Action, Adventure, Excitement, Part 6
                      Prologs - Mike's characters

Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 17:34:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AAE Interlude: The Butterfly and the Serpent, Part One

On Sun, 19 Sep 1999 19:14:34 -0500 (CDT)
Mike Knight Said As CAoL Message # 00007125

     Psi-world, RIFTs Earth.
     A community hidden away in the Ohio Valley made up mostly of
various Psionics who are otherwise persecuted in the Coalition States.
Mostly farmers or those learning farming. For many, a rumor. For those
who live here, it's a haven for people born different, and an attempt
at a Utopian society.
     Molly smiled. She'd spent several pleasant weeks here, relearning
what life was like in her foster home to a normal person. She'd had a
hard time at first, explaining how she could suddenly hear and speak.
She had said it was a healer in another dimension. Close enough to the
truth. Explaining that she'd simply 'wished' the problem away would
have been difficult. And not entirely accurate. She'd had the best
doctors imaginable working as a psychic gestalt on a way to reverse
the genetic birth defect she had.
     As for why she did it, she wasn't sure of a good answer for that.
It had always been a deep-down desire, she knew. She hadn't wished to
change her past, she had learned a lot about people being able to hear
their thoughts, even though a lot of what she overheard was ugly. But
she had found her last chance at a cure, which would work she was
told, so she took the leap for what she felt would be a better life
for herself.
     Maybe that was all the reason that was needed.
     Molly sat back, looking over the rolling hills of woods and
farmland and just enjoyed the moment. She'd even gone native, trading
a good deal of the items she'd brought back from her interdimensional
wanderings to help out her family and community. In return, she had
been given food, some money and traveling gear.
     She planned to head up to her old school in Lazlo, in what was
once Toronto in what used to be the old Canadian Empire before the
Apocalypse, but as she was leaving, she felt a sudden urge to spend
just one more hour here. Since the day was young, she decided to
indulge her urge.
     Leaning against her new black leather and grey canvas pack and
bedroll, adorned in new ash-black moccasin boots, olive cargo pants,
white tanktop, with a burgundy chamois shirt tied around her waist and
some homemade bead jewelry around her neck and wrists, Molly found she
felt ten years younger. She hadn't been home since her early twenties,
and the place hadn't changed a bit.
     [There is absolutely nothing that could ruin this moment,] Molly
thought to herself.
     At the edge of her awareness, Molly noticed something. She sat up
and put on her shirt as she recognized the feeling, looking around her
to see what was visible behind her. Blue sky, grass, and the rock
she'd been leaning against.
     What slowly crept over Molly's awareness was a Trump contact. She
hadn't felt one in almost as long as she'd been away from Psi-world.
Zia had the only Trump of her and would keep the location of Molly's
foster home a secret, she was sure, should the Amberite need to come
through, but the instinct to protect her community was ingrained in
her from as long as she could remember. At least when she was in the
same reality as that of the Coalition, whose Nazi-like policies toward
anything magical or psychic or even just nonhuman was legendary.
     Molly calmed her mind, then noticed the Trump contact was taking
a very long time. Zia must have been very far away in 'Shadow' indeed,
possibly all the way back in Amber.
     Finally, the image formed in front of her, obscuring her view of
the farms before her. Molly frowned.
     [Damn, it's you,] the thirty five year old woman thought.
     The face before her wasn't Zia's. Strong cheekbones, rounded
face, wide nose, the woman's face looking like it'd been carved from
ebony. No, not a stone, Molly corrected herself, a block of chocolate,
for when she wanted, she could be as sweet and rich as the finest milk
chocolate, but other times, she was bitter as baking cocoa. She was
dressed in a lemon-colored silk robe Molly had bought for her back
when Molly thought her the most beautiful woman in Ethiopia.
     Now, though, Molly had more choice words for the woman who called
herself Tiara.
     [Now, Molly,] Tiara thought, [Is that any way to think about an
old girlfriend?]
     [If her name is Tiara, you bet.]
     Tiara laughed aloud then, a rich, melodious one, [Molly, you are
such a treat.]
     Molly scowled, finally speaking, her own voice sharp and stern,
accentuating each word, "What do you want?"
     Tiara blinked in surprise, "You can speak now! How marvelous! And
hear as well?"
     "Yes."
     "Oh, that's wonderful!"
     "Get to the point."
     Tiara gave Molly a scolding look, "Now, now, I've been nothing
but nice." She smiled, showing a set of pearly white teeth, "Look,
this is a long story. Why don't we discuss it in person, hmm? Catch
up, have some girl-talk, that sort of thing?"
     "Fine," Molly agreed grudgingly, grabbing her pack in one hand
and reaching for Tiara's outstretched hand with the other. They made
contact and Molly stepped forward, to any others, disappearing in a
polychromatic display from RIFTs Earth and, to Molly, stepping into
Tiara's home studio.

     "I would have called you sooner," Tiara said, sitting down in a
chair next to a drafting table containing a photo album that was open
to an eight by twelve color glossy of Molly and an identical finished
Trump, "But I couldn't find your Trump for the life of me."
     Molly tossed her pack on a leather sofa and looked at the Trump
on the table and the album beside it, keeping her face neutral, since
she knew exactly where the missing card was and who stole it from
Tiara's pack of Trumps before leaving one night.
     "You probably lost it and forgot where," Molly said airily,
turning her back on the young woman, "You never were very good with
remembering details. I see you had to dig up a picture of me just to
make a Trump." She added to herself, [Knew I should have taken the
photo album, too.]
     "I am good with details!" Tiara said as Molly flopped onto the
couch, putting her feet up on the black leather, which made Tiara's
eyes dart to the moccasins. Molly knew she was looking for mud or
other dirt. Tiara was obsessive about cleanliness.
     "Alright," Molly challenged, closing her eyes, "What color are my
eyes?" Molly smirked as she heard Tiara turn in her chair, opening the
lids a crack to see the other woman squinting at the picture. Molly
shut them completely again as Tiara turned back.
     "Grey," she proclaimed.
     Molly shook her head, opening her right, green eye first, then
her left, blue eye.
     "Wrong," she said, "When's my birthday?"
     "November Four-"
     "Wrong. What's my favorite band?"
     "Disaster Area!" Tiara said, almost pouncing on that one.
     Molly nodded, "That's one out of three anyway."
     "I don't see why all these details are so important."
     "That's why we broke up, they weren't important - to you, at
least."
     Tiara sighed and stared at the floor between her toes.
     "I know I'm self-absorbed."
     "I know you are, too."
     Tiara looked up with a hurt expression. Molly suddenly realized
just how young she was. Tiara's gaze met hers and then dropped back to
the floor.
     "I missed you," the African woman muttered finally and Molly
suddenly felt terribly guilty. Tiara added then, "I loved you."
     Molly stared at the wall, surprised to find a slight cracking in
her voice, "I wish you'd said that twelve years ago."
     Tiara blinked rapidly, her eyes getting red, and sniffled a bit,
then asked, "It's been that long?" On Molly's nod, she said, "Oh. It's
only been three months here."
     "I've done a bit of time travelling too. That tends to add up
quickly."
     "Your mom still hounding you each birthday?"
     Molly shook her head, grinning slightly sadly, "It was with my
dad, the real one, actually, and I went willingly."
     Tiara brightened, "Really? What's he like?"
     "He's got two modes," Molly said, ticking them off on her
fingers, "Life of the party or death of it."
     Tiara giggled. "Got prozac?"
     "Naw, he's too stubborn to see a doctor for something like that.
Hey, how's your family?"
     Tiara made a face, "Still won't have anything to do with me. We
looked like we might have made up during that whole succession thing
in the Courts, but now that that's settled, it's the Cold War all over
again. Dunno why, we're so far down on the list to get the throne, the
postman would be King first."
     "Maybe they wanted to marry their way up the ladder."
     "Oh yes, and me the only daughter. I can see it now, King and
Queen of Chaos, with His and Hers matching royal concubines."
     Molly smirked. "What? You're gonna get the Doublemint twins?"
     The pair giggled at the idea then sat in silence for a while.
     Finally, noticing Molly's backpack for what it was, Tiara said,
"I'm sorry, I probably dragged you away from going somewhere, I should
let you get back. I can shadow-walk you there if you want."
     Molly shook her head, standing up, "I was leaving to see old
friends, but it looks like one came to see me first."
     Tiara nearly leapt out of her chair to hug Molly. Molly chuckled,
the younger woman only coming up to her ear in height. The contrast
had always struck her funny.
     "I was so afraid you'd hate me. So you'll stay a while?"
     Molly nodded, "I don't see why not."
     "Great! We've got a lot of catching up to do, and we can have
dinner and go clubbing, and tomorrow we can-"
     "Hold on there, Tiara, it's been a long time, for me at least.
Let's see if we survive the night without me throttling you."
     "Oh Molly!" Tiara said in mock exasperation, pulling the older
woman to the studio door, "Come on, this'll be fun."
     [She hasn't changed a bit,] Molly thought as she was drug out of
the studio. [Then again, she's still twenty-two.]
     Molly was surprised to find all her stuff still in the closet.
She was even more surprised that most of it still fit fairly well.
Unfortunately, she'd grown out of most of the styles she wore at
twenty-three.
     "There has -got- to be something here," Molly growled to herself.
     Tiara looked into the walk-in closet from around the door,
"Problem?"
     "Can't find anything to wear. What are you wearing?"
     Tiara stepped into view, wearing a tight leopard print strapless
dress and high heels. She posed a bit, smiling and showing off. Molly
took a long look at it and Tiara. No, she hadn't changed a bit.
     "Nice shirt," Molly remarked finally, "You going to wear pants or
a skirt with it?"
     Tiara planted her hands on her hips. "It's a -dress-." She turned
on a heel to show the back. "It just has a high hemline."
     "Well," Molly said, turning back to the closet, "I have nothing
here that I can wear to compare to that."
     Tiara walked into the closet and looked at Molly closely, gently
holding the older woman's chin in her hands.
     "A few more lines than I remember," Tiara commented.
     "It's called maturity," Molly replied testily.
     "I like you this way," the other woman decided, then, "Okay, I'll
pick something out for you, you go get cleaned up."
     Molly did so, knowing deep in her heart she'd come to regret it.
Sure enough, on returning from the shower, Molly did.
     "You have got to be kidding me," Molly called out.
     "Trust me."
     Molly opened the door after she was done changing. Black leather
pants and boots with three inch spiked heels, a black belt with chrome
spikes, and a tight, zebra-print halter top.
     Tiara beamed, "You look hot."
     "This getup was not in the closet."
     "I pulled it out of shadow, you like?"
     "So you stole it, basically."
     Tiara shrugged, "I may have saved it from going to Goodwill for
all I know."
     "I don't think they give this stuff to Goodwill."
     Tiara stepped out of the way of the full-length bedroom mirror,
"True, but still, could have been ready to be tossed out. But, again,
what do you think?"
     "I look like my mom without the blue hair," Molly protested.
     "She's got old lady blue hair and runs around dressed like that?
Brave woman."
     "No, it's windex blue, and she's probably about my age now,
actually."
     "Is she single?"
     "Hey!"
     "Kidding!" Tiara said, then held up her hands, a leather jacket
and motorcycle helmet in each. Molly looked at them and blinked, a
slow smile creeping across her face.
     "Oh god, Vincent is still here?" she breathed.
     Tiara nodded, "I didn't know what to do with him and all your
stuff and the place is big enough I didn't need the space, so I hung
onto it. I hoped you'd be back this way again, despite the note."
     Molly slid on the leather riding jacket, the chrome studs on the
wrists and shoulders still gleamed. She slipped on the white helmet as
Tiara put on the matching jacket and helmet, then the pair headed for
the garage.
     Dark Vincent, a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning customized
personally by Molly, sat gleaming in the garage where she had left it.
Tiara grinned as Molly walked over to it in awe, slowly tracing its
curves with her hands, running across the chrome and blue paint job,
designed to look like the ley lines from Rifts Earth as seen on a
dark, moonlit night.
     Molly looked back to Tiara with a similar energy almost visible
in her eyes, who stood there expectantly, radiating pride in her
upkeep of the great, old machine. There wasn't a bit of dust on it,
Tiara had kept it showroom new. Molly was beaming, slightly flush as
adrenaline coursed through her veins in excitement.
     Tiara asked, "Well?" her own excitement tinged with a bit of
nervousness, hoping she'd kept the bike, Molly's pride and joy, in
good enough condition mechanically.
     Molly looked at the young, dark complected woman before her and
said in a husky, breathless voice, "Let's ride."

TBC
=================================
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 15:34:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AAE Interlude: The Butterfly and the Serpent, Part Two

On Mon, 20 Sep 1999 17:12:53 -0500 (CDT)
Mike Knight Said As CAoL Message # 00007127

     Tiara whooped with delight as the Vincent thundered through the
night with the throttle wide open, her arms wrapped around Molly's
waist. The young Chaosite hunkered down to avoid the wind, but looked
up when she heard Molly ask where they were supposed to be going.
     "A bit of a shadow-walk since we're out," Tiara replied, looking
over the scenery. Unseen by her, Molly smiled. She loved this part.
     They rode along a flat straightaway, moon and ocean on one side,
city on the other. The ocean vanished, replaced with tall skyscrapers
on both sides, moon high in the sky. Now two moons, one on each side,
the buildings more alien, unusual beings walking or riding along in
strange bulbous cars of some sort. The cars became sleeker, many
hovering a few feet above the roadway. The building were more art
deco. They ran a blue light as a siren started behind them. It
vanished as quickly, the more familiar green light before them in the
distance.
     "Turn left," Tiara called.
     Molly did so, pulling up outside a nightspot that looked like a
warehouse of some sort, a line of humans and aliens leading around the
corner of the block. Molly grudgingly let the valet park the bike
while Tiara gave the doorbeing a warm smile and fat tip in the local
currency she didn't have a moment before. They were shown right in.
     They went up to the third floor, the main eating area of the
place and were shown a table overlooking the dance floor two stories
below. A DJ was suspended in a large cage off to one side, the music
currently some sort of trancelike technoish sound as it was still
early in the evening.
     Tiara withdrew a small three-sided, amethyst pyramid with a metal
base from her handbag and set it on the table, giving it a faint tap.
Molly smiled as it started to glow.
     "You kept that, too?"
     Tiara waved the implications of the question aside. "A magic
translation devise? You bet. Let's me roam much farther in Shadow than
I could before."
     Molly grinned. "It was a rather handy invention."
     An insectoid waiter approached then, "Here are your menus. I can
take your order now if you know what you want or come back when you've
had time to look?"
     "Blue Fountain for two now - you're going to love this, Molly -
and some time to look."
     "I'll be right back with your drinks," it said and flitted off
for the bar.
     Tiara was swaying with the music a bit, smiling, then turned to
the menu. Molly did the same.
     "So, what do you suggest?" Molly asked, looking at the alien
writing.
     "I'd suggest either the third listing on the first page; it's
sort of a chicken-like burger with some sort of low-fat bacon, purple
tomatoes, and what I would swear is Monteray Jack cheese with some
sort of blue mustardy sauce and catsup made from those purple
tomatoes; or the fifth listing on the third page, which is sort of an
appetizer platter with-"
     "How about you just order for us?" Molly suggested.
     Tiara grinned, "I picked this place because all the food was safe
for humans to eat, so I usually don't look at the menu, I just see
what other people are eating that smells good or see what the waiter
suggests."
     The waiter returned then with what looked to Molly like a
see-through coffee percolator. Three seperated fluids, one white, one
blue and one clear, bubbled on the bottom, squirting up through three
separate tubes to fountain at the top. A glass pipe came out one side
with a valve of some sort. The waiter set a cup under the end of the
pipe, turned the valve and three small plates slid into place inside,
sealing the top chamber from the bottom and capturing each of the
three fluids, mixing them together. The mixture flowed through the
pipe jutting from the side readily and into the cup. Once one was
full, another was made and both were set before the two women.
     Tiara gave the order and watched Molly watch the new device on
the table. "Cool, isn't it?"
     Molly just nodded, then turned to Tiara, taking a sip of the
mixture after they clinked cups. It tasted like hot chocolate, but a
bit more buttery, with a strong hint of mint. After they both savored
their drinks for a moment, Molly broached the subject that had been
bugging her off and on since she arrived.
     "Well, you've managed to distract me plenty, but I still want to
know why you called me in the first place," Molly said, setting down
her cup.
     Tiara did as well, making a face that told Molly she was trying
to judge how to break something to her but couldn't think of a way,
then sighed and said, "Someone's after me. To kill me."
     Molly leaned back in her chair, looking heavanward as she said,
"Oh, that's just Zarking great. So, what, you called me here to be
your bodyguard?"
     "No! ... Though a woman six-foot-two -is- more intimidating than
someone five-foot-six."
     "Depends on the woman."
     "Yeah, I guess... but I need help finding out who it is. They're
not doing anything directly, they're sending agents."
     "Aha... Alright, but if we're going to find out who did this,
you're going to have to be open and honest with me."
     "I am!" Tiara protested.
     "Alright," Molly said, pausing for half a beat, "How much do you
weigh?"
     "That's not a fair question. It doesn't have anything to do with
anything." Tiara said peevishly.
     "Alright, alright," Molly allowed, "Have you been seeing anyone
since I left?"
     "Of course not!"
     Molly just looked at her.
     Tiara's gaze dropped to her drink as she fidgeted with an orange
ring on her finger, some sort of cat's eye maybe, Molly thought, set
in gold.
     "Well, there was one guy..." Tiara said finally.
     Molly blinked. Twice. "Did you say -guy-?"
     "Well, I don't know if you'd call it 'seeing'. He liked me in
that way, I just didn't have the same feelings for him, naturally, but
we used to hang out. I tried not to lead him on or anything, but he
still seemed to have gotten the wrong idea."
     Tiara plucked the ring off her finger. "He gave me this when I
broke it off with him. Said he'd bought it for me and wanted me to
have it anyway. I've never worn it until tonight, figured it'd look
good with the dress. Usually I just leave it in the jewelry box."
     "But that's all?" Molly asked as Tiara slipped the ring back on.
     Tiara nodded, "There's been no one else in my life beyond the
people we both knew."
     "So, tell me about these agents?
     "Well, 'agents' may be too strong a word, but I've had ... things
... waiting for me when I'd come home, or they'd break in the house
while I was asleep. I mean, I've never been good in a fight, right?
And I suck at magic, at least anything really, really useful. I've had
to sleep with a gun in the headboard cupboard. I've taken to sleeping
in the guest room after three pig-like creatures burst down my bedroom
door. I keep the new door shut and with a light and clock radio on
now, make it look like someone's in there. And I bolt the guest room
door from the inside. But that didn't stop help much. It was some sort
of wolf with four eyes next, then a giant spider-like thing. And they
seem to get smarter each time. Like if the boars can't do it, maybe
the wolf, and I could have sworn the arachnid was trying to say
something!
     "My nerves are shattered. I didn't know who else to turn to.
Molly, you're the only really capable friend I have who I thought
might talk to me. My family won't speak to me, no one on Earth can
help me, I'm ... I'm ... Oh Molly!"
     Tiara broke down at this point. Molly moved over to hug her,
holding the young Chaosite in her arms while she stared into space,
trying to think of something she could do to help.
     Somebody with access to other dimensions was after her, that was
for sure, the Shadow Earth Tiara lived on certainly didn't have these
sorts of creatures, so someone was seeking them out and sending them
after her.
     That narrowed the prospects to ... well, some number less than
infinity.
     Molly wiped away a few of Tiara's tears with her hand.
     "I think I'd like to eat somewhere more private and quieter,
wouldn't you?" Molly asked.
     Tiara nodded and set down a few largish coins for the drinks.
Tiara picked up the translator and her jacket from the back of her
chair, Molly wore hers still, she felt a bit more comfortable about
her outfit with it on, and they headed down the nearest set of stairs
to the dance floor and made their way across toward the door.
     Unfortunately, the DJ decided this was a good time for something
slow and pairs of dancers filled the floor. About halfway across the
dance floor, the way became nearly unpassable. Molly finally stopped
and pulled Tiara to her, putting her arms around the younger woman's
waist, obviously intending to dance.
     "I think we'd better give in and wait for the floor to clear a
bit," she suggested.
     Tiara nodded and they began moving slowly with the music. The
crowd seemed to be inching them around toward the door, in a sort of
clockwise orbit around the center of the floor, with each couple
moving in it's own rotation, but it was all very slow. Molly suspected
this was all part of the music, some sort of local dance fad she
wasn't privy to.
     Tiara put her head on Molly's shoulder, letting a faint sigh
escape against her neck. Molly smiled and quit wondering when they'd
get out of the club. [Enjoy the moment.]
     A sudden crash from the ceiling's glass roof drew everyone's
attention upward. As the crowd surged away from the rain of glass and
metal, something fell into the center of the cleared circle with a
shriek. Massive bat-like wings spread wide as scaley clawed fore and
back feet turned it around, an alligator tail as long as it was
sweeping at the crowd behind it, some of whom were knocked into the
beings behind them. A snake head rose into the air, tongue flicking
out.
     "What is that!?" Tiara called over the screams of the crowd.
     "I dunno, no dragon I've ever seen. Let's get out of here," Molly
suggested, pushing through the crowd for the door, Tiara just ahead of
her.
     "TIAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the beast roared.
     "It knows my name," Tiara said nervously, casting a glance over
her shoulder.
     "All the more reason to leave," Molly answered, pressing toward
the door, her gaze still on the beast back the way they came.
     The thing didn't spot them until they got to the door. With a
half growl, half shriek, it beat its huge wings and lifted itself into
the air, heading for the hole in the ceiling. They passed through the
doorway into the cool night air, heading for the Vincent. A shriek
sounded from the rooftop.
     "Sounds like he got cut up trying to get out," Molly said, trying
to run in the heels Tiara had picked out, "Tiara, from now on, flats
only."
     "Ditto," Tiara said as they got to the bike, "Damn, forgot the
keys."
     Tiara summoned the sign of the Logrus before her, brought her
hands up into it and reached out, guiding a tendril of the writhing
magic emblem to pluck the keys from the spot where the valet had put
them. The valet, who had been about to grab the keys and return them
to the pair of women after returning his gaze from the rooftop to the
parking lot, blinked in surprise as they vanished.
     Tiara handed the keys over to Molly as soon as they appeared in
her hands. The Vincent came to life and they sped out of the lot,
helmets still in the rear saddlebags, just as the pseudo-dragon came
into sight over the edge of the building, diving down into the parking
lot after them.
     "Start shadow-walking, girlfriend," Molly called over her
shoulder, "We'll let him follow us out of this world then try and get
ahead of him enough to lose him somewhere desolate."
     Tiara did so, the buildings changing to something more alien,
then to stone cliffs with campfires burning inside caves. Their
pursuer stayed with them the whole time. The world changed to bare
cliffs, a canyon, then mudflats as far as the eye could see, the sun
suddenly beating down on them.
     "Yow! Careful, Tiara! Okay, this looks good. Let's lose 'im. Hang
on!"
     Molly opened the throttle wide and they pulled out ahead of the
flying lizard, its wings beating hard attempting to catch up. When
they had gotten far enough ahead, Tiara shifted realities, the sun
turning into two, one orange and one blue, the sky and surrounding
mudflats purple with everything casting two shadows.
     Tiara looked back and saw nothing. Then, suddenly, it appeared
out of thin air.
     "Shit, it followed us, Molly! We should have lost it!"
     Molly bit her lip and looked down in thought for a moment. A
faint glow caught her eye, barely visible in this light.
     "Tiara! Take off your ring and toss it away!"
     Tiara did so, flinging the glowing jewelled ring off on a tangent
to their course. The snake-like head followed the path of the ring,
then renewed its pursuit with an almost desperate vigor.
     "That's it!" Tiara shouted, "Its like it knows it has to catch us
now or be lost here!"
     Molly kept the throttle wide, shouting, "You know what to do,
girl! Get us out of here!"
     Tiara shadow-walked them immediately, the sky shifting back to
blue with one sun. After they checked for pursuit, Molly slowed the
bike down and finally brought it to a stop.
     "Damn, that was close," Molly said, still looking back to make
sure there wasn't any sudden surprize visit from their draconic
attacker.
     Tiara nodded, still clinging to Molly's waist.
     "Is there any more jewelry like that at your place?" Molly asked
then.
     Tiara shook her head, "No, he had bought me a few things while we
were out shopping, things he saw I liked, but he never bought me
presents until then. He couldn't have known I was going to break up
with him, though, well, maybe he could have guessed, but I thought he
had been surprized by it."
     "I think we had better talk with him."
     "It's not over, is it?"
     Molly shook her head, revving up the Vincent's engine.
     "If this guy of yours can travel between the dimensions, not by a
long shot."
=================================
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 23:04:35 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AAE Interlude: The Butterfly and the Serpent, Part Three

On Tue, 21 Sep 1999 00:54:58 -0500 (CDT)
Mike Knight Said As CAoL Message # 00007129

     Molly and Tiara rode through Shadow in silence on the large
Vincent back to her beachfront home. They sat on the bike, arms
wrapped around each other, watching the sun rise over the Red Sea.
They hadn't been gone all night, but with the shifting speeds of time
in Shadow, and the rather chaotic path they'd taken through it, it
added up here as the same thing.
     "This admirer of yours," Molly asked, "What's his name?"
     "Benjamin," Tiara answered.
     "Does he live in town?"
     "Yes, he owns a restaurant. He's probably at the market now,
looking for the best selections."
     Molly nodded, "I think now would be a good time to catch up to
him for a little chat." Molly looked at the pair of them. "After we
change clothes. I -at least- want some different shoes."
     They went inside and changed, Molly throwing on a white t-shirt
and an old pair of stonewashed jeans that she hadn't had time to rip
holes in during her youth. She was sitting on the guest room bed,
lacing up her old Doc Martens when Tiara emerged in a white blouse,
sleeves rolled up and the front held with a knot at about the solar
plexus, khaki shorts and canvas boat shoes.
     "This like what you had in mind?"
     Molly glanced up and nodded, "As long as it lets you move when
you need to."
     Tiara nodded and went to the headboard, which had a shelf top and
a pair of sliding door cupboards, plus shelf space where the two
cupboards met at the middle. She slid one of the cupboards open and
reached inside. Her hand hesitated.
     "Molly," Tiara asked quietly, "Should I bring this?"
     Molly looked up to see which particular 'this' she was talking
about. Inside the cupboard was a "Saturday Night Special", a .22
revolver, Molly judged, not a lot of punch, but good for a beginner.
Tiara seemed distraught to even touch it.
     "I don't think so," Molly said, "We just want to talk to the man,
not rob him." She smirked, "Sides, where you going to hide it?"
     Tiara shut the cupboard happily, even ignoring the remark about
the lack of hiding places. "Good, I really don't think Ben's the type
to do this, he could be being set up by someone else."
     Molly nodded, "Exactly. We have no proof he's not just an
ordinary guy. Now, you ready to go?"
     Tiara was, so they did, taking the bike down the beach into town,
heading in the opposite direction they had last night. Winding through
the small port town's streets, they entered the market district where
they abandoned the bike, Molly activating an alarm system. Tiara had
once asked why not a magical ward, to which Molly had answered, too
tiring, and the mundane alarm works more than once.
     They walked through the market, asking the vendors if they'd seen
Benjamin. No one had, which was a bit unusual. They walked to the
restaurant and checked there. No one was about.
     "He must be at home," Tiara said, heading that way. Molly
followed through an alley to a series of low stucco-covered
apartments. They walked up an outside flight of stairs and Tiara
knocked on the door. To one side, a window was open. It was a still
morning.
     "Benjamin?" Tiara called when she got no answer.
     There was a loud crash from inside.
     "Benjamin!" Tiara called louder. Molly had slipped out a pair of
lockpicks and had the door open by this point.
     "Stay back," Molly said, looking into the room behind the door.
Bloody pawprints tracked across the floor. Molly noted a rolled up rug
in front of a couch and a pentagram inside a circle drawn on the
floor. "Damn, wish I had that gun right about now. Or better yet, my
swords. Lost them somewhen."
     An elderly woman came out of her apartment and called up, "Miss
Tiara, is everything alright? I heard a crash."
     Tiara, who had summoned her Logrus sight, called down, "We don't
know yet, but just in case, could you be ready to phone the police? We
heard something that sounded like an animal inside and the door was
unlocked."
     The elderly woman scurried back inside. Tiara reached into the
Logrus, through Shadow and brought something back.
     "These them?" Tiara enquired, holding two navy blue Japanese
swords, with blue and black monarch butterflies painted on the grip
and  scabbards that, to her Logrus sight, seemed to practically
radiate mystical energy. Molly looked up from a crouch, peering down
the hallway.
     "Yes," she replied, very pleased to see the matching shirasaya
and wakizashi dubbed 'Koz' and 'Ephekt' respectively.
     A sudden scraping of nails against wood made Molly's head snap
back to the hallway. Tiara threw the shorter blade just as Molly was
thinking of reaching for it and a large two headed dog the size of a
Great Dane rounded the corner. Ephekt rang like a tuning fork as it
slid out of the scabbard, its blade swinging up and out in front of
Molly in an arc that the sword knew as intimately as the wielder, an
arc that intersected with the canine's dual throats.
     Molly had the breath knocked out of her as the giant animal
plowed into her, then had to struggle to shift its dead weight off
her. She stood over the beast, her shirt and sword covered in blood
from the two neck wounds. She walked over to the kitchen door,
following the trail of pawprints.
     "Damn," Molly said as she stared at something out of Tiara's line
of sight. Tiara came in and looked, regretting it immediately. She ran
from the room, covering her mouth with one hand. Standing at the top
of the outside stairs, she fought off waves of nausea and tears.
     "Poor Ben," she said from outside the apartment.
     Molly had to agree. He'd been pretty badly mauled by the dog, who
looked near starving to begin with. Once the man had been downed, the
creature must have decided it was time for the kill and feast. From
the looks of things around the apartment, Ben had tried a summoning,
bringing the demon-dog here, but it managed to get out of the
protection circle and attack him.
     Molly looked back at the circle again. Something bothered her in
the back of her mind about it, but she couldn't say what. Then it hit
her, the symbols were wrong.
     "Tiara, do you recognize these symbols?"
     Tiara looked back into the room, shook her head, then turned to
look back into the street. "Can we go now?"
     Molly looked about the room. There might have been something here
to better explain what had happened. Books on the occult, more of
those strange rings, something. Molly turned her gaze to Tiara then
and noticed her shoulders shuddering and tense.
     Time to go, for her sake at least. This was the police's problem
now. Not sure how they'd explain a two headed dog mauling a
restauranteur, but it wasn't Molly's problem.
     "We'll talk to the cops and then go, okay?" Molly said, walking
out onto the landing and guiding Tiara down the stairs as a police car
pulled up in front.
     They gave him their story, or as much as would make sense to him
and he wrote it up as a wild dog attack. Molly didn't like the
resolution, seemed too pat, but for Tiara's sake she didn't press
matters. They made their way back to the Vincent and headed home.
     "I'll stick around a while," Molly said as she parked the
motorcycle in the garage, "Make sure you get settled okay."
     Tiara nodded as they got off the bike, relieved she wouldn't have
to ask. They shut the garage door and Tiara asked the question she'd
been as afraid to ask as she had been of her stalker.
     "What about us?" she inquired shyly, looking at an oil stain on
the floor she'd been meaning to get some cleanser to remove.
     Molly reached out and raised Tiara's chin to look her in the
eyes. Molly brushed a hand against Tiara's cheek, and the other woman
was almost surprized to find herself doing the cliched 'closing her
eyes and sigh' routine in response to the tender gesture.
     "I can't say I haven't liked what I've seen thus far," Molly
said.
     Tiara decided to take the initiative and stepped into the older
woman's personal space, hands drifting up around Molly's neck as she
kissed her deeply, eyes open for any reaction. Molly closed her eyes
and pulled Tiara closer, body untensing in the action, and Tiara,
satisfied, did the same. They held that kiss for a while, then finally
pulled away from each other. Molly blushed slightly, breaking the
silence first.
     "About time you did that."

                             The End
                          (For Now <G>)
=================================
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 01:34:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AAE Interlude: Deja Vu

On Sun, 26 Sep 1999 02:47:45 -0500 (CDT)
Mike Knight Said As CAoL Message # 00007139

     "From Doctor Saul Boens, Emergency Medical Hologram and
_Love's_Labor_ chief medical officer to Starfleet Medical. Subject,
new regenerative techniques for systemic replacement of vital organs:
A case study of the Seven family.
     "Patient Tinkerbell Seven, female human, age 12, legal guardian
is Michael Seven, stated grandfather. Please find attached detailed
medical records beginning at biological age 5 until present.
     "Patient Michael Seven, male human, age 32. Please find attached
detailed medical records beginning at biological age 25 until present.
     "Ms. Seven first came for treatment suffering amputation to legs
and wounds to the nasal region, while Mr. Seven had both legs and the
right arm amputated and wounds to the right eye and eye socket,
inflicted by some form of alien energy blade. Before treatment could
begin, patients were removed from the operating tables via Borg
transporter and assimilated. Patients returned healed of the
aforementioned wounds through systemic replacement of lost limbs with
cybernetic components. Before and after scans of Borg enhancement
enclosed. Note replacement of the entire limb and attached muscle
rather than simple grafting onto the residual limb.
     "Patients initially refused further treatment beyond standard
removal of nonessential Borg implants, a technique pioneered by the
_Enterprise's_ Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Beverly Crusher, working
in conjunction with Lieutenant Commander Data and Chief Engineer
Geordi LaForge.
     "After some consideration, they permitted research to be done in
replacing those parts lost to the Borg. My initial search into the
subject revealed a theoretical paper written by a Doctor Katherine
Pulanski of Starfleet Medical suggesting lost organs could be
replicated. After several months' research with the _Love's_Labor_
Chief Engineer and Emergency Engineering Hologram, Archibald Tect ,
this proved initially unworkable.
     "I received a new insight into the case from Ms. Seven, who had
been enrolled in the Stephen Hawking School for Gifted Children and
was doing a history report on future science as predicted in twentieth
century science fiction. She suggested a series of books by one Robert
Heinlein that might prove insightful. Having hit an impasse on my own
research, I did so.
     "This lead to further discussions with Chief Tect. Over the
process of the next three years, a specially designed replicator and
enhanced pattern buffer that would scan the DNA of the patient and
extrapolate a model of the patient's body at a user-specified age.
Parts from the body could be then selected for replication. This
avoids some of the ethical issues involved in cloning, though I should
add an attempt to replicate a cerebral cortex, on the insistance of
Mr. Seven, met with failure, as I predicted it would, and set back the
experiment until the replication tank could be rebuilt.
     "But I suppose it is best to be sure, especially considering the
psychological condition of my two patients on our first meeting. See
my psychological profile and my attempt at compiling a history for the
Seven family over the last seven years.
     "After much testing, the first surgery was attempted. Mr. Seven
volunteered for this, and the replacement of his artificial legs with
a newly replicated ones met with complete success. After a testing
period of several months, I then went on to replace those of Ms. Seven
as well as the Borg 'enhancements' done to her nasal cavity. My
concerns that her new legs would not grow along with the rest of her
body proved to be unfounded over the last four years, however, as
puberty is only now beginning, I continue to monitor her case
carefully.
     "On a lighter note, I should add both Sevens are rather loathe to
wear shoes now. Apparently, the Borg can't adapt everything.
     "With these initial successes and several month's rehabilitation
time, I went on to replace Mr. Seven's arm. His rate of recovery this
time was much faster, due to some perfections of the techniques used
during surgery and rehabilitation. His eye socket was repaired at this
time as well.
     "The replication of the right eye, I had thought, had failed,
until Mr. Seven informed me that his right eye was brown and not dark
blue like his left. The surgery was much longer, and recovery time
took more time as well, but I am happy to report it was successful.
     "Some interesting results of this case, from a medical
standpoint..."

     Michael Seven walked past the medical bay heading for the
holodeck. He smirked as he caught the Doctor's last sentence. This
would be the eighth draft to his paper in the last couple days.
     Walking into holodeck two, leaves crunched under his bare feet,
and an autumn breeze ruffled his hair. He inhaled it deeply.
     Damp, just after a rain. That was a new addition to the program.
It had started simply as a nature walk to stimulate new legs, but had
grown and blossomed into something of an excercise routine. Even the
three holographic crew members indulged in it. Each of them had their
own dedicated computer core to fill and expand their programs as
'nature' decided in addition to the one simply running the ship and
the one dedicated to the shipboard holographic systems. They'd had to
do a massive overhaul just to add those. According to Tink, some of
her schoolmates thought they had plundered a shipload of Ferengi
latinum. Truth was, they just used the 'donated' Borg nanotechnology
to mine the occasional farflung asteroid. But rumor was more fun,
though Tink's friends knew the truth.
     Mike strolled along a path to a bridge over a small creek. A
small stone building was there, he knew it, but he couldn't find it
for the life of him.
     Ah, there's a small cave in the hillside, that's what it had been
turned into. Mike entered and smiled, noting the interior was still
like the building, someone had just covered the exterior to blend it
into the landscape.
     He cleaned himself up with a shower of cold spring water, he had
been working on a project of his own in the cargo bay, and donned the
burgundy tanktop and black shorts he usually wore when sparring.
Grabbing a grey towel with the ship's name stenciled in purple script,
he noted Tink's school bag in a corner on her side of the partitioned
changing room as he headed back out.
     Crossing over the wooden bridge, Mike followed the trail through
the woods, up a hill and into a clearing where a traditional-looking
Japanese house sat. From inside, the strains of some classical
oriental music came to his ears. He crept up to the house, already
knowing what he would find inside.
     Mike slid the door open slightly and slipped in. Padding along
the shadows, he positioned himself behind one of the main pillars
supporting the roof and watched.

     Tinkerbell Seven stood in the center of the room, barefoot and
dressed in an 'emperor yellow' gi, golden hair held in a top-knot-ish
ponytail. She moved with the music, randomly created by the computer,
going through her warmup katas slowly, meditating on each move and
what it represented and was designed to build or strengthen.
     She frowned faintly, mind adrift in the feelings of motion and
action. She had trouble sitting and meditating, something her
holotrainer, who doubled as ship's bridge crew, third in command and
logistics officer, knew all too well. So he had searched through the
ship's library, blending several human and alien styles of martial
arts into something the little girl could excel at. The meditation
katas she was doing now had been a Vulcan invention, but the chinese
music suited them best.
     She was just moving into the Desert Sun pose when she heard the
faint fluttering of fabric overhead in several places, descending
toward her. Tink's eyes snapped open as she addopted a Klingon
defensive pose, assessing her opponents.
     The music did what seemed like a natural shift into a highly
techno beat as one of four ninja, one at each compass point, moved
forward to attack. Lashing out with a foot, he was met by Tink,
several inches shorter than him though he wasn't very tall, who swept
a forearm under his foot and added to his momentum with a hand in the
direction he had been sweeping it, forcing a spin on his heel to face
in the opposite direction or risk falling on his side.
     Tink followed that up with a leaping kick in the backside that
sent him to the floor. She regained her feet in a crouch facing the
opposite way, toward her next attacker. She leapt into the air and
lashed a foot out at his chest, shoving him back. She landed on top of
him and smashed her palm into his face, then felt hand wrap around her
neck from behind. She rolled forward over her former opponent's
unconscious form, dragging the one who had grabbed her over her back
to land on his. A foot in the face while down put him out of action,
too.
     Her first opponent was up again as she turned. Her roundhouse
kick was blocked and his punch for her solar plexus was grabbed and
pulled over her back for another throw to the mat, this time onto his
back, and his two friends. He started to sit up away from her, rolling
to get off the pile in a low crouch, but as he was rising and
twisting, Tinkerbell applied a precise Vulcan nerve pinch that dropped
him midroll.
     That left one ninja, Tink realized as her feel went out from
under her and the last ninja blocked her kick and sent a rabbit punch
that stopped mere fractions of an inch from her nose. The fist opened
into a hand up.
     "Not bad, Miss," the deep voice said as the ninja removed the
mask to reveal the grandfatherly features of Captain Sulu, or more
aptly, those of the holotrainer among other duties who had first shown
her around her new home seven years ago. They bowed formally to each
other.
     "Thank you, Mr. Man."
     Mike emerged from his hiding place and Tink immediately ran over
to him for a hug. 'Mr. Man' offered a salute.
     Mike returned it midhug, "You don't have to bother with that with
me, you know me, Mr. Man."
     "No, Captain, but, to be truthful, your reactions to it strike me
as amusing at times. If you don't need me, though, I must return to my
duties."
     Mike shook his head, as did Tink, and the holonavigator vanished.
Mike looked at Tink.
     "You know what you did to these holopersonalities is a crime,
don't you? Saul Boens and Archie Tect were bad enough, but poor Mr.
Man."
     Tink giggled. "What better name for the ship's asian navigator
than Tse Man?"

     Sirens woke up the two person crew of the _Love's_Labor_ as Mr.
Man called out over the intercom, "Captain to the Bridge!" Tink, still
in pink nightgown was first out of bed and holding the turbolift as
Mike ran out of his quarters across from hers in an emerald terrycloth
bathrobe and burgundy pajama bottoms.
     "What's going on?" Mike called.
     "Sensors have picked up something decloaking over Northern
Ireland and dropping into the stratosphere. It looks like some sort of
Borg craft."
     Mike and Tink stepped out of the lift onto the bridge, the ship
in question, a round sphere, taking a low orbit and discharging two
dozen triangles into the lower atmosphere.
     "That's Borg alright. Are we within firing range?" Michael asked.
     The navigator shook his head. "I have us moving to intercept, but
we aren't within range yet."
     "What about the triangles?" This from Tink.
     "Yes, they're approaching and will pass below us. We could take
up a firing position for them."
     "Do it," Mike ordered.
     "Aye sir."
     The _Love's_Labor_ swung in space, her nose dropping toward the
planet below them, Earth, as phasers came on line. The Borg Triangles
fanned out as the first was hit by the main phaser array. The Borg
Sphere began firing then, its disruptors blasting off multiphasic
shielding. Tractor beams couldn't lock onto the craft either, though
none of that would last too long.
     Mike smiled then, moving to helm control, "Tink, take over the
shield controls. Tse, aim phasers straight ahead and fire on each
jump. I'm activating the main engines."
     Everyone smiled then, the main junp engines not being for junping
to hyperspace, though they could do it, but for jumping from one point
in spacetime to another. In this case, Mike planned to jump around so
much in space, with no transit time in between as to be in several
dozen places at once. The Borg would be hard pressed to maintain a
target lock and the Triangles would have a difficult time dodging once
they were 'outnumbered'.
     "Course plotted," Mike said as he hit 'engage'.
     The Borg were suddenly surrounded by a dozen ships firing into
the main Sphere as well as two dozen blasting through the triangles at
various distances and angles. They all disappeared one second later,
the Borg reduced to space debris, the _Love's_Labor_ at its original
position in orbit again.
     "Well, that went rather well," Mike said after a few moments,
putting his feet up. Tink agreed with a smile. He added, "I think it's
time you got back to-"
     "Captain... better have a look at the main viewscreen."
     Mike looked up and frowned.
     Onscreen, another Borg ship was decloaking just over the south
pole, this one a giant pyramid, its sides splitting off into squadron
after squadron of the Triangles untit there was nothing left of the
pyramid itself.
     "Oh hell," Mike whispered.
     Tink paled.
     Mr. Man was unmoved, "Sir, Starfleet Earth Defense Command orders
us to break orbit immediately, their forces are preparing to fire...
and thanks us for the assist."
     Mike nodded and the ship broke orbit, taking a fallback position
near the moon. The crew, the EMH and EEH had arrived on the bridge as
well, watched tensely as ground-based and satellite weapons came
online.
     The threat was quickly eliminated, the Borg never reached the
northern hemisphere, the final two ships destroyed on the equator. The
Triangles were tougher this time though, the first few hits causing a
black cloud to spew from the ships before they were finally destroyed.
     "Anyone hurt?" Tink asked after things settled down.
     Man shook his head, "No casualties."
     "What was that cloud?" Mike asked.
     "Unknown, Captain. Our scanners were too far away for details."
     "Shades of Crusade?" Tink asked.
     Mike nodded, "That's what scares me. I'm glad you were home from
school. I think that level of nanotechnology is out of the Borg's
league, though."
     "Sir?" Dr. Boens asked, looking perplexed.
     Michael Seven nodded, "A television program Tink and I are
familiar with. A race bent on destroying humanity released a nanotech
plague, far smaller than anything they have here, into earth's
atmosphere. Whatever they spewed when they were hit sparked the
memory. We didn't get that sort of results when we fired, which makes
it odd."
     "Apparently," Mr. Man remarked, "Starfleet thinks that as well.
They're sending a ship up to retrieve a sample. All traffic is
grounded or being rerouted, just in case. We're to remain here."
     Mike nods. "Alright, it's probably not as bad as all that.
Whatever they may have meant to spray could have been burnt up before
release, thus the black clouds. Or we just missed that particular part
on our shots."
     He looked around the bridge. "Alright, show's over. Everyone back
to what you were doing."
     For their part, Mike and Tink returned to bed, though neither
slept well that night.
=================================