1It is the third day of the second fiveday since our arrival in the Terran system. Already, we have made a most amazing discovery, which I am now studying.
Subject: Terran, currently in stasis. Extensive damage, mostly severe acid burns. Gender indeterminate by casual examination. The stasis field prevents collection of genetic material for testing, so observations will be visual.
I am now examining the head. Both ocular sensors destroyed, their bony sockets contain a small amount of organic gel. Most external flesh and body parts have burned off or dissolved, leaving burned muscle with occasionally observed bone. The olfactory sensor tissue has been eroded by prolonged acidic exposure, only a thin ridge of cartilage is left to protrude from its socket. A few tufts of black hair still remain on the victim's head, as the rest having been burned or ripped away. What little flesh survived in the facial area is badly scarred, only minute patches show the distinctive tan cast of residents native to this part of Terra.
Moving down the body, I see the same extensive scarring, exposed muscle, bone, and burns as on the face. Fatty residue in the upper chest indicates subject was probably female, confirmed by examination of the pelvic region.
The same extensive burn pattern can be seen on both of the subject's legs and arms. Both sets end in bone, as the small appendages had already dissolved before the acid was neutralized.
Analysis: Though recorded field notes showed the subject's constitution and aerobic capacity is above the ninety ninth percentile for Terrans, the human will not survive outside the stasis field for more than a few more minutes. It is far beyond the primitive medical capacity of the indigenous race to save this individual, so the specimen has been brought to me for possible salvage. Having seen the readings of its raw psi-power, I recommend keeping this female in stasis until our base is established and full regen facilities are available. It will prove valuable in the future, even if only to study a psi-active Terran.
I have complete confidence that I will be the one to restore this bit of native fauna to its full operational capacity.
Voice of the Phoenix
Selected readings from the private 'Phoenix Project' log of Healer Ka'Dalanis
A sidestory for Nighthawke's "One War, Three Sisters" to be read after chapter 8. Written with his kind permission and assistance.
By Kevin D. Hammel
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publishing rights are held by Viz in the US and Shougakukan in Japan. Starcraft, its units, and storyline, are all copyright of Blizzard Entertainment. Xcom and its storyline and units are copyrighted by Microprose. My purpose is to honor the creators and their works. No infringement intended.
Log Entry 4:12:0
Halos is an idiot... or a monster. It is hard to tell which. Now that we have a base on Earth, he wants to use 'The Human' as we call it, as a weapon against a Zerg. Field observations showed it channeling astral energy to augment strength far beyond that indicated by its muscle mass. This alone would make it a formidable tool on the battlefield.
But the Praetor will not leave it at that, he wants to reinforce its psionics by splicing Protoss genetics to its own, creating a super weapon. My instincts as a healer rise up against such thought. I have spent a period of each day for the last several fivedays examining The Human. I can almost feel the pain it... she must have felt as the horrible Zerg dissolved her very flesh. Halos' plan seems to have some merit as I look at the terribly disfigured body. If this creature were able to fight, it might exact some vengeance for all the Zerg had done to cause it pain.
I hope that I can keep Judicator Raetor against this plan. Assuming the rapport we once shared still survives. With two nays to one yea, it is effectively tabled. Halos will not risk a vote he knows he will lose. Raetor is concerned about possible damage to the Protoss gene pool such an experiment might provoke. I seriously doubt The Human might remain reproductively viable... at least beyond its artificial sub-species... if Halos' plan is put into action, however. Despite my doubts about his concerns, I support Raetor's thoughts every chance I get.
So far, he seems to be on my side. And thus, strangely, on the human's.
Log Entry 4:21:0
Toady, it became official. Praetor Halos got Raetor's support and Project Phoenix was launched. I am uncertain why Raetor changed his opinion so quickly. I suspect Halos used something in the Judicator's past to force the issue.
I must cast my misgivings aside, and throw myself into my work. The stasis field was lowered for a few seconds so I could collect a genetic sample today. The Human had scarcely the time to take in a rattling breath before timelessness froze the animal again. It will be a few months before the proper genetic sequence can be derived for the subject, but I owe our people the very best I can do. Of course I will do the best any Protoss is capable of.
Log Entry 4:63:0
Finally after nearly half a Terran year, I have constructed a new genetic makeup for The Human. With its incredible latent psychic abilities bolstered by our own, the composite will be a great warrior. I also programmed a few slight physical modifications. The absence of external body hair rooted below the head area will allow a much better interface with the skinsuit and battle armor. This will provide a wonderful benefit to the weapon without altering physical appearance beyond Terran norms. In the end, even I succumbed to the desire to improve this human.
Still, my heart rebels against what I am about to do. Humans, though a lower form of life, are sentient. It deserved to live a normal life as a human, not a gene-spliced abomination. But in war it's not always possible, in fact this human would be dead had we not transported it to our ship. At least I hope to help it keep some of what it was... some of its humanity at the start of its new life... Sadly, 'life' might be too strong a word for the day to day existence of the living weapon I will forge at the Praetor's insistence.
Finally, I subdue my doubts. As a weapon of the Protoss, she... it will function well past the time it would outside the stasis field.
Log Entry 2:64:0
The Human was removed from stasis and placed in a regeneration tank today. It was touch-and-go for a few minutes as its strong little body almost gave out before the regeneration fluid helped stabilize the subject's condition. After stabilization, I injected the pre-programmed nanites into the fluid. These tiny machines will reconstruct the creature's genetic makeup cell by cell. My calculations show it will be at least two Earth years before their work is complete.
Still, I will visit The Human each day until it is finally free of the tank. Now that time flows for the creature, perhaps it will need to have some sentient companionship to latch on to. There is also the possibility of bettering some of its programming, in much the manner I will improve its physical makeup. I have already felt its mind this morning. In time, it will become as familiar to me as a block of stone is to a sculptor. I am confident my presence will stabilize The Human during its transition.
Log Entry 1:73:0
This morning, a guard from the regen center interrupted my rest period. The Human was thrashing violently in its enforced slumber.
Hurriedly, I entered the room. Inside the tube, The Human was thrusting fists and legs in random directions.
I felt for its mind, and soon felt a muffled psychic sob. [Ranma... where are you... please don't leave me... It's me... Akane. I need you... please... I'm lost... It's dark... Ranma...]
At last, The Human has a name, Akane. But Ranma? A friend? A lover? A sister? A brother? Certainly a mystery. Should I intervene? No.
Its... her mental state regressed as the organism called the names of what must have been siblings. I could feel despair growing in the troubled mind. As time passed, the human's mental state fell further. Finally, it regressed to childhood. [mommy... where are you... please don't leave me... it... it's me... akane. i'm scared mommy. what's happening to me? it's scary in the dark... i'm all alone.]
Mommy. Terran vernacular for mother. Psychology was never my strength and this was the mind of an alien. But, before the mother, there is non-existence. I had no choice but to enter her thoughts. [I'm here... Akane.]
I feel questioning in her thoughts as she responds. [You sound so strange. Why did you leave?]
WHAT would a Terran mother say to her child? I wracked my brain before coming up with an answer. [I didn't leave; you were brought to me, little one.]
Questioning becomes acceptance which becomes earnest entreaty as it asks, [Please... don't leave me again.]
How to offer reassurance? What would a human mother do? [I won't. I promise.]
I have just finished setting up crude living quarters next to... Akane's regen tank. Perhaps close contact might be required again to help the human through its metamorphosis.
Log Entry 5:2:1
I have sifted through the subject's memories, trying to track its energy channeling capabilities. It seems the human name for the techniques this being uses is 'Martial Arts'. The creature has latent abilities in this area, but was remiss in fully utilizing her gifts. I shall rectify this situation, by programming a higher competency level. We have already obtained a series of magnetic recordings of 'martial arts'. This information can be combined with the subject's memories to yield a much more powerful warrior. In time, it... Akane will fulfill its potential in the martial arts.
Of course, I can only lay the groundwork. Even a Protoss such as myself cannot improve on the mind's capability to enhance its own programming. Even the simple human mind is incredibly complex in its workings. Akane will need to train in her new capabilities to integrate them properly. I can only provide the foundation she will build on.
Log Entry 3:65:1
I look through the transparent polymer and fluid to see my new... 'daughter'. After only a year in the regeneration facility, its new body is complete. Early projections were it would take seven Terran years, later I thought two, but Akane surprised all of us. Now that external modifications are finished, the psyche within must adjust and be adjusted. The subject looks like a normal, though short, Terran female. A young adult of eighteen Terran years. All the hair I chose to retain was programmed to regenerate quickly. The hybrid now has long black scalp hair, which has grown greatly in the past year. Long attached hairs on the lids protect its eyes, and its eye sockets decorated by brows again. I think the specimen would be quite attractive to a Terran male, though her new blue-gray skin tone is unknown in the Terran population.
I can only look on in wonder at what I have created. Is this how a mother feels? Is this how its mother felt?
Log Entry 4:65:1
Today was a day of triumph... and tragedy. I had such high hopes as Sol rose this morning.
Akane slowly came to consciousness. The girl blinked its eyes and sat up in the bed we had placed the unconscious hybrid atop, clothed in its interface suit. Then the Human looked down on its new body, my greatest achievement. She opened her mouth and let out a blood-curdling wail I would later learn was a scream.
I rushed to her bedside [Akane... it's...]
She relaxed slightly as she felt my mind; then her eyes grew wide in surprise and horror. "Who are you? What did you do to me?" Her face became a darker blue as rage registered clearly on her visage. She came at me then, a ball of energy forming between her hands.
A psi-pulse nudged Akane from behind. Four security drones had interceded on my behalf.
Akane turned to the metallic guardians and, with a shout of "Moko Takabisha!" the energy flew from her hands, decimating the sentries. She looked almost surprised at the blast, but only for a moment.
I watched with mixed pride and sadness. I gave her the ability to do that... something I knew she had dreamed of doing. Now she would use it against us.
In an incredibly acrobatic flip, she vaulted over the wreckage and ran from the room. [Akane!]
I hurried behind her. She was trying to escape the base! A photon canon fired at her, but she dodged with a breathtaking leap and roll while simultaneously firing another energy ball at the gun emplacement.
Four Zealots armed with Stun Blades barred Akane's egress. She began to chant a strange battle mantra, "Hate Aliens. Hate Aliens. I Hate Aliens!" As she continued to repeat the odd phrase, the girl attacked the troops with speed beyond both human and Protoss. Zealots literally flew in her wake. A Dragoon interceded, then pitched to the side as one of its legs flew behind Akane.
A fresh squad of Zealots scrambled to subdue the berserk alien as it neared the effective radius of another photon canon. The combination of a lucky hit with a Stun Blade and the photon canon ended her run for freedom.
I looked at the smoking wreckage of my experiment. One of her arms was badly burned, but the energy blast had served to cauterize the wound. She was unconscious, and would be for a few hours.
I could only shake my head. I had hoped... I had given her such gifts... It didn't matter.
Log Entry 5:65:1
Akane's wound had responded well to my treatments. Her bandaged arm hung uselessly in a sling, but would not need regeneration to be salvaged. I looked at her through the energy cell that protects us from her wrath. [Akane... why?]
Moisture flowed freely from her eyes, which were red. I realize that they were Human 'tears'. "How can an alien like you even ask? What did you do to me? I just want to go home. Ranma'll save me, I just know it..."
I saw the image of a small female Terran and an average sized Terran male. I realized I had seen them before. The demonstrated skills of both the female and male were used to improve Akane's own. But I had never understood they were the same organism, until now. In a sequence of memories, he/she rescued Akane time and again. I wonder if there is a third gender of humans that is indeterminate? Ranma is a mystery I would love to investigate. [Akane... you have been dead almost two years. Ranma probably gave up looking for you long ago. We had to make you... one of us to save your life. Please, help us, Akane. Our people... your people... both Protoss and humans... are being attacked by a merciless foe. I saw in you the potential to be a real heroine.] I hoped I had read her right. If I could get her to join us willingly...
Akane actually gave the proposal thought, but it looked like it would take a lot more talking to convince her. Her lips quivered as she finally formed a reply. "But I have a family and Ranma and..."
I bent down to her level as I addressed her. [Akane... chan, when we brought you to our ship, you were horribly injured. You had only minutes to live. I used all my skills as a Protoss healer to rebuild you. But that also made you one of us, at least in part. Because we have no quarrel with the humans, perhaps...]
[What is the meaning of this!] Praetor Halos thoughts boomed into both of our minds. I felt Akane recoil, and close up, at the Praetor's mental jab. Never did I hate Halos as much as I did in that moment.
He glared at Akane. [You are ours! We own you, and we rebuilt you cell by cell. You are a weapon which we shall use to smash the Zerg, the monsters that almost killed you.] He then forced both of us to endure images of Akane as she was when we first found her. [You were a miserable human, actually even less than that, a disfigured monster... but through the skill of Healer Ka'Dalanis you are almost a Protoss. You should be grateful for the gift we have given you... But instead, you behaved like an insolent child.]
With that, he unleashed a psi-blast directed at the human... at Akane's mind. I could feel her agony, but also her strength in resistance. And she did not make a sound the whole time. With almost shocking suddenness, he stopped the attack. [Learn from your pain!] Halos turned and strode from the room.
I looked at Akane, seeing the steel gaze of a warrior. Words were bitten off in a monotone and tossed my way. "So, that's all I am, huh? You aliens may have changed me outside, but I'm still human inside. You can rot for all I care!"
I looked at her for the first time as a person... almost a Protoss. [Akane... I] She looked away and closed her eyes. I bowed my head and left the room.
Halos approached from behind, his thoughts subdued after his outburst. [Healer Ka'Dalanis.]
[Yes?] I responded as evenly as I could force myself.
[Phoenix... needs some improvements. It doesn't need this 'Akane' floating around in its head to cloud its ability to function with the clarity of purpose it requires. Could you perhaps burn Akane out of our weapon's mind?]
I knew that would be a fatal mistake. [Of course not! To do so would cause severe brain damage.]
[Well then what about blocking Phoenix' memories of being, or should I say having been, this... Akane.] Halos requested in tone of command.
Struggling to stall for time, I tried to respond. [Praetor I... Have you considered...]
Halos looked away, to Raetor. My gaze turned to him as well. I searched on his face for the tiniest hint of what we once had shared...
[He has my full concurrence] Raetor replied. With a hand to his chest in a gesture of respect, he turned and walked quietly away.
Trumped again.
[Healer?]
[Very well.] I replied in resignation. With a heavy heart I trudged from the room. How could a human, an animal far below our station, have this effect on me? Am I the only one able to see what she could be? Or perhaps I am too arrogant to realize the phrase is could have been?
Log 1:66:2
I could not bear to face Akane... Phoenix again. A drone administered an anesthetic mist to the... girl. I will concede she is a person now. I have seen her strong heart, and will never consider her a thing from this moment forward.
She rests now in the regen tank, calm again. The fluid that fills the chamber has seemingly quenched the rage and fire of her personality. I begin my manipulations of her unconscious mind.
Log 4:50:3
Again, as a Terran year before, the girl awakened in the bed I prepared for her. Not to be caught flat-footed this time, Halos had a squad of troops stationed outside the door.
As before the girl opened her eyes and looked up. "Hello, Healer. It is nice to see you with my eyes after feeling your mind so long."
[Good, Phoenix. I'm happy.] And I certainly was.
The girl got out of her bed and donned her skinsuit, then looked back at me. "What now?"
[Shouldn't you should start using your mind to communicate, Phoenix?]
With a genuinely puzzled look, she responded, "Why? I like my voice, Healer."
[It's not proper for a Protoss warrior to speak with the voice of an animal.]
"But, Healer, you made me this way. This voice is part of what I am."
[Yes, it is, but we must rise above mere animals, Phoenix. We are Protoss...] I look at her, but the girl remained skeptical. I shook my head. [Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix. If you want to... talk... for now. But you STILL need to train, regardless.]
"Thanks, Healer." She said with a smile and a bow. She looked up again, only cooling embers of the fire that was Akane were visible in her eyes. "Let's start training."
Tonight, Halos stopped me. [What is this... thing? You spent a year working on it and... this... this... unskilled, clumsy, non-com is what we get?]
I turned to him, seeking eye contact as I communicated my thoughts. [You requested to seal her memories of Akane, Praetor. Her skills as a warrior are part of those memories. So is her fighting spirit. What woke up today was what you wanted... a girl with no memories of what she was.]
His gaze narrowed as he prepared to argue against what I did, but I raised a hand. He relaxed slightly, allowing me to continue. [But all those memories and abilities are still there, locked away. With the new approach I have formulated, I can unlock her Marital Arts skills slowly, allowing her mind to weave them into the fabric of her being. At the same time, I will carefully introduce threads of her Protoss heritage into the pattern. All of these skills and memories will interlock through her training to become indelibly part of Phoenix, not the ghost of Akane.]
[Well... I see the wisdom of your approach, Healer. Carry on. Her... the human's unique abilities are of great interest to us.]
[Very well, Praetor.]
Log Entry 1:10:4
I saw Phoenix today crouching down in the open space at the center of our base. She seemed intent on studying something.
[Phoenix! Don't forget your practice.] I scolded gently.
She turned to me to look up with a smile, "Look, Healer... a flower!"
Glancing in the direction her silver-clad finger indicated, I saw a small organism of intricate beauty. Something I never would have noticed before. It stood alone, amidst the clearing. [Yes, Phoenix, it's wonderful.]
She had a smile all through her training. Though the display was heartening, I realized such emotions were not in the domain of a weapon meant for killing. After my careful manipulations of the memory blocks, she had fully recovered her Art. Through that, I kept a memory of the strong, proud Akane I had met before, if only for a day.
I made my nightly adjustment to the locks on Phoenix' memory as I had many nights before. I must have slipped, however. As I made my modifications, she became restless in her slumber, turning slightly.
Log Entry 2:10:4
When I went to Phoenix' room this morning, her eyes were red. Her rest period must have gone poorly. "Healer... I remembered last night. Who I was. I was a human girl. I was named Akane."
I looked at her. She was clearly shaken by her experience, but hadn't reacted as strongly as Akane had, two years earlier. [It is nothing, Phoenix. Just a bit of memory that somehow got burned into the cells we cloned you from.]
She nodded once, uncertain how to take what I said.
I left the room, a little shaken. How much had we taken from her? She needed more drive... more anger, but not the memories of why she had it. [She remembered her previous identity again Praetor.]
[But her training has gone so well...] He looked down for a moment then up, straight at me. [You and Phoenix have both come far, Healer. I know you will succeed.]
Log Entry 3:12:4
Her smile is gone, edited out in last night's bedside session. I wonder what she would think if she knew the real reason that I waited in her room for her to sleep? I am trying to unlock her passion and rage. Both would serve her well on the battlefield, if controlled. Her kata now show power near that she possessed with her full memories. And, because she has trained hard in her Art, the control she exhibits is breathtaking.
Halos came over after her workout, [Very good Phoenix. You are improving each day.]
"Thank you Praetor," she replied, flushing dark blue.
Too late, the idiot tossed away his boorish ways. Akane could have been one of us for over a year without his foolishness. Or would she still be among us? No matter what, she would certainly be a Protoss fighting the Zerg. She would be fulfilling her purpose. That line of thought is pointless anyway, since Akane died over two years ago. And, though ordered to do so, it was by my hand.
I try to suppress memories of the girlish behavior I saw earlier. Blushing is not a thing for weapons to do.
Log Entry 2:15:4
Phoenix has finally integrated her Protoss abilities with her Art. I watched her go through her kata today, and was impressed. I saw power I had never seen before. I knew she also had an unflinching willingness to use it. I observed her maneuvers strayed near a spot she had always avoided previously.
I confirmed my suspicions after Phoenix had returned to her room. Ground into a green organic paste was the flowering organism she had shown me earlier.
Log Entry 3:15:4
[Her voice must go. It is unbefitting of a Protoss to lower herself to speak in the manner of an animal.]
[But Praetor... She is all you wanted in a warrior; she is more powerful than Akane ever was.]
"Praetor, Healer... What are you thinking about?"
I turned to Phoenix. [Praetor thinks you should communicate like us, Phoenix.]
"But I..."
Halos responded. His mental tone was argumentative, but not angry. Yet. [But what? You are not a human any more, Phoenix.]
"Any more.. But I was created by you and the healer... I am a weapon, I never was a human..." She was wracked by pain as much of what I did was undone.
[Phoenix] No response. [A... Akane?]
"You knew. But I'm Phoenix... Not a human. I was created to serve the Protoss. It is what I live for." She looked at me, her mind awash in conflicting thoughts. Then, she doubled over in agony, shaking as she held in a human scream far below her station. I turned to glare at Halos.
Looking back to Phoenix again, she suddenly relaxed, as the pain must have subsided. The girl looked up to me with eyes full of questions.
Halos forcefully intruded into my mind... OUR minds. I shoved my concerns about Phoenix aside to glare at him as he addressed us. [Healer, I might not have your skill, but I will rip those memories out of her head unless you do something right now! And you can start with that Zerg-spawned voice.]
Both Phoenix and myself shuddered at the thought of that. Of Halos loose in her mind ripping, tearing, and destroying.
[Phoenix, I can help you.] I thought as I glanced into the eyes of the shorter hybrid female.
She nodded her head once in a Terran gesture that I realized gave me permission to do as I was ordered.
I looked into one of the most familiar objects in my life, her mind. This time was different. Instead of careful, delicate manipulations I would have to install a hasty block to impress the Praetor. I would do a more careful job later, when Phoenix was finally in a regen tank again.
I saw again the brilliant constellation of lights and the delicate tracery of crystalline pathways between them. The majority of them were dark and black. Blocked. And I wanted to block another. Finding the speech center, I prepared a crude psionic block.
"Thanks Healer. I don't feel..." Her voice was stopped in mid-sentence. She looked at me, first fearful, then with an expression of gratitude. 'I love you' she mouthed, then her lips went slack as I blocked her memories of ever having the power of speech... and then, most of that ability to love.
The damage was not nearly as extensive as I had thought, but another session in a tank would aid in her final transition.
She slept that night, alone. In a bed, as a human would, for the last time.
Log Entry 4:15:4
After her practice sessions, we moved Phoenix to new quarters. Her battle armor stands in one corner, a place for her control suit immediately adjacent. In the center rising vertical, is her personal regen tube for recovery after the many battles that will comprise her life.
She stripped off her skinsuit, laying it reverently next to her armor. Turning to me, she nodded her head once.
A press of a button on the adjacent console and the tube was drawn into the ceiling, allowing Phoenix entry. The girl walked to the exact center of the plate then pirouetted to face me in a precise, mechanical motion.
[I am ready, Healer] Phoenix thought as I helped fasten the breathing apparatus over her month and nose.
Log Entry 4:70:4
Today, Phoenix awakened.
The regen fluid drained away, gently lowering the blue-gray girl to the floor of her second womb. She woke kneeling, still glistening with the sheen of the healing solution upon her. The hybrid weapon rose, smoothly and with perfect control, then glanced down at her body. I had blocked almost all memories of her time both as a human and previously as Phoenix behind a protein wall, so she saw it for the first time. Only the skills and memories of use to the Praetor remain accessible to her. She looked pleased, then walked gracefully to the dais displaying her armor and skinsuit. I helped her dry off, then slip into the interface garment.
As I backed away, it became easy to objectify the silent figure, metallic below the chin. First it turned, in a precise motion that spoke more of mechanism than organism. The weapon seemed lost in contemplation, first of its silver-sheathed body, then the golden armor it would wear into battle. A frown marred its perfection at the end of its musings.
Halos entered, sending a greeting before him. [Good morning Phoenix. I trust you had a good rest.]
The girl glared at the Praetor with a carefully modulated bit of Akane's anger. [If you wanted me a Protoss warrior, why did you chose the cells of a small, weak, Terran Female when you built me?]
[We Protoss have powerful bodies and a lasting endurance. However, we lack the dexterity of the humans. By combining our DNA with that of a clone formed from dead cells of a STRONG human female, we created you. A being with the psychic power of a Protoss, but the speed and strength of a human.]
[Does this mean I'm better than you are?]
[No!] Halos angrily responded. [You may be our superior physically, but the Protoss mind far outreaches what yours is capable of. Even with your Protoss genetics, you brain is still largely a human's. Our mental and technological prowess outstrips anything the humans have ever done. But you will be Queen of the battlefield, Phoenix.]
Her chest swelled at the last comment. [I am proud to serve you, Praetor. Let no Zerg remain standing in my wake.] Then she turned to me, looking with what little love I allowed her to retain. [Thank you for making me, Healer.]
I almost wished I had a human face so I could smile. I have succeeded, far beyond my wildest dreams. But why is it I think I will miss the animal screechings of a girl once human?
***
(END)
My sincere thanks to Nighthawke for his encouragement and close interaction on this project. Few concepts have grabbed me as the one behind his story and I'm as anxious as any to see what develops as it unfolds. I am truly honored to add my own contribution to this work.
Additional thanks go to Art Hansen and Andrew (mage) Norris, pre-readers who offered commentary and suggestions on improvements to this story. Additional comments from Dave Roeder and William Dix were also welcomed.
Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!
October 21, 2000/September 3, 2012
Kevin D. Hammel
