                GRM Reaper Productions, Uninc.
                     in association with
                  British-AnimeTech Limited
                           presents

                  A PsychoMental Production
                      A Virtual Non-Film

    Benjamin D. Hutchins                Brian D. Bikowicz
             Rob Mandeville, Contributing Editor

                        The Long Road
              Book Two of Undocumented Features

                           THE CAST
     Benjamin D. Hutchins             Gryphon/Ben
     Brian D. Bikowicz                MegaZone
     Rob Mandeville                   ReRob
     Kei Morgan                       Kei
     Yuri Daniels                     Yuri
     Rob Crocker                      Crocker
     John Todd                        Macquivr/q
     Adam Johnson                     Pfloyd/Adam
     Andrew Petrarca                  Android
     Kevin Tefft                      Kevin
     Largo                            Largo
     Jennifer Steen                   Jenna
     Matt Jaffe                       Matt
     John Trussell                    John/Truss
     David Ritchie                    Daver
     Helene Andersson                 Helene
     Christopher Noel Smith           Chris/Logan/Xmas
     Gary Whitten                     Grendel
     Vaughn Gross                     Vaughn/Paladin/Reality
     Erik Swimm                       Erik/easwimm
     Fritz Koopman                    Fritz
     Mark Luchini                     Mark/Haywire
     Mike Callaghan                   Mike/Archon
     Chris Sprague                    Chris/Phantom
     Paul Ard                         Paul
     Lord Fahrvergnugen               Wolfgang
     Decker                           Decker
     Iczer-1                          Iczer-1
     Iczer-2                          Iczer-2
     The Wedge Rats                   The Wedge Defense Force


     Special Visual Effects by Your Brain On Drugs, Inc.

Destruction by Joe Martin Destruction Systems International

  Cooler Neo-TechTronic Things by British-AnimeTech, Limited
                    with the exception of
The Mann Systems Series 101-E Bio-SculptTM Tank by Larry Mann

 Background Music Performed by the Macross City Philharmonic

   From an Original Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D.
                 Bikowicz, and Rob Mandeville

           Kei and Yuri Created by Haruka Takachiho

  Additional Editing by Vaughn Gross, Erik Swimm, and Daver

"Shoot that ship! Blow that up! KIIIIILLLL THEEEMMMMMMM!!!!!"
        Stolen From a Story by Christopher Noel Smith

                 Counselor for Zoner, Jenna

            Counselors for Gryphon, Vaughn and Kei

  Dialogue for SDF-17's AI Stolen from Mrs. Hutchins' Buick

                     Catering by Denny's

     Inspiration by C-Term, NineInchNails, and Pink Floyd

         Plenty of Hassle by PFS: Professional Write

 Extra Special Thanks to PepsiCo, Makers of Mountain Dew and
    Smartfood Inc., Makers of, Well, You Know, Smartfood.

     Extra Special Letter Bomb to Whomever Invented Dawn
    "AAUUGGHH!! Photons!! The Sun is Way too Loud Today."

          Mr. Bikowicz's Wardrobe by Blackbird Intl.

  Mr. Hutchins' Wardrobe by "Where Did You Get That?" GmbH.

            Entertainment by the Disney Afternoon

             Role Model Provided by Darkwing Duck

    Publishing by Eyrie Publishing Co., NotEvenCloseToInc.

 Copyright (c) 1992 Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D. Bikowicz,
                      and Rob Mandeville


 This one is again for all the people out there who love SF,
  anime, and the marvelous concept known as "write yer own".
                     But more than that:
                       For Kei and Yuri
Ben:
 For Zoner, who didn't let me down when my darkest hour came.

               For Vaughn, who helped me deal.

 For Geoff Depew, who liked the first one so much he came to
 Worcester and hung out for a week.  I hereby proclaim him a
                          Wedge Rat.

           For Angus the Wonder Truck.  'Nuff said.

 For Daver, Helene, and Erik, who drove to my house and back
 for no apparent reason one weekend.  The most fun I had all
                 term.  We gotta do it again.

     For the Net!  You love our work.  We love you.  :-)

          For Randy, who is still comfortably numb.

               For Eve, the best singer around.

                          For R.E.M.

                For E7, for making me welcome.

      For all the other people I don't have room for...

Zoner:
 For Ben, sorry for all of the shit that went down this term

   For Jenna, who once again managed to keep me from doing
              something incredibly irrevocable.

 For the entire Howe St. apt., who helped get me through the
                         tough times.

 For the Internet, for keeping me in touch with the world and
              providing plenty of entertainment.

      For the Disney Afternoon, I Am Darkwing Duck! :-D

      For Helene, for making life odd. Ice Cream Truck!

 For Geoff, aka Mephron, you memorized it? Scary, man, scary.

   For Pink Floyd, especially The Wall, how did they know?


----------------------------------------------------------ONE

     "Captain!  Ye only left a moment ago!"
                         --Commander Montgomery Scott

             SOMEWHERE IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

                   THURSDAY 2 JANUARY 1992

     "Yo, we're back!" Zoner shouted as he and Yuri dropped
through the hatch in the Wedge ceiling.  "The Daytona from
Hell handles great in a vacuum, but I think we need to do
some serious modifications if it's going to be out here for
long.  It just won't do for long trips."
     "So...where'd you guys take off to anyway?" Gryphon
inquired from a Wedgebooth/control station.
     "We just zipped around the quadrant a little.  Yuri and
I wanted to spend some time alone.  The stars are really
beautiful without the atmospheric interference."
     "Yeah, and the planets look so pristine from up here,"
Yuri joined in.  "Pluto looks really neat."
     "So, have we figured out where the hell we're headed?"
Zoner asked.  "Or why the Wedge jumped into warp like that?
We were barely able to get it back to sublight.  GweepCo was
working overtime to get the computer to respond to the conn."
     "Okay.  One: we still don't know where the Wedge wants
to go.  Two: I turned the autonav on when I activated
starship configuration under emergency mode, and the computer
was kind enough to warp us out of the fireball.  And three:
GweepCo worked overtime, but they couldn't shut down the warp
drive until q unplugged it by accident.  We do seem to have
control of the conn, though," Gryphon answered.  "We do,
however, have a couple of rather more immediate problems."
     "Like?"
     "Like we took a head count and Vaughn's missing."
     "Oh, no," said Yuri.
     "Shit," Zoner added.  "You sure?"
     "Yep, I'm sure."
     SKWEEEEEKrrkkkweequeRUNK--FOOOOMM!!!--wheeet!whio thud
hissssssss...  "WARNING!  WARNING!  HULL BREACH!  HULL
BREACH!  HULL--NEVER MIND." the computer blared over the PA
system.
     "What the fuck was that?!" Zoner inquired, rather
enthusiastically.
     "Morning," Vaughn said in greeting.
     "Vaughn!" Zoner screamed.
     "Vaughn!" Gryphon screamed.
     "Vaughn!" everyone else screamed.
     "Well, happy to see you too.  What's all the excitement
about?"
     "Vaughn, did you just come in through the Morgan doors?"
asked Zoner.
     "Yeah, why?"
     "Ooooookaaaaaay...  Vaughn, do you realize where we
are?"
     "Not really, where are we?"
     "WE'RE IN SPACE!"
     "Oh."
     "Vaughn, you just walked in from HARD VACUUM!"
     "Thought it was a bit chilly."
     "Nevermind, I just don't want to deal with it. I'll just
accept it."
     "Whatever, well I'm going to go take my eyes out and
become unconscious."
     "G'night."
     "Night," Vaughn replied as he walked away.
     "There is definitely something strange about him,"
Gryphon commented.
     "You haven't lived with him for the past two years.  You
sorta get used to it," Zoner answered.

     "You know, this housing thing is going to be a real
problem in another couple of weeks," MegaZone remarked later
on, indicating the large number of Wedge Rats who were
camping it in corners and booths and on the floor of what had
become the bridge of the starship Wedge.  "I mean, we've got
seven people in E7's living room, another twenty or so up
here, a bunch in the hallway, Android lives in the gweepery,
we've even got some people camped in the engine room.  There
are nearly a hundred of us living in an area that wasn't
designed for people to live in at all--something's gotta
give."
     "Yeah...and add to that the fact that the only shower
around is E7's...makes for quite the line," added Gryphon.
"And the mecha storage; we've got Cyclones stacked all over
hell.  And that Garland of yours--that thing takes up more
space than three people could live in."  Gryphon stretched
and yawned.  "And it's boring."
     "Speaking of showers, where the hell is the water supply
coming from?"
     "You know, I never thought of that. It must be recycled
somehow, or we would have run out by now. Another mystery to
figure out."
     "Well, it would help if we knew where we were going."
     "I told you; the navigational system's locked onto some
kind of automatic course.  Whoever built this thing designed
it to go to one specific place upon launch, and we can't
figure out exactly where.  If we turn on the warp drive
again, my guess is, it'll just resume program and off we'll
go toward Destination X again."
     "Well, since I seem to be captain of this thing, since
no one else wanted the blame, ahem, responsibility, I guess I
better make a decision."
     "What do you want to do?"
     "I say we reengage the warp drive and find out where
we're supposed to go."
     "You sure you want to take the chance?"
     "What the hell else are we going to do?  Bop around the
cosmos sightseeing?"
     "Well, ok, I just hope there's something waiting for us
when we get there..."
     "I hope if there is, it's friendly..."


----------------------------------------------------------TWO

     "All my father wanted to do was make a toaster you could
really set the darkness on.  And you took his work and
perverted it into those hideous machines!"
                         --Sylia Stingray, kind of.

                            EARTH

     The GENOM tower gleamed, silver and mirrored, stretching
all the way up to the two hundred ninetieth floor; it was
nothing compared to the vast arcology it would later enjoy,
but for now it was a most impressive structure, a huge tower
of glass and steel reaching for the sky.  All around it were
the corporation's actual production facilities, connected
into one huge complex by a network of tunnels and glass
transtubes and the like.  The whole vast complex had sprung
up seemingly overnight, in fact, it was overnight, complete
with its own airport and all, in the center of the crater
that was once Worcester, Massachusetts.
     At the building's very top, the president, owner, chief
executive officer, and undisputed lord and master of GENOM
had his office.  And a huge office it was too, encompassing
the entire 290th floor, excepting the outer office and
secretarial pool.  It offered him a beautiful three hundred
degree view of the surrounding wasteland; the remaining sixty
degrees were taken up by beautiful oak-paneled walls
containing bookshelves, paintings, and the like--and of
course the huge, armored oak door to the office.  The back of
the office, in front of the windows, was dominated by a two-
step-high dais upon which rested a magnificent desk, a desk
that appeared to consist entirely of black glass and small
glowing lights.
     Behind that desk, in a luxuriant leather chair, sat the
man who controlled the corporation like Kurita Takashi
controlled the Draconis Combine in the 3020s, a mysterious
man known only as Largo.  Largo was tall and thin, with
straight black hair and penetrating, narrow brown eyes; he
looked Japanese, but no one could ever tell it to hear him
talk.  He spoke English with no accent at all.  He spoke many
languages with no accent at all, as a matter of fact, which
led a lot of people to mistrust him; there were many such
facets of his being that marked him as something more than
human.  And perhaps less.
     Largo was, in fact, a modified HBU-99a Hyper-Buma, and
the third and final free sentient creation of CLULESS.
Created accidentally by Larry "Entropy" Foard, Largo had come
into being on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
and his entire industrial empire underneath it.  He had
decided early on to seize control of the campus and use its
resources to attempt world domination; the faction of
students called the Wedge Rats, with the aid of WWWA Trouble
Consultant team #261 (the Lovely Angels), defeated him
militarily in a resounding battle, slaying his general and
most of his original troops.
     The battle cost the Rats as well; they were forced to
flee into space in the small spacecraft their Wedge had
become as an energy surge caused by the use of an ExoSalusia
Arms Model 4a Wave Motion Rifle caused the nuclear reactor in
the Washburn Shops, modified by Largo and company for more
power, to go supercritical.  The entire city of Worcester and
most of the surrounding boroughs were utterly destroyed in
the ensuing explosion.  Only Largo escaped unharmed, having
fled into the tunnels below the campus.  There he discovered
the underground complex and the means to raise it to
prominence.  Having done so, he activated its vast resources
and began to build his power base.  With the Wedge Rats out
muddling around in space, there would be no one to stop him
this time.
     He picked up the telephone on his desk and dialed a
three-digit extension; upon receiving an answer, he said
simply, "This is Largo.  Are you still on schedule?
Excellent.  Proceed as planned.  Make sure all is in
readiness.  It is vital that these three projects be
completed at once."  He then hung up, stood, and left his
office.
     The turboelevator outside his outer office took him
speedily to his specified destination, a biotech lab deep in
one of the sublevels.  He entered, as he generally did, with
the calm and quiet arrogance of one who knows he is absolute
master of all he sees.  And what he saw at the moment was a
crew of expert biotechs clustered around a Mann Systems
Series 101-E Bio-SculptTM tank, inside which, suspended in
the syrupy red liquid of the tank, was one of his latest pet
projects.  Actually, it was the second in the series; the
first attempt had been, by his standards, a dismal failure.
     Individual Cybernetic Zygote Enhancement Research, the
technicians called it; a biomechanical process whose end
result was device similar to a Type 33-S Buma which could
control and redirect the energy around it and, in addition
generate its own.  Revolutionary; Largo looked forward, once
it was perfected, to having a similar system implanted
somewhere among his own systems, to increase his power.
First, though, he wanted a suitable Buma-style testbed.  He
had insisted on an anthropomorphic design; further, he had
insisted that it be female.  Perhaps if her AI systems
developed far enough and to his liking, he would take her as
a consort.
     "Doctor Astbury," Largo said quietly.  The small man
working at the master console started violently and turned
around slowly, almost reluctantly.  "How is your work
progressing?"
     "A-as well as can be expected, sir, considering the
precautions we had to take after the failure of the first
prototype.  Although I still don't see why you considered her
a failure; all the energy control systems worked perfectly
and her AI was developing at a most pleasing rate--"
     Largo turned and picked up the spare-framed scientist by
the front of the lab coat with a single hand, raising him a
good two feet from the floor.  "I've explained it to you
before, you fool--her psychological profile was all wrong!  I
want a weapon of mass destruction, absolutely obedient to
me--not the living embodiment of conscience!  Conscience has
no place in my plans, do you understand?  That is why I
ordered the first prototype destroyed--she could have proven
a stumbling block, not an aid!"
     "A-absolutely, sir.  Forgive me."  Largo set Astbury
back down on the floor, rather roughly; the scientist dusted
himself off before continuing, "At any rate, the first
prototype has been disposed of, and the second should be
ready to come online and begin testing tomorrow morning."
     "Good.  I don't want to have any more failures, Doctor."
      "You won't, sir.  I've taken a great many precautions
against the development of such a...benevolent personality in
I.C.Z.E.R. 2."
     "Excellent.  Alert me when you are ready to bring this
unit on line.  I want to be there."  Largo went and surveyed
the Bio-SculptTM tank.  "I want her to know immediately who
her master is..."


--------------------------------------------------------THREE

     "As captain, I am responsible for the conduct of the
crew under my command."
                         --Captain James T. Kirk

                      ABOUT A WEEK LATER
                      SOMEWHERE IN SPACE

     "Attention," the Wedge computer announced.  "WedgeWarp
Drive is disengaging.  Five seconds to sublight velocity.
Prepare for automated maneuvering."
     "What's going on?" ReRob asked, climbing up to the
bridge from the engine room, as Gryphon slid into his seat
behind the computer console.
     "Hang on," Gryphon replied, pulling more of the ancient
pseudo-UNIX commands from his memory and tapping them out on
the keyboard, requesting a status report.  The readout began
appearing on his screen, interspersed with bizarre poetry
about cats in the rain.  "Got it."  The Wedge shifted out of
warp drive.  Nothing was yet visible beyond the windows of
the bridge.
     "We're coming out of warp, finally; the computer says
we've reached our destination system.  We'll maneuver into
the system on impulse power and make...planetfall?  Ookaay...
we'll make planetfall sometime later this week."
     "Planetfall?!" Zoner asked.  "Where?"
     "Um..."  Click click click beep!  "According to this...
Utopia Planitia Naval Shipyard, on the planet Planitia, in
the Cygnus Beta system.  Marvelous.  Never heard of the
system or the planet, but Utopia Planitia I've heard of..."
     "The shipyard where the Enterprise was built," said
Lightnin from across the room.
     "Right.  But that's supposed to be on Mars, not
someplace in Cygnus Beta."
     "Okay...we have to tell people about this.  Let's get
everyone together in the Lower Wedge--Gryphon, where's Kei?"
     "Probably still asleep.  She hadn't gotten back from the
gweepery when I went to sleep, and that was at four."
     "I'm amazed the telnet connections are still up..."
ReRob mused.
     "Sub-ethernet?" Ben hazarded.
     "Shut up," ReRob replied, giving him a gentle "duh" with
his hat.
     "Well, better get everyone together," Zoner interrupted.
"Comm officer, have everyone assemble in the Lower Wedge."
     "Like yo, like everyone get to the Lower Wedge.  Like,
Captain Zoner wants to say something.  Like that's all, and
like have a day," q announced over the PA system.
     "Thanks q...I think," spake Zoner.
                        NOT LONG AFTER

     "Well, is everyone here?" inquired Zoner.
     "I think so, I don't feel like counting," answered
Gryphon.
     "It really doesn't matter, with the size of this ship
word doesn't take long to spread," Zoner commented; then,
turning his attention to the gathered crowd, he raised his
voice: "Hey, everyone!  I have a little announcement to make.
As you all know by now, we've come out of warp and we're
rapidly approaching a planet.  It appears that we're supposed
to make planetfall there."
     This was followed by a lot of murmurs and grumbling, and
a few shouted questions to the effect of "What planet?"
     "The planet is Planitia in the Cygnus Beta system.
We'll be docking at the Utopia Planitia Naval Shipyard
there."
     This was followed by a lot more murmuring and grumbling,
as well as a few shouts of "Hey, that's where the Enterprise
was built!" from the Trek fans amongst the group.
     "Yes, as some of you seem to have realized, the Utopia
Planitia Naval Shipyard is where the Enterprise was built.
Of course that wasn't in the Cygnus Beta system.  Since this
is our first contact with aliens, I hope we don't have any
xenophobes amongst us.  I really doubt it with this group,
but I don't want to have anyone run screaming at the sight of
any strange creatures."
     As if on cue Android entered the Lower Wedge, apparently
having just awakened in the gweepery.  Several people ran
screaming.
     "Ok, ok.  That'll be enough of that.  Come on guys, I'm
serious here.  It's hard enough being captain when I know
that it's only because no one else wanted to take the blame
if anything went wrong, and the fact that I was the first to
have a Rho Alpha Tau hat made.  At least show me a little bit
of respect, I don't ask for much.  I mean I've been finding
my comics all over the ship, and my VCR is ready to burn out.
And do I complain?  No!  I'm getting sick of having this
responsibility!  You think it's easy to be responsible for
all of you?  Do you think I really know what I'm doing?
Don't you think I'm just a little scared about meeting
aliens?  What if they're hostile?  I really don't care about
myself, but I have to worry about you too!  I mean what if
they're huge bug-eyed monsters with..."  Zoner trailed off as
q and ReRob dragged him out of the Lower Wedge.
     "Well, Zoner seems to be just a little bit stressed,
what a surprise.  Don't worry, he de-angsts once in a while,
he may actually get over it," Gryphon assured the crew rather
caustically.  "Meeting adjourned--and keep him away from
knives!  And Logan!" he shouted to q and ReRob.
                     A SHORT WHILE LATER

     Knock knock knock "What do you want?" Zoner shouted over
the sound of Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage".
     "Just thought I'd check on you, how're you doing?"
Gryphon enquired.
     "Ok, just listening to some Floyd to calm down and cheer
up.  So far I've gone through Wish You Were Here, The Final
Cut, and I'm almost through with Dark Side of the Moon.  I've
been a little stressed, 'lot on my mind ya know."
     "Uh, yeah, Floyd to cheer up.  Yeeeap.  Anyway, what's
on your mind?"
     "Other than suddenly becoming captain of a starship--a
really small, silly looking starship, but a starship
nonetheless--I've been worried about some of the people we
left behind."
     "Like who?"
     "Well, other than the few thousand innocent civilians
that I didn't know who got vaped, I've been worried about
Matt and Jenna.  I mean they just got engaged and then they
get dragged halfway across the cosmos.  I don't think Matt is
too happy about that, and Jenna was almost done with school.
And, oh I don't know..."
     "Well, do you think they'd prefer being dead?"
     "I doubt it, but a lot of people are having trouble
dealing.  Most everyone on board lost all of their
possessions.  Computers, TVs, VCRs, stereos, clothes,
everything!  I got lucky, E7 got included in this flying
trashheap, all of my kipple got brought along.  You too, I
still have trouble handling that coincidence.  Then there is
the human factor.  I mean, I don't know that many people
outside of WPI, so most everyone I know made it out.  But
there are a lot of people here who lived and worked in
Worcester and lost many of their friends.  This isn't anime,
those people weren't ink, they were real living breathing
people.  My conscience has been nagging at me since we left
Earth.  What right do I have to be alive when I'm partially
responsible for their deaths?"
     Gryphon was uncharacteristically silent for a few
moments.  His fists were clenched, and he appeared to be
struggling not to scream, his breathing ragged and uneven.
Then he looked up and said, calmly and evenly, "Zoner...I
haven't mentioned this for the past week...I've been trying
not to think about it, not to face it.  I finally came up
against it last night.  Do you know who was in Worcester last
month?"
     "Who?"
     "My mother."  He turned and walked away, pausing briefly
on the landing to make a Zoneresque fist hole in the far
wall.


---------------------------------------------------------FOUR

"Buy the sky and sell the sky/And lift your arms up to the
sky/And ask the sky and ask the sky/Don't fall on me"
                         --R.E.M.

     Zoner sat there, staring at the doorway for a while.
Then he sighed deeply, walked over to his desk, and grabbed a
large stack of cassettes.  "Great, just what I needed to
hear.  We killed Gryph's mother too.  I love this, I really
do.  Life is shit."  He dropped Meddle into his box and
turned it up.
     Gryph walked into E7's living room and slammed R.E.M.
Tourfilm into the VCR, piped the audio through the stereo,
plugged in some 'phones, and proceeded to wall off reality.
Not that he could get away with that...it wasn't long before
Yuri came into the room, looking depressed, and slumped down
on the couch, picking up a book at random.
     Ben paused the tape and took off the phones.  Ripped up
as he was, his natural instinct to help people was overriding
his angst.  He got up off the floor, went over, and sat down
next to Yuri.
     "Hi, beautiful," he said with only semi-forced cheer.
"You look depressed."
     "Zoner's Floyding again," Yuri said, putting down the
book.  "I hate it when he shuts me out like this."
     "Yeah...I know what you mean.  It happens to me all the
time too.  There are only a couple of people in the universe
he can open up to."
     "I understand that, on some level...but I'm his lover,
for Christ's sake!  If he can't trust me..."
     "I think he's still a little afraid of how close he's
gotten to you.  He has a hard time trusting; he's been
screwed over too many times before to not be wary, even
paranoid.  Oh, fuck it, why am I making excuses for him?  To
hell with him."
     "Ben!" Yuri said, looking surprised.  "You don't mean
that--what's wrong with you?"
     "Me?  Oh, nothing.  I'm fine.  Juuuuuust fine.  I just
went and dumped a whole 'nother load of unnecessary shit on
Zoner, that's all...kicked him when he was down...that was
just so fucking kind of me..."
     "What are you talking about?"
     "Yuri, my mother died back in Worcester.  She was at the
Marriott when the reactor blew.  I haven't told anyone
because I haven't wanted to deal with it, I've tried to keep
it out of my mind.  And just now Zoner was telling me about
how we got so lucky and we didn't lose anyone we cared for
and I...I just snapped at him...I...aw, hell..."  He began to
cry, unashamed.  (Real men don't need to be ashamed.)
     "Oh, no..." Yuri said in a small voice.  "Your mom?"
She took Gryphon, resistance or no, up into a hug.  "I'm so
sorry."
     "It's all right...I don't really hurt any more...I just
feel numb about it.  I can't really believe she's gone
yet..."
     "Shh...it'll be all right, eventually; just let it out."
     Ten minutes later, Gryphon, exhausted, burned out, wired
beyond hope, and caffeine fried, had drifted into a tortured
sleep.  Yuri settled him out on the Fold-O-Couch-O-Death
MkII, covered him with the blue blanket, took his keys, and
went over to his room.

     "Kei, wake up."
     "Nrrrgg...whut?"  Kei turned over and flipped the
sleeping bag out of her field of view.  "Yuri?  What is it?"
     "Go down to E7.  Now."
     Kei looked startled at Yuri's intense tone of voice.
"Yuri, what's the matter?"
     "It's Ben.  He needs you.  Go.  Now."
     "Ben?  What's wrong with him?" Kei asked, getting out of
bed and opening up one of the drawers.  "He's seemed a little
preoccupied for the past couple of days, but I put that down
to not really knowing where we are..."  She put on her
Operation Zenith shirt and a pair of black fatigue pants,
then pulled on her shoes.  "What's the matter with him?"
     "He just told me...his mother was in Worcester when the
reactor blew."
     Kei paled.  "Oh, no.  Shit!  Thanks, Yuri..."  Without
even bothering with her hair or anything, Kei took off for E7
at a dead sprint.

     Acting Ensign Android entered the Upper Wedge from the
engine room.  "Yo, q, you seen Zoner or Gryphon around?"
     "Um, yeah, like I think they went down to E7, like a
while ago.  Like why?"
     "Nothing too important, we've been trying tofigure the
engines out.  We think they may make some use of negative
mass, so we have Truss down there, to see how many GNDN pipes
he can hit his head on.  He's sorta the neg mass expert
anyway."
     "Well, like I wouldn't bother them right now.  Zoner's
like a little stressed, and Gryphon's like a little
zonerish."
     "Oh, well, if they ever walk through ask them to drop by
engineering."
     "Like, will do."
     As Android opened the hatch to engineering, muffled
cries of "Watch out John!", "Huh?" and "Ouch!" drifted into
up into the Wedge.
     "Like, tell him to be more careful.  Like he might
damage something."
     "Ok, see you around."

     "Ben, wake up," Kei said softly.
     "Hmm?"  Gryphon peeled an eye open and looked up,
willing the nearly useless instrument to focus, damn it, on
who was speaking.  He could tell the voice instantly, but--
     Kei's strong arms grabbed him up in a fierce embrace,
in such a sudden manner he nearly jumped through the ceiling.
     "Kei, what--"
     "Yuri just told me.  Oh, God, Ben, I'm so sorry...I had
no idea.  Do you forgive me?"
     "Forgive you for what?"
     "I should've been able to tell something was bothering
you, I should've been there for you to talk to--I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry."
     "Don't be so hard on yourself...it's not as if you
abandoned me to the wolves or something.  I was hiding
something from you, I should be the one apologizing."
     "You were hiding it from yourself."  She didn't appear
to be planning on letting him go anytime soon, which suited
him just fine.
     "I wish we still had a city to go for a walk in, 'cause
I need a good long walk...or drive...I wish I had a car...I
wish a lot of things.  But you know, I'm still the luckiest
person alive."
     "Why?"
     "I still have you."

     Kei and Gryphon sat in the living room of E7 holding
each other and watched the rest of Tourfilm.  They didn't say
much to each other, they just enjoyed the warm feeling of
being close to someone you care deeply for, and enjoyed the
occasional gentle kiss, just because.  Near the end of the
tape Yuri returned to E7.
     "How are you two doing?" she asked, a concerned look on
her face.
     "We're doing ok," Gryphon answered.  "And thanks."
     "Thanks?  Thanks for what?" Yuri inquired.
     "For telling Kei.  I couldn't seem to do it myself."
     "No problem, really.  That's what friends are for."
     "I can tell by the sound that Zoner is still Floyding."
     "Yeah, he's been up there all day," Kei added.
     "Sometimes I just can't understand him.  Why doesn't he
talk to people when he has problems?" Yuri asked.
     "Well, he talks to a few people," Kei answered.
     "Like who?"
     "Well, er, um, well.  He talks to Jenna, and Daver and
Helene.  But mostly Jenna," Gryphon offered.
     "Why can't he talk to me?" Yuri asked; then, turning her
attention to Gryphon she said, "What you told me earlier, I
can't think of anything bad enough to make him isolate
himself like this."
     "Well, he had someone who he thought was his best
friend, someone he totally trusted, use that trust to take
advantage of him.  And he grew up with a juvenile delinquent
for a sister.  So he isolated himself totally and became a
loner.  It wasn't until he came to college and found the
Wedge that he opened up and began trusting people.  It takes
a long time for him to open up to others, even those he
loves.  And it doesn't just bother you.  It drives me crazy,
and it bothers a lot of other people too.  But don't worry
about it, he'll open up eventually."
     "I hope so, I feel like he doesn't want me to know about
him.  And even though he doesn't say it, I know he partially
blames us for the deaths of all those people in Worcester.
Ever since we left Earth he has been even more reserved than
normal.  I'm worried about us," Yuri added, distraught,
"Maybe he doesn't really want me around."
     "Why don't you go up and see him?" Kei suggested.
     "Maybe I will, thanks guys," Yuri said as she got up and
went up to Zoner's room.
     "I'm worried about her," Kei whispered to Ben.
     "How come?"
     "She really likes Zoner.  But she is a little shy and
insecure.  I think she thinks Zoner wants to get rid of her.
If he doesn't snap out of his depression soon he just may
drive her away.  And leaving him would hurt her a lot.  And
if he hurts her I may have to hurt him."
     "I don't think he would do that."
     "Not intentionally, but he had better change his mood
soon or the end result will be the same."
     "Maybe I'd better have a talk with him about--"
     "Shhh!  Here comes Yuri."  Yuri came down the stairs,
crying.  Kei jumped up and hugged her.  Gryphon scrambled
after her.
     "Yuri, what's wrong?"
     "He said he wanted to be alone for now.  I don't think
wants to see me anymore."
     "Shhh, don't be ridiculous.  Zoner loves you."
     "He sure has a funny way of showing it!"
     "He's just having a hard time dealing.  He has been
under a lot of pressure.  I'm sure he'll come around,"
Gryphon offered in an attempt to comfort Yuri.
     "Are you sure?"
     "Positive," Gryphon said with a smile.  "He's going to
get a good loud screaming at in any case."
     "You're... you're probably right," Yuri sobbed, wiping
her tears.  "I'll just give him some space."
     Kei, Yuri, and Ben all turned to look as the door to E7
opened and Jenna entered.  Ben's face twitched an "Oh, no."
     "Hello.  How're you guys doing?" Jenna asked.
     "Umm, we're doing ok," Gryphon answered for the group.
His voice carried an inflection which said without words,
"As though I thought you gave a fuck."
     "Well, I'm just here to see Zoner," Jenna replied,
taking his tone as basic assholishness.  (After all, she
didn't know him or what he was like...maybe he was just an
asshole.)  She ignored him and asked the others, "He
upstairs?"
     "Yep," Gryphon answered, even though he hadn't been
asked.  "He's up there Floyding."
     Jenna just looked coolly through him and replied,
"Thanks, see you later."
     The group watched as Jenna walked up to Zoner's room.
They heard her knock on his door and they heard her say
something to Zoner.  The volume of the music dropped and they
heard his door close.
     "Aw fuck..." Gryphon muttered.
     "He'll talk to her, but not me!  I thought he wanted to
be alone!  I knew it, he doesn't love me!" Yuri cried, her
tears starting anew.
     "Shhh.  Don't say that.  You don't know that," Kei tried
to comfort her.
     "Yeah, I'm sure there's a reason why he wants to see
her," Gryphon said as he joined the group hug.  Not that he
was any too confident of it.
     "The reason is that he probably loves her, not me!"
     "How can you say that!  Jenna is just a good friend of
Zoner's.  She's engaged to Matt anyway, you know that.  Don't
be foolish.  He's known her longer than we've even existed
and they've helped each other out with their problems.
That's what friends do.  Don't throw away this relationship
because of silly assumptions!" Kei scolded Yuri.
     "I wish I could be as sure as you are," Yuri sobbed,
"I've got to go...he wants room.  I'll give him room."
     With that she ran out the door.
     "Well, doesn't this just suck all to hell," Gryphon
said, leaning back against the back of the couch and rubbing
his eyes wearily.  He truly did tire of Zoner and his mood
swings at times.
     "Now we really have to do something," Kei said as she
placed her arm around Ben.
     "Agreed," Ben said, hugging her back.  "But what?"


---------------------------------------------------------FIVE

     "What we've got here is...failure to communicate.  Some
men you just can't reach.  So you get what we had here last
week.  Which is the way he wants it.  Well, he gets it.  And
I don't like it any more than you men."
                         --Strother Martin

     There was a knock on Zoner's door and it swung open.
That latch really needed to be fixed.
     "You wanted to see me?" Jenna asked, standing in the
door to Zoner's room.
     "Hmmm? Oh, yeah. Come in. " Zoner swept his hand toward
the one available chair in his room.  The other was busy
supporting his box, which he turned down.
     "What did you want to see me about?" Jenna asked,
closing the door.
     "Well, first off, I want to apologize for dragging you
off into deep space like this."
     "It's ok, it's not your fault."
     "Yeah, right.  Anyway, we have a large group of people
on board with out much order.  So far we have a skeleton
crew for the bridge and that's about it.  Most of the work
gets done in a haphazard fashion.  Whenever something needs
to be done, whoever wants something to do does it.  I think
it's time we tried to organize things.  And to start I'd like
to make you Chief Medical Officer."
     "Well, I guess so.  But why me?"
    "Because you have the most experience.  You're in your
last year of nursing school and that makes you, by far, the
most qualified."
     "Ok, but what do we have for equipment?"
     "We have the standard stuff in E7 and M401, bandaids,
gauze, tape, cold medication, all of the basic stuff you find
in an apartment.  Plus we have Jay's EMS bag for anything
major. But we don't have any real medical equipment, so I
hope no one really hurts themselves, or anyone else for that
matter.  And we have ReRob, who has First Responder training,
and flots of us know CPR and basic first aid."
     "Well, we'll just have to make do with what we have.  Is
there anything else?"
     "Well, yeah.  I also want you to be in part of any
planetary exploration we may do.  Your geology degree may
come in handy.  Of course that's only if you want to do it."
     "I guess it won't be any problem, it'll give me
something to do.  But Zoner.."
     "Yeah.."
     "What's really bothering you?"
     Zoner let out a deep sigh.  "Everything, I mean I'm only
21 and I still don't think I'm mature, and I'm responsible
for nearly one hundred lives.  I don't think I'm prepared for
this responsibility.  Plus I feel responsible for all of
those lives lost in Worcester.  And today Gryphon told me his
mother was in Worcester when it was vaped.  Sometimes, I
don't know if it's all worth it.  And I feel bad about
screwing up everyone's lives.  Especially you and Matt.  You
guys just got engaged, I don't think you or Matt are very
happy with this situation."
     "Well, it is a little unsettling, but I'd rather be here
then dead.  If we hadn't been involved with the Wedge War we
probably would have been at home, and our apartment was
vaporized.  Don't blame yourself for the deaths, you didn't
do it.  You couldn't control Coyle.  I trust you, you have
always pulled through when you had too, I'm sure you will do
fine as captain.  If you ever need to talk I'll be there."
     "There is one more thing."
     "What's that?"
     "Yuri.  I think I'm driving her away.  I love her, but I
can't seem to deal with her.  I don't know why, I think it's
because I've gotten so close to her so fast.  I'm not used to
it, at all.  You know better than anyone else how hard it is
for me to open up.  You're one of the few who I feel I can
trust.  I think part of it is that I feel we're all
responsible for the destruction, and I feel guilty about
blaming her.  It wasn't her fault...."
     "It wasn't your fault either."
     "Thanks.  Anyway, I have to do something.  I'd better
talk to her."
     "It's always best to communicate with those you care
about."
     "Thanks, how'd you like to be Ship's Counselor too?
Just kidding, I would never drop that on you.  And thanks for
your support.  Just knowing you have confidence in me helps a
lot.  Good friends are the greatest treasure a person could
ever have.  Thanks for being there.  And I'm here for you
too."
     "I know, thanks."
     "You'd better go find Matt, I think he's a little upset
with this whole situation."
     "And you'd better talk to Yuri."  Jenna and Zoner
embraced, and she left the room.
     "Well, I feel a lot better now.  I'd better go see
what's been going on for the past few hours.  And I've got to
stop talking to myself," Zoner commented.
     "Well, I can hear you," Logan mumbled from under his
covers.
     "Xmas!  How long have you been in here?" Zoner asked, in
a rather startled voice.
     "All day, I was up all night playing Cosmic Encounter in
the Wedge."
     "Sorry about waking you up."
     "No problem, what time is it anyway?"
     "Hmm, it's 10:37. What time did you go to bed?"
     "About noon thirty, it's about time I got up anyway."
     "Well, I'm heading up to the Wedge.  See ya if you ever
get out of bed."
     "Ok, see ya."
     He found Gryphon and Kei asleep on the Fold-O-Couch-O-
Death MkII; the look of near-contentment on Gryphon's face
cheered Zoner somewhat as he went out the front door, slammed
it shut, and climbed the stairway to the bridge.  Perhaps the
world wasn't as shitty as it seemed.
     "Status report?" he inquired of q as he entered the
bridge.
     "Like, not much is happening.  We've got Truss
downstairs looking over the engines, and like Android came up
with an estimate of how long it's gonna take us to like get
where we're going."
     "Which is?"
     "Couple'a days."
     "Ok, and I think we'd better make another announcement
to the crew. I recently realized that no washers or dryers
got included in this wreck. I have my closet full, but most
people only have the clothes on their backs. I noticed people
washing their clothes in the bathrooms. I have some extra
stuff, so I can lend stuff to others. Of course most of my
stuff will be a tent for anyone else, but at least they're
clean. Actually, everyone in E7 has a bunch of stuff, I'm
sure they'd be willing to lend stuff out. Anyway, the couple
of days will give Gryphon time enough to recover so he can
lead the away team, I hope.  I want our first contact with
whoever we're going to meet to be with him; he's one of the
more stable people here when dealing with strangers."
     "Like bullshit?"
     "Okay...but it'll give him something to do."
     "Like good point.  Um, like, recover from what?"
     "I don't know if he wants everyone to know or not...I
can't tell you.  Sorry."
     "No problem..."
     "Where's Yuri?"
     "Dunno."
     "Has anyone seen Yuri?"
     There were a series of NO!'s which did not in anyway
resemble a resounding chorus.
     "Well, if you see her let her know I'm looking for her.
I'll go check E7 again."

     "Kei.  Kei.  Wake up," Zoner said, gently shaking her.
     "Mmmpphh?"
     "Kei, do you know where Yuri is?"
     "Yuri?  Uhhh, no, why?" Kei responded sleepily.
     "I need to talk to her."
     "Well, you sure didn't want to earlier!"
     "What do you mean?"
     "She ran out of here crying when Jenna came to see you."
     "She did?  Why?"
     "She doesn't think that you care about her any more."
     "How could she ever think that?  Of course I care about
her.  In fact the reason I'm looking for her is so I can
apologize for the way I've acted the past couple of weeks.
Jenna helped me sort out my feelings about our situation."
     "Gaaah...that's the captain of all `duh's," Kei observed
coldly.  "Okay, let me spell it out for you: Yuri is
convinced that you don't care about her.  When you let Jenna
in to see you right after you turned her away she was
convinced that you loved Jenna and not her."
     "How could she assume that??  Jenna is a good friend.  I
care about her a lot, sure, but I care about all of my
friends.  I owe my life, and more, to her, she's earned my
trust and I enjoy talking with her.  We're similar in many
ways.  But we're just friends!  Yuri is the one I love!"
     "Yuri can be insecure sometimes," Paul said from the
sofa by the stereo.
     "Paul!" Zoner and Kei exclaimed in unison.
     "How long have you been over there?"
     "..." was Paul's response.
     "Mmmmmwuarrrrggh.  What's all the noise?  Who turned on
the goddamned light?" Gryphon mumbled.
     "It's Zoner, I'm looking for Yuri."
     "Oh are you."  Zoner had the sudden feeling that Happy
Fun Gryphon was neither happy nor fun at the moment.
     "Yeah, I want to talk to her."
     "Hmm.  Why the sudden change of heart?"
     "I just need to talk to her."
     "Oh, I see."  Gryphon's voice dripped with disdain.
"Well, after you blew her off, she said she would, how did
she put it, `give you room'.  See, she has a noble nature,
and she's insecure sometimes...she thinks you love Jenna, so
she's getting out of the way rather than tie you down to
something you don't appear to want.  In other words,
bonehead, she left."
     "Left?  How the fuck can you leave a ship in deep
space--hold it," Zoner said, a creeping fear rising and being
quickly crushed as he ran to the PA box.  "q, start a search
for Yuri.  And...  And have the crew check on all spaceworthy
vehicles."
     "Like, will do.  Any particular reason?"
     "Yeah, I think Yuri may have taken one and left."
     "Like, why?"
     "Long story, I don't want to get into it now.  Just get
on it.  Ok?"
     "Like, ok."
     "How long ago did she leave?" Zoner asked, turning his
attention back to Ben and Kei.
     "She left while you were talking with Jenna," Kei
answered.
     "That was about an hour ago!" Zoner yelled, visibly
upset.
     "Well, it's your own fucking fault she left," Ben
snarled.  He was obviously very upset, and taking it out on
Mr. Convenient Target himself.
     "Ben!  How can you say that to him?  He's upset enough
with things the way they are.  He doesn't need you to rub it
in," Kei scolded.  Yuri's departure was tearing her up as
well, but she had slammed a good heavy layer of fake
toughness over that--it wouldn't start to consciously bother
her for a good two hours.
     "It's ok, Kei, I deserved that.  It is my fault.  If I
hadn't been so self-absorbed I would have noticed that I was
driving her away.  The important thing to do now is find
her."
     "Yo, like Zoner," q's voice called from the PA.
     "What'd you find, q?"
     "Yuri doesn't appear to be onboard, and.."
     "And what?"
     "It appears that like the Garland is gone too?"
     "Shit!  Thanks, I guess I'll have to look for her
myself.  q, start transmitting on our communications
frequency.  Send out the following message: `Yuri, I still
love you.  Please return.  Zoner.'"
     "Like, I'll start right now.  And Zoner?"
     "Yeah?"
     "Like good luck."
     "Thanks, q."
     Ben rose purposefully from the bed and pulled on his
shoes.
     "Where're you going?" Kei inquired.
     "Out."
     "Out where?"
     "Just out.  Out the back door.  I'd advise you all to
grab something anchored."
     Gryphon rezzed up his GRF-3N Griffin III Armored Combat
Suit and walked to the back door.
     "Oh shit, grab something!" Zoner yelled.
     Gryphon opened the door and stepped out into space.
Accompanied by a large amount of kipple which was blown out
along with a good deal of air.
     The PA blared to life.  "WARNING!  WARNING!  HULL
BREACH!  HULL BREACH!  HULL--NEVER MIND.  I'M GETTING SICK OF
THIS."
     "Well, he isn't the only one who's going to search for
her," Zoner said as he grabbed his CVR-3 and took off at a
run for the bridge, slapping pieces of it into place as he
ran (an awkward task, to be sure).


----------------------------------------------------------SIX

     "Did you ever have one of those days when it all was
going wrong?"
                         --Tesla

     "ReRob, you have the conn.  I have to do a little Search
and Rescue mission."
     "I heard.  Where's Gryphon?"
     "He put on his armor and went out the back."
     "Oh, that explains the alarm.  Good luck."
     "Thanks, I'll need it.  See you when I find her."  With
that Zoner climbed the ladder to the Daytona from Hell.
     "If you find her," ReRob mumbled.
     Just after he left, Kei entered the bridge, wearing her
black CVR-3 and carrying a large box with wheels on it.  She
stepped into the portside airlock and, without saying a word,
decompressed it into space.  Unfolding her VR-052 Battler
Cyclone, she transformed it to battloid mode and streaked
away on full jet.
     Zoner looked down at his sensor panels.  Radar was
indicating himself, the Wedge, and three other blips.  One
was moving away from the Wedge at Mach 1 (where Mach in space
was determined to be 750 mph), one was directly on its trail
at Mach 4.7, and the other was coming up behind him at 400
miles per hour.  The Mach 4.7 blip was undoubtedly Gryphon;
his armor was the fastest thing in the Wedge's arsenal.  Even
the Daytona from Hell could only sustain Mach 3.5, for now.
The 400-mph blip had to be a Cyclone, which would make it
Kei; nothing else was that slow in space.  That left the
obvious one, the one with the biggest head start and the odd
speed, to be the Garland.  Zoner opened up a radio frequency
to the Cyclone.
     "Kei, that you?" he asked.
     "Of course it is.  She's my partner, I'm not gonna sit
back and let other people search for her."
     "It isn't much of a search; I have her on radar."
     "Yeah...my Cyclone only has one-mile radar capability,
or I'd be seeing her.  The Wedge just went off my scale."
     "That thing's too slow," Zoner said as he braked.
"Catch up and grab on."
     "Right.  Thanks."  Zoner slowed further, allowing her to
catch up and grab onto the Daytona's undercarriage.  Then, as
soon as she was sure the Cyclone's powerful exoskeleton had a
good grip, he opened her up.

     Gryphon was half-exulting in the incredible feeling of
streaking through open space at nearly five times the speed
of soundlessness--and half-worried to death.  He could see
the glow of Yuri's thrusters now, having closed the gap
between them quite rapidly.  The GRF-3N was a damn mobile
piece of equipment.  On the other hand, coming up behind her
so fast, it was quite certain that she would notice him
before long.
     Indeed, she did notice him; the Garland suddenly spun,
as he got within visual-detail range, and raised its 25mm
machine rifle.
     "Stay away, Ben," Yuri's voice said in his ears.  "I can
take a hint.  I appreciate the sentiment, but don't try to
bring me back."
     "Yuri...first of all, I doubt you can hurt my armor with
that gun.  Second, I'm not going to leave you out here.
You're at least two weeks from anywhere you can get out of
that thing, and you only have a couple of hours of air.
Third, Zoner is extremely sorry for what he did.  I made
certain he feels like shit about it."
     "Sure he's sorry.  There's nothing for him to be sorry
for.  He just doesn't love me, that's all--it's not his
fault.  I won't stand in his way."  Her voice caught.  "I
don't believe in tying people down."
     "It isn't like that.  It's just that he never thinks."
Gryphon had nearly pulled even with the Garland by now.  "You
know how he just pulls incredible `duh's sometimes...he just
never thought that you would doubt him."
     "Fuck that!" Yuri shouted bitterly.  "I'm not stupid,
you know--I can take a hint.  When someone says `go away'
that loudly and clearly, I can hear them.  I'm not Nedlike."
     "Now you're being just as silly as he was.  He didn't
even realize he was hurting you until Kei and I told him.
Even then it surprised the hell out of him.  He loves you."
Before she could interrupt him with anything more, he cut in,
"And so do I."
     "What?!" Yuri replied.  "But what about--I can't believe
you'd do something like that to Kei--"
     "No, no, no, no, no, geez, why does everyone
automatically assume when a man says something like that to a
woman he means--Christ, Yuri, you love Kei and Kei loves you,
and you go around shooting people if anyone implies something
like that between the two of you!  Great.  Now I'm getting
angry.  I don't want to be angry, goddammit!  I don't know
any way to explain it except one that sounds really lame...
Yuri, I never had a sister.  I'm an only child."
     "I know what you mean...I'm sorry I shouted at you.  I'm
just a little on edge, or I would've known what you meant
right from the start..."
     "We all love you, Yuri."
     Gryphon noted the Daytona from Hell closing in from back
from the direction of the Wedge, with a Cyclone riding the
undercarriage.  The channel squawked a bit as Zoner cut in
the Daytona's comm gear.
     "Yuri!  Stop this, I'm sorry, I really am.  Please come
back.  I...I love you."
     "You're lying!  You're just saying that so you don't
look bad, you don't really care.  I've seen you with Jenna.
You're always talking to her, telling her your problems and
secrets.  If you really loved me you'd talk to me."
     "Fine.  I understand, I caused you to lose your trust in
me.  I apologize for that.  I realize you won't be able to
simply jump back into our relationship.  But I do still love
you, and you must still care for me or you wouldn't be
running away like this."
     "I don't care anymore.  I wish you would just get out of
my life!"
     "Yuri, you don't mean that.  You ran because you were
hurt.  You wouldn't be hurt by what I did unless you cared.
Even if you don't want to talk to me, don't do this to
everyone else.  What about Kei?  You know you can't just run
away from her.  And what about the rest of the Wedge?
Everyone likes you, hell, we all love you.  You're one of us.
Are you just going to run away from everyone?"
     "Stop it!  Just stop it!  Don't you dare try and guilt
trip me into staying!  I...I've made up my mind!  I'm
leaving!"
     "Yuri!  How can you do this?  How can you leave me after
all we've been through?" Kei cried out.
     "Kei, we've hardly been through anything together.  We
didn't even exist a couple of months ago!  It's all fake, my
whole life is false.  I don't belong here.  I wasn't meant to
exist, to love."
     "I guess that's how you feel about me too then, right
Yuri?  I don't deserve to exist either?" Kei asked, audibly
disturbed and translating it to her own form of anger.
     "Kei, Yuri, you both exist now.  In your mind what you
remember is as real as everything I've ever done.  You exist
and you're loved.  What is real?  How do we know that we
weren't all created a few moments ago, memories included?
For all we know we're all characters in some stupid story.
Why are we here?  Because we're here.  I could go on forever,
but we're not here to do theoretical discussion.  I'm here to
get the woman I love back."
     "Well, I'm not going back.  I can't go back there now.
I can't face you and Jenna.  Everyone is going to think I'm a
fool."
     "Will you drop that already!  Jenna and I are just
friends.  Besides, if she thought she was to blame for our
breaking up she'd get really down."
     "That's too fucking bad!  You should have thought of
that before you shunned me for her!"
     "Stop blaming this on her!  Jenna and Matt are a couple.
They're fucking engaged!  This is all just because of your
being so goddamn insecure!"
     "I'm insecure!  I'm insecure!  How dare you call me
insecure!  You're an insensitive bastard!"
     "Insensitive?!  I may be oblivious at times, but maybe
it's my fault for loving such an insecure bitch!"
     Gryphon couldn't take any more.  With a sudden shout of
pure, inarticulate rage, he fired his PPC at nothing at all.
The resultant flash and the sound of its firing, echoing
through the commsystems from inside his armor, silenced
everyone.  He corrected drift with his reaction jets and
pivoted to face them; inside his faceplate his face was
slowly turning red.  He was crying freely and his voice rang
with anguish.
     "STOP IT!" he screamed.  "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!  You two
love each other!  I won't just float here and watch you
verbally beat each other's brains in!"  He pointed at the
Daytona.  "You!  You're too sensitive for your own good, or
at least that's what you think, so you wall yourself off from
everything and become one of the most insensitive people in
the universe!"
     He swung around and gestured at the Garland.  "You!
You're also extremely sensitive.  You take his wall routine
as some kind of message.  Compounding that--is you again!"
     He swung back toward Zoner.  "You also couldn't see the
broad side of a clue B-52 if it was sideslipping toward you!
You don't even realize you're driving the woman who loves you
away--and you don't even for a moment think she might take
your forced isolation the wrong way.  I'm not even going to
get into the ultimate DUH you pulled, I'd get too pissed off
at too many people who have nothing to do with this at all."
     Once again he pivoted toward Yuri.  "And you--you're
becoming just like him!  Your sensitivity is one of your
greatest gifts.  Don't follow his example and let it block
you up into your own little cinderblock world.  And don't
follow mine either and let what you're seeing around you
drive you to the point of utter madness either--figure it out
yourself.  Both of us are sensitive people who fucked it
up...don't do the same thing!"
     He jetted back so he could face both of them.  "What I
see here is the most colossal fucking misunderstanding in the
universe.  You two love each other.  You fucked up, you took
it the wrong way, you started to drift and then you split.
That was stupid!  Don't let it end this way.  This is one of
the best things to happen to either of you--the only really
good thing to happen to either of you for a long time!  Don't
kill it, or so help me I'll kill both of you."
     "Ben?!" Zoner choked, not sure of what he had heard.
     Ben hung in space for quite some time, motionless; then
his shoulders slumped and he exhaled hard.
     "I'm sorry...I just lost it.  I saw something beautiful
crumbling away into dust, and I couldn't handle the sight...
I'm sorry.  I'll go away now... Suddenly I'm very, very
tired."  He shut off his transmitter and floated there,
quivering with tension.
     Kei flew to him, braking at his side and putting an arm
over his shoulders.  Tapping her helmet to his so only he
could hear, she murmured, "Good job.  If that doesn't do it,
there's no hope for either of them."
     Zoner was silent for quite a while, struggling with his
thoughts.  Yuri floated silently as well, contemplating.
Tension rippled.
     "Yuri""Zoner," Zoner and Yuri said simultaneously.
"Sorry..."
     "Yuri..."
     "Go ahead," Yuri said a bit sheepishly.
     "Yuri, I'm sorry. I'm not really angry with you, I guess
I'm angry with myself for driving you away. I don't blame you
for running away. I should have talked with you more."
     "Talking with her at all would have been a good start!"
Ben angrily interjected.
     "Thanks Ben, kindly butt out for now?" Zoner snapped
back.  "As I was saying, Yuri, I never realized how much your
short existence bothered you.  We really do need to talk.
Please understand, I've been fucked over too many times to
open up easily.  But if it makes you uncomfortable, I'll tell
you more about myself.  I guess it isn't fair.  I know most
of your history, yet I'm mostly a mystery.  But we shouldn't
sit out her in space and talk, we ought to return to the
ship."
     "I'm sorry too.  I guess I let all of my worries add up
and overcome me.  I reacted a little extremely.  I'll come
back with you."
     "Thank you, Yuri. Thank you."
     "You guys take off, Ben and I will return in a little
while."
     "Ok, and thanks, both of you.  Yuri, grab on to the
undercarriage.  It'll be quicker."
     "Ok."
     Yuri grabbed onto the Daytona from Hell and they both
departed for the Wedge at high velocity.


--------------------------------------------------------SEVEN

     "I hope you feel real...do you feel real?  And if so I'd
like to know."
                         --Jesus Jones

     All was silence.  This is How It Should Be in space, but
still, it made Gryphon decidedly uncomfortable.  Several
points he truly hadn't wanted to be raised were in the last
couple of minutes, things he really hadn't wanted to think
about.  It wasn't at all like Kei to be silent for so long...
     "Ben?" she finally said.  He was almost relieved, but
her tone of voice set off all his mental alarms.  He had a
Very Bad FeelingTM about this.
     "Yeah?" he replied, trying to sound neutral (not easy,
considering that his friend Mr. Endorphin Rush was still
around).
     "Do...do you really love me?"
     "Aw, no...not you too...yes, Kei, of course I really
love you!  You know you're the most important person in my
life.  Why the sudden worry?"  The answer was perfectly
obvious, of course, but the question needed asking
nonetheless.  "This is some existence thing, isn't it?"
     "Well...Yuri had a point.  Our history isn't real.
Almost nothing about us is real.  Not even our last names.
We aren't real people."  She sounded on the verge of tears.
"Maybe...maybe we weren't meant to exist."
     "If you weren't meant to exist, you wouldn't," replied
Ben flatly.  "But you do."
     "But I'm not a real person!"  She really was crying now.
     "Aren't you?"  Gryphon considered.  "You don't think
you're real."  She shook her head.  "Well then...neither am
I."
     "What?!"
     "Well, if you aren't, I certainly don't want to be.  I
am hereby no longer real.  There.  That was easy enough."
He grinned under his helmet.  "Real, not real...it's all the
same.  You and I are here, we're together, and I love you
more than anyone or anything else.  More than my life, if it
ever comes to that."
     "You...you really mean that...don't you?"  It was more
of a statement than a question.
     "You never have to ask.  The answer will always be the
same."  He jetted closer and, mecha or no mecha, drew her
into a hug.  "I'll always love you...real or not."
     "But...but if I'm not real, can I love you back?  You
deserve that much."
     "Well, do you or don't you?  It's a simple question."
     She paused, deep in thought; at this range, through the
face shield of her CVR-3, he could see tears squeezing from
under tightly closed eyelids and floating spherically into
the open space of her helmet.  He found himself wondering
briefly what her answer would be.
     "I...yes.  Yes.  I love you."  Her eyes opened and she
smiled broadly.  Tears of happiness, then.  "I love you!"
She threw her arms around him, returning the embrace he had
held her in for the past few minutes.  Ben's spirits shot
through the top of all creation--like, have another endorphin
rush.  Well, there was one crisis past...his own hot tears of
relief began to flow freely.
     "You see?  It's simple.  My love for you makes you real.
Your love for me makes me real.  It sounds awfully silly and
sentimental, but it's the way things work."
     "I'm sorry for doubting you...I just...I..."
     "Sshhh, go ahead.  You don't have to be tough around me,
I know what you're really like.  Zoner's silent-tough-guy-I-
can-handle-it routine is what got him into trouble in the
first place."  He tightened his embrace, careful not to exert
anywhere near the limit of force his armor could apply.  "You
and I are more than lovers.  We can share anything.  Anything
at all.  You're my best friend, Kei."
     "Oh, Ben...I love you so much..."
     "I love you too, Kei," he replied...and it wasn't just a
rote response.  They drifted for some time that way, silent,
almost helmet to helmet.
     "Feel better?" Ben asked at length.
     "A little...I'm still not sure of a few things, but I
don't really want to hang out here in space discussing them.
I'd prefer someplace more comfortable."
     "I know what you mean...I don't particularly like open
space, myself...on the other hand, I don't like water deeper
than five foot three either.  I would have suggested going
back right away...but I figured a few things had to be
cleared up first.  Ready to head back?"
     "Uh huh...you?"
     "Yep."  He pivoted so that he was facing the Wedge (and,
consequently, she was away from it), and started
accelerating.  Slowly, because Cyclones don't have Inertial-
Vector control systems, and rapid acceleration to Relative
Mach 4.7 would probably damage the wearer.  He didn't really
need to see where he was going right away; his scopes did
that for him.  Besides, he didn't want to break eye contact
quite yet.

     Zoner and Yuri arrived back at the Wedge well ahead of
Ben and Kei.  Zoner dropped Yuri off by one of the airlocks
and docked the Daytona from Hell on the roof.  Yuri was
already out of the Garland and caught in the middle of a
group of welcoming Wedge Rats by the time Zoner dropped in
through the roof hatch.
     "Like, welcome back Zoner.  Glad to see you were
successful," q said in greeting.
     "Yeah, glad to see you together again," Grendel added.
     "Well, I think I'm the happiest about the situation,"
Zoner replied as he worked his way over to Yuri, shedding
CVR-3 along the way and dumping it carelessly into the kipple
on the floor.
     "Yuri, I do love you!" Zoner proclaimed as he gathered
Yuri into his arms and kissed her.
     "I love you too Zoner," Yuri replied, kissing him again.
     "I think we have a lot of talking to do. Let's go back
our room. I have a lot to tell you about me," Zoner placed
his arm around Yuri's waist and began walking towards the
stairway to E7. As they descended the stairway he shouted
back, "ReRob, you have the conn until Ben returns, and if he
doesn't want it, which he probably won't, even after he
returns. And I don't want to be disturbed for anything less
than a life threatening emergency."
     Zoner and Yuri continued on to E7. Mark and Vaughn were
in the living room watching the School House Rock video
cassette.
     "Good morning.  Welcome back, nice to see you again,"
Vaughn greeted from the couch.  "Pardon me...I saw some neat
rocks out the window.  I'm going to go play."
     "You have more problems with women," Mark commented.
     "Shut up Mark, Yuri and I have a lot to talk about.
Don't disturb us."  Yuri and Zoner retreated to their room.

     Gryphon's room was where the Morgan Hall elevator had
been; in fact, the entrance to his room was now an airlock
formed by the old elevator door and his own old room door.
He and Kei, of course, had to get back into the ship through
one of the bridge airlocks (opening one of the unsealed doors
and sucking some unwary person from the nosh machines into
open space being considered rather rude when there was no
emergency).  As they entered the Wedge, a chorus of applause
rose from the people sitting around.
     "What?" Gryphon said, looking around, confused.
     "We like heard your rantfest," said q casually.  "Like
good job."
     "Oh.  Uh...yeah.  Sorry."
     "Nothing to be sorry about, he deserved it," ReRob
added.  He backed away from the captain's chair.  "You
want...?"
     "After that?  Yeah, Rob.  Riiiight."  Gryphon gave Rob a
slight "duh".  "You keep it...we're going to our room."
     "Not to be disturbed unless it's a life threatening
emergency, I assume?"
     "Not to be disturbed even if it's a life threatening
emergency," Gryphon replied without a trace of sarcasm.
     "Got something planned, eh?" said Pfloyd with a silly
grin.
     "Floyd...die a most horrible death," said Ben and Kei at
the same time.
     "Uh, Pfloyd?  I really don't think this is the time..."
said Rob.
     "Well it's true," Adam said defensively.

     "Gaaah...he can be such a bonehead," said Ben as he
wrote "GRYPHON IS [IN], BUT GO AWAY ANYWAY" on his message
board and locked both doors.  "I really get tired of him
sometimes..."  He picked his way through the accumulating
kipple and, dumping his black clothes among it, pulled on a
t-shirt and some shorts.  Now he felt much more comfortable.
Out-of-the-room clothes could get so annoying sometimes.
     He settled onto the bed, sitting up on top of the
sleeping bag; Kei, now similarly attired, climbed up next to
him, and they then arranged the covers warmly.  They spent
the next three hours talking about life, one's right to
existence, and the crisis they had just passed.  Nothing was
said about the other worry impending on their minds; what
would happen in two days, when they reached their
destination.
     And then, worn out by the high emotions and tension of
the day, they went to sleep by the pink glow of the lava
lamp.


--------------------------------------------------------EIGHT

     "Though they'll never fathom it behind my/Sarcasm
desperate memories lie/Sweetheart sweetheart are you fast
asleep, good/That's the only time that I can really speak to
you/And there is something that I've locked away/A memory
that is too painful/To withstand the light of day"
                         --Pink Floyd

     Zoner and Yuri lay huddled together on his bed, holding
each other as he spun a tale of pain and joy, of friendship
and loneliness, as he told her about his life.  He looked not
at her, but past her, into the past.  As he opened his heart
to her and unveiled the memories he had locked away he
relived the emotions, felt them again and for the first time.
She listened, absorbing the story of his life, learning why
he was who he was.  Being as close to him as she was, and
both being empathic, she felt the emotions as he recalled
them.  She felt the repression of ideas and the resulting
rebellion of catholic school.  Felt the distance between him
and his father grow.  Felt his pain at being betrayed by his
best friend, felt the fear and guilt of trying to kill his
sister, felt the unforgivable crime she had committed that
had caused it.   She felt the loss of trust for the world
which caused him to give up on life, and the depression which
caused him to try and take his own.  The years of loneliness
he forced upon himself to make sure no one got close enough
to hurt him again.  She felt the fear and insecurity as his
parents separated, and the joy and reassurance when they
reunited.
     The more he talked the more at ease Zoner became; he was
lost in the lands of memories and dreams, simply retelling
his journeys.  He could feel the warmth of Yuri's body
against his, it was a comforting feeling.  Someone he truly
cared for, and who truly cared for him, lying next to him,
raptly listening to his past.  He remembered the two other
times he had told so much to another person; just over a year
ago, at a party, he needed to talk and Karen wanted to
listen.  And then this past year, the times he opened up to
Jenna.  It wasn't easy to get the memories to flow, but once
they did they quickly formed into a flood.  He continued his
tales as Yuri listened in silence.
     She listened as he told of the many times he had moved,
of the friends he had lost.  The schools he had attended, and
the scams he had run.  Of the women he had longed for, the
offers of friendship he had shunned.  The long cold period of
his life when he distrusted everyone and refused to make
friends.  He told of the false facade he erected ward off any
questions, he told of the false happiness which he never
quite managed to convince himself was real, yet it fooled
everyone else.  She absorbed his emotions as he told of his
sister whom he loved because she was his sister, yet hated
for what she had done to him and others.  He may be able to
forgive, but he could never forget, nor trust again.  She
shared his guilt, pain, hate, love, joy, and sadness.
     He worked his way through the minefield of memory and
emotion, avoiding some which were still too painful to tell,
and others which he wanted to keep for himself, at least for
now.  He brought some others out into the light.  How he met
his new best friend, and how that was the first step to
breaking down his wall.  She felt his joy of sharing his life
with someone else, of finally trusting someone other than
himself.  The memories of high school were mostly happy, but
they were punctuated by the deaths of his grandfather and
great uncle.  He hadn't cried when they died, less than a
week apart.  Crying was an ability he had lost a long time
ago, and one he wouldn't regain for many years.
     He caught her up on his first couple of years of
college, of first finding the Wedge.  The comfort of being
accepted by such a diverse group of people came through in
his words and voice.  He skimmed most of his college life,
that much he had already told her, or she had heard from
others.
     We he was finished he felt both cleansed and drained,
happy and tired.  Yuri didn't say anything at first; she
simply leaned over and kissed him, gently.  They lay holding
each other in silence for a long moment, then Yuri broke the
silence:
     "Thank you. Thank you for letting me in."
     "You're welcome, it feels good to finally be so open
with you.  I hope you understand what I've told you, and why
I did."
     "I think so, but we've talked enough for now.  Let's
just enjoy being together," Yuri murmured as she snuggled
closer to Zoner.
     "Not a bad idea," Zoner replied, holding her tight and
kissing her gently.

     Up on the bridge ReRob sat slouched in one of the
Wedgebooths with Grendel, q, and Vaughn.  They were speaking
in subdued tones in deference to those sleeping around them.
     "So, what do you think is going to happen?" ReRob asked
no one in particular.
     "What, with Yuri and Zoner?" Grendel asked.
     "Well, that too.  But I was thinking more along the
lines of meeting the aliens."
     "Well, we don't really know that there will be aliens
there.  It could very well be a dead planet.  But I do hope
that there are some there, I think meeting some aliens could
be neat," Vaughn offered.
     "Like, it could be most interesting eh," q added.
     "It'll be interesting to see what their beliefs are,
assuming there is intelligent life there in the first place,"
Grendel observed.
     "I doubt it'll be like Star Trek.  The aliens always
speak English, and they're humanoid," ReRob quipped.
     "And there's always a cute bim for Kirk," Vaughn added.
     "Do you think Zoner and Gryphon are ready for this?
They've been handling a lot of shit since we left Earth, and
I'm not sure that they've prepared for this."
     "Like, they've gotten us this far.  I didn't see anyone
else jumping at the chance to get their jobs.  It's not like
they demanded them.  Like, they've done ok so far and I'm
ready to stand by them," q spieled.
     "Gee q, I think that's the most words I've heard you
string together at once.  Well said," Vaughn said, rather
stunned.
     "Like it's just the way I feel," q replied.
     "Well, I'm not going to walk out on them," Grendel
stated defensively, "I'm just worried about how the stress is
affecting them.  After what happened today I'm wondering if
they're thinking clearly enough to run the ship.  After all,
if they can't control their own lives how can they control a
ship full of people?"
     "I think they'll do ok.  I've been living with Zoner for
a while now and I've seen him like this before.  He can run
things ok even when he's stressed...just don't add to it.
They're just as nervous as we are about this.  No one is
really comfortable about visiting a new planet," explained
ReRob.
     "Most people have a fear of the unknown.  We just have
to make sure that the fear of the unknown doesn't become a
hate.  Humans tend to hate what they don't understand, and
destroy what they hate.  Which is one of the reasons I don't
like the human race all that much," Vaughn observed.
     "Like I wouldn't worry too much about that with the
Wedge eh?" q replied.
     "So, we've got one day left.  Then we'll see which
predictions come true.  Now, what about the relationship
thing?" ReRob asked.
     "I think they've got it under control.  Gryph and Zoner
are fairly new at this, but then again so are Kei and Yuri.
They care for one another, I think everything will work out,"
Vaughn answered.
     "Well, I think Zoner has to work on his attitude.  He
has to pay more attention to Yuri," Grendel offered.
     "Like, I don't think so.  They just need to work out a
balance," q stated.
     "They're down there working on it now.  Zoner had a lot
of talking to do.  I've lived with him for nearly two years
now and he hasn't filled me in on his past yet.  It takes him
a while to get around to mentioning things.  Most of what I
know I pick up little by little.  He's going to tell her all
of it at once.  That could take a while," Vaughn said.
     "I hope they work it out, the walls couldn't take much
more angst!" ReRob quipped.
     "Hmm...what about Gryph and Kei?" asked Vaughn.  "They
didn't seem too comfortable either."
     "Aah," said Rob, "don't worry about them; they're
probably asleep.  Again.  Those two sleep more than the rest
of us combined..."
     "But," said Grendel with his Evil GrinTM, "are they
really sleeping?"
     "WHAM!" shouted ReRob, and hit Grendel with his hat.
"As a matter of fact they are... (most of the time)..."
     "Well, speaking of sleep, I've got to get some.  Is
there any room in E7?" Grendel asked.
     "I think there's some floorage in the living room,"
ReRob answered.  "Or you could always sleep in the closet if
you weren't worried about what people would say about you."
     "Uh, yeah.  Well, I'll see you guys when you crash,"
Grendel commented to ReRob and Vaughn.  He left.
     "Like, I think I'll be doing the sleep thing too," q
added.
     "You got a place to sleep?" ReRob asked.
     "Yeah, like GweepCo saved me a plot in the Lower Wedge,"
q replied as he walked away.
     "Sleep well, dream well," Vaughn called after him.
     "So, you going to become unconscious?" ReRob inquired of
Vaughn.
     "No, I think I'm going to go for a walk.  You?"
     "I'm supposed to be in charge, so I'll stick around here
in case any alarms go off or something."
     "Ok, see you later."  Vaughn raised himself out of the
Wedgebench and strolled around the corner by the nosh
machines past Gryphon's room, pausing to read the message
board.  Then, with a smile, he pushed open the Morgan doors.
     SKWEEEEEKrrkkkweequeRUNK--FOOOOMM!!!--wheeet!whio thud
hissssssss...  "WARNING!  WARNING!  HULL BREACH!  HULL
BREACH!  HULL--NEVER MIND.  HEY GUYS, I'M REALLY GETTING SICK
OF THIS.  EITHER STOP IT OR I'LL STOP WARNING YOU ABOUT HULL
BREACHES!"
     "Take it easy computer, it's just Vaughn," ReRob spoke
into the instrument panel.
     "WELL IT'S DAMN INCONSIDERATE, NO ONE EVEN PAYS ANY
ATTENTION TO THE ALARMS ANYMORE!"
     "Ok, ok.  I'll have Zoner say something to the crew."
     "THANKS."
     "No problem."  ReRob checked over the control settings
and curled up on the Wedgebench to get some sleep.


---------------------------------------------------------NINE

     "Morning."
                         --Vaughn, no matter what the time.

     Zoner and Yuri were amongst the first to stir; the Wedge
was populated still by visitors to the lands of Morpheus.
Zoner awoke first, recalling the events of the previous
night.  He had let Yuri through the gates in the wall and
they were now closer then ever.  He propped his torso up on
an elbow and gazed down at Yuri's still sleeping form.  She
seemed so delicate, an elegant living sculpture of flesh and
bone.  Her dark hair lay spread across the white pillows, her
breathing slow and even, her eyes following images unseen by
he.  The image warmed his soul, but even better was the
knowledge that she loved him, and he loved her.  It pained
him to think that he had nearly driven her away; he had a
history of hurting those he cared about.  But this time he
was lucky, their love was strong enough to overcome their
troubles; they were together for good now.
     He contemplated waking her, then decided to let her
continue her peaceful slumber.  He was content to watch her
sleep and wait.  It was nearly an hour before she stirred, as
she awoke he leaned across and kissed her lips gently.
     "Morning, love."
     "Good morning, Zoner," she replied returning the kiss.
     "I'm glad I opened up to you, I feel closer to you than
I've ever felt before."
     "I'm glad too, now I feel that I really know you, who
you really are.  You used to seem so distant.  I like to be
close to those I love."
     "Oh really?" Zoner said with a smirk as he hugged her
close.
     "Yeah, really," she replied with a kiss.
     Looking into her eyes he asked, "You in any hurry to
face the world?"
     "Not especially."
     "Good," he replied and kissed her again.

     Kei awoke slowly, as she always did; glancing up at the
clock on top of the stereo speaker, she saw that it was
seven-thirty.  It suddenly occurred to her that she had no
idea which seven-thirty it was; so she picked up the sleeping
Gryphon's arm and checked his digital watch to discover that
it was 7:30 AM.  That task taken care of, she held his hand
between hers for a while and looked at him as he slept.
     He slept peacefully; it seemed about the only time he
was ever truly at ease.  When awake, he always seemed
slightly nervous, charged with some bizarre form of energy
that kept him moving, fidgeting, looking around for something
to read or watch or listen to.  He very rarely relaxed in a
true sense without actually sleeping, and it pleased Kei to
see him so calm and relaxed.
     It puzzled Kei what it was about this man, particularly,
that drew her to him; he wasn't tall, or muscular, or even
particularly handsome, although he was cute, in a way.  He
wasn't any of the things she had thought she looked for in a
man; he was certainly nothing like Carson.  (And where was
Carson now, anyway?  Probably in jail somewhere, or stealing
something.)  It was proof to her that sometimes even she
didn't know what she wanted until she found it...but she had,
no, not fallen for him...more like they had taken each
other's hand and dived head-first in together.  Everything
that happened to them, good and bad, cemented them more
firmly together.  The power of the bond frightened Kei, and
she knew it terrified Ben sometimes.
     She shrugged; such was the way of it, and it was no good
trying to puzzle it out.  Gryphon had shown a similar
ambivalence when the first moves had been made in their
relationship, by Kei, that day after the motorcycle chase
through Worcester, and she had argued his fears down; and so
she did the same to herself and settled down to get some more
sleep.  She did so enjoy sleeping now.

     "SECOND OFFICER REROB."
     "Uhhhnnn, what is it computer?" ReRob asked as he rubbed
the sleep from his eyes.
     "WE'RE BEGINNING FINAL APPROACH TO ORBITAL INSERTION.
ESTIMATE TWELVE HOURS TO FINAL ORBITAL PATH."
     "Fine, fine.  Thanks for the short notice."
     "I THOUGHT THAT TWELVE HOURS WAS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT."
     "I was trying to be sarcastic."
     "OH."
     "No problem.  Has Zoner or Gryphon been up yet?"
     "NEITHER ZONER NOR GRYPHON HAVE LEFT THEIR QUARTERS AS
OF YET."
     "Great, well, no need to wake them up yet.  They can use
the sleep, or whatever.  Ah, computer?"
     "YES?"
     "Please awaken me whenever Zoner or Gryphon leave their
rooms, or we're six hours away. Whichever comes first."
     "WILL DO."
     "And computer?"
     "YES?"
     "Do you have to speak in that booming voice all of the
time?"
     "IT IS THE ONLY VOICE WITH WHICH I AM EQUIPPED."
     "Fine, I was afraid of that.  See you around."  With
that ReRob curled back up and attempted to get some more
sleep.
     A few hours later Zoner and Yuri emerged from their
room, showered and dressed.  They descended the stairway to
E7's kitchen to search for some breakfast.  Up on the bridge
the computer alerted ReRob to their consciousness.
     "Hmmm.  We're running pretty low on supplies.  I hope
this planet has some, or we're going to be in big trouble,"
Zoner said to Yuri.
     "Yeah, we've been living off of Mac and Cheese for days
now, and the Pop-Tarts are just about gone," she replied.
     "Make that gone," Zoner said, holding up the last foil
package.
     "I hope we're doing the right thing.  I mean visiting
this planet and all," Yuri said worriedly.
     "Well, it's my responsibility, and it's too late to turn
back now.  We might as well just have fun with it.  I'm sure
we'll be ok."
     "I hope you're right."

     After finishing their breakfast Zoner and Yuri strolled
up to the bridge.
     "Morning, ReRob," Yuri chimed.
     "Howsit going?" Zoner inquired.
     "Well, we're between nine and ten hours out now.
Autonav seems to be handling it just fine."
     "Great.  Well, the shower in E7 is available if you want
it, I'd hurry before the line gets bad.  It's very unusual
for the line to be nonexistent in the first place.  I'd take
advantage of it," Zoner suggested.
     "Ok, will do.  You have the conn, I guess," ReRob
replied, walking down to E7.  "See you later."
     "What are you going to do?" Yuri asked Zoner.
     "I don't know, there's not much to do right now.  I've
been working on some design mods for the Daytona from Hell.
I'm hoping that whomever is waiting for us at the shipyards
will be able to do them."
     "What kind of mods?"
     "Well, the basic vehicle is great for short range, but
doesn't provide for long distance flight.  Here, let me show
you," he answered, pulling his Trapper out of his back pack.
He pulled some sketches out of the Trapper and began
gesturing at them as he continued.  "I've been working on an
idea I got from Mospeada, sort of a Beta unit.  Basically it
docks with the Daytona from Hell, covering the roof,
hatchback, and rear quarter panels.  Two arms linkup to the
undercarriage to hold it in place, like a fork truck.  Then,
once the docking surfaces seal, I can pop the hatch back,
tilt my seat back, and pull myself along a slide that extends
down out of the `Beta'.  Same thing for the shotgun seat.
Rear seat passengers climb out before I extend the slides.
     "The `Beta' has sleeping quarters for four, galley,
lavatory, and hopefully a warp propulsion system, but I have
no idea if they can make one small enough.  It's going to be
finished in the same flame red as the car.  And it will be
self-sufficient, so it can act as a separate craft.  I'm not
sure if I'll have weapons installed yet, I'll have to see
what they have there.  I think I'll have a craftname painted
on the side, but I'm not sure what yet.  Oh, and it will have
storage for the Garland, here.  And a couple of Cyclones,
here.  It will be fully atmospherically capable and it will
turn the Daytona from Hell into a true long distance craft."
     "Looks like you've been busy.  Did you come up with all
this yourself?"
     "Mostly, but Gryphon and ReRob gave me a bunch of
suggestions."
     "Mind if I watch while you work?"
     "Not at all. We've got some time to kill."


----------------------------------------------------------TEN

     "Upon first contacting another culture, the explorer
must always remember to present a peaceful and calm
perspective."
                         --The Explorer's Handbook, 7th Ed.

     "Gryphon to the bridge.  Gryphon to the bridge," the PA
system announced.  Gryphon awoke, looking around in that
annoying post-waking confusion, and unzipped the room side of
the sleeping bag.  He had the distinct feeling someone wanted
to speak to him.
     "Nnn...what's going on?" Kei asked, sitting up beside
him.
     "Dunno," he replied, shaking his head to clear it,
climbing out of bed, and pulling on his bathrobe.  "I think
they want me on the bridge..."
     "Hang on, I'll come with you."

     A couple of minutes later, Gryphon padded into the
Wedge in his bathrobe, hair brushed and semi-presentable,
with Kei, in a set of WPI sweats, at his side.  Everyone else
was already there.
     "What's up, everyone?" he asked.  Then he saw the view
from the windows.  A blue-white planet, looking a great deal
like Earth, lay beyond the windows; between them and it was a
huge complex of girders, beams, windows, bunker-like
objects, and starship construction bays, stretching out in
either direction and vanishing in a band around the planet.
     "Wow," said Kei.  "I guess that about settles the
intelligent life question, doesn't it?"
     "Just about," Zoner said from his captain's seat.  He
seemed oddly relaxed, and he and Yuri had never looked more
natural together.  Gryphon was forced to smile.  "q, have we
picked up anything from the hailing frequencies yet?"
     "Not yet, like I'll let you know.  Hold that thought.
Like here comes something now."
     "On screen."
     "We don't have one."
     "On speakers, then."
     "Like right away."
     There was a burst of static from the PA speakers, and
then a human male-sounding voice announced, in mid-sentence,
"--lanitia Shipyards welcomes the Wedge.  Please allow your
automatic navigation system to complete docking maneuvers.
Lord Fahrvergnugen will want to speak with your command staff
as soon as you arrive.  Once again, welcome."  The
transmission was cut off.
     "Lord Fahrvergnugen?!" said Zoner.
     "Oh, no," was all ReRob had to say.
     The Wedge moved as if with a mind of its own, swinging
up even with part of the huge complex and backing into place
with a clang; there were thuds and hisses as a docking collar
sealed around the Morgan doors.
     "Well, shall we?" asked Zoner, rising and indicating
Gryphon.
     "Me?  Why me?"
     "You're my exec, bonehead, they said this Fahrvergnugen
guy wants to see our command staff.  That's us.  You too, q,
and ReRob.  Crocker, get a security squad together; Kei,
Yuri, give him a hand."
     "Ok, I'm ready anytime," said Rob.
     "NO!" shouted Android.
     "You ok, 'Droid?" asked ReRob.
     "You can't go dressed like that!" Android said, grabbing
hold of ReRob's Brockton High sweatshirt.  "Go change your
shirt, what are you, crazy?!"
     "What the hell--oh.  Oops.  I'll, ah, be right back."
He disappeared.  He had forgotten in his anticipation of
meeting the people of Planitia that the color of Brockton
High was red...
     "Five minutes, everyone.  Meet at the Morgan doors, then
we go in.  And be ready, we don't know if these people are
really friendly or not."  Zoner adjourned the bridge meeting.

     They met at the doors within five minutes (amazing in
itself; the Wedge Rats almost never did anything on time).
Crocker had a three-man security squad put together; he and
his men were wearing CVR-3 and carrying their Gallants in
rifle mode by the shoulder straps.  Zoner was wearing his
standard outfit (Nikes, Blackbird shirt--today's Plane du
Jour: the F-117A--jeans, Rho Alpha Tau hat, denim jacket with
Eve airbrushed on the back).  Kei and Yuri were in uniform,
their weapons holstered but ready.  Gryphon had on what he
had taken to calling his "Wedge uniform": black fatigue
pants, WPI sweatshirt, old British Knights, Safematic hat,
bomber jacket with RDF patch on sleeve.  Rob had changed from
his Brockton High sweatshirt to a tasteful beige chamois
button-up shirt.
     A fitting party to go forth and meet the first
extraterrestrials humankind has yet to meet.
     "Now remember," Zoner said, "I don't want anyone
screaming and running off, or puking, or anything if they're
really ugly, or slimy, or Cthuloid, or anything.  That's not
the way to start off peaceful relations between peoples."
     "Wow, Zoner...don't we sound captainly..." Gryph said
with a grin.
     "Shut up," Zoner said good-naturedly, smacking Gryphon
gently in the back of the head.  "Okay.  Everyone ready?
Let's go."  He reached up and tabbed the door control.
     The doors swung open silently.  Zoner wondered if
perhaps, just this once, they wouldn't close with that
Godawful noise.  The party stepped through.
     SKWEEEEEKrrkkkweequeRUNKwheeet!whio thud.
     "Garh," Zoner muttered.
     The inner doors, huge and smooth and metal and painted
with a neat, almost Starfleet-like logo, parted in the center
and opened up and down.
     A small group of humans in lab coats and dress slacks
met them.  They had stripes, probably denoting rank, on their
sleeves and little nametag pins, but aside from that, they
looked like perfectly ordinary scientist or technician-type
people.
     "Greetings," said the one with dark brown hair and seven
stripes on his sleeve, in a placid tone of voice.  "Welcome
to the Utopia Planitia shipyards.  I am Decker.  Please
follow me--Lord Fahrvergnugen is anxious to meet you."
     "Right.  You heard the man," said Zoner.
     "The weapons are not necessary," Decker observed calmly.
     "I think I'll hang onto mine anyway, if you don't mind,"
replied Kei.
     "As you wish," Decker said.  The group of technicians
led the Wedge Rats down a corridor, to the left, and into a
conference room.  "Please take a seat--Lord Fahrvergnugen
will arrive shortly."  And then he and the other technicians
left.
     "This," said Gryphon as he sat down at the table, "is
extremely strange."
     "You said it," said Erik Swimm, part of the security
division.  "I don't like it."
     "Oh, come on, you guys," said Zoner.  "Don't be so
paranoid.  It seems perfectly fine to me--Kei, Yuri, what do
you think?"
     "I'm with Erik," Kei said.  "It feels like some sort of
trap.  I hate not knowing what's going on."
     "I'm not sure," Yuri countered.  "There's something
about this place..."
     The door opened and in walked a most impressive-looking
figure.  The man was alone, and, save for the huge sword at
his side, unarmed.  He stood six foot eight if an inch, and
looked impressively muscled, so far as they could tell
beneath the ornate, gold-inlaid black plate armor he was
wearing.  He wore no helmet; finely chiseled features and a
sharp hawk nose dominated his face, and a thick mane of
flowing red hair dropped below the fur ridging the top edge
of his large black cloak.  Brown eyes flashed with
intelligence and fire from below his thick, bushy red brows.
     "Lord Fahrvergnugen, I presume?" said Rob.
     "You presume correctly," Fahrvergnugen boomed, in a
voice that shook the rafters.  "Welcome, my children!  I have
waited long for this moment and it has at last arrived!  I am
Lord Wolfgang Fahrvergnugen, Duke of Planitia and the master
of this shipyard, and I bid you welcome."
     "Wait a second--what do you mean, `my children'?" Zoner
asked coolly.
     "You are!" Fahrvergnugen replied.  "With the exception
of those two women," he said, indicating the Lovely Angels
with a sweeping gesture of one massive arm, "you are all my
children--the culmination of seventeen generations of subtle
genetic manipulation and environmental modification!  While
you have biological parents, you owe who and what you are
almost entirely to me."
     "Pardon me for sounding skeptical here," said ReRob,
"but you got anything to back these claims up?"
     "If you only knew, Robert Mandeville," Fahrvergnugen
said with a smile.  "Follow me, and I will show you your
history--and your future!"  He turned and swept out of the
room; with a shrug, Zoner motioned everyone to follow him.
     "This guy is cracked," Fritz whispered to Erik.
     "You got that right," Erik replied.  "And look at the
size of him--the guy's a Buma with a flashy paint job!"
     "Shut up, you want him to hear you?!" Crocker admonished
them.  "You're a security team, not a debate team."
     "Do not worry, Robert Crocker," said Lord Fahrvergnugen
from the front of the group.  "I expect you to think me mad,
until I show you the proof I have to support my claims--and
worry not, I have proof a'plenty."
     They entered a huge auditorium, like a lecture hall;
Fahrvergnugen beckoned them be seated and, clearing his
throat, began to speak.  "I was born Wolfgang Amadeus
Fahrvergnugen, on the planet Earth, in Germany, in what you
know as the fourteenth century.  I was a student of the
natural sciences.  One day, in the process of an experiment
concerning magnetism and electricity, something went wrong, a
terrible accident."  On the screens in the room, still
pictures flashed, about one per sentence, illustrating what
he meant.  "There was an explosion.  I awoke here, on
Planitia, in the ruins of a huge and advanced city.
     "I found out years later that my accident was no
accident; it was engineered by the being who is now my arch-
nemesis, the greatest evil in all of Creation, in an attempt
to slay me, who he had foreseen to be his greatest foe.
Ironic, is it not, that in attempting to kill me he placed
the tools of his own destruction in my grasp?  I mastered the
technology of the city quickly, and returned home to gather
a small band of trusted acquaintances, for I knew I could not
leave the great menace unopposed.
     "My friends and I were too weak to oppose the Evil.  We
drove them back in the First War, with our faithful starship,
the Wedge; but something more was needed.  I decided to
create a subculture, a race of beings back on Earth, to
combat it.  I would make them warriors, scientists,
freethinkers.  Through subtle genetic manipulation, and the
slight alteration of their environments here and there, I
would nurture my children through as many generations as
needed before the Evil arose.  Further, I would give them
weapons.  I selected the site of Worcester Polytechnic
Institute as my army began to grow, and caused the college to
begin; I rebuilt the Wedge and hid its secrets in its
computers, and, when the time was right, I placed it and
waited.
     "When the Encore was installed I linked the Wedge
computers to it; I knew some of my children would be gweeps,
and my creation's secrets found, when the time was right.  My
computer technicians created the HoloDECstation 31000 and hid
it in Fuller Labs.  Everything was proceeding according to
plan--until Decker, my aide, pointed out a startling reality
I had overlooked.
     "The Wedge Rats had become too numerous for their
intended craft; the Wedge was far too small.  The Evil and
his soldiers had been preparing as well, also; thus, my army
was underequipped in the extreme.  I set out to rectify that
immediately, racing against time, for it seemed that the time
for my children's Awakening was fast approaching.
     "And then it happened; you were awakened prematurely by
that idiot Largo, a creation of my own HoloDECstation--fool I
was not to put safeties on it!  It was never designed to
create life!  Although--" he said aside to Gryphon, "I
congratulate you on these two lovely ladies.  No errors are
they, but true undocumented features.  Fine work, my son,
fine work."
     Gryphon, Zoner, Kei, and Yuri had a brief four-way
puzzled look exchange as Fahrvergnugen continued, "In any
event...when I originally created the Wedge, I programmed it
to bring my children to me when it was activated, and such it
did.  Now you are ready to receive the final steps of your
training--to be taught in the use of your new weapons and
organized into the steel and fire that must be used to combat
the Evil when it returns.  My timetable is disrupted, but I
do not think any unrecoverable damage has been done."
     "Uh...I hate to interrupt..." said MegaZone.
     "Go on, MegaZone.  Do not fear to ask me anything."
     "Does that involve a larger ship, I hope?"
     "But of course it does!  You are just in time--your new
ship was completed mere days ago, and even now awaits its
final painting before it can be called truly finished.  I
think you will find it more to your liking.  Fear not, your
faithful Wedge will remain, as part of the new ship; I could
not discard my original creation after it served me so
faithfully in the First War."
     "Can we see it?" Zoner asked.
     "Certainly.  Follow me."
     They followed Fahrvergnugen to an observation bay; the
shutters over its huge klaster windows were closed.  "Behold
your new vessel!" Fahrvergnugen announced, pressing the
control that opened the shutters.  They swung back--and the
assembled Wedge Rat away team gasped.  The bay looked out
onto a construction slip, fully enclosed and over a mile
long.  Huge quartz lights beamed light onto the starship
enclosed in the slip.
     It was nearly three-fourths the length of the bay, and
looked somewhat like a surface navy ship; the foredeck was
vast and swept back to tiered decks and a flying bridge tower
topped with a great sensor array, and behind that were huge
thrusters.  What looked like two smaller spacecraft were
attached to the sides, just aft of two huge weapon barrels.
Everyone recognized it instantly, but Zoner was the first to
shout in a strangled voice:
     "THAT'S THE SDF-1!"
     "I thought it best to provide you with a vessel you
were already familiar with, and felt comfortable with,"
explained Lord Fahrvergnugen.  "Besides which, Zor is a
sometime acquaintance of mine, and he agreed to let me use
the basic designs, which was a great timesaver.  This ship is
the mightiest ship in space!  It will serve you well.  You
see there," he said, pointing to the flying bridge, which was
incomplete, with a great gaping hole in the front surrounded
by rigging and what looked like hinged panels.  "There is
where your Wedge goes; it fits right into place, standing in
Battroid mode, and then the armor locks over it.  Virtually
impregnable.  The weapons are superior to anything else in
space.  The Reflex cannon can destroy any adversary.  This is
the ship of destiny!" cried Fahrvergnugen with an expansive
gesture and a guffaw of triumph.
     He turned to the Wedge Rats.  "Now go back to your ship
and tell the others what I have told you.  I leave the
details of your organization up to you; your training and
final equipping begins in two days.  Only remember: time is
short!  The Evil is almost upon us!" So speaking,
Fahrvergnugen turned to sweep out of the room.
     "Yo, Wolfgang!" Zoner called out.
     Lord Fahrvergnugen spun, drawing his sword and sweeping
it towards Zoner's head.  The blade stopped millimeters from
his nose; Zoner didn't flinch.  He just assumed a very
strange expression. "I am Lord Fahrvergnugen to you!" Lord
Fahrvergnugen cried.
     "Um, yeah, right.  Listen, put the pigsticker away, will
you?  You're a Wedge Rat too, and no Wedge Rat is going to go
by the name Lord Fahrvergnugen.  So pick something, or we
will.  You may end up Wolfgang, Wolfy, Fahrv, or something as
inane.  Oh, and don't threaten me with that thing again or I
may have to hurt you."
     Lord Fahrvergnugen let out a hearty laugh.  "I like you.
You have the bravery needed to be a great leader.  Very well,
you may address me as Wolfgang."
     "Cool, Wolfgang, now, how about supplying a few sets of
new clothes, some home entertainment, etc.  And nearly
everyone here needs a shower.  First things first, right?"
     "You are right, of course, here," Wolfgang said,
pressing a button on a comm panel.  "This droid will guide
you to the rest and relaxation facilities."  A small droid
glided around the corner.
     "Excellent, oh, and can I talk to you later?"
     "Yes, of course, I will summon you later."
     "Yo, don't be so stuffy, loosen up.  Don't `summon'
people, drop by and chill for a while."
     "Very well, perhaps you are correct."  Wolfgang said as
he swept from the room.
     "Uh, like weeeeeird?" said q.
     "Uh yeah," Gryphon replied.  "But you know...it all
makes sense somehow..."


-------------------------------------------------------ELEVEN

     "As your body grows bigger/Your mind will flower/It's
great to learn/'Cause knowledge is power"
                         --School House Rock

     "Zoner, you wished to speak to me?" Lord Fahrvergnugen
asked.
     "Yeah, I've got a few ideas I want to bounce off of
you."
     "What type of ideas?"
     "Well, here, look at this," Zoner said, spreading out
the plans for the Daytona from Hell's "beta" unit. "I think
this would help out a lot, sort of a captain's launch, and
I'd like to make it combat capable."
     "Hmmm, I see you have been busy.  It is a good design."
     "Thanks, by the way, how large do warp engines have to
be?  And what about weapons?"
     "Well, microwarp engines can be fairly small, in fact
you could possibly install a pair.  Here and here, along the
flanks.  And as for weapons, it depends on the kind."
     "Well, what do you have?"
     "Conventional projectiles, directed energy, missiles,
mass drivers, you name it."
     "Well, hmmm, I'd like the basic Daytona to be capable on
its own, and the `beta' should function independently.  So,
how about installing an upgraded fusion turbine, and using an
energy bleed to power a couple of plasma weapons firing
through the fascia.  And how big are missiles?"
     "Well, long-range missiles are twenty feet long, but
that is too large.  Short range missiles are about five feet
long, and mini-missiles are two feet long."
     "Two feet?  Hmmm.  Where where where?  I could put them
in the undercarriage, that's fine for space, but on the
ground they're useless.  But still, how about two short
rangers mounted retracted along the frame rails, the entire
undercarriage is covered in armor sheeting anyway.  We just
have to be careful of the hover ports.  I've got it!  We
split the rear bumper!  A gang of four mini-missiles should
fit in each side, the ends pop open and I can fire to the
sides, or when separated they slide out a rotate to lie along
the sides so they aim forwards."
     "Good thinking, original and functional.  What about
this `beta' unit?"
     "Well, since the airlock is centered in the rear with
the three Cyclones in the starboard corner and the Garland in
the port corner, there isn't much room for rear firing
weapons.  I do have an affection for one weapon in
particular, and it should fit along the center line on top."
     "What weapon is this?"
     "The General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm rotary
cannon: seven barrels of death," Zoner said with an evil
grin.
     "I believe we can manufacture one without many
problems," Wolfgang said, returning the grin.
     "Great.  Now, we take up the rest of the roof with a VLS
setup."
     "VLS?"
     "Vertical Launch System.  I figure we can put one
hundred micro-missiles up there.  The `beta' is about eight
feet by twenty feet, not counting the overhang over the car,
so that gives one hundred sixty square feet, and each missile
takes up what, a square foot including launch box?  I figure
we mount them starting on the outer edges and work towards
the center, that'll leave the center three feet for the GAU-8
and associated systems.  We can hang four long range missiles
under the `beta', and a rack of ten short range missiles in
fold out pontoons, like in the RAH-66 Comanche.  Tracking can
be provided by a phased array radar, a la an Aegis system.
And the Daytona from Hell still has its radar shielding."
     "Don't get carried away, lad.  I think we'll be able to
handle this.  I'll have my crew get right on it.  Can I take
these drawings?"
     "Sure, and thanks."
     "No problem, I like to see you take the initiative."
     With that Lord Fahrvergnugen swept out of the room.
     "Why does he always have to sweep out of a room like
that?" Zoner mumbled to himself.

     "Excuse me, Lord Fahrvergnugen?" Gryphon called out in
the corridor.
     "Please, call me Wolfgang now."
     "Ok, Wolfgang, I was wondering if I could mention some
ideas to you?"
     "Of course, I've just come from speaking with MegaZone.
     "Out of curiosity, what type of fightercraft will we be
using?
     "We are in the process of gearing up to produce VF-1
Valkyrie fighters for those who request them, but the main
units will be using the Alpha-Beta Legios system."
     "I kind of suspected that.  Listen, how about some
modifications to the VF-1S?"
     "Such as?"
     "Well, like changing the cockpit layout so that they can
be piloted while wearing CVR-3, and providing storage space
for a Cyclone for emergency use, like in an Alpha."
     "A sound suggestion, I will see to it. Is there anything
else?"
     "Well, actually yes. I'd like a personalized craft,
seeing as I'm XO and all."
     "What do you require?"
     "I'd like a VF-1S, but there are a couple of things I
need.  For one thing, I'm left-handed, so I'd like to have
the control layout reversed."
     "You as well?" Lord Fahrvergnugen said, slapping the
sword hilt at his right hip.  "You must be one of the Delta
series.  I used some of my own genetics in them.  But anyway,
go on with what you wanted.  That should be no problem."
     "Ok, whatever...anyway, I'd like to have a pair of
nacelles which contain microwarp drives, built into the Super
boosterpods, if it can be done.  And I'd like a VT-1D two-
seater with the same type of nacelles for Kei and Yuri.  The
nacelles will probably need a lot of power, so those two
Valkyries will need a more powerful reactor.  I've got some
ideas for actuation modifications and such, too, but I'd need
to do the work on a finished machine, not paper."
     "That should be no problem.  Anything else?"
     "Well, this may be pushing it, but I'd like the Pair to
have their own ship.  How hard would it be to have a Wasp
class ship built?"
     "Wasp class?  I'm not sure what that is."
     "Oh, yeah, right.  I have tons of CADs of it."
     "Well, bring them to my tech crew.  Have them see what
they can do."
     "Thank you again."
     "My pleasure."  Lord Fahrvergnugen strode down the
corridor and swept around a corner.


-------------------------------------------------------TWELVE

     "Baaa...baaaa...baaaaa--BABUM!!! bom bom bom bom bom bom
bom"
                         --Thus Spake Zarathos

                            EARTH

     At the top of the GENOM tower, Largo turned from
observing his complex to answer the telephone.
     "Largo."
     "This is Orbital Station Three, sir," the voice at the
other end said.  "Project Ikazuchi is nearing completion."
     "How long?"
     "Four weeks maximum, sir."
     "Excellent.  Proceed.  I will contact you later."  He
hung up, then dialed a three-digit extension.  "This is
Largo," he announced.  "I want a status report on Project
I.C.Z.E.R. immediately."
     "Astbury here, sir.  Things are moving right along--I
expect I.C.Z.E.R.-2 to come on-line within the next hour.
I'll call you before we bring her up."
     "Good work, Professor."  He again depressed the hook,
then called a second extension.  "This is Largo.  Give me the
latest information from Deep Space Seven."
     "DS7 has kept close watch on the Wedge since it
reacquired their neutron trail on the fourteenth," the other
end replied.  "As you had hoped, the quantum redistribution
field allowed it to ride their warp drive emissions and
follow them without a drive of its own.  The latest reports
indicate that the Wedge has docked at a large orbital
facility of some sort, in the Cygnus Beta system."
     "Hmm...have the exact coordinates sent to the project
centers for Projects I.C.Z.E.R. and Ikazuchi.  Report any
further developments to me."  He hung up the phone and sat
back.
     So the Wedge Rats were in Cygnus Beta, and they appeared
to have help.  Hmm.  That made things interesting.  Still, if
the I.C.Z.E.R. Project's second prototype turned out, her
operational parameters would far outstrip those of any
orbital station...
     The telephone rang.  "Largo," he answered.
     "Astbury, sir.  We're preparing to bring I.C.Z.E.R.-2 to
full online status now.  You wished to be informed."
     "Indeed I did.  Do not proceed until I arrive."  Largo
hung up, stood, and walked calmly to the elevator, arriving
almost immediately at the biolab where the second I.C.Z.E.R.
prototype was being constructed.  He entered the room to see
the Bio-SculptTM tank that had held the prototype in the
initial stages, now connected to floor and ceiling by large
cables and the like.  Doctor Astbury and his aides were
making final preparations; they all wore welding goggles.
     "Proceed," said Largo.
     "Sir, you'd better wear these," Astbury said, holding
out a pair of goggles to Largo.
     Largo pushed the scientist's hand aside.  "Do not waste
time," he said quietly.  "Proceed at once."
     "Yes, sir, if you insist."  Astbury took his place at
his control station, checked a few readouts, and said, "Count
down to full online status.  Open all power gates.  Begin
neutrino flux."
     "We have partial online.  Confirm consciousness, repeat
confirm consciousness," said a tech.
     <<What...where...who am I?>>
     "Hold test.  Check all levels.  Report."
     "Level three, no errors.  Two is at one point six, well
within the tolerance levels.  One and zero, no error.  All is
within error limits."
     "Proceed with final countdown," Astbury ordered.
    <<Red...indistinct...this a fluid.  How do I know?>>
    "Ten seconds to full online," an aide reported.  The
lights all over the GENOM complex dropped as the activation
equipment began to draw all the power it could from the
subterranean power core.  A deep throb filled the biolab, and
a red glow began to radiate from the Bio-SculptTM tank.
     <<Wh--what...is happening?>>
    "Nine.  Eight.  Seven."
     As he counted, the throb got higher and faster, and the
light became brighter and began to pulse with the throb;
inside the capsule, Largo could make out a shape, as if it
were an egg held up to the light.  Lightning began to crackle
over the thick cables attached to the capsule.
     "Six.  Five.  Warning!  Critical overload--danger of
equipment failure!  Recommend abort."
     <<AARGH!  WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?>>
     "Keep going, damn you!  To hell with the equipment!"
Largo bellowed.
     "As you wish, sir--two!  One!"
     <<WHAT--WAIT!  I KNOW!>>
     There was a tremendous flash of red light.  Control
boards and various wall panels exploded.  The huge cable
entering the top of the tank broke free, writhing for a
moment until the power stopped.  The Bio-SculptTM tank
exploded; a flood of red nanotechnology goo rolled across the
floor, smoking, and splattered all around the room.
     <<I KNOW WHAT I AM!>>
     As the smoke and debris settled and the lights rose,
Astbury and his men picked themselves up off the floor to see
Largo gazing raptly into the smoke cloud where the tank had
been.  Something was moving in there, a silhouetted shape--
     The shape waved an arm and the smoke was blown away;
Largo, Astbury, and company beheld the fruit of their labors.
     It is very difficult to look commanding when one is
naked and dripping red slime.  Even more so when the person
you are attempting to look commanding to is Largo.  Yet the
woman standing before them pulled it off with ease.  Techs
hurriedly averted their eyes in fear that she would see them
looking at her.  Astbury shuddered and crossed himself.
     She was a tall and attractive woman with straight red
hair to her knees; she looked perfectly human, save for her
elongated and pointed ears.  She turned her cool black eyes
on the nearest hapless tech and pointed a long-nailed finger
at him.
     "You," she said in a melodic, yet dark voice.  "Get me
something to wear."  Then she turned back to Largo, who was
standing, spattered with red Bio-SculptTM material and
looking as dumbfounded as it was possible for him to look, a
few feet away.
     "Largo, I presume," said Iczer-2 coolly.


-----------------------------------------------------THIRTEEN

     "Take it, to the limit, one more time..."
                         --Eagles

                       UTOPIA PLANITIA
              18 MARCH 1992 TERRAN SYNCHRONIZED

     A docking bay in Section Seven of the shipyard complex
swung open to the vacuum of space.  Within, MegaZone sat at
the controls of the Daytona from Hell, getting ready to test
out his new snap-on warpshuttle.  The entire craft was a
resplendent fire red, and painted on the flank of the "beta"
in midnight black was one word: "WarpZone". Upon receiving
the green light from Control, he hit the launch boosters and
was slammed back into his seat by the g-forces of his
takeoff.  As he cleared the bay, he saw a Valkyrie Veritech
fighter clearing a catapult on each side.
     To port was Gryphon's white, black and blue VF-1S Super
fully fitted with pods and ordnance and the whole nine yards.
A big eight-ball was painted on each armor plate over the
leg/engines; on the booster pods and nose were painted the
Wedge Defense Force logo (which, noncoincidentally, was the
same as the Robotech Defense Force logo).  Gryphon had taken
to Veritech piloting like a fish to water, and had shown a
special fondness for the big Valkyries.
     To starboard was a VT-1D Super, the two-seat variety
that was classified as a trainer-fighter, but was no less
capable than the single-seat models.  It was painted bright
red and no doubt carried Kei and Yuri (the "Lovely Angel"
painted on the nose was a good clue).
     "Eight-Ball One to Daytona from Hell," his comm system
said, the spectrum analyzer bouncing with Gryphon's voice.
"Zoner, you read me?"
     "Loud and clear, Gryph--this is great!  You'd hardly
even know you were hauling around twenty extra tons the way
she handles.  You guys flying escort or what?  Kei, Yuri, is
that you?"
     "Two points for Zoner," Yuri replied with a laugh.
"We're just messing around, and we wanted to see you test
your `Beta'."
     "Beta testing...arrrrrr, someone hit me for that when we
get back..."
     "Watch yourself, Ben, I have proton torpedoes at my
fingertips here," Kei said darkly.
     "Speaking of torpedoes...let's go for a gunnery run on
the asteroid field...I feel like blowing things up today.
Whatcha say, Zoner?" Gryphon asked.
     "Sounds like fun to me--I want to try out the plasma
banks anyway."
     Gryphon banked hard to the left, heading for the
asteroid field near Planitia, as the Daytona and the Lovely
Angel followed.
     Gryphon opened his fighter up, diving into the asteroid
field at full booster.  He ducked, dodged, dipped, and banked
around rock after rock, laughing wildly, before opening up
with his GU-11 and nose lasers to rake three or four of them;
then he did a quick 90 degree spin and blasted one or two out
of existence with a couple of his underwing Reflex missiles.
     Then he kicked it in the ass again and boosted out of
the field as Zoner dove in, the "beta"'s Avenger and
automatic plasma banks on the Daytona's own nose opening up.
Bolt after bolt of blue energy blasted into the rocks,
blowing them to bitty pieces.  Laughing his own head off as
well, Zoner tried something stylish; he boosted out of the
field, disengaged the Daytona at full speed, flipped it over,
dove back in, chopped an asteroid to bits with his nose
plasma dischargers and blew two more up with the missile
launchers embedded in his rear bumper, flipped it over again,
performed a nifty spiral, and docked with the "Beta" as the
latter faithfully returned.
     "I LOVE THIS THING!" he cried into his mike.
     "Looks good, my friend, looks real good," Gryphon
agreed.  "Watch this," he said as the red VT-1D streaked into
the field.  "Oughtta be good."
     Yuri, at the pilot's controls in front, kept one eye on
her scope and one on the forward view as she kept tight to
the flying rocks, flying NOE on some of them to keep her
radar profile down as she navigated in the field.  Done
right, the maneuver made her nearly invisible.  On her
signal, Kei, in the gunner's seat behind, opened fire.
     Lasers, 30mm autocannon ammunition, and missile after
missile after missile poured from the Lovely Angel, raking
and destroying a b'zillion asteroids.  Only when the top-
mounted missile pods were empty did Kei signal for Yuri to
pull the nose up and pop out of the field to form up with
Gryphon and MegaZone again.  The whole time they had been
cool and professional; but once they cleared the field, Kei
and Yuri both started laughing like schoolgirls on nitrous.
     "Damn," said Gryphon, "this is fun."
     "Sure is," Zoner replied.  Suddenly, he realized
something.  "Hey, Gryphon--you never used your pod missiles."
     "Nope," Gryphon replied.
     "Why not?"
     "It's a surprise.  You gonna try the warp drive now?"
     "Will do."  Zoner lined the Daytona from Hell up so it
was heading out into random deep space, then fired all the
boosters, accelerating rapidly to full thrust.  The two
Valkyries kept time with him, all the way out.  He smiled an
evil smile.
     "Bye, guys," he said, and rammed the warp-drive throttle
open.  Panels slid aside on the sides of the "Beta" to reveal
glowing strips of blue material; the glow flared, covering
the entire spacecraft, and Zoner blasted away, leaving the
two sublight vehicles in the dust.
     "It's not that easy, chummer!" Gryphon hollered after
him, and grabbed the two throttle controls mounted to the
right of the engine throttles.  Punching the blue button in
the side with his thumb, he shoved them all the way open.
Slots where the missile pods should've been on his top
boosters opened up to reveal glowing blue stuff like that on
the Daytona.  They flashed, the entire Valkyrie glowed, and
then Gryphon was streaking after the Daytona into warpspace.
     "YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Gryphon screamed.  The
ultimate acceleration rush was his.  Adrenaline was roaring
around something fierce in his system.
     "What the fuck?!" Zoner shouted.  "Gryphon--your
Veritech has warp drive?!"
     "Yep," Gryphon replied.  "There's a microwarp in each
booster pod.  Takes up the place where the missiles should
be.  I won't use it in combat--microwarp drives aren't the
kind of thing you go popping off and abandoning in deep
space, after all--but I figure it'll come in handy.  I can
use my fighter as an executive transport and save on
expenses, or the pods can be fitted to Kei and Yuri's VT-1D.
They're the only two Valkyries yet that can handle the power
demands, though--the warp pods for the Angel aren't done yet,
but I thought I'd surprise you."
     "Jesus...when you're not running the warp drives, you
must have a fuckload of extra power."
     "Didn't you notice how fast and maneuverable my fighter
and the Lovely Angel are, even by Valkyrie standards?  The
powerplant puts all the power it would be feeding the warp
drives into the turbines and myomers when the drives aren't
on.  Since that's most of the time, the end result is a
faster, more maneuverable, and stronger fighter.  And you
should see the bastards move without the snap-on armor on--
whoo!  It's something to see.  That's why we call this
variant the Hyper Valkyrie."
     "Wow...we better head back, this was only supposed to be
a short test."
     "Righto--how tight can you turn at warp speeds?" Gryphon
said with a grin, and snapped his Valkyrie 180 degrees, 
vanishing from Zoner's portside window almost instantly.  
Zoner grinned and pulled an Immelmann, since in space it 
didn't really matter.
     As they neared Planitia again, they dropped down out of
warp; the armored shields slid back over the warpfield
inducer coil sections.  Gryphon tried to get his breathing
back to normal.
     Suddenly, an alarm howled.  Gryphon ducked the fighter,
opening up the boosters and doing a quick snaproll, by
instinct as three missiles homed in on him from somewhere in
the asteroid field; one missed, and two slammed into his
right-side leg armor, denting and burning it somewhat.
     "Shit!" Gryphon hollered.  "Somebody's shooting at me!"
He consulted his scope, trying to determine the launch point
of the missiles from their flight path; from other angles,
the Lovely Angel and Zoner's Daytona were closing in as the
culprit was highlighted in red on the screen.  Gryphon
grinned and swung around, getting the target in his HUD; it
was a small spacecraft, a little smaller than the Daytona's
"Beta", with slender wings and a lot of missile pods on it.
It opened fire again; Gryphon dodged a missile and shot
another three down with his nose lasers as the HUD pulsed,
then lit.  The tone of missile lock sang in his ears.
     "C'iao, baby," said Gryphon.  His thumb pressed down a
trigger.  At the same time he opened fire on the craft with
his lasers, GU-11, and the three Reflex missiles he had left,
Kei opened up on it from another angle with all her remaining
weapons, and Zoner neatly bisected the angle created by their
firestreams with a boiling swarm of missiles from his
"Beta"'s VLS.  The small black craft gave a decent
pyrotechnic rendition of "Oop, I died," and exploded in a
very pretty manner.

     "It was a probe of some sort, and definitely hostile,"
Yuri said, once they were all back inside the shipyard.  "It
tried to blow Gryphon right out of the sky."
     "I think it's safe to say that someone...or something...
unfriendly knows we're here...we'd better get ready to move
out.  Our training is done, our organization is complete--
there's no reason to linger here anyway," Zoner stated.
     "Your captain is right, my children," said Lord
Fahrvergnugen.  "It is time for you to leave me.  But
first...I have a small birthday gift for Yuri--but she has to
promise to share it with Kei before she can have it," the
baron said, with an almost grandfatherly twinkle in his eye.
     "Of course," said Yuri.  "Kei and I are best friends; we
share almost everything."
     "Almost," said Fahrvergnugen with a small grin.
"Decker!  Bring out the special project."
     "Yessir," said Decker, and opened the opposite door.
With a feline sound, a huge mountain of redblack fur bounded
into the room, almost tackling Yuri.
     "I present to you Military Utility Genetic Higher
Intelligence," said Lord Fahrvergnugen.
     "Mughi!" cried Yuri.
     "Too cool," said Gryphon.  "Hey, Yuri...the gang's all
here now, huh?"
     "Thank you, Lord Fahrvergnugen!" said Yuri.
     "No need, my child," replied Fahrvergnugen.  "Now you
all must leave me, sad as that thought makes me. Go.  Be
strong.  Defend the universe!  Make me proud!"
     "Will do, Wolfgang," Zoner said.  "I promise."
He put on his Rho Alpha Tau hat, saluted Fahrvergnugen, and
then, his crew behind him, ran for the vessel Vaughn had
dubbed SDF-17 and Gryphon and ReRob had further named Wayward
Son after an old song.
     The bridge of the new ship was impressive, to say the
least; gone were the uncomfortable Wedgebooths and the
17th-century Concrete Provincial decor.  In its place was a
neat-looking and fully functional bridge, complete with a
Godzillion screens and displays, a big main viewer projector
that could superimpose on the huge front window, several
comfortable seats for observers, and a big captain's chair
with a lot of important-looking controls on the arms.
     It was this chair that Zoner settled comfortably into as
he and the rest of the command crew strode onto the bridge.
Gryphon took his place at his captain's right, at the large
and impressive control station from where the Exec oversaw
the ship.  q took the comm station, which doubled as the
airboss's station now that there was a full contingent of
mecha on board.  At the operations control station, Yuri
cleared her panel and reported to the computer that she was
ready; beside her at Tactical, Kei did the same.  All was
ready in less than twenty seconds.
     "All decks like report ready to go," said q.
     "Good.  Planitia Control, this is Wayward Son.  Do we
have permission to depart?"
     "Wayward Son, this is Control," replied the voice of
Lord Wolfgang Amadeus Fahrvergnugen.  "You are cleared to
depart.  Clear skies."
     "We read, Control.  And pleasant weather.  Wayward Son
out."  Zoner closed the connection and smiled.  "Well, we're
off.  Helm, maneuvering thrusters.  All ahead full."
     "You're reeeeally enjoying this, aren't you, MegaZone?"
Gryphon asked with a grin.  "Just a word of warning...so help
me, the first time we fold, if you point at that viewscreen
and say `engage', I'll rip off all your fingers."
     The SDF-17 moved majestically forward as Yuri applied
full power to the maneuvering thrusters, clearing her docking
bay.  For the first time, she was in free and open space.
     "We have cleared docking bay," Gryphon reported.
     "Good.  Helm, engage impulse drive.  All ahead
standard."  The huge drive throats behind the bridge flared
blue, and the Wayward Son began to truly move, making time
away from the bluewhite planet and that had borne it.
     "Calculations for spacefold complete," said Gryphon.
"All systems read ready for spacefold maneuver."
     Before Zoner could point at the viewscreen and say
"engage", which he had every intention of doing just because
he knew it would annoy Gryphon, the bridge was flooded with
white light.
     "SHIT!" shouted Zoner.  "What is that?!"
     "It's--a spacefold?!" Gryphon replied, checking his
panel and shading his eyes.  "Yes!  It's a ship coming out of
spacefold, 1.3 AU at bearing zero zero three mark two."
     Almost directly in front of them, the glow was
lessening; sure enough, there was a vessel materializing.
Zoner's jaw dropped, and Gryphon's followed soon enough.
     It was an Ikazuchi class spacefold command cruiser.  And
emblazoned on its flanks was the symbol of GENOM Corporation.
     "Greetings, Wedge Rats," said a voice no one recognized.
"You do not know me.  I made certain of that when I contended
with you before."  Suddenly, the viewer projector sprang to
life and Largo's face filled it.  "I am Largo.  Captain of
the vessel you face and master of GENOM Corporation.  You
have proven a thorn in my side in the past; you destroyed my
Worcester operation, set my plan to dominate Earth back by at
least three years, and cost me a great deal of money and
time, as well as a capable slave.  I have decided to
eliminate you before you become a further threat."
     "Capable slave?  Worcester operation?!  What the fuck?"
     "Uh, Zoner...could he mean John Coyle, d'you think?
Coyle did have a lot of Buma technology in him," offered
ReRob.
     "Deductive, Mandeville.  Keen mind.  A pity I must kill
you.  You would make an excellent development researcher in
my mecha division."
     "I'd rather die than be a wageslave," Rob replied.
     "So be it.  Die, Wedge Rats!"  The transmission cut out;
outside, the Ikazuchi was maneuvering to face them directly.
From its sides came thousands of points of light.


-----------------------------------------------------FOURTEEN

     "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
                         --Sledge Hammer

     "Incoming fire!" Kei barked as her scope lit up like a
stock exchange.  "Missiles, fuckloads of them.  And bigger
stuff, probably fightercraft."
     "Gryph, get downstairs, you're needed out there," Zoner
ordered.  "q, scramble all available Veritechs.  Red alert.
Seal all bulkheads.  All crew to battle stations.  Et cetera.
Et cetera."
     "Got it," Gryphon replied.  The lights turned red and
alarms howled as Ben jumped out of his seat and ran to the
turbolift.
     "All Veritechs, combat alert.  Report to duty stations.
This is not a drill," the SDF-17 computer, whose voice was
not as booming as the Wedge's, but was in fact rather dull
and boring, announced.
     "Missiles incoming," Kei reminded.  "Thirty seconds to
impact."
     "Anti-missile systems?"
     "At full power.  Tracking now."
     "Target Ikazuchi."
     "Did it forty seconds ago.  Twenty seconds to missile
impact."

     Gryphon jumped into the cockpit of his VF-1S, his nerves
singing in a chorus of nervous tension, adrenaline, and fear.
He pulled on his CVR-3 helmet, tightened the wrist locks on
his gloves, and checked over his controls as the Super armor
was locked in place and his fusion turbines warmed up.  He
was carrying standard Super boosters/missile pods for this
run.  Around him, the three other planes in his squadron were
warming up.
     "All Eight-Ball squadron, check in and report status.
Eight-Ball One, okay," said Ben into his radio.
     "Eight-Ball Two, okay," Daver acknowledged.
     "Eight-Ball Three, okay," Erik Swimm concurred.
     "Eight-Ball Four, okay, let's go KILL SOMEONE!" chimed
in Mark "Haywire" Luchini.
     "Watch your ass, Mark, I don't want to have to explain
anything to Trish," Ben scolded, "Control, this is Eight-Ball
Squadron.  We are ready for launch."
     "Like this is Control, like go," said q.
     "Hit it!" Gryphon shouted, and rammed his throttles to
full burner, punching the launch button with his thumb.  The
catapults roared and the four Valkyries were blasted forward
on the decks of A.R.M.D.-1 (the portside platform).  They
winged their way out in perfect formation, the white, black
and blue -1S leading the three grey, black and blue -1J's
into battle.  On the other side, A.R.M.D.-2 launched Fritz's
four-craft Legios squadron.  The two squadrons formed up and
made for the Ikazuchi.

     "Eight-Ball and Legios Squadrons are like away," q
reported.
     "Good.  Tactical, confirm lock on Ikazuchi?"
     "Lock confirmed."
     "Fire at will."
     "Thank you."  Clearance given, Kei started punching
buttons.  Immediately, the four railguns mounted two each in
front of the A.R.M.D. platforms started lobbing their huge
projectiles at the Ikazuchi.  Targeting the micro-Reflex
cannon was going to take some time.
     "Ten seconds to missile impact."  They could see them on
the bridge now, huge boiling swarms of missiles coming after
them.
     "Fire counterspread."
     Kei selected missile racks and pods with smooth
professionalism and, in a few short seconds, let fly.
"Counterspread away," she reported as missiles vomited from
ports all over the Wayward Son, wall of missiles flying at
wall of missiles.  The overhead tactical display showed
quite well the two swarms of missiles colliding, and the view
from the bridge windows of their mutual annihilation was
quite impressive.  A few missiles got through on either side,
the Ikazuchi's to impact against and dent the SDF-17's hull;
no penetration was achieved with the first volley.

     "No penetration of the enemy's hull, sir," the tech in
command of the Ikazuchi reported to Largo on his master
hypercomm screen.
     "Fire again then, you fool!  Do I have to do everything
for you?!"
     "Second spread.  Fire when ready."

     "Second volley incoming.  Thirty seconds to impact."
     "Yo, like our fighters are just about in range of
theirs."
     "Order them to engage!"

     "Like all fighters, you are ordered to engage," Gryphon
heard in his ears.
     "You heard him--let 'em have it!"  Gryphon flipped the
thumb covers off his triggers and, diving to meet the nearest
GENOM fighter (which looked suspiciously like a Lancer I),
raked it with his GU-11.  It exploded most satisfyingly, and
a furious dogfight began.

     "Sir, we are sustaining heavy damage," a minor tech
reported on the bridge of the Ikazuchi.  "Our missile
defenses are useless against those railguns!"  WHAM!  The
deck shook as the SDF-17 began firing its micro-Reflex guns.
     "Target and fire the main laser immediately!"
     "Yes, sir!"  The tech scrambled over the weapons
controls for some seconds before announcing, "Target locked!"
     "FIRE!"

     The Ikazuchi's nose glowed yellow for an instant; then
it unleashed a great beam of white light that slashed through
the space between the two ships and slammed into the Wayward
Son's port side forward, just aft of the foredeck.  One of
the micro-Reflex beam cannons exploded with a pretty fireball
and the entire ship shuddered.
     "Fuck!" Zoner shouted as he grabbed the armrests of his
chair.  "Damage report!"
     "Sections 11 and 12 are depressurized," Yuri reported.
"One of the micro-cannons is destroyed.  No casualties
reported."
     "Well, that's one good thing."
     The Ikazuchi fired again.

     Gryphon saw the Ikazuchi blasting away at SDF-17 with
its main gun, and saw the explosions bursting from both
ships; he wondered which would last longer, and hoped it
would be the SDF-17.  Not that he didn't have his own skin to
worry about, of course.  Shouting "Daver! Check six!", he
ducked to the left, did a quick snaproll, and blasted a GENOM
fighter off the latter's tail with a couple of pod missiles.
Daver shouted a thanks, then plunged steeply to the right and
blew another away with his nose lasers.

     "Damn!  I wish I was out there.  Who the hell came up
with this stupid rule about the Captain staying out of
danger?"
     "Like, it's like standard practice.  Like sorry."
     "Well, it sucks!"
     "Like sucks to be you eh?"
     "Well thanks.  Hey anyone else want to be Captain so I
can go take a chance at getting killed?"
     There was a resounding absence of reply.
     "So, I guess I'm stuck here." Toggling his comm gear he
continued, "Good shooting, guys.  Keep it up, we're beating
them."
     "Will you please shut up! You're distracting--" WHUMP
"--me.  Shit! Now look what you did.  I lost a wing!"
     "Well I'm SOOOOOO sorry. Stop complaining."
     "Kindly rot in hell, Zoner."
     "I'd have to believe in hell first."
     "This is no time to have a theological discussion,
people," ReRob interjected.
     "Ok then, Zoner, just kindly rot!"
     "They sound like us," Yuri whispered to Kei.
     "Mm hmm," Kei replied.  "Eerie, isn't it?"
     "We can't take a whole lot more of this," ReRob
announced as the Ikazuchi's main gun holed decks the port
thruster just aft of the bridge.  "They just missed the
bridge, for crying out loud!"
     "Target the main gun!" Zoner shouted.  "I've had enough
of this playing around."
     "Now you're talking," Kei said with a grin, and flipped
out the targeting joystick for the main gun.  "Main gun
armed and charging.  All other weapons cease fire."
     The foredeck split in the center, and port and starboard
halves started cantilevering outward on a cam-like
arrangement, separating by about their width; when the rear
sections stopped rotating, the ship looked like a huge tuning
fork, with the foresections of the nose still oriented as
before.  Orange lightning started flickering over and between
them.

     "They've stopped firing!" shouted Haywire, looking back.
"What the--oh, shit!  They're gonna fire the main gun!  I
wanna watch!"
     "Well, finish these schmucks off, and we can," Gryphon
replied, wincing as a GENOM missile blasted a piece of his
left wing off.
     The octagon around the Ikazuchi on Kei's targeting scope
flashed red as the one the main gun's joystick moved
overlapped it perfectly; they both strobed together and the
words "REFLEX CANNON LOCKED" appeared on screen.
     "Reflex cannon locked!" Kei reported.
     "FIRE!"
     Kei pulled the trigger.

     For a moment, nothing happened; then the orange
lightning quadrupled in brightness, pulsed once, twice, and--
     FOOM.  The entire nose of the SDF-17 spat a huge bolt of
orange energy that streaked unerringly toward the Ikazuchi
and punched right through it, emerging from its aft end to
streak off into space.  The GENOM ship, punctured completely
through, drifted for a moment, heeled, faltered, and then
exploded in a brilliant small sun.
     "YES!" Mark shouted, pumping a fist in victory.  "Shoot
that ship!  Blow that up!  KIIIIILLLL THEEEMMMMMMM!!!!!!"
     "Great shot, Kei!" Yuri shouted, clapping her partner on
the shoulder.
     "Wow!" Kei said, looking wide-eyed at what had been a
rather nice starship out over the foredeck, which was calmly
closing back together as though nothing had happened.  "I
like this gun..."
     "All fighters reporting now," q announced.  "Like
they're all ok, like a little chewed up, but ok."
     "Cool!  Our first major battle--and we kicked ass!"
Zoner said.  "Get Gryphon up here as soon as you can--he has
to be here for the celebration."
     "Wait a second..." Yuri said, in an "uh oh" tone of
voice.  "What's that point of light there?"
     "What point of light?" asked Kei.
     "That one.  The yellow one.  It's in the debris zone
from the Ikazuchi, but it's too bright to be hot metal, and I
think it's moving."
     "What--hey, it is.  I think you're right."  Outside, a
yellow point of light was indeed moving toward them, growing
in brightness and size.
     "Shit--evasive!" Zoner shouted.  It was coming right for
the bridge windows, after all.  "Sound collision! Science!
Jenna what is it? Someone tell me SOMETHING!"
     It stopped, right as it was filling the bridge windows;
just stopped dead and hovered there.  There was something in
the middle of it, a shadowy form that--
     The glow disappeared, just like that.  A red-haired
woman, dressed neck-to-toe in black armor which had the look
of leather, was standing, just standing, unprotected in the
vacuum of space outside the window.  She had long, flowing
red hair and long, pointed ears.
     "Oh, shit..." said Zoner.


------------------------------------------------------FIFTEEN

     "Heaven's just a rumor she'll dispel/As she walks me
through the nicest parts of hell"
                         --NineInchNails

     "Oh shit what?" Gryphon asked as he entered the bridge.
     "HER!" Zoner replied with a sudden pointing gesture in
the direction of the bridge windows.
     "BWA!" was Gryphon's reply as a rather startled
expression conquered his face and he dropped his helmet.
This was followed by a yelp and a pained expression as his
helmet hit his foot.
     "Like, what's wrong?" q asked, looking confused.
"That's just a woman."
     "That's ICZER-2!!!" Gryphon screamed.
     "Like oh.  Like I thought she looked familiar.  Sucks to
be us eh?"

     Fritz's Legios blasted from a port on the A.R.M.D.-2
platform.  "I'll take her out!"
     "Fritz, you fuckhead!  Get the fuck back here!  That's
ICZER-2!" Zoner yelled into the closest mike.  Archon then
attempted to get his inner ear working again.
     "Iczer-2?!?!" Fritz screamed in shock, immediately Scott
Bernarding.

     About this time Iczer-2 took notice of the horde of
missiles headed her way, and with an offhand gesture, she
destroyed them.  Then she turned her anger towards the
Legios.
     "Umm, Fritz?  I suggest you GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!"
Zoner transmitted.
     Before Fritz could do anything Iczer-2 said coolly,
"Annoying insect," and utterly vaped the Legios.
     Fritz drifted out of the cloud of debris in his CVR-3.
He was repeatedly mumbling, "MDC structures.  MDC
structures."

     "I think someone better go get him," ReRob suggested.
     "Yeah, I suppose you're right.  Go get him, Gryph,"
Zoner ordered.
     "Fuck you?!  I'm not going out there.  I'm not stupid,
I'm not expendable, and I'm not going."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right, it is too dangerous.  q,
have Schletz take a VT-1D and pick the smuck up."
     "Like, isn't that schmuck?"
     "No, this puts him beyond schmuck, he's a smuck."
     "He'll need all the speed he can get," Gryphon
suggested.  "Better strip off all of the weapons."
     "Um, not.  q, just give him my order."
     "Like, will do." q turned to his comm panel to pass
along the order.

     Suddenly a powerful female voice boomed out on the
bridge.  "Wedge Rats! Prepare to die!"
     "Yo, Iczer, can you hear us?" Zoner asked.
     "Of course, what do you want?"
     "World peace... well, actually I want to know why you're
working for GENOM, and I also want to know if you can ever
take off that bodysuit?"
     From behind Zoner's chair Gryphon wiped his face in a
weary manner and mumbled, "Oh Christ."
     "Well, Gryph, what the hell am I supposed to say to an
Iczer?  I just wanted to see if she has a sense of humor."
     "Well, I don't think 'Hi, can you get naked' is
appropriate considering the circumstances, you know?"
     "That's not what you meant."
     "I don't think we're big enough to fit through this
doorway."
     "I MEANT!  OK?!"
     "Yeah yeah yeah."
     "So what did you mean?" ReRob interjected.
     "Yeah, what did you mean?" Archon asked.
     "I was just trying to be silly!  Ok?"
     "You had better have been joking," Yuri stated flatly.
     "Yuri's jealous, Yuri's jealous," Kei said, prodding
Yuri.
     "Shut up, Kei!" Yuri shouted.
     "OooOoh, touchy, aren't we?" Kei rejoined.
     "Gir--ladies, ladies, we don't need a cat fight."
     "She started it!" they replied in stereo.
     "I can't deal with this."
     "What's wrong, Zoner?" Archon asked.
     "AARRGGHH!"
     "A little stressed, aren't we?" Gryphon asked mockingly.
     "Don't you dare do the `boxed in' thing."
     "Wasn't even considering it.  I like having hands that
work."
     "`Boxed in' thing?" Archon asked.
     Gryphon leapt at Mike, beginning rapid hand gestures
around Mike's face while babbling "Mike, did you ever feel
boxedinboxedinsurroundedclosedinonthingsareecomingrightatyou-
andpeoplearesayingthingstoyouthatyoudon'tfnordunderstand????"
     Archon shrank back, muttering, "Gha...gha...gha..."
     "Stop tormenting the crew, Gryphon," ReRob said.
     Gryphon threw himself at Rob's feet, crying loudly, "I'm
sorry, your Lordship!  Can you ever forgive this lowly
vermin?"
     ReRob replied by hitting him with his hat.  Zoner moaned
and shrank in his chair.
     Jenna was observing all of the antics with bemusement.
She was also the only one to notice Iczer-2 leaning on
nothing and tapping her foot on open space.  As Jenna
watched, the red-haired woman checked her watch, looked up,
rolled her eyes, shook her head; in all aspects, she looked
like a bored businesswoman waiting for a late bus.
(Excepting, of course, the neat leatheresque armor.)
Meanwhile, the antics continued.
     "Zoner, you seem upset.  Want to talk about it?" Archon
inquired.
     "Not especially, especially not right now.  Now, where
did I put that tape, ah here it is."
     "Oh, ok, if you ever want to talk just let me know."
     "Yeah, fine."  Zoner popped open a panel on his chair's
arm and slotted the tape.  The final cut began playing
through the bridge comm system.
     Gryphon spun, drawing his ElektroMag pistol, and fired
on the arm, shouting "DIE!"
     There was a large flash and a cloud of smoke. And the
music played on.  "I anticipated that, the chair is armored
against blaster fire."
     "Fine, then I'll shoot you.  Turn it off."  A psychotic
gleam shone in Gryphon's eyes, the look of a man who has been
pushed too far.  Combat stress.
     "Fire at will."
     "No no no, do not fire at Will.  He is my second mate.
FIRE AT THE SEADUCK!" ReRob said doing his best imitation of
Don Karnage, which wasn't very good.
     "I'm serious ReRob," Gryphon growled.

     "Excuse me!" the powerful female voice boomed out.
     "In a minute!" Gryphon replied.
     "Gryph, I don't think you want to shoot him.  Why are
you so upset?" Archon asked.
     "Go away!"  At this point Kei got up and gently moved
Mike away from Ben.
     "What's he so upset about?" Mike asked Kei.
     "Just think about it for awhile, ok?  I'll be back in a
minute."  Kei strode over to Ben.  "Ben, I don't think this
is a good idea."
     "I don't care.  I've had efuckingnough of this fucking
album.  I'll shoot him before I hear it again."
     "Excuse me!" the powerful female voice boomed out once
again.
     "Will you please hold on for a minute, I may be about to
be shot," Zoner stated calmly.
     "I don't think you understand your situation."
     "I'm sitting in my chair, Ben is pointing a gun at me
and seems to be over the edge, and Kei is trying to talk him
out of it.  Archon, ReRob, Yuri, q, and Jenna are interested
observers.  I think that sums it up.  Do you have anything to
add?"
     "What about me?"
     "Oh yeah, you're a disinterested observer."
     "You're increasing my anger!"
     "Do you want to talk about it?" Archon asked.
     "Please stay out of this!" nearly everyone yelled in
unison.
     "Now, if you'll give us a minute I believe Ben was about
to shoot me.  Ben, carry on."
     "You take all the fun out of these things.  But I don't
care any more.  You or the tape, which'll it be?"
     "Can I think it over?"
     "I don't think she'll want to wait," Gryphon said with a
gesture toward Iczer-2, "but I'll give you to the next song."
     "Can you wait?"
     "Oh, very well."
     "Thanks, you're a doll."
     "Biosculpted, not inflatable, biosculpted."
     "Cool, a vat job, eh?  GENOM is diversifying.  Say,
we've been calling you Iczer-2, but are you the second?"
     "Yes."
     "Well, like where is Iczer-1?" q asked.
     "Hey, don't step on my lines," Zoner ordered.
     "Like deal," responded q.
     "The first prototype was a failure," said Iczer-2 as if
she were talking about a toaster.  "It was destroyed."
     "Ouch, harsh," ReRob blurted out.
     "What kind of failure?" Gryphon asked.
     "She developed a conscience.  She objected to mass
destruction."
     "What's wrong with that?" Jenna asked.
     "What's wrong with that?  She was developed as a weapon,
what good is a weapon that objects to destruction?  I am free
of such flaws."
     "So, can you love or anything?"
     "Archon, no, just--no," Gryphon muttered.
     "Me."
     "What?" Iczer-2 asked.
     "I was speaking to Gryphon, me."
     "What?" Gryphon asked.
     "Me or the tape.  Me.  Simple."
     "Oh, ok.  Bye.  You had your chance.  And you said the
final cut wasn't about death."
     "No, I said it wasn't all about suicide.  Anyway, go
ahead."
     "Looks pretty suicidal to me."
     "Ben, don't do it," Kei said, tugging on his arm.
     "Zoner, why don't you just turn off the tape," Yuri
suggested.
     "Because he wants to die, and he doesn't want to do it
himself.  He wants me to get the heat for it!  Well, I don't
care!"
     "Zoner, why don't you turn it off, please," Jenna
requested.
     "Ben, don't kill him, we're just getting really close,
it's my birthday for God's sake, please don't do it," Yuri
pleaded.
     "Maybe I won't kill him.  Maybe I'll just maim him
horribly."
     "I didn't agree to that, the deal was death."
     "So maybe I'll roll shitty damage.  Deal."
     "Ben, I won't be very happy with you if you shoot him,"
Kei stated coolly.
     "It's still better than listening to the final cut
AGAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!" Ben screamed.
     "You seem stressed, Gryphon," Archon commented from the
corner.
     "Like, we're ignoring our guest again," q commented.
     "She said she'd wait," Gryphon shot back.  "We're almost
done."
     "So's side one," Zoner noticed.
     Ben snapped off a shot at Zoner; as he did Kei yanked
hard on his arm and the shot went wild, striking the wall
behind and to the left of him.
     "You missed," Zoner commented.
     "So fucking what?!" Gryphon cried as he tried to shove
Kei away so he could get a clear shot.  In response she
tackled him.  The player clicked off as side one ended.
     "Well, that's enough of the album for now.  Iczer-2,
where were we?" Zoner asked as a series of sounds, such as
thump, clatter, crash, and ooph, resounded on the bridge.
     "I've got it!" Kei cried, holding up Gryph's gun.
     "That's nice, but I'm dealing with Izcer-2 right now.
Why don't you take Gryph for a walk or something, he seems
stressed."
     "I AM NOT STRESSED!  Now come back here, I'm not
finished with you," and Gryphon pulled Kei back to the floor.
     "Don't you two have a room?" ReRob asked sarcastically.
     "Hi guys what's up?" Haywire asked as he entered the
bridge supporting a battered Fritz; then after noticing the
brawling heap on the floor: "Awwwwwwww, aren't they cute when
they do that?  They look almost human."
     "Mark, say hello to Iczer-2," Zoner said.
     "Hello to Iczer-2."
     "Don't be silly, Mark.  Look out the window."
     "Wow.  Cool!  Hi!" Mark said with the patented Mark
Luchini wave and psychopathic grin.
     "How you doing, Fritz?"
     "He's a little shell shocked right now," Mark answered.
     "MDC structures, MDC structures," was all Fritz was
heard to say.
     "Ah, post-traumatic stress disorder, how sad," ReRob
commented.
     "Jenna, can you take a look at him down in sickbay?"
     "Sure, where is it anyway?"
     "I don't know.  Look in the owner's manual."
     "Ok...let's go, Fritz."
     "MDC structures, MDC structures."
     Thump crash "OW!  That's my ear!"
     "Mark, take her place," Zoner ordered.
     "What, you want me to attack Gryphon?"
     "Nooo...!  Take Jenna's place."
     "Bonehead," q interjected.
     "Sorry, Iczer-2, say, is that the only name you have?
Iczer-2?  Why don't you pick a name, like a real one?  I
think you'd be a lot happier with a regular name," Archon
chimed in.
     "I AM ICZER-2!  I do not need a name!"
     "It was just a suggestion."
     "You don't seem very friendly, why do you want to
destroy us anyway?" Yuri asked.
     "I was ordered to."
     "By whom?"
     "Largo."
     Thump crash "Ow, my eye!"  A shoe flew across the
bridge.
     "You like take orders from that loser?" q asked.
     "Yes."
     "Like how lame."
     "What do you mean?"
     "Well, what I think he means is that if you're so
powerful, why do you listen to him at all?" Zoner asked.
     "Fool.  He created me.  I owe him."
     "Sounds like you have a conscience to me."
     "You would not understand."
     "So, it's an honor thing?"
     "Why am I wasting my time with this?"
     "No, seriously.  If it's an honor thing than you
probably have a conscience.  It would bother your conscience
to be dishonorable.  Did you ever think of it that way?"
     "Actually no, nor do I care to.  Die."  She began to
gather her energies in rather spectacular manner.
     "We're fucked" said Zoner in a tiny voice, flopping back
in his chair and watching the pretty lights.
     "Nice try though, Zone," ReRob said in a congratulatory
tone.

     Thud crash "Kei?"
     "What?"  Whomp thud
     "I think we're about to die."
     Thump th--*  "Oh really?"
     "Uh, yeah."
     "Oh.  Hm.  Then this's really all kinda pointless, isn't
it?"
     "Yeah...but it's kind of fun...besides, there's nothing
we can do about Iczer-2."
     "True."  Thud crash

     Iczer-2 gathered her energy and focused it into a beam
aimed at the bridge.
     Everyone on the bridge screamed in unison, "SHIT!"
     Just as the beam was about to pierce the bridge it was
disrupted by an intercepting bolt.
     "Gryph?"
     "Yeah?"
     "Who would you say that is?"
     "The failed prototype?"
     "Bingo."
     "Iczer-1?"
     "I'd say so."
     "Well, like have a deus ex machina."
     "Say what?" Archon asked.
     "A deus ex machina, something bad authors use when they
get characters into an unsolvable dilemma," explained Zoner.
     "You don't hear me complaining!" Gryphon shouted.
"Hmm...maybe if we're like saved...we should get up off the
floor and try at least to look kinda sort of dignified?"
     "It might be a good idea," Kei replied.
     "So, what do we do now?" Yuri asked Zoner.
     "We back off and provide support if we can."


------------------------------------------------------SIXTEEN

     "You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won't
back down."
                         --Tom Petty

     "Iczer-1?" Iczer-2 said in a very perturbed voice.
"They told me you were destroyed!"
     "They lied," Iczer-1 replied, appearing with a bluish
flash a few dozen feet from her "sister".  She was a bit
shorter than Iczer-2, with wild, uncontrolled, and very thick
hair the color of straw, and was dressed in a pink bodysuit
with shining black and silver armor plates.  "Astbury
couldn't do it.  Largo's elite troops hunted me and wounded
me; I escaped, barely, and Astbury reported me destroyed."
     "How sweet of him," Iczer-2 said caustically.  "Largo
will not be pleased.  Doctor Astbury will be lucky if
termination is all that is done to him."
     "Largo will never hear of it," Iczer-1 replied.  "You
aren't leaving here."
     Iczer-2 laughed.  "And will you stop me, sister?  I
think not.  You are weak.  My systems have improvements up to
145% in some areas over those of your pathetic prototype
spec.  You look exhausted and sick.  You are not ruthless,
you suffer from the disease of compassion.  I have very
detailed knowledge of your character--it is everything I was
created not to be."
     "I am not well, it's true," Iczer-1 replied.  "I was
wounded in my escape and I haven't been able to care for it
properly.  You are correct; I am weak and sick.  That will
not stop me from destroying you, if I have to."
     "Why do you protect these people?" Iczer-2 demanded.
"What could they possibly mean to you?"
     "Lord Fahrvergnugen asked me to watch over them.  He
knew of our creation, my sister; Doctor Astbury is one of his
disciples in the scientific field.  You and I both contain
elements of Wedge technology.  To put it quite simply,
Iczer-2, I protect them because I am one of them."

     Inside the ship, the odd jaw dropped.
     "Whoa," Gryphon said.  "Whoa.  Iczer-1 a Wedge Rat?
This is far too intense."
     "I can't deal with that right now," Zoner replied.
"Gryph, are you recovered from your little psychopathic
episode or are you still out to kill me?  I think I need my
Exec back from the Edge, like soon."
     "I'm back, I'm back," Gryphon replied, taking his seat.
"I'm fine now...I think my head cleared quite a bit when Kei
slammed it against the cosmocompass."
     "It was an accident!" Kei said as she returned to her
station.  "Besides, it never would've happened if you
hadn't've stuck your elbow in my--"
     "Enough!  Argue about it later.  Right now I need my
bridge crew," Zoner scolded.
     "Right!" Gryphon replied sharply.
     "Sorry," Kei muttered.
     "No problem.  Now.  Helm, impulse power.  All astern
full.  Tactical, keep Iczer-2 in your sights and arm all
secondary weapons.  Engineering, recharge time on main gun?"
     Rob checked a scope.  "She's already at full," he
replied.
     Gryphon grinned and said, "Lord F's people know how to
build a Reflex cannon.  Unlike the Robotech Defense Force."
     "Hey, give the RDF a break," Haywire said.  "It was
alien and it was trashed.  I think it's pretty good they got
it to work at all."
     "You guys...!"
     "Sorry."

     "Nonsense!" Iczer-2 declared.  "I don't believe a word
of it.  You, one of those wretched rodents?  Bah!  You are
pathetic, sister, but give yourself some credit."
     "Insults will not help you," Iczer-1 replied.  "Either
swear peace with us and leave this area now, or I will kill
you."
     "You will try.  I will defeat you, and then destroy the
Wedge Rats irregardless."
     "You will not yield?"
     "No."
     Iczer-1 leaped through space at her sister, an energy
sword materializing in her hand.  Iczer-2 produced her own
and parried, knocking Iczer-1 almost into the bridge windows.
She appeared to be considerably stronger, and this disparity
in power became more apparent as the battle progressed--in
Iczer-2's favor.
     On a dozen or more screens all over the bridge, the
battle raged, the incredible flying speeds of the combatants
having taken them out of visual range a long time ago;
brilliant flashes of energy and tremendously powerful
physical clashes rebounded, shaking the stars.  Eventually,
Iczer-2 gained enough of an upper hand to deliver her sister
a crushing blow, smashing Iczer-1 at ridiculous speeds
through space and sending her crashing into a planetoid.
Then, as Iczer-1 lay stunned, Iczer-2 started speeding back
toward the Wayward Son.
     "Oh, shit," said Mark.  "She lost.  I knew it.  I knew
it.  We're gonna die.  I'm not even goin' home in a bodybag."
     "Oh cheer up.  We're not dead yet," Zoner said.  "Target
main gun."
     "Main gun armed and charging," Kei reported as the deck
split once more.  "Targeting now."  Iczer-2 wasn't a hard
target; small, but coming straight at them.  The weapon began
charging, orange discharge building up all over its surface.
     Iczer-1 dug herself out of the planetoid and began
speeding after Iczer-2, pushing herself to the limit in an
attempt to catch up and intercept her before she could
destroy the SDF-17, building power for one single shot.
     SDF-17 powered backward on full impulse astern, main gun
charging, ready to make a last desperate stand.
     Iczer-2 streaked in for the kill, smiling a feral smile
and gathering up her energies into a brilliant yellow comet's
corona around her.  She was so caught up in the joy of the
impending kill she didn't even notice the main gun, or if she
did, chose to ignore it.
     "FIRE!" Zoner shouted, and averted his eyes.
     Kei pulled the trigger.
     Iczer-1 shouted a challenge and released her collected
energy in a coherent blue bolt that flew at the same time the
Wayward Son's Reflex cannon went off.  With nowhere to go and
no time to teleport, Iczer-2 was caught firmly in the middle.
Her own collected power was released into the resulting
three-way crossfire, and a huge wave of energy crashed over
the SDF-17's bow.
     "Now we're fucked!" Zoner said with some force.
     Gryphon screamed Kei's name as the heaving of the ship
pitched him to the deck, reached out to find her hand as the
overpowering brightness and thunderous noise obliterated
detail and washed his world away into loud whiteness.  He
couldn't find her.  Then it all went black.


----------------------------------------------------SEVENTEEN

     "We go out in the world and take our chances/Fate is
just the weight of circumstances/That's the way that lady
luck dances/Roll the bones"
                         --Rush

     All throughout the Wayward Son the crew were thrown
about; scores of minor injuries resulted from impacting the
hard bulkheads.  In the hangar deck, a VF-1 which was being
serviced was thrown across the hold into an Alpha, seriously
damaging both craft.  On the bridge, Zoner yelled as he was
thrown from his chair into the navigator's computer terminal,
suffering a laceration across his brow.  ReRob and Archon
were thrown into a heap against the forward bulkhead, while
Yuri was thrown into the console in front of her, having the
wind knocked out of her.   Mark was slammed into the science
station and knocked unconscious.  q was thrown behind a panel
out of sight from most of the bridge.  Gryphon and Kei were
thrown to the floor together, unconscious, as the blinding
light from the explosion washed across the bridge.
     Off in the distance Vaughn was distracted from his study
of the asteroids by the blinding white flash.   He decided
that it might be worth checking out, seeing as how it came
from the direction of the ship and all, and he set off in
that direction at a brisk pace.
     ReRob untangled himself from Archon and rushed to Zoner,
as he was the most visibly injured.  Blood streamed from the
gash in his forehead and pooled on the floor.
     "Zoner!!  Zoner!!  Can you answer me?  Are you ok?"
ReRob asked to get him talking.
     "Yeah, yeah, I'm ok.  Fuck!  Watch it, that hurt!  Yeah,
head wounds tend to bleed a lot.  There's an emergency kit
over there, toss me some gauze so I can keep the blood out of
my eyes.  Check on Gryphon and Kei, they haven't moved."
Then, to Mike, "Archon!  You gonna be ok?"
     "Yeah, I'm just a bit shaken."
     "Great, check on Mark.  I think he hit hard."
     "Zoner," ReRob called from the floor, "Gryph and Kei
will be ok.  They just took a hard hit."
     "Good," Zoner replied as he finished bandaging himself
and leapt up to check on Yuri. "Yuri?  Yuri, you ok?"
     "Mmmmm--cough--yeah.  I'll be ok...Zoner!  You're
covered in blood!  Are you ok?  You should be in sickbay!
You..."
     "Shhh!  The blood's mine, I'll be fine.  I've got to go
check up on Mark."  Zoner jogged over to where Archon was
examining Mark.  "How is he?"
     "Hard to tell," Archon replied.  ReRob came over.
     "Kei and Gryph are recovering.  What happened to him?"
     "He got bounced around in the science station."
     ReRob began examining Mark. "Looks like he hit his head
pretty hard.  And...hmm...could be a couple of broken ribs."
     Zoner hit the comm switch, "Sickbay?"
     "Jenna here."
     "You busy down there?"
     "Yeah, we've got a good number of cuts and bruises.
Why?"
     "Haywire is pretty messed.  ReRob thinks he may have
broken some ribs."
     "And probably a concussion too," ReRob called out.
     "And probably a concussion," Zoner parroted.
     "Damn.  Ok, I'll send some guys up right away with a
stretcher.  Looks like we get to try out the new sickbay and
docbots before we expected too."
     "We'll be here.  Zoner out."  Then, to the bridge,
     "Everyone back to your positions.  Iczer-2 may still be
out there."
     "Where's q?" Yuri asked.
     "Shit!  q?!  q?!  Where the hell are you?" Zoner called
out.
     "Like ow, I'm over here," q said as he clambered out
from behind the panel.
     "You ok?"
     "Yeah, I'm like, fine, ya know?"
     "Good, can you handle your position?"
     "Like yeah."
     "Great.  Get me a deck by deck injury and damage
report."
     "Like will do."
     "Oh..." Gryphon muttered as he got to his feet and
helped Kei up.  "Ker-f'n-ow."
     "No kidding," Kei replied, rotating a shoulder
experimentally.  "I think everything still works...you?"
     "Uh..."  Gryph cracked his neck.  "Yeah, I'm ok."  The
two of them took their stations.
     "Ok, ReRob, what's it look like for engineering?"
     "Everything seems to be intact.  All systems report
ready."
     "Cool.  Gryphon, take over science.  Yuri, plot us a
course to the last known position of Iczer-2.  Kei, warm up
all of the weapons systems.  Gryph, how's it look?  Any sign
of her?"
     "Scanners show three energy readings, two of roughly the
same type from the vicinity of the last reported location of
Iczer-2, and one different source approaching said location
from the direction of the asteroid belt."  Gryphon punched a
couple of keys.  "Of course, I could be wrong...I'm a
Veritech pilot, I don't do sensors very well."
     "Yuri, take us there."
     "Will do."
     "Damage minor to all decks, no serious injuries other
than Mark reported.  Mostly minor cuts and bruises, a few
bloody noses and the like.  And a Valkyrie and an Alpha were
wrecked in the hangar bay," q reported.
     "Ok.  Well, we got lucky this time.  But lady luck is
fickle, stay on your toes."
     "Zoner, where's Mark?" Jenna asked as she entered the
bridge.
     "He's over there, on the floor by the science station,"
Zoner replied half turning.
     "ZONER!! What happened to you?!"
     "Hit my head, don't worry about it.  Just a lot of
blood, I'll come down after all of this is over.  I've done
worse before."
     "Well, ok, but make sure you get to sickbay ASAP," she
replied as she tended to Mark.  "Yeah, looks like he broke
one rib and bruised a couple of the others.  And he probably
does have a concussion."
     "He going to be ok?" Yuri asked.
     "He should be, sickbay is fully equipped."  Then, to her
assistants, "Careful now, bring him down to the emergency
ward."
     "I'll see you later Jenna," Zoner called after her.
     "You'd better," she replied.

     "We're approaching the energy sources now," Gryphon
called out from science.
     "Put them on screen," Zoner replied.
     In short order Iczer-1 and Iczer-2 appeared on the main
monitor.
     "What about the third energy source?" Zoner inquired.
     "Check out screen two."
     Appearing now on screen two, for a limited time only,
was Vaughn.
     "What the hell is he doing in space, without a suit?"
Zoner asked.
     "Well, he always was a casual dresser," ReRob answered.
     "That's not what I meant, but never mind anyway, it was
a stupid question."
     "Kei, lay in a firing solution for Iczer-2.  Yuri, hold
the Son here for now, but be prepared to move out.  ReRob,
make sure everything is ok in engineering."
     "Ok."  Toggling his comm switch ReRob continued, "Bridge
to Engineering. You there 'Droid?"
     "Umm, yeah. What do you need?"
     "Just checking to make sure everything is ok."
     "Ask him to make sure the fold drive is still there,"
Gryphon shouted from across the bridge.
     "I heard that, yeah it's still there."  From the
background there came the sounds "Truss, watch it!" "Huh?"
KLANG! "Ouch!"
     "Keep him away from the fold drive, ok?" ReRob
suggested.
     "Umm, ok. Android out."

     Iczer-2 lay floating in space.  It had taken most of her
energy to shield herself from the combined blast of the
Reflex cannon and Iczer-1. She barely had enough left to
shield herself from the vacuum which surrounded her. She had
failed in her mission.  She could not face Largo after
suffering such a defeat.  She must try again; the least she
could do is destroy Iczer-1.
     Iczer-1 charged her, her energy blade extended.  She
extended her own blade to parry the blow; she had barely
enough energy left. Iczer-1 too looked drained.  The two
Iczers began to duel in space, both so exhausted that they
couldn't take advantage of the weakness of the other.  The
tables began to turn against Iczer-2; despite Iczer-1's
wounds, she still had more power reserves.  Iczer-2 failed to
parry a blow and suffered a gash across her abdomen.  Feeling
that failure was again at hand, and having noticed the
approaching SDF-17, she turned towards Iczer-1.
     "Well, dear sister, it seems that you have staved off
your inevitable defeat for now.  But I will return again
someday."  With that Iczer-2 teleported away.

     Iczer-1 powered down her energy blade as Vaughn
approached.
     "Morning," Vaughn said by way of greeting.
     "Morning," Iczer-1 replied warily.  "Are you some type
of Iczer?"
     "Nope.  I'm human and damned ashamed of it."
     "Then how do you survive in space?"
     "I don't know, I just ignore the vacuum I guess."
     "Ignore the vacuum?  You are a strange one."
     "Just one?  I think I'm actually a number of stranges."
     "What are you doing out here?"
     "I was just out for a walk, there's some neat rocks out
here."
     "Just out for a walk?" Iczer-1 asked, a bit incredulous.
     "Yeah, say, you look like you can use a rest.  Want to
come back on board the Wayward Son?"
     "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
     "Neat.  Let's go."


-----------------------------------------------------EIGHTEEN

     "Life... is extremely odd."
                         --Zoner

     Vaughn and Iczer-1 entered the Wayward Son via one of
the many airlocks.
     "Where shall we go?" asked Iczer-1.
     "Let's head to the Wedge, it's sort of the social hang
out now that it isn't our starship anymore."
     "All right..."

     Meanwhile, on the bridge.  "Looks like Iczer-2 pulled a
cut and run. Any sign of her at all?" Zoner asked.
     "Nothing," Gryphon replied.  "But Reality and Iczer-1
are on their way in."
     "Fine, fine.  Yuri, lay in a course for Utopia Planitia
and engage.  q, get daver, easwimm, phantom, tracker,
profesor, gmayer, and rparker up here to take over the on the
bridge.  When they get here the rest of you can knock off.
I've got to get to sickbay, I don't feel too good, this wound
is really starting to hurt.  I'll probably see you guys in
the Wedge later.  Gryph, you have the conn."
     Zoner walked off of the bridge, apparently a little
shaky, and headed for sickbay.

     "This is the Wedge?" Iczer-1 asked as she and Vaughn
entered.
     "Yep. This is it."
     "This served as a starship?"
     "Yeah, but like I said, it's back to being a social
hangout now."
     "Looks small."
     "It is, but it has a certain charm.  It's been absorbing
energy for years.  The Wedge Rats come here to recharge their
batteries, so to speak.  The tables were made from an old
bowling alley, so they have a lot of `hanging out' energy in
them."
     "Who are these people?" she asked, gesturing to the
various Wedge Rats scattered about.
     "Well, this is ktefft, kelli, grendel, helene, jeremy,
cheryl.Z, Matt Jaffe, Alec, kat, pogo, and ian," Vaughn
answered, gesturing towards each person as he named them.
     "Hello," said Iczer-1.
     "Who's she?" Matt asked.
     "Wedge meet Iczer-1, Iczer-1 meet the Wedge," Vaughn
introduce her to those present.  There was a round of
"pleased to meet you"s and "welcome to the Wedge"s as
everyone tried to make Iczer-1 feel comfortable.
     Gryphon stumbled around the corner into the Wedge.  It
appeared that he was having a shitty day.
     "Hey, Gryph," Vaughn said.  "You don't look very good."
     "Gosh, really?" Gryphon asked sardonically.  "And here I
thought I'd look mm-mm good after fighting a Veritech battle
and then getting knocked around the bridge for an hour and a
half.  I'm in pain.  Give me a break."
     "Where's Kei?" asked Grendel.
     "She went to sleep," Gryphon replied.  "Not a bad idea.
I'm a little too wired at the moment, so I decided to do a
Wedge check."
     "Oh, hey--Gryph, this is Iczer-1."
     "I know who she is, Vaughn.  Hello, Iczer-1; sorry about
the mood, but I've had a really bad day."
     "I understand," said Iczer-1, wobbling a little on her
feet.  "I think I need to sit down..."
     She proceeded to pass out and slump onto Vaughn.
     "Looks like sickbay has yet another customer," Gryphon
observed wearily.  "She's exhausted.  Probably just needs
sleep."
     "Uh, I don't think so, Gryph...look," Vaughn said as he
lifted the unconscious woman and carried her toward the
turbolift that had replaced #1 airlock.  Iczer-1's left side
bore a spreading stain of blood through her bodysuit.
     "Shit," Gryphon said, following.  "Wait up."

     They arrived to find sickbay a madhouse.  Docbots
scurried here and there, bandaging minor cuts and scrapes;
Haywire was prostrate on one of the IC beds with Jenna
looking over his head as a docdroid taped his ribs.  It was
chaos incarnate.  Far worse than the worst SFS meeting.
     "We have a small problem here," Gryphon shouted.
     "Huh--oh.  Dammit, it's just one thing after another."
Jenna turned to a docbot.  "You!  Keep him stabilized while I
deal with this."

     "Looks like an old wound reopened by the stress of
battle," she said, looking over the nasty wound in Iczer-1's
side now that that part of the bodysuit had been removed.
"Pretty nasty, but we should be able to clean it up and get
it to heal all right.  She's exhausted and she's lost some
blood; basically all she needs is a lot of rest."
     "Well, at least that's good news," said Gryphon.  "After
what she did for us, it would be a hell of a note for her to
go dying right on our ship...that would suck.  A lot."
     "Yes, that would be a badness," Vaughn said.  "Do what
you can.  I'm going to go take out my eyes and become--"
     The door opened and SDF-17's illustrious commanding
officer entered.

     "H-h-hi guys," Zoner croaked.
     "Where have you been?" Gryphon asked, "You left the
bridge before the rest of us."
     "I-- I wasn't feeling too great, I stopped by my room to
rest a bit. Then I decided I'd better come down here.
Uunngghh!"  Zoner grabbed the doorframe for support.
     "Zoner? What's wrong?" Jenna asked, concerned.
     "'dunno.  Dizzy.  No balance.  Head hurts.  Seeing
stuff.  So tired.  I don't think I'm too well------" WHUMP!
Zoner collapsed in a heap on the sickbay floor.
     "Zoner!" Jenna cried, then to the bystanders. "Help me
get him onto this table."
     Jenna and a docbot examined him closely.  When see
finished Jenna approached the waiting group.
     "It looks like he really banged himself up this time.
He lacerated his forehead, deep, to the bone.  He has a
hairline fracture in his skull, and internal hemorrhaging.
The concussion is pretty bad.  It looks like he needs a minor
operation to seal off the blood flow inside his skull.
Sickbay can do it, the docbots can handle it for the most
part.  But he is going to need time, if he comes out of it
great, if not, there's not much we can do."
     "Damn," Gryphon muttered.  He put his face in his hand.
"I needed this.  I really really did."
     "Why'd he have to be so stubborn?  He should have
reported to sickbay as soon as it happened.  We could have
avoided all of this.  He can be so pig-headed at times.  He
had better pull through, or I'll hurt him!" Jenna said,
obviously upset.
     "Don't worry, Zoner is pretty tough. He'll make it,"
Vaughn said to comfort her.
     "Yeah, he's too stupid to die," Gryphon offered, snarly
mode well and truly on.  "Idiot."  He wobbled.  "Oh, fuck.
I'm gonna pass out on my feet, I'm so tired.  Wait...
epinephrine.  Epinephrine-D.  50cc's.  Trust me, I remember
this well."
     "If you're sure..."
     "I need to be awake for this."
     "Okay..."  Jenna took out a spray-hypo and injected
Gryphon's arm.  He immediately brightened somewhat.
     "All right.  Chief medical officer, take this down; as
of...1800 hours, I'm assuming command of this vessel in the
incapacitation of her captain."
     "Are you sure that's a good idea?  You're dead on your
feet, and the epinephrine won't last forever."
     "It doesn't need to last forever; only an hour or so."
He went to the nearest pay phone, wiped his Shawmut card
through it, and called the bridge.  "This is Gryphon.  I've
taken command--Zoner's passed out.  Get the regular bridge
crew back to the bridge, I need the best people I can up
there.  Phantom, give me a time estimate on the shipyard."
     "Looks like three hours," Phantom replied.
     "Jenna?"
     "It's longer than I'd like.  I'm not very comfortable
with the facilities here yet."
     "Okay...this is doable.  I'll be right up.  Get the
regular crew up there."  Gryphon hung up and made for the
door.
     "Gryph, are you planning something?" Vaughn asked,
following.
     "In a manner of speaking," Gryphon replied.  "I wonder
if it'll work?"

     "Okay, everyone, stations.  We're about to do something
that may be very, very stupid."
     "Ben, what happened to Zoner?" Yuri asked, turning in
her seat.
     "Later, Yuri, later.  I'm sorry, but this is an
emergency.  I need you sharp, professional.  Can you do your
job?"
     "Of course."
     "Good.  I'm sorry to do this, but it's for him."
     "I understand."
     "q, alert Utopia Planitia that we're coming in damaged,
with wounded, and in need of immediate assistance."
     "Like done.  Wolfgang's like beside himself."
     "Neat trick.  Yuri, lay in coordinates for Planitia and
begin spacefold calculations."
     "You're going to fold back?!" Kei cried.  "It's only a
three-hour trip!"
     "Three hours may be too long," Gryphon replied.  "Trust
me."  He hit a switch on the chair arm.  "Bridge to
engineering."
     "Engine room," ReRob replied.  "I'll be right up."
     "No, stay there.  I need you down there."
     "What's up?"
     "We're folding back to Planitia."
     "What?!"
     "Trust me.  It's too long to explain.  Bridge out."
     "Spacefold calculations ready," Yuri reported.  "I hope
you know what you're doing."
     "So do I, Yuri, so do I," Gryphon muttered.  "Execute
fold."
     "Executing."
     The universe turned inside out.


-----------------------------------------------------NINETEEN

     "Ice is forming on the tips of my wings/Unheeded
warnings, I thought I thought of everything"
                         --Pink Floyd

     The universe went up, down, forwards, backwards, left,
right, and plaid simultaneously. Many of the crew became ill
from the disorienting affects, it was a lot like riding the
rotor at an amusement park while being drunk. In the
instant/eternity that the fold took to happen, Gryphon had
time to wonder if he had done the right thing, convince
himself that he had, and then begin to wonder again. A few of
the crew panicked because they feared they were going sane,
but it passed. A few millennia later the SDF-17 defolded just
beyond the docks of the Utopia Planitia shipyards, well, ok,
it was only a few seconds, but it felt like a few millennia.
     As the crew recovered from the confusing experience
Gryphon began calling out orders rapid fire.  "q contact
Wolfgang get us docking data Yuri follow said data ReRob
check all of our systems for damage Kei I don't know find
something to do call sickbay or something Phantom get a
scanner reading on the effects of the fold I'll just sit here
and shake a lot."  Everyone did their best to comply.
     "We're approaching dock now, Ben," Yuri called out.
     "Sickbay reports Zoner's status is unchanged.  Mark is
doing ok, just complaining a lot.  Iczer-1 is still resting,
and Fritz left just before the fold," Kei followed up.
     The comm speaker activated, "Engineering reports no
damage whatsoever."
     "Umm, looks like the fold hasn't effected anything,
other than to move us all through space that is, everything
is still the same.  Unless of course our scanner got changed,
in which case everything is different," Chris reported.
     "Oh for yay, the fold drive worked, whoopie.  Let me
know when we're about to dock," Gryphon replied
lethargically.  "I seem to be crashing."
     "Sack out for a while," Kei suggested.
     "I don't think I could make it to our room.  I don't
think I could make it to the turbolift.  I don't think I
can get up out of this chair.  I don't think---" NFS Server
not responding, thud.
     "He said it," Chris commented, "Not me."
     "Better get ReRob up here," Kei said.
     "Umm, yeah," toggling the comm switch q continued,
"ReRob, Gryphon just like crashed and burned, you're third in
command.  Get up here."
     "Well, I don't really care.  I'll be down here if you
need me.  Yuri drives this thing anyway, let her conn it."
     "Like whatever. Yuri you've got the conn."
     "Cool, my own starship.  We'll have completed docking in
about ten minutes, wheee," Yuri flatlined.
     "I'm going to take sleeping beauty here back to our
room.  I'll be back," Kei stated, shouldering Gryphon like an
old duffel bag full of dirty laundry and striding from the
bridge.
     "Like, they're such a cute couple, ya know?" q said to
Yuri.
     "Yeah, cute couple," Yuri said, not really thinking
about it.
     "Like sorry, Zoner eh?  Don't worry about it, he'll be
fine.  He's too much of a bonehead to die."
     "Yeah, sure," Yuri sighed, obviously unconvinced.

     Kei carried Ben back to their room, and dumped him on
the bed.  She took the time to remove his shoes, his hat, and
his jacket and tucked him in before returning to the bridge.
     "He get to bed alright?" Phantom asked.
     "Yeah, he's crashed."
     "Ho gryphon-- up, up?, down?, down, --," ReRob
interjected from the corner.
     "Rob, when'd you get back here?"
     "I got bored down in engineering.  Besides GweepCo knows
more about it than I do.  So I came back up here."

     "Docking in thirty seconds," Yuri called from the con
station.  "Automatic docking system engaged."
     q called sickbay, "Jenna, like we're here, get 'em
ready to be moved to the base."
     "Ok, we'll be ready down here."
     The SDF-17 glided gracefully into port, one final pulse
from the forward maneuvering thrusters and it stopped right
on target.  Docking adaptors fastened the ship in place and
walkways extended to meet the airlocks.  Waiting behind the
airlock doors by the bridge walkway was Lord Fahrvergnugen
and his entourage.  Once docking was complete Wolfgang strode
quickly to the SDF-17, where ReRob and the pair were waiting
for him.
     "Where are the injured?  Where are Zoner and Gryphon?"
Lord Fahrvergnugen asked concernedly.
     "Sickbay, Gryphon's doing the sleeping thing, he was up
for far too long.  And Zoner is doing the coma thing," ReRob
answered.
     "Coma?!  Dear God, what happened?  Quickly, take me to
sickbay!"
     As the entire horde headed toward sickbay ReRob filled
Lord Fahrvergnugen in on what had happened, with some help
form the pair.  They arrived in sickbay within a few minutes.
Wolfgang swept into sickbay.
     "Quickly, what is his condition?" he asked Jenna.
     "I'm fine, my head just hurts," Mark answered from a
bed.
     "Not you--MegaZone!"
     "Zoner is still in a coma, we relieved the pressure in
the skull and stopped the bleeding.  And we've sutured his
forehead, but there is still the matter of his concussion.
He took quite a blow.  It's incredible that he wasn't knocked
out from the impact.  He's a survivor though, I think he'll
pull through," Jenna answered, although it was obvious that
she herself wasn't convinced.
     "We must move him to the base, our facilities are more
capable of dealing with this.  What of her?" Wolfgang asked
as he noticed Iczer-1.
     "She just needs rest, I gave her a sedative to keep her
from moving around.  I restitched her abdomen, the wound was
reopened during the combat.  But she'll be fine."
     "You," Lord Fahrvergnugen gestured towards his
entourage, "Take MegaZone and Iczer-1 back to the base. Put
Iczer-1 in the rooming area, and take MegaZone to Intensive
Care."
     The entourage broke out two hover gurneys, loaded them
on, and swept out of the room.
     "Now, let's go to the bridge and assess the damage."
Wolfgang swept from the room and led the way to the bridge.

     Gryphon awoke.  Again.  It always seemed to annoy him
that no matter how many times he tried to get to sleep, he
always woke up again.  Always in the middle of a dream.  Oh
well.  He opened an eye and looked around.  Yep, his room.
Again.  He had the sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't be
allowed to sleep on the bridge for long.  How kind of them
not to wake him and make him move.  He'd have to thank them
as soon as he remembered how to move.
     He got out of bed; he was still wearing his uniform,
minus shoes and hat, and was now thoroughly rumpled.  Hmm.
He felt as though a herd of wild pigs had been trying to chew
off his feet for some days now.  He shook his head violently
in an attempt to clear it, then wandered out into the hall
and across the Wedge to the turbolift.  How odd, the Wedge
was empty.
     The bridge was also empty.  In fact, the entire ship
appeared to be empty.  Gryphon began to wonder if this wasn't
one of those dreams one has from time to time, and
immediately checked to make sure he was still wearing pants.
Shrugging, he wandered back to his room to change into some
less rumpled clothes.  Then he noticed the answering machine
light blinking.
     BEEEEP  "Ben, it's Kei.  I didn't want to wake you, so I
left you this message; the crews are repairing the ship, so
everyone was moved into base housing for the time being.
Come over when you wake up, ok?  Wolfgang wants to see you,
and so on...it seems you're still acting captain...just come
over, ok?  It takes too long to explain.  Love you, bye."
BEEEEP
     Gryphon shook his head, pulled on his sneakers, and left
the ship.

     "You wanted to see me, Lord Fahrvergnugen?" asked
Gryphon.  It seemed a semi-formal occasion.
     "Yes.  You are the senior capable officer of the SDF-17;
I wished to discuss with you your plans for the future of the
vessel once repairs are completed."
     "I take it then that there has been no improvement in
MegaZone's condition."
     "Sadly, no."
     "Damn.  If he dies, I'm going to wait until I die, track
him down in the afterlife, if there is one, and smack him
really hard and tell him he's an idiot.  But I can't deal
with that right now.  My plans for the future of the Wedge
Defense Force...hmm."
     Seconds ticked by as Gryphon considered his options.
Responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders.  He was
stressed, worried about the fate of his friend, wondering
what had become of Iczer-1, concerned for Yuri's well-being,
hungry, and altogether unprepared for the decision which
faced him.  He could see only one solution; to go with his
gut reaction.
     "My plans are simple," he said at length.  "I intend to
take the ship--Zoner's ship, whether I command it or not--
back to Earth and eradicate GENOM Corporation.  I'm partly
responsible for Largo in the first place; it's up to me to
put things right.  This has gone far enough."
     "A good plan," replied Fahrvergnugen, "but what of the
ship itself?"
     "Hmm...aside from repairing the damage done in the
battle--"
     "Which is nearly complete."
     "--uh huh, as I was saying, there are a couple of things
that need to be done.  From the design of the ship I assume
you know Macross?"
     "You assume correctly.  The dubbing was atrocious, but
the animation quite good."
     "Yeah.  Ok.  Akira was better.  Anyway.  We need our own
equivalent of Macross City."
     "Worcester?!"
     "No, not all of it.  Just the essentials...Ping's
Garden, Angela's, um...the mailroom extension to the Wedge
with the bookstore and the ATM...Stoh...Spags...Theo's...
Bumas..."
     "Bumas?!"
     "Never mind.  It's really Boomers.  Pizza place.  Oh
yeah, and we simply cannot forget Tech Pizza...and...DUH.
Denny's."
     "Restaurants."
     "Hey, it's a college student's life.  Remember, don't
get too high and mighty with us--we have you to thank for
DAKA."
     "That wasn't my fault.  I wanted a biologically grounded
power supply that could be disguised as something that
wouldn't be noticed on a college campus."
     "So you disguised it as the Thing from Outer Space.
Good call, Wolfmeister.  Anyway.  Yes.  We need restaurants.
And hey, feel free to throw in anything else...Space Station
Studios...TE...whatever...a race track would be nice...and
Harr Dodge, Zoner's car will fall apart within a week without
Harr Dodge, even with overtechnology.  Oh yeah...and Daver's
apartment...and 59 Fruit Street...Ten Minute Walk...and..."
     "You, my son, are rambling."
     "I know.  I'm stressed and I'm still tired.  Deal."
     "You are courageous, to speak to me that way."
     "Worked for Zoner, works for me.  Besides, I'll
apologize a lot later.  I need to take care of some things--
can you get that construction work done for me?  Thanks,
you're a pal.  Later," said Gryphon, and he was gone.
     "How does he do that?" Lord Fahrvergnugen asked himself.
"If I tried to talk that fast, I'd dislocate my face."

     "Morning," Vaughn said as he walked into Iczer-1's room,
a bunch of printed material under his arm.
     "Hello," Iczer-1 replied.  "Good to see you."
     "No problems.  I thought I'd come by and see how you
were doing."
     "I feel much better, thanks.  In another day or so I
should be fine.  Sit down, talk for a while."
     "Oh hey, cool."  Vaughn sat down in the chair next to
the bed.  "I brought you some comics to read--thought it
might get boring in here."
     "Boring isn't the word," Iczer-1 replied.  "What did you
bring?"
     "Ah...let's see.  I've got all three of my Sandman
graphic novels, plus the special.  I think you'll like
Sandman, everyone else does.  I grabbed some of Zoner's
stuff, too; Dominion, Dominion's great, and Appleseed, which
is by the same artist, and Outlanders.  Outlanders is one of
my favorites."
     "Hm.  This should keep me busy until next year
sometime..."
     "Well, if you don't want to read them, that's ok; I just
thought you'd be interested."
     "Don't be silly--of course I'm interested."
     "Neat."
     "I've been wanting to ask you something."
     "What?"
     "How is it that you can walk around in vacuum, I mean I
know what you told me before, but that didn't make to much
sense."
     "I really don't know, I just do. Just like I shift
around realities from time to time, make things disappear by
not paying attention to them, and appear in two places at
once."
     "You're very interesting. I like your attitude towards
life."
     "Thanks, life is neat, but humans are stupid."
     "But you're a human."
     "Yes, I know, and I'm damned ashamed of it. People keep
reminding me."
     "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you."
     "No problems, humans just do so much stupid stuff that
we get annoying at times."
     "So, how do you like life with the Wedge crowd?"
     "It's neat, they're some of the less annoying humans
I've met. Open minded, friendly, and weird. So, are you going
to stay with us?"
     Iczer-1 looked embarrassed, looking away from Vaughn she
said, "I'd like to, it's nice here, but I really have to go
find Iczer-2. I can't let her run loose to bring harm to
innocents."
     "I understand, I hope I'll see you around some more."
     "Don't worry, I'll stop by from time to time."
     "I'll be around, for a while at least."

     There was a neat common area, like the living-room-but-
yet-not-but-yet things in the Stoddards, at the end of the
hallway where everyone had their room while the ship was
being refitted.  Said common area contained a television set.
On the sofa, Yuri sat watching TV; at the end of the couch,
Mughi was curled into a very large ball, snoring softly.
     "Good evening," said Gryphon as he walked in and slumped
into a chair.  "Ever have one of those lives?"
     "Mm," Yuri replied.
     "You know, it scared the hell out of me when I woke up
and there was no one else in the ship."
     "Mm."
     "And there's all the construction to see to."
     "Mm."
     "I detect a distinct conversational trend here."
     "Mm."
     "Oh help, oh help, I'm being repressed."  Gryphon's own
depression switched off as he entered full silly mode in an
all-out attempt to help Yuri out with her depression and make
her laugh.  It was his standard way of dealing with stress.
He got out of the chair and sat down next to her on the
couch.
     "You," he said, "are very depressed.  There's only one
way we deal with the very depressed."
     "How do we deal with the very depressed?" Yuri asked, in
a very depressed tone.
     "Well...we...TICKLE THEIR NECKS!!!!!" he shrieked, and
dove.
     "YAAH!  Hey come on stop that hey that tickles you know
I can't stand that knock it off oh come on I'll rip your
fingers off I swear I will Kei help me help stop him he's
gone mad help help knock it off I'm gonna die help!!!"
     "Not until you laugh!  Hahahahahahahahaha!"
     "Hey come on please I can't breathe cut it out help I
hate being tickled stop it Mughi get him off me!"
     Mughi looked up with a querying "mrow?", took in the
random chaos on the couch for a second, and then, with a
"hrm," put his head back on his paws and went to sleep.  Not
his problem, right?
     "Oh thanks Mughi some great help you are aw come on
don't do that I've had enough please no cut it out I mean it
I can't breathe!"
     "Breathing is for wimps," Gryphon replied.  "Laugh, I
tell you, laugh!  It'll do you good!"
     "Stop it already I asked you nicely now I'm telling
you oh come on please please don't enough I--Kei!  Thank god!
Help!"
     Kei stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the
chaos; then she smiled an evil smile and jumped in, viciously
tickling her partner's ribs.
     "HEY that's not fair you're supposed to be my partner
you're supposed to save me from crazies like this this is NOT
fair I'll get you both for this I swear I will come onnnn..."
     "Morning," Vaughn said from the doorway.  "I--oh no..."
     "Vaughn!!" they all cried, jumping up and closing in on
him with a triad of maniacal grins.
     "No--oh no--help," Vaughn said in a small voice as they
attacked.

     "..." thought Zoner.  "... ... ... ..."


-------------------------------------------------------TWENTY

     "Well, that's another triumph for clean hands, a pure
heart, a good soul...and automatic weapons."
                         --Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

                        25 APRIL 1992

     Lord Fahrvergnugen called the crew of the Wayward Son to
one final meeting.  The repairs and modifications had been
completed.  It was time for the ship to return to Earth to do
what had to be done.  But there was a cloud hanging above
everyone's head: Zoner had still not awakened.  His physical
injuries had healed, and his condition was stable, but no one
had been able to awaken him yet.  Everyone feared that he
might never wake again.  Yuri had been moping about the ship
for the last several weeks, spending several hours a day at
Zoner's side.
     The crew bid a farewell to Iczer-1; she had become a
Wedge Rat in her time amongst them. Vaughn sought her out
after the meeting.
     "So, I guess you're taking off now."
     "Yes, I am."
     "Keep in touch, ok?"
     "I will."
     "Well, I--- hmm, I really don't know what to say.
Goodbye, I guess."
     "No, just farewell for now.  Take care of yourself,
Paladin." Iczer-1 leaned forward and kissed Vaughn lightly.
"I will be back, trust me."
     "I know you will.  I'll miss you."
     "Miss you too."  With that she walked to the nearest
airlock and stepped into space.

     The SDF-17 emerged from its docking bay, repaired and
once again ready for service.  Its hull carried a fresh new
coat of gleaming blue and white paint.  The letters WAYWARD
SON, once defaced by laser fire, once again proudly stood out
on the bow.  All weapons were at cruising standby.  The ship
was once again in perfect condition.
     Not so, however, its crew.  Though rested, there were
some problems.  Like stress.  Zoner had been brought aboard
and was being monitored in sickbay.  Gryphon was now captain
of the Wayward Son, although he refused to assume the rank or
wear the insignia in deference to Zoner, and ReRob was his
exec.
     "I can see why Zoner hated this job," Gryphon muttered.
     "Why's that?" ReRob asked.
     "BECAUSE IT SUCKS!"
     "Oh, why's that?"
     Beginning to pace Gryphon answered, "I haven't slept in
three days.  Everytime I think I might be able to sleep,
someone else comes to me with a little pissant problem.  I
had to give up my squadron, which I only had for a week.  I'm
really getting sick of the bridge.  Kei and I never have any
time together anymore."  Looking down, "I'm wearing out my
feet.  And I'm sick of this damned computer!"
     "Please take your seat.  Please take your seat," the
computer droned.
     "Wolfgang thought an AI would make the ship easier to
run," ReRob offered.
     "It would!  But this isn't an AI--this is an '88 Buick
Regal!  And the voice is driving me nuts, it sounds like
KITT!  I liked the Wedge's AI better!  At least it had a
personality!  You could talk to it!  This thing just follows
orders and drones on and on at you!"
     "Please take your seat.  Please take your seat," the
computer droned.
     "Will you please SHUT UP!" Gryphon screamed, kicking the
nav console.
     "Headlamps are on.  Headlamps are on," the computer
droned.
     "You see!  You see!  It is an '88 Buick Regal!  That
does it!  I'm going to write a better AI than this if it's
the last thing I ever do."  Stomp stomp stomp "Rob! You have
the conn!" Stomp stomp stomp.
     "Well, ok.  He's not a happy camperTM."
     "Yo, like what should we do?" q asked.
     "Ummm.  Yuri, lay in a course for Earth.  Let's get out
of this system on impulse to shake the ship down.  Once clear
plot a fold and do it."
     "Ok. ReRob?"
     "Yes?"
     "Can I get someone to cover for me, I'm not really
needed here.  I'd like to be with Zoner."
     "And I'd like to try and calm Gryphon down," Kei
interjected.
     "Ok, as soon as we're underway get some replacements up
here and you can leave."
     "Thanks."

     Yuri found Ben pacing and talking at Zoner, who wasn't
responding at all.
     "Ya know...man, your job really sucks.  I mean, jeez, I
never realized there were this many boneheads, even in the
Wedge.  And, and, I'm stressing, I don't know.  I look like
shit.  Which is ok, because I never see Kei anymore.  I never
have time, neither does she.  My head hurts, but I've gotten
used to that.  And I walk up and down in here, and I see you,
there, flat on your back, with that stupid daver-sharp nose
of yours pointing up.  And I just want to bash your face in.
You're stupid, you're an idiot.  You were doing the macho
asshole routine, and look where it got you.  I'm yelling at a
corpse.  Well, not a corpse, but yet, but not, but yet,
but...  Oh hell.  I...fuck!"
     "Ben? Are you ok?"
     Ben spun, startled, "No.  But thank you for asking."
     "Kei's looking for you."
     "Hmmm...  Yuri...I was right.  I am having one of those
lives.  Do you know where she went?"
     "I think she was checking the Wedge."
     "Oh, damn, long day, long year, long life, I'm rambling,
I'm tired, I want sleep, I need sleep, sleep is good, sleep
is fun, but I'd better go find her.  I don't want that
continental drift thing to happen again.  Shit.  There aren't
enough hours in a year.  I just have to try something first."
     Ben whirled and jabbed a finger at Zoner, shouting,
"You, get up!  Sleep delays your life!  Come on, get up!  Get
up, you fuckhead, you stupid-- Oh God.  I'm cracking aren't
I?  I have to go now." With that Ben walked toward the door.
He stopped, "Yuri, I'm very tired.  Oh, the hell with it.
Just give me a hug."
     Ben and Yuri embraced and Ben left the room.  Yuri sat
down in the chair next to Zoner and began her vigil once
again.  She was determined to be there when he awoke.
     Ben ran into Kei just outside of the Wedge as she was
leaving.  "Ben! I was looking for you. Where were you?"
     "I was down in sickbay shouting at Zoner.  I feel like
an asshole."
     "He's awake?!"
     "No, that's why I feel like an asshole.  If he was awake
I'd have no problem yelling at him.  When he wakes up I'm
going to pile eighteen metric tons of shit on top of him for
sticking me with this lame job.  But it's not fair to do it
now.  To him or Yuri.  I feel like an asshole...I am an
asshole."
     "No you're not.  Come back to our room with me.  I think
you need to talk and get some rest."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right."
     Ben and Kei walked back to their room hand in hand.


-----------------------------------------------------EPILOGUE

     "Do do do do do Goodnight sweetheart, well it's time to
go. Do do do do do Goodnight sweetheart, well it's time to
go. Do do do do I hate to leave you, but I really must say,
goodnight sweetheart, goodnight."
                         --Sha Na Na

     The SDF-17 eventually reached the edge of the system.
Kevin, sitting in for Yuri, plotted a fold for a return to
Earth.  The Wayward Son began to glow, the light reached to
point of being unbearable and then was gone, as was the ship.
All across the vessel crew members anticipated the return to
Earth after the preceding long months.  Most were excited to
be returning to their homes, however, there were a few who
had other, darker, thoughts on their minds.  As Yuri sat next
to Zoner's comatose form in sickbay she thought of revenge.
She was scared and confused, and she turned these emotions
into anger, she would revenge him upon GENOM.  Gryphon tossed
listlessly in his sleep, hundreds of thoughts racing through
his unconscious mind.  The stress was really getting to him,
he wasn't ready to take command, he just wanted to be a
pilot.  He was worried for Zoner and since he had no outlets
he let it turn into nervous energy and anger.  He just wanted
to get it over with, for Zoner to wake up and for it to be
all over.  Kei watched him as he tossed, she too was worried,
but for both Ben and Zoner.  There was nothing she could do
for Zoner, only time would tell if he would recover, but Ben
she could help.  He needed to vent his stress, and she was
going to make sure he did. If he held it in he wouldn't be in
any condition to command the SDF-17 when it returned to Earth
and he may get himself hurt.  Or the crew, and she knew he
would never forgive himself for that.
     In the command chamber for the Utopia Planitia shipyards
Lord Fahrvergnugen sat, contemplating the fate of the Wedge.
     "Decker, do you think they'll make it?"
     "I do not know sir. Only time will tell," Decker
replied.
     "Yes, time reveals all," then towards the windows,
"Godspeed my children."
     "They are well trained and armed my lord, their will is
strong, do not worry yourself overly."
     "Perhaps you are correct. It's out of my hands now."
Lord Fahrvergnugen sank back into his chair and closed his
eyes in thought.
     Decker took this as his cue to leave, as he exited the
chamber he encountered another group of techs.
     "How is Lord Fahrvergnugen doing?"
     "Not very well. He is worried about the Rats."
     "Do you think they'll succeed?"
     "Not a chance."


Ok, so you're probably wondering about some stuff from this
story.  Well, we're not going to tell you everything, since a
lot was explained in the original Undocumented Features which
is available on the Internet via FTP the address is
130.215.24.1 (wpi.wpi.edu) cd /anime/FanFiction.  Set binary
on and get dp.undocument.1.Z, have fun.  megazone@wpi.wpi.edu
can answer any questions, or at least try to.  However, there
is some new stuff, and the authors wanted to spout about some
things, so here, like have a glossary.

The Mann Systems Series 101-E Bio-SculptTM was lifted from
Larry Mann's story Experiment 101-E, which is also available
in the same directory as UF above.  We liked the story and
Larry seems like a cool guy, so we asked for permission to
use some stuff.  Thanks Larry.  And the Cyberpunk stats for
Cory are cool, they came in handy.

Fold-O-Couch-O-Death MkII is this years incarnation of the
Fold-O-Couch-O-Death.  The original Fold-O-Couch-O-Death
existed last year in E10, Zoner's apartment.  (As well as
Haywire, Vaughn, and Paul.)  If you sit down on it, you will
eventually tip over unconscious and fall asleep.  Do NOT sit
on this couch if you are waiting for a class or an exam.
This year it is a battered and beaten couch/knife target we
picked up for free from a friends apt.  The Fold-O-Couch-O-
Death MkII resides in E7, Zoner's apt. this year.  (With
Haywire, Vaughn, Paul, Xmas, and ReRob.)  These couches are
evil, avoid them.  :-)

Epinephrine-D is basically human adrenaline produced by
genetically altered bacteria.  Whoooooooo!

The General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm rotary cannon.
Neat!  It's the weapon the A-10 Warthog was built around.
Eats tanks for breakfast, most powerful cannon ever flown.
Drool.  Heavy firepower, would make a great option for LA
drivers.

VLS, the Vertical Launch System.  A neat way to get fuckloads
of missiles in the air quickly.  Developed by the US Navy for
its newer ships.  Like an Alpha without the attitude.

NOE, Nap Of the Earth.  Refers using terrain following flight
to avoid detection by the enemy.  How a VT-1D does this
around asteroids is anyones guess.

Godzillion, the number of times a major Japanese urban center
has been destroyed in the movies.  And not just by Godzilla,
Akira counts, twice.

Stoh is Wedge Slang for Store24.

TE is pronounced tee-eee and it stands for That's
Entertainment. TE is a cool comics, RPG, and model shop.

daver-sharp  There's razor sharp, then there's scalpel sharp,
there's the kind of sharp a monomolecular whip is, and
then... There's daver-sharp. Where the edge of the blade
planes down to the ninth dimension and goes away.

Spags is a store in Worcester which is both really keen and
really cheesy.  They have everything, if you don't mind
hunting through eight acres of kipple to find it.  How
extensive and weird is their stock?  Well, in the original
Undocumented Features, the Wedge Rats made a big error in
judgement.  We didn't have to make poor ReRob make all those
Cyclones himself.  We could've gotten them at Spags.  Ok, so
they would've made us pay cash, and we'd've had to bring our
own bags.  But still...ReRob didn't need to do all that work.

Scott Bernard (skot' ber-nard') v. inf. To fire all of one's
missiles at the same time, usually at a target worthy of
only one or two of them, 'cause you're being a dufus.  See
Rick Hunter (to say "uh?!" a lot), Ben Dixon (to die 'cause
you're a bonehead), Roy Fokker (to die 'cause you're being a
macho schmuck), and Tetsuo (to crash into a stationary object
and explode in flames, even if it isn't a crash that should
result in an explosion).


This writing is the product of Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D.
Bikowicz, the Editorial College (peanut gallery), .gif files,
text, lack of sleep, STRESS, angst, caffeine, sugar,
incredibly green pie, remarkably hot chili, lots of music
once again, and yes, despite all the darkness, love.

Published 1 March 1992 at Eyrie Publishing,
NotEvenCloseToInc., WPI Box 570, 100 Institute Road,
Worcester, MA 01609.

For everyone: thanks again.

1 March 1992
09:35:36

Benjamin D. Hutchins
Brian D. Bikowicz

-------------------------------------------------------------
"Sorry...somehow I'm not quite used to giant carnivores
answering the door..."
     --Cory Emerson
INTERNET: gryphon@wpi.wpi.edu      BELLNET: (508) 791-2539
-------------------------------------------------------------

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