"Time and Time Again" Part I Late 1990 AD, Mid 2365 Galactic [Redstar] (Okay, Cappy and I are going to start a story. We are leaving it quite open, so we can discuss it, though I like Cappy's idea (though he has revealed litle to me.). So...hope you like it...) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since all the spectacular events of recent time, Redstar had returned back to his normal life. He took a long vacation with Jenn, the superadvanced android, to relax a little and settle down mentally before returning to the old routine at the engineering firm. Now he was in his automobile hangar, working on a few kinks in Einny, everyone's favorite on-board auto computer, and to repair some problems with the air conditioning. He also wanted to install the new nifty fusion microwave oven in the back. Redstar could be found under the jacked-up Redmobile, among numerous body panels and other important-looking parts scattered on the floor. "Jenn, can you come in here for a sec? I need help with Einny." Jenn's soft feminine voice could be heard in the distance, getting gradually louder as she approached. "Yes, Redstar, here I am! What do you need?" "Just get down here and patch into Einny's memory circuits." Jenn got on the floor, and with great agility, squeezed into the tight space under the flying automobile. "Ok...what did you need to find?" "There is some kind of loop that Einny is getting stuck in, and I cannot find it. Just identify, and remove." Jenn stared into the optical linkup port, and began to interface with Einny's vast holographic memories, which were as much a part of her as a part of Einny; working together they formed one of the most powerful computing systems in existence. Einny was crucial to Jenn's knowledge; it allowed her access to the central computers located at Redstar's place of work, the RealiKeen Engineering Corporation. "This may take some time..." Not more than a second later, Jenn found the problem, and eliminated it. "Got it, Red. It was just a loop that formed some late night Friday when Letterman was on; you know what that show does to Einny." "Yeah, I know. Okay, all I have to do is put these panels on, and the ol' jalopy here is ready to roar." Redstar gave a squeeze to Jenn's soft hand, in a gesture of affection, and Jenn got out of the cramped repairing well. "I'll be in the kitchen finishing making breakfast." "Okay. Oh, and Jenn, a second or two is not a while; an hour is." Redstar lately had been correcting Jenn's terminology, as she wanted him to; Jenn had become increasingly human, and for her to totally blend in, she would have to not give way to her unusual sense of time. Jenn gave a slight chuckle. "Oh, sorry, well breakfast will be done in two poin...in a minute." Jenn smiled widely. Redstar laughed. "Very good, Jenn. I'll be there pronto." Ten minutes later Redstar and Jenn sat at the small glass-and-titanium kitchen table on two crystal chairs. They were talking, and both were sipping coffee. Plates coated in crumbs sat in front of them. Jenn was capable of gaining energy from food by fusion; it also added to her realism. They sat there talking, and at one moment they held hands and gave a quick kiss. Redstar was really falling in love with his creation, though he was debating the ethics of it all. Actually, he did not care; he was happy. "Attention, Redstar, there is a priority call for you; access code cleared. It is a message on your answering machine. I recommend that you respond quickly; it seemed important, sir." Redstar looked slightly upward. "Thanks, Jeeves, I will be right there." Redstar turned and smiled to Jenn, giving a slight laugh. "Boy, those cyborg butlers won't leave you alone for a minute, huh?" Jenn giggled. "Guess not." "Well, I'll take care of that in the media room. I'll be there if you want me." "For today, is this alright?" Jenn showed concern in her gray cotton dress, with black nylon. She wanted to dress well, an important quality with women. Redstar chuckled. "Jenn, whatever you wear gets me going! I love that." Redstar began to walk to his room, and thought, 'Jeez, she sounds more and more like a woman by the day. Oh, well...' In the room, Redstar pointed to a crystal panel on his desk. The light dimmed, and a black, metal rectangular frame about two meters across raised from the large desk. Redstar slumped into his recliner. The frame glowed, and a holographic image of Captain R/C appeared. "Redstar, call me as soon as possible. I did it. I think that now they are after me. You have to help.... Please, hurry." The message repeated until Redstar yelled, "HOLD!" The lights began to come up. Redstar summoned his digital butler, which was built into the house; not much more than an immensely overgrown security system. "Get me Captain R/C at code terra one, forty four, six five three six ACBF." "Compliance. Dialing..." The screen began to glow again, and an image of Captain R/C appeared. He looked haggard and nervous. "Cappy, what is it? Please, are you in danger? Who is 'they'?" [Captain R/C] "Red. Thank God! I'll make this brief. Check your chimney, and keep what you find out of sight from everyone, even Jenn. I must go now.... They are probably tracing my call." The screen became the usual translucent color and the lights intensified. Redstar was gazing, almost dumbfounded. "Sir, your food cools!" yelled Jenn from the other room. "Uhhh... come here for a moment Jenn." She entered her room in her cotton dress. "Yes, Sir?" Red took a deep breath. "Code lock. Access Bank 14, 21, 92. Password, Mobile. Comply." Her eyes twitched coldly, and then froze. Red continued, "Procedure 2, Password, Mobile. Comply." Redstar had, simply, turned Jenn off. She was now nothing more than a bulky piece of metal. Red turned his attention elsewhere. "Jeeves." "Sir?" "That'll Be All, Jeeves." "Very Good, sir." Jeeves was easier to 'turn off.' He hoped he was not wasting his time, because Jenn took at least 15 minutes to power up again. He left his house through the attic exit and walked over to his chimney. He peered inside its murky depths and found nothing but a large, heavy box. It was marked clearly 'Cement Concentrate. Just Add Water.' Red grabbed the box anyway, with all his might, and managed to bring it to the exit. He dragged it in, realizing it was easier to drag than to carry. * * * * Captain R/C turned off his TeleCom and peered out of the window. Sure enough, there was the same car parked outside. R/C's trained eye recognized it as a stakeout, not because of the occupants of the car watching him, but because they had parked in front of a fire hydrant. 'Mutants!' he thought. He looked around the room, thinking, when his eyes fell on the old scrapbook he had been keeping. He removed it from the piles of paper and books in which it was entombed and opened it up. He flipped through the pages of childhood memories and days-gone-by. He flipped though the highschool and college stages, and onto the part of his career. He had been the top graduate of MorrowTech College of Science, the continent's leading college at the time. He was given a high up position on the Governments space program, and received many awards, all of which were kept in the scrapbook. One article in particular described his death. It was titled "Official Found Dead," a really boring title, but it was just a cover-up. R/C was working on a new secret weapon, and had just completed it. The weapon was capable of powers unknown. As with all government agencies, there were leaks, and news of the new weapon circulated through the underworld like a rat with a Twinkie. The Government's only choice was to 'kill' the head of the project and make it clear that the project was hopeless. This, of course, was a crock, since such a weapon still existed and R/C was actually still alive, although now under the alias of R/C. (His original name was Richard Cranium.) Now he was out of his Government job and leading a totally new life. The Government paid him handsomely to 'shut up' about the military project to which R/C's life was devoted. He now spent his time inventing, rebuilding. And, starting recently, fearing for his life. * * * * Redstar opened the box. The contents were few. The major content was a large piece of machinery with a large hole at one end and various tube connections at the other. It was heavy, and showed signs of scorch marks. There was also a note. Red: I hope you are reading this. This is the project I have been working on. What you are looking at is a sub-hyperspace engine. It is capable of propelling my craft at speeds off of my scale. My calculations tell me it SHOULD go about 18 times the speed of light. I cannot tell you anything about it, be- cause this could end up in enemy hands. You must hide this any way you can. There are people, or... things trying to get it. I don't know who they are, or where they came from, but I do know that while I was out testing the engine, I was attacked, brutally. It was a fleet of about twelve fighters. Their intentions were clear, because they fired as soon as they were in visible range. My ship took heavy damage including the partial loss of my main gun and navigational systems. Realizing the danger, I jumped into Sub-space (it is really beautiful in Sub-space) and warped home. It took me three minutes, and I'm guessing it will take them 12. Apparently, these are the same people that were after me when I was with the Government. I recognize the ships. Get every Intrepid member you can find and meet me at the Hotel California on Tobacco Road at midnight tonight. I almost definitely will have some people following me, so be prepared. I hope I make it out. Red re-read the note, and burned it. He looked at the Engine he had in his possession and noted its size. All engines previous had been about four times as large, and apparently, four times as slow. For a brief moment, he wondered how much he could get for it on the black market, but decided against it. "Jeeves. ON." Seconds later. "Good morning, may I help you sir?" It wasn't morning, but Jeeves was a butler, and he was supposed to be turned on in the morning, so he had a generic response. "Compile a list of the Intrepid Group, along with their numbers." He went over to Jenn, looked at her. He thought about kissing her, but compared it to kissing a department store mannequin. He would have to wait until she was powered up. "Jennifer1. Ready." A few clicks and buzzes. "Code Lock. Startup Procedure A. Code Alpha 4. Begin. Comply." "Compliance," she responded in a monotone female voice. Red looked at her, and could swear that he saw her wink. 'I'm becoming infatuated with this robot,' he thought, and then smiled and went on with the initialization process. * * * SubSpace Radio: "Target remains in placement. One incoming communication, too brief to scan. No other activity." "Continue scan, then. Don't fail me this time." The message died, as the watching of R/C continued. * * * * [Nomad Of Norad] (Yeah, I approve... except, uh... how can someone in his late teens have been the head of a major government research project? I mean, other than if he was some kind of prodigy? Hmmmm... let me think about it a bit....) (Oh, and I had always thought that we had a whole bunch of little city-states and small kingdoms across this continent here in the BBS universe... not one big country. Hmmmm....) (And how ARE we going to get a story written if they keep posting megabyte files on here?!?!?!?!?????) (Joe! Give us another sub for those files! And make Fraud the sub-op!) Nomad of Norad walked down the alleyway, with a bag full of CD albums, heading for the invisible Gateway back to Timeline One. There were perhaps several thousand of these interspacial junctions flung all across the continent of North America, and a similarly large number per square megameter on each of the other continents and islands. No one really knew how or when they had been created, but they were clearly not naturally occurring. Some speculated that the thousand-centuries-dead super-race the Voontokki, sometimes called the Ancients, had been responsible. Others argued that the reptilian Kloorg where the artificers. And still others brought up the little-known sentient-dinosaurs that had fled the Earth eons ago in generation ships because they thought the soon-to-be Moon was going to hit the Earth instead of going into orbit like it actually did. What they did know, though, was that this great number of interspacial transfer points allowed access between two particular Earths: the one where the ancient Greeks had developed spaceflight, and spread across half the Galaxy... and then were smashed back down to nearly the stone age; and this one where Mankind was only now venturing into space. These Gateways could be crossed by simply standing in the area of one and wishing one-self into the other universe. Someone who had never been through a Gateway could not detect them without a special device, but once one had been through the Gates a number of times one could sense when a Gate was near, and could even "see" through it into the other universe if one willed it. Nomad popped between the universes and appeared in a forest clearing. Standing before his skycar he unlocked the door and climbed inside. Heading back home, he found himself pondering the Greeks of his own timeline. Aliens had placed on Earth a teaching machine that had lead us through the steps towards the development of a galactic civilization. Then one day, two great asteroids appeared from nowhere, coming in at opposite sides of the Earth. They were traveling at nearly the speed of light, and when they struck the planet, two gigantic quakes swept across the surface of the planet, demolishing all standing structures, killing most of the people, and destroying the central node of the galactic communications network. Perhaps if they had made the network more decentralized the entire net would not have went down like that, but down it went, sending the entire Galaxy into chaos. As it were, just a few planets needed to be sent their lightspeed gifts in order for a civilization to fall. Despite it all, though, a few pockets of civilization survived. Individual worlds stayed civilized, preserved some technology and knowledge. And centuries later Mankind re-established his presence in half the Galaxy. And on this Earth the events led to there being such a strange mixture of Medieval and high-tech as there was. Yet the people of the other Earth knew nothing of any of this. Nor did they know that much of their literature, visual entertainment, music and culture was actually being exported through the Gateways and sent out across the Galaxy. As Nomad arrived back at his house, he put these thoughts out of his mind and gathered up his purchases. As he reached the front entrance to his house, he heard Joshua, his household central-computer, announce, "A message came in while you were out." [Captain R/C] (I am assuming this takes place in the future, in which case, I'd be in my Mid-30's. (If you think, how could Joe be a king at 25? Possible, but not plausible)). [Nomad of Norad] (I like your story, Fraud... but.... Oh nevermind! FINISH the thing!) (Actually, they've had kings as young as six years old. And China's last emperor was... what... two years old when he came to power?) (BTW, Cappy, how long ago was it that you first started calling the boards? And were you using the name Captain R/C then?) * * * * * * * Out on the edge of the Hendruf star system, the starship SHADOW SPEAR came out of warp. It was The Devastator's new ship, a lovely Workon Seven class mothership, with much of the hardware cannibalized out of his older ship, which had had a violent disagreement with an asteroid or some such. Among the hardware, there was a truly wonderful super-spacedrive that had been salvaged from a Voontokki starship long ago, plus some mind-numbingly complicated apparatus to maintain a cluster of largish pocket dimensions that each contained interesting little planets with interesting environments that Devvy and crew tended to visit during the more boringly uninteresting periods of their time. There were also one or two truly formidable gizmos from around and about. None of these were of any immediate importance, though. "Ok, fellow," Devastator said toward the empty starfield on the screen before him, "I've come to where you said you'd be... now where are you?" [Captain R/C] (I started calling in ..uhh.. 1984 under the name Black Baron for about 2 weeks. 6 months Later, Capt. R/C was born on Elsinore, and half an hour later, on the Hex) [Captain R/C] "I'll be there!" said the message left on Red's TeleCom. It was Nomad of Norad. He and Koala Bear were at Nomad's house sipping Koala Springs water and eating crackers when Red sent the encoded message. Red had assembled most of the group within the hour, much to Jenn's bewildered observations. "Sir, you act as if something is wrong. Assembling the group again after all these months? What is wrong?" said Jenn in that sweet, subtle, android sort of way. Red turned to her, expressionless. "Charge this." He handed her the teaser. Jenn snorted (kinda) and walked quickly out of the room. Red looked after her, wondering if he should have been so rough, he regretted the last minute addition of the 'Frustrated' emotion to Jenn. * * * Nomad and Koala fueled the ships, ready for flight, at the local 7-11. They had no weapons, since Red wasn't entirely specific. They just new that Tobacco Road was used in emergency cases. "Must be a surprise party for R/C. He just turned 18, you know," said Koala. Nomad replied, "Hmm... well, he didn't get me a present on MY birthday." * * * * * * Captain R/C was now in the workroom, quickly constructing a duplicate engine. This was to be used as the decoy, in case his place was ransacked. he had already taken the trouble to create false documents of the engine, so as to complete the effect of realism. The real documents were secretly hidden behind the picture of the Endless Waterfall, by the late M.C.Escher. He glanced at the clock- 11:46pm. Almost time to go. He took out his diary and made an entry. False, of course: 10/11: The engine is complete. Bypassing the molecular reactor in phase one created a sufficient drop in heat, along with a small drop in power, but at least it works. Further testing tomorrow. R/C secretly knew that by by-passing the molecular reactor, which by some side-effect, actually COOLED the engine, would cause a thermo-breakdown, and destroy the craft. This was in case the enemy had a partially working engine. 11:49pm. R/C uttered, "Light Off," and proceeded to the garage door. He entered his vehicle, souped up with the power cannon and the pretty darn quick engine he made back in his Government days. 'It may take a while to warm up,' he thought, 'but once it does, she really cooks!' R/C liked to personalize his house. By saying, "Open Pod Bay Doors, Hal," the garage door opened. Quite neat, and it really impressed the ladies, although, they had never heard the phrase in their lives. Across the street, the two occupants of the car ducked out of sight. 'Idiots,' he thought. By now, the engines were firing and R/C exited his abode, and on his way to the Hotel. In Rearview, he saw one of the occupants exit the car, just before the wheels retracted and the car became airborne. 'Perfect... go get the engine... just go get the engine....' * * * * * * SubSpace Radio: "Target is airborne. I am in Hot Pursuit(a-gua-gua-gua <--Rosco laugh). 12-8c is checking apartment. Update ensuing." "Follow him... don't let him out of your sight." The message faded, but not before Einstein got his bit-mapped paws on it. * * * * "Redstar! Message Intercepted... Message Intercepted... Message Intercepted... Mess--" began Einstein. "Break. Relay message, Einny." The speakers of the Redmobile emitted the secret message. Red thought it over, glanced at his tazer, and said, "Patch me in to R/C. Encode sequence 4A." "Redstar? What!" said R/C rather rudely. "Sorry to interrupt you, but--" The sound of explosions cut Red in the middle of a breath. "What was that??" "I'm... I'm about 4 miles away from rendezvous. I have a tailer, and he's decided to open fire. The current..." -more explosions- "the current engine is failing me..." --loud explosions-- "Correction... it's been hit. Running on auxiliary nuke. Gonna need help.... Coordinates..." Silence. "R/c?!!" Red yelled. No response. "Einny! Did you get a fix?" "Affirmative. He sent me the coordinates," said Einny. "Plot the course! Engage. Full throttle!" "Engaged." "Open channel. Get me the group, channel 13, encode sequence 4A," said Red. "Channel Open," said Einny. Red sent the coordinates with the verbal command, "Come Here" * * * Subspace Radio: "Target going down. In pursuit." "Excellent." * * * "Redstar!...Message Intercep..." began Einny. "BREAK AL-freakin-READY! Relay." Red turned pale. "No... this can't be the end." * * * * Captain R/C was in the middle of a forest, crumpled in what was a steel box. He was approximately, according to his jumbled calculations, 150 feet from his ship and the tailer. He could hear him land on the road and get out. R/C's head throbbed, his leg ached and looked broken, but for once, he was glad he had put the escape pod in, even if he took out the parachutes. He laid back, looked at the stars, and blacked out. * * "What the...! Koala, hit the search light!" said Nomad has he looked deeply into his scanner, and then the main screen. The road was scattered with debris, and green fluid (G.A.S.). There was a man, but he quickly ran into his car and, to put it lightly, got the hell out of there. Nomad immediately recognized the main gun, the one that had saved the lives of many, but one that was now in 3 twisted pieces. Fear shot up his spine has he feared the worst. "Land, Koala," Nomad said quietly. * * * * Subspace Radio: "Target crashed. No time to confirm, but apparently dead. Returning to get 12-8c." [Captain R/C] Gary Wolfe, otherwise known as The Fourth Doctor, was over, at that time, visiting King Joe Powell to give him a new toy. It was a robot dog, but Gary wasn't finished programming it yet, thus, it could only do some of the verbal commands, but it could move around freely. "Now if you say 'fetch'..." Gary was saying as he was interrupted by Sevarian. "Joe! We got trouble!" yelled Sevarian. Gary jumped up and said, "Does it start with T which rhymes with P which stands for Pool?" He giggled as he said it, recalling a childhood favorite. Minutes later, after being briefed, Joe sat alone in his chamber and stared at the dog. "Roll over!" he said, almost to himself. The dog barked a digitized "Bark" and fell over on it's side. Joe smiled as he noticed "K-9" screen-printed on the side. [Circa 14 messages containing a drawn out argument about the overall story-universe deleted] [Nomad Of Norad] Nomad had his scanner out, and made a sweep with it looking for life readings. He detected a single weak reading, and both he and Koala headed towards it. They found the wrecked lifepod, and the half-dead looking Captain R/C. "Help me get him into the skycar," said Nomad, "we can't leave him here." [Three and a half more discussion-messages deleted] [Captain R/C] R/C slept... He was standing in the middle of a hazy field and it was rain- ing. It was dark enough to prevent easy vision, but light enough for normal travel. Thunder rattled in the distance. To the north there were mountains. To the south, flat plains. To the east, a dark castle. "Life Signs?" Koala Bear looked at Nomad. "Fading." Approached the castle, and almost immediately recognized it as the Hex. R/C blinked. Ivy grew over the walls and through the windows. The Moat was dry, even in the storm. The drawbridge was down, and from the weathered look, had been for some time. "One Twenty over Sixty Three." "...forty three beats per minute." "The computer recommends ten milligrams, Koala." Inside the once magnificent castle, there was nothing. Nothing but crumbling walls, and howling wind. 'I must be dreaming!' R/C thought. "Hello?" he yelled, but was answered only by his own echo, and the voice of the rain. 'I better be dreaming.' "Give him Eleven, Nomad." R/C made his way up to the King's chambers. It, too, was empty. The colorful banners, the throne, the jewelry, all gone. This room was empty, like the castle, save the huge hole in the roof where the rain came through. Lightning struck outside, nearby. "Rapid Eye Movement." "He's....dreaming!" R/C exited the chambers and ran down the hall, and into the TeleCom room, where a person could contact anyone in the kingdom. On any usual occasion, the place would be packed with peasants trying to call, but now, the place was empty. Not a single Tele- Com device left. "Check his vitals again," commanded Nomad. "Uhh... breathing stabilizing, heart-rate...fifty one beats per minute." A cold wind blew in through the window and R/C was sprayed with a rainy mist. There came a feeling that he should leave, as fast as he could. Quickly, he left the room and went down to the main courtyard. As he was going for the drawbridge, he noticed the sky was becoming increasingly black and lightning strikes were everywhere. One strike even hit one of the towers which caused it to collapse into the courtyard. "Get him inside!" said Nomad as they arrived at his house. "What's his condition?"asked Red as he followed him in. He turned around and peered at the castle. The rain was harder and soon, he could barely make out the silhouette. "A broken leg and two fractured ribs. Currently, he's unconscious." The last thing R/C saw was a bright flash of light as two or three bolts of lightning struck the castle, or near it. He could, for a moment, see the outline as the lightning hit it. There wasn't much after that. "He's coming to!!" Koala screamed. "R/C??!" "Mooan...cough cough.." were the first three things he said. "Can you hear me?" R/C moved his head, in what he hoped was an up and down motion. Shortly after, he heard cheering. [Three and a half more discussion-messages deleted] [Nomad Of Norad] Captain R/C looked groggily around him. He seemed to be in a scene from "Dr Who." It looked like a larger room in the TARDIS. There were alot of other people in the room with him, looking at him intently. Nomad and Koala were at his side. He sat up in bed. "Where am I? Am I still dreaming? It looks like I got moved to the BBC soundstage or something." "Nah," said Nomad, "you're just in my TARDIS replica. This was the largest place I could find for you." "What? So I can be gawked at by a couple hundred Users? Thanks alot!" "Oh come on! There aren't THAT many here!" Nomad smiled. "Just a SINGLE hundred!" he quipped. Actually, there weren't more than maybe thirty. [Redstar] (TARDIS? What's that?) Redstar approached Cappy, but allowing him the breathing space that he obviously needed. "I came here as quick as I could. Cappy, who exactly are these people? And why do they want that hunk of junk so badly?" Nomad looked at Redstar. "Don't you think that we should let him rest a while before questions?" Nomad looked around. "Where is your cybernetic plaything, hmm...?" he said with a smirk. "I thought that you two were never apart." "Well," said Redstar, "Jenn's waiting in the car. One good thing about a rob... er, an android, is that they do not mind waiting. She's in the car." "So, what do we do NOW?" Cody Lockett added, a blunt sword in hand, just returning from the Fantasy World, a large holodeck in the walls of the Hex. "I heard all the commotion outside, and I came to see what was going o.... Cappy... what happened?!?" "He got a little bashed in when some hoodlums took out his vehicle." Koala was closest to Cappy. Joe Powell entered the room, in his violet, royal casual robe. "Goodness, sakes, tell me what is going on!" "It's Cappy," Nomad said, "some people are after him, and we need to help." "Geez, he's injured! Get him to a bed QUICK!" The platform that Cappy was sitting on began to levitate, and Nomad guided it up to the chambers. "We can get the facts straight when Cappy is in better condition." Redstar, Koala, and numerous others followed him. [Nomad Of Norad] (You obviously haven't watched Dr Who. It is a British SF series about a time traveller. He travels in a ship called a TARDIS, which is a closet-sized blue box on the outside, and the inside.... Well, the craft is much larger INside then OUTside because the INside is multidimensional, that is, it exists outside of normal space. The one Nomad has, tho, is a sort of working replica. It doesn't use the same technology as the one on Dr Who, it uses something that produces the same results. In other words, it looks and acts like a TARDIS so we call it a TARDIS.) As the group left Nomad's pseudo-TARDIS, they slowed and allowed Cappy's floating stretcher and the four people accompanying Cappy to leave them behind. They had all been at or on their way to the Hotel California to meet with Cappy and friends, anticipating that they might be needed to form the next Intrepid Group. Then word came that Cappy was shot down, and they were all requested to regroup at Nomad's house instead. Joshua, the computer, had told them to wait in Nomad's TARDIS replica, and then Nomad and Koala Bear had come rushing in with Cappy in tow. Then the TARDIS was dematerialized and sent to CommHex. [Redstar] B(Well, Nomad, I really could never get into Dr. Who; too British for me (whatever that is supposed to mean). I thought that he travelled in a telephone booth...oh, well...) Cappy recovered very quickly after the treatment by the royal medics and the android assistants. Boy, modern medicine is great...the genetic repairing serum injected into Cappy sped up the healing process by at least a factor of ten; only after two hours was he able to move around a little. By the next morning Cappy was up to travelling, and all headed in their respective vehicles to the Hotel California. For some reason that seemed the best place to regroup and make plans; it was about the last place that anyone would look. After all, all there are prisoners (of their own demise, that is). All headed for their respective vehicles, Cappy grabbing a ride with all the others without vehicles in the Hex's royal VW microbus. Engines fired up, and the vehicles rose into the air, one after another. They followed the dark desert highway below them into the twilight, and up ahead in the distance was a glimmering light that was the Hotel California. Across the intercoms between the vehicles was passed talk that they should spend the night. All touched down on the flat sandy terrain beside the rundown shack called the Hotel California. All got out, and the sound of howling wind could be heard, flying sand and dirt impairing vision slightly. A woman stood in the front doorway, and showed the party in. "Welcome to the Hotel California." "Such a lovely place," jokingly said Koala. "Such a lovely face," the woman said with a sly smile, looking at him. They entered into the front room, the largest in the building, flanked by doors to rooms, and a second floor with an overlooking balcony. There was music playing, and people were singing and dancing. There was a generally eerie feeling to the place, yet it was also comforting. The actions of everyone were being reflected in the mirrors on the ceiling, and in the distance could be heard bells, yet no one saw them upon entering; this place was definitely wierd. The woman closed the main door, and replaced the large wood plank on the door, thereby locking it. Then she disappeared through a door marked "Master's Chambers." A figure followed her in, looked like a man. Everyone settled down at a large table in the corner of this large ballroom, and Nomad summoned over a steward. "Bring us some wine..." "But sir, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969." Disappointed, Nomad settled for some pink champagne on ice. "Okay, guys, now we better get down to business..." Cody looked at him. "I think that it is unwise that we talk here. Let us get a room. I think that we better be extremely careful." Redstar nodded in agreement. "Yes, even though I have Einny surveying the area, someone could slip in. Let's get a room. Anyway, Cappy needs the rest; we did have a rather long journey here." "But first, lets us drink and enjoy. I got the wine, let us relax a bit." Nomad rocked back in his chair, while Koala poured for everyone. Many shuddered at the taste of the cheap vintage, but all continue to drink, as all were disturbed, and getting a little tipsy sounded like a good idea. [Nomad Of Norad] (Actually, it IS a sort-of phone booth.) (And actually, I don't drink. Even wine.) Nomad stared at the wine glass in front of him. He had not, as of yet, taken a sip. He wasn't sure he intended to. Till now, he never drank a drop... and had never been interested. What would it do to his system if he drank a glassful now? More? Lately he had been rather disturbed by something he could not put his finger on. Some months back, he had been working together with Gary Wolfe on perfecting the time-travel aspect of their pseudo-TARDISes. They had gone back about five or six years, not as far as they had intended to go, and then had gone back about twenty. Nothing much had happened on the trip, they had stepped outside and taken a look around, then had returned to present day. Yet, when they returned, things seemed subtly different. Somehow, things were almost... darker. Nomad continued to stare at the wineglass before him. [Sigmund Fraud] Sigmund Fraud came running into the room, grabbed Nomad's wine glass, and threw it down the disposal near the door. A distant explosion was heard. "Whew," he said, "I got here just in time. I received an anonymous note saying that someone had switched your champagne for a pan galactic gargle blaster, and we all know what that would do to you." "Who was the note from?" asked Nomad. "I don't know," said Siggy searching his kimono for something. "It wasn't signed, but I have it here, somewhere. Oh, here it is." He handed a lacquered case over to Nomad, who opened it and began to read the note inside. To whom it may concern, Due to my intense dislike for the populace of the Castle Hex. There will be a series of fiendishly clever murders. The first to go will be Nomad who will die of intense alcoholic intoxification, as he doesn't drink, this will be the way for him to go. All the populace will die by their particular weaknesses. Hehehehe...... So long, you'll never get to him in time.. Anonymous "What does it mean?" cried Redstar. "It means," replied Nomad, "that we have a killer on the loose, and he's after us."