From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c1a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 08:16:25 -0500

Kansas City January 2002
	Bill Potter woke up one day and decided it was time for things to
change. He had just spent the last six months in a state of self-imposed
seclusion, for reasons he could only describe as "therapeutic". His life
before this six month period had been two long years in the fast track
living a fast and hard life of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, defining to
himself what exactly it meant to be a Fag.
	Defining himself. Who he was.
	After being incapacitate due to AIDS for the past six months,
quite long enough as far as he was concerned, one trip to the doctor had
changed everything. He now tested positive to the P-24 Antigen.
	It was the proverbial "Two Minute Warning".
	The world as he knew it up to this point was now about to come to
an end. Testing positive to this one tiny-assed antigen, gave him a new
time frame in which to get his shit together. He had anywhere from six
months to a year left to live.
	There was no denying Death anymore. It was quite real and it was
coming down on him like a freight train. Death was almost a stench in the
air around him he could smell on himself. It was all over.
	Facing mortality is the absolute worst thing that can happen to a
person. Suddenly the realization hits you in the face that no matter how
much time you have left on this Earth, be it a day or a thousand years,
it's never going to be enough time. It just wasn't fair.
	So what to do with his remaining time?
	He wasn't completely disabled, even though he lived off disability
checks from the government as his only source of income. If he rested for
a few days, he would have a few days in a row where he had a fairly easy
time of getting around. Then of course, the exhaustion would return, and
he would be down for a few more days in bed, with little or no strength,
nor even the will to get up and fix himself something to eat. It just
wasn't worth the bother.
	Other than his brothers Norm and Beau, he had no one left in his
life. His Daddy was gone, and his friends had long since abandoned him
after his long stretch of not having bothered to contact them, so he
really didn't have anything to lose.
	Nothing to lose.
	Even his life was over.
	He knew enough about AIDS, through his continuous research, trying
to find some new way that might help him live, or even to survive a little
longer, to know that he didn't stand a snowballs chance.
	He was infected.
	Even if they came up with a vaccine tomorrow, and perhaps even a
partial cure, there was still nothing that could save him now. Nothing.
The virus had already passed the blood/brain barrier.
	Even if they could find a way to stop the progression of the virus
in his bone marrow, or in his body in general, it was still inside eating
away at his central nervous system..
	The best he could hope for would be to live a few more years
(Providing a cure came quickly) and that he would die crazy, unaware of
the horrors taking place in his body. He would still die from it though.
They can't get the retrovirus out of the neurological system. Not even God
can do that.
	The change came upon him one day between Christmas 2001 and New
Years 2002. He had reached the decision that he was going to squeeze as
much out of this world as he possibly could before he left.
	He had lived a good life, he had at one time a great career in the
computer industry, he had lived adequately but not "Well To Do" by any
standards. He got by.
	It was time for that to change. Existing was not enough. Just
getting by was not enough.
	So, this time, when he got his disability check the third of
January, just as he had for the past couple of years, he made his first
move.
	He went through his normal routine of cashing his check and paying
his rent, though this time, instead of his usual routine of getting his
prescriptions and settling back down to wait for the next third of the
month; he took what cash he had left and went to a Straight bar not far
from his home.
	A couple of drinks later, he saw his window of opportunity and
took it.
	Sitting next to a very obnoxious drunk man, whom Bill found
completely intolerable because of the mans attitudes towards Gays, AIDS,
other races, and poor people in general, Bill found the man to be a
staunch conservative, who had no respect for other people, other views,
other races, nor other ways of life. The drunken fool was just another
Middle Class Idiot. A bully who couldn't think for himself. A leftover
from the Regan years.
	Pity. His own arrogance was going to be his downfall. Right Now.
	While the man was paying for drinks for himself and some peroxided
married woman on the other side of him, fumbling around flashing his cash
like a big shot, Bill looked over at the mans billfold.
	In the clear plastic window was a nice, easy-to-read drivers
license containing the assholes Social Security number and date of birth.
As an extra added bonus, the mans Bank card was sticking up with it's name
proudly emblazoned across the top of it, telling Bill what major bank the
man kept all his Republican funds.
	Simple. Like finding money on the sidewalk.
	When the man went to the bathroom, Bill looked around the bar and
saw that what few people were in there during the day were laughing and
talking to each other in their own loud voices. It was perfect. They
wouldn't even remember his being there, much less his face. Even the
bartender was busy flirting with some tart down at the end of the bar.
	Bill got up and walked out the door smiling to himself, picking up
a few major credit card applications from a display sitting on top of the
cigarette machine on his way out.
	He repeated this at three other Straight bars before his
determination gave out. He had hit the jackpot.
	When he got home, it was simply a matter of writing down the four
new identities he had acquired. He wouldn't even have to keep temporary
files. The scraps of paper he had jotted the information down on were no
longer needed.
	He filled out the credit card applications substituting his own
address for theirs, using their names, social security numbers and date of
birth, filling in their major banks names, and simply leaving the account
numbers under the banks blank.
	Into the mailbox..  Kansas City Februrary 2002
	A month later, after getting his February check, he was a rich
man.
	There were a couple of rejections, but for the most part, making
up a profession and annual income was simply one of the more creative
aspects of the endeavor. If the banks rejected the application on the
grounds that they needed more information, or needed the account numbers
filled in, Fuck'em. There were always three to six other banks who would
accept the applications precisely as-is.
	Such is the way of greed in the world. Bill smiled to himself.
	Now that the last of the cards had arrived in the mail, it was
time for him to leave.
	Sorting through his worldly possessions, trying to decided on what
he absolutely could not live without, he ended up selecting a few favorite
clothes, putting them in a large zippered nylon gear bag, and disappeared.
	There was very little of his past life he wanted to keep anymore.
	On his way to the airport, he stopped by BizMart and purchased a
Top-of-the-line Toshiba Laptop. It was the smallest and most powerful
system he could find.
	In addition to DOS 6.0 and Microsoft Windows, it's hardware
included a color LCD screen, a track ball, dual 3.5" floppy disks, and a
CD-ROM utility package containing lots of other programs like an Atlas,
Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Writers Reference and Word Processor which
were all included with the price of the machine. Great. What a bargain!
	Throwing away the receipts and boxes when he reached the airport
by taxi, he tipped the driver well, feeling in an extra special good mood.
	Sitting in the airport bar, the smell of sweat and exhaustion
permeating the air, having a drink, he sat at a table alone with his
Toshiba LapTop looking through his Atlas, trying to decided on where he
wanted to go.
	Phoenix was as good as any. He liked the hot dry air.
	Buying the ticket would leave an electronic trace that he was all
too aware of, but then, he also knew how fast investigation moved. Hell,
there wouldn't even be a question until he didn't pay the bill on the
credit cards for three months. By then, he would be long gone from Kansas
City.  Phoenix February 2002
	A Four O'clock flight, stopping briefly in Denver, and two hours
later he was relaxing in a Ramada Inn just off Cactus and I-17, not far
from DownTown.
	He picked up a local business paper from the lobby, checking to
make sure there was a BBS listing in the back, putting it back for a
nationwide Personal Computer newspaper. There were always more numbers in
a national paper.
	Having dinner, still on Card One of Identity One, with a credit
limit of $5000 on this one card, and in another thousand it would be
useless.
	Stopping by a bank and a QuikTrip, he pulled a few hundred bucks
off the card using ATM's (his favorite tellers) and headed for Charlies.
	Bill picked up a Gay newspaper, and of course in the back there
was a section in the personals where the Gay BBS's were listed. We live in
The Information Age. One number would lead to ten others, which in turn
each lead to ten others... etc..
	Now all he needed was customers.
	That would be tomorrows job. Tonight, it was time to celebrate his
new found freedom! Taking a bold and totally self centered step was the
best thing he had ever done for himself.
	A couple of quarters of cocaine which he purchased out in the
parking lot, and a few dozen cocktails later, he was celebrating like he
had never done before. To Hell with AZT and DDI. He would perfect his own
body chemistry in his own special way!
	He had forgotten how good life could be in a chemicaled state!
	



From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c1b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 08:17:50 -0500

Later that evening, after closing the bar down, on the way back to the
hotel, he had the cab driver stop by a couple of more banks, (ATM's)
leaving the maxed-out card in the machine, tipped the driver lavishly with
a grin and spent the rest of the night sitting up in his hotel room
drinking Cokes (Coca-Cola) with coke (Cocaine) put back in.
	He had re-invented the original formula Coke! He laughed to
himself.
	He sat up for the next several hours, plugged into the hotel phone
line, calling various Bulletin Board Systems throughout the Greater
Phoenix-Mesa and surrounding areas, leaving his name and a small note
describing his "special electronic services" available to those who didn't
have the know-how or the guts to pull it off for themselves.
	He cleared the long distance calls with the night manager by
slipping the man a fifty, and there was no problem.
	Then he called a couple of the Universities, since there was
always something going on in the computer underworld to keep the students
ahead of their parents.
	Around noon he took a nap, and then got back up to go searching
for a Condominium in one of the better neighborhoods in town, making sure
he would be allowed to add additional phone lines for his future
computers. No problem for the tenants association nor the owner of said
condo, if you're paying cash for the deposit and rent 3 moths in advance.
	Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon he reached the limit on his second
card at a cash machine in a shopping center a couple of blocks from his
condo. Gee, that went fast. Ten grand in 24 hours.
	No problem. He still had a dozen other cards in his billfold,
along side about $900 in cash for expenses.
	He then called the department of Social Security and had his
disability check transferred to his new address, just in case things got
slow and to make sure they knew he was dead yet. The check would pay the
rent anyway...
	His first taker came when a kid in the fifth grade wanted a new
$1200 plasma monitor for his computer, but couldn't afford it.
	Bill laughed to himself, smiled and thought: Hell, you gotta start
somewhere.
	So, in meeting the kid at the ChrisTown Mall, the kid paid Bill a
gram of his Stepfathers cocaine, a credit card number and a phone card
number. There are all kinds of barter available.
	Whipping out his next credit card, Bill purchased a printer for
himself, the new plasma monitor for the kid, and shook his hand. The kid
went home with a new toy and Bill had something even better.
	Numbers on a slip of paper and a start.
	The next few days Bill spent playing around on the boards with
local teens and college kids. Then, as things do get around, one kid told
his brother about the man named Bill and his services. The brother it
seems was a little bit older. A corporate junior executive. And an
ambitious man.
	The guy wanted something really incriminating on his competition
for an upcoming promotion. He knew the guy wasn't as clean as he claimed
to be, but so far, he couldn't find anything out on the guy on his own.
He was absolutely sure however that the man had a past.
	"No problem." Bill smiled.
	The guy gave Bill as much information on the competitor as he
knew, which amounted to little more than his name and address. It was
enough.
	The Arizona power company, "The Salt River Project" computer was
kind enough to give up the guys date of birth, and from there, The Phoenix
Police computers as well as the Arizona Highway Patrol computers were
dumping a file to Bills LapTop that he found quite funny.
	So many secrets can be kept when one has the money...
	The guy paid Bill a thousand dollars cash, and with a smile, Bill
told the guy that if he or any of his friends needed anything else in the
future, he could be reached on most BBS's under the handle "Computer
Queen".
	The man didn't even flinch, and Bill's being Gay didn't seem to
affect him at all from the sparkle in his eyes as Bill handed him the
sheaf of paper.
	The next few days Bill spent busy, building a half a dozen new
identities complete with birth records, social security cards, State ID's
and passports all containing his own picture, when he got his next major
client.
	A fairly well-off college girl seemed to be having a problem at
home. Her mother, who was in the process of her third divorce was having
problems with her latest Ex-Husband who was equally well-to-do, and both
were being harassed by the Ex (mostly the mother) and the girl simply
wanted the man taken out.
	Not killed or anything, but she wanted the man to go through
enough grief that he would forget about them for a while, long enough for
them to get their lives together and get out of the state, where he
couldn't find them. She wanted Bill to keep him busy enough that the man
would stay off their asses.
	Ok.
	Bill agreed that for $5000 (A very reasonable amount considering
the mothers income bracket as a Real Estate Agent) he would take the man
out for Quite a while.
	A certified check made out to one of Bill's new identities
exchanged hands and the very next day the girl left a note on the school
BBS of her gratitude and Thanks.
	In the middle of the night, Bill was able to not only transfer
them back their $5000 from the assholes own bank account, he took a
sizeable portion for himself, transferred $25,000 in bonds into one of his
pseudo-identities, and had the IRS searching for the man on Tax Fraud.
	Right after he notified the IRS, he left a note in the sheriffs
computer to the effect that the man was to be apprehended immediately, was
considered armed and dangerous, and the FBI would be by in the morning to
take him into Federal custody.
	Good Guy / Bad Guy, it's all the same.  Phoenix March 2002
	With his new life in full swing, Bills attention grew wider in its
perspective. No longer was he sitting alone in a studio apartment
concerned over his own health and the rate of it's deterioration. There
were other things going on in the world, besides one Fag dying.
	After Bill set up a discreet Geneva account for his windfalls,
(Using the phone card number from his very first client) he went to work
for other people.
	Bill figured he was currently making about $2500 dollars an hour,
during the times that he worked, and when he wasn't, his money was making
money for him. Still, it wasn't enough.
	It wasn't that he was greedy, he just needed more.
	Bill had been raised as a good Mormon boy (RLDS actually), raised
with that special respect for information gathering that only a Mormon or
a CyberPunk could understand.
	Information was power. Regardless of what hands it was in.
	As he sat in a bar laughing and talking with some of his new
acquaintances, who had no idea as to how or where he made his money, he
remembered what his father John Potter had told him as a young boy.
	"No matter what they do to you, they can't take away what's in your
head."
	True enough Dear Father. Of course, John Potter had meant it at
the time as a guilt-tactic tool to get Bill to go on to college.
(Something he had always wanted to do from the age of twelve.)
	Being raised in a church which understood what modern day prophets
and seers were really all about, genetically breeding for them as it were,
Bill felt more than just a little superior to most people in that his own
memory was very good. Exceptional as a matter of fact.
	Prophets and Seers worked from a "Big Picture" point of view. In
the full understanding of any one thing, it was much easier to take it in
as part of the whole.
	Bill saw a picture looming on the dark horizon that few others on
the planet did. He knew this world was going to change radically in the
next year, and not all of it for the good.
	The Soviets were no longer. The Commonwealth of Independent States
were all capitalists. Despite the change in administrations to a
Democratic President, the Trilateral Commission was continuing to gut the
United States. The New World Order was here. And big changes were coming.
	This was March. He had to move faster.
	There were things he needed done before "The Great Fall".
	Bill called back to Kansas City, to his brother Norm's lover Louis
at a company called Real Share Inc, and left the phone number where he
could be reached in case of emergencies.
	It was for both of their benefits. The man was the absolute best
Hardware Tech Bill had ever known, and Bill was always going to need a
black box builder. Also, if something happened, and the guy suddenly lost
his job, he could come to work for Bill.
	If the fall of The Great Holy Dollar Empire came before he
anticipated it, he wanted his connections to know that he would still want
to be in contact, perhaps even offering them a position if it came to
that.
	You never knew. Besides, Louis was family.




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c8a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:20:14 -0500

Paris European Community November 2006
	The tension in the air was thick these days.
	Bill wondered if perhaps ignorance wasn't bliss after all. To not
know meant one didn't have to worry. Everyone was worried about everything
these days.
	So much had changed in the past five years.
	When The United States of America crashed and burned, everyone
making less than $250,000 a year found themselves quite poor and having to
readjust to a new life. Aerospace Engineers were now raising crops in
hydroponic farms on the tops of their tentatively repossessed home, while
their wives (Once Administrative Assistants and corporate Big Shots) now
took in sewing or washing when it could be found. Child labor again became
a necessity.
	When the banks tried to repossess everything that was bought on
credit, they originally thought themselves luck since the Japanese were
buying everything at ten times it's value, until Japan stopped and pulled
all of their money out of the country. Then the banks either went under or
pulled out of the country.
	Citicorp actually went to the trouble and so far as to repossess
the country of Brazil. It's now been renamed "The Republic of Citicorp."
	Corporate indenture became invaluable. It meant survival. That is,
IF one could get off the North American continent. These massive surges of
people moving from one continent to another in search of work and or food
caused a cultural mix unprecedented before in human history.  One could
easily find a French-speaking oriental with a Spanish name in almost any
country these days.
	Two entirely new languages sprang up from this. "Unispeak" based
it's simple sentences that mixed languages and was written primarily as
universal symbols, then there was "Newspeak" the streets own version of a
multicultural slang mixed by the street and used for it's own ends.
	The work week allowed resting three days out of ten working days.
	During the interim between the federal governments collapse and
the multinational corporations, the "MegaCorps" finally leaving, the
environments around the world were trashed. Sometimes by more than one
company. Eventually, The New World Order got around to forming a haphazard
world government to prevent these sorts of environmental catastrophes from
happening again, but the new government still favored the rich. That made
it a tragedy. Cleaning the planet up was left to the poor and those who
felt they needed to. Not by those who should have done it in the first
place.
	During this same time, discoveries continued to be made, and
exploration probes sent. Man finally realized that he could get MUCH more
done sending several robotic probes, than by sending a single manned
mission. JPL, or Jet Propulsion Laboratories in cooperation with the North
American Space Administration "NASA" found that using their combined
efforts instead of competition, and using the equipment now left abandoned
to them, they could in fact turn a profit by doing work for other
countries. Profits were then usually reinvested in the corporation in the
form of more probes, which discovered the second asteroid belt beyond the
orbit of Pluto and the tenth planet, Persephone as well as the 11th and
12th planets "Xoctil" and "Flower" respectively as well as the companion
star to our own sun, "Nemesis" and it's planets. All of which were of
great interest to MegaCorps looking to expand even further.
	Artificial Intelligence made great leaping strides after the
formation of The Programmers Guild and mankind for the first time could
see his first artificial "child" speak words in the forms of questions.
The next set of children he brought into the world were not as celebrated.
	"Clones" were used as organ banks and kept on ice since they had no
legal soul. "Genotype Designs" were patented lifeforms, designed for a
specific purpose and by definition had no legal soul. "PreSelects" were
people designed from hand picking specific genes, usually claimed as ones
children, though legally, they had no souls. "Androids" were artificial
flesh and blood men, designed with limited thinking abilities, and taught
nothing beyond simple rote labor and they had no souls.  "CyberForms" were
cybernetic life forms given artificial intelligence for minds, and they
too by definition had no souls. Slavery had returned, and was quite
popular in the new age of man.
	Bill looked up from the table he was sitting at in an outdoor cafe
in Paris, to see a poster plastered across the window of a shop showing
The Sierra Club standing up before World Court demanding the rights to the
genetic patterns of endangered species.
	They didn't realize they were going to make MAN an endangered
specie, if they didn't stop bringing so many animals back to life. Sure,
Teradactyls are neat looking, but they ate worse than elephants
	Bill flipped open the thin flat chrome Cray hand computer and
punched in the phone number of the local videodisk library. He preferred
an old movie to watching the New World CyberPunks sitting across from him
who were cyborgs by choice. They were simply unbearable. Why anyone would
choose to have their natural body parts removed and replaced with
cybernetic enhancements was quite beyond him. Holding the Cray as he would
a magazine, kept his eyes politely occupied as he waited.
	"Could I get you anything else Monsieur?" The waiter asked, who
looked as if he was the victim of one of the latest designer plagues
cooked up by terrorists.
	"Another scotch & water would be great. Thank you." Bill smiled
sincerely at the man. At least he was preferable to the emotional monsters
he had seen as of late. The waiter may have been poor, but at least he was
real.
	Bill had no doubt that as soon as the cafe manager could afford
it, the human waiter would be replaced by a humanoid, semi-humanoid, or
CyberForm slave who didn't require wages.
	"Bitch." Morris said sliding into the chair opposite Bill.
	"It's about Goddamned time you got here." Bill said closing the
Cray and abandoning his movie, folding the bright polished chrome case as
one would a book and laying it on the table beside him. "We've got trouble
with the CyberPunks."
	"Get me a drink. What kind of trouble?" Morris asked as the man
delivered Bills scotch. "Aren't you going to ask about my flight?" He
added.
	"Could I trouble you for another? For my friend? I hate to bother."
Bill winced. "Thank you." Bill said from behind his gold mirrorshades,
despite the cloudy overcast day. The humidity and heat felt oppressive as
the air hung heavy and thick on their skin.
	"No problem at all Monsieur. One moment."  The waiter said walking
off in a sincerely good mood. Bill could see that the older waiter with
graying temples enjoyed serving someone from his own era, than from this
new age upon them all. Back 25 years ago, there was simple courtesy. That
was rare these days.
	"They're wanting to splinter. The New Founded League of Gladiators
are up for sale. How was your flight?" Bill asked sipping his cocktail.
	For him and Morris to carry on two separate conversations at the
same time was not unusual, except that most of the time they could carry
on more. Anywhere from thirty to forty was not difficult, now that their
minds had been Metamorphosed, although it did tend to attract attention
and that was not the point of this public meeting in the small street-side
cafe.
	"The NFL Gladiators in combination with their GAMZ line would make
them a MegaCorp. I see the problem now. The flight was NOT fine. I had a
guy sit next to me who threw up all over me during descent." Morris said
wrinkling his nose. "The Bitch."
	"They're wanting to use Guild funds to do it though. I'm worried
that our teen recruitment would be lost to them." Bill explained. "Don't
tell me something like that when I'm drinking. That's disgusting."
	"You asked." Morris shrugged.
	"Your drink Monsieur." The waiter smiled sitting the cocktail in
front of Morris.
	"Thank you." Bill said handing him his own BancoCard. "Double the
price for your tip." Bill whispered quietly to the waiter before releasing
the card.
	"Oui Monsieur!" The waiter hurried away before Bill would change
his mind.
	"They ARE entitled to 5% of resources you know." Morris continued.
"Besides, we would still get the nerds and the Fags." He shrugged his big
wide shoulders. "Since when do you tip that much?"
	"I suppose so. At general Conference I'll give them my go ahead
then." Bill nodded. "I just felt sorry for the guy is all. Do you mind?"
He said in a low voice, to keep it quiet.
	"I'll back you up. Boop will as well." Morris added briefly.
"You're a sucker for a sob story. You know that don't you?"
	Soon the waiter came back and handed Bill his card. The man bowed
deeply to Bill and Morris and then thanked them profusely, gratitude
written all over his face. Bill and Morris glanced at each other for a
micro-instant, until they were sure the waiter was out of hearing range.
	"The fucking Nipponese are teaching that you know." Morris said
with pity and anger in his voice. "You'll notice THEIR bow to the rest of
the world is barely a perceptible nod. The fucking cocky Jap bastards."
	"I know, but for now, it's all these people have Morris. I don't
like it either. Maybe your project can help. Are you taking on the
so-called 'Untalented'?"
	"Everyone is talented at something." Morris insisted. "And yes
Bitch, I'm taking on everyone that wants to go. Everyone. Even if there's
not enough room, I'll just build another ship."
	"Morris, you haven't finished the first one yet. Why do you now
have FIVE in various states of construction?" Bill asked disappointedly.
	"well no if it's any of your business, they're all going to
different StarSystems and funded by different groups. Now aren't they?"
He asked sarcastically. "A lot you know. I haven't seen you in six months.
You're looking old Bill."
	"Well you fucking burned out old whore!" Bill laughed. "You're one
to talk. At least I'm not going gray like you!"
	"It's the radiation up there I'm sure." Morris grinned. "How have
you been doing Bill? I mean REALLY."
	"No complaints. Yourself?" Bill asked reaching across the table,
taking Morris's big hand into his own. "I suppose I have missed you a
little. A letter from you through E-Mail would have cured that though."
	"Slut. I missed you too." Morris smiled squeezing Bills hand.
"Feel like Sydney after the conference?"
	"Yeah. I do. I need to stop by Kansas City though first."
	"Mormon shit?" Morris whined. "Don't you people ever quit?"
	"Yes Mormon shit. And No. We don't." Bill grinned.
	A woman who looked like she had never worked a day in her life,
complete with freshly laser cut deep brown hair, trailing her coat made of
newly cloned mink over the ground as she walked over to them.
	"Do you MIND?" She demanded drawing the attention of the entire
cafe. It was so obvious her shit didn't stink, that Morris couldn't help
but grin.
	Bill looked up at her and laughed. "Mind what?" He asked in the
growing silence as Morris snickered, putting his hand over his face to
prevent anyone from seeing he was grinning at the woman, embarrassed for
her since she didn't have the sense to be embarrassed for herself.
	"SMOKING! I mean it IS drifting over into my area! I don't LIKE
smoke in my face!" She said standing by their table, freshly manicured
nails on a small white hand on her hip, tiny foot in an even tinier black
stiletto heel tapping in impatience.
	Bill and Morris both burst out laughing heartily, laughing loudly
at her expense.
	"PISS OFF BITCH!" Morris said laughing until his eyes began to
water.
	The crowd by this time started moving towards the exits. They did
not want to become involved with a woman who was obviously from a Major
Family and a Man, though no one knew his face, could tell he carried
himself with some dignity. That meant trouble brewing. Very large trouble.
	It was quickly becoming a test of wills between someone who
thought they were a very important person, and someone who actually was.
Bill being the latter.
	




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c8b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:21:52 -0500

Soon, taking in her face and body with an intense scan from his very alert
eyes, Bill had quickly run her bone structure build, and facial features
through vast genetic files in his head, which now rivaled most
conventional computers.
	"You're Family Torriano." Bill said quietly, alerting Morris in his
tone that this was possibly ready to become an incident. "Babe isn't it?"
He quickly added.
	People on the street seemed to pause a moment as the waiter paced
back and forth from behind his bar station, wondering desperately what he
should do to diffuse the situation.
	"Yes!" She said in self satisfaction, thinking she had been
recognized as the VIP she thought she was, and that finally the matter was
settled, and began to turn...
	"DON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE CUNT!" Morris said loud enough that the
foot traffic was stopping. Even the people on the other side of the
intersection stopped to look and see what was going on.
	"I do believe you owe my friend and I an apology." Morris said
again quietly, blowing smoke in her face in defiance of her attitude. "If
you'll notice the sign over there, this is an outdoor smoking permitted
area."
	The girl of 20 was clearly shaken from his last Earth shattering
outburst, and had now become flushed with rage. Tendons on her neck
tightened to steel cables as Bill could almost see her blood pressure
readout in numbers on her forehead. He grinned.
	"I don't believe you realize who you are talking to." She said with
threat in her voice and a predator grin on her face.
	"Oh but we do Babe." Bill said quietly. "I don't think you do
however."
	"Who the fuck ARE you?" She demanded.
	"Morris Zwicky and Bill Potter." Morris said never moving from his
chair as he continued to blow smoke in her face. "Gonna remember those
names Babe?"
	For the briefest of moments, a flash in time, Bill and Morris
could see her ready to lunge at Bill, fingernails poised as the surgical
blades beneath snicked out from their casing beneath. Before she acted on
the impulse however, fear overcame her and the blades withdrew.
	"Fuck this place and Fuck both you faggots!" She said whirling
around, mink flying, knocking their glasses over and whipping across Bills
face in the process. Before the enraged woman could take a single step,
thanks to his Metamorphosis and Retroviral Enhancements, Morris and his
jacked up reflexes had grabbed the girl by the hair of her head, and was
holding her head down, with her face squashed against the glass table top.
	"Monsieur?" Morris said calmly, motioning the waiter over with his
free hand, as the other held the screaming woman down in the mess she had
just made. The scene which had escalated just as the crowd which left knew
it would, was now attracting the attention of the entire intersection with
people standing at a distance of 20 feet away from the quaint little white
picket fence which surrounded the small courtyard of the outdoor cafe.
	The waiter, clearly sick over the entire situation, could barely
find the strength to palely drag his feet over to them, stepping slowly
closer to the woman he knew would have his head by this afternoon.
	"Babe here is from a very wealthy family." Bill explained
apologetically. "She really is very sorry for the upset she's caused this
morning and quite regretful for the loss of business she's caused you."
	"Yeah poor little thing. She can't help herself. She's too dumb to
learn any type of manners." Morris said helpfully as he stared down as her
infuriated face pressed against the glass table top. "She would now
however like to apologize sir."
	"FUCK you Faggot!" She was barely able to mouth the words properly.
	"Wrong answer Babe." Bill said quietly nodding at Morris.
	Morris brutally wound her long brown hair around his hand and held
the girl up to the waiters face, lifting her completely off the ground by
her hair. When she finally realized her fighting and screaming (although
it probably DID hurt. Bill though) was not going to get her anywhere
(Which took quite a bit of time) nor that Morris was going to release
either her or his hand from the waiters shoulder holding the pale white
man in place, (and most likely steady) she was finally able to rasp out
through the tears...
	"I'm sorry." with her eyes closed and tears streaming down her
face.
	"Now see Babe. That didn't hurt a bit now did it?" Morris asked
rhetorically as he smoothed her hair down and handed her Mink back to her.
"Being polite always works so much better when dealing with people.  Don't
you agree?"
	Bill watched the tears running down her face with disgust as she
cried silently, not even making a whimper.
	"I think Babe would like to pay you now for the loss of business
she's caused you Monsieur. Isn't that right Babe?" Bill encouraged.
	The girl just nodded as she dug in her hand bag and thrust a wad
of money at the waiter, what looked to be about $700.00 in cash from
Bill's estimation.
	"OH BABE!" Morris whined out loud for the crowd. "You're carrying
CASH! Now what is Daddy going to say about you carrying a highly illegal
form of currency?"
	The girl however had had enough and took off running out the exit
and down the street, hair in a mess and face smeared like an artists
watercolor palate.
	Morris and Bill smiled and continued to chit chat with each other
as if nothing had happened for a few moments until the crowd had moved on.
Bill saw a group of homeless people dressed in rags out of the corner of
his eye cheering and clapping over the scene. For once, they had got
justice.
	"Monsieur?" Bill motioned the waiter over and ordered cocktails for
them both.
	The man, physically trembling as he brought the ordered drinks,
nearly spilled them as people finally started to return to the cafe.
	"Can you make use of the cash sir?" Morris asked the man quietly
and politely. "If not, we can credit you."
	"No Monsieur. The cash is fine. I buy food and clothing at a market
that still handles cash. For a fee." He smiled, explaining to them low
enough not to be overheard as he cleaned their table.
	"Ok." Morris said taking the drink set before him. "Merci!"
	Bill handed the man his BancoCard to pay for the drinks. When the
waiter was about to object and give them their drinks for free, a single
look from Bill was all he needed to understand that was exactly what he
was NOT going to do.
	"Oui Monsieur." He said accepting the card, swallowing hard.
	As Bill sat there and mentally took his adrenalin levels down, he
rewarded himself with a quick burst of endorphin.
	Babe Torriano was the very essence of what they were fighting
against. The rich dominating the poor. Morris had balanced the scales for
one brief moment.
	These people around him had lived their lives in fear of the rich,
their money, and their power. Recently, with the New World Order, the rich
and super rich had become even more monstrous. They completely defied the
words sensibilities. There was no longer anything the poor could do to
fight back.
	The Guild however COULD.
	They walked along the streets of Paris without discussing the
matter since it had taken place. Bill thought perhaps Morris was still
riding his adrenalin high, but that was his own business and no one
else's.
	Finally, they cam to the Arch De Triomphe.
	General Conference was conducted on one channel of the cellular
network, using their Downlink chips. Their mind processed the information
exchanged between each of them in conversation, as business was conducted
as well. So in effect, one could be standing with a glass of wine talking
with someone next to him about anything at all, while simultaneously
processing information and voting on any given issue.
	It wasn't necessary to be AT General Conference, since one could
be anywhere in the world, in orbit, or the moon. The Communications Web
extended wherever there was man. However, it was encouraged that one
attend, and most Programmers enjoyed it, since it renewed their sense of
Family, a unit and helped them all keep their humanity i mind.
	Being so close to the machine, it was all too easy to become one.
	"Good job Bill!" A man with a friend waved to him as he and Morris
made their way through the crowd. He smiled and waved back.
	While the incident with Babe Torriano had been going on, when Bill
kicked in his adrenalin, he also tripped a broadcast soft-witch in his
Downlink chip, so that every Guild member on the communications web would
eventually see what had taken place.
	His hand was shaken more than once for the same thing that day.
	"Girlfriend!" Bill called Boop over as he and Morris went over to
meet their husband. "How was Croatia? Anything exciting going on?"
	"Hello Bill. Morris dear." He said kissing them both. "Oh, business
as usual. Whomever shoved those 1984 computers off on those people should
be shot. I can't explain to an Ape how to fashion tools and I can't
explain to Croats how to use 6502 microprocessors."
	"So how did you handle it?" Morris asked intensely curious.
	"Trashed the system. Ordered state-of-the-art Cray technology for
them and stayed with it until it had been installed and they were trained
in it's use.  (Billed it to?)
	"At least they have a fighting chance to survive now." Bill
commented. "Though I'm not sure if I've seen any projected reports of how
they're to fair the war.
	"Say! Was that your Gotcha program I saw go out over the wire a
while ago?" Boop asked lifting another glass of wine off a waiter and
replacing the empty glass. "You and Morris's signals were so close on the
ComWeb right then."
	"Yes. It was me." Bill admitted. "I couldn't have done it without
Morris though, he distracted her."
	"Her daddy's going to be more than just a little pissed when he
finds out she's given all of her trust fund to feed the starving people in
Central America." Morris smiled. "Hell, she will too when she finds out!"
He laughed.
	"At this point, it won't much matter anyway." Bill said. "This will
be the last General Conference in person until after the war."
	"Perhaps we could meet in orbit?" Boop suggested.
	"Perhaps." Bill conceded. "It depends on how many of us survive."




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c9a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:23:03 -0500

Earth December 2006
	The ICBMs almost took the comet out. Almost.
	They exploded their warheads just above it's surface, vaporizing
the water and gasses shifting it's orbit almost enough. Almost.
	It was a very good plan though. The structure of the comet however
was such that the laws of physics simply couldn't be broken. When it
finally shattered, the chuck that broke off was almost a mile in diameter.
	The world barely had time to realize the plan hadn't worked, as
they watched breathlessly on CNN through cameras at the orbital facilities
and on the weather satellites.
	By the time the video was clear of the after glow from the flash,
there were 14 seconds left. It hit 200 miles south of Sri Lanka at a speed
of 40 miles per second...
	In the midst of the environmental havoc, Pan-Arabia and China
wasted no time at all. Perhaps they thought they could move about
unnoticed. Tsunami's raced around the globe as the worlds oceans sloshed
onto continents and the Far East wanted it's First Strike.
	The Prince of Pan-Arabia marched a million troops into Iran,
Turkey and Egypt and as Catholic Empire ships went without aid, the
Mid-East hit them as well.
	Algeria, which now included Tunisia and Northern Morocco captured
the king of Morocco.
	Israel, without the aid of The United States for four years now,
found it's air force quickly depleted and Pan-Arabia reclaimed Palestine.
In a slaughter.
	Earthquakes and Aftershocks originating beneath central Asia
destroyed a sizeable portion of Greece and Turkey.
	Libya, quickly took the opportunity to begin trouble between
Pan-Arabia and France.
	When Pan-Arabia captured a Cardinal of the Catholic Empire, in a
ship headed for parts unknown, the Catholic Empire quickly took over as
the government of Italy and assumed control of it's army. Eventually they
quit using the Mediterranean as it was now unsafe due to pirates and
terrorists.
	Pan-Arabia walked quickly across the top and down through the
center of Africa. It was gaining in popularity as a champion of the people
and ousted pro western leaders from South Africa.
	Meanwhile, a similar program of unification was underway in Asia.
	The Pan-Arabian (PA) raging conquests began to reach their
boundaries as the desire for more power threatened central and southern
Africa into alliances with the Mid-East. They were by then a force 200
million strong.
	1.5 Billion people will die before this has ended.
	The PA moved on what was left of Turkey and the Greeks moved
against them.
	The Balkan Nation, which included Romaine and Bulgaria also
threatened war against PA when they cut off the Bosphorus straits,
interfering with commerce in the New World Order.
	Drought hit Africa and Southern Asia as world climates changed.
	The Greek Navy suffered great losses against the Turks and Arabs.
A plea for reinforcements fell on deaf ears. When PA openly announced it's
continued aggression, North America became involved and re-supplied the
Greek Navy. After Greek positions on Cypress were overrun, they
surrendered.
	NORAD Corporation stepped in after negotiated contracts with North
American countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
	The Far East reacted nervously.
	Due to MegaCorp involvement, there was a breakdown in peace
negotiations in Geneva. The UN refused to recognize Multinational
Corporations as countries any more.
	People who had any way at all began to evacuate the planet.
	Global War was unavoidable now.
	China did in fact launch it's surprise attack just as the models
had shown.
	The Davis Straits, located between the Baffin Islands and
Greenland became a major lifeline between North American countries and the
CIS across the arctic sea. It also became and ideal target.
	China launched an attack towards the European Community in a
conquering sweep across southern CIS on it's way to Turkey to link up with
Pan-Arabia for a combined attack on allied positions.
	Turkey signed a peace treaty with both attackers but it was broken
when from Tripoli, PA naval forces hit the west coast of Turkey.  In this
same attack, China nuked northeastern Turkey. Having conquered Turkey,
Chinese/Arab attention was turned to Greece, unleashing germ warfare that
lasted 9 months killing all people and vegetation.
	The Chinese satellite nation of Albania invaded Greece with light
armored vehicles, but launched bacterial infections towards Italy.
	Then, from Greece and Albania, Chinese/Arab forces threatened
Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia with an Amphibious
assault, but this was delayed due to a counter offensive launched from
Portugal.
	The old Yugoslavia was still invaded however and during this time
Italy was suffering from germ warfare. A drought hit Italy and it's food
producing regions were destroyed.
	Severe weather pattern changes were still racing around the world
as the planet tried to recover from both the comet and the nuclear
nightmares.
	Civil war broke out in Italy with the tensions mounting and
everyone and their cousins thought they had a better solution. Catholic
Empire demanded military assistance from North America. Northern Italy
disagreed and broke away from the church.
	The new, Northern Italian Catholics expelled old church leaders
from their region. It was found out that the civil war was secretly backed
by Albanian subversives that had succeeded in penetrating the Catholic
Empire by paying of corrupt officials of the church.
	CNN was there during the investigations and the world watched it
all in High Definition until Albania began to aerial bombard the region.
Rome, weak and corrupt could do nothing as Albania ripped off the Vatican
of it's wealth, and the pope, now head of state, died a prisoner.
	While all eyes were on the capture of the Pope and the destruction
of Rome, the Arab/Chinese were also pushing on towards Venice. The attack
was so immense that evacuation plans were in effect as far as Malta and
the central Mediterranean islands.
	The battle for Venice came at a time of confusion and civil war.
The Italian Air force held them off for quite a while, but eventually the
Eastern forces destroyed it with a nuclear burst over the city that burned
trees and damaged the already rotten face of Venice. The forces penetrated
to the center of the city as Venetians waited in vain for assistance.
Their pleas went unheeded and the city surrendered.
	With the conflict too close to France to be ignored, the French
Fleet joined in, but in enthusiasm over extended itself and was destroyed
in the Adriatic Sea trying to cut off Albania from it's suppliers.
	The French and other western forces were not yet ready to admit
defeat and crossed the Alps and Appennine mountains in an attempt to
forestall complete subjugation of all Italy by Easterners. It ended in
utter failure. The French regrouped after defeat.
	When the comet struck, most of England sank, killing a quarter of
a million people. London was shaken but remained an island city thanks to
the growing technology of Seawall construction brought on by The
Greenhouse Effect and the Dutch skill. In an aftershock, Westminister
Abbey was ripped open by a quake during Easter services.
	The Easterners invaded the west coast of Italy. The papacy was
forced to flee to a new land. While there were still yet more French
defeats.
	Prince Albert of Monaco was captured.
	Then, there were setbacks for the East due to tactical errors.
Once they regained their losses, they nuked Florence. The destruction of
Monaco was accomplished through long starvation, then simply by fire.
	Sea and land attacks were made on the French Riviera in the battle
for Marseilles. Eastern penetration into southern and southwestern France
was done through germ warfare.
	The first phase of the Eastern Offensive against Europe consisted
of a 3-pronged attack against France, Italy and Spain. There was extensive
use of nuclear and germ warfare, and no remedies available for the sick
and dying.
	The Swiss were attacked and Geneva was a specific target.
MegaCorp executives had by now cleared the planet however. Along with
their funds...
	Geneva's indigenous population couldn't leave so easily however.
	Easterners confiscated gold reserves and left the nations people
starving to death. Just as the MegaCorps had done to North America.
	After consuming all of Spain, Chinese/Arabian forces moved north
into France and from the east Switzerland & Italy to penetrate into
northern France. Paris was besieged.
	Notre Dame was already damaged from the comet quakes, but the
invading forces tore the face from the cathedral and the Arch of Triumph
was sliced in two from orbit as a statement. There were reports of
cannibalism among prisoners. Finally Paris surrendered.
	This wasn't good enough however, and the peace of Paris was broken
leaving 300,000 dead. Paris was utterly destroyed, pillaged and raped.
	A British attempt at saving Paris was in vain.
	After the comet, Britains capitol had to be relocated west in
Montreal, where they were able to raise money to purchase ICBM's from the
NORAD Corporation, in an attempt to retake Europe from the Hudson Bay,
despite complications from the weather.
	Britts, and a few French Canadians, united with a few other North
American allies to help the French resistance, but all were slaughtered by
the unthinkable numbers of Eastern troops.
	The Chinese detonated a high yield high altitude nuclear device
destroying a vast area of France, but justly included the destruction of
the commander who ordered the weapon used.
	The island of Scotland was invaded.
	When England sank, and the government had to be moved to North
America, it left Scotland an island. With Easterners controlling western
Europe the British sought to use Scotland as a military base. The Scots
however objected and defied British rights of sovereignty over them. The
Britts sent a force in to occupy Scotland forcing the people back to the
Highlands. Then the Highlanders sought aid from the Easterners. They
attacked, defeating British coastal defenses at Edinburgh.
	London was now surrounded by a shallow ocean and left as an island
city fortress. While the city island was frozen and fighting cold winter
storms, the Easterners surrounded them and through tactical nukes, and
bugs cooked up by their geneticists, spread fire and disease throughout
the city, leaving all of England devoid of life.
	Poland and Non-Corporate Germany allied with the east quickly
enough and then proceeded to invade Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and
northern France.
	Meanwhile, western forces were striking in the Persian Gulf.
	There was the death of a Corporate German Commander. His
replacement turned out to be a traitor and brought about the fall of the
Central European Defense. (CED). The Easterners walked across Holland and
Belgium and the last stand of the western allies in Europe was at Bruges.
	The Far East and Mid-East now owned Europe.
	The turning point in World War III came when Westerners finally
agreed to the contract and the NORAD Corporation took the offensive.
	




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c9b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:24:20 -0500

At first, the East made a lot of nuclear strikes at strategic sites, then
they became intermittent and erratic, without thought or direction.
However, those first strikes caused mass destruction around the Northern
Alliance.
	Nuclear bombardment and radiation affected both North America and
the CIS, leaving entire cities evacuated. Food became in short supply once
again. Lands that were governed by incapable officials, at both local and
national levels were unable to meet the crisis which only compounded the
problems, resulting in further chaos and death.
	Yet another economic crisis hit the North American continent. The
governments unable to control dissidents and rioters that roamed the
streets in search of food clothing and shelter, the hungry and diseased
suffering from radiation and poisons have no further reason to fear
anything and in their quest for money to buy what little food there was
left, stormed the banks again.
	Banks were closed due to the second economic depression in five
years. Battles are fought among the citizens for anything that was left in
the way of food money or treasures.
	New York was nuked by a Cluster Orbital Nuclear Fire-Weapon for
Light Atmosphere Ignition (CONFLAG) device that was detonated where
Vermont meets Canada. An earthquake rocked New York City tumbling
Manhattan skyscrapers into the harbor. Water mains were broken and the
remaining drinking water was polluted. New York sank, even below the
levels where it's new sea wall could save it, and as Long Island
submerged, Manhattan became the "Venice of North America"
	The entire East Coast was reshaped in the great quakes of '07, the
Earths crust unstable since the comet and aggravated by continuous nuclear
bombardment, which destroyed everything from Boston to Baltimore,
Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Nothing was left except the sunken sites where
they once stood. Plate tectonics deformed everything as far south as
Georgia, leaving a great hole now called "The Gulf of Tennessee".
	During the great calamity and destruction caused by the comet, the
Chinese did in fact take advantage of it by launching a surprise invasion
of North America. Their landing attempt failed however. They were much
more successful at infiltrating the Latin American nations.
	The Latins welcomed them at first, but after seeing the treachery
of the Easterners, now bloated with power and self-assuredness, which
resulted in the murder of the president of The Republic of CitiCorp, and
after their threatening the Panama Canal, the Latins cancelled their
planned meeting for alliance.
	The Northern Alliance, made up of North America, the CIS and
European Community, contracting NORAD, found themselves now surrounded
since the East had taken over Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. In
a last desperate attempt at survival, they chose BioChem weapons to attack
the East.
	NORAD took the offensive when China invaded from three directions
and counter attacked with chemicals. The Easterners penetrated into the
Pacific Basin where the NORAD Navy found themselves cut off from supplies
and surrounded.
	The NORAD Corporation broke the stranglehold as well as Eastern
control of the Pacific Basin. The first major defeat of the East came by
sea.
	NORAD made nuke runs over Europe as far as Rome. Seven months
later, they coordinated a nuke attack against the Far East with a barrage
lasting a full week without stop.
	The fall of China had a psychological impact on the Far East
determination to hold Europe since their home base was destroyed and
supply lines cut off.
	Liberation. A Second D-Day. Occupied Europe invaded.
	With the Far East out of the war, the NORAD Corporation
concentrated it efforts on liberating Europe from Mid-East dominance.
	British forces that escaped to Quebec united with NORAD forces to
take back Scotland, defeat naval forces near London, and invade
Scandinavia while NORAD took the offensive in central Europe allied
invasion of southwest France and an allied landing in north France.
	During this time, the Scots had resisted English rule, but failed
in their attempt to remain free and the Mid-East powers of Pan-Arabia had
a new commander in chief who had established his headquarters in Rome.
	Central and southern France was liberated by allied forces of
Dutch, English and French. One of the Pan-Arabian commanders died of a
mysterious suicide and another died in the night, though Guild
Intelligentsia was unable to confirm these remarks.
	The Mid-East was defeated in France and pushed back across the
pyrenees into Italy. Using France as a staging area, Central European
Defense (CED) attempted to liberate Switzerland but with terrible
consequences to the city of Lausanne. It was the target of bacterial
weapons, but the Pan-Arabian forces retreated only after detonating a
nuclear device over it.
	Spain was reconquered.
	Naval battles off the west coast of Italy cause both Pan-Arabian
and CED forces to suffer from weather and germ weapons that blew wildly in
the unpredictable winds.
	CED forces defeat PA armies in North Italy by land and unite with
NORAD Navy at Savona in northwestern Italy. From there to Naples, Ancone
via Perugia and Ravenna. Venice and Rome were bombed.
	A PA commander was defeated at Milan and brought before the
European commander Henry Kaufmann. At the same time, CIS moves into
Hungary.
	The Catholic Empire Church was reestablished in Rome. The Pope
ordered the executions of Italian sympathizers who helped the Pan-Arabians
against the French at the Battle of the Alps. He is still at this time the
leader of the Italian government.
	The war lasted four years.
	With the conquest of Europe almost completed, Central European
Defense turned against the homelands of their enemy Pan-Arabia in rage.
	CED pushed PA forces completely out of Europe, the western
Mediterranean and North Africa as far east as Tunisia. They suffered
disaster in the Adriatic but the PA also suffered serious losses.
	Commander Henry Kaufmann freed the POWS held in Turkey and CNN was
there with it teams of Medias to pick up and transmit every second of it.
	CED penetrated into the eastern Mediterranean and the PA counter
offensive was to recapture Sicily, though it failed, and the liberation of
central Europe was announced to the world via satellite.
	PA was defeated in Crete and Greece but not before 5000 had died.
	A French rebellion in the ranks against Commander Phillip Brant
gives rise to Commander Grisom Cavanaugh and the CED made their assault on
Turkey after all. Grisom attacked Turkey and the PA defenders were driven
out. CED fleet went out to engage the PA fleet off the coast of Turkey but
both were lost in a violent storm.
	Resistance in northern Turkey. The CED invasion attempt failed.
PA saboteurs destroyed a CED base. Then the last of the PA sea forces were
destroyed.
	The Mid-East was invaded.
	The CED marched against Syria, Judea, and Palestine. Within a
month the PA army crumbled. NORAD moved into Israel, Lebanon, Syria and
Jordan. Within a month the last PA forces in Central and South America
surrendered and their Latin governments restored.
	Israel was invaded by NORAD but they found the Christian shrines
desecrated. Though freed from Pan-Arabian control, Israel is uninhabitable
due to lingering radiation, chemical, and biological hazards.
	In preparation for an attack on Iraq, the CED was resisted. With
the end of the conflict near, the empire that included India, Jordan,
France, and Spain was lost. NORAD opened a second front by landing forces
in southwestern Asia and moving against Mid-East positions in India, chase
the retreating PA armies and force them to make a final stand on the banks
of the river Ganges.
	The last battles of the war took place as the PA made a last
attempt to stop CED drives into north Arabia, east Iran and northeast
Turkey.
	The third battle was the most important for it brought the final
collapse of the Pan-Arabian empire.
	The military conflict ended with the PA commander in chief being
killed in his own headquarters. This signaled the end of all Eastern
resistance.
	The end of the war left the Catholic Empire Church at it's wits
end as to what to do about the occupation of NORAD forces throughout
Europe. The Pope found himself at the mercy of the occupying forces, now
in control of a demolished Europe.
	Radiation, Bacterial and Chemical contamination are things YET
left to contend with.
	The last battlefield of World War III was far off in Iran where
upon recognizing their defeat, the last organized Pan-Arabian unit
rebelled against it's commander and forced him to surrender to the NORAD
Corporation forces.
	World War Three is at last ended. 1.5 Billion people are dead.




Article: 5092 of alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c10a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:27:01 -0500

Trojan Station EarthSystem June 2085
	"Why do I have to go over this again?" Forest Potter asked his
father for the sixth time this week. "I practically know it by heart."
	"Good! That's what we're shooting for." Bill Potter smiled at his
son. "Can you recite it back to me?"
	"Well no, not verbatim." Forest paused, knowing he had already
lost.
	"Can you tell me all the key players?"
	"Not all of them."
	"Can you tell me what year it was that The City Athena was founded?
Or what year NORAD forces retook Europe?"
	"Shit!" The boy of 12 started walking back towards his room. "But
I'M not a hundred and thirteen years old EITHER! I don't see why I need
it!"
	"Because I said so." Bill said not taking his eyes off the hundreds
of tiny high definition windows being displayed on the wallscreen.
	Once inside his room, the boy slammed the door with all his
strength and in fury threw the remote at the screen, watching the remote
shatter into a hundred pieces. He was on the verge of tears he was so
angry until he realized to himself.
	I'll have to FIX that now. He sighed in frustration.
	Ok. He thought. Calm down. It's just hormones. He's watching
through video so there's no sense making a big deal out of it. You can't
win. Might as well fix the remote and start again. Memorize all that shit
until you can name every stinking little person in the file. Maybe THAT
will get him off your back for a while...
	He only had a couple of hours more of study time to make it
through. That however would now be extended by an hour or more that it
took to fix the remote.
	You can't cheat though. He has a mind like a computer. Forest
thought to himself as he got out his tool kit and gathered the pieces
around the room. He never let's you cheat even a nanosecond. He says six
hours a day and that's exactly what you had to put in. No contest. No
argument.
	He found his mind wandering several times as he rebuilt the remote
since he had done this before enough times that he could put the thing
together in his sleep. Got to keep this puberty thing under control...
	But his mind kept wandering back to the programs he was working
on. He had recently gutted the Artificial Intelligence Program C.H.I.P.
that his father had made famous the world over a few years ago.
	Computer/Human Interface Program. Chip. Forest had learned early
on to write simple programs and now, at 12, he was taking on A.I.'s. They
didn't scare him at all the way they did some people. Especially the
people at The Turing Corporation.
	Talk about paranoid! They were the fools who kept designing harder
and harder tests to verify a programs intelligence and higher and higher
fences to try to keep them in control.
	Forest however knew they were nothing more than smart pets. If one
got out of control (Which sometimes happened in the Potter household
computer due to his experiments) he knew he could just go in and give it a
shot. Put it to sleep. Like this. See?....
	Forest had been a Guild member in good standing since he was
eight. He had access to the worlds information nervous system, ComWeb
which now extended from the VenusSystem satellite of Mercury, clear out to
the star Nemesis and it's planets. Still his father insisted he memorize
what seemed like every trivial bit of knowledge.
	As soon as he was through with the worst of puberty, (His genetic
councillor Ken said roughly age 19 plus or minus three months) he could
begin his injections and he would have photographic memory. Eidetic
memory. That was going to make things MUCH easier he was quite sure.
	It's the Goddamned WAITING though!
	He thought he heard muffled voices coming through his bedroom door
from the living room. Since he had completed most of the circuiting of the
remote, he was able to use his screwdriver to flip on the wallscreen in
his room and see who it was.
	Aunt Abbey and Uncle Beau.
	Shit. I won't get to see them because I have to finish fixing the
remote, and THEN finish my school work. Unless Aunt Abbey...
	"HONEY!" Came the voice of the black drag queen as she burst into
his room kissing him. "Come outside here and see your Auntie Abbey." She
said taking him by the hand and pulling him up from his desk/workbench.
"Damn you've grown boy! At least three inches since the last time I was up
here."
	"Hi Aunt Abbey." Forest smiled hugging the black drag queen. "I
missed you."
	"Oh BABY! Auntie Abbey missed you too." She said wiping at a tear
forming in her carefully massacred eye. "Give Miss Abbey a sugars." She
said kissing him on the lips. "Now you come out here and show your Uncle
Beau how much you've grown!"
	"Bon jour mon Uncle!" Forest smiled as he strode across the room to
hug the big bear of a man. "Je'taime uncle Beau. Are you guys up out of
the well long?"
	"Je'taime." The big dark man said hugging the boy. "Non. Just here
to visit a while. No vacation or anything. Miss Abbey has her fans you
know." He whispered winking at the boy, with a grin.
	"I'm a Goddamned Star!" Miss Abbey said walking over to the bar and
fixing them all cocktails and an Iced Tea for Forest. "You're just jealous
because you're an aging old queer and I am eternally young."
	"Sure you are baby." Beau said smiling. "Remember who does the
crediting to your surgeons account."
	Out of the corner of his eye, Forest saw his dad touch a key on
the remote without looking, not interrupting the flow of the conversation
and the time appeared in the upper right hand corner of the wall in
Day-Glo green numerals.
	He's letting me know he's still keeping track of the elapsed time
at school, and he knows I saw him do it... Damn.
	Please! Everyone sit down." His father said politely waving them
all to the pit group arranged around the living room. "So how was the
flight guys?"
	"Girlfriend! It was TERRIBLE Billy." Miss Abbey began. "This space
sickness stuff is for the birds girl!"
	"I'm sorry Miss Abbey. That's no way for a star to travel. I'll
rebook you first class on the way back down. My card. They have artificial
gravity there."
	"She's just pissed because she three up and had to re-do her
make-up in free fall." Beau chided. "Let me tell you. What a mess!"
	"They don't want to hear anything like that. I QUITE sure." Miss
abbey said cutting him off. "WE want to know how you guys are getting
along up here! How is my Baby?"
	"Just fine Auntie." Forest said settling back against the couch he
and his father were sitting on. "Hormones are hell though."
	"Oh HONEY! Miss Abbey knows what you mean." She said sincerely
sympathetic. "She wouldn't go through it again for all the money in the
world! She REMEMBERS what it was like."
	"Did you ever have an operation Auntie?" Forest asked curiously,
not sure if he did remember hearing it or not.
	His father suddenly burst into laughter with his Uncle Beau and
then thought better of it, seeing a glare from Miss Abbey that would sear
steel, or wilt hundred year old oaks. The two of them then got up and went
over to the bar to sit on stools and talk quietly as they usually did.
Forest could see them fighting back smiles on their faces as he watched
them intently.
	"Honey, don't you pay those two no nevermind. They're Plebeians."
She said turning her back to the two and continued talking with the boy.
"Come over here by your Auntie Abbey and we'll talk." She said patting the
couch beside her.
	Forest sat down beside her blushing, feeling embarrassed for
having asked what seemed to be an inappropriate question. "I'm sorry
Auntie."
	"Miss Abbey knows you are Darlin'. It's ok.." She said straighting
her back, patting him on the arm and speaking to him in a low voice. "No
Darlin'. Miss Abbey never had no operations. She didn't need to. She LIKES
who she is." She nodded at him seriously.
	"Why are they laughing?" Forest whispered back to her.
	"It's like Miss Abbey says. They're Cretins." She spoke seriously
then. "Is it getting better or worse Forest?"
	"I don't know. It seems like worse, but I'm also able to control it
better now that I at least know what I'm up against." Forest sighed.  "You
know? At least it's identified for me."
	"Yes. I do know." She said quietly. ""Puberty was hard on Miss
Abbey as well. I suppose it hits everyone just as hard, though when you're
in the middle of it, it seems like you're quite alone."
	"Yes Auntie! That's exactly how I feel!" Forest felt relieved to
know someone else finally understood what it was he was going through.
"Everything is frustrating, and everything just WORKS my nerves."
	"I understand Forest." She said thinking for a moment. "We'll have
to do something about it." She winked and nodded over at him.  Trojan
Station EarthSystem June 2085
	Forest and Bill Potter sat on the couch together, with the lights
off, watching a standard programmed video simulation of a fireplace
displayed on the wallscreen before them.
	"You know how much I love you Forest." Bill spoke clearly and
softly to his son. "Any time you want to come home, you know that ll you
have to do is get to a phone."
	"I know Pop." Forest said snuggling down closer to his father
sitting beside him. "I'll miss you too. At the same time though, I GOTTA
go."
	His father chuckled quietly a little nodding to himself. He sat
beside Forest with his arm thrown over the back of the couch, talking to
Forest for what seemed like the first time in his life. He would forever
remember this day as smelling of "Old Spice"
	"Forest, do you understand why I make you memorize your school work
instead of just giving you a Downlink?" Bill asked him directly.  Forest
was quickly beginning to enjoy having his father speak to him as a person.
	"No. I don't. I could dump all of it in within just a few hours,
Most of my friends have them." He thought that would help him present his
case again. This was the ideal time for appeal.
	"Your friends are not the son of a charter member." Bill said
sternly. "But that's not it. I need for you to UNDERSTAND the information.
See? Raw data is useless unless we understand it in it's entirety." Bill
said slowly, picking his words carefully. "The only way we humans can
really understand something is to mull it over and over, maybe even
sleeping on it, thinking about it's impacts on the different things we
know, fitting it into the Big Picture."
	"Oh?" Forest asked looking for the flaw in his fathers logic.
	"I want you to remember, that no matter what anyone does to you,
they can't take away what's inside your head." Bill said seriously.
	"Oh." Forest said suddenly feeling guilty, but also changed
somehow. "I'm sorry Pop. I just never thought to ask."
	"Don't feel guilty Forest." Bill smiled and patted his sons
shoulder. "This is going to make a lot more sense in a few weeks, after
you've worked out some of that energy."
	"I love you Pop. You know?" Forest asked. "I don't want you to
think I just abandoning you up here alone."
	"Forest, I understand completely. Really. I've been thinking about
calling Uncle Morris anyway. I thought I would get you through this one
class though first. We can return to it later I suppose."
	They both sat in silence in the darkened room for a long while.
	"Don't worry Pop. I'll be careful. I know the scene." Forest said
trying to console his fathers worries as he could feel the tension from
the man as easily as his body heat.
	"You're a very bright boy Forest. Quite a bit brighter than you
give yourself credit for." Bill explained. "Earth is the best place in the
world to experience a planetary environment. It's our natural beginnings
down there. A HUMAN environment. You'll have to be patient with them
though. It's a farming community down there Forest. It's nothing at all
like Trojan Station."
	"Aren't there any Guild Members down there?" Forest asked confused.
	"Oh yes. You'll be able to find them everywhere. The general public
though is simple. Do you understand?"
	"Yes. I think I see what you're leading up to. I'll keep myself in
check."
	"Good boy. Someday you know, when you leave home and go out on your
own, you will be the only one there to keep a check on yourself. I won't
be there to look over your shoulder. We have a... DUTY to sentient life."
	"I understand sir." Forest said feeling more mature. "I won't let
you down Pop. Besides, I'm sure you'll have monitors on me all the time
anyway."
	Bill laughed for a moment. "Yes, I will." He smiled. "They're not
there just to keep irritating you. They're also there to keep an eye on
you. To protect you."
	"I can always call for Chip." Forest offered, trying to console his
father as he was clearly upset. "And you know as well as I do that I could
get out of almost any trouble that might come up."
	"Yes, you're very bright." Bill shifted his head, staring at the
fire and from another angle, Forest could see that his father was crying.
Silently albeit, but the tears running down is face were quite real
none-the-less. "People down there will interact more closely together.

They don't conduct all their business and affairs over ComWeb as The Guild
does here in Trojan Station."
	"I'll watch my back Pop." He squeezed his father had. "Don't
worry."
	"You know Forest, someday soon I have a file for you. You're
getting old enough now to understand things I think." Bill smiled in the
firelight. "You're certainly a clever chap! You're a very special boy
Forest. Talented."
	"Yes Pop." He said trying to figure his fathers angle this time.
"I'm top programmer in the station."
	"Beyond that even." Bill explained. "There was a lot of time,
study, energy and money that went into bringing you to me as a son. Do you
understand?"
	"I think so Pop. I'm coming home though. Don't worry."
	"I know you will baby." Bill said ruffling his hair.
	Anger flooded over him suddenly and he felt strong enough to speak
his mind quickly.
	"I'm NOT a baby anymore Pop!"
	"I'm sorry Forest. Of course you're not. I just say that to keep
reminding myself that you will always be my little boy. Give an old man
his sentimentality." He smiled taking off his glasses and wiping is face
with his hand. "You'll always have a HOME Forest."
	"I understand Pop." He said, quiet again, now guilty again.
"Besides, you're not THAT old." Forest said poking the man in his tight
muscular stomach. "A hundred and thirteen isn't really that old Pop."
	"Well, that question has become fairly relative as of late. We know
longer KNOW how long we live anymore." Bill said staring at the fire.
"Indefinitely I suppose. As long as we keep getting new infusions of the
retroviruses every few years. To facilitate the regeneration of The
Metamorphosis. The Other Retroviral enhancements we have, for instance,
those that go with the Downlink chip, they are different. They are
permanent. Those are not the same as The Metamorphosis we under go.  You
will have to face that some day as well. However, if I should ever be in
an accident, The Guild will instruct you on your role in things here at
Trojan Station."
	"Ok Pop." He said feeling a lot better.
	About that time, the door chimed and Forest got up to answer it.
	"Good Lord! Never thought it could be so dark so late in the
morning!" Miss Abbey's voice cut through the dark of the room, where
Forest could see her in silhouette standing in the doorway with Uncle
Beau. "What are you doing to my baby? Trying to blind him Billy?"
	




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c10b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:29:27 -0500

"Lights!" Forest told the room and the room light slowly came up to a low
background glow. He smiled at Miss Abbey with her arms stretched out in
front of her feeling around like a blind person. "Good morning Auntie!"
	"BABY! Has he been beatin' you chil'? If he does, you come tell
your Auntie Abbey and she'll take him out for you." She said glancing in
the mirror before entering the living room. "You're keepin' this boy
hostage Billy?"
	"Miss Abbey. Good Morning." Bill said getting up from the couch and
wiping his face. "Good morning Beau."
	The two of them noticed for the first time what Forest had noticed
earlier as his father cried silently in the dark. The room was suddenly
still and silent for a moment that should have been FILLED with the sounds
of Miss Abbey and her endless stream of sounds. It was enough to startle
Forest for a second.
	"Uh, Bill!" Beau began. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He said
indicating the bathroom with a nod of his head.
	Forest went into the living room and sat with Miss Abbey who had
went back to her self obsession and non-stop attention getters. She truly
was a star at heart.
	Forest could see that living with Miss Abbey and Uncle Beau was
going to be interesting to say the least. He always enjoyed it when they
came up out of the gravity well to visit. But then, he enjoyed all of his
family visiting He didn't understand why he and his father never went
down.
	"Auntie?" Forest began.
	"Yes Honey?" She asked fixing herself a morning bloody Mary from
the bar.
	"What are they doing in there that's taking so long?" Forest asked,
testing the waters to see if she would tell him the truth.
	"They're in there doin' them NASTY drugs Honey. You don't worry
yourself about it. Miss Abbey thinks your Daddy is sad about your leaving
is all. A little Ice will help him be happy."
	"Uncle Beau is talking to him?" Forest asked pushing the point.
	"Don't get coy. Relax Little Man. That is ALL they are doing."  She
said in her manly voice, a little angry at the innuendo, paused for a
moment, and then decided to go back into character. She was a drag queen
again.
	Forest himself had to pause in re-gauging Miss Abbey's mood.
	"We talked for along time this morning. Since about five o'clock."
Forest offered changing the subject.
	"Yes. Miss Abbey figured that. But she will make sure you call home
to talk to your Daddy everyday. Miss Abbey has DECIDED you know.  Your
Daddy doesn't need the worry of not knowing if you're ok or not."  She
said nodding to herself in the mirror as she spoke.
	Forest got the feeling that he was heading into an area where
everyone besides him was going to start feeling guilty if he didn't change
course soon.
	"I don't have to go to school while I'm away!" He said whispering
in excitement to her. "I'm FREE!"
	"Good Honey! Miss Abbey told you she would fix it." She winked.
"Billy's a pushover for Miss Abbey. Always has been."
	"How long have you known Pop?" Forest asked sincerely curious.
	"Long enough. Miss Abbey doesn't have an age if THAT'S what you're
getting at." She smiled at him. "She is timeless. You're allowed that when
you're a Star!"
	"What about Uncle Beau?" He asked. "Did you meet him before or
after you met Pop?"
	"Uncle Beau is an OLD OLD man. Zillions of years older than Miss
Abbey. You're not going to get an age out of Miss Abbey though." She said
in mock consternation. "I met them both at roughly the same time though.
When your Daddy was visiting Old Uncle Beau in Montreal."
	"But if he met you at the same time, and Uncle Beau is Old..."
	"Oh NO!" She said throwing up her hands and fixing another
cocktail. "You're NOT going to trick Miss Abbey with none of them LOGICAL
things."
	Forest smiled and hugged the skinny black drag queen as Beau and
his father came out of the bathroom. Both had been crying. Forest could
clearly see that. He could also see that the two of them went to great
lengths to cover up the sorrow with Ice, cocaine, and by washing their
faces. Though there was still a redness about the eyes and nose that
betrayed the anguish and painful scene that must have taken place in the
bathroom as the two of them talked together.
	Forest felt guilty again.
	His father came over to him and hugged him tightly, in the best
spirit he could muster, but Forest could feel the misery in the air.
	"Well! Are you ready to go boy?" His Uncle Beau asked
enthusiastically, even though Forest could see that his smile was false
and strained for his benefit.
	"Ready as ever!" Forest said in the same tone, politely looking
past the sadness in their eyes as they all looked at each other.
	"Well ok then." Beau drawled out feeling around in his pockets as
if he were looking for something.
	"Bye Pop. I love you. I'll call often."" He said hugging his dad.
	"I know you will. I love you baby." He said hugging him back.
	Miss Abbey stood quietly by the door, deliberately not looking at
anything, though she seemed to have something in her eye.
	"Bon voyage mon frere." His father whispered hugging Beau.
	"Je'taime mon frere." Beau whispered, his voice cracking as he
swallowed hard.  Mid Continent International Kansas City June 2085
	"It's nothing at all like I expected!" Forest said excitedly as
they rode the monorail from Mid-Continent International into DownTown
Kansas City. "It's so OPEN!"
	"A bit different from living in Trojan Station. Non?" Beau grinned.
	"Mon Dieu!" Forest sighed. He really did feel free at last as he
watched the wheat and corn fields rush by the window outside.
	Intellectually he knew that by 2046, the planetary ecologists had
reconstructed the ozone layer and after 38 more years he was looking at a
planet that had been repaired of it's past mistakes.
	Emotionally he FELT the Earth around him. It seemed so natural to
him. And beautiful. The pictures of Earth he had seen did not do it
justice even though they were holograms. Everything was SO much BIGGER!
	He also didn't realize how crowded it was from the pictures.
	The fields of grain he had witnessed on the way into the city
seemed to be considered a treasure, once he considered the significance of
the wall that surrounded the city. It was deigned to keep people IN.
	Earlier in the year, when Venus announced it's completion of the
"Mercury Drive" and had moved the planet Mercury into a geo-ecliptic orbit
shading Venus forever in total solar eclipse so that the atmosphere could
have a chance to cool, and the microbes dumped into the atmosphere could
grow and breed and produce oxygen.
	Forest thought it was an awful lot of trouble to go through when
it would have been easier to just build space stations.
	Now he understood why.
	Seeing the contrast of the open fields with the congestion of
Kansas City, he now saw the reason behind the time money and energy spent
in moving comets into trajectories that would not only slow the spin of
the planet Venus, reducing it's gravity and letting it's heavy atmosphere
bleed away, but also add water ice to a planet that was over 600 degrees
Fahrenheit.
	People NEEDED to be outside once in a while. Just as he had.
	They got off at a stop in a huge apartment building some 175
stories high, where Miss Abbey and Uncle Beau lived in an apartment on the
51st floor. Once inside their lavishly decorated apartment, Forest noticed
that across the street below was a convention center. There was currently
a BioProfits convention underway.
	That didn't sound like much fun.
	"Auntie, can I go outside?" Forest asked her from the balcony where
he stood taking in all the sights and sounds of the massive city laid out
before him in panorama.
	"Not alone Baby. NEVER alone. Remember that." She said seriously.
"Beau?" She called as she went into her dressing room where all her gowns
were kept.
	"Sure! We can go out exploring. Miss Abbey has to get ready for her
fans right now." Beau winked. "But that doesn't mean WE can't go out and
have a good time. Eh?"
	"Great!" Forest said running back to the balcony and looking
straight down into the canyon some 51 stories below.
	"Mon Dieu!" Beau shook his head. "Looking over the side like that
would make me want to throw up."
	"It's not that bad." Forest commented. "Like looking up the spokes
of Trojan Station except the gravity is reversed." He grinned enjoying the
new sensations of this world.  DownTown Kansas City June 2085
	Walking down the wide sidewalk, the lights alone were a new
sensation for him. The people were something else. He had never seen so
MANY nor so many different KINDS before. Trojan Station was comprised of
primarily Gay Men. There WERE a few Straight Men and Women, but on Trojan
Station they didn't seem to be as preoccupied with cosmetic beauty as they
were here.
	These people were all the colors of the rainbow. Some kind of
paint they wore. Their hair as well. He had never before imagined a woman
with red skin and green hair in all his life.
	Why? Was all that came to him as he stared at her.
	"A bit different?" His uncle asked him as they strolled casually
his small hand feeling even small now in his uncles huge bear paw as they
wandered the crowds filling the streets.
	"Yeah." Was all he could manage.
	"Hungry for dinner?" Beau asked him. "We can grab some McDonalds."
	Over the next few days he began to understand the layout of the
city, and the skywalk system that seemed so maze-like and confusing before
was now comprehensible.
	Finally the BioProfits Convention in the vast structure across the
street was calling to him.
	He had found a route approved of by Miss Abbey to get around to
SOME places on his own, and he was grateful that she gave in that much.
He didn't want to be kept on a leash! Not in a city this beautiful and
huge!
	Earth was becoming more of an adventure every day. Miss Abbey did
however, give him a Laser Carbine when his Uncle Beau was still asleep and
made him promise not to EVER leave the apartment without it, but he was
also to keep it just THEIR secret. He was NOT to tell Uncle Beau. He
eventually conceded.
	Taking the elevator up to the 60th floor there was a rarely used
skywalk that crossed the vast canyon of the street. By standing in the
middle of it, he could stare down the endless chasm for miles in each
direction. It was utterly amazing.
	The convention center was a bit old, being one of the shorter
buildings, and a great waste of space as far a Forest was concerned, and
there didn't seem to be many people at the convention center that day, so
he could walk from booth to booth examining their advertised wares with
little problem.
	Even the people who manned the booths were uninterested in the
ogling of a 12 year old boy and for the most part ignored him in favor of
their drug circles that occupied their hours sitting.
	He was able to get a good look at the differences in the people
who worked for The Major Families. They seemed to have a family
resemblance that he hadn't noticed before on TV.
	They probably make a gene swap with the corporation when becoming
a part of the family... Or else they're patented...
	Genetics WAS one of the major Trade Circuits. Where IS
everyone?....
	High up on one wall was a long banner that read:
	"The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World."
	Jesus. These people think they can control things through
biology...
	He passed one booth where there were some oriental girls, Korean,
he decided from the bone structure of their faces, which was featuring new
genetic schematics for Negroid people. That was a laugh. He thought it was
ironic since orientals HATED blacks... Then there was that ugly incident
with the Sickle Cell Bait & Swap scandal.
	Just after the war, the Japanese came out with what they said was
a cure for Sickle Cell Anemia, a common Negroid problem. What it was in
fact, was a lethal protein that lay dormant for three months before
activating, killing the patient. Millions died before it was discovered
what they had done...
	The next booth was run by some sort of neo-terrorists.
Mercenaries. They were offering their services as well as armies that
could be quickly whipped up to the specifications of the buyer. Forest
thought them to be nothing more than swashbuckling romantics with no idea
of what war really meant. They couldn't have been more than 20 years
old...
	The next booth he knew had to be run by Californians. Useless
hedonistic offshoots. Their products reflected it in the fact that they
offered life forms as sex toys. Being another human being in order to
enjoy oneself was tasteless if not immoral.
	He found one that offered scanner viruses that would keep
correcting against cancers, rewriting the code when it found it.
Outdated. The orbital facilities had been using them since their
inception.
	The next seemed to be empty except for a man reading a news
paper. Probably just wanted to be alone for a while. Forest decided not
to bother him. The Headlines on his newspaper

The Headlines on his newspaper announced that The Belt was making claim on
Phobos, Deimos, and Icarus and were moving them out to the Asteroid Belt
using the Mercury Drive. He thought he would write a Tracer program when
he got back to the apartment just to find out where that story was
leading...
	The next contained a group of people standing around talking and
laughing, drinking what they were trying to pass off as punch. As he
walked on by he didn't pay attention to their product, but could easily
spot the non-management woman who was the company spy...
	The next advertised their unemployment needs and proudly
advertised the size of their tissue sample banks, and how one could also
become a apart of the company family...
	The next was simply a wallscreen with a man pictured
holographically that was actually nothing more than a high resolution
office response program that some idiot had reprogrammed to be a salesman.
He walked past despite it's beckoning him over...
	Another offered help with BioLaw.
	Another, the revival of corpses.


	




From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c13a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:40:05 -0500

Shipyards L-5 point EarthSystem July 2091
	In 2091 Forest could look Sir in the eye.
	Intellectually as well as in height.
	He had helped his fathers on several projects before, and
currently Sir was looking for an Artificial Intelligence program that
could function aboard the Jumpships as astro-navigator. Forest KNEW AI's.
	Jumpspace was an ever-changing dimension. Once a ship dropped into
Jumpspace, it could remain only a few days in transit, else it would be
lost far off course.
	The result was that Jumpships had to drop out of Jumpspace every
two or three days to get recalibration in Einsteinian Space, resulting in
a jagged, almost random path towards the destination.
	After working on the problem several months, he had the answer.
Little did he realize at the time that he was changing the course of human
history forever.
	His answer was a reorganization of JumpNet.
	A single AI that would be kept on a Read-Only basis with the world
at large, but would keep track for them the shifting and changing of the
11 dimensions to time and space. A constant Tachyon signal from JumpNet to
the JumpShip would keep it on course and get it to it's destination within
a few weeks, instead of months in travel, feeling ones way around through
space.
	The Jumpdrive have given man access to the stars. Giving them the
dimensions that would allow them to cross light years in a few days or
weeks. Now Forests JumpNet would stabilize the network between the stars.
	Each stellar gravity well had the capability of holding six jump
points around it stabilized. Each point gave a different destination. The
result was that the old stellar maps could be discarded since they were
useless in JumpSpace and replaced with the grid representing what was now
termed OrganizedSpace. (As opposed to KnownSpace that were only colonies
and not part of the economic world.)
	OrganizedSpace by 2091 was made up of seven solar systems, with
HomeSystem (Sol and Nemesis) at it's center. KnownSpace was three times
this number.
	As Forest sat programming JumpNet, he brought the Starsystem of
"Kuwait" into the network, thereby stabilizing the first system of the
First Tier. The inner 6 surrounding HomeSystem (Proxima, Barnards Star,
Wolf, Lalande, Sirius, and New Rome) were know as The CoreSystems.
	Forest taught JumpNet when and how to incorporate a system from
KnownSpace into OrganizedSpace, and then sealed it. There would be only
one way into the system and Forest was the only one who had that
knowledge. It was necessary. There could be no taking chances with the
data when the lives of millions were at stake. Even it's coordinates in
Einsteinian Space were secret.
	OrganizedSpace grew at a rate of one system per month.
	By the time he was Twenty, Forest had only casually monitored the
work of JumpNet, occasionally answering it's questions, and watched it as
it added the systems of Green Thread, Capella, Geneva, 61-Cygni, Chicago,
Geronimo, Omega, Altair, Argentina, Alexandria (The Programmers Guilds new
colony), and Island One (The first remote outpost) to Kuwait, sealing the
First Tier.
	Tiered Space had begun.  Shipyards L-5 point EarthSystem March
2092
	"Can that machine keep up with all of this?" Sir asked him as they
sat in Sirs Office going over charts and projections. "I mean, there's a
lot of Starshots going out these days."
	"Oh yeah." Forest said confident. "He's pretty smart for an AI. I
thought it best that he be able to make decisions on his own in case
something should happen to me."
	"Good idea Son." Morris nodded thoughtfully.
	For a Hundred and Twenty One years old, there did not appear to be
that much difference between Forest and Morris. (Other than 101 years.)
One would have thought them brothers.
	Forest DID catch up to his father in height, despite his
misgivings and through his puberty, running and working out with weights
to control his frustration and anger, he bulked out considerably. He felt
more confident these days, and had overcome the awkwardness of his long
limbs. He was comfortable.
	Forest sat with Morris in his office at the Shipyards in the L-5
point, looking out at the fleet of ships that were currently under
construction for colonization of the galaxy.
	Since Forest had declined to go in for Retroviral Enhancement to
Eidetic Memory, he couldn't QUITE remember which StarShot was going out
next, but he thought it was something like the forty second.
	After the physicists had opened up the 11 dimensions to time and
space, everyone and their cousins wanted their own colony. Well, almost.
There were always a few who wanted control of EarthSystem and it's
resources.
	Morris had made it quite economical to leave the planet now that
the miners were bringing in metals from all over the solar system. Then
there were the new construction ceramics as well. Miracles of modern
science.
	The result was people breaking off into splinter culture groups.
	Once the original 6 StarShots (Which were the old slower than
light fusion drives) reached their destinations, they would be in for
quite a shock.
	Eastman-Kodak-Polaroid paid for StarShot VIII (The Family Geffin)
which had overtaken StarShot III and was now in control of Barnards Star.
	Leo Genetics Inc (StarShot X, The Family Lancer) was now based on
Wolf 359, changing their name to Wolf LGI.
	Genentech BioLabs (StarShot XI) was in control of Lalande 21185.
	Recombinant Retrovir Inc (StarShot XII, The Family Hilton) had
control of Sirius A & B.
	Packard-Bell-Honeywell (StarShot XIII, The Family Brighten) owned
New Rome and it's companion star Sparta.
	Before Sir would let any of the MegaCorps buy into a Jumpship as a
means of colonization, there was the little detail of over-population that
still had to be handled. He forced a rider on the contract that said for
every person they took of their own, they had to provide space for a
colonist from the voluntary lists. Deep Freeze would be acceptable.
	Everyone wanted off the planet and hell, the ships were cheap
enough that almost any group could raise enough money for one. However,
they each had that same condition in their contracts.
	However, despite Sir's attempt at the homogenization of the
colonies, the result was still a dominant culture in every case. Kuwait
became Pan-Arabian. Green Thread became a food producing giant. Geneva was
a haven for the super-rich. Chicago was, well, Chicago. The same for
Argentina. Alexandria however became an information center. It was run by
The Programmers Guild (Though others were more than free to share the
system.) and there was a unique "Tariff" placed on The First Tier.
	Each ship that passed through the First Tier, either on their way
outward or on their way back in to HomeSystem had to stop at a port, where
their computer banks were copied and then they were sent on their way with
an updated version of The Encyclopedia Universal.
	The information was immediately sent to Alexandria, where it was
incorporated into the libraries, along with Tachyon transmissions from
HomeSystem, and then copied into the next version of The Encyclopedia
Universal. The sum total knowledge of mankind.
	No matter what happen to Earth in the future, it's knowledge would
never be lost.
	Depending on where Starshot XXII (The first Colony Drive colony
ship that went out under the untested Nanotechnology Biocircuitry) ever
decided to stop, If it ever DID decide to stop, that colony too would be
an extension of man and his knowledge.
	After the horrible news release of the rogue minds not following
the original flight plan and heading in the direction of Fornax Galaxy,
there were public hearings that embarrassed not only the
Reorganized-Mormons and The Programmers Guild, but Colony Packages Inc
(Morris's corporation) as well.
	Uncle Louis, Pop and Sir all had to bear the weight of 25,000
souls screaming through HyperSpace under the control of minds gone mad,
who had never been allowed to adjust to the idea of their own deaths
properly.  Sydney Australia EarthSystem June 2102
	Forest felt the worst when the Quorum of the Ten Tribes brought
him to Zion Station, before their assembly (His Uncle Louis being one of
the 10) and formally apologized to him for not listening more closely to
his vision. He knew what it meant for a body of that power to have to
apologize to a mere man of 30, and it hurt him more than it hurt them.
	Forest had helped them correct the problem in future ships by
adding a version of Chip built as Read Only Memory that would act as
Sentry over the three minds.
	He had not yet been able to program an AI that could handle the
mathematics concepts of moving through HyperSpace, and he thought it was
possibly because he couldn't QUITE grasp it himself. However, he COULD
have a Chip watch them, and make them follow the flight plan hard wired
into him.
	The church was faced with a perplexing problem. They had a 30 year
old visionary on their hands and he didn't want to work for the church
just yet at this stage in his career.
	He explained, quite rationally to them, that he had not LIVED yet,
so it would be improper for him to pass prophecy or vision to people who
had more life experience than himself. He would not be making entirely
accurate nor fully formed prophecies when he was aware of all the factors.
	That was one reason.
	The other, the one he didn't care to talk about was that since
puberty, he had found himself given to bouts of manic depression.
	This young man, a genius in his own time, who had helped shape the
future for all mankind could not help the fact that he would go into
phases of withdrawal from the world.
	He could always recognize it once it had begun, though he could
never seem to pinpoint what it was that triggered the episodes.
	He had certainly done enough research on the subject, even going
so far as to enlist the help of Chip when he was emotionally down and out.
	He had adjusted to the down time between manic phases and at times
he even enjoyed them for the periods of reflection they allowed him. The
problem lay in the fact that he could not properly interface with the rest
of the world while in them.
	Being who he was, and the size of his extended family, the demands
of people wanting to know how he was only inflamed the problem.
	It was during one of these episodes, sitting in the dark, mentally
running through his unique gene helix, looking for some answer to the
problem that he might have missed before that his life changed again.
	"BABY!" Miss Abbey said from the wallscreen when he answered the
phone. "What's wrong with you boy?" She said concerned.
	"Nothing. What's up?" Forest asked her, bringing up the lights a
little and lighting a cigarette.
	"Miss Abbey KNEW there was something wrong. Just KNEW she should
call you today. Now are you going to tell her about it or is she going to
have to come down there to that nasty little continent where they eat
people?"
	"Auntie, they don't eat people in Australia, and nothing is wrong.
I was just taking a nap was all. So why did you call?"
	"Well! Miss Abbey can see right now she isn't going to get any
cooperation! She'll just have to go over your head. That's all."
	"Really Aunite, everything is fine." Forest said a bit irritated.
	"Nope! It isn't! Lying to Miss Abbey only makes it go that much
worse on you."
	"Ok. I got a cold. I'm not feeling very good today is all."  Forest
resigned himself to give her SOME kind of answer. "Kinda tired I guess."
	"Yeah. Sure Baby. Miss Abbey HAS your cold. You're looking older
than OLD old Uncle Beau. Miss Abbey says she will call you right back."
She said disconnecting before Forest could object.
	Forest lay back on the bad and sighed. He didn't even feel like
arguing with her today. Perhaps he WAS feeling a bit more out of sorts
than usual...
	Soon, the phone chimed again and when he answered he once again
was looking into the face of the garishly outfitted drag queen.
	"BABY! Miss Abbey says you come up here and let her take care of
	"I'll see if I can't get a flight later in the week Auntie."
Forest lied.
	"Oh no no No! It's either you get on the next flight, or Miss Abbey
comes down there and does the Sydney Thing. It's up to you." She said with
her arms crossed over her false titties with eyebrows arched.
	"I'm on the way." Forest sighed.
	"Miss Abbey KNEW you'd see things her way. Besides, Montclair is
wanting to see you. But let me tell you! If Miss Abbey catches her babies
talking about drug running or some such, she is coming down HARD. Do you
understand?"
	"I'm sure it's nothing like that Auntie." Forest shook his head.
":Last month when I talked with Montclair, he was asking me to do some
models for him in gravitation."
	"Ok now. Miss Abbey believes you. She is just giving you fair
warning. No guns."
	"Ok Auntie. No guns." Forest shook his head in amazement. "Look, I
gotta shower"Look, I gotta shower and get to the airport. I'll see you
in a couple of hours."
	"Ok Baby. You be careful. Them nasty VICAR kids are just
EVERYWHERE." She said disconnecting, leaving Forest in sweet silence
again.



From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c13b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:41:25 -0500

Mid-Continent International Kansas City June 2102
	The Qantas semi-ballistic flight went well, mainly because he had
asked for a KwikShot of Valium before they got off the ground. He had
found that he took the G-Forces much better when he was asleep.
	When he woke up the people next to him were excitedly chatting
about their trip they were making to Jovia System.
	Once landed, he was glad to see his cousin Montclair waiting for
him instead of having to take the monorail into the city alone.
	"Hey Montclair." He smiled shaking his cousins hand. "How's
tricks?"
	"Hey Forest. Dang! Mom was right. You DO look like shit."
Montclair asked peering at him intently examining his pupils. "What's up
with you Forest?"
	"Just a cold I think." Forest said look around for the Monorail
entrance and began heading towards it.
	"I got Moms Chrysler." He said tugging at his cousins sleeve
directing him towards the front doors. "You on downers man?"
	"Valium. From the flight. I'm coming down though." He said
following.
	"Moms on another Crack Crusade." Montclair laughed rolling his
eyes, directing his cousin towards the car in the clean June evening.
Seeing the stars from a different point on the Earth DID make Forest feel
a bit better after all. "She has the church ladies in her philanthropic
circle walking on city hall with signs and stuff. Real Protesting!"
	"God." Forest shook his head.
	"If she even knew half the shit that's out there on those streets I
think the poor old thing would probably shit herself. Maybe that's why
she's back to going to church again. She does this in cycles it seems."
	"Who knows? With Auntie, it could be something as simple as she
wanted people to see her in a new outfit on TV or something." Forest
grinned tossing his carry bag into the back seat as he got into the car.
"A bunch of drag queen church ladies though... I don't know. I can just
picture her in her bright blue new outfit complete with blue pillbox hat
and net discreetly pulled, and a bid wide black paten leather belt cinched
three sizes too small."
	Montclair laughed heartily out loud as they pulled out of the
parking lot. "You don't know how close you've got her pegged!" He laughed.
"It was a pink outfit!"
	They both laughed in derision together as the big Chrysler sped
down the highway towards the city...  DownTown Kansas City June 2102
	They sat together on the living room floor amid deep dark green
plush carpeting going over charts graphs and projections displayed on the
walls all around them as Miss Abbey sang to herself in the kitchen while
fixing dinner (Some "Madonna number about a Virgin losing her cherry.)
	"Montclair! I want all that cleaned up. Take it to your room."  She
said closing the oven door. "It's time for Mamas stories."
	"Oh Mom. The walls aren't as big in there." He said touching the
remote and watching the program fold back in on itself, as Forest got up
stiffly feeling his knees crack and stretched his legs.
	"You can use our room then. Daddy won't be home for a little while
yet." She said bending over and picking up the remote from the coffee
table, careful not to let her freshly polished nails brush against
anything.
	Forest smiled with pleasure at the sight of the peach colored
dress too tight for her, the long painted nails, and skin so black it
reflected blue. The sight of her made him smile. Forest was home again.
Miss Abbey and her almost obscene garishness somehow made everything seem
a little bit better. Maybe that was all he needed. To smile a little.
	"I swear the bitch treats me like a child and I'm twenty fucking
years old." Montclair grumbled as Forest closed the door to the bedroom.
"So what do you think so far?" he asked as they settled down on the floor
again, and began opening the program again by unfolding the menus all
around them.
	"Well, it looks good so far, what I understand of it, but it looks
like you're going to be running up against a time paradox unless you
correct some of the variables first. You can't arrive some place before
you've left some other place. Can you?" Forest asked confused somewhat
from the complexity of his cousins project lay out before him.
	"What do you think the TerraForm probes are doing? They're whipping
the terraforming projects BACK in time and space, THEN releasing them. But
no, that's not what this does. You're way off track."
	"Well shit. Explain it to me again then." Forest said pulling out
his bag of cocaine and offering it to his cousin.
	Montclair sniffed a couple of time and handed it back. "It's
converting you to a one dimensional line. No width or height, just length.
You're both where you start and where you're going at the same time. Then,
it just converts you back at the other end."
	"What are you calling it?" Forest asked sniffing and putting the
bag back in his shirt pocket, lighting a cigarette.
	"I haven't thought of anything yet. It's just a zero spacetime
vortex. It's not REALLY a drive system at all, although I suppose it COULD
be used as such." Montclair said swirling his cocktail around in the
glass. "I don't know. Hell. Let's shower down and go out clubbing tonight.
This shit has turned my brain to clay. How long's it been since you were
last to KC?"
	"I don't know a couple of years I guess. You were 18 then."  Forest
said trying to recall.
	"Dang man! You're gettin' old boy! What are you? Thirty now?"
Montclair asked as they searched through his closet for clothes to wear.
	"Yeah I guess I am." Forest said somewhat melancholy.
	"You found a man yet? Or do you do women?" Montclair asked flipping
through clothes.
	"No, I'm a Fag, but I just trick out. I don't think anyone could
stand to live with me for very long." Forest laughed good naturedly. "You
know, habits and stuff you develop after a while living alone."
	"Yeah, well, tonight you'll get to meet my other half." He said
deciding a particular outfit would look good. "A Japanese Boy. Mom came
UNGLUED when she first heard." Montclair whispered.  DownTown Kansas City
June 2102
	"Montclair, you're BLACK! You of all people should know how you and
Japs get along." Forest whispered after the Japanese man went to the rest
room. "Plus he's CORPORATE. Are you out of your one and only Fag Mind?"
	"His family is. He isn't." Montclair answered simply by drawing
them all lines out on the table top. "He's in the engineering guild"
	"Oh Man! I can tell you right now, this is one relationship that is
NOT going to work. Montclair, you know out-guild relationships don't work.
You're just in heat girl."
	"Well, we've been dating for about three months now. Since he moved
here from Neptune. I think he's nice. A really sweet boy."
	"Girl!" Forest said clicking his tongue. "God. What a queer."
	"It's not like we're moving in together or anything. Calm down
Bitch. We're just dating ok?" Montclair said a bit miffed. "Not that I
wouldn't if he would ask..."
	Forest shook his head as the Japanese man came out of the bathroom
and walked across the crowded dance floor towards their table again.
Forest decided it was as good of a time as any to go get another round of
drinks and walked off just as the Japanese man came up to the table.
	"What's her problem?" Forest heard as he headed towards the bar.
	Once he order the drinks and was heading back to the table, he
decided to stop and make a call.
	"Chip?" Forest asked the clank screen after he got an answer.
	"Yes sir?" Came a perfectly human sounding voice. A little cuteness
he added to the program the last time he was down and out. For the most
part, he preferred his programs to have a machine voice. It helps keep
everything in perspective.
	"Run a make for me.. Bryce Nakashima. From Neptune. His family is
corporate. Waner-Amex-Time-Coke I think. Waiting..." He stood looking at
the table where the two of them were kissing.
	"Done sir. The only incongruity I could find was that he is
currently connected with the engineering guild and his family is
corporate. Is there anything more specific?"
	"Any Catholic or Jew blood in him at ALL?" Forest asked the
program.
	"Not for three generations back. Then only one Catholic in-law.
His line extends back through Kepler Base into Kyoto sir."
	"Thanks." Forest said hanging up. No one could be THAT clean. He
thought suspiciously to himself as he headed to the table smiling
politely.
	They sat chit-chatting a while, until Montclair got up to go use
the rest room. Then the two of them were FORCED to talk.
	"Great club eh?" Forest smiled at the Japanese man tapping his
foot.
	"You don't like me do you Potter?" The man smiled at Forest.
	"Excuse me?" Forest asked taken aback.
	"Well my little spunk dumpling, I don't really give a shit."  Bryce
smiled at Forest. "Montclair and I are GOING to be married, so Girl,
you're just gonna have to get over yourself."
	"Look Queer, I GOT your number. Right? NO ONE is that clean. I
don't care if you want to roll over some other queen, but this is my
COUSIN." Forest said arching an eyebrow at him. "Family. Eh? You hurt is
feelings just ONCE and I know 40 Fags that'll kick the shit out of you
inside two minutes."
	"Agreed." Bryce said evenly to Forest. "Now YOU look Sister. Stay
the fuck out of our private affairs. Agreed?"
	"Fine." Forest said extending his hand to the man. "If it makes him
happy, then I'm all for it. It's when he starts getting unhappy I'm
concerned about. He's upset, then I'm upset."
	"We're in agreement then." Bryce said shaking his hand and
blinking. "So is cocaine and liquor all you guys do?" He asked changing
the subject.
	"Yep. A rather boring family Bryce." Forest smiled at him.
	"That's fine with me." Bryce smiled back. "I came to Earth to get
away from all the drug and wild wild life of the wild wild west."
	"Perhaps we'll get along yet." Forest smiled. Sincerely this time.





From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c13b
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:41:25 -0500

Mid-Continent International Kansas City June 2102
	The Qantas semi-ballistic flight went well, mainly because he had
asked for a KwikShot of Valium before they got off the ground. He had
found that he took the G-Forces much better when he was asleep.
	When he woke up the people next to him were excitedly chatting
about their trip they were making to Jovia System.
	Once landed, he was glad to see his cousin Montclair waiting for
him instead of having to take the monorail into the city alone.
	"Hey Montclair." He smiled shaking his cousins hand. "How's
tricks?"
	"Hey Forest. Dang! Mom was right. You DO look like shit."
Montclair asked peering at him intently examining his pupils. "What's up
with you Forest?"
	"Just a cold I think." Forest said look around for the Monorail
entrance and began heading towards it.
	"I got Moms Chrysler." He said tugging at his cousins sleeve
directing him towards the front doors. "You on downers man?"
	"Valium. From the flight. I'm coming down though." He said
following.
	"Moms on another Crack Crusade." Montclair laughed rolling his
eyes, directing his cousin towards the car in the clean June evening.
Seeing the stars from a different point on the Earth DID make Forest feel
a bit better after all. "She has the church ladies in her philanthropic
circle walking on city hall with signs and stuff. Real Protesting!"
	"God." Forest shook his head.
	"If she even knew half the shit that's out there on those streets I
think the poor old thing would probably shit herself. Maybe that's why
she's back to going to church again. She does this in cycles it seems."
	"Who knows? With Auntie, it could be something as simple as she
wanted people to see her in a new outfit on TV or something." Forest
grinned tossing his carry bag into the back seat as he got into the car.
"A bunch of drag queen church ladies though... I don't know. I can just
picture her in her bright blue new outfit complete with blue pillbox hat
and net discreetly pulled, and a bid wide black paten leather belt cinched
three sizes too small."
	Montclair laughed heartily out loud as they pulled out of the
parking lot. "You don't know how close you've got her pegged!" He laughed.
"It was a pink outfit!"
	They both laughed in derision together as the big Chrysler sped
down the highway towards the city...  DownTown Kansas City June 2102
	They sat together on the living room floor amid deep dark green
plush carpeting going over charts graphs and projections displayed on the
walls all around them as Miss Abbey sang to herself in the kitchen while
fixing dinner (Some "Madonna number about a Virgin losing her cherry.)
	"Montclair! I want all that cleaned up. Take it to your room."  She
said closing the oven door. "It's time for Mamas stories."
	"Oh Mom. The walls aren't as big in there." He said touching the
remote and watching the program fold back in on itself, as Forest got up
stiffly feeling his knees crack and stretched his legs.
	"You can use our room then. Daddy won't be home for a little while
yet." She said bending over and picking up the remote from the coffee
table, careful not to let her freshly polished nails brush against
anything.
	Forest smiled with pleasure at the sight of the peach colored
dress too tight for her, the long painted nails, and skin so black it
reflected blue. The sight of her made him smile. Forest was home again.
Miss Abbey and her almost obscene garishness somehow made everything seem
a little bit better. Maybe that was all he needed. To smile a little.
	"I swear the bitch treats me like a child and I'm twenty fucking
years old." Montclair grumbled as Forest closed the door to the bedroom.
"So what do you think so far?" he asked as they settled down on the floor
again, and began opening the program again by unfolding the menus all
around them.
	"Well, it looks good so far, what I understand of it, but it looks
like you're going to be running up against a time paradox unless you
correct some of the variables first. You can't arrive some place before
you've left some other place. Can you?" Forest asked confused somewhat
from the complexity of his cousins project lay out before him.
	"What do you think the TerraForm probes are doing? They're whipping
the terraforming projects BACK in time and space, THEN releasing them. But
no, that's not what this does. You're way off track."
	"Well shit. Explain it to me again then." Forest said pulling out
his bag of cocaine and offering it to his cousin.
	Montclair sniffed a couple of time and handed it back. "It's
converting you to a one dimensional line. No width or height, just length.
You're both where you start and where you're going at the same time. Then,
it just converts you back at the other end."
	"What are you calling it?" Forest asked sniffing and putting the
bag back in his shirt pocket, lighting a cigarette.
	"I haven't thought of anything yet. It's just a zero spacetime
vortex. It's not REALLY a drive system at all, although I suppose it COULD
be used as such." Montclair said swirling his cocktail around in the
glass. "I don't know. Hell. Let's shower down and go out clubbing tonight.
This shit has turned my brain to clay. How long's it been since you were
last to KC?"
	"I don't know a couple of years I guess. You were 18 then."  Forest
said trying to recall.
	"Dang man! You're gettin' old boy! What are you? Thirty now?"
Montclair asked as they searched through his closet for clothes to wear.
	"Yeah I guess I am." Forest said somewhat melancholy.
	"You found a man yet? Or do you do women?" Montclair asked flipping
through clothes.
	"No, I'm a Fag, but I just trick out. I don't think anyone could
stand to live with me for very long." Forest laughed good naturedly. "You
know, habits and stuff you develop after a while living alone."
	"Yeah, well, tonight you'll get to meet my other half." He said
deciding a particular outfit would look good. "A Japanese Boy. Mom came
UNGLUED when she first heard." Montclair whispered.  DownTown Kansas City
June 2102
	"Montclair, you're BLACK! You of all people should know how you and
Japs get along." Forest whispered after the Japanese man went to the rest
room. "Plus he's CORPORATE. Are you out of your one and only Fag Mind?"
	"His family is. He isn't." Montclair answered simply by drawing
them all lines out on the table top. "He's in the engineering guild"
	"Oh Man! I can tell you right now, this is one relationship that is
NOT going to work. Montclair, you know out-guild relationships don't work.
You're just in heat girl."
	"Well, we've been dating for about three months now. Since he moved
here from Neptune. I think he's nice. A really sweet boy."
	"Girl!" Forest said clicking his tongue. "God. What a queer."
	"It's not like we're moving in together or anything. Calm down
Bitch. We're just dating ok?" Montclair said a bit miffed. "Not that I
wouldn't if he would ask..."
	Forest shook his head as the Japanese man came out of the bathroom
and walked across the crowded dance floor towards their table again.
Forest decided it was as good of a time as any to go get another round of
drinks and walked off just as the Japanese man came up to the table.
	"What's her problem?" Forest heard as he headed towards the bar.
	Once he order the drinks and was heading back to the table, he
decided to stop and make a call.
	"Chip?" Forest asked the clank screen after he got an answer.
	"Yes sir?" Came a perfectly human sounding voice. A little cuteness
he added to the program the last time he was down and out. For the most
part, he preferred his programs to have a machine voice. It helps keep
everything in perspective.
	"Run a make for me.. Bryce Nakashima. From Neptune. His family is
corporate. Waner-Amex-Time-Coke I think. Waiting..." He stood looking at
the table where the two of them were kissing.
	"Done sir. The only incongruity I could find was that he is
currently connected with the engineering guild and his family is
corporate. Is there anything more specific?"
	"Any Catholic or Jew blood in him at ALL?" Forest asked the
program.
	"Not for three generations back. Then only one Catholic in-law.
His line extends back through Kepler Base into Kyoto sir."
	"Thanks." Forest said hanging up. No one could be THAT clean. He
thought suspiciously to himself as he headed to the table smiling
politely.
	They sat chit-chatting a while, until Montclair got up to go use
the rest room. Then the two of them were FORCED to talk.
	"Great club eh?" Forest smiled at the Japanese man tapping his
foot.
	"You don't like me do you Potter?" The man smiled at Forest.
	"Excuse me?" Forest asked taken aback.
	"Well my little spunk dumpling, I don't really give a shit."  Bryce
smiled at Forest. "Montclair and I are GOING to be married, so Girl,
you're just gonna have to get over yourself."
	"Look Queer, I GOT your number. Right? NO ONE is that clean. I
don't care if you want to roll over some other queen, but this is my
COUSIN." Forest said arching an eyebrow at him. "Family. Eh? You hurt is
feelings just ONCE and I know 40 Fags that'll kick the shit out of you
inside two minutes."
	"Agreed." Bryce said evenly to Forest. "Now YOU look Sister. Stay
the fuck out of our private affairs. Agreed?"
	"Fine." Forest said extending his hand to the man. "If it makes him
happy, then I'm all for it. It's when he starts getting unhappy I'm
concerned about. He's upset, then I'm upset."
	"We're in agreement then." Bryce said shaking his hand and
blinking. "So is cocaine and liquor all you guys do?" He asked changing
the subject.
	"Yep. A rather boring family Bryce." Forest smiled at him.
	"That's fine with me." Bryce smiled back. "I came to Earth to get
away from all the drug and wild wild life of the wild wild west."
	"Perhaps we'll get along yet." Forest smiled. Sincerely this time.





From: cybcq@clubmet.metrobbs.com (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Fags p1c14a
Date: 8 Aug 1995 15:43:01 -0500

Trojan Station EarthSystem July 2102
	"You don't understand Pop." Forest explained to his father. "Sir
and I have to physically go out there and implement the program into the
new JumpGates."
	"I don't know Forest, you've never been out of HomeSystem. You've
never even been outside EarthSystem. I'm afraid something may happen." He
said sincerely concerned. "Can't you send a Tech to handle it?"
	"No Pop. Look. Sir is not going to let anything happen to me.
Besides, it's high time I left the cozy little nest of HomeSystem. It's
depressing the hell out of me." Forest explained. "Oh No! Dad! He's giving
us THE LOOK!"
	Across the room sitting at the bar, Boop broke out in derisive
laughter.
	"Oh No! Not THE LOOK!" Boop laughed loudly. "I'm going to DIE if he
doesn't stop it!"
	"Everything will be ok Bill." Morris giggled from the couch. "The
boy says he foresees no problems. I'll bring him back in one piece."
	"Thirty years old Morris." Boop mocked from the bar smiling.  "He's
ONLY thirty." He laughed. "Oh no! Morris, he's giving us THE LOOK again!"
	"YOU shut up Bitch." Bill snapped glaring. "I would prefer that
SOMEONE be on MY side i this."
	"Oh Bill for Christ's sake. You were thirty when we met and you
organized The Guild. Let the boy go." Boop said fixing another drink.
"He's giving us THE LOOK again Morris!"
	"Yeah, well, I did a lot more than that by thirty too. Not all of
which I'm very proud of today." Bill said straight faced. "It was a
different age then. Morris? Am I right?"
	"Yes Bill, you're right. It was a different age then. Still, you
can't keep him a baby forever. The boy is a MAN Bill. He's out fucking you
know."
	"Gee Thanks a lot Sir. That really helps." Forest said
sarcastically looking over at Morris who just winked and smiled, still
fighting back laughter.
	"And Quit giving us THE LOOK!" Morris laughed. "Do you want us to
all just lay down and DIE right here?"
	Soon, after thinking about it for a moment with his back turned,
and unable to keep a straight face amid the snickering and giggles. Bill
too smiled.
	"The look. I got your look." Bill laughed and ruffled Forests hair.
JumpSpace July 2101
	The Jump to Proxima was nothing like anything Forest had ever
experienced before in his life. It was like Ecstasy and a roller coaster
ride all rolled into one.
	Sir tried to sleep as much as he could through the trip as did
most people on the three day flight, though Forest found it so exciting he
could hardly relax long enough to sleep. He spent most of his time staring
out the forward veranda of the hip at the unique visual that JumpSpace
displayed as it distorted Einsteinian Space or TruSpace as they were
calling it aboard the ship.
	"God. How can you look at that?" Morris asked shielding his eyes
from the windows as he walked up to Forest.
	"Isn't it hypnotic?" Forest smiled at his father. "It so beautiful.
I never imagine."
	"It makes me want to throw up. Come on, you've got to come eat
something for breakfast." Morris said deliberately not looking out the
forward windows.
	"Ok Sir." Forest said following his father back to their cabin.
	"So!" Sir said as they sat down at the small table in their room.
"Have you met anyone on board yet?"
	"No, I've spent most of my time up front in the veranda." Forest
explained. "There WAS one Turkish steward that I thought was kinda cute,
but he turned out to be straight.?"
	"Well, at least you're not insane yet." Morris laughed. "How can
you stand looking at that hour after hour?"
	"It's strange. It gives me a different perspective to see things
from. I can tell you though, I understand Montclairs ZSV now though." He
nodded.
	"Really?" Morris asked biting into a sausage. "I never understood
his rambling about that stuff."
	"It will work Sir. I KNOW it now. Does that make any sense?"
Forest asked forking pancake into his mouth. "I also want to talk with
your engineers when we get back. I think Montclair just scraped the
surface of what this thing can do."
	"How's that?" Morris asked sincerely interested.
	"I thought of another way through his Zero Spacetime Vortex. I just
need to sit down with a mathematician and an engineer, maybe a physicist.
I have to explain to them what I see in my minds eye."
	"Try on me." Morris said now curios as to what his child had
thought up this time.
	"I can't really explain it Sir." Forest laughed. "The best I can
say is that it's like trying to squeeze through a crack in space."
	"Well now THAT metaphor threw me." Morris laughed. "Try again."
	"Well, it's like this; It won't fit through THIS way, but it might
fit through THIS way." He said trying to explain with his hands.
	"Like a right angle to time and space?" Morris asked. "Like that?"
	"I guess. I can see it in my mind, I just can't explain it. It's
like knowing theres a room on the other side of a wall. You can go out the
door, down the hall, and into the next room, OR you can 'Thin' yourself
enough that you could slide THROUGH the wall."
	"So it's not like Montclair was saying about dropping down to one
dimension, it's more like taking on more dimensions to bypass time and
space."
	"Yeah!" Forest smiled and went back to eating. "Becoming MORE
universal and less specialized. Less matter and more energy."
	"I get it. Yeah. I think you SHOULD talk to some of our people."
Morris agreed. "Did I tell you they've redefined our terminology on us?"
	"What?"
	"They've now classified StarShots as those colonies headed for Open
Star Clusters to establish bases." He said drinking his orange juice.
"Those that are colonies being sent out to establish bases in the Globular
Clusters are to be know as EarthShot from now on."
	"Who is 'They' and what about shots to the local group?" Forest
asked.
	"The local groups are still considered just plain colonies. "They
are the nit-wits I have working for me on Project Universe." Morris
laughed. ""We don't even have the JumpGate system set up and they're
already back logged on flights out."
	"Well Sir, I think when we're done out here, things should run a
lot faster and smoother. JumpNet will be able to relax and concentrate on
keeping JumpSpace straight, and brining KnownSpace colonies into
OrganizedSpace."
	"It's too bad that each gate has to be programmed manually."Morris
commented. "I'd hate to think you'd be wasting your time on things a
simple tech could handle."
	Forest thought a while on that comment, and decided he WOULD have
to train people to take his place if he was ever going to get anything
else done.
	"You're right Sir. Do you have any people at Proxima I can train?"
	"Sure." Morris said in his tone that meant he had something else on
his mind. "So maybe you wanna tell me about these periods of depression
you've been having?"
	"Oh. That." Forest said quietly. "It's just manic depression. I
COULD control it through drugs, or have it corrected by one of Uncle Harts
bugs, but I don't think I want to just yet."
	"Why is that Forest?" Morris asked sipping at his hot black coffee.
	"I've been able to turn them to my advantage. That's all."