🚀 go-pugleaf

    Adam Douglas stepped out of the Team M.E.C.H.A. Battlefield Mall
outpost, closing the door quietly behind him.  At 5:30 in the morning,
there was no activity in the mall proper.  The fluorescent lights
gleamed, as they always did, but their glint was reflected from dozens
of steel-barred security doors, held shut with heavy padlocks.  Adam
half-smiled.  Things were as they were supposed to be.
    As Adam dropped the heavy duffel bag to the tile floor and turned
back to lock the door, footsteps sounded behind him.  "Hey, what are
you--oh, it's you, Mr. Douglas.  Didn't recognize you at first."
    Adam turned to the security guard.  "Hey, Sam.  Haven't seen you
in a while.  How are you doing?"
    The guard shrugged.  "Getting along.  Oh, I heard about Summer.
I'm really sorry."
    "Actually, Summer's back now," Adam said, shouldering the bag
again.  "It's Jenny that's gone this time."
    Sam scratched his head.  "Jenny's--how'd this happen?"
    Adam shrugged.  "You'll read it in the Schmooze, I'm sure."
    "Oh.  I understand."
    "Anyway, keep watching the mall.  I'm going out...got a job to
do."
    "Right."  Sam nodded, and continued on into the food court.  "See
you later!"
    "Right," Adam said, turning to go.  "See you."

    The sun was just beginning to peek over the eastern horizon as
Adam walked out to the Bronco that sat isolated in one of the employee
parking spaces.  "'Morning, Paint."  An electronic neigh greeted him
in response, and the driver-side door popped open without Adam even
touching it.
    "Hey, I'm glad to see you, too," Adam chuckled.  "Ready for a day
on the town?"  Another neigh assured him that yes, Paint was indeed
ready.  "Good.  Guess it gets boring sitting around in a parking lot
all day."
    Adam put the bag on the passenger seat and closed the door.  "Then
let's roll."
    The Bronco started up, put itself into gear, and headed out of the
parking lot.  Adam watched the sunrise for a moment, then nodded.
"Wonderful day to blow people away..."


      T    E    A    M                                        #93

     MMM     MMM       EEEEEEEE     CCCCCCCC   HHH    HHH   AAAAAA
    MMMM    MMMM                  CCC         HHH    HHH   AAA AAA
   MMMMMM MMMMMM     EEEEEEE     CCC         HHHHHHHHHH   AAA  AAA
  MMM MMMMMM MMM                CCC         HHH    HHH   AAAAAAAAA
 MMM   MMMM  MMM * EEEEEEEEE *  CCCCCCCC * HHH    HHH * AAA    AAA *


                         A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

                               Part Nine

A Story of High Technology and Writer's Block-Induced Posting Hiatuses

                  (Yeah, yeah, same as it ever was.)

                  Written by Christopher E. Meadows
                         aka Robotech_Master

                Continuity Note: Why do I even bother?


    The Bronco pulled onto Glenstone Avenue and headed north.  Adam
checked his watch, thought a moment, then shrugged.  "I guess I've got
time.  Take a right on Sunshine, Paint.  I'm gonna eat breakfast at
Waffle House."  A synthesized whinny was the response, and the vehicle
did as he requested.  A few moments later, Paint pulled into the
parking lot just east of the overpass, and Adam got out and walked
into the cafe.
    A little while later, Adam returned to his 4x4 and climbed back
in.  "Now...let's see what we can do about following up on that
lead..."
    *BRRRRREEEEET!*  Adam was so startled he nearly fell out of his
seat.  "Wha?!  Oh, it's just the comlink.  Paint, decrease the volume
on that ringer by about half, would you?  It's just too loud."  The
phone rang again, more softly this time.  Adam sighed.  "I guess I
should answer it."
    Paint apparently took this as a signal that she should do so, for
Mike's face rezzed up on the head-up display overlay projected on the
windshield above the steering wheel.  "Hey, Adam.  Comlink transponder
says you're in Springfield."
    "As it happens, I am," Adam said, making a mental note to see if
Paint could show him how to turn the transponder off.  "What did you
want?"
    "Just got a call from one Alex Meadows.  Y'know, my ex-roomie's
brother?"
    "Yeah, he helped the Irregulars while we were gone, didn't he?"
Adam replied.
    "Yeah, that's him.  Anyway, he's kind of worried--apparently his
brother has disappeared."
    "Chris?"
    "No, the other one," Mike said.  "His twin brother, Aaron."
    "Oh, right."  Adam nodded.  "Disappeared, eh?  What you want me to
do about it?"
    "Swing by his dorm and check it out," Mike said.  "You're the
closest person we have about now, and it shouldn't take too long..."
    Adam sighed.  "Okay, Mike.  I'm on it."
    "I'm not interrupting something important, am I?" Mike asked.  "I
mean, if it's inconvenient--"
    "Eh, don't worry 'bout it," Adam said.  "Like you said, it
shouldn't take long.  Adam out."  The image flickered and faded, and
Adam leaned back in his seat.  "Right.  Paint, remind me to see if
Dr. Science can figure out a way for you to screen my calls."  He
sighed.  "Okay, let's head for Sunvilla."

    "Let me get this straight," Summer said to Dr. Science.  "You
think that this virus, or whatever it was, somehow made its way out of
my body and possessed Lita?"
    Dr. Science nodded impatiently.  "Yes, yes, that is precisely what
I believe.  Look."  He held the tricorder display in front of her
face.
    Summer blinked.  "Um...what's it saying?  I don't know how to read
that."
    "These are the traces of nanomachines I found under the hospital
bed.  The hospital bed in which you were lying last night."
    "Hmm."  Summer paused.  "You know...I haven't been able to find
any traces of the virus in my memory...or Jenny, or Chet either, for
that matter.  Maybe when he threw himself at the virus, it knocked all
of them right out of me, and...hmm."
    "Yes, my thoughts precisely," Dr. Science said impatiently.  "The
crux of the matter is, Lita disappeared only a short time after this
event.  The two events have to be related; there is no other
explanation.  At this very moment, Lita, or what _used_ to be Lita, is
somewhere out there right now, and innocent lives could well be at
stake."  Not the least of which, Dr. Science didn't add, was Lita's.
    "What should we do about this?" Summer asked.  "She could be
almost anywhere by now."
    "Actually, I have a few ideas on that score..."  Dr. Science held
up a hand-computer upon which he'd made a few sketches.  "I believe
that one of the sensor modules I designed for the Bahamode X.N. could
be adapted to perform a broad-spectrum search for nanomachines of the
type you are composed of."
    Summer nodded.  "And then use Mike's Bahamode to search for her?"
    "Yes...and the other mecha which I've been retrofitting with the
modules as well."  Dr. Science set his jaw.  "Wherever she is, we have
to find her."  What they would do after that, however, Dr. Science had
no idea.


    The Bronco pulled up in front of Sunvilla, and Adam Douglas
sighed.  After circling the block three times, he'd still found no
sign of a parking place.  That was pretty much the way it was around
SMSU in the fall...and for as short a time as he would be staying, he
was loathe to pay the fee to park in the big garage that had displaced
a nice little bar the year before.
    Adam sighed.  "Right.  Okay, Paint, dial him at his room.  I'll
just have him meet me out front."
    A few minutes later, the blond 19-year-old had climbed into the
shotgun seat of the Bronco.  "Hey.  I'm Alex.  You're from Team
M.E.C.H.A.?"
    "Right.  Adam Douglas."  Adam swivelled his seat to face Alex, and
let Paint drive.  Alex blinked, but didn't say anything.  "So, Alex,
you say your brother's missing?"
    "Yeah.  He's been gone for several days.  He was supposed to meet
us for raquetball, but he just disappeared."
    "Hmm...have you told the police?"
    Alex shook his head.  "No...then they'd have to contact Mom and
Dad, and everyone would get real worried over this thing that might
not even be anything serious at all."
    "Hmm...if your brother disappeared, I'd tend to think that's
serious, though.  Hmm...snatched from right on campus?"  An alarm bell
was going off in the back of Adam's mind.  Wasn't there something
similar that had happened a while ago...?  Adam snapped his fingers.
"Lorrie!"
    "Huh?"
    "Lorrie Thomas, the leader of the Irregulars," Adam explained.
"She was kidnapped on campus a couple of years ago, and..."
    "And...?" Alex prompted.
    "Hmm."  Explaining that she had been experimented on and turned
into a weresquirrel didn't seem like the best idea about now.  "The
two could be connected."
    "So who kidnapped Lorrie?" Alex asked.
    "We, um, don't exactly know..." Adam said.
    "So that means they could still be at large," Alex said.
    "Um...I'm afraid so," Adam replied.  "We've been looking for
clues, but we haven't found all that much to go on.  And then this
PenumbralPerson (TM) character popped up and made all our lives much
more...complicated."
    "I don't care about your problems!" Alex said.  "I just want to
make sure my brother's okay."
    "Wait...wait a minute."  Adam stopped, and gave full thought to
what he'd just said.  They were looking for clues to Lorrie's
kidnappers...then PenumbralPerson (TM) appeared and fully occupied the
Team's efforts.  It was just a little too pat to be a coincidence.
What if...?  Adam's jaw dropped.  "No...it couldn't be...could it?"
    "Huh?  What?" Alex asked.
    Adam looked Alex in the eye.  "Alex, my friend, I came to
Springfield today to follow up on a lead that might be connected to
your brother's kidnapping."
    "Cooool.  I want to come along."
    Adam opened his mouth to refuse him out of hand, then thought
better of it.  "Have you had any gun experience?"
    Alex grinned.  "Army Reserve artillery school, Fort Sill,
Oklahoma.  Those big enough guns for you?"
    Adam chuckled, returning the grin in kind.  "How about something a
little smaller?"
    Alex shrugged.  "Browning .50 machine gun, M-16A2 carbine...oh,
and I'm on the college pistol team.  Best shot they've got, in fact."
    "Uh-huh."  Adam reached to the back seat and grabbed the gym bag
full of guns.  "Let's see...think you can handle these?"  He pulled
out a couple of Beretta 92s.
    "Hmm...they're not what I'm used to, but I think so."
    "Cool.  Hmm, probably better get you kitted out with the whole
deal.  We could be facing some heavy opposition."
    "Hoo-wah..." Alex murmured as Adam produced a dozen handguns of
assorted calibers in quick succession.  "Boy, you must just _love_ the
second amendment."
    Adam grinned.  "You might say that."
    "Say..." Alex noted, as he checked over the armament.  "I thought
you guys used powered armor or something."
    Adam shrugged.  "We do most of the time, yes...but this time,
stealth is called for.  You can't exactly sneak around with several
hundred pounds of armor and jetpack weighing you down."
    "Yeah, guess you're right."
    "Besides, if we really need it, Paint here's packing a few
surprises of her own."  Adam patted the dashboard affectionately,
while Alex looked somewhat doubtful.
    "Okay...so what's the plan?" Alex asked.
    Adam nodded.  "Here's what we're going to do..."

    PenumbralPerson (TM), aka The Master of the Net, surveyed his
troops in the warehouse in the northeastern part of Springfield.  He
had to admit, however much of a buffoon the prior P'Person (TM) had
been, at least he had done well with his forces.  Despite the losses
they'd taken in constant battles with Team M.E.C.H.A., they were still
fairly strong.  In numbers, at least; the Master didn't think they
would have been able to stop three or four determined Net.Heroes, much
less a group of the somewhat saner heroes from this reality.  Still,
they would make a good distraction, and a good police force if his
plans came to fruition.
    There was only the matter of the two scientists to consider.
PenumbralPerson (TM) had originally been hired to create a
distraction, to keep Team M.E.C.H.A. from looking into the recent
student disappearances.  The Master of the Net, however, was under no
such obligations, and the scientists were becoming more of a nuisance
than they were worth.  Perhaps it was time to turn the situation
around, and let _them_ serve to distract Team M.E.C.H.A. away from
_him_...
    Unbeknownst to the Master of the Net, it was already a bit too
late for that, as the Bronco 4x4 that had just pulled up in the
parking lot outside could attest.  "Paint, watch the place for us, and
blow up anything that tries to get away," Adam ordered, picking up his
Mossberg pump-action shotgun and checking the load.  "Alex, follow me.
We'll case the building to see if Aaron's there--though I doubt it.  I
don't think PenumbralPerson (TM) is the actual kidnapper, just
related, and my informant said this was just PP (TM)'s troop
center--and if we don't find him, we go in guns blazing and see just
how much of PP (TM)'s army we can mess up."
    "Hoo-wah!"  Alex checked his pistols, then followed Adam toward
the warehouse's fire escape.  It was the work of but a couple of
moments to climb to the roof of the building, and to make their way in
through an open ventilation grate.  Shortly thereafter, Adam and Alex
were perched in the rafters of the warehouse, looking down on the
tableau spread out beneath them.
    On the warehouse floor were dozens and dozens of Bubble Gum
Troopers and Zoomers, lined up in neat little rows for PenumbralPerson
(TM) to review.  Row upon row of pink armor suits and shining metallic
figures...  "Wow..." Alex gasped.
    Adam was a bit less impressed and more annoyed.  "Dammit, they
didn't say there were gonna be this many..."
    Alex shrugged.  "I guess we improvise, then."
    "Right.  Let's go."  As PenumbralPerson (TM) stood at a dais at
the end of the room and looked over his forces, Adam and Alex snuck
over to a ladder and made their way to the lower level.
    "We gonna split up?" Alex asked.  "Cover more ground?"
    Adam shook his head.  "No need...got some friends to do the
searching for me."  He closed his eyes and gestured in the air, and
half a dozen smoky shapes appeared in the air around him.  Adam
murmured something and gestured, and the shapes nodded and scattered.
    "Bwah...?" Alex gasped.  "What were..."
    "Huh?  You could see them?" Adam asked.  "Huh.  Maybe you've got
some mage-potential."
    "But what--"
    "Smog spirits.  Asked 'em to search the warehouse for someone who
looks kinda like you.  They'll cover the whole place much faster than
we could."
    "Wow...you're a mage?  Cooooool.  I wanna do that!"
    Adam gestured.  "C'mon.  Let's see if we can find someone all by
himself to question."
    "Hoo-wah."
    The entire eastern wing of the warehouse, it turned out, had been
converted into barracks for the men.  Adam and Alex moved swiftly down
the corridors, giving each room a cursory glance to see if there was
anyone there.  The barracks were largely empty, as all the men were
lined up in the main room for P'Person (TM) to review...but as they
came to the end of one of the corridors, they lucked out.
    In the last room on the right, as they burst into the room, they
caught a very surprised Bubble Gum Trooper in the process of tying his
shoes.  "Bwah?!" said the trooper, dropping his shoe and reaching for
a gun.
    Adam poked his shotgun in the trooper's face.  "Wouldn't recommend
that."
    "What--what do you want?"
    Alex grabbed the hapless trooper by the collar.  "Where's my
brother?!"
    "Huh?  What do you mean?  Is your brother a Trooper?"
    "My brother, who you guys kidnapped!"  Alex shook the trooper to
emphasize his point.  "Where is he?!"
    "I--I dunno what you're talking about!" the Bubble Gum Trooper
protested.  "We're just soldiers for PenumbralPerson (TM)!  We don't
do kidnapping!"
    "What the--hey!"  The voice came from the door--it was another
trooper, sans armor, who'd just come up the corridor.  Adam spun and
leap-kicked the door, slamming it shut on the trooper's arm and
causing him to drop the pistol he'd just drawn.  "Yowww!!!"
    Adam pulled the door open, grabbed the soldier's arm, and yanked
him inside, slamming a knee into his face along the way.  "Get over
there!"  He threw the trooper onto the bed next to the first one.
    "What now?" Alex asked.
    "Hang on a minute...the spirits are reporting back."  Adam turned
to meet the six smoky manifestations, and conversed with them for a
few moments  before they dispersed.  "No luck," Adam reported.  "He's
not here.  Just troops."
    Alex nodded.  "Right.  Let's tie these guys up and get on with
it."

    A few moments later, they stood once more in the warehouse's
rafters, looking down on the troops being reviewed.  "What now?" Alex
whispered.  "Gonna have your spirit buddies help us out?"
    Adam shrugged.  "Yeah, sure, why not?"  He motioned in the air
again.  "You're gonna _love_ this..."
    As Alex watched, a hazy mist began creeping in from the corners of
the room, building up around the troopers' legs.  At first they didn't
notice, but as the vapors rose to waist level and above, there was
some muttering and confusion, and a few "What the hell?!"s.
    As the troops started moving around in mass confusion, Adam
grinned.  "I think it's time..."  He plucked several canisters from
his belt, pulled the pins, and let them fly.
    As the room filled with smog and the explosions and smoke
canisters went off, all PenumbralPerson (TM)'s carefully-gathered
troops scattered in chaotic disarray.  Armor-clad Bubble Gum Troopers
ran in all directions, while Zoomers stood there, lacking any orders
to attack or defend.  Into the middle of it all slid two figures on a
rope, hitting the floor with guns in hand.
    "What the HELL is going on?!" PenumbralPerson (TM) roared.  "Are
we under attack?!  Troops!  Halt!  Report!"  However, there was a lot
of mad scrambling for cover, and not very much halting or reporting,
as the two figures opened up with pistols and shotgun.  BOOM!  A
Zoomer's head exploded.  BOOM!  A trooper went down with a hole blown
through his chest.  BOOM!  One of the oil drums stacked up against the
far wall exploded, touching off others and setting the wall ablaze.
    Adam pumped the action on his shotgun.  "Alex!  Cover me!  I'm
gonna find PenumbralPerson (TM)!"
    "You think you can handle him?  His armor suit--" Alex began.
    "The ol' Mossberg's loaded with armor-piercing shot.  He's going
nowhere!"
    "Right!"  Alex dropped a spent clip out of one of his pistols and
slapped in another.  "Go!"
    Shoving aside a pair of Zoomers, Adam dashed for the back of the
warehouse, shotgun held high.  "PenumbralPerson (TM), your ass is
_mine_!"
    It was at about this point that the troopers realized that despite
all the smoke and explosions, they were in fact _not_ under attack by
an entire platoon...and so they turned around and began shooting back.
    Alex yelled something unprintable and dived for cover, firing from
the pistols he gripped tightly in each hand.  Four pink-suited
troopers went down, but the others kept firing.  Rock-hard pellets of
bubble gum pinged off the floor and walls, narrowly missing him.
    Adam, meanwhile, strode unstoppably through the legions of
troopers, Mossberg in one hand and Colt Anaconda .357 Magnum in the
other.  BANG, BANG, BANG!  Adam fired from the Anaconda, saving the
shotgun for PenumbralPerson (TM).  BANG, BANG!  BANG!  The Bubble Gum
Troopers went down like targets in those old Nintendo zapper-gun games
he'd used to play, and those few Zoomers who had actually been
switched into attack mode did likewise.  Adam holstered the spent
Anaconda and drew a Desert Eagle as he steadily progressed toward the
dais where he'd seen PenumbralPerson (TM) before they'd rappelled
down.  "You're gonna _pay_ for what you did to Summer and Jenny, you
bastard..."
    Across the room, Alex was pinned down behind some shipping crates
by Bubble Gum Trooper fire, and was firing back at his attackers for
all he was worth.  It wasn't doing much good, though, and Alex was
chagrinned to see a Bubble Gum Trooper with a huge cannon mounted to
its arm approaching.  "Oh, _shit_!"  Adam fired a couple more times,
then turned and ran--just as the cannon trooper fired a volley into
the shipping crates, and they exploded in all directions.  Alex was
thrown through the air by the blast, and slammed into a wall, hard.
    Adam turned.  "Alex!"  He raised the shotgun and fired, and the
round slammed into the cannon trooper's back, causing his thrust pack
to short out and explode.  "Damn!"  He thumbed his comlink.  "Paint,
GET IN HERE!"
    A section of the warehouse wall exploded inward in a manner
reminiscent of Kool-Aid commercials, save that it was not a cheerful
pitcher bursting through this wall but a rather angry 4x4-cum-robotic
horse with heavy weapons at its disposal.  Paint opened up with her
lasers and grenade launchers, suppressing the fire from the remaining
Bubble Gum troopers and making the warehouse even more of a mess than
it already was.
    Satisfied that the situation was under control, Adam turned and
leaped to the podium, and looked around for his foe.  P'Person (TM)
had been here, there was no doubt of this...but where had he gone?
Wait...there was a doorway behind the podium.  Adam kicked it open and
ran through, shotgun at the ready.
    PenumbralPerson (TM) turned at Adam's approach.  "We meet again."
    "For the first time, for the last time," Adam growled, firing the
shotgun, then pumping it and firing it again.  The blasts slammed into
PenumbralPerson (TM)'s chest, blasting holes in the armor suit.  The
shadowy nimbus that surrounded it flickered, momentarily revealing a
sleek, black hardsuit, but there was no blood, and PenumbralPerson
(TM) was not even staggered.
    "Is that the best you can do?" he asked.
    Adam fired again and again, to no further effect.  "Crap!  What
the hell--?!"
    PenumbralPerson (TM) laughed.  "Is that all you have to say?  If
so..."  PenumbralPerson (TM) raised his arms and fired a barrage of
PenumbralProjectiles (TM) at Adam, who narrowly avoided being
PenumbralPerforated (TM) by throwing himself to the floor.  By the
time he regained his feet, PenumbralPerson (TM) was gone.
    "Damn."  Adam slung the shotgun, stared for a long moment down
that darkened corridor after PenumbralPerson (TM), then turned and
went back to the main room.
    By the time Adam returned, the battle was essentially over.  Most
of the Bubble Gum Troopers had fled, leaving behind their wounded and
their defunct Zoomers.  Paint was scanning watchfully for any further
signs of resistance.
    "Hey, Alex...y'okay?" Adam asked, going over to help his fighting
companion up.  Alex's face was scored and bleeding from shrapnel
fragments.  "Ow...man, you look bad.  Better get you back to the
infirmary.  You gonna be okay?"
    Alex leaned on Adam's shoulder for support as they walked over to
Paint.  "'s okay," he said.  "I'll...just tell everyone that...I fell
off a wall."

    Not far away, PenumbralPerson (TM) swore angrily.  The scientists
had betrayed him.  There could be no question of that--there was no
other way they could have found him--and he had to admit that he could
see the reasoning behind it.  PenumbralPerson (TM) had ostensibly been
meant to be their distraction, to draw the heroes' attention away from
them so they could proceed with their work uninterrupted.  But a
distraction could only work for so long, and the Master of the Net
suspected that P'Person (TM)'s apparently-increased competance since
he'd taken over the body had caused them to start worrying.
    All the same, that did not excuse the betrayal.  PenumbralPerson
(TM)'s army had been scattered, and this would set his plans back
several weeks, at the least.  _Damn_ those scientists!  And damn him
for not betraying _them_ before they had the opportunity to betray
him!  And damn Team M.E.C.H.A., too, for their meddlesome
interference...
    ...but perhaps all was not _quite_ lost.  Perhaps...perhaps he
could allow the scientists to serve as _his_ distraction.  If he were
to turn _them_ in, as they had done him...not only would it be a nice
revenge but it would also buy him more time to reorganize, not to
mention repair the PenumbralPowerarmor (TM).  PenumbralPerson (TM)
smiled beneath his helmet, and retreated into the shadows.


    The dark-skinned, white-haired girl stood in the shadows near the
Juanita K. Hammons Performing Arts Center on Hammons Parkway, just
west of the Hammons House residence hall and northwest of Hammons
Fountain, looking north at the big, black, blocky edifice that towered
over the other buildings around it.  The Hammons Tower was, at
twenty-six stories, the tallest building in Springfield.
    It was located just west of the Hammons Building and north of the
Holiday Inn hotel and convention center, which had hosted some
interesting events in its day.  For example, VisionCon, the local
use-up-a-hotel-a-year science-fiction and gaming convention, had been
there in 1995--and before that, the aftermath of the Odd Science
Convention had necessitated reconstruction of a large portion of the
building by Intercontinental Salvage.
    Eris didn't know why she was drawn to that big, black building,
but there was something there, or near there, that was calling to her
imperceptibly but inexorably.  Something awaited her...but what?  Was
it a sense of purpose?  A fuller identity?  Hidden treasure?  Nothing
at all?
    It wouldn't be long until she found out.


           WILL PENUMBRALPERSON (TM) BETRAY THE SCIENTISTS?

    WILL DR. SCIENCE AND SUMMER LOCATE ERIS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?

 DID ADAM'S RAID OF P'PERSON (TM)'S HQ DO ANY GOOD OTHER THAN LETTING
                     HIM BLOW OFF A LITTLE STEAM?

                       WILL ALEX BE ALL RIGHT?

                             WILL AARON?

       WILL THEY SHOW UP IN FUTURE TEAM M.E.C.H.A. ADVENTURES?


                             FIND OUT ON

                               SUPERGUY

Footnotes:

    Most or all of the stuff Alex says about his military training and
his pistol team experience is true.  (Or, at least, he actually told
it to me. :)
    Alex really _did_ fall off a wall about this time last year.
Banged him up quite a bit.
    All the Hammons place and building names _are_ real, and they
actually _are_ clustered that closely together.

      (This story is copyright 1996 by Christopher E. Meadows.)
--
Chris Meadows aka  | Author, Team M.E.C.H.A., Crapshoot & Co.
Robotech_Master    | on the Superguy Listserv (bit.listserv.superguy)
robotech@jurai.net | With a World Wide Web homepage located at
robotech@eyrie.org | http://www.jurai.net/~robotech/index.html