I have here a rough teaser for the fic I plan to work on after Fushigi
Bokei.  If I keep getting ideas like this, however, I might work on both
at the same time.  I'm not against consecutive development, it just
slows things down.

My question is this:  I've seen a few "independent" fics here, that are
not based upon any anime series specifically.  I'm curious about what
the official and unofficial words are about these independent fics.  My
current impression is that as long as the fics are done "in the spirit
of anime", that they are fine on the FFML, even though they are
technically not FAN fics.  From the low amount of traffic of these fics,
worrying about whether they are appropriate or not may be a moot point.

With that in mind, I present the teaser for a yet untitled "independent"
fic.  Things aren't always what they seem....

                                       Whatsit Title
                                   by Andrew Searls
                                      copyright 1999

"150 meters. Okay, I don�t want my fillings knocked loose this time."

"Oh fine. One little bump and all of a sudden I�m a bad pilot."

"Hey, if the landing gear doesn�t get broken this time, I�ll be happy."

"120 meters. You�re drifting starboard."

"I got it already."

"Any surface readings yet?"

"Nah. Not much on radar, though. Can�t have much iron in it."

"70 meters. Slow down."

"I told you I got it."

"What about spectro?"

"Damn thing must be broken. It just says �unknown alloy�. Jeeze, half
the rocks in the belt come up �unknown alloy�. You think they�d come up
with something that can tell what color rock looks like."

"40 meters."

"Looks kinda weird."

"Yeah, it�s so smooth. No craters or lobes or anything."

"Looks like a football."

"Everything looks like a football to you, Greg."

"30 meters. Look sharp."

"It�s creepy."

"Man, I got a bad feeling about this."

"You afraid of a rock just because it�s shaped funny? Maybe it got close
to the sun and melted or something."

"Great, Einstein. Then, how did it get all the way back here?"

"An elliptical orbit. You know, like a comet."

"It ain�t in no elliptical orbit."

"Maybe not now. You know, it does kinda look like a football."

"10 meters. Shut up!"

"I got it. Just relax."

"5 meters. Jeeze, watch your roll!"

"How many times to I have to say..." A gentle thud announced the
landing. "... I got it."

Greg stared at the radar altimeter. "Did you see the range jump there at
the last second?"

Mike turned to Greg. "What? You saw it. Smooth as silk."

Greg shook his head. "No, I saw the altimeter jump just as we touched
down. Like it moved to soften the..."

"What moved?"

"The roid."

"You�re nuts."

John let go of the controls. "Can�t you guys just admit that I can
land?"

The asteroid moved again. This time, the motion was strong enough to
push the ship away.

"I�m tellin� you! That ain�t no rock! It�s a ship or something!"

John grabbed the controls again. "Well, it just sent us back out at 10
meters per second. If we go back to it, we won�t have enough fuel to hit
the other seven roids."

"All stop," Greg said. He stared at the roid. Once again, it looked like
a floating rock, a smooth, dead rock amongst the sea of floating rocks
in the belt. Greg stared for a few seconds more.

John looked over his shoulder once the ship was no longer drifting away.
"Well?"

Greg chewed on his lip before replying. "Call it in."

============
I think the names are cheesy, but it's late and I don't feel like
looking any up right now.  Search and replace is easy enough, anyway.

-Andy Searls
http://www.jps.net/searlsa

I'm not completely insane,
    some parts are missing.