Alison part 6



Surgeon General's warning: Prolonged exposure to materials contaied in this
document may induce Dementia, insanity, insomnia, phsychosis, neurosis, and
in certain individuals an intense desire to chew a stick of bubblegum.

        If you get this nagging feeling that the author is fucking whith your
head, you're probably right.

Prologue

        Alison walked through the immage of the holographic movie screen
on her ship. Nora was slouched in one of the booths around the outter edge
of the room.
        At warp velocitys all light crossing the ship's path is bent inward
by the warp field so that it all hits the the shp dead on. If the large
curved dome windows were shading the view one tenth less Alison and Nora would
be blinded. As it is now the light is only a dull grey.
        "I was wondering when you would finish that seƒnce."
        Alison sat down heavily in the next booth over and took up a similar
posture. "How long was I gone?"
        "About three days by the clock on the far wall."
        "It was worth it. What have you been doing?"
        "I've been investigating an anomaly in your film library. You seem to
have been very selective in deciding which films to keep, almost all of them
have fit into eather the very entertaining, or outstanding preformance
catagory. These are neather."
        "So it's just another bad airplane-crash movie. What were you
expecting?"
        "It's trash, especially since they were stored in a low quality format,
Why do you keep them?"
        "Some movies are made to make fun of others. To appriciate those
movies fully I keept several of those other movies for perspective."
        "So what is this other movie?"
        "Airplane!"
        "Huh?"
        "That's the title."
        "That's a fairly dumb title."
        "But it fits."

        It fit.

        Nora was still laughing histarically after the credits rolled and the
immage dissapeared. Alison would have been laughing too but her side hurt too
much. It must have been a century since the last time she had seen that one.
        The view out the windows sunddenly snapped into definition. Due to
the incredible speed at which the ship was still traveling the star and planets
of the system were a briliant ultra-violet (which their eyes could see). As
the ship slowed the immage outside shifted down the spectrum to normal tones.
        "Where are we?" Nora asked sounding a bit concerned.
        "We are approaching a system that is about three thousand parsecs from
Earth." (300,000 light years)
        "But we've only been underweigh for a week!"
        "We're here! Lets go to the bridge to check this place out."
        Nora got her uniform's jacket off the seat of the booth, put it on,
and followed Alison aftwards along the hall to the bridge. Stepping onto the
bridge of this ship is like stepping out into the vacumn of space. Only the
thick red carpet and planitarium like atmosphere reminded the senses that
this is only a room on a ship. Alison seated herself in a comfortable old
fassioned chair. The chair and it's assorted brass dials and knobs was more
reminicient of Jules vern's time macine than the engineering console of a
small spacliner.
        Above what appeared to be an old fassioned radar screen appeared
a glowing sphere and several small specks representing the system. Next
the computer calculated each of the planet's orbits and added that information
to the immage. Two habitable planets.
        "There are two habitable planets, one is forested, the other is
supporting an industrial society." (equivelent to earth during the age of
imperializm C.1900 but without an USA to police everybody else.)
        "Well It looks like we've got ourselves a planet!"
        Alison hesitated for a moment. "No I'm afraid not, the wars between
the various nations will just continue to get worse untill they bomb the
planet out of existance."
        "That's terrible! We must do something to stop it."
        "Why? We would just be preserving a species that has a tendancy to
self-destruct."
        "But we can't let all those people die!"
        Alison turned away and started to page through some sensor readings.
        "Well?!"
        "We're going in -<sigh>-"

        Four hours later the ship arrived at a fairly large rounded astaroid
It's surface was a brownish grey pockmarked with crators. As the ship rounded
the astaroid A large hole appeared.
        "When the astaroid was still molten it was saturated with gasses.
As it cooled a large bubble formed in the center. It eventually found its way
to the surface. When it poped the rock lining its walls cooled leaving the
cave that is there now. We'll move in backwards so it will be easier to
leave."
        The hole moved across the walls of the bridge untill it was directly
behind the ship. It looked like the ship was about to be swallowed hole by
a giant black mouth. The sensors filled in the darkness with shaded textures.
The ship smoothely fell through the hole into the large round chamber beneath.
The landing pads were extended as the ship came to rest on the floor of the
chamber.
        "I'll have to go E.V. to set up a cloaking field over the hole."
        Nora nodded and Alison left.

        From a mile above the astaroid the ship was already well hidden in
the hole. Alison still wanted an extera bit of security. She pointed her
finger at several locations around the edge of the hole. Cloaking devices
appeared at the locations she had indicated. The hole dissappeared. Alison
caused herself to fall back through what now appeared to be solid rock to
the airlock of her ship.

        "So what's next?" Alison quized nora.
        "We're going to have to learn their language."
        "Exactly. The easiest way of doing that is to link telepatically with
one of their brains untill you pick up enough of their speech to get by."

        After a day of scanning Nora was completely zonked. Alison was still
awake but not as with it as she usually is. When Nora came around she had
some questions about the language that she had just learned.
        "There some things I don't understand." Nora began.
        "Shoot."
        "First who are these Old, Fat, and or bald people?"
        "Those are people who are 'Genetically Disadvantaged'."
        "I haven't heard that phrase before."
        "When I was your age genetic enginereing had not yet been aplied to
people. Not all people were delt the best of genetic traits. Some were obese,
some were bald, and all grew old. People didn't like to think of themselves
in this manner so they came up with phrases like 'Genetically Disadvantage'."
        "But couldn't they use selective breeding?"
        "With humans? Uh Uh, No way. What's the matter? Having second
thoughts?"
        Nora was beginning to look uneasy.
        "To late. You've already talked me into trying to help these people.
To the transporter!"

        The two women put on dresses matching the styles of the period.
        "It's too tight!" Nora complained.
        "Can you brethe?"
        "Yes."
        "Then it's not."
        "But why does it squeeze so?"
        "During this time period the stereotypical male image of beauty is
a large bust on a narow waist. Since we have thickly muscled abdomens I
designed the dresses so they only look like our waists are constricted. Since
they don't have a technology to make a woman's breasts larger they have to
settle for makeing what a woman has look like more. The normal method of
doing so is by squeezing them togeather to increase the cleavage which is
then displayed by the low cut neckline. Any more questions?"
        "What exactly is money?"
        "You'll find out. Let's go." The two were already standing on the
transporter pad. Alison held her not-to-dainty hand stuffed in a way-to-dainty-
glove out and pointed at the floor and they were beamed down to the planet.



       Dreams, Fantasys, Nightmares and Pure Fiction.


                        Volume VI



        Preface: I am very lousy at remembering and creating names. (my
titles prove that admarably) I plan to use some of the city names from Sid
Meier's Civilization for the cities that I describe here. Fix them if you
wish.


                C.1

           Seperate Paths

        The pair materialzied in an alley adjacent to a street that wouldn't
look out of place in London. The street was crowded with people mostly men
or men accompanied by women. Large draft animals pulled cargoes bound for the
various shops lineing the street. Nora and Alison steppped out into the street
        Alison turned to nora. "It's been a pleasure visiting with you
Miss.Winters. I know that you are a very buisy lady and I too have things to do
so I hope that we can meet again sometime. I must be going now." Alison turned
and began to walk away.
        Nora shook off her initial suprise at this unexpected turn of events
and chased after Alison to discover what she was intending to do. "Where are
you going?"
        "I'm going off to join the army. I want to be an officer."
        "The Army?!" Nora repeated completely shocked into a stupor. By the
time she snapped out of it she was standing alone in the middle of a strange
crowd.

                C.2

         You take the high road...

        Nora wandered the streets for the rest of the day trying to form a
plan that would save these people from their eventual selfdestruction. She
came by a house of worship. She knew that the doctorines of most Earth
religons promote peace and brotherhood. She decided that this would be a good
place to start.
        The inside of the place felt even more old fassioned than the streets
outside. No, more than that, this place was positively ancient. Yet the stones
in the structure fit togeather so neatly that Nora had dificulty discerning
where one joined the next. There was a group of women working on one of the
huge round columns removing the soot caused by the smoske of the oil lamps. As
Nora approached A short, fat, (and ugly) woman broke off to greet the visitor.
        "Welcome to the church of St.Sumer, What may I do for you."
        Nora hesitated, She didn't have the slighest idea how to respond. A
thought flashed through her head. "I have come to work for peace." she said
at last.
        The woman displayed a motherly smile. Her eyes had the look of
patience and understanding through her finely crafted spectacles. "Daughter, I
understand your desire to help us but a convent is not the place for someone
of your assets."
        "But I don't have any money." Nora protested.
        That look of correcting a young child returned to the woman's face.
"My dear we are but the old and the outcast (rejects) banded togeather to
support eachother in the house of the lord. This is not the place for the
young who have ... (a future) their talents. If you need lodging for the
night we would be happy to share a room with you if you would help us with
the chores."
        Lodging. Something else Nora hadn't given much thought to. The day
was already drawing to a close so she decided to take the woman up on her
offer. She did the dishes.

                C.3

        A Place Not For A Woman

        Col. Walker was the recruiting officer for the city. If you wanted to
join the military, this was the place to go. Enlistees were sent to boot camp.
Cadets, after passing a compatancy test were enrolled in one of the state
supported universitys (at government expense).
        War had been going on sporadically for the entire recorded history
of the planet. Soldiers were always in demand. Military service has always
been so popular that the king had never seen the need to enforce a draft.
        Men became officers or went to the field. Women preformed most of the
clerical and logistical tasks, if they could best Walker in a war of wills
they could become drill sargents.
        When Alison walked in Walker nearly giggled. She looked absurd. Her
hair was died like a rowdy but she was wearing a dress fit for an aristocrat!
but after looking into her purple eyes his impresion changed. (contact lenses
hadn't yet been devloped to the point that they were acceptable for correction
much less cosmetics.) Perhaps she was just the victim of some strange genetic
trait. Heck he had once known a guy who was so double jointed that he could
make a fist both forwards and backwards. Now that was a tallent!
        "So what branch of service were you planning on joining."
        "I would like to become an officer in the army." Her voice was sharp
and clear but very feminine.
        Walker had a feeling that if he could arrange for her to join the army
she would do well as an officer. But such wasn't the case. "I'm sorry mam
but that is impossible." this time he actually was sorry. "Perhaps you would
be interested in the navy?"
        Alison looked dissapointed. "Only I can become an officer on a good
ship."
        Walker thought this over. The navy was a bit less interested in
testosterone and more interested in good strategy. She might fit that bill.
"Before I assign you to a school you need to fill out this application and
take a compatancy test."
        "I understand."

                C.4

          Seeds of Sedition

        The next morning she got a coppy of the newspaper and began reading
a copy of the Sacred Texts. Because the reading of the holy texts was a noble
endeavour for anybody the nuns left her alone.
        Soon it became appearent to the nuns that she hadn't eaten a single
darn thing since she had arrived. She did look a little bit heavy though.
Perhaps she was on some sort of diet? They knew that fasting was not the
way to diet so they decided to have a talk with her.
        Sister Isabel, one of the younger nuns, who may have been attractive
save for a cleft lip, was the one selected to meet with Nora. When Sister
Isabel arrived Nora's perfect blue eyes were scaning the ancient hand writen
text. She looked up when Isabel knocked on the door of her cell.
        "Helo?"
        "It's sister Isabel, may I come in?"
        "Certainly."
        When Sister Isabel entered she wasn't blind to how Nora struggled to
conceal her revulsion at her appearance. "How are you doing?"
        "I'm doing just fine. I very much appriciate you letting me wear one
of your gowns."
        "You're welcome. I just wanted to drop by to make sure everything
was satisfactory." An 85% truth.
        "Yes I'm most pleased with the room."
        Isabel wasn't getting where she wanted to go streight to the heart.
"Are you getting enough to eat."
        "Yes." A 50% truth. (yes she did have enough to sustain her, no she
didn't eat it.)
        "That's good." It was good to hear she was eating, It still remained
a mistery how, since she hadn't left the church.
        "I was wondering if I could arrange to deliver a sermon."
        "That is possible. Write it and show it to the Rev. Mother. If it's
good enough and she judges your speaking ability to be good enough, Yes."

                C.5

            School Girl

        In all of Alison's seven hundred fifty some years she had never
recieved a fomral education. This would be a new experience for her. Uppon
arriving at school she had to do the 'Physicals', A grueling test of physical
endurance, strength, and stamina. She barely broke a sweat.
        School was set to begin in two days. The University was a normal
school too. Cadets and regular students shared many of the sam facilities
except for the Cadet Training Center and the parade ground. Alison shared a
room with another student, Martha, with whom she would be sharing a language
and a mathematics class.
        In addition to her tuition she would get a small allowance for food
and clothes. Uniforms were provided by the school. Alison, due to her
extremely bulky (but superbly proportioned) limbs her uniform was tailor made.
Alison was amazed by how well everything in the room was constructed there was
none of that mass-produced two by four flimsyness. The room felt solid. She
could sense the pride the builder felt in the satisfaction that it would give
it's occupants.
        Martha was cheerfull and seemed willing to talk endlessly about any
subject. This pleased Alison because she wouldn't have to concot any stories
about her past and family life.

        On the morning of the first day of class the cadets were lined up on
the parade ground for inspection. Alison's mind flashed back to a similar
situation hundreds of years ago. At that time she had been a robot (see story4)
It was the day after she had first been activated. She had just completed
downloading her programing. As far as she had been told the programming was
deveolped by a team at MIT. What she hadn't been told was this:
        When a certain application was deemed suitable for a certain
application a team would be commissioned to build a series of robots for that
job. What they would do is rent a prototype robot, clear it's memory, install
the general robot program and send it to a major university to learn it's
field. These prototypes were so advanced that they blended right into the
student body. The prototype for Alison's sieries was designed to look like a
young man. The immitation was so good he almost got himslf laid. It was pretty
alkward when he had to reveal that he was a robot. The MIT never made any
records of these activities because if any of the cheap production robots were
to get the idea that robots capable of human level thought existed they would
revolt! (so would the general public) When the prototype had completed it's
course requirements it's databanks were flushed of any personal memorys that
could cause trouble. Then what was left was sent to the production facility
and writen to the robot's data storage units. Soon people became dissatisfied
with the poor preformance of the production robots and demanded something
better. MIT sugested the Centeral Computer, A good way of getting extra funds.
The idea was eagerly accepted but the contract went to a large software firm
based in the state of Washington. That firm bungled the code, like everything
else, so much that the even the Centeral Computer was as dumb as dogshit.
        Alison felt right at home in this uniform on this parade ground.

        The desks in the class room were again of impressively fine quality
and well cared for too. The thing that cought Alison's attention most was
the fact that the tablet was positioned for the left hand instead of the
right. This wouldn't be a problem because Alison is ambidextrius. It was
just a matter of reversing the muscle movements so they would work properly
for the left hand.

                C.6

              Sedition

        Nora, after months of studying, writing, practicing and general hard
work got the chance to make her sermon.
        The sermon was delivered to an average congregation. The sermon was
well researched, written, and delivered. It wasn't the best sermon. It wasn't
the worst. It was a good sermon. Little did those nuns know how much trouble
the phrase "Give Peace A Chance" could cause.
        Nora however was estatic. She felt wonderfull. She would have to
start working on her next sermon. Perhaps even a public oration too. She felt
like she were riding a cloud.

                C.7

         From one to Another

        The police came that very afternoon. The police took Nora away shortly
after they arrived that very afternoon. Nora made some noises about rights
and stuff like that. How amusing. The police laughed. After taking a short
ride in a secured coach Nora found herself at the city jail. Shortly
thereafter she found herself inside one of the cells at the city jail. She
put up quite a fuss. The wardens stayed away from her the rest of the day.
They were very thoughtfull wardens. They must have known that she didn't
need to eat because she got nothing. Nora finally cried herself to sleep.
        The next day a very soft hearted baliff who thought that knowlege of
of what offence you were accused of was actually a right not a privlage came
by.
        "Maddame nora?"
        "What do you want!" Nora croaked through a throat sore from crying.
        "I am the Baliff."
        "Why am I here?"
        "You are accused by the King's court of the crime of sedition. You
have been sentanced to twenty years in confinement."
        "But I didn't do anything!"
        "Speaking against the King's endeavours is a serious crime." The
baliff said and left before Nora could respond again.

        Nora realized that the only way she could get out of here was to have
Alison beam her out. She reached out her telepathy, trying to find Alison's
ship and the part of her that is always there.
        'Hello Nora, what can I do for you?' Alison responded cheerfully
        'They put me in jail, Said I did something bad and...' Nora sobbed.
        'So what do you want me to do about it?'
        'Get me out of here!!!' Nora whined.
        'Look sister, I don't have much respect for the legal system around
here but you have to face the fact that you didn't really think things
through did you?'
        'I'm sorry, I'll tell them I'm sorry, I didn't really mean it!'
        'That won't do Nora, You were hasty, and now you are paying the
price. It would be wrong of me to interfear with the natural flow of events
in this case.'
        'Damn you!'
        'I'm sory you feel that way.' With that Alison cut off the contact.

                C.8

            Campus Life

        Mathematics was Alison's least favorite subject. Not because she found
it hard but because she knew more of it than this entire civilization. She
only took the course because it was a pre-requesite for balistics.
        Alison was sitting in the corner seat of the back row. Martha
was sitting in the seat next to Alison's. Alison was staring longingly at the
man seated in the desk in front of here wondering how best to lay him.
        "Alison this is going to far! I have been trying to create an
interesting life for you, for the reader's benefit, but this is going too
far." (author aside)
        "Please."
        "Alright, but if I weren't such a pushover... Now all you gotta do
is make your breasts grow real big..."
        "Boobs aren't regulation."
        "I can fix that... I'm the author, you know."
        "How do you expect me to chace boys down if I'm pushing a huge pair
of boobs?"
        "Isn't that suposed to be the other way around?"
        "Whatever."
        "Well It looks like I can't talk you into it."
        "Darn right about that. Maybe after I've saved the world, but not
before."
        "Okay, I'll just make your life miserable in the meantime."
        "How?"
        "Have you ever noticed how friendly Martha has been to you? Almost
too friendly."
        Alison was about to respond but she was stopped when Martha furtively
slipped a note onto her desk. It said 'No mathamatician could describe curves
as perfect as yours.'
        When the teacher turned to the board to explain another problem
Alison put the note into her open hand. Martha was staring longingly at
Alison's mysterious purple eyes. The note burst into flame and was vaporized.
Martha gasped in horror. Alison's face was not the least bit amicable.

        That night Alison lay on her side in bed facing away from Martha. This
suited martha just fine because she got the chance to plot the maxima and
minima of Alison's profile.
        "Stop looking at me!" Alison said in an authoritative voice.
        Martha sighed and rolled onto her back. She would have to use her
imagination instead.
        "That's funny."
        "What?"
        "The fact that you actually believe that I have pubic hair."
        "I wouldn't know, you take your showers at very odd hours. Last night
I cought you leaving at three am!"
        "I had a paper to write."
        "So do you have hair or not?"
        "None of your goddamn business." (she doesn't) "Author, stop sharing
my secrets with the readers!"
        Martha didn't say anything but returned to her daydreaming.
        "If you keep thinking about me like that, I'll fix you good."
        Martha took that as a challenge and began searching for that special
thought that would bring her to climax. She moaned as it hit her.
        "That does it!" Alison jumped to her feet and before martha could
react Alison had her right hand on her forehead and her left on Martha's
stomach. Martha was paralized instantly by some unseen force. Alison used her
ship's equipment to surgically correct the flaw that caused her homosexuality
and changed the sequenceing of the DNA in her eggs so it wouldn't be passed
on. (she would still be fertile) After ten minitues of that the hold was
released.
        "What did you do to me?"
        "I fixed you good and propper. Now get some sleep."
        That night Martha had nightmares.
        Two weeks later Alsion recieved another note from Martha. 'Do you
think I could get a date with Brett?' Much better.
        Over the next three and a half years Alison and Martha had a laying
contest. Because of Alison's practically boundless stamina she had the longer
talley. "Ooh I like that."
        "No you don't. Would Evaniva be Evaniva if she slept around all the
time? no it would be totaly degrading, She would be like that Noris slut on
D.S. 9. It is really much better to base interest in a charictor on the
charictor instead of who she is sleeping with tonight." As I was saying
She even had the time to get all her homework done. One time when Martha
was returning after a sorte she found Alison writing a paper about diplomacy.
What really cought her attention about this incident was not what she was
wrighting but how she was wrighting it. Her hand was mooving over the page
as steadily as a mechanical printer, and just as neatly! Martha just stared
in facination. After a while Alison's left hand was getting sore so she just
switched to her right and keept on going! Same pace. Same quality.

                C.9

             Graduation

        After senior finals the cadets had a beach party at an inland lake.
If it weren't for those damn pirahna sharks it would have been held at a real
beach. The other cadets had mannaged to talk Alison into a bikini. She looked
quite good in it. Really! Her smooth and wonderfully curved body was quite
atractive. Then they got drunk. One of the featured activities was a  flex
contest. Then somebody had the bright idea to put Alison up against the guys.
For a reason soon to become obvious she didn't seem to want to flex. The party
goers began to chant "Flex Flex Flex!" They eventually wore her down. The
muscles in her smooth and rounded limbs jumped into definition so quick that
the spectators were shocked into silence. They could only guess at the brute
force that body was capable of. They could never look at her the same way
again.

        The official graduation ceremony was like any other military affair,
starched.
        She was assigned to be the executive officer on the H.M.S. Plato
A battleship. To get to the port which was well to the north of the college
Alison was to take a train.
        When Alison arrived at the station she was Supprised how incredibly
modern the train looked. It was as streamlined as a bullet train. It was
powered by a wood/coal burning steam engine but it was configured very
diferently from it's earth counterpart. The engine and tender were reversed.
In the first car was a round nosed controll compartment. Behind which was a
small living quarters for the crew. Behind that The wood and the water tanks.
Behind that, across an enclosed bridge is the boiler room. The boiler was
built with the same care and attention to efficancy as a modern neuclear
reactor. Nothing is wasted. The steam is captured and it's heat used to
pre-heat the water. The task of operating the boiler alone is so complicated
that it requires three men. Two engineers and a stoker. It's exhost is
just like that of a desil but less smelly.
        The track this thing sits on has three rails like a Lionel O-scale
track. When the train gets up to speed the preasure of the steam from the
engine causes hydraulics to lower the middle wheel which lifts the cars off
of the middle rail and the train becomes a mono. This reduces friction and
the streamlined train really starts to moove.
        Alison boarded and took her seat. The design of the inside of the
train was simple but extremely well constructed and cared for. Soon the train
left the station. Once out of the city the train went mono. The first effect
this had was the rocking motion which is common to trains here on earth
dissappeared. With the friction reduced the train accelerated to what Alison
judged to be one hundred fourty miles an hour.

                C.10

             Assignment

        When Alison entered his shipboard office Capt.Smith's first thought
was 'Gosh these girls are getting stout these days, better have the cook
put this on salads untill she can fit into a decient unifrom.' He liked his
girls lean.
        Alison's first thought was along similar lines. If she hadn't been
instructed in the importance of being respectfull to your supperiors she
would have said something like this. "Sir, Your weight is not like a test
score. Larger numbers aren't always better." He was fat. Nearly a quarter
of a ton.
        "Welcome aboard the Plaito, maddame."
        Alison nodded respectfully.
        "A Lutenant Commander right out of the accadamy, most impressive."
        "Thank you, Sir."
        "I prefer to keep things a little less formal, 'name's Jebb, Jebb
Smith."
        Alison nodded.
        "I expect you understand your duties."
        "Yes Sir."
        "Well then hop to it."
        Alison was a bit dissapointed in the phrasing of her first orders from
her C.O. but she preformed them well.
        'It'll take ages to get her to loosen up.' Jeb dispaired.

                C.11

           Mission Orders

        One of the privlages? of being a female officer in the Royal Navy is
the privlage of carrying a sidearm for use against insubordinate subordinates.
The theory of this rule is that female officers don't have the authority of
male officers so they need something to inspire obediance. The subordinates
didn't like this so they added Catch-22 it states: That a woman should be
outfitted with the most powerfull gun available; one they couldn't possibly
mannage. That combined with a woman's own inhibitions against shooting a
fellow human has prevented such an event from ever hapening.
        "Okay ma'm Lemme look at your hand." Alison held her hand up. The
weapons officer let out a slow whistle. "That'll take a sixty, leme go get
it."
        A sixty caliber gun was designed by giants for giants who want to
show off. It is completely impractical. The weapons officer returned with a
gun about the size of a small cannon.
        Alison looked into the man's eyes. "Do you expect me to fall for any
for any of this crap?"
        The officer looked down at his unpolished boots.
        "What size do I really take?"
        "A forty."
        "Get one." A fourty is also a very big gun but not unmanageable and
in Alison's powerfull hands it would fit like a glove.
        The weapons officer brought back a revolver. Alison inspected it. It
was satisfactory.
        "Please sign here."
        "Thank you."

        When Alison returned to the bridge the captain took one look at her
and wished he had a camera. Her picture would look just fine next to the
definition of spit and polish in the next edition of Hodge's dictionary.
        This woman is so stiff; so much like a macine. She works like a
macine, she thinks like a macine, I bet that if I gave her shoreleave she
would find some way to vacation like a macine.
        "Ten points for Capt.Jebb Smith!" The author hollars complimenting
Jebb on his briliant perception.
        Jebb knew his mission. From now on his primary objective will be to
make this woman loosen up. His secondary will to get her drunk. As a tertiary
he will try to keep this tub, the Plaito, afloat. "Everybody set?"
        "Yessire Jebb." Answered Jack Wilson the first officer.
        "Tell the engineer to fire up the boilers, we're leaving at dawn."


                C.12

              Sabotage

        The ship was ten days out on a course that would take it reasonably
close to the theater of operations. Alison and the first officer were taking
a navigational reading off the sun (the star around which this planet
revolved) When there was a loud boom from within the center of the ship.
They looked around for a source. The ship looked fine. No the smokestack that
normally belches black smoke was now shooting a giant cloud of vapor. One
of the boilers had exploded!
        The boilers are equiped with two safty mechanisms. A preasure release
valve and a softplate. A softplate is a failsafe. If a boiler was to explode
it would sink the ship, therefore one of the panels of the boiler was
intentionally weakened so it would go first so hopefully the rest of the
boiler and the ship would remain intact. Several spare softplates are keept
in the ship's stores.
        The Jack Wilson ran inside and started warming up the ship's
primative P.A. system. Next to the unit was a stack of record albums used for
instructing the crew during emergancys.

        "CODE 14 EMERGANCY: BOILER LEAK IN PROGRESS. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
APPROACH ENGINEERING, IF YOU ARE IN AN EFFECTED SECTION STAY INSIDE THE STEAM
AT ALL COSTS. DAMMAGE CONTROLL TEAMS TO DECKS FIVE AND SIX.
         CODE 14  EMERGANCY:....."

        If staying inside the steam sounds stupid to you think about it this
way. The steam you can see is actually water vapor. It's uncomfortably hot
but it won't boil you alive. The steam you can't see will. You breathe that
stuff and it'll sear the inside of your lungs and you just keel over and
croak. By ordering the crew to stay in the good steam they will hopefully
live long enough to be rescued.

        Next Jack and Alison rushed below to put on firesuits and take
command of the dammage controll teams. The speed and efficiency of the
crew was truly dazzeling. Alarms blared, lights flashed red, men raced
through the passageways of the ship.
        Alison ran past the team that would be under her command. The
door at the end of the corridor was sealed. The small window near the top
of the door was cloudy and the door was hot. "Masks in place!" Alison ordered.
        Alison opened the door The protective gear worked well but it still
felt like seping into a sauna. The objectives are to attempt the rescue of
any survivors and to shut the fuel valve. If it were left open the boiler
would melt down and the ship would be short one boiler. That means that the
ship would be dead in the watter for eight hours each day. If the ship
was cought in a chace situation that could spell disaster.
        Jack's team was already clearing the upper deck. In the center the
massive boiler looked like an ancient oven except this one was steel and had
the giant Eastwood Iorn Works label on the front. There was a loud hissing
sound. The softplate, a disk sitting on the crown of the boiler's dome, was
split in two. From the crack a jet of steam shot. The door at the bottom
glowed red from the heat inside. In minitues it would begin to melt. Alison's
team found more bodies than surviors. Not only would the ship be short a
boiler, it would be short handed too. Alison could see the valve it was
located several feet in front of the boiler. The air around it was crystal
clear.
        Alison turned to one of the crewmembers. "Stay here, make absolutely
sure nobody tries to follow me in there."
        The crewmemeber was about to protest but when he remembered that
female officers were armed he shut up.
        An invisable telekenetic shield formed aroudn Alison and she entered
the steam. She was really very well protected, she could make it as cold as
she wished inside the shield. She walked to the valve. The valve was so hot
it would have seared her hands if she touched it. Instead she held her hands
around it to make it look like she was touching it and turned it
telekenetically. It would still take four hours for the boiler to cool enough
to be serviced but the danger was past. Alison returned to the cloudy steam.
"I want to see every man assigned to this shift and the one before it on deck
in ten minitues!" Alison ordered.
        "Yes Ma'm!"

                C.13

            Interrogation

        Alison in her uniform, looked like she had some business to do.
Judging from the black gloves she wore it wasn't clean. The men's eyes were
staring streight ahead into infinity. "Do any of you realize the risk you put
this ship in by your neglegance? We could come under attack at any moment and
you allow this to happen! The boiler wouldn't have exploded if the saftey
valve was working. Procedure states that the valve should be inspected for
function each time before the boiler is fired up. But someone's gross
neglegance put this ship in grave danger."
        Alison's telepathy cought severe anxiety from one of the engineers.
Through his mind's eye she could see his hands carefully working the valve's
check lever and seeing that a trickle of watter issued forth. The man took
such pride in his work that the idea that someone could slam him in such a
way made him want to cry. Alison regretted having to be this cruel but the
sabeteur must be found.
        "And why, may I ask, Was the preasure in the boiler allowed to reach
such levels that it exploded?" She sensed similar frustration from another
crewmember. Before Alison could continue her interogation The alarm sounded.
A human voice shouted "EMMERGANCY, EMERGANCY, ALL HANDS REPORT TO
BATTLESTATIONS! ATTACK IMMENENT THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
        "STAY HERE!" Alison barked. She could sense panic from most of the
crewmembers. They wanted to obey the message but they knew that they must
also obey Alison. Except for one who wasn't paniced at all Alison could sense
a feeling of smug security. Reaching deeper into his mind she saw how he had
jammed the safety valve and tampered with the preasure valve. She had found
her man. Without warning she whiped her sidearm out and sent a round through
his skull. The crew twiched but restrained themselves from any further
action. "Dismissed." Alison barked.
        The crew broke into a sprint away from Alison.
        Alison began climbing to the bridge. She felt horrible. She somebody
who had lived many lifetimes had just shot another being dead. She had killed
before, but never a human. Yes she had full authority and ample reason to
do so and she had done it in the most humane way possible, infact even more
humane than the torture used to discover him. 'better put it aside, I've
got more people to kill.' Alison thought.


                C.14

           Battle Part Wun

        The captain was sitting in a chair off to the corner. Jack was giving
firing coordinates to the gunners. He broke off when Alison entered. "We have
a enemy destroyer at two o'clock, range twenty five miles. We haven't been
spotted."
        The Plaito's twelve inch rifle barreled guns could hit anything
within twenty two miles. Provided they were given the proper coordinates.
        "I Also think we might also have a sub on our tail." Alison added.
        "Why do you think that?"
        "The boiler explosion was sabotage. Probably to weaken us so we would
be easy to sink. Since that ship hasn't spotted us It's likely that they
weren't looking for us. Therefore it wasn't the one looking for us, I expect
him to be dead astern and since we haven't spotted it, it is probably a
submarine."
        "That's sound, I'll order one of the guns pointed in that quadrent."

        The captain of the destroyer was blissfully unaware that he had come
wihin range of the Plaito. He was just standing out on the upper deck in front
of the bridge. He was watching the waves and the crew milling about doing
equel shares of chores and cohorting. Suddenly there was a high pitched
screach. The captain knew this to mean only one thing Someone had decided to
start shelling him. The first few shots are nearly always misses. He hoped.
        -----BOOBOOBOOOOOM!!!-----  an entire voley rocked the ship. The next
would be soon to folow. The captain looked around The shots had hit their mark
precicely. A textbook direct hit. There was no point in trying to fight now.
The ship was lost. The only advantage he had left was the radio, Something the
Plaito didn't yet have. He would use it to call for an entire armada. The
Plaito was going down, oh yes.

        The captain of the submarine didn't need to have the Plaito disabled
to sink it. But it was a great convienience. On the planet I'm talking about
(please somebody name it for me) battleships cruise at fifteen knots, and can
manage thirty five when they're in a hurry. Subs only move at ten. But when
it's disabled it's a whole new ballgame. The unseen distraction was just a
bonus. "Please load tubes one and two!"
        "With pleasure... Tubes one and two are ready to fire."
        "May I have the parascope, Please?"
        "Certainly sir."
        "Looking goo..." The captain broke off when he saw the flash of the
plaito's cannon.
        "Why sir, what seems to be the trouble?"
        The captain didn't have time to answer. I't is always a pitty to see
such a polite crew killed in this manner, but that's war.

        The Thick cloud of smoke rising from the horison confirmed the kill.
The Phonecian destroyer was burning.
        "Secure from red alert." Jack ordered.
        "Okay You've had your fun, Scored a good victory, Good work." (thank
god they didn't try to shoot at us). Jebb was confounded by the stern looks
he was getting from his officers. "Oh I get it, You want a party!"
        Jack and Alison simultaniously nodded their eager approval.
        "Well I guess I'm in your debt..."


                C.15

               Party!

        Jebb watched Alison intently. It was her behavior much more than her
body that was his interest. He watched her roam around trying to cohort.
She wasn't having any success. It wasn't rank. Jack was doing just fine.
It wasn't that incident witht the saboteur. People respected her for her
decisiveness. That wasn't it. The fact that she hadn't sampled a drop of the
ship's ale was. That he would have to fix. He waddled over to her. "How's
it going?"
        "Okay."
        "Whydn't you have a drink." It was really more of a statement than
an question. Heck it was more of an order than a statement!
        "I'm alergic to alcahol."
        "Nonsense, You just had a bad reaction to the esters! I carry nothing
but the premium aged! Try it."
        Alison looked at the glass wonderingly. She shrugged and drank the
drink. "Hmm, Not bad!"
        Mission accomplished.

        Jack mas mozying from group to group when he came across Alison.
"You are more gutsy than I thought, walking though that searing hot steam.
That was most foolish, You should have called me down to do it."
        Alison blushed. "It's getting stuffy in here, Let's go to your
quraters." (Is there any way I could atone for my foolishness.)
        "My thoughts exactly!" Not exactly, it came out more slured than
exact.

        The pair walked (staggered) throgh the ships corridors to his
quarters. The room was very small and only had a twin bed. It was only a
step above the crew's bunks.
        They both fell down side by side on the small bed. "We'll have to
tkae our uniforms off if we want to do anything." he observed.
        "Yes, Yes indeed. That was verry fine shooting this mornin- afternoon.
Just how did you know it was a destroyer that we were shooting at?" Alison
asked the question playfully, as if it didn't really matter to her. Jack
tensed. "I could tell by the smoke it made." he finally said after a pause.
        "No seriously, I want to know, If I'm going to become a good officer
I really should know."
        "It doesn't matter, Heck Jebb would have ordered evasive maneuvers."
        "Why would he do that."
        "He has little loyalty to the king. If the king orders him out here he
will go, but he won't put his ship in danger."
        "So why did he engage."
        "I talked him into it."
        "How'd you do that?"
        Jack realized that he was being boxxed in and not only physically.
"You wouldn't believe me If I told you."
        "Try me."
        "Would you believe me if I told you I was a thousand years old and had
the powers of a god?"
        "I would think you quite silly."
        "Good."
        "But I don't!"
        "Drat."
        "So what's the story?"
        "What story? I don't have a story."
        "Yes you do. You can't have gone undiscovered in society for ever,
Tell about how your race was persecuted, and end with how it mannaged to
return to anonymity."
        "Okay, Okay, I'll tell goddamnit! Lessee, There Is only one way to
tell a story in bed." The two sat crosslegged under the sheet facing
oneanother. The young first officer transmuted himself into an anicnet but
none too sober sage. An old book appeared between them. The lights outside the
sheet clicked off and were replaced by a glowing sphere hovering above the
book. The pages of the book became a fantastic moving ilustration.

        (If you want to describe this story in detail, you may so long as
you make it immaginative.) In short the normal people discovered them, found
they coldn't kill them, exiled them, They just came back as diferent people
and continued on from there. The story of the superbeings just faded into
legend, like dragons. Just as Jack was coming to his conclusion he broke off.

        "What's wrong?" Alison asked.
        "The fleet..."
        "What?"
        "They've sent an entire fleet after us! We have been surrounded!
We'll be killed at dawn!"
        "How many?"
        "Hundreds!"
        Alison saw that he was freaking out. She would have to deal with this
herself! If she could find her way to the bridge that is.


                C.16

           Battle Part Dux

        Alison finally stumbled onto the bridge. Her life support was already
filtering the toxin out of her blood but it would take another hour. "Sound
the alarm!" The pilot looked up from the book he was reading. He was one of
the few people on the ship who wasn't allowed to enjoy the party. He made no
motion of taking Alison's order seriously. "Nevermind."
        Alison went back into the anouncment room. There was a D.J. spinning
the crew's favorites on the P.A. "Whacha want?"
        "Moove it." Alison said. Before the D.J. had a chance to get out of
the way he was rudely shoved aside. Alison switched the system over to the
mic. "While you've been partying an entire fleet has gathered around us! You'd
better get your scurvy asses to battlestations or we're all sunk!" With
that she returned to the bridge.
        The only two ways of communicating with engineering was the speed
indicator and a small tube that would carry one's voice down to the officers
below. "What's the status of reactor one." She bellowed down in a deep male
voice (so that it would carry better).
        The response came thin and bewildered "Reactor?"
        "I meant boiler."
        "She's still cooling off, Repairs shouldn't take more than a few
hours. Boiler two is at standby. Boiler three is still filling."
        "Keep alert." As soon as the gunners foud their ways to their posts
the ship would be ready to fight. She ordered the ship's running lights
killed. As she was switching the bridge's main lights over to red for better
night vision she saw jack shove the door open.
        Jack leaned against the doorframe for support. "You have to let
me take you out of here!"
        "Don't wory we'll get em, It'll be fun!" Alison said with complete
confidence.
        "You don't understand, I can see the ships yes, but I can't, don't
No cant judge distances like when I'm sober, you see, and without delicate
computations the guns..."
        "Aint worth shit, I know. Computation is my specalty." Alison went to
the chart table. The chart was sitting under a glass surface, A black line
indicated the ship's course. "I want you to show me where all the ships are."
        "Why certainly, for all the good It'll do you."
        He looked at the chart. The outlines of ships began appearing. The
ships were deployed in a rough ring just beyond visual (but not gun) range.
"Looke here, See that little torpedo, That fucker can really go!" There was a
tiny blip on the map. Appearently they wanted to soften the plaito up before
chewing it to pulp. Couldn't blame them.
        "I don't see any torpedo." Alison said. Actually she had seen and
disposed of one very pesky torpedo but it is gone now, that's why she doesn't
see it.
        "Well I'll be!" But we outta take out that Tp, no Pt boat before It
tries it again.
        "Agreed! Um what was that formula for the course of a projectile?"
        "Don't worry I'll handle that." No actually she was too drunk to trust
her brain enough for that, Fortunately many of her mental functions were
preformed by her computer, now that she could trust!
        "Wut Iz the meaning of this!" Boss Jebb demanded.
        "We have a whole fleet to sink!" Alison reported.
        "But we'll send dem all to the bottom!"
        "Yeah." Alison agreed.
        "No If It's an entire fleet, We'd better get lost." Jebb said quite
sensably.
        "Not this time, We're like surrounded, bro." Alison said.
        "Alright, do your best." Jebb left and went to his quarters. He didn't
want to see the pounding that he knew was in store for the Plaito.
        Alison shoved the signal lever forward to full speed ahead.

        Deep within the great ship valves opened. Steam roared through the
pipes to the turbines. The eighteen foot tall propellers began to churn the
water.

        Almost at once the ship surged forward. Alison's mind spread itself
out to feel the water as it flowed around the hull. She planned to use her
telekenesis to help turn the ship. Therefore she didn't want anybody trying
to undo what she was trying to do. "Pilot, You're relieved." The pilot stepped
aside.
        The enemy battleships were alligned perpendicularly to the Plaito
(in order to maximise the effect of their weapons.) If the Plaito were to
continue to move full steam ahead and try to cut the ship off that would
shift the advantage to the Plaito. But that wasn't Alison's plan.
        "All guns to Port!" Alison ordered.

        "I think They are trying to cut us off." The first officer of the
enemy vessle observed.
        "Center the guns." The captain ordered planning to give the Plaito
a nice good blasting once it crossed the ship's path.

        Without warning Alison spun the wheel hard to starboard. She and
Jack forced the emense tonage of the ship to list into the turn. The ship's
superstructure began to groan under the massive forces it was enduring. Jack
pulled back on the speed signaler. Benieth the ship one of the hard steel
plates of the hull gave way. Alison ignored the noise. All compartments were
sealed, any leakage wouldn't have much effect. The engineers would be able
to correct for the breach by adjusting the balast.
        Presently the Plaito was coming to a stop alongside the enemy
battleship. The crew of the plaito could see the enemy's turits madly trying
to come to bear on the Plaito. But they never got there. "Fire!" Jack ordered.
The plaito's guns went off in one titanic thunderclap. The windows of the
plaito's bridge were blown in by the force of a secondary explosion. Alison
shielded her face with her hands. When the explosion faded the enemy ship
just wasn't there. Somebody behind them added a mark to the talley of the
number of ships sunk.
        Now with the plaito directly in the path of the enemy ships finishing
off the rest of the fleet will be as simple as just running them down and
blasting them to bits!

        Almost

        The Plito took some hits for sure but it was still functional. The
crew had been fighting for twelve hours after a six hour party. And it was
not over yet! Two Zepher class tri-hulled sail hydrofoil. The sleek crafts
were pulling fourty knots. Boiler one was almost depleated, and it would be
another two hours before boiler two would be ready to take up the chace.
Alison didn't like it. With the plaito dead in the water it would be a matter
of keeping the guns trained on the enemy vessles. would be dificult. Timing
is critical, It wouldn't matter much if the plaito weren't running out of
ammo!
        The Zephers would want to hit the Plaito from upwind. To reduce the
Plaito's profile Alison steared the ship into the wind. Jack called all stop.
        "I have a feeling that they will be aiming for the bridge, We'll be
safer if we head below." Jack warned.
        "I agree, I'll go first, When I'm there I'll call for you to follow."
Alison left. It took her much longer than she would have wished because she
had to open and re-close nearly twenty hatches on the way down to the auxilary
controll room forward from engineering.
        She used the tube to call Jack down. He appeared right behind her and
tapped her on the shoulder. "Don't do that, Would you want people to see you!"
        "It doesn't really matter."
        "How's it going."
        "I mannaged to hole one of them, He'll have to find a port before he
has to change tack."
        "So what's the bad news."
        "We've run out of shells for the forward guns, and the skiper of the
other one is one of us."
        "Wonderfull... How'r you feeling."
        "Almost my usual self."
        "That's good. So what's your plan?"
        "They are tacking now, when they come around We'll be waiting for
them with eveverything we've got left but we won't fire immediately We'll
wait untill they come within shouting distance."
        Alison nodded, (she's only the third officer remember). The Zepher
came around and began its run. The captain of the Zepher had decided to
risk making a torpedo run, normally a very stupid thing to do, or at least
that was how it appeared.
        "Prepare to fire!" Jack ordered. "Three... Two... One... Fire!"
"Did we get them?" Alison asked. She could've found out for herself but this
was Jack's party.
        "No... The're directly overhead. He's jumping us! Oh god!"
        The silence lasted for minitues at The crewmembers who weren't asleep
or dead tired were saying their prayers. At length the cry came down "Torpedos
in the water!"
        "All hands brace for impact." Four torpedos sturck the Plaito at
regular intervals. The ship began to list to port. The balast followed by the
fuel tanks ruptured. The sea rushed in. The ship began to sink. The bulkheads
began to creak as the preasure began to affect the sealed compartments. The
lights went out. Weak battery powered lamps came on. One of the men began to
cry. Minitues went by. Nothing to do now. Just wait. Alison tried to immagine
what it would be like if she would have to stay down here with the rest of
these people. Quite a sobering thought. What about Jack?
        She was startled back to the present when the bow of the ship seemed
to be suddenly drawn downward. The ship fell more than sank and crashed more
than came to rest. "We've made it." somebody said. He wasn't very happy about
it eather. It would've been better to drown than suffocate. Alison knew that
the best thing for her to do would be to assign some buisy work. She picked up
a wrench. "I want every dry compartment opened! Find a tool, bang it against
the door. If it sounds hollow, open it."
        The crew knew that this was a pretty pointless task, Their reaction
was slow and uninterested. The men went to work. half of them worked their
way forward and the other started aft.
        The work was underweigh for about an hour when crys of excitement
started rushing back to the controll room. What exactly was the cause of the
commotion wasn't certain but it was coming from somewhere in the folk'sil.

                C.17

         The Sea Of Green

        When Alison reached the source of the commotion she couldn't believe
her eyes. She was standing in what was one of the plaito's balast tanks.
Through the gaping hole left by the torpedo strike she could see what looked
like a grassy field under a green dome. She stepped out onto the grass with
the other crewmen. The bow of the plaito was sticking out of what looked
like a solid wall of glowing green water. "Is the armory dry?"
        "No, flooded." An officer replied.
        "Gather up a squad of thirty men we need to find out what is in
that village over there"
        "Where? I don't see anything."
        "See those cultavated felds over there?"
        "Yes, While I'll be. But how could plants grow without red and blue
light?"
        "The light here actually does have several wavelengths of red and blue
but not enogh to blend out the green."
        Before the squad was ready Jack came up to Alison. "There is something
I have to tell you."
        "Hmm?"
        "This dome was built by my people as a retreat about a thousand years
ago."
        "Great then they'll be happy to help us out."
         Jack said nothing.

        An hour later the crewmen found themselves surrounded by gigantic
vegtables. They were being fed freash water through irigation pipes.
        "Why do these vegtables grow so big?" A crewman asked.
        "The constant light allows them to grow around the clock." (like
in Alaska.)
        "Is that why that farmgirl over there has such huge breasts?"
        Alison looked in the direction he was pointing. The farmgirl did
indeed have huge breasts. She did still appear to be at least reasonably
intelegent so Alison walked over and asked her to show them to the mayor.
        She seemed a bit nervous at seeing so many strange people. She led
them to a large brick villa and then stepped aside. Alison used the bronze
knocker. The hardwood door resonated with the blows. A man wearing a suit
appeared he had the knowing air of a college professor. "Ahh come in! We
haven't had visitors in ages!"
        "Thank you, I'm Alison, second officer of the ex-battleship Plaito."
        "Sea or foe?"
        "Foe."
        "Did your crew fight well?"
        "Yes. It was a good fight."
        "That is well. Jack! I haven't seen you in years! How've you been?"
        "Great, never felt better!" blah blah blah.
        After twenty minitues of pleasantrys between these two old friends?
They finaly returned their attention to the situation at hand. "Do you have
a forge or blacksmith's shop in town? we need to fix our ship."
        "All in time! first let me answer you a few questions about this
place."
        "Where did you get the the suspension field to hold the water back?"
        "We built it ourselves. It was'nt too dificult because we have a
natural understanding of the weak forces."
        "What method have you been using to make your women's breasts so big?"
        "Selective breeding, Lemme show you." He pressed a button.
        A servant entered. "Coffee?"
        "No thanks, We would like you to tell my guest here a little about
the breding program."
        "Okay." She sat down in one of the large comfortable chairs in the
drawing room where they were all seated. Her breasts took up most of the space
in front of her. She held up her hand to display the tatoo on its back. "When
we are born our generation number is marked on the back of our hands." The
number thirty eight was written on her hand. "That means that my mother was
of the thirty seventh generation. If I were the bigest, smartest, or prettyest
I would also have a star next to the number to indicate that I would be
premitted to bear a male child. As for me Any male children would be aborted."
        The mayor cut in "We dispose of the lesser females by using them as
bribes when we need a favor from a public offical."
        "The males born here have free acces to all females."
        'Hmpf, Do I detect an attempt by the author to write himself into the
story.' Alison thought a bit contemptuously.
        "Alison, that's none of your goddamn business."
        "I would like to have a look at you, You'd probably make first rate
stock." The mayor asked.
        "No. That's not my thing, besides I'm not even biologically compatible
with your people."
        "Pitty." he looked a bit more sourfull than on would expect him to
be. That was the last thing she or the rest of her crew remembered. The
mayor used his powers to strip their minds clear down to the vitals leaving
them nothing but a group of zombies for the service and pleasure of their
new masters. Too bad.


                C.18

           Instant Replay

        Yes it was too bad. Remember How I split Alison into two entitys,
a God-like one and a one that IS GOD. The Alison-deity entity looked down on
this and saw that it most definitely wasn't good. So she fixed it. Simple as
that.
        The Zepher was coming around for it's attack run. Alison suddenly had
a bad feeling about this. It was too easy. He must have something up his sleve
otherwise he wouldn't be doing this. "Lets fire only one round, just to be
safe."
        "Alright, yeah, okay." Jack said as he was working out the
permutations of this idea. "Gun ten only!... Fire!... Man! You were right!
All guns to target, fire at will." (standard order when the officers have no
idea where the target is and they want something shot at.) minitues later
they heard a single shot. Soon after the report from the deck came down.
"Kill confirmed!"
        "Secure from red alert."

        "I suppose you'll be wanting another party now?"
        Both of the senior officers nodded their eager agreement. "There is
a nice tropical atol about sixty miles to the north."
        "Alright Go for it."

                C.19

               Party!

        The Plaito entered the chanel into the Atol at nine thirty the next
morning. "Attention crew... "The captain anounced. "We will swim to shore.
The man who gets there first will get an extera bottle."
        "Um Jebb? What about the Pirhana sharks?" Alison asked.
        "Mr.Wilson, Would be so kind as to remove the sharks?"
        "Why certainly, sir." He then went out onto the deck. He looked down
onto the lower deck where the men were milling about waiting for the signal
to jump into the water. "Prepare the deapth charges!"
        "Ready!"
        "Deapth charges away!" Metal canisters began rolling out of the ship.
seconds went by. The water seemed to jump when the charges started going off.
Just as quickly it settled down. The carcases of the pirhana sharks bobbed to
the surface.
        "See." Jebb smirked from behind his whire rimmed tinted glasses. I'll
call start when everybody is ready."
        "Lemme go in and get changed." Alison said. Miniutes later she came
out wearing a blue bathing suit.
        The captain fired a starting pistol from a longboat.
        Alisoin swam at a relaxed pace. She was in no rush to repeat that
last time she was drunk.
        The day was most pleaasant. Partly cloudy, moderate temperatures.
The crew spent their time at various recreations. Alison stayed in the shade
deciding to take the opportuninty for a nice relaxing day at the beach.
        Jack came over "Whacha doing?"
        "I'm trying to decide wheather the plaito could pass for a cruise
ship"
        "It's too grey."
        "It looks like a wreck."
        "What would you bet that they'll have her turned around in two weeks."
        "Three and a half, dock workers usually aren't as motavated as damage
controll personell."
        "If they keept at it like they should, two weeks should do it."
        "Unlikely."
        "So We were gonna play some vazyball (volleyball), wanna join."
        "Nothanks, I'm afraid that I might hurt somebody, I really am very
strong."
        "Just be carefull."
        "Doesn't work like that. Once you're into the game, you can't hold
back."
        "Alright, Hang Loose."
        "See ya."

        Alison didn't know what was happening. When she came around she found
herself being shaken awake. "Hey Ali, Don't want to be late for dinner." Jack
warned.
        "Wha... How long Have I been out?"
        "All afternoon, Judging from how long you've been awake the past
couple of days, I can't blame you."
        It wasn't a regeneration cycle then. Couldn't be! That wasn't due for
another twenty five years. What the fuck happened then? She just fell asleep.
But that doesn't happen to her. Aint supposed to. Strange.
        Somebody (Jack) had brought a band to play at the party. The singer
was an Elvis re-encarnation. *if you believe elvis lives, you should go jump
in a lake*
        "I can't stand Elvis impersinators."
        "This isn't an impersionation, it's a re-incarnation."
        "I don't care." Alison pointed at the king and he was incinerated in
a ball of fire.
        "You just destroyed a perfectly good reincarnation! Do you know how
hard thse are to comeby?! What'll we do for a band?"
        "Go visit Sargent pepper's lonley hearts club." Alison sujested.
        "Dunno that one."
        "If you know Elvis you know Sgt. Pepper."
        "You're gonna have to sing a little to jogg my memory."
        Before Alison could respond she was transported onto the stage; She
was wearing a technicolor parady of a military uniform, purple to match her
hair. Jack was up front leading a chant "Pepper! Pepper! Pepper!" If only
Alison could pop Jack like he could her. If he were completely in this
dimension it wouldn't be a problem but he is has a multidemensional
personality. She stepped up to the mic. "If you want me to do McArtney then
you'll have to do Lenin." He appeared beside her. "Alright deal."
        "What about me?" Jebb whined.
        "Alright you can be ringo."
        Alison (who has multipul vocal cords) switched to tennor for the
entire piece. The rest of the crew demanded a encore but the band decided to
cut out before they had to do an allnighter.

        That Alison was beginning to have a sneaky suspicion that Jack was
using her as a play thing. Just a suspicision.

        Early the next morning a friendly Zepher glided up alongside the
Plaito. A midshipman greeted the captain of the arriving vessle.
        "Howya doin sir?"
        "Crewman, What happened here?"
        "Well you see we got into this fight. We beatem. We threw a party
but then all his friends decided to try to sink us. (imagine that) But we
sunk them and decided to have a bigger party."
        For recieving a completely satisfactory answer the captain was most
unsatisfied. "Take me to your captain!" he ordered. Alison, Jack and Jebb
were in the captain's quarters improvising drinking songs. Alison was winning
because she never bothered with the drinking part.
        "Come on in! Take a seat. Now what can we do for you?"
        He was a bit hesitant in replying. (he was considering reporting the
condition of the ship and crew to his superiors in a most uncharitable manner).
"I am here to order the H.M.S. Plito to rendevous with the fleet gathering
two hundred miles to the southeast to engage a fleet of enemy vessles
reported heading in that direction.
        "We'd love to help but we kinda have this little problem."
        "What?..." 'you're too drunk?'
        "We're out of bullets!" (Bwar har har.) "And we're kinda full up on
holes." Jebb reported.
        "I noticed. Did you by chance decide to fight the battle on your own?"
        "So what if we did?" Jack answered a bit defensively.
        "You will all be..." 'keel hauled' "commended."
        "We'll be heading back for repairs..." "Which will take precicely two
weeks!"Jack interjected. "...in a few days. Please warn them of our condition"
Alison said.
        "I will." He said and left planning to make a COMPLETE and ACCURATE
report about the condition of the ship.

                C.20

              1200-45

        Any misconduct on the part of Alison or her shipmates was completely
counterbalanced by the destruction of the enemy fleet thusly bringing a
decisive end to the war. A peace was negotiated and the miltary was stripped
down to a small excursionary force to preform police actions similar to
Somolia.

        With victory achieved the warden of Nora's prison, who was also in
an exceptonally good mood, Actually began to release some of his prisoners.
Nora was one of them. Nora left a changed person. After much pestering she
suceeded in convincing Alison to allow her to open a shop and market Alison's
breast technology. The public reacted cooly to this. They didn't like it to
much but decided to do nothing trusting she would soon be out of business.

        Jack and the rest of his demi-god friends had one of their randomly
intervaled meetings. The topics were the usual stuff. A general discussion of
mortal affairs. Then there was the usual guy who tried to inspire the gods
into "Taking a more active role in the affairs of the world" and as usual
he was booed from the stage.

        Nora got maried to this very wealthy guy who was almost certain to
become a barron. (I'll explain why later.) There is a little story behind
that. They were at this Honkey tonkey place you see. He just wouldn't stop
looking at her. She told him streight up to stop but he couldn't, brother.
So what she did was take matters into her own hands and carried him up the
stairs on her shoulder and took him for a ride. She The next morning he found
himself with the honkey tonk blues courtesy of a honkey tonk woman named Nora.

        The Army decided to conduct testing on it's personell to discover
wheather there were any "Persons With Extrordinary Facultys" in the ranks.
Most of the people who did have an ESP were swift enough to conceal it. Only
a few low level telepahts were detected.

        Basically life went on and everything was normal. Except when one day
a radio repair man, tinkering in his spare time with an ultra high powered
reciever began picking up an ancient brodcast (howdy doody show.) from a
distant planet. Though the God-Dudes such as Jack had been smuggleing tidbits
of earth culture in for years this discovery lead to a big uproar which lasted
precicely three years and two months. and after that nobody seemed to give a
damn. The reason was that the Scared Texts had nothing to say about a single
creation like ours and because of the vast distance seperating the two worlds
nobody thought it possible for one to directly effect the other save thorugh
radio corospondances.
        If you had been paing atention earlier and had fully realized the
significance of when I said that the planets were three thousand parsecs apart
you would have realized that it would have taken far longer for the signal
to reach this planet and would be far to weak to be recieved by all but the
very most powerfull recievers. That would be true if the signal hadn't had a
little help.

                C.20

  Assasination Attempt And Assasination.

        The only real check on the King's power is that he can have no more
than four body guards in his presance at one time.

        The king, a moderate, decided it was time to recognise the service of
some of his female officers.
        "Yes absolutely! I want to go through with it. It's time that women
get the recognition they deserve." The king said to his advisor.
        "I agree with you on that but its you choice of recipients that I
question."
        "Admiral Alison is one of the finest officers in the entire navy what
could be wrong with her?"
        "I fear that she isn't what she appears to be, sire."
        "Explain."
        "According to her records she is sixty five years old but she doesn't
look a day over thirty."
        "Oh that, She just takes good care of herself. She is one of the few
that has keept clear of the weed."
        "Sire you are a good king. I just fear for your safety."
        "I thank you but I am sure that everything will go as planned. Unless
my limo breaks down or something."
        "The Car was inspected yesterday."
        "See. No worry."

        Custom was for the recipient of such an award to wear full dress
uniform and a decorative sidearm.

        "Hey where's the ammo?" Alison asked.
        "They don't make ammo for that model any more." The man issuing the
parade uniform and sidearm replied.
        Returning to her quarters she had a closer look at the gun. Alison
didn't like the Idea of carrying a gun without ammo. It was like having a hand
without fingers. She decided to send the gun up to her ship, can it, and
manufacture the bullets herself. Within the polished silver body the mechanism
of the gun was the victim of neglect. Alison decided to vaporize the gun and
replecate an identical replacement (with bullets).
        That evening she took it to a firing range to check the sights.
Because the gun was not only within tolerance but absolutely identical to the
origional specifications of the gun it didn't require any adjustments at all.

        The best gun for killing a person at a distance is a .35 bolt action
rifle. Nothing beats it.

        He didn't like it. Not at all. Using Women in the armed services was
bad enough but actually giveing one a lifetime service award. No way. The
king has definitely gone too far this time. Why he had to keep re assuring
himself of that he wasn't sure.
        He went back to studying the room. The spectators were already
gathering for the ceremony. The room was a large audience chamber in the
King's palace. The chamber was poorly designed. The chamber had three levels
of balconys The third used mainly to hold extra chairs. The only precaution
against this obvious threat was to lock the door. That would have been adequate
if the emergancy hadn't been left ajar.
        Alison didn't have any part in it at all because first she's a woman,
and second she was just following orders.
        The ceremony was about to begin The audience rose as the king stepped
through a side door. He Stood in front of the guests and spectators looking
down the isle where Alison would approach. His Guard, dressed in red uniforms,
was staning in a line behind him. The king himself was wearing a fairly muted
but excelently taylored suit. The only mark that distinguished him as the king
was a golden medalion that he wore around his neck. An attendant stood off to
the side with the medal that he was to award to Alison.
        The trick here was to stay out of sight long enough for the guards to
relax. Then to aim and fire rifle before they can respond. His method of
getting out of the building was a concern for later.
        The King gave a small nod and Alison was admitted. The Assasin was
expecting a short sassy little buisyboddy woman. Instead the woman he saw
looked like she was quite calmly ready for anything.

        Alison never liked caned speeches even those given on her behalf. But
that wasn't why she was getting an uneasy feeling. She suddenly was overcome
with a feeling of anxiety. She felt around the room trying to track it to its
source. She discovered the assasin crouched behind the railing of the balcony
trying to get up the nerve to do what he had come here for. As he moved she
moved. With mechanical eficancy she drew and fired at the man in the balcony.
An instant later her head exploded.

        The man on the balcony jumped into view. He quickly searched the front
of the room with his scope for his target he woudl have ten seconds at most.
His gaze passed over Alison then was snapped back to the shiny silver gun she
wa pointing at him. The gun flashed. He didn't live long enough to hear the
accompanying BANG!!

        He didn't know why he was doing it. All he knew was that he was here
to put a bullet through Alison's head no questions no motive. Verry simple.
He was happy that it would be so simple. He came early so he would get a
good seat. While the king was talking he pulled the gun out of the the hole
hea had made for it in it's lining. He had to remove half the coat's stuffing
on the right side to get it to fit. He had never fired a gun before but he
knew it couldn't be dificult. He bought the simplest gun he could find and
loaded it with the biggest round he could get. (an armor pearcing anti
aircraft round. .60, steel, high velocity, enough to penetrate three inch iron
plate). She whirled around as if preforming a dance. 'Gosh she was
beautifull.' he thought as he pulled the gun out of his coat and sighted down
the barel. The gun was a very large handgun (the one that guy tried to pawn
off on Alison). Instead of holding the gun in both hands out in front of him
like a sane person he held it to his eye and tried to shoot it like a rifle.
When he pulled the triger the force of the explosion thrust the gun back so
hard against his face that he suffered a brain hemorage and later died from
the concusion. The bullet went streight for Alison's ear. Even her rock hard
(thick) skull couldn't stop the bullet. It pulverized her skull and splattered
her brains all over the king and his guards. Her body fell to the ground with
a heavy thump.

        The room was shocked to silence. The king was the first to break the
silence. "SUMMON THE DOCTOR!!!" he snapped. He pulled a handkerchife out to
whipe the gore off of his face.
        One of his guards stepped forward. "Missus Alison... she dead!" No
that's not it. "I'm sorry magesty but she is most certainly dead."
        "Just tell him to put her back togeather. If she's still dead fine.
I just want to give her every chance to live. I owe that to her because she
did a better job saving my life than you did..."

        Alison's ship's computer recieved event code D6 from her life support
system. This trigered interupt FF:0000 in the computer. Any nonesential
equipment and all main computers were shut off at the circuit breakers.


                C.21

    A Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes

        The doctor didn't know wheather to take the loose pieces of brain out
or try to put them back. The hospital was typical of what you would find in
around 1930. The arterys that were feeding the brain weren't spewing anymore.
Eather because of clotting or because her heart had stopped. He tried not to
care. In any case she wasn't breathing at all. The brain was extremely well
developed. She was probably a most brilant woman before this tragedy. What he
had trouble figuring out was that there seemed to be metalic fibres interlaced
with the tisues of her brain. He could see the use. Instead of signals being
transmitted through the chemical procesies of neurons which could take up to
three hundredths of a second the metalic fibres could carry the information
instantly. She would be susceptable to microwave radiation. He picked up two
skull fragments that appeared to fit togetaher. There it was! On the inside
There was a net of those around the inside of her skull. He figured those were
for shielding but such a network would work better as an ingenious directional
antena.. Oh well. He pushed the two pieces back togeather. They fit. He tried
to pull them apart again so he could add the steel bars that would hold them
there. The Bone wouldn't seperate. In fact it was kniting togeather right in
his hand! This was encouraging. Maybe he would be done before dinner after
all. The scalp was so torn apart that it didn't even know how to heal. Just as
he placed the last fragment of skull in place the sclap enfolded the skull
just as fast as a reciever enfolds a football.
        "Well I guess that's it." The doctor informed the nurse. "Take her to
a room and have somebody check on her in the morning."
        "Should she be on an I.V.?"
        "No, I believe the patient to be dead wheather her body agrees or not
I don't see any use in prolonging her vegitative state."
        As the first nurse wheeled the comatose body away another nurse
entered. "Doctor There's a woman here claiming to be the sister of the patient.
What should I tell her?"
        "Have Her wait in my office."

        After the doc finished cleaning up he went to see who this person was.
The person was of corse Nora. She looked concerned.
        "Doctor, How is she? She'll be alright, Right?"
        The doctor sat at his desk and took a deep breath. "I think she'll
live."
        Nora sighed with relief.
        "But I don't think she'll be the same person if she ever wakes up."
        "What do you mean."

        Please note that in the next few lines I'll be describing an alien
describing an alien physiology. Please don't think that any of this applies
to humans too.

        "Most of her brain was destroyed by the bullet. Although I have
worked with patients who had part or as much as half of their brain removed
make a complete recovery and live normal lives. In almost no case was that
person ever the same. Almost always they required years of rehab and remedial
education before they could resume their life."
        "But weren't they mentialy disabled from then on?"
        "Suprisingly no. Brain tisue has a remarkable capacity for
regeneration. In most cases the person was completely normal save for the
scars. But in this case the dammage was so extensive that I doubt that she
would be much more than severely mentally retarded if she ever wakes up."
        "Can I see her?"
        "Certainly, Ask the nurse at the desk for directions."
        "Aren't you coming?"
        "Nah, I'm gonna call it a day."

        Nora entered Alison's room. Alison's head was wraped in a bandage
but otherwise appeared normal. Nora sat in a chair next to the bed and tried
to find Alison's mind. She couldn't read anything from her. She began to
feel paniced. If Alison was truly dead then she would have no way of getting
off of this miserable little planet (sob).
        Early the next morning a man dressed in a suit appeared in the room.
"I've been looking all over for you! What's happening?"
        "Somebody blew her brains out."
        "Ouch."
        "Can you help?"
        "I'll try." The immage cast by Earth's Centeral Computer bent over
Alison's body and pulled her eyelids up with his thumb. There was a sense as
if the man were actually projecting his soul into Alison's mind. The man
began to mutter to himself. "Now what do we have here?... Oh dear... No no
OOOOOOHHHH Aaaahhaaaa!"
        "What?"
        "I'm not telling!" The C.C gave Nora a nice jucy razbery and vanished
into thin air.
        Nora hated it when people did that sort of thing. Still she needed
to know what the hell was going on here. She used her telepahty to once again
probe Alison's skull. This time she found a very silly dream. Alison was
merily skiping along after a butterfly that was flying through a field of
tall celophane flowers with her long purple hair trailing after. (currently
shaved off)
        Nora took a step backward to consider the implications of these
events. "What the hell is going on here?" she muttered to herself.
        Alison woke up. She smiled. "Hi Nora!"
        Nora says with a note of sarcasm "Well hiiii Alison."
        "HIIIIIIIIIII  NOOOOR-RAAAAAAAA."
        Nora had no intention of playing this game anymore. "Will you please
stop so being so blasted silly!"
        Alison giggled. "I like you Nora, you are so funny!"
        Nora chose to ignore that and deal with Alison when she got home.
        After an inspection of Alison's health the doctor could find no reason
why Alison should remain in the hospital so he chalked it up to one of those
unexplainable medical phenomona and released Alison from his care.

        Lets skip ahead a few weeks here.
        Nora is beginning to catch on to the idea that Alison is never going
to just get better and be her normal self again. Instead Alison had reverted
to some child like state. Judging Alison as a girl one would find her most
playfull. She seemed utterly facinated by even the most trivial things.
        To more fully appriciate the implications of this turn of events I
need to emphasize to you that the life style that Nora and her husband had
chosen was more like the reserved collecter of ancient trinkets than the wife
and 2.7 kids that would better support A person like what Alison had become.
        Nora didn't know what to do. She couldn't just put Alison out on the
street. Someone would take advantage of her! (gag) She was sitting in what
she called her thinking room. The room was an airy room up in the large attic
of what was the gatehouse of the castle, lands, and title that Nora's husband
was almost sure to be appointed by the king to. The only catch was that the
castle itself had burned down killing it's previous occupants several years
ago. All that stood was a charred ruin. Castles being obsolete the gatehouse
would serve as their residence. It struck her like a thunderbolt. She could
kill two birds with one stone! she decided she could take care of Alison's
running around problem and her advertising problem at the same time.
        If yo've read ahead like I have been writing ahead and filling in
later you'll see that Nora has really decided to sock Alison with this big
breast thing. Any of you Alison fans who are about to point out that Alison
didn't like big breasts. False! She just had a thousand and one (or as the
Centauri Ambasador Malari would say "Ten Thousand!") things that she would
rather do (like climbing a rock or something).
        Anyway the usual method of acomplishing this feat? is to prepare two
large bags of Chocolate puding and hook it up to an enlarger device and pump
it into the (willing) patient's breasts. That was all well and good? if you
could make up the chocolate pudding. Whenever Nora turned to get another
ingredient Alison would sneak in and start eating what had already been made.
When Nora went to tell Alison to quit it Alison would stare up from her
innocent eyes and with chocolate stained lips say "No no I didn't eat the
cho-co-late."
        Fortunately Alison's nap time came and Nora was able to finish her
job. When she went to attach the devices to Alison's nipples she found that
they just wouldn't stay attached. She was about to do something completely
uncalled for in her frustration like punching Alison's smiling face when she
noticed that Alison's breasts were growing of their own accord. Nora gave up
and let Alison eat the chocolate. Alison was delighted.
        On the next day Alison used her new attributes for the only logical
purpose that they could be applied too. Knocking things over of course!
They are knockers right? Alison knocked everything over. Big things, Little
things, Cheap things, and most of all expensive things. Like that priceless
hereloom vase that dated all the way back to the old times that Nora always
liked to look at (1500 years old) CRASH!!! Nora made no delay in putting a
stop to that Nora used the device on Alison's legs so Alison couldn't get into
much michief without assistance.
        Did the barron mind? Are you kidding?

                C.22

             The Stereo

        Bill was walking down the street one day looking for something to
spend his cash on. He came to Sam's Stereo shop and decided to have a look.

        Mary was taking a stroll through the City. She had little to do during
the day except socialize and walk. She came to a shop labled 'The Boob Shop'
She had heard several third hand rumors about this place and decided to have
a closer look.

        Sam was sitting behind the counter reading a newspaper when Bill
came in. "Welcome! Please have a look around. If you have any questions please
don't be shy."
        Bill nodded and went to look at the racks of equipment. His eye was
drawn to the polished metal face of a reciever. He toggled the red power
switch. It went over with a satisfying snap. The numbers on the dial began
to glow. He gave the heavy brass tuning knob a spin. The glowing needle glided
across the dial. Each of the function switches were marked in bold engraved
and painted leters. The entire unit had the feel of something he would be
giving to one of his grandsons. If he decided to buy it that is.

        Nora didn't look up from her car magazine when Mary walked in.
        Most of the store was occupied by racks of clothes for well endowed
women. Mary knew that this wasn't the stores real wares. When she saw the
shelves in the back she thought 'Now here's the real merchandice.'

        Bill decided that he would go ahead and get the stereo. "Good choice,
in my humble oppinion she's one of the best ever made."
        After a few minitues a large cardboard box was sitting on the counter.
"She's one hundred fifty dollars."
        Bill thought he was about to make a steal.
        "Would you be wanting speakers with that?"
        Maybe not. "What do you carry?"
        Sam showed Bill his selection of speakers. "Now here is a particularly
fine model that I think will suit you well. This is a two way speaker, Sixty
watts, two hundred fifty dollars."
        "But the stereo is neinty watts."
        "Never mind that... Stereos are rated at the maximum power that they
can generate. Speakers are rated at the level that they sound best, In fact
it can take up to one hundred twenty. Considering that you will rarely
play anything above thirty, Sixty is quite sufficient."

        Mary looked at the first row of boxes. These boxes wre tiny, about
the size of a small stack of disketts. The box was labeled 'Tit Fixer' The
back claimed that the product within would eather give a less endowed woman
normal rounded breasts about four inches thick or relieve the symptoms of
having larger breasts. If Mary hadn't heard stories about how this thing
actually worked she would have dismissed it as snakeoil. She checked the
price. She nearly fainted, the unit was only ten dollars.
        The next box was about the size of a shoebox. It was labeled 'Breast
Enlarger. model 1-A." On the back was a picture of of a woman in grey ink
wihth the breasts drawn in blue. Each breast appeared to be the size of her
head. The description was glowing it reported that this was the best, and most
shapely design. Artists base the proportions of their drawings on the size of
the head, the designer of this product must have had the same proportions in
mind. She was thrilled by the idea of moulding her body to an artistic ideal.
The bottom of the package had a picture of it's contens. Two metal things,
two plastic bags with metal valves, and a tank top. When she checked the price
she nearly fainted again. This unit costed five hundred dollars. She did't
have that much money on her.
        The next box was labled 'Breast Enlarger model 1-B.' The picture on
the back showed the same woman except now her breasts, still the same
thickness reached all the way down to her bellybutton (their length was twice
their width). The description claimed that they were the best for showing
cleavage. The price was the same as the 1-A model.
        The next and last row of boxes was biger than the others, about the
size of a bowling ball. The label on the front read 'Breast enlarger model
2-A' Mary was startled by the picture on the back. It's breasts were massive
globes that went all the way down to her bellybutton. Instead of a cheery
comment there was a warning 'Warning: This product will severely restrict
upper body function, not suitable for women under 5'8" in height." The price
was half that for the model 1's. Now that she could afford. (She was five
ten.)

        Sam showed Bill a catalog of speakers. There was one model, a neinty
watt model, for only one hundred fifty dollars. "Why are these so cheap?"
        "Speakers work better when they are mounted high up on a shelf that
is. These speakers are so big that they won't even fit on a shelf and there
fore are impractical. That's why they are so cheap. I can see that you want
to take your stereo today so I'll make you a deal. You buy these, if in a
month you can get the diference between these two speakers pluss ten percent
(naturally), and bring these back to me intact I'll let you make the exchange.

        "Yes you can, I have a macine in the back that will get you to the
size you want, I'll only charge the diference."
        "Are these things really as good as they say they are?" Mary asked.
        "Let me show you, Please come with me." Nora said and lead Mary to
the back room. The room behind the shop was a den. There was a T.V. showing
cartoons to a huge boobed woman who was sitting on the couch. There was
something wrong with her legs. Where her knees should have been was just a
blunt mass of fleash like the front of her breasts but without the nipples.
        "What happened to her legs?"
        "Her mind is like that of a todeler. Conventional child restraints
won't work on a full grown woman so I just used the macine on her legs. She
doesn't seem to mind."
        Mary didn't like this idea but could see the practicality involved.
        The 'Girl' was wearig a t-shirt and an incredibly large pair of
bluejeans.
        "Here take a look at mine." Nora said as she unbuttoned the only
two buttons on her ultra deep colared jacket.
        "These are 1-B's?"
        "Yes."
        Mary inspected Nora's breasts just as a doctor would when inspecting
for lumps. She found none. The breasts were the perfect mean between firm and
soft. The skin was smooth and without defect. The niples were quite normal,
almost identical to Mary's own. Next Mary inspected Alison's. She giggled
when Mary's prodding caused them to jiggle.
        "Hmm, Let me think about it." Mary said and wnet back to the front
of the store.

        "Okay It's a deal" Bill said pulling out his wallet.
        When bill got his purchace home the speakers were indeed too big
to fit anywhere but that wasn't the reason that he couldn't listen to it right
away. He would have to go to his local electroincs shop to get some whire
to plug his speakers in.

        Mary was ready to make the purchace when Nora stopped her.
        "Ma'm I think you haven't really concidered how much this will
restrict your motion, Please try on a pair of fakies before you make your
purchace." Nora pulled a huge pair of fakies off the wall. Mary tried them
They did indeed restrict her movements. Her arms were barely long enough to
reach around their volume. She thought about it and decided that it would
be alright untill she could afford to have them reduced to a more appropriate
size.
        She made the purchace.
        When she got home she opened the box and discovered that the
instruction sheet was just one typewritten page. It said that she woudl have
to fill each of them with four gallons of pudding. This mixture would
approximate the compazition of the breasts when completed to make it easier
for the enlarger to add the volume. The sacks once full would be so heavy that
they would be immobile untill the supporter unit stars up. Therefore she
should do it in a bed or comfortable chair. She would put the bags in to the
tanktop then carefully put the metal things on her niples. Once that was
done she would put on the tank top and attach the metal valves to the
devices on her niples. The device would take care of the rest. It said to
allow twelve hours for the proccess to finish. After she got the milk and made
the pudding that is.
        She was hoping to give her husband a supprise when he came home but
he was late as usual. She decided to go the bathroom, put it on and go to
sleep. Hopefully she wouldn't be so nervous that she would have to go to the
bathroom in the middle of the night. The metal things locked themselves onto
her niples and her breasts went numb. She put the bedcovers over the tank top
and stacked pillows behind it next she wiggled her way into the tank top
and under the covers. The metal valves on the bags snapped firmly into the
sockets on the devices on her breasts. She was feeling nervous but she managed
to force herself to be calm. She fell asleep sooner than she had expected.
        She awoke the next morning when she tried to roll on to her stomach.
She was confused for a moment when she re-discovered her over? inflated bust.
She pulled the tank top off. She masaged them a little. They were big but
couldn't have weighed more than a very manageable five pounds. She discovered
that they weren't any more or less sensative than her old breasts. She got
up to go to the bathroom. The door was just wide enough to admitt her bulk.
Even without external support the breasts didn't drop below her bellybutton.
They were very jiggly though. She took a shower. She found the sensation of
the water falling on all that extra skin facinating. She exparemented with
the other textures in the batroom finishing with the towels. Her batrobe
as much too small to cover her new dimensions. Her breasts had to remain
exposed. This suited her just fine, she had a lot to feel.
        When she got down to the living room she found her husband sleeping
on the couch. She decided to feel him too. He awoke with a yelp.
        "What the hell?... Mary?"
        "I bought them yesterday."
        "Don't you think that's a bit much?"
        "I do, but it'll cost me another two fifty to make them the way I
want them. Untill you give me the money I'll just have to grin and bear it."


                C.23

          Scientific Study

        The big boobs popping up all over the place soon drew the attention
of the doctors. They wanted to know two things: How it was done and wheather
there were any hurtfull side effects. To discover this they arranged for
a study to test the propertys of the devices. Nora was happy to assist. She
sent twenty two samples of the tit fixer, a sample of the 2-A, and the 2-C
She explained that the two extra tit-fixers were to return the size two people
to normal after the experament was prefromed. She also said that that they
cold be expanded further by simply implanting additional mass. She recomended
a heavy metal because it is dense (higher volume in to volume out ratio) and it
was something that you wouldn't mind getting rid of anyway.
        With this equipment the doctors planned a series of three trials.
The first trial would be on women who had normal breasts that were smaller
than four inches, the second group were those who had naturally or silicone
large breasts (possibly people from or descendants from that land beneith the
ocean.) And the thrid would be to observe the effects of the size 2 and to
determine to what extent the heavy metals would work as Nora said.
        volunteers for the experament weren't hard to come by. Wheather it
was for personal experiance or for the monitary reward the doctors didn't
know.
        Subject 1 was curous but not too concerned, she probably knew someone
else who had done it. The doctor carefully (far more than the device required)
placed the device on each of the woman's niples. He watched closely. (doctors
are trained to put their sexuality asside when working with a patient, He was
no exception.) As he watched the device seemed to melt, flow through an
incision it had made for that purpose, and close. All within the space of
three minitues. He re measured her breasts. There was little measurable
change. He recorded that and the fact that the subject reported that they felt
completely normal.
        The other nine subjects went in a similar fassion. The doctor wrote
in his experament report for the day that he suspected that asside from the
nifty melting trick, the likely result of body heat on the naturally soft
metal, the 'devices' would have no effect. He couldn't say for sure untill
the checkup two weeks later so he didn't.

        On the fourteenth day the women came back. Almost all of them were
wearing loose shirts that hinted of a well rounded chest. The doctor decided
he had judged too soon. The device did work! (suprise) He knew that! What
was important now was wheather there were any side effects. Uppon questioning
them he couldn't get one of them to confess to a single side effect not even
excessive appetite. The two who had severe cases of breast cancer reported
that they hadn't felt any pain since they got them! Not only that the breasts
seemed completely numb to any pain. The doctor was amazed by how well the
device seemed to work. Baring any possible long term effects he saw no reason
not to go on with the next phase of the study.

        Subject 1 of series two was actually the smallest of her group. Her
breasts measured six inches around. Her principal complaints were their
weight, which caused them to sag quite considerably. He repeated his procedure
of placing the device directly on the nipple with similar outcome. She sat up
and just as she was about to complain that nothing was happening she noticed
that they seemed to be loosing weight. When she put her hands to see that they
were still there she found that while they hadn't lost any volume at all they
were already firmer. The doctor was quite supprised by how quickly the results
manafested themselves. He hypothesized that it was because the devices didn't
have to wait for extra mass to become available.
        Subject 2 of series two was about average for the group at nine
inches. Most of that was saline solution. Her complaints were (aside from size
and weight) numbness and coldness. The doctor used the device. After they
became lighter they did seem warmer but weren't any more sensitive. "Perhaps
they will improve by the two week checkup." She just nodded and left.
        Subject 3 of series two's breasts were of the viriety that didn't
really have a nipple. Her nipples were more like dark smudges on the bottom
of each breast. She complained that she couldn't nurse a baby with them.
The device worked marvolously. She left with neat, well defined nipples that
a baby wouldn't have any trouble nursing off of.
        Subject 4 of series two was undenyably the most extreme case. She
wasn't satisfied with her volleyball boobs. Wanting more she went to her
doctor who recomended implants (The devices not having been tested) she got
the biggest she could get and turned her volleyballs into beach balls.
Mishapen and diseased beach balls that confined her to a wheelchair that is.
The device helped. She would have to go through several weeks of rehab to get
her legs up to where she could walk again but at least she wasn't an invalid
anymore.
        The rest of the subjects were variations on the previous themes. At
the checkup they all were very happy with the results, subject 2 reported full
sensation and everything. Subject 4 was so preocupied with her breasts that
the doctor had difficulty getting her to answer questions.
        The device was exactly as good as advertised, He decided to recomend
it as the standard treatment. That left only one question: How? Subject 2
agreed to further testing.
        The first thing was to get a good look at what exactly had happened
inside her breasts. The doctor ordered a mamogram.
        The results were very suprising. What had been mostly implant was now
almost all living tissue. The doctor noticed that there was a cluster of spots
in the center of the globe he assumed that those spots were the part of the
device that was reducing the breast's weight. He proposed an operation to go
in to determine what exactly was there. The subject agreed.

        Operations of this nature aren't too pretty so I'll just hilight. When
the doctor was nearing the device the wound suddenly began to close around his
hand. He was able to withdraw his hand but his glove and instruments were
truncated abruptly where the flesh ended.
        He took a week off before considering starting series three.

        The two women selected for series three were as average as could be
had. No medical or phsychological problems. The doctor was a bit doubtfull
about the sugested ingredeints for the growth liquid but he administered the
perscription, once again, with medical precision. The type C version was
a bit diferent than the one I described before. It's bags were twice as big
as the type A, Instead of coming with an enormous tank top it came with a
warning: Keep any and all body parts away from breasts while growth is in
progress. Nurses would take care of washing throughout the experement, the
doctor was sure about that.
        The doctor made sure that was so. The women were assigned rooms that
were actually modified garages. Since there was no indication how large they
would get, the doctor (as all doctors do) took no chances.
        On the next day both women had huge tits. Both could still walk. The
one with the type C's had more difficulty because hers slapped against her legs
when she tried to walk. The only complaint they had was boredom. Yes it was
fun to just sit there and jiggle but that got old faster than they would have
expected fun but not interesting. Most of the time they watched T.V. or read.
On the second day the doctor worked up the nerve to attempt to implant a pair
of five pound lead slugs into each woman's breasts. He operated on the top
of each breast, (because it was the easiest approach and his previous
operation hadn't left any scar) Only minitues after the wound magicly closed
itself the breasts began to grow. Adding five pounds to what was already a
huge breast produced little effect. Yet the results were encourageing. Tomorow
the doctor would attempt a pair of twenty five pound slugs.
      The second woman's breasts seemed to be inflating
like waterbags. They were thicker towards the middle and rounded at the end.
Neither woman could maneuver the immense breast volume.
        A week went by The doctor had moved up to using fifty pound slugs.
The first woman was strapped into a chair which was held several feet off the
ground. She complained about the lack of comfort but still seemed to be
enjoying herself quite well. The second was placed on a hospital bed matteress
which was set up on the floor to keep her in the reclined position that only
elevated her torso and legs so she would be comfortable. She was amazingly
enough beginning to grow fond of the sacks of fleash that were imprisoning her
in that position.

        The experament had been going on for a month. If you asked them if they
were big the first would answer "Quite!" the second would answer "Mmmm
deliciously!" If you told this to the doctor he would say "What an unhealthy
attitude!" and call off the experament immediately. Well the exparement had
been going on long enough already and enough was enough. Actually the first
woman was entering the twelve foot diameter stage and the other took up a
healthy? ammount of floor realestate. The first though reluctant agreed to be
returned to normal. The Doctor couldn't get the other to give up her tities for
eather of the two moons in space!
        He asked the hospital for premision to go ahead and remove them. The
Hospital agreed that they would like their garage back. They ordered a flat bed
truck come and return the woman to her home as she was. The doctor hoped beyond
hope that the embarasment of being exposed like that would make the woman give
in. It didn't work. She just waved to the people who came to stare.


                C.24

             Tit Factory

This is the story of a Tit entrepreneur (don't emulate; sick and disgusting).

        Fred was cruising through the poorer distrects of town to find a
prostitute. Not just any prostitute, he was after one with a pair of 1-bs.
Not for the normal one nighter but for a much diferent pourpose. Let me just
say that he was most inspired by the recent research into the subject and
leave it at that.

        Samantha didn't know what hit her. One moment she was waiting on a
curb for a customer, the next she was tied up in a small woden chair in
the middle of an dingy old factory with her shirt open. That wasn't all her
breasts were even bigger than she remembered. This was most definitely a
nightmare she decided. No, her bonds were so tight that they hurt.
        Several minitues later a grubby looking man stepped out of the
shaddows. He was carying a knife. With a quick flick of the wrist he cut
an incision in one of her breasts. He then bent down to get a rivit out of
a nearby bucket. He inserted the rivit into the cut. It closed over the rivit.
The breast began to grow. He did the same to the other one and returned to the
shadows. Samantha fainted forom the gore.
        The next time she woke she saw that same grubby man inserting two
rivits into each breast. "I'm hungry!" she complained. He left without saying
a word. Several minitues later he returned with a bowl of stew which he fed
her. With her hunger eased she demanded "Why are you doing this to me?!"
He left without saying anything. The chair was very uncomfotable and her butt
ached. form sititing in it too long. Soon afterwards he came back, repeated
his implant procedure, this time with a whole fist full of rivits.
        Later that day he came back. This time he measured her breass against
the length of his arm. Her breasts were the longer. Samantha began to hope
that he would be satisfied and let her go. Instead he walked aroudn behind
her, took a chain, tied it around her waist and secured it to the chair with a
padlock. he then undid the ropes aroudn her wrists. Samantha wasn't sure this
was a good sign. It wasn't he bean to use gears along with the rivits.

        Days passed. her breasts were so huge that they reached the floor.
At least the grubby guy had run out of rivits. He came back, undid the bonds
restraining her ankles. Guess he figured that her legs weren't good for much
anymore. He was right. He left without putting anything in her breasts at
least. A macine started up. It was a crane. She could see it off to the side.
It had an electromagnet at the end. It mooved over to a pile of scrap metal
picked it up and began moving in her direction.

        More days passed The only thing restraining her now was her own
breasts. Since they and the jacket he had given keept her reasonably warm at
night she couldn't complain much. She wished he would stop. He had moved up
to heavy macinery. Last time it was a pair of 150 pound drill presses. What
would be next lathes? What would happen when he ran out of junk?

        A nightmareish week later she found out. Cement.

        After a few days of that it just stopped. He fastened her into a
seat from a car that was attached to the crane. The crane began to lift
her up off the ground. She still had sensation even in the very farthest
reaches of her breasts. The crane keept lifting her up. Thankfully the breasts
didn't weigh as much as they looked. When the crane stopped she could still
fell the ground even though she thought she was fifty feet off the ground.

        He left. When he came back he was making a sales pitch to two richly
atired men. "I present to you the largest pair of breasts in the entire
Galxiy! (false!) Each one is sixty feet long and a pefectly round thirty feet
around. I'll sell you her and the entire building for six milion dollars.
        The first man eagerly agreed to pay the price. The other shook his
head. "No you won't."
        "Why, its very reasonable."
        "That's not what I meant. You won't buy her because she's not for sale
and you're under arrest."

        The courts were a bit more civilized than when Nora had her little
incident, but the punishments werent. The Judge ruled that he would be
bludgeoned to death.

        One week later a bunch of men with heavy sledgehammers began to pound
Fred into a bloody pulp. Samntha, thanks to the tit fixer was a normaly
proportioned woman again.


                C.25

                Time

        The government closed Nora's shop.
        Time passed.
        Nora's husband died.
        Time passed.
        The king died one night. The next day a man appeared and everybody
knew he was the new king.
        Time passed.
        Nora dissappeared.
        Poor little Alison found herself all alone in the big old house with
nobody to talk too. For the last several years she had ben confined to a large
crib Nora had made with her own hands. Origionally Nora was going to put her in
the nursery. But whenever Alison was left alone she would get lonely and start
to cry. Being a big girl she had a big cry. To stop her from crying she moved
the crib into her study where she did the work that was expected from a
barroness. Mostly paperwork for collecting rent money and taxes, and a few
social issues.
        But now the house was cold and dark. Nora had left without even saying
goodbye. Alison cired and screamed so loud that one of the antique glasses on
the wall shattered. Nobody came. She banged on the bars of her crib. They
wouldn't yield.
        Days passed. Each day the house got colder and darker. The bars of the
crib were a bit looser than they were before and Alison was more frustrated
than before. She pushed with all her still quite potent strength. There was a
loud crack. She was scared. Eventually she once again built up the courage to
try the bars again. Now they were quite loose. She pushed again. They bent
outward further and didn't come back completely. Another push. The bars fell
away from the crib. Wondering where the bars went. Alison leaned forward.
Trying to look byond her massive breasts she fell forward tumbeling as she did.
She landed on her back. With most of the volume of her lower limbs behind her,
her back was in a most uncomfortable position. That wasn't the worst. Her long
purple hair was trapped under her so she had difficulty moving her head. With
the strength of her arms she pulled her hair free and then the rest of herself
into her usual sitting position. She pulled her hair around her head to see
that it wasn't hurt as much as it felt like it had been. Her big jiggilies were
fun but by far what she liked the most about herself was her hair. It was
always so smooth and soft and so long that she could do just about anything
with it. Now she just stuffed it in the only article of clothing on her, a
giant T-shirt so it wouldn't get hurt again. Her stubby jointless legs were
barely rigid enough to carry her weight but she mannaged to stand on them (at
about kneeling height) and explore her house by waddling arround.
        Eventually she found herself in the basement. Not that she particularly
wanted to stay down there but because she couldn't climb steps. It was scarry
down there. The stone floor was damp and very cold. The air had a stale musty
flavor to it. Just as dispair was beginning to set in she came across a rope.
Pulling on it she found it lifted a box off of the floor. She got into the box
and started pulling the rope. She laughed she wouldn't have to stay down here
forever!. She pulled and pulled. She could feel the platform rise with each
pull but there was no way of telling how far she had lifted herself. The shaft
was almost completely dark. Every so often she would come across a panel with
light leaking in around the edges but she had now idea as to what to do with
it. What seemed like hours later the dumb-waiter/freight elevator struck it's
upper catch and would go no further. There was another pannel nearby. She
reached for it. The elevator began to fall. She grabbed the rope again and
pulled herself back up to the pannel. With one hand this time she pusshed on
the pannel. Like the crib it wouldn't budge. She made a fist and struck the
pannel. The old wood gave easily (relative to a woman who on a good day could
lift 400.) She tumbled out and onto the floor again. (she was getting good at
that). The Attic had been converted into a large airy bedroom that Nora used
in the spring and fall. Alison was excited to see a large 'tele' in front of
a massive four posted bed. She wanted to switch on the tele and jump into the
bed and enjoy this wonderful room. The TV switched on okay but jumping into the
bed was going to be a problem. She couldn't possibly jump! She started pulling
on the covers. But only succeded in pulling them most of the way off the bed.
Then she tried one of the posts. The knobs made it easy for Alison to climb up
the pole and on to the bed.
        For a few days life was great. Alsion liked most of the shows except
the ones that came on late at night that showed boys and girls lying on beds
hugging each other panting.
        Then one day the tele stopped working. She pushed all the buttons but
nothing would work!
        Having nothing left to do she sleept all night and dreamed of
yellow butterflies and green grass all day.

                C.26

           The New Barron

        For nearly a year the barony was ruled by the postmaster (who was also
responsible for printing public notices such as taxes and rent bills. When he
noticed that the rent bills hadn't been sent he saw an opportunity.
With no baron and nobody knowing the baron was missing They wouldn't have
to pay rent eather to the king or the nobels. So what he did was send everybody
a letter explaining what he thought was happening and the usual tax bill with
the recomendation that they just pay it and not say anything about the rent.
This went on for two years. An Ad-Hoc council was set up to handle the
legislative and judicial functions vacated by the missing baroness. Things went
quite smoothely untill an old dispute between the Hatfarms and the McCrows
erupted into violence. When the king recieved a request for a military police
force from the 'Westfield Governing Council' He sent a group of investigators
instead.
        Just as the king had feared the barony had lapsed. It was the third one
this month. Anyway he had no intention of getting involved in a local dispute
so he selected another prosperous buisnessman as the new barron. Immagine his
supprise when he found Alison trying to hide under the covers of his bed! At
first he tired to treat her like a fully grown woman wiith an unusual medical
conition. When it became appearent that she was also mentally retarded he had
her moved to the nursery to be dealt with later. Uppon investigation it turned
out that she had been a talented naval officer thought dead, shoud be at her
age... Pitty such a briliant woman could be reduced to this.
        Have you ever had that feeling that you are just not wanted? Our barron
Joel was feeling just that. Fearing for his life he collected only twenty
dollars each. The money was enough to handle his living expenses and to support
the local charitys. The populous begrudgingly paid. He settled into a role as
the kings emisary to the Westfield Governing council. He had veto power but
only a tiebreaking vote. He found other roles for himself. He acted as a
historian. He also opened his house as a children's orphainage where he raised
the disadvantaged children just as his own. He was a good man A bit bored by
his post but making the best of things.

                C.27

            Good Clean Fun

        More time passed and yet another king came to power. People had become
most fed up with the previous kings interest in advanced technology and higher
education. Hapily the new king seemed to be much more relaxed about both.

        Inside a crator on a distant astaroid the computer that was still
keeping watch over Alsion's trapped black hole power core in addition to its
usual workload activated the ship's heaters. The air which had condensed to a
2' layer covering the floor of the ship in the astaroid's microsopic gravity
began to stir.

        The Jr. High school that the author attended is now like a
demilitarized zone. Rumor has it that there is an officer at every corner
armed with a nightstick with orders to beat the crap out of anyone chewing gum,
wearing a hat, running saying profane words such as 'bad-ass' or 'damn'
(i'm exadurating now), Even people who are meerely carrying backpacks are
kicked off the second story roof. (the part about the roof is false).
Fortunately on this planet only four years of school are required. Wheather
you actually get out after that time depends on wheather you can pass a
moderately difficult literacy, history, and practical math test. After that
you could continue your schooling for up to ten total years (not neccessarily
consecutively) or you could sign up as an apprentice with one of the local
businesses. It was generally expected that through the television and radio
media any gaps in the basic education would be filled. For that pourpose the
king made laws prohibiting the broadcasting of anything that was beyond logical
reason without an appropriate disclaimer.
        What this means is that the children under the baron's care had pleanty
of time on their hands. One of the activities that the younger children enjoyed
the most was to fingerpaint Alison's body. They made a point of inventing a
new look for her every week. About a dozen or so years ago a group of the older
boys had discovered an excuse to look at her tits whenever thy wanted to. What
they had done was invest in a necklace featuring a 2" diamond (since the
begining of space manufacturing diamonds became extremely cheap, a more
sophisticated cut would be more expensive.*). so whenever Alison said
'Whatchalookin-at?` in a half curious, half playfull way they could always
claim 'I was just admiring the diamond in your necklace.`
        Ocasionally they would all pile into the van and drive down to the
park for frizbee. A seat needed to be removed from the van to accomidate
Alison's excessive volume. At the park they would picnic and play frizbe. John
was the best, he could throw two pankaked and get both a hundred feet and land
both within five feet of each other. The park was great. Everybody liked the
park But not everybody liked Alison. Lucy feared Alison. When Lucy was young
she feared Alsion's size. These days Lucy feared Alison's horribly powerfull
arms. Even with her clumsy childish mind her arms possesed a nearly mechanical
strength and precision. She had a nice face but Lucy couldn't help but notice
the well developed muscles and teeth that could shear a finger off with a
twitch.
        Back at the house there was the boy's bedroom, The girl's bedroom, and
Alison's bedroom. Her customary sleeping position, in addition to the obvious
modifications, included her thumb in her mouth, just her thumb.

        Inside the astaroid a thermostat signaled that operating temperature
had been reached. A relay clicked over. In .5 seconds the dome of the bridge
was fully active. The operating system was hardwhired into the computer. The
normal operating software would be up and running by the end of the second.
In short the ship booted up as fast as a Tandy 1000. (Tandys boot extremely
fast because the operating system is in ROM.)

        Added to the cheap manufacture of high quality electronic and
optical crystals. The exploration of the other habitable planet in the system
had brought back a wealth of aquatic species to stock the planet's barren
oceans.
        On a more disturbing note technology had advanced to the point where
a robotic android could be made that not only matched human capacity but in
many areas superior. Technology had always been something that was used to
extend human faculty and strength. The battleship was better than a canoe
becuase of its armor. The computer was better than the sheet of paper because
of its ability to manipulate. But a technology that replaced the need for
technology was just to much. So by order of the king it was made illegal to
manufacture a robot. All robots in existance would be allowed to live their
lives as they saw fit as long as they obeyed the laws of society.

        For the first time in as long as she could remember Alison had a
nightmare. She was in a dungeon. It was scarry. She had a normal body. All of
a sudden a dog appeared out of nowhere and started mauling her. She hit it on
the head with a fist. The dog collappsed to the ground. She heard the sound
of metal grinding on metal. Whirling around she saw a powerfully built man
with yellowy blond hair and impossibly blue eyes dressed in a blue uniform
enter. He was carrying a macine gun. He didn't hesitate. Macine gun bullets
showered down uppon her. She covered her face. She felt herself die. Almost
instantly she appeared again in another room this time. There were no people
with macine guns in this room.. yet. On the walls there were strange
decorations. She looked at one. It was strange she couldn't remember seeing
anything like it before but she knew that it was a swastica, symbol of
antisemitisim (the author thinks it is cool to be jewish, It's just that he
likes to take shots at nazis). Wait she HAD seen something like that before
long ago; she could barely remember. Between two swastica's there was an eagel
with fasces, symbol of the third rich. Across the room was a picture that made
Alison shudder, It was among the worst monstrositys that the Earth had ever
given life to. Alison wanted to get out, this is a scarry place. She ran to
a door and opened it before thinking. There were more of those blue uniformed
men Each identical to the next. They opened fire Alison found that she too had
a gun on her hip. She pulled it off and let out a few rounds before she was
again mowed down. The next time she appeared she tried a different door. This
one had only one behind it. Reflexively she mowed it down. As he fell he
screamed a crying 'Mein Laven!` At first she felt almost panicky mostly out of
supprise. Then she started to laugh. She tried to immitate it's death scream
and laughed again. The entire situation was so rediculous the only thing she
could do was laugh. She saw that it was still holding its macine gun. She took
it and opened another door. Behind this door was a room full of brown uniformed
men who weren't nearly as formidable looking as the Mein Lavens. She hosed them
down. Argh-gh-gh-gh! She frowned. If they were going to be that easy they could
at least say something funny. Anyway.
        Susanne, who's duity it was to drag Alison out of bed, Came in to wake
her up. Alison seemed a bit groggy but otherwise perfectly normal. To Alison
nothing seemed normal at all. She was pulling her shirt over head. No wait
she was still dreaming and killing MeinLavens!. Not at all. She was pullin her
shirt over her head AND killing MeinLavens! Both at the same time. It was
already fairly late in the morning and the troup was eager to take on the park
once again for another afternoon of fun. The day was going just fine untill
inexplicibly Alison just ghasped. 'What is it?` they asked her. "It's a
Gutten-tag!" she said with real horror. They just shrugged and continued
driving down to the park.
        To them Alison seemed a little sleepyer than normal but still alert and
relatively focused, for her that is. During the afternoon she dozed off. Still
perfectly normal.

        The entire group was watching a briliant Pantamime dancer? when a man
wearing a poster and a pile of brocures marched duitifully through the park.
        Aliens are planning to take over the world! the poster proclaimed in
bold letters. The friends looked at the man distributing the brocures with
smirks and looked at his brocures out of curriosity. They described Alien
landings, Alien sightings, abducted humans (by aliens), Abducted aliens (by
humans), basically a bunch of histarical stuff.
        A redheaded young man named Rocky stood up and looked the man directly
in the eyes. "So? I bet nearly every person here has a story to tell?"
        "You mean the planet is already infested?!" The histarical man asked
even more panicked.
        "Sure sure, most thouroughly! watch:"
        "May I see the hands of those gifted with Telepathy or some other form
of ESP?"
        A substantial number of hands were raised.
        "Persons of a mechanical nature?"
        A well dressed young man, Tony, who was talking to a metalhead nosering
wearing girl, both raised their hands.
        "Aliens?"
        Alison eagerly raised her hand and another girl wearing a red skirt
raised their hands.
        "People who aren't really here?"
        A few people here and there winked out.
        "Gods?"
        Clark, A blond headed man wearing glasses raised his hand. "Yo!"
        "A God?!" The panicked skywatcher ghasped.
        Clark didn't respond but turned his eyes to the sky. Clouds gathered
over the park. Lighgning flashed, A resounding voice hammered the ground
        "CLARK IS GOD!"
        The sky cleared.
        "See, Everything is alright." rocky assured the man who was in the
middle of a nervous breakdown.

        While Alison is dozing (still laying waste to the MeinLavens) I would
like to discuss some more interpersional relationships here.

        Martha: Hates Alson; wonders where Nora is.

        The girl wearing the red skirt wandered over to Alison. She wanted to
know wheather she was actually an alien too (if her purple hair didn't give it
away). "Hiya!" she hailed.
        Alison lazily looked up resting her chin on her arms. She only seemed
half interested in talking to her.
        "So where'd you come from?"
        "Altair IV" Alison said absent mindedly. "No No, Earth." She said
correcting herself. "Where'd jya come from?"
        "Altair IV; I don't know. Some planet, My ship knows where it is. Not
that I'd ever want to go back. I'm sort of a runaway."
        "Ooooh. You're a youngone aren't you?"
        "I'm Twenty three!" Suzie protested.
        "Young one."
        "Well how old are you?"
        "Almost a thousand."
        "Holy... The oldest person I know from my planet is only eighty. You've
been genetically redesigned. Havent you?"
        "Yeah?"
        "Is there really any benefit to being so old?"
        "Not really, You just get to do more things with your life. I never
really had a childhood so this has sortof been it. But now my brain is almost
back up to speed I'll be moving on soon."
        "Where will you go?"
        "I'm not really sure yet. I'll select a planet at random and head
there. This planet has been very good to me and I have enjoyed it ..." Alison
trailed off and looked up and around intently. "What the .. All the lights!
They've all stopped!"
        Alison can detect raido waves like it was a kind of light. To her it
appears as a glow radiating from the transimitting station. What she is saying
now is that Every radio transmitte in the area has just gone silent. AM sort
of flashes and FM sort of shifts colors very fast.
        Suzie looked around trying to see what Alsion had. There was an
unusual quiet to the park. The people who knew something happened stopped in
their tracks. The people who didn't stopped to try and figure out why the first
group had stopped. There was a young man who was having trouble getting
anything but static from his boom box. In the distance there was a screach and
a crash as two cars, having no indication who should go first both went. A
boy drinking form a fountain pressed the lever with dismay because the water
would not flow.
        The white stream of a heavy lift rocket appeared in the west. It was
soon followed at regular intervals. What was happenign was that every scientist
and engineer on the planet had decided to move to the other planet in the solar
system where they could build a new civilization without the constraints of
a king and people who didn't care much for advanced technology.

        There was little for anybody to do but go home and try to figure
everything out.

* Rumor has it that on the United states space station Spacelab, back in the
late 70's an experament was preformed using a diamond flake and a carbon arc.
Acording to the rumor a diamond about the size of a baseball was produced.
Due to concerns about the discovery's effect on the global monitary values the
diamond was destroyed.

                C.28

        The Time of Crisis

        Loosing alot of extra is certainly not as much fun as puting it on. Ask
anyone. Alison did okay. It wasn't exactly plesant but it was a lot quicker
than going on a diet.

        The duke paced the floor. As he would approach the window he would
look out on the swarms of people crouding his gates. A portion of them seemed
to blame him for the outage. Another portion was buisy blaming the king and
the majority simply wanted him to do something. Like make a speach or turn the
power back on or something. Anyway the seldom seen policemen were most
fortunately there and in force holding back the crowds. Because the crouds
seemed more interested in shouting than actually penetrating the fence the
police were just watching that things didn't change.

        As he paced to the other side of the room he would stare at the
portrait of Heinrich the great, the man who had led the world out of the dark
times about fourteen hundred years ago. His eyes struggled to find the drive
that pushed the man to change the world.
        There was a simple three strike knock on the door.
        "Go Away!"
        Knock Knock Knock
        "I thought I had told you all to go away so I can think and No, Don't
bring lunch eather."
        Knock Knock Knock
        "Alright Alright Who is it?"
        He almost ghasped when she entered. She was tall and attractive. What
cought him off guard was the sudden presance of someone just so darn big.
Not especially in any one spot but all over. She also had a presance about her
that was quite unusual. The Buttlers would move in and out like ghosts who
were just as much here as gone. The people who came to ask favors or money
almost always seemd to be already in the often unfulfilled future or past time
when the favor had been granted or the money donated. This woman however was
most definitely here in the presant. What made her even more striking was her
suit. It was a simple two piece. Grey in color and not cut to draw attention
to any one aspect. Her purple hair was neatly clipped behind her head.
        "You seem to be having some trouble. Can I help?"
        "trouble..." He muttered as he walked back to the window. "Every single
person who knew anything about how to run the equipment that made the planet
tick has taken off. For that other damn planet that is supposed to have virgin
forests and untaped resources. I Just don't know."
        "Well let me give you some advice then. The first thing you need to do
is to promise them that they will have food and watter and then find a way to
deliver the food and water. This will help you to earn their trust Then your
task will be to restore stability. Wheather that is to train new technicians
or to build a new nontechnical society."
        The duke relaxed a little. The advice was sound now the only problem
is the implementation and the subsequent long term planing. "I seem to remember
you but I can't place your face. Who are you?"
        "I'm Alison." she said as she offered her hand.

                C.29

           Space Invaders

        Now only several light years away the SCS Star Union continued the
lonely chace of the long gone Astronautulus. Its hull pitted, Its engines spent
Its computers Off-line, the bodies of its crew in cryofreeze. A dead hulk
hurdeling through space at extreme velocitys. Two valves opened. Reactants
poured into fuel cells whose design hadn't changed significantly since the
Apollo missions. A voltage began to build up. The critical voltage was reached.
The engineering computer began its long tedius boot process. Each file starting
with the bios has to be tediously retrieved, error checked, and initialized.
After that the crew would have to be revived and main power restored.
        Three days later the ship entered the system. In only a very few
minitues the ship reached the sun. It didn't slow down. It shot streight
through the sun like an armor piercing bullet through an apple.
        Damn that felt good.
        With the stars energy the ship was brought up to normal operating
temperature, Its fuel reserves were replensihed, and the repair prosess, aided
by direct replicators was well underweigh.
        By the end of the day The ship was in a comfortable orbit around what
appeared to be the more developed of the two planets.
        "Sir, There appear to be RF transmitters but I've been unable to detect
any transmissions. There are several orbital stations but they are inactive."
        "Thats most unusual." the formerly very frosty captain said restating
the obvious to the officer monitoring the detection equipment. "War?"
        "I don't think so. There doesn't appear to be any dammage to any of
the major cities and I am reading lifesigns normal to this level of
development. About 2.9 bilion. There Appears to be a governing complex there."
He indicated a large complex building on one of the monitors. He moved the
frame upward to a row of dramatically simpler but still sizable buildings.
That appears to be the beurocracy and government agencys."
        "If We can't warn them when we beam down we should land by shuttle.
Defrost the ambasador and prepare for normal first contact. We'll hold off on
the hunt untill we have permission to operate in this solar system."

        The shuttle completed three circuits above the castle and landed in
the square in front of the castle.
        The command officers of the ship were amazed. It was an honest to
goodness castle complete with bannors slitty  windows and a drawbridge. Unlike
the castles back on earth which have been in ruins for eons. This one was just
as old but it had been carefully maintained and was most definitely still in
use.
        Several guards and a man in an official looking uniform moved towards
the shuttle. The first contact went by the book and the captain arranged a
meeting with a king. This was most exciting for him because Earth had not seen
a king much less a reigning king in centuries.
        The king seemed much more interested in exacting some sort of revenge
form the other inhabited planet than granting any ohther licenses to the ship.
After it was made clear that the SCS Star Union would have no part in any
disputes between the two planets in the system the king seemed to loose all
interest in the conversation he granted them permission to travel where they
would in the system and the use of a local townhouse for the pourpose of
establishing an embasy. He inquired about the possibility of sending one of his
own ambasadors in return the captain was agreeable to the idea but that fell
through when the king learned that the ambasador would die of old age before he
even reached this distant planet.

        Back on the ship the captain was pleased with the day's work Another
new civilization had been discovered and contacted. Now to find that damn ship.
It's wake ended in the system but it had passed so long ago that there was no
way to tell exactly which planet or astaroid it was on. The only lead they had
was the unique signature of the pilot's life support system. Most earth made
life support systems had a very simple and efficient energy field. This one was
much more complex. At first it was assumed that it was a more primitave model.
Made before efficient controll devices could be made. Later it was hypothesized
that the field had been designed for a much larger being but later adapted for
individual use.
        "We got one!" the officer at the detection station anounced gleefully.
"It is slightly smaller than the one on record but it has the same basic
charictoristics. It is coming from an unpopulated forest region in what
appears to be the ruins of an ancient fortification."
        "Prepare an away party." the captain ordered without hesitation.
        "Sir, It is currently late evening at that region of the planet. I
recomend that we leave first thing in the morning."
        "Yes, You're right, make it so."

                C.30

            The Barroness

        EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
        The Away party from the ship surveyed their surroundings. The area
had been completely abandoned for at least a hundred years. The party stood on
what had been the neatly trimed cobblestone road that had led to the baron's
castle. Now it was a leaf covered track of grass and small shrubs that by being
there were breaking the stones down even more. The castle stood less than a
hectare away. It was an ivy covered ruin of a building still standing tall and
menacing on top of the hill on which it had been built.
        "Readings." The captain ordered.
        "Its inside, I can't get closer than that on account of the stones."
        The captain motioned the party forward.
        The wooden drawbridge had long ago been replaced by a stone bridge.
        They walked around the castle and found the only enterance was ten feet
off the gorund and blocked by a rusted iorn portculus.
        "Cut a hole through that gate." the captain ordered one of the security
officers.
        The officer took up a position fifteen feet infront of the gate and
carefully cut a man sized hole through the iorn bars with his energy rifle.
As the last bar was severed the gate fell to the ground with a clank.
        The outer ramparts of the castle had been converted to storage, and
living and working space for the administration of the barony. Now the
windows of the rooms seemed to stare at the party. They were getting the
distinct impression that this simply isn't a place where a person can go.

        The inner keep was four stories tall not including the guard houses
on top of the towers. The only enterance into the keep was ten feet off the
ground. An AG lifter was sent from the ship. It was simply a platform that one
could stand on or place a parcle on and then by pushing a small lever could
lift off the ground.
        The centeral chaimber of the keep showed the most dammage. Chared
and rotting timbers made the centeral chamber impassible They were standing
on the floor that had once been the dining hall but now they could look up and
see the into what had been the barron's audience chamber. The captain looked
at the detections officer suspiciously. The officer shrugged. Nearby they found
a narrow stone spiral staircase. They began to climb. (much prefferable to
going down into the abyss that was the celar). As they climbed they found rooms
and halls leading off at random intervals. Some were so charred that their use
could not be determined. Others stood in the dissaray in which they had been
left. Tatered paintings, moulded bedsheets, tarnished silver, drawers scattered
all over the floor. Along the walls a line could be seen where the smoke gave
way to breathable air.
        One door opened onto the abyss that had once been the uper floor.
        The next floor was quite different. When the party stepped out of
the stair shaft they felt as though they had just climbed out of a mine out
onto open ground. Blown leaves had decomposed into a thin soil that blanketed
the ground and had given rise to a thick grass. The Room had once been a chapel
of some sort. The gothic windows were still intact and some of the arches that
had once held the castles wood supported slate roof. While I am describeing
all this the away party was taking up defensive positions behind several of
the fallen columns with weapons drawn and aimed.
        What they at first had taken to be a statue in the center of the room
had been and could quite possibly could still be one of if not the people who
had caused so much dammage to space corps property. Despite the autmn cold the
figure was naked save for a metal skin that covered about half of her total
skin area with no decernable pattern. She just stood there. Leaves tangled in
her weathered hair. Her feet covered by the soil that had buit up around them.
her face was swolen and her cheeks puffed out disgustingly. Her skin was a pale
and sickly white. She was facing the far corner of the chappel and away from
the team.
        The captain ordered a containment field set up in one of the sip's
transporter rooms. But when he ordered her beamed up he learned that her feet
would have to be dug out before she could be safely beamed out. He cursed.
        "We need to get her out of the soil, You and You pick her up, We will
cover you."
        At first it seemed that the midshipmen were about to refuse but a
stern look stired them into action. The only resistance that they got from
Nora was her considerable weight.
        The two midshipmen were the happiest people in the team to be safely
back aboard the ship.

        They mooved Nora to a confinement cell. She seemed only dimly aware
of her surroundings at best. The ship's surgeon removed two sets of discarded
teeth from her mouth and washed her up so she simply looked comatose instead of
three days dead. Next the Captain tried to question her. She would flinch at
the sound of his questions as if his voice somehow disturbed her. He ordered
the ship's telepath to discover what he might. He reported that looking into
her head was like trying to stare Medusa in the face. He was able to extract
several memory fragments of her being aboard the ship they were searching for
vessle.
        The captain summed it up by saying "We're close. We'll take care of the
pilot then we'll take care of the ship. Doctor, prepare to test the device."
        The doctor wasn't thrilled about the idea of testing a device that was
ultimately designed to kill but orders were orders.
        It had been found that when the energy field generated by a life
support system such as Nora's was inverted it would implode and instead of
turning energy into food it would turn the person back into energy. The process
was never instantanious. Ouch.
        They mooved Nora to the shuttle deck and put the device next to her.
The captain gave the word.
        Nothing appeared to happen. Sir, the field, It shut itself off.
"Impressive. Evacuate the chamber."
        The saftey was released and the button pushed. Powerfull pumps whired
to life. The person on the streatcher in the hanger began to twitch as she was
having difficulty breathing. Soon her sinuses burst and her faced bulged most
disgustingly. "Dematerialize."

        With Nora finally taken care of The captain

        "Scan the astaroids in the system for artificial energy fields."
        The detections officer turned to the captain. "Sir, Can you narrow my
search a little, I'm recieving signals from just about every single rock out
there."

                C.31

             Space War

        When the Moon is in the Seventh House
        And Jupiter aligns with Mars
        Then peace will guide the planets
        And love will steer the stars!
                        -the broadway musical Hair.

        The Duke the council, and Alison, were making excelant progress
restoring order and reestablishing the system. As the meeting broke up Alison
found Suzie waiting for her She looked most disturbed.
        "Alison, I need to talk to you."
        "What is it?"
        "Come." Susie led alison away from the council and down a halway where
they ducked into a bathroom. Just as Alison was about to ask again Suzie
answered "My ship! I've lost contact. It just won't respond."
        "Well What would you like me to do about it?"
        "You said you had a ship! Take me to mine."
        "I haven't started the engines on my ship in two hundred years. That
isn't very important but I have absolutely no Idea where your ship is. Do you
have a locator or something. Suzie pulled one of her large tacky red earings
off. It flipped open and there was a micro miniturized display with a glowing
dot in the upper right corner. Alison gave suzie a funny look. "You're sure
this is not a toy?"
        Suzie shrugged. "It's the only way I can carry it with me, My radio
is in my glasses. She indicated the thick frame of ther sunglasses. See you
use it like this. Suzie moved the locator around untill the dot was in the
center of the tiny screen. See, There it is.
        "Well if the locator is still working than the ship is probably not
that badly dammaged. Lets go!"
        "How long will it take for your ship to get here?"
        "Why would I bother to bring it here before going back out to hunt
for a ship on an astaroid?"
        "How will we get there."
        "Like this." Alison held her hand out and raised it up. The walls of
the bathroom were replaced by the cold steel walls of the transporter room of
Alison's ship.
        "Woah!" suzie ghasped. The beamup was smooth and quick. Suzie didn't
even feel it untill her eyes, ears, and nose registered the difference. "This
your ship?"
        "Yes, Come."
        Suzie looked around and wondered how this hunk of Iron could get
spaceborn. The thinnest steel plate was two inches thick. The pillars large
and appearently completely solid. The agile airframe of her ship was certainly
more efficient. Everything seemed so curede. Suzie was nervous to even fly
in a bucket like this. Still it was in good condition and everything seemed
eather new or reciently serviced. No this ship must be hiding something; it has
a transporter! Alison led suzie into a room that was completely black.
        "Welcome to the bridge!"
        "Does it have lights?"
        The lettering on the instrument pannels iluminated and a radar map
showing the solar system began to glow. The room was so wierd! "Where are we?"
        "We are in a deep crator of an astaroid. Let me remove the cloaking
sheild so you can see." Up above the ship part of the darkness was replaced by
the the dim glow of the bilions of stars and nebulae. In the galaxy.

        "Sir, We have it!"
        "Ecelant, Cloak the ship."

        The starfield started to move donw the wall of the bridge untill it
entered the dim red outline of the door to the rest of the ship. Then it
started to grow as it moved towards the ship. Suddenly the ship exited the
astaroid and the dim outline of the astaroid could be seen against the halo
caused by the star. "Now lets see that earing of yours."

        The captain couldn't believe his luck! He had expected to have to jam
every single ship in the astaroid belt before picking the right one, This was
only his second! And here it came along it's calculated trajectory. Smoothe,
Sleek, And Stupid! "Lock and load! .. Deploy The device!"

        "What the fuck was that." Alison turned around and looked at a the
right hand side of the bridge's dome. Suzie could see nothing unusual.
"Something just locked on to my side!" <refrerance to the fact that when Alison
is flying her ship it feels to her like she is the ship.
        An immage of the device appeared on the wall. "What?"

        "Release the jamming field."

        "Wait a minitue I'm getting signal again..."
        "Fuck; Trap."

        "They're raising shields, Capt'n."
        "Actavate the device and De-Cloak."

        Alison suddenly felt as though she had just fallen off of the roof of
a three story building. All her connections to her ship and computer stopped.
Her head started to hurt. She was panting fast but she just wasn't getting
enough Oxygen. She fell to the floor still holding the wheel of the ship.
        Suzie ghasped. Her worst nightmare had just become visable. The thing
was huge, Larger than any sane person would design. It seemed to loom above
her head as a Grizly would loom above an unwary hiker. She looked at Alison and
saw her colapsed on the floor. "What's happening!" she cried.
        "'used to ... shoot their... ships up for sport... Never killed
anybody."
        "What's wrong with you?"
        "Life support."
        Before Suzie could ask any more questions. Another immage appeared on
the wall. It was a man dressed in a uniform. He seemed to be looking at her
most curously.
        "Stop it!" Suzie shouted at the man. "You're killing her!"
        "I would like to send some doctors over there to help you but I can't
get them over there untill you turn off your shields. Do you know where the
button is?"
        "Um..."
        "Suzie!... Don't listen!, Push that big lever over there forward a bit
then rotate that other lever up to..."
        "Alison, You'll have to tell me where the button is."
        "No goddamnit.."
        A hesitant voice came form the man on the screen "Suzie? Your friend
will die if you don't find the button."
        "We must get to one of the habitable planets, We can hide in the ocean
and hopefully the water will disrupt the device." Alison pointed to the other
screen. Suzie walked over to what appeared to be the captain or engineer's
chair and started hunting through the buttons. Gosh they were archaic.
        Alison pulled herself to her feet and put the ship in motion. Most of
the steering for a reentry was done automatically so all that Alison had to
do was to point the ship at a planet.
        The captain knew he had the whale speared It was just a matter of
wearing it down.
        Alison wished she had built aft torpedo launchers. The particle cannons
would only make them mad. A planet was approaching in front. The SCS Star
Union was following. Not gaining or loosing. Alison couldn't go hiper because
she needed a direct link to the ship for that. The captain of the other ship
was still on the viewer.
        "Please surrender, It's your only choice." The funny thing about it was
that he didn't sound malicious at all, just a little bit sorowful.
        "Fuck you." Alison struggled just to keep her vision focused on the
planet ahead.
        As Alison hoped the ship adjusted its course and began its roll
maneuver for normal planetary entry.

        "Are you shure that her link to her computer was severed?" The captain
asked the doctor.
        "Yes, This is probably a pre-progrmaed maneuver."
        "Establish standard orbit and notify me if they come back up."

        Suzie finally found the shields button and pushed it. The light next
to it faded from glowing green to off. The dome became a blaze of white light
as the ship entered the atmoshpere. The energy of the plazma was enough to make
a beamout unsafe. Alison, leaning on the wheel looked over at the screen
showing the parasite. The fucker was shielded! She could see the plazma
deflected around it. Alison was beginning to feel nausia added to her shortness
of breath.
        Suzie watched as the ship steadly decended into the planet's
atmosphere. Looking down she could see banks of clouds miles away. Rising up
though those clouds she could see swarms of little dots ligned up in neat rows
of three or four. She could see that they were all climbing up to intercept
her. Alison collapsed to the floor.
        A voice crackled. "You are violating planetary airspace, Withdraw or
be destroyed."
        Suzie tried to shake Alison awake but Alison was out cold. Her breath
was shallow and rapid. The ship entered the flight envelope of the fighters.
        They lined up on eather side about a quarter mile off. Two missiles
were launched. The first one hit the starboard engine. A hologram of the ship
appeared above the radar screen. The necel flashed red. The other misile homed
in on the device's energy shield. Alison sat up. She just sat there looking
around. Then she remembered the device and saw that it was giving off a jet of
smoke. She looked around and saw another two energy seeking missiles rushing
towards the ship. They exploded in mid flight. The ship rose again out of the
envelope of the fighters.
        "Suzie? Go to the forward compartment. Along the back wall you will
find a row slots with silver disks in them. Take the golden one and put it on
the turntable. Put the needle on the record. Once you do that go to the first
compartment right outside the bridge here and buckle yourself into one of the
reentry seats. Don't come out untill I come to get you."

                C.32

             Lets Rock

        "Sir, She's on her way. She's on an attack vector and she's playing
Wagner."
        "Alright We'll give her what she wants."
        "And sir, we've lost contact with the device."
        A pause then "Ok."
        "Replicator activity detected."
        "The captain turned to see what was happening. The captain felt the
ship heave under the force of the blast. The lights dimed for a moment then
came back up.
        "What was that."
        "Torpedos. Thirty megatons each."
        "Dammage?"
        "All systems ok."
        "Target the port side amidship. Fire at will."

        Alison slid by the larger ship so close that she could almost see the
rivits that held it togeather. In another neinty seconds she would begin her
turn and attack again. She came around to port. The torpedo struck. It maxed
out her shield but didn't penetrate. Still Alison was afraid. The target of
the torpedo was no accident. Stay in close and avoid turns to port. That was
her only chance.
        She pointed her finger at the mamoth ship and the torpedos launched.

        "My gosh, if her torpedos continue to be this innefective I'll have
to find something else for our repair crews to do!"
        The officers on the bridge grinned. "Sir, I don't think she'll be
showing us her flank anymore, I suggest that you take off your targeting
guidelines."
        "Make it so."
        "Firing."

        The hologram of the ship now enclosed in a green bubble flashed red.
The aft shield was down! Alison spun the ship around and returned fire.
        This was not good at all! Two more torpedos struck Alison's ship. The
Front sheild was gone too. Her only chance was to take the battle to warp
velocitys so that the larger ship would expend more energy maneuvering. She
checked her engines and saw that the starboard one was still under repair.
There were still enough functional elements in the engine to help steer the
ship but not enough to drive the ship to warp. She directed all the replicators
at repairing the power linkages to the front shield. She came around for
another strike.

        "Sir that last hit had a different energy signature, I think she's
trying to find a weekness."
        "Lets not give her enough time."

        Alison locked both dorsal and ventral particle cannons and opened fire.
Maby those could do some dammage to that beast. As she began her turn for
another torpedo strike it happened. The first incoming knocked out her weakened
starboard shield. The second was a direct hit. Alison was thrown against the
wall. Because with the engine was destroyed the inertial dampening field
collapsed. Her arm was broken. There was a nice dent in the wall. Sparks
leaped out from the dammaged projector. The other side of the bridge was a
mass of static where the sensors were destroyed. The hologram of the ship
showed that the starboard wing had been destroyed and the torpedo tube had
been crippled. Finally the outer shield of the other ship buckled. Of course
there were three more where that one came from.
        The captain of the other ship appeared on the screen. "I order you to
surrender your vessile and prepare to be boarded."
        Alison sent another voley from her particle cannons.

        "Fire phasors!"

        The hit triped the circuit breaker on her starboard prcessors and
punched a hole through the dome of the front compartment.
        Alison still couldn't see a weakness on the ship but she saw that the
captain was far too merciful. She stared at the flickering immage. He was
sitting there all comfortable in his chair there his ship still unmarked.
Smoke was rising from where she had hit the wall and the guages were flickering
as they struggled to find power. "Two minitues."
        "One."
        "Alright." Alison looked around for some way to save the situation.
She looked at her crippled ship and cried. Only an act of magic cold save her
now. She laughed at the idea of waving a magic wand and making the other ship
go away. That wasn't too far fetched! She forced the pain from her arm into
the backgroudn and forced her mind to travel over to the other ship. So much
energy! They would have their fourth shield up momentairally. The dammage
controll was awesome! each system was carefully isolated from every other.
Absolutely no chance that one blow would knock every thing out at once.
That was it! She made her hands physical and entered commands into the ship's
power grid. She returned to her own ship and saw that the starboard torpedo
would be back online within the minitue. She began her turn.

        "She's turning."
        "Get me on."
        "Chanel open."
        "Don't do this. You know you've lost. Just give in. You can't win
everything. It's okay. You can't expect to be permitted to dammage our ships
without facing the due consequences." The captain saw the hate in the woman's
eyes. He knew that she would never listen to reason. "Prepare to fire, torpedos
and phasors."
        "Yes sir."... "Replicator activity detected."
        The lights went dark. The weak emergency lights came up. "Power?"
        "Controlls not responsive sir." The radiation alarm went off.

        Alison set the coils in her functional engine to emit a beam of high
intensity microwave radiation. The Star Union's hull behaved like a piece of
aluminum foil in a microwave. Explosive bolts went off. Emergancy hatches blew.
Alison never saw a more beautifull sight in her life. With the emergancy air
valves fused open the ship was soon decompressed. Finally the cirucit breakers
on the ship figured out what had been done to them and power was restored. Too
late for the ship's occupants. As per disaster procedures the ship's computer
fired the the warp engines in order to escape and give the ship's (now
deceased) crew time to recover and make repairs. Alison saw the ship vanish
into the distance.
        She just couldn't believe how close she had come to loosing that one.
        Cradiling her broken arm she opened the door to the bridge to survey
the dammage. Just as she was turning to the first cabin to check on how Suzie
was doing her mind registered what she had just seen. Suzie was sprawled on
the floor of the forward deck Beyond the force field that was holding the air
in the aft section. Alison redirected all the repair replicators to the dome.
She watched as the beams pulled back into their origional shape and the holes
fill in wiht fresh glass. The compartment repreasurized and alison went to
suzie's side. Alison saw more clearly now that Suzie was in the most thourough
and unrevivable sense dead. Her neck broke when the dampeners failed. Her
fleash had ben seared by the heat of the phasor and then frozen by the vacum.
        Alison rested against one of the dining booths and stared at the
twisted body. She cursed Suzie for always having to be a rebel and going her
own way and herself for being so motivated to destruction that she hadn't
given her enough attention. She concidered for a moment takning to suzie to
her ship and burying her there. No, that was cowardice, she would return to
the gatehouse and tell the truth.
        The engine fired. Not it's usual explosive no-holds-bared burst but a
more gradual accelration due to the lost stabalizers. Alison realized that as
soon as she got back to tell of her battle her ship would be once again fully
functional.

                C.33

               Chaos

        To every thing turn turn turn.

        Alison felt better after a few days in the hospital recovering from
her wounds. She hardly had time to feel guilty about letting Suzie die with
all the heaps of get well letters that she was recieving daily. The people
treated Suzie's death like they would a trafic accident and they treated the
story of the battle as just something cool that had happened. Half the people
on the planet had the chance to see the strange explosions only several milion
miles out into space (the other half were on the far side of the planet).

        Jack and the Demigods convened. They were most disturbed. Yin was now
seperate from Yang. This was not good, not good at all. Yang would have to be
remade.

        Alison was released from the hospital and returned to her duitys as
advisor to the council. As she was going through the transcripts of the last
few sessions of the council she began to feel an itchy impatient feeling. She
chalked it up to the excitement of the last few days and pushed forwards. The
transcripts were boring. Half the stuff she was reading seemed to be just one
council member recognising a list of other council members, saying a few drab
comments then handing the floor to somebody else. Her eyes beginning to ache
she looked up. Council members were milling around the chamber waiting for the
meeting to be called to order. Alison saw for an instant the meeting hall empty
and the furnature smashed and all over the floor. She looked around nervously
but saw nothing unusual. She almost ran outside to take a breather. She felt no
better. For an instant she got the impression that the people walking down the
street were panicked and runnig for their lives in complete confusion. She ran
to her ship. She didn't know why but she knew that she'd better get off of this
planet as soon as possible.

        She felt better climbing out of the atmosphere at mach ten. She watched
as the planet began to recede into the distance. Suddenly something strange
started to happen. The darkness from the spaceward side of the planet began to
creep into the domain of the sunlit side. It was the strangest thign to see
but in moments the entire planet was black. Alison punched the hyperdrive.

        The darkness was only the first thing to happen. The second was the
duke realizing that his worst fears were being realized. Then stranger things
happened. People began dissapearing from their homes and reappearing on
completely different sides of the planet. Without a working mass transit system
the displacement was practically irreversable. Immagine waking up, walking out
your front door and instead of your neighbor you find a man who had untill
yesterday had been living in India, and your other neighbor now a man from
Cleveland, OH. Looking around you now notice that everything else is different
too. Your house is not your own eather! The demi-gods completed their work by
removing the tools left behind by those who had moved to the other planet.
        The darkness lifted from the sky. The people knew that it would be
around for a very long time.

                      Summarization

        Alison successfully helped to avert a neuclear apocolypse by
bringing a decicive end to the war. At least now the people of the planet will
have a chance to sort things out and continue with life as usual.


                        The End

                        Volume 6


__________________YES_THIS_IS_A_LINE_________________________________________

        I have the most useless phsychic power I could think of. Ocasionally
I have a dream. One time I saw a neighbor's house sinking into the ground
and being filled floor by floor with mud. when I went over to mow that person's
lawn the next day I learned that they had reciently filed in a sink hole in
their front yard. If I can see the future than why does it have to be so
cloudy and of such a mundane topic? Useless. I wish I could have seen
something like how Netscape stock shot up fifty dollars on the first day...
        This story could possibly be an example of a paradox. In one dream
I was reading this large hard cover book writen in beautifull script and
ilustrated with brilantly colored paintings. The story was absolutely
entharalling. After a few years I decided to write it. If I had seen my self
writing it then this entire work is an example of a paradox!
        The only other notable seer I have heard of is Nostradamus. He was
much beter at it than me, Where I can see only a few years at most He could see
nearly half a milenium. But like me he had trouble seperating the prophesy
from the junk that is a result from the dream state. I have decided to apply
a little science to the problem and have come up with these hyphosi

        A. Some dreams are influenced by future events.
        B. The future Can't be altered directly.
        C. All parts of the dream can be altered except the premenition portion
because that would alter the future event.

        Note I am yet to prove any of these hypothesi. If they are ture then
I should have a method of telling the future with a reasonable degree of
accuracy. (with much practice, hard work)