Attach to Part A here

     "And they came here to this galaxy.  With one big difference
however.  You see, even ancient, genius beings make mistakes and 
accidents do occur.  On the trip between galaxies, one of their 
world-ships developed troubles and exploded.  This was a critical 
blow for the Xel'Naga, for this particular ship held the entirety of 
the Leader caste.  This caused the next most powerful race to come 
into ruling power, the Theologian caste.  This was the caste that 
had originally spearheaded the movement for developing and guiding 
life amongst the stars.  At first the Xel'Naga continued as they had 
done for millennia, seeding countless worlds and subtly guiding 
those worlds which already had the beginnings of life.  
But then something happened, something totally unexpected.  
     While exploring a planet-system for life-potential, a small 
craft suddenly appeared near the outer rim.  The exploring Xel'Naga 
ship quickly investigated and discovered the craft and its one 
occupant.  The life-form that was in the ship was like nothing they 
had seen before.  The ship was badly damaged and had appeared to 
have been in a fight, and the person inside was frozen in a 
primitive cryogenic sleep.  But the creature was amazing!  Mind, 
Body, Spirit!  Never before had the Xel'Naga seen such a perfect 
blend and development!  While they themselves had limited control 
over these fundamental forces, the readings for this one, lone, 
frozen being were astounding.  Keeping the life-form frozen, the 
Xel'Naga went about studying him and searching for his place of 
origin.  After seeing and studying the potential of their find, the 
Theologian's fervor and ideology began to change.  No longer 
satisfied in just starting life and watching as it developed,  they 
came to want to create the perfect species.  They wanted to see if 
they could duplicate what they had found.
     They searched the planets that were under their care and 
settled on one of the more advanced engineered species they were 
guiding.  This species was one of the more successful life-forms to 
come from the Xel'Naga seeding campaign.  Their bodies were durable, 
fast, strong, and they adapted quickly to Aiur's (their home planet) 
Jungle environment.  But what interested the Xel'Naga the most was 
the fact that the species had developed a limited degree of 
telepathy.  The Xel'Naga came to think that with the right guidance, 
this species could come to control one of the three powers of life; 
the power of the Mind, or Psi.  They immediately began a program of 
development for this species to accelerate its evolution.  And for 
the first time in Xel'Naga history, there was dissent.  The Scout 
caste of the Xel'Naga was the caste most in tune with the powers of 
the mind, far greater than any of the other races within the 
Xel'Naga.  They were able to use Psi to interact with their 
computers and ships in fundamental ways, and they were able to send 
their thoughts across vast distances.  They warned the Theologians 
of the dangers of forcing the evolution of the chosen species, that 
forcing the development of the powers of Psi could and would cause 
problems as the life-form progresses."
     Ranma watched as huge spherical ships traveled through space 
and observed with interest as suddenly one of the ships slowed, 
stopped, began to spin, and exploded.  This was better than any 
space movie he had ever seen!  Then he was once again floating in 
space, near a large planet.  Behind him was a small planet and a 
bright-blue sun behind that.  After a few seconds, a bright flash 
off to his right caught his attention, and he saw a small craft. Or 
what was left of one, appear out of nowhere.  He found himself 
drifting closer to the ship until he could see into the windows.  
Unfortunately he could not see much, as it seemed the entire inside 
was one solid piece of ice.  A figure could barely be seen trapped 
inside the ice.  The craft was suddenly whisked away and Ranma could 
see it being towed away by another small craft.  As soon as the two 
ships were out of sight, the environment once again changed and 
Ranma found himself in the center of a huge, circular auditorium.  
Tier upon tier stretched from the floor to the rafters in all 
directions.  The room could easily hold hundreds of thousands of 
humans.  The girl once again stood before him and was talking with a 
faraway look on her face.
     "The Theologians, and thereby all other castes, decided to 
ignore the warnings of the Scouts.  And they set about doing it.  
Gently but persistently they began to guide the steps of evolution 
for the chosen species, to whom they had given the name Protoss, 
which meant 'the First Born'.  The Protoss had been living in a 
tribal society, living more by instinct than true thought processes, 
but all that changed.  As a result of the Xel'Naga's manipulations, 
the species evolved at a very quick rate.  They developed quickly 
both in mind and in achievements.  The tribes grew, and met, and 
merged, until the planet was ruled by a single governing body.  A 
communal link between all of the minds of the Protoss was developed.  
They had come to live in harmony and were content."
     "The Xel'Naga, believing that they were close to achieving 
their goals, made themselves known to their children.  The Protoss 
were overjoyed to discover the Xel'Naga and worshipped them as gods.  
The Xel'Naga set about teaching the Protoss about the universe and 
all of its secrets, pleasantly surprised to find a curiosity and a 
drive for knowledge that rivaled their own.  The Protoss learned 
from the Xel'Naga and began studying new fields of research.  As 
they made more and more discoveries, pride in accomplishment and new 
ways of thinking developed amongst the Protoss.  Individuals and 
whole Tribes began desiring individuality and began taking personal 
credit for things.  This sense of individualism grew and grew until 
whole Tribes began actively trying to disengage themselves from the 
communal mind-link.  They now began to look upon the Xel'Naga with 
suspicion, wondering at ulterior motives.  The Xel'Naga for the most 
part were overwhelmed.  They came to believe that they had indeed 
pushed the Protoss too far and too fast.  The sense of 
individualistic ego many of the Protoss were developing was a sign 
of this.  As things got worse and worse, and individuals and Tribes 
alike went into isolation, it was with a heavy heart that the 
Xel'Naga decided to leave Aiur.  It had been a failure.  However, 
while the Xel'Naga were done with the Protoss, the Protoss were not 
yet done with the Xel'Naga.  When they saw their old mentors leaving 
them, the Protoss panicked and attacked their fleeing creators.  
Dozens of world-ships were destroyed before the Xel'Naga retaliated 
and eradicated the Protoss forces.  And so the Xel'Naga left Aiur, 
and the Protoss."
     "Traveling to the other side of the galaxy, the Xel'Naga 
decided to try again, once more over the protests of the Scout 
caste.  Surrounding a fiery planet named Zerus, the mighty Xel'Naga 
selected a small insectoid species called the Zerg as the subjects 
of their next attempt at creating perfection.  Mindful of the 
failure with the Protoss, the Xel'Naga decided to take a different 
approach entirely with the second attempt.  This time instead of 
focusing on development of the Mind, they decided to focus their 
attentions on the power of the Body. Also, they had decided to keep 
the manipulation down to a minimum and hope for the best.  They 
selected a small species that had great handicaps.  The Zerg were 
very small and had no way to effectively manipulate their 
environment, let alone thrive.  They guided the Zerg's evolution so 
that they became a parasitic species that was able to survive by 
infecting larger, more durable, creatures.  They gave the Zerg great 
adaptability skills.  And then the Xel'Naga sat back and watched."
     "The Zerg, now able to thrive upon Zerus, slowly evolved.  By 
infecting spinal nerves and brain matter, they soon were able to 
take control of their hosts and manipulate their environment.  The 
Xel'Naga, wanting to ensure the initial survival of the Zerg placed 
several new breeds upon Zerus, which the Zerg would be able to use 
to develop.  Driven by a need to evolve and thrive, the Zerg soon 
infected all of the major life-forms on Zerus.  The Xel'Naga watched 
in amazement as the Zerg learned to manipulate the evolutionary 
traits of their host creatures and to supercharge those traits.  In 
just a short period of time every major race on Zerus had grown 
tough carapaces, sharp spines, long teeth, and razor sharp limbs.  
The uniformity of the changes to the diverse races was beautiful."
     "The Xel'Naga, remembering the destruction individual desire 
caused on Aiur, structured the Zerg Swarm's collective sentience 
into a semi-sentient being called the Overmind.  The Overmind was 
the embodiment of the Zerg's instincts and drive.  The Zerg became a 
collective. The Xel'Naga were content, they had indeed created a 
species perfect in Body.  However, as they had before, things began 
to go wrong.  The Overmind gradually became more aware and more 
intelligent.  All of the strong life-forms on Zerus had been 
absorbed into the Zerg Swarms, and the weak ones had been destroyed.  
But the fundamental drive of the Zerg caused the Overmind to send 
its mind outward, into the void.  Finding a race of spacefaring 
life-forms traveling through Zerus space, the Overmind mentally 
called out to them.  The life-forms responded to the call and landed 
on Zerus, and were soon absorbed into the Zerg Swarm.  Now the Zerg 
had the genetic blueprints for the ability to travel through space.  
It was now the Overmind sprung its surprise.  Somehow it had learned 
of the Xel'Naga fleet that hovered far above the skies of Zerus.  
The Xel'Naga were astounded when the Overmind severed the mental 
link they had created to observe it's actions.  They were even more 
surprised when wave after wave of Zerg forces suddenly assaulted 
their world-ships.  Understanding and fear swept through the 
Xel'Naga as they came to realize exactly what it was they had 
created.  A race totally without mercy, whose only desire was to 
absorb other races and to make themselves stronger.  Realizing this, 
and in the situation they were in, the Xel'Naga accomplished two 
last actions.  The first was to send away the Scouts with some very 
important cargo, and the second was to self-destruct their ships, 
all of which had been boarded by the Zerg.  The knowledge possessed 
by the Xel'Naga had to be kept from the Zerg's hands, and the 
Xel'Naga themselves could not risk becoming absorbed by their 
children.  The universe's first race, the Xel'Naga, were no more."
     "But the Overmind did not give up.  Before it had severed its 
link with its creators, it had stolen much information from the 
organic computers of the world-ships.  Naturally its research and 
theft was solely on topics that could help it advance its own 
evolution.  Descriptions and reviews of thousands of species were 
stolen and memorized, and, more importantly, the Overmind learned of 
two great bastions of genetic potential.  The first was knowledge of 
a great and powerful species, called the Protoss, which lived on the 
far rim of the galaxy.  The second was the discovery of a being of 
vast potential and power, who was being held frozen by the Xel'Naga.  
Not knowing what had become of the powerful being, the Overmind set 
its eye on the far off race of the Protoss."
     Ranma was now feeling quite woozy.  At first he had simply 
stood in the auditorium and listened to the girl speak, but then the 
view changed again and again.  He started out standing on the ground 
of a strange planet, with huge tree and a jungle-like appearance.  
Soon humanoid creatures walked out of the underbrush, and Ranma 
immediately recognized them as being of the same race as the first 
huge mosaic he had seen in the cave.  Time seemed to speed up and he 
saw these creatures, the Protoss, grow and change.  Simple tents and 
cabins gave way to larger buildings and towns.  Other beings of the 
same race showed up, wearing different colors than the ones he had 
been observing.  And more Protoss showed up.  And more.  The larger 
buildings gave way to huge temples and ziggurats.  A city was born.  
The Ranma saw huge ships slowly descend from the sky and the Protoss 
running to meet them.  A quick blink later he saw the ships take off 
again, this time followed by smaller ships, which began attacking 
the leaving ship.  All around him he could see dead Protoss and off 
in the distance he could see the Protoss killing each other.
     Then he was on a planet that was blackened and burned.  Most of 
the ground was covered with what looked to be a purplish mucus.  He 
watched as a small group of crab-like creatures skittered by. When 
they were a few feet away from him, he saw a small cloud of 
something suddenly fly through the air and land on the creatures.  
The creatures froze in place and flopped down on their bellies.  
They shuddered a bit, as if trying to shake something off, then they 
stopped that too.  Then they stood as one, turned in a new 
direction, and marched off.  Similar scenes were repeated with other 
creatures.  The view changed and he was suddenly floating again, but 
not in space.  He was not sure where he was, but before him was a 
really huge eyeball.  The eyeball had tendons stretching away into 
the darkness, and moved back and forth slowly.  Then he was high 
above an unidentified planet and facing the spherical ships he had 
seen previously.  Suddenly from the planet below him, thousands of 
small creatures burst from the atmosphere and started impacting upon 
the ships before him.  As more and more creatures rammed into the 
ships, causing dents to begin to appear, Ranma saw a large number of 
small craft shoot from two of the ships and fly off at great speeds 
out into space.  Then the huge ships exploded, blinding him 
momentarily.  When his vision had cleared, he found himself back in 
the cave, facing his female half again.
     The girl looked at him, "Do you have all that?"
     Ranma thought for a second, trying to remember what she had 
been saying.  "Nope."
     The girl stared at him for a moment before muttering a soft 
curse.
     The story was repeated.  This time without the graphics.
     "You got it now?" she asked.  It was then she noticed that 
Ranma had fallen asleep.
     When the girl had recovered from her facefault, she fairly 
shouted, "RANMA!"
     "Wha?  Who?  Huh?"  Ranma was awakened and looking around.
     The girl studied him for a minute, with her chin in her palm.  
Her eyes widened slightly as an idea came to her.  Her expression 
then became one of scorn.  "Ha!  And to think I was told you were a 
great fighter.  You seem a little dim to me.  Can't even pay 
attention to a training exercise!"
     Ranma was now alert and his anger had returned.  "What do you 
mean!  I AM a great fighter!  I'm the best!  And what do you mean 
'training exercise'?  All you were doing was telling me some stupid 
story!"
     The girl inwardly chuckled, outwardly she made a show of 
sighing.  "OK, I'll spell it out for you.  The story I told you is a 
cover.  In its meaning you can find the secret to winning the 
greatest battle of your life.  But you have to listen carefully!  
The secret is well hidden, and you really have to think about it.  
To tell the truth," she went on with a bland expression, "I don't 
think you can handle it."
     Ranma was really mad now.  "Hey!  If it has anything to do with 
fighting, I can understand it!  Tell me again, and I'll tell you the 
secret!"
     The girl looked hesitant.  "Well, OK.  I'll tell it one more 
time.  But that is all!"  It was probably a good thing that Ranma 
totally missed the smile that was threatening to break out across 
her face.
     The story was retold once more, but this time Ranma's full 
concentration was brought into play.  Every word the girl spoke was 
recorded, analyzed, and categorized within his mind.
     "Well?  Did you pay attention this time, or were the rumors I 
heard about you just that?  Rumors?"
     Ranma repeated the story back to the girl, word for word.  One 
thing bothered him though.  "So what happened to the guy that was 
found frozen?  Did he get blown up when the Xel'Naga blew themselves 
up?" 
     The girl suddenly looked very hesitant. "Ranma, you have to pay 
attention to what I am about to say.  It is very, very important that 
you believe me.  The story I just told you was not just some bedtime 
tale.  It actually happened.  It may be hard for you to believe, but 
YOU are the being we found frozen!  We don't know how you got there, 
and we don't know where you came from.  When the Zerg attacked, we 
could not risk them getting you, and we did not want you to die for 
our mistakes!  The Theologians gave you into our care and sent us 
off to escape the Zerg!"  The girl was now speaking very 
passionately, stressing what she was saying. Ranma stood still, 
absorbing her message.
     "Waitaminute, waitaminute!  Let me get this straight.  You are 
a billion year old alien that found me floating frozen in space.  
After studying me, you tried to create life and got burned, and now 
your whole race, except for a few outcasts, is dead?  Is THAT what 
you are saying?"
     The girl was now smiling widely.  "Exactly!"  Her smile 
disappeared quickly when Ranma fell down laughing.
     "Hee hee hee hee!  You *HA!* expect me *Hoo!* to believe that? 
*gasp*  C'mon, at least *choke* give me some credit!  *chortle*"
     "Its true!  All of it!  And that's why your memory is messed 
up!"
     This caught Ranma's attention.  While the whole unbelievable 
story had suddenly become a source of great amusement for Ranma, the 
holes in his memory were something real and felt.  If even a glimmer 
of truth could be found in her explanation, maybe it would help him 
figure out a way to get his memories back.  If not, well then, it 
would just take a bit longer is all.
     "What do you mean, 'That's why your memory is messed up'?!" he 
demanded
     The image of the Scout turned sad.  "Look, my people were not 
perfect.  Even within our strict caste system, there were ways for 
incompetent people to raise to positions of responsibility.  When we 
first found you, we did a few scans and then we unfroze you.  
Everything was going well, you were awake and talking.  
Unfortunately, a person by the name of Kuros was assigned to mindtap 
with you so we could communicate more easily.  Kuros was of the 
Theologian caste.  They did not assign a person from my caste, the 
Scouts, because of political reasons.  Kuros was a low level 
Theologian, and his mindtap was a fumbling affair that defeated its 
own purpose.  In his attempt to connect with your mind, his bumbling 
actually destroyed part of your Psi.  Your mind immediately saw this 
is an attack and retaliated, but it was too late.  When we first 
found you, your Psi was seen by us to be a large, bright, golden 
sheet stretching across your mind.  After Kuros was done, there was 
a huge hole in that sheet.  We sedated you and tried to fix the 
hole, but some...unforeseen results took place.  One of those results 
is that part of your brain, the part that seemed to control your Psi 
and held many memories, was numbed.  Those brain cells were totally 
drained of all energy.  There is no physical damage, so your mind is 
slow to realize that there is a problem.  Because of this, those 
cells remain 'asleep'.  Eventually all of these cells will be 
awakened, and your memories should return as they are.  We froze you 
again, not really knowing what to do.  We unfroze you three or four 
more times after that time, in hopes that sufficient healing had 
occurred to attempt another mindtap.  Each time we had to refreeze 
you minutes after your waking up, seeing that the damage was slowly 
repairing itself, but that you had developed an instinctive distrust 
of us.  Every time you were awakened, you immediately attacked us.  
After Korus, we could not blame you.  It was decided that it would 
be kinder to keep you frozen until we found your people so that you 
would have companionship."
     The girl stopped here and looked at Ranma.  "Look, I know you 
don't believe me.  But you will.  Just for now, can't you pretend 
that what I am telling you is the truth?"
     Ranma was looking at the image of the girl with open 
skepticism.  It had occurred to him that this whole thing was just a 
dream or nightmare, but all of his senses have been telling him that 
this was real, ever since he woke up in the strange bedroom.  It 
also occurred to him that one of his old enemies had captured him 
and were doing this for some reason, maybe Saffron.  But nobody he 
knew was able to do the things he had seen.  He decided to play 
along with what this impostor was saying, at least until he found a 
way to escape.  "OK, so you grabbed me and ran away from these Zerg 
things.  Then what?  And why do you look like me? *lets see them 
answer that one!*  What's your name anyways?"
     The image took on a vastly relieved look.  "As I said my people 
have, or had, limited powers over our own bodies.  When we found 
you, a large number of us, mostly from the Scout class and the 
Artist class, chose to alter our appearance to match your species.  
I deliberately chose to look like you because you and I have a 
special bond.  You see, when Korus damaged your Psi powers, I was an 
advisor standing nearby.  After his attempt, and after we removed 
what was left of him, I volunteered to try to replace what was taken 
from you with some of my own power.  What none of us took into 
consideration was your incredible adaptive skills.  As soon as I 
started shoring up the hole with my energy, your mind melded 
perfectly with mine and grabbed hold.  I was unable to remove my 
mind from yours.  It got to the point that your mind started to 
overwrite mine!  If not for the fact that I had several brothers 
there to help me, I may have lost my identity!  As it was, I escaped 
your mind with copies of many of your memories.  I must admit, I do 
not remember too much about what I was like before our 'adventure', 
but I am told that I changed after I was rescued from your mind.  I 
became something of a rebel if the truth be known.  Or, considering 
the reputation my caste has, more of a rebel.  I came away from that 
incident a changed being.  I also came to think of you as a Caste 
Brother, someone whom I should watch over.  You were given into my 
care primarily, and I changed my name to Ranko to symbolize my new 
position."
     "Anyway, after my Caste Brothers and I escaped the Zerg, we 
fled in all directions.  I was given the task to keep you as far 
away from the Zerg as possible, for if they should happen to absorb 
somebody with your potential, then the entire universe would be in 
danger.  None could stand against them.  So I fled to the other side 
of this galaxy, my small Scout ship not being powerful enough to 
travel to a different one.  Ironically, my path led me back through 
the same systems my people had fled.  The Protoss systems.  I had 
traveled so fast and so recklessly that my ship developed fatal 
problems.  I was forced to land on an uninhabited planet near the 
Protoss empire.  Seeking cover, I found a huge mountain range and 
landed there.  After a few months work, I was able to build an 
adequate home within the highest mountain of the range.  I 
cannibalized my ship and moved as much as I could into our new home, 
then I destroyed what was left.  For better or worse, we were stuck 
here."
     "I made sure that you were safe, that the shielding was 
operative, and that my computers were working properly, and then I 
joined you in a hibernating sleep.  Eons passed while we slept.  And 
then I was awakened by my machines.  Something was happening on the 
planet.  I was surprised to say the least when I found beings like 
yourself landing not far from here.  Humans.  Up until then, we had 
never seen another of your species.  I also scanned nearby sectors 
and was overwhelmed with what had happened to the Protoss.  They had 
somehow overcome their problems and were once again a thriving and 
powerful species.  Mindtapping with my computer, I sent my mind out 
across the reaches of space, looking for my brethren.  And I found 
them, hiding and observing like I was.  Spread across the galaxy.  
And that was the policy we decided to take.  We were going to hide, 
never showing ourselves.  We again became simple observers."
     "Another thousand years passed and I watched the humans conquer 
the planet, and then move on to other planets.  For the last time I 
watched a civilization grow.  And I knew it was the last time for me 
because of something that was headed our way.  The Zerg.  They had 
been seen coming straight towards us, consuming all in their path, 
becoming stronger."
     "And then they were here.  I found myself out of time and out 
of options.  My brothers could not come save us for they would stand 
no chance against the Zerg swarm.  And we could not let the Zerg 
know that there were Xel'Naga still left in the galaxy.  I quickly 
created devices that would awaken you when the time was right, and I 
set things up in my home to lead you to this chamber.  You see, as I 
have said, my Caste is strong with Psi.  We see things differently 
then a person with no Psi does.  We live that way, it is our 
lifestyle.  It infuses everything we do.  My chambers could only be 
accessed by a Psi-active being.  And from previous scans, I knew 
that you would not be able to even see the access ports for my 
chambers without help.  And so I set a series of steps that would 
lead you down the path of regaining your Psi abilities.  My mosaics 
would be able to be seen by somebody with very low Psi abilities.  
Your subconscience would automatically start probing your 
surroundings as you became more aware of yourself.  This would be 
enough.  The images on my walls themselves are partially made up of 
Psi imprints.  The longer you look at them, the more your mind will 
react to them.  Becoming stronger, more Psi active.  Hopefully you 
will eventually be able to see the spiral I impressed into the 
floor.  This spiral is perhaps the most important part to the 
process of reawakening your potential and, perhaps just as important 
to you, your memories.  As you followed the spiral, thousands of 
tiny Khaydarin crystals were probing and infusing your mind with 
their power.  As long as you kept moving, this continued.  When you 
stopped at the center, the power had nowhere to go and no source to 
contain it.  And so it dissipated from your mind.  This sudden loss 
would have been a little overwhelming, like the loss of an arm or 
leg.  I daresay that you would lose conscience.  When this happens, 
your mind should become fully aware of the parts of your mind that 
are no longer working, and it should start repairing them."
     "And everything worked!  It had to have, if you are standing 
here listening to me.  You are awake, and on the road to recovery.  
I just wish I was there to see it."  The girl, named Ranko, looked 
wistful as she spoke this last sentence.


Attach to Part C