🚀 go-pugleaf

                FROM THE FILES OF TEAM M.E.C.H.A.

                   MIKE SOLO #1: COLLEGE LIFE

  By Robotech_Master (who has some college experience himself)


    Mike lay on his bed,  doodling  on  the  LCD  screen  of  the
handcomputer that was one of the few things he'd brought with him
from Team M.E.C.H.A.  headquarters.  He had been writing an email
letter to Summer, but had run out of things to say.
    College life was great.  Mike had forgotten how much  fun  it
could be. Going out to movies, catching up on netnews, making new
friends and talking more to old ones...
    Speaking of old friends, Mike  was  rooming  with  one.   The
other  guy in room 219 of Wells Dormitory had, ironically enough,
been somewhat responsible for the genesis of Team M.E.C.H.A.  His
name  was Chris Meadows, and he was an anime fanatic media major.
A couple of years before, Mike had been  taking  a  media  course
with  Chris,  and  Chris had collared him and forced him to watch
some anime with him.  Needless to say, Mike was soon hooked,  and
had  built  up  a  collection of his own. Thus, it is safe to say
that if it hadn't been for Chris Meadows, Team  M.E.C.H.A.  would
probably never have existed.
    At the moment, Chris was also working with  a  computer.   He
was  sitting at his desk, banging away at the keys of his old IBM
PC Convertible...a first-generation laptop with  an  LCD  screen,
256K onboard RAM, and two 720K drives.  Mike glanced over at him.
While Mike kept his side of the room rather  tidy,  Chris  had  a
problem  with  neatness.  Even with the metal shelves he'd gotten
at Builder's Square, he never seemed to have enough space to keep
his  stuff, and it generally ended up on the floor.  But, as long
as he kept it on his side of the room, it was okay.
    "Hey, Chris, whatcha doin'?" Mike asked.
    "I'm writing for Normalguy," Chris replied.
    "Normalguy?"  Mike  asked,  putting  down  the  handcomp  and
sitting up.
    "Yeah.  It's a listserv where we write about normal people in
a  world  without superheroes or magic.  My character is based on
myself--a college  student--and  he's  currently  procrastinating
writing  some  papers he needs to do."  Chris hit the save macro,
and the disk drive whirred.  "A lot of superguys write  for  this
list.  Superuser, Ramrod, High-Jinx..."
    "Um, whatever you say."  Mike wasn't  sure,  but  he  thought
Chris  was  pulling  his  leg.  He had kind of a strange sense of
humor--it was probably just another one of  Chris  Meadows's  odd
jokes.
    "I'm going downstairs to the  computer  lab,"  Mike  decided,
getting up.  "You staying here for a while?"
    "Yeah.  I want to finish what I'm writing here."
    On his way out, Mike glanced over Chris's  shoulder.   "'Dear
Aaron. How are you?  I'm fine...'  Hah.  'Normalguy' indeed."

    Larry Thomas advanced deeper into the dungeon,  slaying  with
his vorpal sword anything that got in his way.  He was just about
to rescue the Princess, and when he got her back to Mordilnia she
would  give him 5,000 gold pieces, and he could buy that new suit
of armor he'd always wanted.  He...
    ...was brought rudely  back  to  reality  by  the  hand  that
reached down and turned off the computer.  "Hey, you--" he began,
looking up...
    ...into the face  of  sysadmin  Patrick  Day.   "You've  been
warned  about  MUDing in the computer lab," Day said.  "I'm going
to have to revoke your account."
    "No!" Larry said.  "You can't do that!"
    "I can, and I am."  Pat made a gesture to one of the  labbies
down  at  the  other  end.   "You can reapply next semester."  He
turned and walked away.
    Larry made his way out of Cheek Hall in  a  state  of  shock.
His internet account...gone.  All his email, all his files.  Just
like that. Larry was not having a good week.
    He'd had troubles with registration--every single class  he'd
wanted into had been taken.  He'd finally managed to get into two
or three of the ones he needed, but'd had to  take  a  couple  of
screwball  courses  like  Macrame  for Fun and Profit in order to
fill out the required hours.
    And then he found that he wouldn't be able to  get  into  his
degree  program  because  he  was  one decimal point short of the
requisite GPA. _ONE DECIMAL POINT!_  And now this.
    Larry'd had quite  enough.   He  walked  back  to  his  room,
beginning  to make plans.  "No more Mister Nice Guy," he muttered
under his breath. "I'm sick of all these rules  and  regulations,
red tape and paperwork that messes everybody up.  If this college
wants to dish it out, let's see  how  well  it  can  take  it  in
return.  Oh, yes, I'm going to fight back...you can count on it."
Larry walked purposefully into the southwest entrance  to  Blair-
Shannon  Residence  Hall  and  punched  for  the elevator.  A few
moments later, he was unlocking the door of his room and stepping
inside.
    Throwing his knapsack on his bed, Larry went to his desk  and
rummaged   around  on  it.   AD&D  Player's  Handbook...chemistry
textbook...macrame needles...  "Ah-ha!"  Larry held  up  the  big
pile  of  laser  printouts.  "Yes, here we are.  Right out of the
gopher site at wiretap.spies.com. in guerilla  warfare  handbook,
and Flatphoot's 'How to Be a Supervillain on Pennies a Day.' Just
what I need."  Larry Thomas laughed a crazed, evil laugh.   "This
school  has had it.  Now Southwest Missouri State University will
face the wrath of...the College Anarchist!!!"

    Mike walked into Cheek Hall just as Larry  was  walking  out.
Neither  of  them really noticed the other--who pays attention to
other people when your only thought is to get to your email or to
make  plans  to  exact your revenge?  Mike sat down at a terminal
and logged on, then uploaded what he'd written on that letter  to
Summer.   He checked email.  "Hmm, nothing waiting...no, hold on.
Something just hit the mailbox.  Let's see what  that  is...hmm."
It  was  a reminder from Link Douglas that the wedding was coming
up soon.  He also  reported  that  one  of  the  motorcycles  was
mysteriously missing from HQ, but Mike dismissed that as an error
in inventory.
    Mike sent some email in response and logged off.  His stomach
was  growling,  and it was only half an hour 'til his next class.
"I'd better get moving.   I'll  start  making  plans  about  that
wedding  thing  later."  Mike walked out the door, little knowing
what chaos would soon strike the university.


           WHAT CHAOS WILL SOON STRIKE THE UNIVERSITY?

         I MEAN, COME ON, WHAT COULD ONE COLLEGE KID DO?

     AND WHAT ARE THOSE LASER-PRINTED BOOKS ABOUT, ANYWAY?
(Check out the gopher site at wiretap--it's real, and two of the three
books mentioned are also real.  I leave you to figure out which two. :)

                WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE WEDDING?

                AND WHAT'S UP WITH ADAM DOUGLAS?


         FIND OUT SOON, AS THE COLLEGE ANARCHIST STRIKES

                             ONLY ON

              +....oooo0000 SUPERGUY 0000oooo....+

--
Chris Meadows/Robotech_Master // chm173s@nic.smsu.edu // GEEK CODE V2.0:
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