Authors Notes:

I am reposting this because of the lousy formatting the last one had for
those using PINE.
The most frequently asked question about the series (besides when I'm
coming out with more) is 'Duh?'

I direct your attention to the nice prologue, which explains everything.

That said, enjoy the show.


The Sum of All Parts : Black
Neon Chronicle Evangelion

=====

Chapter One

	"So... Misato-san... why isn't my father taking me to school today?" 
fourteen-year-old Ikari Shinji asked the long-haired brunette in the driver's 
seat.
	"Because, he's busy at NERV, I already told you, Shinji!" Misato said, not 
taking her eyes off the road. "Kaji is meeting with him and Sub-Commander 
Fuyutsuki. They're preparing to transport Unit 02 to the Geofront sometime 
today," she said.
	"What about Mother?" brown-haired thirteen-year-old Ikari Rei asked 
quietly.
	"I think she had some business with Seele. Something about preparing the 
Fifth Child or something," Misato absently replied. "Why do you keep asking
me 
these things? I'm going out of my way to do you and your parents a favor
here!"
	"Well, it's because..." Shinji began, but he was cut off.
	"It's because the famous First Child baka Shinji here would rather not be 
in the same vehicle with me," Soryu Asuka Langley spat from the back seat.
She 
brushed her red hair back and shifted uncomfortably in the back seat. "What
is 
it with these Japanese cars? Why can't you people even get any decent
upholstery 
for your tiny cars?" She bounced around for effect.
	"What the Second said," Shinji said, jerking his thumb behind him.
	Misato snarled. "I don't want to hear another word from you kids! Shinji, 
Rei, you're stuck with it, so shut up about it already. Asuka, you know 
Commander Ikari assigned you to live with me, so I suggest you get used to
Japan 
pretty soon, because you haven't got a choice!"
	"I _am_ shut up," Rei said expressionlessly.
	"Heh, the Commander assigned me to stay with you so you could get better 
sleep at night," Asuka said, smirking.
	"I DON'T get any decent sleep at night with you around, anyway!" Misato 
retorted, nearly sideswiping a little old lady sprinkling water on the street.
	"I refuse to be a part of this mess," Rei said, not loud enough for anyone 
else to hear.
	"Better than if Kaji-san sneaked in your apartment every night if I wasn't 
around," Asuka flatly replied.
	"Kaji? Why would I want that loser in my room at night anyway?" Misato 
said, swerving the car to the right, running over the curb and almost running 
over a little black pig.
	"I told Dad I could walk with Kensuke and Toji, but no..." Shinji 
muttered, crossing his arms.
	"Why the heck do we have such lousy living quarters anyway?" Asuka 
demanded. "The place is a dump, it's full of weirdoes, the unit itself is 
cramped, and worst of all we have to sleep on the floor!"
	"Because the Commander said for us to keep a low profile so as not to draw 
attention to our operation! Besides, what's wrong with sleeping on the
floor? We 
Japanese have been doing it for centuries!" Misato snapped. She barely
avoided 
hitting the rear tire of the bicycle in front. The red-capped rider seemed
not 
to notice. "Damn cyclers! If he'd only take those earphones out maybe he'd be 
able to hear to save his life!"
	"You, Japanese boy," Asuka said to Shinji, "tell me why you people sleep 
on the floor. Are you just that cheap?"
	"I sleep on a bed, thank you very much," Shinji said, looking at her 
through hooded eyes.
	"See what I mean? We have to wait hand and foot on Golden Boy here just 
because he's the commander's son! What's probably the only reason he's a 
prospective EVA pilot in the first place!" Asuka said, pointing a finger at 
Shinji.
	"That's not true!" Shinji protested. "I ranked highest in aptitude for the 
qualification exams!"
	"Your father probably just rigged the exams," Asuka said accusingly.
	"DID NOT!"
	"If that were true I'd be Second Child, Asuka, not you," Rei said flatly.
	"We're here," Misato said, stepping on the brakes. She unlocked the doors. 
"Okay, kids, I'll pick you up at around five."
	"Don't bother, Misato-san," Shinji said, slinging his bag over his 
shoulder and opening the door. "I'll walk home with Toji and Kensuke."
	"I'm walking home as well," Rei said.
	As she said this, a bicycle zoomed past the car and screeched into the 
school courtyard.
	"What the HECK was that?" Misato asked, sticking her head out the window 
for a better look.
	"Oh, just Natsume-kun," was Rei's parting words as she left the car.
	Shinji said. "Thanks for the lift. Bye." And with this he stepped out and 
walked into school grounds.
	"I'm going shopping with Hikari and Ibuki," Asuka said, exiting the car. 
"You don't have to pick me up either. Auf wiedersehen."
	"Okay, take care," Misato said as Asuka shut the door. She stepped on the 
gas and started to pull away from the curb. "Thank God," she muttered.

	"Commander Ikari, I can explain," Kaji began to say, but he was 
interrupted.
	"Kaji," Gendo said, hands clasped in front of him as he sat behind his 
desk, "I send you to do the simplest task and you botch it up?"
	"Commander," Fuyutsuki pleaded, "there's no need to get upset. It's easily 
rectifiable."
	Outside Gendo's office the red figure of the Evangelion Unit 02 could be 
seen being loaded by ocean carrier into the docking bays by a crew of about
two 
hundred personnel from the inland channel leading to the ocean.
	"It had damn better be, Fuyutsuki," Gendo said. "I sent you to Germany to 
get it and you try to cheat me by giving me these cheap imitations?" Gendo 
pulled open a drawer and picked up a can and slammed it on his desk. "Kirin 
Beer, Kaji? Have you ever heard of a German beer named Kirin?!" He lobbed the 
empty can and hit Kaji on the head before it fell, clattering on the Jacob's 
Ladder inscribed on the office floor.
	Kaji swallowed hard but didn't flinch.
	Fuyutsuki sighed. Gendo was in one of his funny moods again.
	"I merely got the package mixed up with another one, sir. I have the real 
goods with me right now," Kaji said, raising up a plastic bag.
	"I imagine your girlfriend's surprise when she opened her stash of beer 
and found Oktoberfest-quality brew in it instead," Gendo said, standing up
and 
walking toward Kaji.
	Kaji was sweating visibly. "Sir, I assure you, not one of these cans were 
consumed. I fought long and hard to save them, sir."
	"I imagine you did," Gendo smirked as he walked beside Kaji. He quickly 
snatched the bag from Kaji and walked back behind his desk, back turned to
him. 
"I have your report of the Unit 02's delivery, as well as your missive from 
Chairman Kiehl. That's all for now. Dismissed."
	Kaji began to walk away, but Gendo called back, "Oh, and one more thing." 
He turned around to face Gendo and reflexively raised his hand to block
another 
beer can blow to the head. He caught it and looked at it. It was one of the 
Commander's!
	Gendo smirked. "For your trouble."
	Kaji nodded and exited the office.
	Gendo sat down and placed his feet on his desk as he opened one can and 
tossed another to Fuyutsuki. He chuckled as he raised his can in
mock-toast. "To 
world domination."
	Fuyutsuki weakly grinned as he opened his and pretended to take a drink. 
He could never understand the appeal of these things. 
 	The trouble with pretending to drink in Gendo's office is that there was 
no place to spit. Not a single potted plant or vase anywhere. Aside from the 
Sephiroth and Jacob's Ladder inscribed in the ceiling and floor there was no 
other feature to the place except for the lone desk in the middle. The only
way 
to fake it was to raise the can to one's lips and tilt it like you were
pouring 
the disgusting concoction into your mouth, except of course your mouth was
shut.
	"Yui says hi," Gendo said off-handedly, which made Fuyutsuki spit. Since 
the can was tilted toward his closed mouth he wasted about a third of the
beer, 
spilling it on the floor.
	"You're so easy to fluster, Kozo," Gendo said, smirking, as he took one 
last pull from his beer, opened a drawer and dropped the empty can inside. He 
looked forlornly at the beer on the floor for a moment. "What a waste."
	"Gendo, will you please be serious for once?" Fuyutsuki snapped, wiping 
his mouth with the back of his hand.
	"Fine, fine," Gendo relented. "Chairman Kiehl says that the training of 
the Fifth Child under my wife's guidance goes according to schedule."
	"That's good. Do we start synchronization tests for the rest of the 
Children?"
	"Soon," Gendo speculated, swiveling his chair from side to side with his 
feet. "We only have one slight problem. Yui would never agree to Shinji or
Rei 
taking it just yet. I still have a lot of convincing to do. You know how much 
trouble the synchronization test gave her, remember?"
	"For one thing, she was already too old to synchronize properly with the 
EVA," Fuyutsuki argued. "And another thing, Dr. Akagi pushed her test too far 
without prior consent from you or me. I'm surprised you didn't censure her
for 
her actions."
	"Oh, believe me, what I did was punishment enough for Naoko. She's still 
being punished to this day, in fact," Gendo said, and a sly smile formed on
his 
face. "But still, we needed her expertise at Artificial Intelligence, and I
was 
not going to let such a valuable mind go to waste for that, not matter how 
reckless it was."
	"I suppose you're right, Gendo," Fuyutsuki said, as he raised the can to 
his lips.
	"Fuyutsuki-sensei."
	Fuyutsuki raised his eyebrows in query.
	Gendo smiled. "You're faking again."

	Kaji walked down the hallway to the main elevators, open can of beer in 
hand. No wonder the Commander was so possessive of these things. Kaji
grinned in 
satisfaction as he raised the can to his lips as he waited for the elevator.
	"You liar! You told me those were for the Commander!"
	Kaji froze with the can to his mouth as Misato appeared from behind the 
elevator door. "Darling!" he said, throwing his arms out wide and deftly
tossing 
the can in the trash can beside him. "I missed you!" he exclaimed, stepping
into 
the elevator.
	"You saw me yesterday, you moron," Misato said, folding her arms. "And 
that was one of those beers you said were for Commander Ikari. You lied to me 
again?!"
	"I swear, it's true! He gave me that one can for compensation!"
	"Uh-huh." Misato wasn't buying any. "Next thing you'll tell me you're not 
really having a thing with my landlady, she just had something in her eye."
	"But I'm not having a thing with your landlady!" Kaji protested. "How 
could I have time to when I'm always with you?"
	"Not since Asuka was assigned to live with me," Misato flatly pointed out.
	"But that was one week ago! Surely you don't think I could do such a thing 
in the span of only one week!"
	The elevator stopped, and the doors opened.
	"Oh, my dear, dear, Kaji," Misato said, patting Kaji on the cheek as she 
walked out of the elevator car. "I guess it's true. I do give you a whole
lot of 
credit," she said behind closing doors.

	"The Second Impact was the flooding as a result of a meteorite smashing 
into the polar ice cap. It completely changed the ecology of the world. 
Fortunately," Soichiro-sensei lectured the class in a nasal voice, "for us 
fortunate enough to be living in Tokyo, the devastation and flooding that so 
ravaged our city was gone the next morning. However, the next morning, as 
everyone knows, the space alien Lum arrived, starting the fateful ten-day
race 
to determine whether or not the planet would be subjugated or left alone. The 
man responsible for our freedom today was Moroboshi Ataru..."
	"Hey, baka Shinji," Asuka whispered. "Is this class boring or what?"
	"I dunno, I think it's quite interesting..." Shinji replied.
	"Will you people pipe down!" Kensuke hissed. "The teacher might catch 
you!"
	"What do you care, otaku boy?" Asuka spat.
	"Guys, chill," the boy with the combed-back hair said. "You wouldn't want 
to be standing out there carrying pails in the hallway again would you?"
	"Toji-chan's right," Ikuko, a brunette with a medium-length haircut 
concurred. She turned to him and smiled.
	Toji blushed. "Th-thanks Ikuko..."
	Shinji heard a 'hmph' and knew it was Hikari, a girl with brown hair and a 
cute freckled face, although he would never admit it to himself. She was
being 
jealous of Toji again, it seemed. "He should know firsthand," she said dryly.
"Uh, that is to say, I uh..." Toji stammered as he faced Hikari.
	"Suzuhara!" Soichiro-sensei yelled at Toji. "Go stand in the hall!" He 
pointed at a bunch of pails full of water in the corner of the classroom.
	Toji picked up a pail with each hand and grumbled out of the classroom.
	"Somehow I don't think that form of punishment works on Toji anymore," 
Shinji commented.
	"You think so? Gee," class rep Yagami Ibuki said, snorting. "What made you 
say that? Could it be the fact that this is the fourth time this week and
it's 
only Wednesday?"
	"Frankly, I don't see what the heck Hikari and Ikuko see in that loser," 
Asuka said, shrugging.
	Shinji stole a glance at the teacher. Soichiro-sensei's back was turned to 
the class (while he was admonishing Toji outside) and so he leaned an elbow
on 
Asuka's desk and smirked at her. "Maybe it's because he's a nice guy,
Soryu." He 
laid a finger on Asuka's forehead. "And maybe the appeal of being nice is
lost 
to that elitist Aryan brain of yours."
	"WHAT?!" Asuka said, pushing off from Shinji and getting to her feet. "You 
take that back!"
	"Miss Soryu!" Soichiro-sensei yelled. "Pails! Hallway! Now!"
	"But... but it was Shinji's fault!" Asuka pleaded, pointing a finger at 
Shinji.
	"Me?" Shinji asked in a disgustingly innocent voice, already seated. "I 
was just sitting here, Otonashi-sensei. And it's not polite to point at
people 
like that, Asuka."
	"How does the man do it?" Kensuke wondered out loud.
	"I dunno," Ibuki said, "but if it weren't for him Miss Germany here would 
so much more unbearable."
	"Asuka. Out. Now," Soichiro-sensei said, signaling toward the pails and 
the door.
	"Hmm. Uncle Soichiro's in a bad mood lately," Ikuko mused.
	Asuka grabbed a pail in each hand and muttered out of the classroom.
	Shinji smirked. "Gee, from the time those two keep spending together out 
in the hallway, you'd think they were an item or something."
	Hikari growled at Shinji. Ikuko just grinned.
	Shinji threw up his hands in mock-surrender. "Oops! I didn't really mean 
to say that, honest!"
	"Right," Ibuki snorted, grinning at Shinji.

	Rei never really was any good with people. Always the shy one, she stood 
in the shadow of her more active older brother for most of her life. Not that 
she minded. She looked to hide behind his shadow most of the time, anyway, to 
avoid the awkwardness of human interaction.
	Of course, Rei knew she was pretty. Enough people had said it consistently 
enough to convince her that they weren't making it up. Besides, people said
she 
looked like her mother and she always thought of her mother as the most 
beautiful woman in the world.
	The problem arose when she was told this directly. She never knew how to 
deal with compliments, since her brother received more that she felt she 
probably ever would, and he always downplayed it with his signature sense of 
charming humility. The most amazing part of that was that it was not false 
modesty at all. Father had always taught them that their advantages over
other 
people were only relative, and hearing other people sing your praises was
never 
as important as your own self assessment. Shinji usually felt he was only
doing 
his part.
	Rei, on the other hand, upon being told of her beauty, did not know how to 
react. She knew she had very little to do with the way she turned out. If 
anything, she wanted to point the fawning admirers in the direction of her 
parents, who were directly responsible for her genetic heritage.
	So Rei had little to be proud of herself over, besides her intelligence, 
which she got from both parents, and so very rarely did people recognize it, 
since she was so silent all the time.
	The person who made her even less sure of herself was Natsume Ryunosuke, 
who was at that very moment smiling at her from the other end of the
classroom.
	She could never quite understand what he was smiling at her for. True, 
that one day they sat together all afternoon talking about nothing in
particular 
(which she oddly enjoyed), but that was only because he was waiting for his 
father to pick him up and she was waiting for hers. When the time had come
for 
them to leave she strangely felt both satisfied and regretful at the same
time.
	Behind Ryunosuke was Yoshimi, another shy girl, but unlike herself was 
properly shy. Which was to say that she was shy as was required of a proper 
young lady such as herself, whereas Rei was simply plain-vanilla shy. It made 
Yoshimi seem demure, while Rei came off as aloof.
	And behind Yoshimi was the short Ichinose Kentaro, a rather sullen boy who 
cursed his own genetic heritage the way Rei cherished her own. For such an 
innocuous-looking boy, though, he had his share of rumors circulating about
him. 
Some said that he lived with his mother who was abandoned by his father who 
disappeared without a trace, which drove his mother to alcoholism, which in
turn 
made his home existence a miserable one. Rei knew better than to take those 
rumors at face value, although most rumors had a grain of truth in them, no 
matter how tiny, and so she took note of it and put it away from her mind,
like 
she did most everything else.
	At that precise moment, Rei turned away from Ryunosuke's gaze.
	"Ryunosuke!" the teacher yelled. "Are you paying attention at all?"
	"No, sir! I mean, yes sir!"
	"Wrong answer! Here are the pails. You know what to do. Take two and..."
	But before the professor could finish Ryunosuke took four in each hand and 
two with his teeth and exited into the hallway.
	"What's the point?" Kentaro muttered. "He could carry a hundred gallons, 
no sweat. What's ten pails?"
	Yoshimi giggled, covering her mouth with her right hand and facing front, 
bravely trying to keep on a face of seriousness.
	Rei blinked, felt like she wanted to do something, but because she wasn't 
exactly certain of what was proper to do, did nothing. Instead, she
listened, or 
tried to listen, to what was left of the lecture.

	"Home from work, Ritsuko?"
	"Yes, mother," Akagi Ritsuko called back, towards the kitchen. She took 
off her shoes and walked toward the sofa, collapsing in a comfortable heap. 
Diagnostics. Diagnostics. All she ever did at NERV was diagnostics.
Diagnostics 
for the MAGI. Diagnostics for the surveillance equipment. Diagnostics for the 
Entry Plug circuitry.
	She sighed. And now that she was home, her life would be treated to 
diagnostics from her mother. She waited for several seconds for the tirade to 
begin.
	It did, and her mind began to parse. "Did you meet anyone new at work?"
	"No, mother." [New Boy at Work Test: Failed.]
	"Is there anyone you particularly like at work?"
	"No, mother." [Any Boy at Work Test: Failed.]
	"How about Kaji? He seems like a rather nice fellow to me."
	"No, mother, he's Misato's." [Old Guy Friend Test: Failed.]
	"Are you sure?"
	"Yes, mother." [Cyclic Redundancy Check: Failed.]
	"But I see the two of you flirting all the time." [Checking Bad Sectors 
for Recoverable Data.]
	"Trust me mom. It's harmless flirting.  [Primary Check: Failed.]
	"How can he be Misato's? They keep fighting with each other." [Checking 
Bad Sectors for Recoverable Data.]
	"That's the point, mom. They keep fighting. They might as well be 
married." [Secondary Check: Failed.]
	"How can you say that? Just because they fight all the time doesn't mean 
they're meant for each other. Look at Commander Ikari and me in the past." 
[Benchmark Testing.]
	"Trust me mom. They're hopelessly in love with each other." [Benchmark 
Test: Failed.]
	"Really, Ritsuko! When do you plan on giving me grandchildren? Why when I 
was your age you where what? Eight?"
	Ritsuko sighed and attempted to sleep through the rest of her mother's 
speech. [Extracting files from archive.]

	"Yui, Dear? It's me, Gendo."
	Yui smiled. Gendo knew she did, even over the speakerphone. "Oh, Gendo! I 
missed you." 
 	It was enough to make a man believe in the existence of God. "I missed you 
too. The kids are fine, I had Misato drive them to school today, I had an 
important meeting to attend." He stuck out his tongue and turned his eyes
up at 
the half-truth.
	"Really? I hope we're not imposing on her too much."
	"What's to impose on? She's got a car, she was heading that way  to drop 
off Asuka anyway."
	"Yes, but Honey, you made her live with Asuka in the first place."
	Gendo grinned. "So I did. What an odd and fortuitous coincidence!" He 
stuck his tongue out again.
	"Whatever," her heard her say sarcastically, although he could hear the 
grin in her voice. "You'd better not be messing around back there while I'm 
gone, buster!"
	"Mess around? I'm hurt, truly hurt."
	"Uh-huh."
	"No, seriously!" Gendo said, emoting his 'deep emotional distress'. He 
staggered back a few steps, clutching at his chest. "Oh, you have cut me to
the 
core of my very being! Why do my actions inspire so much distrust in you, my 
beloved?" He took his glasses off and threw them on top of his desk in one 
single motion, with a flourish, openly 'weeping' into his other hand. "How
could 
I possibly even look at other women while I have you, my dearest? It pains
me so 
to hear you say such." He said this while pretending he was about to faint.
	Yui burst out laughing. "Oh, Rokubungi, you're so ridiculous!"
	"I try my best," he said, grinning.
	"Well, anyway, I'm coming home in a few days with the Fifth Child. I hope 
you can control your primal urges until then, or I shall have you fire
Captain 
Katsuragi and both Dr. Akagi's and replace them with toothless old spinsters."
	"Spinsters? Don't you think that's a bad idea? They might be desperate 
enough, you know."
	"Oh, stop it, Gendo!" She giggled, always a pleasant thing to hear. "Well, 
I'll see you then. Bye, Hon!"
	"Bye, dear." Gendo pressed the button and cut off the call. He sat back 
down, rested his feet on his desk, and leaned back, hands behind his head. He 
sighed to himself in satisfaction.
	"Ahem."
	He turned to face the source of the noise. "Yes?"
	Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki wore a weary and rather sickly look on his face as 
he faced Gendo, eyes hooded. "Commander, can I go now?"


To be continued...

=====

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

Four shards of the one mirror. Four fragments of a whole greater than the
sum of 
all parts.
And slipping in between the cracks are tiny little pieces of the Nanban
Mirror, 
changing reality by a ridiculously trivial degree. Other shards of the one 
mirror. Tiny fragments of reality substantially lesser than the sum of all 
parts.


HIBIKI RYOGA : YELLOW, WITH BLACK SPOTS

	Ryoga ran toward the dojo, ring in hand. "Akane, at last I'll finally be 
able to tell you how I feel! Just wait for me! I'll free you! I'll stop this 
stupid wedding you have with Ranma if it's the last thing I ever..."
	SPLASH! Into a mud puddle he went.
	"Bwee! Bu-kiii!"
	Oh, P-chan thought weeping to himself as he helplessly watched the Shinto 
wedding proceed before him, if only I hadn't followed Ranma all the way to 
China, I would still be a man, man enough to stop this wedding and confess my 
love to Akane, and defeat that wretch Ranma!"
	As he wept, a tiny pig tear fell on an even tinier shard, that sparkled a 
little.

One destiny slightly altered. One shard changing one reality by a
ridiculously 
trivial degree. One teeny tiny shard of the one mirror. One fragment 
substantially lesser than the sum of all parts.


The Sum of Spare Parts : Yellow, with Black Spots
 
	Ryoga wandered through the dense wilderness. "Damn it! When I find you, 
Ranma Saotome, I'll destroy your happiness!"
	A teeny tiny sparkle of light. A pale flicker of insight. Memories, 
somewhat trickling onto Ryoga's mind, underwhelming it with memories he could 
barely understand anyway.
	"No! If I continue on this mad quest to find Ranma I'll fall into the 
Spring of Drowned Pig!" Ryoga gasped. "I must turn back and return to Japan, 
while I still have my manhood! I've been given a second chance!"
	He looked around. "Now if I could only remember the way back home."

	After days of trekking through the dense jungle, he emerged into a 
clearing. He looked and saw a raised ledge. "Huh. Maybe I can get my bearings 
from up there. It looks like a good vantage point. Maybe I can see the way
back 
to Japan from there. I'm through with looking for Ranma."
	He trudged up the incline and took a good look at his surroundings. "What 
are all these little ponds doing here? Maybe I'm in Hokkaido..." he supposed, 
looking over a feudal era map of Japan.
	"Come back here, old man!" he hear someone say. "Oh no!" he cried.
	A panda ran past him and he began to panic. "No! It can't be!"
	He got kneed on the head by a very familiar red-haired pig-tailed girl.. 
at least, familiar until the point where he got smacked on the head, then he 
completely forgot about where he saw her before, forever.
	He plummeted down, down, and he saw below him a spring with a bamboo pole 
jutting out of the surface of the water. "How positively odd," he thought out 
loud. "I appear to be experiencing d�j� vu," he said as he struck the
surface of 
the water.
	Surprised by his newfound (and transitory) eloquence gained through head 
concussion, he opened his mouth in an effort to speak out loud the last
profound 
statement he could get out of it. Such a shame too, for if he had managed
to say 
it out loud it would have changed the course of his life and the lives of
others 
forever, but it came out thus:
	"BWEEEEE!!!"


=====
TimeRunner's Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482

icq: 7153134 (Keiichi)
=====

"The story grew in the most convoluted way, as many people will be
surprised to learn. Writing episodically meant that when I finished one
episode I had no idea about what the next one would contain. When, in the
twists and turns of the plot, some event suddenly seemed to illuminate
things that had gone before, I was as surprised as anyone else."

--- Douglas Adams, "A Guide to the Guide"

"Mos people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They
want to HAVE BEEN  writers."

--- James A. Michener