From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: Robotech/Rifts Crossover (part 7 of 7)
Followup-To: alt.prose
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:03:50 GMT

     "No!  No, don't do it, Bort!  I'll do anything!  Anything!"
     "Yes, that's right, beg for mercy like the coward you are!"
Bort sneered.  "It will not help you one little bit."  And then
he cast the coup de grace, red lightning that struck Zyjinn, held
him, and devolved him.  Zyjinn became a stage 4 Invid like the
one that he had turned Bort into, but the process did not stop
there.  The Invid grew smaller and shorter, regressing into the
crab-like shape of the lowest-evolved of the Invid.  Then it went
further, growing smaller and smaller and less Invid-like until
all that remained of Zyjinn was a small clump of primordial ooze.
     "VENGEANCE HAS BEEN SERVED!!!" Bort thundered, as a tongue
of lightning licked down and he vanished from sight.
     Tal looked down at the puddle of slime that had once been
his ticket to the top.  "It's been fun, partner."  He looked
around.  "Now I'd better split before he remembers me."  Tal
performed his own disappearing act, but without the lightning.
 
     The Legios came in blasting.  The Invid who were guarding
the slave pens got in some return fire, but not much, before they
were reduced to smoldering piles of ashes.  "Get going!" Joe
yelled, hovering long enough for the other Joe, Chris, and
Michael Fosser to drop out the bomb bay.  All three were clad in
Battler Cyclone armor.  They ran over to the slave pens, now
unguarded.
     "Get those gates open!" Joe Two yelled.
     "Wait a minute," Chris said.  "Where are we going to take
them all?  The ground is flat with no cover for miles around, and
there's nowhere around here they can go--the Invid would catch up
with them in no time."
     Michael Fosser snapped his fingers.  "The rift, of course!"
He pointed to the glowing portal a few thousand feet away.  "If
we can get them through that..."
     "Right!" Joe said.  "Maybe it will even lead back home!"
     "Let's do it!"  Chris brought up his EP-40 cannon and shot
the locks off of the gates.  He ran inside.  Here were dozens of
filthy slave workers, huddling in scared bunches.
     "It's all right, people," Chris said, raising his visor.
"We're here to get you out of this."
 
     Meanwhile, the Veritechs were faring well against the Invid.
The aliens seemed to be distracted, and weren't fighting well.
At last the time came for the Veritechs to pull out.  "Okay, the
distraction should be over by now.  We've done what we came to
do; let's go home."
 
     As the Veritechs retreated and the remaining Invid just
stood there, stunned from the shock of their former leader's
death/devolution, three Cyclones and one Legios shepherded a long
line of weary prisoners toward the glowing hole in the space-time
continuum that represented their only way out.  Chris noticed
that Joe seemed to be searching the procession for one prisoner
in particular, but he hadn't found him yet.
     "Hurry up, people!" Fosser yelled.  "We don't know when
they're going to wake up!"
     As the head of the procession reached the Rift, Chris took a
look through it.  "Looks just like home," he reported.  "I can
see Wells and Cheek through it--it's the SMSU campus, alright."
     "Then let's get 'em through," Joe said, still searching.
     As the huge crowd of people got halfway through, Fosser
noticed something.  "Hey, look!  The rift is closing!"
     "We've got to get all these people through!" Chris yelled.
"Hurry up, people!  Doubletime, doubletime!"
     As the last of them got through, Chris and Joe Two turned to
look at Fosser and the Legios piloted by Joe One, which was
hovering about a hundred feet away.
     "Guys, I'm sorry but we're going back now, too," Chris said.
"It's really been fun and all, but my family's probably worried
about me, and you know what they say--there's no place like
home."
     "I'm going too," Joe Two said.  "Robotech is nifty and all,
but I like a world where I don't have to worry about getting
blown up behind every corner.  And I've got this really neat
Cyclone, now, and all..."
     "You'd better go, then," Fosser said.  "The Rift is closing
fast."
     "Goodbye, Joe," Joe Two said.  "I'll always remember
you--er, me--oh, whatever."
     "Don't get mushy on me," Joe One said through the Alpha's
loudspeaker.  "You know how you and I hate that."
     Joe stepped through, and Chris put one foot into the
rapidly-closing rift then turned back to add, "Oh, and tell
Lieutenant Michaels he can keep my Robotech stuff.  I can always
get more, and this Cyclone more than makes up for it."  He
stepped all the way through.
     The rift was now only about four feet in diameter, but
through the blue haze, Fosser and Joe One could barely see Joe
Two, still in the Cyclone, running up to one of the prisoners.
As from a distance, they heard, "Dad?" and "Joe?" and then the
rift closed entirely.
     "We'd better get back to the others," Joe Moore said.  "We
don't want to arrive late and have to do a lot of explaining."
     "I suppose you're right," Fosser said, climbing into the
Beta's bomb bay.  "Let's go home."
 
 
 
Chapter 48: A Shocking Discovery
 
 
     In their camp two miles from the El Dorado 'Burb limits,
Steele and Sherelynn waited under for Felix Weidmann to arrive.
They had made love under the setting sun, and now lay beneath the
stars.
     Steele lay on his back in his CVR-3 armor, with his hands
behind his head.  As he looked up at the merrily twinkling stars,
Steele said, "I used to be out among those, or among stars like
those."
     "So you've said."  Sherelynn was leaning against a tree,
looking warily toward the city.  She thought she had seen lights
coming up the long hill, but wasn't sure.  "Perhaps someday you
can be out there again."
     "I hope so."  They lay there in silence, each thinking of
different things, until they heard the sound of the motor.  Then
Sherelynn jumped up and hid behind the tree, and Steele rolled
over and got to his feet, Gallant H-90 in hand.
     But it was just Felix Weidmann on his Cyclone.  He pulled up
in the clearing.  "Hey, Captain, I just found this really neat
cyber-clinic.  If I get the credits, I can get vibro-blades
implanted in the arm.  That's like the CADS blades on your
Cyclone, sir--they cut through armor, and--"
     Steele interrupted the breathless Corporal.  "I know all
about them.  Now you'd better get some rest.  We're going to move
out in the morning.  I'll stand the first watch."
     "All right, sir."  As Weidmann dismounted, Sherelynn stepped
out from behind the tree.  Felix was so startled that he fell on
his rear.  "Hey!  How'd she get here?"
     Steele shrugged.  "To quote an old song, she moves in
mysterious ways."
     Weidmann knew that he wasn't going to get anything out of
Steele, so he started removing his armor and preparing his
bedroll.  "Wake me at two."
     "Right."  As Weidmann crawled into his bedroll, Sherelynn
and Steele moved off to another clearing nearby, where they could
do things that he would have busted any subordinate for doing on
his watch.
 
     The night passed uneventfully (in the sense of enemy
attacks, anyway), and in the morning, all three of them were
ready to move out.  Sherelynn, as a dragon, flew high above the
two Cyclone riders, looking for signs of danger.  Nothing
threatening showed up, however, until the fifth day.
     That was the day on which they would arrive back at the GMU,
and Steele would be able to give his report to Lieutenant Colonel
Bowaz.  It wasn't going to be a very heartening report, he was
afraid.  All he had found had led him to suspect that he would
find no compatible missiles for the REF's missile systems.  It
looked like the GMU REF might be in trouble.
     It began to look even more like they might be in trouble
when Steele and Weidmann rounded the bend into the clearing that
afternoon--and the Ground Mobile Unit was not there.
 
     Sherelynn joined them as a human.  Weidmann gave her the
"I-don't-know-how-the-hell-you-got-here-and-so-I-don't-trust-you"
expression that he had perfected over the last week by wearing
every time the humanform dragon showed up.  Steele was beginning
to think it might be best to tell Weidmann about Sherelynn's true
nature just to keep peace in the squadron, as it were.
     But this was no time for petty bickering, and Steele glared
at Weidmann to get the point across.  Felix subsided, and
together they looked around the clearing.  "Are you sure this is
where we parked?" Felix asked with a slight grin.
     "I don't find it funny, Corporal," Steele said sternly.
"How could they just--Bowaz said they'd wait for us!"  His tone
wavered between panic and disbelief.
     "There must be a solution," Sherelynn said.  "There are the
tire tracks, so we know this is the right clearing.  We just have
to follow them to find out where they went, right?"
     Then a signal started showing up on the console radar of
Steele's Cyclone.  It was within a mile and getting closer.
"Everybody back into the woods!" he yelled, wheeling his Cyclone
back in among the trees.
     Out of the brush on the opposite side of the clearing
stepped a shining silver battloid.  Wait!  That was no Battloid,
that was a Glitter Boy!  It walked out to the center of the
clearing, then came to a halt.  Then the front panel slid open
with a pneumatic hiss, and a man climbed down.  It was Joe Moore!
     "Steele?  Felix?  You out here?  I know I read some radar
contacts from down this way...guys, we HAVE to talk!"
     Captain Steele stepped out, followed by Felix and Sherelynn.
"Okay, we're here.  Where is the GMU?"
     "That's what I wanted to talk to you about!" Joe said,
breathless.  "That idiot Bowaz has decided to join the
Coalition!"
 
     It had started (Joe said) about five days before, when the
Coalition prisoners had broken out of the brig.  They had talked
with Bowaz and somehow managed to convince him that the Coalition
wasn't the nasty evil empire it had been made out to be.  Before
another day had passed, they had convinced Bowaz to take the GMU
to Chi-Town so their scientists could take a look at it.
     "I bet I know just how they pulled that off," Steele said
bitterly.  "They probably offered him a commission as General and
his own command."
     Joe nodded.  "That's exactly how they did it."  He went on
with his tale.
     The next day, a Coalition battalion had been airlifted in
and rendezvoused with the GMU.  Sensing trouble, Moore had taken
his Glitter Boy and hit the road.  Michael Fosser, the
Techno-Wizard; Dr. Thornton Smitty, the robotics scientist wanted
by the Coalition; and Jack, the Operator who was Dr. Smitty's
assistant had come too.  The foursome were currently camped in
another clearing, a couple of miles away from this spot.
     "That's all I know," Joe concluded.  "I don't know what's
been going on since then, but it can't be good."
     All through Joe's story, Sherelynn had been listening, first
with a look of anger on her face, then a look of outright horror.
"If the Coalition gets ahold of those robots and manages to
duplicate them, the potential damage could be colossal!"
     "We have to get them back," Steele said.  "Dammit, I should
have taken command from him a long time ago, and this never would
have happened."
     "We don't have time for recriminations," Joe Moore pointed
out.  "The GMU's probably half-way to Chi-Town by now.  We have
to go and stop it."  He pointed north, along the huge tire
tracks.  The four friends gazed up the trail, each pondering the
job they were going to have to do.
 
 
 
Chapter 49: Chi-Town Bound
 
 
     Lieutenant Martin Jackson didn't often leave his quarters
during the journey toward Chi-Town.  He didn't like the Coalition
soldiers who had moved in to surround and guard the GMU, and he
got the feeling they didn't like him either.  Jackson instead
concentrated on his research.
     What his research consisted of was reading the eighteen
paperback novels Chris Meadows had left with him.  These
purported to tell the story of Robotech, from Zor's discovery of
Protoculture to the disappearance of the SDF-3.  They were
written by someone called Jack McKinney, and were extremely good
reading.  Not all of the events described were verifiable, but
those that were checked out, and this lent credence to the theory
Chris Meadows had advanced, during the trek back to the GMU from
the Invid Hive.
     "What if," Chris had said, "someone gathered accounts from
all or most of the people involved, and then wrote the story of
what happened?  He could then have gone back through time or to
an alternate dimension, then gone to Japan.  There, he could have
influenced the creation of the three separate anime (Japanese
animation) series that make up Robotech, so that their characters
and mecha would strongly resemble those of the Robotech
dimension.  Then he could have found employment at Harmony Gold,
the company that put Robotech together from those anime series,
and helped them put it together.  Hey, stranger things have
happened."
     Yes, reflected Jackson.  Stranger things HAD happened, many
of them in this dimension.  It was a plausible theory--there just
wasn't any other way to explain the discovery of books,
videotapes, and role-playing games based on Robotech in another
dimension entirely.  He had not mentioned this to anybody else,
and had asked those who were with him at the time of the
discovery to keep silent about it.  He was sure that he would be
laughed at if he revealed the contents of the books and tapes
prematurely.
     The eighteenth book, THE END OF THE CIRCLE, was different
from all the rest.  There was a small note tucked in it as a
bookmark that said "Speculative fiction--not true."  Chris had
said that he believed it had been written just after the Invid
had been banished from the planet (before they'd come back a
second time) and was an attempt to explain where the SDF-3 had
gone.
     The videotapes were another matter.  The GMU's library did
not have a VHS player--the format was virtually as antiquated as
the eight-track tape, and the need for such a player had been
unforeseen by the GMU's builders.  However, with Sgt. Barry
Irrout's help, Lieutenant Jackson was able to cobble together a
working player from spare parts.  As he watched, he was amazed.
Finally, he accepted.  "So THAT's what happened," he often
muttered, learning why certain events had happened that had
puzzled him before.  He was so fascinated by the books and tapes
that he almost forgot where the GMU was going.  Almost.
 
     Meanwhile, Sgt. Barry Irrout had been dissecting one of the
SAMAS power armor suits taken from the Coalition reconaissance
team.  He was amazed at the technology displayed in the power
armor, especially the micro-miniaturized fusion reactor.  "We
could use something like this in our Cyclones," he muttered.
"Only thing is, it's so radioactive if ruptured..."
     However, Irrout did NOT want to see the secrets of
Robotechnology go to the Coalition, and was doing his utmost to
prevent it.  Before he had left, Joe Moore had said to him, "I'm
confident that when Captain Steele hears about this, he'll come
rushing in to put a stop to it."
     Working under that assumption, Irrout was fighting a
delaying action to stop the Coalition from getting their hands on
the mecha.  He had instructed all the technicians under his
command to create maintenance problems that would prevent any of
the fighters from being flown direct to Chi-Town: malfunctioning
flight computers, non-working engines--whatever the technicians
could think of.  As a last resort, Irrout planned to remove all
the Protoculture cells from their engines.  He hoped Steele would
get there soon...
 
     The Coalition surrounded the Ground Mobile Unit.  There were
about two hundred footsoldiers and dog boys, and about fifty
heavy robot vehicles.  Dozens of SAMAS pilots flitted around, and
there were three platoons of the grimly gleaming Coalition
Skelebot search-and-destroy robots (72 in all) also on guard.
     On the bridge of the GMU, Coalition Colonel Thaddius Lyboc
had joined Lieutenant Colonel Avery Bowaz as the mighty machine
rumbled toward Chi-Town.  Lyboc had been flown up from Fort El
Dorado several days before, where it had taken five hours to
excavate him from the ruins of a building that Captain Steele had
brought down with a barrage of mini-missiles.  His armor had
kept him from being crushed until he could be dug out.
     Now the two men sat on the control deck, talking about their
military careers.  Bowaz disliked Lyboc from the start--the man
seemed to derive too much pleasure from interrogations, which
were a lot of what he talked about.
     Bowaz was silent, letting the man speak and trying to get a
feel for the government he had just committed the mecha carrier
to serving.  If it was full of this kind of man, he was not so
sure that he had made the right decision.
     "Your technicians CAN provide equivalent missile and
ammunition systems for our mecha, can they not?" Bowaz
interrupted Lyboc, seeking reassurance.
     "What?  Oh, yes, of course!" Lyboc said, and went on with
one of his stories of torture.
     "Good," Bowaz muttered.  "That's all I needed to know."
 
 
 
Chapter 50: Death of a Hero
 
 
     The cordon of guards and robots surrounding the GMU was
surprised to observe a solitary Cyclone motorcycle speeding
toward the giant vehicle.  They had been ordered to let any
motorcycles of that type through, assuming that they were
returning patrols, so they let it pass without interfering.
     The Cyclone cycle drove around to the front of the
stationary mecha transport and sped up the ramp to the mecha
storage/repair bay.  He screeched to a halt right in front of a
startled maint tech.  "You crazy son of a--" the tech began, but
faltered when he noticed the rank insignia on the driver's CVR-3
armor.
     "Where's Bowaz," Steele demanded grimly.
     "I dunno, sir," the technician replied.  "Probably on the
bridge, with that Coalition--" he spat on the floor "--officer."
     "Coalition officer?" Steele asked.
     "Yeah, a Colonel Lybark or something.  Bowaz is really
buddyin' up to him, because he thinks he can get a good deal for
turning over the Robotech mecha."
     "I see.  Where's Sgt. Irrout?"
     "Over there, by the access panel of that Destroid."  The
tech pointed.  "Will that be all, sir?"
     "What?  Oh, yeah, go on with whatever you were doing."
Steele parked the bike by the wall and walked over to Irrout,
where he was having at the interior workings of a Gladiator's leg
with a monkeywrench.  Steele came up behind him, clapped him on
the back, and said, "Hi, Barry,"
     Irrout turned, surprised.  "Captain Steele!  You're finally
back!"
     "Yeah, and I intend to talk some sense into that idiot
Bowaz," he said.  "It's something I should have done a long time
ago."
     "Great!  If there's anything I can do to help--"
     "As a matter of fact, there is," Steele interrupted.  "I
want you to call Bowaz, get him to leave the GMU, alone, and head
about a mile up the back trail.  I don't care what you tell him--
tell him ANYTHING, just get him to go alone and don't tell him
it's me.  I'll be waiting, back thataway."  He jerked his thumb
in the direction of the back of the GMU.
     "Can do, sir."  Irrout saluted, then dropped the wrench and
walked over to an intercom panel set in the wall.  "Lieutenant
Colonel Avery Bowaz, please.  Priority One call from Sergeant
Barry Irrout."  Captain Steele straddled the Cyclone motorcycle
and roared out of the bay and back up the trail.  The Coalition
guards again let him pass.
 
     Fifteen minutes later, another Cyclone rode down the trail.
This one carried a figure whose armor signified the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel, and he rode alone.
     "I don't know what could be so important to me that I would
have to go alone," Colonel Bowaz muttered to himself.  "I should
have brought guards, but he piqued my curiosity.  Besides, I can
defend myself with this Cyclone cycle..."
     Bowaz pulled around a bend, and there was another Cyclone
rider waiting in the road, facing him.  Bowaz pulled up in front
of him.  "Remington?" he asked at last.  "That you?"
     Steele nodded.  "Follow me," he said, turning the Cyclone
and heading off the road along a wooded trail.  Mystified, Bowaz
followed his subordinate until they reached a clearing, where
Sherelynn was waiting, leaning against a tree.  The riders pulled
up their cycles, shut off the engines, and removed their helmets.
     Steele dismounted and turned to his commanding officer.
"Sir, it's time we had a talk."
     "I'm not sure I like your tone of voice," Bowaz said
uncertainly.
     "And well you shouldn't!" Sherelynn snapped, getting up from
the tree and walking into the middle of the clearing.  "You
idiot, you've gone and done a very foolish thing."
     "You've joined the Coalition," Steele said.  "Of all the
stupid, foolish, simple-minded things to do, what you've done is
the most unpardonable.  You've committed yourself, AND the
technology of the REF, to serve a barbaric regime of the very
kind that plagued our planet in almost every major war we've ever
had!  The Coalition is an evil empire built on the illiteracy of
its people and the genocide of intelligent races.  It's no better
than the Robotech Masters or the Invid!"
     Bowaz was at a loss.  "But--but they're trying to wipe out
the supernatural monsters that plague this planet, the same way
we're trying to defeat the Invid.  You've seen the kind of
creatures that come from the Rifts.  Melechs, giant worms--"
     "And dragons," Sherelynn added viciously.  "Let's not forget
dragons."
     Unaware of the dangerous territory on which he was treading,
Bowaz said, "Yes, and dragons.  They should all be wiped
out--they're a threat to humanity.  And the Coalition looks like
the best--"  He broke off, for Sherelynn had begun to change, her
human form melting and distorting, growing and reshaping itself
into that of a gigantic ice dragon, more than 40 feet long.
     "You fool!" Sherelynn bellowed, very angry now.  "I saved
Steele's life--YOUR life, too--on more than one occasion!  And
this is how I am repayed?!"  She lowered her head until it was
barely two feet away from Bowaz, who had fallen to the ground in
fear and surprise.  "I tell you THIS, little man--I have NEVER in
my entire life been as tempted as I am right now to devour a
human being!"  Bowaz turned ten different shades of pale and
fainted dead away.  Steele nervously reached for his Gallant,
lest Sherelynn attempt to carry through on her threat.  He was
angry with Bowaz too, but not that angry; and the fury of a
dragon (especially a female one) is a terrible thing to see.
     But Sherelynn made no further move toward Bowaz.  She
withdrew a few feet and waited until he opened his eyes to shift
back into her human form.  "But fortunately for you, I do not
always succumb to my temptations.  VERY fortunately."  She turned
and walked away to the edge of the clearing.
     Steele went over and helped Bowaz to his feet.  "Do you
understand now, sir?  I can't let you take those mecha to the
Coalition.  It could mean the eventual death of not only the
woman" (he stressed the word "woman") "I love, but many other
sentient, peaceful species as well.  And I am not about to let
that happen."
     Bowaz nodded, still shaken from his experience.  The bad
feeling he'd had from the start about joining the Coalition had
just materialized.  And, he told himself wryly, all but
threatened to eat him.  "I understand.  Quite a remarkable lady
you have there."
     "Yessir," Steele began.  "I--"  He never got a chance to
finish.  Sherelynn came running up from the edge of the clearing.
"Coalition soldiers!  They're closing in, and--"
     Then several laser blasts hit the clearing floor, blowing
small craters in it.  Steele pulled out his own gun, as did
Sherelynn, and looked for targets, but they were hidden in the
woods.
     "Drop your weapons!" a rasping voice called out from the
trees.  "Drop them!"  Steele and Sherelynn looked at each
other--they had no choice but to comply.  The Gallant and the
NG-Super laser pistol fell to the ground.  The instant they did,
the troops moved in.  First footsoldiers--dog boys in riot armor
and humans in Coalition armor with the spiked helmets and PSI
lettering on the breasts that signified psi-stalkers--genetic
mutations specifically adapted for hunting down supernatural
creatures and magic-users.
     Then came regular grunts, and then Samas power armor and
Urban Enforcer robots.  All pointed their guns directly at them.
     A man walked out from the crowd with his helmet under his
arm.  Bowaz recognized him as a Captain Arvid Torjack, Colonel
Lyboc's temporary liason officer.  "Colonel Bowaz, are you all
right?" he asked.  "We noted you leaving the GMU alone, and
decided we should send some men to follow you.  It looks like we
arrived just in time to save you from this--this DRAGON."  He put
so much hate and disgust into the word that Steele shuddered
inside his armor.
     "You did indeed," Bowaz said.  "They ambushed me, and were
threatening my life.  I must speak to Colonel Lyboc about this,
immediately."  He pulled on his helmet, climbed onto his Saber
Cyclone, and revved the motor.  "Do NOTHING until I get back or
you hear otherwise, is that clear?  I might want to interrogate
the prisoners later."
     "Yessir," Torjack replied, saluting in the Coalition
fashion.  "We will await your orders concerning the prisoners."
     Bowaz rode off at top speed.  Steele and Sherelynn glanced
at each other nervously.  They both knew that Bowaz was
attempting to buy them time, but could it succeed?  Did it have a
chance?  Steele certainly didn't relish the--the HUNGRY looks on
the faces of those psi-stalkers who had removed their helmets.
He hoped that none of the soldiers was trigger-happy.
     Five minutes later, Torjack picked up a radiophone, said a
few words into it, then hung it up.  Any hope Steele or Sherelynn
might have had was dashed when he said, "You have been sentenced
to death for crimes against humanity.  Riflemen, READY!"
     "Teleport out of here!" Steele whispered to Sherelynn.
"You've got to go; save yourself!"
     She shook her head.  "And leave you behind?  Never.  I'd
rather die at your side than flee without you."
     "Riflemen, AIM!"  There was a loud clattering as all the
troopers surrounding them raised and steadied their guns.  Steele
and Sherelynn looked into each others' horrified faces.  They
embraced.  "Just don't think about it," Steele said.  "It'll all
be over in a second."
     It was over, Steele thought as the Coalition soldiers
aimed their guns and looked down the barrel at them.  There was
no hope.  But wait!  What was that noise--it sounded like--
     Captain Korjack raised his arm, getting ready to drop it as
he pronounced their doom.  "Troopers, FI--"  At that
very moment, the VAF-6R Recon Alpha appeared overhead and fired
dozens of missiles into the Coalition lines.  Steele pulled
Sherelynn down as they hit.  KA-BOOM!  Several Urban Enforcers
and Samas troops exploded, and all the troopers misfired.
     Steele crawled for their guns, which the Coalition troops
had neglected to pick up, as the plane converted to Guardian mode
and fired more missiles.  He picked up the Gallant and tossed the
other gun to Sherelynn.  "Let's go, while they're still
distracted!"  He ran to his motorcycle and changed it to power
armor as Sherelynn fired some grenades into the Coalition lines.
Together they ran into the jungle.
     There was another explosion behind them.  Steele turned to
see railgun fire rip through the fuselage of the Alpha as it was
converting to fighter mode.  It flew unsteadily toward them then
crashed into the forest, mowing down a wide swath of trees before
finally coming to a stop.
     "Come on!"  Steele raced toward the plane, cutting his way
through downed trees with the VR-041 Saber blades.  When they
reached the plane's side, its canopy was already open.  The pilot
had half-fallen, half-climbed out of the cockpit, and now lay on
his side under the plane.  Steele turned him over, gently.  It
was Lieutenant Colonel Bowaz.  Blood was welling out of a hole in
the side of his CVR-3 armor.
     Steele was later to learn that Bowaz had rushed back to the
GMU and seen Colonel Lyboc in an effort to get them released.
Lyboc had adamantly refused, saying, "Monsters and those who
consort with them deserve to die."  As he had given the orders to
execute them, Colonel Bowaz had rushed down to the mecha bay,
convinced Sgt. Irrout to put one of the Alphas back in working
order, and taken it to go and save Steele and Sherelynn.
     "I've--been such a damned fool, Remington" Bowaz gasped out.
"I see now where I went wrong.  I never should have--have
listened to those Coalition soldiers."
     "Sir, don't try to talk.  Sherelynn, can you--?"
     She knelt beside him and concentrated.  "I'll try, but I
think he's too far gone for me to save."
     Bowaz continued.  "You must--MUST not let the Coalition have
the GMU or its mecha.  Fight them--take the GMU and the Veritechs
far away--let none of it fall into Coalition hands."  He half sat
up and grasped Steele's arm with surprising strength for one so
near death.  "You--you must promise me," he gasped.
     Steele nodded.  "I promise."  Then Lieutenant Colonel Avery
Smithson Bowaz, veteran of 24 years in the Robotech Expeditionary
Force, died.
     Sherelynn shook her head.  "I'm sorry.  There was nothing I
could do."  She shook her head.  "He saved our lives.  He died a
hero."
     Steele reached down and gently closed Bowaz's eyes. "We
won't fail.  We WILL keep the GMU from the Coalition.  I'll find
a way."
 
 
 
Chapter 51: Steele Takes Over
 
 
     The Alpha fighter streaked through the sky.  In its cockpit
was Captain Steele of the Robotech Expeditionary Force.  And he
was fighting mad.
     The seat he occupied was still wet with the blood of his
superior, Lieutenant Colonel Avery Bowaz, who had died saving his
and Sherelynn's lives from a Coalition firing squad.  Daylight
was visible through several quarter-sized holes blown in the
cockpit during that battle, but all the systems still functioned.
There were thirty missiles left in the compartments, and a nearly
full load of GU-XX ammunition.  And the man at the controls was
determined to make the Coalition pay for Bowaz's death.
     Even as he flew the plane toward the GMU, Steele was on a
pre-arranged encrypted emergency frequency, speaking to the crew
of the GMU.  "I only have time to say this once, so listen up,"
he said. "This is Captain Steele speaking.  Colonel Bowaz has
been killed by the Coalition.  It is up to us to make them pay
for that, and to keep the secrets of Robotechnology out of their
hands. Everybody to your battle stations.  If the Coalition asks,
tell 'em it's a drill, tell 'em anything--then start blasting
them. We must wipe them out to the last man, or make them flee.
We will take the GMU and our mecha to where they'll never find
it.  That is all.  Out."
     By now, Steele was in sight of the GMU, and the Coalition
forces around it were in range.  Steele switched to Battloid
mode.  "Computer, set missile target priority at increasing scale
from zero, exception all REF mecha."  This meant that the
computer would target all the most vunerable troops first, then
the less-vunerable mecha, and so on, firing most of its missiles
at targets that could be taken out with one or two missiles.  It
would not fire at any REF vehicles or mecha.  "Fire all."
     At the last two words, thirty missiles went streaking out of
the Alpha's shoulder and leg compartments, heading for where they
would do the REF the most good.  As Coalition armor exploded, the
rest of the Ground Mobile Unit's mecha started coming to life.
All nine of the other Alphas and six Betas converted to Battloid
mode and bombarded the Coalition with cannon fire and missiles.
     "If you go down, set your self-destruct and get out!" Steele
ordered over the radio.  "We don't want the Coalition to have
even the remains of a Robotech ship."  He emptied his GU-XX into
the back of a Spider-Skull Walker, which exploded.
     Many things happened in the next five minutes, far too many
for Steele to keep track of.  An Alpha crashed and burned here, a
Coalition APC blew up there, missiles and cannonfire streaked
back and forth.  Sometime during the fray, Joe Moore's Glitter
Boy, Jack's Cyclone, and Sherelynn in dracoform showed up to add
their might to the REF's side.
     At the end of the battle, twenty people on the REF's side
had been killed.  Three of the Alphas, one of the Betas, two
Excalibers, both Raidar Xs, and 14 Cyclones had been completely
destroyed.  Many of the other mecha were seriously damaged,
including the Veritech Steele had flown.  And many missiles from
the REF's rapidly dwindling supply had been used up.
     But the Coalition had died or fled to the last man.  Colonel
Lyboc had been personally observed turning tail and running, but
he hadn't been killed.  There were no prisoners this time.
     Steele called a hurried meeting of his remaining officers
and enlisted men.  He outlined the situation as it stood, and
explained what they were going to have to do.  "We have to take
the GMU/Titan and her mecha to a safe location where no one will
ever find her.  Toward this end, we will start driving south.  We
should reach the coast within a week, and then I will submerge
the vessel in the ocean."
     The plan made, the crew hastened to their battle stations to
get the Ground Mobile Unit ready for Steele's Operation
Sherman--the march to the sea.
 
     In Chi-Town, General Underhill was livid.  "What do you
mean, they rebelled?!" he was yelling at Lyboc.  Underhill was
sitting behind his desk and Lyboc was standing before him.  "The
technology contained within those robots could enable us to
cleanse this planet of its alien infection once and for all, and
you LET THEM GET AWAY?!"
     "I couldn't help it, sir," Lyboc protested.  "They turned on
us, caught us unaware.  By the time I saw what was going on they
had already wiped out half of the Coalition forces.  There was
nothing we could do!"
     "So you RAN, eh Lyboc?" Underhill asked, cooling down
slightly.  "No matter.  At least we now know what we suspected
all along--these people are entirely undependable.  Therefore..."
He punched the intercom button on his desk and spoke into the
mike.  "Get me Tac-Com Three."  He looked back up at Lyboc and
said, "Now we shall totally wipe them out, and scavenge what we
can from the remains."  He slammed an armored fist down on the
desk, and Lyboc thought how much he would hate to be in the REF's
shoes right now.
 
 
 
Chapter 52: Battle for Freedom
 
 
     Steele looked with dismay at the fifty or so people left in
the GMU's Robotech Expeditionary Force detachment.  He had
gathered them together just outside the GMU so he could tell them
what was going on.  He sighed.  With just fifty people and a
handfull of mecha they were going to hold off the entire
Coalition army?  Steele groaned--it looked pretty hopeless.
     Sherelynn picked up on his thought.  "Don't worry, my love,"
she whispered to him.  "After all, your SDF-1 destroyed the
entire Zentraedi battle fleet of five million ships, did it not?
I'd say our odds are a great deal better than five million to
one, wouldn't you?"
     "The SDF-1 had the Grand Cannon to help it," Steele
retorted.  Then he spoke aloud to the men and women of the REF.
"Okay, I'm not going to give you a long pep talk or anything,
because we don't have the time.  I'm just going to tell you this:
the Coalition is an evil organization, on a par with Nazi Germany
of a hundred years ago in our dimension.  If we let this
technology fall into their hands, we'll be doing all the people
and intelligent beings of this world an extreme disservice.
Therefore--"
     "So let's get going already!" a soldier yelled.  Looking
closer, Steele could see that it was Corporal Felix Weidmann.
"The longer we keep talking about it, the more likely it is
they'll catch us.  We know what we need to do, and we're with you
all the way.  So let's have no more talking about it--let's DO
it!"
     There was a round of cheering from the assembled crowd, and
several looked ready to break away and run for their battle
stations.  Steele held up his arms to stop them.  "It's great to
see you're all behind me.  All right, I just want to say one more
thing."  He stopped talking until they were silent.  Then he
said, "The Coalition is going to come after us.  There will be a
huge battle.  Some of you, or many of you may die.  This may be
the last time I address all of you like this, so I just want to
say that it's been great serving with you for all these years.
If I--"
     "Well, don't get all mushy on us, chief!" It was Sgt. Barry
Irrout.  "We know what you're saying and what we have to do.  I
think that's everything you have to tell us.  All right, guys,
BATTLE STATIONS!"
     There were cries of "Yeah!" and "Awright!" from the crowd,
which immediately scattered.  All the troops ran to their mecha,
or to the GMU.  Steele watched, bemused.  "Shall we go, milady?"
he asked Sherelynn.
     "Of course, my love," she replied, offering him her hand.
He took it, and together they ran to the pilot's and co-pilot's
seats, which had been lowered through the bottom of the GMU
cockpit for this occasion.  They climbed in, and the seats slid
back up into the cockpit, and the hatch closed beneath them.
 
     The next copuple of days passed hectically for Steele.  He
spent every waking hour in the pilot's seat, spelled only by
Corporal Weidmann.  Sherelynn spent most of her time away from
the GMU, where she could revert to her natural state and fly
lookout against any Coalition scouts.
     The REF forces headed south, crossing the Magic Zone without
incident and driving through central Mississippi.  They had
encounters with some monsters, but generally drove on through,
trying to avoid slowing down for anything.  The GMU's
bio-maintenance engineers worked feverishly to try to repair all
the mecha damaged in the previous battle.
     At last the coast was within reach, barely twenty miles
away.  Just an hour's travel for the GMU.  But here was where the
Coalition finally caught up with them.
     The first report came from Sherelynn, who teleported onto
the bridge of the GMU in human form.  "Coalition Skull transports
are unloading troops and mecha five miles to the south!" she
said.
     "How many?" Steele asked.
     "About fifty!" Sherelynn replied.
     "Elevate the cannon," Steele ordered.  "We should be able to
see them once we crest this ridge.  We'll see if we can lock onto
them and blast some of the ships before they can off-load their
mecha."  Then, noticing that there was nobody close enough to the
weapons console to activate it, he jumped up and did it himself.
Sherelynn sat down in the driver's seat and took over for him.
     As the GMU came over the top of the ridge, Steele gasped at
the wide array of armed forces confronting them.  "They sure
pulled out all the stops," he said, targeting the cannon.  "There
must be thousands of soldiers out there, or tens of thousands!
And hundreds of robots and robot vehicles."
     "And they're starting to fire at us, sir!" the female radar
tech yelled from her console.
     "Then let's let them taste hot lasers!" Steele yelled,
targeting the rapid-fire cannon and pulling the trigger.  He
fired again and again, then punched the radio button.  "GMU
forward!  All mecha, to the front!  We have to break through!"
     And the giant battle machine rolled into the fray.  It was
clear that the laser cannon mounted on the machine was doing the
most damage.  The Coalition had to take it out.  They began
directing their heaviest assaults at the GMU.
     As the attacks began to come in, Steele called out, "All
mecha, break off engagements and return to GMU!  All mecha,
protect the GMU!"  The Veritechs and Destroids moved back,
walking in line beside the mecha transport and blasting would-be
attackers before they could do any serious damage.
     But they weren't entirely successful--three missiles from an
Urban Enforcer got through, blasting a hole in the sealed
hatchway to the mecha bay and wounding two of the mechanics who
had been standing nearby.  Sergeant Barry Irrout and an assistant
ran out to drag them to safety, but just as they got there two
SAMASes came through the hole.  "Don't move!" one of them
shouted, the voice sounding oddly metallic through the power
armor's voice filter.  Instead, Irrout and his assistant dived
behind a heavy console, unslinging their Fal-2 automatic laser
rifles as they hit the floor.  As one, they opened fire on the
Coalition armor.
     The SAMASes returned fire with their railguns.  The
assistant's head exploded in a fountain of gore and his body fell
back on the ground.  Irrout ducked as another railgun blast
nearly hit him.  "Throw down your weapon and come out with your
hands up and we will not harm you!"
     Irrout looked around.  There was nothing he could do.  Yet
if he surrendered, the SAMASes would make their way through the
unguarded GMU to the bridge deck, and the battle would end in
victory for the Coalition!
     Then Irrout saw the answer--the Protoculture storage locker,
right next to the SAMASes.  It had been left open, and all he had
to do was shoot into it.  Though the locker was nearly empty from
re-fueling most of the mecha this morning, there was enough left
that the resulting explosion would blow the Sams to smithereens,
and perhaps some of the floor and the wall along with them.  But
the door was at such an angle that he would have to be about
half-way to the Coalition troops before he would have a chance of
hitting it.
     "All right, I'm coming out!" Irrout yelled, tossing his
Fal-2 out from behind the console.  He stood up and walked out,
hands in the air.  As he walked toward the Sams, one of them
said, "Show us the way to the bridge."
     "All right, all right," Irrout said, slowly lowering his
hands.  "I'll take you there..."  Just a few more steps...
     Then Irrout turned toward the Protoculture storage locker
evan as his hand whipped down and grabbed the Gallant H-90 pistol
from his shoulder holster.  He steadied the gun, raised it...
     Even as he pulled the trigger, Irrout saw that he had
miscalculated.  There was still twice as much Protoculture
remaining as he had guessed.  The explosion would be much more
powerful than he had meant.
     As the blast engulfed him, Sergeant Barry Irrout's last
thought was that he wished he'd advanced farther up the ranks
than Sergeant.
 
     Surprisingly, the explosion only destroyed the Protoculture
storage locker, the Sams, Sgt. Irrout, and a few lockers of tools
and miscellaneous equipment.  Though there was some damage to
walls, floor, and ceiling, the mecha bay remained remarkably
intact.
     But the GMU shook, and Steele momentarily wondered what it
was.  But his first instinct was to keep firing the cannon, and
this he did.  It had gotten to be such a largely repetitive
procedure now--aim and shoot, aim and shoot--that he hadn't
noticed that the troops were beginning to thin out.  It was
Sherelynn who noticed their retreat.
     "Steele, we've done it!" she told him.  "We've fought
through!"
     Steele stopped firing as he noticed it was true.  The enemy
was retreating in disarray.  He shut down the laser cannon and
retracted it into the body of the Ground Mobile Unit.  He looked
around.  "Yes, we've done it.  We've won," he said.
 
     But at a terrible cost.  In the quick head count that
followed, Steele found that they'd lost many men and mecha.  Only
twenty-seven REF soldiers remained, out of the fifty-five who had
gone into battle.  Other survivors included Glitter Boy Joe
Moore, Dr. Thornton Smitty, his assistant Jack, Dr. Peltzer the
cyber-doc, Sam Fort the robot pilot, and Techno-Wizard Michael
Fosser, all of whom had also participated in the battle in one
way or another.
     Sgt. Barry Irrout, the top bio-maint of the entire crew and
a long-time friend of Captain Steele, was dead.  And the only REF
mecha remaining were a battered REF Gladiator, an Alpha, a Beta,
and 22 Cyclones.  Steele shook his head in disgust.  "So many
good men dead, to keep these machines out of the hands of
tyrants.  And we thought the worst of the Robotech wars were
over."
 
 
 
Chapter 53: Conclusion
 
 
     The remaining repair staff of the GMU hastily welded new
armor into place over the hole in the ramp/hatch to the mecha
repair bay.  Finally they pronounced it water-tight and ready to
go.
     Steele addressed his men one last time.  "Well, this is it.
Rather than open ourselves to more attacks from a power-hungry
Coalition, I have decided to disband this REF detachment and
allow you to go your separate ways."
     There was a murmur of disbelief from the small crowd Steele
was talking to.  "That's right.  As of several minutes from now,
the REF will no longer exist.  At least, as far as we constitute
the REF in this alien dimension."  He paused.  "But I'm afraid I
will have to ask one last favor of you."
     "Anything, boss!" Corporal Weidmann called out.
     "I want you to leave all your mecha behind.  Also all your
armor, and your Gallant H-90s, too.  I'll issue you Sal-9 and
Fal-2 lasers.  Take nothing that will reveal you to be Robotech
soldiers.  If the Coalition knows who you are, they could catch
you and torture you into revealing this location, and whatever
else you know.  It's up to you to make your own ways in this
world, WITHOUT Robotech mecha."  He glared at Jack.  "Is that
clear?"
     The operator sighed.  "I didn't really like that Cyclone
anyway," he said, then muttered something about petty tyrants and
dictators that Steele didn't quite hear.
     "I guess that's it, then," Steele said.  "Before I say
goodbye, I propose that we all return to this very spot in
exactly one year.  We'll tell each other where we've been, what
we've been doing, and how close we are to finding a way home.
Until then, farewell.  Sherelynn and I are going to take the GMU
on into the water by ourselves, with all the mecha on board.  We
will be the only ones who will really know where it's
hidden--just another safeguard against the Coalition finding it."
     There followed about fifteen minutes of routine farewells,
the passing out of weapons, and the inspection to make sure that
none of the departing troopers took any Protoculture-powered
devices or anything with a recognizeable REF insignia on it with
them.  Then Sherelynn and Steele climbed into the GMU alone, and
set out for parts unknown.
 
     The GMU cruised up the east coast underwater for several
days, Steele and Sherelynn enjoying the underwater scenery, the
privacy, and each other for all that time.  They stayed within
sight of the coast, to keep away from the strange creatures that
were known to haunt the depths.
     At last, when they reached what had once been New York in
the late afternoon of the sixth day, they stopped the GMU on the
ocean floor.  Steele went out through an airlock in a suit of
SAMAS armor that had been captured during the original battle
with Coalition forces, just after Weidmann's arm had been blown
off.  Sherelynn followed him ashore.
     "Well, here we are," Steele said, looking around.  Manhattan
had been totally destroyed.  Not a building was standing.  Still,
it was a start.
     Sherelynn nodded.  "It is a start, Steele.  A new start, for
all of us."  The two lovers stood together on the beach and
watched the sun go down, hand in hand.  Steele knew that no
matter what happened, they would find a way to survive, together.
Together.  That was the key to everything, Steele thought, and
Sherelynn nodded in silent agreement.  They were together.
 
     "It is only a minor setback, at worst," General Marshall
Cabot, Emporer Karl Prosek's personal military counsel was
saying.  It was a private meeting between him, General Underhill,
Emporer Prosek, and Prosek's son, Joseph Prosek the Second,
propaganda minister and heir to the throne.
     "I would be interested to know exactly how you come to that
conclusion," Underhill said stiffly.  He didn't add, "You old
fool," but Cabot could tell that was what he was thinking.  "I
would call having fifty percent of our available attack forces
wiped out by one large ground vehicle and several robots
something in the nature of a major catastrophe."
     "Ah, but you are only looking at the short term," Cabot
replied.  "Our production facilities still have not reached their
zenith of production yet, and within several months we will have
forces equal to all those we lost, with several hundred more of
our new FASSAR-20 Skelebots in addition.  We will be stronger
than before."
     "But what of the loss of the reconfiguration technology?"
Joesph Prosek asked.  "Would that not have made a major
difference in our campaign against the supernatural?"
     Cabot shrugged.  "You have to take things as they come and
look at the long range picture," he said to the young man.
"True, it would have been a great victory for us to have that
machinery, but would it really have made that much of a
difference?  I think not.  More than likely it would require
years of study to master the new technology, and by then would it
really be that much of an advantage?  I doubt it."
     Karl Prosek broke in to say, "None of this discussion really
matters.  The thing that DOES matter is that our strength is
down, and if any of our enemies know this, they could attack at
this moment for maximum advantage.  Now, General Cabot, I wish to
discuss with you the positioning of our remaining forces for the
utmost advantage.  Now, if we..."
 
     In the Florida Hive, Bort reposed in his throne.  Over the
last couple of weeks, he had worked on mastering the great power
inherent in the ley lines.  He now believed that he was almost as
strong as the Regis herself when he was in this world, and now
harbored no thoughts of ever going back to the home dimension.
It was his duty to further the cause of the Invid in this realm.
And with the extra Invid that the mutineer, Zyjinn, had summoned,
he believed that he would reach his goal.
     "Ah, Zyjinn," Bort said, talking to the glass container
which held all that remained of the former Invid scientist: a
putrid microbiotic slime that bubbled and seethed in its jar.
"How ironic that the forces you brought here for your own gain
now fall to me.  Though some of them are strange to me, I will
use them, of course.  Against the humans on this planet, against
other creatures, even against the REF if need be, though we have
a treaty of sorts.
     "Yes, we shall conquer this planet.  And when it is ours, we
will re-conquer the earth of our own dimension, and then those
worlds that the Sentinels once stole from us.  We will become the
galactic power that we were destined to be from the start!"  The
Invid humanoid laughed gleefully at the thought, then subsided.
He would have to plan his next moves carefully, for premature
discovery could mean his doom.  He lapsed into silence, thinking,
meditating, planning for the future.
 
     In a different space-time continuum altogether, the Regis
also meditated.  Her thoughts were disturbed by the new human
forces returning to HER planet, the earth.  She still thought of
it as her planet, even though she had left it more than a human
decade before--it was the only place in the cosmos where the
Invid flower still thrived.  Other than Optera, which was now
occupied by those foolish Praxians.  It was an alternative, of
course...but it was only in her mind for the merest flicker of a
moment, then gone.
     More humans were coming to the earth, possibly the precursor
of another invasion fleet.  It was plain to her now that she
would have to leave the small planet where she had been
conducting further evolution experiments, and return with the
balance of her brood to the earth and prepare to repel the next
invasion.  She had done it before, and she would manage to do it
again.  Of this, she was certain.
     The Hive in the other dimension was doing well, or so Bort
had said.  The first crops of the Flower of Life were apparently
healthy, and there was no major human resistance to the Invid
takeover.  It was good to know that at least some of her progeny
were safe from the violent conflict that raged across their own
galaxy.
     The Regis left her meditation chamber and prepared to gather
her children to her for the hyperspace transport to earth.
Whatever happened this time, she would not fail!  She could not
afford to.
 
 
 
Epilogue: Prologue
 
 
     Life continued for the survivors of the GMU/Titan.  Captain
Steele and Sherelynn made their way to Lazlo, a peaceful kingdom
built on the sciences of magic and techno-wizardry, where they
found gainful employment in the militia.  Joe Moore, Dr. Smitty,
and Jack dropped in from time to time, and so did Lieutenant
Martin Jackson, who was now a free-lance science consultant and
medical practitioner.  They worked hard, and they lived
fulfilling lives.
     The Invid Hive's territory expanded, until it controlled a
small empire spanning the entire state of Florida.  As it stood,
it was only a matter of time until the Splugorth, a monster race
of aliens who lived on the newly arisen island of Atlantis in the
Bermuda Triangle, noticed them.  After a great battle, the Invid
and Splugorth managed to strike a bargain, a pact that said that
the Invid would leave them alone and give them any extra slaves,
in exchange for noninterference and some assistance from the
Splugorth.  As the two forces were pretty evenly-matched, the
agreement was an uneasy one.
     The Coalition began to rebuild its forces, planning for the
day on which it would be able to invade Minnesota, the site of a
magical kingdom called Tolkeen and the Coalition's next
territorial acquisition.  From there, they would be able to
combat the Xiticix, an insect-like race which was yet another
invader of Rifts earth.  They were determined to make the world
safe for human beings, whatever the cost.
     In the Robotech home dimension, the Regis took her Invid
back from the nondescript planet on which she had been running
more experiments to the earth, to help defend against the
returning hordes of a new generation of Robotech Expeditionary
Force humans.  The battle was to be a close one, for the SDF-3
was still missing.
 
     And that was how it was for the next two years.  Everybody
grew, learned things that they hadn't known before.  Steele got
no closer to finding a way to go home.  Life was, if not
peaceful, at least routine.  Most of those involved managed to
forget about the past, living only for the day, surviving.
     Until two years later, when there was a great disturbance at
the edge of the solar system.  In the midst of an energy release
equivalent to a small nova, a something HUGE burst through from
hyperspace...
 
                             THE END
                           (or is it?)
 
 
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
 
     Well, that's it.  I can't say it's always been fun writing
this--sometimes I wracked my brains for new creative avenues down
which to explore. I had way too many characters going at once.	I
ran out of ideas several times.
     But in the end, I always figured out a new direction in
which to take the story.  And I finally finished, and have plans
for a sequel (as you might be able to guess from the Epilogue).
But NOT YET!!!	After getting all fifty-five installments of this
monster finished, I just want to RELAX for a while!
     Not to give away too many hints about what might be going on
in the sequel, but if you've read the Robotech Role-Playing Game
supplement that Dave Deitrich and I have been working on (which
isn't likely; we aren't sending it to many people yet), you might
be able to guess what the "large object" is (and if you're
reasonably familiar with the Robotech storyline at all, you'll
probably KNOW :).  Suffice it to say that the next story will
cover an integral part of the Robotech post-history Dave and I
have been working on, and I am frankly wondering if I am up to
the task.  Maybe in a year or two...
     The story is now complete.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Please
send any feedback to CHM173S at SMSVMA.BITNET,
CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU (Internet), or CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU (also
Internet).  Or, if your access to netmail vanishes, my snailmail
home address is
 
Chris Meadows
Rt. 2, Box 2368
Cassville, MO  65625
 
     Once again, thanks for requesting or just reading my story,
and I hope that when I get my sequel done, you'll read it, too.
 
---Chris Meadows, August 2, 1992