Linna giggled.  "The Ota district doesn't give you any
trouble."  "They know better than that," Priss shot back, without
missing a beat.
	Sylia's expression flickered again momentarily.  Instantly, the
other two women were silent.  "Nene," Sylia began after a slight pause,
"run a low level Mellifera search on any kind of research going on on the
other side of the fault."
	The data search would take time, perhaps even weeks.  But it would
provide them with the starting point they needed, and they could afford to
be patient.
	Nene nodded.
	Sylia smiled.  "That concludes our business today.  Don't forget
the training session this evening, after the concert.  Good luck, Priss."
Priss grinned.  "I'll knock 'em dead."
	They all laughed.  "I'm sure you will," Sylia whispered to
herself.

                        *       *       *

Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^